NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES
3 3433 06827415 2
i
ill
■
mtiSBm
14*
THE SOUTHERN BArTIST FTLPIT
of his g : here and of his glory hereafter. In
Chri^ we have a Saviour and helper,
and throng . . in God the Father, a
and in the Holy Spirit, a oom-
- : and guide. The supreme and all-comprehen-
gifl f God is unspeakably great and precious.
tst and the benefits coming to us through him are
e riches." In view of the vastness of
the chief divine gift and its varied and gracious iin-
vell exclaim, with Addison :
;h my God, My : j s s eys. Transported with : i lost
In wondc
-
~ .ort To urter all ih
: 7 he gift of God is unspeakable on account of the mystery- of the giving. The giving is as unique and wonderful as e To whom did God make
. - unspeakable gift? To sinful men, foes of his racter and government, unholy, unthankful, hell- Leserving'. Why did he give his Son to die for his ies ? That we, "his enemies," might live :gh him. ''Herein is love, not that we 1< God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the i on for on r sins." " Sc arcely for a righte ous man will one die: yet peradventnrc for a good man, .:ld even dare to die. But God commendeth is Love to^ in that, while we were yet sin-
Christ died for The mystery :: this divine giving is marvelous and i itable. We are enriched with the Saviour and s s :ion, not because of any merit present or fore- st en in ourselves ; but for reasons hidden in the infi-
:/S UNSPEAKABLE GIFT
H3
nite heart of God. Rightly considered, there is some- thing profoundly impressive and awe-inspiring in the mystery of grace. No one adequately understands and appreciates the gospel who does not recognize and adore the sovereignty, and therefore the myste: the divine mercy. But to those who know it and bow to it, the sovereign and mysterious mercy of God in Christ is unutterably solemn, pr and si
Once in a long while the heart of the c: world
is made to throb with admiration and w some rare instance of seif-sacrificing friendship ; but the noblest gift ever made by man or the noblest ever done by man, deserves not to be named in the same breath with God's great gift of his Son, nay, his sacrifice of himself for the salvation of his ene- To all eternity, the vastness and mystery of the divine mercy will be to the redeemed and to the angelic inhabitants of heaven a fountain of solemn and reverential j
The prophet Hosea, in describing the ultimate res- cue and return of the apostate tribes of Israel back to the mercy and love of God, after all their wa: ings and sin, says of them, that, in those la: " they shall fear the Lord and his goodr. at is,
they shall humbly, wonderingly, and tremblingly rev- erence the grea: rf God in accomplishing their restoration and sal vat: . ite their stupjen- un worthiness and guilt When Moses, standing he burning bush in Horeb, was about to be di- vinely intrusted with the commission to accomplish
deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian bor. — a deliverance foreshadowing and preparing for the great deliverance through Christ — he to re take his shoes from off his feet, because,
in view of the divine majesty, faithfulness, and mercy there revealed, he stood ground.
The utter un worthiness of the recipients of the su- preme gift of God and the inexplicable goodness in its
> «£^aJlc«aX. a — <- IB ^C'^>.
t<
Love
Z1S
JONATHAN Ha ; resent one of the Supreme Judges
off Alabama. His home is at Selma. though most of his tin- spent in Montgomery, in attending to the duties of his office.
In personal appearance, he is a man of medium height and build, well preserved, and has an immense cap work. Ever) position to which he has been called has been filled wit] nous success ; every trust committed to him
>een administered win the admiration of all. His
r, whether private <»r professional, has been an unbroken advance from the first until n
The Univ( eing the institu-
tion where Judge Haralson his liter.. tion, and
which I with the B. in i
In i :.. D. from Mercer L'niver-
rd of n. He ard Colli and rendered to t
elec- f the Alal I i ed
in i 1892, when his duties as
-ions. On I Dr. J. P. Boyce, when the Southern 1
I MempI nd various names were
nnbled — names of ■ us — Judge 11 lb) a handsome majority. He
iven He presides without the ding. He ki. unentary law, but is r.
l< > his bidding, and luct of the bus vention. An excellent skt- Haralson appeared in
the "Seminar) Magazine" in Louisville in 1893. from the pen of Dr. J. M. Frost, from which this note is compiled.
;
I.L. D
<*
I
TI
Southern Baptist Pulpit
D BY
• J. L. LOVE
•"*
-HAN H ii J,
m
» ■mm MiKt.rm\ 1 895
cv.
PUB;.
18'
, ,D*T1CNS
ic>; )<v the American lUrriST Pi i n
THE BAPTISTS OF AMERICA
A I'! ' »l'l 1 Wllo 1.' >VE AN
BIBLE am. a PURE GOSPEL
nil EDITOR
PREFACE
As it is the province of the butler to serve the viands and not entertain the guests, we will not in- trude on the reader a long dissertation on even SO tine a disli as we are, by the graciousness of the brethren, able to provide. The intellectual and spiritual repast to which all are invited will proclaim its <>\vn excel- lence.
The Southern Baptist Convention constitutes the largest deliberative body in the world, and though a few excellent volumes of sermons by single indi- viduals have been published, no book representing the pulpit of the Convention has yel appeared. It was thought that such a volume would be a fitting memorial to our fiftieth anniversary as a separate or- ganization.
The book is truly representative though by no means exhaustive of the pulpit talent among us; and we believe its household value will be greatly in- creased by the portraits and biographical sketches of the contributors. All will welcome among the preachers, the face and sketch of the preachers1 friend, Judge Haralson, the president of the Conven- tion.
I wish here to record my profound thanks to my brethren, who, while averse to publicity, have, in the interests of the enterprise and through persona] kind- ness, furnished the material for the book and made my cherished plan possible.
J. F. Love.
Suffolk, Va., October, 1895.
INTRODUCTION
Tiik meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention at Washington City, on the ioth of May, 1895, was one, in some of its features, of unusual interest and importance The Convention was organized in* the city of Augusta, Ga., on May 8th, 1S45. This meeting, therefore, was the semi-centennial of the
Convention ind we met for the first
time in the capital of the country, to celebrate our jubilee. Nearly all who were present at the original organization, have passed from the scenes of earth. He of them. Rev. John Thomas Sankey Park, then of Alabama, D Mexia, Texas, was present
at tlie recent meeting. Besides him, only two or three otlu aras is remembered, linger on these mortal
shores. During the organization of this session, when nominations were being made for vice-presidents, as a fitting tribute to this honored and venerable brother, and as am and graceful thing to be
done, by a unanimous vote of the delegates he was Chosen as one of the vice-president-.
This semi-centennial occasion was rendered the more enjoyable by the courtesy of the churches in W Lshingfc •::. To the average American no other city in the world compares with it. It bears the name of the most illustrious and honored man in the history of modern times, " First in peace, first in war, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.'1 And it is a matter of ever-increasing pride and pleasure, to witness at the capital, and throughout America, and in every civil- ized countrv of the .^lobe, the memorials of the great- ness and goodness and virtue of the Father of our
5
6 INTRODUCTION
Country. Let us never lose an opportunity to honor our greatest chieftain, to transmit from age to age the name and fame of a man so unselfish and incor- ruptible in his patriotism ; so faithful, persistent, and successful in his advocacy and efforts for civil and religious freedom ; so true to all public and private trusts committed to his hands; so reverent and devout in his Christian character ; and so sublime in his life and death.
It was in this city, with all these objects of public and patriotic interests, and a thousand other attrac- tions, that by the kind and hospitable invitation of the brethren and people of Washington, we were permitted to hold the recent session of our Convention. From every quarter of our extended territory, the rep- resentatives from the churches, with several thousand visitors, came. The total number of delegates pre sent as shown by the rolls, was eight hundred and ninety, besides some hundreds of ministers and laymen whose names were not enrolled. The President of the P.oard of Commissioners of the District ot Columbia (answer- ing to the office of mayor of the ordinary City), the Hon. John W. Ross, visited the Convention at its opening, and greeting us with words of hospitable welcome, extended the freedom of the city to the delegates and visitors. The venerable and greatly beloved Dr. C. C. Meador, pastor of one of the Bap- tist churches of the city, gave us cordial welcome on the part of the Baptists and Christians of the community. The President of the United States tendered a reception, giving us the opportunity of meeting him and shaking his cordial and patriotic hand. The greeting we received, all around, was touchingly kind and cordial, and for it we cherish and express our profound and most grateful acknowl- edgments. God bless the brethren, people, and city of Washington !
There was not a visitor present who did not return
INTRODUCTION 7
to his home with higher inspirations of religion and duty, and with a broader and deeper love of country. To their children and friends they will tell the story of what they saw and felt, and the influences for good thus set astir can scarcely be bounded as to place or time.
But it is not alone in the South that these benign influences are to be felt and ripen into fruit. The real dispositions of Southern Christians to the cause of Christ at home and abroad, and the love they bear our common country, were displayed on the border line between the sections. Northern friends and brethren, who honored us with their presence, had opportunity to observe the principles of religion and patriotism by which Southern Christians are ani- mated, and to note that, no more in one section than in the other, is the sentiment dominant tor " America for Christ," and for a united and happy country.
Had any one ever before entertained doubts as to the policy of the organization of the Southern Bap- tist Convention, of its very great and triumphant progress, and of the importance and necessity for its continued existence in the indefinite future, if for no other reasons than of convenience, and for the mar- shaling of greater armies of workers for the better- ment of mankind and the redemption of the world, — he is a great disbeliever in facts if those doubts were not greatly shaken or dissolved at our recent session. Our struggles and triumphs, time and space will not here be taken to recount. Concerning these bet- ter information than can be given in this introduction may be found in the historical discourse of Dr. W. H. Whitsitt, delivered at the Convention and appear- ing in this volume.
The general enthusiasm in the interests of the Boards of the Convention and our Theological Semi- narv, and for an educated ministry, is attested in the fact that the Southern Baptist Convention is now the
8 INTRODUCTION
largest representative assembly of Christian men that anywhere assembles. And still it grows, until the question of its free entertainment, in our largest cities even, has become one of embarrassment. Its ambi- tion and mission are to give the true gospel, as we understand it, to the perishing millions in our own country and other lands ; to promote peace and good will among all men, and intelligence and enlighten- ment, by the spoken word and the printed page, to all ranks and conditions ; to hasten, as far as maybe, the millennial dawn.
Sunday was a memorable day at onr recent meet- ing. The pulpits of most of the Protestant churches were tendered to the Convention, with solicitations for onr preachers to occupy them. Accordingly, the usual committee having this matter in charge made assignments for preaching by members of the Convention at these several places of worship.
It was a happ\ suggestion to the mind of onr brother, Rev. J. F. Love, pastor of the First Baptist Church at Suffolk, Ya., to get together and publish in a volume some of these discourses, together with others, because contributed by leading ministers from all the States in the Convention. The volume will thus be of double interest, being in some measure memorial of the occasion and containing specimens of sermonic literature representative of the Southern pulpit.
In behalf of brethren and friends, North and South, the writer begs to express his gratification at the ap- pearance of this volume, so unique and valuable, and to solicit for it the considerate attention of the brethren and Christians generally.
Jonathan Haralson
Montgomery, Ala., July 17, 1895.
CONTENTS
I. Civil Government and Religion n
BY GEORGE B. BAGEK, 1). li., MONTGOMERY, ALA.
II. A Retrospect 30
BY W. II. WHI1SITT, D. D., LL.D., LOI/ISVILLK, KY.
III. The Christian Hopi 46
BY K. J. WILLINGICAM. I). 1)., KICIIM.'M), VA.
IV. Ground of Judgment 54
BY II. H. CARROLL, I) P., WACO, TEX.
V. Truth a Liberator 67
BYT. T. BATON, L>. D., LL.D., LnflsVI I. LE , KY.
VI. Ali 79
BY W. \V. LANDKTM. I. ! . i,, VA.
VII. The Pre-eminent Name 91
BY J. H. MAW I M ,M .1. I. , A I I.ASI A, GA.
VIII. Self-] Ii roism 104
HV II. A H 111 l;, li;., !>. I) . i Ml,
IX. Tin-: Divinity of Jesus Christ 115
X. Unanswered Prayers 127
BY A. G. MCMANAWAY, l>. U., AK K A I,C I.I 1 1 1 A , AKK.
XI. Constraining Love 133
BY H. W. BAULK, D. D., PKTEKSBUKG. VA.
XII. Cni.s Unspeakable Gift 140
BY REV. MALCOLM MACGKEGOR, JACKSONVILLE, FLA.
XIII. The History of a Sin 153
BY REV. C. S. GARDNER, GREENVILLE, S. C.
XIV. The DECEITFULNESS of Sin 163
BY R. T. VANN, D. D., SCOTLAND NECK, N. C.
XV. Christ Crucified 173
BY J. C. HIDBN, D. D., RICHMOND, VA.
9
IO CONTENTS
XVI. Three Steps Up, 180
BY J. D. GAMBRBLL, D. D., LL.D., MACON, GA.
XVII. Unbelieving Brethren, 191
BY LANSING BURROWS, D. D., AUGUSTA, GA.
XVIII. The Trial of Faith, 201
BY Z. T. LEAVELL, D. D., CLINTON, MISSISSIPPI.
XIX. The Resurrection of Christ 209
BY M. B. WHARTON, D. D., NORFOLK, VA.
XX. The First Resurrection 220
BY KKV. J. L. WHITE, MACON, GA.
XXI. The Effectual Cross 231
11V \V. L. PICKARD, D. !>., LOUISVILLE, KY.
xxil. A Kingdom Built on a Cross 246
BY REV. E. Y. MULLINS, RICHMOND, VA.
XXIII. Honor for Service . . 255
BY D. I. PURSER, D. D., NEW ORLEANS I. A.
XXIV. Infidelity and Christianity Contrasted, . 266
HY T. H. PKITCHARD, D. D., CHARLOTTE, N. C.
XXV. A Man in HeLI 281
BY REV. J. B. CRANFILL, WACO, TEX.
XXVI. Godhood in Christ 294
BY J. J. TAYLOR, D. D., MOBILE, ALA.
XXVII. Abandoned of the Lord 305
BY W. P. WALKER, I). D., HUNTINGTON, W. VA.
XXVIII. The Sublimity of the Life of Faith, . . 314
BY REV. DAVID M. RAMSEY, CHARLESTON, S. C.
XXIX. The Faithfulness of God 324
BY J. P. GREENE, D. D., LL.D., LIBERTY, MO.
XXX. The Cleansing Blood 333
BY R. R. ACREE, D. D., KNOXVILLE, TENS.
XXXI. The Meat and Mission of the Master, . . 340
BY H. F. SPROLES, D. D., JACKSON, MISS.
XXXII. The Crucified Christ 346
BY C. A. STAKELY, D. D., WASHINGTON, D. C.
XXXIII. Consecration and Enthusiasm 356
BY H. M. WHARTON, D. D., BALTIMORE, MD.
George Boardman Eager, now pastor of the First Baptist Church, Montgomery, Ala., was born near Rodney, Miss., February 22. 1X47. lie is the second son of Rev. E. C. Eager and brother of Rev. John II. Eager, our missionary to Italy. He did - lier lad in the Army of Northern Virginia.
Entering Mississippi College after the war, he graduated in 1871, with the first honor.-, of his class, and from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in the Elective Course in 1S76. His first pastorate was in the famous old university town of Lexington, \'a.. during which he took a post-graduate course at Washing- ton and Lee University. He has since served with conspicuous the First Church. Knoxvillc, Tenn. ; St. Francis Street Church. Mobile. Ala.; First Church, Danville. \'a. ; Parker : .rial Church, Anniston, Ala.; and his present important charge in the capital cit) of Alabama. The of d. d.
has twice inferred upon him, first by the University of
Mississippi and afterward by Howard College, Alabama. On the 20th of February, 187';, he was married to Miss Annie Coorpender, the gifted daughter of Dr. William F. Coorpender
■v^-
THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
Civi:. ..(.YKkNMi.NT AND UtUGION1
D
' •« Caaar's; andu.au
1
I
NEED i *1k> unique drenmstan
rable words 1 inited tlu-ii •
tnpasa hisruin. Pha • and
and
ink their difl for
imon hate With dex-
us to utterance on
of the R
nly. T1 mulation, uupht to graceAjkkuTs pur^ feign the guueiesa
uirers. " V
m uv |u ' thou art t:
nth, and neitb tli, not the pe
• truths, but uttered in subt tery. " TQ1 us; tfn •• 18*5 . . . S it lawful to give
ithern BtfrtM < onven IBgtOO, D I895.
12 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
tribute unto Caesar or not?" Shall we, as God's people, owing allegiance to him as our King, pay taxes to Caesar? Are these Herodians right who say that the tax is lawful and ought to be paid, or are we Pharisees right who claim that it is treason against Jehovah ? Ought we, or ought we not, to pay tribute to Cicsar?
A PERILOUS ALTERNATIVE.
They must have waited in breathless silence and with gleaming eyes for the answer. He must say "yes" or "no," they thought He cannot escape the artfully planned and perilous alternative. He will be thrown off his guard and fall into the trap. The Roman supremacy was certainly a usurpation. Je- hovah alone was their King. And this Prophet of a new, divine kingdom, surely he will hold his follow- er- free from fealty to this heathen power.
Danger lurk r hand— death by the mob,
or death at the hands of Rome— here the' fierce fury of the fanatical crowds that thronged the temple courts, there the cruel craftiness of Herod's bailiffs waiting to arrest him for treason against Caesar.
But " the forked tongue and envenomed fang of the serpent" were not hidden from Jesus. They had come fawning, il Master, thou art true and good and brave"; he flashes upon them the lightning of one scorching word, "Hypocrites!" "Why tempt ve me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money!" And before the breathless crowd they hand him a Roman denarius. Holding it up — on one side the haughty face of the Emperor Tiberius, and on the other the hated title, " Pontifex Afaximus"—he gives, as he was wont to do, an object lesson. "Whose is this image and superscription ? " They say unto him, " Caesar's. " "Render, therefore, unto' Caesar the things which are Caesar's." You have accepted this coin, and in so doing have answered your own ques-
CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION 1 3
tion; for, as your rabbis have taught, to accept the coinage of a king is to acknowledge his sway. But he will not leave the matter there — he adds the weightier and more far-reaching words, u And unto Gotf the things that are God's."
Is it a wonder that they stood before him amazed and silenced ? that the evangelist simply adds, " They marveled, and left him, and went their way"?
A PAR-REACHING ANSWER.
The answer left nothing to be added. It met these treacherous questioners with a counter force of wis- dom which crushed their conspiracy at once. It did more. The question which they asked that day was not simplv a question of the hour, but a question of the ages— a great question that then, lor the first time, '"had struggled to the surface and begun to clamor for solution. And more and more the world has cor. e that the answer given so instantly
and with such military brevity, affords the final solu- tion of that question, it came, not only to give relief to Jewish minds, then perplexed with the problem ot the relation of their civil government to heathen rule ; but it came, as studentToThistory and govern- ment everywhere are coming more and more to ac- knowledge, to settle forever the great problem oi the relation of Church and State— the great generic question that lies back of so many of the grave, spe- cific problems of our day— the question of the true relation of civil government to religion. To the con- sideration, or rather the reconsideration, of that ques- tion, according to the demands of our times, I venture to invite you to-dav. If any apology be needed for so doing, I would have yon recognize it in the fact that as Baptists we are committed by our principles and our history to be content with nothing less than a right solution of this great question ; that we are reminded bv this semi-centennial session of our Con-
14 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
vention, of what our forefathers did and suffered for the principle involved, and that we hold this session in the nation's capital where so often the representa- tives of a free people have been called to face the problem in the halls of legislation.
A REVOLUTIONARY DOCTRINE.
Detaching this saying of Jesus, then, from its im- mediate historical connections, and viewing it as an aphorism of infinite wisdom given for the guidance of men in all ages, let us inquire afresh into its teach- ing.
Here is the clear recognition of man's twofold re- lation to government — human and divine. Here is an equally clear distinction between duties growing out of this twofold relation. Here is the implicit asser- tion of the separateness or independence of the two governments to which man stands related. And here, above all, is the unequivocal declaration of the duty and feasibility of absolute and uncompromising loyalty alike to Caesar and to God, to human govern- ment and divine. In such teaching, the Master went beyond all precedent. He defied the wisdom of the ages. It was as radically at variance with the teach- ing of Moses as with that of the philosophers. He- braism taught the doctrine of a perfect identification of the two governments and presented the sole in- stance known to history of a pure theocracy. Pagan- ism demanded at least an alliance between the two ; Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans considering the one as a sort of necessary adjunct to the other. In impe- rial Rome the emperor was also chief priest ; and in republican Athens it was as the guardian of religion that the State decreed the death of Socrates. But here was one preaching a doctrine as far removed from Hebraism as Hebraism was from paganism in its highest form. As every form of this alliance in paganism had fallen into utter degeneracy, so now
CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION 15
even the Jewish theocracy had grown corrupt, and was to be superseded. In the development of hu- manity the time had come when such union or iden- tification of human and divine rule could no longer serve the highest interest of God's kingdom, or the true progress of the race. The old order was doomed, and the new order must rise out of its ruins. Hence- forth human conduct was to be divided into two kinds : the conduct of the mind and the conduct of the body. Over the conduct of the body the State had rightful jurisdiction, but into the sacred domain of mind and conscience no State or legislature or officer of the law could ever rightfully penetrate, for in that realm God only could rule. These words of Jesus, then, cut into the very heart of things. Leopold von Ranke was not far wrong when he said it was the Master's most revolutionary utterance. It was right in the teeth of the most revered customs and institutions of the day, and utterly subversive of the great molding ideas and immemorial tendencies of antiquity. It was destined, as Richter says, to I (^li Lift empires off their hinges and to turn the current Vof the ages out of its channel." It was the first streak of a new dawn ; the sunrise gun of a great new day ; the opening of the world's grandest era.
THE PRINCIPLE INVOLVED VIOLATED.
You need hardly to be reminded that not in the slightest degree, by either teaching or conduct did our Lord or his apostles contravene or compromise the great principle he that day enunciated. For three centuries, indeed, or down to the time of Con- stant ne, all of his followers, individuals and churches, Jewish and Gentile, were true to it. The Roman State, of course, ignored and violated it. You know the vicissitudes through which the truth it stood for then passed, and how frequently and variously it has been violated since. The periods that witnessed the
THH SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
most signal of these violations have Ken pithily summed u] of our own honored leaders in four
apt descriptiv< '
Tlie oin Kit designates the first
period is persecution. Christianity, vn the eyes of the Roman empire, was an illicit religion. But the pruning knife onl) gave growth. Ten
Converts arose for every martyr. At last the heathen world stood aweslrfcken before th tacle of such
constancy and yielded, at least outwardly, to the claims of Christ.
Then began the second period, from 325 to 1 for which the word patronage is the fit designation. Constantine established a royal prote< >ver the
church. As his imperial pred had persecuted
Christians, so now he will [persecute tin- heathen. 1' became, therefore, of worldly advantage to pr< I Christianity; and tin- civil power combined with a
lax morality and the nnsrriptural innovation of infant baptism t< ntu the church.
T! be identified with the
church, and the chui hy.
■new no bounds, and the
Church, nourished in the bosom of the State, stung
to death it> would-1
A third period followed, from 1050 to 1250, in which the Church Usurped tile function of the State,
and brought the world to her feet The papa
to lord it over the bodies as well as the SOUJS of men.
lietly appropriating to itself the prerogatives and
traditions of pagan Rome-, it wielded over tile world an equally absolute and despotic power.
Then followed the period of power. In Ililde- brand's claim to jurisdiction over all civil govern- ments, ill Henry the [V. purchasing his crown by penitential prayers as he waited barefoot in the snow at Canossa, and especially in the wresting from the emperor of the right of the election of the popes, and
CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION 17
of it to the cardinals as the of the
church, we may trace, as the historian already quoted
steps of hierarchy toward al Lute dominion, tern] - well as spiritual.
riocL As the first was the the second the period of
> the fourth
Papal
Iced u\
'.nirch ai was
re her en Sofi om the
tve of the I
in \Uriui-
. rch run throu -li it- four sf
It had
an,
f a true church.*1
L
the ' , " I [id-
imunicat d,
it the stake. The
tninated ; John
Hu .ill ;
ring his
A •
Hut [n many ways. "The
." The tion of the . The
be that the irch and iniquitous and dis-
turning point, the beginning of .: well said, u is the
w
l8 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
As the Renaissance was " the new birth of the hu- man intellect," and the Reformation " the new birth of the human conscience," so what is known as the Revolution in England, Fiance, and America was uthe new birth of the human will" — the providen- tial unfettering of human life for its highest activities. In spite of all the darkness, the morning hour had come of that glad day which we now enjoy, and which, however it may be overcast, can never, we may be sure, set in human bondage and gloom.
THE PRINCIPLE RECOGNIZED BY THE FOUNDERS OF OUR REPUBLIC.
In the providence of God it was reserved for the United States of America to abolish forever, as far as the general government could do it, this unnatural alliance of Church and State, and to secure the most sacred of all rights and liberties to all her citizens — the liberty of religion and the free exercise thereof. Thus there was given to the world the first example in history of a great civil government deliberately adopting this principle of separation, and depriving itself forever of all legislative control over religion.
The embodiment of that principle in the American Constitution and the actualizing of it in the ad- ministration of onr government, forms, therefore, one of the great landmarks in human history.
THE AMERICAN IDEA.
The true American idea of the relation of civil government to religion, is not to be sought, of course, in old English legislation, or in colonial conceptions and institutions; or even in certain questionable Supreme Court decisions ; but in that great instru- ment which is the organic law of the republic, the Magna Charta of our liberties, and the one authorita- tive exponent of the genius of onr government. That instrument avowedly recognizes " the free exercise
CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION 19
and enjoyment of religion as an jnherent, inviolable, and inalienable right of man," and secures full liberty of religious thought, speech, and action, " within the limits of the public peace and order." It exacts that "110 religious test shall ever be required as a quali- fication to any office or public trust under the United States." It makes as clear as human language can make it that the government does not adopt or es- tablish Christianity, or constitute itself in any formal sense a " Christian nation." The fathers of the re- public were God-fearing men. The foundations of the republic were laid in faith and prayer ; but the Constitution is avowedly and skillfully framed so as not to give the Christian religion any more than any other the shadow of precedence or special privilege.
CIVIL GOVERNMENT HAS NO RELIGIOUS FUNCTION.
The American idea, then, as thus reflected in our organic law, is that civil government has 110 religious function. Not even Cavour's much-lauded doctrine of a free Church in a free State finds recognition or support in the American Constitution.
It does not undertake to define a "church," in its idea, essence, or marks. It gives no slightest sign of a recognition of the existence or non-existence of churches or of a church. As far as the government is concerned, the citizen may associate with his fellows in worship or worship individually and privately ; yea, so far as the State knows or claims to have any right to know, he may be an atheist and absolutely hostile to religion ; but if he is obedient to civil laws, he is persona grata before the law.
According to this idea, not only every Christian has rights, whether he be Roman Catholic or Protes- tant, Episcopalian or Baptist, Swedenborgian, Unita- rian, or Seventh-Day Adventist ; but the Jew also has rights, rights and immunities equal to and the same as those of the Christian. Yea, more, Jew and
20 the; southern baptist pulpit
Mohammedan; Buddhist, Theosophist, and Confu- cianist; Huxley, the agnostic; Frederic Harrison, the positivist; Felix Adler, the ethical culturist ; Col. Ingersoll, the agitating skeptic ; Emerson, the trau- scendentalist, if they are citizens, stand upon exactly the same plane of right and privilege: Only let them be law-abiding men, and they may be this or that religiously, or utterly nondescript otherwise ; they are guaranteed freedom' to enjoy their religion, or their non-religion, with " none to molest or to make them afraid." In other words, according to the American idea, the civil code is negative, not positive. _ The power of the State is power of police. Its function is justice, not love. Its demand of men is duty to man, not duty to God, and even this duty is limited so as to be not the positive doing of good, but simply the abstaining from doing wrong unto our fellows. As regards religion, it has nothing to do but to secure liberty to the individual and protection to the or- ganized religious society or worshiping assembly.
SOME SIGNIFICANT SIDELIGHTS.
That this is the idea and spirit of the Constitution may be further shown in the history of the formation of that instrument; in the known opinions and public utterances of the founders and first president of the re- public; and in the interpretation of the constitutional amendments and provisions touching religion by the most competent and incorruptible of American jurists and statesmen. It is a matter of record that in March, 1788, a meeting of Baptists was held in Virginia, at which were present representatives from New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and other States, in which the question was taken up, whether the Consti- tution made sufficient provision for religious liberty. Upon consultation with Mr. Madison, they determined to address General Washington, and in August, 1789, they did so in these words :
CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION 21
4 'When the Constitution first made its appearance in Virginia, we had unusual strugglings of mind, fearing that the liberty of conscience (dearer to us than property and life) was not sufficiently secured. Perhaps our jealousies were heightened on account of the usage we received in Virginia under the British Government, when mobs, bonds, fines, and prisons were our frequent repast."
The great first president of the republic, though trained in an Established church, and at a time too, when men had not ceased to think that they who ad- ministered flogging, imprisonment, and even direr persecutions for religion's sake, were verily doing God's service, responded, setting forth the spirit of the Constitution in words which, like those of the Constitution itself, have been the wonder and the ad- miration of statesmen, historians, and lovers of liberty the world over :
"If I could have entertained the slightest ap- prehension that the Constitution framed in the con- vention where I had the honor to preside might pos- sibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesi- astical society, certainly I would never have placed my signature' to it ; and if I could now conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded that no one would be more jealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every spe- cies of religious persecution. As you doubtless re- member, I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man, conducting himself as a good citizen and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own con- science."
Other dissenting bodies were also active in demand- ing explicit guarantees against any semblance or pos-
22 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
sibility of the establishment of a religion in the young republic ; and it was in consequence of such demands that the first Congress, under the leadership of James Madison, proposed to the States the im- mortal First Amendment, which so explicitly and un- mistakably provides that " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or pro- hibiting the free exercise thereof."
But let us note the idea, strictly speaking, is not American. It was no invention of our people or our times. Traced to its source it is found to be neither English nor French nor American nor even modern, but Christian. Its author is none other than He who spake these "words, iLRender unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and tffito God the things that are God's," and who taught that great, new doctrine of the kingdom of God, " Mv kingdom is not of this world."
THE LEAVEN AT WORK IN OTHER LANDS.
The influence exerted by the United States in this respect upon other countries where the old order sur- vives, has been incalculable. The forces and ideas that have been dominant here have been powerfully operative elswhere, especially in European lands. A new day has dawned in the British empire. The Protestant church of Ireland has been set free from the control of the legislature. Scotland is asking for the application of the same principle of religious equality. Thirty-one out of thirty-four represent- atives of the Welsh people are charged to seek the termination of the connection that binds the Epis- copal Church in Wales to the British Parliament, and with this problem the House of Commons is now wrestling. Then the separation of Church and State is already accomplished in the habitual thought of the English people. Men are behaving on every hand " as though the formal deed of separation were
CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION 23
already drawn and were only waiting for the signa- tures of the respective parties therto." " In theory," says Dean Stubbs, " Church and State were intended to grow together, but in practice the State has out- grown the Church, and left it, as it were, centuries behind." " Not by any law, expressed or implied, but by the assumption of the clerical party," says Canon Barnett, " the nation has become separate from the church." Episcopalians have come themselves to recognize the gradual detachment of the Anglican Church from the life of the people, and an elect few, among whom the new Bishop of Hereford takes primary rank, " are prepared, if not to welcome, yet unfearingly to allow, the total severance of the bond which has bound together for so many centuries the Anglican Church and the Crown." "Every year," says Dr. John Clifford, "adds to the number of Churchmen in England, as well as in Wales, who would rejoice in the Act of Separation, if only the re- sources of which the church is at present possessed were not in any way diminished."
As to English Nonconformists, they cling, not with less but with more tenacity than their fathers did, to the fundamental principle that any arrange- ment by which Parliament controls and administers the inward life and actions of societies of Christians, is contrary to the express teaching of the Lord Jesus, an invasion of his rights as the Sole Ruler and King of his people, and is historically proved to be fraught wTith great mischief to the disciples of Christ, to the progress of religion, and to the welfare of the people at large.
THE WHOLE QUESTION ENTERING UPON ITS FINAL PHASE.
These are but a few of many indications, says Dr. Clifford, that the whole question of the organization of the State for the promotion of religion has entered
24 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
upon another, and probably its final, phase. It is no longer possible to ignore the new thought of men concerning the State and religion, the kingdom of God and the churches, now working with silent but surprising energy the world over. The divine right of any church to " establishment " and " endowment," has come to be recognized as but the survival of the " divine right" of kings to rule without the consent of the people, " a right introduced among English- speaking people only by a distinct violation of the historical principles of English development. u New factors indeed, of special significance, have found their way into the problem within the last fifty years. New conceptions of the State and of religion, of Christianity and of the churches and of their relation to one another, have come into play, and, as this great Englishman has said, are actually remaking our world.
There is growing up too, a fresh interpretation of religion, which is one of the formative forces of modern life. It is still recognized, if possible more clearly than ever, as the basis of morality, and as in- dispensable for the regulation of conduct and the building up of character ; but men have come to see that ecclesiasticism is not of the essence of religion, nor is sacerdotalism, nor dogmatism, nor intellectual orthodoxy, nor even ritual observance. Religion is not a matter of rules and forms, but of spirit and truth ; not a matter of doctrines and symbols merely, but of habits of mind toward men and toward God.
DISESTABLISHMENT CEASES TO BE DREADED.
Even English churchmen who a quarter of a cen- tury ago looked upon disestablishment as a dreaded calamity involving the fall of the u bulwark of Prot- estantism," are delivered from that fear now, for they see that the control of Parliament brings no advan- tage to Protestantism, while self-control, as in the
CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION 25
Colonies, in Ireland, and in the United States, would be attended with a quickened sense of responsibility on the part of the laity, a heightened appreciation of "Protestant principles," and a greater prosperity in all departments of the church's work. They have come to realize, as Lord Rosebery says, that " the essence of the church is spiritual ; the inspiration, the traditions, the gracious message, the divine mis- sion, the faith that guides us through the mystery of life to the mystery of death— all these were produced in poverty, in the cottage of a carpenter, and flour- ished under persecution ; and that nothing can be so remote from their essence or their spirit as wealth, or power, or dignity in this world ; " in short, that the supreme forces of Christianity are altogether beyond the touch of parliaments or senates. Moreover, they have come to feel profoundly that the church is no longer even approximately coextensive with the nation, and that, as Canon Moberly says, for the nation to continue to profess churchmanship nationally, involves ua necessary and considerable unrealitv in the profession." "The nation," he says, u is 'too much divided to be able longer to retain any single corporate religion" ; therefore, "the maintenance of official profession involves us, from time to time, in scenes of painful religious unreality." Even Canon Iyiddon seemed to foresee the inevitable when in one of his great sermons he gave warning in these sig- nificant words : " Churches are disestablished and disendowed to the eye of sense through the action of political parties ; to the eye of faith by His interfer- ence who ordereth all things both in heaven and in earth, and who rules at this moment on the same principles~as those which of old led him to cleanse his Father's temple in Jerusalem."
REACTIONARY INFLUENCES IN AMERICA. Coming back to our land, the integrity and full
26 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
extension of this great idea have been threatened at times all along the years by some persistent relics of the old order which survive in certain national cus- toms, State constitutions, and popular ecclesiastical traditions. While the most marvelous progress has been making in the thought of other peoples in the direction of disestablishment, certain reactionary influences have been perceptible in the United States. The last few years, indeed, have witnessed a remark- able revival of the antique ideas and tendencies which it was the effort of our forefathers to throw off and leave behind ; and as a result, the full embodiment and perpetuity of the great principles that constitute the most distinguishing characteristic of our national law and life seem to be threatened anew.
At a time when the British people are abandoning the idea that their religion consists in subscription to Articles of Faith, or in any formal definition of God or theories of the inspiration of the Bible, not a few over-zealous Americans are found making the most persistent and concerted efforts to secure new amend- ments to the Constitution by which the existence of God, the divinity of Christ, and the inspiration of the Scriptures shall be authoritatively recognized. When canons of the English church are pronouncing the maintenance of a national profession of religion in England " a necessary and considerable unreality," ministers of the gospel in free America are found laboring most strenuously with the avowed object of bringing our general government to a legal profession of religion — of Christianizing the Constitution ! It becomes more and more apparent, of course, to intel- ligent and thoughtful people, that the proposition is utterly repugnant to our national history and princi- ples, as well as to Christianity itself. The Constitu- tion was not designed as " a Confession of Faith," but as ua compact between States, defining the powers and limitations of the general government, so
CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION 2J
as to establish and maintain a true and rightful union."
Akin to this is the effort that has been even more persistently made to secure a constitutional amend- ment making the religious use of the Bible and the teaching of the distinctive truths of Christianity obligatory in the public schools. "Let the devo- tional exercises be reduced to a minimum if neces- sary— to the reading of the Bible, the recital of the Lord's Prayer, and the singing of a hymn," men are found contending, "and let just the elementary truths of religion be taught — truths so simple and broad that none can reasonably object to them, and that is all that we ask." Good men, able ministers of the gospel, even Baptists of high standing, are found visiting committee rooms and halls of legislation, urged on by a zeal which is not according to knowl- edge, seemingly utterly oblivious of the truth that lies at the foundation of our government, that it is not the function of the State to conduct worship or to teach religion.
The principle is as really violated by a little wor- ship as by the most elaborate — by the most elemen- tary religious teaching as by the most developed theo- logical instruction. Any such legislative enactment as is asked for would virtually give over the whole contention. It would be the beginning of a tendency ; a first step backward toward the abandoned alliance of the past ; the entrance of the camel's nose into the tent of our national life ; and who then could secure us against the ultimate coming in of the whole dreaded body of religious legislation ?
There is a sense, indeed, in which it is in vain to talk of drawing a line between the religious and the secular ; for no such line really exists. Religion is the spirit in which all secular life should be carried on. Even the teaching and training of our public schools should be vitalized with the essential spirit of
28 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
Christianity. It is the right and duty of the State to prepare its citizens for citizenship, and this cer- tainly involves moral training inspired by the spirit of reverence and love. Even a Huxley contends that our boys and girls are to be prepared not only for the discharge of domestic duties, but for duties as mem- bers of a social and political organization of great complexity ; and to this end it is needful " that their affections should be trained, so as to love with all their hearts that conduct which tends to the attain- ment of the highest good for themselves and their fellow-men, and to hate with all their heart that opposite course of action which is fraught with evil." But this is far from granting the right of that worst form of paternalism, the paternalism of government that usurps the place of the home and the church in the religious training of the young. It does not require that we yield the point that the State as such, has no religious function.
The principle is evidently and palpably violated, again, by any and all appropriations of money from the treasury of the State or of the United States for religious purposes. It is this violation of the princi- ple that has thrown us into such confusion over the school question. But we are coming to see, not only the inequalities, but the inherent unrighteousness, of the division of our public school funds to the support- of any form of sectarian, or parochial schools, or charitable institutions. All government appointments or appropriations for religious purposes, or on religious grounds, are not only open to the charge of govern- mental favoritism for one church or denomination over another, but are in utter violation of the princi- ple we are contending for, and of the spirit of our laws and institutions.
CONCLUDING APPEAL.
Bartholdi's statue, in the harbor of our great
CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION
29
metropolis, has more significance, as has been finely suggested, as applicable to soul liberty than to per- sonal or civil freedom. That, in its glorious ampli- tude, is America's greatest contribution to the science of politics and to the art of government.
God forbid that her own citizens, Christian citizens, descendants of forefathers who counted not their lives dear unto themselves that they might secure the recognition and perpetuity of this great principle in our national law and life, in misguided zeal should do aught to dim the splendor of that light, or to neutral- ize its far-reaching influence !
II
BY W. II. Will rSITT, D. D., I I .D.
.ik unto the children rwviH llxod.
M : 15.
r I ^HE earliest general organization among American L Baptists was the *' General Mi Conven-
li< -n of the Baptist I tan >mination in the United States of America i ■ Foreign Missions," organized by thirty- three delegates, i s, in the city of Philadelphia, on the eighteenth day of May, i Baptist people throughout the -
d with this body for a • i -f thirt;
In [8 ! [
the North and those of the South. The Southern Baptist Convention w nized at Augusta, <
on Thursday, th . i I May, of that year.
Just have el mportant
event, and we have met in the capital of our country our jubilee. The separation that fifty yean k be-
tween Northern and Southern Baptists was happily circumscribed in extent. It related exclusively to the missionary operations which had hitherto conducted in common. The- fathers of that day were :<>ns that this point should be clearly understood, and that the extent of the disunion should not I aggerated. The official addi nt forth by the
Convention declared that "Northern and Southern
1 II' • • ft] -li-course on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Southern r.i|)-
3
s
-
.
William Heth Whitsitt was born in Nashville. Tenn., November 25, 1S41. When he was eleven years of age his father died, leaving him to the care and training of his mother, from whom he received the rudiments of an education. In 1S57 he entered Union University and graduated with distinc- tion. He then spent one year at the University of Virginia studying Latin. Greek, mathematics, and moral philosophy, and afterward took a two years' course at the Southern Baptist Theo- logical Seminary. The two following years were spent in study at the universities of Leipzig and Berlin, Germany.
Returning to America in 1871 he entered the pastorate at Albany, Ga., from which he was called in 1872 to a profes- sorship in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which he held until his election in May, 1895. to succeed Dr. John A. Broadus in the presidency of that institution. That he should be chosen by men who knew them both to succeed such a man efficient testimony to his character, his learning, and his :o render unnecessary any comment here.
A RETROSPECT 3 1
Baptists are still brethren. They differ in no article of the faith. They are guided by the same principles of gospel order. . . We do not regard the rupture as extending to foundation principles, nor can we think that the great body of our Northern brethren will so regard it. ' '
Though the division related to nothing else than foreign and domestic missions, it was nevertheless unavoidable. One of our statesmen declared that the issues then pending between the North and the South constituted k'an irrepressible conflict." History has justified the correctness of that conclusion. The best and wisest men in the North consented to a division because they regarded it as being, under the circumstances, a necessary evil ; the wisest and best men in the South accepted the division as being im- peratively required by the situation.
In many respects the separation has also been of signal advantage. It was of advantage to our North- ern brethren, because it promoted their peace and union. They could never have been rightly at har- mony among themselves so long as their Southern brethren remained in the same organization. It was of advantage to Southern Baptists in different direc- tions, but especially because it developed their mis- sionary enterprise and activity. To illustrate what is here affirmed, certain statistics may be cited with re- lation to the American Baptist Home Mission Society, which was the organ through which operations in do- mestic missions were prosecuted by the Baptists of the whole country from 1S32 to 1S45. During that period of thirteen years the entire sum of contributions from the Southern States was thirty-eight thousand six hundred and fifty-six dollars and forty cents. During a like period under the Southern Baptist Convention, the contributions for domestic and Indian missions amounted to two hundred and sixty-six thousand three hundred and fifty-six dollars and thirteen cents.
32 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
This gratifying advance was worth all the pain and sacrifice that we had to endure in breaking up the re-- latious that had hitherto subsisted with our Northern brethren.
It is also a matter of sincere rejoicing that the sepa- ration here described was for the most part a peace- able one. Friction was unavoidable, and it is not de- nied that more or less of it was developed. But pub- lic negotiations on either side were marked by the dig- nity and moderation that become Christian brethren. That excellent result was due, in large measure, to the singularly elevated character and devout piety of the contending parties. Moreover, we cannot be too grateful that there were no questions regarding the division of a common property to excite the thoughts of men to undue asperity. It is likewise a special mercy of Providence that in all the fifty years of our history there have been no very important conflicts touching the boundaries that should exist between Northern and Southern Baptists. The evils of dis- union would have been greatly enhanced if we had been forced to waste our resources and opportunities in building rival houses of worship for Northern and Southern Baptist churches in all the cities, and even towns and villages, adjacent to the border. Let us recognize our exceedingly fortunate situation and al- ways do what lies in our power to keep the peace.
The half-century of our Convention's history may be divided into three separate periods, each of which has a well-defined character of its own.
i. The first of these is the period in which slavery still prevailed, extending from 1845 to 1865. I* *s not easy correctly to estimate the number of Baptist people within our bounds at the opening of this period. Dr. J. L. Burrows, in his excellent u Ameri- can Baptist Register," estimates that we had four hundred and two thousand and sixty-eight members in our Southern churches in the year 1852. Possibly
A RETROSPECT 33
there were not more than three hundred and fifty thousand in the year 1845. of tnese at least. one hundred thousand were slaves, who had few inde- pendent churches of their own, but almost uniformly belonged to the organizations of their masters. Sub- tracting these from the total, we shall have two hun- dred and fifty thousand as the approximate number of white Baptists in 1845.
The progress and development of our constituents during the greater portion of this period were rapid and steady. It is entertaining to consider how differ- ent was the tone that was observed in the year 1846 from that which prevailed in the year 1859. .The e.x" cellent corresponding secretary of the Foreign Mis- sion Board, Dr. James B. Taylor, gravely reminded the Convention that " the population of the South is comparatively small. Our churches are not of easy access, their 111 embers being often scattered over many miles of territory. . . Our country is not filled up with towns and villages, rendering it convenient to collect the masses together, but our brethren, being principally agriculturists, must be visited upon their farms or called together at their country places of worship." In the year 1859, on tne contrary, we had begun to speak with a degree of exultation con- cerning the ample resources of our Southern Baptist churches, and to rejoice that God had blessed so many of our people with large financial means. A brief in- dication of the advance of the cause will appear in the fact that in 1847 tne contributions to the Domes- tic Mission Board were nine thousand five hundred and ninety- four dollars and sixty cents, while in 1859 the same Board received from the churches almost three times as much, namely, twenty-eight thousand four hundred and eighty-seven dollars and ninety-six cents. In 1846 there was contributed throughout the Southern States eleven thousand seven hundred and thirty-five dollars and twenty-two cents to the For-
34 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
eign Mission Board, while thirty-nine thousand eight hundred and twenty-four dollars and thirty-seven cents was received in 1859. It is not affirmed that the number of Southern Baptists had increased three- fold, in keeping with their contributions, though it must be conceded that their progress in this respect also had been highly gratifying.
The constitution adopted by our Convention at its opening session in 1845 *s> m some respects, a highly interesting document, and will repay attentive study. " The General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions," with which we had co-operated since the year 1814, was in the beginning merely a society for the promotion of foreign missions. As such, it had only one Executive Board. At a later period the interests of home missions and of Colum- bian College were likewise imposed upon the same organization. Here was a single Board with three separate departments of labor. This arrangement worked very ill, and in 1826 the day of disaster ap- peared. In consequence of that disaster, the General Missionary Convention returned to its original func- tion, and devoted itself to the prosecution of foreign missions exclusively. The work of home missions was temporarily interrupted, while Columbian Col- lege was left to its own exertions. The result of these changes was that in the Northern part of our country every separate and independent enterprise was henceforth to be prosecuted by a separate and independent society. The General Missionary Con- vention, now the Missionary Union, took charge of the work of foreign missions ; the American Baptist Home Mission Society devoted itself to domestic mis- sions, and the American Baptist Publication Society to the publication interests.
When the fathers of our Convention met together to consult about its constitution, they decided to go
A RETROSPECT 35
back beyond the convulsions of the year 1826, and as far as possible to adopt the principles and methods which had prevailed from the beginning in the Gen- eral Missionary Convention. One change, however, was dictated by prudence and by an accurate knowl- edge of the facts. Instead of establishing a South- ern Baptist Convention with a single Board, which should have charge of several different departments of denominational exertion, it was decided to estab- lish two co-ordinate Boards, each of which should be dependent upon the body that had originated them. These co-ordinate Boards, one for foreign and the other for domestic missions, were but the forerunners of other interests. In 185 1 the Bible Board was es- tablished at Nashville, Tennessee. In 1859 the Theo- logical Seminary, with a certain relation of depend- ence upon the Convention, was set in operation at Greenville, South Carolina. In 1863 a Sunday-school Board was also established at Greenville. In 1888 the Woman's Missionary Union was recognized and as- signed to a home in Baltimore. In 1891 another Sunday-school Board was created and sent to Nash- ville ; and in 1893 the Southern Baptist Educational Conference began its existence in close touch with the Convention.
The relations of these different bodies to the cen- tral organization may not always be uniform ; and yet they are each one in its own way dependent on the Convention. Historical development and the training that has been received by our people for fifty years require that every religious enterprise carried on among white Baptists within the limits of the Southern Baptist Convention shall be in one or other form auxiliary to the Convention. Whatever may be out of touch, and especially out of harmony, with this body, is liable to meet with more or less decided opposition, and to occasion more or less of conflict.
The earliest period of our history as a religious or-
36 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
ganization was closed amid the tremendous struggle and desolations of the war between the States. The Bible Board at Nashville passed away and was de- cently interred during this troublous season. The Board of Foreign Missions was greatly crippled in its operations, but disaster was averted by the devotion and sacrifices of some of the missionaries and of ex- cellent brethren in Maryland and Kentucky, to whom we must always be under obligations. The Domestic Mission Board devoted its attention chiefly to the sol- diers in the Southern armies, where it was useful and successful.
II. PERIOD OF POVERTY AND PERU, — 1865-1879
It would be difficult to overestimate the extent of the poverty and distress that prevailed in the Southern country immediately after the war. Desolation reigned in every quarter. Almost everything was destroyed except the courage of the people. It goes without saying that our churches suffered along with other interests. The apprehensions of the people regarding the commonest necessities were so constant and so keen that there was often little time or thought for any other concern. Many houses of worship had been dismantled through military occupation or by the violence of conflict, and it was often a question whether it would ever again be possible to restore them to their original condition.
In the midst of these cares and sorrows our es- teemed colored brethren retired from our churches almost to a man. The parting, though mutually painful, was accompanied by mutual good wishes. But it could not be prevented, and we were com- pelled to accept the inevitable.
Not long after the war came the trials and repres- sion of the era of reconstruction. Ten years of con- fusion were entailed by this policy ; a period in which our privations and anxieties were scarcely inferior to
A RETROSPECT 37
those we had endured during the four years of armed conflict.
To this aggregation of evils was added the remark- able financial panic that overtook the country in the autumn of 1873, whose results were keenly felt almost by every inhabitant of our section for six or seven years. The experience of those long days of torture and humiliation are still remembered and will haunt many people as an evil dream as long as they live in the world.
If the affairs of the Convention were in a sorry plight, this was nothing more than might justly be said of every other business enterprise. An attempt was made at Russellville, in 1866, to revive the Bible Board, and to establish its home at Louisville ; but the Board was too dead for resurrection. If the reso- lution had not been faithfully embalmed in the min- utes, it would not be known that any human being had been bold enough to recall the defunct institution.
The Sunday-school Board existed for ten short years, and in 1873 was dissolved at Mobile, its effects and its functions being committed to the care of the Domestic Mission Board. Unfortunately, however, the situation of the latter Board was by no means assured. As early as 187 1, there were suggestions of merging it into the Board of Foreign Missions. The specious plea was urged that it would be more econo- mical if we returned to the identical platform which proved so unfortunate for the General Missionary Convention and sustained only a single Board, which should prosecute the general work of home as well as foreign missions. These dangerous intimations were defeated, but the Board was not thereby restored to its former vigor. Centrifugal forces were everywhere at work. Several of the States had organized mission Boards to care for their own territory, and honorable State Conventions deliberately passed resolutions by which the Domestic Mission Board should be excluded
38 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
from their boundaries. These proposed to take charge of the entire work of home missions, allowing the Convention to make no collections and to extend no assistance in any place where their authority was respected.
Still other States had entered upon terms of co- operation with rival organizations situated in other sections of the country. That was notably true of the district west of the Mississippi River, which, by one process or another, had all been lost to the Domestic Mission Board. It had no agent, and was rendering no assistance in any portion of that wide territory. This process of disintegration was not confined to the trans-Mississippi department. In some of the States on the eastern side of the river brethren had turned away from the Domestic Board and were working in connection with rival societies. The outlook was as gloomy as it well could be.
In addition to the above, the seminary was all the while in grave peril. It encountered three crises of cardinal importance : one in the year 1869, at Macon ; another in 1874, at Jefferson, Texas ; and a third in 1879, at Atlanta, Georgia. They must have been comparatively few who had courage enough in those evil days to conceive any firm faith in the future of the institution.
Under all these circumstances it was nothing more than one might expect, that questions concerning the life or death of the Convention should in due time be raised. That issue was brought forward and dis- cussed at Atlanta, Georgia, during the session of the Convention in 1879. Here was indeed a "battle of the giants." No such momentous controversy has been brought before us in the entire course of our history. On the afternoon of the first day an impres- sive preamble and a couple of resolutions were pro- posed.
This document was expressed in diplomatic terms,
A RETROSPECT 39
and yet it was generally understood that it related mainly to the question of "preserving our separate organization." As in the case of all issues of first- class importance, the business was referred to a com- mittee composed of one from each State. When it came up for discussion on the morning of Saturday, May 10, 1879, after an address by the chairman, it was moved by John A. Broadus, of Kentucky, to strike out the two resolutions, and on that proposition a de- bate was held which lasted throughout the day. Shortly before adjournment in the afternoon, the mo- tion of Dr. Broadus was carried, and an amended resolution was substituted in the following terms: "The committee to whom were referred the resolu- tions on co-operation with our Northern brethren, have had the same under consideration, and instruct me to report the following resolution :
" Resolved, That five brethren be appointed by this Convention to bear to our Baptist brethren of the Northern States, at their approaching anniversaries, expressions of our fraternal regard, and assurances that while firmly holding to the wisdom and policy of preserving our separate organizations, we are ready, as in the past, to co-operate cordially with them in promoting the cause of Christ in our own and foreign lands."
In this manner an issue was quietly closed which had threatened us with the most serious consequences, and there has never been a moment since the year 1879 when it was even remotely possible for such a question to be again discussed before the Convention.
The forces that conspired together to defend the life of the Convention in that dark and trying ordeal deserve respectful mention. The theological sem- inary, in its deep poverty and embarrassment, found in the Convention an indispensable support. It re- quired an organization to which it could declare its sorrows year by year, and from which it could obtain
40 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
much needed assistance. On these grounds, as well as many others, the seminary has always vigorously advocated the continued maintenance of the Con- vention.
But the sturdiest prop of an institution that was almost ready to fall was the Board of Foreign Missions. It had no rivals in prosecuting the foreign mission work of Southern Baptists. On either side of the Mississippi all States and Territories were open to it ; its agents were kindly welcomed everywhere. By consequence it was in its power to exhibit a degree of prosperity that was unusual for that time, and to present reports that were always gratifying and often surprising. Friends of the Convention could urge with entire propriety that there was no serious call to surrender as long as this creditable work remained intact.
At the close of our first fifty years of success and trial it is becoming to bestow a deserved meed of ac- knowledgment and gratitude upon the sturdy Board of Foreign Missions, and upon its noble correspond- ing secretary, Dr. H. A. Tupper, for the splendid services it was given them to render us. They brought succor and strength and deliverance when other helpers all failed. Without their assistance we should not have been able to celebrate our jubilee to-day.
III. PERIOD OF PROSPERITY — 1879-1895.
Almost every interest connected with the southern section of our country began to display marked energy after the year 1879. Our Convention took a new lease of existence, and after long years of weakness experienced afresh the joys of life.
The theological seminary, which it was appre- hended might be suspended forever at the close of its sessions in May, 1880, found a deliverer in the person of Governor Joseph E. Brown, of Georgia. In March,
A RETROSPECT 41
1880, he bestowed upon it a gift of fifty thousand dollars, coupled with the condition that within a specified period the amount should be raised to two hundred thousand dollars, and this kept forever sacred as an endowment fund. Here was the begin- ning of progress. The fund of two hundred thousand dollars was duly completed, and proved to be only the foundation upon which in the past sixteen years a large superstructure has been reared. Our seminary is one of the most important Baptist institutions of theological learning in the country, or in the world. A certain proportion of the means that constitute this large plant was bestowed by brethren from the North- ern States, and it is a sincere pleasure to recognize their generosity and give them thanks. But we have not waited for other people. We have remembered the duty of helping ourselves. The great bulk of the property belonging to the theological seminary must be considered as a monument of the rising prosperity of the Southern States and of the increasing liberality of Southern Baptists.
The receipts of the Foreign Mission Board began to grow apace with the year 1880. In the thirty-four years between 1845 an& 1879 this Board received from all sources, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand three hundred and seventy-seven dollars and twenty- three cents. In the sixteen years that have elapsed since that period it has received one million four hun- dred and eleven thousand five hundred and twenty- nine dollars and fourteen cents. Here is no time to enter into minute details, but we cannot omit to con- gratulate ourselves upon the brilliant advances that have been recorded in foreign missions. The fields which up to 1879 had been cultivated in Africa, China, and Italy have been greatly reinforced and improved, while other fields have been opened and successfully cultivated in lands that were not then occupied by us. Our missions may not be all that
42 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
we could desire, but we are heartily proud of them, and are willing for them to be compared with the work performed by other denominations.
The Home Mission Board, which had so long been in an enfeebled condition, began to receive new favor after 1879. In the year 1882 it was reconstructed at Greenville, South Carolina, and, under Dr. I. T. Tichenor, started upon a career of prosperity that has been the joy and the marvel of our recent history. Experience has amply demonstrated that this agency is necessary to the prosperity and efficiency of the Convention. Therefore we may well rejoice in every influence that contributes to strengthen the hands and to improve the resources of the Home Mission Board.
Something new under the sun began to display itself at Greenville. We had long been accustomed to comparatively small assemblies and slight attend- ance upon the sessions of the body. Some of us, hoping to correct this evil, were striving to induce our brethren to return to the former practice of hold- ing biennial sessions. At Greenville the magnificent crowds began to appear that have recently become such a striking feature of our convocations. There were six hundred and sixteen members at Baltimore in 1884; Louisville entertained six hundred and fifty- six in 1887 ; and in other instances the figures have gone still higher. This remarkable change indicates the fact that our Baptist people have always felt a gratifying amount of interest in our affairs. I believe we have possessed the hearts of the people in a way that can be claimed by few of the religious organiza- tions of our country. The people would have been present even in the darkest hours of our history, but poverty forbade them. As soon as it became finan- cially possible for them to travel, they were delighted to put in their appearance. While we have a constit- uency of such numbers, character, and resources,
A RETROSPECT 43
there can be no further thought of surrender. A spirit of hopefulness and enterprise has been gaining ground for years. We feel that we can accomplish whatever it is sensible and prudent for us to under- take. The time has come when, without conceit, we may consider that we are well able to possess the land in which our lot is cast.
In the gloomiest period of our suffering and priva- tion the wise and hopeful corresponding secretary of the Foreign Mission Board, Dr. H. A. Tupper, began to encourage and promote among our women an in- terest in the subject of missions. The earliest central committee was organized under his direction in the year 1876, and with persistent enthusiasm he pressed the enterprise wherever he could find an opportunity. There were many obstacles and many opponents, but in the year 1888, was finally established the Woman's Missionary Union. From the outset the women have been exceedingly helpful, but since the establishment of a central Board, they have become, in several im- portant respects, the right arm of our power.
Members of the Convention were greatly mortified and discouraged by the failure of the Sunday-school Board, in 1873. For long years it was permitted to rest in peace. We were so often reminded that such an enterprise could not succeed in the South, that we were almost afraid to touch it a second time. But finally, some of our brethren screwed their courage to the sticking place and brought the matter to the attention of the Convention at two different sessions. After a thorough discussion of the subject in the press and on the platform, the Convention, in its session at Birmingham, in 1891, organized a new Sunday-school Board at Nashville. The result has transcended the most sanguine anticipations. The Sunday-school Board has done as much as any agency in recent years to excite a sense of pride in our Convention and of confidence in our capacities.
44 THK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
One of the best consequences of the new and firmer hold on life which we have gained in the prosperous period of our history has. been the increased repose and dignity which have thereby been encouraged. Especially have our sentiments grown more kindly and more fraternal toward our Northern brethren. The fact that our footing has been more secure has likewise operated to increase our interest in our col- ored brethren, and it is possible that in coming years it may be given us to do more to "elicit, combine, and direct " their energies for their own advantage than we have ever accomplished in the past.
I have chosen as the motto of my historical dis- course the word of the Lord unto Moses : " Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." And I must needs return to it in my closing sentences. Ivast year the Baptists of the Southern States contrib- uted only eight cents per member to promote the cause of foreign missions. It is presumed that a similar or even smaller amount was contributed for home missions and other objects ; but as I have not the facts at hand, it will be desirable to speak only of foreign missions. We have made great progress since the opening year of the Convention. Our regular contributions have advanced something like tenfold while our membership has hardly increased above five- fold. But we are still much behind our privileges and our duty. The other great popular denomination of our section, the Southern Methodist, contributed last year the sum of eighteen cents a member for foreign missions. A comparison between them and ourselves is for several reasons more just than can be instituted between us and other religious denominations. We abide this test very ill. It seems to be the sacred duty of us all, as ministers of religion and friends of missions, to speak unto the Baptists of the South that they go forward. They are surely equal to the feat which has been accomplished by our Methodist
A RETROSPECT
45
brethren. Indeed, if they should give their mind to it, they might as easily lead as follow after the Methodists. Here is a reasonable and sober standard. Let us in coming years bestir ourselves and see that we measure up to it.
< When the Convention was holding its opening ses- sion at Augusta, there was a lad just'turned eighteen years, resting under the quiet shades of Culpeper, in far- distant Virgina. He was unknown to fame. Possibly no member of the body had ever heard his name. In due time he appeared upon the scene, and for a period of thirty years played the role of our u Great Commoner." For thirty years he was the leading force in our counsels and history, and yet throughout that entire period he did not occupy the smallest office directly in the gift of the Convention. This year of our jubilee, with all its light and glad- ness, has been sadly darkened by his departure. On the # 17th of March devout men carried him to his burial and made great lamentation over him. The foremost leader of our history, great in the might of his gentleness, has passed away from us, but his fame and usefulness shall go and grow throughout the years and ages. When you who sit here shall be aged and feeble men and women, little children will gather about your knees with reverence and delight, to look upon one who has seen and heard and spoken with John A. Broadus.
Ill
THE CHRISTIAN HOPE1
BY R. J. WILLINGHAM, D. D.
" Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stead- fast, and which entereth into that within the vail." Heb. 6:19.
WE are all creatures of hope. It enters into every relationship of human life. The day laborer goes forth in the early morning not having received his wages, but he labors in hope of the same at the end of the day, week, or month. The physician works in hope, the lawyer works in hope. The mer- chant lays in his stock of goods hoping to sell, hop- ing to collect. The tiller of the soil goes through heat and cold sowing, cultivating, waiting in hope. The parents in the home with the little child pa- tiently do their duty in hope ; you think the little one thoughtless, careless of the future ; not so with them. Many fond hopes show them a bright future of usefulness for the loved one. What is true in all these spheres of life is true in the Christian life as the child of light looks to the days to come. We have not seen heaven, the great white throne, the angels of light, and yet we press on, day after day, year after year, because we have hope.
What is the basis of hope ? Faith. Without faith there can be no hope. Strong faith gives strong hope. Weak faith begets weak hope. What is the basis of faith ? Promises. What is the strength of
1 Preached in the Central Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C, dur- ing the Jubilee Session of the Southern Baptist Convention. 46
■
1\. J. WlI.I.I.Ni.llAM, |.
Robert Josiah Wilungham was born May 15, 1854, in Beaufort District, S. C. His father, Deacon B. L. Willingham, now of Macon, Ga., has been for years a very prominent lay- man; quite successful in business, wise in counsel, and liberal in heart, he exerts a wide influence for good. His mother, Elizabeth Baynard, was a woman of rare gifts, of bright intellect, and very pious.
Robert joined the church at thirteen. He attended school at the University of Georgia and received the A. M. degree in 1873, graduating with high honors.
He went into business and at the same time studied law, but feeling called of God to preach, gave up all his plans and at- tended the seminary in Louisville one year.
His wife is a highly cultured and deeply pious woman. She was formerly Miss Corneille Bacon, of the noted Georgia family by that name. His pastorates were in Talbotton and Barnes- ville, Ga., and Chattanooga and Memphis, Tenn. He was very much blessed in all of these. The last six years of his pastor- ate he received over eight hundred into church-membership. He was called to the Corresponding Secretaryship of the Foreign Board in 1893, to a work which he loves and in which he has been prospered.
THE CHRISTIAN HOPE 47
promises ? The one who makes the promises. Here you have the whole connection. Hope depends on your faith in the one who makes the promises. This is true of the day laborer, the professional man, the merchant, of all. How is it with the Christian's hope ? Do we have to take the word of any man ? Do we have to build oar hopes on the promises of any being of earth ? By no means ; we have the word of Almighty God. Day by day, and year by year, we press forward because we have faith in the promises of the King Eternal. When we consider, O mortal, our hope, let us realize that we build on the rock of eternal truth, the word of God. God has spoken and sealed it with an oath. At the old St. Giles' Church, in Edinburgh, Scotland, they tell you how the Cov- enanters would not sign the covenant in the church with ink, but went to the old gravestones near by and, opening their veins, signed the document on the tombstones with their blood. God has given us promises which he has signed in the blood of his Son on Calvary. Think of it ; when the Lord God Al- mighty, the great eternal God, wished to make pro- vision for you, poor lost man, weak, debased in sin, that he might deliver you, that he might help you, that he might hold you up, that he might finally give you an entrance into his home above — he wrote the promise in the blood of his only begotten Son. Hope, hope, blessed hope in God, through the prom- ises which he has given us.
What of this hope ? It is described as an anchor to the soul sure and steadfast. See the figure which is used. A ship in a storm driven on a lee-shore finds the anchor her safety. So hope is to the Chris- tian an anchor, driven on the shoals of skepticism, in the whirlpools of disaster, in the dark nights of afflic- tion, in the mists and fogs of intellectual doubts, yea, in every trial and difficulty which sweeps around the soul. Look up and trust. God's word says of
48 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
this hope it is sure. What else of earth is sure? Mention only one thing. The longer we live the more we see how uncertain is all here. Man pro- poses, but he fails in his plans. You remember how^ the great Napoleon, in telling his plans, was reminded by an old lady of the mutability of human affairs in these words : " Remember, sire, man proposes, but God disposes." He replied with hauteur : ( ' Napoleon proposes and Napoleon dis- poses." Even then he was going to defeat. One of our grandest, best men in a neighboring State not long since stood before an audience and told how he had accumulated property for his children, purposing to leave each one twenty thousand dollars. The means were in hand. The war swept it all away. He said, tk If I cannot give it to them while I live, they shall have it when I die." He insured his life. The crash of 1873 came and the insurance companies failed. Then the children, one by one, continued to die until all had gone. He stood there alone, say- ing, u Property all gone, insurance all gone, children all gone, but Christ is mine still." The hope which had cheered his heart fiftv years before, cheered him still.
This hope is also spoken of as steadfast. The idea is similar to the preceding. Nothing of earth is steadfast. The teachings of science are constantly changing. Not that the laws of nature change. No, never ! God's laws in his works change not, but man's interpretations of them are constantly chang- ing. Yet some people seem to think science and the Bible conflict. God's works never conflict with his words. It is only the puny interpretations which are put on one or the other that conflict. Teachings of sci- ence are constantly changing, and it is well. Coperni- cus was scoffed at for his theory. He revealed how planets, with their revolving satellites, revolve around the sun. When we find out all the truth, God's throne
THE CHRISTIAN HOPE 49
will be in the center and all revolving around that. God is the author and center of this universe. The teachings of science though are part of this earth, and that changes constantly. What- is steadfast ? Take the mightiest empires and dominions of earth and their very ruins tell of weakness and decay. Go to Egypt with her glory reaching back through thousands of years and the monuments of her splendor, whose very history is forgotten, tell of the weakness of man's power. Proud Babylon is the habitation of desola- tion. Go to Athens and stand on her Acropolis, look for her splendor, and you find only the broken col- umns of the grand temple of Minerva. The theatre of Bacchus is a waste ; the prison of Socrates a hole in the rock. Desolate is the once thronged Pnyx here Demosthenes appealed to Grecian prowess, and ars Hill, where Paul would awaken the still nobler instincts of manhood in calling on them for fidelity to God. Yet, all of these things cause a stillness to come over the soul, and an echo from the past inter- mingles with the sigh of the wind as it sweeps over the ruins with the ever-recurring refrain :
Passing away, passing away ;
All of earth is weakness and decay,
Passing away, passing away.
I might ask you to look at history and see how un- stable it all is ; history is but the biography and epi- taph of men and nations — the account of how they rise and fall.
Take now your own experience. Go back twenty, thirty, or forty years ; how all has changed. Go sit in the old church again. What has come to pass ? The loved pastor gone. Dear man of God, he was faithful. But right there sat the young playmate, so bright and joyous. Where is he? Gone. He lies out yonder. Others nearer and dearer, where are they ? Gone, also. But look no more without.
50 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
Look within, at your own self. You have changed, your affections, your desires, your longings. You say the world has changed. You have changed. But remember, one day sitting there in that church you felt a strange joy in your heart. You loved God, you loved all ; you looked beyond earth ; your trust, your hope was in Christ. Many changes have come, but this has not changed. No, no, the same old hope, the blessed hope is with you still — steadfast, fixed on God.
Again, we are told of this hope that it entereth into that within the vail. This probably refers to Christ going into the Holy of Holies, even heaven itself, to intercede for us. When on Calvary he was dying, the vail which hung in the temple between the holy and most holy places was by an unseen hand from above torn in twain from top to bottom. Christ has gone into the Holy of Holies for us. We can come to God through him. We need no priest, no pope. The simplest, plainest, poorest, can come boldly to the mercy-seat and find j^race to help in time of need. Our hope takes hold on Christ himself, yea, Christ in heaven. It is said that in ancient times when the mariner wished to make a certain port, if tide or wind were against him and he could not proceed, he would send the anchor forward in a small boat and throw it out, and then with cable and capstan, draw up to that point, when he would again send it forward and thus proceed. The Christian has his anchor fixed in heaven, day by day he draws nearer. His progress may seem slow, but how sure when fixed, anchored to Christ. Do you feel tempest- tossed ? Never mind, fear not, if anchored to Christ. I read some time since of a ship in a storm on the Mediterranean. The anchor was thrown out and held with remark- able firmness through the storm. Afterward in pull- ing in the anchor, it was found that one of the flukes had taken hold of the ring in an old anchor which
THE CHRISTIAN HOPE 5 1
had lain sunken in the sea. The security of the boat was thus made sure by the smaller anchor taking hold of the larger. So, O Christian, your bark on life's sea may be tossed, but is securely being anchored into the buried but ascended Lord and Master.
What does this hope do for us ? It makes us re- joice in the Lord our God. God's people should be a rejoicing people. It is wrong to go around whining, complaining, and fussing as though we were father- less and deserted. Think for a moment. God our Father ; our sins forgiven, blotted out through Christ our Saviour ; the Holy Spirit our guide and com- forter ; heaven our home. Shall we complain ? We dishonor our Heavenly Father when we distrust him. If God has given his own Son to redeem us, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ? What good thing will he withhold from them that love him? Let us rejoice in God more, trust him, and hope in his word. Hope makes us strong ; strong to endure. Trials and difficulties will come. Foes must be met. The fearful, timid heart cowers and flees. The hopeful heart takes courage, opposes, and overcomes. The man who hopes is the man who conquers. - — —
Hope also makes us patient, and this is one element of genuine strength of character, and marks true Christian excellence. Paul stood on lofty heights when he could quietly say in the midst of difficulties and trials, " For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." He does not say, we think, or we suppose ; but, " We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
Hope helps us to work. While Christ lets us stay here watching and waiting for his coming, how much is to be done, in heart, in home, in country, in the world. And how weak we are. Who, looking at
52 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
self, so weak and unworthy, would not draw back in despair ; but looking at Christ, seeing, hearing him as he says, " My grace is sufficient for you," " Lo, I am with you alway," who cannot press hopefully for- ward, saying : " Master, lead, I will follow " ? Pre- cious thought, we are co-workers with God. We sow the seed, he gives the harvest. He says in due season we shall reap if we faint not. He tells us to be faith- ful, not successful. He will give the crown of life.
And, lastly, hope takes the gloom from death and lights lip the dying hour. What a desolation, a dark- ness to the man who looks at death and the grave without Christ there. The bottomless pit has been described as having written over the door, "He who enters here leaves hope behind." Oh, what a world of darkness and woe ! No God, no heaven, no hope, forever, forever lost. The great Saladin, when dying is said to have told the attendants to carry a winding sheet on a spear before him to the grave to let all know that was all that the great chieftain took with him. Caesar is said to have uttered in dying these words: "Is this all? Is this all?" How beautiful the picture as the aged Paul looks at death, and quietly says : " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith : Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day ; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."
Dear brethren, you have been, some of you, but a short time on the voyage ; may your hope grow stronger every day. Some have been many long years on the way. The anchor has held you through many a storm. You are almost home. The haven is at hand. Soon the billows will be passed, and you will rest in the presence of the King. I give an in- cident. Years ago a boy was returning home after having been away for months for the first time to a
THE CHRISTIAN HOPE 53
school in another State. He was on a boat going home. Somehow the boat seemed to move slowly and stop often. From time to time he would go on the upper deck and ask the captain : " Are we almost there?" And the answer would come, u Not yet." A drizzly, cold December rain set in, night came on, and the captain, seeing anxiety in the boy's face, said : " Your father told me to tell you he would meet you at the landing." By-and-by, as a turn was made in the river, the captain said : " You see that light away down yonder ; well, your father is right there waiting for you." And sure enough lie was there. Together through the darkness they went until they saw, at the head of the beautiful, broad avenue on the top of the hill, the loved old family mansion, with its lights and loving hearts, awaiting the son's coming home. Oh, how sweet the meeting, the greeting of the loved ones, the rest at home ! The journey and the dark- ness were forgotten. At home again, at home again ! Years have passed. The old family circle is broken. The billows have beaten around us. Those who waited and watched for the boy that night have gone years ago, but somehow heaven has been nearer and sweeter ever since. They seem to be waiting and watching, still saying, 4t Brother, son, we are in the home and await you." The waves beat, the darkness lowers. Christ savs, " I am the way, the truth, and the life." We trust, we hope, and through him we will meet again at home. " Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail."
IV
GROUND OF JUDGMENT
BY REV. B. H. CARROLL, D. D.
" Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my breth- ren ye have done it unto me. . . Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into ever- lasting punishment : but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. 25 : 40, 45, 4°-
FOR four thousand years after the creation of the world one forecast of the future loomed up as the great coining event before the eyes of all intelli- gences. It was the highest mountain peak in the chain of coming events. I refer to the first advent of the Son of God. The prophets climbed up the high- est mountains of inspiration, and from that lofty standpoint, having a wide sweep of vision, they strained their eyes and exercised their prophetic ken to discern the time and manner and purpose of that coming. And kings and princes longed to see that day. His coming was " the desire of all nations."
But when he came he so came as to disappoint the expectations of those who were looking for him. I mean that the guise in which he came was a terrible 'disappointment to carnal men who so long expected I him. There was not enough pomp and pageant. He did not come as a king on a throne and sur- rounded by guards and attended by conquering armies. In coming he condescended; he who thought it not robbery to be called equal with God and who was God, stooped to take the form of a slave. That is what the word means, slave, not servant. He 54
IK -ii
B. H.
B. H. Carroll, D.
B. H. Carroll was born near Carrollton, Carroll county, Miss., December 27, 1843. When he was about six years old his father moved to Drew County, Ark., and in the winter of 1858 to Burleson County, Tex. He took the A. M. degree from Baylor University. Served four years in Confederate army, and was wounded at Mansfield, Ga. He was converted in 1865 ; ordained in 1866; married to Miss Ellen Bell, at Starkville, Miss.
Dr. Carroll has been pastor of the First Baptist Church, Waco, Tex., twenty-five years. Was made a D. d. by the State Uni- versity, Nashville. The American Baptist Publication Society has brought out one volume of his sermons. The book sup- ports his reputation for being a courageous and powerful preacher of a pure gospel.
GROUND OF JUDGMENT 55
left the throne of heaven to be born in a stable and cradled in a cow-trough. And he was poor. The foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had not where to lay his head. He came in humiliation. He came as a sufferer. He came to endure the great passion ap- pointed to him. And, coming in that guise and for such purpose, there was no beauty in him when men saw him that they should desire him. To them he was without form or comeliness, and in his great suffering they esteemed him afflicted and smit- ten of God. And he stooped unto death and into death and triumphed over death in his own realm and rose above the grave, and above Jerusalem, and above the mountains, and above the clouds, and above the stars, and ever up, challenging the heav- enly portals as he rose : " Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in." And entering, he took his place upon the throne on high.
Daniel saw that. He says : " I saw in the night vis- ions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and thev brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him : hi? dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed/ ' Concerning him thus received in heaven, the Apostle Peter now says : tl Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things/1 But before he ascended he said : "I will come again. I will come in like manner as I go up. I will come in the clouds of heaven.' ' Xow, from the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, for nearly two thousand years the second advent of the Son of God has been the stupendous coming event of all the future. The eves of the
56 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
world and of the angels are fixed upon it. As the first advent caught and held with fascinating and attractive power the thought of all intelligences for four thousand years, so now the second advent fills the vision of the universe. ' ' When the Son of man shall come in his glory " — mark the emphasis, in his glory — and the implied contrast. The first time he came in his humiliation. The first time he came as a slave. When he comes again he will come in" his glory. He will come as a king indeed. He will come in all the splendid sheen of heavenly apparel. He will come environed by guards this time and with pomp and majesty and circumstance and pageantry enough to satisfy the greatest sensationalists that ever desired to see a startling thing.
But when he comes who will come with him ? The context says : " When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him." They are said to be an innumerable company ; seraphim and cherubim ; holy angels, all the holy angels. For the first time since the creation of the world heaven will be emptied. When he starts to descend that next time the decree will go forth : " Let all the angels of God fall into line." " Wheel into column," and while the eye cannot look to the end of that line of fire, all of them, all of them will come down with him. Angels ! You have heard of them. They were in paradise. They kept the way of the tree of life after expulsion from it. Abraham entertained them. When Jacob slept they came to him and he saw them descending and ascending the ladder to heaven, which symbolized the Lord Jesus Christ es- tablishing communication between the upper and the lower world. When Jesus was born a special choir of them filled the welkin of heaven with hosannas when they sang : ' ' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." They re- leased Peter from prison. They came to John. They
GROUND OF JUDGMENT 57
smote Herod. And one of them breathed the cold chill of death into the hearts of one hundred and eighty thousand of the hosts of Sennacherib. Angels, holy angels ! I will tell you directly why they will come with him.
Who else will come with him ? We are informed in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews that now, with the innumerable company of angels in heaven and in the presence of God, are the spirits of the just made per- fect, the souls of all good men and women and chil- dren, the spirits that had been by death released from the tabernacle which fell to pieces here upon this earth. Those disembodied, but perfected and justified spirits, now in heaven, they will come with him. What is the proof? In the' letter to the Thessalo- nians Paul says : " For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." And Jude says : " Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints."
And that will be a startling denouement. When the legions of the angels have been marshaled and the decree goes forth where the spirits are resting in the paradise of God in the presence of the blessed one: "Come out, ye spirits. Come out, spirits of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Come out, all ye dis- embodied souls and fall into line. I want to take you with me. I am going to visit the earth you once inhabited. I want to carry you there for a special purpose." And so they come with him. And they come down, descending with the sound of a trumpet, and the shout of the archangel and in the sheen of flashing wings, and in the glory and splendor of heaven they come, down, down, down. They pause in the air, poised above the earth.
Simultaneously with that descent from above, the descent of the King in his glory and of his holy angels and of the just made perfect with him, there
58 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
is an ascent from below, and that is the calling up of the unholy angels. Satan, the great serpent, the dragon, the arch-fiend, Diabolus, the accuser of the brethren. From below, drawn by the imperious com- mand of his Creator and Judge, he will come, and his demons with him. The demons that in the days of Christ took possession of men and made them blas- pheme ; the demons that defiled souls and obstructed the progress of the gospel by wiles and stratagems and delusions and every kind of fallacy and sophis- try ; the demons who seduced men, whose doctrines poisoned the souls of men ; the demons who, under the guidance of Satan, fought every foot of the pro- gress of Jesus Christ. They will come. I will tell you why directly.
And who else will come ? The spirits of the lost will come with him. Dives and those like him in torment. Hell shall give up the dead which are in it. Men, spirits of men, who for sin on earth have been cast down in chains and darkness, are brought up from the prison-house of woe and despair, and they with the devil and his angels gather toward that central point. That will be a sublimely awful sight. Oh, it will be such a sight as no man has ever yet looked upon.
Now, as these two spiritual hosts approach to a common center, what happens? First, the dead arise. When it says the dead in Christ shall rise first, it does not mean that the dead in Christ shall arise before the wicked dead, but it means that the dead in Christ shall rise before the living Christians are changed. The first event in order is the resurrection of the dead, and living people will see it. They wrill wit- ness the opening of the graves and they will see the body that has been buried or burned, or whose ashes have been scattered to the four winds of heaven, the dead from the sea, from the forest, from under mau- soleums and from lowly and unmarked burial places,
GROUND OF JUDGMENT 59
the dead will rise. The righteous dead will rise transfigured and glorified. Corruption puts on in- corruption ; mortality, immortality. That which was sown in weakness is raised in power. But they are as yet only bodies. Now, the king yonder, look- ing down at these still, lifeless bodies of his saints shall say to his angels : " Bring them here ! Sever them from the unjust." And as they are brought, the spirits who once inhabited them recognize the houses in which they once lived, and with joy un- speakable, rush into the renovated and glorified habi- tation which they once animated ; and the whole man, soul and body, is now united, perfected and glorified and sanctified.
Then what? The living Christians, the ones who have not died, and who will never die, these undergo a change. Paul says : " Behold I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, ... at the last trump, for the dead shall be raised, and we shall be changed." And that marvelous change which took place when Enoch was translated and Elijah conveyed in a chariot of fire to heaven, that change takes place in every living Christian. Glorified without death, they are caught up with the resurrection bodies of the spirits already with Jesus — yes, together with the Lord in the air, and so shall they forever be with the Lord.
And the spirits of the lost find their bodies raised, raised immortal but not glorified, raised immortal but not conformed to the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, and these they re-enter, so that the whole man is together again. Then they stand with the unholy angels.
Now what? That leaves on earth only the living sinners. What awful things they have witnessed ! How terribly suggestive their being left alone. Ah ! what can it mean ? " Then shall two be in the field ; the one shall be taken and the other left. Two
60 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
women shall be grinding at the mill ; the one shall be taken and the other left." What does it fore- bode ? You remember that when God took the one righteous man out of Sodom and left only the living wicked, what followed. If the salt is taken away, does not corruption ensue ? If light is withdrawn, does not darkness follow ? If those whose presence alone have hitherto restrained the wrath of God, if they are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and only the living wicked are upon the earth, what fol- lows? That passage read in Malachi is fulfilled. Fire leaps forth. It rushes out from the forest ; fire from the plain ; fire from river and lake and pool and sea and ocean, until Arctic and Antarctic and South- ern and Indian and Atlantic and Pacific oceans, in one great conflagration meet the fire from the shore, and there is a deluge of fire as there had been a del- uge of water. By the same word of God that brought the deluge of water, by that same word of God, the heavens and the earth which now are kept in store are reserved unto fire unto the day of judgment and the perdition of ungodly men ; and the living wicked shall be burned up in that fire. I am not now talk- ing about hell. I am talking about the literal fire, and they die in that fire. They do not escape death. They are not transfigured. They are not transferred across the river of death. They die ; they die by fire, and they are ashes under the feet of the right- eous literally and truly. And they are raised after that death, and their bodies are immortal but not glorified. The fire had come as the water came, but as the water did not annihilate, neither will the fire annihilate. There will be a new heaven and a new earth, as before there was a new heaven and a new earth. And now, that all the preparatory steps are taken, the King takes his place on the throne.
" I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled
GROUND OF JUDGMENT 6l
away. . . And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God." And our context says: "He shall sit on the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations."
Yes, all nations shall be gathered before him. There is the supreme court whose decision is infalli- ble and irreversible. There is the tribunal which shall reverse ten thousand earthly decisions. The great white throne of eternal judgment ! All men and all angels shall stand before it.
The question now arises : Who will be judged? And I say, angels, holy angels. And what will be the ground of the judgment of holy angels? Not that they kept their first -estate — the result of that keeping hath already been with them — but because they worshiped the Son of God when they were called on to worship him ; because they served him when they were called on to serve him ; because they were the ministering spirits to them that are the heirs of salvation ; because they furthered the gospel of the Son of God, therefore are the elect angels con- firmed, and in that way is the Scripture fulfilled : 11 He shall reconcile things in heaven as well as things on earth." Then evil angels will be judged, not because they kept not their first estate — they are already cast out for that — but because they would not fall down and worship the Son of God when he was brought into the world. Because they opposed the gospel and fought it over every inch of ground. Because they beguiled men and kept them from believing in the gospel, hoodwinked and blinded them, took possession of them and degraded them. Because they persecuted the righteous. Because they worried and troubled God's people, therefore they will be judged. And there is no other ground of judg- ment for them. And that disposes of the angels, good and bad.
Now, the nations are gathered, all nations, all peo-
F
62 THS SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
pie in one congregation. There they are gathered together. What follows next? "He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." Mark the word "separate," right and left ! Right and left ! Divide, open ranks. You stand there, and you there. Father here, mother over yonder. Daughter there, son here ; brothers, one of you here, the other there. Right and left. Divide! Divide! Separate! That will take the light of hope out of the hearts of all evil men. Oh, there will be weeping at the judgment seat of Christ ! There yawns the impassable chasm. No bridge can span it. No wing can fly across it. Separate ! Sepa- rate ! Separate ! Good-bye forever !
And now comes to those on the right hand the final sentence. Oh, what a sentence ! "Come." The invi- tation, the welcome in it. " Come ye blessed of my Father, come and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Open wide the door, come in ye blessed, come in, come home, come healed, come cleansed, come washed, come whiter than snow. Come crowned. Come with harps. Come singing. Come with melody in your hearts. Come glorified. Come, ye blessed of my Father."
Why? Now, we will get into the very root of the matter. Why ? For I was an hungered and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty and ye gave me drink. I was naked and ye clothed me : I was sick and in prison and ye visited me. That is why. That proves the proposition that only one thing is the ground of judgment, only one thing, and it is the sole ground of God's judgment of men and angels, viz., their treatment of his Son Jesus Christ. That is all. There is no other. It is not that these men fell in Adam. It is not that being fallen in Adam they cursed and swore and stole and murdered ; not that. For that the sentence was already passed. They
GROUND OF JUDGMENT 63
were condemned for that already. No trial about that up yonder, not a bit. But for what ? That being fallen ; being sinners ; being condemned sinners, God brought the gospel to them. Jesus Christ came to them. An overture of salvation was made to them and they rejected that. This is the ground of judg- ment. The condemnation is that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light. For no matter how great a sinner a man is, no matter how great a sinner he has been, if sinful as he is, fallen as he was and is, he will accept the over- ture of redemption in Jesus Christ, that sets him free from condemnation forever. That acquits him. Being justified by faith he is entitled to peace with God. As many condemned sinners as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God' even to them that believed on his name. If he re- ceived the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to rescue him from the condemnation that was already on him, well for him. If he rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, woe to him. No other ground of judgment, and no plead- ing will even be listened to based on your record in other things, for on that record sentence has already been pronounced, and that judgment has already been written, and it is righteous, and you are lost and you stand lost. The sole question is, what did you do with Jesus who came to rescue you from that condemnation ? And the word of God does not give a hint of anything else as the ground of final judg- ment. J s
But just here seems to be a difficulty. If every- thing depends upon our treatment of Jesus, how can we, who never personally knew, accord him treat- ment of any kind— either good or bad ? If he says : I was hungry and ye fed me ; naked and ye clothed me ; sick and ye visited me," making everything de- pend upon the treatment of him— what else can we say: " Lord, when did we see thee an hungered;
64 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
thee sick ; thee in prison ; thee naked ? Why, yon passed out of the world eighteen hundred years be- fore I was born ; or, I passed out of the world eighteen hundred years before you wrere born. When did I give food and drink to you, and clothing to you, and visit you?" Xow, mark. This brings us to the text at the end of the service, and that is a good way to preach, lead up to the text. " Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye did it unto me." What does that prove? That the sole ground of the judgment is our treatment of Jesus Christ in his people and in his gospel, and he identi- fies himself with his people and his gospel. Now, I want to clear that up a little. I want to make it per- fectly obvious to you by an illustration. He sent out some disciples, saying: uAs you go, preach, and when you enter a city, preach in my name, by my authority, the message that I bid you, and if they re- ceive you they receive me ; and if they reject you they reject me. I make this treatment of you a per- sonal matter." Here rises a wonderful scene. I can- not get some pictures out of my mind. See these preachers coming to a place and the people who re- ceive them. What then ? He tells the preachers to do a certain thing. I can see the picture of it in my mind. Two men standing in the street of a city where they have preached Jesus and Jesus has been rejected. Now, by the commandment of Jesus Christ, they stoop down and commence untying their shoes, loosening their sandals, and they take their shoes off and, clinging to their shoes, is the dust of the street of that city on which they stood and preached, and the word says : "Shake it off for a witness. Shake it off for a testimony.'1 That dust on which men stood and preached Jesus Christ is brought up and put on the judgment bar and testi- fies : "O Son of God, we, the grains of sand upon which apostolic feet stood and preached Jesus to
GROUND OF JUDGMENT 65
these men on the left hand, we were shaken off the feet of the apostles where Jesus was rejected. We testify in the court of heaven against them."
I have a little pebble about as big as the end of my finger, of no intrinsic value, though it is a beau- tiful pebble and it has a tinge of crimson running through it. As I was informed by the one who gave it to me, that pebble was picked 'out of the track of Maximilian after he was shot. He stood on that little stone and was shot to death. I had a gold fastening made for it and gave it to my little daughter, and told her that that pebble would' be at the judg- ment bar of God as a witness of the righteousness or of the unrighteousness of the execution of Maxi- milian. And the rafters in the roof of the house and the beams in the wall shall speak out in that day and tell their stories of how men received or rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come, saith Paul, 111 flaming fire taking vengeance upon them that have not obeyed the gospel, he will recompense tribulation to them that have troubled you, and he will recompense rest to you that were troubled. And what was the ground of that tribulation ? That they troubled God's people. Thev troubled Israel. They brought a reproach upon Israel. Thev marred the purity of the white flag of Jesus. They obstructed the gospel. They put stumbling-blocks in the way of God's people. They caused strife and division. They, for selfish ends, and to satisfy their own crreed sacrificed the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this I say, is the onlv ground of judgment. The sentence of Jesus Christ, when that comes, what will you do ? How will you receive it ? Let me speak for myself : I do not think that I am an undue en- thusiast, nor do I think that intense thought and loner study on this subject hath made me mad. I think I I speak but the words of truth and soberness when I
66 m THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
say that I would rather my right hand should forget its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth in everlasting silence than to say " not at home " to Jesus Christ when he comes in his cause, whether he come by day or by night. When he comes and knocks and I hear it, and he says : " I am hungry, give me bread. I am thirsty, give me drink. I am naked, clothe me." When I hear his voice from the prison : " Come to me in bonds. Be not ashamed of my bonds." I hear him in his perse- cuted cause, crying : u Help, help, or I perish." Oh, God forbid that I should ever turn my back and close my eyes and ears and say, u Count me out, count me out."
Thomas Treadwell Eaton was born November i6, 1845, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. His father was Joseph H. Eaton, ll. d., President of the University of Virginia. His mother was, be- fore marriage, Miss Esther M. Treadwell, for some years editor of the "Aurora." He studied in Murfreesboro until after his father's death in 1859, and then entered Madison (now Colgate) University, where his uncle, George W. Eaton, d. d., ll. d., was president. In 1861 he returned to Tennessee on account of the war and soon enlisted in the Seventh Tennessee Cavalry, C. S. A., and served under Forrest. His education was resumed at Washington and Lee University after the war, where he gradu- ated in 1867. Dr. Eaton has served the First Church, Chat- tanooga, Tenn.; First Church, Petersburg, Va. ; and is now pas- tor of the Walnut Street Church, Louisville, Ky., and editor of the "Western Recorder." The Walnut Street Church is the largest white church of any denomination in the South. During Dr. Eaton's pastorate there have been over three thousand five hundred additions, and large colonies have been sent out. At one time seven hundred and eleven letters were granted. The present membership is one thousand five hundred and fifty. In 1880 he received the degree of d. d. from Washington and Lee University, and ll. d. from Southwestern Baptist University in 1886.
I I. Eaton. D D
I
V
TRUTH A LIBERATOR
BY I. 1. 1 AXON, D. 1>., 1.1.. D.
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make yen free." John 8 : 32.
THE extreme views on the subject of freedom which have followed the wild proclamation of liberty, have done great harm in the world. What we need, therefore, as the pendulum swings too far that way, is to insist with greater emphasis on the duty of obedience. Though a child be heir and lord ~"~oTall, who is there that would be always talking to him (A the delights of doing as he pleases and of the hardship of being under governors and tutors? Would you not rather urge upon him the obligation to«>bw hi- tutor.-, and emphasize rather the dutj of submission than the delights of freedom? Would constant talking to the heir about liberty make him wiser and happier? His present duty is obedience, and this will remain his duty till the time appointed for him to be no longer under tutor- and governors. We cannot make him free by all the eloquence we can Use about the delights of liberty ; all we can ac- complish will be to make him restless and unhappy, disobedient and miserable Then too we interfere with hi> progress. All his time and energies should be cheerfully given to mastering the tasks assigned him, and thus preparing himself for the responsibili- ties awaiting him, when he shall enter upon his in- heritance.
Go into the schoolrooms and families of our land
67
68 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
and proclaim to the children, " Yon are free ; these teachers and parents shall have no more authority over you ; henceforth you are to be a law unto your- selves, and shall control your persons and estates." Would that be a kindness to the children? What would a child thus freed do with himself and with his estate? Is he free in the true sense of freedom? Nay, have you not rather placed upon him a burden greater than he can bear? And would a child be happy in possession of such liberty ? Has he not a right to good guidance, and do you not wrong him by depriving him of it? If you really desired his wel- fare you would urge him to strict obedience to his parents and tutors, and would persuade him that they were working for his good. You would teach him to do gladly and with his might all his appointed tasks, although he could see no use in them, and they were dry and tedious ; for his tutors and parents were wiser than he and knew those very duties were neces- sary for his right development. And the higher the rank of the child, the sterner is the necessity for strict obedience to the authority over him. It is related of that wise mother, the Duchess of Kent, that she al- lowed no one to tell her daughter, Victoria, how near she stood to the throne of England, and not till she was fourteen years old did she know that a higher destiny awaited her than awaited her cousins who were her fel- low-pnpils. Then it was deemed best to let her know, and the genealogical table of the House of Hanover was left in her text-book on history. She examined it carefully and found that she would succeed to the throne on the death of her uncle. Turning to her governess, who sat by watching eagerly what would be the effect of the disclosure, she said, " Now I know why you were so much stricter with me in Latin grammar than you were with my cousins. I never understood it before." A wise mother chose that governess, and she had trained the child wisely, show-
TRUTH A LIBERATOR 69
ing the greatest strictness in training her upon whom the greatest responsibilites would rest. It might an- swer for the others to grow up with poorly trained minds, but not so with the future queen. And it speaks volumes for the character of Victoria that her first thought was not of the grandeur that awaited her, but of the wisdom of her governess.
Although we are heirs of God, yet are we children, and need to be reminded of the duty and dignity and glory of obedience, rather than of the sweets of liberty. Our highest honor is in a strict following of the appointed path, instead of insisting on making a path for ourselves; and the higher our destiny the more important that we be kept closely to the duties assigned us. Christians are heirs to higher thrones and grander kingdoms than was the young Victoria, and therefore they need to be more careful and thorough in their obedience. The chief care should be to be made exactly after the pattern shown them in the mount. They need to be urged to cheerfully bear the cross after their Lord, rather than to do as they please. There is little doing as one pleases in cross-bearing and crucifying the flesh. The more a man deserves freedom the more does he feel his need of guidance and the more cheerfully does he follow one wiser than he. It is always the man of least capacity and knowledge who is surest of his own in- fallibility. Humility and willingness to follow good guidance, are unfailing marks of wisdom.
But the time comes when the heir is of age and must pass from under the control of tutors and gov- ernors and enter upon the joys and perils of freedom. He is supposed, however, during his pupilage, to have learned to be a law unto himself. He must no longer cling to tlie~giiiding hands that have directed his youth ; that would be to make his tutors lords of his inheritance, and would prove him unworthy of the destiny before him. Then is the time to speak to
JO THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
him of the responsibilities of freedom, and not when he is under age and needing to be trained in obedi- ence. When Israel is at peace in Canaan, with every man under his own vine and fig tree, it will do to talk to them of freedom, but out yonder in the wil- derness they need to obey Moses unhesitatingly and unquestioningly, and as they drive their foes before them they must submit heartily to the leadership of Joshua.
If, so soon as they crossed the Red Sea, every man had resolved to be il free " and to traverse the wilder- ness as he saw best, how many would have reached the Jordan alive? If after crossing the Jordan, they had been " independent " of Joshua, how long till the Canaanites would have destroyed them? Had the children of Israel remained in Canaan and walked in the footsteps of their father, Abraham, they would have needed no Moses and no Joshua. But they had gone down into Egypt and been slaves there, and coming out of the house of bondage, ignorant and untrained, freedom to them would have been destruc- tion. Had our race remained in Eden, they would have been free and would ere long have been con- firmed in holiness. But they sold themselves as slaves to sin, and rescued from that bondage, they need to be under tutelage. Though regenerated by the Holy Spirit, our evil propensities are not eradi- cated, the law of sin is still in our members; we need therefore to follow closely our Master, even though he lead us to the cross.
" Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." What grand words are these — truth and freedom. What is freedom? We hear little else in these last days, "free thought," u free speech," "free country," "free press," "free men," "free trade," free ! free ! free ! — the air is full of it, but what is freedom ? It is well to stop occasionally and define these vague words that are going up and down
TRUTH A LIBERATOR 7 1
the earth. There is nothing more dangerous than such vague words that all men speak, but do not define clearly to their minds. A truth to be effect- ive must be incisive ; you cannot pierce to the di- viding asunder of joints and marrow with a column of mud or a sword of down. An error exactly defined can be met, while one that is vague eludes you. You cannot wrestle with a bank of fog. What is freedom ? I would like to put that question to every one of you and see how many different answers I would receive.
One man thinks that freedom consists in choosing the rulers he wishes to be over him, instead of obey- ing an hereditary monarch. Go then and vote, but you do not get the rulers you wish unless a majority of your fellow-citizens choose as you do, so that in order for you to be free, a majority must think as you think. Unless you can compel them to think so, where is your freedom, and if you can, then what be- comes of theirs? If the majority put in rulers you do not wish, are you practically any freer than if the rulers were born over you ? To be free to choose your own rulers you must be careful to always side with the majority ; though that is a freedom from principle not yet extolled in the paeans to liberty, though I cannot tell how long till it will be so. Then suppose you get the rulers you wish and they abuse their authority ? Suppose they fail to protect your property and life from thieves and murderers, so that you have no feeling of security night or day, are you free while living thus, even though you had the high privilege of helping to elect such rulers ? Think it out, and tell me whether political freedom does not consist in having good rulers, however they may come to be rulers, who shall so restrain evil-doers as to give well-doers security, who shall impose no tax upon you not absolutely necessary, and interfere as little as possible with all legitimate business ? There
72 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
can be no freedom for honest men without restraint for thieves.
Another man, and he voices the prevalent senti- ment, defines freedom to be the right of every man to do as he pleases. But suppose he pleases to do wrong and injure others? Suppose he pleases to burn your house, and you please that he shall not do it, how can both be free? If the law restrain him from injuring others as he desires, is lie free? But the man answers indignantly : kk There is a wide dif- ference between freedom and license." Exactly so; but what is that difference? Liberty to do as I please, whether good or bad, is not freedom but license, then. Very well, if I desire to do wrong and am restrained^ I cannot be said to be free, in the popular sense, no matter what shape that restraint may take, whether bonds which prevent my using my hands, or fear of the punishment that will follow. So, tracing the matter up step by step we see that true freedom comes only with an absence of all desire to do wrong and a willingness to do light
True freedom is opportuity to make the most and the best of all the capacities in us, and only when de- sire to do wrong is gone can we have such opportu- nity. This is what Paul meant by being "made free from the law." You are free from the law against murder, for you have not the slightest desire to com- mit that crime ; so to you the law is dead. But if you should have such desire, then the dead law revives, and the penalty would restrain you — if only our laws were executed — alas ! and your freedom would be gone. So long as your will is in conformity to the law, you are free, but let your will arise in opposition to the law, and you are in bondage. The law of God binds closer than the laws of the land, and Christians should be free from this law so that they need not be warned of the penalty of violation, but simply told of any given act, it is wrong. We are free from many
TRUTH A LIBERATOR 73
of the laws of God in this sense. For example, the law against the worship of Moloch, though alive in the days of Solomon and Josiah, is utterly dead to ns now, for we have no desire to worship that idol nor to pass our children through the fire. We would not do so even if that command were not in the Bible. Now the more of the laws of God and man we can thus make dead to us, the freer we are, and this is true freedom. Christ frees us from the law as his grace takes from us all disposition to violate the law; and the more we grow in grace, the more we grow in freedom. Christians are free in many things, and the angels are freer still.
What else can freedom mean than this, unless you make it mean lawlessness? If I must be allowed to do as I please in order to be free, every other man must have the same privilege or he is not free. .Our freedoms clash, and we cannot both do as we wish. He pleases to take my purse and I please to keep him from taking it ; we cannot both have our pleasure. And if freedom is lawlessness, we cannot both be free. Is it not the idea of many people, alas, that freedom means that I can do as I please but others cannot — there must be liberty for me, but restraint for them ? Are we not drifting toward what was said to be the Frenchman's idea of liberty, u the right of every man to control every other man " ? If ail please to keep the law, then can all have their pleasure and all be free. There can be perfect freedom onlv where there is perfect obedience to rightful authority. The more sin the less freedom.
What then is freedom ? It is the perfect harmony of our desires and actions with the law of God. If fond of modern lights, I might say freedom is being " in perfect harmony with our environment," but that is the solar system with the sun left out. We are slaves to whatever prevents our being free, and in preventing our hearts from being in accord with
74 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
God's law, we are the slaves of sin, no matter where that law is found. In the law governing our physical natures the definition holds good. No man is physi- cally free who is suffering pain and weakness. But these follow in proportion to the disobedience to God's laws governing our physical natures ; hence perfect freedom consists of perfect accord with those laws. A man is free from nerves when he is in such perfect accord with the laws of health that no pain reminds him that he has any nerves.
I have dwelt on this point till I fear you are wearied ; but I do wish that we all had this definition of freedom firmly fixed in our minds. Satan has done untold harm in the world by giving men wrong ideas of freedom. There is nothing nobler than true free- dom, no grander thing can man achieve than to bring himself into harmony with the laws of God ; and nothing is more harmful than that lawlessness which seeks to get rid of obligation. No wonder all noble men yearn for freedom, and sad is it for them when Satan can blind their eyes to their bondage and make them think that liberty is license, and freedom law- lessness.
Mankind is a race of slaves to sin. " His slaves ye are," Paul declares, " whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness." When our consciences are roused and we feel the chains of our bondage, Satan cunningly sets us seek- ing a spurious freedom, so that we may even boast, as did the Pharisees to Jesus, " we were never in bondage to any man," and the yoke of slavery was upon them while they spake. " Whosoever commit- teth sin is the bondservant of sin." Base bondage to a base master ; while our heritage is the glorious freedom of the sons of God. How shall we win this freedom ? Jesus answers, "The truth shall make you free." Then comes the great question from the lips of the ages, "What is truth? "
TRUTH A LIBERATOR 75
Grander words were never put together than " ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Truth is a knowledge of God, and of the re- lations in which he has placed us to himself, to our fellows, and to creation. The highest and most important truth is the knowledge of God and of our relations to him. Nothing else deserves to be called " the truth." But I prefer the term law, to relations. Freedom being perfect accord with the law, we can- not be free unless we know the law. Even ignorant violation of law is followed by penalty. I may not know that fire will burn, but that ignorance will not free me from the penalty of pain if I put my hand in the blaze. But a knowledge of that law makes me practically free from it, for then I have no desire to put my hand in the flames. We cannot be free without the truth, and alas, that our hearts should be indifferent and even hostile to the truth, like the Pharisees who disputed with Christ, rejecting scorn- fully the truth which alone could make them free, and hugging the chains of their bondage.
How shall we gain the knowledge of God and of our relations to him ? The sun says, " It is not in me ; " the earth answers, u It is not in me ; " and the soul declares, " It is not in me." Where can we find the truth we seek ? In chemical action ? in spectrum analysis? gravitation? insects and trilobites? Think it out for yourselves ; think of all the sources whence man has sought truth in all the ages, and you will find but one answer to that great question of questions — what is truth ? A voice comes to us from the Judean hills, " I am the truth," and lo, the great problem is solved. " God manifest in the flesh " — manifest — made evident that man may know him. Broken and fragmentary revelations of him are seen in the songs of the psalmist and the visions of prophets ; still more broken and frag- mentary in the world around us ; but in Christ,
j6 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
God is manifested, so that Jesus can say, " If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also." "lam the way, the truth, and the life : no man com- eth unto the Father but by me." Lofty words these, coming from the carpenter of Nazareth, but none too high, as thousands, who have found him all these, can testify. "The truth shall make you free," and because he is the truth, he goes on to say, " If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed."
" I am the truth." In Christ is God known in all his great attributes that concern us. How divine love and truth, holiness and long-suffering shine forth in every word and act of Jesus ! Divine power and justice and sovereignty stand hand in hand with love and mercy round the cross of Calvary. God is mani- fest in the flesh to human eyes — no longer a God that hideth himself, but seen as clearly as he can be revealed to the eyes of fallen men. In Jesus stand revealed the relations binding God and man. Christ has broken down the dungeon walls that Satan had built around us and has let in the light of heaven. And he has done more. He. comes, and laying his hands on our chains, says, " I will free you and open your eyes. No other can deliver you. If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." Shall we hug our chains when freedom is offered us ? Shall we love darkness when that voice calls us to the light ?
Freedom is perfect harmony between our souls and God's law. Jesus is the truth that shows us God and gives us hearts to love him ; teaches us our relations to him and enables us to live in harmony with those relations. " If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." The choice is before you : the bondage of Satan or the liberty of the sons of God ; slaves of sin or freemen in Christ Jesus ; which will you choose ? No other choice is open to
TRUTH A LIBERATOR JJ
you. You cannot say, " I will be free, but not in Christ. " We cannot free ourselves, else the Son would never have come to free us. Adam was free as the angels till he sinned, but we can be made free only by the truth as it is in Jesus.
" If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." He frees us when we repent and believe in him. Then we stand before God justified, because we are washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness. But we have not yet the whole of freedom, because although no longer the slaves of sin, we are not wholly free from sin. We are like babes in our weakness and ignorance, needing the care of tutors for our growth and training. We need the law to guide us in the pathway to perfect free- dom. "If ye continue in my words, ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." " Con- tinue in my words," this is the message to us, breth- ren. We are to meditate upon Christ's words, trans- mute them into action and make them part of our very being. So shall we grow into a manhood that needs no law, because the will of God shall have become part of our very existence.
" The truth shall make you free." From how many things does the truth free us ! From all fear of harm — what can we fear when the everlasting arms are under us, and our Father's hand is lead- ing us ? From wearing care — he careth for us, even for the number of hairs on our heads. From the pollution of sin, so hard to bear despite our bra- vado, and from the remorse whose sting teaches us what we know' of the undying worm. Pain and sor- row and sin, perfect freedom knows nothing of these, and the truth leads us into that freedom, which means all wisdom, all joy, all peace, and all holiness. We realize this more and more as we follow the truth. The way to love God with all our hearts is to act out what little love we have for him, by striving to please
78 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
him in everything, and we will find our love growing deeper and truer every day. Our freedom will in- crease with our love, till we enter upon the perfect liberty of that inheritance we shall have with our Elder Brother, the noblest inheritance God himself could prepare, containing all that omniscience could devise and omnipotence provide of joy and glory. And over against that inheritance, for our choosing — what ? " The wages of sin " — which " is death."
William Warren Landrum, eldest son of Rev. Dr. Syl- vanus Landrum, was born at Macon, Ga., January 18, 1853 ; converted and baptized when thirteen years of age, and called to preach at eighteen years of age, and licensed by the First Church of Savannah, Ga. ; educated at Mercer University, Macon, Ga., and Brown University, Providence, R. I., where he gradu- ated as bachelor of arts in 1872, and at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Ordained at Jefferson, Tex., May, 1874, and pastor at Shreveport, La., for nearly two years; at First Church, Augusta, Ga., for nearly six years ; and has been pastor of the Second Church, Richmond, Ya., for nearly thirteen years; was given the degree of d. d. by Washington and Lee University in 1885. His high character, affable manner, and pulpit gifts, have made him universally popular, both with the laity and clergy.
W. W. Landkum, D. D.
P:
79
VI
ALL1
BY W. W. LANDRUM, D. D.
" All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things what- soever I have commanded you : and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matt. 28 : 18, 19, 20.
PECULIAR interest belongs to what we know to be the last. On a mountain in Galilee our Iyord gave his last command. Already he had dis- charged the duties of his redemptive mission. As prophet he had preached the scheme of God's uni- versal love to sinners ; as priest he had offered him- self as a propitiation for the sins of the world by the sacrifice on the cross ; as king he had triumphed over sin, death, and the grave. And now, surrounded by those who had caught his spirit and been saved by his power, Jesus Christ, before ascending to the right hand of God's throne, delivered to them his last great commission. That great commission is a compen- dium of the disciples' doctrine and duty. If we con- sider the apostles as soldiers, it was their "marching orders " ; if we regard them as statesmen, starting to found a new and spiritual republic, it was their con- stitution ; if they were philanthropists, it was their economy of universal beneficence ; if physicians, the sovereign remedy for sick souls ; if teachers, their text-book ; if preachers, the subject-matter of all
1 Preached in the First Baptist Church, Washington, D. C., during the Jubilee Session of the Southern Baptist Convention.
79
80 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
their discourses, directed to disclose God's character, the Saviour's love, and the soul's supreme good.
Accept this great commission as the Magna Charta of Christianity and you accept Christianity in its wholeness. Reject it, or any part of it, and you reject Christianity's fundamental principle. Modify it in any respect and you cannot claim to be a faithful disciple of him who issued the commission with un- speakable solemnity at the moment when he took his leave of the world.
Analyze the text and you will see four great " alls " loom up like mountain peaks. They furnish us with suitable observatories from which we may look out upon the world over which we are to go and to which the " glorious gospel of the blessed God " must be preached. Let us ascend these heights one by one.
i. "All power (authority) " is the first mountain. UA11 authority," says Christ, "is given unto me in heaven and in earth." This authority is the basis of the subsequent command. Without such authority the command would be presumptuous.
It is the highest human authority — that of Jesus Christ, " all authority on earth." No one questions that in the time of Tiberius there was a man called Jesus who was put to death by the Roman procu- rator, Pontius Pilate, and whose doctrines spread rapidly throughout the Roman world. The Gospels are not our only source of information ; if they had never been written we should know that much from "Tacitus, Suetonius, Juvenal, Adrian, Pliny, and others. Christ's historical reality is not only con- ceded by all, but his moral perfection by all with- out, as well as within, the circle of his followers. Christ's supremacy as a teacher of spiritual truth is gladly acknowledged by foe and by friend. Many who profess to be in doubt as to whether he is divine
ALL 8 1
or human are willing to follow him as an ethical leader. Their cry is :
If Jesus Christ is a man,
And only a man, I say That of all mankind I will cleave to him,
And to him will cleave alway.
If Jesus Christ is a God,
And the only God, I swear I will follow him through heaven and hell
The earth, the sea, and the air.
Beyond question the character of Jesus presented by the evangelists is a verity, a sublime reality. Amid the world's sin a perfect life has been lived; unto the world's doubt an authoritative voice has spoken ; upon the world's darkness a heavenly light has shone, For these reasons Jesus Christ is the highest authority on earth.
He is also the highest authority in heaven. Repeat- edly he made claims, be it said in all reverence, which, if he was not divine, seem to be nothing short of blas- phemy. Christ, as we know, declared himself to be King of a heavenly kingdom; he exercised the di- vine right to forgive sins ; he claimed a right to the supreme love of the race, demanding an affection stronger than the love of father or mother, wife or child ; he asserted in the text that he possessed super- human power, indeed that he sways the sceptre of uni- versal empire ; he predicted that, though he should die and be buried, he would rise again and ascend to heaven, but would return at the end of the age and finally judge all nations. Surely only a superhuman character could sustain such claims ! And yet pre- cisely such claims Christ vindicated. By a life of spotless purity and transcendent power he so com- pletely vindicated such claims that the most enlight- ened peoples have for nineteen centuries pronounced him "God manifest in the flesh." Step by step the
82 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
honest inquirer may ascend the mountain of author- ity, until, from its summit gazing up into heaven, he exclaims : "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . All things were made by him ; and without him was not anything made that was made." Like the author of the Hebrews, he will shout out to the Eternal Son : ' ' Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever ; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy king- dom. . . Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the works of thine hands."
II. Naturally enough we pass from the authority of the Commander to the great command he gave. 4 'All authority" issues an order which is to be de- livered to "all nations." " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations." " The field is the world."
1. Prophecy called Christ "the desire of all na- tions." The superscription on the cross was written in the three great languages of the world — Greek, Latin, and Hebrew — that all nations might know their regal Redeemer. Christ died in the fullness of time. The kingdom of heaven was inaugurated in the world only when " all nations," after long ages, had been made ready for it. That preparation re- quired three conditions : First, a universal language in which the gospel could be preached and written ; second, a universal government which would suffer missionaries to travel with reasonable protection ; third, a universal people expecting a further revelation from God. The Greeks gave the universal language ; the Romans furnished the universal government ; the Jews, scattered by persecution into every land, were the expectant people waiting for the Messiah's com- ing. All nations were prepared by spiritual, intellec- tual, and physical conditions for the only religion that is adapted to save and civilize all nations.
2. Apostles were commissioned to go to " all na-
ALL 83
tions." True, they did not do so at once ; they learned the lesson of world-wide evangelization slowly. Chris- tian in heart they were Jews in spirit. They were naturally narrow and bigoted ; they hated foreigners ; in a word they were human, and the best of men are but men at best. The apostles did not leave Jerusa- lem till persecution thrust them forth ; they did not go out among the Gentiles until years afterward the Holy Spirit moved upon the church at Antioch to dispatch Paul and Barnabas to the heathen. They found it difficult to be foreign missionaries. Before we condemn them too harshly let us remember our- selves. How long, alas, did it take to enlarge some of us into the foreign missionary spirit ? When one is first converted he longs, in the gladness of his ex- perience of pardon and peace, to lead some one else to the Saviour. Every one of us felt in that way. Naturally the young convert begins work among his friends. He believes in congregational missions, the duty of preaching the gospel to the lost of his con- gregation. As he grows in grace his heart enlarges. He hears of a city missionary society embracing mem- bers from several congregations and he comes to be- lieve in city missions. As his renewed nature ex- pands under the influence of the Holy Spirit he considers his State, with its multitudes of unrepent- ant and unsaved sinners, and comes to believe in State missions. Later he looks out upon his country, upon America, the nation of destiny, the asylum for the oppressed of all nations and gives in his allegi- ance to home missions. By an inevitable law he must go farther. He reads : " God hath made of one blood all the nations of the earth" ; "Christ is the propitiation, not for our sins only but for the sins of the whole world " ; Christ's command is, " Teach all nations." Thus, by a process of holy evolution, the growing believer comes, sometimes all too slowly, to champion the cause of foreign missions. It is not
>
84 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
possible for any intelligent disciple to oppose foreign missions who will remember that God loves all na- tions, that Christ died for all nations, that the gospel is adapted to all nations, that Christ commanded it to be preached to all nations, and that many in all nations have believed the gospel and turned unto the Iyord.
3. All nations are open to the preaching of the gospel to-day.
During this century the barriers which separated more than eight hundred million heathen from the rescuing power of the gospel have broken down. Before this century obstacles, almost insurmountable, interposed between the churches and the fulfillment of Christ's command. Obstacles to approach confronted the missionary. China was walled about; Japan's ports were sealed ; India was held by an English com- pany hostile to missions ; Africa was impenetrable, even to the explorer; the isles of the sea were peopled with cannibals, more to be dreaded than the devouring waves of the angry ocean. Obstacles to intercourse with the heathen blocked the way. Languages, strange and hard to master, hindered all communica- tion. At least sixty languages were without any literature, lexicon, grammar, or even written charac- ters. Travel and transportation were slow and un- satisfactory. Women secluded within harems could not be reached ; children and youth shunned the "foreign devil," as the missionary was called. Ob- stacles to impression were multitudinous and moun- tainous. Some races, like the Chinese and Japanese, claimed mental superiority to the missionaries and would not listen to them. Other races seemed to be on too low a plane of morality to be lifted up even by the lever of the gospel. In some quarters they were dumb beasts for shamelessness and wild beasts for brutality and ferocity, not only dehumanized, but actually demonized.
AU. 85
Once more, there were obstacles to action. Heathen peoples were prejudiced against all Christians because of the disgraceful practices and iniquities of certain so-called Christian countries. England forced opium on China at the cannon's mouth. Vessels carried missionaries to Africa from Christian lands, and then bore back to those lands stolen slaves. The Sand- wich Islanders caught the consuming leprosy of lust from the merchant ships of Christian countries. North American Indians took the infection of drunken- ness from contact with our "superior civilization.'' Missionaries were hated by the heathen as drunkards, licentious, mercenary, polluting, because the majority who came among them from Christian countries, sailors, soldiers, traders, and tourists, were such.
Now, thank God, these obstacles of approach, of in- tercourse, of impression, and of action, are removed as completely as if they were thrown into the sea. " India is now," in the words of another, ua starry fir- mament, sparkling with missionary stations." Turkey is planted with churches from the Golden Horn to the Tigris and Euphrates. Japan strides in her "seven league boots" toward Christian civilization. Polynesia's thousand church spires point like fingers to the sky. Africa is stretching forth her hands toward heaven. China, the very Gibraltar of heath- enism, is crumbling down slowly but surely.
4. Souls, moreover, have been won to Christ among all nations. Converts abroad, in fact, exceed in num- ber those of ministers in this country. These con- verts show as high a type of character, as self-sacrific- ing a spirit, as enlarged liberality, as obtains among brethren here at home. Compare, if you wish, the' gifts and graces of the church at Canton, China, or at Ongole, India, with any church in Richmond or Baltimore or Washington. Tested in any way mis- sions abroad are more successful than missions at home, and the nations of the heathen are producing
86 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
better and more numerous fruits than this elect nation, which we are pleased to call the pride and glory of the whole earth.
III. "All authority" issues to " all nations," uall commands," "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."
The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is intensive as well as extensive. The gospel reaches the whole man; it has a message for his body, his mind, his spirit, and it blesses him in all his relations, human and divine. The commands it lays upon men are for their highest well-being on earth and in heaven, for time and for eternity. These commands are moral commands, evangelical commands, positive com- mands. Moral commands embrace the decalogue ; these, when obeyed, are the bases of the civilization which the gospel offers the world. Evangelical com- mands are these which concern our relations to Christ. They require us to repent of our sins before God and to put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Positive commands relate to the ordinances of Christ, which exist only because of his appointment. Bap- tism is a positive command ; the observance of the Lord's Supper is a positive command. Christ in- structs us to teach all nations all commands.
Baptists dare not do less. Romanism may teach the heathen, more or less perfectly, Christ's moral ordinances ; Protestantism may teach the heathen Christ's evangelical commands ; Baptists, if true to their principles, must hold themselves responsible for teaching all Christ's commands, positive _as well as moral and evangelical. For that reason, our mission as a people is to Protestant lands, to papal lands, to pagan lands. To pagans we must carry the moral, the evangelical, and positive commands ; to Roman- ists we must carry the evangelical and positive com- mands ; to Protestants we must carry the positive ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ.
ALL 87
And we must teach all these commands to every single convert in the " all nations." If Baptists have one peculiarity more pronounced than any other, it is the stress thev lay upon the worth of a single soul. Baptists are individualistic. The church exists for the individual, and not the individual for the church. Presbyterians are rather familistic ; the family they are disposed to regard as a religious unit. Metho- dists are tribalistic ; the Conference is the religious unit. Episcopalians are nationalistic; they have a State Church in England, and once had it here. Baptists are individualistic. They go forth to preach to every individual soul the broadest and deepest con- ceptions of personal responsibility. Starting with the doctrine of soul liberty, the right of private judg- ment, they commend personal repentance, personal faith, personal baptism, personal communion with the Saviour at the Lord's Supper, personal fidelity to all the moral, evangelical, and positive commands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
IV. It only remains to add the last of the four great "alls" of the great commission — "All days." "IyO, I am with you alway," or, as it is more cor- rectly, " all days," " even unto the end of the world." / Do we really believe this ? Where, let me ask, is / our Lord Jesus to-day? That is a pertinent and pressing question. Does it not seem that in the minds of many professing disciples he is shut up in the pages of the New Testament, a mere doctrine to be believed? In the view of others he is dying on ^-^ the cross still, a great historic fact to be treasured ; aj>^ understood by others, Christ is up in heaven, an ad- vocate, an intercessor ; yet others intently look toward the east for his speedy second coming.
But where does Christ declare himself to be ? On the earth. How on the earth ? In the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. With whom is he on the earth ? With all those who go forth to teach all na-
88 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
tions the saving truth of his holy word. And why with his missionaries and ministers? That the ex- cellency of the power of the gospel may be of God and not of men. Christ indeed, does not delegate power. u All power is given unto me," he said, " and lo, I am with you all days, even unto the end of the age."
Oh, my brethren, this is our only reliance as we go forth to the pacific conquest of the world, even the presence of the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipres- ent Spirit of Christ. It is that Spirit which con- victs the guilty soul of sin, and it is that Spirit which leads the convicted soul to the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. An English preacher asked some British soldiers : " If Queen Victoria were to issue a proclamation, and placing it in the hands of her army and navy, were to say, ' Go ye into all the world and proclaim it to every crea- ture,' how long do you think it would take to do it ? " One of these brave fellows, accustomed to obey orders without hesitation or delay and at peril of life, re- plied: "Well, I think we could manage it in about eighteen months." Possibly they could. To deliver a message of salvation to all is not so difficult a mat- ter. Suppose we ask this question: "How long would it take the army and navy of England, how long would it take the thousands of missionaries, all working together, to regenerate one single sou) ? ' ' Army and navy combined, all the missionaries and the ministers of the world acting in concert, could not accomplish the task throughout all the cycles of eternity. Regenerating power is not in man. It is " not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord."
We may need more men, we do need more men to preach the gospel ; we need more and better " ma- chinery," churches, schools, hospitals, books, tracts; we need more money that we may equip more men
AU, 89
and build more chapels ; but the chief need is not men, machinery, or money. Our supreme want is more faith in him who said : u I^o, I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the age." When- ever we have failed, at home or abroad, the secret of every failure to save souls is due to our unbelief in the Holy Ghost. When Garibaldi had been defeated at Rome he issued his immortal appeal : " Soldiers, I have nothing- to offer you but cold and hunger, rags and hardship. Let him who loves his country follow me." Instantly thousands of the youth of Italy sprang to arms and moved to victory. Garibaldi in- spired his spirit into his men ; Garibaldi was ever with his men as the communication of patriotism and courage. A greater than Garibaldi is with us. Oh, if we were all filled with the Spirit of Christ, if we felt his consuming passion for souls, if we were in- spired by his high purpose of saving all men, the / weakest among us would dare and do until the con- quest of the world was won.
All power is in the hands of the Spirit of Christ Dr. David Gregg illustrates Holy Ghost power in this way. An army is drawn up before a granite fort which it intends to batter down. We ask the gen- eral: "How are you going to level these great stones ? " He points to a cannon ball and says : " By this." But there is no power in that. If all the men in the army should hurl it against the fort it would make but slight impression, if any. The o-en- eral replies : " True ; but look at the cannon." Well, but there is no power in that. A child may ride upon that cannon; a bird may perch in its mouth ; it is a machine and nothing more "But look," says the general, ' ' at the powder." No power there. A spar- row may peck at it, an infant may spill it. Yet, given this powerless ball and powerless cannon and power- less powder and a spark of fire— what then ? The spark of fire touches that powder. In the twinkling
90 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
of an eye it is a flash of lightning ; that ball be- comes a thunderbolt which smites the fort as if it had been hurled from heaven, and its granite walls lie in ruins. China is that fort, or India or Africa. There is no power in the Bible as a mere book — it is an in- strument simply ; no power in the missionary— he is but a frail man. But put back of the book and the man the fire of the Holy Spirit and then God's om- nipotence is brought to bear. The missionary's ser- mon is the cannon ball, the missionary's soul is the cannon, the missionary's zeal is the powder, but the Spirit of Christ is the all essential spark of fire which will cause the truth of the gospel to force its way through the citadel of pagan superstition and sin : " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Amen.
J. B. HawthoRxNE is a native of Alabama. He was converted at a very early age. After graduation from Howard College, Ala., he practised law in Mobile for a few years, but becoming convinced of a call to preach the gospel, he abandoned the pro- fession in which he was already achieving success and distinc- tion, re-entered Howard College and took a course in theology. Shortly after his ordination to the work of the ministry, he was invited to return to Mobile as pastor of the Second Baptist Church. Here he established a reputation as preacher and pas- tor which each subsequent pastorate has confirmed and increased. Selma, Ala., Franklin Square Baptist Church, Baltimore, First Baptist Church, Albany, N. Y., Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky., Tabernacle Baptist Church, New York City, First Baptist Church, Montgomery, Ala., First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., have enjoyed his ministry. He is now pastor of the First Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga., where large audiences wait upon his preaching, and his power and popularity are un- abating.
"*" Za |
|
' I |
v^ |
f. B. Hawthorne, D. D.
VII
THE PRE-EMINENT NAME1
BY J. B. HAWTHORNE, D. D.
" Thou sbalt call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from their sins." Matt. I : 21.
VERILY there is something in a name. It may and often does represent a mighty factor in the life of the world. Back of all the world's history there were names that inspired human courage, pur- pose, and enterprise. The names of great men have become synonyms for the principles and institutions to which they devoted their lives. They have become slogans, watchwords, and battle-cries, to arouse the enthusiasm of men and to nerve them for heroic action in the midst of great crises. When the old Greek orators saw signs of dullness and inattention in their audiences, they could arouse every man before them and raise enthusiasm to the highest pitch by simply pausing for a moment, and then shouting, " Marathon ! Marathon!" Since the day you first read the history of that struggle which culminated in the independence of the American Colonies and the establishment of the American Republic, the name of Washington has stood in your mind for patriotism, and the mention of it has stimulated your patriotic sentiment. That name has ever been a favorite countersign with American soldiers, and the use of it has helped many a weary, shivering picket to stand at his post and watch the stars.
1 Preached at the First Baptist Church, Washington, D. C, during the Jubilee Session of the Southern Baptist Convention.
9'
92 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
The day I was born my father named me for Board- man, that dauntless hero who preceded Jndson in missionary work among the Karens. When I was old enough I read the history of the struggles, suffer- ings, and achievements of that brave young man. His name, which I so unworthily bear, has been to my soul an abiding and unfailing inspiration. Luther, Calvin, Knox, Bunyan, and Carey were long ago gathered to their fathers ; but the power of their names is still invoked wherever Christian workmen need a higher courage, a steadier purpose, and a more fervent zeal.
But there is a name above every name — a name which is reconstructing our disordered planet, re- creating our fallen and ruined humanity, and which stands everywhere for the sweetest charities of earth, the synonym of the purest life, and the symbol of the highest civilization ; a name which carries healing to the wounded, rest to the weary, pardon to the guilty, and salvation to the lost ; a name which makes the dark gateway of the tomb the portal to a temple resplendent with the glory of celestial light, where the music of golden harps by angels' fingers touched is ineffable and eternal.
In the shock which followed the entrance of sin into the world man fell away from God, and heaven and earth went asunder. The sinful soul is diseased, polluted, fettered, imprisoned and hid away from God. Its deepest problem is how to be cured, cleansed, freed, and restored to the divine presence and favor. The solution of this problem is in the matchless and adorable name which we are to consider this morn- ing: Jesus — Saviour.
" There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Jesus him- self stood up among men and boldly declared that he was the one and only way by which lost men could get back to God.
THE PRE-EMINENT NAME 93
But in what sense is he the Saviour of men ? A mistake here is radical and fatal. Is he simply the ideal man, showing by his own manner of living how other men ought to live? If he is no more than that, he is not the Saviour that we need. He is indeed the ideal man. His life was perfect. It was abso- lutely without spot or blemish. And he does require us to follow him in the sense of reproducing his virtues. But if he is only the ideal man, and does no more for us than show us how to live, he does not compass our necessities. Setting before us an exam- ple of right living, and inviting, entreating, and com- manding us to follow it, will not save us from our sins and restore us to the favor of God.
Nor is he the Saviour of men in the sense that he shows them the way of salvation. If he is only a a law-giver, or a teacher of divine truth, or a finger- board to direct us in the way of righteousness, he is insufficient for our needs. The man who shows me the way to New York is not himself the way. The person who merely teaches me the truth is not him- self the truth. And if Jesus is only a teacher of the way of salvation he is not himself salvation. It is true that man is sadly and fearfully ignorant both of himself and of the infinite God to whom he must give account for the deeds done in the body ; and it is also true that by coining to Christ he can be relieved of this ignorance. But if Jesus is only a pedagogue or schoolmaster, he does not touch the deepest necessities of man's condition. Such a view of him may improve a man's morals, and elevate him somewhat in other respects, but it can never save him from the power and consequences of sin. Jesus is himself the salvation which he taught, and which he commissioned his disciples to preach. He is the wisdom, the grace, the mercy, and the power that save men from their sins. The saved man is not he who attempts merely to copy the virtues of Jesus nor
94 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
he who merely accepts his doctrines, but the man who trusts him, as the little child trusts its mother when it lies helpless and peaceful in her arms.
No man can have a true conception and apprecia- tion of the mission of Jesus until he comprehends man's condition and necessities as a sinner. Why does that hired infidel go through the land outraging not only Christian feeling but common decency, by making sport of the question, " What must I do to be saved?" It is because the Satanic power to which he has sold his birthright has blinded him to the nature of sin and the condition of the sinner. If his worse than Judas Iscariot baseness and cowardice and his demoniacal blasphemy have not already placed him in the category of those who have com- mitted what John calls " the sin unto death," and he could have just one glimpse into the fathomless abyss of his own iniquity, his cry of distress would surpass any wail of anguish that has ever vibrated the air of this globe, and his entreaties for divine mercy and salvation would exceed any prayer that convicted publican or harlot ever made.
Sin is no idle fancy or innocent hallucination with which circus clowns, street venders of patent medi- cines, low comedians, and such peripatetic infidel buffoons as I have just referred to, may with impu- nity amuse themselves and the frivolous people who listen to them. Sin is the most terrible fact in the universe of God. It is the intolerable burden of a soul that is destined to live forever. It is a black darkness which invests man's whole moral being, and conceals from his vision everything that belongs to the highest and grandest realms of realities. It is a disease that is converting him into a lump of rotten- ness and a feast for " the worm that dieth not." It is a fiend that has bound him hand and foot, and that is dragging him down and down to a region of infernal flames. From such a power man can be
THE PRE-EMINENT NAME 95
delivered only by the personal intervention and act of a personal God of infinite mercy and might.
The sense of sin is not something into which we, who live in a Christian country, have been educated. It is a universal experience, and inheres in the very nature of man. Wordsworth voiced the truth when he said, " The recognition of the fact of universal wrong-doing is perfectly independent of Christian teaching." Every man who has even a general acquaintance with the world's history, knows that every ancient religion and philosophy grappled with the problem of sin. All the records that we have of the races and tribes which have dwelt upon the earth show that men have ever been conscious of sin, and that sin is a stern fact of human nature which no people have ever been able to ignore or reason away. Men have never ceased to think and talk and write about it, because in every generation and in every region of the earth it has shadowed their pathway and burdened their hearts.
Ingersoll would have you believe that all of this talk about sin and its consequences originated with Christianity. How absurd! Buddhism antedates Christianity by nearly six centuries, and Buddhism is as full of the doctrine of sin as is the religion of Christ. Homer, the father of poetry, sang of sin and the wretchedness it had made. Sophocles, as _ he thought of the misery born of human depravity, declared that the best thing for man was death. Whether you read Greek poetry, Greek history, or Greek philosophy, you find not only lamentations over the woes of man, but a distinct recognition of the fact that all man's woes are traceable to human sin.
Sin figures in all the great poems and dramas that men have written. A semi-infidel critic has had the candor to confess that " a guileless hero would be no hero for a drama." Eliminate the part which sin
96 THK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
plays in Homer's immortal "Iliad," and how much of it would be left? Take the thieves, hypocrites, liars, adulterers, conspirators, and murderers out of Shakespeare's tragedies, and who would go to a theatre to see one of them performed? Who was Macbeth ? A murderer. And what was the inspira- tion of his challenge to the horrible shadow and unreal mockery that haunted him in his hours of seclusion ? It was a conscience stained with blood and aching with remorse.
There is in every man's bosom a tribunal which pronounces judgment on his conduct and by which he is made to know that sin is a terrible reality. Or as Tennyson has expressed it :
He ever bears about
A silent court of justice in his breast,
Himself the judge and jury,
And himself the prisoner at the bar.
The Bible says, that " Fools make a mock of sin." Mr. Ingersoll calls a conviction of sin, " a nightmare — the result of too much appetite and too little diges- tion." It is not possible to conceive of a more un- mitigated absurdity. Surely it was something more real than nightmare which David felt when he thought of his double crime of adultery and murder, and cried, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." Surely it was some- thing more serious than nightmare which made Judas throw down the price of his infamy in the temple and exclaim, " I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." Surely it was more than a nightmare that inspired the prayer of the dying thief, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Surely it was something more seri- ous than melancholy, born of indigestion, that af- flicted a more honest infidel than Ingersoll, when he cried, ' ' My principles have poisoned my friends, my
THE PRE-EMINENT NAME 97
extravagance has beggared my child, and my unkind- ness has murdered my wife! O God! is there yet another hell ? But hell itself will be a refuge if it only hide me from thy face."
Among the many abominably false " isms " to which even some people who call themselves Christians have committed themselves, is one which declares that, " Evil is a blessing to mankind ; a means selected from the infinite resources for our development ; a ladder whereby we climb to moral heights yet unat- tained." Whether you call this pantheism, or Hegelianism, or Universalism, or monism, or Chris- tian science, it is a plain and unmistakable denial of the word of God. That word forbids us in the most positive and intelligible terms to call evil good. It represents Satan as a distinct personality, as the father of lies, as the source of evil, and as the enemy of God and man. It teaches us not that sin elevates, but that it degrades ; not that it leads to happiness, but to misery.
The doctrine of the Bible on this subject is sup- ported by the everyday observations and experiences of men and by the common sense of the world. No philosophy in the universe can convince the average man that a participation in the vices, debaucheries, and deviltries of bar-rooms and gambling dens, is in- cluded in the divine plan by which men are to be dis- ciplined into virtue and developed into the likeness of God. To the end of time the common sense of the world will support the Bible in saying that, " He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a com- panion of fools shall be destroyed," and that "evil communications corrupt good manners."
The application of this false philosophy would be the repeal of all laws forbidding vice and crime, the abolition of all agencies for the prevention of evil, and the glorification of all that is earthy, sensual, and devilish. I know of no reason why men and women
i
98 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
who advocate such a system should not be sent to the lunatic asylum, except that they are too absurd to be seriously harmful.
Man is a complete and distinct entity. He is not a part of the Divine Being. What he does is not God's act, but his own. He is a distinct moral entity. He knows good from evil. He has the power to love the one and hate the other, and to choose the one and re- ject the other. In the exercise of this power he makes his glory or his shame, his happiness or his wretched- ness, his meetness for heaven or his fitness for hell. Sin then is the will of the individual man asserting itself against the will of God. It is the deliberate and willful rebellion of the creature against the Crea- tor. In its final analysis it is selfishness pure and simple. It is a man's defiant assertion of his purpose to be lord and monarch of himself. It is his absolute repudiation of any higher law than his own will. It is self-damnation — a man's own choice of " everlasting destruction from the presence of God, and from the glory of his power."
Here then the world is confronted with the most fearful of all realities — sin — God's enemy and man's destroyer. That reality makes the gravest problem with which human thought has ever grappled. Here is a disease that has laid its destroying hand upon every fibre of man's moral being. How can it be cured ? Here are immortal spirits bound with infer- nal fetters. How can these shackles be removed? Here is loathsomeness worse than the rottenness of the grave. How can it be cleansed ? Here are beings in communion with fiends. How can they be transformed and lifted into fellowship with the angels? Here is the great temple of humanity in ruins. Who can rebuild it, and make the glory of the latter house greater than the former ? Here are two worlds — earth and heaven — separated by a great gulf of darkness and horror. Who will span it with
THE PRE-EMINENT NAME 99
an available highway, so that angels may come to us and that we may go to them ?
All these questions are but different forms of the great question which the apostles answered on the day of Pentecost : "What must I do to be saved?" When Mr. Ingersoll gets upon the platform and sports with that problem he mocks the wail of a perishing world, dehumanizes himself, and speaks a language akin to the dialect of devils.
How can we get rid of sin? That is man's su- preme question. The history of the world shows that there has never been a time when men did not be- lieve that some remedy for sin had been provided. Abel expressed this belief when he kindled the first altar fire and made an offering to the Lord. Noah expressed it in the sacrifice which he made on leav- ing the ark. Abraham believed it and taught it to his children. Moses expressed it in the institution of the symbols and ceremonies of the tabernacle ; and the prophets of Israel proclaimed it with almost se- raphic zeal. The whole pagan world has ever cher- ished the belief that there has been provided some remedy for sin. It has always had its altars and sac- rifices ; and not knowing the true and living God, it has made its appeal to gods of its own creation. It has stretched out its hands into the darkness and laid hold on a thousand delusions.
Let us thank God there is a cure for sin. " There is a balm in Gilead, and a Physician there." There is an eye to pity and an arm to save. The angel of the Lord announced that remedy when he said to Jo- seph, concerning the child to which Mary should give birth, " And thou shalt call his name Jesus : for he shall save his people from their sins." A great mul- titude of the heavenly host proclaimed it when they hovered over the birth place of that Divine child and sang, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." John the Baptist saw
U
IOO THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PUEPIT
it when on the banks of the Jordan he pointed the multitude to the form of a Galilean stranger, and said : " Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." The people saw it who followed that man of Galilee from place to place and witnessed his mighty works. The poor distressed harlot saw it when Jesus said to her, " Thy sins are forgiven." The dying thief saw it and felt it when he heard those gracious words," To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Three thousand people at Jeru- salem saw it and felt it when they gladly received the message of salvation from the lips of the apostles. It was seen by Lydia when she attended unto the things spoken by Paul. It thrilled the soul of the Philippian jailer when he " rejoiced in God with all his house." It was known in Macedonia, Greece, and Rome, and wherever the apostles and their co-laborers told the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It is known and felt to-day by the millions of happy men and women who bear aloft the banner of the Cross and sing the coronation hymn. The sun in his course shines upon no land where there is not a sacra- mental host rending the air, and making the welkin ring with the rapturous shout, " Messiah is come, and his people are free."
" He shall save his people." The point to which I would give special emphasis in closing is, that the Saviour of men is not a doctrine, not an ordinance, not a church, but a person — a divine-human person. The Word that was in the beginning with God and was God, was made flesh and dwelt among us in the person of the man Christ Jesus. Salvation is in him, and not in anything he ever said, nor in anything that he commanded others to say. The doctrines of the Bible are only finger-boards that point us to Christ. You may accept every one of them, and con- tend for them with a martyr's zeal, and then die in your sins.
THE PRE-EMINENT NAME IOI
A man may know the saving power of Christ with- out being able to define any of the great fundamental doctrines of the gospel. Doubtless the woman who bathed the Master's feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head, knew scarcely any- thing of his doctrine. But she knew him. She be- lieved on him, and in believing felt his saving power. That demoniac of Gadara, when he went down to his home to tell the story of his rescue, knew nothing about the system of truth which Jesus taught, but he knew him ; he knew that he was a Divine Redeemer, and that much he could declare to others with the ut- most clearness and zeal.
The woman of Samaria to whom he gave to drink of the water of life, ran into the city and told the story. What was the story ? Something about the doctrine that he taught? No, for of that she was utterly ignorant. It was something about him, and about the redemption which he had bestowed upon her. Many a child has known Jesus and his salva- tion before it had read one-third of the New Testa- ment.
Oh, my brethren, I do know that there is a vital difference between believing on the Divine Christ and believing in a creed. I do know that the former brings salvation to the soul and the latter does not. I do know also that the faith of many in this day reaches no higher than a creed and never touches the person of the Living Redeemer.
The power of redemption is not lodged in theories of the atonement, nor in definitions of regeneration, nor in Confessions of Faith, nor even in the Bible as such. This may seem to you extravagance of speech, but I cannot believe that it is. There is a condition of things about us to-day which warrants me in say- ing all this and even more. There are no words of reprobation too strong and severe for that conception of Christianity so common in our time which re-
102 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
duces it to a mere pedagogic arrangement, and puts it on a level with every human system of philosophy and ethics.
If every church creed, and even every copy of the Bible, were burned to ashes, Christ and his salvation would remain the same. He would still sit on his mediatorial throne, and save his people from their sins. The doctrines of the Bible are divine, and yet as I have already said, they are only finger-boards to point us to Christ. You can believe them and be lost ; but if you lay the hand of faith on that living divine personality whose name is Jesus, you shall be instantly and eternally saved from your sins ; your transgressions of divine law shall be forgiven ; your whole moral being shall be unfettered, cleansed, and reconstructed ; every barrier which separates you from God shall be removed ; the Lord will make you his tabernacle, and will be the comfort and joy of your life ; in the power of his might you shall have the mastery of every spiritual foe ; and on the stepping- stones of conquered difficulties you shall rise day by day into a diviner life and a more glorious freedom. Comimr to the margin of death's cold and sullen stream, its dark waters shall divide and make you a passage to the shining shore. As you approach " the city that hath foundations whose builder and maker is God," the gates of pearl shall be lifted high, and as you step upon the golden pavement within those jasper walls, the same benignant Jesus who saved you from your sins will greet you with every token of welcome, robe you with resplendent beauty, crown you with imperishable honor, and conduct you to a seat at his own right hand, high above all princi- palities and powers, where you will sit and reign as long as immortality endures.
When we think of the sublime significance of this name which is above every name, and of the unspeak- able grace and ineffable beauty of the adorable being
THE PRE-EMINENT NAME 103
who bears it, we are lifted into sympathy with him who wrote :
Oh, could I speak the matchless worth, Oh, could I sound the glories forth
Which in my Saviour shine, I'd soar and touch the heavenly strings, And vie with Gabriel while he sings,
In notes almost divine.
If present contemplations of that best and most glorious of all beings are so fruitful of bliss, who can conceive of the blessedness of an abiding place in his immediate and visible presence ?
The delightful day will come v When our dear Lord will call us home, And we shall see his face.
YIII
[SU :
I'.Y ii . :r. .. l- i».
i | : q.
IT is what is in a thine that determines its value. The rough rock of I a, the v.
of the sea, the vapoi ky shut from the
eye, min< Ith. Tl ible is
more potent and more permanent than th< the intii; 1 than the tangi-
ble. Fame is m than I d, in
an age when life finds its sufi
the question : " \\ worth?"
the ansK listic
point of \ i< -a. T
wn him. IK- may I in the 1 u k of •
as that honor true inanl:< lit if h
built and leu calf, th tdy to
fall down and worship. Mone) is i r the
multitude of m<
the tim ink that ni
rule they enter tl Does it not
chanj Does :t on t put a
on the carriage? Does it not cover, with cloth, the humble origin i >r even (
grandson? Does it not bring us into the courts of
- it not change the hazy horizon of life
•;murc, Mil., bd
104
(
Si* & St **. *? ./I c- -
H. A. 1 i in i . Ji . 1- D,
H, Allen Tupper, Jr. , is the son of Rev. H. A. Tupper, d. d. , late Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. His mother was sister to Rev. J. P. Boyce, d. d., ll.d., for years president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Southern Baptist Convention. Dr. Tupper, Jr., was born in Washington, Ga., June 22, 1856. At the age of thirteen he entered Charleston College, S. C, and after a course in this institution he became an alumnus of Rich- mond College and the University of Virginia. In May, 1879, he took the full diploma from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has been successively pastor of the Harrodsburg, Ky., Baptist Church, Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky., and of the Seventh Baptist Church, Baltimore, Md. These have all been important pastorates, and in each of them his labors have been signally blessed. At this writing Dr. Tupper is pre- paring for a tour around the world. Dr. Tupper received his degree of d. d. from Georgetown College, Ky. He married Miss Marie L. Pender, a niece of Mrs. Dr. J. B. Jeter.
SELF-HEROISM 105
into a ring of rubies? But the outward is delusive rather than conclusive. The world of sense and sound holds not within its lap the best or brightest prizes of life. Within himself each one has a world to discover, to explore, and to conquer ; and in this hidden realm, as the metal lies beneath the mass of the mountain, wealth below the waves, the stars be- hind the shifting sheen of the sky, may be found the true treasury of man's life. Root,' and not fruit, is the source and secret of life ; the one is inner life, the other outer life ; the one may be the fountain of life, while the other may be in the embrace of death. Strength and stability are secured by seeking below the sur- face. He who is not, while he moves through the years, engaged in character-building, by diving be- ! neath the driftwood of to-day's current, and grasping/ the granite of immutable principles, is one whose fall is inevitable. He may be supported by stocks and\ bloated by bonds ; his position may lend him crutches, \ and his frail frame may be lifted by tender, loving \ hands upon a pinnacle of power ; but, by so doing, these only hasten a downfall as certain as the law of / gravitation. Greatness, as well as growth, moves y from within, without ; never from without, within. /*/* It is from the core to the bark, and not from the bark**y to the core, that yonder tree finds its expansion and ' power. A man's real self is within, not without ; and any permanent progress must move from the center toward the circumference of his life. "His value must not be estimated by what is on him or around him or in his possession. Above position^, above wealth, above culture, above genius even, is ) nobility of character. The fundamental question in human life is not one of possession or of attainment or of standing, but of being." The aristocracy of character includes the members of the real nobility of earth. They give value and significance to their possessions and surroundings ; but these are powerless
106 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
to give value to them. Such are they who fight the bravest battles and win the most valiant victories.
Real glory Springs from the silent conquest of ourselves, And without that, the conqueror is naught But the first slave.
My sermon this evening is dedicated to these vic- tors ; and my subject is their namesake. " Self- Heroism " : The heroism of self-examination ; the heroism of self-preparation ; the heroism of self-con- centration ; the heroism of self-perpetuation.
I. THE HEROISM OF SELF-EXAMINATION.
Nothing is insignificant. There is a divine mean- ing in the existence of everything. To doubt this is to doubt the intelligence of the One by whom all things exist and consist. There are no alternates nor duplicates in creation ; and the Creator knows no surplus in his works. As the greenness of no two blades of grass is the same, as the light from no two planets is alike, as the weight of no two pebbles on the beach is equal, so each life is the working out of individual principles and possibilities. No life can jfj infringe upon another's right of way in living ; /for /-' ''the legitimate property of no two lives lies along^ex-
| actly the same track. Each life is a monopoly in itself; for to each has been given the sole permission
Vto exercise certain exclusive powers.
What is the meaning of my life? This is the supreme question for each to ask. Why have I been given an existence, with endowments peculiarly its own ? Where is my position and what is my mission in this complex life about me ? The Author of my \ being has made a mistake, or my life is of tremendous ) significance. His intention in giving me life is of momentous importance to me, and the knowledge of this problem should be my ceaseless pursuit. Intro-
SELF-HKROISM 107
spection partakes of the heroic. It is much less diffi- cult and much more delightful for us to look upon and live by the visible than the invisible ; and it de- mands higher heroism to master the science of self than to explore and to know the wealth of the world about us. "Distance lends enchantment to the view" in spiritual as well as in physical vision. To view and review another's life, to analyze it, to weigh it, to point out the weakness of it, to know; how it ought and ought not to be spent, to examine into the cause of its fall and failure, is a very easy job for most of us to work out to our perfect satisfaction. But to reverse the eye of the microscope, and carefully scru- tinize self is quite another matter. " Know thyself" is one of the most useful and comprehensive precepts in the whole moral system. Thales, the prince of philosophers, is said to have been the author of it ; and he declares, " For a man to know himself is the hardest task he can master." Ignorance of this knowledge has proved to be the reef upon which many of the conquerors of the world have been wrecked. They knew others ; but did not know themselves. They mastered others; but could not master themselves. They guided others ; but failed to guide themselves. The fields upon which they\ were victors lay beyond themselves ; the fields upon 1 which they were victims lay within themselves ; and , they were losers in the real battle of life. If self- \ examination were an applied science, I venture the J opinion that some who are now in the pulpit would ' be behind the plow ; some who are at the bar would be in the blacksmith shop ; some who are in Congress would be in the cornfield ; some who sit in faculties would lie in fossil-beds ; and others, with heretofore undiscovered El Dorados within, would awake to their native right and riches and put honor upon lives divinely gifted. Whoever you are, wherever you"\ are, be brave enough, be honest enough, to get inti-
Io8 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
mately and accurately acquainted with yourself ; and with Jean Paul Richter be enabled, at last, to say : N " I have made as much out of myself as could be ] made of the stuff, and no one can require more." J
II. THE HEROISM OF SELF-PREPARATION.
" Every one has two educations," Gibbon tells us, (( one which he receives from others, and one, more important, which he gives to himself." We are debt- ors, it is true, to all the past ; and in beginning life we enter upon the labor of ages. " There is not a phi- losopher who has not thought for us ; not a martyr for truth nor a defender of human rights who has not bled for us." The past has indeed bequeathed us a rich inheritance ; and what we arc and what we know depend largely upon this wealth. But the highest education and the noblest preparation for life's duties and responsibilities come not from the process of re- ception or absorption. The popular idea of educa- tion seems to be, the art of allowing others to do as much for us as we have the capacity of receiving. " He is not capable of receiving an education," is a suggestive expression. True education is self-prep- aration. It is not a question of pouring in, but of drawing out. Not so much the effect of something on you, as your effect on something. It does not cre- ate ; but it takes creation for granted. It must find something within you, or it brings nothing out of you. It would lead you to recognize and honor your inner self rather than your outer succor. It con- verts your possibilities into practical powers. " I ac- cept without qualification," says James Anthony Froude, " the first principle of our forefathers, that every boy born in the world should be put in the way of maintaining himself in honest independence. No education which does not make this its first aim is worth anything at all. There are three ways of living: by working, by begging, or by stealing.
SELF-HEROISM IO9
Those who do not work, disguise it in whatever pretty language we please, are doing one of the other two. The practical necessities must take precedence of the intellectual. A man, if he would not be a mendicant or a rogue, must learn to stand upright upon his own feet, to respect himself, to be independent of charity, or accident." The richer a nature the harder and slower its self-preparation and development. Two boys were in the same class in the Edinburgh Gram- mar school. John was quick, smart, and a dux ; Walter was slow, dull, and a dolt. \\\ due time John became Bailie John, of Hunter Square ; and Walter became Sir Walter Scott, of the World. Bailie John's self- preparation was over within a few years ; Sir Walter was planning his greatest works after he was forty- six years of age. Carlyle was forty-two when he published the "French Revolution"; and the first two volumes of his " Frederick the Great " did not appear until he was sixty-three and the last until he was sixty-nine. Swift was sixty-nine when he gav< to the world " Gulliver's Travels " and conceived the plot only two years before. Macaulay's " History of England " came from the publishers when he was fifty-five; Milton's u Paradise Lost" when he was fifty-four ; Bacon's " Novum Organum " when he was fifty-nine ; and Cowper, Defoe, and George Eliot wrote best after they were two-score and ten. After many years of heroic self-preparation, Longfellow, Prescott, Motley, Racine, and Victor Hugo gave us their ripest and richest fruit. To-day the noblest figure in Europe stands erect under the snows of eighty winters ; and be- cause of his rigid, righteous self-preparation through all these years, the " grand old rrfan " is the freshest in thought and the maturest in wisdom of all who meet in the parliaments of men. Patient preparation is permanent power. If the mulberry leaf were im- patient, it would never become satin. In an age that lacks composure, men are apt to mature too quickly
K
110 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
and decay too soon. Reserved power should ever be greater than spent power. An act is never great un- less there is a greater something behind it. What a man is should be greater than what he does. The master must be greater than the masterpiece. Self- preparation is more important than self-projection.
III. THE HEROISM OF SELF-CONCENTRATION.
The rays of the sun, spread like a cloth of gold over the floor of the autumn woodland, do not scorch the fallen and scattered leaves ; but let these arrows of light concentrate upon the crystal face of yonder bit of glass, and they become a rod of fire whose magic turns the leaf into ashes. A life often fails to make a lasting impression because of its disposition to spread itself. To shine and play over a wide ex- panse of territory is much more beautiful and bril- liant than to turn all the weight and fire of your life in a given direction and upon a specified spot ; by the one you may dazzle and delight during to-day the other you may leave the imprint of a golden fluence after the sun is set. Persevering concentra tion converts weakness into power, spreads fertility over the barren landscape, bids the choicest fruits and flowers spring up and flourish in the desert abode of thistles and thorns, and opens to poverty the world's wealth. Men whose lives were not distracted, but whose life-work was contracted, have impressed the age in which they lived, and have brought things to pass. To attempt everything and to accomplish noth- ing is a fatal folly, encouraged too often by our edu- cational system and by our professional and commer- cial life. " The objects of knowledge have multiplied beyond the powers of the strongest mind to keep pace with them all. We must choose among them, and the only reasonable guide to choice in such matters is utility. The old saying : ' Non multa sed multum ' becomes every day more pressingly true." If our
r tne
-by /
1 111-
ifr.i- s
SELF-HEROISM III
lives are to mean the most we must take one line and rigidly and sternly confine our energies to it. Never lift the weight of your head and heart and hand from a thing until you have become its master. The higher and more unselfish the end toward which we would direct our lives, the greater is the demand for intense and ceaseless concentration of our noblest powers. The pursuit of your purpose may lead you over rugged mountains, across rolling seas, through fierce flames ; but others have conquered these and so may we. Clearly does history echo the truth that the life worth living is the life worth suffering for ; and the end proposed by a human being may put honor upon self-dedication and self-sacrifice.
Oh, fear not in a world like this, And thou shalt know ere long,
Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong.
On the skirts of the town of St. Andrews, Scotland, in the sixteenth century, a slave in a French galley was one morning bending wearily over his oar. For nineteen long months he had done his work faith- fully in the galleys ; and, unused to such labor, his body was wasted, but his spirit was unbroken. " The day was breaking, and rising out of the gray waters, a line of cliffs, the white houses of a town, and a church tower were visible. A companion touched him, pointed to the shore, and asked him if he knew it. 'Yes,' he answered, 'I know it well. I see the steeple of that place where God opened my mouth in public to his glory ; and I know, how weak soever I now appear, I shall not depart out of this life till my tongue glorify his name in the same place.' " That galley slave was John Knox ; and we know that he came back to that same place, and from it and through him the glory of God went forth over the hills of Scotland and filled the land with new light
>
112 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
and life. Many, to-day, who slumber in nameless graves or wander through the tortures of wasted lives, are those upon whom nature has poured her richest gifts, but whose powers are dissipated rather than directed. What we fondly call genius is often but the child of application. Focus your best powers upon the details of your life-work. In explaining his work upon a statue to a visitor at his studio, Michael Angelo said : a I hav-e retouched this part — polished that — softened this feature — brought out that muscle — given some expression to this lip, and more energy to that limb." "But these are trifles," re- marked the visitor. " It may be so," replied the sculptor, "but recollect that triflesjoiake perfection, and perfection is no trifle." The eye rhusT long be" fixed upon the ideal before the hand can touch it. Like the fabled bird in the oriental legend which slept on the wing, learn to rest in your labor, but never rest from your labor. Contemplate ! Concen- trate ! Consecrate !
If what shone afar so grand, Turn to nothing in thy hand, On again ! the virtue lies In the struggle, not the prize.
IV. THE HEROISM OF SELF-PERPETUATION.
The truth has been urged that, " the great men of the earth are the shadowy men, who, having lived and died, now live again and forever through their undying deeds. Thus living, though their footfalls are heard no more, their voices are louder than the thunder, and unceasing as the flow of tides or air." Truly great and good men are not half living when' they are alive ! Their best and truest life on earth, comes after they walk no longer on earth. The prophets of the Most High God seemed almost use- less in their time ; but when you look at the life they have lived since, they appear to be the world's pilots,
S3I.F-HEROISM 113
guiding amidst the perils of the ages. Their enemies could kill them then ; but the arrow from no archer's bow can strike them now. Martin Luther was y*^~) mighty when he lived. But the shadowy I^uther is^^ mightier than a regiment of fleshly L,uthers. When he was on earth, he in some sense asked the pope's leave to be ; he asked the stream and the wheat to give him sustenance for a day ; but now that his body is dead, now that that rubbish is out of the way,^ he asks no leave of pope or elector or emperor, but is himself a ruler of thought and a deathless defender of truth. Truth, like a seed, does not bear its fruit in a day ; the richer the truth and more precious the seed, the slower the full fruition. Great priuciples,\ like great bodies, move slowly. Twenty centuries elapsed before the principle of the conic sections, set forth by Apollonius Pergoeus, was made the basis of the science of astronomy. Every life in this church to-night is enriched by the mellow fruit of seed — truths planted by unknown hands in the dim, distant past. A man's self becomes a part of the truth to which his life is wedded, and as this truth, which he introduced or merely advocated, passes beyond the limit of his visible existence and takes its endless course through the ages, the strongest and best part of the man's self advances with it, and is perpetuated, it may be, cycles of centuries after his bones are rotten and his name is forgotten. The great men of \ the past never lived so really and intensely as they do / to-day. The momentum of their words and work has been added to by the accumulated force of other words and other works ; and, unconscious to them- selves and to the mass of mankind who are their beneficiaries, their lives are increasingly forceful as the years come and go. Each life is a contribution to history ; but few lives have their historians. Only one Johnson ever had a Boswell. Heroic lives are oftentimes written anonymously upon the tablets of
114 TH^ SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
time ; and coming ages never recall by name their greatest benefactors. L,ive so that your life shall not bear its best fruit until after you have passed from the ground in which the seed was sown. Strive not x for present praise, but future fruition. Earnestly ] covet that all men may be your heirs. The fame of / your name may soon perish ; but what you are, the t sum-total made up of the items of your beliefs, pur- \ poses, affections, tastes, and habits, you can bequeath to men who shall never know or be known by you. s/fy Some are dead while they are living ; others are liv-^ ing while they are dead. Think much of your post- mortem life among men. Make the earth richer and the sky brighter by having lived on the one and under the other. Maintain an uncompromising enmity toward the false, an invincible friendship toward the true. Cultivate a practical faith in the living God. Accept the Christ as your Redeemer and ideal. This fertilizes the whole field of man's being, and is the hidden spring of self-heroism. It makes man's business safer, his scholarship wiser, his life manlier, his joy brighter ; and when the veil is lifted, he shall stand erect in the undimmed light of a glorified manhood.
G. A. Nunnally was born on his father's farm in Walton County, Ga., and attended country schools until he was eleven years of age, and was then sent first to an academy in Madison and afterward to one in Marion. He graduated from the State University at Athens, taking one of the highest honors of his class. He also enjoys the distinction of graduating at an earlier age than any other student at this university. He was teacher, and pastor of country and village churches for several years, and then filled successful pastorates at Rome, Ga., and at Eufaula, Ala. ; organized the church at Anniston, Ala., and laid the foun- dation and secured the funds to build the present elegant house of worship at that place. Was elected president of Mercer University, and after presiding over this institution for nearly four years, accepted a call to his present pastorate at the Central Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn.
fi ^ ^^^^^uc^^, ^*^^
( ,. A. Nl MNAL1 % . D. D.
IX
THE DIVINITY OK JESUS CHRIST1
. A. NUNNALLY, D. D.
" What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?" Matt 22 : 42.
MAX is a thinking animal. God treats him as a rational being. All revelation and accounta- bility, all vice and virtue, all rewards and punish- ments are based Upon the idea that man is capable of thought Grand themes are presented for his medi- tation in government, in nature, and in revelation. The expansion of an idea often produces a great life. Thoughts develop and decide and declare character. They kindle desires and control conduct and fix habits. They measure the man and settle the stand- ing and determine the destiny of the individual. uAs a man thinketh in his heart so is he." The greater the theme, the greater the force of thought. "What think ye of Christ?" is the all-important question to the human SOUL Von must think, and your thoughts will determine yonr relation to him. As the mariner scans the sky and discerns his relative position to the star in the north, and thereby learns his latitude and longitude, so yon turn the telescope of thought to- ward Jesus and learn your relative position to the Star in the Hast, and discover the latitude and longi- tude of your sonl. And knowing this, we can tell whether we are on safe waters or near the breakers — whether or not we are on the way to a haven and a
1 Preached in Massachusetts Avenue Methodist Church, Washington, D. C, during the Jnbtl . <>f the Southern Baptist Convention.
"5
Il6 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
port that we desire to reach. Thouglitsare thebell- buoys that ring the danger signals," or are^the'heacon lights along the shore that guide into the harbor. God by his revelation and by his providence and by . his creation and by the movements of man, would " provoke us to think of Christ. The first disciples had the prophets and the unique character and power- ful presence and miraculous display of the Wonder- worker to make them think of Christ. In addition to these, we have the testimony of the apostles and the continuous, abiding, and growing miracle of his living kingdom, and the transformations and forward movements of eighteen centuries to arrest our atten- tion and fix our thoughts on Christ. Every power of man has been subsidized and utilized in the world's evangelization. The achievements of genius, quick- ened by thoughts of him, have all become evangels to declare him to mankind. The galleries of art, from Elorence to Washington, are filled with paint- \ ings — visions transferred to" Canvas, which men, in- spired by Christ or by scenes in his life, have por- trayed. The brush of the artist, from Raphael to Gustave Dore, has been busy through trie centuries depicting the world's thoughts of Christ. The sculp- tor's chisel, from Michael Angelo to Madame Howe, has been at work giving form and body in brass and bronze and marble to the conceptions they had of the Man of Galilee. Musicians, from Ambrosius to Wagner, have made the cathedral and church and chapel and concert hall and field and fireside resonant with melodies, upon whose waves there floated into the minds of choir and congregation thoughts on the life and love and light and liberty of Christ. The author's pen, in book and magazine and paper and tract, in poem and prose, in broken language and polished words, has been inditing for eighteen hun- dred vears thouQfhts of Christ. Great libraries have been filled with ponderous or less pretentious publi-
THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST 117
cations, produced by the best minds of two hemi- spheres presenting the claims and character of Christ. Unnumbered tongues, burning with live coals from off the altar, have been speaking in pulpit and grove and tent — tongues from Paul to Spurgeon, from Jerusa- lem to London, from~BpISuTt^TEJans, from Corinth to New York, from Rome to Washington. All along the line of the march of humanity this voice has kept pace with the procession of the generations, and in eloquence has thundered or in broken sen- tences has stammered thoughts of Christ. Indeed, so fully and vividly has he been presented to the human mind — tongues of canvas, tongues of stone, tongues of melody, tongues of fire everywhere declaring him — it seems strange that any intellect should be devoid of thought and conviction concerning him. In the midst of such a display, in the light of such a revela- tion, in the face of such cumulative evidence, and in the presence of such monumental testimony, " What do yon think of Christ ? "
" Whose son is he ? " is the question of this life, of this age and of every age, of this country and of all countries. It rises above all the questions that try the wisdom of statesmen. The relations of capital and labor, of what is anarchy and what is liberty, are questions of minor moment. The problems that per- plex the professor in his laboratory and defy all solu- tion by the test-tube and crucible and alembic, are insignificant when compared to this : " Whose son is he?" A little fame or gain or promotion maybe won in this life by the proper solution of the ques- tions of government and finance and science ; but eter- nal issues depend upon the correct answer to that question propounded by the Saviour, which silenced all caviling for the rest of his ministry, " Whose son is he?"
This question becomes more fearful when we re- member that every man must answer it for himself.
Il8 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
There is a Sanhedrin in every cornrnunity, and every man at some time in his life belongs to this high tri- bunal. There is a Pilate in every breast, and a judg- ment hall everywhere. Jesus Christ is always on trial. The investigation never ceases. An appeal is always being taken from one generation to the next. Ancestral decisions will not, cannot be accepted by the tribunal of posterity. The consensus of man- kind does not relieve any man of individual and per- sonal responsibility. Face to face every man must be brought with this question, "Whose son is he?" Your reply will determine the estimate you place upon his atonement, the faith you have in his prom- ises, and the share you expect in his inheritance.
Then let us convene a court, impanel a jury, ex- amine the witnesses, and try to reach the truth. You be the judge and jury, and I will introduce the wit- nesses and plead the cause of him who, I believe, is my Advocate to-day with the Father.
The first witness we would bring before the court is Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary, the Man of Galilee, that One who was born in Bethlehem and died on Calvary. Mark you, it is the man, Christ Jesus, not the Son of God, whom we are about to place on the stand. But before calling him to testify, allow me to say that this historic person has been and is still regarded by all men as a man of exceed- ingly high character. His friends and his foes agree that he is truthful and reliable and trustworthy. They all hold that he is humble and pure and blame- less, that he is a perfect man, a model man, a fault- less example worthy the imitation of all men. The witness is on the stand, and is ready for examination.
The first question we ask is : "Jesus, what do you claim for yourself more than any good man might claim for himself?"
He replies : " ' I am the light of the world ' (John 8 : 12) ; 4 1 am the bread of life ' (John 6 : 35) ; I said :
THE DIVINITY OF JKSUS CHRIST 119
' 1 am the way, the truth, and the life ' (John 14 : 6) ; I said : 'lam the vine, ye are the branches ' (John 15 : 5) ; I said again : * Without me ye can do noth- ing ' (John 15 : 5); I declared: 'I am the resurrec- tion'" (John 11 : 25).
How silly and puerile and repulsive would such expressions seem if spoken of one and by one who is simply human. But the man Jesus is truthful ; he would not set up a claim which could not be sub- stantiated.
Again we ask: "What relations do you claim to exist between you and the Father? "
He replies , " I assert that I am the 'only begotten Son ' (John 3 : 16) ; I declare that, ' I and the Father are one ' (John 10 : 30), and ' He that hath seen me hath seen the Father' " (John 14 : 9).
Would this meek and humble and truthful Naza- rene claim such divine kinship and identity if it did not really exist? Such pretensions are not compati- ble with his established humility unless the declar- ation be admitted as true.
But we ask further: "Jesus, what promises have you made that would be utterly worthless and only tantalizing mockeries if you were only a man ? "
He replies, " I promised : ' Whosoever drinketh of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst' (John 4 : 14) ; I spoke out so that all the world might hear : ' Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest' (Matt. 11 : 28) ; I promised : ' Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do' (John 14 : 13) ; I stood up before my disciples and said : ' I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself (John 14 : 2, 3) ; and just before taking my departure from them I declared that, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and earth . . . and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.' "
120 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
Would Jesus, an honorable man, — and all men say- lie was the soul of honor, — would Jesus, as a truthful, reliable man, as a merciful man, make promises that he could not fulfill and excite expectations he could not meet? And can any one who is only a man do what he promised to do? The clearing houses of earth cannot handle such checks ; only^ divinity can cash such drafts. We must reject the promise's and condemn the man, or accept them and admit the Sonship of Christ.
But before dismissing this witness, we ask : " Jesus, have you any witnesses to testify in your behalf? "
He replies: u ' Search the Scriptures, . . . they are they which testify of me,' and Moses and the prophets wrote concerning me. Here are my disciples ; ' they are of age, ask them. ' Demons also said to me, 'I know thee who thou art,' and my Father ' beareth witness of me.' "
Time will not allow the introduction of all these witnesses, but we will take a word or two from some of them. David had special advantages, was often in communion with God and was " a man after God's own heart." He is a truthful and competent witness.
We ask : " David, what have you to say touching the question, Whose Son is Christ?"
He replies: "One day I was lifted up and was striking a grand song of praise from my harp, and I heard the Father say : ' Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee ' " (Ps. 2 : 7).
Let us wake up Isaiah, the old gospel prophet : "Tell us, Isaiah, what have you to say on this question ?"
He replies: "I; wrote: 'Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given : and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, the ever- lasting Father, The Prince of Peace ' " (Isa. 9 : 6).
Isaiah wrote this at the risk of his life, and it is
THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST 121
not probable that he would have declared a fraudu- lent vision with such danger impending.
Daniel, the victim of Nebuchadnezzar and the hero of the lions' den, unmoved by royal wrath and unswerved by gods of gold and unfrightened by flaming furnace, what is your testimony ?
His answer comes in clearest tones, above the roar of lion and rage of king : " Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt ; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God" (Dan. 3 : 25).
But let us consult men of later date who were eye- witnesses. Call in that brave man, John the Baptist, whose loyalty to truth was written in his own blood.
"John, what do you know of this case? Whose Son is Christ ? "
The voice in the wilderness replies in tones that sweep down the Jordan to the sea and across the sea to every land and is still echoing over the continents : " I said : ' Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world ! . . . and I bare record that this is the Son of God ' " (John 1 : 29, 34).
Here is another witness : " Andrew, what do you think about him?" He modestly replies : "I met him and knew him, and I ran and told my brother Simon, 'We have found the Messias, . . the Christ'" (John 1 : 41).
And Philip speaks : " We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write " (John 1 : 45).
And Nathanael, " an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile," is readv to give his testimony. He de- clares, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God" (John 1 : 49)-
The timid and frail but reclaimed woman of Sama- ria,—her name is not given in the book, but she met him at the well, — what is her opinion?
She replies : " I was convinced, I forgot everything.
L
122 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
I went running and crying aloud, ' Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did ; is not this the Christ? ' " She was impressed that she had met the Divine One.
But let us call some good women whose hospitality Jesus often enjoyed. ik Mary and Martha, tell us what you think ? "
Here is their reply : " In John n it is recorded that our brother had been taken sick and had died, and we sent for Jesus and said to him when he came, ' Lord, if thou hadst been here, niv brother had not died.' »
They knew that men could not save him from death, but they believed that Jesus was more than man and that he could have saved him.
But let us place some of the apostles on the stand. The first one we would call in is that skeptical, doubting Thomas.
We ask : " Thomas, you were often with Christ, but was absent at the first meeting after his resurrec- tion ; but after a rigid and satisfactory examination of the Risen One, what did you say? "
And Thomas, no longer doubting, but without mental reservation or equivocation, says : "I am on record in John 20 : 28, and I said then and I repeat it now, ' My Lord and my God.' "
Xow we come to Peter, the rock, the converted and confirmed disciple, the follower of many experi- ences, one of the specially chosen who constituted his body guard. " Peter, whose Son is he? "
He savs : " I assert, ' Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God ' " (Matt. 16 : 16).
But let us call in some of the evangelists, and we ask : " What opportunity did you have for knowing and understanding Christ ? "
John speaks for them all : " That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and
THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST 1 23
our hands have handled, of the Word of life ; . . declare we unto you" (1 John 1 : 1-3).
Well, let us place Matthew, the publican, upon the stand. " Teil us, Matthew, in a word, what did you think of Christ?"
His reply is: "Emmanuel, . . God with us" (Matt. 1 : 23).
Call in Mark. " What is your testimony ?"
He says, u I wrote : ' The beginning of the gospel of Jesus' Christ, the Son of God.' "
And John, the beloved disciple, who knew more of the inner life, the God-life of Christ than any other of the disciples : " What is your testimony? "
Here is his reply : " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by him ; and without him was not anything made that was made. . . And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us ; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten ot the Father" (John 1 : 1-14).
Surely John, who was so close to him, could not be deceived ; and being so much like him, he could not deceive us.
What more is needed to establish the claims of Christ to Divinity?
But we would have some old documents we would place in evidence. In many references the testimony is incidental, and is all the stronger because inci- dental. Paul's letter to the church at Rome begins with these words : " Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God . . . concerning his Son, Jesus Christ, . . . de- clared to be the Son of God with power," etc. Again, in this same letter, he says : " Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever " (Rom. 9 : 5). In Philippians, speaking of Christ, he writes : " Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." And again, u That every tongue should confess that
124 TIIK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." In Hebrews, it is written : "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son."
Paul was a lawyer. Me had learned to be careful in his words. He was too well skilled in investiga- tion to be misled, too well trained in logic to be im- posed upon by sophistry, too impassive to be mis- guided by sentiment, and too pure and true to stoop to deceive and mislead others. 1 1 is testimony cannot be shaken.
But let ns look at another old document. There are blood stains upon the pages, for while he wrote the author was dying, and anion- his last words are these: kk Blessed be the God and rather of our I. Jesus Christ" (i Peter i :
In another old, U-ar-stah: 11 in trembling
handwriting — for John was old and feeble and was closing his ministry, and getting ready to stand
before the judgment seat of Chris' — it is written :
"These are written, that yon might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." It is pn |
terous to think that this servant of God
friend of humanity would for a moment, by a single word or allusion or suggestion, mislead any man.
This lover of Christ and God, loved man too well to
(deceive him. Wherever you find John, in EphesUS or on Patmos, leaning on the Saviour's bosom or, according to tradition, in the caldron of boiling oil, running with the ardor of love to the sepulchre or bending with benedictions over his children in the faith, it matters not where you find him, in the church or in the prison, alone or with the multi- tude, his testimony is always the same : "This is the Son of G
But there is another class of witnesses I would in- troduce. They are his enemies ; those who rejected
THK DIVINITY OF JKSUS CHRIST 1 25
and despised and persecuted him. Let ns call from the pit of despair some of the demons who are locked in prison, and as they know they are beyond the reach of hope, they can expect no relief by turning State's evidence.
We ask : " You doomed and damned and lost ones, you met Jesus hereon earth ; whose Son is he?"
And here is the reply of the legions: "Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God." And now they believe and tremble.
tin, the thief on th who, guilty of great
sins, an 1 perhaps at the first joined with his fellow in railing, lifted up his voice at the last, and recog- nizing in the sufferer at his side the Son of God, ex- claimed : vv L/)rd, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."
1/ I us call Up the old Roman soldier, whose pro- :i cherishes truthfulness as a cardinal virtue. What is the testimony of the centurion?
II re is his reply : kl I was there with others at his crucifixion, watching Jesus and those things that were . and I was convinced, and I said, l Truly this was the S»u of God.'"
e m -re. lie has some friends whose testi- mony is valuable. Their character and opportunity and nr -lives make them unimpeachable. Their were taken for truth by the patriarchs and prophets, and history and providence have confirmed all that they ever said, I me in the angels, those pints who fell not, neither rebelled, but have always served about the throne that is set in truth and righteousness. What have they to say as to the divinity of Christ?
Their reply sweeps down the starry slopes in heav- enly melodies : " We sang his praises 'Glory to God in the highest1 ; and when the Father said,'1 Let all the angels worship him,' we fell down before him and bowed in his presence, and magnified his name."
126 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
Once more. There is yet one other witness ; one who cannot lie ; himself is truth. Sooner the heavens would fall and hell become a place of bliss than one word of his could fail. Reverently, with bowed head, we come before his eternal throne and ask : " Heavenly Father, whose Son is Jesus?"
Be silent, O earth, and hushed every voice in heaven, and let the demons keep silence below. Here is his reply : " Twice while he was here in the world, at his baptism and at his transfiguration, I came down through the clouds and declared in tones that rang through the universe and across the eternities, i This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' "
Surely with such testimony, coming from the lips of men and demons, of angels and of God, coming from the cradle and the grave, from the earth and the skies, emphasized by the bowing heavens and the quaking earth, tempered with the love of friends and accentu- ated by the hate of foes, surely we are ready to fling doubt away and join with that disciple who was re- claimed and say, " My Lord and my God."
Then, inspired by such a faith, let us live in his service, die to his glory, and go up and join in the song:
All hail the power of Jesus' name,
Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem And crown him Lord of all.
A. G. McManaway was born in Bedford Co., Va., August 19, 1852. He was educated at Richmond College and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His pastorates have been in Blacksburg, Ya., and Lewisburg and Franklinton and Charlotte, N. C, and Little Rock, Ark. He is now the Financial Agent and Secretary of the faculty of Ouachita Baptist College, Arkadel- phia, Ark. Dr. McManaway has been for several years intimately and officially identified with the work of the denomination in his State and the South, and has always discharged the respon- sibilities placed upon him with credit to himself and satisfaction to his brethren.
$ |
W\ |
^ |
\
>:•- 1. P . * t # * * x
ft, i- **• .jp a 4? i
X UNANSWERED PRAYERS
IV A. <;. |f< MAN AWAY, 1'. I>.
re with my -;iii: in the gospel of that without I : yon always in my
Ogth I might have a
a I may impart onto • the end jre may
ther wiih yon by the mutual mi would not i ignorant,
m, (but was let hith- •iic fruit ai I >Ug other
Gentil< I
I READ to you, in the op from the
rmon on the Mount, some of the Saviour's re- markal prayer. At first glance
it w these that one might have the elo-
quo r, the wealth of a Vanderbilt, the
nything else he might de- siring. I> that what is meant when \\ I 1 bo u Ask, and ye shall receive ; seek,
and ye shali find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto
you"? And □ what sense are these prom-
ar first answer to mv question would
be that in the very promises themselves the Saviour
has limited hin ing of good gifts. If a
hungry chi ived by the pone-like appearance
'. for it :y his hunger,
would any jive him stones for bread ?
sing it to b bild should ask for
a serpent as a plaything, would any earthly father
heed such a rgg If we then, being evil, know
how to i 'd gifts to our children, and to with- ° : \ l:7
128 THE SOUTHERN BAFTIST TULPIT
hold from them the things that would harm them, how much more will our Heavenly Father give only o;ood things to them that pray to him? So, if I should ask for anything that would harm me, or m t b my highest good, my Master has kindly promised not to bestow it. Then, yon would answer me in the second place, that through the Apostle James our Lord lias still further limited his promises to those who do not ask amiss. So if [should ask for a g-nnfl fling, and ast in a spirit of selfishness, rebellion, or careless- he would not encourage such a spirit by grant- ing my petition, but would withhold the gift until I came into a better spiritual frame
But do these two limitations explain all the multi- tude of unanswered prayers? Have yon not asked for good thmgsTsucTi itpourin Spirit,
an ingathering of souls, the spread of the Redeem- er's kingdom, and, so far as you could tell, asked with ■ I motive and in the proper spirit, and yet re- ceived no answer? How are these experiences to be reconciled with the promises read? Can you find another precept still further limiting the promises so as to cover such prayers as these? ( >r, if you cannot fmd a prec< pt, can you find a Scripture example fur- nishing such limitation? All Scripture is profitable, and the example is as authoritative as the pn Let US see if the text d«»es not supply you with the example for which you ask.
The writer was a good man. He could say of God, M whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son." Not only did he turn away from sin when he heard that voice on the way to Damascus, but he con- secrated himself fully to the work of his new Master. In labors, as well as in sufferings, he was more abun- dant than any others. In the case we are now consid- ering, hi w is impelled by a good motive. He wanted to visit Rome, not that he might satisfy an idle curi- osity by a sight of the world's metropolis, nor that he
UNANSWERED PRAYERS 1 29
might secure places of power and profit for himself or his friends, but that he might u impart a spirit- ual gift," the very thing for which he had been or- dained an apostle. Now this good man, under the in- fluence of a good motive, had been inserting in each one of his prayers a petition that by any means he might at length be permitted to accomplish this praiseworthy object, and had also added his efforts to his prayers, having purposed oftentimes to make the jonrney. But he tells us in the text that prayer and rts alike had proved unavailing, and his purpose was still unrealized. What may we learn from such a notable example ?
1. That in addition to the limitations already noted, God )i to himself the right to ]>ki«ay the au-„
>s to prayers that may be all right in substance and spirit. He did that with Paul, and then in- spired him to put the fact on record, that the lesson might be handed down to all generations. So too, in the cases of Simeon and Anna, who with fastings and prayers had waited to see the c< msolatioiLQXIsrael ; the answer did not come until both were old and ready ' to die. And who has not sympathized with the cry of those, who having given their lives in martyrdom to the Christ, look up from under his throne for ven- geance upon their persecutors, while their prayers are unheeded, until at length (hey are represented as cry- ing out, " How long, ( I Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ? "
But let me hasten to say that God ordains these delays, not for his own good, but ours. The text furnishes an illustration in point. Paul could not see any satisfactory reason for his disappointment, but we can. When we remember that his greatest letter, the Epistle to the Romans, wa >ned by
that disappointment, and then consider how much more good _the epistle has accomplished and will
130 TIIK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
accomplish in building up the kingdom of God than the conversion of every soul then in Rome would have done, we can begin to see that God was really answering the spirit o£ Paul's prayer more largely than he would have done if he had answered imme- diately and literally. Paul's great desire was to glo- rify God by extending his kingdom. In his short- sightedness, he thought that could best be done by a visit to Rome, and so he prayed for that, but he has seen ere this how much better it was to have the an- swer delayed until the letter was written. So it may he with your unanswered prayers. God is delaying that he may give you a better answer than yon have dared
hope for. God is
Su; : I when' er he gives,
aIicu be d< :
When the due season came, Paul received his answer and went to. Rome. vSo shall it he with you* The due season is known to God and is in his hands. Wait patiently until b it ^ — "\
II. (rod als -v /<> himself the ri-jht /V^-hany;^
the answers to our prayers. In this case the writer was praying for a ,l ; >us journey.'1 We know
what he meant by that. He was weary with many labors, SO he hoped, when the time < r his
journey, that he might take p ■ pleasant
day in a well-appoint 1, and then, under cloud -
skies and ever quiet seas, he might be wafted by pleasant breezes from the harbor on the one to the harbor on the other, rested, refreshed, invigor- ated by the delightful voyage. This is what he asked. Do you remember what he received? He embarked as a prisoner in chains, he endured two weeks of fearful bufferings in a storm that was phe- nomenal ; at last he got to the shore of a barbarous island just in time to escape the fate of the unfortu- nate ship. lie went on to Rome, finally, chained to a
UNANSWERED PRAYERS 13 1
soldier, and so distressed and disheartened that the thoughtful kindness of some nameless ones in coming a day's journey to meet him was enough to make him " thank God and take courage." What a con- trast between this all and the prosperous journey for which he prayed !
So too, Moses, after he had promised his people a land flowing with milk and honey and had encour- aged them through forty years to follow him on to- ward that land, when he asked that he himself might go over into it, was given something else.
And our apostle, on another occasion, when he found himself hindered in his blessed work by some affliction which was a thorn in the flesh, asked three
times that it might be removed, but it remained
There wis one Other who ould say, k4 I knew that
thou nearest me always,'1 and there came a time when
he prayed three times, " If it be possible let this cup pass from me," and it did not pass.
But let me hasten again to say that when Cod chang: s the answer to the prayers of his people, he Iocs it that he may give them something better. We may well rejoice that Paul dm" not get the sort of journey he asked for. He had written' much of God's reignty, election, foreknowledge, and predestina- tion, and had so greatly magnified these doctrines that many hive turned away from his writings with the idea that man is the mere creature of a fate that is entirely beyond hiscontroL The answer to such
is that Paul himself did not so understand the prin- ciples he taught. And the character of his voyage furnished him an occasion to illustrate that fact. While in the teeth of that fearful storm it was made known to him that God foresaw the result of the storm, and had foreordained that Paul should survive it, together with all who were in the ship, so that not a life should be lost No stronger illustration of the truth of the principles he had inculcated could have
1 32 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
been given. Bnt he did not understand that God's sovereignty, foreknowledge, predestination, and elec- tion relieved those concerned of all responsibility for the safety that had been foreordained and declared. On the contrary, when he saw an unwise and danger- ous thing about to be done, he did not hesitate to say : " Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot lie- saved." It was worth all that Paul suffered, and a great deal more, to have 60m his own lips such an interpretation of his writings. Jf no other purpose- had been subserved, this would have been sufficient
to justify the changing of the answer.
Moses ton received a better tiling than he asked. If he had gone through the land he would have seen only a few acres on either side of his pathway, but as it was, he was permitted "to view the land o'er" J and, as it would seem from the account, the whole of it in panoramic vision.
Paul's thorn was not removed, hut he was given
grace to bear it, and so became an illustration of the
greatness of God's grace to rations.
The cup of tlie Sufferer in Gethsemane did not If it had done so, all that had been suffered and accomplished up to that time would have been and the work of salvation would have proved a failure. But instead of that, an angel came to strengthen him, and he went forward to complete his work and win his final triumph. And so in every case, when God changes the answers to the prayers of his people, he dnc+ it that they may be benefited more than they thought or dreamed. You may not see now why you received something else inst ad of the thing for which you plead, but you shall see hereafter, and from the scene of that final revelation you shall go singing :
u and marvelous are tbv works,
' .<><1 Almighty ; Just ami true are thy way-, thou King of saints.
Henry Wilson Battle belongs to the distinguished and honored Battle family of North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. He is the I Gen. C. A Battle, and was burn at Tuskegee,
Ala., Jul 56. lie was admitted to the bar at the age of
nineteen, and practised law about three years. He began his ministry at Columbus, Mi--., in 1878, and has been signally suc- cessful in attracting large congregations, promoting denomina- tional int .'id winning souls. Inheriting the oratorical temperament, Dr. Battle uses the pen but meagerly in preparing for the pulpit, and. therefore, to be fully appreciated must be heard. Great audiences are often mightily swayed by his ora- tory, but in the pulpit he ever exalts the Cross and humbly m (.0,1 for results. Mrs, Battle is the daughter of Rev. (and Hon.) J. L. Stewart, of North Carolina, and by her rare personal attra beautiful character, and devotion to the t Christ, greatly enhances her husband's usefulness. Wake lore-: College conferred upon him the honorary degree of i» !•. A- pastor of the First Baptist Church, of Petersburg, Va., he is successor to a long line of distinguished and honored men in the Baptist ministry of the South.
II. w. Battli . D D
.
, t: ... e ¥ , » i* '
1 ' I
XI
'.STRAP. 7Kl
P.
I \.
TI 1 1 triumphant r to
his
church, v incongru
that .in '. thing
'.i for us I that I tie to the Corin-
■ in the alr^ :i elm:. ' ffinth, until at
v rhal-
ruth «»f the
Timothy ai I Titus
t C rinth
•
if we only h i«l the a Bph-
Titn : in the heat of his right
indi raid
haw I T'. | | S] that letter to he
t, hut it : «l I: cans <\ the
church - much-needed thinking, and thus
tie to the Corin- thians, intended, in turn, to prepare the way far the
M<>re persona than Paul have found that it is not
v to maintain one's equanimity under unju
"trm; l). C, during the Jubilee Session of the South- ern I
M 133
134 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
cistn, especially when the aspersions relate to the fondest attachment and the supreme ambition of Hie. Such an ordeal reveals the man, and in its fierce light graces or defects stand forth in sharpest outlines. If Paul never appeared more human, neither was he ever more manifestly great, than when pouring out his mighty heart in tnes rushing sentences, often made obscure by their very intensity.
Is Paul ambitions? Does he desire by talking
about bonds and imprisonments, or dreams and reve- lations, to exalt himself above his bredrren? Hues he wish by his unsparing anti-Judaism, in i'Kal de- mands on the Christian life, b i make himself the judge of conscience and the infallible interpretation of the Divine mind? or has he gone quite beyond himself and b he mad? All this — and much more — his ene- mies openly charge. ne and all his answer is : "The love of Christ constraineth us.'1 I am quite confident that Pan! meant the love of Christ far as, — it is so like Paul to look Christward lor the source of power, — that love which prompted the Christ to die for us, uThat they which live should not hence- forth live unto themselves, hut unto him which died for them and rose again." But it is a love that
erates love: "We love him because he first loved us." Paul says this love-producing love constrains.
It constrained him. It made him brave ; it made him zealous ; it made him gladly bear all things for Christ, and count themgain. But somebody will say," I do not wish a constraining
love; I wish a love that will revel in a world above the exactions of law." You do? Von are sighing for a love that melts away into a rosy cloud of sentiment, without form, substance, or power? Pray, where will you find it ? Love, genuine love, on earth or in heaven, disdains your vapid dream, and answers you back : " I must, I must ! n Mark yon, it is a must which has no despotism in it: "Perfect love casteth out
CONSTRAINING LOVE 135
fear; because fear hath torment." Listen to the " Christ : " I must do the will of him that sent me " ; and again, wMy meal is to do the will of him that sent inc." The glory of the new covenant is not found in that there is now no law, — no constraint, — but the rather that "the fleshy tables of the heart" have been substituted for "the tables of stone." "I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a ( ;«»d, and they shall be to me a people." They will not need in that day take up their abode close by Sinai ; Calvar\ — ever
present— -will prove the safest guarantee of the law's
a nice. "It a man love me, theSaviour,
J be will keep my ' He will, he cannot help
if hr love tne—Jrom what Archbishop Leighton calls "the inward bent of the mind." "As it should not be a compulsiveor violent motion by neces- sity from without, so it should not be an artificial d by weights hung on within, . . . but a nat- ural motion like that of the heavens in their course/' The love of Christ for me, appropriated and inter- preted by my responsive love to him, creates through the m 1 of the Holy Spirit a new
nature, whose highest law and chiefest joy is to do 11. Chris fs love and man's love! where and do they meet and blend? One has beautifully ^jJaWke burnished minors that face each other, tsh the sunbeams to and fro. And thus as we live near God we are filled with love, not ours, but —Ins love we reflect back on himself, his love linn- forward to men." Liberty! talk of" liberty! is the noblest sort of liberty— "the p< rfect law of liberty." bee ad conformity to the conditions
of the new life. " I will walk at liberty ; for I seek thy precepts." We need it, we must have it. A poet has sai
I'nless above himself he can erect himself, How poor a thing is man !
136 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
But man needs something more than that. Men are constantly erecting themselves, by forces within themselves, above their ordinary selves. It is this that gives to literature its poetry and to history its charm. Thus does the common man of yesterday become the hero of to-day. We need more than a mighty impulse, cradled in an emergency and sepul- cliered in a day.
() Henry ! always strivest thou to be L,rrcat n act — yet art thou never i:reat
Hut by the inspiration of great passion.
The whirl-blast o-mes, the d< 1 Is rise up
Ami shape themselves : from earth to heaven they stand,
As though they urere the pillars of a temple
limit by < hnnipotence in his own honor !
■ the blast shaping spirit
Is fled : the mighty columns are but sand, Ami lazy snakes tread o'er the level rail
Thus begins, and thus ends, man's vannted resolu- tions] The world needs something more. Humanity needs the stability of an abiding principle, blended
with the fervor of the heart's purest and best emo- tions. Where can you find it? I answer, Nowhere i)i all the universe but at tin- CROSS ! " ( ftht r founda- tion can no man lav than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ !"
"The love of Christ constrained) us." Go to the and learn how Christ loved you I In the light of the cross, many a word in the text of life's hard a, which you have been spelling over through blinding tears, will put on supernal beauty, and affliction will lose its sharpest sting. If the ecstasy of an earth-born love could make a pagan smile on the dagger reeking with her blood, and exclaim while dying, " My Pectus, it does not hint ! " ought not the f this love to make a Christian glory in tribula- tion? If love, uof the earth earthy," can boast its il- lustrious examples of sublime self-sacrifice, esteemed
CONSTRAINING LOVE 1 37
priceless privilege though made at any cost, shall not this love awake in the breasts of its votaries a spirit of heroism purer, nobler, and more passionately earnest than any other beneath the stars? Was not this the Saviour's meaning when he said, "If any man omc to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple''? Oh, friends, we do not love him as we ought; and we love him in such a beggarly way because we meditate so seldom and so coldly on his love tor us. We hardly half believe that he bore each of OS in his heart from Bethlehem to Calvary. We h irdly half believe that love, and not the Roman's nails,' held him to the cross. Oh, if I conld only have \oii go from this place to-day saturated with' the thought that Christ Jesus loves yon, and gave himself for von! Then would you go out to a new life, a life with the Christ at your side. I plead for more love to the personal Christ A love that shall be fervent and constraining : a love that will mike a man whisper, in the soul's most secret chamber, k'I)e.ir Lord, lor thee," and then flash a joyous radiance over the face and through
tlle - ! a love tint will nuke a woman break the alabaster box, nor think of the sensuous pleasures its price might haw bought ; a love more than earthly, because mixed with a love divine. And vet, the love i mind alert to learn, and of a life made strong for .service. I repeat, the world cannot do without it. liie age, with all its magnificent attainments in material things and vast acquisitions of knowledge, cannot afford to forget that, "The knowledge of Jesus is the most excellent of the sciences." Imagine the stupendous loss this world would sustain if that sweet Personality, to-day enshrined in innumerable human hearts, conld be changed into an abstraction, so that for the devotion of the lover would be substituted onlv the zeal of the student. I tell you, take Mary's "Rob-
138 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
boni! " and the trembling disciple's "My Lord and my God!" out of Christianity, and humanity turns wistfully from it with the cry of the prisoner of Machaerus, "Do we look for another?'1
Finally, the work to be done for the world, the work needed and promised, is possible only for those who love the Christ and have caught his spirit It is a blessed partnership work. "And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." " I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." If we would save men we must love Christ and live near the cross. We are safest when, sitting down, we watch him there. "The Mediterranean is ever losing by evaporation, and yet it is always lull, because it draws by the Strait of Gibraltar on the Atlantic." The cross is our Strait of Gibraltar, and our Atlantic d's infinite love We are best fitted for service when "bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." To-day shall we not consecrate our powers afresh in love's sacred cause ?
After all, love's work is the best work. I have somewhere read of an old cathedral, upon one of the arches of which was a sculptured face of exquisite l wellness. It was long hidden, but one day a slanted window flung a ray of sunlight full on the wondrous face and revealed its almost divine beauty. Ever after, vear by vear, when for brief moments the angel in the'stone looked out, multitudes gathered eager to catch but a glimpse of that face. It had a strange historv. When the cathedral was being built, an old man, with face plowed by tears and form bent with age, came and besought the architect to let him, s »mewhere on the noble pile, execute the commission of his heart. Out of pity, but fearing lest his failing sight and trembling touch might mar some fair de- sign, the master set him to work in the deep shadows of the vaulted roof. One day they found the old man cold in death, the tools of his craft resting beside him,
CONSTRAINING LOVE 139
the cunning of his hand gone, and his face upturned to this other wondrously beautiful face which he had wrought— the face of one loved and lost in early man- hood. And when the artists and sculptors gathered there, gazing on that face, they exclaimed, u This is the grandest work of all; love wrought this'" Working amid the great world-shadows bodyino- forth without what love has enshrined within ; workino- it may be unheeded by human eve ; working, we fear so poorly, but working out the heart's sweet and blessed behest— one day (what matter if the worker be still t) a slanting ray from God's cathedral window will fall on the work, and then shall the Master say, " This is the grandest zvork of all; love wrought this!"
XII
god's
" Tlmki be bbI ■ • i ;
AVERY ■ ejacu
of his argument I en-
he finds a brief bn.
snppl
of devotion
spiritual |
the band Tl. m the
of in: time t:
harmonj bed.
On land
: truth or enforcing a duty, in all employmei circumstanci s, tl le breaks
out frequently into fervent flan
tional feeling, into sudden upliftir. aver and
pr.r.
In a very natural way, the n of the
ng forth from the heart of tl tic-. Pie
had been urging upon his it duty of
Christian irly to the •
lem who - i by
:-t < hnr. :.. , during the
.venlion. 140
*?>rf, frfi *,,*.; *>. ^, *>; *
f- |
> |
£ |
|
\* |
/± |
* *4j |
^^a^^^H *• |
^. |
X |
Rev. M 'iKEOOR
Malcolm MacGregor was born in Osgoode, Ontario, Can- ada, November, 1842. He was baptized by Rev. W. R. Ander- son, in Breadalbane, Ont., June, 1854 ; under the ministry of Rev. Daniel McPhail, experienced a call to preach the gospel ; com- pleted the prescribed course for students for the ministry in Woodstock College under President R. A. Fife, in the spring of 1868, and in June of that year was ordained. For twelve years, in his native province, he did pastoral work in the Kemptville, Smith Falls, and Georgetown churches, and evangelistic and fostering work in connection with the Convention East. From the spring of 1880 to the close of 1890 he labored in the State of New York, first as pastor of the Baptist church at Fre- donia, N. Y., and then of the Riverside Church, New York City. He has been for four years pastor of the First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla.
god's unspeakable GIFT 141
widespread dearth, by prolonged persecutions and by extreme self-sacrifice in behalf of the people and cause of Christ, in a season of great emergencies. While thus employed, the apostle came naturally to think of the insignificant and trivial character of all human giving when contrasted with the marvelous, boundless grace of God in giving the Son of his love to be our Saviour ; and thus the apostle was led to ex- claim with all his heart and soul, " Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."
I. The unspeakableness asserted of God's gift. 1. The gift of God is unspeakable by reason of the greatness of its worth. The strong expiession • unspeakable gift," used here with such emphasis by the apostle, necessarilv refers to that gift of o-ifts God's Son, for our salvation. God gave his onlv be- gotten and well-beloved Son, the brightness of the Father's glory and the impress of his substance, for us as an atoning sacrifice to eternal justice, and to us, as our personal Saviour and Lord. He gave him to become united to our huinanitv, to become burdened with our transgressions, to make expiation for our guilt, and to deliver us from our sin and doom. The deity and dignity of Christ's personalitv, the perfec- tion of his humanity, the glory of his character, the power of his atoning and intercessory work, and the riches of his grace and love are of unutterable and inestimable value.
In and with Christ, God freely bestows on all who by faith receive the Saviour all kinds of bless- ings, all manner of precious gifts. How could it be otherwise? "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ? " Through Christ he delivers us from legal condemnation and from bond- age to Satan, the world, and sin. Through Christ he bestows upon us divine sonship, likeness, heirship holiness, comfort, and love, with all the riches
14-3 the: southern baptist pulpit
of his grace here and of his glory hereafter, In Christ himself, we have a Saviour and helper, and through him we have, in God the Father, a Father and a friend, and in the Holy Spirit, a com- forter and guide. The supreme and all-comprehen- sive gift of God is unspeakably great and precious. Christ and the benefits coming to us through him are " unsearchable riches." In view of the vastness of the chief divine gift and its varied and gracious im- plications, one may well exclaim, with Addison :
When all thy mercies, oh, my God,
My rising soul surveys, Transported with the view, I'm lost
In wonder, love, and praise.
To all eternity, to thee,
A joyful song I'll raise ; But oh, eternity's too short
To utter all thy praise.
2. The gift of God is unspeakable on account of the mystery of the giving. The giving is as unique and wonderful as the gift. To whom did God make this unspeakable gift? To sinful men, foes of his character and government, unholy, unthankful, hell- deserving. Why did he give his Son to die for his enemies? That we, "his enemies," might live through him. " Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." " Scarcely for a righteous man will one die : yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sin- ners, Christ died for us."
The mystery of this divine giving is marvelous and inscrutable. We are enriched with the Saviour and his salvation, not because of any merit present or fore- seen in ourselves ; but for reasons hidden in the infi-
god's unspeakable GIFT 143
nite heart of God. Rightly considered, there is some- thing profoundly impressive and awe-inspiring in the mystery of grace. No one adequately understands and appreciates the gospel who does not recognize and adore the sovereignty, and therefore the mystery, of the divine mercy. But to those who know it and bow to it, the sovereign and mysterious mercy of God in Christ is unutterably solemn, precious, and sweet. Once in a long while the heart of the civilized world is made to throb with admiration and wonder at some rare instance of self-sacrificing friendship ; but the noblest gift ever made by man or the noblest deed ever done by man, deserves not to be named in the same breath with God's great gift of his Son, nay, his sacrifice of himself for the salvation of his ene- mies^ To all eternity, the vastness and mystery of the divine mercy will be to the redeemed and to the angelic inhabitants of heaven a fountain of solemn and reverential joy.
The prophet Hosea, in describing the ultimate res- cue and return of the apostate tribes of Israel back to the mercy and love of God, after all their wander- ings and sin, says of them, that, in those latter days, " they shall fear the I^ord and his goodness" ; that is, they shall humbly, wonderingly, and tremblingly rev- erence the great goodness of God in accomplishing their restoration and salvation, despite their stupen- dous un worthiness and guilt. When Moses, standing by the burning bush in Horeb, was about to be di- vinely intrusted with the commission to accomplish the deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian bondage — a deliverance foreshadowing and preparing for the great deliverance through Christ — he was commanded to reverently take his shoes from off his feet, because, in view of the divine majesty, faithfulness, and mercy there revealed, he stood on holy ground.
The utter unworthiness of the recipients of the su- preme gift of God and the inexplicable goodness in its
144 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
bestowment — for he has loved and redeemed us we cannot tell why — should fill and melt our hearts with loving awe and trembling joy.
Every soul that has had a true experience of divine love and grace might well exclaim :
Why was I made to hear thy voice
And enter while there's room, When thousands make a wretched choice
And rather starve than come ?
'Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly forced us in ; Else we had still refused to taste
And perished in our sin.
3. The gift of God is unspeakable because of the inadequacy of language. Limited as are our compre- hensions, our souls may, nevertheless, have thoughts too large for utterance, too deep for tears. The poet Tennyson, standing on a cliff on the rock-bound coast of England, gazes upon the sea ; and his soul is filled and overwhelmed with its immensity, its majesty, its mystery. So, in lines now long familiar to all, he strives to express the inexpressible within him :
Break, break, break,
On thy cold, gray stones, oh sea ; And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me !
But the subject before us presents to the gaze of our souls an ocean of divine love and mercy, without bot- tom and without shore ; an ocean, the immensity, the majesty, and the mystery of which infinitely transcend those of all earthly seas, and the contemplation of which should inspire every human soul with adoring gratitude and overpowering awe.
The power of the chief languages of the world, notably that of our composite English tongue, is,
god's unspeakable gift 145
when one comes to consider it, something wonderful. Think of the vast number and variety of terms, with their endless capabilities of combination, possessed by each great language, and the consequent capacity of each of these tongues for expressing great, manifold, and diversified thoughts and innumerable shades of feeling ! But no language, whether natural or artifi- cial, or both combined, can adequately express the great gift of God's love in Christ Jesus to a ruined world. Bach human pursuit forms for itself peculiar facilities for expressing its own ideas ; but none of them can fully express, or, at best, do more than hint at, the greatness and the mystery of the gift of God to men.
The gift of God is unspeakable in commercial terms. In our day, there is a strong tendency to reduce all values, moral as well as material, to the dollar standard. But there is no ratio between material and moral values ; between the worth of property and per- sonal worth ; between the importance of the things of nature and of the things of grace. The work of spiritual and holy character, the value of the love of God, the preciousness of the Saviour and his sal- vation cannot be estimated in financial terms. We are not redeemed by such things as silver and gold ; nor can gold and silver express, or even competently symbolize, the price of our redemption or the worth of God's great gift to men.
The gift of God is unspeakable in philosophic terms. Philosophy grapples grandly with great problems, and more than any other _s£cular_ pursuit, unlocks, liber- ates, strengthens, and sharpens the powers of the mind, and while doing so, furnishes it with a power- ful, flexible, and keen vocabulary especially adapted to the philosophic aim and method. But it does not express the greatness nor expound the mystery of the supreme gift of God. Devout philosophers, such as Bacon, Newton, Pascal, though they have habitually
146 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
and earnestly brought their powerful minds to bear upon the theme, have ever felt themselves to be but children picking a few pebbles on the mighty shore of truth, to be but neophytes learning the rudiments of the science of salvation. They have ever felt themselves unable to express or to compute the worth of God's great gift of the Saviour.
The gift of God is unspeakable in theological terms. Theology is the noblest of the sciences. It deals with the greatest and most important subjects ; and it con- stantly enriches and refines its vocabulary, laying na- ture, society, philosophy, learning, science, and art, under contribution for exact and illustrative terms with which to express the lofty and spiritual thoughts of God and the infinitely comprehensive and precious gift of God's grace. The advantages of thorough theological training and study are unquestionably very great. Theological systems have highly valu- able uses ; but no theological system has yet suc- ceeded in embracing all religious truth, or in exhaust- ing the subject of divine salvation. Doctrinal studies and discussions are profoundly important ; but no man, and no body of men, have ever yet put the whole of God's great gift into exact doctrinal form, or even exhausted any one great truth of the divine word, whether it be the Trinity, the incarnation, the atone- ment, regeneration, Christian ethics, the future life, or any other prominent Christian theme.
Our little systems have their day ;
They have their day and cease to be.
They are but broken lights of thee ; And thou, O Lord, art more than they,
The gift of God is unspeakable in artistic terms. All art is, in some sort, language. Art is nothing if not expressive. Oratory, with its richest resources, its most golden tongues, its Chrysostom, its Massillou, its Robert Hall, its Spurgeon, and its hosts of others,
god's unspeakable gift 147
ancient and modern, whose names have become house- hold words throughout the world, does not fully utter, does nothing more than faintly lisp the unspeak- able gift of God. Poetry, witli its mighty, magic gift of utterance, with the glowing, sacred epics of Milton, with the enchanting sacred lyrics of Bernard, Wesley, and Cowper, has striven in vain to give full expression to the wondrous theme. Music has ex- pended its highest creative powers, its most massive combinations, its most ethereal influences, its most captivating enchantments, its sublimest strains, as witness the "Passion Music" of Bach, Handel's " Messiah," Gounod's " Redemption," and Liszt's "Christus," all in the vain endeavor to do more than suggest the overpowering majesty, mystery, and sweet- ness of the theme. Painting, with its brightest lights of genius, its Raphael, its Michael Angelo, its Mun- kacsy, has depicted, and can depict, only a few gleams from the glory of God's unspeakable gift.
Thus all^ earthly methods and forms of expression — commercial, philosophic, theological, artistic — fail to give adequate utterance to the great and gracious saving truth, fail fully to express even such fragments of it as may now be apprehended by human souls. Nor even in heaven itself can the unspeakable gift ever be fully uttered. The most flaming tongues among the redeemed in glory, or among the seraphic hosts before the eternal throne, can never give full expression to God's unspeakable gift; but these in- telligences must ever find new conceptions, new as- pects, new applications of it, for speech and for song, through all the rolling cycles of eternity.
II. The thankfulness demanded for God's unspeak- able gift. " Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift."
1. The thankfulness demanded for God's unspeak- able gift is an imperative obligation. The numerous analogies of gratitude in the" natural world forcibly
148 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
suggest to the thoughtful and sensitive mind the duty of thankfulness to the gracious Giver of all good. Throughout the material universe we see a bounteous and constant giving of benefits, and a ceaseless and gladsome returning of them again. The planets and their satellites cheerfully reflect the light bestowed upon them by the sun. The sea sends up her un- bounded exhalations in acknowledgment of the rain- gifts of the clouds, and the consequent inflowing of the streams. In grateful response for the air and light and rain of heaven, the earth sends up her offer- ing of fragrant flowers and savory fruits. The vege- table and animal kingdoms, in their mutual giving and returning of benefits, acknowledge their mutual indebtedness. In joyous recognition of the glorious gift of the sunlight, the feathered songsters make the fields and forests resound with their tributes of grate- ful praise. In all these beneficent reciprocities, and in numberless ether ways external nature is a sug- gestion and a symbol of the highest truth — the un- speakable gift of God and the deep thankfulness due him from man.
The duty of gratitude to God is firmly maintained by the law of nature, which plainly declares that benefits and favors received impose upon the recipient the duty of grateful regard and acknowledgment to the benefactor. Hence it is that all moralists and casuists whatsoever, heathen and Christian alike, treat the duty of gratitude under the general head of justice ; and they teach, with manifest truth, that gratitude for favors received is founded upon, and demanded by, absolute justice. Indeed, in some ages and by some nations, instances of flagrant ingratitude to great benefactors were severely punished by law as odious crimes. How criminal and odious in the sight of God must be ingratitude to him who is the greatest and the best, the most loving and merciful, from whom we derive life and breath and all things,
god's unspeakable gift 149
and who, in addition to all his earthly benefits, seeks, notwithstanding our un worthiness and sin, to bestow upon us his unspeakable gift ! Yet what is more common on the part of men than flagrant and per- sistent ingratitude to God ?
That God attaches great importance to the duty of thankfulness to him for all his benefits in general, rind especially for his gift of a Saviour, is manifest from his high favor toward those who gratefully re- ceive the Saviour, his salvation, and providential benefits ; and it is equally manifest from his severe displeasure toward those who impiously refuse the gifts of his saving grace, while thanklessly consum- ing the temporal gifts supplied by his providence.
The duty of thankfulness to Go J for his unspeak- able gift is sanctioned by the law of nature ; it is commended by the example of the truly good in all the ages ; and it is rendered absolutely binding by the frequent and express commands of God, recorded in his holy word.
2. The thankfulness demanded for God's unspeak- able gift is a regenerate impulse. Such was the thankfulness of the apostle. It sprang from a nature regenerated by the Spirit and truth of God ; and it was awakened by the sweet consciousness of possess- ing a sacred and saving interest in God's unspeakable gift. Though the gift of God is unutterable, yet every truly regenerate heart, every heart that has tasted that the Lord is gracious, instinctively strives, in various ways, to express its deep and ever-increas- ing sense of the greatness and preciousness of the gift ; and, on every account this gracious desire and tendency should, by every one, be assiduously culti- vated and developed.
Profound thankfulness to God for the gift of the Saviour, of whicli the Apostle Paul was a shining example, is one of the surest evidences of regenera- tion and of a saving interest in Christ ; and it is
150 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
equally true that only by spiritual regeneration of the heart and heart-experience of God's unspeakable gift, can man's deep, hard, black ingratitude toward God be broken up and abolished, and the human soul be made to throb with love and thankfulness toward him, and with all gracious and evangelical affections.
On an ancient German castle, between its widely separated towers, strong wires were strung on the principle of the yEolian harp. No gentle zephyr, no ordinary summer breeze, no average wind could stir a note from this unique musical instrument. But in the autumn, when the storm-king came down from the mountains and, with his strong tempestuous hands, smote those mighty harp-strings, they resounded with a harmony so grand, so weird, so awful, as to shake the inmost souls of the listeners and to produce upon them impressions never to be effaced. So, only the breath of the blessed Spirit of God can evoke from cold, dead human nature, the rich, full soul-har- mony of devout gratitude and praise.
3. The thankfulness demanded for God's unspeak- able gift is a practical acknowledgment. If the true Christian's grateful acknowledgment of God's great gift of a Saviour be analyzed and compared with God's word, it will be found that there is in it much more than the outward service of the lips. Our Eng- lish word " thank," when its close relationship to the kindred words " thing " and " think " is remembered, becomes particularly suggestive. The word " thing " indicates an object present to the mind, as a subject of thought; the word "think" expresses the action of the mind upon the thing, the subject of thought, before it ; and the word " thank " represents the pul- sating and practical response of the heart when the " thing " upon which the mind is " thinking " is a benefit received. So, in true thankfulness, both mind and heart and will are profoundly active. The text is indicative of a state of mind and heart in which
god's unspeakable gift 151
the unspeakable gift is clearly perceived, personally appropriated, and gratefully acknowledged.
True thankfulness for God's unspeakable gift in- volves, at the very outset, a hearty acceptance of it. Without this there can be no true thankfulness for it. It is no part of gratitude to refuse or postpone accept- ance of the great gift of God freely offered in the gospel. On the contrary, it is black ingratitude not to accept, and that promptly and gladly, the mighty benefit. Rejection of Christ is an evil and a heart- less return for the goodness and mercy of God in freely providing and proffering so glorious a Saviour. Unless you heartily accept Christ, you are charge- able with the blackest ingratitude to God and with the willful ruin of your own soul.
True thankfulness to God for his unspeakable gift demands entire consecration to him on that account. Tiiink not of thanking God with what costs you nothing, with the mere remnants of your life, with the mere dregs and rinsings of your self-indulgence. Give him yourself, give him your all. As the re- cipient of the Saviour and of his salvation, you are bound to give yourself and all that pertains to you to him, humbly and gladly, as a perpetual thank-offer- ing for those benefits.
Christian, if you would render true and acceptable^ thanks to God for his unspeakably precious gift, you \ must lay your soul and body, your talents and time, \ your possessions and pursuits, your powers of service and your powers of endurance, on the altar of God. He having not only created and preserved you, but having also redeemed you by his blood, renewed you by his grace, and enriched you with his love, he has the profoundest conceivable right to yourself and to all that pertains to you. To consecrate yourself un- reservedly to God will enable you to more fully and more joyfully to appreciate and appropriate the Saviour.
152 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
True thankfulness to God for his unspeakable gift should prompt every recipient of it to imitate the di- vine character. The great design both of our crea- tion and of our redemption is likeness to God. What, in the essence of it, is godliness but God-likeness? Unless the unspeakable gift, by being received and incorporated into our hearts, produce in us, sooner or later, what might be called a speaking likeness of Christ and of God, that gift is in no sense ours. Out of profound gratitude to God for the Saviour and for salvation, there should be in every redeemed soul prac- tical, self-sacrificing and holy love to God, to Christ, to his people, and to the unsaved for whom Christ died, and the greatest readiness to serve God and to do good to men for his sake.
True thankfulness to God for his unspeakable gift requires faithful effort to win souls to Christ and sal- vation. If our own souls have been rescued and en- riched through the redemption of Christ, we should, from love of God and love of men, strive diligently, tenderly, prayerfully, to win others to him, that they may become partakers of his salvation and evermore be trophies of his grace. With such practical ac- knowledgments God is well pleased.
Let us therefore, with all our hearts, accept the un- speakable gift, consecrate ourselves and all we pos- sess to the service and glory of God, striving daily to become like him in character and life, and for Christ's sake try to bring many souls to be saved by his grace. Let us endeavor ever to maintain in our private and social life, in our work and in our worship, a devout, thankful, and joyful spirit. Then hereafter in the realms of glory we will " behold the King in his beauty " and join in the mighty chorus to his praise : " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain " ; u Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift."
C. S. Gardner was born in Gibson County, Tenn., February 28, 1859. He was educated at the Southwestern Baptist Uni- versity, Jackson, Tenn., Richmond College, and Southern Bap- tist Theological Seminary. He has had the following pastorates: Trenton, Tenn., 1884-5 '■> Brownsville, Tenn, 1885-6 ; Edgefield Church, Nashville, Tenn., 1886-94; First Church, Greenville. S. C, 1894 — ; in all of which he has been successful and pop- ular. Still a young man, the future has bright promise for him.
s
■
at: ■
V
;■
XIII
THE HISTORY OF A SIN
BY REV. C. S. GARDNER
" And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering : but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth ? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted ? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door : and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother : and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not : Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done ? the voice of thy brother' s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength ; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." Gen. 4 = 3-12.
WE have the history of a sin recorded here, and I ask you to trace with me the successive stages of its development.
But first, it is worthy of note that Cain lived and acted under circumstances very different from those which condition our lives. We live in the midst of an organized society, under the restraint of many in- stitutions and influences which curb our impulses. We have our sheriffs, our court-houses, our jails, and our penitentiaries. We live under the daily, hourly pressure of a powerful public sentiment. And speak- ing generally, we have two classes of sinners among us : those whose evil dispositions are partially re-
i53
154 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
pressed and largely modified in their expression by their social environments, and those who desperately defy the restraining forces that would hold them in check. Cain represents neither of these classes. So far as we know he did not live in the midst of social institutions that were a terror to evil-doers. If there were such institutions they were in a crude and in- cipient state. It is true that after he had murdered his brother and received the divine sentence of ban- ishment, he expressed the fear that he would be killed and the fear was accentuated by a guilty conscience. It probably does not indicate that he lived under social conditions which acted as a great deterrent force upon sinners.
The history of his sin may therefore be regarded as the normal development of sin, undisturbed by out- ward and counteracting influences. It is the revela- tion of the essential nature of sin. Sin does not always manifest its essential character naturally and truly in our lives ; and so it happens that sin often does not seem so hateful to us as God's word depicts it ; and so it is that many of us come to think better of ourselves than wre deserve.
i. Let us look at the origin of this sin. Cain and Abel had come to present their offerings to God. Bach brought that which represented his labor, and was, therefore, the best expression of self-dedication to God. So far as the formal action was concerned both men were equally devout and equally obedient. But God looks beyond the form of actions, and he saw in Cain the spirit of pride and self-importance. It had not occurred to Cain that there might be any- thing wrong with him or his worship. He presumed as a matter of course that God would find no fault with his sacrifice or with his life. Abel might be wrong ; that was quite within the bounds of possi- bility, as Cain saw it. But the idea that there was anything in himself to which God could object, he
THE HISTORY OF A SIN 155
would have scouted. He came to the altar with a high countenance and waited with presuming confidence for the manifestation of the divmeTavor. ft dicTnot come. He saw the divine favor bestowed on Abel's offering, and observed with surprise and indignation that his own was neglected. His countenance fell and he was wroth. He left the altar with wounded pride rankling in his heart.
The root of his sin was the wrong attitude of his heart toward God. This is the origin, the potency of all sin. This is the flowing fountain of evil. And it is the fundamental truth which is overlooked by many men. Who of us has not seen the manifestations of this same spirit of Cain ? Are there not men here, who because their lives are formally correct, or at least approximately so, have presumed that they are right with God, and fancied that they are ready to abide the test of the divine judgment? If the atti- tude of Cain's heart as he approached the altar had been expressed in words, I am sure that many men among us would be startled to find that they had adopted the very same self-righteous phraseology as the first murderer. The same painful and humiliat- ing surprise awaits them as awaited Cain. They will be rudely awakened from the repose of their self- confidence and self-complacency by the rejection of their lives. And why? Not because they are for- mally incorrect, but because their spirits are wanting in humility and self-distrust and dependence upon the mercy of God. To be without the consciousness of unworthiness is the strongest possible evidence of the lack of worthiness, and also of the moral vision to perceive the lack.
2. The rejection of his offering awakened in Cain a feeling of jealousy and hostility toward his brother. That was very irrational and foolish. Abel had nothing to do with the rejection of his sacrifice. But none the less the acceptance of Abel's sacrifice and
156 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
the rejection of his own made him very angry with his brother. Sin is illogical. It is the negation of reason, the very essence of folly. Righteousness alone is rational both in principles and development.
The fact is that Cain's heart being wrong in its at- titude toward God from the first, was wrong also in its attitude toward his brother. And the rejection of his sacrifice was merely the occasion for the develop- ment of this double iniquity of his soul. The only reason that can be given for the hatred of his brother, which now burns within him, is that he has never loved him before, has always been cold and selfish toward him. The fuel of hatred has been in his heart all the time, and this spark has simply ignited it. It is impossible to be right with man so long as we are wrong with God. To be out of harmony with God is to be out of right relations with everything and particularly with our fellow-men, who next to God are the most exalted beings who claim our re- spect and love. The humanitariauism that does not have its root in religion is only an artificial flower.
At this point in the history of Cain's sin, God meets him with a warning. He seeks to call back the foolish, passionate, angry man to reason, "Why art thou wroth ? " He calls upon him to stop and think, to analyze and account for the strong feelings that rage within him. The excited man ought, on peril of his soul, to heed this diyine^call to calm re- flection. A moment's sober inquiry into the state of his mind would reveal to him its utter irrationality. And God adds the solemn warning, " sin lieth at the door." Be careful. You are in a dangerous state of mind. With a heart so charged with unholy passion you are likely to do a rash, reckless, desperate deed. Surely this call to reflection and this warning need to be taken to heart by every man in whose breast jeal- ousy, anger, hatred, have gained the sway. If your heart is bitter toward your fellow-men, remember
THE HISTORY OF A SIN 157
that bad feeling is only latent crime. You do not know when nor where you will be ushered into a set of circumstances which will bring to combustion all the inflammable material stored away in your soul, and then all the restraints of disused reason may be forgotten in the rush of unregulated impulse, and the hidden wickedness of the heart may register itself in a deed whose shadow shall darken your pathway to the very end of your days. The man of ill-will is a potential -criminal.
3. But Cain did not heed God's call to reflection or his warning. He did not dispossess himself of the bad feeling engendered by his disappointment. He did not keep a watchful eye upon the lion_o£sin, that crouched at his door. He went back to his dwelling with his heart surcharged with evil feelings, inwardly vowing that he would yet get even with his brother. And behold, the next' development of his sin. He met Abel in the field. That which was uppermost in his heart must come out. He talked with Abel about the occasion of his chagrin, and be- ing in no amiable mood, picked a quarrel with him. It was unfortunate that he did not hold his tongue ; but he had not learned the lesson of self-control. Words led to blows ; in a fit of passion he dealt his brother a fatal stroke. And the first victim of murderous hate fell and gasped and died, and the first murderer felt the prick of that impenitent remorse which be- came the nemesis of his life. Not till then had he known the real nature of the passion which he had harbored in his bosom when he had become the typ- ical example of the truth, "He that hateth his brother is a murderer." The murder was probablv unpremeditated, but it was no more than the sudden translation into deed of the disposition which he had cherished in his heart. Looking stealthilv around to see that there was no witness to the foul work of his hand, he drew his brother's body into a covert place,
I58 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
and with throbbing heart and stinging conscience crept back to his dwelling place, and strove to wear the air of innocence and unconcern. The wretched man seems to have forgotten that All-seeing eye which read and judged the secret contents of his spirit when he came to make his offering, and did not realize that all the events and incidents of life are pictured upon that infinite retina. His brother's blood cried into the ears of God from the earth, which felt the eternal shame of that red stain upon its fresh and innocent soil.
4. But follow his sin to the next stage of its de- velopment. God met him again, not this time with a timely call to reflection, nor with the merciful warning, but with the probing question, "Where is thy brother? " In the memory of Cain there was no scene so blazingly distinct as the spot where he had hidden the bodv of Abel. Every detail of the tracr- edy and its surroundings was burned into his mind forever. At this question it flashed upon his mental eye with startling clearness. But he said, " I know not." The lie was the natural sequence of the mur- der. Oliver Wendell Holmes says : "Sin has many tools, but the lie is a handle that fits them all." There
was an awful directness in this lie. " I know not,' said the guilty man. But in fact there was nothing in all the world that he knew so well as what had be- come of his brother. There wras a more brazen bold- ness in it. It was a lie to God. It has in it a solemn _ warning tajis_all. If you have sinned, the next step in Satan's programme for you is to lie. And he would have you lie not only to your fellow-men, but to your own conscience, the voice of God within you. He will impel you to deny your guilt to your own heart, and no falsifying is so depraving as that. The lie is the Satanic suggestion as to the way to disen- tangle one's self from the meshes of a sin. Cain thought thus to free himself and escape the conse-
THE HISTORY OF A SIN 159
quences of his deed. And the temptation is always for sinners to follow him in this effort. But oh, what a pitiful shield is a lie to lift between one's self and the flaming dart of justice.
A falsehood does not cut the cord that ties the sin and its consequences to the guilty soul ; it is another bond that binds it faster. Confession is God's method of getting rid of a sin ; denial is Satan's. Will you follow God or the adversary? "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." All the falsehoods with which a man may delude himself and elude his fellow-man do but multiply the threads with which to entangle his feet and ensure his downfall. Confess your sin and you are no longer identified with it, and you escape the fearful catastrophe which it is preparing for your soul.
5. But this was not ail of Cain's answer to God's searching inquiry ; he boldly put a question to God in return, "Am I my brother's keeper?" It was a further development of his sin. It was a crude at- tempt to formulate a theory of life that would justify him. Poor wretch ! had he not assumed to be more than his brother's keeper? Had he not assumed to dispose of his brother's life ? And now he seeks to take refuse from the bitin^s of his gfiiiltv conscience and from the withering gaze of God in a formulated conception of human relations which would divest him of responsibility for his brother. Is it my busi- ness to look after him ? If he comes to misfortune, is it not his own lookout? Why call me to account for him ? Have I not the burden of my own life to bear?
Certainly in this matter Cain proves himself beyond all doubt to be a typical sinner. What has the world of sinners been doingsince his day but following in his footsteps in this matter? Does not every debau- chee in this city, every thief, every whisky seller,
160 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
every hard-faced swindler, every shrunken-hearted son of avarice, every rich exploiter of the poor man's earnings, every proud social pharisee, reason Cain-wise about his relations with his fellow-men ? After these thousands of years it would seem wonderful indeed if men had not made some refinements upon Cain's crude suggestion ; but it is only too evident whence they have derived the substance of their social phi- losophy. Alas ! that this Cainism has so much col- ored the thinking of the world upon this subject. Being a direct denial of our responsibility for one an- other, it has given to selfishness the dignity of ration- ality and the complacency of self-respect ; and it has played a great role in history. It has been a great principle in the social conduct of individuals and corporations and States, and not infrequently has shaped the conduct of the church of God. Out of it has come the larger part of the social wrongs and op- pressions and sufferings whichTiTke Abel's blood, have cried to the God of heaven for vengeance.
Are we our brothers' keepers ? Of course ; that is precisely what we are. Every man's life must have a self-regarding aspect, but so profoundly true is it that we are our brothers' keepers that only in the faithful fulfillment of this great mission does a man really take care of himself. Selfishness is self-destruction, and love is life. Cain far more effectually destroyed his own life than he did Abel's. The real enemies of social life and progress and prosperity are the men who to-day are living in the spirit of Cain ; the men who in things material and spiritual, in the sacred or the secular spheres of life, in church, society, or busi- ness, deny their responsibility" for their fellow-men.
The life of Cain teaches us that the wrong attitude of the spirit toward God is inseparably connected with iniquity in our social relations, and this expresses and iustifi.es itself in a false philosophy of life. It therefore gives us a hint as to the right method of
*
4
THE HISTORY OF A SIN l6l
procedure in the regeneration of society. It is pri- marily a religious task. The first step is to set the hearts of men right with God. But this must be, and inevitably will be, followed by efforts at the re- adjustment of social relations, and this will be accom- panied by the revision of social theories. And the more active, aggressive, thoroughgoing, is the relig- ious movement, and the more intense and pervasive the religious spirit becomes, and the more rapidly and radically the hearts of men are set right with God, the more momentous will be the social movements and the more general and earnest will be the thinking on social subjects. But the social movements which do not proceed clearly from a religious basis can never come to good. Their success would be but a farther step in the progress of organized sin. In these times of agitation and counter-agitation in society, which we believe to be the ferment created by the active leaven of Christianity, we need to keep a critical eye upon the would-be reformers, and to carefully discern whether the men who propose to be casting the de- mon of Cainism out of the body of society, are them- selves proceeding in the spirit of Cain. To begin the reformation of society by a denial of God looks to me much like adoption of the first principle of Cain; and it seems clear that such doctoring of the sick social body as these men will do will only amount to a fresh injection of the deadly poison. The humble, obedient acknowledgment of God must be the corner- stone of the new society.
But let us turn from these general inferences, to look at Cain again before the curtain falls and the wretched sinner passes from our view. The divine curse falls upon him. He is cast out from the presence of God ; and he cries in bitter despair, " My punishment is greater than I can bear." There is remorse, there is despair, but there is no penitence.
As we see the sad, blasted man turn to walk away
162 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST TULPIT
in the deepening shadows of the eternal night which settled about his spirit, we cannot help uttering the cry, ik ( )h, that he had repented ! " If instead of the lie and the evasive sel trustification, he had fessed the sin that burned like lire in his soul, if he- had said: lk I > Lord, I killed my brother. See, tlie.se hands are red with his blood, see this heart that is panting under the pain of its guilt O God, I hate myself; wash my ha: blood, j
my .-old of this intolerable guilt 0 God, forgive, forgive!" Then instead of the fie e, God's
pardon, like lew, would have fallen upon his
sonl, and a humbled, forgiv< n sinner, he would have gone about to serve his God and Love hi . -men
IP thejpy of sweet eaatitu .
R, T. VANN was bom in Hertford County, N. C, in 1S51. He was converted in his twelfth year. One month later he suf- fered the painful accident of having his hands crushed in a cane- mill which deprived him of both of them. About the very hour bis fellow-converts entered the baptismal waters, he was on the
operator" s table undergoing the amputation of the right arm
above and the left just below the elbow. Soon afterward he ex- perienced a call to preach the gospel, and began preparation for hi-, life-work. After two \ear^ in Buckhorn Academy, he en- tered Wake Forest College ami took his degree. He then en- tered the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary ami spent one year. The following >ear was spent in reorganizing the Scot- land Neck Baptist Church. He then returned to the seminary iplete hi- in, after another year, ill health com-
pelled him • this ambition, His most important charges
have been Wake Forest, Edenton, and his present pastorate at d Ne< k. where he began his ministry. His preaching is sound, original, and abounds in striking metaphors.
I» 1'
XIV TIIK DECEITFULNESS OF SIN
BY K. T. VANN, D. D.
"The dcccitfulness of sin.'' Hcb. 3 : 13.
WHAT is the origin of sin? Has evil always existed, or did some being originate it?
was that being? If Satan, must not God have created sin in him? How could God ever have al- lowed sin to enter the world? ( )n questions like
men have I I profoundest thought, only
to realize after all their study that they know as much about them as when they began, and no more. What time have creatures like ns to waste in such idle speculations? The enemy is upon ns; shall we who invented his arms? Where is the
m of waiting to analyze the poison of the ser- pent that has bitten ns, when we should be hastening to a physician? What sin is, in its origin and first l not Know. One thing we do know, it entered the world and ruined the race by deception. One of the saddest pictures in all Scripture is given in the third chapter of Genesis. It is in three parts: First, we have a sinless pair of human beings, fresh from their Maker's hands, in the beauty of innocence, and gazing upon a serpent at their feet; next, a shameful pair in conscious guilt, shrinking away from the -Maker's face to hide among the garden trees; lastly, a wretched pair taking their sorrowful way from their first and best home with a flaming sword behind them. Do yon ask the meaning of the pic- ture? The woman's answer to the inquiring Judge
163
164 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
shall explain it : " The serpent beguiled me." It is to this deceiver and his terrible work that I would turn your minds to-day.
I. I must crave your patience while seeking to im- press the doctrine that sin deceives.
1. While the text seems to refer to the sin of unbe- lief, the writer to the Romans, speaking of sin in general, declares that it deceived him and slew him. Indeed, it is difficult to conceive of any man's sinning without some kind of deception. Men do not violate human law without a perverted view of the law itself or of the deed contemplated, or some hope of escaping the penalty. Can it be possible for one in open view of the wrath of God to persist in a course that he knows must incur such wrath ? Nay, there must be some sort of deception and a vast amount of it in the matter.
But are not men depraved, and do they not natu- rally love sin ? To be sure ; but as I take it, they do not love sin because it is sin, but because it gratifies some appetite of their nature. It is safe to say that all of an ungodly man's actions look toward his own pleasure. Does he steal ? He does not do so because the law says "Thou shalt not steal," but because theft promises gain. Does he give alms ? It is not because of God's blessing upon him that hath pity on the poor, but his own gratification.
Satan would have been dangerous if the fall had only made him our adversary. But now he comes with double power. To the strength of the lion is added the subtlety of the serpent. His native force is joined with matchless strategy. Every blow has a heightened effect ; every movement a hidden design.
2. This deceptiveness will still further appear if we remember that, as all sin deceives, so all men are liable to this deception. Some one has said that sin deceives the Christian but forces the unbeliever. This cannot be true. Exposed to the same temptation
THE DKCKITFULNESS OF SIN 165
and by the same tempter, all men fall by the same process. Being crafty, sin catches them with guile. Of one thing you may be sure, no human being was ever forced to sin. One essential' of sin is freedom. Deeds under compulsion are guiltless. God con- demns no man for what he cannot avoid.
But are we not blinded by Satan and led captive at his will? Yes, but by our own consent. We are not driven into sin, but drawn. We are not forced, but fooled. And yet, while sin does not compel, how well-nigh absolute is its power. It throws a spell over its victim, and charms him to death. There are two forces in every human being: The power of conscience, which persuades to righteousness ; and the power of sin, which makes for iniquity. Man consents to the law of God that it is good. At his best moments he serves the law of God ; but sin inter- venes, persuades, deceives, and he goes on to serve the law of sin.
I see the right and I approve it too ;
Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue.
You have felt the charm in that fine stanza :
Go ask the infidel what boon he brings us ;
What charm for aching hearts he can reveal Sweet as the heavenly promise hope sings us,
Earth hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.
You know too, that in all your acquaintance, there is hardly a man who in life and character is farther from heaven than was the author of that stanza. Poor fellow, I think he could not have sung so sweetly of heaven if his soul had not sometimes looked heavenward and sighed for a better life. But why will men thus awakened still follow the old life to their own undoing ? In the text lies the answer : "The deceitfulness of sin."
1 66 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
But it was to Christians that the text was addressed. Says Spurgeon, " If any man thinks he is perfect he is perfect in folly." Says a greater than Spurgeon, " If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." I am speaking of the two forces within us. In the believer these forces are reversed.
The power of sin is weakened and the power of conscience strengthened by the grace of God. But both are still mighty, and sometimes painful is the conflict. We are not yet free from the effects of the fall. If you fancy that Satan abandons the fight when once he is defeated, you have much yet to learn about him. He never yields until the gates of heaven have closed behind the soul. And if we were abso- lutely sinless, there would still be vast meaning for us in the warning of the text. Our first parents were perfectly pure, and yet they were deceived and ruined by sin. But if we were more than human, we should still need to guard against our crafty foe. Angels, once lustrous in the glory of the skies, lost all their thrones and splendor through sin's deceptive arts. " Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God."
But can the elect be deceived ? Who are the elect? Are you one of them? Has the Father ever handed down to you a fee simple title to heaven ? Nay, the only sure proof that one is elected is his holding out to the end. And besides, in electing to save his people, God chose to do so through their watchful- ness. Moreover, the bulk of what we know about election comes from Paul, and yet the man who had heard from the lips of Christ that he was a chosen vessel, said, " I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection : lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." When a man says, if I knew I was one of the elect I
THE DECElTFUIvNESS OF SIN 167
would sin as much as I liked, there is grave reason to fear that he of all men is not one of them. He is no child, seeking the Father's table and the Father's face, but a miserable tramp begging stale bread from the kitchen door.
Yes, all men are open to sin's deception. " Watch ye, therefore ; . . and what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
II. It may be well now to observe some of the methods of sin's deception.
A common practice of evil is to hide itself wholly from view. It begins as secret sin. All sins start in this way, as all fruitage is the result of planting, and Satan is willing for the seed to lie buried long for the sake of a certain harvest. The crime that shocks with startling horror is but the eruption of a long dis- eased heart. So does the cancer shoot its deadly fibres through the system for years before it breaks the surface.
You are not aware of this evil presence within you. True, and therein lies your danger. You had rather fight six armed men before you than a single un- armed foe behind you. In secrecy lies much of Satan's power. Secret sins ! They hide away in the f heart's chambers, ashamed of the light. Secret sins ! They paint those dark life-pictures over which we blush even in dreams. Secret sins ! They skulk in the dangerous darkness, waiting for our blood. Secret sins ! A nest of vipers unperceived till their fangs of death have poisoned the life. Secret sins ! Slumber- ing volcanic fires that shall roll over the soul a sea of / flame.
And when its presence is revealed sin begins to argue how small the evil is. But there are no little sins. We say there are, forgetting that the mere tast- ing of a little fruit lost paradise to our first parents and heaven to so many of their children. Little sins are sent to introduce greater ones. Why is one end
1 68 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
of the wedge small but to make way for the larger end ? Let Cain but cherish that secret grudge, and ere long Abel's blood shall flow for it. I^et Judas harbor that devilish greed for gold, and you shall see him betray the Son of Man with a kiss. Up yonder in the mountains is a tiny stream oozing between the sheltering leaves. Now it meets a kindred streamlet. Still a little child at play could turn their course. But by-and-by these meet a third, and thus a rivulet is formed, and then a river, till at last you behold the wild cataract breaking its resistless way to the sea. This is the course of your little sins* — — ■
Another method of Satan is to paint the pleasures resulting from the evil course proposed. u Your Master would not deny you pleasure. He himself is called the happy God, and he ' giveth us richly all things to enjoy.'" Yes, God delights in your happi- ness, but take heed, good friend, lest the apples of pleasure turn to apples of Sodom and become dust on your lips. Beware, lest you wake from your dreams of pleasure in a land where dreams and pleasures come no more. I know you will pardon the refer- ence. It was years ago, but I remember it well, They gave me the soothing narcotic and my sleep was sweet. I awoke to find my best physical strength forever gone.
These are not all of sin's devices. Their name is legion. Now the deceiver quotes the example of some good man, as if any man were perfect Now he exhibits the good to be accomplished by yielding, as if we might do evil that good may come. Sometimes one command is destroyed by magnifying another. Thus, if one has been baptized he fancies that all is well, though he has never put forth a hand to help the needy, nor given a dime to spread the gospel. Another thinks that it matters little whether he is ever baptized if only the heart is right ; as though the heart could be right that refuses to obey the last
f
THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN 169
command of the L,ord Jesus. A pleasing performance of sin is to step boldly forth in the garb of humility, as the spy in the enemy's camp wears the enemy's uniform. Thus, one says, " Alas, I am too vile to be saved by the mercy of God," fancying that he is mag- nifying God's justice while he is really making him a liar. His promise is : " Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out," and I honor him by believ- ing. Another tells us God is too merciful to punish a soul forever. But he hath said, " The soul that sinneth it shall die," and who art thou that gainsay- est what God hath declared ? I think that some such method as this was pursued with Adam and Eve. God had warned them that eating the fruit meant death. u Oh, no," said Satan, " you shall not surely die." They believed Satan; they disbelieved God; they ate the fruit. The result — oh, the mournful result !
III. But why make such ado about deception? You have often been deceived, you say, and yet with no serious results. But look to the end of sin's de- ception and you will see reason enough for keenest solicitude. Sin is no idle worker. It proceeds with sure and steady aim. It seeks nothing less than the death of its victim.
I am not sure that physical death is the result of sin. It may have been that bodies like ours must, after a while, have wasted away from their own weakness. But I am sure that sin has invested death with all its terrors, for " the sting of death is sin."
But there is another death outlined in Scripture, the moral death. "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Man ate and died right there. He instantly lost his finest life. When the preacher mentions death as the outcome of sin, men at once begin to think of the future. They for- get that doom follows guilt as promptly as peal fol- lows flash. Death treads hard upon the heels of sin.
\-
i—
170 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
You spend a round of years in sin and call it life. It is not life. It is but a wretched skeleton with the soul all gone. Sin pulls the tap and your best life runs gradually out. You are dying hourly and by inches.
And then that other death — the final death, the deathless death. " The wages of sin is death."
There is a death whose pang
Outlasts the fleeting breath. Oh, what eternal horrors hang
Around that second death.
It is not my purpose to picture those horrors. I would not if I could. I only want to remind you that eternal death is the outcome of sin's deception. How many of the ills in your life are traceable to mistakes ! One step, you thought, and my fortune is secured. You took the step and realized too late that it was a blunder. It is melancholy, it is mournful, to hear the fallen emperor saying in reference to his crime against Josephine, "I thought I was treading on a bed of roses, when a fearful abyss yawned be- neath and engulfed me." I have sometimes tried to imagine the utter dismay of a lost man when first he realizes whither sin has brought him. I can only fancy him wailing out in bitter despair, " Oh, blinded mad- man, oh, wretched idiot, not to have seen through sin's deceitful veil and have chosen a better way ! "
Is this the power of sin ? Am I thus exposed to so fearful a foe? Who then can be saved? Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Do you fear sin ? Would you be free from its damning do- minion? Then I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, I have a message from the King for you : "Call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." Yes, from their sins. u But, alas ! that does not cover my case, for I am not one of his people." Well, here is something that does cover
THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN 1 71
your case: "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." Apply to him, prove the efficacy of his blood, test his power to save, and then if you are turned away, go and tell it in the regions of the damned that there is no balm in Gilead and no physician there. But that shall never be, never.
Thou dying Lamb, thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power, Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved to sin no more.
)
Dear old stanza, sing it over and over again. It sounds like a song from the upper temple. I do not love the thorn bushes, but I love the roses that thev bear. I do not love the freezing winter winds, but love the music that they make. I do not love the darkness, but I love the stars that it reveals. I do not love to be a sinner, but I do love to think of the sinner's Redeemer, who " is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." And sometimes my soul stands upon the verge of gratitude for sin in rapturous view of God's amazing redemp- tion from sin.
But you mean to turn from sin, you say. When ? " Not now ; some other time." That is Satan's great soul-soother which lulls to everlasting sleep. God says, to-day ; you say, no, to-morrow. That is unbe- lief, the devil's first-born, and by it he shall lead you on till the gates of mercy have swung to and death has barred them fast. But are you longing to turn now ? You need not wait, for the Father is calling to- day. The preacher was standing on the steps of a cottage, just leaving for a Western State, and the woman was showing him a picture. " You remember him," she said. " Poor Rob, he fell into sin and ran away, ashamed even to come and bid me good-bve. If you see him, tell him to come right home, for his mother loves him yet." Oh, child, famishing in the
172 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
far country, come back home to-day, for the Father loves you yet.
But you sometimes hope that you have been deliv- ered from sin, and yet you fall so often, and your life is full of tears. Well, you shall have many more falls, I fear ; but they shall not be final nor fatal. Tears, yes, showers of them ; but the sunshine of grace shall turn them into rainbows about you. And so it may ever be until there bursts upon your aston- ished vision the glory of the rainbow around the throne. Jesus says : " He that endureth to the end shall be saved." Anybody can tell me how I ought to live. The vilest wretch in the gutter can deliver me a fair lecture on morals. Thanks be to God for the wonderful, wonderful Teacher, who not only tells me how I ought to live, but helps me to live in that way.
Jame v Hi den was born at Orange C. H.. Ya.. Nov.
5, 1837. His father was a member of the Legislature of Vir- ginia. His mother was a niece of Governor James Barbour, and of Philip P. Barbour, Speaker of the House of Representa-
f the United States, and Justice of the United Sta: preme Court. He was educated at the Virginia Military Insti- tute and the University of Virginia. He was professor of ancient languages in Chesapeake Female College, and was ordained to the ministry in 1859. He served as Confederate chaplain 1 He has served as pastor in Portsmouth, Ya. , Wilmington, N. C, Greenville, S. C, where he taught homiletics in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; was pastor in Charlottesville, Ya., Lexington. Ky., New Bedford, Mass., Eufaula, Ala., and now serves as pastor of Grove Avenue Church. Richmond. Ya. Dr. Hiden is a man of broad scholarship, wide reading, and refined
v0
HlOl K, 1- I»
L
* ft *v* *'V*
, *■ . i* i* f- ft
XV CRI
I.Y J. . D. D.
" Wt prc.i CD < "lirbt cruciti ': I I \ r I | 13,
THERE arc c which, in
:n up whole systems of thought — p philosophical, relij [f two men are
nment, and I hear of them vernment is that which
if he is n >t mouthing, but knows talking I know where to rank him
H hioned,
1 If two men an nd I hear
them utter Know thy-
understan Is himself b illy, I know
where to place hint II iple of a philosoph-
ical •<• than two
trines have
I by the genius
I learnin i William Hamilton, in his " Phi-
An«l when two men Iking about religion, and
one of them utter- reverently the words, "Christ crucified," I know that h< the New Testament
. that he is an evangelical Christian. "Christ erucifu 1 M is Christianity. It is our religion. What sorl it?
:it Avciiu-- .!»«'.
daring the Jubilee Session • ;cmi Baptkfl Conventi
1/4 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST TULPIT
I. IT IS A HISTORICAL RELIGION.
Christianity is no mere " theory of moral senti- ments. " It implies, and is based upon a history. However high an opinion a man may have of the personal character of Jesus ; however highly he may praise the Sermon on the Mount, if he does not ac- cept the historical facts of the gospel — if he does not believe in Christ crucified — how can he be callul a Christian? If 1 reject Christ crucified, my religion is gone.
This religion does not depend upon any theory, nor even upon the fact, of inspiration. If Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have given us real, honest histories; if Jesus said the things that they say he said, and did the things that they say he did, then there stands our doctrinal Christianity historically vindicated, inspiration or no inspiration.
Nor are we absolutely dependent upon the evan- gelists for our history. Tacitus tells us that during the reign of Nero, the Christians became numerous in the city of Rome; that the sect was founded injudea by Christ, who was executed under the administration oi the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate; and that this superstition spread itself even to the city of Rome. Tacitus did not like Christianity. He called it a pest But then he was writing a history, and there the Christians were.
Pliny, a judge in the province of Bithynia, in a let- ter to the Emperor Trajan, tells him of the Christians, who had become numerous in Pliny's province. He describes them as innocent in their lives, and -ays they were accustomed to meet together and sing hymns of praise to Christ as God. Now there stands a historical statement of the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, as held bv the Christians of the first century. What are you going to do with it? I once heard a learned | r of Greek speak contemptuously of
CHRIST CRUCIFIED 175
what he was pleased to call " the slipshod Greek of the New Testament" What would he say of the classic Latin of Tacitus and Pliny? But
II. IT IS A RATIONAL RELIGION.
I mean what I say ; for I do not admit that the in- fidels li ive a tnonop >ly of the reason of the world, hi the strict g lie term, I am a rationalist; that is, I do not believe anything that seems to me unreason- able; and I do believe historical and doctrinal Christianity, because I see as for believing it. When the so-called rationalist charges me with
Ing to believe what I do not understand, I rial' the charge It is impossible for me to
b lieve an unintelligible statem
" But," says th don't you believe in the
trine of the Trinity?" Yes, and I understand all that I believe about it. I believe, from various nts made in the New Testament, that the Father, the Creator and nor of the universe, is
I I 1 L That is a perfectly plain statement. I under- stand it, and so d fld boy, sitting there before m . Then I believe that the Son, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world, is God— another perfectly plain statement. Finally, I believe that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Sanctifier, is God — still another plain statement I have no difficulty
itever with the meaning of any one of these state-
II But," says my antagonist, "how do you reconcile these statement-;? How can three persons constitute oneGod?" Well, 1 don't understand anything about the "A0V," and I don't believe anything about it. I hive no revelation on that subject. The Bible says nothing; about it; and I have no creed, and not even
•n about it. "But, h«>w about miracles?" Well, I believe in them. "But you don't understand them." Yes, I
176 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
do understand them exactly as far as I believe them. I believe that Jesus plastered up the eyes of the man that was bom blind ; that he sent him t<> the pool to wash ; that the man obeyed, and that his eyes were
opened, so that he could see ; and I understand t
one of these statements, and so can any average child of eight years.
"But," says the unbeliever, "you do not under- stand how that was done." Certainly not; and I don't believe anythin at the how. I; I knew
probably I could do it. Why not? When I am prepared to tell how mi: >ught, I expect to
WOl h some. If I know how a thing is done, then that thing is no Longer a miracle t<» me. Jesus Christ explained many of hi- parables; but he never ex- plains one of his miracles ; and t herswhi plain them nowadays always explain them away. i >n as the explarj -. the mil
" But how about I and the
: \Y- 11, I believe in both. I
believe that the I 11 things in this uni-
>rding to the a . will ; and
then I believe that I am respon I him for my
conduct. Ami if I did //<>/ bell -ver-
eign, then I could not believe that I am responsible to him.
Thirty-five yea: b rag party in this country
held that the paramount the citizen
was due to the SOVen teiu which he lived ; and
this because qftht sovereignty of the State. An- other -trou- party held that the allegiance <>f the
due to the Federal government, be tliat government was |
s held that responsibility followed sovereignty ; o we fought for years over the question, "/;
le?" I hold then, that my re- >ibility -rows out of I nty.
kl I'm," says the objector, "you do not know how
CHRIST CRUCIFIED 177
to reconcile the two doctrines." Xo ; I don't pretend to "reconcile M them. The Bible says nothing about
it, and I have no creed on the subject — no, not even an opinion.
But th< subject on which thorough investi-
gation will not bring us to the point at which we are
obliged to say, wWe don't know." We say, "As plain as a, 1). it a, b, C will become an in-
1, if you only go deep enough, [fany of you school children want to puzzle your teacher, him where a, b, C came from, and he will be M turned down.91 The world does not contain a scholar who knows the f the alphabet
III. IT IS A l'k.WTICAI. Kl
I was one G01 -die, Vir-
ginia, reading the "Westminster Review," the organ of British inndelit; my seat and
read that sort of literature?'1 "Y- I want to see the devil's latest dodge. How ran I hit him if I don't know where he is?" And then we entered upon a discussion of the evi- dences of Christianity. I called his attention to a man whom we both knew ; who had been a notorious Qigate, had become a Christian and a most excel- lent and useful man. The infidel did not even try to \ er that argument [f vmi ever knew bad man who became a
Chri ood man, then practically this re-
ligion holds its tile infidel produces a real
Christian v. a bad mam and who was con-
verted to infidelity and became a good man. Did
any one ever hear of such a man? And yet infidel- ity is logically bound to produce him or else quit the field.
Now, I can produce my man, I was preaching in a protracted meeting at a country church in Tide-
jyS TIIK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
water, Virginia. A man present was notorious for his wickedness and his opposition to religion. His wife had been converted, but he would not allow her to be baptized. His niece, — a member of the family, —
a girl 01 sixteen, had been converted and wished to He told her that if she was baptized he would turn her out of the house. She was baptized and he did turn her out, and she was obliged to J a neighbor :<>r shelter. During the service that day
I >aw this man rise from his seat, fall Upon his knees,
the tears streaming down his cheeks. .\ft< 1 kneel- ing a minute, he arose, Walked down the aisle to the
seats on the right of the pulpit, and began to shake hands with the deacons and other members of the
chinch, saying, k> My friends, you know what sort of life I've led ; you know how I have hated religion. But I can't .stand it an) longer. I must go with you. I must be a Christian." Just acr< it his
wife, her face all Ik dewed with tea: ; and
the next Sunday they went down togethei into the watt 1 and we: 1 with Christ in baptism. Years
afterward, I learned from the | ol the church
that this man was living a consistent Christian life. Now, if vmi should ask that man why he so changed
his course of life, he would tell you that it was the
religion of "Christ crucified'1 that wrought the
change. Don't you think lh ought to kn<>w what
was the matter witli him ?
Ungodly man ! the very charges which you bring against Christians for doing what you do not pretend to abstain from, are clear proof that voii do be- lieve in the practical power of Christianity to help a man in his life. You do not hesitate t<> do win'
would condemn me for doing. Why? Because you really believe that a Christian has, and ought to have, a higher standard of life and conduct than have the ungodly around him. Hut if there is no practical
power in his religion to help him to do light, and to
CHRIST CRUCIFIED
:79
restrain him from doing wrong, what right have you to require a higher standard for him than you have for yourself? On merely natural principles yon are just as much bound to do right as I am.
Now, here is this world full of wickedness. We
Christian- are struggling against the power of dark- ness, and striving hard to make the world better. And there you stand, looking on indifferently at their hand-to-hand fight with sin and the devil, and criti- cizing the plan of the campaign ! .Man I it is neither sense nor decency. If you are of any account, stop your foolishness and take hold like a man and help
in the fight
XVI THREE STEPS DP1
; i . P.
I tiii-, I j : . nd moct in
..1 in all judgment ; tl oellent ; thai ' hrisl I
lc.l with ih«- i ( lni>t,
i i ii
THAT i- a wonderful pi n't it? The
out of tl is he
in beh hurch which he
the chi • which he could lodj
complaint at ail. This letter to the- Philip:
beautiful Love letl m be-
ginnii :i a high thought and
in-. Ami ye1
of being a better church. Th wanted them t«» get up higl 'in a
higher standpoint ; in otha
that growing in grace they i out like the
full sap in tin- tuc-, into bud lowers, and fruits.
Tin i in which the
apostle comes to the matt tting this church on
the up-grade, tie laid the foundation of his whole
effort in his prayer for them — an excellent lesson for
< Kir brethren pain us often. Some of them are
pcrvi • me of them are so narrow; -our- of them
,k. Theyvt ad we fret, scold, and talk;
! in Trimu M E. Church, . during the
ion of the ; hically
'Ct\
i So
■\ !■«».> « «.
£>W
J
\ ^f •'
m
"A
/,
\ Gammm ll, D. D !.l 1
|. B. Gambrell was born August 21, 1841, in Anderson County, S. C, and was taken by his parents to Mississippi the next year, where he "grewup with the country," spending the years of his growth alternately between the counter) school and labor on the farm. From an academy he went into the war at nineteen, and for most of four years was captain of scouts. It was while scouting lie met Miss Mar\ T. Corbell, of Nansemond County, Va., to whom he was married inside the Federal lines on [anuary [3, [864, at one o'clock at night. After the cere- monj he drove across the Blackwater, twenty-five miles, before nine o'clock the same morning. He was ordained to the minis- try in 1866, and after completing his ediu ation at the I ni\ eisit\ of Mississippi, was chosen editor of the "Baptist Record," which position he filled with great and growing distinction for fifteen years. He was elected president of Mercer University in 1893, without seeking the place. Furman University, S. C, gave him the degreeof i>. i>.. and Wake forest. \. C, ll. i». Dr. Gam- brell is an energetic ami incisive writer, an entertaining, pop- ular, and effective speaker.
THREE STEPS UP l8l
they get worse and we get worse. The suggestion of the apostle's method is this : When our brethren are weak, are in any way short of what they ought to be ; if they are living on a lower plane than they ought to live on, we should put under them the arms of our prayers and lift them up. I have in my thought at this moment a sister who had been in a great deal of trouble over a succession of inefficient pastors ; and after a while one worse than all the others came. She betook herself to earnest prayer for the weak man in the pulpit I ler account of it was that she had never seen any one improve as he did, and I doubt not that she was wonderfully improved herself by her own praj
Brethren, let us approach the initial thought — the uplifting power of prayer in the life of a church and in the life of an individual. Might I not say with pro- priety that what we really need in these troublesome times is a great, swelling undercurrent of prayer in all our work to lift us up. We have great trouble in our Christian work, and a great many of our enter- prises are like vessels on the Mississippi River; when the water gets low they go on the sand-banks, and can't be gotten off until the water rises. We want a great rising tide of heartfelt prayer to God through- out the land.
The apostle gives US three distinct stages in this up- grade movement And they are logically connected; very plain, very simple, they come to my experience and to yours. In the first part of this prayer the burden of the supplication is that the love of these brethren might abound more and more. Our religion, brethren and sisters, is a religion of love. It is no use talking about doing things religiously in cold blood. Love is the manifestation of the divine life in us. It all began in love — " God so loved the world." Christ loved us and gave himself for us ; and if we do not love Christ we have missed the whole secret and the
1 82 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
whole power of [he Christian life. We must put away the idea that people can live a Christian life and not have a Christian life to live ; unless we have the life in us we cannot live it out. But some of us who began to love the Lord years ago — and I am satisfied we love him this morning — do not love him as we started out to love him. Might not some of us be compelled to own that some of the old love has gone? We must get the idea of growing in love, not simply the idea of growing in the efficiency of doing things, but primarily of growing in love. I think it ought to be like the love that married people have for each other — the well-married. How fresh, how exuberant is the love of a newly married couple! How sentimental ! People laugh at it. Yetit is very beautiful to think on. I am sure that no two people who have ever walked through life in this rela- tion to the end have ever loved each other too much. It is a pity that they sometimes grow cold in love. You know our Lord speaks of our relations to him under the form of marriage; and it is a good figure, a good illustration. People who are just married think that there are no other people in the world who love as they do, and that they will never be able to love so much any more. Yet, if they live as people may and should, this is only the beginning of a con- stant, widening, mighty current of love. It seems to me it is like a mountain stream which comes down the mountain side, laughing, sparkling, dancing, making a good deal of noise ; after a while it gets more to a dead level, and the banks widen, the current deepens and broadens, and other streams flow in from right and left until, away down yonder, the little mountain brook- let that leaped out of the mountain gorge has become a great river, bearing on its majestic bosom the com- merce of the nations. So married life, fresh, exuber- ant, a little noisy, a little showy at the start, deepens with the years, as it is tested and tried, and the one is
THREE STEPS UP 1 83
close to the other through the long weary hours of sickness and when they stand together and weep over little coffins. Now they are gray-headed and old. Oh, the height and depth, the length and breadth of that love! Deep as the sea; — eternal as God, is love, for it is heavenly.
My brethren, it is a great pity if we who are old to- day, after thirty or forty years of experience, do not love more than we used to. If we have not increased the breadth of our Christian love, the depth and strength of it, then we have greatly neglected our privileges. If we are not better for the experiences through which we have passed, let us look again, just a moment, at the marvelous tokens of divine love that have come to us since our conversion.
Some of us have passed through deep waters ; and as we went down into them and the great waves of affliction rolled over us, and the storm was upon the mighty deep, our hearts quaked. But there came to us through the waves and walking on the sea one who is Lord of land and sea, and he stilled the waves, and great peace came to us in our afflictions. This is not a passing dream or speculation, but the blessed experience of those who have attempted to walk with God. The old saint, scarred and weather- beaten, who put to sea forty years ago, did not under- stand many things then that he understands now ; he did not appreciate then the words, " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee," but now he knows it is all true. The heart is stronger now and fuller of love.
I will not forget this morning that I am talking in a city church. I have great concern for our city churches, for they need to be strong, surrounded as they are by the strongholds of worldliness. Oh, breth- ren and sisters, what we want back in our city churches to-day is the great heart and patience of Jesus Christ and of his love for men and women. We cannot fiddle people into the kingdom, and we can-
iS.j. SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
not beguile them by worldly methods into the love oi Jesus Christ We want something yon Methodists had — the zeal of John Wesley ; and we Baptist people want therugged earnestness of John the Baptist We are compelled to live; we are compelled to fight ; and r-growing love, which is a part of experience, should feed itself day after day upon the ever-incr< ing number of divine blessin towed upon us,
and so shall we be str< I iright and fight
valiantly.
I was in a pi .uwh.it north of this some
years ago at a prayer meeting. I heard a great many things said that were not particularly edifying to my thinking — fanciful, flowery, and secular. After a
while there was a lull, and a girl Stood Up and said,
11 1 was d >m • I nd from the day that I
was converted I have made a practice of stopping quietly foi a time every <; thinking of what
new blessing God has given me." And then she mentioned some new : he had
received that day. I' >n, this
of stopping to think of the bit I d gives
us; for those blessings nourish our love, they broaden it and strengthen it.
I am not to dwell niueh longer on this point, but I cannot leave it without enforcing it. I wonder if there is here this morning somebody who is trying to
rve God without l< .c'.j T' such people in
the world ; they are all about us. Such service perfunctory ; it has a form of godliness, but it lacks power. If tlu: iny such before me this morn-
ing, let me say that the id mistaken one. Ik-
done with it; be .lone with it! If you have never loved., seek now to love the Lord JesUS Christ. Men and women, throw yourselves down at the feet of the
Christ until yon are caught up by the great, swelling tide of Jesus1 love; and don't try to serve God without
love. I wonder if there is anybody here this morn-
THREK STKPS IT 185
ing who is hying to serve- God under the old love— whose religious love is a recollection, a bright spot in the past? Let your love catch up with your years. You need it to help yon to-day. I notice that people who are quick at cultivating a good manv other things, and do not cultivate love, get into a had state of mind. They are hard to please. The preacher cannot please them; nobody else can please them; not even God himself, uot even the blessed adorable Christ can please them ; and they never will pleased until there comes back to them as a present experience the blessed love of Christ that passeth all understanding. Brother, i not let this day
•nt until you have renewed your vows and come hack into touch with the loving Christ But I 1 the uext • int This to he in knowl-
comparable to a river sweeping on, bli ad making fruitful everything
that it touches. Love that is thoughtless, indiscrim£ nate, mA rates into mere sentimentalism,
wastes it-elf like a stream broken from its hanks, burying itself in the sandy plain. There is a great I of difl between the di and manly
love ot" Jesus Christ and mere religious sentimen- talism. I wish we could note the difference this morning. We have some in the world who go about with their mouths full of soft words. They love God
and they love the devil ; they love Co<ls people and they love the devil's people,' and they love them all the same way. They don't know any difference be- tween right and wrong. They think '( ;<>d is so full of love that he would take the Apostle Paul to heaven, and the chariot would catch Judas in his downward at and take him there I Let us understand that love does not necessar- ily make people foolish. Knowledge! knowledj growing in knowledge! We ought to know the
quality of the things we are going to love. There
'nil-: SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
ome things to be loved, and there arc some things not to be loved thing is to be loved ;
a l>a<l thing is not t<» be loved. I never was in a thea- tre but once; that was in th< of my ignorance I went not knowing the guile in there ; but I saw the differenci n tin- theatre and the pi meeting. I found thii ibout me which a church- member had no bus are many people wh<> need to know things] And yet, they will not have knowledge. They will not let yon t.dk to them. They d talk to infi- dels, and catch QS ; but they will not let < fOd's people tone!:
month- woman
(Mine to me. Ih he picture of intense
. " I ::.!' alt w;t;
I me
about J
' What is the matt-, i with h:
She said, " I cannot control my I ill. Hi
down • he time, and he gets int
hief, and nowhc is in tl :-up. The mayor
ist >ent nu- a notr that it" I will 1 tor his punishment I may take him out What am I : . m\ boy?" 1 to
go down tin: ike yom boy ; and when yon get
him at home shut him Up 11 a, and >on |
with him with a heart full of love and a bundle
of switches, and a him a week if necessary ;
Stay there with that boy until he is thoroughly con-
ughly submissive to your will*" She
said, lk I love my boy ; I cannot whip him," w0h,"
I, " madanic. you don't love your boy with any common sense. Your love is not a love that ha knowledge of boy nature in it. You are rai
boy for the gallows. You had better stay with him
in tl. d a week, and wear out on him all the
switches you can get your hands on rather than let
THREE STEPS UP 187
him go to ruin. Solomon was not tin- foul man) modern people think he was on that sul > jet t. % ' Yd, she did not do it.
.v, brethren, we want love, but we want love
ording to knowledge. This church needs to love
the Lord Jesus Christ, and to love the souls of men,
but von do not want to run about after all sorts of
ways Think you th it you can save men by
mraging them in their worldly li\ ! < m, how
we need sound knowledge! How much we need
knowledge in OUI US work and in our indi-
vidual In
And th bound in knowledge, but in
judj <• betw
knowledge and judgment Judgment is that sense
A wise man, i. ill the facts b fore him, will
km do. I Ee will cot k 1 1 it to do
his judgment must h 1 He 1 ive knowledge
then judgment to tell him what to do.
ht to b We
hannle serp • W very wise in our church
method-. We should so adjust our church methods as to reach bra in to help people; but
we want t< that when we reach out to
take th< the world does d us.
[1 ought to be a n: id study all the
time 1 b 1 be wise in the mana
Hi' nt of I ■'■■ fin The father wants to be v.
I have in the school where I am, a
eriod in his life
when it is hard to say which way a boy is going. His lather took hold of that boy with a strong grip, but with a grip that was flesh and blood, with warmth and tenderness. It the bow
What I am insi risdom — pra<
1 88 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
wisdom in our Christian lives. There are a great many people who seem to think that as soon as a man gets converted he must give up common sense entirely. We do not put into our religion the com- mon sense we put anywhere else. Christianity is a monumental miracle because it has lived against the folly of people who have had it in hand. To illus- trate : you have i congregation that wants to build a church house. The\ go to work to build the church, but don't know anything aboul the money. After a while they find themselves deeply in debt. Then they wonder how it all happened, and they go to praying for assistance, and try to pray the money out of somebody's els pocket to pay their church debt If you intend to build a church you ought to know that you have to build it out of common material,
out of wood and cks ; and you want com-
mon sense in it ; wisdom, practical judgment
Now let us go back and come up these three steps rapidly. The prayer began with love, that it might abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment — three great steps upward, landing us on a higher platform ; a heart full of love, a mind well in- formed, a judgment well balanced. The result of it is most excellent — " That ye may approve things that
are excellent."
The Bible is not given on the plan of telling us everything we must do and everything we must not do. There are great principles laid down, and we must have judgment to apply these principles. There are new tendencies coming up constantly that are new ; and there is nothing specific about them in the Bible. But if a man's heart is right with God, and if his knowledge is as it ought to be, and his judgment IS right, he will not have any great trouble to find out on which side of any common question of the day he ought to stand.
A great many of our people are greatly pestered by
THREE STEPS UP 1 89
theatres and dancing and card-playing, and the like of that. They say in their confusion and in their anxiety, u Where is there anything in the Scriptures against these things?" Well, they are in a greatly unseasoned condition spiritually. Nobody doubts when he gets on the platform where Paul wrote this letter to the Philippian church. Nobody doubts which way the theatre is going: it is of the earth, earthy ; and there is not a spiritually minded man or woman between the seas that doesn't know it. No- body doubts where the ball-room stands: it is of the earth, earthy ; it is of the flesh, the world, and the devil. Every Spiritually minded person knows where it stands and what stands for it. kk That ye may ap- prove things that are excellent." It is not excellent, is it?
I recall that some years ago I was interviewed by two ladies on this very subject One of them was a church-member : the other was not They were both very elegant ladies. This very question of the ball- room was brought np, and my opinion asked. I can sum up what was said in a very few words. The church-member said she did not feel that it was wrong. I said to her, k> All right ; but the next time you get dressed for a ball, while you are waiting for your escort, you open your Bible at the twelfth chapter of Romans and read that chapter right through : ' I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world : but be ye transformed,' and so on. Then get >ur knees and ask God to bless you and bless the ball, and bless the ball to you, and to everybody there. n The other lady, who was not a member of the church, broke out laughing. She said afterward, "I was not laughing at you ; I was laughing at how ridiculous Cousin Dona would look, on her knees,
190 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
asking God to bless her and bless the ball. " They are things that do not go together, and will not hold fellowship with each other.
Thousands of questions are coming up all the time, and a man ought to be elevated enough in his spirit- ual life to discern the quality of things and to approve the things that are excellent.
Then we are to be sincere. That is a very fine quality for the Christian. To tell the truth ; to be honest enough not to say, " I am not able to give " when he is ; not to say, " I cannot go to prayer meet- ing," when he just does not want to go; not to say, " I cannot do this or that," when the real reason is, he does not want to do it ; but to be perfectly sincere and open before God, being filled with the fruits of righteousness to the praise and glory of God.
It was one of the first thoughts in my spiritual life that I should be saved. Of course, we cannot help it — nobody can help thinking about that. I think now I am going to be saved, and my heart is resting on that. I know one thing for a certainty ; I am not going to be saved because I am worthy to be saved. But my feet are on the rock, and I expect to stand there. I am not thinking now so much about being saved ; I am think- ing about heaven. I feel that I am going to a city, now only a little way off. I can see the spires yonder, I am so close ; and I am not sorry it is close, not sorry at all. Brethren, the thought in my mind now is, that I shall fill up all the remaining days of my life with the fruits of righteousness, living the life of ser- vice that God will help me to live, so that when I come into the presence of my divine Lord and Master, I may be like a transplanted tree borne down with fruit, and not like a tree with leaves and no fruit.
I may not see you again until we meet before God's great throne. May the Lord Jesus preserve your souls, and sanctify you, and help you, and fill you with his Spirit. For Jesus' sake I ask it. Amen.
Lansing Burrows, son of J. L. Burrows, d. d. , was born in Philadelphia, Pa. , April 10, 1843. He was taken while a young child to Richmond, Va. , and there at the age of fifteen years he joined the First Baptist Church, of which his father was pastor. He entered Wake Forest College in 1859, and though prevented by the war from graduating in 1862, was graduated by the faculty when the institution reopened. In 1867 was married to Miss Lulie S. Rochester, of Stanford, Ky. , and the same year was ordained to the ministry. In 1872 Princeton and Madison Universities gave him the degree of a.m,, and Bethel College, Ky. , that of d. d. in 1882. He has held important pastorates North and South, and is now pastor of the First Baptist Church, Augusta, Ga. As secretary of the Convention since 1881, he has won great praise by the promptness and proficiency with which he, together with his associate, Dr. O. F. Gregory, has each year issued the Minutes of the body. He is also the skillful editor of the Baptist Year-Book, the most valuable statistical handbook possessed by the denomination. Few men among us preach more of the gospel, or the gospel with more power, than does Dr. Burrows.
XVII UNBELIEVING BRETHREN x
KKOW >, I'. I'.
" I t neither did hk brethn a believe in him." John 7 : 5.
HT*HAT must ha >rrow to Jesus.
1 While Ik- came i<> b and rejected of
men,*1 it w< in peculiarly bard t<> be despised
ami rejected of bis own kindred. The family tie among the J It is now ;
the Il\ ' affection. I Le may
follow the instincts of his lath • in hisdcali;
with \oii on the Street, but in his homi tender
and true and loving. H wife and his children are always the handsomest and best, and he delights to showei benefits nj»<>n tin 1. The kindred of the Lord
OUght n<>t to ha\ ptional in this \ irtne.
lid ii"t believe in him. So the Master became identified with the chief sorrow of many p
There is mat] 1 man whose heart is sore
over the waywardrj children. The weet
and holy scheminj rsuade unto like precious
faith ail go for notning. P og, and
exhortations, like those of just Lot, only awaken cruel mock a-, with
the world looking on amazed and wondering what hidden sin has brought ttchnau ruit; in-
quiring with the old short-sightedn to who the
i ii. Washing! d, 1 1 < . during the
]\i\>\ I otion I hi
In I'm.- in.iin without notes, and cannot, therefore, U- 1
an exact repioduaion >■( what wrafl laid "ii the I
I9I
Tin-: S< HJTB PULPIT
sinner was, that such blindness and nan liould
follow. With a quiet meekness, He who bon
en this mi: tnong
.vn kind- ho knew him 1
veins flowed the same bio found
rave no heed t<> him for him.
They knew much about him. They *
:«> them. I [e wi Imoniti*
times ed them with gi eech ;
as when Ik- says t-» them in thi time is alwa nnot h
unon with them ami the
L, that the • had no
fault to find with them. The) conli anywhere else, and nobody would trouble them. all tl: which is hidden
us, they had : :h him ; tin
childhood and his guileli til and tin- m
his budding adoli i ked \>\
piety- ' the home and in the family circle Then they had
nderful riage
at least, they were all with him, and saw what hi They saw his wonderful they urged him
and show what things he could do t«» "tin I
They v pnth their advice. They
said in effect : "What is the things
>:it in the wide- world and let ] ' man \ OU U BOmC ;ht to
Bee ni to them and make sure of them,
lest the in their faith in you
All thi Ing to us. They must have
I the tall rning the wonderful happenings
attendant Upon his birth ; the song ofangels and the ition Of wise men; and thi aoiiy of their
UEVING BRETHREN
man, Zacharias, and that of Anna and neon and Elisabeth and their cousin John, the etic preacher of the wilderness. Now all these things thai trong evidences to us were supple-
mented by his blameless life, his earnest ministry, his just and perfect chai unfailin
raid it be that they failed in him? It was most surprising, was it
!• X d " have their counterpart to-day.
I 3 would not permit US
these kinsmen of the flesh and :. because given
me the i faith in
uch interpretat
ing. him " the whole family in heaven and earth is na and the chief distinction h( (act
ill them (us) brethn in such :n as w
If anything, the r- On mother
who bore him, and he said that they thai
ind kept it
kindred sought him an
telling him that they
ik with him ; and . writh i;: [uence he bent his
nan acclaimed, M Th
mother and mj :i." it reater thing
. allied to him by I What i much
as that which is inwa
The important matter is this : you are brought into very dose contact with him. Von know him, j
rtand his word with less difficulty of under landing than men have ever experienced.
194 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
All the light of the centuries clusters about him and his mission and his doctrine. He lias been attacked by the learning of all ages, and the truth still stands. There has not been a single Opposition tint has not been met. There can be no new argument against him. The latest forms of doubt and unholy criticism are but borrowed from men that died a hundred years ago. We know more about him than those who saw him with their eyes and heard him with their ears. The accumulation of testimony is simply amazing. The numbers who have been converted by the power of his Spirit, the rough, unlikely natures that have been changed, the trophies won by the r of the cross, the millions who say, " Thou art the Christ," where once a single ' ' 'claimed
him, all of these are occasions oi belief that even his own kindred failed t<» possess.
And yet, with this richness, the difficulty of yield- ing him an implicit trust is great We believe him and do not the things th.it he says. We hear him and yet doubt We Listen to his command and yet follow not, <>r with halting and uncertain steps. We know his power and yet fail to lay hold of the arm of his strength. In the midst of his unfailing supply we go wretched with hunger and paralyzed with fear and barren when we should be abundant with fruit. Faith in him is still the pressing need of discipleship. The wait of faith in him is the 11 of the
church's somnolence, and is the secret of whatev r inefficiency may be justly attributed to her. The absence of thrilling testimony, the self-satisfied languor in view of opportunity, the insidious thought of self-ministry, all spring out of the fruitful matrix of unbelief. bike his brethren, we desire that he shall show yet other wonders, while we leave untried the victorious power of a faith that overcomes the world and makes us the workers of wonders.
II. The occasion of the unbelief of his brethren is
UNBELIEVING BRETHREN 195
the occasion of our unbelief. I mean by that we have, as had those brethren, mistaken conceptions of his work. You have often heard in what great error they were concerning his Messiahship. What pic- tures <>f temporal grandeur they drew! a restored lei, a rebuilt temple, a majestic kingdom! They wanted him to go tojudea ; for what ? To set up a kingdom tint should outstrip the world for greatness. What was the me of his miracle-power if he could not do something great? Miracles? IK- was using his power only to heal people and to feed them and calm th m. Why not take the rule from the <»]>- not. blast the intruder? When they saw he would not do this, they did not believe in him. Aii, if they only had a kinsman who would do as they wished. If their id >uld be carried
out, why, they would be princes and dukes, and live in palaces, and roll in luxury and abound in wealth.
This was what they wanted. In place of power and grandeur and wealth and luxury, h ■ wis giving them self-denial and service So they did not believe in him.
v trace a resemblance. Men compliment
Jesus, they .si»eak of his wonderful works, they ad- mire his character, they even profess his name and become of the body of "his disciples and pay some re- 1 to his institutions and ordinances. But some of plainest commands are disregarded, some of his tes are pronounced uninviting, and soineoth are said to be out oi date. Too much Stress is laid upon self-denial, too much said about charity, too much importance attached to non-essential matt It is folly to attempt so much as the gospel declares; the Sabbath must not "he to,, strictly kept ; the tithe
1 matter of an exploded system; the evangeliza- tion of the world is a ridiculous impossibility ; to say nothing of separation from the world, or of laying down life for men, or of bearing injustice and perse-
196 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
cution with meekness, or of answering not again the voice of detraction. Oh, we arc very much like his brethren.
Do von say there is no such resemblance? Let me ask you, what is vonr conception of his work and mission? No, not to the worlds but to yout Is it that yon shall be saved? Yes, but not all. It is not enough to be saved. His thought is to create- within you his own image. What lie intends you to he is a reproduction of himself. How shall he do that? By setting you up in palatial grandeur, and minister- in- to your comfort and east ? X \ no. He begins by .1 • he builds up he
must tear down. Before he fdls y<>n with himself, he must empty you of yourself. When he lays you down
upon a bed of suffering, when he darkens your house, when he brings t<> you a cup of when he
ur life, when he breaks your heart and coi a m cry out
in the despairing tones of unbelief. Ha- he not told you, l> In the world vc shah have trihulati< »n M ? I [as he not shown you tl nt of heavenly nobility,
the mark of divine sonship, not in sorrow, but in scourg you have not an unruffled joy,
an abiding comfort, an unfailing prosperity, an an- swer to ever) temporal craving, the consummation of every heart-wish, shall you turn upon him as did his brethren, and say to him : "Thou art not what we thought, thou hast not fulfilled the measure of our hop' -
Suppose lie did give you the wish of your heart, what manner of men would you be? It is easy to say that you wish to be holy, undefiled, like unto him. The way to this is the path he trod. I;or you to be what you say is youi wish, demands the denial of Capernaum and caviling Jerusalem, and the expe- riences of Gethsemane with its bloody sweat, and Calvary with its unspeakable agonies. Had you his
UNBELIEVING BRETHREN 197
power, what would you do with it? He never used it for himself. He went hungry while he fed thou- sands, and while preparing a mansion for you in his father's house, had no place whereon to lay his head. Had yon his power you would exert it for yourself or for those you love, Whose dead would you raise? Whose hunger would you first appease? Whose eyes would you open? He raised Lazarus, but Joseph he
did not raise ; and while his last thoughts clustered around his mother he gave her into the hands of lov- ing charity. He never thought of i self; really, do we
ever think of much else? With the demolition of self, with the shattering of hope-, with the crown n[
suffering, recognize his faithfulness to his promise, and perceive the stately steppingsof the Kin- coming to hi- kingdom, set up in your own hearts.
III. The remedy for this sad condition is an appre- hension of the fullness of the gospel. There is one
text that gives me an immense comfort. It is iii
Acts, the first chapter and the fourteenth verse. When the Saviour's expiation for sin was made, when he
had won his victory over the grave, after that he had
tided on high, then we read how the disciples, waiting for their enduement at Jerusalem, ki continued with om I in prayer and supplication, with the
women, and Mary, tin- mother ot Jesus, and a-//// his hren" Ah, then they did believe at last! After Geth- semane and Calvary and olivet they found their
hearts broken and they believed. Let us keep on with our preaching and let US he faithful in our tes- timony, and let US be not weary in our effort, the time will come when he thatgoeth forth with weep- ing will return rejoicing, bearing his sheaves with him.
Understand the Christ of Calvary, and go and see the place where the Lord lay. That' is the key of belief in him. So lorn- as these brethren heard his sermons
198 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
and saw his works, they found it not to their purpose to believe in him. But when they saw the cross, that was too much for them. My hope for you is in the cross. I do not wonder at your being confused and undecided so long as you think of his teachings, matchless as they are. These sayings of his do trouble ; they amaze, they invite to disputations, and they tempt to explanations, that the keenness of their edge shall be somewhat dulled and be so fitted to our understanding. When there comes to you some say- ing more forceful than usual,. you say, "This is a hard saying, who can understand it?" and you keep quiet until you think you can understand it. When there comes to you a pointed exhortation, you say, "No one is able to do such things," and you lay it aside until you think you can. The result is, a be- lief of a general sort, with much misgiving and with little power and with less joy and peace. But when following him, though like Peter, "afar off," yon see him uncomplaining, pierced through and uplifted as a spectacle of shame, with death creeping over his features, and the head that was always an invitation to trust, bowing into unconsciousness, with eyes no longer mellow and tear-wet, and lips no more opening with gracious words, yon find another train of thought quickened within your minds. Do you remember that while he was teaching his disciples, men said " Rabbi," or " Master " ? That meant Teacher. But afterward men said "Lord." That meant Ruler, King. Once in a while, under some strong experi- ence, when drawn into a foretaste of what was com- ing in its fullness, and when the emotions were strongly stirred and the spiritual became dominant over the fleshly, they said " Lord." As, when under its subtle influence the desire to know how to pray took hold upon them, or as when they felt the power of the ever-living bread, they addressed him as Lord, and begged to be taught how to pray, or to be filled
UNBELIEVING BRETHREN 199
with such bread. But after the ascension it was 14 Lord " all the time, and strengthened as the " Lord Christ ' ' or the ' ' Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. " Oh , Calvary was a great illumination to men's intellects !
If you are content with him as a teacher only, it is not surprising that you will reserve your opinion upon some things, or counsel about them, or desire further light. But if he is to you a Lord, a King, you will do what he says. If he appoints to you sorrow and disappointment, it is the Lord, and he may do as he lists. He bids you follow no different path from that he himself has trodden. He makes you a partaker of his own sufferings. Where you began as an endorser of his maxims, a student of his philosophy, you end as a servant doing his will. He who can die for you, can be more easily obeyed and followed than he who came to teach you of mighty and wondrous things. He who has bought you is more than he who has taught you.
So what you want, brother, is not more informa- tion, not more argument, not more explanation. You want your heart broken. Oh, we go about seeking and digging up the remains of buried centuries, and exhuming treasures of learning out of accumulated piles of ruins, and with pride point to them and challenge doubt and unbelief. We have enough. The heart is not going to melt before these silent and unimpeachable witnesses to the truth of the Son of God. No preacher can melt the heart. Xo witness can do aught but condemn the flinty nature. The cross breaks down our opposition. The cross breaks up the stony indifference. What the world needs is not more knowledge about the Christ of God ; it needs to look upon him dying for its sin and misery. That is the antidote for all unbelief in its varying shades and forms. Especially is it the an- tidote for unbelief where it creeps into the hearts of those who know him best. " Behold the Lamb of
THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
God that taketb away the sin of the world"; and takes away no sin so effectually as that one -real damning sin, the sin of unbelief. It was that which
our Lord himself declared the source of condemna- tion, and taking away that he removes all.
/. I'. Leavell was born in Poi I ounty, Miss., on the
just, 1847. Attended the Universit) -t Mississippi.
Was three yeai lent in the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary. Ha ed in Dal ton, Ga., Murfreesboro, Tenn.,
Columbus, Ky., Oxford, Natchez, and Clinton, Mi--. Was two
financial secretary of Mississippi College, ami five years
president <>t" Carrollton Female College, Carrollton, Mississippi.
sippi Colli upon him the degree <>t" i».i». in
He 1- .1 in. in of singular piet) ami fraternal >i>irit.
/ 1 !
^s
** £* fr fr
XVIII
THH TRIAL OF FAITH l .11, D. I'. "Thai the trial of \'<>ur faith, bcin^' much n; > than «>f gold
that perisheth, though it be trie<l with fire, might be found onto praise and
as < hii.-t.'' i Peter i : 7.
SURELY there 1 blessing which we receive
at tlu- hands of oui Heavenly Father that is less appreciated by as than the trial of our faith. It to us like the rainy day. There i- no one of us who likes the rainy day, with Its cloud above and it- discomfort beneath. But we all rejoice in the f tiie si. is they make the earth "bring
: :i and bud," and [ eed to the sower and
id to the eater.'1 So of the trial God makes of our
faith ; it has much thai liveable, but we all re-
joiee in the fruitage it mav bring. We may come out of it purer and stronger in the Lord.
In the trial God makes of our faith we should see the manifestation of hi- lie would have us
understand that he is simply purposing our welfare, and that he does not chastise us in anger. He says,
"Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, rketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" ; and uwe know that all things work together : d to them that 1- I rod.'1 In
this connection it is said, ,l Though now for a season,
if need be, \e are in heaviness through manifold temptations.'1 More tenderly it would be impossible
bed in Trinity Methodist Church daring the Jubilee Sc
Dtjon.
201
THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST IT I. PIT
to speak. The loving kindness of our Lord, declared in these and kindred passages, may be discerned by all whose faith he puts to the test
There are inane ways in which God tries the Chris- * iah's faith.
He sometimes does this by permitting us to go our own way. Most people get obstinate now and then, however meek their natures may be. They become weary of the performance of duties that follow each other in dull routine, or they are tempted to -re k
those things not fortheii Our desires are <
exceedingly hard to conti >me bright, dazzling
object, alluring and fascinating, is beheld by us. I: seems to be the one object above all others that would gratify u the desire until we
arc- permitted to have the object, which we find fire in our p Happy an- we if thereby \\
purged oj" the dross which was the cause of our temp- tation.
Sometimes God tries the Christian's faith l>v more severe means. The trial isc permission to
go into the fire ; he puts us into it. By a gradual Dro- it may he v. i< so much enamored by the things of time and sense, as t<> lose interest in spiritual things and the things that make- for our peace. The soul WOOS and sometimes weds that which God I It goes like Samson into Philistia, seeking pleasure rather than worshiping God. The Lord our God is a jealous God and can suffer no such wandering from himself without using the necessary means to bring ick to our first love. We are told that -old is dingly fond of quicksilver. When the two together there i- nothing that can separate them hut extreme heat, v^o our souls become so intermin- gled with the things of time and sense, that God must turn extreme heat upon us that we may be rom our sordid attachments and return to him.
THE TRIAL OF FAITH 203
God sometimes tries our faith by disappointments. There is a constantly recurring pain in a series of disappointments. Everything we attempt fails of the measure of success we wished and had expected. En- significant, trifling circumstances persist in coming :i us and the realization of that for which our longs,; and this state of things goes on until our patience becomes exhausted, and our hearts grow
sick of our fruitless search alter gain, and we turn to God for solace. They tell us that in every ton of sea water there is just one -rain ol gold. By putting a ton of sea water just at the boiling point, the water >mes vapor, and the grain of -old is left. So God sometimes extracts the one grain of gold in the Chris- tian's nature. He is subjected to the heat, and the foreign matter vanishes and the golden -rain is left in hi ace
I trie- the Christian'- faith again by prosperity. This is the severest test. There is nothing harder for a Christian to endure. It is far more damaging to Christian character than affliction < >r loss. He who can stand with folded aiiib in mute resignation by til* rm of a loved one and lift his tear-bathed
e t«> heaven with the silent prayer to God in Ins heart, >l Thy will be done," is overthrown at once by prosperity. Prosperity naturally puts one in the ways <>f the world, and lie readily takes to them.
1 earth is sometimes washed in a little rocker like a child's cradle. It is an easy swinging proa
seless and sleep-provoking. There is a bar in the rocker over which the :. against which
the .^old gathers. So God sometimes gets at the -old in his people. They are rocked back and forth in the cradle of prosperity. Thanks be to his name, there are some who can endure this test. We have many noble-hearted ones whose piety suffers no diminution by the enlarged prosperity God awards them, and who feel that they are but the trustees of the Lord, hold-
204 Till-. SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
ing the means put into their hands for the advance- ment of his glory.
But why does God try the Christian's faith? Why not let his children go to heaven >l on flowery beds of ease," instead of subjecting them to constant trials? There must be g« ons for the tests to which he
compels their faith. Not only does God afflict for our profit, but for the strengthening of that within us that is most profitable for the life here and here- after. He tries us that "the proof of our faith may appear more precious than refined gold that is tested by fire,'1 as the Syriac translation puts it. The proof of our faith, or our tested faith, is more precious than refined gold. It will be ver) difficult to make the world see this, but it is true Some men contemn Christianity because it lays so much stress on faith. But strong, tested faith is basal in human happiness and usefulni S h a faith gi m in the
mind for distrust. Faith in the soul gives what no external circumstances can bring. You have doubt- that beautiful Little poem written by Mrs, Hemans, which portrays the Efing of England after his only son was drowned :
a when fe>t.il bowls went round.
I lc heard the min I l le - .iv. the toui ne) i i< toi Amid the might) ring.
But B murmur of the
blent on every Strain, A vol e of wind that would not sleep ; 1 [e ne\ er smiled again.
His external circumstances were perfect, and \ et
so indescribably sad was he that not even a smile
ceii upon his face after his great bereavement.
But faith is a fundamental principle in the happi-
• f the many as well as the individual. It gives
cement to the compact of society. Let us see how
THE TRIAL OF FAITH 205
this is. Conceive of a community of people living together in neighborly proximity utterly destitute of faith in each other. Neither man, woman, nor child has any faith in any other of the entire popula- tion. The conception puts before us a condition of extremest anarchy. Von might take all the gold of Ophir and empty it into the laps i)i that people, and it would not produce happiness. A tested faith in the affairs of life and much more in religion is as an element so basic that naught can surpass it in value. iin, a tested faith has an absolute intrinsic WOltn which gold has not. The lack of established intrinsic worth in -old and silver gives the problem with which statesmen have to grapple in settling the question of the day. How ran a parity ^( coinage cured so Ion- as the metals fluctuate in amount and so in value? This question <>f parity between
the metals i- a question that might be settled if their intrinsic worth could be determined by their amount being constant and known. Hut a tested faith has an absolute intrinsic worth, [ts value is inherent,
independent of outward conditions. Large incre- ment of it not only does no: iate it.^ value, but increases it. The moreof it there is the more it is worth. Let it be multiplied till countless multitudes
- it and its worth ha- been magnified in that God's are Ming over all the earth and the b st
of happiness is insured for hi^ people.
Once nr>re, a tested faith i- eternal, and gold is not. Let it be known that the discovery of America was a financial necessity. At the time America was discovered there was only a sufficiency of gold gotten from the mines of the Old World t<» repair the /<>ss in handling and manufacture. There was no in- crease in the amount of gold in the world because of the natural waste of the precious metal. There is no waste in the using of a tried faith in God On the contrary, the more it is used the larger it is. \\>r
s
2o6 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST rn.riT
will the fires of the last great day melt it nor depre- ciate its value It will go beyond the things o( time and sense into the world of unfading light and shine with undimmed lustre after the earth has dissolved in fervid heat
But this is only a subjective \ the worth of
a faith tried and tested by the Lord in the ordea life. Our text paraphra the proof of
our faith maj more precious than refined gold
that is tested by ore unto glory and honor and praise at the manifestation of Jesus the world's Redeemer, that he is coinirj ad time to mani-
fest his glory. When Ik- comes the tried faith of his
le will appear to his ] and majesty.
In our happiest .spiritual moods we wisli to do some- thing to snow our gratitude i t"i what Ik- ha This is 1 pii itual outgoing of
reuerous soul. Much may be done in many lines of effort I titude. W< an bl<
a broad G i which we ma m the labors
of love. But in nothing can we glorify our M better than t<> submit t<> the pui il
faith. Wi ' -hall come
to make np his jewels <>nr proven faith will appeal t<> his praise and honor and glory. It i^ not so much what we do, a- what w< air, that licivm takes delight in. It is the developm* nt of the soul gotten in lal»«»r that Christ wants more than the labor itself. Before tlu- angels our Saviour >hal! have praise and adora- tion not for what w have done, but what we are, standing in the grand review with a faith so shaped
by the discipline of human life as to elicit their admiration. Then let n^ kiss the rod that smites US and patiently wait till tlu- coming mom of the resur- m to glorify our Saviour with a faith that is per- fect and complete.
Our tried faith shall l>e t<> the praise of our Saviour.
to the praise of the United States that we do
THE TRIAL OF FAITH 20;
not have our currency in gold ore an I bullion. I
Id eagle has Mil of heat and the die,
and comes forth most shapely current coin of the
tn. And it shall be to the | that we do not it the last day in a cruel
but that we ii ised our ordeal, and have come
through it a i with the image of oui
hie Lord st that when he shall app
we shall be like him.
day our tried faith shall bean honor to Christ e refiner that he takes
the gold in i lition,with sixty per cen
adulteration, and bi out twenty- four carats fine.
And !)•
honor of Christ that h< humanity with all
its adulterations, "dead in :• ad in sin
mad- it xm tance m the world of light
It is said tii a the f some
who shall i that day of a< . Vl Who are
these?" The answer sh ill :i, ,v The hey
that ha ip through great tribulation, and
hed tin ' made them white in the blond
the Lam
1 ally, the proven faith of the Christian shall in the judgment day be the : Christ What is
It is n.»t in the fart that the sun nev oad empire. It is not in her gr<
hank, though it is true that there is nowh< • uch
wealth. England's glory is in England's purified, fined intelligence— -in England's Disraelisand Glad- stones, her Miltons and Tennysons, her Spurgeo and \\
In the day i ur Saviour will
not be in the Fact that he is one with the Father and was prea nt when our world was made, when the morning stars sang together; but his glory will be in the purified ones who stand ready to enter a world of
Unfading light and unbroken love.
Tin-. SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
What a support is such a faith in the trying emer- gencies of life It Is a staff on which the soul may
lean ; it is an anchor when tempests rage without. And ho-.-. death without it II- ry the
noments of '. oe who
head by I nth on the bosom i sweet
and cheerful I Christian !
feed at the even sunk beneath the western hoi ] tve seen it as
rid in h like the
.vitli-
through Chi
rid wit! light
cast b t behind. I li.i isure
in looking <>n the m
... ...
ions sun of day, and : ght, how much fikc the
death of the Christian. it in dai
leave the wo: id ;> the
light of the S nt a
saving faith to all v '
n death, and
at the ]
M B NVh verted
• red upon him has
enomina-
!. and h.»^ thi
With
■ r. He i
. . . the la:
rch in tl.
M. B. Whakti n. I- D.
■ I
XIX1 THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
: B. wn.u . " | : 20.
SOME o, while the summer at
T illul aery as grand
le the Alps, [had n liim-
:i which Tallulah River
with □ upon
that ►lid gran l asked ill this? " My thi : on
lid 111 ik- uiviiKV in-
• isl I v. ill b .1 Chi i tian. tinnel which, cut through th
I rOd,
1 the
wh ull of hi b of the res-
Hi ■ was right as to the im] this sul
Tli a of Jesus Christ is the pivotal truth
of C . I which all
1 1 this
in D :hing is important,
• ;if 1 1. ( ( during the Jubii- ■ :><n.
209
2IO THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
and the congregations of Washington are all aglow to-day as representatives of our Convention are hold- ing forth to them the word of life. From the time of Christ to the present moment the world has been swayed by earnest preaching, and to take away preaching is like robbing the world of light which enables men to know each other, work, and live. But uif Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain." Faith is important, indispensable to our hap- piness, enables us to overcome the world; millions have died in it, and millions would die for it; but 11 if Christ be not raised your faith is vain." Sin is an awful thing, the author of all the woes burdened with which the whole creation groaneth and tra- vaileth in pain together until now; but if Christ be not risen kl ye are yet in your sins.'1 So that the must important q . we can consider this morn-
ing is the resurrection of Christ. An; I think I am prepared toshow that he did arise, that our preaching is not vain ; your faith not vain ; you are not in your sins; but may joyfully exclaim, " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which accord- ing to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again
unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ fmm the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.'1 I do not know a more appropriate text to guide in the discussion than the one announced : kk Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord." Just two questions are sug- gested :
i. Did the disciples see the Lord ?
2. Why were they glad when they saw him?
First, we have in proof of the resurrection of Christ, presumptions arising from the empty grave. While infidels deny the resurrection of Christ, they have never denied that he died ; on the contrary, they
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST 211
have thrown it up to Christians as an opprobrium that their divine leader had to die. They cannot see how it was that he was compelled to die to save a lost and ruined world, and say his death was a refutation of his claim. Neither do they deny that his grave was found empty on the third day. Had it 'not been empty his enemies would have produced the body to show that the story of the resurrection was false. The tact that the grave was empty gives a strong pre- sumption in favor of his resurrection. If he did not rise his body must have been stolen by his disciples. Men do not rob grave-; without some selfish purpose in view. The body of A. T. Stewart was stolen that a large sum might be obtained for its restor- ation. But why should the disciples have wished by stealing the bo ly of Jesus to perpetuate an imposture which wis costing them their property and their lives? Thev cannot be supposed to have a so foolish as that course would indicate. But if, in order to palm off a false story, thus expen- sive to themselves, thev had washed to rob the grave they could not have done so. Thev were a weak and timid set, one denying the Saviour before a ser- vant girl, and all forsaking him in presence of his euemus. Would those men have attempted to face a guard ol Roman soldiers when thev knew that death lid be the consequence? Hut the story went out that the body was stolen while the soldiers were asleep. Roman soldiers never slept on their posts. When in Pompeii, my guide at the Hercu aiieiim showed me a sentry box in which the skeleton remains of a Roman soldier were found. He was placed on duty on that ever-memorable night, and while the flood of lava was pouring on the city, while men and women were living, he 'kept his post, and more than seventeen hundred years afterward was found, one hand over his mouth to keep out the dust and ashes, and the other grasping his nistv sword.
212 THE SOUTHERN UAPTIST PULPIT
No, these Roman soldiers did not sleep on their posts. Augustine well says, " If they were asleep, how could they testify that the disciples stole the body ? " for no man can testify to what happens while he is asleep.
But we are not left to presumptions but have the testimony of the apostles. This testimony is of the most incontrovertible kind, whether we consider the nature and number of the witnesses, the facts they testified to, the places where they deposed, or the time when their statements were made. Who were these witnesses? Not scholars, theorists, and philosophers. Not men of such great ability as to be able to make "the worse appear the better reason," but unlearned Galilean fishermen and tentm akers, who had never been known to advance an idea they had not received from some one else. How many of these witn were there? The principle has been laid down that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. We have here not two or three, but many hundreds. He was seen of Mary Magdalene, of the two disciples whose hearts burned within them as they conversed with him on the way to Emmaus. lie was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; . . . after that he was seen of James ; then of all the apostles ; li and last of all," aid, kl he was
seen of me also, as of one born out of due time." We can think of not less than ten occasions when Christ was seen by different persons after hi.- resurrection from the dead, all of the witnesses testifying to the one simple, unvarnished, tangible fact, that Christ had risen from the dead.
Where did they tell this story? Was it in a for- eign land? Wa> it among a heathen people who might be willing to believe a fanciful report, and who had no means of investigating its truth or falsehood? No, they told this wondrous story at Jerusalem where rrible deed of the crucifixion had taken place.
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST 213
They told it on the very spot where he had been con- demned, where scribes and Pharisees had hounded him to death ; they told it over the empty grave in which his body had been deposited.
When did they tell it? Did they wait until the popular mind had turned to other subjects? Shrewd lawyers ask for time when they have a bad case on their hands. Grant them time enough, and they can save almost any one from the gallows, for they know that
As from the wing no scar the sky retains, The parted wave 1 from the keel,
So dies in human hearts the thought of death.
These witnesses might have waited for five or ten
ha 1 a better chance of palming off upon the
le the story of a resurrection that never occurred.
But they did nut wait to tell tlie truth. They told it
had risen, within three days of the time
buried, while the people who slew him
were still filled with I rinst him, and while the
cruel cr< ned with his blood.
whom did they tell it? To peasants, to stran not interested in the wondrous details, to each other? They told it to all who listened — to Jews, heathen, to magistrates before whom they were summoned, to governors, to Caesar himself. They told this story : they knew they would be despised, imprisoned, tortured, and crucified for its telling.
Could it have been anything else than a true story? Was such testimony ever rejected in an earthly court on any other ? < me day in Montg -mery, Ala.,
I was ap] I by a prominent lawyer who said,
II If you will prove to nie that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, I will become a Christian and join your church. " "What sort of evidence do you wish?" I asked. He replied, u I will take any good evidence such as would be admitted by our courts." "Very
214 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
well," said I ; "who is vour greatest authority on evi- dence?" He replied, " Greenleaf." ll If Greenleaf should pronounce the evidenc . you will be satis-
fied, will you?" He responded, "I will." "Then I must tell you,'1 I said, >k that Greenleaf not only wrote his great work on 'The Law of Evidence,1 but in [846 he published an 'Examination of the Testimony of the I 'our Evangelists, by the Rules of deuce as Administered in Courts of Justice, with an Account of the Trial of Jesus,1 in which he says that the testimony in behalf of the resurrection of 1 is so conclusive that no twelve sane jurors in the I could (\o otherwise than pronounce in favor of
it." Still he did not yield, I
Convince .1 man against liis will He's of the same opinion still.
We have still further in favor of tlie resurrection of Christ what may be styled demonstrations. The Holy Spirit came down to assist the apostles in preaching
the doctrine of the resurrection. Behold that great
assembly on the day of Pentecost, an audience of
many thousands, consisting of Jews and strangers. This vast audience was addressed by men unlettered
and unknown. What did they say? "You think we are fanatics and madmen; that we are endeavoring to palm oil an imposture upon you all; that we are liars, who say we have seen a man whom we have not seen, eaten with a man with whom we have not eaten, touched and handled a man who has no exist- ence. You think we are such fools as to tell these stories at the expense of our fortunes and our lives; but wc are going to convince you to-day. Bring your sick and afflicted and we will heal them in proof of the resurrection. We will give hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, life to the dead. We, illiterate mechanics, who cannot speak our own mother tongue
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST 215
correctly, will talk to all of you, Medes, Elamites, Mes- opotamians, Cappadocians, Phrygians, Pamphylians, Romans, Cretes, Arabians, in your own tongues; we will speak to you in the polished and polite languages
of the earth." And thus they did, when three thou- sand oi the very men who had taken and with wicked hinds slain the Saviour were cut to the heart and converted. The evidence is so irrefragable that the great wonder is that all did not believe in the resur- rection of Christ. But there are still people who do not believ* rid is round, but flat Multitudes
believe that the sun moves. Why is it that men do believe in the emblematic resurrection — im- mersion? This Liquid grave was ordained as an em- blem of the place whei 1 lay. " Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ m the dead by the glory of the ■ we also should walk in : of lite. For if v. r in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resur- W 1 not men believe in the monu- mental resurrection? IK- rand monument on the banks of the Potomac, one of the tallest shafts in the world, commen man who won the
of all earthly titles— Father of his country. His name is not on it, but you know it is Washingti >n\s monument. But in the holy Sabbath
we have a tall, white, graceful monument to the res- urrection of Christ ; his name is on it; it was changed to and called "the Lord's Day," because Christ r<
I yet there arc millions who do not believe in it, and millions more who do not keep it holy, it is true, gloriously true, forever true, that the disciples saw the Lord; but
2. Why were tl 1 when they saw him? (1)
They were glad just as you and I would be glad in
2l6 TIIK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
meeting a dear friend whom we had supposed dead. I was at Monteagle, Tenn., a lis ago. A lady
' her brother was dying; li -w - her distn to his home in
sh and tears. < ta i the spot she was
but living. I was standing at a raili .. in the South, just
the v. neral
in that h; i tin drew up, a
: man stood as he
saw t
im< (1, u ( >h, William, i id to
an I he Turning to the
d, k> T1 m was on i
and I saw him I . the- fi<
battle, and n< -.ink he
him. '; 5, many of whom did
not know tha en him
in the grave ; the thi and rfo 'in. Mow thai he h
could ing him whom they loved
with all th< But tlr ity had I
. I ■
which Ik " He ai: | unto
them, An evil and ad
a sign ; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the of the prophet three
davs and I shall
the Son of man l i and three nights in the
of the earth." All this had come true. He
had entered then; ead, "and Struggling
and in his thes with the tyrant had
from hi k diadem, wrenched
hand his cruel sceptre, shivered at a blow
his sfc and rising brought life and im- mortality to light.*1
TIIK RESURRECTION OF CHRIST 21 7
They w id for anotl a. They
v in the resurrection of an earnest of their
V ' -.v our bo li ■>, though they
may not always be lo\ ire fon 1
while our immortal spirits dwell, the : i jewels
our >ur friends and
lovi here. S the moment when
we put them 11 I darkne ler still
. I dust.
mat
as immortal as out
1 rward they
th pity
.
Alas for him wh
The :ccs,
A1
Wh I felt in h • ita,
The iknown,
And
(eath
■ he was
the kin rth he could be wel-
friend, an 1 all [uest of
us. The th tian
ould be not n irch, bi i i
delivered him ts: lk The sting
. : and tl IS the law.
I, which giveth us the victory • >ux Lord Jesti Chri '." I ing the
in her hotel far away from
2lS THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
her home and the friends of her youth. Watchers stood around anxious to catch any word which might escape her lips. At last they heard her whisper, " Bring." They placed her child by her side. She still said, "Bring." They brought her flowers and refreshing water. They were puzzled to know what she meant. At last summoning all her strength, while a smile played over her face, she exclaimed :
Bring forth the royal diadem And crown him Lord of all,
and so expired in the arms of him who died for her and rose again.
They were glad because heaven was assured to them. Had that stone not been rolled away from the door of the sepulchre, there had been no admittance through the gates of light; had Christ remained in the grave, no human soul had ever entered heaven. The heavenly inheritance is a reward for his rising. Standing by his grave he said : kk Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." And he did ascend, escorted by a company of angels to the right hand of the Father. Where our Forerun- ner has gone we shall go. He has gone to make ready for our coming. He says, " In my Father's house are many mansions. . . I go to prepare a place for you, . . that where I am, there ye may be also."
Lastly, they were glad because now they might look forward to the universal triumph of the gospel. With such a. doctrine as that attested by such proofs the word of God must of necessity grow and multi- ply. All that was necessary was to tell the story. This they did. They ran from one to another with the glad news, and "the voice of rejoicing and salva- tion was in the tabernacles of the righteous."
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
219
We of the Southern Baptist Convention have been telling this story for fifty years. During this time we have raised one million five hundred thousand dollars, and sent forth nearly four hundred mission- aries to foreign lands, to say nothing of native assist- ants and work done among the people in our great country. Let us continue to tell it with unwonted zeal and interest till China shall become a celestial empire indeed, till u Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God " ; till Japan shall go forth conquer- ing in a holy war ; till Mexico, Italy, and Brazil shall escape the fetters of superstition,
And Cuba, fair Cuba, the queen of Antilles,
No longer by minions of popery awed, Comes sweet as her roses ami pure as her lilies,
To be crowned by her Saviour, Redeemer, and Lord ; Till from scarlet adornments as venal as bright, She turns to be clothed with the -armcnts of light.
Yea, let us tell this wondrous story * c till the dwell- ers on the hills and in the vales shout to each other, and the mountain tops from distant mountains catch the flying joy— till nation after nation taught the strain, earth rolls the rapturous hosauna round."
XX
Tin- I'iks;
1. Will IE
•
part in
they shall be ] reign with him i
I
Tin the 1
I * are
and I
: sins
Thi
It will be
till it iful thought
As th
■
H-', rj.
Rev. J. L. U
], L. White was born September th county,
\ c. He was converted at sixteen years ol age, and at seven- teen was making a reputation in his State as n the bo) prea< her." Was graduated from Wake I Uege June receiv-
ing the a. if. degree. While in college he wi essively
debater and orator, and at his graduation \\a> valedictorian of his class. His first pastorate was the First Baptist Church, Raleigh, N. C. lit- has since served the church at Eh' city. First Church, Durham, First Church, Ashville, N.C. . and on February 1, became pastor of the First Church, Macon, < i.i. In all of these charges he has been eminently successful, hun- dreds having been inducted into the membership, and tl 1 and efficiency of the churches greatly promoted. He 1- ii demand for evangelistic lu-^ own added
those of his wife, to whom he was married in 1886. She 1- a woman of many excellent ies of character and marked < 01 tion to Christ
THE FIRST RESURRECTION 221
chorus, " Thy bones shall nourish like the grass ; oh,
yes, my brother, thy bones shall flourish like the
1 's word in my hand, I proclaim,
. rection ! Resurrect]
There arc to urrections: one of the just,
of the unjust These shall occur at different
times with an interval o( one thousand years. The
first is the resurrection of the I ■:' the just ; the
second is the raising of the wicked dead, or the resur-
• iii unto judgm
re is quite a difference of opinion as to what
the first resurre S 'me commentators, notably
a: hold t'.. the first resur-
■ / in i HpU 's — o f patience,
ami i f the ancient
martyrs. Mr. Barn principles have
been buried. S it man looked on the
He is wide of tile mark. There are as
true men and women livin the world has
would n«»t count their lives dear were there oo for testing their fidelity t<>
Christ by trials, It then a resurrection of vir-
•
direction means 7. There are many difficulties attending ire insurmountable. The I guage of the text t icli a translation.
lived," is never applied in the Xew Testa- ment t<> the soul di but to man in his com- plete COndit ' il it. Avdoxaai^ "first resui /'defines the living to be bodily ind the word alwa; aifies in the I resurr The text teaches that there are to be two literal resurrections of the dvdd.
I. The just shall ri The text is sufficient
proof. But the belief in the doctrine does not I lyon this one / The interpretation of this
222 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
Scripture is in line with, and gives special and beau- tiful significance to many otherwise inexplicable declarations in the word of God.
i. The righteous shall be raised at Christ's second coming (i Cor. 15 : 23). " But every man in his own order; Christ the firstfruits ; afterward, they that are Christ's at his coming/'
A different order in the resurrection is declared, and only those who are Christ's are to be raised nt this time of his coming again. This is in perfect harmony with the blessed truth of the Lamb's mar- riage which shall occur at his second appearing (1 Thess. 4 : 14-17). In these verses there is no mention of but one class being raised, "those which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." u For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God: and the (had in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall he caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and SO shall we ever be with the Lord." Blessed consummation of our hopes ! Awakened out of sleep to behold our dear Lord and to enter into his joys ! This is the peculiar honor of the redeemed. The rest of the (\l\u\, those who die without hope, live not for a thousand years.
2. Jesus made a sharp distinction between the general resurrection of the dead and the resurrection which some should be accounted worthy to attain to. In Luke 14 : 13, 14, Christ says, " Hut when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed ; for they cannot recompense thee : for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Does our Lord teach only the resurrection of the just? No, verily. He explicitly teaches that all shall rise. Most certainly, however, he separates the dead, declaring a resurrec- tion of the just at a time distinct from that of those
THE FIRST RESURRECTION 223
raised unto damnation. Jesus in his reply to the Sadducees makes the distinction (Luke 20 : 34, 35). The children of this age marry, but they who shall be accounted worthy to attain that world and the resurrection from the dead shall not marry. A resur- rection of those worthy <>r of the just is referred to. In John 6 : 39, 40, 44, Christ lays emphasis upon the resurrection of just one class, namely, those who have become his own through redemption. The lost are not mentioned.. They of course shall be raised, but evidently at a different time and in a different ord t.
j. The preposition used in the original confirms this rendering. The resurrection ot the just is always spoken of as the resurrection //(W^xyt^j the dead, and whenever the general resxlfrection is mentioned, it is the resurrection of (without in) the dead The first literally meansW/ from among the dead, implying that all the dead were not raised at that time. Paul, when he spoke of the resur- 011, to which he strove to attain and to which he was pressing forward with all his might, as a high prize for which he counted all else loss, uses two prepositions as if one was not enough to indicate his meaning, ■ vtxp&v, "attain (o
the resurrection from among the dead." If Paul had : looking forward to the general resurrection, he need not have given himself any concern or made any sacrifice to attain to that, for 'the hour shall come when the dead, small and great, shall stand before his thr-.ne. The great apostle had in mind the first irrection, the resurrection of the just. That was the prize before him, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. To be accounted worthy to be found among the just at that day is enough to inspire any soul to righteous Living. The sentiment expressed in Lady Huntington's immortal verse should thrill the heart of every saint :
224 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
When thou, my righteous Judge, shalt come To take thy ransomed people home,
Shall I among them stand ? Shall such a worthless worm as I, Who sometimes am afraid to die,
Be found at thy right hand ?
Among the saints let me be found, Whene'er the archangel's trump shall sound,
To see thy smiling face ; Then loudest of the throng I'll sing, While heaven's resounding mansions ring
With shouts of sovereign grace.
I close this part of the discussion with the words of Alford : " I cannot consent to distort words from their plain sense and chronological place in the prophecy on account of any consideration of difficulty, or any risk of abuses which the doctrine of the millennium may bring. . . If in a passage where two resurrec- tions are mentioned, where certain ^u/.ai eZ-qaav (souls live) at the first, and the rest of the >e/.f>u\ eZyeav (dead live) only at the end of a specified period after the first, if in such a passage the first resurrection may be understood to mean a spiritual rising with Christ, while the second means literal rising from the grave ; then there is an end of all significance in language, and the Scripture is wiped out as a definite testimony to anything. If the first resurrection is spiritual, then so is the second, which I suppose none will be hardy enough to maintain; but if the second is literal, then so is the first, which in common with the whole prim- itive church and many of the best modern expositors, I do maintain, and receive as an article of faith and hope."
II. "But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? "
To the first question there is but one answer : By the power of God. This is the promise of the Al- mighty. Why should it seem to be a thing incredi-
THE FIRST RESURRECTION 225
ble that God should raise the dead ? Since God created man out of dust in his own image and breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soul, cannot he also raise the body and give it back to the soul which has never died? It is interesting to run the analogy in nature, to see the similitudes all about us — in the 'flower springing up from the seed which has fallen into the earth and died ; in the springtime the calling earth from its winter's tomb. Blessed para- bles of a glorious resurrection. But our hope rests on firmer prophecy, even the sure promise of our blessed Lord : " But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mor- tal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you " (Rom. 8 : ii). "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power " (i Cor. 6 : 14).
It will be an actual resurrection. What was buried shall rise again. What went into the tomb shall come out of the tomb. Personal identity shall be perfectly preserved in the resurrection process. The Bible as- serts the sameness of the resurrection body. The wisest physicist cannot tell just where the principle of the organic life of the body is. The Scriptures do not explain wherein the sameness of the 'resurrec- tion body consists, but tJu^cHsclose 'tdiefact. Paul likens the resurrection to the sowing aiid" sprouting of a grain of wheat. A grain of wheat always re- produces itself whenever it sprouts. There are imi- tations— the tare, but a tare is never wheat. We can- not tell just how a spear of golden grain will look next June, but we do know that it will be the same individual wheat plant. So we do know from the perfectness of the analogy, when we bury the body, that the same individiial man shall rise on the resur- rection morning! HentiTy" shall be absolutely pre- served. Dr. Owen said : " The translation of Enoch
226 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
is divine testimony that the body itself is capable of eternal life."
The Apostle Paul describes the resurrection of the body in these simple and beautiful words : " It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorrup- tion : it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power ; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." We shall be transformed and fashioned like " the body of his glory." We catch a glimpse of this glory in the transfiguration : "And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his rai- ment was white and glistering." Dr. Gordon strik- ingly says : " The charcoal and the diamond are the same substance ; only the one is carbon in its hu- miliation and the other carbon in its glory. So is this tabernacle in which we dwell, in comparison with our house, which is from heaven. The one is mortal flesh shadowed by the curse and doomed to be sown in dishonor ; the other is that flesh made immor- tal and marvel ously transformed."
III. Blessedness of having part in the first resur- rection.
" Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection ; on such the second death hath no power."
i. There is a second death. " And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death " (Rev. 20 : 14). About this death are all the horrors of hell. This is the death we are warned to escape. "The wages of sin is death" — the second death. Awful, terrific thought ! Who would not escape it? Well may we shudder at the appearance of physical death. It is an enemy. It comes with the offer of a cold grave, dust, and ashes. Christ, however, robs it of its sting and shall raise us up unto a blessed immortality. But upon those who \ depart this life without hope, the second death has an eternal hold. Jesus said : " Marvel not at this, for
THE FIRST RESURRECTION 227
the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrec- tion of damnation " (John 5 : 28, 29). To the just it is unto the resurrection life ; to the wicked it is the resurrection unto death. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power." Behold the privilege and the pre-eminence and the glory of the believer's resurrection. Who would not strive to be accounted worthy to attain to this resurrection, for they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.
2. This is the resurrection in which alone there is hope to sweeten life. In this lies our hope of being forever with the Lord ; for only those who rise first together with those who shall be changed shall meet him in the air at his second coming. Having trusted him, having felt the power of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, we are assured that in the glorious clay of his second advent we shall hear his voice and come forth to life. Then we shall see our blessed Lord and be with him forever. Glorious hope ! Washington Irving was walking through Westminster Abbey, the city of the renowned dead. There gloom and silence and darkness and melancholy- reigned. " Suddenly the notes of the deep-laboring organ burst upon the ear, falling with doubled and re- doubled intensity, and rolling, as it were, huge bil- lows of sound. How well do their volume and grandeur accord with this mighty building ! With what pomp do they swell through its vast vaults, and breathe their awful harmony through those caves of death, and make the silent sepulchre vocal ! And now they rise in triumphant acclamation, heaving higher and higher their accordant not.es, and piling sound on sound. And now they pause, and the soft
228 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
voices of the choir break out into sweet gushes of melody ; they soar aloft and warble along the roof, and seem to play about these lofty vaults like the pure air of heaven. Again the pealing organ heaves its thrilling thunders, compressing air into music, and rolling it forth upon the soul. What long-drawn cadences ! What solemn-sweeping concords ! It grows more and more dense and powerful — it fills the vast pile, and seems to jar the very walls — the ear is stunned, the senses are overwhelmed. And now it is winding up in full jubilee — it is rising from earth to heaven — the very soul seems rapt away, and floats upward on this swelling tide of harmony."
Like that, only grander, shall be the scene and sweeter the joy of the first resurrection. The trumpet shall peal forth, the graves shall open. Christ shall softly and sweetly speak to his own and his sheep shall hear his voice and shall awake from their sleep. Then with all the music of the heavenlics they shall be rapt away with their Lord. The trans- figured Bride of Christ meets the Bridegroom. Hear the shout : " Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honor to him ; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." It is the hour of blissful fruition for the waiting Bride. She whose countenance was so often bedewed with tears, whose feet were pierced with thorns, has now the bridal veil upon her face and the nuptial joy in her heart.
The hope of the first resurrection breaks the seal of death which parts us from our loved ones who have fallen asleep in Jesus Christ.
During our memorial seivice held on the 26th of May, 1895, at Rose Hill Cemetery, Macon, Georgia, there was a most pathetic scene, which ought to be immortalized by some master artist. Little girls were strewing the graves of the heroic dead with
THE FIRST RESURRECTION 229
flowers. There stood near one of those graves a man at least fifty years of age. His eyes were riveted upon the tomb. He stood as if transfixed and totally unconscious of all the rest of the world. By-and-by he knelt by its side as if in prayer, while the great tears fell fast upon the green grass with which the grave was overgrown. Why did he weep? That grave held the dust and ashes of father or brother, or substitute. He remembered the days of yore, boy- hood's happy days. Dear son or brother, ^thy dead shall rise again. If he died in the Lord, if you are the Lord's, you shall meet nevermore to part. Blessed assurance, we shall meet our loved ones again. The grave shall give them back to us. Oh, yes, mother, I shall see you and walk the heavenly streets by your side. Yes ; go to the home where the little chair is empty, where the sweet prattling voice of the baby has been hushed in death, and tell the living, thy dead shall rise in the last day. Comfort the broken- hearted and wipe away the tears of sorrow with these words. Walk out into the silent cemetery where the gloom of death has settled, and drive away the dark- ness with the light of this glorious hope.
Unsaved friends, let us talk very faithfully to each other just a minute. Dear boy, your mother lived and died in the triumphs of the Christian faith ; you are far away from her Christ. Unless you come to him you shall never see her again. Mother, look upon that sweet babe in your arms. It is a precious jewel in God's sight. You have never let Jesus come into your heart. Jesus will take your babe in his arms, while you will be cast into outer darkness. Faith in Christ is the link that binds us eternally. Death can never break it. Hell has no power over it. Death may part us for a little while, but only for a short season. " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." "Jesus said unto her [Martha], I am the resurrection and the life ; he
u
230 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" God grant that this blessed truth may turn many to his dear Son and heal the homesickness of many in the thought of death.
WILLIAM LOWNDES Pickard was born in Upson County, Ga., October 19, 1861. He took his degree at Mercer University, 1884. Full graduate of seminary in 1887. Ordained at Macon, Ga., 1883. Pastor at Thomaston, Ga., March to October, [884; at Elk Creek and Fisherville, Ky., while in seminary. Called to FirstChurch, Eufaula, Ala., September 1, 1887. After two years there, called to First Church, Birmingham, Ala. After nearly four years there, called to Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky.. his present pastorate. June, 1889, received decree of d n. from the University of Alabama. In 1886 he was married to Mi-- Florence May Willingham, of Albany, (.a., who is truly a pastor's helper.
D. I • I '
%,:^7.h-:; .4. 7*1
-
XXI
Tin. EFFECTUAL CROSS1
BY W. I.. PICKARD, D. D.
"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in Is, lest the croii of Christ should be made void.'' i Cor.
I :l7.
MANY places that were once filled with ma- laria have been transformed into beauty; but t ie transformati mendous sacrifices.
The greatest change in all history is that which has taken place in the estimate of the cross. What could Paul have meant when he spoke of the cross as nething to be guarded with conscientious scruple lest it should b void? Paul was once accu
of b side himself because of much learning ; is
lie beside himself wh< n he speaks to the Corinthians
of the effectti s] aks of preaching, and
of preaching t: 1 as
the central then An I he calls it the
irist H that preaching must
in son: - he made void.
He implies the hing so a- to render
this cro " the cro.-s as some- thing th a can be used for the greatest of ^ood to the
world, or a t'aat ean be made ineffectual. Our theme is, th
Tin- EFFECTUAL CROSS.
Let us look more i — the thing
.. D. C, duriug the Jubilee Session of the Southern I
231
?32 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPtT
Paul wished to guard with such jealous care. It was an instrument of torture and of death. There were several kinds of crosses. On these were executed thieves, outlaws, highwaymen, conspirators, mur- derers. Crucifixion was punishment in comparison with which the head-block, the French guillotine, the gallows, and electrocution are as downy pillows ; for death by all these last is instantaneous, almost painless. In case of the upright cross, the victim had a wo-'den or iron nail driven through his chest into the post, and was left to the lingering suffei In case i>i the simple cross — the kind on which
our I/.rd was crucified — the hands of the victim were sometimes tied to the transverse piece and the weight of the body 1 . nerve until endur-
ance was at an end — a death of hours, sometimes days. Again, sometimes the hands were nailed and the feet left unnailcd that the full weight of the body might be left on the pierced hands. Again, the hands and feet were nailed. In addition to these things, in the c. were
broken ; in the case i
Death by th< is been universally regarded as
the most terrible suffering to which a human being
could be subjected in the flesh.
The shame of the cross was deep and lasting. The
bodies of the crucified were often left on it to decay, or thrown in the kk potter's field " to clogs and vul- tures. The families of such were under the social Stigma practically outlawed. In the light of these historical facts much is meant when it is said of our Lord : He "endured the cross, despising the shame.1' The burial of our Lord's body was an exception to the rule of the crucified. Blessed Joseph ! Bl< ; lemus ! Nicodemus, we forgive thy timidity at the beginning of Christ's ministry since thou wast a hero at his death.
It was this instrument of torture that the apostle
THE EFFECTUAL CROSS 233
desired to guard. Elsewhere he speaks of " glorying in the cross/' By some inc. ins a great change has taken place. This transformation was due to one Jesns who had been crucified. He who knew no sin had suffered there as if he had been the deepest stained of all the sinful. He was greater than all law. He had sufficient virtue in him to outweigh all sin. When he endured the cross he did that for humanity which would through all coining ages uplift it. Since Christ was crucified, the cross has
bme t!ie symbol of the j God, through
\[ Christ, for lifting men from under the law of sin and
ah.
G L's perfect Christ's blood is omnipo-
tent But God 1. :o make his almighty
plai ans. The divinest ends of
I ! • 1 are reached h means. A.nd he has con-
nected the gospel of Christ with our sal. from
sin. And lie b I the preaching of the •
pel as one of the great means to the salvation of Hence, all who are, in any sense, teai
ristianity should be careful in their teaching, lest til 1 ross of CI uld be made void.
First The cross which symbolizes the wisdom and
..vr of God, and the atonement made by Christ,
,-.■ Ik- made in 1 by rhetoric— m of
words. Paul that he did not goto the Corin-
thians to preach "in wi aid
ching would make the cross void. and Christ know the power of words. Words embody thought, and thought re] the heart.
Hen >be condemned or jus-
tified, been written, by the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in words. But words are to be used to reveal the cross and not to hide it. The Corinthians thought themselves very literary. They had been inclined to discount the teachings of Paul because he had not used fine rhetoric like some
234 T-HE SOUTHERN BAPTIST TULriT
of the Grecian orators. They were thinking about how
he said things, rather than about the tilings said. They desired to hear words that sounded wise, measured by a profane standard. Paul avoided any such display. He was afraid to present a rhetorical bouquet lest the people would look at the flowers and not at the cross. We have all heard discourses that were complete in analysis, dressed in silvery words, yes, finished to death. When they were ended, we felt no nearer to God, had not been stirred to deeper convictions of duty ; they were flowers to be admired. A mirror is not to show itself, but to show other objects. Words are not to cover the cross, but to exhibit it. What the Corinthians needed was the water of life rather than golden dippers. Paul meant to use words that were like fish-hooks, words that would stick in the hearts of men and make lasting impressions. The Book says the time will come when people will have itching ears — they will wish the beautiful rather than the useful. Who doubts that Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, could have written a whole treatise on rhetoric and have used phrases that would have made the fastidious in Corinth ap- plaud him. Put he was showing the cross, and it - no drapery.
2. The cross may be made void by efforts to dis- play worldly wisdom.
Science has brought many blessings to man. It is usually defined as ll that which is known ; that which has been demonstrated to be fact." The definition ought to be enlarged a little. It ought to be, that which is demonstrated to be fact, and shall al- ways stand demonstrated to be fact. This, because some men who were not eminently scientific and who were not eminent biblical scholars have often an- nounced irreconcilable differences between science and the Bible; but investigation through twenty-five years mure has shown that the supposed conflict was
THE EFFECTUAL CROSS 235
not a conflict between science and the Bible. In the world we observe law — law must have a law-maker ; we see force — force must have an author and director ; we see order — order must have an orderer ; we see de- sign— design must have a designer. The Bible was not intended to be a scientific book, except to give God's science of the salvation of men. It deals with the human race as lost in sin, and with Christ as man's Saviour from sin. Science tells that God is, that he exists; but it takes the Bible to tell what God is, and what our relations to him are and may be. The rocks tell us that God exists ; but this knowledge leaves a veil between us and God. Revelation and the Christ of revelation rend the veil and show us God as the Father.
There is another way in which the cross may be ren- dered void by science, even ill the hands of those who love it. Onr context says: "For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching (by the preaching of a gospel that the worldly philosophy would call foolishness) to save them that believe." ily wisdom does not show the cross to dying I do not doubt that Christ could have written a scientific book. In one discourse he could have told all the future triumphs of science. On the day when he stood on Olivet and wept over Jerusalem, he saw all that we know to-day, for he is u the same
', to-day, and forever," but he did not write sci- ence, for if he had done that he would have been neglecting his u Father's business," and the needs of humanity. If the wisdom of the world could have souls from sin, there would have been no need of the cross. God neither wastes force nor time. Christ was not crucified for pastime.
The cross needs no defense, no apology. It is
God's criticism of sin, and his apology of love. The
was God's great battle-ground, through Christ,
2$6 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
with sin. On it was sin's Conqueror. Behind it now stands the One who exclaimed: UA11 authority in heaven and earth is given to me." Can man by searching (unaided by revelation) find out God to per- fection? The answer of the ages is, No. But the cross reveals God in his perfection, in his perfection as hating sin ; in his perfect justice ; in his perfect love. God, by the cross, has brought human wis- dom to naught, that no flesh should glory in his pres- ence.
3. The cross may be rendered void by forms and ceremonies. Paul said to the Corinthians : "I came not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." He did not belittle baptism. But he was hedging against the religion of mere form. He was emphasizing that which was first, viz., the gospel applied to the heart and conscience. The Jews desired signs and sea- sons. And signs and seasons go together as a rule. Set days, feasts, and fasts require forms, signs, and rituals. It is the tendency of human nature to exalt the sign above the thing signified. Many who have adopted the literal cross as an emblem of the suffer- ing Christ, are ignorant of the Christ. Many who have adopted days of feasts and fasts, neglect Christ the balance of the time. Many through the centuries have seemed to think that they came especially to baptize, hence baptismal regeneration. God is a spirit and will have of his spiritual beings spiritual worship When we begin to have seasons and signs the seen is substituted for the unseen, the visible for the invisible, and the bleeding Christ is veiled, the cross is rendered ineffectual. This tendency is dan- gerous. The eye must be more and more satisfied. The spiritual is subordinated, hence candles, crosses, saints' pictures, popes, priests, human dignitaries, human systems, signs, only signs. When Christ said on the cross, "It is finished," he meant the measure of his words. He meant that the atonement was
THE EFFECTUAL CROSS 237
complete, and that nothing could add to the cross. When we try to add to the cross, we do cover it and belittle its power and grandeur.
4. The cross may be rendered ineffectual by a con- ception of it that is lower than God's.
Some use great "wisdom of words" in painting the cross as the exhibition of a beautiful moral senti- ment. They paint Christ as the highest type of human devotion and unselfishness. This is only a half truth which vitiates the whole. It is one of those half truths which becomes more hurtful than a whole falsehood, for it deceives the worshiper and covers up the Christ who is to be worshiped.
Christ, as he walked among men and worked for humanity is an example for us ; but Christ on the cross was not an example. An example is something to follow. Christ's death was not an example. It was not to be followed. It cannot be. It was an atonement. And none but Christ could make an atonement. Search earth, search heaven, search hell, none but Christ could meet Calvary and give the blood that had cleansing power in it.
Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain, Could give the guilty conscience peace,
Or wash away the stain.
But Christ, the heavenly Lamb,
Takes all our sins away, — A sacrifice of nobler name,
And richer blood than they.
Second. How the cross may be made effectual.
1. By realizing what God means by the cross. God means one great fact to be burned into our minds and hearts by the cross. His own great thought of the cross is that the crucified Christ is the sinner's atonement. Atonement means "at-one-
238 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
meiit. M But mere definition in this case is inade- quate to convey the meaning. When an atonement is needed there is enmity. Then there was enmity between the human race and God ; and, as far as man was concerned, the difference between God and man superlative 11 ;andev< ; induration.
I.- t 09 look at God and man in tl.
( rod man in his own ima I I and
man are happy together. They delight in each
other's company. T nd talk together in
companionship. They are both holy. The
irily con- ditioned in's ho) • moment
mes unholy, ad man bee repel-
lent to the other. T than light and Man
I sin. Man did sin. And sin made man a d ent b< ing as to hi I man
i By sin, m . his mind, his affections,
his will, his blood, his
Mm were
sinful, hi ful thin;
ful deeds, and with sin ritual life
and : .vhich, I he had with
With . and
death. When all of this I there was complete
I rod and man. I Ighted in
the world ol holiness and m LUty ; man in the
world of untruthfulness, immorality, and deformity.
A great gulf was fixed between the two worlds,
and no human bridge could span it. It was not a
gulf arbitrarily fixed by the wish 1 but one
that sin had fixed, a gulf that must I
and the
man an enemy to God. But man could
his nature back into holin< SS. Some
higher power must change man from a sinful I
THE BFFBCTUAI, CROSS 239
to a holy being. Could Adam and Eve have lived a
million years in the flesh, and made a billion efforts
to change their nature, all would have been in vain.
They could no more haw changed their nature than
could the li me an oak, or the serpent a lordly
An 1 what is emphatically true, they did not
And what is emphatically true again, their
has not ch Sin brought nun
and death to Adam and Kve, and the trail of the
it has been il till now. Could they have
lived upright beings after sinning, still they stood as
trait I their traitorous nature would hive b
ismitted to their children. For when tin child w 1 after they had sinned, he was in
in's im p 1 not in < io<; far as the
hum in 1, then and now, it could
and cann • < . <] comes to
tin omed, and <>f itself it
is >t;.ll he '. : omed. e an atone-
ment ? Can I? Guilt;
Furthermore. As a mei I of making sinful man holy, as a matt in, simply
I himself could lis. Tiie guilt
l's nattn \\\ The thought 1 upro-
mise b sin and ( *od is an i ual imp
bility. Y( f such a thing without
detl will
he sin would b
wink at it, [th it. But
( I I in by which he can
who ha I, and all who have sinned,
it is only by blotting tl out in blood. The
•nay be a place to its If where unforgiven sin may hold its willing subj<
arated from those whose sins have been
God's justice and nature require that no
sinful being can become his companion, that the
240 TIIK SOUTHERN I5APTIST PULPIT
being's sin must be blotted out, and the man must become a new creature in Christ Jesus.
It was not a piece of momentary arbitration that connected the cross witli man's salvation from sin. The mind of God comprehends the universe on this question. If blazing stars and burning suns could have bridged thi in, the 1 I vaults and
sunlit domes of countlc Is would have been
consecrated to the work. If fallen angels could have been used for this work, they would hive been conse- crated to it. If sin!. els could have done this work, they filling th< of heaven would have been consecrated to it. If God the Father, in his plans, could have done this without the cross, there would have been no Calvary. In the plans of the triune God, none but Christ could do this mightiest of works. And lie could not accomplish it while on tlie throne witli th'. Nor yet could he <]-> thi being in Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Gethsemane. To grasp the o^ his work
and I im : "It is tin: be must, as the
Lamb of ( rod, appoil nidation
of the world, be lifted up. To Calvary he must go. This was not, and is not primarily, a matter of
love. God h>\\s us with matchless passion, and so
loved us as to send his Sun to us, but he would not have sent his Son if it had not been necessary. It was a question, and is a question, of justice in paying the sinner's debts. The sinner was in debt to God and righteousness, and had naught with which to pay. If Christ pays not this debt, we must be forever ban- ished from the presence of God. He who pays the
must be able to satisfy justice, all its righteous demands. Some one whose holy nature was infinite must sutler under this broken law as man's substitute, and for man, and in man's stead suffer the penalty of the law. Hence Christ took on him the seed of
lham. He who knew no sin was made sin for
THE EFFECTUAL CROSS 241
us. When this was done justice was met. God had the fountain of blood with which to wash away sin. He could be approached by man, and man could lovingly conic to him and pillow his head on the divine bosom. When we place the cross in this position, we place it where Paul placed it, as the way, only way, the all-sufficient way, of a sinner's sal- vation.
This exhibits the cross as God's criticism on sin. There never was a little sin. The smallest sin will damn the greatest soul, unless that sin shall be blotted out If from the fall of man until this hour ' , I had never come to man's rescue, leaving sin to run it> awful conrse, what would be the condition of
the world? If God had not raised up an Enoch, a
ih, an Abraham, an Isaac; if he had not raised up M ises and given him the law; if there had been no judges, no prophets, and no Christ, no words nor works of divine intervention for man, how would human history now read ? We shudder at the thought Honesty, uprightness, honor, purity, law, marriage, civilization, U been projected into the
by th of God. If sin has so blackened
the worl ruined so many sou' ite the work
of God and Chi what would have been the picture if God had forever withdrawn from the human race? By the sin i> tie- most terrible enemy
to God and man tliat there is in the universe Hence, the flowing blood is the philippic of God's wrath Linst all sin. Whit shall we say then ? "Shall we continue in sin that <;race may abound?'1 Let us exclaim with Paul : "God forbid."
ss may be effectual, not only by present- ing it as the atonement for sin and God's criticism on sin, but as God's consuming passion for the salva- tion of the lost. The atonement shows God's love of justice, shows justice; the spirit of the atonement ex- hibited the love of God and Christ for man. M For
v
242 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
God so loved the world that he gave his only begot- ten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. " Again, " Christ loved us and gave himself for us." The spirit of atonement was one of such matchless love that it willingly gave the only begotten Son of God to be man's substitute. God and Christ did this of their own loving accord.
Let us try to measure this love by what Christ en- dured for us. The Jewish Sanhedrin, in a mock trial, condemned him to the cross on the false charge of blasphemy. The popular cry of the Jews was that Christ was an enemy to Caesar. This was false. The scarlet robe that was in mockery placed on Jesus and the crowning of him with thorns was not a part of the law of crucifixion. The buffeting and other insults to which he was subjected was not a part of the law of crucifixion. He could have thwarted all of this, but he endured. He was willing to bear all that sin could place on him, that he might conquer sin, all because he loved us.
The legal steps in punishment by crucifixion were : Stripping the victim, scourging him with a scourge into which nails and pieces of steel were often put ; hence, the victim suffered agony even before reaching the cross. The victim had to bear his own cross to the place of execution. It is likely that Christ's scourging rendered him unable to bear the cross to the place of crucifixion, hence, Simon the Cyrenian helped him to bear it. The victim was tied or nailed to the cross. Our Lord was nailed to it. To the one being crucified was usually given a medicated drink to drown the senses. Jesus refused this that his senses might be clear to the end. He was " drink- ing sorrow's cup." He was insulted by being offered vinegar and hyssop. All of this he endured without one murmur. This all exhibited God's love for us. See now the suffering. The distended position of
THE EFFECTUAL CROSS 243
the body on the cross put the nerves to their greatest tension, causing indescribable pain. The hands and feet are especially nerve-centers, and the nails through these caused excruciating pain. Because of the dis- tended position of the body, more blood flowed through the arteries than could flow back through the veins, hence an overflow of blood to the head, causing suffering beyond the power of language to describe. All of this caused burning thirst. Added to all this, in our Lord's case, there was a moment when the Father forsook him. All this Christ en- dured. What a criticism on sin ! what a commentary on love ! Did he ask the Father why he had forsaken him? It was justice driving the last nail. This must be before life, death, and hell could realize the meaning of the expression : " It is finished." Do you wonder that the sun veiled his face from twelve to three o'clock? He was being crucified who made the sun and kept it rolling in its orbit. No wonder it drew aside to mourn. Do you wonder that the veil of the temple was rent ? The last great sacrifice in the plan of redemption was being offered. The veil of the "Holy of Holies" would no more be needed. No wonder the rocks were rent, for the rock of ages was being cleft, and from it was flowing a stream for the washing of the nations. No wonder the graves gave up their dead, for he was dying who was to conquer death. No wonder the earth quaked, for the time is coming when he who was enduring then shall speak, and the quaking earth and seas and hell shall give up their dead and to his presence they shall come ! Consuming passion, did I say ? Yes, con- suming love for the lost ! Oh, passion of God's pas- sions, the love that Christ exhibited on Calvary ! The cross, the cross, let it ever stand clearly before a needy world as the symbol of God's power to save.
3. The cross may be made effectual by our crown- ing it with glory.
244 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
Paul gloried in the cross, preached it, and suffered for it. The blood-stained cross stands in the center of human history and human progress. To it, all history converges. From it, all real progress pro- ceeds. It has freed the hearts of men from sin. It has broken the shackles of the consciences of men ; it has introduced to the world the true conception of the dignity of man ; it has changed those who were in prison cells of sin so that they dwell in palaces of joy and hope. It has given men that truth that has made them free indeed. It has changed tyrants and autocrats into men of fraternal spirits. It has changed savage nations into the highest types of Christian civilization. It has exalted the sense of honor, justice, and righteousness in the minds and hearts of men everywhere. It stands behind earth's greatest discoveries. It is the key given of God to man to unlock the vaults of the great hidden treas- ures in all spheres. It is exalting love and reason above hatred and the sword. It is making the world a brotherhood. It is blessing and protecting even the infidel and scoffer. It is making glorious conquests everywhere. It has multiplied the Twelve who loved one another into countless millions who love each other. It has changed the love-chamber in the upper room in Jerusalem, to a palace as wide as the world, frescoed with love as pure as the crimson blood that flowed on Calvary. It has made labor sweeter. It has not taken all the thorns from the earth, but it has made the flowers more numerous and more fragrant. It touches the whole creation and the whole creation does not " groan and travail " in such pain as it did before the cross and the Christ met. The world is crowning the cross with glory. All science, all progress, all knowledge, all govern- ments, are placing flowers at its base and glory on its head, and Christians in larger numbers and in sweeter anthems are singing its glory day by day.
THE EFFECTUAL CROSS 245
But this is not all. Paul viewed the cross in greater glory and splendor than we have yet men- tioned. All truth that touches moral beings centers in Christ. That for which he died on Calvary must be acknowledged supreme in the universe. The day of reckoning is coming, and when that day comes, the great day of Calvary's triumph will have come. The angels who never sinned will then see the cross as Christ saw it. All of the redeemed will under- stand the necessity of the cross as never before. And all of the damned will acknowledge then the love and justice of Jehovah, and their wrath will give him praise. The intelligent universe will have but one opinion of the cross and the L,amb. The king- doms of the universe will then be redeemed back to God and the universe shall sing :
All hail the power of Jesus' name.
Brethren, every being in the universe shall confess that Christ's blood was not shed in vain. But oh ! what is your relation and mine to the cross ? Have we been washed in the blood ? Is the bleeding sacrifice our personal Saviour ? Is he reigning in our hearts? Is the sweet song of redemption our song? Will the final hallelujah for the cross be our biissful shout? Shall we be with him in his final triumph ? When spiritual death is cast into hell, and when all tears are wiped from the eyes of the redeemed, shall you and I be among the tearless ones ? God grant it.
Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power, Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved to sin no more.
XXII
"Except 1 -in. I die, it abided] i
but if it die, it bringeth forth mu J4.
JBSUS came inl tup a kingdom. In
the sy nop! Is the si matter of all his
pre iching : annourj
its approach. He cU scribes the chai I its sub-
He predicts it- progress and enlargement
final consummation.
But in the earl: v there is a
strange i >ut the
his kingdom. l< 1 am d beep
of the nous I rael.*1 Yel a, there
comes up from the great deep of his mind and i
like an :n tin- depths of the , a phra
kingdom wh shall shelter the
men from the : the whole
earth, or which shows u ized out into
the distant future lie beh streams of humanity
into his kingdom from the north, and south,
and east, and w< down with Ah:
and 1 The
ci* Jesus was never out of touch with th< dTer-
ing heart of the world And now as he stauds to face with th< d and straitened in
spirit, how it must have thrilled and satisfied him to
. i
durin- ibe JuL,
,
(
Y Mi i 1 is-
E. V. MULLINS, son of Eld. S. G. Mullins and Mrs. C. B. Mullins, was born in Copiah Co., Miss., January 5, [860. His paternal grandfather was a minister. Mr. Mullins was converted
in Dallas, Tex., at a great revival held by Ma). \V. E. l'cnn in
October, 1880. Was educated at the A. and M. College, <>t"
Texas, and after conversion took the full course at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was pastor in Harrodsburg, K\., 1SS5 t<> [888, and of Lee Street Church, Baltimore, from [888 to [895. He has, at this writing, just been elected asso- ciate corresponding secretary of the Foreign Mission Board <<i the Southern Baptist Convention. Both he and his wife have for several years exerted a wide influence for the cause of mis- sions.
A KINGDOM BUILT ON A CROSS 247
hear the announcement that Gentiles desired to see him. The coming of the Greeks at the time was a providential coming, and the mission was the same as that of the angel in the garden which came to strengthen him. It was as if the Father pressed a draught of strengthening cordial to his lips before the trial ; as if the first-fruits of the cross were be- stowed to prepare him fur its agony. The text con- stitutes the deepest answer to the inquiring Greeks. Observe that it amounts to a confession on the part of Jesus that his holy and spotless life, taken as a means of drawing men and consolidating a kingdom, was a failure. The grain of wheat abideth alone except it die. His approach to the Jewish nation had turned out a failure ; they were about to crucify him. His attempt to attach a little circle of fishermen to him had turned out a failure; they were about to flee like frightened sheep at the bark of a wolf. Per- haps the bond that bound them to him may be digni- fied by the name of love ; but it was a feeble thing compared with the love which followed the cross. It then became martyr-love, and compared with it the former love was as " moonlight unto sunlight and as water unto wine.M So the coming of much fruit could not antedate the cross. There was in this no disap- pointment, and nothing unexpected to Jesus. The was his goal when he forsook his throne for this earth. He knew the loneliness of his high and holy purpose, a loneliness which bereft him ol human sym- pathy and companionship and love which his heart craved. Now in his death the loneliness is to be intensified. Are not the words of the poetess true? —
Yea, once Immanuel's orphaned cry this universe hath shaken : It went up single, echoless, My Cod, I am forsaken.
But blessed be God
It went up from the Holy's lips amid his lost creation,
That of the lost no son should use those words of desolation.
24S Tin-: SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
I. T/ir saving significance of the cross. Standing in a grain field you observe the tender shoot appear above the soil. Below the visible manifestation there is at work a mystic and wonderful power, a power capable of projecting straight into the air by slow
i graceful and majestic stalk ; a power 1 ble of crowning the top of the stalk with a rich fruit- rain, aud that gi weet and nutritious as to be the bread of the human rare, the u f.x-d. And what Is th head of wheat? Death in the dark earth below. S0J1 me to
t a kingdom above the surface of the sin-cu and sorrow-stricken and God-hue rid, that
should shelter it, and lei d it, and Satisfy it, and redeem
I of that was death. The surging tides of life were in him, but they aly as
lie gave himself up in volunti ler. But
in pointing to the pr< quired by the
wheat grain, Jesi identical
ts with the process of increase required
in his life. It is 1. ntinua: iture
rd into the realm 1 that is heir pointed
out Th. rain of wheat must fall into the earth
and be dissolved by death before it will r of the life potencies which slumber in its bosom ; and so the life of Jesus must ' e the
waving -rain fields of the spiritual lnr\ glad-
den tlie eyes of the angels and Yet in the
one ea.^e death is a physical 11 i in the
other a moral and spiritual one. The necessity was this : As Jesus looked down from heaven upon earth he beheld a doomed race, doomed because of trans sion and because the righteous Father had en pain and suffering and death as the penalty of trans- ion. And so, unlike tlie unconscious and pas- sive grain of wheat which falls into the earth and dies, Jesus chose to he horn and chose to die, inviting the full force and penalty into his own bosom ; and
A KINGDOM BUILT OX A CROSS 249
bowing liis head beneath the black flood of death, he abode there until it spent its force, and then choosing to rise from the chad, he came forth the Lord of life. And shall the world stumble at this law of sacrifice iblimely exemplified in the offering of the Son of God? [f the la-.. institution be recognized
elsewhere should it be repudiated here? If the world applaud the d mother who quenches the
flame of her own life at the bedside of her sick child ; if the world enshriiK : Damon and Pythias
ation of human friend-
: if it 1. ne generation suffers
the next m 3 experience j if the
mighty fi the soil enriched by
the r • inner age ; if one order of the l<
animals is in the I nature made a
other; if all unman ie result of sacri-
iree institutions w ight with the
blood the Revolution; if the peace
of fellowship which cements the two sections of our
land to-day b nized as the pur : the men
who ■ meteries North and
South — I a^k if the law of sacrifice be so universally admitted, shall it be that Calvary is the only -pot i;i
all God's universe where it shall luded? ( ■
id.
But the saving elates in
part to I t on S ist cam* I out
Marvelous is the method
employed to accomplish it. II :t not with
thunderbolts of wrath, not with fiery chariots and an army of ang< lie e< Satan by sur-
wex. u Come," says Jesus to the archenemy, "bind these hands and these feet with your Strongest chain, transfix me with your most deadly arr*>w, death ; close these eyes, blanch these
-till this throb: .it, entomb me in
and seal it and guard it welLn And the sepulchre
250 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
smacks its satisfied lips over the cold clay of the dead Christ. Laugh demons ! Exult Satan ! Weep an- gels ! Gather in little groups, ye broken-hearted dis- ciples, and pour out your grief to one another. But hark ! That was the rumbling of an earthquake. Look ! That flash ot light before the dawn is an an- gel dropping through space to the door of the tomb, and behold, within the sepulchre the blush of life mantles the face of the sleeper; he sits up and calmly disrobes himself of the grave-clothes and steps forth the victor over death forevermore. Satan has no other weapon of attack. Hl has done his worst and failed. He is conquered. The pent-up tides of life which have been surging in the bosom of Jesus have at last broken through their bounds, and the wilder- ness and the solitary place can rejoice and the desert can blossom as the rose, and all the choirs of creation can catch up the song of redemption and pour forth their floods of praise to God who loveth and redeem- eth the world. The wrath of God was now spent, and henceforth there is a way of escape for man. And like the lonely traveler on the Western prairie, who, when he descries in the distance the lurid black line of a great prairie fire rapidly approaching him, takes a match and burns away a spot and in this spot takes his stand until the raging sea of fire has Swept past him, leaving him standing unscathed in the spot where the devouring element has already accomplished its work — so poor lost humanity can take its stand in the one spot where the wrath of God has spent its force, at the cross of Chris', and gaze with unblanched face upon the fiery waves of judg- ment that shall roll over the earth at the appointed hour.
II. TJic law of the cross tlic law of discipieship. What was the change which Jesus proposed to himself in turning ordinary men into disciples? The requirements of a genuine disciple are tremen-
A KINGDOM BUILT ON A CROSS 251
dous. The general characteristics of the disciple are clearly revealed throughout the New Testament. He must be one who lives in two worlds at the same time. While his life is spent on earth his affections must be in heaven. In the midst of the seen lie must keep a firm grip upon the unseen. With ten thousand enemies within and ten thousand other enemies around him, he must walk a victor through the world. In the midst of hate and persecution he must love. The body of disciples must become an organization or a kingdom diverse from all other kingdoms and yet must flourish side by side with them all ; it must have such coherency and endurance that its dissolution shall be beyond the reach of any earthly power of any age ; with a wide gulf of sepa- ration rolling between its members and other men, they must yet be able and willing to reach across the gulf and save their haters and persecutors. How shall such a disciple be produced, such a kingdom be built up? Certainly not by the unaided power of moral truth. Philosophers had announced truth enough to establish even a kingdom of love before Jesus. Bach had succeeded in gathering around him a little handful of adherents. But whenever the leader died the movement died. Not so with Jesus ; when he died his movement began. And it was in this Jesus differed from all other teachers. He ap- plied the law of the cross to the heart of the dis- ci pic. Regeneration, increase, life, power through death. Discipleship means crucifixion. Consecration means a cross, a sepulchre, a resurrection. " He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." It is re- lated that when the Roman Colosseum was being dis- mantled by the inhabitants of the city no way could be found to check the work of destruction until one of the popes, fearing lest the splendid structure should be utterly demolished, hit upon the expedient of
252 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
erecting a cross in the center of the massive pile, thus rendering it a sacred edifice. The effect was magical in arresting the ruthless hand of destruc- tion. So the cross in the center of man's being alone can save him. To attempt to build up Christian character by preaching that leaves out the cross as the basis of it is to adopt the very process that Christ pronounced a failure, the process he came to displace. Thus by applying the law of the cross to his disciples Jesus produced the most beautiful, most noble, most magnificent type of character this world ever beheld. Socrates, the noble old Greek philosopher, chose death rather than to surrender truth. But he died for something of his own, a system of teaching which was the offspring of his own brain. The Christian on the other hand, is crucified unto another, is a mar- tyr, if necessary, for the sake of another. He is cru- cified unto Christ when he makes over himself, the priceless core and center of his being, unto Christ, and for Christ's sake he makes himself over to a per- ishing race. This new bond established by the law of the cross easily snaps all others, easily takes the supreme place. It breaks the love of money for its own sake and brings all and lays it at the feet of Je- sus ; it is stronger than brother-love, or sister-love, or father-love or mother-love, yea than all of them combined. It is mightier than the love of home and of country, and even of life itself, and than the fear of death. To prove these statements I have but to remind you that it produced a Paul, a Luther, a Carey, a Judson, and ten thousand others whose names glow on the pages of sacred history and who themselves blaze like seraphs around the throne to- night.
III. The law of the cross the condition of the world's evangelization. The weakness of modern Christianity is its defective views as to the cost of spiritual power. To effect spiritual results in the
A KINGDOM BUILT ON A CROSS 253
hearts of men and women, spiritual agencies alone can avail. The cress is the measure of the cost of life for the world. The law of the cross in the lives of the followers of the Crucified is the only means of making that cross effective. Crucifixion is the cost of all spiritual power ; consecration is only another name for death. Any cheaper process of attaining the result is doomed to failure. Every genuine spiritual result in heathen lands or our own land is the only and true measure of the forth putting of spiritual energy before. Given an exact measure of the spiritual power in the life of any man, and it requires no inspiration to predict the exact result. A great deal is said about the obstacles to the spread of the gospel. T4ie founder of Christianity counted and measured all the obstacles before he came to sup- ply a means of surmounting them. The gospel pre- supposes obstacles, and where this deepest law of spiritual power finds play in the people of Christ there are no obstacles. Impediments to the gospel are such only when Christ's people attempt to match them with the wrong thing. Let the law of the cross be wanting and there will always be obstacles. Straws mark the direction of the current. Some one appealed through the paper the other day to the wealthiest Chri>tian man to give all his money and that would convert the world. Much as the cause needs money, much as we should strive to increase our gifts all along the line, it is my deliberate con- viction from my text, that if all the millionaires in America should put their aggregate wealth at the dis- position of our Boards, the world would not neces- sarily be any nearer conversion than it is. If indeed such an outpouring of wealth were the index of a growth in spiritual power, then there would be hope. Brethren, if God is in human history at all, the center of his providence is the cross. If God spares the sin-stained and atheistic world, it is solely that
w
254 THT^ SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
the cross may make its way over it. If God permits you to live and to accumulate wealth, it is that you and it may be assimilated with the Christ of Calvary in the world's evangelization. It were better never to have been born than to abuse this obligation and this supreme privilege. If the great material advances of the world and the discoveries which have marked the past century have any significance at all, they relate to the work of the ci earth. Yes,
I believe it is the "crisis of missions. " Because God has shut his people up to circumstances which leave them only one plea in case of failure. In times past Christian- could explain the failure to send the gos- pel over the earth on the -round of persecution, poverty, or of want of an educated ministry, or the hostility of the nations to missionaries, or of their own obscurity and feebl( or lack of
means of transportation. But to-day there is only one explanation available, viz. : l< We do not want to
give the world the gospel ; we do not love the Christ enough to care whether the world is saved or I The world looks on as the churches confront their
task, devils look on, angels look on, God looks on, Christ looks on. The question of n is to-day
the test question of Christianity. The world is going to view Christianity as a success or a failure accord- ing as the churches solve the problem of missions. Infidelity, in whatever form it makes the attack, can- not damage the Bible or the cause of religion as it will be damaged by failure in the mission work. Heresy here is the most fatal of all heresies. God make us true and loyal in this supreme test of our
D I. Pun ef wras born in Copiah County, Miss. When ly sixteen yea nfederate army,
and throughout the civil war wras a gallant soldier. He be gan to preach when about twenty-four years old, and has served as pastor at Port Gibson and Crystal Springs, Miss., Bir- mingham, Ala., and is now pastor in New Orleans, La. Dr. Purser has made a tine record. Churches under his care have, withou >n, grown in numbers and influence, and he has
often sent out new churches. As State evangelist, at different
times, tor Mississippi and Alabama, he has been I with-
out beii tional. Believing strongly in the Bible, he studies
fully and preaches it faithfully. In self control, unselfish- ommon sense, ami energy of thought ami action, may be found the d popularity .
[>. I I'. KM K. II I'
.
XXIII
UoXOR For SERVICE1 BY D. I. PURSIR, D. D.
" If an.v ' : ■:•-. Wm will my Father honour." John 12 : rf>.
*T*HIS is an age of honor seeking. We urge our 1 children to stnve for the honors in school • we
JS« th theni when they obtain these honors
Weare glad when we or our countrymen are honored ■ and from our hearts we say, God speed the day when ail our men may be worthy of honor, whether they are awarded the meed of praise by being entrusted with responsibilities or not It is in nowise wrone tose?k honor, if only it be sought in an honorable way in 'well-doing.'' The A] Paul urges us to
r;>\k ','r glory and honour and immortality, eternal
I'- • *• 7>- Avowing then, the wisdom o
Christian, seeking honor, we ask: How shall he
un it? oUI- text gives us a simple, concise an-
iuvr' nuJS7 I1Kin s*™ we, Wm will my Father
|or. This u-xt naturally divides itself into two
I. The service required or rendered.
II. The honor conferred or received
There is one question which confronts us at almost
tep in life, certainly at every important turn-
?*■ Vlz" : »t pay?" Ifanv business
made to us, any proposition relating to
social or domestic life, the first question that thrusts
itseli upon us is, "Will it pay?" In this intensely
:'! the Foundry Methodist Church, Washington, D. C, dur-
mg the Jubilee Seaaoa ot the Southern Baptist Convention.
255
256 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
practical age, when men and women are seeking the prosaic, business side of every pursuit in life, it is natural for us to consider, for ourselves and for those we love, this question concerning the proposition of the text. We may settle it here, just as we do in other matters, viz., by estimating, as far as possible, the outlay and the income. If a man invests five thousand dollars and receives ten thousand dollars, he knows he has made a good investment. It pays and the man is pleased. But if he receives only four, or three, or two thousand dollars in return for an in- vestment of five thousand dollars, he knows he has made a bad investment. It does not pay, and the man is disappointed. When we seek to know whether it pays to be a Christian, we inquire, Does the honor promised compensate for the service ren- dered ?
I. Let us examine and see what are the leading characteristics of this service.
(a) It is sincere, honest, heartfelt. We may de- ceive others and even ourselves, but we cannot de- ceive God, wlmse eye peers down into the deepest re- cesses of our souls. (/;) The service is to be rendered to Christ, " If any man serve me." Many men serve themselves, or their local churches, or their denomi- nations, and serve them alone ; whereas, the local church, the denomination, and every other enterprise, should be served only so far as we can glorify God and serve Christ thereby. It is possible, yea, even probable, that many who claim and even seem to serve Christ are never honored here or hereafter, be- cause they are only serving self. The motive which actuates us must be a desire to glorify God. Selfish- ness, therefore, must be eliminated from our hearts, and self-interest from our plans and calculations in order that we may render acceptable service to Christ. This service must not only be the result of proper motives, but must be (c) exact, according to the letter
HONOR FOR SERVICE 257
of the law as far as we can understand its teachings. We are not to be our own judges of what we are to do, but must from our hearts say, uIvord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Willing, faithful, obedient service is the only scriptural evidence of our conver- sion, of our faith in Christ, and our oneness with him, and of the acceptableness of our service to him. This service is the most difficult undertaking of man.
First, because it requires perfect submission to God's will.
Second, it requires us to acknowledge our nothing- ness and forces us, by God's grace, to strive to root out all pride from our hearts. After we have fully surrendered ourselves to Christ and become Christians, on the heart's unseen battlefield the fierce war con- tinues all along life's journey. All intelligent Chris- tians admit that all our time and energies must be de- voted to him who died for us; that whatsoever we do, whether in word or deed, we must do all to the glory of God. But, by reason of the value and greatness of the honor conferred on those who serve Christ, were the difficulties of such a consecration tenfold greater than they are, I would still insist that serving God is the best investment ever made by mortal man. The world says, " Where is the honor? The wicked spread themselves as green bay trees, while the good and pure go on in poverty ; the unjust gather to them- selves great wealth, while the righteous have a hard struggle for bread. But who thinks of honoring the Christian? and with what is he honored?" I an- swer, The honors are conferred not by the puny hands of weak men, but by the King of kings.
II. The Christian is honored :
First, with the gift of eternal life.
What is eternal life? I cannot tell you; your pastor cannot tell you ; no man among all these pul- pit orators and educators who compose this great con- vention can tell all that is comprehended in the term
258 THE SOiyilERN BAPTIST PULPIT
eternal life. We can make some suggestions by way of aiding you to estimate its value.
The immense travel from North to South in the autumn and from South to North in the spring, is not confined to the wealthy, but is largely made up of poor people in search of health. Many fathers and mothers practise the most rigid economy while at home and away in order to spend much of their time at watering places, striving by every possible means to prolong their lives. Visit our almshouses and our charity hospitals. See th< or unfortunates!
those deformed, helpless, physical wrecks, without homes, money, friends, relatives, or loved ones. Some one has called them, " Repulsive objects of charity." Did I hear you say, "These would be glad to die"? Not so. Even here you fail to find a willing- ness to give up life unless calmed by the Spirit of ( fod, or made reckless by a spirit of di speration. ¥< u turn away from such scenes and whisper to yourself, uYes, all that a man hath will he give for his life." Ves, the natural man holds on to the thread of life with wonderful tenacity, and will sutler on and on, year after year, rather than part with that mysterious thing we call life. Now, if this life of weakness and doubt, of fear and trembling, be so desirable and valu- able, wdiat will that life be where weakness IS turned into strength, and doubts shall fly away? If this life, where the flowers fade so soon is worth clinging to. what will be the joy of dwelling in that land where "eternal spring abides and never-fading flow- ers " ? If this life, where sorrow, pain, and bereave- ments are constantly sweeping over us, is worth such sacrifices as are made to hold it, what will that life be where there shall be no more pain, nor death, nor loss of loved ones? If this life so charms us, where the night of trouble and disappointment comes with its long, lonely hours, and the night of death con- stantly confronts us, what will that life be where the
HONOR FOR SERVICE 259
gates stand open by day/ For there is no night there. No night oi' sorrow, no night of disappoint- ment, no night of sin, no night of bereavement, no night of death is there. All, all is one eternal day ! The souls of the redeemed shall live on while God lives and eternity lasts; for if any man serve Christ, he shall "survive the wreck of worlds," and shall bask forever in the sunshine of God's glory.
We know not, we know not, All human words show not, The joys we may reach ; The mansions preparing,
The joys for our shar.
The welcome for each.
Here deep i - the si 'hing,
the i ng ; Here brief is the life :
The life there is endless,
The joy there is endless,
And ended the strife.
If it be an honor to piss out of the high school into the university; an honor to climb from the county court-room to the chief-justiceship of the United vStates, who shall undertake to measure the honor to corded to him who may dwell/orever with God, spending eternal ye
ing in the love That's only learned in heaven I His mind, Unclogged of I lay and free to soar. Hath left the realms of doubt behind ;
1 wondrous things, which finite thought In vain e- .-. appear
Iced inquiries, fraught With explanation strangely clear ! His reason owns no forced control As held it here in needless thrall ; God's mysteries court his questioning soul, And he may search and knoiv thou all.
26o THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
Adoption into God's family is the second honor conferred upon the faithful servant of Christ. We hear much about families and their relative standing. Our newspapers devote whole columns to the u four hundred" of New York, to "the F. F. Vs.," to u the first families of Kentucky," to u the first families of Charleston," etc. It is regarded as a great honor to be connected with one of these honorable families.
What are regarded as the elements of an honorable family ?
First, ancient historic recognition. Some years ago Henry Ward Beecher and his sister, with a num- ber of others, met at Martha's Vineyard, to ascertain if possible their family genealogy. Many others in all parts of our country can speak with commendable pride of their forefathers who marched under the command of our American chieftain during the Revo- lutionary War. Many can go back and trace their line of descent through the Huguenots and Puritans to worthy ancestors beyond the sea. Queen Victoria boasts of having descended from the house of David. But let us turn to the third chapter of Luke and read of Jesus, who was supposed to nave been the sou of Joseph, and then follow his line of descent back be- yond David to Noah, Enoch, Seth, and Adam, who was the son of God. So by faith in Christ Jesus we are ik born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." By the opera- tion of the Holy Spirit we become partakers of the divine nature. The Holy Spirit applies to our souls the efficacy of the blood of Christ, so that we become blood- kin to God through his son Jesus, who claims us as his brethren. So then we are the children of God, and are members of that family which antedates all other families.
Second, another element of honorable family descent is wisdom. We speak of our great Wash- ington, of our Lee, Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Madi-
HONOR FOR SERVICE 261
son, and Jefferson ; we cross over to Europe, where they are now struggling for liberty of soul and body, and longing for the day to dawn when the freedom of soul and liberty of conscience enjoyed by our American people shall be enjoyed by them. But there seems to be no man wise enough to lead them out of bondage. I ask, why is this ? and the an- swer comes from the word of God, " The world by wisdom knew not God." But our Father is infinite in wisdom, good in greatness, and great in goodness. Then as people come to realize their need of wisdom, let them heed the admonition of God's word, " If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and Upbraideth not" (James 1:5); for the head of our family is "great in counsel and mighty in work " (Jer. 32 : 19) ; and "among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms there is none like unto him " (Jer. 10 : 7).
Third, weal tli is regarded as a third mark of family pride. Job was the greatest man in the East. The Lord blessed Abraham with herds and cattle and gold and silver. Solomon's riches and influence were a wonder in the world, and called forth from the Queen of the South the expression, "The half has not been told me." In our day we have the Rothschilds, Goulds, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and many other millionaires. But what are such families! Even if they should all pool their interests and call it one fortune, it would 1).- only as a drop in the ocean com- pared with the wealth of our Heavenly Father. All the merchandise and banks, railroads, factories, stocks and bond-, mining and naval interests, are as nothing to him. He can dispose of crowns and sceptres as easily as a child breaks a toy. He can set up and as easily tear down. We who are born of God are the children of a glorious king. Our Father is the owner of all the silver and gold of the world, and the cattle on a thousand hills is his also. We
262 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
have not yet come in possession of our patrimony,
but
We can read cur titles clear mansions in the skies.
Twenty years ago in New Orleans, an influential, intelligent, wealthy man picked up a little newsl and adopted him as his own child. The t l< family mansion, with all its costly furaitur< superb paintings by the old mast instruments, I tly equii
the honored family natne, with all the man owned, me the property, through legal heii that
little boy, who, until that ad< >p1 waif. Fie was sent to the best schools and Pound without pi . without home, without repu-
tation, nameless, all became his. Was he I How incalculably greater the honor bestowed upon spiritual orphans who, though strangers and
mmonwealth I, have been adopted
s most • family, where angi '
nts, the Son her, and I iod
himself their own Path
Finally, we us} for truly,
"there's no place like hoi The question of
- has b en, " If a man die, shall he live again?" and not only shall //<■ live but wh
I ; for Christ brought life and immortality to light, and he tk In my Father's hoi many mansions, I go to
prep ire a place for you." For us, then, he has pre- I a home, where the family shall all be gatl
when time shall end and our labors are finished. " Home ! swe t, -v. So many ha\
home here in this world. There are persons v.
ancestors for many generations have been tenants in other r*s houses. Many families in this our
favored land of liberty have no homes, and perhaps
HONOR FOR SERVICE 263
never will have any. The great corporations not only own the factories, but the houses in which the s live; I most own the laborers. How
different when we think of "our Father's house" I It" we never own a home here, by the grace of God we m ly own on • in heaven. There are many thou- sands whose homes to-day are mortgaged, and thou- mes have been sold bj sure of the
m >rtea >ut in the cold,
heai so is it with our home
N ih or in hell can mortgage
our home w r I >ne to i
run back to our childlu 1 to en :rent atmos-
dwell on our present homes We ma tained
1>\ :: ■, a palatial ace,
irnil t, the finest furniture,
with musical instru- ments, rich in iction and tone. Whole libra- may be tl We may wander in and shrubbery, rish. But as the da; p from behind
fly < vet vale and hill, 11, and we say,
er so huml
ice like home.
The sacred memories, the loving hearts, the familiar ad the musical a real home, can
nev g »ne. The
lighter, the sun shit 'liter, the birds
i nearer, the days fly
heaven seems dearer to us when we are
in tin- midst of those influences which produce what
we call home. But here "the eagle stirreth up her
Tin; SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
nest'1 and the sweetest h< Sons
and da marry and scatter. I time
there were feast-days, bright Christmas times, fath
.' oksgivic w ■ /.il went home to
and mother would meet ui 11 us boys and girls ;
and with n hap]
■ jer and mother, th
hotl
even tli
1
there, I
• i
Bui by-and-b} ; with a great fam-
ily reunion ..
Be] . cr,
We haw
rt, the inventions i men, and th f nature ha\
tight t< ma the childn i
ped han
I and the I 'hen. All
hav( ether in a reunion of the fan
tlu- earth. But how short ha iy, and
tory has been their meeting with < ach
t, the mighty God, even the Lord, hath
ken, and called the earth from the rising of the
IK »N(»R FOR SERVICE 265
sun uiito the g >ing down ther tat of /ion, the
lined. There is to
tional family reunion,
for "they shall from the east and from the
th, and shall sit
Christ himself
.1 the K u will we hear
r, inherit the
the founda-
We •.. there days, weeks,
ears,
• ■■
real
tes I I .
and the
- 1 ; ceiving them with oiit-
•:11c !
Come, Hoi accept-
hiinself
XXIV
INFIDELITY and CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED1
r. M. tk: ;
«'T1:
Till-', t by Moses under peculiar
. and tw<
with ti. in into ■ i -th with m Bui
li i in to d< mul-
titudes that I
much
Moses, and
may
►und the composition. II
beaul :v, with tin 'lime
and grateful
g the literal produ I to find the ( .
luently ot a
rock. I::
■ ■
with I
1 a baccalaureate ten
266
r. h. i i' i'
Thou is Hi s\ h ird was b »rn in Charlotti
C. on the 8th of I ebruarj father, Joseph Pri< e
Pritchard, was a i. was reared an
Epi» opalian, but became a Baptisi from prin< iple, and preat hed the gospel for fil He died in rexas, in 1890, at I
I h> mother, Eliza Hunter I lender son, u.i^ tlu- daughti famil) that tra istorj from
Thomas Henderson, uli<> emi m Scotland and landed
at Jamestown, V.i.. in 1607. His nt, Samuel Hender-
son, u.i^ the progenitoi Una branch of that
• mily, be Ri< hard Hen-
. and tl 1 ther ol 1 hid nard I len-
derson. Dr. 1
the \ aledit tor) . In 185 theolog) with Dr, John A Bi tt< ille, taking
a course in the unc time, He
-as been ; ranklin Square Church, in Baltimore,
the First I hurch, Raleigh, N. < . First ( hurch, Petersburj Broadway, Louisvilh Wilmington, V < .. and i
serving the Tryon Street * bun h, Charlotte, N. ( . I »i. Prit< hard was president ol v. He
preached the Convention sermon when that body met in Charleston, in May, 1875 1 1 m the
University of North ( arolina, in 1 i
INFIDELITY AND CHRISTIA1 ONTRASTBD 267
Virgil in describing the decision of character of old Latinns, represents him —
k unmoved, a rock that bra The raj ' and the • '.ves,
pped in himself he stands,
and k the impotent billows of his
wrath. Isaiah speaks of the
• sembling the shadow of a rock in a weary land, t»> screen the way-worn trav<
tt< r win ht and the
( ) .: J mn. And David breaks >us faith, " He is my rock and my tion and my refu
the pious soul to rciesof 1 )a\id " bv thai aduring.
•1 the •rding to its an- nus whi
and spCCU-
. 'aicli th< Qtert iin.
The k: demands a
: irther. b the 1 1 Now ii
in his frit :
though it may be
kno that fru 1 quittal.
by parties enti ted is, from
more weight ; but
wfa to m ike men sw
in : : their enemies, the conviction that they
But still more when it an
emy of the . and for his con-
viction he • arbles the truth, and IS
268 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
tected in his infamous design, the innocence of the accused is but revealed in the more beautiful and transparent i I/, t us rem< mber this in the dis-
>n to which we i. (a) Among the enemies of Christianity we no- first, the atheist, who denies the existence of
God, and <: hysical organiza
which we call the world is tl I of chance; that
the wonderful beauty, tin larity and evident design evervwh< in the material universe, it is all the result tuitou tter. We
might ask, when< mat-
It of d : that
undefined something which I ' man,
the \
asdo the I the field ? 1 1
Id human tx
otelli- gent creatun ' e whole th(
What is chan< i ? We taki as children often if in (ailing it form ter, it is by i We
rom the at, that the i
complicated it- charactc r, th<
of an intelligible result. If, i: ipple
we tike a hatful of Utters and them at
random over tin long mi be thus
re a sii • m< (1 ? Would it nol be absurd to
. of poems? But the great hook of creation is far more complicate and exhibits more than the ll Iliad M of Homer, or the
f Milton. But why waste time on folly? Verily, the Scriptures have d, "The
fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." The
INFIDEUTY AND CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED 269 atheist is a fool's position, the Scriptures
This, beloved, is speculative atheism, and though
treatises ha written in it much
lether any sane man ev< such opin-
there were n >i c than
m in t: B :• for
:ul nat i r«.r the cause of Christ and
ire all more or ;, J atheists, W< that th
and that he will reward those who dih- :. We believe that God will judge us Pj ,• were made, and
God we com- mit il tlu!
. . | i/;--: r Ric heai suffer-
Ward in India ; when he 1
terminin cpel
all min :u tneir terntory, had
driven him ian U} (Kvc11 m
the jungles am indpois nts^
I that hi ""n$ tnere tnat ,ne
hen of a Saviour, Dr. Rice
iround
Him : Brother Ward believes there
□ re-
d 1 Jesus
Imit the existence of a God
. is first ass nned by some persons in
their hat ristianity under some ' is name
have no particular led alone by 1 1 nature They affirm that there is no neces- sity for a direct revelation, and therefore discard the tea ties and evan 0 many
dreams and fables. They hold, indeed, that Cod crc-
270 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
ated the heavens and the earth, and that his character is revealed in his works — that we may ulook through nature up to nature's God." In support of his posi- tion, the deist appeals to history, and from the fact that a few individuals among the heathen have be- lieved in but one God, and because all people of every age have had an idea of some existence superior to themselves, they therefore argue the sufficiencv of the light of nature. Now just at this point we take issue with the deist, and will introduce his own wit- ness to testify in our favor. And in taking this po- sition I do not mean to disparage the light of nature. When properlv interpreted, it does develop in a most beautiful and striking manner the character of the Creator. But I maintain that without the Bible we could never accurately comprehend the utterances of nature. It is true that David could say, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork," but David was an inspired man, and held the true doctrine of theism ; but I re- peat it, that I do not believe that any man ever has or ever will learn from nature alone so much of his duty to God as to secure his salvation. The priests of Egypt, it is said, taught that there was but one God, and so held a few of the philosophers of Greece and Rome; but the Egyptians, doubtless, derived their theology from the captive Israelites, while the ancient philosophers received their notions from these same Egyptian priests, or directly from the prophe- cies of the Old Testament. Aristobulus, an ancient historian, tells us, and his testimony is corroborated by a statement in Second Maccabees, that there was a Greek translation of some of the books of the Old Testament four hundred years before Christ, and that Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle consulted it in the com- position of their philosophic works.
In the Alcibiades of Plato there is a description of a lawgiver that was to come, which is almost an ex-
INFIDELITY AND CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED 271
act copy of the graphic account of the Messiah in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. Indeed, Plato tells us himself that he derived his notions of God from the Syrian Fraternity ; which Syrian Fraternity was none other than the Jews themselves, unto whom were committed the oracles of God.
But to bring' the subject home to the deist. Would he be willing to exchange his existence in the nine- teenth century with the wisest of the sages of an- tiquity ? Would he be willing to entertain their notions of morality and worship their gods, even in the most cultivated and enlightened times of the past ?
Take Greece, for instance, in her palmiest days — when Athens was the intellectual eye of the universe, when Demosth :nes thundered from the Bema, when Plato wrote an 1 Pindar sang and Praxiteles used the chisel, when, in fine, painting, poetry, sculpture, and eloquence existed in a perfection never since attained — ask the deist if there have been greater natural men than the giants of that age who sought to solve the problem of man's being and destine, and then let him give his testimony for Christianity. Would he be willing to worship such creatures as were Jupiter, Bacchus Venus and Mercury, with all the enormities ascribed to them, crimes and vices which, if com- mitted in this age, would bring down upon the perpe- trators the vengeance of an infuriated mob? Ques- tion him as to the state of morals then existing — the condition of woman, the treatment of slaves, prisoners, and deformed infants. Did nature inspire Plato to teach the doctrine of a community of wives, Ivvcurgus to commend dexterous thieving, Solon to allow sodomy, and Seneca to encourage drunkenness and suicide ? Would the deist dare commend these dark and impure precepts as worthy of general ac- ceptance ? No! no! The intelligent deist would not be willing to live in an age of reason, even though
272 TIIK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
that reason might be developed to the highest de- gree.
But we have listened to the testimony of the strongest witness the deist can produce, as drawn from the experience of the most cultivated nations of the past, and we find that the world by wisdom knew not God then, nor does the world by wisdom know God now. Let us bring to the stand the most intelligent and refined heathen nations of the pres- ent age. Take the Chinese for instance. They are a cultivated people. It is said they discovered many of the mysteries of astronomy before Copernicus or Galileo lived. They had invented glass and gun- powder and the ait of printing, before other nations. One has to think in but the most cursory way to read the answer.
The fact is, that the deist who may have correct notions of morality has not derived those ideas from nature, but has stolen them from the Bible; and while he writes books to dishonor the oracles of God, he plagiarizes from that sacred volume the very best and purest thoughts of his own works.
The declaration of the Scriptures is explicit. There is no other name under heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved, but that of Jesus, and we may question whether any individual of all the na- tions that have successively disappeared from this earth's arena has been saved by reason and nature. The history of reason guided by the light of nature, in all ages, has been one of darkness and doubt ; far, very far, from the clear and steady light which streams upon the Christian's path from the Sun of Righteousness. Verily the rock of the deist is not as our Rock.
The subject of infidelity and skepticism next claims our attention. Infidelity is a perfect Proteus in character — it assumes so many and such varied forms that it is difficult to define it accurately.
INFIDELITY AND CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED 273
Suffice it to say, that as the term imports, infidelity is unbelief — a want of faith in God, and a rejection of all, or some of the principles of the Christian religion. It has presented in different ages and countries va- rious phases. In France it led to an abolition of the Christian Sabbath, and an utter refusal to recognize an overruling Providence. The weapons of attack resorted to by French infidels have been the coarsest ribaldry and the boldest blasphemy. In England, infidelity has been more philosophic, and affects to exhibit the discrepancy between the revelations of science and those of the Bible.
The infidelity of Scotland has differed but little from that of England, though, perhaps, it is some- what more respectful toward religion, probably be- cause of the piety of public sentiment in that most moral of all countries. In Germany, infidelity is pantheism, the prime article of which faith is, that the universe is God. By some a system is held called neology, which lias its basis in the science of meta- physics, and abounds in conjectures and speculations of a rationalistic character, leading men to rely upon •1 and nature, rather than revelation, for spiritual light.
In the United States we have infidelity diversified. Scientific infidelity, spiritualism, transcendentalism, as held by Theodore Parker and Waldo Emerson ; free-loveism, communism, Universalism, Mormonism, and many others not less pernicious, though more re- stricted in their influence.
2. When we observe such phenomena in the history of the moral world, we are constrained to ask, Why do men reject th< m of God and embrace such
follies? The reasons are manifold :
(a) With some, such notions arise from an affecta- tion of singularity. They are ambitious of the char- acter of original thinkers, and from a morbid sense of independence, wish never to tread in a beaten
274 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
path. Satisfy them that all the world holds a system as true, and for that very reason they discard it. The notions of morality which have come down to ns, venerable for their antiquity and revered for their purity, they regard as exploded follies, fit only to he held by the old fogies of this progressive age.
As for themselves, they must have something new, and no matter whence its origin, or how absurd its essence, if it is something unusual, they at once em- brace it; and not unfrequently may these sapient philosophers be heard deliverin .-, with all the /.est of original discovery, objections against Christianity as old as Porphyry and Celsus, and which, perhaps, they think they may gain the credit of inventing.
(/>) Infidelity often springs an in the heart from an- other kind of1 pride — pride ol Learning. The arro- gant self-sufficiency generated by human learning doubtless been a fruitful somee of infidelity in all ages. How different this spirit from that which al- ways distinguishes the truly eru ;. wise) UA little learning thing,'1 and and extensive knowle rrect this unseemly
pride and induce a solid frame of mind. S< -crates,
the wisest of the ancient philosophers, professed only to know that he knew nothing, and Sir Isaac New- ton, the greatest philosopher of all time, when com- plimented on his mat attainments in science, re- plied with beautiful modesty, "that he had accom- plished but little; he had been but as a child gath- ering a few pebbles on the beach, while the great ocean o( truth lay unexplored before him."
(c) Again, it is a lamentable fact that the con- duct of professing Christians furnishes one of the strongest pleas for infidelity. They have the form of godliness, but deny the power thereof in their daily deportment, and thus the world is taught to doubt the vitality of religion, and lapses into infidelity. It is in the house of her friends and by the unfaithful-
INFIDELITY AND CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED 275
ness of her own adherents that the heaviest blows are dcak against Christianity. Were they but true to their high vocation, infidelity would be deprived of the food upon which it fattens, and would hide its diminished head in shame and dishonor. Let ns never forget that " Conduct hath the loudest tongue." id ) But not to be tedious in assigning the causes of infidelity, the great and prime reason why men are infidels is because they wish to be ; because of the wickedness of their own hearts ; because the gospel has Upon it- very frontlet the command of Christ, Deny thyself, and take up thy cross and follow me. The truth is, "infidelity is a disease of the heart
than of the Ik M n believe Moses false and
the Bible a bundle of fables, because by that Bible their own evil deed- are condemned ; because they love darkness rather that light. The Earl of Roches- ter, once an arrant infidel, used to say in his old age, living his hand upon the Bible, "Here is true phi- losophv. This is the wisdom that speaks to the heart. A bad life is the only grand objection to this book."
This last declaration is intensely true The history of infidelity show- scarcely a single exception to this
sweeping declaration. No Ulan who has any sell-re- spect would care to read aloud in company some ex- pressions in Voltaire's works, even when treating of the most sacre i subjects, J. J. Rousseau ha- acknowl-
d in his " Confession," that on one occasion he had the baseness to steal an article, and rather than con- fers the theft, he suffered an honest servant girl to
her place and her character. His book of con- sions ca)-es with these remarkable words: "When- ever the last trump shall sound, I will present myself >re the Sovereign Judge with this book in my hand, and loudly proclaim, 'Thus have I acted — these were my thought-- — such was I, Power Eternal ! Assemble around thy throne the innumerable throng of my fellow-mortals. Let them listen to my con-
276 THK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
fessions ; let them blush at my depravity; let them
tremble at my sufferings. Let each in turn expose the failings and wanderings of his own heart with equal sincerity, and, if he dare^ say, " I was belter than that man." ■ n
How utterly abandoned must have been the man
who could affect to make a merit of such confessions
re the throne of the Most High, and who could
thu> charge all mankind with guilt equal to his own ! k> No b oks ai\- so plain as the lives of men, no char- legible as their moral conduct11 The great off. nse of the cross is its purity. 'Twas the Ineffable innocence of the Saviour that tided the heart of Vol- taire with SUCll mali I made him close his letters to his familiar frfc nds with the 1 xpti ''Crush the- wretch !" meaning thereby the bl Jesus. Pit Language of the great apostle of infidelity, the high priest of Satan on earth. N01 has infidelity changed in it- spirit and vehement 01 its ad v lave passed from the
on. (?) Another feature of infi ly allied
*., is the ignoran lerents in respect
t<> that wry religion they so vauntingly disclaim. I am free to admit that many of them have been men of great attainments in m rature; never-
theless, these very men have, through sinful igno- rance, rejected the Christian religion. Their own con- Tom Paine confines himself to I >ld Testament in assailing the Scriptures, and Hume confesses that he never read the New T ment through in his life, while Voll :rays his
aorance by speaking of "the book of Moses, the book of Genesis, and the book of Penta-
(/n And yet again; the manner in which infidels have attacked Christianity — the unfair and dishorn St means to which they have resorted, prove that their
INFIDELITY AND CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED 277
rock is not as our Rock, and that their cause is not only a weak but a wicked one. Infidels harp upon the mysteries of the Bible, as if there were not mystery in everything God has made, and as if we might ex- pect with our finite powers to comprehend everything in a book which reveals the character of the Infinite. They detect trifling errors in chronology and history, which have been time and again explained and recon- 1, and though they are fully ap] f this, each
ive school, in the most disingenuous manner, iterates and reiterates those charges as if theyw vital to the cardinal >f Christianity.
\ very t and plausible objection pre-
fer! nemies is the want
eieuts. There are so
many different sects, holding such di\ i terns of
trine, that it is affirmed that nothing may be re- lied on as true, and th it is the part of wisdom to reject the whole. Now, it is a lamentable fact that there are many if is true, moreover, that we do netimes contend among ours rith a degree of rimony which the spirit of the gospel does not justi
I is this a I to Christianity ?
[s thei P sympathy in the experience
til true Christians? Sou may gather Christians
a all parts •»:" the 1 Hottentot, a
Stupid African
1 cuitured Caucasian — I care not where they may
ha\ d <»r what dialect they speak, if genuine
they will all have substantially the same
experience, the same repentance, the same faith, and
will hope to reach the same heaven at
S not this objection recoil witli fatal force
linst all the systems of infidelity? Some systems
there is a God, others deny it. Some affirm
that the soul is immortal, others do not admit that
man has a soul. One system contends that man
y
278 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
should be under some kind of moral law ; another that he is a law unto himself, and should follow his own inclinations. Their confusion is like that of the tower of Babel, and yet they denounce the believers in Christianity as superstitious and credulous dupes, because we will not trample under foot the " sure mercies of David," and embrace their false and base- less systems of sin and iniquity.
But finally it is in death that the true merits of in- fidelity and Christianity appear. The dying beds of infidels, in utterance distinct and awful, declare that their rock is not as our Rock.
The well-known story of Col. Ethan Allen is a striking illustration of the utter insufficiency of infi- delity in the hour of death. Col. Allen was a gallant patriot, but an avowed infidel. He had an only child, a beautiful daughter on whom he lavished every care. When in the flush of early womanhood, this daugh- ter sickened and died. As she lay, awaiting the approach of death, she took her father's hand and said : " Father, mother has told me to take Jesus as my Saviour, while you have told me that Jesus is no Saviour. Which must I believe now ? " The heart of the strong man was moved to its profoundest depths. He had faced the cannon's mouth 1111- blanched, but he trembled like an aspen before his dying child, as with choked utterance he replied, " My daughter, believe your mother."
Some years since, one of two young Americans, who were in Paris, was taken ill. In seeking a nurse to care for his sick friend, the other encountered an old woman who had nursed Voltaire in his last ill- ness. The first question she asked when applied to was, " Is your friend a Christian ? " " He is," replied he, u but why do you ask such a question?" "I nursed Voltaire," rejoined the old woman, "and I wouldn't see another infidel die for all the gold there is in France."
INFIDELITY AND CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED 279
How different the condition of the great apostle to the Gentiles, when about to be put to death : " I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right- eousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."
Byron wrote thus sadly the year he died :
My days are in the yellow leaf,
The fruits and flowers of love are gone ; The worm, the canker, and the grief, Are mine alone.
The fire that on my bosom preys
Is lone as some volcanic isle, No torch is kindled at its blaze ; A funeral pile.
Permit me, in conclusion, to present this contrast as drawn by the poet Montgomery in a few masterly strokes :
Lo yonder, in that fancy-haunted room What muttered curses tremble thro' the gloom, Where pale and shining, and bedewed with fear, The dying skeptic feels his hour draw near. From his parched lips no meek hosannas fall, No bright hope kindles at his last farewell. He gnashes, scowls, and raises hideous shrieks, As the last throes of death convulse his cheeks ; He rounds his eyes into a ghastly glare, Locks his white lips, and all is mute despair.
To the infidel he says :
Go, child of darkness, see a Christian die, No horror pales his lips or dims his eye ; No fiend-shaped phantoms of destruction start The hope religion pillows in his heart ;
28o THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
When, with a faltering hand, he waves adieu To all who love so well and weep so true ; Meek as an infant to the mother's breast Turns fondly Longing for its wonted rest, He pants for where congenial ^j >ii its stray, Looks to his (iod and sighs his soul away.
Verily u their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges."
J. li. Cranfill was born in Parker County, Tex., September parents. His lather. Rev. E. A. Cranfill, is still living. IIi> early life was spent on a farm and as a COW- tion was procured from the Texas country schools of that period. Ik- was converted at the age of eighteen and joined the Baptist church. In 1878 he married Miss Ollie Allen er liis marriage he practised medi-
■ r about three ind then began the publication <>f
I tesville Ail. .\eekl\ paper which became distin-
guished ' ind prohibition. In [886
licensed to preach and lined by the First Baptist
Church, Waco, in it to [892 he was superin-
tendent mission work. He is editor and sole
proprie I Standard," and proprietor of
Kentucky Baptist Standard,"' and the "Indian Baptist Standard." He i> the compiler of a hook of sermons 1>\ Dr. B. II. Carroll. In addition to his editorial labors and lit work, he has been prominently identified for mam years with the prohibition movement, having been the candidate tor vice- ent of the Unite on that ticket in [892. He is also
it demand I irer.
XXV
A MAN IX IIKLL
u -pie r be lifti l np his
IT :- m 11 fi ' rtjotuu
:ily tiity. This it rush, t excitement, *erfu1 movements,
with and in the whirl
and ment \\ • forget
r skill end ; that r a little these that ■ us now shall have
hall have tab d up There Dm f men after
n. God, J
f just men
ma fn nc''
the Wts of i
that ft ther world.
tttire lesson — f>r
I wMi on rather than
the ■ text—begins by say-
ing that tl in rich man. It does not
me. I: what his nunc
lain rich man. It is not a crime to 1 rich man. There is many a poor man that is rich in a certain sense. He is rich in evil ; rich in bad do rich in evil associations; rich in his scorn of God
2^1
282 TiiK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT -
Riches in themselves arc not criminal. There is manv a rich m in, as we eolfllt riches whose heart is tender, and who is really rich toward God, and who is touched with a feeling of the infirmities of every poor bc™ar under the shining stars. It is not a crime then to be rich; and I have never had any sympathy with the great cry ol people against the rich. It is a great temptation to be rich. I never shall forget the prayer recorded in the ( I sta-
ment, "Give me pnwrty nor riches." I b
thought soUieliules I would like- Eo Be" rich. I fear it comes to us all in some I ial temptation,
of special allurement by the world. We wish we could be rich ; but when we come to think about it soberly, we had better not I h in this
world's because there come great temptations
with ridies. But as I said I mp ithy
with the idea that is getting icier in
our country, that to be rich is evil in itself, and
that riches must be pounced upon and d<
and divided out among tramps and anarchists. All
such doctrine com< '.. Neither is it a
poor. The really poor can be rich < ! L Look at this man's name now. The | OOT man h is a n ime. Tin re w is a certain rich man, and then there was a certain b irus. You
know Lazarus1 name meant w helped I I That
is the interpretation of his name.
And now let us go and see the picture. See the mansion with it- broad spacious grounds, the blooming flowers, and the fruits in the fields ; and then see down at the gate a poor man with a crutch. There he was, laid at the gate, full of Lazarus had very likely
u a very prosperous workingman. It is quite likely that at one time he had wrought mightily with his hands and made his daily bread and looked Up to no- hod;,- except t<> (rod. But oh, the great misfortune of a
>r man when he is sick. I tell you it is an awful
A MAN IN IIKLL 283
thing to be sick at all, but it is transccndently awful
to be sick when you are poor, when you cannot make
daily two dollars. Not long ago it came very
me A man in my employ, and as kingly a
m in - wore the crown of honest labor, got sick,
and I could sec the pain written all over his face
when he faile 1 to earn his two dollars a day. It w is
idfuL And the fact that Lazarus was a beggar
no disgrace to him, because he was sick. He
was n . gar by choice He was not a tramp.
He did not •ml, a healthy and stalwart man,
k kiteh rod r, "J wish
Ln I haw no respect
fora tramp -I mean a well tramp. A man in this
begging for a cup of i ice on him and health
hing hi shame on him! Lazarus wa
• because he was nd here he was at the
rich ma look at these plain statements
of fact Most of the comm that this was a
It may b □ a parable, but I don't be-
lieve it was >ther place where Jesus
i man the Scripture Hespokea
unto them." In this case there is no parable in it, but a plain statement of plain, everyday facts. This nlain statement was not a parable, as I under-
id it, but JesUS Christ rent the veil and made that
ital of an everyday occurrence in every age. He
simply raised the curtain and said, ik And Lazarus
L"
Let us now think about the rich man a moment. He was having a good time; he fired sumptuously H nt and took a box at the theatre and saw the play with opera He plaved his
ocial 'cards and bet a little. He was not really a had gambler, or else lie would not hue been rich.' And he attended the "german/1 went down to the saloon on Sunday and drank his wines and whis-
THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
kies. He was probably a member of the local politi- cal executive committee and had influence in the community; a man who thought about everything except God and heaven and eternity ; grasping his money, despising God's home". r that came to
his gate and begged : u Oh, mi >t let me come
after dinner is over and eat the crumbs that fall from the table!'1 He t<>«>k a st him away
te.
"There was a certain ' •." I I ive thought
about that beggar many a time. I do uot think I will t ver again let an ' »ut
giving him something, [do not mean tramps. As I before stated, I I I I
wish you would d ve any n
Bu1 I talk about b allj in
distress, who li ces and
erty marked ail over them. It was only ti day in the city of N ad-
way came up to me and said, me mom
help in' .*' ¥ u i ould see poi • i over him ;
that hope had I I and despair had emne to
live with him. I make a plea here to-day, whether
you have much or Little, that you remember the
homeless poor, and help them. T will come
when it will ha\ i have invested
money in a leservin
had a million dollai : in the Bank of B I nd.
But see the change k how sublimely
our Saviour goes right on with th oes
not lain anything about tin uce be-
tween time and eternity. That is not his purpose just
now ; but he IS depicting the lives of these two in
lys: "The rich man also died and was
the contrast between the statement
made just before about Lazarus: uAnd . . , the
begj grjed by the angels*" He did
not whether he was buried 0T not. The
A MAN IN HELL 2S5
chances are that he was not buried. Probably he dragged himself into some lonely, sequestered spot, an 1 there died. Jesus did not say that he was buried, but the rich man died and was buried. See the fu- ll. Maybe no real mourners even then. II had five brothers, but they were probably glad he 3 dead. They will get his money now and have I time over it. but here is the long funeral
following the man out to the grave, with all the trappings of funerals. On this point I wish
'idle saddest thing to me,
than the funeral itself, is to see the great pomp
. circumstance <>:' some funerals. Oh, the money
• is wasted, literally wasted, burying men. Some
of the rich pay out thousands lars for funerals,
up its empty hands
and the hungry an ad thinly clad are dying for
aV. Lazarus died and was carri d
by the The rich man died and, in hell he
lifted uj -in hell.
v this brings US to the SUbj< Ct of OUr sermon, UA Man in Hell.'1 Stop a moment Is this an idle pictur ? The worst and m< plant enemies that
cused him of telling a lie. You take all the literature written against him to prove tint he was not divine, and with one COn-
acclaim, one voice, all litera-
tun And here
that this man lifted lip his eyes in hell. The
cur: raised. There is the man in hell. Time
to him I rtunitytO him is gone forever.
He has pa \ arena. There was sun-
shine yesterday; the I to-day; hell to-day.
rnity, etern aitv, has come and the man is
in hell. an. He prays — the first time perhaps
in all his life thai he had ever prayed, and he Sfl "Oh, Father Abraham I M Repentance has come. Did you ever visit a jail ? The most humble lot of
y~
286 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
repentant sinners on earth arc in jail. I have talked 11, I Have preached to men in jail. They will all give their hind; they all want t<> he saved Why? Because they are caught Not because they com- mitted a crime, but because the sleuth-hound of the
law has tracked them down, and now they find them- selves incarcerated and the bolts and bars shut them
in and there is no hope of escape. They are all hum- ble, all penitent All of them say, "I wish I wi again. If I were I would be a better man.'5 Turn one out and he won'. 1 hoTSe to-morrow night
A man in hell ! There was a <piaint, strange hook anonymously written in En utitled, "Letters
from Hell/' I wish all sinners might lead those Utter-, though they are imaginary. But, oh, hear the d us. They are not imag-
inary, Don't they cause the cold chills to run over you to-day as you hear the words oi our Saviour,
awful in their terror and truth fulness } " In hell he
lifted up his eyes." I don't suppose he believed in
hell at all while he lived I suppose he had argued many a time to prove that there w hereafter
at all, and he h id s lid, ,k < >h, this n< >i hat these
people talk about There is no such place. Get the
thing out of my mind, I don't want to hear about
it." But hear me to-day, fellow-trawler to the gl shutting one' not put, out the fire. You
may hear the crackling of the names arid the jingle of the firemen's hell, and the shout of the firemen's
captain. Yon may heir the word, " Fire I " And yet you shut your eve- and saw " I any fire ; I
don't believe there is any fire.'1 But the in^- n still, and block after block of buildings is consumed and crashes in. Oh, vain man, to-day I thunder in vour ears, warranted by the word of God and by the burning sentences of Jesus of Nazareth — there is a hell ! And every unrepentant man, when the gate of death confronts him and opens wide its porta".
A MAX IX HELL 287
him to pass in, will go down into that darkness — into that darkness from which no traveler has ever returned, and in the gl< om of whose surroundings no prayer has ever been answered. Hear him pray, ''Oh, father Abraham. " Here is prayer to-day. I talked to a man once who said he never had prayed in his life, and didn't believe in prayer. But hear
i it dies without believing and
praying, wakes up in hell with prayer on his tongue
and sa\ lather Abraham." Here is reahza-
it last
We hive often seen men building sidewalks of
nent When the cement was first put down they
put planks Why? It was soft They are
t it ( mce in a while a dog will get on any-
is his track on the ceinent sidewalk.
Now the cement is as hard as adamant. Nothing
o>uld make a track on it now. Its d
are gone. It b me fixed, and 110 imprint can
be d q it now. < ) d a little, tiny bird, singing
in the tree- beside it, could have lighted on it and
left its lit! prints there. It was soft Once
time the man who is in hell to-day was a little
playing at his mother's kn< e, and he had a tender
In a- ind oftentimes he wept.
There were times when he looked tip into his moth-
and asked her about (rod, and there were other times when lie knelt down beside his little baby bed and said his childish prayer. That was a time of in- nee, a time when there was a heart to feel and an bnt those times are gone forever. A hell, a real, eternal, irrevocable hell, awaits the impeni- tent man or the impenitent wom in.
And look at what Abraham said to him, M Son." And the very next word he said was, remember — u Son, remember." Oh, memory, art thoti living yet? Quickened indeed by the very impulse of the burning flame, memory revives and takes the back
2S8 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
track of the man's life and goes back into those days of innocence and love, goes back and feels the kiss of mother once again, goes back and hears the sermon in the old church, goes back to the very day when the preacher talked about hell and the man believed it not; goes back to opportunity and sunshine and light again. Oh, memory, memory, memory 1 Oh, if a man could go to hell and leave his memory be- hind him it would not fee hell. After all, hell is memory and memory is hell. Take the debauchee. How does he feel this morning? Ah, if he had no memory ! But before he can get up and set his blood on fire again with the hellish liquor, lie begins to think and think and think, to think of his little wife at home, lii.s ragged children, and his wrecked manh< od ; think of the strewn pathway of his life, beset all the way with thorns and tossed about with tempests. Memory] Brother, hear me now. Draw a line fifty years from now and we will all be in heaven <>r in hell — everyone in this house, certainly every adult in this house; just fifty short years and there will eome to the sinner in tins house to-day the memory of that quiet summer Sunday, when the preacher in the best way he knew, talked about hell, and the man in hell, and he will say" "< >h, give me back the life of that Sunday," but it will be too late. Oh, may things -trial be made luminous with the light of eter- nity to-day, that men may see where they stand in the sight of Almighty God. May there come from the very throne of God a flash of supernal light, sped by his Spirit, that will seek the hearts of sinners in this house and cause them to fall down and say, uOh, let me escape from the wrath to come ! "
Out of the very fullness of my heart I plead with yon to-day. Do not go with Dives into hell. Take your mother's hand, lean on the Saviour, and to-day plead lor mercy from the throne of God ; for there is mercy to-day, and there is love to-day, and there are
A MAN IN HELL 289
blessing and salvation to-day. But in hell, no answer to the prayer. There is something sad, oh, awfully sad, when yon think about what this rich man said to Abraham. He thought somewhat about himself and said, "I am in torment here and I wish you would just let Lazarus come and gixfi me a little sympathy, fol I am tormented in these flames." But he did not stop there. lie said, "Oh, Abraham, Abraham, send Lazarus back to the world again. I have one, two, three, four, five brothers, and they are just as I was. They heard the gospel and slighted it just as I did. And 1 led them into a thousand WTOngS. I said to
them, There is no hereafter. I said to them, There is no eternity. And, <) God, I ..m in hell, and they are still unrepentant And though I know that I cannot it, oh, send Lazarus down there to
preach to them.'1 Oh, memory, memory, memory] Light it up with a ila.-h of eternity. But the man became a missionary just a day too late. Just a day
t«»o late he thought about the awfuhuss of the fact that his five brethren were not saved. Solemnly, earnestly, prayerfully, I press this scene on your hearts this morning: A lost man. Time i- over,
Riches all They are of no use now. Once he
could have bought a whole county; he cannot buy
r now. Once men followed him ; now
he is beset about with the evil men of all ages, and he wails out : ,k Here they are with me. Once I had opportunity. Once I had a mother's love. Once the came and moved my heart and said, 'After all, it is true. After all, you had better be a Christian. After all, you had better give your heart to God.' And I said, v No, I will just close it up. I won': hear any of it.' M All the wealth of the Indies and the gold of Ophir could not buy for him a single mercy now, because the end has come.
And even poor Lazarus, oh, think about it ! Laz- arus was God's missionary to that man. Do you
z
29O THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
know what that poor fellow would have done if the rich man had just opened his gate that day and said : ''Come in, poor fellow. You can have more than the crumbs. You can have a seat at the table. Just come in and we will help you. And now bring him something to eat." Do you know, it" he had gone and lingered by bis side and bound up his wounds, Lazarus would have told him about God, and Lazarus would have been there in that house a very electric current between that home and ()iu]y and the wires would have flashed with prayer and the rich man need never have been in hell at all. And he remem- bered that, and so he wanted the very beggar that he had cast off and scorned, to go back to his brethren and say to them, u Oh, don't you go where your brother has gone !" It seems t<> me that the saddest thing, when all the sum ot our lite shall have been cast up and the end shall have come — that the sad- dest thing of all will be the separation between loved ones. At the -ate of death the unrepentant into hell to take up his abode with devils, and the penitent goes into the glory world to be with Jesus forever. There will be the separation of lathers and sons there. There will be the separation of wives and husbands. There will be families torn asunder.
0 God, may all in this house of every family be united in heaven. May every sinner in this house to-day flee from the wrath to come, for I tell you, dear friends, that it is true, every word of it is true, every word.
Now the last thought in this sermon. Why have
1 preached it? Why preach such a sermon? Why talk to men about a subject as harrowing as this? Why remove the veil and lift up the covering from the seething mouth of hell that we may gaze into it for a moment? I will tell you why. Why is it that when yellow fever comes it is flashed on the wires into a million homes in an hour? Why is it that
A MAN IN HELL 2()I
when contagion makes its home among ns that the news passes from lip to lip? It is done that we may escape it. Why is it that men warn each other against the blight and deadliness of temporal destruc- tion? Why is it? It is to save them. And so I have come to-day to preach this sermon, because I know — and I realize it more and more as I grow older and come nearer to the end of my own life — I know that very soon the sums of your lives will have been made out forever and for eternity.
A word to the Christians just here. Why don't yon talk more to sinners? Why don't you warn men? I tell yon there is reality in it all ; that there is a real, literal hell ; and that the broad sweep of its eternity 0:1 the die hand isjust as lung as heaven on the other.
You say — and that is what this man thought — even in hell he thought that if somebody would just rise from the dead and go down there and tell those five brethren, they would all believe it. That is a great fallacy. 1) i you know that if a man were to die here in this house to-day, and stay dead a day, and after he had been dead a day should come back to life again and stand in this pulpit where I am standing, and talk to you and say : lv I have been in heaven ; I have seen Jesus; I have heard the angels sing; I have clasped hands with Abraham and Elijah and Moses, and men, it is all true ; and I looked over that great gulf and I saw into hell, and lost men are there, and they are to-day raising their fruitless cries to heaven " ; if he should come and stand here, you would say the man never was dead, and you would not believe him. You would say, "It is all a fraud, that fellow was never dead ; he is lying." I tell you, brethren, if men hear not Moses and the proph- ets ; if they hear not this book, these burning truths of the word of God, they would not hear if the whole graveyard should rise from the dead and come and
292 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
proclaim the gospel with the cerements of the grave around them. If men cannot be convinced by the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, by the mili- tant tread of God's army for two thousand years, and by the testimony of a million men who, on the bor- der line of death, have said, ik I see heaven, and I hear the angels, and I know that heaven is real," nothing would convince them. I never shall forget how old Brother Watson died — a man whom some of you knew. When the last hour of his life came and lie had no more sight in his eyes, except as he saw into eternity, he called his daughter to him and said, u 1 see Kitty." That was his wife who had gone t<> God. Was" it a lie? Was it a lie that the old and venerable man of God told when the death-damp was on his brow? Oh, no ! And I remember how M. V. Smith died, that consecrated man whom so many loved. In the very last moment almost of his kingly life, he said, "Safe in my Saviour's arms at Last" Was it a lie ? Blessed be God, it was true. There is salvation to-day and life eternal to-day, and
there is hope to-day for every sinner.
( hie iA~ the saddest things about hell is that there is no hope in hell. And men have committed suicide to get away from a hopeless world and gone straight to a hopeless hell. I point you to-day, dear sinner friend, to Light and life and hope. I point you to Jesus Christ on the cross, the living Saviour, But for his mercy you would be in hell to-day. He has been very good to you. lie has been very kind to you. He has given you health and prosperity and he lias made you glad many a time because life has been so pleasant; and he gave you a Christian home and a Christian mother. Through his mercy you have heard the gospel many a time, and it is only through his mercy that we are here to-day. And in his name I plead with you to- day to come and forsake your sins ; come and forsake your .skepticism if you have it. Come and with
A MAN IN HELL 293
humble spirit fall at the feet of Jesus and say, " O Jesus, here I am, an undone sinner with only a few years to live. Take me as I am and give me life eternal to-day." Is there one to-day in all this audi- ence who wants to escape from the wrath to come ? Faster than the breath of any cyclone, speedier than the flash of any lightning, deadlier than the embrace of any anaconda, is coining the last day, the last death, the unutterable and eternal death to sinful men. With all the power of my heart to-day, let me impress the transcendent truth of this text, u In hell he lifted up his eyes." And this gleam of hope : I so loved the world that he gave his only begot- ten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.'1 Will you take him to-day? Take him as your Saviour, Take him for now, for to-morrow, and forever.
XXVI
tN i MUST
I
T^l J E 1 in thi m is m» n«
1 « -lints
differ It was the crowning
work of a bo red obj<
• • hencd in tin andn to th I
i
While the
epc,
The st«>rin r n upon the bark,
In kind it mmon OCCUT1 The in-
in the basin al>< >ut the I he atm< itiona
Datura] law. air from the sni-
ronnding mountain- wn the ravines with a
that lashed the into fury, and some-
'
\
■
m ■
\
J. J. Taylor is of Welsh descent. Hi randfather
came to America about 177-. and settled in Henr) County, Va. He 1- the son of Rev. D. < .. Taylor, and brother of President S. F. Taylor, of Stephens College, Columbia, Mo., Rev. I. lee Taylor, Spencer, Va., and the late R. R. Taylor. Was brought up "ii his father's farm in Henry County, Va., and prepan college at the Jacksonville High School, Floyd C. H., and took the \. m. degree from Ri< hmond ( College in i88< 1. I (e entered the Southern Baptist Theological Seminar) . September, 1 88< » : be* ame ; r of thel 'pper Streel Church, 1 n, Ky., in 1881, and
rem. lined until Septembei more than doubling the mem-
bership. He has been pastor of the Sr. Francis Street Church, Mobile, Ala., since October 1. 1887, during which time some five hundred members have been added and efficiency of the church greatl) increased. He is the author of an •• excellent" (Broadus) biography of his father, ••Daniel <".. TayL ountry
Preacher," and several sermons in tiact form.
GODHOOD IN CHRIST 295
times seemed to shake the solid land. In this case the tempest was strangely severe. The word used to designate it means an earthquake ; as if the founda- tions of the sea were suddenly broken up, and its waters heaved aloft. The fishermen disciples, fa- miliar with the freaks of the weather, and inured to the dangers of the deep, lost their fortitude and almost their faith. Alarmed and helpless amid the thicken- ing peril they turned to Jesus, and awoke him, saying, Master, Master, we perish ! Yielding to their en- treaty he calmly arose, and in the language of per- sonal appeal as if addressed to sentient beings, he spoke to the raging elements and ruled them with his word. The psalmist had >aid : l> The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea than the mighty waves of the sea." U(J Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea ; when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them." In the light of these utterances the deed possessed a startling significance. It iden- tified the man so lately asleep on a pillow as the mighty God extolled by the sacred bard. It forced upon the astonished spectators some weird conception 01 ( iodhood in Christ, and evoked the pertinent ques- tion, " What manner of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey him
As a disclosure of godhood this miracle is worthy of devout study. It is a parable crystallized in deed, and its teachings touch the heart of all religion. By nature men are worshipers, and by the same nature they desire to know the object of their devotions. In the earliest historic times Job cried, uOh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat ! " Philip prayed, " Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." The poet sings,
Where shall I find him, oh, my soul, Who yet is everywhere.
296 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
Men have searched in the heights and in the depths, tracing every beam of light into the trackless void ; and yet they have a common experience of vague- ness in their conceptions of God. He seems like an evanescent glory, without form or center or local habitation. He is a vast and shadowy some- thing, lying beyond the apprehension of the senses and eluding the shrewdest search ; and he utters no voice and reveals no outlines of his person. The whole brotherhood of inspired writers agrees that God is not disclosed outwardly. He is a spirit, immortal, imponderable, immanent, and transcendent, whom no man hath seen or can see, and whom no earthly measurement can compass.
Some of the emptiest things in theological litera- ture— and certainly that realm has its snare of stu- pidity— are found in the documents which undertake to declare the divine essence, as for example, that Christ is "very God of very God, begotten not made.'1 Such utterances display a genius for nonsense. It is difficult to form a conception of God, and impossible to till out the lineaments of his being. Parts of his ways are shown in his works, but how little a portion is heard of him, and the thunder of his power who can understand? On this idea the commandment says, Thou shalt not make any graven image or likeness of anything in the heaven above or the earth beneath a^ an object of worship. Such objects, even when idealized and carried up to the highest perfection, fall short of the reality and belie the di- vine character. A block of wood or stone or metal bears no new relation to Jehovah, when it is graven by human device and carved into the form of men or monsters, crosses or crucifixes. It is simply a part of his creation, and it becomes a fetich in proportion a> men become idolaters. In the realms of supersti- tion acat or a calf, a clam-shell or a cracker, mav be an object of worship, but it cannot be an embodi-
GODHOOD IN CHRIST 297
ment of him whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain.
In the absolute, God is forever the same without variableness or shadow of turning ; he reveals himself without respect of persons, yet in some sense he is different to different men. The sunlight falls alike upon all objects; but it appears red or orange, yellow or green, according to the media through which it passes. In the same way the disclosures of God are interpreted according to the individual mind. One of the noblest announcements concerning the divine character is found in the book of Exodus. Moses stood trembling at the beginning of that work which gave his name to immortality. He desired such a view of Jehovah as would strengthen his heart for the allotted task. "And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there . . . ; and the Lord passed by I* fore him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the in- iquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation.'1 Here certainly the milder aspects of the divine character predominate; yet they made but little impression on that coarse and callous age. In the Old Testament generally God is set forth as a mighty man and a man of war, whetting his sword, bending his bow and making ready his arrows. He is a God of armies, who flashes his fury in the lightnings and sounds his resentment in the thunder. He is a God of vengeance, whose anger burns into the lowest hell and consumes the foundations of the mountains, and whose hand is uplifted for the destruction of his ene- mies. In the ruder times, when men lived in Sodom and were degraded below the brutes which follow their natural instincts, when religion degenerated into
29S THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
legalized lust and violence succeeded law, when there was no established authority in society and every man did what was light in his own eyes, only the sterner phases of the divine character were competent to stay the course of wickedness and work reform in
the ways of life, Stubborn iniquity was met with in- flexible righteousnes went forth in the great- trength, red in his apparel as one that treadeth in the wine-press, uttering the doom of trans- gressors: "I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury ; and their blood shall be- sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and t'...- year ofmy redeemed is come."
Ill this miracle God is disclose 1 in power. The cleansing of the leper, the 1 of sight to the
blind, the healing of the centurion' .nt and of
Peter's mother-in-law were amazing displai ]• >wer. Previously it was never so seen in Israel. But in these cases he had the cooperation of sentient beings. When he cast out unclean spirits or lin- ed deaf ears, he had intelligence as an ally; even in raising the dead he hardly spanned a gulf so a- that which separates between man and the forces of the physical world. We may not undertake
to weigh his miracles and determine their relative merits; but I can conceive of no higher display of authority than tin's, that a word should control the winds and the sea. By observations extending through many years men have judged that certain adequate causes may be set in operation to regulate the clouds and claim to produce rain at will ; they have learned also to pour oil on the troubled waters of the sea and abate the fury of the storm; but no daring inventor, no wizard of science, has found a way to bridle the forces that rule the winds. Yet a word from this man is mightier than the euroclydon. Spoken in perfect calmness, it brings a perfect calm.
GODHOOD IN CHRIST 299
Bevond the display of supreme power there is also a disclosure of beneficent wisdom and divine sym- pathy. The storm had power, ruthless power to break and 'terrify and destroy ; power operating blindly, pitilessly, inexorably. In Mich a display the heathen saw only the great and awful God. They perceived his goings in the whirlwind, and heard his plaints in the plash of the waves; and they crawled in the dust >"re him, and suffered all manner of agony toap- e his dreaded wrath. But there is power to rule the fiercest storm that ever swept the seas, or broke the rocks upon the shore, It lurks in no enormous engine, ana operates through uo mighty machine.
It abide- ill a will, an ressed in the voice of a
man. It is subject to prayer; and it is exercised in
.God in Christ disclosed his sympathy as he >rth his
power to rescue imperiled men. He is a merciful Mediator, touched with a feeling of our infirmities, tempted in all points and tender with those who are tried.
The pity of the I
To those that fear his name, Is such as tender parents feci ;
He knows our feeble frame.
And there is no man contending against the storms of life, and no man bowing his shoulders to the bur- dens of poverty or d and no man sweating blood in an agony of prayer for deliverance, that may not come, that may not have the assurance of divine sym- pathy in Jesus Chr
The prophets of the Old Testament were chiefly reformers. They arose to rebuke corruption in gov- ernment, hypocrisy in religion, and uncleanness in individual lite. They uttered protest against the op- pression.^ of power and the cruelties of man to man ; and they came with a whip for the horse and a bridle
300 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
for the ass and a rod for the fool. Nevertheless they came with a message of mercy and love and forgive- ness for the penitent. It is not John, but David who says, " The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his right- eousness unto children's children, to such as keep bis covenant and to those that remember his command- ments to do them." It is not Matthew, but Isaiah who calls the wicked to forsake their ways and return unto the Lord, and assures them of mercy and pa- abundant and free. It is not Paul, but Jeremiah who says, " Oh that my head were waters and mine i
fountain of tear-, that I might weep day and Qlght
for the slain of the daughter of my people." The God who slew famous kings, Og, king of Bashan, and Sihon. king of the Amorites, is a God of compassion : for his mercy endureth forever. But the highest reach of might and of mercy is shown in Jesus Christ; and these qualiti led in the miracle
on the st ' hovah wills and works according to
the good ph asure of his will.
The disclosure of divine power and c< mpassion in the plenitude of nditioned absolutely
Upon shipwreck D the hazard of the dearest
things in life, but somehow it does depend in on scions need. If from seme steadfast cliff, beetling above the .stroke of the fiercest wave, these men had watched the storm, wdiat would they have cared whether it raged in fury or sank in repose? But when they were adrift and helpless, spent and despair- the Master's majestic words, ''Peace, be still," and the ensuing calm, marked an epoch in their ex- perience. In tlie man who stood before them as their teacher and familiar friend they saw not the full measure of divine character, but the outshining of a divinity which ruled the forces of nature with a word ; ami out of their disaster they came into a nobler con- ception of God in Christ
GODHOOD IN CHRIST 301
They that are whole call not a physician ; and they that are safe seek not a saviour. It is written : u I spake unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou saidst, I will not hear.1' If a man has ridden perpetually on the crest of the wave, and has never felt the shock of a storm ; if he has never yielded to temptation and infirmity, and has never turned aside from the path of righteousness, what does he care for the friendship < )ne who rules the storm, and who, tempted in all ssible points, is moved with a feeling of human in- firmity, and brought into sympathy with the helpless and the wayward? But when
He has been to the funeral of earthly hopes,
d entombed them one by one; And then alone by the cold hearthstone wooed the midnight gloom ;
when he has felt the burden of guilt, and the impos- sibility of mastering the forces that are bearing him
lu no voice is so sweet as that which says, "Peace
till."
Before such a disclosure nun are swept with a sense of am Lzement and awe. Moses, the illustrious cham- pion of righteousness, trembled before the burning bush, and durst not behold. Later, at Sinai, so terrible tiic sight that he said, ll 1 exceedingly fear and quake." Cons the divine presence at Bethel,
Jacob exclaimed, "How dreadful is this place.'' Measuring himself by human standards, Job gloried in his own perfections, and challenged Jehovah to an argument, that the mysteries of providence in human rin- might be disclosed. But when in the end red, Job was utterly abashed, and said, "I e heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I abhor mvself, and repent in dust and ashes." In his earlier life Peter was not noted for his humility. He rather boasted of his excellence as a disciple. 'But there on the lake
2 A
3<D2 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
shore, as Godhood flashed out in the miraculous draught of fishes, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." And here before the outshining of divine power, the men marveled, "What manner of man is this?"
Many a soul, awakened to the importance of salva- tion, has been oppressed with a sense of unworthiness and has reflected, " What am I, that God should care for me ? I am nothing, and worse than nothing be- fore him. My sins have been many and grievous, and I have no claim upon his mercy." But what sort of a God is it who doles out mercy according to merit? vSometinies a weak and witless woman, whose husband has stumbled upon a little money and bought a house on a fashionable street, under- takes t<> put on airs, and she thinks she cannot afford to associate with her old friends in the humbler walks of y\i'c. Probably she cannot, for she is not secure in her new place ; but the true aristocracy have no fear of losing caste. The God disclosed in Christ, whose soft voice outsounded the roar of the storm, can afford to help even me. He cares for sparrows, and not one of them falls to the ground unnoticed. u Fear ye not, therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows. " This he said to the multitude as well' as to the disciples, and he demonstrated his care by his actions. He allowed publicans and sin- ners to draw near unto him, and when his conduct was questioned, he said he came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The stream of his compassion flowed toward' the needy ; and he folded back the veil and disclosed more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents, than over ninety and nine unsinning souls. He awoke from needed sleep at the cry of distress, and he exercised his power to dispel torturing fear. He showed him- self always the helper of the helpless, merciful and gracious.
GODHOOD IN CHRIST 303
And after all, helpfulness is the supreme office of God in Christ; as it is written : "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Viewed in their best estate, as the offspring of piety and health and culture, as moral and upright and saintly, men are weak and needy. They are disappointed, over- thrown, broken upon the wheel, plunged into tor- ments, baptized in blood ; and gentle spirits on the rack of pain grow faint or fierce, and pray and curse by turns. Under the best conditions life is full of besetment and ' agony, and each heart has its own burden and its own bitterness. Lower down in the scale, where ignorance and squalor and sin prevail, the agony augments, and the victims of wretchedness struggle on in the failing fight, until at last with every aspiration crushed, and
With not a trace upon the page, From desperate youth to loathsome age, But of sin and sorrow, wrong and chance, And the cruel blight of ignorance,
they drop down and pass out of sight. The march of mankind is undertoned with minor chords. Dumb enough have been shed to make an ocean. And in comparison with these things the fiercest storm that ever swept down from the heights of Hermon becomes feeble and insignificant. But to this host of helpless ones, drenched, drooping, and ready to des- pair, there is revealed a God of compassion, whose voice is omnipotent. He conies not in the bush that burns with fire and strikes terror to the stoutest heart, nor yet in the majesty which no man can see and live; he speaks not in the tones which once shook the earth and also the heavens, and echoed in the thunder of the skies. But he comes in Jesus Christ, who walks and talks with men, who sleeps on a pil- low as a man, who awakes as a man, and with the voice of a man speaks as God the potent words
304 TIIK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
which rule the storm. The high hills are a refuge for the wild j ad the n the conies.
: i- the refilge of his saints, When Btorma of sharp distress invade ; ir complaints,
lid him present with his aid.
The divine admin i on earth is based upon
the : e, the help :ilt of men.
They are the workmanship of divine hands, the ob-
■ I. Christ ha- !><■< q anointed of
the Spirit to heal broken to bring deliverance
ptives and 1 to the blind, to
• liberty them that are I f the adversary,
to proclaim the tin Lord. The
same yesterday, I r, he still says,
me unto me, all ye th . a and are b
laden, and I will
\v. P. Walk] >rn in Ja inty, Va., May 14,
ill-, Gather d> in^ when he w.i^ eleven years old, lie
to in.inho.nl wit! tion. He was married to
Miss Mary Jane McClung, March 9, 185$; was baptized by
• the Mount Pleasant Chun h in
: w.is li< ensed to preach
Man hi: rdained ' He was
at Alleghany College in the session 1 *
and of the follow 1: . till it u.is dosed by tin- war. From
bed in the ette,
and Greenbrier. In 1866 he t<»uk charge of the church at
Williamstown, on the Ohio River. He spent the year 1876 as
In May, 1877, he took charj 1
mission work in Huntington, 1 of the
church which grew <«ut of his labors. The degree of i». i>. was
I upon him by tin University in 1889. He is
highly esteemed and has been frequently honored by hi^
brethren in West Virginia.
U p \\
I
•
3%
XXVII
ABANDONED OF THE LORD
BY \V. r. WALKER, D. D.
" Ephraim is joined to idols : let him alone." Hosea 4 : 17.
MAX is the crowning work of creation. He is the Lost and noblest work of God. He alone is endowed with intelligence. He can think, reason, and feel. God placed him in authority. He is to have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over every living thing that creeps upon the earth. And just in proportion to his exalted position are his privileges and responsibilities. He IS made the arbiter of his own destiny. Good and evil, life and death, are set before him, with the power of choice.
2. lint he is not left to himself in this matter. His Maker wishes him well and follows him up with invi- tations and incentives to choose that which is good. He communicates with him, revealing his will and offering to him his blessing, guaranteeing support in time of need, and protection in time of danger. He even seeks his companionship. In the beginning God walked with man in the garden of Eden.
But all this may be lost. Man may resent the approaches of his Maker until he, offended, may turn away and leave him to himself. Ephraim was favored with every opportunity of blessing. He was set before his brother by the blessing of his grand- father, Jacob, and subsequently his tribe gained prom- inence in Israel by the favor of God. But after cen-
305
306 the southern baptist pulpit
turies of blessing and a^es of opportunities, we hear his sad doom, in the words of the text, 4i Ephraitn is joined to idols: let him alone." I I«»w sadly these words fall on our ears. May the Lord help us to learn profitable lessons from them. For this purpose they are written in the book of God.
I. god is SEEKING man's BEST INTERESTS.
Man has never been left wholly t<> himself. Tlis Maker has followed him even into the depths of sin, commending his love toward him, that while he was yet a sinner Chri>t died for him. In ever) age of the world, in one way <>r another, he has kept open a way of communication with our race. Some- times these communications were intermittent, but they did not wholly cease. To the glory of his name
be it said, as the ages passed, they became more fre- quent and more distinct, until now we are blessed witli the abiding revelation of the "glorious g of the blessed God." But what means all this?
What good is intended to man ?
i. // is to save kirn. The salvation of man was
not an after-thought, but it was an after-act. God, foreseeing the entrance of sin into the world and the consequent fall of man, prepared beforehand the plan of salvation, and in the fullness of time all the details of that plan were wrought out. But this scheme of redemption must de;d with men as individuals, and must be addressed to each one through the intellect and the affections, leaving the matter of choice with us. There is no coercion in matters of religion. God's revelation to man is sufficient to convince his judgment, conquer his will, and win his love. These obtained, his salvation is secured. This salvation implies the redemption of the whole man, body, soul, and spirit It saves from sin. from the love of sin, from the stain of sin, from the consequences of sin, and from mortality. Moreover, it changes the indi-
ABANDONED OF THE LORD T>°7
vidual from an enemy to a friend, from an alien to a citizen, and to fellowship with God. God hath set apart him that is godly for himself. Blessed fellow- ship— blessed results of God's salvation.
2. // is to make man better. It is true that God is glorified in the salvation of men and for his name's sake, he saves them. But it is true also, that his love for man and desire for his welfare runs through the whole scheme of redemption. God so loved the world that he gave his Son to save it. The salvation of man necessarily involves the betterment of his condition. Man was male pure, in the likeness of his Maker. This likeness he lost by sin, and he be- came evil. Hence, salvation means an utter change in his mind and heart and life. For this purpose, God would put his law in his mind, his grace in his heart, and his spirit in his life. An opposer has sneeringly said: "The religion of the ortho- dox is absurd, in that it takes the miserable sinner from a life of vice and shame, an 1 gives him an im- mediate pass to heaven." This is not a correct state- ment of the case. It is true that Christ came to save sinners, but he did not come to save them in their sins, but to save them from their sins. The sinner is invited to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, with the offer of regeneration and a new nature. Man must have this change of his nature before he can be saved ; indeed this is his salvation. Thus, in the salvation of man, he is made better as well as happier.
3. // is that he may do good to others. God said to Abraham, I will bless thee, and thou shalt be a bless- ing. Paul siid, the grace of God which was be- stowed upon me was not in vain. The reason given is, that he labored abundantly. Just as soon as a man is brought over to the Lord's side, he is taken into partnership. M For we are laborers together with God." Converted men are made messengers of God,
308 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
with the word of life to their fellow-men. They are Christ's witness to the saving power of the gospel.
So it is, that God follows men up with his word, with his providence, with his Spirit, and with the per- sistent warnings and pleadings of his people, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
After all this, there are still those who, like Eph- raim, not knowing that the goodness of God leads to repentance, by hardness and impenitence of heart, treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Holy Spirit, forbid that any of us should do so ! But if we would escape, we must cease our oppo- sition and yield to God, lest he say, lie is joined to his sins; let him alone Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, lest he leave you to your file.
But we want to inquire further as to how God urges his claims upon men. What means does he use? Where and how is he speaking to us?
i. /;/ the Bible. The Bible is God's plainest and fullest revelation to man. In it he reveals to us his will, our true condition, our destiny, and everything essential for improving our condition. Prom the be- ginning to the end it abounds in warning, in instruc- tion, in invitations, and in promises. It is so plain that wayfaring men, though fools, need not err therein. It is wonderful how God has followed man with the Bible. It was given in olden time by holy men as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And notwithstanding it has been hated and resisted in every age, and every device that wicked men and demons could invent has been used for its destruction, yet it is in the world, a standing protest against the sins of men and a perpetual offer of mercy and par- don to any who will accept it. In these later days it is being multiplied and cheapened until it can be had in any home wdiere it is wanted. Through it
ABANDONED OF THE LORD 309
the world's Redeemer knocks at the door of every heart asking admittance. After the gift of his Son and the Holy Spirit, it is God's best gift to man. It perpetuates truth and light in the world. By the truth we may be made free, and by the light we may walk in the ways of God.
2. But he speaks to men by his living ministry. It has ever been so ; the patriarchs were made ministers of God to their families. Thus a whole tribe was se- lected in Israel and made to minister in holy things. And still in this latest and best of the dispensations, God has selected whom he would then and there, and put them into this work. He put within them the power of an endless life, put in their hearts a warm love for truth and righteousness and an unconquer- able zeal for the salvation of men, impelled by which they go everywhere preaching the word. Thus are these ceaseless agencies always urging men to be saved.
3. God speaks to men in providence, God made all things and he has not resigned his right to control them, but is ordering them in the interest of man- kind, not to supply temporal wants only, but to win men's hearts and save their souls as well. In the effort to win the Jews, Jesus did not leave them with his word alone, but appealed also to his works. He had greater witness than that of John, even the works which he did. It was his works that left the Jews without excuse. Paul declared that God left us not without witness, in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Every re- turning season, with its fruit and food supply, is God\ testimony to his goodness to man and his invi- tation to submission and trust.
4. By the Holy Spirit. All of the agencies, power- ful though they be, would not avail without the agency of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has always
3IO TIIK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
been interested in men. Patriarchs and prophets were subjects of his care and guidance. His restrain- ing influence was felt by the wicked in the days of Noah, and his helpful presence was with the tribes of Israel until he was grieved away by their wickedness. But we live in the special dispensation of the Spirit. ( iod, in speaking of the reign of Messiah by the prophet Ezekiel, says : A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you a heart of flesh." This is one of the u ex- ceeding great and precious promises'1 by which we may be partakers of the divine nature. We are help- in <»ur fallen nature, and all of the me. ins used to win us from sin will fail without the Spirit; but with his aid we can turn to God. This blessed Spirit is ever present to use the word of (rod, his provi- dence, and his ministry, making them, each of them or all of them, his power unto salvation.
So then we are kft without excuse. Bvery pro- vision has been made. The plan of salvation is
u finished, " the way of life his been made plain, the
dangers of sin have been pointed out, and the heart has b-.cn pressed by the claims of < - infinite
love an 1 the invitations of the Spirit. Who can,
who will dare continue to resist all of these? Cod
calls upon the heavens to witness man's irrational
course. i- Hear, < > heavens, and give ear, < I earth : I
have nourished and brought Up children, and they
have rebelled against me, The ox knoweth his
owner, and the ass his master's crib : but Israel doth
not know, my people doth not consider. Ah, sinful
nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil- doers, children that are corrupters: they have for- saken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of iel unto anger, they are gone away backward." Such are the provoking circumstances under which divine love is forced to withdraw these saviim inllu-
ABANDONED OF THE LORD 311
ences and leave man to himself. Wretched condi- tion, who can endure it? Who must endure it? uHe that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall be destroyed, and that without remedy. " I^et Ephraim alone; he is joined to his idols. III. Let him alone — what does it mean t The dan- to US IS, that we shall not fully understand this, nor appreciate what of it we may understand.
1. Afnn left to himself. I Ee is left with the accumu- lated guilt ota lifetime of sin, helpless in Ids depraved nature, loving darkness rather than light, because his deeds are evil. Men may not realize this while in
life and engaged in sin, but it is a reality, and the time will come when it will be felt There is noth- ing m<> 1 fill than for a man to be left to him- self He does not need to be punished. All the nec- f penalty lor his sins are in him. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall lie also reap. Tiie elements action are in him. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. rly helpless and hopeless he
2. /// the hands of Satan. There is no middle ground. Every man b either in the hands of G >d
LS in the hand, of Satan. The Jews claimed to be the see 1 of Abraham, but. instead they were not
un, but they had forsaken his teaching; and so they were of their father the devil, and the C\-^U of their father they would per- sist in doing.
In this slavery the mind is blinded, that truth can- not a. The affections are perverted that the truth is hate 1, and the will is paralyzed that it cannot >nly relief is in God. u If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. n But to be abandoned of the Lord is to remain the victim of Satan — led or driven to deeds of wicked- ness while in this world and to become the victim of fiendish hate in the world to come. This condition
312 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
of things is not only taught in the Bible, but it is verified in the scenes of every-day life. Note the deeds of men and women as they occur day by day, and you will see signs of a spirit that is worse than human — it is devilish. It is unnatural, inhuman ; and there is no accounting for it except upon the supposition that they are abandoned of the law and have become captives to Satan. Crimes are committed which promise no present or prospective good to the perpe- trator; there is absolutely nothing to actuate but the love of sin. God forbid that any who hears this warn- ing should persist in the downward way till too late.
i. There is a sin unto death. " \i we sin willfully after that we have received a knowledge of the truth, there remained] no more sacrifice for sin, but a cer- tain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indigna- tion which shall devour the adversaries." Blasphc my against the Holy Spirit has no forgiveness neither in this world nor in the world to come. We may not be able to explain these statements to those who are disposed to quibble, but the facts remain. They stand out as signals of danger, and my business and yours is to heed them and avoid the wreck. They are not put in the Bible to amuse the curious, but they are there for the warning and safety of all who honestly seek for life and immortality.
2. How may we know the approach of danger? When the instructions, warnings, and invitations of God have come to us and have been unheeded, we may know that danger is nigh. Everv opportunity given leaves one less to be improved. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. When all of the means appointed of God have been employed, the appeals of his messengers, the lessons of his providence, and the warnings of the Holy Spirit, when these have been multiplied and unheeded, know that the end is nigh.
ABANDONED OF THE LORD 313
3. A word to all. Unsaved friend, the door of mercy is still open, the invitations of grace are still extended. Yon may, perhaps, feel it in your heart. If so, yield, accept, and be saved. This may be the last opportunity. O Holy Spirit, restrain reluctant hearts.
Brethren and sisters, you know something of what yon have escaped through grace, and of what you have obtained through Christ. Now you are the Lord's, and he will never forsake you. He will never say of you, "Let Jii))i alone." But his infinite store of bless- ing and glory b open to you, and it shall not be shut at all, by day or by night, blessed be his holy name.
And so, through all the coming days,
Thy love shall fail me never, And be the theme of all my praise
Within thy house forever.
2b
xxvin
Tin. mitv <>i- Tin: : r \rnr
" I • : he • I]
THIS simpl is the k
tand tli l] man. Taken all the >und,
- baa not ■ su] I ider wh it hi I [e
it he
r. YOU 1
think that tlr
niotL The d of the K and the
in d< by the infinite patient
I le us I
d which bel i this
th( Nile in th 3 lived. Moses could write. I tn< an that he un : the
]>• nmanship, Thi inent even fora great man in fa Homer, the
father of Greek Literature, lived twohundi
n't-, r Moses, and yet he could not write his name Not until three hundred years after the death of the blind bai
writing, being preserved from oblivion by the trav- eling singers, an i the Minne- urope, th< fhtingales of the Middle A who went about sin love, joy, and ■x. The Egyptians were well versed ah
i
David M. Ramsey is a native of Greenville County, S. C, an alumnus of Richmond College, Richmond, Ya., and a full graduate of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. During his last year at the seminary, and for a few months after finishing his course, he was the pastor of (ilens Creek and Hillsboro churches in Woodford County, Kentucky. On Feb- ruary 9, 1888, Mr. Ramsey was married to Miss Mary R. Wood- folk, of Versailles, Ky. In May, of the same year, he became the pastor of the Tuscaloosa Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa, Ala., which he resigned in the summer of 1892 to accept a call to the Citadel Square Baptist Church of Charleston, S. C, entering upon his duties Oct. 1, 1892, where he still labors. Mr. Ramsey is a genial and cultured gentleman, an effective speaker, and a successful pastor.
THE SUBLIMITY OF THE LIFE OF FAITH 315
mathematics. The annual overflow of the Nile making it necessary to re-survey their lands fre- quently, occasioned practical use for this kind of knowledge. The pyramid of Cheops was a thou- sand years old in Moses' day and is still standing. Likewise the Egyptians were familiar with the science of medicine. If you have treated yourself to the reading of Mr. George Ebers' beautiful and instructive story, " Uarda," you have been impressed with the skill of their medical men. In this early day they had learned the practice of dentistry. Re- cently a tooth has been found in the mouth of a mummy that was well plugged and in a good state of preservation. Onr boasted civilization is a stranger to their marvelous skill in the art of em- balming the dead. They also knew something of chemistry and mineralogy for they worked their mines successfully. As for astronomy, our scholars are still quoting those of the Nile as authority.
Now, remember that a young man versed in this knowledge, and what is more, with a keen and re- fined taste to enjoy it all, with a fondness for such charmingly congenial society and with high social position, turned his back on all of it. He perhaps threw away a crown that he might be a blessing to his fellow-men and blood kindred who were suffering serfs in this proud land. Contrast, I pray you, the brilliance of that career which might have been, with the hardship which he actually endured, and you understand in some measure what the record means which says that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
With this splendid career of Moses before us I wish to discuss the life of faith and try to get you to see its sublimity.
I. Consider first the nature of the life of faith.
1. It is an unselfish life. Unless the forces are
316 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
strongly counteracted, the natural tendency is for us to become intensely selfish in this world. The struggle for existence, in this grinding life, where all business is conducted on the quite question- able principle of the semi-savage law of competi- tion, has the effect of paralyzing our sympathy and stanching the flow of the milk of human kindness. If you do not look above and beyond your daily work you will surely and speedily become coldly selfish. The man who cares nothing lor the eagle Sailing in God's deep blue heavens but thinks only of the eagle on the dollar he is grasping, will have no high and holy impulses. The woman who sees only the diamond flashing which decorates the 1 ol the devotee of fashion in the gay and festive hall, and is blind to the diamond tears sparkling in the <. yes of hungry orphans, will soon and surely shut from her heart all love for God and all sympathy lor her fel- low-beings. There is nothing that wi ans onr hearts away from sordid selfishness like the life of faith.
Faith made a man of Moses. When he was forty years old, having arrived at the years of manhood, he walked abroad in the land of Egypt He heard the groans of his suffering brothers, while the taskmaster's whip was falling heavily on the backs of Abraham's children who were attempting the impossible task of making brick without straw. His blood tingled with the Bush of righteous indignation. He arose to deliver the children of promise. But at present he is doomed to disappointment. Too impulsive by half he slays the offending Egyptian and tries to conceal the body in the sand. The next day he begins his work for his people again when two of his brethren are hav- ing a difficulty. He learns that they know his awful secret. He must fly for safety. What the slave knows to-day the taskmaster will know to-morrow, and the authorities the following day. The truth was the people were not ready to be delivered. They misun-
THE SUBLIMITY OF THE LIFE OF FAITH 317
dei stood Moses' good intentions. Stephen said in his speech that Muses supposed that they would have understood that God by his hand would deliver them. But it took forty years more to prepare the people, and that period of patient waiting 111 exile in the wilderness was not lost on Moses. You may re- member Goethe's words : " Talent develops itself in solitude; character in the stream of life."
How will you explain such a life as that which Moses lived? It must be very puzzling to the men of the world. Is it fanaticism ? Some have called Paul a fanatic, but I am not aware that any one lias this charge against conservative Moses. He is not a crank, A crank is one who does not regulate his acts by any well-defined principle, but is erratic and chaotic in his conduct. Men of the world, if you had seen Dr. Judson in Burma, toiling for weary years without converts, \ou might have thought him a fanatic. If you had seen him toiling on after he had laid Ann Hasseltine, the faithful wife, under the Hopia tree, near the murmuring sea ; toiling on after
Boardman had fallen; toiling on when the brethren in America had become despondent and were saying that there was no use trying any longer to save
Burma, and had heard him say with Pauline faith: "Wait twenty years, brethren, and you shall hear
from Burma again;'1 would you not have exclaimed, No fanatic this, no crank here, but a hero of faith in the Son of God ?
M iny years ago, now, there was born in that South Carolina city which bathes her feet in the sea, a young man of excellent and wealthy parentage. The young man could have been a princely merchant. Looking about him he saw a crying need, and said that if God spared his life he would give to a great denomination a seminary wherein to educate its sons for the ministry. To this end he toiled and prayed, but when his hopes and plans were about to ripen
31S TnK SOUTHERN baptist tulpit
into blessed fruition the country was scourged and devastated. The smoke and dust of battle having cleared away, he took time only to wipe his eyes to look on the ruin that had been wrought, and went to work again. It is a story full of pathos and hero- ism, but never mind about the details. When that shattered man lay down to rest on the sunnv slopes of Prance, no man said that his life had been a failure. 'Die othei day while riding on a street ear in the city of Louisville, a stranger asked, k> What buildings are these?" as he pointed to tile proudest structures in that beautiful city on the Ohio. I hardly heard the answer. I was thinking of Tas. P. Boyce and his heroic struggles. It is fitting that in Louisville's city of the dead should stand t<> his memory a plain gran- nite shaft bearing this simple inscription: "In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust" Some such man as this Moses. These three, Moses, Judson. Boyce, be- came synonyms of unselfishness be faith in <
2. Again, the life of faith is unworldly. I am not
now using the word unworldly in any technical or
theological sense. It is used as an artist might Use it.
By unworldliness I mean freedom from entanglement with the visible world of sen How often have we felt some demand set up by the
soul for freedom from the binding, -ailing world of contact! What freedom and joyous release of the
soul have come to us sometimes when gazing out at
the stars in boundless space I At such hours we have felt immortality surging in our breast. So we have felt while looking at the broad expanse of the sea.
Break, break, break, On thy mid -ray stones, O & And I would that my tongue could utter The thoughts that arise in me.
Those who are gifted and well versed in higher mathematics, a science which contains truths inde-
THE SUBLIMITY OF THE LIFE OF FAITH 319
pendent of time and space, things which have no connection with Weight and quality, contemplating eternal principles and laws, have become entranced with rapturous delight with the sense of relief from the bondage of this material world. This is what I call the rapture of nnworldliness.
This is the great mission of music. A friend of mine who is a skilled pcrf»rmer on the violin and is blessed with an aesthetic soul, being approached by a young coxcomb and asked what he would charge to play tora "german," replied with calm indignation: i4Sir, I have never yet allowed my music to be tram- pled under foot." Music, that seraphic mystery, was never designed to be an incentive to sensible men and women to in ike a whirligig of their bodies. Music was made lor the soul. You remember that a great scientist said that he had no time to make
money. That statement is almost incredible to this
utilitarian age, but it is the truest unworldliness.
Brethren, haw you observed the Signs of the times? This is not a spiritual age in which we live. It is not an age of great port-. The work of the seer is below par. There is a widespread materialism abroad that is positively alarming. It threatens to turn Christian ess back toward paganism. There has been an
effort to introduce into this country the barbarous Spanish bull fight. The greatest hero among us, it would seem, is a "slugger." The most p >pular form of philosophy is materialistic evolution. In some quarters there has been a great effort made to ignore the Christian Sunday. All this means something, and it is not wise to try to blink the fact. Men's morals are much in accord with their thinking. History shows that life follows doctrine as night tracks the day. This gross worldliness is liable to become de- structive of morality. Seed sown in this generation will ripen in the next. The influence of Lucretius' philosophy in Rome on the morals of the people
320 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST TULriT
may be seen to-day in the frescoing on the walls of the exhumed buildings of Pompeii. France wrote over her cemetery gates, " Death is an eternal sleep!" and soon her streets were flowing with blood. The sovereign remedy for these evils of worldliness is the life of iaith such as Christ offers,
II. Turn now to see the reasons for choosing the life of faith.
i. The principle of faith adds a new sense to the soul. It gives the power of seeing the unseen. It is plainly stated tli u the Christian walks by faith and not by sight Paith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. This seeing the
invisible is a paradox ; worse still, if there is nothing
but this material world, the statement is sheer non-
Believing in the invisible may seem to be credulity, but it is good sense and sound reason, We
believe in the existence of many things which, we
have n>»t seen. The invention of the microscope has opened up a new world as large BS that one Columbus discovered. We now talk of our neigh- bors' animalcuke and microbes with great familiar- ity, which reside in a thimbleful of ditch water; but did vim ever see a microbe? You never will with
your natural eye; -till yon believe that it exists. You act in accordance with this belief. Yet when asked to believe in the supernatural and spiritual world you reply that you are an agnostic, and that by the very laws oi your mind you cannot belie\e in what cannot be demonstrated. You make yourself ridiculous, according to my thinking, when you laugh at the simple faith of my sister and then readily ac- cept so much else that you do not know. "But," you reply, "scientific men who have fitted them- selves for it have taken the appropriate instruments and have seen all these objects in this microscopic world." "Yes," I reply, "and spiritual men fitted for seeing have taken this instrument, the word of
THE SUBLIMITY OF THE LIFE OF FAITH 321
God, and have looked straight through it into the spiritual world and seen such things as they have not the power to fully relate." Consciousness is as -canine and as reliable a source of information as sense-perception. I believe the philosophers have at last about agreed to that, and whether they have or not I know that it is so. What I have felt I know. When old Thomas Cranmer was being led to the stake, t<> die lor his faith, some one asked him to re- peat a passage of Scripture upon which he reposed his faith in Jesus Christ. The old man's memory proving treacherous at the moment he could not do SO. "What," -aid the other, "dying lor your re- ligion, and still you cannot give me one passage which comforts you in such an hour!" "Yes," replied the martyr, "dying lor it, but though my memory fails me, I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Saviour of my soul." ll How do you know it?" he was asked. Tremblingly laying his hand on hi plied, "1 fe I it here, sir."
2. Again, the choosing of the life of faith is HI becan>e it gives steadiness of nerve and confidence amid earth's hardship . to suffer witli
people of God, and we read that he endured, i know the rest How well he endured is a mat- ter of imperishable history. The :1 fortitude of the Christian has ever been a source of surprise to the uninitiated. He stands serene in the wildest storm of trial. The moral sublimity of his conduct in ad- sity is not due to pagan .stoicism but is normal, cheerful, and healthful. Poor and oppressed, he talks calmly unseen p . to which he will fall heir not many days hence, when his right to hold a wing shall be forevermore un- tied Homeless, he | home in a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is G I. Afflicted sorely, he exclaims: Though he slav me, yet will I trust him. Bereaved, he meekly says:
322 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Moses endured as seeing him who is invisible and thousands have done the same and others will until the ransomed of God shall be gathered to mansions in the skies.
Yes, brethren, we have a noble heritage in our Christian biographies. I am all admiration for the heroes of the Cross and I am persuaded that we do not make enough of these. We might learn a lesson from secular orators and writers, if we prefer to take them as examples rather than to imitate the author of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. All the way along through our history we can find scores of whom the world was not worthy.
When Charles Cotesworth Pinckney said to Talley- rand at the Court of France, on refusing to promise money to settle a difficulty between this country and France : "War be it then ! Millions for defense, sir, but not one cent for tribute," he made a noble speech for which he has been sufficiently praised ; but a nobler one far was that made by a Baptist preacher who, having been imprisoned for preaching and being offered his freedom if he would promise to desist from preaching, exclaimed : " I will lie here in this dun- geon till the moss grows over my eyes before I will make such a promise!"
3. And too, when the Christian comes to die it is in the fullness of the power of this sustaining faith. Paul's immortal words as he stood in the shadow of death, come to your mind. The hysterical fickleness of the dying sinner is not characteristic of the Chris- tian. Ofttimes Christians have passed away with rap- turous joy. Have you considered the departure of our brother Stephen? It was a thrilling scene. He saw the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father. WThile praying for his enemies in almost the very words of his dying Lord, amid an avalanche of stones, he fell asleep.
THE SUBLIMITY OF THE LIFE OF FAITH 323
Ah, brethren, I know that this invisible One is a reality in this present world and that he has a power that may be ours. The time is and will ever be when the support of this invisible arm is needed — in life, in death, at the bar of God. Oh, that the sons of men would call upon him while he is near and seek him while he may be found !
XXIX
Tin- FAITHFULNESS <>!•' GOD1 . . i' i> , 1 1 . i>. . ii Guthfc] i i
GOD is true 1 1 are. In all
his relations t<> his people he is faithful No r trusted him in vain. We find this doctrii i In his word. He
evealed him I inse faith-
s is an essentia] part i tacter, and his
people must know that he is faithful in order that they may trust him. He is not like th of the
heathen, capricious and untrustworthy, but is the same yesterday and to-day and "It is ini-
While v pt this doctrine as most reasonable
and true, we do not alwa :e that it is tmc for
us. He is our God. \V ndine on him for
daily grace. I [e h is m it and
ous promises to us. Will he do for us aD th has promised in his woi - Can we, in our daily
trials, lean with sweet assurance on his word and know that it is as linn as the everlasting hills? theory is good, but | 1 knowledge is betl
It is not always easy to believe that God is faithful.
Sometimes we arc inclined to charge him with folly.
Our faith is sorely tried; our bedimmed with
and we cannot see our Lord ; our cars arc dis-
1 EYeached in \ ., D. C, during the Jubilee Session of the
Southern i avention.
[ohn Prii ras born in Scotland County, M
I [e wa I in | »i i
:n . La < .!!• Southern I
Seminar) . and I Wa pastor of the
lisville, I. and of the
Third Baptist Church, Si President of Willi im Jewel l
having ahead) been honored with the He is .1
man of broad scholarship, and 1- held in high 1 b) hi^
brethren.
THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD 325
traded with the noises of the world, and we cannot hear bis word. He has spoken to us. He is not far from ns. Yes, 3 es ; but we are confused ; we Stag- ger; we fill. This is not what we expected. We ly disappointed. How can we harmonize this with the word of promise? Hitter disappointments for the time obscure the faithfulness of God.
But we must believe that he IS true. Our very souls depend on his faithfulness. What shall we do if he fail us? To whom shall we go? In whom shall we trust? He has the w ternal life. If
he is unfaithful, then there is no Cod. He that conies to God must believe that he is, and that h the rewardei of those that diligently seek him. We may not be able to reconcile our circumstances with his promises, but we cannot, on th >unt, beli<
that he is unfaithful. We will wait for more light
In his .,\vn go >d time he will show us that he his not
deceived US nor forsaken US. He knows that our
a is based on his faithfulness, and he will not dis-
oint us. It may seem that he has forsaken as for a -mall moment, hut he will so.ni gather us with ever- lasting mercies Clouds obscure his face — vapors thai his breath will drive away. But if mountains between him and us, even these mighty • his almighty word. His people shall all know that fa ithful God, keeping
his word unto a thousand generations.
Let I ways in which ( rod
has shown his faithfulness. It is 1 ry that you
shou'al know that "He is faithful that promised." li has given the world a record of his faithfuln<
The nnwiitt 1, nature, is a Mire testi-
m my, "The heavens declare the glory of God'1 —
and also declare his faithfulness. It is night now. The sun has gone down, and darkness is over the earth. But the morning will come and drive the darkness away. How Mire is the rising of the sun?
2 c
326 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
You have already planned your work for tomorrow. You will lie down to-night in perfect confidence of the coming day. May not God forget to send the sun? You can trust him for the morrow, u0 ye of little faith M ! why can you not trust him for spiritual li^ht~J It is springtime now. Was it delayed a lit- tle? Were you afraid that winter would never I his grasp on the earth? God did r. I to send
us the seed-time Men are now turning over the soil, and committing the seed to it in faith. They believe
that nature will do h< r v. ■nfideiitly expect
ipa harvest The seed will not fail, bnt the germ of life will spring up and grow and bear grain of its
own kind. Cod giveth it a body even as it pl< him, and to each seed a body of its own. He has e*- pressed his faithfulness in the laws of nature. Men sow their seed in faith and hope, and thus bear wit- to his faithfulness ' shame on them ! the) do not look up to the faithful God that made the>e uner- ring laws of nature. Read his record aright, and vmi
will not fail to see that he has given ever) creature good reason for trusting his word
Th( • Qother record, the written word. The
witness of natun ng and convincing to those
who will receive it. But wicked men have ever per- sisted in excluding ( m his world. They will not real his unwritten and inarticulate word So he- added his Spoken word, and then wrote it down, that all might be without I K re it is, the word of the Lord which endure- forever. He began thou- sands of years ago to make this record, and added to it from generation to generation. It is a solemn thing to make promises, especially to those that will and must depend on them. It is more solemn to make promises that will go down from generation to generation. But how very solemn to write down the promises in plain words. Men not only read them, but also look for their fulfillment God promised this.
THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD 327
Has he done it? Has he kept his word? Times change. Customs change. Nations come and go. Many things that were written centuries ago are foolishness now. How many religions have come to n mght ! How many systems of philosophy have per- ished ! How many strongholds of unbelief have been Leveled by the hand of time !
But (rod was not afraid to write a hook. He knew the end from the beginning. Here is his signature. Let his adversaries read it, and bring in their indict- ment. They are indeed even now — as for ages past — attacking ,. the record. Destructive criticism is working hard to destroy the foundations of the Old Testament; fear not. The old Hook is a record of aithfulness, and criticism will dash itself into a thousand fragments against the impregnable rock.
Let men use pick and spade, and dig up the records of the past ; let tluin bring to light the laws and Customs and gods of the long-buried nations; let
them trace the course of history and disclose the
Lvironment" of the word in every age; the rec- ord will not suffer, but will shine the brighter, and we shall see more clearly than ever that "God is faithful." "AH Aesli i- as grass, and all the glory thereof as the flow iss. Tl withereth,
and tiie flower falleth : but the word of the I^ord abideth forever."
There is a peculiarity about the written record of
';> faithfulness: The promise of a Redeemer. Sin entered tiiis fair world, then sorrow came, and
despair would have followed had not God in his
mercy promised a deliverer. In the garden where ma:. him the promise of victory
over the evil one. When the transgressor left that
LUtiful home and went out into the thorny world, lie carried this sweet promise with him, the only con-
Ltion of the sinful race. As time went on the promise was renewed. The call of Abraham was a
328 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
forward step, a pledge that God had not forgotten his word. "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Moses was a nearer approach. God said, through Moses, "A prophet like unto me shall the Lord your God raise up unto you." In David the promise was repeated. And so on till the last prophet of the old dispensation spoke plainly of the coming of the Lord. In due time Jesus Christ came to save his people from their sins. He is the fulfillment of all of God's promises of deliverance. Some think that God is slack in his promise-; but he is not; he is long-suffering, a faithful God, keeping his covenant with the children of men. Now that we have Christ, how can we ever doubt the word of our Heavenly Father ?
Let me mention one more witness to his faithful- ness. Every child of God li hath set his seal to this, that God is true." The record of the past is valua- ble. It is an indestructible monument of God's fidelity. But there is also an individual, experimen- tal, and spiritual witness in the heart of every Chris- tian. For many years you have had dealings with God. You have trusted him for his grace. When you believed in Jesus for the first time, you com- mitted yourself to him, and since that time you have been following him. He promised to be with you, to make his grace sufficient for you. How long have you walked with him ? Some of you are gray with age, and I know that you have been a long time in his service. Answer me ! Has he ever failed you ? Even when you feared and almost despaired, did he not verify his promise to you ? Has he not been the kindest and truest of masters ? Are you not more convinced than ever that he will do to trust? Expe- rience is an excellent teacher. We know best what we have learned through experience. You have heard and seen enough ; your soul is satisfied. Sup- pose all the servants of God could rise up now and
THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD 329
bear witness to his faithfulness, what a cloud of wit- nesses would fill the horizon. There would be no room left for doubters and unbelievers and adversaries of the Lord.
We have a faithful God. We can and do trust him. All our hope is in him. " Some trust in char- iots, and some in horses ; but we will make mention of the Lord our God." All that is dear to us we have committed to him, and we have the assurance in our hearts that he will never fail us.
1. We have committed our lives to Jiim. Once we thought that we could direct our own steps. But this self-trust brought us to confusion. It is not in man's power to direct his own steps. He is ignorant and weak and sinful. He does not know what is best for him, and he is not able to do all that he knows to be right. The sinful, unregenerate man is at sea without compass or chart, driven about by every wind, and is often finally dashed to pieces on the rocks of unbelief. As children need the guidance and pro- tection of a father, so do the children of men need the guidance and protection of their Heavenly Father. Worldly wisdom and prudence cannot take the place of faith in God. The Lord must guide us with his eye, because our eyes cannot see the way of love.
When we come to Jesus we turned over all our inter- ests to him, onr business, our families, life itself. Now we try to manage all our affairs as he directs. The life that we now live we live by faith in the Son of God, for he alone can guide us unto success. This enter- prise shall prosper, if he wills it. Our children shall come to usefulness and honor with his blessing. Once a dying man said to me, " I could die in peace if I did not have to leave my wife and these two little girls to the cruel fortunes of this wicked world." I said to him, " God reigns in this wicked world. He has promised to care for the widow and the orphan. Let us commit them to him." We prayed. Then,
330 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
smiling through his tears, lie said, M I can trust him. He will do what he has promised" His faith was not in vain. God cared for his wife and children better than he had ever cared for them. Will yon not fully commit yom whole life to him now? If your life has been a failure, von have not committed all your ways unto the Lord, but have leaned Upon your own understanding. Entrust all to him and trust him for all.
2. We have committed our souls to him* If life, with all its important concerns cannot be intrusted to human wisdom, ui course the immortal soul must find a higher and a safer guide. Failure in this life is bad enough — we mnst not fail in the life to come. ]i I faithful Saviour, lie cleanses
us from our sins, washes US in his own blood. Then he preserves us from the evil one during our earthly Lives. Your soul is in his keeping, Paul said, "I kn >w whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which 1 have committed unto him against that day." The apostle did not keep himself, — he could not, — but committed himself to the faithful Saviour. And this is salvation. We are saved now through faith in the vSoii of God, and through faith in him we shall b.- saved in the world to come.
Where is that land of blessed immortality, the home of the soul? Jesus knows. He is leading us to that happy place. We can trust him as we follow. If any one asks, "How do you kn»>w tint you are going to heaven?" we point to Jesus, uHe is the way, the truth, and the life." So when death comes to the Christian he can only say, "Into thy hands I com- mit my Spirit ! " With perfect confidence he steps out ot life into eternity. Surely at this time we need a faithful Saviour, for we are beyond human help. tes not forsake his people in the last extrem- ity. How many in the dying hour have borne wit-
THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD 33I
ncss to his faithfulness ! How great and good and true he looks as he stands at the gate of death and causes his people to triumph over the last enemy !
God\s faithfulness should inspire us to be faithful to him. He keeps every promise. But, alas, we have been untrue to him. Perhaps unfaithfulness is the most common fault of Christians. It has certainly injured the usefulness of many of us, and caused us much unhappiness. Let us try every day to be true to him. We know how our all depends on his faith- fulness. vSo all his work in the world that he has committed to us depends on our faithfulness to him. faithful in every place, in your business, in your home, in your church, and ( \i >d will love you and honi >r you. And on the last day he will say to you, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."
I now, my un>. ther, let me remind you
of God's word to you : " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive US our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. " Is this not a blessed promise? God is speaking to you. He knows that you are a sinner. He knows that you love sin and hate righteousness. Or perhaps you have become^ tired of sin. You have enjoyed "the pleasures of sin which are for a season," and wish that you were a Christian. But you do not see the way to Jesus. Many times your heart has cried, "What must I do t , " l?" Here is the way. Go to him and tell
him that you have sinned against him. Confess your sins to him. This is all you can do. You cannot purify your heart The leopard cannot change his ts, nor the Ethiopian his skin. Give up your hope in human help. Go directly to the Saviour. There is no other way. Why should there be another way? This is simple. You can do it, and you must do it, brother. The Lord has not required
332 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
much of you, but you must do what he has required. "Tell him you are a wretch undone.'1
Do you not remember when you disobeyed your mother? How did you make your reconciliation with her? When you could bear the separation no longer, you ran to her, and buried your face in her lap, and sobbed out vmir confession of sill. Then she wiped away your tears and gave VOU the kl
pardon. Go in this way to Jesus. Will he- receive you? Hear his word again, " [f we confess our sins,
lie is faithful and just to forgive US OUT sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." "Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." How can you longer doubt ? Try him. Since the fall of man penitent sinners have found him faithful to for- give sins. He will not fall to keep his promise to you.
R. R. Acree was born in King and Queen County, Va., When twelve years he was baptized l>y Rev.
k. II. Bagb) into the fellowship of the Bruington Baptist Church 65; licensed to preach in 1873, and ordained in 1876. He was educated at Aberdeen Academy, Richmond College, and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His first ministerial work was done as State missionary in Loudon County. He has si ed with much acceptableness and
efficiency as pastor in Lynchburg, the First Baptist Church. burg, in the Calvary Baptist Church, Roanoke, Va. In he entered hi> present inviting and important pastorate, Knoxville, Tenn, Dr. Acree is .1 genial gentleman, .1 conse- crated Christian, a fine preacher, and enjoys a wide popularity. In Mrs. A( ree he has a pastor's helper, she is a woman of un- usual devotion to Christ and his * lunch, and of skill in church work.
•
XXX
THE CLEANSING BLOOD
BY R. R. ACREE, D. D.
" And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." I John 1:7.
THE Bible is the book of the blood. The one theme out of which all its other themes grow is the bl<
It is the scarlet thread that binds its parts together in unbroken unity. Take it out and the great book falls apart, a confu ed and dismembered mass without the power to bless or to save.
The blood of Christ gives to the Bible its highest value. It gives to its types and shadows the sub- stance ; to its symbols their sign ; to its prophecies their promise ; and to the gospel its good news. Take the blood out and the star of human hope, eclipsed by an impenetrable cloud of despair, drops into an eternal hell. Take it out, and God is a terror, and heaven a mockery of our misery. Without his blood we can do nothing but despair and die and be damned.
Yes, friends, the blood, the blood, the blood of Christ that makes atonement for the sins of the whole world, is the foundation of our faith, the inspiration of our hope, and the ground of our confidence. Not Christ, but Christ crucified is the powrer of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If sin shuts us up to death and hell, his blood opens the gates to eternal life and heaven.
333
334 TirF< SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
If sin lias polluted and denied us, his blood can make us white and clean If sin has enslaved us, it is his blood that redeems us and makes us free. It" sin
condemns us under the law and alienates us from
God, his blood justifies us before the law and reo n- ciles us to ( kxi
The Bible, as you so gladly remember, uses many illustrations to show how completely the blood of Christ delivers us from tl r and penalty of sin ;
it gives life, justification, redemption, n ition,
peace, pardon, purity, and sanctification. No one of
itions gives a complete idea of \ Christ does for those who I believe in him.
them - one ]'l! of hi
and all i)\ them emphasize the fact of complete salva- of how entirely the blood of Christ removes every obstacle from between C. our possible
salvation.
This text, regarding sin as guilt, as filthy d< ment, and the relation of the blood of Christ to it, : And the b Christ his Son cleans-
eth US from all sin.
The text teach
i. The d< : i >f sin.
Sin! What a word that is! What a history it
In what anguish it has been written. Every letter a pang, every senten< wet
with human tears and red with I • 1 of cm
and mangled hearts.
Who is the grim-visaged monster that lights the
torch of war and bears it blazing over a trembling land? Sin ! Who is the masked enemy lurking in the shadow of the night, sowing seeds of discord among friends and transforming faith and love into suspicion and hate? Sin !
Who is the painted temptress that steals virtue from the pure, the fair siren who, seated on the rock by a deadly pool, smiles to deceive, sings to lure, kiss
THE CLEANSING BLOOD 335
betray, and flings her arms around our neck to leap with us into perdition? Sin !
Who transforms homes into hell, fathers into fiends, mothers into monsters, brothers into brute-, and sis- ters into sirens, and then gathering them into its arms flings them weeping and wailing into perdi- tion ? Sin !
Sin ! What a monster she ia ! Her home is in the deep, damp dark, where Slimy things DCgOt of hell rave and rot, 1 an, up.»n her foul progeny!
The leer of Lucifer is in their eyes and the slime
of the pit befouls their garments. There they
the lia; he thic\ fornicators
and adulterers, the m . the infidels, and blas-
if yon cm, w that sin
lias not car. aient it has not made.
nish that rends the brow, every pain v .shame that shadows life, every tear that the cheek, every guilt that pol-
lute oul ; the in chain, the felon's cell,
(fin, the hearse, the grave, hell ., are the fruits of sin.
i> this all, nor is it the worst The work begun here is consummated in eternity, when
body into hell, "where the worm and the tire is not quench ik on these things and tell me if sin is not guilt Think on these things and tell me if we not need to be washed from our sins and clean . our iniquiti But 1 am not so guilty as that.
The picture is overdrawn. Perhaps no individual is guilty of every sin, but all are guilty of some sin. There is none pure ; no, not one The seeds have been sown, what shall the harvest be? The wages of one sin is death. Some man put into his window
336 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
as an advertisement some earthenware pigs, and wrote this sentence under them : lk We are not hogs." Some other man passing by saw the sign and the sen- tence, and wrote under it: " No; but yon will be if yon live," The wages of Sill is death. Look at that company of lepers, once so young, s<» beautiful, and so fair. As yet no sign of any malady appears. Wait and see. Look now. lk The hair and eyebrows have fallen from a once beautiful countenance ; the face once so fair is livid and bloated and covered with fes- tering ulcers ; the lips once firm and strong are gone, and the and is nut far away." Sin is pollution. Si 11 is death.
The text teaches :
2. That the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from the defilement of sin.
I see the light kindling in your eve, and 1 feel the joy and thankfulness that is rising in your hearts. I join with you in blessing the name of the L>rd for this gospel. Listen, listen all ye who have seen your defilement and bowed your heads in shame and fear. Take courage and : :he blood of Jesus
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Guilty,
grimed, all unclean as we may be, his blood can make
us clean and pure.
As Xaaman, the leper, came up from the Jordan's
rs with the pure flesh of a little child, so shall they who are washed in the blood of the Lamb be made every whit clean.
Yon have seen the men who work in the coal mines come home from their work. The grime and soot of the mine is upon them. Their faces and necks, 3 and hands are grimy and black. So disfigured are they that one scarcely can recognize them. But when they stand beside tie open fountain and wash and are clean, then the old smile comes back to the kindly face, and the same eye beams upon yon, and the same honest hands grip yonr own.
THE CLEANSING BLOOD 337
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins ; And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
Yes, yes ; it is true; the prophets and apostles say it is true, the saints in all ages say it is true, the Lord God Almighty says it is true — the blood of Jesus Christ his Sun cleanseth us from ail sin.
During the late war achaplain went among the sol- diers in a hospital and preached unto them the way of Christ He found one man whose eyes were closed and who was muttering something about — blood — — and the chaplain thought he was thinking of the carnage of the battlefield, and going to him he tried to divert his mind; but the young man looked up and said: "Oh, doctor, it was not that that I was thinking of; I was thinking how precious the blood of Christ is to me now that I am dying. It covers all my sin
The text teach
3. That the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.
The cleansing is complete. The salvation is per- fect. II i a unto the uttermost all them that come unto God by him." Their robes are 11 washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb."
One day Queen Victoria visited a paper mill, and
when she saw the filthy rags, exclaimed, " How can those be made white?" u Ah, your majesty,'1 was the : " I have a powerful chemical process by which I take the color even out of those red rags.'1 Some :\ the Queen found on her writing-desk a lot of th beautifully polished writing-paper she
had ever seen ; on each sheet were the letters of her own name and her likeness. There was also the ac- companying note: ''Will the Queen be pleased to accept a specimen of my paper with the assurance that every sheet was made from the dirty rags she
'2 D
338 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
saw on the back of the poor rag-picker. Will the Queen aUow me to say I have had many a good ser- mon preached to me in my mill. I can understand how the Lord Jesus can take the poor heathen and the vilest of the vile and make them clean and white. And I can see how he can put his own name upon them ; and just as these rags transformed may go into a royal palace and be admired, so poor sinners can be received into the palace of the Great King."
And his blood cleanses from all sin of every kind. He is not able to save from some sins and unable to save from other sins. His blood cleanses from all sin : from sins of omission and commission, sins of thought and of desire, sins of words and of deeds, sins of childhood and of youth, sins of manhood and of old age. His blood cleanses from all sin.
Finally, let us consider how the cleansing blood is applied.
And yet I need not tell you. You know. Fa- miliar as your own name is that text which carries with it the power of God and the promise of eternal life.
"Believe" — ah, yes, that is it, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." An old herdsman, it is said, was taken to a London hospital to die. His granddaughter used to visit him there and read the Bible to him. One day she read the first chapter of first John and when she came to the seventh verse, the old man asked very earnestly : " Is that there?" " Yes, grandpa," was the reply. " Read it again," and she read: "And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." " Are you sure that is there?" "Yes, quite sure." " Then take my hand and lay my finger on the words that I may feel them." And she took the bony fin- ger of the blind old man and put it on the precious words. "You are sure they are there?" "Sure." " Read them again. If any one asks you how I
THE CLEANSING BLOOD 339
died, tell them I died in the faith of these words : 1 And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin.' " Then the old man withdrew his hands, his gray head fell softly upon the pillow and he went out and went up to join those who have " washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lainb."
XXXI THE MEAT AM) MISSION OK TIIK MASTER
BY H. I . 5PR< 'l IS, D. D. " Mv nir.it H to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."
John 4 : 34-
THERE are three pictures in this chapter worthy of the painter's brush.
The disciples had gone into the city of Sychar, about two miles away, to buy food for the little com- pany. It was about noon on the third day of the journey from Jerusalem to Galilee through Samaria. Jesus sat down on the low wall around Jacob's well, hungry and thirsty, with relaxed body, and with weary yet gentle face That is an impressive picture. The mighty Son of God, tired and resting.
When the disciples returned they found him, with animated countenance, eagerly talking with a sinful
woman, who came from the town tor water. He
came to seek the lost, and was always especially
anxious to find those who had I rthest away.
With marvelous skill, he had quickened and satisfied the spiritual thirst of this soul, and was full of joy.
In n to the disciples1 entreaties to eat of the
food which they had brought, he said : "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." For this i hunger; this is my nourishment, my strength, my satisfaction. To carry on that work, step by step, according to the Father's will, and to have in pros- pect its completion on the cross, i- my food; by this I have been nourished and quickened. That too is an attractive pictu 340
•
.
H » 3
II. r. Sproles was born istilian Springs, Holmes
Count) . Miss . Jar . . n a farm
nal Sa* iour and Lord, and was i >- 1 j * * • thirteen . studio! in neighborhood teen years of age, when 1 Mississip
but went into th( irm) . and
war, in which h< inded. Studied four y<
Southern r..i|>ti>t Theologi< al S< from whi< h wa« • 1 in full, M
\ 1867. D iin.u\ he rom.iini.-il
and ^umIioI undc 1 im w illiams,
sor in tin- seminar) . and Prof. 1 I I Smith, \\ is pastoi in 1 arrollton, Mis Them e he went nained
as pastor. Is n ithern
Baptist II- ollege,
from whii h he receh ed the hon<
mention 1 I Mississippi Baptists.
R A l'i kell, William in May,
THK MEAT AND MISSION OF TITE MASTER 341
He was sent. " My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." His coming was QOt the caprice of an impulsive soul, nor the doubtful experiment of an ambitious seeker of it was in fulfillment of a di-
vine mission. uGod sent not his Son into the world lemn th( I ; but that the world through
him might he saved.'1 He said that he was sancti- I sent into tiie world by God the her. II insisted that i. down from heaven
.ill of him that sent him. At the close of his earthly mission, he said with e;reat satisfaction
and joy, ll I have finished the work which thou gavest
When it is that Christ was sent, it
b n at that he -• ipelled to come on an
unpleasant mission, but merely that his work was in
mnseL As Paul says, his
the eternal purpose which
I in Christ Jesus our Lord." As Media-
t tt in human 1 . he willingly and joyfully
ige b > men. and to do his light to do thy
My meat is to do the will of
at me."
To .ill <>f him who sent him, to deliver Ins
mes • men, I re him, to open his heart
unto men, I ;\s work among them, was
Ul, the of its truest needs,
- of his nature.
Meat 0 wishes, strengthens, refreshes, satisfies. The
bodily hunger and thirst which our Lord had felt,
when wearied with his journey he sat down on
well, w tten in 1 on tin- divine
the woman i iria. His soul
was full of other thought which drove away all U I of hunger. He had king that meat, he had
D doing that will, when the disciples were away. iteful had it been to him to be thus engaged ;
342 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
so earnest and happy had he been in leading a soli- tary woman, and in sending her away in full belief of his Messiahship to ^o and bring others to him, that bodily appetite ceased to solicit, and the hunger of an hour ago was no Longer felt This was his meat — that he might be constantly doing God's will, and at last complete his work. We know with what joyous emotions he said at the close of his mission on earth, 44 1 have glorified thee on earth : I have finished the work which thou gavest me to d
The third picture IS inspiring. A crowd of Sa- maritans set ont with the woman for the prophet at the well. Jesus and his disciples looked;.! the peo* pie coming to him through die green :■ They
saw only the crowd and the fid which in a few months would be n vest. He saw the \ f the world's nati< na
already white unto the harvest Raising his hand, .id with trembling emotion, "Say n< I ye, Then
are yet four months and then Cometh harvest? be^
hold, I say unto yon, Lift up your t d look on
the fields; for they are wmte already to haivcst.'' Lift up your eyes, that you may see far. Look, and you will become interested and prayerful. Become mg interested, you will wish to inter the fields with rii rain.
As was the Master, He was
sent; so are they. In 1 rayer for all those who should believe on him in every age and i Lord said: k> As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.'1 It is his desire and prayer that every one of his disciples should enter upon the mission which he had fulfilled on his own behalf; aiv\< in | ion for that work, that they
might receive the same sanctification. It is the ion of every Christian to do God's wall on earth.
THE MKAT AND MISSION OF THE MASTER 343
Can there be anything more solemn, more thrill- ing, than the conviction that God has a purpose in one's life, and has given him a commission to fulfill that pui This purpose, this mission, from our
exalted Lord is to carry his message to men, to con- vey his Spirit unto them, to reveal his great heart unto them, to do his will among them. A more hu- nt commission was never given to an angel. The intense desire of the true Christian's soul, the satisfaction of the deepest yearnings o( his nature, the meat which nourishes and refreshes, is to do s will. Three things are essential to obedience, (i) There must be an nt spirit. Onlysnch a soul can
havi l'i will ] I, " 1' any
man will" — IS willing, anxious, determined to— "do his will, he shad know of the doctrine." Christ's will was always in harmony with God's will. The will of man is brought into harmony in his regene- rati «l H -averted Saul, kl Lord,
It wilt thou have me to do?n God's will be- the law of his spirit He says, ki 1 delight to ;,o my God ^ yea, thy law is within my The obedient spirit must have an ex- wiil. God's written law is the authoritative expression of his will, the transcription <»f his nature. (3) There must be honest effort to do Ts will An obedient spirit alone will not satisfy
the . nor will the performance of deeds which
•it without the doing would be only intention; doing without the spirit would be •i ; but the spirit going out in the execu- will is obedience and satisfaction, the Nil He not satisfied with any feeling, with a mere movement of the soul toward God ; aim at doing his will. Many per m to think that
the great attainment is to be on the top wave of feel- ing. It is a greater privilege to be in the performance
3U. thi: SOUTHERN baptist rui.riT
of duty. "Too1 better than sacrifice." Doin^
the will of God is more acceptable to him than any
.a tell about his enjoyment of religion.
There is a morbid religious sentiment which will
the t k] and recogniz< d will < I
for its own gratification. < >ften the disobedient revel in emotion, and esteem themselves as Christians ex- rdinary because they are on a high wave of feel- ing. There is no nourishing, strengthening meat in this. Todo< ocL
Thi But can we ever do the will of
God perfectly and to of that meatwhich
Christ ate? See what be did say. Not the accom- plished mission, not the • 1 work ol
g men, but the end which lie ever kept in view
was the food of his soul. " My meat is that I may be 11 of him that sent me, and that I mav finish his work ; that I may be constantly doing his will, and ma; ■ " Thi
the w anion- us. We may in everything seek to know and ill. This purpose and ive nourishment and re-
freshment There can be no higher fun f the
human son! th. n to< ni, to
beheve in him, to love him, to commune with him, me into harmony with hi: live. Other-
. man no more truly Lives than the which
which draws his burdens, the which guards his house. The man who can say that l»S law, ' 1 will, is not a terror, which
igitive ; not an outward ne- ty, which makes me a slave; but an inw which make- me lient child " — that SOIll I
To him God's will is not an external □ ty, but
an inward power; not an unpleasant medicine to prevent death, but a pleasant food to nourish life. Such a man I I t<> appease the hunger of
TIIK MEAT AND MISSION OF THE MASTER 345
his soul. He r<>ws, is joyous, and becomes
strong.
Watkins, in Ellicott's Commentary, speaks of anal- ogies in human experience. "The command of duty, charming power of hope, the stimulus ofsucc forces that supply to weak and weary nerves and
muscles the vigor of a new life. Under these the lier can forget his wounds, the martyr smile at the 1 or the flame, the worn-out traveler -till plod on-
the thought of home. We cannot analyze this
er, l>ut it C ley have food to eat that th
without know not o£n We are not surprised when the Holy S] through the Apostle John, that
those who doG 1 shall last < teher things will
: I the lust there but he that th forevei ,M
II links himself with the divii c of things, and
d himself
XXXII Tii:
bofl we
I '
I
1
r v.
that <
• he Chri r just when he
i
D the
■
■ human th. Within t".
d of m
in tni
-. but t
as which now exist m 1
■
d and | religi human in-
to human I m in human livi & I'
in June, uthern
\
Charles Averetti Stakely, pastor of the Firs! Baptist Church of Washington, 1 >. C, is among the younger ministers of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was born at Madisonville, Monroe County, Tenn.. on the third daj <>t" March, 1859, but was reared in Alabama and Georgia. At about thirteen • ige he was baptized into the fellowship <>t the First Baptist Church of Montgomery, Ala., b) Dr. I». W. Gwin. Soon afterward, his father dying, the famil) moved to La Grange, Ga., where young Stakel) entered upon high studies, .ind wh( having studied law under ll<>n. A.
1 tered the bar, being scarcel) nineteen years of tised in La Grange until he was nearl) twenty-two years n the meantime, at th( twenty, he was
made count) solii itor, u hit h offi< e he resigned to enter the minis- try. His first < hargewas .it Elberton, Ga., thechun hat this place calling him to ordination. During his pastorate in Elberton, in 1882, he was married to Miss Jessie l>.i\is. daughti William H. Davis, <>t Richmond County, G I
he went to Augusta, where his lab and from Au-
gusta to Charleston, S. C . where he was p the ( itadel
Square Chun I irs.
Dr. Stakel) lent well-known and valuable .ml to the Bap- tist churches <>t t harleston in rtn from the earth- quake of 1886. In 1888 he \\.i^ called to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Washington, l>. C, where he still remains. Dr. Stakel) received hi 11. from Mer- cer lime: in 1SS4. and hi Of D. D. from Richmond College, in 1889 l he magnificent building of the First Baptist Church of Washington, D. C, in which the Convention held its Fiftieth Anniversary, was erected during Dr. Stakely' s p and is largel) the result of his own enter- prise- and zeal
THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST 347
when every plan of men had signally failed, when human ingenuity had made the final draft upon its resources, and the last hope of the world for spiritual recovery through its own wisdom and power had gone, that an all-gracious God introduced, upon the
foundation of an elder true but undeveloped faith, that amazing salvation which has for its center a crucified Christ. The I has been on trial these
nineteen centuries ; its influence is known ; many of its ace have passed into history; its
fruit- are abroad in the earth. That it has been an unspeakable blessing it> candid enemies can scarcely
The - . ■ • P Scripture which has been chosen for a text invit rucified Christ,
whom it presents in tlr ts; first, as the burden
of the ministry, UW i ist crucified " ; second,
■ lie contempt of the world, ll unto the Jews a stum-
blingbl ilishness"; and
third, as the admiration of the- but unto them
which are called, bothjews and Greeks, Christ the
1, an 1 t!u- wisdom <»f ( \i
I. The burden of the ministry. Jesus Christ and him crucified burden of apostolic
idling. In the text til-.- crucifixion of the Saviour is put, by a comm m rule of rhetoric, as a part for the le, The sublime transaction of the cross is em- ployed as the designation of th< ntirety.
The cross is th I of the Scriptures and around
it all the doctrines and duties cluster as kindred and dependent prim lines of both Testa-
ments meet in it. 1 1 preach the crucified Christ
fuli ithfully is to proclaim every inspired doc-
trine and to urge every scriptural duty. Hut why is the death of Christ singled out and made the d tinguishing mark of the gospel? Evidently on ac- count of ifieance. The mere execution of a reputed malefactor could amount to nothing.
34$ Tin: SOUTHERN baptist pulpit
We should have do sympathy with the idea that the Saviour went to the cross as Socrates did to the hemlock, merely as a proof of his sincerity and firm- ness. The death of Christ cannot be accounted for on the ground of martyrdom. As a matter bT fact, the Saviour was not d specimen of a martyr.
ik Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass fa m me " was his thrice-offered prayer in the garden of Geth- semane. Surely this cannot be regarded as the utter- ance of a martyr. Nor would a martyr have cried
out as tile Savi-.ur did Upon the
God, why hast thou forsaken me ? M tl • failure in the supreme moment, when all tl
i should have come to h;s sup- the flush
of victory should haw been the gl< ry * i ante-
nance, 'ldie death of S nt, but
that of Jesus Christ v at divine purpose. Speak-
: his own life, Jesus said: u No d me. hut I lay it down of myself I I wei to lay
it down and I have \ ower to take it again.'1 Neither should we sympathize with the yular
in some quarters, that the death of th< nr, in
all the awful ciicuni>ta; the Fam< nly a
demonstration of divine love. Demonstratioi t impressive they may he in thema
cannot he an adequate pi
sill. It i in- to know that the lov<
for the children of men was expressed in the cruci- fixion of his Son, But the-' mething more in the crucifixion than the love thiswas in it onl\ omething more was in it. The death of Jesus Christ struck deeper than a display of heroism or a demonstration of love. Isaiah expn it when he said: "He was wounded for our b
ions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the tisement of our peace was upon him, and with
tripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned everyone to his own
THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST 349
way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of US all." The Saviour of sinners was the lamb of God nut only for innocence, but for sacrifice lie was slain from the foundation of the world. His death was vica- rious. He took onr place in the day of execution. He carried upon his soul the accumulated guilt of the world. His sacrifice was an atoning sacrifice. The pur] >f his man:: a in the flesh was,
primarily, that he might die, and dying, to expiate the guilt <>:" the world. It is not wonderful then that 'tiie apostle should say, k' We preach Christ cruci- fied."
II. The contempt of the world. Naturally enough
as this would provoke opposition, and
I radical and persistent kind.
I all things else it was the object of Hebrew
•idice and pagan hate. To the Jew, who required
a," it became the occasion of stumbling, while
the Greek, who sou-lit after "wisdom," viewed it
th feelings of utter disdain. The Jew and the
Creek in their form- sition to the cross of
Chi characters. They have a
numerous | in the world to-day. In these two
cli \ the most popular forms of oppo-
sition t<> th i Christ find illustration.
In the Jew we may behold the power of human ptej Had it not been for this, he would prob-
ablV have 1 d the truth. u Can there any good
thing come eth?" was the voice of the
Jewish heart, [f nough that the so-called Christ
humble parentage, D OH in a stable, and cruci- fied as an offender. This ascertained, the argument 6ed an-1 tthd. The claims and doc-
trines oft: air, however well founded, could
only provoke aal contempt Prejudice had
shutout the disposition to investigate with Holl- and fullness. In the Jew, again, we may behold one blinded bv traditional teaching. His own inspired
2 B
350 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
Scriptures, had they been consulted, would have led him to the Christ ; but these he left for the uninspired and, in most cases untruthful, traditions of the elders. For this God-dishonoring custom the Saviour often reproved and threatened the Pharisees, who made void the law of God by their traditions, substituting the commandments of men for the commandments of God, and the institutions of men for the institu- tions of God. These human amendments led them away from the true character of the Christ and gave them unworthy ideas of his kingdom. Furthermore, the Jew was an advocate of self-1 -ighteousness as a means of salvation. In his own estimation he needed a temporal saviour, but the idea of a spiritual saviour was far from it. He did good works; he kept the law; lie said prayers; he paid tithes. The unclean Gentile may nave needed a mere perfect righteous- ness, but not he. Prom this entrenchment of preju- dice, blindness, and self-right OUsness he could not be dislodged without a sign from heaven; but his de- mand for a sign was all a subterfuge. Miracles had been worked in his presence by Jesus and the apos- tles. Oh, the thousands to-dav who are demanding additional evidence of Christianity; who are saying that if an angel from heaven should descend and whisper "the gospel is true," or God were to write in letters of light across the sky, or in some other super- natural way bear witness to it, they would accept it! Clearly they are mistaken. "I pray thee, therefore, father (Abraham), that thou wouldest send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment." u They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them." " Nay, lather Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will re- pent." "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they repent though one rose from the dead." If one receives not gospel on the evidences
THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST 35 1
which are already presented, he will not receive it at all. Christianity does not profess to convince the perverse and headstrong, but only to offer such evi- dences as will satisfy the plain, the teachable, the humble in mind. The existing evidences of Chris- tianity are all that can be reasonably demanded.
But what of the Greek ? The Greek represents in general the conceit of human wisdom. He is set forth as an admirer of philosophy. He was a ration- alist, so to speak. He worshiped reason, or rather what he called reason. The reason which he wor- shiped was, of course, his own, for he recognized no other standard. The reason of a Roman or Egyptian or Jew was unreasonable to him unless it accorded with his own. The Greek is represented as delight- ing in that which has the ring of science about it and 'able of demonstration. He would have things reduced to the level 01" man's comprehension and would reject what he could not understand. The fact is, the Greek has already ordained in his own mind who and what God ought to be, how he ought to work and act, and what and how he ought to teach. He prescribes for God and rejects any and everything concerning God which does not accord with his pre- scriptions.
But it may be noticed that the Greek, though pay- ing his devotion to reason, is one of the most unrea- sonable of men. He practically repudiates proba- bility and faith, without which the operations and enterprises of the human world must cease. If abso- lute and infallible proofs were required in all cases, we could scarcely recognize anything on earth as truth. Few indeed are the truths which rest upon mathematical certainty. In our temples of justice, when a human life is at stake, the highest certainty which the law requires is probability. A man is blind indeed not to see that outside of religion, faith is a commoner thing than reason, and probability is
THK soli:; :-iT
d a thousand I u . artherm
:ici- ht ali
■
• licli he H
all
il.uiui:.
■
man
■ bun
in it
■
mbi
tlu-
the ntly
•
•he
and the hnn
:ier - it at tfa
Tin- C&T7C1 hkist
the mis through th< th. It
h to know that every regenerate person is a
enerate person, an, not of blood nor of
•..in, but the end ^( the
• hat bclicvetll."
I
they discern with i delighted
■tn an enthi
urk- • 8CSSt behold in
tlu- fullness oi :i. Tin
than men and
whi I of *
Tew
dly :i which he knew
the phi- marvel • k in the thoughts and
•'
Thee:
of
pt D Bvery new
birt monument
almayh th, which ii • bilit to resist pn sure, hand, is the ability to pi
d hi the nature of things, i lial
354 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
The highest display of power is beheld when the Lord (rod Almighty reaches down to this world of darkness and with the long arm of his grace rescues a son! from sin. "The cross of Christ is to them thai perish foolishness, but unto us which a it is the p>\\ And even to the end of the
world it is going to p] I • d by "the foolishn< preaching to save them that it is tin
pis d gospel whose distinguishing mark is the cruci- fied Christ, that shall dejj^olish the strongholds of sin, achieve the vicfc and the devil, and
finally restore the world to God "And I. if I be lifted np from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Jesus ful in his character, in his life, in his
'. teachings, and through these he must i
orresponding influence and charm; but the
: which .shall overwhelm and mi1 JcsilS
upon th< d, and in
his passion malt aement fox the guilt of the
rid .
The wisdom of < iod in the crucified Chi n in
the perfect adaptedness of t h<
the case. T" . both inanward
and Godward, are all that could b red. Itse-
cures all the blessings of mere) and at the same time answers every demand of Justice. It is only u ] >< > 1 1
SUCh a basis that I I and yet justify sin-
The cross presents terms of reconciliation to which both God and man can subscribe. — man to the complete salvation of his southland God without violating his rights, or compromising his chai
The wisdom is -ecu again in the ability of the
man a e him all of his time for
self-improvement and the performani od works.
He is not required to spend one moment in doing
penance, in making atonement for his sins. The an-
•d has already been appeased by the death
of Chi • Once foi all time, for all men, Christ hath
THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST 355
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. In our Christian life we are entirely relieved of the burden of atoning for sin, and all the golden opportunities of life can he used in developing ourselves in grace and promoting the kingdom of truth.
vStill further, as a mark of divine wisdom, the cross
so saves us as to give the credit of saving to God.
Every human consideration is removed as a ground
1 that no flesh should glory in his
presence. In the pulpit and in the books we some- times talk works, hut never at the throne of grace. When we are <>a the knees in prayer before God, we
crv ) Lord, thou hast
doiw it, take thou the glory." In the Long eternity
yen there will n up from the bosom of
any redeemed soul the suggestion oT personal merit,
but the beautiful and endless life will be spent in magnifying the Lffld tor his amazing grace.
mtrii ed the .
•:ian,
And all the steps that gnu e display
Which drew the wondrous plan.
. ■ An*: hour I meet,
While pn
Grace -ill the work sh.ill crown
Through everlasting ds It Lays is heaven the topmost stone, And well deserves the praise.
XXXIII
. ilTSIASM '
iv t: :■. I'.
I forbid t' . the cross i
Christ, : Gal. 6 s i |
IT falls to m\ lot to-night, dear friend which you will < .iinl which I trust may be a blessing to
lay it upon \ om 1: ad that thi* e ma) bonoi
his name ami hi- ind me.
i will fmd the m in tin- Lettei to tin- 1 1
bans, the sixth chapter,
bid that I sh< m the I
Christ, ' unto me,
and I unto the
out of crucifixion, and a
ing all! Ik- <\<.\h\ to the world, ti.<. world dead to
him! 11 hristand glorying in his
Christ' It is a wonderful thing; that which was the
very synonym of sin and shame eighteen hundred
0 and more- has now income the pridl
: many milli< ras on earth.
I was walking once through the Corcoran Art I
lery, in Washington, and I saw a calm, pale face
Igainst the grated window of a jail. It was
the face of Charlotte Corday. A letter appended to
the picture, written to her father, said ! il Dear father,
1 Preached at the Convention of Christian Endeavor held at i July. 1895. 356
Jm
.
f
H. M Whakton, D. I»
Henry Marvin Wharton, pastor, evangelist, lecturer, edi tor, and college president, is one of the best-known men in the Southern Baptist pulpit. He is a native of Virginia and is now in the prime of life. Anion- the \ arious instances of signal suc- cess whi< h have marked his eventful career one scarcely knows which to selei I as the most notable. His achievement in build- ing up a magnificent church of nine hundred members, in the he. in of Baltimore, out of a beginning of but thirty, and of so wisel) planning and faithfully laboring that they to-day worship in a superb temple valued at seventy thousand dollars, is almost unprecedented. His orphanage enterprise docs credit to his tender Christliness, and the pi I his authorship glow with
Strength and beauty. Hut II. M. Wharton is most uidel\
known as the matchless Baptist evangelist. The elements
which go to make up his wonderful success in this regard arc partly manifest and partly hidden. A superb personality, a simple, pathetic, and often humorous Style, an intense carnest- '•. er under dignified restraint, and a \ oi< e musi< al as a lute, are things seen ami appreciated ; hut united to these is that sub- tile factor we < all magnetism, and the sanctifying, crowning power of the 1 loly Spirit.
CONSECRATION AND ENTHUSIASM 357
do not be distressed about me. It is the crime and not the scaffold that brings disgrace. I have com- mitted no crime ; I shall suffer no disgrace." In a higher and more glorious sense it may be said of Jesus that, instead of himself being disgraced by the cross, he lifted it into glory and glorified it, making it ever the conquering sign of all his followers.
Paul was wonderfully enthusiastic; and, my friends, I believe in enthusiasm — an enthusiasm that has a backbone to it, an enthusiasm that has life in it, an enthusiasm that has weight and power in it, an enthu- siasm that has usefulness in it. Paul was wonderfully enthusiastic, but his enthusiasm was simply the at- mosphere in which the wonderful man lived. A physician cannot be very successful unless he is enthusiastic about his profession. A lawyer will never accomplish much unless he has some enthu- siasm about his profession ; and I tell you a Christian will never amount to much unless there is enthusi- asm in his Christianity. It is just as true of you who sit in the pew as of the preacher who stands in the pulpit I love to hear a man's heart beat in his ser- mons when I hear him preach, and I love to see Christians whose hearts are in their religion when they go forth to work for (rod.
u( 1 »1 forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" Why, the fact of the matter is, there is nothing els- in which we can glory. Look around you, if Ton will, in trie world, and where will von find anything else in which you can • v?
Will you young p ople glory in your health ? You are here now, in the very morning of your life, many ol you; your faces are toward the rising sun; your hands are stretched forth toward the opening day, and there are many days and years of usefulness for you, let us hope ; and yet, ere the morrow's sun may rise, some of the strongest, some of the best, some of the most
358 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
useful, may have been called to the other world. We cannot glory in our health ; we cannot glory in our strength, in our young manhood, in our young womanhood.
Can we glory in pleasure ? It is said in these days pleasure is fairly running away with most of our young people ; and I will tell you that most of us who have tried it have come to the conclusion that Burns was right when he wrote :
But pleasures are like poppies spread ; You seize the flower, its bloom is shed ; Or like the snow-fall in the river, A moment white, then melts forever.
We cannot glory in the pleasures of this world.
Can you glory in fame? Why, let those who have accomplished somethingof fame in the walks of this world answer. Go to the very heights of fame and what will you find? The man who, to-day, leads in all the affairs of the nation is forgotten to-morrow. Why, it has not been long since a great president in this country, who was no longer a president, was so far forgotten that when he attended the funeral of one of our dead presidents he was only spoken to by one man in the whole crowd, and that was by a policeman, who requested him to get off the grass.
But perhaps another says, " How about wealth?" The whole world is running mad after wealth ; but shall we glory in wealth? It was only a short time ago that the great leaders of wealth in this country were called upon by one of our most prominent daily papers to answer whether wealth brought happiness ; and every man answered that wealth simply brings care and responsibility, but it does not bring happi- ness. Well did Mr. Astor say to a man who sug- gested to him that he must be a very happy man, " Would you attend to my business for your board and your clothes?" "Why," said he, "no, sir."
CONSECRATION AND ENTHUSIASM 359
"Well, that is all I get." How much more can any man receive than what he can eat and what he can drink and what he can put on ?
We cannot glory in wealth ; but perhaps some one may say, " How about the home ? " Already your heart is longing for the home ancf the dear ones, and happiness perhaps is there ; but can we glory in it ? Shall it endure ? I can well remember in my old country home down in Virginia, sitting before the great log fire, father over in that corner, mother over in this, eight children sitting around the fire down to the youngest — and I was the youngest, in my little chair at mother's side. They talked of heaven, and mother, placing her hand upon my head and bend- ing my head back until my face was turned toward hers, said, " Mother wants her boy to be a good boy, serve Jesus, and then go home to heaven." I utterly astonished her by saying, " Mother, I don't want to go to heaven." "What do you mean, my child?" " You are here, father is here, brothers are here, sis- ters are here ; I don't want to go to heaven." It was heaven to my child-heart to have them with me. But where are they now? Mother has crossed over the river, and father and part of the sisters and brothers have passed to the other side ; and if my home had been my heaven, my heaven is broken up.
Why, my friends, we cannot glory in the things of this world. I might mention them one after another, and you might write on every one of them, " This will perish with the using." The German poet, Schiller, said, as he stood one morning in the door of his father's home and looked far away to the moun- tain summit that touched the very sky as it seemed to him — he said in his heart, " Some day, when I get to be a big, strong boy, I will go up to the top of yonder mountain, and then I shall be in heaven ; " and so one day he started from his home, across the fields, and up the mountain's side, over ditches and
360 TIIK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
rocks, and through the brush. By-and-by he readied the mountain's top, and when he did, he said heaven was as Tar away as before. You may climb an} height
on earth, and you will find, when you have reached its summit, that heaven is as fai away as ever. There- fore, Paul might say, as he took a view of the things in this world, " God forbid that I should ve
in the cross of our I. Christ."
And while it is true that there is nothing on this ii in which we can glory, it is just as true that there is e\ ai why we ran glory in th
Y"-i are enthusiastic, wonderfully sa You have 1
right to be enf tic Hut, my friend>, this en-
thusiasm is intelligent, and the more- v of the
rightfllll it, the r will we be in the
glon ing of til- b'..
We should doc- trines. What .. old doctrim in this wo: Id, in it fice on SollH l)od_\ else. S . South
a gentleman told nu that in Nashville, Tenn., he attended the de I am
proud to t< U you, a thern man, th.it now, when
oration Day comes in tl ad our beauti-
ful young v.
the soldiers' grav< 5, th( J do not stop to ask wlu ther the man wore the blue or tl: , but on ev<
ve they scatter the flowers, because the men were
brave and true, and died for thei: country's sake, as
they honestly believed. A gentleman said to me that he was standing in the ry at Nashville He saw a cart come through
the gate with a marble slab in it. He followed the cart. By-and-by it came to a grave. A man was standing there, having a place prepared to put this slab. He >.tid he walked up to the man, and said, 11 Your son, I presume ? M M Nu." M Some near rela-
CONSECRATION AND ENTHUSIASM 361
tive?" Vl No." Well, he did not like to be inquisi- tive, and did not further insist The gentleman turned to him and said, " Xo. I was a member of a company during the war. When the time came for us to go my wife was ill, my children were young. All night Long I spent at her bedside, knowing that in arly morning I must leave her. Just as the day king I heard, a knock at my door. I walked
to th< aid there sto >d one of my young neigh-
rixteen, knapsack upon his back, his h k filled with provisions; and as he
there in the early dawn of th..t morning, the ruddy
manly cheek, the lire of enthusi blazing in hi I to me, ' I have come to
take • oswerto your
, iy,' said I, 'my friend, I will give you my firm, I will g 1 my money, I will giv<
all I li i\e It i- just what I have- desired, that some one might be found to take my place.1 'Oh,1 he
inything for it. Then I would not be going for you ^nu\ your wife and chil- dren. No,sir; not a cent, not a The young man was killed at the battle of Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga, Tenn., and on that tombstone the
LU had placed the young man's name, the of his birth, the date of his death, and under all, " He died Uk nie. " And I tell von, every one of US here may place his hand upon his heart and say of Jesus Christ, " He 'lied for me ; M and this bl< doctrii icjificc should pass into every act of our
• V life.
And then the blessed doctrine of substitution! I - Christ taking your place, you taking his place ! He made sin for us that we might be made the right- eousness of 1 lOd in him.
And then the blessed doctrine of the atonement ! That at the cross of Christ the poor sinner finds peace and pardon through reconciliation of the blood
2 p
t
36 ! 'rm- s< •itiikkx BAPTIST PULPIT
of Jesus Christ ! Well might Paul say, who once was a blasphemer, who once, like you and me, was a poor sinner, without God and without hope — well might he say, since Jesus Christ had sacrificed himself and had taken Paul's place, had atoned for his sins — well might he say, "God forbid that It should glory, save in the cross "four Lord Jesus Christ."
And then another thing: this old CTOSS has the
p v ittr.iet. Jesus said, "I, if I be lifted up,
. . . will draw all men unto me ; " and isn't it a fact ? I say it deliberately, I say it calmly : I do not beli that tl. >n\ other power on earth <>r under the
heavens thai would have drawn together iift\ thousand four hundred and twenty-five souls in this July oi ive and except the Lord Jesus Christ
It i- the drawing power, my friends, and it i^> this that attracts the human h
I read some time ;i mother who went to the
police officers in New Y<>ik ad laid all her
money at their feet. She said, "My daughtei
ae. She 1' and now, with a
■ken heart and crushed Spirit, she has left me."
She son-ht for her child in every direction. S
could not find her, and hy-and-by, after the years had
passed away, one -aid t<> 1 lay, "P our
daughter may frequent some one of the dance halls and other places of that description in this city. ( !
there and seek her ; " and one day there appeared in
one of these halls this mother. She went up to the
superintendent, the man who had charge of the affair,
and said to him, "Will you do a poor, brok
hearted mother a : " Why, " said he, "what
can I do for you?" She said, '* My child ; my child is lost to me. I have spent every cent ; I have done everything ; I have tried everywhere to get my poor
child hack. There is one more hope; perhaps she
may come to this place.'1 "Well," he said, "sup- pose she does; how could I fmd her?" She drew
CONSECRATION AND ENTHUSIASM 363
from under her shawl a picture, and said, ik Will you let that hang on your wall? She might see it, and it she does, perhaps she might come back to me." "Why," he said, "that is not your picture!" 11 No," she said, ll but it was my picture. She would hardlv know me now, but that IS as she did know me." Said he, " Yes, the picture may hang there."
A few DightS afterward, after one of the dances was
over and the great crowd were promenading around, suddenly he noticed a commotion over in that part of the hall. He walked over there, and he said, kk What does this mean hei ll Why," some one said, "a
girl has fainted here just now. She stood Looking at that picture th He turned and said, " Bring me
a carriage to the door there at once}" and they ordered a carriage. En a few minutes he was in the nth her. She came to, and said, "Where are you taking me?" Hesaid,"! am taking you to your mother. She brought that picture and hung it there, and she said that perhaps it might bring her way ward child to her;" and in a few moments she fell into the arms of her loving, devoted, and forgiv- ing mother.
1 tell you, brethren, when JeSUS Christ died on the
cross God hung up a picture in this world which
draws the poor, wayward, wandering ones from earth's
remotest bounds up to tin ind to the Father's
ng and loving arms. God forbid that we should
save in the cms- that does draw men from every
tion and every clime. Moreover, it has the power to
Convict If I wanted to persuade a man here to-day that he is a sinner, I wouldn't sit down and reason with him about it. I wouldn't have a long argument about his sinfulness, his depravity. I'll tell you what I'd do: Pd take him to Calvary ; I would lead him up on the hill ; I would let him see the dying Son of .(1; rd ask him to look at those pierced hands, those feet that wandered homeless through this world,
364 THK SOUTHERN BAPTIST PULPIT
now crushed and bleeding and at rest forever; I would ask him to look at that pierced side and thorned brow; IM ask him to listen to the groan of that dying One ; and, as he looked upon that picture, I would say, " Vour sin did that.'1 Oh, I'd want no better argument
Another thing about this glorious cross, dear friends: it makes US want to give up the world for Christ, "by whom the world is crucified Eo me, and I to the world." That is the idea which makes us
give up everything 1, it" truly we are conse-
crated to his service, and then, oh what a comforting power there is in th You know what t am
talking about ; I can't tell you. It is in your I but thei< language that could explain it.
mg people, I sympathize with you. The world
man) .dim. m< UtS and inducements, but W<
dead to the world. Let us not entei into any of its sinful ways. Tile cards should be utterly repud byyolT. The wine should be forever ostracized. The dance should be in n in. The th
should be put back behind nid these things
forever given up. I trust that through your effort a new lesson may be taught to our churches, and that people when they give up card-pla> ing, and drinking, and theatergoing, and dancing, out in the world, will come to our ciiurchrs to find that our church- members aredoing the very things they haw cd\Wd upon to give up. Leave these things, leave them behind. It is I S of Jesus Christ that cru-
cifies the world to us, and us to the world. That may be Puritan doctrine, but I stand on Puritan -round, and the blessed old Bible is a Puritan book. Let us give up the world to be consecrated to Christ
Another word: Search the Scriptures; turn your enthusiasm to the P.ible ; study.
Another word : Be ready everywhere to go to^work
for the Lord Jesus Christ.
CONSECRATION AND ENTHUSIASM 365
If you and I are going to do great work for God, let us do personal work, and let us see to it that every Endeavorer wins a soul for Christ.
And now good-bye until we meet again. Among all the sermons that I have ever heard in all my life, that which made its deepest impression upon me was preaclu-d by my precious mother. I remember one night being led, while yet a child, up to her bedside, and thev said to me, M Kiss mother and tell her good-bye." I -aid, " Where's mother going? M Thev said, "She is going away." I never dreamed that mother could leave me. Thev said, " Mother, lure's your baby boy come to say good-bye"; and, as I bent over her, 1 kissed her. It has been nearly forty years since then, and j ms to me this evening I can
still feel the ure of those dear Lips on
mine. Thev said, " Li-ten, she is saying something
;,,% and I put my car close down to her month,
and she said. ll Meet me in heaven M ; and they closed her eyes and laid her hands across her quiet breast.
T'"'; NBW VORK
P^BUC I./BH
"'"— "...,;(I";/>;rBMA"v
Th" book i, undc
flo t.
•--•«-om^~;r",,,b'
-iK
■ A' |
|
■ |
■
■ |
^
■***
■