The mistakes of Moses, and other sermons

lL^

THE MISTAKES OF MOSES

AND OTHER SERMONS.

WILLIAM PATTERSON.

The Mistakes of Moses

AND other sermons,

BY

REV. WILLIAM PATTEBSON,

Pastor of Cooke's Presbyterian Church. Toronto.

TORONTO :

THE POOLE PRINTING COMPANY, LIMITED,

PUBLISHERS,

8

^^.^.5-4

Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in
the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by The
Poole Pkinting Company, Limited, at the Department of
Agriculture.

TO MY MOTHEK,

TO WHOSE LOVE I OWE SO MUCH.

PREFACE.

This book contains the substance of sermons preached in

Cooke's Presbyterian Church, Toronto. These sermons, when

delivered from the pulpit, were instrumental in helping

Christians and in leading many of the unsaved to put their

trust in Christ. They are now sent forth with the earnest

hope that they may be of some service to those who may

read them.

W. P.

Toronto, Dec. 18tli, 1S99.

CONTENTS.

I. Page.

THE MISTAKES OF MOSES , H

THE ABUNDANT LIFE

PETER

II.

III.

34

IV.

JESUS AND NIOODEMUS 43

V.

THE LOGICAL LEPERS . 54

VI.

JONAH- 65

VII.

THE CHURCH'S GOOD 74

VIII.
SALVATION ILLUSTRATED 84

IX. -

SAMSON 94

X.

THE WATER OF LIFE lOt

X CONTENT?.

XI. Page.

THE VISION OF DRY BOXES 116

XII.

THE TWO t^ONS 127

XIII.
THE UNFORTUNATE MAN 137

XIV.

MANASSEH 148

XV.

THREE NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS ... 156

XVI.

THE GREAT FEAST 166

XVII.
I'RAYER 176

XVIII.

THE YOUNG RULER AND THE BLIND BEGGAR . . l,ss

XIX.

JESUS ONLY ........ UOO

XX.

SOWING AND REAPING, A Sermon to Y'ouug Men JU

THE MISTAKES OF MOSES.

" And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he
went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens ; and he spied an
Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

"And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there
was no man, he slew the Egyptian."— Exodus 2 : 11, 12.

" And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh
and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egj-pt? "—Exodus
3:11.

"And Moses answered and said ; But, behold, they will not believe me,
nor hearken unto my voice."— Exodus 4 : 1.

"And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent."—
Exodus 4 : 10.

" And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him whom
Thou wilt send."— Exodus 4 : 13.

"And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the
rock, and he said unto them. Hear now, ye rebels ; must we fetch you
water out of this rock ?

"And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock
twice."- Numbers 20 : 10, 11.

Witliout any exception Moses was the greatest man
in tlie Old Testatment dispensation, and of no man is
more honorable mention made in tlie ISTew Testament.
In Revelation, when the celestial city is spoken of, we
read of the song of Moses and the Lamb. Yet this
man, who holds a position second to none, made a
number of mistakes. I pni-pose referring to three of
these mistakes, and the subject will be practical as they
are mistakes which Christians are likely to make.

The first mistake was after he had turned his back
upon the house of Pharaoh, with all its pleasures and

12 Till-: MISTAKES OF MOSES.

l)rospects, and had identified himself with the despised
slaves, who were being crushed under the Egyptian
power. He believed that in some way, through him,
these people were to be delivered, but he made a mis-
take by entering upon the work before he was called to
it or qualified for it. His indignation at oppression
and his compassion for the oppressed no doubt led him
to make the mistake of slaying the Egyptian who was
contending with the Hebrew. It is a mistake which
Christians are likely to make when they are full of the
enthusiasm of the new life. When they see iniquity
abounding and the cause of God suffering, the ten-
dency is to rush into service before they are sure that
they have been called to that particular work or quali-
fied for it. How often, for example, the student at
college when reading about the multitudes in foreign
lands who have never heard of the Christ, and sees
around him the ravages of sin, feels like throwing his
books aside and rushing into active ser\nce, forgetting
that the time spent in preparation is not time wasted.
John the Baptist was about thirty years old before he
was called into active sen-ice, and Jesus was about the
same age when He laid down the plane and left the
caiT^enter's bench in N'azareth to preach to men con-
cerning the kingdom of God. Tt is a great mistake for
us to go before we are sent, or to enter upon any work
before we are qualified for it, ,\s a result of his mis-

THE MISTAKES OF MOSES. 13

take, Moses fled into the wilderness. The life there
was very different from that which he spent in Phar-
aoh's court, but he had an opportunity not only of
holding fellowship with God but of becoming ac-
quainted Avith himself, and no doubt it was during
these years of loneliness and of meditation that he
came to realize how weak and helpless he was. There
is nothing which will enable us so to realize the majes-
ty and power of God and our own insigiiificance as the
beholding of God's works in nature. The psalmist
said, When I look up into the heavens which Thine
own fingers framed, to the moon and the stars, then
say I, What is man that Thou are mindful of him,
or the son of man that Thou dost visit him?

After forty years of life in Midian the Lord ap-
peared to Moses at Horeb, informing him that he was
the chosen one to deliver Israel from the power and
slavery of Egypt. Moses now makes the second mis-
take, to wdiich we purpose referring, by refusing to
go. First of all he realized, as no other man did, the
greatness and the power and the cruelty of Egypt; and
on the other hand he realized then as never before how^
weak and helpless he was in contrast to that mighty
nation. Xot only so, but he had tried to help these
people in the past and had miserably failed. Putting
these things together he said, " Who am I that I
should go to Pharaoh?"

14 TIIK MISTAKES OF MOSES.

llnw (ificii ( 'liristiaii people fail to enter upon
work for tlio same reasons. They think of the great-
ness of the work to be done, they think of their past
failures and of their insufficiency for these things, and
like ]\Ioses they say, " Who are we that we should
undertake such a work?" For example, when Chris-
tians think of the power of the liquor traffic, its power
in the world of politics, and its power over those who
have become enslaved by it; when they think of how
efforts to overthrow it have failed in the past, how
little they have been able to accomplish, they become
discouraged and say, ^' What can we do?" The same
is true in regard to may other evils that have lifted
up their heads in the high places, and we are liable to
make the same mistake that Moses made when, look-
ing at the greatness of Pharaoh and his own weakness,
he said, "Who am I that I should go?" Yet this
estimate of the power of the enemy and of his own
weakness was the best qualification for the work to
which he w^as called. If a man has a high opinion of
his own ability and under-estimates the strength of
the foe, he will not accomplish very much; but when
he realizes the gi*eatness of the w'ork and his own in-
ability to accomplish it he will fall back upon the
source of all power and seek for reinforcements. The
Lord met the difficulties which presented themselves
to Moses in connection with this aspect of the case.

THE MISTAKES OF MOSES. 15

but then a new difficulty comes up, and that is witJi
reference to the people to whom God wishes to send
him. He says, " This people will not believe me."
He knew how they treated him forty years before this,
when he slew the Egyptian and interfered in the
quarrel between the two Hebrews; now he says,
" There is no use, the very people I go to deliver will
not believe me, will turn against me." What a know-
ledge of human nature he had and how tnie his estim-
ate of these people was we see from the after history.
Does not the same difficulty present itself to us when
entering into Christian service? The very people
that we are trying to help and seeking to deliver are
the people who will probably give us the most abuse.
It was so in the case of our Lord — the men He came
to save despised, imprisoned and crucified Him ; and it
has ever been the same. But what G od said to Moses
He said to Jeremiah, and He says to His servants in
all ages, " Surely I will be with thee." Then Moses
looks at it from another point of view and he says,
" I am not eloquent," as if all success depended upon
his eloquence. The Lord answers him by asking the
question, " Who is it that made man's mouth?" Fre-
quently, when we are called to service, we raise the
same objection. It may be we have not money, or we
have not talents like other people, we have little time
at our disposal; and so we present these things as ex-

;|n THE MISTAKES OF MOSES. .

cuses, or, in our estimation, roasous why wc should
not Ko where wc are being sent, or do what we arc
commanded to do. The Lord would no donbt answer
us as He answered Moses, that the success of our work
does not depend upon ourselves or our abilities. Not
satisfied with all the promises and assurances that God
had given to him, however, Moses now ssljs, " Send, I
pray Thee, by the hand of another;" and the anger of
the Lord was kindled against him. It is true he went
afterwards, and the success which attended his efforts
was certainly marvellous, but because of the mistake
which he made in not going when he was sent, Aaron,
his brother, was sent with him as the spokesman, and
we know from events which followed that Aaron was
not a source of strength, but a soiu'ce of weakness to
Moses. He it was who yielded to the people and made
for them the golden calf, when ]\[oses Avas receiving
the law in the mount. We have seen from the nar-
rative that while it is a gTeat mistake to enter upon
service before we are qualified and have been commis-
sioned by God, it is as great a mistake, if not greater,
to refuse to go when we have been qualified and called
of God. And this is applicable not only to ministers
and missionaries but to every Christian, because God
has a work for every man to do. "We are created in
Christ Jesus unto good works, and there is a sphere
whicli He intends every Christian to occupy, and a

THE MISTAKES OF MOSES, 17

work He wishes every Christian to do. The practical
question for us then is, " Have we entered upon some
work for which we are not qualified, and to which we
have not been called, or are we refusing to enter into
service for which the Lord has qualified us, and to
which He has called us?"

The third mistake to which we shall refer was
made at the waters of Meribah, where Moses lost his
patience, spoke imadvisedly to Israel and failed to
give to God the glory that was due to His name. This
was a great mistake, and for this sin and mistake he
was severely punished. It was because of this that he
was not permitted to lead Israel into the land of prom-
ise. Men tell us, of course, that if he did not enter
the earthly Canaan he entered the heavenly Canaan.
That is all very true ; yet no greater punishment could
have been inflicted upon Moses than his exclusion
from the land of Canaan. Because of sin every man
who left Egypt over twenty years of age died in the
wilderness, save Joshua and Caleb, and now we have
the great leader prohibited from entering because of
what he did on this particular occasion. The question
may be asked, Why was he punished so severely ? We
must remember that this nation was beginning its
history, and it was necessary for them to realize in
the clearest manner possible God's hatred of sin, and
that He would not give His glory to another. The

18 THE MISTAKES OF MOSES.

same was true in the case of Achan at the beginning
of the great campaign after they crossed the
river Jordan. Also at the beginnmg of the
GospQl dispensation we have in the case of
Ananias and Sapphira a terrible judgment, but it
caused fear to come upon all who heard it, and enabled
them to realize how God viewed such acts. The Lord
could have easily removed the consequences of Moses'
sin, but for the sake of the nation Moses had to suffer
for his folly. This also is a sin and mistake which
Christians are liable to make. Think of all that Moses
had sacrificed for that people ; think of all that he had
endured from them and done for them during the
many years that he was with them, and still they mur-
mured ; and no doubt it seemed to him that they were
getting no better, and he may have said to himself,
AVhat is the use, they are a lot of rebels? So his indig-
nation was kindled against them and he gave expres-
sion to his thoughts. How often, when we are mak-
ing sacrifices for people, and are doing all that we pos-
sibly can do in their interests, they are continually
finding fault and sometimes, we think, becoming worse
instead of better. There is a danger of us losing
patience and looking upon them as hopelessly ungrate-
ful rebels against God and those who are labouring for
them. In Christian work there is great need for the
exhortation, "Add to your virtue, patience;" and

THE MISTAKES OF MOSES. 19

when we see that the meekest of men became im-
patient and sinned so grievously along this line, there
is reason for us to fear. Do we not frequently fail to
give God the glory that is due unto Him? Do we al-
ways exalt the Lord in the midst of the people, and by
our actions and words sanctify Him as we ought?
These mistakes of Moses are recorded, not in order to
lower him in our estimation, but to warn us so that
we may not fall into the same errors.

Now for a moment let us glance at the one like
unto Moses who came in after years, and we will see
that as far as the mistakes of Moses were concerned
He was unlike the great statesman. In the book of
Hebrews, where the superiority of the New Testa-
ment dispensation over the Old is so clearly shown,
the greatness of Christ is contrasted with that of Moses
— Moses as a servant, Christ as a son — ^Moses the man
who made mistakes, Jesus the one who never erred.
He did not enter upon His special work until He was
endued with the Spirit and until the hour had come.
How His heart must have gone out to the multitudes
tliat were as sheep without a shepherd, but He did
not enter upon that divine work until the fullness of
the time; and He commanded His disciples, when He
was leaving them, to remain in Jerusalem until they
Avould be thoroughly qualified for service. It is often
far harder for the soldiers to stand by without taking

20 THE MISTAKES OF MOSES.

any part in the conflict while the battle is raging than
it would be for them to rush into the fight. But to
obey is better than sacrifice in the sight of God, and
Christ^ was obedient even unto the death of the cross.
He did not go until He was sent, but when He did
receive the commission He went forth regardless of
the consequences, and could say in sincerity and in
truth, " My meat and My drink is to do the will of
Him that sent Me." Again, we find Him continually
glorifying the Father and saying, " Glorify Thyself in
Thy Son." When it comes to the people, no matter
how they treat Him He never becomes impatient.
The disciples forsake Him, one of them denies Him,
another betrays Him; He is arrested, false charges
brought against Him, He is condemned, and nailed to
the cross; men wag their heads at Him as they pass
and spit in His face; but in all this He never becomes
impatient, but cries from the cross, " Father forgive
them, for they know not what they do." Putting to-
gether the life of Moses and the life of the One con-
cerning whom Moses spake when he said, " A Prophet
like unto me shall the Lord your God raise up unto
you," we see the marvellous contrast between them.
Jesus was perfect in Himself and in all that He did.
The imperfections of Moses were manifest, and his
mistakes glaring. Yet Moses was the greatest of mere
men, and notwithstanding his many imperfections,

THE MISTAKES OF MOSES. 21

and his great mistakes, he was used by the Lord in
a most wonderful manner. From this subject we can
surely draw the conclusion that God can use us, not-
withstanding our imperfections and faults. It is the
line of argument that James follows in the fifth chap-
ter of his Epistle, when speaking about the power of
prayer. Lest anyone should think that absolute per-
fection was necessary before prayer would prevail with
God, he takes as an illustration Elijah, and after stat-
ing that the prophet was a man of like passions with
us he goes on to show that by his prayers he closed the
heavens for three years and six months, and then by
prayer he brought rain upon the thirsty earth, for
though his judgment may have erred, his heart was
right with God, and he was in earnest. So it was with
Moses. His sincere desire was to do the will of God,
and when he fell, through his mistakes and imperfec-
tions, the Lord lifted, sustained, and used him. So it
will be with us, if we submit ourselves to God, and are
willing to be in Hi» hand, what the rod was in the
hand of Moses, and what Moses was in the hand of
God, for God is able to use the earthen vessel — even
those that are marred in the making — for His own
glorjf, and for the good of humanity.

IT.

THE ABUNDANT LIFE.

"I am come that they might have life, anrl that they might have it
more abundantly."— John 10: in.

It is implied in this statement that the people to
whom He spoke were without life, for He did not
come to give men that %vhich they were already in pos-
session of. There are two kinds of life that He did
not come to give, namely, physical life and intellect-
ual life, though He had power to give such life. He
manifested His power to give physical life by raising
from the dead the widow's son at Nain, the daughter
of Jairus, and Lazaraus,who had been four days in the
grave, and He also showed His power to restore in-
tellectual life by healing those in whom reason had
been dethroned, and restoring them to their right
mind.

But the men to whom He was speaking had physi-
cal and intellectual life, for many in those days were
great thinkers and scholars, — men such as Gamaliel
under whom Saul studied. But His mission was to
give spiritual life; and this life man was at one time
in possession of, for when Adam came from the hand
of his Maker, and when God walked with him in the

THE ABUNDANT LIFE. 23

garden in the cool of the day he had spiritual life and
fellowship with God. That fellowship was broken,
and that spiritual life destroyed when the adversary
came between Adam and God. On that day our first
parents died spiritually, and all the race descended
from them were separated from God through the fall.
It was to restore this union that Christ came, to make
God and man one, and the very word atonement
means at-one-ment. The divine Son of God, equal
with the Father, taking upon Himself not the form of
angels, but the seed of Abraham, becoming bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh, coming to unite God
and man, and that union which He came to effect*ds
spoken of as life, — spiritual life.

Now this life is the gift of God, to be received by
the hand of faith, as a physical gift is to be received
by the physical hand. But what does He mean when
He says that He is come to give them life and to give
it more abundantly? Is there a distinction between
life and abundant life ? Does He give the life to some,
and in addition to that the abundant life? We see
from this text that there are degrees of life just as
there are different kinds, and in order to understand
the spiritual better, we may adopt our Lord's plan, in
His teaching, and find out more about the spiritual
through analogy with that which is natural or physi-
cal. A man may have physical life and have so little

24 THE ABUNDANT LIFE.

of it that lie will be unconscious that he possesses this
life; and in the spiritual world are there not those pos-
sessing spiritual life in such a small degree, that they
are unconscious of the possession? Some, of course,
tell us that a man, if he is saved, must know it ; but on
this point there is room for difference of opinion.
However, we are all agreed that if a man has so little
physical life that he is unconscious he is in a critical
state, causing anxiety to his friends, and of no use as
far as advancing the interests of the world is con-
cerned. So, if a man is unconscious of his spiritual
existence he is certainly in a critical state, and those
who are interested in his spiritual well-being will
necessarily be anxious about him while he himself
will be absolutely useless as far as advancing the cause
of Christ is concerned.

There is another stage of life, however, when a man
is conscious of his existence, and w^hen all his friends
know that he is alive, he may be in what we call a
convalescent state, so weak that he is not able to do
any work, having others wait upon him. In the
church also there is a great multitude who have spirit-
ual life, and who can say honestly that they know in
whom they have believed and are persuaded that He
is able to keep that which they have committed to His
trust; their friends know, or believe, that they are
Christians, and yet these people have so little of the

THE ABUNDANT LIFE. 25

divine life tliat they are unable to accomplish any-
thing in the spiritual world. To such the apostle
spoke when he said they were Aveak and sickly and
fainting, requiring to be fed on milk when they should
be nourishing themselves with the strong meat.

We come now to the highest stage of life, — the
abundant life. We see it in the physical world where
all that has been accomplished in the past has been
brought about by men who not only possessed physical
life but an abundance of it. Our cities have been
builded, our railways made, and all the advancement
in the physical world has been accomplished by those
men who had life enough and to spare. It is so in the
intellectual world. Men who have had an abundance
of intellectual life have brought about all the achieve-
ments that have been accomplished in the intellectual
world. And is it not so in the church? All the mis-
sionary enterprises at home and abroad, works of phil-
anthropy, everything that has been done to lift up
fallen humanity and to advance the cause of Christ,
has it not been accomplished not only by those who
have had spiritual life, but by those who have had an
abundance of it ? It is not the water in the well which
makes the grass gTow all around it, but the water
which flows out of the well. It is not the strength
which we have in ourselves, but that which we are able

20 THE ABUNDANT LIFE.

to give out, that accomplishes work in the physical or
spiritual world.

We have these degrees of life. Does the Lord then
give to one life and to another an abundance of life,
or haA^e we anything to do with the developing of this
life? Take an illustration. To Israel, God gave the
land of Canaan as a free gift. It was theirs on the
day they crossed the Jordan, yet He told them after
giving them the land that they would have every
foot which they conquered. He gave them the power
to conquer that land and as much of it as they con-
quered they possessed, but all that was left uncon-
quered was not possessed by them. So when He gives
men salvation as a free gift He tells them to work it
out with fear and trembling, since it is God that work-
eth in them to will and to do His good pleasure; and
the amount of spiritual life Avhich we ]30ssess will
depend largely upon ourselves. Take the child, for
example. The child has physical life — the same kind
of life that the strong man has, but not as much of it.
Look at the intellectual life of the little one, it is tak-
ing notice of everything, and the parents are rejoiced
because they see that it has reasoning faculiios, it has
the intellectual life. But what a difference between
the quantity of intellectual life which the child has,
and that which is possessed by a professor in a univer-
sity. And in the spiritual world, when men are born

THE ABUNDANT LIFE. 27

again they are spoken of as babes in Christ, who are
expected to grow until they become strong men in
Christ Jesus. They are also spoken of sometimes un-
der the figure of the blade that works its way through
the clods, and keeps growing and developing imtil it
becomes the full ear with the com in it. They are
spoken of as the light that shineth more and more
unto the perfect day, or as those who are going on
from strength to strength until they appear before him
in Zion. All this indicates development.

In order to develop physical life there are three
essentials, — food, fresh air and exercise, and the same
three are essential in the developing of the spiritual
life. If a child is to grow and become a strong man
the child must get food, and not only food but the
right kind of food, food that will nourish and streng-
then. So in the spiritual life the Christian must be
fed. Christ has spoken of Himself as the Bread of
Life, and His word is spoken of in that sense. We are
exhorted to desire the sincere milk of the word that we
may grow thereby. Spiritual food is as necessary to
spiritual growth as physical food is to physical gTowtli,
and one reason why so many Christians have so little
of this divine life is because they arc starving them-
selves spiritually or feeding upon that which does not
sufficiently nourish the divine life within them.
Tliere is such a thing in the physical world as living

28 THE ABUNDANT LIFE.

skeletons, — men who have been starved for a time,
and there are mnltitudes of spiritual skeletons in the
church. A man cannot become physically strong on
angel cake and mince pie, though there is nothing
wrong 'in these things as dessert; and a Christian can-
not become spiritually strong on a great deal of the
light literature that is read in these days, though that
literature may be harmless in itself. It has not the
nourishment that is necessary to the developing of the
divine life. The Word of God, biographies of the
good and the great, and the best literature is essential
to the spiritual and intellectual development of the
Christian.

iSTow with regard to the air. We know in the
physical world that a great deal depends upon the kind
of atmosphere in which a man breathes. If it is a
malarial atmosphere it is dangerous. There is a won-
derful difference between a mountaineer and a man
who lives in a coal-mine, or a poorly ventilated fac-
tory. In like manner there is, in the spiritual world,
such a thing as a spiritual atmosphere that is created
by communion with God and fellowship with Chris-
tians. Men were commanded to enter into the closet
and to shut the door and hold communion with God,
they were also commanded not to neglect assembling

themselves together, — for as iron sharpeneth iron.

so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

THE ABUNDANT LIFE. 29

And thus people coming together, having fellowship
one with another, create a spiritual atmosphere that
goes far toward developing the divine life. Looking
at the matter from this point of view we may ba helped

in the settling of some of the vexed questions which
Christians often ask concerning places of question-
able amusement. For example, the question is often
asked. Can I go to this place or to that and be a Chris-
tian ? You might just as well ask the question. Can a
man work and live in a place where the air is impure ?
We know they can and do, but the question really is,
Can a man become physically strong if he is contin-
ually or almost continually breathing in a polluted at-
mosphere? And then, applying this, Can a Christian
become spiritually strong if he is frequently breathing
in the polluted atmosphere of the ball-room and the
theatre or the gambling-house? Lot was a man of
God and is at the present time in heaven, yet he
breathed in the polluted atmosphere of Sodom, and
no one can say of him that he had an abundance of
life, for he was weak and useless. And in like man-
ner if a Christian wants to get to heaven by the skin
of his teeth and is willing that the rest of the world
should go down to destruction, he may do a gi-eat
many things and go to a great many places and at last
be saved as by fire. But if a man is anxious to carry-
out the will of his Master and to bring others with him

;;<) Tllli ABUNDANT LIFE.

into the kingdom, it will be necessary for such a one
to breathe in a more holy atmosphere than he will find
in any of the places to which reference has been made.
The third essential is exercise. A man must take
exercise in addition to the food and the air, if he is to
become strong. And a Christian, in addition to study-
ing the Word of God and holding communion with
Him and fellowship with Cliristians, must exercise
himself unto godliness if he is to become strong spirit-
ually. And in taking this exercise, while the man is
being strengthened by it he can at the same time be
accomplishing work. In the physical world we have
people who take their exercise in the gymnasium ; this
is all right, but nothing is accomplished by it. Others
again are doing work and taking exercise at the same
time, accomplishing something for humanit3^ Per-
haps there is such a thing as spiritual gymnastics.
Men may lake spiritual exercise in that way, but there
is a more excellent way, and it is by performing work
in tlie taking of the exercise and thereby blessing
liumanity. When there is a big head of steam on in
an engine, she may blow off that Avhich she does not
require, and make a considerable noise, but there is
another way of blowing off that steam, by which she
can at the same time carry the freight or the passen-
gers along the line. In taking exercise the more we
give the more we receive. The blacksmith, for ex-

THE ABUNDANT LIFE. 31

ample, is giving out energy when he is at his work,
hut at the same time he is receiving strength, and the
more he gives out the stronger he becomes. And so
in the spiritual world, there is that which withholdeth
more than is meet and tendeth to poverty, but those
who give receive in return, for the more spiritual
exercise we take and the more spiritual work we per-
fonn the stronger we become spiritually.

This, then, is the way in which He gives the abun-
dance of life. He gives us the means by which we can
increase the life which at first is given to us as a free
gift. Without Him we can no more increase that life,
than Israel could conquer Canaan without the divine
help and presence. There is no use in a man praying
to God for physical strength if at the same time he is
violating the laws of health, or refusing to use the
means by which physical strength is attained. ^fTeither
is there any use in a man asking God for abundance
of spiritual life if he is violating the very laws by

which this is to be attained, or neglecting the things
which are essential to the development of this life.

Again, if we have this abundant life, then work
becomes a pleasure. In the physical world if those
who are weak and sickly try to do work it becomes a
toil and a drudgery, while if there is an abundance of
physical life work is a pleasure. In like manner, in
the spiritual world, those who have very little of the
divine life, when the Sabbath comes are heard to say.

32 THE ABUNDANT LIFE.

"We ought to go to cliurcli." Those who have an
abundance of this life will say, as did the psalmist,
"I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into
the house of the Lord." They do work because it is
their duty, but when the life is abundant His yoke
will be very easy. His burden exceedingly light, and
His commands will not be grievous; their meat and
their drink will be to do His will if they have an
abundance of His life.

Now if we have not this spiritual life why is it,
since He came to give it to us? Could He say of us
as He said of some of the people in the days of His
flesh, " Ye will not come to me that ye might have
life?" How is it to be obtained? He that belie veth
on the Son hath everlasting life. It is through faith.
Then if there are those of us who have the divine life,
but cannot say that we have abundance of it, who
is to blame? There are multitudes who have very
little physical life, but it is not their fault. They
would do anything or go anywhere to increase their
health that the}' might become strong. But in the
spiritual world if we have not the abundant life is it
(^hrist's fault or is it ours? "Will we do like Adam,
blame Him, or will we acknowledge that it is because
wo have not used the means, and from this hour for-
ward make His word the man of our counsel, hold
sweet fellowship with Him and try to carry out His

THE ABUNDANT LIFE. 33

command showing to the worhl that, ''pure religion
and nndefiled before God and the Father is this, to
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and
to keep himself nnspotted from the world."

ni.

PETER.

••Then began he to our.se and to swca-, sayinj?, I know not the man."—
-Matthew 26: 71.

It is a question if any man, save Judas Iscariot,
ever fell so low or committed so great a sin as Peter
did, and in order to see the enormity of his sin several
things have to be taken into consideration, Eirst of
all, the wonderful way in which he was privileged.
He was one of the three who beheld Christ's glory in
the mount, and in some way he recognized Moses and
Elias and wished to build for them tabernacles. The
scene must have made a gTeat impression on him, for
in after years he refers to it in one of his epistles.
Then he was in the house of Jairus when the maiden
was raised from the dead, and he was among the three
who were nearest the Lord during His anguish in the
garden of Gethsemane. Again, he made a great con-
fession acting as the spokesman of the twelve when he
declared that Christ was the son of the living God,
and Jesus informed him that he had that revelation
from the Father in heaven. He made a wonderful pro-
fession of loyalty to Christ, stating that he would
never forsake him. Peter was warned concerning the

PETER. 35

dangers which lay ahead of hiin, and it is said that if
a man is forewarned he is haK-anned. Still further,
he failed Christ in the hour when his presence and
his help were most needed. 'We cannot think of that
night scene, without contrasting the conduct of Peter
with that of John, who was the youngest of the dis-
ciples, and who displayed the greatest courage and
heroism. He was the only one to stand by his Master,
when all men had forsaken Ilim, and when the powers
of hell were against Him. On the other hand it is
probable that Peter was the oldest of the apostles,
the one who had braved many a storm on the Sea of
Galilee and displayed great courage on many occa-
sions; the one who should have been closest to the
Master in the hour of His need, but at that time we
find him in the courtyard, first denying that he knew
Him, then emphasizing his denial, and finally cursing
and swearing that he knew not the man. When one
listens to these oaths of his and then thinks of his
words in Caesarea Phiiippi we cannot help exclaim-
ing, "How the mighty have fallen." Could lie h:)\-^
fallen any lower or committed a more gre\'ious sin
against his Lord than he did on that eventful night?
But what led to this terrible fall? Pirst of all
we might look at his self-confidence, for he had un-
bounded confidence in himself, declaring that though
all men should for«,ake Christ vet he would never do

:;,; pirn-u.

Mich a Ihing. This pride and coiitidenoo in one's f-oU
as a general thing goes bel'ore a fall, bnt wlicn we arc
thinking of this in the case of Peter do we not se(>
traces erf it sometimes in ourselves? We hear of miMi
who have fallen and have sinned, and we are liable to
say to ourselves, if not to others, we could never be
guilty of such things. This pride and confidence in
one's self leads to the despising of others and in the
case of Peter, while he did not say it, he inferred th;it
the others might deny Christ. The more one thinks
of himself the less he will think of others, and the
more confidence he has in himself the less he will have
in others. Still further, this led to his rashness in the
garden, for when the men came out to arrest Jesus,
Peter drew the sword and rushed at them without
first consulting Christ. It is the part of a soldier to
wait for the command of his superior ofliccr. It i>
the part of a true disciple to receive his commands
from his Lord and Master. Peter did not say to Jesus,
" What wilt Thou have me to do, or wherein does my
duty lie?" But without asking any advice or counsel,
he drew the sword and cut off the ear of the servant of
the high priest, and for this act he was rebukcnl by
Jesus and told to put the sword up again.

How often we do that which is similar. AVe ael
without taking counsel with the One whom we profess
to serve, without finding ont what His will is in tl;c

PETER. 3

1^

matter, and wliat part He would have us take. The
cause of Christ has always suffered from the rashness
of His followers and this rashness is due in a large
measure to our confidence in ourselves, in our own
wisdom and in our own powers. We are frequently
told that one of the causes of Peter's fall was the
fact that he slept in the garden, when he should have
been awake. There is no two ways, but that it was
wrong on his part, but we must remember that the
other disciples also slept. Then he followed afar off,
but some of the others did not follow at all. They
fled. Certainly it is a dangerous thing to follow afar
oft" when in the land of the enem3\ Those who are
in a border land in a time of war, as a general thing,
suffer more than those who are in the heart of the
country, and the nearer a person is to Christ the
safer he is, and the further awav, the sreater the dan-

ger.

Then w'e iind him with the enemies of his Lord
when he should have been with the Lord Himself.
He was where he should not have been, hence he was
in a place of danger. If a messenger had come from
heaven he might have asked him the question that
was asked of Elijah, "What doest thou here?" In
after years he was often among the enemies of the
Lord, but lie was there for the purpose of turning
them from the error of their ways, but now he is try-

n

8 PETER.

ing to save his life nnd is in great danger of losing it,
bj tlie very efforts that he is Dutting forth to save it.
Peter is not alone in this matter. Even in tliis age
multitudes of Christ's professed followers are often
among the enemies of the Lord when they should be
with His friends, and they are there, not for the sake
of turning the enemies into friends, but for the sake
of gratifying their own desires, or of being amused.
Xo doubt all these things to which we have referred
had a great deal to do with Peter's fall, but we must
remember that the devil played a very important
part in connection with his sin. "When Christ was
looking forward to this night he said to Peter, " Satan
hath desired to have you that he may sift you as
wheat." It would seem that all the powers of hell
were let loose against Peter and that the great desire
of the Evil One was to overthrow him, and perhaps
the most important point in this whole history is the
fact that Peter did not realize the greatness of the
enemy with which he had to contend. Had he real-
ized this he would not have had so much confidence
in himself, he would not have slept in the garden, he
would not have acted rashly without consulting his
Master nor followed Him afar off, neither would he
have remained vnth his lord's enemies. And what
was true of Peter is true of multitudes since then
and now. It is because men do not reali;^e the

PETER. 3>

strengtli of the forces which are mustered against
them, that they so often fall. It is this thona'ht which
Paul wished to bring before the church when he
said, " "We ^^Tcstle not against flesh and blood but
against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places." And then he exhorts
them to put on the Avhole armour of God that*they
■max be able to withstand in the evil day.

It is the same thought that Christ brou2:ht before
the disciples when He told thorn that their advor-
sarr. the devil, was goins: about as a roaring lion,
seeking whom he might devour. And perhaps the
weakest point in the church to-day is the fact that
she does not realize the strens'th of the forces which
are against her, for th.e devil is fulfilling prophecy
and coming to us as an angel of light, and making
m.nny believe that there is no devil. Tt is because of
this we go on in our own strene-th, and the result. is
we fall. "WTien we condemn Peter for his shameful
conduct on the night of the betrayal, let us not forget
tlie tremendous powers which were a^rainst him, and
the great desire on the part of the devil to have him,
aud also that as Satan desired to have Peter so he
desires to have us, and there is no power which can
save us excent the power which rescued and saved
Peter. To us it should be a comforting thought that

40 PETER.

our Lord not only knows the weakness of the flesh,
hnt lie also knows the power of the adversary. He
is not only able to make us strong in our weakness,
but He is able also to make us more tliau conquerors
over tlie enemy. This He did in the case of His
apostle.

It Avas the prayer of Christ wliich saved this man
Avhen he was on the very brink of destruction. " I
have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not,'' and
his faith did not fail in the critical hour. The ful-
filment of his Lord's prophecy concerning the thrice
denial and the look of pity and of love which he re-
ceived from Jesus, sent him out into the garden to
remember his sin, to loathe himself and to cry might-
ily for forgiveness. Jesus saw the tears, heard the
cries of anguish, cleansed his soul from the terrible
strains, and not only restored him back to disciple-
ship but made him one of the greatest powers for
good that the world has seen.

Perha])s we have no greater illustration of what
the forgiveness of Christ means than that which is
exhibited in the case of Peter. In Isaiah the wicked
are commanded to forsake their ways, and the un-
godly their thoughts, and to turn unto the Lord with
tlie promise that lie will abundantly pardon; bi\t it
is impossible to comprehend the length and the
breadth, the heighth, and the depth of the pardon-

PETER. 41

iiig love of Christ. ISTot only does He blot out all
the past but He places the transgressor in the fore-
front of His triumphant army and makes him an
honoured instrument in opening the door to the Gen-
tile world, and in bringing multitudes of the Jews
into the kingdom of God.

In looking at this whole scene we have brought
before us man's weakness, the deAal's power over man
when his confidence is placed in himself, and then
the power of Christ to overthrow the plans of the
enemy, for by this fall Peter became a grander and
greater disciple, always looking to the Lord for guid-
ance, leaning upon the strong arm of his ]\[aster.
He did more to pull do^vn the strongholds of evil and
to destroy the works of the devil than any other of
the disciples, saving, perhaps, the apostle Paul. And
in the last place we see the matchless compassion and
tenderness of Jesus Christ in His dealing with this
apostle, how He remembers him on the morning of
His resurrection and tells those to whom He appeared
to tell the disciples and Peter, how He appears to
him and has a private interview when none of the
others are present, how He commits to his care the
sheep and lambs of the flock, entrusting to this dis-
ciple those wlio are dearest to His heart. What a
warning the fall of Peter is to those who have con-
fidence in themselves; Avhat encouragement cnne^

42 PETER.

from his restoration to those who have fallen. For the
Christ who prayed that Peter's faith might not fail is
now at the right hand of the Father making interces-
sion for 113.

'i IV.

JESUS AND NICODEMUS. *

'• Niecdemus. a ruler of the Jews."— John 3 : 1.

Night had fallen on the city, and at last the streets
were stilled. The dwellers in Jerusalem had gone to
their homes, and the strangers had retired to the tents
which filled every vacant space in the great city dur-
ing Passover week. A knock was heard at the outer
gate of a humble dwelling, and a few minutes later
JesuB, a young prophet of Nazareth, stood face to
face with Nicodemus, a niler of the Jews. The in-
terview which followed is one of the most important
given in the sacred writings. The name, the position
occupied, and the religious sect to which the night
visitor belonged are all given by the inspired histor-
ian: and the necessitv of the new birth, the work of
the Spirit, the love of the Father, the mission of the
Son. the responsibility resting upon those who have
heard the gospel, are all set forth by Jesus. Many
blame Nicodemus for coming at night, and tliink it
was a sign of cowardice on his part; but there is not
a sentence in Scripture to justify such a theory.
There was no reason why he should not have come
during the day. He may have been among the depu-

1 ^ JESLS AXn XICODEMUS.

tation Avho went down to the Jordan to inquire of
John concerning his mission, or if he was not he must
have heard the report which they brought back. Be-
sides, owing to the position Avhich he held in the
great council, he had perfect liberty to ask any teacher
whatever questions might suggest themselves to him,
and at this time .Tesus was not unpopular with the
great council; the period of opposition had not set in,
and no one would have thought it strange, neither
would they have cast reflections upon Nicodemus if
he had been seen talking with Jesus during the day.
It is true John speaks of him as the one who came
to Jesus by night, hut that is for the sake of identify-
ing the man; just as he speaks of himself as the dis-
ciple whom Jesus loAed, or the one "who leaned on
His bojom at supper, and as, in the eleventh chapter,
he s})eaks of ]\[;!rv wlio anointed the Lord, althoua-h
the story of the anointing does not come until we
reach the 12th chapter, but he wishes us to under-
stand that it is the same Mary. So when he speaks
of iSTicodemus in this manner we understand that
nothing further is meant than that men should re-
cognize him as the same one who had the interview
with Jesus, which interview is recorded in this third
chapter of John. And, from the way in which Jesus
received and treated iiini, we must conclude that his
motives in coming to Jesus were all riiiht. hut his

JESUS AND NICODEMUS. 45

conceptions of the work wliicli Jesus came to do, and
of the need of Israel were all wrong. He thought
tiiat Jesus was a great teacher, come from God, and
that what the nation required was such a teacher,
liut Jesus wished to banish from his mind this erron-
eous idea, and that led Him to answer Xicodcmus in
a waj which might seem to us somewhat rude. It
is true, Jesus was a teacher, and the greatest of all
teachers, for He taught as never man taught, and it
is also true that wherever His gospel is published
men are not only blessed spiritually, but they are de-
veloped intellectually, for Christianity and education
go hand in hand, but His mission to this -world was
not to teach them but to save them. In Israel there
had been great teachers before His time — men who
had come from God, men like the heroic Elijah or
the seraphic Isaiah — and yet the nation kept going-
down step after step, until they sat as captives by
the river in Babylon, where their harps hung upon
the willows. But these very teachers all looked for-
ward to a Redeemer, and Jesus wished to impress
upon the mind of Nicodemus at the very outset, that
what Israel required was redemption, and that He
had come as their Saviour. When the angel an-
nounced His birth he said that His name was to be
called Jesus, for He was to save His people ivom
their sins. He Himself said that He had come to

46 JESUS AND NICODEMUS.

seek and to save the lost, and the greatest of His
apostles said that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners.

In the interview He goes on to show Nicodemus
what this salvation means, that it is being bom again
and that the new birth is brought about through the
power of the spirit; that while men can no more trace
the spirit in His workings than they can tell from
whence the wind cometh. or whither it goeth, yet
they can see the results. He assures Nicodemus that
this change is absolutely essential, that without it
men cannot see, understand or enter into the kingdom
of heaven. This change cannot be brought about by
mere education; for while A\-e have sin in the hovels
of the ignorant we also have it in the palatial homes
of the refined and cultured. A man must be born
of water and the Spirit, said Jesus, before he can
enter into the enjoyment of the new life. Then he
goes on to speak of the Father's love, how that He
looked down upon the race vdth such pity and com-
passion that He was willing to give His only Son
that they might be saved from their sins, and be-
come the possessors of everlasting life. He reminds
Nicodemus of a scene in the wilderness, when the
brazen seipent was lifted up to save the bitten Israel-
ites, in order that He m.ay show this ruler the part,
that He was to have in this work. For. as Mose:«»

JESUS AND NICODEMUS. 47

lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

He then speaks of the responsibility resting upon
those who hear the story. He says men shall be con-
demned, and are condemned, because they have not
believed on the name of the only begotten Son of
God.

We cannot tell what impression this discourse
made upon IS'icodemus at the time. He went out into
the night, and we hear no more of him until we reach
the seventh chapter of tlie same gospel. Then a
meeting of the council is being held, men have been
sent out to arrest Jesus, they have returned without
Him, they are asked why they did not bring Him,
and answer, " Xevcr man spake like this Man." The
councillors become furious, but Nicodemus asks the
question, " Does our law judge any man before it
hear him?" no doubt thinking that if they could hear
Jesus as he heard Him, instead of desiring to arrest
Him, they would fall at His feet in adoration, and
become His followers.

Once more he passes from the scene, and does not
appear again until the day of the crucifixion. "Wliere
he was during the mock trials we cannot tell. It i^
probable that when the council were being gathered
together they avoided the homes of Joseph and Nico-

48 Jl.SrS AND NICODEMUS.

demus, knoAviiig tliat they were friendly to -Tesii*:.
But llie last gTcat day has come, He is nailed to tho
cross, around it are gathered the soldiers M'ho have in
charge the execution. Outside of that wo have the
doctors of the law, the niemher? of the Sanhedrim,
then come the great multitude who have been cry-
ing ''Away with Him," and afar off we see the little
band of followers and sympathizers, among whom
is His another. The darkness has come down upon
the earth, men smite their breasts in fear, the midtv-
tude melts away, and when the sun a]i]")ears again wo
see the little company of believers standing by the
foot of the cross. He commends His mother to the lov-
ing John, He cries, '*It is finished," and gives up the
ghost. Tlien two men are seen talking together.
They leave the cross in company with each other,
pass through the gate into the city and then they
separate. One goes toward the house of the governor
and the other down into the business part of the city.
In a little while they return, meeting again at the
cross. One of them shows a document to the officer.
who is in charge of the soldiers, and when he sees it
he gives pennission to these men to take down the
body and deal with it as they Avish. The other lays
down a heavy burden — a hundred pounds weight of
spices, which he has bought for the embalming of the
body, — and in him we recognize the night visitor, for

JESUS AND NICODEMUS. 49

lie is none other than Mcodemns. With loving hands
they take the body from the cross, wash it, wind it in
fine linen and with spices, and then bear it away to
the new sepulchre in the garden. JSTicodemiis hon-
ored Jesus and truly Jesus honored him.

The last verses of the second chapter of John re-
late that many believed in His name when they saw
the miracles which He did, but Jesus did not commit
Himself unto them, because He knew all men. But
when we come to the third chapter we find that Jesus
did commit Himself unto Nicodemus, and never did
He give such a revelation of Himself to anyone as
He did to this man, who came to Him in the night;
and no greater honor could have been conferred upon
any man than that which was conferred upon Nico-
demus on the day of the crucifixion.

There are three wonderful funerals spoken of in
the Bible. One was that of Jacob, when all his fol-
lowers and descendants, accompanied by the chariots
and horsemen of Egypt, bore his remains to the land
that had been promised to Abraham and to Isaac.
Perhaps it was the greatest funeral the earth has ever
seen, Jacob was wonderfully honored. Then we
come to another funeral on Mount Xebo, when the
deliverer of Israel goes up, and after viewing the
land, is buried, by the angels of God, in the presence
of the Creator of the universe. No man was ever

50 JESUS AND NICODEMUS.

honored as Moses by having such a funeral. I^ut
when we come to this funeral in the Xew Testament,
it was not the dead to whom the honor was done, but
\o the pall-bearers. They were privileged to can*y
that tabernacle in which the God-head had dwelt, it
was to them the honor came, and the names of Joseph
and Nicodemus will be had in reverence so long as
the world stands, because of the part they took at that
hour when hope was crushed out of the hearts of the
disciples. K^icodemus made a noble confession of his
Lord and Master, and he was honored by the men of
his generation who believed in the Christ, and also
by the Father who loved the Son. We can imagine,
in after years, when the disciples have met together,
an old man coming into the room and the people ris-
ing as a token of respect. We can hear the children
ask, " Who is he?" and we can hear the answer, that
it is Nicodemus, who bore the body of our Lord to the
sepulchre; and when the end comes, we can see the
devout men of Israel gather around the home in
which his body lies. They think it an honor to be
privileged to bear him to the last resting-place, be-
cause of the part he took in connection with their
Lord and Master. And then our thoughts rise till
we think we can see the everlasting gates lifted up,
and the eternal doors thrown open, and we see Jesus
introducine; Nicodemus to the Father, and saying,

JESUS AND NICODEMUS. . 51

" This is the one who helped to bear My body to the
tomb." Some will say that this is a stretch of imagin-
ation, but if Jesus stood at the right hand of the
Father to receive His first martyr Stephen, have we
not reason to believe that as great if not greater
honor was conferred upon Nicodemus, and did He
not say, ' ' Whosoever, therefore, shall confess Me before
men, him will I confess also before My Father which is
in heaven."

^^'e often speak of trusting Jesus and being able to
trust Him, but have we ever thought of Christ trust-
ing us or being able to trust us? He did not, as we
have seen, commit Himself to many of those who
believed on His name, but He did trust ISTicodemus.
We all like to be trusted by our fellow-men, and the
higher these men stand in the walks of life the more
we like to have their confidence, and to know that
they ti-ust us. How much greater to be trusted by
One, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords. To
some He has entrusted families, to some He has en-
trusted classes in the Sabbath School or the Mission,
to some He has entrusted different departments of
His work, and the question is, Will we be faithful
to the trust? If we honor Him here we have the as-
surance that at the last He will honor us, and give
to us an abundant entrance into the house not made
with hands. Paul could look forward with joy to

53 ' JESUS AND NICODEMUS.

that liappy day, for he said he knew that the Lord
would place upon his head a crown of righteousness,
and to him that day would be a day of rejoicing.

When Nicodemus first came to Jesus he was an
honest doubter, a man who was groping in the dark
seeking for the light. To him much of what Jesus
said seemed very mysterious, but he was one of those
who were willing to be taught and willing to do the
•\^^ll of the Father; and so the promise of Jesus was
fulfilled in his case when He said, " If any man will-
eth to do My will he shall know of the doctrine."
It may be that the light came to him gradually, but
it increased like that of the shining light which sliin-
eth more and more unto the perfect day. And at the
hour when the disciples, v/ho had been in company
with Christ for more than three years, were dejected
and despairing, the faith of Nicodemus was getting
stronger and clearer. As Christ was lifted on the
cross he could see the fulfilment of that which he
heard during his first interview with Christ, when he
spoke of the Son of Man being lifted as Moses lifted
the serpent.

And looking back upon this scene we think of
Xicodemus as being wonderfully privileged, by be-
ing allowed to do, what he did for the body of Christ,
and to speak in His defence in ihe council. But we
forget that all of those privileges are ours. "We can

JESUS AND NICODEMUS. 53

speak on His behalf as Kicodemus did, we can honor
Him and help Him, by honoring and helping those
who have pnt their confidence in Him, for has He
not said, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least
of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." He
has so identified Himself with all His followers that
whatsoever we do to them is looked upon as done to
Him. We have the assurance that if even a cup of
cold water is given in His name it shall receive its
reward. We cannot see Him with the bodily eye as
]S[icodemus did. He is absent from us, yet His Spirit
is present with us. He has given to us great privi-
leges, committed to many of us sacred trusts, let us
so live and so act that when our eyes shall see Him
we may hear from His lips the words, " Well done,
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Y.

■•■\Vliy sit \vc here iiiilil wcdic ? ' — 11. KlNfjs 7 : ;l.

AVhat had they to live for? We can understand
young men who see visions and success aliead of them
desiring to live, but these men, through their leprosy,
had become unclean, and were cast out of their homes
and out of the synagogues, out of society and out of
the city; they knew that they were dying by inches
and every day becoming more loathsome to them-
selves. Yet these are the men who said, Why sit
we here until we die?

Deatli is unnatural, and all cling to life. There
are oidy two powers which will make men desire
death, either the fear of others, or of disgrace, which
will lead them to end their lives, or a vision of the
risen Christ, which will lead them to say as Paul said,
To die is gain. For I have a desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better. To these men,
however, life was desirable, and nothing so much
dreaded as death. They liad come to realize tliat if
they remained as tliey were death was certain. If
they went into the city they would also die, if they

THE LOGICAL LEPERS. 55

went to the camp of the Syrians there was a probabil-
ity that they would be killed, but there was a chance
of their lives being spared. Just as a man who has
been seized by a terrible disease when the physicians
tell him that if tlie disease is left alone death is cer-
tain, but if an operation is perfonned the probability
is that he will die, but that there is a chance for his
life, he will willingly grasp at this ray of hope and
submit to the operation. In like manner these men
determined to go in the direction where they saw a
chance of escape from that which they dreaded.

While this story is history, it also contains a par-
able from which we can learn spiritual lessons.
When men come to realize that they are sinners and
to know that if they remain as they are eternal death
will be the result ; and to know that they can no more
escape that which they fear by going to others than
the lepers could be saved by going to the besieged
city, then their eyes are turned toward Christ. They
may think, as the lepers did, that for them there is
little hope, they have spoken against Him, they have
sinned against Him, they have fought against His
cause and they may fear to come, but, like the woman
who spent all that she had on physicians, and was
becoming worse instead of better, decided to go to
Christ, and when she touched the hem of His gar-
ment she was healed, so it often is that when every

56 THE LOGICAL LEPERS.

other door is shut against the sinner he seeks Christ
;!s a last resort, and like these lepers he finds jnore
than he even dreamed of. Yor they discovered an
abundant snj^pl}' for all their Avants.

We will leave the lepers in the tents and go for a
little while to the beseiged city. There we find the
people standing, they have become cannibals, many
are dead and others are dying, and yet outside the
city there is an abundance of food. They are ignor-
ant of this, but why are they ignorant? On the day
previous to this night the prophet told them that on
the morrow two measures of fine flour or two mea-
sures of barley could be had for a shekel. Instead of
believing him and looking hopefully to the fulfilment
of the promise, they mock at his words, and a lord
on whose arm the king leaned, said, If God would
open windows in heaven might this thing be. "VYe
tind history continually repeating itself, and in the
days of Isaiah that prophet was led to cry out, " Who
hath believed our report?" And when we come down
to the time of our Lord we find that there were people
nmong whom He could do no mighty works, because
of their unbelief. When He went into the house of
.r.iirus to raise the maiden from the dead they laughed
Ilim to scorn. In all ages, and at the present time
multitudes are starving for lack of spiritual food
while He who is the Bread of Life is not far frpm

THE LOGICAL LEPERS. 6Y

tliem. They have been told this, but, like the men of
Samaria, they have refused to believe it, hence the
message has not benefited them.

iSTow let us turn from the city and look again at
these four men. They have gone into the first tent,
found an abundant supply of food, eaten until they
were satisfied. They have carried away quantities
and concealed it, also gold and silver. They have
gone into another tent and found great plentiness
there. Then when they have taken all that they de-
sire or can use, they say one to another, Are we do-
ing right, while the m^en in the city are starving and
plenty outside, not to take to them the glad tidings?
If we tell them they may refuse to believe us, but
then we have done our part; if they do believe us
and come out and eat and live, they will always be
grateful to us; on the other hand, if we refuse to tell
them, they may make the discovery for themselves
and then they will blame us. They will say, " If you
had only told us when you first made the discovery,
some of those who are now dead through the famine
might have been still alive." And we will be con-
demned, and evil will come upon us. "What a lesson
we have in this for those who have come to Christ and
have had all their longings and their wants satisfied.
We know that in Him is a sufficiency for all, we
know that multitudes are starving and perishing for

58 THE LOGICAL LEPERS.

that wliicli lie can supply. If we tell them of Him
they may not believe us, but then we have done our
part. If they do belie\e us and come and receive
of His, fullness, then we shall receive of their grati-
tude for brinjnp^ng; them the message. On the other
hand, if we fail to tell them, and if, in after years,
they find Him out for themselves, they will no doubt
say, " If you had told us when you first made the
discovery, some of our loved ones, who have since
then gone out into the darkness, might have passed
from the earthly tabernacles to the house not made
with, hands," and for our neglect they mil con-
demn us.

AVe can see the lepers, after they have made up
their minds to deliver the message, going to the city.
They tell their story to the porter, and to him it must
have seemed wonderful. For on the day previous
the enemy were surrounding the city, the porters
were at the gates, the watchmen on the walls, and noAV
for these men to come with a message that there were
no enemies, but great quantities of food, of gold and
silver and large numbers of horses outside the w^alls,
was a story so strange that it was hard to believe, and
the porter might have said. Hunger has turned their
heads or disarranged their brains and they have be-
come insane. Yet, this story is not so wonderful as
the storv of salvation which the Christian can carrv to

THE LOGICAL LEPERS. 59

the sinner. A\'lien we go to a man who is in the mire
of sin, who, because of his iniquity, has been driven
from his home and from society and perhaps cast out
of the saloon where he has spent his money, and tell
him that the blood of Christ will cleanse him from all
sin, that he can be saved from all his iniquities and
that the evil habits, which have enslaved him for
years can be removed and he made more than a con-
queror over sin, when we tell him that if he accepts
the message and acts upon it not only will all of this
take place but he will become heir to a glorious in-
heritance, receive a title to a mansion in the skies,
some day have placed upon his head a cro^vn of right-
eousness and at last become like unto the Son of Man
who also is King of kings and Lord of lords. Such
a message may seem very strange and improbable and
no doubt it was listening to a message of this kind
Avhich led men to say of the apostles that they were
beside themselves, that they were mad. But the
people of Samaria found out that the story was not
exaggerated; and so, when men come to Christ and
receive from Him the blessings they ha\'e heard of,
they can then say, as did the Queen of Sheba when
she beheld the glory of Solomon, that the half had
not been told.

The message of the lepers was told to the king-
but he was one of those wise men who think they

60 THE LOGICAL LEPERS.

know everything. He said, "I know what the Syrians
haA'c done, they have gone out and hid themselves
in the fields expecting- us to go to their tents and then
they will slay us." A serv'ant of the king, who had
less dignity but more common-sense than his majesty,
suggested that tliey prove the storj'- of the lepers by
sending men out on some of the few horses which still
remained in the city. These messengers went out
and returned informing the king and the citizens that
there Avere no enemies between the city and the river
Jordan, that the Avay was stre^ATi with garments, that
the horses and the tents and the provisions of the Syr-
ians were all at their disposal. Then the people rushed
out to feast upon the spoils of the enemy.

It was faith which saved these starving people.
The story of the lepers proved the fulfilment of the
words of the prophet, and the story of the king's mes-
sengers corroborated that of the lepers. Acting on
the testimony of others, these men went out and
found the food which saved them from death. Look-
ing thus from a spiritual point of view we have the
prophets who spoke of the Messiah who was to come;
we have the apostles who tell us of the fulfilment of
that promise; we have the multitudes who have exper-
ienced the salvation and the forgiveness of God, the
testimony of the Christians of all ages. If we act up-
on this, as did the men of Samaria, we will be saved

THE LOGICAL LEPERS. 61

from spiritual deatli as they were saved from physical
death. After they had gone out and seen for them-
selves and eaten of the food they could then say,
"JSTow we believe, not because of what the prophet
said, not because of what the lepers told the porter,
not because of the report brought back by the king's
messengers but because we have seen and partaken
for ourselves." So, when we hear the story of salva-
tion, acting upon the testimony of others our faith
ventures out, we cast ourselves upon Christ, then,
when His peace is come into our hearts, when we
know that He has saved us from our sins, we can say
we believe not because we have read the story in His
word, not because we have heard the message from
others, but becaiise we have come to Him ourselves,
we have tasted and we know that He is gracious and
we can speak of Him as our Lord and our Saviour.
This might be called faith venturing and faith
verified.

Does it not seem strange that the people, to whom
the prophet came telling of the provision which God
was going to make for them, should be starving, while
lepers, to whom no prophet came, were feasting?
For that was the case on the night when the Syrians
fled from their tents. And yet, in this respect, his-
tory has been repeating itself. To the Jews came the
prophets, speaking of the Messiah; to these same

r>2 THE LOGICAL LEPERS.

people came the Messiah Himself, and yet they re-
mained outside the kingdom, while the Romans, to
whom no prophet was sent, sought Christ, and of one
of them He said, "I have not found so great faith, no,
not in Israel." The Syrophoenicians, to whom no
messenger had gone, were represented in the woman
wlio sought help for her daughter, to wliom Christ
said, "Oh, woman, great is thy faith." From the east
and from the west, from the north and from the soutli
they came to Him, while the children of the kingdom
and those to whom messengers had been sent n^
mained in their unbelief. And to-day we have men
in heathen nations groping in the dark yet seeking
that same ray of light while multitudes in Christian
lands, who have heard the story from their childhood,
are still starving for lack of the bread of life because
of their unbelief.

Suppose these people in the city of Samaria had re-
fused to believe the message because of the position
occupied by the messengers, what would have befallen
the city? These men were lepers, despised and out-
cast, but the people barkened to their voice and the
city was saved. Suppose that ISTaaman had refused
to listen to the message concerning the great healer
because it came from a little slave, or afterwards had
refused to listen to the coimsel of a servant who ex-
lii'i'tcd hini to obey tlic voire of the prophet by dip-

THE LOGICAL LEPERS. 63

ping' himself in the Jordan, he would still have
retained his leprosy. And yet, in all ages we find
men refusing to listen to the message because the
messenger does not come up to their ideal. For ex-
ample, many refused to listen to Christ because of
His origin or because of the village in which He was
brought up, and they said, "Can any good thing come
out of IsTazareth?" Some rejected Him because He
was a carpenter and because they knew His brothel's
and sisters and mother to belong to what would now
be styled the common people. Others rejected His
message because He was not a graduate of one of their
colleges, nor a doctor of the law. In tlie ordinary af-
fairs of life men do not act in this way. If a tele-
gram comes to any of us which may bring news that
will gladden our hearts or bring anguish to our souls,
we do not refuse to accept it because of the messenger.
He may be dressed in uniform or he may come to us
bare-footed and in rags, in fact, we never think of the
messenger, it is the message. So when men come to
us with a message from God, if that message takes
hold of us, if we realize that it is for us and that it
may mean to us eternal life or eternal misery, we will
cease to think so much about the messenger. If
these people in Samaria had refused the message be-
cause of the messenger they would have peiished.
So it is to-day, it is not the messengers who save men

64 THE LOGICAL LEPERS.

but the message which they bring. The message to
the standing men in the city of Samaria was that there
was an abundant supply of food within reach if they
would only accept of it; and the message to the sinner
is that in Christ all fullness dwells, that if tliey come
to Him they will not be cast out under any condition,
that if they refuse to come there is no hope since there
is no other Name under heaven given among men by
which we can be saved but the name of Jesus.

YI.

JONAH.

■• The men of Nineveh shall rise in jiidgTOent w ilh this generation, and
shall condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonah."—
Matthew 12 : 41.

It is reported that some men liave spent consider-
able time measuring the mouths of whales to ascertain
ii it would be possible for a whale to swallow a man,
and from their investigations they have come to the
conclusion that the thing would be impossible and
that the book of Jonah on that account is only a myth.
It would have been wiser on the part of these men
to have found out what the Bible did say about the
fish, before they commenced their investigation; for
the Bible no where associates Jonah with "whales. In
the book bearing his name Ave are simply informed
that the Lord prepared a great fish to sv/allow up
Jonah; and the word which our Lord uses for the fish
in the ISTew Testament simply means a sea-monster
or great fish. But the translators of the Xew Testa-
ment, who had probably never seen whales and knew
nothing about their swallowing capacity, translated
the word whale. However, if the Lord made all the
fish in the sea and made Jonah, He could surely pre-
pare a fish large enough to accommodate the prophet,

66 JONAH.

and who knows but Jonah was a small man something
like Bilclad, the Slinhite, or Zacclieiif, wlio Avas little
of stature. Tliere are great lessons, however, which
we can leani from the story of this prophet. He is
the only one among the prophets who disobeyed the
command of God. Other prophets, it is tnie, hesitat-
ed frequently when they received great commissions,
because they felt tbeir own insufficiency and realized
the magnitude of the work they were called to do; but
all obeyed even when they knew that they were risk-
ing their lives and incurring the \vi'ath and displeasure
of those who v/ere in authority. But Jonali disobeyed
God and fled toward Tarsliish. He told his story to
the proprietors, or seamen, of the little vessel, and
they promised to carry him across the sea. He paid
the fare but never reached the desired haven.

In the first place, we learn from this story that
when a man refuses to go where God wants him to
go, and to do what God wants him to do, he brings
misery and unhappiness to himself; and, since no man
liveth to himself, he brings unhappiness and often dis-
aster to others How this is illustrated in the case be-
fore us. I am sure we are all agreed tbat Jonali was
not a happy man when on board that little vessel.
It is true he slept, but it was not the sleep of the just.
Then as far as the vessel is concerned, she suffered,
her timbers strained under the pressui-e of the angiy

JONAH. 67

sea; tlie cargo suffered for it was thrown OTerboard;
and the merchants who owned it met with a loss, as it
is probable there were no insurance companies in
those days; and the fish or sea-monster which swal-
lowed the disobedient prophet no doubt suffered con-
siderably, at least, we would suppose so. This is al-
ways the result of disobedience. We read about the
stars singing together and about the music of the
spheres, but we know that in this earth of ours there
is a great deal of discord and suffering. It has all
come through disobedience; for through the disobedi-
ence of one man many have been made to suffer.
Our first parents disobeyed. They lost the joy of the
Lord, they lost the Paradise in which they were
placed, they suffered, and all their descendants have
suffered since that time. Not only has the disobedi-
ence affected the human race, but we read that all
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain; the earth it-
self has been cursed and weeds and thorns grow where
flowers and fiaiits might have been, had man barkened
to the voice of his Maker. No matter where v^e go
v/e see the results of disobedience, and let no one think
that he can disobey God, refusing to go where the
Lord wants him to go and do what the Lord wants
him to do, without bringing into his own life unhap-
piness, and without being the means of bringing
misery and unhappiness into the lives of others.

68 JONAH.

On the other hand, we see what comes from
obedience. Jonah at last cries to the Lord, his voice
is heard, he is delivered out of the prison-house, or
whatever we may call it, and then he goes where he is
wanted to go and does what he is told to do; for he
enters the great city of Nineveh to deliver the mes-
sage the Lord has given him. To him no doubt, it
was a strange city; but his appearance and message
were still stranger to the inhabitants of that city.
At first they may have laughed at the man and made
a mock of his message. The children would go home
and tell their parents about the strange looking man
they had seen and what they had heard him say. In
the evening when the factories and shops closed, the
employees, when coming home from work, would stop
to look at him and listen to him, while many may
have gone from their homes to see for themselves the
man they had been hearing about. But after a time
his message seemed to take hold of the people; feai-
took the place of mockery; his words were carried
into the prison cell and they also reached the palace
of the king. A gi-eat fear came over the inliabitants
of Nineveh and a fast was proclaimed ; sackcloth cov-
ered all the people and also the cattle; the king him-
self was seen sitting in sackcloth with ashes upon his
head, fasting and crying to the God of Heaven to have
mercy upon him and his city. Not only did they

JONAH. 69

fast and humble themselves in the sight of God, but
they turned away from their iniquity; and the pity-
ing God beheld the penitent people and had compas-
sion upon the inhabitants of the city. Was ever a
message delivered which proved more effective? Was
ever a preacher more successful than Jonah when he
hearkened to the voice of God and delivered the mes-
sage given to him?

It is to this our Lord refers when He says, The
men of Nineveh shall rise in the judgment against
this generation; for they repented at the preaching
of Jonah. And now, in order to see all that is in-
volved in this sentence, and to see where the emphasis
should be, it will be well for us for a few moments
to take another look at this man, under whose preach-
ing the inhabitants of this city repented. First of all
he was, as we have seen, a disobedient, and the only
disobedient prophet; and we know how God views dis-
obedience, for He tells us that to obey is better than
sacrifice. Then let us look at the man after he has
delivered the message, and we will see the spirit he
displayed. He is sorrowing, not because the people
turned a deaf ear to his words, but because they re-
pented and are being spared or saved. Some tell us,
of course, that the reason why he was so annoyed
was because he feared that if Nineveh w^as spared she
would injure his own country, and it was patriotisui

70 JONAH.

which led him to act as he did. Others, a^ain, think
that he was afraid lie would lose liis standing: or dig-
nity as a pronhet, since their renentance would make
it appear that his predictions did not come trne; for
he had cried throns'h the streets, " Yet forty days and
yineveh shall he overthrov.Ti," Some of these con-
jectiires may be true or they may not, at best they
are only conjectures. There is one thins^ we are
sure of, the man was not sjlad when he saw the inhab-
itants of the grreat city being spared by the God
against whom they had sinned. It seems a terrible
thing to think that a m.an vrould be satisfied to see
120,000 little children perish, perhaps 600,000 of a
population altogether. Yet, if we come down
through the ages we will find the descendants of
Jonah. The elder brother of whom our Lord speaks
was closely related to Jonah. What was the cau?e
of his anger? Was it not because the father had re-
ceived back into the home the wayward and prodi-
gal son? And did he not find fault with the father
for what he did. as Jonah found fault with God for
sparing the people of Xineveh? Again, if we look at
the Pharisees we can easilv see that they rlso have
come down from the davs of the prophet; for they
were anpTv and said in deri'^iori concernina' Jc^u=i,
" Th'« r>-ap rereivrth sinners and eateth with them."
Jonah displayed the same spirit that these men di?.-

JONAH. 71

played in our Saviour's time. And there are Jonahs
in the world to-day, and sometimes they are found
in the visible church.

ISTow, if the men of Nineveh repented at the
preachiner of such a man, how could the men escape,
who renented not at the -preachins: of Jesus, who was
so much o^reatcr than Jonah, who was obedient even
unto death, who hnd compassion for the multitudes,
and who was willing to sacrifice TTimself, and did
sacrifice Himself in order that thev mis-ht be saved?
The contrast between Jonah and Jesus is somethins;
man^ellous. and it skives emphasis to the text, " The
men of Nineveh shall ini^e in the iudg-ment against this
e'en oration ; for thev repented at the preachins: of
Jonfih: and behold, a rreater than Jonah is here."
Sometimes we hnve men who refuse to attend church
or refuse to accept of the 8:ospel, becaiise they do not
care verx'' much for the messensrers : in their estima-
tion these messenpers are not iderl m.en. But it
would be hard to f^'et a messenger worse than Jonah,
to fret one more disobedient or io set one with a worse
spirit: and if the Ninevites repented nt his preachinsr,
these men will rise in judtrmient s gainst those who are
refusing the messao-e to-dav.

A<?ain, look at Jonah's preachine-, or rather at the
message he had to deliver. There was not a ray of
hope in that message, it was simply the doom of the

72 JONAH.

great city he was proclaiming, " Yet forty days and
Nineveh shall be overthrown." But look at the mes-
sage of Christ. It is full of promise, of invitation, of
the assurance of salvation if men would only repent.
Yet these men in Mneveh, having no encouragement
in the message, cast themselves at the throne of God's
grace, sought for mercy and found it. Surely they,
repenting under such preaching, ^v\\\ rise in judgmcut
against those who have listened to the gospel promises
and invitations of the new Testament. For in that we
have line upon line and precept upon precept, pro-
mise after promise, and invitation after invitation,
and woe unto those who have turned away from the
gospel message; for against them the men of Nine-
veh will rise in judgment.

Looking at the whole narrative we see brought out
with wonderful clearness the great love and compas-
sion of God. How He follows the disobedient pro-
phet. Instead of letting him go and perish in his re-
bellion He follows him and provides a means of es-
cape. Then we see His compassion toward the people
of the great and cruel city — for it was a cruel city;
His love for the little children who could not tell
the right hand from the left; His love for those who
had been going on blindly and in sin, ruining them-
selves. Tnily there is a wideness in God's mercy like
the wideness of the sea, We nl^o see that love

JONAH. 73

brouglit out in His raising tlie gourd to protect Jonali
and taking it away in order to teach him a lesson. He
reasons with that prophet. How this reminds us of
the scene to which we have referred when the father
goes out and entreats the angry elder brother, plead-
ing with him to come in. The Old Testament picture
of God pleading with Jonah and the father pleading
with the elder brotlier are very much alike. And we
have every reason to believe that it was the gentleness
and the love of the Lord that at last lifted this pro-
phet out of himself and made him cry for mercy; for
I think Jonah was led to see things very differently
before the Lord was through with him.

And this God is our God. How often He comes
to us and says, " Come now and let us reason to-
gether." He deals with us as He dealt with the pro-
phet in the day of his disobedience; as He dealt with
the great city when they repented of their sins; as
He dealt with that prophet when he was displajdng
such a selfish and cruel spirit. How shall we escape
if we sin against such love and reject Christ and His
gospel? Truly it will be more tolerable for the men
of Sodom in the day of judgment than for us; and the
men of iS^ineveh shall rise in judgment against us.

vn.

THE CHURCH'S GOOD.

"I -nnll seek thy poocl."— Psalm 122 : 9.

Thin refers to Jerusalem whidi was everything:
to the Jew. It was not only the canitnl and seat of
government bnt the centre of then' rclisrion, and when
the psalmist said " I will seek thy irood," or the p:ood
of Jemsalem, it was equivalent to sayino: " I will se^k
the g^ood of the nation and the isrood of the chnrch."
As a peonle the Jews were natriotic. Thev wonld
rather that the cnnnino; shonld depart from their
ri^-ht hand or the tonqne cleave to the roof of the
month than that they shonld forget Jerusalem or the
land of their fathers, and they were also zealous and
devoted. Even in Paul's tim.e he said he could bear
them testimony that they had the zeal of God, hut
not accordino- to knowledsre. IsTo doubt this patriot-
ism and devotion led to the narrowness which we find
characteristic of them as a people, for they looked up-
on the people of oth.cr nations as beneath them and
even went so far as to call them Gentile do2:s. It
was onlv when the crrace of God took possession of
their horrts that tbev could sav, with the apostle of
the Gentiles, of one blood God hath made all nations

THE church's good. , jJ

that dwell upon the face of the earth, and grace be
with all them that love the Lord Jesiis Christ in sin-
cerity and in truth.

But Jerusalem was to the Jews, in the days of the
psalmist, what the church of Jesus Christ is to the
believers. They loved, prayed for, and sought the
good of Jerusalem because of the associations of the
past, because of all that it was to them in the present,
and because of the glory which they looked forward
to in the future. There is no institution around
which there are so many sacred memories to the Chris-
tian as the church. Even when men have gone far
away into lands where tliere are no Christian organ-
izations they remember the days that are gone, when
with the multitude, they went up to the house of
God; and all that we have in the world that is at all
desirable and valuable has come to us through the
church. "We talk about the comforts and the conven-
iences, the marvellous advancement, the wonderful
discoveries of this century. But all these things that
seem so wonderful in themselves and that have so
lifted the race, cannot be found in lands where there
is no church of Jesus Christ. It is only where the
power of His gospel has touched men and taken pos-
session of them that science, and literature, and true
civilization have made such rapid strides. Contrast-
ing the Christian nations with the non -Christian, and

T6 THE church's good.

qountries after a missionary arrived and the cliurch
was organized, with the same countries before the
gospel was preached, in them, we see clearly that all
these advantages and blessings have come to us
through the church. She began her work in Jeru-
salem, where were the thrones of David, and like the
river which Ezekiel saw, kept getting wider, broader,
and deeper until the influence and power of that
church has touched almost every tribe and nation.
She has preseiwed to us the Word of God, through her
it has been translated, and from that Book has come
forth the best and richest of our litej-ature. At the
present time the church of Christ is causing the desert
to rejoice and blossom as the rose, and is making glad
the solitary place. And before her there is a great
and glorious future. The prophet saw her clear as
the moon, bright as the sun, going forward from con-
quest to conquest; and we know that some day she
shall encompass the earth and take possession of the
kingdoms of the v/orld for her Lord and only Head;
for the uttermost parts of the earth shall become His
possession. The church with her sacraments is the
only divine institution we have founded by Christ,
and carrymg with her His promise that the gates of
hell should not prevail against her. Surely then the
Christian should be able to say v/ith all his soul, " I
will seek thy good."

THE church's good. 77

There are two tilings whicb. constitute the good of
the church, namely, peace and prosperity so that when
we are seeking the peace of the church we are seeking
her good. In order to do this it is not necessary for a
man to sacrifice his convictions or what he believes
to be the truth. Among the apostles we find they
had convictions, and for these they stood. Paul would
not yield a principle to any man even for the sake of
peace; but when it came to questions which were non-
essential and of little importance, he was willing to
become all things to all men in order that his work
might be more effective in saving others. And in
looking over the history of the church we find that a
great many of what we might call church quarrels
have been over things that were not essential in them-
selves,— that men have been striving often for pre-
judice instead of for conscience. " Prove all things
and hold fast that which is good," is a maxim given
to us by one of the inspired A\Titers.

Neither does peace mean inactivity. There are
two kinds of peace, the peace of the graveyard and
the peace of the factory. In some churches, where
the people are frozen together, we have the peace
of the arctic regions, but Christ's cause should be like
streams in the south where there is motion and move-
ment. And when the prophet was speaking to Israel

78 THE church's good.

he said to her, that if she had hearkened to the Lord's
commandments she would have been as a river, not a
placid lake, but a river where there is movement.

Pro^rress and harmony constitute the peace that is
desirable. How often the peace of the church has
been disturbed by her professed friends and admirers.
You go into a factory where the machinery is run-
ning smoothly and you see a man take a file and begin
to work at one of the pistons or pieces of machinery,
and when he has kept rasping for a time friction is
caused, the machinerv becomes heated and the peace
and usefulness is destroyed until the trouble he has
caused is undone. How often in a church; men and
women, with their tongues, cause friction and dis-
cord, destroy the peace and mar the usefulness of that
organization. An enormous amount of evil is done
by the tongue which James speaks of as a little mem-
ber. Imagine, if you can, Jesus having an interview
with Peter and saying to him, " You are a great ad-
mirer of John, but if you only knew what John has
been saying about you, you wouldn't think as much
of him as you do now." You cannot imagine such a
thing; and yet there are people calling themselves by
the name of Christ, professing to be His followers,
who in that very way are causing friction and destroy-
ing the peace of the church.

Let us return to the factory. Some of the machin-

THE church's good. 79

ery is not working as it sLiould, but you see a man
pouring in some oil; then everything runs smoothly,
the friction has been removed and peace restored.
The Spirit of God is spoken of under the figure of
oil, not only to give light, but no doubt, in this sense,
to bring harmony. And with the birth of the Mes-
siah it was said that He was to bring peace upon earth
and good-will among men; and in His seraion on the
mount He said, " Blessed are the peacemakers," and
one of His followers has exhorted us to live peaceably
with all men, as far as it is possible. Therefore, the
man who is seeking the peace of the church is carry-
ing out the spirit of Christ and furthering His cause.
Again, we are to seek the prosperity of the church.
But the question may be asked, " What is prosperity ?"
The answer to this question will be determined by
the goal for which the man is striving. If, for ex-
ample, a man is striving to regain his health, that is
the sole purpose for which he is travelling, to him
prosperity means that he is nearing the goal and mak-
ing progress. Another man is seeking an education, —
learning, scholarship is his goal, and to him prosper-
ity means that he is advancing in his studies. With
another it may be wealth, and as he adds dollar to
dollar and house to house he looks upon himself as
prospering. When we come to the church we find
that she was established for a two-fold purpose, — for

80 THE church's good.

tliG building up and edifying of the body of Christ,
the developing of the faith and Christian character
of His followers, and for the saving of the lost. To
the church, then, prosperity means that she is accom-
plishing the work for which she was instituted, and
every man who is trying to turn the church away
from this work is trying, consciously or unconsciously,
to hinder her prosperity. Jesus came into this world
to accomplish a definite work, to atone for the race
by His death at Jerusalem, When Peter tried to turn
Him away from that work Christ said, " Thou savor-
est not the things that be of God but of men," and
said, " Get thee behind Me, Satan."

Everyone who is trying to help the church to ful-
fil her great mission and to carry out Christ's last
command is seeking the good x)f Zion. To seek means
to put forth effort. AVhen Christ came to seek and to
save the lost it meant to Him self-denial, sacrifice,
and terrible effort. When men go to seek for gold
or for hidden treasure^ they have to deny themselves
many of the comforts of life, and they have to put
forth a good deal of energy. So, when the psalmist
say3 he will seek the good of Jerusalem, it surely
means that for her sake he is willing to deny himself
and to make sacrifices. When one of the New Testa-
ment writers was speaking about the church and the
cause of Christ, he said he was willing to spend and

THE church's good. 81

be spent, wdlling to endure bonds and imprisonment,
that tbe cause niigbt be extended and bis Lord glori-
fied. It is not enougb to go into a Christian assembly
and listen to sermons and sing hymns and criticize
the choir. If a man says that he is seeking the good
of the church while he refuses to put his hand in his
pocket and contribute as God has prospered him, or
refuses to give his time and his talents to the cause,
his profession is a vain thing in the sight of God, for
by their fruits ye shall know them.

In the seeking of the church's good all can take
part. There are those in the world who, through
sickness, old age, or poverty, are not able to contri-
bute anything to the well-being of the state; but there
are none in the church who cannot help on the work
of God. Christians are spoken of as bearing fruit in
old age when others faint and fail. In this psalm men
are exhorted to pray for the peace and prosperity of
Jerusalem, and in this is something that every Chris-
tian can do though aged, sick or poor. And while
the church owes much to those who have given of
their means, contributed time and talents, she owes,
perhaps, more to those who have wrestled with God
in prayer for her peace and prosperity. When we
pray we acknowledge the superiority of the one to
whom we offer our petitions, and also our dependence
upon him, and when the church recognizes Christ as

S2 THE church's good.

her living head, worthy of her adoration and praise,
and realizes that without Him she can do nothing,
then, in her conscious weakness, she becomes strong,
and in His name and through His power accomplishes
great things. But if we have money and time which
we can contribute, prayer will not take their place.
We are accepted and approved in His sight according
to what we have, and not according to what we have
not. If we refuse to seek the good of Zion by giving
the first-fruits of our increase and lionouring Him
with our substance, our prayers will be an abomin-
ation in His sight. But if we are poor and penniless
and have His cause on our hearts, our prayers for the
peace and prosperity of the church will rise like sweet
incense to His throne.

When we seek the good of the church there is also
a reflex influence, for we are told in the psalm that
they who love Jerusalem shall prosper. And prosper-
ity to the Christian means growth in grace and in
likeness to his Lord and Master. It isi impossible to
seek in the right way the advancement of Christ's
cause without being benefited. Seek first the king-
dom of God and His righteousness, and, then rest as-
sured that, according to Christ's promise, the neces-
saiy things shall be added. For no one has forsaken
the pleasures and the profits of earth for His sake, but
he shall receive an hundred-fold in this life and glory

THE church's good. 83

incomprehensible in tlie life to come. If every Chris-
tian would make the resolution " I mil seek the good
of the church," and would carry out that resolution,
in a short time the knowledge of the Lord would cover
the earth as the waters do the sea, and no one would
need to say to his brother, " Know the Lord," for they
would know Him, from the least to the greatest.

VIII.
' SALVATION ILLUSTRATED.

" And Moses made a serpent of bras?, and put it upon a pole, and it came
to pass, that If a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serjjcnt of
brass, he lived."— Numbees 21 : 9.

It was the Lord who sent the fiery serpents amon^
the Israelites and not the de^dL If the devil had been
consulted he would have said, Let them alone, thej
will soon stone Moses and 2:0 into rebellion. But God,
who had been making His goodness to pass before
Israel every morning and renewing the tokens of His
love every evening, brings upon them this judgment
on account of their sin that He may bring them back
to Himself; and so the rebellious multitudes became
a praying people and ask Moses to intercede with G od
on their behalf. They request him to pray that the
serpents be taken from them, but instead of doing
that the Lord provides a remedy.

Men have often wondered why God did not take
sin out of the world, but instead of taking away sin
He sent a Saviour to make men more than conquer-
ors over the sins that beset them. This remedy, which
the Lord provided for the bitten Israelites, was re-
ferred to by our Saviour, and from His reference to it
we learn that He is to the sin-poisoned world what

SALVATION ILLUSTRATED. 85

tliat seriDent was to tlie Ijitten Israelites. In their
lielplessness they could do nothing for themselves nor
for one another. No man can save himself, mucii
less his brother. But when we were without strength,
in due time Clirist died for the ungodly. While the
remedy in Israel was provided by the Lord it had to
be used by the people in order to benefit them, and
while salvation is of the Lord, and Christ is the gift of
the Father, men must trust in Llim and look to Him
with a look of faith if they are to benefit by His atone-
ment.

Before an Israelite would think of looking to the
serpent of brass it v.^ould be necessary to convince him
that he was bitten and required the remedy. Just
as a man who is in perfect health would not think
of seeking for a physician or of taking medicine, for
they that be whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick. And unless a man is convinced that he
is a sinner hei will not think of seeking the Saviour,
and Jesus came not to call the righteous but sinners
to repentance. It might have been an easy matter to
convince an Israelite that he Vv^as bitten and in dan-
ger, but it is often A^ery difficult to convince men of
their sins, because sin is deceitful and the devil tries
to make men believe that they are better than they
are, and better than those who make a profession.
Conviction of sin is the first step tov/ards salvation.

86 SALVATION ILLUSTRATED.

and that can only be broiioht about through the
}K>wer of the Holy Spirit, who works through the
Word of God. When Christ promised the Spirit He
said that. He would convince the world of sin, and it
is only when He enlightens the consciences of men
that they come to see themselves as lost, and then
they are led to ask the questix>n, " What must we do
to be saved?"

The second thing necessary, as far as the Israel-
ites were concerned, was to look away from them-
selves to the remedy provided. If, when an Israelite
discovered that he w^as bitten and in danger, he had
kept looking at the wound and bemoaning his misfor-
tune, he would never have been healed. If, wlien a
sinner is convinced of his sin, he keeps looking at
himself he is likely to be run into the castle of Giant
Despair, and to believe that there is no help for him.
He must look away from himself to the Lamb of God
who w^as lifted up on the cross, as Moses lifted the ser-
pent in the wilderness. Now, when an Israelite dis-
covered that he was bitten and looked away from him-
self to the remedy, how long did it take to heal hun?
It came to pass that when he looked he lived. It may
have taken some time to convince him that he re-
quired the remedy, it may have taken some time to
convince him that this remedy would be effective,
but when he was convinced and looked, that moment

SALVATION ILLUSTRATED. 87

life and health was restored to him. How long does
it take to save a sinner when he has come to realize
that he is a sinner, and looks from himself to the
Saviour? It may take some time to convince him
of his need of salvation and to convince him that Jesus
is the Christ, the Saviour of men, but when he is con-
vinced and looks to Christ, how long does it take to
save him? The Holy Ghost says, " Behold, now is
the accepted time," and the Phillipian jailor, who
sought to take away his own life, when the apostles
cried out, " Do thyseif no harm," believed and was
baptized the same hour of the night. The three thou-
sand were brought in on the day of Pentecost and we
have numerous instances in the New Testament of
those who at one moment are outside the kingdom and
the next moment rejoicing in the truth.

There must be a turning-point, and in a certain
sense all conversion is sudden, though in some cases
men may be thinking on their ways, making up their
minds to turn their feet toward His testimonies for
long, while in other cases the truth flashes upon men
while they are hurn'ing aV)ng the broadway, and
instantly they are turned. It is true that at last, when
Christ shall come again, the dead shall hear His voice
and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, men
shall be changed; and so in a moment He can lift men

88 SALVATION ILLUSTRATED.

out of tlio death of sin into the light and the liberty
of His salvation.

It is said that on one occasion Dr. Chalmers asked
a man to go home and think over the matter, with
reference to his salvation, and the old man turned
and said to the doctor, " Suppose I would die when
I was going home to think over this matter, what
then?" And Dr. Chahners remembered that the
Spirit of God said, not To-morrow, but, Behold, Kow.

But were all those who realized that they were
bitten and heard about the remedy healed? Xot un-
less human nature was very different then from what
it is now. We can imagine one man who was told
about the remedy, and he says that he cannot under-
stand the philosophy of it, he cannot see how looking
at a brazen serpent would head the wounds inflicted
by a fiery serpent, and so because he cannot under-
stand he refuses to look. How often men talk in this
way concea-ning Christ. While the cross was a stumb-
ling-block to the Jew it was foolishness to the Greek,
and to-day to those who cannot understand, as they
say, the philosophy of the plan of salvation, the cross
is still foolishness, but to all who believe, the power
of God and the wisdom of God.

Again, we can imagine another man in Israel,
when he is told about the brazen serpent, turning
his eyes toward the pole and informing Moses that

SALVATION ILLUSTRATED. 89

the pole does not come up to his ideal of what a pole
ought to be; it is crooked and there is nothing artistic
about it. If it suited him he might be induced to
look to the serpent. He is informed that it is not
the pole that Avill heal him, it is that which the pole
is bearing up, but still he persists in talking about the
pole. JSTow, v/hat is the pole as far as we are con-
cerned? The Christians or the church holding up
Jesus Christ. And what do we find men doing in our
age instead of looking to Christ? They are finding
fault with the pole. The Christians are not consis-
tent, do not live up to their profession ; the church is
lukewarm in what she professes to be, and because of
this they have never identified themselves with Christ.
They are hiding themselves behind the faults of
others, but the inconsistency of church members Avill
not save sinners. Far be it from us to say a word
in favor of inconsistency or lukewarmness on the part
of Christians in the church, for we are often stumb-
ling-blocks when we should be lights. But God has
nowhere asked men to look at the church and be saved
or to look at the ministers and be saved, but he has
said, " Look unto Me, all the ends of the earth, and be
ye saved." Men make many excuses for not trusting
Christ, but one of the meanest and most cowardly is
the inconsistency of others.

In Israel every man who was bitten had to look for

90 SALVATION ILLUSTRATED.

himself, one could not look for another. So with iis.
Salvation does not come by proxy, every man must
believe for himself. Wldlo we are bound together
in society by many ties, yet we all have to stand out
as indi\dduals; and as in the physical world each one
has to breathe for himself, so when it comes to the
spiritual world each man must stand or fall to his
own master. But wliile we cannot believe for others,
is there not something that we can do to help others?
While in Israel every man had to look for himself,
we can easily imagine those bitten Israelites who had
looked and obtained the healing remedy carrying the
glad tidings to others who were bitten, but had not
heard of the remedy. In fact, we cannot imagine
a healed Israelite looking at one who was dying be-
cause he was ignorant of the brazen serpent without
telling him the story and exhorting liim to look.

When we apply this, while everv' man has to trust
Christ for his own salvation, those who are saved can
tell the imsaved about God's remedy for sin. John
the Baptist could not save the people Init he said to
liis followers, " Behold the Lamb of God." Andrew
could not save Peter but he brought him to Christ.
And when Jesus gave His last commission it was not
conmianding the disciples to go out and save men,
but commanding them to go out and to preach the

SALVATION ILLUSTRATED. 91

gospel, to tell men that God liad provided a way of
escape, a means by which they could be saved.

Can we picture to ourselves a caravan in the de-
sert? The people are dying for want of water, a few
who are stronger than the rest have gone on ahead;
they have come to an oasis where there is an abun-
dance of water, they throw themselves down in the
green grass and drink till they are satisfied, they know
that their brethren are perishing for lack of w^ater
in the desert. What are these men likely to do?
Will they remain where they are while they know
their brethren are dying for lack of that which has
satisfied them? Will they not make the desert ring
with the cry, '' Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye
to the waters?" And one can hardly understand
Christians, who say that they have found in Christ
a remedy for their sin. One who has satisfied their
longings and given rest to their troubled hearts, with-
out a desire to bring others to a knowledge of this
same Saviour. If we are doing notliing toward the
salvation of others we have good reason to question
our own salvation, for if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ he is none of His, and Christ pleased not
Himself but gave Himself a ransom for others.

Those in Israel who knew of the remedy, and re-
fused to look, perished; but why did they perish?
Was it because they were bitten or because they re-

92 SALVATION ILLUSTRATED.

fused the remedy? Sometimes you will hear men say
tliat it }S not fair for them to be punished on account
of what Adam did. There are certain consequences
of Adam's sin that we cannot get rid of, no matter
how we object to them. We have sickness and death
and all the misery that is in the world through tiie
disobedience of our first parents. But God has pro-
vided a remedy. He sent His Son, who was spoken
of as the second Adam, to imdo, through his obed-
ience, the evil that the first Adam brought on the
race through his disobedience. And as the bitten Is-
raelites could be restored to health through looking
to the brazen serpent so sinners can have Paradise
restored through trusting in Christ. Through faith
in Him they can be created anew and counted right-
eous in the sight of God and become joint heii"s
with Jesus Christ. In the third of John, Jesus Him-
self says that men are condemned because they have
not believed in the name of the only begotten Son
of God. It is not Adam's sins that will keep us out
of, the kingdom, but it is the rejection of Jesus Christ.
He has come to open up a new and living way to the
Father, and all w^ho come unto God through Him
are healed of their diseases and freed from their sins
and admitted into the divine favor and fellowship.

In Israel there was only one brazen serpent, but it
was within the reach of all. There is only one Media-

SALVATION ILLUSTRATED. 93

tor between God and men, but His salvation is witliin
the reach of every creature, for whosoever calleth
upon Him shall be saved, and they who come to Him
vdll in no wise be cast out. For those in Israel who
rejected the remedy there was nothing but death, for
those who reject Jesus Christ there is nothing but a
fearful looking forward to the judgment to come, for
there is no other name under heaven or given among
men whereby we can be saved.

"There is Life for a look at the cruicified One,
There is life at this moment for thee;
Then look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved,
Unto Him who was nailed to the tree."

IX.

SAMSON.

" And called his name Samson."— Judges 13 : 24.

Samson's name lias found a place on the New Tes-
tament roll of honor, \nth those who tliroug'h faith
subdued kingdoms, wTOught righteouness and stopped
the mouths of the lions. Unless he had been great
in some sense of the word, his name would never have
been, associated with Abraham and Moses and Samuel ;
yet there are many who know something about the
jawbone of the ass with which the Philistines were
slain, who know very little about the man who
melded that weapon. It may be profitable for us to
look at his life to see if we can gather some helpful
lessons from it.

There are three children of promise spoken of in
the Bible who were born when their parents were old,
and Samson is one of them. To Abraham the Angel
of the Covenant came and announced the birth of
Isaac, to Zacharias Gabriel appeared and spoke of
John, who was to be boni to be a forerunner of the
Lord, to prepare His way and to make the crooked
places straight, and to Manoah the angel came to an-
noimce the birth of Samson and to speak of the work

SAMSON. 95

he should accomplish during his life, no strong drink
was to cross his Hps, no razor was to touch his skin,
for he was to be a ISTazarite, separated unto the Lord.
Those who know their Bibles are familiar with his
exploits, how the spirit of the Lord came down upon
him, how he battled with the Philistines and wrought
deliverance for his people in Israel. That which he
accomplished was through the divine power resting
upon him, but we must remember that if a man is
devoted to a cause, having a single aim and a definite
goal for which he is striving, whether that be good
or evil, he is likely to accomplish a good deal in the
world. We see that in the case of some of the an-
cient nations, tl:e Spartans and the Komans, whose
devotion to their country and whose determination
to overthrow the enemy enabled them to accomplish
wonderful things. It is also seen in great movements
such as Mormonism and Mohammedanism, and if we
go back to the early days of Christianity we see the
youthful Saul who has set himself apart for the ex-
termination of the Christians. He accomplished so
much, that the sacred historian tells us that he made
havoc of the church, and men treanbled when they
heard that he was on his way to Damascus.

N^ow, if men give themselves to a cause which is
doubtful or evil, and by their devotion to it accom-
plish so much, how much more is a man likely to

96 SAMSON.

accomplish if the object is good, and if the power of
God is rcstino; upon him? But let it be remembered
that this divine power will not be given to half-
hearted Christians. If Christ said that he would spue
out of- His mouth the lukewarm, it is not likely that
He will communicate to them His supernatural
power. If we look back over the history of the church
we find that the men who have accomplished great
things were men of energy, those who went into the
work vnth their whole soul, like the disciples whose
devotion to the Master, whose desire to save men
lifted them above the fear of the enemy, and enabled
them to gain marv^ellous victories in the name of the
Lord. Look at the reformers, men such as Luther,
who feared not all the devils in Worms, men like
Knox, w^hose prayers were more dreaded by the enemy
than the armies of Scotland. So it has alwavs been.
But it follows that if men are accomplishing a
Christian work in pulling down the strongholds of
evil, the enemy against whom they are fighting will
lay all kinds of plans, and resort to all kinds of de-
vices to overthrow those who are so injuring them.
This was true in the case of Samson, the Philistines
resorted to every method to find out the secret of his
power, and to overthrow the one who was bringing
such disaster into their ranks. It is so in the spiritual
world, the more we are doing to pull do^\'n the strong-

SAMSON. 97

holds of evil the greater will be the desire on the part

of the Evil One to disable us in the work. I know

that there are some people who tell us they have risen

to such a height that the devil never troubles them

and they have no temptations. If this be so there

must be a reason for it. We can imagine a man in

Israel in the days of Samson, dressing liis vineyard,

planting the seed in the fields, caring for it, and in

time of harvest the Philistines coming to reap the

fruit of his toil. If this man falls back, lets them

have their OAvn way, there is no reason why they

should molest him, he has not interfered with them,

tliey liavc got all they want. But it Avas different

with Samson, he was beating them back, rescuing

from thciu what they v/ere trying to carry away,

hence their efforts are turned against him.

So in our age, when the devil, through his agen-
cies, is trying to take away the Sabbath, to drag
down through strong drink, gambling, and pernicious
literature, the ver}' best and bravest of the land, if
men are so good that they will not lift up their voice
against these evils, will not molest the devil or inter-
fere with him in his work of destruction, w^hy shoTild
he bother himself wnth them? He hasn't time to
attend to such people, it is only those who are wag-
ing war against him. It is contrary to the Old Tes-
tament, contrary to the teaching of the New Test-a-

98 SAMSON.

ment, and contrary to common sense, that the devil
should not bother tliose who are bothering him. Take
the case of our Saviour when lie ^\•as bom into the
world, why have we the slaughter of the children in
llama? AVhy have wo that descriptive scene in Ileve-
lation concerning the dragon, wdiere he is trying to
destroy the child and the woman? Why have we
these teiTible temptations in the wilderness? Is it
not because He came to crush tlie head of the ser-
pent and destroy the works of the devil? And do we
not hear the devils say to Him, " We know Thee who
Thou art, art Thou come to torment us before the
time?" It is said that at the close of the tempta-
tion in the wilderness the devil left Him for a season,
but it was only for a season. He even entered into
His apostle Peter to try to turn Christ from going up
to Jerusalem to accomplish the great work for which
He was bora, and for Vvdiich He came into the world.
All through Christ's ministry the devil dogged His
footsteps and the powers of darkness were round
and about Him. And surely the disciple is not above
His Master, or tlie servant above His Lord. The
more we are doing to overthrow tlie evil that is en-
slaving our fellow-men tlie greater will the desire
be on the part of the devil to shear us of our power,
and to disable us in tlie work.

This is w^onderfullv illustrated in the case of Sam-

SAMSON. 99

son. A rewai'd was offered for tlie secret of Tiis power,
and lie was betrayed, not by a Judas, but by a Delilah,
wlio got almost tliirty-seven times as mucli for lier
treachery as Judas got for his. They have gained
tlieir point at last, the vow^ of his consecration is
broken, the Lord has departed from him, the strength
with which he accomplished so much in the past is
now gone, and he is carried captive by the enemy to
the house of their god; liis eyes are put out with hot
irons, he is made to grind at the mill and make spoil
for those who hate both him and his nation. It is a
pitiable sight. When one looks at him one can see a
picture of the nation to which he belonged, a pictm'e
of the Christian church, and a picture of individual
Christians. For, like Samson, that nation was in a
certain sense a ISTazarite, called out from among the
nations of the earth, consecrated to God, set apart
to glorify His name and to do His bidding. While
the nation remained true to her vows, she was able to
defy the enemy, for no weapon formed against her
prospered ; but when she was led away, and broke her
vows, then she became helpless in the hand of the
enemy, like Samson in the hands of the PhiKstines,
and, like him, she knew not when her strength was
gone. She allowed the enemy to come up around the
holy city, thinking she could shake herself loose from
the foe as on former occasions, not knowing that the

] 00 SAMSON.

Lord had departed from her. But she is carried away
to Babylon, aiid when we see the people sitting by the
rivers, their hai-ps lumging upon the willows while
the Babylonians are mocking and asking for songs
of Zion, do we not see a picture of Samson sitting in
the house of Dagon while he is being mocked by the
enemy? Or take the church established by Christ,
called out from the world, having His vows resting
upon her; she goes forth against the enemy as Sam-
son went against the Philistines, there is nothing too
hard for her; kingdom after kingdom crumbles be-
fore her till she even ascends the throne of the Caes-
ers, but when she is led away she is shorn of her
strength and then mocked at by men.

How often the church has become as helpless to
accomplish the work for which she was instituted,
as Samson was helpless to deliver Israel when he was
in the power of the enemy. How often the world has
laughed at the church and said, you tell us of the ex-
ploits and the victories of the past, but what are you
accomplishing now? How often this has happened
with individual Christians. Here is a man who in
the strength and poAver of God has done great things.
!^fultitudes have been roused up and brought out of
darkness into light through the supernatural power
resting upon him, but he has been led away by tlic

SAMSON. 101

enemy, shorn of his strength, and then he becomes
the sport of those who at one time feared him.

It is a dark picture, but we hare to bless God that
the history does not stop here. We have seen the
power of a sacred life in Samson, we have seen in him
also a picture of the nation in her consecration, and
of the church when she had a single eye and a definite
aim in view; then we have seen the poAver of the
enemy brought against this judge of Israel, against
the nation, against the church; we have seen how
evil has apparently trimnphed, and how he who at
one time was so feared is now being mocked. Now
we are going to see a picture of the love of God, that
love which will not let His people go. Samson is
punished for his sin, but when he is alone and has
time to think, God sees the tears that fall from the
sightless eyes and hears the cry of penitence that
arises from the crushed and broken spirit. He causes
the streng-th to come back to that man, who is now
willing to redeem the time and sacrifice himself for
the cause he has betrayed. It was through his own
sin that he fell, and now he wishes to dedicate him-
self again to the God in whose strength he went for-'
ward in former days.

A great opportunity has come. From, all parts of
the land the Philistines have gathered together to
give thanks to their god whom they credit vnih. do-

102 SAMSON. '

livering Samson into their hands. They have come
to the temple, three thonsand of them are on tlie
liouse-top and the inside is filled. They are to Wmfr
out this man so that he may make sport for them.
It may be that it wns a captive TTebrew youth who
was Samson's caretaker. The lad leads him into the
temple, perhaps Samson informs him as to what will
follow, and tells him to take the news to his brethren.
Then he asks liberty to lean and put his arms against
the pillars npon which the temple rests, and when the
mnltitndes are mocking he cries mightily to God for
strength. We hear the laughter and joy of this mul-
titnde who are mocking the man of God, then we
hear the crash, and the cry of angnish going wj) from
those who nre falling and being crnshed with the
building that has tumbled down over them. In i
few minntes the silence of death reisrns. iN'ews of
this event is carried to the brethren of Samson, thev
come down, clear away the debris, pick ont the bodv,
tal^e it awav and bnrv it in the sennlchre of his
fathers, and the sacred historians toll ns that he wr.'?
one of those who thronjrh friith snbdned kinfrdoms.

Ts this not trne also of the nation? "We have
seen her beincr mocked in Babvlon. but have we not
seen her bron<rht baok a^-ain to the land of promise
and to the citv of David? Have we not seen tho
temple rising once more in its glory, and the wall^

SAMSON. 10

bein^ builded around that city tliat had been de-
stroyed by the enemy in the days of Israel's weak-
ness? Have we not seen the same thing as far as
the church is concerned? Snrelv it was her time of
weakness during the dark ages when men mocked
at things sacred, and when faith required the ligi:ht
of a candle at noon-day. Bnt did we not see in the
days of the reformation the wonderful restoration of
that power? So, in the fives of men who have be-
come backsliders, who have sold themselves and
broken their vows, they have heard the voice of God
sayinfr, " I will heal thy backsliding^, and I will love
thee freely."

Lookirg fit the life of this man we not only see
the power of consecration to God but we see the dan-
rov m ^^Av.ch his servfi-nts stand, the necessitv of the
e\'hortation of the apostle to put on the whole ar-
monr of God, that v/e mav he able to stand in the
evil day. And then for tho<^.e who have fallen through
fV.e power of teinptation there is surelv mnch en-
ponrsp-omont, for the God of Samson is our God, the
One who restored his strength and enabled him to
ar'pomplish move for Tsrnel in the last dav of his life,
th.nn he vpr o"h]p f^ accom.r)li=;h dnrincr all the pre-
v]OT"j, vpfirti! thqf, snme God is nhV -not 07t1v to r°?+ore
+7^0 h".'»Vcl-'r:ir'o\ but to CH'ant power, so that in His
v.pT'iri t^-ip-rT lY-r.T' fc<-'oini">liRh irifirT''o.llous tlun^s, lor
the ,T»':n that is stron.T to smite, is also stronG" to savo.

X.

THE WATER OF LIFE.

•' If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it i» that saith to thee. Give
lue to drink ; thou would'st have asked of Him, and He Mould have given
thee living water."— John 4 : 10.

Our Lord, in His teaching, had a wonderful
faculty of lifting the thoughts of His hearers from
the physical to the spiritual, from the seen to the
unseen. This is beautifully illustrated throughout
the gospel by John, where He so frequently speaks of
the bread of life, and of the water of life. Some
time ago I read a letter T\Titten by a man who had
very little use for the church, and in it he said that he
could not afford the luxury of religion or Christianity.
It is worthy of note, h.owevcr, that our Lord never
speaks of His salvation as a luxury, but as a neces-
sity, and when He is usino- earthly things by way 'of
comparison or contrast. He never uses those thiiii^'s
which are spoken of as t1io luxuries of life, but the
things which are essential to life. We can do with or
without luxuries, but we cannot do with(Mit the tliiuirs
Avhich are e.^'sential; and in tbo ])hysical Avorld, bread
and water are essential to physical life — without
them life cannot be sustained. And these are the

THE WATER OF LIFE. 105

things He uses in order to convey to the mind spirit-
ual truths. He speaks of Himself as the bread of life
and as the water of life, indicating very clearly that
what these things are in the physical world He is in
the spiritual world, and that it is as impossible for the
soul to have life without Him as it is for the body
to be sustained without these essentials.

There are many things that water does, and per-
haps, looking at them will enable us to realize more
clearly what is accomplished by Christ's salvation.
For example, water has in it a cleansing power. Look
at those who are coming out of the coal mine — cov-
ered with coal dust — after they have gone to the bath
and been cleansed a wonderful change has come over
them. What water does in the cleansing of our <gar-
ments and our persons, the salvation of Clmst mil
do for our souls. By it we are cleansed from the
defilement of sin, and the heart is purified. Our
thoughts are changed and our whole nature is trans-
formed.

Again, when applied to the earth, water has the
power of making it fruitful, it causes the earth to
bring forth that which sustains the life upon it. The
valley or plains around Salt Lake City were at one
time ban-en and unfruitful, but the Mormons used
tlie mountain streams to imgate the country, an I
through that v/ater. the plains have 1-)ecome wonder-

lOG THE WATER OE LIFE.

fully fruitful, and the desert has rejoiced and is blos-
soming as the rose. In like manner the salvation of
Christ makes lives, which have heretofore been use-
less and unprofitable, useful and beautiful. There
are multitudes in the world who nro ondov.-ed wdth
talents and faculties, but all their powers are being;
wasted, and as far as helpino- humanitv is concerned,
they are as nseless as the American dessert. But so
soon as the tmth of Christ touches such hearts, the
lives are chanired, and they become a blessing to
humanity. The m.an who stole provides tilings hon-
est in the sight of all men, and the one who was a
mere parasite becomes a blessing to others. How fre-
qnently v:e see this illustrat-ed in the lives of men
and women in everv communitv.

Then there is nothing more plentiful and more
free than Avater, there is an abundant supply in the
earth for all the inhabitants. It is true that in our
cities we have to pay for the water, l)ut after all it
is not the v^ater we are paying for, it is the bringing
of it from certain localities to the homes v/here it is
used. Any oue can go out to tlic grer.t hikes, to tlie
brosd rivers or to the numerous little streams and
get all the Avater he wishes free of charge. Thus it
is with the salvation of Christ, tliere is an abundance
for all. Tf the spiritual wants of every individual
upon tho earth were supplied there wonld not only be

THE WATER OF LIFE. 107

enough but to spare, and it is free. Of course, it
costs money to build places of worship, to translate
the scriptures, and to carry the missionaries across the
sea to the re^on beyond, but as far as salvation it-
self is concerned, it is as free as the water in our
rivers or our lakes, and it is as abundant.

But of these thin,2-s this woman was ignorant,
hence our Lord says, " If thou hadst known the gift
of God and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to
drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He
would have given thee living water." Nevertheless,
while she was ignorant concerning this, we must ad-
mit that she was a woman of considerable ability,
no matter what her moral life may have been. jVIen
frequentlv tell us that when she asked the question
as to where the true place of worship was she was
trving to turn Christ's thoughts from her past life.
We have no authority for m.aking this statement.
It may be that she had done a great deal of thinking
prow'nns to this, concerning the two nlaces of wor-
ship. She knew that the Jews went to Jerusalem and
thpt her ottd people worshipped on Mount Gerizim,
phf^ knew that there was so littln in common between
fh'^ two ihf\t if one was riQ'ht. the olher ir^ust be
^\Tong. This great problem It ad boon thought out by
her and lay heavy on her mind, and the moiuent that
Jesus revealed to her her past life it da^vned upon her

108 THE WATER OF LIFE.

that He was a propliet, and she asks the question,
" Ought men to worship in Jerusalem, or in Geri-
zim?" He docs not take lier to task and say, " You
are trying to turn my thoughts from your life," but
instead of that He reveals to her the great truths con-
cerning true worship. He sho^vs to her that while
salvation is of the Jews, yet the time is coming, yea,
is come, when ti*ue worship will not depend on the
locality or the attitude of the worshipper, and
that it docs not matter whether men assemble
imder the blue canopy of heaven, in the mag-
nificent cathedral, or in the humble cottage,
if their hearts are right their worship will be
acceptable, for while man looketh upon the outward
appearance God looketh upon the heart. He in-
forms her that God is a spirit, and they Avho wor-
ship must worship Hin\ in spirit and in truth. Then
she tells Him that when Messias com.eth He ^vill make
known all things to them. Jesus then reveals Him-
self to her, that He is the ^fessiah, concerning whom
she had thoujrht so much, and for whom she so often
longed. A new joy fills her ponl, she forgets her
watentot and rushes awnv to tell the men of the vil-
lage, and at this point His flipcir»les arrive.

IN'ow in the text ov.y Lord informed her that it
v.'fis her ignorance Avhioh kept her from asking that
which He had to ijive — her icinorance of the gift and

THE WATER OF LIFE. 109

also of the giver, and it is ignorance wliich keeps
very many poor in this world, and reduces many from
wealth to poverty. It is ignorance that keeps mul-
titudes out of the kingdom of God, and yet men do
not like to be told that they are ignorant, there is
nothing they will resent more quickly, still we see
how it works. Here is a man, for example, in poor
circumstances, living in a great city, he tells us that
when he came to the city he could have bought land
for about as much per acre as it is now sold per foot;
if he had only known that the city was to grow at
such a rate he could have been a millionaire by buy-
ing the land when it was so cheap and selling at such
an enormous advance. But he did not know, he was
ignorant of that which was going to happen, and so
his ignorance has kept him in poverty. Here is an-
other man who at one time had enormous wealth, but
now he is poor. He is tliinking of the past, and the
thoughts are bitter, he is struggling to make ends
meet, and he infonns us that had he known that the
bank or the company, in which he was investing his
mone}', was going to fail, he would not have made the
investments, henoe he would not have lost his wealth.
But he did not know, he Avas ignorant of what was
going to happen, and we see the results. Lifting
this from the physical into the spiritual world we see
a man going along a way which seems to him right.

110 THE WATER OF LIFE.

If he only ha&w that it would end in death, he would
cease to travel in the direction in which he is going.
We see men being led into sin, — if they only knew
that they were being led as oxen to the slaughter, or
as fools to the correction of the stocks, how different
things would be with them; but they do not know,
they are ignorant of the devices of the evil one for
he hath blinded their minds. Take Jerusalem, Christ
said, " Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if thou hadst
known," but Jerusalem was ignorant of the fact that
her King was within her walls, and that His rejec-
tion meant her final doom. "We might go on in tliis
way, getting illustration after illustration, but the
question will be asked. Is there no v/ay of getting
information that will save men from going down to
destruction?

There is. In the ph^-sical world man cannot tell
what turn affairs may take in the future. They can-
not tell very far aliead whether prices will go up or
down, but when it comes to the spiritual world the
whole Bible has been given to us in order that the fu-
ture may be revealed, that men may cease to go m
the dark, that they may walk in the light. Christ
came to reveal to us the Father, and this Word of
His reveals to us the way that is safe, and throws a
lurid light upon the path that leads to death; it is
full of warnings and full of promises. And men are

THE WATER OF LIFE. Ill

anxious to know concerning the future. It is be-
cause of this anxiety that such fads and deceptions
as spiritualism exist. Many are rushing to these
broken cisterns, these false guides, while they are
turning theii" backs upon the only book that can re-
veal to man that which lies ahead of him. If I go
to a man and inform him that I have received some
messages, through wliich I can put him in the way of
making ten thousand dollars, or of becoming very
wealthy, provided, he will follow my advice, how he
will listen, and how^ interested he will become. But
if I go to the same man and inform him that through
information, which I have received from reliable
documents, I can put liini in the way of becoming-
heir to an inheritance that is incorruptible, of receiv-
ing a title to a mansion in the heavens, of becoming
a joint heir with the King of kings, and an heir of
the God of heaven, he will turn away from me and
say, " I want something that is practical." The god
of this world so blinding m.en's minds that they stop
their ears to the truth and close their eyes to the
light, lest they should hear with their ears, see with
their eyes, understand with their hearts, and be con-
verted. God has given to us a revelation, and wishes
to remove from us all ignorance concerning the des-
tination which lies ahead of us; but because men love
darkness rather than light, they turn away from this

112 THE WATER OF LIFE.

iufomiationj whicli woiilfl rdiinvc tlio ijjriioranco tlmr.
is ruining such numbei*s.

It was not so, however, with this woman. She
was one whose mind was open to conviction, she was
an honest doubter it ma^^ be, but one who was seek-
ing after truth and light, and so wlicn she found this
One whom she perceived to be a propliet, she was will-
ing to listen to His teachings, she opened her heart
to receive His message, she came to know Him as the
true o-iver, and His as the onl}- gift. AVe must believe
that she received from Him that which He was fil-
ing to give. And this gift is to be had for the ask-
ing. " Thou wouldest have asked of Him and He
would have given thee the living water." Free, with-
out money and without price, as every gift must
be; for a gift is something which we receive mthout
giving an}' compensation, else it ceases to be a gift.
We have it on His o^vn authority that if we ask we
shall receive, and if we seek we shall find; and if wo
go through the New Testament from the beginning
to the end we cannot find a single request made by
any of His people which He refused to grant. They
come to Him asking for blessings for their cliildrcn
and the blessings are granted; they come asking for
healing for their servants, and the healing is given;
they come asking for themselves, and they get more
than they asked; but there is not a single instance

THE WATER OF LIFE. 113

on record where He refused to give a blessing when
it was asked of Him. Therefore He can say to this
woman, " Thou wouldest have asked and He would
have given thee." Ask and ye shall receive this liv-
ing water.

And in addition to all that we have said concern-
ing what this salvation will do for us there is still
another point. It will not only quench the thirst
but it will give abiding satisfaction. This is the point
of contrast which He drew between the living water
and the water which the woman was drawing. Of it
He said, " Whosoever drinketh he shall thu-st again,
but if a man drinketh the water that I shall give; him
he shall never thirst, for it shall be a well of wateo-
springing up into everlasting life." In other words,
the man who receives from Christ and becomes a
Christian is independent of his environment. A man
of the world may be compared to a city dependent
upon outside supply, say, of bread and water. While
the supply is abundant the people in the city are all
right and can enjoy themselves, but if the supply is
cut off by an enemy they must either perish or sur-
render. But the Christian is like a city fortified, hav-
ing within itself that which will supply all the needs
of the people, independent of the outside world.
Here is a man without Christ. He has joy and glad-
ness in his life because of his good health, because of

114 THE WATER OF LIFE.

hi3 prosperity, and all the pleasures that come to him
from life. But his health fails, his riches make wings
for themselves and leave him, and he is helpless, the
thoughts of the past fill him with bitterness, he has
no hope as far as the future is concerned. On the
other hand, the Christian has the joy within, and
like Habbakuk he can say, " Though my flock be cut
off; though famine pine in empty stalls where herds
were wont to be, yet will I rejoice in the Lord and in
the Lord will I be glad." The Christian is not de-
pending on the outside world for his joy, because the
salvation of Christ is like a well of water within him,
springing up into everlasting life. If he is in prison
and his feet made fast in stocks, he can even sing
there, for liis God gives to him songs in the night.
Therefore, the figure which our Lord uses should
bring wonderful comfort and consolation to believ-
ers,— ^knowing that when they have Christ tlioy have
everything and aboTiiul. But the man without Christ
is like those who are drinking of the water which
only gives temporary satisfaction, for the fashion
and the pleasures of this world are shortlived and are
passing away.

As soon as this woman realized who He was and
what the gift meant, she made it her own, and her
spirit rejoiced in that joy that is past comprehension;
and a great desire took hold of her to bring to others

THE WATER OF LIFE. 115

the news of. tliat which Had made her own heart glad.
So we find her forgetting or leaving the water-pot,
rusliing to the village and exhorting the inliahitants
to come and see the man who told her all things, the
One whom she believed to be the Messiah. This is
another characteristic of His salvation — when we re-
ceive it in its fullness we cannot keep it to ourselves,
like the well of water it is springing up and flowing-
over, toucliing other lives and blessing other com-
munities.

XL

, THE VISIOA^ OF THE DKY BOiS^ES.

"But there was no breath in them."— Ezekiel 37 : 8.

A wonderful change had come over them, bone
had come to his bone, the sinews, the flesh, and the
skin covered them and they lay like an army of war-
riors taking their rest. But there was no life in them.
Some tell us that this vision of Ezekiel was brought
about through natural causes, that the prophet, on
his way to Babylon, passed one of those valleys where
a great battle had been fought. The bones of the
slain were lying in the valley — very many and very
dry. When he looked at them he began to think —
and one must think when he is in a graveyard — that
at one time they had formed bodies in which men
dwelt. Wlien he went to sleep these waking thoughts
wove themselves into the vision which we have re-
corded here.

Taking it for granted that this was the case, it
does not in any way interfere with the divine lesson
which the Lord wished to teach the prophet, and
through him to teach succeeding ages. Peter went
home hungry, and while they were preparing his
food he went up and lay down on the house-top, fell

THE VISION OF DRY BONES. 117

asleep, saw a sheet let down, from heaven containing
all manner of living things, was commanded to kill
and eat. It was natural for a hungry man to dream
about food, but in that way God taught him the great
lesson, that the Gentiles were to be received into the
church as well as the Jews, and that what God had ac-
cepted and cleansed was not to be rejected or looked
upon as unclean. It may be that the first purpose of
the vision was to encourage the prophet, for prophets,
like other men, became discouraged, and in such
seasons God did not cast them off but encouraged
them. This we see illustrated in the case of Elijah,
when he lay under the juniper tree, wishing to die.
It may seem a strange way of encouraging a man to
show him such a vision, but we are to remember that
God's ways are not our ways. When we wish to en-
courage people we generally minimize and make light
of the difficulties which lie before them, but when
God wishes to encourage men. He shows them the
rivers they must cross at their broadest, and the
mountains they have to scale at their highest, and
then He tells them to go on in His strength, and the
mountains shall become plains, and the difficulties
shall disappear. When the Lord Jesus was sending
out the disciples. He told them that they were going
out as sheep among wolves, that the wolves would
come in sheep's clothing, that men would cast them

118 THE VISION OF DRY BONES.

(Hit. of tliG synago^aios and think tlifv were doinp
(i(xl"s service, wlieu they were killing his followers,
:iih1 tl'.en Tie added, '' Vc-dY not, it is voiir Father's
good pleasure to give von the kingdom, ami im won-
ix>u formed against 3'ou shall prosper."

These bones represent the whole house of Israel.
The nation, at one time, was the body politic, but i.i
the days of Ezekiel the people were scattered abroad.
God told the prophet that as these bones came to-
gether and became a great army, so the people would
come together and be restored to their owti land. The
prophecy may have had its fulfilment in the restora-
tion from Babylon, or there may be a larger fulfil-
ment yet in store for th© dispersed of that nation.
And some tell us that we have no right to use this
vision in a spiritual sense, that it referred to Israel
as a nation, and to her restoration to her native land.
But we must remember that a great deal of prophecy
has a two-fold meaning. It is intended for the people
to whom it was given, but it has also a meaning for
the generations to follow. This was intended to
teach Ezekiel concerning Israel as a nation, but surely
it is also intended to teach us great spiritual lessons
since men, who are separated from God, both Jews
and Gentiles, are represented as dead; and since the
saving of these men is spoken of as life from the de^d

THE VISION OF DRY BONES. 119

and as the resun-ection, we can see in this, great and
encouraging lessons.

The same methods and means were used to save
the Gentiles, in the days of the Lord, and in the days
otf the apostles, as were used to save the Jews. Peter
preached the same truth in the house of Cornelius
that he preached in the city of Jerusalem on the day
of Pentecost, and the Holy Ghost came down upon
the Gentiles as He did upon the Jews.

'Now, in this vision we have three essentials in
order that life might be brought to the dead. First
of all, we have the man Ezekiel; second, we have the
Word of God, the message he delivered; third, we
have the Spirit of God, who breathed upon the slain
and then they became alive. ITow these three are es-
sentials in the salvation of Jews or Gentiles. God
uses human instrumentality. Even in the conversion
of Saul the scales did not fall from his eyes until the
old Christian laid his hands upon his head and said,
" Brother Saul, receive thy sight." We have the
treasure in earthen vessels, and God has decreed that
by the foolishness of preaching, men are to be saved.
But what kind of men does God use in this work?

The first thing that he does with Ezekiel is to test
his faith. After showing him the dry bones he said
to him, " Can these bones live?" If Ezekiel had said,
No, it is impossible, God would probably have used

120 THE VISION OF DRY BONES.

auotlier to accomplish His work, but while it seemed
impossible aud improbable to Ezekiel, yet he knew
that nothing was impossible with God, and he ans-
wered, " Lord God, Thon knowest." In order to be
instrumental in saving others, we must have faith,
not in humanity, but in the God of himaanity. AVe
must realize, like the apostle, that God is able to save
to the uttermo^, and that there is nothing too hard
for Him. Sucli faith is honoring to God, and such
faith will keep us from giving up the hardest char-
acters as beyond the power of God.

Second, the Word of God is essential. The Lord
told him to prophesy and to say. Thus saith the
Lord. In this work our illustrations, our stories and
anecdotes may be of great ser^dce in arresting the
attention and preparing men to receive the truth of
God. They are, in this respect, what ploughs and
harrows and such like are in the physical world.
They do not produce a harv^est, but they prepare the
ground for the seed which alone can produce the har-
vest. And so the "Word of God is spoken of as seed
that liveth and abideth, and bringeth forth from
tliirty to an hundred fold. And it is concerning
this Word that God has said, " It shall not return
unto Me void." In reading the history of the church,
we discover that all those who have been instrumental
in winning men to Christ have been loyal to the Word

THE VISION OF DRY BONES. 121

of God, and have declared its truths faitlifuUy. But
we may have men of God declaring the truth of God,
making a wonderful impression upon those who hear,
and yet those hearers may not be saved. When John
the Baptist preached before Herod he made a great
impression upon the monarch, and no doubt in-
fluenced his life, yet Herod never entered the king-
dom. After Ezekiel had spoken to these bones as he
was commanded, there was a wonderful change, there
was even a semblance of life, but there was no life;
and if he had stopped there they would have gone
back to tlieir former state, and would have become
bones again. So, when men are brought under the
power of the truth, convicted of sin, their outward
lives may he changed, a great reformation may have
taken place, but if they are without the divine life
they will go back to their former state, and the last
state will be as the first. If, however, Ezekiel can
get life into these men they cannot go back to bones
so long as that life is there, and if spiritual life enters
into those men who have heard the truth they will
not go back to their former state so long as that
spiritual life is thei'e. It is true, they may sleep and
sometimes become indifferent, but there is a great
difference between a man who is asleep and a man
who is dead. You can wake the one, but the other
responds not to your call.

122 THE VISION OF DRY BONES.

That brings us to the tliird essential — the Spirit of
God. Ezekiel cried to the winds, and the breath
breathed into the slain, and thej' lived, and stood on
their feet, an exceeding- great amiy. So, the Holy
Spirit 'is the third essential in this work of bringing
men to Chiist. Jesus put great emphasis upon this
when He commanded the disciples not to leave Jeru-
salem until they would be endued with the Spirit.
It is very necessary that we should distinguish be-
tween reformation and regeneration. We cannot have
regeneration without reformation, but we may have
reformation without regeneration. The reason why
so many, in times of revival, who have made a fail'
start go back to their former lives, is because they
have only been refonned and not been regenerated.
A great need of the church to-day is the power of the
Holy Spirit to accompany the AYord as it is taught in
the homes, in the Sabbath School, or preached from
the pulpit.

But, some one may say, if we have these three, it
would then follow that all who hear would be saved.
That would seem to follow Mhat we have said were it
not for the fact that men have the power, though
they are dead in sin, to resist the Holy Spirit. The
apostle said, " Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as
your fathers did." The Lord Jesus had unbounded
faith in the power of God. He preached the Word

THE VISION OF DRY BONES. 123

of God in all its piiritj, Ho had the Spirit without
measure, and yet many of those to whom He preached
were not saved, and He rolls the blame over upon
themselves, represents them as stopping their ears,
shutting their eyes, hardening their hearts, and stiffen-
ing their necks against the truth, lest they might
be converted and be healed. God has given this
power to men, since He has made them free agents,
and with power there always comes great responsi-
bility. You have heard the story of the Irishman
who was looking at Niagara Falls and some one said
to him, "Isn't that w^onderful?" but he replied,
" There is nothing wonderful about it, the water goes
over because there is nothing to hinder it." Well,
that was true, but if you follow the stream down to
what is called the wliirl-pool you will there see that
the rocks stand out and resist the current, and then
when the river is resisted it turns and flows in an-
other direction into the lake. So, the Spirit of God
and the Gospel went out from Jerusalem as a river —
God intending that it should flow through Judea and
Samaria, and on to the uttennost parts of the earth,
but the Jewish people resisted the truth, and tlie
apostle said, "Lo, we turn to the Gentiles." And
while that land is in darkness to-day, many of the
nations that were then in darkness are now rejoicing
in the truth and power of God. All through the

124 THE VISION OF DRY BONES.

Scripture we have exhortation after exhortation not
to grieve or quench the Spirit of God.

Without the three essentials we have been speak-
ing of, Christian work cannot be accomplished. That
is a great truth for Christians to ponder. In this land
where we have men and women teaching tlie Word of
God, accompanied bj the power of the Spirit, it is a
solemn thought for those who are unsaved, that if
they are out of the Kingdom it is because
they have resisted the Holy Spirit, who has been striv-
ing with them at different times and in many ways.
With great power come the words from the Old Tes-
tament, " My Spirit shall not always strive with
man."

We read, that when the spirit breathed upon these
slain they stood on their feet an exceeding great anny.
Trequently, in Scripture, Christians are spoken of as
soldiers, and the church as an army — clear as the
moon, bright as the sun, ten-ible as an arni}'^ with
bannei*s. There is no sight grander upon earth than
the review of &, great army, when they are all in step,
obeying the commands of the superior officer; and an
army is organized for the pui'pose of retaining terri-
tory already gained, and for the purpose of taking
new ten-itory. The church of Christ has been organ-
ized for the puropso of retaining that which she is in
possession of — the Sabbath, the sanctuai-y and the

THE VISION OF DRY BONES. 125

Bible, but also for tbe purpose of conquering all the
earth in the name of Christ. To the disciples and to
the church through the disciples, He gave the great
commision to go into all the world and to preach the
Gospel to every creature, to make disciples in all na-
tions, and so long as there is a soul without a know-
ledge of the truth the church has not accomplished
her great mission. ISTothing is more to be feared in
an army than mutiny or disobedience. If one regi-
ment begins to fire into another regiment, or one regi-
ment tries to make recruits from another regim^ent,
the army is made weak instead of strong. This is
what the church has often done. One denomina-
tion firing into another denomination, and one sect
trying to get recruits from another. The jealousies
and the bickerings have often made the church power-
less. That is the reason why so much of the world
to-day lies under the Evil One, destitute of the Gos-
pel, never having heard the name of Clirist. It is not
necessary to have organic union among Christians any
more than it is necessary to have all the army in one
regiment, but it is essential to have unity of purpose
and unity in spirit, and this can only be had when
Christians come to realize that no matter what de-
nomination they belong to they are fighting a com-
mon foe, and they are under a common flag. In the
late war between the United States and Spain, we

126 THE VISION OF DRY BONES.

frequently heard it said that in the States there was
no ISTorth and no South, that all were united together
in a common cause against a common foe.

The last prayer that our Saviour offere<l up on
behalf of His church was that they might be one,
that the world might know that the Father had sent
Him. And if the church of Jesus Christ was united
together as a great army, having her different regi-
ments and different companies, but having one aim,
obeying one sovereign, in a short time the strongholds
of evil would bo overthrown and the banner of tlic
cross unfurled in every land. But this can only be
accomplished by a regenerate church, having in her
the life of God.

XII.

THE TWO SONS.

'• A certain inun liad two Sons."— Luke 15 : 11.

These two sons represent all liumanity — the proud
sinners and the penitent sinners, for all have sinned,
and come short of the gloiy of God. Primarily, when
the parable was uttered, they may have represented
the publicans and the self-righteous Pharisees, but
wherever we have those who have come to see their
sins and are turning from them to God, we have a
class represented by the younger son, and where we
find those who pride themselves on their negative
righteousness and despise others, we have the class
represented by the elder brother. Let us follow the
young man in his wanderings. Fii*st of all he wishes
to get rid of the restraints of home, and to enjoy that
which he calls, or looks upon, as liberty. There are
many to-day, who refuse to become Christians, be-
cause they think that by so doing they would sacri-
fice what they consider freedom, and enter into a life
of restraint, and, in a certain sense, bondage. There
is one great fact, however, which is overlooked by
some people, and v/as certainly overlooked by the
young man — that one cannot have tme liberty Avith-

128 THE TWO SONS.

out a certain amount of restraint. Look at the kite, for
example, it is high up in the air, if it could speak to
us it would no doubt make the statement that the
cord was resti'aining it and keeping it from ascend-
ing heavenward, while we know that it is the cord
which keeps it up, for as soon as it is able to break
the cord, or get away from what it may consider the
restraining power^ instead of soaring like the eagle
toward the sun, it comes down head first to the earth.
So it was with this young man. He got free from the
restraints of home, but we next see him in the swine-
herd. In the father's house he had the liberty of a
son, in the swineherd he has to take the place of the
humblest servant, and he is deprived of all liberty.

Tluis it is with the sinner. Sin enslaves. When
this young man manifested the desire to get away
from home the father did not compel him to remain,
because his house was a home and not a prison. There
were no iron doors or brass fetters to retain the child-
ren, because they had liberty since they were sons.
It is so in the household of faith — there arc no slaves
there, they are spoken of as sons, enjo\'ing liberty,
for the Lord deals witli men as a father deals ^^^th
liis children. The devil is the great slave-driver,
k'ading men captive at his will; but Christ is the
emancipator and his followers have liberty.

After the younger son left home he probably had

THE TWO SONS. - 129

what lie considered a good time. So long as the
money lasted his companions remained with him to
drink his health, and sing his praises, but so soon as
the money was gone they were not to be found.
When the famine arose and he began to be in want
he found himself alone. What a picture this is of
life. Let no one say that there are no pleasures in
sin. This is not the teaching of scripture. Moses,
we are told, refused the pleasures of sin for a season,
indicating that there were pleasures, but that they
were short-lived. IsTo doubt to many of us there is
pleasure in the "wine-cup, when it giveth its colour
and moveth itself aright, but then there is the bite of
the serpent, and the sting of the adder, the wounds
without cause, and the misery which follows. While
men are in the enjoyment of health they may have
much pleasure in sin, but as soon as desire begins to
fail, and disease lays hold of the body, then the plea-
sure is gone. The past is like a nightmare, the future
is dark, and there are cravings that cannot be satisfied,
like the fire that cannot be quenched.

He joined himself to a citizen, but he did not be-
come a citizen; he was sent out into the fields to do
that which every Jew hated, to care for and feed the
animals that were not clean. He felt the pangs of
hunger and the disgrace of the position — ^he was not
only in want, but in misery. Imagine if you can

130 THE TWO SONS.

a man coming to him when he is in that condition,
and the young man informing the stranger that bis
father has a beautiful home, that all of his servants
have enough and to spare, and there is an abundance
in that house. The stranger would look at him and
would no doubt say, " If your statements are tnie,
then I must come to one of two conclusions, eitlier
that your father is a hard-hearted and a cruel man,
since he has an abundance and you starving in this
miserable place, or else, if your father is large-hearted,
loving and generous, and it is not his fault that you
are here, then you must be beside yourself, and are
playing the part of a fool." And to such a state-
ment the young man would make answer, " The lat-
ter conclusion is the true one." Then he came to his
senses, thought of his father's house, looked at the
present state of affairs, and made the resolution that
he would go home. When men continue in sin and
in misery, for the way of the transgressor is hard,
after they are told about the love of God and the
grace of Christ, what conclusion can we come to but
that they are insane, or blinded by the god of this
world, when they are suffering and in misery, while
God is as anxious to receive and satisfy all their wants
as was the father of that wayward son , who was suf-
fering in the far country ? We have him now making
the resolution, — and a resolution is all right if it is a

THE TWO SONS. 131

good one and if it is carried out — that he will return.
The devil would not object to such a resolution on
the part of any one so long as it was only a resolu-
tion. I can imagine the devil coming to this young
man or to the sinner, of whom he is a type, and say-
ing, " You have made up your mind that you will
get out of this miserable place and return to your
father's house, that is all right, but there is no 'need
of being in a hurry, you haven't settled upon any
definite time as to the carrying out of this resolution,
be sure to go but not now — some future time." That
is the way the Evil One talks to men in these days.
There are thousands of people who have made up
their minds that they will become Christians, but
they have not settled upon the time that they will
make a start. They will say, " Yes, but not to-night."
The important thing is the fixing of the date, and
this young man never would have left the swineherd
had he not fixed upon a definite time, in which to
carry out the resolution he made. There are people
in Ireland who have been coming out to America ever
since I was a boy, and they are in Ireland yet and
are likely to die there. They are always talking about
America and saying that they are coming out, but
they have never fixed a date, they have never made a
start, and as long as their feet remain on Irish soil, they
can never set them on American soil. So it is with

332 THE TWO SONS.

sinnci-s. There are men who have been talking about
deciding for Christ for the last ten or twenty years,
and they are as far away from IIi:n to-day as when
they began to talk about the matter, because they
have never fixed upon a definite time. There is one
thing about the de^dl— he is very indefinite. But the
Holy Spirit is very definite, for He says, " To-day,"
" now is the accepted time, now is the day of salva-
tion."

This young man did not wait for any change of
raiment, but having made the resolution he started.
He said " I Avill arise and go to my father," and he
arose and went. That was the turning point. With
fear and trembling, it may be, he started toward home,
but the father was watching for his retm-n and saw
him afar off. Then comes the beautiful picture of
their meeting, the father throwing his arms around
the neck of the son, the son acknowledging his sins,
the rags removed, the ring put upon the hand and
the shoes upon the feet, and there is great joy and
dadness in the home on that day. Two things the
young man brings with him,— his rags, which are a
picture of our sins, and the words, with which he
confesses the sins of the past. Hosoa said, " Return
unto the Lord and take A\ath you words." The only
two things we can take to God are our sins and the
words confe.ssing the past, entreating His forgiveness.

THE TWO SONS. 133

and casting ourselves upon His mercy. If this parable
means anything, it means that God mil receive the
returning prodigal, with joy and with gladness; giving
us not the servant's humble place, but all the rights
and privileges of a son as we see it in this narrative.
What joy thrilled the heart of every servant in the
great household, when they saw the gladness in the
fathers face, because the long-lost son was found and
restored to the home. And in like manner we are
told that there is joy in the presence of the angels of
God over one sinner that repenteth, and joy in the
Father's heart.

Then we have another picture brought before us.
A servant who is full of gladness, rushes out towards
the fields and he meets the elder brother. This
brother has heard the music and the shouts of glad-
ness and his countenance is like a thunder-cloud, for
he is full of anger. He asks what all this means.
When informed that his brother has returned he says,
" I have no brother, I don't ovm or acknowledge that
one who has wasted his substance in riotous living as
my brother at all," and he was angry. And then the
father went out and entreated him, reasoned with him,
pleaded mth him to come in to the feast of rejoicing,
but he would not, and found fault with the father
for what he has done in recei^dng this younger son.
^^'^lat a picture this is of the treatment which Christ

134 THE TWO SONS.

received from the Pharisees. At the very beginning
of this chapter tliey murmured saying, "This man
receiveth sinners and eateth with them," just as the
elder brother murmured because his father had re-
ceived back the penitent brother. While this young
man was far away from the father in a foreign land,
the heart of the elder brother was still further away,
for his was a heart of stone, void of love. And are
there not in the church, the visible church, to-day,
many like the elder brother? As he performed his
duties mechanically and without a particle of love,
so there are those who observe all the outward forms
and ceremonies, who have just as much love for the
outcast and the sinful, as this man had for his brother
when he had wasted his substance in riotous living;
and they have just as much love for God as this man
had for his father. The apostle tells us that no mat-
ter what we have if we are without love we are as
sounding brass and a tinkling cjonbal. Christ uttered
this and the other parables to justify His conduct
in receiving sinners, and tried to show to those who
•were listening to Him that it was just as natural and
as reasonable, that He should receive the penitent
publicans as that the shepherd should go for the lost
sheep, or the woman seek for the lost coin, or the
father receive back the lost son. It also explains
to us the reason w^hy the publicans and sinners were

THE TWO SONS. i 135

to enter the kingdom before those men who were
morallj and outwardly righteous, for this younger
brother who had squandered his father's substance
was rejoicing in the father's house, while the elder
brother who had lived a respectable life was outside
Off that banqueting hall. Christ said that they should
come from the east and from the west, from the north
and from the south, and sit down with Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God, while the
children of the kingdom would be cast out. But
whose fault was it? "Was it the fault of the father?
He merely received the returning prodigal, but he
entreated the elder brother to come in. Jesus Christ
came not onlv to save the publicans and sinners, but
also to save the self-righteous Pharisees, for He was
the Saviour of all, just as the man in the parable was
the father of these two sons.

There is no class so hard to reach and so hopeless
as those who are priding themselves on their respec-
tability, and on the fact that they have complied with
all the outward forms and ceremonies. Thev have a
negative righteousness, not havinp* done the thiufi's
for which they condemn othei*s. This is brought out
clearly in the case of the older brother, and of the
Pharisees, of which he is a type. Perhaps there is
no other place in all scripture, in which the love of
God is more manifest than in this fifteenth chapter

136 THE TWO SONS.

of Luke, for here we get an idea of wliat abundaut
forgiveness means. The father says nothing to the
younger son about the past, it is all blotted out, and
God says He will remember our iniquities no more,
and our sins He will cast behind His back. "What an
emphasis this gives to the exhortation of the prophet,
" Return unto the Lord and He will abundantly
pardon."

Come let us to the Lord our God,

With contrite hearts return,
Our God is gracious nor mil leave

The desolate to moum.

XIII.
THE UNFOKTUNATE MAN.

" Who is my ueighbor?"— Luke 10 : 29.

'• WTiich now of these tliree, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that
fell among the thieves? "—Lvke 10 : 36.

We have here two questions. The first is put by
the young ruler to Jesus, and the second is put to
the young ruler by Jesus. When Jesus was only
twelve years of age He astonished the doctors of the
law by the questions which He asked, and by the
answers which He gave to the questions they asked,
and all througli His ministry Vv'e find that He ans-
wered questions according to the motiA'es which
prompted them. If men questioned Him in order to
entrap Him He answered them accordingly. If
their questions came from mere curiosity, He tried
to turn their thoughts to practical subjects. But if
the questions were put for the sake of gaining inform-
ation concerning the kingdom, He opened its trea-
sure-house to those who were true seekers. In the
case before us the young man asked the question in
order to justify himself, and Jesus, by His answer
and by His question, condemned the young lawyer,
and showed him that his life had not been what he
thouffht it was.

J-S TllK UNFORTUNATE MAN.

Let us look at the characters represented in this
parable. First of all we have the young ruler who
was trj'ing to justify himself, — and he has had many
successors during the centuries since he lived. Me7i
are coiltinually asking questions about different things,
different kinds otf amusement which may be ques-
tionable, but their questions very frequently are
asked not for the sake of gaining information, but for
the sake of justifying themselves concerning the
things of which they speak. It is so much better
when God justifies a man, for then there are none
who can condemn since there is no higher authority.

Second, we have the robbers who come before us.
They represent men who wish to ,get money without
giving a fair equivalent either in time or value. It
is probable they would not have waylaid this poor
man had he Avillingly delivered to them all his pos-
sessions, but their hearts were so set upon getting
what he had, that they were willing to wound, and
would have gone so far as to kill, in order that they
might obtain his money. Gambling is one kind of
robbery, because no equivalent is given for the money
obtained. Extortioners are robbers, and also men
who take advantage of their fello^^^nen, and in times
of difficulty obtain from them their property at a
fraction of its value. But there are other kinds of
robbery. Money may be restored and physical

THE UNFORTUNATE MAN. 139

wounds healed, but when a man is robbed of his
character that is something which is hard to get back;
and how often this is done. Men will blacken and
slander others at election times in order tO) help
themselves or their own party. You may call it
blackmail or libel or whatever you like, but the men
who practice it are descendants of the robbers, who
waylaid the poor fellow between Jerusalem and
Jericho.

The next one who comes on the scene is what we
call the unfortunate man. He is not to blame for
falling among the thieves or for being robbed, this
was something that happened to him that he could
not help. It may be that he did not take proper pre-
cautions when starting out on his journey, but noth-
ing is said about that in the narrative, l^o doubt
many men went from one city to the other without
being molested, but he was waylaid; they are not to
be praised for escaping, and he is not to be blamed
for what happened to him. He represents a great
many in the world to-day. Two young men come
from the same village into the same city. One of
them is met at the station by a man who takes him
to a boarding-house, where he is surrounded by the
ungodly and the sinners. He is taken or persuaded
to go to some place of questionable am.usement, is
induced to do a little gambling just for pastime, to

140 THE UNFORTUNATE MAN.

take a little wine in order to be social, and so goes on
from step to step until he becomes degraded, and is
robbed of his manhood. The other young man finds
his way into a Christian boarding-house, is sur-
rounded from the first by a healthy influence, taken,
it may be, to the Young Men's Christian Association,
or to the young people's meeting in a church, becomes
interested in spiritual things, becomes a leader among
men, respected and looked up to by those who come
in contact with him. Such things are happening in
our cities every day, and there is no two ways, but
many of those who are now outcasts of society are
there because they fell among the robbers — those who
stole from them their manhood or womanhood. How
are we to treat such? There are only two ways in
which we can treat them w^hen they are down and
helpless. ,

And that bring-s before us the representatives of
another class of people, namely, the priest and the
Levite. They were not robbers, they would not hurt
or molest anybody, they were respectable, priding
themselves on their moral characters and on the high
positions which they held. They are not blamed for
doing any wrong, but when they saw this poor un-
fortunate they looked at him, it may be they despised
him, because of that which happened to him, or it
may be they had a kind of pity for him; but vre are

THE UNFORTUNATE MAN. 141

tokl ill the narrative that they looked at him and
passed by on the other side. He was neither better
or worse, because they lived. ISToav, while there are
not a great many robbers in the world there is a
tremendous multitude even of professing Christians,
who are the descendants of the Priest and the Levite.
They pride themselves on their negative righteous-
ness, and forget that men are condemned for lack of
positive righteouness. When the Lord said to Israel
throuerh Moses, " Be sure your sin will find you out,"
it had reference to the part the two and a half tribes
were to take in helping their brethren to conquer the
land of Canaan. Moses told them that they were to
go up and help their brethren, and said that if they
failed to do so they might be sure that their sin would
find them out. And in after years when the angel of
the Lord said, " Curse ye, curse ye Meroz," it was not
because of the iniquity these people had committed,
but because they refused to come to the help of the
Lord against the mighty. And when the Lord Jesus,
in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, represents
Himself as sitting on the judgment throne. He con-
demns the nations for what they have not done, —
" Inasmuch as ye did it not unto them ye did it not
unto Me." Also one of the 'Nerw Testament writers
tells us that to him that knoweth to do good and
doeth it not, to him it is sin. There are so many in

142 THE UNFORTUNATE MAN.

the world to-day like this poor fellow who fell among
the thieves, and thousands of those who call them-
selves by the name of Christ, are passing by and leav-
ing them in their misery. The sin of doing nothing,
or comparatively nothing, is the great sin of the
church.

In bold relief to this dark background there comes
upon the scene the good Samaritan. He sees the man,
has compassion upon him and goes to work in the
most practical manner to render all the assistance
within his power, regardless of consequences. It is
not a hard matter for us to find out to which of these
classes we belong, for they all have their representa-
tives in this nineteenth century.

I wish now to give the story another turn, and to
see in the Samaritan a picture of Christ, and in this
wounded man a picture of suffering humanity. It is
surely legitimate to look at the parable from this
point of view, since all will admit that Christ has done
more for humanity, than the Samaritan did for the
unfortunate man whom he helped. ^Ve are all agreed
that the race has suffered more from the great rob-
ber, the father of all robbers, who took from them
their original righteousness, and left them spiritually
dead, and in a deplorable condition in the garden of
Eden, than did this man from those who injured
him. This wounded man in the parable could not

THE UNFORTUNATE MAN. 143

seek aid or help himself, but the Samaritan came to
him. And when we were without strength, in due
time Christ died for the ungodly, He came to us.
We have not to descend to the heavens to bring Him
down, or to the depths to bring Him again from the
dead, for He is nigh unto us. He left His throne of
glory and came down to sojourn upon earth in such
a way that He is not far from any man. The Samar-
itan not only came to where the poor unfortunate
man was, but he took hold of him just as he was,
and Christ has not only come to us but He takes, us
just as we are. As the Samaritan did not ask this
man to wash his wounds and to partially heal himself,
so Christ does not ask us to try to cleanse ourselves
from sin, and become good, and then He will re-
ceive us. Even His enemies said, " This man re-
ceiveth sinners and eateth with them." A patient
never thinks of trying to become better before he will
send for the -ohysician, but he will send for the doc-
tor in order that he may be restored to health. Yet
men are continually talking about turning over a
new leaf, and trying to reform their lives, and then
coming to Christ, — trying to sew the old cloth toi the
new garment, — but Christ wants to take us just as we
are in our sins, and to do for us spiritually what the
Samaritan did for this man physically. There is an
institution in old London where the workers go out

144 THE UNFORTUNATE MAN.

into the lanes and by-ways of the city, and get hold
of the little Avaifs, with their tattered garments, dirty
faces, and matted hair; they bring them to their
I'.omo, and take their picture; then they go to work
to cleanse, clothe, educate, and give them a trade,
and when they are leaving they take their picture
again, and present them with the first and last, say-
ing. This is what you were when w^e found you,
this what you are when you are leaving us." Some
thought such as this may have been in the mind of
the apostle when he said, in speaking of the iniquity
in which men were steeped, " And such were some of
you, but now ye are cleansed, ye are justified."

Again, this poor wounded man had no claim upon
the Samaritan. The probability is he was a Jew and
the Jews hated and despised the Samaritans, hence, he
had no claim upon his benefactor. In like manner
the sinner has no claim upon Christ. It may be that
he has blasphemed that holy name, and done and
said many things against Jesus. The apostle Paul
realized this, and he was continually speaking about
the grace of the Lord Jesus, the unmerited favor of
the One who saved the persecutor. Still further,
the Samaritan did not expect to receive a rev.'ard
for what he was doing, neither did Jesus save us on
account of anytliing He expected to receive from us.
T?y the word of His power He could call into exis-

THE UNFORTUNATE MAN. 145

tence multitudes of beings superior to us. But while
the Samaritan did not perform this act of kindness
and self-denial for the sake of reward, yet he was re-
warded in the satisfaction which came to him, and
in the gratitude which he received from the one he
helped. So it is with our blessed Master, He sees of
the travail of His soul and is satisfied, and to Him
there is a joy which comes from bring-ing sons into
glorv. "We can understand this because it is impos-
sible for us to injure a person without suffering our-
selves; and it is just as impossible to help others with-
out being blessed ourselves; and we read that there
is jov in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner that repenteth — joy like that which was in the
shepherd's heart when he found the sheep that was
lost.

IMTow what did this wounded man do in order to
be saved ? He simply did nothing but let the Samar-
itan do it all. What have we to do in order to be
saved from our wounds and sins? Simply to sub-
mit ourselves to Christ, to stand still and see His sal-
vation, to let Him do for us what we cannot do for
ourselves. In Paul's day, when he was praying for
Israel, he said that the reason why they were not
saved was because they were trying to save them-
selves by working out a righteousness, and they had
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of

146 THE UNFORTUNATE MAN.

God. One reason why so many who have heard the
gospel story arc at the present time unsaved is be-
cause they are trying to do the Lord's work, — for sal-
vation is of the Lord. !N'ot by our efforts, lest we
should boast, but by grace are we saved, througli
faith. The wounded man showed faith in the Samar-
itan when he submitted himself to him, and if we
have enough faith in Christ to submit ourselves to
Him we shall be saved. Suppose this wounded man
had said to his benefactor, " There is no use in you
trying to help me* because the robbers may find me
again," he would have answered, " Wliy, I will stand
between you and all danger if you trust me." Com-
monly we hear men say, " Christ may save us, but
we are* afraid that we will go back again, that we will
not be able to hold out afterwards, that the devil will
take possession otf us once more." Paul never had
any such thoughts, for he said, " T am persuaded that
He is able to keep that Avhich T have committed to
His trust ae-ainst that dav." Let us remember that
when we commit ourselves to Christ He takes charc-e
of us, comes between us and all danger, for He is not
only able to save to the uttermost, but He is able to
keep us from fallino-, and at last to present us fault-
less. Then the Samaritan made provision for the
wounded man. not only so, but became responsible
for the man's Avants; he gave two pence and said,

THE UNFORTUNATE MAN. 147

" Whatever more is necessary I will pay thee when I
come again." Have we not the promise in scripture
that God will supply all our wants out of His riches
inj glory, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? He
saves us from the sins of the past, His grace is suffi-
cient for us in the present, as our days so will cur
strength be. He has also made the future sure,
neither death nor life, things present nor things to
come, height nor depth, nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

XIV.
MANASSEH.

" Manasseh his son reigned in liis stead."— II. Chronicles 32 : 33.

Manasseh was the son of his grandfather. Old
Ahaz was one of the worst of kings, and his mantle of
iniquity seemed to skip a generation to fall upon the
head of young Manasseh. Hezekiah, his father ac-
cording to the flesh, was one of the best kings, and
after he had been requested to put his house in order,
as he was to die, he had fifteen years added to his life.
Three years after that Manasseh v^as born. For
twelve years he had the loving care of the godly
Hezekiah and the healthful influence of that home
where God was reverenced and feared. It is a great
advantage for a boy to grow up surrounded by such a
spiritual and healthful atmosphere. We cannot over-
estimate the influence and power of a Christian home.
But in the case of Manasseh, as in the case of so many
others, there must have been an outside influence
counteracting the influence of the home. When he
was twelve years of age he was left alone, and began
to rule in Jerusalem. At that age, when a boy thinks
he knows everything, and could even teach his father,
no doubt he was surrounded by many who would flat-

MANASSEH. 149

ter him and exhort him not to follow the antiquated
ideas of his fathers, but to strike out for himself, and
so we have him entering uoon a course the very op-
posite of that which his father pursued. He breaks
down the altars which his father built, and he builds
up the high places and the altars to Baal, which his
father pulled down.

How often since then this history has repeated it-
self. How frequently we find young men undoing
what their fathers did, squandering the money that
their fathers gathered, blaspheming the God that
their fathers worshipped, running riot and making
shipwreck of their souls. The prophets spoke to him
but he hearkened not. He looked with disdain upon
the messengers of the Lord, and refused to hearken to
their voice, turned his feet away from the sanctuary,
and not only mocked but persecuted those who op-
posed his views or reproved him for his actions. How
many there are to-day following in his footsteps.
First, they have been among the ungodly desecrating
the Sabbath and forsaking the sanctuary, then we
find them standing in the way of sinners, and when
they have reached the last stage we see them sitting
in the seat of the scornful and mocking at everything
that is sacred.

But while he is an unbeliever in the established
truths of the religion of his country, he is one of the

150 MANASSEH.

most credulous of men for he believes in -vvdzards and
A\dtclicraft, and all the enchantments of his day. We
so frequently find men who cannot believe, or say
they cannot believe, in facts that have been estab-
lished by many infallible proofs, believing at the
same time in the greatest absurdities.

Not only was Manasseh bad himself and opposed
to all righteousness, but he led others astray. The
higher the position is which a man occupies the great-
er his influence either for good or evil. When he
is going down in sin he is like a groat vessel when
she is sinking, drawing after her the smaller boats
which may surround her. There is a woe pronounced
upon the sinner, but a greater woe on those who lead
others astray. And this Manasseh did on an exten-
sive scale. When he would not hearken to the mes-
sengers of the Lord he was compelled to listen to the
voice of His judgments. For the captains and the
host of the king of Assyria came against him. He
fled and hid himself in the thorns, but he was fer-
reted out, bound with fetters, carried as a captive* to
Babylon, and put into one of their prisons or dun-
geons. We can imagine his feelings the first night
he spent in that prison-house, when we remember
the kind of those prisons, their gloominess and the
miserable condition in which they were kept, and re-
member also that he was not only a king but had been

MANASSEH. 151

brought up from his childhood in a royal palace, hav-
ing everything which his heart desired, and never
knowing what it was to have his liberty curtailed.
When he is left alone in the silence of the night he
cannot help thinking about scenes of the past ; he will
be back again to the days of childhood, feel;,upon his
head the pressure of a loving hand and hear a voice
saying, " The Lord bless thee and keep thee." Then
his sins and his iniquities will rise before him as great
mountains, he will see the innocent blood that he had
shed, he will hear its cry from the ground calling
for vengeance, his whole past comes before him, and
from it he cannot escape.

Memory is an awful thing, or it is a glorious thing.
It is either the worm that never dies and the fire that
cannot be quenched, or that which brings salvation.
If we remember, when it is too late, we are like the
one to whom Abraham said, " Son, remember in thy
life-time thou hadst thy good things." If memory
comes to us in time it is like that which saved the
psalmist when he said, " I thought upon my ways
and turned my feet unto Thy testimonies." Memory
was the salvation of Manasseh, for out of the black
darkness of his past ten-ible life he heard a voice
saying, " Come now, and let us reason together,
though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white
as snow; though they be red like crimson they shall

152 MANASSEH.

be as wool." " Let the wicked forsake his way and
the unrigliteoiis man his thoughts, and let him return
unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon him, and
to our God for He will abundantly pardon." There
is no doubt but he heard such a voice, and it was that
which gave hira courage to call upon the Lord in the
night of his trouble and from the dungeon in which
he was imprisoned; and that God, whose mercy has
in it a wideness like the widcness of the sea, heard the
cry of this sinful and suffering king and came to
his rescue.

How many there are in the world to-day with
whom God has been dealing in this manner. They
have refused to listen to His word, have turned aside
from His commandments; but sickness or difficulty
or distress of some kind has taken hold of them and
then in the hour of their distress they have cried unto
the Lord, and He has barkened to their voice and
come to their deliverance. And then they can say,
as one of old. It was well for us that we Avere afflicted,
for before affliction we went astray.

"No doubt a great light came into the soul of
Manasseh on that never-to-be-forgotten night. In the
morning he heard the footsteps of the guard a]v
proaching his cell, and to his amazement he was in-
formed that he was set at liberty. God gave to him
abundantly above all that he had either asked or ex-

MANASSEH. 153

pected to receive. He returned to Jerusalem freed
from the bondage of the sins of his past life, freed
from the bondage of the Assyrians, his heart full of
gratitude to the God of his fathers, and at the same
time full of sorrow for the sins he had committed.
Like Paul, when he thought of the grace of God that
saved him, he was lifted into the third heavens, but
when he remembered that at one time he had perse-
cuted the church of Christ and consented to the death
of the first martyr, he was filled with sorrow and
looked upon himself as the chief of sinners. Such
feelings must have been in the heart of Manasseh
as he returned to his citv and his throne.

When men repent they may pull out the nails
which they have driven in during the days of sin,
but they cannot get rid of the nail-holes. How often
he would say to himself, " If I had only hearkened
to the voice of the Lord and obeyed the counsel of
my father, how different the kingdom would have
been." He cannot undo the evil he had done, but he
is determined that he will redeem the time as far as
it lies within his power; and so he brings forth fruits
meet for repentance by pulling down the high places
and the altars of Baal, which he had builded up, and
by building up the altars to Jehovah which he had
pulled down.

The prophets and men of God, who had come out

154 MANASSEH.

of their hiding-places when the king was taken cap-
tive at Babylon, now hear with dismay and terror
that he is coming back again to Jerusalem, and they
are escaping for their lives when a messenger comes
to them and says, " I have seen strange things to-day,
I have seen Manassch pulling down an altar that he
erected to Baal, I have seen him build an altar to
Jehovah, I have heard him cry to the God of Abra-
ham and of Isaac and of Jacob," and those who listen
to the messenger shout " Hallelujah, the king has re-
pented." What a thrill of joy must have gone
through their hearts, what a change came over the city
and the community.

How often scenes similar to that are ^^^tnessed
even in our own time. For the God who saved
Manasseh is our God. Perhaps this king was the
greatest sinner in the Old Testament dispensation.
It is said that by his orders Isaiah was sa^vrL asimder,
and the inspired writer informs us that he made the
people otf Jerusalem do worse than the heathen.
JSTow, if God saved that man, made him a worker of
righteousness and a worshipper of the living God, is
there anything too hard for Him? It is this line of
argument that the apostle Paul uses in the !N"ew Tes-
tament, informing us that Christ saved him, the
chief, the greatest of sinners, saved him as an example
of the power of His grace and the greatness of His

MANASSEH. 155

love. He is able to save to tlie "uttermost all wlio
come unto Him; but he is also able to bring the ^most
hardened sinner to a sense of his guilt and of hisJdan-
ger. ISTo doubt there were many in Jerusalem who
knew that thej could not influence Manasseh, but
they poured out their hearts in prayer to the God
who can turn the hearts of kings as He turns the rivers
of water. And so in our midst there may be sin-
ners— high-handed, proud, cruel, and scornful as this
king of Jerusalem; but the God of heaven is able to
bring them to their knees, to bring their sins before
them so that they will shudder at the sight, and then
to reveal unto them the Lamb of God who taketh

away the sins of the world. The story of Manasseh
should keep the greatest sinner from despairing, and
should encourage Christians to pray for the conver-
sion of those who are far from God and out of the
way, for He is able to make the most hardened be-
come the most truly penitent and His most devoted
servants.

XV.
THREE NEAV TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS.

" This day is salvation come to this house." — Luke 19 : 9.
"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? "—Acts 9 : 6.
" What must I do to be saved ? "—Acts 16 : 30.

First, Zaccheus. The account of liis conversion
is given in the gospel by Luke, chapter 19: 1-11. He
was not only a publican but a chief among them, con-
sequently he would be one of the most despised men
in Israel, for the publicans were looked down upon
on account of the positions they held as tax-gatherers,
under the Roman government. He became inter-
ested in Christ because he had heard that Jesus was
not only friendly to the class to which he belonged
but that He had received them, had eaten with them,
and had called one of them to the rank of disciple-
ship. He was very anxious to see this new teacher,
but there were two difficulties in the way — he was
little of stature and could not see over a crowd, and
then he knew he was thoroughly hated by the multi-
tudes, who would gather around Jesus, on His way
to Jerusalem; and a small man has a very poor chance
in an unfriendly crowd. But Zaccheus was one of
those men who is not easily turned from the goal

THREE NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 157

he desires to reach. When he made up his mind to
do a thing he generally did it. The same energy and
perseverance that made him chief of the publicans
is now brought into play in order to accomplish his
object. The Lord likes to meet such men, men who
put their whole heart and soul into whatever they are
doing or trying to do, for they are among the violent
who take the kingdom of heaven by force. It is said
that necessity is the mother of invention, and seieing
Jesus had become to Zaccheus a necessity, he devised
a means by which he would have his desires gratified.
He climbed up into a tree thinking, it may be, that
he would see Jesus without attracting any attention
from those who were passing by. But what must his
thoughts have been when Jesus looked up, and when
the eyes of the two men for the first time met; what
a thrill of joy and fear must have rushed through liis
heart, when he heard his own name spoken by this
One whom he was so desirous of seeing; and then
amazement reached its climax when Jesus told him to
make haste and come down as He was to abide at
his house that day. He did not invite Jesus to his
home, but Jesus invited Himself. As a general thing
He went where He was asked, even to their feasts,
but here He is inviting Himself. In one of the
parables which our Lord uttered we have the servants
going out to one cla^ of the community and inviting

158 THREE NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS.

tliem; we have them sent out to another class and
they are commanded to compel these to come in.
Zaccheiis, in a certain sense, belonged to the latter
class; he would never have invited Jesus, not because
he was unwilling to have Ilim, but because he felt
himself unworthy of such an honour. Jesus, who
could read the thoughts and search the hearts of men,
knew this, and He knew that He would be more than
welcome in the home of this publican. What a night
that was to Zaccheus. Can we not imagine Jesus put-
ting His hands on the heads of the little children and
blessing them, and talking with them about the
things of the kingdom? It was a night never to be
forgotten by this publican and his family. And
afterwards, when the news came from Jerusalem that
the Jews with ^vicked hands had slain the Prophet of
ISTazareth, there was no home in which there was
greater grief than this hom.e of the publican; but
how their hearts Avould rejoice when thev heard the
news that was almost too crood to be true, that the
crucified One had risen again from the dead. Zac-
cheus may have been among those who watched
Christ ascend from the !Mount of Olives; be that as it
may, the impressions which were left upon his heart,
on that memorable occasion when he first met with
Jesus, were never effaced.

"We come now to the second conversion — that of

THREE NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 159

Saul, which is recorded in the ninth chapter of the
Acts. He is so different from Zaccheus. There is
no desire on his part to see Jesus, but all his powers
are being put forth to exterminate those who believe
in Christ. !N^o man was doing more against the cause
of Christianity than this man of Tarsus. i!^o doubt
the Christian people prayed for his conversion; but
how was it to be brought about? They could not
speak to him or reason with him, there was no
human instrumentality that could be brought to bear
upon this persecutor, and his conversion, from a hu-
man point of view at least, seemed impossible. But
when ordinary means are not sufficient to reach the
sinner God is able to use extraordinary means, and
so in the case of this man we find Christ Himself ap-
pearing to Saul when he was on his way to Damas-
cus. The light that shone around him was brighter
than the sun at mid-day, and the voice that he heard
brought terror to his heart and he fell as dead upon
the ground. And this is the man who subsequently
speaks so much about the sovereignity of God and the
grace of God. Perhaps in no case God's sovereignity
and God's grace were more marvellously displayed
than in the conversion of this man. Saul the perse-
cutor, by the sovereign power of Christ, turned to be
the earnest apostle; the one who was the chief of sin-
ners saved by the grace of God. In aft^r years he

160 THREE NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS.

thmks of this scene witli amazement, and could see in
it tlie gTcat truth that God can make the wrath of
man to praise Him. In a statement which he makes
afterwards he wishes to correct the great mistake
which he, himself, made. lie heard all that could be
said against Christ and Christianity, but he listened
not to the testimony in favor of Christ and Chris-
tianity. Therefore he gives the exhortation, " Prove
all things, hold fast that which is good." There is
one point in connection with his conversion, how-
ever, that is worthy of special note, — the very mo-
ment that he was convinced of the divinity of Jesus
Christ that moment he became His servant and cried
out, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" and
from that hour he loved to call himself the slave of
Jesus Christ. How many there are in the world to-
day who tell us that they believe the scriptures, they
believe that Jesus Christ is divine, able and willing
to save them, believe that they ought to be Christians
and yet they have not taken the first step. AVill these
facts not rise in judgment against them? for the one
who knows his Lord's will and does it not shall be
beaten with many stripes. The moment that Saul
came to know the Lord that moment he suiTendercd
himself, body, soul, and spirit to Jesus Christ, and
in after years he could say, " I live, yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me,"

THREE NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 161

Now we come to a man who is very different from
either Zaccheiis or Saul — one who occupies a very
different position. He is a Koman soldier, turnkey
in the prison in Phillippi, and the account of his con-
version is given in the sixteenth chapter of the Acts.
How is he to be reached — he and his companions and
the prisoners? They do not know very much about
this sect that is spoken against, they have not an op-
portunity, and perhaps if they had they would have
no desire to go to the meetings where Paul and Silas
were preaching, yet it is God's will that the gospel
should come into the prison-house. How does He
bring it about? We have the story of the conveirsion
of Lydia and then the account of Paul's arrest be-
cause he had healed the maiden who was bringing
in money to her proprietors, who, when they saw that
their gain was gone, caused the apostle to be thrown
into the prison-house. After he had been flogged the
jailer received a charge to keep him safely, and so he
made his feet fast in the stocks, and put him in the
inner prison. Paul knew that for some purpose God
permitted all this; he knew that it was the Lord's will
that he should come to Macedonia, and that in soma
way God was working out his own plans; that is what
enabled him to sing, he and his companion, in the
prison; for, as he tells us afterwards, he was "wdlling
that the cause of his Master might be advanced by

162 THREE NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS.

liis bouds; if beiug in prison was to further the cause
then he wished to he in prison, for the sole desire of
liis life was to advance the cause of tlio One to whom
he had given himself. The other prisoners hear the
singing — to them it is a strange sound, then the pri-
son is shaken, the jailer wakes up thinking the prison-
ers are gone, and tries to take away his own life to
save himself from the disgrace which would come
upon him on the morrow, when he would be brought
before the Roman governor and i:)erliaps put to death
for allowing the prisoners to escape. But the hand
that is drawing the sword is stayed by Paul. Convic-
tion comes to the heart of the trembling jailer, who
asks the great question, " What must I do to be
saved?" He receives the memorable answer, " Be-
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved," and the same hour of the night we find him
rejoicing in the faith and ministering to these pris-
oners.

Looking at these three men who were brought
into the kingdom we see how different were the posi-
tions which they occupied, and how different were
the means used in bringing them to a knowledge of
the truth, yet they are all brought into the fold
through the one Mediator. It was Jesus who changed
the heart of Zaccheus, it was Jesus who appeared to
Saul, it Avas Jesus who was preached to the jailer.

Three new testament conversions. 163

and tlirough faith in tliis Saviour these three men
were saved and broug-ht into the kingdom of God.
"While there are many points of contrast there are
also points in which they resemble each other. In
the case of the whole three their lives and their dis-
positions are completely changed by coming in con-
tact with Christ Zaccheus was an extortioner and
no doubt a miser, for when a man is covetous he will
often exact more than he should when an opportunity
presents itself, and he mil retain that which he should
give to others. We have every reason to believe that
before Zaccheus was converted he took the advantage
of men and was also miserly, hoarding up that which
he gathered; but as soon as he meets Christ, as soon
as salvation comes to his house, and into his heart,
the m.an is completely changed; he wishes now to
restore four-fold to those he has robbed, and he is
mlling to give half his goods to feed the poor; he be-
comes just and righteous, he becomes generous and
large-hearted; he is now in Christ Jesus, he is a new
creature; old things have passed away and all things
have become new. In the case of Saul the change
is also marvellous. The persecutor becomes the
apostle, the man who desired to have everyone slain
because they would not think as he thought, and do
as he wished them to do, is now willing to suffer im-
prisonment or death itself in order that his enemies

164 THREE NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS.

mav be saA'ed, for he tells us that his heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved, and that he could wish himself accursed for
his brethren's sake; ^villing to endure the perils by
land and sea; willing to fight with the beasts at
Ephesus, or to die a martyr's death in order that the
men who hate him might be saved from their sins
and brought to a knowledge of the truth as it is in
Christ. The cruel perse<iutor becomes the loving and
gentle disciple, saying from his heart, " Grace be with
all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity."
Then look at the jailer before his conversion. Pie
was cruel, thrusting these men into the inner pri-
son and putting their bleeding limbs into the stocks —
heartless we would say. Not only so but he was
cowardly, seeking to take away his o\vn life rather
than bear the consequences on the following day; for
there is no man who will take away his life but is
either insane or the greatest of cowards; for it is done
for fear of the disgrace or the suffering which may
come from his fellow-men. Xow we have this com-
bination of cnielty and cowardice, but after his con-
version ever\' thing is reversed; he has become the
kindest of men ; with his own hands he is washing the
stripes of the prisoners, ministering to their wants,
and displaying gTcat heroism for he is now caring
for the men that he was told to keep fast. What

THREE NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 165

does lie care now for the Roman court or the magis-
trate? The love of God has lifted him above the fear
of man, and now, regardless of consequences, he is
doing to these prisoners what his heart and his con-
science tell him he should do. It is the grace of God
and the love of God that make heroes of men — en-
ables one to chase a thousand, and two to put ten
thousand to flight. It was tliis grace and love that
enabled Luther to say that he would go to "Worms if
there were as many devils there as there were tiles
on the houses ; and it was this orace that enabled John
Knox to so live and act that it is said that he never
feared the face of man.

In the three cases brought before us we have the
fruits meet for repentance — we have lives manifest-
ing the change that had taken place in the heart.
And on do^vn through the centuries wherever there
has been a true conversion there has been a change
of heart and consequently a change of life; for you
cannot change the fountain without changing the
stream; and if a man have not the Spirit of Christ
he is none of His. But if his heart be changed it will
be seen in the man's life and in his action, as it was
seen in the life and the actions of Zaccheus, of Saul,
and of the Phillippian jailer.

XYI.
THE GREAT FEAST.

" Come ; for all things are now reswiy."— Luke It : 17.

We are all familiar witli the circumstances wbicli
led Christ to speak this parable. He was at a feast
in the house of one of the chief Pharisees, and He
noticed that the guests did the very opposite to what
people do when they go to prayer-meeting — they
chose the front or chief seats. He advised them to
take lower seats lest they might have to move when
those for whom the chief places were reserved would
arrive, and Ihat it would look better to be taken up
from a lower to a higher place than to be taken down
from a higher to a lower. He then turned His atten-
tion to the host, for He noticed that all the people who
were present were well to do, and from the best fam-
ilies, .and He knew that this chief Pharisee expected
to be invited to their homes when they would have
feasts; so He advised the man when he would be mak-
ing a feast again to invite the poor, and those who
could not recompense him, so that he might gain
the reward of heaven. Someone who had been watch-
ing all that was going on and listening to the conver-
sation said, " Blessed is he that shall eat bread in th^

THE GREAT FEAST. 167

kingdom of God." To show tliis one that men do
not appreciate the kingdom of God as much as his
remark would seem to indicate, our Lord spoke this
parable of the great supper, and from it there are
several important lessons which we can learn.

A feast is a place where we are expected to enjoy
ourselves, to lay aside all care and anxiety and enter
into the full enjoyment of the evening. So it is witih
Christianity; it is compared to a feast, not intended
to bring soiTow and sadness into the homes and lives
of those who embrace it, but to bring joy and glad-
ness; and this is the idea that is so clearly brought
out not only in the teachings of Christ, but in the
teachings of His apostles in the ISTew Testament.
The early Christians were full of gladness and joy,
and were the happiest neople in every comm.unity
where they dwelt.

Again, in this feast that is spoken of the host bore
all expenses; those invited were not expectecl to con-
tribute anything, simply to accept of the invitations
and partake of his bounty which was so freely pro-
vided. So it is with salvation, all the cost has been
borne by God. "Wliat must it have cost Him to give
up the only begotten and well-beloved Son, for we
read that He spared not His own Son but delivered
Him up for us all? "What roust it have cost Christ
to lav aside His glory, to endure the contradiction of

168 THE GREAT FEAST.

sinners, the suft'erings of tins life and the accursed
death of the cross? All has been provided,, for sal-
vation is of the Lord, and all the sinner has to do is
to accept of the invitation and take freely this that
is offered to him. One would naturally think that
men would be anxious to go to such a feast as is de-
scribed in this chapter; but we learn to the contrary,
when we see how the invitations were treated, for
they all with one consent began to make excuse.
They had no reasons to advance for not being pre-
sent, but they manufactured excuses which they pre-
sented to the messengers, who brought the invita-
tions. The first had a piece of land which he wished
to see, another had some oxen he wished to prove,
and the third had man*ied a wife and therefore could
not come. Looking at these we see they were merely
excuses, the land was not rolling stock to have moved
away, and the oxen could have been proven on an-
other occasion as well as on that evening, and the
Avife of the man who was married was certainly in-
cited, for a man and his wife arc one except when
travelling by rail or on steamboats, and these inno-
vations were not knowu in those days. But the fact
of the matter was they did not want to come, and
the host saw through their excuses and then, being
angered, he declared that they would not taste ocf his
supper. This seems natural. If, for example, any

THE GREAT FEAST. 169

of ua go to great expense providing for a banquet,
tell our friends what we are doing, at the same time
requesting them to keep certain dates open, and
when everything is ready send them formal invita-
tions, if they, knowing their presence was desired,
instead of accepting the invitations, send us trifling
excuses, not thinking it worth their while to come,
after we have gone to the exDense, we would natur-
ally say, " They will come the next time they are in-
vited." Therefore this host that is spoken of, when
he knew that his invitations were made ligh.t of, and
that these people did not appreciate and would not
accept of his kindness, simply said that they would
not taste of his supper. Now if ^ve apply this as
our Lord intended to apply it, we see that men make
the same kind of excuses for not accepting the gos-
pel invitations. And let it be borne in mind that the
things wliich kept these people from that banquet
were not wrong in themselves, and many of the things
which keep people out of the kingdom are tilings
that are not sinful in themselves. For exa.mple, it is
not v\^rong for a man to OAvn land or to buy it; it is
not wrong for a man to buy oxen, for eveu in the
Old Testament dispensation they were not among
the unclean animals; it is not wrong for a man to
get rnamed, for we are told that it is not good for, a
man to be alone. All these things are lawful m theni-

170 THE GREAT FEAST.

selves. And we see that in one case it may be the
farm, in another the merchandise, in another the
pleasure that is lawful; and these things are to-day
keeping multitudes out of the kingdom of God. The
man would not have had to part with his land, or his
neighbor with the oxen, neither would the newly
married couple have had to get a divorce in order to
attend this banquet. And men to-day can have all
these things and at the same time accept of the invi-
tations of the gospel; if they will only let their light
shine and bring their Christianity into their buBine?-s
and their pleasure. Multitudes have done this.
Some of the most successful merchants in all aeres
have been the m.ost devoted Christians, and many
who are enjoying life to its fullest extent are also
rejoicing in the assurance of the lo^'o of God and! in
fellowship with His people.

ISTow we have been invited; and when the Lord
gives an invitation He means it. We can imagine
people, in what is called society, sending invitations
to those whose presence they do not desire, and the
people who receive the invitations may know tliat
their absence will be more acceptable than their pres-
ence at the party or ball to wliicli they have been
invited. But we cannot think of God acting in this
way, for He does not mock men or use deception.
When He invites people He invites them because Ho

THE GREAT FEAST. lYl

wants them to come. These people to whom the
Lord makes reference, knew that they were invited
and that they were wanted, and the host knew that,
hence, they are not nr£:ed, they have made their
choice fully imderstanding the situation, and he de-
cides accordingly. How true this was in the case of
Israel at Kadesh-barnea. The Lord invited them to
enter into the land of promise but they refused, and
then He said: "Ye shall not enter." He closed the
door against them. Do we not learn from that inci-
dent and from this parable, that when the Lord invites
us we may refuse the invitation once too often? And
He may say to us as He said to those men, "Thou shalt
not taste of My supper or enter into My kingdom."
And you mil notice that they treated the messengers
with courtesy and respect but refused very politely to
accept of the invitation. How tnie that is of many
to-day; how courteous and respectful they are to
those who bring the message; but they fail to accept
of it, present their miserable excuses and shut them-
selves out of the kingdom. But notice that Avhilo
these men refused to go when asked, they did not
defeat the plans of the host. He had made a feast and
he was determined that it would be furnished with
guests. In like manner, when men refuse the invita-
tions of the gospel they shut themselves out, but they
do not defeat the plans of God. Chrlpt said to the

172 THE GREAT FEAST.

yery men who were refusing His invitations that
thej would be shut out while men would come from
the east and west, from the north and from the south,
and sit down in the kingdom of God, for Christ shall
yet see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied, no
matter how we treat His message or His invitation.
We see in the parable how this is to be brought about.
The servants are now told to go out into the cities,
to the streets and to the lanes; then they are sent to
the highways and to the hedges and commanded to
compel men to come in. While they only invited
one class, they are to compel this other class, and it
is not hard to see the reason for this change in the
orders to tlie messengers. The first class knew they
were invited and were wanted and felt themselves,
perhaps, worthy of the invitation; the latter class
Avould look at it from a very different point of view
because of their past lives. For example, suppose the
Lord Mayor of some of our great cities would make
a banquet inviting the nobility, if they would refuse
to come and then he sent his messengers out into the
slums of the great city inviting the poor and the
despised to the feast, wc can easily understand how
they would look upon such an invitation. They would
say to the messengers, " There must be a mist.ake
somewhere, we have broken the very laws that the
chief magistrate is supposed to enforce, we have de-

THE GREAT FEAST. 173

spised him and the government of his city, we are
poor and miserable, it cannot be possible that he wants
ns at his banquet." What an amount of persuasion
and reasoning would be necessary in order to compel
such people to accept of such an invitation. Thus
v/hen we go to the sinners who have fallen and gone
down, it may be, into the mire of iniquity, we pre-
sent to them an invitation from the Lord of Hosts
informing them that He is desirous that they should
be His, that they should sit do^vn in His banqueting-
house, become sharers of His glory and heirs to a
wonderful inheritance. They immediately respond
by saying that the invitation cannot be for them since
they have taken His name in vain, broken His laws,
and sinned against Him in so many ways — they are
imworthy. And what persuasion and entreaty and
reasoning is necessary in order to show to them that
they are the invited ones, and that He really wants
them to share in His bounty. That is what the com-
pelling means — the persuading of those who are un-
Avilling to come because they realize their unworthi-
ncss and their unfitness, and cannot believe that the
invitation is for them.

The work of the messengers then was to obey the
command of their master, and compel these men from
the streets and lanes, the highways and hedges, to
come to the feast that it might be furnished with

iU

THE GREAT FEAST.

guests. Tliis is the work which Christ has entrusted
to His church, and the question conies, Is the church
doing this work — compelli)ig these multitudes to
come into the kingdom? Are we not sometimes re-
pelling them bj our magnificent buildings so gor-
geously furnished, our classical music and philosophic
essays? The Christianity of many of us consists in
faring sumptuously every day, wearing fine apparel,
taking in the best entertainments, attending divine
service once a Sabbath, sitting in a beautlfull}^ cush-
ioned pew and criticising the choir or quartette,
making some wise remark about the sennon, and
thanking God we are not like the masses, many of
whom possess more brains than we do, but they have
never had a chance of developing them, because tliey
were born poor and have had to struggle all their life
trying to make ends meet. How many of us
could honestly say that we are among the messengei's
sent out to compel sinful men to come into tlie king-
dom of God? Oh, church of the living God, wake
up to your responsibilitiy, for your duty is to take
the gospel to every creature and in Christ's stead to
persuade men to come into His kingdom.

Am I talking to any who feel that because of
their past lives the invitation does not include them?
If so. I plead with you, by the love of th.e Father
Who gave His onlv begotten Son to redeem you. by

THE GREAT FEAST. 175

the love of tlie Son Who emptied Himself of His
divine glovy, took upon Himself our nature, bearing-
our sins in His own body on the tree, and dying for
us that we might have life through Him, by the love
of the Holy Spirit who has been showing you your
sins and striving with your heart, respond to the
Lord's invitation and say, " I come."

Just as I am — without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee,
Oh Lamb of God, I come, I come.

XVII.
PRAYER

•■ Lord, teach iis to i>r;ty, as .IchTi also taii;jht h's discijiles."— T.ikk 11 : 1.
■• After this manner, therefore, y)r»y ye."— Matthew G : 9.

Xo man was so highly spoken of by our Lord as
John the Baptist, and in reading the iSTew Testament
we are somewhat surprised that the ^vriters give to
him so little space. But enough is said to indicate
his character and the line along which his preaching
ran. And this question which the disciple asked our
Lord reveals John to us not only as a man of prayer,
but as one who tauglit his disciples to pray; and the
disciples of Jesus are amxious that they might be
taught by Him, as John's disciples were taught by
their master. They do not wish to be taught con-
cerning the necessity of prayer, for they had come to
realize that prayer is as necessary to the life of the
soul, as breathing is to the life of the body. Neither
do they ask concerning the One to whom prayer
should be offered, for all through their history they
prayed to the God of heaven and their beloved Dan-
iel recfused to pray to any God save the God of his
fathers, though he knew what the consequences

PRAYER. 1Y7

would be; and the Old Testament is full of prayers
which went from the hearts of the people to the throne
of God. But thej wished to be taught to pray in such
a manner that blessings and power might come down
upon them and our Lord gave to them, and, through
them, has given to us the model prayer which we
sometimes speak of as the Lord's prayer.

If we were sending a petition to the Queen, about
the first question which would present itself is. How
shall we address her? what title shall we give her?
And when we are sending our petitions to the Lord of
all the earth, how shall we address Him? It is this
question rising in our hearts that our Lord answers
when He says. Say, Our Father. In the Old Testa-
ment God is frequently spoken of as a father, but al-
ways in the sense of the Creator or the Preserver or
the Redeemer of His people; but in the ISTew Testa-
ment the word has a different and a deeper m.eaning,
a new relationship has been established; God the Son
has taken upon Himself our nature. Forasmuch then
as we are partakers of flesh and blood. He also Him-
self took part of the same, taking not the form of
angels but the seed of Abraham, becoming bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh; and through faith we
have received His divine nature, for to as many as
received Him gave He power to become the sons of
God, so that now we have received the adoption and

178 PRAYER.

can cry, Abba Father. Since we are joint heirs with
Jesus and He has become the elder brother, we can
now speak of God as our Father in a different way
from that in which the ancients understood the terra,
coming not as foreigners to a king and potentate, but
coming as children to a living Father.

The second question Avhich would present itself
with reference to the petition of which we have been
speaking is, Where shall we send it? And this ques-
tion with reference to our Father is answered by
Christ when he Says, " Which art in Heaven." When
Solomon was dedicating the temple he said that the
heaven and the heaven of heavens could not contain
God, and we know from the scripture that God is in
every place, and that it is impossible to get away from
His Spirit or from His all-seeing eye; yet He has a
d^^'elling-place, the place of His throne, the city that
Abraham saw afar off, a house o^f many mansions to
which our Saviour referred on the last night He was
with the disciples, a house not made with hands, to
which Paul makes reference when writing to the
Corinthians — the dwelling-place of our God; and
from all parts of the universe God the Father can be
reached by the prayers of His children. A petition, if
sent to royalty, will be to the point, with veiy few su-
perfluous words, and on that account it will necessarily
be brief. Prayer ought to be to the point, as we learn

PRAYER. 179

from this model given to us, and it sliould be brief.
This is certainly true in regard to public prayer, and
there is no lesson which the church has taken so long to
learn. How many meetings have been killed by long-
prayers; how many congregations have been wearied
and put out of a devotional frame of mind because
the minister seemed to think that he had to take in
everything from the day that the morning stars sang
together, until the angel with one foot on the land
and the other upon the sea shall cry, " that there
should be time no longer." We have no authority
for these long prayers. The prayer at the dedica-
tion of the temple that was supposed to be an event
in the history of the nation will take only five or six
minutes to read, and in the 'New Testament long
prayers are condemned, and we are told that men are
not heard for their much speaking. Brevity then is
one of the lessons which Christ teaches by this model
which he has given to us. This does not apply, of
course, to private devotion; men may spend the whole
night in communion Avith Him as He frequently
spent the whole night in communion with his Father.
The next question presenting itself is, T\niat shall
we ask? Here we have the answer, — ^Pray for the
hallowdng of the Father's name. IN'ames in scripture
were always significant, and the name of God stands
for His attributes. We are to pray tlsat that name,

180 PRAYER.

which is so frequently blasphemed and taken in vain
by His creatures may be hallowed and had in rever-
ence, and then that His kiup:dom may come. If that
kinfcdom had come there would be no need to offer
up this prayer, but it has not. The kingdom referred
to is not the kingdom of God which is A\'ithin us, but
the kingdom that shall stretch from shore to shore
and from the river to the ends of the earth; the time
when all nations shall become His inheritance and all
the kingdoms of the world the kingdoms of our Lord
and His Christ; the time when all shall know Him
and when there shall be nothing to hurt or to destroy
in all His holy mountain, when He shall reign in.
righteousness ; and when that kingdom comes His
name will be truly hallowed. Pray that His will may
be done upon the earth. Our world is full of jarrings
and discord because men are out of touch vnth God
and consequently out of touch with one another.
But when His kingdom shall come and His will be
done upon earth as it is in heaven, there will be noth-
ing but the sweetest harmony; and it is for this that
the Christian is to pray. Our thoughts are now turned
to ourselves — our physical necessities, our daily bread.
Our Saviour, in speaking of the Gentiles, said that
they were always thinking and talking about what they
would eat and drink and wherewithal they would be
clothed. He requested His disciples to seek first the

PRAYER. 181

kingdom of God, stating that these necessary things
would be added, since the Father knoweth that the
children have need of them; therefore in this prayer
He teaches to pray first for the kingdom of God and
then to ask for the things which the Lord knoweth
we need. It is right for us then to pray for our daily
bread — for food and raiment, for the God who feeds
the sparrows and clothes the lilies will surely care
for, and supply the wants of those, who are his chil-
dren.

The next petition has reference to oiir sins — for
there is no man that sinneth not, and as John tells us,
if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us, or, as Christ taught Peter, he that
is washed requires to have his feet washed. In other
words, the ransomed of the Lord coming in contact
with sin require daily cleansing of the soul as the
body requires its daily food. Therefore He exhorts
to pray for the forgiveness of sin, and it is implied
that what we ask Him to do for us we will be willing
to do for others, — "Forgive us our sins as we for-
give those who sin against us." We have no right
to ask God to blot out our iniquities unless we are
willing to forgive those who are indebted to us. In
addition to that, we are to pray for guidance, " Load
us not into temptation." It is true God cannot lead
men into temptation in the bad sense of the word, as

182 PRAYER.

He caiirot ho tempted of evil, neither tempteth He any
man; I'lil loniiitation in this sense means the testing
or the ti;\iii£i', jis tlie Spirit led Christ into the wilder-
ness to he tempted, whieh means that He was taken
there to ho trie :1 or \n he tested, and He stood the test
and came from the wilderness as p;old purified in the
furnace. The thought here is that we are not to have
so much confidence in our own strength, as Ui desii-e
that we be led into places where we would be sorely
tried or put to a severe test. Peter had unbounded
confidence in himself, for when he heard how the
disciples were to be tested he thought that though all
men fall yet he could stand; but in after years he
could see the necessity of this petition. Lead us not
into places where we shall be sorely tried.

Deliver us from the evil, or the Evil One. No
matter wdiat men's theories are in these days with
reference to the power of evil and a personal devil,
no one can read the Xew Testament without coming
to the conclusion that Jesus Christ believed in a per-
sonal devil; and He is here teaching His disciples to
pray that they may be delivered from this Evil One
— this one, who so desired to have one of these same
disciples, that he might sift him as wheat. And
surely, if those disciples who had such wonderful
power imparted to them required to pray this prayer,
how much more do we need to offer it up from our

PRAYER. 183

hearts that we may be delivered from him, from his
wiles and from his power.

In lookin;^ at this model in-ayer we see that it is
wonderfully comprehensive. It takes in everythinp:;
— the name of God. the kinj^dom of God, the wall of
God, our physical necessities — food and raiment im-
plied— the pardon of our sins, our relation to others
in the forgiving of those who trespass against us,
our guidance through the difficult places and places
of trial, and our deliverance from the Evil One.
Like the law Avritten on the tables of stone referring
to God and refen*ing to humanity, the foundation of
all laws, so this prayer, the two tables you may say,
referring to God, His kingdom, His will; referring to
our needs, physical and spiritual, and our relation to
others, is the foundation and the model for all prayer,
— leaving out nothing and taking in everything that
is necessary.

But this was not the only occasion on which Jesus
taught His disciples how to pray. He taught them by
example. When they would see Him rising a great
while before day and getting alone with His Father,
holding communion with God, a voice would say to
them, "After this manner prav ye." When they
heard that most wonderful of prayers which is re-
corded in tlie seventeenth of John, in which He was
pleading for the union of His followers, that they

184 PRAYER.

might bo one, this same voice would say to the dis-
ciples, " After this mamier therefore Dray ye." Pray
that My followers may be one in heart, that the world
may see the "union and believe that the Father hath
sent -Me. Then they go with him to Gethsemane. It
may be that the very one who said, " Teach us to
pray," was among the three who were nearest to Him
on that wonderful occasion. They saw Him fall on
the earth, they heard His cry, repeating the same
words and requesting God to let the cup pass if it
were possible, adding, " ISTevertheless, not My will,
but Thine be done." That voice would again say to
them, "After this manner therefore pray ye;" pray
that the Father's will may be done though you may
have to drink the cup to its bitter dregs. As they
follow Him to the cross, see the men who pass by
wagging their heads and spitting in His face, as they
see the parched lips opened and hear the prayer,
" Father forgive them," the voice comes again, "After
this manner therefore pray ye;" pray for those who
despitefully use you; pray for your enemies; pray for
those who revile you, for I have set you an example.
He also teaches them from parables which He
uttered, how they are to be in earnest and persevere
in prayer. To illustrate this He takes the story of the
unjust judge and the poor widow. This man has no
regard for God, consequently he has no regard for his

PRAYER. 186

fellowmen, he is one of tlie corrupt judges of whom
there were so many in the eastern lands in those days.
Here is the poor -widow, helpless and defenceless; the
adversaries, it may he, are trying to take away her
children and sell them into captivity. She comes
seeking for justice but this uniust man will not
hearken to her voice. She cries in the court-room,
" Avenge me of my adversary," she is repulsed and
put out, but as he is going home he hears her cry
again. He may get away from her then, but the first
thing he hears in the early morning is the cry of this
same woman; she follows him wherever he goes and
at last he says, " Though I regard not God or man,
yet lest she trouble me by her continual coming I
will grant her request." And Christ virtually says " If
an unjust judge will grant such a request because of
the persistent way in which it is presented, how much
more will your loving Father in heaven grant unto
you the things He is only too willing to give if He sees
you are in earnest in asking for them." " After this
manner therefore pray ye." Following the example
of this woman, come with your requests expecting
an answer and keep on asking until you receive that
which your soul desires. The reason why so many
of our prayers are not answered is because they are
not pra^^ers, they are simply requests, and we would
be surprised if they were answered. Suppose that

186 PRAYER.

woman Lad gone to tho unjust judge and said, " I am
going to try to get justice, if I get it well and good,
but if I do not get it, well T cannot help it." she
would not have obtained that wliich she sought for.
But ,she was so much in earnest that she said, " If
there is justice in the land I am going to have it, ho
-will either grant my request or I MnW perish in the
effort to obtain what I want." Have we not children
or friends in as great danger as her family were? Are
we as anxious concerning them as she was? Do we
come to God saying, " This is absolutely essential and
I am going to seek until I find and knock until itj is
opened?"

Then take an example from His own life. A poor
woman comes from the despised race of the Canaan-
ites; she is a Syrophenician and an evil spirit has
taken possession of her daughter; she has heard about
Jesus; she believes He is able to do what she wants
and to save to her the daughter that is so dear to her
heart, so she comes to him. The disciples ask Him
to send her away because she is troubling them. Still
she persists in presenting her requests. He turns His
back upon her and utters not a word, but she is not
discouraged, she comes still closer. Then He acts in
a strange way, speaks to her as perhaps He never spoke
to another and says, " It is not meet to take the chil-
dren's bread and srive it to the dogs." In other words

PRAYER. 187

He tells lier she is only one of tlie Gentile dogs, one
of tliose wlio are looked down upon by the Jews and
spoken of in those disparaging terms; but she throws
herself at His feet stating that she is willing; to be
called anything, and that as the dogs eat of the crumbs
that fall from the master's table, she is willing to take
that place, but she will not go away until she gets
that for which she came. She realizes that the case is
desperate, that the life and the future of her daughter
depends upon His actions, and she is willing to be
anything or do anything so long as she gets her re-
quest answered. Then He looks at her and says, " Oh
woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou
wilt." Was He ever more pleased with anyone than
He was with that woman because of her importunity,
and I fancy I can hear Him say to the disciples as He
points to this woman, " After this manner therefore
pray ye." " Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye
shall find;" for the Lord is found by those who seek
Him with all their hearts.

XVIII.

THE YOUNG KULER AND THE BLIND
BEGGAR.

" And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved ; for he had
great possessions." — Mxkk 10 : 22.

" And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way."
—Mark 10: 52.

It would be difficult to imagine a greater contrast
than that which exists between these two men. Look-
ing at them from the physical point of view we think
of the young man as strong and healthy in the full en-
joyment of all his faculties: We think of Bartimeus
being blind, and a greater calamity can hardly befall
a man as far as the physical is concerned. Then the
one is a ruler and tlie other a beggar, the young man
has great possessions and enjoys all the comforts and
luxuries which wealth can provide, while the other is
depending upon charity for his existence, often, no
doubt, deprived of the necessaries of life. But there
is a point in which they resemble each other — for
they are both unhappy. We read of the young man
being sorrowful, there is something for which his
soul craves that he is not in possession of, for material
things cannot satisfy the hunger of the spiritual na-
ture. We would not be surprised to find Bartimeus

THE YOUNG RULER AND THE BLIND BEGGAR. 189

unliappy, and no doubt some looking at him in his
miserable condition would say, If he had his sight and
plenty of money he would lack nothing and enjoy
happiness. But the young man was in possession of
all this and still he was miserable, for a man's happi-
ness consisteth not in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth ; happiness in humble homes, and
discontent in palatial dwellings.

There is another point of resemblance — both of
these men come in contact with Christ. The one
runs to Him as He passes and falls at His feet hail-
ing Him as Good Master, the other cries after Him.
as He is passing by and pleads for mercy from the
Son of David. Then we come to a point of contrast.
The young man goes away sorrowful, as one writer
puts it, or grieved, as we read in another gospel — goes
away more imhappy than he was when he came, while
Bartimeus gets all he wanted, all he sought for, and
follows Jesus in the way. Wliy this contrast? Is it
because Jesus loved one more than the other? We
do read that He looked upon the young ruler and
loved him, we do not read any such statement concern-
ing Bartimeus, and yet the latter was happy after his
interview with Christ, while the former was made
more miserable.

Let us now look at these men individually and we
will find out the cause of all this. In the life of Bar-

IDO THE YOUNG RULER AND THE BLIND BEGGAR.

timeus another morning has come and he is led out
as usual by someone, takes his seat under the shadow
of a friendly tree as he had done on many fonner
occasions, expects that this day will be long and mono-
tonous like those wliicli have gone before it, but as
the day advances, his ear, which is so sensitive, detects
the sound of an unusual multitude of people who are
passing by, he cannot see them, but he asks what it
means, and the answer comes, "Jesus of Nazareth
passeth by." A thrill of joy goes through his whole
being. Can it be possible that this is the One concern-
ing whom he has thought so much? Quick as a flash
we hear his cry, "Jesus of JsTazareth, Thou Son of
David, have mercy on me." Those who are near him
try to keep him quiet, but it is no use, for above the
noisy crowd the beggar's voice is slirill and loud,
"Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me."
Christ hears the cry, stops the procession, commands
them to bring him, opens to the blind man the trea-
suries of heaven and says, "What wilt thou that T
should do unto thee?" The answer comes, "Lord
that I might receive my sight," and Jesus resT)onds,
" Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole," and
the historian tells us, that he received his sight im-
mediately and followed Jesus in the way.

We are informed then that it was by faith he was
healed, nnd yet we look upon Josu"? ns the liealer.

THE YOUNG RULER AND THE BLIND BEGGAR. 191

Sometimes faith is spoken of as that which saves. At
others times Jesus is spoken of as the Saviour. It
amounts to the same in the end. For example, sup-
pose we are at a railway station, there is an engine
and a long train of cars there all moving out, one
man looking at them says, " That engine is drawing a
train." Another man says " The couplings are draw-
ing the train," and they are both right. The coup-
lings would be of no use without the engine, but the
engine must be imited to the cars if they are to bene-
fit by her power and be dra^vn along by her strength.
The cars cannot go without the engine, neither can
men be saved without Christ, but, as in the case of
the train there must be a union, and we are informed
that without faith it is impossible to please God, and
by faith we are saved; for it is faith that links the
helpless sinner to the powerful Saviour, and in this
case Jesus said to Bartimeus, " Thy faith hath made
thee whole." But how did he get this faith ? We read
that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
Word of God. Xo doubt he had often listened to
those who were reading the Old Testament and how
intensely interested he would be in that thirty-fifth
chapter of Isaiah, where the Messiah is spoken of as
the One who would open the eyes of the blind. Then
men told him about this preacher from Xazareth, re-
lated to him the ^vonderful things that they had seen

192 THE YOUNG RULER AND THE BLIND BEGGAR.

Him do. He put tlie two together, and said, Such
things were predicted concerning the Messiah, the
Son of David, such things are being fulfilled by thi^
prophet of ISTazareth, therefore he is none other than
the One who was to come. In this way he mu=t
have obtained his faith, the faith which looked upon
Jesus not only as a man sent from God, but a.i the Son
of David — another name for the long looted for ]\Ies-
siah.

But then men t<ilk to us concerning a saving faith
and a faith that is dead, j^ow we can get an illus-
tration of these kinds of faith in the case that is be-
fore us. Bartimeus might have believed that he wa.s
blind, might have believed that this was the Son of
Da^dd, able and willing tO' do more than he could
think or ask, and still have remained in his blindness.
Sometim.es we have teachers, or m.en who call them-
selves teachers, and they will say to the sinner, " You
believe that you are a sinner?" The response comes,
" Yes, I know it." " You believe that Jesus Christ is
the Saviour able and willing to save?" They are ans-
wered in the affirmative, and then they say, 'ni\^ell that
ii^ faith, vou are saved." Go to Bartimeus and sav t/)
him, "You believe you are blind?" He will answer,
" I know it." " You believe that tlie one concerning
whom you have heard is the Son of David, able and
willing to save you?" He answers, "T believe it,"

THE VOUNG RULER AND THE BLIND BEGGAR. 193

And then we say to liim, " Therefore you have re-
ceived your sight." But he will answer, " I cannot
see." There must be in addition to all of this — con-
tact between the blind man, and the One who is the
light of the world. There must be contact between
the sinner and the Saviour, as there must be a union
between the cars and the engine, if the power of the
one is to be imparted to the other; and this contact we
see brought about by Bartimeus calling to Jesus and
being brought to Him. In the Old Testament we are
informed that whosoever calleth upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. We cannot call on Him of whom
we have not heard, but as soon as this blind man had
heard and come to realize that this was the Lord he
called upon Him. And so soon as he called difficul-
ties came in the way, for the multitude tried to quiet
him.

History has been repeating itself in all ages, and
to-day, just as soon as a sinner, realizing that he is a
sinner and that there is salvation in Christ, desires to
come to the Saviour or to call upon Him, so soon will
obstacles come in the way and the devil, through some
agency, mil try to come between the seeking sinner
and the pardoning Saviour. But Bartimeus is in
earnest, and when a man is in earnest there is noth-
ing which can keep him from being saved. Fre-
quently we meet with those who are not Christiana

194 THE YOUNG RULER AND THE BLIND BEGGAR.

jiiul WO talk to tliein about their salvation. They say
to us that tliey wouldn't mind if they were Christians,
but they talk about it in a half-hearted way. Such
men are not likely to be saved, for we read that men
find- the Lord when they seek llim with all their
hearts, in other words, when they become in earnest;
and as soon as a man sees his sin in the light of God's
revealed truth, so soon will he desire to get away from
it and cry as Bartimeus did to the Son of David. Jesus
heard that cry, and let us remember that at that time
lie was going up to Jerusahnn after being rejected by
His brethren. His disciples were quarreling as to wIkj
should be the gi'eatest in the kingdom, which they
thought He was about to establish. Before Him were
the agonies of Gethsemane and the shame of Calvary,
and yet He could hear the cry of a poor beggar and
take time to grant his request. To-day the sufferings
are over. He is exalted a prince and a Saviour, but He
still bends on earth a brother's eye, and IBs ear is still
open to the cry of the needy. There is not a single
soul on the face of the earth but can get a hearing
from this Son of God, if they will only cry to Him in
their sorrow as did this blind beggar near to the citv
of Jericho. Then Jesus opened to him, as it Avere,
the storehouse of heaven and asked him what he
wanted. He was a beggar and might have asked for
alms, but what would all the gifts that could be given

THE YOUNG RULER AND tHE BLIND BEGGAR. 195

be in comparison witli his sight, and bo he asked for
that which was essential to his happiness.

The Lord often asks men the same question to-daj,
and sajs to them, " What wilt thou that I should do
for thee." Some ask for wealth and some for power,
others again that they may stand high in the estim-
ation of their fellow-men, " But what shall it profit
a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own
soul?" And what gain would it be to Bartimeus to re-
ceive as a gift the Jordan valley, so long as he was
without his sight? Then Jesus informed him that
his faith had healed liim, his eyes were opened to be-
hold the glories of nature, he saw the multitudes that
thronged his Master, but to him Jesus was the chief
among thousands and the one altogether lovely.
With a glad heart he followed Him in the way, to
rejoice in the blessings he had received, and to wor-
ship and adore his benefactor.

How different in the case of the young ruler. He
comes sorrowful, but he goes away a thousand times
more sorrowful. Jesus, who was spoken of as a physi-
cian, diagnosed his case, saw at a srlance the secret of
all the trouble, and told him that he was lacking
one thing, to sell his possessions, to give to the poor,
to take up the cross, to follow in the way, and then he
would have treasures in heaven, !^^ow why did Christ
make such a demand of this young ruler? He asked

196 THE YOUNG RULER AND THE BLIND BECGAR.

iiothiiig of Bartimeus, simply granted his request, but
He never deals with any two in exactly the same way.
He deals with men according to their individual need,
and no doubt He saw that in the case of this young
man,- covetousness was the besetting sin, and that
which was standing between him and the eternal life
he sought. AVe can imagine a man going to a physi-
cian and informing the doctor that he is miserable
and that he is anxious to be in good health. After
an examination the physician infonns him that one of
his limbs is diseased and will have to be amputated,
that if that is done he ^^dll enjoy health and live pro-
bably for many years, but if the operation i> not per-
formed he will never enjoy a dav free from pain, and
in a short time all will end in death. The man says,
" I am A''ery anxious to live and t-o be free from pain,
but I cannot submit to the operation." And then the
physician informs him that he can do nothing further
for him, it is either the parting with the limb and the
having the life, or retaining the limb and going down
with it to death; and so the man goes away from tho
physician exceeding soiTowful, wanting to have the
life, but refusing to part wnth that which is essential
in the retaining of this life. It was something simi-
lar in the case of this young man. He wanted eter-
nal life but could not have it, and at the same time
retain his possessions, but he would not think of giv-

THE YOUNG RULER AND THE BLIND BEGGAR. 197

ing up the possessions, so he went away to be sorrow-
ful all the days of his life, and then to go out, as far
as we know, into the darkness.

Christ has told us that if the right eye or the right
hand or the right foot offends they must be separated
from the body, for it is better to enter into life maimed
than to be cast out having all the members. We know
Avhen He is speaking in this way He is using figurative
language, for it is not the physical eye or the physi-
cal hand or foot that can endanger the life of the
soul, but it meaus there are things right in themselves,
not only so but they may be sometimes as useful as the
i-ight eye or the right hand or foot, and yet these very
things may threaten the life of the soul, and the only
course then to be pursued is to be sepai-ated from
them. With some, wealth is a power with which they
can make friends who will receive them into ever-
lasting habitations, with others, wealth may be like
the right eye or the right hand endangering the life
of the soul. And perhaps there is no sin greater or
more frequently committed than the sin of covetous-
ness. The love of money is still the root of all evil.
Were it not for the desire to have wealth we would
have no difficulty with the liquor traffic or the opium
traffic, and a great many of the other e^dls which are
ruining multitudes of our fellow-men. For men do.
not manufacture and sell liquor because they love to

198 THE YOUNG RULER AND THE BLIND BEGGAR.

see their fellow-beings intoxicated, but because there
is money in it. They do not ctow and dispose of
opium for the love of seeinjr millions of Chinamen
sent down to premature graves, but because there is
money in it. Tn every walk of life we see how sin
is eatincr like a canker, blastinsr the hopes and ruinin^x
the souls of multitudes. "With some it may be sin of
a different kind. But in everv case, whatever the sin
may be, the man mustTae separated from it before he
can be saved, for Jesus came not to save men in their
sins but to save them from their sins. He loved this
young ruler, Tie was anxious to save him and the
young man was anxious to be saved himself, but when
it came to the ouestion of partiner with the possessions
in order to obtain the life, he chose the possessions,
and with a sorro-^^^ul heart went away lacking the one
thin?? which was needful.

TTow many there are to-dav in the same -nosition in
which this youno- man was. Thev would like to be
saved and to be sure of a home in the house not made
with hands, hvf there is some darling sin from which
thev do not M-ish to bo parted, and so it is between
the sin and the Saviour — His loving; and compassion-
ate eve r^stinsr upon them, and thev going awav sor-
rowful. "Neyer did this vounsr man eni'ov a dav of
real happiness durinn- the rest of hi<5 li-^^e. Thp t"''-^!-
cries of the past followed him, and the fear of tt^

THE YOUNG RULER AND THE BLIND BEGGAR. 199

future haunted liiia. So it is with those who come in
contact with Christ, and have offered to them the
treasures of heaven; they barter off these for some of
tlie things of earth, for the sins or the possessions that
are so dear to them.

The one man followed Jesus rejoicing, the other
went away sorrowful. How often this happens in the
house of God. Two men come in, sit down it may
be in the same pew, both conscious that there is a
something essential to the happiness they are not in
posF^ssion of. The one opens his heart, receives the
truth, takes up his cross to follow the blaster and goes
out of the sanctuary rejoicing. The other man refuses
to comply with the conditions and goes out more sor-
rowful than he came in, having before him all tlie
years the fear of death, and the dread of the judgment
to come. How different would this young man's life
have been had he complied mth the conditions laid
down by Jesus. He would have had that fullness of
joy of which one of Christ's followers speaks, his name
might have stood high in the list of the worthies, and
he at last have received an abundant entrnu':'e into the
everlasting kingdom, where there is joy and plea-
sures and everlasting treasures at the right hand of the
Majesty on high.

J?

XIX.
JESUS ONLY.

'• They saw no man, save Jesus only."— Matthew 17 : 8.

These words, Jesus only, are tlie key to tlie scene
described iu tins chapter. Vie are not going to dis-
cuss the question as to what mountain He was trans-
figiu-ed upon, whether Tabor or ITennon, for while
the discussion might be interesting it would be of
little practical importance. The cross upon which He
was crucified is of very little importance compared
%vith the Christ; the sepulchre in which He lay is of
very little value com])ared with the risen Christ, who
left it on the resun-ection morning. In like manner
we are more interested in that which transpired upon
the mountain, and it is to this scene that our atten-
tion for some time shall be turned.

On the evening of the day we see four men going
up the mountain-side. When they have reached the
place Avhere they intend to tarry, Ave see three of them
sitting down upon the grass while the fourth is a little
way from them in the attitude of pvayei-, ;ind while
He prays a wonderful change comes over Him, His
face shines like the sun and His garments become
bright as the light. Tn Exodns wo read of Moses' face

' JESUS ONLY. 201

sliming with sucli a brightness that the people could
not look upon it, but that glory came to Moses from
Avithout, it Avas the glorv of God, shining upon his face
during the days he was upon the mount, that gave it
such brilliancy. We also read that the face of
Stephen, when he Avas being stoned, shone like the
face of an angel, but that glory also may have come
from Avithout, it may liaA^e come from the One Avho
was standing at the right hand of the Father to re-
ceive His first martyr. Eut this glory Avhich caused
the face and the gannents of Christ to shine and glis-
ten Avas a gloiy from Avithin, for while He Avas God
manifest in the flesh, Ave might also speak of Him as
God concealed by the flesh. As the A^eil in the an-
cient temple concealed the Shekinah from the gaze of
the people, so His flesh, Avhicli Avas spoken of as a veil
or a tent, concealed the diAdne glory so that He ap-
peared to the multitudes like an ordinary man; but
for the time beine: this glory shone through the flesh
and the disciples beheld it. It may have been some-
thing like this Avhich happened in the Garden of
Gethsemane, Avhen thoee A\dio came to arrest Him
fell to the ground as dead men. We knoAv also that
Avhen He appeared to Saul on the Avay to Damascus
His presence Avas brighter than the sun at noon-day:
and Ave have a description of Him in Revelation as
He appeared to John, and Ave know from the sacred

202 JESUS ONLY.

%mtings that He is the lig;ht of the celestial city,
where they need no candle, neither lio;ht of the sun
nor the moon, for the Lamb is the light thereof. And
in after years when Peter is referring to this scene
he says, '^ We saw His glory in the Mount,'' not the
glory of God resting upon Him, hut His own glory
being made manifest.

In reading this we sometimes wonder if the people
on the plains beheld the Avonderful sight on the moun-
tain-side; the cloud out of which the voice of God was
heard, and this One, whose face shone with such bril-
liancy. Did the mothers carry out their little chil-
dren to behold the wonderful sight? Did the shep-
herds talk of it on the following day, and did it bring
to their remembrance stories they had heard of a
strange sight the shepherds beheld on the plains of
Bethlehem, when the glory of God shone around
them and the heavenly choir sang " Gloiw to God in
the highest?" We cannot tell; it may be that none
save the three disciples beheld this wonderful scene.

Then Moses and Elias appear. They are recog-
nized by these three disciples. They come as repre-
sentatiA'e men — one representing the law and the
other the prophets. How often, when Christ was
teaching, n)on said to Him, " We be Moses' disciples,"
and others again referred to the prophecies concern-
ing the Messiah. These two come to shoAV or rather to

' JESUS ONLY. 208

verify what Christ had so often said, that He came not
to destroy but to fulfil the law and the prophets,
that He and Moses and the prophets are iii perfect
harmony, that they spoke of Him and He came to
fulfil their predictions. They cam.e also to represent
those who have and who shall pass throug;h the Jor-
dan of death, and those who shall never struggle with
the last enemy; for Moses died in the Mount of Moah
and was buried there, while Elijah ascended to the
heavens in the chariot of fire. Moses representing
all who have gone down to the srave or have been
buried in the sea; Elijah representing that vast mul-
tituda, who at His anpearina' shall not taste of death,
but shall be translated and rise to meet the Lord i^i
the air. Thev come also to represent the church
triumr)hant, Avhile the disciples represent the church
militant, showing that thev are one, as we have it so
cTearlv broucht out in the eleventh and twelfth char>-
fers of Hebrews, where the ^vrit-er sneaks of the illus-
trious dead who, without us. are not made perfect,
showing the connection between those who have run
the race and finished the cour!=e. vnth those who are
still engasred in the contest. The discinlcs beloner
to the church that has still to fiorht with the evils
within and the foes without, s+me'.frling on from vic-
tory to victory, while Moses and Elias r6pr(^ent those

204 JESUS ONLY.

who have entered into rest, who have reached tlio
goal.

How little the people at the foot of the mountain
knew of what was going on, snch a little way from
them.' They never dreamt that the gTeat Law-giver
and the greatest of the prophets was so near to them.
May it not sometimes be so in our lives? AVe do read
that there is a gTcat gulf between the ]3lace of the lost
and the place of the saved, but we do not read of any
gulf between the ransomed in heaven and the ran-
somed on earth. "We often speak of the hand that is
vanished and the voice that is still, but perhaps the
glorified dead are nearer to us than we imagine. "We
are sure that there are guardian angels, yet our physi-
cal eyes cannot see them. It is only a theory, of
course, that we cannot prove, and 3^et cannot deny, for
if Moses and Elias were so near to these disciples is
it not possible that some of the sainted dead may be
near to those who are still running the race and fight-
ing the battles on earth? There is one thing, how-
ever, that we are sure of, there is now unbroken con-
nection between heaven and earth. Jacob saw the
ladder on which angels were ascending and descend-
iug. and iu the last verses of the first chapter of John
wo have it on the best authoritv that tliat ladder un-
iting heaven and earth is the Ron of ^Fan, who was
transfigured on this mountain, in the ]U'esence of His
disciples and of Moses and Elias.

JESUS ONLY. 205

Xot only is there much to be seen on the mount,
but there is also much to be heard. We listen to
the conversation of Moses and Elias, and we would
naturally think that they would be talking about the
glorious place from which they came, or about the
scene which they witnessed. There were wonderful
things happened in the days of Moses while he was
upon earth; he might have talked about the Red Sea
and about Iloreb, while Elijah might have spoken of
Mount Carmel and the scenes in the da^^s of Ahab,
or of the chariot of fire in which he ascended. But
their conversation is not about the things of the past,
or the glory of the redeeoned, but about an event that
is to take place at Jerusalem. Luke tells, us that they
spoke of the decease which He, Christ, was to accom-
plish. In other words, the atonement was the sub-
ject of their conversation, and we find that that event
is the centre of all history. To it all the sacrifices
pointed, to it all the prophets looked forward; and
about this decease at Jerusalem the evangelists speak
at great length, while the epistles are full of it; and
in Revelation John sees in the midst of the Throne
a Lamb as it had been slain and hears the song of the
multitude, " Thou art worthy, for Thou hast redeemed
us with Thy blood." Then, as we listen we hear a
voice, it comes from the excellent heaven, or out of
the great and glorious cloud that overshadows them,
it is the voice of the Father concerning the Son, for

206 JESirS ONLY.

the sake of the disciples no doubt it came, to con-
firm tlieir faith in the divinity of their Master, for
the voice said : " This is my beloved Son in whom I
am well pleased." It would be impossible for these
disciples ever to doubt His divinity after what they
beheld, after what they heard, and one of these men,
John, devotes his whole gospel to show that Jesus
was the Christ, the One who was with the Father
before the world Avas, the one who was equal with, the
Father, and who became flesh and dwelt among us,
whose glory men beheld. When they hear this voice
the disciples are full of fear and fall to the earth.
Then they feel a gentle touch and they hear the voice
that is so familiar to them, saying, " Fear not." It
is the voice of the One who was not to break the
bruised reed or quench the smoking flax; the voice
that they heard when they were out on the troubled
waters saying to them, " It is I, be not afraid;" the
\'oice that spoke to tlieir troubled hearts on the last
night when He was with them, saying, " Let not your
hearts be troubled."

We notice for a moment the impression which the
scene made upon the disciples. Peter said, " It is
good for us to be here;" and then he suggested mak-
ing tabernacles for Moses and Elias and Jesus. It
certainly was good to be there, to see what they saw
and hear what they heard, but it would not have been

JESUS ONLY. 20T

good to liave remained even on that glorious Mount.
It is true, tliey would have been away from the strife
of tongues and from the tumults of the people, from
the bickerings of the Sadducees and the enmity of the
Pharisees, but it would have been a poor change for
Moses and Elias; they had had enough of earth and
its difficulties in the days of their fiesh. And it would
have been a sad thing for the world if they had re-
mained on the mountain. There was work to be done
on the plains. The son'owing v/ere to be comforted,
the sick were to be healed, the destitute were to be
looked after, the world was to be redeemed, and if
all this is to ])e dope they must leave this place that
is forever hallowed by the scenes of the night, and
come down among men. But the impression wliicb
they received will be always with them, strengthen-
ing their hearts and making them strong for the diffi-
culties and temptations that lie ahead of them. It is
a great thing and a necessary thing for us to have
our mounts of transfiguration, our seasons when we
can see Christ, the glorified, and have fellowship with
Him, and be brought as it were into the very heavens.
These times are essential, but it is not well to remain
on the mount while there is so much work to be done
on the plain or in the cities. For example, you tee
a Christian reading, say the best of books, he is in a
comfortable room, his thoughts are on high things, he

208 ' JESUS ONLY.

is having f&llowsliij) witli Clirist, to him the very
walls of that room may l)ccome glorious with the
assurance of Christ's presence, it is a mount of trans-
figuration. How pleasant it is to be there. Without
the wind is blowing and the snow is drifting; the
thought comes to him that away in a distant part of
the city ^here is a poor family, they liaA'e not enough
coal to keep the house warm, they have not enough
food to sustain them ; his duty, nay, his privilege is to
leave that room or that mount of transfiguration and
to go to the help of the needv. That is what Christ
did on tills occasion to which we are referring. He
"was required at the foot of the mountain and He
came down to do the work that no other could do. It
is those who show their Christianity by deeds that are
Christ-like, who shall stand highest at the last.

When the cloud disappeared we read that they
saw no man save Jesus only. Moses had gone and
Elias had gone, but Jesus remained. He was the only
one who coidd do for them what they required; He
alone could redeem them from sin; for there is only
one Mediator, and there is no other name through
which men can be saved. Then He could give them
all the help and strength that was required, because,
as He informed them on a future occasion, to Him
was committed all power in heaven and in earth, hence
Ho was able to supply all their wants, since in Him

( JESUS ONLY. ' 209

all fullness dwelt. What is true of tlie disciples is
true of iLs, iu Him is our sufficiency, our redeemer
and our strength. jSTot only so, but He is the only
One who can be always with the Christian, for we
have His promise that He will never leave nor for-
sake those who trust Him. He and He alone can ac-
company us when we are passing through the waters,
for our dearest friends must part with us at the mar-
gin of the river, but we have His assurance that those
who trust in Him shall be presented faultless on the
other shore. He can give grace and wisdom, and at
last glorify those whom He has redeemed and sus-
tained. So when we read that Jesus only was left
to the disciples, we are not to imagine that they met
with any loss by the departure of Moses and Elias.
Christ allowed those men to return to their glory and
their rest, but He remained with His followers until
He finished the work which He came to do, and the
Christian has this assurance, that if he should lose
everything upon earth, if even father and motlior
should forsake him, Jesus is still left, and will be with
him as He was with those disciples, who beheld His
glory on the Mount.

I suppose those who saw the disciples ascend the
Mount in the evening, and saw them come down from
it on the following morning, would have said that
these disciples were the same men who ascended on

210 JESUS ONLY.

the previous night, and yet they were not the same
men, because what they saw and what they heard
made such an impression on them that they were diff-
erent men from that hour until they entered into
glory. Sometimes we see men go into a religious
service, and in an hour or an hour and a half we may
see them come out from the service, and we may say
to ourselves they are the same men but they may be
very different, they may have heard in that meeting
things which have chang;ed their whole lives. They
may have gone in captives bound by Satan, they may
come out free men, having l)een made free by the
Son, having received impressions and undergone a
change that will be seen and felt all through the years
of their lives. We know it was so in the case of these
disciples, because Peter refers to it many yeare after-
wards. One of these three was the first of the dis-
ciples to seal his testimony with his blood; another
was the man whom Satan desired to have that he
might sift him as wheat; the third and youngest was
the one who was to live so many years, to be ban-
ished as a prisoner to Patmos and there to behold the
glorious scenes recorded to us in the book of Revela-
tion. For ever after this memorable night to these
men Jesus was the chief among the thousands, the
altogether lovely, the source of their comfort and of
their future hope.

XX.

SOWING AKD REAPING.

A SERMON TO YOUNG MEN.

■• Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." — Galatians 6 : 7.

From one point of view this is one of the most
encouraging texts in the New Testament. Frequently
those who are sowing tlie seeds of self-denial, of in-
dustry, and sobriety, become discouraged as they see
so few signs of a hai-vest; while they behold others,
who are sowing seeds of selfishness, self-indulgence
and such like, getting along splendidly. They are
like the psalmist who beheld the wicked flourishing
as the green bay tree, having no afflictions, frequentlv
no bands in their death, while the righteous — many of
them — have troubles and difficulties accompanied
mth adversity.

But we must bear in mind that the period between
seed-time and harvest varies in length. Sometimes
the sowing and reaping are in the same day. For ex-
ample, our Saviour scattered seeds of Gospel truth
by Jacob's well at noon-day, and before the sun had
gone down He and His disciples had gathered many
sheaves of the harvest, for many Samaritans believed
on Him, not only because of the saying of the wmnau,

212 SOWING AND REAPING.

but because they saw and heard Him for themselves.
On the day of Pentecost Peter began to scatter die
seed at nine o'clock in the morning, and b«ifore tnc
twelfth hour three thousand were gathered into the
fold. - At midnight Paul and Silas began to sow in
tlie prison-house in Pliillippi, and before an hour
passed they were reaping; for the jailer and his family
believed and were baptized the same hour of the
night. On the other hand we have had missionaries
who were somng ten, fifteen or twenty years before
they saw any signs of haiwest. The Lone Star Mis-
sion is an illustration of this. Some men have been
sowing the seeds of self-denial for the sake of others
all through their lives, and have passed away from
earth without reaping the fruits of their labors.

A harvest delaj'ed is not a harvest denied, and
this is true of those who are sowing the seeds of right-
eousness, as well as of those who are sowing the seeds
of iniquity. Sometimes the reaping, or part of the
reaping, is done by men wliilc they are upon earth,
sometimes a great deal of it, or almost all of it, is done
in eternity. The greatest of all teachers and the great-
est of all artists has given to us a parable and a pic-
ture which illustrates this. He shows us a poor man
named Lazarus who evidently was sowing the seeds
of righteousness, but as far as he was concerned there
was no reaping in this life; he jeceived very little pity
from men and longed for the crumbs that were not

SOWING AND REAPING. 213

given to him. He died, and tlie authorities g:ave him
a lot in the Potter's Field. The funeral was hurried,
they would say to the undertaker,

" Rattle his bones over the stones,
He is a poor pauper whom nobody owns."
The other man kept sowing the seeds of self-indul-
gence and selfishness, lived in luxury, clothed in fine
linen and puiple, faring sumptuously every day,
dwelling in a magnificent mansion, having a retinue
of servants to wait upon him, and a beautiful carriage
in which to drive. At last he died. There was a great
funeral, eulogies were pronounced over the dead, and
a monument of stone, as cold and as hard as the heart
of the man while he was alive, erected to him. Then
our Lord draws aside the curtain and lets us see these
men reaping — for all their life-time they were both
sowing — the rich man is seen lifting up his eyes, being
in torment, and craving for that which cannot be sup-
plied, while Lazarus is beheld in Abraham's bosom
enjoying the blessings and the glory of the Paradise
of God.

In the natural world the harvest always follows
the seed-time, and so shall it be and so it is in the
spiritual world. A cup of cold water given in a dis-
ciple's name shall receive a disciple's reward, " for
whatsoever a man sov/eth, that shall he also reap."
And as every "eed bringeth forth according to its kind

214 SOWING AND REAPING.

in the natural world, so it is in the spiritual world,
" For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap
corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit shall of
the spirit reap life everlasting."

Not only shall men reap the same kind as they
sow, but they shall reap in proportion as they sow.
For example, a man does not expect to reap as great
a han'est from a hundred bushels of seed as he would
from a thousand bushels of seed. In like manner in
the spiritual world they who sow sparingly shall reap
sparingly, and they who sow boimtifully shall reap
bountifully. A great many Christian people are do-
ing very little sowing in the spiritual world and they
vnll consequently reap a small harv^est. It would be
well if this truth could be enforced upon many pro-
fessing Christians who are sowing so sparingly, for
there will also be degrees of glory, or, to put it in
another way, some vnll have a greater harvest in glory
and some a greater har^^est in misery than others, aC'
cording as they sow.

It must also be borne in mind that every man shall
do his own reaping, for wliatsoevcr a man soweth, that
shall he also reap. It is tnie that no man liveth to
himself, and that by a man's righteousness othci-s are
benefited, while by a man's sins others suffer and have
to do part of the reaping; yet it is also tnie that every
man shall bear his own sin, or, in other words, do his

SOWING AND REAPING. 215

own reaping. This has a dark and a bright side to
it, — one of warning and one of encouragement.

I wish now to refer to some kinds of seed which
men are sowing from which there will come a terrible
har\'est, and first of all I shall refer to the seeds of in-
temperance. This has to do Avith the body. Our
bodies have been spoken of as temples which are not
to be defiled by sin; they are spoken of also as taber-
nacles or tents, indicating that they are frail and may
easily be injured, and anything which will in any
way injure our bodies or unfit them for filling the
place and doing the work which God intended them
to do is an evil seed from which a bad harvest shall
come. A large percentage of the men who "vvdshed to
volunteer for service in the Spanish- American war
were refused because of their physical unfitness, and
it is asserted that ninety per cent, of those who were
vejected were physically disqualified through the
smoking of cigarettes. Multitudes of our boys and
young men on this continent are at the present time
somng seeds througli cigars and cigarettes, that can-
not help bearing evil fruit as far as their bodies are
concerned. AVhile there are many things we might
refer to which are injuring the bodies, especially of
young people, perhaps there is no one thing, that is
doing more injur)^ to young men than strong drink.
If we go to our asylums, to our hospitals, to our poor-

216 SOWING AND REAPING.

lioiiscs, to our jails and prisons, we will see multitudes
who are now reaping from the seeds which they sowed
in youth or in early manhood. The world is full of
physical and mental and moral wrecks, and these men
are simply reaping that which they sowed. But it is
only the first-fruits of the harvest they reap here, for
we are distinctly told that a drunkard shall not in-
herit the kingdom of heaven. And I might say that
the saloons and taverns are not the only places where
these seeds of intemperance are sown. I am fre-
quently down in the heart of the city between twelve
and two o'clock in the morning, and I often see young
men going to their homes reeling under the influence
of strong driidv, which they obtained, not in the
taverns, but in the club-rooms, and these club-rooms
wdiere liquor is sold are only gilded gateways leading
to hell. Multitudes of our young men make the down-
ward start here, and then, when they become slaves
to drink, they will seek it in any hovel or den where
it can be procured. It is a question if all clubs
whether liquor is sold there or not, are not injurious.
At first, the Lord placed the inliabitants of the earth
in families, but in this age we are placing them in
clubs and in societies, and these things ai'e interfer-
ing with the home, and whatever interferes with the
home interferes with the nation; for the State is
founded on the home life of the people, and if the

SOWING AND REAPING. 217

home is destro3"ed tlie State cannot exist. But if
those who become intemperate and become drunkards
shall reap a harvest, what about those who manufac-
ture and sell? Are thej not sowing and shall thej
not reap? Is there not a woe pronounced upon the
man who puts the bottle to his neighbor's lips and
maketh him drunk? Whether he does this to get the
man's money or treats him in order to get his custom
it is all the same ; the whole business is iniquitous and
the seeds of intemperance shall bring forth in time
or eternity a fearful harvest.

I shall now refer to gambling, for while many are
perishing through intemperance a multitude is also
perishing through gambling, and in this country men
seem to have a mania for it. We know the fight that
they are having in Vancouver at the present time
with reference to this subject. iSTow what is gamb-
ling? It is a man either losing his money without get-
ting an equivalent for it, or gaining money without
giving an equivalent either in the sweat of his brain
or the sweat of his brow. The winner is one who has
obtained money without giving any value for it.
Those who gamble are frequently spoken of as sports,
but the right name for them is thieves. Let me illus-
trate. Here is a man who has, say, ten or fifteen dol-
lars a week of a salary, he has a wife and family to
support. The law of the State, apart from the law of

218 SOWING AND REAPING.

God, would compel that man to support his family
when he is able to do it; but instead of takin^r the
money home to them he goes to a pool-room, begins
to gamble, and the money is squandered. Some of
those -who are more expert in the business than he is,
gain the money, and he loses it. What is the result?
His wife and family are denied many of the necessar-
ies of life, the children may often be hungr}' and not
have sufficient clothing, while the young men who
have gained that money arc holding high heads,
squandering the m.oney, and calling themselves sports.
They have in their pockets the money that belongs
to those children and that woman, and if that is not
dishonesty I don't know what it is. Xot only so but
those young men become so fascinated with the gamb-
ling that it becomes a kind of mania, and as the bird
becomes fascinated with the hawk and flies into the
very claws of the enemy, so these men go on from bad
to worse until they perish through this vice. 1 know
tliat many young men in our city are being ruined
through gambling, and that sin leads on to others, for
the beginning of sin is like the letting in of wators.
But what about the men who keep these places, and
are ruining these young men? Are they not soAvine;
and shall they not reap ? If our Lord were talking
to some of those men would He not say to them,
as He did say to such in the days of his flesh, "Ye

SOWING AND REAPING. 219

vipers and serpents, how shall j^ou escape the dam-
nation of hell? " There is a reaping time ahead for
[such men as surely as they have soAvn.

We come now to another kind of seed which men
are sowing — the seeds of covetousness, and covetous-
nes3 shows itself in two ways — ^in witholding more
than is meet, and in striving to get in an unla^vful
way that which we cannot obtain in a lawful manner.
Here is a man, for example, and he informs us that he
does not know the taste of liquor, he does not smoke,
he has never gambled nor squandered his money fool-
ishly, he has denied himself many of the luxuries of
life, he has sown the seeds of industry and of economy,
he has amassed a considerable amount of wealth and
he congratulates himself upon it all and glories in
his self-righteonsness, or his negative righteousness.
But at the same time he is sowing the seeds of self-
ishness and pennrioiisness, he is like the man in the
parable whose fields brought forth plentifully until
he had not room enough to store his goods, and then
he resolved that he would build new bams in which
to store them, saying to his soul, "There is much
goods laid up for many years," but never giving a
thought to the many who were hungry and destitute
in his own city or in other parts of the world. We
have such men in the world to-day, and the great weed
of selfishness or stinginess destroys all the other excel-

220 SOWING AND REAPING.

lent qualities of industry and sobriety. Such men are
looked upon as misers, despised by their fellow-men,
rich as far as the things of the world are concerned, but
poor and miserable and destitute in the sight of God.
It is because of covetousness and because so many
people are sowing these seeds that there arc such mul-
titudes in the world to-day who are in poverty and
in misery. Covetousness accounts for most of the
grinding done to-day by many of the great corpora-
tions and monopolies by which the poor are kept on
starv^ation wages, while the monopolists are amassing
untold wealth. But covetousness shows itself not only
in witholding what we should give, but in trying to get
that Avhich we cannot lawfully obtain. In this age
there is a desire on the part of young men to make
haste in getting wealth. They are not willing to be-
gin at the foot of the ladder where there fathei*s com-
menced, they W'ant a quicker way. It used to be in
our stores that people climbed the stairs but now they
go up in elevators, and so these people want to be-
come Avealthy but they don't want to wait, taking a
step at a time, they want to begin where their fathers
left off. In order to do this they begin to speculate
A young man who is say cashier in a bank will take

some money that does not belong to him -uathout tel-
ling his employers, thinking he can speculate, make a
lot of money and put it back before it is missed. In

SOWING AND REAPING. 221

that way many young men get into difficulty, get
thrown out of their situations and often sent to the
prison-house. Every day we see such cases reported in
our newspapers. Men become swindlers and become
dishonest in order to get Avealth, and the root of it all
is the love of money. This desire or craving for money
without waiting to earn it honestly leads to robbery
and from that to murder. You have all read the story
of the terrible tragedy in our OAvn city and ton this
very street, a few days ago. It was the desire to get
the man's money, which led those men to enter his
store as they did, and to commit that foul murder. I
shall only refer to the scene I witnessed on that night
in the emergency ward of the General Hospital.
There was Varcoe. He knew that in a few hours he
would pass away, he felt the cold sweat of death even
then upon his brow. He was making aiTangements
for the guardianship and care of his two little mother-
less children. He was praying to the God of heaven
to forgive the sins of the past and to have mercy upon
him for the sake of Christ the Saviour. There were
brought into the ward the two murderers, one of them
with his head terribly battered and bandaged, the
other carried in on a stretcher, bleeding from the

wound he had received from the policeman's bullet.
A crown attorney and officers of the law were taking
evidence, the doctors were doing all they could to sus-

222 SOWING AND REAPING.

tain the lives of those who were wounded, the nurses,
so attentive and so kind, were ministering to the
wants of the suffering, with as much gentleness and
feeling as if these men had been their brothers.
While this is going on one of the murderers is having
his wounds dressed, and at the same time the oaths
are coming from him like the foulness from an open
sepulchre. The one man praying to be forgiven for
Christ's sake, while the other was blaspheming that
sacred name, and as you saw, by the papers a few
days afterwards he went down to the grave wath the
oaths upon his lips. These three men Avere young,
strong and in the pinmo of life, and might have accom-
plished great things for God and humanitv. Vrnf
through the covetousness which was the sin leading to
this tragedy, two of them are dead, and the other will
doubtless be executed. Then see the largo circle af-
fected; the families from which these murderers come,
the family from which Varcoe was taken. As I
looked at the little girl of seven, whose hair was singed
by one of the bullets that killed her father, and saw
hor weeping. T thought T could hear the voice of Jesus
savinjT, 'TBetter for a man that a mill-stone were hanjr-
ed about his neck and he drowned in the denths of the
sea than that he should offend one of these little
ones." This is the result of ?in and of the sin of cov-
etousness. All of us are sowine: and all of us shall

SOWING AND REAPING. 223

reap in time or eternity. "For God is not mocked;
for whatsoever a man sowetli, that shall he also reap."
Some one may say, " N^ow the door is closed, I have
been sowing, sowing seeds of iniquity, and now there
is no hope, I mnst reap the terrible harvest from that
which I have sown." To such I can say that there is
one door of hope. More than twenty-six hundred years
ago a prophet who had a very clear vision looked
down through the centuries and he saw one coming as
a Lamb to the slaughter, bearing upon Himself the
sins of men, their iniquities and their stripes, coming
to make an atonement for their sins and to reap for
them the harvest of their iniquity. Jesus Cmrist,
who, in the fullness of time, became manifest in the
flesh, taking upon Himself our nature and bearing our
sins in His o-wq body on the tree, can do our reaplnp;
for us and vnll do it if we ask Him and trust Him.
"With Him on the cross there were two malefactors,
one on the rio-ht hand and the other on the left.
Both these men had been sowina; the seeds of iniquity,
one of them asked Christ to reap for Him the han-est.
to remember Him when He would come into His kino--
dom, and to this man Jesus made answer, "To-flav
shalt thou be \vith Me in paradise." The other man
went do-wn to the ^rnve in his sin, to reap in eternitv
the harvest from the seed which he had sown. The
scene on the cross is repeating itself, and has been

224 SOWING AND REAPING.

repeating itself during all the centuries which have
intervened. There is one of two things every one
of us must do — either get Christ to bear our sins
and reap for us the harvest, or else take those sins
with us to the judgment and reap throughout eternity.
Behind every one of us there is a history and ahead of
every one of us there is a destiny. They that sow to
the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everylasting, they
that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap conaiption,
for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth from
all sin, and if we have come to see ourselves to-night
as sinners in God's sight we can get this cleansing, but
apart from Christ there is nothing for us, but to reap
the consequences of the sins we have committed.

CO
H
O

to

Si
-p
o

Q)

CO

o

n o

eg

•H to

H 0)

H ^ ,

> -P I

ui I

*^ *H i

o .|

Vi 9 CO

Ah m

p:^ IX,

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRAi^y

DO NOT

REMOVE

THE

CARD

FROM

THIS

POCKET