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STIRRING  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 


STIRRING  THE 

EAGLE'S  NEST 

AND  OTHER  PRACTICAL  DISCOURSES 


BY 

THEODORE  L.  CUYLER,  D.  D. 

LATE  PASTOR    OP  THE  LAFAYETTE  AVENUE  CHURCH, 
BROOKLYN 


NEW  YORK 

THE  BAKER  AND  TAYLOR  OOMPAIO' 

740  AND  742  Broadway 


THE  NEW  YOR 

PUBLIC  LIBR^^ 

49077-1 


ASTOR,  LENOX    aMO 
TILDEN   FCUN OPTIONS. 

R  1910  L 


COPYKIGHT,    1892, 
BY 

THE  BAKER  AND  TAYLOR  COMPANY. 


THB  MERSHON  COMPANT  PREBB, 
BAHWAT,  N.  J. 


ii?^ 


To  A.  E.  C. 


THE  BELOVED  WIFE  WHO  HAS  FILLED 

MY  HOME  WITH  SUNSHINE 

FOR  NEARLY  FORTY 

YEARS 

zrbl0  IDolumc  Is  (BratctuUg  IFnscribcD. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I.  Stirking  the  Eagle's  Nest,     ....      1 

II.    The  New  Birth, 19 

III.  Burden-Bearing,       ....  37 

IV.  The  Rich  Christian, 59 

V.    The  Little  Coat, .77 

VI.  The  Serpent  in  the  Wall,  ....        93 

VII.     The  Journey  op  a  Day, 109 

VIII.     Jesus  Only, 137 

IX.  The  Re-Converted  Christlan,        .        .           143 

X.    Sermons  in  Shoes, 157 

XI.  Looking  at  Things  Rightly,   .        .        .          173 

XII.  The  Miracle  at  the  Gate  Beautiful,        .      191 

XIII.  The  Grace  op  Silence 209 

XIV.  Spiritual  Health 225 

XV.  Character  Tested— and  Detected,       .        .  245 

XVI.  The  Dove  that  Found  Rest,       .        .        .263 

XVII.     Past  Feeling, 277 

XVIII.  The  Joys  op  the  Christian  Ministry,        .      395 


m 


I. 

STIRRING  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 


STIREING  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

"As  an  eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest,  flutteretli  over  her  young, 
spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh  them,  beareth  them  on  her 
wings,  so  the  Lord  above  did  lead  him." — Deuteronomy 
xxxii,  11. 

Here  is  a  text  for  tlie  naturalist  and  for  the 
Christian — for  the  student  of  birds  and  for  the 
student  of  Providence.  Audubon  might  intro- 
duce it  into  his  Chapter  on  Eagles  ;  Spurgeon 
might  make  it  the  theme  for  a  "morning  read- 
ing" on  God's  love  for  His  people.  And  it  is 
a  grand  theme,  whether  for  the  ornithologist 
or  the  child  of  God. 

The  passage  before  us  is  a  brief  and  beautiful 
parable.  To  get  the  full  benefit  of  it,  we  must 
look  first  at  its  literal  facts,  and  then  at  its 
moral  and  spiritual  teachings.  The  parable  is 
of  the  Eagle — the  king  of  all  the  feathered 
tribes.  What  the  majestic  sequoia  is  among 
the  trees,  what  the  gorgeous  cactus  is  among 
flowering  plants,  what  the  lion  of  Numidia  is 
among  wild  beasts,  that  is  the  eagle  among  the 
birds  of  heaven.  Naturalists  tell  us  that  he  has 
tremendous  strength  in  his  wings.  He  bears 
up  against  the  tempest — flies  in  the  teeth  of  a 


4  STIBRMG   THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

gale — soars  up  to  untold  lieiglits — goes  out  on 
long  voyages  toward  the  sun,  and  after  play- 
ing the  aeronaut  for  hours,  he  wheels  down- 
ward toward  his  rocky  nest.  That  nest  is, 
like  himself,  on  a  right  royal  scale. 

It  is  sometimes  fashioned — a  yard  square — 
of  billets  of  wood,  and  inlaid  with  rushes  and 
mountain  heather.  Not  down  among  the  reeds 
and  grass  does  the  eagle  build  ;  not  even  among 
the  tree-tops — but  far  up  on  the  crags  of  moun- 
tain-peaks. When  the  prophet  Obadiah  would 
denounce  the  pride  of  Edom,  he  says  :  ' '  Though 
thou  exalt  thyself  as  the  eagle,  and  though  thou 
set  thy  nest  among  the  stars,  thence  will  I  bring 
thee  down,  saitli  the  Lord."  Up  in  this  airy 
home — surrounded  by  desolate  solitudes  and  far 
above  the  noise  and  smoke  of  human  habitation 
— the  mother  eagle  reai^  her  young.  Stout 
and  fierce  though  she  be,  yet  she  has  a  true 
parent's  instincts.  While  they  need  to  be  fed, 
she  feeds  them.  But  when  they  are  old  enough 
to  fly,  she  trains  them  for  the  perilous  process. 
To  this  process  our  text  refers. 

She  ""  siirretJi  up  the  nestP  However  cozy 
and  comfortable  it  may  be,  however  closely  the 
young  eaglets  may  cling  to  their  home,  she 
stirs  them  out.  They  are  afraid  to  flj^,  and  sit 
timidly  on  the  edge  of  the  nest,  looking  out 
into  the  Avide  air  and  down  into  the  chasms 
beneath  them.  So  she  spreadeth  abroad  her 
ample  wings — "  taketh  them  on  her  wings  "  as 


STIRR1^'G   THE  EAGLE'S  WEST.  5 

on  an  aerial  car,  and  soars  out  for  a  sail !  It  is 
dizzy  work  nj)  there  and  dangerous.  But  to  the 
broad,  stalwart  wings  of  the  i:)arent  bird  the 
little  fellows  cling,  and  she  transports  them 
safely.  This  is  the  first  lesson.  At  length 
they  are  thrust  out  to  try  their  own  wings. 
They  may,  at  first,  reel  to  and  fro,  flutter  about, 
and  catch  some  rough  falls  against  cliff  or  tree- 
top.  But  they  are  learning,  and  without 
practice  they  never  can  fly.  They  must  run 
some  risks,  or  else  be  left  to  starve  in  their 
nests.  They  improve  by  each  attempt.  Their 
wings  grow  stronger,  and  they  grow  more  ex- 
pert in  using  them.  And  ere  long  the  eaglet 
can  fly  like  the  mother  bird,  and  keep  her  com- 
pany in  all  her  cliase  for  si:)ort  or  spoil. 

I.  This  is  a  picturesque  process  that  we 
have  been  looking  at,  and  we  will  find  it  an 
object-lesson  well  w^orth  our  studying.  We 
may  learn  many  things  from  these  brute  teach- 
ers, with  their  sagacity  of  instinct,  parental 
affection,  and  noble  daring.  We  may  apply 
this  parable — in  the  first  place — to  the  secular 
and  uomestic  life  with  which  many  of  us  are 
familiar. 

A  wise  and  thrifty  parent  rears  his  brood 
around  the  hearthstone  and  the  family  altar. 
The  fireside  is  pleasant,  and  home  is  dear. 
But  the  nest  gets  full  and  cannot  hold  them 
all.  If  the  boys  and  girls  nestle  all  together, 
as  consumers  and  not  producers,   the   whole 


6  STIRRING   THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

household  will  soon  come  to  want.  So  the 
l^rudent  father  "stirs  up  the  nest."  The 
eldest-born  mustliy  out,  and  learn  to  shift  for 
themselves.  The  parting  from  home  gives  a 
hard  wrench  to  the  heart,  and  the  very  thought 
of  pushing  out  into  the  strange  world  has 
some  terrors  in  it.  As  the  good  mother — God 
bless  her  !  packs  the  trunk  of  her  darling  boy, 
many  a  tear  falls  in  upon  the  lad's  wardrobe. 
She  stows  in  many  a  useful  "  knicknacket "  and 
precious  keepsake  that  no  one  but  a  mother 
would  ever  think  of.  She  bids  him  remember 
her,  as  she  will  remember  him  in  her  prayers 
night  and  day.  "My  son,  if  sinners  entice 
thee,  consent  thou  not!"  Homesj)un  father 
has  his  good  counsels  also — never  to  shirk 
hard  work  and  never  to  stain  his  lips  with  a 
lie,  or  an  oath,  or  an  intoxicating  cup.  And 
so  the  young  eaglet  leaves  the  old  rustic  nest — 
borne  out  on  the  wings  of  prayer  and  parental 
affection,  and  with  warm  kisses  and  tears 
rained  on  the  young,  resolute  face.  He  must 
try  his  own  wings  now  and  learn  to  fly  for 
himself.  With  sturdy  arm  and  sharp  self-de- 
nial and  patient  toil  he  soon  begins  to  push 
upward.  First  failures  and  some  disappoint- 
ments, instead  of  scorching  his  courage,  only 
fire  him  to  fresh  ventures  and  more  disciplined 
endeavors.  That  mighty  arm  of  God,  that 
helps  those  who  bravely  help  themselves, 
steadies  him  forward  in  his  persistent  push, 


STIRRING   THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  1 

until  he  is  able  at  last  to  build  liis  own  nest 
among  the  cliffs  with  a  free  eagle  spirit.  He 
becomes  the  thrifty  man  of  business,  the  use- 
ful citizen — and  when  ascending  prayers  have 
returned  in  converting  grace  he  becomes  the 
earnest  follower  of  Christ.  For  as  surely  as 
good  plowing  and  good  planting  ]3roduce 
good  crops,  so  surely  does  wise  and  godly  nur- 
ture yield  an  after  life  of  secular  and  spiritual 
good-fruitage.  This  is  the  rule,  which  no  oc- 
casional exception  can  invalidate. 

Whoever  of  you  would  have  your  sons  and 
daughters  make  your  hearts  rejoice  must  not 
dream  that  they  can  be  left  at  home  to  shift- 
less indolence,  or  enervating  self-indulgence. 
Next  to  teaching  your  children  Christ,  teach 
them  to  work.  "  He  who  brings  up  a  child  to 
no  trade,  brings  up  a  child  for  the  devil,"  is  an 
old  Jewish  proverb  worthy  of  observance  in 
our  modern  American  homes.  Try  to  discover 
just  what  your  children  were  made  for  ;  set 
before  them  the  highest  and  the  holiest  aims, 
and  impress  upon  them  that  life  is  only  a  trust 
to  be  held  for  God  and  for  the  good  of  others. 
Then  stir  the  nest,  and  let  the  young  eaglets 
fly !  So  rose  the  shepherd  boy  Sanderson  to 
the  astronomic  chair  of  Edinburgh  University, 
and  the  weaver  boy  Livingstone  to  be  the  sub- 
limest  missionary  hero  of  our  time.  So  rose 
our  beloved  Lincoln  from  his  frontier  cabin  to 
that  lofty  eminence  in  which  his  heaven-or- 


8  STIBEIHG   THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

dained  mission  was  to  bind  up  the  Union  and 
to  unbind  the  slave.  The  younger  Franklin 
was  pushed  out  of  the  nest  to  struggle  for 
himself  ;  and  he  rose  among  the  clouds  to  play 
with  the  forked  lightnings.  It  was  from  hum- 
ble beginnings  in  a  Kelvedon  cottage  that 
Spurgeon  wheeled  uj)  in  his  majestic  flight — 
the  royalest  eagle  of  our  modern  ministry. 

II.  Now,  in  the  second  place,  let  us  advance 
to  a  more  directly  spiritual  asi)ect  of  this  sub- 
ject. God  deals  with  His  children  as  the  eagle 
deals  with  her  young.  He  sees  that  His  chil- 
dren are  too  often  determined  to  nestle.  They 
build  earthly  nests  for  themselves  ;  surround 
themselves  with  various  comforts  and  luxuries, 
and  then  settle  down  to  enjoy  them.  Instead 
of  setting  their  affections  on  things  above, 
they  set  them  on  things  beneath  ;  instead  of 
seeking  to  become  "rich  toward  God"  they 
are  selfishly  content  to  be  rich  from  God.  As 
wealth  enlarges,  worldly  ambition  enlarges  al- 
so; and  I  do  not  observe  that  grace  always 
grows  in  the  same  ratio  with  a  growing  in- 
come. The  new  circumstances  and  conditions 
bring  new  ideas  of  living,  new  expenditures, 
and  new  luxuries.  The  old  residence  (for  ex- 
ample) must  be  supplanted  with  a  mansion 
whose  splendor  shall  reflect  the  splendid  flnan- 
cial  successes  of  its  owner.  And  in  the  deco- 
ration of  it,  what  braiujracking  and  consulta- 
tion and  absorption  of  time  and  thought  and 


STIRRINO   TEE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  9 

treasure !  When  the  ambitious  design  has 
been  carried  out,  and  pride  lias  added  the  top- 
stone  to  its  temple,  then  the  flatteries  and 
congratulations  of  summer  friends  begin  to 
ascend  like  intoxicating  incense  into  tlie  nos- 
trils of  the  lord  of  the  manor.  "  This  will  do 
now,"  says  Brother  Plutus  to  himself  com- 
placently ;  "I  will  take  comfort.  Business 
thrives.  My  Avife  and  daughters  are  gaining 
the  entree  of  all  perfumed  precincts  of  so- 
ciety." So  he  nestles.  They  all  nestle  in  a 
most  luxurious  state  of  spiritual  slumber. 
Their  piety  has  been  rocked  to  sleep  in  that 
sumptuous  nest.  The  devotions  and  the  re- 
ligious duties,  which  belonged  to  their  humbler 
and  better  days,  are  nowascomx)letely  ^a&ooe^ 
as  is  a  yellow-fever  patient  at  the  gates  of  the 
Quarantine  hospital. 

Well,  now,  if  God  strikes  in  upon  that  nest 
with  crushing  disasters  or  bereavements,  do  you 
wonder?  If  bankruptcy  bring  that  splendid 
establishment  to  the  hammer,  or  if  calamity 
sweep  away  those  idols ;  if  Death  mount 
those  sumptuous  stairways  and  writes  pale- 
ness on  some  cheek  of  roses,  do  you  wonder  ? 
God  saw  that  His  children  were  beginning  to 
nestle  and  to  become  too  worldly  for  their 
soul's  health.  So  He  stirred  up  that  nest  of 
self-indulgence,  and  in  the  very  way  that  they 
would  feel  most  keenly.  Not  in  revenge  does 
He  do  it;  not  in  cruelty,  but  in  love  to  their 


10  STIRRING   THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

souls,  and  in  tender  jealousy  for  the  honor  of 
their  Christian  name  and  character.  When 
any  member  of  Christ's  flock  suri-ounds  him- 
self— or  herself — with  worldl}^  idols,  and  sur- 
renders the  heart  to  them,  and  worships  them, 
and  robs  Christ  for  them,  then  he  or  she  m^y 
expect  that  neglected  Saviour  to  break  up  that 
idol- worship — even  if  sharj)  chastisements  be 
employed  to  accomplish  it.  Ah!  have  we  not 
often  seen  such  awakened  and  smitten  souls 
start  up  from  their  spiritual  slumbers  and  try 
once  more  a  flight  heavenward?  Have  we  not 
seen  them — with  wings  that  had  been  weakened 
by  long  disuse — endeavor  to  soar  again?  As 
an  eagle  taketli  her  j^oung  upon  her  wings  and 
beareth  them,  so  the  patient  love  of  God  has 
borne  up  His  backslidden  and  penitent  chil- 
dren. He  has  taken  them  on  the  strong  pin- 
ions of  His  imparted  grace.  He  has  kindled 
by  His  Holy  Spirit  fresh  desires  after  Him, 
and  awakened  their  torpid  affections.  They 
have  gone  back  to  their  Bibles  and  to  their 
knees.  To  the  cross  have  they  gone — in  con- 
fession and  in  tears,  and  have  sought  the  for- 
giveness of  Him  who  has  been  wounded  in  the 
house  of  His  friends.  They  have  laid  hold 
again  of  long  neglected  duties,  and  honestly 
confessed,  "  it  is  good  for  me  that  I  have  been 
afflicted;  for  before  I  was  chastised  I  went 
astray."  God  is  dealing  with  them  as  with 
sons  f  and  what  wayward  and  disobedient  son, 


STIRRING   THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  11 

is  there  that  He  chastiseth  not  ?  "He  restoreth 
my  soul !  "  is  the  joyful  cry  of  the  pardoned 
and  reconverted  backslider,  as  he  rises  once 
more  into  the  sweet  and  full  communion  with 
his  forgiving  Lord.     His  song  now  is  : 

"And  as  on  eagle's  wings  I  soar 
I  see  the  face  of  Christ  once  more, 
And  heaven  comes  down  my  soul  to  meet 
And  glory  crowns  the  mercy-seat." 

III.  Let  US  now  advance  to  a  third  thought 
suggested  by  this  prolific  passage.  When  God 
permits  any  immortal  being  to  nestle  down  in 
worldly  possessions  or  sinful  pleasures,  undis- 
turbed, unaroused,  and  unawakened,  is  it  not  a 
terrible  calamity  ?  Could  a  greater  curse  come 
upon  such  a  person  than  to  be  let  alone  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  ?  Would  not  that  "  nest "  of  self- 
ishness and  hardened  indifference  to  God  be- 
come the  prelude  to  righteous  divine  wrath 
and  red  burnino-s  ?  If  the  vouno-  easrlet  would 
become  a  sorry  weakling  in  its  nest,  and  finally 
be  left  to  starve  if  it  were  never  trained  to  fly, 
how  true  it  is,  also,  that  any  soul  that  is  left 
alone  in  gu^'^'y  indifference  and  unbelief  will 
come  to  eternal  ruin.  It  is  divine  love  that 
awakens  the  sinner  to  his  guilt  and  danger. 
Love  sends  the  arrow  of  conviction  into  the 
soul.  Love  drives  that  arrow  in  deeper  and 
deeper.  God  so  loves  the  self-condemned  sin- 
ner that  He  not  only  has  sent  His  only-begot- 
teii  Son  to  die  for  him,  but  sends  His  awakei^- 


12  STIRIUKG    THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

ing  Spirit  with  the  tlirilling  appeal,  "Awake 
thou  that  sleepest !  turn  ye ;  turn  ye ;  for 
wliy  Avill  ye  die  ?  "  God  stirs  him  up.  The  liv- 
ing gospel  comes  with  strong,  fearless  hand, 
and  overturns  his  refuges  of  lies — rips  to 
pieces  his  self-i'ighteousness — reveals  to  him 
his  guilt  and  the  divine  disx)leasure  with  his 
sins — and  bids  him  repent  and  prepare  to  meet 
his  oflPended  God.  As  the  hooked  talon  of  the 
parent  eagle  shakes  the  nest  and  stirs  out  the 
younglings,  so  God's  Spirit  with  the  arm  of 
Truth  shakes  the  sinner  from  his  false  security. 
As  with  an  Ithuriel  spear — keen  and  sharp  as  the 
lightning — the  Holy  Spirit  arouses  the  guilty 
soul  to  the  enormous  sinfulness  of  sin,  and 
points  him  to  the  cross  before  him,  the  heaven 
above  him,  and  the  hell  beneath  him  !  Into 
his  ears  the  trumpet  voice  proclaims — "the 
wages  of  sin  is"  death  ;  but  the  gift  of  God  is 
eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ!"  And  so 
the  fire  that  is  kindled  in  his  conscience  drives 
the  convicted  transgressor  to  the  cross  of  Cal- 
vary. This  has  been,  in  innumerable  cases, 
the  process  of  our  Heavenly  Father  in  bringing 
myriads  of  His  children  to  the  new  life  here, 
and  the  endless  life  hereafter. 

Say  you  that  this  is  harsh  or  unkind  ?  Say 
you  that  the  threatenings  of  God's  holy  Word 
or  the  utterances  of  a  faithful  puli>it  against 
sin  are  wanton  cruelty  ?  Nay  verily.  They 
are    the  very  essence  of  loving-kindness.     A 


STIRRINO    THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  13 

cathartic  medicine  may  be  very  nauseous,  but  a 
wise  physician  often  administers  it  in  mercy  to 
his  sick  patient.  It  was  a  terrible  process  for 
our  brave  ' '  boys  in  blue  "  to  be  bound  to  the  sur- 
geon's  table  and  to  see  the  amputating-knife 
flashed  before  their  eyes  ;  but  better  lose  a  limb 
than  a  life.  No  one  likes  to  be  startled  out  of 
a  comfortable  sleeji  at  midnight ;  but  if  you 
see  the  black  smoke  belching  out  of  your  neigh- 
bor's window  you  do  not  hesitate  to  break  into 
his  house  with  the  cry  of  "  Fire  !  fire  !  fire  !  " 
and  to  drag  him  and  his  household  out  through 
the  suffocating  smoke  and  flame.  It  were  a 
diabolical  cruelty  not  to  stir  up  that  home-nest 
on  which  the  flames  were  kindling.  One  of 
our  most  heroic  Arctic  explorers  tells  us  that 
several  of  his  men  who  had  left  the  vessel  were 
lost  amid  drifting  snow  and  ice  for  two  whole 
days.  When  found  they  were  barely  alive. 
Alcohol  had  frozen  in  a  bottle  by  their  side, 
and  the  thermometer  marked  seventy  degrees 
below  freezing-point.  Dreamy  slumbers — 
mingled  with  visions  of  delightful  sleep  by 
warm  firesides — were  stealing  over  the  poor, 
freezing  creatures  that  were  almost  benumbed 
in  death.  As  they  were  dragged  back  through 
forty  hours  of  terrible  march  over  ice-fields, 
the  stoutest  of  them  begged  to  "lie  down 
and  sleep."  "We  are  not  cold,"  they  pro- 
tested, "  we  only  want  to  lie  down  and  rest." 
An  hour  of  treacherous  slumber  would  have 


14  STIRRING  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

left  each  one  a  stiffened  corpse.  Their  leader 
was  compelled  to  beat  them,  beg  them,  threaten 
them — anything  to  keep  off  the  fatal  lethargy 
until  the  vessel  could  be  reached.  Poor  fel- 
lows !  they  were  delirious  with  pain  and  hun- 
ger when  they  staggered  over  the  icy  deck  of 
the  brig  into  the  cabin  with  its  reviving  warmth. 
But  they  were  saved.  The  hand  tliat  roused 
them  loas  the  hand  that  saved  them.  Every 
soul  in  this  assembly  who  ever  reaches  heaven 
will  be  forced  to  make  the  same  acknowledg- 
ment ;  the  arm  that  aroused  us  in  our  guilt  will 
be  the  theme  of  our  gratitude  in  the  realms  of 
glory. 

Oh,  my  brethren,  is  there  no  resemblance  be- 
tween that  Arctic  scene  and  the  condition  of  the 
Church  whose  members  lie  down  and  freeze  to- 
gether into  a  spiritual  ioT^ov  1  As  their  active 
energies  become  slowly  benumbed,  their  sense 
of  safety  becomes  more  serene  and  complacent. 
They  are  satisfied  with  their  preaching  and  their 
privileges — satisfied  with  themselves — and  sat- 
isfied to  let  perishing  souls  stumble  over  them 
into  perdition  !  All  they  ask  for  is — peace  and 
the  quiet  enjoyment  of  their  well  spread  table. 

Now  into  such  an  orthodox  refrigerator — 
where  the  only  unity  consists  in  their  being 
"  frozen  solid" — God  has  often  sent  His  Holy 
Spirit  to  stir  them  up,  and  bring  them  to  re- 
pentance. Sometimes  He  has  done  this  by  the 
voice  of  a  fearless  ambassador,  and  sometimes 


STIRRING   THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  15 

by  tlie  voice  of  a  startling  Providence.  At  first 
the  stiffened  limbs  were  slow  to  move,  and  the 
rigid  lips  were  slow  to  articulate.  But  the 
baptism  of  tire  descended — and  the  love  of 
Jesus,  shed  abroad  in  some  hearts,  enkindled 
others  until  the  blessed  flame  of  a  genuine 
E-evival  set  the  whole  Church  aglow  !  Oh, 
blessed  Jesus !  source  of  all  light  and  life, 
pour  thyself  into  all  our  souls  as  a  flame  of  fire, 
quickening  us  to  a  new  life,  warming  our  affec- 
tions to  a  sacred  glow,  consuming  our  unholy 
passions  and  lusts,  filling  us  with  the  power 
from  on  high,  and  making  us  all  burning  and 
shining  lights  for  Thine  own  honor  and  glory  ! 
ly.  Before  I  close  let  me  interject  into  this 
discussion  a  very  practical  truth  suggested  by 
an  incident  of  eagle  life.  It  is  said  that  a  shep- 
herd once  observed  an  eagle  soar  away  from 
the  brow  of  a  lofty  cliff  into  the  air.  The 
movements  of  the  bird  soon  became  eccentric  ; 
it  descended  in  its  course ;  soon  one  wing- 
dropped  and  then  the  other,  and  in  a  few  mo- 
ments the  noble  bird  fell  rapidly  to  the  ground. 
The  shepherd  picked  up  the  dead  bird  to  ex- 
amine the  cause  of  its  eccentric  movements  and 
its  fall.  He  discovered  that  a  small  serpent 
had  fastened  itself  under  the  bird' s  wing  and 
pierced  its  way  into  the  flesh  ;  and  when  the 
deadly  fangs  reached  the  heart,  the  poor  eagle 
fell  !  This,  too,  is  a  parable— with  quite  too 
many  melancholy  fulfillments  on  every  side  of 


16  STIRRING   THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

US.  We  have  sometimes  seen  a  person  rise  into 
a  prominent  position  of  influence  in  the  Church 
and  in  the  community.  But  presently  his  con- 
duct began  to  excite  suspicion  and  then  alarm, 
and  ere  long  he  was  prostrate  in  the  dust — a 
pitiable  spectacle  for  scoffers  to  jeer  at  and  for 
charity  to  weep  over.  The  eye  of  God  saw 
what  we  had  not  suspected — how  some  secret 
sin — some  departure  from  strict  integrity,  or 
some  indulgence  of  fleshly  lusts,  or  some  con- 
cealed crime  against  conscience,  or  some  other 
deadly  sin  against  the  Holy  Spirit,  had  struck 
its  way  into  the  heart,  and  brought  the  eagle 
down  !  Whosoever  thinketh  that  he  standeth, 
let  him  take  heed  lest  he  fall.  All  sin  is  de- 
ceitful, but  never  more  so  than  when  it  fastens 
itself  upon  a  Christian  ;  and  may  God  in  His 
tender  mercy  help  you  and  me  to  beware  of  the 
serjpent  at  the  heart ! 

The  parable  that  we  have  chosen  for  our  topic 
to-day  is  prolific  in  more  suggestion  and  in- 
struction than  we  have  time  now  to  consider. 
There  is  one,  however,  that  must  not  be  omitted. 
When  the  eagle  has  stirred  up  her  nest  and 
brought  out  her  younglings,  she  teacheth  them 
to  soar.  From  the  lower  atmosphere  of  earth 
she  beareth  them  upward  toward  the  em- 
pyrean. It  is  her  congenial  atmosphere — for 
which  she  was  created.  Sparrows  may  twitter 
on  the  house-tops  ;  wrens  may  flit  among  the 
shrubbery,  and  owls  may  hoot  in  the  midnight 


STIRRING   THE  EAGLE'S  NEST.  17 

forest.  But  eagles  are  children  of  the  skies, 
and  playmates  of  the  storm.  With  stalwart 
wings  they  rise  above  the  clouds  and  fly  in 
company  wdth  the  sun. 

''They  that  wait  on  the  Lord  shall  renew 
their  strength  ;  they  shall  mount  up  with  wings 
as  eagles."  God  desires  that  every  soul  that 
waits  on  Him  shall  not  creep,  or  grovel  in  the 
muck  of  worldliness,  or  crouch  in  wretched 
bondage  to  men  or  devils.  When  a  soul  is 
joined  to  Jesus  by  faith,  that  soul  finds  wings. 
Such  an  one  has  his  "  citizenship  in  the  heav- 
ens." He  catches  inspiration  from  the  in- 
dwelling Spirit.  He  rises  above  the  chilling 
fogs  of  doubt,  gains  wide  and  ennobling  out- 
look, and  actually  realizes  his  heirship  to  a  celes- 
tial inheritance.  He  outflies  the  petty  vexations 
that  worry  the  worldling,  and  the  lusts  which 
drag  the  sensual  soul  dowm  into  the  mire.  His 
inner  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  What  to 
him,  in  his  best  hours  and  holiest  fellowship 
with  Jesus — what  to  him  is  the  fear  of  man  or 
the  greed  of  gold,  or  the  sting  of  poverty,  or  the 
grief  of  bereavement,  or  the  apprehension  of 
coming  death  ?  What  cares  the  eagle,  as  he 
bathes  his  wing  in  the  translucent  sunbeam — 
for  the  turmoil,  the  smoke,  the  clouds,  or  even 
the  lightning  that  plays  beneath  him  ?  His 
companionship  is  with  the  King  of  day.  So, 
a  heaven-bound  soul,  filled  with  the  joys  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  flies  in  company  with  God! 


18  STIRRING   THE  EAGLE'S  NEST. 

The  nearer  you  and  I  get  to  God,  the  purer 
will  be  our  si3iritual  atmosphere,  and  the  more 
thoroughly,  humbly,  and  earnestly  will  we  dis- 
charge every  duty  to  our  fellow-men.  Nor  will 
we  expect  to  reach  heaven  before  our  time. 
We  shall  not  be  "  flighty  "  in  our  aims  or  ''  air- 
ish  "  with  vain-glory  even  when  we  rise  into 
the  fullest  fellowship  with  the  Unseen  and  the 
Eternal.  Blessed  be  the  trials,  however  sharp, 
tliat  keep  us  from  nestling  down  into  selfish- 
ness and  sloth  !  Blessed  be  the  discipline,  how- 
ever painful  or  severe,  that  stirs  up  our  nests 
and  teaches  us  to  live  as  sons  and  daughters  of 
the  Almighty  and  heirs  of  our  unfading  crown  ! 


II. 

THE  NEW  BIRTH. 


II. 

THE  NEW  BIRTH. 

"Ye  must  be  born  anew."— John  iii,  7  (Revised  Version). ' 

Probably  the  most  remarkable  conversa- 
tion that  ever  took  place  between  any  two  per- 
sons on  this  globe  was  that  which  occurred  up- 
on an  evening  in  Easter  week  in  the  city  of 
Jerusalem.  It  was  made  so  remarkable  both 
by  the  character  of  the  conversers  and  the 
vital  magnitude  of  the  themes  which  were 
presented.  Into  a  score  of  brief  verses  are 
condensed  the  core  truths  out  of  which  have 
sprouted  whole  forests  of  discourses  and  com- 
mentaries. The  great  central  truths  of 
Christianity — human  guilt,  the  atonement  by 
Christ,  regeneration  by  the  Spirit,  tlie 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  God's  love  in  redemp- 
tion, the  need  and  the  nature  of  faith,  and  the 
promise  of  heaven — are  all  packed  into  this 
one  short,  simple,  solemn  talk.  Just  such  an 
"inquiry  meeting"  was  never  held  before  or 
since.  Two  persons  composed  it :  the  one 
was  the  Teacher  come  from  God  ;  the  other 
was  a  teacher  who  came  from  the  Jewish 
Sanhedrim.  The  one  person  was  Jesus  Christ- 
si 


22  THE  NEW  BIRTH. 

the  other  was  Nicodemus,  the  Pharisee — in 
fact,  the  only  Pharisee  that  we  ever  read  of 
as  coming  to  Christ  in  tlie  liumble  attitude  of 
a  seeker  after  truth.  This  Pharisee  came  to 
Jesus  at  night,  by  lamplight.  Six  years  after- 
Avard  another  Pharisee  was  brought  to  Jesus 
at  noonday  in  a  flash  of  liglitning. 

St.  John  is  the  only  one  of  the  four  evan- 
gelists who  has  recorded  the  conversation 
which  we  are  now  to  study.  As  John  had  a 
''home  '  in  Jerusalem,  it  is  very  probable  that 
Jesus  was  lodging  with  him  during  the  season 
of  the  Passover.  To  the  dwelling  in  wdiich 
Christ  is  stopping  comes  this  Nicodemus,  a 
member  of  the  proud  sect  of  the  Pharisees,  a 
ruler  of  the  Jews,  a  councilor  of  the  San- 
hedrim. This  is  about  all  we  are  told  of  him. 
As  he  was  an  honest  Jew,  he  expected  the  ap- 
proach of  the  Messiah  ;  as  he  was  a  thought- 
ful man,  he  may  have  been  thinking :  "Per- 
haps this  extraordinary  character  who  is  work- 
ing such  miracles -may  be  the  Messiah;  who 
knows?"  So  he  sallies  off  to  hold  an  inter- 
view with  the  stranger.  It  would  have  been  a 
very  bold  and  hazardous  step  for  him  to  visit 
Jesus  in  broad  daylight ;  he  was  himself  a 
member  of  the  high  court  of  the  Sanhedrim, 
and  this  Jesus  of  Nazareth  had  aroused  a  vio- 
lent commotion  by  scourging  a  herd  of  hucks- 
ters and  money-changers  out  of  the  Temple 
Jbazaars,    If  Nicodemus  had  not  been  iii  de^d 


THE  NEW  BIRTH.  23 

earnest,  lie  would  not  have  come  to  Jesus  at 
all.  Do  not  stigmatize  the  ruler  as  a  coward  : 
there  are  scores  in  our  congregations  who  have 
not  acted  yet  as  bravely  and  as  sensibly  as  he. 
At  night  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  are  not 
thronged  ;  no  city  lamps  illuminate  the  nar- 
row thoroughfares.  Here  and  there  a  few 
poor  women  may  be  grinding  out  their  grain 
in  the  hand-mill,  or  a  Roman  sentinel  may  be 
pacing  his  rounds.  A  strong  spring  wind  is 
sweei^ing  through  the  streets,  for  it  suggests 
the  illustration  which  Jesus  would  soon  give 
of  the  mysterious  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
like  an  unseen  breeze,  upon  the  soul.  Through 
the  silent  streets  Nicodemus  hurries  along, 
perhaps  concealing  his  face  with  his  mantle. 
He  climbs  the  outside  stairway  and  reaches 
the  guest-chamber  on  the  roof.  A  plain, 
coarsely  clad  personage  is  sitting  there  by  his 
olive-oil  lamp— perhaps  all  alone,  perhaps  con- 
versing with  his  host,  the  disciple  John. 
Mcodemus  enters,  extends  his  jeweled  hand 
to  the  Nazarene,  bows  his  turban  in  respectful 
reverence,  and  addresses  him  with  the  honor- 
able appellation  of  "  Rabbi,"  which  signifies 
a  great  teacher,  a  superior  teacher.  "Rabbi," 
says  the  Pharisee,  "  we  know  that  thou  art  a 
teacher  come  from  God  ;  for  no  man  can  do 
these  miracles  that  thou  doest  except  God  be 
with  him."  This  sentence  of  Nicodemus  is 
very  incomplete,    but  it  is  respectful  ;    it  is 


24  THE  NEW  BIRTH. 

honest ;  it  admits  that  Christ  is  adivinel}^  sent 
instructor  ;  it  o^jens  the  way. 

Jesus  meets  it  with  calm  dignity,  and  does 
not  begin  to  play  sycoi)hant  and  assure  his 
titled  visitor  what  a  distinguished  honor  he 
has  done  hhn  by  calling  on  him.  Calmly  and 
kindly  looking  the  ruler  not  only  in  the  eye, 
but  in  the  heart,  he  startles  him  with  the 
abrupt  and  solemn  declaration,  "  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  thee.  Except  a  man  be  horn 
again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 
Such  were  the  startling  words  as  they  are  ren- 
dered in  our  Common  Version.  But  Cover- 
dale's  translation  of  the  New  Testament  and 
some  other  versions  make  it  read,  "Except  a 
man  be  born  from  above,  he  cannot  see  the 
kingdom  of  God,"  The  Greek  word  "ano- 
then"  has  two  significations:  it  sometimes 
means  "from  above,"  and  sometimes  it  means 
"from  the  beginning,"  "over  again"  or 
"anew."  While  it  is  true  that  every  genu- 
ine Christian  is  "born  of  God,"  and  is  thus 
regenerated  from  above,  yet  Christ  intended 
to  tell  Nicodemus  that  he  must  have  the  sec- 
ond birth,  the  spiritual  birth,  if  he  would  ever 
hope  to  enter  God's  kingdom.  The  word 
"a^am"  is  not  a  happy  word  to  be  used 
here,  because  "again"  implies  a  repetition 
of  the  same  old  previous  process.  But  the 
word  "anew"  signifies  that  Nicodenius  should 
pass  through  a  new  birth  that  might  be  anal- 


THE  NEW  BIRTH.  26 

ogous  to  a  physical  birtli,  but  by  no  means  the 
same  process. 

The  Jewish  ruler  evidently  misunderstands 
Christ.  He  grasps  hold  of  the  poor,  pitiful 
idea  of  a  second  bodily  birth,  and  with  unaf- 
fected wonder  he  asks,  "How  can  a  man  be 
born  when  he  is  an  old  man  ?  Can  he  enter 
the  womb  a  second  time  and  be  born?" 

Jesus  does  not  either  reproach  or  ridicule 
the  ruler  for  his  Avant  of  apx3rehension,  as 
some  unwise  teachers  get  out  of  patience  with 
a  dull  scholar  who  is  not  quick  to  catch  an 
idea.  He  explains  his  meaning.  He  knew  that 
Nicodemus  considered  himself  as  belonging  to 
the  kingdom  of  God,  because  he  had  a  natural 
birth  from  the  "seed"  or  stock  of  Abraham. 
Jesus  explodes  this  delusion  at  once  by  giving 
Nicodemus  to  understand  that  the  kingdom  of 
God  was  for  Gentiles  as  well  as  for  Jews,  and 
was  not  monopolized  by  Abraham's  descend- 
ants, but  was  open  to  everybody  through  one 
single  door,  and  that  was  a  new  spiritual  birth. 
A  new  life  must  begin,  of  which  the  Divine 
Spirit  is  the  only  author — a  new  heart,  issuing 
in  new  conduct  and  new  character.  This  is 
the  tremendous  truth  which  the  Son  of  God 
(who  sat  beside  him  in  human  clothes)  opens 
up  to  the  astonished  Pharisee. 

"  Verily,  verily" — as  if  he  wanted  to  drive 
the  nail  of  conviction  in  strong — "verily,  ver- 
ily, I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be  born  of 


26  THE  -NEW  BIRTH. 

water  and  of  the  Spirit  lie  cannot  enter  the 
kingdom  of  God.  That  which  is  born  of  flesh 
is  flesh  ;  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit 
is  spirit."  Water  and  Spirit  are  the  two  sig- 
nificant words  which  Christ  eni^^loys.  The 
first  word  signifies  cleansing,  and  the  second 
word  signifies  quickening  into  life.  Nicode- 
mus  required  purification  and  a  renewal  of  the 
whole  man.  His  old  filthy  heart,  defiled  with 
sin,  must  be  purified.  Old  sins  must  be  re- 
pented of  and  abandoned.  He  must  die  unto 
sin  before  he  could  be  born  unto  righteousness. 
The  old  evil  life  must  die  out,  and  a  new  life — a 
life  produced  by  God  himself — must  begin  to 
exist,  just  as  truly  as  a  baby  begins  to  exist 
when  it  enters  this  world. 

"  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh." 
Jesus  teaches  his  wondering  pupil  that  the 
physical  body  and  mental  organism  which  the 
babe  receives  from  its  parents  is  just  like  that 
of  the  parents.  The  "flesh"  is  that  part  of 
our  nature  which  unites  us  to  this  material 
world;  the  "spirit"  is  that  which  unites  us 
to  the  unseen  and  eternal  world.  This  spirit- 
ual part  of  us  was  to  be  so  changed  by  God's 
Spirit  that  we  would  enter  into  a  new  state  of 
being.  ]N"icodemus  must  not  only  begin  to  act 
differently,  but  he  must  he  a  different  man  in 
the  very  core  and  heart  of  him.  Observe  care- 
fully here  that  Christ  does  not  say  to  Mcode- 
mus,   "  Now  you  must  lop  off  your  old  praq- 


THE  NEW  BIRTH.  27 

tices,  and  you  must  lower  your  Pharisaical 
pride,  and  you  must  not  behave  like  some  of 
your  brethren  who  eat  up  the  property  of  poor 
widows  and  then  varnish  their  sins  with  long 
prayers."  IS'othing  of  all  this — nothing,  in 
short,  about  acts  and  practices  of  any  kind. 
Jesus  cleaves  right  to  the  very  root,  and  says 
to  his  auditor,  "  You  must  be  a  new  man." 
This  new  birth,  or  what  we  call  regeneration,  is 
vastly  more  than  a  change  of  mental  acts  or  of 
external  practices.  Regeneration  is  the  im- 
planting of  a  new  controlling  principle  in  the 
human  soul.  No  new  faculty  is  introduced, 
but  a  new  disposition  and  spiritual  taste ; 
things  once  loved  are  hated,  things  once  hated 
are  now  loved.  Over  and  over  again  the  word  of 
God  recognizes  tins  truth,  that  a  person  may  be 
so  revolutionized  in  his  affections,  tastes,  and 
disposition  that  it  is  nothing  less  than  a  new 
birth  into  a  new  life.  In  the  old  parchment 
copy  of  the  Psalms,  which  Nicodemus  had  often 
heard  read  in  his  synagogue,  was  this  fervent 
prayer  of  the  Psalmist,  "  Create  in  me,  O  God, 
a  clean  heart."  David  referred  here  to  the 
very  fountain  head  of  thought,  word,  and  deed 
— to  that  inner  disposition  or  controlling  prin- 
ciple Avhich  lies  heliind  all  words  and  deeds. 
Christ  referred  to  the  same  inner  source  of  all 
conduct  and  character  when  he  declared  that 
''  a  good  tree  bringeth  forth  good  fruits,  and  a 
corrupt  tree  bringeth  forth  evil  fruits."     The 


28  THE  NEW  BIRTH. 

heart  is  the  tree  ;  the  words  and  tlie  daily  con- 
duct are  the  fruits.  Nicodemus  had  no  doubt 
himself  recognized  the  existence  of  this  inter- 
nal disposition,  which  is  the  basis  of  moral 
character.  One  of  his  own  boys,  perhaj^s,  was 
a  joy  and  crown  to  him  because  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  being  trnthful,  kind,  and  obedient. 
Another  son  may  have  constantly  tormented 
him  and  the  whole  liousehold  by  his  spiteful 
retorts  and  malicious  pranks.  Therefore,  the 
father  spoke  of  one  as  a  noble-hearted  boy  and 
the  other  as  a  l)ad-hearted  boy.  It  Avas  the 
habit  of  the  one  to  do  well,  and  the  habit  of  the 
other  to  do  badly.  This  habit  or  disposition 
is  not  a  sei:>arate  mental  faculty ;  it  is  some- 
thing that  may  be  totally  changed  as  to  its  char- 
acter, so  that  a  person  may  have  one  kind  of 
moral  disposition  or  habit  of  heart  at  one  period 
of  life,  and  the  very  opposite  disposition  at 
another  period.  A  boy  maybe  so  generous  as 
to  share  his  Christmas  gifts  with  his  2)lay mates. 
In  his  old  age  he  may  become  such  a  miser 
that  he  begrudges  the  lamplight  to  "  see  to  die 
by." 

There  is  such  a  thing,  then,  as  a  controlling 
disposition,  taste,  and  habit  of  mind  that  lies 
behind  and  beneath  all  conduct.  It  is  the 
source  of  conduct,  it  shapes  character.  The 
Bible  calls  it  "the  lieart.'^^  Regeneration  is 
the  radical  change  of  that  heart.  A  new  birth 
is  the  beginning  of  a  new  style  of  thinking, 


THE  NEW  BIRTH.  29 

feeling,  deciding,  and  acting.  One  morning 
Saul  of  Tarsus  was  a  bitter  persecutor,  with  his 
heart  on  fire  with  hatred  of  Jesus.  Before 
sunset  he  was  so  utterly  revolutionized,  that 
he  was  down  on  his  knees  praying  to  that 
very  crucified  Christ  for  pardon  and  guidance. 
Saul  was  the  same  man  in  bodily  form  and  men- 
tal faculties  ;  he  was  a  totally  different  man  in 
his  spiritual  dispositions.  Nautically  sj^eak- 
ing,  it  was  the  same  ship,  but  with  another 
hand  at  the  helm,  another  ensign  at  the  peak, 
and  the  bow  '*  headed''  in  the  very  opposite 
course  from  which  she  had  been  sailing  before. 
Saul  had  a  new  birth  on  that  memorable  day  ; 
it  was  his  spiritual  birthday.  A  new  life  came 
into  his  soul,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  toas 
that  life.  "  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life  ; 
he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not  life." 
Huxley  and  Herbert  Spencer  admit  that  in  the 
natural  world  no  life  was  ever  self -generated, 
and  that  only  life  can  produce  life.  In  the 
spiritual  world  the  same  law  holds  true ;  and 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  declared  that  except  a 
man  be  born  anew — i.  e.^  receives  a  new  life  into 
his  soul — he  can  never  enter  the  kingdom  of 
God. 

All  this  is  now  the  central  and  the  simple 
truth  of  gospel  teaching — a  truth  that  the  boy 
and  girl  of  the  Sabbath  school  can  grasp  and 
understand.  Dr.  Leifchild  tells  us  tliat  he  once 
met  a  lad  twelve  years  old  at  a  tollgate  who 


80  THE  NEW  BIRTH. 

had  a  Testament  in  his  hand.  "  Can  you  read 
it  ?"  inquired  the  doctor.  "  To  be  sure  I  can. 
I  can  read  to  you  this :  '  Except  a  man  be  born 
again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God.'  " 
"What  does  that  mean,  my  boy?"  The  lad 
quickly  replied:  "It  means  a  great  change. 
To  be  born  again  means  something  Jtere  [lay- 
his  liand  upon  his  breast],  and  the  kingdom 
of  God  means  something  up  yonder.^''  That 
boy  had  got  hold  of  the  very  core  of  Bible  the- 
ology. 

II.  But  what  was  so  clearly  revealed  to  that 
lad  in  his  Bil)le  was  yet  a  mystery  and  a  puzzle 
to  the  Jewish  ruler  who  sat  on  that  April  even- 
ing beside  the  great  Teacher  from  Nazareth. 
Nicodemus,  startled  and  bewildered  with  this 
new  gospel  of  regeneration,  inquires,  "Rabbi, 
how  can  these  things  be  ?"  Jesus  employs  an 
illustration  close  at  hand  in  order  to  explain 
this  "how"  which  so  perplexes  the  ruler. 
Listen  to  that  night  wind  as  it  whistles  through 
the  silent  streets.  Its  sound  is  distinctly  audi- 
ble ;  when  it  shakes  and  bends  the  trees  over 
on  Olivet  its  effects  are  distinctly  visible.  Yet 
no  eye  sees  the  wind.  "  Thou  hearest  the  sound 
thereof,"  says  Jesus  toNicodemus,  "but canst 
not  tell  whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth ; 
so  is  everyone  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."  The 
wind  is  invisible,  so  is  the  Spirit  of  God.  The 
laws  which  govern  the  wind  are  not  compre- 
hended ;  neither  are  those  by  which  the  Holy 


THE  NEW  BIRTH.  31 

Spirit  acts  on  the  human  soul.  The  presence 
of  the  night-wind  and  the  influence  of  the  wind 
are  distinctly  felt ;  there  is  no  doubt  of  that 
fact.  Even  so  the  ijresence  and  influence  of 
this  loving  and  all-powerful  Spirit  are  an  actual 
experience,  a  deej)  experience,  an  experience 
of  old  sinfulness  rooted  up  and  a  new  life  im- 
parted. Mysterious  as  is  this  new  birth  of  a 
converted  soul,  yet  it  is  as  real,  as  palpable,  and 
as  visible  in  its  results  as  is  the  effect  of  a  wind 
in  swaying  the  trees,  or  the  effect  of  sunbeams 
in  quickening  plants  from  bulbs  to  stalks  and 
from  bare  stalks  to  flowers  and  fruitage.  The 
"^6>i«"  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  working  on 
your  soul  and  on  my  soul  is  beyond  our  com- 
prehension. But  the  glorious  fact  remains  in 
the  experience  of  every  converted  man  :  "  You 
hath  he  quickened  who  were  dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins."  Truthfully  has  our  old  friend  Pro- 
fessor Hitchcock  remarked  that  "the  new  birth 
is  a  stupendous  mystery,  which  can  be  known 
only  by  being  experienced  ;  it  is  a  mystery  even 
after  its  accomplishment.  Always  will  it  be  a 
matter  of  grateful  wonder  to  the  Christian  how 
the  Si)irit  of  all  grace  ever  gently  forced  the 
fastenings  of  his  heart  and  w^-ought  there  so 
efficiently,  and  yet  so  sweetly,  his  saving  work. 
On  the  one  hand,  it  is  plain  that  no  new  mental 
faculty  is  called  into  being.  It  is  equally 
plain  that  there  has  been  something  more 
than  moral  suasion."    Precisely  what  it  is  that 


32  THE  NEW  BIRTH. 

has  happened  to  us  we  cannot  say  ;  nor  can 
we  say  just  how  the  Divine  Spirit  wrought 
that  marvelous  change  which  we  call  regener- 
ation, and  which  Christ  described  as  being 
"born  anewy  This  we  do  know,  liowever : 
that  once  we  were  blind  and  now  we  see.  Once 
we  were  guilty,  and  now  we  have  found  pardon. 
Once  we  loved  to  do  what  we  now  abhor.  Once 
we  cared  nothing  for  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God, 
and  now  we  trust  ourselves  to  him,  and  are 
glad  to  listen  to  his  voice  and  to  obey  him. 
It  don't  seem  to  us  as  if  the  old  rotten  timbers 
have  been  only  whitewashed,  but  rather  that 
they  have  been  torn  out  and  new  solid  timber 
from  God's  tree  of  life  put  into  their  place. 
Beloved  reader,  have  you  ever  ex[)erienced  this 
radical*  change,  this  new  birth  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  ?  Then  shout  your  praises  to  God  for 
this  ''gift  of  eternal  life,"  and  lite  like  a 
new  man  or  a  new  woman.  If  you  have  not, 
then  seek  it  at  once  ;  yield  yourself  to  Jesus 
at  once ;  for  what  he  said  to  Nicodemus  he 
rings  in  your  ears  to-day:  "Ye  must  be 
born  anew,  or  ye  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of 
God." 

III.  But  one  more  vital  and  essential  truth 
remained  to  be  explained  to  Nicodemus  and  to 
be  explained  to  you.  Christ  had  told  the  Jew- 
ish ruler  that  he  must  be  thoroughly  changed 
in  heart — that  he  must  be  "born  anew"  into 
a  new  and  purer,  stronger,  holier  life.     Christ 


THE  NEW  BIRTH.  33 

had  told  him  that  the  Divine  Spirit  is  the 
author  of  this  new  birth  in  such  a  way  and  de- 
gree that  nobody  can  possibly  be  converted 
without  the  agency  of  the  S2)irit.  Now  remains 
the  all-important  question :  What  shall  a  man 
do  in  order  to  secure  this  new  life  ?  The  quick 
reply  is,  Believe  on  the  Son  of  God ;  whoso- 
ever believeth  on  the  Son  of  God  hath  everlast- 
ing life.  This  is  the  vital  step  for  Nicodemus 
and  for  you  to  take.  But  why  trust  on  the 
Son  of  God  ?  What  has  the  Son  of  God  done 
for  you  to  make  your  salvation  possible  ? 
What  has  he  done  to  make  it  possible  for  God 
to  forgive  your  sins  1  What  has  he  done  to 
secure  a  new  life  for  a  sinner  like  you  ?  Listen 
to  Christ's  answer.  It  is  Christ's  ov/n  descrip- 
tion of  his  own  wonderful  atonement  for  the 
sins  of  guilty,  dying  men.  Listen  to  him  as 
he  gives  the  final  answer  to  the  question  of 
Nicodemus,  "  ^ozo  can  these  things  be?"  The 
answer  is  this:  "As  Moses  lifted  up  the  ser- 
l^ent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son 
of  man  be  lifted  up,  that  wliosoever  trusteth 
on  him  should  not  perisli,  but  have  eternal 
life."  No  doubt  Nicodemus  had  often  heard 
of  that  thrilling  scene  in  the  camp  of  Lsrael 
where  hundreds  had  been  poisoned  by  the  bite 
of  venomous  snakes,  and  a  serpent  of  brass  was 
lifted  b}^  Moses  upon  a  pole,  and  whoever  had 
the  faith  to  fix  his  eyes  oq  that  brazen  object 
recovered  from  the  bite.     Even  so  was  Jesus, 


34  THE  NEW  BIRTlt. 

the  Son  of  God,  to  be  "lifted  up " — suspended 
upon  the  cross  of  Calvary  in  the  sight  of  a 
guilty,  sin-cursed  world.  Christ  did  not  refer 
here  to  his  Unal  exaltation  as  the  King  of 
glory.  The  brazen  serpent  was  not  hung  up  in 
the  same  sense  of  being  honored.  Jesus  re- 
ferred most  distinctly  and  undeniably  to  his 
own  crucifixion :  "  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the 
earth,  wall  draw  all  men  unto  me."  This 
means  nothing  else  but  Christ's  death  on  the 
cross  to  atone  for  you  and  me.  The  design  of 
elevating  the  brazen  serpent  was  to  secure 
recovery  to  the  snake-bitten  Israelites.  The 
glorious  design  of  Christ's  atoning  death  on  the 
cross  was  to  secure  eternal  [life  to  sin-bitten 
souls.  What  must  the  Israelite  do  in  order  to 
be  healed  ?  Simply,  obey  God  and  fix  his  eye 
on  the  brazen  emblem.  What  must  Nicodemus 
do,  and  what  must  you  and  I  do,  in  order  to 
secure  this  w^ork  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  to 
secure  everlasting  life  ?  The  reply  flashes  back 
as  in  a  blaze  of  noonday  sunlight :  The  way  to 
secure  the  new  birth  and  to  produce  the  new 
life  is  to  look  to  Jesus  with  the  eye  of  the  soul, 
and  to  lay  liold  of  Jesus  wdth  the  soul's  ut- 
most trust,  and  to  let  Jesus  liate  you^  own 
you,  and  control  you.  Everyone  who  accepts 
Jesus  Christ  into  his  soul  accepts  eternal  life. 
As  all  human  life  begins  with  birth,  the  accept- 
ance of  Jesus  Christ  marks  and  makes  the  new 
birth.     As  the  Holy   Spirit  imparts  this  new 


HE  NEW  BIRTH.  35 

life,  no  human  soul  can  be  born  anew  or  con- 
verted without  him. 

Notice  what  a  tremendous  emphasis  Christ 
gives  to  that  word  must — "Ye  must  be  born 
anew."  Other  things  depend  on  the  weaker 
word  "may."  You  and  I  may  be  rich  or 
we  may  be  poor,  we  may  live  long  or  die 
young,  we  may  be  cultured  or  we  may  be  illit- 
erate ;  none  of  these  are  vital  matters.  But 
we  must  be  born  into  the  life  of  Christ  or 
perish  forever. 

True  science  declares  that  life  never  can 
spring  up  of  itself.  It  must  come  from  some 
other  living  organism.  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
only  source  of  spiritual  life  in  this  world  or 
another.     Therefore,  we  must  have  Christ. 

Science  will  tell  you  that  all  human  life, 
bodily  or  spiritual,  must  have  a  beginning  or 
a  birth.  Therefore,  if  the  life  of  Christ  ever 
be  in  us,  it  must  have  a  start  or  a  birth. 
Unless  Christ  comes  in  he  cannot  he  in  your 
heart.     Therefore,  ye  must  be  born  anew. 

Experience  declares  that  no  one  w^as  ever  re- 
generated without  the  power  of  Christ's  Holy 
Spirit.  Therefore,  you  must  be  born  anew  by 
that  Spirit's  agency.  Quench  not  that  Holy 
Spirit.  You  might  as  well  try  to  hear  with- 
out ears,  or  breathe  without  lungs,  as  to  live 
a  Christian  life  without  the  Si)irit  of  Christ 
in  your  heart.  Therefore,  you  must  be  born 
anew. 


III. 

BURDEN-BEARING. 


III. 

BURDEN-BEARING. 

"  Every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burden." — Galatians  vi,  5. 
"  Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens." — Galatians  vi,  3. 
"  Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord." — Psalm  Iv,  22. 

Here  is  a  threefold  cord  that  is  not  easily 
broken.  I  trust  that  you  will  all  grasp  hold  of 
it  and  be  lifted  out  of  your  cares  and  complain- 
ings, out  of  your  doubts  and  your  despond- 
encies. While  there  is  an  apx:)arent  contra- 
diction between  these  three  texts,  there  is  not 
really  the  slightest  discordance.  They  blend 
beautifully  together,  like  the  bass,  the  tenor, 
and  the  alto  in  some  sweet  melody.  God's 
truth  has  no  discords.  Errors  conflict  with 
each  other  ;  but  all  truths  run  jiarallel,  like 
railway  tracks,  that  might  belt  the  globe  and 
never  come  in  conflict. 

With  this  preliminary  fact  in  mind,  let  us 
study  these  passages.  They  treat  of  the  IjeaT' 
ing  of  burdens.  Can  any  topic  be  more  thor- 
oughly practical  ?  For  every  human  life — 
high  or  humble — has  its  loads  ;  and  much  of 
the  comfort,  the  strength,  and  the  joy  of  our 
lives  depends  upon  the  way  that  these  loads 

39 


40  BURDEN-BEARINO. 

are  dealt  with.  Wliicli  of  them  ought  to  be 
carried,  and  which  of  them  none  of  us  should 
attempt  to  carry,  is  a  question  that  ought  to 
be  examined.  How  to  make  our  own  loads 
the  lighter,  and  how  to  relieve  other  i^eople 
of  their  burdens,  is  another  question  to  be 
carefully  considered.  Upon  these  questions  a 
vast  deal  of  heavenly  light  streams  in  through 
the  triple  window  now  opened  before  us. 

I.  The  first  of  the  texts  to  be  looked  at  is 
this:  "Every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burden."" 
We  are  too  apt  to  regard  burden-bearing  as 
something  menial  or  degrading.  But  this  is 
a  great  mistake.  God  has  so  ordered  it  that 
no  station  in  life  is  exempt  from  its  inevitable 
loads.  Many  years  ago,  during  the  days  of 
the  "old  dispensation,"  I  was  visiting  a  hos- 
pitable iDlanter  on  the  Savannah  Elver.  He 
took  me  out  to  see  a  company  of  his  negro 
slaves,  who  were  carrjdng  bags  of  rice  on  their 
heads  to  freight  a  vessel  which  was  moored  at 
the  riverside.  They  were  carrying  their  bur- 
dens, and  cheering  their  task  by  chanting  a 
wild  negro  melody.  After  he  returned  to  his 
mansion,  the  planter  said  to  me,  "It  is  a  tre- 
mendous responsibility  to  be  the  owner  of  a 
hundred  human  beings."  There  was  his  bur- 
den. Perhaps  some  of  you  merchants  envy 
your  bookkeepers  or  your  porters  who  have 
only  to  carry  on  their  tale  of  labor,  and  to  re- 
ceive their  wages.      They,  in  turn,  may  often 


BURDEN-BEARING.  41 

8ciy,  "  What  an  easy  time  OLiremi)loyer  has  ;  he 
performs  no  drudgery  ;  he  sits  in  his  counting- 
room,  signs  checks,  and  tlien  rides  home  to 
his  fine  house  in  his  carriage."  Yet  on  your 
busy  and  often  overworked  brain  depends  the 
continuance  of  their  sahiries.  For  so  has  God 
wedded  capital  and  labor  together,  and  what 
God  hath  joined,  let  no  demagogues  tear 
asunder ! 

Some  burdens  are  inseparably  attached  to  us, 
and  deliverance  from  them  were  as  imi^ossible 
as  to  exist  without  eating  or  sleeping.  Every 
boy  at  school  must  task  himself  with  words  of 
one  syllable  at  first,  and  so  on,  with  advancing 
years,  must  advance  into  more  difficult  lessons. 
If  he  shoulders  up  the  calf  he  will  gain  each 
year  increasing  strength,  until  in  time  he  can 
carry  the  full-grown  bullock.  Every  lot  in  life 
must  answer  to  the  roll-call  of  duty.  There  is 
no  discharge  in  that  war  ;  and  behind  every 
horseman  sits  dark-browed  Care.  Sorrow  also 
is  no  respecter  of  persons.  It  jDuts  aching  heads 
under  royal  crowns,  and  aching  hearts  on  beds 
of  down  and  couches  of  rosewood.  Perhaps, 
during  your  summer  outings  you  may  have 
seen  some  x^icturesque  mansion  reposing  on  its 
sunny  lawns,  and  surrounded  with  its  wealth 
of  foliage  ;  and  you  have  said  to  yourself, 
"'  Happy  is  the  owner  of  that  house  ;  I  wish  it 
were  mine."  Ah,  my  friend,  the  owner  of  that 
superb  residence  is  only  a  man  ;    and  where 


42  B  URDEN-BEA  KINO, 

man  lives,  sin  dwells,  and  sorrow  dw^ells  like- 
wise. We  pastors  find  ont  that  none  of  our 
flocks  build  walls  high  enough  to  shut  out  dis- 
ease, disaster,  or  death  ;  and  there  is  never  a 
house  without  some  "skeleton  in  a  closet." 
Every  heart  knoweth  its  own  bitterness.  As 
no  one  can  take  your  toothache  iuto  his  face, 
so  no  one  can  take  your  heartache  into  his 
bosom.  This  text  of  ours  lias  manifold  appli- 
cations. As  no  one  can  feel  tiie  twinge  of  my 
pain — bodily  or  mental — so  no  one  can  do  my 
work  but  myself.  You  may  engage  a  dozen  as- 
sistants for  a  busy  pastor,  but  all  combined 
cannot  lift  off  an  ounce  of  his  responsibility ; 
the  strain  finally  falls  back  upon  his  nerves 
and  his  conscience.  The  bodily  infirmities  that 
we  all  suffer,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  are 
often  a  heavy  clog.  My  beloved  friend  Spur- 
geon  often  hobbled  in  intense  agony  to  that 
pulpit  which  he  flooded  with  sunshine.  Cheer- 
ful old  Paul  had  his  physical  load  to  carry, 
and  he  exclaims,  "We  that  are  in  this  taber- 
nacle [or  tent  ]  do  groan,  being  burdened." 
With  what  ?  With  a  sense  of  guilt  or  dread  of 
hell  ?  ISTo  ;  that  load  had  been  left  v/here  we 
may  leave  ours,  at  the  foot  of  Calvary's  cross. 
But  the  fleshly  hut,  in  which  Paul's  imperial 
soul  was  locked  up,  was  scarred  with  the  lash, 
and  full  of  aches  and  thorns  in  the  flesh.  Yet 
under  this  burden  of  bodily  pain,  and  of  the 
"(3are  of  all  the  churches,"  and  of  crosses  tMt 


BURDEN-BEARING.  43 

galled  the  shoulder,  the  grand  old  hero  marched 
on  to  glory,  shouting !  There  is  not  a  blood- 
bought  heir  of  heaven  in  this  assembly  who 
ought  not  to  shout  as  loud  as  he  did. 

A  true  Christian  grows  stronger  by  his  loads. 
Train  up  your  boy  on  confectioneries,  and  never 
lay  fifty  pounds  weight  on  him,  and  the  poor, 
flabby  little  creature  will  be  all  pidi^.  Give 
him  some  stiff  tasks  and  heavy  loads  to  carry, 
and  he  may  have  some  chance  of  being  yet  a 
man.  In  that  Avay  God  deals  with  His  chil- 
dren. He  knows  that  burthens  will  make  them 
strong.  So  He  says  to  His  children,  "Every- 
one shall  bear  his  own  burden.  There  is  thy 
load,  carry  it ;  there  is  thyi^lace,  fill  it ;  there  is 
thy  work,  do  it  ;  and  as  thy  day,  so  shall  thy 
strength  be."  The  route  to  heaven  is  not  over 
a  macadamized  road  with  easy  grades.  It  has 
many  a  "hill  difficulty,"  where  the  climber 
goeth  from  running  to  walking,  and  from  walk- 
ing to  a  tough  clambering  on  his  hands  and 
knees.  Let  us  not  murmur,  or  vainly  ask  for 
"  elevators  "  to  hoist  us  ;  for  one,  I  have  lived 
long  enough  in  this  world  to  thank  God  for 
difficulties.  The  grax)ple  with  them  sinews 
our  graces  and  gives  us  spiritual  force.  In 
God's  school  some  hard  lessons  are  to  be 
learned  ;  and  there  are  no  "  elective  studies." 
It  is  very  pleasant  to  work  out  problems  in 
addition  and  in  multiplication.;  but  when  our 
Master  puts  us  into  a  painful  problem  of  sub- 


44  BURDEN-BEARING, 

traction — aaIigii  the  income  is  cnt  off,  or  the 
crib  is  emptied,  or  the  staff  is  broken — then 
we  cry  out,  "  O  God,  let  this  cnp  pass  from 
me."  It  reqnires  great  grace  to  be  able  then 
to  say,  "Nevertheless,  Father;  not  as  we  will, 
but  as  Thou  wilt!"  For  the  hardest  lesson 
of  all  in  this  world  is — to  let  God  have  His 
way. 

Tlie  Master's  command  to  His  discij^les  has 
evermore  been,  "Go  work  in  my  vineyard." 
This  is  not  merely  for  the  crop  to  be  raised 
there,  but  for  the  invigoration  of  our  spiritual 
sinews  and  to  utilize  our  powers.  A  work  for 
every  man,  and  every  man  to  his  work,  is  the 
law  of  honest  discipleship.  There  is  another 
like  unto  it,  "Take  up  thy  Cross  and  follow 
me."  Why?  Because  V\e  are  yet  in  a  sin- 
cursed  Avorld,  and  the  word  shi  and  the  word 
cross  are  twin  brothers.  Where  sin  is  there 
must  be  an  attendant  cross — whether  it  be  my 
own  sin  to  plague  me,  or  that  of  others  to  try 
my  patience  or  to  arouse  my  efforts  to  save 
them.  There  is  no  house  room  for  crosses  in 
heaven ;  and  simply  because  sin  has  never 
entered  those  pearly  i:>ortals.  Here,  in  this 
world  of  sharp  antagonisms,  the  crucial  test 
is,  "Whosoever  doth  not  take  up  his  cross 
and  follow  me  cannot  be  my  disciple." 

Now,  these  are  ultimate  facts,  verified  by 
every  Christian's  experience.  The  Captain  of 
our  salvation  has  ordered  that  each  one  of  us 


BXTRDEN-BEARING.  45 

shall  endure  hardness  as  good  soldiers — that 
everyone  must  shoulder  his  own  weapons  and 
bear  his  own  brunt  in  the  bivouac  and  the  bat- 
tle. And  all  this  regimen  is  indispensable  to 
the  growth  of  the  soul  in  spiritual  force,  and 
to  the  development  of  the  grandest  thing  this 
side  of  heaven,  and  that  is — pure,  vigorous, 
and  Christllke  cln>racter.  It  is  not  to  their 
credit,  nor  for  the  honor  of  their  Master  that 
some  Christians  seek  to  hide  their  own  indo- 
lence or  unbelief  under  that  other  injunction, 
"Cast  thy  burdens  ui)on  the  Lord."  Every 
text  in  this  book  hath  its  own  place  and  its  own 
purpose.  No  truth  overlaj^s  or  obscures  or  con- 
tradicts another.  There  are  certain  burdens 
that  no  fellows-creature  can  carry  for  us,  and 
that  our  Lord  and  Saviour  never  offers  to  carry 
His  imperative  command  is,  "Every  man  shall 
bear  his  own  burden ;"  and  the  object  of  this 
is  that  he  may  become  strong  in  the  Lord. 

II.  After  this  brief  study  of  the  first  text, 
let  us  now  look  at  the  second,  which  does  not 
contradict,  but  rather  confirms  it.  "  Bear  ye 
one  another's  burdens  and  so  fulfil  the  law  of 
Christ."  We  have  just  seen  how  the  carrying 
of  certain  loads  gives  us  strength.  But  there 
are  other  loads  which  we  can  help  our  fellow- 
j)ilgrims  to  carry,  and  the  object  of  that  serv- 
ice is  to  teach  us  sympathy.  Happily  we 
have  the  motive  for  this  brotherly  service 
given  in  the  text  itself.     We  are  thus  to  "  ful- 


46  BURDEN-BEARINO. 

fil  the  law  of  Clirist."  That  law  is  love. 
Yes,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  is  love.  He  so 
loved  us  that  He  bore  our  sins  in  His  own  body 
on  the  tree.  He  so  loved  the  wandering  sheej) 
that  He  descended  from  the  skies  to  seek  for 
and  to  save  the  sill}^  truant  that  was  entangled 
in  the  thickets  or  foundering  in  the  mire. 
And  when  he  lays  it  on  his  shoulders — the 
clean  bearing  the  unclean,  the  Holy  bearing 
the  unholy— He  bringeth  it  back  to  the  fold, 
'*  rejoicing."  He  is  glad  for  the  sake  of  the 
restored  sheep,  but  still  more  for  His  own 
sake — love  has  its  own  ecstasy  of  reward. 
You  will  remember  how  our  hearts  were 
thrilled  when  Mr.  Sankey  first  sang  for  us  that 
exquisite  paraphrase  of  the  i)arable : 

' '  There  were  niuety-ancl-nine  that  safely  lay 

In  the  shelter  of  the  fold, 
But  one  was  out  on  the  hills  away, 

Far  off  from  the  gates  of  gold. 
Away  on  the  mountains  wild  and  bare, 

Away  from  the  tender  Shepherd's  care. 

"But  none  of  the  ransomed  ever  knew 
How  deep  were  the  waters  crossed ; 
Nor  how  dark  was  the  night  that  the  Lord 
passed  through 
Ere  He  found  His  sheep  that  was  lost. 
Out  in  the  desert  He  heard  its  cry — 
Sick  and  helpless,  and  ready  to  die. 

"  But  all  thro'  the  mountains,  thunder-riven, 
And  up  from  the  rocky  steep. 
There  arose  a  glad  cry  to  the  gate  of  lieav'n, 
■  Rejoice!  I  have  found  my  slieep! ' 
And  the  angels  echoed  around  the  throne, 
"  Eejoice,  for  the  Lord  brings  back  His 
own!'" 


BURDEN-BEARING.  4^ 

Brings  back  His  own  !  redeemed  by  Ilis  own 
precious  blood  for  the  joy  set  before  Him  !  If 
you  and  I,  fellow-sinners,  are  ever  landed  safe 
among  the  ringing  trumpets  and  the  sounding- 
harps  in  glory,  it  will  be  entirely  because  that 
loving  Shepherd  has  brought  back  His  own. 

As  Jesus  Christ  came  to  the  rescue  of  the 
perishing,  so  He  bids  us  hasten  to  the  relief  of 
the  overloaded  and  the  recovery  of  the  fallen. 
This  is  His  law  of  love.  Yonder,  for  example, 
is  a  poor  wretch  who  is  reeling  down  to  i3er- 
dition  under  the  weight  of  his  OAvn  folly  and 
sin.  Sharp-eyed  Selfishness  says:  "Good 
enough  for  him ;  wdiy  was  he  such  a  fool  as 
to  drink  ?"  Jesus  says  :  "  Go  pull  that  soul, 
for  Avhom  I  have  died,  out  of  the  fire  !  "  That 
is  sympathy  in  action.  When  the  Good  Samar- 
itan found  the  bleeding  Jew  by  the  wayside, 
he  did  not  insult  the  sufferer  with  the  taunt, 
"  You  ought  to  have  known  better  than  to 
travel  by  this  dangerous  road  alone."  He 
takes  up  the  burthen  of  the  wounded  body, 
and,  when  he  reaches  the  inn,  he  slips  the 
shilling  into  the  keeper's  hands,  and  delicately 
whispers,  "H  thou  spendest  more,  wlien  I 
come  back  again,  I  will  repay  thee."  There 
sj)ake  the  prince  of  gentlemen  ;  for  true  i)olite- 
ness  is  kindness  of  heart  kindly  expressed. 

The  law  of  Christian  sympathy  works  in  two 
directions  ;  either  it  helps  our  fellow-creatures 
to  get  rid  of  their  burdens  entirely,  or,  if  fail- 


48  BVnDEA-BEARING. 

ing  in  tliat,  it  helps  them  to  carry  the  load  more 
lightly.  Yonder  is  a  poor  widow  with  more 
children  than  she  can  feed  and  clothe.  Take 
one  of  those  lads  into  your  shop  or  warehouse, 
and  let  that  widow's  thanks  sweeten  your  cup 
and  soften  your  x>illow.  A  youth  comes  to 
you  from  the  country,  friendless  and  seeking 
employment.  Just  as  on  a  railway  one  inch 
at  the  switch  determines  whether  the  train 
shall  move  on  its  straight  track  or  be  shunted 
over  an  embankment,  so  a  single  sympathetic 
act  of  helpfulness  to  that  youth  may  decide 
his  whole  future  for  weal  or  woe.  Tlie  Lord 
makes  some  of  His  servants  rich,  or  strong,  or 
kind,  in  order  to  be  His  switch- tenders.  Here 
are  you,  worshiping  in  a  well  manned  and 
affluent  church.  Yonder  is  a  feeble  one  strug- 
gling for  existence.  Divide  your  forces  with 
them,  and  make  both  churches  the  richer  ; 
one  by  what  it  gives,  and  the  other  by  what  it 
gets. 

As  I  have  said  already,  there  is  one  sense  in 
which  sorrow  can  only  be  borne  by  the  sufferer 
himself  ;  there  is  another  in  which  that  sorrow 
can  be  lightened  by  your  tender  sympathy. 
Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens.  Sometimes  a 
small  lift  is  very  timely.  A  single  kind  word, 
a  little  oil  of  sympathy  on  a  sore  spot,  a  mes- 
sage of  condolence  when  crape  hangs  at  the 
door-bell,  a  gift  in  the  hour  of  need,  an  approv- 
ing smile,  all  such  things  do  help  a  fellow- 


BURDEN-BEARING.  49 

creature  most  wonderfully.  It  is  to  the  re- 
proacli  of  us  all  that  we  do  not  oftener  act  the 
good  Samaritan  in  little  things. 

Some  of  you  may  recall  that  beautifid  inci- 
dent narrated  by  our  noble  American  mission- 
ary to  the  Orient,  Miss  Fidelia  Fiske.  She  tells 
us  that  on  a  warm  Sabbath  afternoon  she  was 
seated  on  the  earthen  floor  of  her  mission- 
chapel  and  feeling  utterly  exhausted.  "  Just 
then,  as  God  would  order  it,  a  Syrian  woman 
came  and  seated  herself  right  behind  me,  so  that 
I  could  lean  on  her,  and  she  invited  me  to  do 
so.  I  declined,  but  she  drew  me  back  and  said, 
'If  you  love  me,  lean  hard.'  Very  refreshing 
was  that  support.  Then  came  the  Master's 
own  voice,  '  If  you  love  me,  lean  liard ;''  and  I 
leaned  on  Him  too,  for  He  had  preached  to  me 
through  that  poor  Avoman.  I  was  rested  be- 
fore the  service  was  over  ;  then  I  spent  an  hour 
with  the  woman  and,  after  sunset,  rode  six 
miles  to  my  own  home.  I  wondered  that  I  was 
not  weary  that  night,  and  I  have  rested  ever 
since  on  those  sweet  words."  They  belonged 
to  the  choicest  vocabulary  of  love.  Many  a 
mother  has  had  the  same  thought  as  she 
pressed  her  infant  to  her  bosom.  More  than 
one  true-hearted  husband,  as  he  lifted  the 
precious  burthen  frc^m  her  couch — which  he 
sadly  found  was  growing  lighter  every  day — 
has  whispered  into  her  ears,  ''My  darling,  if 
you  love  me,  lean  hard." 


50  BURVEN-BEAIUNO. 

This  beautiful  ''law  of  Clirist"  was  the 
germinal  xjrinciple  from  which  s^jrang  the  j)rim- 
itive  Christian  Church.  The  power  from  on 
high  which  descended  at  Pentecost  was  essen- 
tially a  love-power.  Those  unsellish  men  and 
women,  who  went  forth  from  that  upper  room 
in  Jerusalem,  were  burden-lifters  in  the  name 
and  in  the  strength  of  Him  who  had  just  borne 
the  burden  of  human  guilt  in  His  bleeding  body 
on  the  cross.  The  only  genuine  successors  of 
the  Apostles  have  been  the  load-lifters.  Their 
creed  and  w^atchword  have  always  been, "  Unto 
him  that  loved  us  and  loosed  us  from  our  sins 
by  his  blood  ;  to  him  be  the  glory  and  the  do- 
minion for  ever  and  ever!  "  Every  stream  of 
Christian  sympathy  that  has  gladdened  human 
hearts  came  from  this  divine  fount-head  in  tlie 
heart  of  Jesus.  All  labors  to  lighten  the 
overload  of  human  guilt  and  misery  and  want 
— the  enlightenment  of  the  ignorant,  the  right- 
ening  of  the  wronged,  the  deliverance  of  the 
oppressed,  the  visitation  of  the  sick,  and  com- 
forting of  the  bereaved,  the  gospeling  of  the 
heathen  and  the  whole  magnificent  enterprise 
of  missions  ;  all  these  are  the  precious  product 
of  this  principle  "bear  ye  one  another's  bur- 
dens and  so  fulfil  the  Imo  of  Christy  The 
most  successful  missionaries  and  ministers  are 
those  who  come  closest  to  human  liearts.  Tlie 
secret  of  power  Avith  General  Booth  and  his 
"Salvationists"   is  their   i)ersonal    sympathy 


B  UUDEN-BEABING.  5 1 

with  the  wretched  and  the  wrecked.  When 
the  members  of  onr  churches  become  "sons  of 
consolation"  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the 
word — bestowing  not  only  their  dollars  but 
their  time,  their  presence,  and  tlieir  heart-beats 
upon  the  unchristianized  masses,  we  shall  have 
a  primitive  and  pentecostal  revival.  Pulx)its 
si3eak  only  for  an  hour  or  two  each  week,  and 
then  only  to  those  who  occupy  the  i)ews  before 
them ;  it  is  by  sermons  in  shoes  that  the  suf- 
fering and  the  sinning  can  only  be  reached. 
The  need  of  the  time  is  not  for  more  geniuses 
in  the  pulpit,  but  for  more  personal  consecra- 
tion among  Christians  to  this  ''  law  of  Christ." 

III.  Let  us  j)ush  on  now  to  the  third  and 
last  of  this  beautiful  triplet  of  texts.  The  first 
one  taught  self-help  ;  "Every  man  shall  bear 
his  own  burden."  The  object  of  it  is  to  give 
us  spiritual  strengtli.  The  second  text  teaches 
brotherly  help;  "Bear  ye  one  another's 
burdens."  The  object  of  it  is  to  inspire  sym- 
pathy.  Of  these  three  texts  the  third  is  the 
Kohinoor  jewel  ;  for  it  leads  us  up  to  the 
divine  help  :  "Cast  thy  burden  ux^on  the 
Lord." 

This  passage  has  suffered  at  the  hands  of 
some  mystics,  who  have  volatilized  it  into  a 
very  thin  and  vaporous  meaning.  The  Hebrew 
word  translated  "burden,"  really  signifies 
that  which  is  given  to  us,  or  that  which  is  ap- 
pointed to  every  man  to  bear.    We  must,  there- 


52  BUBDEN-BEARINO. 

fore,  understand  the  Psalmist  to  say — whatever 
thy  God  lays  upon  thee,  thou  must  lay  it  upon 
the  Lord.  He  has  cast  thy  lot  for  thee.  Then 
cast  thy  lot  upon  Him.  But  can  this  text  be 
reconciled  with  the  two  others  ?  Yes  ;  quite 
easily.  We  are  commanded  to  bear  our  own 
burdens,  and  this  requires  the  resolute  per- 
formance of  our  own  duties.  God  will  not  re- 
lease us  from  duty  ;  but  he  will  sustain  us  in 
the  doing  it.  The  load  which  is  laid  upon  us 
will  not  crush  us ;  for  He  will  give  us  strength 
equal  to  our  day.  If  other  x)eople  wonder  why 
and  how  we  march  along  under  the  load  with- 
out breaking  down,  our  only  answer  is,  "  We 
init  this  load  upon  the  strength  which  God  put 
into  us.  His  grace  was  sufficient  to  enable  us 
to  bear  the  burden."  God's  wonderful  and 
gracious  oifer  is  to  lighten  our  loads  by  putting 
Himself,  as  it  were,  into  our  souls,  and  under- 
neath the  loads.  This  is  a  supernatural  proc- 
ess ;  and  the  whole  walk  of  faith  through 
life  is  the  simt)le  but  sublime  reliance  upon  an 
almighty  arm  that  is  never  seen  but  always  felt. 
This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  word  "trust" 
is  the  key- word  of  Old-Testament  theolog}^ 
and  the  word  "believe"  is  the  key-word  in 
the  ISTew  Testament.  They  Ijoth  mean  sub- 
stantially the  same  thing.  And  when  our 
Heavenly  Father  saith  "Cast  thy  burden 
upon  Me,"  and  our  loving  Eedeemer  saith 
"Cast    the    load    of    thy    sins    upon     Me," 


BURDEN-BEARING.  53 

they  expect  us  to  take  them  at  their 
word. 

There  is  an  universal  and  j)erpetual  need  for 
this  tonic  text. 

On  every  side  we  meet  overloaded  people, 
and  each  one  thinks  his  burden  is  the  biggest. 
One  is  w  orried  about  his  health,  and  another 
about  his  diminished  income,  and  another 
about  her  sick  child,  and  another  about  her 
children  yet  unconverted  ;  and  so  each  man  or 
woman,  that  has  a  worry  of  some  sort,  goes 
staggering  along  under  it.  In  the  meantime  a 
loving  and  omnipotent  Father  says  to  every 
one  of  them:  Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord 
and  He  shall  sustain  thee.  As  if  tins  one  offer 
were  not  enough,  the  Holy  Spirit  repeats  it 
again  in  the  New  Testament:  "Casting  all 
your  anxieties  upon  Him,  for  He  careth  for 
you."  This  is  the  more  accurate  rendering  in 
the  Revised  Version  ;  because  the  w^ord  "care  " 
does  not  signify  here  wise  forethought  for  the 
future,  but  that  soul-harassing  thing  called 
"worry."  The  reason  given  for  rolling  our 
worries  over  upon  God  is  very  tender  and 
touching.  "He  careth  for  you"  means  that 
He  takes  an  interest  in  you — He  has  you  on 
His  heart !  Beautiful  and  wonderful  thought ! 
It  is  the  same  idea  which  the  Psalmist  had  in 
his  mind  when  he  declares  that  the  Lord  telleth 
the  number  of  the  stars,  and  yet  He  healeth  the 
broken  in  heart  and  bindeth  up  their  wounds. 


54  B  URDEN-B  KA  EINQ. 

He  is  the  one  who  says,  "  My  child,  don't 
carry  that  burden."  The  infinite  Ruler  of  the 
universe,  who  is  wise  in  counsel  and  wonder- 
ful in  working ;  the  God  who  guarded  the  in- 
fant Moses  in  his  basket  of  rushes  ;  who  sent 
his  messenger  birds  to  Elijah  by  the  brook 
Cherith ;  who  quieted  Daniel  among  the 
ravenous  beasts  and  calmed  Paul  in  the  rag- 
ing tempest — He  it  is  who  says  to  us,  "Roll 
your  anxieties  over  on  Me,  for  I  have  you  on 
my  heart."  Yet  how  many  of  us  there  are 
Avho  hug  our  troubles  and  say  to  God,  "No, 
we  won't  let  anybody  carry  these  troubles  but 
ourselves."  What  fools  we  are!  Just  imag- 
ine a  weary,  foot-sore  traveler  tugging  along 
with  his  pack  in  a  hot  July  day.  A  wagon 
comes  up,  and  the  kind-hearted  owner  calls 
out,  "Friend,  you  look  tired.  Toss  that  pack 
into  my  wagon."  But  the  wayfarer,  eying 
him  suspiciously,  mutters  to  himself,  "Per- 
haps he  wants  to  steal  it,"  or  else  sullenly  re- 
plies, "I  am  obliged  to  you,  sir,  but  I  can 
carry  my  own  luggage."  The  folly  of  such 
conduct  is  equal  to  that  of  the  man  who  should 
check  his  trunk  through  to  Chicago  and  then 
run  into  the  baggage-car  every  hour  to  see  if 
his  trunk  is  safe.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  trust 
our  own  valuable  property  to  railway  officials 
and  expressmen,  and  laugh  at  the  folly  of 
those  who  refuse  to  do  it ;  would  it  not  be 
well  then  for  us  to  "check  through  "  all  our 


B  URD  F.XBEA  RING.  ^^ 

dearest  interests  as  well  as  our  cares?  When 
we  reach  the  door  of  Our  Father's  House  we 
shall  hnd  that  all  oar  treasures  worth  keep- 
ing will  be  safe,  and  not  one  of  them  lost  by 
the  way. 

I  cannot  close  this  discourse  without  remind- 
ing you  that  the  mightiest  burden  that  can  ever 
weigh  down  a  human  soul  is  Sin  !  Everything 
else  seems  light  by  comparison.  Poverty, 
friendlessness,  reproach,  sickness,  bereavement, 
all  can  be,  and  have  been,  endured  cheerfully  ; 
and  the  valley  of  the  death-shade  has  often 
rung  with  songs  of  triumph.  But  who  can 
stand  up  under  that  v/eight  that  has  crushed 
myriads  into  hell  ?  Who  can  bear  through  life, 
and  on  up  to  the  judgment-seat,  an  evil  con- 
science and  a  guilty,  unpardoned  soul  ? 

Here  comes  in  the  sweetest  and  the  sublimest 
truth  in  all  the  realm  of  divine  revelation. 
Listen  to  it,  all  ye  sin-burdened  ones !  If  all 
the  rest  of  our  Bible  were  torn  away  from  us, 
w^e  could  find  enough  to  inspire  our  hope  and 
to  insure  our  heaven  in  this  one  glorious 
verse,  "All  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray; 
we  have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way  ;  and 
the  Lord  hath  laid  on  Him  the  iniquity  of  us 
all."  Surely  He  hath  borne  our  griefs  and 
carried^our  sorrows,  and  with  His  stripes  we  are 
healed.  Jesus ^  the  Divine  Burden-hearer,  is 
the  sublime  and  ineffably  lovable  figure  that 
I  now  present  before  you,     All  the  paths  of  the 


56  BURDEN-BEARING. 

gospel  lead  to  Calvary.  Does  any  one  of  you 
cry  out,  "  Mine  iniquities  have  gone  over  my 
head,  and  as  a  heavy  burden,  they  are  too 
heavy  for  me?"  Listen  to  that  matchless 
voice,  "Come  unto  me,  all  you  who  are  heavy- 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 

Oh,  I  pray  for  some  practical  and  lasting 
fruits  from  these  triple  texts.  I  long  to  behold 
all  of  you  lifted  by  this  threefold  cord  out  of 
your  griefs  and  out  of  your  guilt.  Methinks  I 
see  some  jjoor  burdened  heart  pass  out  of  yon- 
der door  saying : 

*'  I  lay  my  griefs  on  Jesus, 
My  burdens  and  my  cares  ; 
He  from  the  load  releases, 
He  all  my  sorrows  shares." 

There  is  another  whose  load  is  the  heaviest  of 
all ;  for  he  came  hither  "condemned  already  " 
by  his  conscious  guilt.  The  Holy  Spirit  has 
opened  his  eyes  to  behold  the  Lamb  of  God  who 
taketh  away  sin  ;  and  he  has  opened  his  heart 
to  the  Saviour.  He  will  go  homeward  to-day 
singing  this  new  song  : 

"  I've  laid  my  sins  on  Jesus, 
The  spotless  Lamb  of  God, 
He  bears  them  all,  and  frees  us 
From  the  accursed  load. 
I've  brought  my  guilt  to  Jesus, 
To  wash  my  crimson  stains 
White  in  His  blood  most  precious 
Till  not  a  stain  remains  !  " 


s     ' 


rv. 

THE  RICH  CHEISTIAN. 


IV. 
THE  HIGH   CHRISTIAN. 

"  Rich  toward  God."— Luke  xii,  21. 

''  What  is  he  worth  'i  "    Used  in  its  full  sig- 
nificance, this  woukl  be  the  most  pregnant, 
the  most  just,  and   the  most  comprehensive 
question  that  could  be  propounded  in  regard 
to  any  immortal  being.     When  asked  in  the 
ordinary  Avay,  it  simply  means,  How  large  ar(^ 
his  estates  ?  how  much  gold  has  he  in  his  bank 
vaults  ?     And  the  ordinary  answer  would  be, 
''The  man  is   worth   twenty  thousand,  or  a 
hundred    thousand    dollars."      Then  we   can 
only  say  that  he  will  have  twenty  thousand  or 
a  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  account  for  at 
the  bar  of  God.     Then  will  he  be  either   the 
happy  reaper  of   immortal  joys   when  every 
well  employed  coin  shall  nod  like  a  golden  ear 
in  the  full  sheaf  of  his  heavenly  harvest ;  or 
else  he  must  meet  thousands  of  scorpions  to 
torment  his  soul  through  his  dreary  eternity 
of  despair.     Is  a  man  worth  uncounted  thou- 
sands in  bullion  or  bank  stock,  in  real  estate 
or  rare  commodities  1    Then  he  ought  to  be 
worth  a  vast  deal  to  the  community  in  which 

59 


60  THE  RICH  CHRISTIAN. 

he  lives,  and  to  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ. 
He  ought  to  be  worth  bread  to  the  hungry, 
schooling  to  the  ignorant,  Bibles  to  the  unevan- 
gelized,  and  mission  schools  to  the  heathen 
children  at  our  doors.  He  ought  to  be  rich 
toward  God  in  the  large  and  liberal  employ- 
ment of  his  high  stewardship. 

For  not  every  rich  man  is  "rich  toward 
God."  Else  our  Saviour  would  not  have  ut- 
tered the  parable  from  which  our  text  is  taken. 
He  probably  had  in  his  mind  just  such  a  per- 
son as  I  could  easily  iind  in  a  ten  minutes' 
walk  through  this  commercial  city — a  self- 
complacent  Croesus,  shriveled  in  soul,  but 
corpulent  in  purse  ;  a  man  in  whom  avarice  has 
devoured  all  the  other  appetites  of  the  heart, 
as  voracious  sharks  gulp  down  whole  shoals  of 
smaller  fish  ;  one  who  could  call  uj)  his  im- 
mortal part,  and  address  it  in  the  same  s^iirit 
in  which  he  would  talk  to  a  silken- haired  pet 
spaniel,  "Now,  my  little  soul,  thou  hast  much 
goods  laid  up  for  thyself  !  "  Not  for  others, 
observe.  Not  for  God.  But  for  thyself. 
"Now  eat,  drink  and  be  merry.  Satiate  thy- 
self. Feast  thy  eyes  on  full  barns,  full  board, 
full  bags,  full  bank-vaults.  Gloat  over  them. 
They  are  all  thine.  Never  will  I  be  so 
weak-headed  as  to  be  cheated  out  of  them — 
never  so  weak-hearted  as  to  squander  them  on 
foolish  charities."  "  Thou  fool!''  thunders 
the  voice  of  God  above  him — "thou  fool,  this 


THE  BICH  CHRISTIAN.  61 

night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee  :  then 
whose  shall  those  things  be  which  thou  hast 
provided  ? " 

This  terrible  satire  of  divine  indignation  is 
not  expended  upon  the  subject  of  this  parable 
because  he  was  rich  in  earthly  goods.  The 
Bible  has  no  controversy  with  men  of  wealth. 
It  never  discourages  the  acquisition  of  gold,  as 
long  as  the  heart  owns  the  gold,  and  the  gold 
does  not  own  the  heart.  The  anathema  of  the 
parable  is  not  against  riches,  but  against  self- 
ishness, the  mammon-worship  which  de- 
thrones Jehovah.  And  by  as  much  as  this 
selfishness  is  the  selfishness  of  wealth,  by  just 
so  much  is  it  the  more  abominable  and  hateful. 
For  when  God  makes  an  individual  worth  tens 
of  thousands,  and  he  makes  himself  worth  less 
than  nothing  to  his  Creator  and  his  fellow-men, 
God  will  curse  such  selfishness  Avith  the  most 
crushing  condemnation.  Even  at  the  bar  of 
final  judgment,  one  test-question  will  be,  in 
regard  to  you  and  to  me,  and  to  every  man, 
"  How  much  is  he  worth— worth  to  his 
Saviour  and  the  Saviour's  cause  ?  How  much 
has  he  been  worth  to  his  fellow-men?"  In 
that  great  day  of  decision  I  should  like  to 
stand  up  as  the  pastor  of  a  rich  church — 
exceeding  rich  in  faith  and  good  works.  If 
so,  you  must  begin  now,  with  a  holy 
covetousness,  to  lay  up  spiritual  and  eternal 
treasures.     Let   me  point   out  to   you   a  few 


62  THE  RICH  CHRISTIAN. 

simple    rules    for    becoming     "ricli    toward 
God." 

I.  And,  first,  let  me  remind  you  that  every 
soul  on  earth  is  horn  poor.  There  is  no 
exemx3tion  from  this  hard  lot.  Whether  in 
royal  nurseries,  where  the  heir  to  the  throne 
is  well-nigh  smothered  in  down,  or  in  the 
pauper's  thatched  hovel,  every  immortal  soul 
begins  its  existence  poor.  Sin  spares  not  a 
solitary  child  of  Adam.  Sin  writes  its  moral 
poverty  on  every  occupant  of  every  cradle. 
As  the  emptiness  of  the  purse  makes  one  poor 
financially,  so  the  entire  emptiness  of  the  heart 
as  to  all  holy  emotions,  holy  desires  and  pur- 
poses, constitutes  our  native  moral  poverty. 
Who  would  go  to  the  ragged  urchin  in  the 
Industrial  School  for  a  loan  1  Yet  it  would  be 
quite  as  wise  to  expect  a  depraved  heart  to 
give  forth  wliat  it  has  never  yet  possessed — 
one  pure,  holy  emotion. 

How,  then,  can  any  soul  become  rich  toward 
God  ?  He  does  not  inherit  spiritual  wealth, 
but  rather  the  entire  and  most  pitiable  want  of 
it.  He  inherits  guilt.  He  inherits  evil  pas- 
sions. Noble  faculties  and  capacities  are  his 
inheritance,  but  not  one  particle  of  native  grace 
comes  with  them.  The  more  gifted  in  intellect, 
the  more  dangerous  will  he  become,  if  those  men- 
tal powers  are  wholly  uncontrolled  by  the  law 
of  God.  Without  grace,  he  is  a  guilty  creature 
on  earth  and  a  lost  creature  through  eternity. 


THE  RICH  CHRISTIAN.  63 

He  must  begin,  then,  on  that  grace—on  God's 
free  gift  to  him  through  Christ.  Just  as  a 
liberal  father  establishes  his  son  in  commercial 
business  by  furnishing  him  a  certain  sum  as 
his  capital,  so  (if  we  may  thus  speak)  our  heav- 
enly Father  gives  the  new  heart  as  a  Christian 
capital.  This  is  the  starting-point.  As  soon 
as  converting  grace  enters  the  soul  its  condition 
changes.  At  that  moment,  by  that  act,  the 
seeking  sinner  becomes  the  forgiven,  the  ac- 
cepted, the  adopted  heir  of  God.  And  the  re- 
ligious principle,  then  implanted  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  is  the  spiritual  capital  with  wliicli  the 
new-made  heir  begins  his  stewardship.  Some- 
times this  cax)ital  is  furnished  in  childhood  or 
in  early  youth,  and  then  a  long  "threescore 
and  ten  "  witnesses  the  growth  of  that  soul  in- 
to vast  i^ossessions.  Sometimes  a  ]3erson  be- 
gins late  in  life  ;  and  then,  like  those  who 
mistake  their  secular  callings  and  only  get  hold 
of  the  right  occupation  at  forty,  he  seldom  be- 
comes a  sx3iritual  millionaire.  In  fact,  he  does 
not  get  far  beyond  his  original  capital.  It  is 
hard  work  to  make  a  "  first-class"  Christian  out 
of  an  aged  sinner.  Old  habits  of  sin  have  be- 
come inveterate.  The  best  soil  of  the  heart  has 
been  worn  out  in  growing  enormous  crops  of 
tares.  There  is  a  want  of  spring  and  pliability 
in  an  old  man's  temperament ;  he  does  not 
readily  adapt  himself  to  new  positions  and  new 
duties.     As  the  merchants  who  have  accumu- 


64  THE  RICH  CIIRHSTIAN. 

lated  the  most  gigantic  fortunes  are  commonly 
those  who  began  to  be  rich  before  thirty,  so 
the  richest  Christians  are  usually  to  be  found 
among  the  converts  of  the  Bible-class  room  and 
the  Sabbath  school.  Begin  young,  my  friends, 
if  you  would  attain  to  great  riches.  Those  who 
are  no  longer  young  may  still  be  saved  if  they 
will  come  heartily  to  Jesus;  but  I  doubt  if 
they  often  do  much  toward  saving  others.  God 
reserves  the  highest  reward  to  those  who  enlist 
the  earliest,  and  serve  the  hardest  and  the 
longest. 

II.  In  the  second  place,  let  me  remind  you 
that  lie  who  would  amass  large  wealth  must 
not  sit  down  content  loith  his  original  capital. 
He  makes  investments.  He  plants  his  gold  in 
a  well  tilled  farm,  or  sends  it  seaward  in  strong- 
bottomed  ships,  or  sets  it  to  spinning  new 
fortunes  in  the  factory.  He  must  venture 
what  he  has,  if  he  would  gain  more. 

Even  so  in  the  spiritual  world  :  that  professor 
is  but  a  lean,  poverty-stricken  starveling,  who 
never  gets  beyond  the  infantile  condition  in 
which  he  stood  for  the  first  time  at  Christ's 
table.  Such  professors  there  be  in  every 
church.  Their  single  talent  is  hidden  in  a  nap- 
kin— a  very  small  napkin.  What  God  be- 
stowed upon  them  at  the  time  of  conversion 
is  all  that  they  have  now  ;  if  there  has  been  any 
change,  it  has  been  rather  a  reduction  than  a 
growth.       Such    began  small — they  continue 


THE  RICH  CHRISTIAN.  65 

smaller.  They  never  were  anything  but  rivu- 
lets, trickling  with  slender  thread  of  water 
among  the  barren  stones,  at  the  mercy  of  every 
August  drought,  and  well-nigh  drunk  up  by 
every  thirsty  noonday  sun.  Year  after  year 
they  trickle  —  trickle  —  trickle  —  until  death 
dries  them  up,  and  nobody  misses  them.  They 
watered  nothing  ;  they  refreshed  nobody,  and 
blessed  no  living  thing.  Earth  is  little  the 
poorer  for  losing  them  ;  heaven  scarcely  the 
richer  for  gaining  them. 

But  a  growing  believer's  course  is  like  yonder 
river's — its  birthplace  some  secluded  fount- 
ain under  the  mossy  rock.  Cool  and  clear,  it 
steers  its  modest  path  whithersoever  God  shall 
lead  it,  laughing  evermore  and  leaping  to  its 
own  silvery  music.  For  long  we  lose  sight  of 
it.  Then  we  meet  it  again,  no  longer  a  wayside 
brook,  but  a  deep-voiced  river  beating  against 
its  banks — swelling  up  to  kiss  the  marge  of 
green  meadows — winding  around  the  high- 
land's base — rolling  on  its  majestic  march  until 
it  spreads  out  into  a  hosiiitable  bay,  on  whose 
placid  bosom  fleets  ride  at  anchor,  and  in  whose 
azure  depths  the  banners  of  all  nations  are 
mirrored.  Such  is  the  outflow  of  a  rich  soul 
— every  day  widening  in  influence,  every  day 
deepening  in  experience,  every  day  running 
purer  and  purer.  To  human  eyes  such  believ- 
ers may  move  more  slowly  as  old  age  draws  on. 
But  it  is  because  the  volume  of  their  graces  is 


66  THE  RICH  CHllISTIAN. 

increasing,  and  tliey  are  nearing  the  ocean  of 
eternity.  How  these  lives  gladden  the  regions 
through  which  they  pass  !  How  they  mirror 
back  the  glory  of  Christ's  gracious  handiwork ! 
How  they  bear  up  human  hopes,  and  spread 
themselves  out  like  broad,  patient  rivers,  to 
carry  all  burdens  that  are  launched  on  their 
bosoms ! 

Yet  such  a  glorious  Christian  career,  so  beau- 
tiful in  its  daily  flow,  and  so  beneficent  in  its 
results,  is  only  the  original  grace  of  conversion 
emi^loyed  at  compound  interest.  This  mighty 
river  of  holy  influence  is  only  the  original  fount- 
ain magnified.  Behold  the  virtue  of  accumu- 
latlon  !  To  this  the  apostle  exhorted  when  he 
urged  his  brethren  to  ''''grow  in  grace."  To 
accumulate  soul  wealth  for  God  is  the  purport 
of  that  apostolic  injunction,  ''Add  to  your 
faith  virtue  ;  and  to  virtue  knowledge  ;  and  to 
knowledge  temperance ;  and  to  temperance 
patience ;  and  to  patience  godliness  ;  and  to 
godliness  brotherly  kindness;  and  to  brotherly 
kindness  charity."  Brethren,  I  repeat  and  re- 
enforce  the  exhortation  :  Grow  in  Grace.  Ex- 
pand. Absorb  every  down-pouring  of  heavenly 
influence.  Catch  every  descending  drop  of 
spiritual  blessing.  Open  your  hearts  to  every 
stream  of  Bible  knowledge.  Be  filled  with 
the  fullness  of  Christ.  So  shall  ye  be  neither 
empty  nor  unfruitful,  but  "  always  abounding 
in  the  work  of  the  Lord." 


THE  RICH  CHRISTIAN.  6 '7 

III.  This  leads  me,  in  the  third  place,  to 
speak  of  the  methods  of  si:>iritual  wealtli- 
getting.  How  shall  a  believer  become  "rich 
toward  God?"  We  answer  that  the  rules  for 
securing  success  in  secular  affairs  will  apply  to 
the  advancement  of  the  soul  in  grace.  The 
real  currency  in  commerce  is  metallic,  the 
broad  earth  over.  And  the  gold  and  silver 
which  make  up  the  basis  of  personal  wealth, 
are  the  jjroduct  of  the  miner's  hard  toil  with 
sieve  or  with  mattock.  Now,  the  currency  of 
God's  kingdom  is  truth  ;  and  the  Bible  is  the 
ore-bed.  To  every  one  of  you  this  mine  is 
open.  He  must  be  a  blind  or  a  careless  miner 
who  does  not  come  out  of  this  inexhaustible 
ore-bed  with  some  new  and  massive  "  nugget" 
as  the  result  of  every  hour's  research.  Do  you 
consider  every  bank  solvent  whose  vaults  are 
the  hiding-place  for  solid  bullion,  amply  suffi- 
cient to  meet  its  liabilities?  So  is  he  a  sol- 
vent Christian  whose  secret  soul  is  stored  with 
gosi^el  principles,  all  coined  and  stamped  for 
daily  use.  Nor  should  any  Christian  ask 
credit  any  further  than  lie  can  fully  redeem 
his  promises  and  professions  by  the  ready 
money  of  consistent  godly  conduct. 

To  make  a  rich  believer,  something  more 
than  faith  is  needed.  More,  too,  than  Scrip- 
tural knowledge.  There  must  be,  also,  ex- 
perience. Ah,  this  is  a  costly  iDossession ! 
Nothing  is  bought  so  dear ;  and  yet  it  is  worth 


68  THE  RICH  CHRISTIAN. 

all  it  costs  us.  This  is  a  part  of  the  souPs 
wealth  that  no  one  can  purchase  for  us  ;  no 
dearest  friend  can  make  it  over  to  us  as  a  gift. 
We  must  "go  and  buy  for  ourselves,"  and  ex- 
orbitant is  the  price  we  often  pay  for  it. 

There  are  sometimes  rare  and  beautiful 
wares  brought  into  the  market  that  are  in- 
voiced at  almost  fabulous  rates.  Ignorant 
people  wonder  why  they  are  x^i'iced  so  high. 
The  simple  reason  is  that  they  cost  so  much 
to  procure.  That  luxurious  article  labeled 
£200  was  procured  by  the  adventurous  hunter, 
who,  at  the  hazard  of  his  neck,  brought  down 
the  wild  mountain-goat,  out  of  whose  glossy 
hair  the  fabric  was  wrought.  Yonder  pearl 
that  flashes  on  the  brow  of  the  bride  is  pre- 
cious, because  it  was  rescued  from  the  great 
deep  at  the  risk  of  the  pearl-fisher's  life,  as 
he  was  lifted  into  the  boat  half  dead,  with  the 
blood  gushing  from  his  nostrils.  Yonder 
ermine,  flung  so  carelessly  over  the  i3roud 
beauty's  shoulder,  cost  terrible  battles  with 
P(ilar  ice  and  hurricane.  All  choicest  things 
are  reckoned  the  dearest.  So  is  it,  too,  in 
Heaven's  inventories.  The  universe  of  God 
has  never  witnessed  aught  to  be  reckoned  in 
comparison  with  the  redemption  of  a  guilty 
world.  That  mighty  ransom  no  such  con- 
temptible things  as  silver  and  gold  could  pro- 
cure. Only  by  one  price  could  the  Church  of 
God  be    redeemed    from    hell,    and  that,   the 


THE  RICH  CHRISTIAN.  69 

precious  blood  of  the  Lamb — the  Lamb  with- 
out blemish  or  spot — the  Lamb  slain  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world. 

And  so  it  is  that  the  best  i)art  of  a  Christian 
character  is  that  which  was  procured  at  the 
sorest  cost.  Patience  is  a  beautiful  trait,  but 
it  is  not  worn  oftenest  by  those  who  walk  on 
life's  sunny  side  in  silver  slipijers.  It  is  the 
product  of  dark  nights  of  temi3est,  and  of 
those  days  of  adversity  whose  high  noon  is  but 
a  midnight.  For  "the  trial  of  your  faith 
worketh  patience."  Purity  of  soul  is  like 
purity  in  gold,  where  the  hottest  fires  turn  out 
the  most  refined  and  precious  metals  from  the 
crucible.  Joseph  found  his  crucible  in  an 
Egyi^tian  prison  ;  but  he  came  out  thence  with 
the  soul  of  a  virgin.  Purity  of  character  is 
often  bought  in  this  wicked  city  by  the  bitter 
price  of  a  crust  of  bread  eaten  Avith  a  good 
conscience  in  an  attic  ;  w^hen  a  guilty  conniv- 
ance would  have  been  rewarded  wdth  French 
satins  and  a  harlot's  sumptuous  couch. 

The  knowledge  of  our  own  besetting  sins  is 
a  knowledge  we  all  crave.  AVe  imagine  that 
Ave  would  be  willing  to  pay  liberally  for  the  in- 
sight into  our  own  hearts  Avhich  shall  reveal 
all  our  w^eak  points,  not  knowing  how  soon 
some  unexpected  emergency  might  develop 
some  foible  or  some  vice  of  character  hitherto 
unsuspected.  But  men  have  paid  dearly,  for 
such  discoveries.      David  paid    for    his  self- 


70  THE  RICH  CHRISTIAN. 

knowledge  with  the  life  of  a  darling  child  and 
a  broken  heart ;  Hezekiah  paid  for  his  by  the 
wearisome  suiferings  of  a  sick-chamber ;  Peter 
for  his  by  the  bitter  agonies  in  Pilate' s  garden. 
But  the  discoveries  were  worth  all  they  cost. 
Among  God's  jewels,  there  is  no  brilliant  which 
flashes  with  such  luster  as  the  tear  of  true 
penitence.  Yet  God  only  knoweth  what 
heart-pressure,  as  in  a  vise, — what  Avringings 
and  rendings  of  soul,  what  crushings  of  pride, 
and  wrestlings  of  agony, — may  have  been  need- 
ful in  order  to  press  out  that  jewel  drop  upon 
the  cheek  of  the  stubborn  sufferer  !  We  have 
sometimes  met  with  a  person  in  social  circles 
who  i)ossessed  a  peculiar  gentleness  and  docility 
of  character.  As  we  came  to  know  her  better, 
we  were  amazed  and  charmed  by  her  calm  self- 
poise,  and  her  heroic  submissiveness  to  God 
under  sudden  shocks  of  calamity.  We  admired 
so  beautiful  a  character.  We  envied  its  pos- 
sessor. We  coveted  such  a  spirit  for  ourselves. 
Ah,  we  little  knew  at  what  fearful  price  of  severe 
chastisements  and  bitter  disappointments,  of 
hopes  desolated  and  expectations  crossed,  of 
faith  put  to  the  rack,  and  patience  burned 
bright  in  seven-times  heated  furnaces,  all  that 
meek  loveliness  of  character  had  been  gained ! 
So  true  is  it,  dear  brethren,  that  he  is  the  most 
rich  toward  God  who  is  ready  to  toil  the  hard- 
est, and  to  bear  the  most  to  gain  his  acquisi- 
tion. 


THE  RICH  CHRISTIAN.  "^1 

To  be  truly  ricli,  all  these  graces  of  patience 
and  purity  and  meekness  and  long-suffering  are 
indispensable.  Cost  what  they  will,  they  must 
be  attained.  By  prayer  and  by  i^ractice  they 
must  be  sought  after,  and  so  sought  as  to  secure 
them.  He  is  a  meager,  unfinished,  unripe,  and 
unimpressive  Christian  who  does  not  possess 
those  peculiar  graces  which  are  only  to  be  won 
by  suffering  and  trial.  Do  not  draw  back  from 
the  possession  of  any  si^iritual  treasure,  I  be- 
seech you,  from  the  dread  of  paying  dearly  for 
it.  The  worldling  withholds  no  toil,  no  sacri- 
fices that  are  needful  to  secure  his  coveted 
gains  or  honors.  The  merchant  begrudges  not 
the  evenings  spent  away  from  his  own  fireside, 
if  those  extra  hours  over  his  ledgers  Avill  give 
but  an  extra  dividend  of  profits.  The  sculj^tor 
counts  not  the  long  months  wasted  which  see 
him  with  hammer  and  chisel  pursuing  the  im- 
prisoned figure  which  his  keen  eye  detects  Avith- 
in  the  block  of  Parian  marble.  And  the  chil- 
dren of  light  must  carry  into  their  service  of 
Christ  the  same  untiring  ardor,  the  same  zeal, 
and  the  same  self-denial  by  which  the  children 
of  the  world  win  wealth  and  honor  and  emolu- 
ments. Oh,  for  a  holy  enthusiasm !  a  holy 
covetousness  to  become  rich  toward  God  ! 

ly.  The  fourth  and  last  principle  that  I 
shall  present  is,  that  whoever  would  become 
rich  in  spiritual  treasure  must  give  atoay 
l)ountifully .     Tl^is  is  the   truest  paradox  in 


72  THE  RICH  CHRISTIAN. 

Christian  ecoiiom}^  He  that  saves  for  self  only 
loses  ;  he  that  loses  for  Christ's  sake  is  sure  to 
save.  Would  you  grow  rich  toward  God? 
Then  learn  to  give.  God  loveth  a  cheerful  giver. 
Nor  do  I  limit  this  rule  to  the  donation  of  the 
purse.  The  mere  gift  of  gold  is  but  a  part  of 
Christian  benevolence,  though  by  no  means  an 
unimportant  part.  I  often  wish  that  I  were 
the  possessor  of  the  wealth  of  James  Lenox 
or  Frederick  Marquand,  provided  that  I  had 
always,  too,  the  wealth  of  heart-love  to  do  good 
that  those  i)rincely  men  had.  But  a  rich  soul 
can  be  always  giving ;  as  tlie  noonday  sun 
overflows  his  golden  urn  of  ceaseless  radiance, 
and  is  yet  none  the  poorer  in  warmth  and  glory 
when  a  whole  universe  has  been  lighted. 

We  must  freely  give  of  everything  that 
we  have  freely  received  from  the  Lord.  If 
we  have  the  heart  to  pray,  let  us  give  of  our 
prayers.  No  legacy  that  a  rich  father  could 
have  left  me  would  compare  in  value  with  my 
widowed  mother's  prayers  for  me  at  the  mercy- 
seat.  You,  that  have  acquired  the  wisdom 
which  age  and  experience  confer,  can  give 
those  counsels  which  are  apples  of  gold  in 
baskets  of  silver  to  the  young,  the  inexperi- 
enced, and  the  unfortunate.  Give  your  per- 
sonal labors,  too,  for  Christ.  Many  a  rich 
man  seeks  to  compound  with  his  conscience 
by  bestowing  bank- checks  in  lieu  of  his  own 
presence  in   the   mission  school,    the  prayer- 


THE  RICH  CHRISTIAN.  73 

meetings,  or  the  abodes  of  suffering.  Oh,  man 
of  wealth  !  God  gave  thee  that  very  leisure 
thou  en  joy  est  in  order  to  do  the  very  work  of 
charity  which  thy  poorer,  hard-toiling  neigh- 
bor has  no  time  to  perform.  Those  that  have 
not  money,  or  counsel,  or  charitable  deeds  to 
bestow,  can,  at  least,  afford  a  godly  example. 
And  so  a  godly  life  may  be,  from  first  to  last, 
all  expenditure ;  just  as  the  Temple  lamps 
consumed  themselves  away  in  giving  light. 
But  the  life  and  the  heart  grow  the  fuller,  the 
brighter,  the  stronger,  the  more  they  expend. 
What  were  rich-souled  Christians  given  to  the 
world  for  but  to  be  reservoirs  of  blessings  ! 

Happy  is  the  man  who  can  bring  the  very 
atmosphere  of  heaven  with  him  whenever  he 
approaches  us  !  who  acts  upon  our  spirits  as 
the  May  breezes  act  upon  the  first  shoots  of 
the  tulip  and  the  violet !  He  is  a  bountiful 
giver.  He  confers  on  us  light ;  he  beams  good- 
ness into  our  souls  ;  he  teaches  us  patience  ;  he 
showers  on  us  brotherly  kindness ;  he  illus- 
trates for  us  faith  ;  he  exhibits' the  true  beauty 
of  meekness  ;  he  sheds  hope  by  his  very  pres- 
ence, and  his  unflinching  bravery  has  often 
been  an  inspiration  of  valor  to  our  failing 
hearts.  Next  to  Christ  himself,  there  is  no 
blessing  to  the  community  like  a  Christlike 
Christian. 

My  dear  reader,  I  covet  for  you  the  best 
gifts.    Ask  of  Gfod,  who  giveth  liberally,  that 


74  THE  RICH  CHRISTIAN. 

ye  all  be  rich — rich  in  faitli,  rich  in  good  works, 
rich  in  revenues  of  joy,  rich  in  heart  holiness 
and  the  love  of  Jesus.  And  then,  although 
your  frame  be  wrapped  in  coarse  raiment,  your 
soul  shall  be  enfolded  in  the  shining  garniture 
of  Christ's  righteousness.  Though  your  dwell- 
ing-place be  lowly,  yet  your  heaven- seeking 
affection  may  be  at  home  in  the  celestial  courts 
before  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb. 
Although  your  purse  be  scanty,  your  heart  will 
be  a  palace  whose  chambers  are  filled  v>ith  "all 
j)leasant  and  all  precious  riches."  So  shall 
you  be  made  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the 
inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light. 


V. 
THE  LITTLE  COAT. 


V. 

THE  LITTLE  COAT. 

"His  mother  made  hiin  a  little  coat,  and  brought  it  to  him 
from  year  to  year." — I  Samuel  ii,  19. 

You  may  smile  at  this  text.  Well,  it  is  but 
a  little  text,  about  a  little  garment  that  turned 
to  dust  many  hundred  years  ago.  We  cannot 
always  be  discussing  the  great  central  and 
commanding  themes,  such  as  the  Divine  Attri- 
butes, Redemption,  Regeneration,  Immortality, 
and  the  Judgment  to  come.  Life  is  largely 
made  up  of  small  things,  and  the  small  things 
are  often  very  great  in  their  inllaence  upon 
character  and  destiny.  This  little  text  about 
a  little  lad's  "  wee  "  coat  has  a  connection  with 
some  of  the  most  vital  concerns  of  life,  and  is 
suggestive  of  many  important  truths — espe- 
cially for  the  parents  who  are  now  before  me. 

In  a  parent's  eye  there  is  no  greater  person- 
age in  this  world  than  a  little  child.  As  the 
least  of  the  planets  floats  nearest  to  the  sun,  so 
the  baby  of  the  household  gets  the  central  place 
in  the  home,  and  the  warm  chimney-corner  in  the 
heart.  What  a  marvel  of  beauty — nothing  short 
of  a  miracle — is  a  first-born  child  !     With  what 

77 


IS  THE  LITTLE  COAT. 

a  glow  of  honest  pride  lias  many  a  young  mother 
made  for  her  infant  treasure  the  tiny  garment 
in  which  it  was  to  be  presented  to  the  Lord,  in 
the  beautiful  rite  of  baptism  !  And  in  many  a 
home  there  is  carefully  packed  away — as  above 
all  price — the  little  white  dress  in  which  was 
baptized  the  darling  one  whom  Jesus  took 
homeward  long  ago. 

There  is  a  sweet  touch  of  nature  in  the  pas- 
sage which  I  have  chosen  to-day.  Away  back 
in  those  distant  lands  and  ages  there  was  a 
young  wife,  whom  the  Lord  remembered  and 
gave  to  her  a  son.  How  overflowing  was  her 
joy  !  (For  Hannah  was  not  like  some  heartless 
women  of  our  day  who  regard  children  as  a 
burden  and  a  nuisance,  and  would  rather  risk 
child-murder  than  become  mothers.)  The 
grateful  soul  of  Hannah  broke  forth  in  thanks- 
giving. ^'For  this  child  I  prayed,  and  the 
Lord  hath  given  me  my  petition  which  I  asked 
of  Him.  Therefore  I  have  lent  him  to  the  Lord ; 
as  long  as  he  liveth,  he  shall  be  lent  to  the 
Lord." 

As  soon  as  the  infant  Samuel  was  weaned, 
Hannah  goes  up  to  Shiloh,  the  sacred  city,  to 
perform  the  vow  Avhich  she  had  x^i'omised  in 
the  days  of  her  childless  affliction.  With  a 
happy  heart  she  makes  her  pilgrimage  to  the 
shrine  of  Jehovah — not  only  presenting  her 
beloved  boy  to  the  Lord,  but  also  offering  sev- 
eral  costly  sacrifices.     God  had  remembered 


THE  LITTLE  COAT.  V9 

her  sorrow,  and  had  made  her  weex)  for  joy. 
He  had  given  her  a  son,  and  she  consecrates 
him  to  the  service  of  the  Temple.  He  conkl 
not  have  been  more  than  three  or  four  years 
old  when  Hannah  placed  him  under  the  care 
of  Eli  the  high-priest,  and  he  found  his  home 
in  the  dwelling-place  of  the  Most  High. 

Moreover,  his  mother  made  him  a  little  coat 
(or  tunic),  and  brought  it  to  him  from  year  to 
year  when  she  came  up  with  Elkanah  to  offer 
their  annual  sacrifice.  What  sort  of  a  garment 
could  the  little  tunic  liave  been  ?  AVell,  I  can- 
not satisfy  your  curiosity ;  but  we  may  well 
believe  that  so  sensible  a  mother  as  Hannah 
did  not  degrade  her  child  into  a  doll,  to  be 
bedecked  with  foolish  fineries.  It  must  have 
been  a  modest  and  becoming  garment  which 
the  godly  mother  made  each  year  for  the 
appareling  of  her  child.  I  wish  that  I  could 
say  as  much  of  the  ax)parel  which  thousands  of 
Christian  parents  now  load  upon  the  form  of 
their  children  ;  as  if  God  did  not  make  a  child 
beautiful  enough  without  the  aid  of  elaborate 
fineries  and  expensive  upholsterings.  I  tell 
you  that  this  overdressing  of  the  body  strikes 
through  into  the  mind  and  heart — poisoning 
the  mind  with  affectation  and  with  most  un- 
childlike  greed  of  admiration  and  vain-glory. 
How  can  a  check  be  ever  put  upon  the  crop  of 
fops  and  fashion-worshipers  if  children  are 
trained  into  fopperies  and  fooleries  from  the 


80  THE  LITTLE  COAT 

nursery?  How  can  a  child  be  instructed  to 
frugality,  humility,  self-denial,  or  any  sort  of 
spiritual-mindedness  while  its  free  young 
graces  are  smothered  under  the  artificial  trap- 
I)ings  of  jDride  and  extravagance  ?  I  entreat 
you,  Christian  parents,  that,  if  you  lend  your 
children  to  the  Lord,  do  not  disfigure  the  sacred 
loan  by  turning  an  immortal  being  into  a  doll. 
That  wise  Hebrew  mother  made  for  her  son 
such  a  garment  as  became  his  station  ;  for 
Samuel  was  devoted  to  the  service  of  God,  and 
not  to  the  "lust  of  the  eye  and  the  pride  of 
life." 

Going  now  more  deeply  into  the  spiritual 
suggestions  of  our  text,  let  me  remind  you 
that  clothing  has  a  figurative  signification  in 
the  Word  of  God.  We  are  exhorted  to  be 
clothed  with  humility,  and  to  keep  our  gar- 
ments unspotted  from  the  world.  Christianity 
is  likened  to  a  vesture ;  and  believers  are  com- 
manded to  "put  on  Christ,"  so  that  they  need 
not  be  found  naked  or  disfigured  with  the 
"filthy  rags"  of  self -righteousness.  As  our 
dress  is  the  part  of  us  most  visible  to  every- 
body, so  should  our  Christ-likeness  be  visible 
at  first  sight  to  all  whom  we  meet.  This  illus- 
tration of  character  by  clothing  extends  even 
into  the  heavenly  world  ;  for  we  are  told  that 
"whosoever  overcometh  shall  be  clothed  in 
white  raiment,"  and  the  saints  shall  be  attired 
in  robes  that  have  been  washed  to  spotless 


THE  LITTLE  GOAT  81 

purity  in  the  blood  of  the  atoning  Lamb  of 
God. 

Nor  is  it  a  mere  pulpit  i)un  that  the  very 
word  "habit"  is  employed  to  signify  both  the 
dress  of  the  body  and  the  moral  tendency  and 
disposition  of  the  mind.  We  i^arents  clothe 
our  children  in  both  senses  of  the  word.  We 
provide  the  raiment  for  their  bodies,  and,  in 
no  small  degree,  we  provide  the  habits  of  tlK^r 
thought  and  conduct.  We  make  for  them 
coats  that  will  last — which  no  moth  can  eat 
or  time  deface — coats  which  they  may  never 
outgrow  as  long  as  life  endures.  Mothers  ! 
the  Creator  puts  into  your  hands  an  unclothed 
spirit,  as  well  as  an  unclothed  body.  You 
make  a  garment  for  the  one;  and  in  many  a 
home  there  is  hardly  a  rest  for  your  busy 
needles  through  all  the  year.  But  shall  the 
mind — the  immortal  spirit — be  left  naked,  or 
be  comx^elled  to  pick  up  at  random  its  habits 
of  thinking  and  acting  ?  This  were  impossible. 
Onr  children  will  put  on  our  ways  and  our 
habits  in  spite  of  us.  Our  character  streams 
into  our  children,  entering  through  their  eyes 
and  ears,  and  every  faculty  of  observation. 
What  they  see  us  do,  they  will  do ;  what  they 
hear  from  as  lodges  in  their  memory,  and,  like 
seeds  dropped  from  a  parent  stock,  will  come 
up  in  their  conduct,  for  good  or  evil.  We  are 
forming  their  habits  ;  and,  in  the  primary 
school  of  home,  we  are  educating  them  every 


82  THE  LITTLE  GOAT. 

hour.  Upon  tlieir  plastic,  susceptible  minds 
we  are  printing  constantly  the  impressions 
wliicli  come  out  in  character!  No  plioto- 
graiDliic  plate  is  so  sensitive  to  the  images 
which  lodge  upon  it  as  are  the  recei^tive 
minds  of  our  children,  to  whatever  they  are 
seeing  or  hearing.  The  sagacious  Dr.  Bushnell 
has  happily  said  that  "every  sentiment  which 
looks  into  the  little  eyes  looks  back  out  of  the 
eyes,  and  plays  in  miniature  on  the  counte- 
nance. The  tear  that  steals  down  a  mother's 
cheek  gathers  the  little  face  into  a  responsive 
sadness.  A  fright  in  the  mother's  face  will 
frighten  the  child.  Our  irritations  irritate 
them  ;  our  dissimulations  make  them  tricky 
and  deceitful."  If  a  boy  is  handled  harshly, 
and  is  thumped  or  jerked  into  obedience,  he 
w^ill  probably  turn  out  a  sulky,  obstinate,  and 
irritable  creature — just  what  our  imjietuous 
impatience  made  him.  If  malicious  gossip,  or 
scandal,  sour  our  talk  at  the  table  or  fireside, 
our  children's  "teeth  will  be  set  on  edge." 
Give  your  boy  a  dollar  for  the  toy  slioj)  or  the 
place  of  amusement,  and  only  a  dime  for  the 
Lord's  contribution  box,  and  you  will  teach 
him  that  self-indulgence  is  ten  times  more  im- 
])ortant  than  charity.  If  we  live  for  the  Avorld, 
it  is  very  likely  that  our  children  may  die  of 
the  world.  If  we  set  our  affections  on  things 
above,  and  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  for 
ourselves  and  for  them,   we  may  reasonably 


THE  LITTLE  COAT.  83 

hope  to  win  them  into  tlie  upward  pathway 
we  are  treading. 

And  thus,  my  fellow-parents,  are  we  making 
"little  coats"  for  the  younger  children,  and 
the  larger  coats  for  the  older  ones,  all  the 
while.  When  they  go  away  from  home  they 
will  wear  the  habits  which  we  have  put  upon 
them.  We  really  send  ourselves  to  the  board- 
ing school  or  the  college  in  the  bearing  and  breed- 
ing which  our  sons  and  daughters  carry  thither. 
Our  older  children  are  wearing  now  the  coats 
of  character  which  we  cut  out  for  them  ten  or 
twenty  years  ago.  How  do  we  like  their  dress  ? 
Is  it  after  the  good  Bible  pattern  ?  Mr.  A. 
used  to  think  it  a  genteel  and  hospitable  prac- 
tice to  set  the  decanter  on  his  table  ;  and  his 
sons  learned  to  love  the  wine  too  well.  They 
have  practiced  on  these  home  lessons  until  their 
"redness  of  eyes"  and  thickness  of  tongue 
prove  their  too  great  familiarity  with  the  bot- 
tle.    How  does  he  like  the  coat  they  wear  ? 

Brother  B.  thought  that,  after  all,  the  the- 
ater was  not  so  perilous  a  place  as  his  pastor 
or  other  Puritanic  people  .had  pictured  it.  So 
instead  of  providing  unexceptionable  recrea- 
tions for  his  children  he  gave  them  carte  blanche 
for  the  playhouse,  with  all  its  lascivious  at- 
tractions and  salacious  seductions.  Some  of 
them  have  gone  too  often  for  their  jDurity  of 
heart  or  peace  of  conscience.  Can  he  now  pull 
off  the  "habit"  which  he  permitted  or  encour- 


84  THE  LITTLE  COAT. 

aged  them  to  put  on  ?  Mrs.  C.  insisted  tliat 
the  assembly-room  was  the  best  place  to  acquire 
gracefulness  of  carriage  and  elegance  of  deport- 
ment. Her  daughters  learned  everything  that 
the  ballroom  teaches — even  to  tliat  style  of 
dance  that  is  "  the  last  sigh  of  expiring  mod- 
esty." As  she  looks  now  upon  their  gay  ap- 
parel of  fashion  and  frivolity,  so  different  from 
the  "  ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit," 
her  motherly  eyes  are  sometimes  moistened  at 
the  sight. 

Here  is  a  father  who  s^iends  his  Sabbath  over 
his  cigar  and  his  Sunday  morning  newspaper 
and  his  business  letters.  His  sons  j)ut  on  the 
coat  and  wear  it  to  their  soul's  peril ;  they  are 
not  likely  to  lay  it  aside  unless  the  grace  of 
God  shall  open  their  eyes  to  the  solemn  fact 
that  to  lose  the  Sabbath  is  to  lose  the  soul !  In 
one  family  the  prevailing  topic  is  "money- 
money"  ;  in  another  dress  and  parade;  in 
another  si^orting ;  in  another  music  and  fine 
art ;  in  another  the  tone  of  daily  conversation 
is  toward  the  best  things  worth  living  for  ; 
and  the  pattern  which  the  parents  set  the  chil- 
dren copy.  How  will  all  these  "habits"  of 
thought  and  conduct  look  when  they  are  sub- 
jected to  the  test  of  experience  and  the  search- 
ing light  of  the  day  of  judgment  ?  Ah,  these 
mind  garments,  which  beautif}'  and  adorn,  or 
else  disfigure  and  deprave,  are  very  apt  to  last 
for  a  lifetime  ;  they  will  be  worn  by  our  off- 


THE  LITTLE  GOAT.  85 

spring  long  after  many  of  us  have  turned  to 
dust.  They  will  be  garments  of  light  and  love- 
liness, or  else  of  shame  and  sorrow. 

II.  Do  not  imagine,  therefore,  that  the  "  little 
coat"  is  worthy  of  but  slight  attention.  The 
sum  of  life  is  made  up  of  little  things.  Tliey  de- 
termine character  and  often  decide  our  destiny. 
As  the  peasant's  coarse  frock  and  the  monarch's 
robe  are  both  made  up  of  many  small  threads 
woven  together,  so  is  the  garment  of  character 
woven  out  of  the  innumerable  thoughts  and 
words  and  deeds  of  each  person's  daily  exist- 
ence. It  is  in  the  little  things  that  Bible  piety 
makes  itself  most  winsome ;  and  the  mischief 
wrought  by  inconsistent  Christians  arises  from 
the  indulgence  of  petty  sins  that  are  as  de- 
structive as  moths  upon  the  garment.  Dr. 
Maclaren  pithily  says  that  "white  ants  pick  a 
carcass  clean  sooner  than  a  lion  will."  I  fear 
that  you  and  I  are  often  greol  sinners  in  little 
tilings.  The  little  meannesses  of  word  and 
look,  the  irritations  of  temper,  the  small  duplic- 
ities of  speech,  the  'Svliite  lies"  that  are  only 
whitewashed,  the  small  affronts  and  petty 
spites,  the  thoughtless  neglect  of  other  peo- 
ple's welfare,  and  the  paltry  excuses  by  which 
we  strive  to  excuse  ourselves  from  painful  duty 
— all  these  make  up  an  awful  aggregate  of  sin. 
A  snowflake  is  a  tiny  thing,  that  might  melt 
in  an  infant's  hand.  But  enough  of  these  may 
be  heaped  up  by  a  blizzard  on  a  railway  track 


86  THE  LITTLE  COAT. 

to  stall  the  most  i^owerf  al  engine  and  its  train. 
So  is  it  the  aggregate  amount  of  inconsistent 
acts  and  neglects  of  duty  that  impair  the  influ- 
ence of  the  individual  Christian ;  they  may 
accumulate  into  snow-banks  that  block  up  re- 
vivals and  bring  a  whole  Church  to  a  stand- 
still. No  sin  is  a  trifle  ;  no  sin  can  be  safely 
allowed  to  get  headway.  "Let  that  worm 
alone,  and  it  will  kill  your  tree"  was  said  once 
to  a  gardener  in  a  nobleman's  park.  Sure 
enough;  the  gardener  neglected  the  little  borer, 
and  the  next  year's  yellow  leaves  showed  the 
slow  assassination  of  the  tree. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  sum  total  of  daily 
good  deeds  that  make  up  the  ''  beauty  of  holi- 
ness." The  richest  croj)s  of  grace  spring  from 
tiny  seeds — especially  when  they  have  been 
watered  by  prayer. 

Let  no  one  despise  the  day  of  small  things. 
The  noblest  Christian  lives  often  have  their  ori- 
gin in  some  faithful  word  spoken  in  love,  or  in 
the  reading  of  a  tract,  or  in  some  small  occur- 
rence, or  in  a  single  resolution  to  break  with 
some  besetting  sin.  One  sentence  seems  to 
have  brought  the  ardent  Peter  and  the  beloved 
John  to  their  decision  of  discipleshij).  One 
sentence  converted  the  jailer  of  Philippi.  The 
outcome  of  those  few  words  has  been  felt  in 
the  spiritual  history  of  thousands  of  others 
since  that  day.  Paul  little  knew  how  many 
souls,  in  all  time,  he  was  addressing  when  he 


THE  LITTLE  COAT.  87 

said  to  the  frightened  jailer,  "  Believe  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved." 
In  fact,  nobody  ever  knows  how  much  good  he 
is  doing  when  he  does  just  one  good  thing. 

A  word  of  praise  from  his  mother  made  Ben- 
jamin West  a  i3ainter  and  President  of  the 
Royal  Academy.  A  kind  sentence  or  two  of 
commendation,  bestowed  in  a  short  talk  in  a 
prayer-meeting,  led  me  to  enter  the  sacred  min- 
istry. From  that  incident  I  learned  never  to 
underrate  the  influence  of  a  few  words  sj)oken 
at  a  critical  moment. 

A  godly  wife  told  her  husband  that  she 
"trembled  for  him";  that  single  sentence 
spoken  in  love  sent  him  trembling  to  the  cross. 
Dr.  Payson,  of  Portland,  once  asked  a  group 
of  young  men  to  let  him  read  to  them  a  hymn  ; 
when  it  was  ended  they  were  all  in  tears.  The 
Divine  Spirit  was  in  that  tender  voice.  Har- 
lan Page,  reared  like  his  Master  to  the  humble 
trade  of  a  carpenter,  became  a  marvelously 
successful  winner  of  souls  to  Christ  by  utter- 
ing a  few  "words  in  season"  with  an  empha- 
sis of  love  that  penetrated  to  the  core. 

That  noble  Boanerges  of  the  Western  New 
York  pulpit.  Dr.  AVisner,  of  Ithaca,  said  that 
he  stopped,  on  a  hot  summer  day,  at  a  farm- 
house for  a  glass  of  water.  The  farmer's 
daughter  handed  him  the  refreshing  draught, 
and  he  rei^aid  her  by  a  kind,  tender  word 
about  Jesus    as    the    water    of  life.     Several 


88  THE  LITTLE  COAT. 

years  afterward  a  middle-aged  woman  recog- 
nized him  on  the  deck  of  a  steamboat,  and 
thanked  him  for  the  few  plain  faithful  words 
which  led  her  to  Christ.  It  is  a  sin  and  a 
shame  that  we  Christians  let  slip  so  many  op- 
portunities to  drop  a  word  of  truth  through 
an  open  ear  into  an  open  soul.  Grant  that 
many  a  truth  thus  dropped  has  not  spronted  ; 
neither  has  every  sermon  preached  been  the 
means  of  converting  a  soul.  But  the  awaken- 
ing power  of  a  discourse  has  often  laid  in  a 
single  point  pressed  home.  It  is  the  tip  of  the 
arrow  that  penetrates  the  "joints  of  the 
harness." 

The  great  lesson  in  the  saving  of  souls  is 
never  to  "  despise  the  day  of  small  things," 
never  to  lose  an  opi3ortunity,  and  never  to  un- 
derrate the  power  of  a  single  truth  spoken  in 
love.  Revivals  in  a  church  commonly  start  in 
one  or  two  hearts.  The  first  revival  in  the  lit- 
tle church  among  whom  my  own  early  minis- 
try was  sx)ent  began  in  the  heart  of  a  little 
girl.  Her  few  words  awakened  one  woman, 
and  that  woman  came  at  once  to  me,  and  x^ro- 
posed  special  meetings ;  they  were  worth 
more  to  me  than  any  year  in  a  theological 
seminary. 

I  might  multiply  these  illustrations  of  the 
greatness  of  the  littles  ;  for  nothing  is  small 
that  has  God's  Sj^irit  in  it  and  w^orking 
through  it.     In  conclusion,  I  would  impress 


THE  LITTLE  COAT.  89 

once  more  upon  the  hearts  of  all  parents  the 
prodigious  importance  of  all  those  numberless 
words  and  deeds  by  which  they  weave  those 
garments  of  character  that  shall  be  worn  long 
after  they  are  in  their  silent  sepulchers.  ^o 
office  is  comparable  to  that  of  parentage ;  no 
trust  is  so  sacred  as  that  of  an  immortal  spirit 
in  the  plastic  period  of  childhood.  When 
the  Creator  lays  a  newborn  babe  in  the  arms  of 
its  parents,  He  says  to  them,  "Take  this  child 
and  nurse  it  for  Me  and  I  will  give  thee  thy 
wages."  The  answer  of  gratitude  and  faith 
ought  to  be — O  God,  Thou  hast  put  Thy 
noblest  work  into  our  hands.  We  accept  the 
precious  trust.  We  will  shelter  this  young 
life  under  thy  mercy  seat.  We  will  nurse 
this  soul  in  its  infancy  with  the  sincere  milk 
of  truth,  that  in  after  years  it  may  bear  strong 
meat,  for  strong  service  of  God  and  righteous- 
ness. Help  us  to  order  our  own  lives  in  har- 
mony with  Thee,  so  that  this  young  life  may 
reflect  Thine  image  in  reflecting  ours  ! 

To  such  conscientious  fidelity  God  offers  the 
only  wages  that  can  satisfy  the  claims  of  love. 
He  pays  the  heart's  claim  in  the  heart's  own 
coin.  Faithful,  painstaking,  prayerful  Han- 
nah found  her  rich  reward  in  the  sight  of 
Samuel's  after-career  as  Israel's  upright  Judge. 
Timothy's  "little  coat"  outlasted  his  mother 
Eunice.  The  mother  of  the  Wesleys  was  re- 
paid for  all  her  patient,  loving  discipline  when 


90  TEE  LITTLE  COAT. 

her  sons  reared  the  world-wide  tabernacle  for 
Methodism.  God  never  breaks  His  covenant 
with  those  who  fulfill  their  covenants  to  Him. 
Fathers,  mothers  !  we  are  weaving  the  hab- 
its of  our  children  every  hour.  We  do  it,  as 
clothes  are  fashioned,  stitch  by  stitch  ;  and 
most  of  all  by  the  unconscious  influence  of 
examx)le.  The  estate  which  we  can  bequeath 
to  them  may  be  small.  We  may  not  all  be 
able  to  afford  them  the  costly  education  of 
great  schools  or  universities.  But  day  by  day 
we  can  be  patiently  weaving  for  them  that 
garment  of  godliness  that  shall,  by  divine 
grace,  grow  brighter  and  fairer  until  they 
shall  walk  in  shining  apparel  before  the 
throne  of  God. 


VI. 

THE  SERPENT  IN  THE  WALL. 


VI. 
THE  SERPENT  IN  THE  WALL. 

"  Whoso  breaketh  through  a  fence,  a  serpent  shall  bite 
him." — EccLESiASTES X,  8  (Revised  Edition), 

Old  Testament  scholars  are  agreed  that  the 
reference  in  this  verse  is  not  to  a  hedge,  or  a 
frail  fence  of  wood,  but  to  a  stone  wall.  It 
was  the  custom  in  Palestine  to  surround  vine- 
yards with  a  wall  of  loose  stones,  and  these 
were  a  favorite  haunt  of  snakes.  In  the  book 
of  Amos  we  read  of  a  man's  "  leaning  his  hand 
on  a  wall,  and  a  serjpent  bit  him."  Isaiah  also 
speaks  of  the  arrow-snake  making  her  nest 
among  piles  of  stones.  The  text  is  one  of  a 
series  which  show  the  terrible  risks  which 
people  run  when  they  attempt  to  do  certain 
things.  The  idea  of  this  pungent  passage  is 
that  if  anyone  undertook  to  break  through  tlie 
inclosure  of  his  neighbor's  vineyard  he  miglit 
encounter  a  sly  policeman  in  the  shape  of  a 
snake  ;  and  the  bite  of  the  snake  would  be 
deadly  poison  !  This  is  only  a  picturesque 
way  of  putting  it  that  the  way  of  transgressors 
is  hard,  and  the  wages  of  sin  is  death. 

Human  life    is    not  an    open  prairie,  over 

93 


94  THE  SERPENT  IN  THE    WALL. 

which  (?verybody  may  roam  at  will  and  do 
as  he  likes.  Our  heavenly  Father  loves  ns 
too  well  to  allow  us  to  follow  the  devices 
and  desires  of  our  own  depraved  hearts. 
He  has  therefore  fenced  us  round  with  His 
inspired  and  infallible  Word  ;  and  some  of 
the  most  vital  portions  of  that  word  are  in  the 
form  of  commandments.  "Thou  shalt "  and 
"thou  shalt  not  "are  planted  all  along  our 
pathway,  to  define  the  boundaries  between 
riglit  and  wrong — between  what  we  may  do, 
and  what  we  must  never  do.  As  long  as  we 
keep  within  the  boundaries  that  God  has  fixed, 
we  dwell  in  safety  ;  we  enjoy  that  true  liberty 
which  consists  in  the  possibility  of  duty.  To 
our  great  satisfaction,  we  find  that  the  law  of 
the  Lord  is  perfect,  restoring  the  soul  ;  the  pre- 
cepts of  the  Lord  are  right,  rejoicing  the  heart ; 
the  commandment  of  the  Lord  is  pure,  enlight- 
ening the  eyes  ;  and  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is 
clean,  enduring  forever. 

God  never  takes  down  his  fences,  nor  does 
he  ever  lower  them  by  a  hand-breadth. 
Churches  may  revise  their  Confession  of  Faith 
as  often  as  they  choose,  but  the  Almighty 
never  allows  His  laws  to  be  revised — or  re- 
pealed. Some  people  seem  to  imagine  that 
Sinai  is  extinct.  Certain  pulpits  appear  to  be 
pitched  at  such  a  distance  from  that  sublime 
mountain  that  its  flaming  peak  is  no  longer 
visible,  and  its  righteous  thunders  against  sin 


Tim  SERPENT  IN  THE   WALL.  95 

are  no  longer  audible.  By  these  rose-water 
prophets  of  smooth  things,  the  theology  of  law 
is  voted  obsolete  and  barbarous  ;  the  world  is 
to  be  tamed  and  sanctified  entirely  by  a  the- 
olog}^  of  love.  They  preach  a  one-sided  God — 
all  mercy  and  no  justice — with  one-half  of  His 
glorious  attributes  under  total  eclii3se.  Even 
sinners  are  not  to  be  warned  and  entreated 
with  tears  to  llee  from  the  wrath  to  come. 
They  are  rather  to  be  coaxed  into  holiness  by 
a  magical  process  which  makes  nothing  of  re- 
pentance, and  simply  requires  a  "  faith  "  Avliich 
costs  no  more  labor  or  self-denial  than  the  lift 
of  a  finger.  This  shallow  system  may  produce 
long  rolls  of  "converts,"  but  it  does  not  pro- 
duce solid,  subsoil ed  Christians.  Sinai  is  not 
an  extinct  mountain  in  Bible  theology.  Not 
one  jot  of  its  holy  law  has  been  lowered  or  re- 
pealed. In  one  very  vital  sense  no  Christian 
is  "free  from  the  law."  It  would  not  be  a 
"happy  condition "  for  him  if  he  were  so,  any 
more  than  it  would  be  a  happy  condition  for 
New  York  or  Brooklyn  to  disband  their  police 
and  to  let  loose  their  criminals  into  the  streets. 
So  far  from  being  a  kindness,  it  would  be 
eventual  cruelty  to  any  man,  or  to  any  com- 
munity to  place  them  beyond  the  reach  and  the 
just  penalties  of  divine  law.  This  is  especially 
an  unfortunate  time  in  which  to  preach  a  lim- 
berbacked  theology  w^hich  has  no  stiffening  of 
the  word  "  ought  ^^  in  its  fiber,  and  which  seeks 


96       THE  SERPENT  IN  THE   WALL. 

to  conceal  the  fact  that  there  is  a  serpent  of 
retribution  lurking  behind  GocVs  walls.  Soci- 
ety will  never  be  regenerated  with  cologne 
water.  We  need  more  of  the  sacred  authority 
of  law  in  our  homes,  more  enforcement  of  law 
in  the  commonwealth,  more  reverence  for  God's 
law  in  our  hearts,  more  law-preaching  in  our 
pulpits,  and  more  "law- work"  in  the  conver- 
sion of  souls  who  can  represent  and  serve 
Jesus  Christ  by  keeping  His  commandments. 
The  very  essence  of  sin  is— breaking  down, 
or  breaking  through  God's  fences.  Whoso 
attempts  it  will  soon  find  that  there  is  a  ser- 
pent there  that  will  sting  him. 

Let  me  bring  this  pungent  text  from  a  gen- 
eral statement  to  some  special  ai)plication.  It 
is  full  of  Avholesome  suggestions  to  the  young, 
and  I  would  advise  every  young  man  to  copy  it 
into  his  memorandum  book.  "  Why  preach  so 
often  to  the  young?"  Are  counsels  and  dis- 
courses to  them  especially  needed  because  they 
are  worse  than  tliose  who  are  of  older  growth  ? 
Nay,  verily  ;  for  in  the  biographies  of  Holy 
Scripture  many  of  the  most  flagrant  offenses, 
such  as  the  drunkenness  of  Noah,  the  lecherous 
deeds  of  Lot  and  David,  the  criminal  parental 
conduct  of  Eli,  and  the  sins  of  Solomon  were 
all  committed  by  men  advanced  in  life.  No 
indictments  recorded  against  youth  could  be 
worse  than  these.  But  the  primal  object  of 
all  preaching  and  teaching  is  lorevention  of  sin. 


THE  SERPENT  IN  THE    WALL.  97 

A  faithful  warning  wisely  heeded  by  the  yonng 
may  save  them  from  the  bitter  experiences 
of  corrupted  character,  or  a  life  hoi)elessly 
wrecked.  A  buoy  well  placed  in  the  channel,  a 
signal  lamp  well  lighted,  are  worth  more  than 
all  the  life-boats  that  may  be  launched  when 
it  is  too  late.  Youth,  also,  is  the  period  of 
ardent  impulses  and  venturous  risks.  Com- 
monly, it  is  stronger  at  the  engine  than  it  is  at 
the  air-brakes.  It  is  immensely  important, 
therefore,  to  prevent  the  young  from  attempt- 
ing to  break  through  God's  fences,  or  even  to 
loosen  a  stone  in  His  wisely  ordained  walls. 

Let  us  take,  for  example,  the  most  frequent 
and  the  most  familiar  case — the  temptation  to 
tamper  with  intoxicants.  An  ounce  of  preven- 
tion is  worth  a  ton  of  attempted  cure.  The  Cre- 
ator has  built  up  His  solid  barricades  against 
alcoholic  drinks,  that  antedate  all  statutes  of 
"Prohibition"  ;  with  the  Almighty's  statutes 
no  human  legislature  can  recklessly  intermed- 
dle with  impunity  ;  just  as  soon  attempt  to 
repeal  the  law  of  gravitation.  In  the  solid 
wall  of  Total  Abstinence  are  certain  immuta- 
ble principles  founded  on  the  constitution  of 
the  human  body  and  on  the  inherent  qualities 
of  all  intoxicants.  Our  bodies  w^ere  created  to 
be  temples  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  never  to  be 
degraded  into  dens  of  debauchery.  We  are 
commanded  to  glorify  God  in  the  body,  and 
every  Christian  is  exhorted  to  preserve  it,  as 


98  THE  SERPENT  IN  THE   WALL. 

well  as  the  soul  and  spirit,  ''blameless  unto 
the  coming  of  our,  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  What 
are  the  laws  Avhich  God  has  written  on  the 
human  frame  in  regard  to  alcoholic  stimulants  \ 
Every  stone  in  the  solid  wall  of  restriction 
against  such  stimulants  bears  some  incontro- 
vertible truth  inscribed  thereon,  and  each 
truth  is  confirmed  by  experience.  Let  us  jDick 
up  a  few  of  these,  and  read  on  them  the  suffi- 
cient reasons  why  every  young  person  should 
rigidly  resolve  never  to  touch  any  intoxicating 
drinks  except  on  those  rare  occasions  when  a 
wise  physician  may  prescribe  them  as  a  medi- 
cine. Even  then  they  often  cover  up  more 
than  they  cure. 

I.  The  first  reason  is  that  no  healthy  human 
body  requires  alcohol,  and  the  best  work  of 
the  brain  and  of  the  limb  is  done  without  it. 
Alcohol  stimulates,  but  it  neither  feeds  nor 
strengthens.  So  far  from  being  a  true  food,  it 
interferes  with  alimentation.  It  absolutely 
lessens  the  muscular  power.  The  young  ath- 
letes in  collegiate  boat  clubs,  when  under 
training  for  regatta  races,  are  not  allowed  to 
use  alcoholics.  A  famous  pugilist  once  said  : 
"  When  I  have  business  on  hand,  there  is  noth- 
ing like  cold  water  and  the  dumb-bells."  I 
once  asked  a  celebrated  pedestrian  what  bever- 
age he  drank  during  a  walk  of  a  thousand 
miles  for  a  wager.  He  replied  that  he  drank 
nothing  but  water  or  cold  tea,   and  that  if  he 


•      THE  SERPENT  IN  THE   WALL.  99 

had  even  drank  a  glass  of  wine,  lie  wonld  have 
lost  his  race.  He  fonnd  that  alcoholic  liquors 
disturbed  and  wasted  his  vital  forces.  What- 
ever is  gained  by  the  first  spur  given  by  the 
alcohol  is  more  than  lost  by  the  reaction  that 
follows  it. 

II.  Every  glass  of  Avine  that  contains  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  alcoho],  and  every  glass  of 
brandy,  is  an  irritant.  Our  system  recognizes 
the  presence  of  an  enemy,  and  tries  to  throw 
off  and  expel  the  diink  as  an  intruder.  Thou- 
sands of  jieople  call  for  liquors  in  tlie  restau- 
rants, or  provide  them  on  their  tables  Avith  the 
mistaken  idea  that  they  i:)roniote  digestion. 
Some  persons  cling  to  this  delusion  long  after 
the  alcohol  has  burned  out  the  coats  of  their 
stomachs.  Instead  of  helping  digestion,  the 
liquor  hinders  it ;  instead  of  warming,  it  in- 
creases the  tendency  to  freeze,  as  has  been 
proven  by  Arctic  explorers  over  and  over  again. 
Dr.  Livingstone,  the  heroic  African  missionary, 
was  a  physician  himself,  and  he  testified  that 
he  "could  stand  any  and  every  hardship  best 
by  using  Avater,  and  water  only."  Sailors  and 
soldiers  can  endure  hard  fights  in  tempests 
or  on  battlefields  better  with  hot  coffee  than 
with  any  amount  of  grog.  I  liaA^e  naturally 
a  rather  frail  system,  but  I  have  stood  nearly 
fifty  years  of  hard  work,  with  plenty  of  sound 
sleep,  and  not  a  drop  of  alcoholic  stimulant. 

III.  A  third  reason  for  avoiding  intoxicants  is 

41)0774 


100  THE  SERPENT  IN  THE   WALL. 

that  they  have  a  most  dangerous  affinity  for 
the  brain.  Some  poisonous  drugs  have  an  affinity 
for  the  lieart,  and  others  for  the  spine.  A  ghiss 
of  strong  wine  or  brandy  makes  for  the  brain 
as  a  hound  makes  for  the  deer  in  the  forest. 
When  the  alcohol  reaches  the  brain  it  over- 
turns the  throne  of  the  reason,  and  trans- 
forms the  man  into  the  fool  or  the  maniac. 
Like  tlie  shot  in  a  naval  battle  which  hits  ''  be- 
tween wind  and  water,"  the  alcoholic  death- 
shot  strikes  where  tlie  mind  and  the  body— the 
mortal  and  the  immortal — meet  together  ;  and 
in  innumerable  instances  it  has  the  power  to 
''cast  both  soul  and  body  into  hell."  No 
human  brain  is  proof  against  alcohol.  The 
intellectual  giant  and  the  i)oor  idiot  are  alil?:e 
struck  down  by  its  stealthy  stiletto  bite.  Ke- 
member,  also,  that  every  saloon  is  a  den  of 
rattlesnakes. 

ly.  No  one  is  absolutely  safe  who  tampers 
with  an  intoxicant.  "  Wine  is  a  mocker,  and 
whosoever  is  deceived  thereby  is  not  wise." 
Not  only  the  sting  of  the  serxDent,  but  the 
subtlety  of  tlie  serpent  is  in  it.  The  de- 
ception lies  in  the  fact  that  the  habit  of 
drinking  will  become  confirmed  before  you 
suspect  that  it  is  enslaving  you.  Every  glass 
of  liquor  increases  the  desii'e  for  another  glass. 
A  loaf  of  bread,  a  dish  of  beef,  a  draught  of 
milk,  satisfy  hunger ;  they  do  not  breed  a  rav- 
ening appetite.     This  fact  makes  it  so  difficult 


THE  SERPENT  IN  THE   WALL.  101 

to  use  wine  or  brandy  without  running  into  ex- 
cess. A  habit  of  drinking  is  formed  and  con- 
firmed before  the  drinker  is  aware.  A  famous 
Presbyterian  minister,  long  years  ago,  used 
port  wine  to  make  him  preach  more  effectively, 
and  the  stealthy  ally  overmastered  him  at 
length  in  the  pulpit,  and  he  was  led  home 
drunk  and  disgraced  !  He  reformed,  but  it 
was  only  by  the  most  rigid  j)ledge  and  practice 
of  teetotalism.  Men  often  say  that  alcoholic 
beverages  are  "good  creatures  of  God";  so  far 
from  that,  God's  laio  against  alcohol  is  written 
on  every  human  body  in  this  fact,  that  alcohol 
arouses  a  depraved  appetite  that  demands 
more  and  more  of  the  poison. 

You  may  say:  "Everyone  who  drinks 
liquors  does  not  become  a  sot."  Very  true, 
but  every  sot  drinks  liquors  ;  and  not  one  in  a 
million  ever  expected  to  become  a  sot  when  he 
began  with  his  champagne  or  his  sherry.  Will 
you  run  the  risk?  I  would  not.  The  two 
reasons  why  I  am  a  teetotaler  are  that  I  dare 
not  trust  myself,  and  I  dare  not  tempt  others 
by  my  example.  The  most  deplorable  wrecks 
are  those  of  men  or  women  who  at  the  outset 
considered  themselves  perfectly  strong  and  in- 
vulnerable. JSTothingi  from  the  pen  of  Dickens 
can  surpass  a  heartrending  letter  which  I  re- 
ceived from  a  cultured  gentleman  (then  in  an 
almshouse),  who  declared  that  he  traced  all  the 
misery  of  his  life  directly  to  the  ' '  first  glass  he 


102      THE  SERPENT  IN  THE   WALL. 

ever  drank  at  the  N House,  in  the  capital 

of  Ohio."  First  glasses  have  peopled  hell! 
With  whatever  odds  in  your  favor,  will  you 
run  the  fearful  hazard  ?  Then  stop  before  you 
begin. 

All  these  divine  laws  against  intoxicants 
inscribed  ux)on  the  human  system  are  re-en- 
forced by  that  inspired  warning  from  God's 
Word  which  blazes,  as  in  letters  of  fire,  on  the 
forefront  of  this  wall  of  Abstinence.  "Look 
thou  not  ux)on  the  wine  when  it  is  red,  when  it 
giveth  its  color  in  the  cup,  when  it  goeth  down 
smoothly ;  at  the  last  it  hiteth  like  a  serpent 
and  stingeth  like  an  adder."  At  the  last! 
But  who  can  tell  when  that  "last"  shall  ever 
end?  When  will  the  victim's  last  cry  of  re- 
morse be  heard,  or  the  last  horror  seize  upon 
his  soul  ? 

In  spite  of  all  these  warnings  from  God's 
Word,  and  from  bitter  human  experience,  mil- 
lions of  young  men  venture  to  break  through 
this  fence,  with  the  reckless  hope  that  they 
will  dodge  the  deadly  adder.  Let  but  the  poison 
of  that  serpent  enter  into  the  blood  and  the 
globules  of  the  brain,  and  it  becomes  a  des- 
perate battle  for  life  ;  and  where  the  grace  of 
God  gives  one  Gough  the  victory,  a  multitude 
of  the  fence-breakers  die  of  the  serpent's 
venomous  bite.  I  entreat  you,  never  loosen  a 
pebble  from  that  Avail  of  total  abstinence  ! 

What  is  true  of  intoxicating  beverages  is 


THE  SERPENT  IN  THE   WALL.  103 

equally  true  in  regard  to  indulgence  of  all  the 
sensual  appetites.  The  Creator  has  built  a  solid 
barrier  of  chastity ;  everything  bej^ond  that 
wall,  whether  it  be  the  lustful  look  or  the 
wanton  wish,  is  sin.  It  is  vastly  easier  to  keep 
clean  than  it  is  to  wash  oU  the  impurities  from 
a  mind  once  polluted.  No  man  or  woman, 
young  or  old,  can  venture  to  dislodge  a  single 
stone  from  the  wall  of  purity,  but  out  darts  the 
serpent !  Upon  that  inclosure  the  divine 
hand  has  written  the  solemn  admonition,  "  Can 
a  man  take  tire  in  his  bosom,  and  his  clothes 
not  be  burned '^  can  he  walk  ux)on  hot  coals 
and  his  feet  not  be  scorched  ? ' ' 

God's  Holy  Word  reaches  to  every  domain 
of  human  life,  and  its  i)recepts  are  the  best 
manual  for  the  merchant  or  the  tradesman  in 
every  department  of  business.  The  Golden 
Rule  is  the  basis  on  which  is  reared  the  solid 
wall  of  commercial  integrity  ;  it  is  built  by  the 
plumb  line  that  allows  no  deviation,  by  a  single 
inch,  from  the  absolute  right.  Provide  things 
honest  in  the  sight  of  all  men  ;  he  that  is  unjust 
in  the  least  is  unjust  also  in  much  ;  these  are 
the  rules  that  are  written  with  a  pen  of  iron, 
and  graven  with  the  point  of  a  diamond.  The 
divine  law  never  recognizes  honesty  as  a 
''policy,"  but  evermore  as  a  principle.  As 
human  life  is  a  constant  commentary  on  the 
Bible,  we  discover  every  day  a  most  melan- 
choly uniformity  in  the  public  disclosures  of 


104  THE  SERPENT  IN  THE   WALL. 

dishonesty.  The  newspaper  announcements  of 
defalcations  and  bank-plnnderings  and  embez- 
zlements of  trust  funds  all  read  alike.  They 
all  had  the  same  beginning.  The  cashier,  the 
clerk,  the  trustee,  commenced  his  criminal 
career  by  picking  out  the  mortar  between  the 
stones  in  God's  wall  of  honesty.  He  promised 
himself  that  he  would  rei^lace  the  stone  which 
he  was  moving  ;  and  he  deluded  himself  with 
the  hope  that,  after  he  got  through  the  wall,  he 
could  slip  back  again  without  being  detected. 
But  the  serpent  was  too  quick  for  him.  Before 
he  knew  it,  the  viper's  fang  had  fastened  itself 
upon  his  treacherous  hand.  As  the  first  glass 
makes  the  drunkard,  so  the  first  dishonest 
dime  makes  the  knave.  In  every  counting 
room  and  bank,  in  every  mart  of  exchange  and 
place  of  traffic,  ought  to  be  written  up  the 
Eighth  Commandment  and  the  Golden  Rule  ; 
and,  underneath  them,  the  pithy  proverb, 
*'  Whoso  breaketh  through  this  fence,  a  ser- 
pent shall  sting  him." 

There  are  tv/o  sorts  of  fences  that  I  must 
briefly  allude  to  before  closing.  One  is  the 
inclosure  that  every  wise  parent  should  build 
around  his  own  household.  There  is  no  such 
school  of  Bible  religion  in  the  land  as  a  well- 
guarded.  God-fearing  home.  There  stands  the 
domestic  altar.  There  is  exercised  the  influ- 
ence that  molds  character  from  the  cradle 
to  the  judgment  seat.     Such  a  home  on  earth 


THE  SERPENT  IN  THE   WALL.  105 

is  commonly  the  surest  preparation  for  the 
Home  eternal  in  the  heavens.  Of  this 
"church  in  the  house"  the  parents  are  the 
ordained  pastors.  To  train  up  a  family  wisely 
for  the  Lord  requires  more  "gamx)tion  "  than 
to  write  a  book,  and  more  grace  than  to  i)reach 
a  sermon.  The  ruling  well  of  a  household, 
requires,  however,  something  more  than  that 
it  be  inclosed  within  certain  sharj)  j)ickets  of 
prohibition.  Example  is  more  potent  than 
precept.  The  daily  examj)le  of  father  and 
mother,  and  the  whole  pervading  atmosphere 
of  the  house,  ought  to  be  a  beneficent  barrier 
strong  enough  to  shut  m,  and  also  to  shut  out. 
We  instruct  our  children  more  by  what  we  are 
than  by  what  we  say  to  them  ;  we  restrain 
them  the  most  when  we  restrain  ourselves 
from  evil  courses.  It  has  been  wittily  said 
that  the  "true  time  for  a  mother  to  begin  the 
instruction  of  her  child  is  twenty  years  before 
the  child  is  born."  Home  is  neither  to  be  a 
high-walled  penitentiary  nor  an  unfenced  pleas- 
ure-ground. Bible  precepts  may  wall  our 
domestic  inclosures  around  to  make  them  safe, 
but  love  must  keep  the  atmosphere  inside 
warm  and  winsome.  When  a  son  or  daughter 
does  break  through  such  fences  of  loving 
parental  authority,  they  are  sure,  sooner  or 
later,  to  feel  the  viper's  sting.  The  parable  of 
the  Prodigal  Son  is  the  sad  story  of  a  fence- 
breaker.     It  is  rei)eated  constantly  in  these 


106  THE  SERPENT  IN  TEE   WALL. 

days  ;  but  not  eveiy  transgressor  sets  liis  face 
again  homeward,  nor  lias  everyone  such  a  for- 
giving father  to  extract  the  poison  of  the  ser- 
pent's bite. 

What  the  home  is  to  the  child,  the  Church 
of  Christ  is,  or  ought  to  be,  to  its  every  mem- 
ber. Its  Divine  Founder  intended  it  to  be  a 
fold — a  fold  for  both  the  old  and  the  young. 
Nor  ought  the  lambs  to  be  shut  out  in  the  cold 
until  they  are  hardy  enough  to  stand  the  sharp 
weather.  Whoever  comes  into  the  fold  must 
also  come  out  from  the  world  and  be  separate. 

"Be  ye  not  conformed  to  this  world,  but  be 
ye  transfigured  by  the  renewing  of  your 
mind,"  is  the  inscription  which  gleams  clearly 
over  the  portal.  The  walls  of  every  Christian 
church  are  intended  to  mark  a  distinct  separa- 
tion from  the  customs  and  the  spirit  of  the 
outlying  world.  Christ's  pure  and  holy  com- 
mandments are  inscribed  on  every  stone. 
Within  that  fold  are  safety,  peace,  and  growth 
in  godliness  ;  outside  of  it  prow^ls  the  wolf. 
To  every  Christian  who  has  ever  entered  the 
inclosure  of  Christ's  redeeming  love,  and  has 
vowed  fidelity  to  his  Master,  comes  this  ten- 
derly solemn  warning:  "Whoso  breaketh 
through  this  wall,  the  serpent  shall  sting 
him." 


VII. 

THE  JOUENEY  OF  A  DAY. 


VII. 
THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAY. 

"I  pray  Thee,  send  me  good  speed  this  day." — Genesis 
xxiv,  13. 

IisT  those  early  patriarchal  times  God  and 
His  people  seemed  to  live  very  near  together 
and  to  hold  very  close  personal  intercourse. 
Their  faith  was  as  simple  as  their  style  of  liv- 
ing. Abraham  often  conversed  with  God  as 
one  of  our  children  converses  with  father  or 
mother,  on  terms  of  filial  and  yet  familiar 
affection.  Eliezer,  the  steward  of  Abraham, 
addresses  Jehovah  in  the  same  direct,  though 
reverent  manner. 

The  story  from  which  our  text  is  taken  gives 
us  a  charming  picture  of  the  pastoral  life  of 
the  Orient  in  those  early  times.  Abraliam 
sends  Eliezer,  the  "eldest  servant  of  his 
house,"  to  Mesopotamia  on  a  search  for  a 
wife  unto  his  son  Isaac.  Eliezer  sets  off  with 
his  caravan  of  camels,  and  soon  reaches  the 
city  of  Nalior,  near  which  resides  Bethuel, 
who  was  a  kinsman  of  Abraham.  The  cara- 
van halts  beside  a  well  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
town.    With  straightforward  directness  Eliezer 

109 


110  THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAT. 

offers  up  this  prayer:  "O  Lord  God  of  my 
master  Abraham,  I  pray  Thee  send  me  good 
speed  tills  day^  and  show  kindness  unto  my 
master  Abraham.  Behokl,!  stand  here  by  the 
well  of  water;  and  the  daughters  of  the  men 
of  the  city  come  out  to  draw  water.  And  let 
it  come  to  pass  that  the  damsel  to  whom  I  shall 
say,  Let  down  thy  pitcher,  I  pray  thee,  that 
I  may  drink ;  and  she  shall  saj^,  Drink, 
and  I  will  give  thy  camels  drink  also  ;  let 
the  same  be  she  that  Thou  hast  appointed  for 
Thy  servant  Isaac,  and  therebj^  shall  I  know 
that  Thou  hast  showed  kindness  unto  my  mas- 
ter." The  speedy  ap]3earance  of  the  beautiful 
Rebekah,  with  her  pitcher  upon  her  shoulder, 
attested  the  answer  which  Eliezer  sought  for 
his  petition. 

It  is  not  my  custom  to  use  i)assages  of  Holy 
Writ  as  mottoes  for  my  discourses  ;  but  I  shall 
do  so  on  this  occasion.  My  theme  is  the 
Journey  of  a  Bay^  and  how,  by  God's  bless- 
ing, to  make  good  speed  u^jward  and  heaven- 
ward through  every  hour.  Life  is  frequently 
presented  as  a  journey  or  a  pilgrimage  ;  and 
John  Bunyan  was  only  following  the  line  of 
Scriptural  suggestion  when  he  conceived  the 
plan  of  his  immortal  allegory.  The  actual 
journey  of  human  life  is  subdivided  into  sev- 
eral stages.  Of  tliese  a  day  is  the  most  visible 
and  definite,  for  it  is  measured  by  the  motion 
of  our  globe  on  its  axis.   A  person  of  the  average 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAT.  HI 

age  (thirty  years)  sees  about  eleven  thousand 
days  ;  a  veteran  of  four  score  sees  about  thirty 
thousand.  In  ordinary  i)hrase  we  apply  the 
word  "  day"  to  those  hours  of  the  twenty-four 
which  are  marked  by  sunlight.  The  period 
we  call  ^' night"  is  the  bivouac  after  the 
march ;  and  the  hours  of  sleep  are  the  blank 
leaves  in  the  diary  of  life. 

After  a  few  hours  of  unconscious  slumber 
the  rosy  linger  of  the  morning  touches  us,  as 
the  Divine  Restorer  touched  the  motionless 
form  of  Jairus'  daughter,  and  saith  to  us, 
Arise!  In  an  instant  the  wheels  of  conscious 
activity  are  set  in  motion,  and  Ave  leap  up 
from  that  temporary  tomb,  our  bed.  Was 
yesterday  a  sick  day  ?  Sleep,  like  a  good 
doctor,  may  have  made  us  well.  Was  yester- 
day a  sad  day?  Sleep  lias  kindly  soothed  the 
agitated  nerves.  Was  it  (like  too  many  of  its 
X-)redecessors)  a  lost  day  ?  Then  our  merciful 
Father  puts  us  on  a  new  probation,  and  gives 
us  a  chance  to  save  this  newborn  day  for  Him 
and  for  His  holy  x>ui'P<^ses  of  our  existence. 

Do  we  lose  the  morning  eitlier  by  over-sleep 
or  indolence  or  aimlessness  ?  Then  we  com- 
monly lose  the  day.  One  hour  of  the  morning 
is  worth  two  or  three  at  the  sun-setting.  The 
best  hours  for  study,  for  invention,  or  for  labor 
are  tlie  first  hours  after  mind  and  body  have 
their  resurrection  from  the  couch  of  slumber. 
Napoleon,  who  made  time  a  great  factor  in  all 


112  THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAT. 

his  successes,  seized  the  early  dawn.  The 
master  of  modern  fiction  wrote  nearly  all  his 
"Waverley"  romances  while  his  guests  w^ere 
sleeping.  The  numerous  commentaries  of  good 
Albert  Barnes  are  monuments  to  early  rising  ; 
they  attest  how  much  a  man  may  accomplish 
who  gets  at  his  work  by  ^ve  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  To  the  student,  the  artist,  the  mer- 
chant, the  manual-laborer,  the  most  useful 
hours  are  reached  before  the  sun  climbs  to  the 
meridian.  I  am  well  aware  that  a  vast  deal  of 
traditional  nonsense  has  come  down  to  us 
about  the  "midnight  lamp."  But  those  who 
use  the  midnight  lamp,  for  either  mental  toil  or 
sensual  dissipations,  are  very  apt  to  burn  their 
own  lamp  of  life  out  the  soonest.  Make  it 
a  rule,  then,  that  he  wdio  would  begin  the  day 
aright  must  seize  and  save  its  earliest  hours. 
How  often  do  we  see  some  poor  dilatory  fellow 
rushing  in  blundering  haste  through  the  whole 
day  in  vain  pursuit  after  the  time  he  lost  in  the 
morning ! 

Every  day  should  be  commenced  with  God 
and  upon  the  knees.  "  In  the  morning  will  I 
direct  my  prayer  unto  Thee,  and  will  look  up," 
said  the  man  after  God's  own  heart.  He  be- 
gins the  day  unwisely  Avho  leaves  his  chamber 
without  a  secret  conference  with  his  heavenly 
Friend.  The  true  Christian  goes  to  his  closet 
both  for  his  panoply  and  his  "  rations  "  for  the 
day's  march  and  its  inevitable  conflicts.      As 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAT.  113 

the  Oriental  traveler  sets  out  for  the  sultry 
journey  by  loading  up  his  camel  under  the 
palm  tree's  shade,  and  by  filling  his  flagons 
from  the  cool  fountain  that  sparkles  at  its 
roots,  so  doth  God's  wayfarer  draw  his  fresh 
supplies  from  the  unexhausted  spring.  Morn- 
ing is  the  golden  time  for  devotion.  The 
mercies  of  the  night  provoke  to  thankfulness. 
The  buoyant  heart,  that  is  in  love  with  God, 
makes  its  earliest  flight — like  the  lark — toward 
the  gates  of  heaven.  Gratitude,  faitli,  depend- 
ent trust,  all  prompt  to  early  interviews  with 
Him,  who,  never  slumbering  Himself,  waits  on 
His  throne  for  our  morning  orisons.  We  all 
remember  Bunyan's  beautiful  description 
of  his  Pilgrim's  lodging  overnight  in  the 
"  Chamber  of  Peace  "  which  looked  toward  the 
sun-rising,  and  at  daybreak  he  "awoke  and 
sang."  If  stony  Egyptian  "Memnon"  made 
music  when  the  first  rays  kindled  on  his  flinty 
brow,  a  devout  heart  should  not  be  mute  when 
God  causes  the  outgoings  of  his  mornings  to 
rejoice. 

No  pressure  of  business  or  household  duties 
should  crowd  out  i:>rayer.  An  eminent  Chris- 
tian merchant  told  me  that  it  was  his  rule  to 
secure  a  good  quiet  half -hour  in  his  chamber  on 
his  knees  and  over  his  Bible  before  he  met  his 
family  ;  and  then  he  went  into  his  business — 
as  Moses  came  down  from  the  mount — with  his 
face  shining.     Doctor  Arnold,  of  Rugby,  had  a 


114  THE  JOXTBNET  OF  A  DAT. 

favorite  morning  hymn,  whicli  opens  with  these 
stirring  lines  : 

"  Come,  my  soul,  thou  must  be  waking  ; 
Now  is  breaking 
O'er  the  earth  another  day. 
Come  to  Him  who  made  this  splendor  ; 
See  thou  render 
All  thy  feeble  powers  can  pay." 

Closet  devotions  are  the  fit  precursor  to 
household  worship.  Family  religion  under- 
lies the  commonwealth  and  the  Church.  No 
Christian  government — no  healthy  public  con- 
science— no  Bible  philanthropies — no  whole- 
some church  life  can  exist  without  being  rooted 
beneath  the  hearthstone  and  the  family  altar. 
The  glory  and  defense  of  dear  old  Scotland 
are  found  in  those  scenes  of  ingle-side  worship 
which  Burns  has  so  finely  j)ictured  : 

"  From  scenes  like  these  old  Scotia's  grandeur  springs, 
That  makes  her  loved  at  home,  revered  abroad." 

No  prelude  to  the  day  is  so  fitting,  so  im- 
pressive, and  so  potent  in  its  influence  as  the 
union  of  household  hearts  around  the  throne  of 
grace.  Family  worship  is  a  strong  seam  well 
stitched  on  the  border  of  the  day,  to  keep  it 
from  raveling  out  into  indolence  and  irreligion. 
Wise  is  that  Christian  parent  wlio  hems  every 
morning  with  the  word  of  God  and  fervent 
prayer. 

When  the  early  devotions  of  the  day  are  over, 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAT.  116 

then  let  us  shoulder  up  its  load  cheerfully. 
The  happiness  and  the  serenity  of  the  whole 
day  dei)end  very  much  upon  a  cheerful  start. 
The  man  who  leaves  his  home  with  a  scowl  on 
his  brow,  with  a  snap  at  his  children,  and  a  tart 
speech  to  his  wife,  is  not  likely  to  be  a  very 
pleasant  companion  for  anyone,  or  to  return 
home  at  night  less  acid  than  a  vinegar-cruet. 
We  never  know  what  the  day  may  bring  forth, 
or  when  we  shall  leave  o*ir  threshold  for  the 
last  time,  or  hear  the  last  "good-morning." 
Let  us,  therefore,  set  out  on  the  day's  journey 
under  the  wing  of  God's  loving  care,  and  com- 
mitting our  way  unto  Him.  The  steps  of  a 
good  man  are  ordered  by  the  Lord.  Eliezer 
described  his  happy  and  successful  day's 
journey  by  saying  at  its  close,  "  I  being  in  the 
way,  the  Lord  led  me  to  the  house  of  my 
master's  brethren."  When  you  and  I  are  in 
the  path  of  duty,  and  have  sought  the  divine 
direction,  we  may  feel  sure  that  the  Lord  al- 
ways will  lead  us  likewise. 

In  order  to  make  "good  speed"  in  your 
day's  journey,  do  not  go  overloaded.  I  do 
not  refer  so  much  to  your  undertaking  too 
many  things  as  to  your  carrying  too  many 
cares.  Honest  work  is  strengthening ;  but 
worry  frets  and  fevers  us.  The  temptation  to 
worry  should  be  resisted  as  a  temptation  of  the 
devil ;  to  yield  to  it  is  a  sin  against  our  own 
peace,    and   a    reproach   upon   our    Christian 


116  THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAY. 

character.  The  journey  made  by  any  pedes- 
trian is  simply  a  succession  of  stej)s.  In  ac- 
complishing your  day's  work  you  have  simj)ly 
to  take  one  step  at  a  time.  To  take  that  step 
wisely  is  all  that  you  need  to  think  about.  If 
I  am  climbing  a  mountain,  to  look  down  may 
make  me  dizzy;  to  look  too  far  up  may  make 
me  tired  and  discouraged.  Take  no  anxious 
thought  for  the  morrow.  Sufficient  for  the 
clay— yes,  and  for  each  hour  in  the  day — is  the 
toil  or  the  trial  thereof.  There  is  not  a  child 
of  God  in  this  world  who  is  strong  enough  to 
stand  the  strain  of  to-day's  duties  and  all  the 
load  of  to-morrow's  anxieties  piled  upon  the 
top  of  them.  Paul  himself  would  have  broken 
down  if  he  had  attempted  the  experiment. 
We  have  a  perfect  right  to  ask  our  Heavenly 
Father  for  strength  equal  to  the  day ;  but  we 
have  no  right  to  ask  Him  for  one  extra  ounce 
of  strength  for  anything  beyond  it.  When 
the  morrow  comes,  grace  will  come  with  it 
sufficient  for  its  tasks  or  for  its  troubles. 

"Let  me  be  strong  in  word  and  deed 
Just  for  to-day  ; 
Lord  !  for  to-morrow  and  its  need 
I  must  not  pray." 

The  journey  of  each  daj^ — yes,  and  of  every 
day  until  w^e  reach  the  Father's  House — is  a 
walk  of  faith.  We  are  often  per^olexed,  and 
in  our  short-sighted  ignorance  we  cry  out : 
"Lord,   liow  vnw  we  know  the  way?"      The 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAT.  117 

answer  comes  back  to  us:  ^'I  will  lead  the 
blind  in  paths  that  they  have  not  known  ;  I 
will  make  the  darkness  light  before  them." 
When  Eliezer  humbly  asked  God  to  guide 
him,  he  made  "good  speed"  indeed;  he  was 
directed  to  the  very  place  and  to  the  very  per- 
son that  he  was  in  quest  of.  His  master  Abra- 
ham before  him  had  made  the  journey  from 
the  land  of  the  Chaldees  to  the  land  of  Canaan 
entirely  by  faith  ;  for  he  "went  out  not  know- 
ing whither  he  w^ent."  He  had  no  maps  and 
no  itinerary  ;  yet  one  thing  he  was  sure  of  :  he 
knew  that  God  was  his  guide,  and  that  he  was 
heaven-bound.  Every  Christian  should  be  a 
close  and  attentive  observer  of  providential 
leadings.  A  conflict  often  arises  between 
choosing  our  own  way — that  "jumps  with  our 
own  selfish  inclination" — or  walking  in  God's 
way.  Lot  chose  his  own  way,  and  it  led  him 
into  Sodom.  When  he  obeyed  God's  direc- 
tions they  led  him  in  safety  to  Zoar.  Jonah 
chose  his  own  way,  and  it  sent  him  overboard 
into  the  raging  sea;  then  he  took  God's  way, 
and  it  brought  him  to  Nineveh  on  a  mission  of 
mercy. 

Whatever  perplexities  may  arise  as  to  the 
meanings  of  the  divine  providences,  or  however 
fallible  may  be  our  own  judgments,  yet  of  one 
thing  we  may  feel  jDerfectly  sure.  God  has 
given  us  a  guide-book  for  every  day's  journey 
that  is  both  divinely  inspired  and  perfectly 


118  THE  JOURNEY   OF  A  DAT. 

infallible.  "This  is  the  Book,"  as  Coleridge 
said  of  it,  "that  always  finds  us."  There  is 
not  a  difFicult  question  in  ethics  on  which  this 
heaven-lighted  lamp  does  not  shed  a  clear 
light,  and  for  every  step  in  life  it  has  a  precei)t 
and  a  principle.  The  Bible  is  emphatically 
a  book  for  everyday  use ;  and  the  healthy 
Christian  runs  his  Christianity  through  all  the 
routine  of  his  everyday  ex^Derience.  Some 
people  keep  their  religion,  as  they  do  their  um- 
brellas, for  stormy  weather  ;  they  may  think  it 
a  convenient  thing  to  have  when  their  phy- 
sician pronounces  a  fatal  verdict,  or  when 
death  is  at  the  door.  Others  reserve  their 
piety  for  the  Sabbath  and  the  sanctuary,  and 
on  Monday  fold  it  up,  and  lay  it  away  with 
their  Sunday  clothes.  But  every  day  of  the 
week  ought  to  be  a  "Lord's  day,"  and  carry 
us  twenty-four  hours  nearer  heaven.  A  healthy 
religion  cannot  be  maintained  simj)ly  by  Sun- 
days, and  psalms,  and  sacraments ;  it  must  be 
fed  both  from  the  ' '  upper  springs ' '  and  the 
"nether  springs."  Brethren,  let  us  see  to  it 
that  the  higher  regions  of  our  lives  toward 
God  are  not  more  plentifully  watered  than 
those  lower  regions  which  embrace  our  con- 
duct and  our  connection  Avith  our  fellow- 
creatures.  The  lowly  valleys  in  which  we 
meet  our  families,  our  friends,  and  our  busi- 
ness associates,  ought  to  be  just  as  verdant 
and    well-watered    as    those    Sabbath    elevar 


TEE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAT.  119 

tions  on  which  we  ''see  no  man  but  Jesus 
only." 

In  the  journey  of  each  day  we  cannot  pre- 
dict what  lies  before  us.  We  know  not  what 
the  day  may  bring  forth— whether  of  joy  or 
sorrow.  This  is  well ;  for  our  joys  are  height- 
ened when  they  come  as  glad  surprises,  and  to 
forecast  our  sorrows  would  only  increase  our 
sufferings  without  increasing  our  strength  to 
bear  them.  Tenij)tations,  however,  owe  much 
of  their  peril  and  of  their  power  to  the  fact 
that  they  commonly  spring  upon  us  unawares. 
Satan  is  no  more  likely  to  advertise  the  time 
and  method  of  his  assaults  in  advance  than  a 
burglar  is  to  send  us  word  that  he  will  be  try- 
ing the  bolts  of  our  front  doors  at  one  o'clock 
to-morrow  morning.  "  I  say  unto  you  all, 
Watch,''''  is  the  command  of  our  Master.  You 
may  remember  how,  during  the  Civil  War,  the 
Union  forces,  flushed  with  victory  and  a  false 
sense  of  security,  were  taking  their  morning 
meal  very  leisurely  at  Cedar  Creek.  Suddenly 
the  Confederates  pounced  upon  them  and  scat- 
tered them  into  a  rout — which  was  only  checked 
by  the  timely  arrival  of  Sheridan  after  his  fa- 
mous and  romantic  ride  from  Winchester. 
We  are  all  liable  to  have  our  Cedar  Creeks ; 
and  the  times  in  which  we  lay  our  armor  off  or 
relax  our  vigilance,  and  over-estimate  our  own 
spiritual  strength,  are  the  most  disastrous  in 
our  life-record.     "  He  that  trusteth  in  his  own 


120  TEE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAT, 

heart  is  a  fool ;  but  whoso  walketh  wisely,  he 
shall  be  delivered." 

There  is  no  Journey  of  life  but  has  its  clouded 
days ;  and  there  are  some  days  in  Avhich  our 
eyes  are  so  blinded  with  tears  that  we  find  it 
hard  to  see  our  way  or  even  read  God's  prom- 
ises. Those  days  that  have  a  bright  sunrise 
followed  by  sudden  thunder-claps  and  bursts 
of  unlooked-for  sorrows  are  the  ones  that  test 
certain  of  our  graces  the  most  severely.  Yet 
the  law  of  spiritual  eyesight  very  closely  re- 
sembles the  law  of  i^hysical  optics.  When  we 
came  suddenly  out  of  the  daylight  into  a  room 
even  moderately  darkened,  we  can  discern 
nothing ;  but  the  pu^^il  of  our  eye  gradually 
enlarges  until  unseen  objects  become  visible. 
Even  so  the  jDupil  of  the  eye  of  Faith  has  the 
blessed  faculty  of  enlarging  in  dark  hours  of 
bereavement,  so  that  we  discover  that  our  lov- 
ing Father's  hand  is  holding  the  cup  of  trial, 
and  by  and  by  the  gloom  becomes  luminous 
with  glory.  The  fourteenth  chapter  of  John 
never  falls  with  such  music  upon  our  ears  as 
when  AA^e  catch  its  sweet  strains  amid  the 
pauses  of  some  terrific  storm.  "  Let  not  your 
hearts  be  troubled  ;  ye  believe  in  God,  believe 
also  in  Me  ;  I  will  not  leave  you  comfortless." 

What  are  the  happiest  hours  we  spend 
in  every  day  ?  I  will  venture  to  say  that 
they  are  those  which  see  us  busy  in  doing 
good  to  others  and   in  serving  our  Master, 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAT.  121 

A  cup  of  cold  water  costs  only  the  trouble  to 
get  it ;  its  refreshing  draught  may  revive  some 
fainting  spirit.  That  is  a  bright  hour  in 
which  we  lift  up  some  x)oor  fellow-traveler  and 
set  him  on  his  feet.  A  still  brighter  one  is 
that  in  which  we  lead  him  to  the  Saviour. 
Harlan  Page  made  it  his  rule  never  to  talk  to 
anybody  for  ten  minutes  without  trying  to  do 
him,  or  her,  some  good.  If  all  our  hearts 
were  more  highly  charged  with  the  divine 
electricity,  we  should  flash  out  sparks  of  lov- 
ing kindness  to  everyone  with  whom  we  come 
in  contact. 

I  very  much  fear  that  most  of  you  see  but 
very  few  days  that  are  really  full  of  joy  in 
large  measure,  pressed  down  and  running 
over;  and  whose  fault  is  it  but  your  own? 
One  of  the  happiest  Christians  that  I  know  is 
happy  on  a  small  income  and  in  spite  of  some 
very  sharp  trials.  The  secret  of  happiness  is 
not  in  the  size  of  one's  purse,  or  the  style  of 
one's  house,  or  the  number  of  one's  butterfly 
friends  ;  the  fountain  of  jDeace  and  joy  is  in 
the  heart.  If  you  would  only  throw  open 
your  heart's  windows  to  the  sunshine  of 
Christ's  love,  it  would  soon  scatter  the  chill- 
ing mists,  and  even  turn  tears  into  rainbows. 
Some  professed  Christians  pinch  and  starve 
themselves  into  walking  skeletons,  and  then 
try  to  excuse  themselves  on  the  plea  of  ill 
health    or    "constitutional"     ailments.     The 


122  THE  JOUJU^EY  OF  A  DAY. 

medicines  they  need  are  from  Christ's  phar- 
macy. A  large  draught  of  Bible  taken  every 
morning,  a  throwing  open  of  the  heart's  Avin- 
dows  to  the  iDromises  of  the  Master,  a  few 
words  of  honest  j)rayer,  a  deed  or  two  of  kind- 
ness to  the  next  person  whom  you  meet,  will 
do  more  to  brighten  your  countenance  and 
help  your  digestion  than  all  the  drugs  of  the 
doctors.  If  you  want  to  get  your  aches  and 
trials  out  of  sight,  hide  them  under  your  mer- 
cies. 

Bear  in  mind,  my  friends,  that  your  happi- 
ness or  your  misery  are  very  much  of  your  own 
making.  You  cannot  create  spiritual  sunshine 
any  more  than  you  can  create  the  morning 
star ;  but  you  can  put  your  soul  where  Christ 
is  sliinlng.  Begin  every  day  with  God.  Kee^) 
a  clean  conscience,  and  a  good  stock  of  Bible- 
promises  within  reach.  Keep  a  strong,  robust 
faith  that  can  draw  honey  out  of  a  rock,  and 
oil  out  of  the  flinty  rock.  Never  spend  a  day 
without  trying  to  do  somebody  good  ;  and  then 
keej)ing  step  with  your  Master,  march  on 
toward  Home  over  any  road,  however  rough, 
and  against  any  head- winds  that  blow.  It  will 
be  all  sunshine  when  we  get  to  heaven,  and 
"  there  is  no  night  there  !  " 

As  I  close  this  discourse  and  look  over  this 
assembly  I  cannot  but  observe  how  a  day  is  a 
type  of  human  life.  That  little  child  nestling 
beside  its  mother  is  now  in  the  rosy  dawn  of 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAY.  123 

its  existence.  Yonder  young  men  and  maidens 
are  still  in  the  morning — under  skies  flushed 
with  hope.  These  men  of  business  and  these 
mistresses  of  households  are  in  the  busy  noon- 
tide. Many  of  you  are  far  on  in  the  after- 
noon ;  and  on  some  of  our  heads  the  gray  hairs 
bespeak  the  approaching  sundown.  Be  the 
journey  long  or  short,  may  God  give  you 
*'good  speed"  heavenward,  and  enable  every 
one  of  you  to  do  a  round  day's  work  for  Him  ! 
Marble  and  granite  are  x^erishable  monuments, 
and  their  inscrix)tions  may  be  seldom  read. 
Carve  your  names  on  human  hearts;  they 
alone  are  immortal !  Work  while  the  day 
lasts  ;  for  ''  the  night  cometli !  "  Let  it  come ! 
If  Christ  come  with  it,  we  can  listen  calmly 
for  the  sunset  gun  ! 

"  Just  when  Thou  wilt,  Oh,  Master!  call, 
Or  at  the  noon  or  evening-fall, 
Or  in  the  dark  or  in  the  light. 
Just  when  Thou  wilt ;  it  shall  be  right. 

Just  when  Thou  wilt ;  no  choice  for  me, 
Life  is  a  trust  to  use  for  Thee ; 
Death  is  the  hushed  and  glorious  tryst 
With  Thee,  my  King,  my  Saviour-Christ ! " 


VIII. 
JESUS  ONLY 


VIII. 
JESUS  ONLY. 

*'  They  saw  no  man,  save  Jesus  only." 

— Matthew  xvii,  8. 

There  lias  been  much  discussion  over  the 
scene  of  our  Lord's  transfiguration  ;  but  to  my 
mind  it  seems  probable  that  it  occurred  upon 
one  of  the  southern  spurs  of  Mount  Hermon, 
north  of  C^sarea  Philippi.  The  outlook  from 
such  a  point  would  carry  the  eye  from  Lebanon, 
with  its  diadems  of  glittering  ice,  southward 
to  the  silvery  mirror  of  Genesareth.  But  it 
was  not  that  vision  of  natural  beauty  that  the 
three  disciples  looked  at  chiefly.  They  saw 
Jesus  only.  Two  illustrious  prophets,  Moses 
and  Elijah,  had  just  made  their  miraculous  ap- 
pearance on  the  top  of  the  mount.  But  neither 
of  these  mighty  men  appeared  any  longer  to 
the  disciples'  view  ;  ''they  saw  no  man,  save 
Jesus  only''  These  two  words  are  large 
enough  to  suggest  many  a  sermon  ;  let  us 
gather  up  some  of  their  teachings  to  us  to- 
day. 

I.    In  these   words   we    find  a  clew  to  the 
power  of  the  apostolic  preaching.     That  ma 

127 


128  JESUS  ONLY. 

jestic  figure  on  tlie  Mount  became  the  central 
figure  to  the  eye  and  the  heart  of  the  ai)ostles. 
One  Person  occupied  their  thoughts  ;  one 
Person  inspired  all  their  most  effective  dis- 
courses. It  was  no  such  combination  of  phil- 
osopher and  i:)hilanthrox)ist  as  Renan  has 
portrayed,  or  Theodore  Parker  preached  ;  it 
was  the  omnipotent  and  ineffable  Son  of  God. 
They  saw  in  Him  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh  "  ; 
they  saw  in  Him  an  infinite  Redeemer,  a  divine 
Model  of  Life,  a  constant  Intercessor,  a  never- 
failing  Friend.  When  Peter  delivered  his 
first  sermon  at  Pentecost,  and  when  John  de- 
scribed his  sublime  visions  on  the  isle  of 
Patmos,  they  directed  all  eyes  to  the  Lamb  of 
God,  who  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world. 
Paul  gave  utterance  to  the  heart  of  the  whole 
apostolic  brotherhood  when  he  said,"  I  deter- 
mined to  know  nothing  among  you, save  Jesus 
Christ  and  Him  crucified."  Has  not  this  been 
the  key-note  to  the  best  sermons  of  the  best 
preachers  ever  since  ?  Is  not  that  the  most 
powerful  sermon  which  is  the  most  luminous 
with  Christ?  Depend  upon  it,  my  friends, 
that  the  pulpit,  the  theological  seminary,  the 
Sabbath  school,  and  the  printed  volume  which 
God  owns  with  the  richest  success,  are  those 
which  present  most  prominently  *'noman, 
save  Jesus  only." 

We  open  our  New  Testament  and  we  dis- 
cover in  its  earliest  images  a  wonderful  child. 


JESUS   ONLY.  129 

It  is  a  childhood  that  savors  not  of  this  world  ; 
it  has  a  celestial  flavor  about  it.  At  the  age  of 
twelve  the  lad  is  astonishing  the  rabbis  in  the 
Temple  by  His  questions,  and  His  modest,  saga- 
cious answers.  He  opens  the  secret  of  His  life 
when  of  His  wondering  mother  He  inquires, 
"Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my 
Father's  business?"  Over  the  next  eighteen 
years  there  hangs  a  thin  veil  through  which 
w^e  rather  dimly  discern  a  guileless  young  man 
toiling  at  the  humble,  honest  trade  of  a  carpen- 
ter ;  the  only  record  of  it  is  that  He  "  increased 
in  favor  with  God  and  man."  The  greatest  of 
our  American  Presidents  found  it  to  his  advan- 
tage that  he  w^as  cradled  on  the  hard  rocks 
of  poverty,  and  was  reared  among  the  "  plain 
people,"  with  whom  he  kept  in  constant  touch 
through  his  whole  grand  career.  With  an  in- 
finite wisdom  Jesus  of  Nazaretli  chose  to  be 
born  among  the  poor  and  never  aimed  to  rise 
beyond  the  poor.  When,  in  after  years,  some 
of  the  dignitaries  of  church  or  state  offered 
Him  some  attentions.  He  put  on  no  airs,  and 
made  no  sycophantic  homage  to  them  in  re- 
turn. He  knew  that  He  was  higher  than  the 
highest,  yet  loved  to  stooj)  as  low  as  the  lowli- 
est. When  He  entered  upon  His  public  minis- 
try and  received  the  ordinance  of  baptism,  it 
was  preceded  by  no  repentance  of  sin  or  re- 
generation by  the  Holy  Spirit.  Neither  of 
them    was    needful    to    a   person   who    ''had 


130  JESnS  ONLY. 

no  sin ;  neither  was  any  guile  found  in  His 
mouth." 

The  three  years  of  His  marvelous  ministry 
are  all  condensed  into  the  one  simple,  match- 
less line — "  He  went  about  doing  goody 
Sorrow  was  the  appeal  to  which  He  always 
opened  His  ear  ;  suffering  was  the  surest  pass- 
port to  His  kind  attention  ;  sin  He  infinitely 
abhorred,  but  the  sinner  He  pitied  and  loved 
wdth  an  infinite  compassion.  His  simple  pur- 
pose was  to  create  anew  our  poor  sin-cursed 
race,  and  to  lift  that  race  up  to  God.  As  a 
teacher  He  had  an  unique  originality :  He 
spoke  by  authority,  and  not  as  the  scribes  or 
the  savants.  Untaught  Himself  in  any  acad- 
emy or  university  like  those  of  Athens,  He 
floods  the  world  with  a  knowledge  as  much 
more  profound  than  the  philosophy  of  Socrates 
or  Plato,  as  the  Atlantic  is  deeper  than  the 
wayside  pool.  His  telescope  reaches  into 
eternity  !  Look  also  at  His  works  of  love, 
which  are  really  no  tasks  to  Him  ;  at  His  mir- 
acles of  sight-restoring,  health-recovering  and 
death-conquering,  all  of  which  came  as  easy  to 
Him  as  the  lift  of  His  finger,  and  the  opening 
of  His  lips  !  What  manner  of  man  was  this, 
that  even  the  w^inds  and  the  sea  obeyed  Him  ? 
His  life  is  power  personified  ;  it  is  benevolence 
on  foot ;  it  is  holiness  filling  every  spot  He 
touches  with  the  atmosphere  of  the  celestial 
climes. 


JESVS  ONLY.  131 

See,  too,  how,  without  hardening  Himself 
against  sorrow,  He  takes  the  sorrows  of  others 
into  His  own  bosom.  No  little  annoyances 
provoke  Him  to  petty  displays  of  passion  ;  no 
stupendous  agony  shakes  the  constancy  of  the 
hand  that  holds  the  bitter  cup  to  His  own  lips. 
As  a  lamb  He  goeth  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a 
sheep  before  its  shearers  is  dumb,  so  He  opens 
not  His  mouth.  He  willingly  consenteth  to  die, 
the  "just  for  the  unjust,"  when  the  latent 
power  of  His  right  arm  might  have  laid  Pilate 
and  his  ruffian  crew  in  stiffened  silence  on  the 
pavement  of  their  judgment  hall.  He  is  willing 
to  die,  that  a  dying  world  of  sinners  might  live  ; 
"  and  when  He  hangs  upon  the  cross  a  droop- 
ing flower  of  innocence,"  and  the  earth  shud- 
ders with  horror  at  the  sight  of  such  barbarities, 
a  heathen  soldier  cannot  refuse  the  involun- 
tary confession,  "  Truly  this  man  was  the  Son 
of  God?" 

Did  such  a  being  as  this  ever  tread  our  old 
sinning  and  sobbing  world  ?  Does  history- 
sacred  or  x^i'ofane — record  such  a  wonderful 
career?  Search  through  all  the  annals  of 
human  kind,  in  all  lands  and  ages,  and  you 
will  find  no  man  that  answers  to  this  descrip- 
tion but  oi^E  !  As  the  three  disciples  saw  Him 
lifted  o'er  the  Mount,  His  face  shining  as  the 
sun  and  the  raiment  of  His  character  white  as 
the  light,  so  has  the  world  beheld  Him  ever 
since :  in  all  the  universe  there  has  been  and 


132  JESUS  ONLY. 

there  is  but  one  sacli  personage  ;  it  is  "Jesus 
only  ! ' ' 

I  have  come  to  preach  this  Jesus  to  you  to- 
day. Before  me  are  many  immortal  souls  who 
liave  brought  hither  certain  troubles  and  diffi- 
culties, certain  sorrows  and  spiritual  wants. 
Tliey  have  come  to  inquire  :Who  will  show  me 
any  good  ?  who  will  help  me  ?  Here,  for  in- 
stance, is  a  person  who  is  not  quite  satisfied 
witli  himself  ;  nay,  he  is  thoroughly  dissatisfied. 
If  I  should  bluntly  tell  liim  that  he  is  a  great 
sinner,  and  wicked  enough  to  deserve  an  eter- 
nal condemnation,  he  might  resent  it  and 
throw  back  the  retort,  "  I  am  as  good  as  you, 
sir."  But  in  his  secret  heart  he  knows  that  he 
is  far  from  what  he  ouglit  to  be,  and  would 
frankly  acknowledge,  "I  don't  pretend  to  be 
a  religious  man."  He  admits  that  he  is  not 
I)repared  to  die  ;  and  sometimes  the  thought 
of  dying  in  his  jjresent  condition  sends  a  shiver 
over  him.  To-day  he  is  yet  in  his  sins,  unfor- 
given  and  unconverted,  with  a  tremendous 
score  running  up  against  him  on  God's  record- 
book.  "How  shall  I  clear  off  that  score 
against  me,  and  make  a  new  departure  into 
a  better  life?"  The  old  question,  you  see, 
"  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  %  " 

If  you  sincerely  wish  to  be  saved,  there  is  a 
way  to  be  saved.  Repentance  of  your  sins, 
however  sincere,  is  not  enough.  Regret  for 
sin  in  the  past  will  not  atone  for  it,  or  keep 


JESUS  ONLY.  133 

you  from  sin  in  the  future.  Repentance  is 
essential,  is  indispensable,  but  it  is  not  enougli 
to  save  your  soul.  It  would  be  like  a  man's 
quitting  a  leaky  boat  at  sea  with  no  better  one 
in  sight;  you  may  leave  the  swamping  boat 
only  to  be  swallowed  up  in  the  deep.  What 
you  need  is  a  positive  personal  work  wrought 
for  you  and  wrought  within  you.  There  is 
One  who  can  do  this  w^ork,  and  one  only.  Be- 
hold the  Lamb  of  God,  who  taketh  away  the 
sins  of  the  world !  If  the  sins  of  the  world, 
then  your  sins.  The  atonement  He  made  for 
your  guilt  on  the  cross  was  jDerfect ;  He  obeyed 
the  demands  of  God's  broken  law  perfectly; 
He  wrought  out  His  work  of  redemption  per- 
fectly, and  no  man  need  perish  for  want  of  an 
atonement.  But  in-order  to  receive  your  share 
of  the  benefit  of  that  work,  you  are  required 
to  go  directly  to  Jesus  Christ.  Your  Bible  is 
valuable  to  you  chiefly  as  a  guide  to  Jesus 
Christ.  Prayer  is  availing  to  you  mainly  as 
a  means  of  approaching  God  in  Christ.  If  you 
are  thirsty,  a  cup — whether  of  coarse  pottery 
or  chased  silver — is  of  value  to  you  only  as  the 
utensil  for  bringing  the  water  to  your  parched 
lips.  The  cup  alone  and  emx)ty  would  be  a 
mockery.  The  sincerest  j)rayer  for  salvation 
is  an  empty  cup,  unless  it  become  a  channel 
through  vv'hich  shall  flow  your  confession  and 
your  desires  tow^ard  Christ,  and  i^ardoning 
grace    shall    flow  back  to  you  from  Christ. 


134  JESUS  ONLY. 

Whoever  would  have  his  sins  blotted  out  and 
a  new  heart  created  in  him,  must  go  to  Jesus 
only.  And  if  the  means  which  he  is  emj)loy- 
ing — the  Bible,  the  sermons,  the  prayers,  or 
any  other  means — become  his  chief  reliance, 
then  they  are  a  bane  rather  than  a  blessing. 
There  is  none  who  taketh  away  sin  save  Jesus 
only.  There  is  one  way,  and  but  one  v  ay  to 
be  saved,  and  the  sooner  you-  reach  it  the 
better. 

If  yon  should  happen  to  be  at  the  Grand 
Central  Railway  station  in  'New  York  when 
the  Eastern  Express  train  is  about  starting, 
you  would  see  a  certain  number  of  peoj^le  en- 
tering the  cars  that  are  labeled/'  For  Boston." 
The  doors  of  those  cars  stand  open ;  the  yas- 
sengers  enter  and  dispose  themselves  for  the 
journey.  They  take  it  for  granted  that  the 
station-master  directed  them  rightly ;  and  they 
do  not  run  around  inquiring  if  those  be  the 
right  cars,  or  if  they  are  safe,  and  are  likely  to 
keep  to  the  track.  They  have  made  up  their 
minds  to  go  to  Boston,  and  they  have  faitli 
enough  in  the  directors  of  the  company  and  in 
its  rolling  stock  to  take  the  prescribed  cars 
and  trust  their  lives  there.  "There  are  a  mil- 
lion of  people  in  New  York,"  you  might  say ; 
"there  are  only  a  half-dozen  cars  provided." 
Very  true ;  but  there  is  room  enough  on  that 
train  for  all  the  people  of  New  York  who  de- 
sire to  start  for  Boston  at  that  hour  and  by 


JESUS  ONLY.  135 

that  route.  That  train  carries  those  who  come 
to  it  and  no  others.  If  you  shall  desire  to 
reach  Boston  and  yet  fail  to  come  to  the  sta- 
tion, or  if  you  fail  to  procure  the  required 
ticket  at  the  station,  it  is  not  the  fault  of  the 
raihvay  comx)any  that  you  do  not  get  to 
Boston. 

Pray  do  not  think  that  this  illustration  be- 
littles our  solemn  theme.  I  simply  aim  to 
draw  your  mind's  eye  to  the  glorious  truth 
that  Jesus  Christ  has  "opened  a  new  and 
living  way"  to  escape  from  the  "  City  of  De- 
struction" (as  Bunyan  phrases  it)  to  the  City 
of  God.  Every  vehicle  that  bears  the  inscrip- 
tion, ''  He  that  belie veth  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  hath  everlasting  life,"  is  the  right  one 
for  you  to  take.  "Is  it  safe  ?  "  Myriads  of 
penitent  sinners  have  reached  heaven  by  that 
road  ;  try  it !  "I  am  ashamed  to  confess  that 
I  have  not  the  means  to  procure  a  ticket." 
Yes ;  but  one  is  offered  to  you  gratuitously  if 
you  will  accept  it  on  certain  conditions.  At 
infinite  cost  our  loving  Redeemer  has  opened 
this  way,  and  has  provided  the  conveyances. 
"  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life ;  who- 
soever Cometh  unto  Me,  shall  in  no  wise  be 
cast  out."  You  are  to  come  to  Him  only, 
obey  His  directions,  trust  your  immortal  soul 
to  His  keeping,  and  render  to  Him  your  heart's 
service  and  your  unending  gratitude. 

When  Jesus  Christ  paid  the  ransom  of  your 


136  JESUS  ONLY. 

soul  He  took  away  its  guilt  and  condemnation. 
When  Pie  j)rovided  what,  without  irreverence, 
we  may  call  "the  Gospel  train"  and  opened 
wide  its  doors,  He  took  away  all  your  foolish 
and  wicked  excuses.  When  you  break  away 
from  your  favorite  sins  and  come  to  Him  in 
honest  contrition  and  offer  to  do  His  will.  He 
will  take  away  your  wicked  heart.  And  every 
furlong  that  you  go  onward  with  Him,  He  will 
take  away  your  doubts  and  lift  off  your  heavy 
burden ;  and  when  you  reach  that  unbridged 
river  we  call  death,  He  will  take  away  your 
fears,  and  land  you  safely  on  the  shining  shore, 
and  of  all  the  countless  multitude  you  will 
find  there,  not  one  but  will  gratefully  acknowl- 
edge that  they  were  saved  by  ^^  Jesus  only.^"^ 

Perhaps  one  reason  why  you  are  not  yet  a 
Christian  is  that  you  have  been  mistaken  as  to 
what  you  ought  to  do,  and  just  how  to  do  it. 
Your  experience  may  have  been  similar  to  that 
of  the  woman  to  whom  a  faithful  minister  once 
said  : 

"Have  you  been  in  the  habit  of  attending 
church  ? ' ' 

"  Yes,  I  have  been  to  every  church  in  town  ; 
but  the  little  comfort  I  get  soon  goes  away 
again,  and  leaves  me  as  bad  as  before." 

"  Do  you  read  the  Bible  at  home  ?  " 

"  Sir,  I  am  always  reading  the  Bible  ;  some- 
times I  get  a  little  comfort,  but  it  soon  leaves 
me  as  wretched  as  ever." 


JESUS  ONLY.  137 

'*Have  you  x^'ayed  for  i^eace?  " 

''Oh,  sir,  I  am  praying  all  the  day  long; 
sometimes  I  get  a  little  peace  after  praying, 
but  I  soon  lose  it.     I  am  a  miserable  woman." 

"Now,  madame,  when  you  went  to  church, 
or  prayed,  or  read  your  Bible,  did  you  rely  on 
these  means  to  give  you  comfort  ?  " 

''I  think  I  did." 

"  To  whom  did  you  pray  % " 

''To  God,  sir ;  to  whom  else  should  I  pray  ?" 

"Now,  read  this  verse,  'Come  unto  me  and 
I  will  give  you  rest.'  Jesus  said  this.  Have 
you  gone  to  Jesus  for  rest  ?  " 

The  lady  looked  amazed,  and  tears  welled  up 
into  her  eyes.  Light  burst  in  upon  her  heart, 
like  unto  the  light  that  flooded  Mount  Hermon 
on  the  transflguration  morn.  Everything  else 
that  she  had  been  looking  at— church,  Bible, 
mercy  seat,  and  minister — all  disappeared,  and 
to  her  wondering,  believing  eyes  there  remained 
no  man,  save  Jesus  only.  She  was  liberated 
from  years  of  bondage  on  the  spot.  The  scales 
fell  from  her  eyes,  and  the  spiritual  fetters 
from  her  soul.  Jesus  only  could  do  that  work 
of  deliverance  ;  but  He  did  not  do  it  until  she 
looked  to  Him  alone. 

This  incident  reached  us  during  the  first 
years  of  my  ministry.  With  this  "open 
secret"  in  my  hand,  I  approached  the  first 
Roman  Catholic  that  ever  attended  upon  my 
preaching.     He  had  turned  his  troubled  eye 


138  JE8XT8  ONLY. 

for  a  long  time  to  the  Holy  Virgin  and  to 
sainted  martyrs  in  the  calendar.  He  had  been 
often  to  a  i^riest ;  never  to  a  Saviour.  I  set 
before  him  Jesus  only.  He  looked  up  and  saw 
the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world.  "  My  Romish  mother,"  said  he  to 
me,  "  would  burn  up  my  Bible  if  she  knew  I  had 
one  in  my  house."  But  she  could  not  burn 
out  the  blessed  Jesus  from  his  emancipated 
and  happy  heart. 

Next  I  took  this  sim^Dle  revelation  to  a  poor 
invalid  of  three-score  and  ten.  His  sight  was 
failing,  and  the  vision  of  his  mind  was  as 
blurred  and  dim  as  the  vision  of  his  body.  I 
set  before  him,  in  my  poor  way,  Jesus  only. 
The  old  man  could  hardly  see  the  little  grand- 
child who  read  aloud  to  him.  But  he  could 
see  Jesus  with  the  eye  of  faith.  The  patriarch 
who  had  hardened  under  seventy  years  of  sin 
became  a  little  child.  The  skoi^ticism  of  a 
lifetime  vanished  when  the  Holy  Spirit  re- 
vealed to  his  searching,  yearning  look  the  di- 
vine form  of  a  Saviour  crucified. 

I  never  forgot  these  lessons  learned  in  my 
ministerial  boyhood.  From  that  time  to  this, 
I  have  found  that  the  only  sure  way  of  bring- 
ing light  and  peace  to  anxious  inquirers  is 
to  direct  them  away  from  themselves,  away 
from  ritualities  and  stereotyx)ed  forms,  away 
from  agencies  of  every  kind,  away  from  every- 
thing save  Jesus  only,     John  the  Baptist  held 


JESUS  ONLY.  139 

the  essence  of  the  gospel  on  his  tongue  when 
he  cried  out,  ''Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  who 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  My 
anxious  friend,  be  assured  that  you  never  will 
find  pardon  for  the  ]3ast,  and  hope  for  the 
future  ;  you  never  will  know  how  to  live,  or  be 
prepared  to  die,  until  you  look  to  Jesus  only. 

Here  is  a  hint,  too,  for  desi^onding  Christians. 
You  are  harassed  with  doubts.  Without  are 
fightings,  and  within  are  fears.  Why?  Be- 
cause you  have  tried  to  live  on  frames  and 
feelings,  and  they  ebb  and  flow  like  the  sea- 
tide.  You  have  rested  on  past  experiences 
and  not  on  a  present  Saviour.  You  have 
looked  at  yourself  too  much,  and  not  to  Him 
who  was  made  to  you  righteousness  and  full 
redemption.  Do  you  long  for  light,  peace, 
strength,  assurance,  and  joy  ?  Then  do  your 
duty,  and  look  to  Jesus  only. 

When  the  godly-minded  Oliphant  was  on 
his  dying  bed,  they  read  to  him  that  beautiful 
passage  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  Kevelation, 
"  And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their 
eyes.-'  (It  is  the  passage  wdiich  i)oor  Burns 
could  never  read  with  a  dry  eye.)  The  old 
man  exclaimed,  "Perhaps  that  is  so.  The 
Bible  tells  me  that  there  is  no  w^eeping  in 
heaven ;  but  I  know  I  shall  cry  the  first  time  I 
see  my  Saviour."  He  was  right.  And  it  will 
be  so  with  all  of  us  who  come  off  more  than 
conquerors.     The  first  object  that  will  enchain 


140  JESUS  ONLY. 

our  eyes  on  entering  the  gates  of  glory  will  not 
be  the  jeweled  walls  or  the  shining  ranks  of 
the  seraphim.  It  will  not  be  the  parent  who 
loves  us,  or  the  pastor  who  pointed  out  the  way 
of  life.  But  amid  the  ten  thousand  wonders 
of  that  wonderful  world  of  light  and  joy,  the 
believer's  eye,  in  its  first  enrapturing  vision, 
will  ^'see  no  man,  save  Jesus  only." 


IX. 

THE  RE-CONVERTED  CHRISTIAN. 


IX. 

THE  RE-CONVERTED  CHRISTIAN. 

"When  thou  art  converted,  strengthen  thy  brethren." — 
Luke  xxii,  32. 

Among  all  the  chosen  band  of  our  Lord's 
disciples,  the  most  picturesque  figure  is  Simon, 
the  son  of  Jonas.  We  know  him  the  most 
thoroughly — both  sides  of  him.  So  honestly 
have  the  four  evangelists  portrayed  him  that 
we  understand  x)erfectly  both  the  superb  qual- 
ities and  the  pitiable  infirmities  of  the  man. 
When  we  see  him  leaping  out  of  the  fishing- 
boat  to  meet  his  Master  o'er  the  raging  waves, 
or  avowing  his  faith  in  the  divine  mission  of 
that  Master  so  promptly,  or  impetuously  draw- 
ing his  sword  to  defend  Him  in  Gethsemane, 
we  are  charmed  with  the  eager  impulsiveness 
that  never  stopped  to  count  the  consequences. 
A  noted  Irish  x)reacher  has  somewhat  wittily 
claimed  him  as  "the  Irishman  among  the 
apostles." 

There  is  another  side  of  this  brawny,  impet- 
uous, warm-hearted  fisherman  that  w^e  can 
never  lose  sight  of  ;  and  the  lamentable  e^^isode 
in  his  career,  with  which  our  text  is  connected, 

143 


144  THE  RE-CONVERTED   CHRISTIAN. 

is  one  that  we  could  not  afford  to  lose.  Peter 
is  a  man  we  cannot  spare.  Standing  or  falling, 
he  is  worthy  of  our  deepest  and  closest  study  ; 
and  if  he  once  wept  bitterly,  we  also  may  shed 
honest  tears  that  we  have  so  often  sinned  in 
the  same  direction. 

Our  text,  if  torn  ont  of  its  close  connection, 
would  puzzle  us.  When  read  as  a  part  of  a 
remarkable  declaration  and  as  revealing  a  part 
of  a  very  remarkable  character,  it  becomes  per- 
fectly clear  and  full  also  of  weighty  and  whole- 
some instruction.  Just  before  His  scene  of 
agony  in  the  garden,  and  probably  when  on 
His  way  thither,  our  Lord  turned  to  Peter 
and  tenderly  addressed  him  in  these  solemn 
words,  "  Simon,  Simon,  behold  Satan  has 
asked  to  have  you  that  he  might  sift  you  as 
wheat ;  but  I  have  made  supplication  for  thee, 
that  thy  faith  fail  not ;  and  do  thou  when  once 
thou  hast  turned  again,  stablish  thy  brethren." 
I  have  given  you  the  passage  as  rendered  very 
accurately  in  the  Revised  Version  of  the  New 
Testament.  Now  there  are  three  important 
facts  most  distinctly  visible  in  this  declaration. 
The  first  one  is  that  Peter  Avas  not  at  that  time 
an  unconverted  man,  for  Christ  recognizes 
that  he  possessed  "faith."  He  was  a  genuine 
disciple.  The  second  fact  is  that,  while  Satan 
would  have  liberty  to  sift  poor  Peter  with  a 
terrible  temptation,  Jesus  Christ  had  inter- 
ceded for  him  that  he  should  not  fall  away 


THE  RE-CONVERTED   CHRISTTAN.  145 

into  utter  apostasy.  The  third  fact  is  that 
after  the  disgraceful  fall  which  Christ  foresaw 
(though  Peternever  dreamed  of  it)  there  should 
be  a  recovery.  The  word  which  is  rendered 
"convert"  in  our  Common  Version  really  sig- 
nified to  face  about,  or  to  turn  around.  In 
this  passage,  it  does  not  signify  to  revolve  con- 
tinually, but  to  take  the  opposite  course  as  a 
ship  does  when  it  is  "  put  about,"  or  to  turn 
as  a  fiower  does  toward  the  sun.  A  fair  para- 
phrase of  tlie  passage  would  be,  "When  in  an- 
swer to  my  prayer  for  thee,  thou  hast  turned 
back  from  the  sin  into  which  thou  art  about  to 
fall,  then  thou  shalt  use  thy  bitter  exjierience 
both  to  warn  and  to  stablisli  thy  brethren." 

We  do  not  wonder  that  the  intrepid  apostle 
was  shocked  by  this  startling  announcement. 
There  is  no  one  in  this  world  of  whom  we  are 
oft-times  so  utterly  ignorant  as  of  the  person 
Avho  walks  in  our  own  shoes ;  and  the  things 
which  we  least  anticipate  are  our  own  pitiful 
falls  into  sin.  With  hot  indignation  Peter 
repels  the  insinuation  of  his  Master.  "  Lord, 
1  am  ready  to  go  with  Thee  both  into  prison 
and  to  death."  Matthew's  narrative  of  the 
scene  makes  him  to  say  also:  "Though  all 
men  shall  be  offended  because  of  Thee,  yet  loill 
not  /."  Was  this  the  bluster  of  a  braggart  or 
the  sad  self-ignorance  of  a  loyal  man  ?  The 
Master  knew— not  we — and  like  a  dart  He 
drove    through    Peter's  soul  the  prediction, 


146  THE  RE-CONVERTED   CHRISTIAN. 

''  Yerily  I  say  unto  thee,  that  this  night, before 
the  cock  crow,  thou  shalt  deny  me  thrice." 
Stung  with  horror  at  these  terrible  words, 
Peter  cries  out:  "Though  I  shoukl  die  with 
Thee,  yet  will  I  not  deny  Thee !  "  Never  was 
a  blind  man  nearer  to  a  precipice  than  was  the 
boastful  apostle  when  he  thus  "gave  the  lie" 
to  his  Master.  Judas  had  already  gone  over 
the  precipice  ;  and  now  shall  Peter  follow  suit  % 
Wait  a  little  while  and  see.  The  pivot-hour  in 
his  life  is  just  at  hand. 

In  the  last  watch  of  that  awful  night,  well 
on  toward  daybreak,  he  finds  himself  in  tlie 
arched  jmssage,  or  porch,  of  the  high-priest's 
palace.  The  night  air  is  chilly,  and  a  charcoal- 
fire  has  been  kindled  there,  beside  which  Peter 
stands  warming  himself.  He  can  see  throngh 
into  the  judgment  hall,  where  his  Master  is 
undergoing  a  mockery  of  judicial  trial  ;  but 
his  own  trial  comes  on  suddenly.  Satan,  the 
sifter,  steals  in  to  sift  him.  ' '  Art  not  thou  one 
of  this  man's  disciples?"  inquires  the  garrul- 
ous girl  who  keeps  the  door.  He  replies,  "I 
am  not !  "  The  wheat  is  running  out  fast,  and 
again  the  sifter  shakes  the  sieve.  For  j^resently 
another  servant-maid,  spying  the  apostle  back 
under  the  archway,  flings  at  him  the  same  ques- 
tion, and  again,  with  craven  cowardice,  he 
stammers  out, "  I  am  not."  Pretty  soon  a  kins- 
man of  Malchus  assails  him,  "  Did  I  not  see 
thee  in  the  garden  with  Him?"  and  another 


THE  RE-CONVERTED    CHRISTIAN.  U7 

man  badgers  him  with  the  taunt,  ''  Surely  thou 
art  also  one  of  them  ;  thy  speech  (thy  brogue) 
betrayeth  thee  !  "  This  is  too  much  for  the 
hounded  disciple;  he  can  stand  it  no  longer, 
but  with  a  swaggering  oath  he  hurls  back  the 
shameless  falseliood,  "I  know  not  the  man  !  " 
Just  then  the  second  crowing'of  the  cock  sounds 
through  the  early  air  of  dawn.  Just  then, 
too,  the  eye  of  the  Master,  who  had  heard  the 
shocking  oath,  falls  on  him  and  pierces  his 
heart  like  an  arrow.  Ah,  Peter,  methinks  that 
the  sifter  has  found  nothing  in  thee  now  but 
chaff  and  husks  !  Stop — stop — the  sifting  is  not 
done  Avith  yefc.  The  difference  between  a  bent 
tree  and  a  broken  tree  is  that  the  one  springs 
back  to  its  place  when  the  pi'essure  is  removed, 
})ut  the  other  never  rises  from  the  dust.  Peter' s 
faith  is  a  bent  faith,  not  a  broken  one  :  for  no 
sooner  does  the  cock-crow  smite  upon  his  ear, 
and  the  upbraiding  look  of  his  Master  pierce 
his  soul,  than  he  hurries  off  in  an  honest  out- 
gush  of  blinding  tears.  Out  into  the  silent 
street  he  goes,  not  to  hide  his  sin,  like  Judas, 
with  the  rope  of  a  suicide,  but  to  "weep  bit- 
terly" the  tears  that  burst  from  a  jDenitent 
heart.  Those  moments  of  keen  anguish  are 
the  crucial  moments  of  the  apostle's  life. 
Those  moments  of  sincere  repentance  are  the 
answer  to  Christ's  intercessional  prayer  for  his 
recreant  disciple  ;  the  "faith  "  that  shamefully 
bent  did  not  snap  ;  and  out  from  that  awful 


148  THE  RECONVERTED   CHRISTIAN. 

experience  lie  issues — a  reconverted  man! 
The  seeming  gravel  lias  become  granite  again. 
Peter's  thrice-repeated  denial  of  his  Lord  is 
soon  followed  by  the  thrice-repeated  assurance, 
"Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things;  Thou 
knowest  that  I  love  Thee."  That  baptism  of 
bitter  tears  was  the  needed  baptism  for  his 
apostleship  ;  the  Holy  Spirit  was  behind  it  all. 
A  far  stronger  man  to  endure  persecutions,  to 
sympathize  with  the  tempted  and  to  stablish 
weak  brethren,  was  Simon  Peter  after  that 
melancholy  fall  and  that  merciful  reconver- 
sion. 

What  is  the  precise  signification  of  this  word  ? 
Certainly  it  is  not  the  synonym  of  regenera- 
tion ;  for  they  are  entirely  different  processes. 
Regeneration  is  the  creation  of  a  new  life  in  the 
soul  by  the  direct  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Conversion  is  the  change  of  course,  and  of  con- 
duct which  follows  this  regenerating  work. 
No  sinner  ever  "faces  about"  and  turns  back 
to  that  God  from  whom  he  is  wandering  except 
lie  be  wrought  upon  by  the  Almighty  Spirit. 
''Except  a  man  be  born  anew,  he  cannot  see 
the  Kingdom  of  God  ;  "  but  the  Bible  gives  no 
hint  of  any  second,  or  third,  or  fourth  new 
birth  of  the  soul.  We  recognize  no  such  proc- 
ess in  our  spiritual  experience.  Reconver- 
sion is  not  a  second  regeneration.  It  is  simply 
the  return  of  a  backsliding  believer  to  that  God 
from  whom  he  has  wandered.     Peter's  "faith" 


THE  RE-CONVERTED   CHRISTIAN.  149 

did  not  depart  from  him  in  that  sad  and  shame- 
ful hour  of  his  cowardly  denial  of  the  Lord. 
Nor  does  any  genuine  Christian  lose  his  religious 
character  entirely  during  a  season  of  spiritual 
declension.  He  is  not  a  healthy  man,  nor'  a 
happy  man  ;  but  he  is  still  alive.  As  we,  who 
have  been  rescued  from  a  snowdrift  and 
thoroughly  benumbed  with  cold,  will  come  to 
again  before  a  fire,  so  a  frozen  backslider  may 
thaw  out  and  recover  under  the  warmth  of 
Christ's  restoring  grace.  It  is  a  terrible  process 
to  go  through,  and  a  terrible  risk  to  run.  Let 
no  member  of  Christ's  flock  tempt  his  or  her 
Saviour  by  trying  the  i^erilous  step.  Peter 
would  j)robably  have  ended  just  where  Judas 
ended,  had  not  the  one  been  a  genuine  Christian 
and  the  other  an  impostor.  Jesus  prayed  for 
Peter  that  his  "  faith  might  not  fail  "  entirely ; 
and  but  for  that  timely  intercession  of  his 
Master  he  could  not  have  come  out  of  that  dis- 
graceful night  a  reconverted  man. 

The  x)rocess  through  which  the  apostle  passed 
during  his  recovery  was  partially  similar  to  the 
process  of  his  original  conversion.  There  w^as 
repentance,  deep,  pungent,  and  sincere.  There 
was  a  faith  in  Christ  exercised  anew.  The 
sorrow  of  his  bitter  contrition  was  intensified 
by  the  recollection  of  his  former  condition  as 
the  trusted  disciple,  and  also  of  his  recent  igno- 
minious fall.  Now,  as  conversion  is  made  up  of 
repentance,  faith,  and  new  obedience  to  God^ 


150  THE  RE-CONVERTED  CHRISTIAN. 

SO  Peter's  case  was,  in  every  sense,  a  reconver- 
sion. It  was  a  turning  to  Christ ;  and  it  dif 
fered  from  a  first  conversion  in  two  particulars, 
viz.,  the  point  set  out  from  was  a  different 
point,  and  tlie  distance  traveledover  was  vastly- 
less. 

Perhaps  tliere  may  be  before  me  more  than 
one  who  is  now  in  a  most  pitiable  condition 
of  backsliding  from  Christ.  Like  an  apple 
tree  in  midwinter,  your  roots  may  be  still 
alive  under  all  the  biting  cold  ;  but  there  are 
no  fruits  of  the  Spirit  now  on  your  bare 
branches.  As  you  have  sinned  like  Peter, 
you  must  repent  like  Peter,  however  bit- 
ter the  tears  it  may  cost  you.  Dr.  J.  Addi- 
son Alexander  has  justly  said,  in  one  of  his 
masterly  discourses,  that  ^'backsliders  often, 
use  palliative  remedies,  or  rest  on  bygone  ex- 
periences. What  they  really  need  is  to  be  re- 
converted, to  repent  afresh,  and  to  do  their 
first  works." 

A  recovery  from  backsliding — through  the 
tender  mercies  of  a  pardoning  Saviour — should 
be  followed  by  a  renewed  consecration  to  His 
service.  "  When  thou  hast  turned  ngnin,"  said 
Jesus  to  His  erring  disci ^ile,  "  stablisli  tliy 
brethren.^''  The  discovered  weakness  of  a 
Christian — when  sincerely  repented  of — ought 
to  make  him  not  only  the  stronger,  but  the 
strengthener  of  others.  There  is  not  only  an 
increased  ability,  but  there  ought  to  be  an  in- 


THE  RECONVERTED   CHRISTIAN.  151 

creased  obligation  to  perform  this  salutary 
office.  The  man  who  has  once  fallen  under 
strong  temptation,  and  has  been  mercifully 
lifted  up  by  the  divine  arm,  should  not  only 
walk  more  carefully  ;  he  should  use  his  experi- 
ence for  the  warning  of  others.  He  knows 
now  the  danger  of  relying  on  his  own  arm  ; 
and  knows,  also,  how  "evil  and  bitter  a  thing 
it  is  to  depart  from  the  living  God."  He  has 
learned  the  difficulties  of  a  recovery  to  the 
position  whence  he  had  slipped  away.  His 
experience  ought  to  make  him  a  valuable 
helper  to  others — however  dearly  bought  that 
experience  has  been  to  himself.  David's 
wretched  fall  into  sin  called  forth  that  pierc- 
ing cry,  "O  God,  renew  a  right  spirit  within 
me  ;  restore  unto  me  the  joy  of  Thy  salvation, 
and  uphold  me  with  Thy  free  spirit !  "  .  That 
fifty-first  Psalm — wrung  out  of  a  broken  heart 
— has  been  of  infinite  value  to  God's  iieople  ; 
if  its  beacon  light  warns  against  the  terrible 
danger  of  sin,  it  also  illumines  the  pathway  of 
penitence  and  recovery. 

A  presumptuous  Alpine  climber— anxious  to 
find  a  shorter  path  over  one  of  tlie  ghiciers — 
quits  his  guide  and  his  companions,  and  sallies 
off  to  be  a  guide  nnto  himself.  The  shout  of 
bravado,  which  he  sends  back  to  his  compan- 
ions, marks  his  confidence  in  his  own  sagacity 
and  pluck.  He  laughs  at  their  fears— while 
they  are  laughing  at  his  folly.     A  snowdrift 


162  THE  RECONVERTED   CHRISTIAN. 

lies  across  his  path,  soft  as  eider-down ;  and 
with  headlong  eagerness  he  plunges  into  it. 
In  an  instant  he  disapx)ears  from  view  ;  and 
the  ring  of  the  icicles  in  the  depths  of  the 
crevasse  is  the  last  sound  that  strikes  upon 
his  ears  as  he  i^lunges — senseless,  bruised,  and 
mangled — into  the  ice  cavern  that  yawns  to 
receive  him !  Slowly,  and  as  from  a  frightful 
"  dream  when  one  awake th,"  he  comes  to  him- 
self. He  is  alive,  and  that  is  all.  There  is 
life  even  in  the  broken  arm  that  hangs  useless 
at  his  side.  To  ascend  the  perpendicular  wall 
of  the  crevasse  is  impossible.  If  he  remains 
where  he  is,  he  will  soon  freeze  into  an  ice 
mummy  within  that  awful  sepulcher.  As  he 
listens  for  some  sound,  he  faintly  hears  the 
musical  tinkle  of  drij)ping  water;  and  as  he 
creeps  slowly  toward  it  he  hears  a  running 
strearii.  It  is  pitch  dark ;  but  he  gropes  his 
way  through  the  channel  of  the  stream  until 
he  discovers  a  slight  gleam  on  the  ice  walls  of 
the  aperture  before  him.  He  hails  it  as  the 
dav/n  of  ho]3e.  It  telegraphs  to  him  escape 
and  possible  salvation.  Onward  he  struggles, 
with  broken  bones,  but  with  unbroken  faith, 
until  at  last  he  issues  forth  at  the  base  of  the 
glacier  into  sunshine  and  safety!  Although 
terribly  bruised,  he  is  a  saved  man  ;  and  is  so 
saved  as  to  be  abler  to  save  others  from  the 
presumptions  of  sin  that  had  well-nigh  been 
liis  owji  destruction.     How  ready  he  is  to  warn 


THE  RE-CONVERTED   CHRISTIAN.  153 

others  from  that  treacherous  crevasse,  and 
perhaps  he  puts  up  a  finger-board  of  caution 
to  turn  many  other  climbers  who  might  be  as 
rashly  venturous  as  himself  !  How  careful  he 
will  evermore  be  to  follow  only  a  trusty  guide 
when  scaling  the  dizzy  and  dangerous  heights! 
Saved  himself  from  the  jaws  of  death,  he 
strives  to  save  others  from  a  course  as  rash 
and  reckless  as  that  which  had  cost  him  so 
dearly. 

This  Alpine  parable  may  illustrate  for  you 
the  peculiar  service  which  every  restored  back- 
slider may  render  to  his  fellows-disciples.  To 
him  the  places  of  spiritual  danger  are  distinctly 
marked,  and  he  may  the  more  readily  point 
them  out.  To  him  the  sorrow  and  the  suffer- 
ing of  a  fall  into  sin  are  palpable  and  painful ; 
and  the  joy  of  recovery  by  the  divine  grace  is 
like  life  from  the  tomb.  When  my  beloved 
friend  Gough  warned  his  fellow-men  against 
the  treacherous  chasm  into  which  strong  drink 
betrays  its  victims,  it  was  with  the  thrilling 
eloquence  of  one  who  had  himself  been  dragged 
up  wounded  and  mangled  from  the  abyss ! 
Whoso  thinketh  that  he  standeth,  let  him  take 
heed  lest  he  fall.  If  poor  Peter  sinned  griev- 
ously, he  most  grandly  repented,  and  fought 
on  grandly,  too,  for  his  Master,  until  the  crown 
of  a  holy  martyrdom  was  worn.  His  thrice 
repeated  denial  in  his  hour  of  weakness  was 
follow^ed  by  the  thrice  repeated  avowal  in  his 


154  THE  RE-CONVERTED   CHRISTIAN. 

hour  of  renewed  strength.  "Thou  knowest, 
Lord,  that  I  love  thee  !  "  Reconverted  himself, 
he  was  able  to  stablish  his  weaker  brethren  by 
his  faithful  w^arnings  against  temptation,  and 
by  the  granite-like  firmness  of  his  owai  example. 
My  friend,  has  divine  love  stretched  out  its 
arm  and  rescued  thee  from  the  horrible  pit, 
and  set  thy  feet  upon  the  rock  ?  Then  walk 
carefully  and  watch  unto  prayer.  Sympathize 
with  those  who,  through  the  weakness  of  their 
faith  or  the  strength  of  the  temj)ter's  assaults, 
have  fallen  from  their  first  estate ;  and  recon- 
verted thyself,  do  thy  utmost — with  God's 
help — to  stablish  thy  brethren. 

''  Man-like  is  it  to  fall  into  sin, 
Fiend-like  is  it  to  dwell  therein, 
Saint-like  is  it  for  sin  to  grieve, 
Christ-like  is  it  all  sin  to  leave." 


X. 

SERMONS  IN  SHOES. 


SERMONS  IN  SHOES. 

"  As  ye  go,  preach  !  "—Matthew  x,  7. 

This  was  the  brief  but  conipreliensive  com- 
mission given  by  our  Lord  to  His  twelve  dis- 
ciples.     In    these    words    is    contained    then- 
divine  call  to  the  gospel  ministry.     At  first, 
and  during  the  earthly  life-time  of  their  Mas- 
ter   this  ministry  was  confined  to  the   ^'lost 
sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel"  ;  but  after  His 
ascension  to  lieaven,  their  field  was  as  wide  as 
the  world.     They,  and  many  of  the  converts 
whom  thev  made,  went  everywhere  preaching 
the  Word!^    The  Master  does  not  seem  to  have 
ordained  any  of  them  to  a  superior  rank  over 
their  associates  ;  no  one  of  them  was  created 
an  Archbishop ;  much  less  was  any  of  them  a 
Pope.     Neither  at  the  outset  did  they  stop  to 
organize  themselves  into  Conferences  or  Coun- 
cifs  into  Synods  or  General  Assemblies.    Their 
prekching  also  would  appear  to  have  been  of 
the  most  simple  and  elementary  character.     It 
was  certainly  not  after  the  style  of  our  modern 
elaborate  discourses   or  before   congregations 
assembled  in  stately  sanctuaries  with  all  the 


157 


158  SERMONS  IN  SHOES. 

modern  appliances  of  public  worship.  Eacli 
man  spoke  the  word  which  the  Holy  Spirit  gave 
to  him.  Peter  talks  to  Cornelius,  and  his  as- 
sembled kinsfolk,  until  the  Spirit  descends 
upon  them,  and  thej  are  converted  and  bap- 
tized. Paul  preaches  to  the  PhiJippian  jailer 
and  condenses  the  core  of  the  gospel  into  a 
single  sentence.  Philip  overtakes  a  titled  for- 
eigner in  his  chariot  by  the  roadside,  and  a 
"Bible  reading"  is  extemporized  on  the  spot. 
That  was  preaching — truth-teacliiiig— in  its 
most  elementary  form.  Aquila  and  Priscilla 
become  expounders  of  the  new  gospel,  with 
the  gifted  Apollos  for  their  pupil.  Down  at 
Joppa  industrious  Dorcas  takes  to  preaching 
also,  but  woman-like  she  emx)loys  her  needle 
as  her  instrument;  and  her  actions  speak 
londer  than  words.  And  so  the  hive  is  all 
busy.  Everyone  who  has  a  message  delivers 
it ;  everyone  who  can  heal  a  sick  man  or  mend 
a  crippled  limb  performs  the  miracle  of  love  ; 
everyone  who  has  a  lamp  lets  it  shine.  Their 
Lord  and  Master  is  glorified  by  their  ' '  bearing 
much  fruit." 

Those  men  and  women  introduced  into  tliis 
world  a  new  style  of  life.  Such  characters  as 
Peter  and  John  and  Paul,  as  Stephen  and 
Barnabas  and  Dorcas  and  Onesiphorus,  the 
world  had  not  seen  before.  Such  sermons  in 
shoes— going  about  doing  good— had  not  been 
treading  the  thoroughfares  of  sinful  humanity. 


SERMONS  m  SHOES.  159 

The  word  came  with  power,  because  these  men 
and  women  were  themselves  a  power  ;  they 
reflected  Jesus  Christ  in  their  beautiful  humil- 
ity, their  unselfish  benevolence,  and  their 
strenuous  philanthropy.  This  was  probably 
one  great  secret  of  their  success. 

That  band  of  devoted  imitators  of  Christ 
Jesus  exerted  an  influence  "on  which  our 
modern  churches  look  back  with  a  sort  of  ad- 
miring despair ' '  ;  they  w^ere  inspired  with  a 
spiritual  might  before  which  hoary  systems  of 
error  tottered  to  the  ground.  It  may  be  that 
their  style  of  preaching  was  more  simple  and 
direct  than  ours  ;  it  may  be  that  the  gospel 
came  with  a  freshness  and  novelty  wdiich  it  no 
longer  possesses  ;  the  s]3oken  word  was  attended 
with  miracles  visible  to  the  eye  ;  but  all  these 
causes  do  not  sufficiently  account  for  the  mar- 
vels and  the  majesty  of  apostolic  power.  One 
great  reason  for  their  success  was  that  their 
character  and  conduct  were  so  irresistibly 
eloquent ;  their  actions  spoke  louder  than  their 
words.  Peoi:)le  discovered  that,  though  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  had  departed,  His  likeness  had 
been  left  behind  Him  ;  the  Christ  was  yet  alive 
in  the  lives  of  His  followers.  The  people  saw 
that  Christian  love  was  more  than  a  new  doc- 
trine ;  it  was  a  practical  principle  working  out 
in  deeds  of  brotherly  kindness,  while  it  shared 
its  loaf  with  the  needy,  brought  healing  to  the 
sick,  and  light  to  the  benighted.     They  saw 


160  8ERM0N8  IN  SHOES. 

that  the  divine  sympathy  of  Jesus  was  living 
still  in  His  disciples  when  they  grasped  the 
hands  of  poor  outcasts  and  still  ''ate  with 
publican  and  sinner.  "  They  beheld  the  divine 
magnanimity  of  Jesus  reproduced  in  his  fol- 
lowers, who  endured  persecution  without  flinch- 
ing, and  returned  hard  blows  with  gentle  words 
of  love.  Ah,  there  was  a  force  in  the  silent 
preaching  of  such  Christ-like  lives  which  struck 
the  world  with  wondering  awe  !  Scoffers  might 
ridicule  the  fishermen's  discourses  ;  rabbis 
might  jeer  at  the  doctrines  of  the  atonement 
and  the  resurrection  ;  but  they  could  not 
gainsay  the  beauty  of  the  apostles'  conduct, 
or  deny  the  positive  good  that  these  ''here- 
tics" were  achieving  everyday.  When  the 
Master  gave  His  great  commission,  "as 
ye  go,  preach,"  He  meant  by  it — as  ye  go, 
shine ;  as  ye  go,  testify  of  Me  ;  as  ye  go,  heal 
the  sick  body  and  the  sick  soul  ;  as  ye  go, 
bear  fruit,  and  live  out  the  gospel  intrusted 
to  you  !  It  was  the  sermons  of  heroic  and  holy 
living  that  shook  the  world,  and  have  come 
doAvn  ringing  and  resounding  through  the  cen- 
turies. And  the  preaching  which  this  sinning 
and  sobbing  old  world  of  ours  needs  to-day  is 
of  the  same  character.  The  only  way  in  which 
we  can  hoj^e  to  reproduce,  in  any  good  degree, 
the  glory  of  that  apostolic  era  is  by  the  same 
living    manifestation    of  Jesus  Christ.      The 


SERMOj^S  in  shoes.  161 

best  sermon  that  you  and  I  can  furnisli  is: 
Christ  Imetli  in  me. 

Observe  that  I  include  you^  my  brethren  and 
sisters,  as  co-preachers  of  our  beloved  Master. 
To  you  in  these  pews  comes  the  command,  as 
directly  as  to  me  in  this  pulpit,  "Go  ye  and 
I)reach  !  "  Do  you  suppose  that  all  the  setting 
forth  of  Jesus  Christ  in  this  broad  land  is  to 
be  done  by  the  sixty  or  seventy  thousand  per- 
sons who  are  officially  ordained  to  the  gospel 
ministry  \  What  are  our  barley  loaves  for  the 
supply  of  fifty  millions  of  hungry  souls  %  And 
what  are  our  few  hours  of  public  discourse — 
chiefly  upon  a  single  day — in  comparison  with 
the  combined  eloquence  of  millions  of  Chris- 
tian voices  and  Christian  lives  on  every  day  of 
the  round  year  %  Be  assured  that  the  commis- 
sion to  preach  Jesus  Christ  is  not  restricted  to 
any  limited  monopoly  of  men  or  of  measures. 
It  comes  to  every  child  of  converting  grace 
with  the  gift  of  that  grace.  No  sooner  does 
our  Lord,  by  His  Spirit,  make  you  Christians 
than  He  bids  you  become  soul-winners  also. 
''  Let  him  that  heareth  say  come  !  " 

There  are  many  ways  of  preaching  Christi- 
anity without  choosing  a  text,  or  standing  in 
a  pulpit.  William  Wilberforce  proclaimed 
the  gospel  of  breaking  fetters  on  the  floor  of 
the  British  Parliament,  even  though  he  never 
had  a  prelate's  ordaining  hand  laid  on  his 


162  8ERM0N8  IN  SHOES. 

honored  head.  George  H.  Stuart  was  an  apos- 
tle of  the  cross  when  he  organized  his  "Chris- 
tian Commission,"  to  furnish  its  spiritual 
"rations"  to  our  brave  boys  in  bhie  during 
the  Civil  War.  Elizabeth  Fry  preached  Christ 
to  brazen  women  in  the  corridor  of  Newgate 
prison  ;  and  in  our  time  Lady  Henry  Somerset 
proves  the  patent  of  her  true  nobility  by  unself- 
ish labors  among  the  slums  of  London.  Some- 
times the  Master  ordains  His  workmen  to  a  spe- 
cial mission  :  as  when  Father  Mathew  wrought 
for  the  reformation  of  Irish  drunkards,  and  Wil- 
liam Logan  for  the  rescue  of  fallen  women  in 
Glasgow  Street,  or  Anthony  Comstock  for  the 
cleansing  of  our  land  from  a  filth  fouler  than 
any  "Augean  stables."  Christ  scatters  his 
commissions  very  widely.  Harlan  Page  dis- 
tributing tracts  through  a  city  workshop  ; 
Ralph  Wells  gathering  his  mission  class  from 
the  attics  or  the  cellars  ;  the  sweet  "  Dairy- 
man's Daughter"  murmuring  the  name  of  Jesus 
with  her  faint,  dying  voice,  and  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury addressing  the  thieves  and  the  tramps 
of  London,  were  each  and  all  most  surely  the 
ordained  missionaries  of  their  Master.  There 
have  been  but  few  more  faithful  ministers  than 
Thomas  Halyburton,  and  some  of  his  most  im- 
pressive discourses  were  pronounced  n])on  a 
dying  bed.  "This  is  the  best  pulpit,"  said 
he,  "that  ever  I  was  in  ;  I  am  laid  on  tliis  bed 
for  this  very  end,   that  I  may  commend   my 


8EBM0N8  IN  SHOES.  163 

Lord."  What  a  liost  of  colleagues  I  liave  had 
in  this  beloved  congregation  daring  the  past 
thirty  years — some  of  whom  have  preached 
most  impressively  to  me  in  their  sick  chambers, 
and  many  more  are  gospeling  the  children 
every  Sabbath  in  yonder  hall.  My  brilliant 
brother,  Doctor  Hitchcock,  has  said,  "1  con- 
fess that  I  do  not  see  how  Christianity  is  ever 
to  carry  the  day  unless  the  great  bulk  of  our 
church  membership  becomes  also  a  ministry.  Is 
it  i)ossible  for  mij  man  to  be  a  true  Christian 
himself  and  yet  be  doing  nothing  to  make 
other  men  Christians  too  ?  Who,  if  he  could, 
would  like  to  be  plodding  heavenward  in  a 
path  only  wide  enough  for  one  ? " 

The  number  of  those  who  possess  the  pe- 
culiar qualilications  for  the  pulpit  are  compar- 
atively few ;  and  probably  a  majority  of  all 
(he  Christians  in  our  land,  old  and  young, 
might  not  be  able  to  deliver  very  edifying 
addresses  in  a  prayer  meeting.  But  every  true 
follower  of  Jesus  can  be  a  witness  for  Him  ; 
and  there  is  many  a  Christian  life  that  is  quite 
as  eloquent  as  any  discourse  ever  delivered  by 
a  Chrysostom  or  a  Chalmers.  By  x^ureness,  by 
long-suffering,  by  truthfulness,  by  love  un- 
feigned, and  by  a  holy  conversation,  the  hum- 
blest of  Christ's  discijdes  may  become  His  am- 
bassador. ^'I  canna  answer  many  questions 
aboot  Jesus,"  said  the  humble  Scotchwonum 
to  her  pastor,  "  but  I  could  dee  for  Him."    It  is 


164  8ERM0N8  IN  SHOES. 

the  faith  that  cannot  only  live  for  Christ,  but 
is  ready  to  die  for  Him,  tliat  carries  with  it  an 
irresistible  power. 

Actions  speak  louder  than  words,  because 
they  commonly  cost  more  ;  Ave  usually  test  the 
utterances  of  the  lips  by  the  conduct  of  the 
life.  The  words  of  promise  spoken  at  the  mar- 
riage altar  are  Aveighed  in  the  scales  of  wed- 
lock ;  they  may  prove  to  be  solid  gold,  or  tliey 
may  be  lighter  than  a  feather.  We  test  the 
solemn  confessions  and  covenants  made  by 
many  of  you  before  this  pulpit  by  the  lives 
you  are  now  leading  before  the  w^orld.  Our 
Master's  own  challenge  is,  "by  their  fruits 
ye  shall  know  them."  The  religious  truth 
contained  in  a  book,  or  in  a  creed,  or  in  a  dis- 
course, is  only  a  theory.  That  same  truth,  if 
wrought  out  into  noble  deeds  and  godly  char- 
acter, becomes  certified  by  experiment.  Men 
once  disputed  what  Robert  Fulton  affirmed  in 
regard  to  the  propulsion  of  vessels  by  steam  ; 
but  no  one  now  disputes  a  Cunarder.  Scoffers 
derided  Morse  and  Field  as  sanguine  vision- 
aries ;  no  man  laughs  now  at  the  sub-ocean 
cable.  Christianity,  attested  by  its  fruits,  is 
unanswerable.  If  it  purifies  the  human  heart, 
if  it  elevates  the  affections,  if  it  conquers  sinful 
lusts,  and  subdues  evil  passions,  if  it  prompts 
to  generous  sympathies  and  noble  deeds,  if  it 
sweetens  the  home  and  cleanses  society,  if  it 
lifts  fallen  humanity  up  toward  God,  and  if  it 


SERMONS  IN  SHOES  165 

makes  its  possessors  the  better,  stronger,  purer, 
and  holier,  then  doth  it  vindicate  its  divine 
origin  and  establish  its  divine  authority. 
Such  a  religion  no  scoffer  can  laugh  down,  and 
no  i)hilosoplier  can  silence.  The  divine  author 
of  Christianity  demanded  this  crucial  test  for 
His  gospel,  and  sent  forth  His  disciples  with 
the  commission,  ''As  ye  go,  preach  !  "  and  this 
commission  was  qualified  with  the  solemn  j)ro- 
viso,  "  Herein  is  my  Father  in  heaven  glorified, 
that  ye  hear  much  fruit.' ^  The  great  object 
for  which  Jesus  Christ  came  into  this  world, 
and  for  which  His  gospel  is  i^reached,  is  to 
form  godly  character.  Christlieb  was  right 
when  he  said  that  the  "  living  Christian  is  the 
world's  Bible";  and  there  are  millions  in  our 
land  who  seldom  look  at  any  other.  We, 
whose  business  it  is  to  i^reach  Christianity, 
must  also  remember  that  i:>eople  look  at  us 
when  outside  of  our  pul]3its  to  discover  exactly 
what  we  mean  when  we  are  in  our  pulpits.  If 
our  conduct  before  the  community  contradicts 
the  utterances  on  God's  day  in  God's  house, 
then  the  most  eloquent  tongue  becomes  a  tink- 
ling cymbal.  A  certain  parishioner  once  re- 
marked, ' '  My  pastor' s  discourses  are  not  bril- 
liant, but  his  daily  life  is  a  sermon  all  the 
week."  Paul  stood  behind  all  his  inspired 
writings;  the  ''living  epistle"  moves  us  as 
deeply  as  any  words  he  ever  sent  to  Rome  or 
to  Corinth.     More  than  one-half  of  the  power 


166  SEBMONS  IN  SHOES. 

of  many  successful  ministers  lias  lain  in  their 
personality.  Not  long  ago  the  city  of  Edin- 
burgh, through  its  official  magistracy  and 
multitudes  of  its  citizens,  honored  the  obse- 
quies of  the  late  Principal  Cairns.  Of  all  the 
thousands  of  mourners  who  thronged  the 
streets  with  uncovered  heads,  but  a  small  pro- 
portion had  ever  heard  him  preach  or  had  ever 
read  any  of  his  works.  Their  homage  was 
paid  to  the  grand  old  man  who  had  moved  be- 
fore them  for  many  a  year  illustrating,  in  his 
own  useful  life,  the  things  that  are  true,  and 
the  tilings  that  are  just  and  lovely  and  of  good 
report.  A  similar  homage  had  been  i)aid  a  few 
diiys  before,  and  on  a  grander  scale,  to  the 
world-known  pastor  of  the  Metroi3olitan  Tab- 
ernacle. Popular  as  his  x)reacliing  and  his 
books  had  been,  yet  behind  all  his  throngs  of 
admiring  auditors,  and  behind  his  Pastor's  Col- 
lege, and  all  his  many  institutions  of  charity, 
was  Spurgeon,  t7ie  man  of  God.  It  was 
Spurgeon,  the  fearless,  the  faithful,  the  holy- 
hearted  man,  to  whom  lu'inces  and  archbishops 
sent  messages  of  sympathy  during  his  long- 
sickness,  and  to  whom  honest,  loving  tributes 
were  paid  in  Jewish  synagogues  and  Quaker 
meeting  houses  and  lofty  Episcopal  cathedrals. 
Such  scoffers  as  Ingersoll  cannot  verify  their 
taunt  that  "  Christianity  is  dying  out,"  when 
London  and  Edinburgh  throng  their  thorough- 
fares with  extraordinary   testimonials   of  re- 


8EBM0NS  IN  SHOES.  167 

spect  for  two  humble-minded  evangelical  min- 
isters of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

In  these  days  the  malaria  of  infidelity  is  in 
the  air.  It  threatens  our  colleges  and  poisons 
no  little  of  our  current  literature.  Skepticism 
is  not  to  be  vanquished  by  volumes  of  Apolo- 
getics. It  arrogantly  claims  that  the  Csesar  of 
science  is  on  its  side,  and  to  Csesar  it  shall  go. 
True  science  judges  causes  by  results.  No 
candid  scientist  can  legitimately  deny  that  if 
Christianity  makes  people  better,  purer  and 
holier,  and  elevates  man  God-ward,  then  it 
vindicates  its  value  and  attests  its  divine  origin. 
No  lie  is  of  the  truth.  No  falsehood  of  an  im- 
l^oster  makes  men  upright.  The  tree  must  be 
jadged  by  its  fruits  ;  a  bad  tree  cannot  produce 
good  fruits  ;  no  thorn-bush  can  yield  Ham- 
burg grapes.  All  'the  skeptics  on  the  globe 
cannot  refute  the  unanswerable  argument  of  a 
consistent,  cheerful,  courageous  Christian  life. 

This  fact  lays  upon  us  who  profess  and  call 
ourselves  Christians,  a  most  tremendous  re- 
sponsibility. The  question  is  sometimes  asked 
''  why  are  not  more  souls  converted  under  the 
public  preaching  of  the  Word  ? "  To  this 
question  it  is  not  a  sufficient  answer  to  say  that 
"  Grod  purposes  to  save  only  a  portion  of  the 
human  race."  God  purposes  to  save  everyone 
who  believes  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and 
follows  Him.  Nor  is  it  a  sufficient  reply  to  af- 
firm that  all  men  are  naturally  ^'  dead  in  tres- 


168  SERMONS  IN  SHOES. 

passes  and  sin,"  and  can  only  be  made  alive 
by  the  regenerating  Holy  Spirit.  Let  us  not 
throw  the  blame  of  men's  impenitence  on  a 
just  and  loving  God.  I  very  much  fear  that 
the  blame  rests  nearer  home  ;  and  that  one 
great  reason  why  there  are  not  more  converts 
to  Christianity  is  that  there  is  so  much  preach- 
ing against  it  by  those  who  ought  to  be  j)reacli- 
iiig  for  it.  Every  unworthy  act  of  a  professing 
Christian  is  a  sermon  against  our  Master  and 
His  gospel.  Satan's  most  successful  preachers 
are  inconsistent  j)rofessors.  The  bad  sermons 
during  the  week  are  often  an  overmatch  for  the 
best  sermons  on  the  Sabbath.  Oh,  my  dear 
brethren,  do  you  su^jpose  that  if  you  and  I  prac- 
tised more  faithfully  the  instructions  of  this 
holy  Word,  we  would  not  be  able  to  win  more 
souls  to  Jesus  % 

As  every  one  of  you  is  a  preacher,  and  every 
life  is  a  sermon,  let  me  inquire  of  you  :  what 
sort  of  a  sermon  are  you  preaching  ?  Do  you 
find  your  texts  in  the  shop  or  in  the  stock  mar- 
ket, and  preach  that  the  chief  end  of  life  is  to 
make  money  ?  Then  you  are  making  more  con- 
verts to  Mammon  than  to  Christ.  Do  some  of 
you  preach  that  self-indulgence  is  the  "one 
thing  needful  ?  "  Then  you  will  draw  more  to 
the  iDleasure  party  and  the  playhouse  than  you 
will  to  the  prayer  meeting.  It  boots  but  little 
that  the  Eighth  Commandment  is  taught  from 
this  pulpit  if  any  of  you  are  guilty  of  sharp 


SERMONS  IN  SHOES.  169 

practices  in  your  business,  or  refuse  to  give 
every  man  liis  due.  What  is  done  by  God's 
professing  people  outside  of  the  sanctuary 
carries  more  weight  than  anything  said  within 
the  sanctuary — even  though  Paul  himself  stood 
in  the  pulpit.  And  if  the  great  apostle  had 
not  lived  out  what  he  taught,  he  could  not 
liave  won  a  single  convert  to  the  Gospel. 

My  brethren,  as  ye  go,  preach !  But  take 
heed  how  and  what  ye  preach.  The  recording 
angel  is  taking  notes  ;  and  the  "  book  shall  be 
opened."  When  the  Master  gave  the  com- 
mission to  His  witness-bearers,  He  said  to  them 
— learn  of  Me  ! — follow  Me  !  let  your  light  so 
sbine  before  men  that  they  may  see  your  good 
works  and  glorify  your  Father  w^hich  is  in 
Heaven  !  To-day  this  world's  sorest  need  is  for 
more  Christ-like  men  and  w^omen.  The  ser- 
mons it  needs  are  sermons  in  sJioes.  The 
preaching  that  alone  can  save  it  is  the  preach- 
ing of  a  living  Christ  illustrated  by  the  holy 
lives  of  His  followers.  A  church  that  does  not 
tread  in  the  footsteps  of  its  Master  will  never 
convert  a  sinful  world  to  God.  But  a  church 
of  consecrated  disciples,  whose  hearts  have 
been  cleansed  by  the  frequent  baptisms  of  the 
Spirit,  and  whose  lives  have  been  made  beauti- 
ful by  inward  conflicts  and  secret  prayer,  such 
a  church  is  the  embodiment  of  a  living  Jesus 
in  this  sin-cursed  world.  Their  voice  is  a 
trumpet.      Their  example  is  a  light.      Their 


l/'O  SERMONS  IN  SHOES. 

influence  is  a  salt.  Their  i)ower  is  a  power  to 
wake  the  dead  ;  for  theii'  master  promiseth 
''lo!  /  am  with  you  always!"  To  be  such 
preachers  you  and  I  require  the  ordination  and 
the  anointing  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Let  us 
humbly  and  devoutly  seek  it ! 


XI. 

LOOKING  AT  THINGS  RIGHTLY. 


XI. 

LOOKING  AT  THINGS  RIGHTLY. 

"  Thou  hast  well  seen." — Jere^iiah  i,  12. 

There  is  a  right  way  and  a  wrong  way  of 
looking  at  almost  everything.  Some  x)ersons 
seem  to  have  no  eye  for  beauty ;  and  others  see 
every  object  through  a  distorted  vision.  To 
such  persons  one  of  Turner's  finest  landscapes 
is  merely  so  much  paint  and  canvas  ;  to  a  man 
like  Ruskin  it  is  a  masterpiece  of  golden  sun- 
light, bathing  field  and  forest  with  its  splendors. 
JN'iagara  is  a  disappointment  to  many  on  a  first 
view  ;  the  mighty  cataract  gradually  educates 
the  eye  to  a  right  conception  of  its  crumbling 
cliff  of  snow-white  waters  shot  through  with 
emerald. 

"  Thou  hast  well  seen  "  were  God's  words  to 
Jeremiah  when  He  called  him  to  be  a  prophet 
to  the  people  of  Israel.  The  modest  young- 
man  had  just  said, "  I  cannot  speak,  for  I  am  a 
child."  The  Lord  touches  his  mouth  and 
inspires  him  with  the  gift  of  words.  He  then 
tests  the  accuracy  of  his  vision  by  the  question 
' '  What  seest  thou  1 ' '  Jeremiah  does  not  reply, 
I  see  a  bit  of  wood,  or  I  see  a  staff  ;  his  answer 
is, "  I  see  a  rod  of  an  almond  tree."     This  was 

173 


174  LOOKING  AT  THIN08  BIOHTLT. 

just  wliat  tlie  Lord  meant  that  the  young 
prophet  should  see.  The  almond  was  a  tree  of 
rapid  growth  which  put  forth  its  blossoms  early 
in  the  spring  ;  it  was  a  type  of  speedy  action. 
As  Jeremiah  had  shown  his  quickness  of 
apprehension  and  accuracy  of  discernment, 
God  commended  his  answer  and  said  unto  him, 
'*Thou  hast  well  seen." 

It  is  vastly  important  tliat  you  and  I  should 
seek  for  spiritual  discernment ;  for  many  of 
our  joys  and  many  of  our  sorrows  proceed  from 
our  method  of  looking  at  those  things  which 
most  concern  our  peace.  How  differently,  for 
example,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  appears  to 
different  eyes.  Long  ago  it  was  predicted  that 
the  Messiah  would  be  to  many  as  "  a  root  out 
of  dry  ground,  having  no  form  or  comeliness. 
When  they  shall  see  Him,  there  is  no  beauty 
that  they  should  desire  Him  ;  He  will  be  de- 
spised and  rejected  of  men."  When  Jesus 
came  therefore  to  his  own,  they  received  Him 
not.  As  many  as  beheld  Him  rightly  and  wel- 
comed Him,  to  them  gave  He  the  precious  priv- 
ilege to  become  the  children  of  God.  To  all 
such,  in  every  age  and  land.  He  is  the  chiefest 
among  ten  thousand,  and  the  altogether  lovely. 
Jesus  Christ  never  changes.  The  difference 
between  the  thoughtless  sinner  and  the  same 
person  after  he  is  regenerated  is  that  he  looks 
at  Christ  with  a  new  eye,  and  has  discovered 
Him  to  be  the  very  Saviour  that  he  needs. 


LOOKING  AT  THINGS  RIGHTLY.  1*75 

Some  people  look  at  Jehovah  only  as  a  con- 
suming fire,  and  are  struck  through  with 
despair.  Others  go  to  the  opposite  extreme 
and  see  in  Him  only  an  infinite  goodness  and 
tender  mercy  ;  such  are  in  danger  of  becoming 
blind  to  the  sinfulness  of  sin,  and  they  easily 
slide  away  into  a  belief  in  universal  salvation. 
The  man  who  magnifies  God's  mercy  at  the  ex- 
pense of  His  justice,  and  who  does  not  believe 
that  God  will  punish  unrepented  sin  as  it  de- 
serves, has  not  "  well  seen."  He  will  discover 
his  delusion,  at  his  terrible  cost,  on  the  "last 
great  day."  Those  wise  men  in  the  Westmin- 
ster Assembly  saw  the  Divine  attributes  in 
their  right  proportion  wdien  they  framed  that 
wonderfully  comprehensive  answer — "  God  is 
a  Spirit,  infinite,  eternal  and  unchangeable  in 
His  being,  wisdom,  power,  holiness,  justice, 
goodness  and  truth." 

I.  We  are  all  apt  to  make  egregious  mis- 
takes when  w^e  look  at  our  Heavenly  Father's 
providential  dealings.  Even  some  Christians 
are  betrayed  into  a  heathenish  hal)it  of  talking 
about  "good  luck"  and  "  bad  fortune,"  and 
using  other  expressions  that  convey  the  idea 
that  this  life  is  a  game  of  chance.  Blind  un- 
belief may  be  expected  to  err,  and  to  scan 
God's  work  as  either  a  riddle  or  a  muddle.  A 
Christian  who  has  had  his  eyes  opened  ought 
to  know  better  than  to  make  such  mistakes. 
Yet  how  prone  we  are  to  regard  many  of  God's 


1V6  LOOKING  AT  THINGhi  RIGHTLY. 

dealings  in  a  wrong  light  and  to  call  them  by 
wrong  names !  We  sjpeak  of  things  as  afflic- 
tions, which  are  really  blessings  in  disguise. 
We  congratulate  people  on  gaining  what  turns 
out  to  be  a  terrible  snare,  or  worse  than  a  seri- 
ous loss.  Quite  as  often  we  condole  with  them 
over  occurrences  which  are  about  to  yield  to 
them  blessings  more  precious  than  gold.  The 
j)atriarch  Jacob  evidently  thought  that  he  was 
a  fair  subject  for  commiseration  when  he 
groaned  out  in  his  grief,  "  me  have  ye  bereaved 
of  my  children  ;  Joseph  is  not,  and  Simeon  is 
not,  and  ye  will  take  Benjamin  away  :  all  these 
things  are  against  me."  His  dim  vision  could 
not  foresee  that  happy  evening  Avhen  the  re- 
turning caravan  from  Egypt  would  bring  to 
him  Simeon  and  Benjamin,  and  the  thrilling 
announcement  that  the  long-lost  Joseph  was 
governor  over  all  the  realm  of  Pharaoh.  He 
had  not  "well  seen"  what  sort  of  a  God  he 
had  once  vowed  to  serve. 

Let  us  hesitate  before  we  condole  with  a 
brother  who  is  under  the  chastisement  of  our 
loving  Father  in  Heaven.  Be  careful  how  you 
condole  with  a  man  avIio  has  lost  his  money 
and  saved  his  good  name,  or  congratulate  the 
man  who  has  made  a  million  at  the  expense  of 
his  piety.  When  a  Christian  is  toppled  over 
from  a  dizzy  and  dangerous  height,  and 
"brought  down  to  hard  i)an,"  he  is  brought 
down  to  the  solid  rock  at  the  same  time.     In 


LOOKING  AT  THINGS  RIGHTLY.  HI 

tlie  valley  of  liumiliation  lie  has  more  of  the 
joy  of  God's  countenance,  and  wears  more  of 
the  herb  called  "  heart' s-ease"  in  his  bosom, 
than  he  ever  did  in  the  days  of  his  giddy  pros- 
l^erifcy.  Sickness  has  often  brought  to  a  man 
spiritual  recovery  ;  suffering  has  often  wrought 
out  for  him  an  exceeding  weight  of  glory. 

I  have  seen  people  condole  tenderly  with  a 
weeping  mother  whose  child  has  llown  away 
home  to  heaven  ;  but  they  never  thought  of 
condoling  with  her  over  a  living  child  who  was 
a  frivolous  slave  of  fashion,  or  a  dissipated 
sensualist,  or  a  wayward  son,  the  "heaviness 
of  his  mother.''  A  hundred  times  over  have  I 
pitied  more  the  parent  of  a  living  sorrow  than 
the  parent  of  a  departed  joy.  Spare  your 
tears  from  the  darlings  who  are  safe  in  the 
arms  of  Jesus,  and  spend  them  over  the  living 
who  are  yet  dead  in  sin  and  sheer  impenitence. 
Let  us  learn  to  see  things  rightly,  and  call 
them  by  their  right  names.  We  often  drape 
our  real  blessings  with  a  pall,  and  decorate 
our  dangerous  temptations  with  a  garland. 
Let  us  all  pray  for  spiritual  discernment  and 
of  ten  be  putting  up  the  petition,  "Lord,  open 
Thou  our  eyes."  Then  we  may  discover  that 
this  life  is  only  a  training  school  for  a  higher 
and  a  better  one  ;  then  we  shall  see  a  Father's 
smile  behind  the  darkest  cloud  ;  and  at  the 
end  of  the  pilgrimage  of  duty  it  will  be  one  of 
the  raptures  of  heaven  to  behold  the  King  in 


178  LOOKING  AT  THINGS  RIGHTLY. 

His  beauty,  and  to  know  even  as  we  have  been 
known. 

II.  Let  me,  in  the  next  place,  remind  you 
that  if  we  possessed  more  spiritual  discern- 
ment, we  would  not  so  often  torment  ourselves 
with  sinful  anxieties  about  the  future.  Our 
loving  Lord  knew  what  was  in  man  when  He 
reiterated  His  remonstrances  against  borrowing 
trouble  in  advance,  and  when  He  said,  "be 
not,  therefore,  anxious  for  the  morrow  ;  for  the 
morrow  will  be  anxious  for  itself;  sufficient 
unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof."  Worry  is 
not  only  a  sin  against  God,  it  is  a  sin  against 
our  own  peace.  It  sometimes  amounts  to  a 
slow  suicide.  Honest  work,  however  hard, 
seldom  hurts  us  ;  it  is  worry  that  corrodes  and 
kills. 

There  is  only  one  practical  remedy  for  this 
deadly  sin  of  anxiety,  and  that  is  to  talie  short 
mews.  Faith  is  content  to  live  "  from  hand  to 
mouth,"  enjoying  each  blessing  from  God  as 
it  comes.  This  perverse  spirit  of  worry  runs 
off  and  gathers  some  anticipated  troubles  and 
throws  them  into  the  cup  of  mercies  and  turns 
them  to  vinegar.  A  bereaved  parent  sits  down 
by  the  new-made  grave  of  a  beloved  child  and 
sorrowfully  says  to  herself,  "Well,  I  have 
only  one  more  left,  and  one  of  these  days  he 
may  go  off  to  live  in  a  home  of  his  own,  or  he 
may  be  taken  away ;  and  if  he  dies,  my  house 


LOOKING  A  T  THINGS  RIGHTL  Y.  1  '7 9 

will  be  desolate  and  my  heart  utterly  broken." 
JN'ow  who  gave  that  weeping  mother  permission 
to  use  the  word  "  if  "  ?  Is  not  her  trial  sore 
enough  now,  without  overloading  it  with  an 
imaginary  trial  1  And  if  her  strength  breaks 
down,  it  will  be  simply  because  she  is  not  satis- 
lied  with  letting  God  afflict  her;  she  tortures 
herself  with  imagined  afflictions  of  her  own. 
If  she  could  but  take  a  short  view,  she  would 
see  a  living  child  yet  sx)ared  to  her,  to  be  loved 
and  enjoyed  and  lived  for.  Then,  instead  of 
having  two  sorrows,  she  would  have  one  great 
possession  to  set  over  against  a  great  loss  ;  her 
duty  to  the  living  would  be  not  only  a  relief  to 
her  anguish,  but  the  best  tribute  she  could  i3ay 
to  the  departed. 

That  is  a  short  view  which  only  takes  in  im- 
mediate duty  to  be  done,  the  immediate  temp- 
tation to  be  met,  and  the  immediate  sorrow  to 
be  carried.  My  friend,  if  you  have  money 
enough  to-day  for  your  daily  wants  and  some- 
thing for  God's  treasury,  don't  torment  your- 
self with  the  idea  that  you  or  yours  may  yet  get 
into  an  almshouse.  If  your  children  cluster 
around  your  table,  enjoy  them,  train  them, 
trust  them  to  God,  without  racking  yourself 
with  a  dread  that  the  little  ones  may  some 
time  be  carried  off  by  the  scarlet  fever,  or  the 
older  ones  may  yet  be  ill-married  or  may  fall 
into  disgrace.      Faith  carries  X3resent  loads  and 


180  LOOKING  AT  THINGS  RIGHTLY. 

meets  present  assaults  and  feeds  on  present 
promises,  and  commits  the  future  to  a  faithful 
God.     Its  song  is  : 

"  Keep  Thou  my  feet  ;  I  do  not  ask  to  see 
The  distant  scene  ;  one  step's  enough  for  me." 

We  shall  always  take  that  one  step  more 
wisely  and  firmly  and  successfully  if  we  keej) 
our  eye  on  that  only.  The  man  who  is  climb- 
ing the  Ali3S  has  but  to  follow  his  guide  and 
set  his  foot  on  the  right  si:)ot  before  him.  This 
is  the  way  you  and  I  must  let  Christ  lead, 
and  have  Him  so  close  to  us  also  that  it  will  be 
but  a  short  way  to  behold  Him.  Sometimes 
young  Christians  say  to  me,  ''I  am  afraid  to 
make  a  i^ublic  confession  of  Christ  ;  I  may  not 
hold  out."  They  have  nothing  to  do  with  hold- 
ing out\  it  is  simply  their  duty  to  hold  on. 
When  future  trials  and  perils  come,  their 
Master  will  give  them  help  for  the  hour,  if  they 
only  make  sure  that  they  are  His.  The  short 
view  they  need  to  take  is  a  close,  clear  view  of 
their  own  spiritual  wants,  and  a  distinct  view 
of  Jesus  as  ever  at  hand  to  meet  those  wants. 
If  the  fishermen  of  Galilee  had  worried  them- 
selves over  the  hardships  they  were  to  encoun- 
ter, they  might  have  been  frightened  out  of 
their  apostleships  and  their  eternal  crowns. 

We  ministers  need  to  guard  against  this 
malignant  devil  of  iDorry.  It  torments  one 
pastor  with  a  dread  lest,  if  he  preach  certain 


LOOKING  AT  THINGS  BIGHTLT.  181 

truths  boldly,  he  may  offend  his  rich  pew- 
holders  and  drive  them  away.  Let  him  take 
care  of  his  conscience,  and  his  Master  will  take 
care  of  him.  Another  is  worried  lest  his  cruse 
may  run  dry  and  his  barrel  fail.  But  his  cruse 
has  not  yet  run  dry.  Oh,  no,  it  is  his  faith  that 
is  running  low.  Some  of  us,  at  the  beginning 
of  a  year's  work,  are  tempted  to  overload  our- 
selves with  the  anticipation  of  how  much  we 
have  to  do ;  we  need  not  worry  if  we  will  only 
remember  that  during  the  whole  year  there 
will  be  only  one  working  day,  and  that  is — 
to-day.  Sufficient  to  each  day  is  the  labor 
thereof. 

Once  more  we  say — let  us  take  short  views. 
Let  us  not  climb  the  high  wall  till  we  get  to  it, 
or  fight  the  battle  till  it  opens,  or  shed  tears 
over  sorrows  that  may  never  come,  or  lose  the 
joys  and  blessings  that  we  have,  by  the  sinful 
fear  that  God  will  take  them  away  from  us. 
We  need  all  our  strength  and  all  the  grace  God 
can  give  us  for  to-day's  burdens  and  to-day's 
battle.  To-morrow  belongs  to  our  Heavenly 
Father.  I  would  not  know  its  secrets  if  I 
could.  It  is  far  better  to  know  Whom  we 
trust,  and  that  He  is  able  to  keep  all  we  com- 
mit to  Him  until  the  last  great  day. 

"Why  forecast  the  trials  of  life 

With  such  sad  and  g-rave  persistence, 
And  look  and  watch  for  a  croud  of  ills 
That  as  yet  have  no  existence  ? 


182  LOOKING  AT  THINGS  BIGHTLY. 

"  Strength  for  to-day  is  all  we  need, 
For  we  never  will  see  to-morrow ; 
When  it  comes,  the  morrow  will  be  a  to-day^ 
With  its  measure  of  joy  or  sorrow." 

III.  If  a  right  spiritual  discernment  tends 
to  correct  false  views  of  God  and  his  providence, 
and  to  repress  sinful  anxieties,  it  will  also  check 
our  impatience  in  regard  to  the  issue  of  God's 
wise  dealings  and  discipline.  "I  never  let 
bairns  or  fools  see  my  j)ictures  until  they  are 
done,"  said  a  Scotch  artist  to  me,  quoting  a 
familiar  proverb  of  his  countrymen.  As  the 
artist  was  unwilling  to  have  any  judgment 
pronounced  on  his  work  until  it  was  completed, 
so  our  Heavenly  Father  bids  us  i30ssess  our 
souls  in  patience.  "  What  I  do,  thou  know^est 
not  now  ;  but  thou  ,97<^6fZ^ know  hereafter."  We 
must  wait  and  see.  This  w  orld  is  but  a  prepara- 
tory school  in  which  character  is  on  the  easel 
or  under  the  chisel.  God's  hand  sometimes 
lays  on  dark  colors  ;  his  chisel  often  cuts  deep. 
No  trial  of  our  faith  is  joyous,  but  grievous  ; 
nevertheless  afterioard  it  may  work  out  the 
eternal  weight  of  glorj^  Now  we  know^  but 
"in  part,"  and  what  we  do  discern  is  seen 
through  a  glass  darkly.  Why  the  most  i^leas- 
ant  room  in  our  dwelling  is  turned  into  a  hospit- 
al—why the  pillow  in  that  little  empty  crib  is 
unpressed  to-day — why  that  income  on  which 
so  many  mouths  depended  is  now  reduced — 
why  this  or  that  staff  is  broken,  our  poor  blind, 


LOOKING  AT  THINGS  RIGHTLY.  183 

aching  hearts  cannot  understand.  God  keeps 
his  own  secrets.  The  only  answer  which  he 
vouchsafes  to  us  now  is  "all  things  work 
together/br  good  to  them  that  love  Me."  Im- 
patient and  rebellious  as  we  may  be,  w^e  cannot 
displace  God's  hand  from  the  canvas  ;  there 
is  no  help  for  us  but  to  w^ait  until  the  i)icture 
is  completed.  Some  of  the  colors  he  is  laying 
into  our  lives  are  frightfully  somber  ;  but  by 
and  by  in  the  revealing  light  of  the  last  day 
they  may  be  only  a  background  on  which  faith 
and  submissive  trust  will  stand  out  in  hues  of 
golden  glory.  It  is  the  duty  of  "bairns''  to 
sit  still  and  practice  docility. 

"  When  my  boy  with  eager  questions, 

Asking  how,  and  where,  and  wlien, 
Taxes  all  my  store  of  wisdom, 

Asking  o'er  and  o'er  again 
Questions  oft  to  which  the  answers 

Give  to  others  still  the  key, 
I  have  said,  to  teach  him  patience, 

'Wait,  my  little  boy,  and  see.' 

*'  And  the  words  I  taught  my  darling. 

Taught  to  me  a  lesson  sweet  ; 
Once  when  all  the  w^orld  seemed  darkness, 

And  the  storm  about  me  beat. 
In  the  '  children's  room'  I  heard  him, 

With  a  child's  sweet  mimicry, 
To  the  baby  brother's  questions, 

Saying  wisely,  '  Wait  and  see.' 

*'  Like  an  angel's  tender  chiding 
Came  the  darling's  words  to  me, 


184  LOOKING  AT  THINGS  BIGHTLY. 

Though  my  Father's  ways  were  hidden 

Bidding  me  still  wait  and  see. 
What  are  we  but  restless  children. 

Ever  asking  what  shall  be  ? 
And  the  Father,  in  His  wisdom, 

Gently  bids  us  '  wait  and  see. '  " 

I  am  ready  to  confess  that  it  is  not  from  the 
open  assaults  of  infidelity  or  from  the  skeptical 
pages  of  the  Strausses  or  Spencers  that  the 
severest  strain  has  come  upon  our  faith.  It 
is  from  the  mysterious  permissions  of  Divine 
Providence  that  we  are  oftenest  in  danger 
of  having  that  faith  shipwrecked.  We  not 
only  turn  cowards  in  the  dark,  but  like  fools 
we  doubt  whether  there  ever  will  be  a  day- 
dawn.  In  such  hours,  it  is  wise  to  bring  in  the 
lamp  of  that  bright  passage  of  the  Thirteenth 
Psalm  :  "  weei)ing  may  endure  for  a  night,  but 
joy  Cometh  in  the  morning."  The  original 
Hebrew  is  far  more  forcible  ;  it  literally  reads, 
"in  the  evening  sorrow  lodge th,  but  at  the  day- 
dawn  Cometh  shouting."  The  "shouting" 
will  be  raised  by  the  discovery  of  what  was  in 
existence  all  the  while,  and  that  is  God's 
marvelous  wisdom  and  unfailing  love.  I  once 
si:)ent  a  night  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Righi, 
and  the  darkness  was  so  dense  that  I  could  not 
see  a  single  yard  from  my  Avindow.  But  when 
the  sun  arose,  the  polished  mirror  of  Lake 
Lucerne  spread  beneath  me,  and  the  icy  coro- 
nets of  the  Jungfrau  and  the  Finsteraarhorn 


LOOKING  AT  THINGS  RIGHTLY.  185 

glittered  in  the  rosy  beams.  They  had  been 
there  all  through  the  night  waiting  for  the 
unfoldings  of  the  day-spring  from  on  high. 

A  great  deal  of  our  work  in  this  world  may 
be  called  night- work.  Weary  with  rowing, 
we  even  get  frightened  by  the  apparition  of 
the  Master,  and  like  the  disciples,  cry  out  "it 
is  a  ghost !  " — until  He  reveals  Himself  in  the 
words,  "It  is  I;  be  of  good  cheer;  be  not 
afraid!"  The  history  of  every  discovery  of 
new  truth,  of  every  enterprise  of  benevolence, 
of  every  Christian  reform,  and  of  almost  every 
church  revival  is  the  history  of  long  working, 
watching  and  waiting  through  seasons  of  dark 
discouragement.  "We  have  toiled  all  the 
night,  and  have  taken  nothing,"  was  the  la- 
ment of  the  tired,  hungry,  and  sleepy  disci- 
ples. But  in  the  early  gray  of  the  day-break 
they  espy  the  Master  on  the  beach  ;  the  net  is 
cast  afresh,  and  lo  !  it  swarms  with  a  shoal 
that  breaks  through  the  meshes !  So  doth  our 
Lord  test  His  children  before  He  blesses  them. 
The  lesson  for  every  pastor,  every  missionary, 
every  teacher,  every  reformer,  and  every  sore- 
ly-tried child  of  God  is  in  these  heaven-taught 
words,  "I  wait  for  the  Lord  and  in  His  Word 
do  I  hope  ;  my  soul  waiteth  for  the  Lord  more 
than  they  that  watch  for  the  morning." 

ly.  We  come  back,  in  closing,  to  the  point 
whence  we  set  out — that  there  is  a  right  way, 
and  a  wrong  way  of  looking  at  all  things.     To 


1 8G  LOOKING  A T  THINGS  RIGHTL  Y 

the  eye  that  has  spiritual  discernment  this 
Avorki  is  mainly  an  avenue  to  that  one  which 
lieth  beyond  it.  Talents,  wealth,  and  influence 
are  simply  loans  that  are  to  be  held  in  trust 
for  God.  Social  promotion  signifies  a  more 
commanding  position  in  which  to  serve  the 
Master.  A  christianized  eye  sees  in  money 
just  so  much  bread  for  the  hungry,  just  so 
many  Bibles  for  the  godless,  just  so  many  lifts 
of  the  outcast  and  degraded — as  well  as  inno- 
cent and  relining  enjoyments  for  one's  own 
household.-  My  friend,  if  thou  findest  the 
"image  and  superscription"  of  Christ  on  every 
dollar  you  earn,  "  thou  hast  well  seen."  To  a 
truly  regenerated  soul  all  things  become  new ; 
and  we  may  well  doubt  the  genuineness  and 
the  depth  of  that  conversion  which  does  not 
bring  an  altered  estimate  of  everything  earthly. 
Faith  breaks  the  charm  of  this  world,  and 
adds  a  charm  to  the  better  world. 

Are  there  any  here  who  desire  to  have  their 
spiritual  vision  purged  ?  I  would  commend  to 
them  the  example  of  that  blind  man,  wlio  came 
and  besought  Jesus  to  touch  him ;  for  he 
fancied  that  a  simple  touch  of  the  miracle - 
worker  would  restore  his  sight.  Jesus  led  him 
along  through  the  streets  and  "out  of  the 
town  ;"  and  then  x)utting  spittle  on  his  closed 
eyes,  He  inquired,  "do  you  see  anything?" 
The  poor  man  replied,  "  I  see  men  ;  for  I  be- 
hold them  as    trees   walking."     The   Master 


LOOKING  AT  THINGS  RIGHTLY.  187 

again  lays  His  hands  upon  his  eyes  and  bids 
him  look  up  ;  he  looks  and  seeth  tlie  bright 
earth  around  him  and  the  Son  of  God  stand- 
ing at  his  side.  Even  so  it  may  be  with  you, 
if  you  will  XDermit  that  Divine  Friend  to  lead 
you  "out  of  town"  where  sin  and  self  have 
tasked  and  troubled  you,  and  will  entrust 
yourself  to  His  restoring  power.  He  will 
touch  the  eye  of  your  soul.  Truth  will  become 
clearer.  Faith  will  become  stronger.  The  old 
darkness  will  pass  away,  and  all  things  will 
become  new.  "Thou  hast  well  seen"  when 
thou  dost  behold  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Lord  of 
thy  life,  His  service  thy  sweetest  occux3ation, 
and  His  presence  thy  perpetual  joy. 


XII. 

THE  MIRACLE  AT  THE  GATE 
BEAUTIFUL. 


XII. 

THE   MIRACLE  AT  THE   GATE 
BEAUTIFUL. 

"  Then  Peter  said,  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none  ;  but  such 
as  I  have  give  I  thee  ;  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Naza- 
reth rise  up  and  walk."— Acts  of  the  Apostles  iii,  6. 

This  was  one  of  the  earliest  miracles  wrought 
by  the  apostles  after  the  descent  of  supernatural 
gifts  at  the  time  of  Pentecost.     It  was  one  of 
the  most  public  in  its  character,  and  one  of 
the  most  signal  in  its  results.     The  actors  were 
Peter  and  John— who  seem  to  have  been  quite 
inseparable  friends  since  the  day  on  which 
Jesus  sent  them  together  to  make  ready  for  the 
Passover.     Very  different  men  were  they  m 
temper  and  disposition  ;  but  for  that  reason 
none  the  less  intimate.     The  closest  intimacies 
are  often  formed  by  those  who  agree  in  their 
aims,  but  differ  very  widely  in  their  tempera- 
ment and  mental  habits. 

Hand  in  hand  those  warm-hearted  brothers 
go  up  to  the  temple  at  the  hour  of  prayer. 
The  sun  is  sloping  toward  the  west,  and  its 
slant  rays  kindle  into  a  blaze  of  glory  the  great 
central  doorway  of  Corinthian  brass.     This  is 


191 


1 92       MIBA  CLE  A  T  THE  OA  TE  BEA  UTIFUL, 

the  "  Gate  Beautiful" — superior  in  costliness 
and  splendor  to  the  other  eight  entrances  to 
the  temple.  Through  its  magnificent  portal  a 
crowd  is  always  pressing  at  the  ninth  hour  of 
the  day.  The  rich  worshippers  pass  in  there, 
and  some  of  them  may  be  expected  to  be  charit- 
able. Therefore,  a  poor  cripple — lame  from 
the  hour  when  his  mother  held  him  in  her 
arms — chooses  that  as  the  best  time  and  place 
for  asking  alms  of  the  passing  crowd.  An  old 
familiar  object  he  is  to  the  most  of  them.  They 
have  seen  that  thin,  pale  countenance,  those 
eager  eyes,  and  the  shrivelled  limb  sticking 
out  from  under  the  ragged  robe  an  hundred 
times.  The^^  have  tossed  their  farthings  into 
that  open  palm  ;  probably  wondering,  as  we 
do,  where  the  street-beggars  eat  their  scanty 
meals,  and  where  their  wretched  frames  find 
shelter  through  the  night. 

This  unfortunate  cripple  hails  all  the  passers- 
by  with  his  monotonous  appeal,  and  seeing 
Peter  and  John  come  up,  he  "asked  to  receive 
an  alms."  Peter  stops  short,  and  fastens  his 
eye  on  him.  According  to  the  closer  rendering 
of  the  original  he  "looks  right  into  him." 
And  in  there,  behind  the  extended  palm  of 
squalid  beggary  he  recognizes  a  man^  a  brother, 
a  fellow-heir  of  immortality.  "Now  look  on 
us,"  says  Peter  to  the  mendicant.  Expecting  a 
gift,  the  cripple  eagerly  turns  toward  them. 
His  hand  is  stretched  out ;  his  eyes  are  open, 


MrEA  CLE  A  T  THE  OA  TE  BE  A  UTIFUL.        193 

and  his  expectation  aroused.  The  penniless 
apostle — richer  in  piety  and  spiritual  power 
than  in  purse — exclaims  in  touching  tones, 
"  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none  ;  but  what  I  have, 
give  I  to  thee  ;  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Nazareth,  walk!'^  Mark  the  meaning  of  this 
combination.  As  the  representative  of  Jesus 
the  ''Saviour,"  of  Christ  the  "  anointed  High 
Priest,"  and  in  the  name  of  Him  who  was  the 
despised  ISTazarene,  I  command  you  to  rise  and 
walk !  Taking  the  crouching  form  by  the 
hand  and  lifting  it  up,  the  poor  creature  stands 
erect.  His  feet  and  ankle-bones  suddenly  grow 
strong.  But  he  cannot  stand  still ;  he  must 
try  his  new-found  powers  and  he  must  give 
vent  to  his  ecstasy  of  delight.  With  exultant 
leap  and  shout  he  breaks  through  the  wonder- 
ing crowd — pressing  in  toward  the  altar  of  that 
God  whom  he  now  approaches  as  a  grateful 
worshix^per.  The  people  give  way  in  astonish- 
ment. "  Is  not  this  the  cripple  who  sat  at  the 
Gate  Beautiful  ? "  Yet  here  he  is  walking  and 
leaping  and  praising  God  !  Nor  does  he  pour 
out  his  thanksgiving  only  toward  heaven. 
He  "  holds  Peter  and  John  "  also — clinging  to 
them  in  grateful  embrace  as  a  rescued  man 
from  the  yawning  deep  might  throw  himself 
with  ecstasy  and  tears  into  the  arms  of  his 
deliverer. 

The  crowd  are  filled   with  amazement  and 
awe.     Who  are  these  two  men  ?     What  power 


194       MIBA  CLE  A  T  THE  QA  TE  BE  A  UTIFXiL. 

do  they  possess  which  has  made  this  lame  man 
to  walk?  Let  us  hear  more  about  this  strange 
miracle.  And  so  with  wondering  minds  and 
ojjen  ears  they  throng  about  the  two  apostles 
who  are  richer  in  gifts  of  healing  than  in  gifts 
of  gold.  A  vast  congregation  is  extemporized 
on  the  spot  to  listen  to  Peter's  extemporized 
discourse.  Observe  now  the  result.  The  poor 
cripple  gets  a  hapi^y  restoration  to  soundness 
of  limbs.  Peter  and  John  get  the  ears  of  the 
people.  The  people,  in  turn,  get  the  precious 
and  powerful  message  which  Christ's  ambas- 
sador proclaims  to  them.  Here  is  the  lesson 
taught  us  by  the  miracle— a  lesson  of  mutual 
Jielpfulness.  A  Christian  apostle  helps  a  lame 
beggar.  The  beggar  restored  to  health  helps 
his  deliverer  in  his  holy  work  of  preaching  his 
glorious  gospel.  Both  are  helpers  and  instruc- 
tors to  the  assembled  multitudes.  The  lesson 
taught  by  this  miracle  has  many  applications  ; 
and  several  pearls  of  truth  may  be  strung  on 
the  thread  of  this  beautiful  story. 

I.  Society  is  a  school  of  mutual  help.  This 
is  according  to  the  Divine  ordinance.  One  of 
the  designs  of  our  Creator  in  putting  His  earthly 
children  in  close  contact  and  into  mutual 
dependence  is  that  they  may  bear  one  another's 
burdens,  relieve  each  other's  necessities,  ana 
contribufe  to  each  other's  happiness.  His  ulti- 
mate purpose  is  to  establish  the  Kingdom  of 
God  upon  this  earth,  and  mutual  help  is  one 


MIMA  CLE  A  T  THE  GA  TE  BE  A  UTIFUL.        1  95 

of  tlie  means  of  its  establishment.  No  human 
life  can  be  utterly  isohited  ;  and  only  a  fraction 
of  manhood  could  ever  be  develoj^ed  on  a 
Crusoe's  solitary  island.  "  None  of  us  livetli 
to  himself,  and  no  man  dietli  to  himself." 

This  principle  of  mutual  help  has  a  very 
striking  relation  to  the  life  of  the  household. 
At  the  very  outset  of  our  existence,  in  earliest 
infancy,  parental  love  becomes  a  real  miniature, 
though  a  feeble  one,  of  the  Divine  Providence. 
The  sweet,  sacred  word  "  mother"  means  life, 
medicine,  protection  and  about  all  things  else 
to  the  dependent  child.  In  good,  x^^^tient 
mother's  arms  the  little  mendicant  finds  its 
"  Gate  Beautiful."  There  is  its  garner  of  food 
— there  its  soft  couch  of  repose — there  its  chest 
of  cordials  for  hours  of  pain — there  its  play- 
ground of  infant  glee — there  its  harbor  of 
refuge  and  stronghold  of  safety.  God  him- 
self tyx)ifies  His  own  tenderness  wdien  He  says, 
*'  as  one  whom  his  mother  comforteth  so  will  I 
comfort  you." 

And  does  the  receiver  of  all  these  parental 
bounties  yield  nothing  in  return  ?  Getting  so 
much,  does  the  little  cherub  (for  the  most 
ill-looking  child  is  a  cherub  to  the  parent's 
eye)  give  nothing  in  return  ?  Tell  me,  ye  avIio 
have  held  a  budding  immortality  next  to  your 
throbbing  bosom  ;  has  that  little  nursling 
nursed  no  deep  and  holy  thoughts,  no  sweet 
ecstasies,  and  no  unutterable  emotions  in  your 


196       MIMA  CLE  A  T  THE  GA  TE  BE  A  UTIFUL. 

own  breast?  Thou  lonely  and  meek-eyed 
mother,  when  through  the  long,  long  hours  of 
absence  from  him  who  was  at  his  daily  toil  or 
out  upon  the  rocking  deep,  you  grew  sad  and 
timid  and  lonesome — tell  me,  if  you  can,  what  a 
wealth  of  companionship  you  found  in  two 
little  bright  eyes,  and  the  music  of  a  merry 
tongue.  And  how  brave  you  grew  when  you 
remembered  that  you  were  the  guardian  angel 
of  that  God-given  treasure.  When  you  began 
to  teach  the  earliest  lessons  to  your  darling, 
did  you  not  find  that  your  child  was  educat- 
ing you  as  rapidly  as  you  were  educating  it  ? 
Have  you  learned  no  lessons  of  patience,  as 
you  bent  over  the  crib  where  pain  Avas  moaning 
at  the  midnight  hour — no  lessons  of  self-control 
when  you  saw  passion  rising  in  that  j^oung 
breast- -no  lesson  of  unselfish  love  when  you  were 
ready  to  sacrifice  time,  and  ease,  and  strength 
and  rest  for  that  darling's  welfare  ?  Ah,  there 
are  some  of  you  here  who  have  learned  what 
God  could  nowhere  else  have  taught  you,  when 
you  swallowed  down  your  tears  over  that  little 
coffin,  and  hung  (as  in  an  awful  dream)  over 
that  deep,  deep  grave  that  seemed  to  reach 
down  into  eternity  !  Thank  God  for  children 
— living  or  dead,  here  or  in  heaven  !  A  child- 
less home  is  like  a  leafless,  blossomless  tree  ; 
the  summer  winds  make  no  music  through  the 
boughs,  and  the  summer  sun  ripens  no  fruit  on 
the  branches.     A  cradle  is  often  a  "  gate  beau- 


MIR  A  CLE  A  T  THE  GA  TE  BE  A  UTIFUL.       1 9  7 

tifiil  "  in  life,  where  the  soul  receives  some  of 
its  most  precious  gifts  of  healing ;  a  gate 
through  which  the  heart  often  finds  its  way  up 
to  the  throne  of  God  and  out  into  the  mysteries 
of  the  eternal  world. 

It  is  not  only  in  the  relation  of  parentage 
and  childhood,  but  also  in  every  other  relation 
the  family  is  a  school  of  mutual  help.  Each 
member  de^Dends  on  ever 3^  other.  To-day  the 
robust  father  holds  the  "wee  laddie"  on  his 
knee,  or  leads  him  up  the  stairway  of  that 
schoolroom  in  which  he  is  to  be  taught  his 
alphabet.  There  is  a  to-morrow  coming  by  and 
by  when  the  iisper  of  the  ABC  will  be  the 
master  of  a  home  of  his  own — with  an  infirm, 
gray-haired  parent  dozing  away  his  sunset 
years  in  an  armchair.  Each  helps  the  other 
when  and  where  help  is  most  needed.  And 
every  word  and  deed  of  unselfish  love  comes 
back  in  fifty-fold  blessing  on  its  author.  For 
Grod  puts  feeble  babes,  and  sweet,  invalid 
daughters  and  infirm,  bedridden  grandpar- 
ents into  our  families  for  this  purpose  (among 
others)  that  the  strong  may  bear  the  burden 
of  the  weak,  and  in  bearing  them,  may  grow 
stronger  themselves  in  Bible  graces.  Invalids 
and  children  have  their  uses  for  the  well-grown 
and  the  vigorous.  In  every  Christian  family 
the  scene  at  the  Beautiful  Gate  of  Jerusalem's 
temple  is  rei)eated  over  and  over  again  when 
the  wise  and  the  strong  take  the  weaker  by  the 


198       3IIRA  CLE  A  T  THE  GA  TE  BE  A  UTIFUL. 
hand  and   say    ''rise   up;     I  will  help  you 

II.  This  same  principle  of  mutual  helpful- 
ness applies  to  the  community,  which  ought  to 
be,  in  many  respects,  an  enlargement  of  the 
household.  The  law  of  sympathy  and 
brotherly  kindness  which  control  a  well- 
ordered  family  ought  to  control  society.  The 
community  is  composed  of  the  strong  and  the 
weak,  of  health-imparting  Peters  and  Johns, 
and  of  i3oor  crippled  brethren  and  sisters  who 
can  only  sit  beside  life's  thoroughfares,  and  de- 
pend upon  the  aid  of  the  healthy  and  the 
helpful.  The  present  unequal  distribution  of 
wealth  i:)uts  the  rich  in  the  minority  as  to 
numbers  ;  but  of  the  floorer  classes  there  is  a 
certain  class  of  shiftless  idlers  who  can  work, 
and  have  a  chance  to  work,  but  will  not.  Such 
should  be  compelled  to  labor  or  starve.  The 
falsely-called  "  charity"  v»diich  X3uts  a  premium 
on  indolent  imposters  is  a  greater  wrong  to 
the  receivers  than  to  the  bestowers.  The  air  is 
full  of  controversies  over  social  and  labor  prob- 
lems. Christianity  and  the  soundest  political 
economy  concur  on  these  three  points — viz  :  Em- 
ployment and  just  wages  for  all  who  can  labor 
and  desire  to  labor  ;  condign  j)unishment  for  all 
who  willfully  refuse  to  labor ;  and  wisely-di- 
rected charities  for  all  the  hopelessly  crippled 
by  age  or  bodily  and  mental  infirmities. 

But  how  can  the  helpless  poor  help  the  rich 


MIR  A  CLE  A  T  THE  GA  TE  BE  A  UTIFUL.        1 0  9 

and  the  well-provisioned  ?  If  they  are  un- 
able to  earn  wages,  are  they  not  able  to  bestow 
any  wages  ?  I  trow  that  they  can  ;  and  the 
helpless  poor  may  be  as  x)rofitable  to  the  rich 
in  spiritual  benelits  as  the  rich  can  possibly  be 
to  them  in  their  bestowments  of  benevolence. 
If  any  of  you  doubt  this,  try  a  very  simple  ex- 
periment. Sally  out  from  your  comfortable 
hreside  on  a  wintry  night,  well  equii^ped  Avith 
a  basket  of  provisions,  a  bundle  of  warm  cloth- 
ing and  a  Bible  in  your  pocket — and  direct 
your  way  to  that  obscure  alley  in  which  that 
sick  bread-winner  and  his  suffering  family  are 
hungering  for  food  and  still  more  for  sympa- 
thy. It  is  a  hard  place  to  find.  But  the  pierc- 
ing cold  has  found  it ;  poverty  has  found  it ; 
disease  has  found  it ;  fevers  or  consumption 
have  entered  that  rickety  door  already.  Now 
unload  your  cargo  of  charity.  Bring  out  the 
woolen  jacket  for  that  shivering  lad  ;  it  warms 
him  at  once,  but  it  sends  a  warmer  glow  also 
into  your  own  heart  when  the  lad  floods  you 
with  his  thanks.  Now  help  that  poor  ghastly 
father  to  take  the  medicine  you  have  brought 
him  ;  slip  your  greenbacks  into  the  hand  of 
that  pale  wife  and  tell  her  what  to  do  for  that 
cough,  which  racks  her  wornout  frame  as  the 
roaring  night  wind  shakes  their  crazy  attic.  As 
you  look  around  the  wretched  room,  how 
ashamed  you  are  that  you  ever  utter  complaints 
in  your  own  well-funiished  home.     Here  is  re- 


200       MIRACLE  AT  THE  GATE  BEAUTIFUL. 

turn  number  tioo.  You  have  learned  a  lesson  of 
contentment.  Now  open  your  Bible,  and  read 
the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John  to  the  listen- 
ing group  ;  and  as  you  go  down  on  your  knees, 
how  heartily  you  can  thank  the  dear  Father  of 
all  that  in  His  heavenly  house  are  "many 
mansions"  where  hungry  want  and  pinching 
pain  never  come,  and  where  He  will  wipe  aw^ay 
every  tear  from  our  eyes.  Before  you  leave, 
be  sure  to  secure  that  lad  and  that  bright-eyed 
girl  for  your  Mission  School ;  and  when  you 
meet  them  there  on  the  next  Sabbath,  you  find 
what  wages  God  is  paying  you,  "  pressed  down 
and  running  over  into  your  bosom."  Have 
these  poor  dwellers  in  that  attic  paid  you  noth- 
ing back  ?  Have  they  not  made  your  heart  the 
richer  and  your  life  the  more  Christ-like  ? 
Ah  !  that  dismal  garret  has  been  to  you  a  "gate 
beautiful,"  where  your  soul  has  found  gifts  of 
healing,  when  your  hands  brought  a  welcome 
balm  to  breaking  hearts.  You  have  learned 
that  Peter  and  John  were  not  the  only  Chris- 
tians who  have  helped  themselves  when  they 
said  to  the  crouching  cripple,  "in  the  name  of 
Jesus  rise  up  and  walk  !  " 

III.  If  the  law  of  charity  is  a  law  of  mutual 
helpfulness,  so  is  the  law  of  labor.  The  em- 
ployer bestows  wages ;  the  employee  bestows 
work.  Neither  one  has  the  right  to  scrimp 
the  other.  There  is  throughout  a  mutual  de- 
pendence and  mutual  aid  ;    Avliat   God  hath 


MIR  A  CLE  A  T  THE  GA  TE  BE  A  UTIFUL.       201 

joined  together,  let  no  plutocrat  and  no  dema- 
gogue put  asunder.  For  example  :  one  of  you 
importing  merchants  needs  a  ship,  and  you 
order  it  to  be  created.  At  your  bidding  the 
hardy  woodman  in  the  pine  forest  of  Maine 
wields  his  ax,  and  the  anvils  are  ringing  in 
the  forge,  and  the  weaver  is  driving  the  sail- 
cloth and  the  cordage  through  his  looms. 
Now  that  superb  vessel— which  to  her  sail- 
ing master  is  a  fleet  ocean-steed,  to  her  browned 
tars  is  a  rocking  home,  to  the  merchant  is  a 
floating  warehouse,  to  the  political  economist 
is  a  part  of  the  circulating  library  of  finance, 
and  to  the  Christian  is  one  of  the  olive-bearing 
doves  of  peace — that  magnificent  craft  is  the 
joint  product  of  many  scores  of  heads  and 
hands.  When  the  builder  built  it  he  at  the 
same  time  built  up  the  weal  of  hundreds  of 
his  fellowmen.  Each  one  helj)ed  all  the 
others. 

If  this  be  regarded  as  too  commercial  a  view 
of  the  inter-dependence  of  employers  and  their 
employees  to  be  preached  from  the  pulpit,  let 
me  emphasize — a  thoroughly  Christian  aspect 
of  the  question — which  is  too  often  overlooked. 
Every  employer  is  far  more  dependent  than  he 
imagines  on  the  moral  and  religious  condition 
of  those  to  whom  he  entrusts  his  business. 
Their  spiritual  interests  are  linked  with  his 
financial  interests.  Their  integrity,  their  con- 
scientious   industry,    their    power    to    resist 


202       MIRACLE  AT  THE  GATE  BEAUTIFUL. 

temptation,  and  their  loyalty  to  God's  law, 
make  them  vastly  more  valuable  to  him.  Is  it 
no  concern  to  you,  my  friend,  whether  your 
clerk  spends  his  evenings  in  a  theater  or  in  a 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association?  Is  it 
''none  of  your  business"  whether  his  com- 
panions are  such  as  you  may  introduce  to  him, 
or  only  such  as  may  waylay  him  at  the  street 
corners  ?  Suppose  that  you  should  kindly  in- 
troduce him  to  the  public  libraries  and  other 
institutions  for  the  enrichment  of  his  mind, 
and  to  the  evening  services  of  your  church, 
where  his  soul  may  receive  spiritual  food,  and 
to  your  own  house,  where  he  may  be  sheltered 
from  temptation,  and  cured  of  his  home-sick- 
ness— would  there  be  no  return  of  blessings  on 
your  own  head  ?  To  every  Christian  merchant 
or  banker  or  manufacturer,  his  place  of  busi- 
ness should  be  his  parish,  and  his  employees 
be  regarded  as  the  flock  for  whose  spiritual 
welfare  he  is  partially  responsible.  Although 
those  who  labor  for  you  are  not  objects  of 
charity  like  that  poor  mendicant  at  the  ''gate 
beautiful,"  yet  if  with  the  spirit  of  Christ  you 
take  them  by  the  hand  you  may  find  that 
"the  feet  and  ankle-bones  "  of  their  charac- 
ters will  "  receive  strength." 

ly.  The  principle  under  discussion  has  a 
most  direct  application  to  the  Christian 
Church.  The  primal  law  of  that  church  is  to 
glorify  God  by  the  service  and  salvation  of  Hi§ 


MIRACLE  AT  THE  GATE  BEAUTIFUL.       203 

earthly  children.  Peter  and  John  went  up  to 
the  temple  on  that  afternoon  to  worship  God  ; 
and  on  their  way  they  encounter  this  poor 
cripple  at  the  temple  gate.  Their  Christian 
instincts  move  them  to  x>ity  the  sufferer  and 
then  to  heal  him.  Their  Master  had  not  en- 
trusted them  with  a  stewardship  of  silver  and 
gold  ;  but  He  committed  to  them  the  higher 
trust  of  a  i^ower  to  restore  the  sick  to  health, 
and  the  dead  to  life.  They  simply  did  their 
duty  when  they  extended  a  lifting  hand  to 
their  j)itiable  fellow-creature  ;  and  probably 
they  had  no  expectation  of  the  consequences 
that  would  follow  the  miracle.  It  may  have 
been  a  happy  surprise  to  them  that  their  deed 
of  love  had  arrested  the  popular  eye,  gained 
the  popular  ear,  and  prepared  the  popular 
heart  to  welcome  Peter's  proclamation  of  Jesus 
Christ,  in  whose  name  the  wondrous  miracle 
had  been  wrought. 

From  this  incident  let  Christ's  servants  learn 
two  important  truths.  The  first  is,  that  if  they 
would  win  a  hearing  for  their  gospel  message, 
they  must  begin  by  some  word  or  deed  of  prac- 
tical kindness  to  those  whom  they  wish  to 
convert.  One  Christ-like  act  is  often  worth  a 
score  of  sermons.  And  when  the  key  of  kind- 
ness has  unlocked  the  ears  and  heart,  then  the 
door  is  open  for  the  most  earnest,  the  most 
pungent,  and  the  most  soul  convicting  truth  to 
enter,      With    what    tremendous    power  did 


204       MIRA  CLE  A  T  THE  GA  TE  BE  A  UTIFUL. 

Peter  stand  up  to  preach  Christ  Jesus  that 
day — with  the  healed  cripple  by  his  side,  as 
the  trophy  of  his  beneficence  and  the  creden- 
tial of  his  apostleshii^.  By  that  same  key  of 
kindness  must  the  Church  of  Christ  find  their 
way  to  the  most  hardened  heart  around  them. 
Every  Christly  deed  brings  an  increment  of 
power ;  and  if  the  ' '  Word  of  God  is  to  grow 
mightily  and  prevail"  in  our  day,  it  must  be 
by  the  revival  of  the  apostolic  methods.  Sin- 
ners may  be  drawn  to  Christ ;  they  never  can 
be  driven. 

The  second  lesson  for  us  from  this  miracle, 
is  that  every  child  of  sin,  whom  we  may  win 
to  Jesus,  becomes,  from  that  time,  a  co-worker 
with  us  in  advancing  the  kingdom  and  cause 
of  our  Master.  The  law  of  advance  for  that 
kingdom  is  growth,  not  conquest.  The  sinning 
and  the  suffering  who  throng  the  wayside  of 
this  world  of  ours — useless  to  themselves  and 
to  God — may,  by  the  touch  of  Christianity,  be 
transformed  into  living  witnesses  and  workers 
for  the  truth.  Come,  oh  thou  flame  of  heav- 
enly love,  into  our  hearts,  our  tongues,  and 
our  hands  !  Then  shall  we  see  the  crippled 
victims  of  sin  around  us,  "  walking  and  leaping 
and  praising  God  !  " 

We  have  now  gathered  up  a  few  of  the 
lessons  suggested  by  this  simple,  yet  most  sub- 
lime miracle  ;  we  have  seen  in  it  a  beautiful 
illustration  of  mutual  helpfulness.     But  as  I 


MIRACLE  AT  THE  GATE  BEAUTIFUL.       205 

close  this  discussion,  another  vision  presents 
itself  to  our  wondering  and  adoring  eyes. 

I  seem  to  see  the  wretched,  dying  race  of 
man,  cripi^led  by  sin  and  wasted  by  spiritual 
hunger,  sitting  by  the  gateway  to  a  temple  of 
heavenly  purity  which  it  is  powerless  of  itself 
to  enter.  There  sits  depraved  humanity, 
maimed,  guilty,  sin-sick,  and  perishing  !  One 
approaches,  mighty  to  save.  He  comes  with 
the  kingliness  of  a  God  concealed  in  the  lowly 
guise  of  the  son  of  man.  He  halts.  He  pities. 
He  stoops  and  sweetly  says,  "Look  on  me  !  " 

Stretching  forth  a  hand  pierced  with  the 
crucifying  nail,  he  lifts  the  wretched  object  to 
its  feet,  exclaiming,  "Rise  up  and  walk!" 
And  as  the  grateful  creature  clings  to  its  re- 
storer it  beholds  through  its  tears  of  joy  that 
he  is  none  other  than  the  Son  of  God  !  Oh, 
blessed  and  adorable  Jesus,  thy  cross,  thy 
cross  is  the  "Gate  Beautiful"  of  salvation 
through  which  a  redeemed  race  may  enter 
into  the  Temple  not  made  with  hands,  eternal 
in  the  heavens ! 


XIII. 

THE  GKACE  OF  SILENCE. 


XIII. 
THE  GRACE  OF  SILENCE. 

"  I  was  dumb  with  silence." — Psalm  xxxix,  2. 

Or  if  we  translate  it  still  more  literally,  "  I 
was  silenced  with  dumbness."  The  Psalmist 
adds  to  this  "I  held  my  peace."  A  little  far- 
ther on  he  says  again,  '^  I  am  silenced.  I  will 
not  open  my  mouth,  because  Thou  didst  it." 
A  wise  man  was  the  Psalmist  when  he  wrote 
these  words.  He  knew  what  an  unruly  member 
a  tongue  often  is  ;  so  he  determined  to  ^'keep 
for  his  mouth  a  muzzle  "  while  the  prosperity  of 
the  wicked  moved  him  to  murmuring. 

In  these  passages,  David  reiterates  the  grace 
of  silence  and  ui^on  this  topic  let  us  gather 
some  suggestions  for  everyday  use.  There  is 
a  time  to  speak  out,  a  time  to  be  heard,  when 
muzzled  lips  would  betray  cowardice  and  be 
treason  to  the  truth.  At  such  times  "speech 
is  silver,"  but  there  are  other  occasions  when 
"silence  is  golden."  And  such  occasions  I 
will  now  point  out  to  you. 

I.  The  first  occasion  is  when  we  are  under 
the  pressure  of  sheer  inquisitiveness.  There 
are  some  people  who  have  a  chronic  itch  of 

209 


210  THE  OR  AGE  OF  SILENCE. 

curiosity;  tliey  are  tlie  "  busy-bodies  in  other 
men's  matters."  Instead  of  minding  their  own 
business,  they  x>ry  into  the  affairs  of  their 
neighbors — not  for  the  purpose  of  help,  or  sym- 
I)athy,  but  for  the  gratification  of  insatiate 
curiosity.  Now  such  persons  ouglit  not  to  be 
encouraged  by  being  gratified.  There  are 
many  things  which  we  have  a  right  to  keep  to 
ourselves,  and  which  the  public  has  no  business 
with.  Our  newspapers  (I  am  sorry  to  say) 
publish  quite  too  often  what  ought  to  be  i^ri- 
vate.  Every  man's  *'  house  is  his  castle  "  ;  if  he 
chooses  to  let  the  whole  community  in,  then  he 
is  responsible  for  the  discoveries  made — whether 
of  silver  on  his  table  or  of  "  skeletons  in  his 
closets. ' '  A  wise  man  will  keej)  his  own  secrets  ; 
the  discreet  and  self-respecting  will  keep  to 
themselves  all  those  matters  with  which  "the 
stranger"  has  no  right  to  "intermeddle." 
There  are  sore  spots  in  almost  every  household 
that  delicacy  ouglit  to  conceal ;  why  allow  un- 
feeling hands  to  increase  their  festering  or 
make  them  bleed  ?  A  thousand  domestic  difl^- 
culties,  a  thousand  scandals  would  never  get 
wind,  if  people  were  wise  enough  to  padlock 
their  own  tongues  about  their  own  affairs.  Be 
careful  whom  you  make  your  confidants  ;  "a 
tale-bearer  revealeth  secrets  ;  but  he  that  is  of 
a  trusty  spirit  concealeth  the  matter."  As  for 
the  crime  of  divulging  what  is  entrusted  to  you 
in  secret  confidence,  it  is  a  crime  compounded 


THE  GRA  CE  OF  SILENCE.  2 1 1 

of  falsehood  and  treaclieiy.  Upon  tlie  whole 
subject  two  sound  rules  ought  to  be  observed — 
one  is  :  never  to  ask  Avliat  you  have  no  right  to 
know — the  other  rule  is  never  to  tell  other 
people  what  they  have  no  right  to  know.  So 
liigh  was  the  apostle's  estimate  of  the  grace  of 
silence  that  he  declares  that  "if  any  man  of- 
fend not  in  word,  the  same  is  a  perfect  man  and 
able  also  to  bridle  the  whole  body." 

II.  A  second  occasion  for  silence  is  when 
you  are  strongly  tempted  to  dis^^arage  others. 
Remember  that  the  tongue  is  a  sharp  instru- 
ment ;  it  cuts  deep,  it  often  draws  blood  ;  you 
may  commit  murder  with  it  as  truly  as  with  a 
dagger  or  a  pistol.  Alas  !  how  many  there  are 
who  limj)  along  wounded,  or  carr}^  the  ugly 
scar  which  cruel  slander  has  inflicted  ! 

Wilful  slander  you  will  all  detest,  but  a 
13eculiar  temx^tation  to  detraction  often  comes 
in  this  wise.  We  hear  somebody  extolled 
greatly ;  he  or  she  has  won  great  success,  or 
received  high  praise.  Envy  (that  hateful 
spirit  that  often  disguises  itself  under  the 
name  of  '^Justice")  says  to  us,  "That  per- 
son is  set  up  too  high  ;  he  or  she  ought  to  be 
taken  down."  So  we  set  over  against  their 
virtues  some  deformities  of  character  or  some 
evil  things  that  we  know  about  them.  Grant 
that  we  do  know  them — why  speak  of  them  ? 
Why  fling  a  nasty  "fly"  into  that  sweet  oint- 
ment ?    When  so  fine  a  picture  has  been  drawn, 


212  THE  GRACE  OF  SILENCE. 

why  thrust  a  daub  of  detraction  over  it  ?  Grant 
it,  even  farther,  that  the  person  thus  extolled 
has  once  slighted  or  injured  you,  and  here  is  a 
chance  for  retaliation.  In  the  name  of  gener- 
osity, "  hold  your  peace."  If  you  cannot  hon- 
estly join  in  the  praise,  do  not  let  your  tongue 
croak  an  envious  discord  ;  if  you  cannot  help 
to  set  another  up,  do  not  endeavor  to  pull 
him  down.  Silence  is  sometimes  as  magnani- 
mous as  a  speech  of  vindication  is  at  other 
times.  Nay,  my  dear  friends,  if  we  cannot  sin- 
cerely say  anything  good  about  our  fellow- 
creatures,  is  it  not  better  to  say  nothing  at 
all  ?  "Throwing  mud "  is  always  dirty  work  ; 
if  you  do  not  defile  the  individual  you  aim  at, 
you  are  pretty  sure  to  soil  your  own  hands. 

If  you  will  only  remember  how  you  have 
smarted  yourself,  or  suffered  yourself  from 
the  razor  tongue  of  defamation,  you  will  surely 
learn  to  ' '  bridle ' '  your  own  tongue.  Be  careful 
lest  in  condemning  another,  you  condemn  not 
yourself,  for  that  very  blunt  ajDostle,  James, 
has  warned  us  that  "if  any  man  seem  to  be 
religious  and  bridle th  not  his  tongue,  that 
man's  religion  is  vain." 

Silence  (let  me  add  here)  is  often  the  best 
answer  to  sharp  things  or  offensive  things 
said  against  us.  If  they  are  said  in  jest,  laugh 
at  them ;  if  said  spitefully,  forgive  them  ;  if 
they  are  true,  then  let  us  secretly  be  thankful 
for  the  criticisms,  and  mend  our  ways. 


THE  GRACE  OF  SILENCE.  213 

III.  Thirdly.  If  silence  be  golden  under 
the  circumstances  of  which  I  have  already 
spoken — then  does  it  shine  with  a  peculiar 
luster  when  it  is  maintaiaed  under  great  x)ro- 
vocation. 

When  our  house  takes  fire,  the  first  inixDulse 
is  to  go  after  a  bucket  of  water.  But  if  tem- 
per takes  fire,  the  first  impulse  is  to  throw  on 
more  fuel.  Now,  the  best  water-bucket  for 
aroused  temper  is  resolute  silence.  If,  when- 
ever a  provoking  w^ord  were  spoken  to  us,  or 
an  irritating  act  were  done,  or  an  injury  struck 
us,  we  should  firmly  seal  our  lips  for  even  ten 
minutes,  we  would  save  ourselves  many  a 
quarrel,  many  a  heartburn,  many  a  mortifica- 
tion, many  a  disgrace  to  our  religious  profes- 
sion. Speech  is  often  explosive  and  shatter- 
ing. Silence  is  cooling.  It  cools  us  off,  and 
cools  other  people.  One  of  the  calmest  men  I 
ever  knew  told  me  that  he  used  to  be  violently 
passionate,  but  he  broke  his  temper  by  reso- 
lutely bridling  his  tongue  until  he  cooled 
down. 

What  answer  that  can  be  given  to  many  an 
irritating  word,  and  even  to  a  just  provocation, 
is  as  effective  as  dignified  silence  ?  What  elo- 
quence there  is  sometimes  in  lips  sealed  tight 
by  self-control,  by  patient  fortitude,  by  the 
serene  sense  of  right !  What  sublimity  there 
is  in  silence  when  innocence  reviled,  reviles  not 
again  !   How  divine  was  the  silence  of  our  ador- 


214  THE  GRACE  OF  SILENCE. 

able  Master,  when,  under  all  the  buffetings  and 
insults  of  His  brutal  enemies.  He  ox)ened  not 
His  hol}^  lips !  Those  lips  might  have  sum- 
moned legions  of  angels  to  His  rescue  !  That 
tongue  might  have  shot  the  lightnings  of 
heaven  into  the  fiendish  crowd  of  persecutors 
who  hunger  for  His  blood.  "  Answerest 
thou  nothing?"  exclaimed  the  enraged  High 
Priest.  "But  Jesus  held  His  peace."  Then 
Pilate  breaks  in,  "  Answerest  thou  nothing? 
behold,  how  many  things  they  witness  against 
Thee!"  But  Jesus  yet  "answered  not  a 
word."  Other  men  have  died  for  what  they 
have  said.  Here  w^as  a  personage  who  died 
for  what  He  would  not  say,  and  was  calmly 
silent.  Wonderful  comj)osure !  Wonderful 
silence  of  conscious  innocence  and  divine 
holiness  !  Wonderful  patience  of  the  Son  of 
God!  "He  w^as  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the 
slaughter,  and  as  a  sheei3  before  her  shearers 
is  dumb,  so  He  opened  not  His  mouth !  " 

Having  reached  this  sublimest  of  all  illustra- 
tions of  silence  before  men,  let  us  go  on  to  con- 
sider the  grace  of  silence  toward  God.  At  first 
sight  the  question  may  arise,  can  this  ever  be 
a  virtue  ?  Does  not  God  demand  perpetual 
confession  and  perpetual  praise?  "Open 
thou  my  lips,  and  my  mouth  shall  show  forth 
thy  praise  ;  let  everything  that  hath  breath 
praise  the  Lord." 

Yet  the  very  same   Psalter  which  contains 


THE  GHACE  OF  SILENCE.  215 

these  repeated  calls  to  adoration  and  tluinks- 
giving  contains  such  passages  as  those  now 
before  us.  "  I  was  silenced  with  dumbness! 
I  held  my  peace  even  from  good  things."  "  I 
am  silenced !  I  will  not  open  my  mouth, 
because  thou  didst  it!"  Lo !  David  the 
singer  has  become  David  the  silent!  The 
great  musician  is  mute  !  the  harp  is  hung 
up  !  The  most  eloquent  of  his  generations 
is  speechless  ?  And  why  ?  Is  his  heart  so 
bowed  down  and  so  utterly  broken  that 
he  becomes  dumb  \  This  does  not  exj^lain 
the  case.  Grief  does  indeed  sometimes  strike 
the  sufferer  dumb,  and  congeals  the  very  fount 
of  tears,  so  that  they  cannot  weep.  I  have 
seen  such,  to  whom  the  very  relief  of  tears 
seemed  to  be  denied.  But  David's  silence  was 
not  of  that  character ;  he  has  told  us  why 
he  opened  not  his  mouth.  He  had  come  uj) 
face  to  face  w^ith  this  tremendous  fact.  "Thou 
didst  it!"  Jehovah  of  Hosts  had  laid  his 
hand  heavily  on  David's  back,  and  the 
Psalmist  laid  his  own  hand  on  his  mouth.  "  I 
am  silenced  now  ;  I  will  quiet  myself  as  a 
child  that  is  weaned  of  its  mother." 

Ah !  my  friends,  it  is  a  glorious  discovery 
that  we  make  wdien  we  discover  God's  hand  in 
an  experience  of  joy  or  an  experience  of  sorrow. 
If  a  fellow -man  has  done  us  a  wrong,  we  may 
kindle  into  resentment  ;  we  may  scold  at  his 
stupid  blunder,  or  vent  our  indignation  at  his 


216  THE  GRACE  OF  SILENCE. 

willful  unkindness.  But  when  we  come  up  to 
face  our  Heavenly  Father  and  recognize  His 
great  over-shadowing  hand,  then  there  is  noth- 
ing for  us  but  silence  and  submission  !  Further 
questionings  will  do  us  no  good  ;  for  God  keeps 
bis  own  secrets.  Murmurings  will  do  us  no 
good,  but  only  aggravate  our  sorrows.  Rebel- 
lion is  ruin.  Push  as  far  as  we  can,  press  as 
hard  as  we  may,  we  cannot  get  beyond  this 
tremendous  truth  :  God  did  it,  God  did  it  ! 
Grasp  that  truth,  hold  to  that  truth,  and  open 
your  soul's  eyes  to  that  truth  and  you  have 
learned  what  ? 

First,  you  have  learned  that  an  all-wise 
Father  did  it.  There  was  no  hap-hazard 
blunder  about  that  stroke. 

Why  God's  treatment  of  me  was  wise 
I  do  not  comprehend  any  more  than  your  little 
boy  comprehends  the  inner  works  of  a  clock 
when  he  looks  at  its  face  and  reads  the  figure 
"Yin."  Then  he  says,  "It  is  time  to  go  to 
school."  He  accepts  the  fact  without  going 
behind  it.  This  tangled  web  of  God's  provi- 
dence I  am  not  wise  enough  to  unravel.  God's 
wisdom  can  and  will. 

My  poor 

"  Blind  unbelief  is  sure  to  err 
And  scan  His  work  in  vain, 
God  is  His  own  interpreter 
And  He  will  make  it  plain." 

His  own  command  is,  "Be  still  and  know 


THE  GRACE  OF  SILENCE.  217 

that  I  am  God!"  Another  glorious  thought 
is  wrapped  up  in  these  words,  "Thou  didst 
it."  Then  a  loving  Father  did  it.  That  is 
a  precious  discovery,  for  we  can  bear  almost 
anything  if  we  are  sure  that  love  is  be- 
hind it.  Love  never  wrongs  us.  Love  never 
tortures  us.  Love  never  robs  us.  Love  never 
lays  on  us  a  needless  load.  The  love  that 
"  spared  not  His  own  Son  "  can  be  trusted  be- 
hind the  heaviest  blow  or  tlie  darkest  cloud. 
But  some  of  you  may  say,  "I  cannot  under- 
stand how  a  loving  Father  could  lay  His  hand 
on  me  so  heavily."  Good  friend  !  This  is  not 
the  world  to  unravel  mysteries  in,  or  get  ex- 
planations from  God.  Heaven  is  the  world  for 
enlarged  knowledge.  There  "we  shall  know 
even  as  we  have  been  known." 

In  this  world  the  great  purjDose  is  the  de- 
veloj)ment  of  character.  This  is  the  school-life. 
You  and  I  are  little  scholars.  And  when  the 
Almighty,  all- wise  Teacher  is  speaking,  the 
child  should  keep  still.  When  He  appoints  us 
hard  lessons,  ^we  should  learn  them.  The 
mightiest  lesson  to  be  learned  in  this  world  is 
to  let  God  have  His  way.  Your  brain  and 
my  brain  are  not  big  enough  to  comprehend 
the  mysteries  of  Divine  Providence  ;  but  your 
heart  and  my  heart  may  trust  Him  enough  to 
say  :  I  will  submit  !  I  am  silenced  !  I  open 
not  my  mouth  because  Thou  didst  it  I 

A  most  rare  and  difficult  grace  is  this  grace 


218  THE  GRACE  OF  SILENCE. 

of  silence  before  God,  but  it  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful.  None  is  more  pleasing  to  God ; 
none  is  more  attractive  before  the  world ,  none 
does  more  to  finish  and  beautify  character. 
But,  Oh  !  we  shrink  from  the  process  of  acquir- 
ing it !  How  often  we  pray/'  let  this  cup  pass 
from  me."  None  of  us  loves  to  suffer  ;  none 
of  us  loves  to  have  his  plans  defeated,  or  his 
house  emptied,  or  his  treasures  taken  away ! 
We  shudder  at  the  sight  of  the  surgical  knife 
which  our  loving  Father  is  using  upon  us. 
But  when  He  who  Avounds  in  order  to  heal  is 
engaged  in  amputating  a  wicked  lust,  or  cutting 
off  a  diseased  limb  of  pride,  or  cutting  out  an 
ulcer  of  sin,  our  duty^  is  to  hold  still.  "Keep 
still,  my  friend  !  keep  still,"  says  the  surgeon 
to  the  soldier.  Kestlessness  only  endangers  a 
false  cut  of  the  knife,  and  aggravates  the  pro- 
cess. The  soldier  is  not  now  in  the  hands  of  a 
murderous  enemy,  but  of  a  kind,  skilful  friend. 
So  if  he  be  wise  he  will  reply,  "  Doctor  !  do  as 
you  like;  I'll  try  to  keep  still.  Go  as  deep 
as  you  can  ;  but  only  be  sure  to  bring  out  the 
bullet." 

Ah  !  brethren  !  the  battlefield  often  costs 
less  suffering  and  requires  less  courage  than 
the  hospital.  So  in  the  spiritual  conflicts  of 
life  the  onsets  of  duty,  witli  bugles  sounding 
and  drums  beating,  do  not  so  test  the  metal 
of  our  graces  as  it  does  to  be  thrown  down 
wounded  and  to  be  carried  to  the  rear.     Do- 


THE  OR  A  CE  01 '  SILENCE.  2 1 9 

ing  is  always  easier  tliaii  bearing  !  Activity 
is  more  tlian  quiet  submission.  To  sliout  the 
battle-cry  or  huzza  from  the  battlements  is 
easier  than  to  put  our  hands  on  our  mouths 
and  sit  down  speechless  because  "God  does 
it !  " 

My  hearers  !  This  is  one  of  tlie  most  prac- 
tical of  themes  that  I  am  presenting  to  you 
to-day.  Everyone  of  us  has  occasion  to  prac- 
tice silence  before  God,  everyone  of  us  should 
be  learning  when  to  keep  still.  Everyone  of  us 
is  confronted  with  the  mysteries  of  God's  deal- 
ing, Avith  ourselves  and  with  others.  If  He  is 
silent  as  to  exj)lanations  of  His  course,  we 
must  be  silent  in  our  unquestioning  submis- 
sions. K  we  do  not  know  the  "whys"  and 
the  "  wherefores  "  God  does. 

"  He  knows  the  bitter,  weary  way, 
The  endless  strivings  day  by  day — 
The  souls  that  weep — the  souls  that  pray : 
He  knows. 

"He  knows  !    Oh,  thought  so  full  of  bliss, 
For  though  on  earth  our  joys  we  miss, 
We  still  can  bear  it,  feeling  this : 
He  knows. 

"  God  knows  !     Oh,  heart,  take  up  thy  cross 
And  learn  earth's  treasures  are  but  dross, 
And  He  will  turn  to  gain  our  loss: 
He  knows  !     He  knows  !  " 

I  have  been  recounting  some  of  the  many 
occasions  in  life  when  it  is  the  course  of  wis- 


320  THE  OB  AGE  OF  SILENCE. 

doni  to  keep  still.  Silence  is  the  requisite  of  a 
good  listener ;  let  us  hear  what  other  people 
can  tell  us.  Above  all  let  us  be  still  and  hear 
what  our  Heavenly  Father  shall  say  to  us. 
Silence  is  the  best  state  for  meditation  ;  if  we 
thought  more  and  talked  less,  we  should  be 
better  worth  hearing  when  we  did  speak.  Si- 
lence is  a  sedative  to  the  soul  ;  murmuring 
and  quarreling  with  God  only  tears  sorrows 
open  and  keeps  them  festering.  Fellow-stu- 
dents in  God's  school !  You  and  I  are  being 
educated  for  eternity.  Some  things  Ave  can 
know  ;  we  can  know  God  and  trust  Hhn.  We 
can  know  Jesus  and  love  Him.  We  can  know 
our  Bibles  and  follow  them.  And  what  we 
know  not  now  we  shall  know  hereafter. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  living  preachers^  has 
beautifully  told  us  that  "over  the  arched  gate 
of  the  Sj^anish  Alharabi'a  there  is  sculjDtured 
an  open  hand  ;  over  the  next  arch  a  key.  The 
haughty  Moors  who  held  that  palace-fort  for 
so  many  years  used  to  boast  that  the  gate  of 
the  Alhambra  never  would  be  opened  to  the 
Christians  until  that  hand  should  take  that 
kej^  Many  a  Providence,  like  that  Moorish 
fortress,  contains  within  its  frowning  battle- 
ments, sparkling  fountains  of  living  waters. 
How  many  of  you  have  been  forced  to  stand 
before  one  of  God's  heart- trying  mysteries — to 
stand  silent — opening  not  the  mouth  because 

*Rev.  Dr.  Marvin  R.  Vincent. 


THE  GRACE  OF  SILENCE.  221 

'  Thoii  didst  it ! '  Oh,  my  friend,  stand  still 
a  little  longer !  stand  not  in  despair,  but  in 
patient  hope  !  By  and  by  the  hand  will  take 
the  key ;  the  gate  shall  open  into  the  heart  of 
the  Providence,  and  behind  the  stern  '  Thou 
didst  it'  shall  be  revealed  everlasting  love 
and  everlasting  peace." 

"  Sometime  when  all  life's  lessons  have  been  learned 
And  sun  and  stars  forever  more  have  set, 
The  thmgs  which  our  weak  judgments  here  have 
spurned, 
The  things  o'er  which  we  grieved  with  lashes  wet, 
Will  flash  before  us,  out  of  life's  dark  night, 
As  stars  shine  most  in  deeper  tints  of  blue  ; 
And  we  shall  see  how  all  God's  plans  are  right. 
And  how  what  seems  reproof  was  love  most  true. 

"  But  not  to-day.     Then  be  content,  poor  heart  ! 

God's  plans,  like  lilies  pure  and  white  unfold. 
We  must  not  tear  the  close-shut  leaves  apart. 

Time  will  reveal  the  calyxes  of  gold. 
And  if  through  patient  toil  we  reach  the  land 

Where  tired  feet  with  sandals  loosed,  may  rest. 
When  we  shall  clearly  know  and  understand, 

I  think  that  we  will  say,  '  God  knew  the  best.'  " 


XIV. 
SPIRITUAL  HEALTH. 


XIV. 
SPIRITUAL  HEALTH. 

"  Whataileth  thee  ?  "—Judges  xviii,  23. 

The  Bible  was  not  written  for  saints  in 
heaven.  It  was  written  for  struggling,  tempted, 
sinning  and  sorrowing  mortals  in  this  world. 
The  loftiest  Christians  portrayed  on  its  pages 
were  by  no  means  j)erfect ;  some  of  them  made 
lamentable  slips  and  falls  ;  their  finest  gold  of 
character  was  not  Avithout  alloy.  Human  na- 
ture has  not  changed  since  the  times  when 
even  the  chief  est  of  Christ's  Apostles  could 
honestly  confess,  "  I  have  not  already  attained 
nor  am  I  already  made  perfect." 

If  you  were  all  whole  and  all  happy,  you 
would  not  need  any  spiritual  physician.  But 
I  suspect  that  there  are  many  aching  hearts  in 
this  assembly,  many  ''weak  hands  and  feeble 
knees,"  and  many  who  are  sadly  crippled  by 
besetting  sins.  To  each  of  you  who  is  unhappy, 
and  to  each  one  who  is  unhealthy,  I  may  ad- 
dress the  same  question  which  was  addressed 
to  Micah  by  the  Danites,  who  had  stolen  away 
his  household  gods,  "  What  ailetli  theef  "  If 
you  will  turn  to  this  eigliteenth  chapter  of  the 

a25 


226  SPIRITUAL  HEALTH. 

Book  of  Judges  (in  which  my  text  is  found) 
you  will  see  how  the  Danite  marauders  had 
broken  into  poor  Micah's  private  chapel  of 
idols,  and  had  carried  oflt'  his  graven  images. 
Perhaps  this  is  the  trouble  with  some  of  you. 
Your  hearts  have  been  made,  not  the  dwelling-. 
j)lace  of  Jesus  Christ  by  his  Si^irit,  but  a  pri- 
vate chapel  in  which  you  have  enshrined  favor- 
ite idols.  They  have  absorbed  your  affections 
and  shut  your  Saviour  out  from  the  central 
throne  of  your  heart.  Perhaps  your  idol  has 
been  money,  a  very  useful  article  when  a  Chris- 
tian holds  it  in  trust  for  the  honor  of  his 
Master,  but  a  terrible  curse  when  it  owns  and 
enslaves  a  Christian.  This  idol,  like  Micah's, 
was  a  movable  article,  and  it  is  gone  !  Brother, 
you  are  not  a  paui^er  ;  stop  and  count  up  the 
precious  things  you  still  possess,  and  the  treas- 
ures that  cannot  be  stolen  away,  or  swallowed 
uj)  by  commercial  disasters.  God  may  have 
permitted  your  income  to  be  cut  down  in  order 
to  enrich  you  with  graces  better  than  gold. 
Instead  of  whining  and  weeping  over  your 
heaj:)  of  broken  projects,  use  them  as  a  step- 
ping stone  to  climb  uj)  into  a  higher  and  holier 
life,  closer  to  God.  What  is  true  of  money, 
may  be  equally  true  of  any  other  subject,  or  of 
any  other  person,  that  your  heart  may  enshrine 
in  that  inner  sanctum,  which  of  right  belongs 
to  your  Redeemer  ;  and  if  the  loss  of  heart- 
idols  serves  to  cure  you  of  inordinate  love  of 


SPIRITUAL  HEALTH.  22*; 

them,  then  it  is  a  sx^iritual  blessing  to  lose 
them. 

Another  may  answer  the  question,  "What 
ailetli  thee  ?  "  by  saying,  "  I  have  had 
some  bitter  disappointment."  Either  you 
have  not  got  what  you  wanted,  or  when  you 
did  get  it,  it  did  not  meet  your  exx)ectations. 
Perhaps  you  chose  a  certain  jDath  for  yourself, 
and  God  hedged  you  up  or  sent  you  off  very 
reluctantly  into  some  other  way.  This  has 
started  your  tears,  or  soured  your  s]3irit.  ISTow, 
as  I  look  back  over  my  own  life,  I  can  discover 
that  some  of  the  richest  mercies  my  Heavenly 
Father  has  ever  bestowed,  have  come  in  the 
shape  of  bitter  disappointments.  It  has  been 
truly  remarked  that  "disappointment  never 
means  wreck  when  God's  hand  is  in  it.  There 
is  often  a  lift  in  that  ugly  thing."  Disappoint- 
ment, like  fire,  has  a  double  power  ;  it  may 
scorch  and  crisis  and  blast  a  man,  or  else  it  may 
thaw  out  his  blood,  and  quicken  his  life.  It  is  a 
more  heroic  triumj)h  of  grace  for  a  Christian 
to  rise  above  the  billows  of  adversity  than  it  is 
to  run,  with  flying  colors,  before  a  fair  breeze 
of  constant  successes.  Probably  it  suits  the  in- 
clination of  all  of  you  to  be  up  in  the  world,  but 
it  is  not  always  safe  ;  and  it  is  a  wholesome  pro- 
cess to  be  "taken  down"  occasionally.  The 
grass  in  my  yard  has  a  tendency  to  grow  rank 
and  it  requires  to  be  taken  down  by  a  mower  ; 
and  it  never  looks  so  well  as  after  the  sharp  cut- 


228  SPIRITUAL  HEALTH. 

ter  has  gone  over  it.  Many  a  Christian  never 
appears  as  attractive  in  liis  graces  as  when  God's 
mowing  machine  has  gone  over  him  ;  his  pride, 
or  his  self-confidence  or  his  worldly  ambition 
needed  the  scythe.  Even  Paul  himself  would 
not  have  grown  ux3  so  strong  from  the  roots 
if  he  had  not  been  mowed  pretty  often.  We 
suspect  that  God  discovered  the  peril  he  was 
in  of  becoming  "exalted  beyond  measure" 
so  he  sent  a  thorn  in  the  flesh  to  humble  him. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  the  Lord  saw  what  a 
dangerous  place  for  Joseph  was  that  luxurious 
house  of  Potiphar,  and  therefore  the  young 
Hebrew  was  sent  to  a  prison,  which  proved  to  be 
the  training  school  for  the  palace.  Remember 
that  the  very  name  "  God"  signifies  good,  and 
you  may  yet  discover  that  he  has  never  been 
so  truly  kind  to  you  as  when  he  crossed  your 
inclination,  or  w^lien  he  chastised  your  way- 
wardness. The  map  of  our  lives  will  be  an  in- 
teresting study  in  heaven. 

But  yonder  sits  another  excellent  brother,  a 
Sabbath  school  teacher,  or  an  active  member 
of  the  Young  Pcoi)le's  Association,  or  some 
other  organization  for  doing  good,  and  he  is 
becoming  rather  disheartened  in  his  work. 
He  does  not  see  the  results  that  he  hoped  for. 
Is  this  anything  new  ?  Isaiah  complained  that 
he  "had  labored  in  vain  and  spent  his  strength 
for  naught."  Martin  Luther  died  with  a 
broken  heart    over  the    hindrances   that  ob- 


SPIRITUAL  HEALTH.  229 

structed  the  progress  of  the  Protestant  Refor- 
mation. Saint  Cecilia  was  ready  to  break  her 
harp  when  she  overheard  the  music  of  the 
angels.  Are  you  conscientiously  working  for 
your  Master  and  for  the  souls  of  your  fellow- 
men  ?  Then  leave  results  with  the  Master ; 
He  is  resx)onsible  for  them.  It  is  your  business 
to  sow  precious  seed,  and  with  all  your  anx- 
ious lingering  you  cannot  make  it  come  up. 
You  never  know  just  how  much  good  you  may 
be  doing  when  you  do  any  thorouglily  good 
deed.  Nothing  pleases  the  devil  more  than  to 
\)\\t  a  working  Christian  away  in  a  wet  blanket ; 
that  sort  of  hydropathy  has  chilled  to  death 
more  than  one  excellent  undertaking. 

Let  me  now  turn  the  lens  away  from  the  un- 
hai^py  hearts  to  those  who  are  unliealtliy.  The 
word  "holiness"  is  synonymous  with  the  old 
Saxon  word  lolioUli,  or  health  ;  therefore,  a 
holy  person  is  one  who  has  been  healed  by  the 
Divine  Physician  and  is  in  a  sound  spiritual 
condition.  There  must  be  something  wTong 
with  a  church  member  who  does  not  grow  in 
grace,  or  bear  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit.  During 
my  many  years  of  hospital  x)ractice  (which  is 
a  considerable  i)art  of  every  pastor's  work)  I 
have  found  that  there  is  a  numerous  class  of 
weak-handed,  low-pulsed,  and  feeble-kneed 
Christians  who  are  self-made  invalids.  Their 
spiritual  debility  is  the  direct  result  of  their 
own  sins,   either  of  omission  or  commission. 


230  SPIRITUAL  HEALTH. 

The  same  principle  api^lies  to  sijiritual  as  to 
I)liysical  hygiene  ;  disease  is  often  the  inevit- 
able i)unislmient  of  the  violation  of  the  laws 
of  health.  Is  not  the  inebriate's  poisoned 
frame  the  immediate  legacy  of  his  bottle  ?  The 
indolence  which  never  earns  its  daily  bread 
cannot  earn  the  appetite  to  enjoy  it ;  the  glut- 
tony which  gorges  the  stomach  is  often  only  a 
fattening  of  an  early  banquet  for  the  worm. 
Dyspepsia  is  frequently  found  to  be  a  divinely- 
appointed  health  officer,  stationed  at  the  gate- 
Avay  of  excess,  to  warn  off  all  comers,  and  to 
punish  those  who  will  persist  in  entering  the 
forbidden  ground.  Si3iritual  dyspex)sia  is,  in 
most  cases,  the  result  of  sin  indulged  or  of 
duty  neglected.  How  can  a  Christian  be 
healthy  wdio  neglects  a  wholesome  diet  for  his 
soul,  or  who  seldom  does  a  "stitch"  of  work 
for  his  Master  ?  How  can  his  faith  be  strong 
who  seldom  enters  his  closet  ?  The  constipa- 
tion of  charity  soon  becomes  chronic  when  sel- 
fishness locks  its  i3urse  against  the  most 
eloquent  appeals.  My  dyspeptic  friend,  I  com- 
mend to  you  the  double  remedy — Bible  diet 
and  Bible  duty.  K  these  don't  restore  you, 
then  your  case  must  be  imst  all  medication. 

Brother  A ,  what  aileth  thee  ?    Judging 

from  the  symptoms,  you  are  suifering  from  a 
fever.  One  of  the  symptoms  of  fever  is  loss 
of  aj)petite  for  food,  and  another  is  an  inord- 
inate thirst.     Your  appetite  for  gospel  food  is 


SPIRITUAL  HEALTH.  231 

sadly  low,  and  your  thirst  for  worldly  gain  is 
becoming  insatiable.  The  more  you  swallow, 
the  thirstier  you  are.  The  sj^irit  of  covetous- 
ness,  when  it  gets  full  sweep  in  the  heart, 
carries  down  so  much  deposit  that  it  silts  up 
the  soul  with  a  sand-bar,  and  no  freights  of 
benevolence  can  ever  "cross  the  bar."  The 
Bible  abounds  in  solemn  admonitions  against 
this  sin. 

A  kindred  disease  with  the  greed  for  wealth 
is  an  ambition  for  social  display — a  style  of 
prominence  that  is  often  secured  at  the  cost  of 
one's  spiritual  peace  and  power.  There  is  a 
*'  getting  up  in  the  world  "  that  ends  in  a  get- 
ting down  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  Jesus 
rebuked  such  selfish  aspirations  when  He  said, 
''Whosoever  of  you  would  be  chief  est,  shall 
be  the  servant  of  all."  True  promotion  comes 
from  the  i^romotion  of  the  welfare  of  others  ; 
he  is  the  greatest  who  achieves  the  greatest 
amount  of  good  in  the  community.  Do  not 
wait,  my  friend,  for  God  to  prescribe  for  thy 
fevers  by  depleting  thy  purse,  or  by  humbling 
thy  crest.  Consecrate  to  Him  thy  money  and 
thy  social  influence,  and  enjoy  a  new  sensa- 
tion. Our  philanthropic  millionaire,  of  Brook- 
lyn, the  late  Charles  Pratt,  once  said  to  me, 
"There  is  no  greater  humbug  in  this  world 
than  the  idea  that  the  mere  possession  of 
wealth  can  make  any  man  happy.  I  never  got 
any  solid  satisfaction  out  of  mine  until  I  be£>:an 


232  SPIRITUAL  HEALTH. 

to  do  good  with  it."  It  is  not  what  we  take 
up,  but  what  we  give  up,  that  will  yield  us 
treasures  in  Heaven. 

Brother  B ,  what  aileth  thee?    Perhaps 

the  all-seeing  eye  discovers  the  growing  cancer 
of  a  besetting  lust.  There  is  but  one  remedy 
for  that — it  is  the  knife.  Speedy  and  thorough 
repentance — proved  by  abandonment  of  the 
darling  sin — can  alone  restore  thee.  If  thy 
hand  cause  thee  to  offend,  cut  it  off  ;  if  thine 
eye,  then  i^luck  it  out !  It  is  better  to  go 
maimed  on  the  road  to  Heaven  than  to  lose 
the  life  everlasting.  The  vines  that  yield 
the  largest  and  most  luscious  clusters  have 
felt  the  keenest  incisions  of  the  pruning-knife. 
Shall  the  Divine  Husbandman  be  compelled  to 
use  it,  or  wilt  not  thou  make  short  and  sharp 
work  with  thy  besetting  sins  ? 

Here  is  another  professed  servant  of  Christ 
who  is  "  sick  with  the  palsy."  His  paralyzed 
hands  accomplish  no  Avork  ;  his  tongue  is  so 
paralyzed  that  he  is  no  longer  heard  in  the 
place  of  prayer  ;  nay,  there  is  but  little  more 
left  of  him  than  his  idle  name  on  the  church 
register.  To  such  as  thee  the  Master  si)eaks  the 
short  authoritative  command,  "  Arise,  take  u^i 
thy  bed  and  walk";  you  need  the  movement 
cure.  The  first  sincere  prayer  of  contrition 
that  you  utter,  the  first  temptation  you  resist, 
the  first  step  you  take  to  honor  Christ,  breaks 
the  spell.     As  soon  as  you  arouse  from  that 


SPIRITUAL  HEALTH.  233 

self-begotten  i^aralysis  of  sloth,  your  feet  and 
ankle-bones  will  receive  strength,  and  you  may 
go  on  your  way  rejoicing. 

Much  of  the  spiritual  debility  in  our  churches 
arises  from  the  ignoring  of  a  very  simple  princi- 
ple, viz  :  that  every  creature  on  this  earth  is 
dependent.  All  vegetable  life  depends  on  the 
soil  beneath  it,  and  the  atmosphere  around  it. 
Shut  up  the  most  stalwart  man  in  a  cell  with- 
out food  and  water,  and  in  a  few  hours  he  is  a 
corpse.  JSTo  one  can  keep  alive  his  own  body 
by  sheer  self -sustentation  ;  and  God's  word  de- 
clares that ''  none  can  keep  alive  Ms  own  souiy 
Some  members  of  a  Christian  Church  commit 
the  sad  mistake  of  trying  to  live  on  a  past  ex- 
perience. They  believe  that  they  were  once 
converted,  and  that  is  enough  ;  they  insist  that 
they  were  once  "born  anew,"  and  having 
IDublicly  confessed  Christ,  why  should  they 
feel  any  apprehensions  about  their  own  salva- 
tion. I  have  known  hundreds  of  bright  infants 
that  are  slumbering  soundly  under  the  turf  in 
Greenwood  Cemetery  to-day.  The  attempt  to 
maintain  a  Christian  life  on  the  bygone  exjjeri- 
ence  of  conversion,  is  as  absurd  as  an  attempt 
to  subsist  on  the  milk  fed  to  you  in  the  nursery 
a  score  of  years  ago.  The  vital  question  for 
each  one  of  us  is,  am  I  alive  now  ?  If  alive, 
how  shall  my  life  be  maintained  ?  How  shall 
I  grow  in  grace  ? 

I.  The  first  source  of  a  healthy  life  is  good 


234  SPIRITUAL  HEALTH. 

food  for  the  soul.  The  more  nourishhig  the 
food  and  the  better  the  digestion  the  stronger  do 
we  become.  Some  Christians  die  of  starvation. 
They  surfeit  tlie  inner  man  with  secuhir  stimu- 
kmts  of  all  sorts — with  si:)iced  books  of  fiction, 
with  "light  reading"  that  is  mere  sillabub. 
Many  swallow  little  else  than  their  daily  news- 
paper. The  moral  faculties  become  debilitated 
on  this  flimsy  diet.  Now  all  the  athletic  Chris- 
tians— all  those  who  can  carry  heavy  loads, 
do  thorough  work  and  stand  a  long  pull — are 
hungry  feeders  on  God's  Book.  Nothing  will 
imj)art  sinew  and  muscle  to  your  piety  like 
the  thorough  study  and  digestion  of  your 
Bible.  A  good  sermon  mast  be  digested  or  it 
will  be  of  little  use  to  you,  and  your  daily 
bread  of  the  Bible  must  go  through  the  same 
process  in  order  that  it  may  be  assimilated 
and  taken  into  your  spiritual  fiber.  "Thy 
words  were  found  and  /  did  eat  tJiem^  and 
they  were  the  joy  of  mine  heart,"  said  the 
old-time  saint.  Every  growing  Christian  is  a 
ruminating  animal  ;  he  chews  Bible  truths 
and  nutritious  sermons  and  wholesome  books 
and  other  such  jDrovender,  as  the  cow  cheweth 
her  cud.  One  strong  Bible  text  lodged  in  the 
memory,  and  turned  over  and  over  and  well 
digested,  will  be  a  breakfast  for  your  soul, 
and  in  the  strength  of  it  you  go  through  the 
whole  day.  A  soldier  is  never  in  so  good  trim 
for  battle  as  after  a  sound  sleep  and  a  square 


SPIRITUAL  HEALTH.  235 

morning  meal ;  it  is  not  easy  to  fight  or  to 
march  on  an  empty  stomach.  In  like  manner, 
every  servant  of  Jesus  Christ  must  recruit  his 
or  her  spiritual  strength  by  reading  Christ's 
words,  and  thinking  about  them,  by  medita- 
tion, by  prayer  and  soul  converse  with  God. 
Martin  Luther,  in  the  thick  of  his  campaigns 
with  the  Pope  and  the  devil,  said  that  he 
could  not  get  on  without  two  good  hours  each 
day  for  his  private  devotions.  I  have  always 
observed  that  the  light  readers  and  light 
thinkers  make  liglit  Christians,  and  those  who 
neglect  their  Bibles  and  their  closets  soon 
dwindle  into  dwarfs.  Having  no  dexDth  of  root 
their  religion  withers  away. 

II.  A  second  promoter  of  spiritual  life  is 
good  air  for  your  soul  to  breathe.  A  soul  re- 
quires oxygen  as  much  as  the  body.  Have  jou 
not  noticed  how  an  audience  wdll  drop  off  into 
listlessness,  and  some  of  them  into  slumber, 
when  the  oxygen  has  become  exhausted  in  the 
room  ?  The  fetid  air  of  some  railway  cars  is 
poison  to  the  lungs.  Our  souls  have  lungs 
also,  and  you  cannot  keep  them  in  health 
w^hile  you  are  in  the  atmosiohere  of  a  business 
that  has  trick  or  gambling  in  it ;  or  in  the  at- 
mosphere of  amusements  which  stimulate 
sensual  passions  ;  or  in  any  sort  of  atmosphere 
which  puts  conscience  to  sleep,  and  benumbs 
your  moral  sensibilities.  Orange  trees  do  not 
thrive  in  Labrador,  or  tuberoses  bloom  in  snow- 


236  SPIRITUAL  HEALTH. 

banks.  Just  as  soon  expect  to  make  your 
graces  thrive  by  taking  your  soul  out  of  fellow- 
ship with  Christ  and  steeping  it  in  the  hot  air 
of  selfish  schemings,  or  in  the  poisonous  air  of 
social  frivolities.  I  have  noticed  that  when 
young  converts  begin  to  exchange  their  jDrayer 
meetings  for  convivial  clubs,  the  theater,  etc., 
they  soon  wither  away.  Bad  atmosphere 
stunts  their  religion,  sometimes  kills  it.  Chris- 
tians have  got  to  mingle  with  the  world  in  a 
thousand  ways,  and  yet  they  must  "  keep  un- 
spotted from  the  world. ' '  Daniel  keptihis  heart 
clean  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  wicked  court,  and 
a  city  missionary  may  keep  clean  in  the  slums. 
But  there  are  certain  boggy  places  in  business 
life,  and  politics,  and  social  life,  where  you 
cannot  set  your  foot  without  sinking  in  ;  there 
is  a  certain  line  beyond  which  a  Christian  can- 
not venture  without  betraying  his  Master. 
Never  venture  a  single  inch  into  any  business 
however  lucrative,  or  any  s^^eculation  how- 
ever attractive,  or  any  social  circles  however 
fascinating,  if  3^ou  cannot  carry  Christ  'with 
you  and  a  clean  conscience.  Remember  that 
Christ  is  your  life,  and  without  Him  "no  man 
can  keep  alive  his  own  soul." 

III.  Exercise,  of  course,  is  as  essential  to 
spiritual  as  it  is  to  physical  health.  There  is 
great  pith  in  the  apostle's  injunction,  ^^  Exer- 
cise thyself  unto  godliness."  God  has  in- 
trusted to  you  (not  given  them  to  you  "  in  fee 


SPIRITUAL  HEALTH.  237 

simple")  certain  powers,  faculties,  possessions, 
and  capacities  for  His  service.  For  want  of 
use  these  limbs  of  the  soul  may  become  as 
powerless  as  the  legs  of  a  fever  patient  three 
weeks  in  a  hospital.  Inactivity  is  the  "dry 
rot"  of  thousands  of  church  mexnbers.  You 
will  never  gain  a  good  appetite  for  God's 
Word,  or  a  flush  of  joy  on  your  countenance, 
until  you  lay  hold  of  some  earnest,  self-deny- 
ing work  and  keep  at  it.  Nothing  will  impart 
such  a  holy  vehemence  to  your  prayers  as  to 
spend  an  hour  by  a  sick  bed,  or  in  close  labor 
with  an  impenitent  heart.  JN'othing  will  stiffen 
your  muscle  more  than  tough  ui3-hill  work  in 
behalf  of  some  unpopular  cause  or  moral  re- 
form. The  only  cure  for  indolence  is  honest 
work ;  the  only  cure  for  selfishness  is  self- 
sacrifice  ;  the  only  cure  for  timidity  is  to 
I)lunge  into  duty  before  the  shiver  benumbs 
you  ;  the  only  cure  for  unbelief  is  to  put 
Christ  to  the  test  every  day.  Prayer  must 
kill  unbelief  or  else  unbelief  will  kill  prayer. 
The  christian  warfare  is  not  a  single  pitched 
battle ;  it  is  a  campaign  for  life.  You  may 
often  imagine  that  you  have  attended  the 
funeral  of  some  besetting  sin — and  lo  !  it  was 
on  its  feet  again  next  morning  !  You  will  not 
fire  the  last  shot  until  the  gates  of  glory  wel- 
come you  in  among  the  crowned  conquerors. 

Important  as  food  and  good  air  and  active 
exercise  are  in  themselves,  yet  the  chief  main- 


238  SPIRITUAL  HEALTH. 

tenance  of  your  Christian  life  is  'the  constant 
indwelling  of  the  Sx^irit  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
your  soul.  He  is  the  divine  fire  to  keep  you 
warm,  the  divine  flame  to  burn  out  your  lusts 
and  corrux)tions5  the  divine  power  to  propel  all 
your  activities.  Quench  not  Christ's  Spirit! 
Dejpend  on  it  that  your  soul  will  soon  wither 
unless  it  is  "hid  with  Christ  in  God."  As 
carefully  as  you  lock  money  in  a  safe,  or  hide 
a  diamond  out  of  the  reach  of  a  thief,  hide 
your  innermost  ho^^e  and  heart  in  the  safe 
keeping  of  your  Saviour !  If  you  become  a 
part  and  i^arcel  of  the  Lord  Jesus — as  every 
true  Christian  is — then  because  he  lives  you 
shall  live  forever  also. 

It  is  a  glorious  truth  that  Jesus  Christ  came 
into  this  sin-sick  world  not  only  to  give  life,  but 
that  those  who  secure  it  may  "have  it  more 
abundantly.''^  Those  v/ho  long  for  this  more 
abundant  life  and  seek  for  it  aright  may  pos- 
sess it.  One  evidence  will  be  an  increase  of 
faith.  A  feeble  faith  may  move  a  mole-hill, 
but  it  cannot  stir  a  mountain.  It  can  say  '  ''])er- 
haps  God  may  hear  me,"  or  ''^ jperliaps  I  ma 3^ 
be  delivered  from  this  quagmire  of  doubts  and 
difficulties."  Now  faith  is  just  the  taking  in 
of  Christ  into  the  soul,  and  the  more  of  Christ 
the  more  strength.  To  grapple  with  stub- 
born sins,  to  conquer  debilitating  doubts,  to 
carry  a  heavy  load,  to  take  hold  of  "hard 
cases"  and  trj^  to  bring  them  to  Christ,  to  do 


SPIRITUAL  HEALTH.  239 

all  such  feats  is  given  to  tliose  who  are  filled 
with  might  in  the  inner  man.  Luther  spent 
three  hours  a  day  in  prayer  that  he  might  have 
the  stamina  for  his  wrestle  with  the  giant  on 
"  the  seven  hills."  Charles  G.  Finney  tells  us 
in  his  autobiography  how  he  was  pleading  with 
God  to  remove  the  difficulties  that  obstructed 
his  path,  until  he  says  that  ''his  flesh  trem- 
bled on  his  bones  and  he  shook  from  head  to 
foot."  Then  there  came  a  full  tide  of  assur- 
ance into  his  soul,  a  "  great  lifting  up,"  and  a 
sweet  calm  of  entire  trust ;  from  that  room  he 
went  forth  into  one  of  the  most  X3owerful  re- 
vivals that  he  ever  witnessed.  The  pastor  who 
believingly  asks  for  a  rich  harvest  and  steeps 
his  Gospel-seed  in  prayer,  will  not  come  into 
the  Lord's  barns  with  an  empty  wagon.  Let 
the  Sunday-school  teacher  pin  this  promise 
into  his  or  her  class-book:  ''All  things  are 
possible  to  him  that  heliei^etli.^'^ 

(2)  With  this  increase  of  faith  will  come  an  in- 
crease of  spiritual  vigor.  When  I  found  that  a 
tree  in  my  yard  bore  more  blossoms  than  fruit, 
I  had  the  gardener  dig  around  it,  and  put  a 
bushel  or  two  of  fertilizer  to  reach  its  roots, 
and  the  next  July  it  was  crimsoned  on  every 
limb  with  ripe  cherries.  The  more  abundant 
life  in  the  tree  yielded  the  more  abundant 
fruit.  The  simple  reason  why  any  Christian 
does  not  yield  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  is  the 
lack  of  inward  vigor.     The  soil  of  his  soul  has 


240  SPIRITUAL  HEALTH 

become  impoverislied.  He  needs  the  tillage  of 
prayer  and  honest  self-examination,  the  sub- 
soiling  of  repentance  and  a  new  inpouring  of 
the  Spirit  of  Christ.  ^'  If  a  man  abide  in  Me, 
he  shall  bring  forth  much  fruit." 

It  is  the  debilitated  folk  who  catch  all  the 
fevers  that  are  going,  and  a  ph}' sician  can  do 
little  for  a  i^atient  who  has  not  vitality  enough 
to  slough  off  the  disease.  An  immense  pro- 
portion of  all  our  church-members  are  in  the 
hospitals,  or  off  on  furlough,  or  too  feeble 
to  carry  a  weapon.  Their  disease  is  a  low 
vitality,  and  some  are  dying  of  ""  heart  failure." 
The  only  recovery  of  all  those  pitiable  invalids 
must  come  from  the  tonic  which  Jesus  Christ 
gives  when  He  gives  His  quickening  Spirit. 
There  is  really  no  such  thing  as  a  genuine  re- 
i^lval  for  a  Christian  or  for  a  church  except  by 
a  living  again  of  Christ  in  their  souls,  and  a 
limng  again  for  Christ  in  their  daily  conduct. 
Listen,  oh,  ye  invalids  and  impotent  folk  and 
idlers,  to  this  trumpet-call  of  the  Master:  "I 
am  come  that  ye  might  have  life,  and  that  ye 
may  have  it  more  abundantly  !  " 

(3)  With  this  increased  vigor  of  heart-life 
will  come  more  genuine  joy.  There  is  no  sun- 
shine for  those  who  persist  in  keeping  their 
shutters  barred.  Joy  is  not  gained  by  the 
asking  for  it,  but  only  by  the  acting  for  it ; 
we  have  got  to  walk  with  Christ  if  we  want  to 


SPIRITUAL  HEALTH.  241 

walk  in  the  siinsliine.  There  is  a  lamentable 
lot  of  moping  and  grumbling  and  sour-spirited 
Christians  who  disgrace  the  name  they  bear. 
If  one  of  this  sorry  regiment  should  ask  a 
shrewd  man  of  the  world  to  embrace  Christi- 
anity, he  might  well  reply  :  ^'  No,  I  thank  you  ; 
I  have  troubles  enough  now  without  being 
troubled  with  such  a  peevish  and  doleful 
religion  as  yours  seems  to  be."  What  a  letter 
of  recommendation  some  Christians  carry  in 
their  cheerful  countenances  !  What  a  brace  of 
joyous  prisoners  were  those  two  Apostles  who 
sang  their  duet  down  in  Philippi's  dungeon  at 
midnight !  Those  early  Christians  managed 
to  draw  oil  out  of  the  flintiest  rocks — and  the 
dark  waves  of  persecution  phosj)horesced  with 
the  sparkles  of  a  holy  gladness.  They  were 
filled  with  Christ,  and  their  joy  was  brimming 
over. 

Now  here  are  three  things  which  you,  the 
ailing  souls,  most  need :  more  faith,  more  vigor, 
more  joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit.  Your  Divine 
Physician  offers  them  to  you,  if  you  will  accept 
them  ;  bat  you  must  let  Him  bestow  them  in 
His  own  way  and  on  His  own  terms.  A  hajipy 
day  would  it  be  in  all  our  churches  if  the  f  ever- 
X)atients  and  the  emaciated  dysx)eptics  and  the 
restored  paralytics  would  come  trooping  out 
of  the  hosx)itals  and  report  themselves  for 
duty ! 


242  SPIRITUAL  HEALTH. 

You  have  been  long  enough  gasping  for 
breath,  my  dear  friends  ;  now  throw  open  your 
whole  souls  to  Jesus  and  then  "shall  your 
light  break  forth  as  the  morning,  and  your 
healing  shall  spring  forth  speedily.'' 


XV. 

CHARACTER  TESTED— AND  DE- 
TECTED. 


XV. 

CHARACTER  TESTED— AND  DE- 
TECTED. 

"  God  left  him  to  try  him,  that  he  might  know  all  that  was  in 
his  heart." — II  Chhonicles  xxxii,  31. 

Next  to  the  study  of  this  blessed  book,  and 
of  Him  who  gave  us  this  book,  I  know  of 
none  more  important  than  the  study  of  human 
character.  Every  man  is  apt  to  have  his 
favorite  study — some  speciality  that  engages 
his  most  eager  attention.  An  astronomer  lives 
in  the  heavens ;  his  converse  is  with  Orion  and 
the  seven  stars.  While  the  star-student 
ascends,  the  geologist  descends  to  examine  the 
rocks  and  the  strata.  His  thoughts  are  of  the 
trilobites  and  the  primitive  formations.  A 
fascinating  study  ;  but  the  "primitive  forma- 
tion" of  character,  and  the  hidden  caverns  of 
motive  and  the  several  strata  of  habits  (good 
or  evil)  which  are  all  the  while  accumulating — 
can  he  safely  neglect  these  ?  Here  comes  the 
botanist,  fragrant  with  flowers — with  a  port- 
folio full  of  the  autographs  of  the  Creator — 
His  handwriting  on  the  cunning  hibiscus  leaf, 
the  Victoria  Regia  lily  and  the  imperial  rose. 

245 


246      CHARACTER  TESTED— AND  DETECTED. 

But  the  budding  of  character,  the  flowering  out 
of  heart-grace — the  eradication  of  sin's  weeds 
from  the  heart-garden — surely  here  is  work  for 
Him  too. 

The  merchant  looks  every  morning  for  com- 
mercial news.  Ah  !  he  might  sometimes  seek 
for  tidings  from  within  as  well  as  from  abroad  ! 
The  mechanist  is  busy  with  his  inventions. 
But  is  there  a  chronometer  whose  springs  dis- 
I)lay  the  subtle  delicacy  of  the  inner  springs 
that  move  human  conduct  ?  Is  there  an  engine 
imprisoned  in  the  womb  of  the  sea-going 
steamer,  or  palpitating  through  its  fiery  course 
on  the  railway  track  that  equals  in  fervor  or 
in  power  the  throb  of  a  great  human  heart  ? 

The  statesman  is  absorbed  with  the  manage- 
ment of  states  and  empires.  But  how  to  rule 
the  heart-realm — how  to  keep  it  in  subjection 
to  the  King  of  kings — how  to  dislodge  sin 
and  encourage  holiness — this  is  employment 
worthy  of  the  most  gifted  intellect.  Here  is 
an  occupation  for  every  one  of  us.  For  the 
discipline  of  the  human  heart  affords  one  of 
the  grandest  arenas  on  which  God  expends  the 
Divine  wisdom  and  exercises  the  Divine  love. 
To  cultivate  the  soul  of  man  for  the  highest 
ideal  of  life  on  earth  and  for  a  higher  life  in 
Heaven,  is  a  chief  part  of  God's  providential 
dealings  with  us.  He  "tries  the  reins."  He 
tests  the  heart.  He  discovers  to  us  our  unsus- 
pected frailties  and  vices  of  character.    And 


GHARAGTEB  TESTED— AND  DETECTED.      247 

by  the  combination  of  discovery  and  discipline, 
He  trains  His  children  to  graduate  into  eternal 
glory. 

This  is  the  subject  to  which  I  now  invite  you. 
A  fruitful  subject  and  a  practical.  My  text 
affords  an  admirable  illustration  of  character 
tested  and  weakness  exposed.  It  was  Heze- 
kiah's  character  which  was  tested ;  it  was 
Hezekiah's  own  eye  which  was  made  to  dis- 
cover Hezekiah's  own  weaknesses. 

How  does  God  deal  with  the  backsliding 
king?  He  so  orders  it  that  ambassadors  are 
sent  to  Hezekiah  from  the  heathen  city  of 
Babylon.  They  come  in  pomp  and  barbaric 
splendor  ;  and  with  pomp  and  splendor  Heze- 
kiah receives  them.  He  escorts  them  through 
his  palace.  He  exhibits  to  them  the  temple  of 
God  with  its  utensils  of  solid  gold.  All  the 
glory  is  displayed,  and  that  glory  is  taken  to 
himself.  God  is  not  even  mentioned.  There 
is  no  acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  the  king 
that  Jehovah  is  his  God,  and  that  these  are  the 
symbols  of  His  worship  and,  in  fact,  all  the 
treasures  about  him  are  the  gift  of  God's  love. 
No  mention  is  made  of  the  religion  of  his 
fathers  by  the  forgetful  monarch.  Like  too 
many,  he  hides  away  his  religion  under  the 
hatchway,  while  he  displays  the  magnifi- 
cence of  his  vesssl.  Now  God  "left  him"  to 
do  all  this  "to  try  him,"  and  that  the  king 
might   "know   all   that   was   in   his  heart," 


248      GHABAGTER  TESTED— AND  DETEGTED. 

What  a  heart  was  discovered !  What  an 
amount  of  pride  and  of  self-conceit !  How 
little  is  he  like  the  i3enitent  Hezekiah  who  not 
long  before  had  been  moaning  on  his  bed  of 
sickness  and  devoutly  praying  to  God  for  re- 
covery. Then  God  was  all  in  all.  Now  He  is 
ignored  completely  !  Even  this  shameless  in- 
gratitude— even  all  this  self-sufficiency  and 
pride  were  in  Hezekiah' s  heart.  God  left  him 
to  himself  to  try  him,  and  very  soon  the  dis- 
covery is  made. 

You  will  observe  that  a  practical  test  was 
necessary  to  answer  the  purpose.  This  is 
God's  plan.  He  employs  actual  trial  as  the 
most  thorough  detector  and  also  as  the  most 
thorough  discipliner  of  the  heart.  Whether 
He  would  bring  out  the  unsuspected  evil  quali- 
ties or  the  unknown  good  qualities  of  a  man 
He  employs  the  same  practical  test. 

For  example  :  when  Peter  the  boastful  is  to 
be  made  sensible  of  his  own  presumption  and 
inconstancy,  does  Christ  rebuke  him  for  that 
braggart  speech,''  though  all  men  should  forsake 
Thee,  yet  will  not  I  ? "  No  !  He  simply  "leaves 
him"  in  Pilate's  judgment  hall.  Leaves  him 
standing  by  that  fire— for  the  servant  maid  to 
hurl  into  his  teeth  the  taunt, "thou  also  wast 
with  Jesus  of  Nazareth." 

When  Jehovah  wished  to  bring  out  the 
latent  faith  in  Abraham's  heart,  He  commands 


CHARACTER  TE8TED—AND  DETECTED.     249 

liim  to  Mount  Moriah  and  to  offer  up  there  liis 
well-beloved  son  Isaac. 

Now  in  each  of  these  two  signal  cases  there 
was  a  test  of  character.  Each  of  these  two 
individuals  got  a  look  into  his  own  heart. 
God  left  them  to  themselves  to  "try"  them. 
They  Avere  just  permitted  to  develop  their  own 
interiors.  One  of  them  came  out  of  the  test  a 
far  less  courageous  man  than  he  claimed  to  be. 
He  provoked  the  tingling  rebuke  of  Christ,  and 
his  own  tears  of  shame. 

The  other — majestic  Abraham — received  the 
approbation  of  his  heavenly  Father — "Now  I 
know  that  thou  lovest  God,  seeing  that  thou 
hast  not  withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son 
Isaac."  That  trial  displayed  more  faith,  per- 
haps, than  Abraham  had  given  himself  credit 
for.  And  certainly  Peter  was  forced  to  abate 
his  own  self-exaggeration  as  a  hero. 

With  these  Scriptural  illustrations  of  our 
text,  let  us  look  at  the  several  truths  involved 
in  it. 

I.  And  the  first  truth  is  that  within  every 
heart  lies  a  whole  world  of  undiscovered  terri- 
tory— a  vast  amount  of  undeveloped  character. 
Happy  the  man  who  often  plays  the  Columbus 
to  his  own  soul  ! 

Each  heart  contains  a  vast  amount  of  un- 
developed character.  It  is  there,  but  the 
owner  is  not  aware  of  it.     If  he  suspects  its 


250      GHABAGTEll  TESTED— A^D  DETECTED. 

existence,  he  does  not  know  its  extent.  Abra- 
ham did  not  know  how  much  of  faith  he  pos- 
sessed until  he  was  called  to  flash  the  naked 
blade  over  the  breast  of  his  darling  son.  Nor 
knew  Moses  the  extent  of  his  own  meekness 
until  he  was  tried  with  the  "contradictions" 
of  those  stubborn  sinners  in  the  wilderness. 
Judas  may  have  fancied  himself  equal  to  the 
fair  average  of  honesty  till  the  bag  was  en- 
trusted with  him  and  the  chief  i3riests  began 
to  tamper  with  his  conscience.  Peter  insisted 
and  stoutly,  too,  on  his  own  courage  and  con- 
stancy, till  God  discovered  to  him  the  flaw  in 
the  iron — and  there  the  iron  broke !  All 
along  that  flaw  had  existed  in  Peter's  character. 
It  may  have  been  constitutional.  But  what 
was  needed  for  the  disciple  was  that  he  should 
know  it.  That  was  a  part  of  the  divine  train- 
ing of  him  for  his  apostleship.  It  was  need- 
ful that  Satan  "sift"  him,  in  order  that  the 
church  should  have  "the  wheat" — the  Devil 
got  only  his  chaff. 

This  truth  of  undeveloped  character  is  just 
as  true  now  as  in  the  olden  days  of  Bible 
history.  For  the  hearts  of  men  are  generically 
as  similar  as  human  faces.  The  undeveloped 
part  of  our  character  is  the  very  part  from 
which  we  may  expect  the  greatest  danger. 
The  undetected  flaw  lets  the  axle  break  when 
the  locomotive  is  spinning  over  the  track  at 
forty  miles  per  hour — and  hence  the  frightful 


CHARACTER   TESTED— AND  DETECTED.      251 

wreck  of  cars,  freight  and  human  lives.  And 
never  are  we  in  greater  peril  than  when  dash- 
ing along  in  high  success  amid  the  gaze  and 
admiration  of  all  on-lookers.  At  such  times, 
look  out  for  the  axle. 

The  secret  defects  of  character  work  the 
greatest  mischief  to  us.  There  they  lie — away 
down  in  the  hidden  recesses  of  the  soul.  They 
lie  dormant — like  certain  seeds  that  will  re- 
main in  the  bosom  of  the  earth  for  a  prodigious 
length  of  time  until  some  application  is  made 
to  them.  Then  they  spring  up.  If  no 
awakening  substance  touches  them,  they 
slumber  on  unseen  and  unknown  forever. 

They  tell  us  that  in  Scotland  is  a  battle- 
field on  which  the  natives  of  the  soil  and  their 
Saxon  neighbors  once  met  in  terrible  conflict. 
No  monument  marks  the  scene  of  the  bloody 
fight.  All  over  tlie  field  grows  the  beautiful 
Scotch  heather — except  in  one  spot.  There  a 
little  blue  flower  grows  abundantly.  No 
flowers  like  them  are  to  be  found  for  many  a 
league  around.  Why  are  they  there  ?  The 
reason  is  this.  Just  in  the  si)ot  Avhere  they 
grow,  the  bodies  of  the  slain  were  buried,  and 
the  earth  was  saturated  with  the  blood  and 
the  remains  of  the  unhappy  victims.  The 
seeds  of  these  flowers  were  there  before.  As 
soon  as  the  blood  touched  them,  they  sprung 
up.  They  developed.  And  every  blue  flower 
on  Culloden's  field,  as  it  bends  to  the  breeze,  is 


252      GHABAGTEB  TESTED— AND  DETECTED. 

a  memorial  of  the  brave  warriors  who  dyed 
that  heathery  sod  with  their  crimson  gore. 

So  is  it  with  character.  The  seeds  of  action 
lie  deep  beneath  the  surface — seeds  of  heroism 
and  the  seeds  of  crime.  The  seeds  of  lofty 
deeds  yet  unperformed — or  of  sensualities, 
frauds,  and  treacheries  yet  unperj)etrated. 
These  principles,  or  germs  of  action,  lie  dor- 
mant. They  may  remain  latent  for  years — for 
a  lifetime — may  (in  fact)  never  be  developed 
in  this  lower  world.  The  seeds  of  the  blue 
flowers  at  Culloden  would,  probably,  have 
lain  there  undetected  to  this  day,  but  for  the 
trickling  about  them  of  human  blood.  That 
called  them  forth. 

Benedict  Arnold  was  for  many  years  a 
patriot  above  reproach.  ISTo  one  endured  the 
long  marches  through  the  pine  forests  of 
Maine  and  Canada  better  than  he.  Had  he 
perished  in  those  forests  he  would  have  left 
a  name  to  be  linked  with  the  names  of  Knox 
and  Schuyler,  of  Wayne  and  Marion.  But 
when  British  gold  glittered  before  his  eyes, 
and  he  found  himself  deeply  in  debt,  then  the 
latent  devil  broke  forth.  The  seed  sprouted 
as  soon  as  the  gold  touched  it.  The  inward 
lust  broke  out  into  hideous  treason,  and  the 
gallant  hero  of  the  northern  forests  sank  into 
the  outcast  traitor  of  West  Point.  He  found 
out  (the  whole  world,  too)  ' '  what  was  in  his 
heart." 


CHARACTER  TESTED— AND  DETECTED.      253 

There  is  a  kindred  example  in  tlie  biogTai)liy 
of  David,  We  do  not  read  tliat  the  Jewish 
king  had  ever  before  stained  his  conscience  by 
any  acts  of  lechery.  But  when  the  fair  wife  of 
Uriah  comes  athwart  his  vision  in  unexpected 
exi)osnre,  np  leaps  the  latent  passion  and  sub- 
dues him.  It  starts  on  him  like  a  tiger  from 
the  jungles !  He  is  left  wounded  and  dis- 
graced, and  turns  murderer  only  that  he  may 
cease  to  be  an  adulterer  !  He  was  left  to  be 
''tried"  and  the  sudden  test  brought  up  so 
much  filth  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart  that 
he  w^as  forced  to  cry  out  in  the  agonies  of  re- 
morse, "Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God  ! 
renew  a  right  spirit  wdthin  me  1 " 

A  young  man  leaves  his  country  home  for 
the  maelstrom  of  a  great  city  and  brings  with 
Mm  little  else  but  a  character  hitherto  honest. 
He  thinks  himself  honest  ;  his  homespun 
father  thought  so  too.  He  gets — unhai^pily — 
into  an  establishment  wdiere  frauds  are  fre- 
quently i^racticed — but  "all  in  the  way  of 
business."  His  rustic  notions  are  laughed  at. 
His  shopmates  pity  his  verdant  simplicity. 
It  goes  hard  with  him  when  he  finishes  off  and 
polishes  up  the  first  cunning  lie.  It  rouges 
his  cheek  a  little.  But  he  soon  gets  used  to 
it.  He  grows  sharp  by  practice.  He  fleeces 
customers  for  his  employer's  sake  and  at 
length  fleeces  his  employer  for  his  own  sake. 
His  master's  dollars  begin  to  find  their  way 


254      CHARACTER  TESTED- AND  DETECTED. 

into  the  box  office  of  the  theaters  or  the 
"  banks  "  of  the  faro-players.  When  he  goes 
into  business  for  himself,  the  swindle  is  tried 
on  a  larger  scale  and  he  ends  his  career  as  the 
hero  of  a  stuj^endous  "explosion"  which 
blows  its  fragments  right  and  left  through  the 
counting  rooms  of  a  score  of  victimized  credi- 
tors !  How  do  yon  explain  all  this  ?  The 
solution  is  easy.  That  youth  brought  with 
him  into  the  city  the  seeds  of  knavery  in  his 
heart.  Circumstances  brought  them  out. 
That's  all. 

In  order  to  verify  this  princix)le  to  your  own 
satisfaction,  my  hearer,  just  examine  your 
own  moral  experience.  Were  you  never 
startled  by  the  discovery  of  many  a  latent 
passion  or  lust  ?  You  hoped — perhaps  be- 
lieved— it  was  not  there.  But  the  proper  test 
to  bring  it  out  had  never  been  applied.  God 
had  not  "  left  you  to  try  you"  in  that  particu- 
lar. Many  a  defaulting  bank  officer  has  stood 
at  the  counter  and  handled  money  for  j^ears 
without  allowing  a  single  dime  to  stick  to  his 
fingers.  As  he  read  of  other  men  who  had 
turned  defaulters  he  said,  "would  I  be  such  a 
fool  as  to  do  such  a  thing  ? "  Ah  !  the  tempta- 
tion had  never  touched  him  just  where  it 
touched  those  other  men.  But  as  soon  as 
Satan  could  offer  to  him  tlie  bril)e  he  wanted 
and  in  the  emergency  that  made  Ms  conscience 


CHARACTER  TESTED— AND  DETECTED.      255 

weak,  he  capitulated  to  the  Devil,  and  "went 
to  his  own  place"  like  Judas  Iscariot. 

"Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth  take 
heed  lest  he  fall."  The  only  reason  why  some 
men  stand  at  all — or  stand  up  so  long — is  that 
they  were  never  j^ut  upon  slippery  places.  If 
they  had  been,  the  x^laces  of  respectability  that 
\\o\Y  "know  them"  would  long  since  have 
"  known  them  no  more." 

Even  the  best  and  strongest  here  may  be 
carrying  about  in  their  hearts  the  latent 
spark  that  (should  a  sudden  draught  blow  in 
upon  it)  might  kindle  into  a  devouring  flame  ! 
What  need  of  close  heart- searching  ! 

What  need  of  sustaining  grace !  What 
need  of  God's  eternal  arm !  What  need 
of  an  atoning  Saviour !  But  for  that  all- 
kind,  all-supporting  arm  of  Jesus,  what  man 
of  business  here  but  might  have  been  in  a 
felon's  cell?  What  woman  but  might  have 
been  the  companion  of  those  whose  feet  ' '  take 
hold  on  hell?"  What  Christian  here  but 
might  have  been  a  blaspheming  outcast  or  a 
I'ibald  scoffer ! 

II.  But  again  :  there  is  a  bright  side  of  this 
subject.  Bright  as  hope  and  Heaven !  If 
temptation  brings  out  unknown  and  unsus- 
pected defects  and  vices — if,  as  in  David's  case, 
it  brings  out  wantonness — if,  as  in  Peter's  case, 
it  develops  presumption — if,  as  in  Hezekiah's 


256      CHARACTER  TESTED— AND  DETECTED. 

case,  it  exhibits  pride  and  ingratitude,  yet  on 
the  other  hand  temptation  often  develops 
virtues  and  graces  of  the  rarest  hue  !  A  man 
is  left  to  be  tried  and  he  finds  in  his  heart  a 
stout  healthy  p>rinciple  that  is  proof  against 
bribes  or  snares,  or  threats  or  blandishments ! 
The  temi)ted  soul  comes  off  more  than  con- 
queror. He  bears  uj)  like  a  cedar  against  the 
hurricane.  A  latent  grace  is  developed — a 
firm  substratum  of  sterling  godliness  is  found 
underlying  his  moral  and  spiritual  man  that 
holds  him  like  the  rock-ribbed  hills  !  When 
tempted,  he  stands. 

As  the  quaint  old  version  hath  it : 

"  Sticking  to  God  in  stable  trust, 
As  Zion's  mount  he  stands  full  just, 
Which  moveth  no  whit,  nor  yet  can  reel, 
But  standeth  forever  as  stiff  as  steel." 

He  stands  as  Nathan  Hale  stood,  or  the 
patriot  Reed  under  the  seductions  of  foreign 
gold  ;  he  stands  as  John  Huss  stood  before  the 
Council — as  Joseph  stood  against  the  wanton 
wiles  of  the  shameless  wife  of  Potiphar — as 
Daniel  stood  against  the  king  of  Babylon,  or 
Paul  before  the  throne  of  Nero,  the  imperial 
tiger!  The  Lord  "left  all  these  men  to  try 
them"  and  in  their  several  hearts  were  found 
patriotism,  constancy,  fortitude,  chastity  and 
the  overcoming  loyalty  to  Christ. 

There  is  this  difference,  however,  in  the  two 


CHARACTER  TESTED— AND  DETECTED.      257 

classes  of  cases  under  review.     When  men  fall 
it  is  througli  their  own  weakness. 

When  they  stand  firm  it  is  God's  imparted 
strength.  "  Stand,  therefore,  having  your 
loins  girt  about  with  truth  and  having  on  the 
breastplate  of  righteousness.  Above  all  take 
the  shield  of  faith  wherewith  ye  shall  be  able 
to  quench  the  fiery  darts  of  the  Evil  one. 
Take  the  helmet  of  salvation  and  the  sword  of 
the  Sx)irit  which  is  the  Word  of  God,  pray- 
ing always  with  all  prayer  and  supplication  in 
the  Spirit." 

III.  My  last  thought  is  that  the  best  regimen 
for  us,  after  all,  is  the  regimen  of  trial.  When 
God  means  to  grow  an  oak  the  acorn  is  not 
cast  into  a  hothouse.  It  is  flung  into  the 
outdoor  earth,  and  struggles  bravely  upward 
through  the  mountain  sod.  It  strikes  its 
roots  far  below  the  surface  and  takes  mighty 
hold,  as  with  subterranean  cables.  The  winter 
comes  down  oft  and  again  upon  it.  The 
tempest  wrestles  with  its  brawny  boughs. 
And  through  the  regimen  of  storm  and  gale  it 
earns  its  imperial  place — the  monarch  of  the 
forest.  God  leaves  the  old  tree  to  "try"  it, 
and  it  comes  out  an  oak  ! 

So  when  God  would  have  an  oak -like 
Christian,  He  exposes  that  Christian  to  a  dis- 
cipline of  toil  or  of  trial — or  of  both  combined. 
He  gives  him  a  work  to  do — a  work  for  the 
ignorant — to  instruct  them — a  work  for  the 


258      CHARACTER  TESTED— AND  DETECTED. 

inebriate  in  warring  against  the  drinking 
usages  and  the  hideous  traffic  in  the  drink  that 
maddens  the  brain  and  kills  the  soul — a  work 
for  the  oppressed  to  break  their  chains — a  work 
of  Christ-like  love  to  the  vagrant  city  child — a 
work  of  some  kind  in  sowing  truth  and  in 
saving  men.  Oh  !  how  the  man  is  straightened 
until  the  work  is  accomplished  !  Tlie  Devil 
looks  on  and  waits  to  see  the  sinews  crack  and 
the  courage  break  like  the  XDotter's  vessels. 
But  the  inward  grace  is  more  than  sufficient 
and  the  tried  philanthropist  finds  "in  his 
heart"  a  faith  that  does  not  fail — a  love  that 
casts  out  all  fear — a  fidelity  that  endureth 
forever.  Luther  tried  is  an  overmatch  for  the 
scarlet  monster  on  the  seven  hills — the  tried 
Wilberforce  is  an  overmatch  for  the  "Giant 
Grim  "  of  oppression,  and  Wesley  for  the  host 
of  formalism  in  his  native  land.  God  leaves 
many  a  poor  missionary  in  his  frontier  cabin — 
with  nothing  but  the  p)romises  to  live  on — and 
in  his  heart  he  finds  a  Saviour  in  possession 
and  Heaven  in  expectation. 

Nor  is  it  only  by  toil  that  God  tests  a 
Christian.  He  employs  affliction  too.  Prop- 
erty sometimes  takes  wing,  and  leaves  God's 
child  with  nothing  but  an  empt}^  jmrse  and  a 
full  Bible.  Sickness  smites  him  perhaps,  and 
lays  him  on  a  weary  bed  of  wasting,  wearing 
pain.  Death  breaks  into  the  household.  A 
little  cradle,  over  which  the  mother  hovered, 


CHARACTEn  TESTED— AND  DETECTED.     259 

slowly  turns  into  a  coffin  and  the  little  treasure 
that  nestled  so  warmly  in  her  arms  lies  cold 
enough  below  the  grassy  turf  !  A  husband  is 
taken  mayhap— the  "silver  cord"  of  wedded 
love  is  sundered  at  the  "cistern"  and  the 
world  grows  dark  in  an  instant  ! 

But  out  from  these  terrible  trials  comes 
the  triumphant  child  of  God — wet  with  the 
baj)tism  of  suffering  and  radiant  as  "Mercy" 
rising  from  the  river  of  death  to  the  pearly 
gates,  and  as  she  cometh  out  she  exclaims 
with  adoring  gratitude,  "  Oh '  my  God !  Thou 
hast  tried  me — but  when  thou  didst  try  me, 
I  came  forth  as  gold  ! ' '     For 

"  The  deepest  trials  that  we  know 
A  higher  grace  discloses  ; 
Men  saw  the  thorns  on  Jesus'  brow, 
But  angels  saw  the  roses  !  " 


XVI. 
THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST. 


XVI. 
THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST. 

**  Then  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  took  her,  and  pulled  her 
in  unto  him  into  the  ark." — Genesis  viii,  9. 

We  can  picture  to  ourselves  this  scene. 
For  forty  days  the  keel  of  the  ark  has  rested 
on  the  summit  of  Mount  Ararat ;  but  on  every 
side  stretches  a  melancholy  waste  of  waters. 
Not  an  inch  of  dry  ground  is  visible,  or  has 
been  for  over  twenty  weeks.  Noah  wearies 
of  his  imprisonment,  and,  like  a  long  voyager, 
is  hungry  for  a  sight  of  land.  He  can  see  none 
from  his  single  port-hole  ;  but  perhaps  the 
birds  in  his  floating  menagerie  can  find  some. 
So  he  sends  forth  a  raven  which  flies  back  and 
forth — feeding  perhaj^s  on  the  floating  offal, 
and  lighting  occasionally  on  the  ark.  The 
raven  takes  care  of  itself,  but  brings  him  no 
information. 

Then  he  lets  fly  a  dove  to  see  if  the  waters 
Avere  abated  from  off  the  face  of  the  ground. 
But  the  dove  finds  no  rest  for  tbe  sole  of  her 
foot ;  nor  was  there  within  its  reach  such 
graniferous  food  as  it  could  eat.  Weary  with 
its  flight  and  finding  no  tree  to  alight  on,  the 

263 


264  THE  BOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST. 

poor  bird  comes  back  to  her  old  liome.  IS'oali 
watches  the  tired  little  creature  as  she  flutters 
back  to  the  window  of  the  ark.  He  puts  forth 
his  hand  and  catches  the  weary  bird  and  draws 
her  in  unto  him,  and  gives  her  welcome. 

As  we  watch  the  pretty  creature  eating  its 
seed,  and  then  curling  its  head  under  its  glossy 
plumage  and  dropping  to  sleep,  we  are  set 
upon  a  meditation  about  that  bird.  It  repre- 
sents a  wandering  soul.  Whose  soul?  Yours, 
my  brother  sinner  1  it  is  probably  a  picture  of 
your  past  experience.  Like  that  wandering 
bird,  you  have  flown  far,  and  looked  in  many 
directions,  but  you  have  not  found  rest.  You 
have  tried  one  place  after  another,  one  pursuit 
after  another,  one  pleasure  after  another,  but 
none  of  them  gave  you  solid  peace.  None  of 
them  satisfied  the  hunger  of  your  immortal 
sou].  None  of  them  made  you  feel  safe  for 
this  world  or  for  the  next.  Perhaps  you  tried 
money  and  all  it  could  buy  ;  but  it  could  not 
purchase  peace  for  your  disquieted  spirit. 
Perhaps  you  flew  up  on  some  perch  of  ambi- 
tion ;  and  then  found  yourself  as  sadly  off  as 
that  rich  and  distinguished  English  statesman 
to  whom  a  friend  wished  a  "Happy  New 
Year!"  and  the  melancholy  reply  was,  "It 
had  need  to  be  a  happier  one  than  the  last 
year,  for  I  did  not  see  a  single  happy  day  in 
it !  "  Whatever  you  may  have  tried,  it  fur- 
nished your  soul  no  substantial  rest.     The  very 


THE  DOVE  TEAT  FOUND  BEST.  265 

idea  of  rest  implies  something  solid  and  sub- 
stantial underneath  you.  No  mind  can  be  at 
rest  while  tortured  by  an  uneasy  conscience, 
or  by  the  dread  of  losing  its  most  cherished 
treasures.  What  could  you  know  of  peaceful 
repose  when  one  of  your  own  household  wns 
lying  at  the  point  of  death  in  the  next  room— 
or  when  the  cry  of  "  fire  !  "  was  ringing  in  the 
street  beneath  your  window  ?  The  human  soul, 
like  the  body,  must  have  a  sense  of  security 
before  it  can  realize  a  perfect  rest.  Does  this 
world  afford  you  that  ?  Can  your  soul  be  in- 
sured by  it  against  disquietude,  disappoint- 
ment, disaster  and  the  havoc  of  death  ?  Does 
that  weary  bird,  your  heart,  ever  find  any  rest 
for  the  sole  of  the  foot  ? 

Answer  this  question  honestly,  all  ye  who 
have  tried  hard  to  draw  a  gill  of  happiness  out 
of  a  whole  cask  of  sensual  p)leasures.  Answer 
this,  ye  who  have  built  uj)  lofty  expectation 
of  wealth,  or  professional  success,  or  social 
eminence,  or  any  other  of  this  world's  at- 
tractive and  inviting  x)erches.  -When  did  a 
man  ever  get  himself  snugly  fixed  and  de- 
termine to  nestle  down  amid  his  creature- 
comforts,  that  God  has  not  routed  him  up 
again?  This  world  is  not  a  Christian's  rest ; 
no,  nor  an  impenitent  sinner's  either.  God 
has  vetoed  that.  You  may  rear,  for  example, 
your  tasteful  residence,  and  decorate  it  with 
the  most  elegant  products  of  art ;    you  may 


266  THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  BEST 

gather  around  your  fireside  a  cheerful  house- 
hold, who  shall  sing  a  melodious  "Sweet 
home"  to  your  affections;  but  just  as  surely 
as  you  let  the  dove  of  your  lieart  bear  its 
whole  weight  on  this  frail  bush,  the  bush  will 
break,  sooner  or  later,  and  break  when  you 
least  exi^ect  it !  Perhaps  the  flames  will 
destroy  your  dwelling,  or  bankruptcy  bring  it 
"  to  the  hammer,"  or  the  angel  of  death,  on  its 
mysterious  mission,  may  alight  on  the  couch 
or  the  crib  that  contains  your  treasures.  May- 
hap domestic  strifes  or  disappointments  may 
embitter  your  cup,  and  you  discover  that  no 
wall  can  be  built  so  high  or  so  strong  as  to 
wall  out  trouble  and  sorrow. 

Well — if  the  mind  cannot  find  abiding  hap- 
IDiness  in  any  of  the  perishable  things  of  earth, 
neither  can  your  immortal  spirit  find  rest  in 
any  mere  human  reliance — whether  human 
opinion,  human  prayer  or  human  promises. 
Have  you  ever  obtained  an  assurance  of  salva- 
tion on  the  ground  either  of  your  best  pur- 
poses or  best  performances  ?  Are  you  willing 
to  risk  the  everlasting  future  of  your  soul  on 
either  what  any  man  has  done  for  you,  or  you 
have  ever  done  for  yourself  !  Pushing  the 
probe  in  deeper  let  me  ask  you  in  all  kind- 
ness— will  your  present  style  of  thinking  and 
living  satisfy  conscience  and  satisfy  God,  and 
will  it  secure  to  you  spiritual  health,  and  a 
peaceful  death  and  an  immortality  of  glory  I 


THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST.  2G7 

All,  I  see  you  shake  your  liead,  and  a  shadow 
passes  over  your  countenance.  Then  you  are 
not  at  rest !  You  do  not  feel  safe.  You  can- 
not bear  your  ^vhole  Aveight  on  any  brittle 
spider's  web.  No  !  And  God  does  not  mean 
that  your  uneasy  and  sin-troubled  soul  shall 
find  rest  anywhere  outside  of  that  Ark  which 
redeeming  love  has  provided.  Millions  upon 
millions  have  flown  from  one  direction  to  an- 
other, like  Noah's  dove,  and  found  that  this 
wide  world  from  pole  to  pole  "had  not  for 
them  a  home."  They  have  been  forced  to  the 
same  confession  as  Lord  Tennyson's  gifted 
young  friend,  Arthur  Hallam,  when  he  ex- 
claimed, "Lord,  I  have  viewed  this  world  all 
over.  I  have  tried  how  this  thing  or  that  will 
lit  my  spirit.  I  can  find  nothing  to  rest  on  ;  for 
nothing  here  hath  any  rest  itself.  Oh,  Blessed 
Jesus — center  of  light  and  strength  ! — the 
fullness  of  all  things — I  come  back  and  join 
myself  to  Thee,  and  to  Thee  alone  !  " 

"He  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus  say, 
Come  unto  me  and  rest, 
Lay  down,  thou  weary  one,  lay  down 
Thy  head  upon  my  breast  !  " 

II.  When  Noah's  dove  could  find  no  rest 
for  the  sole  of  her  foot,  whither  did  she  fly  ? 
We  read  that  she  "  returned  unto  him  to  the 
ark."  She  saw  nothing  to  alight  upon  any- 
where else,  and  so  she  spread  her  weary  wing 


268  THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST. 

toward  the  huge  vessel  on  the  peak  of  Ararat. 
To-day  I  sound  in  your  ear  the  invitation  of 
the  Divine  love  and  the  Divine  authority — "  re- 
turn unto  Me!"  To  do  this  you  must  aban- 
don all  trust  in  self -righteousness  and  all  hope 
of  self-salvation.  To  do  this  you  must  confess 
that  you  are  a  guilty  wanderer — tliat  God  is 
right  and  you  are  wrong.  You  must  renounce 
your  past  sins,  however  dear  to  you,  and  break 
with  your  old  habits  and  your  old  self.  The 
voice  to  yon  is  return  !  There  must  be  no  de- 
lay^ Tlie  weary  bird  could  bring  nothing  but 
itself ;  and  you  can  bring  nothing  to  Jesus 
Christ  but  a  weak  and  w^andering  sinner. 
Don't  bring  your  sins;  don't  bring  your  ex- 
cuses or  apologies  ;  don't  bring  your  merits, 
for  they  are  not  worth  the  transportation. 
Bring  to  the  compassionate  Saviour  yourself, 
just  as  you  are,  and  just  what  sin  has  made 
you.  The  Prodigal's  rags  and  wretchedness 
were  his  only  letter  of  recommendation. 

Whither  did  the  dove  return  \  To  the  only 
refuu'e  amid  the  whole  wide  waste  of  waters. 
There  was  but  one.  Beneath  it  lay  a  drowned 
world  ;  around  it  spread  the  devouring  deep  ! 
God  has  provided  but  one  ark  for  your  souL 
'*  There  is  none  other  name  under  heaven 
given  among  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved." 
In  this  wide  world  there  are  many  systems  of 
religion  ;  but  God  has  provided  only  one— just 
as  He  has  created  but  a  single  sun  to  "rule  the 


THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST.  269 

day."  At  that  single  gateway  of  Salvation  the 
prince  must  enter  alongside  of  the  peasant ; 
the  philosopher  must  walk  in  by  the  side  of 
the  little  child.  We  seem  to  see  that  tired, 
homesick  bird  sailing  along  through  the  air 
toward  the  solitary  ark,  and  when  it  gets  there 
it  finds  only  one  window.  There  was  a  first,  a 
second,  and  a  third  story  in  Noah's  huge 
leviathan  of  a  ship,  but  all  the  light  was  ad- 
mitted through  that  single  opening.  Beauti- 
fully does  that  single  window  typify  the 
illumination  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  most 
strikingly  does  it  set  forth  that  every  soul  that 
comes  to  Jesus  Christ  must  come  into  a  saving 
union  with  Him  through  the  Holy  Spirit's  re- 
generating work.  This  vital  truth  Our  Lord 
announced  to  Nicodemus  in  that  wonderful 
conversation  which  contains  the  most  compre- 
hensive body  of  theology  found  on  any  page  of 
the  Bible. 

There  was  only  one  window  to  the  ark  and 
that  was  open.  We  cannot  imagine  that  the 
weary  bird  did  so  foolish  a  thing  as  to  drive  its 
head  against  the  walls  of  the  ark,  or  to  alight 
on  the  roof,  or  to  fly  around  the  vessel.  It 
wanted  to  come  in,  and  there  was  only  one 
place  of  entrance.  My  troubled  friend,  seeking 
to  be  saved — can  you  not  learn  from  that  bird 
just  what  you  must  do?  A  certain  awakened 
soul  was  once  taught  by  a  bird  how  to  find 
admission  into  the  "peace  that  passeth  under- 


210  THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  BEST. 

Standing  througli  Clirist  Jesus."  The  late  Dr. 
Nicolas  Murray  tells  us  that  he  was  i:)reaching, 
on  a  bright  spring  day,  in  the  ancient  church 
of  Elizabeth.  During  the  service  a  bird  flew 
in  through  the  open  door,  and  sailed  up  to  the 
vaulted  ceiling.  There  sat  in  the  audience  an 
intelligent  lady  who  had  been  for  weeks  under 
deep  conviction  of  sin  and  had  found  no  rest 
for  her  troubled  sonl.  She  began  to  watch  the 
troubled  bird  as  it  flew  to  one  closed  window 
after  another,  and  she  kept  saying  to  herself 
"  Why  don' t  it  see  the  open  door  ?  "  The  poor 
thing  flew  around  and  around  till  it  grew 
weary,  and  then  lowering  itself  toward  the 
floor,  it  caught  a  view  of  the  open  door,  and  it 
was  out  in  an  instant,  into  the  sunshine. 
When  it  was  gone,  the  troubled  woman  said 
to  herself,  "I  have  been  acting  just  like  that 
bird.  I  have  been  trying  to  And  x)eace  where 
it  could  not  be  found.  I  have  tried  to  find 
escape  from  the  bondage  and  burden  of  sin 
through  windows  that  were  closed  against  me. 
Christ  is  tJie  door.  As  that  bird  escaped  into 
the  light  and  the  sunshine,  just  so  may  I." 
And  she  actually  found  peace  that  day  by  a 
simple  yielding  of  her  weary  and  sin-plagued 
heart  to  her  Saviour. 

I  fear  that  many  in  this  assembly  have  found 
no  rest  for  their  souls,  because  tl^ey  have  been 
seeking  it  in  the  wrong  place  and  by  wrong 
methods  ;  they  have  flown  everywhere  but  to 


THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST.  271 

the  riglit  spot.  One  lias  tried  to  reform  liis  life, 
but  was  not  able  to  regenerate  his  heart ;  and 
the  old  diseases  broke  out  again.  Another  has 
said,  "  If  I  read  God's  word  and  pray  enough, 
I  shall  find  peace."  Another  has  betaken  him- 
self to  some  special  service  of  an  Evangelist, 
or  has  gone  to  converse  with  his  pastor,  or  in 
a  kind  of  forlorn  desperation  has  entered  an 
"inquiry  meeting"  to  find  relief.  None  of 
these  is  God's  ark  I  Nothing  but  life  can 
produce  life.  Jesus  declares  "  I  am  the  Way; 
I  am  the  Life  !  "  He  that  hath  the  Son,  and 
he  only,  hath  life  ;  and  the  Divine  Sj^irit  leads 
only  to  the  Almighty  and  the  Crucified  Christ. 
In  short,  oh,  anxious  and  troubled  soul,  who 
art  in  danger  of  being  misled  by  the  devil,  or 
of  being  lost  by  delay — there  is  but  one  window 
into  the  ark,  and  that  stands  wide  open  !  Com- 
ing to  that  is  faith.  For  faith,  you  must  re- 
member, is  not  a  sentiment,  not  an  oiDinion  ; 
it  is  an  act.  It  is  the  act  of  joining  your 
weakness  to  Christ's  strength,  your  un worthi- 
ness to  His  infinite  merit,  yourself  to  Himself. 
The  obedience  of  your  soul  to  the  leading  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  brings  you  to  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  infinite  love  puts  forth  the  pierced 
hand  and  draios  you  in — as  Noah  drew  that 
returning  dove  into  the  ark.  Then  comes 
peace,  wondrous  peace,  such  as  this  world 
can  neither  give  nor  take  away.  All  the  dis- 
quietude of  this  world  cannot  shake  it.    There 


272  THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  BEST. 

is  no  condemnation  to  them  which  are  in  Christ 
Jesus.  The  soul  fears  no  evil  tidings  ;  for  the 
perfect  love  has  cast  out  fear.  Conscience  no 
longer  torments  ;  and  death  no  longer  alarms, 
for  Jesus  has  conquered  death.  Wondrous 
peace  ineffable  !  There  is  only  One  in  all  the 
universe  who  can  bestow  it,  and  when  He  does 
bestow  it,  all  the  powers  of  Hell  cannot'  give 
it  a  single  jar !  It  is  the  peace  of  God,  and 
the  peace  with  God  which  passeth  all  under- 
standing. 

"Can  I  do  anything  for  you?"  said  an 
officer  on  the  battlefield,  who  came  across  a 
wounded  Union  soldier  who  lay  weltering  in 
his  blood.  "  JSTo thing,  thank  you  !  "  "  Shall  I 
bring  you  a  little  water  ?  "  "  No,  I  thank  you  ; 
I  am  dying.''''  "Is  there  not  something  I  can 
do ;  shall  I  not  send  some  message  ta  your 
friends  ? "  "I  will  not  trouble  you  to  do  that ; 
but  there  is  one  thing  for  which  I  would  be 
much  obliged.  In  my  knapsack  you  will  find 
a  Testament.  Please  open  it  to  the  fourteenth 
Chapter  of  John,  and  you  will  find  a  verse  that 
begins  with  the  word  '  j)eace.'  Please  read  it 
to  me."  The  officer  got  out  the  book,  and 
read,  "Peace  I  leave  with  you  ;  my  peace  I 
give  unto  you  ;  not  as  the  world  giveth,  give  I 
unto  you.  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled, 
neither  let  it  be  afraid."  "Thank  you,  sir," 
said  the  dying  man.  "I  have  got  that  peace  ; 
I  am  going  to  that  Saviour  ;  I  don't  Avant  any- 


THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST.  273 

thing  more."  His  fluttering  spirit,  like  a 
home-bound  clove,  flew  heavenward,  and  the 
blessed  Jesus  put  forth  His  hand  and  sweetly 
drew  him  in  !  Although  but  an  humble  private 
in  the  army  of  the  Lord  as  he  was  in  the  army 
of  the  land,  yet  he  found  his  place  among  the 
crowned  conquerors  in  glory. 

"  Ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand, 
In  sparkling  raiment  bright, 
The  armies  of  the  ransomed  saints 
Throng  up  the  steeps  of  light  ; 
'Tis  finished — all  is  finished, 
Their  fight  with  death  and  sin, 
Fling  open  wide  the  golden  gates 
And  let  the  victors  in  !  " 


XVII. 
PAST  FEELING. 


XVII. 
PAST  FEELING. 

"Past  feeling." — Eph.  iv,  19. 

A  LITTLE  boy  is  playing  by  his  mother's 
side.  Naturally  he  is  not  unfeeling.  He  is 
not  insensible  to  generous  sentiments.  When 
he  sees  an  object  of  distress,  he  is  touched  by 
it.  He  may,  perhaps,  give  up  his  spending 
money  to  relieve  a  beggar  ;  or  weep  in  sorrow 
for  an  unguarded  blow  given  to  a  schoolmate. 
His  heart  has  some  flesh  in  it.  The  little  fellow 
has  tears  in  his  composition  ;  he  knows  what 
it  is  to  feel. 

Years  roll  on.  His  situation  changes  ;  and 
he  changes  with  it.  Watchful  parents  die,  or 
else  he  is  removed  far  from  them.  He  falls 
under  evil  influences.  Wicked  companions 
gather  about  him — restraint  slowly  decays 
like  a  rotting  rope — he  breaks  loose  into  sin. 
The  calamity  befalls  him  which  befell  the 
traveler    from    Jerusalem    to    Jericho.       He 

Note. — My  only  reason  for  consenting  to  the  publication  of 
this  discourse,  is  found  in  the  simple  fact  that  God  was 
pleased  to  bless  its  plain  unadorned  truths,  to  the  conversion  of 
several  souls  during  a  revival. 

277 


278  PAST  FEELING. 

"falls  among  thieves"  who  do  worse  than 
rob  him  of  his  purse ;  they  rob  him  of  decency, 
of  self-respect,  of  all  reverence  for  the  pure, 
the  honest,  the  sacred,  the  holy.  He  grows 
reckless,  and  launches  his  depravity  out  on 
the  open  sea,  literally  spreading  sail  for  per- 
dition. All  regard  for  man,  all  fear  of  God 
wears  away  from  his  heart.  His  soul  begins 
to  petrify.  At  length  he  is  ripe  for  anything. 
In  an  evil  hour  he  plans  a  mutiny  on  board 
the  ship,  and  with  his  own  hand  strikes  down 
the  officer  of  the  deck,  and  heaves  his  crimson 
corpse  out  into  the  sea,  as  coolly  as  he  would 
throw  over  a  dog  !  Years  pass  by,  dark  des- 
perate years  of  rapine  and  of  blood.  At 
length  his  pirate  cruiser  is  captured,  and  he  is 
brought  on  shore  in  irons.  His  soul  is  in  irons 
too.  They  try  him,  they  condemn  him,  they 
sentence  him.  But  through  it  all  he  is  \)iiv- 
fectly  unmoved.  They  drag  him  to  his  cell. 
He  spends  the  last  night  before  his  execution 
in  that  living  tomb — and  sleeps  !  He  ascends 
the  fatal  scaffold,  as  callous  as  a  rock.  No 
words  of  tender  exhortation  and  entreaty  from 
the  chaplain  by  his  side  can  melt  him  for  a 
moment.  That  adamantine  heart — that  heart 
once  tender,  once  alive  to  generous  feeling, 
once  soft  enough  for  tears  of  contrition — that 
heart  is  now  past  feeling  !  It  once  could  feel ; 
nay,  it  did  feel.  It  feels  no  longer.  He  dies 
as  he  lived  ;    and  among  the  nettles  on  his 


PAST  FEELING.  279 

shunned  and  solitary  grave,  we  would  plant  a 
stone — not  of  resj^ect,  but  of  warning — and 
write  on  it  God's  solemn  sentence,  ''Past 
Feeling." 

Now  sucli  apj)alling  cases  as  this  I  have 
described  are  not  imaginary.  Tliey  are  ex- 
treme cases,  I  admit.  They  are  about  as  bad 
as  earth  can  furnish,  or  fiends  can  delight  to 
look  upon.  We  have  ourselves  seen  cases 
very  much  like  them.  The  gambler,  who  sits 
glued  to  his  roulette  table  till  the  morning  sun 
looks  in  to  reproach  him  ;  the  burglar,  who 
after  years  of  prison  experience  still  plots  his 
deeds  of  darkness ;  the  poor  outcast  child  of 
shame,  who  vents  her  vileness  on  the  evening 
air,  as  she  passes  us  in  the  streets  ;  the  ruffian, 
Avho  makes  merchandise  of  human  sinews  and 
human  souls ;  all  these  are  but  melancholy 
spectacles  for  men  to  shudder  at,  and  for  pity- 
ing angels  to  weep  over.  They  are  the  terrific 
examples  of  what  human  depravity  can  work 
out  when  man  is  simply  given  up  to  himself. 
They  illustrate  fully  the  callousness  of  the 
heart  when  it  has  become  past  feeling  ;  feeling 
for  friends,  feeling  for  reputation,  feeling  for 
God's  word,  feeling  for  life  itself  or  for  a 
dread  hereafter. 

It  was  to  such  persons,  to  those  whom  with 
a  sad  significance  we  style  "abandoned"  per- 
sons, that  the  apostle  referred  in  the  i3assage 
before  us.     He  had  just  been  exhorting  the 


280  PAST  FEELma. 

Ephesian  churcli  to  purity  of  heart  and  life. 
As  a  Avarning,  lie  points  to  the  i)rofligacy  of 
heathenism  about  them.  He  makes  a  beacon 
of  the  godless  Gentiles  who  ^'walked  in  the 
vanity  of  their  mind,"  whose  "  understandings 
were  darkened,"  who  were  alienated  from  the 
life  of  God.  Those  men  had  debauched  their 
own  moral  sense.  They  had  given  themselves 
over  to  the  tyranny  of  lust  to  "  work  all  un- 
cleanness  with  greediness."  Until  at  length 
they  had  become  so  insensible  to  their  guilt, 
that  Paul  brands  them  with  the  fatal  epithet, 
^'  past  feeling  y 

Now  I  do  earnestly  hope  that  this  sense  of 
my  text  is  not,  and  never  will  be,  applicable 
to  anj^one  in  this  assembly.  I  trust  that  on 
no  brow  here  will  ever  be  affixed  a  brand  to 
which  the  guilty  wearer  shall  be  indifferent,  a 
brand  seen  and  read  of  all  men,  except  the 
man  himself.  If  God  shall  lengthen  out  my 
life  among  you,  may  I  never  behold  the  har- 
rowing spectacle  of  any  young  man  in  this 
audience  so  dead  to  all  regard  for  himself,  re- 
gard for  society,  regard  for  the  God  of  Heaven, 
that  he  shall  not  even  feel  a  glow  of  shame 
upon  his  cheek,  when  he  meets  the  mother  who 
bore  him,  or  the  pastor  who  tried  to  save  him. 
Never,  never  come  that  day  when  any  of  you, 
my  beloved  young  friends,  shall  have  become 
so  dead  to  the  claims  of  God  and  the  voice  of 
conscience,  that  having  grown  "  j)^st  feeling," 


PAST  FEELING.  281 

we  must  be  constrained  to  abandon  you  as  past 
all  hope ! 

There  is,  however,  a  sense  in  which  the 
solemn  words  of  my  text  may  aj^x^ly  to  some 
of  you.  I  fear  it  will  yet  apply.  Perhax)s  it 
does  already.  I  refer  to  that  insensibility  to 
religious  truth  which  marks  those  who  have 
often  grieved  the  Holy  Spirit.  This  is  a  most 
tremendous  calamity.  It  is  all  the  worse  from 
the  fact  that  its  victim  is  insensible  to  his  own 
insensibility.  He  does  not  feel  how  fearful  it 
is  not  to  feel.  There  are  many  here  whom  I 
could  startle  at  once  by  telling  them,  on  good 
medical  authority,  that  a  deadly  disease  was 
beginning  its  stealthy  work  ux)on  their  frames  ; 
or  if  I  should  tell  them  that  a  burglar  had 
designs  upon  their  house  and  life  to-night; 
or  that  a  treacherous  friend  would  betray  the 
secret  to-morrow  which  shall  blast  their  char- 
acter. But  when  I  come  and  tell  you  plainly 
that  you  are  in  danger  of  being  lost  forever, 
you  scarcely  open  your  ears  to  listen.  What 
care  you  for  it ?     "What's  that  to  me  ?  " 

My  impenitent  friend  !  it  has  not  been  al- 
ways so  with  thee.  Open  the  leaves  of  your 
heart's  diary.  Bring  uj)  memory  to  the  wit- 
ness box.  She  will  remind  you  of  a  time  when 
your  conscience  was  tender,  and  sensitive  to 
gospel  influence.  As  the  words  of  warning 
sounded  from  a  pastor's  lips,  on  some  past 
Sabbath,  you  listened  to  them,  and  listened 


282  PAST  FEELING. 

with  solemn  jfWe.  The  truth  fell  like  the 
small  rain  on  the  tender  herb.  You  were 
subdued.  You  were  struck  through  with  con- 
viction of  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin.  It 
was  your  own  sin  that  haunted  you.  The 
specter  would  not 

"Down  at  your  bidding  !  " 

You  were  sore  troubled.  You  wept.  With 
led  eyes,  and  the  tear  still  undried  ujDon  your 
cheek,  you  left  the  sanctuary.  The  trifling  of 
the  triflers,  as  they  came  out  of  church  to 
laugh,  to  gossip,  or  to  criticise,  astonished 
you  and  grieved  you.  Feeling  so  much  your- 
self, you  wondered  how  they  could  be  so 
apparently  ''past  feeling."  Perliax)s  you 
1) rayed,  and  for  a  time  went  "softly."  Your 
long  closed  Bible  was  opened.  Some  faithful 
friend  was  sought  for  religious  counsel.  And 
all  that  time  the  infinite  Spirit  of  God  was 
striving  with  you.  Have  you  ever  thought  of 
the  magnitude  and  the  wonderful  mercy  of 
that  phrase,  "striving"  ?  Just  think  of  it. 
God  striving  with  a  sinner  !  It  bespeaks  strait 
and  struggle.  It  bespeaks  the  anxiety  of  God 
himself  to  save  His  own  wicked  child.  It  is 
as  if  the  ineffable  Redeemer  went  down  upon 
His  knees  before  the  willful,  disobedient  one, 
and  besought  him  not  to  commit  the  eternal 
suicide  ! 

So  the  Divine  Spirit  strove  with  you.     And 


PAST  FEELING.  283 

under  those  strong  pressures  of  truth,  and  uj)- 
risings  of  conscience  and  wooings  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  you  were  "almost  persuaded"  to  become 
a  Christian.  But  alas  !  how  is  it  with  you  now  % 
Do  you  feel  to- night  as  you  felt  then  ?  Does 
the  word  sin  smite  you  as  then?  Does  the 
word  duty  arouse  you  as  then?  Does  the 
mention  of  that  blessed  word  "Sayiouk"  stir 
the  font  of  tears  within  you,  as  it  used  to  do 
in  those  days  gone  by  ?  Can  you  weej)  now  as. 
you  wept  then?  Can  you  pray  as  you  prayed 
then  ?  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  do  you  not  re- 
gard the  very  apj)eal  I  am  making  now  to  you. 
as  a  merely  professional  thing  that  I  am  em- 
ployed to  make  twice  every  week,  and  in  which 
you  have  no  personal  concern?  Have  you 
deliberately  made  up  your  mind,  that  in  spite 
of  warnings  and  entreaties,  that  through  sick 
chambers  and  dying  beds,  and  yawning  graves, 
that  over  the  very  cross  of  Jesus,  planted  in 
your  guilty  path,  you  will  press  your  way 
onward  to  the  gates  of  hell  ? 

Then  I  do  not  say  that  you  are  ''past  feel- 
ing." I  dare  not  say  that.  God  only  knows 
your  future.  But  most  frankly  and  solemnly, 
I  declare  to  you,  that  there  liave  been  cases  in 
which  men  have  so  steeled  themselves  against 
conviction,  that  they  were  left,  like  "Lot's 
wife,"  monuments  of  wrath  !  I  do  not  know 
that  this  is  your  case  ;  but  I  fear  it.  I  cannot 
bear  to  write  this  awful  epitaph  over  your  soul, 


284  PA8T  FEELING. 

dead  in  its  trespasses  and  sin — '"'Past  Feel- 
ing.^^  Is  that  a  dreadful  moment  to  you,  in 
which  you  are  compelled  to  enter  the  chamber 
of  a  sick  friend,  and  break  to  him  the  fatal 
truth,  that  his  physician  has  given  him  up 
as  past  recovery  ?  You  would  give  your  right 
hand  to  avoid  that  duty,  but  fidelity  requires 
it.  And  I  should  be  an  unfaithful  watchman 
for  souls,  if  I  did  not  proclaim  to-night  my 
fears  that  there  are  some  now  here  wdio  have 
grieved  away  God's  Spirit  forever. 

Occasionally  a  person  is  found  who  will 
frankly  confess  his  total  insensibility  to  all 
that  is  most  precious  to  a  saint,  to  all  that  is 
most  startling  to  a  sinner.  A  faithful  pastor 
in  a  neighboring  State  relates  an  instance  so 
important,  as  a  proof  of  our  position,  that  I 
shall  introduce  it,  in  sj^ite  of  certain  antiquated 
prejudices  against  personal  narratives  in  the 
pulpit.  My  Bible  is  full  of  personal  history ; 
and  I  am  never  afraid  to  introduce  an  anecdote, 
or  relate  an  incident  which  makes  a  page  in  the 
great  book  of  God's  providence. 

'*  I  once  entered  a  farm  house,"  said  this 
pastor,  ''on  a  chilly  November  evening,  and 
spent  an  hour  in  personal  religious  conversa- 
tion with  its  inmates.  The  aged  father  of  the 
family — a  most  kind  and  amiable  man — fol- 
lowed me  to  the  door,  and  stopped  me  on  the 
porch.  He  took  me  by  the  hand,  and  most 
deliberately  said :  '  I  thank  you  for  this  visit, 


PAST  FEELING.  285 

and  hope  it  will  not  be  the  last.  As  you  have 
just  commenced  your  labors  among  us,  I  wish 
to  give  you  a  word  of  advice,  based  on  my  own 
experience.  Lei  us  old  people  alone,  and 
devote  your  labors  to  the  youth  of  your  flock. 
Forty  years  ago,  I  was  greatly  anxious  about 
my  soul ;  many  were  then  converted,  but  I 
was  not  one  of  them.     During  the  ministry 

of  Mr.  M ,  many  more  were  converted,  but 

I  was  not  one  of  them.  And  now,  for  years, 
I  have  not  had  a  single  feeling  on  the  subject ! 
I  know  that  I  am  a  lost  sinner  ;  I  know  that  I 
can  only  be  saved  through  Jesus  Christ  ;  I  feel 
persuaded  that  when  I  die,  /  am  lost  I  I  be- 
lieve all  you  preach,  but  I  feel  it  no  more  than 
if  I  were  a  block  of  marble.  I  expect  to  live 
and  die  just  as  I  am.  So  leave  us  to  ourselves, 
and  our  sins,  and  give  your  strength  to  the 
work  of  saving  the  young.' 

"I  remembered  that  incident,  and  watched 
the  progress  of  that  man.  His  seat  was  rarely 
vacant  in  the  sanctuary;  but  he  was  a  true 
prophet  of  his  own  fate.  He  lived  as  he  pre- 
dicted ;  and  so  he  died.  We  laid  him  down 
at  last  in  his  hopeless  grave,  in  the  midst  of  a 
congregation  over  whom  God  had  so  often 
opened  windows  in  heaven."  He  was  joined 
to  his  idols  ;  God  let  him  alone  ! 

I  would  fain  leave  you,  my  hearers,  to  with- 
draw with  the  tremulous  tones  of  that  old 
still    ringing  in    your  ears.     I 


286  PAST  FEELING. 

would  prefer  that  you  sliould  go  home  to 
ponder  the  honest  confession  and  the  fate  of 
one  who  was  "past  feeling "  anything  but  his 
own  indifference.  Yet  I  cannot  dismiss  you 
without  a  few  words  of  affectionate  counsel  to 
those  who  are  not  j)ast  feeling — who  feel  now 
— who  cannot  but  feel  under  the  touch  of  God's 
Spirit.  Yonder  anxious  faces  are  the  dial- 
plates  of  anxious  hearts.  In  this  silent, 
hushed  assembly,  we  seem  to  overhear  the 
very  throb  of  those  hearts,  palpitating  with 
the  great  question,  "What  shall  I  do  to  be 
saved?" 

My  friends  !  bear  away  with  you  from  this 
house  four  practical  suggestions  drawn  from 
the  text  before  us. 

I.  You  feel  now  ;  but  do  not  he  content  with 
mere  feeling.  Tears  never  saved  a  sinner  ;  hell 
is  vocal  with  the  wails  of  the  weepers.  Faith 
is  better  than  feeling.  Your  Bible  does  not 
say  feel  and  be  saved.  It  says, ' '  Believe  and  be 
saved."  And  faith  is  not  enough  without 
action.  "The  devils  believe."  There  are  no 
atheists  in  the  abodes  of  the  lost.  But  lost 
spirits  do  not  love  God,  do  not  obey  Him. 
You  must  obey  as  well  as  believe.  Act  out 
your  feelings.  Obey  God  in  self-denying 
duty.  Crystallize  your  feeling  into  faith,  and 
prove  your  faith  by  your  works.  "Faith 
without  works  is  dead."  Faith  in  Jesus  is 
the  invisible  root  of  religion  concealed  within 


PAST  FEELING.  287 

the  soul  ;  but  deeds  of  duty  are  the  glorious 
outgrowth,  with  stalwart  trunk,  and  branches 
broad,  and  luxuriant  masses  of  foliage  lifted 
into  the  airs  of  heaven.  And  amid  these 
goodly  boughs  are  found  the  fruits  of  godli- 
ness shining— as  quaint  Andrew  Marvell  said 
of  the  Bermuda  oranges  : 

"  Like  golden  lamps  in  a  deep  green  night." 

Aim  immediately  at  fruits.  Begin  to-night 
to  serve  God  from  principle.  Go  home  and 
set  up  your  altar.  Lay  hold  of  work ;  the 
harder  it  is  the  better.  Paul  struck  the  key- 
note of  his  whole  religious  life  when,  in  the 
gush  of  his  first  feeling,  he  cried  out,  "Lord, 
what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?  " 

11.  My  second  suggestion  is,  that  what  you 
do,  you  must  do  quickly.,  for  you  cannot  long 
remain  as  you  are.  For  a  few  brief  days  in 
May  the  orchards  are  white  with  blossoms. 
They  soon  turn  to  fruit,  or  else  float  away 
useless  and  wasted  upon  the  idle  breeze.  It 
will  be  so  with  your  present  feelings.  They 
must  be  deex)ened  into  decision,  or  be  entirely 
dissipated  by  delay.  You  must  advance,  or 
be  lost.  As  a  result  of  your  present  serious- 
ness, you  will  either  become  a  true  child  of 
God,  or  else  a  more  hardened  and  unfeeling 
child  of  wrath.  Dread,  as  you  would  dread 
death  itself,  the  very  idea  of  relapsing  into 
indifference.     Cherish  conviction.     Take  your 


288  PAST  FEELING. 

fears  to  the  mercy  seat,  and  beseech  your 
compassionate  Saviour  not  to  permit  your 
awakened  soul  ever  to  become  "past  feel- 
ing." 

III.  My  third  suggestion  is  a  brief  caution. 
Do  not  compare  your  own  feelings  with  those 
of  other  i3eoi:)le,  or  allow  yourself  to  be  dis- 
couraged because  you  have  not  the  intense 
griefs  or  the  lively  joys  of  which  they  speak. 
God  does  not  command  you  to  feel  like  this 
one  or  like  that.  He  bids  you  repent  and  be- 
lieve;  you  are  to  conform  to  His  word  and 
not  to  your  neighbors'  varying  frames  and 
feelings. 

The  Holy  Spirit  deals  with  no  two  hearts 
precisely  alike.  He  opens  some  hearts  b^^  the 
gentlest  touch  of  love  ;  others  He  seems  to 
wrench  open  as  with  the  iron  bar  of  alarm- 
ing judgments.  Spurgeon  happily  remarks  : 
"  When  the  lofty  x)alm  tree  of  Zeilan  puts 
forth  its  flower,  the  sheath  bursts  with  a  re- 
port that  shakes  the  forest ;  but  thousands  of 
other  flowers  of  equal  value  open  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  the  very  dewdrops  hear  no  sound  ; 
even  so  many  souls  do  blossom  in  mercy,  and 
the  world  hears  neither  wliirlwinds  nor  tem- 
pest." Do  not  question  the  rightfulness  of 
your  own  heart  exercises  because  no  one  else 
has  had  any  precisely  similar.  God  is  a  Sov- 
ereign.    He  will  save  you  just  as  He  chooses. 


PAST  FEELING.  289 

Be  tliankful  tliat  you  can  be  saved  at  all.  See 
to  it  that  yon  do  not  cavil  and  question  and 
tamper  until  the  Holy  Spirit  abandon  you  to 
become  past  feeling. 

lY.  Finally,  let  me  remind  you  that  in  the 
eternal  world  no  one  can  be  indifferent,  no  one 
shall  be  insensible.  Neither  in  heaven  nor  in 
hell  can  you  ever  become  ""  past  feeling." 

The  home  of  the  ransomed  is  a  home  of 
rapture.  Heaven  is  alive  with  emotion. 
Every  heart  throbs,  every  eye  kindles,  every 
tongue  is  jDraising,  every  finger  strikes  a  harp- 
string.  Listen  with  the  ear  of  faith,  and  you 
can  hear  the  distant  oratorios  of  the  blessed  as 
they  swell  up  in  melodies  seraphic  and  celestial! 
Look  yonder  with  faith's  clear  eye,  and  you 
will  see  the  mighty  multitudes  before  the 
throne.  You  will  behold  the  Hashing  shower 
of  golden  crowns  flung  before  the  feet  of  one 
majestic  Being.  You  will  catch  one  outburst 
of  melody.  The  burden  of  the  strain  will  be 
"  Unto  Him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  in 
His  blood,  be  the  praise  and  the  dominion  for- 
ever !  "  No  mortal's  name  shall  be  heard  of 
then.  Paul  shall  be  lost  sight  of  in  the  glory 
of  Paul's  Redeemer.  Luther  will  be  unseen 
amid  the  worship  of  Luther's  Reformer.  John 
Calvin  shall  sing  JSfoiie  hut  Christ !  And  John 
Wesley  shall  shout  back  None  hut  Christ! 
With  one  heart  and  one  voice  they  all  roll 


290  PAST  FEELING. 

high  the  magnificent  acclaim  :  * 'Worthy  is  the 
Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive  honor,  and 
power,  and  glory,  and  blessing,  for  ever  and 
ever  !  " 

The  world  of  darkness  will  be  a  world  of 
feeling  too.  "  There  shall  be  weeping"  there. 
Not  tears  of  penitence,  bnt  tears  of  despair. 
The  debauchee  will  be  gnawed  by  his  appetite 
for  sensualities  that  never  can  be  gratified. 
The  poor  drunkard  will  be  possessed  with  a 
passion  for  the  poison  bowl,  but  will  find  not 
a  single  drop  to  slake  the  undying  thirst. 
The  covetous  spirit  will  writhe  in  its  own  self- 
ishness ;  and  the  skeptic  will  be  tormented 
with  the  constant  sight  of  a  Jehovah  whom  he 
once  denied,  and  of  a  heaven  which  he  closed 
against  himself.  "'Ye  Jcnew  your  duty  and  ye 
did  it  not^^''  will  blaze  on  every  wall  of  that 
dark  prison  house  ! 

Conscience  will  be  fearfully  busy  then — 
busy  in  pointing  to  the  visions  of  a  Saviour 
offered  and  a  Saviour  despised — busy  in  recall- 
ing mercies  once  contemned,  and  precious 
invitations  trampled  under  foot.  Pying 
friend !  You  may  smother  conscience  here. 
You  may  drown  serious  thought.  You  may 
gag  your  moral  sense.  But  that  smothered 
conscience  will  rise  again.  It  will  arise  in  the 
dying  hour,  startled  from  slumber  by  the 
crash  of  dissolving  humanity.  It  will  awake 
to  new  life  on  that  dread  morn  when  the  Arch- 


PAST  FEELING.  291 

angel's  trump  sluiU  sound.  It  will  be  alive 
with  an  intensity  of  torment  on  that  day  when 
the  ''books  are  opened"  ;  and  it  will  live 
amid  the  anguish  of  perdition  never  again  to 
become  past  feeling! 


XVIII. 

THE  JOYS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 
MINISTRY. 


XVIII. 

THE  JOYS  OF  THE  CHKISTIAN 
MINISTRY. 

I  INVITE  your  attention  this  morning  to  the 
nineteenth  and  twentieth  verses  of  the  second 
chapter  of  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Thessalo- 
nians  : 

* '  For  what  is  our  hope,  or  joy,  or  crown  of  rejoicing  ? 
Are  not  even  ye  in  the  presence  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  at  His  coming  ?    For  ye  are  our  glory  and  joy." 

These  words  were  written  by  the  most  re- 
markable man  in  the  annals  of  the  Christian 
Church.  Great  interest  is  attached  to  them 
from  the  fact  that  they  are  part  of  the  first 
insi)ired  epyistle  that  Paul  ever  wrote.  Nay, 
more.  The  letter  to  the  Church  of  Thessa- 
lonica  is  probably  the  earliest  as  to  date  of  all 
the  books  of  the  New  Testament.  Paul  was 
then  at  Corinth,  about  fifty-two  years  old,  in 
the  full  vigor  of  his  splendid  prime.  His 
spiritual  son,  Timothy,  brings  him  tidings 
from  the  infant  Church  in  Thessalonica  that 

Note. — A  Valedictory  Discourse  delivered  to  the  Lafayette 
Avenue  Church,  April  6,  1890. 
^5 


296      THE  JOTS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

awakens  his  solicitude.  He  yearns  to  go  and 
see  them,  but  he  cannot ;  so  he  determines  to 
write  to  them  ;  and  one  day  he  lays  aside  his 
tent  needle,  seizes  his  pen,  and,  when  that  pen 
touches  the  paj)yrus  sheet  the  New  Testament 
begins.  The  apostle's  great,  warm  heart 
kindles  and  blazes  as  he  goes  on,  and  at  length 
bursts  out  in  this  impassioned  utterance  :  "Ye 
are  my  glory  and  joy !  " 

Paul,  I  thank  thee  for  a  thousand  things, 
but  for  nothing  do  I  thank  thee  more  than 
for  that  golden  sentence.  In  these  thrilling 
words,  the  greatest  of  Christian  i3astors,  rising 
above  the  jDoverty,  homelessness,  and  scorn 
that  surrounded  him,  reaches  forth  his  hand 
and  grasps  his  royal  diadem.  No  man  shall 
rob  the  aged  hero  of  his  crown.  No  chaplet 
worn  by  a  Roman  conqueror,  in  the  hour  of  his 
brightest  triumpli,  rivals  the  coronal  that 
Pastor  Paul  sees  flashing  before  his  eyes.  It 
is  a  crown  blazing  with  stars  ;  every  star  an 
immortal  soul  plucked  from  the  darkness  of 
sin  into  the  light  and  liberty  of  a  child  of 
God.  Poor,  is  he  ?  He  is  making  many  rich. 
Despised,  is  he?  He  wouldn't  change  places 
with  Csesar.  Homeless,  is  he  ?  His  citizenship 
is  in  heaven,  where  he  will  find  myriads  whom 
he  can  meet  and  say  to  them  :  ''  Ye,  ye  are 
my  glory  and  joy."  Sixteen  centuries  after 
Paul  uttered  these  words,  John  Bunyan  re- 
echoed them  when  he  said  : 


THE  JOYS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.     297 

"I  have  counted  as  if  I  liad  goodly  buildings  in  the 
places  where  my  spiritual  children  were  born.  My 
heart  lias  been  so  wrapt  up  in  this  excellent  work  that  I 
accounted  myself  more  honored  of  God  than  if  He  had 
made  me  emperor  of  all  the  world,  or  the  lord  of  all 
the  glory  of  the  earth,  without  it.  He  that  converteth  a 
sinner  from  the  error  of  his  ways  doth  save  a  soul  from 
death  ;  and  they  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  bright- 
ness of  the  firmament." 

IS'ow,  the  great  apostle  expressed  what 
every  ambassador  of  Christ  constantly  experi- 
ences when  in  the  thick  of  the  Master's  work. 
His  are  the  joys  of  acquisition.  His  purse  may 
be  scanty,  his  teaching  may  be  humble,  and 
the  field  of  his  labor  may  be  so  obscure  that 
no  bulletins  of  his  achievements  are  ever  pro- 
chiimed  to  an  admiring  world.  Difficulties 
ma\^  sadden  and  discouragement  bring  him  to 
his  knees  ;  but  I  tell  you  that  obscure,  toiling 
man  of  God  has  a  joy  vouchsafed  to  him  that 
a  Frederick  or  a  Marlborough  never  knew  on 
the  field  of  bloody  triumph,  or  that  a  Koths- 
child  never  dreams  of  in  his  mansions  of  splen- 
dor, nor  an  Astor  with  his  stores  of  gold. 
Every  nugget  of  fresh  truth  discovered  makes 
him  hapi^ier  than  one  who  has  found  a  golden 
spoil.  Every  attentive  auditor  is  a  delight ; 
every  look  of  interest  on  a  human  countenance 
flashes  bade  to  illuminate  his  own.  Above  all, 
when  i\\Q  tears  of  i3enitence  course  down  a 
cheek  and  a  returning  soul  is  led  by  him  to  the 
3aviourj  there  is  great  joy  in  heav^u  over  ^ 


298     THE  JOTS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

repentant  wanderer,  and  a  joy  in  that  minis- 
ter's heart  too  exquisite  to  utter.  Then  he  is 
repaid  in  full  measure,  pressed  down,  running 
over  into  his  bosom. 

Converted  souls  are  jewels  in  the  caskets  of 
faithful  parents,  teachers,  and  pastors.  They 
shall  flash  in  the  diadem  which  the  Eighteous 
Judge  shall  give  them  in  that  great  day.  Ah  ! 
it  is  when  an  ambassador  of  Christ  sees  an 
army  of  young  converts  and  listens  to  the  first 
utterances  of  their  newborn  love,  and  when 
he  j)resides  at  a  communion  table  and  sees  his 
spiritual  offsi)ring  gathered  around  him,  more 
true  joy  that  faithful  x)astor  feels  than  "  Csesar 
with  a  Senate  at  his  heels."  Rutherford,  of 
Scotland,  only  voiced  the  yearnings  of  every 
true  pastor's  heart  when  he  exclaimed  :  ''Oh, 
how  rich  were  I  if  I  could  obtain  of  my  Lord 
the  salvation  of  you  all !  What  a  prey  had  I 
gotten  to  have  you  all  caught  in  Christ's  net. 
My  witness  is  above,  that  your  heaven  would 
be  the  two  heavens  to  me,  and  the  salvation  of 
you  all  would  be  two  salvations  to  me." 

Yet,  my  beloved  people,  when  I  recall  the 
joy  of  my  forty-four  years  of  public  ministry 
I  often  shudder  at  the  fact  of  how  near  I  came 
to  losing  it.  For  very  many  months  my  mind 
was  balancing  between  the  pulpit  and  the  at- 
tractions of  a  legal  and  political  career.  A 
single  hour  in  a  village  prayer  meeting  turned 
the  scale.  But  perhaps  behind  it  all  a  be- 
loved mother's  prayers  were  moving  the  mys- 


THE  JOYS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.      299 

terious  hand  that  touched  the  poised  balance, 
and  made  souls  outweigh  silver,  and  eternity 
outweigh  time. 

Would  that  I  could  lift  up  my  voice  this 
morning  in  every  academy,  college,  and  uni- 
versity on  this  broad  continent.  I  would  say 
to  every  gifted  Christian  youth,  "God  and 
humanity  have  need  of  you."  He  who  re- 
deemed you  by  His  precious  blood  has  a 
sovereign  riglit  to  the  best  brains  and  the 
most  persuasive  tongues  and  the  highest  cul- 
ture. Wh}^  crowd  into  the  already  over- 
crowded x^i'ofessioi^s  ?  The  only  occupation 
in  America  that  is  not  overdone  is  the  occu- 
pation of  serving  Jesus  Christ  and  saving 
soals.  I  do  not  affirm  that  a  Christian  cannot 
serve  his  Master  in  any  other  sphere  or  calling 
than  the  gospel  ministry;  but  I  do  affirm  that 
the  ambition  for  worldly  gains  and  Avorldh^ 
honors  is  sluicing  the  very  heart  of  God's 
Church,  and  drawing  out  to-day  much  of  the 
Church's  best  blood  in  its  greedy  outlets. 
And  I  fearlessly  declare  that  wdien  the  most 
si^lendid  talent  has  reached  the  loftiest  round 
on  the  ladder  of  promotion,  that  round  is 
many  rungs  lower  than  a  pulj^it  m  which  a 
consecrated  tongue  proclaims  a  living  Chris- 
tianity to  a  dying  world.  What  Lord  Eldon 
from  the  bar,  what  Webster  from  the  Senate 
chamber,  what  Sir  Walter  Scott  from  the 
realms  of  romance,  Avhat  Darwin  from  the 
field  of  science,    what    monarch   from    Wall 


300     THE  JOYS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

Street  or  Lombard  Street  can  carry  liis  laurels 
or  his  gold  up  to  the  judgment  seat  and  say, 
"These  are  my  joy  and  crown?"  The  laurels 
and  the  gold  will  be  dust — ashes.  But  if  so 
humble  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ  as  your  pas- 
tor can  ever  point  to  the  gathered  flock  arrayed 
in  white  before  the  celestial  throne,  then  he 
may  say,  "  AVhat  is  my  hope  or  joy,  or  crown 
of  rejoicing  ?  Are  not  even  ye  in  the  x)resence 
of  Christ  at  His  coming  ?  " 

Good  friends,  I  have  told  you  what  aspira- 
tions led  me  to  the  pulpit  as  a  place  in  which 
to  serve  my  Master ;  and  I  thank  Christ,  the 
Lord,  for  putting  me  into  the  ministry.  The 
forty  four  years  I  have  spent  in  that  oflSce  have 
been  unspeakably  happy.  Many  a  far  better 
man  has  not  been  as  ,happy,  from  (pauses  be- 
yond control.  He  may  have  had  to  contend 
with  feeble  health  as  I  never  have  ;  or  a  de- 
spondent temi:)eranient,  as  I  never  have ;  or 
have  struggled  to  maintain  a  large  household 
on  a  slender  purse  ;  he  may  have  been  placed 
in  a  stubborn  field,  where  the  gospel  was 
shattered  to  pieces  on  flinty  hearts.  From  all 
such  trials  a  kind  Providence  has  delivered 
your  pastor. 

My  ministry  began  in  a  very  small  church. 
For  that  I  am  thankful.  Let  no  young  minis- 
ter covet  a  large  parish  at  the  outset.  The 
clock  that  is  not  content  to  strike  one  will 
l^ever  strike  twelve,     In  that  little  Darish  ^% 


THE  JOYS  OF  THE  CHRI8TTAN  MINISTRY.     301 

Burlington,  N.  J.,  I  had  opportunity  for  the 
two  most  valuable  studies  for  any  minister — 
God's  Book  and  individual  hearts.  My  next 
call  was  to  organize  and  serve  an  infant  church 
in  Trenton,  N.  J.,  and  for  that  I  am  thankful. 
Laying  the  foundation  of  a  new  church  aifords 
capital  tuition  in  spiritual  masonry,  and  the 
walls  of  that  church  have  stood  firm  and  solid 
for  forty  years.  The  crowning  mercy  of  xnj 
Trenton  ministry  was  this,  that  one  Sunday, 
while  I  was  w^atering  the  flock,  a  goodlier  vi- 
sion than  that  of  Rebecca  appeared  at  the  well's 
mouth,  and  the  sweet  sunshine  of  that  pres- 
ence has  never  departed  from  the  pathway  of 
my  life.  To  this  houi*  the  x^i'osJ^i^i^*  old  capital 
of  New  Jersey  has  a  halo  of  poetry  floating 
over  it,  and  I  never  go  through  it  without 
waving  a  benediction  from  the  passing  train. 

The  next  stage  of  my  life's  work  was  a  seven 
years'  pastorate  of  Marlvet  Street  Church  in 
tlie  City  of  New  York.  To  those  seven  years 
of  hard  and  hai)i3y  labor  I  look  back  with  joy. 
The  congregation  swarmed  with  young  men, 
many  of  whom  have  risen  to  prominence  in  the 
commercial  and  religious  life  of  the  great  me- 
tropolis. The  name  of  Market  Street  is  graven 
indelibly  on  my  heart.  I  rejoice  that  the 
quaint  old  edifice  still  stands  and  welcomes 
every  Sabbath  a  congregation  of  landsmen  and 
of  sailors.  During  the  year  1858  occurred  the 
great    revival,    when    a    mighty    wind    from 


302      THE  JOTS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRT. 

Heaven  filled  every  house  where  the  people  of 
God  were  sitting,  and  the  glorious  work  of 
that  revival  kept  many  of  us  busy  for  six 
months,  night  and  day. 

Early  in  the  year  of  1860  a  signal  was  made 
to  me  from  tliis  side  of  the  East  River.  It 
came  fi'om  a  brave  little  band  then  known  as 
the  Park  Presbyterian  Cliurch,  who  had  never 
had  any  installed  pastor.  The  signal  at  first 
was  unheeded  ;  but  a  higher  than  human  hand 
seemed  to  be  behind  it,  and  I  had  only  to 
obey.  That  little  flock  stood  like  the  man  of 
Macedonia,  saying  "  Come  over  and  help  us," 
and  after  I  had  seen  the  vision,  immediately  I 
decided  to  come,  assuredly  concluding  that 
Grod  had  called  me  to  x^reach  'the  gospel  unto 
them. 

This  morning  my  memory  goes  back  to  that 
chilly,  stormy  April  Sunday  when  my  labors 
began  as  your  first  pastor.  About  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  people,  full  of  grace  and  grit, 
gathered  on  that  Easter  morning  to  see  how 
God  could  roll  away  stones  that  for  two  yeni's 
had  blocked  their  path  with  discoui*agement. 
My  first  message  many  of  jon  remember.  It 
was,  '' I  determined  not  to  know  anything 
among  you  save  J(?sus  Christ  and  Him  cruci- 
fied." Of  that  little  company,  the  large  major- 
ity has  departed.  Many  of  tlu^n  ai'e  among 
the  white-robed  that  now  behold  their  risen 
Lord  in  glory.     Of  the  seventeen  church  offi- 


THE  JOYS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.      303 

cers — elders,  deiicmis,  and  trustees— then  in 
office,  who  greeted  me  tliat  day,  only  four  are 
living,  and  of  that  number  only  one,  Mr.  Al- 
bion P.  Higgins,  is  now  a  member  of  this  con- 
gregation. I  wonder  how  many  there  are  here 
this  morning  that  gathered  before  my  j)ulpit 
on  that  Easter  Sunday  thirty  years  ago  %  As 
many  of  you  as  there  are  present  that  were  at 
that  service  thirty  years  ago  will  do  me  a  favor 
if  you  will  rise  in  your  i^ews. 

[Thirteen  people  here  stood  up.] 

God  bless  you!  If  it  hadn't  been  for  you 
this  ark  would  never  have  been  built. 

Ah  !  we  had  happy  days  in  that  modest 
cliapel.  The  temj)est  of  civil  war  was  raging, 
with  Lincoln's  steady  hand  at  the  helm.  We 
got  our  share  of  the  gale ;  but  we  set  our 
storm-sails,  and  everyone  that  could  handle 
roi)es  stood  at  his  or  her  place.  Just  think  of 
tlie  money  contributions  that  small  church 
made  during  the  first  year  of  my  j)astorate 
—820,000,  not  in  paper,  but  in  gold.  The  lit- 
tle band  in  that  chapel  was  not  only  generous  in 
donations  but  valiant  in  spirit,  and  it  was 
under  the  gracious  shower  of  a  revival  that  we 
removed  into  this  edifice  on  the  ICtli  of  March, 
1862. 

The  subsequent  history  of  the  church  was 
published  so  fully  at  the  notable  anniversary 
live  years  ago,  that  I  need  only  repeat  the 
chiel*  headlines   in  a  very   few  sentences.     In 


304      THE  JOYS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

1S63  Mr.  William  Wickes  started  a  mission 
school,  which  afterward  grew  into  the  present 
Cumberland  Street  Church.  In  1866  occurred 
that  wonderful  work  of  grace  that  resulted  in 
the  addition  of  320  souls  to  our  membership, 
one  hundred  of  them  heads  of  families.  As 
a  thank-offering  to  God  for  that  rich  blessing 
the  Memorial  Mission  School  was  established, 
which  was  soon  organized  into  the  Memorial 
Presbyterian  Cliurch,  now  on  Seventh  Avenue, 
under  the  excellent  pastorate  of  my  Brother 
Nelson.  During  the  winter  of  1867  a  con- 
ference of  gentlemen  was  held  in  yonder  study 
which  set  on  foot  the  present  Classon  Avenue 
Church,  where  my  Brother  Chamberlain  ad- 
ministers equally  satisfactorily.  Olivet  Mis- 
sion was  organized  in  1878.  It  will  always 
be  fragrant  with  the  memory  of  Horace  B. 
Griffing,  its  first  superintendent.  The  Cuyler 
Chapel  was  oj^ened  on  Atlantic  Avenue  in 
March,  1886,  by  our  Young  People's  Associa- 
tion, who  are  maintaining  it  most  vigorously. 
The  little  Corwin  Mission  on  Myrtle  Avenue 
was  established  by  a  member  of  the  church  to 
perpetuate  his  name,  and  is  largely  sustained 
by  members  of  this  church. 

Of  all  the  efficient,  successful  labors  of  the 
Lafayette  Avenue  Tem^^erance  Society,  the 
AVomen's  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  their  Benevolent  Society,  the  Cuyler 
Mission  Band,  the  Daughters  of  the  Temple, 


THE  JOTS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.     305 

and  other  kindred  organizations,  I  have  no  time 
or  place  to  speak  this  morning.  But  I  must 
repeat  now  what  I  have  said  in  years  past,  that 
the  two  strong  arms  of  this  church  are  its  Sun- 
day-school and  its  Young  People's  Associa- 
tion. The  former  has  been  kej^t  well  up  to  the 
ideal  of  such  an  institution.  It  is  that  of  a 
training  school  of  young  hearts  for  this  life  and 
for  the  life  to  come.  God's  blessing  has  de- 
scended upon  it  like  the  morning  dew\  Of  the 
large  number  of  children  that  have  been  en- 
rolled in  its  classes  730  have  been  received  into 
membership  with  this  church  alone,  and  to  the 
profession  of  faith  in  Christ — to  say  notliing  of 
those  who  have  joined  elsewhere.  AVarmly  do 
I  thank  and  heartily  do  I  congratulate  our  be- 
loved brother,  Daniel  W.  Mc Williams,  and  his 
faithful  group  of  teachers,  and  the  superin- 
tendent of  tlie  primary  department  and  her 
groui)  of  assistants,  on  the  seal  which  God  has 
set  upon  their  loving  work.  They  conteni2)late 
the  long  array  of  children  whom  they  have 
guided  to  Jesus  ;  and  they,  too,  can  exclaim, 
"  What  is  our  joy  or  crown  of  rejoicing  ?  Are 
not  even  ye  in  the  Lord  ? ' ' 

If  the  Sunday-school  has  rendered  good  serv- 
ice, so  has  the  well-drilled  and  well-watered 
Young  People's  Association.  The  fires  of  de- 
votion have  never  gone  out  on  the  altar  of  their 
Monday  evening  gatherings.  For  length  of 
days  and  number  of  membership  combined. 


306      THE  JOTS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

l)robably  it  surpasses  all  similar  young  i3eople's 
associations  in  our  country.  About  three 
thousand  names  have  been  on  its  membership 
roll,  and  of  this  number  twelve  have  set  their 
faces  toward  the  gospel  ministry.  Oh,  what  a 
source  of  joy  to  me  that  I  leave  that  associa- 
tion in  such  a  higii  condition  of  vigor  and  pros- 
perity !  No  church  can  languish,  no  church 
can  die,  while  it  has  plenty  of  young  blood  in 
its  veins. 

What  has  been  the  outcome  of  these  thirty 
years  of  happy  pastorate  ?  As  far  as  the  re- 
sults can  be  tabulated  the  following  is  a  brief 
summary  :  During  my  x)astorate  here  I  have 
preached  a})out  2750  discourses,  have  delivered 
a  very  large  number  of  j)ublic  addresses  in  be- 
half of  Sunday-schools,  Young  Men's  Associa- 
tions, the  temperance  reform,  and  kindred 
enterprises  for  advancing  human  welfare.  I 
have  officiated  at  682  marriages.  I  have 
baptized  962  children.  Tlie  total  number 
received  into  the  membership  of  this  church 
during  this  time  has  been  4223.  Of  this  num- 
ber 1920  have  united  by  a  confession  of  their 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  An  army,  you  see,  an 
army  of  nearly  two  tliousand  souls,  have  en- 
listed under  the  banner  of  King  Jesus,  and 
taken  their  "  sacramentum,"  or  vow  of  \oj- 
alty,  before  this  pulpit.  What  is  our  crown 
of  rejoicing  ?  Are  not  even  they  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Christ  at  His  coming  ? 


THE  JOYS  OF  THE  (JIIRISTIAN  MINISTRY.     30*7 

It  is  due  to  yon  that  I  sliould  commend  your 
liberality  in  gifts  to  God's  treasury.  Dur- 
ing these  thirty  years  over  $640,000  have 
been  contributed  for  ecclesiastical  and  benevo- 
lent purposes,  and  about  $700,000  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  sanctuary,  its  worship,  and 
its  work.  Over  a  million  and  a  quarter  of 
dollars  have  passed  through  tliese  two  chan- 
nels. The  successive  boards  of  trustees  have 
managed  our  financial  affairs  carefully  and 
efficiently.  The  architecture  of  this  noble 
edifice  is  not  disfigured  by  any  mortgage  ;  I 
hope  it  never  will  be. 

There  is  one  department  of  ministerial  labor 
that  has  had  a  peculiar  attraction  to  me  and 
afforded  me  i^eculiar  joy.  Pastoral  work  has 
always  been  my  i^assion.  It  has  been  my 
rule  to  know  everybody  in  this  congregation, 
if  i3ossible,  and  seldom  have  I  allowed  a  day 
to  pass  without  a  visit  to  some  of  your  homes. 
I  fancied  that  you  cared  more  to  have  a  warm- 
hearted pastor  than  a  cold-blooded  preacher, 
however  intellectual.  To  carry  out  thoroughly 
a  system  of  personal  oversight,  to  visit  every 
family,  to  stand  by  the  sick  and  dying  beds, 
to  put  one's  self  into  sympatliy  with  aching- 
hearts  and  bereaved  households,  is  a  ]irocess 
that  has  swallowed  up  time,  and  I  tell  you  it 
has  strained  the  nerves  prodigiously.  Costly 
as  the  process  has  been,  it  has  paid.  If  I  have 
given  sermons  to  3  ou,  I  have  got  sermons  from 


308      THE  JOTS  OF  THE  CnillSTIAN  MINISTRY. 

you.  The  closest  tie  that  binds  us  together  is 
that  sacred  tie  that  has  been  wound  around  the 
cribs  in  your  nurseries,  the  couches  in  your 
sick  chambers,  the  chairs  at  your  fireside,  and 
even  the  coffins  that  have  borne  away  your 
precious  dead.  My  fondest  hope  is  that,  how- 
ever much  you  may  honor  and  love  my  suc- 
cessor in  this  pulpit,  you  Avill  evermore  keep  a 
warm  place  in  the  chimney-corner  of  your 
hearts  for  the  man  that  gave  the  best  thirty 
years  of  his  life  to  your  service. 

Here  let  me  bespeak  for  my  successor  the 
most  kind  and  reasonable  allowance  as  to  pas- 
toral labors.  Do  not  exx)ect  too  much  from 
him.  Very  few  ministers  have  the  peculiar 
passion  for  pastoral  service  that  I  have  had  ; 
and  if  Christ's  ambassador  who  shall  occui^y 
this  pulpit  proclaims  faithfully  the  wdiole 
gospel  of  God  and  brings  a  sym2)athetic  heart 
to  your  houses,  do  not  criticise  him  unjustly 
because  he  may  not  attempt  to  make  twenty- 
five  thousand  i)astoral  visits  in  thirty  years. 
House  to  house  visitation  has  only  been  one 
hemisphere  of  the  pastor's  work.  I  have  ac- 
cordingly endeavored  to  guard  the  door  of 
yonder  study  so  that  I  might  give  undivided 
energy  to  preparation  for  this  i^ulpit. 

You  know,  my  dear  i)eople,  how  I  have 
preached  and  what  I  have  preached.  In  spite 
of  many  interruptions,  I  have  honestly  handled 
each  topic  as  best  I  could.     The  minister  that 


THE  JO  YS  OF  THE  CHEI8TIAN  MINI8TR  T.     309 

foolishly  runs  races  with  himself  is  doomed  to 
an  early  suicide.  All  that  I  claim  for  my 
sermons  is  that  they  have  been  true  to  God's 
Book  and  tlie  cross  of  Jesus  Christ — have 
been  simple  enough  for  a  child  to  understand, 
and  have  been  preached  in  full  view  of  the 
judgment  seat.  I  have  aimed  to  keej^  this 
pulpit  abreast  of  all  great  moral  reforms  and 
human  progress,  and  the  majestic  marchings 
of  the  kingdom  of  King  Jesus.  The  prepara- 
tion of  my  sermons  has  been  an  unspeakable 
delight.  The  manna  fell  fresh  every  morning, 
and  it  had  to  me  the  sweetness  of  angels'  food. 
Ah,  there  are  many  sharp  pangs  before  me. 
None  will  be  sharper  than  the  hour  that  bids 
farewell  to  yonder  blessed  and  beloved  study. 
For  twenty-eight  years  it  has  been  my  daily 
home — one  of  the  dearest  spots  this  side  of 
Heaven.  From  its  walls  have  looked  down 
upon  me  the  inspiring  faces  of  Chalmers, 
Charles  Wesley,  Spurgeon,  Lincoln  and  Glad- 
stone, Adams,  Storrs,  Guthrie,  Newman  Hall, 
and  my  beloved  teachers,  Charles  Hodge  and 
the  Alexanders  of  Princeton.  Thither  your 
infant  children  have  been  brought  on  Sabbath 
mornings,  awaiting  their  baptism.  Thither 
your  older  children  have  come  by  hundreds  to 
converse  with  me  about  the  welfare  of  their 
souls.  Thither  have  come  all  the  candidates  for 
admission  to  the  fellowship  of  this  church,  and 
Jiave  rnade  there  their  confession  of  faith  ancl 


310     THE  JOYS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTBT. 

their  allegiance  to  Christ.  Oh  whafc  blessed 
interviews  with  inquirers  have  been  held 
there  !  What  sweet  and  hai^py  fellowship 
with  my  successive  bands  of  helpers,  some  of 
whom  have  joined  the  general  assembly  of  the 
redeemed  in  glory.  That  hallowed  study  has 
been  to  me  sometimes  a  Bochim  of  tears,  and 
sometimes  a  Her m on,  when  the  vision  was  of 
no  man  save  Jesus  only.  And  the  work  there 
has  been  a  wider  one  for  a  far  wider  multitude 
than  these  walls  contain  this  morning.  I  have 
written  there  nearly  all  the  hundreds  of 
articles  which  have  gone  out  through  the 
religious  press,  over  this  country,  over  Great 
Britain,  over  Europe,  over  Australia,  Canada, 
India,  and  New  Zealand.  During  my  ministry 
I  have  iiublished  about  3200  of  these  articles. 
Many  of  them  have  been  gathered  into  books, 
many  of  them  translated  into  Swedish, 
Spanish,  Dutch,  and  other  foreign  tongues. 
They  have  made  the  scratch  of  a  very  humble 
pen  audible  to  Christendom.  The  consecrated 
pen  may  be  more  powerful  than  the  consecrated 
tongue.  I  devoutly  thank  God  for  having 
condescended  to  use  my  humble  i)en  to  the 
spread  of  His  gospel ;  and  I  purpose,  with  His 
help,  to  spend  much  of  the  brief  remainder 
of  my  life  in  preaching  His  glorious  gosjoel 
tlirough  the  press. 

I  am  sincerely  sorry  that  the  necessities  of 
this  hour  seem  to  require' so  personal  a  dis- 


THE  JO  TS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTR  Y.      311 

course  this  morning  ;  but  I  must  hide  behind 
the  example  of  the  great  apostle  who  gave  me 
my  text.  Because  he  reviewed  his  ministry 
among  his  spiritual  children  of  Thessalonica,  I 
may  be  allowed  to  review  my  own,  too — stand- 
ing here  this  morning  under  such  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances. These  thirty  years  have  been  to 
me  years  of  unbounded  joy.  Sorrow  I  have 
had,  when  death  paid  four  visits  to  my  house  ; 
but  the  sorrow  tanght  sympathy  with  the  grief 
of  others.  Sins  I  have  committed — too  many 
of  them  ;  youL'  x>^tient  love  has  never  cast  a 
stone.  The  faults  of  my  ministry  have  been 
my  own.  The  successes  of  my  ministry  have 
been  largely  due,  under  God,  to  your  co-opera- 
tion, and,  above  all,  to  the  amazing  goodness 
of  our  Heavenly  Father.  Looking  vay  long- 
pastorate  squarely  in  the  face,  I  think  I  can 
honestly  say  that  I  have  been  no  man's  man  ; 
I  have  never  courted  the  rich,  nor  willfully 
neglected  the  poor  ;  I  have  never  blunted  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit  lest  it  should  cut  your  con- 
sciences, or  concealed  a  truth  that  might  save  a 
soul.  In  no  large  church  is  there  a  perfect 
unanimity  of  tastes  as  to  x^reaching.  I  do  not 
doubt  that  there  are  some  of  you  that  are  quite 
ready  for  the  experiment  of  a  new  face  in  this 
pulpit,  and  perhaps  there  may  be  some  who 
are  lusting  after  the  fat  quail  of  elaborate  or 
philosophic  discourse.  For  thirty  years  I  have 
tried  to  feed   you  on  "nothing  but  manna." 


3 1 2      THE  JO  TS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTR  Y. 

Whatever  the  difference  of  taste,  you  have 
always  stood  by  me,  true  as  steel.  This  has 
been  your  spiritual  home ;  and  you  have  loved 
your  home,  and  you  drank  every  Sunday  from 
your  own  well  ;  and  though  the  water  of  life 
has  not  always  been  xmssed  \\^  to  you  in  a 
richly  embossed  silver  cu^),  it  has  drawn  up  the 
undiluted  gospel  from  the  inspired  fountain 
head.  To  hear  the  truth,  to  heed  the  truth,  to 
"back"  the  truth  with  prayer  and  toil,  has 
been  the  delight  of  the  stanchest  members  of 
this  church.  Oh,  the  children  of  this  church 
are  inexpressibly  dear  to  me  !  There  are  hun- 
dreds here  to-day  that  never  had  any  other 
home,  nor  ever  knew  any  other  pastor.  I 
think  I  can  say  that  "every  bajDtism  has  bap- 
tized us  into  closer  fellowship,  every  marriage 
has  married  us  into  closer  union,  every  funeral 
that  bore  away  your  beloved  dead  only  bound 
us  more  strongly  to  the  living."  Eveiy  invita- 
tion from  another  church — and  I  have  had  some 
very  attractive  ones  that  I  never  told  you 
about — every  invitation  from  another  church 
has  always  been  promj^tly  declined  ;  for  I  long 
ago  determined  never  to  be  j)astor  of  any  other 
than  Lafayette  Avenue  Church. 

What  is  my  joy  or  crown  of  rejoicing  ?  Are 
not  even  ye — ye — in  the  presence  of  Christ  at 
His  coming  ?  Why,  then,  sunder  a  tie  that  is 
bound  to  every  fiber  of  my  inmost  heart?  I 
will  answer  you  frankly.     There  naust  be  no 


THE  JO  YH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTB  T.     313 

concealment  or  false  pretexts  between  us.  In 
the  lirst  place,  as  I  told  you  two  months  ago,  I 
had  determined  to  make  my  thirtieth  anniver- 
sary the  terminal  point  of  my  j)resent  pastor- 
ate. I  determined  not  to  outstay  my  fullest 
capacity  for  the  enormous  work  demanded 
here.  The  extent  of  that  demanded  work  in- 
creases every  twelve  months.  The  require- 
ments of  i^reaching  twice  every  Sunday,  to 
visit  the  vast  number  of  families  directly  con- 
nected with  this  church,  attending  funeral  serv- 
ices, conferring  with  committees  about  Chris- 
tian work  of  various  kinds,  and  numberless 
other  duties — all  these  requirements  are  pro- 
digious. Thus  far,  by  the  Divine  helj:),  I  have 
carried  that  load.  My  health  to-day  is  as  firm 
as  usual ;  and  I  thank  God  that  such  forces  of 
heart  and  brain  as  He  has  given  me  are  un- 
abated. The  chronic  catarrh,  that  long  ago 
muffled  my  ears  to  many  a  strain  of  sweet 
music,  has  never  made  me  too  deaf  to  hear  the 
sweet  accents  of  your  love.  But  I  understand 
my  constitution  well  enough  to  knoAv  that  I 
could  not  carry  the  undivided  load  of  this  great 
church  a  great  while  longer  without  the  risk  of 
breaking  down  ;  and  there  must  be  no  risk  run 
with  you  or  with  myself.  I  also  desire  to  assist 
you  in  transferring  this  magnificent  vessel  to 
the  next  pilot  whom  God  shall  api3oint ;  and  I 
wish  to  transfer  it  while  it  is  well  manned,  well 
equipped,  and  on  the  clear  sea  of  an  unbroken 


314      THE  JOYS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

financial  and  spiritual  prosperity.  No  man 
shall  ever  say  that  I  so  far  presumed  on  the 
generous  kindness  of  this  dear  church  as  to 
linger  here  until  I  had  outlived  my  useful- 
ness. 

For  these  reasons  I  iiresent  to-day  my  res- 
ignation of  this  sacred,  precious  charge.  It  is 
my  honest  desire  and  i^urpose  that  this  day 
must  terminate  my  present  jDastorate.  For 
l^resenting  this  resignation  I  alone  am  responsi- 
ble before  God,  before  this  church,  and  before 
the  world.  When  you  shall  have  accepted  my 
resignation,  the  whole  responsibility  for  the 
welfare  of  this  beloved  church  will  rest  on  your 
shoulders — not  on  mine.  My  earnest  prayer  is 
that  you  may  soon  be  directed  to  the  right 
man  to  be  your  minister,  to  one  who  shall 
unite  all  hearts  and  all  hands,  and  carry  for- 
ward the  high  and  holy  mission  to  which  God 
has  called  you.  He  will  find  in  me  not  a  jeal- 
ous critic,  but  a  hearty  ally  in  everything  that 
he  may  regard  for  the  welfare  of  this  church. 

As  for  myself,  I  do  not  propose  to  sit  down 
on  the  veranda  and  watch  the  sun  of  life  wheel 
downward  in  the  west.  The  labors  of  a  pen 
and  of  a  ministry  at  large  will  afford  me  no 
lack  of  employment.  The  welfare  of  this 
church  is  inexpressibly  dear  to  me — nothing  is 
dearer  to  me  this  side  of  heaven.  If,  there- 
fore, while  this  flock  remains  shepherdless,  and 
in  search  of  my  successor,  I  can  be  of  actual 


THE  JOYS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MIMSTHY.      315 

service  to  yon  in  supplying  at  any  time  this 
puli^it  or  performing  pastoral  labor,  that  serv- 
ice, beloved,  sliall  be  performed  cheerfully. 

The  first  Ihonght,  the  only  thought  with 
all  of  us,  is  this  chnrclj,  this  cJmrcli^  this 
CHURCH.  I  call  no  man  my  friend,  you 
must  call  no  man  your  friend,  that  dt)es  not 
stand  by  the  interests  of  Lafayette  Avenue 
Church.  It  is  now  called  to  meet  a  great 
emergency.  For  the  first  time  in  twenty-eight 
years  this  church  is  subjected  to  a  severe  strait. 
During  all  these  years  you  have  had  very  smooth 
sailing.  You  have  never  been  crip])led  by 
debt ;  you  have  never  been  distracted  with 
quarrels,  and  you  have  never  been  without  a 
XJastor  in  your  pulpit  or  your  homes  when  you 
needed  him.  And  I  suppose  no  church  in 
Brooklyn  has  ever  been  subjected  to  less  strain 
than  this  one.  Now  j^ou  are  called  upon  to 
face  a  new  condition  of  things,  perhaps  a  new 
danger — certainly  a  new  dutj^.  The  duty  over- 
rides the  danger.  To  meet  that  duty  you  are 
strong  in  numbers.  There  are  2350  names  on 
your  church  register.  Of  these,  many  are 
young  children,  many  are  non-residents  who 
have  never  asked  a  dismission  to  other 
churches  ;  but  a  great  army  of  church  mem- 
bers, three  Sabbaths  ago,  rose  up  before  that 
sacramental  table.  You  are  strong  in  a  holy 
harmony.  Let  no  man,  no  woman,  break  the 
ranks  !     You  are  strong  in  the  protection  of 


3 1 6      THE  JO  TS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTR  T. 

tliat  great  Shepherd  who  never  resigns  and 
who  never  grows  old.  "  Lo  !  I  am  with  jou 
alwaj^s !  Lo  !  I  am  with  you  always  !  Lo  !  I 
am  Avith  you  always  !  "  seems  to  greet  me  this 
morning  from  every  wall  of  this  sanctuary.  I 
confidently  expect  to  see  Lafayette  Avenue 
Church  Inove  steadily  forward  with  unbroken 
column,  led  by  the  Captain  of  our  salvation. 
All  eyes  are  upon  you.  The  eye  that  never 
slumbers  or  sleeps  is  watching  over  you.  If 
you  are  all  true  to  conscience,  true  to  your 
covenants,  true  to  Christ,  the  future  of  this 
dear  church  may  be  as  glorious  as  its  past. 
And  when  another  thirty  years  have  rolled 
away,  it  may  still  be  a  strong  tower  of  the 
truth  on  which  the  smile  of  God  shall  rest 
like  the  light  of  the  morning.  By  as  much  as 
you  love  me,  I  entreat  you  not  to  sadden  my 
life  or  break  my  heart  b}^  ever  deserting  these 
walls,  or  letting  the  fire  of  devotion  burn  down 
on  these  sacred  altars. 

The  hands  of  the  clock  warn  me  to  close.  This 
is  one  of  the  most  trying  hours  of  my  whole 
life.  It  is  an  hour  ^vhen  tears  are  only  endur- 
able by  being  rainbowed  with  the  memorj^  of 
tender  mercies  and  holy  joys.  When  my 
feet  descend  those  steps  to-day,  this  will  no 
longer  be  my  pulpit.  I  surrender  it  back  be- 
fore God  into  your  hands.  One  of  my  chiefest 
sorrows  is  that  I  leave  some  of  my  beloved 
hearers  out  of    Christ.     Oh,    you  have   been 


THE  JO  Y8  OF'  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINIkTR  Y.     3 1 T 

faithfully  warned  liere,  and  you  have  been 
lovingly  invited  here  ;  and  once  more,  asthongh 
God  did  beseech  you  by  me,  I  implore  you  in 
Christ's  name  to  be  reconciled  to  God.  This 
dear  pulpit,  whose  teachings  are  based  on  the 
Eock  of  Ages,  will  stand  long  after  the  lips  that 
now  address  you  have  turned  to  dust.  It  will 
be  visible  from  the  judgment  seat ;  and  its 
witness  will  be  that  I  determined  to  know  not 
anything  among  you  save  Jesus  Christ  and 
Him  crucified.  To-day  I  write  the  last  page  in 
the  record  of  thirty  bright,  happy.  Heaven- 
blessed  years  among  you.  What  is  w^ritten  is 
written.  I  shall  fold  up  the  book  and  lay  it 
away  with  all  its  many  faults;  and  it  will  not  lose 
its  fragrance  wdiile  between  its  leaves  are  the 
pressed  flowers  of  your  love.  When  my  clos- 
ing eyes  shall  look  on  that  record  for  the  last 
time,  I  hope  to  discover  there  only  one  name — 
the  name  that  is  above  every  name,  the  name  of 
Him  whose  glory  crowns  this  Easter  morn 
with  radiant  splendor,  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ,  King  of  kings,  Lord  of  lords.  And  the 
last  words  I  utter  in  this  sacred  spot  are,  Unto 
Him  that  loves  us  and  delivers  us  from  sin 
with  His  precious  blood,  and  unto  God,  be  all 
the  praise  and  thanks  and  dominion  and  glory 
forever  and  ever.     Amen. 


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gelical Alliance  for  the  United  States.  8vo,  paper,  $1.00; 
cloth $1  50 

The  important  subject  of  causing,  by  means  of  inter-denominational 
effort,  Christian  principles  and  feeling  to  thoroughly  permeate  ourwhole 
civilization,  was  elaborately  discussed  by  Phillips  Brooks,  Josiah  Strong, 
Richard  T.  Ely,  Howard  Crosby,  Bishop  Huntington,  Joseph  Cook,  and 
many  others    who   are  giving  direction  to  the  thought  of  to-day. 

"  This  Boston  Conference  is  the  most  importatit  event  in  the  American 
religious  world  which  we  have  been  permitted  to  chronicle  in  a  very  long 
time." — The  Churchman. 

NATIONAL  PERILS  AND  OPPORTUNITIES.  The  Dis- 
cussions of  the  General  Christian  Conference  held,  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  Dec.  7-9,  1887,  under  the  auspices  and  direction 
of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  for  the  United  States.  Svo, 
cloth $1   50 

The  book  is  indispensable  to  every  Christian  who  would  keep  abreast  of 
current  religious  thought  and  effort. 

Among  the  speakers  were:  Dr.  S.  J.  McPherson,  Dr.  Arthur  T.  Pier- 
son,  Pre's.  James  W.  McCosh,  Bishop  Samuel  Harris,  Dr.  Josiah  Strong,  Dr. 
Washington  Gladden,  Dr.  A.  F.  Schauffler,  and  fiftv  other  prominent  rep- 
resentatives of  all  denominations  and  all  sections  of  the  country. 

"All  the  prominent  social  questions  which  now  confront  the  churches 
were  discussed,  and  the  foremost  men  in  the  churches  were  present  to 
discuss  them." — Christian  Unicrn. 

PEET— COURSE  OF  INSTRUCTION  FOR  THE  DEAF 
AND    DUMB.     Part    i.     ELEMENTARY    LESSONS.     P.y 

Harvey  P.  Peet,  LL.  D.  308  pages,  cloth 90  cts. 

This  work  has  been  used  in  American  and  foreign  institutions  for  the 
deaf  and  dumb  for  upwards  of  thirty  years,  and  has  won  an  enviable  repu- 
tation as  a  book  excellently  adapted  to  its  purpose. 

PEET— COURSE  OF  INSTRUCTION.  Part  III.  By  Har- 
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Containing  a  development  of  the  verb  :  illustrations  of  idioms  ;  lessons 
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a  description  of  each  month  in  the  year. 

This  is  one  of  the  best  reading  Ijooks  that  has  ever  been  prepared  for 
deaf-mutes,  and  furnishes  an  excellent  practical  method  of  making  them 
familiar  with  pure,  simple,  idiomatic  English.  It  is  well  adapted,  also, 
for  the  instruction  of  hearing  children. 

PEET-HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF 
AMERICA.  By  Harvey  P.  Peet,  LL.  D.  423  pages, 
cloth $1  50 

Extending  from  the  discovery  of  the  continent  to  the  close  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln's  administration.  A  work  of  great  accuracy,  written  in  a 
pure  idiomatic  style. 


Catalogue  of  TJie  Baker   &"  Taylor  Co. 

RUSSELL— WHAT  JESUS  SAYS.  Being  an  arrangement 
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a  full  index.     By  Rev.  Frank  Russell,  D.  D.     i2mo,  cloth,$i  25 

"The  idea  of  the  book  is  original  ;  the  execution  is  excellent,  and  can- 
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Lord  has  said.  'His  simple  words  are  so  covered  up  with  glosses  and 
commentaries  that  we  are  almost  unable  to  consider  their  natural  mean- 
ing. In  accomplishing  this  most  desirable  result  of  listening  to  Christ 
alone,  this  work  is  most  serviceable  to  us  all." — J,  B,  AngcU,  LL.D,  Pres. 
Michigan  University. 

RYLE— EXPOSITORY    THOUGHTS    ON   THE  GOSPELS. 

By  Rev.  J.  C.  Ryle.     7  vols.,  i2ino,  cloth  in  a  set $8  00 

Matthew,  I  vol.;  Mark,  i  vol.;  Luke,  2  vols.;  John,  3  vols.     Each 
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three  to  John.  As  indicated  by  the  title,  the  work  is  pre-eminently 
expository  in  character.  In  his  treatment  of  Matthew,  Mark  and  Luke, 
the  author  divides  the  text  of  sacred  Scripture  into  passages  of  about 
twelve  verses  each,  which,  taken  as  a  whole,  serves  as  a  basis  for  a  con- 
tiimous  series  of  short,  plain  "Expositions."  To  this  method  he  adds, 
when  treating  the  Gospel  by  John,  the  verse  by  verse  exegesis.  The 
practical  lessons  and  inferences  from  the  passages  given  are  followed 
by  notes  explanatory,  doctrinal  and  hortatory,  and  tlie  views  of  other 
commentators  are  presented  from  time  to  time. 

"It  is  the  kernels  without  the  shells." — Christian  Union. 

"It  has  a  sure  place  in  many  famlies  and  in  nearly  every  minister's 
library." — Lutheran   Observer. 

"The  work  of  a  ripe  scholar.  These  expository  thoughts  have  met  with 
the  heartiest  welcome  from  the  press  of  the  leading  Christian  denomina- 
tions in  this  country." — hiter- Ocean. 

SCOTT— THE  WAVERLEY  NOVELS.  By  Sir  Walter 
Scott.  Centenary  Edition.  In  25  vols.,  illustrated  with  158 
Steel  Plates,  and  containing  additional  Copyright  Notes  from 
the  author's  pen  not  hitherto  published,  besides  others  by  the 
editor,  the  late  David  Laing,  LL.D.  With  a  General  Index, 
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"The  edition  is  an  admirable  one.  It  is  one  of  the  best  editions  avail- 
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SCOTT— THE  INTERNATIONAL  POSTAGE  STAMP 
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STRONG— OUR  COUNTRY.    By  Rev.  Josiah  Strong,  D.  D., 

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This  revision  shows  the  changes  of  the  last  ten  years  and  pictures  the 
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day. The  present  edition  has  been  printed  from  entirely  new  plates,  and 
enlarged  by  the  addition  of  more  than  one-third  new  matter.  Diagrams 
have  also  been  employed  to  forcibly  illustrate  some  of  ihe  more  startling 
facts  and  comparisons.  In  its  new  form  it  adds  to  its  original  worth  the 
merit  of  being  the  first  general  application  of  the  results  of  the  recent 
census  to  the  discussion  of  the  great  questions  of  the  day. 

"This  book  has  already  been  read  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  our 
people,    and  no  publication  of  the  present  decade  has  awakened  a  more 

Erofoundand  intelligent  interest.  Since  it  was  issued  the  census  of  1890  has 
een  completed  and  the  situation  of  the  country  has  changed  in  many  re- 
spects. A  new  edition  of  a  work  so  valuable  and  impressive  was  therefore 
demandecT,  and  Dr.  Strong  has  met  the  denaand  by  a  careful  revision  of  the 
original  work  and  the  addition  of  a  large  amount  of  new  material  with  illus- 
trative diagrams.  In  its  present  form,  and  it  is  still  compact  and  easily 
handled,  we  again  commend  it  to  all  Christian  and  patriotic  American  Citi- 
zens."— New  York  Observer. 

THWING— THE  WORKING  CHURCH.  By  Charles  F. 
Thwing,  D.D.     i6mo,  cloth.     Revised  and  enlarged. ..  .75  cts. 

A  careful  treatise  on  the  best  methods  of  making  the  church  organization 
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II.  The  Character  of  Church  Work  ;  III.  The  Worth  and  the  Worthlessness 
of  Methods;  IV.  Among  the  Cliildren  ;  V.  Among  the  Young  People  ;  VI. 
Among  Business  Men  ;  VII.  From  the  Business  Point  of  View  ;  VIII.  Two 
Special  Agencies  ;  IX.  The  Treatment  of  Strangers;  X.  The  Unchurched ; 
XI.  Duties  towards  Benevolence;  XII.  The  Rewards  of  Christian  Work; 
XIII.  The  Country  Church. 

"It  would  be  difficult  to  point  to  another  work  on  the  subject  in  which 
so  much  valuable  material  is  furnished,  and  in  so  small  a  compass." — 
Congrcgationalist . 

"Full  of  thought,  vigor  and  push,  of  sound  wisdom  delightfully  infused 
with  devout  feeling,  it  is  sure  to  do  good  wide  and  long." — A\t'.  R.  S.  Storrs, 
D.D. 

THOMPSON— SONGS  IN  THE  NIGHT  WATCHES, 
FROM  VOICES  OLD  AND  NEW.  Compiled  by  PIelen 
H.  Strong  Thompson,  with  an  introduction  by  Dr.  Josiah 
Strong.  317  pages,  cloth,  full  gilt,  $1  25  ;  full  leather, 
padded , $2  25 

"This  is  a  collection  of  religious  verse  designed,  in  the  words  of  the 
compiler,  'to  pierce  with  a  joyous  note  the  darkness  of  the  night.'" 

"Nothing  lovelier  than  your  '  Songs  in  the  Night '  has  ever  come  into  my 
way." — Margaret  E.  Sajtgster. 

"The  sweetest  songs  ever  sung  this  side  of  Y{g.7X\^\\," —Northwestern Pres- 
byterian, 


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THORNE— FUGITIVE  FACTS.  An  Epitome  of  General  in- 
formation, obtained  in  Large  Part  from  Sources  not  Generally 
Accessible  and  covering  more  than  One  Thousand  Topics  of 
General  Interest  and  Frequent  Inquiry.  By  Robert  Thorne, 
M. A.     8vo,  cloth $2  CO 

"  It  answers  hundreds  of  such  questions  as  are  addressed  to  our  Depart- 
ment of  Replies  and  Decisions,  and  will  be  found  invaluable  in  the  family, 
in  the  office,  in  the  schoolroom,  and  wherever  else  there  is  an  inquiring 
mind. — Neiu  York  jfournal  of  Conitnerce. 

"  It  is  as  full  of  information  as  an  egg  is  of  meat,  and,  from  the  composi- 
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—  The  Nation . 

TODD— INDEX  RERUM.  By  John  Todd,  D.D.  Revised  and 
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ing a  margin  for  the  insertion  of  the  word  most  expressive  of  the  subject 
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the  minimum  of  effort  it  secures  a  lasting  record  of  every  reference  that 
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"  An  indispensable  part  of  every  literary  man's  equipment." — Chicago 
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TODD— THE  STUDENT'S  MANUAL.  By  John  Todd,  D.D. 
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President  oJ~ Curators,  State  University,  Mich. 

VON  HOLST— THE  POLITICAL  AND  CONSTITUTION- 
AL HISTORY  OFTHE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 

By  Dr.  H.  Von  Holst.  Translated  from  the  German  by  John 
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WALTON-THE  COMPLEAT  ANGLER;  OR,  THE  CON- 
TEMPLATIVE MAN'S  RECREATION.  By  Izaak  Wal- 
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