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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour 6tre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche i droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. rata 3 elure, 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 iV i ^%, REV. etmons ri?t DH. WILD'S Sunbat lEvcnino Sermons. V V i .-4-.*.^* * . ^■J^ ,fsmmmmmff)m^mm*Mmii 7 i^iaikLa-ik^ ■Hi m DR. WILD'S SUNDAY EVENING SERMONS. ^0t0uta: ROSE PUBLISHING COMPANY (Lti> ) I WS5- *•• : '" I I • PREFACE. ■ ■'' ■ * •."■■ '■' . -.^/ '■"■'*, » .-•-■■: '■■;-. 1 WING to the deep interest taken in the Sunday Evening Sermons preached by Dr. Wild, in tho Bond Street Congregational Cluirch in this city, the publishers have reproduced twenty of those delivered within the present year, including the three on the Batti.k of AuMAGKJjDON, where it will take place, and the result thereof. To tliose who take an interest in tho study of prophecy, we conunend the volume, as it con- tains the CVie/Js-tfceityre of that eminent Biblical scholar and perfound student of prophecy, Dr. Wild. The other discourses will amply repay perusal, treating as they do on some of the most vital of the current topics of the ^mm--f^n2r.wi:it %fr r "■ Mn CONTENTS. PACK Can a Max Die wefore itis Time ? . . , 9 The Influence of one Mind over Another , 17 How FAR IS Man a Free Agent? .' . ♦ 1^6 The Behking Seal Question and Fishery Dispute 33 The Finger of God in the xIistory of the Na- tions . . , . . . . . 41 Creed or no Creed ... , . 49 How to be Prepared if it should Happen . 57 Answ^er to a Man who Grumhles hecause I ob- ject TO BEING Damned . . . . , 65 The Decision of the Manitoba JSupekior Court IN THE Separate School Case . # . . 73 Let Him come, Well and Good .... 80 Should the British (Government Discuiminate AGAINST Catholics? . . . . . 89 Lessons from the late Elections . » , 96 Spirits out of Bodies 104 The Jews' Return to Palestine . , .113 Our New Bodies 120 # • •• Vlll Contents. Stepping up to the Mark by Overstepping it . What the Hornets did • • • v"The Battle of Armageddon" . • • • Armageddon : Who will take part in the Great Battle . The Place and Kesult of the Battle of Arxv- GEDDON ... PAGE 128 .1 136 143 151 157 \ •smmwmmdn^fmamm m •m ^ i mm^Mm- i SEI^IMIOIsrS BY THE RBV. DR. WILD. CAN A MAN DIE BEFORE HIS TIME ? Text, Eccl., 7th chap., 17th verse; — ** Be not overmuch wicked, neither be thou fooliah : why ahouldst thou die before thy time." T seems reasonable to me that I should infer and believe that godliness in practice is favourable to long life in this world, and that wickedness has a tendency to shorten our days on earth. I have no doubt but that many lives are shortened wilfully and some ignorantly, and by causes that are individual and collective. So far as we can see and judge, there are persons who cut short their lives, some by negleci and some by acts of others : r.s oppression, starvation, murder and neglect, — tney are allowed to die be- fore their time. The question I am asked to answer is : " Can a man die before his time ] " Those asking this qp^stion mean, I suppose, " Can a man die beforo his God-appokated time ? " Not, does he appear to us to die before his time, but when he does, whether by murder or any other human cause, the time of his death is the time — God-appointed time when he should cease to live. I presume that is the meaning of the question. Persons believing so, we may truly name ** Ultra Calvinists," and those who are not Christians- we . lay truly call " fatalists." But I may here remark there are two kinds of fatalists : the first is the Christian fatalist, who believes God foreknew and fore-ordained all things, hence nothing can transpire unknown to Him or outside of the fixed i/1 m Sermons. I ! I facta of ordination. If their view of foroordination be cor- rect, it follows of course no one can die before their tim(!, for cause and effect being pre-determint'd, there is no will or power that can change, or operate IVom the outside, for there is no outside to the infinity of God. The second kind of fatalist we may justl}'- call materialistic. He argues, and, I sup[)Ose, believes that the whole universe is unvaryingly and unalter- ably fixed in its relations to cause and effect. Everything will just have to be as nature has it in its power. In the light of this theory it would be as reasonablf to accept an effect with- out a cause, as that a man can die before his time. For my- self, I do not accept either theory ; they are both deceptive, and falsely constructed ; they assume the very things they should prove, and confound things that are equal with things that are very unequal. There is a great deal of arguiuentu- tive dust thrown in the eyes of ;peopls by persons who have certain pet theories to advocate and defend by argument ; sometimes you will find tlie premises are false, and the applica- tion correct ; again the premises you will find right, and the application wrong. We have current a number of short say- ings that are very misleading and vitiating to the purity of doctrinal conceptions, and they control any theology just as the little duties do in common aliairs of life^ as Wednesday, in the little poem, is the best day to get married. Well, that controls, I suppose, one-half of the married people. YoU say there is no sense in it, but that does not make any difference. So there is no sense in those little sayings, theologically, that makes any difference, as long as they control men in their theological ideas, b^or instance the saying : '• What is to be, will be," very /true indeed. But what do they want to prove by such a truthful statement 1 Why, that all things are pre- determined and fore-ordained, — a false inference and applica- tion as you will s e; for while it is true that what is to be will be, it is eqn ly true that all that will be need not be, — everyone can see that point. Everyone knows things might be different from what they are, and it is very probable from what they will be, and this is so because man is a free agent ; of this I am conscious, and in our courts and business wo act on the assumption'' that man in some degree is free to act Whatever fore-ordination is or means, man's free agency is a H ;-^-ft>- Oan a Man die before his Time t It I be cor- timo, for or power leio is no i' fatalist suj)[>ose, unalter- hin^c will B light of ect with- For my- eceptive, igs .h they things ;unienti-i- 'ho have »uraent ; applica- and tJie 10 rt suy- )nrity of just as sday, in ill, that ^o\i say ference. ly, that their s to be, o prove re pre- Eipplica- to be t be, — i might le from agent ; wo act to act 2y is a fact beyond successful contradiction. My freedom I know from my owa experience ; fore-ordination I can only know at the very beat by an argument. No argument is as strong as a man's consciousness, and a man is very unwise that will submit his own consciousness to an argument. If there is a cor.liict, we want the argument in every case. In other words, it is ' their own or somebody else's fault they did not live longer than some person's, independent of all theories of fatalism. 1 believe young Mr. Benwell might have lived longer but for Birchal!. I do not believe Benwell died at God's .appointed time, or if I accept Birchall as his murderer, that he was forced to kill his young English friend, and that neither the death nor the murder was a|>pointed by God and fore-ordained by Heaven. In Job, 7th chap., and 1st verse, we read : " Is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth ? Are not his days also like the days of an hireling?" Yes, I be- lieve there is a divinely appointed time just as surely as th«! servant is hired for a definite period, and that the servant can cut short his time if he pleases ; I believe man can cut shoit his time with God and Heaven if he so desires ; and they do. A good man will live his appointed time, but there are plenty not being good will nob live out the days first given them from Heaven. So a man may break the covenant of time between God and himself respecting this earth-life, because there is »n appointed time. We should have the spirit of Job ; see what he says in the 14th chapter and 14th verse : "All the days of my appointed tune will I wait till my change comes." That is the spirit that should regulate us, and not in a fit of despair take our own lives and refuse to wait till God calls up. I may go before He gives me the call ; 1 should wait, as Job says, patiently, till Heaven's call comes. I feel persuaded that some are not permittcti to wait their appointed time, and others shorten that time by their own act. Prov. loth chap. 27th verse, " The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be short- ened.*' I will read again from Psalm 55 and 23rd verse, " But thou O God shalt bring theiu down into the pit of destruction : bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days : but I will trust in Thee." What do these passages mean ? The same thing we can see by observation, that men are I 12 Sermons. I III i ■ ■ guilty of self-murder, sometimes suddenly, sometimes slowly, but just as surely indeed. As we know the tirst Command- menc with a promise is one of long lite, iJeut. 5th chap. IGth verse, " Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that thy days may be prolonged." That may aj)ply to the individual, that it will lengthen out his life I believe ; generally it may apply to the people ; they will be permitted to live longer in the land of Palestine. By collective causes many have their days of life on earth made miserable as well as poor. The inequalitieg, tyranny and compulsion of this age make us collectively murderers, and the whole of Toronto might be brought before the bar of God for deaths that occur within its precincts. Think of the thousands, whose scanty living, hard work, impoverished homes, doom them to an early grave. My ortnodoxy shrinks from seeing some of those afflicted children of earth lie down to die, as an over-burdenel horse sinks down by tlie wayside from over-work, pounding and neglect of its master, go down to the torments of purgatory or the revenging flames of hell in the name of the good Lord. God have mercy upon us and our orthodoxy when put in such a corner. 1 aai pertecily will- ing to believe that murderer Day who was hanged ifi Wellaneiation for weeks or months. By pure, feiuc(Te and earnest prayer I believe we can affect the minds of the unconverted for their good, even though in some cases they may be thousands of miles away from us ; so I believe the prayers of the rightfous can help the uncon- verted in sickness, or I would never pray for them, and in some cases I can draw no other inference than that ^od has healed them through the prayers of the good. Sure as we live, mind does impinge upon mind ; there is a highway from mind to mind independent of the senses, over which flow the forces of good or evil unknowingly and imperfectly understood by us, nevertheless we are constantly influencing one another through our minds. In days to come I believe this highway and power will be better understood : what is now incidental and uncorn- mon will become general and frequent. Take the cases I have referred to, as Mr. Muller, it is a grand thing for him that he can use the influence of God, who is in Australia, and on this or any other continent, to move man and woman in all parts of the world without his personally seeing them, and promj)t them to send a subscription or a gift to his home, and that he can move a sufficient number every year; and though many never send but once and some of his givers die, he never lacks. Now it is a mighty strong power, but I can understand that when a man is acting through God and God being everywhere, distance makes no difference. He can move a man in Australia to remember the orphans in Bristol, as well as he can move one in England or Canada ; and that such things are done no one can dispute. And take our friend the Rev, Mr. Dowie. I asked him with regard to his children, for he has several ; have they not ever been sick ? No, sir, nor ever had a drop of medicine ; I cannot allow my children to be sick. Now the oldest u about seventeen years of age. Will you explain to me how that man, by what some call pre- sumptioa and some fa&aticiam, has kept bis family well ; can vj iHiiai SB Tke Ivjiuence of one Mind over Anotlier, 21 « you do the same 1 Is there any rule or law that you know of that would he operative in a fan.ily ? You say he doesn't do it hy faith ; what does that matter so long as it is «Ione 1 Can we not recogtiize an effect if we might dispute the cause ? And there are a number Who have families just the 8au)e, who have lived having the wholesonu) effect of health and strength, and meeting with no accidents, and these men say that (iod is their protector. What am I to say in opposition ? 1 am simply to take their word until I find out that it is done by seme other means. PeiKons of intense passions easily oveiflow, and we can feel tiieir glo(mi or good cheer ; when we enter their pres- ence we can see from the countenance of the hum.in frame the inward emotions of the spirit ; how^ when a person is angry, the eye Hashes and fetands out, the blood rushes to the neck, the mouth and lower jaw is determinedly fixed, the fisis are gripped and the attituw ^ of the person is one of btab lity ; and here is anger. Then you ste the expression of joy ; the clear- ness in the eye, the calmness in the countenance, the mouth slightly opened and pleasiug, and the limbs lax atid free. So you have the diffeieub expressions of the passions in the man, and by thiH outward sen;:ayment but wanted the owner to go with him. He had been at the house several times before ; they had a little girl about live years of age who loved the 22 Sermons. i I i stranger and would fondle him and delighted in his presence till the llist time he called, and she shrank from him, nor could they induce her to sit on his lap or kiss him, and when the father went away with him she could not be pacified, but cried " poor papa, poor papa ; don't let him go mamma." But he went ; the resul was tliat he was shot by the Kentucky gen- tleman and thrown over the edge of a rock and naturally was supposed to be killed. It is generally affirmed that he thought of getting rid of a certain payment of this land. The father not returning at night caused tlje child to weep so that she almost went into fits, and all the time kept crying " poor papa." Now, my friends, Low did this child come to have this repulsive feeling towards this man ? The way I would interpret it is, that the man had already made up his mind to commit the murder; it was a decision come to by him, and b^ing so, when coming in contact with the little girl, with a loving and open mind, and her love for her father overflowing, the evil mind of the stranger jarred on her mind and cniised the repulsion. And there are scores of such instances occur- ring daily. Our minds can be in a jiassive, willing, or resisting state ; we can resist God and all His influences or we can invite them by being willing, or we can be in a passive state, letting things come and go. These things are well known to practised mes- merists ; they know that a jterson can resist or invite them, or be in a passive state. The same state of mind meets our faitli and prayer ; some people resist the prayer and faith, some are careless and passive. The blind train the sense of touch in the finger end to a very delicate point. Some detectives have willing minds and by training them invite impressions. A person having made up his mind to steal may unwittine'ly convey that decision to the detective if he comes near him. 1 knew a detective in one of the large New York stoves who tola me that in eight cases out of ten of strangers passing him he could feel the impression when they came in to rob the store, and he would set a special watch upon them ; sometimes he was mistaken, but he was in eight cases out of ten correct. How would you account for that ] They go in on purpose, their mind is made up, and that mind impresses the detective who has beea thrown in that direction to feel the impress. ^^'^•': •uJiMyjktoMiMii&iMiiH lence ;ould [1 the but But • gen- 7 was 3Ught Father a.t she ' poor have would ind to n, and with a owing, caused 1 occur- state ; e them ; things d nies- lem, or Lir faith )me are ouch ill iectives essious. ittinely lar him. ves who ing him rob the metimes correct. pur))08e, ktective ■ess. The Influence of one Mind over Another. 23 ._ I am more than ever convinced that T do an injustice to any person against whom I harbor in my mind hate or malice oc evil of any kind ; " how much h irm and how it is exactly done I do not know, but little or much, 1 am thoroughly persuaded I do my neighbor a wrong if I think evil of him. I repeat. I cannot tell how it affects them, but in some cas^s we find out that we have affected them, and I believe we do so. Now a pure heart and pure generous thoughts towards our friends are helpful to them, whatever we may think. Many persons are not aware how much of wrong they do themselves by having a resistan* mind towards the Gospel influences ; it is a wonder how persons will resist the kindest promptings of the Holy Spirit. I have seen people bow down in the very pew and could not stand, and yet have sought help to get out of the church rather than yield their hearts to God. You can see how mighty resistant power is, since their judgment and their affection say, Give your heart to God, and yet they rise up with resistant mind and go from the house of God unsaved and unyielding to Him. Prayer, faith, and healing powers are neutralized by a resist- ant attitude of^ind. 1 like to pray for a person when I think they are in sympathy with what I am about to do. I do not like to be called in to pray at the invitation of an outside friend, and bow down or stand as it may be, to offer prayer for a person who cares no more about it than I caro for the aborigines of Australia, and I can feel whether the person I am praying for is in sympathy with the simple utterances I am offering to (lod on their behalf. We see the power of re- sistance in the Saviour's sufferings at Nazareth, through the unbelief of the people. Even the Saviour's strong arm was neutralized, Matthew, 13th chap., 58uh verse, "And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." May it not be well at the beginning of a New Year to ex- amine yourselves and learn what attitude of mind you are in. What has been your position in the year that has passed % Have you been resistant ? Has there been one action or many when your soul has melted in tenderness, and when guilt was felt a burden, and judgment had condemned you, and you feel ashamed that you did not come out and take up your cross like a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I may well tell you ii I \' pit 24 SermonA that your resistant power will gain on you, and the power that moves you to God will slacken, and the time will come when it will be no great effort to be indifferent to all good influences around you. Take advantage of to-night and give your heart to God, and help me in the exercise of your prayer, and at the tsame time may I not be of greater service to you, and may we not one and all be of greater service to each other, if we will only wisely make use ot the power that is given us. I ask no vain thing when I ask you to remember me in your prayers and cherish in your mind a loving good-will towards me. I teach you that you can help me, and that you can bring wisdom into my mind. 1 teach you that you have it partly in your power to keep me in health and strength, and make me vigorous and successful. So that I am not asking a thing contrary to my teaching when I ask this, to be lovingly and prayerfully remembered by you, and for the year to come may we all present loving petitions one for another that it may profitably pass by. May the Lord smile upon us and spare us through tlie com- ing year. Should any of us be called, may our home be in Heaven. Amen. I 1 HI ;# ;-V HOW FAR IS MAN A FREE AGENT ? \ii Text, John, 8th chap. 3'2n(l verse: — " And ye shall know the trutli, and the truth shall make you free. " RUTHS and facts, theories and arguments, are sus- takied by different degrees of proof; our duty, there- fore, as reasonable and responsible creatures, is to accept and govern ourselves by those that have the highest authority : for surely such a couisu of conduct must produce and insure the greatest amount of prosperity and hap- piness for the individual as well as for the nation. It may seem a little strange for me to state, but I am persuaded of its truths, that I know a number of persons whose faith and creed are not su&tained by the highest authority of Bible teach- ing, reason or common sense. They accept a minority and reject a majority, out of a number of equally plain truths that are revealed. They will, for instance, quote half a dozen plain passages from the Book of Daniel and Revelation and reject twenty quotations equally as plain from the Gospel of otiier sacred 1 ooks of the Scriptures. You ask me if I mean to say the Scriptures contradict themselves 1 My answer is, they appear to do so, but we are all agreed and believe that in reality they do not. The apparent discrepancy arises out of the limited knowledge, and what we may very aptly call an unconscious bias, in our methods of reasoning. In such a case you ask. What course should we pursue? I answer, "the majority course : " if ten passages prove to you, i)lainly and apparently, one doctrine, and twenty others apparently and as plainly prove its opposite, your duty is to be governed by the twenty. A statement like that seems almost uncalled for, yet you will find that men and women quite frequently govern themselves by a minority. A ])rofePsed admirer of mine from England paid me a visit last summer. He praised me very much for the work I have done in connection with Anglo- Israelism. He told me I had a great many friends across the water : I was very glad to know it. He afterwards said, B 2'i t*->ii:«l|> 'i^:}i^iSiu>.S Mii mimammikimattiimmm 26 Sermons. ■\ " fieveral of us feel very sorry ttiat you do not espouse the doctrine of soul-sleep and conditional immortality : " I answer- ed, "I am sorry you are sorry ; " 1 guess we are all trying to do the best we can. You know when a man gets hold of one of these special ideas, he will peck at you every chance he gets ; so when we were quietly alone he began again. I said. What passages do you chiefly rely on as being your best proofs that the soul sleeps after physical death until the general res- urrection." He answered, " They are quite numerous, Doctor." Well, I said, " Give me a few of them." He dia so. ** Don't you think they very plainly prove that doctrine 1 " I said, " They do as far as I can see." " Why don't you believe it then?" ^'Well have patience till I give you a few passages that teach the very opposite ; " and I doubled up on him. Then he began to say, " Oh well, you have to explain those ;" " I can explain yours too, and I have only ten of yours to ex- plain and you have about twenty of mine." It slopped all our talk on this subject as long as he was with me. Now I am perfectly sure that that good brother is governed by a min- ority, and not by a majority of evidence in that simple case alone. ■ '■-'/■■ ^'j.->'^- .,.>■■'•■■•'- -• ■ ' ' ■' ■ •■ ■'a'" Again, some argue so closely, and, we may -say, from our standpoint — wrongly — on the foreknowledge of God, that they very naturally in applying their theory to practice, ordain and predestinate all that comes to pass, leaving the only logical inference that is possible, that man is a mere providential machine set in motion by the great God during His eternal ex- istence, which motion in directed to hell or Heaven, and will end there in spite of the machines themselves. They also quote certain passages that seem to favor this theory ; but agiiin, I admit the apparent plainness of such} passages, and I admit there is force in these quotations ; but I can off-set them with others equally as plain and more numerous. Then why should I be an Uitra-calvinist 1 There is no reason why I should, if 1 wish to govern myself by the greatest araounbof evi . >' and independent of argument, man's free agency is known and proved by Ins own self-consciousnens ; he is day by day thoroughly persuaded that in some degree he is a free agent. He needs no argument to produce this consciousness, for it spurns all argument and asks no such weak support ; it is entirely independent of reasoning, for it is his own daily ex- perience. And surely no on'^- should be justified in yielding a fact of consciousness to a fact of mere argument. Whatever foreknowledge and predestination mean, this I know, " I am a free agent /' therefore 1 cannot interpret those passages so as to destroy my own self- consciousness. The nature of free agency and its extent or limitations are matters suitable for debate, and you may argue on those points. Our knowledge and activities of body and mind are from several sources : much of our knowledge and activity are prior to and independent of argument : three-fifths of all any man knows, he knows without argument. Do you think that is a rash statement ? Analyze what you know. For free agency there is a better foundation than argument. These sources referred to are, — First, ''instinct," second, "institu- tion," third, "experience," fourth, "reasoning." I need not take your time to prove the nature and work of instir-ct ; this Divine gift is so widely and generally spread abroad in nature, both in the vegetable and animal as w^eil as the human world, that any careful observer must have noticed the beauties and wonders of instinct. The young bird takes naturally to flying without being taught ; the little chick to picking and scratching ; the young ducks — though their mother be a hen — take naturally to the water ; and I was greatly amused last summer noticing a turtle's nest turned over by the ploughman. I found the turtles were about ready to come forth from thrir eggs, and with their beautiful shell houses (for they carry the'.r own houses with them, and have no rent to pay, thank God), they seemed to be taking in the surroundings, and finally they began slowly creeping towards the bank of the river and went down into the water. Now, I wondered why they did not turn their face in one of three other directions ; they might have travelled for Ibrty miles before getting to water ; they knew which way to go. The mother never came to show them the way ; they knew that all right : that is instinct. WPI.WPH'-' :.«»(« r »fr- ii 11 28 Sermons. Supposing I had a field, in which was growing five hundred diff. reufc kinds of herbs or plants, and I turned a number of animals into it ; each one will, of its own taste, directed by in- stinct, take a certain number of the plants and reject the rest. The ox, for instance, would eat 276 and leave untouched 224 ; the sheep would eat 327 and pass by 173 ; the goat would consume 449 and only leave 51 ; a horse would eat 262 and would let alone 238 ; so I could go on with the pig, geese, ducks, and chickens, they could make a selection without hav- ing studied botany in the schools, and know exactly what suits them. What is that t '* That is instinct ; " equal to any botanical knowledge you could speak of. *' God put it in them." We have instinct, directing us especially in our early begin- nings, directing ua to the fount of life, the mother's breast, and continuing to direct us in part all the way from the birth to the grave. And when that cliange called death takes place, instinct will take out the pins, untie the knots and relieve the soul from the tabernacle without being taught, and does it quietly and well. I have often stood beside the dying, when I would say, now, instinct is coming to cut the strings that hold the jaw : — "down goes the jaw " — '^ it is done." "That is instinct." Come to intuition, that is that which comes to us sponta- neously, that seems a part of our very being, such as a know- ledge of our own identity ; such as, that there are other j)eople besides ourselves, and such as liberty and authoiity and dis- tance : we are never taught this by argument, we can know it naturally. Come to experience, and what a wonderful source of infor- mation we have here, as pleasure and sorrow, pain and sufier- ing, anger and joy, fear and shame, innocence and guilt, not one of which you can prove by argument, but any one of which, we all know what is meant, for we have these impulses in our mind and in our heart ; and once we have felt the throb- bings of pain we can talk about it, and we could not if we hadn't, nor could we conceive the idea. You see the sources of our knowledge and activity. You come to reason : — this deals with the right and wrong of things, the good and bad of authority, and power and all mi w^mmmmmmmm .^-»^^^^:x^mw,.^»«■«r■ai««,,a^)«I,n-,i »-.M.»»-.y^ ^ ' f "-rtlriiifiiriir How far is Man a Fre^ Agent ? human freedom and reason, and has a very im[>ortant. j>art to play whfiii we live in families, cities and nations, hecause there are so many questions that must be adjusted simply by reason. We have thoughts that we are conscious of as bein^ right and wrong. A thought is as tangible as this piece of brass : we cannot w^igh it, we cannot tell its shape, color, odour, but we know that thoughts ^.r^* facts, and sometimes they are a burden, and sometimes excite us wonderfully ; thoughts are realities and have their home in a real spiiituai nature. Many have false ideas of freedom, that they test from a lawless looseness, to do as they want, even though they cuhi vate their wants in a wrong direction : if you restrain them they think they are not free. True freedom is best expressed in a manly and honourable control of one's self. We have, of course, liberty to do wrong, but we have not the right : in fact, there is more real lilteity in restraint than in indulgence, there is more liberty in praying than in swearing, and in sobriety than in drunkenness. We have many times to re- strain ourselves, and we know that the restraint is an evidence of our liberty. Here is another illustration from a preacher who called to see me. He was a smpat little fellow, prim ; I hated to rub against him lest I should spoil him ; he was so nice I liked to walk down street with him. When we left the house some little girls came up and said, " hello, Doctor ; " I said, " hello ! Where are you going 1 " *' Oh, just down street." We got to Church-street, and met two boys there. One said, "Are you going to preach on Sunday morning. Doctor," and the other little fellow said, *' No, he isn't." When we got a little farther down he said, " Doctor, do you speak to children on the street that way V *'I do, if they speak to me ; " it is a habit I got from my father. " Well, don't you think it loweis your dignity, Doctor, with the people." The first word I thought of — 1 don't know whether it is proper to have said it — but it was at the top of my throat ; I had a grent notion to say, "You Poppinjay, \fhat are you thinking of ?" Now, it would not have been very well-mannered of me to have said it, and it would have shown I was not in control of my own liberty, so I did not say it. Eestraint is wholesome at times. :••:? fipa^K r^m^~-vi^--vm^'i! ' '.:'.-!mm^>eim:'iiimmii'. 30 Sermons. lii I kne)v a gentleman who, when I asked why he was not at church as frequently as he used to be, ho waid, tremblingly and with tears in his eyes, " Doctor, you buried my only (laughter," who was only thirteen or fourteen years old. She used to go out with her father on Saturday night and interest him while walking on the street, and bring him home sober ; she always had something nice ready for him in the house, and, though so young, she had trained him to become depend- ent on her, and he could not free himself from her presence, and from doing things that would please her. Tne restraint was gone, and now he was alone and let loose again and spent his evenings very differently. I could not help think- ing it a pity he should have lost the daughter, who had such a golden mellow charm to keep his feet in the way of sobriety, for he is not a free man in the fullest sense of the word. I was once preaching in Halton county, and I made use of this illustration : — In certain games of cards the ace is a lead- ing card, and will, when well-played, conquer a king. 1 said the will is like this ace, when weJl-handled will conquer a man and make a king of him, and so it will. There were two young men present, they got disputing and got lighting ; one was a laboring man on the farm and the other was the young landlord. The woiknian was an emigrant a lew years before, but the illustration fastened upon his mind, and he said to himself, " yes, I will control myselt," " I will be a king." To-day, that man has a good farm, and his young landlord, with his reckless lack of will power, is gone down and lost the homestead. That is the difference in playing the game of life wisely or imprudently, my friends. Man's freedom is re- markably attested by the way some spend their fovtune and others make one. Moral good and moral faith imply free agency in man ; things may be right and wrong and without being morally good or bad. A dog can do a wrong and a right thing, but there is no moral quality there, therefore there is no sin. A child can do a right and a wrong, so can an insane person without there being sin or guilt ; in all thes«^ actors and actions lihere is a kind and degree of freedom. What then is moral freedom ? It is when the actor has intelligence of a certain amount and kind, and when hti is Iree m his person ftaij«>!;'S!.ji8X!!a£«j ■^ How far is Man a Free Agent ? n and in the act. Now this intelligence society easily recog- nises and correctly measures in judging of man's responsibility of their guilt or their innocence. A man may be personally restrained by sickness or physical force, or unable to keep cer- tain agreements or perform certain duties ; in such cases non- fultilment will not entail personal guilt. Again, a person may be commanded to do something impossible, such as lifting him- self in the air by taking hold of his boots ; in such an act there ; is no freedom, hence no guilt for not doing it. But where there is such intelligence and liberty, a right act is morally good and a wrong act is morally evil. Again, some argue away man's moral freedom by saying that will is always governed by the strongest motive, and God furnishes the motives. Now the point to observe here is, that the strongest motive can only be so called after the will has chosen ; a preference and deciding power is in the will, and not in any motive : that is, six things are presented to a man to choose fiom, he cons over each and finally decides on one : that one is the strongest, he has made it so. This is illus- trated by that famous story which I have told you before. A gentleman arguing that strongest motives govern seeks for an explanation ; as they had one donkey he said, now we will try Jihis theory. So they took two bundles of hay of the same size and weight, and made them look as nearly as possible alike, and put them in the stable slightly apart and then turned in the donkey, and whichever one the donkey touched that was the strongest motive : " and the donkey gave the decision." The solidarity of the human race is now generally accepted, hence the hereditary consequences are now understood to be very natural, both of good and evil influences, coming down from generation to generation, and these consequences which we inherit have much to do with the measure and force of individual freedom Some fathers not only mortgage their children's farms by their drunken wastefulness, but they as surely mortgage their children's liberty, and usher them into the world crippled and enslaved in part. A good man is the freest, the one who neither abuses the world, nor lets the world abuse him. The spendthrift abuses the world, and the miser is abused by the world : neither of them are wise. %'^'i^-''--!:^!mmmmmmi»'^ia3mwmshum-. •,«»«»-•■ 82 Sei^mons. 1 knew a man who was converted who had boen a great drimkiird. He told mo after conversion the very appetite was taken away, he never had a prompting to swear or touch li(juor again, in fact he waH thoroughly converted and free through the Son of God. I do not think everybody is so thoroughly converted, as Aitftuuis Ward said when they were introdtioing him to Brigham Young's wives ; ho said, I think Mr. Young is muchly married. And so I think that this man was much- ly converted ; and I have met people who were converted ; but their pockets were untouched, they were as miserly as ever ; and some people with whom fashion would dominate : it had'nt made a clean sweep of their hearts. I like to see a conversion clean, wholesale, in the man in his life, and place him in the family of God as a free man. I may quote, in clos- ing, Galatians, 5th chap., 22nd verse : " But the fruit of the Spirit is " Love," "Joy," " Peace," " Longsuffering," " Gentle- ness," *< Goodness," " Faith," " Meekness," " Temperance : " against such there is no law. Let us lift ourselves up then, whatever our first conversion may mean ; let that ])rogress in sanctification take place that shall put us above all these restraints in the huj)py realm of Divine freedom. May we all be made free from sin. A'nen. / :k *4i' ■.!- -• immm miii i'WH^' *;''lii\i'~.. iSL THE BEHRING SEAL QUESTION AND FISHERY DISPUTE. Tkxt. — 9th Psalm, 20th verse : " Put them in fear, oh Lord, that the iiatioua xiiay know theniselvea to be but men." HE military improvements of th(^se days call for greater caution on tho part of our statesmen and legislators. The weapons and machinery of war are so thorough, and by means of railways and other methods of communication, vast bodies of men can be quickly transferred, transported, and centralized, making war all the more terrible and destructive to life, property, and progress. None of us can fully imagine what a dreadful calamity it would be to have a war between Great Britain and the United States. Christianity would receive a serious wound in her progressive march, and civilization would be very much crij)pled ; in fact, i'u would be equal to throwing the world back lifty years. In the light of such a possibility, how appropriate the words of ray text, the fear and caution enjoined ui)on men and nations when dealing with great national questions. From the very nature of our civilization and national forms of living, it comes to pass that simple individuals are trusted and invested with very great power, with the possibility of peace or war, as we otrentimos find, resting solely in their hands. At the begin- ning of this centuiy, Napoleon Bonaparte could set Europe in a blaze, and make the great continent one vast battlefield. Think of Prince Bismarck, the now lonely and fallen chieftain of Germany ; think of him a few years ago, for then he held the destinies of Europe in his hand, and could have caused a war at any moment that would have involved millions of soldiers, and drawn into contact many nations. It seems a pity to think of the man of blood and iron cast off in his old age. There are some lonely bodies in this world. I never like to see a politician cast aside unless he has plenty of means, nor an old preacher, nor an old horse that has been well used, nor a dog that has had a fancy master ; they are lonely bodies to look at. 33 1!^ viiisi^:,'^'.'.__m>'' 't^mn §.-■ a^sjs^i^.^sMmiS''- I 34 Semwns, At the present time no intelligent citizen of oui country can be indifferent about the responsibility resting on Lord Salis- bury, the Prime Minister of the British Government, and the Hon. James Blaine, Minister of State in President Harrison's Cabinet in the United States. I have no doubt that the burden and intent of my text is shared by both of these hon. gentle- men. I believe they both have the fear of God before them, and are cautious in their correspondence. Lord Salisbury is directly responsible to the British Parliament, to his Queen and to his country. The Hon. James Blaine is not under like con- trol ; he is not directly amenable to the Congress or any elective constituency, but alone to President Harrison. It is rather queer to think of, but true withal. The Hon. James Blaine is an autocrat in office and power, though he is a Minister in a republic ; while Lord Salisbury is a democrat, for he is directly amenable to the people, although he is a minister under a monarchy. The British parliament more easily and completely represents and responds to the will of the people than the Congress of the United States. The parliiment can dissolve and appeal to the people at any time on any important question when it is thought needful, but the Congress has no such power. It must run on independently of the questions of the day for the four years. A member of parliament selected as one of the cabinet must again appear before the people for re-election to ascertain whether they think him worthy to take office and be trusted with such power. A member of President Harrison'H cabinet in the United States ret^ives no such sanction, is under no such authority, and has irt such appeal to make. The British parliarnent is, in simple fact, a crowned democracy. For these very reasons Lord Salisbury needs to be more cau- tious in his written utterances than the Hon. Mr. Blaine, and I think anyone reading their correspondence will notice these characteristics are displayed. They are both strong men, both lovers of and loyal to their respective countries. I have no doubt but that the Behring Sea dispute will be finally settled hy other means than war. Ephraim and Manassah, in other words, Great Britain and the United States, are not appointed by the Prophets of God to do battle one with another in this latter day, — they have a more intimate relation than many thiuk. The Uuited States, according to the Ten Lost Tribe •-i,^- ■iipiiiiii i Mi}i i ya i gaMs.nJ.wt»«bwi^ The Behring Seal Question. 35 thoory, as many of you know, is the etnhodinmnt antl expres- sion of the trib.ll gift of Manassah, which of .ill tlia tiihes, by the gift of the l'iMt- ed. We ure brethren, down from Jacob, with a bond and sympathy that no other people on the face of this earth can have with the SAiiie intensity. ' Wuen Britain first went to war with the Colonies it was impos.sible for her, though 8h(! could sweep the world, to con- quer those few scattered people, because the thing was of the Lord. It was impossible tor the United States to conquer Can- ada, mighty as she was, in 1812-14. Nati.)ns when they come face to face against Providential intent, no matter what nation it is, they have got to reel back and own there is a God mightier than the armies of enrth ; and how often it is proved not by might, but *• my spirit," saith the Lord. No man can interpret these two wars unless he takes the meaning of the quotation I have just given. In these days of progressive civilization, our judgment is asked and our sympathy solicited in many directions. Com- munities and nations wide apart in distance and communication are naturallv more restricted in their interests and opinions than races and peoples who are in closer contact, in time and territory. Railways, steamboats, telegraphy, telephones and the pre.ss are rapidly reducing the world of nations into one vast and sympathetic union, and every day, and by every means of increased inter-relations, our mutual interdependence is increased and our international rights are augmented and multiplied. These things point to the future, thsit in ditfi- culties arising between civilized nations they are asking for a court of adjustment, and we see in them the intention of Provi- dence to force nations to create a " World's Parliament " for things t'.iat are general to all the world. They will not do it until they areme Court of the United States ; or a diffi- culty in one of our provinces settled by an appeal to the Dom- inion Government or to the Privy Council of Great Britain. The right of nations would be more secure and the decisions safer than when they appeal to war ; and the common sens^ and comiiion interdependence of men in these latter dnys will not permit them to be led to slaughter each other at thts mere whim and fancy of politicians, kings or presidents. The trap- per and his taraily in the lonely forest lives in and moves in a narrow circle compared to the full-tiedged and active citizen of London. In fifty years from now it is probable a Federal parliament made up of Great Britain and her colonies in the tirst placf, will hold sessions in Jerusalem, and members will be able to attend as quickly, safely and cheaply as did the members of the old Canadian parliament in Montreal, or the members of Con- tjress at Washington ; and it is pleasing to know thr.)Ugh the teachings of God's Holy Prophets, that the United Stales will become a member of this Jerusalem parliament, other nations following on ; and she will become a member without any sacrifice of her rights, independence, interests, or autonomy. These nations will join together to take such tpiestions as are now constantly arising, and .will multij)ly as the populations of the nations multiply. If such a parliame it were now in ses- sion, the *• Seal Question" of Behring Sea, and " fish dispute" between Newloundlai d and France would be referred to it. When men form villages, towns and cities, states and nation-, they come into closer relaiions witli each other. Out of these new relations, there comes into existence new obligations and duties; these must, as far as possible, be defined bylaw, so that the liberty and interest may be secure. In the course of such progress, fresh interest is taken in things of little or no value before, and become matters of importance for our con- sultation, such as springs, rivers, lakes, seas and their coasts. The early and isolated settlers could cut all the firewood and building timber they wanted, and no one would interfere with tham ; or they could dam up a spring or river as suited them, or shoot all the game they desired, and catch all the fish they wanted, but the oourse and progress of society change things by putting a new value on them. "■'.SI ?J^' ■"?'■•". -'^''^-^iSfK -ifml :• ■0^y»^»rs^^^i^^>^l^^^f0^^^^t:, The Behring Seal Question. 37 Behring Sea is said to have been first explored by Capt. Vitus Behring, a ciiizen of Denmark who enlisted in the service of Russia : the Sea and the Strait were named .after him. Russia thus came to own Alaska and claimed the Sea from July 17th, 1741. One hundred years ago, the seals were of no great im- portance ; any nation so minded could fish there ; the Japanese did, the Chinese, the Norwegians, the Fortugaese, the French, the English and the Americans. Later on, as the Feal-skin rose in value, Russia began to object to other nations entering this sea for fishing purposes without her consent or license ; her demands were never conceded by any of the other nations, not even the United States. Tiiey all claimed the fish within three miles of the shore, without any hindrance, which by iiitern«- tional courtesy and national custom, is now accepted as bind- ing as law. A nation's territory, rights, and possessions extend three miles into the oc^•an from the coast; it is called theirs, and anything within these three miles, fish or anythii-g < f value is also theirs. In 1867 the United States purchased from Russia the country called Alaska, measuring 580,107 square miles ; paying for the same $7,200,000. A short lime after coming into possession the United States Government rented and leased to a lompany the exclusive right to catch seals in Behring Sea. Last year the Company's lease expired. It is right here where the trouble began ; the Company natunslly wished to have the seals to themselves, and so began to prose- cute other nationalities and at last called on their Government, who had foolishly licensed the right to fish, for protection. It is in this monopoly where the trouble arise.*, as invariably out of monopolies granted by cities, states or nations such trouble will naturally arise. In my last visit to the Pacific coast and British Columbia, I found a very general opinion, both among Americans and Canadians, to be that this Company was the real cause of trouble ; they had misled and deceived their Government with false statements, on the sli^^htest evidence, charging foreigners with invading the three mile line, and, of course, forbidding them and persecuting them, even on the open sea ; mind you, forbidding other Americans that same freedom. One man, who had been engag(;d in the seal business for over twenty years, and whom I personally knew, told me, if the Government would U' I! I ( 38 Sermons. let them alone, there would not be a seal to fight about in twenty years. What the United States and Great Britain need to do, is to provide some law of protection for what is left in order that they may kefp up their increase, else there will be none to contend about ; 1 believe that is correct. In July, 1887, the United States steamer " Rush seized and imprisoned the British steam schooner " W. P. Say ward ;" when captured she was forty miles from land and had upwards of five hundred sealskins in her possession. The Captain and officers declared they had not caught them within the three mile line. They were, however, brought before the District Court of Alaska. The case went against them, and they ho pealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, and, foi' a wonder, the Court could not entertain the appeal for the reason that the Alaska Court was defective in its relation to the Superior Court, a defect and weakness ovei looked when the Court was first organized and constituted An appeal was before the last Congress to remedy this defect, which they came to see through the arrest of tlie steamer " Sayward." The "Say- ward's " case was then referred to the British Government, as the officers and men were British subjects ; they brotight the same to the notice of the President of the United States, and thus l)egan the trouble between the British and United States Governments. After some time Lord Salisbury asked that the whole matter be referred to arbitration for settlement ; this request has so far been denied. The next move for the master of the Sayward was to appeal to the Superior Court directly ; : as a foreign subject, he is supposed to have such a privilege '': arising out of international courtesy and law. Whether the ', Court will entertain the appeal or not, we shall have to wait a few more days in order to know. The decision of the Court will not be binding in an international sense, but it might open up the whole question, and their decision certainly would have great influence in any arbitration or after consideration. This appeal has caused an alarm among our A.merican friends ; nothing has moved the High Courts and lawyers with , the same interest as has this appeal. It has also brought forth a good deal of harsh criticism ; I am not lawyer enough to know why this appeal shmild be distasteful to our American friends, but I persuade mystlf that \ have common sense m^0^^ iMiili bout in in need left in will be seized 'ward;" ip wards ain and \e three District hey HD d, foi' a for the n to the tien the )eal was ey came tie "Say- nent, as ght the .tes, and d States that the ; this master irectly ; >rivilege ler the to wait e Court it open lid have ion. raerican ers with brought enough erican n sense The Behring Seal K^uestion. 39 enough uO believe that it does credit both to the appealer and appealed, for no court in the world is held in higher esteem for its honesty, wisdom and fairness of its decisions than the Supreme Court of the United States. That a foreigner should be willing to rest his case with it, seems to me a credit to the court ; and that the appealer believes not only in the justice of his cause, but in the fairness, honesty and integrity of the court, or as a foreigner he never would appeal to it. Any- way, I believe the good sense of the two countries will' be competent to settle the whole matter peaceably and honor- ably. May we not see the permissive intentions of Providence in allowing these difficulties toarise Ijetwt^en the two leading Chris- tian nations — Great Britain and United States— and what is the lesson 1 To teaoh and to show to the other nations that the most serious difficulties may be overcome and settled with- out resort to war. Are not these troubles allowed to test the Christianity of these two great and prosperous countries, to force them to arbitrate, that they may give to the world a peaceable example as to how vexed questions may be quieted. This method ot settlement they have tried successfully before, in the Alabama case and in the St. Gaun case or the fixing of the Boundary line in Puget Sound. Both of these cases the United States won, but in the third — the Fishery Question of » b6 Lower Provinces — Canada won. So surely our American : j' nds need not be afraid of a court of arbitration, and I am i; j<^ r the impression that the good sense of the American peo- ple -vill join with us in saying for the Hon. Mr. Blaine and for the Hon. President Mr. Harrison — you must arbitrate this matter and settle it that way, whichever way it goes. The Newfoundland question has been a source of trouble be- tween Great Britain and France. Sir Humphrey Gilbert on August 5th, 1583, annexed Newfoundland to Great Britain. The splendid fishing grounds invited foreign nations, hence they were visited by the Portuguese, Spanish, Norwegians, French, and English. Disputes began to occur and increase ; the question was brought up at a congress in Utrecht in 1713. This congress gave consent to the Sovereignty of Britain over Newfoundland, with a clause of courtesy that they should allow the French to catch fish on a line with the shore froni Cape Bonavista to Point Richie, measuring 450 miles. Here 4 40 Sermons. again the increase in value of the fish, the multiplication of population, brings the French and English in close contact, and they get angry with one another. Newfoundland being alone is not as powerful as if she had formed a part of our prosperous Dominion 'his trouble will open her eyes and help her the first opportunity to become a member of the Dominion of Canada. (Applause). In the past and present, on the Pacific and Atlantic, we see the profit of being a part of Great Britain : what would we do with the United States in the Behring Sea question] What would Newfoundland do alone with the French nation, regarding this fishery dispute ? Common sense tells you at once we neither of us could do anything. What then is the use of talking about independence till we can maintain our independence 1 (Applause.) Does any man think for a moment that the French men-of-war would spike their guns or remain silent in the presence of a few thousand Newfoundlanders 'i I tell you they are afraid of the " Old Lion " (Applause). Our American friends would be hounded on by the Fenians and the would not care five cents for Canada if it were not for the '• Old Lion." I trust the better judgment of the United States will eventually assert itself, but there, as well as in this country, they are controlled politic il- ly by elements that are a degradation and shame to both coun- tries. Give honest, good and true men fair play in every land, and swing the Fenians to — Heaven — anyway so long as you get them out of the way, and let men of intelligence and interest consider these questions on their true basis, without regard as to whether they will be sent back by the votes of those — traitors to their own countries, and mischief makers in any other. (Applause.) • In all these things my friends, I see, and that is why I am spf cially interested in them, a directing Providence, conscious of our destiny as Israel, and that includes the United States, marked out by the unerring prophets of God. I know better than the politicians can know, what tlie issues must be ; for He whose word cannot vary, has appointed peace between the children and tribes of Jacob. The question will be settled ; we will ofiev our prayers, we will speak kindly on each side, not by any means to aggravate one another, in the sure hope and firm persuasion that the question will be peacefully settled. The Lord bless all the negotiating parties. Amen. 'i iiifiiini«M MMHIM .<»'_ "X u-^m- THE FINGER OF GOD IN THE HISTORY OF THE NATIONS. Text, Exodus 8th Chap. First clause of the 19th verse : " Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the tinger of God." T the time of our text the Hebrews were in bondage as slaves in Egypt. Moses was commissioned to demand their freedom. Yon are to remember that Egypt was at this time in the full glory of her growth ; a nation of great wealth and power ; one of the first of the civilized nations after the Noahic flood. A people skilled in war, they were then enjoying the fruits of many victories. Among them idolatry iiad attained a height and gained a commanding influence and authority that neither be- fore nor since has ever been excelled by any people in any nation. Their gods were numerous, and they were reckoned the most powerful and wise of all such gods. Moses appears in the palace of the King, and in the name of his God de- mands the liberty of the whole of the >Iebrew people. In the presence of the priests and gods he proclaimed this unique saying : " Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord our God is one God," strange statement when all around him were a nij^mber of other gods. He was the priest of one God ; they were priests of many gods. Moses, however, challenged them to an open con- test ; the Egyptians agreed ; they selected ten of their very best gods, and arrangements were made for this great battle. One after another they tested their power witH Jehovah, till ten were conquered, Pharaoh subdued, and Israel made free. Well might Jethro, the Midian priest, exclaim, as written in Exodus 18th chap, and 11th verse, '* Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them." To understand the special point and full force of my text, you need to keep in mind how fastidious and very particular the Egyptian priests were in matters of cleanliness ami dress. The great historian, Herod- otus, who tells us so much, and many wonderful things about Egypt and the Egyptians, relates how priests shaved their 41 ,.4*1 '|;i 42 Sermons. heads and persons every third day, and bathed and put on clean linen every day lest they should harbour any kind of vermin ; and surely the priests of the lice god would be more careful on this point than any of the other priests. My text is connected with the fourth god ; up to this point, the magicians had been able to appear favorably with Moses and Aaron, but now the fact is, these priests could not qualify for the battle ; they could not perform their service because they were afflicted with lice ; the very touch of an unclean insect made them ceremonially impure ; so they could not go into their temple to begin their work of divination for the simple reason that they had polluted r thus it is written by the Prophet." Now if our Saviour had been born somewhere else, you see there would have been a Vtreak to every condition in the teaching of His life and death, that were foretohi hundreds of years before; and He fulfilled these conditions : the prophets were a testimony and proof that he was the real, truthful Messiah. Whatever anybody may say for or against the Ten Lost Tribe theory, this 1 well know that through a knowledge of the same, hundreds have been savingly converted, and become honorable and exemplary christians, many in this church id in the last cLarch 1 had ; and from all over the world I learn by letters the same glad riews from those who have read my sermons and books on this subject. Should any one person study to ascertain the origin, growth, order, method of increase, })0wer, place and work and infiuenco of Great Britain and the Empire ; and set another man at work and let him study from the prof)hets the origin, career, settlement, place, work, power, and influence of literal Israel as foretold by the prophets, then let these two persons meet together and compare notes, and I vow the very e'«;i8ience of my being that each wouhl have to say, one is tije other^ and the other is the tother. Whoever Israel is, they fit in dke that and make one, and 1 have no fear e* anybody disputing that this is God's Book, if they take that simple course of study, and any that will deny it, will only do so through want of thought. They, too, after having compared notes, might properly ex- claim, " This is the Finger of God " ; as naturally as the stone rejected by the temple builders is afterwards searched for, and discovered, and it is found to fit in the very place vacant in the temple wall : it is the stone that was made for that place. And Britain fits into the Prophets and iho Prophets Qt ioto 46 Sermons. Britain, and Just as when they found that stone they cried out, as we read in Matthew — " This is the Lord's doinga and it ib marvellous in our eyes;" so this whole system is mar- vellous. A like test may be made of the Jews ; and prophecy and history again would tally, and the funny part of it is that anybody who disputes that point makes me laugh ; they will say it is true about the two tribes, but if you talk about its being true of the ten, they will mock at you, and that is why I say it is the funny j)art of it to a man like me, to think that anybody would express their ignorance in such a mannei. I mean to say if God's word is true about 'the two tribes, it is true about the ten ; and it is perfectly out of the way for a man to believe that prophecj^is all right about the Jews, and then when you turn to the ten he will say that is wrong. No sir, it is you that is wrong. In the light of Auglo-Israel- ism no one needs to wonder that the United States should be separated from Great Britain, for the prophets had fore- told such an act ; or that Ireland should be so troublesome and make such frantic efforts to separate herself from Great Britain, but cannot. The prophets have never alloted to Ire- land a separate existence, hence you might as well try to pull the Sun out of the sky ; and if those folks in the United States who contribute money, only knew this theory, they would put it in their pockets, because it is a loss : I tell them this out of mere charity. The Parriell scandal is a timely permission of Providence allowed for the breaking up of an organization that was becoming dangerous to the prosperity and peace of the em- pire, by the very fact that it was alluring and deceiving good and honest men in other parts of Great Britain. It is a small . thing that God allows to scatter the forces, and, without mean- ■ ing any offence to my American friends or those in Canada, who think otherwise, the McKinley Bill goes into force just at the right time, and it points like the linger of God in the right direction ; it points to greater independence for us, to a closer alliance with Great Britain, and more, the " Finger of God" in these permissive instances points unmistakably to Imperial Federation. And what men cannot be persuaded of by argument, God will force them, by passing events, to take hold of the thiuj|j; and be compelled to believe in it. In twenty IP ■mf ^ ■yj|,!i»(.;_f"IF!?! •sm jaBw* iSHUMtii :he The Finger of God in the History of the Nations, 47 years there will not b^ a man — not even ray friend, Sir Rich- ard Cartwright — who will disbelieve in Imperial Federation. God is forcing it upon us rapidly. I pay no attention to argument, because I am a believer in prophecy and an over- ruling Providence ; it is no matter if those Israelites say wo won't leave Egypt ; you will have to lestve when God's time comes, and those people who say we won't be federated, don't amount to a row of pins ; you will be fj^derated when God wants you, and it is no matter whether a Grit or a Tory Gov ernment is in power, God is mightier than governments or nations. It in almost self-evident that the British empire muse in course of time break into pieces or be closely welded together, every body will admit that ; passing events point in the direc- tion of unity and the integrity of the empire, and prophecy says the British Empire, as Israel, will in coming years be a mighty united and consolidated kingdom, in the interests of peace and prosperity of the whole world. No wonder Great Britain should be allowed to get so large iind fair a proportion of Africa's continent ; if she be Israel it was necessary ; . no wonder she should come into possession of the three great rivers of that country, that have their outlet into the sea — the Nile, the Niger, the Zambesi, and have free access by th« Congo. Israel has* the freedom of the world, and no gate can be closed against her (Applause), and it is necessary for this reason that she will not close them against anybody else ; they are open to all the world when they are open to her. You might give these powers to another nation, they would keep them all to themselves. Give them to Britain and all the world has them. She is not to sliut her gates by night or day ; so the thing is nicely accounted for. Now that the Jesuit Estate Bill is settled and passed, we see the " Finger of God " in promoting it. I was sore at the time myself. Quebec is doomed to lag behind, she is getting too many dead heads and too much dead weight to carry in cardinal, archbishops, bishops, priests, monks, exempted pro- perty ', the Province will go down with such a weight, pure as they are. (Laughter.) But the virgin Province of Manitoba and the N. W. Territory have been emancipated from dual language, separate schools and other impositions entailed on mil ! I ;|l!-.i 48 Sermons. the Lower Province (applause), and all that just because of the Jesuit Bill coming up ; it never would have occurred in Manitoba, if we had not had that agitation. This makes the vast portion of our country free for the ingoing settlers. * The Finger of God.* And the Equal Rights movement in Ontario is neither dead nor buried, but alive and with good prospects. Providence, I believe, will permit aomo other outrage to occur that will rally the indifferent forces some day. As the time is coming near for the Jews to return to Palestine, do we not see the " Finger of God " in their being permitted to be so particularly prosecuted at this time in Russia and some other European countries; do we not see the " Finger of God" in the leniency and good will of the Sultan towards the Jew who has been so sulky all his life before. God wants these Jews to get uproo*^- ed, and they are asking what country will take them, and it necessary for God to unhinge them, and God is doing st **The finger of God." Friends, there are two ways of looking at passing events ; from a human side they look confusing, but, from a Divine side, and the very commotions themselves are music and har- mony. Let us rejoice that there is a God in heaven, and that He can convert the latent as well as the active forces of nature into agencies of progress and peace. I want you, my dear friends, to possess your soul in patience and look through the eyes of the prophet and discern an over-ruling Providence, and draw peace from the untailing truth that God will bring His pur- poses to ])ass. May He hasten the day. Amen. Ill hi iiil. ^jtsmmmmmmmmmmmm % ^ I ( use of red in les the •The T dead idence, at will coming see the cularly iropean sniency been so uproo*- ndit ig sc events ; 1 Divine ■nd har- d that nature lends, eyes of id draw is pur- CREED OR NO CREED. Text — Jolm 10th Chap. 10th verso : — '* And other shopp T have wliich are not of this fold : thfui also I must bring, and they hIuiU hear my voice ; and they shall be one fold, and one shepherd." HERE are some faults we can easily account for with- out any reflection on the individuals or organizations to which they belong ; but there are others, whi^h, when we know them, we find it rather hard to stand ; the fact is, we cannot know them without having less respect for the persons and their so-called ch'uch ; tor we are forced to think of them as wilful, ignorai , or selfish, or very bigoted. Thny boldly and o])enly assume and proclaim that they know more than we know, and that they are better than we are, and that they are specially endowed and commis- sioned with spiritual autiiority in spiritual things. They admit no equal, and are sure they have no superior ; and outside of their denomination, sect, or church — whatever you have a mind to call it — real Christians cannot be found, and salvation is not to be had. Yet conunrm sense frowns down their assumptions, and daily experience proves the falseness of their claims. For we find they are no wiser, no better, no more useful than we are, and unless all signs are deceptive, they are deceived in the very work of trying to deceive others. They know as well as 1 know the meaning of our Saviour's words in my text ; but in their teaching and practice they swing wide from the same : they would have us believe that there is only one fold and that fold is their church. The true statement is that there is more than one fold, *'And other sheep I have which are not of this fold and they shall hear my voice and follow me." So there must be more than one fold. The word fold in the text is from the Greek word " Aulus " which means a fold, a separate and distinct enclosure, applied rightfully to a sheep fold. Now anybody knows that theie were more folds than one ; it would neither be best for the sheep nor the shepherds to have only one fold. The last 41) NM m Sermons. clause of the text reads, " And there shall be one fold and one shepherd. " The word fold here comes from a dillerent Greek word *' Poimrie " and means Hock, as no scholar deniejji, and is so rendered in the naw version ; it' means sheep. Our Saviour meant to say, and did so, there would be different f«jlds in which his sheep would be gathered and found. In the figurative language of the scriptures, (christians are s{.'oken of as sheep and sinners as goats. 80 in all these folds there will be sheep in a collective sense ; onf^ flock under the Great Shepherd Jesus Christ: literally one 11 ;ck and one shepherd is the reading. When we are converted we become sheej), cease to be goats, and as sheep we may be found in dilTerent folds. vlark well what the Saviour said to the Jews, " Other sheep I have which are not of this fold." But they hear His voice md He is their shejelieve in unity of the Spirit, and loving intentions of all Christ's disciples, but not in compulsory uniformity — laith on the Lord Jesus Christ iill; I ',,i,uSMsssmsssmmmim^ Creed or no Creed. 55 '*: will produce unity of Spirit, and the Bible will create and pro- serve all the uniformity that is necessary. Orijanizations are essential ; tiiey help the in«lividual to a higher spiritual life, and they become grand r?nd potent agencies for the general sprendiiig of the truth. I otFer no objec- tions to men and women organizing for a benevolent purpose ; they may hrtve the door of entrance low and narrow, or wiophy for ma to give up my liberty of serving God and the freedom of my con- science to any churcb, sect, or class of men, when they cannot assume my responsibilities before God ; you see the folly at once of such a state of things between men and a church. Let it be yours and mine my friends to be sure that we are one of the sheep of this Great Shephenl of Jsrael ; let us bo sure that we belong to the one true, great spiiiiual church, that we are loving sons and daughters polished and fitted to bo a part of this great spiritual temple. Let us be bure that iM' ifT" 1 ■* 'J f lilfln'l'fr A I 56 Sermons. Christ is our Saviour, and then when we are His sheep, and He our shepherd, judiciously, wisely and charitably choose the fold you want to live in. It Bond-St. Congregational Church is a fold you would like, and you are a Christian, come in. If the Methodist Church or the Baptist Church or the Episcopa- lian Church is the fold you would like, go in there, and when you get into the fold of your choice, do not make faces at those who are in other folds, but leave them alone kindly, and then you may as Christian sheep, help each other as Christians. May the good Lord bless us my dear fiiends, and help us to be faithful to the law and the truth He has given us so very plainly in His holy word, Auitn. iUilll il!i 11 hr mmi^ liiiriiiiMiiili HOW TO BE PREPARED IF IT SHOULD HAPPEN. Text. — First clause 3rd verse, 2nd chap. 2nd Epistle Thessalouians : " Let no man deceive you by any means. WARNING voice, especially applicable to the Thessal- onians and to the people that have lived in the suc- cessive centuries since, and to some in this our dny. On an average of every fifty years, I suppose, a large portion of the Christian church have fixed the time, and in some cases the day, of Christ's return to earth. A general expectation has been created, and people led to believe and ex- pect Christ every day. Minor agitations have taken place on the average of about every twenty-five years, when persons have lived in daily expectation of the personal reign of Christ upon the earth. In the tenth century, Advent sentiment was so very general in the Roman Empire and two or three of the small nations, the belief was so dominant, that laws were en- acted forbidding deeds, mortgages, and bargains to extend beyond the end of the tenth century, because the world would end at that time. But so far, ail dates have proved to be false, and all prophecies relating thereto, from human tongues, proved a failure. Anyone familiar with the signs of the times to-day, cannot be ignorant of the fact that the Advent tide is again on the rise ; that it is widening and increasing and will soon culminate in the brightness of Christ's glorious appearance, or disperse in a doleful gloom, leaving a darkening and disappointed impression on the Christian church. Some are still living in Canada and the United States who yet sor- rowfully remember the sad consequences of the failure of the Millarite movement. For myself, I feel firmly persuaded that this Advent sentiment is again being unduly forced to the front by many good and sincere Christian brethren ; the har- vest of their sowings and labours will be, I believe, as before, disappointment and sorrow, the very reaction of which will be a great falling away from the Christian church, fulfilling, I am under the impression, the very prophecy contained in i) 57 / tmmit mm MHHMH mmmm mm r ii; 58 Sermons. connection with my text: — "There shall be a groat fallinj]; away," a sign that is connected with the api)earance of the man of sin, Antichrist ; and most assuredly, as nearly all admit, he must precede the coming of Christ, the pieliminaries and forerunning signs foretold by the prophets, that have not yet been enacted or fulfilled ; henoe, what is recorded in Acts, 3rd chap. 20th and 21st, is for us carefully to read: — "And He shall send Jesus Christ whicli before was preached utito you : whom heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." The point to niak'i in connection with a quotation like that is, have all the prophecies that are to precede Christ's coming been fulfilled 1 I do not see how any man on the face of the earth could conclude so. If they have not, then Ciirist will remain in the heavens till they have. T make bold to say that a person who does not know the God-revealed distinction between the house of Judah and the house of Israel, so plainly presented in the Bible and illustrated in history, or, in other words, the literal Jews and literal Israelites, persons ignorant of this great truth are not prepared to preach or know when Christ will appear on the earth, for the simple reason that many of the prophecies apply to these two houses jointly and some of them to the houses separately. Now, a person who looks upon these two houses as one, surely cannot correctly interpret prophecy. How can such a person know, for instance, whether all that was spoken by the mouth of the prophets hath come to pass or not 1 From the days of Father Pappias to the late Rev. Doctor Gumming, of London, men have stumbled into confusion be- cause of their ignorance of the so-called Ten Lost Tribe theory; and a like folly the Rev. Mr. Baxter and other Adventists by the thousand are repeating, being blind in the very same kind of ignorance. These one-eyed brethren very naturally cannot see the two houses ; they declare, however, that they can see one of them very clearly, and strange to say, that is the smal- lest family, the House of Judah, composed of two tribes ; but the House of Israel composed of ten tribes, they avow they never see nor know ; and if you point it out to them, they stoutly deny it, as if they knew all about it, when the simple s "^ Holu to he Prepared if it should Happen. 59 f ict is, their own confusion may tell us, they know nothing concerninjif it. Hence they fall into the error of calling Israel- ites Gentiles, so when they aj)ply prophecy they take some of them that belong solely to the House of Israel and apply them to the Jews ; and some of the pniphecies belonging to the Jews and to Israel, they apply to the Gentiles. By this cutious method of interpreting prophecies, Rev. Mr. Baxter reckoned Great Britain to be a part of the Koraan Em{)ire that is to be shortly established. It is one of the ten toe^ to him, because he says Britain, the Anglo-saxon, the literal Israelite, is Gen- tile ; and that is why in the past thirty years he has been en- gaged in foretelling prophetic events ; he never happened to be right once, poor fellow. Nor can anybody else be right. And the prophetic doom to befall the Koman Empire must of course happen in part to Great Britain. He says England will lose Ireland (it will be a great loss) and India and some of her colonies ; and others go so far as to tell us that Great Britain will be conquered and made a tributary state to France. Well, if they will treat us as kindly as they were treated, all right. This, Mr. Baxter believes himself, I think, though being an Englishman he does not like to say so plainly. I am glad to know that he is well provided for temporarily, and that he exercises better sense in his business than he does in the interpretation of prophecies. The Christian Herald^ owned and published by my friend Baxter, has been a source of great wealth to him. Last year he had it incorporated int<« a limited Stock Company ; he provides that he receives $100, 000 in cash ; the debentures are $125 each, and he is to receive $330,000 worth of them, and be chairman of the Company till 1896. Not a bad arrangement, if he can carry it out. The $125 seven per cent debentures are highly commended in the advertisements as promising good and sate interest all the year round. Now, according to Mr. Baxter, this year, 1891, will witness the outpouring of the plagues of the six vials spoken of in Revelations, chiefly on the Continent of Europe and Great Britain. About next August famine, war, disease, pestilence, earthquakes and many kinds of terrors are t-o afflict the people ; and at the latest by 1897, 144,000 saints are to be selected from this earth and caught up in the air to meet the Lord Wtu ^iiMm ^^gj^jj^jstazsM CO Sermons. :,il Christ and go off on an excursion to last for seventy years ; that will bo \)etter than riding on the Pullman cars I imagide. Mr. Baxter expects to 'be among them. Just how many there will be from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, 1 do not know ; but I have this very nice desire that in the quota from Ireland, I hope William O'Brien and Parnell will be among ihem. And in Canada, as some will be taken from here, be- h\dei my friend, Rev. Dr. Parsons, and my friend, llev. Doctor Kellogg, and the Hon. Samuel Blake, I hope my friend, Pro- fessor Goldwin Smith, and a few others that are so restless and dissatisfied with this Canada of ours, will be among the favoied that are taken. The Rev. Mr. Baxter carries on a condensed milk- factory wl^ich gives him a fine profit. I won- der what the price of the, stocks will be after 18i)G, and what my friend will do with his shares when he is translated. I have some of my Advent brothers and sisters here to whom this sounds like nonsense. I say, what you teach is nonsense. That is the literal fact, and all the while you are teaching these things to the people, you are yet carefully feathering your pockets, some of you, and securing gain out of your own imperfect belief ; for if a man believes in such a faith as this, 1 think he should make no provision beyond 189G at all. There is literally a want of faith on the, part of my Adventist brothers and sisters, if you really believe what you teach, because you are not acting up to it. Act up to it and trust your life and property to it ; if you do not, I will not count you sincere. They do not like anybody to say a word, because they take these things so very soberly as if they were matteis of iruth ; not learning the lesson that their fathers and mothers in tach generation taught them, by passing away afflicted with this deception time upon time. The usual effects of experience go to prove that persons who really believe in the immediate coming of Christ, lose some of their interest in business and purely worldly matters ; it is natural they should. The sin- cere followers of Mr. Millar began to neglect their farms, their stores, and their general busines.«», and why would they not 1 What would a man sow in spring for, when he expected to go to Heaven on the 1st April ? And I judge something of this kind took place among the Thessalonians, for I read in 1st Thess., 4th chap., 11 and 12 : — " And that ye study to be mtm MM »g you and Ilmv to he Prepared if it should Happen. Gl qutet. And to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we coraman come what may you are all right, and let your prayer be, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done in earth as it is in Heaven." The Lord bless lis. Amen. '! ■iitM ANSWER TO A MAN WHO GRUMBLES BECAUSE I OBJECT TO BEING DAMNED. Text, — 1st Epjstlo Peter, Sitl Chap. 15th verse : — " But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts : and be ready always to give an answer to every man that askeih you a reason of the hope tliat is in you, wilij meekness and fear." !l; '^'^^ BELIEVE we are all God's children, and that we ar^- #^j first, and above all, accountable to Him for the mati- [^^jti/j] ner of life we live in this world. This seems to be the teaching of Paul in Romans lith chap, and 12th verse : "So then every one of us shall give an account of him- self to God." In nature, our Heavenly Father has provided for all our necessitieti, and even a goodly plenty of our lux- uries ; and if we co-op< ate with Him industriously and deal fairly, none of us need to want or suffer for things temporal. Equally so with our spiritual wants and needs ; God has pro- vided all that in necessary, and by a loving co-operation with Him, we may enjoy the full benefits of the same. Temporal things have been and nre now unjustly monopi - lized, and it may be truly said to the shame of niinisten^, and the carelessness of the masses?, religion has been monopolizi d also. it is really a thing to be wondered at how any man or woman of common sense can become so lacking in self-respect and independence as to acknowledge themselves slaves, and we ministers, their lords and masters, and that unless we give them the sacrament they are sjniitually lost. This strange de- lusion you can best see by looking at the Koman Catholic Church, for the simple reason that among them it is carried to a greater excess thaa in any other body ; for the \)neai to withhold the sacrament from a person, is thought to be a ter- rible punishment, when the real truth of the matter is thati Buch a refusal or withholding need only separate thom from an organization called the Koman Catholic Church. It could never separate them from Christ if they are Christ's. Gospel {Salvation cannot truthfully be monopolized by any one man or ^5 wn Hilhi i%-'Kt^y-.-w*'>a fsifmtemm'.ic-imf>'P (56 Sermons. number of men, or any organization ; for individually it is not essentially dependent upon uniformity or ceremony or rite or creed ; for all these things are human, and when made com- pulsory are an imposition, unbecoming a christian age and the disciples of Christ. To give us liberty from such restraints was one of the grand purposes of Christ's mission to earth. You read in Hebrews 9th Chap., 10th and 11th verses: " Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come." I believe Christ brought the reformation; I believe He brought the good things, and it is mine to live in one, and enjoy the other. 1 do not wish for myself or others to be imposed upon with useless rites or church ordinances ; I feel my commission to be somewhat like St. Paul stated in 1st Cor. 17th verse ; " For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel." I belong to a church ; I am a believer in certain rites, for instance I baptized ten persons during the past week. During the past year I administered this rite to hundreds, but I desire to put a proper estimate upon the church as an organization, and assign to ceremonies their true place and value. The lesson taught the Apostle Peter is recorded in Acts 10th Chap. 34th and 35th verses; I should learn, and every one of us should, the spirit of tolerance and catholicity inculcated therein ; I should, as well as the Pope of Rome, learn and practice. What is it? Peter visiting Cornelius* house ; a Gentile house, remarks the following : *• Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons ; but in every nation he that feareth I^im and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." What does a man want more, and should anybody take less ? No doubt Peter's eyes were opened and he saw the church in a new aspect, and ceremonies in a new light He learned what is written in Romans 3rd and 30th : •' Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcis- ion through faith." You see ceremony is nothing in the eye of true faith, and with respect to true salvation. Let me say again that organizations are expediences ; the justification and preference of one over the other must be found in the comparative good they do. They are healthful and «i UMb in a what God, Imcis- le eye Answer to a Man who Grumbles. ^ I profitable to the individual, and in our collective capacity they furnish us with superior means from a greater power and larger opportunities of doing good, and in a degree we could not do if left alone. For practical purposes and for the most successful and efficient means of extending the Gospel, every christian should belong to some church so-called. It seems self-evident to me that a person who is ignorant of the God- revealed distinction between the Houses of Judah and Israel is unqualified, emphatically so, to interpret many of the prophe- cies ; because confounding these two houses, he will naturally confound the prophecies referring to them. Equally so is a person intolerant and condemnatory with others when he does not know the difference between the Church of Christ and earthly churches ; when he does not know the difference be- tween unity and uniformity Confusion here leads to pompos- ity, and dogmatism elsewhere. Let me illustrate : Physically the most important thing you and I desire is health ; the question is how shall we gain it, how shall we keep it and how shall we best use it ? I answer, not by a uniformity of diet, of clothing or housing ; in these things we know that clime, employment and constitutions will demand liberty and choice of variety. It is an undeniable fact that we cannot have uniformity in thesf things unless it be at the expense of health or what we call unity. Now health is the unity we seek; we cannot therefore afford to sacrifice unity or health for the sake of uniformity. Let us eat our bread ; the Chinaman his rice, the Esquimi x his fish ; let them dress themselves in Greenland and in he South Sea Inlands as best suits their health : we don't w tit uniformity in these things, for that would not answer tho end. Look now at man spiritually ; I ask what shall be our chief aim in all our churches 1 I may safely answer — spiritual health. Again, how shall we best attain, keep and use this spiritual health ? I answer, not by uniformity of creeds or forms or rites or ceremonies, these may and indeed will vary in different ages and different countries and races of peoples. In fact with the same people in the same country there will be continual divisions of mind that will lead one person to select one church in preference to another. And it follows that if spiritual health or unity is what we are all seeking, we must allow each liberty, and that, without con- / I i ■m!;^iimm G8 Sermons. demning each other ; remembering always that unity was pre- ferable to uniformity. That is what Paul teaches in 1st Cor. and 12th chap., he says, — "Diversity of gifts, admini^ration and operation, but it is the same God which worketh all in all." The English Government in the 17th century made des- perate and somewhat cruel effort to force uniformity upon the |)eople by the t-nactnient of compulsory, or as they call theu , acts of uniform ity. They tried to have all the i)eople belong lo the same earthly church ; worship alike ; having the same scripture lessons ; the same prayers ; same hymns ; same atti- tudes, same position and at the same time ; but they fouud by experience what many have not found yet, that it was too costly and dangerous to sacrifice unity for uniformity. This h^s been and now is internationally one of the fundamental errors of the Churc^i of Kome. They go in for uniformity, making us all alike and making us all ot one church. You might as well go in and say you all shall have the same kind of dinner and wear the same clothes. It is nonsense. What you want is spiritual health and bodily health, and whatever will best give them to you, that is what you should take, and noV>ody should iutedere with you. When and where they have had the power, they have made a desperate effort to main- tain uniformity by passing compulsory laws This error has been the cause of much strife, intense suflering, terrible per- secution, numerous wars, sad poverty and general ignorance. They have never long succeeded in any country, for essential to their success are two things ; namely, ignorance and poverty .among the masses j these are the foundations on which they could build. People in such a condition are superstitious, and out of their superstition the hierarchy can make a sceptre of authority and rule the people. Educate them and they cannot use the sceptre with the same freedom A few years ago I married a lady and gentlemen, both of them were Roman Catholics. Other couples I have married of like faith. Numbers of couples I have married where one has been a protestant and the other a catholic ; the children of these —half and half, as an Englishman would say — I have baptized and buried. The gentleman I refer to is a man of wealth and iut&lligeuce living in another city. He has been a I rtiiiiiiiii Ansiver to a Man vjJio Grumbles. 69 has per- ance. utial iverty they , and tre of annot reacler of ray sermons for some time ; he has corresponded with me occasionally, and when passing this way he has several times been to hear me preach. A few days aojo he wrote me a letter stating some objections he had to a sermon I preached on Sunday evening, Feb. 8th, on '* Creed or no Creed." That sermon seems to have stirred up the hornets all over ; I do not know if ever 1 will get rid of it. He seems surprised that I should make such emphatic objections to Pope Boniface's Bull and to the stnteraent of Monsigneur O'Brien. He argues that the Pope and O'Brien have aright to declare their belief just as much as I have, and he is afraid I do not show my usual tolerance of spirit in objecting as I did. In the Daili/ News of this City lor Monday Feb. 9th, there is a letter very much on the s;ime line b^/ a Koman Catholic friend. The first gentle- man asks me toward the close, how I expect to be saved with- out the sacrament of the mother church, meaning the Roman Catholic Church 1 My answer is, that she is not my mother, and that my salvation is not in any sense dependent on her sacrament or on any other church's sacrament. He seems to think that to reject them will expose me to purgatory^ and that my lot mi^ht finally be with the lost in hell. Pope Boniface's Bull 1 mu&t repeat — it is Boniface 8th — He says, ** We declare, define, pronounce it to be necessary to the sal- vation of every human creature to be suVjject to the Koman pontiff." Monsigneur O'Brien, special delegate from the Pope to Canada, confiimed this statement in a sermon preached m St. Michael's Cathedral in this City, October 1888 ; he says, closing u}) : " Notwithstanding the anger, notwithstanding the horror ot the world, this is the revealed truth of God." To all this I object ; but my objection to be ot any force, must state what I object to. 1 was showing in this sermon that there are more folds than one in which christians can gather salely. Tho Pope argues for one fold ; Monsigneur O'Brien argues for one ; I argue for a number, so I made those quotations. Those quotations you see damn mo, and the correspondent grumbles becr\use 1 object ; and I am intolerant and uncharitable because I cbjectcd to such doctrines ; they publicly and in writing condemn mo because 1 object publicly, I am accused of kicking them and seeking public notoriety. If a man is kicked first, may he not say he has been so ; or are we to take the kicking u^^ Vk Sermons. y- ' ;* /■ and keep quiet 1 Let me say when persons have a faith like this, I think they should keep it to themselves ; it is perhaps bad enough to hold such a belief secretly, but anyway if they make it public, they should not get angry if some persons ob- ject to it. Read the advice that is given in Romans 14th and 22nd, — " Hast thou faith ? Have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth." If they can state their creeds publicly, why cannot I state mine 1 Where did they get the license to do what I cannot do ? My friends never heard me through the press, or in any of my books, or from this pulpit, condemn a man or women for not being a Congregation alist, or say they could not have salvation unless they belong to our church. Yet I sincerely believe the Congregational church to be as truly a church of Christ as that of my Roman Catholic friends. It is best for us to be Christ like in our teachings and in our intercourse : damn no one simply for the reason they do not belong to your church : honor freedom by recog- nizing it wherever you may meet it in any other people. In names and creeds there is sometimes a tinge of pride and an uncalled for reflection on otherj!. Think of a society in an intelligent city like Toronto, calling themselves free-thinkers ; as if they were any freer or better thinkers than the rest of us. The name when honestly interpreted, means that they think themselves freer than we are ; although anybody ought to know, who is acquainted with them, they are not. I would rather suspect that they are not the freest thinkers as a rule, because they are generally of a negative character in theory : those I have met and those I have read of are. Generally railing and boasting against what is; without any positive views of their own. They would speak against Christianity, but as far as I know they have nothing better to substitute, nor have they ever pretended to substitute anything else. They are one-sided reasoners. Take again for example the ultra- calvinists ; those persons who believe that God fore-ordained from all eternity some of us to eternal salvation and the rest of us to everlasting condemnation : and this God did without any reference to the good or evil in us, but — as they lujike out — simply for His own glory and to His own good pleasure. A man holding these views should keep his faith to himself, dkmmrat MM! Answer to a Man who Grumbles. 71 tive ity, ute, hey tra- ined rest lOUt out A self, for according to his theory, he can do no good; he eannofc elect or reprobate one soul ; why then go' around trumpeting his election in the face of those who are so unfortunate as to be condemned on earth and heirs to everlasting torments. It surely cannot be his mission or duty to aggravate their sorrows by frequently reminding them of their impending doom. A woman went into our insane asylum because of information conveyed to her by another lady belonging to a different church. The former lady lost two dear little children within a few days, the only ones she had. It left a blank and a lonely place in that housa They had not been baptized, and this other lady told her that she had been led to believe as the rules of her church, that her children would be blind and crippled all through eternity for that neglect. When the poor woman heard this she went off her balance. She came to my house in that state, but it was too late to persuade her that it was nonsense. Oh dear me what serious things people make use of that are false. God help us ; I sometimes wonder how under heaven people can believe what they do and be sensible. Just as if God would damn those two little innocent creatures with blindness in the other world because the mother had not been well enough, if she had the disposition, to look after their being christened. We are to remember that in the case of different children, we cannot know which are saved or which are lost. No man has a right to preach 'such a doc- trine • if he believes it he can keep it in his own heart and never utter a word to anybody else. Now you see the trouble that comes from the propagation of such views. In this matter we are like those who believe in purgatory, for they know not who goes through, or how much they suflfer, or how long they stay, or when they leave ; although they act as if they did ; and they therefore do an immense business with a large profit for the church in cash receipts for masses and prayers. This, too, is a piece of folly, just as those ultra ideas of my own church Calvinism is a piece of folly that no sensible man or woman ought t"> be guilty of believing. I say to a parent, read the words of our Saviour, Matthew 18th and 5th, — " Whoso shall receive one of these little children in my name receiveth me." And if they press you further, point them to Matthew 1 9th and 14th, where we read that mothers brought lit' ■Ml ^i::.-wei)nsrv- 72 Sermons. their children unto the Saviour ; brought them, mind you ; and the disciples pushed them away ; but our Saviour noticing it, said unto them : '• Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." Oh, the words of my Lord ! how they should stand in glorious relief against all these human creeds and follies. Theories are vexatious, and I am glad that we can turn from them to such simple utterances as these, Acts 16th and 30th, where; the jailoi is smitten, and, falling down before Paul and Silas who are bound in the stocks, cries : " Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? " and he answers, "Believe on the liord Jesus Christ and be saved," and the man was saved. Thank God for such refreshing simplicity and utterances standing over against trickery, cunning, and creeds fostered and made by men in their own delusions. The Lord save and bless us. Amea. > ■i wmm N THE DECISION OF THE MANITOBA SUPERIOR COURT IN THE SEPARATE SCHOOL CASE. ; . v Text. — 18th verse, r2th Chap, Romans : — " If it be possihle as mnoh as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." ITHOUT giving a detailed exposition of these words, I will assume that their spirit and meaning we all understand and freely accept. More, I will assume that whatever church or state party we belong to, we are all desirous of living and acting agreeably with the teach- ings of our text. We all know that in an imperfect age, we see and know many things only in part* This is true of the most learned and sincere among us, hence it will be natural for us to be divided in our opinions and our methods of action. If we properly realize this, it should not be diilicult for us to exercise a tolerant disposition one with another, even while we labor earnestly and sincerely for the truth as we individually conceive it. The responsible form of government under which we live, furnishes safe and ample opportunities for the expression of our opinions. Under our constitution we have the power to enact laws and modify or rescind old ones. This makes pro- gress possible and lawful, and enables us to take advantage of the teachings of experience. Practice then reveals the weak- ness and error of a theory and of a law ; well for us then is it, that we have both the privilege and power to correct the 8ame. Just here I beg your kind permission to say a few words of explanation with respect to the present discourse. As vou well know, we are in the midst of the exciting ac- tivities of a general election for the Dominion Parliament. Not knowing the method of Bond-street pulpit in dealing with public questions, some may conclude from the nature of the discourse that it has a political purpose, with a party aim, and that it has been timely set over against the present agitation. Such however, I can honestly say is not the case : the subject was chosen independent of, and prior to, my knowledge of the E 73 H. V I M If^Mi. 74 Sei^mons. m Iti general campaign. Having taken up the Behiing Sea Ques- tion between our country and the United States, and thank God I judged and prophesied correctly in spite of the iidverse criticism I was subject to from the United States, and in this country ; for that Honourable body, the Supreme Court of the "> United States, admitted our appeal and so justified the action of Canada in the matter referred to. For this 1 am thankful, and can now cheerfully await the Court's decision and accept the same with satisfaction, whether it be for or against us. In this incident as well as others that preceded it, ther»' is a lesson to be learned by a few whining, fretful mortals in that country and this, who seem to take a delight in grumbling and trying to get these two great and enlightened nations at variance and if possible at war. Thank Heaven, the sane are more than the inbane m the land, and it is good lor ; insane that it is so ; and thank God the honorable are more than the croakers, and it is good for the two countries that they are. I mov(% and common sense would second the motion, that these discon- tented folks of both countries move to some island in the far- off seas, and live and dance to the discordant notes of their own music and annoy nobody else. The fact is, decent people in both countries are getting tired of them. A stranger in our country reading the Daily News, would be led to think the ocean cable had been laid for the special purpose of keeping us informed as to the whereabouts and sayings of Parnell, Wm. O'Brien and their Fenian kin. And if this stranger fell in with our sore head croakers, he would wonder why God Almighty permitted these countries to exist, and that they had not long ago rushed pell-mell to destruction. Well, as you know, I have been greatly interested in what is called the Separate School Question of Manitoba. On the 3rd of this month, the Superior Court of that Province gave its decision. For this decision, I, with many others, had been waiting ; once it was known, as intended, I announced for a sermon on the subject, the verdict of the Court, and our Gen- eral Election happening to -^ome at the same time, I neither ' could foresee nor change, for Sir John did not consult with me about the matter. Secondly, 1 concluded to proceed on the line before determined. 1 want to speak as freely as if no election was going on, and this I feel persuaded you will per- i 'V riMi gave been for a Gen- iither ih me the if no f>er- Tlip Decision of the Manitoba SupeHor Couii. 75 ^ mit me lo do this evening. To understand the mattpr let me say, till about a year nofo Manitoba hal a system of Separate Schools ; that is school , iieside the so-called public State Schools, separate from the State Schools. Our Roman Catholic friends had schools of their own under the control of their church. Their share of the Public School taxes they used themselves in support of their schools ; they were called separate schools because they were distinct and Separate from the public schools. Last year the Manitoba parliament passed a law providing for and recognizing only State Schools ; those were to be free and open to all of every church, creed, race and persuasion. The public school taxes were to be applied to support them. The Roman Catholics objected to this, and resisted the law as far as they could. They then took the matter into the courts, dudge Kilham gave a decision in favor of the law. Our Roman Catholic friends then appealed against his decision to the Superior Court of the province : that court on the 3rd of this month gave a decision sustaining Judge Kilham. The Act was sustained by Chief Justice Taylor, Judj^es Kilham and Bain, while Judge Dubuque dissented ; he being a Roman Catholic it was expected he would do so. The f/if't is, in court or out, the Roman Catholic is more free than religious who dares act contrary to his church. It is very probable that Rome will now make an appeal to the Imperial Privy Council of England, unless the Dominion Parliament shall declare the Manitoba laws ultra vires, that is, void and of no force. It is well known that pressure is being brought to bear on Govern- ment to have them do so, but 1 hardly think they will ; but of those who voted for the Jesuits, it will be mighty hard to say what they will do — I hate to risk a prophecy with such uncertain characters. The time for disallowance will be up on the 12th April next. Between the Conservatives and the Reformers there is not the difference of a row of pins, unless new men, stalwart and true, are sent back in the coming Parliament. Politicians may scream 111 they are hoarse against Equal Rights, but when all is .said and done, it stands out in good, undeniable truth that equal rights are preferable to unequal ; and courage is bet- ter than cowardice, and })rinciple than party, and Protestantism is ftt least equal to Roman Catholicism, tud ministers are ■.imE. 70 Sermons. I! 1 better and Hafer for the country than Jesuits, and Bond-street pastor is as good as Archbishop Cleary, and pays more taxes than he does. These things being so, I ask in the name of all that is good and true, why should Roman Cathi>lics want priv- ileges and favors above their Protestant brethren"? And if they RHk such special favors from our Government, why should a majority of Protestants grant them 1 This is a religious question, Jind therefore every pulpit now ought to ring from one end of the Dominion to the other, but they will scream after the thing is done, as usual. There is not a more vital religious question in Canada to-day, outside of the actual con- version ot a soul, than this one question. Anybody that thinks for a moment how it is to tell upon the future, can see that to be a fact. Some one may ask why I specially object 1 I answer, because I am a born Briton and love fair play all round, and I hate that the well-earned name of my fathers should be dishonoured, and their children and mine should be given a second place in the councils of the nation ; for it is a second place we have, when Koraan Catholics can have sep- arate schools, and we Congregationalists and other churches cannot have them. We are made to play second fiddle, although the second here is a great deal better than the first. A christian student gives attention to passing events ; he tries to know whether or not what is" going on is in harmony with divine intention ; or whether the events of the day are simply allowed by Providence. A short time ago when the Jesuit Estate Bill passed, I wondered what could be its provi- dential meaning 1 Now I see it clearly ; it was divinely per- mitted, for out of that evil was to come a great blessing. I like to see Providence turn to good account the machinations of crafty men and wily politicians. Provincial rights won a victory when the Dominion Government refused to disallow the Jesuit Estate Bill. The Governor-General was petitioned and waited upon by a large and honorable deputation, and he refused to interfere. The Jesuits chuckled ; the Roman Cath- olics quite generally rejoiced, the Reformers made merry on the plea of the triumph of Provincial rights, and the Government ielt hugely satisfied with having divided their responsibility of the position, and made themselves solid with the Roman Hierarchy. It was a farce all round when looked at in the light y Mi from that he Tite Decision of the Manitoba Superior Court. 77 of what has happened since. The other provinces looked on and felt stronger. One of the youngest — Manitoba — learned its strength and hoon put the same to a useful test in that pro- vince. They had separate schools and dual language — English and French. Tiie happy and economical thought occurred, ^hat as the \>\ i)vinc(i had been shown to have so much power, why not abolish the separate schools and the French language, arui, as a young province, avoid some of the errors of th<5 older provinces. To do so would not only be a saving of money and time but would tend towards unity and prosperity ; so believing, they acted ; and I sincerely trust their action will be sustained. And as the territories are formed into pro vinces, without doubt they will now follow the example of Manitoba. Their action clears the skies and makes more hope- ful and promising the future of that vast and inviting country for our children and the millions from abroad. Canada, bar- ring Quebec, is now and must remain so until the end uf earth time, English in language, and Protestant in religion. When in Manitoba and the Norih-vvest last spring, I found this to be a desire of the people ; even some of my Roman Catholic friends that I talked to, and I may add to theui three or four of the Indian chiefs. A leading politician some two years ago thanked me for deal- ing with public questions of this character. He said if the pulpits would more generally do so it would make it easier for us to resist class legislaiiun ; because when the Roman Hier- archy should ask us for special legislation, we could point to the public sentiment and say it is against it, and so honorably free ourselves from voting on such questions. After the Jesuit Estate Bill passed, several members of parliament told mw they had no idea that public sentiment was so much opposed to it ; had they known it, they would have voted diflferently. Good, sincere and honest men should not only have our respect but our help with the voice, with the pen, with our influence in their efforts to legislate and govern in the interests of the masses and equality. :;;/ - ,,^. :._■:- ■^. :-..:?._* .'--^^■^- ■- With intelligent freemen, class legislation, sect favoritism, denominational discrimination, cannot be acceptable or give permanent satisfaction : we can never live peaceably together, while we are counted inferior to those who are our neighbois. --1., . m\ W II' I : 78 Sermons. And I aui not inferior to tho best Koman Catholic on thiH con- tinent, ev^n if the law says I am. What freemen demand is, th^o all christian sects and churches shall have equal protection and liberty, that priestly assumption and denominational pre- ferential claims shall not be recognized either by law or by our Government. I may honestly believe that the Congregational church is the best ; that is my privilege ; but for all that, I have no right to demand or receive special favor in legislation ; for to grant such, is to do an injustice to all the other denom- inations. With respect to education : — There are two things the State should do ; first provide ample accommodation for the educa- tion of all her children in the so-called common branches. In the second place, they should see that all are educated. If I, through a conviction or fancy, did not wish to send my child- ren to the common schools, so-called, wtU and good, I can have a governess or send them to a private school ; but this does not or should not free me from paying my share of the public school taxes. If through a religious conviction, I did not send my children to the State schools, all right, the church can provide schools of its own ; but in this case also I should not be free from public school taxes. In short, when persons want something else, something they call better, something different from the public schools, let them pay for it ; whoever it is, whether a Congregationalist or a Roman Catholic. And whether it is a rich or poor man that does not like to send his children to the common school, let him educate them at his own expense ; is not that fair 1 It is as fair as anything could be. Why should the Homan Catholic Church want special favors? What is she moio than any of the other churches in the land ? It is a well-known fact that in the past she has generally given the weight of her influence, of her money and men, to cripple and if possible to destroy Great Britain ; any- body knows that. Had the good old patriotic Church of Eng- land made such a demand, there would be some sense in it, and merit too, remembering her past loyal history to our be- loved country. In closing, many may think I am an enemy to the Roman Catholics ; that is not so. The Catholics in Toronto know I am not I do not suppose I have an enemy among the whole mmm ^'"j^j^"-" ■MMMMSH The Decmon of the Manitoba Superior Court, 79 lot of them, and I presume there is no man on more friendly terms with them. They know what I mean. And if the laws should ever undertake to deprive them of their rights, I would be one of the first men they could appeal to. Barring one or two exceptions, I have no more familiar and intimate friends among the ministers than the late Father Laurent, and in this church there are scores that have come to membership from the Roman Catholic Church, and have proved themselves honorable and worthy as Christians in this community. What we speak, we speak sincerely, without any personality or hate, simply asking fair play. Whatever a man's faith may be, on that basis, on that alone can we live peaceably with our neigh- bours ; and it is these discriminations and reflections upon us that make us uneasy ; fo** we do not like, as honorable men and as Congregationalists, to be thought inferior in the eyes of tlie law, because I know thao I am not. I know I am equal, and all Congregationalists throughout this Dominion are equally as faithful, as loyal, and as dutiful to God, to the Queen and to the country as my Roman Catholic friends are. Therefore why should they have what I cannot have 1 I will never rest satisfied until the law of the land, like the God-Father of Heaven, is no respector of persons, and meets out equal good to all. Then will come the reign of peace ; then shall we live peaceably together throughout our broad and prosperous land. God hasten the day. Amen. .n-i*.;> .V f. fi. 11! It LET HIM COME, WELL AND GOOD. Text — Matthew 24:th Chap. 44th verse: — "Therefore be ye also ready ; for iu such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." WO weeks ago I preached a sermon on the so-called second coming of Christ ; I did so because I thought this subject was again being unduly torced to the front. In years past the untimely presentation of this sub- lime doctrine has proved very disastrous to Christian experi- ence, and destructive to the unity and progress of the Christian church ; no one can deny that, and I hA impressed that the present agitation will prove ruinous and disturbing. The numer- ous mistakes of the past and their sad effects should not remain unnoticed by us ; the subject is a very serious one, and the grievous mistakes of good men and "» omen ia the centuries that are gone should afford us some light, and inspire us with caution in our present activities. The discourse referred to has called forth considerable witi- cism, some of whicli wms generous, und some was a little too bitter and dogmatic to foim a pj^rt of Christian controversy. We need not get angry with one another in our honest search after the truth ; bat whether angry or pleased, it is probably true that none of us know the whole truth : this, then, is one of tiie best of rea&ons why we should l^ie tolnrant one with another. Either through my ignorance or the weakness of my critics, I find nothing to answer that they revealed in enor, nor dis- proved any of my statements, and 1 therefore have to continue this discourse on the same line as the other. I believe it is the duty of all persons to put themselves in that position that makes most for progress, pea^'e and security to things temporal and spiritual ; for present and future ; for this life and the next ; and when doubts arise and the public mind is sincerely divided in its o})inion8, the proper thing for each individual to do is to f linoso that course and select those opinions that are the most iuclusivo and compreheosive ; that is, provide in the best poa- MNMlii Let Him come, Well and Good. 81 Bible way for the defects and results ; so that whatever happens, let the results be what they may, we have the best of it. Surely there is no great display of sense in worrying about a speciality when the saying is inchided in the generality ; there is no use of a person buying at a lunch-counter and paying fifty cents for tit-bits, when he can sit down at a table and have a good dinner that includes all the tit-bits and much more that is substantial, arid all for fifty cents ; the dinner is inclusive and more satisfactory, yet I travelled several years before I found out the wisdom of such a choice. I used to run to the counter and pay sixty cents when I could have sat down and have a good dinner for fifty. Just so it seems to me there is no extra sense in a person selecting Theolos^ical tit- bits when he can have the same in the general doctrine for the same ef- fort of faith and practice, with much less worry and more security. I have a preacher friend who is constantly harping on the sleep of the spirit, or soul ad he calls it, from the time of physical death till the general resurrection. ]Sow this is his theological tit-bit; he visits me sometimes, and frequently writes me. I should judge by the last letter l^hat the sermon of two weeks ago has tested the grace of his patience a little ; he says there is no more force in what I say on this subject than in my argument on the Ten Lost Tribes. I answer — there need not be; for the lost tribe theory is as clear to me as noon-day. He and others remind me of the saying of the Savi- our in Matthew 6th chap, and 23rd verse, " Jf, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness.'' Imagine a preacher who does not know the diflference between a Jew and an Israelite, for he will persist in calling me a Jew, and everybody else that holds this theory. He argues this way — that all sparrows are birds, and therefore all birds are spar- rows. Now the plain fact is, he or anybody else ouo:ht to know that all Jews are Israelites, but all Israelites are not Jews, no niore than all birds are sparrows, thank the Lord. A common concordance will show anybody the ditference of these two words. He with a few others do not understand what I mean by doctrinal incluaiveness ; this I will try to explain both to my soul-sleeping and advent friends. If at death we all go into unconscious sleep, why then we will not trouble one an- other ; we will all wake some time, well and good ; now for wmmmm mmmmmm iiiifc ii I it. A gentleman writing from Chilcoten, B. C, sa,yi .?c has jiist. read my sermon on the f-iture life as re:io-ted ii^ I hi. A i>. VANCE of Nov. 24th^ 1890. The sermon iias disoarb V' vhe :■ tBa gI -, liHHMMaiiiiialia mtamm Let Hhn pear. Just like a sea-captain going to some foreign port ; he gets a chart, and marked on it, first is an island, then a sunken rock, then a current, a sand-bank and other dangers. He passes a few, then he says the chart is correct. Would he be a wise captain, when there is a lot of things marked on the chart that he has never yet seen or come to, to say : — '* Boys, sailors, w« will be home to-morrow ; I expect to go in port to-morrow." It would be a strange thing when he knew there were othtT things to pass. That is just the same as my adv it brother saying, I am going into port to-morrow : well, you will have to leave the soul mighty quickly, or at all events you will have to hurry up, because you have not got to the end of your chart yet, and all things must be fulfilled spoken by the mouth of all the Holy prophets since the world began, before Christ can leave Heaven to come to earth. Then we read in Revela- tions 3rd f«nd 20th : — " Behold I stand at the door and knock : if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him." Then ilohn 14th and 23rd : — " And my Father will love him and we will come in unto him and make our abode with him." My tit-bit brethren, do you really think if Christ came to-morrow He would reject us ] To reject us would be to reject Himself, for He has taken up His abode in every christian heart ; and if Hvi came to Toronto tomorrow would He pass by Himself, as He is dwelling in the thousands of His humble children] He would not; we would fare just as well as you would, and it we are His we are prepared for His coming executively, for Christ is in us. He may come executively before this night is over ; " well and good — let Him come." My teaching is this — has Christ C(mH» the second time to you — are yQU converted — hac Christ cume into your heart and do you know He is living there? If you have this you will find that that preparation is inclusive ; that you w^ll never need to argue for one minute as to when Christ will come personally : only have Him in your heart now and if He come to-morrow morning well and good. I would not argue five minutes with an adventist, because if he should prove right I have all he has got and cotisiderable more : 1 am at tlie table and he is at the counter. Then, you are ready for His coming ■i 1 88 Sermons, executively if Christ has pardoned your Hins : this is the state in which we should all live, and this is the exhortation that is given in the text : — " Be ye also ready, for in such hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." t. The Lord bless us. Amen. Ill he state ion that ch hour SHOULD THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST CATHOLICS? Text. — GalaUons 5th chap., Ist verse •' Stand fa ^ therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made lis free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." |0 British subjects these words are specially applicable. I am })robably within the limits of accepted truth, when the same is honestly expressed, when I say that they enjoy a greater measure of liberty, taking all in all, than an}'^ people on the face of this earth, and in Canada the measure is e\ en larger than in England. To tell the plain truth, I maj* say that we Lave more liberty than we have wisdom and hon- esty to use it. Getting and keeping do not ustain their high- est relation one towards the other when thry are equal, for we should not only keep what we get of that which is g0'>d, but we should be progK ssive. Sometimes a nation does well to hold its own. If the Millennium is before us, I am quite sure we have soukb improvement to make ore we reach that period. It is hardly possible for us to read the history of our nation without i^feelirg the emotion of a commendable pride. Our forefathers worked bravely, fought heroically, sacrificed gen- erously, and well deserved the victories they won ; and we, the honored children of such noble sires, should at the very least stand fast in the liberty that has been handed down unto U8. Some of you who are more pious than useful may remind me thai the liberty spoken of in my text is Gospel liberty. Your remi : der is a point well taken, for it I have this answer — all true treedom is included in Gospel liberty. Personally, politi- cally, morally, and spiritually, there is no freedom outside of the Gospel. Christianity neutralizes no man's duty as a citizen and neighbour. A Christian is the most qualified to honour the dead and provide for the unborn by a rightful use of the present. . ^ . P 89 tM JMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) y .// &?- / r/i fA ^. ^a <^ '5>> ■^^^ WVW o /J V// 1.0 I.I U£ hm 1^ iii 2.2 2.0 i& L25 11.4 - 6" HiotDgraphic Sciences Corporation 1.8 1.6 ec. 8&h, |l letters, imple of the teachings in one of these letters : first, the Romish Church has a right to exercise its authority without any limit set to it by the civil powers. Second, the Pope and priests ought to have dominion over the temporal forces. Third, the Roml«h Church and her ecclesiastics ever have a right to immunity from civil laws ; in case of conflict between the ecclesiastics and civil powers, the ecclesiastical powers ought to prevail. In ,the light of such statements it seems to me self-evident that *the Roman Catholics deprive themselves of full liberty to the throne and some of the offices of the Government of Great Britain ; for were they in any of these offices they could not honestly fulfil their duties ; they would either have to be re- creant to the vows of their church or undutiful to the State. No wonder our fathers found it necessary to restrain their privileges in the past ; the very law of self-preservation dedi- cated such a coures and justified it, and it was generous in them to |remove some of those restraints in the so-colled Emancipation Act of 1829. The officss from which they are shut out should never be opened unto them until they can swear, without mental re- servation, to the supremacy of the Queen, loyalty to the Gov- ernment and country, as against the Popo, hierarchy and popery. It is unreasonable to expect us to allow equal liberty and authority to any set of men unless they are equally free to use that liberty. Where is the wisdom in giving to a people that which they cannot use, but which they would hand over to a foreign potentate, coll him pope or what you like 1 Have I a riglit to give the privileges of my nation into the hands of a people who, if they are true to their reli'j:ion, cannot use them, but must hand them over to another 1 Is there a Catholic brother or sister in Toronto, or my good friend Archbishop Walsh, willing to say that it would be right for ua to do so 1 Yet their complaint implies that we should. Hand theiie things over to the Pope, when we know from their past history that the popes have -been our nation's most deadly enemies, and I might fiiin hope for their conversion, but I do not know that they have been. No, it wodI I ne\ er do. Monsigneur Preston says a good catholic gets his puiiticH from Rome as well as his religion. That is the very thing we object to. That is the grand discrimination point between V w*• ■ LESSONS FROM THE LATE ELECTIONS. ■# Text — Haggai, Ist chap., 5th verse of hosts consider your ways. " ' * Now therefore saith the Lord HIS wholesome advice the prophet gave to the people of Judah ; it was appropriate and timely. I will not take up your attention this evening by showing how these words were applicable to the Jewish nation, but how they may apply to ua at the present time. A few days since we had a general election of members for the Dominion Parliament. I risk little, if anything, in say- ing that it was the most important election contest that Can- ada ever had ; the franchise was never more generally exer- cised from one end of the Dominion to the other ; people were in earnest. They have recorded their verdict. The govern- ments and people of Great Britain and the United States were in sympathetic touch with us, and wonderfully interested in the battle of the ballot box, and whatever our ideas may be with regard to the result, I am sure we ought to feel pleased with the freedom, order, good cheer and honesty that character- ized both the campaign and the voting day : a more peaceable day, Canada never had than the 5th of March j this is to our credit, for the interests at stake were never more important. They were dealt with courteously and with an open-handed tolerance to be adin*'ed and commended. Doubtless there were some little intrigues and friction, but not anything like that wh ch characterizes otiier countries and even ourselves in past tune. The two leaders — 6ir Jtmn A. Macdonald and Hon. J\lr. Laurier— merit our praise for the manner in which they did their part of the work. In their speeches there were none <)f those bitter and ungentlemanly personal attacks — one on the other — which in the past have too often sullied and made polit- ical speeches distasteful to many men. I cannot help but think and believe but that their example helped to a healchit-r and purer tone in the speeches of their respective followers. In considering our ways 1 think there are a few lessons we may 9Q / Lessons from tJie late Elections. 97 lie Lord 1 people Rrill not ng how lUt how bers for in say- lat Can- ,Uy exer- ple were govern- ttes were eated in may be I pleased Iharacter- eaceable s to o\ir II port ant. 1-handed irers. we may learn from the late election. Surely we may learn to know from practical experience that the people can be educated and trained to know the full meaning and honest use of the ballot box ; and that intrigue, bribery, and foul, false misrepresenta- tions are not necessary in ascertaining the will of the people by a popular election. For the last few years there have been under-toned mutter- ings about Canada being annexed to the United States. I am under the impression that this question has been settled for a long time to come, if not for ever, by the late election. An- nexation in my judgment is completely ruled out, and the ver- dict of the people has defined our future to be, either to ever remain an integral part of the glorious empire of Great Biitain, or to be an independent nation. No subject has made more noise for less reason, and tempted the credulity of our Amer- ican friends, and given to our country a false representation ibiv\id, than this question of annexation. If a free vote were takei'. of the more than five million citizens of the Dominion of Canada to-morrow, not above one in a hundred would be found • a l^.roT of annexation. Neither for want of knowledge, ex- vrTience nor interest in Canada, nor lack of respect and aidmira- tlon of the United States do I make this statement I warn jur friends both in the United States and Great Britain not to »r ake the mistake of reckoning the Reform vote as the estimate and measure of the annexation bentiment in Canada; for as ' sure as they do they wHl be badly deceived. A few politicians in Canada and the United States are responsible for introduc- ing this annexation question into the late election, and for saddling it on the Reform party. Their motive for doing so, it is not for me to try and define ; if I undertook such a task I am afraid I would have to say — they were lacking in good judgment and forethought, and were far from my ideal of patri- ots. It is very certain they have brought dishonor on them- selves — these few politicians — and where the Reform party gained one vote by their influence, they lost ninety and nine through the same influence. For all time to come I hope both Reformers and Conservatives or any other political parties ia our country will learn to steer clear of such mischief-makers and enemies of our nation. It is very desirable that our American friends both in their home and in this couatry m 1 Sermons. h : mt^ Bhould remember that we are not their enemies h^use these few unpatriotic men, by their conduct have forced us to defend our liberty and institutions : we be brethren, and neither the unscrupulous fenians or annextional demagogues shall ever destroy the bond of brotherhood that binds us in loving esteem — one to the other : Ephraim and Manassah are brothers to the end of x-ime. Some affect to speak lightly ot patriotism, but what is a citizen worth who has no love for his country 1 How much is he to be trusted in times of national danger 1 Have we not a right to speak well of our adopted or native land 1 Is it a crime to do so 1 Have we not a right to set over against the discontented and disloyal utterances our own voice of satis- faction ^nd fidelity to our country and our Queen 1 What, I pray, is the difference in being a part of Great Brit- ain or being a part of the United States. I am free to say that I respect and honor the Americans much, but not so much as to make myself their inferior, or account my status as a citizen of Great Britain of less value than theirs. If the two are equal, yet, common gratitude should urge me to choose to re- main with t! .6 good old mother England. I can understand how a person could desire in the coming day, the independence of Canada, but annexation implies a kind of gratitude that I hope I shall ever be innocent of. One thing is certain, I shall never lend my influence knowingly to any policy, or give my sympathy to any party that seeks to deprive me of my birth- right as a British subject and a citizen of our beloved Canada. As I have said, it may be that independence is to be our lot some day, if so, well and good ; but even that I would not lift my little finger to unduly force ; if a kind Providence shall plainly make it our destiny, all right ; but even then, if liv- ing, I would advocate an alliance, defensive and offensive be- tween Great Britain and Canada. In the near future, Great Britain will have her maximum of population, for want of room, while in Canada the time is far off when that will be our fate. We have room for multiplying ioaillions for many years to come. No doubt we shall far sur- pass the mother-land in number, then ; when that time comes, if I were living, I would propose that we adopt Great Britain as a colony, and throw around her the strong arms of our power and try to pay the old mother something back of the Lessons from the late /'Elections. 90 these lefend 3r the ^ I ever Bsteem to the ra, but How Have > land 1 against )f satis- at Brit- lay that nuch as k citizen bwo are se to re- lerstand endence that I 1 shall ;ive my r birth- Danada. our lot not lift ice shall if liv- isive be- h imum of ne is far tiplying far sur- |e comes, Britain Is of our of the much we owe her for her self-denial, her fostering care, and hor protecting influence which have been extended so freely to us in the day of. our youth, our danger and our weakness. Do you know, I think it would be a great point guined for the peace of society and the prosperity of the nation, if we could only persuade some people that they are living in this world and not in Heaven ; and in an imperfect ugo, and not in the midst of the millennium ; and therefore we cannot have all we want in Canada, no, nor the United States, nor even Ireland. Such people are both inconsistent with the immaturity of our country and with the imperfection of the age ; and any man that makes such a demand has little knowledge of himself or his surroundings. Anybody that has travelled and reads the daily papers, knows that taking all in all, Canada is one of the best countries in this world. 1 do not say it is perfect, nor can I be challenged by an^ opponent that he lives in a perfect country. I will make this statement in the proud assurance that no man can honestly and successfully contradict me, that there are not five millions of people in any other part of this world where there is less poverty, more general comfort, and fewer c?ises of necessity, and people out of work than in the Dominion of Canada ; and I wil) wait for correction through press or by letter. If then we are in the front, why should we want any exchange 1 1 am well aware thflt anybody who wants to agitate, can increase their own and the liscontent- ment of others I'y finding defects, much better than by sug gesting a remedy. It seems to me that some persons cannot understand the difference between perfection attained and per- fection attainable, or the difference between a boy and a man, or between a young country and an old one, or between Canada and the United States ; and it is clear to my mind that you cannot argue nor coax nor kick a boy ten years of age into a man of forty years. And the same is true of a young country ; you cannot make it an old one unless you grow it : annexation will not do it, nor anything else. The chief thing to be con- cerned about with respect to the boy, is his health ; is he grow- ing nicely and proportiomitely 1 A boy is as near perfection as can be when he is going on attaining the further perfection that is in manhood. Canada is young, but she has health, and she is growing nicely ; she promises well for the future. She mmimmmm 100 Sermons. is not the United States, nor ever will be ; but eho is her own noble, promising self. The first hundred years after the colonies became the United States, their ratio of increase was sixteon-fold. Since w^ were \ federated, ours has been thirty two fold ; and our own pros- pects for the future are prophetic — that at least this increase will be maintained. What then have we to grumble at 1 I answer nothing but what is natural and incidental to a young country. Persons who ought to know better are constantly writing through the press and proclaiming to the public that the Canadians are going by the thousands to the States ; ac- cording to their story, Canada will soon be depopulated. The fact is, these folks must tell innocent lies, or the Canadians are remarkably prolific, for the jountry keeps growing in population, actually faster in ratio than the United States, to which we give so many, according to their idea. Now there are six reasons why Canadians go to the United States : — First, be- cause the Americans have the habit and good sense to always praise their own country, and that has its impression upon our young people. Second, because many of our people have in- dulged in the poor policy of running down Canada ; that has its influence upon young people and makes them conclude to leave Canada the first opportunity they get. Third, because many think they can do better ; they desire a change and make one, and that is all right; it is their privilege tc do so and there is nothing wrong in it. Fourth, many go because they are sick ; they go to the south — Colerado and California — thou- sands on thousands go from year to year for this very reason. Let any one travel to these distant points and he will soon have this proved to him. Fifth, some go for their own convenience, for instance to get a divorce ; thousands have left Canada for that very reason; I know several that have left this city, and a gentleman told me that he went to live in Chicago— though he was not doing so well in bll^iness — but he was happier be- cause his wife was as good as pie there (I don't know what kind of pie) ; he said that it was because she was afraid he would get a divorce. In the sixth place, some go because they prefer the States to our penitentiaries. There are two reasons why persons come to Canada from the United State& First, because they think freedom here is better II Lessona from the late Elections. 101 ler own United ^ were n pros- ncrease ttti I k young ]8tantly )Uc that tes ; ac- d. The liana are mlation, hich we are six ^irst, be- o always upon our have in- it has its to leave ise many ake one, nJ there they are a — thou- f reason. )on have renience, aada for iy, and a "though pier be- w what Ifraid he se they from the liB better than imprisonment there. Some come from honest trouble into which they get ; others come from dislioncsty. Some come because they ihink they can do better here ; thousands and thousands are here with ihnt laudable motive and they are welcome ; they inalie good, hon be wilUng for such a consumptive act to take place, if I and others protest against such an act of gastronomy and say we are too 'oyal to submit to such .1 devouring process, our opponents pooh pooh our loyalt) and think we are foolish to have such a love for our country. Let me remind those gentlemen that what they value lightly, we esteem very highly ; and though tiiey set no great store on citizenship and love of country, we do ; yes, to the extent that I can assure them, as one who knows Canada well, that we will not part with those rights except by force, much less for thirty pieces of silver. These gentlemen are treading on sacred ground, and as dangerous as it is sacred ; and if they are not stopped your children will die in the struggle that they will have created, as in time past. Nor is there a mun who loves his country, nor is there a pulpit that should allow such open declarations in our country, without raising his voice against them. They evidently forget that they wiii want more than a mere majority to carry the country with them; minorities fight well in de'ence of home, lii>erty, and their country. Keep an eye, gentlemen, on 1812 and 18*37, and in your hurry do not forget the Fenian raid of 1866, nor overlook the N©rth-vvest rebellion of 1885, where we huv«' ■„»tliBII,lllt>'rr mmmm iftiii*iiiif#'r[i 'I : 102 Sermons. [1 Il:i ouown what our love for the country is, and it is not abated, and will be more earnest if tested in the years to come. I would advise those gentlemen to have enough of modesty to keep Ktill their pen and silence their voice till the 750 pension- ers of 1812 are gone to their rest. The youngest now living of these fighting heroes is 92 years old, and the two oldest, are 106 years of age each. God spare their lives a little longer. We paid last year over $27,000 of pensions ; no great sum, I trow, but well deserved. But, gentlemen, we tell you hon- estly not to create demands in this direction in the future , your manifest destiny would wipe out most of the republics of the south ; Greece, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark and many other countries. Your manifest destiny is manifest nonsense, and your fiat of nature is the vicious mutterings of a disloyal heart, where money dominates over patriotism. In closing, let n: iy to the hundreds of young men among the thousands pretjont, that, whatever political party you choose to belong to, be true to your country, your homes, your Queen, and your God. Let me ask you to study Divine geo- graphy, and to give you a text. I will refer you to Deut. xxxii. verses 8 9: " When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of tho child- ren of Israel. For the Lord's portion is his people ; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." And that geography is carried on into the New Testament ; read Acts chap. xvii. verse 26 ; •' And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation ; " and I believe He is ruling in providence to-night. Great Britain is Israel organized. If you want to know your destiny, take up a concordance, hunt up the word Israel, see the prophecies that are attached to that word, and you will learn unmistakably what the destiny of Great Britain is in spite of all the poli- ticians and agitators ; for the Word of God is true. The United States is the Tribe of Manassah in her separation, in her glory. If you wa;;?:* to know what her destiny iS, you will find it by studying that tribe ; and then it flows into the line of Israel, where they become one mighty federated people for the security of the peace of this world, and the further ftd- fff'tirwity' ; abated, ome. I •deaty to pension- w living Idest. are > longer. b sum, I i^ou hon- future , ublica of id many on sense, disloyal Lessons from the late Electl ions. 103 vancement of Christianity. Thus studying this geography you Til i'hi .' ^r^^' ^r^ Vr'^'^ *««"^^"^^ *°^ * confidence^amid of a GnH^^^"'' ""^ politicians, that you will see with the eyes of a God, and you will feel the arm of His power, and you and on the earth, therefore should men be glad. Ihe Lord bless Canada and the United States.-Amen. a among rty you les, your vine geo- t. xxxii. nations n, he set bo child- Jacob is irried on 3r8e 26 ; to dwell le times " and I ritain is take up opheoies stakably bhe poli- 3. The ation, in you will the line jople for bher ad- I I « ....„,. Mkaika f s ) i - « SPIRITS OUT OF BODIES. Text. — Hebrews, 12th Chap., part of the 23rd verse. — "And to the spirits of just men made perfect. •Hir ROM the scene and awe-inspiring circumstances that attended the giving of the law to the children of i Israel, from Mount Sinai^ Paul, in this chapter, trans-^ fcrs our thoughts and imagination to another mountain, and the scene and sublime objects on it and round about it. Among the things enumerated we have the city of the living God, called the New Jerusalem. Tt was customary in olden times to dedicate a city to some god ; the image or god was the thing most prized and of most interest to the people. For instance, take the image or god Diana in Ephesus, and you have at once an explanation of what I say. Over against the city of one of these dead gods, Paul presents in contrast a city of a living God. In connection with the giving of the Uw at Sinai, you can picture in your mind the great assembly * th«« triiet of Israel spread out on the plain from the foot of w*. 'Hintain. There were princes who were judges alno, and irits of just men made per- fect, and to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling." It seems to me that all the things mentioned here are real facts; they are not figurative or imaginary ; but real and actual, the mountain, the city, the angels, the general assembly, the church of the first-born, the judge, the spirits of just men, the mediator and the covenant of blood, are all natural facts in heaven while I am here now, I believe all these things are in existence in that place cail'id 104 i »inii Spirits out of Bodies, 105 heaven. I have no desire to interpret the word spirits here in a tigurative sense ; if I had the desire I am quite persuaded I have not the authority. Nor are the things that are so graph- ically described yet in the future, but are in actual existence at this very moment. It is not common, for the very good rea- son that it is not right, to figurize that which has not been and is not now, and will not be in the known future. Soul-sleepers and annihilationists err in adopting an uncommon, and, to my mind, an unwarrantable mode of interpretation. There are human spirits in heaven now, according to my text, as sure as there are angels there, and if you spiritualize one you spiritual- ize the other; if you have one make reference to the future, you make the others. The scriptures teach that our bodies do return to the earth; they also teach that spirits return unto God. Figurative language points here to reality, as the shadow does to the substance. Go8f>el faith is recorded in Hebrews 11th and 1st: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for ; the evidence of things not seen." This is perhaps more clearly put in second Cor. 4th and 18th: " While we look not at the things which are seen but at things which are not seen, .. for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen .are eternal." You see my body, you see something that is temporal, something that will dissolve, some- thing that in a few hundred years will be mingled with the^ dust of this earth, but the spirit that is in this house of clay you do not see, it is therefore eternal, and will live through that change called death. The nature, purpose and use of the figurative are expressed in Hebrews 9th chap. 23rd and 24th, It was therefore necessary that the jatterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these ; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the truth ; but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us." And I cannot help quoting here that familiar pswss^ge that I have brought to your attention many times : John 12th and 2Gth, " If any man serve ine let him follow me, and where I am there shall also my servant be." Christ is not asleep, Christ is not annihilated, Christ is in heaven, and if you die a christian you will go there according to the word, plain as plain can be. What do you see wj^en a G 106 Sermons. !• person is dying 1 You see the body, you see life being gradu- ally withdrawn, you do not see the body that is unfettering it- self, freeing itself from this house of clay ; no, it is the real man and is not seen by these fleshy eyes. That spirit can exist even in this world in the body inde- ' ■* pendent of its functions is well authorized. We have many instances that no one will dispute. When the spirit has been so completely unhinged and withdrawn from all the bodily functions that not a pulse beats, not an activity going on, and yet by some strange power decomposition fails to set in, and such corpse has been kept for days ; and we learn from those who have been revived that when they were in that house of clay they heard all the conversation going on around them ; they knew when they were being clothed v/ith their grave clothing ; they knew when they were being put in the coffin ; they knew when they were being put in the hearse and when they were being lowered into the grave, and in several instan- ces they have given the warning just as they were descending into the grave and their friends around them relieved them. In several instances they have risen up during the funeral and spoken to the friends around them. The spirit seemed to have withdrawn itself from the body, or at least to have lost its hold of it and gone from within — making no communication from without ; hence it is easy from these utterances to conceive of the spirit being separate from the body. The theory of soul-sleepers and annihilationists shuts us out from heaven entirely ; they never expect to go there. I am sorry for that. Let me say to you in the words of our Saviour, Matthew 5th chap, and 12th verse : •* Rejoice and be exceed- ing glad, for great is your reward in heaven." W^hat is your reward, my soul-sleeping friends 1 Nothing. I will take the words of the Saviour in place of yours. Perhaps I may add to that from 1st Peter, 1st chap, and 4th verse, showing us what is waiting us : *' To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you." Thank you, Peter, I hope to have a portion of that re- served inheritance. My soul-sleeping friends, you deny your- selves of that inheritance ; all right^ go on. A denial of spiritual existence separate from the body is an old error. In most ages there seems to have been a few who itm Spirits out of Bodies. 107 5 gradu- jring it- ihe real iy inde- e many as been 5 bodily on, and in, and m those house of d them ; ir grave e coffin ; ad when il instan- scending ed them, leral and to have its hold on from ceive of Its us out I am Saviour, exceed- is your I take the lay add >wing us Ible and iven for that re- ly your- Idy is an Ifew who have had such a limited view of themselves and others, and you must remember it is a negative doctrine, hence its existence is easily accounted for. Supposing two strangers came to this earth of ours some morning, and saw the sun in splendor shin- ing ; they enjoy its warmth and walk in its light. But the evening came and the sun went down behind the reddened clouds of the west, a pall of darkness followed, and now the scenes around them are shut off; one says to the other, " that sun is extinguished, it is done ; it is no more." The other re- plies, " that does not follow ; it may be shining somewhere else; true, it isn't over our heads now." Upon which of these two does the burden rest ? upon the one who says it is extin- guished ; he has to prove that it is. Anything that is actually in existence we have presumptive proof of its continuance, un- less a person can prove that it is not in existence. We have proof of a spirit existing now ; it is for you to prove that they do not exist after that change called death. Like as the sim shines in some other place, so the spirit may live in some other sphere than this cold world of ours. In Acts, 23rd chap, and 8th verse, we read about a sect called the Sadducees; they said there was no resurrection, neither angels nor spirits ; but the Pharisees confessed both, and said, referring to Paul, " If a spirit or angel hath spoken to him let us not fight against God." On one occasion these Sadducees had the boldness to attack the Saviour with their limitation doctrine ; you will read it in Matthew, 22nd chap, and 23rd verse. ' Our Saviour plainly told them they were wrong. He said, *' Ye do err, not know- ing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Now, we will all agree they were wrong somewhere ; can we find where they were wrong 1 Yes, we know their belief ; it was that the spirit did not exist outside of the body after death ; they were soul- sleepers, annihilationists. Our Saviour said they were wrong. They believed in the five books of Moses only, so He had to quote from their own authority to convince them. He said, *• Have you not read that which was spoken to you by God, say- ing, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, and not the God of the dead but of the living." Now surely he meant to aay that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were still in existence and living somewhere ; the Sadducees believed they were dead. Qur Saviour qays, He is not the God IMi risawafw* 108 Sermons. of the dead but of the living, therefore they must be living. You find this idea very clearly voiced in Ist Thess. 5th chap, and 10th verse : " Who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." The word " wake" here stands for this life ; sleep stands for that state after physi- cal death, but no other ; because whether we are here awake or in that state after death we are to live together with Christ, that is the teaching of the Word. In Ezekiel, 12th chap, and 1st verse, we are told that God formed the s';irit of man. Accepting the fact that our departed friends are still alive to us in the invisible world, it is very appropriate for God to be called the Father of spirits, as recorded in Hebrews 12th and 9th. Our conscious and identical existence immediately alter physical death, is plainly and plenteously sustained by the scriptures ; the other theories seem to have a few passages to support them. Some of these objectors, as I have said before, I find are rather reckless in their quotations and interpreta- tions ; a few are very honorable and cautious. For my own part 1 can see no valid reason for unduly forcing any theory, ior there is nothing to be gained by forcing them. Some ask what they are to do with doctors who disagree 1 I answer, " exercise your common seuse." Take for instance the follow- ing quotation by the soul sh'^'per and annihilationist. It is one of their strong passages — Eccl. 11th, 5th and 6tb, " For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not any- thing, neither have they any more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten, also their love, and their hatred, and their envy is now perished ; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun." Ah! it is that limitation " under the sun " upsets them, and. whenever they make that quotation in their tracts, you will see they will leave those words out as they do in Toronto. When a man dies physically, he has done with this earth ; his hate, his anger, his hopes are gone, his race is run ; he will soon be forgotten among us. If you make the passage refer to the future life, why it teaches annihilationism, because it is forever, hence they will never rise or live again. If you apply it to this life, it is true, they have forever done with this earth in its present form. So their strongest passage is one of the strongest you can use against them. lo fact we ought to interpret all pas- tti$tiitA*''^'«riit*-' ■* Spirits out of Bodies. \ 109 living, chap, ake or wake" physi- awake Christ, ip. and I. live to 1 to be !bh and y alter l9y the iges to before, irpreta- ny own theory, line ask sages, having roferencea to the limitation and connection ; I will give you a sample — Second Samuel, 15th chap, and 11th verse, — "And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jeru- salem that were called, and they went in their simplicity, and they knew not anything." Now, how wouM you interpret *' knew nothing ? " Well, < ommon sense would guide you, you would see it meant they did not know anything of the plana of Absalom : just so, and the verses I have quoted mean that men have done with earthly things ; that is all. In Revela- tions 14th chap, and 13th verse, we may read, '* And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me, Write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth ; yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works Jo follow them." What in the idea of rest? ceasing to be"? No. What is the idea of works following them when they are not in existence consciously 1 You cannot interpret the pas- sage in the light of sov.l-sleeping and annihilationism. 1 think the fair, square, open teaching of the Scriptures, of our in- 'jtincts, desires, hopes and general expectation of mankind in all ages, of the ignorant and the learned, is that physical death is but a change of the mode, the place, and manner of our being. Paul can hardly mean any thinji; else when he writes in 2nd*Cor,, 5th chap., 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th verses, and I want you to lay stress on the word " we : " — " Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord ; for we walk by faith, not by sight , we are confident I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him." What acceptance is there if you are annihilated 1 What acceptance is there if you cease to be in conscious being 1 To get support for the cessation of conscious existence or anni- hilation out of a passage like that, is a task I do not care to undertake. I know by a species of oxegetical g*^rrymandering I might in a measure neutralize its force ; but such work 1 leave for other people to do : while in the body here I trust in happy communion with Christ, and I have no deaifH that the change called dej,th should separate me from my Lord for, several hundred years. m m iP&ia^ift-aggtMMtiar' 110 Sermons. I feel the persuasion that Paul speaks of in Rom. 8th chap, and 38th verse, — ths^' neither death nor life can separate us from the love of God : so when I die if I have that love of God to-night, death won't separate me from God. What do you think of that, my soul-sleeping friends t You will be separated ; go on your own way. If I keep in the faith and die at God's appointed time, it will be to depart and be with Christ ; which is far better, as I am taught in Phil., Ist chap, and 23rd verse. We have a few in Toronto who seem (ond of preaching the cheerless doctrine of soul sleep and annihila- tion, and so disturb the restful, hopeful faith of their neigh- bors. Those 80 disturbed have often come to this church and have been restored to their old faith, and have thanked me as an instrument for such a result, and there are a number of you here to-night, and numbers of letters, some of which I have read to you from time to time, I have received from the read- ers of my sermons, that thanked me for a like result ; to God be the praise and glory that we can let in light and cheer into some limited minds. Let us reason honestly and compare the effects and Eolations oi the two Adams to the human race. By the fall of Adam we unconditionally on our part lost several blessings : let us admit for argument sake that eternal life was one of the bless- ings we lost. Now through the second Adam — Christ — is it not reasonable to suppose that we have these unconditional losses restored to us1 Is not this the fact that is taught in 1st Cor. 15th chap, and 22nd verso : " for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." It seems to me that the blessings restored in Christ are more than we lost in Adam. Whenever a comparison is made by the sacred writers they say it is more. Take Rom., 5th chap, and 15th verse, and also John 10th chap, and 10th verse ; you soul-sleepers give us less — Christ gives us more. According to your theory Adam has been resting unconscious or annihilated for all the thousands of years back ; I do not believe yo u. I believe the Goopel and work of Christ put us all in an independent and responsible posi- tion, and they that are matured have the power to stand or fall for themselves, and are responsible in this life for their own salvation. The heathens are provided for by a law peculiar to themselves, as related in Romans, 2nd chap, and 12th verse* chap. 'ate us love of liat do nil be ind die e with t chap. Q lond inihila- noigh- :ch and I Dce as • of you I have le read- to God eer into lelatioas f Adam let us IB bless- \t — is it ditional it in 1st "|ie, even bhat the Adam. |hey say nd also us less am has sands of pel and le posi- tand or leir own 3uliar to bh verse. .mtd^ummm Spirits out of Bodies. Ill Children being unconditionally condemned in the first Adam are unconditionally saved in the second Adam ; Christ says that a child cannot be lost. If we were to live on forever, if Adam had not sinned, then through Christ that life flows on and continues for ever without any annihilation or soul-sleep- ing gaps in time. Why should Abel be deprived of several thousand years ^f life for Adam's sin ? Could not Christ give him back what he lost through the first Adam ? Our Saviour is always announcing life : when He speaks about death it is generally the death of sin : John, 8th chap, and 51st, — ** Verily, verily I say unto you, if a man keep my sayings he shall never see. death." This could not mean phyBical death, it must mean the continuancer of life beyond that change. Is it not recorded in lat Peter, 3rd chap, and 19th verse, that Christ preached to the spirits in prison. This implies that spirits are in a lively state or are conscious, or He could not have been speaking to them. I will not argue where the prison was, that has nothing to do with it j the point I want to settle is that spirits can exist out of the body ; and Christ went to speak to some that were out of the body, as it js further explained in Ist Peter, 4th chap, and 6th verse. — " For this cause was the Gospel preached unto them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men that are in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." Now you see ihe spirits are to live according to God out of the flesh, and so they are living at this moment in that invisible world. In closing let me say to you young men and women — and nowhere I suppose in the world is a man blessed with such a large number attending church regularly, year in and year out — that when intelligent, honest and good men diflfer in their opinions on subjects of this kind, I think it wise on the part of those who have not the means and time to study, that they should select those views that are the most inspiring and pur- ifying on their experience, and helpful on their conduct. Not above one in ten ministers or members of the christiap church believe in the doctrine of annihilation or soul-sleep : it is a doctrine in which there is little inspiration, and I should think soulless comfort when our friends leave us here. It surely is more comforting to think of them as living in a brighter and happier life. To parents who lose their little ■titjetfjaw'*''?!^^ ^nppviippiiiM 112 Sermons. oiieH it is better to think of the innocent and pure spirits as liaving been transplanted from the inclement soil of earrh to the Heavenly Paradise. Jesus said: — "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the King- dom of Heaven." Surely He walked and talked and loved little children on earth, He is not in a Heaven where there is not a little child : I believe we have got them in Heaven, foi of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. Let me close by quoting from Proverbs, 12th chap. "In the way of rigbteousuess is life and in the pathway thereof there is no death." What concerns you to-night 1 This — are you in the path of righteousness ? Settle that question and you settle the other. If you are in the path of righteousness this moment and keep there you will never see death, but walk in a path of increasing light and life into Heaven. The Lord blese us. Amen. •"mnriiiii THE JEWS' RETURN TO PALESTINE. Text,— Jeremiah 23r(l chapter, 5th, Gth, 7th, 8th verses :— " Behold ' the days come, saith the Lord, that I will rai-e unto David a righteous branch and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely ; and this is hig name whereby he shall he called, the Lord our righteousness. Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, the Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ; But the Lord liveth which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them ; and they shall dwell in their own land." THINK we will all agree that the things referred to in these verses are uot in existence at t'e present time, and if we believe history and the Scriptures, they have ^ not had their fulfilment in the past. Hardly any person can doubt the history of the people called Jews ; their wanderings, their locations and presence have been faithfully recorded, cer- tainly as much so as any race of men. Also through the Holy Scriptures we have positive assurance that the things spoken of in the text are yet in the future ; for this reason : that the gathering here foretold by the prophet is to be a final one. When once accomplished, the people of Judah and Israel are to remain in Palestine to the end of earth time. Now, we know they are not there at present, hence it must follow that they have yet to be gathered. The city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt for the last time, for it has once more to be destroyed, which will be the 28th tipie of its destruction and reconstruction. The Jews will become Christians and Israel will dwell safely, and a Christian kipfj will reign over them, who will be a lineal descendant of David, in other words, according to our own idea, a descendant of Queen Victoria. Ezek., 37th chap., 25th and 26th verses:-- •* And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto JacoU my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt ; and they shal dwell therein, even they and their children, and their children's children for ever, and my servant David shall be their Prince 113 •mmmmm Mmm mm 114 Sermons. M for ever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with tbemi it shall bo an everlafetin^ covenant with thoui, and I will jilace them and multiply tliem, and will Hot my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore." The word "Jacob " mentioned here stands for the descendants of Jacob, and the word "David" spoken of here stands fur Lis royal successors. Kead also Amos, 0th chap., I4th and 15th verses: "And I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the wasLe cities and inhabit them ; and they shall plant vineyards and diink tlie wine thereof ; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant th( ni upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God." These passages are very positive ; you see that when the gathering spoken ol in my text has taken place, it must be a final one. lleferring to the city of Jerusalem when rebuilt, we read in Jeremiah, 3 1st chap., and 40th verse, that it will be : ** Holy unto the Lord ; it shall not be plucked up nor thrown down any more forever." I stand on very solid ground, you see, with regard to the Word of God, teaching the leathering of the Jews and the Israelites some day yet to come. The finality and permanence of the gathering spoken of in my text is confirmed by scores of passages relerring to the same time. You may read at your leisure the last fourteen verses of the Slst chapter of Jeremiah. A knowledge of ancient facts is often preserved and handed down to us in the common sayings and customs of a people ; the sayings will survive the customs. Our Jewish brethren in part of their annual Passover service, repeat these words : " The Lord liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt." When they are gathered again in the land of Palestine they will change them into the following : li 'V^ The Lord liveth which brought U[) and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country and from all countries whether he had driven them." In a similar manner I know, and every Royal Arch Mason knows, that one of our degrees would lose its mean- ing and cease to be observed if we were to find the Ark of the Covenant. I, with many others, believe it will be found some day ; when it is, then the words in Jeremiah, 3rd chapter and 16th verse will come to pass : " And it shall come to pass, when BMm The Jews return to Palestine, ll.-j jilace niulbt I here •avul" 1 aUo lid the ds and ,nd eat id, iind I have re very ny text .he city . chap., it shall ^er." I Vord of es some !n of in lie same 'erses of handed |j)le J the in part lie Lord land of •alestine •d liveth lof Israel ■X he had •y Royal niean- k of the ind some pter and [ss, when yo be mnltiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord ; neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they re- member it, neither shall they visit it ; neither shall that be done any more." Now every lioyal Arch brother understands the meaning of that verse, and he sees at once that if we found the ark that degree would have no meaning, nor could wo go on with it ; it was founded on the hiding of the ark, and when the ark is found the degree will be of no service, and must of necessity come to an end. In the 18th verse you reale of the United States would be interested in that direction, I warrant you every body would have said no. If I had declared it from this pulpit, which I have done time after time, they would have said it is a ' • Wild " saying, but when these things keep occurring, peop'e are very quiet, and not a single man or woman called my attention to that peti- tion. If it had been against me, vhy I would have had to leave the city. Why are you so modest when things come to pass 1 I am glad, however, thev do come to pass. In the presence of the famous Monroe doctrine, in which the Americans pride themselves, this is indeed a remarkable document. The inten- tion of the Monroe doctrine was to shut the United St^ites in and keep them from meddling with foreign questions and rations and to shut out foreign nations so that ihey should not inter- fere with them or with any nations or states on this continent. Considered from a mere human or national point, the document is impertinent and meddlesome. It is a bold contradiction ot the Monroe doctrine, and it sets a precedent that the Americans would not like any other nations to imitate. Why have they done it? They couldn't help but do it. God rules in the Heavens and He keeps making one nation after another falsify themselves and point in the direction of His Holy proj)hets. Suppose the Turks got up a petition to the Sultan asking him to call a council of the nations, whose object should be to induce the United States to set apart the State of Virginia as a home for the Indians who had been expelled from their in- alienable possession by force, what would the Americans say 1 I really do not know ; they would say something cute anyway ; that is all I can say at present. The Turks wouid have a good case, and they wouid be dealing with the guilty parties, but the United States is dealing with Turkey. They will have to deal with second handed persons, for Turkey did not get Palestine from the Jews, but from somebody else. The fact is the Yan- kees and English beat the world for cheek ; excepting Parnell, Mmm.^- "^nrf^} A... 118 Sermonf^. O'Brien, Dillon & Co., on their annual bpgging tours, they are not exceeded. I suppose it was necessary for these nations to have this special gift of cheek, that t.iey might be able to per- form their God-appointed mission in this world. How would England have interfered with slavery in other n.itions if she had not had that amount of che»'k ; and many a time have they gone forth where they had no earthly right, exct'[>t< a moral right, and wrought wholesome changes amoi.g other people. 1 like to see men and nations, when thev will not do so willingly, innocently led to work out the will of Heaven, It was nice for the conservative and calvinistio Peter to be the hr>-t to open the Gospel door to the Gentile world, and especially in thv? bouse of Oornf-lius, an Italian soldier at that. It is in- teresting to notice how in 1882 France lost her hold of Egypt after having labored so long and so earnestly to keep her hand on Egypt ; then in a moment, at the tiring of the first Britis^i cannon in the bombardment of Alexandria she let go and has grumbled about it ever since, and the British who said they did not desire or want Egypt, took it all the same, though they kept saying, We don't intend to stay here, but they hang on to this day with a death grij). What art; you to understand by the best statesmen in these countries, telling such innocent stories ? There is a God in Heaven and He rules them and makes them do His work, which they would not otherwise do unless directed by Him. Then think of the Munroe calvinists of the United States, who have sounded loud and abroad so long and so earnestly the praises of non-interference with outside nations; these very people inviting those nations to join them in a i)eace- ful assault on the Sultan and his country 1 This idea and the Monroe doctrine do not tally very well. About the same tin)epjngland petitioned tlie Czar of Euasia to deal more mercifully with the Jews. To an Anglo-Israelite there is something agreeable in seeing Ephraim-England and American- Manassah meet together and plead for their brother Judah ; blood is thicker than water, and God is wiser than men. Yet there are nine people out of ten will look upon things as a mere accident ; they are no more an accident than the rising of the sun in the morning. We get vexed without much reason sometimes when, if we would wait a little, our sor- rows would be turned into joy. lu connection with this mem- jsxTsmastiEaam The Jetvs' return to Palestine. ' 119 i 'M jy are ons to to per- would if she liave ct'j»t a other it do so It was he fifot ially in it is iii- ' Egypt n' hainl Britis^i iu iiii.st"i)ivHeiuin^ us and proves unworthy of our future confidence.'' I say these things beforehand, because L am con vine nl as I stand here that Jesuit trickery will set to work the moment our Parhament is opened, and weak knees may be found among those we have trusted our power to. 1 will c.ill your attention to the things when tiiey occur, tor you would not think of them, you are so pioua 1 have no doubt the matter will be brought up some way or other in the coming p.ulia- ment ; God help our representatives to be true aud faithful to the interests of the country at large. I am pleased to notice that last week that honorable autl powerful body, the Board of Trade of Toronto, piissed a reso- lution in favor of closer and larger trade relations with Great, Britain. You did well, gentlemen ; go on and work for the deepennig of the St. Lawrence (Janal and make Toronto a sea port town, andjeave Montreal high aud dry. I am glad also to notice that Australian Colonies have just formed them- selv/es into a Federation ; anothnr good thing for the Empire and the peace of the world. Friends, Imperial Federation is looming into view and coming niarer every day. Annexation, Commercial Union, Jesuitism, Separate Schools, Classism, Sectarianism are being more and more discounted cis the weeks go by. Those windmills that are trying to blow back the tide had better get out of the way or in all probabUity they will be drowned. I have, my friends, called your attention to these matters because they are very interesLuig to us as citizens, and es- pecially so as Christians ; but in all cases let us put no one into the pit by anger. If we roll the stone from off our feet, let us in all Christian charity deal with the wrongs that are in our land, asking only for ourselves what we are freely willing to grant unto every other person. Then indeed he is a fool- ish man that can grumble at us or be discontented with our agitatii Amen. ¥ agitation. The Lord bless uj and guide us ou all our aO'.iirs, WHAT THE HORNETS DID. Text :— Joshua, 24th chap, and 12th verse: "And I sent the hor- net hefore you, which drave them out from bofore you, even the two kings of the Anioritea ; bui not with thy sword, nor with thy bow." I * ANY of the sayiags and statements of the Scriptures find a plausible and seasonable explanation in the customs and hi.story of the past ; also many spiritual truths are grafted upon these historical and natural facts. My experience leads me to wish that in our theologicd schools more attention was paid to the study of such natural facts, and less to dogmatical teaching on the line of the so-called "spiritual." Once thebe natural and historical truths are un- derstood, the spiritual ideas will be more clearly seen and comprehended, and we would not drift so widely apart in our spiritual conceptions and our declarations. Let me illustrate. 1 will quote from John, 3rd chap, and 5th verse : " Jesus said, Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." Why should water and the spirit be connected with the new birth and conversion 1 And the sinner is said to pass from darkness into light when so born again. Answer : Because the earth is represented* as being born out of darkness into light by the joint action of water and the spirit. Genesis Ist chap., 2nd and 3rd verses : " And darkness was upon the face ot the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light." Now, this original idea you see has attached itself to the new birth, out of darkness into light, the water and the spirit An ancient mode of punishment was to pat the offender in a pit of soft clay. In the dungeon of Malchiah there was such a pit, as you read in Jeremiah, 38th chap., 6th verse : " And in the dungeon there was no water, but the mire; so Jeremiah sunk in the mire." Now, a man in such a position would be in darkness, without a sure foundation for his feet ; his song would be one of mourning, and he would want help 13G What the Hornets did. 137 so to get out. How plainly you may graft the spiritual condition of a sinner on a natural fact of this kind. Deliverance from sin may be fittingly compared to a deliverance from such a pit. This is exactly what the sacred writer says, in Psalm 40th, 1st, 2nd and 3rd verses : •' I waited patiently for the Lord ; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought mo up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto God ; many shall see it, and shall trust in the Lord." When you know of such a mode of punishment, can you not the bet- ter graft the spiritual idea of a sinner's condition upon it ? You can. Take the idea of a key ; it is an instrument that opened the doors of the palace, the prison, and the city gates. Thus very easily it would go to symbolize authority, and this idea is carried out in our day in several ways. For instance, the Lord Mayor of London has a key handed to him on his inauguration to signify his authority. Formerly, when Lon- don was walled all around, the sheriff had to admit the Mayor through one of the gates ; he did so by giving the new Mayor a key, with which he opened the gate and locked it, to signify he had power to open and power to close. In the Eastern countries the shoulders is the place of bur- den, hence, expressive of power ; so a key put on the shoul- ders was a sign both of authority and power : Isaiah, 22nd chap, and 22nd verse : — " And the key of the house of David will 1 lay upon bis shoulder ; so he shall open and none shall shut ; and he shall shut and none shall open." Now, verses like this you understand in a moment if you understand the natural facts. In olden ^imes when a person was promoted to a Judgeship in Jerusalem he had a key given him, accom- panied by these words : — " Whose-soever offences thou con- demnest they are condemned ; whose-soever offences thou for- givest they are forgiven." He was expected, as a judge, to execute judgment in truth; his key was to open the door of the valuable law library kept in the temple. Hear the words of our Saviour in Luke, 11th chap, and 52nd verse: — " Woe unto you, lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of know- ledge ; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were en- tering in ye hindered." I could give you scores of passages 138 Sermons. .If which people do not understand in a spiritual sense, because they do not understand the natural. Remembering these things, it should not be difficult for us to understand what our Saviour meant and intended by giving the key to Peter and the disciples, and in what sense they were to bind and to loose. John, 20th chap, and 23rd verse : *' Whose-soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto thorn ; and whose-soever sins ye retain, they are retained." The Gospel they were to preach was one of forgivenens and condemnation ; they were to de- clare those forgiven who believed, and those condemned who did not believe. This Gospel has the same remitting and retaining power to this very day, and the Word is a key and a sword ; you will understand in the sense in which it is a key and in which it is a sword. And these words of our Saviour are difficult of understanding by many people be- cause of their lack of knowledge of the common custom of those days ; if they knew only how a judge whs installpd, they would see the meaning at once of the Saviour's words. Not until a few years since did any of us understand the real meaning of ray text ; some thought the literal stiniijing bee — the hornet — was meant ; others thought hornets here stood for certain kinds of afflictions; some/one thing and some another. Now, however, we know what the sacred writer did really mean, and no man in Christian society, that I know of, knew the meaning of these words twenty years ago. Just as England selected the Lion and Russia the bear as royal and national symbols, so some of the Egyptian kings selected the hornet as their symbol. At the time the children of Israel left Egypt, the country was divided into upper and lower Egypt, each having its own king and its own govern- ment. Lower Egypt was neighbor to Palestine ; the two countries were often at war with each other. It was the king of lower Eiypt who had on his national crest — the hornet — just as Her Majesty has on hers, the lion — and so it is the hornet remained as a symbol until this line of kings were de- throned by one of the Ptolemies. It was under these hornet kings that the Hebrews were nlaves. At the time of their deliverance and through part of their forty years' wandering in the desert, it is known that Thothmes Ist and Thothmes 2nd were in power. On the Egyptian Obelisk in London, are What the Hornets did. 139 et— the de- ►rnet :heir ^ring imes I, aro the names of these two kings, and over the names you will find the figure of a hornet The hieroglyphic inscriptions on this monument have been lately interpreted, and turn out to he the records of these two kings, their invasions, their bat- tles and their conquests in the Land of Canaan. During the sojourn, oppressiou and suppression of the children of Israel iu Egypt, Canaan was filling up with the Hivites, the Hittites anl other tribes. Had these races been left at peace and united, they would have been too numerous and strong for the Israelites, when they left Egypt to take possession of their own land ; so Providence permitted them to be divided among, themselves and to be at war with the Egyptians and by this means He prepared Israel for the conquest and re-taking of their own land. So you read in Exodus 23rd chap., 28th, 29th and 30th verses : — " And I will send hornets before thee, . which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hit- tite, from before thee. And 1 will not drive them out from before thee in one year , lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply a^ inst thee. By little and little I will drive them out before thee, until thou be increased and inherit the land." Now a passage like that twenty years ago no man living could understand ; we wondered what the hornets meant ; now we know it simply meant these Egyptian kings would be sent into the land of Canaan, to conquer these people and reduce them and permit the Israelites to increase in number, so that when the time came they could go in and take their own land. How strange and wonderful the ways of Providence ? First, He made the children of Israel ready to leave Egypt : secondly. He made the Esvptians willing to have them go, and thirdly. He maje the Egyptians help to prepare the land of Canaan for them. So, when about enter- ing the land of promise, Moses said to the people, as you read in Deuteronomy 7th chap., 20th verse : — " Moreover the Lord will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed." Language like this is just like as if one had said sometime ago when the Spaniards, Indians and French occupied this Continent, — the Lion will come and he will prepare the way of God's people — they would have understood that England was coming : she did, the Lion came and conquered these people that the way n t S*^^' ' ^mf.H^-'rtSrmi^-^" 140 Sermons. [ 1 of the Lord's people might be prepared. He just prepared the land of Canaan for the entrance of Israel the very same way. And in the very same way will He prepare in a very few years the nations of Europe, by permitting them to go to war, the very conditions out of whicli will arise the return of the Jews. They say now they won't go. You will have to go and you will be as ready to go as anybody else when the time comes. That is what your fathers said when Moses first made known to them they should go in. The countries that they are occupying now will be trying' to keep them, and when they are willing to go, the countries themselves will force them to go, just like Egypt. And more, God will make these na- tions prepare their path to the land of Palestine, and the Jew will enter as peaceably as a people ever entered any country. Is it not marvellous the Providential way of dealing with nations and how we can see the purpose and stately steppings of Jehovah. Egypt has turned out to be a grand and prolific source of valuat>le relics of one kind and another ; these dis- coveries have thrown much Ifght on the nature of the early and past civilization of the human race, especially since the Noahic flood. They are especially cheering to all lovers of the Bible, because they illustrate in a remarkable manner many of the mysterious passages in the good old Book after the Noahic flood. It is very probable that Egypt was the first country in which the human race adopted the civilized rule of a king, government and constitutional law. The at- tainment and full measure of that civilization we are not yet able to fully define, but we know they were very proficient in engineering and architectual skill ; also in agricultural and sanitary science they were our equals if not our superiors, and their knowledge in astronomy, chemistry, medicine, sculp- ture, mechanics, painting and other natural sciences was very considerable ; taking all in all I guess I am safe in saying that no nation as yet in all its attainments is ahead of ancient Egypt In some few things we have pre-eminence, but in a number of things we are still behind them : they could do what we cannot do as yet, and they had a knowledge that they put to good use m many of the scientific departments, that we do not posseFs at the present time. Yoa remember about ten years ago the royal mummies of Rameses 2nd and Seti 1st were found in Egypt ; these mum- What the Hornets did. 141 mies are now in the great Museum in Cairo ; they were photo- graphed and their pictures sent rounu the world ; I had a couple sent to me which I showed you at the time. Little did these mighty and powerful monarchs think in their lifetime that thousands of years hence their bodies would be taken out of the tomb, uncoffined and made to sit for their photos' ; Solo- mon well said, " Who can tell what shall come after him ; " no man outside of this church can, that is very sure. Near by where these famous mummies were found, has lately been dis- covered a wonderful subterannean vault \ in this deep under- ground vault, cut out of solid rock, were passage ways, galler- ies and large rooms found packed full of valuable relics ; we have never had such a- remarkable find in the world. Among them were 63 Sarcophagi, supposed to contain the bodies of the priests and priestesses of Amraon, Set, AnubiS; Menton and Queen Aah-Hotep Besides these were found Papyrus, books, baskets, statues, flowers, and other funeral offerings ; these remains carry us back eleven hundred years before Christ. This remarkable find is very interesting, and it is very rea- sonably supposed will prove of great value, being only dis- covered January 3 1st of this year. We will have to wait for further revelations until they take these bodies out of the vast stone coffins, for each body is inclosed in three distinct cover- ings, and each coffin weighs tons. From finding them in this position, as well as that find of ten years ago, the conclusion is that some invasion took place and they had these underground passages dug in readiness so that when the enemy came they might not steal these coffins and remains ; they hurriedly hid them away in these secret vaults, and now in the order of a kind Providence we are coming on them one after another, and, what is better, conBrming proof of the word of God. Do you know I believe that the bodies of Adam and Eve will yet be found, and with them a written account of the life and times of our first parents ; and the bodies of Noah and Shem with a historical account of the ante-diluvian wurld and the flood ; these perhaps will be found in the great pyramid, and those of our first parents will be found in some hidden vault in or near Jerusalem; for the City of Jerusalem stands now on what was the very centre of the Garden of Eden before it was destroyed. I believe when that earthquake takes placui '^mimmm 142 Seiinons. that will cleave in twain Moiii\t Olivet, the tomb of Adam and Eve will be made bare. The bodies of .Jacob and Joseph will yet be diecovered, and with the latter will be found import- ant documentfi. It was not out of mere curiosity that the children of Israel carried with them the body of Joseph in all their wanderings in the wiMerness ami finally buried it when they landed in Canaan. Why so careful of this body 1 And then we read in Joshua, 24iK chap, and 32nd verse : ♦• And the bones of Joseph which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt buried they in Shechem." None of us can doubt that the body of Joseph would be thoroughly embalmed by those expert encbalmers in Egypt, and will any body doubt that Joseph's love to his father Jacob, whose fun- eral he took charge of, would have his body carefully em- balmed, and if any mummies should last to the present time, these ought to be in existence this ver* ight ; and they are, I believe, and will come to liglit to con God's Word. Some day I believe it will not be possible for a man to be an infidel when he sees the body of Adam and Eve, and a writ- ten account of their introduction and experience into this world. These constant discoveries lead us, I think, to hope in that direction. I am glad that as the years roll by the Bible stands the test and becomes more and more authorita- tive, bidding us to be modest in our expressions of doubt, bidding us not to be in haste to denounce mysterious passages, for one after another of these passages is being illumined in tlie order of a good Providence to be evidence that no secular" t in Toronto or anywhere else can deny. Thus this accumulating form of proof of this Sacied Word should lead us to thought- fully consider its utterances and things moral and spiritual ; it the natural history which has been so mysterious in certain parts is being confirmed, may we not argue that the great truths touching our moral nature, referring to our spiritual lives, are as true as the other? And it is therefore wisdom on your part and on mine to believe in this Book ; to believe it is God's Word and His doctrines, to accept its preceptp, prac- tise them and its whole truth try to understand. The Lord bless u& A men. ** THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON. " Tkxt : — RovelatiotiH 16th chap, and lOth verse : — " And He gathered tliein together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." prac- Lortl HERK are certain future events which the Holy Pro- phets have foretold and about which Bible students are very much interested : One of these we may safely say is the battle of Armageddon. During the last few years 1 have received hundreds of letters having references to this coming battle. In these letters the questions and answers have been va ous and curious ; one needs only to be known as a special advocate of a subject of the kind to learn how many ])eople in all ])art8 of the world are studying on the same line of thought. The present indications of war in Europe have given fresh interest to Armageddon and increased the correspondence greatly of late. The question of chief interest in these letters of inquiry has to do with the time, the com- batants, the place and the result. With respect to the time, 1 find both writers and correspondents differ in their opinions ; and argue that the next general European war will be the Battle of Armageddon : such people seem to me as if they wanted to hurry on and force the issues of Providence : I feel persuaded that they are mistaken in this point. It seems very clear to my mind that the Battle of Armageddon is years after the next European struggle ; this conclusion is abundantly sustained from several points of date, such as the Prophetic order of things, the teachings of the great pyramid in Egypt, the position of the nations and the condition of the Jews and Palestine. A person posted on the Anglo-Israel theory is better quali- fied to judge and argue a question of this kind than one who is not, because one of the chief actors and leader? in the strug- gle of Armageddon will be Israel, the ten lost tribes, which in an organized form are doubtless found in Great Britain and the United States. A man who confesses that he neither sees mv knows who an^ where this powerful Israel is, must be H3 immmmmm M9a-aaM=,:^te.Ta>!a-f StSf^ f , 144 Serm 0718. ruled out as incompetent to argue this subject in any way safely. I expect no special instruction on prophetic subjects from a man who can only see two tribes out of twelve. I once had the same limited vision of God's ancient people, the same indefiniteness and uncertainty in reading the prophecies or in- terpreting piovidential results. In Israel I now see the battle- axe of God, and I will not consider this great battle atid leave that axe out : Jer., 5l8t chap., 10th and 20th verses: — '* The portion of Jacob is not like them : for he is the former of all things and Israel is the rod of his inheritance : the LonI of Hosts is liis name. Thou art ray battle-axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms." A very definite passage, you see, referring to Israel, so that a man who do-,B not know who Israel is, is incompetent to argue on the great struggle of Armageddon. =,;; It is difficult, sometimes, to fix the exact date of the be- ginning or end of some of the prophecies, because of the fact that prophecies interlace and overlap one another. Take, for instance, the proph5cy concerning the Jewish captivity in Babylon; the time of the captivity was to be 70 years, that was well understood, still it was difficult to ascertain just when the 70 years ended. And why 1 you ask. I answer, because they did not know the first year or exactly when the seventy years begiin, and this for the reason that the Jews were carried away at> different times, at least three separate times, and between these limes were several years. I find the question then to settle is, where to begin to count the seventy years frt)m the time of the first lot of captives, or the second lot, or the third lot ; even Daniel himself, who was one of the captives, had recourse to prophecy and study in order to find out when that seventy years would be up. Read in Daniel, 9th chap., and 2nd verse : — '* I Daniel, understand by books the number of years whereof the words of the Lord cau)e to Jeremiati the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem." What Dauiei did we should do^in order to understand theProvidential move- ments and the gniat events of Providence. The time of the h-ittle of Armageddon must be some years ahead as is evident tiooi many sources, ae I have said j take as a sample of proofs TJ^-l!^^ ■iwiiwaM " The Battle of Armageddon" 145 my way subjects I once Lhe same ies or iii- le battle- ttle and erses :■ — ,e former the Lord weapoiiH Ions, and passage, lot know struggle : the be- f the fact Take, for tivity in ears, that tain just ; answer, when the the Jews separate I fiud ount the s, or the ) was one in order Read in rstaud by the Lord xomplish it Dauiei ial move- ne of the s evident of proofs the well agreed upon facts that, at the time of Armageddon, the Jews will he settled in Palestine. Their very (Governor or King, if you like to call him so, will turn out to be the Antichrist ; hence the time mubt be years ahead of the present day. Tl e next "general European war will, as respects Arma- geddon, be simply preparatoiy, and must go before it. The next war in Europe will unsettle and uproot the Jews in all those countries, and make it necessary fur them to find some sheltering place and some great protector. Their protector will turn out to be Great Britain — their brother In-ael — and for this reason Britain will not be permitted to take part in the coming European war ; she will not fire a gun ; even if they tell her to do so; she cannot. God will spike tliem as He did the French gun at Alexandria. Slie will have to hus- band her resources and be strong to fulfil her Gud-appointed work. When the war closes she will help to arran^je peace between the contending nations, as she did in the last liusso- Turkish war; she will take charge of Constantinople and take possession of Palestine and settle the Jews tht-re. As in late wars, so in the coming one. Uuisia's main object will be to come in possession of Constantinople, but she will again fail. In a military sense, Constantinople is the strongest city in the world. It is rightly called the *' golden horn," horn signifying power, it is a place ot military power. Napoleon Bonaparte is credited with saying that the nation that takes and holds Constantinople will also readily take Palestine, and the conquest of the world after that will be easy. By some mysterious instinct Bonaparte seems to have uttered the truth at that time ; his conclusions are on the line of prophetic declarations. You are aware that Israel is 8[)oken of in the Scriptures as being cast off ; hear, then, Israel's enquiry with regard to Constantinople : Psalm 108, lOth and 1 Ith veises : — " Who will briui* me into the strong city 1 Who will lead me into Edom ? Wilt not Thou, O God, who hast cast us otl? And wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts 1 " The passage no doubt has reference to the time of Armageddon ; but 1 cite it here to show you the tinal destiny and possessors of Constantinople. Great Britain has two or three things to do in connection with the toraing war, which I want you to keep in mind : First, \ i: \ i '. mm U6 Sermons. to take charge of Constantinople. Second, to possess herself of Palestine. Third, to become protector of the persecuted Jews. All these she will do at the appointed time grandly and successfully. The strong ciiy spoken of by the Psalmist, Jer- ome, and other ancient writers referred it to Constantinople, 8o that you do not need to think that I have an idea very far fetched. It is an old one and well established, and the strong city spoken of in that Psalm is none other than Conatanti- uople, Edom being the Turks. In the numerical symbolism cf the Scriptures ye have several dates giv^n in the language of "Times" — time, half-a-time, years, months, weeks, days and hours. The length of these periods is pretty well agreed upon, that is — we know the length of a prophetic year or a prophetic month, but as I have al- ready stated, our trouble is to know when these dates begin, and until we are sure of the beginning we can never be sure of the t '.ding. Take, for instance, Daniel, 12th chap, and 11th verse: — "And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." I believe that the prophetic dates and figures are definite, but our ignorance of their precise beginning precludes our ability to foretell the exact day, the exact year or the exact month. From the past and from passins^ events and from the position of the nations, and especially Great Britain, she being Israel and God's Rod or Measuring Line, we may approximate sotue of the coming changes and results. The blessing promised to those that wait to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days, I take to mean the time just after the battle of Armageddon, — which, according to our present prophetic mode of reckoning will be in or about the year 1935. Some of you will be mad at that, for you would want it a little sooner ; I cannot put it any sooner for you ; you must live on. The Rev. H. G. Guin- ess, in his excellent book, entitled " Light for the last Days," has done the world very valuable and substantial service, in his treatment of the numerical symbolism, and prophetic dates of the Bible. The figure and measurements of the great pyra- mid also serve a very useful purpose on this s«ne line of 38 herself ersecuteti indly and iiist, Jer- intinople, I very far le strong !)oQstanti' ^e several ilf-a-time, of these ihe length have al- ,68 begin, r be stue :hap. and sacrifice 1 desolate id ninety thousand that the oriince of retell the the past nations, od's Rod coming that wait r days, I eddon, — •eckoning I be mad )t put it G. Guin- st Days," ?rvice, in itic dates eat pyra- le line of " Tlve Battle of Armageddon." 147 studj' ; in fact in early years I got some of the safest and best aids on prophecy from the great pyramid, because 1 find the date of the pyramid very definite, and putting them over against the propUotic dates which to me were somewhat uncer- tain, when they agreed I had no hesitation to make public what was going to take place ; and in memorial of that [ dedicated my first book: — " The Lost Ten Triiies" — in 1882, and years before the bombardment of Alex^indria in the late E^ypti^n war, I said ** England would have to take that step, and the French would not fire a single gun in the whole war." Why did I say so? Because I had two checks — the pyramid and prophecy ; when I had the two 1 was not afraid to say so, and it came out all right — not by guessing either, for I am not a very good guesser ; I can speculate a little. Besides, of late astronomy has furniahed explanatory and confirmatory evid- ence on the same subject — a source of help we did not expect in actronomy. In that science there are certain so callesl cycles, as for instance the Metonic cycle, called after Mefon, the di*- coverer, who flourished in Athens, 432 B.C. This cycle is nineteen years in measurement; we use it in our almanacs, which means that the sun and moon are in the same position towards the t.irth once in that number of years. I'he Metonic cycle is a double one ; astronomers and mathematicians long sought for and desired a triple cycle; one that should be com- posed of the sun, the moon, and the stars ; this kind of a cycle was discovered about the middle of the last century by I)e Cheseaux, a BVench mathem.'itician. It was firot sugi^ested to him whde studying the numbers in the prophecy of Daniel. He himself has oaid the following : — ** A cycle of this kind han long been sought in vain ; no astronomer or chronologist had been able to li;;ht upon one for nineteen centuries, and yet for two thousand three hundred years it had been written in char- acters legible enough in the book of Daniel ; legible, thut is, to him who was willing to take the trouble of comparing the great prophetic periods with the movement of the heavenly bodies ; in other words, to him who compared the book of nature with the book of Revelation." Is not that a maivel- lous discovery and a wonderful statement from a Frenchman 1 He found the triple cycle that astronomers and mathemati- cians had so long desired. This cycle is two thousand three ■i»teeafeagjafeia.iifeiaB»>.jiij»» ( ri' 148 Sermone. hundred years long, and is mentioned in Daniel, 10th chap, and 14th verse, and that is where he got it : — " And he said unto me, unto two thousand three hundred days ; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." There in the Bible for thousands of years had been the figures of this famous cycle, and men looking for it in the stars, on the sea, by means of survey, as- tronomy, and scores of other ways, and the prophet had made use of it long ago and gave us the exact figures. What do you say to that, you secularists I No guess work about that, or your fathers would have guessed it long ago. The sun, moon and stars in their course are not only giving light on the earth but light on the mysterious utterances of the prophets of old ; truly the God of the Bible and author of nature is one and the same — Almighty Lord over all ; and it will very soon be impossible for a man to deny the Bible ; the very stars will proclaim its authenticity. In Daniel, 12th chap., 7th verse we read : — *' It shall bo for a time, times, and a half, and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." Here the years measured prophetically are 1260. Now do you know that this number constitutes, and is in astronomy a very important lunar cycle that we use to great profit. As a painter copies a" small picture from a large one by diminish- ing proportionately, so this remarkable cycle of years is re- duced to days in Revelations, 11th chap, and 3rd verse: — •'And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophecy one thousand two hundred and three score days clothed in sackcloth." Why did he not say a thousand threescore and five days ] He would have been out of the har- mony of the stars. God's Prophets knew what they were say- ing, for it was God that was speaking in them and through them before we had telescopes and astronomers to make known these things. The fertile and changeable genius and prophetic student, the Rev. M. Baxter, of London, Eng., who in his younger days was a Canadian, has issued another chart with the dates of prophetic events for the next ten years. You will like him better than me for he brings events a good deal nearer. I will give you the items in the chart : — First, the formation of Daniel's ten-kingdomed confederacy by great wars and revolu- /• " The Battle of Armageddon." 149 Dth chap, id he said hen shall thousands and men arvey, as- had made What do bout that, nly giving (Crances of author of II ; and it he Bible ; iniel, 12th times, and icatter the I finished." Now do astronomy jrofit. As diminish- eara is re- verse : — and they ree score thousand ■ the har- were say- d through ke known udeut, the nger days dates of I like him nearer. I rmation of nd revolu- tions in 1891. I hope you will all live to this anyway. Second, Napoleon's rise as a Hellenic king in 1892. Third, Napoleon becomes king of Syria in 1894. Fourth, Napoleon makes a covenant with the Jews on April 2lst, 1894. Fifth, sacrifices renewed in Jerusalem November 8th, 1894. Sixth, Christ's advent as a Bridegroom to translate the 144,000 watchful Christians on March 6th, 1896 — when that takes place 1 hope our church roll will suffer a great loss, and that a lot of you will go up. I suppose they will leave me here to preach on. Seventh, Flight of many Christians between Feb- ruary and August, 1897, into a wilderness — I don't know where this wilderness is, he has not stated ; perhaps it ia in the North-west. Eighth, Anti-Christ's massacre of Christians for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, August 14th, 1897, to January 26th, 1901, woes, plagues of seals, trumpets and vials, ascension of all remaining Christians on April 6th, 1891, — that is the time I follow you that go first, that is if this thing really takes place. Tenth, Christ's advent as a Judge at Armageddon, April 11th, 1901, and the beginning of the Millennium. These are this remarkable man's dates. The fact is, thousands on thousands will place confidence in this list, although he gets out a chanced list every few years. For myself I do not believe it. The first item of these ten wonderful things may have some slight show. The rest I think will fail entirely of fulfilment within these dates. For about thirty years I have stood over against my friend Mr. Baxter and others of like mind ; like them I have ventured to fore- tell several events, and to my credit — or not, just as one shall please to think — I have been right every time, while they have failed every time. As I told friend Baxter the last time I saw him when on his visit to this city : " It is not possible my friend for you or anyone else to be successful as pro- phetic students when you neither see nor understand the God-revealed distinction between the House of Israel and the House of Judah ; neither you nor any other man can ever be right unless he governs himself by God's own measuring line and that is Israel, for that is what the old Book sayH: Urael, the Holy Book tells us, is God's measuring line." Thus these men and their measures are unreliable. SSI^ISI # 150 Sermons. I rejoice that our studies lead us to see more clearlv the true interpretation of proj)hecy, and as Peter says : — " Ye do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arises in your hearts." The Lord bless us with a greater desiie to biudy Ilia Holy word. Amen. A9m^^':i^y _ ARMAGEDDON : WHO WILL TAKE PART IN THE GREAT BATTLE. Text. — Revelation, 16th Chap, and lOth verse: — •* And he gathered them together into a place called in tlie Hebrew tongue Armageddon." UDGING by the many that have written and spoken on this subject, it must be an event of great import- ance. Interest is added to it by the very general consent of the prophetic students, that it will be the last war on this sin-cursed-earth. Last Sunday evening in considering the time of the battle I came to the conclusion that it would occur on or about tho year 1935. The full results and final peace and issues of the great struggle will not bless the world till the year 1057, as the Prophets have pointed out. A general disorder aud wreck of nations will take 22 years to settle, and put the world in a peaceful state, and start it in glorious fulness on its Millennial march. The Prophet says in Daniel 12th Chn]). and 12th verse: — "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." That is, it will be a blessing for those who shall live, and be permitted to enter into the Millennium, and to be subjects in a world to settle a universal peace. The Rev. Mr. Baxter and his followers believe that the Millennium will begin on April 11th, 1901. He teaches that the battle of Armageddon will be fought immediately after the ingathering to the heavens of the great multitude of the elect. He says the first stage of the advent of Christ peace- fully, as a " bridegroom to raise to life deceased Christians, to take them up together with the 144,000 watchful living Christ- ians to meet Him in the heavens, will take place on Thursday, March 5th, 1896, about 3 o'clock p. m., the hour of evening sacrifice at Jerusalem, which is the same time as 38 minutes past 12 o'clock, noon, in London, aud half past seven in New York, U.S." So you know exactly the time to be ready, if you can judge the diflference between New York and Toronto. 151 •- mmmm&^umm^ 152 Sermons. I i. " At the moment when the signal is given by the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God, and the resurrection of the deceased saints and llie ascension of the 144,000 watchful Christians, strange and unheard of scenes will transpire. These 144,000 will be caught up from the earth to the heavens, in whatever circumstances ihey may be found, or the positions in which the} may be situated, whether waking or sleeping, riding or walking, or sitting within their habitations, or even it they are underground in the deepest mines or tunnels, or loaded with heavy chains in the most secret dungeon : from steam vessels and railway trains swiftly speeding upon their accustomed course, instantaneously, all their passengers who are rendy lor Christ's advent, will be supernaturally caught* up to the skies to meet their coming Lord ; and in parliaments there will be a division of a sort never before known, viz., be- tween those caught up to heaven and those left behind. You will winder what the conductors will think when they find so many jmssengers missing, and the pursers on the steamships will look vu with nmazement." That man believes all this no doubt. It is really astonishing how Mr. P.^xter and some others can be so bold in despising data — thut is, the actual state of things — and unblushingly give dates to the symbolic figures of the prophets, and so time after time fall into the trap of their own error, and unsettle the faith of many simple but sincere Christians. Not only do these persons err with respect to the time of the battle of Armageddon, but equally so with respect to the parties who will take part in the same. The prophets have been very definite and |>Iain in their de- scription as to who the combatmt.s will he. In this 16th chap. Kevelations we read in the I'.hh verse: — '"And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs onue out of the mouth of the dragon, and out (^ the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false ])rophets." Now, here we have three parties mentioned — the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. That they will be parties in tl-.o ^reat Vmttle we know, for in the next verse we read : — " For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles^ which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day <.f Gud Almighty." In the ICth verse, which I have chosen for my text, we are told where the gathering will take Armageddon. 153 ice of the on of the watchful ). These heavens, positions sleeping, i, or even innels, or Dn : from pon their gers who aught* up rliaments , viz., be- id. You sy find so eauiships 11 this no nd some le actual symbolic into the y simple err with qually he same, heir de- is 16th 1 I saw I of the t of the re three )rophet. r, for in f devils, \e earth of that I I have ill take place. They are the spirits of devils — demons — meaning they are evil influences that will operate upon kings and nations, causing them to form an alliance and make a common cause against their common enemy. In Kevelations 1 7th chap, and 14th verse we read : — "These shall make war with the Ijamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are with Him are called, and notice that the combatants will be on one side, the chosen, and faithful." Thus you notice that the combatants will be on one side, the dragon, the beast and the false prophets ; and on the other side, the called, the chosen and the faithful. Now for plainness of understanding, the idea to keep in mind is, that the whole world is divided into two great opposing camps ; no nation can remain neutral while that great battle is going on ; it will be the world's stiuggle in which every man and every nation will be arraigned on either side. Secondly, — That these aie again named and divided into three heads. You should now ask if these names denote different people, and if so, who are they ] I will try to answer. First, the word dragon is a name applied by scientific authors to several kinds of serpents or reptiles, chiefly of the lizard kind. In Christian science it is an emblem of sin. In natiDnal heraldry, it is used as the lion in England, the beaver in Canada, and the eagle in the United States. The Chinese, for instance, have it as their natioual emblem, and it is also chosen by some saint or other in mythology. Thus, in our own history, we have St. George and the dragon. In Biblical sym- bolism, it is used generally to mean China, the pagan, the idolatrous nations. China being the largest of these pagan nations, has the emblem, and is spoken of in such a way that it is reasonable to think she will take the lead. In the coming battle of Armageddon, China will be a terrible and powerful force, by the very fact of their great numbers. China is now rapidly learning the western skill in the use of war implements and military training. I have no doubt but what Great Britain will have to pay dearly for forcing upon the Chinese the traffic in opium — cent for cent, life for life. It is a hopeful sign to see the bill in the British House of Parliament for the suppres- sion of the manufacture of opium in India, and may the same work go on in China, and under the help of a kind Providence / 154 Sermons. ! I i see it Banctioned ; but thou<^!i I offer that prayer, I am afraid they will not ; if they do, so much the better, my disappoint- ment will be very thanktully accepted. It will mean some 320,000,000 of annual loss to the revenue of India. ►Some one hundred years ago the famous Warren Hastings, the Governor-General of India, found the people using this diug as a mediciue in China, and conceived the idea of cultivating a taste for it, as a sensual indulgence among them. With this object in view, he gave large quantities of it away. Within two or three years after he sold it, having succeeded in creating the taste. He so succeeded in creating the demand, and they set to work to supply it.. The law of cause and effect is as opera- tive in the physical world, and I do hope that Great Britain will shorten the punishment that we will have to receive at the hands of China for that great crime against that innocent people who were forced, for these many years, to take opium. You do not cheer that at all ; you do not like to hear of any- thing going against Great Britain ; but it is against her, and it will be against her at the judgment day, and the sooner she gets rid of the crime the better, if she loses forty millions a year. In the second place, by the beast is meant some large and leading religious organization whose chief characteristics are earthly. If this be at all correct, and that I am compelled to make a choice from some existing organizations or churches, I am sorry, but my choice will fall upon the Roman Catholic Church as meant by the beast I am sure no other church in the past or at present can lay so good a claim to this name as the Komish Church. Its earthly features may not be seen in a country like ours — though there is enough here to merit the name ; but let us go to some country where this church has full swing and absolute control, to see how appropriately the name fits the Jesuitical cunning and viciousness of the will-power, with the sly instincts and savageness of a wild beast ; besides, you will generally find that the prophets connected with the beast in the Scriptures, as prominent features, worship of its iic&d, images, tyranny, persecution and compulsion. Can you point out any church having these characteristics more vividly portrayed than the one I have named 1 — none. I have no doubt when the pious editor of the Uoman Catholic Beview of Arviageddon. 155 I am afraid diaappoint- mean some n Hastings, tig this drug ultivating a With this Within two creating the ind they set is as opera- •eat Britain ceive at the at innocent take opium, bear of any- ; her, and it 3 sooner she y millions a le large and teristics are impelled to churches, I an Catholic ther church o this name be seen in a o merit the rch has full y the name will-power, ist ; besides, d with the orship of its Can you lore vividly I liave no ic Review of this city reads these utterances, his animal nature will rise in requited rage till his angry soul finds rest in a few more un- chaste and uugentlemaiily sayings of myself and the Protest- ants. If the battle of Armageddon were liere to-morrow I think I know on which side I should bo found, and on which side the pen-valiant editor would be ; but any way I am a St. George man, and I believe that Protestantism, truth and free- dom will conquer the dragon, the beast and the false prophets when the time conies. In the third place, b> the false prophets — sometimes called Antichrist — is meant the person who will come to view in a few years. He will be a man of great power and command ing iifluence ; he will enter into an alliance with the dragon and the beast. We learn from the Sacred writer, as 1 have said before : After the next coming European war the Jews will be bitterly persecuted and expelled from nearly every country in Europe : Great Britain will assume direct pro- tectorate over Palestint^, and will invite and help the Jews to settle in that land. Incalculable amounts of wealth and enter- prise will centralize in' Palestine. In the course of time a Jew will be made Governor and he or his successor will seek to free himself from Great Britain, and for this j)urpo8e he will join forces with the dragon and the beast ; he will be by blood a de- scendant of Bonaparte's family, for the Bonaparies weie of Jewish stock. Many of the Jews will retuse to follow him and will remain faithful to Great Britain. Now let us look at the other side. Here we have the called, the chosen and the faithful who are mentioned ; I answer — the called include the faithful Jews in all parts of the world. In the second place, the Chosen stand for Great Britain and the United States, for they arc nteral Israel organized and in a national form. In the third place, the Faithlul will include the true Christians in all the other nations, such as Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland and some others. The dragon forces will be led by Kussia, the beast by Italy, and the false prophets by France. While the other forces will be led by Great Britain. The Scriptures make another division of these contending forces : on the one side there are thirteen and on the other side there are four. The thirteen led by Russia are as 156 ^ermona. follows : -^l8t Gog, 2nea marvellous wonder, for it will naturally be in tune and harmony with these four powers helping Israel to conquest on that great day; for it will be literally the battle for " universal liberty," the majesty of conscience and freedom commanding all the world round. Then let each one of us pray that the coming event, terrific and destructive as it may be, shall be by kind word and act and by means of all those agencies that shall help us to bring the coming of that great day. The other part we shall deal with next Sunday evening. The L.' d bless. A men. ^leahec, 5th omer, 10th hrist. The lerchiintB uf n and her a used these ive changed Li this point I have not or borrow There will, marvellous mony with t great day ; iberty," the I the world 'ent, terrific ind act and [) bring the vening. THE PLACE AND RESULT OF THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON. Text, — Revelation 17th Chap., 14th verse : — "These shall make war with the Lanih and the Lamb shall overcome them ; for ho is Lonl of lords, and King of kings ; and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faitiiful." ^HE parties referred to in the words : " These shall make wur with the Lamb," are the dragon, the beast, and the false prophets. Last Sunday evening I tried to show you who, in a national sense, are meant by the dragon, the beast and the false prophets, and also those who are named the called, the chosen, and the faithful. The Prophet sometimes assigns to the two great war parties an invisible leader and head. The called, the chosen, and the faithful are said to be under the Lamb — that is our Blessed Saviour. The dragon, the beast and the false prophets are said to be under the Devil, or Satan, as you read in Rev. 20th chap, and 10th verse, " And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the fa^se prophets are." And in Ezekiel the parties led by the Devil are said to number thirteen ; and those under the Lamb are said to number four : but I closed ray sermon last Sunday evening saying, a tifth party would join with the four ; that party will be none other than " nature " in angry mood, fight- ing once more on the Lord's side ; yes, on the side of Israel ; for mmd you the whole world will be against Israel at that time ; and we learn from the Prophets, that we will be sorely pressed, and that man for man, and human agency against human agency only, the probabilities are that we would lose the day. But God comes to our rescue and helps the four against the thirteen. In olden times God often used forces of nature to accom- plish His purpose; He -^ oftentimes helped Israel, as in Egypt, in the 'wilderness, and in Canaan, by storms, afflictions and other means. 167 iiSRSSSBrTSSS-Wi^S ^ 15S Sermons. p I Believing as I do that Great Britain is the literal House of Israel, or, in other words, the '* Ten Lost Tribes," I can see tlie inference of the Prophet through the forces of nature in all our past history, therefore I do not doubt its power in history yet to come ; for instance, at the downfall of the Span- ish Armada, the settlenjent, the place, and the dominating influence of J3ritain, has more than human freedom and human force centralized in the nation to account for her growth and success and her many conquests, you have therefore got to allow that God has helped Britain ; and again in the first part of the present century, she had to fight one against twenty-three, and yet sne came out victorious. Now, Englishman as I am, I do not heap this credit unto them any more than I would unto the Israelites of old, and give them the whole credit. God came to their help as He helped our forefathers, and He will do so again, as the Prophet tells us in the time of Jacob's great struggle. The history of Great Britain and her attainments are the aolenn and open pledge of an over -ruling Providence. Then, if these are facts, and with my imperfect knowledge t.f history, I can furnish scores of incidents in which Providence must have taken a part, and which we must take into consideration in order to account for it as sacred. What the nature ot the pre- paration and centrp.lizition of nearly all the European nations in the renowned invincible Armada ; starting forth on May 19th, 1588, under a special blessing of the Pope, to invade and destroy the little Island of England. The one hundred to one would have been u test had they met ; yet in spite of the benediction of one of those predecessors of the beast, the so- called invincible Armada of Spain was dashed to pieces in a storm ; not one of their soldiers stepped on British soil. How tlo you account for that 1 an accident; there are no accidents on the God-side of things, there are what we call accidents on the human side of things. The billows laughed at the prayer of the Pope, and the waves marched through the great invincible fleet. Look at the beginning of this century, at Napoleon's great and secret combination of forces and gigantic skill for the invasion of England, and though his Armada was again blessed by another prayer of the old Pope, another predecessor of the beast (I hope the Editor of the Review will pardon me), and preparing to start on a sin)ilar expedition, accident after 111 Place and Result of the Battle of Armageddon. 159 sral House of i," I can see J of nature in its p«)wer in I of the Span- ) dominating n and human r growth and B got to allow at part of the twenty-three, I as I am, I do ould unto the God came to II do so again, it struggle, nents are the ence. Then, grt of history, ^ce must have sideration in ire ot the pro- tean nations orth on May to invade and indred to one spite of the beast, the so- pieces in a 1 soil. How no accidents accidents on at the prayer eat invincible Napoleon's I'ltic skill for ia was again r predecessor pardon me), iccidenifc after accident happened to them, delaying their mad intentions ; when at last tney got ready and started for England, they had come within sigtit of its shores and only four miles from its coasts, the storm arose and dashed vcusel after vessel to pieces, a terrible wreck of vessels and soldiers, and the power of the old Pope's prayer sank beneath the waves. Is ther God in Israeli There is, as sure as I stand here tOM^';. Well might bonaparte, enraged as he looked at the L^ «t oing de- stroyed by the storm, say, "It is unaccountable how x^rovidence always seems to favor these English." You are right Monsieur, and what occurred then will take place again at i:"^e battle of Armageddon. In this war our assurance is, that we will not have one soldier to their ten. God will be with us and go through us like a lire through a straw stack : nature will thunder forth her artillery of storm, and the God of battles will ride triumph- antly before the hosts of Israel. Scientists are fond of pointing to the stability of nature as manifested in the reality of cause and effect. In the weather bureau thej'^ can foretell sometimes an approaching storm a few days ahead : now, if one had wisdom enough to measure the presence of the forces of nature and calculate the so-called . changes of the unvarying laws of cause and effect, he might foretell a hailstorm for years to come, according to the scientist ; now surely God has wisdom enough and He can foretell a storm any number of years ahead ; this, in many cases, ho has done, and the same knowledge He gave His ])ropheta, and through those prophets He has given to us the knowledge of the greatest hail-stortn that ever took place — when it will and where it will take place. And He who can calculate on these unvarying forces can calculate the time of this great battle. Rev., IGtli chaj) , 18th and 21st verses, for they are in connection with the battle of Arnia'jjeddon : ** And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings ; and there was a great earthqual'e, such as wan not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And there fell upon men a great hail out of Heaven every stone about the weight of a talent ; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail ; for the pla;^ue thereof was exceeding great." Great ^1 should think it would be, when the hail-stones, a<> • ! r! ;^3gffi ! a»^i!iiy^^i ! ^^aV^^a't;!fea^.^M\^. cording to this statement, weighed a hundred pounds ; one would not like to be out even with an umbrella in a storm like that ; fire, lightning, earthquakes, thunder, pelting hail- stones, trembling earth, falling cities, tires and jfloods, booming cannon, rattling musketry, flashing swords, piercing bayonets, horsemen and footmen — what a commotion, what a shine we will make ; the Prophet says : " For great shall be the day of Jezreel." And again we read in Joel, 3rd chap., 14th, 15th, and 16th verses: — " Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision ; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley ot de- cision. The sun and moon shall be darkened and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem ; and the heavens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel." This is what God has said, and His word must be the rock and founda- tion of our courage when we come to the great battle. In Rev., 16th chap, and 14th verse, we read : — "The whole world will be drawn together in battle on that great day of God Al- mighty." The location of this great battle is very generally agreed upon ; read Rev. 16th chap, and 16th verse, " And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Ar- mageddon." Once on a time there was a city called Megiddo, it was west of the River Jordan near the centre of the beautiful valley of Esdraeleon ; now this valley extends across Central Palestine from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, separating the mountain ranges of Carmel and Samaria from those of Gal- ilee : near the eastern entrance once stood the Royal City of Jezreel and out of the western end was the famous place called Acre. In this wonderful valley the crusaders met in deathly struu'gle with the terrible ISaracens. Here the victories of Barak over the Canaanites were gained : here Gideon met and conquered the Midianites : here King Saul met his death in his vionflict with the Philistines, and here King Josiah came to death when contending against the invading armies of Egypt. It is a noted valley. In prophetic imagery the pro- phet Joel calls it the Valley of Jehoshaphat. We read in the Ist book of Kings, 0th chap, and ir)th verse, " Soloman built « city ou the hill of Megidda" This is about the centre of .AH )Ounds ; one in a storm )elting hail- ids, booming ng bayoneis, a shine we >e the day of 14th, 15th, the valley of valley ot de- ad the stars ,11 roar out of heavens and hope of his b1." This is c and found a- i battle. In ) whole world ly of God Al- ■■ jrally agreed d he gathered W tongue Ar- led Megiddo, the beautiful cross Central separating those of Gal- Royal City famous place ders met in the victories lere Gideon Saul met his King Josiah ading armies rery the pro- ■u read in the oloman built the centre of Place and Result of the Battle of Armageddon. IGl the valley and will be the great headquarters of the leadinc; general of Israel's host, whoever he shall be. In Zach. 1 2th chap, and 11th verse you read where the prophet compares the mourning of the people over the death of King Josiah to the mourning at the time of Armageddon. He says, " In that day shall there bo h great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourn- ing of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo." Yes, there^ will be more people slain in that one great death-taste of the whole world, than in all the wars that are past. You see my friends it is an old battle ground ; it is the centre and pivotal point for a great conflict, if it is to take place in Palestine. And is it not agreeable to fact, figure and symbolism that the world's last great battle shall take place right there — for Pales- tine proper is where the Garden of Eden was situated before the flood. There sin came into our world, and in consequence scan came war ; and so it was appropriate in the divine economy for the second Adam — our Lord Christ, that He should be bom, live, and die in Palestine, and by His death put away sin. And it is also appropriate that in the land of Palestine, a world-wide and time-lasting peace should be brought to pass — that where began the great struggle it shall close, and peace shall spread from that central land of this earth of oars round the whole globe. With regard to the results of this last battle, writers diffr. Take the Rev. Mr. Baxter as a sampla He argues that the ten horns of the beast, and ten toes of Daniel's image, meant the Roman Empire, as it existed under the Caesars. The territory which that old Empire embraced is now cov- ered ^'y twenty-three different nations and states. The result of this coming battle will be to reduce these twenty-three to ten again, so a number will be wiped out. The ten will be the following : — 1st, Britain ; 2nd, France ; 3rd, Spain ; 4th, Italy ; 5th, Austria. These will constitute the western or toes of the right foot, the left ones will be : — 1st, Greece ; 2nd, Egypt ; 3rd, Syria ; 4th, Turkey ; 5th, Bulgaria. Germany will be wiped out of existence, and France greatly enlarged. Britain will lose poor old Ireland (Ireland will be poorer than ever), after that she will lose India and her colonies in general. The changes he speaks of are radical indeed, and the results rather wonderful to anticipate. I am glad to believe that he aMManMlAa I 1 162 ^si^kHV'''^'*^^^>V fSerinonB, ) ^'^>y^'y io^W has innocently told 8o many 8t(»ieB in the past, t^act I oannot believe him in his present prophecies. I am sure be will b% luiibtakeu in regard to Oermany, and aiflo Great Britain, al^- tliough Gern>aDy, I think, will suffer in ^e next EuropeaA war. I cannot think that Great Britain would stand by quietly and permit her old friend to be snapped out ot' er^ i«tence ; but I must repeat what I have said before, that th« K'ev. Mr. iiaxter, and writers of his school, are not to be relied upon. Men who cannot see the plainly-revealed distinction be twcen the houses of Judah and Israel, and cannot distinguish Israel from the Gentiles, I am sure oannot forecast, with any f^reat certainty, the future of these nations. I wonid make as luuch comparison between my poor self and Mr. Baicter as be- I ween a king and a beggar in that respect, and they have more knowledge than I have, but they are ignorant at the central i*r>)nt of the governing thought. It makes a very great differ^ ence with a person in judging of these matters, whether they can see Great Britain as literal Israel organized With the work and place of Israel as their lot, or they can only see them as Ucniiies ; and as such in a national form only as a <* toe.''- Ignorance of the identity, place and work of Israel plays havo<} with such kind of prop)hetic writers and students. ^ ^t.ii».otiwi Some kind friend left at my house a book, entitled, " GreAt Hed Dragon, or London Money Power," by L. B. Woolfolk. Id is on prophecy. 1 read it last week. The Red Dragon are the rich Jews of London (not a bad guess). England and Scotland are the two little horns of the Red Dragon, and Piussia is the beast. The United States is the man-child that was to be born — spoken of in Rev., 12tb chap. — and the United States is the wilderness to which the mother tied with her child lor its safety. The book I find interesting, but with respect to interpretating prophecy, is very wide of the mark. Such anotl 9r book is the large volume called "The Advancing Kingdom," by Rev F. E. Tower, M.A. The get-up of this book U very fine — like a lady out on Easter Sunday ; the engravings are of the best, and the historical facts very rich and valuable, but the author's ignorance of literal Israel has led him far astray in the use and application of these facts. One thing is certain as the result of the battle of Armaged- don ; — the beast and f«ilse prophets are net only corqueied m iMj^ n Place and Result of tha lia^ttle of Armijeldon. 163 laet I oamrot « be will bft I Britain, aU xt Europeaa d sUad by d out ot' eX'* >re, that th« [; to be relied istinction be t distinguish i6t) with any mid make ss Baxter as be<; ly have mowi i tlie cekitral f great differ-i sehether they ith the Work r see thei!Q as as a **toe." 1 plays havod tied, " Great B. Wooltolk. I Dragon are England and Dragon, aod in-child that d the United ith her chiki with respect mark. Such Advancing ) of this book le engravings and valuable, led him far but put out of sight ; popes and anti-Christs will no longer live and rule in this world, this we learn from several statements such as you will find in Revelation 19Lh chapter and 20th verse. But what about the dragon ? you ask. Ah, here you have a remarkable exception ; the dragon is not to he put out of the way, while the beast and the false prophets are. The dragon stands for China and the pagan nations. We said last Sunday evening — they who are left will be reorganized and put under British protection, and they will have mercy and not wipe them out of existence ; and when any of the ] ro- phets speak of the results of that great battle they tell us that the beast and the false prophets are cast into the lake of fire, but not so with the drau;on. Those who are followers of the beast and false prophets have intelligence enough to know better ; the Pagans cannot be said to have that knowledge, hence God will not punish them as He will the others. Isn'o it a remarkable exception, and isn't it agreeable with our ideas of God's government % After the great battle the Chinese will be invited among us, and at that time nobody will object, not even the citizens of British Columbia, because by the dread- lul war we will have lost so many men that we will want labouring men throaghoat all the empire ; they will become our servants in general ; they are spoken of as aliens by the prophets, and isn't it a remarkable thing that this is the very term we use by state documents when corresponding with them. Briiain calls them aliens. Tlie United States calls them aliens, the very word the prophet named them with. They are, as we read in Isaiah 6Ut chapter and 5tih verse, *• Aad strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sous of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers." Thus thes-i poor people will be brought within the fold of Israel. And so Israel will become the evangelizing and civilizing power of all the world that shall be left after this great struggle. Thanks be to God for the sight of the future the Prophet so grandly has giver us. Amen. of Armaged- ly corqueied i.T!-" ' ! '