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 " GZ.^0 TIDINGS " 5ermo/j ant/ Tract 5er/es, A^o. 7. 
 
 HOLINESS. 
 
 
 PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 SERMON 
 
 BY 
 
 Rev. Mark Guy Pearse, 
 
 Preached in the Centenary Church, Saint John, N. B.,Tbur(<day, 
 June Ind, 1887. , ' 
 
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 Perfection in Christ. 
 
 " Be perfect; be of good comfort.'.— 2 Cor. xili. 11. 
 
 THINK, dear friends, as we look at this text, we 
 shall all feel, after a little reflection, as if it were 
 _ a very contradictory one. «* Be perfect." Oh, 
 dear I we do not like that. Somebody says : ♦♦ You 
 know 1 do not believe in perfection.'^ Dear friend, 
 what thou believest is very little matter. When God 
 speaks it is of very little use for thee to look up and 
 say : '< I do not believe in perfection." I have no 
 theory about perfection. I am not going to tell thee 
 what this perfection may mean, for 1 think I shall 
 never, never know ; but I do want thee this day to 
 go right up to your God and say : '« My God, what 
 this perfection is thou knowest, and I want Thee to 
 give it to me." Sir, if thou dost not believe in per- 
 fection I would have thee end the controversy 
 speedily. Go unto thy God and say: ''Oh, my 
 God, save me as far as thou canst, and when Thou 
 canst not save me any more I will stop." Let that 
 end the controversy. But yet, we must all feel that 
 these words are, as I have said, contradictory. " Be 
 perfect." Well, that seems to me as if the text took 
 me by the hand and fetched me up some slippery 
 height and said ; ♦« That is where you have got to 
 get, and it is very few people who can ever get up 
 there, only very clever mountaineers and Alpine 
 climbers ; and many who have got up have not been 
 able to stay up there, Thev have comp. full inn- down 
 again and have talked about it all the daywcl Ihei'r 
 lilb." " Be perfect." Ah I most of us look up and 
 
PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 sigh 
 
 (( 
 
 " .L J^^' ^ ^^^'^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ I could be a better 
 man than I am, but I cannot climb." When I went 
 to Switzerland once I went as most people do, I sup- 
 pose, to see the Matterhorn ; and as I stood and 
 looked at the sheer mass of rock rising up from the 
 snowy mountain I said to the guide: "Well, I 
 suppose there are some people who climb that?" 
 - Yes," said he - a few." I looked at him and said : 
 " When do you think I shall climb it ?" and he looked 
 at me and smiled. I am afraid he thought I was not 
 a very likely subject. I said ; «« Well, I will tell 
 you when I shall get to the top of that— when I can 
 lly. Ihat IS how most people think about bein*r 
 perfect, they look at the top of that slippery hei<rh1 
 Hiidsay: "Yes, when I can Hy.' When we have done 
 with things on earth then there will be some hopes 
 for us, and our heart sinks down within us and Ave 
 sigh and turn back again ; " Be peifect ; be of good 
 comfort." Oh, that seems to say : " Take it easy ! 
 what do you want to go fretting yourselves for?" If 
 you are not as good as some people, never mind ; 
 you arc "not as bad as some are. You must take the 
 average and you will pass very well in the crowd." 
 "Be of good comfort." Now, my brethren, what 
 we want to do is to put these two things together 
 and ask ourselves earnestly and honestly this ques- 
 tion : How can you join these two ? "Be perfect " 
 Take it right in. Let your ideal in Christ be as lofty 
 and sublime as God's ideal is and yet do not fret, do 
 not worry, do not agonize. " Be of good comfort." 
 Ihe glory of Christ's religion is that it joins these 
 two. I can find in other religious, " Be perfect." 
 Ihere is many a heathen religion that has its ideal 
 ♦« Be perfect," but it is by agony, it is by torture. 
 Hei^ are the two hands of our God ; the right hand 
 oi Uis riguteousness that saith "Be perfect," the 
 left hand of His love that doth press us to His heart 
 as he saith : " Be of good comfort." 
 
 I 
 
 t 
 
PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 5 
 
 Now many people lose both because they put them 
 iu the ^rong order ; they put «' Be of good comfort" 
 first, and " Be perfect " on behind. The Lord puts 
 "Be perfect" first, and "Be of good comfort" 
 afterwards. Let us look at them. 
 
 Now this is a religion, and a very common reli- 
 gion, and a very mischievous religion, in which the 
 whole aim is first of all " Be of good comfort' — a 
 religion in which, when a man is converted, he is ac- 
 customed to say lie is made happy. The religion, 
 mark you, is true enough, right enough, until you 
 push it to an extreme. You will tind generally that 
 a man's evil is a virtue pushed too far. "Pride begins, 
 pei^aps, only in manly confidence, or self-confidence, 
 which is good. Fear may only be an exaggerated 
 humility, and so this, which is the strength of all liv- 
 ing and earnest churches ; this experience, this feel- 
 ing' it' you like to call it so, becomes a peril when 
 you push it just too far, and make it the end, and 
 purpose, and ideal, and aim of our religion. We 
 sing about it in our hymn ; 
 
 'Tis roligiou, that must give, 
 Sweetest pleasures while we live. 
 
 You ask people, " Are you saved?" " Oh, yes, 
 bless the Lord." " How do you know?" " Oh, 1 
 feel it." Why there are thousands of young people 
 in our churches and chapels who come home on a 
 Sunday night and say : " Well, 1 think I'm saved, 
 you know, I fuel a little bit happy to-night," and on 
 a Monday morning they get up and say : "1 do not 
 know, I do not think I feel much happier than I did 
 on Saturday," and they think they arc lost again, 
 Now, I just want you, dear friiMids, to look this mat- 
 ter full in the face. Is the idea of our religion and 
 the aim and purpose of it, first of all, to make us feel 
 happy ? Then, if it is, I dou't want religion. If the 
 
6 
 
 great 
 
 PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 thing for which Jesus Christ has come into 
 this world is just to make me feel happy I can find a 
 loftier idea of life outside religion altogether. Come 
 with me here into Westminster Abbey, let us stroll 
 round about the place and look at the monuments. 
 Here are buried heroes, travellers, explorers; read here 
 the name of this man who went away up into some 
 bleak Arctic region, who defied death in a thousand 
 shapes, and went through all sorts of perils and 
 agonies. What cared he for feeling ? He just flun^ 
 his feeling to the winds, and said ; " '^'herc that is 
 where I have got to get, and that is where I shall o-o," 
 and nothing daunted, nothing turned him away° he 
 went and reached the ice ; he came back and men 
 said : " A hero !" Look here at the record of the 
 warriors— men who just Hung feeling happy to the 
 winds altogether, " What have we got to do with 
 that ?" Perhaps they never stopped even to say as 
 much as that, but, all forgetful of themselves, said ; 
 " There, that is what we have got to do," and they 
 went and faced again a thousand perils, and men 
 cried : " A hero !" And here you get a very highly 
 respectable tombstone, gilt, magnificent. Will^you 
 read the inscription ? "Here lies a man who felt 
 happy." Why, 1 say, if the end and purpose of my 
 religion is nothing more than that which is to make 
 me feel happy, I can find a loftier ideal in the army, 
 in the navy, amongst those brave fishermen Avho have 
 gone forth during those bleak storms, amongst those 
 whose memories to-day we cherish at once with such 
 pride and such sorrow, — amongst those for whose 
 widows and orphans this day we do most earnestly 
 pray the comfort and consolation of our heavenly 
 Father. I say amongst these I can find a loftier 
 ideal of life shown in religion if the one end and pur- 
 pose of mv reliffion is to make rnp> fool ho«i>,r 
 
 Look again. If the purpose of my religion is just 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
PERFECTION TN CHRTST. 
 
 to make me feel happy, then it is a failure. It must, 
 in order to make me perfectly happy, do one of two 
 things — it must either change my nature so that all 
 circumstances shall minister to my happiness, or else 
 it must so change my circumstances as that my na- 
 ture shall find in them always that which makes mc 
 happy. Does it? I get the tooth-ache; I find it 
 pains me as much after conversion as before, Our 
 dear and beloved friend, the pastor of this church, is 
 racked with pains and aches — how deeply we sympa- 
 thize with him, — but do we not see that the grace 
 docs not change the bodily nature, nor does it change 
 our circumstances. It does not take the east wind 
 away ; it does not take the frost out of the air ; it 
 does not bring in the golden sunshine. In this re- 
 spect, too, it is a failure. 
 
 Look again. If the purpose of my religion is first 
 of all to make me happy, then, I dare say boldly, 
 most reverently and yet most confidently, that Jesus 
 Christ has come the wrong way. I will tell you how 
 you can make the most miserable man living. Think 
 if I were some poor outcast on a bleak winter's night, 
 with the cold snow sweeping about me in blinding 
 wreaths. Here I sit, frost-bitten and hungry upon 
 your door-step, — sh( . ss, homeless, ragged. You 
 come and lay your hand upon my shoulder. «'Come, 
 come," you say, «'come in ; I cannot have you sitting 
 here like this. Sit in my easy chair, warm yourself 
 by my fire, eat my supper, and I will come out and 
 take your place." Do you think I should be such a 
 mean beast as to accept your offer? Do you think 
 your fire would v/arm me ? I tell you it would scorch 
 me; your supper would choke me; your luxuries 
 would be my agony. The whole time should I not 
 think of you outside, until I should be driven to go 
 and lay my hand upon your shoulder and say, " 8ir, 
 either you come in and share my pleasure, or else I 
 will come out and share your misery." My Master, 
 
PETIPECTION IN OHRTST. 
 
 I cannot be made happy like that. I take Thine 
 hand, and I feel the nail-print therein ; I rest my 
 head against Thy side, and lo, there is the mark of 
 that cruel spear ; I look up into Thy face, and see 
 the mark of that crown of thorns upon Thy brow. I 
 look to it and see how Thy face has been marred and 
 distigured, and I think of how it was spat upon and 
 how besmeared with dust and lilood ; how they 
 plucked the hair of Thy cheek. My Master, I can 
 weep, but how can I rejoice? Thou hast come the 
 wrong way; nay, my heart cries, "Oh, let me be 
 cruciticd togothei with Thee ! Let me hang with 
 Thee upon that very cross ; let me, too, be dead and 
 buried with Thee : let me be one with Thee, my 
 Lord." Happiness is forgotten ; the cross of Christ 
 has thrust it right out of my thoughts. 
 
 Look again ; you would not like to deal with 
 your children after that fashion. Try it. The 
 great end and purpose of religion is to make us 
 feel happy. I have got a boy at home, I think the 
 grandest little fellow that ever lived, and I hope 
 you think the same of yours. I do not thmk he 
 ever told me a lie ; but think if he did — think if, 
 one day, he came all red-eyed and sobbing, and he 
 looked into my face and confessed to me : "Father, 
 I have told a lie !" Now, what should I do ? 
 Should I look' upon him and say : " Well, my boy, 
 I do not want you to feel like this. Run away ; 
 fetch out your marbles ; have your top ; go off to 
 your cricket or football ; get your school fellows 
 about you, and laugh and shout — I want you to 
 feel happy ?" Not a bit of it. I tell you I would 
 want that boy to feel very miserable indeed, and 
 if my hand was not strong enough to do it, I would 
 take a rod, and if a rod was not enough, I would 
 lock him up in a room, and he should be there for 
 a week on bread and water, if I could some how 
 
 1 
 
PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 9 
 
 or other work in that boy's soul a great, deep, abid- 
 ing abhorrence of a lie, as a ihing loathsome, 
 damning, "What to me was it that he should feel 
 happy. 0, my brother, I say deliberately, it were 
 better for you and me to have hell lire than the 
 blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, if, mark you, hell 
 fire could burn into us a more deep hatred of the 
 thing that was wrong. If Christ has only come 
 to say to me, " Don't you trouble about sin, 
 don't you mind about it, it is all right, I have set- 
 tled that : now you go off. I want you to feel 
 happy," — T say I should be a bigger man, a better 
 man, if by all the anguish of the ages, there should 
 be just wrought through and through me a great, 
 deep, abhorrence of the thing that is evil. Oh, I 
 tell you, sir, you have not learned the first lesson 
 of the cross, if you have not seen brought right out 
 and nailed up in the sight of heaven and earth and 
 hell what Grod thinks about sin, how He hates it, 
 how He loathes it, and must sw^eep it right away. 
 Ho says to me on that cross : " Here, that is what 
 I think of sin ; I must nail it to the cross ; I must 
 bury it out of my sight," and, my brethren, that is 
 where we want to get, that is the lesson that we 
 want wrought into us — the great, deep abhorrence 
 of the thing that is evil ; that anything, even cruci- 
 fixion, even the ragged nails, and the spear, and 
 the crown of thorns, and the hatred and derision 
 of the world, is blessed if it can only make us for- 
 ever and ever git rid of sin as a loathsome and 
 damnable thing that must be buried down in 
 Christ's grave. Not first "Be of good comfort ; " 
 not first feeling happy ; first — " Be perfect." 
 
 And now I want to bring this right home. 
 Friends, what is the purpose of this religion ? let 
 us each one ask himself. Oh, I would sooner break 
 Btones in the road and never get paid for it cither. 
 
10 
 
 PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 than I would preach this Gospel if it were only 
 
 hf« fo^^i'"''?^^ lu "^""^ *.^^"*^^^ *« ^^^^ what one 
 has to say. Brethren, it is to help us to think more 
 of Jesus and to be more like Him. And so now I 
 want you to .,ust deal with yourselves. Lay hold 
 
 t^l". W ^' '"/ ^'' '^' ^'^^' «f '' f^" i^ ^T>ol your 
 hearts. How do you pray ? What is the prayer 
 
 what'itif^H^lfv!^'^^^^ ^^^ly- '' -d -" 
 cWhVmf • f ^^'^ ' ^'i P'^y^ ' " O I^^^d' bless me, 
 clothe me, feed me, take care of me, prosper me in 
 business, make me more happy, and bring me home 
 to heaven when I die, for Jesus Christ's sake Amr' 
 Well friend, thou mayest pull that out into three- 
 
 rudonel'TH^'^^^j; '^^,^ ^'^'^ ^ut what hast 
 spl fi« w! ^t'^ \' *^y '"^^^^°"' ^ ^^t^ener of your 
 selfishness and, so far as I can see, it is not likelv 
 
 pose' Th;\'Jlfi l''^^ ^'"'J'^'' '''' ^« «^herPu- 
 
 fht^^^M . i^.' ^"*' y^^ "^y- " does not it say in 
 the B ble : ' Give us this day our daily bread ?'" 
 
 «' WW?^' r. ^y • y.^'^ ^^^^ ^^ft something out. 
 What? Listen : " Our father, who art in hea 
 ven, hallowed be Thy name." That is fiJst sir 
 not your crust of bread, not your gettng on in 
 t Tr'nam/'T.^"!^? madeiappf. "/allowed 
 sir' Tha?? J?^ ^"'^^T *^«"^e"-that first, 
 sir ! That is what you are here for, that i.s why 
 
 sun iSTh! r '^' 'T-' "^ ^^^^d, that' is what the 
 n« W K ^f ^«?^« fhines for, that in why He gives 
 
 Cw?lP'Th^«f'fi '.^"T "Thy kingdL cCe 
 ihy will, that first, not your will, not God wait 
 
 ng upon you to minister to you, but you waHh l 
 upon God to minister to Him. '' Thy wi^l be Z "on 
 Zi> un'"^^'^7^»^" Then that His name 
 tnat Hi. will may ho done, " Qiy^ jjie this day 
 
 t 
 c 
 
PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 11 
 
 mycrust of bread." Thou must not ask for thy 
 bread till thou hast put God in His right place. 
 Ihou art not m tny right place until first of all 
 thou has put, not thy being made happy, but first 
 ot all thy serving with all thine heart thy Father 
 who is m heaven. Oh, says somebody, does not it 
 say : Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all 
 these things shall be added unto you." What' 
 Ah If thou wouldst search the Scripture instead 
 of borrowing thy quotations from somebody else 
 thou mightest, perhaps, quote it right. I have 
 often heard that text quote^^ so, but what does it 
 
 righteousness," that is the wrod. Oh, if I could I 
 would write one word up over every church and 
 chapel m this land, " Righteousness." If I could 
 1 would have it upon every ledger and every cash- 
 book and every wages book, "Righteousness." If 
 1 could I would have it stamped upon every article 
 1^ "^itt^hen and on every article in the parlor I 
 would have it stamped upon all the articles that 
 men sell over the counter, if only by stamping the 
 word one could get the thing. " Seek ye first the 
 kinffdom of God and His righteousness." That is 
 It, rightness right speaking, right doing, right 
 dealing, right feeling, that is what wewant rifffie- 
 ousness running through it all. Oh, that is the 
 want ot this nineteenth centurv : we have not 
 ever so much religion that makes people think 
 they are happy, but would to God we had a reli- 
 gion that made men righteous, clean-handed, pure- 
 tongued, self-denying. Sir, thou wilt lose both if 
 thou dost put them in the wrong order-not first of 
 all feeling happy, hrst of all be perfect 
 
 f. 1 'riHi^u''-T"'.T/'^ ^""-'"" "f" thy religion be 
 to be like Christ. Oh, if thou wou]<H i-^le His 
 cross up this morning and welcome it'to thy licart, 
 
12 
 
 PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 wouldst go forth saying, " Lord, this shall be mv 
 aim 111 everything, whether it pays or whether it 
 
 fhZ^ f A^y-T^"'^* ^' P'r^""* •'" ^^' ^^ brother, 
 think of Christ in our midst this morning. I can 
 
 thinKofHim standing here, looking down upon 
 this great crowd ; what power and glory will be 
 Mis It every man and every woman here said this 
 morning, as they went forth : " Now, Lord, whether 
 1 teel happy or whether I do not, my life shall be 
 to make the world think well of Thee. My aim 
 shall be first to be perfect." First, set Christ upon 
 Mis throne M^herever thou goest ; think " now I 
 have got to g-lorify Him." Oh, what will it do 
 for the world ! How quickly should the church 
 overtake the world when every man made the 
 end ot his religion not his own little self, not 
 his own escape to heaven ; but that when the 
 whole purpose of himself in everything and every- 
 where should be to make the world think well 
 of Jesus Christ. Will you accept it, will you 
 W for It, will you take it right in till it possesses 
 
 And now, secondly, "Be of good comfort." Now 
 a great many people lose both because they leave 
 out the Lord s part altogether. I think that every 
 Chris lan man here, somehow or other, has bemin 
 to feel, well, that is the truth. Some great impulse 
 seizes you, and you say within yourself: "Yes 
 
 l^n r ^^* T^^^''" ^^* ^f ^^^' ^^^^ *hat is what I 
 will be. Take care ; take care. Many a consci- 
 entious man has gone forth from this Tabernacle 
 stirred by the words h.. has heard, and it may be 
 he has said : "That is what I vill be. I will give 
 
 3 1 '.[""'"TV" ''11}^'''^ ^'''^ ^^'' other, and I 
 will be this and I will be that, and I will be the 
 
 tI V 'i'''\t'Y ^''"" ^"'^ '^ ^*^«^<^^l^^ Monday, 
 luesday ^ Ah. how soon wo v^o,... c„wi *•„„ \ 
 
PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 18 
 
 have been one of them — how soon we have said : 
 " Well, it is no good, I cannot ?" We could not 
 keep up the strain ; we could not keep up the 
 agony. If we cannot find something better to 
 begin with than " I, " let us give up. The moment 
 I fetch in "I," I fetch in failure.- I have taken my- 
 self in more than anybody else ever took mo in. 
 Dear friends, you have been the biggest cheat to 
 yourself that yourself has ever known. How often 
 you have been giving away to sin. How many 
 times you have promised yourself a thousand 
 splendid things that have come to nothing ; and if 
 we cannot find something better than " I," we will 
 just give the w^hole thing up in despair. There 
 are some who do actually succeed. I have met here 
 and there with people who have made themselves 
 perfect, and I think of all dreadful people I ever 
 knew, these were the most dreadful, for they have 
 laid hold upon themselves and they have said, 
 " Now, I am going to be perfect," and they have 
 narrowed and concentrated their whole thought 
 upon themselves. They have laid hold on them- 
 selves, and they have begun to chip themselves 
 and cut off their corners, and have made a hundred 
 corners in cutting off one. They have sand paper- 
 ed themselves, and sulphuric acided themselves, 
 and at last, after two, three, four, five years of that 
 concentrated agony, and effort, and self conscious- 
 ness, they have brought out, what ? Whv, what 
 else could you expect? from five to six feet of pol- 
 ished "I," it is all "I, I, I." If you come with 
 them then you approach a saint, but if you do not 
 agree with them, then you are a hopeless reprobate. 
 Now, if I <'annot find something better than that, 
 I will hold my tongU(» about it for ever and ever. 
 I cannot believe very much in perfection when I 
 look at human nature ; I believe iu perfection less 
 
14 
 
 PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 Still When I look at myself; but when I lonlr «f 
 
 mv .1??^ ?!,': i*^'"^;, hold of my.el? and p„S 
 Svse f n?,f it " 'lid melting myself and running 
 yrt.;? ; • °i '"""'<1 '" 'he image and likenesl 
 ^ tt^" mvtlf h' S*-.''!"? away frfm myself X- 
 
 ?omtt "_;::: be turVifS?"- 7' »'■ ^-'' 
 
 sh ulr like"' "S „: .'"?" "i'™ 'l^" --" - r 
 two look ?n(.,.t "u'"" ""-I""* '» break it in 
 
 ^7i° ; i P " "''^ '•'"^y ^eart of it, " Comfort "_ 
 what does it menu? "P^ "n,.i_ yomiort — 
 
 " fn.-* " *i ! ""-"u- <-'0., that means " comDanv" 
 tort, that means " strength "— Kti-o,.n.tk„, ■ ?' 
 company. That i.. u V = r.L ^"''"ff'liennig by 
 
PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 15 
 
 f look at 
 on then. 
 7 agony, 
 ry thing, 
 putting 
 running 
 likeness 
 self, for- 
 ousness. 
 hold of 
 )ing the 
 ig right 
 "Sou], 
 ee to let 
 ■ 'Be 
 )f good 
 t mine, 
 le open 
 7 Lord, 
 
 d as I 
 k it in 
 ort "-— 
 pany;" 
 ng by 
 to me 
 going 
 n por- 
 thee." 
 Q five 
 i is to 
 .r(\sus 
 resup, 
 ke an 
 n))or- 
 
 !t illK 
 
 omp- 
 
 ' 
 
 tion shall show nothing of it ? No, blessed be His 
 name, He cometh to me and thee and He saith : 
 " Son, all I ask of thee is that thou wilt let Me have 
 Mine own way with thee." " Be of good comfort." 
 It is Jesus, Jesus coming right down, Jesus coming 
 all the way with us, Here is an illustration that 
 comes to my mind— forgive the homliness of it. I 
 remember, one day, when I was a little lad of some 
 seven years, 1 had gone out to spend the day at a 
 farm house — it was in the happy haytime — some 
 three miles from my home, and now the day was 
 done. A muttering thunderstorm was coming up 
 in the distance. I heard the rumble amongs? the 
 hills and saw far off the flit of the lightning flash. 
 I stood against the old farmhouse door, silly little 
 fellow that I was, full of imagination, everything 
 that I had ever heard living before me. Oh, how 
 my heart sank down within me ! I did not know 
 the way— three miles ! And somehow or other, all 
 the pictures I had ever looked at just came and 
 lived before me. There was the '"' Pilgrim's Pro- 
 gress." Somewhere along that three miles there 
 was Giant Pope, with his eyes flashing lightnings, 
 biting his nails, waiting for me to come round the 
 corner. There was Apollyon, with fiery dart, 
 ready to spring upon me the moment he should 
 catch sight of me, Foxe's martyrs, I think lay 
 somewhere along those three miles. All the rob- 
 bers I had ever heard of, and all the murders, and 
 all the ghosts— and there were many ghosts when 
 I was young— they all crowded that three miles. 
 Oh, silly, silly I ! How my heart went pit-a-pat. 
 pumping within me ! how the knuckl*:^ could 
 scarcely keep back the tears that tried to force 
 themselves out at the eyes ! And then — oh, joy ! — 
 up a little leafy lane there came my lather. '^'Come 
 on, my boy." Bless you, I should like you to have 
 
16 
 
 PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 seen the hero then. I almost wished old Apollvon 
 would peep round the corner, that he might \ce 
 '^^.^who was not a bit afraid of him I almost 
 wished that Giant Pope would com. on, tharhe 
 might find one more than his match. Oh, how I 
 
 n?nl a""^ ''Tl' ^°^ ^ S'^'P^^ that hak, how 
 I looked up into that face, how I joyed in that m-^ 
 sence, and when, at last, the great black thundei- 
 
 ittf:t'f '^^ '"^r '-'^^ ^^« ruVblli^^^^^^ 
 the thunder, how good it was to have the iSno- 
 blue cloak, with its folds about me, to look out and 
 t'he ilf^'M.'^^^ ^^^H!""^^ ^^^d feel the b at 6f 
 hand'^Vw ^''i t' u'''}' u'^"' ^ '''^^ sot that 
 S I Z^l^ '^^^ it^""''^ ^^' ^^y ^^''' ^^ What 
 wov. h ^t '""^^'^ ^"^ murderers that ever 
 
 were-he was there. Ah ! dear saint, thou stand- 
 est this evening, and thou lookest and thouVayest 
 My heart sinks down within me, I am so weak 
 o foolish, and, alas ! ten thousand evil thii Js do 
 throng my way. Oh, how they crowd and how 
 Uiey threaten;' Call them a/ up this morn Z 
 Oh, He come h ; would that thou couldst see Him 
 as He Cometh. He looketh at thee. He sS h 
 
 When'lim'el' '""T: ^^ '^^^^^^ ^^ ^is nat;' 
 c^n I defv «lf ^'''^' ;«y .glorious Lord then 
 can 1 dely all my foes. My brother, I want thee 
 to welcome Him, to press up to Him Hollne s is 
 Jesus Jesus, Jesus always, just that. 
 
 som'^ T^' ?n^ ""^y ^"^S'^^" on two minutes lon-er 
 somebody wi 1 say to me : " Must not I do anv- 
 
 ^1 re.^^.'' ^^^^? ^^ ' --Ir^^^ '^ ^^^^ 
 ''Well hutrL ^fh ^ ""^^'^^^ ''^''''^ thee not. 
 devil , ' ''""^-^ '''^ •■ ' ^«^^^' adversarv the 
 
 dcMl, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seekin<^ 
 
 whom he may devour; whom resist? ' " T f hnn 1"? 
 u dm once, but 1 looked again, and I found'belre 
 Peter says a word about that, he says : ' Hu^nblc 
 
PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 11 
 
 ipollyou 
 light sec 
 I almost 
 
 that he 
 I, how I 
 lid, how 
 that pre- 
 hunder- 
 hling of 
 le long, 
 out and 
 
 beat of 
 fot that 
 What 
 lat ever 
 X stand- 
 . sayest, 
 ) weak, 
 ings do 
 id how 
 oming. 
 ee Him 
 i saith, 
 I name, 
 d then 
 \it thee 
 iness is 
 
 longer, 
 
 lo 
 
 any- 
 11 must 
 3e not. 
 ry the 
 eeking 
 
 lonrrVif 
 - -O^xL 
 
 before 
 umble 
 
 
 yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of 
 G-od." G-et right in under God's mighty hand,then 
 turn round and say : " Now, devil, I am not afraid 
 of thee a bit." The first thing you have to do be- 
 fore you resist is to run away. That is the way to 
 get the victory over the devil. Kun away to Jesus; 
 press up to Him. You know the story of Robert 
 Hall, how that when he was a little lad he had a 
 fiery and passionate temper, and how he just used to 
 lift his heart and say : " Oh, Lamb of God, calm 
 my mind." And you remember how, as he lay on 
 his bed a dying man, racked with anguish, how he 
 would turn after a paroxysm of pain and sa^^ to 
 those who stood about his bedside : " I did not 
 murmur, did I ?" Oh, the perfect patience of that 
 poor sufferer ! My brothers, that is all we have 
 got to do — to run right away. I have thought 
 about that text, and I believe many people do — 
 " your adversary the devil " — as if it were a mean 
 thing, a little thing to flee from him, and that 
 when he comes you should resist him, calling upon 
 your dignity and your manhood. Well, who are 
 you ? Just think of a shepherd who should say lo 
 his lamb : " Little lamb, good night ; I am going 
 home now. Take care of yourself. Mind, do not 
 be so greedy after buttercups and daisies as to for- 
 get to keep a sharp look out. The old lion is about, 
 if he comes you know what to do, don't you ?" 
 " No," says the lamb. " Butt him !" says the shep- 
 herd. Poor little lamb ! Ah, I know that lamb 
 well. I have seen that laml) here in church and 
 chapel, all that I have had anything to do with — 
 poor timid soul, afraid to look at a daisy, afraid to 
 nibble a buttercnip. Ah, he cometh ! See him, he 
 
 one stroke of that paw and all is done ! Oh. my 
 brother, that is pretty well a picture of how i)ower- 
 
18 
 
 PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 less you and I are against the old enemy. Blessed 
 be His name, my shepherd never sa^th^Good 
 night " He saith " Little lamb, I will never We 
 thee, I will never forsake thee. BuZ littleTamb Z 
 
 TJV'T, 1'^^ ^^'^*r^P« -^^ daisies thaUhou 
 dost forget to keep a sharp look out, and when the 
 old lion Cometh, thou knowest what to do dost 
 thou not." " No," saith the lamb. " Keep clUe to 
 my side press up to me, run undtr ?he erv 
 shadow of my presence, and when thou a fat S^ 
 ighthandno harm can befall thee then." Oh 
 
 wh,rf '•^^'^•^'''''';^"'''« 'Always, Jesus every^ 
 whole, Jesnsm everything, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus 
 only. I would have thee forget all the words I 
 have spoken to thee this evening, if thou wilt but 
 take one word away with theerand ift^u wU 
 take His presence with thee. It is Jesus all the 
 
 7^Li"'''^^T'^ "^? 1-^ff^'" f- that ]s ou 
 caiin.g .Be of good comfort," because it k tho 
 dear and blessed Master who comes to do it aU 
 . Mr Boai-dman tells us that one day he was i)aR. 
 mg through a large city, and haviuj anTouito 
 
 Ser" 1' 1"'"""''^ "f*^ ^"'"^'^ ^l"" "^-"^ 
 •«ked hin, ^. Tf i!^ were sit bug together his friend 
 
 Ms feet "' M, ll "'?''' '''"' }° '"'^'*' "^'^ """'W ^t 
 lus leet < Mr. Boardmau understood the suo-ws- 
 
 tion that they should go to the top of the shot 
 
 seutly he reached a passage in which he saw a 
 tone staircase going winding up in the darWs 
 
 Wend "?„?'" ■""""' '^^ ''"'''■ " No." »id "e 
 Mr T!n»,.r goi"g wrong ; it is down here." 
 
 Mi. Boardmau stopped and thoun-ht there w«= 
 some mistake. " Wo are going up to the top ofZ 
 
 S"3V'-" ^ ^^^-i- "Yes,"?aid S 
 niena, and you must o-o down >i»v" f^ -^f ^^, 
 
 That is the old way, da?k and dusty and f^U of 
 
 „ 
 
 „ 
 
PERFECTION IN CHRIST. 
 
 19 
 
 „ 
 
 „ 
 
 c 
 
 3obwebs. But you would find a door near the top 
 that IS nailed up now. You would only knock 
 vour head and get covered with dust, and then 
 have to come down again. This is the way," and 
 he pointed to two or three steps that went down 
 , hT^ ^® ^ strange way to get up," he 
 
 " Now all you have to do is to sit still." 
 ;' But I can never get up by sitting still, surely," 
 said Mr. Boardman. ^ 
 
 ''Trust me" was the reply, "and you will see." 
 Instantly they began to rise. They were on a 
 iitt ; and m two minutes they stepped out hiffh 
 above the city, to find the world under their feet 
 
 Ihisis our victory,— coming down to get up: 
 
 Irustmg in Him and then sitting still with Him. 
 
 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 
 Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual 
 
 blessings m heavenly places in Christ " 
 
 „ 
 
 -WTT*-