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1 2 3

THE

WEAVING OF CHARACTER,

AND

OTHER SERMONS AND ADDRESSES.

G. M. Mbacham,

Pastor of Union Church, Yokohama, Japan.

¥OKOHAMA. JAPAN:
The Yokohama Bunsha.

1897.

V\¥[(A-

ANNEX ■
SUCK

To my dear people in Yokohama, from xvhom
till now in the tenth year of my pastorate I
have received many tokens of confidence and
love, and to many valued friends of former
years in Canada, this volume is affectionately
dedicated.

/^/ Zy 2-

iii

f PREFACE.

HIS volume appears for the reason that the
author has been occasionally solicited to
publish single sermons, and lately has been
urged to give to the Church a collection of them. It
is owing to the persuasions of several friends that his
portrait finds here a place.

This is a sincere attempt to help sinful, suffering men
to Christ and heaven. These sermons have been com-
posed at different times during a ministry, which has
already lasted more than two-score years. Some were
written long ago, some very recently. They have all
been preached except the one entitled, " God's Ancient
People," the substance of which appeared in the
columns of one of the daily papers in this city.

It will be observed that in none of these sermons,
with perhaps one exception, is there an attempt to
prove the truths of revelation. It is the conviction
of the author that the Gospel needs simply to be
preached. There are always some who are feeling
after Christ, if haply they may find Him. And it
would delight the writer, more than gold or silver, if
he knew his book was instrumental in leading some to
Christ, and in building up others in their most holy

PREFACE.

faith. How high the honour and distinguished the
privilege of being used by the Holy Spirit to make
unseen realities tangible to men, and to assist those who
have an occasional taste of transcendent good into its
perpetual enjoyment ! Would that we, Christian people,
more and more discerned the Lord's body, not only at
the Table of the Lord, but also in the breaking of bread
at the daily meal, heard the sound of His stately step-
pings not only in the Sanctuary, but also in the move-
ments of the events of every-day life, and felt His
presence not merely in an occasional visit, but in His
perpetual abiding in our hearts !

Errors have crept in or escaped scrutiny. Inter alia
are the following : of punctuation, notably in the title
of the sermon on page d'i ; of spelling, " gainsayed " for
" gainsaid " on page 98 ; and of words, as in " nature "
for "nations" 1,1 page 140, and «i " Hezekiah " for
" Uzziah " on page 268.

Thanks are hereby heartily rendered to the Rev, H.
H. Coates, M.A., B.D., of the Central Tabernacle,
Tokyo, for much assistance in selecting with painstaking
care from among many sermons those that appear here,
and to Geo. Braithwaite Esq., of the British and Foreign
Bible Society, for the correction of proof.

This volume goes forth with the earnest prayer that
God will use it for His own glory and the salvation of
men. May He, without whom nothing is good or wise
or strong, vouchsafe His seiectest blessing !

CONTENTS.

I. — The Weaving of Character

2. — Sowing and Reaping

3- — Buying up the Opportunity

4. — ^The Withered Hand ... ... ... ...

5- — Jesus Christ come to Church ; or, the Pharisee
and the Publican

6. — The Dangers of Young Men

7. — The Detection of Sin

i*. — Three Great Words

9. — Philip and the Eunuch

10. — The Call of Abraham

II. — God's Ancient People

12. — ^The Plumbline

13- — ^The Christian Race

14- — ^The Alabastron and the Ointment ... ,

15. — Christ, the Conqueror ,

16. — ^The Lord's Candle ,

17. — Esau Selling his Birthright ,

33
48

63
81

97
114

134
150

169

188

208

229

248

263

282

CONTENTS.

i8. — The Cup of Cold Water 296

19. — Christ Knocking at the Door 309

20. — Lessons from the Eagle's Eyrie 325

21. — The Existence and Influence of the Invisible. 342

CHARACTER-WEAVING.

" I have cut oft" like a weaver my life." — Isaiah xxxviii : 1 2.

Unquestionably our Lord established His Church in
the world with the object of savinjj men from sin and
its consequences; but He has had in view ulteriorly
the ennoblement and perfection of the character of
those who have been saved from the guilt of sin.
Pardon is a great blessing, and salvation in heaven is
a glorious destinj'. But he who is content with the
knowledge that he is forgiven, and with a hope of
entering heaven at last, is, I believe, mistaken in his
conception of the nature of religion, and has failed to
appreciate the claims of God upon him.

To purify, to build up, to strengthen, to perfect
character is a great end of the Christian scheme. For
this Christ gave Himself "that He might redeem us
from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a people for
His own possession, zealous of good works." For this,
too, the Scriptures were given " that the man of God
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto eveiy good
work." For this He has instituted the ministry : " the
perfecting of the saints, the edifying of the body of
Christ, till we all come unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

CIIAKACIKK-WKAVINT.

How the Apostle hibouis in these passaj,'es to express
the lofty conception he has of the Christian priviL^je !
N,,w, how is this lofty character attained? Not
without intelligent, well-directed effort. Hy no random
strokes, by no careless, indifferent courses, much less
by sinful ways, shall men reach perfection. Sometimes
we are rei)resentcd as ,^<w//<^ like branches of a vine ;
sometimes as being hiiilt upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets ; but here life is described uiuler
the figure of wcavin^s^. Ihowning makes his i)oor
organist ask Mastei Ilugucs of Saxe-Gotha,

" Is it yo':r moral of Life ?

Such a web, simple and subtle,
Weave we on earth here ' . impoiv nt strife,

Backward and forward each thniwing his shuttle,
Death ending all with a knife ? "

as if he thought tie figure inadequate. And so
doubtless it is; yet nay we find in it some lessons
helpful to the formation of Christian character.

The loom can lay claim to a venerable antiquity, and
in past times was regai ded as a very important part of
household furniture, as we see in the word heir-loom^
applied to what was handed down. We find the weaver
assisting in constructing the tabernacle in the wilderness.
Of course the loom of early times was very simple in
its construction ; but the most elaborate looms of this
age do not differ in their fundamental principle from
the most ancient. The warp is fastened in the loom,
and into the warp the web is woven. Now that which
is woven is our character ; the warp is the nature,
physical, mental, and moral, with which we are
originally endowed ; and the loom is the system of

CIIAUAC iKR-WKAVINr,.

things into which \\c arc born, and our social environ-
ment. Spinning goes before weaving to produce a
strong, clear, distinct thread. This is the first
recpiiremcnt of weaving. The materials are the evcrj'-
day hapixinings as we regard them, the opportunities of
self-improvement, of doing good to others, and of diyine
worship. Circumstances arc the material of which the
thread is comix)scd, given of God to weave into our
character. He supplies it, as in a large factory the
proprietor supplies the cotton or wool. According as
we deal with it, it is weak or strong, light or dark. The
spirit with which wc regard it gives it its dye,

God has fixed the loom, and arranged firmly the
strings of the warp. The work of filling in tnc web is
assigned to each of us. Whether it shall be full of
" slazy sixiis," rotten threads, and unsightly tangles, or
present a surface of solid workmanship without spot or
wrinkle or any such thing, remains, humanly speaking,
with us. Each thought, each feeling, each word, each
action, is our dealing with the material God has furnish-
ed us, and is a thread woven into character. We are
ever weaving, weaving, weaving the unfinished robe we
wear and must ever wear. Though a million should
have nearly the same materials, the work of each will be
his own individual product. And this product will be
different from that of every one else, because in an
important sense it is woven out of his own substance, as
the spider weaves its web or the snail its shell. Thus
are we the weavers of our own character, and of our
own everlasting destiny, because character decides
destiny. Thus Dr. Morley Punshon :

Ci lAK ACTKR-WKA V INC;.

" Each spirit weaves the robe it wears
From out life's busy loom,
And common tasks and daily cares
Make up the threads of doom."

It is evident, then, that our character and destiny are
in our own hands. By the use we make of circum-
stances, by the motives, passions, energies, influences,
which we bring to bear upon them, we shall either carry
out the plan of God concerning uS; or, frustrating that
plan, carry out the purposes of our great adversary. If
we work out what God's Spirit works within us, ^ve shall
have it habit of living, in the double sense, which
to the spiritually-minded will ajjpear beautiful. The
loveliest dress that a human being can wear is the robe
of righteousness. No one fails to see its beauty when it
is worn ; while an abstract Christianity is neither
beautiful nor useful, for it is like a garment, which, how-
ever elegant and becoming, loses its beauty and sj'm-
metry when hung up in the wardrobe.

The pattern, by wliich we are to work, is found in
the Holy Scriptures. There we find the examples of
them who through faith and patience inherit the
l^romises, and especially that of our Lord who has set us
an example that we should follow His stei)s. There
we shall find rules for the conduct of life and promises
of the gracious aid of the Spirit, by careful regard to
which we may become meet for the inheritance of the
saints in light.

]3on't find fault with your materials. Don't quarrel
with the allotments of Providence. Accept the uni-
verse and all that concerns you. God has done for you

CI lA R ACIT.R-WKAVIXG.

what is best. Use these materials, whatever be their
colour or kind, bearing in mind that they are of no
value to you till you turn them into holy and manly
and Cliristian character. Every act is a thread whicli
helps " to make dispositions ; while dispositions make
habits, and habits make character." Be careful and
painstaking. Count nothing small which honours or
dishonours your Lord.

Three things especially are required in character-
weaving, (i) JVor/; in the spirit of prayer. This is well
illustrated in the story of a little girl, who was a weaver
in the King's palace. She was patient and cheerful in
her humble toil, so that her fellow-workers, wondering
at the smoothness of her work and the brightness of her
spirits, questioned her as to how she managed to do so
well. I ler reply was that she took her troubles always
to the King. " So do we take them to him every
week," said they. " But I," said she, " go to get the
knot untied at the first little tangle." Oh, how
much trouble and how many tears we should be spared,
did we carry to the Lord, our King, all our troubles
and cares as soon as we begin to suffer from them !
(2) Faitli in the Lord Jesus Christ. The character of
Christ is supremely beautiful. Faith in Ilim is at the
foundation of Christian character. The believer finds
in Him the law of his life, the law of love. Faith is a
living principle ; it works, and works by love. Through
faith the perfect law enters in and becomes the law of
the mind and heart. Work has an object, great and
glorious ; it becomes f rictionless, prevents the waste of
energy, and becomes pervaded with the spirit of wcr-

CI I ARAC PER-WEA VIXC

ship ; and character is thus transfijjiircd into beauty and
joy. Not however, without, (3) Meditation and sclf-
cxaviination. We must take time for reflection upon
the great doctrines of God's Word, walk abroad in the
fields of divine and sanctifying truth, and climb the hills
of holy promise. And we must know ourselves. Well
says pious Herbert :

" Sum up by night what thou hast done by day,
And in the morning wliat thou hast to do ;
Dress and undress thy soul ; mark the decay

And growth of it : if with thy watch, that too
Be down, then wind up both ; since we shall be
Most surely judged, make thy accounts agree."

These counsels faithfully followed will make life
serious, but at the same time fill it with holy joy.

Much of the value of our work is impaired by reverie^
which we mistake for thought. We forget our pattern,
scarcely consider our work-, stain the woof with idle
tears, weave the tissue wTongly, break our threads and
tangle them, and a web of fear and doubt and gloom
gives proof of wandering thought and careless endea-
vour. But all the while, whether we are careless or
careful, the huttle is ceaselessly plying, and the textile
fabric is reaching to its close. Aside from that of our
blessed Lord, who only could say, " I have finished
(accomplished) the work Thou gavest me to do," no
human being's work has been perfect. One of the
French lords in " All's well that ends well " puts it thus,
speaking foi- multitudes : " The web of our life is of a
mingled yarn, good and ill together : our virtues would
be proud, if our faults whipped them not, and our crimes

CI lARAC 1 ER-WEAVINC.

would despair if they were not cherished by our
virtues."

We are plainly guilty of tvorsc than reverie. Our
mother tongue testifies against us. Trench observes in
his " Study of Words : " " What dark and sombre
threads man must have woven into the very tissue of his
life, before we can trace such dark ones running through
the tissue of his language." Take the word " hypocrite^
Before the word was made, the hypocritical character
existed. " The hypocrite's hope shall perish ; his
trust shall be a spider's web" (Job viii. 13, 14).
The spider is his emblem. Arachne, a Lydian maiden,
challenges Minerva to compete with her in needle
tapestry. This so offends Minerva that when Arachne
kills herself she turns her into a spider. Arachne means
" a spider," but the spider's web is broken by a touch,
and his labour comes to naught. The righteousness
of the hypocrite is only a gossamer of outward forms.
Whittier nobly sings of

" The cunning trickster and knave of courts,
Who the holy features of truth distorts,
O leave the \\ retch to his bribes and sins,
Let him rot in the wel) of lies he s/ins / "

The web of falsehood and fraud that the hypocrite
spins may suffice to entangle him therein, so that, clever
rogue though he may be, all his wit will not extricate
him ; certainly it will not avail as a wedding-garment on
that day when the King comes in to see His guests.

Then there is inconsistency. How often the incon-
sistent man, Christian or otherwise, weaves well and
faithfully for a while, and then undoes all that he has

1 !

ciiaracteimyeaviny;.

done by an act glaringly incongruous with the past.
Penelope, Avhose husband had been away for a long time
and Avas reported dead, would not believe him dead ;
and when many suitors sought her hand, she begged
them to wait until she had finished the web she was
then weaving. To give time for her husband's return
she undid each night what she had woven in the day,
and so beguiled her suitors till he had safely returned.
I do not say that she was inexcusable. But what shall
we say of those who neutralize by their conduct the
good effect of the better portion of their life ? A man
endeavours to lead a sinner to Christ, but ever and anon
displays a disposition of irritability, or censoriousness,
or covetousness, or pride, thwarting by one course of
action what he has endeavoured to accomplish by an-
other. A father seeks to train his child in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord by occasional teaching, by
the influence of the family altar and the Sabbath
School, but by capriciousness of temper, indulging and
permitting to-day what to-morrow he punishes, undoes,
without designing it, the effects of his sincere effort. In
a sense he unweaves what he has woven.

Finally, there is backsliding. Tennyson sings of
" The Lady of Shaiott : "

' There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,

And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,

The Lady of Shaiott."

CHARACTER-WEAVING.

A mirror is before her, in which are imaged pictures of
the world without, pictures which she weaves into her
web. Thus she passed her life weaving at her magic
loom, under a curse which she did not understand,
when on a sudden came her doom. The bold Sir Lan-
celot came riding past. She saw him in all his glory
reflected in her mirror, and then

•' She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She looked down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide.
The mirror cracked from side to side ;
' i he curse is come upon me,' cried
TheLadyofShalott."

I take this beautiful poem, which carries with it
much larger significance, and use it simply as an illus-
tration of many, who having wrought well at their life-
work, under the impulse of passion look down to
towered Camelot, towards which their eyes were
forbidden to turn, and on them comes the curse of
which they had been forewarned. Many have not done
thus whose names the world will never forget. 33ut
alas ! how many more, weaving faithfully at the loom
where God has placed them, in an evil hour have left
their providential work and brought a strange blight
upon their lives. How some day they will weep and
wail when the web with its tangles and " slazy spots "
is brought into the accoimt of eternity !

But as for the faithful Christian, who labours to perfect
in himself the noblest manhood, and aspires to be like

CHARACTER-WEAVING.

Christ, how often is he cast down with a sense of
utter failure ! How unfinished and full of tangles seems
the web of his character and life ! Let him have for
his encouragement that it ; like a piece of tapestry
which in the process of weaving has the wrong side
turned toward the weaver ; and only God sees the right
side. I visited a silk factory in Kyoto where they
manufacture elegant silk brocades. On the side of the
operative were the rude loom, spools of thread and the
fabric with its wrong side of irregular lines and ends of
threads and knots and hanging skeins; and there he
sat glancing at his pattern and weaving with his
shuttles. To be sure it did not seem possible with such
means to work out a charming picture. Yet I soon
discovered my mistake, for I was permitted to look on
the other side, and oh, what marvels of delicacy and
grace — ^a stork standing among reeds, sprays of feathery
bamboo, and a butterfly on a spray of chcrrj'-blossom !
The weaver had only to follow obediently the pattern
placed before him, and patiently hope unto the end.
You and I are weavers, my brother. We weave in the
shadow. We see only the loose threads, the tangles
and knots, the rough and irregular outlines. But if we
are faithful, we are weaving better than we know. And
by and by God will shew us what we have done, and
fill us with wonder as we find that our poor, unequal and
often unfaithful labour has been transformed into
pictures of exquisite and immortal beauty. Weave on,
my brother, my sister, weave on, weave on !

The end will come. The shuttle flies fast (Job vii.
6). The web will soon be complete. The thread is

ciiaracti:r-weavi\g.

always passing, and the pattern we are weaving goes on
through all our conscious hours. In the context we
read, " He will cut me off with pining sickness," or in
the margin " from the thrum," as the weaver cuts off
the ends of the warp from the ties when the web is
finished. The Greeks imagined the mystic Parcai —
Clotho holding the distaff, I^achesis using the spindle,
and Atropos applying the fatal scissors to spin and cut
the thread of this mystic web.

" But listen, listen day by day to hear their tread
Who bear the finished web away and cut the thread,
And bring God's message in the sun,
Thou poor lone weaver * Work is done. ' "

Soon all will be over, and nothing remain save our
work. The web will then be inspected ; the microscope
will be applied. All other results of the loom wear out,
but character never. In that day reputation will be
nothing ; character everything. In the brightness of a
light surpassing the most resplendent noon-tide, it will
be examined, and that examination will decide eternal
destiny, whether it will be heaven or hell.

To apply

I. Choose your pattern ivisely. Shall it be the Lord
Jesus, or some one else ? Read carefully, slowly, prayer-
fully, and self-apply ingly the story of His life, and you
will long to resemble Him, and reflect His mind and
spirit in all your bearing. Else the web shall be
ill-woven, of poor texture, full of unsightlinesses. Make
Him your pattern and keep Him before you ; and no
matter how moods may vary, how you may tire of

CIIARACTEK-WI'AVINC;.

monotonous neutral tints and long for more vivid
colouring, or how you may weary of rough textures and
wish they were finer and rarer, " gaze and gaze till on
your spirit grows the gracious imprint, till the face of
love transferred upon your canvas brightly glows."
Rather than tire of the darkest colours, rejoice because
they are needful for the gayest effects, and <^he best
results are often accomplished while we weep. And in
that day of days, for which all other days are made,
when every man's work shall be tried of what sort it is,
and the web shall be exposed to the gaze of the uni-
verse, what delight shall be ministered to the love of
mystery and unity inherent in human nature, as men
behold the apparent maze, and see running through
all the seeming confusion the guiding clue, the
unifying principle, of the lofty aim to be like Hini,
who hath set us an example that we should follow His
steps.

2. This work of cJiaractcr<vcavin<^ on ris^kt priiuiplcs
should bcg^n early. Care and plan and principle, early
established, will be of infinite value in the formation of
character. For though difficult at first, the formation
of good habits afterwards will be as easy as of bad ones.
Early good weaving is almost certain to insure it all
the way through. A lesson here for parents. Your
example rather than your words, your children will
follow. Your spirit flows into them through eye and
ear and every spiritual sense. Your irritations will
irritate them, and your dissimulations will make them
deceitful. As you are, so are they likely to be. If you
are rough, malicious, or covetous, so they. As you

CIIARACIER-WE. VIN(;.

weave and what you weave, they will too. It will
largely depend upon you whether they walk in white,
here and above, or not.

3. IVoi/ian has imic/t to doivith c/taractir-zi.'i'avinq in
the home. In the old time the spinning was usually done
by the younger girls of the family, hence called spin-
sters. But weaving was the work of matrons, and it is
ixjrjietuated in the dear word " wife," which has
a common root with " weaver " and " woof."
And " wife " means " weaver." The rise of the great
factories has done away with the family loom, but the
word " wife " remains to remind us of her duty of
faithful toil for thefamily, and of weaving such a character
as will be a fine example for her children, while by her
tact and love she labours to weave tocfether into closest
unity the hearts of all her household.

4. One concluding thought. It is sometimes a
matter of pain to us that our lives are broken and
fragmentary'. We are now engaged at this, now at
that ; now here, now there. It may help to reconcile
us if we remember that the principle of fidelity to
Christ unifies the most broken and apparently disorder-
ed life. The life of faith and holy obedience is like a
piece of arras of the olden time, made up of a thousand
shreds, each of which is without significance, but all of
them put together in their true relations represent a
beautiful historical picture.

But we have been considering a single loom without
regard to the untold number of other looms, which are
ceaselessly at work. Joseph Cook quotes Goethe as
saying that the sound of the spindles in Manchester was

CIIARAC'IER-WEAVING.

the most poetic sound of the centurj'. And Carlyle
asks, " Have you ever lister.jd to the avvakeninjj of
Manchester in Old England at half past five o'clock ?
Ten thousand times ten thousand looms and spindles all
set moving like the broom of an Atlantic tide. It is, if
you think of it, sublime as Niagara, or more so." But
there are 1,500,000,000 human looms going all the time,
and God watching all of them. What if we could hear
them all at work ? Humboldt thought that the ripple
of the rising sap in trees would be music to lower
animals. What if we had a microphone to hear all the
looms, which are working in human beings ! Should
we not hear some high, calm, spheric rinthem, not with-
out discords, which delights the eais of angels and of
God? We are in the presence of a great thought.
Perhaps in the view of it we shall be fully reconciled to
the fragmentariness of our lives. God has a large
scheme which embraces all human history, and that
scheme would be incomplete without my life and yours.
Helen Hunt Jackson makes her " Blind Spinner " say

" I know not why, but I am sure that tint and place,
In some great fabric to endure past time and race,
My threads shall have."

■I

" In some great fabric to endure." I have read of an
Indian shawl made up of hundreds of pieces, some so
small as to be only an eighth of an inch square, others
of various sizes, none larger than a square half-yard.
Each bit, even the smallest, formed a part of the pattern,
and all were so beautifully joined together that it was
impossible to find the joining. High up above us all

CI 1/. RAC it: U-WEA V I N(1.

sits One at an invisible loom, weavinjj together with in-
finite skill the product of our several lives. The Mystic
Weaver knows both what each separate contribution
will be, and what share it will have in the great result.
How cheering to remember that He, in whose hands
are the loom and warp and woof of each and all, is the
infinite and gracious Father, who loves us with a bound-
less and everlasting love. A sable background there is
of nature's afflictive elements ; there are also tempters
and temptations, the horrors of primeval savagery, the
dark and revolting features of civilization, the serf and
the tyrant, the oppressor's wrong, the proud man's con-
tumely, the pitiless Pharisee devouring widows' houses,
the lust and pride and cruelty of man. But dark as the
background is, it is flowered all over with pictures of
exquisite loveliness, of grandeur and majesty, of right-
eousness and holiness : the good deed shining in a
naughty world; the actions of the just, which smell
sweet and blossom in the dust ; virtue stainless amid
sorest temptations ; the mother dying for her child ; the
son living for his parents, and for their sake renouncing
all other love ; time redeemed from sloth for the sake of
humanity and God ; love that cleaves to an unworthy
object when all goodness seems to have died out of him ;
the high heroic devotion of the patriot ; the faith that
staggers not at the promises of God through unbelief,
though nature and reason seem to throw the lie in the
face of God ; the victories of an indomitable will over
all but insurmountable obstacles. It is with deeds and
graces and virtues like these that the web of human
history is glorified.

CIIAKACIKR-WKAVINf;.

" When shall this \vonderful web be done ?
In a thousand years, perhaps, or one ;
Or to-morrow who knoweth ? Not thou nor I ;
But the wheels turn on, and the shuttles fly."

Blessed be God ! \vc arc workers tojrcther with Him.

SOWING AND REAPING.

" VVhathoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth
to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the
Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Galatians vi. 7, 8.

Poets and philosophers have traced so many cor-
respondences between the world of matter and the
world of spirit as to warrant the conclusion that the
Author of Revelation is the Author of Creation.
Hence it is that the apostle makes use of nature for the
illustration of spiritual truth. Kepler finely says:
"While the tongue of the Almighty is speaking to us
in His Word, liis finger is writing to us in His works."
The two volumes of nature and revelation are studied
with advantage together, for the laws which govern
the one arc found to rule in the other. The image of the
harvest is found in all the Holy Writings from the
promise to Noah that seedtime and harvest should
never fail, down to the apocalyptic vision of One like
unto the Son of Man, having on His head a golden
crown and in His hand a sharp sickle, thrusting His
sickle into the earth and reaping, for " the harvest of
the earth is ripe."

There is one great law which holds in nature that
as one soivs so one reaps. Does this obtain also in the

SOWING AND RKM-ING.

world of spirit? Ves; as when a man would reap
wheat he must sow wheat and not some other grain, so
if a man would reap a fine social, intellectual, moral or
spiritual harvest, he must sow the right kind of seed.
\Vc don't live in a chance-world. Both in the world of
nature and in the world of spirit this principle invari-
ably holds. It is as true of time as of eternity, and of
eternity as of time. What spring is to autumn, youth is to
advanced years, and life-time to eternity — the seedtime
for the harvest. We are all sowing, reaping first-fruits in
after years, but gathering in the harvest in eternity. Let
us see how the general principle works. The great law is
that of cause and effect. The study of mathematics will
not make a poet, nor will the earnest pursuit of the
physical sciences conduce to the development of a good
shoemaker. If a young man gives himself to the study
of arithmetic and book-keeping he is preparing for the
counting-house, not for the profession of the architect.
Our character each moment is the resultant of all the
past, just as a river at any given stage in its progress is
the pioduct of the various kinds of soil through which
it has come, and of the streams which ha 'e swollen its
volume. Thus our character, like the river, never
continues for one moment in one stay. What we think,
feel, say, or do affects it somewhat, swells its sum total,
and sends it on with mightier momentum into the
future. To recur to the figure of our text, we are ever
sowing for the future and reaping from the past.

Note this, also, that sin, which may have its pleasure
at first, is always attended subsequently with sufferin,
and pain. Suffering always sounds a note of vvarnin

SOWING AND KEATING.

" Don't sin ; if you sin you must suffer." Conscience
foreshadows the day of doom. Memory retains
indestructibly every event of the past, graven as in
eternal adamant. Cain may go out from the presence
of the Lord to the land of Nod, he may betal^:e himself
to the building of a city and of lofty structures, and may
mount to the highest storey, but he cannot escape the
haunting vision of murdered Abel. Herod may adopt
what creed he pleases ; he may believe with the Sadducees
that there is no resurrection, no spirit, no future ; but when
the fame of Jesus reaches him his scepticism vanishes, and
he cries " This is John the Baptist ; he is risen from the
dead." The conscience and memory of the sinner
constitute a great torment. It is a merciful provision
of the govcrnm.ent of God to prevent earth from be-
coming a very pandemonium.

Man is a unit, but he is made up of intellecL,
sensibilities — natural and moral — and will. From his
nmny-sided nuture flow as many streams. As there are
many different kinds of good and evil behaviour, so
there are many different kinds of pleasure and pain,
each kind of behaviour having its own appropriate
pleasure or pain. Nature is very careful to obsei*ve
strictly the law of sowing and reaping, of cause and
effect, in her distribution of rewards and punishments.
Murder is not punished with loss of health, nor avarice
and self-seeking with physical pain. Indolence and
low-tl\oughtedness may not know the pleasures they
forfeit ; but receive they must the precise penalty which
is their due. Virtue will not have for its benison an
ecstatic thrill of the nerves, nor is holiness recompensed

SOWING AND REAriNG.

vath vigorous health. Every virtue has its own sort
and measure of reward, and ever)'- \ice receives its exact
share and kind of penalty. " Every seed yields fruit
after his kind." Rewards and punishments are simply
the effects of certain lines of conduct, which are their
active causes. Virtues and vices in the same man do
not cancel one another, as equal factors in the divisor
and dividend of a problem in arithemtic. They are all
actively working out their appropriate results. The
head of a family ivv have the sincere attachment of
every member of his household, and at the same time
the cordial dislike of many in the community, for the
reason that he may have every endearing quality as a
family man, while his business habits are highly repre-
hensible. Prosperity is not the measure of a man's
worth, nor adversity a proof that he lacks in moral
qualities. Character, which is really the sum total of
the man, — and corresponds to the estimate put upon
him in the exchange of heaven, — is enriched by every
act of virtue, or tarnished and enfeebled by every
immoral act, or thought, or feeling, or word.

It is obvious, then, that within certain limitations
man becomes what he sets his heart on being. Only
sow the seed that will produce the kind of harvest you
wish to reap, and your success is sure. What is the
harvest you would reap ? Is it wealth, honour, literary
distinction, high moral character, supreme devotion to
Christ ? Sow the appropriate seed and the result may
be depended upon. It may require a vast amount of
painstaking application, but the end will in due time be
reached. Let no one, therefore, who has spent his time

III

SOWING AND REATING.

foolishly in youth, complain if he is now reaping the
result in poverty, mental degradation and the contempt
of his fellows. He has staked his all upon the pleasures
of youth without a serious thought of the solenmity of
life, and has lost — who shall say how much? What-
soever a man sows, that shall he also reap. It is true
you may find, even if you are honest and truthful and
pure, that you will not attain high positions in life, and
it may seem to you that your interpretation of the
passages, " Godliness is profitable unto all things," and
" Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteous-
ness, and all these things shall be added unto you," has
been incorrect, and that your case is an exception to
the rule of the text. It is only in seeming. The texts
are true. You reap what you sow. What you are, not
what }-ou have, is the harvest you reap. " It is not
true that the wicked as such prosper, and the righteous
as such are afflicted. It may happen so, but it is
not the rule." " Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
and His righteousness, and all things " — proper, right,
necessary, — " shall be added." " Godliness is profitable
unto " both worlds. Your life is in the hands of God,
who here and hereafter renders to all according to their
works. If there appeal's to be an arbitrariness on the
part of God's government, it is only apparent, not real.
He deals with men according to their predominant
desires, granting them what most they long for, and
withholding from them what they will not be at the
pains of seeking.

Yet many imagine that in the sowing time of youth
they can do what they please, provided they turn over

sowiing and reapinc,.

a new leaf when they are older. They call this life of
shameful riot " so\ ing wild oats," forgetting that what
they sow they must reap. And many vainly dream
that they can give their hearts to the world while they
are young, and with the same facility give them to God
when they come to be old. " Be not deceived : God is
not mocked." If I see a young man spending his seed-
time in indolence, lounging about saloons, consorting
with the low and mean, I know that he is deceiving
himself or being deceived, and that there is more hope
of a fool than of him. Lord Shaftesbury stated in a
public meeting in London that from personal observation
he had ascertained that of adult male criminals of that
city nearly all had fallen into a course of crime between
the ages of eight and sixteen years ; and that if a young
man lived an honest and pure life up to twenty years of
age, there were fojty-nine chances in his favour, and only
one against him as to an honourable life thereafter.
Certainly a parent should exercise absolute control over
the child under sixteen. Hence the real source of ninety-
eight /^v cent, of the crime in a country is the unfaith-
fulness of parents. Make your homes, ye parents, more
attractive than the street, the saloon, the circus, the
theatre, the dance-house. Or else expect to reap the
consequences of neglecting to keep the vineyard of )our
boy's heart, which God has entrusted to your care.

Understand, then, how irresistibly this law works,
giving bark to us just what we sow, only a great deal
more, thirty-fold, sixty-fold, a hundred-fold. The wind
sown, the whirlwind reaped. From small plantings,
large results A man may become rich by wrong doing.

SOWING AND REAPING.

He is respected by many. He has all that money can
purchase, and some may think it strange that God should
allow him thus to prosper. But money is what he
has toiled for, and being skilful in his methods it was
natural that he should prosper. Alas ! the price he paid
down was a seared conscience, and the harvest reaped
is a ruined soul. He reaps what he sows. Another, a
man of high integrity, will aim at success in his business,
but not at the price of dishonesty ; if he cannot have it
without resorting to unscrupulous methods he will not
have it at all ; but as he has forecast and looks above
for guidance he has success and a good conscience.
He too reaps what he has sowed. A third is a
Christian man, who h^ingers and thirsts after righteous-
ness. Though conscious of pardon and assured by the
witness of the Spirit that he is a child of God, he finds
in his heart tendencies to evil, inclinations to wrong
dispositions, inordinate affections, and sometimes im-
patience of the holy restraints of religion and disincli-
nation to religious duties, which often lead to wandering
of heart, inconsistency of life, and actual sin against
God. Convicted by the Holy Spirit of his need of full
salvation, instructed in the wav^ of holiness, he presents
himself a living sacrifice to God, engages solemnly in the
strength of grace to have done with sin forever, and
trusts in his Almighty Saviour to cleanse him from sin
and to fill him, HI e Barnabas, with faith and the Holy
Ghost. His heart is thrown open for the Divine
entrance and inworking, and according to his faith it is
done. He has peace passing understanding, joy un-
speakable and full of glory. He has now fulness of life,

SOWING AND REAPING.

of light, of faith, of love, exceedingly abundantly above
what he had asked or thought, because he has
received the fulness of the Holy Spirit. Henceforth he
dwells in love, for he dwells in God, who is love, and
God dwells in him. He too reaps what he sows. His
temporal circumstances occupy a very subordinate place
in his regards. " First things first " — God's kingdom
and righteousness are of paramount importance ; he
takes care of God's affairs and God takes care of his.

There are blessed compensations in the good man's
life, though that life has been one of apparent failure. He
has been above all dishonourable tricks and politician's
arts, above all scheming and intriguing ; he has stood by
truth and equity, and he reaps what he sows, a consci-
ence void of offence, a consciousness of rectitude, which
is infinitely better than the glitter and blaze of earthly
success. The true philosophy of life is to do your
noblest and best as unto the Lord, and then be willing
to accept of elevation from Him, should it come. But
if not, never mind. " Seekest thou great things " — of a
worldly kind — " for thyself ? Seek them not."

Let us trace the operations of this great principle in
the r.;reat future. We are probationers for eternity.
The harvest is in small part here, but O the hereafter !
The seed we sow is our thoughts, feelings, purposes,
plans, words, actions. Thus we are always sewing except
when asleep. What millions of seeds we have already
sown, all having an effect upon our character and
destiny ! In small matters as well as in great, moral
character is involved, and often as much in a transaction
of a dollar as in another of millions of dollars. The

SOWING AND Rf:AriNG.

most common action of life is invested with solemn
grandeur in view of its far-reaching issues. Our hands
are sowing seed for an eternal harvest. The careless
gardener passes the thistle growing in his fields and
allows it to blossom and spread, and finds much diffi-
culty in following years in rooting out the noxious
plant. Ages ago a squirrel buried an acorn, from which
has grown a mighty forest covering a vast area. Thus
too in the world of mind, in which there is nothing so
small that may not produce great results. All we have
said, felt, thought, or done, is going on to a harvest of
endless happiness or misery.

Thus are we brought to the two particulars in our
text.

I. He that soivcth to his flesh shall of the flesh 7-eap
corruption.

The word " flesh " means our unrenewed nature trans-
mitted from Adam. Sowing to the flesh means sowing
to no higher principles than those which are found in
our unregenerate nature. Any life, therefore, which
has no aspiration after God and holiness, which is
bounded by the present world, is sowing to the flesh.
Who are they who sow to the flesh ? The profligate,
the dissolute. They live to gratify ungoverned appetites.
Now appetite is given for excellent purposes, and these
purposes are served when they are kept in subordination
to conscience, which is to us the oracle of God, and when
He is loved supremely. But in the profligate they rule,
and this is sowing to the flesh. His insatiable thirst for
pleasure shall have its gratification. He shall reap an
unhallowed joy. There is, however, more to follow. I

SOWINT; and UEAI'IXf).

have seen those who having had a primary satisfaction
in the induljjencc of passion come to reap a second
crop — corruption. Let the victims and slaves of lust and
drunls-enncss bear testimony in their disfigured features,
shattered health, remorse and despair, to the awful
truth that they who sow to the flesh reap corruption.
Alas, how many ha\e already experienced the premoni-
tory gnawing of the worm that never dies, and the
preliminary scorching of the flame that shall never be
quenched ! They are being made to feel the wrath of
God against sin, the wrath of Him who loved the
world so much as to send His Son to die for it. And if
they are so resolutely bent upon a life of unholy passion
that they will not consent to be saved, what remains
but that they shall reap what they have sown, a soul
set on fire of raging, tyrannous, tormenting passions,
which shall burn to the lowest hell ?

There are other classes of men who sow to the flesh.
They are a good way above the sensualist, yet they
live a life of selfishness and are prompted solely by
unspiritual desires. They live by laws of reason and
health. They are moral and estimable persons, but
being without repentar'-e towards God, faith in Christ
or love to Him, they live only for this world : they are
sowing to the flesh. They who devote themselves to
a life of fashion rank a good way above gluttons and
sensualists, yet are they sowing to the flesh. They who
have set their hearts on making money sow to the flesh.
Not less is it true that they are sowing to the flesh who
aim at the growth of their intellectual powers and the
winning of intellectual triumphs. This world's wisdom,

sowixr. AND RE.VriNf..

ction
cond
t and
tures,
awfvil
ption.
moni-
d the
^er be
ith of
d the
And if
lassion
imains
a soul
Lssions,

; flesh.
:t they
iely by
on and
ns, but
Christ
iiey are
elves to
ons and
ley who
he flesh,
esh who
and the
wisdom,

unless sanctified to God and His service, is mere livinjj
for this world, mere sowing to the flesh, and so of course
the har\-est is coiruption. Ihus it comes to pass that
the unjTodly intellectualist, though immeasurably out-
ranking the voluptuary, is, like him, a sower for earth
and shall reap the same harvest in the end. These
worldings will all reap what is involved in what some-
one calls that " dark, ominous, mysterious word, coirup-
tion." The love of fame, the love of power, the love
of money, the love of learning, will not bind us to the
throne of God any more than the love of strong drink.
Vou may be cherishing a vague hope that after all
you will have a harvest in heaven. But I pray you do
not forget the law, " Whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap." Have you sown for the heavenly
harxest? When? How? If, on the other hand, you
have spent your time, strength and talents in sowing for
the worldly harx'cst, how can you expect to reap a
spiritual one? Be not deceived. Self-deception is
more common than we think. Be not deceived ; God
is not mocked. Expect as soon to reap a harvest of
wheat, after having sown thistles, as to get to heaven
after having lived a worldly life. And if not heaven,
what then ? Let our Lord put before us the end of a
worldling against whose moral character, against whose
benevolence and kindness, he does not breathe a word :
" In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and
secth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And
he cried and said. Father Abraham, have mercy on me,
and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger
in water and cool my tongue, for T am tormented in

SOWINf; AND KKArixn.

this flame." Why doubt these words or try to explain
them away? Even in this life many, like Milton's Satan,
say: " Which way I fly is hell— myself am hell." The
harvest is no more truly the natural result of the seed
sown than is the destiny of the sinner or the saint
in the future the legitimate result of the life he has
lived here. Sin is a seed, and the nature of a seed
is that it shall have endless growth. Heaven or
hell springs out of one's heart and life. Let the
husbandry of wickedness go forward ; let the sinner
reap what he has sown ; and there is a harvest of
anguish forever to be gathered. Forever he will be
possessed of fresh cravings, demanding fresh gratifica-
tions, — cravings that cannot be satisfied. It will be
torment to hear i voice crying, " Son, remember," and
be thrown back upon a guilty past, to see, with wonder-
ful sharpness of vision, every sin in all its relations ; and
this will constitute one of the terrible ingredients in the
cup of the lost. He will also carry with him his forebod-
ing disposition. And to what must he look forward ? To
what but the torment of the worm that never dies, and
of the fire that never shall be quenched ! Can you con-
ceive a more terrific image of a lost man than by suppos-
ing him everlastingly preyed upon by a master-jjassioii ?
Have I read som.ewhere a sentence like this? " Behold
him hunted as by a never-wearied fiend, that propensity
or passion, which it was the concern of a life-time to
indulge, but which it must now be the employment of
an eternity to deny."

In our text are two great principles placed before
us : flesh and Spirit, corruption and life everlasting. We

SOWING AND KEAriNd.

must choose for ourselves, each of us, what kind of
seed we shall sow. The choice of the seed determines
M'hat shall follow. My unsaved friend, cease sowintj to
the flesh to-day. Why live any life lower than the
hifjhest? Why cherish any aim inferior to the noblest?
Hard it may be to chanjje your course. But it will
never aj^ain be so easy as now. Through infinite grace
you may be saved this hour. Why then delay? Have
you not sown enough for corruption? Oh, be entreated
to trifle no longer lest you lose your soul ! Soon the
harvest will take place, and the angel will " thrust his
sickle into the earth and gather the vine of the earth and
cast it into the great wine press of the wrath of God "
(Rev. xiv. 19). Is that to be your doom? What on
that terrible day can be left to him who has sown to the
flesh, but the despairing reflection and unavailing lamen-
tation : " The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and
I am not saved " ? IMesscd be God! The end is not
yet. To-day is the day of salvation. The Lord waits to
reverse every law of sin and disorder within you. And
though even He cannot annihilate the harvest you have
already reaped. He will, if you commit yourself fully to
Him, pardon your sins, make of you a new creature,
give you grace to sow to the Spirit, and some day
gladden and bless you with a rich spiritual harvest.

2. " He who soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit
reap life everlasting." He who sows to the flesh sows
in one soil ; he who sows to the Spirit sows in another
very different. What is sowing to the Spirit? It is
that course of interior living and outgrowing conduct
which, beginning in regenercxtion by the Spirit of God

I f

i ^

SOWINd ANI> KllAl'INC.

and advancinfj to full and eternal salvation, has supreme

regard to the t,^ood pleasure of God. It docs not mean

that we shall cease to gratify sense, to make money,

to enjoy social pleasure, to cultivate mental power.

It does mean subordinating all lower desires to the

higher life of the Spirit. It means that diligence in

business is to be combined with fervour of si)irit, that

making money is to be redeemed from selfishness, that

delight in society and ambition to make the most of our

intellectual powers must be kept under control of the

supreme motive of the Christian to glorify God. Bishop

Lightfoot has well said that lying between flesh and

Spirit, '* and occup) iiig neutral ground are whole regions

which may be annexed to the one or the other as either

becomes more powerful." The true Christian may

embark upon any pursuit to which he is drawn, and be

earnest in it, may mingle with any class of society, may

intermeddle with all knowledge; but he must be very

sure that he is sowing to the Spirit, that his motives

will stand the strictest scrutiny of our future Judge.

It may seem strange to aay that the words of our text
were suggested to Paul by his exhortation to be gene-
rous in giving. It was alwaj's his way to go down to
the great principles which underlay his theme. Here
he is saying that right giving is a spiritual act,
that in giving when collections arc taken we may give
to God, that it is an expression of worship, the language
of which to God is, " I belong to Thee and all I have
is Thine." Thus giving we place upon the altar not
merely our money, but our very selves. If we give
grudgingly we sow selfishness and covetousness ; if we

i i

SONVINC; AM) KKAriNC.

jjivc cheerfully, the haiTcst will be beauty and richness
of soul. " (iocl lov'cth a cheerful jjlver."

The harvest is everlasting; life, which means not
simply endless duration of being, but everlasting enjoy-
ment of the life of God in the souls of men, the life of
love, rectitude and purity. Self has been annihilated,
and nothing remains but jxirfect holiness and perfect
love. This glorious promise of life everlasting tran-
scends the highest conceptions of the human mind : It
is eternal existence in ever-increasing happiness and
excellence, in the power of holy habit, and with every
accompaniment to render existence most blessed. Rest-
ing upon this exceeding great and precious promise, we
\vho have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us have strong consolation. " Shall reap life
everlasting."

Fellow Christians, as a matter of course we are sowing
to the Spirit; but are we sowing with sufficient diligence?
Are we mortifying the deeds of the body? crucifying
the flesh with its affections and lusts ? keeping ourselves
under strictest discipline? and looking to our all-gracious
and almighty Saviour for the destruction of the body
of sin? Are we improving the opportunities we enjoy
of doing good, of instructing the ignorant, of com-
forting the sorrowful, of relieving the distressed, of
converting the erring, and of saving the lost? If
a farmer knew that for every seed he sowed on a
given day he should receive a definite and very large
amount of money, would he not sow industriously
and most liberally from early morning till late at
night? Do we not sow too much to the flesh,

If'

I ft

SOWING AND RKAPING.

and too little to the Spirit ? O, break up the fallow
ground of a stubborn and rebellious heart ! With
gentle words and loving smiles, deeds of humbleness,
cups of cold water, testimony for Christ, reproofs and
rebukes in tender love, with looks and words of sympathy,
go forth sowing the incorruptible seed of the Word of
God. Sow it with tears and }'ou shall reap in joy ; sow
it bountifully and you shall reap bountifully. " In due
season ye shall reap if ye faint not." The day hastens
on when all who have sowed to the Spirit and they who
have reaped, the saints of the older dispensations, and
those of the New Testament, the apostles and martyrs
and confessors, and all in high places or in the most
obscure, shall b*^ gathered to celebrate the great festival
of the " Harvest Home." " Now He that ministereth
seed to the sower," in the work of agriculture, " both
minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed
sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, that
ye may be enriched in everything to all bountifuiness,
which causeth through us thanksgiving to God."

"They are sowing the seed of word and deed,
Which the cold know not nor the careless heed,
Of the gentle word or the kindly deed
That have blessed the world in its sorest need.
Snvi'f shall the harvest be.

" They are sowing the seed of noble deed,
With a sleepless watch and an earnest heed;
With a ceaseless hand o'er the earth they sow,
And the fields are whitening where'er they go.
JCic/i will the harvest be.

" Sown in darkness or sown in light
Sown in weakness or sown in might,
Sown in meekness or sown in wrath;
In the liroad world's field or the shadowy path.
Sure will the harvest be."

fallow

With
jleness,
ofs and
ipathy,
Vord of
ly; sow

In due
hastens
ley who
ns, and
martyrs
le most

festiv^al
listereth
, "both
)ur seed
ess, that
tifuiness,

BUYING UP THE OPPORTUNITY.

"Redeeming the time" {"^ E^ayopa^OfievOt TOV XaepSv'').

Eph. V. i6.

An Italian philosopher called his time his estate, but
it is an estate which is too often little prized till it has
been nearly run through by prodigal wastefulness. It
has been well said and may well be repeated : " Lost
wealth may be restored by industry ; the wreck of health
regained by temperance ; forgotten knowledge restored
by study ; alienated friendship smoothed into forgetf ul-
ness ; even forfeited reputation won by penitence and
virtue ; but who ever looked upon his vanished hours,
recalled his slighted years, stamped them with wisdom,
or effaced from heaven's record the fearful blot cf
wasted time?"

Mr. Carlyle expounds the thesis that Time and Space
are but creatures of God, with whom as it is a universal
Hire, so it is an everlasting Novj. Mortals, however,
know time only by succession. Yesterday, as some
one says, was the port which we left behind us as we
sailed on our earth-ship through an ocean of ether.
To-morrow we may never reach. It is beyond a dark
and dangerous sail of many houis' duration — beyond
the glittering midnight sky. When night comes we
shall weigh anchor and sound our dim and perilous way

BUYING UP rilE OPPORTUNITY.

across its dark- waters. But to-day, Ave have it, a
harbour where we may stay for a little, into which the
nations of by-gone times have brought their honor and
glory. It is the heir of all the ages, the bright con-
summate flower of history, the loftiest summit of time,
the focus where all life, civilization and opportunity,
all learning, culture and religion, conveige. It is all,
moreover, of which we are sure.

And now this to-day — a little section cut out of
eternity and given us to do our work in, and so far as
we know the only time in which we may work before
we go to the results of probation — how shall we deal
with it?

Charlotte Corday after she had assassinated the in-
famous Marat, and only a day or two before she died
by the guillotine, said what was worth remembering ;
" I have never esteemed life save for its utility." If life
may be likened to a stream, shall we let it flow on un-
arrested, unused, as Robertson well puts it, like " those
marble statues in some public square, which art has so
fashioned into a perennial fountain, that through the
lips or through the hands the clear water flows in a
perpetual stream on and on forever, and the marble
stands there — passive, cold, making no effort to arrest
the gliding water? " Shall it be so with us?

Let us look at our text. Critics are generally agreed
that the translation, " redeeming the time " is inaccurate.
The English term "time" is of indefinite extent, a
general term signifying the succession of mom..\ts, but
the term here employed in the original is time sharply
defined as a crisis or epoch, joint or articulation in that

BUYING UP THE OPPORTUNITY.

it, a
cli the
or and
it con-
f time,
tunity,

is all,

out of

far as

: before

ve deal

the in-

le died

iberiiig ;

If life

on un-

" those

has so

ugh the

\vs in a

marble

:o arrest

r agreed
Lccurate.
Ktent, a
.i\ts, but
sharply
I in that

indefinite succession. Both terms are found in Christ's
words to His disciples. — " It is not for you to know the
times or seasons," etc. The latter is the word here
used, which along with the article shows that the
meaning is more than to gain time ; it implies the
critical nick of time, which may be unfavorable, but
more likely is not. Here, as it depends on the context
whether it shall be a time to help or hinder, to malce
or mar, the meaning is : " Amid evil days and unhappy
surroundings, as out of a wilderness where little good is
to be found, cull your seasons of good, your opportunities
of usefulness." The word rendered * redeeming ' is a
passive participle used with a middle signification, here
in an appropriative sense, though the reflexive pronoun
is not added, as it sometimes is, for sake of emphasis
and perspicuity. Its meaning therefore is: "Buying
up for yourselves." And the figure is that of a prudent
merchant carefully looking at the market in hard times
and considering how he may turn any good opportunity
that may occur to his own advantage or that of others.
I may add that the participle is compounded with a
preposition which directs our thoughts to the undefined
time or circumstances out of which the opportunity is
to be bought up.

Thus we have complete possession of the thought of
our text. The Christian is not to allow the suitable
moment to pass by unheeded, but to make it his own.
Though it may involve self-denial, he must like a skilful
merchant buy it up out of the possession of sin, slothf ul-
ness and pleasure, and use it for Christ's sake. He sees
that every moment because of its relation to eternity is

'M
%

■ ^

li-J

BUYING UP THE OrPORTUNri'V.

of inexpressible value, hastens the more on account of
the swiftness of its flight to use it as an opportunity of
good, and makes traffic of time that he and his fellows
may be the richer in eternity. This is true redemptioj.

of time.

I have said that opportunity is the crisis ; it may be
passed by, and time still be left us. It is the /ozucr of
time, which, unplucked because unnoticed, may fade and
wither, but time still remain. There are moments,
which, comparr i with other moments, are as gold among
the baser metals. They convey untold enjoyment, or
they carry with them such a world of influence that
they cannot be forgotten. They stand alone by them-
selves in rarity, in interest, and worth. Sometimes,
however, men's eyes are holden so that they do not see
how inestimably precious they are till long afterwards,
and then they discover that at that moment they stood
at the intersection of two roads, one of which led to
honor and success and the other to shame and failure,
and they having heedlessly taken the wrong road have
suffered the bitter consequences ever since. Thus are wc
taught that success in life often depends on one decisive
act, one resolute breaking through one's hindrances.
Failing that, the progress is downward, until the man
of infirm purpose, as he glances back over the journey
of life, strewn with the wreck of all his earthly hopes,
wails out in the extremity of his anguish : Oh how
different my life might have been ! And

'• Of all sad words of tongue of pen,
The saddest are these— it might have been."

BUYING UP THE OPPORTUNIIY.

But opportunity consists not merely in some critical
moment, fraught with richest blessings if turned to right
account, but each section of human life is the oppor-
tunity which bought up, or neglected, will enrich or
impoverish all that follows afterward. If you have
failed to improve it in its time and place, it is gone
forever. It is the forelock on the brow of Time, which
cannot be laid hold of when once he has turned his
back. The habits and lessons of childhood, if unacquir-
ed in their time, are never acquired, and youth and all
that follows inevitably suffer. If the habits and studies
proper to youth arc neglected in their time, all future
life must of necessity be diminished in volume, power,
beauty, sweetness and light. If the true habits and
principles of manhood are not formed in their season,
old age is in so far left cold, hard, empty, selfish. Not
that eternal ruin is unavoidable, but who can deny that
the character of the undying future must be wonderfully
dimmed, enfeebled, and circumscribed, even in the case
of those who are saved? And oh, how powerful are
the temptations which abound on every hand to beguile
us in every period of life from sternly and rigorously
buying up every opportunity with which we are blessed !

What then is the lesson for us all in youth, vigorous
manhood, and advanced years, but that noiu is a time
of infinite value. O ye youth ! how by and by you
will prize the treasures of time, wealth of opportunity,
opulence of advantages, which you are wasting with
such prodigal extravagance. Learn from the bitter
regrets of your elders, and up and seize the passing
moments as they fly !

BUYING UP THE OPPORrUNirV.

That sad saying of Horace Mann : " Lost somewhere
betwee.i sunrise and sunset two golden hours, each set
with sixty diamond minutes ; no reward is offered, for
they are gone forever," I doubt not may be truthfully
taken up at the close of every day by many a man.
For few men have ever deserved the title won by Henry
Martyn— "The man that never wasted an hour."
Think of its significance. Two hours a day for a year
are equal to 730 hours, which at the end of ten years
will be equal to two working years of ten hours
per day. And who could not, by close watching
and contriving, manage to save two hours more
for study in the twenty-four? "Every day a little
knowledge; one fact in a day. Ten years pass by.
3650 facts are not a small thing." — Again, to illus-
trate the value of economy of time in earlier life,
suppose one were to read nothing but what would feed
the mind, strengthen the understanding, elevate the
man, purify the taste, and accomplish fifty pages a week.
That would be equivalent to 2,600 pages per year, and
in ten years to 26,000 pages. What a treasury of
knowledge in that time one would have amassed ! With
wnat confidence in one's knowledge would one stand up
among one's fellows ! How different from the guilty,
shame-faced feeling of him who, having spent his life in
reading trash, is ever afraid of having his ignorance
detected, shrinks, therefore, from the society of well-
informed men, and loses all the pleasure of association
with gifted minds.

To save these two hours for such purposes would not
be difficult. Through the day there are many spare.

BUYING UP I'lIE OPPORTUNirY.

moments. " As after you have filled a box with croquet
balls, you may pour In a great quantity of sand before
the box is completely full, and even then pour in a
considerable quantity of water before it overflows, so in
a day crowded with larger cares and duties, there are
stray moments and snatches which may be turned to
wise account." You have heard of the bootblack who
saved odd minutes for study till he was prepared for
matriculation at a college in America, and went on
till he became a distinguished professor in another
institution. His was the principle of Dionysius the
Silician who emplojed his time so well that when acked
by one who wanted to speak with him if he were at
leisure, he replied : " Heaven forbid that I should ever
have any leisure." It is thus that the greatest men
have achieved the greatest things, not so much by
occasional prodigious effoits as by steady incessant toil
in the economy of spare moments. So Mr. Darwin
composed his books as he drove about visiting his
patients. So Elihu Burritt mastered eighteen languages
and twenty-two dialects in fragments of time, when not
engaged at his forge.

The sayings are trite but how true : — " Time and tide
wait for no man ; " " Time wasted is existence, used is
life ; " " Wisdom walks before time, opportunity with
it, and repentance behind it."

All that has been said will have ten-fold emphasis
when applied to what follows. What infancy and
youth are to following years, tim- is to eternity, the
seed-time of the harvests of the everlasting future.
Probation is the opportunity which, bought up or

BUYING UP THE OPPORTUNITY.

neglected, will make or mar the eternal destiny, It
terminates with life and cannot be adequately prized.
This is the day of salvation. The clear light of truth
shines abroad. Spiritual influences accompany the
faiihful ministrations of the gospel. The most ample
opportunity is afforded for acquiring knowledge of and
faith in Christ. But there are times when the Spirit is
poured out in showers of blessing. What a golden
opportunity for the people of Capernaum that night
" when the sun did set, and they brought unto our Lord
all that were diseased and them that were possessed
with devils ! And all the city was gathered together
unto the door. And He healed many that were sick of
divers diseases and caFt out many devils." Thus it is
when the Spirit is poured out. A tide in the affairs of
men then sets in, which taken at the flood sweeps many
humble penitent believers into the Kingdom of Heaven.
We all have known such precious seasons. And in the
remembrance of them perhaps some are saying now :

" O that I had sought His favour,
When I felt His Spirit move—

Golden moments !
When I felt His Spirit move ! "

But alas ! how many opportunities have been neglect-
ed, and sins committed, and there they are in the
light of the Divine countenance. How vast their
number! How fearful their condemnation! Is there
no sci nee to roll back the wheels of time, and place us
as we were before we failed of the grace of God? Nay,

present opportunity.

with the gospel as with the offer of the sibyl. She mal,

BUYING UF THE OPPORTUNirY.

her offer and states her price. If it be refused, she
consumes in part what has been offered, but holds her
price as high as ever. The cost of religion is always
the same, but its sweetness and light and untold pre-
ciousness, when enjoyed from youth to age, are vastly
greater than when secured only in advanced years.
Still it is not imix>ssible for the aged to taste and see
that the Lord is gracious. When Napoleon reached
one of his battle-fields it was late in the afternoon and
he saw that the battle was really lost, but glancing
towards the sun he cried : " Only time enough to re-
cover the day," and giving out his orders with his
characteristic energy he turned defeat into victory.

" This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream :
There spread a cloud of dust along a plain ;
And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged
A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords
Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's banner
Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.
A craven hung along the battle's edge,
.And thought, * Had I a sword of keener steel —
That blue blade that the king's son bears— but this
Blunt thing — ! ' he snapt and flung it from his hand.
And lowering cr<;pt away and left the field.
Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead,
And weaporless, and saw the broken sword,
Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,
And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout
Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down.
And saved a great cause that heroic day."

My friend, you have time enough if you act vigorous-
ly to recover the day. But neglect to buy up the
opportunity that is left, and your defeat will be for ever

BUYING UP THE OPrORTUNirV.

and ever. We are still, thank God ! at the foot of a
tree, some of the fruit of which has withered and decay-
ed, but some remains for us to gather. Let us not He
down and starve.

It is objected that we urge men to act inconsiderately
in pleading with them to submit to Christ now. I
grant that Kacon is right, when he tells us that if we
had one hundred powerful and skilful hands like
Briareus, and one hundred vigilant eyes like Argus, it
would not be wise to set one of those hands to work
till with all those watchful eyes the entire situation had
been carefully considered. But take Whateley's figure ;
Suppose one waked to find himself surrounded by
water, shall he at once dash into the water and
swim to the main land? No; let him take time
enough to ascertain :— Is the water rising, falling, or
stationary? If stationary, though there is no danger
in delay, yet, as the intervening waters must be crossed
sooner or later, it may be as well done now as at
any time. If falling, he may after waiting a little
escape dry-shod to the shore. But if rising then the
sooner he escapes from his present position the better,
for it may soon be too late forever. To apply : You
are unconverted. Time is short and uncertain. It may
terminate to-night. "No man has learned anything
rightly," says Emerson, " until he knows that every day
is Doomsday." There is a hell beyond. If you are not
saved before death you are lost forever. You have had
many opportunities of securing salvation. You have
thrown them away. You have grieved God's Spirit.
There is danger of quenching it. He that being

iJUYiNt; UP riiK orpoRruNi'iY.

often reproved hardeneth his heart shall suddenly
be destroyed and that without remedy. When such
tremendous interests are at stake, delay is dangerous.
Hence it is wise to place yourself at once in the
hands of Christ, and secure eternal life. Having count-
ed the cost, proceed rapidly to the execution of
the counsels of wisdom. You are a Christian. The
motto of Pittacus engraved on the walls of the temple
of Delos — Fviodt xatpov — ' know thine opportunity,'
you will lay to heart. That you may not live at random,
consider the great ends of life and the means by which
you accomplish them. There are many things which
it is too soon to do, and there are many other things
which it is too late to attempt. But in every given
moment of time there is work for you to do, Our
great Exemplar has said : " I must work the works of
Him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh
when no man can work." And Paul has said " As we
have opportunity let us do good unto all men." He
docs not urge us to do what he did not do himself.
How he grasped each opportunity as it arose ! Now
preaching before Felix on righteousness, temperance
and judgment ; now proclaiming on Mars' Hill the God
whom they ignorantly worshipped ; now confronting the
sorcerer with fitting words of terrible and scorching
rebuke ; now casting the spirit of divination out of the
damsel ; then in the prison making midnight melodious
with songs of praise ; and anon teaching the jailor the
way of salvation. So by teaching the rising generation
in the Sunday School, by going out among the homes
of the poor, lifting up the disconsolate, administering

liUYING UP THE OrrORTUNITY.

comfort to the forlorn, visiting the sick, feeding the
hungry, clothing the naked, and warning our fellowmcn,
we may buy up precious opportunities of usefulness.
There is not one of us who may not by tenderness,
sympathy, love and instruction be a fountain of per-
petual strength and blessedness to those around us,
many of whom groan bitter groans, and sweat bloody
sweat of woe and anguish — na}', be the means of lead-
ing them to Christ and holiness and heaven. This is
to run back and fetch the age of gold.

But if we would do so, we can only l<cep our faculties
keyed up for faithful service by referring every matter
to God, and acting in it so as to please Him. This high
motive will serve at once to eliminate from us every-
thing trifling, sordid and selfish, and to bind us more
closely to Him with whom we have to do.

" Twill be as easy then for the soul to be true,
As the grass to bs green or the skies to be blue,
It's the natural way of living."

Paul mentions as a reason for redeeming the time
that the days arc evil. This epistle was written by
him during his imprisonment at Rome. His course
was nearly run. He was in the hands of his enemies,
who would soon have his life. Though he could
rejoice that the word of God was not bound, he
was bound who would gladly have spent himself in
labours abundant in the world without. The days
with him were evil. So with the churches to which
this epistle was sent as a circular letter. They were
planted in the midst of heathen idolatry. Intellect was

HUYINC; UP THE OPPORrUNIlY.

prostrate before idols. Necromantic arts were practised.
The devil himself was worshipped. \nd the native
hostility of the human heart to the truth and light of
the gospel broke forth in persecution. The days were
evil. With us too they arc evil. Men are generally
forgetful of God. The Sabbath is desecrated. His law
is dishonoured. His love is slighted. His salvation is
neglected. And vices of the most aggravated character
pollute socict}'. But as the darkness deepens in any
place, the more is it the duty of Christians to hold up
the true light.

Another reason is that tiuw is short. What is our life ?
A dream, a talc, a vapour. What is it in comparison
with eternity? There is some comparison between a
moment and a million of ages, between a drop and an
ocean, but there is none between the period of our pro-
bation and the cycles of eternity. Yet in this short life
what a work we have to do ! To secure personal salva-
tion, to instruct the ignorant, to turn no deaf ear to
the multitudinous cries for help which come from every
quarter. And of our brief life how many years have
been spent in infancy, in education, in sleep, in taking
food and labouring for it. Thus the days pass by, and
our barks, that glided sweetly along the shores of life,
quickly get out into the rapids, below which are the
roar and the foam of the Niagara of death. If ever
anything is done for God and humanity you must
trample upon the love of self-indulgence and ease.
That brief space of life between this moment and the
grave, labour to crowd with deeds which will cast a bles-
sed influence over the future life-time of the soul.

injYING UP THE OPPORTUNITY.

" I would the precious time redeem,
.\nd longer live for this alone,
To spend, and to be spent, for them
Who have not yet my Saviour known ;
Fully on them my mission prove,
And only breathe to breathe His love."

O my friends, if into this room were to come one of
those radiant beings who have gone from earth, sparkling
and flashing with the splendours of the skies, making the
brightness of the day dark by comparison, and we were
to ask him how he, once polluted like ourselves, became
so glorious v/ould he not reply that it was by redeeming
his time ? And if from the regions of eternal despair,
thunder-scarred with the marks of the wrath of God,
one of our race were to stand in your presence and tell
us how it came to pass that he, a creature of God,
became destroyed, would he not say that it was all
through his failure to buy up his opportunity?

The vast sweep of the current of time is bearing us
on with irresistible force, an I far more rapidly than we
dream, to the ocean of eternity. The day is coming
when with a sensation of terror and dread, which can
be felt but once, they who have failed to buy up the
opportunity of time shall awake to realize that the end
has come, that probation is closing. The awful hour,
for which no preparation has been made, has at last
come, come suddenly, come when least thought of ; and
now a still small voice, which often before spoke of
Christ, duty, judgment and eternity, but was disregard-
ed, speaks with a tone of authority, not as before
" awake to righteousness and sin not," but " awake and

BUYING UP THE OPPORTUNITY.

come to judgment ; " and the sinner starts up to feel
" the die is cast, time has fled, and my soul is lost,"

They tell us that on the top of a hill in a Western
state is a house, the raindrops, falling on one side of the
roof of which, descend into one of the lakes whose waters
pass by the way of the St. Lawrence into the Atlantic.
The raindrops on the other side fall into a stream-
let, which bears them on until, by way of the Ohio and
Mississippi, they pass into the Gulf of Mexico. A slight
motion in the air determines on which side of the house
each raindrop shall fall and consequently its entire future
course. So to-day we stand on this watershed between
two eternities, swayed by two opposing currents of in-
fluence, divine and diabolical ; but holding in our own
hands the power of moral choice, we make a decision,
whose results must be coextensive with the duration of
the soul. Take care how you use this priceless power.
Remember the foolish virgins. Take heed to the
admonition of the Scriptures : " To-day if ye will hear
His voice harden not your heart.

THE WITHERED HAND.

" There was a man whose right hand was withered." Luke vii. 6.

Very wonderful is the structure of the human hand.
The most perfect hand of the lower orders is only an
approximation toward the perfection we find here.
Quadrtimana — four-handed — is a misnomer, for the
order of mammalia, to which it is applied, is not possessed
in a single case of a genuine hand. The human hand
contains twenty-eight bones, including those of the
wrist, and makes up an instrument admirably adapted
for all the necessary work of life. It is the remark of
Diderot that if the arm of man had terminated in a
hoof instead of a hand he would still have been
wandering in the forest ; that is, I may add, if he had
not been destroyed from off the face of the earth by
those more powerful creatures, which are furnished by
nature with more formidable weapons of offence and
defence. But by the aid of this wonderful instrument
he has been enabled in the struggle for existence to
procure for himself suitable dress, build himself a home,
turn to willing servitors the forces of nature, and realize
the dignity of his humanity. By it he has subdued the
forests, made the marshes bloom, turned wildernesses
into gardens, constructed roads, spanned rivers, built

THE WITHERED HAND.

fleets, traversed the ocean, and reared palaces, temples,
pyramids, and cities. By it he has constructed the
harp, the organ, and the violin, and elicited from them
the best music of earth. The hand of man, then, is
the symbol of power and practical wisdom, the type of
true efficiency.

There are left-handed men, like men of Benjamin,
wonderfully skilful with the sling. There are ambi-
dextrous men, who can use indifferently the right or
the left hand. But the right hand is for the most part
the one best endowed.

The withered hand, especially if it be the right hand,
will, then, be the type of weakness and uselessness. It
is the case of a man with his right hand withered that
we find recorded in our text. For some time hostility
to our Lord has been increasing rapidly. He has grown
altogether too independent. He interprets Scripture
without the assistance of the Rabbis. He has no respect
for their traditions, and tramples under feet their doctrine
of the Sabbath. It is His ajjparent contempt for the
ordinance of the Sabbath, which led to an open rupture
between Him and the Pharisees. The Scripture does
not assert that the Pharisees contrived to have this man
in the synagogue that Sabbath morning. But there he
was, and they watched Him to see what He would do :
" that," says the evangelist, " they might find an accu-
sation against Him." What prejudice and malignity
are here! At a glance He sees the secret spy-system
organized against Him, and seems to take pleasure in
healing the unhappy sufferer in the most open manner
possible. He bids him rise and come forward. Then

THE WITHERED HAND.

turning round upon the spies He questions them. Is it
lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil? to save
life or to kill ? Our Lord here teaches that to neglect to
do good is to do evil, and that He counts Himself respon-
sible for the sufferings which He might heal and does not.
Profound silence is the only answer He receives. In the
net which they had hid is their own foot taken. Christ
steadfastly fastens His eyes upon them, and under His
solemn and protracted gaze of grief and indignation, in
which there was not one particle of selfishness, only
grief and indignation that their hatred of Him would
thwart His benevolence, they must have felt themselves
searched through and through. Thereupon He com-
mands the man to stretch forth his hand, that all might
see first its shrunken and shrivelled condition, and then
its restoration to soundness. And he stretched it forth,
for the arm was not impotent, and the hand was re-
stored whole as the other, and as " the tide of returning
health rushed expandingly through the shrivelled mem-
ber, the presence and operation of some supernatural
power could not be gainsaid. And so far as history
informs us there was no attempt to gainsay the intromis-
sion of such a power, all through the period of our
Saviour's career. Some said indeed that the power was
from beneath, but none denied that a might higher than
human was in operation." And they went out filled
with rage and took counsel how to destroy Him.

Miracles, as we call them, are in the Scriptures vari-
ously described as wonders, signs, powers, works. They
are called wotiders^ because of the effect which they
produce upon the mind of the beholder — sheer amaze-

rilE WITHERED HAND.

ment. But they are never called wonders alone, for
they are intended to produce more than mere astonish-
ment : they are intended to rouse man to consider the
claims upon him of the higher world. They are also
called s{qns, signs and tokens of the presence of the
Creator. They are credentials of the person \<\\o works
them, and show that he comes with authority from
heaven. They are also poxvcrs of God — /. e. they are
wrought by the power of God. They are sometimes
called zuorks, the natural working of Christ, in whom
dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. I said
they are signs and tokens of the presence of the Creator ;
they are also in many cases symbolic exhibitions of His
great remedial work. As bodily diseases are signs and
symbols of the corrupted condition of the human mind
and heart — palsy, a fitting representation of the utter
impotency for good of one enslaved to passion and led
captive by the devil at his will ; leprosy, of the total
corruption of heart which shows itself in eruptions of
scandalous vices and enormous crimes ; blindness, of our
benighted understanding, so that though seeing we see
not — so Christ's healing of these diseases teaches us the
kind of service which He has come to render to our
diseased spiritual nature : to open eyes blinded by passion
and prejudice, to cleanse hearts defiled and corrupted by
leprous sins, and to remove all disability and impotency,
which would disincline and unfit us for the service of God.
The Church of Christ is designed to be a working
Church. She has been organized and equipped for this
very end. The world is " paradise lost." It is her
mission to make it " paradise regained." It is an im-

THE WriHERED HAND.

mense work. It is the conversion of the world to Christ.
Not the work of a century even. It is the greatest
possible task, bi-t it is a possible task, and therefore a
duty. To open blind eyes to see, to lead corrupt hearts
to be enamoured of the beauties of holiness, to rescue
the outcast and abandoned and bring them to God, to
leaven the world with righteousness— here is work well
worthy of our warmest sympathies and most energetic
service long as God gives us life. The world is wide.
Human needs are great. But Jean Ingelow wisely

sings :

" I am glad to think
I am not bound to make the world go right,

But only to discover and to do,
With cheerful heart the work which God appoints."

The law of labour, which is impressed upon the small-
est atoms of dust and the largest orbs that roll in space,
is impressed no less deeply upon all orders of life from
the animalcula to the elephant, from man to archangel.
Our Lord exhorts to labour : " My Father worketh
hitherto, and I work. Work while it is called to-day.
Occupy till I come." After Paul's conversion his first
word was. What wilt thou have me to do ? And the
passion for work possessed him till he died. Devoted
servants of God have never lacked a sphere of beneficent
activity. As large a field as ever is before the servants
of God to-day. It is our duty and privilege to make
our homes happy, to break the personal habit which
may lead others astray, to remove stumbling blocks from
the paths of the little ones, to guide the feet of the
young into the paths of duty and usefulness, to relieve

THE wrniERKi) iiAxn.

the needy, to protect the virtue of the defenceless, to
seize the opportunity of helping a human being as a
privilege given us in the behalf of Christ — forms of
service these within the reach of all, and calling for the
heart of love and the hand of power. The withered
hand is unprepared for any good work, much less for
every good work.

We find, alas ! a tendency on the part of many
to throw responsibility from the individual upon the
Church. This is an age marked by powerful corpora-
tions. Small traders are remorselessly crushed. In-
dustries have become monarchic, controlled by the
industrial " king." There is a remarkable tendency
toward centralization of population, of political power,
of capital, and of production. Small states coalesce and
become the Empire of Italy, the Empire of Germany.
The interests of men are passing from the individual to
society. 1 do not quarrel with this tendency. Doubt-
less that highest of all generalizations, expressed in the
word universe, which declares that ail creation is a
whole, contains a world of instruction. But, as the
author of " The New Era " says, " unity in diversity
seems to be the fundamental law of the universe."
There must be the development of the individual as wtll
as the better organization of society. The individual
man, as well as the composite race, " was born to grow,
not to stop." There has always been a tendency to
sacrifice the individual to society, or society to the in-
dividual. Both principles — the principle of individualism
and that of organization — are necessary for the higJiest
development of man, and of the Christian Church.

THE WITIIEKED HAND.

t t

! J

I press the point that the most highly developed
Church organization is conditioned upon the most highly
developed individuality. If the Church is to be God's
instrument for saving the world, the world will not be
converted without individual effort or individual faith-
fulness. The Church is to show forth the praises of
Him who hath called her members out of darkness into
His marvellous light, but it can do so only by each
individual doing his duty as he finds it. The humblest
person in the Church has his part in the great work, and
all that is needed to hasten the grand consummation of
the world's history is that each believer do his work
day by day, hour by hour, as it arises.

But the bulk of professing Christians, so far as Chris-
tian work is concerned, are idle, or their work is done
carelessly, or only now and then. How many leave
their children to grow up without Christian instruction
and proper training ! How many have no care for the
Sunday School ! How few visit the widows and or-
phans, the sick, or the inmates of hospitals or jails!
Why stand ye all the day idle ? You cannot say. No
man hath hired us. You have been bought with blood,
and created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works. Do
not wait for anybody. Move forward at once. Our
Master has appointed to you your work, and com-
manded you to be faithful.

But you urge, " I can't do anything." Ah ! your
hand is withered. Alas for this ineffectiveness in the
Church. In the atmosphere there has recently been
discovered a new element which has been called argon,
w hich means ivefectiveness. Oxygen is lively, nitrogen

THE WITHERED HAND.

much less so, but argon which is found only in very
small proportion is wholly inert. So in the Church we
have some who are very active, some who only now
and again are ready for Christ's service, and some who
do nothing. A man took passage in a stage coach.
There were first, second, and third-class passengers.
But there was no distinction in their seats. At last
they came to a hill, the coach stopped, and the driver
called out : " First-class passengers will keep their seats ;
the second-class passengers will get out and walk ; and
the third-class passengers will get out and push." There
is no room in the Church coach for first and second-
class passengers. All must get out and push together.
Each is called to be a worker with God. The Church
is a corporative union. Let each maintain his individu-
alit}% working in his o>yn sphere in his own way, and
all obedient to the law of labour, and the Church will
accomplish its great object in the world. There is
much sound sense and true philosophy in the story of
two negroes who were loading a cart. One was disposed
to shirk his work. The other stopped and looking
sharply at him said, " Sam, do you expect to go to
heaven ? " " Yes," was the reply. " Then take hold
and lift," said the other. Many are hoping to get to
heaven, but unless they help to bear the burdens which
others are bearing alone, unless they stir up their gifts
by continual exercise, those gifts are likely to deterio-
rate, and eventually disappear. Said our Lord of the
unprofitable servant : " Take the talent from him and
cast him into outer darkness where there shall be weep-
ing and gnashing of teeth."

THE WriHERKl) HAND.

{
t

My ineffective brethren, once you loved your Saviour,
and rejoiced to serve Him. How came this change to
pass that the hand that once was ready for service is
powerless now ? Had your right hand, when you were
a child, been bound fast to a board in such a way that
it could not be used, long before you reached manhood
your hand and arm would have gradually shrivelled and
perished. The hand that is not trained and educated
to skill, grace, and power will always be awkward, con-
strained, and feeble. So in the spiritual realm. Love
to the Saviour prompts us to serve Him. When we
cease to love Him we cease also to serve Him, Feeling
was given to lead us to action. It prompts to far more
action than does "the resolution of the will." Emotion
is the steam that drives the great engine of the world's
activity. All emotion of a right sort should be turned
into action. If not, the fountains of emotion will dry
up, and the power of action pass away. Thus it is that
the talent that is not used is withdrawn from us. Well
says Dr. Cuyler : " How can a Christian be healthy,
who never toils for souls, and never faces a head-wind?
How can a man's faith be strong who never wrestles
at the mercy-seat ? How can a man grow in spiritual
knowledge, who never studies anything but his ledger
and the daily newspaper? How can a Christian's lungs
be strong when he is breathing the poisonous air of the
house of mirth? How can he rejoice to meet his
Saviour at the Communion Table, when he has been
denying or betraying that Saviour everywhere beside?
Weak hands and feeble knees are not merely the mis-
fortunes of backsliders; they are their own sin and

rilK WI'llIEREI) HAND.

shame. It is not a visitation of Providence that has laid
them on their backs, and made them well-nigh useless
in the Church, but a visitation of \\iQ great Tempter y

If we trace this ineffectiveness back to its source we
shall find it to be a remembrance of past sins, a present
besctment, an evil habit, a secret lust, a concealed fraud,
a cowardly spirit, and in the last analysis a preference
of self-gratification to self denial. The ineffective man
is always ready with his excuses when he is asked to do
something for Christ — to-day one excuse, to-morrow
another, till you are reminded of the Arabian saying :
" They said to the camel-bird (the ostrich), ' Carry ; ' it
replied, * I cannot, for I am a bird,' They said, * Then
fly ; ' it answered, * I cannot, for I am a camel.* "

What a glorious Gospel do I announce when I tell
you ue have a Saviour who is able and willing to save
us from all our disabilities, lie sees our needs, our
dangers, our hindrances to healthful activity, feels for
every sufferer and every sinner the intensest solicitude,
singles out the humble publican, the blind beggar, the
impotent man, the outcast leper, and the palsied cripple,
and gives to each the strength and healing that he
needs. He is ever present to heal, looking on every one
of us who, having been injured or palsied by sin, feel
ourselves wholly unable to do wha<: we are called on by
our Lord to do. He calls on us all to stand forth and
receive His blessing, without which we shall always be
weak and useless, with which we shall be successful
workers. O my ineffective brother, who complain that
you can do nothing, come to him and you shall receive
power, and henceforth answer to Carlyle's description

THE \vn"HKRi:i) hand.

1 1

of a king, *' a can-ning man, a man who can do it, a
king " and a priest unto God and the Father.

But not without something to be done on your part.
At Chri.^w's command the man with the withered hand
stood forth and stretched out his hand. In this obe-
dience there was a more or less conscious consecration
of himself to the will of Christ. The hand was given
up to Christ for Him to do what He would wi*'.i it.
And in the instant he Telt the power of liod throbbing
in the shrivelled hand ; the life-blood l^egan to pulsate
in the shrunken member, its form to dilate, and lo ! the
supernatural work was wrought. When Aaron and his
sons had the blood of sacrifice applied to the right
thumb, which represented the right hand, it implied a
solemn oath of consecration of this and all their other
members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
The hand and every organ and member were devoted
to al: the furictions to which the .service of Goii would
call them. " Stretch forth thy withered hand," my
brother. Say to your Lord : " Take my hand, and
let it nove at the impulse of Thy love." That hand,
with its four fingors and thumb, reached out in con-
secration will be accepted, hallowed, vitalized, and in-
vigorated for holy service. But you can never do any-
thing effectively till you have caught the spirit of your
work, till your hand move at the impulse of Christ's
love. When you love Him with all your heart and
your neighbour as yourself, you will not stop short with
good desires, but will pass on to actual service. For
the question is not what we can /^-r/ for Christ and our
fellows, but what we can do for them, not how much

riir, wrniKUKi) iiano.

v e can enjoy in the means of grace, but how much of
the mind and heart we can exhibit in our dealings with
our fellowmen. Along with your hand give to the
Lord your whole being :

" Take myself and I wilt be,
Ever, only, all for Thee."

And as you give yourself up, expect confidently that
I le will accept you, and pour into you divine energy and
saving power ; and according to your faith it shall be done.

Then set to work for Ilim in humble dependence
upon His cooperating grace, love, and power, and you
shall be able to do all things to which He calls you.
Only you must resolutely determine that you will not
go about like men with withered hands, without power
to serve God and man. We cannot be Christians and
live for ourselves. We lose power if we do not use
it. We must carry to others who need them the
blessings God gives to us. " By love serve one another."
Of serving there are multitudinous forms — sickness to
soothe, misery to relieve, sins to rebuke, ignorance to
instruct. There is work in your own heart, in your
own home, in your own neighbourhood, in your own
town. Be instant in season and out of season, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, so shall you at last
win Mis applause, "Well done."

It is a striking fact that Christ laid His hands on
many to help and to heal them. He touched the leper
and healed him. He touched the hand of Peter's
mother-in-law, and the fever left her. He laid His
hands on the eyes of the blind. He touched the eyes

THE WnilKKED HAND.

of another and gave him sight. He lifted Peter sinking
in the sea, and the little daughter of Jairus. He laid
his hands on the woman, bent beneath the burden of
her infirmity, and i;he was made straight. We have not
His healing power, but it is wonderful what blessings
the magic touch of a loving hand may communicate.
My Christian brother, your hand touched with the blood
of Christ is now a priestly hand. Use it for God. Let
it never hold bribes or touch any unclean thing. It is
to handle gifts and sacrifices. It is to grasp our fellows
and to lift them up. A reformed London criminal as-
cribed his reformation to the late Earl of Shaftesbury.
When asked what the Earl said to him, he replied, " It
was not so much anything he said ; but he took my
hand in his and said, ' Jack, we'll make a man of you
yet.' It was his touch did it." This fashion of grasping
by the hand is very ancient. Said Jehu to Jehonadab :
" Is thy heart right with my heart? If it be, give me
thine hand." How admirably the hand is fashioned
for this very thing! Shake hands with the timid to
encourage them ; with the troubled and cheer them
vvith your warm-hearted sympathy ; with the stranger
within these gates that he may be assured of welcome ;
with your friends that you may grip them more closely
to you ; and with enemies and defamers that you may
by so doing heap coals of fire upon their heads. Let the
ushers and officers of the Church and private members
shake hands one vvith another, and with everybody else.
Give a friendly grasp to everybody in the name of Christ.
The consecration of the hand implies the consecra-
tion of the tools and implements of one's vocation.

THE WrrilEREI) HAND.

What is in your hand, Moses ? A rod. See that you
wield it only in the service of the Lord, and you shall
work many miracles, cleave in twain the waters of the
Red Sea, and bring victory to Israel in the fierce con-
flict of arms with Amalek. But if you use it otherwise
than as He would have you use it, you dishonour Him,
and bring upon yourself His great displeasure. What
is in your hand, Uavid ? A sling and stone. Whirl it
round your head in the name of the Lord, and the
whizzing stone shall sink in the forehead of Israel's
giant foe. What is in your hand, Dorcas ? A needle.
Use it for God and humanity, and many shall arise and
call you blessed.

" A servant with this clause makes drudgery divine,
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws, makes that and th' action fine."

What is in your hand, writer? A pen. The pen of the
accountant, of the poet, of the patriot, how it has served
our race, and glorified our God ! " The pen became a
clarion," says Longfellow. Take care to use it onlv for
God. What is in your hand? Money. "Thoushalt
remember the Lord thy God : for it is He that giveth
thee power to get wealth." There is but one absolute
proprietor : we are only stewards. " What hast thou
that thou hast not received?" It is a trust committed
to your hand by Him who will exact a strict account.
Use what you have for the benefit of the poor, of the
struggling, of the tempted and tried. Use it for the
cause of God. Consecrate everything to Him. " Honour
the I-ord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits

THE WITHERED HAND.

of all thine increase ; so shall thy barns be filled with
plenty, and thy presses burst out with new wine."

Arise, O Church, in the name of the living God,
whose you are, and give Him all your strength and
enthusiasm, and life. Use everything for Him, the
fervour of the pulpit, the splendour of music, the sweet-
ness of the children, the charms of youth, the wisdom of
age, and God will honour you and bless you. Let the
spirit of consecration never flag, let it be kept perfect.
Then the river which flows from you will never become
a pool, never dry up, but carry life and health and
gladness to all around you. Keep close to the very
heart of Christ, and you shall be able to work. And as
long as the day lasts, whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do, do it with thy might, for soon the busiest hands
shall be folded in the repose of death.

JESUS CHRIST COME TO CHURCH,

OR THE PHARISEE AND

THE PUBLICAN.

" Two men went up to the temple to pray : the one a Pharisee and the
other a publican " — Luke xviii. lo.

This parable was spoken to " certain which trusted in
themselves that they were right ous and despised others."
Our Lord had noticed in some of His disciples indica-
tions of spiritual pride. They trusted in themselves,
and not in the grace of God for righteousness, and lifted
up in pride they looked down in contempt upon others.
How strange that those who called themselves the
children of Abraham, of whom it is recorded that he
trusted in God for righteousness, could ever come to
trust in themselves ! Yet so it was in the days of our
Lord ; and so it is to-day, wherever the worship of God
becomes a mere matter of form. Let us pray to be
saved from the desolating influence of religious formality.
It will be worth our while to notice, as we proceed in
the discussion of the parable, how faithfully and fear-
lessly our Lord spoke out the truth that was in Him,
though He knew He would arouse against Himself
hatred and opposition, and how admirably, now as always,

JESUS CHRIST COiME lO CHURCH.

having a distinct aim, He hits the very centre of the
target.

In a few graphic words our Lord paints the portraits
of two men : the one a Pharisee, the other a publican.
They were alike in several respects — their nationality
was the same ; they worshipped the One God in the
same place, and assumed the same attitude in worship.
So many are the points of similarity that it seems to be
no easy thing to distinguish the one from the other.
Yet it is evidently the intention of our Lord to present
them in striking contrast. For after all, the points of
resemblance are only superficial, which shows us we are
not to judge by appearances. Here is a man who ap-
pears decorous, devout, reverential, standing as near as
he can to where the priests alone may worship, and
though he utters words that sound very like true praise
yet has no aspiration after God, no holiness of heart.
Here is another : not with uplifted hands as the Pharisee,
not with eyes turned heavenA\arcl but fixed on the
ground, the hot tears streaming from them, beating his
breast, and with groans and sighs uttering only, " God
be merciful to me a sinner!" But it is enough. He
goes down to his house justified rather than the Pha-
risee ; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased ;
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Let us consider, then, the points of contrast between
these two men, that we may know how to draw near
to God, and how not to draw near to Him,.

The points of contrast between the two men are their
spirit, their prayers, and the treatment they meet with
at the hands of God.

THE niARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.

I . The spirit of the two men. Like the sect to which
he belonged, the Pharisee loved to be seen of men.
He gave alms, but it was to the sound of a trumpet
that he might have glory of men, He fasted and
prayed, but not for acceptance with God, and the bless-
ings of His love, but for the commendation of his
fellows, and perhaps that he might the more success-
fully carry out his schemes of villainy (Matt. vi. 1-18 ;
xxiii. 14). All he did was apparently to be seen of
men ; pride and vanity lay at the root of his religion.
He went to the temple that men would say .to
one another, " How devout he is ! " Had the Temple
not been much resorted to, he would have contented
himself with worship at the corners of the streets, where
he would be sure to be observed by many. His piety
was like the brawling mountain brook, which tears its
way through the ravine of the mountain, noisily making
itself heard and seen of men, but carrying no blessing
to the banks of rock and sand between which it passes.
See them now in the temple. The Pharisee has often
been there ; the publican very rarely. How difTerent
they are in their bearing ! The same Greek verb is used
to express the attitude of the Pharisee and of the
publican. And yet there is a difference : in the former
case the participle has a middle force and expresses
great assurance, not that he struck an attitude, but that
he " took his position ; " while the publican simply stood
" in no studied place or posture." The Pharisee assumes
his proper position with " upper life state." He draws
as closely as he can to the court of the priests. But the
publican stands afar off, as if he would hide himself

> in

JESUS CHRIST COME TO CHURCH.

from the eye and ear of man behind some pillar of the
Temple. Not with uplifted hands as the Pharisee, not
with eyes directed to heaven, but cast down to the ground
in the natural expression of shame and humiliation, while
he smites his breast in self-accusation. It is not that he
feels himself degraded as a publican in the eyes of the
Pharisee. It is that he has been met by the Spirit of
the Lord, and has been made to think of his crooked
ways, how he has often oppressed the poor by severe
exactions, and robbed the widow and the fatherless.
For some time he has had no rest day nor night under
the burden of his sin. But holy memories of his father's
home visit him, and he bethinks himself of the Temple
and the daily sacrifice. And here he stands a guilty
wretch, filled with shame and remorse, not daring to
lift his eyes to heaven.

l^efore us are these two men, photographed for the race
to look at to the end of time. Not merely do we see them
as they outwardly appeared to the eyes of men. The
Rontgen rays have pierced to their very hearts and
disclosed to us the inner man. Are we in danger of
being like the Pharisee ? Is our worship only pompous
display and ostentation ? Are we here that we may be
seen of men ? Oh may He, with whom we have to do,
tear away the veil from our hearts, and let us see our-
selves as we are seen by the pure eyes of heaven ! Then
shall we quickly hasten from the side of the Pharisee
and range ourselves by the side of the publican, albeit
we shall be covered with shame and confusion of face.

Notice, further, that self-satisfaction characterizes
the one ; self-abasement the other. The Pharisee sees

THE rHARISPIE AND THE rum.ICAN.

nothing in himself to blame. He acknowledges no sin.
He has no rezison to beat his breast or cast down his
eyes. His mouth is filled with great swelling words of
pride, coming from the abundance of a heart inflated
with pride. The Lord does not call in question the
truthfulness of his statement ; nor should we. He prays
thus with himself. He says " God ; " he means himself.
It is a case of Narcissus admiring his own perfections.
Much that passes as prayer to God is only talking to one's
self. Even if we do not render the passage, he " stood by
himself and prayed thus," but he " stood and prayed thus
with himself," we must remember that he is a Pharisee,
which means " one who separates himself " from what
is ceremonially unclean. And in his address he says,
" I am not as other men are." He divides the human
family into two classes : in the one class he stands alone ;
in the other all the rest of the race. In the Jewish
Talmud there are three benedictions whi( h the Jews
were expected to repeat every day. " Blessed be thou,
O God, ^vliQ hast not made me one of tlie ignorant.
Blessed be thou, O God, who hast not made me a
Gentile. Blessed be thou, O God, who hast not made
me a woman." Women replaced the last benediction
with " Blessed be thou, O God, who hast made me
according to Thy will." But this Pharisee separates
himself not only from the ignorant, the Gentile, and the
woman, but from all his fellows. Society is made up
of extortioners, unjust, adulterers, but he is siii ^mris,
a class by himself ; he is not even like this contemptible
publican, on whom his eyes happen to fall, whom as
one well remarks " he drags into his prayer, making him

JESUS CHRISr COME TO CHURCH.

supply the dark back-ground on which the bright
colours of his own virtues shall more gloriously appear."
As regards the duties which he owes to his fellow
men he is without a spot. To be sure it never occurs
to him that he ought to have been eyes to the blind and
feet to the lame, that he should have been a father to
the fatherless and a friend to the widow. Alas, with the
Holy Scripture in his hands and texts of Scripture sewn
on his dress, he seems to have but little idea of his duty
to his neighbour. And as to the duties he owes to
God, how faithful he has been ! He tells the Lord
that he fasts twice in the week. According to the
Mosaic law but one day in the year was appointed for
fasting, that is to say he is one hundred times more
strict in this respect than the law required. But the
fasts which afflicted his body serve merely to inflate
his soul with pride. He gives tithes, too, of all that he
acquires. The law required only the tithe of the fruit
of the field and the produce of the cattle; but he,
righteous man, tithes mint and cummin and whatever
else, even the smallest thing that comes into his posses-
sion. He owes no rnan a cent, not even love, and as to
God he is acting in such a manner as to make Him
his debtor. Poor fool, not knowing that fasting was
meant to afflict the soul, and to bring it into a condition
of contrition before God, and that tithes were required
by God in order to produce in men the sense that they
are tenants on God's estate, and pensioners on His
bounty, he makes what should have humbled him into
the dust foster arrogance and pride. Why should he
dread, he thinks, the judgment day, who had so

rilE rilARISKE AND THE rUHLTCAN.

borne himself towards God as to have when the balance-
sheet is struck a balance in his favour? Alas, how
little he knows hirriself ! To him and to the many who
are thus deceived we may apply the words of our Lord :
" Thou sayest I am rich, and increased in goods, and
have need of nothing ; and knowest not that thou art
poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked." How un-
seemly the sneer of such a man at the poor publican,
who is just in the act of passing through the strait
gate into the narrow way that leadeth unto life ! While
the angels are singing songs of gladness over his re-
pentance, who is now rich in faith and an heir of the
Kingdom, this sanctimonious hypocrite is pouring upon
him his unmeasured scorn.

It is a relief to turn to the Publican. The Pharisee
who introduces him into his prayer as a foil to set off to
greater advantage his own virtues, himself becomes the
dark back-ground, on which the profound humility of
the publican shines with brighter lustre. He stands
afar off, yet not afar from God, as Augustine says, for
the Lord is nii^h unto all that call upon Him in truth.
He feels himself unworthy to enter the house of God,
for he fears that his presence will pollute the place
of the holy. He seems to say, " I am not worthy to be
called Thy son." Blessed are the poor in spirit ! He
" would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven,"
though his thoughts and prayers are directed thither.
With the Psalmist he says, " My sins have taken
hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up." For
he has come to feel the Divine purity. With Job he
says, " I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the

JESUS CHRIST COME TO CHURCH.

ear, but now mine e>e seeth Thee, wherefore I abhor
myself and repent in dust and ashes." He had deeply-
offended God. He had injured himself and his fellows.
And in a sense of uttei sinfulness and d )lation, he
** smites upon his breast." Thus do ;s he express his
profound sorrow for sin. The heart that he smites is
full of it ; it is a den of vipers and a nest of unclean birds.
His life has been vile, but the h^^art that he smites is
the fountain from which the pollution has flowed. Were
justice dealt out to him, heavier blows by far would
fall not upon his body, but upon his guilty soul. His
iniquities, which have taken hold upon him, are more in
number than the hairs of his head. His case is des-
perate. And the blows that he inflicts upon himself
are so many prayers to God for pardon and heart-
renewal.

How wonderful the contrast between these two men !
Is there such a contrast between any two men here to-
day ? Our Lord Jesus lias come to church this morning,
and He is searching is as ikeenly as He did these two.
What does He find In us? Is our spirit that of the
Pharisee or of the publican ? Pride repels and scorns
those who occupy lower places, builds her nest in some
cold and lofty summit, and isolates herself alike from
the love of God and man ; while humility finds the one
and only gate that leads to peace of mind, the love of
God and man, and the joys and honours of heaven.
How does the Lord regard us this morning ? It is well
worth our while to enquire.

2. The devotions of the two men. In the one, there is
a pretence of gratitude ; in the other, the spirit of deep

■w

'11 IE rilARISEE AND HIE FUHIJCAN.

reverence and true prayci . Ihe Pharisee offers no prayer ;
he neither confesses sin nor asks for pardon. He prays
with himself, says our Lord. He says, " God, I thank
Thee," We ought indeed to thank God. It is of His
mercies that we are not consumed, and because His
compassions fail not. Ho might have said, " 1 thank
Thee that I am not in hell, that Thou hast kept me
from outrageous and outbreaking sin." It is, moreover,
our duty and privilege to thank God we are not as some
other men are, crippled, ignorant, idiotic, or criminals.
Right for you, sister, to thank God that you are not
among the lost women that curse our cities. But to
thank God that we are not as others, and to draw con-
temptuous comparisons between ourselves and them is
to glorify ourselves while professing to worship God.
He concludes that he is very good by judging all others
to be very bad. To thank God we are not as the un-
fortunate or the wicked in the spirit of pity is good.
The worst are members of the same great family to
which we all belong. All are corrupt before God and
equally helpless and hopeless. No one h is anything
which he has not received. Daily must the holiest say,
" Oh to grace how great a debtor ! " Only for grace
the saintliest would be among the most abandoned. All
need to be washed and made white in the blood of the
Lamb. But the Pharisee has no sense of his need of
grace. And his prayer is no prayer to God ; it is a bit
of self-communing. The Positivist worships collective
humanity, but the Pharisee worships himself. His
language is that of self-glorification, s6lf-worship. And
he has no doubt but that he will have the approval of

JESUS CHRIST COME TO CHURCH.

C . But how are we able to pronounce so positively
on this point ? Confessedly we cannot read hearts.
Professional mind-readers have not our implicit con-
fidence, when they attempt to read motives. We know,
because the Lord was in His holy temple, searching
the hearts and trying the reins of the children of men.
He is here to-day, searching and trying us, and seeing
if there be any evil way in us. Does he see in you the
self-deception and hypocrisy of the Pharisee ?

In contrast with all this is the prayer of the publican.
I have already said that he stands afar off, that he
cannot draw near to God, that he cannot thank God for
virtues, for he has none, that he cannot lift up so much
as his eyes to heaven, and that he can only smite upon
his breast. Here are awe, reverence, and penitence.
Now let us look at his prayer : " God be merciful to
me a sinner." It is a cry dc proftindis. It is the major
part of the 130th Psalm epitomized. "Out of the
depths do I cry unto Tiiee, O Lord." What a prayer,
how brief and simple ! Thus men cry in time of ex-
tremity. So Peter when sinking in the waves : " I-ord,
save, I perish." So the Syro-Phoenician : " Lord, help
me." The Pharisee thought of other men, and of this
publican, not to pray for them, but to contrast himself
with them, to his own great advantage. The publican
thinks only of himself and God — himself and his sin,
God and His mercy, The definite article before the
word " sinner " — which however does not appear in our
version — shows not only that he acknowledges himself
to be a sinner, but seems to point to what the Pharisee
had just said : " I am not as other men are, or even as

Ill v. riiARisi:i: and riii: tudlican.

this publican." It would seem as if the publican has
heard these words and accepts the Pharisee's disparaging
estimate. It is as if he says: " Ves ; he is right. He
may indeed be thankful that he is not like me. Can it
be that God will have mercy on such a sinner as I am ?"
Our Lord does not intimate that he was not a great
sinner. He probably was. The Pharisee regarded him-
self as the holiest. The publican looked at himself as
the worst of men. So when fully convinced of sin, we
feel that no others' sins can equal ours in heinousness.
An illustration in point comes from a land, to which our
attention has been recently drawn.

A Hottentot in Southern Africa lived with a pious
Dutchman, in whose house prayer was engaged in daily.
One day the master read (Luke xviii), " Two men went
up into the temple to pray." The poor black man, whose
heart was already awakened, looked earnestly at the
reader, and whispered ; " Now I'll learn how to pray."
The Dutchman read on : " God, I thank thee that I am
not as other men." " No, I am not, but I am worse,"
whispered the Hottentot. Again the Dutchman read :
" I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I
possess." " No ; I don't do that. I don't pray in that
manner. What shall I do ?" said he. The good man
read on until he came to the publican, who " would not
lift up so much as his eyes to heaven." " That's me !"
cried the hearer. The farmer went on with his read-
ing : " Stood afar off." " That's where I am," said
the Hottentot. " But smote upon his breast, saying,
God be merciful to me a sinner." " That's me ! that's
my prayer !" cried the poor creature. And, smiting on

JESUS CHRIST COME TO CHURCH.

his breast, he prayed, " God be merciful to me a sinner,"
until, nice the poor publican, he went down to his house
a saved and happy man.

Mor' aver, the prayer was probably offered at the time
of the daily sacrifice. Hence the expression — Wtadi^Ti
p^oc — be propitious to me through sacrifice. For this
word implies not reconciliation merely, but reconciliation
throusfh sacrifice — a distinct reference to the doctrine
of atonement. Like righteous Abel, the publican knew
that without shedding of blood there is no remission.
The appeal is to mercy, not to justice. There is no
hope for a sinner apart from the cross of Christ.
When you pray for mercy, let it be for the sake of
Christ : Christ in Gethsemane, sweating great drops of
blood ; Christ on the cross, bleeding, dying, our great
accepted sacrifice.

A very appropriate prayer, you will say, for the publi-
can, for a murderer or any great sinner, but scarcely for
me, who am moral and correct and reverent. Nay, my
friend, whatever your position miay be, however highly
esteemed among men, however free from gross sin you
may be, you father or mother, you man of business, you
child in a pious home, it is a prayer for you all.
Archbishop Ussher often said he hoped to die with this
prayer on his lips. His last words were, "God be
merciful to me a sinner." " There is no difference,"
says Paul, between the most moral and most immoral,
between the greatest saint and the greatest sinner ; all
alike must be saved by the same boundless grace, washed
in the same precious blood of Christ. We have only to
know ourselves to know that this is true. Oh, let us pray

THE PHARISEE AND THE rUHLICAN.

this prn.yei*, you and I, over and over ^.jraia til! we feel our
sins, pleading with sobs and cries and groans, our eyes
melting with tears, our cries rending the heavens. It
may be a comfort to know that the more your prayers
are weighed down with sorrow for sin, the more accep-
table your person and your prayers will be to God, who
desires truth in the inward parts. Oh pray, ye children,
that you may never lose a tender conscience, a power
of instant recoil from temptation, or, if you have fallen
into sin, that you may promptly return, wounded and
penitent, to the feet of God.

3. TJic treatment the tzuo men received at the hands
of God. The one \^2& justified ; the other was rejected.

It is a good thing to go to the House of God, if you
go to worship. It is like a river of water in a dry place,
or the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Many
derive no benefit from it, but it is because they are not
seeking God. One may have the rarest privileges, and
yet lose hi? soul. Archbishop Trench relates a Persian
parable. In the Bustan of the famous Persian poet
Saadi, is the following story which seems an echo of the
evangelical history. Jesus, while on earth, was once
entertained in the cell of a monk of eminent reputation
for sanctity. In the same city dwelt a youth sunk in
every sin, " whose heart was so black that Satan him-
self shrank back from it in horror." This youth presently
appeared before the cell of the monk, and, as if smitten
by the very presence of the divine prophet, began to
lament with tears the sins of his past life, and to implore
pardon and grace. The monk indignantly interrupted
him, demanding how he dared to appear in his presence

JESUS CIIRISI- COME TO CHURCH.

and in that of God's holy prophet, assured him that for
him it was vain to seek forgiveness, and in proof how
inexorably he considered his lot was fixed for hell, ex-
claimed, " My God, grant me but one thing, that I may
stand far from this man on the judgment day." On
this Jesus spoke, " It shall be even so : the prayer of
both is granted. This sinner has sought mercy and
grace, and has not sought them in vain — his sins are
forgiven — his place shall be in Paradise at the last day.
But this monk has prayed that he may never stand near
this sinner — this prayer too is granted : hell shall be his
place ; for there this sinner shall never come."

The prayer of the Pharisee, an abomination to Deity,
and an outrage upon humanity, " is blown back like
smoke into his own eyes," or, if answered, is answered
like the prayer of the monk in that he goes down to
his home as self-satisfied, cold and hard as ever. But
the prayer of the publican, attended as it is with con-
fession of sin, an appeal to God's mercy, and a trust in
the appointed sacrifice, rises like a cloud of incense toward
the sky, a sacrifice of sweet savour unto God. He goes
down to his home justified rather than the other. The
Greek woi d here used is the one that Paul takes to
express the great doctrine of justification by faith in
Christ. His relation to God, in the instant of the offer-
ing of the prayer in humiliation and faith, is changed.
I do not say that he is instantly acquainted with the
fact. He may return home still brooding over his own
sin, the storm passed indeed but the great ground-swell
still rolling heavily ; while the Pharisee, who counts
himself a just man, may leave the temple with not the

iiiE piiarisep: and the pubi.ican.

slightest suspicion that he has been pronounced in th'e
secret counsels of heaven an unrighteous man. The man
who beats his breast, and casts down his eyes, and con-
fesses himself the sinner, the chief oi sinners, is evidently-
passing through an agonizing spiritual struggle, which
will perhaps for a while darlcen the heavens with clouds
and turn sweetest music into discord. But when he
comes to know his acceptance, who shall describe his
joy? Who can describe the joy of the captive who,
from the darkness and filth of a noisome dungeon, goes
forth to liberty and home ? Sun never shone with such
a lustre, birds never sang so blithely, flowers never
bloomed so sweetly, as when he walks forth acquitted
and justified by the law of the land. How much deeper
the joy of the publican who ]<:nows he is justified !

" Tongue cannot express the sweet rapture and peace
Of a soul in its earliest love."

But whether he knows it instantly or not, the record is
made in heaven : " This my son was dead, but is alive
again ; he was lost, but is found."

And may this great change pass upon us, who are
aliens, and strangers, and enemies ? Yes ; and to-day.
In the long history of souls from the time of Abel till
to-day, such a prayer as that of the publican, offered in
a lil-ce spirit, has never been unanswered. You may have
come to this house all stained with leprous sins, and go
home saved and healed. Only honestly and heartily
confess your sin, implore grace to forsake it, believe
upon the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart and you
shall be absolved and saved. Come then at once to

JESUS CHRIST COATE TO CHURCH.

Christ. Offer this prayer. Do it with all your heart,
and

" Though your sins as mountains rise,
And sw ell and reach to heaven ;
Yet mercy is above the skies,
And you shall be forgiven. "

You may deem yourself the worst of sinners ; you may
think your case is hopeless ; but if you will breathe this
prayer to Him who loves you, and longs to save you,
you will find it is not in vain. He will save you from
the uttermost, and in good time to the uttermost.

Briefly let me little more than mention three lessons.

I. Sclf-rigJUcoiisncs& is iinrti^-htcoiisncss. What if
the Pharisee were socially free from sin and crime, and
punctilious in his religious life, as he declared in his
prayer he was, and Christ does not hint that he was not,
he has nothing whereof to glory and nothing wherein
to trust. Alas, he does boast of these things, and
trusts in them for justification before God. At the
best his virtues were negative. Abstinence from wrong
is not rectitude. And his ceremonial observances apart
from the true spirit were sins. To do right in a wrong
spirit is unrighteousness, as the Searcher of hearts
adjudges. Let us pray, "Enter not into judgment
with thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living
be justified." And leaving the Pharisee to offer up hrs
unseemly prayer, and sink into the destruction which
pride prepares for him, let us take our stand with the
publican, join with him in his earnest prayer, and with
him find our way

" To the mount above
Through the low vale of humble love."

THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.

2. To judge of ow'sclvcs by others is unsafe. Paul
tells us that they who measure themselves by themselves
and compare themselves among themselves are not
wise. Thus the Pharisee did, and how he erred ! He
saw in himself what he deemed excellencies that others
had not. His standard was low. No man is a suitable
standard for another. God's requirement is not, " Be
as good as the best man you know." But it is, " Be ye
perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect." If we want to know ourselves as we are, let
us measure ourselves by our great Exemplar, who was
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and
made higher than the heavens. The thing we most
need is pardon and purity. Not till we have measured
ourselves by Him shall we be filled with self-despair,
and be driven to betake ourselves to the mercy of God.

3. The all-seeing Rye regards closely every luor ship-
per None can escape His scrutiny. He sees not as
men see. He looks past our dress, our professions, our
prayers ; He searcheth the heart and trieth the reins
of the children of men. Later he told the Pharisees
that they were whited sepulchres, fair without but full
within of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. There is
no error in His judgment, no appeal from His decision.
It is not well to tell God you are better than other men,
mentioning any — even the most disreputable man. He
may see that the poor fellow whom you scorn has
fought more bravely for righteousness than you have
ever done, but because of an inheritance of evil passions,
and an organization so ill-balanced that he had no
strength to resist enticements to sin, has fallen a prey to

JtSUS CHRIST CO.ME TO CHURCH.

his enemies ; but in God's sight he may be a better man

than you. Let us rather take part with the publican,

like Grotius, who when dying was reminded by a

clergyman of the prayer of the publican by which he

obtained justification before God. The great theologian

made answer, " I am that publican," and died. Be of

the same mind and go home justified. For while the

Lord uttered this parable, as the evangelist tells us, to

rebuke the spirit of self -righteousness, without doubt

He had in view also the gracious purpose of encouraging

the sinner, in all lands and ages, to cast himself in

penitence on the mercy of God, who will not break the

bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax. Here in this

touching parable is a gospel for trembling, dejected,

broken-hearted ones, who are in danger of despairing of

the grace of God. " Him that cometh unto me, 1 will

in no wise — no matter how sinful and polluted, no

matter how long given over to sin — I will in no wise

cast out."

THE DANGERS OF YOUNG MEN.

" My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not." Prov. i. lo.

Youth is the time of special danger. Then it is that
passions are strongest and call most loudly for indulgence.
It is the time, too, of fewest cares and anxieties, and
hence most open to temptation. In considering the
dangers of young men we . must take into account
the causes of these dangers as well as the persons in
peril. The magnetic rocks would have been no peril to
the vessel, but for the iron in her hull, which responded
so promptly and so powerfully to their attractive
influence. We have to do with a great adversary, who
with infinite cunning and tact adapts the outward
temptation to our inward aptitudes, limited experience
and infirm principles. We have, therefore, far more to
fear from the one inward traitor than from the serried
ranks and marshalled hosts of the most powerful enemy
that can approach us from without. Gibraltar, perhaps,
could hold in check all the Powers of Europe, but it
would be powerless to resist a contemptible force, if the
ganison were tampered with and should prove disloyal.
Let me shew you a few of the dangers of young men
and the ruin they work, that you may be deterred
from following to the doom of the lost.

THE DANGERS OF YOUNG MEN.

I. Pride and Vanity. There is a distinction between
them. Vanity is an inferior vice to pride. Vanity
is a suppliant for the praise of others ; but pride
disdains the praise of others, and rests back on its
complacent consciousness of its own excellency. In
either case impious self is sitting on God's throne
and claiming the honour and glory due to Him alone ;
in either case they are to themselves the centres of
creation. Full of self-confidence like Rehoboam, the
young man often sees no need for human counsel,
divine guidance, or heavenly help, chooses companions
from among the light and frivolous, disregards
prayer, neglects the oracles of truth, and follows
whither his instincts may lead him. When young men
are just passing to self-government from subordination to
parental rule, before they have received many checks
from the rebukes of adversity or from the demonstra-
tions of their own folly, they are apt to set aside
experience and laugh to scorn the wise counsels and
kind remonstrances of those who would fain see them
well started in life. They are impatient of restraint.
They know far more than their parents, or rather,
they think they do. They have caught the vision and
the spirit of a brighter time. So it has been with most
of us seniors, I dare say. At that stage of transition
we most likely behaved very foolishly, much to the
discomfort of friends and the disgust of the wise. And
if, after a little eccentricity of folly, we passed that
experience safely and addressed ourselves to our life-work
with some sense of our own insignificance and of the
value of experience, it has been an unspeakable mercy.

THE DANGERS OF YOUNG MEN.

But alas ! it is often only an introduction to a dark and
melancholy career, utterly regardless of all authority,
human or divine — a career which gathers ever-increasing
gloom until it terminates in the blackness of darkness,
the doom of the finally impenitent. 'As a self-confident
driver approaches near a passing railway train, and his
horse is taken with a sudden fright, and he is dashed
into the very arms of death, so with reprehensible
temerity young men often approach to the verge of
temptation, lose self-control, and fall into the sin with
which they have been amusing themselves. In the
school of experience very salutary lessons are taught,
but many a man is ruined before he has learned them.
" God resisteth the proud." " Seest thou a man wise
in his own conceit ? There is more hope of a fool than
of him." As with Haman and Nebuchadnezzar, so
always : " Pride goeth before destruction, and a
haughty spirit before a fall."

2. Evil Companions. To illustrate the fact that
impressions are made upon the nervous system by most
trifling circumstances, Professor Draper tells us that if a
wafer be laid upon a cold, polished metallic surface, and
the metal then breathed upon ; and, after the moisture
of the breath has disappeared, the wafer be removed, and
the metal again breathed upon, the image of the wafer
will come plainly into view. If then the metal be careful-
ly laid aside, and kept for months, and brought out and
breathed upon once more, the shadow of the image of
the wafer will again come forth. He declares that a
shadow never falls upon a wall without leaving there
a permanent trace, which under certain processes might

THE DANGERS OF YOUNG MEN.

be made visible. Now, every man is casting a shadow

for weal or for woe upon all around him, and the ghost

of Banquo will no more quicKly " down at the bidding "

of Macbeth w hen he cries :

Hence, horrible shadow 1
Unreal mockery, hence !

than will the shadow vanish which we are ever casting
wherever we go. *' No man liveth to himself, and no
man dieth to himself." The influence men exert may
be most helpful, or most baneful, but they cannot divest
themselves of that influence, any more than they can
stand in the light and not throw a shadow. Sooner or
later the influence they exert is felt by their companions.
\''ou cannot breathe an atmosphere, either pure or
impure, without being affected by it. The influence of
some men is a perpetual inspiration to what is noble
and good. In their presence the evil in a man seems
cowed and abashed, and he is stimulated to be his best.
Tyndall said of Faraday, " His work excites admiration,
but contact with him warms and elevates the heart."
Other men there are who are low-minded, indulge in
sneers against whatever is elevating, and when they
hear of noble deeds attribute them to the meanest
motives. Contact with such people lowers and de-
grades a man ; and it may be that one interview with a
bad man may ruin a youth. Says Dr. J. R. Miller :
" Guides sometimes warn tourists among the Swiss
mountain not to speak as they pass certain points.
Even the reverberation of a whisper in the air may
start a poised avalanche from its place in the crags.
There are times in many human lives when they are

THE DANGERS OK YOUNG MEN.

8«;

SO delicately poised that it depends on h \v the first
person they meet greets them whether they sink into
the darkness of despair, or lift up their heads to find
hope. We never know when a passing mood of ours
rhay decide a soul's destiny."

Man's Influence lives on when he dies. How vain
was the request of a dying man, " Gather up my
influence and bury it with me ! " It will work on
building up or tearing down character long after its
author has passed away. It is a force that only (iod
could annihilate, and He will not consent to do it. It
will go careering on till the end of time, and probably
forever and forever.

Childhood and youth should be, therefore, protected
from evil companions, and surrounded by those who
will bring to them high thoughts, noble ideals, and
worthy deeds. For one man drawn aside by innate love
of vice, thousands are led astray by the seductions of
others. The pleasure of entertaining conversation, the
fear of being laughed at, the dangerous arguments by
which the wicked try to shake the religious principle
of whose whom they wish to ruin, and bad example —
these are the snares which are often fatal to inexperi-
enced youth. Before sentence of death was passed on
a criminal, permission was given him to speak. " May
it please the court," said he, " bad company was my
ruin. When I left home, I received the blessing of my
parents, and promised them to avoid all evil associations.
Had I kept my promise, I should have been spared this
shame, and the guilt of crimes unrevealed. I, who
once moved in the first circles of society, and have been

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THE DANGERS OF YOUNG MEN.

the guest of distinguished public men, am lost, and all
through bad company."

Against such company you have been warned.
Because of their disregard of such warnings, thousands
have perished. It is, of course, one thing to be with
bad men by chance, or for business purposes, and quite
another to choose them as friends. It is a bad sign
when the young man prefers for his friends the immoral
and the profane, the Sabbath-breaker, the impure, and
the scoffer, to the virtuous and the Christian. It is a
proof that he is partaking of their spirit. His spirit
determines his choice of company, and the company he
chooses will confirm and establish his character in evil.
And oh, the mischief that must ensue from an unhappy
selection of friends I It is sometimes, however, a mis-
take rather than a proof of deliberate wickedness.
The youth feels the force of ripening passions. Me is
full of trust in the honour of others. He has not,
perhaps, the kindlj' influence of judicious friends, who
would draw him to virtue by the cords of love. He is
to be pitied because for the sake of gratifying his lusts
he betakes himself to unworthy companionship. He is
to be blamed because, knowing full well that he cannot
touch pitch without defilement, he yet believes that he
is a match for Satan's cunning emissaries. He has
been led to the doors of the drinking saloon, of the
strange woman, of the gambling hell, and has been
shown the multitudes, now wretched, despairing, lost,
who went in, all unsuspicious of evil, and have been
swallowed up and destroyed, and yet he has ventured
in. How long does it take to switch off to a wrong

THE DANGERS OF YOUNG MEN.

track the locomotive, which, once started on the down
grade will" run more and more swiftly to destruction !

" What is the harm," says one, " of an innocent
game of cards ? " " What is the harm of an occasional
glass ? " " Why should we not see a little of life while
we are young ? " Multitudes have thus asked, and
they have taken the first glass and many more besides,
and the habit is fixed, a dreadful tyrant, lording il over
them with despotic sway. They have played the first
game of cards, and have ventured into places of
which they have heard that they who go in go in to
be stripped and ruined, and it fares with them as with
those who ventured before. Oh, the thousands that
have been warned by their parents, by their con-
sciences, by lurid anticipations of retribution, and yet
go on and on, and are destroyed ! How many has the
devil got upon his inclined plane, down which with
cunning art he contrives to draw them — bad com-
panions, disobedience to parents, late houi-s, drinking,
gambling, bad women, lost character, lost reputation,
shamelessness, crime ; and before half their days are
ended the terrible tragedy is enacted and the curtain
falls ! And of those who are not utterly ruined, how
many are terribly injured : scarred, scathed, blighted,
broken down by disease, — saved, perhaps, from hell, but
saved only as by fire.

A muddy stream and a clear sparkling one, flowing
together in the same channel, keep separate for a little,
each on its own side, but a little farther down they
mingle and are alike impure. So it is with an innocent
youth associating with the vile — for awhile he is chaste

THE DANGERS OF YOUNG MEN.

and pure ; presently he becomes defiled. In the selection
of a place for a home, remember the history of Lot, and
have an eye to morality and relijjion first of all, maKinjj
pecuniary consideration of secondary importance ; for
money will afford no compensation for the evil of being
brought constantly under a polluting influence. Be
careful as to your boarding place. There are Christian
women who keep boarding-houses, and who will with
motherly solicitude be concerned for you as for their own
sons. There are others who are anxious only to make
money. Having secured a good home, live in it as if the
million-eyed world were ever regarding you. Then as
to your friends, I implore you, choose them with the
greatest care. As one has well said, " God keeps the
lightnings of heaven in his own scabbard, which He only
can wield. But He gives to every innocent and ingenu-
ous youth the lightning of an honest eye." If one tempt
you to evil, give him a look which will make the wretch
crouch and grovel at your feet. Surround yourself with
Christian influences. Find your way into the Church.
Above all, accept the proffered friendship of Christ.
He is the friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
You will find Him " a friend in need, a friend indeed."
Companionship with Him will refine and elevate your
character above the power of words to tell, and impart
to you a sweetness in the esteem of higher worlds.

" A Persian fable says • One day
A wanderer found a lump of clay,
So redolent of sweet perfume.
Its odours scented all the room.
* What are thou ? ' was his quick demand,
' Art thou some gum from Samarcand ?

THE DANCERS OF YOUNG MEN.

Or spikenard in a rude disguise ?
Or other costly merchandise ? '

* Nay, I am but a lump of day.'

* Then whence this wondrous sweetness, say ? '
' Friend, if the secret I disclose,

I have been dwelling with the rose.'

Meet parable ! fur will not those

Who love to dwell with Sharon's rose

Distil sweet scent on all around,

Though poor and mean themselves be found ?

Good Lord ! abide with us that we

May catch these these odours fresh from Thee."

3. Had Hooks. This is one of the very wide gates
that lead to hell. A prosperous family in New York
fell into ruin through the misdeeds of one of its members.
The amazed mother said to the officer of the law :
" Why, I never supposed there was anything wrong.
1 never dreamed there could be anything ; " but after
she had gone, he said, " I found a bad book. That's
what slew her ! "

There are books more or less avowedly infidel, from
the sophistries of Huine down to the ribaldry of Paine ;
from the scepticism of certain scientists down to the
low, ignorant abuse of religion to be found in the tracts
which flood the West with their pestilential showers.
They aim to produce doubt and disbelief. No man
enters eternity an infidel. Beware of them.

There are some books of mere fiction and fancy,
which are of great moral value ; but there are many
others the effects of which are to produce false views
of human nature, disappointment in actual life, and
a disrelish for simple truth ; to make reading of the
Bible and other books requiring thought irksome ; to

"J^]

THE DANGERS OF YG jNG MEN.

belittle the intellect ; to degrade the soul ; to impair the
influence of the pulpit ; and to grieve and quench the
Spirit of God. 13cware of them.

There are foul and exciting romances. Their tone is
low, their taste coarse, their colouring voluptuous,
their morality unsound. Licentious scenes and obscene
imagery are unblushingly introduced, and suggestions
made which are revolting to the refined and pure. But
often this kind of sensational literature, embellished
with engravings worthy of the greatest masters, and
purified of excessive grossness, is still insidious and
fascinating, and none the less demoralizing. And on
this pestilential and deadly literature thousands feed
with voracious appetite. " Every person," says Lord
Macaulay, " knows that whatever is constantly present-
ed to the imagination in connection with what is
attractive, will itself become attractive." What then
must be the influence of such works of fiction ? Of all
such works beware.

Tliere is a depth lower still, to which \'ou would
scarcely believe that any vtan could descend. But
this is, par excellence, Satanic literature, and the object
of such writing and illustration is three-fold : to resolve
the sacred relation of husband and wife into a ques-
tion of convenience and merchandise ; to stimulate a
diseased and morbid curiosity by depicting any incident
of daily life which can be made the vehicle of prurient
thought or immoral suggestion ; and to represent every
act of crime, even the darkest and vilest deeds, as
dramatic, chivalrous, and heroic, and as lifting the man
who perpetrated them above the ordinary level of his

THE DANGERS OF YOUNC. MEN.

fellow men. There is a " gallows literature " which
depicts in glowing language the lives of murderers,
banditti, and other malefactors of every type and shade.
Do not touch the polluting stuff. Why should you
forsake the living waters for such corrupting streams ?
Why wallow in mire in the hope that you may after-
ward be cleansed ? Tell me, what sin is equal to that
of sinning because of the abundance of grace ? Cultivate
a love for good books. Read only what will at once
instruct, elevate and inspire. A certain great man
attributes his success to three things : love of good
books, early marriage with a virtuous woman, and early
conversion to God. Beware of all bad books, for by
reading them you will gain nothing helpful to your
intellect or purifying to your heart. Beware of them,
because your example is influential, and l^ecause such
books are terribly destructive for time and eternity.

4. Si'fisitti/ Indulgence, The Lord Jesus is not a
hard master. He asks us to give up only those
pleasures which injure us, which war against the soul.
They are the pleasures of sin, incomparably lower than
those of virtue and religion. Fenelon in his Adventures
of Telemach, the son of Ulysses, makes the m.entor
say : " Shipwreck- and death are less dangerous then the
vices which assail xirtue."

When lofty aims are lowered, the enjoyments of the
soul become sensual. Under one pretence or another,
men betake themselves to intoxicating liquors. They
are in trouble ; drink will make them forget their
trouble. They are lonely ; drink will make them forget
their loneliness. And fascinated and blinded, they

niE i»a>'*;eks of youno men.

cannot bclie\'c that llujr shall ever become drunkarcls.
The sentiments of the Kcxy men they see pcrishhig
they ivili repeat as to the innocence of an occasional
glass, and follow right on in their steps to destruction.

Or, perhaps they fall into a class of society where
they find it a strong temptation to be ashamed of too
rigtd temperance principles, and they give way little by
little till all power of resistance is gone. And then
comes dependence upon stimulants for ability to do
extra work, and after a while even to do ordinary work.
When men reach this stage, the>^ are never likely to be
reclaimed. A few will be saved, but more will go on to
the bitter end. And when once the habit becomes
fixed, and the poor slave has caught a glimpse of his
prospective ruin, remorse, that cruel bird of prey, with
her fearful talons and blc dy beak sei;%s uix)n his soul.
And now what shall he do to obtain relief ? Shall he
reform? Alas! he has no strength to keep his vow.
There is a Saviour ni^htj* to save ; but he will not go
to Ilim. There Is, as one has said, another relief to be
found ; it is in the insensibility of deejoer potations.
And when from these he recovers, remorse takes hold
of him again with a firmer and deadlier grip than ever,
from which he obtains onlj'^ a temix)rary respite in
renewed indu%enoe. And thus ts he (x^rpetually driven
from remorse to drunkenness, and from drunkenness to
remorse ; but as, with each debauch his manhood is
more thoroughly degraded, his ruin more complete, and
his prospects more hopeless, his remorse becomes ever
darker and more despairing and his drunkenness more
dishonouring and disgusting. And the last stage of

THE DANGERS OF YOUNG MEN.

that man is a living death, for with a felt conviction of
the truthfulness of the awful utterance of Scripture,
" no drunkard shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven,"
he goes on in life looking forward to a fearful judgment,
till the grave receives his loathsome body, and hell his
ruined soul.

" Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching,"
hundreds of thousands strong each year to drunkards'
graves. And as they fall, their ranks are recruited from
the lads and r.ien who have been drilling for it. Young
man, turn ."xway from the intoxicating cup. The habit
grows. Where one glass satisfied you, now perhaps
you require two or three. Is it well to run further
risk ? I do not say that every man who drinks will be
a drunkard. He stands a fair chance of not becoming
one if he is selfish, ungenial, cold, and, miserly. But I
do say the danger is great for every man who tipples.
And as for those who have hereditary predisposition
to drink, the risk is so imminent and tremendous that
the taste of intoxicating liquors should never be known.

There is another form of self-indulgence, fraught
with infinite peril to the young man. The pride which
will not brook control, and the self-conceit which
vainly dreams of security, send many a young man into
the house of death. " The lips of a strange woman
drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than
oil, but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a
two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her
steps take hold on hell." Her house is the spider's
web ; she, the active little spider, and he, the self-
confident fly, who has incontinently dropped in. See

THE DANGERS OF YOUNG MEN.

him presently struggling to get away ; but actively and
quickly she throws over him fresh filaments until lie is
hopelessly entangled, and finds it is for liim the house
of death. Thus many perish. Have you not seen them ?
Come, young man, beautiful in your chastity and luddy
health, and look on yon cadaverous spectres with lack-
lustre eyes and rottenness in their bones. Once they
were bright and rosy as you, but alas ! they gave their
honour unto others and their years unto the cruel. This
is the reason why so many young men leave home
strong and vigorous, and come back in a few short
years to die, debauched and ruined by intemperance and
profligacy. Thus many thousands perish every year.
And the slums of the cities, whose reeking and swelter-
ing populations die off, a generation of them every few
years, are recruited from where ? From the rural dis-
tricts. These young men and women, now degraded,
came from homes, many of them, happy as yours. Is
it not time to check the flood of human iniquity
which is destroying many among you, and threatens to
destroy many more ? For it is not merely ene.gy and
life that are wasted ; souls are lost. If all the literature
and all the treasures of art in the world were destroyed,
this would be a dreadful calamity. But the books might
be re-written, and the treasures of art replaced by man.
But not all the churches or other organizations can save
a lost soul. Nay, it is impossible even to the Almighty.
The lost Pleiad, God may restore ; the ships that have
foundered at sea, God can find : the lost arts, God has
not lost ; but the lost soul (with reverence be it said),
God cannot save. Once lost, it is lost forever.

THE DANGERS OF YOUNG MEN.

Be not wise in your own conceit. Take advice from
one who has seen much of the ruin wrought by this
vice, and beware of the very beginning. This is the sin
that takes away the heart, that leaves deep scars in the
soul, that slays its multitudes, that has overthrown many
a saint, that the God of holiness greatly abhors. Don't
let this thin edge of the wedge find entrance, because it
is the beginning of the end. Keep yourself in absolute
chastity for the pure maiden whom God will give you in
holy wedlock. As Miss Willard says," " A white life for
two." Flee the occasions of this sin. Never talk of
it ; never allow your mind to think upon it. Show
that you have that which separates men from worms —
backbone. Be resolute here. When tempted to the
first sin, let your answer be a thundering, decisive
"No."

But if you find yourself borne away by the power of
temptation, what then ? Is there no hope ? See yon
teeble young man in his chariot, with a strong man as
charioteer, and powerful horses driving swiftly down a
pleasing slope towards a fearful precipice. At last he
wakes up to his danger, commands the driver to turn
about, and attempts to seize the reins, but all to no
purpose. The charioteer lashes the steeds to fury, and
down they rush with the speed of a hurricane to awful
ruin. This is a picture of yourself, my friend. The
horses are your passions ; the charioteer is Satan ; the
young man, feeble and protesting, is your soul. What
should you do? Cry aloud to Christ, and swift as
lightning on wings of love He will fly to your relief.
He will smite down the charioteer ; He will seize the

THE DANGERS OF YOUNO MEN.

reins ; by His grace He will control the flying coursers,
and guide them into the path of the Divine con^mand-
nients and up to the gates of heaven.

Satan wants to destroy you ; Christ longs to siive you.
Which shall have his way ? Dante in his vision of hell
sees one whom he does not name, but who, he says,
made " the great refusal." Oh, be persuaded not to
reject Christ's overtures of love !

THE DETECTION OF SIN.

" Be sure your bin will find you out." Numbers xxxii. 23.

These words were spoken by Moses to the two tribes
of Reuben and Gad to deter them from violating an
engagcnjent into which they had voluntarily entered.
They embody an important principle of the government
of God, There aie state reasons for the exposu. .* of
sin — reasons which have to do with God, and reasons
which have to d'^ with man. For the vindication of
the divine government and glory, for the sake of human
safety and the conservation of human government, it is
needful that sin should not lie long concealed.

By the exposure of sin and its punishment Godstiives
to educe from evil as much good as possible for the rest
of the race. It is not for his sake alone that the thief
and the murderer are detected and punished. Out of
the wreck of eveiy wicked man, upon the very reefs
where he was ruined, God builds a lighthouse to warn
others from following to the same destruction. It may
be relied on as the ordination of heaven that the
ofTcndcr's sin will surely find him out. But as all sins
arc not fully brought to light in this life, God has post-
poned the judgment of each individual to the day of
doom, when all mankind shall stand before the in-
exorable throne.

THE DETECTION OF SIN.

The detection of sin is our theme.

i. T/ie contrivances of Providence for bringing to
light the hidden things of darkness are manifold.

Many of the inventions of this century have increased
the machinery for bringing criminals to justice. Tiiey
are a part of the plan of Providence for this end. The
electric telegraph has done admirable service in this
regard, and the submarine cables have enabled justice
to lay her strong hand upon the runaway rascal, bank-
defaulter, railway-embezzler, or other criminal, who had
hoped to escape on the swift ocean steamer before tidings
of his crime could overtake him. The megascope^ an
instrument which produces enlarged copies of hand-
writing more reliably than the most skilful expert, will
reveal to the jury evidence that cannot be gainsayed
of counterfeit bank notes, or of forgery, or of any altera-
tion in a document. Edison is able to throw an electric
current fully 50ft. through the air from one conductor
to another, and thus transmit messages from and to a
raih^ay train when moving, say, at the rate of forty
miles an hour. " Should a criminal be supposed to have
started by such and such a train, not only is it possible
to transmit a full description of his i^erson to the con-
ductor of the moving train, but also, if he is caught,
notice can be transmitted to the next station to have
the necessary officers ready to seize him, when the train
enters the station." The photographic instrument is
of use in the detection of crime in various ways — of
which this is one : the picture of the rogue greatly
assists the detective in his arrest. Notice what a detec-
tive the microscope is. A man is murdered. An axe

THE DETECTION OF SIN.

is found stained with 'blood. It is contended by the
defence that the blood is that of a sheep, but the
microscope shows that the corpuscles in that blood
are those of a human being. Years ago a railway
company in Germany found that a barrel of silver coin
had somewhere between two distant stations ^been emp-
tied of silver and filled with^sand. For some time
no clue to the robber could be discovered. At la^t a
learned professor was called in, who sent for samples of
sand from each of the intermediate stations ; and then
placing them under a microscope, was able by comparing
them with the sand found in the barrel to identify the
station at which the barrel had been filled. Little
difficulty remained, for the servants at that station were
so few that the culprit was readily detected. These ad-
mirable inventions of genius may not perhaps elevate
the moral tone of society. They may not produce a
love of morality, but they will unquestionably assist in
the detection of crime, and restrain many from immora-
lity. But we are not 3hut up to these methods of detec-
tion. It seems as if a fatality follows in the footsteps
of the thief, the murderer, and such like criminals. So
that though a man be able by a vast pair of wiiiskers
and an ample moustache to hide such signs of guilt as
the countenance may express, though he mask himself
behind a decent and plausible exterior, though he be
ever so careful to guard against detection, it is very
seldom that he succeeds long in concealing his crime
from the keen eyes of the curious and suspicious.
Sometimes he is discovered in the act, or blood is found
upon him, or certain properties of the deceased are seen

lOO

THE DETEC riON OF SIN.

in his possession, or his shoe answers to the print in
the soil, or false keys are found in his possession, or his
victim is not quite dead, or an accomplice turns in-
former, or his own subsequent conduct, when deserted
by his usual prudence, turns Queen's evidence agrinst
him. Very cunningly planned was the scheme to sell
Joseph into Egypt. Well kept was the secret for many
a year. But at last it suddenly came out and Jacob
knew what his sons had done. " Murder will out,"
and so will other crimes. Saul was sent to destroy
the Ama'/ekites and all their sheep and oxen ; but he
spared the best of the sheep and the oxen. And when
God sent Samuel to him, he told Samuel a lie (i Sam.
XV. 1 3), when lo ! the sheep began to bleat and the oxen
to bellow. Iniquity cannot be concealed. Sometimes
as in the case of Jonah and Achan the community is
visited for the sin of one, and when inquiry is made of
the Lord as to the cause of His displeasure, it is made
known, and Achan is stoned to death and Jonah
pitched over the ship's side into the raging deep.
Sometimes strange suspicions get into people's minds ;
they become inquisitive ; and institute post-mortem
examinations which tc il the tale of guilt ; they
join together circumstances, each of which though
apparently insignificant in itself is a link in a chain of
circumstantial evidence, which binds fast the criminal
to his crime. The merchant watches his till more
carefully, and studies his books more closely; the
deficit is observed and the culprit brought to justice.
Sometimes his sin will haunt a man day and night
like a ghost till, well nigh driven to despair, he is

VSB

THE DETECTION OF SIN.

lOI

compelled to make some kind of confession. It is related
of an old pirate who had spent his manhood upon the
ocean and had retired before the gallows had its due, that
to relieve his troubled conscience without criminating
himself he used to tell the horrid events of his own life,
when his brows would knit, his eyes flash and his old
spirit seem to return, his listeners in the meanwhile cower-
ing with dread, breathless with terror, their lips white
and trembling. But never quite forgetting himself as he
lived over again the bloody scenes of earlier days, and
not altogether carried away by his impetuous feelings,
he always attributed them to some daring freebooter
who even then was scouring the seas in a low rakish
craft under the terrible flag of the death's-head and
cross-bones.

But sometimes conscience drives to a further confes-
sion. Two Germans were seen to go together into a
wood. A good while afterward the body of one was
found under a certain tree. The other had in the mean-
while escaped beyond the seas. But his conscience
pursued him over the world, and one morning his body
was found hanging from a limb of the tree at the foot
of which, a long while before, they had found his victim.
In a great trial for a dark and mysterious murder, in
vindication of Providence and of the authority of con-
science, Daniel Webster thus spoke : " The guilty soul
cannot keep its own secret. It is false to itself . It labours
under its guilty possession and knows not what to do
with it. The human heart was not made for the res-
idence of such an inhabitant. It finds itself preyed
upon by a torment which it dares not acknowledge to

I02

THE DETECTION OF SIN.

God or man. A vulture is devouring it, and it can ask
no assistance either from heaven or earth. The secret
which the murderer possesses soon comes to possess him,
and like the evil spirit of which we read, it overcomes
him and leads him whithersoever it will. He feels it
beating in his breast, rising to his throat, and demand-
ing disclosure. He thinks the whole world sees it in his
face and almost hears it working in the silence of his
thought. It betrays his discretion ; it breaks down his
courage ; it conquers his prudence. When suspicion
from without begins to embarrass him, and the web of
circumstances to entangle him, the fatal secret strufrijles
with still greater violence to burst forth. It must be
confessed ; there is no refuge from confession ; but suicide
is confession."

Thus are we led to consider that

ii. God will oblige its to confess our sins ivillingly or
unuillinq'ly. If our tongues refuse to tell, our coun-
tenances shall proclaim our sins. God brands them
upon our faces. -

Just as under long continued trials, if the spirit is kept
patient, the countenance will wear the impress of this
grace ; so on the other hand, if the spirit is under those
trials agitated by the passion of anger, there will be a
legible inscription in the lineaments of the countenance
that will bespeak the man of ire. God will have it that
the varied passions and lusts shall write imperishable
records upon the face. The drunkard may hope to
destroy the effects of last night's potations by the use
of soda and plantagenet waters and the liberal use of
cloves ; but the bleared eye, the unsteady step and the

THE DETECTION OF SIN.

103

rubicund nose, all tell of drunken carousals. Every form
of uncleanness, unchastity, and intemperance writes its
history upon the face as much as to say, * Behold my
vile nature.' He who runs may read our characters in
our countenances. We are living epistles known and
read of all men. Just as the striai, or worn surfaces on
the bare rocks of our country, tell of the forceful passage
across our continent of mountain icebergs in some
distant period of the physical history of the globe ; so,
to say liOthing of the loss of beauty of person, grace of
carriage and elasticity of step, there are lines in many
a face which tell of the passage across the heart of some
master passion, soirie monster lust. And well it is that
it is so, for who would wish to live in a world where
there are so many assassins, thieves, and hypocrites,
without some established means of ascertaining charac-
ter?

iii. The system of nature, though it seems to be
iinpereipienty is so constituted as to receive impressions
from every movement %ve make^ every zvord ivc utter^
every action %ve perform.

At first sight it would seem as if nature preserved an
awful apathy with regard to human history, and were
shockingly indifferent to the crimes which take place
under her very eyes. She smiles alike on the evil and
on the good. Her lightning flash kills indiscriminately
the saint and the sinner. She lends her forces to the
furtherance of missionary enterprise and to the promo-
tion of the slave trade. Do you complain of this?
She heeds not your complaints. Stolidly she proceeds
on her way. The assassin's knife gleams for an instant in

104

THE DETECTION OF SIN.

the sunbeams, and then red w'th blood is drawn from
his victim's breast ; but no arm of power smites him
down. The sun smiles as serenely ; the birds warble as
sweetly ; the flowers hide not their faces .'rom the sight.
The earth drinks in the blood. Not even over rrd
battle-fields does nature weep. It required the mysteri-
ous and awful sufferings of the Son of God upon the
cross, to elicit from her any expression of sympathy.
Yet the Scriptures seem to regard her as a witness of
man in his relation to God (Is. i. 2 ; Micah vi. i ; Ps.
1). Isaiah at the beginning of his prophecy by a bold
apostrophe summons the heavens and the earth to
consider and mark the ingratitude of Israel, and God's
long continued patience and mercy. Science shows that
a profound truth underlies this highly poetic form of
address. It was nothing, therefore, but the truth that
Joshua uttered when he took a great stone and set it
up under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord,
and said to the people : " Behold, this stone shall be a
witness unto us. For it hath heard all the words of the
Lord which He spake unto us. It shall therefore be a
witness unto you lest ye deny your God." Indeed
there is not a movement of body or mind which does
not affect the universe. The theory that our words, our
actions, our very thoughts, make an indelible impres-
sion on the universe, was first of all enunciated by
Prof. Babbage in the ninth Bridgewater Treatise ;
then Prof. Proctor in "The Stars and the Earth,"
Prof. Hitchcock in "The Telegraphic System of the
Universe," and President Hill in " Geometry and
Faith," besides I know not how many others, brought

THE DETECTION OF SIN.

105

corroborative and collateral evidence to prove a
sublime theory which seems scientifically demonstrable.
In the words of Prof. Babbage : " The air is one vast
library on whose pages are forever written all that man
has ever said or" woman whispered." The word which
is now passing out of my lips will cause undulations
in the air, which will expand in every direction till
they pass around the world, and affect the entire
volume of the atmosphere for all time. Beyond
the atmosphere there is a subtle fluid sensitive to
the slightest disturbance, and so contrived as to carry
on its bosom the undulations in the air to the utmost
verge of creation. By the odylic force which streams
from us evermore we make impression of our feelings,
thoughts, volitions, on all living things and on inanimate
objects as well. By the action of gravitation all the
movements of man are recorded on the star-gemmed
vesture of the night — ** in the seemingly fixed order of
those blazing sapphires is a living dance, in whose mazy
track is written the record " of every deed of kindness,
of every deed of guilt, and even of the flutter of every
insect's wing. Prof. Proctor has demonstrated that in
our atmosphere and the more distant ether are inclosed
pictures of the past which propagate themselves upon
the wings of the rays of light, — all secret deeds thus
glancing further and further into the spacious heavens.
If then we are ever writing or printing indelible
impressions upon, not merely the minds with which we
come in contact, but the physical universe about us, so
that these impressions become woven into its texture,
and constitute a part of its web and woof forever,

io6

TlIK PETECriON OF SIN.

it is evident tlnat man will hereafter meet his own
record, and that the conscquer.ces of his conduct will
confront him far a^-ay in eternity. Professor H itchcock
says that **anaIog>- makes it a scientific probability
that ever}' action of man, however deep the darl<ncss
in which it is performed, imprints its image upon
nature, ant! that there miay be tests which will bring it
into daylight and make it apparent as long as materi-
alism endures." Thiuts do phjsics show that the universe
is one vast book of remembrance. It will doubtless re-
quire higher mathematics than we in this world make
use of to trace throi^h all its devious courses — courses
disturbed by conflicting forces — ^any determinate wave
of sound or beam of light or other force exerted by us
here. Still they are determinable, being fixed by
mathematical laws. And if we can not at present with
our limited analj-tical powers trace them, there are
beings w^ith powers vastly transcending our own that
can ; and we, based as our natures are on the law of
eternal progression, expect to be able to accomplish
what is now bej'ond our reach. Is it therefore too much
for us to conceive, as some one has said, the silent
air on the last day becoming vocal, and uttering all tb.e
words the sinner has c\'cr uttered, the heavens mean-
while presenting the image of every scene of wickedness
in which he took part, and that cold apathetic nature
which seemed so unconscious of all that was passing,
from rock and stream and nigged mountain and distant
star confronting the unhappy^ man with confound-
ing and overwhelming accusations and proofs of his
sin?

THE DE'l'ECTION OF SIN.

107

Two young men one day hired a horse and buggy to
ride to a town ten miles away. Instead of simply going
and returning as they had engaged to do, they rode
five miles further on, making in all 30 miles. On their
return the owner of the livery stable asked, " How far
have you been ? " and they answered, " Twenty miles
only as we engaged." He touched a spring of a machine,
which was fastened to the carriage and in some way
connected with the motion of the wheels, and had
a dial like a clock recording the distance passed over,
and there to the discomfiture of tlie young men was
recorded the true distance of 30 miles. How vastly
greater will be the sinner's horror and confusion on
the day of doom, when a perfect record will appear in
the universe about him of his inner and outer life from
the cradle to the grave ! If one thinks himself so ob-
scure as to be able to escape notice and detection, the
new instrument called the tasimctcr may give him a
hint that for him even there is no possibility of escape.
By this instrument it is possible not only to measure the
heat of the remotest visible star, but to detect by their
radiations stars that are unseen and unseeable ; for when
attached to a large telescope it may, by a sudden acces-
sion of temperature detect, in parts of the heavens which
appear blank when examined with the highest powers of
the instrument, the presence of a body non-luminous, or
so distant as to be beyond the reach of telescopic vision,
a burnt-out sun, or feebly reflecting planet, till then
.unknown because not luminous. As with the burnt-out
sun, or feebly reflecting planet, so with the man. An in-
fluence has gone out from him which must be accounted

io8

IIIE DETEC'riON OF SIN.

for, and he must be made responsible for that influence.
Each of us has made a record, invokmtarily and uncon-
sciously, but that record implies the man, Dwever ob-
scure he may be, and the man must appear to face the
record and accept his doom. Nature being so construct-
ed as to apprehend and convict every sinner at a lesser
or greater distance from his sin, we may suppose her also
saying with solemn impressiveness : " Be sure your sin
will find you out."

iv. The sinner has further ivitnesses of his sins.

One Sabbath morning a godless father took his little
boy to a neighbour's field to steal. Before he began his
unhallowed work he looked all round to see that none
observed him. After he had completed Lis observation,
his little boy cried out, " Father," and the father turned
hastily round, "you did not look up there." There
weie three witnesses of his sin, the Omniscient One, his
own consciousness, and his little boy. Under whatever
circumstances a man may sin — at midnight or noonday
— there are at least two witnesses, God and himself.
Each of these writes with an iron pen on imperishable
tablets, a record of every thought, word, and deed.
"The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and
with the point of a diamond ; it is graven upon the table
of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars."

I. The first witness is one's own consciousness. Con-
sciousness inscribes all your experience on the pages of
memory. The human memory, says one, is a palimpsest.
The palimpsest is a membrane of very great age, on
which have been written several manuscripts, each of
which was removed by chemical process before the next

TIIK DETEC'lION OK SIN.

109

was put on. A roll of vellum was employed to receive,
say, some ancient epic song, which at the time possessed
a great interest in the estimation of the people ; but
when that interest was lost, it was erased and in its
place some knightly romance or troubadour's song, or
other composition which at the time it was desirable
to preserx-^e. Now, the several writings though ob-
literated and now invisible, may again be restored.
The human memory is a wonderful palimpsest. The
iron pen is ever inscribing your every utterance,
thought, action, feeling. It never ceases to write while
you are conscious. You may often strive to recollect
some passage in your life, or something 3^ou have heard,
and think, because you cannot recall it, that it has been
erased, and that the countless inscriptions made since
have covered it up forever. Not so. No impression
ever made is buried in eternal forgetfulness. There is
for them all a resurrection. There will come a time in
the history of every sinner when the pages of memory
will be read, and there will be brought to light the
hidden things of darkness before an assembled universe.
The oaths sworn, the vows broken, the Sabbaths dese-
crated, the scenes of lewdness, the ribald jest, the ob-
scene song, the solitaiy theft, the vile slander, the ma-
licious inuendo, the base advantage taken of your neigh-
bour, the shameless act of dishonesty, the barefaced lie,
the coloured and varnished statement, the unkind word,
the cruel look — all, all shall be laid bare, brought to
the view of best friend, worst enemy, angels, devils, and
men. Memory cannot, will not lie. She will bring out
each separate sin, in all its dark significance. Think of

THE DETECnON OF SIN.

the number of your sins ; how many in one day ; how
many in your whole life ! Alas, they are numberless
as the stars, or as the multitudinous leaves of Vallom-
brosa ! They will all be brought to light in their origin,
relations, bearings, and issues. When your heart is
thus revealed, it will be like uncovering hell, full of
fiends and fire. You cannot now bear the sight of even
one sin, for you cover it up with excuses and sophistries.
But oh, when all are revealed, how overwhelming the
terror ! In that dread future, when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in
flaming lire taking vengeance on them that know not
God, and the Judge shall reward every man according
to his works, " be sure your sins shall, find you out."

2. Another witness is the Omniscient One. A pri-
soner in a dungeon was guarded by a man whose duty
it was to watch him every instant through a small hole
in his iron door. The guard was often changed,
but there forever was that vigilant eye. Whether he
slept or woke, it was always there. It was the most
intolerable element of his imprisonment, for it was an
unfriendly eye. Oh how he longed to be relieved for
one half hour from that cold, unslumbering eye ! But
months were lengthened into years, and still the eye
was there.

Had he but known it, another eye, as sleepless and in-
finitely more intelligent and strict to mark iniquity, was
always fixed upon him. The guard saw the outer man ;
the Omniscient One alone saw his heart. The Greeks
called God 6eo(z from deofioe I see, because they believed
Him to be an essentially all-seeing God. And how can

riiK DErEcriON ok sin.

Ill

lie be otherwise, sceinjj He bathes the round world
with Mis presence and fills all sjxice. " If I ascend into
heaven, Thou art there ; if I make my bed in hell, Thou
art there. If I take the winj^ of the morning and dwell
in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy
hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I
say surely the darkness sliall cover me, even the night
shall be light about me. Yea the darkness hideth not
from Thee ; but the night shineth as the d:iy : the dark-
ness and the light are both alike to Thee."

God sees us always, — when we rise up and when we lie
down, asleep or awake, doing good or evil, in the blaze
of noonday or the thick shades of midnight. God sees
us completely, — our outward forms and our inward selves.

The unwearied pen of omniscience is ever employed.
A rich man once treated unjustly a poor widow, his
tenant. Her little boy was a witness of the act, and he
nourished the memory of the transaction till he became
a painter of skill and eminence, and then painted the
scene exactly as it occurred. He placed it where his
mother's oppressor could see it, and waited near by to
observe the effect. When the old man looked upon
himself and his deed of villainy so well represented upon
canvass, he grew pale and asked to buy the picture at
any price. If our life were thus represented in a series
of paintings, depicting our sins and follies, we should be
rendered miserable. Such a series of paintings will be
found in the memory of the Omniscient One, in our
own recollection, in the memory of our fellows, and in
full view of them must the sinner eternally dwell
exposed to the eye of the universe.

112

THE DETECTION OF SIN.

In some cities they have in connection with their
police stations a portraitgallery of criminals. In the
halls of omniscience there are photographs of your life,
your inner self, taken at every successive instant. How
can your sins do other than find you out ? How can
you hope to escape the great Detective ?

It is thus established that our sins shall find us out.
No help for it. No way to prevent it. Adulterers,
swearers, unclean, drunkards, Sabbath breakers, liars,
thieves, be sure of it. God, the Bible, our constitution,
— all say. Be sure of it. Sinners in society, the wreck
of themselves, in penitentiaries, prisons, lunatic asylums,
in death, say, Be sure of it. And hell takes up the
affirmation and with an emphasis, louder than the
sound of mighty thundering and the roar of mighty
waters, our text is preached to us from the abodes of
despair — *' Be sure your sin will find you out."

A certain bishop — I think Latimer — was arraigned
before court to answer certain charges. At first he
answered carelessly until he heard behind a curtain the
sound of a pen writing his several answers. Then
finding it was a more serious matter than he had
supposed, he became more deliberate and careful. If
in your levity you have not realized the solemnity of
your existence, during which you are on trial for your
soul's life, and have now felt some conviction of your
dreadful and well nigh fatal error, and have awakened
to the knowledge that all nature has conspired to detect
the sinner, and that behind the screen the pen un-
weariedly writes, now learn life's awful import — if you
would not have your sins find you out, find them out.

11 IE DETECTION OF SIN.

113

Put up the prayer from your inmost heart, " Search me,
O God, and know my heart ; try me, and know my
thoughts ; and sec if there be in me any evil way, and
lead me in the way everlasting." And when you have
found out the sin, grapple with it. A true conviction
of its malignant and destructive nature is worth worlds.
A man in an Indian jungle comes unexpectedly upon
the lair of some wild animal. The startled beast
springs upon him, but is caught and held with the
energy of despair. Trembling at length with weariness,
he knows not what to do. Till now he has avoided the
fangs of his ferocious assailant. He struggles but fails
to destroy the brute, and dares not let it go. So
having found out your sin, lay hold of it and struggle
mightily, and when your strength fails, you know on
whom to call for help. It is the Lord Jesus. Cry
aloud and earnestly. Do not let go of your sin, but
cry till Christ comes who is mighty to save. Believe
upon Him with your whole heart and you shall be
saved. Hear Him say, " Seek ye the Lord while He
may be found ; call ye upon Him while He is near. Let
the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man
his thoughts ; and let him return unto the Lord, and He
will have mercy upon him ; and to our God, for He will
abundantly pardon."

THREE GREAT WORDS.

" By grace are ye saved through faith " ( Tl^ )(ap X^P*"^^ ioZB
aeaaxTfiivot dea maTeoti). Eph. ii. 8.

"Words are things," said IVLrabeau, and after him
Byron ; and on the lips and pens of some men they are
living things. It was Carlyle, I think, who said of
Luther's words, that they leap, that they behave like
living creatures, that they are half-battles. And what
Christ said of His own words, that " they are spirit and
they are life," is true in a degree of His servant
Paul's. The words of this epistle seem not, like the
kings and knights and pawns on a chess board, merely
to betray an intelligence behind them, but they appear
to be endowed with the sprightliness and activity and
energy and wisdom of the highest human life inspired
from above.

In reading our text you are perhaps ready to exclaim
with one of old, " How- forcible are right words ! " For
here are words chosen and sanctified to most eminent
uses, even to become vehicles of the very mind of God.
How needful to know their exact worth that we may
lose no fine intention of the Apostle !

It would be an agreeable pastime to watch the
progressive ennobling of certain words, which, found
originally in the heathen classics, passed into the

THREE GREAT WORDS.

IIS

Septuagint, where they were elevated and prepared
somewhat for the lofty significance with which they
were after\\^ard to be charged, when subsequently
received into the Christian Church, and there baptized
into higher meanings, the depth and riches of which
they were in the plan of Divine Providence fitted to
contain. In classical Greek " Faith " was used to
express reliance upon a human being, sometimes faith
in the gods, and the recognition of what could not be
based upon practical or theoretical knowledge ; which
was a fitting qualification for its future dignity.
" Saved " is one of those words which in the classics
had reference simply to earthly deliverance, but which
in the New Testament rose to a loftier sphere, being
used with few exceptions to express a salvation wrought
by God. The word rendered ** Grace " is another.
" It is hardly too much to say," szys Archbishop
Trench, " that ihe Greek mind has in no word uttered
itself and all that was at its heart more distinctly than
in this." First of all it meant that quality of a thing
which communicates pleasure to eye or ear witnesses ;
and then it implied beauty or grace. Aristotle declared
of it that it is conferred freely, and finds its only motive
in the bounty and free-heartedness of the giver. Here
where it spoke of earthly benefits, the New Testament
found it, and transformed and glorified it with the lofty
mission henceforth to proclaim the bounty and love
and favour of the holy God to His sinful creature,
wherein no mention can be made of obligation.

There have been words rescued from degradation
and consecrated to high and holy service. Not so

ii6

'I'HREE GREA'l' WORDS.

•with these three words, which, as you see by this hasty
glance at their pedigree, were . Jways great. But when
they became Christian, like men inspired with the Holy
Spirit, they became transformed from the image of the
earthy into that of the heavenly.

i. Salvation.

Where is salvation to be found? The depth saith,
" It is not in me." Can we trace it to man ? Shall we
seek for it among the ancient Egyptians, who made
such elaborate preparation for the future great assize ;
or among the Greeks, with their Jupiter ScoTTjp (Soter),
or their Plato, whose philosophy led him beyond the
seen and the sensuous to the eternal prototypes of the
true, the beautiful, and the good ; or among the
Romans, whose mission it was to impress upon the
human mind lofty ideas of law and government and
order. Nay, as if to pour contempt upon human pride,
we have it on Divine authority : " I will place salva-
tion in Zion for Israel my glory." " Salvation is of the
Jews." Take then the lamp of the old philosopher, and
run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and
seek to find a man who may be a Saviour — one in
whom are the moral excellencies, righteous activities,
and omnific power, which could save the race. You
seek in vain till you find in Bethlehem an Infant of
days, named by the angel " Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sins," of whom it is later said :
" Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no
other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved." Well therefore may He in the
most emphatic manner claim salvation as His own

THREE GREAT WORDS.

117

prerogative : " Salvation belongeth unto the Lord."
If then this Saviour is the Creator and Lord of the
universe, nay, very God of very God ; and if, being in
the form of God and equal with God, He took upon
Him the form of a servant and died in our nature, tell
me wl y this vast expenditure of means in order to save
the race ? When we remember the exact proportion
observed in nature between means and ends, we see
force in the question, What call and demand of
circumstance was there for the coming of this August
Being to our world ?

Salvation is for the lost. Social life has its proper
distinctions. Society yields to the chaste, the sober,
and the moral, a respect which it justly withhold"} from
the profligate, the drunkard, and the unprincipled.
But as soon as we come into the presence of the grace
of God all these distinctions are swept away, and all
stand together as lost. The blameless moralist and the
vilest outcast are alike lost ; they both alike need salva-
tion. This word " lost " implies a death in trespasses
and sin, and a ruin unspeakably awful. Look at men
in all lands and ages and circumstances, and you will
find they are guilty, unfaithful to the voice of duty,
and for this reason, that they are corrupt in principle.
While between the highest moral excellence, aside from
grace, and the extreme of human degradation, the steps
are innumerable, and the shadings off from one into
another past counting; yet in all is to be found that
carnal mind which is enmity against God, that utter
absence of all those motives which originate in supreme
love to their Maker. Man is corrupt, and his philosophy

Il8

THREE GREAT WORDS.

cannot save him. " The Lord looked down from
heaven to see if there were any that did understand and
seek God. They are all gone aside ; they are altogether
become filthy ; there is none that doeth good, no, not
one." In answer to the assertion that if a man jicts
according to his light he contracts no guilt, the Apostle,
who was ritually blameless, and had lived in all good
conscience, declares, " All have sinned and come short

of the glory of God The whole world is guilty

before God." Hence they are involved in great danger.
" The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness." " It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

Do not shift to other hearts this solemn charge which
Scripture makes against each of us. This guilt and this
peril, my brother, are yours. If you do not find the
mercy and grace of God in salvation, no matter how you
stand in the esteem of your fellows, howeyer elevated
your tastes and am.iable your dispositions, you must
perish. All have sinned; all must be saved or perish.
I trust you are asking, what must I do to be saved ?
And what Christ cannot do as a Judge, for a judge can
only condemn or acquit, and you are condemned already,
He can do as a Saviour. Through Him is preached unto
you the forgiveness of sins. This, however, is not all.

Man has received from those before him the taint of
a corrupted nature, biasses and tendencies toward sin, so
that when he would do good, he does it not, but the
evil which he would not, that he does. Well said a
writer on Heredity : " In the conflict between inherited
instincts and personally acquired convictions, it is as if

THREE GREAT ^YORDy.

119

a man were attempting to fight all his ancestry at once,
and he is usually worsted in the fray." Very true, but the
Gospel of Christ offers salvation and victory. We have
a Saviour who is able to reverse every law of sin and
disorder within us, to suspend and abolish all our corrupt
tendencies, to change in the twinkling of an eye the
direction within us of the forces of ages, so that with
full choice of will and energy of right affections we may
run in the path of the Divine commandments. When
this great change takes place in a man, conscience long
dispossessed of her rightful place is enthroned. The
peace of God keeps his mind and heart. And he who
had been unhappy because of his disordered nature and
his false relations to his fellow men and his God, is
brought to love God, and to know that He is his Father.
The spirit of selfishness having been exorcised, he loves
his neighbour as himself, and his heart breaks out in the
utterance, " O Lord, I will praise Thee ; though Thou
wast angry with me Thine anger is turned away and
Thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation."

But the work of regeneration does not exhaust the
meaning of the word " salvation." Man after conversion
has within him the remains of the carnal mind. What
is to be done? The provisions of grace are illimitable.
" He gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from
rt// iniquity, s^nd purify unto Himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works." " And the very God of peace
sanctify you ivhollyy But can we retain this blessing?
Can we mingle with the world and remain pure ? Hear
what Paul says, " And I pray God your whole spirit and
soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming

1 20

THREE CKEA r WORDS.

of our Lord Jesus Christ." But will God do this great
work in such sinful hearts as ours? " Faithful is He who
calleth us 'nrJio also ivill do it** These promises cannot
consist with, do not consist with, and are not represented
in Scripture as consisting %vith, the doctrine that we
cannot in this world get rid of our carnal nature. Ixit
the exegesis and the theology^ be revised that run counter
to Scriptures so explicit and clear as these.

But I need not ^o bej-ond our immediate context to
find a lofty description of salvation. Here, as Dr. Steele
has pointed out, is a term used nowhere else in Scripture,
and employed five times in this epistle — " the heavenly
places." Where is this region? It would seem that
heaven overlajis the earth, and they who are so happy
as to reach this state are fully saved. This is what
Bunyan calls the land of Beulah, clear out of sight of
Doubting Castle, in the very suburbs of heaven, where
the shining ones walk, and the celestial city is in full
view, and the sun shines day and night all the year.
This is where the Comforter comes, and the leather and
the Son make their permanent dwelling-place in the
heart of the believer. Dean Alford says : " Materially
we are yet in the body: but in the spirit we are in
heaven, only waiting for the redemption of the body to
be entirely and literally there." And Faber sings :

** Tboagh heathen s above, and earth s below

Yet they aic bat one state.
And cadi the odxr widi sweet skill

Doth iidrqieneliatr.
Yc7 many a tie and oflQoe blest

in earthly lots uneven.
Hath an immortal plaoe to fill.

And is tdie mot of heaven.*'

Ill REE GREAT WORDS.

121

To this the Ephesian Church had come. But finally :
man is in danger of hell ; the salvation of the gospel
extends to heaven. " That in the ages to come — untold
millions of years hence — He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace " (ver. 7). All past and present
blessing"-, of salvation are earnests of this. " Kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to
be revealed in the last time." Instead of death, life ;
instead of banishment from God's presence, admission
into His presence where are fulness of joy and pleasures
for evermore. In view of this said Paul, " Now is our
salvation nearer than when we believed."

How great this salvation is, who can tell ? I must be
a reckless sinner all my days, suffer the agony and re-
morse of a sinner's death, be compelled to appear at the
bar of Deity, receive my dread sentence, go down to
scenes of eternal despair ; I must spend eternity a lost
spirit, lashed by my conscience with her whip of scor-
pions, and know for myself what is the worm that never
dies and the fire that never shall be quenched, before I
can come back to tell you of the depth of misery and
woe from which the Saviour of mankind died to deliver
you and me. I must likewise live a holy life, die a trium-
phant death, be escorted home by an angelic band to
the everlasting gates, which shall open to let me in,
pass through ranks of shining ones, whose eyes will shine
the brighter when I come, to the feet of my Saviour,
experience the rapture of a victor, the overflowing joy
of a wearied soul at rest, receive the plaudit, be clothed
in white, be crowned with a crown thick-set with stars
which shall burn with undimmed lustre through the ages.

wf..

132

TIIRFK (IKKAT WORDS.

enter upon and enjoy the full possession of the inherit-
ance of God's perfections and riches; I must spend
eternity in heaven ere my stammering tongue can utter
half of that felicity and glory to which Christ designs
to raise you and me. Well may the Apostle asic, " How
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"

ii. Grace.

The emphasis of the text rests on this word. The
article usually omitted with abstract nouns is found here,
and gives this force to the sentence, " for by this grace
of which I have just spoken — exceeding riches of Mis
grace — ye arc saved through faith." So munificent is
the store that though it has been lavished by God upon
our race for ages, it is still an unexhausted mine of
wealth. The question which this word answers is, What
is the proximate cause or ground of salvation ? Do not
err, my beloved brethren ; it is grace. Here is the im-
pulse by which God was prompted in salvation. A great
kindness to an undeserving person is a grace. Grace
implies ill-desert, but the ill-desert is forgotten, and
the person treated as though on terms of friendship.
A man is saved, not because he has earned it by good
works, not because of an}' equivalent he renders, but
because of the everlasting nature of God, which in the
fulness of its love and generosity goes out yearningly
towards man — a nature which seeks for new channels by
which to convey to the wide universe the munificence
of His love. Because it was their eternal nature to forgive
sin, to save man, and diffuse the happiness and bright-
ness of eternity everywhere, the Father gave the Son,
and the Son gave Himself to humiliation and to death.

TIIRKE fJRKAT WORDS.

123

"God commendeth His love toward us, in that while
we were yet sinners Christ died for us." " Ye know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was
rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through
His poverty might be rich." One with the Father in
the honours of supreme and eternal divinity. He assumed
the nature which had sinned, died as an atoning sacrifice,
and thus rendered it possible for God, consistently with
the claims of His law, to be just, and yet the justifier of
him that believeth. Surely God is love. Here behold
the riches of His grace in His kindness towards us
through Christ Jesus. The capacity of men for joy and
sorrow varies greatly. Against the theory that men are
endowed by nature on • the whole equally, one who is
quoted as high authority asserts that between the most
richly and the least endowed of men the ratio is as 200
to one. How little, then, are we, ordinary people, able
to sympathize with the most highly gifted, " the myriad-
minded." And who shall be able to measure the dimen-
sions of the sufferings of the God-man, " the man of
sorrows," who was ever consciously marching forward
to the cross, that great coming event, which threw its
ever darkening shadow over His public life till at last
in Gcthsemane, His soul was exceeding sorrowful even
unto death, and on Calvary, while the arrows of Divine
wrath against sin drank His life-blood, there burst
from His pallid, trembling lips that awful cry, " My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? " They
were vast, voluminous, immeasurable. All this is
love's commendation, interpreting to us the divine
love, which longs to lift us up and save us, with the

124

rilREE GREAT WORDS.

same fond solicitude with which a mother lonjjs
for her prodigal boy, for whose salvation she would
willingly lay down her life — simply because she cannot
help it, for she loves him. Of the same kind is the love
which glows in the heart of the universal Father, but as
much greater and more intense as the fires of yon blazing
sun transcend the spark struck by the hoof of the flying
steed from the rock-bound soil, or the tiny but more
enduring flame of the midnight taper. This it is which
melts the ice, and disarms the enmity, and subdues the
rebelliousness of the sons of men — infinite love, bound-
less grace.

We are justified, therefore, in affirming that all the
good that we enjoy, whether it be natural or spiritual,
comes to us through the atonement of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Especially is this true of those blessings which
are conditioned upon repentance, faith, and obedience — -
blessings which constitute what in Scripture is called
the salvation of man. " We are justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
The renewal of our hearts is an act of grace, for " sin
shall not have dominion over you ; for ye are not under
the law, but under grace." It is of grace that we are
adopted into the family of God, and made " heirs of the
grace of eternal life ; " of grace that the Spirit in our
hearts cries, " Abba, Father ;" of grace that we conquer
sin (Titus ii. ii, 12); of grace that wc are saved from
the corruption of our nature. When Haldane was study-
ing this epistle, the expression " exceeding abundantly "
(iii. 20) fell on him like a new revelation. He knelt
in prayer. " When I arose," said he, " I felt as if my

THREE GREAl" WOKIiS.

125

strength were renewed like the eagle's, and I were
mounting up as on wings. From that time I compre-
hended that my syllogisms and arguments were of
no avail, and that Christ was able to do all, by the
power that worketh iti us." And a nobler than he has
said : " By the grace of God I am what I am." It is
all of grace, too, that we shall be saved in heaven.
" Where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound :
that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might
grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord."

If this be the channel by which salvation comes, then
there is no room for boasting ; and education, however
careful and complete ; culture, however elevated and
refined ; effort and painstaking, however extended and
minute, can have no part in meriting salvation. " If by
grace, then it is no more of works ; otherwise, grace
is no more grace." Said a princess to a poor woman
who had been trying, but all to no purpose, to persuade
the king's gardener to sell her a bunch of grapes for her
sick child : " My dear woman, you are mistaken. My
father is not a merchant, but a king ; his business is not
to sell, but to give." And then she plucked a bunch
from the vine, and dropped it into the woman's apron.
God is not a merchant, but a King. Christ is exalted
a prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission
of sins. But were He a merchant, we could not speak
of purchasing salvation, for we are not rich, but poor,
and have nothing to pay. We are utter bankrupts and
beggars. But thanks he to God ! grace origfinates our
salvation, and brings it so near that the guilty may be

126

THREE GREA r WORDS.

pardoned, and the lost saved, if he will not with rankest
folly dash to the ground the cup of salvation reached
down from the skies, and pressed with loving compulsion
to his very lips.

Is there one here who despairs because his case is so
desperate? Have it for your joy that grace is boundless.
Over against the vileness and blackness of your sin, grace
shines all the more resplendent ly. The promises are
blank cheques signed by the Lord Himself empowering
you to call upon the bank of heaven for what you need.
What would you think of a man whose friend had
deposited millions to his credit, if he was unwilling to
draw an}thing even fc. the bare necessaries of life?
Come, poor, guilty, despairing one, to His feet who sits
upon a throne of grace, and He will lavish upon you
the riches of His grace, and the glory of His grace.
Come, poor stai^ving one, hungering after righteousness,
come to the banquet which He has spread ; taste and
see that the Lord is gracious. " My grace," He says,
" is sufficient for thee," — ^^sufficient as the ocean is for
the needs of the smallest minnow, or as illimitable
space affords ample scope for the free movements of
our little world ! Come, poor soul, and listen to your
Lord. He loves you with an infinite love. He woos
you to-day; He says : " I lo/e you ; you are a sinner;
you are in peril ; you are corrupt ; but I love you."
Alas, you turn away your face and heart. He continues
to plead : " My love for you is boundless ; I died for
you ; were it necessary I would die again to save you ;
I offer you my heart ; I give you myself, only give me
your heart." He knocks at the door and pleads : "Open

THREE GREAT WORDS.

127

the door, and I will come in and sup with you, and the
feast shall be everlasting love." O, that now you would
relent, open the door, invite Him in and say, " I love
Thee, blessed Lord, for Thou didst first love me. '

Unto every one of us, dear brethren, is given grace
according to the measure of the gift of Christ. No
one is overlooked ; each receives according to a plan
and purpose. And as we improve what we receive, He
grants us more, " grace for grace." As an overseer in
the Church, it is my duty to look diligently lest any
man fail of the grace of God. As His ambassador, I
beseech you that ye be reconciled to God. The small-
est amount of grace, if used and improved will lift one
up to " the rank of a celestial force." Be inwardly
strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, for
God is able to make all grace abound toward us, that
we, having always all sufficiency in all things, may
abound to every good work and be filled with all the
fulness of God. Said one : " Cicero complains of Homer
that he taught the gods to live like men : but grace
teaches men to live like gods."

iii. Faith.

Between grace and faith there is in matters of salva-
tion the closest intimacy. Faith is impotent to save
the sinner in a horrible pit and miry clay, unless grace
reaches down a friendly rope on which faith lays hold
and by which he is extricated. But the rope is offered
in vain unless faith lays hold of it.

Not only so, but faith itself is. of grace ; else how could
it be said that God hath dealt to every man the measure
of faith ? We must jealously guard the glory of God

128

THREE GREAT WORDS.

in this great matter of salvation. All good in us is
divine. But how is it of grace? In the same sense is
it a grace, vouchsafed by the Author and Finisher of
our faith, as the gift of sight, or of hearing, or of reason, is
a gift of the Creator — a grace which may be abused by
us as any other gift of infinite goodness. He gives us the
power to perform these acts ; the act is entirely our own.

The importance of faith will be seen in this, that to
believe is in substance the whole demand of God. Stress
is sometimes laid upon repentance and obedience as
conditions of salvation, but faith is regarded as of
first importance, for true faith includes both re-
pentance and obedience. The latter serve to correct a
mistaken estimate of our faith. If we are deceived in
thinking we believe, we may find our mistake by asking
ourselves — Have I truly repented? Have I put away
all sin ? Do I obey the commands of my Lord ? Faith
is basal, elemental, among our primary intuitions, at the
very core of our being where God has contact with us
and pours into us continuous succours of life. It is
radical, deeper than all our faculties and powers, deep
down in our essential being, before, so to speak-, it
ramifies into intellect, sensibilities, and will. It is the
realization there that God is our Father, Saviour, and
Comforter : that we belong to Him and live in Him.

This faith is an indispensable pre-requisite to salvation.
As Augustine quaintly said : " He who created thee
without thee, will not save thee without thee." No
man is saved against his will. We take physical things
by physic al orgjans ; intellectual things are apprehended
by the intellect ; and the things of the spiritual world

THREE GREAT WORDS.

129

are realized by the awakened spirit of man. And though
the blessings of salvation belong to every human being
in an important sense — to which Jude refers when he
speaks of 'the common salvation " — for they are freely
offered to all, yet they never avail for us unless we
appropriate them to ourselves. This is what is meant
by receiving salvation by faith.

It is reasonable to suppose that implicit faith in a
divine revelation of things unseen will admit one into a
far nobler experience than the unbeliever enjoys. Take
man at his lowest stage and tell us how much of the
universe belongs to him. Ascend the scale till you
reach man civilized and elevated by the higher educa-
tion of our day. How faith in the teachings of science
enlarges the mind, strengthens the intellectual grasp,
and beautifies the conceptions of the imagination !
How either an ignorance of such themes, or a disbelief
of them, leaves one enfeebled and degraded ! Now you
can see how, as you go up the scale, and you reach
manhood enlightened and elevated by the wisdom of
God, you have come to the ennobling results of faith :
the rectification of a disordered nature, the enkindling
of a divine charity, a range of vision broad as from
.some lofty mountain, the establishment within of the
Kingdom of God, with its pacific rule, its silken cords
of restraint, its unbroken connexion with the fountain
of immortal life and joy, and its powerful inward
principles of righteousness, truth, purity and love. Are
we justified? It is by faith. Have we moral purity?
*' Putting no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith." Have we love to God and

I30

THREE GREAT WORDS.

L,.

man ? It is " faith that works by love." If we tread
the powers of darkness down, " this is the victory which
overcometh the world, even our faith." If our heads
are covered in the day of battle, so that the fiery darts
of the adversary fall innocuous and pointless at oi"" feet,
it is because we have put on the shield of faith ; and if
at last we reach the skies, it is because we receive " the
end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls." How
blessed the man of faith ! He feels at home every-
where. The universe belongs to his Father, and " all
things " are his own.

It is equally evident tliat through their lack of faith
in God and Christ, men, however gifted and cultured,
are by the very necessity of the case rigorously excluded
from these spiritual possessions. If a man boards up
all the windows of his house which look sunwards, he
must be content to live in darkness. There is sunlight
for him, an abundant supply. It floods the whole
world through all the radiant hours, gilding with refined
gold the homeliest things on which it is permitted to
fall. It is his own fault if he does not bask in its glory.
So if men close up all those avenues of their being
which look heavenward, how can you wonder if they
are unvisited by the cheering beams of the Sun of
Righteousness? Oh, my brother, down with the
boards and blinds of sin and prejudice, which exclude
the light of the skies, and when it pours in it will prove
its heavenly character by an effulgence truly divine.

Nor is it unreasonable that faith should be required
even when there is much that the mind cannot under-
stand. It is not necessary for you to understand the

THREE GREAT WORDS.

131

science of photography in order to obtain a good
portrait. You have but to place yourself in the hands
of the photographer, and the thing is uone. Medicine
may be for you an absolute mystery, but if you trust
yourself to the skill of a competent physician your
health may be restored. The mystery of godliness who
can understand ? You need only understand that God's
heart is all on fire with love for you, that He desires
with an infinite longing the salvation of every man, and
has provided a common salvation, of which you are
welcome to partake. How shal' I convey any idea of
the inspiring truth that God is lovey essential love, that
He is labouring in a thousand ways to bring you to a
recognition of His love, and that if you will but trust
in Him as a drowning man trusts to a life-boat, or a
dying man to a kind and skilful physician, you shall
find in Him all your salvation and all your desire.

While faith without understanding suffices to procure
salvation, it may be observed, in further illustration of
this subject, that if a man lack faith, nothing else that he
may have will be of any avail. You may loathe self and
sin, you may be diligent in prayer and other means of
grace, you may even approach the table of the I-ord, yet
without the faith of the heart it is impossible to please
God. It was Abraham's yi?/M, not his reverence for God,
nor his worship of Him, nor his love or obedience to Him,
but his faith which was accounted to him for righteous-
ness. It was not the Canaanitish woman's afifiiction,
nor her patience, nor her humility, which were indeed
wonderful, but her faith which won the Saviour's com-
mendation : " Thy faith hath saved thee : go in peace.'*

132

'J'HREE GREAT WORDS.

Yet the condition on which salvation is offered is
not hard. It does not require leisure, nor great mental
gifts, nor length of time. A young man, burdened
with sin, went to his minister with the question " What
must I do to be saved ? " As a physician prescribing for
a sick patient, the learned divine wrote a list of duties
which he must perform. The young man glanced at
them, and asked, " How long must I do so before I am
saved ? " The minister stroking his beard for a moment,
replied, " About a twelve month." My brethren, he
knew neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.
Well was it for the Philippian jailor in a similar condi-
tion of mind that he applied to competent instructors,
men infallible in their teaching, because inspired of
God. The question which he asked was. What must I
do to be instantaneously saved ? for the tense that he
used is unlike anything we have in English. It denotes
a momentary occurrence, singleness of act. He wished
immediate deliverance from his guilt and was directed
to a sharply defined act of reliance on Christ. He
desired immediate relief and was told of an immediate
cure. T^»ey said. Believe instantly on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. He did believe and
was saved. " According to your faith it shall be done."
" Be it unto thee even as thou wilt."

" To you is the word of this salvation sent." " And
now is the day of salvation." Now, this moment, a
golden sand trickling from the sand-glass of Time ;
now, while the clock is ticking ; now, by an instantaneous
act of faith on the Son of God, you may be brought
from death to life, from sin to holiness, from being a

THREE GREAT WORDS.

133

child of the devil to being a child of God. " For the
word is nigh thee ; even in thy mouth and in thine
heart ; that is, the word of faith which we preach."
" Be not afraid, only believe." Faith is the grip of the
soul on Christ and His promises. That grip may not
be like the death-grip, as it were, of the drowning sailor
who seized a rope, thrown to him, with such eagerness
that it took hours before his hold relaxed and his hand
could be separated from it, the strands of the rope
having become embedded in the very flesh of his hands.
It may be comparatively feeble ; but if it truly grips
Christ, He will not let you perish. " Lay hold on
eternal life." Be the turpitude and enormity of your
sins, and the blackness and vileness of your heart
a thousand-fold worse and blacker than you can
conceive, why should it be thought a thing incredible
with you that God, the Almighty, should save you to
the uttermost ? Come to Him as you are, not attempt-
ing to make yourself one whit better, nor asking to buy
when you have nothing to pay, but receiving, as a
beggar does your alms, the salvation which is offered
without money and without price, and it is yours — a
salvation from the curse of the law, from the envenomed
fury of the adversary, from the power of sin, from the
force of temptation, from a burdened conscience and a
weary heart, from the doom of the lost into the glory
of heaven ; this great salvation is yours.

PHILIP AND THE EUNUCH.

•* And the angel of the Laid spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward
the south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is
desert." Acts vm. 26.

This episode of idyllic beauty occurs in the early
history of Christian missions, and is full of interest and
instruction to us of to-day. I propose to open up this
passage with a series of running comments. " An angel
of the Lord spake." It would seem that angels could
make themselves visible, and that this angel appeared to
Philip. This was no new thing under the sun. Angels
appeared to Lot, Abraham, Gideon, and many more in
ancient days. So especially did they appear with in-
creased distinctness and frequency upon the occasion of
the full re\''elation of God in Christ. " He gives his
angels charge concerning us." " Are they not all minis-
tering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall
be heirs of salvation ? " How often they minister to us
when we little think of it ! Many an Elijah lifted up
'rom despondency — many a saint rescued from persecu-
tion and prison — ^many a Lot snatched as a brand from
the burning — many a Philip led to some gallant enter-
prise for his Lord — ^many a humble believer saved from
dashing his foot against a stone ! Though we may not

rilIMP AND THE EUNUCH.

135

hear their voice yet they do truly spealc. That evil
spirits inject evil thoughts into our hearts we know for
a fact. Certainly the good have a similar power. Often
the thought of some new duty comes, and persists in
coming when we would stifle it if we could, for it is an
irUsome task, but we have no rest till it is discharged,
and then we find it was a duty which was required to
be done, and we see whence came the suggestion. Oh !
that we were always obedient unto the heavenly vision !
" An angel spake saying, Arise, and go toward the
south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem
unto Gaza, which is desert." Philip was a faithful
follower of Christ, and probably was now next in in-
fluence to the Apostles. A single man, probably, but
about twenty-five years later he resided in Caesarea with
four daughters, " virgins, which did prophesy." He was
an evangelist and wrought miracles. He had been
preaching in Samaria with eminent success. There was
great joy in that city. What he began, Peter and John
carried on till the converts received the Holy Ghost. —
" Arise and go." Some people's work floats to them,
as the little ark to Pharaoh's daughter. God fills one's
hand, just where one is, with work, as the spinner's hand
with wool, or the weaver's with yarn. Some are sent
to their work, as Joseph to Egypt, Paul to the Gentiles,
Philip to the desert. His call was something like that of
Abraham, who went out not knowing whither he went.
Here is atrial — to go from being a popular city preacher
to a desert place. But what rich results have accrued
to the Church from work done in silence and secrecy !
From Bedford gaol " The Pilgrim's Progiess," and the

136

PHILIP AND THE KUNUCII.

Apocalypse from the Isle of Patmos. — The angel bids
Philip go, but fails to say why. Room is left for prayer
and faith. He can see how useful he may be in the
city, but what can there be in the wilderness for him to
do? Perplexed, he can only fall back upon the divine
command. Enough for Philip that God has spoken,
though he cannot understand why God directs. He
arose and went. " The King's business requireth haste."
" I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou
shalt enlarge my heart." But a practical question arises.
How shall we know that it is not Satan appearing to us
as an angel of faith? In this way: take the communi-
cation to the Lord and say, " Lord, deepen this impres-
sion, if it is from Thee ; if not, efface it." This is
trying the spirits. Once assured it is the will of God,
unhesitatingly and unquestioningly obey. Davy Crock-
ett's motto is a safe one, " Be sure you're right, then
go ahead." So did Philip. He arose and went.

" And behold, a man of Ethiopia," etc. The picture
is presented vividly. Behold ! a chariot approaches. In
it with suitable retinue rides a great man, a dusky son of
Ham, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Candace, queen
of the Ethiopians, the greatest grandee in her kingdom.
He was rich and much esteemed, probably trusted as
much at home as Daniel v/as in Babylon, and was now
riding home in his chariot with unmistakable evidence
of the civilization of his time. We are told that the
kingdom of Meroe in Central Africa was ruled over for
centuries by a line of female sovereigns, whose common
title was Candace, as Pharaoh was that of the Egyptian
monarchs. This great man's name, tradition tells us,

rilllJP AND TIIK KUNUCII.

137

was Indich. He was a eunuch, and as such could never
be received into full membership in the Jewish Church ;
at the best he could only be a proselyte. Whether Jew
or Gentile, all his wealth and honour availed him nothing,
for he had been awakened to feel a great hunger for
God. And thus it came to pass that he went up to
Jerusalem to worship.

And is this all for which Philip has left a populous
city, where eager crowds listened joyfully to his ministry
— to preach to a dark-skinned traveller on his way to his
southern home ? A question that will repay study.
Several considerations enter into it. In his great regard
for his own people, God does not forget the outside
world. In His concern for the crowded city, He does
not forget the lone traveller in the desert. The shepherd
leaves the ninety and nine and goes in quest of the lost
sheep. And over one soul recovered from sin there is
joy in heaven. Each soul is more precious than a world.
In a sense all souls are equally precious. In another
sense some are more precious than others, as they have
position, influence, mental power, spiritual excellence.
Here is a man of high rank and prodigious influence in
his own country, and evidently a man of charity and
piety. A small light can kindle a great fire, but a great
light can shine very far. This man's soul was in the
eyes of the Lord very precious, but much more than
the salvation of one soul was involved in his salvation.
The time had arrived when in the purpose of God the
Gospel was to be carried into Africa. When twenty years
later, God meant through St. Paul to introduce the
Gospel into Europe, and found His Church there. He

138

I'lIIMP AND TIIK KUNUCH.

saw fit by the vision of a Macedonian to lead the apostle
of the Gentiles to leave Asia and venture into the rejjion
beyond. So now by a vision of the anpfel He calls upon
Philip to leave an important charge in Samaria, and go
down on the way to Gaza, which is desert. A Church
was to be established in Abyssinia, which would outlive
the Church in Samaria and the Churches of Asia Minor,
and wliich was destined, not without superstitions and
corruptions, to hold up Christ through many ages.
" If we include," says Dr. McMillan, " in the territory
of ancient Ethiopia the region now known as Abyssinia,
it is possible that this single conversion may have pre-
pared the way for the wonderful work which took p'-xce
among the Ethiopians at a later period, when the whole
nation renounced their heathen idolatries and became
Christian, and the ancient prophecies of Scripture, that
Ethiopia would yet lift up her hands to God, were
fulfilled." There was therefore ample reason why Philip
should leave the Church in Samaria, and go down into
the desert to preach to one lone man. Do you think that
Philip to-day regrets that he left his city charge at the
command of the angel and went down toward the desert ?
It is to be observed that when the Lord has a great
work to be done. He has a man for the work. It seems
that tiie angel could not do it. Nor could that angel,
who told Cornelius to send for Peter who would say
words whereby he should be saved. God might have
anointed angels to bear the lofty commission, liut He
has chosen to work through human instrumentality.
Even in Paul's conversion there was a human instrument.
He has given the church the high honour of being associ-

riin.ir and the eunuch.

139

ated with Him in His work of saving men. How kind
of Him thus to bind us to the perf or. nance of that to
which our sanctified affections prompt, and to which
He has attached the highest rewards!

Notice, too, that wherever salvation is to be brought
within reach of a soul that earnestly seeks for it, God
has a way of bringing together the man who can help
and the man who needs help. Here was the eunuch re-
turning from Jerusalem, to which were attracted the
best minds of Paganism, because there they found a
religion which commended itself to their intellect for
its consistent monotheism, and to their conscience for
its lofty morality. He had gone to the temple and
had worshipped in the court of the Gentiles. He had
mingled with the crowds of worshippers. He had heard
much of Jesus Christ, of His life, death, resurrection,
and ascension, of the wonderful things wrought by
His disciples, of the feast of Pentecost, and of the gift
of tongues and the thousands converted. But he had
come away without the pearl of great price. As the
wise men did not find the King of the Jews in Jerusalem,
so Indich did not obtain in the Holy City any new insight
into the faith which he professed. Indeed his mind
was distracted with doubts and difficulties. But now
returning from having gone up to behold the beauty of
the Lord and to enquire in His temple, is it all in vain?
No, for he is alone with the God of nature in tlie soli-
tude of the desert with the great blue sky overhead,
the great silent wilderness roundabout, and the Book of
God open before him, and he is reading God's " Manual
for Travellers to Zion."

C40

rillLIP AND THE EUNUCH.

i"K

" Sitting in his chariot he read Isaiah the prophet."
Why? To while away his time? How much better to
read Isaiah than the trash travellers usually read ! To
improve his mind ? No book so helpful to mental de-
velopment as the Bible. As the odours of spices escape
however well wrapped up, so the purity, sweetness, and
wisdom of the Book impress us, however unspiritual we
may be. Or was ii: to prepare himself as a statesman
better to fulfil his lofty office ? Certainly here are
principles, by which if stateme" and rulers conduct the
affairs of their country they will elevate it in the scale
of nature and secure for it the favour of God. Or was
it to find out from the Scriptures whether Jesus the
crucified was the Messiah or not ? Certainly he was on
the right road to find Him in the study of the Word,
meditation, and prayer.

And does not this subject show how profitable it
is, on returning from worship, or going to social means
of grace, to study the Scriptures? To study them
when we journej'' that our minds and hearts may be
more and more centred in God. To study them
frequently and much, that we may be more and more
men and women of one book. The book had its
important part to play in the eunuch's conversion ; the
living teacher had his.

But we learn further that he was reading aloud, for
Philip heard him. This was a habit of Jews and other
Eastern people. The great Jewish teachers insisted
upon their pupils reading aloud to infix what they were
reading tnore firmly in the memory. The ear as well
as the eye is thus brought into service. But the eunuch

PHILIP AND THE EUNUCH.

141

probably read aloud as much "for the benefit of the
charioteer " as for his own.

The Spirit said unto Philip, " Go near, and join thyself
to this chariot." The angel had done all he could,
and then disappears. More than angelic help is required
in the conversion of a human soul, and the Holy Spirit
comes to the help of the man of God. The suggestion
was necessary to encourage the poor pedestrian to accost
the nobleman. There goes with it the assurance, "Cer-
tainly I will be with thee." What a combination of
agencies working together to effect the conversion of
the eunuch ! Not to speak of his past training and
discipline, and his recent visit to Jerusalem, the angel
which addressed Philip, Philip himself, the word of God
to Isaiah, and the .Spirit of God. Heaven and earth in
labour together for the new birth of a single soul.
Notice, too, how exquisitely harmonized are all the
circumstances for the accomplishment of the end. The
eunuch chooses a solitary way, perhaps that he may
better meditate and pray. The angel tells Philip, who
would have doubtless chosen a more frequented road,
to take the same course. They meet at a certain place.
The evangelist is led to the very chariot where the
seeker is sitting. The seeker is reading a diflficult passage
in the prophet Isaiah. He is reading aloud. Philip
hears him. The way is open to conversation. Nothing
here is fortuitous or accidental. The hand of God is in
it all.

" And Philip ran thither to him." Here is prompt
and implicit obedience. True obedience knows no delays.
Obedience is the evidence of faith and the demonstra-

142

PHILIP AND THE EUNUCH.

tion of love, and in the eyes of God there is nothing
more precious. Let us pray that we may be as an eolian
harp for the Spirit to breathe upon, as instruments,
ready for every good word and work, to be used by dim.
" And heard him read," for a moment unobserved. If
he had paused to think, the difficulties might have
appalled him. The eunuch was a stranger, a man of
high rank, of large reading, probably indisposed to con-
verse with him, a poor pedestrian. But the man who
is reading that chapter is the man he is sent to, and he
will not falter now and lose the object of his strange
journey. Follow the first suggestions of the Spirit,
yield to clear indications of duty, and perform it at once.

" Understandest thou what thou readest ? " A proper
question, for if he did not understand, Satan would
come immediately and snatch away that which was read.
Reading is good. Give attendance to reading, said Paul
to Timothy. But it is mere opus opcratum, when done
as many do it. The object of reading is salvation and
service. In order to this the will must be yielded to God ;
before this can be done, the heart must be profoundly
stirred ; but the truth that is fitted properly to impress
the heart must first be clear to the mind. Philip insists
as earnestly on clear ideas, as Joseph Cooke. What is
not understood is like meat undigested and therefore
innutritious. It should be felt to be the duty of the
preacher, the teacher, the parent, to make the meaning
of Scripture plain.

Well, if the eunuch did not understand, by his
candour and humility he was smoothing the way for an
understanding. " How can I, except some man should

PTIirjr AND THE EUNUCH.

143

guide me?" One has written: "A consciousness of
ignorance is the alphabet of knowledge." Men, who
are determined to walk by their own light and are
unwilling to receive help from any quarter, are not
in the school of Christ. Indich had only the Old
Testament. The New Testament is needed to sup-
plement the old. Each sheds light on the other. With
both should go the teacher with the living voice. The
nobleman invites Philip to sit beside him in the chariot,
and puts himself at once on the bench of the learner.
The subject he was intent upon was the fifty-third
chapter of Isaiah, to which he had no doubt been point-
ed b}' the finger of God. By this chapter many Jews
and infidels have been converted. In it Christ's death
is so distinctly foretold that the great body of Jews
before His time regarded it as descriptive of Messiah's
character and suffenn«is.

Reading the seventh

and

eighth verses over again, the eunuch said, " Of whom
speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other
man? " A question which is hotly debated at this very-
time. And " Philip opened his mouth," — ^a phrase which
is used of our Lord, importing an important and solemn
occasion — " and began at the same Scripture, and preach-
ed unto him Jesus." The New Testament begins where
the old leaves off. As the Epistle to the Hebrews is
the key to Leviticus, so in general is the New Testa-
ment the key to the Old, which else were to us an
inexplicable mystery. To the eunuch, bewildered and
lost like a traveller in a labyrinth without a clew, Philip
preached Jesus. His sermon is not reported. We have
only the text and the theme. But we know that he

144

rilllJP AND THE EUNUCH.

would shew that the testimony of Jesus was the spirit of
prophecy. He would tell of the events of His life, His
teachings, His miracles, His death. Here he would
dwell at length, and show its relation to man and God.
He would show how He was denied justice by the
Sanhedrim and at the bar of Pilate, how the custom of
making proclamation by the crier as the prisoner was
led to execution, * Whoever knows anything about his
innocence, let him come and declare it ' was not observed
at the trial of Christ, and that His crucifixion as the
highest messenger of heaven was the consummation of
earthly wickedness. He would explain that Jesus was
the Son of God, and the unspeakable gift of God to our
race, for " God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son " to sufferings and death for our sins.
He would insist that this was God's highest commenda-
tion of His love to us, a race of sinners. He would tell
him that Jesus was the lamb, dumb before his shearers,
wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our ini-
quities, of which Isaiah had spoken, " the Lamb of God,
which ta]:eth away the sin of the world." He would
show how since Jesus became a sacrifice for the race,
God can be the justifier of the believer and yet maintain
the principles of His righteous government. He would
bring out what Luther called " a world of theology in
the personal pronouns : " as he explained the text " He
hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows ; He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities ; the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of
us all ; for the transgression of my people was He
stricken." The eunuch wanted a Saviour from his sins

rinr.ip and the eunuch.

and woes, and Philip preached to him Jesus, " because
He shall save His people from their sins." He would
preach Jesus risen from the dead, ascended to heaven,
seated at the right hand of God, bestowinj^ the gift of
the Spirit upon the Church, and ever living to make
intercession for us. He would explain the way of
repentance and faith, and press upon him the claims of
our Lord till his heart was melted and yielded to
Christ, his problems solved and his longings satisfied.

Here was what Bacon calls "the germinant accr-n-
pUshment " of the ancient prophecy, that Ethiopia
should stretch out her hands to God. Here too was seen
the glorious fact that the physical disabilities, which
excluded from the Old Testament Church, could not
avail to shut one out from the Church of Christ.

One advantage, my unconverted friend, the eunuch
had which you do not possess. To him the story of the
cross had all the freshness and force of novelty. But as
an offset to this, you have the advantage of beholding
the multiplied, and ever-multiplying, proofs of the
divinity of the Christian religion. Think of the
triumphs it won in ancient Greece, where many were
cleansed from their leprous- vices and their moral
pollution and renewed and sanctified, and the haughty
scholar and philosopher reduced in temper to the little
child ; and in ancient Rome, where multitudes of slaves
were lifted up from their brutality and degradation to
the gentleness and dignity and grace of the sons of God,
worthy to stand on a common platform with the best
of their patrician masters. Look at the nations which
it has lifted up from insignificance to rank among the

146

PHILIP AND THE EUNUCH.

foremost of the great Powers of the world. Bear in
mind the rod of oppression which it has shivered in
many a land, and the many forms of slavery which it
has abolished in various parts of the world. Consider
how it has promoted science and art, extended com-
merce, given living momentum to literature and lifted
the race all over the world to a much higher plane.
How Christianity has purified, sweetened and ennobled
our homes ; lifted woman from humiliation to honour,
from degradation to dignity ; awakened a profounder
interest in children, causing them to be loved with a
fonder love and bound to their parents by tenderer ties ;
visited the widow and fatherless in their affliction, look-
ed after the sick, comforted the sorrowing, clothed the
naked, fed the hungry, ministered to those that are in
prison ; and planted asylums, hospitals, schools and
reformatories in all lands ! How it inspires the hearts
of believers to-day with peace and love and joy and
hope, and sends them in a crusade of charity over the
world. You yourselves have seen the mighty triumphs
of grace in the salvation of the degraded and lost.
Christ is a real Saviour. But if He is a real Saviour,
then are you a real sinner. If He died for you and
purchased a salvation for you which you may have by
going to Him for it, what will it avail you if you do
not seek it? The eunuch will arise in the day of
judgment to condemn you, and it had been better for
you if you had never been born. Turn at once. Com-
mence to seek Him. Study the Holy Word. Expect
some one to guide you, some Philip, certainly the Holy
Spirit, and you will be led to Christ.

riliur AND THE EUNUCH.

147

Every one who has been brought to Jesus receives of
His Spirit, and should at once begin to work for the
conversion of others. Every hour a chariot is passing,
and some fellow immortal is saying, " How can I under-
stand, except some one should guide me ? " Oh for
hearts like Philip's, ready at the bidding of the angel to
drop everything, and go anywhere if only we may
" save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins."
Oh that Christ would cause the refining fire to go through
our hearts, and kindle such a love within us for Himself
and for the souls He has redeemed, that no chariot
shall ever pass by that we shall not run to and join, and
no opportunity of preaching Jesus the Lord slip unim-
proved through our fingers !

Oh, my brethren, preach Jesus. It is said of the
Rev. S. R. Brown, one of the founders of this Church,
that he could not mention the name of " Jesus " with-
out tears. Get surcharged with this love. " It is the
greatest thing in the world." Said an Indian chief in a
Methodist love-feast : "I have eaten honey in the
wild bees' nest, and eaten sugar in the white man's
home, but I have never in all my life tasted anything
half so sweet as the love of Jesus." Preach Je..us.
Preach Him in His essential divinity, very God of very
God ; in His humanity, bone of our bone. Son of man.
Preach Him in all His offices, in the breadth of His
atonement, in His boundless sympathy and grace.
Plant this seed in the soil of the human heart, and the
harvest shall be great in after days.

" And as they went on their way, they came unto a
certain water : and the eunuch said. See, here is water ;

148

PHILIP AND THE EUNUCH.

what doth hinder me to be baptized ? " He has given
himself to Christ, and can see no reason why he should
not be received at once into His Church. Philip
makes no objection, and the man becomes a member
of the Church. When the jailor was awakened at
midnight and converted, he was baptized and all his
immediately. The}' were not kept waiting weeks and
months to see if thej' could stand alone before they
were baptized. This was the practice of the early
Church under apostolic guidance : baptism upon profes-
sion of faith. There should be no hesitation cither on
the part of the penitent believer himself, or on the part
of the Church. Even if the thirty-seventh verse, which
contains the condition which Philip makes and the
confession of the eunuch, did not constitute a portion of
the original text, but somehow became incorporated
into the text from the margin, an adaptation probably
to some ancient ritual of baptism, there is no doubt
that he did make his confession before he was baptized.
Penitent believers may not accept all our teachings, but
belief in the teachings of Scripture concerning Jesus
Christ, the Son of God and the Saviour of the world,
mitst ever be an indispensable condition of entrance into
the Christian Church.

" And when thej^ were come up out of the water, the
Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch
saw him no more : and he went on his way rejoicing."
A might}^ impulse of the Spirit led Philip to leave his
interesting acquaintance. Perhaps he had been a good
deal dejected by the unhappy defection of Simon
Magus. But the Lord gives him a wonderful com-

PHILIP AND THE EUNUCH,

1 49

pensation in the conversion of the eunuch, and in this
service of inestimable importance to the Church he
regains all his old joy in God.

The eunuch too went on his way rejoicing. He had
borne the burden of a guilty conscience. But now his
mind is enlightened, he has learned the way of salva-
tion, has been received into the Christian Church ; his
burden is taken away ; he feels the joy of the Saviour's
love ; and he is returning home with a message of
gladness for his countrymen. The mountains and hills
break forth into singing and all the trees of the field
clap their hands. It is said that after his royal
mistress was converted, he went to India. What was
the result of his labours none can tell, but his record is
on high and the day will reveal it. The Abyssinians
trace their conversion to his work, but Ecclesiastical
History says that Frumentius and ^disius effected
it in the fourth century.

What a mistake to think religion is a thing of gloom
and melancholy ! If you want to be happy, go to
Christ, give Him your heart, take up the cross you
have long refused, erect the family altar, lead others to
Christ, and the sun will shine on you day and night.

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he
should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; and he went out, not knowing
whither he went. Heb. xi. 8.

About three centuries and a half after the deluge,
according to the popular chronology, Abram was born.
In that short period of time men had greatly multiplied
and sunk deep in sin. So much so, that not only had
they come short of the standard of piety set up by the
father of the post-diluvian world, but they had even
lost those noble conceptions of the Deity which had
formed a large part of the legacy he had bequeathed
them — so much so that God said in reference to Abram
that He had taken him from a land in which his fathers
worshipped other gods (Joshua xxiv. 2 ; Gen. xxxi. 30).
There is reason for supposing that the world had not
yet fallen into such degrading vices and low forms of
idolatry as those which were afterwards adopted.
Probably like the Parsees they were fire-worshippers,
and offered sacrifices to the luminaries of heaven, and
were addicted to hero-worship. At all events idolatry
was rife : idolatry which dethroned the Creator of the
universe, lifted up to the government of the world one
or other of His creatures, or some creature of the

THE CAIJ- OF AURAIIAM.

151

human imagination, and became a fruitful source of all
kinds of sin.

On such a background and amid such surroundings
of darkness, unbelief, and crime, Abram, the Father of
the Faithful, stands out with a striking prominence and
grandeur. Nor is he remarkable merely because of the
circumstances in which he was placed. He would have
commanded universal respect in the ages that produced
a Bacon, a Galileo, a Luther, or a Washington. In the
history of the race he has been singularly distinguished.
Many nations, with widely different creeds, delight to
do him honour. The Arab and the Jew, the Christian
and the Mohammedan, vie with one another in the
homage they accord him. All antiquity celebrated the
achievements of his cultivated intellect, martial prowess,
and princely demeanour. Many a tradition had him
for its hero. Many an ancient profane author, such as
Nicolaus Damascenes, Josephus, and Berosus, repeated
his praises. They spoke of his piety, endowments and
learning, of his wisdom, eloquence, and bravery.

But turning from profane history and coming to the
Word of God we find him there described as a man of
princely bearing, and a true servant of the Most High.
Place him and his life by the side of the most renowned
names of classic story, and you fiiid in him the stateliest
figure of them all. What mental or moral elevation
did Nimrod, Sesostris, or Cyrus display to be placed in
comparison with the magnanimous spirit of the Friend
of God?

In this chapter the writer to the Hebrews is illustrat-
ing the nature, power, and results of faith by the lives

152

THE CALL OF ADRAIIAM.

of the illustrious dead, whose shoe-latchets we are not
worthy to unloose. The father of the faithful must not
be overlooked — the spiritual progenitor of all who
should afterward be'ieve, whose faith is the pattern of
theirs, so that all who believe tread in the steps of the
faith of their father Abraham. Four insta-ices in his
life are given, in which faith vviis put to great trial,
each being the occasion of greatly strengtheni.ig the
principle, and all combining to ill'strate the nobleness
and majesty of the grace. Our sui jec*- l^ the first of
these trials.

i. f/t's calL

In Genesis xi. 31, we read of a movement on the
part of Terah and ALram for which no motive is
assigned. But Canaan is their destination, though for
a while they rest at Haran. For in Acts (vii. 2-4) we
are told that God first appeared to Abram in Chaldca
and called him to leave his eountty and his hiiidrcd.
He succeeded in persuading his father and family to go
with him. In Haran he resided till his father's death,
when havinrf received from above a second intimation
(Genesis xii. 1), and one more precise and definite in its
requirements, he departed leaving all but Lot, and taking
his goods and his family journeyed forth to Canaan. His
first call was indefinite, as it was to a merely temporar}>
resting place ; the second specified a land which God
should show him. The first required him to lea^^e his
country and his kindred ; the second, his father s house.

Observe the reason God has for calling Abram. It
seems to have been a settled principle in the Divine
economy from the time of Abram down not to leav^e

lilK CAM, OK AimAIIAM.

153

the world without men in whom were lodged the know-
ledge and the fear of God, who should be exponents of
the truth, lights in benighted ages. It was so during
the existence of the Jewish nation. It has been so
during the darkest periods since the Christian era.
There have always been some to bear witness to the
truth. In the time of Abram things were proceeding
to such a pass that if remedial measures had not been
adopted, piety would liave become extinct. Truth had
to be republished. Never more than at that time has
man's tendency to corrupt religion been exhibited.
It became necessary to free the polished mirror of
divine truth from the impurities with which the vile
breath of man had dimmed and tarnished it. It was
the purpose of God to find a suitable man to be the
progenitor of a mighty nation, to enter into special and
intimate relations with him, to separate him and his
posterity unto Himself, to make them the depository of
divine truth, to train them as a people, that ultimately
through them true religion might be communicated to
the whole world. Abram was the favoured man and his
descendants the chosen people. And the timeliness,
which marks the ways of God to man, is seen in the fact
that the call of Abram was just at that time when idolatry
was securing itself in the habits, customs, affections,
and passions of the world, when it was fortifying itself
in its entrenchments for its long conflict with the truth.
God called him away from w^iere idolatry would seem
to have prevailed. The very fact that his kindred were
idolaters and he a servant of the one true God implied
a gulf of separation between them and him. The

154

THE CAM, OF AERAITAM.

physical distance between Haran and Canaan, or between
Ur and Canaan, was as nothing to the moral distance
between them and him. But now God will have him
by himself that He may work in him all the mighty
work of faith. So says God in Isaiah (li. 2), " I called
him aloney When God wishes to talk with a man He
often calls him into a solitary place apart. Hence He
says to Abram : " Get thee out." The reason of the
call is clear.

Nor is Abram alone called of God. This call of God
symbolizes God's call and command to every one, to
come out from the world and be separate in spirit, in
maxim, in motive, and in aim, and touch not the unclean
thing. Appended is the glorious promise : " And I
will receive }'ou and be a Father unto you, and ye
shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Al-
mighty." " If children, then heirs," reasons Paul.
Lo, then, our glorious inheritance — a holy nature,
God's perfections, the heavenly Canaan ! To realize
this is to realize God's plan for us and our " high
calling's glorious hope." Beside this call addressed to
the innermost experience and which is for all, there is
another call to occupy a certain sphere and do a
specific work. This call has to do with the external
life. It has, of course, its reactive influence on the inner
life — not otherwise. All are called to be good and
holy — to be servants of God and saints. But our
spheres in life are vastly different. Joseph had his
specific call to a specific work, for which he was being
prepared in his father's home, in Potiphar's household,
and in prison. Moses had a high calling, and after due

'ITIE CALL OF AURAIIA1\L

155

training in the Egyptian court, and suitable discipline
in the solitudes of Midian, he was sent forth to fulfil his
great commission. And Paul was called to be a chosen
vessel, seized in the very camp of Christ's enemies and
bound to His chariot wheels forever. Nor alone these
mighty men, these master spirits. All men, however
small their parts and obscure their position, have a call
from God and may have a conscious sense of this
calling. Of course it is easier to think of the great
being called of God, than to conceive that we of lowly
rank and small measures of talent have been thus
honoured. But in God's sight nothing is common or
unclean. His love regards all that He has made. His
vast solicitudes embrace all the race. Lilce His generous
sunlight, which in its glorious abundance falls on stick
and stone and pebble, making no distinction between
the Queen and the humblest servant, shining through
all the radiant hours on palace and on hut, plating each
alike with burnished gold, God's love falls alike on all
the race. Indeed, in the economy of nature what is
there that has not its office to fill, its part to play?
The crawling worm, Darwin instructs us, is as important
in its place as the mettlesome steed in his sphere. And
what of man ? Is he alone without some important end
to serve ? High up above all the rest of the world, has
he no orbit in which to revolve, no round of special
duties to perform, no plan of life to realize ? Now, if
the Scriptures in some of the lowliest conditions exhibit
important offices fulfilled — as Ruth in the barley field,
Joseph in prison, Jacob wrestling with the angel,
Mordecai in Shushan, Eunice and Lois training young

156

THE CALL OF Ar.RAIL\M.

Timothy — are we not to suppose that God has a
particular plan in reference to each individual, however
undistinguished he may be by any mark of social or
intellectual greatness? Moreover, what do the Scrip-
tures mean when they assert that God is anxious to
guide man if it is not to some place or condition of life
in which he can best subserve the interests of his being ?
We cannot, then, avoid the conclusion that every man
has a distinct and specific calling, one suited to him, in
which he can best glorify God and promote his own
truest interests — a calling in which he shall have quiet
and sustained influences from heaven to enlighten, to
assist in labour and in suffering, to purify and to
invigorate him, if only he is sincerely desirous of find-
ing it.

But distinguish, I pray you, between the reason for
calling Abraham which was in the divine mind and the
motive which was used to excite the spirit of obedience.
God called him to witness a good profession, to become
a preacher of righteousness, a pattern of faith, and the
father of many nations. But the motive was that he
was to become great and the land to which he was
called was to be his inheritance. He was not as yet
prepared to feel the force of higher motives. So it is
in life. See the traveller upon a long and tedious
journey. The course he takes is not an interminable
plain. It is diversified with a variety of scenery.
Now beds of flowers in the green vale, now a charming
lake embosomed among the hills, now the distant
roar of the cataract, and then a flashing cascade, now
the trees climbing high up the mountain's side ; and

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.

157

now from the brow of some lofty hill a commanding
view of wood and clearing, of city and hamlet, and of a
river like a silver serpent meandering over the plain.
Thus his spirit is ever and anon refreshed, and with
unexhausted strength he reaches his destination. Or to
vary the illustration. You have a son whom you
design to study law, because you believe his talents
are of a sort to make him distinguished at the bar.
You say nothing to him of your intention or your hope.
But you set yourself to the work of his education.
You cultivate his phj-sical powers ; you endeavour to
give him comprehensiveness of view and acuteness in
distinguishing things that rliffer. You hold forth a
new inducement when yon set a new task. You
strive to lay broad and deep the foundations of his
moral character, in the cultivation of his conscience.
You endeavour to show him and make him feel the
majesty of law, the grandeur of truth and rectitude.
You excite within him a laudable ambition. You give
him as thorough an education as possible. And when
your work is done, or as soon as you think- advisable,
you tell him of all your hopes and aims, by which time
he is prepared to enter into them and follow them out
to the best advantage.

Thus God allures us on in the pathway of life,
only revealing to us oin* way in sections — a small
portion at a time. Thus it was with Abram. He
was called first to Ilaran. Then after fourteen years,
as Dr. Hales calculates, he was again called to strike
his tent and journey further, the divine plan not
having undergone any modification in all that time.

158

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.

But hitherto Abram had not been prepared to enter
deeply into the divir»e counsels. Just as the best of
men in the Southern States of America, who had kept
themselves free from the pollutions of that sum of
villanies, slavery, were more or less defiled in sentiment
thereby, so doubtless Abram in the presence of that
astounding vice and crime of idolatry had unconsciously
been tinctured by its influence. Therefore he must
remain for fourteen years in Ilaran, separated from the
debasing associations of idolatry till God has an
opportunity of exploring and cleansing the defiled
passages of his heart and imagination, and filling his
mind with knowledge and correct sentiment and exalted
faith and truth and purity and delicacy of feeling, when
he shall be prepared to receive the higher communica-
tion then to be made. And well it is that heaven from
all creatures hides the book of fate. Some of you have
had dark and mournful experiences of injury, trial,
disappointment, and self-accusation. Had you seen it
all at the outset — had this cup of sorrow been mingled
in your presence at the beginning, and had you known
all its ingredients, how would you have recoiled from
the fearful prospect, from the bitter draught ! Or if
your experience has been and is to be for the most
part joyous atid bright, was it not better, and will it
not be better, to let the life gradually unfold itself like
a slowly opening flower till you reach its final and
glorious consummation ? Surely this is better than to
be a mere actor in a drama, knowing all beforehand and
proceeding with feigned interest from act to act and
from scene to scene. The glory of Abram's life and of

THE CAIJ. OF AIJRAIIAM.

159

every good man's life is that it is a constant study of
moral and evangelical causes, and of God's character as
involved in that calling and in the beautiful results of
that call.

How animating is the thought that we have a
calling, a high and holy calling. Yes, says the world
tauntingly, to mend boots and sweep streets, to sell
tape, to wash dishes, to mind babies. The world is
welcome to its own small sneer. What it affirms is
even so. And in spheres like these it is that the most
beautiful lives have been evolved, as David among the
sheep, Peter and John with their nets and fishes, and
the great Master in the carpenter's workshop. We
have a high calling. And God, in order as it seems to
show the more clearly His superlative wisdom and love,
has oftentimes brought it about that the most illustrious
characters have been produced amid the most ignoble
surroundings. And under the greatest weights of trial
and suffering, men have not only not been crushed to
the earth, but have even grown and flourished till their
foreheads smote the stars. ,

There is for each of us, then, a path of life, in which
if we walk we shall find God leading us, and giving it
such a force and meaning, that as the vista opens up
and the end approaches, our hearts will be filled with an
unspeakable joy and felicity. Fears and doubts shall
then forever pass away, and faith and hope reign in
undisturbed dominion.

But there is one condition necessary to such a life
which all do not attain to. There must be humble
unquestioning obedience. Consider now

1 60

THE CAM. OF ABRAHAM.

ii*. AbravCs obedience.

I. The beauty and cliarm of the grace of obedience
are enhanced by the difficulties which stand in the
way. In the way of Abram's obedience these difficul-
ties were manifold. He was called to leave his home
—a scene fraught with many precious memories and
about which clustered his fondest associations. There
dwelt the friends of his youth, his manhood, his old
age. There reposed the dust of his fathers. There
he had spent the days of his early childhood, the
enthusiasm of his youth and the ripened energies of
his manhood. It was for those people he had given
freely and rejoicingly his best counsels and efforts.
It was among these hills, and by these streams, and
amid these forests that he had meditated, prayed,
and laboured. He could look about him and see
the impress of his mind on many a feature of their
material improvements, civil polity and educational
institutions. Nor was this all. This was his native
land. " Breathes there a man with soul so dead, who
never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native
land ? " Ah ! the spell of his country was on his heart.
It would be like rending heart-strings to tear himself
away. Not only so. The effervescence of youth had
long ago subsided, the vigour and glow of early manhood
had passed away, and seventy-five winters had shed
their snows upon his head. Whatever he might have
felt like doing when an adventurous youth or an enter-
prising man, now to him in his advanced years there
would be no place in all the world so dear as home,
sweet home. These were real difficulties. There were

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.

t6i

others no less real because imaginary, for they too must
be resolutely grappled with and overcome. He knew
the direction he was to take, but of the distance he had
to travel, the name of the country whither he journey-
ed, the character of the people among whom he was to
settle — of all this he probably knew little or nothing.
He was to journey across a perilous desert which turned
out to be hundreds of miles long. He had to appear a
stranger among a people, who might turn out to be
inhospitable and hostile. He had apparently no right to
the country which was promised to him, nor any means
of obtaining possession. Extreme sufferings or a violent
death might await him. Contingencies such as these
were probably suggested to his mind, none of which
were calculated to tranquilize, but on the contrary to
excite fearful apprehensions.

How mighty the difficulties by which his soul was
beleaguered ! Some arising from the circumstances in
which he found himself, and some from the ignorance
and dar iiess in which God left him.

But whatever the difficulties, the forebodings, and
the fears, whatever the ridicule and the entreaties,
Abram went on and on, over long spaces, till the end
came. It was easy to begin the journey ; it was not so
easy to continue it, or to resume it again after stopping
for a while in one place. In chap. xii. 5, it is said :
" They (Abram and Lot) went forth to go into the land
of Canaan ; and into the land of Canaan they came."
In chap. xi. 31, we have almost the same words used of
Terah's journeying, but it was to Haran they came.
Terah was satisfied with something less good than

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162

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.

Canaan. For when he reached Haran he found
pasturage for his cattle, and there he rested and lived
and died. But Abram, the man of God, pressed over
the mighty Euphrates, and on and on till he reached
the promised land.

And now we are led to the consideration of the
question whence he obtained the strength to persevere
in his obedience to the end.

2. Faith was the principle, the animating principle of
his life and obedience. It was faith in God and His
promise — reliance on God Himself and trust in His
word ; and that trust showed itself in obedience. God's
word is sometimes promise, sometimes command.
Faith is taking God at His word, and he who takes
God at His word, must take all His words — whether of
promise, of threatening, or of command. Faith and
obedience are inseparable. Abram knew the full import
of the command and felt it his duty to obey : he knew
who was sending him forth — One who was filled with
love for him, and therefore yearning over him with
infinite longings that His plan of life would be accepted
and fulfilled ; who was possessed of all wisdom and able
to foresee every contingency and anticipate every
danger ; One who was possessed of all power and
capable therefore of doing anything that He promised ;
One who was all faithful and therefore never untrue to
His word, and who never failed to execute His well-laid
and beneficent plans. On the promise of such a God
he could with confidence rely. For He would do for him
better than his fears or even his hopes, yea, exceedingly
abundantly above all that he could ask or think. To be

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.

163

sure God gave him no hostages or pledges beyond His
bare promise. But had He not promised ? That was
enough. " Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, and
looks tq that alone, laughs at impossibilities, and cries
it shall be done." He ought to trust, he can trusty he
will trust ; and under the influence of this principle he
arose with promptitude, resolving to do God's will
whatever hindrances or difficulties may be in the way,
and went out not knowing whither he went, the pioneer
of all the faithful.

This ignorance, then, in which God leaves His people
is not wholly evil, perhaps not evil at all, giving
opportunity, as it does, not only for the joy of surprises,
but also for the exercise and trJumphs of faith, and for
the perfection of obedience.

In Abram we have one endowed with extraordi-
nary powers of mind, moving in an exalted sphere in
society and possessed of great wealth, placing himself
in the hands of God, subordinating everything to his
religious interests, fully devoting himself to the will of
God and placing character, comfort, substance, and
even his life at the divine disposal. How glorious
henceforth was his life, a continual discovery of grace
and glory, a sweet realization of infinite complacency
and wisdom, evolving light, beauty, rest, patience,
purity, honour, and glory ! On the dark background of
that age he stands sublimated, purified, ennobled, like a
being of another age or another world, suddenly thrust
into the darkness of that period with the light of his
native clime shining mildly upon him.

In conclusion three remarks : —

• M

164

THE CAM. OF A15RAHAM.

I. I have endeavoured to distinguish between the
inner call and the outer call — the call to holiness of
heart and the call to some specific coursr in life. The
latter call, when obeyed implicitly, secures to. us and
others great good. But we do not reach it in all its
lengths and breadths, unless we obey the former. The
former in its wider scope embraces the latter. It
dignifies the latter, gives a meaning to it which other-
wise we should not perceive. So that he who refuses
to obey the call of God to be holy injures himself and
others beyond the power of language to express. To
do so is to stay in Ur, or at the most not to go be-
yond Haran. In leaving Ur, Abram left idolatr>' and
idolaters behind him. He persuaded Terah, his father,
to accompany him ; but Terah would go no further than
Haran, because to go further was to cross the mighty
Euphrates, and cut himself irrevocably from the past.
Many professing Ch istians having come up from Ur,
the world without, to Haran, the regenerate life, are
unwilling to go ary further, because to go further is to
separate themselves utterly from all that they have
known and prized. But Abram went on at God's
command to Canaan. Have you come with Abram
from Ur to Haran, the land of justifying grace? In
the name of God, who with a second summons calls
you to be saints, go on to Canaan, " the land of rest
from inbred sin, the land of perfect holiness."

Perhaps, young people, you are called to go from
your father's house to school, to duty elsewhere, to
marriage. Though home is the best place to be in
while it is your duty to remain there, yet oftentimes

THE CALL OF AHRAIIAM.

I6S

God summons the \oung away. Be prompt then in
your obedience, even though you know not whither you
are going. The sz ■^c God who led Abraham is anxious
to have the control and obedience of your life. With
His smile you have nothing to fear. Only s irrender
yourself entirely to His claims, and He will keep you
both in poverty and riches, in prosperity and adversity ;
He will keep you, too, from the painful reflection which
those have who know that they have rejected the
counsel of God against themselves, and feel that they
are suffering the consequences of their own disobedience.
With the faith of the venerable patriarch, you will
consult not your own ease or pleasure, your own profit
or honour, but God's will. You will ask. What is my
duty ? and this ascertained there remains no alternative*
You will do your duty, though you may not know
whither it will lead you. You will accept the universe,
and all things about you. You will get rid of all
affectation and straining after effect. You will have
difficulty, but if you follow in the steps of the faith
of our father Abraham, you will trust for guidance
to an unseen Arm ; you will look to an invisible Hand
for food, raiment, and all necessary good ; you will
rejoice evermore, welcome trial and sorrow, pray with-
out ceasing and in everything give thanks. And if the
journey looks long before you, you will remember that
if you continue long enough to take but one step at a
time, you will reach the end, and all the way along the
road you will " lean upon your Helper, God."

2. But if you refuse to accept God's plan of your
life, for you that highest good is no longer possible.

i66

•I'lIE CALL OF AKKAIIAM.

The next best possible thing is offered you. If you
reject this call also, there is for you something lower,
until, if you continue by a blind insanity to reject and
reject, all good, so far as it concerns you, will be
exhausted. Then you will be used for the good of
others — an illustration of the wretchedness and abject-
ness of the man who turns his back upon all God's
overtures of good. Perchance, in the language of
Dr. Bushnell : " He will henceforth use you, wholly
against your will, to be the demonstration of His
justice and avenging power before the eyes of mankind ;
saying over you as He did over Pharaoh in the day of
His judgment, * Even for this same purpose have I
raised thee up that I might show My power in thee
and that My name might be declared throughout all
the earth.' Doubtless He had other artd more genial
plans to serve in this bad man if only he had accepted
such ; but knowing his certain rejection of these
God turned His mighty counsel in him wholly to
the use to be made of him as a reprobate. How
many Pharaohs in common life refuse every other
use God will make of them, choosing only to figure
in this small way as reprobates, and descending in
that manner to a fate that painfully mimics his."
God is calling you yet. He calls you out of sin
into holiness, out of the old world into the new,
out of yourselves into Him. "Get out" — and "get
into." If in unquestioning faith and prompt obedi-
ence you obey that call. He will bring you to " the
land of rest, the saints' delight, the heaven prepared
for you."

THE CALL OK ABRAHAM.

167

3. Ere long we must all leave our country, our
kindred and our father's house and " take a final
journey " we know not whither — " into a world un-
known, a land of deepest shade unpierced by human
thought," a land of awful mystery, whence no traveller
returns. Of this mysterious country we know, I say,
but very little. We know this much, however, that
they who tread in the footsteps of Abram will find it a
land of pure delight and perfect blessedness. But are
you possessed of such a faith that when your call
comes, you will be able without fear or reluctance
to leave your tabernacle of clay and go out into
eternity?

Project yourself forward to the inevitable hour of
death. You are on a ridge between two worlds. In a
few moments you will have passed over. You are
about to bid farewell to life in this world, with all
that is familiar and dear — your business, your friends,
your family. In a few moments you will enter the
dark, mysterious unknown land, over which rests so
deep a shadow. Can you bear without dread the
severance of the ties which bind you to this world?
Can you face the other world without foreboding?
Are you ready to go? Or are you getting ready?
You may now refuse to obey God's command to
come out from the world and be separate. But the
call to depart this life cannot be declined. It will
not avail to say — " I cannot die ; I will not die." Go
you must, when the summons comes. If now you
listen to the divine call and leave your Ur and your
Haran, and resolutely set your face to go to Canaan,

1 68

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.

you will be ready then with perfect composure of
spirit to say, with our great Example : Father, into
Thy Lands I commend my spirit."

'J?

«■ -

fi*-

GOD'S ANCIENT PEOPLE.

" Who are Israelites ; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and
the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the
pronnses ; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ
came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen." Rom. ix. 4, 5.

Nations, like individuals, have their birth and growth ;
they reach the acme of their prosperity ; they decline,
they die and disappear, and are only known to have
existed by the crumbling monuments and fragmentary
records that they have left behind. Not so with the
Hebrew race which does not decay and refuses to die.
It has passed through an ordeal of suffering, perhaps
greater than that endured by any other race, but still it
survives, the same strong, unbroken race that it was
thousands of years ago. Unless we except China, Juda-
ism is the one vestige of the remote past that has entirely
defied decay or dissolution. Mightier peoples than
Israel have appeared on the great stage of humanity,
but they have vanished like the shadowy figures of a
phantasmagoria. On their ruins other peoples have
arisen, or conquest and admixture have so modified them
that beyond a few centuries no man can trace his an-
cestry. There is a solemn grandeur in the tremendous
sweep of vision that the Hebrew takes of the course of

i
ll

170

GOD S ANCIKNT PEOPI.E.

It'

Si,

time. He has seen ,ill the ancient world-wide monarch-
ies rise, flourish, and fall. Old ages, empires and
systems have perished and left him behind, and new
civilizations, empires and systems have sprung up to find
him here before them, and likely to remain when they
too have gone. He dwells under all stars, drinks of all
streams, speaks all languages, enlists under every flag.
Ancient as histor}', he possesses an indestructible youth.
Threatened in all lands and times with destruction, like
the Burning Bush he flourishes unconsumcd in fire, a
burning lamp shining on amid convulsions and tempests,
an ethnological miracle, an undying witness of the truth
of revelation, and a perpetual reminder of the future
glories of our race.

The Hebrew is descended, in the line of Isaac, from
Abraham, who must not be pictured as a solitary traveller
with his wallet and scrip, but as a mighty nomad sheik,
at the head of a vast encampment, the father of nations.
Lord Beaconsfield, stung by insinuations aim u at his
pedigree, told the noble lord that "the sons of the
Crusaders are by the side of the sons of Levi muddy-
blooded barbarians." The Englishman, though he might
trace his ancestry back to the Roman period or to a
Saxon thane, is but of yesterday in comparison with
the Hebrew.

It has been supposed that the ten tribes, which were
carried away into captivity before Judah, are concealed
in some unknown region of the earth, but history finds
no trace of them as now existing in any part of the
world, and there is nothing in the Bible to make us
believe that tht^y anywhere have a distinct separate ex-

GOD S ANCIENT PEOPLE.

171

istence. A large proportion never went into exile, for
only 27,280 captives were carried away by Sargon, this
second deportation being apparently much larger than
the first under Pul and Tiglath-pileser ; and if only ten
times as many were destroyed in the siege and previous
wars, what became of the rest of Israel, whose warriors
in the time of David numbered 1,100,000, which implies
a population of several millions? The captives them-
selves were not allowed to settle in one district, and
therefore could not keep up an organized community.
Besides, we know that many Israelites — from Asher
and Manasseh and Zebulun — came bacls- with Judah,
and a reunion of the divided Kingdoms took place in
the celebration of the Passover (2 Chronicles xxx., xxxi.,
and xxxiv. 8,9). Moreover, the prophets, Jeremiah and
Ezekiel, Hosea and Micah, declared that Judah and
Israel would return together. And in the offerings
made by the returned exiles at the Feast of Dedication,
twelve he-goats were offered for a sin-offering for all
Israel according to the number of the tribes. Many of
the two kingdoms chose not to return. These are spoken
of as dispersed among the people in all the provinces
(Esther iii. 8). And from the descendants of these it
doubtless was that devout men out of every nation
under heaven came to the Passover, and were present at
the Peiilecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. After
the Return, because of the numerical superiority of the
tribe of Judah, Jews became the common name for all
Israelites. From all which we infer that after the re-
stoiation the old distinction between Judah and Israel
was lost, and that the ten tribes, as a distinct nation

172

GOD S ANCIENT PEOPLE.

having ceased to exist, all Israelites once more became
one people, recognizing themselves as the descendants
of the twelve ancient tribes.

Dr. Pressel divides the modern Jews into three great
classes according to the countries over which they are
dispersed, of which I need not speak particularly.

Both in America and Europe are three parties : one,
consisting of those that are conservative of old forms
and habits in synagogue, education, and worship ;
another, of those that in education, synagogue, and
worship conform to the highest ideas prevalent in their
respective countries ; and a tliird, of those that propose
to drop all the externals of Judaism and retain only a
pure Deism. A writer in Blackivood shows that ration-
alism is threatening, nay, now working, a revolution
among the Jews. No people have hitherto been more
steadfast to their traditions than the Hebrews. But
they evidently are giving way to modern thought and
.sloughing off the petrified, crystallized opinions of ages.
The Talmud up to this century has been the supreme
authority, the oracle of the Hebrew world. But the
Jewish reformers have cast down this hitherto supreme
standard. With it have gone down all its minute and
almost infinitesimal prescriptions of forms for all matters
of worship, morals, and manners. They educate their
children in the common schools, mingle freely with
Gentiles in the legislature and in politics generally, and
advocate the change of their Sabbath to the Christian
Sunday as a matter of expediency. It is an interesting
question how far this change may favour the final
Christianization of Judaism.

r,OD S ANCIEN'l' rEOPLE.

173

The distinction has been claimed for the Hebrew that,
unlike all other races, his blood is untainted. But Dr.
Neubauer, himself a Hebrew, speaking before the An-
thropological section of the British Association a few
years ago, contended that the Hebrews, unlike the
Gypsies, are not perfectly pure ; that the Israelites of
old were descendants of a mixed race that had crossed
the breed in Egypt ; that from the time of the Second
Temple intermixture took place with converts ; that
Jews intermarried with non-Semitic tribes, and that
under the Roman empire conversions became so frequent
that laws had to be passed against those who would be
circumcised. A Jew, he said, was not particular as to
the nation his wife belonged to, if only she professed
his religion. We may, therefore, safely conclude that
the Hebrews, like other races, are not of pure and
unmixed blood.

Strangely hated has been the Hebrew. From the
time of the Pharoah of the Oppression till now, he has
been scattered, spoiled, a byword, a hissing, and an exe-
cration, in the earth. When the Hebrews were restored
from Babylon, foreign nations often controlled their
destinies. Their worst calamities commenced with the
Roman war A.D. 66. In this war town after town was
taken and sacked, and multitudes slain. Jerusalem was
invested and captured, 1,100,000 perished, and an im-
mense multitude was led into slavery ; and 60 years later
another revolt took place and 580,000 were slain. While
Christianity was under the ban the Jews, who sympathi-
zed with the Roman rulers in their oppression of Chris-
tians, flourished. But at the conversion of Constantine

174

god's ancient PEOPI-E.

they began again to suffer. The code of Justinian debar-
red them from civil rights. After the rise of the papal
power, their afilictions were augmented. The era of the
Crusades was a time of still deeper gloom. The Cru-
sader seizing a Jew by the beard would plunge his
sword into his breast crying, " Hierosolyma est perdita "
— Jerusalem is destroyed. This became a toast at their
banquets, and was contracted into H. E. P., and thus
pronounced as one word, from which sprang, perhaps,
the cry, " Hep, hep, hep, hurrah ! " They have been
expelled from most of the countries of Europe, and have
suffered many forms of oppression, depredation, pillage,
torture, outlawry, starvation, and massacre. The streets
of many cities were deluged with their blood ; they were
burnt alive by thousands ; their sufferings, in short,
beggar description. Why this cruelty and hatred?
Why the false charges trumped up against them from
time to time? Was it because of their religion? Or
their usury and extortion? Or that they might be
despoiled of their possessions? Whatever the cause,
extortion, and massacre, and banishment, continued until
200 years ago, when toleration began to be extended to
them, and during this century their just rights have
been largely yielded to them. Surely we may hope
that out of affliction, so protracted and severe, much
good will come : —

Wine oozes from the trodden grape,
Iron's blistered into steel.

In an unjustifiable attack upon the persecuted Jews
in Russia, a great critic has called them "a parasitic
race." If what he says of them is true in that particular

GODS ANCIENT PEOPLE.

175

country, it would be equally true of them everywhere.
What is there in the character of the Jew to excuse
this onslaught upon him? He is ambitious of getting
on in the world, it is true ; but is not the Anglo-Saxon
or the Anglo-American tarred with the same brush ?
We are told that his love of ducats is excessive ; but do
not the descendants of Covenanters and Puritans race
hard and in as crooked a way after the dollar as any
Hebrew? And "if he succeeds better than most is it
not because he is temperate, industrious, and frugal in
an unusual degree? Has he not learned to exercise
that self-respect and self-control which constitute the
first condition of success in any form of human enter-
prize ? " If he is sharp and hard, what else could be
expected of him after the cruel oppression of centuries?
Good has come of this oppression, but not unmixed
good. But how seldom do we find him justly arraigned
before Courts of Law !

So far from being a parasite, he is " the very em-
bodiment of self-help." He is not fond of hard manual
labour, but you find him occupying all positions, from
the princely merchant or banker, to the muleteer or
itinerant clothes-monger. He is neither a drunkard nor
a beggar. Thrifty and keen-witted in prosperity or
adversity, he is under obligations to nobody. He pro-
vides for his family, his sick and his poor. The critic
says that he is found " inserting " himself into this or
that nationality for purposes of gain. We wonder if
this is true of no other nation ! For what purposes do
merchants of England, America, France, Germany and
Italy come to Japan?

r
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I ii

176

COD S ANCIENT lEOPI.E.

f i

The Hebrew is certainly an interesting study for
many reasons. He is not as prolific as some other
races, but as to longevity the results are largely in
his favour. The average duration of the life of
well-to-do Hebrews is 10 years longer than that of
Gentiles; and this is due to their superior hygienic
habits, and to the sturdy constitution transmitted by
ancestors, who also observed strict sanitary precautions.
Immunity from disease is a characteristic of the race.
Dr. Mapother, of Dublin, in his lectures on Public
Health, says : — " The striking immunity of the White-
chapel Jews in the last, as well as all former epidemics
(cholera), was due to their timely distribution of animal
food, and to their excellent hygienic observances, which
have made the longevity of this race one-third greater
than that of most European peoples." The Jews
commit suicide much less frequently than other
religionists. Than others they have fewer illegitimate
children. James Parton says of them that " they are
probably at the present hour the chastest seven millions
of people under the sun." The family feeling among
them is very strong, which assures to aged and infirm
parents, to infants, to children, the utmost solicitude.
Their charity is unsurpassed. They do not forget
that their sacred scriptures hold up as the consumma-
tion of iniquity the conduct of those who " slay the
widow and stranger, and murder the fatherless ; " and
that the Old Testament declares that "cursed be he
that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless,
and widow," and requires all the people to say Amen.
They have orphanages, asylums, refuges, and mutual

GOD S ANCIENT PEOPLE.

177

help societies, and all this is done in no parsimonious
way, but on the most liberal scale. Baron Hirsch's
devotion of three millions sterling of his fortune to the
relief of his persecuted brethren in Russia is a magnificent
illustration of what is done every day by Hebrews in
very humble circumstances. Educationally, too, they
rank very high. " In almost every country they have
equal advantages with Christians, and are found in more
than equal proportion among the most educated and

educating classes of to-day In Berlin, where the

Jews are but five per cent, of the population, they are
30 per cent, of the students ; this is true also of Austria.
In the whole of the German Empire, where the propor-
tion of Jews is only one in seventy-five, in all the
higher institutions of learning the proportion of Jews
is one in ten. In Germany they already hold seventy
professorial chairs in the universities ; and all agree that
the tide of Jewish influence in education and learning is
still rising." It is only a little while, say 30 years, since
the Jew was first admitted to practice at the bar of
England, yet he has already reached the front ranks.
Sir George Jessel held a seat in the foremost files of
English judges as Master of the Rolls. The control of
the world's finances is largely in their hands, and in
addition to the money-power they control to a large
extent the Press of Europe. They are the leaders of
progressive and democratic journalism in the Teutonic
States. Out of 23 liberal and progressive papers of the
Berlin daily press, there are only two that are not in one
way or anotlier under Jewish control. In Dresden at a
representative gathering of the press, 29 out of 43 were

178

GOD S ANCIENT PEOPLE.

Jews. In Austria the same thing appears, for out of
370 authors 225 are Jews. We should not therefore
wonder when we are told that Jewish pens lead public
opinion through a good part of Europe. Wealthy
families of Hebrews are intermarried with the aristocra-
cies of Europe, their richly dowered daughters being
given in marriage to the haughtiest mcjiibers of the
nobility. Hebrews take high office in Europe and
America. They are acceptable candidates for the legis-
lative assemblies of Italy, Austria, Germany, France, and
England. In the English House of Commons they
have representation out of all proportion to their sl^are
of the population, for while they are only one in 800
of the population, recently they held 9 out of its 658
seats. Lord Beaconsfield blew the Hebrew horn thus :
— " There is no race that has so delighted, fascinated,
elevated, and ennobled Europe as the Jewish." " Who,"
he asks, "are the great composers who hereafter will
take rank with Homer, with Sophocles, with Praxiteles
or with Phidias ? They are the descendants of those
Arabian tribes who conquered Canaan, and who by the
favour of the Most High have done more with less
means than even the Athenians. When the Russian,
the Frenchman, and the Anglo-Saxon, amid applause
of theaters, yield themselves to the full spell of a Mozart,
a Meyerbeer, or a Mendelssohn, it seems difficult to
comprehend how those races can reconcile it to their
hearts to persecute a Jew."

Here then is a people without a country and without
a king, scattered among all the nations but distinct as
any, by their observance of the Mosaic institutes a true

GOD S ANCIENT TKOPI.E.

170

nation, animated by a common national hope and in-
sjoiration that tropical suns cannot consume, nor the
frosts of the North chill ; with national characteristics
that nothing can obliterate : for neither spoliation, nor
exile, nor massacre can break their proud spirit, or bend
the iron smew in their neck. Far mightier, far greater
nations have existed, measured themselves against this
mysterious race, and passed away. For Israel, though
tenacious and patient in the highest degree, has been
as an anvil on which they have been broken (Jeremiah
1. 23 ; li. 19-25), and still survives — a race with capacity to
rise to the highest place and to do the greatest things.

To this race, Paul tell us, " pertained the adoption,
and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the
law, and the service of God, and the promises, whose
are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh
Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever."
This race has as its crowning distinction that it was
God's chosen people, into which in due time should
come the Son of God. If they were guilty in His
crucifixion of the most stupendous crime that can be
laid to the charge of the human race, it may be said in
extenuation that " they did it ignorantly in unbelief."
To this remarkable people we are debtors. " We are
debtors " indeed " both to the Jew and the Greek."
We owe somewhat to all the ancient nations that aimed
at the empire of the world, but chiefly to the Greeks,
the Romans, and the Israelites. Those three most
highly gifted races of antiquity have supplied us with
the loftiest ideals of thought and conduct. To the
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GODS ANCIENT PEOFLE.

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and sj'stems of law. To the Greeks we are indebted for
a teaching and an inspiration powerful still in philosophy,
science, and art. But we owe far more to the Jew than
to the Greek or Roman, because what he has given to
us has a far more powerful bearing upon the world of
thought, feeling and conduct, than science and art and
all the arrangements of State. The most powerful
factor and agency in the destinies of men and nations
is the religious feeling. From this race we have received
the Sacred Scriptures, of which they had been the
custodians for long ages, for unto them had been com-
mitted the oracles of God. Our Saviour was a Jew,
born of a Jewish maiden, reared in a Jewish home.
The Jew bore witness to the one true God, to the
Divinity of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament,
to the existence of the unseen eternal world, to the
doctrine of sacrifice as a principle of the Divine govern-
ment, and to the truth of the final judgment. There
is a fable of a Roman who, swimming to save his life,
saved his MSS. from destruction by carrying them in
his teeth. But the Jew, swimming through seas of
blood, carried with him his sacred writings and the
religious sentiment, for which the world is to-day his
debtor. " Salvation is of the Jews." Matthew Arnold
in his " Culture and Anarchy," is fond of quoting God's
word to Zechariah (ix. 13): "I have raised up thy
sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece ! " And Israel
raised up by God for this end is more epoch-making and
powerful in the sphere of religion, than Greece in phi-
losophy and art. For the Semitic spirit stands for all
that is spiritual in our nature, which as over against the

P I

nOD S AXCTEXr PKOrLE.

i8l

aistheticisni of Greece — Israel against Hellas — is of in-
comprArably greater value in the education and up-lifting
of the world. It ill becomes us, therefore, while we
behold the Church of Christ standing before us in all
the grandeur of her proportions, to forget that her
foundations were laid by Jewish hands.

Time is left for only a glance at the question.
For what is the Hebrew race reserved? If these
few millions — variously estimated from 6 to lo —
a mere drop in the ocean of humanity, with culture,
education, wealth, energy and practical ability out
of all proportion to their numbers, have been able
to impress themselves upon every department of life,
and that too at so small a remove in time from a
period of disability and bondage, what may we expect
of them in the years to come? By pure tests of
intellect they will take the first place the world over in
law and medicine, in science and education, in music,
on the stage, and in finance. A recent writer has put
his judgment on record thus : — " The rapid rise of the
Jewish element is a fact which may be observed all over
Europe, and if this rapid upward movement continues,
the Israelites a century hence will be the masters of Eu-
rope." Heine has well said that the Jews, who decline
to practise any form of idolatry, and have followed after
a Law during more than 3,000 years, are " the people of
the spirit," and not even their worship of wealth can
destroy the passion or the hope with which their
teachers are still inspired. It seems clear that as Al-
mighty God works up His mighty forces of light, heat,
magnetism, electricity, in His secret laboratories, so the

l82

fJOD S ANCIENT TEOPI.E.

God of all grace is pleased to prepare the mighty
potencies of his Kingdom of redemption, that He is
thus qualifying Israel to take its rightful place among the
nations of the world, and tl:at He will restore to them
the Holy Land. One would think that a secret exulta-
tion must spring up in the heart of every Hebrew when
reminded of Beaconsfield's boart that one-half of Europe
worships a Jew and the other half a Jewess ; how much
more when he comes to know that a Prince of David's
line has wrought out the redemption of the human race,
and that the process of reducing the whole world to His
sway is now rapidly going on. One wonders that he
iocs not hasten to claim Him for his Messiah, who has
established a new order of things, dimly prophesied by
Hebrew seers of ancient time, an order of things that
required for its inauguration and establishment energy,
wisdom, and resources, nothing short of divine. But
the veil is on the Hebrew's heart. When that veil
drops, as drop we are sure it will, he will " kiss the
Son," David's son and David's Lord. Jew and Gentile
shall be gathered into one fold under one Shepherd, and
the effect of this wonderful conversion will be, to both
Jew and Gentile, as Paul tells us, " life from the dead."
I. In conclusion, "to the Jew first" let me make
direct appeal. In view of what history tells us, would
it not be wise for him to reconsider the great question
whether the contemporaries of Jesus of Nazareth did
right in rejecting and crucifying Him. Two or three
things are very clear. At that time the Hebrew people
had lost their national independence, for hundreds of
years had failed to produce either prophets or psalmists,

GODS ANCIENT PEOri.E.

183

and were hated and despised by other nations. But the
death and resurrection of Jesus, who was called the
Christ, resulted in the establishment of a religion which
grew out of Judaism as a trf*e out of its roots, but
which, so far from being exclusive and sectarian, is a
universal religion welcoming every human being to
partake of its benefits. After their rejection of Jesus,
the Jewish people were soon stripped of their common-
wealth and scattered over the world, and now for
eighteen centuries they have been without a country
or a temple. Two anecdotes are in point. About
thirty years ago a rabbi of high rank from Jerusalem
visited the rabbi of Quebec, Canada, who proposed to
him the following : The prophet Amos has said •
" Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He
revealeth His secrets unto His servants the prophets."
Now, the most notable fact of the last millcnium
at least is Christianity, overtopping in significance
all others, the spring and fountain of the best civiliza-
tion the world has ever known. According to the
dicUwi of Amos the prophets knew of it. Tell me
where the prophecy, which is fulfilled in Christianity, is
to be found. The rabbi confounded could make no
reply, but promised he would take the matter back
with him to Jerusalem, and write his answer. He never
wrote. The rabbi at Quebec waited long and finding
no solution of his difficulty, sought help from Christian
sources, and became a Christian minister of power
and eloquence. Again, an intelligent and thoughtful
Jewess, mourning over the fate of her countrymen,
asked herself. Why is it thus ? One day as she brood-

1 84

GOD S ANCIENT PEC LE.

ed over the problem, it flashed upon her in this form :
We were exiled from Palestine for seventy years for the
sin of idolatry. But we have been exiled from our holy
land for 1800 years. Is it because of a sin of vastly
greater enormity than that of idolatry? What more
enormous sin is there unless it be the sin with which
the Christians charge us, the sin of rejecting and
crucifying the Son of God? A terrible blow was struck
at her national pride, but iier desire to know the truth
was so great that she faced the problem, studied the
question thoroughly, reached the conviction that Jesus
was the Messiah, and became a Christian.

Oh ye Hebrews ! scions of a noble race, believe ine,
God is great on Sinai, amid thunders and lightnings
and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, but
He is greater far on Calvary, nailed to a cross, wounded,
frail, dying, and praying for His murderers, " Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do." The
religion of illimitable power, and of untempered justice
and holiness is great, but indescribably greater is the
religion of forbearance and love ; and this is the religion
of Christ, not to be interpreted by the lives of professing
Christians, for with shame we confess it, they often fail
even in a small degree to approximate to their Example,
but by the life and death of Him whom we rejoice to call
our Lord and Saviour. Listen to your own Warszawiack
of Breslau now in New York preaching with great elo-
quence and convincing many that Jesus is the Christ.
Study the Rabinowich movement in Southern Russia
from its beginning, and ingenuously hold your minds
open to the truth. Rabinowich, a lawyer, was sent

con's ANCIENT TEOPLK.

185

from Russi I to Palestine to select a resting-place fcr a
Russim colony. Like Nehemiah he viewed the ruins,
the city, the temple, the walls. He found the city
trodden down of tlie Gentiles. He asked himself, Why
is this? The answer at last came to him that the
Messiah must have coirje and been rejected. He says,
" I found Jesus on the Mount of Olives, and on His
heart the sweetest resting-place. There you can, there
you will rest — my people, my Israel ! " Many have
gatheied about him, whom he has led to Christ, and
organized into a church, but they remain truly and
really Jews. As the late Dr. Delitszch said, " Rabi-
nowich is a star in the firmament of his people's
history." Rabinowich in a sermon said : " Yes, breth-
ren, the letter of the law is the foundation on which
the Talmudists built thousands of their dead interpreta-
tion, but the letter of the law has appeared in Jesus
Christ, as in the livinj* and eternal Word, the Word
of the power of God the Father, the fulness of Him
that f^lleth all in all. Yes, Christ is all ! He is the
Israel, Israel's firstborn and only Son! He is the
Thora, lie is God !

" Rise, brethren ; step out of darkness and enter on
tlie path of peace ! Listen to the voice of the God-
man, Jesus Christ ; the arch-Shepherd, who is seeking
to gather you fainting sheep of the house of Israel, for
whom He offered Himself as a sacrifice ! Open your
hearts to the divine words of the Redeemer, and frame
all your actions according to the teaching of His holy
Gospel. • Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and
thy foot shall not stumble.' "

i86

god's ancient people.

2. To Christians a word or two. VVc are their
debtors, and the record of history is that we have repaid
them with hate, scorn, and persecution. We are verily
guilty concerning our brother. In the mind of our
Elder Brother, to whom we owed ten thousand talents
but had nothing to pay, and who frankly forgave us all
because we desired Him, there is no difference between
Jew and Greek. He loved all alike, died for all alike,
hath made both one, of the twain one new man, so
making peace. I cannot see why, upon any fair inter-
pretation of the Scriptures, it should be denied that
Israel is to be restored to the Holy Land. Prophecies
in immediate juxtaposition, some of which describe
Israel as Israel is to-day, separated, scattered, and peeled,
and others which relate to their restoration to their own
land, should not be intcrj /eted, the former literally and
the latter figuratively. They are already gathering in
Palestine. Many tens of thousands of Jews are already
there. Public improvements are being pushed forward.
The " latter rains," which have been withheld since the
exile are once more vouchsafed. When restored, the
prophecy goes to show that Israel will be the most
glorious of the nations of the earth. It has been shown
in the body of this discouree that the Hebrew race is
gifted and endowed above most. They have flowing in
their veins the blood of Abiaham, and Moses, and
Joshua, and Isaiah, and David, and the Maccabees.
They are predestined to greatness. But theirs will not
be, I think, the greatness of military or naval glory, or
of legislating for the world. I think their glory will be
chiefly the glory of righteousness, of peace, of supreme

r.on S ANCIENT PEOPLK.

187

devotion to God in Christ. They may not return to
the Holy Land believers in Christ, but the time ap-
proaches when they will look upon Him whom they
have pierced and mourn. " They shall all know Him
from the least to the greatest." " And all Israel shall
be saved," for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
The Gates will open to admit a righteous nation.
Swords shall be beaten into ploughshares, and spears
into pruninghooks ; nation shall not lift up sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war any more. They
will teach the nations, who will say. Come and let us go
up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the
God of Jacob ; and He will teach us of His ways, and
we will walk in His paths : for the law shall go forth of
Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. " And
in the great day when the nations go up for the corona-
tion of their Saviour, there shall be the Jew among the
rest, eldest born of the world's aristocracy, foremost to
bend the knee, foremost to lift the song, foremost to
* bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of
all.' " The Lord Jesus Christ would have us repay the
debt of gratitude we owe to Him by bringing His brother
and ours to His feet and favour. When He charged
His disciples to preach the Gospel among all nations He
said. Begin at Jerusalem. Let us pray for God's ancient
people. " Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the
least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me,"
He said who is to be our Judge. Anything we can do to
help one of this honoured race let us do " in His name."

THE PLUMBLINE.

" And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou ? And i said, a
plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in tlie midst
of my people Israel. " Amos vii. 8.

Very pleasant must it be for the ecclesiastics connected
with some ancient European cathedral to walk about
Zion, to go round about her, and tell the towers thereof,
to mark well her bulwarks and consider her palaces.
For rich and " exceeding magnifical " as was Solomon's
temple, there are many Christian temples that far
excel it in grandeur, sumptuousness, and beauty, as
they do in the gracious endowments jieculiar to our
dispensation. " He built His sanctuary like high
palaces ; " but now it is more befitting to compare
old-world palaces with cathedrals, than cathedrals with
palaces. And where is it possible to find among the
works of men a better emblem, not only of the beauty,
and the grandeur and the sanctity of religion, but also
of its stability, not to s.^y its eternity, than the ancient
Christian Cathedral ? How slowly was it constructed !
One generation laid the foundation ; and another began
to build thereon ; in one age a chancel was built, and
after intervals of centuries, a nave, a chapel, a shrine, a
spire, a tower, were erected. And so after the lapse of
ages the vast pile of masonry stands forth, a wonder for

THK PI,UM15I.1\E.

189

all succeeding times. Its sublimity and augustness, its
grace and exuberance, would have been of short con-
tinuance, only for it'i solidity ; and the solidity comes
from the unwasting character of the materials of which
the walls are constructed, and the painstaking skill with
which they were erected — a skill wh'ch resided not in
the unaided eye and hand, but in the help which they
had from one ol the simplest, but most important
implements, — a cord at the end of which was attached a
weight. By the plumbline the mason knows whether
his wall is perpendicular or not. Neglect the plumbline,
and a deviation, at first perhaps ver>' slight, from the
exact perpendicular would take place, and this would
inevitably become greater and greater, until the wall
would topple down — a disgraceful ruin.

Amos, the prophet, sees the Lord standing on a wall
that had been built by the plumbline, but is now
dangerous and ready to fall, and in His hand is the
plambline, which is used not only in building but in
destroying ; the Lord explains that He will set the
plumbline in the midst of Israel, striking not at the
outwork but at the very centre. The plumbline indicates
that the coming judgment was to be measured out by
the exactest rules of justice. Long had the Lord borne
with His people Israel, and twice had He turned away
the fierceness of His wrath in answer to the entreaties
of His servant Amos, but now worn out by Israel's
perversity, He will no more be entreated, and proceeds
to pronounce the doom, which was fulfilled w^hen
Shalmaneser after a three years* siege of Samaria
captured it, and carried Israel away captive to Assyria.

IQO

THE ri.UM KLINE.

Everywhere a tendency to choose some other stand-
ard than the divii;*^ is evident. lUit what is the standard
which the Lord will apply ? I answer — the standard
erected in these Holy Scriptures. It is ri(Thteousness :
righteousness, as seen in the patriarchal dispensation,
when Abraham believed God, and his faith was counted
to him for righteousness ; in the Mosaic, when a man
walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the
Lord blameless ; and in the Christian dispensation, when
one who has given his heart to Christ serves Ilim in
the spirit and not in the letter, takes up his cross daily,
and runs with joyful alacrity in the path of the Divine
commandments.

But let no man dream that the righteousness of the
Christian is inconsistent with the ighteousness of the
law. It is the latter raised to a higher power. It is
the lattei with a flavour that it nev ;r knew before. It is
righteousness, or virtue, crowned with love. It is the
highcf-c ornament of the individual, and the most
conserving principle of government ; and nothing can
take its place as the most powerful cement of human
society.

But lately attempts have been made from many
quarters to disjoin morals from Christianity. Such
attempts must prove abortive. Mr. Leslie Stephen in
the Nineteenth Century said : " Of all the illusions
patronized by philosophers, there is none more baseless,
as it seems to me, than the notion that morality is
dependent upon speculative opinions." But the great
verities of religion are not speculative opinions, and it
is no illusion to suppose that they should powerfully

THE l.rUMHLINE.

191

influence human conduct. Mr. Stephen caricatures
Christian obedience by tcllinjj us that Christians avoid
doing certain things for fear of going to hell, and do
other things in the hope of securing a title to heaven.
He seems to overlook the fact that by so writing he
acknowledges that Christianity promotes good behavi-
our. But he misrepresents Christianity, for it is her
delightful function to kindle love for God in the heart
of men, when " joy is duty and love is law." — Prof.
Felix Adler of New York in describing " the Ethical
Movement " said that though it is distinctly a religious
movement it is not to be classed with any of the
existing religions. It is a fellowship of men and women
banded together to realize a higher code of morality
than existed around thom, who placed morality before
religion, and believed that the rules of morality were
not fixed ages ago, and that the present religions
taught a low grade of morals. Among their principles
were profound solicitude for the honour of women,
strict truthfulness and honesty in business, the devotion
of a certain share of their income for the poor, etc.
That this is simply the morality of the New Testament,
without its spring and motive, is the only criticism I
need offer upon it.— The author of " Supernatural
Religion " speaks of Clirist's ethics with the highest
admiration, but teaches that this morality will never take
its proper place in our thoughts, till we dissociate it
entirely from the supernatural in Christianity. Mrs.
Humphrey Ward, following her uncle, Mr. Matthew
Arnold, in his Iocmc religious views, attempts in " Robert
Elsmere " to show that the morality of Christianity

192

THE PLUM15MNE.

should be retained, while its theological element should
be discarded. Mr. Gladstone's Criticism shows the
impossibility and absurdity of such a separation. These
are his apt and trenchant words : " It is a huge,
larcenous appropriation by modern schemes, of goods
which do not belong to them. For the Christian tyi^e
of character is the product and property of the Christian
scheme. Christianity both produced a type of character
wholly new to the Roman world, and it fundamentally
altered the laws and institutions, the tone, temper, and
traditions of that world. It changed the relation of
that world. It changed the relation of classes, abolished
human sacrifices, gladiatorial shows, and a multitude of
horrors, and it enlarged and transfigured morality.
What right have we, then, to detach, or to suppose
that we can detach, this type of pei^sonal character
from the causes out of which as a matter of historj' it
has grown, and to assume that without its roots it will
thrive as well as with them ? It would be the substitu-
tion of a spectre for a living form."

It is contended that religion has nothing to do with
morality ? Without doubt there are religions that do
not prompt morality, that are in fact demoralizing.
Gibbon tells us that the philosophers of Greece deduced
their morals from the nature of ;nan rather than from
tuat of God. Not that they did not meditate on the
Divine nature ; they did, but only as a curious specula-
tion. Their religion was sensual, as among others, the
temple and groves of Daphne attested. But many of
the ancients felt the necessity of a religion to preserve
morals, and Thales taught that the eyes of the avenging

THE ri.UMBI.INE.

»93

gods searched even the thoughts of evil men, while
Socrates founded all his morality on belief in a God
who delighted in virtue, and whose justice would reward
the good and punish the wicked in an after state. But
Christian morality is essentially different from that of
the ancients, and from that of these sceptical literati.
It differs from the latter, in that it cannot exist apart
from the notion of a Divine Being and a future life. It
has sanctions unknown to the ethics of utility, and deals
with immortal hopes and eternal interests. It differs
from the former in that it is measured by the character
and example of Christ. Christian morals are bound up
with the doctrines of Christianity in a living, organic
unity. A system of religion which reveals the Creator,
as our Father, loving us with an infinite love, albeit
righteous and hating sin with an infinite abhorrence, and
as our Saviour who has provided for us a salvation from
sin on terms within the reach of us all — a system of
religion which calls on men to repent of sin, and live
pure and unselfish lives, which exalts righteousness,
truth, and benevolence above all outward distinctions,
and enforces all these by the authority of God and the
sanctions of eternity, is calculated to promote the
highest morality. In the New Testament, morality is
strongly enforced. To the lawyer, who summed up the
requirements of the law as " supreme love to God, and
love to one's neighbour as to oneself," our Lord said :
" Thou hast answered right ; this do and thou shalt
live." Said Paul : " The works of the flesh are

manifest ; they who do such things cannot

inherit the Kingdom of God." And in the doctrine of

{

194

THE PLUMBLINE.

the new birth, or regeneration by the Holy Spirit, we
are taught whence comes the power to live a radically
right life. Christianity is a life, begotten in him who
heartily and believingly accepts certain revealed truths,
by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit. The renevvcJ
man is of necessity a conspicuously moral man. When
he ceases to be moral, he forfeits the sustaining grace
of God. The life which he has received prompts him
to the obedience of faith. His aim is to be Christ-like
in all his tempers and dispositions. Christ's precepts
are his rules of living. So that though all he does that
is lovely and consistent may not be the direct conscious
result of his religious belief ; it will be mainly the
outcome of the dispositions that have been inspired,
and the habits that have been formed by the influence
of his belief concerning God, Christ, sin, responsibility,
and immortality.

We know, then, the standard which the Lord will
apply. He tells us in Isaiah (xxviii. 17): ^^ Judgment
also will I lay to the line, and rightcotisncss to the
plummet." It is the law as found in the decalogue and
expounded by Christ and :he Apostles.

The plummet is applied by Him, who rules the world
in the interests of true religion, to the life and character
of the nation, of the Church, of the family, and of the
individual ; and woe to them that cannot abide the test.

i. // is applied to national life.

Long ago the Lord came down to see how the world
was getting on, how it was building, and of what
materials. He applied the plummet, and lo ! it had to
be taken down and begun anew. And so the flood

THE FI.UMBLINE.

195

■

came and swept it all away. — ^Through the ages it has
been necessary again and again to overturn and recon-
struct the nations, for when the plumbline was applied
all was seen to be wrong. Where are Assyria, and
Chaldea, and Egypt, and cultivated Greece, and all-
conquering Rome ? For awhile they built with regard
to the plumbline, but as they prospered and grew
rich they paid no further heed to it ; so they perished
not by tempest, nor by assassination, nor by earth-
quake, but by immorality, and " immorality is suicide."
God is testing the nations to-day. We hav^e only
to look abroad to see a condition that will make our
hearts ache. Grave evils like canker-sores are eating
out the life of society. Among most nations the rights
and liberties of men are imperfectly recognized. Might
is right, and the strong oppress the weak. In some
countries constitutional rights and safe-guards are quite
unknown. Among the working-classes of all lands there
is disquiet and bitterness. Even in nominally Christian
lands, multitudes are the slaves of prevailing forms of
wickedness. The whole system of national wars is
barbarous and disgraceful. Depend upon it the plumb-
line will be applied, and the avenging rod of the
Almighty will fall with heavy strokes upon the offend-
ing nation.

ii. // is applied to Church life.

The Church is a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a peculiar people. They are to show
forth the praises of Him who hath called them out of
darkness into His marvellous light, to be His witnesses,
to spread scriptural holiness, to save the race. The

196

•JHE n.UMBLINE.

ideal Church is one with Christ ; it is the Body of which
He is the Head, the fulness of Him that filleth all in
all. If the Church is one with Him, the members of it
are one with one another ; the unifying principle is the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The edifice built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, of which
Jesus Christ is the chief corner stone, is a structure of
granitic principle : — in Christ all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the
Lord, in whom we also are builded together for a
habitation of God through the Spirit.

Now against this temple as a whole the gates of hell
shall not be suffered to prevail. But it is a historical
fact that individual churches have become corrupt and
have perished. The candlestick was removed from
them to others. Glance for a moment at the seven
churches of Asia, to each of which the Lord from His
throne in gloiy indited a letter by His servant John.
These churches exhibit every conceivable form of
Church life, and are symbolic of the universal Church.
Each epistle contains a message, a promise, and an
exhortation. All are commended save two ; all are
rebuked save two ; two are praised without one word of
icbake. Three are both praised and blamed. All are
called to instant repentance from all evil, and to earnest
pursuit of all good, by Him who walks in the midst of
the seven golden candlesticks. They were all planted in
heathen cities, and though some of them were for a
time eminently faithful, their candlesticks have been
removed. Is not the possibility forced upon us here in
Yokohama of our lamp being taken away and our shrine

THE TLUMBUNE.

197

laid waste ? Where Christ was once preached by apos-
tolic lips the minaret of the mosque raises its head
proudly, and the muezzin lifts up his Christless call to
prayer — " No God but Allah, and Mohammed is His
prophet." Let us take heed. The plumbline is applied
to see if the Church is fulfilling her vocation, or living
a life of mere pretence. Each church is bound to be
loyal to Christ ; carefully to preserve the glow of its
early love for Him ; to resist false doctrine ; to keep its
conscience quick and alert ; to come out from the
world ; to suffer no sin in its membership ; to make
spiritual things of highest consequence ; to abound in
every good work ; and like the good Samaritan to
go. down to the struggling ones below, and pour the oil
and wine of Christian love into the. wounded and sorrow-
ing hearts that distrust Christianity itself, because its
leaders have helped so little to bear their burdens or
alleviate their sufferings. How is it with us ? Where
do we stand ? Is any one of these a picture of our
condition ? Here is a large mill in which there is
not a moving spindle. Everything is perfect about it ;
nothing is wanting. The only trouble is that all
the fires are out. This describes one church. — There
is another church full of invalids, requiring all the
labour and time of those in health to nurse and feed
the sick. — Still another church, wasting and pining
away with a high fever of quarrels and disputations
about little crotchets, employing in its own destruc-
tion the strength that should be devoted to the
service of Christ. — One more church. Let Spurgcoii
describe it. " Have you ever read ' The Ancient

198

THE ri.UMDIJNE

Mariner ? ' I dare say you thought it one of the
strangest imaginations ever put together, especially that
part where the old mariner represents the corpses of all
the dead men rising up to man the ship, — dead men
pulling the rope, dead men steering, dead men spreading
the sails. I have lived to see that time. I have seen
it done. I have gone into churches and I have seen a
dead man in the pulpit, a dead man as deacon, a
dead man handling the plate, and dead men sitting to
hear." Tested by the standard which overthrew the
seven churches of Asia, where are we ? " Search us, O
God, and tiy us, and see if there be any evil way in us,
and lead us in the way everlasting."

iii. // is applied to the family life.

The institution of the family preserves mankind from
being scattered and dissipated by the repulsive forces of
selfishness. Here are the beginnings of the tenderness
and affection which afterward expand till they embrace
the community, the nation, and the race. Anything
which thieatens the well-being of the family is a menace
to the race, for the dissolution of the domestic tie
involves the dissolution of domestic society. We are
not made to live alone. The man is not complete with-
out the woman, nor the woman without the man.
Both together make one. The world is not made up of
a multitude of isolated men. The family is the unit. All
tlie lelations aiid laws of society are found in the family,
the laws of dependence and trust, of authority and obedi-
ence, of obligation and happiness. The great lesson of
living for others is taught and enforced there with an
authority that never is doubted, though it may be diso-

•HIE ri.UMBLINE.

199

beyed. Well says tlie Bishop of Durham : " The popular
estimate of the family is an infallible criterion of the state
of society. Heroes can never save a country when the
idea of the family is degraded, and strong battalions are
of no avail against homes guarded by faith and reverence
and love." In a perfect family there are the three
primary relations of husband and wife, of parents and
children, of brothers and sisters ; but only upon the first
of these have I time now to dwell.

Marriage is the basis of the family, and the relation
of husband and wife, in which the incompleteness of
the individual attains a certain completeness, is the
closest and most intimate, the most endearing and
enduring, the highest and holiest, relation on earth.
Very close is that of parent and child. But in the
economy of God it is ordained : " For this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his
wife, and they twain shall be one flesh."

" There are two hearts, whose movements thrill
In unison so calmly sweet,
That pulse to pulse responsive still

They both must heave or cease to beat.
■ " There are two souls, whose equal flow

In gentle streams so calmly run
That when they part — they part ! ah, no,
They cannot part — those souls are one."

" This is a great mystery," says Paul, adding " but I
speak concerning Christ and the Church." But you
will observe that Paul has been platonizing. In his
view, all the duties of this life rest upon eternal laws,
and th^ institution of marriage is the shadow and
symbol of heavenly things, even of the eternal relations

200

THE n.UMlJI.TNF.

of Christ and His Church. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
Church, and He is the Saviour of the body. This
transfigures marriage, and exalts it and beautifies it to
the Christian heart. So when Paul says : " Therefore
as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the women
be to their own husbands in everything," what seems
degrading in the subjection disappears, for it is idealized
and hallowed as being a subjection to Christ. Does
this seem hard and intolerable to any who are wives ?
Still heavier is the obligation which Paul lays upon the
husband : " Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the Church and gave Himself for it ; that He
might sanctify and cleanse it."

in the light of this exposition of marriage by Paul,
no wife has a right to complain that she is defrauded of
personal rights, when she is commanded to be in subjec-
tion to her husband as unto the Lord, for if her husband
loves her as Christ also loved the Church and gave
Himself for it, she will find no hardship in the Divine
injunction.

If the plumbline is applied to your home and mjne,
my brother, my sister, how will it fare with us ? Yet
this is the standard with which ve are required to
bring our married life into agreemciit.

iv. // is applied to biisimss life.

Trace sins of business life to their root, and that root is
seen to be the greed of gain. When this greed becomes
strong, it imperiously demands satisfaction. Sometimes
it turns freebooter. As it grows stronger it becomes
coarse and cruel, and often stops not short of human

'I'lIE PLUMULINE.

20I

life. But for the most part it adapts itself to the times.
Long ago Solomon sketched a scene which may be
witnessed any day in our country : A man beating
down the price of an article he wants to get, striking a
bargain only after much lying, then going out to relate
how he succeeded in outwitting the merchant. " It is
naught, it is naught, saith the buyer ; but when he is
gone his way he boasteth."

The plumbline is applied even now, and woe to him
who cannot stand the test of righteousness. Well
would it be for society to-day if everybody at once
began to act on this principle, for He, who vill judge
alike merchant prince and merchant huckster, requires
truth and honesty in the inward parts. If the pulpits
of the Christian Church throughout the world were
to-day to ring out no uncertain sound on this crying
evil of our times, what numbers of false weights and
measures would be corrected to-morrow ! What dis-
honesties in the making out of invoices, and the affixing
of false labels, and the making and breaking of con-
tracts, would cease ! What restitution there would be
for cheating not only in the quality, but also in the
quantity, of articles sold ! If the law, " Thou shalt
not steal," were applied universally, it would perfectly
restore confidence, now greatly shaken. Were this
law applied, our carpentry, and tailoring, would
be vastly better ; the fabrics woven in the looms,
the milk that comes to our doors, the articles of
food spoiled by adulterations, all would be improved.
Slovenly, dishonest work would cease to be done.
Bankruptcy and failure would come to an end. The

202

THE rLUMHLlNE.

Ten Commandments, well kept, would make honest
traders, decent citizens, and a very comtortable and
safe society to live in.

I have been speaking of common scoundrels ; but
surely, you say, this test can be borne by the professing
Cnristian. Not so fast. Says Bishop Mant : "As a man
can never be truly honest unless he be truly religious,
whatever show of religion a man may make he cannot
be truly religious in God's judgment unless he is honest
in his conversation toward his neighbour." By con-
versation, I understand the good Bishop to mean
conduct. The professor of religion, who boasts of his
orthodoxy and personal experience, but does not pay
one hundred cents in the dollar when able t.» do so, is
one of the greatest stumbling-blocks to the cause of God.
Can he be a good man who is addicted to tricks of trade,
who uses false weights and measures, or who is untruth-
ful in his representations to his customers ? No ; he only
can attain to such a standard, who has been renewed by
the Word and Spirit of God, so that sinful and selfish
affections have been driven from his soul, and who lives
according to the principles of the Bible which relate to
truthfulness, honesty, chastity, and self-sacrifice. The
common mistake is made of counting the ways of trade
and commerce unholy. But we must not separate our
religion from our morality. Every true Christian should
endeavour to keep a conscience void of offence towards
God and man.

I know it is not alwaj's easy to do right under the
tremendous pressure of temptaiion, and to test business
habits and every department of daily work by the plumb-

THE I'LUMBMNE.

203

but

line of strictest rectitude, but it will be wise to do so.
It is hard to see men making fortunes by frauds which
society condones on account of their success, and not
follow their example but go plodding on year after year
with no prospect of making more than a decent living.
Ikit could you see the evil wrought by those frauds, the
woe, the agony, the grinding poverty, and starvation,
which must come to hundreds of homes, and the wither-
ing of the spirit of the successful swindler, you would
go back content with the frugal fare, and the plain
clothes, and the scanty salary — that have for their
consolation a white conscience, a pure heart, a growing
faith in God, and a growing love for one's fellow-men.
Mr. Ruskin has said that if he were a mason building a
wall, he should feel that he had a manhood as well as a
masonry, and pu*: into the wall his very beet work ; so
that when he passed that wall in future he should take
pleasure in the reflection : " There I put my conscience
as well as my bricks, my noblest efforts of intellect as
well as my handiwork." Infinitely better is poverty
and a heart right with God, than vast riches if, in the
light of God's law, one must take rank with thieves.
Let me entreat you to cultivate old-fashioned honesty.
" Johnnie," said a man to a clerk, " you must give me
good measure, your master is not in." Johnnie looked
solemnly into the man's face and replied : " My Master
is always in." His Master was the all-seeing God. ]3o
not tamper with sin. Remember your mother's prayers
and your father's warnings. Come back, if you have
begun to sin. Hear Him say : " Let us reason to-
gether ; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as

204

TIIK rLUMlU.INE.

snow ; though they be red like crimson they shall be as
wool." But be sure you make the amplest restitution, for
Christ's words bearing on this point arc awfully solemn
and impressive, and point us forward to another reckon-
ing : "Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou
art in the way with him ; lest at any time the adversary
deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to
the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily, I say
unto thee. Thou shalt by no means come out thence till
thou hast paid the uttermost farthing"(Matt. v. 25, 26).

V. // is applied to private life.

Neglect to obey the voice of conscience, and it will
gradually lose its tenderness till it shall be seared as with
r hot iron, and you will be able to do monstrous sins and
_rimes without compunction. Apply the Decalogue to
your conduct and tell me in the light of the New
Testament exposition of it, whether your wall is going
up perpendicularly ? You remember the old story of
Prince Hal, who.:;e companions were Falstaff and men
of like babits, who when he became king reformed at
once and cast off his old companions. Well, there was
another prince, heir to England's throne, who emulated
Prince Hal of happy memory, and intended to reform
like him when he mounted the throne, but alas ! when
as George IV. he was crowned, his habits were too
strong for mastery, and he remained the libertine and
sot he had prepared himself for becoming. Don't run
the risk of a ruined manhood and a degraded old age,
by any departures from the strictest virtue now. The
wall of character can only be built safely by frequent
applications of the plumbline from the beginning.

niE ri,UMl?I,TNK.

205

Else the superstructure will be something worse than
the leaning tower of Pisa, which by a series of mechani-
cal adjustments and counter-balances has been prevented
from tumbling into ruin — adjustments and balances
possible enough in mechanics, but not in the world of
morals. Illustrations arc to be had by the score of men
who very early in life formed a habit of drink, were
weaned from it for many years, but long after first
abstinence took one glass which ignited the combustible
materials of early habit, that had been dormant for
many years, and they were destroyed. Is the wall
going up without regard to the plumbline here ?

It is the remark of a critic that " Society's discernment
of evil when it takes the form of crime is sufficiently
acute ; concerning vice it has convictions more or less
emphatic ; but of sitiy as sin, its notions arc feeble and
confused." Society is very severe upon the vice that
is found in low haunts. But as the vicious become
wealthy and in the degree of their wealth, their vices
become peccadilloes, and it is a wonder if they do not
become virtues. The sin of uncleanness in rich and
poor, in high or low, is equally criminal. The power
of sin lies in its pleasure. If stolen waters were not
sweet, none would steal them. This is the fearful
feature of the case. Man's moral appetite is diseased.
If sin had no sweetness in it, it would be easier to keep
from sinning. But the sweetness lasts only for a little ;
afterwards it is very bitter. The youth's danger is his
ignorance. When invited to the place of pleasure, he
knows not that the dead are there, and that her guests
are in the depths of hell. Against " the strange

206

THE PLUMliLINE.

woman " be warned. Licentiousness like a canker eats
into the body of society. God's answer will track lust
throujrh all its secret doublings. Vengeance against
that evil thing circulates through, the veins and dries
up the marrow in the bones. The libertine is dead
while he lives, for his sin soon withers the greenness of
spring in the soul of the youth. And hear the Word
of God : " No whoremionger, nor unclean person,
nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any in-
heritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God."

It is to me a pleasure that I address children and youth.
Let me exhort }'ou with all fidelity and affection to
build with constant reference to the plumbline. There
is a stor}'^ told by Bishop Huntingdon of an ancient
German prince who in early life was bidden by an
oracle to search out on a luined wall an inscription,
which should prefigure his mortal fate. He found the
Latin words, signifying after six. Thinking that was
the number of days he had to live, he gave himself for
those six days to a preparation of his soul for death.
But as he continued to live longer, he thought the
length of his life was to be six ^veeks, and continued to
search for the favour of God. In short he continued
for six months, a.;d after that for six years, to live a
holy life acceptable to God and man ; and on the first
day of the seventh year, so fully had he gained the
confidence of the people that he was chosen Emperor
of Germany. Be faithfully and cheerfully obedient to
duty in your childhood, seek and enjoy the favour of
the Lord every day of your youth, and your manhood
will find you in the enjoyment of an established charac-

THE PLUMUUNE.

207

ter, of a daily life of victory over self, and of the
freedom of a child of God. For only as one is faithful
to the better impulses of childhood and early youth,
and obedient to the convictions of duty in growing
years, shall one reach an unselfish and noble manhood.
But if you have neglected to be faithful in earlier
years and you feel discouraged as if you were lost, don't
despair, but pluck up heart. If the plumbline were
applied to the lives of us all, it would be found that in
no case has the wall been always built perpendicularly.
What then ? We rejoice to preach the Gospel to the
lost. Christ has come to undo the consequences of sin,
to reverse the laws of sin and disorder. Come to Him,
and He will forgive your past, cleanse your heart, give
you new opinions, convictions principles, affections,
and purposes. He Avill make your inner nature holy
and your outer life pure. He will dispel your gloom and
sadness, and give you joy and peace. In trouble He
will support you, and turn your trials into triumphs.
He will sweeten all the bitter cups you have to drink,
and on the death bed and on the judgment day you
A\ ill find that, from the day you began your life of faith
in Him, all things have helped to build up a character
that will stand the test of the plumbline of righteous-
ness. O come to Him as you are, sick, diseased,
despairing, dying. Come to Him this moment. Trust
Him. Look to Him. Ask Him. And He will save
you to the uttermost, and that forever. •

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

" Therefore let us also, seeing that we are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, nd the sin that does so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking
unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God." Hebre\vs xii. i, 2.

The writer of this remarkable treatise has been in the
preceding chapter desciibing the spiritual achievements
of the fathers ; and as his imagination warms with the
thought of the faithful in glory waiting for the coming
of the new Gospel church, and desirous of seeing our
heroic deeds under the superior privileges we enjoy, he
breaks out into the beautiful language of our text,
having caught the idea of a Grecian race as an illustra-
tion of the Christian life. His vigorous faith beholds
the patriarchs and prophets, the elders and fathers,
surveying from the galleries of the skies those who
run in the path of God's commandments, in earnest
endeavour for the Christian prize.

In the ancient games running and wrestling had a
chief place. To accomodate vast numbers of spectators
immense buildings were erected. The arena, where the
gladiators fought and the racers ran, was surrounded by
scats which rose one above another in tiers. In those

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

209

so great
so easily
i, looking
it was set
m at the

i in the
ements
ith the
coming
ing our
ijoy, he
ir text,
illustra-
beholds
fathers,
)se who
earnest

Z had a
jectators
here the
inded by
In those

great national gatherings, animated by the presence
of vast assemblies, the candidates for immortality
struggled for preeminence with all the power of which
they were possessed. The crown was only a chaplet
of leaves of oak or laurel, but it conferred a renown
above wealth and civic dignity.
I. Let us consider the race.

1. It is ^'^ set before us." When the athlete ran in
the Olympic race, he ran the race set before him, never
for one moment disputing the right of the umpires to
fix the direction, to decide the distance, and to plant
the goal, where and as they pleased. We see a fitness
in this submission of the racer to the will of the umpires.
If a man's great object in life is the acquisition of
wealth or the attainment of honour, he is placed at
once under certain limitations. He who purposes
going to some distant country informs himself as to the
climate and the character of the people ; and the
knowledge of these things will materially modify the
character of his preparations. So he who runs to
heaven, inasmuch as he knows nothing of it save as he
learns from revelation, must be content to accept that
revelation and the duties which it imposes*. He must
run in the path of the Divine commandments, the high-
way of holiness cast up for the redeemed of the Lord to
walk in. He may have in the order of God's providence
to run through storms, and to climb hills of difficulty ;
but let him not repine, for the end is eternal life.

2. There is implied the idea of earnestness. The
arena in Olympia was 60D feet long, surrounded by
rising tiers of benches to accommodate io,(X)0 spec-

2IO

rilE CHRISTIAN RACE.

tators. At the one extremity of the course were the
athletes, at the other the jud^^es. Before them the
sacred tripod, and upon it the coveted prize. Among
the onlookers were princes and consuls and ambassadors,
fellowcitizens anxious for the credit of their town, poets
who would celebrate the victor, and Olympic victors
who had won a similar prize. Is it any wonder that at
the signal they dashed forward and with the utmost
energy pressed to the goal ?

We enter upon the Christian course only after the
exercise of much earnestness. We have to agonize to
enter into the narrow path. The Kingdom of Heaven
suffereth violence, and it is the violent who take it by
force. A listless, inert professor of religion is not
running. Nor shall he obtain the prize. Some walk,
some creep, some sit. But the true Christian runs,
labours, struggles, wrestles, strives, fights. His life is
earnest. Christianity requires it. He who has clear
views of his own danger, the world's ruin, his neigh-
bour's peril, cannot but be earnest. A careless, non-
working Christian is a contradiction in terms.

But not every kind of earnestness, even of a religious
sort, is right. There is the earnestness of the bigot,
who is absorbed in propagating his own narrow creed,
or in multiplying the adherents of his own sect. There
is the earnestness of the man who goes about seeking to
establish his own righteousness. There is p, zeal which
is not according to knowledge. But the earnestness of
the Christian racer is ^hat of one who can say " My
soul followeth hard after God." " I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling."

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

211

3. This race implies progression. Each night
the Christian racer pitches his tent a day's march
nearer home. Forgetting the things that are behind
he presses forward to those which are before. He
grows in grace and in the knowledge of the truth.
But afler all the daily increment in grace is very
small. And some who observe the haste and expedi-
tion of this century wonder why there is not ap-
parently the same advancement in religious character
as in science, commerce, education. So that after
the first glad gush of joy is over, and they begin to
apply the new principles of living to every-day life, and
find in themselves what they did not expect, an op-
position still to the good, they sometimes become
discouraged, cease to run, and go back to the world.
How happily the author corrects this fatal error : " run
it with patience ! " Be not discouraged if you do
not at once accomplish large results. As Robertson
beautifully says, borrowing his figure from Macaulay :
" Look at the sea, when the flood is coming in. Go
and stand by the sea beach and you will think that the
constant fliux and reflux is but retrogression equal to the
advance. But look again in an hour's time, and the
whole ocean has advanced. This is progress to be
estimated at the end of hours, not minutes." The true
Christian does make progress. Let us therefore expect
the certain development, though it ma • not be rapid,
of the Christlike nature within us.

But if it is to be run in patience the sick man in
the solitude of his chamber may run it as well as
those who stand foremost as Christian labourers and

212-

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

philanthropists. The Christian may and must always
be running. In health, he should be faithful and
diligent in the duties of active life. In sickness, he
should exhibit all the passive graces, meekness, resig-
nation, and acquiescence with the will of God. And
on the side bed he may run more rapidly, reach higher
attainments of piety and do more good than in time of
abounding health. " I am sorry," said one to Dr.
Payson, " to see you here lying on your back." " Do
you know what God puts us on our backs for ? " said
the doctor. " No." " In order that we may look
upward." On the sick bed we may so wait on the
Lord as to walk, to run, to soar as on eagle's wings.

4. This race has its ozun conditions. The athlete
stripped himself of every article of clothing that might
impede him in the race. In like manner the Chris-
tian .starting for heaven is pictured as encumbered
with easily-tripping garments of sin, and handicapped
with weights which will embarrass him in his future
career. These must be laid aside. How sufficient an
answer to the cavil of certain who affirm that the
doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ is antinomian !
Having given a desc iotion of faith, set forth the value
of faith, and exhibited the cloud of witnesses who had
already found salvation through faith, the writer does
not say. Seek to win the prize by faith ; but, Cast
aside your weights and besetting sins, and press forward
as competitors in a race. He shews us that if we
would triumph, we must strain every nerve, and this
to the very end. Faith, then, does not encourage
indifference to morals ; it is a mighty principle which

THE CHRIS II AN RACE.

213

: always
tful and
ness, he
>s, resig-
i. And
ti higher
I time of

to Dr.

" "Do

? " said

ay look

on the
ngs.

athlete
t might
e Chris-
imbered
licapped
s future
cient an
hat the
lomian !
le value
L^ho had
:er does
it, Cast
forward
; if we
nd this
courage
; which

prompts the soul to put away all sin, and aim at uni-
versal holiness.

(i). We must " lay aside every weigiit" To run
well we must run light. Weights are not necessarily
sins, but they may become sins. Whatever is in danger
of becoming a snare, part with it at the peril of your
soul. In some instances it is a mistaken view of reli-
gioHy as a trust in forms, or in a faithful attendance
upon the means of grace. Trust in these is a weight —
lay it aside. There are the cares of the world, which
often crush to the very earth. Put them away by
casting them upon Him who careth for you. There
is the fear of man which bringeth a snare, to be cast
out by the expulsive power of that higher fear, the fear
of Him who, after He hath killed the body, hath power
to cast into hell. Lay them all aside.

(2). ''And the sin luhich doth so easily beset" What
is the meaning of the phrase ? The epithet ioTzeptZToroz
(applied to djaapTia) is found nowhere else in Greek
literature. Various significations have been proposed,
of which the one adopted in our translation is probably
the best — well-around-standing — that which cleaves to
us, besetting us on all sides, which clings to us as the
ivy to the trees that ultimately it strangles. Besetting
sins trip us, paralyze us, render us weak like others, take
from us our nimbleness and agility, and make it impos-
sible for us to run so as to obtain. Each man has his
own besetment. There will be some one passion or
temptation which will chiefly beset us. It is the tap-
root of the tree of sin. That which is one man's beset-
ting sin may not be another's. We hate other people's

214

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

sins ; we love our own. But whatever it may be, or how-
ever dear, it must be laid aside. Is it angier ? I-ay it
aside. Is it cm'Ctousncss ? This is the sin of the age, by
which millions are destroyed. Lay it aside. Is it envy?
Does this spirit rise in you like a demon at the thought
that you are unappreciated, and that another less worthy
is lifted above your head ? Put it away. Is it false-
hood? A tendency to misrepresent truth, or to use the
language of truth to convey a false impression? To
carry your points by intrigue, rather than by fair,
honest dealing ? I^ay it aside. Is it slander ? " whose
rage is sharper than the sword, whose tongue out-
venoms all the worms of Nile, whose breath rides on
the posting winds, and doth belie all quarters of the
world." Lay it aside. Is it intemperance ? The sword
has slain its thousands, but strong drink its tens of thou-
sands. Lay it aside. Is it pride ? Of which besetment,
we have no more striking illustration than the question
in Micah : " What doth the Lord require of thee, but

to walk humbly with thy God?" Or as in

the margin : " Humble thyself to walk with Goi."
What a diabolical spirit, which will not humble itself
to walk with God ! But if you would run this i ace
successfully, it must be run ivith God. Lay it af.ide.
Is it unbelief? This was the besetting sin of the
Jews, called by many a little sin, in reality the rirolific
mother of all sins. Lay it aside with earnesl prayer
for faith, more faith, perfect faith. Is il sensuality
which weighs th'- soul downward, swineward, hellward?
Lay it aside. Some low habit, some smothered lust,
some concealed fraud, may lie at the root of the

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

215

inconsistent and careless life of a professing Christian.
Says pious George Herbert : —

" Lord, with what care hast thou begirt un round !
Parents first season us ; then schoolmasters
Deliver us to laws ; they send us bound
To rules of reason, holy messengers,
Pulpits and Sundays, sorrow dogging sin.
Afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes,
Fine nets and stratag'?ms to catch us in,
Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,
Blessings beforehand, ties of gratefulness.
The sound of glory ringing in our ears ;
Without, our shame ; within, our consciences ;
Angels and grace, eternal hopes and fears,—
Yet all these fences and their whole array
One cunning bosom-sin blows quite away."

So much for the sins which we must renounce at
the very outset in order to successful entrance into the
narrow way — sins which must not only be renounced,
but kept renounced, or we shall enter into by-paths
which do not conduct to glory. We, then, who see the
value of the immortal soul committed to our charge,
the blessedness of the prize for which we contend, and
the greatness of the loss if we fail of the grace of God,
will surely not hesitate to cast aside every weight and
every besetting sin.

(3). There is another condition of success, of such
importance that time fails me to give it due proportion
in the treatment of this theme. The preceding chapter
is, so to speak, a picture-gallery of those in heaven who
distinguished themselves by their exalted faith. It is
well for us to emulate these worthies who through faith
and patience inherit the promises; but here is One,

•i-

2l6

THE CUKISriAN RACE.

who is by far our best example of faith. The sacred
writer bids us turn aivay our attention {dup-op&vritz)
from all the rest and concentrate it upon Jesus, the
Captain and Perfecter of our faith, in whom faith finds
its supreme illustration. He waits, too, at the end of
the race to receive us, and to dispense the rewards.
From the very outset of our career we must look unto
Him, and turning neither to the right hand nor to the
left press on till mortality is swallowed up of life. The
Olympic games were under the sanction of Jupiter.
Our great contest is under the eye and with the sanc-
tion of the Lord Jesus, who, for the joy that was set
before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame,
and having reached the goal triumphant is set down at
the right hand of God. We must look to Him :

(rt). In His zuork. He is the Author and Finisher
of our faith objectively; i.e. to say, He began, carried on,
and completed the great redemptive work on which
our faith reposes. The work which He undertook in
accordance with the Divine counsels was to magnify
the law of God, to satisfy the claims of justice upon a
sinful world, to secure our redemption fiom the ruins
of the fall, to rescue us from the power of sin and
elevate us to the noblest blessings of which our rational,
spiritual, and immortal natures are capable. Look
unto Him, until you can rest satisfied with the work of
Christ, with which the infinite Father is well pleased.
But again: He is the Author and Finisher of our
faith subjectively ; i.e. to say, He begins, carries for-
ward, and completes the work of faith within us by His

believe and

you

TlIK CIIKlSriAN RACE.

217

live. He gives power to believe ; He increases and
perfects the power. Look unto Him. Study intently
His person, work, character, and office. Realize Him.
Trust in Him,

" Look unto Him, ye nations, own your God, ye fallen race ;
Look and be saved by faith alone, be justified by grace."

(d). In His humiliation, " Who for the joy," etc.
Observe what Hi did. " He endured the cross."
Through all His ministry the cross was always before
Him. Towards it He steadily marched. From His
course He was never diverted a hair's breadth. " How
am I straitened till it be accomplished." He who was
in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, humbled Himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross." This event
stands forth unparalleled in time, and will call forth
the adoring gratitude and unceasing wonder of the
saints through all eternity. — Notice t/ic spirit in %vhich
He endured the eross — " despising the shame." There
was shame in the plucking off the hair, in the spitting
and scourging, in the reed and scarlet robe and
the crown of thorns. There was shame in the cross.
There was shame greater far in being forsaken of the
Father, in being treated as an outcast and accursed, in
being loaded with the guilt of our race. To a mind of
spotless purity like His, it must have brought anguish
inexpressible and inconceivable. While, in view of
the sacrifice He was to make. He is represented as
declaring before the Incarnation, " I delight to do Thy
will, oh my God," we can well believe He despised the

2l8

THE CIIKISTIAN RACE.

shame. And before lie died He took measures, not to
wipe out from the minds of men the memory of this dis-
graceful termination of His life, but to commemorate it
by a mystic rite unto the end to time. " He took bread
and blessed it, ami brake it, saying. Take, eat ; this is my
body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance
of me." Look unto Him till you, too, for His dear
sake, can hold pain in defiance and shame in contempt.
— Observe, moreover, the motive ivhich prompted Him,
— " tiie joy that was set before Him." There was
set before Him the joy of achieving a glorious exalta-
tion. There was the joy of pleasing the Father in the
vindication of His Government before the universe by
the removal of the difficulties which stood in the way
of the lavish display of His saving mercy and love to
the family of man, and in the exhibition of His moral
excellencies before the world. And who shall tell the
joy that thrilled His heart, when from the excellent
gloiy once and again He heard Him say, " This is My
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased ; " and when
He was able Himself to say at the last, " I have glorified
Thee on the earth ; I have finished the work Thou
didst give Me to do ? " There was finally the joy of
leading many souls unto glory. To His disciples He
said, " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all
men unto me." He foresaw the purchase and outpour-
ing of the Spirit, multitudes hastening to be saved, the
glory of the Lord covering the earth, and all who had
been redeemed by His blood seated at His own right
hand in His eternal glory. Who can describe the
joy of the Christian, who is instrumental in saving

TllK CIIRIS'IIAN RACE.

219

wnen
arified

Thou

oy of ;
is He ]
i\v all *:

tpour-

J, the . 1
had

right
i the

a soul from death and hiding a multitude of sins? But
his is the joy of the instrument ; Christ's that of the
Saviour. The work which the churches are doing is
His work, and He looked forward to this work which
will only be complete when in heaven He shall see of
the travail of His soul and be satisfied, and found there
a joy so great as to animate and sustain Him in endur-
ing the cross and despising the shame.

(c). In His exaltation — " and is set down at the right
hand of God." You will need good eyes to see so far.
But if the eyes of your understanding have been en-
lightened, you will be able to sec the King in His
beauty and behold the land that is very far off. He is
there at God's right hand. He is at rest. He has
finished His work. In yon stormless world He enjoys
unbroken peace. Look unto Him. There remaineth
there a rest for the people of God. Be not weary in
well doing. Life and toil will soon be past. We shall
soon have done with the world.

He is honoured. Because He was obedient unto
death, God hath highly exalted Him above every name.
He enjoys the highest dignity. Cherubic legions guard
His throne, and seraphs fly at His command. The eye
of faith beholds Him holding out to the faithful Chris-
tian racer, not the crown of fading laurel, but the
incorruptible crown of life. Hear Him say, " Him
that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my
throne." Never take your eyes from Him. John
Bunyan in his great allegory describes the glorious
reception that Christian and Hopeful had when they
reached the City, how they were transfigured and

220

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

clothed with raiment that shone like gold, how they
sang for joy, ascribing all praise to God and the Lamb,
and how he himself when he caught a glimpse of the
glory of the city wished himself among them. What
a reward for faithfully running the path of God's com-
mandments ! My unsaved friend, you see the way that
leads to heaven. It is repentance towards God, faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ, the practice of self-denial, and
the service of God and humanity. Oh turn to God
with full purpose of heart. My Christian brother, keep
looking to Jesus. As you look, help will come. As
you look, you will come to know, trust, and love Him
more. As you look, y;:u will meet His approving
smile, and He will rain upon you showers of blessings.
In the degree you look, you shall be holy, happy,
useful. Look instantly, with your soul in your eyes.
Look and be saved. Look and live. Look and by-and-
by you shall see Him as He is, become like Him, and
share in His glory and felicity.

II. A motive is presented by the sacred writer to
encourage us to run the race with earnestness. IVe are
surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

The strong sonorous conjunction, translated " there-
fore," throws us back upon the preceding chapter, and
we see there a portrait-gallery of the illustrious dead, of
whom the world was not worthy, illustrious for their
faith, their trials, their perseverance, and their rewards.
They are called a cloud of witnesses. A cloud is exhaled
from the earth by the power of the sun ; in like manner
the lovers of Christ are drawn to heaven by the attrac-
tions of His grace and glory. Kere they are represented

THE CIIRISriAN RACE.

221

3w they
i Lamb,
i of the
What
d's com-
iray that
>d, faith
nal, and
to God
er, keep
ne. As
ve Him
proving
lessings.
happy,
Lir eyes,
by-and-
im, and

n'/iT to
\Vc art

" there-
-er, and
lead, of
>r their
ewards.
exhaled
manner
: attrac-
esented

as a vast mass of vapour, which has ascended through
the power of the sun, but descending toward the earth
has flung upon it the rich and glowing hues of the
rainbow.

The word " witnesses " carries with it two meanings :
eye-witnesses, and those who having seen testify as to
what they have seen. There are critics who insist that
the latter is the only meaning which we can attach to
the word in this place. But the word translated " wit-
nesses " occurs thirty-four times in the New Testament.
Sometimes it means simply an eye-witness ; sometimes
an eye-witness who may testify ; sometimes one who
testifies ; sometimes a witness in court ; and sometimes
a martyr for his testimony's sake. As an eye-witness
simply, it occurs five times. Of course this does not fix
the meaning of the word in this text. I do not dispute
the application of the meaning, one who gives testimony,
to the word here. But I take it that both meanings
are intended by the sacred writer, just as the word
" witness " in English carries both meanings : one who
knows from observation, and one who testifies. For
the phrase {rrepixei/ievov ijfuv) " compassing us about,"
which qualifies the cloud of witnesses, pictures to ustjie
heavenly hosts ranged about and above the Christian
racers, like the multitude in the O'ympic games seated
in the amphitheatre, eagerly watching the contest.
They are there doubtless to testify, but they are there
also to observe, and by their presence to stimulate
those who contend to the utmost effort. So St. Paul
says, " We are a spectacle to the world, to angels and
to men."

222

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

There in the highest range is Abel, who, smitten
down for his faith by the red right hand of a fratricide,
soared aloft to a solitary place near the throne of God.
And Enoch, too, the seventh from Adam, is there, who
for his fidelity among the faithless was honoured by a
signal deliverance from the fury of men, and the fell
power of death and the grave, and was received up into
the bosom of the descending cloud. And Noah, the
link between two worlds, saved with his family when
the whole world was drowned, is sitting in the cloud.
And Abraham, who, at God's command, went out not
knowing whither he went, and found that obedience to
the heavenly vision brings its rich reward — Abraham,
who at God's command gave Him his son and received
him back again, is there. Moses, the great lawgiver,
who forsook all for God and His cause, is there. The
martyrs, too, who for the testimony they bore were
chased by infuriate men out of time into eternity, are a
part of the great cloud. These all are spectators of our
doings. We lay our plans, we toil, we speak, we pray,
we loiter, we run, amid the breathless gaze of the multi-
tudes of the heavenly host. But they are witnesses
also in the forensic sense. They give in their testimony
to the great doctrines of God's word. Not that the
word needs to be confirmed by human testimony, but
to our feeble faith any a <^urance, that a man gives to
us that he has personally tested a promise and found it
true, is of value in forming and strengthening a convic-
tion that it is a promise of the Almighty and Faithful
Promiser. Ab^l " being dead yet speaketh," affirming
in the most solemn manner the truthfulness of the

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

223

smitten
ratricide,

of God.
ere, who
red by a

the fell
I up into
3ah, the
\y when
e cloud.

out not
lience to
braham,
received
awgiver,
•e. The
)re were
ty, are a
rs of our
we pray,
le multi-
vitnesses
istimony
:hat the
ony, but
gives to
found it
I convic-
Faithful
iffirming

of the

doctrine of Justification by Faith in the great Sacrifice
against the teachings of morality, and the competency
of human nature to work out its own salvation. And
Enoch declares that men may by faith please God, win
His smile, walk in the light of His countenance, and
dwell glorified in soul and body at last in heaven.
Noah testifies that to the man of faith there is always
a deliverance in the darkest hour, so that God hides
him in His pavilion from the strife of tongues and the
calamities of life. And Abraham from the cloud is
saying to parents, who shrink from consecrating their
children to the work of foreign missions, or who cannot
give them up at the summons of death, " Be not
afraid; only believe. At His command I gave Him
ir V Isaac, all my laughter and all my joy, and He gave
him back to me." Like parents who take beautiful
toys from children, incapable as yet of appreciating
them, and put them on a higher shelf until they are
older and wiser, so God takes away your joy and hope,
" till," as Mrs. Browning says in her " Only a Curl,"
" till the room shall be stiller from noise, and you are
more fit for such joys." And the martyrs testify that
death for Christ may be sharp and full of agony, but
it is over in a little, and then comes the recompense
of reward. " If we suffer, we shall also reign with
Him."

Yes, these men who lived in long-forgotten ages come
crowding forward to tell you of the wonders that faith
enabled them to work, and men of later times endorse
the glorious testimony. Did I not say well that that
cloud is rainbow-hued ?

224

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

It will be observed that these witnesses were spec-
tators, once victors, now looking with profound interest
upon the contest we wage. Paul shouts, " More than
conquerors through Him that loved us." David cries,
" He will not suffer thy foot to be moved." R\ en
Abel, farthest from us all, cannot keep still, but break-
ing the silence in the heat of the race, rises and cheers
on the runners for the prize. " Being dead he yet
speaks." We are encompassed by a cloud of witnesses,
watching to see the result. Shall we gain the prize or
fail?

And are these all ? Oh no ! — " so great a cloud."
Count the innumerable particles of vapour that go to
make up a great cloud that you see covering the sky,
and then you will know the number of individuals in the
long line of patriarchs and prophets and Old Testament
saints, the glorious company of the apostles, and the
noble army of martyrs, and confessors, and the untold
millions that have since died in the faith, and so many
of them for the faith. How then runs the lesson of
our text ? Seeing that multitudes compass us about on
every side, who, having won the prize, now cheer and
animate us by the assurance that if we only run the
race witli patience, and cast away sins and weights, we
shall likewise triumph, let us look steadily away from
every distraction to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of
our faith, and exert ourselves to the utmost to gain the
goal of eternal life.

But if those who passed away so long ago, feel such
interest in us how much more those who but recently
were snatched from our embrace ! They are out of our

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

225

;re spec-
I interest
are than
I'id cries,
Et in
jt break-
id cheers

he yet
witnesses,

prize or

cloud."
it go to

the sky,
lis in the
estament
and the
e untold
so many
esson of
ibout on
heer and

run the
ghts, we
ay from
lisher of
gain the

"eel such
recently
It of our

sight, but they are in the cloud. You cannot see them,
but they see you : your father, who led you through the
slippery paths of childhood and youth, and whose
manly tones you remember still ; your mother, whose
loving caresses you feel even now on lip, and cheek, and
brow, and whose dying charge is graven on your heart ;
your wife, the light of your home ; your husband, on
whose strong arm you leaned ; your children, whom
you would have shielded under your brooding wings.
They are in the cloud looking down. Oh, do not say
that heaven is far away. Absen'. from the body, pre-
sent with the Lord. " Heaven lies about us in our
infancy," and about us yet. We have often asked
" Can those who have loved forget ? " Having loved
us to the end, can they do other than love us still?
Out of the heart, my brother, are the issues of life.
And the deep persuasion which spontaneously arises
within us, which no logic can refute, appears to be
sealed with the testimony of God. Death cannot
reverse the laws of our spiritual being. It will only
enable us the more perfectly to love, and the more
tenderly to watch over those who are left behind.
How sweetly has Whittier sung :

" From the eternal shadow rounding All unseen and starlight there.
Voices of our lost ones sounding Bid us be of heart and cheer,
Through the silence, down the spaces, falling on the inward ear.
Know ye not our dead are looking Downward as in sad surprise,
All our strife of words rebuking With their mild and earnest eyes ?
Shall we grieve the holy angels : shall we cloud their blessed skies ?
Let us draw their mantles o'er us, Which have fallen in our way :
Let us do the work before us Calmly, bravely, while we may.
Ere the long night silence cometh, and with us it is not day."

■■p

I i

226

THE CIIKIS'l'IAN RACE.

Oh my tempted friend, don't forget that with fondest
solicitude your mother is looking down to see what will
be the issue of the struggle. Tired spirit, your loved
companions through happy years gone by are wistful
for your deliverance. The little angel child, that was
snatched from your detaining arms, cries : " Father,
do not fret ; mother, do not worry." Procrastinator,
the dear one to whom you promised to seek Christ is
waiting for you to fulfil your promise. Backslider, one
with whom you started the race, looks to see you start
again.

They are hovering around us. But our eyes are
holdcn that we see them not. No longer, however, is
the spiritual world a world of shadows, but a great
reality. We know some who are there, familiar voices
are speaking, well-known feet tread the golden streets.
Our friends are there — above all our blessed Lord.
And He is our witness, the Faithful and True witness,
our closest Observer. He who has on His head many
crowns sits watching us. His eye rests on us lovingly.
His heart is with us. His hand will help us, and when
we almost faint. He leaps over the gallery into the
arena and comes to our relief shouting : " Fear not, I
will help thee ; I will strengthen thee by the right
hand of my righteousness."

Are you running this race ? If not, you are in the
broad path, and only for one thing to prevent I can
cast your horoscope with absolute certainty. For the
broad road leads to eternal death. And the one thing
to prevent is your speedy return to God. You too
have witnesses. Ask them. Is it safe to trifle even for

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

227

fondest
hat will
ir loved
wistful
lat was
Father,
tinator,
"hrist is
ier, one
ou start

yes are
ever, is
a great
r voices
streets.
Lord.
A'itness,
J many
►vingly.
d when
ito the
- not, I
J right

in the
I can

or the
thing

)u too

^en for

one hour with your soul. Their unanimous reply would
be * Now is the accepted time.'

Are you running the race? Disappoint not the
witnesses. Let the race be a spectacle worth seeing.
It will require your utmost effort. You must strip off
everything wrong. Forsake all sin, however little or
however much it may fall in with your inclinations.
Better that than perish. A single sin unforsaken will
debar from heaven. For the surrender we make, how
glorious the prize ! Think of the old athletes. What
indulgences they had to forego ! How rigorous the
training to which they had to submit. " They did it
to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible."
The argument is that if they spent life in training for a
race in which, if successful, they won but a chaplet of
leaves, which would soon fade, shall we not cast aside
e.ery weight and besetment to obtain an incorruptible
crown, of which in that event we are sure, and which
would be well worth the struggle of a thousand lives.
If the Olympian racer, when he felt the eyes of Greece's
noblest sons and fairest daughters upon him, strained
every nerve and put forth his most vigorous effort
to reach the goal ; if Napoleon's appeal to his soldiery
at the battle of the pyramids, " Soldiers, the eyes of
thirty centuries look down upon you," roused their
warlike enthusiasm to such a pitch that they scattered
their enemies like chaff ; shall not we, whose witnesses
encompass us, ranged seat above seat, tier above tier,
gallery above gallery, from earth av/ay to highest
heaven ; shall not we, who have upon us the eyes of
three worlds — hell, earth, and heaven-— feel within us

228

THE ClIRTSriAN KACE.

the stirrings of sanctified ambition, and be raised to a
noble emulation of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises? Yes, ye bending throng of
radiant spirits, though there be lions in the way, and
the course be rough and thorny, we give j'ou pledge
that with the help of grace we will " run the full length
of the celestial road " and rejoin you in heaven.

THE ALABASTRON AND THE
OINTMENT.

" There came unto Him a woman having an alabaster box of very preci-
ous ointment, and poured it on Mis head, as He sat at meat.*' Matthew
xxvi. 6-13.

The Benefactor and Friend of more than one family
in quiet little Bethany comes there on His way to
the cross. The place is moved at His coming, for
Simon called the leper, a leper no longer through His
grace and power, lives here, and Lazarus whom lately
He had raised from the dead. And when the Sabbath
is now past, they make him a feast in Simon's house,
where a scene of thrilling interest takes place. Martha,
the busy housekeeper, serves according to her taste.
Lazarus, silent and self-involved, sits near Him, at the
command of whose voice his departed spirit, wander-
ing in the unseen depths, returned to its forsaken
tenement and dear old home. The disciples share
the hospitality. Mary sits charmed and happy at her
Master's feet, glancing from her brother well-beloved to
her Lord dearer still, whom she has a sad presentiment
she shall soon behold no more. — In the midst of a con-
versation in which she takes no part, she rises unobserved
and slips away for a little from the room. Presently

230

IIIK ALADAS'iKOX AND THE OINIMF.NT

she returns with a cruise of beautiful calcareous spar
from the mountain quarries of Alabastron in Egypt,
filled with ointment of Indian nard, a precious aromatic,
very costly, and in an ecstacy of love, sorrow, and
adoration, breaks the phial, and pours the ointment
first upon His head and then upon His feet which she
wipes with her hair, while the odours fill the whole
house. The twelve, unaccustomed to such extravagance
of affection, are astonished at the ardent love and
costly sacrifice. But even while our Lord's head is an-
ointed with oil and His cup runs over, the joy that fills
his heart is not unmingled with other elements ; for at
the table sits one who has a devil. To the eleven, before
they can recover from their astonishment, Judas, who
has no sympathy with her devotion and is unable to
realize that the odours which fill the house are a sweet-
smelling savour unto God, artfully suggests that this is
wanton waste, when so many poor are wanting food ;
and he infects them with the contagion of his greedy
and censorious spirit till they too begin to murmur.
But the Lord who knows the cost of the sar ifice far
better than Judas, the ready reckoner, quietly condemns
them and throws the shield of His protection over her
who loved so much, by affirming the excellency of the
deed which they had so ignorantly criticized.

Notice ; —

I. The ivomaiCs lavish devotion.

She loved with her whole heart. Her deed, there-
fore, was perfectly spontaneous. She did not think of
what others might say or think. The spring of love

TIIK ALAliASTRON AND THE OlN'I'MEN'l".

231

within her, growing too strong for repression, burst its
way out, making for itself a new channel. It was an
act flowing from her deepest nature, as naturally as the
aroma of the unguent filled the house when the cruise
was broken. ' What shall I render unto the Lord for
all His benefits towards me ? * was the language of her
fervid affection, and she simply did what her fond and
true heart prompted, which because renewed in the
Spirit of Christ guided her unerringly. " Whatever,"
says George Eliot in Daniel Deronda, " one does with a
strong spontaneous outflow of will has a store of motive,
that it would be hard to put into words. Some deeds
seem little more than interjections which give vent to
the long passion of a life."

But because she loved so much her deed was essential-
ly gvncrous. How often words fail to express profound
feeling, and then how eloquent a glance of the eye or a
deed of the hand becomes ! She felt that she owed
herself and all that was dear to her to the Lord. She
could not express her devotion to Him in words, but
she did what she could. Her richest treasure, saved by
her prophetic soul for some great occasion, she brings
feeling that it was infinitely less than she would give
and He was worthy to receive, and leaving it to express
as well as it could her yearning to pour out her very
being as a libation at His feet, she breaks the alabastron
of genuine nard, pours it upon His sacred head, and
anoints His weary feet. Thus always. True love to
Christ is essentially generous, self -immolating, it does
all it can and not as little as possible, too much rather
than just enough. Sacrifice is its nature and its nourish-

232

THK ALAHAS'l'RON AM) I! IE OINIMKNl'.

ment. How Mary reproaches us ! In comparison with
hers how mean and niggard are our offerings to the
Lord. Me asks for the opening bud and we offer Him
the fading flower. If there is one thing better than
another on which Christ lays claim, that we lavish on
ourselves, or the objects of our blind idolatry, Jind what
we can spare after we have satisfied every desire and
every other claim, we are perhaps not unwilling to
present to Him. And yet we profess to be Christians
and to regard His name above every other name !

Oh my hearers, you owe Him more than you owe
to wife, sweetheart, hiLsband, parents, country — you
owe Him all you have and are. For you He became
poor, suffered, died. He raised you from a bed of
sickness, succoured you in trial, heard your prayer
when your heart was wrung with anguish, saved your
name from being cast out as evil, spared your darling
to you, pardoned your every offence, and gave you a
title clear to mansions in the skies. He loves you with
an everlasting love. Can you do too much for Jesus ?
Can you give enough? To Him all within us bows.
And ought we not to give Him all we have and are,
give Him every moment of our lives that He may show
us how to use them to the best advantage in His most
blessed service ? Have you money, houses, lands ?
Present them to Him. Have you children ? Lay
them on His altar. Have you wit, genius, eloquence,
learning, poesy, song? Use these splendid endowments
of God's great goodness for His glory alone. Woman,
be sure that with your wealth of affection you can
never be happy till you pour upon His head and feet

Tin: ALAlJASruON AM) 11 IK OINIMKN T.

233

the precious ointment and hear Him say : " She hath
wrought a good work ; she hath done \" hat she could."
Bring Him what is better than gifts of gold and frank-
incense and myrrh, that best gift of a broken heart, the
perfume of whose penitence and faith is pleasant to the
Lord. Cast yourself with an utter self-abandonment
upon His love and grace, and live not for yourself, but
for Him who died for you and rose again. So shall
God's Anointed be your Anointed.

n. The Disciples* unjust condemnation.

While Lake Hakone rests peacefully among the
mountain-barriers which hem her in on every side, her
sedate behaviour provokes no prejudice and excites no
hostility on the part of man, but let her burst her
appointed bounds, asking no permission and accepting
no dictation as to the course by which she will force
her way to the sea, and at once she will be regarded
as an enemy to be thwarted, cont»olled, and subdued.
So while men love Christ but with moderation, none
are affronted ; but love, self-forgetting, and other-
forgetting, sure to be original and striking in its
displays, is equally sure to offend.

In the midst of this display of warm-hearted zeal and
open-hearted devotion to Christ came the shocking
intrusion of a spirit inspired by the devil. Quick in
computation, Judas could readily cast up the value of
the ointment — 300 pence, about forty or fifty dollars —
and having charge of the funds of the company, he felt
himself in a position to speak upon any question of
finance. Straightway he empanels a jury of twelve,
himself the self-constituted foreman, and forthwith

234

rilE AI.A15ASrRON AND IlIE OINTMENT.

proceeds to try the poor woman. Shall a serpent,
wriggling in the mire, judge a lark soaring and singing
in the sky ? Shall a worldling, a devil, judge a saint ?
Nay, " he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he
himself is judged of no man." But Judas in his own
conceit is competent for anything. The eleven are
simple, guileless couls, unable on the one hand to
appreciate the intensity of her love, and on the other
full of sympathy for the poor. See now his art. lie
professes a concern for the poor, not that he cared for
them ; but it serves his purpose veil, and it is so easy to
express concern with the tongue. " A whole box of
ointment wasted, and so many poor." And they came
to see, as he designed they should, a resultless expendi-
ture of what might have been used for valuable practical
purposes. How much better to have converted the
ointment into denarii, and furnished to the poor the
wherewithal to eat, drink, and be clothed! " They had
indignation within themselves," and instead of smother-
ing their feelings they gave vent to them. " They
murmured against her." " To what purpose is this
waste?" Sure enough. The case is clear. No need
for Avitnesses. The woman is verily guilty.

Mary and Judas are in the Church to-day — the
ripened saint and the perfected spirit of the devil.
And the fear is lest, getting high office, the latter shall
win over true and holy men to decry as a piece of wild
extravagance the deed of the spirit which Jesus loves.
Observe two things :

I. On the part of the eleven the displaeeitient of a
higher motrie by a loxver. Motives range from the

THE ALABASTRON AND THE OINTMENT.

235

serpent,
singing
a saint ?
3'et he
lis own
ven are
land tQ
le other
rt. He
ired for
easy to
box of
y came
vpendi-
ractical
ed the
)or the
ey had
lother-
' They
is this
> need

^— the
devil,
r shall
F wild
loves.

of a

\ the

-, .

basest and the most selfish to the most pure and
disinterested. There can be no higher motive in earth
or heaven than to please God in everything. It would
seetTi that Mary's supreme love to Christ swayed her in
all matters and moved her to this deed. But Judas
would suggest something better. " Almsgiving is better
than devotion," said Judas that day, and so also say
utilitarians to-day.

Tried by the criterion of mere utility, how much
time is wasted in hours of devotion, in the labours
of the Sunday School, in visiting the widows and
fatherless in their affliction ! How much money is
squandered, devoted by the Christian to the purposes
of loligion, which, if applied to the extension of
his business, or other judicious uses, would enable
him to climb to positions of affluence and independ-
ence ! How often too at the call of duty men have
freely sacrificed their all, and liave willingly laid
down their prospects of wealth, honour, ease, comfort,
friends, long life, and have, tested by this standard,
sustained an early and disastrous defeat ! A lady relates
that in one of the darkest hours of the great American
Rebellion she was in a railway train, when it was
delayed for a few hours by an accident. The gentle-
men eagerly discussed the news of the morning papers.
Most felt gloomy and discouraged as they thought of
the cost of the war in blood and treasure, and of the
uncertainty of the issue. One well-dressed man got up
and excitedly poured out a violent denunciation against
the government, declaring that the nation was worse off
than before the war. A pale woman, dressed in shabby

236 THE ALABAS'PRON AND THE OINTMENT.

black, asked in a trembling voice : " Did you lose
much by the war, sir?" "Lose," replied he, turning
fiercely to her, "yes, $100,000, and no thanks to the
government that it was not as much more." " It cost
me a great deal first and last," ^aid she. " My husband
was killed at Shiloh, and one of my boys at Lookout
Mountain. The other came home to die, and that was
some comfort. We had a little home in Indiana, but I
soon lost heart to farm it all alone, and things got
behind, and I had to sell out. I am going home to
Vermont to take care of my old father and mother.
I put all I had in this world into the war, and I lost it
all, but that is what makes me feel sure it is coming out
all right. The Lord does not let such things go to
waste." Is that time or money wasted which is devoted
to Christ and to His cause, or that life which is jeopard-
ized for the truth, which stands up for righteousness,
and in the contest sacrifices itself ? Nay,

" A noble aim
Faithfully kept is as a noble deed ;
In Christ's pure sight all virtue doth succeed."

Champions of utilitarianism and thrift ! Be it known
unto you that nothing is wasted that lifts man above
the beasts, that what you mock at and call mere
sentiment constitutes the crowning wealth of cur race.
Look at the prodigal profusion of flowers in nature's
garden ! Behold the affluent and ever-varying glory of
the sky! Who would say to God, Wherefore this
waste? And shall we permit that low-browed utili-
tarianism, which would abolish the fine arts and all the
elegancies of life, to enter our homes and cast out of

THE AI.ABASTRON AND THE OINTMENJ.

237

-••* .

them everything that cannot vindicate for itself a plea
of the barest and most absolute necessity ? No, We
tell it to its beard that whatever helps to develop aright
the higher sentiments of our nature is cheap at any
price. And shall we allow it to invade the Christian
Church and to demand that our money be spent on
business, on the poor, on public improvements, but not
on Christ ?

Let us look at this case. Suppose you were Mary
and it was your dear one whom the Lord had restored
from the grave. What is there in your house so preci-
ous that you would not gladly give Him ? A box of
ointment to fill the house with its sweet perfume, ten
thousand boxes to fill the region round about, to fill
the whole heaven with the rich aroma of gratitude
and adoration, would these convey fully your sense of
devotion to Him ? Oh when a soul has been brought
from darkness to light, be not surprised if in the excess
of its joy and in the tumult of its gratitude some
extraordinary and almost fantastic demonstration of
love should take place.

However, the danger of too much fire and extra-
vagance in the demonstration of love for Christ is not
the danger of to-day. Indeed there are but few who
feel that nothing is wasted which is spent upon Christ,
and that it is miserable parsimony to deny Him any-
thing. In Exodus we read that the people brought
more than enough for what God had commanded.
What Church has such an experience to-day ? Yet if
the Church of to-day should wake up to a vivid sense
of supernatural things, which belong to a vastly higher

238

THE AT^AIJASTRON AND THE OINTMENT.

order of utilities than worldlings dream of, the value of
which nor man nor angel can compute, and were true
to the conscience within her and to the destiny of
which she is the heir, her coffers would be always full,
and a power would be set in motion that would speedily
regenerate the world.

2. On the part of Judas a hypocritical prof cssion of
benevolence. "It might have been sold for three hund-
red denarii and given to the poor : this he said not that
be cared for the poor ; but because he was a thief and
had the bag and bare what was put therein." Iniquity
gilds itself over \vith specious pretence. Avarice,
cloaking itself in charity, speaks the language of love.
The eleven disciples were led away by his sophistry,
but he was a hypocrite. What cared he for the poor,
who sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver ! Her
generosity made him angry. He felt personally wrong-
ed, and when she brought her alabastron and poured out
a perfume fit for royal palaces on Christ's head, whose
whole life of sinless purity was to him an intolerable
rebuke, there was raised within him a feeling of bitter-
ness and hate. That money should have come into the
purse of which he was the dishonest keeper. Three
hundred pence — what a loss ! To the eleven Judas
seemed to be the friend of the poor ; to Christ who saw
him clearly he was a hypocrite and a devil.

Now it is not true that Christianity does not care for
the poor. Celsus long ago said that our religion could
not be divine, because it cared so insanely for them.
Where are philanthropists and asylums, but in Christian
lands? Or if found in heathen lands, is it not the

THE ALABASTRON AND THE OINTMENT.

239

outcome of the Christian spirit imported thither?
" Pure religion and undefiled before God even the
Father is this, to visit the widows and fatherless in
their affliction." But when care for the poor is pleaded
as an excuse for not doing what will honour Christ, and
enable the soul to indulge itself in sentiments of loving
and adoring worship, it is a plea urged in arrant igno-
rance or rank hypocrisy. Let Japan be mentioned in
the West as a good field for mission work, and men of
repute are heard to grumble about the neglected poor
at home. The very argument which Judas employea
is used to-day to discredit missions. It might not be
amiss for the gentlemen who wield this weapon to
remember that the man who forged it 1800 years ago
was possessed by a devil.

While the fragrance of love's gifts fills the world,
avarice would sacrifice Christ, His honour, and His
cause. Judas, cunning dissembler ! fair without, foul
within, we liave found thee out. Thou art a wolf in
sheep's clothing. Thus, sooner or latei, shall all masks
fall off, and the hidden corruption be brought to light.
In that day may we be seen to be, what we now desire
to appear I

Hypocrisy and false utilitarianism condenm Mary.
But we have

III. Oiir Loj'd's Defence.

I. He 7'ebukcs their intermeddlmg: " Let her alone ;
why trouble ye her ? " An emphatic command. To
grieve a noble soul in the performance of a good deed
is a serious offence, and Christ is deeply wounded in
the outrage done to her. No man, however high his

240 'IHE AI.ABASTRON AND IHE OINTMENT.

ecclesiastical office, has any right to interpose between
the soul and the Saviour. When President Alexander
lay dying, some one whispered in his ear, " I know in
whom I have believed." The dying saint in closest
fellowship with his Lord, with expiring effort roused
himself to say : " No preposition between me and my
Saviour ! I know tvhovi I have believed." Let us
brook, brother, no intervening preposition, no meddling
Judas, and no interfering priest, between us and our
Lord. And as each respects his own conscience, let
him respect the conscience of all others. " Trouble
them not."

2. He asserts that hei- conduct was praiseworthy.

(i). For its quality. "She hath wrought a good
work upon me." Some assert that the doctrine of good
works is a heresy. Certainly good works can never
save a man. Besides, the heart unsaved is evil, aiid
from it can come no good. Scripture shows that not
by works of righteousness, but by grace are we saved.
The only works condemned in Scripture are evil works,
unfruitful works of darkness, and works done in order
to merit salvation. Good works are commanded and
enforced. We are " created unto good works." We
are to be " fruitful in good works," to be " rich in good
works," to be " zealous of good works," to " maintain
good works for necessary uses." And the axe is at the
root of every tree that bringeth riot forth good fruit.
The theology that cannot stand this is unsound and
unscriptural.

Christ calls her deed xaXou ipyov, a good deed, a
beautiful deed. There are two Greek words translated

THE AL ABAS IRON AND THE OINTMENT. 24 1

good'—TLakoz and dyaOoc The latter denotes what is
simply good, useful, and in the sphere of morals what is
just. The former means beautiful; it is used to describe
objects that at heart are beautiful and take an outward
shape of loveliness. The word which our Lord here
uses has respect to both the world of goodness, and
that of beauty. The disciples had blamed Mary and
cond'jmned her deed as bad. Christ takes her part and
says : No, it is good ; more than that, it is beautiful.
Dorcas was full of good works, but Mary's act was good,
and it was beautiful too. Christ admired Mary's deed.
To Him it was rainbow-hued. It touched His imagina-
tion and His heart. It harmonized with His concep-
tions of the beautiful, who, Maker of all the most
beautiful things, and Doer of all the most beautiful
deeds, crowned all by laying down His life for the race.

Would you do good and beautiful deeds? To
Christian people Paul says : " Whatsoever things are
true, honest, just, pure, think on these things." Why ?
" As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." And
thinking on such things he will become capable of good
deeds. But Paul has an eye to the production of
beautiful deeds ; and he adds : " Whatsoever things
are lovely and of good report ; if there be any virtue
and if there be any praise, think on these things."
Think on Mary's deed, and especially on Christ's great
sacrifice, till your whole soul is filled with chaste
delight.

It was praiseworthy again,

(2). For the measure of her devotion — "she hath
done what she could." It was all that Christ could

242 THE ALABASTRON AND THE OINTMENT.

ask, or she could do. Here is Christian perfection.
Goodness could no further go. Good to remember
His poor disciples, best to love Himself. We cannot
now repeat Mary's act in the letter, but we may in the
spirit. We can fall before Him and pour out our
heart's affection ; and there receive the spirit of finished
holiness, the spirit of perfect love.

" When such a man, familiar with the skies,
Has filled his urn where those pure waters rise.
And once more mingled with us, meaner things,
Tis e'en as if an angel shook his wings :
Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide,
And tells us whence those treasures are supplied."

Anointed from on high, the air would be full of the
odours of spicery, like the breezes from Ceylon. Secure
this spirit, and we shall do the work for which we have
been called, and to which we have been sent. Without
it, we shall never have it said of us. They have done
what they could.

One replies : " I am only a woman." So was Mary,
who did what she could. " But my talent is very
small." So was Mary's, but she did not wrap it in a
napkin and bury it in the earth. Well then, what if
you have but one talent ? It will supply as good a test
of faithfulness as many would. For it is a question of
principle and not of gifts, and the Master's eye is upon
the aim and the effort rather than upon the results.

** O that each from the Lord may receive the glad word,

Well and faithfully done,
Enter into my joy and sit down on my throne I "

THE ALAHASTRON AND THE OINTMENl'. 243

It was praiseworthy further,

(3). For its timeliness. Whatever may be the de-
velopment of social and political science, the progress of
the mce in civilization and well-being, despite all the
romantic dreams of enthusiasts, our Lord declares that
we are to have the poor with us always. For wise and
gracious ends, some of which are evident enough on a
little reflection, it has pleased Alm'ghty God to ordain
that human society shall be made up of a variety of con-
ditions, each of which is intended to have close relations
with the rest. And the duty of regarding the poor will
devolve on man, and the blessedness of him who con-
sidereth the poor will be within reach of the well-to-do,
till the consummation of all things. " Whensoever ye
will, ye may do them good." But the Church at this
time was in the enjoyment of a privilege unspeakably
great, which prophets and kings had waited for and
sought but never found. Christ had come and was still
resident upon earth with the Church. Soon he was
to undergo the agonies of Gethsemane, the shame and
pain of Calvary, and the humiliation of the grave, prior
to His resurrection and ascension. And so saying :
" For ye have the poor with you always ; and whenso-
ever ye will, ye may do them good," He adds : " But
Mc ye have not always." Ah no, now the widowed
Church, albeit blessed with the assurance of His spirit-
ual presence, looks forward with wistful glances to the
time when He shall come to be admired in all them
that believe, and cries, " Even so, come Lord Jesus,
come quickly." But at that time He was still with
the Church on earth, and Mary, who had heard Him

244

THE ALABASTRON AND THE OINIMENT.

speak of His approaching^ sufferings and death in words
which others had not understood, her ears quickened
with the instincts of deeper love, felt her bosom thrill
with dread, and under the impulse of love did her
deed of duty, and applied a chrism for His passion — a.
deed which could be done only once in the history of the
world, and which He said had in it a kind of prophetic
power : " For in that she hath poured this ointment
on my body, she did it for my burial." The broken
alabaster box with its precious unguent and fragrance
represented Christ's broken body and shed blood and the
inestimable blessings which hence accrue to us. Nay,
the very spirit with which Mary broke the box and
poured its contents on the head and feet of her Lord is
the spirit in which the Son of God consecrated Himself
to this cruel death of the cross. And did she know
how beautiful was her deed? how it served to cheer
and animate His soul before His passion ? how it was in
His eyes cherished, interpreted, and glorified into a
prophetic act ? Perhaps not. But how few would
dream of doing as she did. She did not wait to show
post-mortem kindness. She brought her box, when His
sore and weary feet would be refreshed by the delicious
unguent, and His heart, now saddened by the defection
of one disciple and the knowledge of the frailty of all,
could be cheered by the fragrance of the loyalty of one
true heart. Grace had been given her to know one of
the grand opportunities of her life, nor was she dis-
obedient to the heavenly intimation.

And the lesson for us is to defer the good that we
can do any time in order to the doing of what can be

IIIE AI.AIUSTRON AND TIIK OTX'I'MENr

245

in words
lickened
>m thrill
did her
5sion — a
y of the
'ophetic
intment

broken
agrance
and the
Nay,
ox and
Lord is
rlimself
; know
• cheer

was in
into a

would
) show
en His
;licious
fection
of all,
of one
one of
le dis-

lat we
:an be

done on/y notv. Prevent death that death may not
prevent us by cutting off our opportunity.

The praiseworthiness of Mary's deed is seen finally,
(4). In the honour Christ puts upon it. His defence
of her attains its climax in the gracious promise that
immortal honours await her. Behold the majesty of
this announcement ! No monarch can make any deed
immortal. But Christ calmly promises that in the
bright galaxy of names renowned for great works, this
lowly villager's name shall be inscribed. Thus has
Mary had raised to her a monument lasting as God's
word. In the history of that life, which is the Light
of men, is her name bound up. It is honoured to-day
in every quarter of the globe. " Wheresoever this
gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there
shall also this that this woman hath done be told for
a memorial of her."

What a vindicator is He ! And He is ours as well as
Mary's. " Who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect ? It is God that justiiieth. Who is he
that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us" (Rom. viii.

33, 34).

Of the many things which ou.* text suggests, let us
take three : —

I . We arc instructed as to the tnic method of zvinniiig
endless fame. A desire to have one's name go down
to the future in honour is one of the most powerful
instincts of human nature. " Though fame is smoke,
its fumes are frankincense to human thought." Words

246

'11 IK ALAIJASIKON AND THE OINTMEN'r.

of applause are sweet as music. In all ages men
have sought for this, sacrificing comfort, ease, wealth,
and life itself in order to win it, and of all the unnum-
bered dc'd how few survive to-day in the world's
remembrance. But here is one whose name, it is
promised, shall be embalmed in the affectionate re-
membrance of the race forever. Oiu text revenls the
secret. It is to give over ill aspirations for g'ory, to
live for Christ and His cause, to vioii the sick, to com-
fort the sorrowful, to instruct the if 1 ora.it, to lift up
the fallen, to save the lost. This is the way to write
our names on loving hearts, and to prolong existence
for years, perhaps for ages. Him, whose heart is fired
with the love of Christ, and whose will is keyed up to
this sublime purpose to live only for God and humanity,
neither God nor man will consent to forget.

2. Wi' learn how far wc may imitate Mary. \Ve
cannc . now roach up to anoint Christ's feet, much less
His exalted Head. There is no question now between
giving to the poor and giving to Christ, if only we give
to then in His name and as unto Him. He remained
long enough in the world to set flowing toward Him-
self a stream of love, and then withdrew leaving the
poor behind Him. The whole human race is one vast
brotherhood ; but especially are believers in Christ one,
for they are one in Him, and He is with us in the
persons of His destitute brethren, so that the current of
love may flow forth in deeds of self-sacrifice, towards
those whom He has made His heirs, without any mis-
giving on the part of the believer. " Inasmuch as ye
have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye

THE AI.ABASTRON AND THE OINTMENT. 247

^es men
wealth,
unnum-
world'j.
e, it is
nate re-
peals the
r'ory, to
to corn-
lift up
:o write
xistence
is fired
tl up to
manity,

V. We
Lich less
between
we give
maintd
i Him-
ng the
ne vast
St one,
in the
rent of
awards
ly mis-
i as ye
en, ye

have done it unto me," will be His language to us by-
and-by when we have fallen asleep, if we have served
our generation by the will of God. That generation is
largely an arid waste. It needs what the Church of
God can abundantly supply. As the warm sUnshine
lifts up from the ocean an immense supply of moisture,
which, stopping short of the sun, is condensed into rain
and discharged in fructifying showers upon the burning
plains, so Christ's love draws forth the entire volume of
the affections of His people towards Himself, which
then returns in copious showers upon the homes and
hearts of the poor. " My goodness extendeth not unto
thee, but unto the saints that are in the earth, and to
the excellent in whom is all my delight."

Finally, tcr are taught that cases of conscience are
best settled by simply doing the duty nearest to hand
under the promptings of an intense personal loz>e to
Chtist. By her love Mary had fallen into the move-
ments of that renewed universe, which He who sits upon
the throne set in motion when He said : " Behold, I
make all things new." It is in this way that conten-
tions of doubt as to duty cease, the computation of
peradventures pro and cott comes to an end, questions of
casuistry expire, and love verifying reason takes the
place of law, and by her own divine impulses moulds
the life, adjusts it in all its relations to God, angels, and
men, to time present and time to come, and beautifies
it with the grace of heaven. " Love is the fulfilling of
the law."

■I

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

" Who is this that coineth from Fdom, with dyed garments from Bozrah ?
I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in
thine apparel ? I have trodden the winepress alone ; and of the people there
was none with me ; for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in
my fury' Isaiah Ixiii. 1-4.

The insect fluttering in the sunbeam, the feathered
songster of the grove, and the beast that roams over
the plain, dwell in the present. Man's home too is in
the present, but Memor}' often takes him by the hand
and leads him back to halcyon days of the past, and
History transports him to ages long gone by. Some-
times we make excursions into the future and build us
homes, embower them amid trees and foliage and
flowers, and surfound them with all that is charming
and lovely ; but ere we reach the point proposed an un-
expected blast razes to the ground the fabric of our
hopes. The poet is enabled with his eye in fine
frenzy rolling to catch such a glimpse of the future
as the past is prophetic of. But poets are visionaries.
Long ago the High and Holy one that inhabiteth
eternity, dwelling equally in present, pjist, and future,
for purposes of His own, sometimes removed the
scales from a man's eye, and permitted him to gaze
far down into the vista of the future. A mortal priv-

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

249

n Bozrah ?
thou red in
iople there
•le them in

athered
ns over
00 is in
le hand
St, and

Some-
uild us
re and
irming
an un-
of our
n fine
future
naries.
biteth
uture,
i the

.^aze

priv-

ileged thus was called a prophet or seer. And oh, the
range of the prophet's vision ! Behold him under the
influence of the spirit of prophecy, his eye keenly pierc-
ing the invisible ! Now shadows darken his brow, now
brightness irradiates his face ! You look where he looks,
but you see nothing. He sees visions of what is yet to
be. Sometimes he gazes down the track of distant ages
in the future. Sometimes nations, yet in embryo, flit
full-grown before him. He beholds cycles revolving,
dynasties falling, thrones tottering. The war of opinion
is fought before him, the strife of good with evil ; the
final triumph of righteousness in millenial glory and in
heaven is foreseen. Perhaps of all the Hebrew prophets,
who foresaw the relation of what was then with what
was to be, Isaiah's ken was clearest.

In chapters Ix, Ixi, and Ixii, the prophet has been
filled with exultation at the vision of the future glory of
the church, which is to become a praise in the earth.
Suddenly as he glances down towards the valley of the
Jordan, he descries coming from the red mountains of
the Edomites, the enemies of Judah, a magnificent
warrior, all flushed with victory, his garments smeared
with blood, vivid as the red rocks of Petra or the cliffs
of Bozrah. His stature is lofty. His head is lifted
up. He comes swinging on in the greatness of his
strength. The prophet confronts him with the chal-
lenge : " Who is this that cometh from Edom, with
dyed garments from Bozrah ? This that is glorious in
His apparel ? " And the answer comes across the inter-
vening space : " I that speak in righteousness, mighty
to save." As He comes nearer, the prophet sees that

2SO

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

His garment is not the scarlet dress of Arab warriors,
but rather like the raiment of them who tread grapes
in the winepress till it is splashed, and smeared, with
red. "' Why," the prophet asks again, " art thou red
in thine apparel ? " And the great chieftain makes
reply : ' I have trodden the winepress alone," etc.

" I'his is but a dream," you will say ; " pray show us
the interpretation." The Edomites, the descendants of
Esau, Israel's great forefather's brother, were their
most inveterate enemies. The variance began when
Israel in the wilderness asked permission to pass through
Edom, with the promise to do no injury, to keep to the
highway, and to pay for all they should consume, and
were refused. Israel cherished the memory of the
grudge, Saul made war upon them, and David over-
threw them and put garrisons in their cities. But from
the time of Amaziah Edom became independent, and
gradually encroached upon Israel. In the 6oth and
io8th Psalms occurs the passionate cry, " Who will lead
me into the strong city ? Wlio will bring me into
Edom ? Wilt not Thou, O God, go forth with our
hosts ? " The dates of the Psalms are unknown, but
the quotation shows the spirit of Israel when unable to
cope with his foe. As when a quarrel takes place in a
family, the basest passions are aroused, so it is when
nations of the same extraction and speech become em-
bittered toward one another. But surely when Israel is
in his extremity, and the walls are thrown down, and
the temple reduced to a heap of ruins, and the people
are driven away into captivity, there will be relent ings
in the descendants of Esau and old enmities will be

CHRIST, THE CONQUKROK.

251

varriors,
i grapes
id, with
liou red
makes
btc.

how us
iants of
e their
1 when
:h rough
) to the
ne, and

of the
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Lit from
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buried. Alas, Edom felt an ungenerous delight in the
fall of his brother Israel, for so long a time his trouble-
some neighbour, powerful rival, and puissant lord. It
was this that awoke the bitterest hatred against the
Edomites, and called forth the cry for vengeance from
the exiles on the banks of the Euphrates : " Remember
the children of Edom, O Lord, in the day of Jerusalem :
how they said. Rase it, rase it, even to the foundations
thereof " (Ps. cxxxvii. 7). In perfect sympathy with
this is the cry of Obadiah for vengeance upon Edom,
because of his malignant exultation over Judah in the
day of calamity. Ezekiel and Jeremiah agree in de-
nouncing the judgments of God upon the heaitless
kinsman and foe. And tl prophet in our text cele-
brates the Avenger of the wrongs of his people, who
cries, *' I will tread them in my anger and trample them
in my fury . . . for the day of vengeance is in my
heart, and the year of my redeemed is come."

The meaning, then, of our text is obvious. The cry
for vengeance was not unheard. God's eye was on the
Edomites, and a just and terrible retribution awaits
their crime. No crime is ever committed that does not
return with a dreadful rebound upon the author, but that
of Edom in heinousness surpasses all, and the doom which
it provokes is correspondingly conspicuous and severe.
The God of Israel will appear for Israel's help, and in the
hour of his extremity vindicate him before the nations.
What comfort here for the pious Hebrew heart ! For
He who has pledged Himself for Israel's deliverance
is One whose power is unlimited, whose wisdom is
unerring, and whose fidelity to His word can never fail.

252

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

But we must not confine the significance of this
Scripture to Israel. Tlie race of Esau has long since
passed away, though naiure had done so much to make
Edom impregnable against his foes. But the prophecy
was not exhausted with the vengeance which swept the
doomed race away. We have in our text one of those
theophanies or appearances of the Divine Author of His
people's salvation, which illuminate Old Testament
history and antedate the Advent of the New. He is
here clothed upon with human passion, agony, and
travail, for the prophet does not hesitate to ascribe to
God the passions of men. Here is one of the mysteries
of our religion that the Messiah is at once very God
and very man, God and man in ineffable union. It is
His triumph that the prophet celebrates, who has
wrought out for us a glorious deliverance from all our
enemies, so that we might serve Him without fear in
holiness and righteousness all our days. Since the
Fall, evil and good have been arrayed against each
other all over the world. The history of mankind
is the history of the struggle. Had man been unaided
in the struggle with his foes, he would certainly
always have been worsted. But God has undertaken
for us and descended into the arena, and fought for
us and within us. And wherever anywhere in Chris-
tian or heathen lands, you see a man sorry for his
evil ways and persistently turning to God, wherever
you see men acquiring power over temptation, wherever
men are making effort to lead others to better and hap-
pier lives, — this is the result of the Divinity working
within. This conclusion it is to which true science, not

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

253

satisfied with proximate and subordinate causes, and

ever seeking ultimate facts and primary causes, would

conduct us, for all forces tend to unity. And if God

Himself be the Great First Cause, as He is the last and

sublimest generalization of scientific truth, then all

yearnings after purity and righteousness, all efforts to

get rid of sin, all victories over the lower nature, all

sharing of the burdens of the oppressed, are the fruits of

the mighty power of Immanuel, God with us.

It is asked, " If all this is the result of Divine energy,

why is not the enemy conquered at a stroke, and evil

done away with forever ? The answer is ready. Milton

has sung :

" Who overcon es
By force, haih overcome but half his foe."

By slower but surer methods does our Lord work.
He appeals to the best instincts of every man. He
respects the free-agency of every man. He will win
him with his full consent, if he win him at all. And
conquer He will. Ages may roll away before the
consummation of the prophecy, whose germinant ac-
complishment was the deliverance of Israel and the
destruction of Edom ; but as the prophet beheld the
Conqueror coming up from Edom, swinging on in the
gieatness of his strength, glorious in His blood-red
robes, all flushed with victory, so do we look forward
with unwavering confidence to

" that one far-off, divine event,
To which the whole creation moves,"

when the kingdoms of this world shall have become the
kingdoms of our Lord, " on whose vesture and on whose

254

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

thigh is a name written, King of kings and Lord of
lords."

Consider we now in the light of our text the evil that
has to be conquered. Edom, with its red rocky fast-
nesses frowning down on the Hebrew, in the eye of the
prophet is a symbol of sin, the common foe of our
race. Up to the time the Edomites were conquered,
and after their successful revolt, Israel was in perpetual
dread of the raids and guerrilla-like warfare which Edom
was in the habit of carrying on. The cost of deli-
verance from this wide-awake enemy was ceaseless
vigilance. Thus over against all goodness, truth, and
righteousness in the great world all around us, and in
all history, is sin, a sleepless, inveterate, undying foe.
The struggle goes on in the home, the school, the shop,
the forum, the mart of commerce, the temple of reli-
gion, the community, the nation, till to the discerning
eye the world presents the aspect ot one vast battle-
field, where it is not safe for one moment to be off one's
guard, or intermit the struggle. Always that which is
best and noblest in the national character and life, and
in the life and character of the human race, is under
assault from the great adversary of God and man. How
consolatory to know that the Son of God is with us in
the strife, so that our heads are covered in the day of
battle, and the arms of our hands made strong by the
hands of the mighty God of Jacob ! The struggle goes
on in the Church, where divisions become widened and
"embittered by stupid prejudice and personal maligni-
ty." But here, too, is the Christ, coming from Edom,
glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

255

His strength, mighty to save. He will bring out of all
apparent evil His own glory in the establishment of the
church in knowledge, righteousness, purity, and love.

The strife, too, is in our own heit.-ts. There is good
within us, but who does not know that there is evil
also? In childhood, youth, or matured years, how
often have you been constrained to say, " When I
would do good, evil is present with me." How often
vanquished in the struggle for righteousness or purity !
How often if not beaten, at all events carrying such
marks of the battle as bleeding wounds, broken helmet,
and deeply dinted shield ! Have you not felt sometimes
almost in darkness and despair, because you were not
able to crush your enemy once for all ? Is this to go
on forever ? Is there no Deliverer ? Have it for your
encouragement,

" Hell is nigh, but God is nigher,
Circling us with hosts of fire."

Sin may be very near, but the " Strong .Son of God,
immortal _^ove," is nearer still.

" Nearer to us than breathing, closer than hands or feet."

Nearer and stronger than the adversary is He who, in
the time of our utter distress and self-despair, when all
our hopes in ourselves have given up the ghost, appears
in our behalf, travelling in the greatness of His strength.
Blessed be His name ! We need no other deliverer,
for He " speaks in righteousness, mighty to save."
Righteousness is the great fundamental principle of the
Government of God. " The Kingdom of God consists "
not of things external, but " of righteousness, peace.

256

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

and joy in the Holy Ghost." Righteousness admits no
compromise between right and wrong, good and evil.
Sin must be utterly parted with : offending right eyes
plucked out, offending right hands cut off. He will not
save us in our sins. He will gladly save us from our
sins, for only as we consent thereto will He destroy our
enemy. He has said so, and He speaks in righteousness.
He taught righteousness, He purchased righteousness,
He fought for righteousness. " In righteousness He
doth judge and make war " (Rev. xix. 1 1). He is not
only the prophet of righteousness. He has turned His
words into deeds. And when He announces a right-
eousness by grace through faith. He is able to carry out
His promise in the heart of the penitent believer, for
He has died for righteousness. This it is which makes
Him " mighty to save."

This leads us to consider His answer to the question :
" Wherefore art Thou red in Thine apparel and Thy
garments like him that treadeth in the winefat ? " "I
have trodden the winepress alone ; and of the people
there was none with me : for I will tread them in my
anger and trample them in my fury ; and their blood
shall be sprinkled on my garments, and I will stain all
my raiment." No holiday tournament, this ; no blood-
less battle. His struggle with our adversaries, sin and
Satan, was not without pain and anguish. His gar-
ments were red with the blood of our enemy, but also
with His own. His soul was exceeding sorrowful even
unto death. His body was scourged, pierced, and
crucified. Excellent people object to the doctrine of
atonement by blood. But we have illustrations of vi-

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

257

Imits no
ind evil,
jht eyes
will not
rom our
troy our
;ousness.
lousness,
ness He
[e is not
ned His
a right-
arry out
;ver, for
h makes

Liestion :
nd Thy
?" "I
: people
n in my
ir blood
stain all
3 blood-
sin and
lis gar-
3ut also
ul even
;d, and
trine of
IS of vi-

carious suffering every day. We owe to it our life, our
liberties, all our blessings. " It is," said the Rev. H. W.
Beecher, " a solemn, inexplicable fact that it was neces-
sary for reasons known to the Divine being — whether in
His own person, in His creatures, or in His government,
I know not — that one should suffer for all. Again, I
hold that the suffering of Christ manifested the mind of
God in such a way as to make it sweet and attractive
and blessed forevermore. Christ did make a proper
satisfaction for the sins of the world. I do not know
how He did it. He knows and God knows. All I
know is that He did do it and in such a way that God
could be just and yet the Justifier of him that believeth."
And what saith the Word ? " Without shedding of
blood there is no remission." " It is the blood that
maketh an atonement for the soul." And our Lord
Himself said : " Ought not Christ to have suffered these
things?" "The Son of Man came .... to minister
and to give His life a ransom for many." The blood of
the sacrifices foreshadowed the blood of Christ, who,
with infinite ardour for righteousness and boundless
love and pity for us, engaged in the mighty struggle on
our behalf. In all our affliction He was afflicted. In
His willingness to sacrifice Himself for us He agonized
and died. What a mighty appeal is here to what is
best in us ! When we see Him dying that we might
live, shall we not give Him our supreme affection, and
learn to loathe what cost Him so dear ?

The more especially as He was a/onc in treading the
winepress, and of all His coadjutors there was none to
help Him. The multitudes that had followed Him

258

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

with admiration turned against Him, and cried, "To
the cross with Him." Of the innermost circle of His
friends one betrayed Him, another denied Him, and all
forsook Him. Upon the cross in the ony of death
the Father hid His face and the So ,i of God cried, " My
God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" He
achieved a victory in death, but He was alone, and
He won it in the faith of Him who hid His face.

And so it is still to-day. His servants have some-
thing to do, but it is only subsidiary to the work of
salvation, which is His alone. The bread which He
has multiplied we may carry to the hungry. We may
lead to His feet those in whom by His Spirit He has
begun to work repentance. We may roll away the
stone from the door of the sepulchre, we may remove
the grave clothes from him who is raised from the dead ;
but He only can say with power, " Lazarus, come
forth." Let us place our trust in Him alone, first and
last and always.

The great work- of human redemption was accom-
plished once for all e'';ihteen hundred years ago. That
is a work never to be repeated. Ever since, the actual
redemption of the race, individual by individual, has
been going on. All power is in the hands of Christ,
both in heaven and in earth. Sin and death under
whose crushing iron thrones the whole creation groans
had reigned in all generations. But Christ in His
own striking v/ords is " mighty to save." Oh, my
unsaved friends, these are not idle words. They are
words of truth and soberness. If one thinks he
cannot be saved from sin because he is so sunken and

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

259

^ ,

depraved, his self-despair is justified, for he can never
save himself. " Salvation belongeth unto the Lord."
Than the Lord Jesus there is no other name given
under heaven or aniong men whereby we may be
saved. While one may despair of himself, he nned not
despair, for our victorious Lord is mighty to save. Do
you require proof ? Well, then ; He has already done it.
He is doing it every day all over the world. In this
very city some desperate men have been saved — who
were degraded, lost, and perishing. I think I can
truthfully say that I have seen hundreds of souls, here
and elsewhere, some of them degraded and well-nigh
abandoned, converted to God, and changed in character
and life. I have also a personal testimony to bear. It
is that when I came to Him lie saved me, forgave my
sins, and gave me a new heart and a right spirit. And
through these many years, despite my backslidings and
manifold imperfections. He has not left me to myself.
He has saved me, and He saves me now by His almighty
grace. He who was able to save me and these others I
have mentioned is able to save any, even thi vilest and
worst. Ask Him to repeat these miracles of His grace
and power and save you now. I speak with confidence :
He who is mighty to save is able to save you from the
uttermost this very hour.

Are j<?« saved ? Question your own heart. Kx^ your
sins forgiven? Have you passed from death to life?
Have you the witness of the Spirit to your acceptance
in Christ ? These questions are of infinite moment. If
you are unwilling to be honest with yourself, it is a bad
sign ; you are still unwilling to turn your back on all sin.

26o

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

But if you are resolutely bent on putting all sin away,
ai.-l are enquiring, "What must I do to be saved?"
thank God, the answer is ready, and the salvation is
within easy reach : " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved." Cast yourself upon his pow-
er and love. Believe in Him as able and willing and
ready to save you now, and I am bold to say He does
save. What ! trust in Him and not be saved ? It is
impossible. His word cannot be broken. His arm is
not shortened that He cannot save, and His ear is not
heavy that He cannot hear. Give youiself utterly away
to Him, and instantly He saves you from all your guilt
and condemnation, from the dominion of sin and the
tyranny of the devil, and writes your name in the Book
of Life. Even then all is not done. Your salvation is
but partial. It is to be perfect, and it is to be forever.
He alone can perfect that which concerneth you. But
He will do it only with your full consent. It may cost
you a sore struggle ; it may prove a very Gethsemane,
a struggle with your selfishness and depravity reinforced
by your great adversary, who is full of devices and expe-
dients and skilful to adapt his temptations to your
inward bias and weakness. The conflict must be fought
out in silence and solitude, with possibly no human
helper or counsellor to smile encouragement or offer
friendly suggestion. But in this solitarj'^ conflict for
your soul's life, you will have to cheer and encourage
you the help of Him who came from Edom, with dyed
garments from Bozrah. He is with you to pour energy
into your will and infuse courage into your heart, to
impart skill to parry the lethal stroke, and power to

ciiKisr, riii: conquekok.

261

51 n away,
saved ? "
vat ion is
IS Christ,
his povv-
Hngr and
He does
? It is
s arm is
ir is not
riy away
)iir guilt
and the
le Book-
'ation is
forever,
•u. But
nay cost
semane,
inforced
id expe-
to your
fought
human
3r offer
lict for
:ourage
h dyed
energy
:art, to
wer to

inflict with the sword of the Spirit the mortal wound
upon your bosom foe. He is mighty to save. He will
make you, not merely an object of His protection, but
also an organ of His power ; and you will find, as you
commit yourself perfectly to Him, energy pouring into
you which will make you more than conqueror in this
mighty struggle.

I have lately exhorted you to the Imitation of Christ.
In the prophet's vision of the one lone figure, magnifi-
cent but solitary, returning from treading the winepress
alone, and travelling in the greatness of His strength, is
there presented an example for us to copy ? Can we
here follow the footsteps of our Lord ? This much is
true that His work can not be shared by man or angel.
But if we may not do His work, there is a work we may
do in His Spirit. Turn we now to Revelation xix.
where we find heaven opened — a vision of the heavenly
places not necessarily beyond the grave, rather in
the region which is purely spiritual. Sitting upon
a white horse is He, who is called Faithful and True,
plainly identified with the Conqueror of our text
by His vesture dipped in blood, and by His treading
the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty
God. He has already conquered His enemies, and
now He is about to inflict upon them their final doom.
The armies of heaven sitting upon white \\orsQs follow
Him. Each of these armies has its own special work,
and in each army each soldier has,in addition to the
work which he does in co-operation with his regi-
ment or company, his own individual task. It is a
work of righteousness, not so much to be spoken

262

CHRIST, THE CONQUEROR.

of, as to be done. Great is the value of the societies
through which the Churches carry out their schemes.
But not unfrequently they dull the sense in us of our
perbv^aal responsibility to God and man. There is need-
ed more individual, solitary work. You feel drawn in
spirit, perhaps, to redress some great social wrong, or to
uplift some section of the lapsed masses. You throw
yourself with ardour into the scheme. You are sure
that you will have the sympathy and co-operation of all
right-minded men. But you find to your chagrin and
disappointment that for some reason or other you are
left to your task alone, with none whatever to uphold.
Then in the hour of your temptation to give up all and
live the life of the multitude, the life of easy self-indul-
gence, Isaiah's consolation and support will be yours.
God has called you — count it an honour that you are so
called, as Isaiah in the olden time, as George Muller
and many others in the Christian Church — to a noble
and single-handed work, entirely distinct from the
work done by the societies. You are alone, yet near by
is One, who has undertaken to establish His kingdom
all over the world, and yours being a section of His
great plan He will assuredly give you ultimate triumph.

i societies
schemes,
us of our
"e is need-
drawn in
mg, or to
ou throw
are sure
ion of all
Lgrin and
r you are
D uphold,
ip all and
;elf-indul-
3e yours,
ou are so
e IMuller
) a noble
rom the
t near by
kingdom
1 of His
triumph.

THE LORD'S CANDLE.

" The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord." Prov. xx. 27.

[T/iis sermon 7oa.<: preached before the Conference of the Canadian Methodist
Mission in Shidztwka, Japan, on Sunday, Jnfy ist i8g4,frior to the ordination
of scleral youn^ men to the office of the Christian ministry.]

The history of illumination from the blazing pine-knot
and the lighted flambeau and the flat saucer with a wick
swimming in oil up to the lamp with fish oil or kerosene,
and higher still to gas and electric light, would carry
with it the history of civilization. An important step
in the upward movement was the first manufacture
of candles. The candle has not lost its uses, nor is it
likel}' to lose them. The Bible makes use of it for
illustration, as we see in the text of to-day.

You come into your dark chamber from without.
You ignite your match and with it light your candle,
and it throws light upon every object in the room. As
Phillips Brooks says in his noble sermon on this text :
" The two (the fire and the candle) bear witness that
they were made for one another by the way in which
the inferior substance renders obedience to its superior.
The candle obeys the fire. The docile wax acknow-
ledges that the subtle flame is its master and it yields to
its power ; and so like every faithful servant of a noble
master it at once gives its master's nobility the chance
to utter itself, and its own substance is clothed with a

264

THE LORD S CANDLE.

glory which is not its own." Clearly they are fitted to
one another — the candle and the fire — as some other
things are not. Thus the spirit of man is fitted to the
Spirit of God, as other orders of being are not fitted to
Him. The spirit in man is that special part of his
nature which has been designed as the meeting-place of
God and man. It is this faculty that wrought upon
by the Spirit of God makes us religious, and we are
religious in the degree in which we yield ourselves up
to the Divine breath which we feel stirring what we
recognize as deepest and best within us.

This faculty we have because we are human beings.
Here is a young child. It may for a long time show
little traces of memory, understanding, conscience.
But give it time and these now latent will be developed.
God has no such relation to the lower orders of crea-
tion, as the lion, the eagle, the nightingale. The
human being is His child fashioned after His image
and likeness. " There is a spirit in man and t^ie in-
spiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding,"
conscience, and heart, which are the things that cor-
relate us with God.

In some true sense one human being is the candle of
other human beings. In the home often is a mother,
in whom is " a meeting of gentle lights." To her
children she is a candle, as they grow up and go out
from the parental roof. And when she dies she feels
perhaps that her influence ceases ; as Clifford cries in
King Henry VI :

" Here buns my candle out, aye, here it dies,
Which, while it lasted, gave King Henry light."

THE LORD S CANDLE.

265

111-

: ■,■':

But she errs, for long after she is gone, the light that

God helped her kindle in the bosom of her children

will shine on and on — a bright illumination upon the

path of their contemporaries and of those who shall

succeed them.

Let us now look at our text and see if we can in the

light of these illustrations get at its meaning. God is

fire. It was Shelley who said : " Men scarcely know

how beautiful fire is." What is there that will so fitly

represent Him as ^

" The friendly tire which blazes clear and bright,
Whose temperate splendour cheers the gloom of night ! "

Whether on the one hand, glowing on the hearth or in
the sun, it is gracious, and welcome, cheering and
enlivening our chilled bodies, and diffusing life through
our sluggish veins, or on the other it is terrible and
destructive, as in the volcano's burning floods, in the
red lightning that smites some lofty tree or towering
spire, or in some destructive conflagration, fire is ap-
propriately used to represent God. For He both builds
up and destroys.

Fire, it was fabled, came from heaven. The ancient
Greeks attributed to Prometheus, a supposed super-
natural being, its introduction. It was often counted a
god. Vesta had no image or statue in her own temple,
the vestal fire being considered as the very goddess
herself. Its flame was to be kept bright and pure. It
was considered a fatal omen if it died out on the
hearth. The nation, the tribe, the clan, the family,
had fire for their common origin and esteemed it as the
cause of their existence.

-I I

266

THE LORD S CANDLE.

Coming to the early Bible we find that Jehovah
revealed Himself by fire. The Shekinah was a mani-
fested glorious presence of the Most High among His
people, called often the glory of the I>ord. When
Adam and Eve were driven from Eden, cherubim with
a flaming sword guarded the way of the Tree of Eife.
God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, a super-
natural light glowing with a lambent and vivid but
innocuous flame. The glory of the Lord appeared as a
devouring fire on the summit of Sinai. The Shekinah
dwelt between the cherubim on the Ark, and as Israel
journeyed through the wilderness, Jehovah went before
them a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by
night.

Now, as fire is universally diffused, latent it maj' be
yet pervading all things even the iceberg and avalanche,
so God is everywhere. There are those who see Him
in shining stars and glowing sun, in mountains, streams,
and groves, in plant and flower, and in the animate
creation about us.

" Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God ,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes —
The rest sit round it and pick blackberries."

The flame, the glory, the majestic splendoui, the
personal God, are here, there, all around us all the
while. Alas, how many " having eyes see not," ** the
god of this world " having " blinded the minds of them
that believe not ! " How many have put out their
eyes, their spiritual organs, by neglecting to use them
in th'e service of God, and by allowing their minds and

THE LORD S CANDI-K.

267

hearts and lives to be absorbed in other matters than
personal relij^ion. The capacity of religion, says
Bushnell, is extirpated by disuse. He who studies
nature with no recognition of God, who is in it all,
must lose insight.

Yes, God is all about us as a fire diffused, and to the
open reverent eye, all-pervading like an atmosphere,
burning up what is evil, and saving and purifying what
can endure it. But He has such a respect for the will
in man that He has made free, that when He would
consume the evil that is in him. He always asks. By
your permission ? Then if the permission is not ac-
corded, after a merciful respite the rebellious sinner
himself is attacked. The sap of life dries up, the
sensibilities are scorched, the nature becomes arid, the
faculties shrivel, the conscience is seared, till nothing
remains but a living creature, with understanding and
mental power, passion and will power, but the angel-life
has ceased to be. But at any time before the destruc-
tion was quite complete, had the man yielded to the
claims of God, he would have been a brand plucked
from the burning. The question which concerns us is.
Which shall be destroyed, the sin or the sinner ?

You do not see it so ? Yet this is a real picture of
life. The reason is you are lool-:ing through a coloured
glass, and while you see the process of destruction
going on, you do not sec the destroying agent. Drop
the glass and you see the flame raging in the burning
house and the blocks of buildings it is sweeping away.
Here is the difference between the Christian man with
his open eye, and him with closed vision. The latter

268

111?: I,ORD S CANDLE.

!i';

looks through a glass darkly, and he sees immense
changes in individual character and fortune, in political
and social life, but he does not see the fire of God at
work, pitifully punishing sin. The former sees the
fire of God's righteousness burning up evil and purifying
and beautifying what is good and like to God. This
and this only is of the nature of asbestos, inconsum-
able by this scorching fire. Many a man had slept
on the backbone of the Palestine hills where Jacob lay
with a stone for his pillow amidst piles of bare rock,
but arose with no such dream as Jacob had, and
with no such conviction that * The Lord is in this
place.' Many a man had gone about Iloreb without
ever having seen the burning bush, and many a time
during those forty years had Moses himself passed that
way, in search of spots where the grass grew most lush
and sweet, without having once before seen the striking
phenomenon which fixed his eye and drew his heart
that day when on a sudden the Invisible appeared in
sight, and the glory of God was seen like a flame of fire
in the midst of the bush. Many a young man full of
patriotic zeal had waited on God in prayer for Jerusalem,
but to none beside had come the revelation which came
to Isaiah in the year that King Hezekiah died when he
saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up,
and above it the six-winged seraphim, which cried
one to another Holy, holy, holy. Suddenly to each
of these three men came the wonderful revelation
of the Lord, which changed so greatly their character
and career. So He waits to do with you. One day
when Jesus was here among men, as He was passing

THE LORDS CANDLK.

269

by there arose a great cry from two blind men sitting
by the wayside, * Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou
Son of David.' They were rebuked by the multi-
tude, but they cried the more, * Have mercy on us,

Lord, thou Son of David.' Now notice. * Jesus
stood still, and called them and said. What will
ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto Him,
Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had
compassion on them, touched their eyes, and immedi-
ately their eyes received sight and they followed Him.'
" Ah," you say, " I have been a very bad boy, trickish,
knavish, unscrupulous, not stopping at any measures to
accomplish my selfish ends. I am afraid my eyes will
never be opened." Why, you have been picturing the
character of Jacob, to whom Jehovah appeared at
Bethel with wonderful promises to be with him and to
keep him and to bring him again into his native coun-
try, and never to leave him till all was fulfilled. Pray
God that your eyes and ears may be opened that you
may see the Lord — the covenant-keeping Jehovah —
and hear the gracious words that fall from His lips. —
" Ah," says another, " my case is very different. I am
an old man, weighed down under the weight of many
years. My race is nearly run. My life has been
wasted. I made a mistake long ago, and from the
consequences of that bit of impatience and desperation

1 have never been able to escape. Nothing remains
for me but to die as I have lived without the vision of
God." Why, my friend, your case is exactly parallel
with that of Moses. He was now eighty years old.
Forty years before he had in hot indignation killed an

270

THE LORD S CANDLE.

Egyptian and had ever since been an exile in Midian.
Perhaps that very morning Moses had said to himself :
" The consequences of my folly will pursue me until
the end. Alas, how I have ruined my life ! What
brave thoughts I had of serving God forty years ago !
And here I am an old man, my life wasted, my hopes
blasted, my ideals in the dust." Yet that morning he
saw the Burning Bush, and talked with God and
received his high commission and strength to serve
God, as perhaps no other man ever served God, for
forty years more. Do not be discouraged, my brother ;
you may see God this very morning and receive
strength to enter upon a career of eminent usefulness,
from this very hour. Remember that the Master of
Assemblies is present, and is saying, " What wilt thou
have me to do ? " Be it your reply, " Lord, that my
eyes may be opened." — Another says : " I am a young
man full of the Japanese spirit, clad with zeal as a
cloak for the honour of my country, and with my heart
engaged in prayer that God will honour me by making
me a great blessing to Japan. And this morning the
burden of my native land is on my heart. I am
persuaded that there is a certain course of life which
God recognizes as serving Him, that that course of life
involves the inspiration of His love, and obedience to
His will, the putting away of evil and cleaving to what
He declares in His word to be good, that nations are as
much bound as individuals to live this life, and that
what in an individual would be a crime is no less a
crime when committed by the nation. I am convinced
from the Bible and from history that the nation that

THE I.OKD S CANDLE.

271

will not serve God shall perish, its commerce Wciste
away, its government be dissolved, its institutions die
out, and worse still the spiritual life of the nation come
to an end." Such, my brother, was the feeling of young
Isaiah as one day he came up to the temple, when an
eclipse had come upon Jerusalem in the death of her
great king. It had been a terrible blow to the young
worshipper, but it was a blow in mercy, for he now
turned to God and faith was born within him, and he
had a vision of the Divine majesty in all its sublimity.
Humbled to the dust he cried, " Woe is me," and an
angel flew with a live coal and touched his lips and
pronounced absolution and cleansing. And when God
asked for a messenger Isaiah offered himself and was
accepted. He became a candle of the Lord and entered
upon a career, which I would call that of the greatest
of the prophets, had not our Lord said, " Among them
that are born of women there hach not risen a greater
than John the Baptist." May your eyes, young man,
be opened to see the King in His beauty, and your
spirit lighted to be a candle of the Lord !

A candle of the Lord ! Such was Jesus Christ. See
Him a babe, a boy, a man, glorious in holiness, per-
fected through sufferings, in whom dwelt all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily. " In Him was life, and the
life was the light of men." " I am," said He, " the
light of the world." The brightest candle of the Lord
that ever shone, " vivid with celestial fire." — Another
bright candle of the Lord is the Church of Christ.
The Church is the temple of God, who dwells in us and
walks in us. Because He is the light of the world, and

272

TlIK LORDS CANDLK

because lie is in us, we are the light of the world, and
are bound to represent Him, the sons of God without
rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse genera-
tion, among whom we are to shine as lights in the
world. May sin more and more die in Zion, that
she may become indeed the perfection of beauty! —
A candle of the Lord is every godly man. He was
not always thus. He began in darkness. If there
were in him any light, it was a fire of his own kindling,
the light of youthful animation, of a glowing imagina-
tion, of a glancing intellect, of a brilliant genius, of a
false philosophy. But he becomes conscious of his sin
and of an evil conscience. He is led to believe that
the blood of Christ can purge his conscience from dead
works. He looks to Christ for the rectification of his
nature at its very centre and spring. He prays and
trusts. He offers a burning petition in the name of
Christ. He cries with David, " Thou wilt light my
candle ; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness."
And the air becomes electric with divinity, throbs and
thrills till the Invisible almost bursts into visibility, and
the fire of God takes hold of him. The true light
shineth, for it has seized upon the spirit of man, (which
includes both intellectual and moral factors), and the
man becomes a candle of the Lord.

" O that it now from heaven might fall and all our sins consur le ;
Come Holy Ghost, for Thee we call. Spirit of burning, come ! "

This it is that makes the regenerate man so helpful to
others. His dark nature lighted up by the Spirit reveals
God to man. /

THE I-ORD'S candle.

273

Without this heart-renewal you cannot shine. You
may like polished metal reflect light from without.
You may be like bright and glittering windows which
you have sometimes seen at sunset, and wondered if the
house was on fire within : but it was only the reflection
of the settir 7 sun, which as soon as the sun has gone
down becomes dark. How much better to be like
some other windows, where the lamp has been lighted
within, that continue to shine when the sun goes down
and shine all the more brightly as the night grows
darker. The light is within and shines out. What
are you like? Like the lights in Goethe's "The Tale,"
mere will-o'-wisps that "laugh and jig and compli-
ment the ladies and eat gold and shake it from them,"
the spirit of man elaborated, finished, candles lighted
by culture, but lacking the fire of God ? Or like the
fires that wreckers kindle on rock-bound shores to lure
passing vessels to destruction ? If this be so, you fall
under the terrible words of the prophet : " Behold, all
ye that kindle a fire and compass yourselves about with
sparks. This shall ye have of mine hand : ye shall lie
down in sorrow ; " and of the Great Master : " If the
light that is within thee be darkness, how great is that
darkness ! " Little will it avail that you have the
keenest wit, and can utter brilliant epigrams and start-
ling paradoxes ; you may startle, astonish, and bewilder,
possibly fascinate and charm, but you shall fail to give
comfort, afford guidance, or impart strength, and all
for the lack of the fire of God. Oh, my young breth-
ren, your spirit bears an affinity to God, and, as it
becomes more pure, loving, and holy, by an instinctive

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274

THE LORD S CANDLE.

law it aspires after Him, longs to see Him, be embraced
by Him, and have uninterrupted fellowship with Him.
Your spirit in turn is highly valued of God the Father,
who has a deep sympathy with it, and longs to be
possessed of it, that He may fill it with His life, and
influence it with His love, and kindle it into flame.
This work of kindling your spirit for God's service
will never be accomplished without your co-operation.
It is a work of infinite responsibility and solemnity.
Hear Bishop Brookes in the same sermon from which I
have already quoted : " In certain lands, for certain
holy ceremonies, they prepare the candles with most
anxious care. The very bees which distil the wax are
sacred. They range in gardens planted with sweet
flowers for their use alone. The wax is gathered by
consecrated hands ; and then the shaping of the candles
is a holy task, performed in holy places to the sound of
hymns, and in the atmosphere of prayers. All this is
done because the candles are to burn in the most lofty
ceremonies on most sacred days. With what care must
the man be made whose spirit is to be the candle of the
Lord ! It is his spirit which God is to kindle with
Himself. Therefore the spirit must be the precious
part of him. The body inust be valued only for the
protection and education which the soul may gain by
it."

But still it must be valued, for while " no one can
mistake his body for himself — it is kis, not he " — ^yet it
is a portion of common dust set apart by the Divine
Creator for the enclosure of the soul and spirit of a
man. It is a micro-kosmos, a world in little, a system

THE lord's candle.

275

mbraced
th Him.
I Father,
js to be
life, and
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>lemnity.

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'—yet it

|e Divine

irll of a

a system

of many members with varied fnnctions and lofty
offices, a structure of Divine art for the highest and most
sacred uses : — it is the temple of the human soul, it is
the temple of the Holy Ghost. Now the connection
between mind and body is very close. And other
things being equal it is the healthiest man who can do
the best intellectual and spiritual work. The faculties
which go to make up effective public speech depend
largely for their effectiveness upon vigorous health.
Hence you are responsible to your Lord, who has given
you this body as an instrument through which to work,
to make the most of it for effective, long-continued
service.

The body is the seat of our physical sensibilities, of
our sensuous experiences, and of our animal propensities.
They are all innocent when subordinated to the mind
and will of God. But the adversary will try to make use
of them to tyrannize over us and enslave us. Keep your
body under, therefore. Make it the obedient servant
of your better nature. Study the laws of hygiene and
scrupulously obey them. Mortify the deeds of the
body. Present it a living sacrifice to God."

Mind, too, must be subordinated to spirit. Mental
endowments call for gratitude and consecration to His
service. If you are highly gifted, all the more should
you be grateful and humble, all the more on the guard
against the temptation to think of yourself more highly
than you ought to think, and to forget " the Father of
Lights." Read none but the great mastei-s, the Bible
most of all. And have no fears of the future of the
Bible. By many lines of argumentation which cumula-

276

•«

THE LORDS CANDLE.

tively have all the force of a demonstration, you have
reached the safe conclusion that this is indeed the Book
of God. Rest there. Higher criticism has its mission,
and will accomplish it. It will remove such traditional
notions as have gathered like barnacles upon the .Ship
of Truth as she has sailed down the flood of ages. The
Ship of Truth herself will be all uninjured and untouch-
ed ; depend on that. Whatever havoc may be made of
human theories and inventions, be loyal to truth and to
God. You are to be the organ of th*^ Great Teacher,
the Spirit, and He can only teach you if you are honest
and loyal. You can only teach men as you have been
taught. To manifest Him to men you must know Him.
Whatsoever maketh manifest is light. God is light,
and Love. And be in no haste to conclude that the
apparent results of higher criticism ar*; trustworthy.
Be i>atient. God moves slowly. Truth is not rapidly
evolved. Wait on God, wait patiently, and all will be
clear in due time. Commune frequently with those
who can quicken you. And study to show yourselves
approved unto God, workmen that need not be asham-
ed. Continue your studies as earnestly as during your
probation. In no other important functions of life will
men put up with unqualified practitioners. Would you
trust yourselves to a train driven by an amateur engi-
neer? And in an age of doubt and difficulty ought
you to be satisfied with anything short of the fullest
preparation for your momentous calling ? Rightly to
divide the word of truth requires mental and moral
training, severest discipline, perfect consecration. Train
your minds to grasp the great truths of the word of God.

THE LORD S CANDLE.

277

ou have
he Book
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he Ship
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untouch-
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Feacher,
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Train

of God.

A vigorous intellect, with a strong hold on the great
truths of revelation, setting them forth with grace and
power, and illustrating them with abundant resources
of learning and thought, shines to the glory of God.
Be men of strong convictions. Get your hearts and
minds saturated with the truths of God, drenched with
this solar fire, and you must " shine as lights in the
world."

Seek above all for the fulness of the indwelling Holy
Spirit. The charm of good bodily health, of a hand-
some person, of a melodious voice, not all ministers
possess. Nor are many in the enjoyment of great intel-
lectual vitality. But all may be resplendent in the
beauties of holiness and wear the crown of spiritual life
and power. You must shine more and more. Every
gleam of light that comes from heaven is that you may
know God's will, wilh the intent of doing it, and of
becoming what He wants you to be. Light is know-
ledge, but it is a light to guide your feet. Remember
this and you will be saved from two errors : the one of
thinking Christianity is merely a system of truth to be
believed, and the other of attaching no importance to
Christian doctrines but of laying all the stress on
Christian morals. " Knowledge is sound when it moulds
conduct. Action is good when it is based on know-
ledge." The advancement will be perhaps not in leaving
behind old truths, but in a profounder conception of
what is contained in these truths. The stars that
ancient astronomers surveyed are the same that astrono-
mers to-day are studying, but how much more do they
know of them now than was known in the olden time !

78'

Tilt: LORDS CANDLE.

But knowledge and true piety act happily the one upon
the other. Knowledge turned to practical account
subserves the interests of true religion, and fidelity in all
the relations of life tends to give us deeper insight.
" If any man wills to do my will, he shall know of the
doctrine."

Henceforward let Christ shine through you, through
your intellect, your affections, your conscience, your
will. Shine till hope is radiant as a star, and love is
kindled and imagination glows, and mind and heart and
conscience and will are all aflame, till your lips are
touched with a live coal from off God's altar, and your
tongue becomes a tongue of fire, till in short your whole
being burns jke a conflagration. Are you at a loss to
know how you can come to shine with such splendour ?
Wait on God, your Saviour, with a longing heart and
in the spirit of implicit obedience. Wait and wait.
Look to Him and continue looking till He baptizes you
with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Then shall you
understand the great promise : " I am the light of the
world : he that follows me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life." " Ye are the light of
the world."

An important question to which for a mo»'ient we
must turn. God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness hath shined into our hearts — why?
That we may impart this light to others. Then labour
to make Christ known, to lead others to Him that He
may kindle them into shining lights. Shakspeare says,

" Heaven doth with us, as \ve with torches do,
Not light us for ourselves."

THE LORD S CANDLE.

279

ne upon
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labour
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re says,

Some of us of course will be greater lights than
others, but let us each shine as brightly as we can,
luminous with God. Thus will men be led to glorify
God. Sings I^well :

" As one lamp lights another, nor grows less,
So nobleness enkindleth nobleness."

So to shine for Christ, that He can make use of
us to light other candles, is a service to God and
man with which no other is comparable. Were you
able by your largesses to the very poor to lift vast mul-
titudes to a moderate comfort, that were a great thing ;
but to light another candle of the Lord is something
vastly better. Were you able to enlarge the sum total
of human knowledge by some brilliant scientific dis-
cover}', or by your researches to contribute largely
to the realm of knowledge, or to add to the Temple of
Art its most illustrious master-piece, or to solve some
social problem which will remove heavy burdens from
the down-trodden and oppressed, that were a glorious
thing, but to light one single candle of the Lord were
an achievement immeasurably greater. Were you to
enter the field of politics and win your way to the pre-
sidenc}' of the Diet or the Premiership of the Empire,
that might be deemed worthy of the loftiest ambition
of the Japanese heart ; but let me assure you that to
save a soul from death is something better aud grander
far. For oh ! in eternity it will be found that they
who have been instrumental in leading men to Christ,
once only candles shining a little way in the darkness,
shall then shine as the brightness of the firmament and
as the stars forever and ever.

28o

THE lord's candle.

This then is your vocation : to shine. Be true to it.
But to do this you must be yourself. Get your message
from on High, not disdaining light from any quarter,
and deliver it as an angel of the I^rd. Tell the people
what God the Lord sjiys to you, not simply repeating
the words of men, but be in truth the messenger of
God. Live, therefore, at first-hand with Him. Be
much alone with Him. Trim the wick daily and hourly
with meditation and prayer and study of the Word.
So shall you shine as lights in the world.

Lighted, you must be set. our Lord has said, " Men
do not light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on
a candlestick ; and it giveth light unto all that are in
the house." It must be in its proper place, or it will be
of little use. God has many ways of placing men : in
the Methodist Church it is through the Stationing
Committee. God knows where it is best for you to go.
Don't quarrel with your allotment. Accept the solar
system and all it involves. May I say that while in the
active work in the Methodist Church in Canada, the
place to which I was most reluctant to go was the
place where, before my time c5 service in that station
was completed, I was most glad th.a God had sent me.
Be very sure that He has a wise and gracious purpose
in sending you where you are stationed. Shine tliere^
shedding a flood of light on the great questions that con-
cern your people most. But oh ! if you are unfaithful,
little by little you will grieve the Spirit of God till He
takes His everlasting flight. Bildad and Job and Solo-
mon agree in saying (Job xxi. 17 ; xviii. 6 ; Prov. xxiv.
20) : " The candle of the wicked shall be put out." A

THE LORD S CANDLE.

281

sacUlcr thing I do not know than the candle of the
minister of Christ going out in darkness. You are set
in your families, churches, communities, for the defence
of the Gospel, for the salvation of souls. Shine, shine,
shine, in the place where you are set till the candle
burns down in the socket ; or tremble for fear lest He
who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks
remove your candlestick out of its place, or withdraw
the fire which makes you a light.

Magnify your office. Be true to it. Let it be the
struggle of your life to keep your body, soul, and spirit
in strictest subordination to Him whom you call your
Lord till

" Night's candles are burnt out and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty -nountain top ;"

till we get home where there shall be no night, and we
shall need no candle, neither light of the sun ; for the
Lord God shall give us light and we shall reign forever
and ever.

ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGHT.

" Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one mess
of meat sold his own birthright. For ye know that even when he afterward
desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, (for he found no place of
repentance), though he sought it diligently with tears. Heb. xii. i6, 17.

Human nature in all ages is essentially the same.
The differences are only on the surface. Beneath the
superficial strata, that are under our feet, are the primeval
formations, which wrap the round globe with a solid shell
of stone. Pierce deep enough anywhere and you reach
the glowing heart of humanity. The first book of the
Bible pictures the humanity of to-day. For to-day
and always men share in a common nature, ivnd one
touch of nature makes the whole world kin. The dif-
ferences between men are the differences in the relations
of their spiritual endowments and animal appetites. In
the multitude the latter are sovereign ; in the few the for-
mer rule. Esau was a creature of wayward and gener-
ous impulses, a subject of powerful passions, who had
never learned to subordinate impulse or passion to the
judgment of conscience and the will of God. There
have been men of the same kind in every age, and we
have them to-day, subject to precisely the same tempta-
tions under which the subject of our text fell. Let us
therefore look diligently lest there be among us any

ESAU SELMNG HIS IJIRrilKIfillT.

283

;ht.

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profane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat
sold his birthright.

From the outset the twin brothers differed from each
other. Esau at birth was covered with hair, which
was regarded as shadowing forth his sensual character.
Jacob was born clutching the heel of his brother as if
already he was endeavouring to overthrow and supplant
him. These circumstances were ominous of their lives.
The younger grew up a quiet, crafty youth, full of
resources and expedients, a man of dogged tenacity,
whose tastes led him to the care of flocks and the
tillage of fields ; and he became the idol of his mother.
The elder given to the chase, a true Arab like his more
or less remote ancestors, a ranger of the desert, a skilful
archer, breezy, outspoken, generous, was the favourite
of his father. One day Esau had been hunting from
morn to dewy eve, chasing the antelope over the plains,
or in more dangerous adventures pursuing the wild
beasts of the mountains. Absorbed in pursuit, he took
no note of time or distance or the clamours of appetite,
till dispirited by his ill-luck and warned by the approach
of night he turned him homewards. Then he began to
feel weak and faint, and by the time he reached Jacob's
tent his hunger was importunate and clamorous for
food. Jacob had been boiling some lentil pottage for
himself, the fragrance of which travellers tell us is
exceedingly appetizing, and almost dying with exhaus-
tion Esau asked Jacob for a portion. The latter was
quick to see his opportunity, and mean and unscrupu-
lous enough to take advantage of it. " Sell me this day
thy birthright." And Esau replied : " Behold I am at

284

KSAU SEI.I.INC; HIS lUKrilRIGlIT.

the point to die, and what profit shall this birthri^^ht do
to me ?" Who would have dreamed that the heir to the
patriarchy would sell his birthright for a mess of pot-
tage, when a little later he could have got the meat as
a right ? But Jacob knew his brother well, and knew
that Esau's hunger would demand satisfaction at any
price. And Jacob said : " Sware to me this day," and
he sware to him ; and he sold his birthright with all its
honours and all its dowry for a bit of bread and a bowl
of red lentil pottage.

But what are the blessings of primogeniture ? Right
to succession to the headship of the family, authority
over hi«5 ^>rethren, priesthood in the family, a double por-
tion of the father's property, claims under the promise
made to Abraham and renewed to Isaac that Abraham's
s<:ed should possess Canaan, and should become a nation
and a line of kings, and finally progenitorship of the
jiromised Seed, through whom blessings were to come
to all the world. That Esau should despise what was
spiritual in this birthright stamps him as unspiritual,
and a typical character for all time. Had it been some-
thing to eat he would not have sold it. How childish,
infatuated, and blind ! " Behold I am at the point to
die. What will this birthright avail ? It means only the
priesthood of the family, and my tastes do not run that
way. Besides, if I do not get the pottage I shall die."
He distinctly preferred the gratification of appetite to
the favour of God. His was the profane worldly spirit
which mocks at the very idea of invisible possessions.
His thoughts never rose above the earth. " He could
scoff at honours that better men value beyond all price."

KSAU SEIJ.INO HIS mR'riiRir.HT.

285

And so he lost them, not because Jacob cheated him
out of them, for this Book does not say so ; but because
he despised his birthright.

Despising his birthright, he despised Jacob also,
and with reason too, for resorting to so base a trick to
gain his ends. We can scarcely speak of Jacob, as
spiritual at that time, but he had spiritual instincts, for
which reason Esau could not understand him. But
Jacob could take his measure, for " he that is spiritual
judgeth all things " — and all men lower in the scale
than himself — " yet he himself is judged of no man ;"
and judging him at his proper value he despised him.
We despise both: Esa* for throwing away brilliant
prospects by one desperate act of folly ; Jacob for
the cold-hearted and unscrupulous manner in which
he contrived to betray his elder brother, and secure
from him by promise and oath the surrender of his
birthright. But our preferences are rather for the
shaggy, red-haired huntsman, so full of generous
impulse, so affectionate to his father, so forgiving
to his brother, and when we see him fall before the
successful plots of his intriguing brother, our sympa-
thies are all the more drawn out after him. Never-
theless God who judges the heart is infinitely better
able to judge than we. And unquestionably He prefers
Jacob to Esau. It is not that Ke regards Jacob's
crookedness and perfidy with less abhorrence than we.
It is not that Esau's brave and manly spirit is less
pleasing to Him than to us. His hatred of what is
base, His love of what is magnanimous, are infinitely
stronger than with us. But He saw what was the < --

286

ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGH T.

come of the character of these two brothers. He saw
that Esau with all his magnanimity was godless and
profane. He could not appreciate his birthright.
Doub^^ful too whether he could rate at its proper value
his father's blessing till it was gone past recovery.
By his passionate and reckless nature, by his inability
to live for a glorious future, he was disqualified, cis
history plainly shows, from becoming the head of a
great nation. While as for Jacob, with all his faults
he was a man of spiritual tendencies who attached a
very high importance to the birthright and the blessing ;
and the very measures he resorted to in order to secure
them, base and unworthy though these measures were,
showed how highly he valued them. It is this feeling
of religion, this yearning after spiritual things, that God
appreciates, and for which He puts up with much sinu-
osity and meanness in the hearts and lives of His chosen
ones. I have heard men before now rail at Christian
men for meannesses, when perhaps at the very time,
the men railed at in God's sight were superior to
their traducers, and would turn out to be in the long
run immeasurably nobler characters. It is this feat-
ure of character which looks forward to the future,
forms plans in reference to it, and then with constancy
adheres to them in the face of difficulty til! they are
accomplished, that God seeks for in the man whom He
would make the patriarch of a family and the head of
a gpreat nation.

Esau was in the judgment of God a profane person ;
a man whose inner nature, the shrine that should have
been set apart for God, a garden enclosed, a fountain

ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGHT.

287

sealed, was invaded and trampled upon by unholy in-
truders — ^a man who has no reverence for the higher
world, not decidedly corrupt, but secular and worldly,
not able to sacrifice the gratification of to-day for, I do
not say the infinite good of the next world, but the
substantial advantage which to-morrow may bring. This
is profanity, for when the temptation came in an hour
of hunger or weakness to obtain gratification of appe-
tite at the cost of precious and holy privilege, " he did
eat and drink and rose up and went his way ; thus Esau
despised his birthright."

From that day Esau shrank and shrivelled in the
volume and amplitude of his being, albeit he became a
rich and mighty Arab chief in his stronghold oii Mount
Seir, till at last deteriorated and degraded he lay down
in darkness to sleep the sleep of death. Alas, the day
which began with so bright and sunny a morning end-
ed in a night of gloom and disappointment ! His un-
steadiness and want of faith and lack of principle
vitiated and ruined those splendid qualities of vivacity
and brilliance and good nature which had early distin-
guished him. While Jacob, full of craft, subtilty, and
deceit to begin with, has that within him in his
constancy of purpose, and power of subordinating the
present to the future, and especially in his faith in God,
which transmutes even these base elements of character
into purest gold ; and the day which began with cloud
and tempest brightens as the hours speed on toward
noon, and ends in peace and glory.

" Now the fair traveller's come to the west.

His rays are all gold, aitd hu beauties are best ;

288

ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGHT.

He paints the sky gay as he sinks to his rest,
And foretells a bright rising again."

" Esau despised his birthright." How have we
treated ours? You ask, What inheritance? An in-
heritance of the Bible, of the Sabbath, of the Gospel,
of the Spirit, of " the power of subordinating all inward
impulses and outward circumstances to the increase
of knowledge, the growth of vir;;ue, the unfoldment of
faculty and the centering of self in God," — ^an inherit-
ance of salvation, fellowship with God, acquittal on the
last day, and eternal glory. An inheritance immeasur-
ably more precious than that of Esau. To be the
progenitor of oui* Lord was a great thing. More glori-
ous far to have spiritual fellowship, — to be heirs of God
and joint heirs with Jesus Christ !

Are we tempted for some worldly consideration, some
temporary advantage, for wealth or popularity, or fame
or ease or pleasure, to barter away this glorious inheri-
tance ? Esau stands for all time the type of those who,
brought up within the Church of God, amid the advan-
tages and privileges of a godly family, will yet for the
gratification of appetite or lust barter away a magnificent
heritage and suffer for all time the consequences of their
folly. For what did he barter his heritage ? All for one
mess of pottage. And what are the pleasures of fashion
and dress, of the theatre, the ball-room, and the card
table, for which men sacrifice the joys of heaven ? What
the applause of society and the praise, for which men
part with the smile of God ? What is the wealth even
of an Astor, for which are sacrificed the unsearchable
riches of Christ ? What, but a mess of pottage ?

ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGHT.

289

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And to think how many are guilty of this profane
exchange ! I do not speak this moment of a Belshazzar
in the Old Testament or of a Pilate in the New, for
they were both out of the Church of God, but there
were Achan who parted with his heritage for a wedge
of gold and a Babylonish garment, and Judas who
parted with his for thirty pieces of silver — two
instances, one in the Old Testament and the other
in the New, of the many in the Church who in old
times parted with their inheritance for what brought
them not one moment of pleasure. Yes, we too in
some moment of weakness or weariness have again
and again parted with a good conscience and com-
munion with God for what was no better than a mess
of pottage. Alas, alas, how often after repentance and
self-loathing and a restoration of the light of God's
countenance have we been tenipted to fling away this
inestimable blessing for some temporary gratification !
And if we extend the range of our observations beyond
the Church we shall find that from the time that Eve
sold her lofty place for a forbi Iden fruit down to the
present hour, nothing has been more common. To-day
there are thousands and thousands in the streets, in the
houses, in the offices, behind the counters, in the
factories, in the mansions, in the professions, on the
bench, and in the pulpit, who sell their birthright of a
tender conscience, the love of God and a stainless puri-
ty, for a temporary delight in sin. Strange the infatua-
tion with which men are led into sin ! Marvellous
" the glamour might " that it exerts upon the judgment,
the heart, and the will of man ! With what excessive

29c

ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGHT.

folly the drunkard parts with business and home, honour
and health, wife and children, and the dear hope of
heaven, for the deadly charm of the wine-cup ! And
what infinite stupidity is his who, epicure, voluptuary,
sensualist, or debauchee, more or less gross and in-
discriminating in his tastes, finds his chief enjoyment in
the indulgence of lust. Let such men be warned that
most venomous serpents have their dens under the most
beautiful blossoms, and that Cleopatra's asp was smug-
gled to her in a basket of flowers, Even now at times
under condemnation they are plunged into gloom, but
when the light of eternity will shine upon their sins,
what torment must the memory of their pleasure
bring ! Far higher in the scale of being than the mere
sensualist are you to whom for one moment I venture
to address a remark. If you are here who are allowing
the rush of business or the ardour of intellectual pursuit
to absorb you, as the eagerness of the chase engrossed
the heart of Esau, little by little aspiration will die, and
your soul will shrivel into a point of intense worldliness ;
but none the less certainly if you persist in your folly,
will your fears and remorse some day awake, and as you
see the upshot and final consequence of a life of neglect
of Christ, you will utter a cry of despair " exceeding
bitter " — ^but all too late to avert the impending doom.
Oh, bethink you, my friend, how poor is the morsel
for which you are tempted to sell infinite good. Was
not Esau's sacrifice of his birthright a bit of arrant foily ?
Is it wiser to sell God's love here and hereafter for the
whole world? How small a portion of it can you
secure, how Infinitesimally small, and how short will be

ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGHT.

291

the time of your enjoyment of it ! Even before you
leave it, as Esau had his regretful thoughts of his bad
bargain, you will not be able to escape the suspicion
that will haunt you like a ghost — the suspicion that the
needs of the soul will survive the appetites of the body,
that the true well-being of man depends upon the
development of his higher at the expense of his
lower nature, and that the pleasures of sin aie paid for
at the cost of terrific pain long after the pleasures
have passed away. It is foolish, it is also basCy to
sacrifice so great a future for so small a present. To
part for an empire with an inheritance such as we have
offered us in Christ would be base, but to part with it
for a transient joy — what is it but selling the Creator
for a creature, the eternal joys of heaven for a momentary
pleasure on earth ! This is surely a profane exchange,
and if you are guilty of it you are profane, and of that
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord, you
are incapable of forming the dimmest conception. And
do not deceive yourself with the notion that you are not
responsible for the choice. Lodged in the very centre
of your being is the power of decision. You are under
no compulsion to yield to sin. The motives to do right
are infinitely stronger than those which are opposed.
The Scriptures set before you life and death, and bid
you choose wisely. Choose this day whom you will
serve. For lack of consideration and painstaking effort
to make a wise choice, thousands and thousands fling
themselves away.

Our text still further teaches that neglect of
privileges and responsibilities involves irreparable con-

292

ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGHT.

sequences. " For ye know how that afterward when
he wished to inherit the blessing he was rejected ; for
he found no place of repentance though he sought it
carefully with tears." The consequences of his act
reached turther than he had ^anticipated. From the
moment that he despised his birthright an awful change
passed upon him. Probably he did not know it. He
saw no change in nature, he felt no change in himself.
But one day there came the discovery of his loss, and
he wailed out his bitter cry, * Bless me, even me also,
O my father,' but the opportunity which he had neglect-
ed to buy up was gone forever. Forgetting that he
had despised his birthright, he wished to occupy " the
coign of vantage " which he had voluntarily abandoned.
He had sold the right of the first-born, and yet he
wished to inherit the blessing which belonged to it.
No, no, the blessing is gone as well as the birthright.
** His fate," says Bishop Lightfoot, " was up to a certain
point in his own hands. After that it was placed
beyond his reach. We may wade for a time amid the
shallows of sin, feeling our footing and heedless of
danger. A single slip more, places us at the mercy of
the waves and we are swept away into the ocean of
ruin." It is that step which made irretrievable his
enjoyment of the blessing. Up to then had he severed
himself from all improper connections and conformed
himself to the precepts of the God of his fathers, he
would have found place for repentance. But now there
was no room for him by repentance to repair the past,
to retrieve the unhappy choice he had made under the
temptation of appetite.

ESAU SELLING HTS UIRlIIRIGirr.

293

Thus before us doors of opportunity are open, and if
we do not enter them the day will come when we too
shall cry with an " exceeding bitter cry." When we do
see o^ur folly we cry — * If I had only entered that open
door ! ' but it is now shut, and shut forever. We have
made our bed and mu«»t lie in it. Alas for theni who have
re-enacted the part of Esau, and come to see the full
significance of their unhappy choice !

" For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these, * It might have been.' " *

But it will be asked. Can a man repent and find no
room for repentance? Yes, he may repent, that is turn
his back upon his past life, revei-se the prophecy of ruin
that his sins have uttered, but the consequences of his
past sins will always follow him. Bishop Westcott well
says : " It would be equally true to say that in respect
of the privileges of the first-born which Esau had sold
he found no place for repentance and that in respect of
his spiritual relation to God, if his sorrow was sincere,
he did find a place of repentence." The doctrine is
true that

" There is a line by us unipen
By which our lives are crossed,
Beyond which God Himself hath sworn
That he who goes is lost."

That is true, but it is not the teaching of our text.
Esau though he lost his birthright and his father's
blessing did not necessarily lose heaven. Yet here is
the red signal of danger. Beware, it says ; trifle not
with sin ; it is always perilous. But the language of our

294

ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGIir.

text is not designed to take away all hope of Esau's
future. The birthright was lost beyond recovery ; the
blessing that belonged to it was gone forever. " There
was a lesser blessing left. Esau after years of servitude
should break the yoke and have dominion. Much is
lost for you and me ; but much remains." So long as
there is any yearning after God and righteousness there
is zoom for hope. Though you do not loathe the things
of the flesh you may be born again of the Spirit. You
can never attain the innocence of childhood. It was
beautiful and delicate, but it was always conjoined with
weakness. You may have something better. You may
have your sins washed away in the precious blood of
Christ. You may attain the relation of soas of God, and
receive the Spirit of adoption. It is just such as we are,
lost men and women, that Christ came to save. While
there is any loathing of sin, any longing after Christ, all
is not lost. Cherish these feelings, feeble though they
may be, for they are the beginnings of a life which
may through care and cultivation become the life more
abundant, the life everlasting. Behold our Lord among
men ! See Him seeking harlots, publicans, and thieves,
the men and women that had made shipwreck of them-
selves ! Did he despair of them ? Not He. For He
is able to save from the uttermost to the uttermost.
The last may be first. He has said, " Come unto me,"
and " him that cometh unto me " — however vile, how-
ever deeply stained, though burdened with all the sins
of the calendar — " I will in no wise cast out."

We are taught (i). That small temptations, if yielded
to, will work havoc and mischief in character and

ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGHT.

295

Esau's
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life. It is generally the case that trifles determine char-
acter. Bengel says that " sometimes a single action has
the greatest force for good or evil." How small the
hinges as compared with the doors which turn on
them !

(2). The great lesson is, of course, the madness of
flinging away a great future good for a temporary
gratification of sense or passion. Some paltry theft,
and a course is begun which ends in the prison and
lifelong disgrace. How much is lost by yielding to
passion ! Let us not be blind and heedless of a certain
future reckoning and the consequences of our sins that
inevitably follow. I have read of one who entered a
restaurant, called for his dinner, ordered all the delicacies
of the season; and when he had eaten, his bill was
placed in his hands, at which he cried out, * It never
occurred to me that I should be called to account.'
Rankest folly, you say. Yet thus men live without a
thought of the day of doom, when a strict account will
be demanded of every human being.

Oh my brother ! prize your birthright. Do not
barter it away for any earthly good. To say of a fine
mansion and extensive estate, " This is mine," what a
joy ! But to be a joint-heir with Christ, to be able to
look up and say, " This God is my portion forever,"
what a bliss ! Here is a birthright greater than that of
kings. Claim it in its entirety. Be not satisfied with
the porter's lodge. Take possession of the mansion and
all the glorious things that are promised, and hold
them strenuously against all comers.

THE CUP OF COLD WATER;

OR,

INCONSPICUOUS SERVICE REWARDED.

" Whosoever shall give to 'Jrink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold
water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no
\vi8e lose his reward." Matthew x. 42.

The world of nature and of social life into which
the Lord Jesus entered was full to Him of spiritual
significance. He found " tongues in trees, books in the
running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in every-
thing." He understood the language of the birds.
The lilies of the field told Him their secrets. Clouds
and rain, sunrise and suaset, mountains, hills, and riveis,
which brought Him messages and consolations, en-
couragements and hopes, form a part of the wealth of
illustrations with which His Gospels teem. A woman
kneading dough, or seeking a lost piece of money with
candle and broom, a farmer sowing his grain, his enemy
at night sowing the same ground with tares, the chil-
dren playing in the market place — such things as these
were interesting to Christ for the lessons they taught,
and He uses them to illustrate truths of the highest
importance.

INCONSPICUOUS SERVICE REWAKDEI).

297

It is no unimportant principle which Christ would
here enforce. In a solemn charge to the twelve, He
warns them of opposition. They were sheep among
wolves. If He, the Master, suffers at the hands of
the world they must expect to fare no better. To be
forewarned is to be forearmed. They must be coura-
geous for God is with them. They must expect that the
message they carry will set at variance dearest friends,
and break up the peace of families. They will find
themselves hated of all men, yet they will find friends.
And Christ promises that they who are willing to
receive them into their homes, and become their dis-
ciples, shall not fail of a reward. He thought, too, of
the many in that impoverished country whose good
wishes might outrun their ability, and He gives them a
word of comfort. Even a cup of cold water, if given
with a proper motive, shall have a reward. Now a cup
of cold water, even in some Eastern lands where on
account of excessive heat it is not so easily obtained as
with us, is a comparatively trifling gift and within the
reach of all except in very unusual conditions. The
point is that Christ notices and keeps careful account
of the smallest kindness to His little ones.

I. The Divine Beittg- takes kind notice of His little ones.

Whether by " the little ones " Christ meant little
children whom he saw in the crowd, or his twelve
disciples, we know not. The disciples could not utilize
their miraculous gifts to defray the expenses of their
maintenance, and were unable, any more than children,
to make any return for the bounty of their friends
except gratitude, instruction, and prayer. It is touch-

298

TIIK CUP OF COLD WATER.

ingr to notice that God gives heed to even " one of
His little ones." He notices Joseph, a child in his
father's house, and gives him dreams in the night
prophetic of his future. He never loses sight of
him when sold by his brethren, when a servant in
Potiphar's house, when in prison for righteousness'
sake. Nay, He led him in these strange paths to fit
him for his elevation to the second place in Egypt.
He saw His little one Samuel in the temple with Eli.
And He called him " Samuel, Samuel," till he answered,
" Speak, Lord, for Thy servant hearcth." And thus
began a life-long fellowship between the Infinite Father
and the child, till at last full of years and honours, the
grand old prophet fell on sleep and awoke to the lofty
associations and the beatific visions of the skies. His
regards, too, were fixed upon David the shepherd boy,
and by a discipline full of hardship He qualified him
to fill worthily the throne of Israel.

Observe, too, our Lord — where His affections rested.
It was not upon the great, the noble, the mighty, but
upon the fishermen of Galilee, the lowly publican
Matthew, whom He raised to thrones in His kingdom.
It was upon little children, whom His disciples would
have sent away. Notice the endearing epithet " little
ones." He takes them up in His arms, puts His hands
upon them and blesses them. They who are mean in
their own eyes, despised by the world perhaps, have
Christ's eyes upon them. James Watt, who gave to
civilization the steam-engine, the aggregate power
of which in the world to-day is vastly greater than
the manual power of all male human beings in the

INCONSPICUOUS SKRVICE REWARDED.

299

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in the

whole world, was a poor man, permitted as an act of
charity by the University authorities to put up the
sign on his humble shop, " Instrument-maker to the
University." How Christ lifted him up to be the
world's benefactor ! Faraday, who has done more for
physical science than any other man, was an errand-
boy in a merchant's shop ; the elder Herschell was a
soldier ; Sir Humphrey Davy, a shoemaker ; Luther,
the son of a miner ; the great missionary Carey was a
cobbler. Yet these lowly ones Christ noticed, led, and
blessed by making them the almoners of His great
mercy to the world of humanity.

That the Divine Being takes notice of us at all is
wonderful when we consider the infinitude of objects
which His hands have made, and which call for His
unceasing attention and care. The microscope of
greatest magnifying power brings to view creations of
God infinitesimally small, in which are found evidences
of most perfect adaptation to ends, all traced with
lines of most exquisite delicacy, enriched with loveliest
tints, and perfected with finest finish. With the most
powerful telescope the astronomer explores the heavens,
and finds worlds, systems of worlds, and clusters of
systems, unnumbered and vast beyond his loftiest
conception, crowding upon his view. And He, who
upholds all these things by the word of His power,
amidst the vast cares of His immense empire over the
magnificent and the minute, never allows His attention
to be diverted even for one moment from " one of
His little ones." Ah ! He careth for us. However
insignificant, however unworthy, if I put my trust in

300

THE cur OF COI.D WATER.

Him and keep His words, I am one of His little ones,
and He knows and loves me, and is pledged in His
covenant, well-ordered and sure, to secure my future
well-being. Oh, if I am always under His eye, then
every act of rny hands, word of my lips, glance of my
eye, thought of my mind, emotion of my heart, and
volition of my will, are perfectly known to Him !
Graciously, O Lord! put within me a holy and an
ever-abiding fear of Thee ! The subject shows us

H. Things may be of greater value than zve think.

To the unaided eye of man the wonders of nature
appear only in part. Who would dream that mould is
a forest of beautiful trees, with branches, leaves, and
fruit ? Would it ever occur to any one that each drop
of stagnant water contains a world of living creatures ?
Is it credible that the surface of our body is covered
over with scales like a fish, a single grain of sand
sufficing to cover 150 of these scales, and each scale
covering 500 pores, through which the perspiration
oozes ? Yet all this the microscope reveals. Nothing
is clearer than that the creative work of God is infinitely
great even in the infinitesimally small. And Ehren-
burg's motto, the key-note of all his labours in micro-
scopy, expresses a profound truth :

" The small, too, in the universe is wondrous and great,
And worlds are constituted out of that which is little."

Now, if God has so adorned, and beautified, and
cared for His minute creatures, be sure we do wrong if
we fail to attach great importance to little things. A
leaf or a shell may instruct us as to the attributes of
God and lead us to worship. Huxley lectures on " A

INCONSnCUOUS SERVICE REWARDED.

301

tie ones,
1 in His
y future
ye, then
ce of my
art, and

Him!
and an

vs us
think.
'f nature
mould is
ves, and
ich drop
eat u res ?
covered
of sand
ch scale
spiration
Nothing
nfinitely

1 Ehren-
n micro-

ied, and
wrong if
ngs. A
butes of
5 on " A

Bit of Chalk," and the subject is found to be one
of vast extent. To the scientific lecturer " A Cup of
Cold Water " would be a subject of thrilling interest
worthy of the best powers of the author of " Forms of
Water," because it suggests some of the deepest problems
of natural science. But to Christ a cup of cold water
is of unspeakable moment, because on the spirit with
which it is given may depend, not the life of a famishing
one, for this does not depend on the motive with which
it is given, but possibly the eternal well-being of the
donor. This leads us to observe that

HI. Thins^s are s^rcat or small in God's sight accord-
ing to the motive with zvhich they are done.

Observe the way in which Christ qualifies the act —
" in the name of a disciple," " because ye belong to
Christ" (Mark ix, 41). On the last day men's doom
will be settled upon the principle of good works (Matt.
XXV. 31, 46); but if the mere doing of good works
without regard to motives were enough to save, com-
paratively few would perish. Now the Lord in the
sixth chapter of Matthew teaches that if we give alms,
pray or fast, to be seen of men, our reward shall be their
praise. Very different from the reward which is to
come from Christ, promised in our text. Motives are of
different grades. Of three men who give to the needy,
speaking roughly and inaccurately (for we are influenced
by a complexity of motives), one does so for the praise
of his tellows, the second to gratify mere animal kind-
ness, the third to please God. In the eyes of God the
quality of an action resides in the intention. And only
the last of the three will stand the test of the last great

302

THE CUP OF COLD WATER.

day. The Pharisees acted from the first, and pretended
it was from the third. They were hypocrites. The
man who lived on the borders of an African desert, and
was accustomed daily to carry a pitcher of cold water
and leave it on the roadside for any thirsty traveller who
might pass, certainly did not do his deed for the praise
of men. Professor Reinsch tells us that in the North
Pacific Ocean " there is a submarine plant which
dwarfs all others. The Macrosystus Pyrifera covers
vast areas of the ocean bed. One specimen was found
by measurement to cover three square miles. And yet
of this gigantic species there are some specimens so
small as to be microscopic." So the gift of a cup of
cold water inspired by different motives may appear
equally dissimilar in the eyes of God — in the one case
small and contemptible, in the other large, generous,
and beautiful.

" No service in itself is small,
None great though earth it iill ;
But that is small which seeks its own,
That great which does God's will."

We are reminded of the widow's mites and the rich
man's gifts, and of the different estimate which men
would form from that of our Saviour. It is not for us
to judge, for we know not the heart. And it is charit-
able when the act is good to attribute it to the worthiest
motive. But the All-seeing One none can deceive.
We may deceive ourselves and our fellows, but on the
last great day everything shall be brought into judg-
ment, and sentence will be pronounced according to the
spirit of the life. Go and distribute tracts and Bibles,

INCONSPICUOUS SERVICE REWARDED.

303

retended
es. The
sort, and
)ld water
iller who
he praise
le North
t which
a covers
as found
And yet
imens so
a cup of
7 appear
one case
jenerous,

the rich
ich men
ot for us
is charit-
vorthiest

deceive,
t on the
ito judg-
jg to the
d Bibles,

feed the hungry, clothe the naked, teach the ignorant ;
but if you would have the reward of Christ's promises,
I entreat you, do all to the glory of God. As Ruskin
said : " There is no action so slight nor so mean but it
may be done to a great purpose, and ennobled therefor ;
nor is any purpose so great but that slight actions may
help it, and may be so done as to help it much, most
especially that chief of all purposes — ^the pleasing of
God. . . There is nothing so small but that we may
honour God by asking His guidance of it, or insult Him
by taking it into our own hands."

IV. Life is made up of little things ivhich may
become great.

It is natural for us to desire to do some great deed,
which would accomplish an amazing amount of good at
a stroke. But God does not often put the opportunity
of doing conspicuous service within our reach. Nor
would it be well if all of us attempted great things.
Showers, gentle and frequent, are better than a sudden
cloud-burst. Would that our lives were characterized
not by great deeds perhaps, but by quietness, humility,
fidelity to Christ in little things, good temper in our
homes, consideration in the treatment of servants,
faithfulness towards employers, justice and truthfulness
to all — for acts springing from such a spirit are like
streams of benefits which at once enrich our own
character and bless the world about us.

"He who tempers the wind to the lamb that is shorn,
Will help those who take from life's pathway a thorn :
And the cup of cold water that kindness bestows
On the heart back in rivers of gladness overflows."

304

THE CUP OF COLD WATER.

Not only so. We may be unable to trace any one
of these streams to a distance, yet it may now be
threading its silvery way on the surface, and now like
the fabled Arethusa plunging underground beneath the
surface of society, doing its bei.fificent work unseen by
the eye of man, and anon reappearing to bless far-off
places by its exuberant outflow.

Moreover, good deeds have a fructifying power.
Like seeds, they carry the principle of reproductive life.
They are small, yet they contain all that proceeds from
them. A precious gem planted in the earth cannot
grow and multiply itself. It remains unchanged. But
a tiny seed contains that which may go on indefinitely
multiplying itself after its kind. A sunny smile, a
loving word, a word of instruction and hope, a tract or
good book — who shall trace the bright succession
each producing " seed after its kind," perhaps in endless
sequence.

But as life grows richer, one's deeds may become
nobler and more beautiful. How kind of Christ to
promise a reward to the poor and weak and helpless
for what is quite within their reach ! But you greatly
mistake if you think He had no ulterior design. That
promise is a lure to draw them on, having tasted the
luxury of doing good, to do nobler things than what
costs no money and requires no effort. There was
a time in the history of David, when the Philistines had
possession of Bethlehem, and he was the captain of a
band of outlaws in the cave of Adullam. Water failed
them, and David longed for the water of his native town.
Three of his mightiest heard him, and at the peril of

INCONSPICUOUS SERVICE REWARDED.

305

any one

now be

now like

leath the

inseen by

ss far-off

X power,
ctive life.
:eds from
h cannot
:ed. But
definitely
smile, a
I tract or
luccession
in endless

r become
I^hrist to
I helpless
u greatly
n. That
asted the
lan what
tiere was
tines had
tain of a
ter failed
ive town.
; peril of

their lives broke through the host of the Philistines,
drank freely of the fountain, filled their water-urns and
returning offered a cup of the pure, cold, sparkling
water to their chief. The flower of England's chivaliy.
Sir Philip Sydney, a man of stainless character, skilful
generalship and subtle diplomatic skill, was dying on
the victorious field of Zutphen. P'aint with the loss of
blood, he felt an intense craving for water. It was
brought, but just as he was about to drink, his eye met
the longing glance of a dying soldier, and crying, " This
man's necessity is greater than mine," he gave it to his
fellow sufferer. Giving to-day to some thirsty one and
tasting the divine luxury of giving, you may be led on
till in your delight in doing generous deeds, like the
three mighty ones you shall be found willing to imperil
your life for your neighbour's weal, or like Sir Philip
Sydney crown a life of noble deeds by a simple yet
illustrious act of self-denial, which will stir the hearts of
multitudes to a like noble achievement.

V. I'/w Inconspicuous service must be true service,
A cup of cold water ! Prepaied by the great Father
of us all in the clouds above us, distilled upon the moun-
tain-tops till fountains and bays and rivers are filled,
how precious is this beverage of life ! A blessing- on
him who puts it to his neighbour's lips ! But cries the
prophet with impassioned fervour : " Woe unto him
that giveth his neighbour drink, that putteth the bottle
to him, an \ maketh him drunken also." That is the
bowl whose foam has madness and crime in it, over
which pale widows and orphans weep, and in which
souls are drowned. Homer tells of Circe, famous for

3o6

THE cur OF COLD WATER.

her knowledge of magic and venomous herbs, and of
numbers of human beings whom she had by drugs
changed into beasts of prey. Such is that hospitality
which puts the cup into the hands of men and women,
and reduces them to such a condition as to commit
crimes of which brute beasts are incapable. How
little do men who begin to sip the intoxicating bowl,
suspect the end of these things. The wise man has
said : " Look not upon the wine when it is red, when
it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a
serpent and stingeth like an adder." Mr. Dougall, the
late aged editor of the New York Witness, a consistent
temperance man for half a century, the first time he
crossed the Atlantic, was placed at a table between two
officers who drank freely. Said he, " Gentlemen, you
may either of you have my place ; I am willing to go
anywhere or to do anything to oblige you, but / will
not pass your bottles" Touch not, taste not, handle
not, the accused thing. And I charge you by the love
of God and man, never to put a glass of liquor to
another's lips.

When Edward Payson was dying he exclaimed : " I
long to hand a full cup of happiness to every human
being." If with such urgency of desire we should daily
go out among men, how selfishness would perish out of
our dealings with them. What love would be in our
homes ! What changes would be wrought in human
society ! Now relieving the destitute, now giving food
to the hungry or clothes to the naked, now giving a
good book to one who will prize it as the famishing do
cold water, now bestowing a trinket upon a child — this

INCONSPICUOUS SERVICE REWARDED.

307

and of

y drugs

spitality

women,

commit

How

ig bowl,

nan has

d, when

1 like a

jail, the

)nsistent

time he

een two

en, you

ig to go

t / ivill

handle

the love

quor to

:d : "I
human
lid daily
1 out of
: in our
human
ng food
giving a
tiing do
Id— this

is the way to make streams of water flow through life's
deserts, and to press the cup of comfort to fainting lips.
Finally, the reiuard of all inconspicuous service is
very sure. Nothing in the wide kingdoms of nature is
lost. Storm, earthquake, torrent, chemical change,
flood, fire, frost, death, cannot destroy a particle of
matter. Nor can the truth of the Gospel return to
God void. It will assuredly accomplish the end for
which it is sent. Thus, too, with every good deed
done for Christ. On the day after the battle of
Fredricksburg in 1862, the wounded, dying and dead
soldiers of the Union army lay between the two oppos-
ing lines, and any one who exposed himself but for a
moment was sure to fall by a fatal bullet. General
Kershaw gives the following account. All that day
those wounded men rent the air with their groans, their
agonizing cries of " water ! water ! " In the afternoon
Sergeant Kirkland, unable any longer to resist their
call, begged the General for permission to carry them
water. The general warned him of the risk he ran,
refused to let him show a white handkerchief, but with
some hesitation granted him the permission he asked.
He was watched with great anxiety as he stepped over
the wall on his errand of mercy. Unharmed he reached
the nearest sufferer. He knelt beside him, tenderly
raised the drooping head, rested it upon his breast,, and
poured the precious life-giving fluid down the fe^^er-
scorched throat. This done, he laid him tenderly
down, placed his knapsack under his head, straightened
out his broken limb, spread his overcoat over him,
replaced his empty can with a full one, and turned to

3o8

THE cur OF COI.D WATER.

another sufferer. By this time his purpose was well
understood on both sides, and the danger was all over.
From all parts of the field arose cries o/ " water !
water ! for God's sake, water ! " For an hour and a
half did he pursue his work of love, till all the wounded
on that part of the field were relieved. He returned to
his post wholly unhurt, and rested, who shall say now
sweetly that winter's night beneath the cold stars !

Oh, sighs one, I have neither opportunity nor courage
for such an achievement ; I can do but little. Well, do
that little for the Lord Jesus, and do it as well as
you can, and He will count it as done to Him. The
knights of the Rouiid Table sought long and earnestly
for the Holy Grail, which was supposed to be the
marvellous cup wherewith Pharaoh used to divine. It
was believed to have been handed down till it reached
our Lord, and was the cup out of which He drank at
the last supper. It remained afterward in the possession
only of those whose lives were pure, and when evil
multiplied was withdrawn from men. The legend runs
that it appeared only to those who lived spotlessly.
Russell Lowell i i his " The Vision of Sir Launfal "
represents our Lc rd saying to the knight :

" Not what we give, but what we share, —
For ih -• gift without the giver is bare ;
Who gives himself with his alms feeds three, —
Hir.self, his hungering neighbour, and me."

Yes, the rjp of cold water given away is not lost.
On an Anierican battlefield, a canteen of water, the last
to be had, Avas once put to the parched lips of a soldier.
He was sorely wounded, but as he was about to drink,

INCONSl ICUOUS SKKVICE KKWARDEP.

309

his eye fell on another sufferer, whose necessity was
Cfreater than his own, both of his legs being shot away*
Without speaking a word he handed him the water.
The dying man, who was rich, drinking it, asked liis
name, regiment, and residence. They were immediately
separated. The dying man called a comrade to his side,
and dictated a codocil to his wil), directing his executors
to pay to A. B. of such a place and state, and of such a
regiment, " the sum of $10,000 for his humanity to me
on the field of battle." And will Christ be less mindful
of us? Is He unrighteous to forget your labour of
love ? No, blessed be His name ! He keeps a strict
account of the minutest deeds, the most inconspicuous
service to Him. On the last great day He will hold
a cup of cold water in His hand. Once more " the
conscious water " beholding its God will " blush."
He will hand it to you saying, " Inasmuch as you have
done it to one of the least of these my brethren, you
have done it unto me ; " and as you drink it you will
exclaim, " Thou hast kept the good wine until now."
And that cup will symbolize all felicity, honour, and
dignity, world without end.

CHRIST KNOCKING AT
THE DOOR.

" 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 hini, and he with
me." Revelation iii. 20.

These Churches of Asia are symbolical of the univer-
sal Church, as we see in the mystic number seven, and
also in their manifold conditions, which exhibit every
conceivable form of church life. The communications
to these churches are of the highest possible importance,
and are from the lips of the great Head of the Church,
written down by His servant John, and by him trans-
mitted to the angels of the churches for which they
were intended. The text is part of the Epistle address-
ed by the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, unto
the Church of the Laodiceans, a church over which the
Avorld had gained an almost overwhelming power, a
church neither cold nor hot, but full of the spirit of
pride and self-deception ; but the A.ords are also written
for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world
have come. Yet even to this church Christ says,
" Behold, I stand at the door and knock," and enlarging
the offer of His grace to the uttermost limit of humanity
— the farthest in space, the deepest in guilt and moral
corruption, and the most distant in time, — He exclaims :

CHRIST KNOCKING AT TIIK DOOR.

voice and
id he with

univcr-
en, and
t every
ications
3rtance,
Church,
n trans-
:h they
iddress-
B, unto
ich the
3wer, a
pirit of
written
t world
: says,
larging
manity
I moral
ilaims :

" If afi}' one hear my voice and open the door, I will
come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

" If any one." Man is his Maker's masterpiece. In
His other works there was not a theatre sufficiently
broad for the display of His perfections, and so God
created man and invested him with excellent ornaments
and dignities. But oh, how changed from what he
was ! He has fallen, and the relation of the soul with
God, subsequent to the Fall, has been that of rebellion
against the Sovereign.

Now, it is not the custom of sovereigns to supplicate
peace of revolted subjects, who are completely in their
power. It is usual to beat down the arm of rebellion
until there is a willingness on the part of the rebels to
accept of any terms which the conqueror may impose.
Does God compel sinners to be at peace? Does He
storm the city of Man-soul ? Nay, Jehovah Jesus lays
aside His ineffable glory, comes down to earth, and
seeks admission to human hearts. He uses no compul-
sion. Nor does He think it beneath His dignity to ask
for entrance again and again, though as often repulsed.
Our text speaks of three great marvels :

I. First Great Marvel : — " Behold I stand at
the doo7\"

Is Christ standing at the door ? Then

I. Our depravity in its strength and arrogance is
vividly depicted. Christ presents Himself, my friend,
at the door of your understanding, through which
all must pass that enter the heart. His credentials
we know. " The works that I do bear witness of
me that the Father hath sent me. The Father Him-

312

CHRIST kn(x:k'!:g at the door.

self hath borne witness oi' me." I le appeals to the
Holy Oracles : " Search the Scriptures ; they bear
witness of me." If admitted thus far, He knocks at
the door of the will. Alas ! how often to no effect.
" Ye will not come to me that ye niipfht have life."
This door — a door of triple brass — is firmly secured with
bolts and bars. One evil effect of sin is that it induces a
permanent habit or attitude of the will, of which each
outward act is a symptom and an ajjgravation. The
seat of the principle and spirit of rebellion is in the
will, which if deliberately tolerant of sin is from the
necessity of the case hostile to all the claims t)f God,
and each rejection of offered mercy increases the diffi-
culty of submission and the probability of final impeni-
tence. " Can the Ethiopan change his skin, or the
leopard his spots ? Then may ye also do good that are
accustomed to do evil." How dctcrv'.incd and obstinate
is this depravity ! But Christ's being kept outside the
door indicates also the stupendous arrog\incc of depravi-
ty, which very often makes it a point of honour for
the sinner not to submit to the call of Christ. Man in
his infinite pride will not humble himself to be on terms
of friendship with God. " The wicked through the
pride of his countenance will not, seek after God." Nay,
not only will he not seek after God, but such is the
intense disgust with which the sinner regards spiritual
fellowship with the all-holy God, that from all the
blessed Saviour's urgent strivings and pleadings he
turns away with an inward shudder, preferring sin to
holiness, and even hell to heaven. The charge which
Stephen pressed with all tenderness but with all fidelity

CIIKTS'I" KNOCKlNr, AT '11 IK !10f)P

313

to the
:y bear
locks at

effect,
^^e life."
•cd with
iduces a
ch each
1. The

in the
roni the
i( God,
he diffi-
impcni-
or the
:hat are
bstinatc
ide the
lepravi-
our for
Man in
1 terms
?h the
• Nay,
is the
airitual
dl the
igs he
sin to
which
idelity

upon his persecutors is true to-day of all who refuse to
admit the knocking Saviour : " Ye do always resist the
Holy Ghost ; as your fathers did, so do ye."

Again : Is Christ standing at the door ? Then
2. \Vc arc reminded of His ^qreat redemptive work.
How, consistently with His declaration, " the soul that
sinneth it shall die," can He stand at the door of a
human heart, asking admission and promising immortal
life? Let the blood "which speaketh better things
than that of Abel " answer. It tells of the sword
of Justice buried, not in the heart of offending humani-
ty, but in the heart of an unoffending Deliverer, of the
claims of the divine government satisfied, and of God
justified when He justifies penitent believers. To get
to the door of your heart, my unsaved friend, He
had to enter our nature, to be made a curse, to make
His soul an offering for sin, to bear the aggregate
weight of the guilt of the world, to cry " My God, my
(jod, why hast Thou forsaken me ? " to die an igno-
minious and painful death, to descend into the grave, to
break the bars of the tomb, to rise again, to ascend on
high " leading captive multitudes captive," and prepared
thus to give good gifts to men, even to the rebellious
also — all tliis had He to do, before He could come and
stand at the door of your heart and offer salvation.

" Oh for such love let rocks and hills
Their lasting silence break,
And all harmonious human tongues
Our Saviour's praises speak ! "

Is Christ standing at the door? Then it is evident
that

314

CHRIST KNOCKING AT THE DOOR.

3. He s/iozvs great condescension. Usually the less
stands before the greater. Men seeking for office,
honour, or wealth, stand hat in hand before those who
have the gifts of fortune to dispose of. Sometimes the
case is reversed, as when the great founder of the
Russian Empire, for a time forsook the barbaric pomp
and splendour of his court to come and stand as a
common apprentice in the dockyards of Western Eu-
rope. But oh what infinite condescension is it for
Christ to stand at our heart's door ! It is midday
standing beside midnight. Though we are worms of
the dust, creatures of a day, at the door of our hearts
stands He, who is far above all principality, and power,
and might, and dominion, and every name that is
named, and who has on His vesture and on His thigh
a name written King of kings and Lord of lords, before
whom we shall some day fall in speechless wonder, love,
and praise, or from the withering glance of who.se eye
we shall take refuge in hell, crying out to the mountains
and to the hills, " Fall on us " — and now perchance we
are not bent lowly before Him, or standing to receive
His commands, but are sitting in the seat of the scornful
or reclining on the couch of carnal security. Let us
remember who has said : " Them that honour me I
will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly
esteemed."

n. The Second Great Marvel: — Christ knock-
ing and pleading.

I . He begins the ivork of salvation. Yes, if He had
not sought us, we must have been lost. Saved we never
could have been, if He had not made oft-repeated over-

CHRIST KNOCKING AT THE DOOR.

3IS

the less
or office,
lose who
times the
r of the
ric pomp
and as a
stern Eu-
is it for
3 midday-
worms of
ur hearts
id power,
; that is
E^is thigh
h, before
der, love,
ho.se eye
lountains
lance we
3 receive
scornful
Let us
ur me I
J lightly

sf knock-

He had
ve never
ed over-

tures of mercy. It shows us that the question is not.
Will Christ save me ? but, Am I willing to be saved ?
Not, Will Christ refuse to save me ? but. Do I refuse
to have Him for my Saviour? " Bless the Lord, O my
soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name ! "
Further, Is Christ knocking and pleading ? Then
2. His patience is evinced. He bears with men's
caprices. If refused admission. He does not resent the
insult and take His final departure, but burning with
anxious desire, as if it were His interests and not theirs
which are at stake, with long-suffering He waits, and
waits, and waits. His patience is seen in His repeated
knockings. The word translated " I stand " bears the
meaning of " I have stood and continue to stand,"
which modifies the meaning of the word " knock,"
so that the clause is equivalent in sense to " I have
stood and continue to stand knocking." He has
been knocking, then, for some time already — at some
hearts here for ten, twenty, forty ^ ^ars. Well is is
for you that your salvation was not dependent on
the patience of some dear and valued friends ! Oh
with what patient and pitying love He has lingered
at the door of your heart, and softly knocked there
these long years. Let it smite you with a rebuke
far more telling than all the thunders of Sinai. — His
patieace is further seen in the variety of means which
He employs to make a man hear His voice. He both
speaks and knocks — " If any man hear my voice." He
appeals to every principle of your heart. He runs His
hand up and down the entire scale of human emotion,
sweeps every chord, touches every string, in the en-

3i6

CHRIST KNOCKING AT THE DOOR.

deavour to secure a right response to which He will key
your whole nature, that thence He may elicit heavenly
harmonies. He appeals to gratitude and love. He
reminds you of all that He is, and of all that He has
done in your behalf. Does this not win you ? He
appeals to hope, and paints before your mental vision a
beauteous picture warm with the rich tints of heaven.
Does not this attract you ? He appeals to the principle
oifear, and warns you of the evils of persistent rebellion
— a death without hope, a judgment without mercy,
and an eternity of despair. Does not this alarm and
convict you?

The ineafis which He employs to secure an entrance
are numerous and varied. The instrument usually
employed is His word. That word read a*, a mother's
knee, explained in the Sunday School, or *^ru I'ulpit, or
read in secret, sometiiiies comes with power, proclaims
itself to be spirit and life, and the loud knock of a
present Saviour is distinctly heard, and the powers of
the world to come impressively felt. '

Perhaps He knocked and spoke by a series of provi-
dential visitations, which grew in solemn and impressive
character till His knockings, instead of being merely a
gentle tapping at the door, sounded an awful summons,
as if some giant fist were smiting at the gate, till His
voice

" whispered no longer,
But spoke as the thunder doth, louder and stronger.

Trials and losses, inconsiderable at first, were succeeded
by others more formidable, i\\\ at the door which had
admitted unclean spirits, and which was locked and

CHRIST KNOCKING AT THE DOOR.

3^7

i will key

heavenly

^ovc. He

t He has

ou ? He

vision a

heaven.

principle

rebellion

t mercy,

larm and

entrance
usually

mother's
I'ulpit, or
proclaims
ock of a
lowers of

of provi-
npressive
merely a
ummons,
.till His

jcceeded
lich had
ked and

barred against the loving and kingly Saviour, He
knocked not vindictively but loudly, breaking down
your health, impairing or ruining your fortunes, bereav-
ing you of dearest ones, in the hope that perchance
judgments, trying and severe, would open ears that
arc deaf when only gentle mercy knocks. Oh " why is
His head wet with the dews, and His locks with the
drops of night ? "

Is Christ knocking at the door and pleading? Then
3. /A' pays respect to mans free-agincy. The cus-
tom of knocking at the door of a house is a very ancient
and very beautiful one. The man who was the first to
knock at another man's door had a very fine and delicate
sense of propriety. He would invade no man's sanctuary
or privacy, unwelcome or unbidden. A general besieg-
ing a city beats down the gates and walls. Officers of
justice pursuing a criminal break in the door of the
house where he is hidden. But the Saviour, in accord-
ance with the eternal fitness of things, for reasons
which appear in part to us, is nowhere represented
as trying to storm the city of Man-soul. He seeks.
He pleads. He expostulates, He promises. He warns,
but He will not force. It is impossible to conceive
of a finer delicacy, a more tender consideration for
the sacredness of a man's own free agency, than Christ
shows everywhere. Tht heart that becomes His must
be freely offered to Him, or it never will be taken.
Christ goes so far as to awaken a man, to liberate him
to such degree from the power of Satan who has led
him captive at his will, that he realizes that the res-
ponsibility of his salvation is thrown upon himself, and

■T*S

318

CHRIST KNOCKING AT THE DOOR.

that he now has the power of moral choice, a power
given him in his creation, of which sin had largely des-
poiled him, but which now may be exercised for his
salvation. So far Christ goes, b 't no farther, till the
choice is made, when, if the door is flung open. He en-
ters to carry out HiS purposes of grace. Hence it is
that He represents Himself as standing without and
knocking and pleading there. Hence it is that He so
frequently has to turn away with the voice of refusal
ringing in His ears.

" The day creeps on with stealthy, stealthy pace,
He knocks again as He has knocked before ;
The patient sorrow deepens in His face ;
Soon will He knock — no more ! "

Once more : Is Christ knocking and pleading outside ?
Then

4. Procrastination is unsafe. He may not tarry
long. When you see a man standing before a door, if
you think at all you will expect him, if not soon ad-
mitted, to go away. A man was sent to collect an
account of another, who had succeeded for some time
in avoiding a dun. This man knocked and was not
admitted. He knocked again and again, but no atten-
tion was paid to him. Thereupon he borrowed a chair
from a neighbouring house and deliberately sat down to
knock till he should bring the proprietor of the house to
terms ; and he succeeded. When Christ ascended to
heaven. He did not stand. He sat down by the side of
the Majesty on high. But He does not sit at the door
of your heart ; He stands. If He goes away, you are

CHRIST KNOCKING AT THE DOOR.

319

a power
rgely des-
d for his
r, till the
n, He en-
ence it is
lout and
at He so
Df refusal

outside ?

lot tarry
I door, if
soon ad-
ollect an
me time
was not
10 atten-
i a chair
down to
house to
inded to
e side of
the door
you are

undone. If repelled now He may retire forever. When
He withdraws, the Spirit ceases to strive, the spirit of
rebelliousne'^s within reaches its consummation, the
heart becomes " past feeling," and is given over to final
impenitence. Oh pray

*' Stay, Thou insulted Saviour, stay,

Though I have d^ne Thee such despite,
Nor cast the sinner quite away,
Nor take Thine everlasting flight."

HI. The Third Great Marvel: — C/trist Within.

" [ will come in to him and sup with him, and he
with me." The manner is mysterious, but the fact
of this indwelling is a fact of revelation and of con-
sciousness, and is therefore undeniable. Christ prays :
" Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word ; I in
them, and Thou in me that they may be made perfect
in one." Similarly Paul prays for the Ephesians :
" That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith."
" Christ in you, the hope of glory." Like the great
Napoleon's soldier who, when wounded by a bullet and
the surgeon was probing the wound, exclaimed : " An
inch deeper and you will find the Emperor," the true
Christian knows that were his heart laid bare it would
reveal the indwelling Christ. This indwelling includes

I. Reconstruction. Christ is come to ask no per-
sonal favour. He wished to restore the miserable tene-
ment to its former beauty, wealth, and comfort. And
if with penitent submission and joyful haste the door is
opened, and He is welcomed,

320

CHRIST KNOCKINCJ AT THE DOOR.

" Come in, come in, Thou heavenly guest ! Nor ever hence remove ;
But sup with me, and let the feast Be everlasting love,"

a transformation will take place more wonderful than
ever was depicted in human speech. In Goethe's " Tlie
Tale," translated and expounded by Carlyle as a kind of
emblem of universal history, by virtue of the lamp
locked up in the hut of the ferryman, the hut became
converted from inside to outside into solid silver, its
form was chancfed and expanded into a noble structure
of beaten, ornamented workmanship. But here in
place of the wretched dweilinrr at which Christ knocked
and which has admitted Him, we see a lovely mansion,
lit up from foundation to coping with the glory of God,
in every room order, and beauty, the voice of song, and
the fragrance of flowers, for " old things have passed
away and all things have become new." Finally it
includes ^

2, Fellowship, " I will sup with him and he with
me." The same cement which binds human spirits
together — love mingled with confidence — binds together
the saint and his Saviour. ** He that is joined to the
Lord is one spirit." This implies (i) that He takes
pleasure in us. " The Lord taketh pleasure in them
that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy."
He puts His Spirit within us and delights to see His
image reproduced there. It implies (2) that we have
joy in Him. There are those who know what it is to
have a present Saviour, a loving friend, into whose ear
they pour their confidences — doubts, fears, and tempta-
tions — in return for which they have the secret messages
of His grace, the hidden embraces of His love. Their

CHRIST KNOCKING AT THE DOOR.

321

remove; .

jrful than
ie's"The

a kind of
the lamp
it became

silver, its

structure

here in

t knocked

mansion,
y of God,
song, and
ve passed
Finally it

j he with
m spirits
J together
;d to the
He takes
in them
mercy."
o see His
: we have
it it is to
vhose ear
d tempta-
messages
2. Their

prayers and praises are not like letters transmitted to
some far-off friend by some heavenly post. Nay, soul
speaks to soul, heart touches heart, hand clasps hand.
" I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in
judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies."
" I am married unto thee." Whatever of intimacy, of
delight, of confidence, or of love, is to be found in the
closest of all the relationships of life, is realized in an
augmented degree in the union between the saint and
the Saviour. To him, who hears His voice and opens
the door, Christ says, " I am come into my garden, my
sister, my spouse ; I have gathered my myrrh with my
spice ; I have eaten my honey-comb with my honey ;
I have drunk my wine with my milk ;" and then spread-
ing a banquet of heavenly manna, of angels' food, a
feast of fat things full of marrow, of wines well refined,
He exclaims, " Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abun-
dantly, O beloved ! " Who then would regale his
appetite upon the viands of heaven ? Let him admit a
knocking Saviour, and a feast will be spread, compared
with which the far-famed refections of the literati with
their " feast of reason and flow of soul," or the most
imposing banquets ever spread in royal palaces or ducal
halls, where wit and beauty blaze and corruscate, or the
fabled nectar and ambrosial sweets of high Olympus,
are common fare indeed. Here no want goes unsatisfi-
ed, no desire unmet. Christ gives Himself in the ful-
ness of His being to the soul that will admit Him.
" Heathenism in its cultus of domestic and local deities
bears witness to the intense longing of the human soul
for the individualizing love of a loftier being." Christ

322

CHRIST KNOCKING AT THE DOOR.

comes to satisfy that want. It is with large reserve
that man gives himself to his fellow. But it is a necessi-
ty of His perfectness that Christ cannot divide His love.
He gives Himself to the single soul with an absolute
completeness as if there were throughout the universe
no other being on whom He could pour out His bound-
less affection. He endows His bride with all the riches
of His own inheritance. And the cold-hearted Chris-
tian, waking up to a sense of the Saviour's love, becomes
enraptured like Rutherford, or Summerfield, or Mc-
Cheyne, and seems to us, who have not yet attained,
extravagant in his expressions and demonstrations.
But the exile on far distant shores, separated from all
he loves for long and weary years, feels not such tides of
rapturous emotion swelling in his heart, when he meets
with the loved ones at home, as he, who has wandered
far from God in sin, experiences when he comes back
to his truest and best Friend's embrace.

" When God is mine, and I am His, Of paradise possest, ^
I taste unutterable bliss, And everlasting rest.
The blifis of those that fully dwell. Fully in Thee believe,
' Tis more than angel tongues can tell, Or angel minds conceive."

To apply : i . Is Christ within or without ? If with-
in, what a matter for thankfulness I If without, what
occasion for shame and grief and confusion of face !
Why is it so? If you say you have not heard His
knocking or His voice, know this that you are respon-
sible for preventing such an uproar, and clamour, and
riot of passion within, and hubbub and strife of the
world without, as make it difficult to catch His faint-
est whisper, His gentlest tapping at the door. There

CHRIST KNOCKING AT THE DOOR.

323

i reserve
L necessi-
rlis love,
absolute

universe
s bound-
le riches
d Chris-
becomes

or Mc-
Eittained,
it rations,
from all

tides of
tie meets
wandered
les back

ve.

If with-
ut, what
of face !
;ard His
: respon-
3ur, and
; of the
[is faint-
There

are within you daring intriguers against your peace and
security. Christ assures you that your danger is immi-
nent, that He must be allowed to come in, if you would
have Him cast them out. How long should you be
deciding whether or not to comply with His wish?
Fling wide open the door and let Him now come in.

" In thy silent midnight slumbers, List — thy bosom door !

How it knocketh — knocketh — knocketh, Knocketh evermore !

Say not 'tis thy pulse is beating : 'Tis thy heart of sin ;

'Tis thy Saviour knocks and crielh— * Rise and let me in.'
" Death comes on with reckless footsteps, To the hall or hut :

Think you. Death will tarry knocking Where the door is shut ;

Jesus waiteth — waiteth — waiteth. But the door is fast ;

Grieved away thy Saviou : goeth ; Death breaks in at last.
" Then 'tis time to stand entreating Christ to let thee in ;

At the gate of heaven beating, Waiting for thy sin.

Nay— alas, thou guilty creature ! Hast thou then forgot ?

Jesus waited long to know thee. Now He knows thee not."

2. The experience after which we should aspire with
ardent desire is a personal consciousness of Christ's
perpetual indwelling. Said an old woman in the East
Indies when asked if she knew Jesus : " Yes, I know
Him ; He is there (pointing to the Bible,) ; I know
Him ; He is there (pointing to heaven) ; I know Him ;
He is here " (clasping her hands over her breast).
I^uther spoke not too strongly when, having through
the obedience of faith reached a rich experience of
death unto sin and life unto God, he said : " If any
man knock at the door of my heart, and ask, ' Who
lives here ? ' my answer will be, * Jesus Christ lives here,
not Martin Luther'." How did he attain to this ripe
fulness of the life divine ? J ust as we may all attain it

324

CHRIST KNOCKING AT THE DOOR

— out of every twenty-four hours, three hours alone
with God, searching the Scriptures, studying the pro-
mises, and wresth'ng with the Angel of the Covenant.

One last word : If Christ be in us, He is our Palladium,
our guarantee of safety, our high tower. Said Caesar
to the affrighted ferryman, " Fear not, cheer up ; thou
bearest Caesar and his fortunes." If you carry Christ
in your heart, you need not fear. Storms may rage,
but the ship can never sink that bears the Lord. In
good time to save you. He will say to the raging wind,
" Peace," and to the stormy seas, " Be still," and there
shall be a great calm. Or, if He permits the storm to
grow more violent, still all is well, for

•• The rougher the way,
The shorter your stay ;

The storms that arise
Shall hurry you gloriously

Home to the skies."

irs alone
the pro-
enant.
illadiuiTi,
d Caesar
p; thou
y Christ
ay rage,
ord. In
ng wind,
nd there
itorm to

LESSON FROM THE
EAGLE'S EYRIE.

" Like the eagle." Psalm ciii. 5.

The lapidary cuts the diamond so that it presents to
the eye many facets, every one of which flashes its own
volley of rays. In like manner God has so constituted
many things in nature that each of them illustrates
many different objects in the spiritual kingdom. Let
us take the eagle, and using it in the light of Scripture
endeavour to obtain from it the instruction which
abounds. ,

I. Riches are '^^ like the eagle y

Riches, which so often suddenly leave their possessor,
are said to fly away quickly like eagles : " For riches
certainly make themselves wings ; they fly away as an
eagle toward heaven." To the testimony of Scripture
is added the experience of men. Croesus, whose name
is a synonym for great wealth, was himself taken cap-
tive, stripped of all his treasures, and in old age was
supported by the charity of Cyrus. How many whom
you knew as wealthy are now poor, and how true is the
Scripture, " The last shall be first and the first last."
Nothing melts away faster than a great fortune. Pover-
ty treads upon the heels of great and unexpected

326

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE S EVKIE.

riches. Are the birds yours that after circling round
settled upon your garden? No more the riches that
are apparently yours to-day, and to-morrow may have
flown away. A thousand ways there are of losing
them. Riches have wings, anc* hop from branch to
branch, from one man to anot No fence however

high will hold the eagle which has alighted for a
moment upon your field, so riches when they list will
fly away, do what you may to prevent. They are
" uncertain^' — the only element of certainty about
them is that we are not sure of them.

Said Gotthold to bystanders who stood amazed at
the sight of much money paid to him : " Learn in
youth to withstand the fascination of money and not
to contemplate it with pleasure or desire it, as if it were
some precious thing. It is in fact glittering earth and
nothing more. Unstable and fugitive it flits from one
to another, and is like the withered leaves which the
wind drives to and fro, and collects here in one heap,
there in another. I do not know whether there exists
such a thing as a coin stamped with a pair of pinions ;
but I wish this were the device which monarchs put
upon their dollars and ducats to show that riches make
themselves wings and fly away."

Do you feel this a great calamity ? But how much
better is it than that the evils of worldly prosperity
should come upon you ! " They that will be rich fall
into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and
hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdi-
tion." And said our Lord : " Verily I say unto you,
that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE'S EYRIE.

327

heaven." Sometimes mariners save their vessels from
destruction by casting out the lading. So Christians
on their way to heaven often need to be stripped of
their worldly possessions that they may safely reach
their gl()) ious destination. While then you have them
use them well.

" Forever the sun is pouring his gold on a hundred worlds

that beg or borrow ;
His warmth he squanders on summits cold, his wealth

on the homes of want and sorrow ;
To withhold his largess of prec* .as light is to bury himself

in eternal night : To give is to live."

Clip the wings of your riches by sharing them with
the poor and needy. You are a steward of God.
Wise men were they who brought to the Babe of
Bethlehem gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Princes before now have dissolved pearls in the wine
wherewith they entertained monarchs. Make rich
offerings to Christ. Nothing is too good for Him. On
the tombstone of an Italian lady is inscribed, " Here
lie the remains of Estella, who having transported her
fortune to heaven has gone thither to enjoy it."
Transfer some portion of your riches to heaven by
largesses to the poor and to the cause of Christ, and
you will find by-and-by that this is the best way to
insure your property and enjoy it when life is past.
Oh; there are better riches than earthly riches ! A
gentleman one day took an acquaintance upon his
housetop to show him the extent of his possessions.
Waving his hand about he said, " There is my estate."
Then pointing to a great distance on one side he said.

328

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE'S EY?ViE.

" Do you see that farm ?" " Yes." " Well, that is
mine." Pointing to the opposite side, " Do you see
that house?" "Yes." "Well, that also belongs to
me." Said his friend, " Do you see yon village ?"
" Yes." " Well, there is a poor woman who can say
more than that." " Ah, what can she say ?" " Why,
she can say, * Christ is mine.' " " Treasures of grace to
us be given, and crowns of joy laid up in heaven."
Said one who saw the dangers of riches and poverty :
" Give me neither poverty nor riches." IJut certainly it
is easier to enjoy Christ in poverty than in wealth.
Cried a rich woman in a revival as she saw the poor
flocking to Christ, " My God, is there no mercy for the
rich ?" To the poor the Gospel is preached, and among
the poor we find many rich in faith and heirs of the
kingdom.

With the words of the holy Apostle let me close this
portion of my theme : " Charge them that are rich in
this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in
uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us
richly all things to enjoy ; that they do good, that they
be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to
communicate ; laying up in store for themselves a good
foundation against the time to come, that they may lay
hold on eternal life " (i Tim. vi. 17 — 19).

II. Retribution is'' like tJic eagle y

It is a law of God, Honour thy father and mother
that thy days may be long. " The eye that mocketh
at his father and despiseth to obey his mother, the
ravens of the valley shall pluck it out, and the young
eagles shall eat it." This is one illustration of the lex

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE'S EYRIE.

329

that is
you see
longs to
I'illage ?"
can say
" Why,
grace to
heaven."
poverty :
'tainly it
wealth,
the poor
V for the
d among
rs of the

lose this
: rich in
trust in
iveth us
lat they
lling to
i a good
may lay

mother
locketh
er, the
young
the lex

talioniSy under which we live. So Adoni-bezek, who
had conquered seventy of the petty kingdoms about
him and had cut off the thumbs and great toes of their
kings and then allowed them to gather their meat
under his table, when he was himself overthrown by
Judah and similarly maltreated, exclaimed, " As I have
done, so God hath requited me." " The Lord God of
recompenses shall surely requite." How signal the
action of the lex talionis upon the presidents and
princes, who persuaded Darius to cast Daniel into the
den of lions, which however wrought on him no man-
ner of hurt, when they were in their turn cast into the
same den and were instantly torn to pieces ! Scarcely
one, if any, of the prominent persecutors of the Church
escaped signal retribution. And God punishes sin in
such a way that you may read the sin in the punish-
ment. When they who have eaten unjustly that which
others have saved, shall have that eaten up which
themselves have saved, is not this strict justice? (Is.
xxxiii. I ; Hab. ii. 8). If men have been wanton and
lustful, and stolen waters were sweet, and bread eaten
in secret was pleasant, the Lord feeds them with
gall and wormwood and gives them the wine of
astonishment in great plenty to drink. Was not that
something more than poetic justice which led Hercules
to adapt his mode of vengeance to the peculiar
misdoing of the transgressor? On Inchcape rock to
warn ships of their peril an abbot put a bell which
was taken down by Sir Ralph the Rover, who with
his ship one year thereafter upon the self-same rock,
in the righteous judgment of God, perished. " For

330

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE S EYRIE.

'tis .the sport to have the engineer hoist with his
own petard."

To deny this is idle for we have within us a prophet
which predicts precisely such an issue. One has well
said : " There is a tribunal set up every day in the
human heart, where a judge presides and sentence is
pronounced. When you analyse the nature of these
afflictions you will find them to be dread and therefore
no one can get rid of the evidence of the dreadful
character of future retribution." And as Baalzac says,
" With every one the expectation of misfortune con-
stitutes a dreadful punishment. Suffering then assumes
the proportions of the unknown, which is the soul's
infinite." The certainty, then, of future retribution is
not to be disputed by one who reads his own experience.
" Wheresoever the carcase is there will the eagles be
gathered together." No sooner is the sin committed
than the eagle of retribution is in pursuit of the
offender. He may flee, but he cannot escape. Con-
science pursues him everywhere. And if he finds not
the only refuge for the sinner in the wounds of his
crucified Lord, he must fall a prey to retributive justice.
Some time or other the substance of these shadows
and symbols must be reached, and the sinner know
by actual experience of what he had been faithfully
forewarned. 7n the agonies of the guilty conscience of
the lost soul, the law of retribution will have its perfect,
final, and everlasting effect, while its justice in the
awards of the present life, so often impugned, so often
denied, will receive its ample vindication. The venge-
ance, which like an eagle, tracked him through every

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE'S EYRIE.

331

lane and path of life, and now and again threw her
baleful shadow across his path, waiting for him to fall
in death, and impatient of the delay often striking him
with her fearful talons and bloody beak, will then seize
upon him as her rightful prey and in the region of the
lost inflict without cessation and without pity the
penalties so long delayed. Woe to the man who falls
its prey! Aie you shutting your eyes to Gospel
truth ? Well, if you will not see, you shall not see ; the
power and capacity of spiritual vision shall pass away.
Are you striving to obliterate the letterings chiselled by
painstaking and holy mothers upon the minds and
hearts of the young ? Better a millstone were hanged
about your neck and you were cast into the sea than
that you should offend one of these little ones. Have
you oppressed the poor and needy ? For this you may
yet suffer the loss of your own property, — certainly you
must fall under a future penalty. Do you look down
with superciliousness and pride upon your fellow men ?
There may be for you a resurrection unto shame and
everlasting contempt. Do you esteem the Word of
God to be of little worth, and set at naught all His
counsel? Take care lest by-and-by you be set at
naught, when He laughs at your calamity and mock'>
when your fear cometh. Oh, of how little worth is he
who counts God's word of little worth ! And what
reason has he to weep forever, at whose weeping God
shall laugh ! This is the portion of evil men from the
Lord : He will clap His hands at them and hiss them
out of their place. But have I no Gospel for you
to-day ? Thank God, yes. My impenitent and unfor-

332

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE S EVRIE.

given hearer, the

jle is in pursuit of you, but there is
a refuge for you in the grace of Christ. Haste thither.
I repeat the old, old story of Jesus and His love. He
was wounded for your transgressions and bruised for
your iniquities. He is a hiding place from the wind
and a covert from the tempest. In Him you shall have
deliverance from the guilt, power, impurity, and final
consequences of sin. Hide in Him and the devil shall
be disappointed of his prey and hell of her expectation.
in. The Lord Jesus is " like the eagle"

"As the eagle so the Lord " Deut. xxxii. ii, 12.

1. What the eagle is among the birds, the I^ord
Jesns is among men, monarchs, angels, and hierarchies,
the Prince of the kings of the earth. In all things He
has the pre-eminence, and to Him every knee shall bow.

" God over all, we bow the knee, And own all fulness dwells in Thee ! "

2. The eagle builds not its nest among reeds and
rushes, on house-top or tree-top, but in the highest and
most inaccessible cliffs of the mountain. It is her
fortress, where she enjoys security. This instinct has
God put into her nature to provide for the safety of
her young. Up in yon airy home, amid solitude and
desolation, the mother-eagle builds her nest and rears
her young. Our Saviour God has His home too on
high. Heaven is His throne, and earth is His footstool.
Everywhere present, beholding the evil and the good,
His residence is yonder. " Thou hast ascended up on
high " — far beyond where the eagle can follow Thee —
beyond the visible skies (Eph. iv. 10).

" Eternal power ! Whose high abode becomes the grandeur of a God :

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE'S EYRIE.

333

It there is
e thither,
ove. He
'uised for
the wind
shall have
and final
ievil shall
aectation.

, 12,

the Lord
erarchies,
lings He
>hall bow.

iThee!"

eeds and
jhest and
t is her
tinct has
safety of
tude and
ind rears
- too on
ootstool.
he good,
d up on
Thee —

of a God:

Infinite lengths beyond the bounds, where stars revolve their little
rounds."

3. Has the eagle a piercing eye ? Naturalists tell
us that so keen is her sight that, when quite beyond our
vision, she perfectly beholds her prey, the hare in the
bush, the fish in the water. And the Lord Jesus from
the highest heaven beholds us all the while, as from
the mountain top through the black night He beheld
His disciples in the midst of the storm on Gennesaret.
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the
evil and the good. No night so dark but He sees you
distinctly, in the midst 01 »rast crowds He distinguishes
you perfectly. Every man's secrets, and the hell t f
eveiy bad man's heart, are laid perfectly open to His
inspection. He looks quite through men, the wisest
and most reserved. Carry about with you then,
wherever you go, as a perpetual dissuasive from evil
and encouragement in the pursuit of good, this
quickening thought, " Thou, God, seest me. I can
have no secrets from Thee, for all things are naked
and open to Thine eyes with whom I have to do."
And pray, " Guide me with Thine eye ; help me to
please Thee that I may enjoy holy fellowship with
Thee forever."

4. Is the eagle swift of wing ? She has a wonder-
ful power of darting suddenly down upon her victim.
The Italians compare her descent upon her prey to the
fall of lead into water and call her aquila piombina^
the leaden eagle.

" Descending in a whirlwind to the ground Her pinions like the rush of
waters sound."

334

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE'S EYRIE.

Thus with the Lord. The upward glancing of an
imploring eye brings Him instantly to our relief.

" How slowly doth His wrath arise, On swiftest wings salvation flies ;
And if He bid His anger burn, Soon shall His frowns to pity turn."

When a man is in his extremity, Peter sinking in the
waves, the dying thief breathing out his expiring life,
the publican in the temple groaning under his load of
sin, the father of the demoniac crushed and despairing,
Jairus with his daughter dying, he needs instant help,
present deliverance ; and swifter than the wings of the
eagle Christ speeds to the rescue. Before you call upon
Him He will answer, and while you are yet speaking
He will hear.

5. Is the eagle careful and tender to her young?
The mother-eagle is a true parent. While her eaglets
need feeding she feeds them. All plunder and spoil
she brings home to them. The Lord is our Provider
and we shall not want. For the body, our bread shall
be given us and our water shall be sure. With the
finest of the wheat He will feed us and with oil out of
the flinty rock. And if this land in which we live
flows not with milk and honey, at all events no good
thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.
As to our minds, in the vast stores of learning and sug-
gestive thought handed down from past generations,
and in the treasures which are being amassed in this the
most active-minded of all the ages, we have a goodly
heritage. Above all, as to the needs of the spirit
within us, what ample provision has been made in the
records of eternal truth, in the doctrines of God, of
Christ, of man, of redemption and immortality — ^truths

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE'S EYRIE.

335

on flies ;
turn."

ng in the
ring life,
s load of
;spairing,
ant help,
igs of the
call upon
speaking

young?
ir eaglets
and spoil
Provider
ead shall
Vith the
)il out of
we live
no ^^ooti
prightly.
and sug-
erations,
this the
1 goodly
le spirit
le in the
God, of
—truths

which when believed excite within us an intense hunger
and thirst for righteousness, and lead us xor satisfaction
to the feast of fat things — the provision of His house,
even of His holy temple !

" As the eagle stirreth up her nest, P ulereth over
her young, expandeth her wings, o th' x^ord alone did
lead them and there was no str age god with them."
That is to say, when the eaglets are old enough
to try their wings the mother bird tears up her nest
so as to oblige them to make a venture. So when our
Lord sees us nestling down among creature-comforts,
building earthly nests for ourselves and fixing our
affections upon our homes, estates, our refined associa-
tions, and our growing wealth, and sees us rocked
to sleep, forgetting closet-duties, the Bible, self-denial,
and Christ, is it any wonder if He tears up the nest
however cosy, sends loss upon loss, and snatches away
our cherished idols? until stirred up from slumber,
sloth, unbelief, we plume our wings for a heavenly
flight and cry as we mount, " Nearer, my God, to
Thee, nearer to Thee, even though a cross it be
that raiseth me, still all my song shall be. Nearer,
my God, to Thee." And is it not in love that this is
done ? Would the eaglet be the better for remaining
in the nest ? Can a greater curse come down upon any
one than to be let alone of the Spirit ? Is it not better
to take nauseous medicines than to be sick? to be
rudely disturbed amidst your dreams and uncerem.oni-
ously turned out of house and home than to be left to
perish in the flames ? Oh my unsaved friend, if a career
of prosperity has not led you in gratitude to present

336

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE S EYRIE.

your body to Him a living sacrifice, God grant that
the invariably kind and long-suffering Saviour may in
mercy and in love by severer methods of treatment break
up your indifference and bring you to penitence. But
having stirred up the nest by way of admonition to
flight, she hovers over it in order to show her young an
example of flying that they may see how it is done, and
thus be encouraged to imitate what they see. And
what are these Gospels but a picture of Christ fluttering
over the Church, to teach us to fly, to practise self-
denial, to ascend above the world ? When the mother
bird sees them afraid to follow her, she spreads
abroad her wings, and stretches away for a sail. It is
dizzy work up there and dangerous. But they cling to
her and she transports them in safety. Afterwards
they must learn to fly for themselves. She aids with
her wings their feeble and imperfect attempts, till
emboldened they fearlessly commit themselves to the
air. At first they will reel and flutter and fall down
and bruise themselves on rocks and tree-tops, but they
are learning. At last, after their wings have become
stronger, and they are more expert in using them, they
soar away with her, rising from the top of the mountain
in the eye of the sun, making small circles, then larger
gyrations, always rising towards the sun, in ever-expand-
ing spiral, till they become mere points in the air, and
are soon lost to human vision. From that time onward
they keep her company in all her voyaging for plunder.
Thus Christ looks after the weak and feeble, bearing
with their infirmities, encouraging their initial exercises
of faith and love, appreciating their smallest service.

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE'S EYRIE.

337

rant that
II- may in

ent break
ice. But

nition to
young an
done, and
ee. And
fluttering
ctise self-
e mother
i spreads
ail. It is
Y cling to
fterwards
aids with
npts, till
2s to the
"all down
but they
". become
em, they
mountain
en larger
r-expand-
: air, and
I onward
plunder.

bearing
exercises

service.

He carries the lambs in His bosom and gently leads them
that are with young. He teaches us to die to things
below, and to rise to things above, and in all our
soarings of trust and aspiration, we cannot fall so as to
perish, for underneath are the everlasting arms.

IV. The Christian is " like the eaglet

I. He renews his youth like the eagle. The eagle
sheds its feathers every spring, when it becomes very
weak ; but with growth of its feathers returns also its
vigour, so that even in old age it has all the freshness of
youth. This is most beautifully alluded to by sacred
writers to show how the Christian is revived and renew-
ed in body and spirit by the quickening influences of
God's grace. Thus Isaiah (xl. 29-31) : " He giveth
power to the faint and to them that have no might He
increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be
weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they
that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they
shall run and not be weary ; they shall walk and not
faint." So the Psalmist in the context (Ps. ciii. i-s).
This renovation of youth may be understood (i)asto
his bodily strength. When our bodies are ready to
drop into the grave and crumble into dust, God can by a
word restore them to health and strength. When Naa-
man had once submitted to the prophet's counsel which
at. first he despised, his flesh came again like the flesh of
a little child. But if the outward man perishes, the in-
ner man may be renewed day by day. (2) As to his
worldly successes, civil honours. (3) As to his spiritual
condition. Probably in all these regards he had suffer-

338

.''c

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE S EYRIE.

ed and at last through the goodness of God was renewed
in every respect. The eagle's youth is renewed by a
succession of new feathers of the same kind in place of
the old ; but the believer's youth by casting off the
remains of the old nature, which is corrupt, and by
putting on more of the new man. " Less of self and
more of Thee." " None of self and all of Thee."
Naturalists say that the eagle renews his strength, when
he is so weak as not to be able to feed upon flesh, by
sucking the blood of his prey. So saints renew their
strength by eating and drinking of the flesh and blood
of Christ, and get rid of their weakness by believingly
laying hold of His strength, offered to us in the pro-
mises and ordinances of the Gospel. Wait upon the
Lord, admiringly contemplate His sufferings and the
effusion of His blood, and you shall mount up as on
eagle's wings. This leads me to say

2. He soars aloft. He mounts up with wings as the
eagle, which in his daring excursions swings himself
gradually upwards, past mountains with their glittering
coronal of snow, past clouds and the region of thunder
and lightning and tempest into the clear golden sea of
sunshine towards the limits of the atmosphere. Bats
may hide in caverns ; owls may hoot in midnight forests ;
swallows twitter on tree-tops and house-tops. But eagles
are " children of the sky and playmates of the storm."
So God meant that every Christian should leave the
lower atmosphere of worldliness and sin behind him and
stretch away toward the highest heaven. His conversa-
tion should be in heaven. As an heir of glory he has a
right to breathe its pure air. God did not make him to

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE'S EYRIE.

339

; renewed
ived by a
place of
tj off the
, and by
■ self and

1 Thee."
fth, when

flesh, by
new their
nd blood
dievingly

the pro-
upon the

and the
up as on

igs as the
s himself
glittering
F thunder
en sea of
re. Bats
t forests ;
Jut eagles

2 storm."
leave the
I him and
conversa-
' he has a
:e him to

creep and grovel and burrow, but to set his affections on
things above, and go on from strength to strength.
Ruskin in his second lecture on " The Eagle's Nest "
quotes from a poem of William Blake, that fiery genius,
whose poems had more merit than his paintings.

" Doth the eagle know what is in the pit,
Or wilt thou go ask the mole ? "

The soul of the Christian should not cleave to the
dust, but should tower away towards Christ and heaven-
ly things. Defile not yourself, my brother, in the pit
or on the dunghill, but triumph over the world, rising
upon the wings of faith and Divine support.

3. Ye parents ; learn the lesson : amid all your
soarings, forget not your children. Teach them to
elevate their thoughts towards heaven and the Sun of
righteousness, and to soar more and more to that
region of light and blessedness. So Goldsmith sings of
the village pastor :

" Thus in his duty prompt, at every call
He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all ;
And as a bird, each fond endearment tries
To tempt its new fledged offspring to the skies.
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay
Allured to brighter worlds and led the way."

Oh, shall it be said that birds are wiser in training
their young to soar on high than Christian parents their
children in those experiences which will fit them to
people the skies ?

4. A lesson there is, too, of personal watchfulness.
After having aspired in prayer and meditation after
God, and been lifted in spirit to your future home,

340

LESSON FROM THE EAGLE'S EYRIE.

when you come back to earth to attend to daily duties,
be sober, be vijvilant. When our Lord and the favour-
ed three came down from the Mount of Transfiguration,
they found the adversary entrenched in a human soul
at the base. A shepherd watched an eagle soar up
from a cliff. It flew far up, then grew unsteady and
reeled. Onf> wmg drooped and then another, and the
bird fell with dreadful speed to the ground. The shep-
herd ran .i:d saw that while it was on the earth a
little serpent had twined itself about its leg, and as it
rose gp iwed iv further and further till the heart was
struck. So you have seen one fall into hopeless disgrace
and ruin. Beware of that neglect of prayer, secret dis-
honesty, stealthy connivance at sin, or licentious indul-
gence, which is the serpent that has destroyed so many.

But do not dream that while in this world you shall
be freed from temptation. If you rise permanently
above wickedness and woridliness, new forms of tempta-
tion will assail you. Nevertheless, blessed is the soul
that lives above ! Blessed the discipline that stirs up
our nest ! Blessed the truth that makes us like Christ !
In old copies of the Bible is a picture representing John
writing the Apocalypse, and an eagle bringing him a
quill. There is much of the eagle in John soaring to
heights which no mortal had ever before attained.
Raphael painted hiri reposing on eagle's wings. Oh,
ye sons of God, never bedraggle your wings in the
mire ! Rise from transitory things to heaven your
native place.

A word in conclusion to the young : aim at nothing
lower than the skies.

l.KSSON FROM I'lIK EAfU.F/S EYRIE.

341

y duties,
2 favour-
furation,
nan soul

soar up
ady and
and the
he shep-

earth a
ind as it
cart was
disgrace
jcret dis-
us indul-
io many,
ou shall
nanently

tempta-
the soul

stirs up
: Christ !
ng John
g him a
aring to
attained,
^s. Oh,
> in the
en your

" What is that, mother ? The eagle, my boy,
Proudly careering his course of joy ;
Firm on his mountain-vigour relying,
Breasting the dark storm, the red bolt defying.
His wing on the wind and his eye on the sun,
He swerves not a hair, but bears onward, right on.
Boy, may the eagle's flight ever be thine ; .
Onward and upward and true to the line."

Thus living, the end of your mortal career will be
triumphant. You will soar away to mingle with the
blaze of day.

nothing

THE EXISTENCE AND INFLUENCE
OF THE INVISIBLE.

" We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are
not seen : for the things which are seen are temporal ; but the things which
are not seen are eternal." 2 Cor. iv. 18.

" And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he
may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man ; and he saw :
and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about
Elisha." 2 Kings vi. 17.

In the early morning EHsha's servant saw the city of
Dothan invested by the Syrian host, and came in con-
sternation to his master to ask what should be done.
Elisha answered, " Fear not ; for they that be with us
are more than they that be with them ; " and in answer
to his prayer, the Lord opened the young man's eyes,
and he saw the mountain full of horses and chariots of
fire to protect the man of God.

Now my point is that they were there before the
young man saw them. They were there where to his
unopened eyes nothing appeared. There are vmseen
forces as real at least as those that appear to our senses.

From the standpoint of finite beings the universe
may be divided into the seen and the unseen. There
is but one Being to whom nothing is unseen. It is He
who filleth space and inhabiteth eternity. Much by

OF THE INVISini.K.

343

iNCE

which are
ings which

'es, that he
id he saw :
ound about

; city of
in con-

e done.

with us
answer

s eyes,

riots of

ore the
J to his
unseen
senses,
niverse
There
is He
ch by

the angels is seen, but a vastly larger field remains
unseen. While as for men, that which is seen is included
within a comparatively small circle. The whole system
of things which comes under man's observation, as
compared with the universe, is but as a drop in the
ocean. Now, manV, compound nature fits him to com-
municate with both the seen and the unseen. In early
life and until our physical being is somewhat developed,
our lives are sensuous ; we are learning to live as animals.
It is the evident intention of God that intellect should
then awake and in due time take hold on truth, to
which it had been originally configured. Nor is this
all. It is plainly the will of God that when the mental
powers are somewhat advanced we should go on and
hold communion with the invisible world through our
loftier nature, which without such communion dies.
The world is not an empty void, but is alive with tre-
mendous forces, and peopled by many beings.

There is much to make us forget and ignore the
unseen world. Our zuork with its constant stress and
strain, unrelenting and inexorable, to which we are ever
driven by the unceasing clamours of appetite and the
demands of the family and of society ; our pleasures,
whether they be those of toys or lust or wine, or search
of deep philosophy, wit, eloquence, and poesy — whether
obtained in relaxation, in books, in convivial society, or
in our happy homes ; our affiictions, whether in the form
of physical pain, mental anguish, remorse, bereavement,
shame, filling the mind to the exclusion of every other
subject of thought — these constitute the awful tyranny
of the seen and the temporal, and are made use of by

344

THE EXISTENCE AND INFLUENCE

tlie great adversary of man to keep us unmindful of our
highest interests.

There are those who deny the existence of the
invisible world. Mr. Mallock says : " The highest
generalizations of modern science are denials of the
duration of the human soul and body." Mr. Leslie
Stephen says : " People have discovered that heaven
and hell belong to dreamland." In a certain work one
asks, What do you believe ? With a stamp of the
foot on the solid earth the answer is, " I believe in
that."' As if there was nothing to believe but what
was palpable to the senses. Is there, then, nothing
but what is appreciable by the senses ? If so, by what
senses do men come to know that thought and emotion
exist, become cognizant of the operation of the con-
science or the will? Indeed, we can go but a little
way before the region of the invisible and the occult
impinges upon us. This muscular movement, how
account for it ? By a nervous impulse, which it obeys.
Yes, but whence comes the nervous impulse ? From
the mind, the will. Surely, but how does the will
communicate itself to the nerves ? Here we are in the
undiscoverable. Loolc at this beautiful flower. Please
account for its form, hue, and fragrance. All your
explanations involving the question of supply from
earth, air, and sun-beams, of changes chemical, me-
chanical, and vital, only give us names for what is not
explained, and leave us where we were at the outset —
in the dark. What a pity and a shame that, while Plato
living in dark days held a philosophy that led beyond
what is seen and sensuous to the eternal prototypes of

OF THE invisiblp:.

345

the true, the beautiful, and the good, many modern
philosophers living in the blaze of gospel day, deny the
existence of the spiritual and eternal !

Indeed God will not leave us to be swallowed up in
the present without intimation from various quarters of
the existence of the higher world. The telescope and
microscope have revealed to us new worlds in space and
in drops of water. May not other worlds be opened up
to us as time rolls on ? On the border line between the
seen and the unseen, or just on this side or the other,
are the electric fluid, chemical forces, the odylic power,
impalpable but real, intimating the existence of an
unseen world.

Again : what is to us most real is not present to the
bodily senses. Our past lives and future destinies are
completely beyond the reach of our senses, and yet
how much more do our thoughts and feelings dwell in
the invisible past and future than in the visible present.
It is this that raises us above the brutes that perish, and
that gives breadth and dignity to human life. And who
is there whose inner life, shut up not only against the
intermeddling of strangers but against the intrusion
of all — an inner life of secret hopes and fears, of joys and
sorrows, of remorse and anguish, of backward looks and
forward glances — does not speak to him of the likelihood
that there is a mysterious world, beyond the ken of
human eye or ear ?

Besides, how can you reconcile the wisdom of the
Creator with the pessimist creed of despair of the
future and of the unseen? Think of man with his
wonderful powers of investigation and invention, his

34'

THE EXISTENCE AND INFLUENCE

skill in reasoning, his memory a storehouse which
admits of endless accumulation, his conscience the
oracle of God ; think of this being, winged with imagi-
nation and hope, and constructed upon the principle of
endless progression in knowledge and moral excellence,
and tell me where would be the wisdom of creating
such a being, of kindling such a flame only to extinguish
it in the moment of death? Even human wisdom
adapts means to the end proposed. But if this life be
all, the enormous folly has been committed of a lavish
expenditure of moral and intellectual wealth upon a
creature of a day — folly infinitely greater than if the
great masters of art had immediately destroyed the
monuments of their genius by which they won their
enduring fame as soon as the finishing touches had
been put upon them !

Still further : if at death our career is finally and
forever closed, why is it that we have an inward craving
and longing after the things unseen? Why if we sin
do we dread the future ? Why hunger and thirst after
righteousness? Why in the times of sorest trial are we,
as it were, roused by God's own right hand from deep
sleep and vain dreams of frivolity and worldliness, and
made to pass our verdict upon this world as vanity and
vexation of spirit ? Oh ! if there be no future for man,
then our nature is a He, and the promise which our Creator
has written upon our hearts and minds, and subscribed
with His own autograph, is the most cruel of deceptions.

Moreover : it is an impeachment of the divine justice
to deny the existence of the eternal world. Here in
this world is a very unequal distribution of earthly

OF THE INVISUn.E.

347

comfort and creature good. See how often the wicked
flourish like the green bay tree ! They have more
than heart can wish. They grind the faces of the
poor. In the enjoyment of great prosperity they live,
flourish, and die. Behold the virtuous and godly ! How
often they are crushed by poverty and oppressed by the
powerful ; they languish on sick-beds ; they die as mar-
tyrs for the truth. Is there no world where the inequali-
ties of the present life shall be adjusted, where the base
and unrighteous shall be driven from their usurped do-
minion, and be compelled to disgorge their ill-gotten
gains, and where the pure and the meek shall inherit the
high places of honour, behold the beatific vision,
and exult in the felicity and glory of the skies ? But
they who affirm that there is no such future reckoning
and readjustment will find it difficult, not to say impos-
sible, to show that there is justice in the administration
of the Judge of all the earth.

Yet once more : come, my sceptical friend, to the
bedside of your mother, sister, wife, child. That pure
and loving presence is about to be withdrawn. As the
frame grows weaker, the spirit within grows stronger, as
though pluming itself for its heavenward flight. Her
intellect was never so strong ; her manners never so
engaging ; her hopes never so radiant. She tells you
(does she ?) that she is about with Hobbes to take a leap
in the dark, or, as Tyndall says, that like a streak oj
morning cloud she is about to melt into the infinite
azure of the past ? No. She tells you that she is going
home to die no more, that she loves the Lord Jesus, has
long loved Him, has had distinct communications of

348

THE EXISTENCE AND INFLUENCE

His favour and assurances of His love, that her sins are
forgiven, her heart is changed, and that secure in the
righteousness which is by grace through faith she can
welcome death and the Judgment 13ay. On a sudden
with the light of gladness shining in her eyes she cries,
" They have come," She assures you that she sees de-
parted friends and angelic spirits. She wonders you do
not see them. " Don't you hear them singing ? Such
strains I never heard. Hark, they whisper, angels
say. Sister spirit, com.e away." Oh, what a strange
beauty the pale face and dark eyes put on ! She reaches
out her hands as if to embrace the heavenly visitants ;
they fall ; the celestial brightness lingers a little on the
face and then fades away. She is gone. Did I say
aright, my friend ? Or should I have said that you have
seen the last of all the brightness and wit, and love, and
hope, which you have here enjoyed, for the light in
which you have so long sunned yourself, is put out fore-
ver? No, no, no, your heart indignantly protests, it
shall shine on, if not here, somewhere else forever. She
is gone to the invisible world, your heart's best instincts
declare, to live forever, and you may meet her yet.

But the testimony of God Himself puts its quietus
upon all doubts of this kind. All that I have said
is only to make credible the doctrine of a future
life — to prepare our minds for the doctrine of an
unseen world. We speak, of course, of those awful
verities, which no light of natural science has ever
fallen upon or can reveal, which God's word, however,
has revealed to our faith, and which we confidently
believe to exist. Now " faith is the substance of

OF THE INVISIBLE.

349

things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Human faith is based upon the testimony of a compe-
tent witness, one who knows whereof he speaks, and is
of such a character that he will not utter a falsehood.
In human affairs the value of faith is incalculable. And
we are bound for the sake of society and of ourselves to
trust competent witnesses. Divine faith, says Bishop
Pearson, is an assent unto something as credible upon
the testimony of God. This assent is the highest kind
of faith, because the object has the highest credibility,
being grounded upon the infallible testimony of God.
His knowledge and wisdom are infinite. "The Lord is
a God of knowledges," said Hannah. " Of His under-
standing there is no end." He cannot, therefore, be
deceived. His justice is equal to His knowledge, nor is
His holiness inferior to His wisdom. " A God of truth
and without iniquity, just and right is He." " If we
believe not He abideth faithful ; He cannot deny him-
self." It is, therefore, says the Bishop, most infallibly
certain that being infinitely wise He cannot be deceived,
and being infinitely good He cannot deceive ; and upon
these two immovable pillars rests the authority of the
testimony of God. Where is this testimony ? In this
Book, these lively oracles —

" The Author God Himself;
The subject God and man ; salvation, life
And death — eternal life, eternal death.
Dread words, whose meaning has no end, no bounds.
Most wondrous book ! bright candle of the Lord !"

Taking then this bright candle, this flaming torch of
revelation, and thrusting it out into the dense darkness

350

THE EXISTENCE AND INFLUENCE

which broods over this world, and the denser darkness
which broods over the invisible world, what do you see ?
Deluded multitudes, pursuing phantoms, satisfied with
husks, giddily dancing on the margin of a pit, and
beguiling with idle songs and merriment the lazy-footed
hours between them and their ruin. Behold ! what
do you see? The devil stealing on them, often un-
suspected and always invisible, luring them nearer
and nearer to the tremendous gulf. Behold ! what
see you ? Death pushing one off and now another.
Behold ! what see you ? Our best friend, the invisible
God and Saviour, in whom we live, move and have our
being, who has us under His eye every moment of our
existence, and to whom we are responsible for the right
employment of all our powers. Behold ! what see you ?
A great white throne, and One sitting on it, before
whom all mankind is gathered, and the books are open-
ed, and another book is opened which is the Book of
Life ; a.^d the dead are judged out of those things which
are written in the books according to their works ; the
wicked are consigned to everlasting misery and despair
and the righteous are exalted to be forever with the
Lord. Behold ! what see you ? Two worlds which my
nature predicted, the one rising far above human un-
assisted vision, the home of the saved,

" A region so radiant with glory and light
That hope's brightest visions are lost in the sight ; "

the other sunk far below human sight, prepared original-
ly for the devil and his angels, into which are cast also
those that are contentious and obey not the truth, the
wilfully blind, the rejectors of this great salvation.

■■■■

OF THE INVISIBLE.

351

" Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where Peace
And Rest can never dwell, Hope never comes
That comes to all."

To many this view of the unseen world is most unwel-
come. It is a dreadful thought to the thief who steals
as he supposes with impimity, because there are none as
he vainly dreams to see the deed of darkness ; to the
fraudulent who overreaches the ignorant and helpless ;
to the murderer, the voice of whose victim's blood cries
out to him from the ground, and whose conscience
torments him before his time, but who endeavors to
silence his forebodings with the vain delusion that the
transaction was so well managed that no traces of his
crime were left to betray ; to the youth, whose imagina-
tion is a chamber of the vilest imagery ; to the violator
of the seventh commandment, whose solace is the hope
that none are aware of it but the guilty partner of his
sins. To every such one the thought that he is in the
immediate vicinage of the invisible world, with its
countless inhabitants, good and bad, that unperceived
they mix with the throng, that from them he cannot
sequester himself, even when secure from interruption
from every other quarter, that from the highets
intelligence to the lowest in the unseen world, millions
of eyes observe him, millions of minds study him, and
that especially he is never from under the keen scrutiny
of the all-searching Eye, to which the night shineth as
the day — this thought steadily considered must excite
the most agonizing emotion.

But it need be terrible only to those who are deter-
mined to go on in sin. From the unseen world there

352

THE EXISTENCE AND INFLUENCE

comes not one word to discourage the penitent, but
everything to encourage him. Your state is such you
need a Saviour. In the invisible world He is. He
loves you, He died for you. He waits to be gracious.
He invites ou to look to Ilini, to come to Him, and
be sa' ed. Though you do not see Him, He sees you.
He offers pardon for the past, a new life for the future.
Hear Him say " Let the wicked forsake his way ....
and let him return unto the Lord and He will have
mercy upon him." The lotus root down in the muddy
ooze, true to its instinctive yearning after the sunlight,
presses its way upward till it reaches the da}-, and bursts
into blossom and blushes into beauty. Do you feel a
longing after Christ and holiness and heaven ? " * Tis
the Spirit's rising beam." If you are faithful to the
strivings of the Spirit, despite your environment of
moral feculence and social corruption, if you look up to
the unseen Saviour, and press your way on, life will
begin to throb within you and faitli and hope and love
will grow, and the beauty and fragrance of the bright
consummate flower of your Christian life will be mani-
fest to all, while to crown all by-and-by in His own
time our Beloved, whom having not seen we love,
coming down into His garden to gather lilies will
transplant you into the Paradise of God, where you
shall unfold your beauties and waft your fragrance
before His throne in heaven.

My fellow Christian, looking is the condition of your
life, success, and enjoyment. On the principle — "out
of sight, out of mind " you will find yourself likely to
forget the unseen world. You must refresh yourself

OF THE INVISIBI.E.

353

with arguments which establish the ^reat doctrine.
You will need much and frequently to reflect upon the
eternal W3rld which floats all about us and soars above
us. If you would get the good that you may from this
mental and spiritual exercise of looking — for it is all
this and will call fo*- the loftiest exercise of your high-
est powers — you must give not merely a transient
glance, but a steady and persistent look of the attentive
mind to these high matters. Such a look as the
cherubim directed to the mercy-seat, or the angels to
the mysteries of redemption — a continuous and protract-
ed study with a view to self-improvement by constant
self-application. You should look till your mind is
filled with vivid images of spirit lal and eternal realities,
till you are fully possessed with the feeling, " Thou,
God, seest me," till Christ to you is glorious, precious,
real, loving, your Saviour, Brother Friend ; till you can
almost hear the song of the redeemed; till heaven,
instead of being a shadowy dream, becomes a glorious
substance with every revealed fact as real to your mind
as the scenery of jour native place is to your bodily eyes.
But this can only be achieved when the heart has
been drawn and constrained and renovated by the
grace of God. Only when we have learned to love His
favour more than the praise of men or the honours of
this life, to choose rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God than to enjoy the short-lived pleasures of
sin, to esteem the odium of the cross and the sanctified
afflictions associated therewith as treasures with which
we are endowed by our God, shall we be able to see
Kim who is invisible. " Blessed are the pure in heart

354

THE EXISTENCE AND INFLUENCE

for they shall see God." And this purity is wrought
within us only as the result on the human side of deep
and sincere penitence, earnest consideration, hallowed
meditation and fervent prayer. Prayer it is that will
give spiritual value to our studies, and make our reflec-
tions a means of holiness. Prayer, fervent and importu-
nate, will give strength and clearness to the intellect,
vigour and definiteness of aim to tlie will ; prayer will
quiet the spirit, hush the tumults of disordered feeling
and prepare the soul for the vision of the spiritual
world.

" O Thou by whom we come to God, The Life, the Truth, the Way 1
The path of prayer Thyself hast trod ; Lord, teach us how to pray."

Such a habit of soul xvill be of infinite value hi ena-
bling" one to estimate objects at their proper value. Be-
cause we take small standards by which to measure
ourselves and our deeds, we become puffed up with
pride and vanity. Great swelling words are upon our
lips, and we play such fantastic tricks before high heaven
as make the angels smile or weep. But if, instead of
comparing ourselves with ourselves, we look beyond and
enlarge our horizon it will tend to correct our mis-
takes. On the level earth how small our world seems,
and relatively how great are we ! But ascend a moun-
tain, and how the scene widens ; reach the top and look
around to see on all sides ranges beyond ranges of
mountains, and the shimmering sea stretching far out,
while on the extreme verge of the horizon the rim of
heaven's vault seems to rest, and how overwhelming the
aspects of grandeur ! But what is all you see to what
you do not see ? What the vast world we occupy to

OF THE INVISIBLE.

355

the created universe ! And what is the vast creation to
the invisible and eternal, to the Infinite and Eternal
God ! There is nothing great beside Him. One
glimpse of Him and our pride must collapse, our fond
conceits disappear, and our spirits sink into the dust.

This habit luill conduce to the stren^q-th of our charac-
ter. Wrote Huxley: "The lover of moral beauty
struggling through a world of sorrows and sin is surely
as much the stronger for believing that sooner or later
a vision of perfect peace and goodness will burst upon
him as a toiler up a mountain for the belief that beyond
crag and snow]lie home and rest ;" and he added, " could
faith like this be placed upon a firm basis mankind
would cling to it as tenaciously as ever drowning sailor
did to a hencoop." The mind that has to do with the
unseen world comes in contact with the most stirring
facts, most glorious principles, and most quickening
spirits. What gave to Moses ii.j extraordinary strength
of character so that never but once in his long command
of the Israelities, though placed often in circumstances
of the most critical character, did he fail of what was
due to himself, just to his countrymen, and glorifying
to God." " He endured as seeing Him who was
invisible." What gave the apostles such power that
they made the Sanhedrim tremble? They dwelt in the
invisible ; they walked and talked with God. If you
would renew your strength wait on the Lord ; so shall
you mount up as on eagle's wings, you shall run and
not be weary, and walk and not faint.

It %viU furnish one with gadding principles in life.
'• What is really wanted," said Tyndall, " is the lifting

356

THF EXISTENCE AND INFLUENCE

power of an ideal element in human life." Because our
souls cleave unto the dust earthliness pervades our
actions. But a man who lives in the consciousness of
God's love, ever remembering that God's eye is upon
him, is anxious to please Him, makes it his chief
motive to do so, and is saved from a vast deal of trouble
in the determination of many questions in practical life.
Is it God's will? Will it stand the test of the Judg-
ment Day? Is it according to the Golden Rule ? A
number of conflicting motives whicli waste time and
fritter away energy in less elevated minds have here no
room for play. His polar-star is God's will ; his magnet
his sincere intention of conforming his life to it ; and
thus he has guidance through the pathless wilderness or
over the storm-tossed ocean. He is safe while acting
from such principles whithersoever they may carry
him.

// tvill arm with power to resist temptation, A
young man came to a certain city, strong, confident,
self-seeking. He fell into great temptation. Had he
then fallen, it was afterward his conviction, he would
probably never have risen. He was about to yield.
All barriers were seemingly giving way, when as he sat
in his room one evening he heard the murmur of voices
in the adjacent room. At length he heard distinctly,
" Deliver us from evil," and a little voice repeating
" Deliver us from evil." It was a mother leading the
devotions of her little child. For a moment, it seemed
the voice of his own mother. Back with a sudden
bound through all the intervening years went his
•thoughts and he was again at his mother's knees.

OF THE INVISI1?I,E,

357

Casting himself upon the floor he humbly and reverent-
ly repeated the prayer, heart and eye uplifted to
heaven. The hour and power of darkness had passed.
He was no longer on slippery places, but on the rock.
Is one tempted to sin in the privacy of the most private
chamber by Potiphar's shameful wife ? The thought
" Thou, God, seest me " rescues him, and exclaiming
" How can I do this great wickedness and sin against
the Lord ?" he hides himself in the sure refuge for every
sinner. " Surely," says Jeremy Taylor, " if we would
always remember that Jehovah is the Eye of the world,
ever beholding our actions, and an unweary Arm ever
uplifted to crush and smite into ruin, it would cause much
sin to cease from among us and make us more like those
who walk continually in the light before the throne."

It will sustain in the time of trial. Once when ford-
ing the Susquehannah on horseback, Mr. Astor became
so dizzy as to be about to lose his seat. Suddenly he
received a blow on his chin from his companion who
cried " Look up." He did look up and recovered his
balance. Looking on the troubled waters imperilled
his life, the blow and looking up saved it. So it is
often under God's discipline. A sudden shock comes to
our persons, or death to our friends. Looking down-
ward on self or the object of our idolatry, we are in
peril. Looking upwards, we are blessed and strength-
ened, and the trial which was intended for our good
is sanctified to our profit. We see it is the Lord ; and
as our friend has gone to heaven, we praise the Lord,
who has seen fit to lift him up over our heads, for what
is our loss is our dear friend's gain. He enjoys the cool

358

THE EXISTENCN AND INFLUENCE

arcades, the refreshing rest, and the beatific vision. Oh,
how many we have loved are yonder ! More in heaven,
aged saint, of those you have loved, than are here. As
you have sometimes looked toward the invisible world
and the dear ones within its pavilions and you have felt
them near, very near, has it not seemed as though the
things unseen, throbbing with life, trembled almost into
visibility, and the songs of the glorified almost reached
your ears ? In such halcyon experiences, did not your
sorest trial seem to be like a light affliction, and the
most protracted agony but for a moment, and that both
and all by God's amazing grace were working out for
you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ?
And is not this exactly what Paul says in the context :
*' Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory ; tvhile we look ? " You will see others down
to the brink of the dark river. But as you bid them
adieu with aching hearts, the Master will meet them
and they shall be forever with the Lord. Anticipate
all trials, go down into the dark valley of their shadow,
remain in them, and come up out of them with much
looking to the unseen world, for this is God's own
method for converting curses into blessings and calami-
ties into sources of thankfulness and joy.

Some of you are waiting near the curtain beween the
seen and the unseen ; and looking for it to be lifted.
It will be lifted and that ere long, and what are images
more or less clearly defined will burst upon your ravish-
ed vision vastly more glorious than you had ever
thought. You shall see the King in His beauty, and

OF THE INVISIBLE.

359

with that glorious morn shall once more smile those
whom you loved long since and lost awhile. Have
patience a little longer and wait all your appointed
time till your change come. And here are younger
brothers and sisters who will not grow old in the
Saviour's service here. The summons will come in the
midst of life's labours and cares, a summons which
cannot be disregarded. I^ift your eyes from the seen
and the temporal and regard the unseen and eternal.
Project yourself forward amid heaven's splendours and
glories. Study them till your soul flutters its wings as
if ready for instant flight, and while yet in the body
breathes the spirit of its future, home.

And what shall 1 say to you who are as yet insensible
to the awful realities of the future state ? What but
this, that you are setting your affections on things that
shall perish and with them too your soul. Be per-
suaded to open your eyes, or rather to ask God to open
them for you, and never rest until you have begun to
realize wonderful things out of His law. He is here
who is asking, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee ?
Be this your reply : " Lord, that I may receive my
sight." Then shall the Bible be unsealed, and your heart
renewed ; Christ will become precious, sin abominable,
holiness lovely. Till then you arc starving while bread
is within your reach ; perishing with thirst though the
brimming well is at hand ; and drowning though the
life buoy and the friendly rope are hard by your
side. In jeopardy every hour and moment, and
unaware. Who, my friend, so blind as you? Oh,
pray God to open your eyes that you may see your-

■ p

360

THE EXISTENCE AND INFLUENCE

self, your perils, your emergencies, and your only
Saviour, and find yourself in a new world, a world full
of God.

No, Mr. Leslie Stephen, people have not discovered
that heaven and hell belong to dreamland. They are
only dreaming that they dream and talking in their
sleep. There is a world of the most grand and solemn
realities around the sinner. Voices, deep and loud,
speak to him. Visions of awful majesty pass before
him. Hell flames almost at his feet. Heaven sends its
music from above. But he is fast asleep. It were well
if the German saying were true that " men are never so
near awaking as when they dream that they dream."
But I very much fear that words such as those from
the pens of accomplished scribes will tend to hush men
into profoimder slumbers, only to be broken by the
crash of doom when

" The waking soul shall feel itself

- I. ,'

In light of blading day,"

the morning of eternity, when they shall stand before
the bar of the eternal judgment and behold their king
and Judge, whose face they have never seen before till
they behold it once in .•• atb. ?nd go out from its
presence forever.

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