IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 £ la 12.0 1.4 m 1.6 W COJS'TEKTS. Biographical Sketcli (From Evangelical anr, The Power of Faith Rest on Christ The Opportunity of Salv ition A Prevalent Form of Indecision The Sin of Selfishness Justification before God The Wheat and the Tares Reconciliation What is Holiness i (continued) Christian Work, Living by Faith The Fight of Faith Farewell Words Easter Sunday What Shall I do to be Saved ?. Prayer chman). PAOR. 3 .... 11 .. 25 ... 40 ... 51 ... 63 ... 77 .. 94 .. 105 .. 191 . 133 . 150 . 155 . 163 . 168 . 174 179 194 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. all parts of the Dominion for information respecting nn„ who h„s recently accomplished so marvclious'a wofk •„ London and Toronto, we present toourreade.. thilsklh especially commend the peru,sal of these lines t.n young men, .s furnishing a bright example ZZ Z young man devoted to the Master's aertice fuH t.f T Holy Ghost and of power, can accomplish Alth . 1 I ? ber, I80O God has blessed his lal«„„ „,ore abnndantt than in the case of many who have spent a lon^Hf" „ the pulpit and the parish. This is donbtl„o , sure dne to the complete slLttS^Th """ oh fict of bi" 1-fi. M • ' "iniseit to the one ^ J- .-ni. Me^.he winning of souls to Christ V. one can be an bom. ,•«!,• '^"nst. jNq can be an hour in his company without perceiving 4 SERMONS AND BIBLE UKADINOS. that which stands out pre-eminent in his life — the single eye to tlio glory of God. Out of the abundance of a heart prepared by the Holy Spirit there is poured out the story which is ever new, and which ever soothes and delights. The face, lit u}) with a winning smile, but faintly pictures the glorious influence of the Blessed Spirit, which enlight- ens and warms the speaker, from whom, in language power- ful and persuasive, sounds forth, with apostolic power, the message which, as of old, convinces the reason, breaks the hard heart, and leads to the loving Saviour. Standing over six feet in height, with a splendid phyaiqiie, and a voice given to rivet attention, he one moment, in a manner so impressive as to command a hearing, denounces the formalist and the open sinner, and the next moment he beautifully pictures the love of God, and woos in tender accents the hearer to turn, even as he listens, to the call of the loving and so long neglected Father. He does not stoop to any of the tricks of the orator or the sensational preacher, but permeated, as it were, with the Spirit of God and with His Word he lays before his audience verse after verae with such aptness and vigour that we need not wonder at the Word thus spoken being effective. It is almost needless to add that he is a man much given to prayer. He ever earnestly appeals to those before him to bear in mind that the work is God's, and that morning, noon, and night they should diligently seek him for the pouring down of His blessing on the word spoken. Mr. Rainsford is an Irishman, bom in Dublin, where he lived until he was thirteen years of age, ;he single >f a heart the story delights. J pictures 1 enlight- ^e power- >ower, the reaks the Standing !i€, and a a manner inces the )ment he in tender the call orator or Bre, with lefore his id vigour :en being is a man ppeals to is God's, liligently ig on the bom in rs of age, BIOORAPHrOAL RKETPH. 5 when ho wont c.vor to England. Ffis fatl.or, tl.o Rev Marcus Rainsford, is tho incu.nbor.fc of a ol.apol of oaso in Halkott Street. Belgravo S(,uare. London. Tho son wa.s «ent to school at Wellington, Shropshiro. whoro ho re- mained but a year, when he was sont to tho C.\)ntinont in order to recruit his health, which had givon way Aftor an absence of two years he rotumod to Lon.lon Becoming interested in tho emigration movomont ho Identified himself with it. an« ^^^ ru save me. Then comes my textr-"And immed! ate y Jesus stretched forth His hand and caught hTmi'd -.d unto him, - Oh thou of little faith, wherefore ;,l! thou doubt ? ' " Was nof H>ot . • ""'^re'ofe clidst come? IT "^^' ""* ™* a ™"o"3 way for Christ to Zl and ; "T' V "'"• "^-'o™- « mantle about H.m and comes to H,s disciples in its midst. And dear »ds, I don. think that Christ has yet stopped coml^ ar Zv t r T """ ■"•" '"""y-I '™«*ther: are many to-mght_who can thank God f„r th, 4orm 12 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. that brought Jesus to them in its mid.t. Once the soul knows the sweet presence of Christ it blesses God for the storm or for the calm. The truth of the matter is just this, that some of us won't receive Christ in any other tashion. He let us have calm long enough ; He let the current of our lives .a^s on without a ripple ; things went smoothly ; friends seemed true, and earth was but a scene of pleasure. But there wa^ no Christ there; He had spoken ; He waited ;~the asking, the speaking, the wait- ing, had been in vain, and Christ was not yet received, so He came in the storm. I think God ha.s been coming to some of you lately like that. You cannot exactly tell the reason, but there has been a strange feeling of in- quietude in your hearts ; your rest has not been so undis- turbed, your nights have not been so good as they used to be Why is that ? Ah ! brother, sister, take heed that ne who IS approaching your little boat in the storm be not permitted unsolicited to pass by. Now, will you look at Peter's question. "Lord, if it DC mou. It was a queer question to put. Of course he knew It was the Lord. Do you think if this superstitious Galilean had thought it was a ghost he would have put any such question ? He knew it was the Lord, but his knowledge had a little out-run his feeling He did not quite feel it wa. the Lord, and it makes me think there are a great many in the same fix. Why, a good lady came to me to speak to me the other night, and I think before teel .uuux, rnirty times. I said, " Stop, not so fa^t," "GS. Once the soul sses God for the B matter is just st in any other igh ; He let the e ; things went ;v^as but a scene there; He had king, the wait- '^et received, so )een coming to 3t exactly tell feeling of in- been so undis- i as they used bake heed that I the storm be "Lord, if it Of course he superstitious uld have put Lord, but his He did not 3 think there 3d lady came think before ed the word not so fast," I THE POWER OF FAITH. 13 and explained to her that the word was not used in the abk except once where it is said, "Jesus can be touched w. h he feehng of our infirmities." Just as it was with feter .t ,s with us-the least awakening desire to get nearer and cbser-if I may say to con/to closer te^s with H.m who not unknown, still stands in the midst of the storm that has awakened the soul from its lethargy- the lea^t desire is from God. If there is some poor foul to-night that has not got farther than Peter, brother I would oheer you, you have not got pa^t the fisherman's ques ion-"If it be Jesus." "If it is true." If the message .snot too good; if "the salvation is not too greatjlf hese hings are so-if it is so, Lorf, I want to inow it come to Thee on the water." Are not some of us like that ? Blessed be God for all such. The vision of Chri,t hope to thase poor sinners. Yes, He will come; you ^ ready to receive Him. ^ May 1 try for a moment to paint the scene :_Peter looks rr T\ ""' '''^ *"'' '^ "f Christ sto^i on the liquid ,»thway of the se^ He gets up from Z ^:r 7, : "" '^''" ™^' heLes'up to 1 gunwale and looks over, and says, " Lord, if it te Thou M me come to Thee on the wator." Above the Jto™ h^re«,meba<=k the accents of Jesus calHng. " Petor.t^ JotheiTth; tT\TJr.^'' Z-^— him nZ . iu °*^"'' *° ^°°^ about h'm. He sees the waves ; he didn't know how high they 14 SERMONS AND BIBLE BEADINOS. were before. He heam the wind whistle by ; he n^ver thought .t wa« so rough. 1 have sometimes thought that perhaps Peter now wished himself well out of the trans- action^ He would say to himself, " It was rather a foolish thing for me to say that, now." There waa no stopping, for the voice of Christ comes in command-" Come " So Feter gets to the edge of the boat, there I see him-he lets himself down-not a jump, not a rush, fori can see the man letting himself down, his back towards the boat, and his fa^e towards Christ. There, he gets down, down, and then he comes to the point where a man eamiot hold any longer. That is just the point men come to, when it won't do to go back, and they don't want to go forward Thev are tossed hither and thither. There is something bids them go forward, other influences hold them back The voice of Christ comes, calling: so he ha« to go forward. Hejustputsoutonefoot. It touches the »avea ; itis thefoot ot faith, the wave is solid, he is walking on the wat«r to go to Jesus ! Ah, dear friends that is what we long to do-we would give anything to be able to help you on that path. Well can we look back, and remember how it ha« been with ourselves. One man cannot go through that for another. Each one has got to come down-that is it-down, r I can see the 8 the boat, and wn, down, and -nnot hold any when it won't nvard. They omething bids m back. The o go forward. i; it is the foot iie water to go ng to do — we on that path, has been with t for another, -down, cUnvn d withyour- '^e the billows never vexed 70U have got ip of " self" oe's own ex- THE POWER OF FAITH. 15 Zt^l "^rf '"" ''*^"^*^^«' no man Who speaks he truth would be found to say it is easy work. \t is just hke an emigrant : he goes out from his house he gets «;'^ ^'" -^^* --^^' ^^^ ^-; of Th! bXhh/"'.r;^ the screw goes round, and inch .ft fui T ^ r' '' '" ^^^^^ ^"-' - *^^ «hore, get further off He looks towards the west, and beyond Its honzon there rises up to him a land of hope, new ex- T^St^^'T-'''''^''' -^^^ purpose o/hearthe sets h,s face towards it, but it is none the less sad; the eMn^ A d tT ""' ^'"'' '^^^^'^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^- ^ef turn . . "'"' '^ ' "" *" ^^ '^^'"^^ I have got to turn my back on everything that would drag do^ my soul I have got to turn my back on everything that a nght hand or precious as a right eye, may God cut off the haiid and pluck out the eye, rather than let me lose on account of my eye or my hand, my immortality in' heaven. That is it. All we can do, God knows we wa^t come. Therefore, all we can say is summed up in this • brethren, hear the voice of Christ, and come down. Thou- sands are coming; the rich are coming : tn. poor coming; the w,se coming; the simple coming. I have seen men and women m every station of life coming out of the Ship. Sometimes it wa« a gilded ship, beautiful but vain Sometimes It wa^ a battered ship, for the storms of sin-' ful passion had weU-nigh already wrecked it. Sometimes It wa^ a wreck. It is not easy for any man to come down 16 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. What a sweet thought it is to-night as I sta^d to ad- dress you-that there are men whom I now speak to, who a. I apeak are speaking to God, and saying, " Ah Jesus, I want to come ; If at be Thou, bid me, even me, come to Thee on the water." And Jesus says " Come." From EngW commg, from Europe coming, from America com- ing ! from the .slands of the sea coming - Africa and India, Chma, aU coming! Yes, thank Go.^ there is but one cry They meet the Lord, and I never heard the voice of dis- ^pomtment ri* from them. Ah. no, friends, they aU »y, It'stte Lord, and we are glad we came," If you find me out a man in Toronto who will tell me that five years ago he came to Christ, and for one minute of those fiv. years smce then he has been sorry he ever came-one mrnute out of the five year« been sony he ever came, he IS the first man I ever heard of who has said that. Oh brethren, hsten to God's voice. He spoke to you h«t week, he spoke to you laat night, and once agran he speaks You may as weU come, for, friend, the old ship wiU go down underneath you, at last, if you do not. I ha^ ^metimes thought that may have had something to do Zt f T'"^ '^°^- ^'- P*''"'I«' thought when he saw the violence of the storm, " The best thL; I can do IS to get as near to Jesus of Nazareth a« I nmy I thmk that may have a great deal to do with a gr^t many's commg. I know it had with mine. I was sTsad, misL mmg; coming I stand to ad- speak to, who " Ah Jesus, I 1 me, come to 'ome." From A.merica com- ica and India, I but one cry ! voice of dis- snds, they all me." If you me that five ute of those r came — one ver came, he i that. Oh, to you last tn he speaks, ship will go ot. I have jthing to do )ught, when thing I can I I may. I reat many's sad, miser- THE POWER OF FAITH. j^ able, sick at heart, that I said - I will .n , t -e if He cannot make me bette'r." ' '" ''""^' ^'^^ found ,n H,™ a resti„g.pl,ee, and He has madL „,o glad " So you will say, if, hearing his voice to rnVhf find them within c^, ,""' ^"'""^' y°" ^i" "ot the hard heart worn IV" T" ""'"■ "'"' ^"" '"'^ m aero, wh J^^f ^rorS'l '" ' """ ^^^ " were, deep water w,^. v ^ "^ '^''™- "^ it storms of Lit and . "" ' '''"' ^"«P* t-^' the they are tdlJ^C;: Ah' -nr^f '"^^ ^''-'^ not find any reaaons iHj past Jfe fl "'""" ' ''"'" Within I see mv m,* .,vu ^ """""^ ^^ Ch™t. fears • I seTthe ^r ,'*" ''"'' "•''""^»' ''""''te and low me 1 I ZJ "r f : "'""^ "'^ ""^^ ^ -bl- ooming to^hi^Xtr-i'to'" "'" ;--'»"^ ^- Wds you, that is why ^T L. "T' ^""'^ ^""^ your Creator bids yo^ Altrt"^ T' ^"""^^ that n J I ■ ' yo" oould see, brother that God has got your happiness at heart ■ that Go7h u your joy as dear as His own ■ tUi rS T ''''' iite a beautiful flower bloZ™ , ^'^*^ *" '^<'y«» immortal glory andn„t „ T^ ""'^"'^ *^ ^^^ "^ His S^"iy, ana not a crushed and sin —^--^ n • o"ly a leprous spot to be cut out of God': unirr^ ^"^^^ B ' 18 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. do think God loves you, each one, and listen to Hira as He says, " Come, Come, COME." Now I must fia.y another word. I want to try and fol- low you, each one, up to-night. I want to do it just as personally as if I could go and lay my hand on the shoul- der of each one here, and follow out his difficulty. You say to-night— you actually say this—" I want to come to Christ, sir, but I cannot. I want to come to Christ, but I have not strength." Is not that it, dear young man ? Haven't you thought that thought since you came into the church ?— " I want to come to Christ, but I can't ; I have tried, but I cannot." Oh, friends, you will not call me your enemy because I tell you the truth. Satan has deceived you ; it is not true. Just as truly as the cross of Christ gives you your right to come, just as truly has the Spirit of God come to give you power. Don't you see the terrible accusation you bring against your God ? God bids you come ; God commands you to come. God tells me my only hope is to come ; and God does not give me the power. Oh, that mortal man should so give the lie to his God. I tell you, think of it. ShaU I speak strong words— for this is a strong truth, and needs to be put strongly. What does it mean ?— what does it come to ? It comes to this. I, a poor mortal, the thing of a day, the creature of an hour, am bid by the Almighty God to accept God's salvation on pain of eternal banish- ment from Him. I am bid not to neglect God's salvation on pain of eternal banishment from God. I have neglected it, but God has not given me power to accept it, and He ben to Him as try and fol- ► do it just as on the shoui- ficulty. You nt to come to to Christ, but young man ? ou came into mt I can't ; I will not call . Satan has T as the cross i as truly has Don't you it your God ? come. God ioes not give 1 so give the ball I speak I needs to be does it come B thing of a le Almighty mal banish- i's salvation ve neglected t it, and He THE POWER op FAITH. 19 L 1' againstGod. If that was tn.'e T \ '' ^■™ ^"^'^'^ this statement a.s .1^^'^^^"'" ^"'^'" "^ "■"'''' God. and I would snendTh > * ^''-^ ^''^''^ »<> ^ Ha« given n.e to Ife 1 itrf^'';^ "'-^^ «od of heaven and earth and ^ ' "*" *'*^' " ^'<^ God come and bow at t'; .iTnd " "" ""^ '^ ^ ^'<^ -' could not be saved 1 Z::!^^'^' '?"' "'^''«°". ^ ^ye n.e strength U.^Z^l^ Z'''2V'\''' ""' ■t is Your fault." I assek to ^^ . '^ *"" '«'• '^''d that, I would burn „Xe ft, 7'""^' '' ' '""^^^^ '- Oon'tdaretosayGodhi:;'" "''"•«''-"3 come, for He has. (Oh speak O r / T ^'"' P"'^^"' ^^ ™en.) He is here, He i's p e^^ ""h '"" '=°--- *ese wi", let Mm take of the VZ\, S^l "' ^'r^' I wonder you degrade yourself in J 7v- ' °''' "'"'' -M„es, or theUts'har fe.'°^r ;"^«^f ^ *"- bows over you a«d beckons vnn . ""^ "^ 'o^« - that blind your .r^Zl^Z uZ't T" " ''« and looked at the water mi T^ *■""" •^«™''. He sank. Now, like TLT^tj'^. '\ -"-O-nce ?' --. -meofusk;owwer:re;:4i-i» 20 MONS AND BIBl.r READINGS. and have sunk un / ,. wa^ . Let me speak* word to you now. Will you follow me, if possible, with your whole attention, for a moment ? He made a mistake, and he knew it, and he corrected it. What did he do ? He did not wait until the water had got up to his ankles, to his knees, to his waist, his shoulders, his chin, but the moment he began to sink, right lustily he cried, " Lord, save me." He didn't go and say, " I haven't strength to cry." He did not say, " In the midst of the storm Jesus won't hear me." He cried, and Jesus saved him immediately. Ah, ' Jove^ will y9u take a leaf out of the Apostle's book to- night '. Some of you are beginning to sink in unbelief. You a.o beginning to sink in doubt, brother, cry. You are beginning to sink in trouble, sister, cry. You are be- ginning to sink in fear — oh, cry, backslider. Some of you are not beginning to sink, you are sunk — deep, it may be up to the very chin ; the waters of death seem almost to lap over, and choke the very soul. Cry, cry, cry. It is not too late. Jesua will do with you what He did with Peter. Ah, but I hear one say, " We don't want that sort of thing." There are some people who, when they see a man beginning to be anxious about his soul, cry out " Methodist." I tell you if a man sees he is lost he will be excited. I wish you could have been with me in New York, and have seen ''*ie banking men yelling like born fiends on the ExchaLg* , ' yx)vh a few dollars ; but when it comes to be a quest' j a c Cm: salvation of an immortal soul, oh dear me, I havo go to blush, and talk low, and smooth the thing ; that is the proper thing to do. Oh, 3. I word to you h your whole Htake, and he do ? He did ankles, to his t the moment )rd, save me." to cry." He us won't hear diately. Ah, tie's book to- k in unbelief, er, cry. You You are be- Some of you ep, it may be em almost to y, cry. It is He did with ant that sort m they see a oul, cry out st he will be me in New Qg like bom :^ ; but when an immortal alk low, and to do. Oh, THE POWER OF FAITH. 21 Chri'st r.h^ """' '' "^ "•^' '''''' '' - - -n-«. down tl :T' '"' ^'^ '^"^ '' ^-^ '^^ «^-tched the ebck mark sixty ..eonus more, but now, across the Let m r "^ "^ '^'"'^" ^^" ^^"^ ^«^' -^ ^ Him. Let Hun hear y ur voice ! Cry, and God will hear you » Ah blessed be God that He has allowed n.e, a youn. man to stand up and pronounce this truth in Toronto i st""" P T ""^"^— '^-"^ eaught him. He did not say Peter, you ungrateful fellow, what right had diutely Jesus caught him. I love that picture-" Jesus caught h.r„." Not. if I may say. with the calm, majl d.^.ty of the God. but with the quick impetuosity of th Chnst .s not changed. As truly He remains the same .., <*nay. to-d.,. and for ever; so to-night will the hand i ' ". . ,t close upon you if you cry to Him abour^l' T- ''"1 ^"'' * """"'°' "P™ y"»-- '■'"■^« idea about salvation^ I want you to see it was Christ caught Peter, and not Peter caught Christ. I want you to see if vlu and*" '; ^""^ 'r'^""' " '^ ^<='''""-- O''"^* etches you. and not you catch Him. I remember hearing a short t.me ago of a poor fellow who fell overboa.J from . ship The sea swanned with sharks ; the captain, who perceived 22 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. Ill 'ii I his fall, with presence of mind threw a rope to him, which he succeeded in catching with one hand. If any one here has ever been overboard from a yacht, he will know what a terrible strain there is on a man's hand under such cir- cumstances; it is a fearful strain. This poor fellow grasped the rope with one hand, and they just pulled him out, and when they got him on the deck they found he had grasped the rope so firmly that the very strands of it had eaten into his hand. This is a true symbol of the Idea some of you have of salvation. You are struggling m the sea of life, near you is the shark of death and the devil. You think, " If I hold on tight enough there is no telling but that I may be saved in the end." Ah, I would not have come all the way from London to Toronto to tell you of a salvation whereby you "might be saved in the end. A httle girl, belonging to a dear friend of mine in London, had got it better. Her father came into my father's drawing-room one afternoon, and said, « I cannot tell you anything till I tell you about my little girls " The two had been to Sunday-school in the afternoon, and they had heard the lesson taught by the teacher of the Oood Shepherd, who gathereth the lambs with His arms and folds them in His bosom. He overheard these two httle women talking about the lesson, and one said, "Isn't It a very nice thing to know that Jesus lets us take Hia hand, and then leads us. We hold Him by the hand, and He leads us all through life." The other little woman did not say anything for a minute, then she a.sked « What would vou do if ft devil came to chop or cut your hand THE POWER OF FAITH. to him, which f any one here 11 know what ider such cir- poor fellow 3t pulled him hey found he strands of it rmbol of the re struggling eath and the h there is no Ah, I would )ronto to tell saved in the i of mine in lie into my 1, " I cannot little girls." iemoon, and cher of the 'h His arms i these two said, "Isn't IS take Hia ! hand, and woman did ed. " What your hand 23 off . The other little one wa^ entirely non-plussed. At ^t she said, « What was it that our teacher said to-day ? l^idnt he say Jesus gathered the lambs in His arms, and holds themm His bosom? Now, if instead of my holding Jesus hand Jesus holds me in His arms, no devil can cut His arms oT' Ah, blessed be God I Be it lisped by babe o thundered by apostle, it is the eternal truth of the eternal God. It is not that I hold Christ, but that Christ holds me. Ah, it was the hand of Jesus closed on the drownmg fishermen that night. If I am here to-night as a saved maii, His shall be the gloiy ! There is naught between my soul and hell to-night, but the hand of Christ. No Chnstian wants anything else. If He lets go we sink If He lets us drop we die. If He leaves us but an instant we shall be gone~but the hand of Christ holds us saf e~ He holds us safe, safe, SAFE, for "immediately Jesus Tkf o r. J 1"'^ '"" *'" congregation to-night, and I know that the hand of God Himself hovers over each r t ^^^ ^'''''^ ^^"' *'^"^^^' I ^^'^'^^ know your doubts or difficulties, I know not your fears nor yourLs, but I know the hand of Christ can hold you safe. Do you think If somebody had questioned Peter at that time he would have been at a loss to explain what saved him? Maybe, Peter, it wa^ you held Christ." «' I don't believe anything about that." "May be, Peter, it was you who clutched Christ ?" I don t read anything about that. I read it wa^ Christ who caught him. Ah, the Lord Jesus does not walk over the stormy seas 24 SERMONS AND BIBI,E READINGS. Of time with poor sinners clinging, as it were, to the skirts tL!" ^TT- '' " "^ '^' ""'-^ ^" ""^^^ H«= ^rs them on H.s breast, not clinging to His garmente, to be wa.W off by the cruel waves of this world. No; under! thl "' """'"'' **""'' """^ ""^ '^'"^ *=*" '»•«*'' 'h^-gh thmk of the value of the soul ; think of the readiness of the Saviour ; think of the immediateness of the salvation and ask youi^elf the question, " Am I saved ?" Are we saved? Are we saved? ^"e we What good is this mission work if we are not saved » It IS but a mill-stone hung round our necks to sink us deeper into condemnation. It will be said of us " These had power and opportunity to be saved, but they did not want to be saved, and so were lost." My time is gone ; I close with an incident that came withm my own experience. Some time ago, on a wild night off the coa^t of Cornwall, a ship struck the sand far away from any town. There wa, no life boat near It wa.s an awful night. Anybody who has seen the seas run on the west coa^t of England knows what they are There "'as no life-boat near, but there was a pilot-boat, and brave fellows pushed out and went to the rescue. Thev forced her on with their .strong arms against wind and wave until they got under the lee of the perishing ship and then with all their might they held her there, while man after man was lowered from the deck. At last they were almost all gone ; they were all gone except one >, to the skirts d. He bears rments, to be No; under- reak through of the ship ; readiness of he salvation, ?" Are we not saved ? 5 to sink us us, " These hey did not > that came on a wild fie sand, far t near. It he seas run are. There' -boat, and ue. They wind and ihing ship, lere, while At last sxcept one REST ON CHRIST. 25 brave, fine young fellow, who had been working to save ^n the others~a splendid man-and a wave rolled in rom the west, hit the ship and made her heel over, caught the hfe-boat and hurled it a hundred feet back, and a grea abyss yawned between the ship and the boat. As the boat canted back, an old man, with his grey hair streammg from his face, said, " Oh, captain, that is my boy save h.m:" Strong arms sought to force the boat bL to' her place agam, ^,ut they dare not, for they saw a mighty wave hftmg up .ts might enormous to crush them The young man turned, and, gathering up all his force, right n he teeth of the tempest, his voice rang in answer to his came. Never mmd, father, thank God I am saved" of Its God. That IS what a man can say-that is the For immediately Jesus caught him," caught him, Lght hnn ; and that same Jesus will catch you. God bless you • C^odhelpryou to-night to come down out of the ship and :::::, ^ ^^^ -^- «^ ^^^ ^ovmg one who saith " c REST ON CHRIST. i^ynTr T""^ ''™" *°"''^'^ " -='<>- the so- ZnZ ^r ""■"" ^'"""- I ■'''- thought I Scrintoe r"""^"" t"-n'gl.t from any set portion of scripture. I hope you won't think me egotistical if J S6 SERMONS AND BIBLE BEADINOS. tiy to put before you my own grounds for saying, I know you^ ^ r "T """' ' "" """^ ■""- ^°-»"y t» ZheL 7 ""'"« ■"*" *° P'"^^ the Gospel who as saved) sends us not men,ly a« heralds of the taUh we beWe but a, witnesses to the truth which we have received, and therefore, if a man cannot stand as a wrtne s of the truth he proclaims, his truth will be inef- feoual, and he himself will be found faulty before God. and witnesses. To come at once to the point, I suppose STn Id ' "?r^ *'"* ' ''"°" ''"'' ^y -« - fo- given, and myself saved, because I believe on Jesus. Yes, you say, "but what do you mean by believing on Jesus Chnst ? I We striven, waited, hoped, agon .zed and yet I cannot say I am forgiven." May I preface «hat I have got to say to you to-night by askL^u to -ember one thing .-and I think it Lurs to y^ Ta Zur" : r. '' 'r *^ """^' yo" -" «-1 i' 'he™ at a future day. There, I have written down in my Bible i" Zt'^r^ ' S '""''" *^^ "^ ^-^-^^^ '^^'^ *-«- gxn witn 1. There is one, "Try" Ther^ i« *K^ the first, but let us keep it in its right pW, and let us have plenty of the second all the time, and we shall b 1-3 ^„u „«,^ pa^ tiy belore "trust." s. *ying» I know appeals most e forcibly to ds, because I ch the Gospel is everybody eralds of the ith which we ot stand as a will be inef- before God. be ministers at, I suppose words of the sins are for- 3 on Jesus. y believing loped, agon- ay I preface king you to irs to your ind it there n my Bible ey both be- ere is the plenty of and let us ^e shall be re "trust." REST ON CHRIST. 27 Wb'T,^' '"^"'^''^^^ *^« struggle amiss-thou let 1 tr ^'T^' '' *'^ ^'^^^ -^- I* - - -e ; W ir ; r ''"' ""' ^^""^ ''' --f-^ -til you have begun to trust. Alter the order-put " trust " Lt manval y'Z' '"^ '^^'' "^" ^^'^'^ successfully Yes thTlr. '' '"' '""^^'^ ^^-^ ^«^^-«^ y- -rely Itles nol' «-t thing that believing in Christ means. It does not mean nry" but it does mean « trusV I hTd'Hv!dT '' ' "'' "^"* "^ '^^ ^"«^-<^' ^t^r they had hved for some year, together, and said, "I am ITy^r^! """ ' ^"'^ "^^^' ^^^""«^ ^«^ -11 *h-e years I eve 'bJ t "' "^^-d««bt« on the question than the h! r . ^"' " "^ ^^"^ ^ ^^- *1^« I^-d Jesus, teat br^^^^ ^"^ ^" *"^*' ^^^-- ^ «--■* ness. Beloved fnends, look at another verse for a moment It. something which gives me righteousness. " *o.d I utter, please, because I want you to catch the grave meaning of the passage (I John v. 10) • He tW beheveth on the Son of God hath the witnes! in hl^^jS) t God has par- me put ic to >^our country's eil, he is par- you meet that d say, " There y : he got off, rhe man v/ent remaining on it with us. I ot something ent I deserve, he poor, lost until it sees hers kiss yet , the sandals, igain ; peace, iher that this 's salvation, ve you, take 1 will make u?" Don't J righteous- r a moment. 5. (Turn- nark every ) catch the "He that m xiimself ; REST ON CHRIST. 33 he ihat beheveth not God hath made Him a liar, because he beheveth not the record that God gave of His Son" If a man does not believe God he makes Him-what ? A har, because he believes not the record that God gave of His Son How does man make God a liar ? By not be- rT w "' ^' '^'' ^^^" "^'^^ «-• Wiiat is the record^what is it ? The next verse tells us : " And this IS the rocord, that God hath given to us" eternal life and this hfe IS in His Son." What is the record? This- eternal life. And the man that does not believe that makes God a what? Makes God a liar! I say again, God IS not content simply to pardon sin, but He gives a man hfe. Blessed be His name I life coterminous with ^V '^a . f '" '"'^'' ^''^ "^^ '^' ^^^ '^^' does not ^r^tZT'^Z' '''''■ ^-^-^ you another verse. ^ Even the nghteousness of God without the law IS manuested, being witnessed by the law and the pro- ' phets. .Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto aU and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference " (Romans iii. 21, 22) Please notice this-" even the righteousness of God" God does not simply offer me pardon, give me life; God gives me the best robe, a robe not woven in an earthly loom. No--even the righteousness of God-the « right- eousness of God which is by faith." How is it given ? So simply. By faith-by faith in Jesus Christ. Here is the way to get it. Unto how many is it offered ? Unto all. i^verybodymayhaveitthenj Yes, in God's name ; I-/ .aiii 84 sek:*ions and bible readings. every sinner, I trust, to-night. Surely if it is offered to all a 1 will have it. No, it is upon those that believe. What keeps a man back from having this best robe-this righteousness of God? One thing-his sin ?-his past We ? No. His present wickedness ? No. Oh ' hear It, heaven and earth : nothing keeps a man back but his daring to tell God He does not tell truth-his unbelief Now, to believe on Jesus Christ, my dear friends-I want to be simple-is to believe what Gud has done with sin to believe the gift of God's righteousness which is offered' and to believe that God offers us life in Christ Sin' nghteousness, life-is it not beautiful ? Ah, what can I lack then ? Sin pardoned, righteousness mine, and life -the life of God mine-that is what it is to believe in Christ. Let me pass on to the third part; and here comes the diftculty. There are some to-night who would be willing to believe all that, and yet not be saved. They would like to know their sins were pardoned, they would like to know that they had got righteousness, and that God had also given them the gift of life, and yet they are not saved. Why ? Because Christ, who comes to them is a personal Saviour, and offers to them the gift of Himself- that is the reason. It is because they don't want to take' the giver, though they do want to take the gift. Oh the awful meanness of the thought ! They want to get the 'gift and yet they refuse the giver. It won't do. The salva- tion I speak of to-night is brought by a personal Saviour —a Saviour who hates sin. A man can go on living in I s. t is offered to ) that believe. )est robe — this in ? — his past 0. Oh ! hear back but his -his unbelief, ends — I want one with sin, lich is offered, Christ. Sin, , what can I line, and life bo believe in 'e comes the lid be willing They would tvould like to lat God had hey are not them, is a of Himself; i^ant to take ft. Oh, the get the gift, The salva- nal Saviour REST ON CHRIST 35 n 1 living m M f " ™yi"g. c«n I have life for believing „n Chri.t ^ C»n will frr^ ar^A ± ii J ^^ nnished it ud I sr.^^:i:,rr:iir^^^^ house won't appear so dull wh Hfc "' !, 'T' " "" the dregs. That is the way me" lose thl T"' T^'P' friends, tell you that won' d? iod off 7 ' '""^'' xonal salvation. He sav! ■■ T„. T^r 7 ^ ^"^ " ^'- sin. trust Him who ofc ri Jht "'° '" '""■'^""«'' gives life. Trust Me "I ^^7"^- '™^' ^^ ->>» fanatical enough to think th- T '""^ '* '« "^ »^e will save a ral. ToT^ZZ"'' IT'"' "" " "'««" deg«.ding supe.tition^M7brete: U "T '^'^'' "' church and saying. -I bewt g;^^^"'*'^ mighty Makprof ).«o i ' ® ^^ather Al- t^^^y, maKer ot heaven and earth " thaf r^iu - one of my fSl^rj:: tl T^" ^^^ ' ini^you can." G^ si; ^^^ ^:X: tj'"' 'f^r^ «r^^ Haven't you ha^ eno^'of thl 'Z Z\T"l Haven t you gone on long enough? Take uT. own Savinni. " cj ^ ° ^® ^® as your he^fs—e onX rvetVidT ~^ ""^ "ho con.e.s and sits by me. cook my brow, and pi me 36 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. ,|il i through. I am on the very point of death, and this fel- low just saves my life. I wake up at last from uncon- sciousness—wake up with the beginning of new life. Weeks pass by, he keeps me from relapse, looks after me amuses me, and takes care of me. IgetweU. I can work again, and look forward to it with joy. Some of you come to see me, and you say, " What good medicine it was pulled you through." I am sure the medicine was very good, but I feel more for the man. I say, " Don't talk to me about the medicine. It was the man who pulled me through. I believe in the medicine, but I do love the man. I love him : he saved my life." And cannot you say that to Jesus ? Yes, we believe in the glorious Gospel ; thanks be to His name, we are willing to live and die for it, but we do love Him who gave it birth. We believe in the salvation, and ask for strength to proclaim it, but we do rejoice in the Saviour. Now, may I say one word in conclusion. I know what is troubling some of you. God has spoken to you lately, and there is just one great question which, like a cloud,' has cast its dark shadow into the future. You say, « It is all well enough, but I am afraid just as soon as these meetings stop, and Mr, Rainsford goes away, I shall never be able to live up to it." Isn't that about it ? Ah, poor soul, that is the way we all were once, but blessed be God ! A dear fellow said to me the other night, " I felt at first I could not do without you : I think now I can » I said, « That was the best thing I have heard for a long time." I tell you, when a soul sees the. Saviour it doos ij! 3. and this fel- from uncon- of new life. >oks after me, . I can work Some of you edicine it was ne was very Don't talk to 10 pulled me do love the cannot you rious Gospel ; e and die for Ve believe in m it, but we [ know what ) you lately, ike a cloud, ou say, " It on as these [ shall never ? Ah, poor I blessed be ?ht, « I felt low I can." i for a long our it does REST ON CHRIST. 37 I am^.f ZT'^f'^' "'^'^ *'^* ^^^* ^**^r^d H- name. I am thankful to be the voice, but God knows I want you to rely on the Saviour. I cannot help thinking you are very illogical. Pardon me dl use an illustration which may provoke a smile • I wan tobnng the thing to you from a grave, practice pomt of view May I suppose that I have got a little child here this evening, who, though only six^weeks S can understand what I have got to say. " Oh, if you are want to think very carefully whether you will be able to much to be gone through, so many difficulties to be met Tho set ^ 1 """""' '""^ ^'"' '^ '' ^^"^^ b^ broken. Tha bTl r^' '^' ^''" '^ ""^ "^^^^ b^-^ them. That breath of yours-that heart of yours, let it stop beatmgfor one minute and you are gone. Then there are^diseases-wait, and I will give a list as long as my arm. Then you are so constituted that you require food Z^ tTrT V "'" ^'^P '^^^"^ ^-^ ^-*^ you will .7\ t\ . . '^"^ understand the child's saying, "I hmk I had better die at once ; I am sure I couH n ve ive up to It." Pardon me, I do want you to grasp Z truth of God. God takes care of the physicalTf^^ and He can keep the spiritual life of which He is part. Vhv does th.s hand of mine not wear out ? If it were of s Jl has got life. Why is it I don't think nf h^^^ t „u„n , my breath in ten minutes . m^.u;Z:t;t!Z 38 bERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. ! Ill I ten minutes ahead of time I should be always in a state of semi-asphyxia. Brethren, brethren, brethren, you can- not borrow to-morrow's grace, then why borrow to- morrow's care ? Jesus, a personal Saviour, will be by thy side. Yes, though fever oppress thee, and sleep leave thee, it is very sweet— sweet to wake in the night, and even then to catch sight of the outlines of Him who has brought us to this point with His blood— His blood-His blood. He will carry y(m through— carry you through, young man. Jh, brethren, brethren, do trust in Christ,' and do cut out of your vocabulary for ever the words " I cannot live up to it." No, you cannot, but have you not a personal Saviour ?— and having a personal Saviour you cannot fail. And now I close by reading to you the last veree of the third chapter of St. John's Gospel :— " He that beUeveth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see Hfe, but the wrath of God abideth in him." Oh God, that verse just divides us to-night. On which side do you find yourself? "He that believeth on the Son,"— believes what God has done about sin— believes what he has done about righteousness— believes what He has done about life ; he that looks away from the medi- cine and looks to the physician— hath— he that believeth hath everlasting life— hath, hath, hath everlasting life. And he that in spite of God's offer believes not God's messenger— he that believes not shall not, a thousand REST ON CHRIST. 39 t verse of the years hence-shall not an eternity hence-shall not see ife. The life of God he shall never see. Ah, dear friends that divides us, does that verse ; and I put it to you this way: I draw a great line to-night, and I ask you on which side do you place yourself? Are you vacillating ? —neither on one side nor the other ? " He that believeth hath "—" He that believeth not shall not see." I will put my name there, William Rainsf ord. " He that believeth hath everlasting life." There is room for your name there too. Write it down, child of God, and ask Jesus to look at It. But who will put his name on the other column— " He that believeth not ? " Put your name there ; be honest. He shall not see, slmll not see, shall not see 'life. I was wounded and weary, when my Saviour came unto me, For the ways f sin grew dreary, and the world had ceased to woo me, And I thought I heard Him saying as He came along His way, Sinful soul, ah, do come near Me, My sheep need never fear Me. I am the Shepherd true. At first I would not hearken, and put off till to-morrow. But life began to darken, and I was sick with sorrow, And I thought I heard Him saying as He came along' His way. Ah, sinful soul, come near Me, My sheep need never fear Me, I am the Shepherd true. He took me on His shoulder, and tenderly He kissed me. He bade my love grow bolder, and said that He had missed me, And I thought I heard Him saying as He came along His way, Ah, wanderer, come near Me, My sheep need never fear Me I am the Shepherd true. 40 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. Butif f r. iT ""'"^^ "'"'''"' ^ "^^'^ •^"^ «>^'« He knew m,, But .t bumeth hke a beacon, and its heat and light go through me And I never hear Hun saying, as He comes along His way Ah, wanderers, come near Me, My sheep need never fear Me, I am the Shepherd true. Let us whisper His name and He will save us. i THE OPPORTUNITY OF SALVATION. Wh»t shall 1 do toLe saved?" is an hour he never never forgets, tnends. Is it an hour when a man feek I^e IS a smne- ■ Oh " vou s»v " T 1,.,,^ t u t ""."<''« rrfro„" ' "1. you say, I have felt I am a sinner onen . a., very glad to hear it, but you must aUow mght I dont say you do not believe you are a simier but there is a great difference between saying, " I Meve' I ««■ a sinner," and " I feel I am a sinner," f knowril be burnt; Ibeheveitwould bnrti; but that is a very different thmg to putting my finger into the flame aad feeling it bum. Just the same difference as betwtTn knowmg, as a truth that has never affected my life, that I am a sinner-saying it because everybody says it and feehng the burden of sin. And now, I addL'you eS one to-night, and before I go a step further, I want to ) He knew m^, ;o through me, 8 way, Shepherd true, U9. ON. ) question, • he never, <■ tarn feels m a sinner nust allow stances to- e a sinner, '* I believe :now right ■e it would is a very Same and hetween life, that rs it, and you each want to THE OPPOBTOTITY OP SALVATION. 41 eve^ heart-have you ever felt yourself lost ? " When He has c^me,' says the apostle of the Holy Spirit, " He will convince the worid of sin and of righteousness " Oh my dear brethren, God's fi„t dealing L got toL ^'h you to convince you of sin. Let that hour pass as quickly 2 't may It must come, for until you feel the we^ht of sin, you wil never care to ask the Burden-bearer to stop by your soul and relieve you of the burden that is crush mg you down to the pit. Do you know, my dear friends I do not want to preach a sermon to you to-night, but I quesZ o1'' n" ^"^ ^""^ P'"" "^'"^ '*>-' *»- question of sin. Do you know what I am convinced is iTth ir"'* ''"' ^ '""^ ^^^"^"-^ o^--^ man of the world's coming to this solemn conclusion- going down, shaU I caU it, into the depths of his own spintua being, and being confronted by the fact of^ responsibility as a lost sinner ? I think that which kel men back moi. than anything else is the confusion that God and\h T"" °' ''""""* ^'-- *•>- d"'y to God and their duty to their neighbour-the confusion of my duty to my God and my duty to my neighbour I make bold to think to-night, if you honoui^d me with your confidence, some of you, as I passed from pew tl^w and asked you the stato of your soul before' Gch^.C would toll me. " I cannot think I am so bad ; I don^; Z heve I have ever taken money wrongfully from any one; my life has been, mmnorofH-l^' c--^i • , ' <»flxr T Ko . Z — ^"^^"^^^-0 spuaking, pure— that is to say I have not hurt others by my sins, my name is re^ 42 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. spectability itself." Let me sum that all up in one word-. It IS a negative thing. You have not done anything bad to your neighbour; that is all well enough, but it does not go far enough. God does not speak to-night of your duty to your neighbour, but reminds you you owe a duty to your Maker. It does not take the Spirit of God to con- vince me of everything that perUins to my duty to God or to my neighbour. Civilization does that, in part^nur- ture education, training, nature itself, as the apostle says IS a law to us in this respect. If this wa^ able to produce all the conviction of sin that was necessary. God the Holy (.host would never have come to abide in our thoughtless world. It IS not so. Ah, men and brethren, God does not demand a conviction of sin which can be wrought by civihzation-that can be wrought by education or nature He demands a conviction of sin that the soul bows under when It sees. Oh, resist not the touch of the Spirit of (^od. I believe to-night, a^ I seek to speak these simple things to you, the hand of the Spirit of God will be laid on the consciences of some of the most moral I address I make bold to think that there are hundreds and hundreds of young men and women here to-night, 'pure in life and conversation, who have made that very purity to cover up and to kill the thought of their duty to their God That IS not enough. Oh ! let the Spii-it of God come to your heart to night and teach you, and as I seek to open this Book to your eyes, and try to point to you what God's truth IS, may you, brethren, think what God says about It. He says that you and I must, as naked souls, stand be- one word— B anything , but it does ?ht of your owe a duty jrod to con- uty to God part— nur- 30stle says, to produce i the Holy houghtless God does rought by or nature. >ws under Spirit of 3se simple ill be laid .ddress. I hundreds a life and ' cover up d. That e to your )pen this at God's ys about itand be- THE OPPORTUNITY OF SALVATION. 43 fore the judg„-.ent-seat. confronted by one text ; judged bv one standard from whinh +1. • J"'^feea oy thi. Rnnl. fnTr ^""^ '^ ""^ weal, and that is this Book of God, for God says, " the words which I have joken unto you the same shall judge you in the last da^ " Chit iTr 7" *'' ^'""' '' '""'^ statement';>f 7 .rL ^^ ^""^^ ^^" "^^" ^^d ^onien will look into the Word of God and see what it does say Y ^ have been saying, «I thought my morality was Lugh absit 7 ^^^P^^*^^"^^^ -- --gh; I thought!; abstaining from sm was enough." Allow me to tell you r pectf,!^ .t does not matter what a man does think'^Tf his thoughts run contrary t^ the thoughts of God. Wha does It matter what the prisoner thinks, if the jury and what use IS it for you or me to contradict the Creator who, instead of leaving us in our purblindness to d etal' f ZTodT' T' *^"*' ^^^^^^ '"^ ^^« -^ ^'-r worS^^^f ' "^^ "' "'"^^ '''' sin^remember those Im^^uTT T ^' '^"^ '^■"^^^*' -^ - - kittle itedl^ ' ""'''' *'" prayer^" Lord, if I have ived godly in my own sight, but if I have never yetcome :f si!:i:;' ^''"' ^^^^'^ '^ ^'^ ^^-^ ---- - ooZn w ir : ""He""^ ^^~ ^^ ""•" ^^- ^- viaceoiein? He convinces of sin by looking- to H. law. Let n.e tell you a man's histo^ I thisX years old. He was a smnrt lod o«j i. a i3ui,,i I. icia, anu lie sfrew un inf n a smart youth, and a s„.arter man. HepuSedhwTyon- 44 SEBMONS AND BIBLE BEADINOS. hegot hM chance; he availed himself of it, and money began to come in. At a comparatively early age he w^ wealthy-possessed of a large fortune. Then he began to look about, and he heard men say it was " the thing " for a nch man to have religion, and belong to a church, just aa much as it was for a man to keep his carriage and horees and so-you know it does not do to make comfort- able churches too hot for rich men-so they took him into the church. He grew up there, and had religion because It w^ the right thing to have. He had a pew on-l a church, because they were right things to have He made money for pleasure, and gave money on principle. At last, one day a strange voice read to him the Word of Ood and sitting in his comfortable pew, in his well-cush- ioned place, without a thought of annoyance, he heard the words ring out which somehow seemed to cut his soul with a new edge-he heard the words, " Thou shaJt love the Lord thy God." Somehow, although he had heard them a hundred times before, they seemed new to him. He sauJ, ■ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." Impossi- ble ridicJous ! I love God ?-nonsense, absurd ! I can- not love God. I have been living for myself. Love God whom I haven't seen-heard-known ! I cannot love Uod^ Inexorably the words came again-" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." He went home and opened his Bible -for the first time for many years_at the words, " Thou hast been weary of Me." Again the arrow sank deep, and he said. That is true-true enough. I have often been weary in the service, in the pmyer, and in the sermon I , and money T age he was he began to B thing " for church, just arriage and >ke comfort- ok him into ion because pew miA a haw. He n principle. lie Word of well-cush- J heard the it his soul shalt love had heard w to him. Impossi- d ! I can- Love God imot love shalt love I his Bible ds, " Thou deep, and ften been lermon. I THE OPPORTUNI'IY OP SALVATION. 45 Where is My honour ? " He said, " I have never though of honouring God." Again the voice of God was heard, fl,? ^wtT°' ^^**^^^«**^n Me." « True enough," he is '^^:^^^*- Him." Again, and yef more tartingly came the words, " The God in whom thy breath ^and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." And just as really as the words made the loins of Betar tremble, so they smote the conscience of that thnn t I "'""^^' "^^ ^' ''^^' " ^^^ •' ^^' I have never thought about glorifying God." One other charge did God n, ke. He said, " At infinite cost, with infinite love and patience, I have worked out for thee a salvation, and nS . M ' "' '"' '"^''^"* P^^^^°' h-* *hou hast neglected My great salvation." At la.t-the obstinacy of the man broken down by the guilt of conscious sin-he If . I'T T' ^^^ '^'" ^ • «"^h ^ <^^y ^^ never fno't X '. !^—^d -Aether I speL a parable ornot; I have depicted the experience of many and many pitTme^^'^R"^'! '"" "**"'^ *'"' cry-" Jesus save, pity me ? Ha. it ever gone up from the voice of the A^: Z 1 ""^ '''"'''' '^' ^^^^-" '^^^^^ «a^e' pity me ?" Ah ! brother, when He ha. come-and He comes to you Mtle chi^d, to utter that prayer with sobs and teai., a^d He will heal the wound His hand ha. made There is another way in which God waate to convince you of sm. He Hopp if l>v cU :„„ 1. , , , - '" -> onuwmg now completely man comes short of God-s design. WiU you give me your at- tention as I read God's simple statement on this subject. 46 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINOS. God^V •'■ """"^- ""'• """"' '^°'">f the glory „f ;Now, It IS a very easy thing to say, « I believe that " but • AuUr T"*. *"'"« '» ''PP'^''-'' ■' - * heart sTv T do Vr ""'"'"''' ■"" "'^ ""'« S"' I -«=^ heL know I f *. "". "' ^""^ ■" g-" -<• *» «od's esti- mation. God says aU have sinned and come shor^iust and by th.s I was to be hung over a precipice That s^ fo ."^ ''"°^ '^ °"* •'"■''l^^'i spiders' weL it He i™ 7 .^ '^"'^ *"•* '^^ ""«* have these-but He says it is not enough, all have sinned and come short he glory of come short, that," but the heart, ome people once heard 5r, but you there is a anity — '•! enow I am a bit with dy in :his md come ort by an rt." Ah, 3hend tho jfore God, are there 1 they oc- rod's esti- ort — just a thread, 9. That ght, and webs, it > against demand 5se— but le short THE OPPORTUNITY OF SALVATION. 47 Of the glory of God. Mark you, friends, " come short." Men may say, "we won't come short," and a foolish blind- ness may teach us to believe we are all right, but I do ask each one of you to think for a moment of God's solemn statement-" There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Let me remind you of a verse we have already read together to-night. Let me read rt to you. "So these servants went out into the highways and gathered together all, a^ ,„any as they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with guests, and when the kin^ came in to see the guests he saw there a man which had not on a wedding gar^nent.'' The man was bidden, that was not the fault ; the man wa^ welcome that was not the mistake. He c^me in, the porter didnt see anything the matter with him, the ser- vants drdn t see anything the matter with him, the friend drd not see anything the matter with him, but when the king came in he saw there a man not having a wedding garment. If Christ were to visit this church to-night I wonder how many disguises his eye would penetrate a^d of how many it would be said, " These have no wedding garment. The minister didn't see, the servant didn't see the mother didn't see, the friend didn't see, but when the' king came in, he saw there a man not having on a wedding garment. With all the energy I have got to-night, I ask you to answer the question. Have you got that wedding garment ? Where is the earthly loom can weave it^ Where is the righteousness spotless enough to make it ? Oh, It IS God's own. All have sinned and come shoit of * tlM l M l il » i .M# 4««>,Mt|^ 48 SERMONS AND BIBLE BEADINOS. the glop, of Ood, and ^ My a. God is Truth, if you go .n the?^t r " V "^'"-— of yo« own, you Ju. Spiri o7n rr'r '* " '"-^ '•"*■ *>« -""'''^d by the v^l ?. "'^'" "' *»"'<* now convict youfthat I wou d Hw" """"■• " ' """" ''^^"^'^ ^ough'to-night. I wou d i:ko to cry out, so that it might echo in the ea ^ZlT *.^^ '"'"" "* -If-righteousness may cling ■ ZTt ''^*- ^ ""^y <=*"y it «" death, but whef tou ITVT'" '"' ^' ^" ^««- ^''' '^"^^ frionds. I ask you has God ever quickened your soul to doubt the fact that you are all right. asiTr.''"""/" ^°" ""' '-"' thought, it is this: !^iet?-f P ^ r''" '" y°"^ ^"•" °"« «F-* of con- science, zf God's Spirit, speaking in the heart even in a voice small and still, bids you look within, and see if h^r.'^J^'''- ''""'' 1"-* that voi e to-nigL hush It not Bid it not depart. Do not say. " I wilf 1 voice, one smgle spark, quench it not. It is God's work bpmt of God may come to convict you of sin to-morrow. bl?h , . .^''' °™''** ""^"^ "^d we feel its gentle breath,and It IS gone-^one past, never to come b«k. so the Spirit of God blows on the hearts of men. You ^Z remembier Christ's words "tk„ ™-_j ,, _ ' ? ""." j^ii^ -.viiiu uiovveth where it I b, if you go Ti, you will, cted by the Bt you, that ?h to-night, • in the ear ginned and may cling I, but when ends, I ask bt the fact , it is this : rk of con- even in a and see if to-night ; I will let [ will let ay passes, ^our own )ne feeble 'd's work, k not the •-morrow. ts gentle ( back, so You will where it THE OPPORTUNITY OF SALVATION. 40 listeth, and thou heareat the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it coraeth and whither it goeth ; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Oh, I feel in my heart and soul to-night that there are some here, who if they just now but stop the small promptings of the Spirit of God, and put back the hand of God that touches— it may be the last tender spot in their consciences— God may speak no more to them. Do you ;emember that scene when Christ stood over the doomed city. Jerusalem— that scene without a parallel in the Word of God— when He gazed on the city He came to save, tears flowed from the eyes of Emmanuel. He said, " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace— but now they are hid from thine eyes." He pronounced the doom of the city. Do yon remem^ ber why ? Because Jerusalem had slain the prophets ? No. Was it because Jerusalem had rejected Himself? No. Was it because they had heaped mountains of transgressions upon transgressions ? No. " Because thou knowest not the time of thy visitation." That was the reason. God came ; God spoke ; God fled ; and Emmanuel wept, and Israel did not know it. I tell you friends it is real. A young man lets his day pass and does not know it ; a young woman resists the Spirit of God and does not know it, and the epitaph over the lost soul is traced " He resisted the Spirit of God, and did not know the day of His visitation." I tell you there is not a single man but the Spirit of God has made overtures to him «t -no time or another, and beUeve me, God makes overtures t<. D 50 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. some of you to-night, and He would convince you of sin You may pass away—pass beyond all I can say; turn a, deaf ear and a careless heart to the pleadings of man, and just pass away from the congregation to-night, and talk, and laugh, and joke about the service, but you don't know how near Jesus has come to you ; you don't know how closely the Saviour ha^ bent over you. This night of our mission service may be the last night of your visitation, and you may be like the man who entered the dark cave m the west. He took a baU of twine of great length and a lamp. He fastened the twine outside the cave's mouth and, taking the lamp in his hand, he unwound the ball of twme, so providing a guide to lead him to the light again. He passed deep into the bowels of the earth, far into the mountain, and at last entered into a spacious cavern, where beautiful and rare crystals hung from the roof. He' put down the ball of twine for a moment; somethingtouched the lamp, and it toppled over in the darkness, and then carelessly he began a hasty search for the lamp and the cord, thinking he would find both at once. He groped in the darkness, first in this, and then in that direction Moments passed, hours passed-he groped on, despair chilling his soul. A day passed, and he crawled more weakly first in this and then in that direction, longing but for a spark of light, but for the touch of the thread that might guide him back to light, and life, and hope again. Years afterwards he was found— dead. So it is with many a soul. In youth God put the thread of His word into your hand, and cast the rays of His light on > you of sin. say ; turn a of man, and t, and talk„ don't know know how- light of our ' visitation,, ! dark cave length and ve'a mouth,, the ball of ight again. a,r into the us cavern, J roof. He agtouched , and then p and the groped in direction. 1, despair '^led more I, longing he thread and hope So it is a-d of His light on A PREVAL ENT FORM OF INDECISION. 51 utter the cry jl? "" ^°'"^'' *"-"'g''* ^^^ ^i" .,, I '"^- "^«™« «ave, pity me, a lost sinner " but H» May God bless you, each one, for Jesus' sake. ^ A PREVALENT FORM OF INDECISION. " How long halt ye between two „pi„i„n,."-I King,, ..;« „ o^„„._P ,, , 4"«»i'ion IS, How are you froin«- to "Ho.ex Gods appeal ? So it wa^ with Israel H.^! see one man rieht and r«o« ^^'^^ ^® n rigut, and many men wrong. Here we see 52 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. one man for God, and many men opposed to God. Here we see, one man God's messenger, and 450 mes.sengers of false doctrine ;-but I have not time to dwell very long on this part of the story. Our time is limited. Halting between two thoughts, such wa« Israel's position, and such IS the position of hundreds of those I address to- night. There cannot be a question as to two opinions It was not so in Israel's day. I don't take it that the difficulty suggesting itself tft the Jewishmind was whether the false god Baal was r*tlly to take the place of that Bemg to whose existence their national history bore tes- timony. There was no question about the Lord being God : Egypt said that the very drought on which they looked out said that, Elijah himself wa« proof of that. Had not the rain ceased to descend at His Word ? They could not doubt whether Baal or whether JehcvaJi was really God ; but they were halting between two thoughts. The truth was this : by this time the worship of Boal had be- come easy, fashionable, and common, and the worship of Jehovah was anything but fashionable, rather expensive, and anything but popular. Between two thoughts they halted, and just as long as men shaU be gathered together to hear the message of the Living God, one of the things which draws them will be that they come in an unsettled state of mind. Unsettled— may I tell you why ? Not, I beg leave to think, because you really are in difficulty to determine whether Jesus Clirist be God or not; nor do I think that there are many I address to-night' who are in difficulty to determine whether conversion is a I j^od. Here ssengers of 1 very long 1. Halting sition, and iddress to- o opinions. it that the 9/8 whether tee of* that Y bore tes- (Ord being hich they that. Had 'hey could VBS really fhts. The il had be- orship of sxpensive, jhts they ^ together le things unsettled M Not, difficulty not; nor ight who ion is a ' A PREVALENT FORM OP INDECISION. 53 reality or not. As I have already tried to say to you, I believe that such is the manifestation of God's power in these last days, that the man who shucs his eyes, and says there IS no such thing as conversion, manifests himself at lea^t to be pitifully blind to the facts. Men cannot doubt the mighty presence of the Spirit of God, lea^t of all should you doubt it. It is a wonderful thing to me : men won't even crowd outside the theatre as hungry souls are found here, waiting to receive the Bread of Life. Thanks be to His name, the Gospel has not lost its power, the Spirit of God has not yet lo . £Tis love ; and though for centuries he has come seett -'^ on many a fruitless mis- sion. His wing is not tired with the lapse of time, and God has not left off' speaking to some of you to-night- not yet, as you sit before me, halting between two thoughts. Ah, friends, I want to strike right home by God's help, to-night. I don't want to begin to prove ' the Bible is the Word of God ; I think there are things in the Bible which must manifest to every thinking man that they stand, alone, absolutely incomparable. I don't want to stand before you to-night and argue about the abstract possibility of a man's being converted ; it is not neces- sary ; you have seen your friends converted— members of your family converted ; you have seen people converted -turned right round. I want to reach out from this pulpit a loving hand, and say, I want you to stop this thirteen days' halting between two thoughts, coming at the end of ipnnfhq if Tr">T' t — -^ " i-..,.!i,f.f?, IX, Ya^y ^ yj years, or opportunity I may say, of God's dealing with your souls. Now God has 54 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS, between t ..J,,, w::;:^?^^? H^:; on a tour and preach convei-sion lectures ; people would have us enter into long arguments to pro;e thf truTh of the Scriptures. I j^^.^ y^^^^^ .^ ^h of though ^t IS good in its place. So long as the heart 5 man remams the same, there are things fn this booTthif mg foUow h,s heart, just so long will men turn, when sick and sad and sore with earth, so long will thevtr™ tn Ood, and find in Him satisfaction for allTh i^^Ted" I o^ shall the Gospel of the Lord Jesus clrist su^vivt^ ^'Jizzr-"' " ''-'' " -y - ^•*'"»'^'' - paT'bv ITh'f. ""* "" '"* '" "^^ °^^'=""^ *'«y-<' = they fn'ltheTnde ;". opportunities gone-pass by still halt"^ ■ng the undecided becoming more undecided, the doubt- i came at e anxious, ween two gs within )ower but 36 inward d, and no f life can at unrest Grod, and •t to halt this old Jtart out [e would truth of f thing, leart of ok, this So long nd cry- en sick ;urn to is. So urvive, ^h men ; they 1 halt- ioubt- A PREVALENT FORM OF INDECISION. 55 ing doubting still more and more, till all is doubt ; the worldly more and more worldly, till it is all the world. It is dangerous work this which you are entered upon, this halting between two thoughts. Like that great multitude that day, methinks to-nigirt I see us on the slope of this great mountain which overlooks the sea. Some of us are high up on the summit ; we have got twenty-five or thirty years before us— we are strong, we are gay, and life's little boat dances merrily on the sea. Youth spreads its sail to the breeze— yes, we seem to be high on the mountain, but God only knows how near the base we are. We are all coming down, and before us there stretches the sea. Sooner or later must all come to that awful margin and take the step. Have you ever thought what a solemn thing it is to die ? I don't suppose it comes over a man more than once or twice in his life— that solemn feeling, when the earth seems like a great ball just rolling away from beneath his feet— to die, all alone. It is well to to think about it sometimes. It is well to think it ha^ got to come, unless Christ comes first. It is well to re- member that this time ha.s got to be spent, and it is well to take a look at the things of time in the light of that moment. There is a world of false sentiment surround- ing the popular idea of death. People talk about hope on the death-bed,and look back with hope to gapping prayers ■^d at the end of a godless life. As the man lives, so shall he die ; as the tree fails, so must it lie. I am not here to aaae_ .. ..„at now and then God does not save some on the death-bed, but every minister of God will bear out the 56 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. tt^ ,s a temble fallacy. Let me go down to that sea mth sm on me. and I am lost, for sin in death is sin in InZfl {^l^''""-^ I P'^ through this part of my subject t„.„,ght, to press each one, especially the younger portion of thas congregation, to remember that now, when apt to be obhv,o»s of the fact that the herd will push us 2J n t ^^ """" '" '^"^ ''•'P ^« ^-^ g°' to step lor J : '°"''^ ":*■ ' '^-'* -- *- sP^ak of thi! ong, but I do say, my brethren, if you cannot look at these thm^ to-mght and say, " I have got Christ," it is time to «top haltmg between two thoughts, for when that hour comes you ^ need Christ. Seek Him now, and you shall find Hun. How long halt ye between two thoughts ? What causes men to halt between two thoughts ? There are two Gods, and that is the reason. You find it wa^ so here ; there was a false, and there was a true God. Just so .t :s ,„ these days. Now, I haven't time to-night to define what these are, but God tells us that the conscience of man ,s a sta^dmg witness that every single soul stiU resisting the g^ce of God does so because that soul has given the pl^e of its-shall I say shrine ?-to a false god. borne of us have got small, beautiful, precious, grace- ful sorts of gods. Another man is fool enough to debase himself poor wretch, before the vile, vile god of drink or lust. We are not all seemingly such fools as that. The young man who is pure in a«t has got his god ; the yomig rr^^^c.^ i,ure m .bought ha^ got her god ; and every soul ven me that to that sea ith is sin in part of my bhe younger ' now, when wd, we are n\i push us ?ot to step iak of this ok at these t is time to that hour i you shall >ughts ? ts? There I it was so rod. Just )-night to Jonscience soul still soul has o a false us, grace- io debase drink or at. The le young ery soul A PREVALENT FORM OF INDECISION. 57 that has not received Jesus Christ-God help us to-night to see it^has got its god. At a time like this one comes to see how vain are some of the things which people make their gods, and how desperate the hold, I suppose I speak to men and women tempted in a hundred different ways -a hundred different temptations-a hundred different Idols. I want to-night to hold up befor. you the true Cod. Whatsoever your difficulty, poor sin-laden, sinning soul, the hardest of it to bear is your own doing. Some of you have had some light, and in spite of the prickings of conscience you have taken steps you knew to be wrong 1 see godly men and women so bound in this way they cannot break the chains that bind them. To-night the Mighty One has come on the scene, and He says, " How long w 11 you halt between two thoughts ? " The time I have to speak to you now is limited almost to five minutes. God help me to speak to poor souls this la^t time. Friend, I do not ask you to give up your thoughts Young man, I don't ask you to give up that thing which you know holds you back-it may be an affection. I don't ask you, men, to give up your false gods ; that IS not my appeal, but I take up the Word of God to-night, and lay it before you, and ask you, in the name of common sense, to stop halting between two Gods. If this thing is a lie and we are liars, if peace and purity are myths, and if conversion is untrue, then, men don't you come and fill these seats, that is all. Do be' out and out. If your false god is your true God, then serve Him, but you must see you cannot serve the world 58 SBRMOHS AND BIBLE READINOS. for the first twenty-five ye^r. of your life-deliberately choose rt-a„d then t«ke God. You must see you cannol put on your religion with your Sunday coat or dress, and say Thy Icmgdom come " in solemn mockery on Sunday and go and cheat your neighbour behind your counter on Monday^ You must see you cannot play religion for one day m the week and live only to please self the rest of the time. It cannot be done. If there be God_if that lust IS worth your damnation-if that maa. is worth your destruction-if that womaa is worth the priceless yalue of your immortaJ soul-then let go the thought of he yen let go the thought of conversion, and be out-and-out to' your god. Take him. What is the good of a god ? I want a God when I am sick. Baal will be that god when I am sick. I want a God when I am sad. Baal, my false god, will be my god then. When I come to die! then this BaaJ which I have chosen to be my god shall be my god then. When I come to the brink of etertiit and take that long leap in the dark, then Baal will stretch ou to meet me his everlasting ar™s, and I shall have a piUow upon which to rest my sc .1 to aJl eternity. Oh my riends ,s that what my fals god can do ? Is that what my false, false god can do ?_or shall I pr.,ve him false then ? It is a bad thing to have a faJse friend. If I have got some one I tove better than myself, and he cuts me and gx-ows untrue-but will you think for a moment what It mus be to be deluded by afalse god. That meaas io». for eternity; that means ruin for eternity; that ieliberately you cannot r dress, and you cannot on Sunday- counter on ion for one rest of the f that lust ^orth your iless value of he ven, md-out to a god ? I god when Baal, my ae to die, god shall ■ eternity, ill stretch 11 have a ity. Oh, Is that 'ove him lend. If d he cuts moment Eit means fcy; that A PREVALENT FORM OF INDECISION. 59 means death to the soul. How long, how long do you hal between two thought ? If you have got something that IS worth our religion; if you have got something ha IS woHh our Christ; if you have got a world thaf IB better than our God ; if you have got something that will last you when we are poverty-stricken, then give up Jesus and take it. What I put before you in a plam, common-sense light is this-we cannot have this shilly-shallying We cannot have one hand for God and tho'ugUs '^'''''* ^^^' '^'" ^''^'^^ ^^*^^^^ *^^ Now let me say a word on the other side. The true God ha. presented Himself to you this week. I am afraid-- i know-that I sometimes long that God would teach poor weak men how to speak more fittingly of His love. His pity, and His power. But I suppose if He allowed us to speak any better than we do we should get too con- ceited. I only ask that, through the feebleness of men the reality of the great love and power of God may be' snown. How can men describe the indescribable ? How can men search the unsearchable ? Then might men speak of Jesus ; but all we can say to you to-night is. He IS our true God. We have been unthankful, but He has not left us. We have been sinful, but He has not turned us back. We have been back-sliding, but He ha. not turned us off. We have been forgetful, but He has not forgotten us. We have wandered, but He has found us We have d^one despite to His gra^e, He has pardoned us '. and to-night hundreds of us are pleading before Almighty' 60 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. i im. God that our Jesus may be your Jesus too. For you we pray. We know that our Jesus who saved us, who koeps poor weak men like us, and saves us from our sins, saves us from self, saves us from Satan-that He can keep and save you, young man. Why shoukl your friend be saved and you left out ? Oh why should that girl you are en- gaged to be saved and you left out ? Oh sister, why should your brother be saved and you left out ? Oh brother, why should your sister be saved and you left out ? Is not her, or his, Jesus good enough for you ? Oh, It IS true, God knows we do speak the truth when we say-if It is true, if God be God, if in these last days God has spoken by His Son, if He is God, if there is a tone of suicerity in our voices, if there is a bitter reality in our hearts, if we are not all a parcel of frauds and shams- oh man, if there is such a thing a^ glory, if there is such a thing a^ eternity, if there is such a thing as hell, how long halt you between two thoughts ? I hear you to-night, in spite of all that ha^ been said to you, say " You ask too much." You ask me to put myself down, and trample on myself, you ask mr to trample on my amusements, you ask me to trample on my pleasures, on all I enjoy, on every passion and lust, and I can't do it These things are too strong for me. Like great fountains casting up mire and filth they vomit uncleanness. My dnnk I cannot give up; my sin I cannot cast off. My brother I don't ask you to do it ; God knows you can^ do It ; but I ask you to do this : I a^k you to let your ^^aitihg ^ou come in that He may do it. God taught A PREVALENT FORM OF INDECISION. 61 For you we IS, who keeps ir sins, saves :an keep and ind be saved you are en- sister, why b out? Oh lid you left h for you ? th when we st days God is a tone of ility in our id shams — ere is such s hell, how )een said to put myself irample on pleasures, can't do it, i fountains ness. My fc off. My you can't • let your od taught I mo once, God taught me when I was saying ju.st as you say now. I just said, I declare I think it is too much for a young man to give up to be a Christian ; at any rate, at leMt till he is over thirty. Then, you know, if, after all, a man goes back he looks such a fool. How Satan whispers his cursed insinuations into the too ready ear ! But then I saw God said it was as impossible for me to keep myself for one hour, as for one thousand years ; I saw that was true. Then I saw something else ; I saw it was as easy for God to keep me for one thousand years as for one hour. There is not a Christian but realizes that glorious blessed truth. My brother, dear child of prayer, God pleads with you to-night, and wants to know what answer you are going to give to Him that sent me. I bring a message of God to you, what answer are you go- ing to give ? Will you tell God you are going to throw up all this shame, and henceforth be His child ? Do it. Let Him hear your voice, " Lord God, I have vaccillated long enough, from this day I am going to be a follower of the Living God." There is a picture I saw in one of your streets, a picture of a poor woman clinging to the rough- hewn arms of a solid cross, that raises itself above the raging waves, and one solitary ray of light from the riven clouds streams in on her poor wearied figure, and we are told to think that that is like God's salvation. I have not come to Toronto to preach such a salvation as that— a cold cross to which I am to cUng, and from which the waves may wash me ! A cold, indifferent, slipper^^ isolated, lonely thing, aU by itself in a waste of waters ! Is that 62 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. hnf a Q • ' ^ * ""*" ' "o^ a salvation onlv but a Saviour : and he mf r>h«a *u ^' and lo.f in w *^^ P^^^ <^"es drowning and lost n His arms, and holding them above the turmod ot the wdd waves refuses Av«r f ^ i^^ ^u t-urmoii decide f„.. this S.rCrZKo'T'"- . '^""''^•"" -y to the One who sent I 'ZTZ 1 1' T ^^ long do you halt between two thou^L ^ °*'"'' '"" home to yot hit I T^ "^ 'r'' ' -'^"' '* »" §» to believe there are anm. v T^ '^''°' y»» enough, too long Toobn^Ir .^ *"" ''"""^' '«"« rounlan.ong Afnirmet '"t"" '"''"^'''"S ..an for Ch^Jor ^t wo!fd1"Xr ot' T '"'* V wer wnich IS holding some of the best of vou bark V„, are saying, " I will wait and see what th„ T 7''';,7°" to me more." There von ,,» - r , ^"^ """ '«y I 0"Sht tocomeo^aX deforChTf rr'-' '"°- to confess C!hrist but I w,^ * ? '' ^ '"'"^ ^ »"«''* «ay more T ^n ""*/, ''*'* ""'' '"'^ -"-hat He will friend, you a.. tLlg to tl tiro r^'" °'' a«d He ha. said all He 2 al r .? n "" '"^ '"°™' speak for yn„.=e>* ^- -T ^' ^"' ^'"' y°" "^ *» J-— .«^,...^usayuomore. He says, "Obey THE SIN OF SELFISHNESS. 68 ther day, it ia > voice of (}od And Jesus Ivation only, es drowning e the turmoil Won't you ^hat I am to )rother, how Grod knows i^ant it to go top halting, t want you lalting long been going ?irl or that ut. Leave le terrible back. You 'd will say ih, I know w I ought tt He will wait for sxt." Oh, say more, you are to ^s, " Obey what I have said." Don't act the hypocrite. Don't keep halting to squeeze something else out of the Word of God, but obey God's voice now. The Lord knows we want to see you all brought in in one hour. Ah, how shall we do it ? Oh, we cannot, we can only speak— God the Father, Son, and Spirit, teach us how to speak. We can ^-nly live —God the Father, Son, and Spirit, teach us how u, live. We can stop halting between two thougl t.s -God the Father, Son and Spirit, teach us how to livt for Jesus, since He has come, and show our disbelief in aught else.' When in our English House of Commons men have discussed a question long enough— the time for talking past— the time for arguing gone— the time for debate worn out— another man rises to speak, he is met by loud cries of " Divide," " Divide," " Divide," and the Speaker rises up and says all strangers must leave, the House is going to divide. We have had talking enough, argument, enough, now let us divide. Let us go to action ; it is time to act. So God speaks to some of you now, " Let us divide." And God sees the division, and here we divide to-night. God knows on which side He sees each one of us. THE SIN OF SELFISHNESS. ** And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the aflaicted soul, then shall thy Ught rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday. " And the Lord shaU guide thee continuaUy, and satisfy thy soul 64 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. S-1° * '""^ °' "*"'• """" ™"'^» '^ "ot."-I«>iah I WISH, before at all seeking to explain the beautiful sen- tence, of which these two verses are composed, to say a few words about the general principle which they incul- ^1- IT *'"'* "^^ds, as long as the human heart boTs selfishness. I have not time to look at the wider fie d m wh ch this subject might be treated-selfehness mulTf . i ^" *"" ""' '" *'^ """^^ judgment must first b^n at the house of God, and therefore I wish address what I have got to say to you this morning on the subject chiefly to those who have already taken on you the open profession of the name of Christ. Now there are several ways in which, from the Christian's point of ^ w. this horrible sin of selfishness must become appar- vou hi" T ^J ™°'""""' " '^"'^ ^'■y'- Sometimes you hear this objection brought against Bible Christians, You are always talking about your own salvation. Now I for my part take a nobler viewthan that, I call that ex-' cessive egotism; selfishness." There could not be a tZ"" "!^/ "'^r^^P""" of the state of th. case than this. What God tells us is this, and let me once again repeat it : that from the God-word point of view, if I Lv tatTifif^r'^.7'"' deliberately fields himself to God, but fulfils the obligation which God says the fact of his existence-the fact of his redempti„n-the fact that God oa. appea,ea to him by his Spirit-renders it his duty he ike a watered lot."— Isaiah Lutiful sen- J, to say a bhey inciil- man heart God ab- the wider selfishness judgment ore I wish oming on taken on ^ow there I point of Qe appar- Dmetimes iristians, )n. Now, that ex- Lot be a ase than ce again if I may to God, 5t of his hat God duty he THE SIN OF SELFISHNESS. (;5 Should fulfil Let me take a simple illustration. One of your children obeys the just command of his parent ■ it would not be considered as an act of selfishness because the other children saw fit to disobey The soldier keep- ing his guard watchfully and faithfully would not be spoken of a. selfish because the rest of the guard slept A debtor would not be considered by the community at large selfish because he manfully struggled to fulfil an obligation which others ignored. This is just a case in definite acknowledgment of the fact that we are, through Chnsts work and intercession, saved men and women we don t God forbid we should-occupy a position iso-' kted m xte selfishness, but we simply pay a debt which God ha^ declared is incumbent upon us. Oh, dissipate the bought God who is the witness of His people, knows the last thing that will actuate a man influenced by the Spirit of God IS selfishness in his religion-he would sWn-tep ^"^^ '^''' ^'' ''^'^''" '' ''''^^''^ "^''^ '^"" Let us pass to another point. There is another way in think It IS, the first verse of the tenth chapter of Hosea- you can look it out at your leisure-" Israel is an empty vme, he bnngeth forth fruit unto himself" Nov^ the very first obligation of the Christian life is not to bring forth frui to self . I have tried to point out that tZ Christianity ha. got nothing in the world to do with selfishness, and the thought that says " In my arms I can A 6() SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. wrap my own happiness now. I am forgiven and saved, it does not matter what comes "—oh, it is abominable to foist such thoughts on the religion of Christ ! There is another way in which this comes. I hear some one say, " Oh, I am a Christian, but I want to be a great Christian. I want that my name should appear in Christian periodicals. I want that the beauty of my prayers, and the eloquence of my preaching-the alms that I give-that these things (which may be right enough in themselves) should be knoM n to men." Be- loved friends, I tell you the truth this morning when I say that there is ka great temptation— to many a child of God to be great in a wrong sense of the word great- great shows-in the world of Christianity as in the world they have left. It is a real temptation-a temptation to which It is no want of charity to sa- many painfully yield. -^ But there is another way more deceitful than either of the two I have mentioned ; there is the Christian who brings forth fruit, and looks up and says, with folded hands: "Well, I think of the Christian virtues the supremest is humility." Now, I am not here to seek to discourage the virtue of humility, but true humility is this, the utter ignoring of self. If you mean by humility the fact that you are to sit down and do nothing while the world is going to the devil, you deliberately revei-se the judgment of God. Trie humility is the ignoring of self; true humility says, " I will do what God tells me to do, because I believe God is able to give me strength to THE SIN OP SELFISHNESS. 67 do it Let men laugh or let men cheer ; let men frown or let ,„„„ ba.sk in the fitful sunshine of hun.an «„,iles, i will do It because it is God'.s command. I think not of self at all. Let me, God, be nothing more than Thy voice to whisper, if it only be a whisper, or shout, if it be Thy will, the story of Thy love, and the urgency of Thy warn- ing, m the sjumbering ear of unconscious men God g^t us, each one, in this way to ba-nish abominable selfishness, whether of humility, or desire to be first in the kingdom of heaven-banish it from our Christian life. There is one other way-and this may be new to some of you-m which selfishness in our Christian life appears, 1 find It m.our prayers. You will remember that over and over a^ain in our dear Lord's ministrations He pressed upon His disciples the fact that if two or three agreed together concerning anything they should ask. it should be done. I was recently reading my Bible, and companng the two accounts in Matthew and Mark of James and John coming to our Lord, and asking Him for seats on the right and left hand of His throne, in His kmgdom. Of course the request was made in ignorance Jf you look in Matthew at your leisure you will find just before that request was made) the Lord had said to His disciples, " If two of you shall agree on earth a^ touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done for them " What happiness ! James and John go away, and put their heads toorfifb^r nnH ««»" "T^^^ 5 • -■' -v ^itwu agree concermng any- thing they shall a^k, it shall be done. Let us, now, agree 68 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. i ;'i I about this, and let us go and ask that we shall sit at the right and the left hand of the Throne, and be great and first in the kingdom of heaven." Our Saviour rebuked the prayer, and I believe that the secret of the unanswered prayers that many of us wot of is to be found here — that self lies at the bottom of them. I believe that many prayers for blessings have been unanswered, because we want the blessing in order to be great — prayers for the Spirit of God, that instead of being the light of a candle, we might be a bonfire — prayers for strength, because we want the strength to exalt self, instead of Christ. With this small divergency (which is nevertheless to the point), let me ask you to look at the verses we hav3 read. Turn with me, please : "And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noonday." Here is God's' condition. Let me illustrate this from my own experience. When I was leaving the last place God called me to work in in England, we had had very blessed times of refreshing from God the Father's presence there, and it was with a very sore heart I came away. Among several mementoes presented to me on leaving, I found on one these words traced, the words of the 11th verse of this chapter : " The Lord shall guide thee continually." I was going out ; they didn't know where, and I did not know ; therefore the promise came to my soul with infinite depth of refreshing in it, a sweet promise for saints. Having my attention called to this verse — I had not much noticed it before — I took up THE SIN OF SELFISHNESS. 69 ill sit at the be great and 3ur rebuked unanswered i here — that that many , because we yers for the . of a candle, , because we hrist. srertheless to rses we hav3 [raw out thy I, then shall 8s be as the me illustrate i leaving the land, we had ►m God the [•y sore heart presented to 1 traced, the le Lord shall they didn't the promise jhing in it, a ion called to I — I took up my Bible and read it, and I found, although I had traced the words, " the Lord shall guide thee continually," many times I had never noticed before that with them— I beg your attention— with them is implied a condition. Let us never claim a promise without giving due weight to the condition. If, now, this promise is true to each one, I can go to the strongest or the weakest saint this morn- ing, and I can say to him, " My friend, for eternity God will take the guidance of your life in its detail as well as in great things into His hands this afternoon," if— there is one condition. Let us read it together, and may God the Holy Ghost impress it on each heart, thoughtless or thoughtful— "if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday ; and the Lord shall guide thee continually." I tell you,dear friends, God abhors that religion which, having got all it can get —having received God's salvation gratis— having learnt its creed, and, as it were, chosen its niche in the great temple, folds its hands, and looks up to God, and says, " Bless the Lord, my soul, for all His benefits," and shuts its eyes and stops its ears to the great appeal of a lost world and perishing men. There is no promise for such. " But if thou draw out thy soul "—some people seem to be . tretching out their souls when they sing the hymn, " Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small." Lustily their voices sing it, but when it comes to .stretch- 70 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINCy. III ing forth the hand with aomething in it — my friends, there is little there. Will you think me hard this morn- ing, when I say I fear I cannot address a congregation so large as this without fearing I address some among yon who never once in all your lives gave up any one thing to supply the wants of lost men, body and soul ? It is pos- sible that I addresf! -ouie thiM iiK^rning that for the love of Christ— and if not for His ,.< tent love, for the love of men — have never denied themseh yt^ i. ao single thing in all their lives ? Oh, my brethren, yv->u eanm t take the pro- mise to yourselves. May God teach you your sin this morning. ITriends, what I want to do during the few opportuni- ties wo have got of speaking of these things together is to have this trutii of God verjr practically applied to my own soul as well as to yours. I would ask you to remem- ber, as we turn tho New Testament, that though the" Christians in early days ranked among the poorest of men, again and again apostolic teaching pressed upon them the need of definitely setting apart as much of their income as they could for aiding the progress of Christ's cause ; and I would have you remember that by the ignoring of these common-sense directions for our daily life the mission cause at home and abroad is crippled, and our own souls are weakened by our sin. Look at what the apostle says: " Let each one of you lay aside as much as he can on the first day of the week until I come." Ni 7 we see men and women who never think of laying i- ile anything for God. What I would earnestly beg is this — and I would 1'ifi,X JHE SIN OF SELFISHNESS. 71 my friendi&, this morii- rregation so among yea :me thing to It is pos- 'or the love the love of thing in all .ke the pro- )ur sin this opportuni- >gether is to lied to my I to remera- hough the [•est of men, •n them the eir income cause ; and ng of these tie mission own souls postle says : can on the ie men and vthinj? for I.' c? id I would k? pr&y the young especially to heed what I say— I claim iome nght to 1. heard at least by the younger portion of tLo congregation before me, to whom I have been helpful —I would have you at least set apart every year a defi- nite part of V7hat you have got to give to God. If you hnve only got an allowance, set apart a part ; if you can give more, give it. Methinks if the Jew could give his tenth, we under the Gospel could give that. See if what I say— I speak to you for the love of Christ— see if it be my thought, or the plain direction of the Word of God. " And if thou draw put thy soul to the hungry, and sat- isfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noonday." Let us remember this : if we have within us the flesh to overcome (and few troubles are more real to youth than this), if we find many things which cause us deeply to groan, let us rer member God would have our own wounds healed and our own souls strengthened by our spending and being spent m healing the afflictions of others. It is not the great afilictions of life that bear people down. See a man sud- denly smitten with a stroke of any kind ; all the energies of his manhood rise up against it, to help him to bear it, I believe it is the mosquitoes of life that wear these lives of ours. It is the Uttle things that weary, and bite, and s^i/Ag, What we want is to seek to soothe, with the I' ^ mce and the love that is in Jesus, the irritable soul. Look briefly with me at the promise, lastly— the prom- ..io I hope each one may take to himself— "And the Lord ball guide thee continually." Not to-day when every- 72 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. 1^1 thing is bright ; not to-morrow, when some of us may have gone hence, and friends may have proved untrue, and Heaven seems so far away, and sin so near and bitter; not only to-day and to-morrow— the Lord shall guide thee continually. Friends, we dare not quit each other ; I could not think of leaving those to whom God has blessed me anywhere, if it were not for this blessed thought- God will guide us each continually. By different paths we go; broad and narrow paths, some smooth, some seemingly rough ; all are guided continually until we stand within the heavenly Jerusalem. How sweet the promise ! I shall be guided continually, if— never forget the condition—" If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul." And the Lord shall satisly thy soul in drought. In pass- ing I would commend this thought. God says, " Here is a soul guided— how often— how long, and yet this soul finds itself in drought." What a remarkable thing. God guides me, and yet under the direct influence of God I find myself in a land of drought. We don't think of this. How often you and I have felt, when we suddenly found ourselves in the desert, like the Israelites we have read about this morning. We say, "Surely there must be something wrong, or I had never come here. Ah, it is only God leading us into the wilderness that He may speak comfortably to us. Dear soul, in trouble or doubt thou mayest lean on the promise of the unchangeable God that into the drought has led thee. He has only led thee there that He might satisfy thee— satisfy thy soul in drought, THE SIN OF SELFISHNESS. 73 )f US may 3(1 untrue, md bitter; ^uide thee other ; I as blessed ihought — ent paths Dth, some until we sweet the 7er forget e hungry, . Inpass- " Here is this soul ng. God Jod I find : of this. ily found ave read must be Ah, it is He may )r doubt angeable onlv led thy soul I Notice the last two clauses of the verse : " Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not." Some of you may have been in the East, and if so the truth the Lord would convey by this beautiful simile will suggest itself at once. What is a garden ? It is not a man's farm. Behold the hills round where he d^rells ; these are his farm. There the vineyards bloom, and the fruit trees yield their fruit. But stop, come with me. Let us go down to the house ; there you find drawn round the house a little patchy about half-an-acre — that is his garden. He may hire men to do the work of his farm, but here he loves to train his own plants. Here he talks with his children; siis with his wife ; enjoys his home. Oh, friends, it is a very restful thought to know that earth is God's great farm, and that the fields all bloom under His eye, and in the great ex- panse of His creation not a single sparrow can fall un- noticed, but it is a sweeter thought to know the Church is His garden. In the East you will see that the gardener, when spring comes, opens up the little channels through which flows water, and at evening-timo bucket after bucket of the precious life-giving fluid is poured into these canals and flows down to the garden. You may have seen these eastern gardens marked out into squares no bigger than a billiard table by these canals, to keep the plants fresh. So I read God's people — hungry — dis- tressed — shall be as a garden. Moio than that, as a watered garden. Oh, methinks if this be so, and we are the peculiar treasure of the great God, the least we may do is to sti'etch forth our soul to the 1; ungry. 74 SERMONS AND BlIiLE READINO^ ^ Now, let lis notice man's responsibility. I .icv er find in God's Word promises such as this br<>n>rht before us with- out the thought of man's responsibility. Notice the la^t clause of the verse, " And like a spring of water, ,who«o waters fail not." Being watered yourself you become a spring ; being blessed yourself you become a blessing, ihou Shalt be a spring whoso waters fa%»ot. If you look in the margin you will find '^ Waters that lic^ or deceive not." Ah, sweet thought ! i^ I be God's own child, it fol- lows as a certain fact 1 must be, and you must be, a spring of water, and a spring that fails not. I find, again and again, and again, in the teachings of the Apost'es' how they pressed home this truth. Paul says, " As we have received mercy, we shrink not back." It is true of the Christian, whatever be his position ; in the desert if you like, surrounded by foes, but there he stands He stands confronted by the first great enemy, seK He stands and before him there stretch the tremendous hosts ot Gods foes. He stands beset with dou^ troubled w* h fears but he doth say, "As we have received mercy we shrink not back." Jnst so long a^ God is abl. f^ give me strength, I will stand ; ju.sc as long a. God's grace is enough, I stand ; and when the supply begins to fall short, and the grace is not enough-when He do. lot water my soul with His dew, then it will b. time ei. .gl for me to think of giving in Beloved friends, tii-s is how God wantsus to st^uvJ. Waters that lie not ; a well not full to-day and dry to-morrow, but all the time filled „„-! ,.(..,.. oicooix.^, being Hupphed irom God's reservoir, THE SIN OF SELFISHNESS. 75 or find in us with- i the last sr, (wha f. by the help of Gotl, nothing can divorce us from foil ; wing <^'hrist; we tell you that just as soon as death breaks th shackles which bind these bodies down, we shall away to be with Christ, for God is our witness that the soul cannot bo satisfied until it sees Him. Thou art the One we long for most. Heaven itself will be fair, fair, in its glorious comph^tenoss, chiefly her cause Thou art there. Beloved brethren, I do feel this morning as if the souls of many ( f us were being stretched out to you, the hun- gry. I think some must be hungry. 1 think there must ->e the first prickings of hunger in the inmost recesses of some souls. God is our witness, we would not deceive. It is not when wt stand full face with all wt- .have done below, and the soul is about to wing its way into the 7fi SKBMONS AND IllMLE IIKAIMNGH. 1,^:: otornal; ,t ,« not tLen, with .lyin« li,«, w„ w.,„l,| .pe»k of Jesu. As Wl,itfi„ia «ai... .'By the l.el,, .f U„d we live «o an to leave nothing to be .sai,l, '''"*' <«ur, who Vow, he ur Were T should ^sing in his eye c risinijr noticed ; of ex- 11 their bh toil ; 11 they 'ko up, hisper, where ire are 'V own thour It is md it others ay we would stretch out our luarts to you this morning. Lord, guide US continually, and teach us how to banish sellish- nesM forever, and live but for Thee and Jesus. JUSTIFICATION BEFORE GOD. Let us turn together to the Epistle to the Romans, fifth chapter, where we left off last Thursday night. You will remember we paused at the first verse of the fifth chapter, and I would say before I begin, that next Thursday oven- ing—I cannot devote more time to this chapter than this evening-next Thurday evening, I hope to speak— to have a Bible reading on the subject of prayer. Look up that subject in your Bibles, and come with a few thoughts of your own, next Thursday evening, and we will, I may almost say, compare notes in this way. It is a very interesting subject. There is enough in it for two or three Bible readings, but next Thursday evening I want to spend one. " Therefore being justified by faith," saith the apostle, " let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." You will remember I pointed out to you the word there is " let us have peace." Since God has done His part, it remains for man to accept what God has done, and having done so he has peace. The apostle exhorts him to this : " Therefore have peace with God." It seems to me that the apostle now passes over to rather a new 78 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. r\ line of teaching. Up k, this opening verse of the fifth chapter the apostle had been dealing with those thinirs pertammg to Chmt's work, His life on earth, and His death He now brings before those to whom he writes the noblest and most important considerations that follow from Christ's life in heaven, and in these days, although we plamly hear the gospel of Christ's death set forth it •s not so often we hear important emphasis laid on the gospe of Christ's life in hea.en. You see our connection with the Lord Jesus Christ is not severed ; it does not ceaae at the cross. No, the cross but erects a platform, on which platform the sinner stands, and on which plat- form God can deal in grace with that sinner. When a man gets clearly hold of this idea, it is a wonderful thing what an amount of misconception it will clear up I will ask you then to go with me to what I think is the ne.tt most sahent point in this chapter, the 10th verae-" Let us have peace," says the apostle. Now let us read this : " For if when we were enemies (aliens) we were reconciled to God by the death of His bon much more being reconciled-being reconciled by His death-we shall be saved by His life." Docs not this stnke at the very root of a great deal that troubles a gi-eat many of us ? We say, " I do see the death of the Urd Jesus Christ in its completeness. I think I do see jlTff "^ «""*-*« P™"sion of the substitute, and 1 think I do catch that wor.derfnl statement more clearly than everbefore-that wonderf-ul statement, 'It is finished ' ro..mg uown into my soul and begetting eternal peace JUSTIFICATION BEFORE OOD. 79 the fifth se things and His le writes at follow although forth, it i on the nnection ioes not )latform, ich plat- When a ul thing I will he next 5—" Let anemies of His iled by lot this ubles a of the do see te, and clearly lished,' peace, but that alone does not give me rest. What about this life so pregnant with difficulties ; this life in which such forces are ever contending ; what about this present life?'* Ah, friends, what the Bible tells me is this — let me grasp it clearly : my life is provided for by the life of Christ as much as my condemnation has been for ever settled by His death — by the condemnation of Christ. My life finds its full provision to-night in the fact that Christ is alive, as much as my sins have met their full and complete punishment in the fact that Christ has died. Do you see how the two run together ? Christ's death meets for ever the question of punishment ; Christ's life presents me once for all with a solution of the problem of how I am to meet the question of evil and overcome it. " Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.' Let me emphasise there that apostolic " much more." What the apostle says is this : " If in the hour of Christ's extreme weakness ; if in the hour when the Son of God- be it spoken with reverence — was at His very extremity of weakness; if in utter weakness Christ could do so much, then, says the apostle, much more shall not He do now that He is exalted to the right hand of power, re- ceived into glory, with everything under His feet ? This is one thing the apostle teaches ; but there is another. -.-*€»/ me empiiasise the next ** much incre." Look at tlie verse, and see. ** For if when we were enemies we were 80 SEllMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life '^ Don't you see what the apostle dwelt on ? If when you were the enemies of God, He saw fit to pour forth the treasure ot Christ s life to save your life, after that sacrifice has gamed its end, after the expenditure of this tremendous treasure, after, by the sacrifice of Christ's life, you have been reconciled to God, is it not God's own interest-let me speak it thus-is it not God's own interest to continue to keep that which he has purchased with so dear a price ? It 1 give fifty guineas for a watch, it is my interest to keep that watch in repair by the expenditure of a trifle And if-and I bow my head in adoration at the thought j-the blood of the Son of God wa^ expended for the re- demption of guilty man, much more, oh, guilty man, is it thy privilege to know that thou shalt be kept by His life Ihis IS the argument glorious in its simplicity. Let me realize my value, let me estimate the price that God has paid for niy immortality ; then I .hall be in a position to hater of God, God in His infinite love ,saw fit to pay such a price for my reconciliation, :us it not to His own interest to keep me now by His side, whom He ha^ bought with so costly a price ^ I wish that each one of us, going forth into life, as many of us must, and being constantly beset with doubts and difiiculties, as we all are, might have the abiding sense of this sweet security. 1 am dear to God • I am precious to God ; I am purchased to God ; and shall man wh^^ «rUK _ i-, '■ ' "^^" -Apunuicure ol trouble buys something, inch Trior e e." Don't you were le treasure orifice has 'emendous you have ;erest — let ) continue ir a price ? nterest to >f a trifle. ti thought or the re- man, is it ' His life. Let me God has >sition to 1 alien, a pay such interest fht with iug forth bly beset bavo the to God ; nd shall uething, JUSTIFICATION BEFORE GOD. 81 gets something to himself, and holds it precious, shall man slave and toil to keep that near to himself which he calls dear, and shall not God ? Ah, dear friends, it is when our hearts are laden with care, and our bosoms are shaken with doubt, when we are taken out of the sentiment of the hour, and lifted above the fitful changes of feeling, we are taught by God to just rest these weary souls of ours upon the solidity of the Gospel. As I was telling a dear friend of mine this afternoon, when time after time one meets with cases of young men and women coming to Christ, troubled with the same doubts and diffi- culties (I had met several in the morning), I said to my friend, " One gets almost tired of hearing that sort of thing said, till, when you have been reading some one a long lecture, you find yourself without a moment's warn- ing in the same box yourself ; it is then we are taught to sympathise one with another," and it is then that God teaches us to come and lay our heads down, just as really as John laid his head on the bosom of Emanuel ; so again to lift our parched souls to God and say, " Teach me,''my God, the truth that stuns human thought, that I am so dear to Thee that it is Thine own interest to keep close to Thee that which Thou hast purchased with so costly a price." Yes, beloved friends, if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. We must pass on. Now we turn to the Gth chapter, which brings before us another difterent phase of truth] and such an important one. You see, what the apostle says' F 82 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. IS this : He has been bringing to our minds one thought above any other, and you will all recognise the truth of what I say when I say it is the freeness of God's salva- tion. We have all along seen this truth repeated, and again and again urged— that salvation is to him who works not-not to him that works, but to him that believes on God, who justifies the ungodly. Now we come to the Gth chapter, which takes up a totally differ- ent phase of the Christian's life. Somebody comes to the apostle and says, what a good many have said to us • " That is all very well, Paul, for a man to preach this kind of doctrine, that it is i)ossible for a man to be saved by givmg up working and accepting the work of another Don't you see what you do, Paul ; you tell a man, even if he be the very worst sinner, he can be saved by looking at the crucified One. See what you do, a man would accept that and go on in his sin." Don't we hear that difficulty brought up every day ? We may truly answer that objection with the words, " Brethren, you err not knowing the Scriptures." The apostle says, " What shall we say then ? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound ? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein ? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ were baptized unto His death ? " Now, it would be impossible for me to enter on the fulness of these beautiful verses, beginning with those I have read, and followed out by those which follow. There is. howfivpr on*» +»*nfV i^^-"-!-^ i- -. — -j^,, -.^ai/ii j_'iviuj^n5/ wiy (lis- tinctly before us ; it is that the man who argues that the JUSTIFICATION HEFORE GOD. 83 3ne thought ihe truth of Grod'.s salva- peated, and him who ) him that Now we bally ditfer- Diiies to the aid to us : h this kind e saved by )f another, an, even if by looking lan would hear that ily answer u err, not Vhat shall ^race may e dead to b so many baptized lie for me beginning )se which 'very dis- that the Christian may go on and sin as he likes, because he be- lieves God will continue to pardon his sin for Christ's sake, is absolutely contradicting what he says. This is the apostle's argument— he does not say it would be a horri- ble thing for him to continue in sin ; he does not say it would be an ungrateful thing ; he does not say it would be an unnp+ural thing ; he says more than that— he says it is an imi)ossible thing. He says it is a.s impossible for a man who has received the righteousness of the living God to go back into sin with that argument on his lips as it is for a dead man to speak thus. He says it is not simply that you may not, or you ought not, but you can- Twt. " Don't you know ? Have I got to argue with you ? Don't you understand that as many of you as were bap- tized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death ? " Now at once there arises the question — What does the apostle mean by being baptized into Christ's death ? Let me first point out what the death of Christ means. It means the complete identification of the sinner with the Lord Jesus Christ. It means that God regards the sinner that trusts the Lord Jesus as having been nailed to the cross when Christ was nailed there— as having hung on the cross when Christ hung there. He regards the sinner a^ having died when Christ gasped or it Uh soul to God ; as having been buried when Christ was buried, and raised when Christ was raised. There is this si >)pendous thought which the Bible, God's message to us, convoys. God says that the men who have accepted Christ have become iden- tified with Him, and God counts Christ's punishnxent a.y 84 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. I. II: liJ what do you ...ean by what follows ? " " So many of us ^were baptised unto Jesus Christ were baptized into His death, etc. Now, some people think that those words give veiy strong positions to those who take a very hich view of the sacraniental efficacy of baptism. What the apostle says is this-that every single man who has been baptized ,nto Jesus Christ has been baptized into His death. I beg most solemnly to a^ert that this verse ha« no reference whatever to the outward form, but to the real thing signified in baptism. Let us look at one ve«e Let us turn to I. Cor. xii. 13. Please mark this verse- *or by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." Oh, beloved friends, here is the truth of God's word Show me a man to-night who has come in simple chUd - orbi /" 1: ''"'' '''"'■ ^"-^ *°^'"'l *'>«'* I should forbid water that man should be baptized : but mark you. If he be God'schild, he hasalready'been'baptLr:- CM?" ""T"" ^'^- " " ^"^ ""'™ '^' ">« -" -th Otast It ..s the participation of the Spirit with Christ ; It IS the fellow-feehng with God that evidences this change. Let none think it is a childish thought that the ou ward act can ™le the mighty inward principle. Nay but by one Spirit we are all-yes, of all churches, of ^ c^eds all who love the Lord Jesu.s-by one Spirit ba^ the Loids Wy .,pnu has received the testimony of God it goes, bufe [lany of us >tized into lose words very high What the ) havS been into His verse has ut to the 3ne verse. s verse — 3ne body, e bond or ! Spirit." I's word. )le chiJd- I should it mark tized by )ul with Christ ; 3es this ihat the • Nay, i, of all rit bap- eceived of God JUSTIFICATION BEFORE OOI). 85 to the fact that He and Christ are one ; one in death, and shall yet l)e one in eternal life for ever. But we must hurry on. It is not simply of death with Christ that the apostle would speak : " Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death "—the outward baptism beautifully pointing out-thank God for the figure— the old life dead, the new life begun—" that like as Christ is raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life " Here is a man says, « I may continue in sin that grace may abound." " Stop," says Paul, " there are two things would put a stop to that. Your old nature is become a dead thing, and besides • that, you are now a man who walks in newness of life." I would not make any sad about this, whom God would not have sad, therefore just look down to the 11th verse : " Likewise," says the apostle, " reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." If you will look at the two verses before that you will see what the apostle refers to by the " likewise." He is refer- ring distinctly to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says what we have got to do is this-we have to reckon ourselves to be dead to sin, a^ Christ died. How did Christ die ? " He died," says the apostle, " one for all." (I must ask you just to read this chapter at your leisure, when you cro home, and then you will see the links that connect these two truths.) " Reckon yourselves," says the apostle " to -• -..c^. xxow c AS CnnsL died ; once for all ; m sin- ner, reckon yourself to be dead, once for all. " Oh," you 8(j SERMONS AND BIRLE READINGS. HI A f say, « but I am not." No. the apostle didn't say yoi, were, But, says tl.e apostle, reckon yourself. If you were dead It would not be neces.sary to ask you to reckon yourselves dead unto sin. If I was dead, sin could never assail me through my eyes, through my senses, through my passions --what would be the sense of asking me to reckon myself dead ? God tells me, " When Christ, my Son, bore your sins on the cross, I regarded your guilt as being punished there." When, young man— my brother— you are tempted to sm— worldliness or any of the hundred sins that trouble us all— when I am tempted, when each one is tempted' what should we do,? Don't parley with it. Don't argue it; but say, " Lord God, teach me to consider myself dead to' it, DEAD TO IT, DEAD TO IT." Let me put it in this way: There is an election in your city ; there is a great compe- tition, every one wants to score as many votes as he can. Up comes a man, say his name is James Blank. The man says, " I want to vote." The officer looks at his records, and says, " James Blank died a year ago. He has got no vote." Reckon yourselves to be dead ; that is what the apostle says. When I say, " I want to vote on this ques- tion, I want to work my own will, I want to have my own lust." " Stop," says the apostle, " reckon yourself- you, William Rainsford ; you, this man who want your own will— reckon yourself to bo dead, dead, DEAD." Likewise, as Christ died, once for all, reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin. It is the only way to get on. If you^are going to parley with sin, if you are going to argue With hIb, you a»i I will be beaten. The apostle says. JUSTIFICATION BEFORE GOt). 87 ^ yon were, wore dead yourselves assail me, ly passions con myself bore your \ punished e tempted lat trouble tempted' t argue it; If dead to this way: at compe- as he can. The man 3 records, as got no what the :his ques- have my ourself — ant your DEAD." ourselves b on. If to argue tie says, " Stop its mouth by saying, ' I am dead to it.' " I cannot dwell on this longer. I must ask God to make thesi truths plain. I feel I am only scraping their surface. We must pass rapidly on. What follows ? The practical duty. " Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield your- selves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead." See you not the force of the illustration ? Those that are alive from the dead yield their instruments of righteous- ness unto God. Here is the promise. You say, " I can- not help sin reigning." You say, " I cannot yield my members unto God, as those alive from the dead." Listen before you say that to God's promise to thee. " Sin shall not have dominion ovei- thee." Mark that word — "shxill not " — the promise of the unchanging God — " shall not have dominion over thee." " Oh," you say, " it vexes me sore." The Lord does not say it shall not vex you. " Oh," you say, " it harasses me." The Lord does not say, it shall not harass you. "Oh," you say, "it pains me." The Lord does not say it shall not pain you. My friends, if you and I were not harassed, and vexed, and pained, I know right well we should never come to the good Lord. He does not say it shall not harass, vex, or pain, but he does say that it shall not have dominion. It shall not have dominion ; behind that promise there looms up the almightiness of God. You are not under the law, but under grace. Does it vex you badly ? Surely it diut as the soiicitation to sin came we JUSTIFICATION BEFORE GOD. 89 >^ou and sin oes it cause igs of your there was he promise aten back, is coming B body, no ammels of These are truth the at I must ineteenth members ice God's of men/' )ur flesh, unclean- w yield oliness." tie say ? urselves 'es unto sin just 3 mom- cheat a ible be- Lme we obeyed it. Tempted, we fell. Now, says the apostle, as in times past you yielded your meinbors to sin as the temptation arose, so now, when the still, small voice of God is heard— as the thought inspired by the Spirit of God wakes in the conscience — so now yield yourselves to God. A man may go on yielding himself to God through- out the business transactions of the day ; a woman or a servant may go on yielding herself to God as she does her domestic work. I remember hearing of a servant in the north of Ireland, who lived in a family somewhere near our own : some one asked her what were her reasons for thinking herself a converted woman. She said, " Since I was converted I dust under the mats." It was about as good an answer as she could give. There is a great deal in dusting under the mats. Just remember as in times past we yielded ourselves to the solicitation of self and sin, so now we should yield ourselves to the solicitations of God. You see we have seen in this wondei-ful sixth chapter of Romans how I may overcome the strength of the sinful body. That is the sixth of Romans— it is a Christian man asking himself the practical question, and having the question answered by God—" How am I to overcome daily sin, to break its neck, and subdue its power ? " The seventh chapter of Romans is, I know, a difficult one ; it would take me a week to explain its teachings, but there is one salient point to my mind, that brings out its truth as a whole more than any other chapter, and that you find at its very close, in the 24th verse. The apostle has been speaking, I say, of the power of 1^, ^^■v^ >«►„ ^ <».«» IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) // % LL 1.25 2.5 140 mil 2.0 i.4 6" 1^ 1.6 ^ v: Photographic ociences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^ 4 >^ s> •^ .V i^r^T"^ ^ ^ % ■^' ''/ 6> f/i f/^ <)() SKHMONS AND HIBLE READINGS. I) ' 11 If Hin ,n the sixtl, chapter, and in the seventh chapter \v speaks of that of which every child of God must know «o,nething-the weary, wearing pain-the consciousness of the presence of sin. Ah. dear friend, if you be the chiJd of God you .vill know something of Paul's experience when he cries out, "Oh, wretched man that I am. who shall deliver me fron. this dead body ? This is the mean- ing of the verse. We all know something alK,ut it-who shall deliver me from the deml body. He has .seen its powc.r broken ; he has felt the love of God ImMing him awake tc» new life, but there is the old body. See the illu.stration here. They had. in the old days, a terrible punLshment. of linking a living man to a co,p.se. They tied hand to hand, limb to limb, face to face, and the living was left, attached to the dead. It .seems to me that in lauls Idea, when he cries, " Oh. wretched man that I am who .shall deliver me from this dead lx)dy ? " This thin- which dwells, in .spite of me. in n.y «e.sh ; hand to hand^ 'ip to hp, I am forced into connection with sin in .spite of iny.self-who .shall deliver me from this dead body ? And 1 am bold to .say, every one of you. if you have known he power of God s love in your .soul, can echo the cry If It wa„s not for this, we should not long for the tinie when we shall be unclothed, and receive our new IkxIv and see Christ, and be like Him, and bid good-bye to sin tor ever. Nay. .says the apostle, the whole creation gioans and we jom m groaning for every child of God, \yo he weak an,l feeble as he nmy. does he long to be absent for ever irom sin. JUST rFICATION HEFORE OOD. 1)1 chapter lie iiusfc know isciousness e the chiJd oxperience I am, who the mean- it it — who us seen its Ming him See the a terrible se. They the living ne that in hat I am, 'his thing i to hand, n spite of ly ? And known ) the cry. the time ew Inxly, ye to sin n gioans, he weak for ever Who shall deliver me fnmi this «lead Ixxly ^ Thank Oo«l the answer comes (juickly. " I thank (nxl, through Jesus Christ, our Lord." Our English version obscures it a little ; what he says is, " I thank (Jod I shall l>e de- livered, through Jesus Christ our Lord," Ke does not speak of a future deliverance, nut he does speak of the Lord Jesus so filling him with His life, that though he be attache*! to the dead body, he is taught to keep it always, as it were, a thing outside him — not something inside, but a thing outside, «lea. SKKMONS AND IlIULE UEADINOS. Huasion are yon, my dear fnon. But there is an„ther truth which lies lower down ; that the tree cannot yo a-top till it ha« gone within. Uear fnen.ls, we minister, of the Gospel, and all of us who call on the „an,e of Christ, a,,; called in these days no longer to n,eet the inditference of the indifferent but the unhehef of the unbelieving; and mark you this in nine cases out of ten where u„l»lief erects itself against thesnuplicity of the GospcJ to-day, it is the oak going a-top because there are already signs of death within Light havnig reached, has been resisted, and has lost its clearness for the soul, and the tare is becon.e developed- m sp.te mark you, of Go-l's will. Let no man think that the wdl of God is not engaged on His side. I read in this book the free gift of God comes upon all men; I read in this book th«t the grace of God which brings salvation has appearc ^ unto all men. I read in this book that God says He will ,^.ceive all who come to Him-that is to sav He wants all men to be saved, and to come to a know- edge of the Truth. But in spite of the repeated defini- tions of Gods will, in spite of the incontrovertible fact that hght has come into the world, we have to recognise the o her side of the truth-that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. It is a terrible thing to say,but it is a thing no one who speaks the truth of God can refrain from saying; in Jesus Christ's day there were tares in the small field, and in this nineteenth centuiy their number is on the increase in the large one. Who are they? I suppose if we were to talk personally THE WHEAT AND THE TARES. 97 that men are icli lies lowur I gone within. mJ all of us n these days iifferent, but you this, in itself against e oak going )ath within. has lost its Jeveloped — fi think that read in this i; I read in ?s salvation >k that God at is to say, to a know- ated defini- ertible fact recognise ness rather 8 a terrible 3 the truth hrist's day nineteenth > large one. personally, any one of the congregation and myself together, most of you would admit, "Of coui-se, we all know there arc tares, those things which grow among the tnie wheat, and are like it though they are not wheat." But dear friends, it is well to remember, as we want to apply this truth of God to our own souls, that the tares are those which are not known to be such. Many of you, I am afraid, this morning, were we to tax you with the point, would say. "We don't make any profession of religion." Such are not the tares spoken of here ; these are the thorns— anybody can see a thorn; these are the thistles— anybody can tell a thistle; but the tares are so like the wheat nobody can sec the difference. There is an outward reception of Christ, and an inward rtyection. Christ says, " Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven." They say they have gifts; they say they have professions; they say they have generosity; and there is a great deal of generosity mixed like an alloy in the lives of many such, but, as we were trying to see on Sunday night, there is no real sympathy of the soul with the Lord Jesus Christ; that is the point. But we shall see them more clearly and distinctly, I think, if we look for a few moments at their effect on others. What do they do? Here I come at once to the point, they hurt the wheat, these tares do. When young souls— I speak not now of age, but of experience when a soul first learns its first sweet lesson of faith, and sees before it the easiness and immediate possibilitv of salvation, and casts itself for the first time on the Lord, G 98 SEKMONS AND BIBLE HEADINOS. ■1 like a child, drinking in and receiving the sweetness of HiH promises, Jis a rule the heart and conscience of that soul heat true. There conies to nie then the sure, certain knowledge of what I have been. The veil is gone which seemed to be drawn across my proi)er sight, and I now see my life in the past; it may not be marked with black marks of guilt, but I see it has been one successful plan to waste the talent God has given, and waking up to this fact, I say, " Lord God, teach me henceforth that life is no mere amusement." The time must be redeemed. I see from this time souls are to be won; I see from the very time that there is work to be done; I even begin to catch at odd times some glances of the reality of the things beyond. Yes, I do say when the heart first learns of Jesus, nine times out of ten the conscience beats true, and following the dic- tates of what you believe to be right, you will be doing God's will. But here your tares come in. Our tare, having never really leant on Christ, says, " What is the heart ? Now, you young Christian, you are going too fast; who ever heard of anyone becoming a full-blown Christian in one day ? I do this thing, and / am a Christian, there is no harm in it; I say this; I do that; I go here; I go there; there is no harm in it. I am a Christian. See how like I am." My friends the breath of an iceberg is not more deadly to the orange tree than such advice as this to the young Christian. Would to God we could separate them, for they work cruel mischief to those who have leant on the Lord Jesus. But more than this. It is not simply that your tare does harm to those who have taken on them THE WHEAT AND THB TARES. 99 tlie name and profe.sHion .,f Olnint, but he doen terrible harm to those who are Htill without Christ. Your tare- beloved friends. I am speakiufer the truth this morning as m God s presence-your tare has been known to come to the Lords table on Sunday, and not find it veiy difficult at a dinner party on Monday with some young men. and some old ones who ought Uy be l>etter. U, laugh at some lewd story, or, it may be. tell some objectionable one him- self. They have been known to do such things The very blast of death and destruction is around them Thev meet a young nmn, one of their set, one who thinks they are better than he is. and they find out in some way that this yonng man is beginning to contract that habit which destroys body and soul-beginning now and then to drink at odd times during the day. and if they were Gods children they would put a hand on either shoulder, and beg and pray him to break off the habit a.s they would pluck a brand from the burning or draw a child from the well. But no, they "chaff" him mildly, and talk lightly about It, and the fellow thinks "it is not so wr .. after all." Your hand mignt have saved him, but iAul hand was never stretched out, and he goes on and dies Another case. A young man brought up in a home where father and mother have prayed with him, and where every influence has been for good, pays his first visit to a house of sin, and it comes to the ear of your professing Chnstian who is a tare, and instead of wrestling with him he IS not above laughing at what he calls the "little slip." - I.UH a.e ... - -xo vxxagguci down. Tne man whose conscience 100 8KRMON8 AND BIBLE nEADIVGS. m is not altogether hardened yet knows something of that first awakening when first he sees something of the ab- ominahle guilt he has committed, how he hns trampled the eftigy of the living God in the very dust of damnation it- self. A hand nught have stopped hin) ; youi-s might have been the hand, hut you did not know (lod's j)ower your- self, so you did not stop him. Then? are men whose lives —he it spoken a.M God's truth— are altogether for bad, who have never yet influenced one soul so as to lift it one inch nearer heaven. But see the tare, it grows in the field, the Sim shines on it, the .soil fructifies it, but see what take place. The nature of that plant tums sunshine, and dew, and rain, and soil — what into?— into a tare. And the wheat glowing beside it, receiving the same sunshine, the same dew, and growing in the same soil, tums out wheat. My dear friends, again I would ask you, as I have done before, let no man call another his enemy because he tells him the truth— and is it not a most tenible truth wehave before us this morning, that some are receiving the mani- fold gifts of God and turning them into a cui-se, as much as others turn them into blessings ? Shall there not he some amongst us who will say, "If there are those around us whose influence is evil, by the grace of God I will live, and by His help— leaning, oh my God, on naught but Thine own almightiness— my own life shall diffuse an influence as holy as others (or it may be my own life in time past) diffuse an influence hurtful. I want now to draw your attention to another thing. See whatis to be done to the tare,.. I will read you a verse THE WHEAT AND THE TARES. 101 which riescribea their position: "Therefore judge nothing »»efore the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hicMen things of darkness and will makeman- ifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God." Mark that. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts. Yes, it cannot be done now. The disciple would gladly go into the field if he might, and seek to separate the tares from the wheat; but the Lord at once puts down his hand, asit were, and says " No " I am thankful to God He never let us do it. I feel the utter inadequacy of man to attempt such a ta.sk. I am well assured if one of us wa.s in live to this congregation It might be for twenty years, and know all its members mtimately, he might be found to have often let go many an impudent tare and pulled up many a weakly wheat- seed. But mark you, friends, the day is coming when there shall be no mistake. Methinks now there must Ik) •some amongst us this morning whom Gabriel himself could not find out, they are so like Christians. But then there shall be no mistake. Then every man's works shall be manifest— the secret sin shall be manifested. God will lift up the cover of the whited sepulchre and let us look withm. I gaze over this large congregation this morning, and what are your faces? They are just ma.sks to cover the soul. My face is the same— a mask that may tell a lie or speak the truth. But mark you, my friends, the fafiA will fVion ^'O n" /»n»-f"^- -- -• 1 (J 1 ■ - 1 . ~ " "-^ ^"^ certain an intiex of what is within as the dial of that watch is. There wilj be ijo deception 102 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. then; the mask will be gone, and the true spirit — thb true being— the true life of the man will shine out. We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ. In the old days, a rough-hearted preacher, speaking before a congregation of the richest and most fashionable in the land, came into the pulpit with his serge garments on him, and in the midst of his discourse he pulled from beneath its ample folds a skull, and, holding it up, said: "Though thou didst paint thee an inch thick, yet to this complexion shalt thou yet come, and though thou hast painted thy hypocrisy an inch thick, and added year to year of empty professionism, yet to the nakedness of death, when all frauds and shams are stripped aside, all men must come." Oh, friends, I do speak to you this morning under an awful sense of the truth of God's Word on this point. If in the early times, when persecution and death were very often the certain meed of profession of faith in Jesus Christ, if then it was necessary for the Lord God to preach this sermon about tares, let me ask you, do you think the necessity is diminished when thepio- fession of Jesus Christ is become "the thing"? If, in the early days, in spite of impending persecutions, waked up by the sound of His glorious voice and the living Word of God falling from the lips of man, men could cry, " Hosan- nah to the King," but when the prospect of the kingdom wasgone, and spiritual things were seen to clash with tem- poral things, and J esus Christ's popularity had died, and days of trouble were seen coming up, if then those men who THE WHEAT AND THE TARES. 103 le spirit — ^thb tiine out. We ment seat of her, speaking st fashionable 3rge garments e pulled from olding it up, Lch thick) yet i though thou id added year nakedness of »ped aside, all : to you this .f God's Word rsecution and profession of jsarv for the es, let me ask when thepio- "? If, in the ns, waked up vmg Word of cry, "Hosan- the kingdom ish with tem- lad died, and lose men who cried " Hosannah" were seen to slink away and be dumb — only tares— do you think the truth is less necessary to be spoken to-day ? If, when listening to His words who spake as " never man spake," man's cold heart warmed, and disgusted with the life he had been living, he waked sud- denly to resolution and said, " Lord God, I will follow Thee wheresoever Thou goest," and when he saw that He had to bid good-bye to His home, and this or that little thing had to be given up, and that the Son of Man had not where to lay his head, and the things of this \ Id did not seem so prosperous, he looked back— only a tare —do you think the admonition is not necessary now?. Men, if under the eye of God it was possible for men to act thus, it is for you; if it was easy to be hypocrite when Jesus was standing by, or when an apostle gifted with the discerning of spirits was speaking, do you think the race has died out yet? Oh, I wish my words to go straight home to many a heart this morning, for I know there are some such present— only tares-^only half-hearted pro* feasors, or it may be, men so long persistent in their hy- pocrisy that they at last have succeeded in deceiving their ovm selves. I have seen at night a star suddenly spring to birth and flame across the sky from the east to the west. It came in a second, and in less than a second was gone. And so I read there are wandering stars — bright hopes— bright beliefs bright beginnings; but oh, only wandering stars, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. They may shine with an uncertain light for a moment ; they may shine with a light they know 104 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. to be false for years; but their end is nothing but the blackness of darkness for ever. May God search out this morning what I cannot— the tares who listen to my voice. Mark you, I speak to many before me— it is not mine to single you out and call you by name; but as I close I ask you, for your own soul's sake, oh man, to consider that the day is coming when the mask that successfully hides you to this moment shall be gone, and you will be seen as a waster of time, it may be ; a lover of fashion more than a lover of God, it may be; as one who has done nothing but help the devil in his soul-destroying work, it may be; or it may be as nothing but a wandering star. And now, as I close, I think I hear some one say, "You have thus described what I believe the position is to a nicety ; and, Mr. Rainsford, as I am afraid of becoming a tare, because I am afraid of falling back, I never climb up." To such I would say, this bright Sunday morning, would you do this about earthly things ? " Oh, sir, houses have been burnt and people inside them, sometimes, and so, because houses have been burnt, I suppose you will never build a house or rent one?" Such reasoning signi- fies that your conscience is dying ; becoming like india- rubber, to be twisted backward and forward by every silly whim that offers a momenta:/ excuse for disobeying God's command. It may be, friends, there are some of you have been wicked tares for forty years, but let me tell you, if your nature up to this day ha.s changed God's blessings into a curse, and you have withered the lives of scores, let me \i' RECONCILIATION. 105 tell you the God of glory halts by your side to day, and if you were to live for forty years more, and for every week, of every month of those forty years were to pray to God to change your wicked heart, He would not be more willing to do it than He is this morning. Oh tare, thou are not yet beyond His power. Oh wasteful world- ing, thou are not beyond His grace. He would fain de- liver thee from thyself ; for; mark you, as truly as you sit there, and I stand to speak this morning, the Son of God will send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom aU things that offend, and do iniquity. The Lord grant that then we may be banded together in the bundle of life to be for ever with the Lord. RECONCILIATION. I WISH to speak to you to-night upon the grounds of God's reconciliation to man. I shall read to you two passages which bear on the subject: the first I shall choose from Colossians, 1st chapter and 21st verse, and the second from the Epistle to the Corinthians. " And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled." Now turn to 2nd Corinthians, 5th chapter, 18th verse : " And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." To wit, that God >vas -in Christ reconciling the world 106 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. unto Himself, nofc imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us, vre pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. "For He had made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteous- ness of God in Him." The first verse which I read speaks certainly rather more of the aspect of the soul towards God. It says, you were once alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works, but now God had reconciled you to Himself. I bless God that many to-night could fitly take that verse upon their lips, for I believe a great company of those present could say, " Yea, we who were once alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked works now hath He reconciled." But even though a large number could say that, I cannot but be aware that there are a great many present to-night, who, if I was to put the plain question to them, and ask them if they were truly reconciled to God, if they under- stood what I meant, would have to give me an honest negative. As I find, dear friends, that the grounds of God's reconciliation to man are again and again, and again subject to constant misstatement by the children of God —as I find that they are very commonly mistaken by people who ought to know better, I think it will be of advantage to us all to-night, if we just for a few moments seek to consider God's position towards sinners in this matter of reconciliation. I have not time t^ enter upon the Qther side so much-man's position towarye of the G(,d of justice, to-night, that I would turn from Him as the very incarnation of loath- some tyi-anny. There is nothing to warrant the thought in the Word of God. Hear it, " God was in (Christ recon- ciling the world to Himself." Oh, I would like to sound the words in the ear of every douhter upon eaith ; let no "lan presume to say that the innocent suffere.l for the guilty ; such an exhibition of tyranny is loathsome even to our semi-conscious ideas of what is right. A^rain I say men err, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God Ah no, it was God in Christ reconciling the world to rlimself. There i., a woman ; she leaves her home and joins her tate to that of a man unworthy of her, and he sinks lower and lower and lower. You go with n,c to visit that poor v,n,man a few vears hence, and I point out to you a »'.".„.„ oated iu a sea^tily-furnishod roo„,, her Hnger, worn almost to the bone in t.ying to keep her three or four children and her good-for-nothing husband ; walking before h.m a.s a godly woman should, and seeking to .^end her whole life and strength for the good of others Wha^, do you call it ? I call it one of the most beautiful exhibitions of God on earth. And yet that wnn.an is 116 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. unjust to herself. What do we reckon the greatest gloiy of our history ? We look back to the time when a few men met many, and actuated by thoughts of home and love of country, these men rolled back a whole host of enemies. We look back to that time and say, " Long ago these men met great odds," and we call them heroes. Yet these men were unjust to themselves. When the plague wa^ desolating Europe years ago, some Moravian mis- sionaries went to the pest-houses and asked to be allowed to enter. The porter at the door said *' No." They went in a deputation to the officer who had charge of these places, and said, " May we go into the pest-houses and mmister to the dying ? " and he said, " If you go in you must never come out, for to come out would be to breed the death afresh in the land." The men said, " We are willing to go in and never come out." And they went in, grand men as they were, and stood, and ministered, and prayed, until they too were smitten, and lay down by the side of the plague-stricken, for the love of Christ, to die What were they ? Heroes is not a strong enough word for them. Yet they were unjust to themselves. I look to the cross, I see there God unjust to himself. I see God taking my blow, I see God crushed with my blow, I see God weighed down with my guilt, and I bow my head and say, " Lord I think I understand more, now what It means— God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." The King came to bear the punishment of the rebel, that—his law vindicated, his justice sustained- He might take the men that cursed Him into the very RECONCILIATION. 117 bosom of His love. Have I not made myself plain ? Have I, friends ? I want to, I want every man who leaves this church to-night to go away conscious of the fact that if he refuses to be reconciled to God he commits the most tremendous sin, one that even the devils in hell cannot commit; for God kneels to him, bows to him, holds out to him His wounded hands, tells him of the death-thirst that parched His soul; speaks of the thorns that tore His brow; speaks of the sad, lonely, forsaken agony of the cross; tells him there was no one to stand by and no multitude to cheer when Jesus Christ went out all alone into the pest-house of humanity and said, " I will not come forth except I come forth as the com- plete Saviour of the rebel race." Ah, God was uDJust to Himself that he might be more than just to you and me. A dear friend of mine told me of an instance which happened to a friend of his lately in Scotland. This man was called by circumstances to be one of the magistrates of his county. One day, when on the bench, there was brought before him a batch of prisonera arraigned for various crimes, and among the rest who should stand there but an old school-fellow. He was clearly guilty, and the line was, I think, five pounds or twenty days imprisonment. The others were all sentenced, and in regular order sentence was passed on him, but just as the officer was removing him, the magistrate came down off the bench, and walking over to his old school companion, v/hom he had not seen for yeai-s, with tears in his eyes said, "Will, you are not able to pay, and the law has 118 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. \m«^. justly sentenced you to pay £5 or undergo twenty days' imprisonment, but " he said, « I can pay, and as long as I have got one sovereign you shall not go to prison." He paid the fine and took his old friend home. There was nothmg unjust there. Oh, poor shadow of what Jesus has done. He speaks to you and says, " As long a^ there was a drop of blood in my body, I determined you should be saved and won't you be reconciled to me after aU that ?" Is all the sad agony of the cross to be in vain ? Is this cross to be in vain ? Are the prayers you have heard to be in vain ? Are the opportunities you have enjoyed to be in vain ? Are all the prayers of God's servants to be in vain ? Is the love of God to be in vain ? Is my pleading to be in vain ? " We, then, beseech you," says St. Paul, "as workers together with Him that you receive not the grace of God in vain." " Now then," I take up his word to-night and I say "As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." ''Now then," Life with its short fleeting day repeats. " Now then," Death adds. " Now then," the Saviour would cry to everyone here to-night. " Now then," and methinks if from that dread land of the lost which Jesus Christ depicted, a voice could be heard to-night, with fearful fervency it would echo through this church, « Now then, as though God did be- seech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye re- conciled to God." Brother, put away the obduracy of the past. Oh my brethren, we are in earnest to-night ; God praying men, men denying God. As though God WHAT IS HOLINESS ? 119 did beseech you by us, we beg you not to receive the grace of God in vain. WHAT IS HOLINESS ? '' Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord ."—Hebrews xii. 14, I HAVE been tanking that maybe it would be much easier to make plain v/hat holiness is to all— of course many know all about it already— but to make it plain to all by first touching briefly on what holiness certainly is not. Here you see, dear friends, is the requisite demanded by God. We all know that to stand before God clothed in the imperfect garments of an earthly life means, if this Book be the revelation of God, to court our own condem- nation ; but I think that this truth, although equally important, is not always present in our minds—" without holiness no man shall see the Lord." It is the part of a minister who wants to be faithful, not simply to build up, but also to pull down ; not simply to give life, but to kill false hope. The subject this morning is a searching one. Oh, may God grant that each one now here may not have previously armed himself with any certain determination, but that each one of us may say, " Lord God, I am willing tW,?'''''''"^'.^*^^^*]''^'^ *"" ^^^"'' ^^^* *his holiness, ..-a... .hou dost demand of all without exception, is." First then, we see that holiness is not believinfr on the 120 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. Lord Jesus Christ. It is a very common thing when God's children are seeking in fulfilment of Christ's command, which bids them be witnesses to men of what they have Been, and known, and realized-it is a very common thing -many will bear witness to the truth of what I say- when we seek, in love, to bring home as really and as plainly as we can, God's simple command to believe on the Lord Jesus, and the necessity of a personal faith in Him, to be met by this objection, "Dear me, I always have believed in Jesus Christ, I always have tmsted Jesus Christ, I always have looked to Him ; I am not such a bad sinner as all that. Really, you take me to ?3e much worse than I am. I have never doubted that." Dear friends, such words are very common, and if they be in your heart, if not on your lips, this morning,aUow me then, as your friend, to doubt for you. Believing in these things --in the Lord Jesus Christ-is not holiness. Believing m the truth of His mission, believing in the verity of His person, belief of the doctrines of His grace-these are not holiness, nor necessarily signs of holiness either ; but not only so, but how constantly you hear people speak in something of this sort of way. They say, " I beHeve that Jesus Christ loves me." Believing that Jesus Christ loves me, is not holiness. How often you find people who tancy— It is a very common excuse— that the morality which circumstances make it possible for them to live in which they are not tempted to break, as other men have' been tempted-that the character which they very pro- perly respect, and other men respect in them— that these , WHAT IS HOLINESS ? 121 things are holiness. Nothing of the sort. But if I say another thing ; if I go a little farther, and say forgiveness 01 sms is not holiness, perhaps I may surprise some of yon. Yet it is true. Forgiveness of sins is not holiness. May I Illustrate this truth to you from the Lord's own words You are all conversan' with that parable Jesus amself uttered of the two debtors. He spoke of a man who owed his king the enormous sum-which, of course, he was utterly unable to pay~of ten thousand talents. And when he had nothing to pay, he fell down before his lord and begged to be forgiven, with tears and cries, and his lord had compassion on him, and forgave him the debt. Hut he had scarcely gone out, when he meets his fellow- servant, a man with a large family and a wife, who owes him the pitiful pittance of a hundred pence, and he takes him by the throat, saying, « Pay me that thou owest." And the poor fellow falls down before him, with the very prayer which a moment before was successful on his own lips " Have patience with me and I will pay thee all:" but he won't listen, and he hurries him off to prison. See the charge here. Here is a man distinctly forgiven, yet ut- terly unholy. Was that man fit for God's presence ? Don't misunderstand what I say ; I don't believe for a moment tha our Lord ever intended us to suppose that a man could be forgiven by God, and then go and act so, but there wa^ one tremendous truth which Jesus Christ sought always to bring home with cutting force and condemning „ r „. .fte xnmd« ui men— tliat without holiness no man shall see the Lord- that let a man's belief be what it may, 122 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. I iji ^2 and he himself assured that his sins have been forgiven as that man wa^, if he manifests such an unchristlikJ^ spirit as he did, his whole profession, and belief, and for- giveness are not worth a cent. This is a solemn truth wrapped in parable-the same truth as is comprised in the words I have read, "holiness"- God speaks to each one here this morning, and says, " Without holiness no man can see the Lord." I don't think it necessary for me to dwell this morning on another point, and say holiness is not mere empty shallow profession, neither is it necessary for me to speak of the holiness which some men think is begun at the font, and continued at the Lord's table. My friends I don't know whether the thought ever came home to you, but I know it did to me very solemnly the other day Christ pronounced in His life of blessing one solitary curse, a curse all the more peculiar because it was His onl3. one, and that curse was against a life that had plenty of leaf and no fruit. God teach us to take it to heart. Let me go one step farther, anc^ I stop here. Leaving sin is not holiness. Dear friends, our time is short, and I want not a single one who listens to my voice this morn- ing to go away in doubt so as to be able to charge me at the day when I have got to render my account, Ind you yours, and I did not tell you as a minister of the gospel what God's word was. I tell you on the warrant of this Book that forgiveness is not holiness. I tell you some- thing follows from that— to drop sin is not holiness. I WHAT IS HOLINBBS ? 123 have heard scores of men and women too. when under strong „„presrion.s of sin, come to a conviction it would be well for them to turn over a now loaf, and lead a new life ; but the Bible informs me that is not holiness! There is a verse which ha« puzzled many of us ; I wiU read it to you • It IS only too plain when taken in connection with this subject, then it is easy. " For if they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled herein and overcome, the latter end is wor«e with them than the l^ginning "-solemn words, mark you. these- *or It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness that after they had known it t« turn trom the holy commandment delivered unto them For 1 ha^ happened unto them, according to the true proverb, the dog ,s turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that waa washed to her wallowing in the mire." I have had poor souls coming to me, time after time, in deep dis- tress, quoting these words. "If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, etc.. etK=. Oh, --hen you see the context of the verse the meaning is plain; God is not speaking to his true child at all. but he is again unmasjcing the hypocrite who thmks without holiness he can please God Mark you the difference, " the dog ha^ turned to his own vomit again." He forsook his food ; he forsook for a time his habit. This man forsook his drink ; (■- i. >..■ - cleanness; forsook his Ivimr : forsook lying that the 124 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. world, or that I, as a man of the world, could lay my finger on. But God's eye sinks more deeply than the outside shell of human purpose, and written in His JRook is' His definition, the dog will yet return to his own vomit, and the sow which was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Why ? the dog wa^ a dog all the time ; the sow was washed but her nature was not changed. The nature remained the same, and though thou take thee ever so much mire and wash thee ever so much, thy nature cannot be changed by such procedure. Dear friends, these verses are very plain. They bring before us this morning that there may be some who have forsaken sin, and yet have not got that holiness without which no man can see the Lord. I have tried to make plain whatholiness is not; allow me to point out what holiness is. Allow me to go back for a moment. There comes a crisis, and we call that crisis birth. Now, after birth, life springs, and of course- it is absurd—no one would think of supposing life is with- out a beginning. Apply this to spiritual things. I find run- ning as red threads,all through the Bible-I find two gieat truths. I think I have adverted to them before— the new birth and the new life. Of course you cannot have the new life beforethe new birth,andyou cannot have the newbirth without the consequent of new life. God teaches me this; He not only brings these two truths before me in a man- ner so plain that there is no possibility of mistake, if we are willing to learn, but he embodies these two truths in two beautiful figures. As long as the Church of Christ remains WHAT IS HOLINESS? 125 the Church of Christ, until she becomes Hi., bride, we may clearly apprehend that God makes two great things necessary-the new birth and the new life. I will try to make lus plain, just a« I pass-I say holineas is the birth of the new life. Holiness is a. much the evidence I have got the new life as the palpitation of the bre,«t this mormng, and the breath we draw is distinct evidence we have got earthly life. Will you bear this in mind for a tZCf J ™^ '''"" ""^ ^"^ ^""^ Ch.^st deals with a truth of the very last importance-makes it so plain no one can misunderstand it-can we do better than use his own ,1 ustration. I say the new birth is to be clearly down r t ^ ''I ^™""'"' "■''* «<^ ^ handed down to H.S Church for all time. Let us look at it in this light for a moment-this new birth. We will eo back into the apostolic day, and see how the thing began A man comes to the apostle under conviction of sin. The Spirit of God, moving over the face of the crowd, listen- ing to the apostle's afternoon discourse, has smitten his heart. He comes convinced and affected. He comes to the apostle and says, " Sir, sir"-the oft-repeated cry-" I would be a Christian." The apostle asks him, " What do you believe ? Do you believe on Jesus Christ » " The man says, ' I do, and I desire to know more about Him " The apostle goes on to tell him-" Christ died, and His death was sufficient to put away aU this guilt which has polluted your life and soul, and the Lord Jesus rose in ^--.. .»„t V.UU accepted His sacrifice. He is now in glory, hvmg there as your representative and advocate, tg 126 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. cleanse away your daily guilt ; and once agaia the Lord has appointed a day in which He will judge the workl by this Man, whom he has ordained in righteousnesH. Dost thou believe He is the Son of God ? " The man says, " Sir, I do." The apostle says, " What proof would you give me of your belief ? " The man says, " I desire, sir, to be baptised." " Dost thou know what this means ? Hast thou considered what follows from this?" "I have." '■■ It means," then the apostle will go on to de- scribe what putting his hand to the plough means—" it means, that from this time, thou dost take Christ to be thine own Saviour, and pledge thyself, by Christ's strength, not to look back. It means that thou, oh man, ii" it may be necessary, give up thy home ; bid good-by to thy children ; leave thy wife. It means to forsake the world. It means that thou must leave the crowd, and come and join our band, few in numbers, and des- pised in degree. It means that for good and bad, for life or death, for time or for eternity, thou shalt cast in thy lot with Jesus Christ. Are you willing ? " And the man would come forward and say, " Before this crowd, sir, I am." Then the apostle would take him down int(i the water, and there submerge him in the flood, saying, " I baptise thee into the name of the Father, and th^'e' Son, and the Holy Ghost. Thou dost descend into this water a Jew, Gentile, or a Scythian, or a Roman or a Greek— such as the case may be; thou risest up no longer Jew, Gentile, or barbarian, bond or free, but before and above them all, a new man in Christ Jesus. ^ WHAT IS HOLINESS? 127 The old lifo is gone, buried, buried in Christ, and the new -rising m union with its Divine Head-is to live for- ever. ' Do you see liow forcible was the illustration ? Do you see how impossible for a man to misunderstand the eleai-ness of the severance which now. forever, divided him from the old life, and the old sin. Now. we have done with the past, and I come right down to you, my dear friends, this morning. As our time grows very short together, and I n.ust account to God for my message, and you must account to God for your recen- ion of that message, I a.k you a question. I ask you. in the sight of God. has that mighty change been wrought m you ? I don't ask you, this moiling, whether you have had impressions. I know many of you have had impi-essions I have seen your faces enough to know that. Ah. God, I know more-I know some of you have killed your impressions. You are not so much impressed now a^ you were a month ago. When this mission which I began here, in God's strength, first struck your soul you were well frightened-now you are not half so much im- pressed, for the impression is killed. I don't ask you if you have had impressions. There are some of you who are wasting your life in alternate fierce wrestling and struggling with the sin that crushes you down " What waste, sir; do you call that waste ? " I do I will tell you what follows it. There follows a long, lethargic, dead, selfash, feehngless interval, when I sink down down down, away from impressions, and then, again, sin makes' new inroads on my soul, and I wake up, and say, " Thi^ 128 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. is horrible, this sin vvrill crush me, this temptation will damn me." Life, I say, is wasted. Why? Because thou art seeking to deal with the branches of thy life, when God would deal vith its root. I mean it must have its commencement, this life of holiness ; it must have its beginning. Poor, doubtful soul, thrown backwards and forwards, and bent hither and thither, like the reed by the brook side, every j)assing influence sways thee. I come along, you are swayed by my word ; a worldly man comes along— there you go, bent by his breath. Ah, waxen hearts, subject to every impression. God speaks to you, and says, " Holiness— without holiness no man of you can see the Lord." Ah, that is not the way to get it ? Man, bring to Christ thy nature, root and branch ; bring to Christ this life and heart ; put these in His hand ; it is thy only chance. Briefly, in conclusion, what is this holiness ? I think I have tried to make it pretty plain ; it is the breath, it is the life, it is the consequent flowing from this— it is the thing that comes most natural to me after I have received the Lord Jesus Christ. To put it into one word, it is just this God who sees me, knows, although there are many things that are necessary to me— though there are many things which in the natural course of affairs I love dearly —He who sees our hearts knows that Jesus Christ is infinitely more necessary than one of His gifts, or all of His gifts put together ; and so I ask thee this morning not whether thine attainment in holiness is great— not whether thine attainment in holiness is long— it may WHAT IS HOLINESS ? 129 iptation will BecauHo thou y life, when lust have its ist have its ;k wards and the reed by lya thee. I vorldly man )reath. Ah, God speaks s no man of ! way to get iid branch ; lese in His I think I jreath, it is 8 — it is the ve received d, it is just i are many e are many love dearly is Christ is ts, or all of is morning great — not g— it may have begun but an hour back, but dear child of God, I would put to thee a loving question, and say— Can you join hands with us ; do you know Jesus Christ is neces- sary to you? Very reverently I would remind you that the Bible describes this new life under the illustra- tion of a woman passing into a new life as she gives her heart and hand to her husband. I tell you that this beginning of the new life is the giving up of the heart to Christ to be the husband of the soul, and reverently the lines may be quoted as describing the relation of the Church to Christ ; " On her husband's arm she leant, And round her waist she felt it fold ; And far across the hills they went, In that new world which is the old." Ah, God knows, how new, and yet how old— all thingg new, and yet the old just the same. No one knows it but the heart that has listened to the whisper of the Saviour's love, and leaning on His arm has faced life with new strength, new joy, new power, for Jesus Christ is the centre and its sun. Dear friends, when this holiness is begun, Jesus will tend its tender shoots. I don't ask whether the tree ha^ budded into life— has yet brought forth much fruit— we cannot have the fruit before the blossom, but this is holiness, and Jesus Christ, who gave the tender shoot life will train and tend it for Himself. And now, briefly, I must ask you, dear friends, to ask vourselves anr»fh*»r nnoo+iVn WKo* « xv _ • i _ ^ -i _.- — i„_i — 1 '|.iv.juitrii. vv nau aiu tut; eviaences of this life ? If this holiness which God demands is mine, |^%,pfc,^^ 130 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. w what ai-e its evidences ? I say, first of all, fixity of pur- pose IS its evidence. The most rapturous sensations, the most fervid spiritual experiences, the most lusty prayers and hymns-all these things are not necessary evidences of holmess. If I am holy, they will be there, but what a holy man must be, is a man of fixed purpose ; a man not singmg a psalm to-day and a dirge to-morrow, but a man who, whether the sun shines or not, whether the wind blows cold or warm, or whether the dogs of earth bark at his heels-a man who goes forward ; a man or woman who wiU catch up the apostle Paul's words and say " Lord God I am thine, and Thy work is the one thing that I wish to do." There is another evidence, and a necessary one, that is self-denial. I tell you the man who goes on living for himself-who makes self the centre round which all the Lots of the twenty.four hours of the day and the twelve months of the year revolve-is not a holy man, and can- not see life. Dear young friends, let us trample down at the very beginning the rank weeds of self-love, for with- out this self-denial men cannot be holy. A tender conscience is evidence of holiness. I have had people come to me and say, " I am afraid, sir, I can- not be growing in grace." I say " Why ?" They say " Bec^iuse I think I am worse than I was last year " If I could bring light into this room-if I could bring a stream of sunshine through the western windows, I ven- ture to say you would see more dust floating through the air S/^ H- ia TVs'- -t'-i t i « . inu moiM X know oi am, my conscience flir WHAT IS HOLINESS V 131 Will become the more tender. Sin that before I could commit with impunity is now hateful to me. Mark you hese are not my ideas; I give them to you ^ God's irutn. • There is one thing more, holiness is reverent. Do you say perfect love ca,teth out fear ? It is true; but friends we Uve in days where there is a great deal too much fa- nuhanty taken with the name of God. I don't like to hear people add words like " dear » to the Saviour's name 1 dont hke to hear people talk with a laugh, or smile' about those who have believed on the name of the Son of Ood Why, man, it is an mmiortal aet-uothing to talk hghtly aboui Yes, Oldand New Testament join in one. Then they that feared the Lord spoke often one to an- other, and the Lord hearkened, andhea.-d it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shaU be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in (hat day when I make up jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth hu, own son that serveth him." We want more holy fear, we want more of that which prompted John when he beheld Him on whose breast he was wont to lean his head-when he saw Him clothed in the majesty of the Eternal he fell at His feet as dead. We want more of that. Yes that holy, reveimtfear, coupled, asitmustbe with true love, is one of the best evidences of the ..rowth of the soul in holiness. '' lastly, I think if we are growing thi.s fI.o ]■.== ^~a i-,, and less can we trust ourselves. Oh, for more of this holy 132 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. I } sv self-distrusfc— a. distrust that seeks not to be occupied with self at all, but leans on the infinite trustfulness of its Lord. I ask you to apply these words to your own hearts. Dear friends, I have done my best by u^ing plain Scripture texts to force you into a very corner this morning ; I demand from you an answer. Have you got that holiness with- out which God says no man can see the Lord. I am afraid in spite of all that I can say, or do, or pray, some of you will stiU avoid the question. May God the Holy Ghost, this morning, from His quiver, drive arrows into the heart and rankle them in the conscience of every unholy in this sense— soul, and give you no rest until you know the budding beauty of this life. Mark you— don't go away misunderstanding me— a man is not holy in order that he may be born again ; a man is not holy in order that he may be saved. He is holy because he is born again ; he is holy because he is saved, and I utterly and entirely refuse for a moment to believe that any man can for an hour trust Christ, and not feel it. A man who knows the quick- ening power of the new birth shall know and evince to others the transforming power of the new life. Oh, dear friends, is Jesus necessary to you? Is Jesus necessary to you ? Answer the question to Him, and may God bless you for His sake. It '%. If r WHAT IS HOUNESS ? 133 WHAT IS HOUNESa-CoNTiNCED. iTz ^ Mr^"* *^ "^^ ^"-"^^^ ^ '^^ I "»>«' throw. ifyou w,li aUow me, more or less into a Bible reading I waat to treat this subject from two or three poTntrf fn a ZtrT^ ,!^" ' " " *''^-^ '^l' J-' -I-^t i' Th^s hohness wh.ch is not simply a desirable thing, but has Its beg.nn.ng m eveiy child of God, in the transform- at.on whach G.d calls the new birth. Now pr vZ Sunday evenings we have talked together about the si ect of righteousness, and before I say anything about th.s subject of holiness, I would say a word or tto to guard agamst the views of these two things ve.y X taken by people who think righteousness and 1^1 a. necessarily the same thing. I think I can ma^:! plam to you m one word. Righteousness is, of course he perfect covering with which Jesus Chri t provide!' Z'Ztrr *** '™^*^''-.*e righteou'nelf Ood unto all and upon all that believe. Holiness unon ;: !^ 5ri' ' 'ir-'-' °^ •^-^-^ '^- ">'^- .o» If I nave that righteousness of Jesus Christ without me, I know I havegot the Spirit of God wHhL 134 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. Im^ me, and just as really as the righteousness of Jesus covers my deformities, just so really does the Spirit of God con- quer my disease ; just so really does this mastering power of life within, move, dwell in, change and command the man. Will you look with me, now, carrying these few thoughts in your minds, to 2 Corinthians, 6th chapter. This sixth chapter deals most practically with the ques- tion of holiness, and if, in your Bible, when you have got leisure, you draw a line at the end of the first verse of the seventh chapter, you will have the division where it ought to be made ; it is a great mistake to cut off the first verse of the seventh chapter from the last of the sixth; ' We then as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." Now, Paul is not here at all speaking of the work in which v/e hope to stand eternally complete before God ; ^hat is def=onbed in the latter verses of the chapter pre- vious. He has described how Jesus Christ has already reconciled God to us, but he says, on the reception of this truth, there begins at once another sense of responsibility, putting it this way— just so soon as my responsibility ai^ a culprit to God's law ends, just so soon my responsibility to God as a son begins. My friends, this is holiness. Holiness is— just let me repeat it again, for the sake of clearness, as far as I can make it plain ; it is this— Holi- ness is the natural consequent of a man's being a worker with God. Holiness must follow where the life of God exists in the soul ; just as really as if life be in this body, the breath must come backwards and forwards and the WHAT IS HOLINESS ? 135 lungs heave. The one proves I live physically ; the other proves that Christ's life within me is a spiritual reality J3ut the Apostle here at once brings us to look at this subject in a very practical way. « We then as workers together with Him." Ah, friends, he reminds us that the holiness of God is a practical power, he reminds us just so soon a^ a man apprehends his position as a saved soul, he also sees that there lies stretched before him the plane of a great life work. Turn with me for a moment -we must be very rapid here-to the latter part of the same chapter, the sixteenth verse, and read these well- known words. "And what agreement hath the temple of W with Idols, for you are the temple of the living God 83 God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them' and I will be their God, and they shall be my people " See now the power-I beg you to notice it-see the power which God says exists in the soul of every man who IS a fellow-worker with God. You say, « That is all Gods work-there is nothing about a fellow-worker there. A fellow-worker carries with it the idea of two' worker.; of work done yoke and yoke." You say, That has all got to do with God," etc., etc. If you ask how we are to do the work, if we are not fools and blind we will put our hands on our breasts, and say we have' got one single hope of doing it; listen to it: Our God hath said, '' I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." But 18 that all? Mav wp fliAn li« H'%'— » ^- i i-> " ^ T^ 1 XXI. n " ^^^ ''" «iotnrui ease. Look at the first verse of the seventh chapter, " Having 136 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. I fj • therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, per- fecting holiness in the fear of God." Don't you see fel- low-working here ? If God's grace dwells in me, and has saved me from damnation, every bit of manhood in me— every bit of honesty in me — every bit of moral power at once asserts itself on the side of Christ. Christ quickens the being, before dead, and having this promise, the glory of which bums brighter and brighter as I gaze, I think— I say I will cleanse myself "from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Do you see what this means ? It does not mean God leaves us to struggle on constantly, beaten down by repeated failures. It means the man comprehends he has got all the treasure of God to back him up in the speculation ; when he is called to confront the powers of sin within and without, he is backed up by the almighty- ness of God. Do you remember what Paul says ?— I was speaking to a friend of mine the other day about Paul's relation to his body. He says, " I keep under my body and bring it into subjection," and when you look into the original there, the language used is, I was almost going to say grotesque in its forcefulness. The word is this,— " I beat my body black and blue." It is the idea of a man with an iron ceatus, such as they used to fight with, beating his adversary, and that his own body. There is an enemy to be met and to be beaten, and I make bold to say if a man does not beat his body, his body will beat him, and therefore as a fellow-worker with God he WHAT IS HOLINESS ? 137 cleanses himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfectmg hohness in the fear of God anif 'V"' ^"^ "* '""■''"^ "* ■' ' ^ """^t °°^ P'^ to another. Turn to the Epistle to the Ephesians iv., twenty- second and twenty-fourth verses. I leave you to consider this passage at your leisure ; you can get a great deal more out of it than I can bring before you to-nijht. Hei « the process, if I might so call it. of holiness described. That you put ofl^ concerning the former conversation, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which after God is created in righte- rrh Tpk'™:. '""'"""" ^»" '"• ^- *«- **? the growth of Chnstian holiness is described in two ways -I have been thinking of words to express it and I camiot find any better than these, " vivification " and "mortifi- ^tion A double act is here spoken of. Says the apos- tles, I put ofi-," and " 1 put on." I was walking out in the coimtiy last Saturday, on a beautiful road near Toronto and I thought I saw an apt illustration of this. I think the leaves in the autumn in this country are almost incom- p«able m their beauty, but as soon as spring time comes, I don t think on all nature's face there is anything more unsightly than an old leaf, adhering to the bmnch of a tree that ought to be clothing itself ite young green. How olten you see that. You see a tree beginning to send out Its tender shoots, and yet on the topmost branches, there are these old withered leaves. The snows have fallen • the frosts have nipped ; but aU the extraneous powers of Ids SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. nature have not been able to tear off these leaves. How do they go ? I bring you into the forest two months hence, and I defy you to show me an old leaf. What has hap- pened to them ? Has a mighty tempest laid bare the tree ? Ah, no, but there has been a quiet power at work, mark you, and though it has been quiet it has been irre- sistible. There is the power,— the new life has run up the veins of the tree, and under the new influence of the spring-tide it has put forth the bud, the tiny twig, and then the leaf, until on all the great oak I defy you to show me one unsightly leaf. Don't you see, my frientls, the new life presses out the old ; don't you see that you put off ;— and how, my God, shall I put off? Only by putting on. That is the reason. Men ask how man can be holy ;— here is the answer : Let the Lord Jesus work His holy will. Men ask, « how can I get rid of these ur- sightly sins that have deformed my life, and eaten into my very being ? " Man, put on Jepus Christ, and trust to the glorious vitality of the eternal life to press off the old leaves of sin, I tell you He will do it. Thus only can His people grow in holiness. There are two ways in which sin is spoken of in the Word of God, clearly It is spoken of as a matter of guilt, and a matter of disease. Now the blood and righteousness of Jesus, have got to do, don't you see, with the guiltiness of sin, and the spirit of Jesus Christ has got to do with the disease of sin. May I make this as plain a^ I can, in this way. We will suppose that in this City of Toronto, a man is condemned to death for murder. His case is so WHAT IS HOLINESS ? 139 absolutely bad that a reprieve is out of the question I »ake my way into hi., cell with a friend of mine, a doctor W \ T,°"""' " "^"verous expre.,aion on the man's narrt Halloa, I say, •■ there is something wrong here -■thrn," My friend examines the man and sayste h^' not s« months to live, he is dying of consumptio":. Sup p« It wa. possible for any exercise of me«,/to gain th!t man s hfe fr„„ the hangman's rope, I should feel it wa« a hopeJ„c.se of power in one way ; I should feel I was work ng agamst an irresistible power-let me save iy mv ; t:' ™^" '"^ '•'^- " ' ^'' *» *"''* ■»- -d «ay, my poor fellow, you are going to die in six months prescnbe for yon, we want to make you better. •' Whv We.'-'*^'; "^°" "^ '"'^"""^ ^ »-» condemned to te taged m a fortnight. Why if yo„ heal my disease, you wont save mv npck" Tt ;„ -n . > j"" hpnHn„ *!, T *" nonsense to talk about healing the disease of a man's sin. untU his life is saved Blessed be God we live and die,-living and dying pro claiming this fact, that the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son. and death of Jesus Christ, our substitute befor; God saves the sinner's neck once and forever. But he also ^ Is you, aa truly as Christ saves a man's neck. He heals his disease. Doyou think He would leave the man in the dun^on. whose life He has saved at the sacrifice of Hil own J I remember well hearing, on the east coast of Eng- lana. a dear rnn" />* ^-r! —,- - t - ° 1 . ,/" ^'^ """^ "^y •— "^ was forty-two years leammg three things ; firat of all that I could^o nothTng 140 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. for my own salvation, next that God didn't want me to do anythmg for my own salvation,-that was number two ; and the third thing that brought me peace, was this, Jesus Christ has done everything for my salvation. Every- thmg, thank God. But, you say " Wait, I must not simply know.-I must not simply understand that this guiltiness ot mine has been met once and forever, but I must know sir, how I am to have these daily defilements washed away. I cannot be holy until I see this. I hate sin God knows-I loathe it, God is my witness, but then I cannot help It. With every breath I draw ; before I know it my eyes have sinned; my tongue has sinned; my thought ha. .mned." Let me then point out to you this simple truth-we have not dwelt on it very much together-God has made a distinct provision for the daily cleansing of His people's guilt a. He has made for their eternal delive- rance from impending judgment. I wiU ask you, a. I said we were going to have a Bible reading to-night, to turn rapidly to a paragraph in tlie thirteenth chapter of John which brings this truth beautifully before us. I will read the Imes : " Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father,"-notice the beautiful description of death, that is what our death shall be to depart out of this world unto the Father-" having loved His own He loved them unto the end. And supper being ended the de.il having now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simoa's son, to betray Him. Jesus know- ^ -a_ .!„, . a„n^r had given all tnmgs into His hands. WHAT IS HOLINESS ?. j^j just see what He did with those hands -"and th^f H« come frnm H^ 1 i ""ua, anci that He was ™® nom Cfod, and went to God. He risoth fr^,« wmch God had given everything-" and to wipe them w.th the towel, wherewith He was girded. Then coleth Z.\^Zy til t ''*^' ""'" """' «""■ ^-^^^ what Tl *r , "^''"^ '"'''^^«<' '^'"1 »'m ; there they took an entire bat{ necessary, of course, more especiaUy in the east. Then the man came out of the bath-room back again into the robu.g-room, and you wiU see aknn.« i„ .w "- V Climate in the pa^e from th^ ^ Wall; rZ 142 SEIUCONS AND BIBLE READINGS. where he was robed, his feet would contract defilement, and the consequence was, in the room where they were robed, there was basin and water and towel, to wash the feet. Before the Passover the Jews always washed, and the disciples had probably, that day, each had the cus- tomary bath, and now the Lord Jesus comes to them and says, " They that are washed don't need to have the head or hands washed again, but are clean, every whit, but they do need to have their feet washed. Now, friends, we sit together to-night, in two classes, — ^as those who have been plunged in the fountain of Christ's ])lood, once for all, and become new creatures in Christ Jesus, or as old and resist- ing the appeal of God. Don't you see the direct bearing of this passage on our present statement ; it's just there. If God has washed us from our sins in Christ's blood, if that fathomless fountain of His love has covered up all the guiltiness, known and unknown of the past, what do we need ? Ah, in taking the journey from that bath towards the place vvhere we shall be robed in His glory you will bear me witness the feet often get defiled. Like pilgrims we journey into meadows where we have no right to bt , howbeit the feet get dusty and soiled. God says that just as tifty times in the day the Jewish priest of old had to go to the laver, and there dip his feet and remove the assoilment of service, just so has Jesus provided means whereby we may have our feet washed. I know I want mine washed — we all want ours. Let us think then of the girded Saviour, waiting every day, waiting every hour, waiting to vvash the aoouiliuent of earth Ixoiu off M WHAT 18 HOLINESS ? 143 Zwd M. T" *" "" ^"■"'e'''' It is in this way fl W f T- "' '*' '"'"'''' '"■""^ fr"-" "' the daily de^ wiU, the conscouBness of sin unconfessed upon him And hi'! , I '■" f^y^-ti""^' comes, but lift up your as ejaculatorv prayer to God is not consistent with your ■ ^r *1 ""^ '° " '•'e'-' '*^*- ^ith God i you arc far yZm^"'' "' "'^^^''P- ^-' "•; 'holing: ^ out the . : *'^- ^ '' '^ ™""«'' f» »■« to breathe out the Wish of my soul in ejaculatory p^yer to God ju.t so soon as I am conscious of sin. I LLi .ht S but not so near that He will not draw .ue nearer So He comes and oijers Himself to us. to-aigh, to Z^ Z ^h m! ? • . ^ """''' "^ ^^"^ *^ ^-* Thy feet M^h h^W tears, and wipe Them with the hairs of my oeaa , dost Ihou wash mv fef^t, ? " r «rv, xi 1.1- I -^ '^ • ^ s-tti sure therp a 10 denied fhee, this day I have forgotten Thee." I am sure he e are others would say. "Lord God, this holy temp of hme m which Thou dost condescend to dwell I have dehled. I have defiled the temple of the Holy Ghost by vie s,n. dost Thou wa«h my feet ? " And methinks the,^ are some othe.. who say, "Pans,, yet again, good Sr^' Look at my feet, they are not the' feet of youth, I have fi'J 144 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. i spent the best years of my life in self-service, and Lord, these feet of mine are now worn out with age, wilt Thou take and wash such feet as these ; such feet with little more strength or power ? " And the Lord says to each one — Oh, brethren dear, I would have you hear His voice —the solemn words, " If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me." Oh, I am convinced to-night that in each one of our consciences there is this certainty— that there is in each one of us something low. Let me describe it as illustrated here by the feet—the lowest part of the man . —who does not know there is something low, something bad, something vile above the common vileness, deep down in his being. I am conscious of some temptation that drags me down, some terrible sin that already again and again and again has led me captive. Bring that to Christ to-night, it is thy foot. Christ will wash this lowest part of thee. But, oh, I do feel— God is my wit- ness I feel the urgency of Christ's word., To-night has He said, " If I wash not that lowest part of thee, thou hast no part with Me." Young man, keep back no comer of your heart from God. Oh, soul, keep back no single in- terest of thy life from God, for down in the depths of thy being Jesus Christ demands to be allowed to wash thee. After a time of great trial, Luther tells us he was seeking rest in sleep, and he saw, as sleep came to him, in his dream, he saw Satan standing at the foot of his bed. And Satan jeeringly said to him, " Martin, thou art a pretty Christian. Hast thou got the impudence to as- sume that thou art a Christian ? " " Yes," said Martin WHAT IS HOLINESS ? 145 " I am a Christian, Satan, because Christ has allowed me, as any sinner may, to come to Him." " What," said Satan,' " thou a Christian ? Thou art a pretty Christian, Martin, see what thou hast done !" And Satan took a roll, and began to unroll it, and there, at its head, Martin Luther saw some sins set down that had passed away into the dim distance of childhood; he had forgotten them. Martin shrank as it struck his sight, but the roll was un- rolled, leaf after leaf, foot after foot, and to his horror he saw sin after sin he never knew anything about at all, written down there, complete in every detail, an awful list, and in his dreams, he says, the sweat of mortal agony stood on his brow. He thought, « In truth, Satan has got right on his side— can such a sinner as this be just with God ? " He said, « Unroll it, unroll it," and Satan jeeringly unrolled it, and Luther thought it would never end. At last he came nearly to the end, and in desperation he cried, "Let us see the end." But as the last foot of the paper rolled out he caught sight of some writing, red as blood, at the foot, and his eye caught the words, "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleansed us from all sin," and the vision of Satan floated away, and Luther says he went to sleep. Ah, yes, dear friends, that is it— the Saviour ever deigns to wash away even the unknown defilements of His child's soul— the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. I have kept you nearly long enough, but if you will suffer me for a mnnnfinf nv i.wn rn'^rp qo T par'•^'^^ '- refer to the subject. What is it that keeps us back from J 146 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. holiness ? Big things, many ; smaller things, more. If I was to go round, and take a census of this congregatioii to-night, while I should find probably some scores of young men, and a score of young women, who have been kept back from Christ by open sin, I should find hun- dreds who have been kept back from Jesus Christ by little sms. I should find hundreds of Christians whose useful- ness is completely destroyed, not by great vilenesses, but by little sins. Let me address one word to you, and for- give me if I raise a smile. I remember being very much amused in Philadelphia, by hearing a little fellow, who was speaking to his mother about these things. She was reading to him, in some chapter of the Bible, about Satan, and the little fellow said, " Mother, I think if I saw the big devil I should be airaid, but if I saw a little devil I would knock the stuflSng out of him." Pardon me, I have got a point, it is this— there are large sins which we all see the need of conquering, but there are small sins which we turn careless ear to, because we think we can conquer them whenever we choose. White ants will eat a carcase clean sooner than a lion. I tell you it is these small sins that eat away the very heart of our Christian life. Beware of these little inconsistencies ; these small, white lies, these little trifling acts, these little words spoken almost before we know — ah, dear friends, it is these little things that kill others, and kill ourselves. I pray you think no sin too little to come in very humble confession to Jesus Christ about, for, mark you, this holi- ness is something which if a man has not got, he cannot WHAT IS HOLINESS ? 9, more. If I congregatioii •me scores of ho have been lid find hun- hrist by little vhose useful- ilenesses, but you, and for- g very much fellow, who »s. She was about Satan, if I saw the little devil I ardon me, I ns which we e small sins hink we can mts will eat u it is these iir Christian these small, little words riends, it is urselves. I ery humble u, this holi- ^, he cannot 147 iW ? ^"'^ ^ ^' ""^^y ^*^ *^« '^'^Sht solemnly impressed upon your minds-he cannot see the Lord It - proof he is not God's child, if he i. not holy It' is a proof he ha. not known the new birth, if hi do not evmce.t bythenewHfe. We want this holiness ts^Tk or Chnst. I beg and pray you go home and think, "Has there been holiness in my drawing-room on tha day when my v.sito. called." Is there "Holiness to the thetalkT r''^'^^^"^ I don't ask whethe the talk there is about Christ; I don't a.sk whether the question there is whether high n. ,^ ehurcht most de sirable Idon't ask whethe talk runs about what good this or that minister has done>-I tell you peopllge sick of hearing that repeated; it is just as senses I whos engaged to who. Let us see traced in your d"Iw mg-rooms, " HoUness to the Lord." Is the holiness of your life seen in your family is it seen in your stores, behind your counter ? I asktLf your home now You come here aad make a great pro fession. I want to a.k you this^o you think Tf tho" young people under your charge, as Christ regards men Have you a Christ-like spirit towards them ? I TaJ thing ,3 just useless; we want to do what Christ did- W ' Jl"'."' '^'^ ^"^ *^^^ -^ ^- -ul through his body Why, ,, i3 , ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^ gh his andstaiid here every Sunday morning, I have 5ot t^ speak to scores of vmjr.,. j^^^ L. ^ ^' _^® ^^^ ^ ^ --j.,g m^x. and women, and I have got 148 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. opposed to my words the lif^-long, the week-long incon- sistencies of their employer^, who are members of this church, and deacons of that. You may be a religious man, but your religion does not appear in your business. Why, I have known men who would give fifty thousand dollars to a church, and yet these very men have re- fused to give the young people in their stores seats to sit down, and kept girls standing up behind their counters from nine in the morning till ten at night because they thought they were a little smarter by it. It is time to recognise such glaring inconsistencies in the lives of pro- fessing Christians. What do you expect ? You take young men or young women ; you keep them six days out of the seven at the counter from eight in the morning till nine or ten at night, and then you lift up holy hands in pious horror because they go to the devil on Sunday. What do you call that? Is that the way Christ took care of people's souls ? Such things are a shame. Let us commend the religion of Jesus Christ, if we have got nothing of it, to others, then, by a consistent life. Sister, you commend the religion of Jesus Christ to your brother at home, who thinks religion is only fit for women and girls ; you prove to him it can change a girl. And mothers, prove to your husbands and children at home the reality of your religion; prove it to your friends, who think there is a certain twang of profession- alism about all we say, and who think we preach and pray Et to meas- itrength of Eisure God of faith is describes, guilt and iefilement, 3 by, they jy caD do. sees Him and then sate, very js (verses don't be- T at your fore you. I of God. }d in this m laugh- ider your ihem up ; of faith, on your ling, but ' feeling, me men to him, LIVING BY FAITH. 159 " You've a good Father ; He prays for you, He watches over you, and lives for you, indeed His whole being is wrapped up in you." " Oh !" replies the youth, " I think the only good of a father is to pay a man's debts." Many think of God like that. The Word of God gathers the light from many parts, and causes all truths to focus on one point, which is, that a saved man enters into the relation of a child with God. Very reverently, and very humbly, I say tnat it is my Father's business to lead me, my Father's business to feed me, to teach me, to guide me, to command me. My bus- iness is to obey, to learn, to be guided by Him. Am I to say that all my Father is to do for me is to forgive me ? It is a blessed thing to know that iniquity is covered, and that sins are forgiven; but it is far better to look up and say, heaven and earth may pass away, but God's Word shall never fail ; and I can look into my Father's face and say. He has forgiven me, I know ; but more than that. He keeps me and does everything for me. I am saved, not because I feel I am God's child, but because I believe it ; not because I love Him, but because He first loved me. Feeling or no feeling, God says to those that believe, now are ye the sons of God. In the daily needs of our spiri- tual life, God keeps us dependent on Himself. In the cxxi. Psalm, God uses the word keep five times. Read Psalm cxx. 1. David did not feel very well there, for he wanted help badly ; but in the time of distress he lifted up — ^.j^y:, uiiiK/ uHu iiuiix — iiiK u^uH noD nis neart, that may have felt like lead or stone. In Psalm cxxii. 2, see the 160 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. IM language of faith; when our feet stand there we shall go out no more, and we shall need keeping then. I trust God for my soul's salvation, not because I feel, but because God is worthy of trust ; I trust Him for my daily salva- tion, not because I feel, but because I am His child. But I am so sinful, some one says ; I yield to sin so often. Your boy is your boy still, even if he is disobedient, is he not ? Sin in a son is far more grievous than in your ser- vant, of course, and it is very sad to grieve our Father ; but even sin itself can't separate us from Him. We have seen, first, that life is by faith and not by feeling ; second, thjat the sustenance of life is by faith and not by feeling. Now look at the practical side of the matter, 2 Cor. v. 7 ; " Walk by faith and not by sight," or appearance. Walk ! Ah, with many the feet are not in good order. They have clear heads, and waim hearts too, but where are the ready feet ? J' is easy to sit and hear, and to kneel and pray on Thursday night, but surely you ought to walk worthy of it on Friday morn- ing. Walk worthy of Christ at home, walk worthy of Christ abroad. Taking in is all very well, but there ought to be going out also. Don't talk about the preacher; don't discuss other people's failings ; go and let the Hght shine yourself, and then you'll find out how the gusts cause the feeble flame to flicker. Life should be a continuous march. Some seem always to want two or three people to prop them up and let them lean upon them. Ah, friends, learn to lean upon the great source of strength which neither ebbs we shall go I trust God ut because laily salva- jhild. in so often, dient, is he n your ser- ur Father ; • -nd not by T faith and nde of the by sight," are not in im hearts to sit and night, but day morn- worthy of but there suss other irself, and eble flame jh. Some prop them s, learn to ither ebbs LIVING BY FAITH. 161 nor flows. Your feelings are here to-day and gone to- morrow, but there is just as much strength and faithful- ness in Jesus in the dark days as there is in the bright ones. ° We are not only to walk, but to work by faith. Turn with me to a page in our blessed Lord's life. Chorazin and Bethsaida, where so many mighty works had been done, had only brought His doom upon themselves John, who had cried, "Behold the Lamb" would cry " Behold the Lamb " no more ; the fearless voice of a fear- less man was hushed in death. His own had turned against their Lord. Jesus saw all His teachings abso- lutely futile ; yet He can say " I thank thee, Father," and m the parallel passage in Luke x. 21 ; it is put more strongly: "Jesus rejoiced in spirit." His eyes took a wider flight and saw beyond a great future of glorious fulfilment. Our Lord Jesus Christ worked by faith and not by sight. Look at Maik xi. II ; ■' When Jesus had looked round about Vi.on aU things." Compare this with John ii 14 16. That was just one year before, and now when he comes into the Temple He finds just the same sordid crew as He did a year before. Now all his work is nearly over; His hfe is nearly spent-what is there to show for it ? Twelve men. who in twelve hours would turn their backs on Christ. What utter desolation must have swept over the soul of Christ when he looked rn„nH aua cried, "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would K 162 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. n 1 Kit n r: I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not." Turn again with me to Mark xi., and read verse 22. Let Israel go wrong, let Chorazin be thrust down, let the quenchless soul of the Baptist be sent to God, let the dis- ciples fail to follow, yet from the ^ips of Emmanuel we hear ; " Have faith in God." Not in meetings, not in a preacher, not in prayers, not in feelings, not even in your conversion, bvt have faith in Ood. I have all the ground for a life-long repose in this one word of Christ. Lord teach us to have faith in God ; this will carry us safely through every trouble. Are you cast down about your life work ? Oh look at these pages in our Lord's life and go forward bravely. I remember having a little piece of ground given to me in the old garden at home and plant- ing a row of peas ; but I grew so impatient about their coming up that I turned up the earth to see if they were growing, and it did not improve them. So many are always looking to see how their feelings are getting on, and it does not improve their growth. " I could do grand things," says one, " if only I felt up to it." How few of God'j servants did feel up to the work God gave them to do. Moses didn't feel up to it when God sent him to rescue his people from bondage. Gideon did not feel up to it when sent to deliver Israel, but God gave him strength Jonah felt so little up to it that he ran away, but, thank God, he was sent back. Look at Gethsemane, and hear our blessed Saviour say, ■ xi ill uu puasiuio io6 luio yju.^ p»3d Hum lutj. <;eBUS oia i THE FIGHT OF FAITH. gathereth t." [ verse 22. v^n, let the et the dis- Qanuel we s, not in a in in your he ground ist. Lord us safely bout your 's life and ie piece of Lnd plant- )out their bhey were many are etting on, ' I felt up up to the 1 up to it bondage. rer Israel, e up to it ent back, (dour say, Jesus did 163 not feel up to it, very reverently I say it, and yet He drank it for you and for me. Have faith in God. All earth's great men have lived by faith and not by feelmg. Columbus said. "I believe there is another world ; I cannot say I see it." And he sailed out beyond the settmg sun and reached the unseen land. I believe there is a world which I cannot see, a fairer world than this, and therefore I wiU not be content to grind on arid on in earth's weary treadmill, but I w'U set sail for the new world where so many true men have gone before Look to Christ in simple child-lik^ faith, hold up your hand for Jesus. THE FIGHT OF FAITH. " Work while it is day."— John ix. 4. The unbelieving Jews had just taken up stones to stone Christ, and, a^ He thinks of the need of souls that could act m such away. He says, I must work while it is day. There is a necessity. Angels would not have dared to say " Thou must " to the Son of God ; we would not have ventured to use the word, but Jesus says " I must " This necegsity strikes at the root of one of the greatest curses of this nmeteenth century, and that is moderation in the vntng place. Moderation in the right place and towards the right people is well, but there is a ^eat deal of l,n^_ tul moderation. A man says I am moderate in my 164 SERMONS AND ^IBLE READINGS. I^H«l pleasures, I am moderate in my business (not many can say that), I am moderate in my appetite, and, therefore, I have a right to be moderate in my religion. No, friend, you aie wrong in your reasoning. Pleasure, business, ap- petite, last only a moderate time ; they yieM only a moderate reward, and can be obtained by moderate toii. If you saw one you loved standing on the brink of ruin, would you not make ioir>ro than a modera te effort to save them, and if saved you woulc:? sperienee more than a moderate joy, would you not ? Bonir lost for eternity, souls are in awful danger, souls c.^r-.>i be easily won,' and so Christ says, " I must vvork. Let us rise a step higivcF as we look at this subject. If moderation had ruled in tlie councils of the Most High, would He have given His only begotten Son up to the death for us ? And if He had spartf! Him where- would have been the Gos- pel which we prejich to-day ? Had moderation guided the conduct of those who first preached that Gospel- men whose chamber of ease was the dungeon, who en- dured cruel mockings, who wandered about destitute, af- flicted, tormented ; who sacrificed everything in order that, in spite of spite, they might save men from self and hell— had they been governed by moderation, where would the Church of Christ be to-day ? God asked for iuore than moderate service when Jesus says " I must work." Beware lest this moderation course of yours end in a;n immoderate sleep and an immoderate spirit of laa- ness. Give up for ever the idea of moderafion in Christ's service. The hearts of men are more t . t moderately ^ many can lerefore, I o, friend, dness, ap- d only a Jiate toil, k of ruin, i. to save e than a eternity, ily won, ie a step tion had He have IS ? And the Gos- i guided jospel — who en- tute, af- in order self and where iked for I must urs end of lazi- Christ's lerately THE FIGHT OF FAITH. 165 I W The era of sin are more than modemtely great I iie dai.^w la .olved is more than moderately reaj The reward promised is more than moderately glorious. The rest that remaineth is more than moderately long tt aven ha. nothing moderate about it, and hell is not even mode rately comfortable, if the words of Jesus Christ are the truth. Look at the cros,s of Christ from what standpoint you may, there is nothing moderate about it ; and look at sin from any point you like, there is nothing moderate about It. And the time is short, oh, so short, therefore I m«s< work Looking up into God's face say. Lord, teach me that /must work. There can be no substitution in this warfare An odd guinea given to the missions won't do my work for me. I, with my own hand, my own brain, with my own heart, with the purpose of the immortal will with which Thou hast endowed me, will work while I tZ T "°\'"«'-^ly''° ""'^rd fight, it has to be waged within also. My weapons must be dii^cted against this vile flesh a« weli as against the mighty powers which con- verge against the Church of Christ. In view of this stu- pendous conflict. I fear that men who expect to step out of their uxurious chambers of ea.e and meet the King's smue. will find, ^hen too late, that they have deceived themselves. We have spoken of the necessity for work thus far, now ;^^«s look at the time when it is to be accomplished. Whde It IS day." And do you call this day ? I hear some one ask. It seems more like a dim twilight. These 166 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. II' I III! mingled lights and shades, these sobs which interrupt our songs— surely the minor keys of earth predominate in the great chorus which goes up to God. Still, earth must know a darker time yet. It is always through dark to light, through pain to life. Many relieve their con- sciences by saying, I can't do anything ; what am I among so many ? A Christian who speaks or acts like that fitly carries out the devil's plans. Others say they are so sen- sitive, that hinders them from working. Have you not prayed for more of Christ's love in your heart ? God answers this prayer by giving you some little touches of the pain that shot through the heart of Christ. We are not sent into the world to dance, like a butterfly down a sunbeam. As Christ is, so are we in this world. The Christian is to take up Christ's position and Christ's work. The sob of sin which greets our ears must cause sorrow. The mighty scene of sin and responsibility around us presses us on, not with fitful starts— a run to-day and a crawl to-morrow— but on and on, and up and up, till our feet stand within the gates of the New Jerusalejn. Time is short— only a day. Did Christ say so ? His being was from all eternity, and yet He pressed on, because the time was so short ; and we, who have only a day to work in, what shall we say ? We want men and women to take up work for Christ and make it the object of their life, to carry it into their business and into their pleasures. We don't want amateur Christians, mere triflers. We must make Christ's work the great fact of life. God has given me a work to do, and if I am not quick it won't be done. THE FIGHT OF FAITH. 167 BiTupt our ate in the irth must h dark to heir con- 1 1 among that fitly -re 80 sen- you not rt? God 3uches of We are y down a dd. The gt's work. 3 sorrow, round us ay and a ), till our n. Time •eing was ! the time work in, L to take ir life, to 'es. We V^e must as given be done. What sort of work does God demand ? First let me tell you that if you are to succeed you must make up your mind to subordinate yourself to your work. Myself and my feelings must give in before the work of God. Jesus did this when He endured the cross, despising the shame. I sometimes hear excuses such as these : " I don't like to speak to people about the value of their souls, because they may not like it." and " I'm not sure that I'd like it myself." So many Christians clothe themselves in an impenetrable armour, not of God, but of self-made pru- dence. They don't get hurt themselves, and they never spoil the devil's plans. Am I to wrap myself up with care as il' I were the most precious jewel ? Souls I may be lost, but I must not be inconvenienced. In God's holy sight, a man must be willing to make himself a fool for Christ's sake, if by any means he can save a soul. If we desire to know the reality of the sweet power of CLnst's constraining love, we must count all things else but loss for the excellency of such knowledge. I asked an officer who had taken part in the charge at Balaklava, how did you know where to lead your men. amid such a scene ? « I marked," he replied, « a gun a i.xle off, and I led my men straight for the flash ! " Is there not some- thing within or without us which flashes destruction on the cause of Christ ? Whatever it is, ride straight for that ! Trust God to provide your armour, and only fol- low His commands ; be ready t^. d> God's bidding, and put self down. Dear reader, I wonder how you feel as you come to the ..•vt. 168 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. end of one most imperfect account of tl^ . ^f.i irinu ..ermon ? We only wish-oh, how we wish!-.ve couid impart to the written words some of the pov.>r that accompanied them when spoken. We know that we left the church feehng that by God's help from that Sunday morning -^ too must work the works of Him who has graciously con- descended to send even us on His messages. We hope now to move about the world, however quiet a comer of It God may have put us in, oaly and eveiy where in the character of ambassadors for Christ. Dear reader, it is a great honour; but if you are a Christian, we ask you to share in it. May the dear Lord help us to walk worthy ot our high vocation. 1 I FAREWELL WORDS. If my dear friend and brother, Mr. TiUey, found it so aard to greet you, dear friends, how much h der i^ast I ,' ,d It to bid you good-bye. I can only say that from the day in which, ^uch to mv astonishment, your dear brother-and I thi:,k I may call him mmealso-the Dean, very eamestlyasked me to take his place here for three months, I have never cea. i to thank God that He so led me to do. I fed that, M miey has said, my coming was Ood's plan. It cen.inlv was not my own, for wi.en I came to London, I had no idea OT onmittrr 4-f>. 'v^^. z- tti .1 . _ " " "'° "-^ ^<>^-"to. j^ or mis reason, 1 say, my stay P4BEWE1I, WORDS. It' j^erinon ? 169 here for three month, h^, been God's plan, and not mine, ftmll do thank H.m. and would give Him all the glory that so many „f us are hero to night, to praise Him that He ha^ chosen to speak to us by a man's voiee. I go away with this source of comfort and rest. I know, that as far as man can arrange it, you are in good hands. It is poor work for one man io seek to .say things of another that he does not fully fed, and I do not add a word of this to Tdley, that I believe, in my heart of hearts, he is Gods servant, God s ambassador in the right place, and I believe It in His great mercy, my Lord should allow me .some time henee, to see you af^ain, you will be as willing to confirm the .-uttement as I a. now to make U. As far a^ anyone can rest in leaving tK , who in the bonds of the Gospel are dear to him, in the b -ds of those who are fit to look after them, I do, knowi .g that Mr. Tilley will come here and be your permanent minis, I asked to be aUowed to speak lasi to-night, not that I was afraid my good friend Mr. Gamble would contradict what I , aid-but it is pleasant to have the last word, and I would just again lay stress on what your future minister ha, said. If Paul, as we read together not long a^o, saw fit to ca i on the young and ignorant Christians of a weak church, tK. pr..y for him that hi. message might be uttered with great plainness of speech, an.l great boldness of heart oh don't we need to cast ourselves on your prayers too' Dear iriends. rprnprnhoT. a^^A 1,0,. .-^ . ...^^, ^^aa givexi you « work fo cany on m Toronto- nloase do not talk about my work, 170 8EIIM0NS AND BIBLE READINGS, ^M (III 1.1 ' I '' 1 ! or any other man's work, but remember God has given us ' all a work to do, in which work each une has a part, and as Mr, Tilley has said, your work is this, to pray to God constantly — bearing up your minister's hands — that with more plainness of speech, more wisdom, more love, and more carelessness of man's approval or disapproval, he may preach the Gospel as he has received it from his God, Then you will find that my dear brother'H ministry among you will be blessed and fruitful ; but oh, friends, remem- ber — remember how weak we men are ; remember that the Spirit of God comes as the wind, and as the wind passes away, and therefore it behoves us, each one to bear his brother up, day after day, before the Lord in prayer. I believe most heartily it is because thousands have been praying for us at this time, that we have received the great blessing we have had. As far as I know I have preached somewhat the same truth in other places, and have not seen anything like the same results. It is just because more of God's people have been praying for God's blessing. Then, let us now pray as He has been so good to us in the past, to prove Him, and, as it were, use the child's argu- ment that comes to its mother and says : " Mother, give me what I want to-day, because you gave me what I wanted yesterday." Do let us plead with our God, for you know, the work of Christ must not cease. Now I press my next point : you must not think the work of Christ ceases because its erojcth sometimes varies. It would not be good for us to go on having the crowds we had last ni ht, or have had on Thursday eveninij[s. It FAREWKLL W0RD8. 171 s given us part, and ay to Qod -thai with love, and Droval, he n his God. iry among s, remem- mber that the wind ne to bear in prayer. Iiave been the great preached have not it because J blessing. ) us in the Id's argu- ther, give le what I d, for you bhink the les varies.- le crowds Qings. It would not be well for some souls were anybody to step in and try to carry on those Thursday evening meetings. What we want is to get right down to God's word, and there, from the fountain head itself, each day i*eceive our supply. God will bless us through other channels. As we thank Him for what He has done in the past, let us not forget God may work with different means in the future, and relying on His promise, our life motto should ever be this — Have 1 got joy to-day? God is able to give me more joy to-morrow. Have I got Christ's peace to-day ? God is able to deepen that peace to-morrow. Have I got the sense of Christ's presence to-night ? Next day may see me yet more conscious of His presence. And now my dear friends, I want to say one word to the elderly Christians here. You have got work to do ; a work, the responsibility of which you may not quite recognise. You have got now to take the weak lambs of God's flock by the hand, and by your more sufficient wis- dom, and by what ought to be in you — a large measure of God's flock by the hand, and by your more sufficient wisdom, and by what ought to be in you — a larger measure of God's spirit — ^you have got to lead them on. Remember this — if people have reason to say that many, many of these young people go back, it will be because the old people did not look after them as they ought to have done. If there is a large proportion of — — — "— ..—*»- ............. ^^ , ...v.^_. 1....... T ^/^t vriv^ .tjv"»'^ vn^»,^^?C?, tt xiv don't bring forth much fruit for Him, the fault is to be laid on those who have sought to pass over their respon- 172 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. I; :] r»!:*i.^P^i A . '^j^ sibilities to others, and have not done the work which. God has given them to do. Oh, let us help each other along. Oh, dear friends, you cannot tell, as you may seek to speak a word for Jesus, how it may help some other young man or woman, near by, who knew he ought to have spoken ; you cannot tell how, when tiying to lift some poor soul out of difficulty, your example may impel another mere witness of the effort to go and do likewise ; you cannot tell how we are bound together now, members of one another. One thought I feel God would have pre- sent in your mind, it is this— let us endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in all things. There is a closeness, there is a real union in our loving one Lord, and being filled by one spirit— the meeting to-night is a witness of it. I am quite sure there are scores of young people — and som-^ old people too, who would not have cared four or five months ago to attend a meeting like this. Let us prove to the world that the unity of God's spirit is not a sham : that we feel an interest in all who love the Lord Jesus Christ, and will make it ours to help them on. I have tried to say what I ought to say to you from the pulpit, and now, my dear friends, I must say one word about the very great— the deep pleasure— the deep joy and happiness God has given me, in working among you. God knows I speak the truth when I say I cannot express how very, very deeply I have felt the unmerited kindness of many of you. Have you been conscious that there has been a great deal of self in any act ?— you have FAREWELL WORDS. 173 -^ork which each other 11 may seek 5ome other 3 ought to ying to lift may impel ► likewise ; r, members i have pre- ir to keep I closeness, and being witness of J people — cared four s. rod's spirit who love 's to help you from b say one -the deep ig among I cannot inmerited jious that you have condoned it--you have forgiven what wa^ bad, and accep - ted .diat has been good. I bend before God, thank Him that He has condescended to use such a humble instru- ment. But, dear friends, I feel that before some of you there may have been acts of inconsistency. There may have been much that I myself am not aware of, and I do ask you, for the Lord Jesus' sake, to put down all that has been wrong to me— and what has been of Christ thank God for it and not me. Dear friends, anything that I may have said hastily, or anything I may have said untruly, you will pardon ;,but what has been accord- ing to God's holy word, I ask God the Holy Ghost to cause you to remember. Your own personal kindness, and the kind tribute speaking of it which I received to- day, I cannot speak about. I thank you with all my heart. It did not require those names in the Bible, or the portraits of those very dear to me in the album, to make me remember their faces, for those I would never forget. All I would do is once again to thank you for all your kindness, and ask you-nay, I do not think it necessaiy to ask you to do for me what I should do for you— remember me before the throne. I am more and more convinced that the time may be near at hand when we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ; God teach us each one to live with that day before our eyes, and meantime let us remember: " Jesus on Thee our hope depends To lead us on to Thine abode, amends For all the trials of the road. » 174 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. They are not great, and if some of us think they are great — dear friends, remember God is able to give you a ton of glory for an ounce of trial. God teach us to be open. I have tried to get people to speak out ope;nly for Christ. Every day I feel more and more the need, nay the vital importance, of outspokenness for Jesus Christ ; therefore, once again, for the last time among you, I would beg and pray every young Christian to burn the bridge behind him, by openly confessing faith in Jesus Christ crucified. I tell you friends, you cannot lock hands with the world and with Christ at the same time. Then let us do as He bids us, and yield ourselves to Him. II EASTER SUNDAY. Easter morn arose, not as we love to think of it, bright and sunny, the t3rpe of the gladness in the heart of every Christian. It was rather a gloomj'^ morning ; but come with us to the Cathedral and hear the words we heard, and you will say as we did, truly the Sun of Righteous- ness has risen, with light and healing and joy to shine upon us. In Eph. v. 23, we read, " Christ is the Head of the Church and He is the Saviour of the body." The last clause means that he is the Saviour of the Church, the true concourse of all true believers, all who are marked with Christ's blood, and indwelt by the Spirit of Christ. I do not intend to prove the truth of the Resurrection this EASTER SUNDAY. 175 ak they are give you a ich us to be t ope;rily for le need, nay esus Christ ; you, I would L the bridge Fes us Christ hands with e. Then let im. of it, bright )art of every r ; but come ds we heard, E Righteous- joy to shine the Head of y." The last Church, the are marked it of Christ, irrection this morning, though 'twere easily done, and though if we let go the Resurrection we knock the key-stone out of the Gospel arch. I will rather pass on and speak of the glorious lessons the Resurrection teaches us. Christ is the Head of the Church. God has stooped to ally Himself with man, the creature of a day. It is not only that Christ says to us, " I give you commands," " I give you counsel," " I give you help." Not simply that the God- man makes overtures to men. No, it is higher than this. He bows from out of the heights of glory, not only to whisper words of comfort, but to ally Himself with men. It is like the general coming down from his vantage- grounl and throwing himself into the fore-front of the ranks, putting his hands upon his fellow-soldier's shoul- ders, and saying, " I come to fight, to live, to conquer, or, if it must be so, to lie dead on the field beside you. Not to help, not to encourage, not to strengthen, but to be one with you. If ye fail, I fail with you ; if I rise, ye rise with me;' The very Christ comes into just such an inti- mate position with men. Yea, more than this, Christ is the Head. My head and my hand are not more closely related to each other than Christ and the sinner. Let us look at two points. First, if Christ be the Head, as the head He is dependent on the members. Second, the dependence of the members on Christ the Head, What a wondrous draught of living water is borne to my thirsty soul from the distant country of heaven by such thoughts ! Christ is dependent upon us. From the iips of simple fishermen tiows broad and full the glorious 176 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. river of God's truth. Man's life and God's life meet in one tremendo'\8 Head, — the God-man. Ye who doubt whether the Bible is the word of God or not, stand by the side of the mighty flow of the truth of the eternal God, and tell me could this be forged by a few fishermen ? Christ the Head depends upon the Church, which His members form. He is the Head of the harvest, the first- fruits of the harvest. Do you remember the simple cere- mony of the feast of first-fruits ? The High Priest goes into the holy place, and taking in his hand the first few ears of grain, he waves them before God. It was only one sheaf, yet it spoke to God and men of the great harvest smiling over the land. On the first Easter morning, Christ as the first-fruits of the harvest, went into God, saying, "I am come back from the message on which Thou didst send me ; behold in my hands, my feet, my side, the marks of the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. I come back not as I went, — I return as the representative of the race of lost men." Christ bears to the harvest the same relation as the few ears which Aaron took in his hand, bore to the great harvest waving all over the fertile land of Canaan. What will God's harvest be ? Would you be left out of it ? If the first sheaf was so glorious as John in the Revelation describes it to be, what shall the harvest be ? We are God's great harvest-field. Tlie seed sown are the dead. Oh, hearts, heavy with the sin and sorrow of self, and the sin and cares of others, look up as you think the earth is His field, the dead are His seed, and Jesus is the first- EASTER SUNDAY. 177 oaeet in one bt whether the aide of )d, and tell which His i, the first- Lmple cere- Priest goes le first few ) was only iat harvest morning, into God, '^hich Thou ly side, the ded in the [ went, — I lost men." as the few the great an. What of it ? If !levelation We are the dead. If, and the le earth is the first- fruits. Tell me, would a farmer be content to sow his fields and reap half-an-acre ? Would he be satisfied to reap from such seed one grain ? And shall God be satis- fied with less than man would be satisfied with ? He will have a crop. Having begun the good work, even on the soul. He will carry it on ; and God can't have a first-fruit and not a harvest. A harvest such as shall satisfy the heart of Ch ist for His untold agony must be an abundant one. We are fellow-workers with this triumphant Jehovah. He bids us carry on the work. At one time it seemed to me such an awful thing to think of the thousands of souls passing on to eternity, I felt I dare not undertake th^ responsibility of putting myself in the position of a minister. The words, " He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied" came to my mind, and I thought, the harvest that will satisfy Jesus for sowing in blood, and tears, and agony, will more than satisfy me. Jesus stands in heaven now only m one sheaf, the earnest of the mighty harvest, when He will not be all alone, but surrounded by that glorious gathered crop. More than the Head of the harvest, Christ is the Head of the body. Many a storm we may have to breast, and the stormy waves of this troublesome world may catch our trembling barks in her dripping fingers and toss m radely, but we can't drown as long as our heads are alov e the water. Far aloft, in the calm, safe heaven, thert r Unds our Head, and God won t rest till every member is there also. When the head is above the storm, how can the body go down ? L 178 SEEMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. |i '" And though, like Paul, we may be tossed up and down in Adria, and for many days neither sun nor stars appear, yet every one of Christ's ships shall surely weather the storm and reach the port. As long as the Head is there, if I am only a little finger, I shall be there too, for God won't have in glory a mutilated Christ. Now let us look at the dependence of the members of the Head. If the storms be true, if the rocks be dangerous and the flesh so weak, then life ia no child's play, no toy to trifle with for an hour. Life is earnest, life is real, and we are pilgrims — pilgrims, remember it, — with many weary steps before we reach our land. If the Head need me, I need the Head. I need Him to guide me, to teach me, to make me feel my nothingness and His greatness. Who thinks for the body ? The Head. Who gives commands ? The Head. As the hand obeys the volition of the head, so should I obey Christ. God has only to wish ; I carry oi.it those wishes. Weak, sinful, foolish, with faith waxing faint, yet how can we fail when so bound to Christ, our Head ? He stoops to us this Easter morning, and says, 1 know thee and all thy weakness, and there is my table spread to satisfy your hunger. We, your ministers, are not priests at an altar, but servants to wait at the table. Jesus says to you this morning, " Remember Me," and in so saying. He tells us that it is possible for the members to forget the Head, possible to forget what He has done for them. oj- .- - ■*• »-v,,.^cCV»lrt ! T+ ia .-w.i-\/->/^ +r» v'inn ckTvi Vior TYiTra-=Oi;^-iv : iv ic j^w.-. Iv l^..;-^- -...--v j sometimes, my sins, my weaknesses, my vows ; my pre- ad down in iars appear, v^eather the ad is there. 00, for God let us look sad. If the the flesh so fle with for ire pilgrims steps before I need the Qe, to make Who thinks ands? The he head, so sh ; I carry nt, yet how Head ? He [ know thee le spread to J not priests Jesus says n so saying, jrs to forget Qe for them. .; Ts; my pre- WHAT SHALL 1 DO TO BE SAVED ? 179 sent with its duties and its dangers ; my past, the sin for which He saved me, the slough from which He dragged me ; my future, the day on which from the glory I shall look back on the things of earth, and see how infinitely small they were; but to-day, Jesus says, ''Remember Me. Not my doctrines-oh! how many come to remem- ber that— but Jesus says, " Remember Me." Let every miserable thought of sin and self be swallowed up in the remembrance of Christ himself How many cle for- ward to His table without one thought of Him. If a Ritualist do but bend his knee in some unwonted way If the preacher do but vary in the slighest way from the usual form, they will remember that ; but of Christ there is no remembrance at all. What a mockery of God 1 On this Easter morning take up with glad new hearts our songs of praise, and say to Christ, since Thou didst come so far to be my Head, Thy love and Thy life which triumphed over the dead shall triumph over me, and gladly will I now remember Thee my Head. WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED ? " There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by ni^ht' and said Babbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that T),.„ aoest except God be with him " (John iii. 1 and 2) How many make the mistake Nicodemus made. You come to 180 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. Christ, and you say, " Lord, I want to have you as my Teacher." I cannot tell how it is that all classes of per- sons make just the same mistake. I go, and I meet in one place a rich person, in another place a poor person, in another a wise person, in another an ignorant person, and I find the same mistake expressed in almost the same words by one and all, " Will you tell me what I have got to do — how I have got to feel — in order to be saved ? " This question is based on a wrong idea of the position which the sinner occupies in regard to God. Now Christ does not oflfer himself to me as a teacher, primarily. It is altogether a mistaken view which accepts Christ as a teacher in the first instance. There is a large number of our friends to-day, who seek to erect a certain standard, at which they aim, would have us believe the life of Christ to be an ideal life, and that man is to hinge his hopes of salvation on the amount of conformity which exists in him to this ideal life. He is to be like Christ ; in other words, it is a religion of life and works ; a repetition of the statement of Nicodemus, repeated dogmatically too. " Thou art a teacher come from God, to teach me what to do." Ah, men, it is the old mistake, " What shall we do to work the works of God ? " and all down the ages the voice of Christ is sounding, " Nothing. This is the work of God, that you believe on Me, whom He has sent." I spoke on this subject last night. It is a touchy subject, that subject of righteousness. XT )L 1 r..: J_ T-^iT it in w,-r, fniiT-l- n-n -nni- i aUIi^ iSJiOW, lllUUUo, VVliCuiiCl Ih iB ••^Hj ioiiiiu Vi ixui:, but whenever I try to speak on this subject of righteous- WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAV^ 181 'ou as my ises of per- [ I meet in Dor person, mt person, it the same I have got Q saved ? " he position Jow Christ narily. It ;;)hrist as a number of 1 standard, fe of Christ is hopes of h exists in b; in other petition of itically too. me what to ahall we do ae ages the IS the work ,s sent.*' I shy subject, f righteous- ness, T find several people coming to speak to me next day, who have managed to misunderstand what I have said. I want to be as plain as I can. You say to Christ, " Teach me what I am to do." I want to show you how the Lord God just shivers that idea ; by the grace of God I want that idea to be shivered in your minds. I took last night the two instances which stand out, as it were, in striking relief from the pages of this book, two of the most complete instances that history gives us of man's ability to reach towards a righteousness of his own. I tried to describe to you last night the righteousness of the Pharisee. We saw the Word of God— not my words- put it down as this :— A man pure in life— consistent in act— such as Nicodemus, such as Paul. We look a step further. I brought you into the private closet of a Roman gentleman, and there you saw a man, in the midst of the temptations surrounding a military life, bowed in his closet before God, and the odour of his honest religion spreading itself over his home. We saw Cornelius, a de- vout man— you will remember the words of the verse, " one that feared God, with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway," and yet we saw a messenger, heaven-sent, come to that man and say, " Cornelius, though thine alms have gone up to God, though thy prayers have not been forgotten by God, yet I have a message to bring to you, Cornelius, by which you and your house shall be saved " Before the thou- sands God has laid the responsibility and honour upon me to address, I wish to stand up and sa^, " Brethren, 182 SERMONS AND HIBLE READINGS. you see the righteousness of the Pharisee — of the devout man — was not good enough, so you have got to be better; you see Cornelius was not good enough, you have got to be better. I trust you will go home and do your best to remember God wants not a negative but a positive righte- ousness." If I said, " Go home, dc your best, and so buy your salvation in the end," I doubt if so many would honour me with their attention. I would rather break stones on the road than mock the cravings of im- mortal men with such a painted lie as that. Blessed be God, the almighty arm of His Omnipotence is stretched down to me, and He says, " Everlasting life is the gift of God ; take it, O man. Take th righteousness not of the Pharisee, take the righteousnesi^ not of Cornelius, but of God. Take Christ, and go out to work, go out to live, go out to labour ; yea, and when the time comes lie down to die, and not a cloud shall come to trouble thy peace, for Christ's righteousness covers up thy fears ; Christ's cross has atoned for thy sins, and Christ's own purity is given freely to you. Go and work, because you have got it; don't you see the duty ? I come not to Christ to-night and say, " Rabbi, I know you are a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him ; " but I come to a personal Savi- our, I come to a salvation now, which enables me to stand here, and which will enable you to sit there before you leave this building, saved nn n, and saved women. This is the truth. See the light coming into Cornelius* mind ; he has been praying, his prayer has not given him WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED? 188 the devout o be better; ve got to be ^our best to itive righte- and so buy lany would )uld rather ings of im- Blessed be is stretched 8 the gift of 3s not of the slius, but of it to live, go lie down to y peace, for Ihrist's Cross 'ity is given iiave got it; 'ist to-night come from b thou doest rsonal Savi- ables me to there before ved women. ,0 Cornelius' )t given him peace ; he has been devout, his devotion has not brought him rest ; he has given alms, but he he^ not got satisfac- tion ; he still waits on God. And a messenger comes and says, " Cornelius, your alms, your prayers, your devotion, arc not enough, but One came down whoae devotion was perfect ; One came down who gave Himself as alms ; One came down whose prayer has availed for all sin— His name is called Jesus, for he shall save His people from their sins. Christ has effected the salvation which you aio trying to work out, Cornelius, I speak to you words wereby thou and thy house may be saved." Mother, or father, God speaks to you words to-night which shall so cause your own poor sin-shrivelled heart to expand and blooii. into an eternity of joy, that you will gather your children in your arms, and bring them to Jesus too. Yes, joy to you, and joy to your house too. Not in coming to Christ, and finding in Him a personal Saviour. Oh, don't make this mistake again. Please -on't think that you have got to go home and say your prayers, do your alms, and spread abroad your devotions to save your soul. Ac- cept the fact, God has done that. Accept the fact that Christ has lived, and living as you cannot live, has wrought out a righteousness you cannot purchase, and died a death which has atoned for your sins, and all this living and dying God offers you for nothing. FREE, J^OW, this present moment, and then asks you to go, as the servant goes, to His work. See the mistake Nico- demus made — Thou art a teacher come from God. Is that the Gospel ? No. The Saviour came down, not to teach IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^ /«, 1.0 ^K£ Kf ^^= u> 1^ 1122 I.I I -^ 111^ WUl. IL25 i 1.4 1.6 ^1^ Photographic Sdeices Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. M580 (716) 872-4503 ^ \ 'C^ "iF.. '^^'' 4^0 ^ ^ 184 SERMONS AND BIBLE REiDINOS. "i- me how I may be saved, but to save me first, and then teach me afterwards. My friends, it does seem a wonder- 2vl\ thing that one should have to heg and pray and ex- plain these matters, but to look back into one's own life, one sees how necessary it once was there. How incongru- ous it would be for me to go to a man under sentence of death, and say to him, " You are going to be hanged ; there is no chance of a reprieve, but then, you know, you had better improve the time you have got by learning French." He would say, " Assure me first of pardon, and life, and then, sir, I am willing to study any language you like, or do anything you wish for." And I must thought- fully say to my God who made and saved me, " Lord, first let me know I am saved, and then I will do anything you want," and God does not ask me to say aught else. God wants you to know you are saved now, and then He says, " I will trust you to do what I want." Nicodemus, thou didst make a sad mistake. Not as a teacher, but as a Saviour did that Nazarene stand that night and teach thee. • I will read the next verse, and go on to see what Christ says — He cuts Nicodemus very short — " Jesus an- swered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be bom again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." If ever there was a sudden, I might almost say " shut-up " for a man, Nicodemus got it that night. He comes and pays Christ what he supposes to be a compli- ment. Christ just says, " Look here, Nicodemus, verily, verily, I say unto you, except you are bom again, you It, and then tn a wonder- ray and ex- e's own life, ►w incongru- sentence of be hanged ; 1 know, you by learning pardon, and mguage you jst thought- " Lord, first lything you b else. God len He says, i. Not as a ) stand that o see what -"Jesus an- y unto thee, tie kingdom -> almost say night. He be a compli- mus, verily, again, you WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED ? 185 cannot see the kingdom of heaven." You think I come to teach you ; here is the first lesson you must learn, you have got to leem to be bom. Nicodemus says, " How, what is this? How can that be ? " Methinks I see some people asking pretty much that same question to-night. " How can these things be ?" Mark you, you are just in Nicodemus' position You have been thinking that your learning, your morality, the fulfilment of your whole duty, the fact that vou have been a good daughter, father, mother, or husband, mer- chant or friend, put you in a fair way to enter heaven, but God assures me, if I am not bom again I shall be an exile from glory. If a man once sees the truth of this, he wonders how he ever could have been such a fool a^ to doubt It. If I do not receive from God His own heaven- ly life, I should be an exile in the kingdom of heaven, if I got there. There were other visitors came to Christ There was the poor woman who came and poured the' hot flood of her grief on the dusty feet of Jesus. She wa^ a sinner ; a member of that class which our modern civi- lization makes, and then so barbarously treats ; to whom those who bear the name of Christ are so hard. He did not tum round to her and say, " Woman, you have got to be bom again." The publican came and said, " Lord God, though others tum me out, though I have been what they say, I feel within me new the pricking, and stinging, and working of the new life." He did not say to him. " You have cmt fr> hp. hr^t^ »/y«?n " P-^^ — i - iv o- — -..X «^m. ijuL vviiuii the upright man came, trusting to his uprightness— the pray- . 186 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. ing man came, trusting to his prayers — the working man in his works — the moral man in his morality — the Bible student trusting in his Bible — the Son of God plainly tella them, " You have got to be born again." Thy soul has got to bow down before the feet of its Creator, and admit the fact that from head to heel it is naught but a mass of leprous sin. Oh, pardon the earnestness with which I seek to drive t'lese truths home. Have you ever come to God ? Think not you do a good work by coming to hear me. Man, if you come and listen to this truth, and reject it, you are putting a blacker seal to your condemnation. If you come — come casting aside that miserable pride and cut- ting away that abominable shame which keeps us dov/n, and say, " Oh, Lord God, I am not born again, I have not undergone this change, I want to serve Thee, I will not take Thee as my teacher, but I bow to Thee as my Sa- viour, oh, my God ! " I pass on rapidly now to the close of the chapter, and here a most remarkable thing takes place. Dear friends, I confess to you I never understood the meaning of this third chapter of John till I grasped the thought I want now to bring clearly before you. Remember that up to the end of the 13th verse, Christ talks to Nicodemus as plainly as He can, but Nicodemus misapprehends the drift of the Lord's discourse. Then what does Christ do ? What we try to do — He chooses on illustration. The biassed Lord recalls the shadows of the past to illustrate the realities of the present. He says— Nicodemus, you I working man ity — the Bible f God plainly n." Thy soul 8 Creator, and naught but a seek to drive .God? Think r me. Man, if ect it, you are ition. If you pride and cut- ceeps us dov/n, ain, I have not hiee, I will not [lee as my Sa- le chapter, and Dear friends, Leaning of this bought I want ber that up to Nicodemus as pprehenda the loes Christ do ? istration. The ist to illustrate Nicodemus, you WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED? 187 don't understand what I say, you know not what this new birth is ; you don't know what this new life is ; and don't comprehend that it is for you, as a lost sinner, to bow before me whom you call " Rabbi." I will illustrate this to you. Do you remember an incident which took place in the history of our nation ? You will remember that the camp of the Israelites was scourged with fiery serpents in the wilderness. You will remember that all hope'fled, and that death and despair seemed to reign unchecked in the camp of rebellious Israel. Men were bitten and men were dying on all sides ; men old and young, small and great, rich and poor, child and parent, smitten with the drctad scourge of death. Now mark this— I force home this illustration to-night with the very greatest earnest- ness for this reason— it is Christ's own illustration. I have P. right to, because it is Christ's. I cannot make a mist^ for Christ gives it to us. Here I have got Jod's own word for saying that th\j position of Nicodemus was exactly illustrated by this old story of the fiery serpents, and God gives me this message as His own word to my soul. I have got this warrant to-night for declaring that Christ himself says that the old story of the serpent in the wilderness is the exact picture of the work Christ wrought on the true cross— Christ's own illustration! Christ says, " Nicodemus, I want to show you the reality of the cross and the mystery of my life ; I want to show you the mystery of my death. You cannot understand I my words, so I give you an illustration." So all the truth of the third chapter of John is fitly set forth hy the illu^- 188 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINGS. tration Christ Himself has chosen. Mark what follows. Do you mean to tell me that all of us here are one in this matter ? Do you mean to tell us as really as Israel was bitten by the serpents, so are we now bitten by sin, which has its parallel in the serpent's bite ? Christ says, " Even so." Do you mean to tell me that I am in as real danger as was the Israelite when he was bitten by the serpent 1 Christ says, ' Even so." More than that, I ask the ques- tion—do you mean to tell me that as the Israelite was saved I may be saved ? and I hear the voice of God say- ing, " Even so." Do you tell me as quickly as the Israe- lite was saved I may be saved ? Even so. As freely — without paying anything, doing anything, working any- thing ? Even so. Oh, Lord God, teach us to see Thy salvation to-night. Let me look for a moment, let me try to gmsp the reality of this. Oh, immortal men, let us look at that brazen serpent, long thousands of years back, with the eye of the dying Israelite. He looks — nay, he scarcely sees, for the mists of death are already hanging their dark clouds across his eyes. Life has flown ; death is coming on. Oh, sad thing ; he has got to die alone in the wilder- ness, under the scourge of God, and bid good-bye to his wife and children, and leave them to struggle on through those burning sands, through the weary years that are to come ere their feet shall stand in the promised land. Dying, the pulse burning and throbbing with the fever heat of the bite — dying under the curse of God. What then — stop, there is a cry raising from the c^mp. It is caught up by the evening air and swells louder and louder. WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED? 189 what follows, ire one in this as Israel was by sin, which it says, " Even as real danger the serpent ? ask the ques- Israelite was e of God say- T as the Israe- As freely — working any- is to see Thy snt, let me try len, let us look ars back, with ay, he scarcely ing their dark jath is coming in the wilder- ood-bye to his jle on through ars that are to iromised land, v^ith the fever I God. What e camp. Tt is ier and louder. There is a cry, " There is hope ? " and across the clear air of the desert they see a distant speck raised up along the sky line. They see the man of God stand behind this pole, and on it now the sharper eyes can see the twined form of a serpent. They raise up the dying man's head ; they bid him look, and I can just see across the shade of death his eyes catch an indistinct vision of that marvel- lous thing. How, what does he see, what is that ? " Why, that is the thing that bit me." Here is a serpent ; there IS a serpent on a pole. Some years ago, when infidelity was rampant in Manchester under the teaching of Robert Holland, a man I know something of went into one of the Manchester hospitals and found there a poor fellow racked almost to death with inflammatory rheumatism. The man turned on being addressed, and said to my friend, '• My body is in torment, but my soul is in worse. I have tried to believe there was no heaven and no hell ; I tried to believe there was no God, but I could not do it. Now when I come to face death, I feel lonely and lost." The man woke up seemingly still more, and turned to this good man and said, " I have heard men talk and tell stories of men who said that they would be content to lie on coals of fire for years, if they thought that by so lying they might avoid the wrath of God. I thought those stories were only told to frighten women and children. Will you believe, now, sir, a man who thinks he is dying " —the man who heard it said he never could forget the earnestness of the speaker — " I tell you if by Xjin^ on those coals for a hundred years I should know I had 190 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINQS. borne to the utmost tlie due punishment of my sin, I should be glad to begin to-day." This was so shocking, my friend tried to comfort him, but his words seemed as words cast against a hurricane. He took out his Bible, and, at last, in gheer despair he said, " I will leave this Bible with you, for it is God's message of comfort to your soul." Next day, or a day or two after, he came back, and saw the poor fellow had taken the Bible and pinned it against the foot of his bed (he could not hold it to read,) and when this man came in he met him with an awful look and said, "Go away." "Why so?" "You said God loved m^rcy, and I have believed it might be so, and that His mercy could come unto me." He said, " Look here," and read the third chapter of Galatians, tenth verse, " For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them." " What is the mean- ing of your coming to mock a dying man when such things are written in the Book of God ? — ' Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law.' Why," said he, "I have con- tinued in none of them, I am cursed ; you may go away." The good man saw his chance. He said, "I won't leave you my friend ; you cannot put me out, and by the help of God I will never leave your bedside while you have breath, until you allow me to read the thirteenth and next verses down." He read : " Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law." Once again, " Christ of my sin, I so shocking, *ds seemed as out his Bible, ^ill leave this mfort to your le came back, [e and pinned lot hold it to I him with an rso?" "You t might be so, e." He said, of Qalatians, works of the iirsed is every aie written in b is the mean- n when such 'ursed is every Eire written in "I have con- ttay go away." id, "I won't at, and by the lide while you the thirteenth has redeemed gain, " Christ WHAT SHALL I DO IX) BE SAVED? 191 hM redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." " What," said the poor fellow, " is that it-~that He stepped in and took my curse that I might have the blessing ?» " Yes," said the man, " that's just it." He said in all his experience as a missionary of the Gospel he never saw the flood of glory so suffuse a soul, and shine through the eye, as he did in the case of that poor man ; and for ten years he lived to preach the Gospel. Oh God, I would pass to-night the gap of nine- teen centuries to that mighty cross, and see there— what? That which bites me— sin ; what kills me— sin ; what darkens my soul-it is sin. What do 1 see there ? I see sin, cursed— the curse of the just God coming down on sm. God in Christ bearing my blow.' I charge you look at the cross to-night, if you have never looked at it before. Think not these words are the words of man's excite- ment. They are the sober words of God, which must comfort your soul if you are to be saved from hell or go to heaven. Look at the cross, and there you see God's dealing with your sin, and hear the echo of the praises of multitudes of voices thanking Him. " This is enough." God says, "It is enough." The saints say, "It is enough." We preachers of the Gospel say, as long as we have strength and life— If I was never t« be allowed to utter another voice on the earth until I stand before the bar of my Creator, I would cry with all my strength to every man in the congregation, " Brother, stop working and accept God's gift of life, for the cross of Christ is enough— is enough for all the earth— is enough for you." 192 SERMONS AND BIBLE READINQS. Where are you going to meet your God ? Do you ever think of that ? Where are you young people brought up in Christian homes going to meet God — God that speaks to you by your fathc" and mother — meet that God who has spoken with you to-night — where are you going to meet God ? Am I putting off that meeting until the Day of Judgment, when the trumpet calls all the dead forth from the grave — when the throne of the universe shall be His seat — when with a mighty sceptre He shall break in pieces, as the potter breaks the vessel he rejects, in His wrath, all His enemies, and the great white throne is set, and the dead, greia.t and small, stand before the Judge ? Am I then going to draw round me the spotted garment of an earthly righteousness, and begin to talk to God about doing my best when the lie will choke me ? Is that the time I am going to meet my God ? God help the man that puts off meeting God to-day ! No, brother, God sends you a message the last service night of this week — this Friday night, in Toronto. God sends you a message and says, " Meet me at the cross of Christ. There, not hard to meet, a Man is dying, a Man that loves you, and gave up all for you ; meet me at the cross." It is not hard to meet God there. At the cross there is room — room for all. And yet I address hundreds here to-night refusing to meet God at the cross, hundreds who have never thanked God for the cross — ^who have never yet praised God for the crpss of Christ. Will you allow me, as I close to-night, to tell you an in- cident I shall never forget, which happened in my own WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED? 193 life some years ago. It wan my lot to take some largo meetings in the City of Dublin. When I had finished I took the Irish mail boat the night before the great hoi-se race of the Derby to go across to Holyhead. As I step- ped on the deck of the vessel I found quite a number of my old friends, some young men I had not seen for yeai-s —men since meeting whom my life had been considerably altered. A.s the night wore on I got into conversation with many of them about matters pertaining to reli