THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES 41 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. BY Rev. H. M. WHARTON, D.D. Author of " Gospel Talks," "Curse and Chains, 1 &c BALTIMORE: WHARTON, BARRON & CO., No. 10 East Fayette Street. Copyright 1890, By WHARTON, BARRON & CO. PBES3 OP TMl JA9. B. BOOQERS PRINTING CO.. 63 * 64 NORTH SIXTH 6T.. PHILADELPHIA. PKEFAOE. "1 TY " Gospel Talks " have been so kindly received that I venture once again to knock at the door of public favor. If you are fond of variety you will be suited here. The table is spread, the food is nothing extra, but I think you will find it wholesome. So without further ceremony we will ask the Lord's blessing and you may proceed to help yourself. If you do not like one dish try another, and if nothing pleases you, hand the book to your neigh- bor ; for that which one does not fancy may be the very thing that another would like. Sincerely yours, H. M. Wharton. Oo t /CO e CONTENTS. BIOGRAPHICAL : «*°* The Life of Rev. H. M. Wharton, D.D ....... 1 SHORT AND CRISP -. Heart Troubles 16 The Mind Diseased 18 Prayer 22 Shining for Jesus 27 Lessons from the Birds 29 Personal Work 33 Child Faith 37 Backsliders 38 Good Works 39 Trusting Christ 41 Which Side 43 Saved from Drink 47 A Talk to Children 53 A Visit from Jesus . . * 58 Rescuing the Perisiiixg 64 SERMONS : Recognition in Heaven 70 Faith and Works 85 Look- and Live 95 v vi CONTENTS. PAGE The Heavenly Race 102 The Believer's Question 113 The Joyful Sound 126 Our Father's Gift 135 Following Christ 1-41 A Mother's Prayer l' r »0 The Unsearchable Riches 157 LECTURES; The Ups and Downs of Life 171 My Second Trip to Europe 211 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. i. BIOGKAPHICAL. THE LIFE OF REV. II. M. WHARTON, D.D. BY M. B. WUARTON, D.D. HENRY MARVIN WHARTON was born at " Western View," Culpeper County, Virginia, September 11, 1848. He was the son of Malconi IT. and Susan R. Wharton, parents noted for their intelli- gence, piety and influence in the community. He was the youngest of eight children, and as such was the idol of his parents and brothers and sisters. His mother died when he was thirteen years old, and when he most needed a mother's care ; for it was when the storms of ■war were beating in all their fury upon the land, de- stroying home.-: and driving the scattered members of our happy family circles into situations of danger, and often of demoralization and ruin. About the time of his mother's death his father was forced to become a refugee at Amherst Court-House, Virginia, where he would, at least for a time, be secure 1 2 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. from the marauders who had already deprived him of the greater part of his property. The son's education was necessarily neglected, but he was taught at home, and became quite equal in attain- ments to other youths of similar age, when he entered the army, first in the character of dispensary clerk in the hospitals at Lynchburg and afterwards as a soldier. lie continued in the service till he laid down his arms at Appomattox Court-House, the burial-place of the Southern Con i'ederacy. On his return from the war, after acting for a time as depot agent at New Glasgow, he accompanied his bro- ther, Dr. John S. Wharton, to Mexico, coming back at the end of a year broken in health and spirits. He was warmly received by his devoted father, who, in a short while, entered him as a student at Roanoke College, Salem, Va., where he made excellent progress in his studies, and laid the foundation for future useful- ness. Returning home again, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar, before he was of legal age, by a special act. For five years he practiced his profession at Amherst Court-House, Va., and won distinction as an earnest and eloquent pleader. Judge Shelley, of the circuit in which he lived, pronounced him thc^ most promising young lawyer of his age in the State. But it was during this time that he became addicted to the habit of drinking, although he had become a member { of the Episcopal Church, and had even acted occasion- ally in the capacity of lay reader. He was social and \ 7 >V«*- v~ . •> -jr.*- t ^** '* ' * * , 3 a£»£ BIOGRAPHICAL. 6 popular, and became the leading "good fellow" of the place, " practicing," as he said, "at every bar in the town." The writer was pastor at this time of the Walnut Street Baptist Church, in Louisville, Kentucky, and on his summer visits to Virginia it grieved him sorely to find his youngest brother engaged iu those practices which were whitening the head of his venerated father, soon likely to bring him down in sorrow to the grave. The young and erratic barrister was prevailed upon to accompany his brother to Louisville, with the hope that a change of place and associations might result in his reformation, and cause him to lead a new and bet- ter life. His habit of drinking continued for awhile after reaching his Kentucky home ; and he has related to an immense audience in Masonic Temple, Louisville, how on one occasion he was arrested by a policeman, in the dead hours of the night, and kindly conducted, without exposure, to his brother's residence. Soon kind heaven smiled on the efforts for his recov- ery, and he became a true convert. He was baptized by the writer, on a good profession, in the "Walnut Street Baptist Church, in the spring of 1874. At once he gave evidence of an earnest desire to preach the gospel, and in a few months entered the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, then at Green- - ville, S. C, as a student for the ministry, lie remained a year, when he returned to Louisville and was ordained 4 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. to the ministry, at the request of the First Baptist Church of Eufaula, Ala., which desired his services. His first regular pastorate, however, was the church at Luray, Va., which, from thirty-two members when he took charge, was made a strong and influential con- gregation, the strongest indeed in all that picturesque region. He was at the same time pastor of the church at Front Royal, and rode and preached all over the beautiful Valley of Virginia, drawing great congrega- tions wherever he went, and impressing all with his genius, his piety and his consecration. He was fre- quently invited to hold protracted meetings, in all of which he gave promise of the wonderful success he was to achieve in after years. It was while pastor at Luray that he married Miss Julia Rust, the accomplished daughter of Dr. and Mrs. George W. Rust, as noble parents-in-law as any man ever had, and for whom he cherished the deepest affec- tion. His devotion to his wife was of that ardent na- ture which bordered on the romantic; hut alas! he was destined to live with her three short years, when wife and baby were laid in a common grave! This sad event had a moulding influence on his whole future career. It is said that an eminent musical instructor, in Paris, after training a beautiful American girl in song, said to her guardian, "I have clone all I can for her. Bui one thing is necessary, and she will be perfect, she must be crushed." It seems that this crushing blow — the loss of wife and child — was necessarv to make ' \A1U4jmMS BIOGRAPHICAL. O young Wharton the tender, sympathizing friend and preacher which he has ever proven. His next pastorate was the Lee Street Baptist Church, of Baltimore, Ktd., where in ten weeks he received into the membership and baptized more than two Hundred persons. He accomplished a great work here for the Master, but in such an evangelistic way that his brethren throughout the country advised him to leave the pastorate and "do the work of an evangel- ist." Invitations poured in upon him from all parts of the country to hold meetings, many of which he ac- cepted to the great good of churches and communities visited. About this time, with Rev. A. C. Barron, D.D., as partner, he established the Baltimore Baptist, a dollar newspaper enterprise for his denomination, which, notwithstanding predictions to the contrary, has had a great success. Multitudes of subscribers have been obtained for it from nearly all the States of the South, coming largely through the influence of the labors of the evangelist. The paper has proven a great help to him in his work. He received many calls to large and influential churches, but preferred the idea of "building on his own foundation," in connection with his revival work, and organized the "Brantley Memorial Church," named in honor of the lamented Rev. \V. T. Brantley, D.D., at the time of his death pastor of the Seventh Baptist Church, Baltimore. He began with thirty-two mem- bers, in a small, unpretentious building, and though ho G PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. has been absent mosl of the time on his preaching tours, he has kepi a steady oversight over the flock, returning ever and anoo to hold meetings with them till the little one has become nearly half a thousand. A new church was needed, and in order to secure it lie submitted to great pecuniary sacrifice, refusing salaries of $3000 and §4000, and accepting only $1800 per annum from the church, the money received for his evangelistic labors being scrupulously applied to the building of the new tabernacle, now approaching completion, with a seating capacity of 2000, and costing about §40,000. An associate pastor labors for the church in his ab- sence, and in this way the cause, instead of suffering, is greatly advanced, while the country gets the benefit of his rare revival work. When the church is completed it will stand as a memorial, not only of Dr. Brantley, but as a splendid monument to the earnest and suoa ss- ful laborer through whose efforts the building has been erected. During recent years his name has been connected in no small degree with the current history of the denom- ination, lie has traveled from New York to Florida, and from Virginia to the fin- West, holding meetings, in all of which he has been successful. Many great revivalists succeed often, lint fail some- times. He has never failed. The blessing oi God has attended him wherever he has has gone, and thousands have been converted through his instrumentality, con- nected themselves with the churches, ami borne fruit BIOGRAPHICAL. 7 thai testified to the genuineness of the change wrought in them. Montgomery, Alabama, may be taken as a specimen of his labors. He came there first just after one of the most popular evangelists in the country had failed, but through his labors more than one hundred converts were adiled to the membership of the First Baptist Church, while many joined other churches. He came two years afterwards to the same congregation when one hundred more were added to the church, and a greater interest awakened generally than before. Recently, after two years, he visited the city again, and performed a work quite equal in power to that done on previous occasions. More than one hundred were converted, and a great blessing enjoyed by all denominations. In Richmond, Virginia, he conducted the most success- ful meetings ever held there, extending through two months, and exceeding in power and influence (according to the statements of the press) those held by Mr. Moody. The armory builing, seating more than three thousand people, was nightly crowded, many hundreds being turned away for want of room. It is thought that two thousand persons connected themselves with the different churches as the result of these meetings. In Louisville, Kentucky, he has held two remarkable meetings, resembling those held in Montgomery, Rich- mond and elsewhere. Many think that his best work was the organization, during his last visit, of the MeFer- rau Memorial Church, full-grown at its birth, aud rank- 8 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. ing only third in wealth and influence to any Baptist Church in the city. He labored there for one month ; preaching at night in the church and in the day at Masonic Temple, the latter place being in the heart of the city, and great crowds attended each service. Many were converted at these meetings, who, added to those who came with let- ters from the Walnut Street and other churches, formed the one hundred and sixty members enrolled at the con- stitution of the new church, which is destined in a few years to be one of the leading churches of that city. Hi' has not only visited churches in large cities and towns, but, has gone as cheerfully to pastorless churches in villages and rural districts, and has succeeded in col- lecting great congregations in sparsely-settled regions, in building up the waste places of Zion, and in causing hundreds, hitherto " without hope and without God," to flock to the standard of the cross. He is not alone a successful preacher, but one of the sweetest of singers. No man was ever blessed with a richer voice. Dr. J. B. Gaston, the most eminent phy- Bician in Alabama, says, " I have attended his meetings often, and that which wins its way to ray heart and charms me beyond expression is his matchless voice, go- ing with the ease of the bird-' sweetesi notes from tenor to baritone, and from baritone to treble. It is the most p irfecl voice I have ever known." While he has never had time to make music a special study, he can with his simple gospel solos thrill to ecstasy where "Italian trills are tame." BIOGRAPHICAL. 9 Many who read these pages will remember the effect produced by such pieces as "Hide thou me," " The mistakes of my life have been many," " My ain coun- tree," "I'm a child of a King," and above all by the " Mother's Prayer." No son was ever more devoted to his mother's memory than he. Pier last words to him, " meet me in Heaven," are ever ringing in his soul with the soft melody of an angel's song, and he is never so happy and tender as when talking or singing of "Mother." The " Mother's Prayer" takes him back to his trundle bed, and he pours out his soul when he sings that simple song, and vast audiences are melted to tears under the influence of its affecting strains. Attractive as he is as a preacher and singer, it is to be questioned if he is not still more attractive as a lec- turer. He has twice visited Europe, once with the wri- ter in 1881, and more recently as a delegate to the "World's Sunday-School Convention. "While there he collected materials for two of his most popular lectures. One of these is styled "Rambles in Europe," the de- mand for which will never cease. Since his recent return he has delivered in many places a lecture equally as popular, called " My Second Visit to Europe." His lectures, "Ups and Downs" and "My Hearers," meet everywhere with as gratifying success. The charm of his lectures consists in his "holding the mirror up to nature;" in telling things just as they occurred ; in his rich fund of anecdotes and illustrations, especially in his inimitable way of relating them ; and in his palpable moral hits. 10 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. When he was a child his mother used to call him her boy preacher, and so introduced him to the neighbors. On one occasion, when refused some "preserves," of which he was very fond, he pouted and said, " 1 am not going to be a preacher." " What are you going to be ?" was asked. He replied, "I am going to be an Irish- man." When hearing his Irish anecdotes, and when seeing him in the rdle of " Paddy," in his lectures, one may readily believe that he has made good his promise, and has become not only a preacher, but an Irishman as well. In forming an estimate of H. M. Wharton as a preacher, the first thing to be noticed is his personnel. It is as true of the preacher as of the poet (though not in the same degree), that he is born, not made. Science and art may do much for a man, but they cannot change his nature ; they cannot impress on one devoid of it the stamj) of genius; they cannot impart those subtle qual- ities which are combined and arrayed in the Laboratory above, when God says, " Let us make man." In personal appearance the subject of this sketch is a magnificent specimen of his race. He is about six feet tall, and weighs about one hundred and ninety pounds ; is straight and symmetrical, muscular and strong; and universally called handsome. The inward man corre- sponds to the outward, lie possesses a warm and loving nature, and is in full sympathy with the wants and woes of his race. His early experiences filled him well for sympathizing with the erring and unfortunate, and, BIOGRAPHICAL. 11 like his Master, he can be touched with a feeling for their infirmities, having been in all points tempted as they are. His piety is his chief strength. It was the saying of one of the Latin fathers, "Pectus est quod the- ologium fecit" — it is the heart that makes the theolo- gian. If this be true, he is a theologian of the first mag- nitude. Ilev. Sam. P. Jones speaks of a man who is eleven-tenths backbone. Marvin Wharton is ten-tenths heart, both as a man and a preacher. With such physical and spiritual endowments, with a bright intellect, with the utmost familiarity with the plan of salvation, and with much knowledge of men ami things; with excellent speaking powers; and in addi- tion with that indescribable but well-recognized some- thing called magnetism, it cannot be thought strange that he is a powerful and effective preacher, and that the most wonderful results follow his labors. In estimating any preacher, regard must be had to the character of his work. The preacher in question is in no sense a sensationalist, but preaches the plain gospel in a plain way. Cowper says, ''Would I describe a preacher such as Paul, were he on earth, would hear, ap- prove and own, Paul should himself direct me. I would trace his masterstrokes and draw from his design. I would express him simple, grave, sincere, in language plain, and plain in manners, much impressed himself, as conscious of his awful charge', and anxious mainly that the flock he feeds may tee] it too." Our evangelist is just such a man, and it is for this reason that he wins 12 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFOBM. his way not only to the hearts of the common people, but that nun like Paul, of greatest genius and attainments, hear him gladly. He makes no attempt at preaching great sermons, though some of his discourses rise to a very high standard of excellence. He prefers, however, to style them "Gospel Talks," his great object being to explain the way of salvation, and induce sinners to ac- cept it. He is chaste and careful in his utterances, and thinks it "pitiful to court a grin, when he should woo a soul." Many evangelists have sprung up, and drawn immense audiences by questionable methods. As the ludicrous bor- ders very closely upon the pathetic they make the happiest transitions " from grave to gay, from lively to severe." They pass from the relation of revolting, but amusing anecdotes to tender, and touching stories, so that hearers but recently convulsed with laughter are all at once bathed in tears, the most wicked of them being ready to stand up od invitation, and say they "want to go to Heaven ;" and these are heralded forth as converts, when each proves often like Jonah's gourd that sprang up in a single night, and withered as soon beneath the rising sun. At a certain town one of these meetings was held, and two hundred persons reported as converted, when, a year later, one of the leading men in the place said. "Not one of these converts could now be found with a microscope." Certain hard cases may be reached by such methods, but it is to be feared that they cause moreharmto the general cause than good. BIOGRAPHICAL. 13 This is not the kind of work done by H. M. Wharton. He makes it a study to guard against all excitement, and to rely upon the plain presentation of the truth, with the accompanying influences of the Holy Spirit. The result is that nearly all who come into the churches through his labors remain to be consistent Christians and good work- ers. Does this kind of preaching prove popular? Yer- ilv, yes. Wherever he goes, telling the old, old story of Jesus and his love, his congregations are only limited by the capacity of the buildings where the services are held. Though generally holding his meetings in Baptist Churches, all denominations attend, lend a helping hand to his work, and receive great benefits therefrom Many persons, infatuated with the man and his work, ac- company him from meeting to meeting, and sometimes from State to State, in order to enjoy his services; while the newspapers, religious, and secular teem with reports of the services. But popularity is not what he desires ; he hides him- self behind the cross when he preaches, and when the results are reached he does not parade them before the public. He never mentions in his reports of his meeting the number converted, nor does he give any intimation of the enthusiasm created in communities by his efforts. He generally passes the subject by with some such re- mark as " we have had a good meeting," or " the Lord greatly blessed us. To Him be all the praise." He has never "coquetted" with a church in order to have the honor of a call. Several of our largest churches have 14 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. assured him of a unanimous call, if ho would hut say the word, but ho did not wish to go, and therefore did not say the word. When the writer was requested to pre- pare this sketch he said, with characteristic humility: " J am convinced that a short modest sketch hy you will he the thing. Not fulsome, but just as might be expect- ed from a brother." If too much red has been put in the brush it is not his fault, but no one acquainted with the subject will say that the picture lias been overdrawn. It goes without saying that he is one of the busiest of men. Though holding from month to month, and from year to year, generally, two services daily, and often three or four on the Sabbath, he has found time to give his attention to other things. He writes regularly for the Baltimore Baptist, holding communication in this way with the numerous friends made during his meet- ings, lie is President of the Board of Trustees of the Luray Female Institute, and looks after its interests with great care. In connection with the Baltimore Baptist he has con- ducted, by the aid of others, a successful publishing business. lie engaged in a debate with a Catholic Priest in Baltimore, and held up the errors of the great hie- rarchy to the satisfaction of his friends and the complete discomfiture of his opponent. His sermons on this occasion have been published in pamphlet form. He has published a volume of sermons and addresses which has met with greal popularity and a wide sale. He has been especially useful to the cause of Temperance, and BIOGRAPHICAL. 15 has frequently lectured with great power before the Sons of Temperance, the Good Templars and the Women's Christian Temperance Unions. He suffered so terribly from intemperance in his earlier years, that he has be- come the implacable foe of liquor-drinking and liquor- selling. The degree of D.D., unsought and undesired, was con- ferred upon him by Howard College, at the last com- mencement. He is scarcely yet in the prime of life, and, of course, gives promise for still more extended useful- ness. May he whose he is, and whom he serves, give ever- increasing seals to his ministry ; and may he at last real- ize in all its fullness the blessedness of the promise, "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever ! " Montgomery, Ala., August 1, 1890. I II. SHORT AND CRISP. HEART TROUBLES. " Lit not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me." IX the early days of ray ministry I was pastor of a village church. One day a mother came to me and said she had a daughter, a young lady who had been con- fined to her bed with a spinal disease three years. That she was very nervous and could not stand excitement, but she was not a Christian and wished me to come and preach a short sermon beside her bed. As it was the wish of the young lady herself, I of course consented. So I fixed up a little talk in my mind, got on my horse and rode over to the house. Only the family were admitted into the room. A curtain hung across the door- way to prevent the slightest breath of air from touching the frail form of the little sufferer. I went in, much embarrassed and it grew on me as I undertook to conduct the novel service. I would rather preach to three thousand people than three, any time. But I got along some way until I rose to take my text, when to my surprise, the sick lady said, "Mr. Wharton, if you have no decided urcfcrence as to your text, I 16 SHOTtT AND CRISP. 17 have one I would like you to preach from." She almost took my breath when she said that. Whatmust I do ? Fear said, stick to the text you have. A desire to please her urged me to do her will. At any rate, I concluded to ask for her text and then decline if it was more than I could manage. So I meekly inquired, " What is the text you would like me to preach from ? " She answered, " Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me." It was not new to me. There are chapters in the Bible like the homes of our friends. We can drop in any time and spend a pleasant half hour. Every Christian has a path to the door of the fourteenth of John. So I launched out by remarking that all of us have our troubles. You have yours, I have mine. Most of our troubles are heart troubles. The objects we most dearly love, are some- times made the source of sorrow. A precious compan- ion is taken ; a darling boy grows up and becomes dis- sipated ; disease smites a rare flower in the home and it lies withered under the blighting power. And then, too, much trouble rises right out of the heart. How sin pains us ! How anxious we are about our salva- tion ! But there is a remedy for this trouble. It never fails. No matter how long-standing or deep-seated the disease, this remedy will reach the case. It is Jesus. He made the heart and knows its every ill. But the remedy must be applied. You may have the best rem- edies in the world, and if they are not applied they will do you no good. Now how shall this unfailing remedy 2 18 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. be applied ? By faith. " Let not your heart be trou- bled, ye believe in God, believe also in me." That's it — believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and He will cure your heart, no matter what the trouble is. Just put your trust in him. He will make your bed in sickness ; He will quiet your nerves and help you to have patience ; He will forgive your sins and save your soul ; and byc- and-bye, He will tell you why you had to suffer and show you that it was all right and all for the best. So ended my little sermon and I went away. Some time afterwards, she was brought into my church one day in an invalid chair. After the services were ove: 1 went down to speak to her. She was sweetly trusting her Saviour and dated her conversion to the visit and the talk from her text at her bedside. The Lord grant that the one who reads this may find in Jesus the friend and Saviour who is ever ready to relieve the troubled heart. THE MIND DISEASED. " Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, rub out the written troubles of the brain, and with some sweet oblivious antidote cleanse the stuffed bosom of this jwilous stuff that weirjhs upon the heart?" THE quick ring of the door- bell was heard as the physician sat eating his dinner in a hurry, fur there were many sick, and he was on the go all the time. The servant answered the call and reported that a strange-looking gentleman was up stairs and wished SHORT AND CRISP. 19 to see the doctor at once. When he entered the room he found his caller walking the floor and greatly ex- cited. He met the doctor in the middle of the floor, showed him the back of his hand, which was red from rubbing, and said : " Doctor, there is a spot of blood on my hand and I can't wash it off ; I want you to take your knife and cut it out." The doctor examined the hand carefully, and, looking in the man's face, saw that he was deranged. He had him arrested, and soon learned the state of the case. The man was a murderer. When he committed the deed a drop of the blood of his victim had fallen on his hand and there it stayed — not in reality, but in imagination. That blood was in his mind, and there was no water on earth that could wash it out. So sin stains the soul. So in our minds there are sins which rankle and distress us until we sink be- neath the burden. Is there no remedy ? Where is the antidote for the eating, consuming poison? It is the blood of Jesus. Though your sins be as scarlet He will make you whiter than the snow. Have you ever com- mitted a great sin, and does it prey upon you until you feel that it will crush and destroy you ? Suffer no longer. Take it at once to Jesus. Go without delay to the Great Physician. You may be a Christian and have sinned, fallen in shame and disgrace. Lift up your head. Look into His face. Hear Him cry, " Thy sins arc forgiven thee, go in peace." "The blood of Jesus Christ eleanseth from all sin." "Bless the Lord, Oh my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name ; He 20 PULPTT, PEW A\n PLATFORM. healeth all thy diseases, He pardonetb all thy iniqui- ties." A very distinguished physician was once visited by a prominent citizen, who said to him, "There is something the matter with me and I don't know what it is; will yon please examine me, and see what yon can do for me?" The doctor made a faithful examination and couldn't find anything the matter. Finally he told his patient so : " Your body is all right. Your lungs are sound ; your heart beats all right. If there is anything wrong it must be your mind." "Ah, that is it!" said the man ; " it is ray mind. There is a question that haunts me by day and night. It is in my waking thoughts; it disturbs my dreams. It is this — ETER- NITY ! and where shall it find you. Eternity ! and where shall it find you! Doctor, if I don't get that question settled I shall lose my mind. I can't stand it ! Oh, I am miserable!" The doctor was a Christian. One of the greatest blessings to any community is a Christian physician. God forbid that we should have an infidel doctor fooling around us when we come to die. The good man looked calmly into the face of his distracted patient and said to him, slowly and emphati- cally, "My friend, you have come to the wrong doctor. There is one who can cure you; I will take you to Him if you wish to go." "Go?" replied the man ; "why, certainly I will. I will go any where, pay any price ; lead on, lead on, J will follow." " You will not have to go far, and it will not cost you a cent," said the doctor, as he SHORT AND CRISP. 21 walked to the door, locked it and came back. "Just kneel down here by me." Side by side they knelt. He laid the case before the Lord and prayed for help. As he prayed the Spirit worked — the blessing came. When they rose from their knees the doctor said : " I have only a word to say. Your new Doctor will go with you. He will watch every symptom and promptly meet it. Do what He tells you and all will be well. Here are the directions : Take this little Testament and follow its instructions. AY rite me how you get along. Good bye, and don't forget to let me hear from you soon." In a few days he received the following note : Dr. My Dear Brother : — The question is answered. Eternity will find me with -Jesus, :it the right hand of God. I have perfect peace and joy. Every day brings me new blessings, and more and more do I love Him who has ministered to my distracted mind and comforted my troubled heart. I cannot find words to thank you for leading me to the One who has saved my soul forever. It shall be my aim, now, to tell others of the Saviour who has done so much for me. Yours in Him, To think that all this is true, and that we may ac- tually take all our sorrows and troubles to Him and He will relieve the mind of every care. Blessed reality ! "Pie makes the wounded spirit whole And calms the troubled breast. 'Tis manna to the hungry soul, And to the weary, Rest." 22 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. PR\YER. "Ask, and ye shall receive.. Are not five sparrows sold for two far- things t mill not one of them is forgotten before God. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear no!, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." THESE precious words of Jesus have been fulfilled in your life and mine again and again. Many times the blessings have come, and we did not stop to think of the kind hand that brought them, or the warm love that prompted the gift. Even in the smallest af- fairs of life He has been present, and regarded nothing as little which contributed to the happiness and well being of his disciple. We laugh, sometimes, when we hear that a child has asked the Lord for a new knife, or written God a letter for a saddle, but why should it not be so? The child faith that runs to Him with the slightest pain, or holds out its hand fur the most trifling tiling, is the faith that the Lord delights to honor. I was sitting one evening in the parlor of a pastor's home. It was one of those bright, calm days early in November, when the sun shines without a cloud, a solemn stillness pervades the air, and when nature's dress looks the prettiest, just before the frost forces her to take it off and put on her winter wear. AVe were Hearing the close of a gracious revival. The hand of the Lord had been with us, and joy filled our hearts. Is there any happiness in the world like that which the Spirit brings? Christians revived, wanderers restored, SHOUT AND CRISP. 23 souls converted, wives made happy, mothers shouting for joy and the angels crowding around to join in the songs of praise to the blessed Redeemer. As we sat talking the pastor looked out at the win- dow and said : " There comes a good womau. She is poor, and so very deaf that she can hardly hear you when you speak at the top of your voice, and she has had a great deal of trouble, but you listen to her talk and it will surprise and delight you.'' In a minute she walked in ; quite dignified and pleasant; she spoke to us all and took her seat. I should say she was fifty years of age, a fine face, large expressive eyes, and as she removed her hat a splendid suit of black haircoveredher head, as well shaped as you would wish to see. When introduced to her I remarked (if it could be called a remark when, putting my lips to her ear, I lifted my voice as if speaking to a multi- tude) that a youth of the same name had made a profession of conversion the night before. " Oh, yes," she said; "it was my son, and I have come to thank you for it. This is the happiest day of my life. I tell you, brother, the Lord has been good to me. I have seen a hard time in my life, but He has always been with me, and taken mighty good care of me." The pastor's wife, who was sitting by her, and affectionately acted as interpreter, said : " Tell Mr. \Vharton about the time you asked the Lord to send you some sugar to put in your coffee." At this she laughed quietly and said : " He doesn't want to hear that." I iia- 24 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. sured her I did. She went on : " I could tell him how the Lord sent me a set of false teeth, too, and a pair of gold spectacles. You know, Brother Wharton, when a body has no teeth and can't chew their food well it don't agree with them. Well, I asked the Lord if it was His will would He send me some teeth. I don't want any thing that it isn't His will to give. And I couldn't see good, and I asked Him for a pair of spectacles. Well, He sent me a young man to board with me, and he stayed there until I had enough money to buy the teeth, and the man didn't charge as much as the regular price, so there was enough left over to buy the spectacles. Now, don't you think the Lord was good to do that?" My friend insisted that she should tell me about the sugar, so she continued : " I am mighty fond of coffee, but I don't think it tastes good without sugar. My husband is a me- chanic, and sometimes he is out of work, and we need money. Well, one day I wanted some sugar so bad and meal time was coming on, that I thought I would ask the Lord for it. You know He says He will give us what is best for us, and I went up stairs and knelt down right Inside the cradle where I had rocked all my children. You know, brother Whar- ton, a body must feel right tender when they do that. I got to crying, and it seemed like my heart would break when I thought how poor I was, and didn't even have sugar to put in my coffee. All at once the burden seemed to be lifted, and I got right up SHORT AND CRISP. 25 and went in the other room to wash my faro, I had been crying so, and I heard somebody knock at the door. I went down, and there was a colored woman with material for a dress she wanted me to make, and asked me if I could do it, and have it ready Saturday night, and what would I charge. I told her a dollar, and she said she had that and she had better pay me then, if she didn't she would be sure to spend it before the dress was done. So I took it, and had sugar to put in my coffee before I stuck a needle in the dress. Now, don't you know the Lord was good to answer my prayer like that '? " She paused. We were touched by the simple story of her childlike prayer, but who would dare suggest any other conclusion than the one her heart had reached. I asked that she would give another incident. " Well," she said, and her great black eyes rilled with tears ; " I believe He answered my prayer about my boy. My Bobby was a kind good son, but he was led off sometimes, and I got uneasy about him. Many a time after he had gone to bed and was asleep I would steal into his room and kneel down beside his bed and pray for him. Then he was taken sick, and got worse all the time. I would go in the next room to him and pray every chance I got. I • burieu my head in a bolster so he couldn't hear me crying, I just begged the Lord to make my child a Christian ; I didn't ask Plini to spare my boy to me so much as to save him. I would rather he would die a Christian than live and not be one. One day I saw 26 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. our pastor coming, and I said: 'Bobby, won't you let me bring- him in to see you?' He said, ' Yes, mamma, I sent for him.' I surely was glad to hear that. Then he said, ' Mamma, I have thought a heap more about re- ligion than I made out, and many times when you have come into my room and thought I was asleep, I wasn't at all, but laid there and listened to you sob, and I knew you were praying for me. I am going to die, mamma, but it will be a blessed thing if my death will make a better man of papa.' The pastor came in, and we had a mighty good time together. My sweet child died, but it seems to me ever since that it's been a bless- ing. His father is a better man, and it has helped me. It's not natural for me to be good, Brother Wharton ; I have to fight for every inch of ground I get, but it looks to me like I know how to pray for poor, perishing sin- ners now better than ever, since I lost my Bobby. Don't you think it's an honor for a woman to have a son eighteen years old to die a Christian?" When she finished this sweet story her face was bathed in tears, and yet she was laughing through it all. I felt all choked and blind myself, and soon found that every body in the room was in the same fix. We wept and rejoiced with God's poor, suffering, yet triumphant, child. She had no grave for her boy, and a good man told her to bury him in his lot in the cemetery. They tell me that almost any day the loving mother may be seen tenderly caring for the graves, not only of her son, but of all in the good man's lot. She is perfectly deaf to the world SHORT AND CRISP. 27 around her, but what a blessed world of joy there is within. Shut in with Jesus, she holds eternal com- munion with Him, and He supplies her every need. She believes in prayer, and nothing is too little to take to her Lord. SHINING FOR JESUS. "Let your light so shine, that others,, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father in Heaven" WERE you ever on the ocean ? It is a busy place some- times, especially when the storms come, and the winds blow hard and the waves roll high. Every sailor has to be at his post and do what he cau to save the ship. Once on a stormy night, one of the sailors was sick j he could not do much but was willing to try. His captain told him he had better go down and go to bed, as he was not able to do much. When he got to his room he felt depressed. He was a good sailor and was hurt that he could do so little for the gallant ship. Just then he heard the cry, "Man overboard! Man OVERBOARD ! " His first thought was to run upon deck ; but what could he do? He had lighted his little lamp, so he ran and held that at the port-hole and the feeble rays fell on the water so that the other sailors could see the drowning man and saved him. Xow my friends, you aud I cannot do much at best, and sometimes we feel right sad about it, but let us hold our light out in the dark and it may, yes, it will, prove a blessing to others. 28 PULPIT, PKW AND PLATFORM. u Let tlif Lower lights be burning, Send a gleam across the wave; Some poor fainting, struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save." A gentleman who lived near the bank of a river kept a boat chained to a tree to cross over in whenever he wished to go to the other side. One day he had to go some distance, so he made an early start in order to get back before night. But a great rain came up in the afternoon which detained him, and while he was wait- ing the river was rising. It was late and dark when he reached the river-side. The angry waters roared and raged as if to warn him not to risk his life upon them. But he was anxious to get home and started out on the perilous stream. Soon he found that his boat was drift- ing, and he commenced to call for help at the top of his voice. Presently he saw a light away across the river, and he heard a sweet voice saying, " Come this way, papa ! Come this way." It was his little boy holding the lamp, and his father pulled hard on his oars and watched the light. In a few minutes he stepped ashore and clasped his little rescuer in his arms. So I think there are many little loved ones on the other side, like lights along the shore, and they are saying to their fathers and mothers, 4< Come this way." Yes, and some of us would not be in the road we are to-day, nor would we have the hope that fill- our heart, but for the fact that our loved ones have gone before, and every day and hour their precious lives appeal to us to come on where they are. Let us SHORT AND CRISP. 29 shine as we go and light the feet of other weary travelers to our home. No higher words of commendation could be spoken, than those of Jesus, to the memory of one who gave his life for the cause, " He was a burning and a shining light." LESSONS FROM THE BIRDS. ".1 bird of (he air . shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell 1h A ROBIN loves to build in the cedars in the yard, and he will let you feed him, and learn from him if you will. One day a little redbreast came to a win- dow to get his crumbs, and seemed very thoughtful and lonely. He went away and stayed several days and came back, married. Yes, and brought his little wife with him, and they both were happy and ate crumbs together. Then they both stayed away some time, ex- cept that he would come occasionally, until, at last, here they came with two little children. After they got their breakfast they flew down on the ground and were having a good time, when suddenly the father screamed out and flew up in the tree with one of the young ones, but the mother and the other one didn't go. All of a sudden the mother fell aboard of the little thing and pecked and beat it as if she would kill her child, and kept on till the little fledgeling by a desperate effort, flew up on a limb, and just at that instant a great big cat jumped right on the spot where the birds had been. I reckon 30 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. the child bird wondered what made mother so cruel and its little back was bleeding-, but better that than the rough claws and sharp teeth of the cat. So it is we are afflicted for our good. Onr parents have to punish us, and our Heavenly Father must smite us sometimes to save us from destruction. " As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttcreth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead him." And so the Lord has often broken us up, but it has been for our good. They say the little English sparrows are a nuisance and people try to kill them out because they drive other birds away. But God cares for the little sparrows and they are worthy of our attention also. I was hurrying along the street in Baltimore one rainy day, my um- brella over me and the rain pouring down, when, turn- ing a corner, I saw on the cold marble steps of a house two little birds. It was a large sparrow and a small one, which I took to be a mother and her child. The mother was trying every way to persuade her little one to fly up into a maple above them and get out of the rain, and out of danger, for it was the step of a public building, and the poor thing was likely to be trampled to death. But the young bird had but few feathers and they were wet, and do what it would it could not fly. The anxious mother would chatter away and tell how dangerous it was to be there, and how nice it was to be up in the tree. Then she would fly up in the tree to show the little bird what to do, but still it couldn't fly. SHORT AND CRISP. 31 I stood there looking on wondering what she would do next. The mother's tender care, the persevering efforts to save her little one, the repeated example, flying up to teach her child to rise above danger, all seemed as plain to me as the efforts of a human being. After sli3 had tried again and again and could not get the little one out of the rain, the mother bird came down and stood there beside her child as close as she could get, and took the rain as it came. She seemed to say, " Well, my child, if you can't get away, mother will stay here with you." That is true sympathy ; suffering with those who suffer. A little girl came from school one day and said, "Mamma, Ada was thereto-day; she has lost her mother, and she sat in the desk with me and put her face in her book and cried all day." " What did you do, my daughter ? " "I just put my face in my book aud I cried too." Sympathy ! Let us do like the bird, stand by our fellow-men in their sorrows and it will help them bear their burdens. It is what Jesus does for us. Sympathy is not feeling only, it is getting down with our brother under his burden and helping him bear it. "Kejoice with them that do re- joice aud weep with them that weep." " Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ." One more lesson from the birds. A lady sat at her window a bright, balmy spring morning. The sun was out without a cloud, the blooming flowers were sending 1 forth their fragrance to perfume and bless the earth, and the birds sang their songs of gladness as they went 32 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. forth to their daily toil. Soon the lady saw that a lit- tle worker had chosen a rose bush for its hmoo and was very busy bringing in sticks and hair and feathers and other material to make its house. " Ah, you pretty lit- tle creature," said the lady, " you are building too low. Soon the destroyer will come and break up your sweet home." And so it was. The days passed by, the nest was finished, and then there were eggs in the nest, and then four great big mouths were open whenever the low chirp of the mother announced that she had something for them to eat. One day the lady sat by the window sewing; suddenly she heard the cry of the birds, in the dei pest distress, and she looked out to see what was the matter. There was a great big snake that had crawled up and was devouring the helpless little ones, while just above them the poor heart-broken mother fluttered about in the wildest distraction. But it was too late ; her children were gone, and her home was left desolate, a sad reminder of her folly in building so near the ground. So I think it is with people who have no higher ambition than earthly pleasure, wealth or honors. They build too low. Their heart's home is in easy reach of death and the devil, and depend upon it the destroyer will come, soon or late. Let us build for God. Let us lay our foundations in the eternities, and build for the great hereafter, and we shall then be above and beyond all danger. "Lay up for yourselves treas- ures in heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupt and where thieves cannot break through nor steal." Build SHORT AND CRISP. 33 on the Rock, and the winds and rains and floods of time or eternity will beat upon your house in vain. I PERSONAL WORK. " Go out in the highways and hedjes and compd them to come in." F you will read the history of Christian work you can't help seeing the importance of personal effort in religion. Take, for instance, the eighth of Acts, or fourth or first of John — what a good time they had finding people for Christ. It is according to human nature. If you want to bring men and women to believe with you and go your way you must see them face to face, eye to eye. You must bring your individ- uality to bear with all that that means and every out- side help in reach. Look how they do in politics. They just button-hole a man and hold on to him till he surrenders. How those gentlemen who term themselves commercial agents, commonly called drummers, who go to and fro and up and down in the earth, seeking whom they may take in, how they go for them one at a time ! It's always a hand to hand encounter with them. It's the same way in the army. Men who shoot at random, generally hit it and nothing else. It is the man that takes aim at another man and fires on him and follows him up till he gets him, that does the work. During the war I was attending Roanoke College at Salem, Va. For several days it was reported that General Averill, in command of a heavy force was on a raid through Virginia and 3 31 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFOUM. aiming for Salem to tap the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad at that point and thus cut off supplies coming from the South to Lynchburg. One morning the cry was heard, " The Yankees are coming ! " " The Yankees are coming! " Looking up the street we saw them rid- ing pell inell into town, horses' hoofs clattering, sabres rattling, men shouting, women and children flying to their homes, and fear and confusion falling on all. Many of us young fellows took to our heels for the woods about half a mile away. When nearly across the field I heard several shrill, mad, hissing sounds in my immediate vicinity, followed by sharp reports of fire-arms ; looking back I saw there was a man after me on horseback and he seemed to be shooting at me at every jump. I did some of the finest running for a minute or two from there to the fence that had ever been done in that country, I am very certain. I just rolled over the fence — didn't stop to climb nor jump it — and then dropped into a ditch and lay as flat on the bottom as a lizard on a log. Presently I heard him say, " Come out of there, sir." I looked up, and he had a great big army six-shooter levelled at me and the hammer of it rearing up as it" it was saying, " Be quick, or you are gone." "Come out," the fellow said ; and the end of the pistol looked as big as a stove-pipe, but there was only one thing for me to do. "Yes, sir," I said, " I am coming — don't shoot," and out I came and went on with him. That's personal work. The man was after me and he got me. Why can we not do that SHORT AND CRISP. 35 way in the Lord's array? The great Captain has set us the example and bids us go and preach the Gospel to every creature. Let us obey orders. While holding a meeting in the city of Brooklyn, some time ago, among many requests for prayer was one made daily by the wife of a very wealthy gentleman who occasionally attended the meetings. He was young and worldly, and gave little hope to us that anything could be done with him. He would listen and go away» and as far as we knew, that was the last of it. One evening the pastor with whom I was working called at his residence and said to him, " Mr. R., I have a ques- tion for you ; it is this : ' What will it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? ' I will call to-morrow evening at this hour and get your answer." The gentleman said, " Doctor, you need not come ; when I want you I will send for you." " No, sir," replied our persevering friend, " I shall be here to-mor- row evening for your answer," and he got it, and he got his man, too. There was a rustle and then a breath- less silence in the meeting when that man stood up and gave himself publicly to the Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you that is the way to do it. I was assisting this same pastor in a meeting in Eutaw Place Church, Baltimore. Every night one of the deacons came up the aisle with a sixteen-year-old boy on his back. The little fellow was paralyzed. It was a sight for the angels to look upon when that dear 36 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. saint came " bending under the weight of a precious soul and body. He would place him in the corner of a front pew, and then get off where he could watch him. One night I gave the invitation for all who accepted Christ, and who was willing then and there to confess Him, to stand up. The dear boy could not rise, but he raised both hands instead. I wish you could have seen the man who brought him there. His face was radiant, the tears streamed down his cheeks. There was joy in his heart, joy among the angels, joy in our midst. He had brought the little paralytic to Jesus, and the blessing filled him full, and there was so much of it, that it ran over and tilled us all. Many joys await us in the bright beyond, but none can be sweeter than the privilege of meeting those we tried to save. Paul said they were his joy and his crown. During the war they often had men enlisted who knew nothing at all about military tactics. Men were scarce and the officers had to take them as they found them. One day, when a regiment was going into a fight, one of those recruits young and green went marching into the battle. He saw the enemy ahead and went for them. In the smoke of the battle he did not see his comrades when they fell back, but pressing for- ward caught a man in the collar and led him back to where his regiment had again formed. He was much surprised when he found that he was the only one who had captured a prisoner. u Why, boys," said he, " if you had kept on every one of you could have got a fel- SHORT AND CRISP. 37 low." Another soldier came into camp one day with seven prisoners. His name was Dick Jacobs. One of the boys said, "Dick, how in the world did you capture all of these men?" "I surrounded them," he replied. Christian soldier, go into battle, surround the wan- derer and capture him for the Lord. It does not so much require tactics and drill as courage and consecra- tion. CHILD-FAITH. A GENTLEMAN in Georgia whose little girl de- sired to join the church told her that she was too young. " Papa," she said as she climbed up into his arms, " am I too young to love you ? " " No," he replied, " and you are not too young to love Jesus ; go on, my darling, and may God bless you." " Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not." A little boy asked the leader of a prayer-meeting to pray that his little sister might read the Bible. When his request was answered the little fellow left the church. Next day when asked why he did so, he replied that he wanted to run home and see his sister reading the Bible for the first time. In one of the London hospitals a boy was brought in who had been run over by a wagon and badly crushed. The doctor examined him and said he couldn't live but a few hours. Another boy who was sick on a bed close by waited until the nurse and doctor went away and crept over to the bedside of the dying child r,8 PULPIT, PEW AND 1'1,\ 1 I (.KM. and asked him what was his name. "Bobby," he said. "Bobby, do you know that you are going to die? and let me tell you, Bobby, I have been to a mission school where a good lady told me that when little boys died there is a good man named Jesus who conies out of heaven and takes them to a good sweet home, and all we have to do is just let him take us. If you will ask for him he will come." The wounded child was sink- ing fast and said, " I am so tired and sleepy, I am afraid I won't be awake when he comes." " Well, you just hold up your hand and he will see it." The little fellow held up his hand, but it soon fell upon his bosom, he was so weak. " Never mind, Bobby, I will just take my pillow and prop your hand up, and that will do. Jesus will see it." Pie took his own pillow and placed it under the arm of the poor suffering boy and retired to his couch. Next morning when the nurses arrived there lay the lifeless body, the hand resting on the pil- low, but Jesus had come and taken little Bobby home. BACKSLIDERS. SOME time ago, I was traveling on the Virginia Midland Railroad. Between Charlottesville and Orange, I saw an engine down under a bridge, on its back, in the mud. A few days before, that, this engine, sweeping around a curve, had jumped the track and rushed to ruin in a few minutes, doing great damage to property, if not to life. The men were hard at work SHORT AND CRISP. 39 trying to get it back to its place, and for this purpose had laid a track from the main line down to the wreck. I thought as I saw it, " How many Christians, in turning some curve in life, have jumped the track and gone down in the mud, hurting everything and everybody as they went, doing damage not only to them- selves and those connected with them, but to the great cause of our Master ! " And should not our Churches do the same thing that the railroad company did, and rescue the fallen wanderer? It makes my heart sick to hear brethren say with boastftd glee, that they have had a revival in their church, by turning out thirty or forty members. It simply means that they have turned their backs on thirty or forty souls, and left them to perish in their sins. Of course, there are exceptions, but it seems to me they should not be forsaken until our most ear- nest efforts have proved unavailing. " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, consider- ing thyself, lest thou also be tempted." GOOD WORKS. GOOD works are like the hand of a clock. They do not carry on the good work of grace on the inside, but they let the world know that the work is going on, and the world is benefited and blessed. The hands of the clock tell us the time of day, and if the hands are wrong the machinery is wrong, generally speaking. If 40 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. the wheels run correctly and the hands are set accurately to the standard, all will be well and the time-piece may be relied on. So if the heart is right and our works accord with God's word, our life will be a blessing. Some good people are like crazy clocks. They have zeal but it is not seasoned with good judgment. Those of us who know them well, understand them, but stran- gers do not. They are like the old man's clock whose owner said, that when the hands pointed to two and it struck twelve, he knew it was half-past seven. The hands alone are of no service, except to be used on a dial for an advertisement. And good works avail but little unless the machinery of salvation is back of them, set in motion by the hands of the great Inventor. A man with good works is a mere moralist. He will do for an advertisement, that a future search will reveal some- thing better, but is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who have traveled out of Washington on the Southern railroads, must have had their attention called to the fleet of dredgers at work redeeming the Potomac flats. Little by little dams have been built, the water drawn off, the reclaimed land protected, until now, acres of the bed of the river which was only mud and water, have been converted into fertile soil. It has been a won- derful work and greatly improves the health and wealth of that portion of the city. Why can't we do such work for Jesus Christ? Iniquity has flooded the earth) and its tidal wave has swept over soil that might be reclaimed and made to blossom as the rose. Little bv SHORT AND CRISP. 41 little, and with persistent effort, our own land and for- eign countries will, ere long, rise above the dark waters and laugh in the sunlight of God's love as they yield bounteous harvests in humble appreciation of their deliverance from bondage. TRUSTING CHRIST. " Believe in (he Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." YTOT long ago, I was sent for, to see a dying woman. ■L* As I entered the room I noticed a large fine-look- ing man sitting beside the bed, and was informed that he was the husband of the dying woman and was a ship- captain. He told his wife that the minister was present and she began at once to beseech me to tell her how she might be saved. Never in my life did I feel more sensibly the weight of responsibility that was upon me. Something must be done and done at once. " What can I do ? " she cried. " Oh ! I am miserable, tell me, what must I do ? " I told her to believe in Jesus and He would save her. " Yes," she said, " I know that, but tell me how to believe." I said to her, " Suppose this house was on fire and your husband would tell you to trust him to take you out; could you trust him?" " Yes, sir, I could." " Well, that is what Jesus is doing. He has come into this world to save sinners, and lie says if Ave will trust Him He will take us to heaven." She looked up with a smile of joy on her face. " Is that it ? " she said. " Is that what it means ? " " That 12 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. is it," I replied. " Only tru>t Him just as you would your husband. He will do what He promises." "I *an trust Him, I do trust Him. Oli ! I am so happy." 1 left her in that happy frame of mind alter praying with her. When I went baek the crape was on the door — she was gone. They told me she remained in the same happy state and rejoieing. I baptized her husband soon after, and now he has gone to be with her in heaven. On another occasion I was called to see a gentleman who was on his death-bed. He told me he had been a ( lnistian for twenty years but was very unhappy. The cause of his unhappiness was that he had not kept his promises to God. He said he had no peace and was miserable. I reminded him that he was not trusting his promises to God to save him, but God's promise to him. He looked into the face of his anxious wife who was standing by and said, " Why, that's it ; why didn't I think of that before? " How important it is to keep our eyes oft' of ourselves and on our Saviour ! While holding a meeting with Dr. Cuthbcrt, in Wash- ington City, one night a little boy came forward. I asked him if he believed that Jesus would save him. "I know He will," said the little fellow. "I low do you know it? "said I. "Because He said so," he replied. The faith of that little child is worth a world full of such faith as some theologians have. I attended a Congress some time ago and listened to learned men as they en- deavored to throw light on some of the great theologi- SHORT AND CKISP. 43 cal questions of the day. The conclusion that they reached may be very well expressed in the language of the old colored man : " It mout, and then again, it mout not." The child's faith is the best, after all : " He said He would, and He will." Let us take the Lord at His word and " Receive the kingdom of heaven as a little child." WHICH SIDE? "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries ?" " He that is not with vie is against me." YOUR life with all its influence is either for of against Christianity. Stop a minute, and think which it is. Of course, there are degrees ; you may not be a bad man or woman, at least not as bad as you might be, and yet you are helping to pull the scales down one way or the other. " By their fruits ye shall know them." A tree may have a good deal of bad fruit on it, or a very little good, or it may be only a cumberer of the ground, with no fruit at all ; but it is impossible for a human life which comes in contact with any other human life to be fruitless. We judge one another by our acts, and that is the way the Lord judges us. Now, on which side the line does the influ- ence of your life fall ? Are you known as a Believer or an Unbeliever? A church member or a worldling? As a hearer and doer of the word, or a hearer only? As the world reads you in your every-day life, what conclusion does it come to? On which side does it 44 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. place you ? The world is quite accurate in its judg- ment. Let me give you two pictures. — I was riding iu the train not long ago, and in the seat before me a man and a youth sat together. They soon fell into conver- sation, and became quite familiar. I paid no attention specially to what they were saying, but was surprised to see the man take a bottle from his pocket. He held it up, looked at it, and offering it to the boy, said : " Do you ever indulge ? " Indulge what ? Indulge an appetite that would be his ruin ; Indulge a habit that would destroy his hopes of success in this life or happi- ness in the life to come; Indulge a taste that would soon become a craving that would not cease till it dragged him to destruction. I felt like getting up and putting ray arms around the little fellow, and begging the man for Jesus' sake, for the child's mother's sake, to stop tempting that boy. But he didn't give me time; he looked up into the face of his tempter and said : "No, I thank you, sir, I never drink." Which side was that man on ? Here is the other picture. At one of our large notels a gentleman was standing in the office when a little boy came in selling matches. It was against the rules of the house, but the weather was cold, and the case was desperate, so the child forced his way in, at the risk of being rudely thrown out. He asked several to buy ; they were sitting around the good warm fire, after a nice breakfa>t, and felt comfortable and happy as they read the morning papers. He came at last to SHORT AND CRISP. 45 the gentleman who was standing near the others, and appealed to him. " Mister, please buy some matches, my mother is poor, and \ve haven't a thing to cat, and my father is dead." The man looked at him a mo- ment, and handed him a quarter of a dollar. " Here, change that, and I'll buy some." The boy hadn't the change, but ran out to get it. As he went out the clerk said: "You will never see that money again. That little humbug has got that much on the clear." " Well, I can't help it, I would rather give to an un- worthy object once in a while than turn a worthy one away, and you cannot always tell.'' Sure enough the boy didn't come back. Next morning a little fellow came in, and asked if there was a man there that gave a quarter to a little boy. ' ' Yes," said the clerk, " but you are not the boy. You get out of here. I suppose you want to play the same game on him, do you ? " " Xo, sir, I'm his little brother. A wagou ran over him while he was crossing the street to get the gentleman's change, and the doctor says he's going to die, and he cried all night to mother to let me bring the change back, because he said the gentleman would think he stole it. Please, sir, send for him; I want to tell him about it, 'cause my brother said I must see him myself, and come back and tell him.'' While the little fellow Mas talking the man had come in, and was listening. He put on his overcoat and hat, and taking the little fellow by the hand, led him out of the hotel, and told him to show him where 46 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. his mother lived. Down the streets and lanes and al- 1< \s they walked, till they came to the poverty-stricken home. As he entered, he saw the poor little wounded boy in his pallet of rags. The child recognized him at once, and began to explain how it had happened. "In- deed, sir, I didn't intend to steal your money. I was trying to get across the street, and a wagon struck me, and ran over me, and I couldn't help it ; indeed, I couldn't, sir." " Never mind, my child, never mind," said the good man, " don't talk now, just try to be quiet." Turning to the mother he gave her a handful of money, and said : " Here, you take this, and go and buy whatever is nec- essary for this child's comfort, and get what you need for yourself. Don't be uneasy, I'll stay with him." And he sat down, and told the little fellow about Jesus, and how lie would come soon and take him out of all his suffering, and take him home with Him, where he would be well and happy. All night long he sat be- side the dying boy, and when the morning dawned aud the first streaks of light came through the windows of that humble home, the little sufferer looked up into the face of his benefactor, and said: "Good-bye, sir; good- bye. You have been very kind to me. I will wait for you and think of you in heaven. And I will tell Je- sus how good you were to me, and He will love you more, I know. I am getting very tired, and the light is going out. It is dark. Can you see me, sir? Put your hand on my forehead. Mother, won't you kiss HHOBT AND CKISP. 47 me?'' He fell asleep, and the tears came down the cheeks of the good strong man, and fell upon the face of the poor tired, dead child. Which side was that man on ? Surely Jesus and the angels were there, and again was fulfilled that which is written: "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these, the least of my disci- ples, ye did it unto me." SAVED FROM DRINK. I SUPPOSE every one will agree with me that the greatest curse of the world, to-day, is the drink habit. If I were asked to mention the most prolific source of sorrow that I have met in all my experience and obser- vation, without a moment's hesitation I should answer intemperance. Not only do wives, mothers and chil- dren suffer from this great evil, but the men themselves, who are the victims of intemperance, are passing through a hell on earth. It is the most deceiving enemy of mankind. Some years ago, I belonged to a surveving party in Mexico; one day I heard the natives, who were cutting a line for us through the thick brush, cry cut as if very much alarmed, and looking in that direc- tion I found them running for life; they had seen a large anaconda in a. tree over their heads. It is the habit of this serpent to get into a tree, leap upon his victim, wind himself around it; and, as its strength gives away, increase his own power until he crushes the life out of his captive. I think it is a good illustration 48 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. of what whiskey does for men. It continually tightens its hold as we relax in will power, and, at last, utterly destroys the happiness, hopes and life itself of those who fall in its grasp. I propose here to give what I believe is the only sure remedy, and I give it after years of experience, after years of thoughtful examination and with the endorse- ment of many others. Resolutions, will power, oaths and any and everything that a man can do, amount to something, perhaps, but very little. No man is safe who undertakes to break the habit by his own exertions. The only remedy is Jesus Christ. Call the habit a dis- ease, uncontrollable appetite — call it what you will, there is but one who cau stay the hand of the fell de- stroyer. I propose to give several authentic cases, which had gone (as far as human judgment could decide) beyond the reach of mortal arm. It is painful to me to men- tion my own case. It is well known to my friends everywhere, and best known to those who were closest to me, that I had indulged in the habit of intemperance, until, at the age of twenty-five all who knew me seemed to have abandoned every hope of my recovery. No- thing ever done by a devoted father and an affectionate sister and four as true and noble brothers as a man ever had, with friends ready to sacrifice anything in my behalf — nothing, I say, ever done by any one on earth, was neglected in my case, it seems to me, and all of no avail whatever. Sixteen years have passed away SHORT AND CRISP. 49 since the day of my deliverance, and, without a shadow of a doubt on my mind, I make the staterueut that Jesus Christ, and He alone, has saved me from death in the morning of my life, and the power of the curse that blighted my every prospect. I only know that I went to him, and as far as I knew how, tried to put myself in his hands for salvation. I prayed to him and asked for strength in the last fight I ever expected to make against this, my greatest enemy. Who can blame me for going everywhere and telling others of this mighty Saviour. Now, let me mention several other cases just as strong : I have a friend who lives in the South, and once had his home in the Valley of Vir- ginia. He had a little family around him, but was a burden, instead of a blessing to them, every day. Twice he tried to kill himself. A man of brilliant in- tellect, good family, and blessed with opportunities for making of himself anything he wanted to be, yet ut- terly worthless on account of this habit. He went to Baltimore seeking a situation, with a few dollars in his pocket to pay his way ; he felt that if he could just get one drink and take no more, he would be in a good plight to make application for a position. That one drink did the work for him. There are men who can take one drink and follow it up with dozens of others, and you would never know that they had taken any at all. They are regular old soaks, and are never called drunkards, when, in truth, they are the worst drunk- ards in the community. Then there are other men who 4 50 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. are so constituted that if they take one drink there is no stopping-place for them this side of the gutter. My friend was one of those. After lie had been on a spree for several days, he was standing early one morning on the corner of a street, in rags and in despair. As he stood there, a gentleman came by, stopped, looked him ij the face, and said: "You seem to be very sad this morning; what is the matter?" " Well," he said, "I think I have a right to be sad. I have a wife and little ones at home in Virginia. I am here without money, without friends, and (to use his own eloquent language as I heard him speak it to my congregation) no bed but the pavement and no pillow but the curbstone." "My friend," the stranger said to him, "Jesus Christ died for you." "Oh ! no he didn't," he said ; " no he didn't. Jesus never died for me." "I tell you he did," said the stranger, "and there is hope for you to-day. He can take away the appetite for drink, he can make you a new man and send you back to your family a blessing to them all your days." After the man went away my friend walked down a little alley and crawled under an old wagon, where he had slept the night before, and burying his face in his hands, with that cry of despair which only comes up from the broken heart of a poor sinner, he said: "Lord Jesus, if you did die for me, help me now!" Something seemed to come into his heart and tell him there was hope for him. He said to me that he came out from under that wagon with new feelings, new desires, new SHORT AND CRISP. 61 resolutions, and all of them founded upon Jesus Christ, bis only hope. He made his way back to Virginia, and instead of telling his wife and his little babies that he had a position in Baltimore, he told them that he had Christ as his Saviour. There was joy in that home. Many years have passed, and my friend is to-day the head of one of the largest business houses in the. South, an earnest and devoted Christian ; preaches the Gospel sometimes ; and tells with joy, anywhere and to any one that asks him, the reason for the hope that is in him, and how Jesus saved him from a drunkard's grave. Let me give you one more. Seven years ago I made an address in the city of Richmond for the W. C. T. U. at the Seventh Street Christian Church. The next day I received a note from a man, who told me that he was at the meeting the night before and earnestly desired to be saved from drink. I was informed that he was the most hopeless case in the city of Richmond. A short time afterwards I was holding a meeting at the Leigh Street Church, at which Rev. John Pollard, D.D., Mas then pastor. This same man made his appearance there, professed his faith in Christ and applied for membership in the Church. I cannot describe the condition of my friend at that time. Perhaps it would give you some idea, when I tell you that his own wife said to me that she did not believe he could have lived three weeks longer. There was absolutely no hope whatever on the part of his friends ; no, not even in the grace of God it- self, it seemed to me. He was a member of a prominent 52 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFOP.M. and wealthy family in Richmond, but had spent all and was now without help from any one. Of course there was in the minds of all a very serious doubt as to whether there was any hope of his recovery. I forbear entering the sacred circle of his private affairs to say any more of his condition at that time. In the spring of 1889, five or six years after the time of which I have been speaking, I was again in Richmond, holding meetings. One day I received a note in substance as follows : "Dear Bro. Wharton : — While you are here I want you to come and take a meal with me, that you may see what God has wrought, through your instrumentality, in a drunkard's home." Of course, I went. As I walked down the street, looking for the number, I came to a pretty little white cottage, a bird in a cage in the window was singing gaily. I rang the bell and a little girl came. I said to her: "I am Mr. Wharton." "Oh ! yes," she replied, " we all know you, Mr. Whar- ton ; papa and mamma have been telling us about you." I walked into a nice and well-furnished parlor ; soon the wife came in ; by and by, several children from school and last the husband and father. (Now holding a prominent position in a business house in Richmond.) He turned to his little daughter and said: "Go there to the piano and play something for Mr. Wharton." I have heard fine music in my life. I have listened to hundreds of trained singers and to the performances of some of the best orchestras in the land, but I do not think I ever heard any music that sounded as sweetly to SHORT AND CRISP. 53 rae as the playing of that little child. We went into the dining-room soon and sat talking and eating. I have been into many homes elegant and hospitable ; I have sat at the board with as genial people as most any man, I reckon, but I have never taken a meal that was so enjoyed by me, I think, as this — peace and plenty every- where. As I was leaving he took me by the hand and said : " Now, my brother, wherever you go I want you to tell the people what God has done for a drunkard and his home." Whenever I go to Richmond, now, I find him and his wife and his children in my congregation, and it is understood between us that a day belongs to them whenever I make a visit to that city. I need not tell you that it is always one of my sweetest days, how- ever blessed all the others may be. It is needless to multiply cases. These are sufficient. I tell you, my friends, there is salvation for the worst of cases. I do not believe that any man ou earth has gone or can go beyond the reach of Jesus Christ. A TALK TO CHILDREN. I AM going to speak to you of five new things. All of us love something new. A child loves a new toy, a man loves a new suit of clothes, a lady delights in a new bonnet, and so it is a pleasure to us even to think of new things. These that I am going to speak to you about are both new and old. They come out of God's old book and will be a blessing for you to remember them. 64 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. The first is a new heart. God says he will give us a new heart. This does not mean that he will take these hearts out and put new hearts in, but he will change the heart so that it will be new in its feelings, its de- sires, its ambitions. Those who have a new heart love what they used to hate and hate what they used to love. A little girl who joined the church was asked how she felt about sin. She replied: " I used to run after sin ; now I feel like I want to run away from it." And then we love Christian people and want to be with them. They asked her how she felt towards Christians. She said: " I feel like they are kin to me." So you see that God gives us a new heart. It is the heart that loves him and loves his people and loves to be good and to do good. Sometimes the Lord gives a new heart to very young people. He will give it to all of you if you ask him. I knew a gentleman who was a good Christian man. When he was a little boy he heard the preacher say that the Lord would make a little boy a Christian. He says he went home and knelt down and said : "O Lord, make me a Christian." The Lord did make him a Christian and one of the best I ever saw. The next new thing is a new creature. " If any man be in Christ he is a new creature." And this is just as true of children as it is of grown people. If you believe in Christ as your Saviour and have the new heart that I have just been talking about, you are a new creature. You are new in your hopes, new in your thoughts, new in your words and new in your acts. There was a SHORT AND CRISP. 55 sailor who was converted once, and he was going along the street and some of his friends said: "Here comes old John." He replied: "No, it ain't; it is new John, with old John's clothes on. I have been converted, and I am a new creature in Christ Jesus." A New Name. God says that when we have a new heart and become new creatures he gives us a new name. I do not know what name he calls the Christians by in heaven. Jesus says our names are written in the Book of Life. Probably there may be some name that he has given you that you will be kuowu by in heaven. I have heard of a little girl who was found on the street in a basket; she didn't have any father or mother to care for her, and good people took her to the hospital, where she was raised up until she became a good-sized girl. They named her Mary Lost. When she grew old enough to become a Christian, and that was as soon as she was old enough to know right from wrong, she gave her heart to Jesus, and he gave her a new heart and made her a new creature. Then she wanted a new name. She went to the superintendent of the Home and said: "Please doti't call me Mary Lost any more." "What shall we call you?" said the lady who had the Home in charge. "Call me Mary Found," she said ; "I used to be Mary Lost, but I am not lost any longer. Jesus has found me, and I want you to call me Mary Found." A new name he will give to all who love and serve him. A Ni-iv Song. " He has put a new song in my mouth, 56 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. even praise to our God.'' I love lo hear children sing. Their voices are sweeter than the birds', and when they sing to the praise of God, it must be sweet to the angels and to Jesus. I knew a little girl in Luray, Va., who died when she was live years old. Just before she died she said: "Mamma, sing something." " What must I sing, Virgie," her mother said. "Sing 'Soon be at home over there.'" Wicked people sing wicked songs, but God's children love to sing songs of praise to their Father in heaven. The birds sing when they get up in the morning, and I sometimes think that the little things are so glad and happy that while they sing for joy their little songs are like anthems of praise to our Father's ears. Sing, children, to the praise of God, for this is the new song that he loves to hear. Now, the last new thing is the new City. Sometimes this new city is spoken of as the place where we shall all dwell — the Eternal City, whose builder and maker is God. Do you know what that city is? It is heaven. If we have a new heart and are new creatures ; if we have a new name and sing the new song, we shall all go to the new city where Jesus is, and where some of our mothers and fathers have gone, and little brothers and sisters. If you will pray to Jesus he will bless you and take you home to heaven, the new city, when you die. Not loner airo a little girl got on a railroad train and took her Beat with the passengers. As the train moved oif the conductor came up and asked her for her ticket. She said: "I have no ticket." ''Where are SHORT AND CRISP. 57 you going?" he asked. "1 am going to heaven. Does not this train go to heaven? Mamma has gone there, and she told me that I should soon come and be with her." The conductor said: "No, my child, this train just runs along on the earth. It does not go to heaven." The little thing commenced to cry, and said : "I am so sorry. I thought I would see mamma to-day." The conductor was a wicked man, but he thought he would try to comfort the little girl, and said to her: "Don't cry ; I have a little girl in heaven, just your size." Quickly the little thing looked up, smiling through her tears, and said : "What is her name?" "Her name is Mamie," he answered. "Oh !" she said, "when I get to heaven I will see Mamie, and I will tell her that I saw her papa, and she will ask me when you are coming to heaven. What must I tell her?" He knew very well that he was going in the opposite direction from heaven ; so he tried to avoid answering the little girl. "Never mind," he said, "it does not matter about that. I will take you to the next station and ask the con- ductor of the train that comes back to bring you home. Good-bye!" But she caught hold of his coat, and said: "Yes, it does matter; she will ask if her papa is coming to heaven, and you must tell me what to say to her. Indeed you must." The man looked at her a moment and tried still to put her off, but she would not hear him. "Are you going to heaven?" she said. "Please tell me, for your little Mamie will be very anxious." The tears stole out of his eyes and along 58 PULPIT, PEW A.Mi PLATFORM. down his cheeks, as he thought of his sweet little cne in heaven, and looked into the honest, upturned face of the little one before him. Stooping down, he put his arm around her and kissed her, and said : "Yes, bless your dear little heart, if you see ray Mamie before I do, tell her that from this hour her papa is on his way to heaven." God help us all to put our trust in Jons and journey along toward the new city, where we shall all meet to part no more, forever. A VISIT FROM JESUS. IF you will look in the 11th chapter of John and the 28th verse, you will find these words : " The Master is come and calleth for thee." In reading this chapter we are impressed with the naturalness of it. Two sisters are sitting beside the bed of their sick brother. Day by day he grows worse and worse. The doctors had done all they could, and the man was no better. It was Lazarus who was sick,- and Mary and Martha, the devoted sisters, who sat at his bedside. I can imagine the tender-hearted Mary say- ing : "If Jesus were here He could cure our brother." " We can have Him here," Martha would say, and in her own business-like way. she at once makes arrange- ments to send for Him. The messenger goes on a long journey and finds the Saviour and tells Him that the one He loves is sick. He did not come for two days after He receives the message. How ofteu that is the SHORT AND CRISP. 59 case with us. We call for Him, but He seems to tarry, and the more we need Him the longer the days of his absence seem. Sometimes, when one of your loved ones has been sick, and you have sent off for the doctor, in a great hurry, it looked as if the doctor would never come. You would run to the door, look up and down the street, only to go back with a sinking heart. So it was with Martha and Mary. On the third or fourth day after they sent for Him, somehow or other Martha hears that He has come and she goes out to meet Him, when the conversation occurred that I read to yon in this chapter. He asks for Mary, and Martha hurries back to the house, where the neighbors are sitting around Mary trying to comfort her; she whispers to Mary, " The Master is come and calleth for thee." The others in the room did not hear it, for, when Mary followed Martha out, they said, " She is gone to the grave to weep there." But she had not gone to the grave ; she had gone to meet Jesus. The first thought that presents itself to my mind here, is that Jesus Christ is Master. He is the Devil's Master. It does my heart good to read in the Scrip- ture of those cases where poor, devil-possessed human beings were brought to Jesus, and He would say to the devils : "I command you to come out of them !" They would skulk away like sheep-killing dogs. Whenever you are sorely tempted, remember that Jesus is the Master of the devil, and can step in between you and him at any time and order him off. It is a glorious 60 PULPIT, PEW AM) PLATFORM. thought to us Christian workers. It helps us in our meetings. It strengthens us in our efforts to live the right kind of life. No matter what may come; no matter how severe the temptation may be, Jesus is the Master of the devil. He is the Master of death, also. When He came into this world he conquered death, and leads him cap- tive at His will. All of us are afraid of death, and we have a right to be. It has made sad havoc with us. You look up in the corner where mother used to sit, and the chair is vacant. You hunt about the house and you come across a little shoe, but the precious foot that wore it walks no more across your floor, and the sweet little mouth, whose prattle was music to your soul, is hushed and still to-day. You wear scars on your heart that you will carry to the latest hour of your life. What did all this? Death! Xo wonder that we should be afraid of it ; and yet, death can only come when Jesus permits it. We arc immortal until our work is done. He is our Master. If He is not, the devil is. He sits enthroned in the hearts of all true disciples, di- recting our thoughts, controlling our feelings, shedding abroad the light of our life, and day by day sustaining and strengthening us for the battle. Those of us who have served Him most an' mosi anxious to continue in His service, for I lis yoke is easy and His burden is light. You who have served the other master, if you would know what true joy is, take Jesus as your Saviour, SHORT AND CRIST. fi 1 obey Him as your Master, and a life of usefulness here and happiness hereafter will be yours. " The Master is come." That is the best news this world ever heard. When the shepherds were watching their flocks that night in Palestine and heard such music as had never greeted their ears before, they looked up to see who had brought such sweet melodies and found that the angels were gathering around them and telling them the blessed news, that the Master had come. And so we can say the Master has come here in unusual power in these meetings. You have seen the tears of the penitent ; you have witnessed the confession of Christ by happy converts ; you have listened to the songs of praise that have gone up from hundreds of devoted hearts. What means it ? The Master is come. Oh ! blessed hour, when Jesus walks among his people and gives to them the joys of His presence. " The Master is come and calleth." He is always calling. He calls by every providence. When you were siek and felt perhaps you might never get well, He Mas calling for you. When you looked into the cold pale face of your own loved dead, He Mas calling. You have never heard a sermon in your life, but it Mas a call of the Master ; and to-day the call is repeated. And notice how personal is this call. He calleth for thee. If, M'hile I am talking, you feel in your heart that this means you, take it home, apply it to yourself aud do the Masters will. "The Master is come and calleth for thee." What 62 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. docs He want? He wanted Mary that He might com- fort her. He knew that her poor heart was breaking, and He wanted to relieve her of the anguish that afflic- tion had brought. Are you afflicted? Is your poor heart burdened ? While I am talking, to-day, do you feel that, like Mary, grief has smitten your soul? Is there some trouble, to-day, that you feel that you can- uot tell anybody about ? He calleth for thee. " Here bring your wounded hearts, Here tell your anguish ; Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal." He is calling, too, for you, Christian people. He wants you to go to work. " Why stand ye here all day, idle." What have you done ? What are you doing for Jesus? Are you thinking about your own enjoyment, day by day, busy after the things of this world, diving into all sorts of pleasures ? Stop a minute. The Master calls. He wants you to go out and work for him. Yonder wayward wanderer is thy brother, thy sister; go and win them back to Christ. There is much for every one to do, and the Master is urgent in his demand. Hark ! the voice of Jesus crying, — " Who will go and work to-day ? Fields are white and harvest waiting, Who will bear the sheaves away?" Loud and long the Master calleth, Rich reward lie offers thee ; Who will answer, gladly saying: " Here ami; O Lord send me." SHORT AND CRISP. 6** And then He is calling for yon, who are not Christians, but are thinking o'f giving your hearts to Him. Dear friends, come a little closer. Come and touch the hem of His garment ; take Him by the hand, kneel at His feet ; look up into His face. He has come to save you ; can you not trust Him. Hear the voice and obey; you will find ways open to you of which you have never dreamed, and a life worth living will be your daily reward. Not long since a man stood up in one of my congregations, and said : " The Lord took me out of the saloon and put me into the church. I never knew what life was until I began to live as a Christian." And you, who care nothing for your souls, He calls for you. Every day you are going farther away from Him. Turn and listen to His call. Think what will be the outcome of all this life of disobedience that you are living. It will not be long until the evening shades shall fall across our path. Some night you will be lying on your bed and your loved ones will gather around you ; they will softly take your hand and in a low faltering voice will say : " Do you know that you are very, very ill ?" Their forms will fade out of your sight, your grasp upon the world will be broken and as your strength fails and your heart is nearer its final beat, you will hear a voice : " The Master is come and calleth for thee." The Lord help us to heed His call now, and we shall be able to hear it then with "joy unspeakable and full of glory." 64 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. RESCUING THE PERISHING. 4< The Son of man has come (o seek and to save the lost." "As the Father hath sent me, so send I you." THERE is something in the heart that moves us to reach out a hand for the helpless, and to try to rescue those who are perishing. This is the blessed errand on which Jesus Christ came, and for which he sends us forth to the world. Go ye into all the world and tell the good news to every creature, every individ- ual. They are perishing, and you must try to save them. Walking along High Street, in Edinboro', with some friends, and stopping now and then to look at places of interest in this crowded thoroughfare, which was once the home of the aristocracy, but now the resort of the poor and needy, and often the criminal classes, we noticed the bust in marble of a boy, and over and around it this inscription: "Heave away, chaps, I'm not dead yet." It had a touching history. About sixty persons had lived in the old house which stood in the place now occupied by this new building. The old trap fell one day and caught and killed nearly all the occu- pants. When the men had been at work in the old ruins for two days clearing away the debris and taking out the dead bodies, they heard a voice from underneath their feet saying: "Heave away, chaps, I'm not dead yet." They worked away with might and main and soon pulled the little fellow out and saved him. There SHORT AND CRISP. 65 was joy in that city as the glad news went from home to home, and especially the home and heart of his own loved ones. The men who saved him wept with delight when they realized what they had done. Down under the ruins of sin, among the debris of iniquity and wretchedness, many a sftul cries out to the toiler for Christ : " Heave away, chaps, I'm not dead yet." Let us work with happy, hopeful hearts, and ere long we shall rejoice with the angels of God over new-born souls in the Kingdom of Heaven. Sometimes, in trying to save, we save our own. On the first Sunday in January 1 asked my members who were willing to try to save a soul that year to stand up. I think they all rose, for they have a mind to work in our church, and are happiest when hardest at it. Not long after, when baptizing, as I would take them into the water one by one, a mother led her daughter up to me and said : "Brother Wharton, I promised you a soul for Christ, and here she is, my own precious child." A merchant of Rochester, New York, who had been off traveling for his house, was returning, and as he walked along the street near the bank of the Genesee River he heard a cry close by and saw a commotion among some little boys at the river side. He soon found that one of their mates was drowning. Without a moment's hesi- tation he dropped his grip-sack and rushed into the water. He seized the drowning boy and brought him to the bank and laid him down and looked into his face for the first time. He turned as white as a sheet 5 66 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. as the little fellow opened his eyes and looked up into his face. " My God \" he said, " this is my own child." What gratitude, what joy must have filled that father's heart. Pie had rescued his own dear boy. So it is. We never know how well we work, nor ever will, until we reach the other side. The Page valley of Virginia lies between the Blue Ridge on one side and the Massanutron on the other. Right down through the middle flows the bright and beautiful river, named by the Indians Shenandoah, the "daughter of the stars." When it rains the waters rush down the mountain sides into the river, until it overflows its banks and sweeps down the valley, carry- ing everything before it. You can hear the sound of the roaring waters a long way off, and the people gather on the banks to watch the fearful tide. I think it was in November, 1874, when one of those terrible floods came and deluged the pretty little valley. Early in the morning a crowd had gathered along the banks near Front Royal, and were watching the angry waters as they swept on, carrying fence-rails, logs of wood, shocks of corn, stacks of hay and wrecks of bridges and houses. Looking away out into the river a little tree was noticed swaying to and fro, and a black object in its branches. "It is a man ! " broke from a score of mouths, as they looked into each other's faces and wondered what could be done. Certain death seemed to be the lot of any man who would dare to trust himself upon that wild waste of waters. But something must be done. Yet SHORT AND CRISP. 07 who would dare undertake the desperate task. A man's life was in peril, his strength fast failing; no time nnist be lost. A young man whom I know well was stand- ing there looking quietly on, but with mind and heart busily planning the rescue of the poor sufferer. " Bring me a boat and I will try to get him," he said. As soon as possible a boat was hauled through the fields and up the river some distance, the people following on. The young man was at that time one of the civil engineers locating the Shenandoah Valley Railroad. He was in- telligent and brave. When they had gone far enough, according to his judgment, he had the boat put into the water, stepped in and shot out into the stream. A shudder ran through every mortal frame upon those banks when the little boat commenced its battle with the mad, muddy waters. It required a cool head, a stout heart and a sturdy arm. It is down stream, but he must steer for the -tree, the rubbish must be watched and avoided, and the boat carefully guarded to prevent upsetting. On and on the noble fellow went, the peo- ple running along the banks in almost breathless anxiety, and praying God for help. On and on he goes, until he is near the tree, and as the boat shoves by he drops his oars and throws his arm around the body of the tree; quick as a flash the boat wheels around with her head up stream and all is well. The poor, stiff refugee begins to climb down, and in an instant they are out in the stream, and the strong young arms are pulling for the shore. The flush of victory is ou his cheek and the G8 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. light of heaven in his eye as he steps out of the boat and lifts the tired, grateful man whose life lie had saved and risked his own to do it. The glad throng who had watched him with such affectionate interest, gathered around him and greeted him with a shout that fairly rent the skies. And to this day the people of that country speak with rapture of the noble deed. Xeed I make the application ? Out in the dark and troubled waters of siu there are thousands perishing. We may rescue them if we will, and save not their bodies only, but their souls, and the angels of heaven will rejoice, and the heart of our Saviour be made glad over every one we bring to him. "Rescue the perishing, Care for the dying, Snatch them in pity From sin and t lie grave; "Weep o'er the erring one, Lift up the fallen ; Tell them of Jesus, The mighty to pave." Passing through Philadelphia, I bought a morning paper and found the following: On the day before, while people were out walking, (a pleasant Sunday after- noon) on the banks of the Schuylkill River and across the bridges, they were startled by a cry of alarm. Looking in the direction from which the sound came they saw that two boys were drowning. All stood still, and knew not what to do. Some clutched the hand of the child they were leading, and thanked God it was SHORT AND CRISP. 69 not their boy who was perishing. Others ran to the waters' edge, but feared to venture in ; strong men seemed weak, and helpless, and bewildered. " Clear the way/' a shrill voice cries, and the people stand aside as a lad without hat, coat or shoes, his hair flying in the wind, his eyes fixed on the drowning boys, rushes through the crowd and leaps into the river. In an in- stant he holds one boy with his left hand, while he takes the other by the jacket with his teeth and makes for the bank. Almost lifeless he fell at the feet of the excited throng, but he had saved the boys. That night the citizens had a meeting. They gave clothes and money to the noble youth, for he was a poor boy, and the poor do not have money and but few friends. The mothers kissed him and every body praised him. He had done a brave and noble deed. Let us go and do likewise for Jesus' sake. " There are lonely hearts to cherish, There are weary souls who perish While the days are going by." III. SERMONS. RECOGNITION IN HEAVEN. SERMON DELIVERED BY MR. WHARTON IN THE SEVENTH BAP- TIST CHURCH, BALTIMORE, DEC. II, 1889. OUR text to-night is from 1st Corinthians, 13th chapter, 12th verse: "For now ice see through a glass, darkly ; but then face to face; now I know in part ; but then shall I know even as also I am known." We are all interested in this subject, and for two rea- sons : In the first place, every one of us expects to go to Heaven; I do not believe there is a man, woman or child in the house, listening to me now, who does not expect at the last to go to Heaven, and I am glad of it; the only thing, my friends, is to see to it that yon are in the right road to Heaven. You remember when Jesus said to his disciples, " I go to prepare a place for you, and whither I go ye know, mid the way ye know," and Thomas saith unto him, " Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said, " I am the way." So that if you and I are in Christ to-night, if we have accepted him as our Saviour, if we are trusting in him and trying to follow 70 SERMONS. 71 him, there is no doubt about it, we are in the way to Heaven, and we have the best of reasons for supposing that we will get to Heaven, and we ought to want to know something about how it is. The other reason why we are all interested in this subject, is this : There is no one here to-night but has lost a loved one, and sometimes, as we think about the dear ones gone, we wonder if we shall know them ? I often wonder in my heart if I shall know mv mother, aud how she will look, and thinking upon these things I have examined the subject in the Scriptures more carefully and with more intense interest, it seems to me, than I have any other subject in the Bible. It is ray deliberate conviction that we shall know each other in Heaven, and I am here to-night to tell you the reasons that brought me to that conclusion. I believe that in heaven we shall recognize each other, and I want you to listen to the reasons I have to give and see if you do not think so too. Let me call your attention, first of all, to a fact which I hope you will keep in your mind as I go along talk- ing : Heaven is a place. Now, we are in the habit of thinking of Heaven as a floating something — a baseless fabric that has no body or foundation. Remember, my friends, Heaven is a place just as much as this earth is a place, and more so, for Heaven is eternal, and this world shall be destroyed. # You know Heaven is spoken of as the Eternal City whose maker and builder is God. It is spoken of sometimes as a better couutry, and we 72 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. are pilgrims passing through a strange land on our way to that better country. We sing, sometimes, " I am but a stranger here, Heaven is my home." Jesus said to them, " I go to prepare a place for you." Bear it in mind, then, that Heaven is a place; and furthermore, remember that The inhabitants of Heaven are 'people. I know there are angels there, and blessed spirits, perhaps, of whom we have no account in God's Word, but we are sure that among the inhabitants of Heaven are people. John, when he had the vision of which I have been reading to-night, said he saw a great number clothed in white, and an elder said to him, " Who are these, John ? " He seemed afraid to reply. Presently he said to him, "Sir, thou knowest." " Thou knowest," as if he would not venture to say ; and then the elder an- swered, " These are they who came up out of great trib- ulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'' Who are they? They are the redeemed. And so among the inhabitants of Heaven are the people, the redeemed, and many of our dear ones who have passed through the trials and tribulations of this world, and have heart! the voice of the Father saying, " It is enough, come up higher," and they have gone to be with him. Again, let us bear in mind These people have bodies ; they are sown a natural body — they are raised a spirit- ual body. These spiritual bodies are not such as we have now, trammelled by the flesh ; they are not bur- SERMONS. 73 dened by fleshly weight, but, as some old preacher has represented it, they can pass hither and thither like flashes of thought. For example, my mind is now in San Francisco, California, so is yours ; now it is up among the stars, so is yours ; now it is in New York, so is yours ; now it is here, so is yours. Quick as thought flashes our spirits will travel from place to place at the direction of the will. You know Jesus passed in and out through a house, and in an instant was caught away. After the crucifixion Jesus and the saints arose from the grave and showed their bodies to the disciples. So we know these people have bodies after resurrection. Now this is the question : Since Heaven is a place, and Heaven's inhabitants are people and have bodies, Are these bodies recognizable? Shall we know each other in these spiritual bodies in which we shall dwell in Heaven ? Now, first of all, There is nothing in Scripture against it. I cannot find, from Genesis to Revelation, anything against it. On the other hand we are encouraged to be- lieve it is so. Don't you know that when Jesus was asked by a disciple, " Suppose a woman has five hus- bands, and by and by she and they all die, whose wife would she be in the resurrection ? " Jesus might have set that whole question at rest by simply saying, " Why, in the resurrection you won't know each other," but he did not ; he always dealt fairly with them. He said about Heaven, " If it were not so I would have told 7-4 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. you," and he would havo said then, "You will not know each other Id the resurrection," but he simply said, "In the resurrection the relations will be differenl ; you will be like the angels." Don't you know the angel said to John, " I am thy fellow-servant/' So in the resurrection Jesus teaches us to believe the relation will be different, and we shall recognize each other. The only argument I have ever seen against it — and it is no argument, but rather the suggestion of a dif- ficulty — is this : A dear mother here to-night will say, "Brother Wharton, suppose when I get to Heaven I shall find my sweet child absent, how could I be happy? If I am to recognize people there, and find my child missing, how could I be happy?" The only reply I can make to that, is this: God does not an- swer that question. I cannot find it answered any- where in the Scripture. I can only say this: We shall be happy in Heaven. I say furthermore, Jesus Christ is far better than any of us has ever taken him to be, good as we believe he is, and nobody can tell what transpires in that last minute between the dying one and his Saviour. Who shall undertake to say that your loved one who has gone out of the world, and fur whom you have but the slightest hope, in the lasi minute caught a glimpse of his Saviour and said, " Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Now let us take the representations of Heaven as sus- taining this view that we shall recognize each other. SERMONS. 75 Heaven is represented as a feast, and I am here to-night, dear friends, to invite every one of you to this feast — the feast of the blessed Lamb, and to say that all things are ready, come every one and partake of it ; it is your blessed privilege ; let him that heareth say, come, and whosoever will let him come. Heaven is represented as a feast. Now, what would you think of a feast held in Baltimore and the papers came out aud said such a man had a feast and nobody at the feast knew anybody else ? Would not that be a very strange feast — everybody a stranger? You might account for it here by saying it was a masked party, but there would not be any mask- ing in Heaven. And so when God tells us Heaven is a feast, I understand it that guests will know each other. Heaven is also represented as a family. The whole family of God on earth and in Heaven. It is one of the sweetest thoughts that in Heaven and on earth God has a family, some who have passed over to the other side, some on this side. If your spiritual eyes could be opened to-night I think you might see some of them looking down with anxious hearts, hoping that their loved ones would give their hearts to God this very hour. The whole family — the good in earth and Heaven ; some have passed over and some are passing over, and it will not be long ere you and I shall hear the welcome words: "Child, thy Father calls come home." Another blessed truth is that new children are being born into the family every day — in this country, 76 PULPIT, PEW AM) PLATFORM. across the seas, all over the earth ; and did you ever think that aa the Gospel spreads and laborers increase, more and more are going out and preaching the word, that the joy in Heaven is increased? They rejoice over every sinner that returns, and whenever a sinner is born into the Kingdom joy springs up in the better land, and the glad shouts ring throughout the skies. Now, what would you think of a family sitting around the family circle and not one of them knowing any other of the family".' Would it not be a strange family? Can you think of a family like that? I can- not conceive of our Father's family sitting around in Heaven and not knowing one another ; and when God represents it as a whole family, and all crossing over, and by and by the last one crossing over and getting safely in Heaven, I believe that family will know one another. Our knowledge. "Then shall I know, even as I am known." Take another reason. An old preacher was asked by his wife: " Do you think we shall know one another in Heaven?" He said: " Wife, we know one another here, and we certainly will not have less sense in Heaven than we have here." Let us consider some o/ the incidents of Scripture. Some say we do not learn anything by the Mount of Transfiguration. I don't agree with them. There was Jesus on the Mount, and three of the Apostles with him, and there appeared Moses and Elias; and Peter said, " Let us build three tabernacles — one for thee and SERMONS. 77 one for Moses and one for Elias." Did not Peter know Moses and Elias were there? And if Peter, while in the flesh could know them, don't you suppose he knows them now, when he is with them ? Then take the parable of the rich man. Jesus repre- sents him as in torment, and looking up, beholds Laza- rus in Abraham's bosom. Now, if a man in hell can recognize a man in Heaven, don't you suppose another man in Heaven would recognize him. I tell you it in- tensifies the horrors of hell to think that you can see and know those in Heaven. Moore in his poem makes one say : " And when from earth his spirit flies, Just Prophet, let the damned one dwell Full in the sight of Paradise, Beholding Heaven yet feeling hell." It is a fearful picture of torment, my friends, that we might see Heaven while feeling hell, but surely that truth is taught in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Again, Jesus says many shall come from the east and west and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. What does it mean if it does not mean that in sitting down with them we shall know them and know they are there ; and I tell you I believe we shall know them without an introduction. I believe in walking down the golden streets of the Beautiful City some day, in your spiritual form, you will see one approaching you and your heart and mind 78 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. will tell you there comes old Isaiah ; and some day you will see a dignified form approaching you and you will say, " Bless my soul, there is old Paul,'' and you will say, " Brother Paul, sit down with us about twenty-five hundred years and have a talk ; tell me something of your glorious earthly life." Some day, sister, you will hear a sweet song swelling above the voices of Heaven, and you will say, " There is Mary Magdalen. How she sings ! " She is the poor sinner who lay at the feet of Jesus, and out of whom he cast seven devils. You won't need any introduction, for trammelled and set free from the flesh you will know them. What does the text say ? "I shall know even as I am known." I think one of the strongest, if not the strongest, argument in favor of Heavenlv recognition, is this : Jesus Christ is the first-fruits of the resurrection. )\(i\v, my friends, if he is the first-fruits of the resurrection, what do you understand the other fruits to be ? Some of you have lived in the country. Suppose some one came to you with a bundle of wheat and said : " This is the first-fruit of my harvest," would you think the balance of the harvest was oats ? Suppose he came out of an orchard with a basket of apples, and said, "This is the first-fruits of my orchard," would you think the balance was oranges? No; you would expect the bal- ance to come pretty well up to the sample. Jesus arose from the dead and said, "I am the first- fruits of the resurrection." ' What are we to expect but that the other fruits of the resurrection harvest are to be SERMONS. 79 like him ? After he arose from the dead Mary looked up into his face aud said, " Master." Thomas touched his wounded side and hands and said, " My Lord and my God." They knew Jesus after his resurrection ; and if he is the first-fruits of the resurrection, is not the balance to be like him, and won't you and I, when wc rise from our graves be like him ? Does he not say so? We shall be satisfied when we shall wake in his like- ness. They knew Jesus, they will know you and they will know me. But look at other things in the Scripture. Every one of us must give account of himself to God, aud don't you suppose you will be identified when you stand out and give your account. Furthermore, he says something like this is going to happen up there. He says some of us are coming before him, and he will say, "I was sick aud ye visited me, naked aud ye clothed me, thirsty and ye gave me drink;" and that we, in our own proper persons, will say, " Lord, when did we do these things?" and he will answer, " Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these my disciples, ye have done it unto me." Does not that look as if you would be known ? My sister, I do not believe you have ever given a cup of water to a pauper child, or sent a meal to a sick woman that Jesus Christ has not treasured it up and will re- member it and tell you about it that day. O, blessed thought ! Who does not want to love such a Saviour, and do everything they can for him, when these things are true? " I will not forget a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple." 80 PULPIT, PEW AN'Il PLATFORM. Furthermore listen how Paul talks. When writing about the people he led to Christ, don't you recollect what he said ? Call it to mind. He said, (i In that day ye shall he my joy and crown of rejoicing." ''Paul, what do you mean ? " " 1 mean that out of Corinth and Ephesus, out of Rome and Athens, out of every place I have visited and preached the word. I shall see men and women and children win mi I have led to Christ in heathen lands. O, beloved, if there is a joy above an- other in Heaven it will be to stand and look into the face of some poor wanderer that you went after and brought back to God — saved by your own efforts. Many strange things have happened around death-beds, which we can't explain, except by the light of this truth. A year ago to-day I was preaching in Lexington, Ky. While sitting one afternoon by the fire, with Dr. Felix, and talking about different things pertaining to the Kingdom of Heaven, he said to me : "I had a strange experience a short time ago." I said, " What was it, Doctor?" He replied, "I was sitting beside the bed of a dying woman ; she was almost gone; pres- ently she looked up, fixed her gaze toward the ceiling for a minute or two and then said, 'They have gone/ I thought her mind was wandering, and simply said, Did you see some one? ' Yes,' she said, 'my husband and little boy were right there ; they are gone now.' Do you know me? He thought her mind was upset. She said, ' Dr. Felix, of course I do. You think I am SERMONS. 81 out of my mind, but I am not. I saw them ; they were right there.' Her mother and several others sitting about the room asked her : ' Do you know me ? ' 'Do you know me?' She said, ' Certainly I know you; why shouldn't I know you ? ' And in a few moments she was dead." I read lately of a little child that lost its mother when very young — only two weeks old. It had never known its mother, and they raised it until about four years of age, and at that age it died. When it was dying it stretched up its little hands and said, "Oh, there is mamma," and the little hands fell back on its breast and mamma had her little one in her arms. The famous Andrew Broaddus, of Virginia, when he was dying, smiled, and some one said, " What makes you smile?" He said, " The angels are teaching me what I shall do in Heaven." One dear to my heart was falling asleep in Jesus ; we were sitting around the bed, and she looked up in her mother's face, as quiet and calm as I am at this minute, and said, " Mamma, I see grandma in Heaven." Now, friends, how are we to understand these things? I will tell you what I believe about it : I believe as we approach the dying hour and come to the moment of departure the Lord comes to receive us and seems to move aside the vail, and gives us a glimpse into the Glory Land. I have given you the reasons why I believe that in the better world those who are saved by the blood of 6 82 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. Jesus Christ shall know each other, and there is no doubt about it in my mind ; but before I close this talk I want to say this : Let us try to know each other a little better here. There is no question about knowing each other there, as far as I am concerned, and, my friends, let us try to know each other better here — try to get a little closer to each other — give each other more help and sympathy, and try to get all our friends and loved ones to journey with us along the heavenly road. That is what we are here to-night for, once more to of- fer salvation in the name of Jesus Christ to every un- saved soul in this congregation, and say whoever will may come with us to-night and start on the heavenly journey. Will you go? We are ready to help you. I once heard John B. Gough relate his experience. He said when he was overcome by drink and utterly cast down, as he walked the streets with his toes out at holes in his shoes and his hair sticking through holes in his hat, and his clothes old and ragged, he went shuf- fling along saying, " I care for nobody, and nobody cares for me," a man met him and said : " Gough, is it not time you were turning around and leading a better life? I wish you would go with me to-night." Gough did not want to go, but he insisted, and finally Gough said : " I will go," and that night he resolved he would lead a better life. The next day he stood in a carpenter shop with a chisel in his hand, working to get something to eat that day — the chisel turned to a serpent. He saw the eyes glaring up into his ; hesaid he knew that it was not so, that SERMONS. 83 it was only delirium in his brain ; he knew that what he wanted was liquor, and he said his hair stood on end and the sweat broke out iu great drops ; the chisel fell from his hand, and from the shavings looked up glar- ing into his face. " I can't stand it, I can't stand it ; I must have a drink." Just then a Christian lawyer stepped into the shop and said to him, " Gough, old fel- low, I have been looking for you ; I heard of you last night, and I have been hunting for you, and I have come in here to tell you to stand up, and don't sur- render ! Be brave ! I have the best wife in the world, and she told me to tell you she had hot coffee and bread, and if you come down she will play and sing for you. Fight it through, and you will come out all right." As that man walked out Gough said he put his trembling hand to his head and said, " God helping me, I will." That is what we want now. We want men and women for Heaven ; and I tell you, wives, mothers and sisters, you can do a wonderful work along that line if you only will. I was in a street car this morning, when w 7 ho should step in but my old friend Todd Hall, the converted de- tective of this city. As we sat in the car together he said : " "Well, sir, I was busy all day yesterday looking for a man, and sent him off in the hands of Cincinnati detectives; I felt very sorry for him ; he told me his wife was ill, and would I please go and see her ; I saw the doc- tor and asked when I could go, and when I went in he said, ' Mr. Hall, I know you ; I used to avoid you, but 84 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. I do not avoid you any longer. I belonged to three clubs, and I was a drinking man and I gambled, and got to going away from home and staying away, and I didn't know what would become of me ; one night I started out with §47 in my pocket and came back dur- ing the night and did not have 47 cents. The next morning I went down to breakfast, and as I walked down I saw my wife standing in one corner of the room and my daughter at her side. They looked pale, ghastly and forsaken, and I looked at them and said : ' What is the matter with you all ? ' He said his daughter looked in his face and said, " Papa, don't you know what is the matter ? " " Well," he said, " daugh- ter what is the matter? " " Papa, do you know what time you came home last night?" " No, child, I do not." Then she said, " That is what is the matter with mother and me." He said he just pushed his plate back and said, " That is enough ; that will do — come here both of you and kneel down beside me, and God Almighty being my helper, I will never drink another drop." He said, " Mr. Hall, that has been two years ago." Hall got up and put his arm around him, and he said the other detective, who is not a Christian, sat there and cried like a baby. And the Doctor said, " Go and see that woman, you can give her Christian comfort." Now, my friends, you will know each other in Heaven, but let us know each other here, and let us have a heart of sympathy, a cheering word and a help- ing hand. SERMONS. 85 If we cannot be in the front of the battle, we can get our arras around the weak and wounded and help them home. FAITH AND WORKS. And manxj that believed came and confessed, and shewed their deeds. — Acts xix. 18. THIS is a sort of summing up of a protracted meeting that was held by the Apostle Paul in the city of Ephesus, and which lasted two years and three months. We talk about revivals, and think that if we have held one for two or three weeks we have done something wonderful. But here is one that lasted two years and three months in one place, and by one man ! What a time he must have had ! What toils, what discourage- ments, what hardships ! Among a people who had never heard of Jesus, and who, when they heard of him, opposed him with all their might ! Many that believed. — Some did not believe. On the other hand, they were hardened and did all they could to break up the meeting. The opposition grew so se- vere at the end of three months that Paul went out oi the church where he was preaching into a school-house, and held his meetings there for two years. Some did not believe. This has been the case evei since our Master himself walked the earth. They did not believe in Him. They did not believe His Apos- tles ; and they do not believe you and me now. We should not be discouraged, my brethren, when this is the 86 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. case, nor should your faith be shaken, if men tell you that they do not believe you when you speak of Christ and His cause. Bat many did believe. — I am glad he does not say that they knew, but only believed. There is such a temptation for us all to wish to know these things, when all we are required to do is to believe them. Soon after I entered the ministry, I was holding a meeting in Alex- andria, Virginia, and the people were all busy at work inviting the unconverted to the meetings, and we were having a good time. One of the deacons of the church went to see an old gentleman who was the proprietor of a railroad hotel, and requested him to come to the meet- ings. He positively refused, saying he never went to church at all. The deacon insisted. I tell you, friends, von do not know the good you can accomplish by bring- ing the unconverted to the meetings. I shall never for- get a meeting held in Eutaw Place Church, in Baltimore. Every night one of the deacons of that church would come up the aisle, bending under the weight of a sixteen- year-old boy. He was a paralytic. He would bring him and just pile him up in the corner of the front pew, and then he would sit over on a side pew and watch the effect of the sermon on little George. One night, when I asked the people to arise and confess Christ, little George could not rise, but raised both hands. The deacon hurried over to me and touched me and said, " Do you see little George?" To this day, whenever I meet him on the street, and take him by the hand, and SERMONS. 87 ask him when he saw little George, he begins to weep for joy. You do not know what good you may do by bringing somebody to church. Well this brother in Alexandria insisted on the old gentleman's coming, and finally got him to consent. lie came that night, and looked around very uncoucerned. I was struck with his appearance. A tall, fine-looking man, and very white hair. He came again the next night, and the next- All of us became interested in him ; and one night while I was preaching I saw him get out his handkerchief and quietly brush a tear from his eye. He did not want anybody to see that he was weeping. Men do not like for others to see them weep. They seem to think it is a sign of weakness. I tell you if some of you would weep over your sins, it would be a sign of strength in weak- ness that would be your glory. I went to see him the next day, and in conversation with him he said to me : " Mr. Wharton, if I could only know that these things are so!" I replied to him: "The Lord does not re- quire you to know them ; He only asks you to believe them." His lip quivered like a little child's, and he said to me, " I do believe, sir, with all my heart." Many that believed. — I like to see a man believe something. You may not be able to tell a great deal about what you believe. It is not necessary that you should be a great theologian in order to be a Christian. We ought to be able to give a reason for the hope that is in us. I heard of a man once who was asked what he believed. He said, " I believe what my minister 88 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. preaches." " Well, what does }'our minister preach?" "He preaches what I believe." I once asked a little child what Sunday-school class she belonged to. She said, " I belong to brother's class." ''Well, what class does your brother belong to?" "Pie belongs to my class." " Well," said I, " what class do you both belong to?" She said, "We both belong to the same class." Now that little child was not trying to evade my ques- tion at all. It was simply the best she could do in tell- ing me to what class she belonged. And you and I need not be able to discourse on great doctrines in the Bible, but if we can tell in whom we believe, that is all we need. I do not pretend to be a theologian, nor would I undertake to preach sermons upon the profound doc- trines of the Bible. I know that I believe in Jesus Christ. I know that I accept His word as my hope of heaven. And what more do I need ! I cannot tell you how the food that I eat is prepared ; and if I were to undertake to prepare it it would not be fit for me or anybody else to eat. But I know that it strengthens and refreshes me and keeps soul and body together ; and I believe in it. So it is with the religion of Jesus Christ. I know it makes me a better man, more useful, more happy. I know that it does the same for others; and I believe in it. Now these people believed what Paul preached. At another time, when talking with some of the Christians of that very city, Paul referred to his theme while he was among them, and said, "I preached repentance to- SERMONS. 89 ward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." That was what he preached ; and that was what they be- lieved ; that if they would turn from their sins and have faith in Christ as their Saviour they should verily be saved. This subject of repentance is a very im- portant matter. What is repentance ? Some say it is sorrow for sin. Well, that is so, and it is not so. A man may get drunk, and go home and beat his wife and children, and wake up the next morning and be sorry for it That is not repentance. Repentance is sor- row for sin ; but how much sorrow? There was a man who lost his house. He was a poor man. The neigh- bors gathered around, looked into each other's faces and said, " We are so sorry for you !" One man in the crowd put his hand in his pocket, and said: "Gentle- men, I am sorry twenty dollars worth ; how much are you all sorry?" Well, now, if a man is sorry for his sins, how much is he sorry? God says if he is sorry enough to make him quit his evil ways and turn to Him for help to live a better life, that is repen- tance. Repentance Toward God and Faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. — How many are looking for faith in themselves ! You want to feel like you are strong enough to be a Christian yourself. You want to have some assurance that you are going to hold out faithfully to the end yourself. The fact is, you need to have as little faith as possible in yourself, for that will make you have more in your Saviour. You must pass 90 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. through this world leaning on the arm of the Lord Jesus Christ, or you will never get to heaven, and the sooner you take Him as your Saviour the sweeter will be your peace, the happier will he your life. Many tJiat Believed Came. — They were not brought. "When, in their hearts, they believed the Gospel, they came ; came, I suppose, right out of the crowd, where Paul was. And I do not reckon they came many at a time. I suppose about one or two a night, perhaps. And one, under such circumstances as he was working, would give him as much joy as a hundred would give us. He was there among the heathen. No helpers, no sympathizers! All lookers on. If there is anything that chills the ardor of a man who is trying to do some good, it is to be surrounded by a lot of cold- hearted lookers on, and out of sympathy with him, and only there through curiosity or to criticise. I think the man in a little town in this State was about right. It was a fighting town, and the men would gather in the streets and fight from one end to the other. One day a drummer, passing through, was sitting upon a goods box, looking on at the fight, and one of them came to him and commenced on him with a hoop pole with all his might. The drummer said, "Stop, man ! I am an innocent visitor here; I am not doing anything!" "That's it," said the fellow; "you are neither fighting nor parting, and we don't allow any looking on at this place." I have no doubt that when one did come that Paul rejoiced over him ; for it was at the peril of their SERMONS. 91 lives in those days that men came out and took their stand at the side of Christ. They Came and Confessed. — You will notice in the Scriptures how often we are urged to confess when we believe in Christ. Some say, "I believe in Him; but what is the use of my making a confession?" Well, He has commanded it. That is enough for any believer. Besides, when you make this confession in public, you throw your influence on the side of Christ- ianity at once, and others, seeing the position that you take, will be led to do the same thing. You are a father. Your boy is not a Christian. You cannot urge your boy to confess Christ when your own influence is against it, and when you yourself have not done that w r hich you urge him to do. I was holding meetings in the city of Richmond, on one occasion. A prominent gentleman came up to me, one night, and said : "Mr. Wharton, see what you can do for my boys, please." I knew that he was not a Christian, and I said to him : "Will you help me?" "How can I help you?" he replied. "By giving yourself to Christ, and setting your boys an example." The next night I saw him in the congregation, and alluded to what had passed be- tween us the night before. At the conclusion of the sermon he was the first to come forward, and he had hardly taken his seat before one of his bright boys came up and sat beside his father, with his hand upon his shoulder. There is every reason why you should con- fess Christ as your Saviour if you believe in him. But 92 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. they did not stop at a confession. I think a great many stop there, and they ought not to do it. You might say, Oli, I have confessed Christ; I confessed him at a meet- ing not long ago. But notice what the text says : Tlicy shewed their deeds. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a man who built his house upon a rock ; and the winds blew, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. But whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not, I will liken him to a man who built his house upon the sand, and the winds blew, and the rains de- scended, and the floods came and beat upon that house, *md it fell, and great was the fall thereof. They Shewed Their Deeds. — "We live in deeds, not words; In facts, not in the figures on the dial. ' We should count the time by heart throbs. lie lives most who thinks most, Feels the noblest, acta the best." I was preaching in a Southern city, and they brought in a jury engaged in the trial of a case, and who were spending their nights playing cards, and so on. "When they went back to their room, the man who had the cards walked up to the fireplace, and said : " Gentlemen, here goes the pack of cards ; I am done." I knew a man who went home one night from the preaching, and took his bottle of liquor half full, broke the bottle, and SERMONS. 93 said, "God helping me, I am done." In the streets of Ephesus they got their infidel books and other "works that wire opposed to Christianity and burned them before the eyes of all. They showed their deeds. Make your confession to-night, and from this good hour, and you will find something to do to make this whole world better day by day as you go through.it. The sick are to be visited ; the poor and needy are to be helped, and this is Christians' work. One cold winter day not long since, a Christian woman was riding in her carriage up one of the streets of New York City, and she saw a little bare-footed boy standing in front of the window of a shoe store, his blue feet on the cold, hard pavement, and he poorly clad. She stopped her carriage, and going up to the side of the little fellow, said : " What are you doing here, little boy ?" He said, " I was asking God to send me a pair of shoes." She said, " Come in here." And going up to the merchant she asked him to select a pair of shoes that would fit that little boy. " Send out and get a pair of socks for him, and give me a basin of water and a towel and some soap." And seating the little fellow, she washed his feet, wiped them dry with a towel, pulled on the socks, and put on the shoes, and then said to him : " Now, sir, you have your shoes." Looking into her face, and laughing through his tears, he said to her, " Are you God's wife ?" No, she was not God's wife, but I will tell you who she was : She was God's daughter. There are many weary souls in this city to-night who might be saved if you and I would 94 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. do our duty. I carry a spur in my heart day by day when I think of the earlier days when my influence led young men astray. It is to me a memory that urges me onward, that day by day I may seek young men and turn them into a better way, to a better life. They shewed their deed* It will not be long before our deeds ™i earth will ^ and we -hall go to our rewc i. Let us sc }' .u i*e "ire 'Ousy -every day. Some time ago I was traveling up the Rappahannock River, and from the deck of the steamer was looking over Lambreth's large garden seed farm. I could see the hands at work in many fields, it was noon ; I heard a great bell ringing, calling the laborers from their work to rest and refreshment, and as the notes of the bell rang out on the air I ''ould see them laying down their im- plements of work and turning toward home. Someday fi ,m yonder gray belfry in the sky the notes will peal out upon the air, telling you and me that the rest hour has come and that the Lord wants us to leave our work and come up with him at home. God grant that the good hour may find you and me ready to go, and that our deeds may follow us here, and follow us there; and may it be said of us : Blessed are the dead who die iu the Lord ; they shall rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. SERMONS. 95 LOOK AND LIVE. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. — Isaiah xlv. 22. I NEVER read this text that I do not connect it with a remarkable conversion of one of the greatest preachers who over livec 1 .urgeon, when he was sixte^i yt.x-s o. agp, v y .een-Hi abon his soul, and says he went to chunoi sc\~ral times with the hope of finding the way of salvation. Finally, one snowy morning, he started out to go to a church some distance off, but the snow storm was so severe that he turned down a little alley and went into a Methodist chapel. He found a very few people present. A bad day will thin out a congregation. But the preacher rose and said : " Brethren, there are not many of us here, only two or three of us, but we have got the promis", and we must have service." He read his text : " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth" Spurgeon was sitting alone, back under the gallery. The preacher looked over, and pointing his finger toward him, said in the midst of his talk : " Young man, you are not happy. Look unto Jesus, and he will save you." Up to that time the boy had been looking to himself, just as you and I did, and everybody — looking to himself, thinking of his own weakness and helpless- ness and unworthiness. " But," said he, " at that mo- ment I turned my eyes away from myself to my Saviour." 96 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. Look unto Me, and be Ye Saved. — That word saved is a very important word to you and me. The question of salvation is the most important that could concern us. When a man thinks of himself, what a sinner he is, and how soon he must depart from this world, I tell you it opens his eyes. Look unto me, and be ye saved. — There is but one answer. There is only one way of salvation. There is but one name under heaven whereby we must be saved. Xow, some say: "Oh, that is a very small matter ; that is very simple." Well, did you ever think how simple this Gospel had to be? If it was only intended for the intellectual and the strong-minded and the cultured, it might not have been simple. But it is fir all the world. It is for yonder poor savage. It is for the poor child. Yea, it is for even the weak-minded of the earth. Some time since, I was preaching in Frankfort, Ky. The superintendent of the Fceble- Mindcd Institute asked me if I would go up and talk to the inmates there. Of course I consented, and as I stood there and looked into the faces of nearly two hundred idiots, I thought that if there was a time when my message must be simple, it is now ; and as I talked to these poor creatures, and saw some of them weep over the story of a Saviour's love, and afterward saw some five or six received into the church upon profession of their faith, I said : " Thank God for a Gospel that is simple enough for an idiot to comprehend." You may be intelligent, you may have a good strong mind, you SERMONS. 97 may think that it is a very small thing to look at." Well, it had to be made simple for others weaker than yourself. But woe betide you if you negleet to do so small a thing as this ! Aud besides, after all, it is not such a small mutter. A lather sends his child to a school. The child says : " Father, I have no money to buy clothes, or to pay my board or tuition. What am I to do for money to meet all my wants?" And the father says : " Look to me for that." There is a good deal in that u look " in the estimation of the child. And so I come to Jesus, and say to him : " Lord, I am weak i I want strength. I am sinful ; I want righteousness, lam troubled; I want peace; and I shall die some day, and I want some one to go with me across the dark river. I shall stand at the judgment, and I want some one to answer for me." And he replies : " Look to me for all that." I tell you there is a good deal in that " look " to me. Now why should you look to Jesus to be saved? Simply because there is not anywhere else to look. Can you look to yourself? You cannot save yourself. The man who tries to save himself prevents his own salvation. Down at Old Point a year or two ago a man was drowning, and the physician swam out to him, and said: "Don't try to save yourself now, and I will save yon. Fold your arms, and don't touch me." The man obeyed orders and was saved. In Lake Michigan two men Mere bathing; one could swim and the other could not. The one who could uot swim got into deep water and 7 98 PULPIT, PBW AND PLATFORM. was sinking. The good swimmer went out to him. As soon as he touched him, the drowning man caught him, and they both went to the bottom. The swimmer strug- gled out and left the man todrown. He said afterwards that lie could have saved him if ho had not tried to save himself. And that is just about the way of it. You try to save yourself, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself cannot save you. But look to him, end him alone, and salvation is yours. Your mother cannot save you. She would if she could. She prays for you. She does every- thing in the world she can to get you to put yourself in the hands of your Redeemer. But she cannot save you. Your wife cannot save you. She may weep bitter tears over your wayward life. But that is all she can do. There is no other hope, my friends, except in Jesus Christ. Now, here is another point that comes up : Who may look ? Is there any exception ? Read the text : Look unto TTbe.f and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, i have often heard the expression used with reference to those who are very wicked, that they were the ends of the earth in wickedness. Well, take that as the mean- ing of this. Go out and find the worst human being that walks the earth to-day, and Jesus Christ says, "Tell him I will save him." The newspapers laugh at us sometimes, and say that wo preach a man from the scaffold to the skies, and that the nearest way to heaven is for a man to kill somebody, and then the preachers will pray him iuto heaven. Well, let them rave in their SERMONS. 99 folly. The day that I shall come to believe that Jesus Christ cannot save a man from the gallows or the peni- tentiary or anywhere else, that day I shall feel that I have lost my faith and should eease to preach his word. George Whitefield, standing in his tabernacle in London, and with a multitude gathered about him, cried out : " The Lord Jesus will save the devil's castaways ! " Two poor abandoned wretches, standing outside in the street, heard him, as his silvery voice rang out on the air. Looking into each other's faces, they said : "That must mean you and me." They wept and rejoiced. Thev drew near and looked in at t4ie door, into the face of the earnest messenger, the tears streaming from his eyes as he plead with his fellow-mortals to give their hearts to God. One of them wrote him a little note and sent it to him. That day, as he sat at the table of Lady Hunting- don, who was his special friend, some one present said : " Mr. Whitefield, did you not go a little too far to-day when you said that the Lord would save the devil's castaways? '' Taking the note from his pocket, he gave it to the lady, and said : "Will you read that note aloud ? " She read : " Mr. Whitefield, two poor lost women stood outside your Tabernacle to-day and heard you say that the Lord would save the devil's castaways. We seized upon that as our last hope, and we write you this to tell you that we rejoice now in believing in him, and from this good hour we shall endeavor to serve him, who has done so much for ns." Mr. Whitefield said : " I hope that is sufficient answer to your criticism." Who may 100 PUT.PTT, PEW AND PLATFORM. look? Why, every one. "Whosoever" is the great word that the .Master has written over the door of the heavenly mansion. When may we look ? Now. It may be too late an hour from now. To-day only is yours. 1 cannot find anywhere in the Scriptures that salvation is promised to- morrow. It is to-day, to-day, every time. How may we look ? By faith in him. Take him at his word. Suppose a man of wealth in whom you have perfect confidence should write to you and say: " Whenever you want money, draw on me for it, and I will honor your drafts." Wowld you not feel perfectly comfortable if at any time you were in need you had such a privilege ; and would you not exercise it, especially if you knew that you conferred a favor, not only upon yourself, but upon him in doing so? The case is sim- ilar. Jesus Christ, whose word you cannot doubt, says : "Look to me for everything to supply your Christian life and to save your soul, and you shall not be disap- pointed." I grant you that there are difficulties along the road to heaven, but there are difficulties along every road, and it is to help you over these difficulties that Jesus has come. They stand like mountains in our way — mountains of doubt ; mountains of danger ; mountains of discouragement. Our own sense of unworthiness, weakness, helplessness; ten thousand things stand in the way. But he is our help. Alittlegirl lay dying, and looking out at the window, she said to her mother : "Mamma, take me over the mountains." Her mother SERMONS. 101 looked out ; there were no mountains in view, and she said to the little thing: "My child, there are no moun- tains." She lay there a little while longer, and looking up into her mother's face, said: "Mamma, don't you hear the angels calling me to come over the mountains ?" She knew then what was the matter. She knew that her little treasure was about to be taken away from her; her little lamb was dying. Pressing her child to her heart, she said : "My darling, Jesus will take mother's baby over the mountains." A few moments and looking again into her mother's face, she said: "Good-by, mamma, Jesus has come to take me over the moun- tains." And so with you and me. There are mountains between us and our heavenly home ; but Jesus has come to take us over the mountains. Let us look to him, let us trust him, let us follow him, and by and by, when we shall stand upon the shining heights of the glorious land, we shall see that the wisest step that we ever took was that we looked to him as our Savior. God bless you every one, and help you this day to cast yourself at his feet and follow him all the days of your life ! 102 PULPIT, l'EW AND PLATFORM. THE HEAVENLY RACE. Wherefore, seeing ire «/.^o are compass d about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so ■ b set us, and let us run with patience the race iliat is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. — Hebrews xii. vs. 1, 2. THE figure used by the pen of inspiration is very striking in this case. It represents one of the old time scenes when foot racing was very popular among the people of ancient times, and crowds of spectators gathered in the pavillions like clouds of people to wit- ness the races. The men who were to run would strip themselves of every article of heavy clothing, lay aside every weight, and press forward toward the mark with all the power that was in them, each striving for the victory. This figure is choseu to represent the Chris- tian life, the heavenly race. In order to enable you to remember my divisions, I will use a kind of alliteration. First, here is a good race to run ; second, a good reason for running the race ; third, a good rule for running the race. First, a good race to run. It is a good race because i( goes from earth to heaven. It is good because Jesus Christ himself made it and led the way. It is good because all the good of all the ages have traveled that road. A hundred years ago three old Baptist preachers were arrested in this state tor preaching the Gospel ; they were taken before the magistrates, and the case was proved. Not only had they preached the Gospel con- SERMONS. 103 trary to the forms of the Established Church, but the charge against them was that they could not meet a citizen in the road without ramming a text of Scripture down his throat. The grand old soldiers of the cross were sentenced to the jail, there to be imprisoned until their crime was expiated. As they went along under the care of the sheriff, they struck up singing : "Broad is the road that leads to death. And thousands walk together there; But wisdom i-hows a narrow path, With here and there a traveler." This is a good cause, because in runniug it you are doing good to yourself and to others around you. It gets better and better every day. I love sometimes to hear the old saints away up yonder on the heights an- swer back : " Come along ! The further you go the bet- ter it gets!" Some time since, a good Christian woman called upon a preacher, and asked him if he wanted to go and see a little sample of heaven on earth. Of course he did. Preachers do not always spend their time upon the heights of glory and joy. They have their ups and downs as well as other men, their days of trial, difficulties, discouragements; and so when a sam- ple of heaven is on hand they are as eager to see it as other men. He went with the good woman, walked along several streets, and by and by came to a wretched- looking old tenement. They knocked at the door, and were admitted to the lower room, where little ragged children were crawling about the floors, and the un- 104 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. swept house gave signs of neglect. He said to her : "Is this heaven?" She replied, " Follow me." Up .the creaking stairway they went to the second floor, and instead of getting better it seemed worse. He said to her: "Are you sure this is the house? It dors not seem to me such a good place." She replied, " Fol- low me. It is better higher up." They reached the third story, and, sure enough, it did seem to be a little better, but even then he i'elt a little depressed in con- templating the surroundings. Again he questioned his friend, and she replied : •• Come on ! It is better higher up." And to the fourth story they went, and were ushered into a little room nicely carpeted, prettily papered, pictures on the wall, birds singing in their cages, flowers on the table; and there upon a clean, white, sweet bed lay a fair, elderly woman, who for years had been confined upon her bed of sickness, and was as bright and joyous as an angel. This road that we travel gets better as we go, and higher and higher as wc climb we shall find ourselves improved, our lives more useful, our hearts more happy, the outlook more inviting and the pathway more glorious. A good reason for running the race: Seeing we are comixissul about with so great glad of it. A consistent, godly Christian life is a blessing to any community; it is more powerful than language, and is brought more before the public gaze than books. Where one man reads his Lnble a hundred will read a Christian. We are living epistles, and known and read of all men. But there is a Wit- ness who looks on every step we take. With the in- tense3t interest he runs at our side. If we falter, he cheers us. If we stumble, he helps us up. If we become depressed and discouraged, he gives us grace and strength and joy. It is Jesus. Every day and eveiy hour his loving eyes are upon you, my fellow-Chris- tians, and you give him joy by sticking faithfully to SERMONS. 107 your work. The owner of the finest running horses in the world will stand on the race-course and watch his horses run with an interest that may be felt but never can be expressed. And yet this is only a feeble illus- tration of the heart-felt interest that Jesus has in every disciple who runs the Christian race. So you see, here is a reason for running the race: witnesses everywhere : " A cloud of witnesses around Hold thee in full survey. Forget the steps already trod, And onward urge thy way !" A good rule for running the race : Lay aside every weight. Suppose I was going to run a race with one of you, and I should come out with a pair of heavy boots on, an immense overcoat, a great big burden strapped to my back, and take my stand for the race. Why people would laugh at me. They would say: "Man alive! how can you hope to run a race encumbered with all those weights? Take off those heavy boots and put on light shoes ; lay aside that great burden on your back ; throw off your overcoat ; then you may run ! How often do we see Christians trying to do the very same thing ! Here they come with weights of fears and weights of doubt, and trying to carry with them all the old associa- tions of the past; and then, worse than everything else, buckling on their back the very world itself and hoping to take that with them along in the heavenly race ! Lay aside every iveight. Sometimes I am asked, is it wrong to dance ? Is it sinful to go to the theater ? Is it wicked 108 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. to taken glass of wine? My answer to this is, It is wrong to do anything that proves a weight in vour Christian life. If you find that any of these things re- tard your progress and keep you hack from running thia glorious race, lay them aside, no matter what it may be. If it is like plucking out a right eye or cutting off a right arm, let it come; better that than have it drag you down and make you fail in your Christian life. Lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset you. Every one has his besetting sin, and some have a good many more than other-, it seems to me. Take the one sin of strong drink. What a terrible weakness that is with men, and women too sometimes ! One of the worst features of intemperance in this age is that it is taking hold of women as well as men. There are some men who, if they take one drink, will get drunk just as sure as they live. It seems to wake up the very devil in them, and they are never satisfied until tiny are drunk. Now a man like that ought to recognize that drink is his besetting sin, and lie should lay it aside. It is his weak point. That is the place 1 for him to throw up his breastworks and put his best guns, while he asks the Lord Jesus to stand by him in the fight. With others the besetting sin is temper. J have known people who were very good indeed, and yet on the slightest provocation would lly oil' the handle and hurt some one. Too much temper! With others it is a fondness for making money. One of the greatest sins of this age is covetousness. Everybody wants to make money, SERMONS. 109 saints and sinners, men and women, big and little, preachers and people; everybody in one great rush for money. Now it is a very important thing to have, there is no doubt about that. But a man should watch him- selt and see that it does not get the upper hand of him. God does not condemn a man for having riches ; but he does condemn a man for allowing riches to have him. Let money be your servant, and all is well. Let it be- come your master, and destruction is at the door of your soul. Again, with a great many the besetting sin is sensitiveness. How easy it is for you to have your feel- ings hurt ! Some people go around as if they were on a hunt for some one to hurt their feelings. You sro to church and if your pastor does not get down the aisle, shake hands with you and make a great ado over you, you go home and say he does not care for you. If a member of the family makes a present to another member of the family, you come to the conclusion that he does not love you, and you go about unhappy about it for days. The difficulty with sensitive people is that they get hurt, and do not say anything about it. If they would only speak of it and give their friends an oppor- tunity to explain, everything would be all right directly. But it strikes in on them like the measles, and they go about and carry it all inside of them, just burning up and dying, when it could be settled in a minute if they would let somebody know it. Sensitiveness is a beset- ting sin, and makes us and everybody around us un- happy. I sympathize with you, my friend, if you have 110 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. a sensitive nature; but I warn you to avoid it and make up your mind that you will not allow anybody to hurt your feelings. I think if I bad to go to either extreme, I should rather be like a man who went to a party and was not invited. They gave him every intimation that they did not want him. Finally, the gentleman of the house himself told him that he was sorry to say that his guests, who were invited, were all who were expected to come. Even then the man did not take his departure. At length the gentleman of the house came to him, took him by the collar, led him to the door, and told him he must request him to leave. Whereupon the man said : '•I can take a hint as well as anybody ; I don't believe you all want me here." Whatever else may be said of that man, he was not sensitive. Oh, there is so much suffering on account of sensitive natures that it be- comes a torment to the souls of some. But why should I multiply these painful cases! Each one knows his own besetting sin, and if we would run the race successfully, we must lay them aside. Run with patience the race that is set before lis. You must run. You must get along. There is no tarrying. Haste not, rest not, was the motto of the German poet Goethe, and it was a good one. Festina lente — make haste slowly — run with patience. Now you must have patience, patience with yourself. Why every day you will find yourself saying, " What is the use for me to try to be a Christian ?" Some time ago I was sitting in a home, and a little boy came running in cryiug ; he SERMONS. Ill crawled up in his mother's lap, and said: "Mamma, mamma, it is no use, mamma I" " What are you talking about, my child?" " No use for mo to try to be a good boy; I can't doit!" She kissed the little fellow, and said : " Why, my child, you are just as good as you can be." Everybody does wrong sometimes. I think that is the way with God's children. Be patient with your- selves. If you do not run well to-day, take heart ; you will do better to-morrow. And then be patient with those around you. They are mortals like yourself; thev have their trials, their heart-aches, their discourage- ments, and sometimes they may not treat you as well as you think they should. Sometimes they may not act like angels. Sometimes they may make grievous blun- ders and errors. But be patient with them ; they will do better some other time; we do not always feel well and strong and happy. Let us be patient with each other. And be patient with your Lord. It is not for you to judge what sort of discipline he must put upon you in this world. It is not for you and me to say just when afflictions must come, or when they must not come. lie will explain to us after a time. Spurgeon stood one day at the bedside of one of his sick little orphans who was dying, and taking the little fellows hand in his, he said to him : "You will see Jesus before I will. He will tell you why you had to be so afflicted in this world." Do not get out of patience and say the Lord does not love you or that you are not his disciple, or anything 112 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. else that at all savors of complaint. Rather be like the sweet .singer who said : If thou shouldsl call me to resign What nit st 1 prize it ne'er was mine, I only yield thee what is thine. Thy will be done. Mud with patience the race that is set before you. And now the last and the besl rule of all, and the one that covers all cases and readies all things, is this: Look unto Jesus, ll'i- author and finisher of our faith. With your eyed fixed upon him; with entire reliance upon his promise ; with unswerving fidelity to his command- ments, yon will not only run successfully, but yon will win the race, lie is the author and finisher of our faith, the alpha and omega, tin- beginning and the end, the all in all. We shall reach the end by and by. When old Christmas Evans was dying, they stood around his bed and listened for his last word. In the silence of the death-room, when you could almost hear the beating of the hearts of the loved ones gathered there these words broke the silence and were the last words of this great and good man of God : "Drive on !" He had finished his heavenly race, and at the end of the journey had stepped into the chariot thai was to take him home to he with God. Drive on ! So let us travel on day by day, our trust in God, leaning on the arm of our Re- deemer and Lord, with hopeful hearts, patient and per- severing ; we shall at last reach the glorious end and looking hack- over the race, we shall thank God for the SERMONS. 113 day when we first placed our feet last in the "broad and shining way, and set our faces steadily toward the City of Eternal Rest and Peace. THE BELIEVER'S QUESTION. What shall I render vnto the Lord for all his benefits toward me f — Psalm cxvi. 12. GOD deals with his children as parents generally deal with theirs. Sometimes he makes threats, some- times he uses the rod ; but most generally he controls and directs our ways by his kindness to us. The strong- est appeal that is made to the human heart is the appeal to our gratitude. The question that arises in the mind of every one who appreciates the goodness of God is, — What can I do for him who has done so much for me ? Not long ago I was holding a meeting in a little town in Virginia, and a gentleman asked me to ride with him out on his farm. As we were passing through his large estate he said to me : " I have asked you to take this ride in order to have some conversation with you. I am now over fifty years of age, surrounded by a happy family, in a pleasant home, with a good business in town, and this farm through which we are now pass- ing. It does seem to me the time has come for me to show some gratitude to God, who has done so much for me." There are some people who seem to think that they owe nothing to God. They never thank him for his 8 114 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. blessings; they never look up into his face with even a smile of appreciation for all his goodness to them. You know there is a certain animal that never looks up to the man that threshes down the apples. He will eat them as long as you knock them off) but never look up. A dog will ; with a most intelligent look, he will say to his master: "I thank' you for this bread." Now, there arc people in the world who enjoy all the blessings scat- tered around them, but, instead of words and deeds of thankfulness, life is one long state of forgetfulness of all favors with them. Ingratitude is one of the worst characteristics of our nature, even between man and man. You know Shakespeare speaks of it, and says: "Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend I How Bharper than a serpent's tooth it is, To have a thankless child!" Now, the question of a believer's heart is, — "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? We are so apt to forget benefits and blessings, and to remember our sorrows and afflictions! You re- member every spell of sickness you have had, all the hard winters, every time death has come into your home and swept away some treasure of your heart. But you forget the bright, sunny days, the prosperous years, the loved ones gathered around you. We even hear people talking about other times. They say: "Oh, I have ^'i'u better days than these. Once I lived in a splendid mansion, wore the finest clothes, had everything my heart could desire. Now I live in an humble cottage, SERMONS. 115 my husband is a hard-working man, and it takes all that we can do to support the children. I have a hard time now." Yes; and you may be a thousand times more blessed to-day than you were then. You may wear calico and live in an humble home ; but God has given you a husband whose life you may bless, and lit- tle children whose souls you may save. You are living to a nobler purpose now than ever you did in the days that you call golden, simply because you had a few more of this world's goods. God knows what is best for our discipline. It is for you and me to inquire what we can do for him. In the Psalm from which this text is taken, David is relating his experience. He handles both sides of the question — what the Lord has done for him, and what he proposes to do for the Lord. Some one has said that scriptural truth is never as beautiful as when she comes forth adorned with jewels from her own treasury. So, from this very psalm, let us take the thoughts that sur- round this text, and we shall find that he is making ref- erence to what God has done for him, and then he turns to what he will do for God — three on each side. Let us consider these. I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. In other words, because he has heard my prayers. That is one benefit he has bestowed upon me. Can yon say that? Looking back over your life to-day, can you not say Amen to this expression ? I love the Lord because he has heard me. We speak of 116 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. an interview with the President of the United States, of an auclienee with the Queeu ; but far above these is the privilege of railing upon the King of kings and tin' Lord of lords, and have him hear and answer our prayers. We say there is something swift about the telegraph, something quick in the lightning's flash; but here is something that travels on fleeter foot than the lightning that leaps along the skies. It is the answer of our Heavenly Father to the prayer of his child. "It shall come to pass that before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking 1 will hear." When I was a little boy I slept in a trundle-bed in my mother's chamber. Sometimes during the night I was awake and, in the dark, would become frightened. I would call to her: "Mother!" and she never failed to answer. It seemed to me she was always awake. She would say: " What do you want, my child ? " That was what I wanted, only to know that she was awake and with me. I was not afraid of the darkness then. And so I count it a blessing above all blessings, that by night and by day, wherever I may be, I may call upon him whose ears are open to my cry. Coming from Europe some years ago, our ship was in a storm several days, and the machinery got out of order. As she was along on her side and drifting before the gale — it was one of these dark, wet- blanket sort of days — I climbed upon the deck and walked to where I saw an old man holding to the hatch- way, and said to him: "This is a serious business." He replied to me: " Yes; it will be a pretty tale to tell SERMONS. 117 a month from now, that the 'City of Chester' left Liv- erpool, and has been heard from no more." I thought to myself : " Well, old gentleman, I will get away from you. That is not the kind of talk I want to hear." As 1 walked from him these words came into my heart and out of my mouth: "The Lord of hosts is with us- The God of Jacob is our refuge." I tell you, friends, when you think about the bless- ings that God has given you just put a peg right here: He has heard my prayer ; and on that peg you may hang ten thousand of the brightest blessings of your life. I arts brought low, and he helped me. This is another benefit. In many ways you and I have been brought low as we have traveled along the journey of life. Many times, I suppose, you have been brought low in a finan- cial sense. I know I have. I have seen the c^ay I would have been glad to get a single nickel, a thousand miles from home, not a dollar in my pocket ; but he brought me out of it somehow. Here we are to-day with our usual share of earthly comforts ; something to eat, something to wear and a shelter from the storm ; the sheriff is not on our track and the almshouse has not sent its carriage for us yet awhile. Thank God for food and raiment and somewhere to lay our head. We have been brought low in sickness. I was talking with a man the other day who said to me : "A few years ago I was sick unto death ; my family had told me good-bye; I closed my eyes and was waiting for death to come at any minute. I asked the Lord to raise me up once 118 PULPIT, PEW AM' PLATFORM. more, and promised him, if he would do so, T would try to live a better life. He did raise mc up, and I have tried hard from thai hour and am trying now to carry out my promise." Many a time you and I have been much nearer death than we knew. Often we have been brought low; but we have been raised up again, and here we are enjoying the blessings of health and strength as we pursue the duties that rise before us day by day. And then how low we have been brought in affliction ! Why, you remember just as well as if it were yesterday how death came into your home, and how you stood beside the bed of your dying loved one and felt that your own poor heart would break as you saw your darling passing away from earth. I have sometimes been asked what I thought was the most try- ing 1 hour when we lose our loved ones. It is not when ■ we tell them good-bye, nor is it when we stand at the grave and hear the clods rattle upon the coffin. It is when we come back home, to the empty, desolate, de- serted home. The very light seems to have gone out of the house and out of our life. Then it was, my friends, that the Lord was your strength. You were brought low, and he helped you. \w) then we have been brought low by sin. Ah me, how this burden of guilt presses upon the heart! We look around usj we look within us ; we look back over the road we have traveled ; and the weight is so heavy that we feel like falling down in the dust before (rod and crying out: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner ! " SERMONS. 1 1 9 Did you ever have that weight pressing on your soul, and did you go to him and have the burden lifted ? Have you ever passed that lovely spot in life where, like Christian, you stood gazing upon the cross until the burden rolled away and out of sight forever? If you have, then you know what it is to say : " I was brought low in sin, and he helped me." And so the time is coming when we shall be brought low by the hand of Death, and our bodies shall be low- ered in the grave. But there is a hand that can reach us there, and as we shall rise from the tomb in the glor- ious resurrection we shall exclaim, with far greater joy than ever we have spoken it here, " I was brought low, and he helped me !" Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. This is the third benefit of which this happy believer is speaking. I cannot go so far as that yet ; neither can you. I cannot soy, " Thou hast delivered mine eyes from tears." There are more tears for us to shed yet — tears on ac- count of our sius — tears on account of our sorrows — tears on account of our poor, wayward, imperfect lives- More tears for you and me yet a while. And then we cannot say, •' Thou hast delivered my feet from fall- ing." We may fall at any hour. There is no telling dear friends, what is in store for you and me. The tempter is very strong ; the enticements and allurements of the world are all around us; and the flesh is weak. I think it was John Bunyan who said, as hesawacrim- 120 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. inal on his way to the gallows : " There goes John Bunyan but for the grace of God." And so when you and I sec a fallen fellow man, let us not boast; for we might have done even worse if placed under similar cir- cumstances. But I will tell you what we can say, and with perfect assurance : " Thou hast delivered my soul from death." If to-day you are a sincere believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have committed to him your eternal inter- ests, you are safe; for he has entered into a covenant to take you home at last to heaven. He that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath everlast- ing life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Now if you want anything stronger than that to give you perfect satisfaction, that he has delivered your soul from death, I do not know where you will find it. So if you want to ask to-day what benefits God has bestowed upon you, the answer is here, and it is in your heart and in your life. He has delivered my soul from death. Now turn with me to the other side. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towardmef I will walk before the Lord in the land of the tiring. That is the first thing I will do. I will walk ; I will make progress; I am not going to be any dead Christian. I shall be no stumbling-block in the way of othei«s who are hurrying along the great highway toward heaven. I will walk. I shall try t.» be better to-morrow than I am to-day, and better the day after than I hope to be SERMON'S. 121 to-morrow. It is true in the Christian life, as it is true in our every day life : Not enjoyment and not sorrow Is our destined end alway ; But to act that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day. I will walk. Old Rowland Hill saw a child riding a hobby horse one day, aud said : " That is like some Christians : considerable motion, but no progress." I will walk before the Lord. Have you not seen a mother start her little child out walking its first few tottering steps, and she right behind it holding a hand on each side of the child and watching which way it walked as she followed along ? That is what this means. I will walk before the Lord ; God at my back ; God's hand on my right and on my left, and his eye guiding my foot- steps, and I will try to remember that his eye is not only on the way that I walk but on me. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living; I used to be in the land of the dying and the dead. I was once in the land where hope had died in the heart, and where the soul was buried in trespasses and sins, among the dead and the lost. But I am living now among the living, and I shall walk forever. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Let us walk on. This mighty moving army is pressing on toward the better laud. Then let our nongs ahound, And every tear be dry ; 122 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. We're marching through Immanuel's ground, To fairer worlds on high. But there is another thing that I will clo for the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord. When you and I became Christians, we promised that we would try to live a better life, that we would endeavor to do better than we had ever done, and that our daily life should show forth the fact that we had been with Jesus and had learued of him. These vows we have not paid as we might have done. Let us mend our ways and from this good hour endeavor to perform our vows. We promised to turn away from sin. "We said that we would commit our ways unto the Lord, that his word should be a lamp to our feet and the light to our path ; that we would attend to the duties of our Christian life. And I am sure J speak the experience not only of my- self, but of every one present, when I say these vows have not been fully kept. And when my heart turns in gratitude to God, and the question arises, what can I do for him who has done so much for me? I will look back to the vows I have made and endeavor to keep them hereafter better than I have in the days gone by. I will pay my vows unto the Lord in the presence of all his people. Not alone in my secret life, but among my fellow-( Christians. Let me endeavor so to live that they will see my good works and glorify my Father in heaven. Let me not be a weight to my brethren; rather let me be wings of helpfulness in the progress of our eause. SERMONS. 123 And then lie adds in the midst of that : Oh Jerusa- lem ! I will go out into the city unto my place of busi- ness and among the men with whom I come in contact, and show to them that my religion is a reality, and not a mere garment that I wear on Sunday and leave at home during the week ; but that it is the flesh and blood and bone and nerve and soul of my daily existence. Last and best of all, I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will take the cup and drink of it myself. It is a mistake for us to think that the past supplies of grace will be sufficient for us to-day. We must drink of the cup of salvation day by day if we would live the Christian life in its best and highest sense. There are some who never seem to be happy except in a revival. A pastor pointed out some members to me not long ago during a meeting I was holding- for him, and said: " You never see those mem- bers here except in time of revival. They are like alarm clocks: you wind them up and they stay wound up till the protracted meeting comes around, and then they go off with an awful noise and wake up things generally around them, and they are as quiet as death itself till the next big meeting comes. I will take the cup of salvation. I will drink of it. His grace, his Spirit, the fellowship of his people work- ing in his cause by prayer, by supplication, by self-ex- amination, by every way ; God helping me I will be re- freshed and strengthened in the Lord. I used to visit a home in my pastorate where they had a very pretty 124 PULPIT, TEW AND PLATFOEM. picture on the wall, of a little boy, just out of a harvest field, standing at a well, bending over an overflowing bucket of water, his mouth about two inches from the water. Every time I would go to that house there the little fellow would be, holding his mouth over that bucket of water. I felt like I wanted to go up to him, put my hand on the back of his head and press it down and say, " Drink, little boy, drink." There are some Christians like that. They are just bending right over the fresh life-giving fountain all the time, and yet they are as dry as a bone. Why don't they drink? / wiU take the cup of salvation. Not only will I take it myself, but I will hand it around to others. And, my dear friends, common politeness would require you and me to pass the cup around, offer this salvation to every one within our reach. Mother, have you ever pressed this cup to the lips of your precious child? Friend, have you ever gone to yonder wayward, weary pilgrim, as he goes along the road to his own ruin, and have you asked him to stop and drink of the water of life? Here is work for every one to do. During the war in the battles around Fredericksburg, Va., the two armies had come together with a mighty crash, and after a brief death-struggle, had fallen back only a few paces behind hastily erected breastworks. Men from both armies, wounded and dying, were there in the hot sun between the lines. A sergeant in Colonel Kershaw's regiment, afterwards General Kershaw of South Carolina, turning to him said : " Colonel, don't you hear those men over SERMONS. 125 there crying for water ? I have some in my canteen ; let me go over there and give it to them." He said : " Why, man, if you were to show your headabovetlio.se breastworks, you would be killed in an instant." The gallant fellow lay there a while longer, and said again : " Colonel, I cannot stand this. Let me go over there and give them some water." " Well, said the colonel, " if you want to risk you life, I will not stop you." Crawling down behind the breastworks, he got four or five other canteens that had water in them, and then suddenly standing a dozen bullets whistled by him in an instant, but the bullet had not been made to strike him. He stepped over the breastworks, and the first man he came to, no matter whether he had on a blue suit or a gray, he bent over and took his head in his hand, put the canteen to his lips, and said, " Here, take a swallow of this water." The Federal soldiers dis- covered at once what the man was doing, and rose up all along the line, and so did the boys in gray at the samp time, and waved their hats and shouted, " Hurrah for the man who risks his life to give a dying soldier water !" Over yonder battlements of heaven to-day the angels are bending, and with exulting shouts of triumph they look upon the noble men and women of the earth who have taken the cup of salvation, and, with eager- ness and zeal, are pressing it to the lips of their perish- ing fellow-mortals. Are you asking to-day, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?" Is your own 126 PULPIT, PEW AJND PLATFORM. heart crying out, that it may in some way express its gratitude to God? Go, my friends, and rescue the per- ishing. Go, and he good to those who are not good to themselves. Remember the patience and mercy of him who helped you when you wire low. Let him send you forth to be a blessing to the world, and the day will come when you will hear from his own lips : " Inasmuch as you did it for these, you did it for me." THE JOYFUL SOUND. I INVITE your prayerful attention to the words found in the 15th verse of the 89th Psalm : " Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound." An old writer on the Psalms has said that when you find the word blessed hanging out as a sign, you may know that a good man dwells within. The word blessed hangs out as a sign at the door of this text, and a godly people is the people described within. There is a great difference in the world's idea of blessedness and God's idea of what it is to be blessed. The world says, blessed is the man who succeeds in business, who has a plenty of money and is surrounded by all that the world can give him. Blessed is the man who holds po- sition and office of influence. Blessed is the woman who can have her heart's desire of all the things on earth. That is what the world says. God says: "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound." I cannot decide this matter for you ; but for me, I would SERMONS. 127 rather be what the Lord calls blessed than what the world calls blessed. If we can find out what is meant by the joyful sound, we shall enter into the true mean- ing of this word blessed. There are some truths in the Bible that lie upon the surface like apples on the ground in autumn ; you have only to go and gather them up and enjoy them. Other truths are like gold — down beneath the surface — and you must dig for them iu order to get them. So it is here, though the truth is not far beneath the surface. You who have read the Old Testament with any sort of care and attention have discovered that there are many things that point to other things in the New Testament, like shadows of a substance. For example, everybody knows that the lamb of the Old Testament used as a sacrifice, whose blood was sprinkled upon the door-post of the homes of God's people, was only a type of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, in the New Testament. Now, this joyful sound in the Old Testament means the sound of trum- pets that issued in the year of jubilee. Every fiftieth year was called the year of jubilee. In that year peo- ple had rest; the land had rest; the beasts of the field had rest. Not a plow was plunged into the bosom of the earth during the year of jubilee. It was a time of rest. I think it would be a good thing if, in this busy, pressing, eager age, men and women could stop awhile and rest. You men of business, how glad you would be for a year of rest ! You tired wives and mothers, how sweet real rest would be to you ! Who of us does 128 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. not sympathize with poor Father Ryan, when he wrote : — " My feet are wearied and my hands are tired — My soul oppressed — And with desire have I long desired Rest — only rest." Another thing that was true of the year of jubilee : all debts were liquidated in that year. It was a sort of general bankrupt law. If a man owed a debt it was canceled and he could turn over a new leaf and start fresh. The year of jubilee also brought liberty to the captives. Those who had been sold for slavery or im- prisoned for debt and what not were allowed their free- dom in the year of jubilee, and were given another chance to make life a success. They would open the doors of the prison and say: " Now go and try again to be a better man and woman than you have ever been before." So you see the year of jubilee was a glad year to the people of Israel. It was announced by the blow- ing of trumpets, and when the people heard the sound of the trumpets which told them that the year of jubilee had come, it was a joyful sound. Now what does this mean in the New Testament? Let Jesus himself answer. Sitting in the Synagogue in Nazareth they gave him the Scriptures and he read tlcse words: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, be- cause he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering SEtttioxs. 129 Bight to the blind, and set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." The acceptable year of the Lord and the year of jubilee meant the same thing. So we are taught by our Saviour that he came to declare a spiritual jubilee and the gospel is the joyful sound that announces it everywhere. I have said that in the year of jubilee people had rest. Is there anything like spiritual rest ? There is nothing on earth we so earnestly desire as rest for our souls. AVe want some place — some promise where we may feel that we are at peace with God and are resting free from care and anxiety as to our future. '' O where shall rest he found — Rest for the weary soul ? 'Twere vain the ocean depths to sound, Or pierce to either pole." Now what the soul wants is just this. Rest. The old song we used to sing long years ago is just as good now : "Yet, save a tremhling sinner, Lord, "Whose hope, still hov'ring round thy word, Would light on some sweet promise there — Some sure support against despair." Is there anything like rest for us? There stands one who says to you and to any and to all of the world : "Come unto me, I will give you rest." To-day you, Christian people, are resting in Jesus Christ. You know whom you have believed and you are satisfied. 9 130 pulpit, pew and platform. " I heard the voice of Jesus say, ' Come unto me and rest ; Lay down, thou weary one, lay down Thy head upon ray breast.' I came to Jesus as I was — Weary, and worn and sad ; I found in him a resting-place, And he has made rae glad." Yes, there is rest for your soul upon the rock of ages and nowhere else. I tell you it is a joyful sound when the blessed news reaches the tempest-tossed spirit — There is rest. Auother thing that was true of the year of jubilee was the payment of debts. All debts were paid. It is a sad time when a man finds himself heels over head in debt and cannot pay out. He looks ahead of him and feels that it is not worth while for him to work, he can never pay all that he owes. What a blessing it is if some friend helps him ! I was sitting at a table in Lynchburg, Virginia, some years ago, and the father of the gentleman at whose house I was, who lived just thirteen miles out of town, had come in to spend the dav. As we sat down to dinner the father seemed troubled and declined to be helped to any dish that was offered him. His younger son said to him : "Father, what is the matter? Are you sick." "No," said he, "I am not sick, but I am greatly troubled to-day. I have a note due in bank for $300 and I can't pay it- I did not know it was due to-day ; if I had, I might SERMONS. 131 have made some arrangements before I left home, but as it is, it must go to protest and my credit is gone." His son arose from the table and went out on the street and arranged to meet the note by getting some merchants to advance him the money until his father could get home and see to it. He brought the note back and laid it down — stamped paid by the bank — and his father looked up and said : " Why. how in the world did you do this ? " He explained it. " Well," said the father, "I am all right; you have saved my credit." Then, turn- ing to his older son he said : " You may help me now to anything and everything on the table. My appetite has returned all at once." His debt was paid. His burden was off of his heart. So, as I stand a bank- rupt before God, with more debts against me than I can ever pay, I am in despair. I am about to give up when Jesus comes and says: "I have paid it all. Your sins, though many, are all forgiven. Go in peace." It is a joyful sound to hear such words from one who has taken my place and made peace with God for me. In the year of jubilee captives were turned loose. Is there anything like that in the gospel. All of us know that there are spiritual prisoners around us everywhere. Take the man who drinks. He is the slave of a slave. He is a prisoner of the worst of tyrants. It seems im- possible for him to break his chains or to escape his doom ; and yet Jesus comes and sets the captive free — makes him anew man and a free man. Gives him his liberty forever. I could mention many cases to you. I 132 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. could call men to their feet in this audience who would willingly, gladly testify that when they were unable to help themselves the Lord helped them and saved them from their fearful imprisonment and slavery. What is true of drink is true of every sin. lie is able to save unto the utmost all who come unto God by him. Now, my friends, when this good old gospel comes and tells us there is rest for our souls, there is settlement for our sins, there is freedom from our captivity, it is a joy Ad sound and blessed is the man who hears it and heeds it. "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound.'' We must know it and not b} r our heads, but by our hearts. The gospel must touch the heart if it would be a blessing. You may take the most illiterate old Chris- tian that you know to-day and let him listen to one of your modern moral essays or new theology preacher's discourse on some topic that he has found in some of his scientific investigations or evolved from his own con- sciousness. Let the old saint listen to the discourse through and through and then go and say to him : Brother, how did you like the sermon? He will tell you : It was right good, I reckon, but it was not the gos- pel. How did he know it was not the gospel? He knew it by his heart, not by his head. I judge of a ser- mon by my heart. I want preaching that gets down among my feelings and affections where I live and stirs me and moves me to be a better man. I want to hear a preacher's heart beat in his sermon. This old sound SERMONS. 133 must be known by the heart or it will be known to no purpose. I think when we get to heaven we shall hear familiar sounds. When the "Well done" rings out from the lips of our joyful King we shall say, "I have heard thai before." It is the language of the old gos- pel that I believed in and obeyed. When the white people first settled this country they were subject to many invasions by the Indians. On one occasion the Indians stole several little children. Some years after- wards a little girl, who had grown almost to be a woman, was re-captured, and the mothers who had lost their children were called in to see whose child it was. Each hoped it was her own, but could not tell positively. Finally one of them commenced to sing a little nursery rhyme with which she had sung her child to sleep in years gone by. As she sang it the young lady looked up and said: "I have heard that song somewhere." The mother ran to her and caught her in her arms and said : " You are my own precious child. You heard that song in my arms." So it will be, dear friends, in heaven; we shall recognize the joyful sound in the world to come if we have known it and been blessed by it here. "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound." You will find in the verses following what this blessed- ness means. " They shall walk, Lord, in the light of thj/ countenance.'" They shall walk. It will be a mov- ing people. They look upon this life as a probation — a preface to the book. The blossom which precedes the 134 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. fruitage. They will walk. They move on ; never standing still, but ever on the journey. "Here in the body pent Absent from him J roam; Yet nightly pitch my moving tent, A day"s march nearer home." They shall walk in the light. Xot in the dark. "In the litrht of thv countenance. Jesus is so near to his disciples that his face lights up the life of his follower. I was talking with a lady not long ago who had lost her grown daughter. She said to me: "Mr. Wharton, my child was the light of our home." Yes, aud in such a sense as this Jesus Christ is the light and joy of our life. " In thy name shall they rejoice all the day." Herein is the difference between God's people and other people. You, who are not Christians rejoice in your own name. If we speak to you of religion you are ready with your answer: "I am not so bad as some others I know." Only another way of saying that your trust is in your own goodness. Our trust is in the Lord. In his name do we rejoice. Ask a Christian what is his hope of heaven and he will auswer : "Jesus;" and this will be his reply if you wish to know what is his strength, his wisdom, his sanctification, his redemption. " In ihyright- eousness shall they he exalted" Exalted means lifted up — higher and higher — better and better — as the days go by. In the strange providence of God it is possible for a Christian to be lifted up by being let down. He SERMONS. 135 can rise by a fall, if God, in mercy, should be pleased to overrule the works of the devil. If you have committed your ways unto the Lord and are trying to serve him he will see to it that you shall be exalted — exalted in righteousness. Upward and onward is the Christian's career. Have you heard the joyful sound ? Do you know it? Then let others know the blessed news. Put the trumpet to your lips and let all the world know that Jesus Christ is in the world saving sinners. " Blow ye the trumpet, blow The gladly solemn sound ; Let all the nations know To earth's remotest bound ; The year of Jubilee has come — Return, ye ransomed sinners, home." OUR FATHER'S GIFT. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, thai whosoever bclievcth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. — John Hi. 16. TWO old ladies were spending the evening together — knitting and talking. Religion was their subject, and their own experience made it more and more interest- ing, as they went back over the years of their pilgrim- age. I wish all of us would talk more than we do about our own experience as Christians. It would do us good and others too. In the midst of their conver- sation one said to the other, " Suppose all the Bible had 136 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. to be destroyed, and you could just take out one verse, which one would you take." The old lady thought a minute and said, " Well, I think I should take this one: 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, Imt have everlasting life.' " Here is the gospel packed into one verse. " God so loved the world." People sometimes say, it is wonderful how God could love this world. I do not think so. I would be surprised if lie didn't love it. He made it; it is His own ; why shouldn't He love it ? The wonder to me is that the world does not love God. J do not see how any one can think of his blessings and in ireies and goodness; His patience and forbearance and not love Him. " God go loved the world." I wish we could get an idea of the intensity of that little mono- syllable SO. He so loved the world that He gave Mis Son. One of the greatest mistakes that you and I have made was when we thought that God didn't love us, cvii) while we were yet sinners. He loves the sinner. And He loves him so much that He is willing to give his Son to die for him. Love proves itself by sacrifice. I heard sometime ago of a mother, who appeared be- fore a mission board with her son, who wanted to go away and preach the gospel in heathen lands. She sat weeping while they were talking, and when at last they turned to her and asked her if she was willing to let hirago, she said to them, "God gave His Son forme and why should I not give my son for Him. Go, my boy, SERMONS. 137 and if mother never sees you any more in this world, she will meet you in the presence of Him who died that we might live." Please notice, also, that He gave His Sou. He didn't put him up for sale, nor did lie say you can have Him on any condition except as a free gift. He did not give Him because He saw any merit in you and me, but because He loved us and wanted to save us. Some time ago I saw a Bible that belonged to a young man. On the fly-leaf his name was written and under it these words : " Remember, love, who gave thee this, When other days shall come, When she who had thine earliest kiss, Sleeps in her narrow home, Remember 'twas a mother gave This precious book, her child to save." It was love that made the mother give her boy that book, and it was love that moved the heart of God to give the Lord Jesus Christ to die for you and me, poor sinners that we are! Let us direct our thoughts a little while to the gift it- self. It is a gift which once possessed can never be lost. All of us have had gifts in the days of our childhood and along through life, but we have lost them. Here is a gift vou cannot lose. Our Father does not give like an Indian — give to-day and take back to-morrow. "When he gives Jesus Christ, He gives Him forever. He makes an everlasting covenant, and when he puts his 138 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. name to a contract, it is there forever. "He that hear- < tli my words and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, luit is passed from death unto life." Once I was preach- ing a sermon and said that if a man gave himself to Christ, he was his forever, and could never be lost. A prominent member of another denomination came up afterwards and said, " Have you the Scripture for that? " I quoted the verse I have just repeated and two or three others of like character. " Well, sir ;" he said, "this shall be the sheet-anchor of my soul hereafter." I tell you it is a precious truth. " I will never leave thee, uor forsake thee." Take that home to your hearts, ye trembling saints, and never forget that Jesus Christ once yours is yours forever. Another thing; the more you use tJtis gift the brighter ■it gets and the better you like it. Others will wear out, fade away or you get so accustomed to them that you want something new; but whoever drinks this water will never thirst for any other. He who cats this bread will want no other food. He to whom God hath given this gift will find that pleasures increase as he enjoys its possession. I love to hear the old saints way up yon- der on the heights speak to us, who have not gotten so far along the road as they, and tell us to come on ; it gets better as they go. I find that those who have had this gift fifty years think more of it than those who have had it only a few. My own experience brings its ready endorsement. The more I know of SERMONS. 139 Jesus the better I love Him and the more I want to know of Him. This gift brings with it all that is needful for our strength and encouragement in this life. Some people wear charms about their necks to keep away evil spirits, but here is a charm that you wear, not around your neck, but in your heart. He sits enthroned there ; your friend and your king. When you pray you need not think of him as far away in the heavens; think of him as within you, listening to every sigh and in deepest sympathy with every want of your soul. If you have this gift, it will admit you at the gates of heaven. There is only one pass-word that will enable you to enter the City of our God. It will restore to you all that you have lost and present you, without spot od blemish, to the Father, who loved you and gave his Son to save your soul. But, who may have this gift f That is the question. Well, here it is, whosoever believeth ; whosoever. That is the word that enables us to come. I have heard of an old shoemaker, who was concerned about his soul. He could not read, but his little daughter, who was going to school, would read for him. One day as she was slowly spelling her way through some of the verses in this chapter, she came to the lGth verse and went on reading the short sweet words, until she came to that word " whosoever." Her old father sitting upon his shoemaker's bench, shoe across his lap, awl in one hand, hammer in the other, looking over 140 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. his spectacles at his little daughter and listening with tearful interest as she read along. " Papa," she said, '* here is a word I can't read." " Try your best, daugh- ter, it may be the very word I want," said he. But she could not make it out. " Put your finger on it," he said, ''and hold it there a minute." And then getting up i'rom his bench he put his own big linger on that verse and walked to the door. The first man that passed he stopped him and said, " Stranger, will you please tell me what that word is. ' The man said, " That is who- soever." "Ah, thank (Jod "! he said, " that is the word I want. I can come now. Jesus is mine and I am saved." Whosoever believeth in him. That is very simple; a child may comprehend it. The Lord made it simple so that the simplest mind may believe. Woe betide ye proud spirits and lofty intellects, who pass by this plain open door and seek to climb in through some other way ! But what if we do not believe? The answer is plain — we perish. Jesus Christ came to save a world already lost. It is only a question of time when every unbe- liever — every one who fails to accept this offered gift — must perish. I do no not know what is meant by that word " perish." It carries with it some awful meaning, which eternity alone will reveal. It is set forth here as the alternative of everlasting life. It must mean some- thing like everlasting death. Will you accept the gift and live, or will you reject it and die ? SERMONS. 141 FOLLOWING CHRIST. "Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." — Luke ix. 57. I LIKE the way that text reads. It has the ring of the true metal. It sounds like consecration, self-sacri- fice, true courage. The circumstances under which those words were spoken are of the deepest interest. Jesus was traveling toward Jerusalem and seems to have entered a Samaritan village late in the evening. As soon as they found out who it was, they refused to receive him. I can imagine John and James going around to different houses and saying: "Jesus is in the village and wants to stay all night." The answer came back everywhere: "He cannot stay here." It seems very cruel to us that any one should have treated him in that way, and, yet, there are some who are listening to me now doine: the very same thing — you will not receive him into your hearts. How could he hope to be received into your homes? AVhen they shut their doors against him John and James lost their temper. They sa'id : "Lord, let us call down fire from heaven and burn them up." I have, sometimes, seen preachers lose their temper under similar circumstances. They have offered salvation to those who are in their congregation and when no one accepted it, they showed a disposition to turn upon them and rend them. Once I Mas holding a meeting for a dearly loved and venerable pactor, and after repeated invitations several nights, no one responded to the call. Suddenly taking the floor, about the close of the meeting 142 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. one evening, he poured hot shot into them for about ten minutes and fairly took the hide off. I said to him af- terwards, " Doctor, you will never get them in that way." " Well," he said, " Wharton, it makes me mad to see men refuse my Saviour, when he is offered to them for their salvation." Jesus turned and rebuked his disciples and said : "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. The Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." And he went to another village. As they were leaving, a man came up to him in the road and said, "Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." I reckon John went up to him and put his arm around him and said, "Thank God ! here is one who is willing to follow the Master." I tell you it is a glad day when the invitation is accepted and souls are flocking to the cross, and it is a sad day when the invi- tation is declined and nobody comes. I fancy there was a smile upon the face of Jesus himself, though he rather discouraged the man from coming, saying he hadn't whereto lay his head. And yet, He tells us that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sin- ner that repenteth. I want you to look at this man, study his character, analyze it and see what was in him that brought about this glorious declaration. Of course the Spirit of God was there working in him and drawing him to Christ, but I wish to look at the man himself, and may the Spirit teach us that this devoted follower may prove a blessing to our lives and may incline some of you to do as he did — leave all and follow Christ. SERMONS. 143 First of all let me say, lie was a man of courage. He had to face public opinion and that is a hard thing to do. In all that village he was the only one willing to receive Christ. It is an easy thing, my friend, for you to be a Christian in these times, when every other person you meet is a Christian ; but when you have to brave the op- position of the whole community it is rather hard. It takes courage to be a Christian anywhere, but more under circumstances like these than you can well imag- ine. During the war a soldier went to his chaplain and said to him, " Chaplain, I am the only man in our tent who is a Christian, and every night when I kneel down to say my prayers the boys make fun of me and throw their shoes at me, and bother me so I do not know what to do. What must I do about it?" The chaplain told him to wait until he got under his blanket at night and say his prayers to himself. A very poor piece of advice, I think, for a preacher to give. A few days afterwards he met the soldier and asked him how he came out. "Well," he said, "your plan didn't work at all." I waited until the lights were out and tried to pray under my blanket. The boys were all laughing because they thought they had whipped me out. I lay there and thought to myself, " You coward, you are willing to stand up on the battle-field and let them shoot at you because you love your country; but you are not willing to get down on your knees and pray to the Lord because you are afraid somebody will disturb you." I just threw the blanket off and got down on my knees and 144 PULPIT, PEW AXD PLATFORM. prayed aloud for every soldier in the tent. "Well, how did thai do?" inquired the chaplain. "They all list- ened/' he said, 'and every night, now, when 1 kneel down to pray they kneel with me and we have regular family worship there together." It took courage, and the man had it. That is exactly what you need, my friend, to make you come out on the Lord's side and take your stand for Christ as you ought to do. He h<«l the will. It takes will power. "Lord, I WILL." When a man gets to the point in life when lie can say, Lord, I will, I will, he is a saved man. Sur- render, that is salvation. A complete surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ is to obey his will and follow where he leads. I was holding a meeting, once, in a southern city and the whole place seemed under the influence and power of the Holy Ghost. Men and women were seek- ing the unconverted and bringing them to church. One day a man said to me, " Have you been to see old Mr. E— ?" I told him I did not know him. "Well," he said, " he is a hard old sinner 80 odd years of age, who lives here and will soon be gone. I wish you would go and call on him." I mentioned the subject to the pastor of the church. He said to me, " If you were to go to that old man's house he would curse you off of the place." " Well," said \, " if you will go, 1 will." So we agreed to make the attempt. The next day we drove into the yard and walked up on the porch, rang the bell, but re- ceived no answer. I walked along down the porch and saw him through the window. I said to the pastor, SERMONS. 145 "Here lie is in here. What shall we do about it? Let us go in." And in we went. The old man was very deaf. I walked right up to his side before he knew I was in the room, and as he turned his face toward mine I was struck with its remarkable attractiveness. His white hair curled in tight ringlets ou his head, clean- shaven face, large expressive eyes. I introduced myself and the pastor. He politely asked us to take seats, though he looked as if he had an elephant on his hands. Ashe was from Virginia, 1 commenced at once to talk with him about the Old Dominion and secured his attention and interest. You know if there is anything that a man is a fool about, it is being born in Virginia. After talk- ing some time I concluded to say something to him about religion and take what followed, no matter what it was. Said I, "Mr. R — , I lost my father several years ago. If I were with him to-day I would make a request of him and I want to make the same of you." He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment and said, "Well, sir, make it." Said I, " I want to pray for you, Mr. R — ." "Very well, sir," he said. I knelt at his side, placed my elbow upon his knee so that my mouth would be close to his ear and I prayed for him. When I arose from my knees he was weeping and said, "Oh ! what a sinner I have been." That same afternoon as we en- tered the church for the four o'clock service, walking up the aisle, the pastor touched my arm and pointed to the front seat. There sat Mr. R — , the first time he had been in church for more than fifty years. After a brief 10 146 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. talk 1 called on any who were there, who wished to con- fess Christ, to rise. He walked with a very long staff' and slowly pulling himself up he turned and looked toward the audience and said, " My friends, I want you all to know that I surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ." Then, putting his hand in mine, he said in the hearing of them all, " Mr. Wharton, living or dying, I shall always think of you as the best friend I ever had." You see he surrendered. " Lord, / will, I WILL," and when you come to that you are saved. Furthermore, He believed in Christ. He called him "Lord." No one will follow Christ who does not be- lieve in Him, and no one will fail to follow Him who does believe in Him. The best evidence of your faith is your willingness to follow. Some of you have believed in Him for many years and are willing to follow Him, but you are waiting for something to happen that will never come. You want some strange miracle or some won- derful mental earthquake. But what is the use of it if God has already converted your soul. If you believe in Jesus Christ and are willing to forsake your sins and become His follower, the thing for you to do is to say, "Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest," and get up and make the start at once. Delay is dan- gerous. 1 believe some people arc converted in their childhood and do not make a profession of their faith until they are grown. Some years ago I had a letter from my only sister, who lived at that time in Ken- tucky, saying her two boys were just grown, and she SERMONS. 147 wanted me to come and preach in the village where they lived, with the hope that her sons would be con- verted. Of course, I went, deeply concerned as to the result of the meeting, not only as far as they were con- cerned, but, as usual, for all who are in attendance upon the services. The two boys were very unlike in dispo- sition. One of them quick and impulsive, and the other quiet aud gentle as a girl (some girls). The first came readily and declared his faith in Christ and his willingness to serve Him. The other remained firm and immovable, though he seemed terribly anxious about his soul. One night, before going to church, my sister said to me, "You talk with John to-night; he has been good all his life. I think he must have been converted when he was a child. As we went along up the road, in the dark, I said to him, "John, do you remember when you did not love Jesus?" "No, sir," he said. Can you recollect the day when you were not willing to serve Him and to follow Him ?" " No, sir." "Are you willing now to try to do what He tells you to do?" "Yes, sir." "Do you feel like you want to live a Christian life and obey His will?" "Yes, sir." "Well, you come out to night when I give the invita- tion, and confess your faith in Him." That night when the invitation was given he came, with tearful concern and firm resolve. And from that time he h:is tried to live an humble, godly life. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Are you willing to follow Him? That is the question. Never mind when the belief came. 148 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. Do not stop to inquire when you got the blessing. The great question is, Have you got it? and if you have, come out boldly on the Lord's side. Now, let us look ut the following : "Lord, I will fol- low Thee!" The very first step he took was a public confession. Don't you see he came up where the Lord was, and spoke right out in meeting, "Lord, I will fol- low Thee withersoever Thou goest," And I suppose he followed Him also in baptism. If you are going to follow Him, you must go into the water, for He went in there. Then he followed Him into the wilderness. Jesus sometimes walked in the wilderness, and we need not be surprised if we walk there, too. We all get in the wilderness sometimes, brethren. Wilderness of temptations, wilderness of trials; and it gets very dark, and our hearts become very heavy, but Jesus is with us in the wilderness, and we shall follow Him out. The devil can't keep you there long. God grant that when we do get out we may come as He did, in the power of the Spirit, Peter was in the wilderness when he heard the chicken crow, and went out into the dark- ness to weep the bitter tears of remorse. But he was out of the wilderness when he stood yonder at Pente- cost, and his words, like red-hot thunderbolts, smote the hearts of the astonished multitude. And then, by and by, we shall follow Him to the grave. He went to the grave, and we must go there, too. "I would not live always — no, welcome the tomb, Since Jesus was laid theie, 1 dread not its gloom; SERMONS. 149 There 6\veet be my rest, till He bid me arise, To hail tiiax in triumph descending the skiea." Yes, we shall follow Hiui out of the grave, and I have sometimes thought that when we stand upon the other side of the grave and He shall point to the little crooked path we walked while here, we shall see then, as we cannot now see, His wisdom in all our afflictions, tempt- ations, trials and sorrows. We shall follow Him to heaven. On swift wings we will rise with Him to the mansions of the blest, and then, above all things, we shall rejoice that we followed Him while here on earth. Let me urge you, by all that is dear to you, that you fol- low Him at once. The end may be nearer than you suppose. Begin to-day ; to-morrow may be too late. One beautiful moonlight night on the Hudson River, the engineer heard the quick, sharp ring of the pilot's bell. He stopped his engine and looked out, wondering why he had been stopped in the middle of the stream. The night was lovelv ; the river calm ; the moon shin- ing brightly. He gave his engine in charge of his as- sistant and went up to the pilot's house to see what was the matter. There stood the pilot holding to the wheel as if he was looking out. "Why did you stop me?" said the engineer. In a low, husky voice the pilot re- plied, "There is a mist upon the river, and I cannot see to steer the boat. We had better anchor until the morning. See the captain and tell him so." The en- gineer looked into the face of the man and saw that death was there. He caught the pilot in his arms and 150 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. laid him down, only to see him breathe his last. Soon the mist will gather around you and mej soon the thick shadows will fall across our path; but as followers of Jesus there is nothing to fear. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." A MOTHER'S PRAYER. "VTOU will find the words of my text in the loth chapter ■*- of Matthew, and the 25th verse: "Lord, help me.'' It is a very short prayer. Three monosyllables. I reckon that you have noticed in reading the Bible that some of the prayers that went straight to the heart of God were the shortest. The prayer that Jesus taught His disciples was very brief; the prayer of the Publican, ''God be merciful to me, a sinner," and the prayer of David, which you will find in the 116th Psalm, made when he was under conviction of sin, when the sor- rows of death compassed him and the pains of hell had hold of him. He says he then called on the name of the Lord, and this was the prayer: "O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul." So in this case; the prayer is short and simple. In the time of intense anxiety we have no heart for many words. So it was in the case of this mother. The first thing that presents itself to our eyes here is a woman in trouble. She is not alone. Many have gone SERMONS. 151 before her and many will eome after her. I have heard it said that a woman cannot keep a secret. She is the very one who can keep a secret. We men cannot keep a secret, especially if there is some trouble in our hearts. We must tell it to some one, and there is no one to whom we can speak of it with greater freedom and comfort to ourselves than a woman. A mother, a wife, a sister is always a sympathizing hearer when we are in trouble. A woman can keep a secret in her heart until it wears her heart out. I have heard of a lady who was an active church member and devoted worker in the Sunday- School — first and foremost in all new enterprises for the good of her church or the glory of her Master. To the surprise of all who knew her, she relaxed in the per- formance of her duties. People noticed her, when she came to church, that she was growing pale, the roses were falling from her cheeks, and the light was fading from her eyes. She gave up her Sunday-School class, finally ; only occasionally came to church. The neigh- bors said, " What is the matter, Mrs. B.? There must be some trouble at home — some family difficulty." After a while she ceased to come to church altogether, and then it was not long until a little note tied up in a black ribbon was circulated in the neighborhood, which said that Mrs. B. was dead. Something was the matter. A cancer had been eating near her heart and she would not allow her husband or her physician to say anything about it. She kept her secret and took it with her to the grave. So, oftentimes, mothers, wives, daughters ] 52 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATPORM, carry in their hearts some secret trouble that carries them oil' at last, where troubles arc no more. There are moth- ers listening to iue now, whose hearts are break- ing over their wayward boys. I tlo not blame the man who went to his son early our morning, as he lay in bed, having com;' in the night before from a drunken spree, and ordered him to get up. He held a gun in his hand, and bis son thought he was going to shoot him. He felt that he deserved it. "Get up, my son," he said. The young man got up and dressed, and then bis father said to him, "Here is this gun ; both barrels are loaded ; take it." " What do you want me to do with it, father?" said the boy, seared half to death. "I want you to go down-stairs with it and kill your mother." "Why, father, what are you talking about!" "My son, you are killing her by inches, she is dying day by day, and I can't stand it any longer ; kill her, and let me take her poor body and put it uuder the ground, out of your way." This mother's trouble was her daughter. She was possessed of a devil. I ean imagine the mother sitting and looking at her poor child, wondering if there was not some remedy on earth. I do not know how this af- fected the child. Sometimes tin- devil affects people one way and sometimes another. That young man that I have just been talking about must have been possessed of the devil, or he would not have gone on as be did. \.it lone ago T met a woman who was in search of ber runaway daughter. She had gone away from her moth- SERMONS. 153 er's roof, and was living in disgrace among strangers. That daughter must have been possessed of a devil. I do not know just how it affected the one in this case, but it was a great trouble, we know that. One day a neigh- bor comes in and says to the mother, " Have you heard of Jesus ? There is one who is said to be man and God, over in Judea, who can give sight to the blind, make the lame walk, cast out devils and raise the dead. Sup- pose you go and see him about your daughter. I will stay here and mind her till you get back." That is a good thing for some of you to do, sisters. Go to some poor woman, who has four or five children, some of them so small that they couldn't pull each other out of the fire, and say to that woman, " You go to church to-night ; I will stay here and look after your children." It would be a blessing to you and a blessing to her. Well, the mother started out to look for Jesus. I can see her as she goes across the fields, through the wilderness, on her way to find the Lord. If you could have met her as she was going, she would have inquired of you if you could tell her where she might find Him. Perhaps it is several days before she learns His whereabouts. Away across the fields she sees a number of people gathered to- gether and hastens on to inquire of them. As she gets nearer she sees one standing in the midst of the group, a fair and pleasant face, an earnest look of sympathy. He turns first to one and then to another, and seems to be blessing every one that comes. There is a blind man : He places His fingers upon his eyes and the happy man 15-1 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. looks up for the first time into the face of his benefactor. Now, they bring the lame and the palsied and they leap for joy. I have often thought if I were an artist I should like to paint my Saviour amid such scenes. .But the mother's heart is under the pressing burden of her poor lost child. She asks those standing on the out- skirts who it is, and the answer comes in a low, excited whisper: "It is Jesus of Nazareth." Immediately she cries out, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil/' I think if she had been as grievously afflicted with dignity as some of the mothers of the present day, she would hardly have asked, even one of the disciples, who it was. Why, ladies, there are some of you so dreadfully digni- fied that you would not so much as stand up here this morning and ask prayers for your wayward children. Not so with this mother. She cries for mercy and, strange to say, the Lord answered her not a word. Did you ever have that experience? Have you not gone sometimes and begged for his blessing, and yet it has not come? Are there not many of you who have prayed these years for the conversion of your husband or your son, and yet he has not answered a word? Pray on, mothers; though He may not answer a word at first, He hears your prayers and will not permit you to be disap- pointed. When my own dear mother died she left eight children, I the youngest of the eight. Only four were Christians. My mother was a good woman — a woman of prayer and of a godly life, and yet she was not per- SERMONS. 155 mittcd to see the answer of her prayer while she lived on earth. To-day, two of the eight are with her in heaven and the other six are on their way. Another strange thing: she always said that I should be her preacher. She called me her preacher boy. And if, to-day, she is permitted to look down on this world, I know her heart is glad that God has fulfilled her every wish on my be- half. I say to you, mothers, pray on ; the answer will come by-and-by. It seems that this mother cried so, that the disciples interceded in her behalf. They said, "Lord, send her away, for she crieth after us." He replies to them from their own standpoint : " I am not come but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." You know the Jews thought that Christ had only come to save the Jews, and they were called the lost sheep of the house of Is- rael. I suppose some of the disciples said to the woman, "You had just as well go away; we have asked Him to bless you, but He has only come to bless the Jews." She was not to be discouraged. "Let me get in where He is," she cries, and pressing her way to the very spot where the Master stood, she fell at His feet, looked up into His face and cried, "Lord, help me!*' What a prayer ! Even then He does not give her what she wants. He still speaks as if He would not grant her petition. "It is not good," He said, "to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs." The Jews were called children and the Gentiles dogs. I suppose if that had been one of you, mothers, you 156 prr.prT, pew and platform. would have said, " Well, you talk about this Jesus being good ; [ don't believe it. He calls me a dog, and I won't stand it. I will go home." Not so; she said, ''Truth, Lord, but the dogs may have the crumbs that fall from the children's table. Give me this crumb ; it will not hurt the children; they will not miss it; and oh! it will be such a blessing to me. Lord, save my daughter. Lord, help me!" The victory was hers. The blessed Master looked into that earnest, upturned face, and into the depths of that anxious soul, and said to her, "O, woman, great is thy faith ; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." I say it with reverence, but it does seem to me that the mother's prayer had brought Jesus down at her feet, as He said to her, "Tell me what you want me to do and I will do it. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." I wish we could have seen that woman as she went along back home. What joy ! What perfect happiness was written on her face! 1 wonder if she didn't shout, once in a while, out of the abundance of her glad heart. I do not blame you, mothers, lor weeping over the way- wardness of your children, nor for rejoicing over their conversion. Whatever else your daughter may be, if she is not a Christian she is nothing. You will notice that this mother did not try, in the least, to smooth mat- ters over. When she went to Jesus she didn't say, " Lord, I have a nice daughter at home; she is the pride of my hear! and the joy of the neighborhood; every- body admires her. It is true, she is possessed of a SERMONS. 157 devil; but that isn't much." She went right straight to the heart of the matter. She said, "Lord, have mercy on me. My daughter has a devil in her, and I want him cast out." I have heard mothers say, "My daughter is a sweet child. She is just lovely. It is true, she is not a Christian, but she is everything else." My friends, your daughter will never be a blessing to you or to the world until her soul is saved. And now the mother reaches home, and as she goes in, her daugh- ter looks up and says, "O, mother, mother ! What has happened since you left? Mother, I love you so, and I love everybody. Oh, mother, I am so happy I feel like I want to lead auother kind of life ; that all my life up to this time has been wasted. Tell me, mother, what is the matter?" "Why, my precious child, you are converted ; that's what brings you so much happi- ness to-day." Jesus had heard the mother's prayer and saved her child. THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES. Unto me, ivho am less thin the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. — Ephesians iii. 8. rPHOSE of you who have been to Washington City -*- have noticed upon the side of the street-cars and other conveyances the names of the places to which they run. On one you will see "To the Capitol," another, " The Patent Office " or " Post Office Department," on 158 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. another, "The Treasury." And if you will get in, and go in the right direction, it will take you to the place named. It seems to me I can read upon this text, " To the Treasury," and if we get into it (and may the Lord help us into it), and stay iu it, we shall explore some of the riches of Christ, to which we are heirs forever. But before we enter this great Treasure House there are several things on the outside worthy of our observation. Let us stand awhile on the porch and contemplate them. And first of all, I would call your attention to the hu- mility of the Apo-sth Paul. If there ever lived a soldier of the cross who could lift his head in pride and boast a little over his honorable wounds and glorious conquests, surely it was this wonderful man, and yet listen how he talks, " Unto me, who am less than the least." I didn't know there could be anything less than the least, but in his own estimation he was. What an intense ex- pression ! Less than the least. Well that is the way he ought to have felt. I suppose every Christian here feels the same way. If you don't you are not right. Hu- mility ! It is one of the Christian graces. God loves to see it in his children. We admire it everywhere. Why, ladies, you like it among the flowers. Who does not prefer the little lily of the valley, which hides its modest head away in the grass, to the sunflower that lifts its brazen face high in the air mid says, " Look at me, ain't I pretty?" It is so among the birds. "The bird tint soars on lushest wing, Builds on the earth her lowly nest; SERMONS. 159 And she that doth most sweetly sing, Sings in the nig.it, when all things rest; Jn lark and nightingale we see, What honor hath humility." Let not the devil turn this beautiful grace into a temptation and make it a snare to your feet. Some of you wish to follow Christ, but you say you are not good enough. What does that mean? Why simply this: You do not feel humble and unworthy, and your hu- mility has been made a stumbling-block in your path. Of course you are not good enough ; who is ? Come along and let Christ make you good. Listen no longer to the tempter. If you feel weak and sinful, you are the very one who needs a Saviour and he is ready to receive you. The devil tries the same trick on the Christian. You are weak and humble, less than the least, and he persuades you that you are not a Christian at all. He robs you of your joy, destroys your useful- ness aud makes you miserable. Now, hear what Paul has to say on this subject, " I am less than the least of all saints. Less than the least, but I am one of them. When you call the roll of soldiers of the cross do not leave me out. AVhen you mention the names of the children of God count me in." There is no presump- tion in saying that we are Christians. We do not say it upon our own merits, but upon the merit of our Lord and Redeemer. He speaks, also, of his call to preach the gospel; and of all the callings en earth, the highest and the greatest 1G0 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. that God ever gave to mortal man is to preach the un- searchable riches of Christ. I have heard it said, that when a man lias a son that he cannot do anything else with, lie makes him a preacher of the gospel. Some- body said that to Whitefield once, mid he replied: " Well, God had only one Son and he made a preacher of him." Young men, as you look out on your life work, pause awhile and ask the Lord if he wants you to preach the gospel of the Son of God. There is no work that will bring to you so much of happiness and usefulness as the work of the messengers who go forth in the name of the King of kings. Furthermore, he was not at a loss to knoio what his theme would be. Some preachers get up some very sen- sational themes. They search the newspapers to find some strange topic in order to attract people. A gentle- man told me the other day that he heard a prominent preacher of New York take for his text these words: "I have played the fool." And he said that the man hadn't gotten half through his sermon before he con- cluded that he was about right ; that he had played the tool sure enough. The most sensational topic on earth i- the go-pel, and the most sensational preacher who ever lived was Jesus Christ. When -John sent for him to know whether In; was the Messiah, what was his reply? "Go and tell John the things you both see and hear; the lame, walk; the lepers are cleansed; the blind re- ceive their sight; the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." If that is not sen- SERMONS. 161 sation, what is? This was Paul's theme, " the unsearch- able riches of Christ." Notice that word — " Unsearch- able." You know what it means. It means riches that cannot be estimated at all. Sometime ago we lost one of our wealthiest citizens in Baltimore. And one day I asked his agent how much the old gentleman was worth. His reply was, that they hadn't yet ascertained and could not tell until they took an account of his stocks, ready cash, real estate, etc. In other words, the old man was rich, but his riches were not unsearchable — they were not more than could be counted. But the riches of Christ are unsearchable. They are beyond the ken of mortal mind. Now let us enter the great Treasure House of our God, and though we cannot estimate the riches of Christ, let us take one loving look at the countless treasures to which you and I are heirs, if we believe in him as our Saviour and will try to serve him as our Lord and Redeemer. I shall ask you to visit only three departments and we shall not remain very long in either one. The first, I will name, The unsearchable riches of his redeemin;/ •power. Do you ever think what the Lord had to da before he could save you. As he looked down upon this lost world and first saw the way whereby we might be saved, there were three great powers that had to be overcome. He had to conquer Satan, sin and death be- fore he could save us. He met them one by one, and victory was his forever. I am no theologian, but in my 11 162 PULPIT, TEW ASD PLATFORM. opinion the throe temptations to which our Saviour was subjected in the wilderness were right along the line of the temptations that sweep so many into destruction in this world. The first was, the temptation through his body — his appetite. The second, through lis mind — ■ Ambition. The third, through his sou! — Trying las faith. Look at these a minute. Jesus had fasted a long time and was hungry. The devil said to him, "Command that these stones be made bread if you arc the Son of God." Iu other words, it was a temptation to Christ to take matters iu his own hand, in spite of the Father's will, and this temptation was brought through his bodily weakness. How many there are to-day who are falling victims by reason of temptations of this character ! Take strong drink alone. Thousands and thousands of help- less victims are marching to their own destruction day by day. When old Rowland Hill was preaching in London, there was a woman among the nobility who had a very dissipated son. She could do nothing with him at all. Ah ! how true it is. Your children when they are small tread on your toes, and when they are grown up they tread on your hearts. One day a neigh- 1) ir came in and said to this mother, "Why do you not take your son to hear Rowland Hill preach?" " Be- cause," she said, "I have heard that he says very ridicu- lous things in the pulpit ; he makes people laugh and I do not think that is right." There are many people who think it is a sin to laugh in the church. I am not one of them. Our Father would rather see us enjoy an inno- SERMONS. 163 cent smile than to hear our cries of anguish. There is more danger of our churches dying of the blues than of a joyful spirit. I had rather have an overdose of hi- larity than to die of the hippo, any time. But the sister urged her friend to take the son to the church, and fi- nally she consented to do so. She was hoping, as she sat beside her boy and saw Rowland Hill enter the pul- pit, that he would avoid anything of a ludicrous nature. The old man commenced his sermon by sayiug: "Breth- ren, I saw a strange sight yesterday. I saw a butcher walking along the street with a lot of hogs following him, and he was dropping a few grains of corn now and then, and they would come along and pick it up. I said to myself, ' Poor foolish hogs, you will follow him to the slaughter-house and he will cut the throats of the last one of you.' And that is the way with some of you. The devil is tolling you on with a drink of liquor here and a game of cards there and something else yon- der, and you are following him until at last he will bring you down to the slaughter-house of hell." After they returned home that day, the son entered the room where the mother was and said, " Mother, did you hear what Mr. Hill said about the hogs to-day ? " She re- plied, " Yes, my son, aud I am sorry he said it." " Well, you need not be, mother," replied the son, " I am one of those hogs. Mother, will you pray for me." I tell you, friends, there are many people in this world who are being tempted down to hell, day by day, through their appetite for strong drink or some other temptation 1G4 pulpit, n:w and platform. which comes to them through their bodies. Take care how you yield to the weaknesses of the flesh, for the devil knows every one of them and will use them on you with superhuman power. The next temptation was throagh the mind of our Saviour — Ambition, lie was shown all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and all were prom- ised to him if he would bow down and worship the Prince of Darkness. How many there are in the world to-day, ambitious for wealth or office or social position, and who are willing to bow down to the devil iu order to get them. You know that every office from a cross- mads Postmaster up to the Presidency is controlled in a large degree by bribery and corruption. During our last campaign I noticed in one of the daily papers that a man had died and left his fortune to the devil. The papers said that the lawyers were at a lo-- to know how to get it to him. I modestly suggested that if they would put the money in the hands of either one of the campaign committees, I thought it would be as close to the devil as they could well get it. It is the same case with reference to business. All sorts of short turns are taken these days in business. Some young men who were on a tear one night took a turning lathe sign and put it up over a lawyer's office, "All sorts of turning and twisting done here." I think you might put that sign over a good many other houses besides the law office. "Just gel right down on your knees," says the devil, "and I will give you what you want." SERMONS. 165 The next temptation and the last was through his soul — Trying his faith. He takes him on the pinnacle of the temple and says, "Now, God has promised to give his angels charge over you to keep you from being hurt ; jump off and see if He will." In other words, he was trying to get him to doubt God's promise, and that is where he gets in his work with us Christian people. Oh ! if he can only get you to doubt the Bible, or any part or promise of it, or in it, it is all that he wants. The Lord deliver us from the preacher or the people who say, " I believe in some portions of the Bible but not others." And if he can persuade you to doubt any of the promises he cripples your usefulness and destroys your happiness. It is written, " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." When these words fell from the lips of Jesus, Satan retreated from the field and our Redeemer had won the victory over his great adversary. But sin must be overcome. I have sometimes imag- ined that as John would be walking at the side of Jesus he would say to him, " Master, what is the antidote for sin ? Where is the power that is to overcome its evil in our natures? Where is the fountain in which our souls may be washed and made clean? " And throwing back the garment from his spotless arm and pointing to the royal purple veins the Lord would say to him, " It is in here, John ; my own blood must flow for a fountain for the cleansing of the people." And when at last amid the agonies of Calvary, while his blood was flowing from his hands, his feet, his side, his head, he exclaimed, "It 1G6 PULPIT, PEW AM) PLATFORM. is finished," the fountain was then opened; salvation was accomplished, sin was overcome. But while this was being; doue the Angel of Darkness went home with the news that Jesus Chris! was dead. What Satan could not do, what sin could not accom- plish, death had done. I can imagine the evil messenger publishing the tidings among the regions of the damned. He is dead ! The would-be Redeemer of mankind is dead ! Not only dead, hut in the grave ; not only in the grave, hut a stone has been fastened over the mouth of the sepulchre and an armed guard placed around it. He is ours forever. The scene changes. In heaven there stands in the presence of the Father a white-winged messenger of light. He is receiving orders and soon like a lightning Hash he is seen descending to the earth and pauses over the door of the sepulchre. As he takes his stand before that gloomy grave the soldiers fall hack- as dead, the stone is rolled away and Jesus our Saviour anl Redeemer rises from the tomb the conqucrcr of Satan, sin and death. Oh ! the unsearchable riches of his redeeming power. I do not ask what may be your condition, how long you have sinned, how far you have wandered from the fold of God. Stop and think of the redeeming power of Jesus Christ and you cannot ques- tion his ability to save you. Let this glad thought Strengthen our hearts as Christian men and women, and let us go forth and tell of his power to save. I must ask you to visit with me now another room which I will name The Unsearchable Riches of his SERMONS. 167 Pardoning Love. Did you ever experience it? If not, it will be impossible for you to understand it, and if you have, you cannot tell about it. Let your mind go back to the hour when first you knew the Lord — when you experienced the sweet hope of salvation through the pardoning love of Christ. What joy! What peace! It was heaven in the heart. I was told by a preacher in the South that one day a gentleman was riding on a train going out from Atlanta, Ga., and noticed a pas- senger who seemed very restless — moving from one seat to another. Finally his curiosity was excited and he said to him, " Excuse me, sir, but you seem to be very restless. Is anything the matter?" He replied, "I have been up here to Atlanta to a distinguished oculist to have my eyes operated upon. I was blind for nearly twenty years and he has cured me and now I am going home. I have telegraphed my wife and children to meet me at the station. There are two of my children I have never seen and I am so anxious to get there." The gentleman said that the train was running at the rate of forty miles an hour, but the man seemed to think it was the slowest train he ever traveled on in his life. I wonder sometimes if the train does not seem slow to all of us as it takes us along toward the end of our earthly journey, when we think of those who have gone home and we have not seen them for so long; and the time is approaching when we shall meet them again. Does not the old gospel train seem to travel rather slowly ? The gentleman said while they were talking the train whistled 168 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. for the station and the man started from his scat in- stantlv, leaving Ins valise, his umbrella and making for the door exclaimed, " Yonder they are." And as he leaped from the train his wife and three or four children were standing on the ground. He put his arms around them all ami cried out, "I can see! 1 can sec! Thank God, I can see! " With some such feelings you and I rejoiced when for the first time the sense of pardon filled our souls, and there is not a day that passes but we have need of this pardoning love of Christ! Every night when you kneel down by the side of your bed and look back over the doings of the day you have reason to say, ''( rod pardon me for what I have done wrong this day." And so we shall have need of it even unto the end, but these riches of pardoning love are unsearchable and they Mill endure to the last. I have gone up to the very last hour with the saints of God, and they assured me that though they had need for his pardoning love as long as life remained, the supply never grew less, nor did the willingness to bestow it diminish in the heart of our loving Lord and Redeemer. We must pass into one more room, but we shall not linger long, and this I will call The Unsearchable Hi<-Ii DOWNS. All of us know of men and women who were once LECTURES. 173 socially down ; and who, by the turn of fortune's wheel, have become leaders in society now. Others whom we knew years ago, who were the upper tens, as they call them in Virginia, are now low down in the scale. Sometime .ago, I was preaching in Atlanta, Ga., and after the sermon, I saw a shabbily dressed man come walking up the aisle. His coat was ragged ; he had on no collar ; his face unshaven, he looked like a tramp to me. I soon recognized him as the son of a gentleman, who had lived, a few years ago, in our state — a man of wealth and of social standing. This man, among others of his brothers, was one of the foremost young men in the neighborhood. That night, as he looked into my face, he said to me, " I have not a friend in this city ; I have no money ; I have nothing to eat, and no place to sleep," — socially down ! Then there are the MORAL UPS AND DOWNS. Persons who were once examples of all that is good, and right, and proper, in their deportment — suddenly a change comes, and they are avoided as moral lepers in their neighborhood. Adam is a striking example of moral ups and downs and in a very brief space of time. By the way, I heard a pretty good thing on Adam, some time ago. A man, whose name is well known to all of us — Artemas Ward, was riding on the train, and one of those talka- tive passengers came up, and tried to engage him in a 174 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. conversation. You know, there are some talkative peo- ple in this world — people who have that disease we call "running at the mouth," and when oner they get to talking, it seems almost impossible to stop thorn. There were two men who lived in a neighborhood once, and were known as the talkers of that neighborhood. Peo- ple would go a mile out of their way to miss one of them at any time. They became intolerable nuisances, as great talkers generally do, and the people determined that they would just lock them both up in a room, and see what would be the result — let them talk to each other to their own satisfaction. They furnished them ■with rations, and left them to themselves. They opened the door, a few days afterwards, and found one of them dead on the floor, and the other was on his knees beside him — whispering in his ear. He had talked him ab- solutely to death! Well, one of this same kind got on the train, and undertook to engage Artcmas Ward in conversation. Ward did not care about being bored to death, and so, he determined to bluff the man, if he could in any way. The man opened the conversation by saying: " George Francis Train is creating quite a stir in England now." Ward said! '"Train! Train! Train! I don't think I ever heard that name before!" "You don't!" The man waited awhile, and made a second attack. " What do you think of Horace Greeley's chances for the presidency?" "Greeley! Greeley!" said Ward, "I don't think T ever heard that name before!" "You didn't 1" By and bye, he came at him again. LECTURES. 175 "Have you heard this last tiling about Grant?" " Grant! Grant! — I don't think I ever heard that name before." Well, the passenger was perplexed. He sat, thoughtfully, for a tew minutes, and then opened on Artcmas Ward again. "Say, old tow head, did you ever hear of Adam ?" "Adam! Adam!" said Ward, — " what was his first name ? *' The man was utterly confounded ; he resumed his seat, and concluded that ho would give that stranger up as a hard case! Adam was morally up at one time, and, soon after, morally down — when he walked out of the Garden of Edeu with the curse of Heaven upon his head. SPIRITUAL UPS AND DOWNS. There is not a Christian man in my audience but has had these spiritual ups and downs. It was so with our Saviour himself. At one time, he rejoiced in spirit; at another time, his soul was exceeding sorrowful — even unto death. There are times when you have felt your heart so full of love that you would sing with the spirit and with the understanding; when you went in prayer to God, you seemed to pour out your very soul, and could almost look into his face, and glory crowned the merey-seat." You could hardly tell whether you were in the body, or out of it. I have realized this in preaching sometimes. It seemed to me as if I were borne along by an invisible power, — the thoughts flock- ing around me, and begging to be uttered, — my heart burning with zeal — my soul all on fire with fervor and 17(J PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. unction from on high. At another time, I would have been glad could I have found the back door of the pulpit, and have gotten out, and gone away, and sat down under a juniper tree, or some other sort of tree, — a hollow tree would have stood me better than anything else — and have gotten out of the public gaze. So, some- times you have felt, — when your prayers languished on your lips — your songs were in a minor key — your heart was heavy as lead within your bosom, — spiritually down ! On one occasion I was called to see a young man, whose mother told me he was very anxious about the salvation of his soul. When I went to the house she said to me, " My poor boy saw you coming, and he has gone away to hide from you. He is down about the barn." I said, " I will go down and find him." He Mas sorely afflicted with nervous disease, and some trou- ble with his liver, and was habitually depressed. I found him leaning against the house — his hat pulled down over his eyes — the very picture of despondency. I went up to him, and asked him how he felt. He said, " I am lost ; there is not any hope for me !" He had a little Testament in his pocket, and opened it at some of the verses which utter condemnation against the univpenting sinner, and putting his finger upon them, he would Eay, "That means me, — I am condemned for- ever! " He was spiritually down ! I visited him day after day for many days — would walk with him in the woods — across the fields, and talk to him of Jesus. LECTURES. 177 The light seemed to break in slowly upon his soul ; and one day, he said to me: "I see how it is now: Join came to save the lost, — I believe he has saved me;" and be rejoiced with great joy. He was spiritually, up then ! I baptized him, and received him into the church — a happy convert. One day I was walking along the street, and saw him approaching. His hat was down — he was looking upon the ground just before him as he walked. He said to me, " It is all over with me. I am afraid that I have been mistaken, — there is no hope for me — no hope at all !" I saw what the trouble was, so I said, cheerfully, " Well, let's put an end to this matter, — just let me buy your hope ! I will buy it out this morning, and then, — never trouble yourself about it any more. If ever the thought should come to you hereafter about salvation, just remember that you sold your hope to me. Now, what will you take for it?" He looked into my face, for the first time, and Said : ''Take for it ! What will I take for it! Sell my hope ! What would I take for my hope ! Why, sir, I would not take ten thousand worlds like this of solid gold!" '• Then," said I, "you have a great deal more hope than you thought you had, and it is of a great deal more value to you than you supposed!" Smiling, he walked away : the clouds were gone : he was spiritually up again ! So it is with us all, and so it ever will be; but, bro- ther, when you have these changing feelings, — remem- ber there is one who changes not ; and whether you 12 178 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. walk in the clay, or in the night — whether in sorrow or in joy — we are spiritually up or spiritually down, — ■ Jesus loves you, and will never forsake you. There is another kind yet — a very common kind too! TIIE FINANCIAL UPS AND DOWNS. We have all had them, — mostly downs! Ah, we've all been along there. I tell you, if you want to take the manhood out of a man, just let him be out of money. Let him go along the street, and see a fellow coming to whom he owes a bill, and cannot pay it; lie wants to g I round some other way, — about that time he thinks there is somebody he would like to see around another square ! There are not many of us like a man I once heard of. He was spending the night at a hotel. He heard some one walking in the room above his head in a very rest- less manner for hours. He could not sleep. This man was walking — walking back and forth ! lie concluded the man must be sick, and he would go up and sec what on earth was the matter. So. he went up, and knock* d at the door. The man came and opened it, but con- tinued walking. lie said to him: "Stranger, I heard yoa walking up here so, and in such a restless way, [ thought maybe I could do something for you, — is any- thing the matter, — are you sick?" "Oh," said the man, " I am worse than sick." "Worse than sick! — well, do tell me what is the matter, — what on earth makes you walk this way?" " Why," said he, "sir, I LECTURES. 179 have a note due to-morrow for $500. and I haven't a dollar to pay it with ! " " Well, my dear sir, you ain't the man to do the walking; the other fellow is the one to do the walking; you go to bed." Now, there are not many of us who can look at it just in that way. When we owe a debt, and cannot pav it, it makes us, like old Mr. Smith used to be when trouble vexed his soul. He had a way of saying he was "on a low limb!" I have seen the day myself when I have searched in every one of my pockets try- ing to find a nickel, and by and by, thought I had it, and when I pulled it out of my pocket exultingly, — lo, and behold it was a button! — financially down ! — we have all been along that road. Let us change the style of this lecture somewhat and recollect SOME OF THE SCENES OF THE UPS AND DOWNS OF LIFE. I do not know what yours have been, but can tell you some of mine, and some of others that have come under my observation, or that have been told me by those who have experienced them. There are THE UPS AND DOWNS OF CHILDHOOD. If you think that every child in this world is happy, you miss the mark a long way. People sing about, " I would I were a child again," and say how happy they were when they were children. You were not one par- 180 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. tide happier when you were a child than you are now. Children have their ups and downs as well as grown people; and if the burdens are not as big, they are as hard to bear to their young hearts as your and my sor- rows are to as. I can remember well when my mother had dressed me in a nice new suit of clothes, and father would let me ride alone on a sorrel mare he used to have, and when I would get on that old mare, and take the bridle in one hand and some of her mane in the other, and start off to Sunday-school, — I was up then ! There wasn't a happier boy in the whole neighborhood. Then, that day, my good mother would invite a whole lot of people home to dinner, and I had to wait till the second table, and it seemed to me they were going to eat through all eternity — I waiting and waiting for them to get through — hungry as I could be : I was dowu then ! If I had a home and little children, I would let them come to the first table, and would help them first Q\ery time. A gentleman told me, some time ago, that in his childhood he lived in the State of Connecticut. His mother was a Congregationalism One day the Method- ists had a conference near her home — they were North- ern Methodists — and the preachers had a custom of asking a blessing before the meal, and returning thanks after the meal. This gentleman said, he and his little brother had never known anything of that sort. They had been used to hear a blessing asked, and after the LECTURES. 181 blessing the meal ; but, the returning of thanks was some- thing entirely new. One day, during the conference, their mother invited six Methodist preachers home to dinner — she was a brave woman, wasn't she! Any house- keeper who can undertake to feed six Methodist preach- ers must be a woman of good nerve! Well, he said, he and his little brother were told by his mother that they must wait until the second table. So they took their seat in the corner of the dining-room, not far from the table. The preachers bowed their heads and asked a blessing, and then commenced to dispose of the boun- teous supplies put before them. He said, it seemed to him they would never get through, and his little bro- ther was more restless than himself. By and by they all bowed their heads the second time, to return thanks. His little brother could not stand it any longer. He caught him by the jacket and said to him: "Mercy, mercy, Johnny, they're going to eat again ! " Now, don't you think these little fellows were down? I was told quite an amusing story in Wilmington, Del. A gentleman there, who was a very irreligious and ungodly man, had a good Christian wife, who was a member of the Methodist Church. They had but one son — a little boy, who, following his father's exam- ple, was a very wicked little fellow. One day, during the meeting that was being held in that city, the lady decided that she would invite some of the preachers home to dinner, and begged her husband that he would be very guarded in his speech at the dinner-table. She 182 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. told her little son that he must wait for the second table. The old man said no, he should do no such thine, but should sit at his left hand at the table. He cautioned the little boy that if he uttered a word he should be whipped immediately after the meal. When the strangers took their seats the old gentleman com- menced to ask them what they would have to eat. He said to the man on his right : " Will you have a piece. of turkey ? " "I am a little dyspeptic, I never eat turkey." " Will you have a piece of ham?" "No; I never eat ham." " Won't you take a piece of that duck?" "No; I never eat duck." The little boy's patience was wearing out rapidly. He saw all of those delicious things before him, and was ready to cat them if he could only get a chance. The man of the house continued to ask the preacher — " Will you take some of that chicken pie, sir, you will find it very nice?" " No ; I never eat pie." " Will you have some of this pickle?" "No; I never eat pickle." The little boy forgot himself; looking up into his father's face, he said : " Papa, ask the fool if he'll suck a raw egg ! " And (he old man sent the boy back on the floor, and the little fellow was down sure enough. Oh, yes, the little children have their ups and downs. One Christmas morning, a man who had spent all that he had in drink, walked into a bar-room to get his morning dram. The bar-keeper came in, with his lit- tle girl in his arms. She was kicking her feet about, and saying, " See my pretty shoes — see my pretty new LECTURES. 183 shoes ! " The man stood with his eyes fixed on the child's pretty new shoes. The bar-keeper put the hot- tie and the glass upon the counter, but the man did not touch it. " Why don't you drink, man ? " " No, sir," said the poor fellow, " no drink for me to day ; your little daughter has her pretty new shoes — she is happy this morning. Who paid for those shoes? Yonder is my poor little Mary at home, this Christmas morning, with her cold blue feet bare, with no shoes at all, in her old ragged dress. That child of mine has not even a breakfast to cat ; and I am here, paying for your child's new shoes! No, sir, no more drink forme!" He went back to his home, and took his little child in his arms, and pressed her to his heart. He said, as he kissed her again and again : "You poor neglected child — you know what it is this Christmas morning to be cold and hungry; but, God helping me, the Christmas shall never come again when my child shall not have that which shall make her comfortable; " and, from that hour, the little girl who had been in sorrow and suffer- ing so long, and the heart-broken mother, who sat that day by the empty fire-place, without the comforts and blessings of life, were lifted up into that sunshine that ever comes into the home where an honest and indus- trious man labors to care for those who are nearest and dearest to his heart. In this great world of ours, to-day, there are many children high up in society, who know all the pleasures and joys of life : there are others who arc down in the 184 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. very depths of poverty, and distress, and shame. Oh ! I shall never forget the morning, when, at 3 o'clock, a dear relative of mine came into my room, where my brother and I slept, in our little bed. When I awoke, and looked into her face, she said : " Co me,* get up, I want you to go with me." I went with her into mother's room. I saw my brothers — my sisters stand- ing around the bed — my father was kneeling at the bed- side. My cousin told me to come up and kiss mother, and tell her " good-bye." I said, " Where is she go- ing?" They told me she was dying. As I pressed the last kiss upon the lips of my dying mother, they said : " Listen ! she is speaking to you !" I heard, in a faint low whisper, these words : " Meet me in Heaven! " The next morning, when I looked out on the world, its light and its joy were gone. I felt " if I could only hear my mother cull me once more; if I could only ran to her again, and have her kiss away the pain, and soothe the sorrowsof my heart, I should be happy — oh, so happy !" I wandered into the parlor that day, and stood there beside her lifeless form. I looked into her face, and kissed her, and called her, but she answered not! God help the child that loses its mother! Next morning, as I stood looking out at the window, and saw the undertaker come, with a screw driver in his hand, as he walked to the house; aud I knew that that in- strument was to fasten the lid upon my mother's coffin, it could not have hurt me worse had it been a knife that was to have been pi tinged into my heart ! Ah ! LECTURES. 185 friends, I tell you, children in this world have their sorrows as well as grown people. They have their ups and downs as sure as you live. Then, there are THE UPS AND DOWNS OF SCHOOL DAYS. When I first started to school my father called me up and said : " My son, you are going to school now, and I want to tell you there is no reason why you should ever have a whipping while at school ; but, if you do, as soon as you get home I will give you an- other ! " I thought, " dear me — if this is school I never want to go there ! " The fact is, I never did like books. The school-house to me was always a prison-house. As I would sit there, with the old soiled spelling book in my hand, and look out at the beautiful trees in the forest, and hear the birds singing, and see the pretty little squirrels jump from limb to limb, I thought of all things in this world, I would like to be a squirrel, or a bird, or anything that did not have to go to school. And, some days, I would hear the hounds coming through the woods, full tilt, after the old hare ; and when I would see them come by the window I felt like jumping out, and following the dogs instead of bothering with books. One night a cousin of my mother's came from Mis- souri to see her. She was an old maid — dear old maids ! the Lord be merciful to them, and bless them ; but they are always getting some body into trouble. I 186 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. had an old maid aunt once. She never would let me play when I wanted to play; she was always telling my mother that I would get into mischief. The ser- vants did not like 'her any better than I did. We had a colored man, who was a sort of a wag, and one day I said to him: "William, do you think Aunt Emily will ever die?" He said: " No, sir, I think God has forgot her ! " When this old-maid cousin came to see my mother, my brother and I were in the sitting room at our les- sons. But I got out of there, and stole into the cham- ber. I took my seat at mother's side. She and Cousin Jane were talking about many things that had hap- pened; and, among other things, my mother asked her, how long it had been since she was there. She said : " It has been eighteen years since I came." " Well, I thought it had been eighteen years since you were here before," replied mother. And so they went on talking about one thing and another until bed-time came. Next morning I was on my way to school with my brother, and didn't know my lesson. I shall never forget my school-teacher, Mr. Shelton ; he was a lean, lank, tall, black-eyed man, about as big as a fence rail, but not quite as tall. lie was the laziest man I think I have ever known in my life. He would sit over three or four chairs at once — part of him in each chair. He didn't wear suspenders, and when he was stretched over those chairs, with his coat tails hanging down, he seemed, about the middle, to have come uncoupled.^ LECTURES. 187 He commenced to hear our lesson — gave out word after word; but when he came to me, I would miss it every time. Warm waves seemed to be passing through my system, and the perspiration would break out on my brow every time he asked me to spell a word, and I would miss it. "Next!" he would call out. By-and- by he threw the book into my lap and said : " Get that lesson in play-time, sir !" Well, I was down then ! I thought the next thing would be a whipping, and I knew I would get another one when I got home. Let me say here to the credit and the good heart of my school-teachers and my father, I never had a whipping in my life. It wasn't that I did not deserve it, though. "Well, play-time came, and Mr. Shelton had to go sever- al hundred yards to his dinner. The thought struck me, soon after he had left the school-house, why it was I had missed the lesson, and I concluded I would run and overtake him, and tell him. I was soon at his side, looking up into his face. "Mr. Shelton ! Mr. Shelton!" said I, "I'll tell you why I missed my les- son to-day." "Well, sir, what was the reason?" "A cousin of my mother's came last night from Missouri, and I hadn't seen her for eighteen years, and I was listening to her talking!" He looked down into my face, and commenced to laugh; for I was only eight years old, and I >vas in dead earnest. Mother had said it was eighteen years, and I thought if mother had not seen her for eighteen years, I hadn't. " Well, sir, you need not stay in play-time," said he. I was UP then 188 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. and all right ! You can imagine my embarrassment when, a few days after that, he went home to spend the evening with us, and told the joke on me in the pres- ence of the whole family. I discovered then, for the first time, the mistake ; but it had saved me from stay- ing in play-time, and I did not care. THE UPS AND DOWNS OF YOUTH. When we grow out of childhood and get old enough to work, \vc begin to have some ups and downs in real life. It seems to me that in my boyhood days we used to go to school pretty much the whole year round. The session at the Old Field School-house lasted about ten months, and our sisters, at home, taught us the other two, to keep us from forgetting what we had learned, before the next session began. With my natural repug- nance to the school system generally, I was always seeking some excuse to get off. I had a good opportu- nity on one occasion when harvest time came. You know the old Virginia harvest field is a busy place; every man, woman and child on the farm is expected to take a hand then. But my father, being anxious that his children should get an education (for he always said that the only fortune he cared to leave us was an education that would enable us to get through the world), he would not compel us to go into the field at any time. I insisted, on this occasion, that he should let me go into the harvest field. I told him that I had a broad-brimmed hat and a pair of half-hand gloves, LECTURES. 189 and that I could take the place of a hand and tote wheat after the raker. We did not have binders then ; but, after each cradler, there was a raker, and after the raker, the toter. Well, father said to me: "Son, you had better go on to school!'' Ah! how long it takes for a boy to learn that he doesn't know more than his father! Sometimes we get to be grown men, and quite old at that, and have to learn it by bitter experience. There is a good deal of truth in that old couplet : "Youns folks think old folks are fools; Old folks know young folks are fools." I insisted, and father consented. It was a beautiful morning, and I went running along to the harvest field, — my shirt with just one button at the collar, and open at the bosom to let in the cool morning air upon my naked breast; and I was running and capering like a lamb. Ah, I was up then ! Soon I reached the har- vest field. The golden grain was waving its invita- tions, as if to say : " Come and gather me, and I will repay you for your toil." They did not have patent reapers in those days, making that discordant and un- pleasant clatter — clatter — clatter — clatter — clatter — clatter — all over the field ; but it was the scythe and the cradle. A dozen men or more, standing side by side, with the cradle turned up on the sneed, and with their whet-boards making music on the blade — getting ready to thrust it into the ripened grain. By-and-bye the work begins. Every man strikes in at the same time, and the ringing blades over the stubble made the 190 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. sweetest music. Oh, what music! Don't you hear it now? The rakers busy, — every one lively, cheerful, happy! Hear them, as they sing : "Cool water, cool water from the cool, cool spring." I was running, carrying bundle after bundle of wheat, and throwing it down at the foot of the shock ; and back again after another bundle. Presently, I stopped — felt a thousand things sticking in my breast — pulled open my shirt bosom, and the wheat beards were just penetrating my skin! I thought: "My pa- tience alive! what's all this?" But on I must go; and the work went on, and on, and on! The novelty wore off; the interest ceased ; the toil increased. I was wet with perspiration, and still the work went on! I looked back at my father, who was riding along on his horse, looking calmly on as the work was rapidly progressing. I thought: "Well, surely my father is the happiest man in the world." Oh, it seemed to me that it was heaven upon earth just to be sitting on a horse, looking at others work ! And still the work went on. After a long time, twelve o'clock came, and we gathered under the shade, drank the cool water, ate the delightful meal with a keen relish, cooled off. My limbs were sore and tired; every muscle quivered with fatigue. I went to father, and said: " Father, I think I will go back to the house." " Xo, sir," said he; "stick to your busi- u iss, my boy. Don't go bark!" I tell you, I was down then! I went slowly out to the work, in the LECTURES. 191 burning hot sun, and the heat was rising from the field as I have seen it rise from the stove in the winter time ; but I must go on with the work. I looked up at the sun again and again. It seemed to me that another Joshua had come into the world, and commanded the sun to stand still! He didn't seem to budge an inch, but was just pouring the heat down in bucketfnls upon me. "Oh I" I thought, " will the sun never go down?" But, after a long, long day, the suu went down, and we turned our steps homeward. The harvesters were sing- ing their merry song. I had all that I could do to get home. The next morning my father said, early: "Well, my son, will you go into the harvest field again to-day?" " No, sir," said I ; " I reckon I had better go back to school; I'm afraid I might get behind with my les- sons." I got enough out of the harvest field that day to last me a life-time. Ups and downs I tell yon, but mostly downs. Then, the boys and girls have their UPS AND DOWNS IN COURTING. About the hardest loving in the world is when a boy and a girl fall in love. Now, somebody will say, " Oh, pshaw ! — he is going to talk about love, — I wish I hadn't come!" Well, my friend, probably nobody ever loved you ; but, I guarantee, if you will be right honest about it, you have loved somebody. " In joyous youth, what soul hath never known Thought, feeling, taste, attention to its o*n? 192 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. Who has nol paused while beauty's pensive eye Asked from his heart the homage <>!' a sigh '/ Who lias not lilt, with rapture-smitten frame TIil- {lower of grace, the magic of a name ? " Yes, we have all had our ups and downs of love ! Why, I remember the first time I ever fell in love : I was about ten years old, and I fell in love with a woman about thirty. I loved her, dear me ! how I loved her ! and when she would put her arms around me ami kiss me, wasn't I happy ! It just thrilled my whole being like lightning had struck me. There was a man came courting her, and I used to think : "If I could just get that fellow out somewhere — I would put an end to him \" We've all been along there. Then, when a fellow gets in the gosling state. Of all things in this world that a girl despises and a boy hates, it is to be in the gosling state, when he talks with two voices — is not certain which he is going to strike — high or low, and sometimes both at once. There was a fellow at school once, and the boys worried him half out of his life Finally, he rolled up his sleeves, and walked out and said, " Anybody that says 1 talk with two voices, tells a lie!" The first half of the sentence spoken in grave, low tones, the last half, in the highest falsetto ley. THE UPS AND DOWNS OF MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 1 1 is t hen that we enter life iu real earnest. Every man here has had his ups and downs in business, if he has had any business at all. There are some people in the world LECTURES. 1'93 who seem to be blessed all the time ; everything they touch turns to good account. Others seem to have been born under an unlucky star. A man said to me once : " I have a wife and four children. I have tried hard to support them ; again and again I have failed in life. It seems to me, I am predestinated to be a poor man." Some of the greatest successes in this world have been made by men, who at the first, sank low in the scale of misfortune. They were down ; not only down, but underneath a burden — a burden heavy and apparently immovable. Others again have failed, and have gone down in their failure to rise again no more. When men and women get to courting, they have their ups and downs. A man makes up his mind that it is not good for him to be alone ; he determines that he must have a companion. He goes out into the world to seek a suitable one, who will double his joys and divide his sorrows; but, I tell you, he sometimes has a pretty rough time in getting her. I heard of an old Presbyterian preacher once who fell in love with a maiden lady, about sixty years of age. The old man had lived a long life as a bachelor — probably had not done much courting. He was really in love, and could not express himself — he could not tell about it. It is a right hard thing to do sometimes, if you do love a woman, to tell her so. Well, the young ladies about the house thought they would listen to that courtship; but, every time they listened, nothing was said. He and the old lady would sit before the fire, side by side, and not 13 104 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. a word touching the great burden of his heart. Bye- and-bye, however, the old fellow faced the music. The young ladies were listening and watching ; he moved up close to the unsophisticated miss, and said to her : " Martha ! Martha ! if you love me — hug me ! If you d 011 't — throw me behind the fire ! " She hugged him, and all was well. He was up, then. Sometimes men have peculiar troubles. There was a man who was a great stammerer, and his sweetheart tokl him that she would not marry him unless he cured himself. So he went to the doctor, and the doctor told him just to whistle every time he was about to stammer, and that would cure him. So he attempted it, and at every other word he not only stammered, but whistled also. One day he met another stammerer, and asked him why he didn't get cured, and told him the whole story; that his sweetheart would not marry him unless he could cure himself of stammering; and that he went to the doctor, and that the doctor had told him to whistle every time he felt like stammering, and he said: "I tried it, and was cured entirely." "Well," Baid the other stammerer, " did your sweetheart have you ?" " No," said he, " for she said that every time I talked I reminded her of an old wheelbarrow that i ded greasing." He was down. There are THE UTS AND DOWNS OF MARRIED RIFE. If there is anything on this earth near akin to LECTURES. lit") heaven, it is the home of the happily married pair. Oliver Wendell Holmes said he had seen a magnificent ship go out from the harbor without a sail up, and he said: " What moves that splendid ship? she has not a sail kissing the breeze ; she is not a steamer ; what makes her move with all her freight?" Then, looking around on the other side, he has seen a little tug, nest- ling close beside her, and moving that great ship out to sea. So he has seen men in this world succeed, and succeed grandly ; he has wondered why it was. They were not men of genius — not men of any particular energy or industry. Why was it they succeeded so wonderfully? It was the little woman at home, who, by her counsel, her cheering words, her loving hand, had moved him out of the harbor upon the great ocean of life, a successful man. I tell you, the man who has chosen a suitable part- ner — oue who thinks as he thinks — whose aim in life is to make him happy, while he, at the same time, uses his best endeavor to supply her every need, that man is happy in life. Then you see him again, about one o'clock some night, walking the floor in the dark, singing as he walks, " Bye-bye, little baby, bye-bye, little baby, bye.' ,, " Oh, my ! I wish you would get up, wife, and take this child ! I have been working hard all day. I am so sleepy, and he won't stop crying." " No," indeed, his wife says, "your child as well as mine." And he walks on singing. Presently he screams out, at the top of his 19G PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. voice, waking up everything in the house: "Oh, good- ness alive, I've .-tuck a tack in my foot! " Poor fellow, he's down then. And then, when you miss getting just the right one — when you find one who will have her own way at all times, and under all circumstances, like the man I knew once. He married a woman, and she had a voice — you could hear her all over the neighborhood when she was quarreling. She made him lively on all occasions. One day I met him on the street ; he was pretty drunk. I said, "Hello, what's the matter?" He said, " I'm worse off than Job." " Worse off than Job! how's that?" " Well, the Lord told the devil that he might do certain things with Job, but he re- stricted him in certain other things; but he has just turned the devil loose on me." Well, it was true, that poor fellow knew what it was to suffer the downs of married life. THE UPS AND DOWNS OF EATING. Some people have no more control over their appe- tite than they have over which way the wind is going to blow. Just give them a plenty of good things to eat, and they will sit down and cat, and eat, and eat, until they can eat no more. They are up, then. You could not please them better than to spread a feast be- fore them. But wait till to-morrow ; they are so cross you don't like to come anywhere in sight of them ; you cannot get a civil answer. They are not fit for busi- LECTURES. 197 ness, and it is very uncomfortable to have anything to do with them. " Good-morning," you say to them, "how are you this morning?" "Got the dyspepsia this morning — not feeling well — everything looks very blue to me." Yes, I reckon it does; the man has been eating a whole lot of ham and fried oysters, and other things too numerous to mention, and nature has simply lifted her voice of warning. Some people eat like they say they used to eat in North Carolina. There was a song I heard in my boy- hood days about the North Carolinians: " Oh, they bakes clam pie — over thar ! Oh, they bakes clam pie, and the crust is made of rye, And you eat that or die — over thar ! Oh, the taters they grow small — over thar! Oh, the taters they grow small, and they plants 'em in the fall, And they eats 'em, tops and all — over thar ! " Any man who would eat that way deserves to be down ! And yet you find them, at every table — in every neigh- borhood. Then, too, there are THE UPS AND DOWNS OF DRINKING. Give a man two or three drinks — oh, he is up ! He is just the richest man in the whole community ! Fight ! why, he would fight his weight in wild cats! Talk! He would be willing to address the most learned assem- bly on earth, on any topic— earthly or heavenly; it would make no difference to him ; just give him two or three drinks ! 198 pulpit, pew and platform. There once lived a good old soul, who was a strict member of the church, and never took anything to drink at all that anybody knew of. It was the habit of the people, who lived in that community, to put their cattle up in the mountains during the spring, and bring them back, down into the valley, in the fall. This old gen- tleman had a few head of cattle. He went off into the mountains one day in the fall to drive them down home. They used to call him " Uncle Zekiel." After he hail been hunting through the mountains for several hours, he found his cattle, and was on his way home. He came by one of those little tea kettle still houses that they have in the mountains, and the keeper of it said, '•Uncle Zekiel, you look tired; won't you have some- thing to drink ?" " No," said the old man ; " I never drink anything." "Oh, but a little would do you good." " Xii, I am a member of the church, and I try to live the right sort of life: vou must excuse me — I don't drink anything." " Well, but, Uncle Zekiel, you must take a little as a medicine — you need it." "All right ; give me just a swallow. Maybe it might help me a little." So he took a little of the red-hot brandy, strong as aqua for tis ! By and by the old man said: " Let me taste a little more of that." Took some more. After awhile he said, " I believe I'll take Another sip of that brandy; it seems to do me good." Then the old fellow felt it. Says he, " I've got some mighty good cattle here — finest cattle in this country. I've got a fine farm down there in the valley ; one of the best LECTURES. 199 wives that ever live J. I tell you, if they say old Zekiel ain't well off, they're mightily mistaken. I've got plenty of it — plenty of it — plenty of it ! I don't ask odds of any man ; give me a little more of that brandy." He drained the cup. "Ah, I tell you, I feel first rate! Well, now, let me go. Where's my cattle?" The cattle had all gone off grazing in the mountain. " Well, I don't care; got plenty of 'em at home." Away he went, down the mountain (he was up then), as happy as a king. After a while, the effects of the brandy wore off somewhat. He laid down in the fence corner, and went to sleep. The rain came on. He awoke; looked at himself: "I wonder who this is," he says. " It ain't Zekiel. But, if it ain't Zekiel, I won- der who it is ! I know what I'll do, I'll go home and ask the old lady. If she says it's Zekiel, it is Zekiel, and if she says it ain't Zekiel, it ain't Zekiel.' So, he went home. The latch-string was on the door. The old man pulled the string, and away he went right out into the middle of the floor. The old lady came and looked at him. Who is this? Oh, my, that ain't my Zekiel ! " There, now," said the old man, " I said it wasn't Zekiel, and I ain't Zekiel neither ; and if it ain't, I don't know who it is." This drink business gets a man down pretty soon after he gets up. Two fellows got drunk once, and they were boarding at the same house, but had two different beds in the room. When they went in it was dark, and they couldn't find the matches; so they went to bed the best 200 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. way they could. Each thought he had gone into his own bed; but, instead of that, they both got into the same bed. Out- said to the other, "John ! " " Hello!" " There's somebody in the bed with me." " Well," the other said, " there's somebody in the bed with me too.'' "Let's kick 'em out!" "All right." And at it they went, kicking each other. Presently one said to the other, " John ! " " Hello ! " " I've kicked mine out." " Well," he said, " mine's kicked me out." Ups and downs of drinking. The one is only imaginary, and lasts for a very short time ; the other is real, and may last forever. The man who is down, under the burden of this cursed evil, has no hope of deliverance, except in the arm of God- There are some here to-night whose bitter experience tells them that, though at the first, the effects of strong drink are exhilarating, and seem to elevate us in our whole natures, yet, in truth, it is but a delusion of the devil — it is the bite of the serpent, the sting of the adder — and brings with it poison, death, destruction. Oh, friend, if you have only begun to trifle with this dread- ful temptation, let me bog of you, that Avhile it is yet in your power, you stay the hand that is already uplifted to strike you down forever. 1 might go on to mention other of tic ups and downs (.(' life, and thus consume the whole time which your kind patience will allow me here; but there is another and a practical turn T wish to give this lecture, and that is: LECTURES. 201 HOW TO TAKE THESE UPS AND DOWNS. It may sound very commonplace, but my advice to you is: "Take them as you come to them." Nine- tenths of the people in this world are always looking for trouble ahead. Our Saviour has laid down the right principle, " Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Don't build "air castles !" and "don't cross the bridge until you get in the neighborhood of it, any- way." Those broken-hearted women in Scripture had enough to be troubled with without perplexing them- selves with the question, " Who shall roll away the stone?" Let us learn by the ups and downs of life! An old colored man said to me once : " Ah, sir, a man learns a deal more when he's down than when he's up ! " If we could only learn by these experiences, we should be the better prepared to take them as they come. A steamboat was stranded on the Mississippi River, and the captain could not get her off. He was adver- tising for pilots, but none of them seemed to be able to do the work. Eventually a hard-looking fellow came on board and said: "Captain, I understand you want a pilot to take you out of this difficulty ?" The captain said, "Are you a pilot?" "Well, they call me one." " Do you know where the snags and sand-bars are?" " No, sir." " Well, how do you expect to take me out of here if you don't know where the snags and sand-bars are ? " "I know where they ain't ! " was the reply. If we have gone certain paths m life, and have fallen 202 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. down a few times, we shall know how to avoid them in future — if we only will. The downs of life teach humility; they exercise our energy, bring us to the test, and tell whether we have any grit in us or not. Let us take them as we come to them, whether prosperity or adversity, and we shall be prepared for life's battle day by day. You remember the old story of the three soldiers, chosen on a side, to decide a great conflict between two armies. The six men met. The great armies were drawn up in line ofbattle on each side. The struggle was severe. Two of the three on one side fell dead. One only was left to contend with the other three. So he commenced to fall back a few steps in order to separate the three men, who endeavored to pursue him. One by one they started off to follow him, and he turned upon them, one at a time, amid the shouts of his army, and killed each one of the three. Let us take the ups and downs of life day by day, hour by hour, and we shall find at the close that it was not so bad as we supposed. Again, let me advise that we STUDY OURSELVES. It is not a very pleasant study, this introspection — looking into one's heart and mind and life — but it is very necessary that we should know what we cannot do, as well as what we can do. The talents we have are the instruments that God has given us to carve out our life's work ; and if the carpenter does not know what LECTURES. 203 use to make of the tools that he has he will be a poor builder indeed. You would not try to run a race with a steam engine ; neither would you undertake to turn a big house upside down. You know your physical strength; but very few of us know our mental ability, and therefore we encounter things that prove too much for us, and then we are flat on our backs ; we learn, when it is too late, that if we had only stopped to think we would never have gone into the struggle. CONTROL YOURSELF is another word, if you will allow me to continue my ad- vice. These energies, and passions, and impulses that God has given us are fiery steeds, and if we hold the lines, and keep them under control, we shall drive on to our destination in triumph. Let them get away from you once, and a general smash-up will be the result. A general, with an army, cannot hope to win a vic- tory if he goes into the struggle in disorder and con- fusion. He must march in with his companies, and regiments, and brigades, and have them all under good control and discipline if he would hope to win the fight. LEARN TO SAY NO. Learn to keep your hand always upon the bridle of passion. The steam in an engine is a good thing if kept under control, but a very bad thing if it get the upper hand of the engineer. And the same hand that holds you back when you would go in a wrong direc- tion must urge you forward when heart fails, and limbs 20 1 PULPIT, PEW AND PL ITFORM. are weary, and hauds are tired. It is a fine thing hr a man to lie in bed late of a morning, but he Deeds the hand of energy to urge him out into the battle of life again. A good many of us are like the little boy whose father called him, one morning, and said: ".John! John ! the early bird catches the worm ! " " Well, let him have him, I don't want him!" I heard of a man once who went to a town and said he was going to give a dollar to the laziest man he could find in the town. Tin; first man he came to was sitting on the curb-stone. He had no hat and no shoes. lie said to him, "Where's your hat?" "Haven't any." '• Where arc your shoes?" " Never had any." " Why don't you go to work and get yourself shoes?" " Never worked in my life — don't expect to work." " Well, I am looking for the laziest man in the town — I want to give him a dollar." "All right, hand it to me." "No, I think I will look a little further on, and see if I cannot find a lazier man than you are." lb' went a little further, and saw a man sitting right flat down on the sidewalk, no hat, no shoes, no coat. " Well, my good fellow, what are you doing here? " " Sitting down." " Why don't you get up? " " Don't want to , takes too much effort." " Why don't you go out and go to work ?" " I don't work." " What's the reason?" "Well, I don't know; some people say it's lack of energy, but I think it's love of ease." " Well, I am looking for the laziest man in town, I am going to give him a dollar." " All right ; I reckon I'm the man." LECTURES. 205 " Well, I'll look a little further on, anyhow." So he went on a square or two further, and there lay a man, right flat down on the ground, on his face. " Hallo, here ! " he said. " Halio ! " " Say, I want to talk to you." " Well, talk on." " I'm looking for the laziest man iu town ; I've got a dollar for him." " All right, turn me over and put it in my pocket." Now that man was lazy, indeed ; and while none of us here may have it as bad as that, still, I have no doubt, we all have a little touch of it ; and, if we have ourselves under control, we will not only use this control to restrain, but also to impel, when necessary. " Not enjoyment, and not sorrow Is our destined end or way ; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to day." Again, HAVE AN OBJECT IN LIFE. What sort of a painter would he be, who would stand before his canvas daubing on the paint, and you would say to him, " What are you painting ? " " Well, I don't know what it's going to be ; it may come out a ship, it may come out a horse — perhaps a man — I don't know what it is going to be ; but nobody would want it anyhow, whatever it is going to be?" Who can hope to succeed in life, and press through the ups and downs, to a glorious success, who has no substantial object in view ? I ask a man what he is going to do with himself. 206 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. He s:ivs : "' I don't know; I may be a doctor, I may 1)' a lawyer, or 1 may be a fanner — perhaps a merchant — don't know what I am going to be." A man, who undertook to be a blacksmith, took a piece of iron and said, " 1 am going to make a horse shoe of this. It' 1 spoil the horse shoe, I'll make a nail, anyhow. If I don't make the nail, I can make a Staple." He didn't make the staple. " Well," he said, I know what I can make — I can make a fizz," and he thrust the red hot piece of iron into a barrel of water, and made a noise, and that was the end of it. And this is often the case with men, in this life : they make a noise, and that is about all. HAVE AN OBJECT IN VTEW. J. C. Calhoun, while he was at college, was studying certain hooks. One of his fellow-students said to him, "Calhoun, what are yon reading these hooks for?" "They will he of service to me when I am in the Con- gress, of the United States," was his answer. Lord Beaconsfield, of England, when he tried to make his first speech in the British Parliament, was laughed at, and urged to take his -eat. He said, " I will sit down now, but the time will come when you will hear me." Campanini, when lie sang his first song before an Italian audience, was hissed and jeered at until he could not he heard. Walking out to the front of the Btage, he shook his fist in the face of the audience, and said, LECTURES. 207 " You may laugh now ; but the time will come when you won't laugh." And the time did come, when the whole world sat at his feet and listened to his songs. STICK TO YOUR BUSINESS, is another suggestion I would respectfully make. That old saying, " Let the shoemaker stick to his last," is full of wisdom. True genius is hard work — systematic work. A man who has a good deal of hold on in him, is the man who succeeds. "Be firm. One constant element of luck, Is genuine, solid, old Teutonic pluck. Stick to your aim ; the mongrel's hold will slip But only crowbars loose the bull-dog's grip. Small though he looks, the jaw that never yields, Brings down the bellowing monarch of the fields." And yet, I would drop a word of caution here. It is folly for any man to stick to a business in wlrch a man has found out it is impossible for him to succeed. True manliness would cause him to abandon that trade, occu- pation or profession, whatever it may be, and seek the field in which he can raise his best crop. If you have started in a business and have been sticking to it faith- fully, but find that it is impossible to succeed — quit it. Do like the boy told Henry Clay to do with the goat. Clay was walking down a street in Nashville, one day, and saw some boys playing with a goat. He thought he would take a hand himself. He caught the goat by 208 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. the horns, hut the goat was too much for him, and when he was rearing and Clay's strength was failing, he said, "Boys, what must I do? What must I do?" One little fellow -aid, " Lei go, you fool, you, and run." Lt' you have gotten hold of a profession or a business that is too much for you, let go, and run, and take up something else at which you can succeed. But, if you have an occupation in which there is a reasonable hope of success, stick to it, and you are bound to win. BE BRAVE. I tell you, it takes a hrave man to contend with the Dps and downs of life. But if you are down, don't stay down. It is not the man who was born on the top of the mountain that has made the greatest success, but the man who has had a mountain on top of him, and who has gotten up, by main strength, and shaken it off, climbed up on it and lets the world know he's there to stay. That's the man. Look at the eagle, as he sits on yonder ledge of rock ! The storm has beaten him to the earth. Has he failed ? Look into that eye ! See him, as he is drying his feathers ! What is he doin-? lie is preparing for another flight ! He has no idea of resting there with owls and bats and barn- yard birds. Bye-and-bye, he starts oul again, Hies into the face of the storm, rises with it and above it on his journey to the sun. Most of the men who are up high in this world are those who have been down very low; and the very LECTURES. 209 stones over which they have stumbled, have been trans- formed into a stairway to glory. What was it that made Jackson the hero of the Southern army, and the terrror of every opposing gen- eral? I remember standing in my father's yard one day, soon after the battle of Cedar Mountain. A Fed- eral soldier told me that Jackson's name was worth ten thousand men any day. What was it that enabled him to march triumphant over every field ? It is said that after his fight over in the valley of Virginia, when he encountered three armies, one at a time, and came off victorious from each field, a crowd of Federal officers were under a tree, and they were talking about the bat- tles that had just been fought. One of them said, " I don't believe Jackson is a Christian. If he were a Christian man, he would not be shedding the blood of his countrymen in such a reckless manner. One of the others, who had been in the fight that day, and had felt the power of Jackson's arm, said, " Well, gentlemen, I don't know whether he is a Christian, or not, but one thing I know : if ever he makes up his mind to go to heaven, all hell won't keep him out of it, I know that." His bravery is respected this day, and he is honored by both armies — North and South. Be brave. Ah ! it takes a stout heart sometimes. You will rise in the morning with headache and heartache, remembering the disasters of the day before ; you will feel hardly equal to the task, but don't surrender ; go again into life's great battle, and victory will be yours. 14 210 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. Finally— TRUST GOD ! Trust God! The day will come to yon, if von have not already seen it — again and again — that you will not be able to see an inch ahead of you; looking at Life from every poinl of view, it will seem full of mystery and misfortune; but, trust God. With your heart ever turned toward Him, as the trembling needle to the pole, press on ! The great iron steamer, that crosses the Atlantic Ocean, goes forward through night, and through day, through storm and through calm, sometimes the sea raging and the winds at war with the ocean; but she presses on to the other shore. So let it b' with us; trust God ! Burns wrote in a poetic letter to a young friend a most useful word of advice: " When ranting round in pleasure's ring, Religion may be blinded ; Or if she give a random ^ting, It may be little minded ; But when on earth we're tempest-driven, A conscience but a canker, A corresp'tndi-iuv fixed with Heaven, Is sure a noble anchor I " Sometimes yen will be on the mount of Transfigura- tion — all will be bright, and glorious, and beautiful. At such a time, thank God, and say, " It is good to be here." At other times you may be walking in the very shadow of despair. The hour of the powers <>f darkness may come to your soul ; if it does, then learn like your Lord, to say, " Thy will be done." LECTURES. 211 A little boy lay dying. He turned his blue eyes toward his father's face, and said : " Lift rue up, papa, lift me up!" He raised him in bed, placing his arms tenderly around him. " Lift me higher, papa, lift me up higher ! " He lifted him higher. " Just a little higher, please, sir. Take me in your arms, papa." His father held him in his outstretched hands, as if of- fering him up to God. Presently he heard him say, " Good-bye, papa." The angels had caught him, and lifted him up higher — and higher still — up to the Throne of God ! Child of God, whatever may be the ups and downs of life, if you trust Him — trust Him always -at the last, it will be up all the time ! up until you sit at His right hand, in the bright world above, where never a cloud is seen, and never a tear is shed ; but where all is joy and peace forever. Good-night, good-night. It will soon be good-morning on the other shore. "MY SECOND TRIP TO EUROPE." 1 Ladies and Gentlemen : — I DEEPLY appreciate the very high compliment of so large an audience. I was not surprised that you crowded this house daily when you listened to the preaching of the gospel. I would have been surprised had you not come, but when you come to listen to a 1 Reported in short-hand by a friend in Charlottesville, Va., Baptist Church, at the clo6e of a series of meetings. 212 PULPIT, PEW AM> PLATFORM. mere talk upon the subject of a trip across the ocean, and pay for it besides, I can hut feel that it is more a compliment to the lecturer than the lecture. Now that we are all here, let us have a good time. I don't propose to try to make you laugh, hut it* you feel like laughing, laugh. I don't propose to try to make you cry, but if you feel like crying, cry. I don't propose to try to put you to sleep, hut if you feel like going to sleep, go ahead. I think the most pleasant way to go to Europe is not to know you are going for a week or two beforehand. If you have beeu looking forward to your trip and making a thousand arrangements ahead, you get into a nervous tremor for fear something will be forgotten, or you will be disappointed or what not; and it creates an unpleasant feeling that will mar the pleasure of your going. I had been through a long winter of hard work, and my friends in Baltimore had planned a trip and asked me to go with them. I hurriedly made arrangements to join the party. The World's Sunday- School Convention was to be held in London. Two hundred ami fifty delegates were going, and our steamer, "Bothnia," would sail from New York on the morning of the 19th of June. At the time appointed we were on hand, and as I walked along down and looked at the steamer I saw crowds and crowds of people on hoard. Tiny were just as thick as they could stand and all talking at once. I remember as soon as I saw them I thought if all those people are going to Europe I don't LECTURES. 213 see how we shall get along. They were so thick ! my ! But presently somebody cried in a loud voice : "Visitors ashore!" Then they began to thin out. I found that they had come to tell their friends on the steamer " good- bye." Then they went to kissing one another right and left. If you tried to get away from one, another would face you. It was getting dangerous. With me there is some little preference as to who kissed me, but there did not seem to be much chance on the steamer. However, I escaped without injury and as the conflict did not last long it passed as a pleasant episode. They then raised the gang-plank, which was a long and heavy board, by means of a rope, the cable was loosed and we started out upon our voyage. As we set sail, the river was full of boats and it was a beautiful sight. We had not gone far before our little group began to discuss the question who is going to be sick and who is not. We had bought our steamer chairs, a peculiar chair like those made for invalids, so that the occupant may assume any position. It is very suggestive, for you are apt to be an invalid before you reach your journey's end. Well we were all sitting around in our party dis- cussing the sea-sick question. There were four or five preachers, besides other professions represented and several ladies. We had in our party a professor of a southern college. He had a theory about sea-sickness. He said it was not necessary for anybody to be sick. Said he, " I have read a book about it and besides I 214 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. have reduced it to a science. You need not be sea-sick at all; you can avoid it, and I will tell you how." I saw he was very earnest. Said he (demonstrating what he meant by a motion of the body), " Lean with the .ship, [f she goes that way, lean with her, follow her inclinations; whichever way she goes, you go. Thai's a good way to do, too, with folks that are not ships, you married men. Follow her inclinations. Which ever way she goes, you go. It will keep you out of a great deal of trouble worse than sea-sickness. You will have a better time as you go. Lean with her." Well, another gentleman had a theory. It was a Balti- more preacher. He said: " I will tell you what / think. It is a matter of the will, dust will not to be sick and you won't be sick. I will prove my words, and I will be at the table at every meal, because I will to be there." We went along and came to the place where our pilot left us. It is required that every ship must have a professional pilot. His business is to take tiie ship in and out of port. We left him and sent m usages back to the friends behind us. When we got out on the ocean proper there was a swell going on, the worst kind of a swell. 'Die wafers seemed to be a suc- C -ioii of hills and valleys. The ship would mount up and plunge down and roll over. I just knew the folks were going to be sick. 1 had been there before. The lime had come. I saw the professor walking up and down the deck the very picture of despair. His race was green ; in fact, he looked all colors. It seemed as if LECTURES. 215 he had the leprosy. He wandered up to me and said, " Wharton, I am wounded," and was soon lost to view. By and by I went down and found the preacher with the will in his stateroom. He had a Scotch cap on the back of his head and was down on his knees making an offering to a basin that was sitting just in front of him. said I : (t It's altogether a matter of the will, you know." He did not hear me. Then I said : " Have you been eating anything that disagreed with you ?" "Oh, no! Oh no ! " he replied, " I've been drinking Jamaica ginger, but it don't do me any good." About this time I heard from the professor's stateroom a mournful sound. I went in there and, to make a delicate remark, it seemed to me as if he was throwing up things he had eaten before the war. It looked as if he would dislo- cate his immortal soul. " Lean with her, doctor." " Oh, don't talk ! don't talk ! I will never live to get to Europe." As I left the room, rather hastily, I confess, I heard him say, " Come down here presently and see about me, will you?" But he was not alone; there was a plenty of company in his misery. Next morning at the breakfast table, out of about 300, I counted twenty. I tried hard to keep on my feet, and succeeded, as did several others. As you get along up in the ocean it gets cold. I heard of a bridal couple who went across, and they were sitting shivering in their steamer chairs, wrapped in robes, with their heads sticking out like mummies. The bride said. " Oh ! me ; I am so cold ; Oo ; -o o-o-o ! ! won't you lend me 210 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. your blanket ?" If she had said, "Won't you let me have your blanket?" before she was married, she would have got it, hut you see she had been married two or three weeks; so he said, "I would in a minute, hut I am almost frozen myself; Oo,-o-o-o-o !" lie turned to a gentleman who was not siek, and whose robe was ly- ing on his lap, and said, "Would you lend me your robe for my wife ; she seems to be sick, and she's cold ; would you lend her your robe?" The gentleman said, " Certainly," and handed it to him. But the groom resumed, "Please, you put it around her; the very sight of her makes me siek." By and by we all began to get better. We had de- lightful meetings on board the ship. Religious services three or four times a day; Sunday-school, excellent teachers, men and women, and a host of preachers. It was said by somebody that ours was the only boat that ever crossed the Atlantic of which Jesus Christ was the commander. Everything went on systematically. Four meals a day : breakfast at seven, lunch at one, dinner at six, and supper at nine or ten. Looking out upon the ocean we saw many things, but we didn't often see a ship. Sometimes we read the poetical expression, " the seas whitened by the sails," but you will travel days without seeing one. One Sunday we saw a Norwegian ship, and she had -tuck out half a dozen flags, a signal we did not understand. A lady standing by me said : " They are not over-religious to be hanging their wash- ing out on Sunday." We arrived in Liverpool Satur- LECTURES. 217 day night, June 29th. Sunday morning the chairman of the committee of the International Convention took u 3 ashore. Everybody wanted to hear Mr. Spurgeon preach. We said, No, let us stop right here and spend the day as becomes Americans. We proposed to keep the Sabbath in Liverpool; so we went to church and had a pleasautday. That night we were given a reception in Liv- erpool. We had a wide hall which would seat a thousand people and it was crowded. Many speeches were made, songs were sung, and joy filled all hearts. There was a good deal of gush, but I reckon it is pardonable on such occasions. We were glad to get there — glad to get any- where, in fact. I must speak of one thing. The Amer- icans are very much afraid of having a woman in public positions. If a woman says a word in meeting, they want her put out. If a woman says "politics/' the aver- age American will go off into a fit. If a woman has any idea of going into a profession, he mourns and will not be comforted. Over here in England they have the best government on earth. There is no government that has stood like England's. Why, the first thing I saw there was the statue of a woman on horseback. They changed some money for me, and there was the image of a woman on the coins. Then I was told that they had a woman on the throne. Well, it would not be hard for me to be under the government of a woman. The men don't mind that so much if they come one at a time. Over there the ladies are as bashful and as modest as they are over here. 218 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. I think ifthe men folks don't manage any bettor than they have been doing we had hotter have a woman. I should be glad to see a Mrs. Presidentif Mr. President doesn't improve. I know that's not orthodox, but I would be willing to give a good woman a trial. From Liverpool we went to London. ^ ou can- not conceive of Loudon. Every street I saw is like Broadway, New York. A friend of mine once went on Broadway. He stood still a long time watch- ing the crowd. Somebody said to him, " What are you standing here for?" He said, " I am waiting for the pro- cession to pass." It looks that way in London. They drive very rapidly. You would be surprised to sec how close the vehicles go to each other and not come into col- lision. They always drive to the left. They walk to the left. The trains run to the left. The first thing, when we got off the train, we were met with a great long card : "The Lord Mayor respectfully invites yon to a World's Sunday-school Reception." The Lord Mayor of London is mayorofjust a portion of the millions of its inhabitants. His authority is limited. He gets s">0,000 salary, so he can afford to give a reception sometimes. He gave u- a speech, which was responded to by several ; then they had refreshments. AVe saw the Lady Mayoress and shook hands with her. AVe went out to a garden party given us by the Karl and Countess of Aberdeen. The Countess made a very pretty little speech and enter- tained us handsomely. We heard Joseph Parker preach and he is the most eloquent of men. His imagination LECTURES. 219 is wonderful, his eloquence matchless, his theology rot- ten. I believe he is a greater preacher than (certainly as great as) Henry Ward Beecher. He is indeed a fine orator, but when you want to hear the real gospel of Christ preached, Charles H. Spurgeon is the man. He preaches to five or six thousand every Sunday. There are two galleries in his church, one like this, only it runs all around, and one above it. His church is so con- structed that everybody in it can see the preacher. Some years ago there was a boy in London named Charrington, a hard case. He had a chum who was about his own age, and who became converted. This chum went after two or three fellows, and tried to get others to come to Christ. They went to work in a little stable loft. He went one day after Charrington. He said, " I have no time ;" but he afterwards thought : that fellow seems to be happy in the life he is living, and I am not happy in my own life ; I will see what he is do- ing. He went to the stable and heard him talk about Christ. Charrington was converted and joined his chum in the same kind of work. One day the man that owned the stable said to the young men : " You all cannot come up in my stable loft any more. You keep so much noise my horse cannot sleep." They got a room and carried on their work. Charrington was sent for by his old father, who was a wealthy brewer. Said the old man : " You are interfering with my business. Re- ligious meetings and beer-brewing- don't go together. You will have to quit." Young Charrington replied : 220 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. •■ Father, T cannot quit ; I feel that God has called me to try and rescue my fellow-creatures. I feel that h<> has called me to this work." Said the father: "You will fall heir to my fortune, if you quit that work ; but if you do not conform to ray wishes, that ends the mat- ter between in, and I disinherit you." The young man said he was sorry to hear his father talk that way and went back to his work. They had a terrible part of London to work in. By and by, Charrington's father sent for him again, and said : " I am going to die ; I am sorry for what I did ; I leave you a rich legacy ; do with it as yon will." He put up a building straightway, and now they have a house that can seat 5500 people. The congregation, every one of them, belong to the very low- est classes. To stand and look into the faces of that throng is enough to move a heart of stone. It was my privilege to preach to them. I wanted to go through the slums of London, so I asked Mr. Charrington about it. He said : " If ypu go once, you will not want to go any more, but it is worth seeing. We will get a detec- tive to go with you. Your life will be endangered." I asked two or three of my friends to go with me. We employed a detective, and at twelve o'clock on Monday night we met at Charrington's great Assembly Hall and started out. We were instructed by the detective to pull down our hats over our and say nothing. Said he, "If they find out you are preachers, I would not give much for your chances. If they see you with me they will think you LECTURES. 221 are detectives. You wll not see anybody but criminals. Be cautious." It is beyond my power to describe what we saw that night. Women, the most abandoned wretches of all the earth ; men with bruised faces and ragged clothes ; children, destitute and depraved. The detective said of some places as we passed through, " This is where I am afraid to go alone myself." One of our party said : " I wan't to see all that's to be seen, but if there's danger I don't want to go into it." The de- tective answered : " The criminal classes are cowards, and if one attacks yon, crowd him and he will run." "Yes," my friend said, " but I don't wan't to crowd them; I have a wife and two children at home." I think all of us felt pretty much the same way. One of the first places we came to was a public house. It was between twelve and one o'clock. The people poured out, human nature in ruins. I think it was some kind of an entertainment. Women and children mixed up with the men. When they caught sight of the detective they fled away from us. Some looked as though they were out Jtrying to find a lodging. Some- times they looked at us as if they were saying, " I wonder which one of us it is they are after?" We went into what's called a pot-house. Here we saw men wallowing on the floor in their drunkenness and they looked up at us like wild animals. Each one thought we had come to arrest him. We saw a group of men talking. The detective stopped and took a look into their faces. They commenced getting away, every man 222 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. in a different direction* How true it is, " The guilty flee when no man pursueth." As we were going along we passed a little boy who was asleep; the faint light, dimmed by the thick fog, fell upon his pale, upturned face. No hat on, his hair uncombed. As we stood there looking upon that face, I thought : " Poor little fellow ! he has a history. Perhaps his mother is a drunk- ard. Perhaps his father is in prison. It may be the spirit of a good woman, gone away from the world, is hovering over him. Is this a flower blooming in a desert? Is he dreaming of a future that will bless the earth? Just then our detective touched him and he opened his eyes, and was gone in an instant. There is a hospital in this wretched district. Once a little fellow had been carried there and laid on a bed. His limbs were crushed. They laid him on a bunk. The doctor examined him and said : " Nothing can be done for him now; make him as comfortable as you can; he will soon be gone." Another little boy heard it. He went to the bed-side and said: "What is your name'.'" " My name is Bobby." "Did yoti hear what the doctor -aid, Bobby? The doctor said you are going to die, Bobby. I go to the Mission School and the teacher told me that Jesus loves little boys, that if we would put our trust in Him He would save us. lie will come along alter you to- night. M The dying child replied: "lie don't love poor boys like me. My father is a drunkard and mother has to work for US all, and we are so poor there don't anybody care for us." " Yes, but LECTURES. 223 teacher said he loves poor little boys just as well as others. Yon talk to him, Bobby. He can hear you. He is always uear." The little fellow was dying. " I am so sleepy and tired I don't know what to do." " Well, Bobby/' said the other little fellow, " if you don't feel like calling just raise your hand, and He will see it and stop and save you." But the poor child was too weak to raise his hand. Then the little comforter said : " I know what I will do, I will get my pillow." He went to his cot and got his own little pillow. " You just put your hand on this pillow, and when Jesus comes along He will see your hand on the pillow, and He will know it was raised for Him and He will take you home with Him. Good-night, Bobby ; don't be afraid." The nurse heard it all and sat and wiped the tears from her eyes in silence. Then bending over the dying boy, she kissed him. He waked up and said, " Please kiss me again ; it is like my mother." He soon fell asleep and his spirit passed away. Don't you think Jesus came there and took him where there isn't any poverty and pain. As we went aloug the detective said : " I will tell you the cause of all these troubles. These bar-rooms. There's never any hope for these people as long as these bar-rooms are kept open." We see bar-rooms and their consequences only in a slight degree here in America, compared with what they are in London. O that there might be no more bar-rooms on the earth. When will the day of deliverance come ! 2lM PULPIT, PEW A.ND PLATFORM. We went to Fiance by way of New Haven and Dieppe, pausing awhile at Brighton, the famous sea-side r< Bort. Approaching Paris we could see the Eiffel Tower. It is one thousand feet high and looks something like a wind-mill tower. 1 went up to the top of it. Jt took four elevators to get me there, one at a time. Professor Eiffel lives right in the top. lie dues that because, when he was building it, somebody said it was a danger- ous structure and would fall. So he lives there on it and in it to prove that he did not build a thing he was afraid of. My friends, what an illustration here for us ! We talk about the religion of Jesus Christ as all- sufficient for life and death. Let us live on it and in it, and show to the world that our religion is what we profess it to be. Just above Prof. Eiffel's house, which is right on the top of the tower, a little sparrow has built its nest, as if God were saying to man : " You may build as high as you please, but my little birds shall build above you." I used to sit up on the scat beside the French driver and talk French to him. He did not understand me, but I talked on all the same. I saw two balloons up in the air; they seemed to be permanent. I wanted to ask him in French the meaning of it. So I said : " Monseeur — ah oo-aa, — what's that yonder?" lie said : " Balloon eapitief." Well, well, I couldn't understand t/mf — " Balloon eapitief." I found out that "the large balloons were tied by means of a rope to a stake iu the ground, so that they could not get any » LECTURES. 225 higher, and there they were held captive in the skies. Have you not sometimes wondered why a certain Christian does not get higher up on the heavenly way? They seem to ascend and stop. What is the trouble ? They are captives. There is some sin holding them down to the earth. They want to rise, but they are held down by this chain which Satan has forged and fastened on them. There are two amusements in Paris which we must not overlook : Dancing and music, right in the streets. When the ball commences, the policemen check the procession at once. They say : "We are having a dance now; go some other way." They just turn the moving mass right out of the streets and send you round the square. Paris is a city of pleasure. As to serving God, they don't know anything about that. The religion of Jesus Christ is hardly known. From Paris we went to Geneva. Geneva is a beautiful city. We saw the musical box establishments, the watch factories, the beautiful Lake of Geneva, Mt. Blanc aud many other things around Geneva. And here we held a council as to whether we would go to Rome. People say, "Don't go to Rome in summer, because every body dies of the Rome fever." Just as we say in America, "Don't go to tide-water in August; if you do, you are sure to have a chill." I once heard a good definition of a Northern man with Southern feelings. Can you describe him? Think a minute. Give it up? A Yankee with a chill on him. We held a consultation about catching the Rome fever. Four or 15 226 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. five said, let us go to Rome. Five resolved to go and run the risk of the fever. We left Geneva at daylight. At Turin we took supper. I wonder if we don't get tureen from there. I heard of something that happened near Turin. In one of Napoleon's encounters the Austrians had planted twenty or thirty cannon on the bridge. A rain came up so that the Po was swollen and Napoleon could not join his general. The general could not see his way through, so he said to his little drummer : " Beat a retreat ! " The little fellow replied : " I cannot. I don't know how. They never taught me to beat a retreat. I can beat a charge. If you will let me beat a charge, I will beat such a charge that these dead men will rise and fall into line." At this point Napoleon came galloping up. He said : "A charge! A CHARGE it shall be." Such a charge it Mas, and Napoleon ayou the victory over the Austrians too. Christians!!! Let there be no retreats. Go forward and onward ! We follow a Commander who uever lost a fight. "From victory unto victory his army he shall lead, Till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed." The next place we went to was Genoa, the home of Columbus. I felt like taking my hat off when I re- membered what Columbus encountered when he had nothing to cross the ocean in but a little sail-boat with a handful of mutinous men. If I could find his widow, I should be in favor of taking up a collection for her. LECTURES. 227 We went to the proprietor of a hotel in Genoa and asked what is the most interesting sight in Genoa? He replied: "The cemetery." I thought: "Name of sense, is there nothing here more interesting than a cemetery?" Well, it's worth seeing. There's nothing on earth like it. Just imagine this house with the walls knocked out, with everything here turned to marble. A square of ten acres of buried people. Living mem- bers of the family standing around, all in marble. The exact image of the dead member in marble. There was a preacher in his pulpit, marble. We speak of marble talking. It talks there. No need of any description or engraved words. There was a little sail-boat of marble ; a young man standing with his foot on the edge furling a sail, all in marble. As he stood there you could read it in his face : — " Drop the anchor, furl the sail, I am safe within the vail." W T e left Genoa and went to Pisa. Pisa is an Italian city. There are three things to see there : the old Cathedral, the Leaning Tower and the Baptistery. The tower is 180 feet high. You cannot see the shaft of it when you are on top of it, and you feel like falling all the time you're on it. We next went to the Cathedral. " There it is," said our guide. We looked at the old chandelier, which a few centuries ago a man named Galileo had looked at. He saw it move. " I have it," said he — the pendulum. And now ten thousand times ten thou- 228 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATPORM. sand pendulums hum his praises the world over. Then we went to the Baptistery. I asked the guide how they baptized there: did they sprinkle, or pour, or bury them under the water? "Oh," said he, " they wet them all over." I mention this for the benefit of our Presbyterian, Episcopalian and Methodist friends present. From Pisa we went to Rome and from Rome to Naples. There's no telling how long my lecture is going to be to-night; I've just got in a fair way. It any of you waut to go home, go, but don't ask for your money at the door. I've been about this thing an hour now and I have hardly well begun. We went through Rome and on to Naples. I have heard it said, " See Naples and die." See Naples, and if you don't get away pretty soon, you will die. It is estimated that it has from 700,000 to 1,200,000 inhabit- ants. Almost all over the city you will find goats, dogs, people, donkeys and boys, filth, rags, wretchedness ; men, women and children barefooted and bareheaded. And of all the odoriferous places ! Some of our party would say: w My ! what is that? That's one I never smelt before." Another: u Whew— ew ! it is awful !" The morning after I got there, they brought up six goats and milked them right before the hotel door. I did not have any appetite that morning. We determined to get away and see Vesuvius. Great volumes of smoke were rolling upward every now and then from the summit that reached far up towards the sky. We said we must go on the mountain. We hired a carriage, drove along ten LECTURES. 229 miles to the base of Vesuvius, the first depot of the Vesuvius Railroad. There's a car pulled up a mountain by an engine and cable. You can look down upon Naples, the Bay of Naples and just beyond the setting sun. Yes, Naples was beautiful then, in the distance. While we were ascending, I thought, suppose this rope would break, where would we be then ? That reminds me of the famous bear story. Two darkies found some bear cubs in a hollow tree. One said to the other : " Sam, if you go after dem bars, I'll stan' here and take urn down when you gin urn to me, and I kin watch for de ole bar." After a little further dialogue Jim went through the hole and was just getting at the cubs when here came the old mother. Sam dodged behind the tree, and as she went up caught her by the tail, just as she got her head in the hole. Jim called out from the inside : ''Sam! Sam ! ! what dat darkenin' the hole?" Sam, holding on with all his might, squawled out: "If dis here tail break you'll see what's darkenin' de hole.'' But the tail didn't break and neither did the cable, and we got up to the first station. We left the car and walked on in the dust, mounting up to the crater, Vesuvius trembling under our feet. I wished we could go back. Never have I felt a sense of danger more than I did that afternoon, never such immediate danger as at that time. The strange rumbling noise could be heard twenty miles away. We were told that three or four hundred wagon-loads of lava had been thrown out and carried off only a short time before. One of our party 230 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. said : u And what's to hinder it from coming out now." "You have got to run that risk," said the guide. At that time the smoke was shooting up just as high as we could see. Wc looked down into the lake of fire and brimstone. The hot dust and ashes, cinder and fire were constantly rising out of the horrible mouth with terrific sound and falling almost at our feet. If the wind had been blowing towards us we would have been consumed. I was behind the wind. For a shilling a man caught a piece of lava for me, dipped a penny into it before it cooled. I have it now. You don't want to see that spot but once. It is awful beyond de- scription. There is no language for Vesuvius. From there we went back to Rome, the empire of history. Every house, every street, every old wharf, the very air seemed full of history. Somebody will show you the spot where Julius Caesar received his death-wound ; the arena where 87,000 people could sit and witness the fight with the wild beasts, as Christians were torn to pieces — martyrs to their faith. One old man of eighty was called up before the court. "■ You must give up your faith," they said, " or you must die." "I can die," said the old saint, " but I cannot give up my faith." They sent him to the Colosseum, and as he stood there and saw the hungry wild beasts, he said, " Let them come on." In a moment's time they had torn him to pieces, and his noble soul was with his God. We stood there and looked where the vestal virgin sat, and just by turning her thumb it meant for the gladiators to begin LECTURES. 231 their fight for life or death. She raised her thumb up for the fight to continue. When she turned it down it meant they must cease. The gladiator was released. He had fought enough. There's many a woman who has within her the same power the vestal virgin had, — some wife, some mother, who, under God, may direct her husband, her son to the feet of Jesus and life, or the other way and death. There are over 350 Catholic churches iu Rome. Be it far from me to speak lightly of anything that is religious. But some very ridiculous things are brought to your notice. One piece of marble has the tracks or footprints of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ was coming to Rome, he met Peter running away, and as he stood and talked his feet sank in the marble slab on which he stood and made these tracks. What a lie! They have five legs of the colt on which Jesus rode into Jerusalem, it is said. A bottle of his own blood is also exhibited. They say when everything goes in accordance with the Pope's wishes, the blood liquefies; but if not it becomes solid. Napoleon was there once. The Pope did not approve his coming, so he let the Emperor know that the blood of Jesus had solidified. Napoleon sent word to the Pope : " If that blood doesn't liquefy in ten minutes, he would turn his cannon on the whole place." It liquefied in a few minutes. I saw two prison- houses. The prison-house of the Pope. You kuow he claims to be a prisoner. I saw his Vatican. Where he lives everything is beautiful. I saw his carriage. It 2o2 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. cosf $36,0C0. All laid with gold— gold on the harness as well as the carriage. One hundred and fifty soldiers stand guard over the Pope. The old 1*01)0 is so rich he's afraid somebody will rob him. The government allows him to have the guard and he pays the soldiers out of his own salary, which he can well afford to do, as he gets millions of dollars one way and another. The other prison I saw was Paul's. As we walked up in the dark, musty, damp old dungeon, and I stood within those thick walls, I said to the guide: " Is this where they had the apostle Paul ? " " No, a worse place than this." He took us right down into a room below, not a ray of light, not a breath of fresh air, down in the lowest vault, with no opening except the little hole through which we had come. There was the stoue he was chained to. Of all memories that come up from the past in Rome I would rather have this. I am glad I saw the place where Paul was confined — the prison, for Jesus Christ. Koine is a delightful city. One of the best hotels we found in Europe was the Continental. From Rome we went to Florence. Then on to Venice, the city where there is not a carriage nor a wagon, not a horse, not a wheel. They go in boats. A city in the sea. Up one street and down another. We got there at twelve o'clock at night. The guide nut us and said, " get in here." A gondola or beautiful boat. Between twelve and one o'clock at night we went quietly along and heard nothing but the ripple of the oars and the occasional LECTURES. 233 cry of the boat-mau. They have a certain call when one boat meets another and when they turn a corner of the street. Traveling in that style at night, the effect is strange but delightful. There was a man who went to Venice and got there in the night, as we did. They took him in a gondola to a hotel. As soon as he was out of the boat he ran up to the hotel clerk and asked : " What time does the train leave Venice in the morning?" " What ! " said the proprietor, " you are not going to leave us so soon '? " " Yes ; wake me up prompt. Never mind though, you needn't give me a room. No sleep here for me to-night." Next morning he went to Milan, where he had left some friends. They wanted to know why he was back so soon. " Back so soon ! I am thankful to get here at all ; there is the biggest freshet going on in Venice you ever heard of in your life; the people are traveling in boats and the water was up to the hotel steps when I left. I expect the whole town is washed away by this time." Yet I tell you, gentlemen, you just get in Venice one pretty moonlight night in a little gondola and somebody with you, and stroll quietly along to the music of the oar, and if you don't have a good time you don't know how. I should like to put upon canvas the lakes of Italy. There is sweet restful ness even in the thought of Maggiore. There you may rest hand and head, body and soul ; you can- not be restless there. We bought tickets to Lucerne. We were among the Germans. I wanted my baggage attended to, so I called out, " Monsieur ! baggage, mein 23 l PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. herr?" He said to me: " Mr., can you speak English ? I said, " Yes." " Talk that then," he replied, " and I'll understand yon." We stayed at Lucerne awhile and then went to Baden-Baden, one of the chief watering- places of Germany, and then went to Strasburg. You know that the French people held it once, but the Germans got it back again. At Strasburg a great clock is the one attraction there. It is about as big as the end of a house and gives you the movements of all the planets aud the whole solar system. It gives you the time of the month, week and day. At twelve o'clock two little angels stand up and tap silver bells. Old Father Time comes out and strikes twelve strokes with a hammer. Right above, as this man strikes the hour of twelve, the 'apostles step out and walk around an image of Jesus and bow. Peter comes out, but does not bow, and just at that time a rooster crows. I thought when I heard that rooster crow, no wonder the preachers have been trying to destroy all the chickens from that day to this. From Strasburg we went to Cologne and from there to Brussels, and then to Waterloo. There we saw a tremendous monument with a large lion on it, looking over towards France. Its angry look seemed to say, " If you all want any more, come on." They tore that lion limb from limb once, but the Belgians put it up again. It was pleasant to see the place where Marshal Ney swept over the plain. Napoleon forced a guide into his service. As he sat on his horse looking over the field he asked the guide if there was any ob- LECTURES. , 235 struction. He wanted Marshal Ney to charge. The guide shook his head. That shake of the head turned down the pages of Napoleon's history, aud changed the map of the old country. As Marshall Ney went thundering towards the enemy, suddenly they came to a deep cut. It was a road, a chasm wide and deep and awful ; every horse stood upon his hind feet. The front ranks plunged in until they filled it up, then the others passed over the bodies of the horses and their riders. It was the death-blow to Napoleon. Well, there was some pleasure, mingled with sadness, in passing over Waterloo. They show you where Napoleon sat, where the Duke of Wellington sat. We went from Brussels to Antwerp. Sir Joshua Reynolds said when he first went to Rome, " He did not like the pictures." The second trip he liked them better and the third trip he was fascinated. I am like Sir Joshua on the first trip. I saw one thing that struck me as a piece of folly, — a pulpit that a man spent his whole life, forty-five years, in making. I looked at it and thought what a pity he did not spend one week in making the pulpit and the rest of his life, forty-four years and fifty one weeks, in preaching the gospel from it. It is like that German idiot who said he would like to spend his life on the dative case. This man utterly threw his life away. Let us try and do something that will be useful and that will be sustaining and supporting. From Antwerp we went to London. We went through Scotland. I always wanted to go to Scotland, but there's one objection to Scotland. As far 236 PULPIT, PEW AXD PLATFORM. as I could see, it was always raining. A friend of mine said to a passer-by: " Look here, boy, does it always rain here?" "Yes," said he, "except when it snows." We traveled all through Scotland. Edinburgh is the loveliest of places. London is the heart of Britain, but Edinbunr is the head. There's the old church of St. Giles, where John Knox preached his celebrated sermon which roused the ire of the beautiful Queen Mary. It was when she was engaged to Darnley, a Roman Catholic, whom she soon afterwards married. " My friends," he said, " if you consent to the marriage of our Sovereign lady with an infidel, for every papist is an infidel, you do all in your power to drive Jesus Christ from this Realm." These words went like red-hot thunderbolts to the heart of Mary. The next day she sent for John Knox. I stand on the spot where he stood as he confronted the Queen. She said to him: "How long will you treat me so ? I have tried to reconcile you. I have done all I could do to win your favor and confidence, and yet you persist in your cruel conduct. It must cease." She burst into tears. Knox stood there like a statue. " Madame," he replied, " I will do all in my power as your loyal subject to comfort and help you in the right, but when you cross the path of my duty to God, I must obey God." And he went out. This is the substance, if not the very words, of their conversation. But the willful woman married the Catholic, and his own blood marked the folly of her course. LECTURES. 237 One afternoon I walked up on Arthur's Seat, a high hill 822 feet above Ediuboro', and had a fine view of the surrounding country. A lovelier land I have never seen. Edinboro', was at our feet, a city of wide streets and parks and residences; Midlothian country stretched away on the left, while far to the right was the Frith of Forth and the highlands beyond, and farther still the mountains, the purple mountains of highland heather, with the sheep and the deer lazily cropping the herbage. We were the guests of our Baltimore friend, Henry Tay- lor, Esquire, who delights in spending his time occasion- ally on his " native heath." With his good wife he suc- ceeded in making our visit a great blessing to us all. It was in Edinburgh that the famous conversation on oatmeal occurred. Dr. Johnson, the distinguished but uncouth Englishman, was there on a visit. He was asked to have oatmeal, of which Scotland beats the world. "Oats," said the doctor ; "do, what do I want with it ? We feed our horses with our oats, and you feed your men with it here?" "Yes," retorted the Scotch- man, "and you have fine horses in England and we have fine men in Scotland." I heard a better one than that on the old Englishman, which was told me by an Edinburgh lawyer. They have a dish they call "haggis," a sort of hash. One day at table the rough old gentleman tried some for the first time. The land- lady said, "Doctor, how do you like the 'haggis?"' " It will do very well for dogs," he replied. " Will you have some more, doctor?" she quickly added. 238 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. One day we were going along High Street, when our attention was called to the marble bust of a boy over a door, with this inscription : " Heave away, chaps, I'm no dead yet." They told me that a short time before, a tenement house had fallen in and caught sixty persons in its ruins. They worked hard getting out the dead bodies. Ou the second day the workmen heard a faint voice down under their feet. They listened. "Heave away, chaps, I'm no dead yet," came in feeble accents. With redoubled energy they toiled away, and soon brought forth the little fellow, nearer dead than alive to all appearances, but lie was saved. Down beneath the ruins of sin and wretchedness to day may be heard the cry of perishing souls. Let us work on, dear friends, and God will reward our efforts and save them from everlasting death. Oh ! in that brighter world no thought will so thrill us, no sight so bless us, as the re- membrance of our work for Jesus and the redeemed ones who shall greet us there. " They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever." "Rescue the perishing, Duty demands it, Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide. Back to the narrow way, Patiently lead them, Tell the poor wanderer a Saviour has died.' One thing more about this large Scotch city, and then we will pass on. Though they have more than two hun- dred and fifty thousand people, the street-cars do not LECTURES. 239 run on Sunday. It is the Lord's day. People go to church, and the sweetness and charm of a country village possess your soul as you saunter along with the multi- tude to the house of the Lord. I want to make one plea for our Sabbath. England and Scotland observe it better than we do, but we are far ahead of France and Germany. With them it is a day of frolic and folly. God save the Sabbath. People of America, let us stand by this sacred bulwark of our religion. It is one of the safeguards of our homes, one of the pillars of our church. The incoming tide of immigration is fast un- dermining this blessed wall; we must go out to meet it, and build a break-water that will defy the very tidal- waves of hell. Our Sabbath must be preserved, even if we have to say to the Atlantic as we have said to the Pacific, "Take your floating population to some other port." From Edinboro' we passed through the Trosachs to Glasgow. This is a name given to a very pretty moun- tain and lake region, which you may visit by diverging a little from the regular road to Glasgow. At a rail- way station we took a stage, twelve of us, all on top, and away we went over hill and dale. In a few hours we reached the Trosachs Inn, a most inviting place, where we tarried for the night, and sat and read by the blazing fires in the middle of August. Next morning we had an early breakfast, and in a few minutes passed over the hills and through primeval forests, suddenly emerging on beautiful little Loch Katrine, which Scott so immor- 240 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFOEM. talized in " The Lady of the Lake/' and around whose shores Rob Roy sported long ago. A handsome steamer, like- a pretty toy, bore as over the bosom of this placid lake. They showed us all the historic places, even the very spot where the hunter stood when for the first time his eyv< rested on the sweet lady who won his heart. " And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace, A nymph, a naiad or a grace, Of finer form or fairer face. What though the sun, with ardent frown, Had slightly tinged her cheek with brown, Her sportive toil, both short and light, Which dyed her glowing line, to bright, Served, too, with hasty swell to show Brief glimpses of a breast of snow. "What though no rule of courtly grace With measured mood had trained her face. A foot more light, a step more tin.', Ne'er from the heath-llower dashed the dew. E'en the slight harebell raised its head, Elastic from her airy tread. "What though upon her speech there hung The accents of the mountain tongue, Those silver tones, both soft and clear, The listener held his breath to hear." Thev pointed out the place, too, where the hunter lost his splendid steed as he pursued the deer, and had to give up the chase. But if he lost one deer he found another, and it turned out all right in the end. It is often that way in life; we don't get what we go for, but get something better. I heard a good story about a deer hunt while ou this tour: LECTURES. 241 A man who had more dollars than sense went out for some sport, as he said. He hired an old highlandcr to go with him and start the deer. So the old man put the tourist at the place where the deer would likely come along, and went off with his dog to get him. The young American had never seen a deer, much less killed one, but he knew it all, and stood ready with his gun to slay the victim. By and by, he heard something like a \vao;on and team coming down the mountain. You know a deer makes an awful noise running. Once an Irishman was put on a stand, and soon the deer came leaping, plunging, careering over brush and bush, and passed on. "Pat, why didn't you shoot?" cried the hunters. " And what's the use of wasting the ammuni- tion," said Pat; "if you let him alone he will kill him- self." Well the old highland hunter jumped a splendid buck, and he came tearing down the mountain, his head up, great spreading horns, and his little white tail like a Aug of truce only asking the right way. It scared the fallow so badly that he jumped behind a tree and let the deer pass on. Soon the old hunter came, and said, "Why didn't you kill him, mon ?" "Kill what?" " The deer." " What deer V* " Didn't the deer come by here?" "I haven't seen any deer. I saw the devil pass here just now. He had a rocking-chair on his head turned upside-down and a white cotton handkerchief in his coat-tail pocket, and he was running like a blue streak. If that's what you call a deer, take me home." No more deer-hunting for him. 16 242 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. - Our boat is about to sail, and we must hurry on to Liverpool, and on the 17th of August, I think, we moved out and headed for dear old America. No special incident marked our voyage. We struck sev- eral days of rougli weather, which laid us low, but we were soon on our feet again. The magnificent " Umbria" was our home on the deep, and we made the trip in six and one-half days. As we caught a glimpse of the first light on this shore we were at worship. A company had collected in the steru of the boat, and with singing and prayer were enjoying the hour with God, when sud- denly the light burst upon our view. I was talking at the time and called their attention to this the first evidence that we were nearing home, and I could but express the hope that as the grand old ship which is bearing us all to our eternal home, shall near the shore, we may all be found as happy as we were that hour to be so near the end of our glorious voyage. Soon the pilot came aboard and brought us all safe to shore. So may it be at last. "When ;it last I near the shore, Ami the fearful breakt rs roar, 'Twixt me and the peaceful rest, Then, while leaning on thy breast, May I hear thee say to me, * Fear not, I will pilot thee.' " UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. AN 5 1951/ TEB 8 19S/J "TNT" • r-.tr ■ ' FOUR WEEKS FROM DAT ! NON-RENEWABLE !/?L^ 15 OP RECtm Form L9-42m-8,'49(B5573)444 BX Wharton - 6333 Pu l p it , p e w and W55p platform. .-»imr\rD\/ UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 780 294 5 BX 6333 W55p