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
 
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 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 <i cloud of witnesses. This 
 is susceptible of two interpretations. It may mean a 
 cloud of witnesses for the truth. People have stood up 
 and testified for the truth, not only by their lips, hut 
 by their lives. It seems to me that this is probably the 
 idea that the Apostle Paul had in his mind, for if you
 
 SERMONS. 105 
 
 will read the eleventh chapter immediately preceding, yon 
 -will find what isgenerally termed the work of faith. He 
 is referring evidently to this when he says we arc com- 
 passed about by so great a cloud of witnesses. Men 
 and women who love the truth live the truth and 
 die for the truth. You and I are blest with just such 
 witnesses. I reckon I have said it a thousand times, and 
 I say it here again to day, that if there were no other 
 witnesses on this earth to the truth of the Gospel, if 
 I knew every other man and woman who professes the 
 name of Jesus to be a hypocrite, yet the life and the death 
 of my sainted mother would to my mind be all the 
 evidence that I would ask to prove to me that Chris- 
 tianity is true and a blessing to every one who em- 
 braces it. Say what you will of the inconsistencies of 
 Christians, God has given to you and to me too a suili- 
 cient number of those whom we know to be sincere and 
 true and who by their walk and conversation have 
 proved to us the glory of their religion. But let us 
 take the other interpretation, and say that it means 
 witnesses of our life in the same sense that people sat 
 around in the pavilions and witnessed the running of the 
 races — a witness of that kind. Just as you would say, 
 "Two men were fighting on the street and I witnessed 
 it." Now, in this view, there are many witnesses, and 
 whether this be the proper interpretation of the text or 
 not, it is a mighty reason for running this race with all 
 earnestness and zeal. There are witnesses in your own 
 home ; mother, father, wife, husband, child, brother,
 
 106 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. 
 
 p, all who are under our own roof, are witnesses of the 
 
 kind of life we Live ; an 1 I bell yon if yon want to find 
 out what sort of a Christian a man or woman is, you 
 ask th ■ home folks. At home a man is generally what 
 he really is. Now these witnesses at home will be 
 helped or hurt just in accordance as we run faithfully 
 the race that is set before us. There are witnesses in 
 the church. Our brethren here will be looking on to 
 sec how we run, not with the hope that we shall fail, 
 but with the deepest desire that we shall be successful. 
 And. our church will prosper in accordance with our 
 faithfulness in this direction. There are witnesses in the 
 world, thousands of them. Tiny say that the world 
 docs not care whether a man is a Christian or not. It 
 h a mistake. The world is at enmity with Jesus < 'hrist 
 and his can-", and when a Christian man falls the 
 world i> 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<s 
 of his Sustaining (''race. I think one of the greatest 
 temptations ever brought against us was when the devil 
 tried to persuade us that we could not hold out faithful 
 to the end. When you or I were first thinking of serving 
 the Lord this was our greatest temptation, " You will
 
 SERMONS. 169 
 
 not hold out." And we thought so, too. Well, here 
 we are to-day, thank God, and we can sing : 
 
 " Here I'll raise mine Ebenezer, 
 Hither, by thy help, I'm come ; 
 And I hope by thy good pleasure, 
 Safely to arrive at home." 
 
 Oh ! the unsearchable riches of his sustaining grace. 
 We will have our trials, afflictions, disappointments and 
 discouragements. We have blundered and fallen ; bitter 
 tears of anguish have scalded our cheeks and our hearts 
 have been made to ache and bleed from great failures, 
 but hitherto hath the Lord helped us — his grace has 
 been sufficient for us. 
 
 "Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound!) 
 That saved a wretch like me ! 
 I once was lost, but now am found, 
 Was blind, but now I see. 
 
 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, 
 
 And grace my fears relieved ; 
 How precious did that grace appear, 
 
 The hour I first believed ! 
 
 Through many a danger, toil and snare, 
 
 I have already come ; 
 'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, 
 
 And grace will lead me home." 
 
 And now let me ask you solemnly and earnestly: Are 
 these unsearchable riches yours? When Patrick Henry 
 wrote his will he concluded it by saying: " I have now 
 bequeathed my earthly possessions to my family. There
 
 170 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. 
 
 is one thinsr more I should like to leave them ; without it 
 they arc poor, no matter what else they mighl poss 
 with it they would lie rich, though they should have 
 nothing else. It is the religion of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." May the Lord give to you and to me an ever- 
 abiding assurance that Jesus ( Ihrist is our Saviour, and 
 then whatever may come or may not eomc, heaven, with 
 all its joys, shall he ours at last, and though we may pass 
 through this world in pain or be compelled to suffer 
 privations, we shall win the victory and enter upon the 
 inheritance of the saints above.
 
 IV. 
 
 LECTURES. 
 
 THE UPS AND DOWNS OF LIFE. 
 
 This lecture is inserted by way of rest and amusement for the reader 
 with the hope that it may be helpful as well. H. M. W. 
 
 IF I were called upon to write the history of each one 
 here, in three short simple words, I. should use the 
 words that I have chosen as the subject of this lecture — 
 " Ups and Downs." It is the history of the world, and 
 of every man and woman in it. 
 
 The world itself is continually having its ups and 
 downs. The sun has his ups and downs — the sea has 
 its ups and downs, its storms and its calms — its high 
 tides and low tides. Nations have their ups and downs, 
 their days of prosperity and adversity ; and, what is 
 true of all these, is true of you and me. AVe do not 
 travel a level road through life : sometimes we are pass- 
 ing through the vales; sometimes over the hills; 
 sometimes we are in the depths; and then, again, We 
 are on the heights. The phrase is short, but unique 
 and expressive ; it tells of our joys and our sorrows — 
 our trials and our triumphs. 
 
 Two young men, who were college mates, and had 
 
 171
 
 172 PULPIT, PEW AND PLATFORM. 
 
 not met for twenty years, wen; surprised one day in 
 coming suddenly upon each other. One said to the 
 oilier, — Hallo, -Jim ! how are you?" "How have you 
 been all these long years !" " Well," said he, " I have 
 had a great many ups and downs since I saw you last. 
 Sit down, old fellow, and tell me some of thorn. Well ; 
 married since we met." "Ah, indeed! that's good ! " 
 " I don't know whether it's good or not ; I reckon I mar- 
 ried the ' meanest woman in the world ! ' ' " Well, that's 
 bad ! " "I don't know whether it is or not, — she had 
 lots of money." " That's good ! " "I don't know ! " "I 
 spent the money in sheep, and they all died." " That's 
 had!" "I don't know, I sold the wool for more money 
 than I gave for the sheep." "That's good!" "I 
 don't know, I spent the money building a house and it 
 burned down!" "That's bad!" "I don't know, my 
 wife was burned up in the house!" You see he had 
 his ups and downs. 
 
 And so do all of us. 
 
 In preparing this lecture, I undertook to classify 
 these ups and downs, and thought, as preachers gener- 
 ally do, that I would put what I had to say under 
 dill' rent heads, — Firstly, secondly, etc., but I found it 
 a very difficult thing to do. However, I threw them 
 into some sort of confusion after the following derange- 
 ment. 
 
 There are 
 
 s.x-l \l, DTPS A\I> 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.' "

 
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