SPARE MINUTE SERIES *
 
 
 
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 UCSB LIBRARY 
 
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 SPARE MINUTE SERIES. 
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT 
 
 FROM THE WRITINGS OF THEODORE L. CUTLER, D.D. 
 
 SELECTED BY 
 
 MARY STORRS HAYNES 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 REV. NEWMAN HALL, LL. B. 
 
 of Christ Church, Surrey, London 
 
 BOSTON 
 D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY 
 
 32 FRANKLIN STREET
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1884. 
 D. LOTHROP & COMPANY.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 PREFACE-WRITING is an art in which I have had no experi- 
 ence ; and there is an especial difficulty when the ardors of 
 personal friendship render almost impossible that judicial 
 style that should mark an Introduction to the reader. In this 
 case the author is less vividly before me than the intimate 
 friend who welcomed me to his home and pulpit, on my first 
 vrsit to America with whom I have rambled among the 
 ruins of Rome, and the historic scenes of rural England 
 beside whom I have sat at many religious and reformatory 
 meetings, and sometimes with those who vindicated the 
 cause of American unity and freedom in the dark days of the 
 civil conflict. 
 
 No clergyman from the United States has been more 
 cordially received in the pulpits of London or on the platform 
 of Exeter Hall ; and none has reached a wider circle of read- 
 ers in Great Britain during the last five and twenty years. 
 His face greets me every morning in my study, with its 
 honest, eager look, and his letters, so vivid and picturesque, 
 have bridged the Atlantic for me almost every week. 
 
 Familiar as Doctor Cuyler may be to his own countrymen 
 
 as a preacher of the gospel, or the active laborer in moral 
 
 reform, it is chiefly from the productions of his busy pen that 
 
 he is known on this side of the sea. These have travelled 
 
 3
 
 4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 wherever our mother-tongue is spoken, and have been trans- 
 lated into several foreign languages. A single journal in 
 London has re-issued many millions of copies of his racy and 
 forcible articles. When I open a copy of the New York 
 Independent or Evangelist, I always look first to find some 
 article which bears the image and superscription of my 
 friend. He is a master of strong Saxon English ; his sen- 
 tences require no second reading to be understood ; he pro- 
 duces a graphic picture by a few touches; old truths are 
 made fresh and attractive by a new dress. The religion 
 taught by prophets and apostles is adapted to our times 
 and presented as the religion for all conditions and classes 
 for the drawing-room, the nursery arid the kitchen, for the 
 college and the workshop, for the Senate chamber and the 
 store, as well as for churches and prayer-meetings. He 
 makes his reader feel that gospel truth is not a mere theory, 
 but a practical reality for the use of every day life. 
 
 My witty but devout predecessor, Rev. Roland Hill, said 
 that he liked jaculatory prayer because " it flew up to Heaven 
 before the Devil could get a shot at it." In like manner, 
 Doctor Cuyler's papers are so brief and pithy, so pungent and 
 forceful that their lessons reach the conscience before the eye 
 is weary or is drawn off by less weighty or important matter. 
 His articles in publication, avowedly semi-secular, are a set 
 off to many which appear in professedly religious journals, 
 and yet are scarcely profitable for Sabbath reading. Every 
 production from his pen is brimful of pure gospel ; and 
 rarely are they lacking in words of help to the weak and the 
 weary, and in good cheer to the troubled and the suffering. 
 
 He has been himself in the college of sorrow, and has been
 
 INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 trained there to become eminently a minister of consolation. 
 The death of a beloved boy, of nearly five years of age, called 
 forth his well-known Empty Crib, which Dean Stanley said he 
 had read with tears, to his own family , by his fireside. The 
 subsequent loss of a beautiful and accomplished daughter 
 was the occasion of his writing God's Light on Dark Clouds 
 a volume which is now having a wide circulation in this 
 country. As he has truly said, " There are many of the deep- 
 est lessons of life that can only be read by eyes cleansed with 
 tears," and, " if Jesus does not come in visible form to our 
 Bethanys, he oftentimes sends thither his servants and hand- 
 maids with the warm words of condolence." 
 
 Such articles as Doctor Cuyler's are too precious to perish 
 with the periodicals they have enriched. Some of them are 
 already gathered into volumes widely popular on this side of 
 the water. A carefully selected volume, like the present one, 
 will be a valuable addition to Christian literature. Few peo- 
 ple, nowadays, have the time or the taste for large treatises on 
 theology. We live in a hurry. The daily papers beget a 
 habit of rapid and desultory reading. Leading articles save 
 the trouble of independent research, and portray before us 
 the gist of current topics. God be praised that there are 
 men who can do this in the interests of practical godliness ! 
 Sermons abound. Many persons regard a large portion of 
 them as dull to listen to, and still duller in the reading. 
 But Doctor Cuyler's papers are not sermons. There is no 
 tedious exordium, no prolix explanations or ponderous proofs. 
 He is not like a man who detains a friend on the pavement 
 by the button-hole, on a cold day, until he is utterly bored 
 before the speaker comes to the point. Rather does he
 
 6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 accost him as he hurries along, and utters his brief message 
 in tones so clear, kind, and emphatic, that before the man is 
 aware, the speaker has vanished, and yet has left behind 
 truths worthy to be pondered and practised. Without any 
 unseemly intrusion or any waste of time, words have been 
 fitly spoken which are like apples of gold in baskets of silver. 
 The editor of this volume has made a wide range of selec- 
 tions, but all of them characteristic of their author. In an 
 age of multiplied books, there is still room for another from 
 the pen of my beloved brother ; and my fervent prayer is that 
 it may prove to be a new ministry of helpfulness, guidance 
 and cheer to multitudes. 
 
 REV. NEWMAN HALL, LL. B. 
 CHRIST CHURCH, Westminster Bridge Road, 
 London, January, 1883.
 
 THEODORE LEDYARD CUYLER. 
 
 THEODORE LEDYARD CUYLER was born at 
 Aurora, on the Cayuga Lake, N. Y., January 
 10, 1822. His father, B. Ledyard Cuyler, was a law- 
 yer of brilliant promise, who died when his only son 
 was four years old ; the venerable mother still sur- 
 vives. His ancestry were from Holland on the one side, 
 and from the Huguenots on the other. Young Cuyler 
 graduated at Princeton College at the age of nineteen, 
 and spent several months in Great Britain, visiting 
 favorite authors and seeking out historic haunts. Re- 
 jecting strong temptations, both to the bar and to the 
 pursuits of literature, he entered Princeton Theological 
 Seminary, and was licensed to preach in April, 1846. 
 After three years of service at Burlington, N. J., he 
 became the first pastor of a new Presbyterian Church 
 at Trenton, which proved very successful. Called to 
 New York City in 1853 immediately after his mar- 
 riage to Miss Annie E. Matthiot of Ohio he was 
 installed over the Market Street Reformed Dutch 
 Church, and soon became one of the most popular 
 preachers to young men in the great metropolis. Every 
 week he appeared on the platform of public meetings 
 in the advocacy of various enterprises and moral reforms. 
 
 7
 
 8 THEODORE LEDYARD CUTLER. 
 
 His favorite movement, for the promotion of temper- 
 ance, he defended before legislative bodies and popular 
 assemblies, and has always given to it the aid of his 
 vigorous pen. Doctor Cuyler has one of the indispen- 
 sable elements for success a great faculty for hard 
 work. Few men are as unwearied and as unwearible as 
 he. In 1860, a newly organized Presbyterian Church 
 in Brooklyn invited him to become its first pastor. He 
 accepted the invitation, and the spacious Lafayette 
 Avenue Church edifice was reared which has been 
 the scene of his pulpit labors for three and twenty 
 years. He soon built up, by his untiring zeal, one of 
 the largest and most powerful churches in his denomi- 
 nation. Incessant pastoral visitation during the week 
 has never prevented him from studious and careful 
 preparation for his pulpit ; he once informed the writer 
 that he had " never lost but two Sabbaths from sickness 
 during his whole life." 
 
 A small, spare man, of thin, sallow countenance, with 
 dark hair and eyes, and a full oratorical mouth attired 
 in a pulpit robe he stands before his audience, with 
 no attempts at the " sensational " in style or deliv- 
 ery. His voice is versatile and commanding; some- 
 times low and melodious as a flute, it often swells into a 
 volume which sweeps and sways the largest assemblies. 
 On this flexible instrument his feelings have full play. 
 Striking, but simple declarations of Bible-truth lucid 
 statements as the strongest form of argument a rare 
 art of putting things, a heartfelt tone of sympathy, 
 delicate felicities of expression, all are infused with 
 a solemn sincerity which is the evident atmosphere in 
 which his soul lives, moves, and has its being. "I
 
 THEODORE LED YARD CUTLER. 9 
 
 believe, therefore have I spoken," is written on every 
 feature and every tone. 
 
 No shadow of doubt as to the plenary inspiration of 
 God's word, or as to the truth of the evangelical doc- 
 trines, has ever disturbed him ; the positiveness of his 
 faith and utterances has ever been an element of his 
 power as a religious teacher. The gospel of Jesus 
 Christ is to him always and everywhere not only much, 
 but everything. Yet this stanch orthodoxy has never 
 interfered with a wide Christian catholicity. "Out of 
 the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came 
 forth sweetness," when an " Old School" Presbyterian 
 Seminary gave its pulpit commission to Theodore L. 
 Cuyler. 
 
 Although so indefatigably devoted to the interests 
 of his own flock, he has become most widely known by 
 his immensely numerous contributions to the leading 
 religious journals. The late Bishop Haven pronounced 
 him "the most popular writer on experimental religion 
 in America." 
 
 His fixed rule has been for thirty years, never to 
 allow a week to pass without the preparation of one or 
 more articles for the press. He has contributed about 
 one thousand articles to the New York Evangelist, four 
 hundred and twenty to the Independent, and many hun- 
 dreds more have been scattered through the columns of 
 the Presbyterian, the Congregationalist, the Christian at 
 Work, the Chicago Advance, the Christian Intelligencer, the 
 Ilh4strated Weekly, Sunday School Times, National Tem- 
 perance Advocate, and several other influential journals. 
 Many of these contributions have been re-published in 
 London and Edinburgh, and thence have passed by
 
 10 THEODORE LED YARD CUTLER. 
 
 translation into various languages over the continent. 
 A handsome volume of selections has appeared in 
 Dutch. 
 
 Doctor Cuyler has achieved that difficult newspaper 
 feat, a thoroughly readable religious article achieved 
 it by a full heart, a full head, and a.Je ne sais quoi, that 
 certain something which call it talent or genius 
 enables its possessor to say his say with an aptness of 
 expression that gives enjoyment and edification to every 
 reader. 
 
 President Lincoln once said to him, " I used to 
 keep up with you every week in the Independent." And 
 in frontier settlements his pithy pieces are read aloud 
 in devotional meetings. This happy faculty of adapta- 
 tion, with tongue or pen, to all sorts and conditions of 
 men, received a good illustration when the venerable 
 Washington Irving, after hearing him address a com- 
 pany of children, came up and whispered in his ear, 
 " My friend, I would like to be one of your parishioners." 
 
 During the heats of midsummer no object is more 
 familiar to the visitors in Congress Park, Saratoga, than 
 the slight, wiry figure of the pastor of the Lafayette 
 Avenue Church; the same man who is read by sailors 
 and frontier settlers has preached over one hundred 
 of his practical discourses to thronged auditories in that 
 cosmopolitan centre of summer resort. 
 
 The principal volumes which Doctor Cuyler has pub- 
 lished are his Heart Life, the Empty Crib, the Cedar 
 Christian, Pointed Papers for the Christian Life, Thought 
 /fives, and God's Light on Dark Clouds. These have 
 all been printed in England. He has also published a 
 sketch-book of travel, From the Nile to Norway, and a
 
 THEODORE LEDYAED CUYLEE. 11 
 
 great number of tracts on various topics. One of 
 these " Somebody's Son " directed against the cus- 
 tom of offering intoxicants to young men on New Year's 
 day, has been effective in clearing the decanters from 
 not a few hospitable tables. 
 
 From these various sources of volume, tract, or 
 periodical publications the following selections have 
 been made. They all reveal, in greater or less degree, 
 the same qualities of incisive directness, of graphic 
 portraiture, of genial sympathy, of keen observation, 
 of human nature and of honest loyalty to the inspired 
 teachings of the Book of Books. M. S. H.
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 I. 
 
 EVERY human mind we meet is a moving 
 thought-hive. To our eye it is hidden, but 
 to the eye of God it is a hive of transparent glass. 
 The thoughts which nestle within us, and issue 
 from us in language and in act determine our moral 
 character. The most exquisite piece of sculpture 
 which a Powers or a Palmer ever carved, was once 
 only a thought ; but their skilful hands smote the 
 white marble until the beautiful images of the brain 
 came forth. Upon the thought of James Watt and 
 Robert Fulton we cross the trackless sea ; while 
 in its silent depths the thought of Professor Morse 
 has laid the magic wire over which two continents 
 converse. 
 
 All the grandest enterprises of benevolence, and 
 all the most stupendous crimes, were once only 
 invisible phantoms in some man's or woman's busy 
 brain. The order of the Jesuits swarmed out 
 of Ignatius Loyola's heart-hive ; Sunday-schools 
 
 13
 
 14 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 swarmed out of Robert Raikes.' If the jailer of 
 Bedford prison had starved John Bunyan, he would 
 have smothered the Pilgrim s Progress in its 
 cradle. The very Bible is only God's blessed and 
 holy thought revealed to us ; by it we are made 
 vise unto salvation. 
 
 II. 
 
 A noble career depends on the treatment given 
 to the infant ideas that are born in the soul. A 
 person is known by the company he keeps. So 
 the thoughts which we harbor within us, and 
 which go out through the doors of our mouths and 
 our hands, determine our real character. 
 
 One of the highest of spiritual . luxuries is the 
 enjoyment of pure and exhilarating and sublime 
 thoughts; to such a devout and cheerful thinker a 
 prison may be a palace. "I thought of Jesus," 
 said holy Rutherford, " until every stone in the 
 walls of my cell shone like a ruby." 
 
 III. 
 
 No more decisive influence can be brought to 
 bear upon any age, or any community, than the 
 employment of its highest intellect for truth or for 
 error for God and the right, or for the devil's 
 wrong. Intellect ennobled, purified, heaven-directed, 
 is the universal power to build up. Intellect per-
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 15 
 
 verted, corrupted, sin-directed, is the most terrible 
 of agencies to pull down and destroy. " How 
 shall I use my intellect ?" is the most vital moral 
 problem that can come before the court of your 
 
 conscience 
 
 God never gave to man fine intellectual powers, 
 vigorous understanding, strong-winged imagina- 
 tion, cunning invention, or soul-rousing eloquence, 
 for the owner's sole use and benefit. Talent 
 is trust. Let no man covet it unless there comes 
 with it wisdom from above to insure it a right 
 direction. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Some men hold that talents are given for the 
 same purpose that wealth is often inherited for 
 mere personal luxury. There be intellectual mil- 
 lionnaires who decorate their mind, as a palace, for 
 pride to walk through. Its superb picture galleries, 
 whose walls a creative imagination has clothed with 
 visions of entrancing beauty ; its saloons of recep- 
 tiveness, in which stately thoughts do come and go ; 
 its costly libraries, where memory stores up its 
 massive accumulation, shelf on shelf; its statue- 
 lined corridors and halls are but the splendid 
 realm which self has adorned by the "might of its 
 own power, and for the honor of its own majesty." 
 Scarcely a living being is the wiser, the better, the 
 happier, for such mental monopolists. They stand
 
 16 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 in the midst of humanity as the marble mansion of 
 a selfish duke might stand in the midst of a poverty- 
 cursed and squalid peasantry. While the nabob is 
 gorging at his rosewood table, or lounging before 
 his Murillos, the poor Lazarus without is begging 
 crumbs for the lean and hungry brats such as 
 Murillo portrayed upon his canvas. One man sur- 
 feits, the others starve. There is enough for all, if 
 it were distributed. Distribution is Heaven's law, 
 whether the treasures be in the lordly mansion or 
 in the lordly mind. 
 
 The meanest of misers is he who hoards a truth. 
 
 V. 
 
 All the men and women who have made their 
 mark in this world and have achieved the best 
 results, have kept the eye clear and single toward 
 one noble purpose. The master passion with New- 
 ton, the prince of Christian philosophers, was 
 science. He attributed his splendid successes in 
 discovery to the simple principle of " always intend- 
 ing my mind," upon the one thing in hand. Luther 
 jarred all Europe by continually hurling the great 
 revealed truth of "justification by faith" against 
 its old ramparts of superstition. Such men swing 
 their whole being into one direction. The effective 
 Christian is the man who unites all his powers into 
 a single pile or package, and then binds them round 
 with this strong cord "the love of Christ con-
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 17 
 
 straineth me." So Paul bound up his, and hurled 
 the mass with such momentum that it burst through 
 and has come bounding on even into these modern 
 centuries. ....... 
 
 . All human talents and possessions are 
 but ciphers until you put the name of Jesus at the 
 head of them. Then they make their owner a 
 millionnaire for Heaven. 
 
 VI. 
 
 One student uses his brain, as he uses his mid- 
 night lamp merely to illuminate the page before 
 his single eye. Another man makes his intellect 
 a meridian sun ! How bountifully does the full urn 
 of noonday overflow ! Not only on Alpine peaks, 
 and the "heart of the Andes," kindled into pyra- 
 mids of fire, but down into modest vales the sun- 
 light falls, warming the honeysuckle o'er the cot- 
 tage doorway, lifting the tiny wheat-blade from its 
 earthly tomb ; and, even when some solitary daisy 
 is shaded beneath an overgrown tree, the generous 
 sun wheels round and round, until before nightfall 
 the daisy too is reached, and fills her little cup with 
 golden light. Such full-orbed intellects there be. 
 They turn midnight into noon. Upon the most 
 elevated minds and the most favored classes their 
 rays may fall earliest ; but at length the lowliest val- 
 leys of human life are warmed in the celestial influ- 
 ence. So rose the tent-maker of Tarsus upon a
 
 18 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 benighted age. Amid the gloom of the sixth cen- 
 tury shone out Augustine; amid the prejudice of 
 the fifteenth beamed Christopher Columbus. 
 
 The sixteenth century came in with clouds and 
 darkness on its awful front. God said, " Let there 
 be light," and Luther was ! When his sun departed 
 with its trail of glory, the moral heavens beamed, 
 in turn with Lord Bacon, Milton, Isaac Newton, 
 Leibnitz, Pascal, Edwards, Chalmers each an 
 overflowing orb of truth. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Learning and Eloquence getting the truth 
 and giving the truth are the two most attainable 
 possessions for every healthy mind. For while the 
 Creator has bestowed great analytical acumen as 
 a gift comparatively rare ; while the imagination 
 which can 
 
 Glance from Heaven to Earth, 
 From Earth to Pleaven, 
 
 belongs to a favored few ; while fertility of inven- 
 tion is a monopoly of genius yet nearly every 
 healthy intellect can acquire truth and impart it. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Eloquence is the golden product of an inspired 
 heart No elaboration of rhetoric, no oratorical
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 19 
 
 culture, can produce it, which ignores the sponta- 
 neous emotions of an honest, fearless, loving 
 heart. ........ 
 
 . The loftier the emotion, the more impres- 
 sive the utterance of the orator. The same law 
 applies to eloquence that applies to hydrostatics. 
 If the jet is to be thrown to a height in the public 
 fountain, the spring that feeds the fountain must 
 have a lofty birthplace on the mountain-side. 
 
 What is eloquence but truth in earnest ? The 
 mind's best words spoken in the mind's best 
 moments. When truth gets full possession of a 
 man's conscience ; when all his sensibilities are 
 aroused and his sympathies in full play ; when the 
 soul becomes luminous, until the interior light and 
 glow blaze out through every loop and crevice ; 
 when, from head to foot, the whole man becomes 
 the beaming, burning impersonation of truth 
 then is he honestly, naturally, irresistibly eloquent. 
 To this a great head is not always essential; a 
 great heart is, and must be. 
 
 IX. 
 
 A logical sequence of the telegraph which 
 conveys written words, is the telephone which 
 conveys spoken sounds. It is certainly a crowning 
 marvel that a speech pronounced in Boston should 
 pronounce itself over the wires to an audience in 
 Brooklyn, and the Marseilles Hymn played in
 
 20 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 New York should be audible in Washington. But 
 the Creator did a far more wonderful thing when 
 he made a human telephone. A mere thought so 
 acts from the brain upon that cunning mind instru- 
 ment in the larynx that the thought makes itself 
 audible in an instant to an assembled multitude. 
 The telephone of the tongue is a wonderful instru- 
 ment. Our Lord employed it speaking as never 
 man spake. On the hillside over Capernaum he 
 touched the cords of that telephone and the mul- 
 titude received the matchless Sermon on the 
 Mount into their consciences. Other tongues 
 have been taking up the strain, until for eighteen 
 centuries that same sermon has gone into myriads 
 of human lives. Eloquence is never so grand and 
 so godlike as when it is made the telephone of 
 saving truth to immortal and imperilled souls. 
 When an intrepid and Heaven-inspired man pre- 
 sents himself before an assemblage of such souls 
 and pours himself out in a resistless stream of 
 argument made red-hot by holy emotion, the whole 
 man becomes the beaming and burning imperso- 
 nation of truth ; then does such an embassador of 
 Christ become to his listening auditors as one of 
 the " oracles of God." 
 
 Paul pleading before Athenian skeptics on the 
 Hill of Mars ; Martin Luther sounding his bugle 
 blast of defiance before the Imperial Diet ; George 
 Whitefield depicting the perils of a lost sinner on 
 the verge of the precipice of Hell, until Lord
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 21 
 
 Chesterfield exclaimed, " Good God ! the man is 
 gone ! " Charles G. Finney reasoning of righteous- 
 ness and the judgment to come until proud scoffers 
 turned pale as marble before his pulpit all these 
 men became as electric batteries charged with 
 " the power from on high" and delivering men 
 from the paralysis of spiritual death into the mar- 
 vellous light and the life everlasting. There is not 
 a grander spectacle for angels' eyes than fearless, 
 single-hearted Moody sounding his telephone in 
 the focus of cultured Boston, until ten thousand 
 hearts vibrate to his heaven-sent message. 
 
 Some people regard the Word of God as a mere 
 miscellaneous collection of disjointed fragments. 
 They could not make a greater mistake. The 
 Bible is as thoroughly connected and consecutive a 
 work as Bunyan's " Pilgrim," or Bancroft's His- 
 tory. The whole composition hangs together like 
 a fleece of wool. It begins with the creation of 
 the world ; it ends with the winding-up of all earthly 
 things and the opening scenes of the endless here- 
 after. The Old Testament is the majestic vestibule 
 through which we enter the matchless Parthenon 
 of the New. It is mainly the history of God's 
 covenant people. Through all this history of nearly 
 forty centuries are interspersed the sublime con- 
 versations of Job, the pithy proverbs of Solomon, 
 and the predictions of the Prophets. We hear, at 
 their proper intervals, the timbrel of Miriam, the 
 harp of the Psalmist, the plaintive viol of Jeremiah,
 
 22 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 and the sonorous trumpets of Isaiah and Habakkuk. 
 
 Through all the Old Testament there flows one 
 warm and mighty current like the warm river of 
 the Gulf Stream through the Atlantic setting 
 towards Jesus Christ. In Genesis he appears as 
 the seed of the woman that should bruise the ser- 
 pent's head ; the smoke of Abel's altar points 
 towards him ; the blood that stains the Jewish lin- 
 tels on the night of the Exodus is but a type of the 
 Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world ; 
 Moses and the prophets testify of Jesus. Just as 
 the rich musical blast of an Alpine horn on the 
 Wengern is echoed back from the peaks of the 
 Jungfrau, so every verse of the fifty-third chapter 
 of Isaiah is echoed in the New Testament of 
 Immanuel. 
 
 After a silence of four hundred years, the New 
 Testament begins and with the genealogy of the 
 incarnate Saviour. The first four books are occu- 
 pied with the earthly life and sacrificial death and 
 resurrection and ascension of the same Personage. 
 The four independent narratives of the evangelists 
 like the four walls of a church edifice contain 
 and enclose the complete narrative of Christ's life. 
 Each one has its place and its purpose. Matthew 
 wrote for the Jews, and in his gospel Christ is rep- 
 resented as a king ; the book describes his king- 
 dom and its laws. Mark describes his wondrous 
 deeds as the man of action the Christ as a ser- 
 vant doing his Father's will. Luke wrote for the
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 23 
 
 Gentiles, and of Jesus as the Son of Man. John 
 occupies his rich aromatic pages with the wonderful 
 words of the Son of God. He defines his special 
 object at the close of his twentieth chapter : "These 
 are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the 
 Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might 
 have life through his name." 
 
 X. 
 
 The biographies of Jesus are completed, but 
 not his life upon earth. The next book carries it 
 forward. He still lives by his Spirit in the 
 chosen apostles. The Book of the Acts written 
 by Luke, commences with these words " The 
 former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all 
 that Jesus began to do and to teach." This second 
 treatise simply continues to narrate what Christ 
 does and teaches through his apostles and repre- 
 sentatives. It is devoted to the founding of Chris- 
 tian churches in certain great centres of influence, 
 like Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth and 
 Rome. The churches thus founded must next 
 be instructed in the commandments of their Lord 
 and be indoctrinated in the practical principles of 
 holy living. Hence arises a necessity for the 
 Epistles. Each has its province. The epistle to 
 the Romans is the grand argument for justifica- 
 tion by faith. That to the Galatians treats of 
 deliverance from the bondage of the law. The
 
 24 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 letter to the Philippians is redolent of gratitude 
 and of joy in hours of trouble. Its motto is 
 "gaudeo; gaudete ! " The epistle to the Ephe- 
 sians is the setting forth of the " heavenlies ; " 
 that to Philemon is the charter of human rights 
 and the seed of emancipation-proclamations ; the 
 epistles to the Corinthians are manuals for per- 
 sonal conduct and the government of churches. 
 When Paul wrote to Timothy and to Titus, he 
 furnished manuals for Christian pastors. John's 
 epistles are all love-letters the effusive sweet- 
 ness of the heart's honey-comb. When Apollos 
 penned the Epistle to the Hebrews (as I am 
 inclined to believe that he did) he set forth the 
 priestly office of Jesus and the blessings of per- 
 sonal faith. Peter utters the practical precepts 
 and warnings that are needed not only by the 
 dispersed disciples, but by all disciples to the end 
 of time. 
 
 When the life, the death, and the mighty works 
 and divine instruction of Christ (by his apostles) 
 have been completed, there bursts upon us the 
 magnificent panorama of the Apocalypse. This is 
 the book of sublime mysteries. But through all 
 the apparent confusions of thrones and of armies, 
 of thunders and lightnings, of trumpets and viols 
 and winged angels, we can distinctly trace the 
 progress of the final conflict between King Jesus 
 and the Powers of darkness. The long battle ter- 
 minates in the overthrow of Satan, and the glorious
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 25 
 
 victory of Him who wears on his head the many 
 crowns. Then comes the final resurrection of the 
 dead,the general Judgment, the revelation of the New 
 Jerusalem, prepared for the endless habitation of the 
 redeemed. The Apocalypse closes with its " seven- 
 fold chorus of hallelujahs and harping symphonies." 
 Such is the wondrous volume which God has 
 given to man, and which outweighs all the libraries 
 on the globe. It contains many writings ; yet is it 
 but one book. It has many writers ; yet it is all 
 from one Author, the Almighty Spirit of God. 
 The pure, white, spotless fleece hath throughout its 
 connecting fibres ; the fabric is divine in its origin, 
 its unity, and its imperishable power and glory. 
 
 XI. 
 
 In putting on your armor don't forget that the 
 Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. Not 
 content with merely reading your Bible, study it. 
 Instead of skimming over whole acres of truth put 
 your spade into the most practical passages and 
 dig deep. Study the twenty-fifth Psalm and the 
 twelfth chapter of Romans, as well as the sublime 
 eighth chapter. Study the whole epistle of James. 
 It will teach you how a Christian ought to behave 
 before the world. As you get on further you may 
 strike your hoe and your mattock down into the 
 rich ore-beds of the Book of John. Saturate your 
 heart with God's Word.
 
 26 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 XII. 
 
 The real currency in commerce is metallic the 
 broad earth over. And the gold and silver which 
 make up the basis of personal wealth are the prod- 
 uct of the mines ; each glittering coin the result 
 of the miner's hard toil with sieve or with mat- 
 tock. Now, the currency of God's kingdom is 
 truth ; and the Bible is the ore-bed. To every one 
 this mine is open. He must be a blind or a care- 
 less miner who does not come out of this inex- 
 haustible ore-bed with some new and massive 
 " nugget " as the result of every hour's research. 
 Do you consider every bank solvent whose vaults 
 are the hiding-place of solid bullion, amply suf- 
 ficient to meet its liabilities ? So is a Christian 
 solvent, whose secret soul is stored with gospel 
 principles, all coined and stamped for daily use. 
 Nor should any Christian ask credit further than 
 he can fully redeem his promises and professions 
 by the "ready money" of consistent godly con- 
 duct. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 The oldest poem in the world is the grandest. 
 While the human race has been advancing in 
 science and art and literature, it remains true that 
 in sublime and magnificent poetry, the first stroke 
 on the bell struck twelve. The patriarch of poetry
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 21 
 
 remains to this day its king ; no man has taken 
 away his crown. Long afterwards Homer sang his 
 song of Troy, and Virgil touched the same historic 
 chords with feebler hand. Centuries later the blind 
 old Puritan unfolded his visions of Paradise with 
 the glittering ranks of the cherubim in amaranth 
 and gold. Many-sided Shakespeare, too, came 
 into Britain in a sort of stealthy way, burying up 
 his tracks in mystery so that some scholars have 
 even doubted his existence, yet leaving behind 
 him his wonderful progeny of Hamlets, Macbeths, 
 and Othellos. But all the sublimities of Homer, 
 Virgil, Milton and Shakespeare combined do not 
 reach the altitude of that marvellous poem which 
 was born in the very infancy of the human 
 race. 
 
 Hundreds of later poets have pillaged from its 
 treasure-house of sublime splendors. Thousands 
 of Christian ministers have expounded its the- 
 ology. Orators have been inspired by its lofty 
 imagery. Charles James Fox confessed that if he 
 had ever succeeded in parliamentary eloquence, he 
 owed his success to a diligent study of this oldest 
 of human compositions. It has had a hundred 
 readers where any other, poetical production has 
 had a single one ; it is the delight of the sage 
 and of the saint, of the philosopher and the peas- 
 ant, of old men and maidens, of the students of 
 nature, and the student of things heavenly and 
 divine.
 
 28 RIGHT TO TEE POINT. 
 
 Who first wrote out on papyrus-leaves this won- 
 derful book which is biography, history, the- 
 ology and poetry combined in one nobody 
 knows. Some claim that Moses was the inspired 
 compiler of the work. Others hold that about the 
 time of the captivity, some gifted Jew collected it 
 into its present shape. The sceptic school of 
 critics declare it to be a profound parable on a 
 large scale, or a sublime myth. 
 
 Amid the dim mists of antiquity which hang 
 around its origin we can be sure of a few facts. 
 We are sure that the hero of the work was not a 
 native Jew. He did not live in Palestine but 
 somewhere on the vast plateaus that skirt the river 
 Euphrates. He was a sheik or an emir of the old 
 Shemitic race. He owned vast herds, and was a 
 great lord of the manor among the wandering 
 tribes of the East. He and his three most inti- 
 mate friends were familiar with music, metallurgy, 
 military affairs, and to some degree with astron- 
 omy. And to them were revealed (by some mys- 
 terious inspiration) the profoundest thoughts in 
 regard to human suffering and sin, in regard to the 
 divine government, in regard to those deep things 
 of God which no human philosophy has ever 
 fathomed ! Truly this patriarch of theological 
 poems stands without a model and without a 
 successor. Like Melchisedeck it appears without 
 any known human father ; and like Melchisedeck 
 it has " no end of life."
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 29 
 
 XIV. 
 
 The thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians is 
 the inspired hymn of Love. The eleventh chapter 
 of Hebrews is the sublime epic of Faith. 
 
 XV. 
 
 A great many precious spiritual truths lie con- 
 cealed under the out-of-the-way passages of God's 
 Word like Wordsworth's 
 
 violet 'neath a mossy stone half hidden from the eye. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 If a sea-captain is worthless who is ignorant of 
 his chart, a Christian is ill-equipped who is igno- 
 rant of God's Word. It is the soul's corn. The 
 more thoroughly it is ground, and baked, and 
 eaten, and digested, the more you will grow 
 thereby. It is the sword of the Spirit. The more 
 it is scoured the brighter it shineth ; the more it is 
 wielded the safer you are against the adversary. 
 A vital need of the hour is more Bible 
 
 XVII. 
 
 The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is the thrilling 
 record of a whole line of spiritual navigators, 
 whose anchor of faith never dragged.
 
 80 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Some characters in the Bible are painted with a 
 single stroke. Enoch, the stanch old patriarch, 
 who walked with God ; Caleb the faithful, who fol- 
 lowed the Lord fully ; Dorcas, who made the needle 
 sacred ; Onesiphorus, the model gentleman, who 
 oft refreshed Paul, and " was not ashamed of his 
 chain ; " Demas, the deserter from duty all these 
 and many others owe their peculiar immortality to 
 a mere line or two of Holy Writ. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The old Bible truths are the freshest, after .all. 
 They have a perennial grandeur, like the Alps, at 
 every new view of them ; ' they have a perennial 
 sweetness, like that honey which is set before you 
 every morning on your Swiss mountain rambles. 
 
 XX. 
 
 God's word is an inexhaustible jewel bed. What 
 a gem of the first water is this beautiful text : "At 
 evening time it shall be light." Like a many sided 
 diamond, it flashes out as many truths as it has 
 polished sides. As the diamond has the quality of 
 glistening in dim and darksome places, so this pas- 
 sage shines brightly in seasons of trouble and 
 despondency.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 81 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Contact with Christ brings currents of the divine 
 power into our souls, so that we can do all things 
 through Christ which strengthened! us. At the 
 very outset of the spiritual life, this divine strength 
 becomes recognized. A Gough or a Sawyer testi- 
 fies that he gained his victory over the bottle by 
 the influx of a new principle and a new power into 
 his heart. The essence of conversion with them 
 was that the seven devils of lust for the cup were 
 cast out, and Christ came in. This was a super- 
 natural work, the very thing that modern scepticism 
 hoots at ; but a Bible which did not bring a super- 
 natural element into weak and wicked humanity 
 would not be worth the paper on which it is printed. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Food is fuel to the body, repairing what is burnt 
 away by various vital processes. How can a soul 
 be either fed or warmed that seldom touches the 
 Bread of Life ? All the most growing Christians 
 are large feeders on the Word of God. 
 
 What delicious feeding there is on the Promises? 
 The soul delights itself with them, as with marrow 
 and fatness. There is no end of the honeycomb 
 that distils from the fourteenth chapter of John. 
 We can feed more than five thousand, besides the 
 women and children, with the single big loaf
 
 82 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 " This is the promise which he hath promised us, 
 even eternal life." There was a great wealth of 
 Christian experience in the homely vernacular of 
 Uncle Johnson, the veteran negro, when he said to 
 his pastor, " I'se t'inking dat if de crumbs of joy 
 dat fall from de Massa's table in dis world am so 
 good, what will de great loaf in glory be ? I wants 
 to get hold ob de full dish. O, massa, ef you gets 
 home afore I do, tell 'em to keep de table standin,' 
 for old Johnson is on his way, and is bound to be 
 dere." 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 God means that every soul which waits on him 
 shall sometimes soar. Not creep nor grovel in 
 the muck of worldliness, or crouch in bondage to 
 man or devils, but rise above all these baser things 
 into the atmosphere of heaven. When a soul binds 
 itself to God it finds wings. Such an one has 
 a citizenship in the skies. He catches inspiration 
 from the Spirit. He rises above the chilling fogs 
 of doubt, gains a wide outlook, is filled with enno- 
 bling thoughts, and actually feels that he is an heir 
 to a celestial inheritance. His soul-life is hid with 
 Christ in God. What cares the eagle, as he bathes 
 his wing in the translucent gold of the sunbeam 
 for all the turmoil, the smoke, the clouds, or even 
 the lightnings that play far beneath him ? He flies 
 in company with the unclouded sun. So a heaven-
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 33 
 
 bound soul, filled with the joys of the Holy Spirit, 
 flies in company with God. .... 
 " They that wait ou the Lord shall renew their 
 strength. They shall mount up with wings as 
 eagles." There is a ring in this passage like the 
 blast of a bugle. He makes a very great mistake 
 who supposes that the word " wait " implies an 
 indolent passivity. The Hebrew word has brawn 
 and bone in it; its signification is primarily to be 
 strong strong enough to hold out underpressure. 
 Thence the word came to signify patience as the 
 opposite of discouragement and peevishness. 
 When a soul is ready to do God's will and to sub- 
 mit cheerfully to God's discipline, and to receive 
 such fulness of supply as God is willing to bestow, 
 that soul may be truly said to " wait on the Lord." 
 It is a great grace, and it leads to a great glory. 
 The man who thus waits on God renews his 
 strength. He does more ; he receives a wonderful 
 inspiration. He " shall mount up with wings as 
 an eagle." Naturalists tell us that the special 
 power of the eagle is in his wings. He can fly in 
 the teeth of the gale, and go out on long voyag- 
 ings toward the clouds, and play the aeronaut for 
 hours without weariness. His " conversation is in 
 the heavens." The sparrow twitters from the 
 housetop, the dove is content to abide in the 
 forest, but the eagles are children of the skies and 
 playthings of the storms. Even their nests are on 
 the crags.
 
 84 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Nothing tends more to the elevation of character 
 
 than to have a high ideal 
 
 There must be higher longing, even, before there 
 is any attempt at higher living. No artist ever 
 attains to eminence who is perfectly satisfied with 
 the first picture he hangs in an exhibition-room. 
 The Christian who is satisfied with himself is the 
 very one over whom the Spirit grieves and the 
 Master is ashamed. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 The less we expect from this world the better for 
 us. The less we expect from our fellow-men whether 
 of spiritual help or of inspiring example, the smaller 
 will be our disappointment. He that leans on his 
 own strength leans on a broken reed. We are 
 always (?/;/ to be something stronger, purer, and 
 holier. Somewhere in the future there always 
 hangs in the air a golden ideal of a higher life that 
 we are going to reach ; but as we move on the 
 dream of better things moves on before us also. 
 It is like the child's running over behind the hill to 
 catch the rainbow. When he gets on the hill-top 
 the rainbow is as far off as ever. Thus does our 
 day dream of a higher Christian life keep floating 
 away from us; and we are left to realize what frail, 
 unreliable creatures we are when we rest our expec- 
 tations of growth and victory over evil in ourselves.
 
 TO THE POIXT. 5 
 
 " My soul, wait them only upon God ! My expecta- 
 tion is only from Hint." 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 During our visit to the Yosemite Valley, we 
 lodged at an inn that fronted a majestic cliff. The 
 perpendicular wall of granite towered up more than 
 three thousand feet. Upon one of the peaks of 
 this cliff floated a white flag. It was the first object 
 which caught the rays of the morning sun. That 
 signal flag marks "Eagle Point," one of the high- 
 est observatories which overlooks the wonderful 
 Yosemite. And that flag floated both as a chal- 
 lenge and a guide to those of us who were in the 
 deep valley beneath. It seemed to say : Come up 
 hither and ye shall see wondrous things. Accept- 
 ing the challenge, one party after another mounted 
 their ponies, and picking their toilsome way along 
 the dizzy ledges on the side of the precipice, they 
 made a four-hours climb to the tiptop point, whence 
 they viewed all the glories of the Sierra Nevadas. 
 
 In the spiritual life there is an " Eagle Point." 
 It is the mark for the prize of the high calling of 
 God in Christ Jesus. The divinely inspired com- 
 mand, Seek tliose things w!ucJi are above. It is the 
 divine challenge, invitation, and incentive to the 
 higher, purer, holier life. That signal sends down 
 the double invitation to look higher and to live 
 higher. ........
 
 33 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 No traveller reaches " Eagle Point" who is over- 
 loaded with luggage. No Christian attains to the 
 higher life while he is overladen with constant 
 worries ahout this world, or while he is attempting 
 to carry his cherished sins along with him, or while 
 he is ham-strung with unbelief. Repentance is 
 the first process. 
 
 The " Eagle Point " that crowns the Yosemitc 
 brought a rich reward to those tough climbers who 
 reached its magnificent outlook. From the coignc 
 of vantage they beheld things indescribable and 
 drank in new visions of the Creator's glory. 
 
 And we shall sec greater things than these ; we 
 shall breathe a purer atmosphere, and taste more 
 heavenly joys, and feel a quicker rush of spiritual 
 life, and gain strength for heavier conflicts, and 
 get inspiring views of the "things that are here- 
 after," if we but break loose from the beggarly ele- 
 ments of this world and seek the things that arc 
 above. It is the pierced hand of our Divine Mas- 
 ter that waves the signal to us. It is his loving 
 
 O O 
 
 voice that calls us to " corne up higher." Heaven 
 will not be far off. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 The one hundred and twenty-first Psalm is one 
 of the most soul-inspiring in the whole psalter. It 
 is named a "song of degrees;" that is, a song of 
 ascent leading from the lower up to the higher.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 87 
 
 Whether this was originally intended as a musical 
 expression or as a description of the ascent to the 
 sacred mount in Jerusalem, it happily describes the 
 spiritual idea of the psalm. The key-note is in 
 the first verse. " I will lift up mine eyes unto the 
 hills, from whence cometh my help. My help is 
 from the Lord which made heaven and earth." 
 The grand idea is that we must look higher if we 
 would live higher. We must have help from 
 heaven if we would reach heaven. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 In the best sense of the term Paul was a man cf 
 one idea. The "hold" of his intellect was abund- 
 antly stored with resources of learning, argument 
 and rich mental gifts; but a single holy purpose 
 trod the quarter-deck, and floated its ensign from 
 the peak. " Go a little deeper," said a wounded 
 French soldier at Austerlitz to the surgeon who 
 was probing his left side for the bullet "go a 
 little deeper, and you will find the Emperor." So 
 the great apostle might say; go a little deeper g- o 
 to the inmost core of my heart, and you will find 
 the crucified Jesus. Other feelings I am possessed 
 of, but this one possesses me. Other affections 
 lie near the surface ; but this master passion lurks 
 and lives in the inmost centre of my soul. For 
 me to live is Christ. This one thing I do ; forget- 
 ting those things which are behind and reaching
 
 38 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 forth unto those which arc before, I press toward 
 the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 It is glorious work to preach for souls. No 
 throne has ever been built which comes within ten 
 leagues of the pulpit, which proclaims Christ and 
 the great salvation. The pulpit is best filled which 
 helps most to fill heaven. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 One of the peculiar glories of Christianity is 
 that it presents to us what no other religion fur- 
 nishes a perfect model for our daily conduct. 
 No other religion can produce a Lord Jesus Christ. 
 And Christ is Christianity. It is not the Gospel 
 system that saves us. It is the Gospel's Redeemer. 
 That preaching is the most effective which most 
 clearly and persuasively presents Jesus as the 
 Divine Saviour. Substitute and Surety ; that life 
 is the most symmetrical and holy which is the most 
 closely copied after him as the divine model. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 For the effective preaching of the inspired Word, 
 splendid intellectual power or profound scholarship
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 39 
 
 are not essential. Some of the best work has been 
 wrought by men of moderate talents and attain- 
 ments. But it argues equally that the best work 
 only can be wrought by ministers who are intensely 
 persuaded of the plenary inspiration of God's Book 
 and are intensely earnest in preaching its core- 
 doctrines ruin by sin, redemption by Christ, and 
 regeneration by the Spirit, a retribution of endless 
 life and death to all who accept or reject the 
 heavenly message. For one, I would order the 
 door of admission wide open to the ministry on the 
 purely intellectual side, but not one inch on the 
 spiritual side. Let every man of robust faith and 
 robust piety come in who feels in his heart " Woe 
 is unto me if I preach not the Gospel! " But let 
 no man in however brilliant his powers, who is 
 wavering in his loyalty to the Revealed Truth, or 
 lukewarm towards the sins and the sufferings of 
 his fellow-men. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 There is one sense in which every true minister 
 ought to be broad broad as the love of God, and 
 the wants of perishing humanity ; and at the same 
 time as narrow as the straight line of God's right- 
 eousness. The fear we have is that superior intel- 
 lectual gifts and scholarship may be deemed more 
 essential than superior spiritual gifts and loyalty to 
 vital truth. Is he smart? Is he in danger of over-
 
 40 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 riding the more important question ? Is he sin- 
 cere and sound ? Let no one falsely charge us 
 with lowering the standard of ministerial qualifica- 
 tion to weak goody goodishness or even to the 
 most fervent piety without a corresponding capacity 
 to achieve results. All will agree that the achieve- 
 ment of spiritual results is the main thing. And 
 the ministry which is either flaccid in spiritual fibre 
 and in faith in the corner-stone doctrines or 
 frigid in its heart sympathies with its fellowmen, 
 is not likely to win souls to Christ. On the other 
 hand, experience proves that an energetic, indom- 
 itable will, fired with a holy zeal, has produced a 
 rich harvest of results out of very moderate endow- 
 ment of talents. The gift of godly mindedness is 
 the best gift and talent for a minister. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 If Christ is at the helm, why should I be running 
 about the deck in distress, lest the vessel sink ? 
 If God lets you and me labor for him in vain, it 
 is his loss more than ours. Duty belongs to us, 
 results belong to him. Then let us work and 
 wait and trust and leave our loads with Jesus. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 It is always a satisfaction to hear a man speak 
 the truth. Christ judges his servants according to
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 41 
 
 what they have; never according to what they 
 have not. 
 
 To win even one soul is a reward for a lifetime's 
 toil. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Power to win souls is derived from close living 
 contact with the Divine Source of all power. 
 When I was a student at Princeton, Professor 
 Henry had so constructed a huge bar of iron, bent 
 into the form of a horseshoe, that it used to hang 
 suspended from another iron bar above it. Not 
 only did it hang there, but it upheld four thousand 
 pounds weight attached to it ! That horseshoe 
 magnet was not welded or glued to the metal above 
 it ; but through the iron wire coiled around it 
 there ran a subtle current of electricity from a 
 galvanic battery. Stop the flow of the current 
 one instant and the huge horseshoe dropped. So 
 does all the lifting poiver of a Christian come from 
 the currents of spiritual influence which flow into 
 his heart from the Living Jesus. The strength of 
 the Almighty One enters into the believer. If 
 his connection with Christ' is cut off in an instant, 
 he becomes as weak as any other man. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 There are many ways of preaching Christ's 
 gospel without choosing a text or standing in a
 
 42 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 pulpit. This glorious work is not restricted to 
 any time or place, or class of individuals. A 
 Wilberforce could proclaim the gospel of love on 
 the platform of Exeter Hall, or the floor of Parlia- 
 ment House, though he never wore a surplice, and 
 never had a prelate's ordaining hand upon his 
 honored head. Thomas Cranfield preached to the 
 boisterous rabble of Wapping, till in their delight, 
 they were ready to reward him with three cheers 
 for his thrilling exhortation. Hannah Moore 
 preached Christ in the drawing-room ; and Eliza- 
 beth Fry in the prison-cell. Harlan Page scat- 
 tering tracts through a city workshop ; Nettleton 
 whispering his solemn words to weeping souls in 
 an inquiry-meeting; the Dairyman's Daughter 
 murmuring the name of Jesus with her faint dying 
 voice, and the Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, leaning 
 on his crook to talk about eternity to a passer-by, 
 were all intensely earnest preachers of righteous- 
 ness. The Church has had few more faithful 
 preachers than Thomas Halyburton, and his most 
 impressive discourses were delivered on a dying 
 bed. "This is the best pulpit," said he, "that 
 ever I was in ; I am laid on this bed for this very 
 end that I may commend my Lord." 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 We pastors too often forget that our people care 
 very little about many of those abstract and
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 43 
 
 abstruse points that awaken a keen intellectual 
 interest in our own minds when we are among our 
 books and theological reviews. They come to 
 church wearied with the cares and worries of the 
 week. They want to be drawn up from them- 
 selves nearer to God. Some of them have had a 
 sharp sorrow during the past week, and long to be 
 comforted. Others arc under sore temptations, 
 and ought to be taught how to meet them, and 
 overcome them. Others are very near eternity, 
 and must soon be prepared for it ; their time is 
 short. 
 
 If every preacher of the Word would bear these 
 simple facts in mind, he would certainly strive to 
 be more practical, more plain, more pungent, and 
 more desirous to bring home thc/;/;r Gospel with- 
 out adulteration, to the hearts of his hearers. 
 And if that sly devil of self stole up to his study- 
 chair, and whispered in his ear the subtle tempta- 
 tion to aim at a great sermon, or a brilliant sermon, 
 or a profoundly philosophical sermon, he would 
 promptly say, " Get thee behind me, Satan ! " 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 There are many passages in the Word of God 
 that most readers pass by, as they would pass 
 unlighted transparencies in the street at night. 
 If somebody sets a lamp or kindles a gas-jet behind 
 the transparency, its picture or inscription becomes
 
 44 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 luminous, attracting all eyes to it. One purpose 
 of good preaching is to set lamps behind neglected 
 passages. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 The aim of the gospel is to make men see Jesus. 
 It contains a system of salvation ; but it is not the 
 system that saves. Ninety-nine hundredths of out- 
 congregations believe the chief proposition of 
 Christianity as much as they believe that Wash- 
 ington was the first President of the United States. 
 But that faith works no heart-change, delivers no 
 one from the power of sin and secures no hope of 
 Heaven. The only saving faith is that which sees 
 Jesus, and accepts Jesus, and joins the soul to 
 Jesus. It joins person to Person, the branch to 
 the Vine, the sinner to the Saviour. If we fail 
 in making our congregations see Jesus, then is the 
 most eloquent preaching a pious sham. 
 
 XL. 
 
 When Jesus is presented and pressed upon a 
 sinner's acceptance, he must be presented as not 
 only infinitely tender, compassionate, and lovable, 
 but as so infinitely holy that his eyes flash flame 
 through everything wrong. The very bitterness of 
 his sacrificial sufferings for us on the Cross arose 
 from the bitterness of the sin he died to atone.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 45 
 
 XLI. 
 
 No man ever preaches God's simple Word of 
 life to even a handful of auditors without some 
 results. No message faithfully spoken is left 
 wholly unblest ; no word returns to the divine 
 Giver, unless it have at least imposed a new 
 responsibility on the souls that hear it. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 The minister of Christ need not betake himself 
 to the drama cf Greece, the forum of Rome, or to 
 the mystic retreats of German philosophy ; he need 
 not study Chatham in the Senate Chamber, or 
 Erskinc at the bar. He may ever be nurturing his 
 soul amid those pages where John Milton feel, 
 before those eyes, which had " failed with long 
 watching for liberty and law," beheld the gorgeous 
 visions of " Paradise." He may be ever amid the 
 scenes which inspired Bunyan to his matchless 
 dream, and taught Jeremy Taylor his hearse-like 
 melodies. The harp of Israel's minstrel is ever in 
 his ear ; before his eye moves the magnificent pan- 
 orama of the Apocalypse. He need but open his 
 soul to that "oldest choral melody," the book of 
 Job ; if it used to inspire Charles James Fox for 
 the Parliament house, why not himself for the pul- 
 pit ? Paul is ever at his elbow to teach him trench- 
 ant argument ; John to teach persuasion ; and a
 
 46 RIGHT TO THE P07JVT. 
 
 heart of steel must he have who is not moved to 
 pathos in the chamber of heart-stricken David, or 
 under the olive-trees of Gethsemane. The Bible is 
 the best of models too, for it is always true to the 
 life. It reaches up to the loftiest, down to the low- 
 liest affairs of existence. The same divine pencil 
 that portrayed the scenic splendors of the Revela- 
 tions and the awful tragedy of Golgotha, conde- 
 scends to etch for us a Hebrew mother bending 
 over her cradle of rushes, a village maiden bringing 
 home the gleanings of the barley fields, and a peni- 
 tent woman weeping on the Saviour's feet. What 
 God has ennobled, who shall dare to call common ? 
 What true orator of nature will fear to introduce 
 into the pulpit a homely scene or a homespun 
 character, a fireside incident or a death-bed agony, 
 the familiar episodes of the field and the shop, the 
 school-room and the nursery. He does not lower 
 the dignity of the pulpit ; he rather imparts to it 
 the higher dignity of human nature. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Fainting and desponding minister of Christ ! 
 Who shall dare to tell you, when you have come 
 back from preaching the cross boldly and earnestly, 
 that many an arrow may not have pierced the wait- 
 ing souls around you ? You may not have seen its 
 flight. You may have heard no outcry of the 
 wounded soul. You may have seen no tears, and
 
 RIGHT TO THE POLYP. 47 
 
 heard no groans. You may never hear them in this 
 world. But in the great day of retribution you shall 
 stand as God's appointed archer, with the trophies 
 of redeeming grace about you, and stars shall blaze 
 in the coronet of your rejoicing, now unseen, save 
 by Him who seeth in secret and rewardeth openly. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Good Christianity means cross-bearing. Good 
 preaching means cross-lifting. From the manger 
 of Bethlehem every footstep of Jesus moves straight 
 towards the cross. His whole life converges there. 
 After the Spirit's descent the only Gospel that was 
 preached was the Gospel of atoning blood. It 
 was Paul's keynote. Whatever else he omitted, he 
 never omitted the " faithful saying." The preach- 
 ing of these days, the only preaching that can 
 silence skepticism, and convict sinners, and save 
 the penitent, is the preaching which lifts up the 
 crucified Son of God. 
 
 Nothing moves and melts the heart like the love- 
 story of Calvary. Good old Gilbert Tennent was 
 missed one Sabbath after his morning service. 
 His family went in search of him. They found him 
 in a woods near the church, lying on the ground 
 and weeping like a child. They inquired the cause 
 of his emotion. He told them that after preaching 
 on the love of the dying Saviour he had gone out 
 into the woods to meditate. He erot such views of
 
 43 EIGHT TO THE POIX7. 
 
 the wondrous love of God in sending his Son into 
 the world to die for sinners, that he was completely 
 overwhelmed. The glory of the cross seemed to 
 smite him down and break his very heart as it had 
 the heart of Paul. He saw no one save Jesus only. 
 A clear, distinct look at Jesus is what every sin- 
 ner also needs to convict him of guilt and break 
 him down. The preaching which melts hard hearts 
 is Christ-preaching cross-preaching. It wounds, 
 and it heals. It kills sin, and brings to the penitent 
 sinner a new life. Moses had nothing else to do 
 but to lift up the brazen serpent before the bitten, 
 dying multitude in the camp. We ministers find 
 our foremost duty, and our holiest delight in simply 
 lifting up the atoning Lamb of God before the eyes 
 of our congregations. Nothing else can touch and 
 fire the true believer like the vision of his bleeding 
 Lord. Brethren, let us lift up the cross ! Let us 
 rally to that as the last hope of a sin-cursed world 
 as the on 1 ^ breakwater against the floods of error 
 and iniquity. If the cross of Calvary cannot save 
 the world it is gone ! But it will ! God has hung 
 the destiny of the race on that cross. Our duty 
 begins and ends in setting that one beacon of salva- 
 tion full before the eye of every immortal soul. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 There is a hunger that grows by what it feeds 
 upon ; the pastor who realizes that on every Sab-
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 49 
 
 bath some immortal souls may be listening to their 
 last message, will be very apt to keep the appetite 
 for practical gospel keen and omnivorous. Minis- 
 ters may run dry ; the Bible and the daily needs 
 of human hearts never do. To get honestly tired 
 in preaching is vastly different from getting tired 
 <2f it. 
 
 XLVL 
 
 It may sound extravagant, but it seems clear to 
 my own mind that Chalmers was the most remark- 
 able personage whom Protestantism has produced 
 since the era of the Reformation. Certainly he is 
 the king of Presbyterianism. Our Church has not 
 had his cquil since John Knox pointed his dying 
 finger up towards Heaven. Chalmers b:ilked more 
 largely than any man in our calendar of heroes ; 
 he had the most immense manhood ; he swayed 
 men with a more imperial presence and power ; he 
 combined in himself the overwhelming orator, the 
 thoughtful philosopher, the sagacious leader, and the 
 saintly apostle of Christ. Mr. Gladstone hit the 
 idea very happily when in his letter read at the 
 centennial celebration he spoke of the " warrior 
 grandeur " of Thomas Chalmers. The leader of 
 the Free Kirk Exodus was a born warrior, with the 
 bravery of a paladin and the eagle eye of a com- 
 mander, and yet with a woman's tenderness sweet- 
 ening and enriching his "stately and heavenly 
 mind." As a pulpit orator, he begins to be known
 
 60 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 chiefly by tradition. His printed discourses 
 splendid as they arc give us but a small concep- 
 tion of what they were when delivered with a rush 
 cf enthusiasm and a volume of voice that made the 
 rafters roar. Alexander Duff came nearest to him 
 in oratorical power, but Duff was great only on one 
 theme ; he was the Chrysostom of Foreign Missions, 
 and when he spoke on that topic, those who heard 
 him " said that it thundered." Chalmers was 
 uniformly great, whether he was addressing the 
 merchants of Glasgow, or the paupers of the West 
 Port, or the peers and parliament-men in London. 
 His immense manhood gave his speech an immense 
 momentum. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 Christ himself never prepared a formula of truth 
 and made the acceptance of that formula the one 
 condition of salvation. His constant loving call 
 was "Come unto Me;" his emphatic declaration 
 was, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. 
 When he presented the vital truth of the atone- 
 ment it was only by presenting himself as the 
 atoner. 
 
 What a monstrous mistake it is to present the 
 most orthodox of theology in such a way as to 
 draw attention to it alone ; and project it before 
 the cross of the crucified Lamb of God. Paul was 
 scrupulously careful never to play the theologian
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 51 
 
 at the expense of the Christ-preacher. He deter- 
 mined to know nothing but Christ and him cruci- 
 fied. Wherever he stood whether before scowl- 
 ing Pharisees or Roman pro-consuls or poor cripples 
 at Lystra, or conscience-stricken sinners in a Mace- 
 donian dungeon he just aimed to make them sec 
 no one but Jesus only. 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 Fidelity on the part of God's minister is the first 
 step commonly towards bringing back to fidelity a 
 delinquent church-member. The same infallible 
 Teacher who commands us to "exhort," also com- 
 mands us to "rebuke." At all hazards, desertion 
 is a sin to be dealt with in earnest. Even a rebuke 
 may be red-hot with love. 
 
 It is often wise to take a man at his own valua- 
 tion, and let him know that you need him. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 There is no greater mistake than to present 
 Christ our Elder Brother to mankind in too sombre 
 an aspect, as the Man of Sorrows and mainly as 
 the righteous condemner of sin. Rather should 
 we present him as both loathing sin and loving 
 the sinner. He came into the world not to con- 
 demn the world, but that the world through him 
 might be saved.
 
 C2 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 L. 
 
 Everything that can be known about Calvin the 
 world is anxious to hear. Presbyterians cherish 
 his very shos-latchct. He not only organized their 
 church-system, but became the great organizing 
 spirit of the Reformed churches throughout Europe. 
 For the majestic doctrine of the Divine Sovereignty, 
 Calvin did what Lord Bacon did for the philosophy 
 of Induction. For republican freedom he did a 
 work that made Geneva not only the freest but the 
 most virtuous city on the Continent. It was not 
 only Edwards who built on foundations which 
 Calvin had laid ; but in building up free common- 
 wealths, John Hampden, William the Silent, and 
 George Washington reared on these same founda- 
 tions too. It is not too much to say that John 
 Calvin underlies not only all the sound Piblical 
 theology, but all the republican liberty upon the 
 globe. Even the most sagacious Romanists con- 
 fess that his immortal Institutes constitute the 
 Koran, or rather the Talmud of the Protestant 
 heresy. 
 
 When a city is taken a sudden assault may place 
 the conquering flag on the ramparts, yet for many 
 months that conqueror may have been battering 
 at the walls. The truth by which Calvin's strongly- 
 fortified heart was stormed and carried by the Spirit 
 was the simple, irresistible truth that Jesus Clirist 
 died to save sinners.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 53 
 
 LI. 
 
 A smooth popularity-hunting preacher is gener- 
 ally safe in " kings' houses," but the Luthers find 
 their meed in Wartburg castles. The Latimers and 
 the John Husses have their earnest voices smoth- 
 ered at the crackling stake, amid fire and smoke 
 and the tongues of the bold John Baptists are only 
 safe to Satan's tyrants, when " the head is brought 
 
 in on a charger.' 
 
 LIT. 
 
 The great power of a good pastor over his people 
 is heart poiver. Intellectual brilliancy may awaken 
 the pride of a congregation in their minister; but 
 it is his affectionate sympathy and personal kind- 
 ness to them that awaken their love for him and 
 keep it burning. 
 
 The mass of sinful men are only to be reached 
 through their affections. Sympathy is power. 
 Christ Jesus did not win Zaccheus the publican, 
 by argument. He simply went to his house and 
 won him by a divine sympathy. 
 
 LIII. 
 
 No man should build so high, but the pulpit 
 should build above him. No reckless youth in his 
 wildest aberration of profligacy should ever reach a
 
 64 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 pitfall or a precipice that had not been mapped out 
 to him beforehand in the pulpit. And on life's 
 rough highway no sinning sufferer should faint or 
 fall, or be flung into thicket so dense and dark but 
 over him should bend Christ's messenger of love, 
 and into his bleeding wounds should distil the balm 
 of Heaven's Gospel. 
 
 LIV. 
 
 It is not easy to exhaust a man who is always 
 filling his head and heart from God's inexhaustible 
 reservoir. 
 
 LV. 
 
 All choicest things are reckoned the dearest. 
 So, is it too, in Heaven's inventories. The universe 
 of God has never witnessed aught to be reckoned 
 in comparison with the redemption of a guilty 
 world. That mighty ransom no such contemptible 
 things as silver and gold could procure. Only by 
 one price could the Church of God be redeemed 
 from hell, and that the precious blood of the Lamb 
 the Lamb without spot or blemish the Lamb 
 slain from the foundation of the world. 
 
 LVI. 
 
 The atoning blood is the central fact in the gos- 
 pel system. If we are justified, it is by faith in
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 65 
 
 Jesus' s blood ; if we are purified it is because that 
 blood cleanseth from sin ; if we ever gain admission 
 to the shining ranks of Paradise, it is because we 
 have washed our robes and made them white in the 
 blood of the Lamb. 
 
 LVII. 
 
 The Christian's heart understands the atonement 
 better than the Christian's head. It is a difficult 
 doctrine for the brain, but a sweet and simple one 
 to the affections. 
 
 Jonathan Edwards could not comprehend the 
 Atonement one whit more clearly nor intensely, 
 than the Dairyman's daughter when she sang to 
 herself 
 
 How glorious the grace, 
 
 When Christ sustained the stroke ; 
 His life and blood the Shepherd pays, 
 
 A ransom for his flock. 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 Let every troubled inquirer for salvation under- 
 stand that the atoning blood of Jesus alone can pay 
 the debt, and satisfy the demands of broken law. 
 When you accept Christ, the load is lifted off; 
 when the deadly disease is cured, the light, the joy, 
 the strength, pour in like sun-rays through an 
 opened window.
 
 53 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 The will and testament made by the atoning 
 Saviour can never be set aside or broken. All the 
 powers of Hell cannot cheat the humblest child of 
 Jesus out of his legacy. Every human being, lofty 
 or lowly, a prince or pauper, is invited to become 
 an heir. The estate is large enough to supply an 
 universe of sinners with an eternity of bliss. At 
 Christ's right hand are treasures and pleasures, 
 forever more. 
 
 LX. 
 
 It is an encouraging thought that Jesus is not 
 only seeking to save you, but he will miss you, if 
 you do not give your heart and your life to him. 
 As the shepherd in the parable left the ninety and 
 nine to hunt for the single straggler, so you may 
 gladly hope that Jesus wants you in his fold and 
 wants you in Heaven, or else he would not have 
 come so far and endured so much to save you. If 
 you leave yourself to die without him, there will 
 be one more soul in hell. But if he is left without 
 you, there will be one soul the less to chant his 
 praises in the Golden City ; he will have one the 
 less to present before his Father " with exceeding 
 joy." Surely there is a prodigious encouragement 
 in the fact that the Saviour is so intent to find you, 
 and therefore you ought to make a complete un-
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 57 
 
 reserved surrender of yourself to him instantly. 
 As a converted man once said to Doctor Wisner 
 of Ithaca "I discovered that accepting Christ 
 was only a moment's work as soon as I was in 
 earnest." 
 
 It ought not to be long before you who are seek- 
 ing Christ and the Christ who is seeking you, come 
 togctlicr. On your part there must be genuine 
 repentance of sin ; on his part there will be rescue, 
 and reception into his fold. When you heartily 
 trust him for salvation he will entrust himself with 
 your salvation, and the momentous question is 
 settled. As soon as you give yourself to the 
 Saviour the Saviour gives himself to you, and there 
 will be joy on both sides. 
 
 That is a fine stroke in the paraole given by 
 Luke in his fifteenth chapter, which depicts the 
 divine joy of the Rescuer. When the loving and 
 looking shepherd "findeth the sheep, he layelh it 
 on his shoulders rejoicing" He is glad for the 
 sake of the rescued sheep, but still more for his 
 own sake. It was for the joy set before him that 
 he endured the cross of Calvary, and despised the 
 shame. 
 
 What a glorious satisfaction there will be on both 
 sides when you as a true penitent and Christ as 
 a true pardoner come together, and enter into a 
 partnership for eternity! That partnership he will 
 not be the first to break, for whom he loveth he 
 loves unto the end.
 
 58 RIGUT TO THE POINT. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 The costliest thing in the world is sin. It costs 
 purity of conscience, and costs the favor of God. 
 It will cost at the last the loss of Heaven. The sin 
 of grieving the Holy Spirit has cost many a one 
 everlasting perdition. 
 
 LXII. 
 
 It will require the opening of the books of 
 remembrance at the judgment bar to exhibit in its 
 completeness the responsibility of individuals in 
 each other's actions. How this partaking in other 
 men's sins will complicate the decisions of that 
 day ! How interwoven will be the web of human 
 influence ! And how many a sin will wander 
 about that countless multitude of waiting men 
 searching for its real owner, until it fastens on 
 some individual who, for the first time, shall 
 appear to those around him, and perhaps to him- 
 self, as having been a thief, or a blasphemer, an 
 adulterer or a murderer ! 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 We have read of a singular tree that forcibly 
 illustrates the deceitfulness of sin. It is called 
 the Judas-tree. The blossoms appear before the 
 leaves, and they are of brilliant crimson. The
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 59 
 
 flaming beauty of the flowers attracts innumerable 
 insects, and the wandering bee is drawn to it to 
 gather honey. But every bee that alights upon 
 the blossoms imbibes a fatal opiate, and drops 
 dead from among the crimson flowers to the 
 earth ! Beneath this enticing tree the earth is 
 strewed with the victims of its fatal fascinations. 
 That fatal plant that attracts only to destroy, is 
 a vivid emblem of the deceitfulness and deadli- 
 ness of sin. For the poison of sin's bewitching 
 flowers, there is but one remedy. It is found in 
 the "leaves of the tree of life," that groweth on 
 Mount Calvary. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 Why should any man betake himself to a 
 Saviour, if he does not realize that he needs one, 
 and that there is an abominable and deadly evil in 
 his own heart and life that he must be saved 
 from ? When David's eyes had been opened to 
 behold the loathsome depravity of his own con- 
 duct, he asks for no compromise, but cries out : 
 " Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity." He 
 was ready to be thrown like a filthy garment into 
 the caustic alkalies, to be rubbed and mailed and 
 beaten until the black spots were cleansed away 
 from the fabric. Such an abhorrence of sin it 
 is the office of the Holy Spirit to produce ; there- 
 fore should we pray for the Spirit. Such a view of
 
 6D EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 his guilt it is the office of the minister to bring 
 before every unconverted man ; therefore should 
 the minister hold up the exceeding sinful ness of 
 sin. The clearer the view of sin the more thor- 
 ough is likely to be the repentance. " Ye must 
 be born again," saicl the Master to his anxious 
 inquirer Nicodemus. But the new birth or regen- 
 eration is the production of a new principle in us 
 which is antagonistic to sin as well as obedient to 
 God. 
 
 LXV. 
 
 If righteousness must be loved for its own sake, 
 so there is no virtue in avoiding sin simply 
 because it brings a sting in this life and hell in the 
 next. Iniquity must be hated because it is hate- 
 ful, and God abhors it. Some people avoid certain 
 sins as a house-cat avoids the cupboard for fear of 
 the cudgel of the cook. Holiness is dread of sin ; 
 not dread of perdition. 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 A man's besetting sin is the one that jumps 
 with his inclinations. Does he love mirthfulness ? 
 Then he must be careful lest he run into excessive 
 levity and play the harlequin. He will be tempted 
 to make jests of sacred things. A minister ought 
 not to be a monk; but neither should he be a
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 61 
 
 social comedian. Docs a man love ease ? Then 
 he always interprets those Providences in his own 
 favor which allow him to shirk hard work and 
 swing in his hammock. Does he love flattery and 
 eclat ? Then he is tempted to seek applause, and 
 to imagine that he is serving God when he is only 
 burning incense on the altar of self-worship. The 
 worst enemy is the one which wears an honest 
 disguise. Look out for selfisliness. It is the "old 
 Adam " lurking behind every hedge. It will al- 
 ways keep pace with you if you give it the upper 
 hand. Keep no league with it ; for Christ will 
 never abide in the same heart with that subtle and 
 greedy tyrant. A Christian is never safe, never 
 strong, never true to Christ, unless he is constantly 
 "collaring" every sinful and selfish passion, and 
 forcing it into unconditional surrender. 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 It is not the gale which carries so many on the 
 rocks or the quicksands. It is the silent under- 
 current. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 A man may be crushed by an avalanche, or 
 poisoned by an atom of strychnine ; each one 
 takes life ! And the sin that keeps you from 
 Jesus takes your life for all eternity.
 
 62 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 Repentance is put before faith in God's word. 
 We must abhor evil before we cleave to that which 
 is good. Do you abhor your past sinfulness, and 
 are you ready to abandon your sinful practices, 
 without any exception ? This is a question to take 
 precedence of all others. While the love of sin 
 remains, the heart cannot love the spotless Saviour. 
 There is no room for both. God will not accept a 
 corner, and leave to Satan the "chief seats" in the 
 soul. " Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye 
 search for me with all the heart." It is the com- 
 promise with favorite sins which produces shallow 
 conversions, and stunted Christians. Pray for deep 
 conviction, and a thorough uprooting of evil prin- 
 ciples and inclinations. A true Christian must not 
 only do a great deal of sincere loving, but also a 
 great deal of honest hating. Doctor Johnson loved 
 " a good hater." Until an awakened sinner so hates 
 sin as to lock it out, he has no room for Jesus to 
 dwell within him. 
 
 In this conflict with sin, you will soon find that 
 you can accomplish nothing without the help of 
 the Holy Spirit. Not by your own might, not by 
 your own power, "but by My Spirit, saith the 
 Lord." You must conspire with, and work with, 
 that Divine Spirit. Where he presses you, yield ; 
 whither he leads, follow ! This demands constant 
 prayer for his guidance. Are you asking this with
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 63 
 
 all sincerity ? In prayer, you ought to go over the 
 whole ground of your weaknesses and wants as 
 a gardener puts his spade into every inch of the 
 soil in order to clear out the weeds and to break 
 up the ground for the valuable seeds. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 The best drainage of a farmer's field is sub-soil 
 drainage. In our churches we need a sub-soil 
 repentance. It must cut deep. It must cut up 
 sin by the root. If the ploughshare run through 
 the flower-beds and melon-patches of one of our 
 self-indulgence, so much the better. The trench 
 that drains off our sins will be a channel for the 
 sweet, life-giving waters of salvation. 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 At the close of one of his busiest days of labor, 
 our Lord finds himself on the eastern shore of Lake 
 Gennesareth. He says to his followers: " Let us 
 cross over unto the other side. There is substan- 
 tially the imitation to every unconverted soul. For 
 there are two "sides" in life a wrong side and 
 a right side ; a side on which Satan reigns and a 
 "Lord's side" where his word is a light unto the 
 footsteps. On one side his guilt and over it hangs 
 the cloud of condemnation. No man can be on 
 both sides, if he try ever so hard. Woe be to him
 
 64 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 if his professions place him on the Lord's side, 
 while his affections and his conduct are on the side 
 of the enemy. 
 
 Christ draws sharp lines, and allows no neutrali- 
 ties. I do not read of any place in Heaven far 
 neutrals. 
 
 LXXII. 
 
 A vague desire to be better, stronger, holier, will 
 come to nothing. Character is built, like the walls 
 of an edifice,, by laying one stone upon another. 
 Lay hold of some single fault and mend it. Put 
 the knife, with God's help, to some ugly besetting 
 sin. Stop that one leak that has let so much foul 
 bilgewater into your soul. Put into practice some 
 long neglected duty. 
 
 LXXIII. 
 
 The fatal mistake of many people is that they 
 seek for a cheap religion. Some preachers and 
 teachers in their desire to recommend the glorious 
 freeness of the Gospel and the simplicity of faith, 
 hold out the idea that it is the "easiest thing in 
 the world to become a Christian." They hold up 
 very attractively summer religion which is all clear 
 weather and sunshine, and Christianity as a sort of 
 close-covered carriage, in which one can ride for 
 nothing and be safely landed, without too many
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 65 
 
 jolts at the gateway of Heaven. Very little allow' 
 ance is made by these rose-water teachers for the 
 stubborn depravity of the human heart, for the 
 tremendous power of the Adversary and for the 
 poisonous atmosphere through which one must 
 fight his way to the " prize of the high calling." 
 Grand old Samuel Rutherford in his nervous, incis- 
 ive way, says : " Many people only play with Chris- 
 tianity and take Christ for almost nothing. I pray 
 you to make your soul sure of salvation, and the 
 seeking of Heaven your daily work. If you never 
 had a sick night and a pained soul for sin, ye have 
 not yet lighted upon Christ. Look to the right 
 marks ; if ye love him better than the world, and 
 would quit all the world for him, then that proveth 
 that the zuork is sound," Probably no writer has 
 ever combined the richest ecstacies of devotion 
 with a more pungent exhibition of the plainest rules 
 of every day morality. The first step toward a 
 genuine abiding Christian character is repentance 
 of sin. No man can cleave to his sins and lay hold 
 of Christ with the same hand. No man can turn 
 to the Lord until he has turned his back upon his 
 evil practices and is willing to thoroughly amend 
 his ways and his doings. 
 
 LXXIV. 
 
 Christianity is more than prohibition of iniquity, 
 it is the performance of Christ's commandments.
 
 60 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 The only way to get sin out of our lives, is to 
 get sin out of our hearts, and the only effectual 
 way to accomplish that is to admit Jesus Christ 
 into our hearts. 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 The only effectual repentance is to abandon 
 known sins. The only effectual faith is to begin to 
 keep Christ's commandments with Christ's help. 
 Do not wait for harrowing grief, or some thunder- 
 clap of excitement. Fears do not save a soul. 
 Felix was "terrified," but did not flee to the only 
 Saviour. Religion is not mere emotion of any 
 kind. Saving faith is simply renouncing self, and 
 laying hold on Jesus. Immediate surrender brings 
 immediate salvation. "Follow Me" signifies 
 go where I lead, and do what I command, and thou 
 shalt have treasure in heaven. 
 
 LXXVI. 
 
 Repentance is not merely sorrow for past sins ; 
 it is abandonment of our own specific sins. 
 
 LXXVII. 
 
 The young ruler who came to Jesus with the 
 inquiry on his lips, " Good Master, what good thing 
 shall I do that I may have eternal life ? " has
 
 RIGHT TO THE POIAT. 67 
 
 always been to me an object of intense interest and 
 sympathy. We are taken with his frankness and 
 our highest expectations are excited that he will, 
 like Matthew and Nathanael, promptly grasp the 
 boon that is offered him. There is something 
 exceedingly touching in the artless naivete with 
 which he says to Jesus ; " All these commandments 
 have I kept from my youth up. What lack I 
 yet ? " Scores of just such persons are to be found 
 in our congregations, and in nearly every inquiry- 
 meeting we encounter them. They desire to be 
 saved. They have a large " invoice " of goods to 
 exhibit. They have rather fattened their self- 
 esteem by feeding on the rich morsels of their own 
 merits. Having done so much for themselves and 
 by themselves they stand ready to do more yet, 
 provided they can do it in their own way. The 
 Omniscient Saviour read that self-righteous youth 
 to the very bottom ; and he thrust the probe into 
 him until it touched the quick. He knew per- 
 fectly well what the ruler's besetting sin was, and 
 just what amputation was required in order to save 
 his soul. Selfishness was that sin. The knife 
 must cut that out, or there was no hope of a life 
 eternal. The prize was magnificent, and the sacri- 
 fice must be proportionate. " Give up your pos- 
 sessions and take up a cross for me ! " That was 
 Christ's close and searching test. Nothing less 
 than that. "Follow Me and thou shalt be rich in 
 Heaven." A glorious offer, but Heaven was a
 
 68 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 great way off, and the wealth of this world was 
 just at hand and had possession of the young 
 ruler's heart. He did not so much own them as 
 they owned him. If he had been willing to part 
 with them and to cast in his lot with the lowly, 
 persecuted Son of God, he might have been 
 immortal in the same illustrious bead-roll with 
 Peter, the fisher of men, and Matthew, the gatherer 
 of tribute for the King. But alas ! he clings to 
 his besetting sin and goes away sorrowful. As the 
 original Greek has it, "he went away frowning. " 
 Disgust at the hard terms and disgust with him- 
 self clouded his brow. The frown which lowered 
 there was a type and a precursor of the heavier 
 frown which is likely to meet him when he stands 
 before that rejected Saviour as his rejecting Judge. 
 Dante, in his "Inferno," pictures this unhappy 
 young man as blown about like a withered leaf in 
 the regions of the lost "the shade of him who 
 made, through cowardice, the great refusal." This 
 describes exactly the condition of thousands. They 
 are offered a great salvation on the simple terms 
 of quitting their own favorite sins and their own 
 self-righteousness, and doing God's will. The 
 issue is sharp and distinct. It is yes or no. The 
 pressure of the Divine Spirit upon your conscience 
 is to let go your sin and cleave to Christ. One or 
 the other you must give up. You cannot keep 
 both. The young ruler could not serve Christ 
 and Mammon.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 69 
 
 LXXVIII. 
 
 An earnest, resolute setting about the work of 
 repentance, and of seeking God, seldom fails. 
 
 LXXIX. 
 
 Saving faith is not an opinion ; it is a transac- 
 tion by which the believing soul joins itself unto 
 Christ Jesus, who saith unto such a soul " I am 
 thy salvation." The stronger the faith is, the more 
 stable and serene is the sense of security which the 
 believer feels. Spurgeon has happily observed that 
 faith is the milk and assurance is the cream which 
 rises on it ; the richer the milk the more abundant 
 the cream. Faith is life, although it may be a 
 very feeble life in many hearts. On this April 
 day the little modest arbutus may be about the 
 only flower peeping out after the exit of the winter ; 
 but it is the substance of things hoped for, when 
 warmer suns will have brought the wealth of June 
 roses. The life which Jesus imparts is the main 
 thing ; having that, every believer should aim to 
 have this life more abundantly. A higher degree 
 of faith will bring more vigor, and joy, and con- 
 quering power, and these will bring clear, strong 
 assurance. 
 
 Peter possessed some measure of faith when he 
 cried out to his Master from the boisterous waves 
 " Lord, save me." The Holy Spirit had given him
 
 70 RIGIIT TO THE POINT. 
 
 a far higher attainment of knowledge and soul- 
 trust, when he proclaimed in the market-place of 
 Jerusalem, "This is the stone which was set at 
 naught of you builders, which is become the head 
 of the corner." Saul of Tarsus had an infant faith 
 born within him when he was groping about the 
 house of Ananias at Damascus. The infant was 
 crying for the light and had not yet received the 
 full inpouring of the Holy Spirit. But the infant 
 had grown into a giant when Paul the veteran 
 reached up to the eighth chapter to the Romans, 
 and could shout " I am persuaded that neither 
 death nor life, angels or principalities or powers, 
 things present or things to come, nor height or 
 depth, nor any other creature shall be able to sep- 
 arate me from the love of God which is in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord." 
 
 This was full assurance. Paul had the witness 
 of the Spirit that he was a saved man in Christ. 
 There was an inward conviction and an outward 
 life, and the two were correlated as root and tree- 
 trunk ; they both corresponded to the Holy Spirit's 
 description of the true Christian as revealed to us 
 in the Word. When a tree produces the leaves of 
 the cherry, and the blossoms and fruit of the cherry, 
 we are confident that it is a cherry-tree. When a 
 man possesses a trust in Jesus and a love for Jesus 
 in his soul, and honestly endeavors to keep the 
 commandments of Jesus, he has the witness of the 
 Spirit that he is a child of God. He is one of the
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 71 
 
 family. He has passed from death unto life. The 
 curse has been taken away, and there is no con- 
 demnation resting on him, because he is in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 LXXX. 
 
 It is not every faith that saves the soul. There 
 may be a faith in a falsehood which leads only to 
 delusion and ends in destruction. When the 
 Eddystone lighthouse was to be built, Winstanly, 
 the noted engineer, contracted to rear a structure 
 which should withstand the assaults of time and 
 tempest. So confident was his faith in the showy 
 structure of his own skill, that he offered to lodge 
 in it with the keeper through the autumn gales. 
 He was true to his word. But the first tremendous 
 tempest which caught the flimsy lighthouse in the 
 hollow of its hand hurled both building and builder 
 into the foaming sea. We fear that too many 
 souls are rearing their hopes for eternity upon the 
 sands of error, when the testing floods come and 
 the winds beat upon their house it will fall, and 
 sad will be the fall thereof. 
 
 Faith is simple and entire reliance upon some- 
 thing or somebody. 
 
 " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou 
 shalt be saved," was Paul's answer to the most 
 important question that human lips can utter. 
 Not in Christianity but on Christ. It is not
 
 72 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 enough to believe in the Christ described in the 
 New Testament. Millions of unconverted people 
 do this, just as they believe in Wilberforce as a 
 noble philanthropist, or Lincoln as an unselfish 
 patriot. But these, whose judgments assent to 
 Christ's wonderful beauty of character, do not 
 entrust their souls to him as an atoning Redeemer. 
 They do not rely on what he has done for them, or 
 promises to do. They do not put themselves into 
 such spiritual connection with him that they draw 
 from his divine life their own inner life, as a grape 
 cluster draws its substance from the vine. When 
 the miner looks at the rope which is to lower him 
 into the deep mine, he may coolly say to himself, 
 " I have faith in that rope. It looks well made 
 and strong." That is his opinion, but when he 
 grasps it and swings down by it into the dark, 
 yawning chasm, then he is believing on the rope. 
 This is more than an opinion ; it is a voluntary 
 transaction. The miner just lets go of his foot- 
 hold and bears his entire weight on those well- 
 braided strands of hemp. Faith is the cling to 
 the rope, but it is the rope itself which supports 
 him. When a human soul lets go every other 
 reliance in the wide universe, and hangs entirely 
 upon what Jesus has done and can do for him, then 
 that soul " believes on Christ." To him that 
 believer intrusts himself for guidance, for pardon, 
 for strength and for ultimate admission into the 
 exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 73 
 
 LXXXI. 
 
 Faith is a sensible act. Do you consider it a 
 sensible thing to purchase a United States govern- 
 ment bond ? Yes ; because it gives you lien on all 
 the resources of the great republic. So the highest 
 exercise of the reason is to trust what the Almighty 
 God has said, and to rely on what he has promised. 
 Infidelity plays the idiot whe'n it rejects God, and 
 pays the penalty. Faith is wise unto its own sal- 
 vation. Faith is salvation ; unbelief is suicide. 
 
 Faith is a stooping grace. That heart-broken, 
 self-despising woman weeping on the feet of her 
 Lord, is a beautiful picture of lowliness and sub- 
 mission. Self must go down first, before- we can 
 be lifted up into Christ's favor and likeness. He 
 that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Pride and 
 self-righteousness were biting the dust when Saul 
 of Tarsus stammered out, " Lord, what wilt thou 
 have me to do." It is an accursed self-conceit 
 which prevents thousands from becoming Chris- 
 tians. On the low grounds falls the fertilizing rain 
 of heaven ; the bleak mountain-tops are barren. 
 God resisteth the proud and giveth his grace to the 
 lowly. Faith links us to omnipotence. 
 
 LXXXII. 
 
 A clipper ship crossing the Banks of Newfound- 
 land, in heavy weather, strikes an iceberg. She
 
 74 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 settles rapidly at the bow, and her captain and 
 crew have barely time to leap into the life-boat. 
 The question, " What must we do to be saved ? " 
 is answered by their prompt leap into the life- 
 boat, which is an act of faith. They trust their 
 lives to it for salvation. From immediate death 
 they are saved. But after the ship has sunk the 
 crew are still out in the deep and dangerous sea. 
 There is a second process necessary. In. order to 
 keep out of the trough of the sea and to reach the 
 distant shore, they must stick to the boat and pull 
 lustily at the oar. They must " work out their 
 salvation " now by hard rowing. But this is a 
 continued process of salvation, day after day, until 
 they reach the shores of Nova Scotia. Never, for 
 a moment, however, are they independent of the 
 life-boat. That must keep them afloat, or they go 
 to the bottom. At last, after hard rowing, they 
 reach the welcome shore. This is the third, final 
 and complete salvation ; for they are entirely 
 beyond any perils of the treacherous sea. Now 
 they are at rest, for they have reached the desired 
 haven. 
 
 LXXXIII. 
 
 Faith and Action have been the source, under 
 God, of everything good, and great, and enduring 
 in the Church of Christ ; the very church itself 
 exists through them. The early apostles went 
 with their glad evangel to the nations, under this
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 75 
 
 double impulse, and with this double watchword. 
 It was not enough to "believe my gospel," they 
 were also to "preach my gospel." It was not 
 enough to love in the heart ; the whole life was to 
 be an embodiment and outflow of love. It was 
 not enough to have a meek and gentle spirit ; the 
 young church was to return good for evil, and thus 
 overcome evil with good. The church was not 
 only to be sound in heart, but active in limb and 
 sinew also. It was to be a militant church, con- 
 tending earnestly for the faith delivered to the 
 saints a courageous church, standing fast for 
 the gospel a suppliant church, praying without 
 ceasing a busy church, redeeming the time 
 a patient church, bearing with all long-suffering 
 and a conquering church, to evangelize all nations. 
 Its model men were men of faith and action. 
 Through that apostolic Iliad, the great apostle 
 seems to fly like a thunder-bolt, kindling and con- 
 suming! At Lystra rebuking the deluded wor- 
 shippers ; at Jerusalem confronting the Pharisee, 
 and the rulers on the castle-stairs at Caesarea 
 startling Agrippa on his tribunal at Rome 
 preaching the reviled gospel, both in his " own 
 hired house," and in Caesar's palace he is every- 
 where the believer in full action, with the heart to 
 feel and the hand to do. And such have been 
 God's true evangelists ever since. Such were 
 Baxter, the indefatigable pastor, Edwards, the 
 perpetual thinker, Neander, the perpetual student,
 
 76 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 Owen, the perpetual writer, Knox, the untiring 
 reformer, Whitefield, the untiring preacher, and 
 Chalmers, who appears to have been pastor, preacher, 
 writer, thinker and reformer, all in one. 
 
 A faith sound as that of the Westminster Assem- 
 bly will not save the dying world around us, unless 
 it flows out into action. 
 
 LXXXIV. 
 
 In Great Britain no shipmaster is permitted to 
 use an anchor which has not been tested and 
 stamped with a government mark. If we wish to 
 know whether our faith has the King's mark on 
 it, we must examine his Word. A spurious faith, 
 full of flaws, cannot be relied on in a hurricane. 
 The metal of our faith, so to speak, must be from 
 God's Scripture-foundry. It must be lowered with 
 entire trust upon God, and not upon ourselves. 
 It must fasten itself to the everlasting veracity, 
 and power, and love, of the Almighty. Every 
 link in the chain cable is a divine promise. When 
 in the darkest night we heave out this anchor we 
 
 may wait confidently for the dawning of the day. 
 
 
 
 LXXXV. 
 
 Faith has its telescopes by which it penetrates 
 into the unseen worlds as distinctly as the tubes 
 of the astronomers take observations of the transit
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 77 
 
 of Venus. The holier our lives, the clearer will 
 be our spiritual vision. Sin blurs and bedims the 
 glass. If the heart be "single" to the glory of 
 God, and longs to do his will, our whole being 
 shall be "filled with light." 
 
 LXXXVI. 
 
 God often strikes away our props to bring us 
 down upon his mighty arms. What strength and 
 peace it gives us to feel them underneath us ! Far 
 as we may sink we cannot go further down than 
 those stretched arms. There we stop ; there we 
 rest ; and the everlasting arms not only sustain us, 
 but carry us along, as on eagle's wings. Faith is 
 just the clinging of my weak soul to the Omnipo- 
 tent Jesus. Its constant cry is, 
 
 I am weak, but Thou art mighty, 
 Hold me with Thy powerful hand. 
 
 LXXXVII. 
 
 The pathway of life has many a lion in it, and 
 our success and happiness depend very much on 
 the way we deal with them. Nearly all the strong- 
 est men in our cities had to encounter early poverty 
 and hardships ; their limited education was got at 
 the cost of self-denial and with no little trouble, 
 but learning was all the sweeter when they found 
 it in the carcass of the slain lion. Had there been
 
 78 RIGHT TO TUE POINT. 
 
 no Samson in all such young men they would have 
 been frightened by discouragement into a helpless 
 obscurity. One of the Christian leaders in New 
 York tells us that he never has found greater enjoy- 
 ment in his fine library than he found in the second- 
 hand book which he purchased with his first 
 shilling and read in his father's rustic cabin. 
 Every good enterprise has its lions. Things that 
 cost little, count little. When a handful of lignum- 
 vit& Christians undertake to build up a mission 
 school in some wretched neighborhood, or to build 
 a church in some destitute region, they find diffi- 
 culties " roaring against them " like the wild beast 
 in the vineyard of Timnath. These obstacles 
 endear their work to them. There is a spiritual 
 enjoyment in the after results of their hard toils 
 that they never could have known if their work 
 had been easier. One reason why the Gospel is 
 valued so little by luxurious dwellers in large cities 
 is that it costs them nothing to get it. A sermon 
 heard in a frontier clapboard church ( whose erec- 
 tion cost sharp sacrifice) after a ten-mile ride over 
 a country road, has some honey in it to a hungry 
 Christian. Reader, did you ever face a lion in 
 undertaking the spiritual reformation of some hard- 
 ened sinner? And had you ever a sweeter banquet 
 of soul than when you saw him sitting beside you 
 
 at Christ's table? Life's sweetest 
 
 enjoyments are gathered from the victories of faith. 
 Out of slain lions come forth meat ; out of conquered
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 79 
 
 foes to the soul come its sweetest honeycombs. One 
 of the joys of Heaven will be the remembrance of 
 victories won during our earthly conflicts. 
 
 LXXXVIII. 
 
 The real essence of faith is the entire letting-go 
 of self, and the cleaving to Jesus only. To put self 
 clean down, even to the abandoning of any self- 
 righteous idea of saving ourselves by prayer, church- 
 going, or any other good act, is essential to a right 
 trust in Christ. In homely phrase, you cannot 
 hang your hope on two hooks at once. Nothing on 
 myself ; everything on Christ must be your motto. 
 
 LXXXIX. 
 
 The man who is climbing the Alps must not 
 look too far ahead, or it will tire him ; he must not 
 look back or he gets dizzy ; he has but to follow his 
 guide, and set his foot on the right spot before him. 
 This is the way we must let Christ lead, and have 
 him so close to us also, that it will be but a short 
 view to behold him. 
 
 XC. 
 
 No vessel can sink or founder with Jesus on 
 board. No struggling soul, no struggling church, 
 no struggliug work of reform, ever went down when
 
 8D BIGHT TO THE PO/JVT. 
 
 the Son of God had set his divine foot within it. 
 Let the storms rage, if God sends them. Christ 
 can pilot you through. Let the midnight hours of 
 darkness come, if Jesus only comes through them 
 with the hailing signal, It is I ! There may be a 
 night coming soon on some of you, wh.en heart and 
 flesh shall fail you, and the only shore ahead is the 
 shore of eternity. If Jesus is only in the bark, be 
 not afraid. Like glorious John Wesley, you will 
 be able to cry aloud in the dying hour, " Best of 
 all, Christ is with me ! best of all, Christ is with 
 me!" 
 
 XCI. 
 
 This divine doctrine of trust is a wonderfully 
 restful one to weary disciples. It takes the tire 
 out of the heart. As the infant drops over on its 
 mother's bosom into soft repose, so Faith rests its 
 weary head on Jesus. He giveth his beloved sleep, 
 so that they may wake up refreshed for their 
 appointed work. 
 
 XCII. 
 
 When four rowers are in a boat, with their backs 
 toward the bow, their simple office is to pull the 
 oars. The steersman's offce is to look ahead and 
 work the helm. The moment that the rower turns 
 steersman and tries to look over his shoulder or 
 outpull his fellow oarsman, the boat loses headway.
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 81 
 
 So you and I are placed with our backs to the 
 future. In our hands are the oars of Christian 
 endeavor. Let God steer the boat and let us attend 
 to the oars. The sweetest thought to every true 
 believer is this My Master is at the helm. He 
 knoweth the way that I take. My times are in his 
 hand. It is not in me to direct my steps. His 
 grace is sufficient for me. I will trust. 
 
 XCIII. 
 
 Faith without works is dead. We may be in the 
 life-boat, but the life-boat is not Heaven. There is 
 many a hard tug at the oar, many a night of tem- 
 pest, many a danger from false lights, and many a 
 scud under bare poles (with pride's top-hammer 
 all gone ) before we reach the shining shore. 
 To the last moment on earth our salvation depends 
 on complete submission to Jesus. Without him, 
 nothing ; with him, all things. 
 
 XCIV. 
 
 Some unquestionable Christians worry them- 
 selves out of all peace and usefulness by a tortur- 
 ing habit of questioning their own faith and the 
 reality of their own conversion ; they count the 
 beats of their own pulse until they get to be mor- 
 bid hypochondriacs. 
 
 Brother, if you have taken Christ at his word,
 
 82 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 and surrendered your soul to his keeping, and 
 your life to his ordering, do not lie awake one 
 moment about your title-deed to Heaven. Go about 
 your life-work, and do it as thoroughly and con- 
 scientiously and cheerfully as Christ enables you 
 by his imparted grace. He is responsible for you 
 just as long as you abide in Him. 
 
 XCV. 
 
 Faith is cleaving to Christ. The value of it is 
 not in the mere act of cleaving, but in the glorious 
 sufficiency of the One to whom we cling. 
 
 XCVI. 
 
 Assurance of salvation by the Son of God is no 
 modern discovery. It is not a new invention, 
 " patented " by any school of Bible students. It is 
 as old as the Cross of Calvary. 
 
 XCVII. 
 
 " He that keepeth my words loveth me." If we 
 look carefully into this short sentence we find it 
 epitomizes both faith and works, both the inward 
 heart and the outward conduct. Love is an emo- 
 tion of the heart. It is an inward affection and a 
 principle. To love Jesus requires a change of 
 heart. No unconverted person in his native state
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 83 
 
 of depravity loves Jesus Christ. The beginning of 
 a trust and love for Jesus is the first work of con- 
 version. And the proof of such a heart-love is to 
 be found in the endeavor to keep Christ's com- 
 mandments. / In other words, the obedience to what 
 Jesus say's to us is the grandest and strongest evi- 
 dence of the new birth. / If we sincerely love our 
 Redeemer we will cherish his words and live and 
 act in constant submission to his will. To have 
 the very words of the Son of God carved as it were 
 upon our consciences and then to carve out the 
 daily life in conformity and likeness to these 
 heavenly injunctions, this is the very bean ideal of 
 true religion. He who attains nearest unto that 
 has reached the "higher life."^ 
 
 XCVIII. 
 
 Loyalty to the principles of God's Word, loyalty 
 to the everlasting right, must be embedded in the 
 conscience and control the conduct, or else we 
 drift upon the rocks. It is not strength of intellect 
 that saves a man, or the surroundings of society, or 
 alliance with a church, or even orthodoxy of belief. 
 All these have proved but cables of straw attached 
 to anchors of clay. We must have conscience 
 taught of God and held by God, or we drift upon 
 the lee shore. God never insures a man except 
 while his anchor is fastened to the divine principles 
 of right, with the cable of practical obedience.
 
 84 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 XCIX. 
 
 Obedience is the crowning grace of a follower of 
 Christ. Nay, it is the very essence of holiness. 
 
 C. 
 
 Prompt obedience honors God. Prompt obedi- 
 ence puts the soul immediately within the Almighty 
 hold. Prompt obedience saves. 
 
 CI. 
 
 When Jesus calls, your salvation depends on 
 prompt obedience. It was short work with Peter 
 when Christ said to him " Follow Me." Again was 
 it short work with him when he was sinking in 
 the waves and cried out " Lord, save me." It was 
 short work with the Philippian jailer when he 
 heard Paul's directions and threw himself into the 
 Saviour's arms on the spot. All the Bible narra- 
 tives (except that of Nicodemus), describe a prompt 
 action where salvation was secured. Prompt obe- 
 dience puts you into the omnipotent hold of Christ, 
 and none shall be able to pluck you out of his 
 hands. Prompt obedience saves/ 
 
 As long as you refuse to yield to Christ, he can- 
 not reconstruct your heart, any more than you can 
 liberate a canary-bird which refuses to come out of 
 the cage-door, and which flies back as often as you
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 85 
 
 take it out. God has endowed you with the power 
 of choice. You are a responsible moral agent ; 
 and if the Holy Spirit offers to renew your heart, 
 you must yield to him, or be lost. 
 
 CIL 
 
 True godliness of life and the true enjoyment of 
 life both depend upon a hearty, conscientious obedi- 
 ence to Christ's commandments. No man can pos- 
 sibly serve two opposing masters. 
 
 cm. 
 
 The essence of all piety is obedience to God It 
 is the eternal law of right put into daily practice. 
 
 CIV. 
 
 Sin can make us suffer, but it never can give us 
 solid satisfaction. It can torment, but it cannot 
 tranquilize. 
 
 Obedience to Christ is a wonderful tranquilizer. 
 Rest to a true Christion is simply the unhindered 
 permission to do his perfect will. Dam up a clear, 
 swift-flowing brook, and it foams with anger ; pull 
 away the obstruction and it joyfully darts along its 
 bright course wherever its silver feet shall lead it. 
 Peace is not dull stagnation ; it is the deep strong 
 current of a soul flowing in harmony with God.
 
 86 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 Until the soul throws itself down submissively 
 before Christ, ready to accept and obey him come 
 joy or sorrow, come pain or pleasure there can 
 be no conversion unto eternal life. 
 
 CV. 
 
 Conversion is rather a planting time with a soul 
 than its "harvest." It is a beginning of better 
 things ; not a consummation completed. 
 
 Conversion is the act of joining our hands to the 
 pierced hand of the crucified Saviour. The new 
 life begins with the taking Christ's hand and his 
 taking hold, in infinite love, of our weak hands. 
 All the strength which any converted soul possesses 
 is gotten through this contact and union with Christ 
 the Omnipotent. 
 
 It is not the opinion, it is the act which saves 
 your soul. 
 
 CVL 
 
 Life is a series of steps. Each step counts. 
 Coming to Jesus is a single step. It may be the 
 work of a moment. It may turn on a small pivot. 
 
 When Jesus commands a soul to follow him, he 
 furnishes not only the test of faith, but the touch- 
 stone of character. These two are comprehensive 
 words "follow me" were Christ's most com-
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 87 
 
 mon formula to those yet outside of the kingdom. 
 They were at once his awakening appeal ; his 
 direction to the inquiring heart, and his "confes- 
 sion of faith " and rule of daily conduct. 
 
 CVII. 
 
 Conversion is essentially a change of heart. 
 Sometimes it is described as a change of owner- 
 ship. God comes to a wayward, disobedient man, 
 and in a tone of authority and love says to him, 
 "My son, give Me thy heart." God addresses this 
 short sentence, one of the weightiest ever uttered 
 both as a demand and an invitation. He has a right to 
 make the demand, and his infinite love prompts 
 the invitation. In the human body the heart is the 
 central vital organ. By the play of its valves as 
 by the play of a piston-rod, all the blood in the 
 system is sent coursing through veins and arteries, 
 from head to foot. Once in every four minutes 
 each drop of blood passes through this central 
 organ. The strokes of its piston reach one hundred 
 thousand in every twenty-four hours. The cur- 
 rents driven forth at every stroke carry heat, 
 activity, and vital force to the furthest extremity 
 of the frame. From this wonderful bodily organ 
 the work is transferred to the mental and spiritual 
 nature. That inward power which drives the 
 current of thought, feelings, affections and volition 
 is called in the Bible, the " heart." It really means
 
 88 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 the whole inward life. If God gets the heart com- 
 pletely he gets the whole man. Give me thy heart, 
 means, give me thyself. 
 
 CVIII. 
 
 Do not say you cannot regenerate your own 
 heart. God's spirit can. He offers to do it. He 
 pleads with you to let him do it. Cooperate with 
 the loving and all-powerful Spirit. Pray for his 
 help. No farmer pretends that he can control 
 such forces of Nature (or Providence) or sunshine 
 and rain, but he can and does cooperate with 
 these forces, by plowing and sowing in the due 
 season. 
 
 You cannot control God, but you can let him 
 control you, and that is all he asks. 
 
 CIX. 
 
 If the owner of a garden allowed it to be over- 
 grown with nettles and Canada thistles, he may 
 well say that his garden is a dead loss. When a 
 human soul grows such weeds as selfishness, and 
 covetousness, and pride, and enmity, to Christ, it 
 is a lost soul. A future continuance of this con- 
 dition would not be Heaven, it would be Hell. 
 But if the garden were cleansed of the weeds, and 
 made rich with vegetables and fruits, and fragrant 
 with flowers, it would be saved. Precisely this
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 89 
 
 process of rescuing a human heart and human life 
 from the worthlessness of sin and devoting it to 
 the obedient service of God, is what is signified 
 by conversion. Unless the soul is thus converted 
 it cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. King 
 Charles the Stout sent a messenger to Notke, 
 a pious abbot, to inquire how he should save his 
 soul. The messenger found the abbot working in 
 his garden. "Tell his Majesty," said Notke, "to 
 do just what I am doing. Tell him that he must 
 pull up his vices, and begin to grow such graces as 
 God requires." 
 
 The foremost duty of every one of us is to save 
 our souls. To gain the whole world would be a 
 wretched equivalent for the loss of a good con- 
 science, the favor of God, and everlasting life. 
 The soul must be first. 
 
 CX. 
 
 Go into a vast iron foundry, and witness the ex- 
 traordinary processes by which fire conquers the 
 solid metal until it consents to be cast, or stamped, 
 or rolled into the form which the artificer desires. 
 This is a type of God's moral foundry, where an 
 obdurate heart is first so softened as to feel the 
 truth ; then to weep over sin ; then to be ductile 
 and malleable ; then so flexible as to be " formed 
 anew "into a shape that pleases the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. This melting process is wrought by the
 
 00 1U(41IT TO THE POINT. 
 
 Holy Ghost. Just what the fire accomplishes in 
 the foundry the infinite Spirit of love accomplishes 
 in a convicted soul. 
 
 CXI. 
 
 Oh, how rich God is ! He does not need to 
 copy himself. He loveth to please his own sov- 
 ereign skill. Some hearts he opens with the 
 gentlest touch of his love ; others he pryeth open 
 with the heavy bar of arousing judgments. Some 
 sinners are sweetly and quietly won to Christ ; 
 others are driven to him through the hail-storm of 
 threatenings and the thunderings of an upbraid- 
 ing conscience. 
 
 CXII. 
 
 Many a genuine conversion has been attended 
 by anguish of deep conviction and the rapture of a 
 sudden joy, but we doubt whether a majority of 
 the best Christians now living had precisely this 
 experience. For a sinner to wait for such an ex- 
 perience or to demand it from God before he will 
 obey the divine voice is both madness and pre- 
 sumption. 
 
 CXIII. 
 
 There are few startling religious experiences 
 recorded in the New Testament. There is, indeed,
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 91 
 
 one case of awakening which has much that was 
 dramatic in it the case of the jailer at Philippi. 
 There was one most extraordinary conversion, as 
 by a lightning flash, on the highway to Damascus. 
 Paul was the most extraordinary human character 
 in the Early Church. His regeneration was accom- 
 plished by some wonderful phenomena. But if 
 there had been no other awakenings recorded 
 except the one by an earthquake, and the one by a 
 "light from Heaven" and a supernatural voice, we 
 ordinary people might be perplexed and dis- 
 couraged. We might be left to wait and to 
 wait in vain for something "sensational" to come 
 upon us. 
 
 Instead of that, we find that the spiritual trans- 
 formations described in the New Testament were 
 commonly produced in the most quiet normal way 
 by calm appeals to the reason and the con- 
 science. 
 
 CXIV. 
 
 Many 'Christians cannot fix the precise date 
 of their conversion. The new life came to them 
 just as the dawn comes darkness slowly giving 
 place to steel-gray, and the steel-gray to silver, 
 and the silver reddening into ruddy gold and all 
 this done so quietly and so steadily that we were 
 unable to fix the precise birth-moment of the 
 day.
 
 92 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CXV. 
 
 "With the Jicart man believeth unto righteous- 
 ness." This is only another way of saying that a 
 man is justified before God by faith alone, and 
 saving faith is an act of the heart. Belief in Bible 
 truth is not enough. Trust in the divine testi- 
 mony is not enough. Faith, in order to secure our 
 salvation, must go down to the roots of the heart ; 
 it must take hold of the affections, subdue the will, 
 and change all the tastes, desires, and purposes. 
 Faith is really the act of trust by which one person 
 (the sinner) commits himself to another Person, 
 who is the Saviour. A personal relation springs 
 up between you and Jesus Christ. You surrender 
 your self-will and agree to submit to his will ; you 
 surrender the sins that you have loved in order to 
 please him ; you accept his commandments as 
 your rule of conduct ; you consent to Christ's 
 reign in your heart. Christ then begins to live in 
 your heart. A vital union is thus made between 
 person and Person, between your soul and your 
 Saviour ; this union is the very core and kernel of 
 saving faith. This constitutes true conversion. 
 
 Bear in mind that the heart is the fountain-head, 
 and the cleansing, purifying, changing work must 
 be done there. If that fountain be full of new and 
 godly affections and desires, it will cut a channel 
 for itself, and flow out into a stream of daily 
 religion. The fuller the fountain, the larger the
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 93 
 
 stream. The reason why many church- members 
 carry such a small " head of water " is that the 
 heart-fountain is so wretchedly scanty. You can- 
 not draw a river of godly activities out of a bucket- 
 ful of love to Christ. The fountain must dis- 
 charge a strong current in order to cut a deep 
 channel and to keep it full-banked with a steady 
 stream. Conversion is the Holy Spirit's change 
 of the fountain-head. The channel-cutting is 
 public confession of Christ. Keeping the channel 
 full is the life of godliness. 
 
 CXVI. 
 
 Genuine conversion brings the soul into a living 
 connection with Christ. He is the Vine, we are 
 the branches ; and as the flow of vital sap is essen- 
 tial to the verdure and the fruitfulness of each 
 tendril, so must the Christian draw his daily 
 supply of strength from him who is the Life. 
 
 CXVII. 
 
 There is a right way and a wrong way of look- 
 ing at almost everything. To a man who has no 
 eye for beauty, one of Claude's landscapes is 
 merely so much paint and linen canvass ; to 
 another it is a master-piece of golden sunlight, 
 bathing field and forest with its glory. . . The 
 difference between the thoughtless sinner and the
 
 94 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 same person after he is converted is, that he looks 
 at Christ with a new eye, and sees him to be the 
 very Saviour that he needs. 
 
 CXVIIT. 
 
 How am I to feel and what am I to do, if I 
 become a genuine Christian ? What are solid 
 evidences that I have come into the fold ? 
 
 Search yourself honestly, thoroughly ; dig down 
 deep, clear down under mere emotions, and lay 
 your foundations on the solid rock. To shed tears, 
 to "rise for prayer" in a meeting, to go into an 
 inquiry-room, to feel happy, are not in themselves 
 Bible tests of regeneration. Our Lord struck 
 down miles deeper than all these when he said, 
 " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
 kingdom of God." The new birth is the begin- 
 ning of a new light. The prodigal son in the par- 
 able had been dead, and was alive again. Being 
 "found" and coming to life are described as the 
 same thing. If you are alive, you ought to 
 know it. 
 
 Then probe yourself with such close questions 
 as these : Have I begun to hate the sins I used to 
 love, and have I given up the practices which the 
 Bible and my conscience condemn ? Do I pray 
 earnestly to be delivered from all sin, and watch 
 against it ? Have I submitted my will to Jesus 
 Christ, to let him rule me and own me, and guide
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 05 
 
 me? Do I distrust myself entirely, and trust 
 Jesus Christ only ? Do I feel a real satisfaction in 
 doing right and trying to please God ? Have I 
 begun to feel such an interest in others that I want 
 to do them good ? While the Holy Spirit is 
 working on me, do I work with the Holy Spirit ? 
 Do I honestly endeavor to live as I pray ? 
 
 If you can give the sincere "yes" of your con- 
 science and your conduct to such questions as 
 these, you cannot be mistaken in regarding your- 
 self as a converted man or woman. These are 
 Bible-evidences, and when the Scriptural die ans- 
 wers to the stamp on the coin of character, then 
 there is a "witness of the Spirit" that the work 
 is of God. If you find such evidences as these, 
 then you may thank the Lord with all humility 
 that Jesus has found you, and that you have found 
 Jesus. The Shepherd knoweth his sheep, but so 
 does the sheep know his Shepherd, and followeth 
 Him. 
 
 CXIX. 
 
 Conversion is a process somewhat similar to 
 what is seen on May-day in our towns when 
 houses change occupants. A converted heart ban- 
 ishes its old tenant, Satan, and welcomes its new 
 tenant, Christ Jesus. A thorough cleansing is 
 needful ere the Lord of purity will condescend to 
 make it his dwelling-place. Every room must be
 
 CO EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 purified, and set apart to a new use. Memory 
 must introduce its store of Scripture-truth, and 
 open its record-book of mercies. The imagination 
 must take down its sensuous and impure pictures, 
 and adorn the walls with those copied from the 
 Great Master. Into the inner chamber of the 
 affections, faith must come and set up her house- 
 hold altar. The windows of that room should 
 open towards the sunrising. The key of this 
 inner apartment in every regenerated heart belongs 
 to the blessed Jesus. " I will come in, and sup 
 with thee, and thou with me" are the gracious 
 words with which he often enters. 
 
 cxx. 
 
 Just as a liberal father establishes his son in 
 commercial business by furnishing him a certain 
 sum for his capital, so our Heavenly Father gives 
 the new heart as a Christian's capital. This is the 
 starting point. As soon as converting grace enters 
 the soul, its condition changes. At that moment, 
 by that act, the seeking sinner becomes the for- 
 given, the accepted, the adopted heir of God. And 
 the religious principle then implanted by the Holy 
 Ghost is the spiritual capital with which the new- 
 made heir begins his stewardship. Sometimes this 
 capital is furnished in childhood or in early youth, 
 and then a long " threescore and ten " witnesses 
 the growth of that soul into vast possessions
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 97 
 
 Sometimes a person begins late in life ; and then 
 like those who mistake their secular callings and 
 only get hold of the right occupation at forty, he 
 seldom becomes a spiritual millionnaire. In fact, he 
 does not get far beyond his original capital. It is 
 hard work to make a first-class Christian out of an 
 aged sinner. Old habits of sin have become invet- 
 erate. The best soil of the heart has been worn 
 out in growing enormous crops of tares. There is 
 a want of spring and pliability in an old man's 
 temperament ; he does not readily adapt himself to 
 new positions and new duties. As the merchants 
 who have accumulated the most gigantic fortunes 
 are commonly those who began to be rich before 
 thirty, so the richest Christians are usually to be 
 found among the converts of the Bible class and 
 the Sabbath school. God reserves the highest 
 reward to those who enlist the earliest and serve 
 the hardest and longest. 
 
 CXXL 
 
 Christ is the purifier of the heart. He who 
 walks in constant fellowship with Jesus hath the 
 clean heart and the holy life. And an active, 
 prayerful, loving mind, teeming with busy plans of 
 usefulness and swarming out into deeds of daily 
 beneficence, is a hive of blessings, not only to its 
 possessor, but to all who partake of its stores of 
 honey.
 
 98 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CXXII. 
 
 He can never be rich towards God who despises 
 a penny-worth of true piety. Holiness is just the 
 living to the Lord in the least things as well as the 
 greatest; for graces can only be gathered one by 
 one. 
 
 I count this thing to be grandly true ; 
 That a righteous deed is a step toward God, 
 Lifting the soul from its common clod 
 To a purer air, and a clearer view. 
 
 Heaven is not reached by a single bound 
 But we build the ladder by which we rise 
 From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 
 And we mount to its summit round by round. 
 
 CXXIII. 
 
 Instead of picketing the whole road to Heaven 
 by sharp prohibitions, the Word of God puts faith 
 at the entrance gate, and lines the pathway with 
 the rewards of obedience, and makes crosses turn 
 to crowns, and keeps in view the prize of the high 
 calling of God in Christ Jesus. Before us ever 
 walks our Lord and Master. His winning com- 
 mand is, " Learn of me." His promise is that we 
 too shall be anointed with the oil of gladness, if we 
 turn to righteousness and abhor iniquity. And to 
 those who fulfil these two tests an abundant en- 
 trance shall be ministered unto Heaven.
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 99 
 
 CXXIV. 
 
 Holiness is constant agreement with God. It 
 is the agreement of love deeper even and sweeter 
 than the most unbroken wedlock. From this har- 
 mony of soul with the Divine Will flows a great 
 deep, broad river of peace, which passeth all un- 
 lerstanding and fathoming. This stream grows 
 deeper and wider until like an Amazon it empties 
 into the ocean of eternal love. The holy believer 
 who accepts God's promises more readily than the 
 best government bonds, who shapes his life in 
 conformity with Christ, who keeps his soul's win- 
 ^dowsopen towards the sun-rising, who makes even 
 a cross the ladder for a climb into a higher fellow- 
 ship with Jesus, who realizes that just before him 
 lies the exceeding and eternal weight of glory 
 cannot be made a sour or peevish or melancholy 
 man by any outward circumstances. 
 
 The holy-minded Rutherford of Scotland, wrote 
 most of his immortal " Letters " within the cell of 
 a martyr's prison. They read like leaves from the 
 tree of life, floated down on sunbeams. " Come, O 
 my well-beloved ! " he exclaims ; " move fast, that 
 we may meet at the banquet. I would not 
 exchange one smile of Christ's lovely face for 
 kingdoms. There is no house-room for crosses in 
 Heaven. Sorrow and the saints are not married 
 together ; or if it were so, Heaven would divorce 
 them." The holiness of such a man is not the
 
 100 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 enthusiam of a visionary or the mere outburst of 
 transient emotion ; it is the normal condition of 
 the man ; the wholeness of a soul that has been 
 transformed by grace into the likeness and the life 
 of Jesus Christ. Keeping Christ's commandments 
 keeps the eye clear, and the temper sweet, and the 
 will submissive, and the affections pure ; in these 
 lies the rich reward. 
 
 Purity of soul is like purity in gold, where the 
 hottest fires turn out the most refined and precious 
 metals from the crucible. 
 
 cxxv. 
 
 The road to Heaven is full of obstacles. They 
 lie right across every sinner's path; and like the 
 ice-floes around the boat, they will not remove 
 themselves. And the reason, my unconverted 
 friends, why you are not Christians to-day, is that 
 you have not yet pushed away these obstacles. An 
 energetic young man who starts life with a pile of 
 hindrances at his bow, understands that the battle 
 of life is to smash through them. David Living- 
 stone, when a factory-boy and fastening his school- 
 books on his loom to study Latin, was practising 
 this process. Afterwards on reaching Africa, the 
 natives of the coast, looking at his English trousers, 
 say jeeringly, "This Englishman hides himself in 
 bags to look stout; he will soon give out." The 
 taunt fires Livingstone with fresh determination,
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 101 
 
 and he plants the signal-lantern of the Gospel in 
 the heart of Ethiopia. 
 
 Persistent push is indispensable to your salvation. 
 The Bible has so much to say about "looking 
 back" and faltering and "drawing back to perdi- 
 tion," because its author knows the weak points in 
 human nature. To enter into the strait gate 
 requires striving. To overcome obstacles requires 
 might in the inner man, and that comes from the 
 Holy Spirit. Doctor Spencer tells us of a man 
 who once came bursting into his inquiry-meeting in 
 almost breathless excitement. The poor man had 
 been walking back and forth between his own door 
 and the meeting, until at last he said, " I am deter- 
 mined to go into that inquiry-room or die in the 
 attempt." In that fierce fight with a wicked heart, 
 he not only had to call on God's help, but he said 
 afterwards " If you expect God to help, you must 
 be perfectly decided." 
 
 The Bible makes much of determination. Choose 
 ye this day whom ye will serve. Strive to enter 
 in at the strait gate. See that ye refuse not Him 
 that speaketh. Quench not the Spirit. Escape 
 for thy life. All this style of admonition and 
 direction shows that the sinner has a host of 
 obstacles between him and Heaven ; and he must 
 push his way through, or perish forever. Do sin- 
 ful associates hinder you ? You must turn away 
 from them, or stop your ears to their ridicule. It 
 is better to stand the laugh of fools in this world
 
 102 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 than the frown of God in the next. There is not a 
 hindrance in your path that cannot be swept away 
 at once, if you are but determined, and will but 
 invoke the aid of the almighty, all-loving Jesus. 
 What won't move, can be made to. 
 
 CXXVI. 
 
 Beauty is that combination or harmony in color 
 or in form that gives pleasure to the eye of the 
 beholder. One of the profoundest prayers in the 
 Bible is that the beauty of the Lord our God may 
 be upon us. One of the richest promises is that 
 "The meek will He beautify with salvation," and 
 the loftiest ideal set before us, is the "beauty of 
 holiness." When our eyes gaze upon our en- 
 throned Saviour in his celestial splendor, then shall 
 they "see the King in his beauty." It was the 
 ineffable perfections of Jesus of Nazareth which 
 constitute not only the glory of the New Testa- 
 ment, but furnishes the most unanswerable argu- 
 ment for the essential dignity that was clothed in 
 human form. 
 
 CXXVII. 
 
 There is a right time as well as a right way to be 
 saved. And that is the time when the Saviour 
 calls us. His call is always immediate; i. e., he 
 never appoints a certam day in advance ; and when
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 103 
 
 that day is reached we are to repent and believe on 
 him. The only adverb he employs in his invita- 
 tion is now. He is so careful to keep us from any 
 reliance upon the treacherous to-morrow that he 
 never allows salvation to be possible for us except 
 "to-day." Oh, that lying, cheating, stealing, soul- 
 killing to-morrow ! How many has it seduced into 
 hell! 
 
 CXXVIII. 
 
 Your time is to-morrow ; God's time is to-day. 
 Unless you can agree to his time you are lost. 
 
 The omnipotence of the loving Saviour is never 
 pledged to any man who clings to his sinful ways, 
 or to his self-righteousness, or to his delusion that 
 to-morrow will be the best time to repent. 
 
 Christ's invitations and commands are all in the 
 present tense. To-day he says, " Come unto me, 
 and ye shall have life." If you persist in refusing 
 him, the dread day will surely come when he will 
 say "Depart from me ! " 
 
 CXXIX. 
 
 Every Christian in the world is a Christian 
 simply because he accepted Christ when he was 
 offered. Every impenitent sinner is yet one because 
 he chooses to be. 
 
 The salvation of every soul is to be settled
 
 104 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 directly between that soul and the atoning Jesus. 
 Any person or thought that comes between that 
 soul and its Saviour is a fatal impertinence. 
 
 cxxx. 
 
 The true thermometer of the Church, to indicate 
 its spiritual temperature, is the weekly gathering 
 around the mercy-seat. A cold prayer meeting 
 marks a cold church. It is at once the cause and 
 the effect of spiritual declension. A prayer meeting 
 "below freezing point" is a fatal indication. 
 
 What the steam cylinder is to the engine, that is 
 the prayer meeting to the Church. 
 
 CXXXI. 
 
 Prayer is the soul's telegraph. Our messages 
 go to the Intercessor with the speed of thought, 
 swifter than the lightning. The blessings asked 
 for are often sent with the promptness and velocity 
 of the Divine love. Like Daniel, we have the 
 coveted answer at once. Sometimes the answer is 
 delayed. Then is it our duty to pray on and to 
 wait ; for prayers are not commands, they are peti- 
 tions. Sometimes the reply comes in the shock of 
 an unexpected trial; it comes like a death- message 
 over the wires. Yet it was not sent by accident or 
 mistake. The Master knows what we need the 
 most, and faith can only sob out " Nevertheless,
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 105 
 
 Master, not as I will, but as thou wilt." If I put 
 my soul into connection with Christ in fervent, 
 believing prayer, I am only responsible for my 
 end of the celestial telegraph, and not for that 
 end of it that lieth in the bosom of the redeeming 
 love. 
 
 There is just as clear an exercise of faith in 
 receiving a denial or a trial without shrinking, as 
 there is in laying a petition before God. 
 
 CXXXII. 
 
 That God is the hearer of prayer who shall dare 
 doubt ? The sceptic here must seal his vision 
 " lest he come to light " and be persuaded. He 
 must mutilate most sadly the narrative of God's 
 providential dealings. He must erase from his 
 Bible the animating record of Jacob's midnight 
 struggles, the thrilling scenes of Elijah's wrest- 
 lings on Carmel and at Zarephath, the " evening 
 oblations " of Daniel, and the angelic deliverance of 
 Peter from the prison-cell. He must even give the 
 lie to that Ineffable Witness who descended him- 
 self from the upper sanctuary, and had there 
 beheld the gracious reception of his children's 
 prayers, and who has said to all trembling, sorrow- 
 ing, doubting saints 
 
 " Ask, and ye shall receive ; seek, and ye shall 
 find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," was 
 the reply.
 
 106 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CXXXIII. 
 
 One cleansing of a soul at the time of regener- 
 ation will no more keep a Christian forever pure, 
 than a single ablution of his face or form would 
 make his body clean for a life-time. The world 
 soils our souls every day. Each unholy thought, 
 each angry word, each act of deceit, each covetous 
 touch of gold, each insincere, unbelieving prayer, 
 each cowardly desertion of duty, leaves an ugly 
 spot. "Create in me a clean heart" is an every 
 hour's prayer for a Christian's whole life. 
 
 CXXXIV. 
 
 God does not give us ready money. He issues 
 his promissory notes and then pays them when 
 faith presents them at the throne. Each one of us 
 has a check-book. Just as every note of the 
 Bank of England represents just so much bullion 
 in its vaults, so a Christian's promises represent 
 "the unsearchable riches of Christ." His assets 
 are infinite. When we get bankrupt in duty, we 
 sometimes talk as if the divine grace had " sus- 
 pended," or " broke ; " but the failure is with us. 
 We do not go to the throne and present the prom- 
 ises for help. Jesus never repudiates ; he longs to 
 give more than we have faith to ask. If half the 
 time spent in worrying over our troubles were spent 
 in seeking God's help, we should sooner get relief.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 107 
 
 CXXXV. 
 
 Every true life of faith has scenes in it when 
 help comes as it did to Elijah at the brook 
 Cherith from an unexpected quarter. The raven 
 lights at our feet with food, and the dry brook 
 begins to sing again with water. I do not believe 
 that there is such a thing in the universe as a neg- 
 lected prayer ever breathed by docile, submissive 
 faith. Emptied of self, I am sure of being filled by 
 Jesus. 
 
 CXXXVI. 
 
 In drawing a check at the bank we never put 
 anything on the face of the paper but the sum of 
 money we require. Faith should be equally sim- 
 ple and concise when it " draws " on the Giver of 
 all grace. 
 
 CXXXVIL 
 
 In spite of seeming discouragements we are 
 never to grow faint in praying. An honest, perse- 
 vering faith a faith that works for the very 
 object that it is praying for a faith that holds 
 on in spite of rebuffs, is the faith that conquers. 
 For genuine faith creates such a condition of 
 things that it becomes wise for God to grant what 
 might otherwise be denied. 
 
 The Bible fairly blazes with the record of tri-
 
 108 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 umphs won by prayer. It was while that prayer 
 band in the " upper room " at Jerusalem were 
 pleading with the Mediator that the baptism of 
 heavenly fire descended. Peter's friends could 
 not consent to give him up to a bloody death 
 without one more effort at the mercy-seat. They 
 made it ; and he walked right into their -prayer 
 meeting a living witness to the glorious truth that 
 God honors persevering faith. 
 
 CXXXVIII. 
 
 God is a supreme and glorious Sovereign up on 
 his great white throne. We are responsible free 
 agents down here on his footstool. As a sover- 
 eign he has commanded us to pray to continue 
 in prayer, to pray without ceasing. He reserves 
 to himself the right to grant or to refuse the 
 specific thing we pray for. It is our right to pray, 
 and it is God's right to bestow just such answers 
 as his all-wise love may deem to be for the best. 
 We would define faith to be that child-like temper 
 of the soul which submits implicitly to everything 
 which God orders, but never submits to what God 
 can better. If we give up to discouragements 
 when we ought to battle against them or if we 
 submit to the absence of spiritual blessings with- 
 out an earnest endeavor, and a wrestling for them, 
 then are we wretched clods who deserve to suffer 
 the worst that can befall us.
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT, 109 
 
 A loving Father sits at the upper end of the 
 telephone] if we do our duty at this end, the 
 response will soon come back " Be it unto you 
 even as ye wish." 
 
 CXXXIX. 
 
 Depend upon it that heart is in a dreary and 
 dangerous state which has not had any visits from 
 the lowly Jesus for many a long day. 
 
 A closet whose hinges are rusty, and whose cob- 
 webbed silence is seldom broken by the voice of 
 secret prayer, will soon be a haunted place for 
 evil spirits to hide in. " Search me, O God, and 
 know my heart ; try me and know my thoughts, 
 and see if there be any wicked way in me." 
 
 CXL. 
 
 Morning is the golden hour for devotion. . . 
 . . . If stony Egyptian Memnon made music 
 when the first rays of the light kindled on his 
 flinty brow, a living Christian heart should not be 
 mute when God causes the outgoings of his 
 mornings to rejoice. 
 
 CXLI. 
 
 The bell-rope of fervent prayer reaches up to 
 the throne. Let us pull that bell in our time of
 
 110 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 need, with a strong hand. When thou hast pulled 
 it boldly, wait till the blessing comes. 
 
 CXLII. 
 
 Whatever David's own experience may have 
 been, he furnishes a golden prayer for universal 
 use in these pregnant, pithy words : " Say unto 
 my soul, I am thy salvation." 
 
 CXLIII. 
 
 A Christian church is not a social club ; it is a 
 Heaven-appointed institution a band of Christ's 
 redeemed followers, united for his worship for 
 their own spiritual edification and for the upbuild- 
 ing of the Lord's kingdom. Admission into a 
 church is not a whim, or a temporary arrangement. 
 It involves solemn vows and personal duties and 
 permanent obligations. The relation is not general, 
 but specific. What would be thought of that soldier 
 who should claim to belong to the United States 
 Army, but was never seen at the drill or the quar- 
 ters of his own regiment?/ Nor can any man or 
 woman claim to be a loyal member of his or her 
 church who never answers to its roll-call of duty, 
 who neglects its services, and shirks its responsi- 
 bilities and a proper participation in its worship 
 and its work. 
 
 The rolls of our churches are encumbered with
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. Ill 
 
 too many spiritual "deadheads," whose tie to the 
 church is a brittle thread. Commonly their tie to 
 the Lord Jesus is about as brittle and worthless. 
 Having no root in any specific soil, they do not 
 grow in grace ; having no pasture, they are not fed ; 
 having no chosen province or post of duty, they 
 become as homeless as tramps: and as useless as 
 drones. On the other hand, the vigor, the joy, the 
 usefulness, and the power of every Christian depend 
 largely upon his faithfulness to his own church. 
 His spiritual roots are there ; his influence casts its 
 shadow larger or smaller there ; the fruits of 
 the Spirit which he yields are a part of the vintage 
 of that particular vineyard. Such members are 
 the delight of their pastors. " Brethren," exclaimed 
 grand old Pastor Paul, " my joy and crown ! so 
 standfast in the Lord, my beloved." Every min- 
 ister soon comes to know who are his minute-men, 
 as well as who are his dress-parade members, and 
 who are the shirks.X In the Theban army was a 
 "Sacred Battalion," three hundred strong, who had 
 sworn a solemn vow to stand by each other and 
 their standard until the last drop of their blood was 
 spilled. These were the men for a close encounter 
 or a desperate charge. 
 
 The leader of every effective church knows his 
 sacred battalion. They are the weather-proof 
 Christians who consult conscience instead of the 
 barometer on Sundays. If the minister can turn 
 out to preach, they can turn out to hear him ; a
 
 112 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 sensible sheep always knows where he is salted. 
 The prayer gathering is their spiritual home for 
 home is where the heart is. To such members 
 hard work is a privilege, not a penance. Their 
 church has its right place both in their affections 
 and in their check book. When the roll is called 
 they always answer "Here!" Some one asked 
 Doctor Lyman Beecher, during the golden days of 
 his Boston ministry, how he accomplished so much. 
 His ready answer was, "It is not I, but my church. 
 I preach on Sunday, and four hundred faithful 
 members preach all the week." It is not the 
 leader, but the sacred battalion who carry the 
 enemy's redoubts. 
 
 Happy the minister who finds his sacred battalion 
 at their posts, ready for the burden, the bivouac, 
 or the battle. Faithful is the minister who can 
 recall the deserters, and bring new recruits to the 
 standard of King Jesus. 
 
 CXLIV. 
 
 Every true and timely moral reform should be 
 born and nursed, and reared and supported by the 
 Church of Jesus Christ. There is not a single 
 moral precept which sinful humanity needs, but the 
 Church should teach it ; there is not a wholesome 
 example to be set, but the Church should practise 
 it. That Christian church is the most Christ-\\k.e. 
 which does the most to "seek and to save the lost."
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 113 
 
 CXLV. 
 
 Some men's boughs hang over on the church side 
 of the wall, but their roots are on the world's side. 
 Such bear nothing but leaves. 
 
 CXLVI. 
 
 In a well organized army every man has his 
 place. The mathematical head goes to the engineer 
 corps. The medical skill and steady hand are 
 assigned to the surgical department. The sharp- 
 eyed man shall handle the Enfield rifle ; and the 
 well-taught graduate of a half-dozen hard fought 
 fields receives the sword of a brigadier. He who 
 has most of Napoleon in him soon fights his way 
 to the supreme command. A Wellington or a 
 Scott would not be more out of place in the ranks 
 than would a Paul or an Apollos be in spending 
 their precious time in teaching the children of a 
 mission school to read the alphabet. " Every man 
 in his place" is as much the motto of the Church 
 as it is of the camp. 
 
 CXLVII. 
 
 The presence of Christ can be traced in a church 
 as the presence of a stream of water can be traced 
 in California during the summer. Where the irri- 
 gating stream is carried there is a belt of emerald.
 
 114 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CXLVIII. 
 
 Christ never promises smooth water to his fol- 
 lowers. Nor is his Church a vast assemblage of 
 tow-boats, pulled along by the sheer power of the 
 Divine Will. Each Christian has his own oar of 
 personal responsibility to pull, and his own rudder 
 of conscience to steer with, and must "work his 
 passage" as a free agent. 
 
 CXLIX. 
 
 The religion of Jesus Christ is an experimental 
 thing something to be tested by practical results. 
 It claims an actual relation between sinful man and 
 his Heavenly Father ; between the sinner and his 
 divine Saviour. The salvation of any sinner de- 
 pends on his vital spiritual union to the Lord 
 Jesus. 
 
 Religion is not guess work. Every one who be- 
 comes Christ's actually " knows whom he believes." 
 
 CL. 
 
 One of the most substantial evidences of growth 
 in grace is that a man more and more loves to 
 obey Christ and comes to relish even the wholesome 
 severities of duty. It is equally true that in order 
 to make high attainments in religion, we must love 
 righteousness. We must love it because it is
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 115 
 
 comely and is pleasing to God. There is a great 
 difference between the boy who drudges through 
 his dry lessons in natural philosophy because he is 
 driven to it, and the boy who is so enamored with 
 physical science that he has a laboratory up in the 
 garret, and makes electrical machines of his own 
 out of old glass jars. Such boys make the Fara- 
 days and the Edisons. A bright youth in my Sun- 
 day-school spent his first pocket money in buying 
 pigments and brushes. To-day he is winning gold 
 medals in the Salon of Art in Paris. " I had hoped," 
 said a young man to D'Alenbert, "that my paper 
 would have given me a seat in the Royal Academy." 
 "Sir," replied the great philosopher, "if you have 
 no higher motive than that you will never get a 
 seat there." The man who keeps Christ's com- 
 mandments simply for selfish objects, does not keep 
 them, for the essence and flavor of all holy actions 
 lie in loyalty to Christ and to right for its own 
 sake. The moment that any religion becomes the 
 mere tug and strain of enforced obedience, all the 
 godliness has gone out of it. Adoption makes 
 children, not slaves. Love of Christ is the only 
 consecration. 
 
 CLI. 
 
 True religion is imitation of Christ ; the true 
 Christian is a follower of Jesus. Following implies 
 continuity. The train is not merely attached to
 
 113 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 the engine ; it pursues the same track over which 
 the engine leads. 
 
 Following implies obedience, for no soldier can 
 follow his commander unless he obeys orders. It 
 also implies imitation. "Learn of me," says the 
 Master, and, as the scholar who would be a good 
 penm ankeeps his eye on the copy, so the Chris- 
 tian must keep his eye on his Model. Jesus as a 
 Divine Saviour died for me ; but Jesus as a loving 
 man teaches me how to live. And there are two 
 characteristics of the man Christ Jesus given in 
 the first chapter of " Hebrews " that furnish the 
 surest tests of piety. It is there said of him that 
 he was exalted above his associates because he 
 loved rigJiteousness and hated iniquity. Let not 
 my reader be repelled by the word righteousness > 
 as if it had here a theological meaning and described 
 the penal satisfaction which the Redeemer made to 
 the divine law when he died for us. It simply and 
 honestly means the being and doing what is just and 
 right. And the word iniquity signifies whatever is 
 crooked ; whatever is twisted out of the right line. 
 Our common word is wrong i. e., what is wrung 
 out of its straight direction. A lie is twisted truth. 
 Fraud is a wringing out of shape of the eighth 
 commandment. 
 
 In these days we not only need to emphasize a 
 sound doctrine, but sound practice, for piety is a 
 Bible-creed crystalized into Bible-conduct. Back 
 of the conduct must lie a purified heart. Figs do
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 117 
 
 not grow from thistles. Create in me a clean 
 heart must go before all the rest, for out of the 
 heart are the issues of life. The inward fountains 
 of life must be cleansed and the will must yield its 
 helm to the commands of Christ. Sagacious Paul 
 describes it as "putting on the new man, which 
 after God is created in righteousness and true holi- 
 ness." The evidence of this " new man " is to love 
 right and to hate iniquity. 
 
 CLII. 
 
 If those who sneer at practical religion would 
 only seek it for themselves, and make a fair trial 
 of it, their lips would be sealed to scoffs, and only 
 opened in grateful praise. I never heard of a sincere 
 Christian who pronounced Christianity an impos- 
 ture or a failure The only satisfactory 
 
 test of Christianity is the test of personal examin- 
 ation and personal experiment. 
 
 CLIII. 
 
 Like the treacherous signal boats that are some- 
 times stationed by the wreckers off an iron-bound 
 coast, the shifting systems of false religion are con- 
 tinually changing their places. Like them, they 
 attract only to bewilder, and allure only to destroy. 
 The unwary mariner follows them with a trembling 
 uncertainty, and only finds out where he is when he
 
 118 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 feels his ill-fated vessel crashing into a thousand 
 fragments on the beach. But how different from 
 these floating and delusive systems is that unchang- 
 ing Gospel of Christ, which stands forth like the 
 towering lighthouse of Eddystone, with its beacon 
 blaze streaming far out over the midnight sea ! 
 The angry waves through many a long year have 
 rolled in, thundering against that tower's base. 
 The winds of heaven have warred fiercely around 
 its pinnacle ; the rains have dashed against its 
 gleaming lantern. But there it stands. It moves 
 not. It trembles not ; for it is " founded on a rock." 
 Year after year, the storm-stricken mariner looks 
 out for its star-like light as he sweeps in through 
 the British Channel. It is the first object that 
 meets his eye as he returns on his homeward voy- 
 age ; it is the last which he beholds long after his 
 native land has sunk beneath the evening wave. 
 So it is with the unchanged Gospel of Christ. 
 While other systems rise, and fall, and pass into 
 nothingness, this Gospel (like its immutable author) 
 is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. While 
 other false and flashing lights are extinguished, 
 this, the " true light," ever shineth. 
 
 CLIV. 
 
 The theory of all Redemption has its mysteries ; 
 the practical part of our religion which is trusting 
 and obeying a Redeemer, is no mystery.
 
 BIGHT TO THE POI.\T. 119 
 
 CLV. 
 
 True religion is simply following Christ. The 
 more closely our modern churches conform their 
 standards of doctrine to this brief, vital core, 
 truth, the more orthodox will they become, and the 
 less will they be rent into factions and distracted 
 with schisms. The true "Evangelical Alliance" 
 will always crystallize around Christ's person as the 
 ene only leader, and Christ's cross as the one only 
 ground of salvation. 
 
 CLVI. 
 
 A religion built on selfishness is worthless. The 
 sinful heart is the real citadel ; until that is sur- 
 rendered unconditionally, no blessing comes, no 
 sunshine breaks, no new life for God begins. No 
 compromise with sin can ever be accepted by the 
 all-holy Jesus ; and no conversion can be genuine 
 which does not radically change both character and 
 conduct. 
 
 CLVII. 
 
 Hardly any simile describes character better 
 than that of a fabric made up of innumerable 
 threads, and put together by numberless stitches. 
 
 A great many poor, slazy fabrics 
 
 have a smooth and substantial look, but in the wear
 
 120 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 of life they betray the weak spots and ravel out. 
 Some people also are not stoutly sewed ; they are 
 only basted. When the warp and woof of char- 
 acter is weak and worthless, when it is badly 
 rotted by sin there are two methods of repair. The 
 one is to patch up the old ; the other is to discard 
 it altogether and procure an entirely new fabric. 
 The first is man's plan ; the second is Christ's plan. 
 The fatal objections to the first method is that a 
 patched character does not look well, and will not 
 last. Harmony is a prime essential of beauty, and 
 a bright strip of virtue pieced in upon a godless 
 life only makes the rest of the fabric look more 
 unsightly. Nor is there strength enough in the 
 fabric to hold the incongruous patch. Christ's 
 method of dealing with human character is the only 
 thorough and successful method. He says, Behold, 
 I make all thinge new. If any man be in Christ 
 and Christ in him, he is a new creature. 
 The supreme gift of the Lord Jesus is a new char- 
 acter. The Apostles never wasted a moment on a 
 gospel of patchwork. Their twofold text was 
 " turn to the Lord," which meant repentance, and 
 " cleave to the Lord," which meant a life of faith 
 and holiness. 
 
 CLVIII. 
 
 God's grace is the only original source of the 
 light that makes any roan a luminary in society.
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 121 
 
 And when a man has once been kindled at the 
 cross of Christ, he is bound to shine. Neither 
 natural heart or stone tower are selfluminous. A 
 hand from without must bring them light. 
 
 CLIX. 
 
 Every Christian should dare to be singular. It 
 is of little account to be judged of man's judgment ; 
 he who judgeth us is the Lord. We are members 
 of society, and bound to contribute our very utmost 
 to its benefit ; but we do that best by remembering 
 that our first allegiance is to that Society whose 
 leader is Christ. We report to headquarters. The 
 first question with me as a Christian, is, What does 
 my Master command ? Would he approve my 
 mode of doing business, my style of living, my 
 amusements, my temper, my whole daily conduct? 
 If so, that is enough. 
 
 All the people who make a marked success in 
 life and who achieve any good work for God, are 
 the people who are not ashamed to be thought 
 singular. The man who runs with the crowd 
 counts for nothing. It is when he turns about and 
 faces the multitude who are rushing on to do evil 
 that he commands every eye. Then by a bold 
 protest he may "put a thousand to flight." So 
 the young monk, Luther, turned about and faced 
 the hosts of Papacy. His heroic " No," nailed on 
 the church door of Wittenberg, aroused Europe
 
 122 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 from its delusive and deadly dreams. Standing 
 alone, he was enforced by the Almighty. 
 
 I seem to see the burly Reformer as he came to 
 that spot, three hundred and sixty years ago, with 
 the immortal theses in one hand and his hammer in 
 the other. He does not dream himself what results 
 are to come from that simple deed. With sturdy 
 strokes he sends home the nails, until the ring of 
 that hammer begins to startle Germany out of the 
 slumbers of the Dark Ages. Germany has never 
 gone back into that nightmare of superstition ; but 
 Protestantism on the Elbe and the Oder is not 
 broad awake to-day. That hammer needs to ring 
 again. 
 
 CLX. 
 
 Unpopularity should be to us a guerdon of praise 
 when it is visited on a man for conscience's sake. 
 There is often more honor in a pillory than a throne. 
 
 CLX I. 
 
 Every true child of God is a citizen of Heaven. 
 Our homestead is on high. A part of the blood- 
 bought family are there already, and every day 
 witnesses the home-coming of thousands more. 
 Only a thin veil separates me from the multi- 
 tudes around the throne ; when death drops the
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 123 
 
 veil, I am there ! Here on earth I am but a pil- 
 grim a transient lodger, for this is not my rest. 
 Here we who are Christ's have no continuing 
 city ; we are seeking for and pressing towards the 
 magnificent city that hath foundations whose builder 
 is the Almighty. A wondrous comfort does this 
 thought bring to us amid the discomforts and the 
 sharp trials on the road. This life is only our 
 training-school to purify us and make us more 
 "meet " for the heavenly community among whom 
 we expect to dwell. The best citizens of this 
 Republic are those whose lives are loyal to the 
 higher law which God has written in his Word. 
 No statute is fit to be enacted which contravenes 
 God's truth ; and that professed Christian is a 
 coward and a traitor to his Master who does not 
 carry his religion into his politics as much as into 
 his business pursuits or his household. 
 
 " If ye love me," said our loving Redeemer, "keep 
 my commandments." The world around us has its 
 unwritten code of morals and of manners. It sets 
 up its standards and fixes its fashions to suit itself. 
 But they are no rule for you and me ; Jesus has 
 "chosen us out of the world," and given his own 
 life to be our standard and our pattern. Every 
 consistent Christian's motto should be I must 
 live for this world, and yet not be of it. Daniel 
 did his best service for wicked Babylon by keeping 
 his windows open towards Jerusalem, and by loy- 
 alty to its everlasting King. This world never will
 
 124 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 be converted by conformity to it ; but it will be 
 overwhelmingly impressed by the sight of a vast 
 body of people who should live and speak and act 
 as the citizens of Heaven itself. What a salt would 
 our influence be ; what a power would our example 
 be ; what a trumpet our every word ! 
 
 Let every Christian assert his high birth by his 
 high bearing. He is never to stoop to anything 
 low, never to be caught at contemptible tricks, 
 never found in suspicious places. As high as the 
 heavens are above the earth, so much higher 
 should a Christian's ways and words and whole 
 conduct be above the ways of sinners. He should 
 never " apologize " to the world for daring to do 
 right. 
 
 CLXII. 
 
 " How did Roger Sherman vote ? " inquired Mr. 
 Jefferson once as he entered the hall of Congress, 
 while a question was being taken ; and as the 
 story goes, he recorded his own vote on the same 
 side, without knowing much of the merits of the 
 question itself. This was a high tribute to the 
 good sense of the Connecticut shoemaker, and 
 proved him to be a man for others to steer by. 
 Now it is not improbable that our Saviour had 
 reference to the same thing in morals when he 
 told his disciples that they were "cities on a hill." 
 The idea seems to be something more than mere 
 conspicuousness. When the Great Teacher first
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 125 
 
 pronounced this memorable comparison of a good 
 man with a conspicuous city, his eyes may have 
 been looking to the ancient town of Saphet, which 
 stood upon a lofty elevation, high above the waves 
 of Galilee. It was in full sight and seen from 
 afar. It was as if he had said, " Ye are like yonder 
 city of Saphet, set upon a hill." That city is 
 always there, always in one place, lifting its white 
 domes to the morning sun, and flashing back his 
 evening rays from its high battlements. It is an 
 object to take the compass by an object by 
 which the traveller from Syria and from Lebanon 
 may guide his steps. The fisherman, as he pushes 
 his light shallop over the placid bosom of Gen- 
 nesaret, knows which way to steer his little craft, 
 for yonder looms up Saphet, the " city on a hill." 
 The dwellers hard by knew which way was north, 
 and which was south, by looking out towards the 
 lofty city. It was ahvays on its hilly throne. So 
 it is with a man of Bible principle. He is a 
 moral Saphet. Other men can steer by him. 
 Other men often judge of the wisdom or rightful- 
 ness of things by the position which he occupies. 
 He is on a hill firm, well-established, not seeking 
 to be conspicuous, but yet not ashamed to be seen. 
 It requires a sound conscience to be all this. It re- 
 quires grace. It requires holy and consistent living. 
 This controlling and directing godliness of charac- 
 ter " goeth not out " but by much prayer, watch- 
 fulness, self-denial, and careful walking with God.
 
 126 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CLXIII. 
 
 If there was not another person on the globe 
 but myself, I ought to be a Christian for my own 
 sake. Life is only pure when it is under God's 
 control ; life is only happy when we can enjoy 
 communion with God. Death is only safe when 
 it is a departure "to be with Christ which is 
 far better." 
 
 CLXIV. 
 
 While riding across the hot and parched valley 
 of the Jordan, you have ever in your eye a luxuriant 
 belt of foliage ; it marks the course of the river 
 itself. That thick growth of oleanders, tamarisks, 
 and other trees is " planted by the waters and 
 spreadeth out its roots by the river ; " the leaves 
 are ever green, and have no dread of the drought 
 of summer. So is it in travelling over the barren 
 plains of Nevada ; whenever you descry a belt of 
 willows and alder-bushes you safely prophecy a 
 watercourse. 
 
 What the root is to a tree, the heart is to a 
 Christian. Both are invisible ; but external signs 
 show plainly where they both are, and what they 
 are about. Dryness below ground soon signifies 
 deadness above ground ; dryness in the heart soon 
 reports itself in the daily conduct. 
 
 A thorough-going Christian draws his motives of
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 127 
 
 action from his deep heart-love to his Master. Up 
 through these roots of affection come his faith, his 
 prayerful spirit, his zeal, and his staunch devotion 
 to the true and the holy. The double office of a 
 root is to hold and to feed. Such a man is held 
 firm against sudden gales of temptation. Such a 
 man never falls off into spiritual declension. Jesus 
 holds him, and Jesus sends currents of spiritual 
 strength into his life as the sap of a fruit tree perco- 
 lates to the outermost twig. As long as the soul 
 reaches down into Christ and draws its supplies 
 from Christ, there is little danger that the leaves 
 will wither. Some professors wear a very dingy 
 and dusty look ; they are powdered all over with 
 worldliness, so that there is no visible verdure. 
 Some very ugly caterpillars build their webs in the 
 dry limbs. Others there are whose leaf began to 
 turn yellow soon after they were set out in the 
 Church. This betrays a lack of spiritual moisture 
 in the heart ; perhaps secret " borers" of sin are at 
 work there killing the tree itself by inches. The 
 leaf tells the story. It is a grievous mistake to 
 suppose that a Christian can be kept fresh, foliage- 
 laden, and fruitful by a mere church-covenant, or 
 dread of discipline, or a respect for "appearances." 
 His inner life must be hid with Christ in God. 
 
 The spiritual weather never affects such Chris- 
 tians; they thrive under every condition of the 
 thermometer and the barometer. Every year is 
 a bearing year. They are in the habit of serving
 
 128 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 Christ, in the habit of praying, and of delving in 
 their Bibles, and of giving systematically their 
 money to good objects as well as of paying their 
 other debts ; they produce the fruits of the Spirit 
 such as faith, patience, truthfulness, and benevo- 
 lence, just as my " Bartlett" tree yields its annual 
 tale of juicy pears. Sometimes God shakes 
 the tree by a sudden trial, and then how the fruit 
 does rattle down ! I sometimes think that God 
 gives certain of his people these severe jars, just to 
 show how firm the roots are, and how abundantly 
 the fruit will drop. These are his choice trees; 
 they are planted close to the rivers ; they do not 
 " see when the heat cometh ;" they are not troubled 
 in the years of drought, neither do they ever cease 
 from yielding abundantly. It is perfectly possible 
 for every one of us to be just such a Christian. 
 
 CLXV. 
 
 Christians are Christ's jewels. They are pur- 
 chased by atoning blood ; at an infinite price was 
 this divine ownership secured. As the pearls are 
 only won from the depths of the sea by the dan- 
 gerous dive of the fishers, so were the pearls for 
 Messiah's crown brought up from the miry depths 
 of depravity by the descent of that divine Sufferer 
 who came to seek and to save the lost. The most 
 brilliant and precious gem known to us is of the 
 same chemical substance as the black and opaque
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 129 
 
 coal of the mine. Crystallization turns the carbon 
 into the diamond. The grace of the Lord Jesus 
 transforms an opaque soul, as black by nature as 
 the jet, into a jewel which reflects the glory of 
 Christ's countenance. All the lustre that the 
 ripest Christian character possesses is but the 
 reflection of that Sun of Righteousness. He who 
 lives nearest to Jesus shines the brightest. The 
 tarnish which makes some Christians no more 
 sightly than a common pebble of the mire, comes 
 from contact with an evil world. A "pearl cast 
 before swine " is not more out of place than is a 
 professed follower of Jesus in the society of scoffers, 
 or in the haunts of revelry. 
 
 Not all precious jewels glitter in conspicuous 
 positions. The Master has his hidden ones ; 
 there are costly sapphires beneath coarse raiment, 
 and up in the dingy attic of poverty. That self- 
 denying daughter who wears out her youthful years 
 in nursing a poor infirm mother, is a ruby of whom 
 the Master saith, " Thou art mine in the day when 
 I gather my jewels." Many a precious pearl do the 
 Wells and the Wanamakers fish up from the dregs 
 of ignorance into their mission-schools. 
 
 " We are his workmanship," said the great 
 apostle ; and the lustre of a gem depends much on 
 the polishing. This is often a sharp and a severe 
 process. Many of God's people can recall the 
 times when they were under the terrible file, or 
 were pressed down to the grinding-wheel. Blessed
 
 130 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 be the affliction, however fierce, that gives new lus- 
 tre to the diamond ! The Master spendeth no 
 item upon worthless pebbles ; only his jewels are 
 polished after the sirmTtude of a palace. Nor is 
 this process only wrought by the divine hand ; 
 every Christian must strive to make his or her 
 own character the more shapely and beautiful. 
 
 Luther said that there is great divinity in the 
 pronouns of Scripture. " They shall be mine, 
 saith the Lord." This claim is founded on the 
 purchase made in redeeming blood. Regeneration 
 by the Holy Spirit confirms it, and every true 
 believer is also self-surrendered to the ownership 
 of Christ. Up to the hour of conversion we had 
 other proprietors self sin and the devil. Now 
 Jesus says to each Christian, Thou art mine, I own 
 thee. I will instruct thee, and polish thee, and 
 put thee where it pleaseth me. I will take care of 
 thy salvation, and no man shall pluck thee out 
 of my hand. Thou shalt be my peculiar treasure 
 in the day of my triumphant appearing. I will 
 place thee in my crown ! 
 
 What a coronation day that will be ! All else 
 on this globe will be but as lumber and rubbish 
 fit only for the flames in comparison with his 
 choice ones. Then shall the homeless man of 
 Nazareth come into full possession of his magnifi- 
 cent trophies. The lost in hell will be outnum- 
 bered by the saved in heaven. They that curse 
 him in the pit will be far fewer than they that
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 181 
 
 crown him in the paradise. On the head once 
 bleeding with the thorns will flash the diadem of 
 his imperial glory. And then will all the universe 
 confess that the ransom was worth all its bitter 
 cost of agonies, when the King shall ascend his 
 throne of victory, and be encircled with the con- 
 stellations of his jewels ! 
 
 All soul-saving work is a pearl-fishery for King 
 Jesus. 
 
 CLXVI. 
 
 A Christian is the world's Bible. He is the 
 only Bible that the majority of unconverted people 
 look at. They scan the pages closely, and often 
 chuckle when they discover blots and disgraceful 
 records there. It is a terrible injury to a man 
 of the world to have his mind prejudiced and 
 embittered towards the religion of Christ by the 
 inconsistent conduct of professed Christians. The 
 most powerful argument to win a soul to Jesus, 
 is the daily observation of true, brave, cheerful, 
 holy, Christian lives. 
 
 CLXVII. 
 
 A well-built Christian is harmonious in all his 
 parts. He is not a jumble of opposites and incon- 
 sistencies to-day devout, and to-morrow frivo- 
 lous; to-day liberal, and to-morrow fluent in
 
 132 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 falsehoods. He does not keep the fourth com- 
 mandment on Sunday, and break the eighth on 
 Monday. His philanthropy does not outrun his 
 conscientiousness, nor do his spiritual fervors out- 
 run his inward faith and self-denials. 
 
 A living, lovable Christian, is the most powerful 
 argument for the Gospel. He is Christ's best 
 representative. 
 
 CLXVIII. 
 
 Sanctification is a genuine and gracious process, 
 and it never reaches completeness in this life. In 
 building a character for eternity, we should regard 
 its impression on our fellow-men ; we are as 
 much bound to ornament it with the "lily work" 
 as we are to make the structure solid and endur- 
 ing. An attractive Christian is the one who hits 
 the most nearly that golden mean between pliant 
 laxities on the one hand, and severe sanctimonious 
 harshness on the other hand. He is strict, but 
 not censorious. He is sound, and yet sweet and 
 mellow, as one who dwells much in the sunshine of 
 Christ's countenance. He never incurs contempt 
 by compromising with wrong, nor does he provoke 
 others to dislike him by his doing right in a very 
 harsh, or hateful, or bigoted fashion. 
 
 Our Master is our model. What marvelous lily- 
 work of gentleness, forbearance and unselfish love 
 adorned the massive divinity of life ! What he
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 133 
 
 was, we in our imperfect measure should pray and 
 strive after. Study Jesus. His grace imparted to 
 you, and his example imitated, can turn deformity 
 into beauty and adorn your lives with whatsoever 
 things are true and honest and lovely and of good 
 report. He that winneth souls is wise. But, if 
 we would win the careless and the godless to our 
 Saviour we must make our daily religion more 
 winsome. 
 
 CLXIX. 
 
 We wonder sometimes why certain people of 
 our acquaintance shine with such a steady lustre 
 of piety. Their spiritual influences is far out of 
 proportion to their talents or mental culture or 
 social advantages. But the cause of their superior 
 brightness is the same that have made Venus and 
 Mars so brilliant in the evening heavens. While 
 mighty Saturn and Neptune were almost invisible 
 through their remoteness from the sun, the two 
 small planets which revolve close to the source of 
 light becomes luminaries of the first rank. A very 
 humble Christian may become a burning and a 
 shining light in his church, and in society if his 
 orbit is very near to Christ. He reflects Christ in 
 his everyday conduct. It is only as he recedes 
 from the Sun of Righteousness that the Christian 
 becomes either invisible or sheds the baneful influ- 
 ence of a wandering star.
 
 134 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CLXX. 
 
 A true Christian is the representative of Christ 
 in the world the only embodiment of gospel 
 teaching and influence that is presented in human 
 society. How vitally important is it, then, that 
 those of us who profess and call ourselves Chris- 
 tians should make our Christianity attractive ! 
 Multitudes of people know very little, and think 
 very little about the Lord Jesus ; nearly all the 
 ideas they get of his religion is what they see in 
 those who profess it, and their eyes are as sharp 
 as those of a lynx to discover whether neighbor is 
 one whit the better for his religion. 
 
 CLXXI. 
 
 There were two massive pillars in the porch of 
 Solomon's Temple which bore the names of 
 "Jochim" and " Boaz." One name signifies 
 " He will establish," and the other signifies, " In 
 strength." The two together are admirable em- 
 blems of solid goodness of character. Not hollow, 
 not easily thrown off their base, and of undecaying 
 material, they typify the firmness and the strength 
 of the man who is immovably fixed, trusting on 
 the Lord. But while these two pillars were made 
 strong, they were also made ornamental ; for they 
 were enwreathed with delicate chains of carved 
 pomegranates and "upon" the capitals of the
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 135 
 
 pillars was lily-work. Thus strength and beauty 
 are to be combined in every well-developed Chris- 
 tian character. 
 
 CLXXII. 
 
 The weakest side of humanity is its moral side. 
 Colossal intellect is often found lodged in the same 
 person with a conscience of mere pulp. 
 
 CLXXIII. 
 
 Character is determined by what we love best 
 and labor for most zealously. We judge of the 
 unseen interior by the outcome, just as we judge 
 that there is a bee's nest in a hollow tree if we 
 see bees coming and going from a hole in the 
 trunk. A good man out of the good treasure of 
 his heart bringeth forth good things. God does 
 not deal with actions, but with the heart that 
 prompts them. 
 
 CLXXIV. 
 
 A well built life is just the laying up of one 
 grace and good deed upon another ; of faith and 
 patience and temperance and benevolence and 
 courage and self-denial and brotherly love. It is 
 growing in grace. It is the sacred architecture of 
 the Holy Spirit. " Ye are God's building."
 
 136 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CLXXV. 
 
 The best advertisement of a workshop is first- 
 class work. The strongest attraction to Chris- 
 tianity is a well-made Christian character. 
 
 CLXXVI. 
 
 Next to Christ himself there is no blessing to 
 the community like a Christ-like Christian. 
 
 CLXXVII. 
 
 True godliness is no more to be taken out of 
 business, out of social life, and out of politics, than 
 the leaven is to be taken away from the meal, 
 or the salt is to be barreled up by itself. Christ 
 puts his followers right into this wicked world, and 
 commands them to let their light so shine that 
 men may see their good works and be led to honor 
 God. The Christian who is afraid to mix with 
 his fellow-men lest his godliness be rubbed off, 
 has really but little godliness to lose. 
 
 CLXXVIII. 
 
 Good men ought to be put into political stations 
 and make themselves felt in all our civil affairs. 
 They ought to purify unclean atmospheres. Some 
 civilians go into the foul atmosphere of politics,
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 137 
 
 and preserve their Christian purity, as Theodore 
 Frelinghuysen preserved -ihis in the American 
 Senate, and Wilberforce, Gladstone and Lord 
 Chancellor Cairns have preserved theirs in the 
 British Parliament. Jesus does not mean to take 
 his disciples out of the world, but he is able to 
 keep them from the world's contaminations. 
 
 CLXXIX. 
 
 Every good man is God's boon to society. 
 
 An eminent banker fell into no exaggeration when 
 he said to a representative of the press, " The 
 most thoroughly useful man New York has known 
 for a quarter of a century was William E. Dodge." 
 His sudden departure was more than local, it was 
 a national bereavement. That broad and beautiful 
 banyan-tree let fall one of its beneficent boughs 
 into Syria, and another among the freedmen of the 
 South, and another into the National Temperance 
 Society, and many another into scores and scores 
 of wide and heaven-directed charities. There are 
 lessons for young men to be gathered from off 
 these beautiful boughs. When a tree rises so 
 . high, spreads so widely, and stands so long, it 
 is well to inquire about its roots, and what nour- 
 ished and watered them. 
 
 Mr. Dodge was happy in his birthplace and 
 lineage. From the days of Jonathan Edwards, 
 little Connecticut has given more leaders of relig-
 
 138 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 ious thought to the nation than any other common- 
 wealth. The boy's father was a man of culture ; 
 but the boy himself had no educational advantages 
 beyond those of the Yankee common school, and 
 at fifteen he was the errand-running lad in a Pearl 
 street dry goods store. He swept the floors and 
 took down the shutters every morning ; but the 
 best outfit which the homespun lad brought into 
 the great city was the grace of God in his heart. 
 At the early age of twelve he was thoroughly con- 
 verted to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was 
 fairly " rooted" and built up in him and established 
 in the faith. 
 
 While many persons who have been regenerated 
 late in life have yielded some good fruit, as from a 
 graft set into an old tree, yet it holds true that the 
 most effective Christians have grown up in Christ 
 from early childhood. The roots of character were 
 not poisoned by long contact with a bad soil. 
 
 Young Dodge was a Puritan, eschewing all 
 sensual amusements and entertainments of a ques- 
 tionable character. He soon learned to say "No," 
 and never outgrew the use of that most decisive 
 monosyllable. He continued to be a Puritan to 
 the end of his noble life, but without any sour, 
 severe austerities. The solid rock was well over- 
 grown with fragrant flowers, but the rock was there. 
 In an age of increasing laxities on many questions 
 of Christian practice, and exposed to the peculiar 
 temptations of wealth and social prominence, Mr.
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 139 
 
 Dodge, the man, never outgrew or even diluted the 
 ingrained Puritanism of his boyhood. The world 
 knew him most widely for his munificent gifts of 
 money to innumerable objects ; but after thirty 
 years of intimate intercourse with him I was never 
 half so much impressed with his generosity, as by 
 his intense, immovable conscientiousness. So emo- 
 tional in his temperament that he cried like a child 
 under Cough's stories or Sankey's songs, yet the 
 central trunk of his religion was conscience. The 
 word "ought" always gave the casting vote. A 
 God-honoring conscience was the tap-root of his 
 character, and the loss of such a conscience is a 
 sorer bereavement to the country than the loss of 
 his bountiful purse. 
 
 The phrase " Christian Worker " is used so freely 
 nowadays in certain quarters that to some it savors 
 of repulsive cant. To Mr. Dodge it belonged right- 
 fully as it did to Barnabas or Paul. Presiding at 
 public meetings or sitting in boards of Christian 
 benevolence, are the utmost extent of many excel- 
 lent men's labor ; but Mr. Dodge was taught by 
 that master-workman, Harlan Page, fifty years ago, 
 that the true method of winning souls to Christ is 
 by close personal appeal. When young, Mr. Dodge 
 came into Harlan Page's Sunday-school and asked 
 for a class. Page said to him : " Yonder is a 
 bench. Go out and find a class for yourself." 
 That hint lasted a lifetime. During the great 
 revival of 1858 Mr. Dodge was untiring in his per-
 
 140 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 sonal labors in inquiry meetings and in his visits to 
 
 individuals in their homes Love of 
 
 Jesus and love of souls were the master-passion of 
 his being. A tree of such, broad-limbed benefi- 
 cence required not only strong and fertile soil, but 
 perpetual watering. There was a perennial verdure 
 in Mr. Dodge's piety and unceasing yield of spirit- 
 ual fruits, because his roots were moistened by 
 communion with God. His earliest morning hour 
 he set apart for his Bible and his private devo- 
 tions. And if he came down among his business 
 associates with his face shining with cheerfulness 
 and sunny kindness, it was because he had been on 
 the mount with his Master. No fountain in the 
 public park can rise higher, steadily, than its spring- 
 head ; no man can steadily maintain a pure, force- 
 ful life before his fellowmen unless his inner life is 
 hid with Christ in God. The condition of a tree 
 soon reports where its roots are, and what they are 
 about. Dryness below ground soon means dryness 
 above ground. The greater the activity before the 
 world, the deeper should be the secret intercourse 
 of the heart with God. It was not merely in revival 
 seasons and in special spasms of philanthropy that 
 William E. Dodge was recognized. Every year 
 was a bearing year with that grand old Vergalieu- 
 tree. The ground under his boughs always had 
 some delicious bounty for every basket. Pulpits 
 are eloquent only on the Sabbath. Mr. Dodge's 
 "sermons in shoes" were on their errands of
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 141 
 
 mercy and power on every day of the week. If he 
 was a great merchant he was a still greater minis- 
 ter of righteousness and charity to his fellow-men. 
 
 CLXXX. 
 
 They tell us that in Scotland is a battle-field on 
 which the natives of the soil and the Saxons once 
 met in terrible conflict. No monument marks the 
 scene of the bloody fight. All over the field grows 
 the beautiful Scotch heather except in one spot. 
 There a little blue flower grows abundantly. No 
 flowers like them are to be found for many a league 
 around. Why are they there? The reason is 
 this. Just in the spot where they grow the bodies 
 of the slain were buried, and the earth was satu- 
 rated with the blood and the remains of the un- 
 happy victims. The seeds of these flowers were 
 there before. As soon as the blood touched them, 
 they sprang up. They developed. And every 
 blue flower on Culloden's field, as it bends to the 
 mountain breeze, is a memorial of the brave war- 
 riors who dyed that heathery sod with their crim- 
 son gore. So it is with character. The seeds of 
 action lie deep beneath the surface the seeds of 
 heroism and the seeds of crime. Good and evil 
 germs lie latent in the heart. For a lifetime they 
 may remain unknown and unrecognized ; perhaps 
 never are developed in this lower world. The 
 seeds of the blue flowers at Culloden would, prob-
 
 142 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 ably, have lain there undetected, to this day, but 
 for the trickling about them of human blood. That 
 called them forth. 
 
 CLXXXI. 
 
 Every man has in himself a continent of undis- 
 covered character. Happy is he who acts the 
 Columbus to his own soul ! 
 
 CLXXXII. 
 
 It is not the man who drifts with the current of 
 evil, but he, who, like the sure-anchored rock, 
 stems the current, that is sure to arrest the popular 
 attention and command the popular heart. 
 
 CLXXXIII. 
 
 The most tremendous word in the English lan- 
 guage is the short, yet mighty word, No. It has 
 been the pivot on which innumerable destinies 
 have turned for this world and the next. 
 
 CLXXXIV. 
 
 The imagination of man will find its aliment. If 
 high things and pure things are not within its 
 reach, it will condescend to things of low estate. 
 If it is not restrained, it will run riot ; if it is not
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 143 
 
 elevated by what is holy, it will be corrupted and 
 debauched by what is base. 
 
 CLXXXV. 
 
 When men fall it is commonly through their 
 unsuspected weakness. When they stand it is 
 through the imparted strength of God. 
 
 CLXXXVI. 
 
 There laid one great secret of the apostles' power 
 in winning converts to Christ. The sermons wore 
 shoes. I honestly believe that one of the chief 
 reasons for the fewness of conversions to Christ is 
 that there is so little preaching for Christ in the 
 daily lives of his professed disciples, and such a 
 fearful amount of direct preaching against him. 
 Actions speak louder than words. The bad ser- 
 mons of the life are an over-match for the best 
 sermons on Sunday from the lips. Every life is a 
 sermon. Paul himself would not have made any 
 converts to the Gospel of the Cross if he had not 
 proved to the world that " Christ liveth in me." 
 His own heroic and holy life was one of the grand- 
 est epistles he ever produced. One great reason 
 for the sad lack of conversions to Christ in our day 
 is, that so many of the sermons in shoes lead the 
 wrong way. A true and noble life is the mightiest 
 of discourses. It is the sermons in shoes that must
 
 144 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 convert the world to Jesus, if it is ever to be con- 
 verted. 
 
 CLXXXVII. 
 
 If all who profess and call themselves Christians 
 would simply live out their holy professions, the 
 conversion of the world would soon be achieved. 
 If even a single State or a single county were 
 thoroughly Christianized in every home, every 
 school, every place of business, and if Jesus shone 
 out in the domestic, social, and civil life of that 
 whole community, then the whole world would be 
 attracted to look at so beautiful a spectacle. Then 
 the whole world would see what men and women 
 could be Christians/0r. Infidelity would hang its 
 foolish head before such a triumphant argument 
 for the religion of Calvary and the Gospel. But 
 until Christ's representatives live out more thor- 
 oughly, the teachings and spirit of their Lord, there 
 will be an abundance of that secret scepticism 
 which steels the human heart against God's glorious 
 Gospel. 
 
 It is for this very reason that so much of the 
 headway gained by Sabbath eloquence is lost dur- 
 ing the other six days of counteracting influence. 
 One clay of good preaching is no match for six 
 days' inconsistent practice. God will never honor 
 his Church with complete success, until it com- 
 pletely honors him.
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 145 
 
 CLXXXVIII. 
 
 Many a person says in substance, " I am prevented 
 from becoming a Christian by seeing so many 
 glaring faults in church members with whom I come 
 in contact. My standard is high, and they do not 
 come up to it. These people represent Christianity 
 to me, and they do not make it attractive. I do 
 not discover that they are any better than myself, 
 and I make no profession. " 
 
 You say that there are counterfeit Christians to 
 be found, which is sadly true. Will you take 
 Christianity, therefore, on their false representation 
 of it ? Christianity is a divine system of religion, 
 whose code of conduct is to be found in the Bible, 
 whose Founder is the Lord Jesus Christ, whose 
 offers of salvation are based on his atonement, 
 whose spirit and teachings are represented by him, 
 and whose claims on you come directly from God 
 himself. God commands repentance of sin, the 
 reception of his crucified Son into your heart, and 
 an obedience to his pure, beautiful, holy, and life- 
 elevating commandments. What God commands 
 is your duty. Yet you practically assert you will 
 not perform your duty to God and your own soul, 
 because some counterfeit professor does not perform 
 his ! Would you refuse to pay your note when it 
 became due, because some knavish neighbor had 
 wilfully allowed his note to be " protested ? " Will 
 another man's delinquencies, or even his hypocrisies
 
 146 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 screen you from condemnation at the bar of final 
 judgment? Christ's offer is made to you; his 
 claims are laid upon you ; and they are made with- 
 out the slightest reference to the perfections or 
 imperfections of every other human being in exist- 
 ence. This is not a question between you and 
 your neighbor ; it is wholly and exclusively between 
 you and your God and Saviour. 
 
 No one ever takes the pains to counterfeit any- 
 thing that is not essentially valuable. No one 
 issues counterfeit notes on a broken bank. Do you 
 refuse to receive a genuine " greenback " because 
 certain rogues have issued spurious imitations ? 
 There are counterfeit friends, who betray secrets 
 and desert you at a pinch ; but that does not pad- 
 lock your heart against everybody who does you a 
 genuine kindness. If you can establish the fact 
 that every church member is either deluded or a 
 wilful impostor if you will prove that Christianity, 
 when thoroughly practised, makes its possessor no 
 better, no purer, no more benevolent, no holier, 
 no more lovable then you are warranted in dis- 
 trusting it. If every note issued is worthless, then 
 
 the institution is a fraud 
 
 The whole pretence of refusing to 
 
 accept Christ simply because there are inconsistent 
 or fraudulent professors of Christianity in society, 
 is one of the most transparent tricks with which 
 the Arch-adversary cheats souls out of hope and 
 Heaven. If you are an " outsider " from the king-
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 147 
 
 dom of God, you are such from your own choice. 
 All the cavils about the shortcomings or the dis- 
 graceful delinquencies of unworthy professors, is an 
 excuse thinner than a cobweb. It will not holdim 
 one instant in the last great searching day. If you 
 look at yourself with a tithe of the open-eyed keen- 
 ness that you look at the faults of others, you might 
 well cry out, God be merciful to me, a sinner ! 
 
 CLXXXIX. 
 
 As soon as the heart accepts Jesus, the mouth 
 should confess him, and the life be consecrated to 
 him. 
 
 It is a grievous mistake to underrate the duty 
 and the power of a public confession. Genuine 
 conversion demands it ; Christ enjoins it. With 
 the heart man believeth unto justification, and 
 "with the mouth confession is made unto salva- 
 tion " (or " in order that we may be saved "). 
 This confession must be the open avowal of Christ 
 before the world. The very idea of " letting your 
 light shine before men," requires a public confes- 
 sion of your Saviour. When I visited a coal-mine 
 in Pennsylvania, and was looking through its dark 
 chambers, I every now and then caught a glimpse 
 of a moving lamp, and I could track it all through 
 the mine. The reason was that the miner carried 
 the lamp on his hat it was a part of himself, and 
 it shone wherever he went. I said to myself,
 
 148 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 would that in this dark world of sin, every miner 
 of the Master carried so bright a lamp to show 
 where he walks ! No sceptic can deny the beauty 
 of light, or refute the necessity of lamps. 
 
 There are many good reasons why every true 
 convert should make prompt confession of Christ. 
 He owes it to the Saviour who died for him. It is 
 but little that you can do, even at your utmost, for 
 your Divine deliverer ; do not begrudge him any 
 service he asks. It will strengthen your convic- 
 tions of heart. There is danger that the best affec- 
 tions may cool off if they are not allowed to act. 
 If you commit yourself for Christ, he still more 
 aboundingly commits himself for you. "Them 
 that honor me, I will honor." " Him that confes- 
 seth me, I will confess." Remember also that 
 want of will to confess Christ really indicates a 
 want of heart to believe in him. " If we deny him, 
 he will deny us." An open, hearty avowal of 
 Christ, especially if it be attended with a beautiful 
 and consistent living, has a prodigious influence 
 upon others. It was the sight of the cured cripple 
 at the " Gate Beautiful " which did so much to 
 convince the scoffers at Jerusalem. "Beholding 
 the man which was healed standing with them, 
 they could say nothing against it." As to your 
 fear that you may not be able to hold out, that de- 
 pends upon your holding on to Jesus. While you 
 are in Jesus' hands.no man or devil can pluck 
 you from them. Be sure that you are there. No
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 149 
 
 self-searching can be too thorough, and no heart- 
 probing be too deep, before you join Christ's 
 Church. Public confession without heart-conver- 
 sion is more than a mistake; it is a pitiable cal- 
 amity ; for if a genuine confession is a fountain of 
 joy, a false confession is a running sore of sorrows 
 and of shame. 
 
 cxc. 
 
 In the spiritual world, that professor is but a 
 lean, poverty-stricken starvling, who never gets 
 beyond the infantile condition in which he stood 
 for the first time at Christ's table. Such profes- 
 sors there may be in every church. Their single 
 talent is hidden in a napkin a very small napkin. 
 What God bestowed upon them at the time of 
 conversion is all that they have now; if there has 
 been any change, it has been rather a reduction 
 than a growth. Such began small they con- 
 tinue smaller. They never were anything but 
 rivulets, trickling with a slender thread of water 
 among the barren stones, at the mercy of every 
 August drought, and well nigh drunk up by every 
 thirsty noonday sun. Year after year they trickle, 
 trickle trickle until death dries them up, and 
 nobody misses them. They watered nothing, they 
 refreshed nobody, and blessed no living thing. 
 Earth is little the poorer for losing them ; Heaven 
 scarcely the richer for gaining them.
 
 150 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CXCI. 
 
 The worldling withholds no toil, no sacrifices that 
 are needful to secure his coveted gains or honors. 
 The merchant begrudges not the evenings spent 
 away from his own fireside, if those extra hours 
 over his ledgers will give but an extra dividend of 
 profits. The sculptor counts not the long months 
 wasted, which see him with hammer and chisel 
 pursuing the imprisoned figure which his keen eye 
 detects within the block of Parian marble. And 
 the children of light must carry into their service 
 of Christ the same untiring ardor, the same zeal, 
 and the same self-denial by which the children of 
 the world win wealth and honor and emoluments. 
 Oh, for a holy enthusiasm ! a holy covetousness to 
 become rich toward God ! 
 
 CXCII. 
 
 A growing believer's course is like yonder river's 
 its birthplace some secluded fountain under the 
 mossy rock. Cool and clear, it steers its modest 
 path whithersoever God shall lead it, laughing 
 evermore and leaping to its own silvery music. 
 For long we lose sight of it. Then we meet it 
 again, no longer a wayside brook, but a deep-voiced 
 river beating against its banks, swelling up to 
 kiss the marge of green meadows winding around 
 the highland's base rolling on its majestic march
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 151 
 
 until it spreads out into a hospitable bay, on whose 
 placid bosom fleets ride at anchor, and in whose 
 azure depths the banners of all nations are mir- 
 rored. Such is the outflow of a rich soul every clay 
 widening in influence, every day deepening in 
 experience, every day running purer and purer. 
 To human eyes such believers may move more 
 slowly as old age draws on. But it is because the 
 volume of their graces is increasing, and they are 
 nearing the ocean of eternity. How these lives 
 gladden the regions through which they pass ! 
 How they mirror back the glory of Christ's 
 gracious handiwork! How they bear up human 
 hopes, and spread themselves out like broad, 
 patient rivers, to carry all burthens that are 
 launched on their bosoms ! 
 
 CXCIII. 
 
 The most unpopular doctrine to preach in these 
 times, and the hardest one to practice, is the old- 
 fashioned apostolic doctrine of self-denial. This 
 is the grace that pinches. The daily battle of 
 Christian principle is with that artful, subtle, 
 greedy sinner, self. And the highest victory of 
 our religion is to follow Jesus over the rugged 
 path of self-denial. This is mainly to be done in 
 the little every-day acts of life. 
 
 The great occasions that demand sublime sacri- 
 fice are few and rare.
 
 152 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CXCIV. 
 
 This is not an age of heroic Christianity. 
 There is more pulp than pluck in the average 
 Christian professor, when self-denial is required. 
 The men and women who not only rejoice in doing 
 their duty for Christ, but even rejoice in overcom- 
 ing uncomfortable obstacles in the doing it, are 
 quite too scarce. The piety that is most needed 
 is a piety that will stand a pinch ; a piety that 
 would rather eat an honest crust than fare sumptu- 
 ously on fraud ; a piety that can work up stream 
 against currents ; a piety that sets its face like a 
 flint in the straight, narrow road of righteousness. 
 We need more of the Christianity that steadfastly 
 sets its face toward Christ's Word and holy will. 
 An ungodly world will be compelled to look at such 
 Christly living as at " the sun shining in its 
 strength." God loves to look at those who carry 
 Jesus in their faces. Of such is the kingdom 
 of Heaven. 
 
 CXCV. 
 
 The whole methods and results as practised by 
 Christ are just the opposite of those attempted by 
 the world. The policy of the worlding is to get 
 rich by accumulation. The policy of Christ's fol- 
 lower is to get rich by renouncing. Get all you 
 can and keep what you've got is the world's motto.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 153 
 
 Christ's maxim is he that is not willing to leave all 
 and follow me cannot be my disciple. It is more 
 blessed to give than to receive. True peace of 
 mind belongs only to the self-renouncing spirit. 
 
 CXCVI. 
 
 How often do we ever hear a sermon, or ever think 
 about poor Rizpah ? There she sits in the sacred 
 story for five long, weary months upon the sack- 
 cloth spread on the rock of Gibeah. The noon- 
 day sun pours down its heats upon her head, and 
 the midnight its chilling dews, but they cannot 
 drive her from her steady vigil beside the forms of 
 her two crucified sons. From the early harvests 
 of April to the early rains of October she suffers 
 neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, 
 nor the beasts of the field by night. The wayfarers 
 by the northern road from Jerusalem grow accus- 
 tomed to the strange, sad spectacle of that heart- 
 broken mother guarding from vulture and jackal 
 the remains of her beautiful Mephiboseth and 
 Armoni. 
 
 Those two youths were crucified ; there seems 
 but little doubt of that. They were sacrificed to 
 appease the wrath of the Gibeonites for the cruel- 
 ties once practised upon them by the hands of their 
 father, Saul. If we could ask that long-enduring 
 woman, Rizpah, what enabled her to stand those 
 five months of severe strain, her answer would be
 
 154 RIGUT TO THE POINT. 
 
 in one single word, Love. It was the quenchless 
 affection of a true mother's heart. It transcends 
 every other earth-born affection. It can neither be 
 " chilled by selfishness, nor daunted by danger, 
 nor weakened by worthlessness, nor stifled by in- 
 gratitude." This was the chord that bound Rizpah 
 to that long vigil on the desolate rock, and stood 
 the tremendous strain. 
 
 There is a lesson for every Christian in this 
 touching episode of the mater dolorosa on the 
 rock of Gibeah. There is only one principle in 
 the human heart which can withstand the severe 
 strain which the daily wear and tear of temptation 
 and trial bring upon us. It is love for Jesus. 
 
 Love of Jesus is essential Christianity. It en- 
 dureth all things; it never faileth. No privations 
 can starve it, and no burdens can break it down. 
 It keeps the heart of the frontier missionary warm 
 amid the snows of the Rocky Mountains, and gives 
 sweetness to the crust which the overworked 
 seamstress cats in her lonely lodging disdaining 
 the wages of sin. It is the core of all the piety 
 which Christ loves to look at. It is the only cure 
 also of the reigning worldliness, and covetousness, 
 and fashion-worship which have made such spiritual 
 havoc in too many churches. 
 
 The test-question for every Christian life is 
 Have I in my inmost heart a love of Jesus strong 
 enough to stand the strain ? My religious profes- 
 sion has lost its novelty ; will it hold out ? Tempta-
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 155 
 
 tions will come ; shall I conquer them, or break ? 
 Christ demands constant loyalty ; can I be true to 
 him ? Am I as ready to stand watch day and night 
 to protect his honor as poor Rizpah was to protect 
 the lifeless forms of her beloved from the birds and 
 the beasts ? These are the questions that touch 
 the very marrow of our religion. They underlie 
 all our heart-life, our church-life, and the very 
 existence of every work of self-denying charity. 
 
 My brother, there is only one way to be a staying 
 Christian, a thorough, soul-savins: Christian. It is 
 
 y o * o 
 
 to get the heart full of Jesus so full that the 
 world and the lusts of the flesh and the devil can 
 get no foothold. Whether you are a pastor long- 
 ing for a New Year's blessing on your flock, or a 
 Sabbath-school teacher set in charge of young im- 
 mortals, or a parent guarding the fireside fold, or a 
 philanthropist toiling for the ignorant, the suffer- 
 ing, and the lost, you need this ever-living main- 
 stay and inspiration. If you only love Jesus you 
 will love to live for him and to labor for him. 
 Jacob toiled seven years faithfully for Rachel, and 
 they seemed unto him but a few days for the love 
 which he had to the beautiful maiden in the fields 
 of Laban. Love's labors were light. Would you 
 then be a lightsome, joyous laborer in Christ's 
 vineyard ? Get your heart full of him. Would 
 you be a power in your church ? Get the heart 
 full of Jesus. Would you be kept safe from back- 
 sliding ? Then keep yourself in the love of your
 
 156 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 Saviour. Put that master affection so deep down 
 that it shall underlie all selfishness ; so deep that 
 the frosts of the current scepticism cannot reach 
 it ; so deep that the frictions of daily life cannot 
 wear upon it ; so deep that the power of temptation 
 cannot touch it ; so deep that even when old age 
 dries up the other affections of our nature, this un- 
 dying love shall flow like an Artesian well. 
 
 Look at that steadfast Rizpah watching beside 
 the crosses of her crucified sons. She stood tJie 
 strain until her noble constancy won the King's 
 eye and secured their honorable burial. There is 
 an infinitely holier Cross, an infinitely Diviner 
 sacrifice that demands our steadfast loyalty. If a 
 mother's love could endure so much, what will not 
 the love of a redeemed soul bear for its Redeemer? 
 Oh, for a fresh baptism of this mighty love ! A 
 fresh and a full in pouring, so that no accursed 
 spirit of the world, no temptation, no self-indulg- 
 ence, no nor any other creature shall be able to 
 separate us from the love of God which is in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord. 
 
 CXCVIT. 
 
 There are a great many times in our lives when 
 our "strength is to sit still." Motion is good in 
 its time, but so is meditation, so is quiet study, so 
 is a patient waiting on God. If a bucket is to be 
 filled from a spout of water, the best place for that
 
 RIGHT TO THE POIXT. 157 
 
 bucket is to keep it under the stream until it 
 is full. We soon run empty of grace, and need 
 replenishing, and need to be " filled unto all the 
 fulness of God." 
 
 The cry of the hour is for more work. But 
 genuine work consumes strength. The most labo- 
 rious farmer must halt his team occasionally at the 
 plow and rest ; he must go in from the hot harvest 
 field and sit down at his table and refresh his 
 weary frame. An army is never in so good a trim 
 for service in battle as after a sound sleep and a 
 morning meal. So every servant of Jesus must 
 often recruit his spiritual strength by sitting down 
 at his Master's feet, in prayer, in meditation, in 
 reading Christ's words and thinking about them. 
 
 , 
 
 The disciples were not losing time when they sat 
 down beside their Master and held quiet converse 
 with him under the olives of Bethany or by the 
 shores of Galilee. Those were their school-hours ; 
 those were their feeding-times. The healthiest 
 Christian, the one who is best fitted for godly 
 living and godly labors, is he who feeds most on 
 Christ. Here lies the benefit of Bible-reading, and 
 of secret prayer. The very act of sitting down 
 quietly with our Crucified Redeemer at his table 
 of love, has its signification. 
 
 Let us not forget either that to be instructed 
 we must come often to the feet of Jesus. The 
 transcendent truths of the atonement and the new 
 birth were revealed to Nicodemus when he was
 
 158 BK4HT TO THE POINT. 
 
 sitting as an inquirer beside the Great Teacher. 
 The woman of Sychar found a well-spring of 
 truth while she was listening in the hot noonday 
 to a person who told her all things that she had 
 been doing in her shameful past. We need just 
 such discoveries about ourselves. There is spirit- 
 ual education in contact with Christ. When he 
 says to us, " Come unto me," he does not only 
 mean that we must come for forgiveness and sal- 
 vation, but also for instruction and for communion. 
 There are two sides in the best-developed Chris- 
 tian. There is a Martha-site which is employed 
 in benevolent activities, in teaching others, in 
 going about doing good. Some Christians over-do 
 this side, and neglect the other side. They keep 
 on the go in a ceaseless round of excitement. 
 They do not enough develop the Mary-side of 
 character or that habit of self-study, prayer, 
 reflection and heart-converse with their Lord. 
 With such there is a tendency to noise, hurry, 
 worry, and to superficiality. Shallow brooks are 
 noisy ; there are stiller waters that run deep, and 
 do not run dry. The busiest and most benevolent 
 Martha must often take Mary's place at the 
 Master's feet, both to learn his will, and to drink 
 in his Spirit. We do not read much about Paul's 
 quiet hours or secret devotions ; yet he must have 
 had constant, close fellowship with his Lord, and 
 deep meditation and soul-fillings, or he never could 
 have stood the strain or the drain of his public
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 159 
 
 achievements. All the most effective men, the 
 Augustines, Bernards, Luthers, Bunyans, Ed- 
 warclses, and Paysons, have drawn their strength 
 and inspirations from secret communion with their 
 divine Lord. When at the feet of Jesus, these 
 mighty men were little children. 
 
 In our hours of sorrow there is no place for 
 consolation like that in which we feel his ever- 
 lasting arms put under our heads. Oh ! how his 
 arms do rest us ! How soothing to lie where 
 John did on that bosom of infinite love ! There 
 is room for all of us there. We can hear him 
 saying, " Let not your hearts be troubled. My 
 peace I give unto you. Where I am, ye shall be 
 also. If ye abide in me and I in you, ye may ask 
 what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." 
 
 The last lines that Frances R. Havergal ever 
 wrote, express the longings of the soul that sits at 
 Jesus' feet, and looks up into his countenance : 
 
 I am so weak, dear Lord, I cannot stand 
 
 One moment without Thee ; 
 But oh, the tenderness of Thine enfolding I 
 And oh, the faithfulness of Thine upholding I 
 And oh, the strength of Thy right hand 
 That strength is enough for me. 
 
 I am so needy, Lord ! and yet I know 
 
 All fulness dwells in Thee ; 
 And hour by hour that never-failing treasure 
 Supplies and fills in overflowing measure, 
 My least, my greatest need. And so 
 Thy grace is enough for me.
 
 160 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CXCVIII. 
 
 There was one spot on earth which Jesus seems 
 to have especially loved. It "was his wont " to go 
 there. As John was his favorite disciple, the 
 family of Lazarus, his favorite household, Galilee 
 his favorite water, so Olivet his favorite mountain. 
 An Oriental city, with its crowded and filthy 
 streets, could have no charm for such a spirit as 
 his. When duty called our Lord into Jerusalem, 
 he went there ; but as soon as he could escape from 
 its din he bent his footsteps over the Valley of 
 Kedron to the quiet Mount of Olives. It afforded 
 him a blessed asylum from noisy traffickers, chur- 
 lish scribes, and insolent Pharisees. Olivet al- 
 ways treated him kindly. Olivet cast no stones at 
 him. Her ancient trees gave him cool shelter 
 from the noonday heat and the heavy night dews. 
 Her flowers talked to him of their Creator 
 Jesus and her verdant^turf spread a couch for his 
 weary limbs. 
 
 Every Christian should have his Olivet also. 
 If Jesus needed an Olivet for quiet communion 
 and prayer, surely his earthly followers need one 
 still more. No Christian can afford to live con- 
 stantly in the whirl. Daniel needed to have an 
 Olivet in his chamber amid Babylon's sins and 
 impiety. Peter found his on a housetop in Joppa. 
 Let every child of Jesus resolve that he will have 
 a place and a time for meeting his dear Master
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. . 161 
 
 alone, and he will go forth from such holy inter- 
 views with his face shining and his strength re- 
 newed. Our Olivets will prepare us for that mount 
 of heavenly glory, when we shall see Jesus as he 
 is. 
 
 CXCIX. 
 
 A soul that is rooted into Christ will thrive like 
 a tree planted by the rivers of water. The leaves 
 shall not wither, and death will only be a trans- 
 planting into glory. 
 
 CC. 
 
 Christ is the secret feeder of a genuine believer. 
 The life that springs from him is pure. The diffi- 
 culty with many Christians is that they let the 
 stream of their affections run through ploughed 
 fields, and alongside the dirty highway and through 
 foul thoroughfares until the current becomes fear- 
 fully muddy and feculent, A clean fountain re- 
 quires clean channels to keep the waters sweet and 
 transparent. 
 
 CCL 
 
 There is a .wonderful restfulness for worried 
 hearts in this single assurance, " Lo, I am with you 
 alway." This may be called Christ's richest and 
 sweetest promise.
 
 162 . RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 ecu. 
 
 The essential of purity of heart is to keep the 
 evil out. This requires constant vigilance. For a 
 Christian to maintain an intimacy with the ungodly 
 is like letting a company of carousers into his 
 house. They will leave their ugly marks on the 
 furniture their odors of evil drinks and noxious 
 fumes in the air and the recollections of their 
 poisonous talk in the memory. A heart is known 
 by the company it keeps. No secret sin ought to 
 have a "night-key " to its doors. No wicked prac- 
 tice should have access at its back-windows. Many 
 and many a sly temptation will present itself at the 
 door decently clad " in the white robe," and with a 
 smooth word on its tongue. The dangerous sins 
 are those which are "genteelly dressed." Where- 
 fore the Master solemnly cautions us to watch with 
 prayer. Blessed is that servant whom, when the 
 Master cometh, He finds watching at every door 
 and window. 
 
 CCIII. 
 
 " It matters little how the head lies, so that the 
 heart is right towards God," said Sir Walter Raleigh 
 to the executioner who asked him to lay his head 
 properly on the fatal block. Keep thy heart with 
 all diligence ; for out of it are the issues of life 
 is the command of Him who created the soul, and
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 163 
 
 knows all its mysteries. As a good home requires 
 careful housekeeping, so a good life requires care- 
 ful heart-keeping. 
 
 CCIV. 
 
 There is an old Jewish legend found in the 
 Talmud that King David's harp was kept hang- 
 ing over the royal couch. During the night the 
 north wind sometimes blew over the strings, and 
 they vibrated with sweet and solemn music. 
 
 A more wonderful instrument than any which 
 Israel's Psalmist ever struck, is carried in the human 
 breast. Upon its " ten strings " the hand of God 
 often strikes, and evokes most sublime melody. 
 The one hundred and third Psalm was originally 
 played upon this harp of the heart. Its key-note is 
 " Bless the Lord, O my soul ! let all that is within 
 me bless his holy name." At another time the 
 strains of that harp were inexpressibly plaintive and 
 mournful. They were like the wail of a sick child. 
 " Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy 
 loving kindness. Against thee have I sinned and 
 done this evil in thy sight. The sacrifices of God 
 are a broken spirit ; a broken and a contrite heart, 
 O God, thou wilt not despise." 
 
 This harp of the soul is what the Apostle refers 
 to when he exhorts his brethren to "sing and make 
 melody in the heart to the Lord." In order to 
 produce this spiritual music, the heart must be in
 
 164 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 tune. It must be pitched to the same key with the 
 will of God. When the soul is in harmony with 
 God, and gratitude or love sweep the chords, O 
 what glorious melodies they roll forth ! The 
 remembrance of mercies and the anticipations of 
 heaven blend together. Every string penitence, 
 faith, love, joy, hope vibrates in unison, and the 
 whole soul becomes an instrument of praise. When 
 the heart is thus in tune, it is delightful to let the 
 song out from the lips. When a whole congrega- 
 tion of worshippers are in such a frame, then "let 
 everything that hath breath praise the Lord ! " 
 Such music is a rehearsal for Heaven's oratorios. 
 
 Samuel Rutherford when he was on his dying 
 bed, cried out, " When I awake I shall be satisfied 
 with his likeness. O for arms to embrace him ! 
 O for a well-tuned harp ! " As he uttered these 
 words he stretched out his hands as though he 
 were grasping the golden harp that was waiting for 
 him. At another time he said, " Here our psalms 
 must be short ; but how much leisure will we have 
 there to sing." 
 
 Alas, we are not all Samuel Rutherfords ; and 
 our hearts are often anything else than " well-tuned 
 harps." Sin makes horrible discords there. Pas- 
 sion strikes one string, and envy another, and dis- 
 content another, and unbelief a fourth, until the 
 soul becomes like a bedlam of strange noises. No 
 genuine praise can go up from such disordered 
 hearts. The most devout hymn if sung in such a
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 165 
 
 state of mind, would be almost an abomination. 
 
 Paul tells us how to get our inward harps attuned 
 aright, and how to keep them in tune. He says, 
 "Be filled with the Spirit." Then all the ten 
 strings will sound together. Faith will strike on 
 her string, " I know whom I believe ; " and Hope 
 will respond, " I shall yet praise him ; " and Patience 
 on a low note responds, " All things work together 
 for good to them that love God;" and Gratitude 
 chimes in, " My cup runneth over ; " and Love 
 touches a loud key that rings out, " Whom have I 
 in heaven but Thee, and none on earth do I desire 
 besides Thee." Such music as this has issued from 
 chambers of poverty and beds of pain, and from 
 even the brink of the tomb. Two such harps were 
 immured in a Roman dungeon at midnight, and 
 they overflowed into a song that made the dungeon 
 shake, and aroused all the prisoners. 
 
 Happy is the man who can begin to rehearse for 
 Heaven by attuning his heart to the will of God. 
 He is like the old Psalmist's psaltery, every wind 
 that providence sends only makes music in him. 
 Even boisterous gales of adversity call forth grand 
 and sublime strains of resignation. When he is in 
 trouble, he " giveth songs in the night." The kind 
 acts he performs for others touch sweet chords in 
 his memory. And amid all the harsh and jangled 
 discords of this world, such a Christ-loving soul is a 
 harp of gold making constant melody in the ear of 
 God.
 
 166 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CCV. 
 
 A genuine " revival " is only nothing more than 
 the nominal condition of what every Christ-pene- 
 trated church should be, all through the year. 
 The sin and shame of too many churches is that 
 they become mere barges to be towed along by 
 the steam-tug who is paid so many thousands a 
 year to tow them. As long as his steam holds out, 
 the barge goes swimmingly. When the cylinder 
 explodes from over-pressure, the poor tug is sent to 
 Europe for repairs, or goes to the resting-place of 
 all broken machineries of body and mind, in the 
 cemetery. A living church keeps its pastor alive. 
 A pastor who has a ten-men power in himself can- 
 not move a church that has no heart to worship 
 and no "mind to work." 
 
 CCVI. 
 
 Nearly all revivals start with a single man or 
 woman. One live coal can kindle a great flame. 
 
 CCVII. 
 
 "We have toiled all night, and caught nothing," 
 exclaimed the tired and hungry disciples. Then 
 in the early gray of the daybreak they espied their 
 Master on the beach ; the net is cast on the right 
 side of the ship, and it swarms with fish enough to
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 167 
 
 break its meshes. Nearly every revival season I 
 have ever passed through has been on this same 
 fashion. Difficulties and discouragements have 
 sent us to our knees, and then we have been sur- 
 prised by the advent of the Master in great power 
 and blessing. God tests his people before he 
 blesses them. The night is mother of the day ; 
 trust through the dark brings triumph in the 
 dawn. 
 
 CCVIII. 
 
 Our Master keeps ever before us that his peo- 
 ple are to be the lights of the world. Conversion 
 by the Holy Spirit is the original source of this 
 light ; it is the divine illumination of the heart 
 hitherto dark in sin. Sometimes, as in the case of 
 Paul, this process is sudden. Sometimes, as in 
 the case of John Newton, there is at first a feeble 
 germ, like the blue point of flame on a candle-wick, 
 and this germ grows into a full, bright blaze. The 
 beginning of true religion is in the first acts of 
 penitence, the first yearnings after Christ, the first 
 
 steps of obedience to him In order to 
 
 shine, a Christian does not need great talents, or 
 wealth, or conspicuous position. The little lamp 
 by which a housewife threads her needle is as 
 truly luminous as is the huge lantern that burns in 
 the tower of the City Hall. Every consistent, 
 right-living child of God, be he ever so humble, is
 
 163 BIGHT TO THE POIXT. 
 
 a candle shining in the spot where his Lord has 
 placed him. What we need most is not the blaze 
 of a few powerful electric lights in certain con- 
 spicuous places, but the steady shining of every 
 lamp in the whole Church of Christ over the land. 
 A genuine revival means trimming of personal 
 lamps. 
 
 CCIX. 
 
 The reason why any Christian does not produce 
 the fruits of the Spirit is simply want of inward 
 vigor of grace. He needs the tillage of prayer 
 and Bible-study, and a deep embroiling of new 
 repentance and new faith in Christ, a new work of 
 the Holy Ghost. Half of the force in Christ's 
 army are either in the hospitals or off on furlough. 
 The spiritual quickening which brings these use- 
 less invalids out of their beds, and these deserters 
 back into the ranks, constitutes a genuine revival. 
 
 CCX. 
 
 Every genuine revival of religion has a divine 
 side and a human side. Every such revival is the 
 gift of God ; yet it is also the work of free agents 
 the quickened activity of good men and women. 
 When the winds blow upon the cinnamon-bushes, 
 it is from the bushes themselves that the odors flow 
 out. The softest of zephyrs cannot draw fragrance
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 169 
 
 from a pigweed. Faith is the gift of God ; but it 
 is also your act and mine. Love is kindled by 
 contact with Christ ; but we must come up close 
 to him. The Holy Spirit may waft odors from 
 a true Christian life ; but the Christian must do the 
 living: Dead trees yield no spices. What was 
 the secret of the success and tremendous power 
 of the apostolic church ? Every tree was a bearing 
 tree. Paul in his pulpit, Lydia in her cloth-store, 
 Dorcas with her needle, John amid his flock at 
 Ephesus each and all were "always abounding 
 in the work of the Lord." 
 
 CCXI. 
 
 Nowhere is the subtle moral influence so potent 
 as in the home which God intended to be the 
 primary training-school for the commonwealth and 
 the Church. Puritan homes made Puritan charac- 
 ter. Out of many a lowly New England farmhouse 
 with a rag carpet on its floor and a few godly books 
 on its table, have gone the Goodells, the Spauldings 
 and the Mills, to our early foreign missions. They 
 have given the best blood to the American Pulpit 
 and American State. It was the religious atmos- 
 phere that penetrated the very core of character. 
 
 No Christian government, no healthy public 
 conscience, no Bible-philanthropies, no godly church 
 life, can exist without their roots beneath Chris- 
 tian hearth-stones and family altars.
 
 170 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CCXII. 
 
 Education begins early. It begins in infancy. 
 It begins with the mother's first look and gentle 
 word, with a father's smile or his terrifying frown. 
 The child may be sweetened by a sweet atmos- 
 phere about its cradle. Or it may be fretted into 
 irritations by the harsh, peevish words and sour 
 looks and scoldings which make a Babel of the 
 home. Education begins with the tear in a 
 mother's eye, with the first doll given to the eager 
 grasp, with the sight of a flower on the table 
 which is to be admired, but not handled ; with the 
 first " No " that is firmly enforced ; with the 
 thousand other sights and sounds and acts that 
 make first impressions. These are the most last- 
 ing. They go deepest, and never are obliterated. 
 It is safe to say that a majority of all our men and 
 women are made what they are during the first ten 
 years of their existence. 
 
 CCXIII. 
 
 The highest position on the globe is to be a 
 teacher. Jesus himself, the Apostles, the great 
 shaping characters in this world, have been those 
 who dropped immortal seeds into human hearts. 
 When John Elliott had reached his eighty-sixth 
 year, a friend visited him and found him teaching 
 the alphabet to a poor Indian child. " Why don't
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 171 
 
 you rest from your work now ? " inquired the 
 friend. The old hero answered, " I have asked 
 God to keep me useful to the last, and now that I 
 can no longer preach, he gives me strength to 
 teach this poor child." Elliott addressing his 
 dusky crowds of savages under the Massachusetts 
 pines, is a striking character ; but Elliott leaning 
 from his arm-chair to guide a barbarian's child 
 through the alphabet into God's Word, is sublime, 
 apostolic, CJirist-like ! As a picture of practical 
 religion it is as beautiful as the sight of dear old 
 Doctor Muhlenberg carrying a tray of dishes from 
 the room of a patient in St. Luke's Hospital. When 
 some one asked him why he did not call a servant, 
 he characteristically replied " Oh ! I am only a 
 waiter here myself in the Lord's hotel." It is a 
 glorious thing to be one of the Lord's teachers in 
 the Lord's great nursery. 
 
 CCXIV. 
 
 One of the hardest things to many a Christian 
 is to serve his Saviour as a " private," when his 
 pride tells him that he ought to wear a " shoulder- 
 strap " in Christ's army. 
 
 CCXV. 
 
 The diadem that Jesus wears was fashioned on 
 Calvary, and the heavenly crowns which we may
 
 172 
 
 aspire to, must be wrought out of such costly 
 material as penitence, submission, suffering, pa- 
 tience, toil and self-crucifixion. 
 
 CCXVI. 
 
 If the Christ of Christianity cannot and does 
 not endow a frail sinner with supernatural power 
 to resist terrible temptations, then is Christianity 
 a confessed imposture and delusion. But it does 
 stand this very crucial test. Multitudes have given 
 the triumphant testimony that, under sore pressure 
 the Lord stood with them and strengthened them. 
 Their testimony has always been, " When I am 
 weak, then am I strong" that is, when I get 
 emptied of self-trust Jesus comes in and strength- 
 ens me. 
 
 CCXVII. 
 
 Humility is the chief element in every healthy, 
 robust Christian. It keeps him from soaring up 
 into self-conceit, and holds him down in an implicit 
 rest on Jesus, as his rock of strength. Anteus 
 was invincible as long as he stuck to his mother- 
 earth. 
 
 When Hercules got him, he strangled him. No 
 Christian is ever conquered while he lies low and 
 firm on Christ. Then the divine strength is per- 
 fected in the Christian's weakness.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 173 
 
 CCXVIII. 
 
 Paul's constant endeavor was to empty himself 
 of Paul, and to be filled with the fulness of his 
 Lord. In October, the farmer is careful to get 
 the chaff and the bran out of his granary, in order 
 to make room for his wheat. He empties, in order 
 to fill. At the seaside certain molluscs stick 
 tightly to the rocks. Each mollusc clings so tena- 
 ciously that the concussion of the waves cannot 
 smite it off. The secret of its hold is that the 
 mollusc is empty. If it were to be filled either 
 with air or with flesh, it would drop off immedi- 
 ately. This illustrates literally the condition of 
 every humble, honest, healthy believer who has 
 been emptied of self, and so clings by a divine law, 
 closely to the Rock of Ages. As soon as he 
 should become puffed with pride or gorged with 
 fleshly lusts, he would yield to the wave of tempt- 
 ation and be swept away. But while he is weak 
 in himself he is immovable through Christ 
 strengthening him. 
 
 CCXIX. 
 
 The first essential to discipleship of the Lord 
 Jesus was the willingness to deny self, and to 
 bear a cross at his bidding. That principle runs 
 through all the deepest, richest, Christian experi- 
 ence, and will do so to the end of time. God's
 
 174 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 people are never so exalted as when they are 
 brought low ; never so enriched as when they 
 are emptied ; never so advanced as when they are 
 set back by adversity ; never so near the crown as 
 when under the cross. 
 
 ccxx. 
 
 When the richest American of his day was in 
 his last fatal sickness, a Christian friend proposed 
 to sing for him, and the hymn he named was, 
 " Come, ye sinners, poor and needy!' "Yes, yes," 
 replied the dying millionnaire, sing that for me ; I 
 feel poor and needy." Yet at that moment the 
 stock markets of the globe were watching and 
 waiting for the demise of the man who could shake 
 them with a nod of his head. " Poor and needy ! " 
 How the sand sweeps from under a man's soul 
 in such an hour as that ! 
 
 CCXXI. 
 
 Christian cheerfulness is that sunshiny, hopeful, 
 happy frame which comes from heart-health. Such 
 a temper of mind doeth the body good " like a 
 medicine." For many a lean dyspeptic is dying of 
 sheer worry and peevishness. The acrid humors 
 of the mind strike through and disease the diges- 
 tive organs. The medicine such a man wants is 
 not to be found in the drug store. A good dose of
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 175 
 
 divine grace, with a few grains of thankfulness, and 
 a bracing walk on some labor of love to the poor, 
 will do more to put healthy blood into his weazen 
 skeleton than all the drugs of the apothecary. 
 
 Look at your mercies with botk eyes, and at 
 your troubles and trials with only half an eye. 
 
 Keep your heart's window always open toward 
 Heaven. Let the blessed light of Jesus' counte- 
 nance shine in. It will turn tears into rainbows. 
 
 CCXXII. 
 
 Contentment is true heart-quiet under God's 
 will. Its fountain is the heart. As long as that 
 keeps sweet and satisfied with God, there is not 
 much danger of acid on the lips, or a scowl on the 
 brow. The real marah from which nearly all the 
 grumbling issues, is a sour, : : unsanctified heart. 
 Discontent is the rust which tarnishes the bright- 
 est profession, and gnaws out the very core of 
 faith. It never removes one sorrow, and yet kills 
 a hundred joys. It disgraces our religion, disgusts 
 the world, and insults our God. Even when we 
 are on a cross -of trial it only mingles a cup of 
 vinegar and gall to make our sufferings the more 
 bitter. In nothing is God's forbearance more con- 
 spicuous than the patience with which he bears 
 with chronic grumblers. 
 
 Strive to keep a good conscience. Seek for a 
 fresh invoice of faith. Unbelief can scoff and
 
 176 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 growl ; faith is the nightingale that sings in the 
 darkest hour. Faith can draw honey out of the 
 rock, and oil out of the flint. With Christ in pos- 
 session and Pleaven in reversion, it marches to the 
 music of the one hundred and third Psalm over 
 the roughest road, and against the most cutting 
 blast. 
 
 CCXXIII. 
 
 A moping, sour, discontented, grumbling Chris 
 tian is a disgrace to the name he bears. If such a 
 poor bulrush should ask a shrewd man of the world 
 to embrace Christianity, the man might well reply, 
 " I now have trouble enough of my own already 
 without being troubled with such a doleful religion 
 as yours is ; " and he would be right A cheerful, 
 sunny-faced piety, which rejoices in the Lord 
 always, wins converts. What a joyous brace of 
 prisoners were those two men who were locked 
 down in Phillippi's horrid dungeon at midnight ! 
 They are singing down there until the old Bastile 
 rings again. The other prisoners hear them. The 
 Lord has put a new song into their mouths. Those 
 apostolic Christians had their mouths filled with 
 joy and their tongues with singing. 
 
 CCXXIV. 
 
 Look on God's side of everything, for that is the 
 bright side. His clouds always have silver linings.
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 177 
 
 Look more at the promises ; more at Jesus, the un- 
 complaining man of sorrows ; more at the glory 
 which is not far off. Strive for more holiness ; for 
 the more you are sanctified the better will you be 
 satisfied. Be sure of this there are no grumblers 
 in Heaven. 
 
 CCXXV. 
 
 There is only one practical remedy for this 
 deadly sin of anxiety, and that is to take short 
 
 views That is a short view which 
 
 only takes in immediate duty to be done, the im- 
 mediate temptation to be met, and the immediate 
 sorrow to be carried 
 
 Sometimes young Christians say to me, " I am 
 afraid to make a public confession of Christ ; I may 
 not hold out." They have nothing to do with 
 holding out; it is simply their duty to hold on. 
 When future trials and perils come, their Master 
 will give them help for the hour, if they only make 
 sure that they are his. The short view they need 
 to take is a close, clear view of their own spiritual 
 wants, and a distinct view of Jesus as ever at hand 
 to meet those wants. If the fishermen of Galilee 
 had worried themselves over the hardships they 
 were to encounter, they might have been frightened 
 out of their apostleship and their eternal crowns. 
 
 Some of us, at the beginning of a 
 
 year's work, are tempted to overload ourselves
 
 178 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 with the anticipation of how much we have to 
 do ; we need not worry if we will only remember 
 that during the whole year there will be only one 
 working day, and that is to-day. Sufficient to 
 each day is the labor thereof. 
 
 Once more we say, let us take short views. Let 
 us not climb the high wall till we get to it, or fight 
 the battle till it opens, or shed tears over sorrows 
 that may never come, or lose the joys and blessings 
 that we have, by the sinful fear that God will take 
 them away from us. We need all our strength and 
 all the grace God can give us for to-day's burdens 
 and to-day's battle. To-morrow belongs to our 
 Heavenly Father. I would not know its secrets if 
 I could. It is far better to know whom we trust, 
 and that he is able to keep all we commit to him 
 until the last great day. 
 
 CCXXVI. 
 
 The best days of the Church have always been 
 its singing days. Luther set all Germany to chant- 
 ing the Einfeste burg, and the priests found that 
 unless they could stop the contagion of holy song, 
 the Reformation would spread like fire in a stubble- 
 field. John Wesley was a master-builder ; but the 
 walls of Methodism never would have gone up so 
 rapidly if they had not been built to Charles Wes- 
 ley's music. That one hymn, Jesus, Lover of my 
 Soul, gave the pitch to a thousand praise-meetings.
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 179 
 
 When a soul is filled with the joy of the Lord, the 
 voice of song becomes as natural as it is with a 
 group of happy children to shout for glee. Heaven 
 is full of seraphic song, because Heaven is full of 
 seraphic bliss. And he who has Jesus and his 
 grace more abundantly in his soul, will break forth 
 into singing. We even read in the prophet Zepha- 
 niah that the Lord God rejoices over Zion " with 
 singing ! " 
 
 CCXXVII. 
 
 Life is a battle with many a sharp encounter, 
 many an agonizing wound, many a hard bivouac. 
 But we can "make it ring" with the voice of 
 serene and triumphant praise. We do not sing 
 enough. Our hearts should oftener warm with 
 the mercies and promises and loving kindnesses of 
 our God, until the lips should break forth into sing- 
 ing. Heaven is vocal with God's singers. Those 
 anthems are born of a love that cannot keep silent. 
 And the purest and most perennial fountain of 
 song on earth is a soul filled full with the presence 
 of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 CCXXVIII. 
 
 Singing plays a great part in God's Word, and 
 in God's world. The first song we read of was 
 that jubilant anthem which rang out over the Red
 
 180 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 Sea, where Moses and the children of Israel " sang 
 a song unto the Lord." Was there no singing 
 ever known before ? There must have been. 
 Jubal must have accompanied his harp with the 
 voice. When Laban scolded Jacob for stealing 
 away so slyly, he told him that he would have 
 cheered his going "with songs and tabret and 
 harp." Perhaps Noah's family relieved their lone- 
 liness in the ark by some lively household music. 
 Nay ; Mother Eve may have crooned a lullaby over 
 her first baby. The highest period of Jewish 
 glory was the highest era of song. Her greatest 
 king was the king of singers. " I will sing unto 
 the Lord as long as I live," exclaims the royal 
 Psalmist. Our Divine Lord and his disciples cer- 
 tainly sang one hymn together ; and it is likely 
 that they often mingled their voices in the grand 
 old Hebrew melodies. What an exquisite touch 
 that is in Job where a "widow's heart is made 
 to sing for joy." So Paul and Silas felt such 
 inward gratitude and joy that even at midnight in 
 their noxious and filthy dungeon, they pealed out 
 God's praise. Blessings on the triumphant grace 
 that giveth songs in the night ! When a soul 
 is filled with the love of Jesus, the voice of praise 
 is irrepressible. Martyrs' cells and beds of anguish 
 and hovels of bitterest poverty have all been 
 cheered with holy song. 
 
 Every redeemed, forgiven, heaven-bound heart 
 should be a robin singing in the branches of the
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 181 
 
 tree of life. Those hours in which we do the 
 least sinning are those we spend in singing to 
 our God. 
 
 CCXXIX. 
 
 No lay of Calvary has ever yet approached in 
 pathetic grandeur that offering of Watts': 
 
 When I survey the wondrous Cross 
 On which the Prince of Glory died, 
 
 My richest gain I count but loss, 
 And pour contempt on all my pride. 
 
 No funeral hymns have equalled those which 
 issued from Watts' pensive spirit. How many of 
 us can recall the first scenes of burial which we 
 witnessed in our early homes ! We seem to see 
 again the rural neighbors gathered on the grass be- 
 fore the door, while the sun shimmered through the 
 trees upon the group around the open coffin. We 
 seem to hear again to the sweet strains of old 
 China, those soul-melting words : 
 
 Why should we tremble to convey 
 
 This body to the tomb ? 
 There the dear form of Jesus lay, 
 
 And left a long perfume. 
 
 His body rests in Bunfields, the Westminster 
 Abbey of the glorious Puritans. Close by the gate, 
 and not far from Bunyan's grave, is a plain tomb,
 
 182 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 which bears the name of Isaac Watts, the father of 
 the English hymn. 
 
 A fine hymn is the consummate flower of doctrine. 
 
 ccxxx. 
 
 Many of our richest hymns are prayers in metre. 
 And few yearnings break forth oftener in the 
 psalmodies of God's people than the yearning for 
 soul rest. 
 
 Here in the body pent, 
 
 Absent from Him I roam ; 
 Yet nightly pitch my moving tent 
 
 One day's march nearer home. 
 
 There are few finer verses in the whole range of 
 devotional poetry. It is the pilgrim's wayfaring 
 song as he pulls up the tent-pins every morning, 
 and moves onward towards his everlasting rest. 
 
 CCXXXI. 
 
 Never do what you cannot ask Christ to bless ; 
 and never go into any place or any pursuit in 
 which you cannot ask Christ Jesus to go with you. 
 
 CCXXXII. 
 
 To every Christian the law of Christ will be 
 the law of his pleasures. Walking in the Spirit, he
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 183 
 
 does not stop to fulfil the lusts of the flesh. Free 
 to choose his pleasures, he is too free to want the 
 sinful ones. As when we listen to a well-timed 
 orchestra, the music of the horns mingles with the 
 rich swell of the bugle and the finer notes of the 
 delicate viols, so a true Christian life should be full 
 of heaven-tuned harmony, in which pleasure shall 
 blend with toil, in which work shall soften play, 
 and recreation shall rise into that strain of holy or 
 heroic activities which impart to life both its sweet- 
 ness and its sinew. Existence on earth is too short 
 to be wasted in play ; but it must not be made 
 shorter by unremitting toil. Whatsoever ye do, do 
 all to the glory of God. This rule permits liberty, 
 and prohibits license ; it padlocks the door to every 
 sinful amusement, but opens a gateway through 
 which life may become a procession of pure enjoy- 
 ments, until it swells into the rapture of Heaven. 
 
 CCXXXIII. 
 
 The law of -Christianity is not an iron-clad ascet- 
 icism. God never made a man to be a monk, or 
 this bright world to be a monastery. If life has 
 its times to weep, so hath it times to laugh. Our 
 blessed Lord more than once shed tears ; but may 
 he not have often smiled, or even indulged in the 
 good old Christian liberty of laughter ? Holiness 
 signifies wholeness, wealth, health ; and health 
 breeds innocent mirth. If mirth may be innocent,
 
 184 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 recreation is not only innocent, it is indispensable. 
 Martin Luther relieves his stern polemics with the 
 Pope by cheerful songs at the fireside and by 
 decorating Christmas-trees for the children ; old 
 Lyman Beecher lets off the steam after an even- 
 ing's work at revival preaching, by capering to the 
 music of his violin until his prudent spouse protests 
 against his salutary exercise, lest he wear out his 
 home-knit stockings. Gladstone, the king of living 
 statesmen, recreates with his axe ; Spurgeon, the 
 king of living preachers, recreates with his game of 
 bowls ; the saintly McCheyne of Scotland, with 
 his gymnastics, poles and bars. All these were 
 men, not angels. God has ordained that man should 
 play as well as labor, The friction of the care and 
 toil requires this lubrication. Childhood is a type 
 of wholesome piety, both from its fund of faith, and 
 its fund of eminent playfulness. It is a true say- 
 ing that no creature lives which must not work, 
 and may not play. What is recreation ? We 
 reply : Everything that re-creates what is lost by 
 daily life's friction and fatigue. Whatever makes 
 the body healthier, the mind clearer and the im- 
 mortal powers more vigorous, is Christian recrea- 
 tion. To deny ourselves such wholesome reanima- 
 tion may be to hazard our folly ; but to restrain 
 others from them is an infringement upon Christian 
 liberty. The rights of Christian conscience are 
 sacred here as elsewhere ; but conscience requires 
 solid principles of truth for its guidance.
 
 SIGHT TO THE POINT. 185 
 
 CCXXXIV. 
 
 We lay down, then, this principle : That what- 
 soever tends to improve the body and mind is 
 right ; whatever endangers the moral health and 
 inflames the evil passions is wrong. The one 
 strengthens ; the other only stimulates and often 
 poisons. The one refreshes ; the other ruins. 
 . . . . Does the amusement recreate the body 
 and mind, or does it minister to the evil passions ? 
 If it recruits my physical and moral nature, it 
 is right. But if it stimulates any fleshly lust, if 
 it weakens conscience, if it unfits me for the 
 service of my God, and defaces my spiritual 
 nature, then is it a forbidden amusement. I can- 
 not take my Master with me into it, or ask his 
 blessing upon it. Wherever a Christian cannot 
 take his Christ with him, he has no right to go. 
 
 ccxxxv. 
 
 No question has a better right to the ballot-box 
 than the vital question of legalizing* a traffic which 
 spawns three fourths of all the pauperism and the 
 crime. But a reliance upon civil enactments alone 
 will be fatal. The most effectual way to prevent 
 selling, is to prevent the buying of strong drink. 
 Those who are instructed into habits of teetotalism 
 furnish no custom to the dram shop, and the duty 
 of furnishing such instruction devolves upon the
 
 180 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 pulpit, the Church, the Sabbath-school, and the 
 public-school as well as upon conscientious 
 parents. But where a large proportion of the peo- 
 ple demand liquor they will obtain it, even in de- 
 fiance of law. Legal suppressions of the dram-shop 
 and moral suasion can. never be divorced. They go 
 hand in hand ; each is a complement of the other. 
 We need a revival of total abstinence preaching 
 and practice as the indispensable basis for both 
 social and civil reform. The attempt to suppress 
 liquor drinking and drunkenness by legal enact- 
 ment in a community that has no temperance 
 conscience, is as impotent as a breakwater of straw 
 built on ~ quicksand. A "teetotal" rejection of 
 the bottle by individuals is sure death to both the 
 drinking usages and the dram-shop. Men are 
 saved or ruined, one by one. There is no royal 
 road to the salvation of society " by regiments." 
 
 CCXXXVI. 
 
 The only honest word to be applied to drunken- 
 ness is not misfortune, or disease, or infirmity ; it 
 is voluntary crime. It is a self-inflicted blow at the 
 very seat and throne of manhood ; it strikes the 
 brain and overthrows the reason, and demolishes 
 for the time that moral sense which lifts man above 
 the brute. Alcohol is really that devil which has 
 the power to "cast both soul and body into hell." 
 Other evil habits may impair a single organ or
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 187 
 
 vitiate a singe phase of character. But a material 
 poison that can derange the most vital part of the 
 body, and at the same time strike through and 
 reach the mind, and the immortal soul itself, must 
 be the masterpiece of destruction. 
 
 Young men in our time and country need more 
 frequent and solemn warnings against the bottle. 
 It can deceive even " God's elect " if they tamper 
 with it. The brains of powerful orators or of 
 powerful ministers are as easily raked and ruined 
 by the chain-shot of alcohol as the brain of the 
 most stupid clown. There is a law of the Creator 
 against alcoholic drinks, written on the human brain, 
 which is older than any prohibitory statutes of 
 legislatures, and more authoritative than any utter- 
 ances of pulpits or of synods. Every confirmation 
 of that law demands a hearing and a heeding. The 
 dead utter their warnings as well as the living. 
 "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear! " 
 
 CCXXXVII. 
 
 God's Church instead of abetting the drinking- 
 usages, must aim to discourage and destroy the 
 drinking usages, or else be itself wounded to the 
 heart. Whatever our duty be as citizens in law-mak- 
 ing and law-en forcing, ourprovince as Christians 
 lies in the direction of moral and religious effort. 
 
 The stream of enforced law never rises higher 
 than the fountain-head of public sentiment.
 
 188 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CCXXXVIII. 
 
 This delusion of " moderation " has slain not 
 only the dwarfs, but the giants. It has left its awful 
 blood-stain in the Senate-chamber, the Parliament- 
 house, and the pulpit. This treacherous quality 
 inheres in the very nature of an alcoholic stimulant ; 
 therefore God's Word pronounces it a " mocker " 
 and a "deceiver." The excitable temperaments of 
 our American people and our peculiar climate 
 make the popular drinks now in vogue especially 
 dangerous. But if our moderation is to be known 
 unto all men, pray let us know just what is moder- 
 ation. Is it one glass ? Or two ? Or five ? 
 There are good people who make fools of them- 
 selves on two glasses, while others can carry a level 
 head under five glasses. Is everything moderation 
 which is inside the limit of drunkenness ? Surely 
 not; for thousands have burned up their vitals with 
 strong wines and whiskey, who never staggered in 
 their lives. 
 
 Moderation is an elastic word. To tell our ner- 
 vously, excitable young Americans that they may 
 drink our popular drinks, if they are careful to do 
 so in moderation, is about equivalent to telling 
 them that they may venture into a house infected 
 with small-pox, if they are careful to come out with 
 only a gentle varioloid. They may bathe in the 
 rapids of Niagara, but they must be sure to keep 
 above Goat Island bridge.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 189 
 
 CCXXXIX. 
 
 God gave Paul the grace to fight down his lusts, 
 but God never took physical lusts so entirely out 
 of Paul that he had nothing left to fight. Precisely 
 so does God impart to a truly converted inebriate 
 the divine strength to "keep under" a depraved 
 lust for alcohol. This is the "drunkard's greatest 
 hope;" nay, his only hope. But let the converted 
 man beware how he falls into the dangerous delu- 
 sion that his old enemy is entirely dead, and dead 
 forever. 
 
 Few genuine drunkards are ever permanently 
 reformed, and that is an overwhelming argument 
 for total abstinence from the start. God never 
 intended that when a man wantonly throws him- 
 self into the rapids he should have an easy time in 
 swimming ashore from the cataract. 
 
 CCXL. 
 
 If a glass of wine on my table will entrap some 
 young man or some one who is inclined to stimu- 
 lants into dissipation, then am I thoughtlessly set- 
 ting a trap for his life. I am his tempter. I give 
 the usage my sanction, and to him the direct 
 inducement to partake of the bottled demon that 
 sparkles so seductively before him. If the con- 
 tents of that sparkling glass make my brother to 
 stumble, he stumbles over me. If he goes away
 
 190 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 from my table and commits some outrage under 
 the effects of that stimulant, I am to a certain 
 degree guilty of that outrage. I have a partner- 
 ship in every blow he strikes, or in every oath he 
 may utter, or in every bitter wound he may inflict 
 on the hearts of those he loves while under the 
 spell of my glass of " Cognac," or "Burgundy." I 
 gave him the incentive to do what otherwise he 
 might have left undone. The man who puts the 
 bottle to his neighbor's lips is accountable for 
 what comes from those lips under the influence of 
 the dram, and is accountable, too, for every outrage 
 that the maddened victim of the cup may perpe- 
 trate during his temporary insanity. In this view 
 of the question, is it too much to ask of every pro- 
 fessed Christian, and every lover of his kind, that 
 they will wholly abstain from everything that will 
 intoxicate? For the sake of your children, do it. 
 For the sake of a brother, a husband, a friend ; 
 for the sake of those who will plead your example ; 
 for the sake of frail tempted ones who cannot say 
 No ! for your fellow-traveller's sake to God's bar 
 and to the eternal world, touch not the bottled 
 devil, under whose shining scales damnation hides 
 its adder-sting ! 
 
 CCXLI. 
 
 The Bible closes the " kingdom of God " against 
 the drunkard. The Bible declares that wine is a
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 191 
 
 mocker, and warns us against its adder-bite and 
 serpent-sting. The Bible proclaims that noble 
 Christian principle of self-denial, " It is good not 
 to drink wine or anything by which thy brother 
 stumbleth." One of these passages teaches the 
 terrible danger of tampering with what is by its 
 very nature a subtle deceiver. Another pronounces 
 the awful doom of those who are enslaved by the 
 deceiver ; and the third unfolds a most sensible 
 and beautiful principle on which all who have any 
 regard for their fellow creatures should be willing 
 to stand in solid phalanx. "Why don't you take 
 wine ? " inquired a certain bishop of a neighbor to 
 whom he pushed a decanter at a public table. 
 The reproving reply was, " I do not for the sake of 
 my example." 
 
 The one momentous truth that must be instilled 
 into the minds and consciences of the young, is 
 that nobody can safely tamper with an intoxicating 
 beverage. On the bed-rock of entire abstinence 
 alone are they safe. 
 
 CCXLII. 
 
 All genuine acts of philanthropy are born of the 
 noble principle to deny self, and to honor Christ in 
 the persons of those for whom Christ suffered. . . 
 There is a kind of benevolence which aims to 
 commute with God by the mere payment of money. 
 It is not so cruel as to leave the widow and
 
 192 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 the orphan, who are the apostles' types of the needy 
 and dependent classes, to starve. Therefore it 
 contributes to found asylums, and to establish 
 orphanages; but the personal sympathy which is 
 more to the suffering often than silver or gold 
 it is too indolent or too selfish to bestow. Christ 
 exemplified the power of personal sympathy when 
 he went to lodge with the social outcast, Zaccheus ; 
 when he dined with Simon the leper, and when he 
 led the poor blind man out of the town. Christ 
 tuught the secret of all successful charity, yes, and 
 of all successful effort to win sinners to the gospel 
 of salvation. It is by personal sympathy. 
 
 The only way to bring suffering and sinning 
 human nature to God is by personal effort, and 
 personal effort must be born of personal sympathy. 
 
 CCXLIII. 
 
 As God notches the centuries, the chief glory 
 of this nineteenth one is not that it has produced 
 steam-engines and telegraphs and telephones and 
 other mechanical marvels, but that it is the cen- 
 tury of Foreign Missions. 
 
 CCXLIV. 
 
 This morning I found my way to the Mission 
 Park (near Williams College) the sacred spot on 
 which Christ's inspiring words, " go teach all na-
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 193 
 
 , tions," came with new power into the souls of 
 Samuel J. Mills and his praying band. I went 
 down there alone soon after sunrise. .Old Grey- 
 lock was just kindling with the earliest rays. All 
 the mountains round about were as silent as before 
 the winds were made. The dew was yet sparkling 
 on the grass in the open grove to which the dis- 
 ciples of that memorable year of 1806 " oftentimes 
 resorted " for prayer. Part of that grove is still 
 standing, and just above it, within a circular walk, 
 stands the Monument, as pure and stainless as the 
 faith which has consecrated this holy spot. When I 
 first saw the monument and read the brief, touch- 
 ing inscription, I could not keep back the tears. 
 It is not a memorial, like other marbles, of a 
 death, but of a glorious birth. Here was born, in 
 the pangs of prayer, a mighty purpose to make 
 the living sacrifice for a perishing world. 
 
 The monument contains only the simple inscrip- 
 tion "The Birthplace of American Missions," and 
 that other watchword, "The field is the world;" 
 and then five modest names of men who never 
 dreamed that they were making themselves immor- 
 tal. I read them over : Samuel J. Mills, James 
 Richards, F. L. Robbins, Henry Loomis, Byram 
 Green. I tried to imagine the humble, coarsely- 
 clad students, after their homely, austere meal, 
 coming down here from the most rustic of Ameri- 
 can colleges (as it then was), and with Greylock 
 looking down upon them like a second Olivet
 
 194 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 kneeling here for prayer. I seemed to hear 
 Mills's voice yearning forth, " Lord, here are we ; 
 send us." I catch the deep amen with which the 
 other four voices chimed in at the close of the 
 petition. I can imagine the sweet disentangled 
 pilgrim spirit with which they went back to their 
 studies. Henceforth they were consecrated to 
 God. The mountains around were their wit- 
 nesses. They had " no more place in these parts," 
 and their eyes looked beyond the seas for their 
 field of blessed toil. I wish every American stu- 
 dent could come and see this holy spot; such a 
 pilgrimage might shame down selfishness and 
 recruit the ranks of American torch-bearers to the 
 lands yet lying in the midnight of heathenism. 
 
 CCXLV. 
 
 The Luthers and Wesleys who have pioneered 
 great reformations, the missionaries of Christ who 
 have invaded the kingdoms of paganism, have had 
 to endure night-watching and sleepless work be- 
 fore God opens to them the gates of the morning. 
 
 CCXLVI. 
 
 Many Christians are so wrapped up in one or 
 two favorite schemes of benevolence, which become 
 their " hobbies," that they have no time or thought 
 for cases of suffering close by them.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 195 
 
 CCXLVIL 
 
 God's government is the solidest ground of my 
 confidence and joy. It underlies all my theology, 
 and is the very rock-bed on which I rest my salva- 
 tion. If his irrevocable laws push me back and 
 hedge me in from sin, then all the better. If his 
 sharp knife prunes me, then I am only the more 
 sure that he loveth me. Afflictions are like the 
 cactus plant of his making very unsightly and 
 full of thorns ; but they bear marvellous flowers in 
 their time. 
 
 CCXLVIII. 
 
 God not only reigns, but he governs his world 
 by a most beautiful law of compensations. He 
 setteth one thing over against another. Faith 
 loves to study the illustrations of this law, notes 
 them in her diary, and rears her pillars of praise 
 for every fresh discovery. 
 
 One of the sweetest enjoyments of Heaven will 
 be to review our own experiences under this law 
 of compensations, and to see how often affliction 
 worked out for us the exceeding weight of glory. 
 
 CCXLIX. 
 
 One of the excellencies of God's government is 
 that he never alters his laws to meet special cases.
 
 196 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 They are unchangeable. If we break God's com- 
 mandments we must pay the penalty. 
 
 All along the seductive pathways of self-indul- 
 gence God places his toll-gates of retribution. 
 
 Nothing hurts us like the hurts we give to our 
 conscience. 
 
 CCL. 
 
 Some people imagine that Sinai is extinct. Cer- 
 tain pulpits seem to be pitched so far away from 
 the sublime mountain, that its august peak is no 
 longer visible, and its righteous thunders against 
 sin are no longer audible. With this of rose-water 
 ministers, the theology of law is voted obsolete 
 and barbarous ; the world is to be tamed and 
 sanctified entirely by a theology of love. .They 
 preach a one-sided God all mercy and no justice 
 with one half of his glorious attributes put 
 under eclipse. Even sinners are not to be warned, 
 with tears and entreaties, to flee from the wrath to 
 come. They are to be coaxed into holiness by a 
 magical process which makes nothing of repent- 
 ance, and simply requires a " faith " which costs 
 no more labor than the snap of a finger. This 
 shallow system may produce long rolls of "con- 
 verts," but it does not produce solid, sub-soiled 
 Christians. Sinai is not an extinct mountain in 
 Bible theology. Not one jot of its holy law has 
 been lowered or repealed. In one very vital sense,
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 197 
 
 no Christian is "free from the law." It would not 
 be a "happy condition " for him if he were so, any 
 more than it would be a happy condition for New 
 York or Chicago to disband their police, and to 
 let loose their criminals into the streets. So far 
 from being a kindness, it would be eventual cruelty 
 to any man, or any community, to place them beyond 
 the reach and the just penalties of divine law. 
 This is especially an unfortunate time in which to 
 preach a limber-backed theology which has no 
 stiffening of the word " ortght " in its fibre, and 
 which seldom disturbs men's consciences with 
 the retributions of sin. Society will not be re- 
 generated with cologne- water. We need more of 
 the sacred authority of law in our homes, more 
 enforcement of law in the commonwealth, more 
 reverence for God's law in our hearts, more law 
 preaching in our pulpits, and more " law work " 
 in the conversion of souls which are to represent 
 Christ by keeping his commandments. 
 
 CCLI. 
 
 Those of us who accept the unpopular doctrine 
 that the banishment of the wicked from Heaven 
 will be endless, are compelled to this opinion by 
 the clear revelations of God's Word. We have 
 not invented the doctrine. We do not preach it 
 because it is popular. As Paul declared the gospel 
 of Calvary to be "a stumbling-block to the Jew
 
 198 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 and foolishness to the Greek," so we are willing to 
 acknowledge that eternal punishment is neither 
 pleasant nor palatable to the majority of mankind. 
 With the justice or the mercy involved, we have 
 nothing to do. God is abundantly able to vindi- 
 cate his own dealings with his creatures ; he asks 
 no apologies from us. All that we, who are 
 teachers of the inspired Word, need to ascertain, 
 is, " What saith the Lord ? " Whatever the Lord 
 has declared, we are bound to preach. There our 
 responsibility ends. 
 
 CCLII. 
 
 There is only one cloud in the universe which 
 never knows any lining of light, and that is the 
 cloud of Divine wrath against sin. No rainbow 
 ever gilds it ; no smile of God ever plays upon its 
 terrible blackness. It is like unto* that pitchy 
 "smoke of torment" which John saw rolling up 
 forever from the pit. Let the very thought of it 
 send us to Christ, as to a covert from the tem- 
 pest. 
 
 CCLIII. 
 
 N^Vhat doesh e Bible mean by "loss of the 
 soul ? " Does it mean an utter annihilation ? I 
 find no such idea expressed on any page of Holy 
 Writ. But I do discover that it is lost to God's
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 199 
 
 word when it is given up to selfishness ; it is lost to 
 holiness when it is "sold under sin;" it is lost to 
 happiness when it is without hope. If I see the 
 wreck of a gallant vessel on a beach, I say at once 
 " This ship is lost." The broken fragments of the 
 timbers and the tangled mass of spars and cordage 
 may strew the strand. They are not annihilated ; 
 yet the ship is lost. For the purposes which that 
 vessel was built, for all beauty and usefulness, it is 
 ruined. So, if any soul be perverted from God's 
 service, from faith in Christ, from usefulness, from 
 purity, and from hope of Heaven, it is a ruined 
 soul. To continue in this condition through eter- 
 nity would be an eternal "death." 
 
 CCLIV. 
 
 It is a tremendous truth, though constantly for- 
 gotten, that this vapor of human life never appears 
 and disappears but once. " It is appointed unto 
 man once to die." This we all admit ; but do we 
 as fully realize that it is appointed unto us only 
 once to live ? If we could come back hither from 
 the unseen world, and try our probation over again, 
 how differently would we use the golden hours. 
 
 How busily that now indolent Christian would 
 work I How faithfully we pastors would preach 
 righteousness and the judgment to come ! How 
 eagerly that rich man would devote his money to 
 the Lord's service ! . With what quick haste would
 
 200 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 that impenitent soul snatch the offered gift of sal- 
 vation ! Oh ! how differently would we all live, if 
 the light of an actual visit into the eternal world 
 were shining on a second probation ! 
 
 But even as the leaves now lying under yonder 
 cherry-tree will never touch those branches again 
 or be kissed by another summer's sun, so my life 
 and your life, kind reader, will never have another 
 moment of probation beyond the tomb. Verily it 
 is now or never with us. It is either a life for 
 Christ here, or an undying death without him 
 in the world to come ! Which shall it be ? Shall 
 this fleeting vapor of existence glow like a rainbow, 
 with God's smiles of approval, or shall it darken 
 into a cloud of wrath and blackness under his 
 just frown? 
 
 CCLV. 
 
 A delusion which rocks thousands into a perilous 
 slumber, is that they will yet have abundant chances 
 to secure Heaven. "I need be in no hurry; time 
 enough yet." This is the will-o'-the-wisp which is 
 leading multitudes on farther and deeper into the 
 morass of impenitence. Not only in this world 
 will there be chances for repentance and securing 
 Heaven, but even beyond the grave God's mercy will 
 give them another opportunity. This delusion is in 
 the air to a degree never known before. Ministers 
 and writers of the Dorner school help to extend it,
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 201 
 
 and the procrastinating heart of man eagerly 
 snatches at the spider's web. It is a plausible 
 idea, and as long as it lulls conscience and gratifies 
 the natural heart, so long it will be popular. God's 
 Word, indeed, gives not even a hint of a second 
 probation to those who have rejected the Saviour 
 in this life. Our loving Lord himself was the very 
 one who has most repeatedly and solemnly preached 
 the doctrine of endless retribution and the hopeless- 
 ness of repentance beyond the grave. It was 
 from his merciful, lovi-ng lips that there fell such 
 tremendous utterances as " A great gulf fixed; " 
 and " These shall go away into everlasting punish- 
 ment ; " and " The worm dieth not and the flame 
 is not quenched." The whole trend of the New 
 Testament is overwhelmingly in this same direc- 
 tion. The mighty bell which God rings over our 
 heads sounds out only the single note "Now" 
 is the day of salvation ; but against God's impera- 
 tive " Nozv " thousands close their ears and allow 
 the devil to whisper into them his delusive 
 " to-morrow." 
 
 The very people who would scorn the name of 
 "infidel" are those who will eagerly fasten to a 
 delusion which has not a shadow of warrant in 
 the Scriptures. Well might Doctor Finney say 
 that the Bible fares badly in human hands, for 
 Christians throw away too many of its promises, 
 and sinners throw away all its threatenings ; and 
 but little is left of it.
 
 202 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CCLVI. 
 
 Procrastination peoples hell. Some persons 
 have a vague hope of another time of probation 
 beyond the grave, or else that temporary punish- 
 ment may prepare them for bridging the great 
 gulf and getting into Heaven. Both these arc 
 Satan's lies, without a shadow of warrant from the 
 Bible. Now or never is the steady, persistent ap- 
 peal of the Gospel ; death comes soon, may come 
 at any moment, and death ends probation. When 
 Christ is knocking at your heart's door, is the time 
 to admit him ; he may soon give his last knock. 
 
 CCLVII. 
 
 When Apelles, the Greek painter, was asked 
 why he bestowed so much labor upon his pictures, 
 he replied, "Because I am painting for eternity." 
 He used the word as a bold figure of speech ; but 
 we may use the word literally when we say that 
 we are painting the picture of our lives for eternity. 
 We use fast colors. Whatever pure and holy word 
 or deed be wrought into that picture, will stand 
 there, imperishable and immortal. Whatever sel- 
 fish or sinful thing be painted on that life-canvas 
 can never be washed out except by the application 
 of the blood of Jesus here in this present life. 
 Now or never that precious blood availeth. When 
 death comes, the process of painting stops ! No
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 203 
 
 strokes of penitence or of faith can be added to it 
 then. No guilty spots can be washed out then. 
 The painting is finished, and it is finished for- 
 ever ! 
 
 Death frames the picture, and sends it on to the 
 Judgment-day for exhibition. Not "a private view" 
 before a select company, but a public exhibition 
 before an assembled multitude whom no man can 
 number. 
 
 For God will bring every word and every work 
 into judgment, whether it be good, or whether 
 it be evil. The picture of our lives which is pre- 
 sented before the " great white throne " will be 
 forever unchangeable. If the canvas is adorned 
 with deeds, however humble, for the glory of God, 
 then the life-work will stand as an everlasting 
 memorial of divine grace. If life was only spent 
 for the gratification of sinful self, then the wretched 
 picture of it will only be held up to " shame and 
 everlasting contempt." 
 
 We may desire most intensely to alter the por- 
 traiture then, and to improve it, but the pencil and 
 the colors were left behind us ; the hand will have 
 lost its cunning forevermore. We may importu- 
 nately beg and beseech the righteous Judge to give 
 us one more opportunity. The irreversible answer 
 will be, ''He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; 
 he that is filthy, let him be filthy still. He that is 
 righteous, let him be righteous still; he that is holy, 
 let him be holy still."
 
 204 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CCLVIII. 
 
 Jesus has revealed the pathway to Heaven, and 
 poured upon that straight and narrow road the 
 noontide of guidance and bright encouragement. 
 Take out of this sin-cursed world to-day the light 
 which has beamed into it from that plain, perse- 
 cuted man of Nazareth, and all its multitudinous 
 peoples would be shrouded in a spiritual midnight. 
 
 CCLIX. 
 
 Christ does not offer to be simply an occasional 
 shower of blessings to the faithful believer. He 
 promises to be a living well. "The water that I 
 give him shall be in him a well of water springing 
 up into everlasting life." The deepest and the 
 most urgent wants of the heart he promises to 
 satisfy. 
 
 CCLX. 
 
 As the watch-maker is familiar with every wheel 
 and pivot in the watch he has made, so the Divine 
 Jesus knows his own workmanship. This is the 
 infinite advantage which Christianity has over 
 every other system. It submits the human soul to 
 the Maker as well as to the Redeemer of that soul. 
 
 It is half the battle in family government for 
 the parent to understand thoroughly his child.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 205 
 
 One boy can be held by a cotton thread ; another 
 one will break an ox-chain. But Jesus, the divine 
 teacher, when he takes an immortal soul under his 
 care, and into his training school, understands his 
 pupils perfectly. He 'reads Mary through and 
 through when she sits at his feet, and cheers her 
 life by the assurance that the " better portion" is 
 hers. In his raw experience Peter may brag of his 
 loyalty loudly; but the Master takes him down by 
 the startling announcement, " before the cock crows 
 thou shalt deny me three times over." Jesus de- 
 tects the splendid capacities in Paul for the very 
 foremost apostleship ; but he also has a place for 
 humble Tryphena and Tryphosa, and even a use 
 for Dorcas's needle. He knows just what is in 
 every one of us. This makes him not a hard mas- 
 ter, but the most kind and considerate of employers 
 and guardians. He never lays on weak shoulders 
 the loads which only stronger ones can carry. All 
 the while too, sweetly come the encouraging words : 
 " My grace is sufficient for thee. I call you not my 
 servant ; I call you my friend" 
 
 CCLXI. 
 
 Christ never drives his flock when a new field of 
 pasturage is to be sought, or even when he dis- 
 covers them on forbidden ground. When he 
 "putteth forth his own sheep he .goeth before 
 them," and draws them with the arguments of love.
 
 206 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 What a tenderness of personal attachment there 
 is in that phrase, " He calleth his own sheep by 
 name!" What an intimacy it bespeaks! Every 
 disciple, high or humble, is better known by Jesus 
 than any child by its own mother. All our pecu- 
 liar weaknesses, all our wants, and griefs, and 
 backslidings, as well as our peculiar capabilities for 
 his service, are perfectly plain to him. 
 
 The valley of death is no new place to him ; for 
 he has not only trod it himself, he has led myriads 
 of his redeemed ones through it. 
 
 On the resurrection morn, we shall find that 
 Jesus the Shepherd has come out of the tomb 
 before us, the " first fruits of them that sleep." 
 Even into Heaven he enters as " Our Forerunner," 
 And so all through the believer's experience his 
 loving Leader is seen going on before ; and the 
 whole duty of a godly life is summed up in that 
 single word following Jesus. 
 
 CCLXII. 
 
 Before our blessed Lord went out to his dying 
 agony on the cross, he made his will. He had 
 not a shekel of silver to bequeath, or a denarius in 
 the pocket of his coarse robes. A poorer man 
 there was not that night in all Jerusalem. Yet he 
 makes a bequest that outweighs all that the 
 markets of the world can offer a richer legacy 
 than Caesar leaves to imperial heirs. " Peace I
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 207 
 
 leave with you." Such peace as He had possessed 
 amid innumerable persecutions and bufferings, 
 amid poverty and obloquy, and such as filled his 
 divine soul in view of Gethsemane and Calvary. 
 " My peace I give unto you." A gift is all the 
 dearer because it has belonged to our dearest 
 friend, and is linked with him or her in our memory 
 forever. Our Lord's gift is of his own "peace," 
 which had dwelt in his own divine breast, and is 
 poured out into the hearts which open to him. It 
 is a peace which passeth all understanding; it 
 keeps the heart from distressing commotions, from 
 racking doubts, and from uneasy apprehensions of 
 the judgment to come. This is genuine happiness. 
 This heals the sore spot, and cures the heart- 
 aches. 
 
 In the midst of the noisy world's clamors, crying 
 off its miserable frauds, there stands one majestic 
 personage who with a divine calmness utters the 
 deep loving offer, " My peace I give unto you ; 
 not as the world giveth, give I unto you." 
 Christ's method is the opposite of the world's and 
 of the father of lies. Christ gives peace by heal- 
 ing the diseases of the soul. Instead of the 
 wretched device of attempting to satisfy restless 
 and unholy cravings, he expels them and brings 
 in the new sources of joy. -The world's false peace 
 begins in delusion, goes on in sin, and ends in 
 perdition. Christ's peace begins in pardoning 
 grace, goes on in quiet trust, and ends in glory.
 
 208 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 " My peace " in this world will be the prelude 
 to "my glory" in the next world. Open your 
 soul to the inflowing river, while you gladly sing 
 
 Thy reign is perfect peace, 
 
 Not mine, but Thine ; 
 A stream that cannot cease, 
 
 For its fountain is divine. 
 Oh, depths unknown ! 
 
 Thou givest of Thine own 
 Pouring from Thine, and filling mine. 
 
 CCLXIII. 
 
 Jesus has many disguises, but love can discover 
 him beneath the disguise. The two disciples 
 found him out at Emmaus, because they welcomed 
 him in and besought him to "abide with them." 
 Christ sometimes conceals himself behind some 
 poor disciple's coarse clothes, or behind the couch 
 of some sick sufferer, or up in the garret of some 
 old bed-ridden saint. And when we go there on a 
 visit of love, pretty soon we find that Jesus is there, 
 and we hear him say, " Inasmuch as ye do this 
 unto one of the least of My brethren, ye do it 
 unto Me." If we went oftener on such errands of 
 charity, we should oftener be able to exclaim, " It 
 is the Lord ! Not long hence the voyage over 
 life's dim, unsounded sea will end. As we draw 
 near to the shore of the Better Country, let us be 
 on the lookout for the waiting Saviour on the 
 strand. As eternity begins to dawn, and the
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 209 
 
 shadows disappear, what a joyful recognition will it 
 be to hear Him say, " Come, ye blessed, unto Me ! " 
 and love shall exultingly answer, " It is my Lord ! " 
 
 CCLXIV. 
 
 It is said that artesian wells never get dry; but 
 when the torrid heats of July are parching the 
 upper surface into drifts of dust, there is an 
 unexhausted vein far down below that gushes up 
 through its rocky tube, and defies the thirsty sun- 
 beams to quench its perennial flow. So does 
 Christ within us break up through our dusty, selfish 
 humanity, and overflow our nature with graces, un- 
 til even the desert-spot becomes a garden of the 
 Lord. 
 
 CCLXV. 
 
 Take the doctrine of gravitation out of Sir Isaac 
 Newton's natural philosphy, and the system falls 
 into rubbish. Take the divinity of Jesus Christ 
 out of the New Testament and out of the plan of 
 redemption, and they become a delusion and a 
 mockery. 
 
 CCLXVI. 
 
 Let us gather in one bouquet from the King's 
 garden these seven fragrant flowers : Jesus the
 
 210 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 Son of God ; Jesus our sin-bearer ; Jesus the giver 
 of eternal life ; Jesus the hearer of our prayers ; 
 Jesus the chastener who can turn crosses into 
 crowns ; and Jesus the wonder-worker, who can 
 change us into eternal likeness unto himself. 
 These flowers will keep sweet till Heaven dawns. 
 
 CCLXVII. 
 
 Jesus is the bringer of spiritual spring into the 
 soul. When he comes, the time of the singing 
 of birds comes with him. He is the Son of Right- 
 eousness who turns January into May. Really, 
 my dear brethren, we ought each to understand 
 that God allows every child of his to make his own 
 almanac. 
 
 We can have warm weather, flowers, fruits and 
 bird-songs all the year through, if we only live in 
 the rays of Christ's countenance. The sorest sor- 
 rows of life are of our own making. We shut out 
 God's larks from our hearts, and bring in the bats 
 and hooting owls of miserable unbelief. These 
 birds of evil omen disappear when the dayspring 
 from on high visits our souls. 
 
 God offers to fill our homes and our hearts with 
 joy and gladness if we will only let him do it. We 
 cannot create the canary-birds ; but we can provide 
 cages for them, and fill our dwellings with their 
 music. Even so we cannot create the heavenly 
 gifts which Jesus offers ; but they are ours if we
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 211 
 
 provide heart-room for them. The birds of peace, 
 and contentment, and joy, and praise will fly in fast 
 enough if we only invite Jesus Christ, and set the 
 windows of our souls open for his coming. 
 
 CCLXVIII. 
 
 Sympathy cannot bring back the departed treas- 
 ure, it cannot "lift the napkin" from the face of 
 the dead ; but it does help wonderfully to lift a 
 great load of sorrow. 
 
 Never have I felt before, as now, what an unpar- 
 donable mistake we ministers make when we fail 
 to extend the utmost personal sympathy to the 
 afflicted. 
 
 Nor must we attempt to apply certain bandages 
 of consolation too soon. The bleeding heart must 
 bleed awhile ; the weeping eyes must weep, or the 
 heart will burst. Jesus himself sought the relief 
 of tears; none dared* to say to him at Bethany, 
 " Why weepest Thou ? " 
 
 That pastor fails utterly who attempts to com- 
 fort a bereaved heart by an endeavor to stop the 
 natural flow of grief with even a Bible promise. 
 Nature must have her way before divine grace can 
 do its perfect work. Perhaps this simple sugges- 
 tion learned from personal experience may be 
 helpful to my brother pastors in dealing with that 
 largest family in their parishes, the family of the 
 sorrowing.
 
 212 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CCLXIX. 
 
 The smallest verse in the Bible is one of the 
 largest and deepest in its heavenly pathos. Jesus 
 wept. .... There is something vicarious 
 in those tears, as there is in the precious blood 
 shed on the cross a few days afterwards. His love 
 seems to "insert itself vicariously right into our 
 sorrows ; " he takes the burden right into his heart. 
 
 CCLXX. 
 
 What a magnificent outburst of loyalty opens 
 the ninety-third psalm ! The Lord reigneth ! He 
 is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed 
 with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself. 
 Thy throne is established of old. Thou art from 
 eternity. Here we have the empire of love, the 
 royal robe, the girdle of omnipotence, and the 
 immovable throne. The psalmist would seem to 
 have been thinking of the problems of life, its 
 dark things, and its mysteries. So many things 
 seemed irreconcilable with the divine goodness, 
 that he admits that " clouds and darkness are 
 round about him." But the truth flashed out 
 through the clouds, the Lord reigns. That is 
 enough. He does not try to pry into the council 
 chamber. He cannot get behind the cloud. But 
 love reigneth there, and "justice and righteousness 
 are the foundation of his throne."
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 213 
 
 CCLXXI. 
 
 As far as his providential plans .are concerned, 
 our Heavenly Father is verily a God who hideth 
 himself. Clouds and darkness are around him, 
 but justice and righteousness are the foundations of 
 his throne. We dwell on the lower side of the 
 cloud. Upon the upper side, u[/on God's side, the 
 mysterious cloud of his providence is lined with 
 light. We do not see it until he sees fit to clear 
 away the mists or to let the light burst through. 
 Then we are filled with wonder and joy. . . . 
 God's long-dated promises are honored in his own 
 good time. 
 
 CCLXXII. 
 
 We all live on the unilluminated side of the 
 cloud behind which God conceals his secret pur- 
 poses. As on a cloudy day there are enough rays 
 of the sun filtered through the overhanging vapor 
 for us to walk by and to work by, so God reveals 
 truth enough for all our practical necessities. 
 
 CCLXXIII. 
 
 Sometimes we have an experience in life that 
 seems like walking through a long, dark tunnel. 
 The chilling air and the thick darkness make it 
 hard walking, and the constant wonder is why we
 
 214 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 are compelled to tread so gloomy a path while 
 others are in the open day of health and happiness. 
 We can only fix our eyes on the bright light at the 
 end of the tunnel, and we comfort ourselves with 
 the thought that every, step we take brings us 
 nearer to the joy and the rest that lie at the end of 
 the way. Extinguish the light of Heaven that 
 gleams in the distance, and this tunnel of trial 
 would become a horrible tomb. 
 
 Every week a pastor has to confront these mys- 
 teries in the dealings of a God of love. To the 
 torturing question, " Why does God lead me into 
 this valley of the shadow of darkness ? " We can 
 only reply : " Even so, Father, for so it seems good 
 in thy sight." We are brought into the tunnel, 
 however we shrink back. There is no retreat ; 
 we have nothing left to us but to grasp the very 
 hand that brought us there, and push forward. 
 
 When we reach Heaven we may discover that 
 the richest, and deepest, and most profitable expe- 
 riences we had in this world were those which were 
 gained in the very roads from which we shrank 
 back with dread. The real victory of faith is 
 to trust God in the dark and through the dark. 
 Let us be assured of this, that if the lesson and rod 
 are of his appointing, and that his all-wise love has 
 engineered the deep tunnels of trial on the heaven- 
 ward road, he will never desert us during the disci- 
 pline. The vital thing for us is not to deny and 
 desert him.
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 215 
 
 CCLXXIV. 
 
 There is a prodigious leverage for our faith in 
 the glorious doctrine of God's providential love. 
 It enables us to remove mountains out of our way. 
 It stimulates us to perservering effort in the face 
 of every obstacle. 
 
 CCLXXV. 
 
 Our all-wise and loving God is constantly un- 
 folding himself to his earthly children. All scien- 
 tific discovery is the passage from the unknown 
 into the known ; every truth discovered is a fresh 
 unfolding of the Creator. Very slowly, very grad- 
 ually is this progress effected. Centuries passed 
 away before Galileo found out the rotation of the 
 earth, and Newton the law of gravitation. Other 
 generations must roll by before man learned 
 enough about God's laws of electro-magnetism to 
 fashion the ocean telegraph. Yet these laws were 
 all in existence in the days of Noah and Abraham ; 
 only they had not yet been unfolded. I once 
 spent a night on Mount Righi, and there was no 
 thing visible for a rood from my window. But 
 when the morning broke, the icy crowns of the 
 Jungfrau and the Schreckhorn began to glitter in 
 the early beams. They had been there all the 
 night waiting for the unfoldings of the dawn. 
 Even so have all God's laws of the material uni-
 
 216 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 verse and all his purposes of redeeming mercy 
 through Jesus Christ been in existence from the 
 beginning. They only waited for the dayspring of 
 discovery. And one of the most delightful occu- 
 pations of a devout mind is to watch the unfolding- 
 of God, and to drink in new truths as he gradually 
 reveals them. ' 
 
 CCLXXVI. 
 
 Every day intensifies my conviction that the 
 most effectual method of saving society and build- 
 ing up the kingdom of Christ, is to strike for the 
 children. Romanism understands this ; and within 
 the first month of its existence the hand of the 
 priest is on the head of the babe. The secret of 
 the long life of Judaism through the centuries is 
 to be found in the fact that the law of Moses has 
 been the first and deepest instruction of every 
 black-eyed boy and girl born within the Israelitish 
 fold. What a strange blindness and stupidity is 
 shown in the ranks of Protestantism very often ; to 
 transplant grown trees instead of shoots and sap- 
 lings, would not be more preposterous. 
 
 CCLXXVII. 
 
 Childhood is the May of life its seeding and 
 planting time. The Devil never despises one of 
 the little ones. He sows his tares in the mellow
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 217 
 
 soil. Give him the children and he is sure of the 
 men and women. Let the oath or the lie get upon 
 the lips before Christ's words do, and those lips 
 will not be easily cleansed. If a boy is not taught 
 to understand and to hate the intoxicating glass, 
 he runs a terrible risk of being stung by the adder. 
 If our children are not led early toward Christ, 
 they will get their feet thoroughly planted in the 
 road to death. No wiser, diviner sentence ever 
 fell from the lips of the Great Teacher than when 
 he said : Take heed that ye despise not i. e., 
 that ye neglect not or even overlook not, one of 
 these little ones. 
 
 CCLXXVIII. 
 
 Jesus was the first religious teacher who ever 
 honored childhood. The Greek and Roman phil- 
 osophers and moralists regarded children as. so 
 many weaklings to be fed, educated, or amused. 
 Jesus had not only a perfect sympathy with chil- 
 dren, but he made them types and emblems of the 
 best qualities of Christian character. Their sim- 
 plicity, their implicit trustfulness, their depend- 
 ence, and other traits were to be sought for as 
 elements of the best developed piety. Setting a 
 Jewish child in the presence of his disciples, he 
 said to them 
 
 " Except ye become as little children, ye shall 
 not enter into the kingdom of Heaven."
 
 218 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CCLXXIX. 
 
 A very large portion of Christ's inspired biogra- 
 phy is occupied by his personal interviews witfi a 
 guilty woman by a well, with a publican by the 
 wayside, with a young ruler, with a blind beggar, 
 or with a Nicodemus in a private room. To the 
 Son of God, as to every faithful Gospel-minister, 
 one soul was a great audience. The single ex- 
 tended discourse which Christ delivered, was 
 aimed at every auditor before him. 
 
 There is an unbolted door in about everybody's 
 heart, if we will only ask God to show us where to 
 find it. 
 
 CCLXXX. 
 
 It is not honest work that really wears any 
 Christian out. It is the ague fit of worry that 
 consumes strength and furrows the cheek and 
 brings on decrepitude. That giant of Jesus Christ 
 who drew the gospel chariot from Jerusalem to 
 Rome, and had the care of all the churches on his 
 great heart, never complained of being tired. The 
 secret was, he never chafed his powers with a 
 moment's worry. He was doing God's work, and 
 he left God to be responsible for results. He 
 knew whom he believed, and felt perfectly sure 
 that all things work together for good to them who 
 love the Lord Jesus.
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 219 
 
 CCLXXXI. 
 
 The most successful toilers are those who know 
 best how to serve God in "small things." The 
 Almighty never " despises the day of small things," 
 or else he would not put his mighty oaks into 
 acorns, or his golden grain-crops into little seed- 
 bags. 
 
 CCLXXXII. 
 
 I may be voyaging to eternity in a little boat ; 
 but however humble be the craft, it contains my 
 immortal hopes. Only here and there is a great 
 galley to be seen, with its banks of oars. But the 
 tiniest skiff that bears a child's soul, or is freighted 
 with the humblest disciple's little all, is just as 
 surely under our Commander's eye, as if it were a 
 royal argosy. We are safe even in a little boat 
 when Jesus keeps watch over it. Many a seventy- 
 four, manned with self-righteousness, has foundered 
 in the deep; but Heaven's harbor will be covered 
 with little boats that our Commander has piloted 
 home through storm and darkness. 
 
 CCLXXXIII. 
 
 How can a Christian sleep in such an age as 
 ours ? When life grows grand ere very year, by the 
 increased knowledge and extended facilities for
 
 220 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 achieving great results for God and humanity? 
 When so many harvest fields of labor invite the 
 sturdy arm and glowing heart ? When the wails of 
 a world's sorrow rise on every gale ? To sleep 
 through such a period of the world's history is a 
 fearful crime. Truly is it " as in against heaven 
 to have no pulse that beats in the palpitations of 
 an age that trembles with the footsteps of an ad- 
 vancing God." 
 
 CCLXXXIV. 
 
 A rich soul can be always giving ; as the noon- 
 day sun overflows his golden urn of ceaseless ra- 
 diance, and is yet none the poorer in warmth and 
 glory when a whole universe has been lighted. 
 
 CCLXXXV. 
 
 As the glory of a healthy apple-tree is its fruit, 
 so the glory of a genuine Christian is his usefulness. 
 He does not merely blossom out with a godly pro- 
 fession, he bears fruit with all his might and 
 main. There is not a sapless twig or a barren 
 bough on the whole tree which is planted by the 
 rivers of grace and yieldeth its fruit every month. 
 In our old home orchard, there were many varieties 
 of apples. So in God's orchards there are ancient 
 olives Augustine and Calvin rich, juicy " sweet- 
 ings " like Rutherford and Baxter mellow pippins
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 221 
 
 grown by Leighton, Hamilton, and Taylor, and 
 bountiful bearers like Spurgeon and Newman Hall. 
 Even some small trees bear large fruit. Whether 
 on a foreign mission field, or in an humble tract- 
 district, or in a charity school, or in a sick room 
 where love moves about with gentle tread the 
 fruits of the Spirit ripen under the smile of God. 
 Herein is the Father glorified, that we bear much 
 fruit on every branch. 
 
 CCLXXXVI. 
 
 Those first Christians were men and women who 
 understood thoroughly their personal responsibility 
 and the power of personal effort. Find, if you 
 can, the appointment of a single "committee" in 
 the Eook of Acts. Seven men were indeed desig- 
 nated to the work of dispensing . charities to the 
 poor ; but that was done in order to release the 
 others for personal labor in preaching the Word of 
 Life. Very little is said about church organiza- 
 tions. Nothing was allowed to keep man from 
 man ; the individual believer from the individual 
 sinner. Peter goes right after Cornelius ; Philip 
 talks directly to the Eunuch ; Aquila and his wife 
 have Apollos as their " Bible class;" and Dorcas 
 is a "sewing society " in herself. Amid all the 
 endless prattle about "work" and "lay labor" is 
 there not danger that each Christian will forget 
 that he or she is the bearer of one lamp, and if
 
 222 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 that lamp be well filled and its light be thrown on 
 one sinner's path, more good will be accomplished 
 than by a whole torch-light procession got up for 
 parade ? A crowd is often in the way when an 
 individual is to be rescued. Christ led a deaf man 
 out of the crowd when he wished to deal with 
 him alone. Those early Christians did wonders 
 for God and for a dying world. They accomplished 
 it by the simple method, "every man to his work." 
 Personal holiness made each one a partner with 
 the invincible Jesus. 
 
 CCLXXXVII. 
 
 Useful occupation is not only a tonic, it is a 
 sedative to the troubled spirit. Instead of looking 
 in upon our own griefs until we magnify them, we 
 should rather look at the sorrows of others, in 
 order to lighten, and lessen them. 
 
 Honest work seldom hurts us ; it is worry that 
 kills. . . . God never has built a Christian 
 strong enough to stand the strain of present duties 
 and all the tons of to-morrow's duties and suffer- 
 ings piled upon the top of them. 
 
 CCLXXXVIII. 
 
 The great truth to be taught nowadays is that 
 every member of Christ's flock is called to Christ's 
 service, in some way or method. The humblest
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 223 
 
 have a share in the work, and may have a 
 share in the glory at the final day of corona- 
 tion. That individual church in which the " rank 
 and file" are all seeking the Spirit, and living 
 lives of personal consecration to Christ, is more 
 likely to be a powerful church than if it had a 
 Whitefield or a Chalmers for its pastor. The 
 need of the hour is not for more geniuses and 
 scholars in the pulpit, but for more personal piety 
 and consecration among the masses of God's 
 people. 
 
 CCLXXXIX. 
 
 God has ordained that this world's lusts and 
 pleasures and treasures shall pass away. He has 
 also ordained that one kind of life and one kind of 
 labor shall abide forever. It is the life that is 
 spent in doing his will ; it is the labor that is 
 spent in advancing his kingdom. He is the wise 
 man whose chief question every day is, " Lord, 
 what wilt Thou have me to do ? " Along the line 
 of his everyday's thoughts and activities he detects 
 the will of God running. He strives to know that 
 will and to do it. This is the object of his Bible- 
 reading, his prayers, and his watchings of himself 
 and of Providence. And every word he utters, 
 every act he performs in conformity with his 
 Father's will, has an enduring permanence. 
 
 One hundred years ago scores of British mer-
 
 224 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 chants and bankers were toiling to make solid 
 fortunes ; and scores of writers and civilians were 
 toiling to win solid fame ; and thousands more 
 were striving for solid happiness in some selfish 
 fashion. They are all gone now forgotten like 
 last winter's snowflakes. But a modest servant of 
 Christ in Gloucester, named Raikes, determined to 
 gather in the poor children of the pin-makers on 
 Sunday afternoon, and teach them some whole- 
 some Bible truths. A less conspicuous man there 
 hardly was in King George's dominions than this 
 modest editor of an obscure paper. But to-day all 
 Christendom stands in grateful admiration before 
 the magnificent structure of Sabbath-school influ- 
 ence and power which has been rising for one 
 hundred years. It is one of the solidest structures 
 on the globe ; it will outlive all the fortunes and 
 the fame which worldlings were toiling after a 
 century ago. That massive monument bears the 
 modest name of Robert Raikes, and beneath are 
 inscribed these Heaven-sent words, "This world 
 passeth away and the lust thereof ; but he that 
 doeth the will of God abideth forever." 
 
 Such lives never end. Such labor lasts. Chal- 
 mers lives to-day in the Free Kirk of Scotland. 
 Franke is still giving homes to orphans ; and 
 Howard's hand is still purifying prisons. John 
 Bunyan helps me towards Heaven every day ; 
 William Cowper sings in our prayer-meeting con- 
 tinually, "There is a fountain filled with blood."
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 225 
 
 Charles Hodge preaches every Sabbath in scores 
 of American pulpits. Their works do follow them. 
 Such work will outlast the Pyramids even. Not 
 merely the noble deeds of these conspicuous saints 
 and benefactors will endure, but every faithful word 
 and every godly act of every honest Christian, even 
 the humblest and obscurest, will link itself with 
 Almighty strength, and " abide forever" 
 
 ccxc. 
 
 There is only one cure for indolence, effort. The 
 only cure for selfishness, sacrifice. The only cure 
 for timidity, to plunge into duty before the shiver 
 comes on. The only cure for unbelief, trust Christ. 
 
 CCXCI. 
 
 Perhaps the severest strain is put upon our faith 
 by what we consider the provoking delays on the 
 part of God. We work for results, expect results, 
 and yet the results do not come. What pastor, 
 what Sunday-school teacher, what praying parent, 
 has not had his or her faith sorely tried in this 
 way over and over again ? The trouble is, that we 
 imagine that we can command the results, when 
 we are no more responsible for them than a dili- 
 gent farmer is for next week's weather. He that 
 observeth the clouds shall not sow, and he that 
 regardeth the winds shall never reap. For what
 
 2"2Q RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 we entrust to God, you and I are not responsible. 
 He is our Trustee. It is not my "lookout," but 
 his, whether my honest endeavors succeed or be 
 baffled. Peter was not responsible for the num- 
 ber of sick people he should restore at Lydda, or of 
 the dead he should raise at Joppa, or of converts 
 that he should win at Caesarea. All that we are 
 responsible for is the unwearied, conscientious dis- 
 charge of duty to its very uttermost ; everything 
 beyond that belongs to God. If he can wait for 
 results, we can.K I often think of the somewhat 
 blunt but honest answer of the old nurse to the 
 impatient mother who said to her, " Your medicine 
 don't seem to make my dear child better." The 
 nurse replied, "Yes, it will ; don't you worry. You 
 just trust God; He is tedious, but lie's sure." The 
 simple-hearted old body blurted out in her homely 
 way what we ministers often feel, though we should 
 hardly dare to phrase it as she did. 
 ^ The pull at the oar of duty is often a long and 
 tedious one. The flesh grows weary and the spirit 
 faints when the waves smite the bow, and hinder 
 our headway. Impatient and discouraged, we 
 sometimes threaten to throw down the oars and 
 "let her drift." But the voice of the Divine 
 Helmsman utters the kind but strong rebuke, 
 "O ye of little faith, wherefore do ye doubt?" 
 And before we are aware, the bow strikes the 
 strand, and we are at the very land whither the 
 Blessed Pilot was guiding us.
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 227 
 
 CCXCII. 
 
 The discipline of the human heart affords one of 
 the grandest arenas on which God expends the 
 Divine wisdom and exercises the Divine love. 
 
 CCXCIII. 
 
 A rainbow, with all its polychromatic splendors, 
 is nothing but sunlight playing upon a background 
 of storm. A Christian's joy in sorrow is simply 
 the reflection of Christ's smile of love upon the 
 cloud. If no sun, then no rainbow. If Jesus be 
 hidden, then hope disappears. If Jesus depart, 
 how great is that darkness. 
 
 CCXCIV. 
 
 He is a meagre, crude, unfinished, unripe and 
 unimpressive Christian who does not possess those 
 peculiar graces which are only to be won by suffer- 
 ing and trial. 
 
 CCXCV. 
 
 The chemist who is purifying silver over a hot 
 flame always keeps the crucible on the fire until 
 he can see his own face reflected in the clear metal 
 as in a mirror. When the dear Jesus who " sitteth 
 as a refiner 1 ' over your heart can see his own
 
 228 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 ima^e reflected in you, then will the chastening 
 discipline be finished. Then he can break the 
 crucible, and pour thy gifts and thy influence into 
 such a mould as may suit best his all-wise purpose. 
 He requires pure gold to make the "vessel to his 
 own honor." 
 
 CCXCVI. 
 
 Among God's jewels, there is no brilliant which 
 flashes with such lustre as the tear of true 
 penitence. 
 
 CCXCVII. 
 
 It is not only the new convert unto whom Christ 
 is the bringer of gladness ; he is the best of com- 
 forters to the believer in his times of shadow and 
 sorrow. Ah, my brother, there is an " upper 
 room," a secret chamber of the heart, whose key 
 you and I surrender only to the dearest friend. It 
 is the soul's sanctum with which the stranger inter- 
 meddled not. Sometimes that apartment becomes 
 dark and lonesome. The candle well nigh goes 
 out, and the atmosphere is chill and heavy. One 
 enters through the closed door, and the assuring 
 voice of his love speaketh the dear old words 
 spoken long ago, " Peace be unto you." He shows 
 us the scars of his self-sacrifice ; he opens the 
 jewel-casket of his promises. His consolations fill
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 229 
 
 the room with their heavenly perfume. On that 
 bosom we can lay our sad, weary head ; his right 
 hand is .underneath it, and his left hand doth em- 
 brace us. Our beloved is ours, and we are his; 
 there is none on earth whom we desire beside him. 
 His smile fills the soul-chamber with sunshine, and 
 then are we all glad because we have seen our 
 Lord. 
 
 CCXCVIII. 
 
 God keeps a school for his children here on 
 earth ; and one of his best teachers is named Dis- 
 appointment. He is a rough teacher; severe in 
 tone and harsh in his handling, sometimes, but his 
 tuition is worth all it costs. Many of our best les- 
 sons through life have been taught us by that same 
 stern old schoolmaster, Disappointment. 
 
 CCXCIX. 
 
 Sharp bodily affliction, even if it does not endanger 
 life, is often a wholesome process. Paul's thorn in 
 the flesh, Robert Hall's excruciating pains and 
 Richard Baxter's physical sufferings were a very 
 expensive part of their education, but they gradu- 
 ated with higher honor and a brighter crown. 
 Fiery trials make golden Christians. When the 
 balsam-trees in God's garden are cut deep with the 
 knife they emit the sweetest gums.
 
 230 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 The hour of the Christian's extremity is the hour 
 of Christ's opportunity. The richest jewels of 
 grace often lie at the bottom of sorrow's cup. 
 
 CCC. 
 
 When Michael Angelo saw a block of marble 
 lying in the dirt,,he said, " There is an angel in 
 that marble, and I will bring it out." His hammer 
 and chisel struck hard and deep, till the angel 
 came forth. God's hammer of trial, blow on blow, 
 brings out such angels as Faith, and sweet-visaged 
 Peace, and strong-limbed Patience and Sympathy, 
 and the Love that has the likeness of Jesus Christ. 
 
 CCCI. 
 
 The bruised flower emits most fragrance ; and 
 a bruised Christian puts forth the sweetest odors of 
 
 humility and heavenly-mindedness 
 
 It helps a vine to be pruned. Our Father uses the 
 knife when he sees that we require it. It is only 
 one of his ways of helping us in the time of need. 
 
 CCCII. 
 
 When we see a man beaten upon with adver- 
 sity, or lying under a perfect euroclydon of trials, 
 and yet preserving a calm, cheerful spirit, we do 
 not see, always, whut is the secret of his serenity.
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 231 
 
 We wonder why he is " not moved as other 
 men are." But God sees a hope sure and stead- 
 fast, lying down deep beneath the surface. Trouble 
 strips the man of much of his external gear and 
 cordage, but never touches the interior source and 
 strength of his piety. 
 
 CCCIII. 
 
 
 
 This world's boasted successes often prove to be 
 wretched failures ; but no genuine godly life was 
 ever a failure. Its losses are turned into gains ; 
 its crosses are wrought into crowns of glory. The 
 peace which sin promises is a mockery. The peace 
 which Jesus bestows passeth all understanding and 
 is insured beyond all contingencies. 
 
 CCCIV. 
 
 There is not a spiritual biography in all of 
 Christ's universal Church, in all ages, but presents 
 a constant alternation of ufls and downs. When a 
 Christian is carrying to many topsails, God is very 
 apt to send a gale which strips off the canvas. 
 " He that exalteth himself shall be abased " is 
 as true of the Christian as it is of the worldling. 
 But when a chastened soul lies very low before 
 God, how sweet it is to hear him whisper in 
 the ear of faith, " Whoso humbleth himself shall be 
 exalted."
 
 232 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 We very much doubt if it would be safe for 
 us always to be " up " in the world. It is a whole- 
 some process to be " taken down" occasionally. 
 The grass in our dooryards has a tendency to 
 grow rank, and it requires to be taken down by a 
 mower. The yard never looks so well as after the 
 sharp cutter has gone over it. Many a true Chris- 
 tian never appears so attractive in his graces 
 as when God's flowing-machine has gone over 
 him. His self confidence, or his growing love 
 of the world, or his sinful ambitions needed the 
 scythe. Even Paul himself would not have grown 
 up so thick and even, and strong from the roots, if 
 he had not been mowed pretty often. The best 
 trees in the orchard need trimming. 
 
 CCCV. 
 
 In one of the German picture galleries is a paint- 
 ing called " Cloud-land." It hangs at the end of a 
 long gallery, and at first sight it looks like a huge, 
 repulsive daub of confused color, without form or 
 comeliness. As you walk towards it the picture 
 begins to take shape. It proves to be a mass of 
 exquisite little cherub faces, like those at the head 
 of the canvas in Raphael's " Madonna San Sisto." 
 If you come close to the picture, you see only an 
 innumerable company of little angels and cherubim ! 
 How often the soul that is frightened by trial sees 
 nothing but a confused and repulsive mass of
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 233 
 
 broken expectations and crushed hopes ! But if 
 that soul, instead of fleeing away into unbelief and 
 despair, would only draw up near to God, it would 
 soon discover that the cloud was full of angels of 
 mercy. In one cherub face it would see, " Whom 
 I love, I chasten." Another angel would say, "All 
 things work together for good to them that love 
 God." In still another sweet face the heavenly 
 words are coming forth, " Let not your hearts 
 be troubled ; believe also in me. In my Father's 
 house are many mansions. Where I am there 
 shall ye be also." 
 
 CCCVI. 
 
 Patience is a beautiful trait, but it is not worn 
 oftenest by those who walk on life's sunny side in 
 silver slippers. It is the product of dark nights of 
 tempest, and of those days of adversity whose high 
 noon is but a midnight. For " The trial of your 
 faith worketh patience." 
 
 CCCVII. 
 
 Prosperity brings out only a few of a man's good 
 
 graces When a favorable wind 
 
 strikes a vessel " right aft " it only fills a portion 
 of the sails; when it veers round and strikes it 
 "on the beam," then every inch of canvas is 
 reached. If the Lord is so shifting the winds that
 
 23 1 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 they reach thy undeveloped graces of humility, and 
 faith, and patience, and unselfish love, do not be 
 alarmed. He does not mean to swamp thee, or 
 send thee on a lee shore ; he only intends to bring 
 thee into a "better trim," and give thee a more 
 abundant entrance into the desired haven. 
 
 CCCVIII. 
 
 In a musical instrument there are some keys 
 that must be touched in order to evoke its fullest 
 melodies ; God is a wonderful organist, who knows 
 just what heart-chord to strike. 
 
 CCCIX. 
 
 The school of suffering graduates rare scholars. 
 To the disciples in that school it is often given to 
 " know the love of Jesus which passeth knowledge." 
 Suffering Christian ! be not in haste to quit thy 
 Master's school ; thou art fitting for the High 
 School of Heaven. Push not away peevishly thy 
 cup of sorrow ; for the sparkling diamond of 
 Christ's love for thee is in the draught he gives 
 thee to drink. 
 
 cccx. 
 
 God never deceives his children. If we but 
 keep fast hold to the Guiding Hand, we shall find
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 235 
 
 the road to be not one step longer or harder than 
 is best for us. God has piloted every saint through 
 this very road and up these very hills of difficulty. 
 It will be better further on. Every chastening of 
 a believer's soul lies at the end of a painful ordeal. 
 Every success worth the having lies at the end of 
 brave, protracted toil. Twenty years of storm must 
 be battled through by Wilberforce and Clarkson 
 before Negro Emancipation is enacted by the 
 British Parliament. At evening-time the sky was 
 crimsoned with the flush of victory. 
 
 CCCXI. 
 
 Very few even of Christ's choice ones can travel 
 life's railway with perfect safety at forty miles an 
 hour. The heated axle is very apt to snap, or else 
 the engine flies the track of conformity to God and 
 goes off the embankment. 
 
 CCCXIL 
 
 If we turn up a certain verse in the fourteenth 
 chapter of the Second Book of Samuel, we shall 
 find a truth hidden under a historical incident. 
 The incident is on this wise : Absalom, the artful 
 aspirant to his father's throne, wishes to have an 
 interview with Joab, the field marshall of David's 
 army. He sends for Joab to come to him, but 
 Joab refuses. Finding that the obstinate old sol-
 
 236 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 clier pays no heed to his urgent request, he prac- 
 tised a stratagem. 
 
 " See ! Joab's field is next to mine, and he hath 
 barley there. Go and set it on fire ! And Absa- 
 lom's servants set the field on fire. Then Joab 
 arose and came to Absalom." 
 
 Now, just as the shrewd young prince dealt with 
 Joab in order to bring him unto him, so God em- 
 ploys a regimen of discipline very often in order to 
 
 bring wayward hearts to himself 
 
 There was a time when our ration had shamefully 
 backslidden from the fundamental principles of our 
 Declaration of Independence. The value of cotton 
 crops outweighed the value of liberty. The right- 
 eous God saw that we cared more for the perpetuity 
 of our Union and our prosperity than we did for 
 the rights of four millions of his children. But 
 when the first flash of a national conflagration 
 lighted up the Southern sky, then millions of af- 
 frighted voices began to cry out 
 
 "Why is our magnificent Union given to the 
 flames ? We could sleep while God's law of right 
 was trampled under foot ; but when the national 
 peace and power and pride were trodden down by 
 the same remorseless heel, we awoke, as a man 
 awakes at the cry of " fire " under his own roof- 
 tree. 
 
 God saw what we prized most, and he touched 
 that. It is better to lose the barley than to lose 
 the blessing.
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 237 
 
 CCCXIII. 
 
 A vivid emotion of love and gratitude is very apt 
 to break out into speech, either in the form of a 
 public testimony for Christ, or in the voice of song. 
 I have known a prayer-meeting, at a time of awak- 
 ening, to become like an aviary, for God had put a 
 new song into scores of mouths. 
 
 CCCXIV. 
 
 Joy is simply love looking at its treasures. A 
 Christian's joy is in clasping Christ and looking 
 forward to the hour when he shall see him as he is. 
 Earth is the believer's ante-chamber to Heaven. 
 
 CCCXV. 
 
 Kind words are the oil that lubricates every-day 
 intercourse. They cost little. A phrase of com- 
 mon comfort, " that by daily use hath almost lost 
 its sense, will fall upon the saddened heart like choic- 
 est music." 
 
 CCCXVI. 
 
 Raptures are not always vouchsafed even to the 
 most genuine converts. But you ought to feel 
 a solid satisfaction in following Christ. A healthy 
 man will enjoy a ripe peach, or a luscious bunch of
 
 238 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 grapes. There must be something lacking in any 
 one's experience who professes to be feeding on 
 Christ, and doing Christ's will, and yet finds no 
 delight in it. How can we love Jesus, and not 
 know the fact, or experience no joy in the emo- 
 tion ? 
 
 CCCXVII. 
 
 Palestine was a musical aviary in the spring ; it 
 abounded with sparrows, goldfinches, larks and 
 song-thrushes. In the Song of Solomon this annual 
 outbreak of bird-melody is made a beautiful type 
 of the return of Christ to his bride the Church. 
 When Jesus comes into the soul, the winter of un- 
 belief is ended, the spices of spiritual joy begin to 
 "flow out," the new hope begins to blossom, and a 
 new song is put into the heart, even of praise unto 
 our God. 
 
 CCCXVIII. 
 
 When Latimer was on trial for heresy, he heard 
 the scratch of a pen behind the tapestry. In a 
 moment he bethought himself that every word he 
 spoke was taken down, and he says that he was 
 very careful what words he uttered. Behind the 
 veil that hides eternity is a record-book, in which 
 our every syllable is taken down. Even the most 
 trivial are not forgotten, for the Lord Jesus tells us
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT 239 
 
 that "every idle word that men shall speak, they 
 shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment ! " 
 If our words have an eternity of existence, if good 
 words have so potent an influence to save, if idle, 
 or profane, or poisonous speech work such peren- 
 nial mischief, how needful is the perpetual utter- 
 ance of the prayer, " Set a watch, O Lord, before 
 my mouth ; keep the door of my lips." 
 
 CCCXIX. 
 
 What a powerful picture of a soul without God 
 is that drawn in the prophecy of Isaiah, which de- 
 scribes it as a " troubled sea, whose waters cast up 
 mire and dirt." This is the work of memory. Let 
 the wrong-doer try to hide his sins as carefully or 
 to bury them as deeply as he knows how, memory 
 will throw them to the surface as troubled waters 
 heave up what has been flung into their depths. 
 When a vessel had sunk in Lake Erie, an effort 
 was made to raise the bodies of the drowned pas- 
 sengers by firing heavy cannon over the spot ; and 
 the jar brought them up. So the tremendous 
 artillery of God's justice manned by those two 
 gunners Memory and Conscience brings up to 
 our eyes the hideous sins which we thought were 
 buried forever. Conscience utters two great 
 voices. One of them declares " Great peace have 
 they who love God's law ; in keeping his command- 
 ments is great reward." The other voice is, " There
 
 240 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 is no peace to the wicked ; they are like the trou- 
 bled sea which cannot rest; the wages of sin is death." 
 Just in proportion as we hear and heed these voices, 
 conscience becomes our sweetest comforter, or our 
 most terrible tormentor. 
 
 cccxx. 
 
 A sanctified memory is the soul's storeroom. 
 We pity the man with whom this is but an empty 
 garret or a confused lumber-room, heaped up with 
 accumulated things, so hopelessly mingled that its 
 owner can never lay hands on what he needs at the 
 moment. With a devout believer the memory is a 
 cabinet of curiosities of God's love. In no apart- 
 ment does Jesus abide oftener than in this ; here 
 the alabaster-box of gratitude is broken, and the 
 room is filled with the sweet odor of the ointment. 
 
 CCCXXI. 
 
 Constant longings and inquisitive yearnings 
 arise in many minds to know more about Heaven. 
 For example, a bereaved mother writes to me this 
 week : " Do you imagine that the passage in Zach- 
 ariah which describes the boys and girls playing 
 in the streets of Jerusalem, is intended to be any 
 description of the Celestial City ? " Her motherly 
 heart, in its achings, laid hold of an olden prophecy, 
 and tried to catch a glimpse through it of the
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 241 
 
 darling boy whose playthings now lie idle on her 
 nursery floor. Well, we will venture to tell her 
 that if she reaches Heaven, the first person she 
 will want to see will not be even that beloved boy. 
 The walls of sapphire, or the streets like unto pure 
 gold, or the innumerable company of the shining 
 ones, will not be the chief attraction. The glory 
 of Heaven will be to see Jesus. If it were possible 
 to weep there, we shall shed tears of joy at the 
 first view of Him whose agonies secured for us 
 that magnificent inheritance. We shall be "glad 
 because we see our Lord." How overflowing, too, 
 will be our gratitude that he has kept for us all the 
 treasures we committed to his hands ! 
 
 CCCXXII. 
 
 Last year I sat, at eventide, on the battlements 
 of the castellated convent of Mar Saba, and looked 
 down into the deep gorge of the Kidron where the 
 jackals have their lairs, and across the chasm 
 where the Bedouins were prowling. All night I 
 laid secure in the strong fortress while the jackals 
 howled and the Bedouins prowled. So may every 
 child of God who has lodged himself in the strong- 
 hold of the Divine promise rest securely, and let 
 the Devil's jackals howl as loudly as they like, or 
 the Adversary lie in wait outside the solid gate- 
 way. This is the promise that He hath promised 
 to every true believer, even eternal life. Cleave to
 
 242 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 that. As long as we trust God in Christ and 
 attest our faith by our conduct, we may roll the 
 responsibility of our salvation over on God him- 
 self. But will this life outlast the grave ? Will it 
 reach across that great mysterious chasm that sep- 
 arates us from .the unseen world ? Will it be 
 eternal? These are the questions which some- 
 times torment the survivors when they have gone 
 down to the shore of the unbridged river, and 
 watched a beloved child or husband or wife disap- 
 pear slowly from their view. Can I feel sure that 
 there is a Heaven for that loved one to land in ? 
 Ah, this is the question which weeping affection 
 raises in ten thousand cases ; and nobody comes 
 back from that other world to answer it. What is 
 more nobody ever will come back to bring a 
 single syllable of assurance. The boats on that 
 sombre stream all head in one direction ; there are 
 no " return trips." 
 
 Suppose that one should come back and tell us 
 that he had actually found a Heaven, and entered 
 it, and participated in its splendors and joys. If 
 we believed the statement it would be on a single 
 human authority. But if we would believe the wit- 
 ness of a man, is not the witness of the Almighty 
 God infinitely greater? If we are only to feel 
 sure of Heaven on the testimony of somebody 
 returning to each one of us, then would we con- 
 sent to exercise a faith that glorifies a worm of 
 the dust and dishonor the God of the universe. I
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 243 
 
 would rather trust a single line of divine promise 
 than a myriad of human assertions. 
 
 CCCXXIII. 
 
 Whatever changes may be produced by death, 
 personal identity will not be altered by one jot or 
 tittle. The sinner who sins here, will be the same 
 sinner who will be punished in the world of woe. 
 The believer who is welcomed with " Come, thou 
 blessed of my Father ! " will be the same person 
 who on earth had done the Father's bidding. With- 
 out the preservation of perfect identity the whole 
 idea of a future retribution of rewards and punish- 
 ments would be an absurd impossibility. 
 
 CCCXXIV. 
 
 A grand sight is an old weather-beaten and 
 battle-bruised ship like Old Ironsides or Lord 
 Nelson's Victory which has ended its cruise 
 and swung its anchors at the bow. So will 
 Christ's fleet of triumphant souls lie in the desired 
 haven upon the sea of crystal, and in the silver 
 light of Heaven's morning ! 
 
 cccxxv. 
 
 The future is an unmapped territory ; every step 
 is literally a step in the dark. The future is a
 
 244 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 "seven-sealed book," and no man can unloose the 
 seals thereof. We discover its contents only as 
 God unlooses the seals and turns over leaf by leaf, 
 one at a time. Selfishness often aches to peep 
 into the sealed pages. But Faith whispers : " No, 
 no ; trust God." Every joy that is lying in wait for 
 me at some new turn of the road breaks on me as 
 a sweet surprise. The mercies, like transporting 
 views in mountain travels, are more bewitching that 
 they were not spoiled by anticipations. God does 
 not let us " discount " his mercies in advance. 
 
 CCCXXVI. 
 
 A thousand things, speculative and poetical, have 
 been written in regard to the Christian's future 
 home. The Bible says just enough to rouse our 
 curiosity and to stimulate speculation, but not 
 enough to spoil the sublime mystery which over- 
 hangs it like a cloud of glory A dis- 
 tinctly bounded place of abode it must be, or else 
 John's view of it from Patmos was an idle phan- 
 tasm Why surrender the view of a 
 
 literal home of the redeemed such as John has de- 
 scribed to us ? Why volatilize it all away into the 
 thin vapor of metaphor? If John did not see what 
 he described, then he saw nothing at all ; and if 
 he saw nothing real, then the closing visions of the 
 Apocalypse are a splendid fog-bank. . . . 
 That our heavenly home will satisfy our fullest
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 245 
 
 social longings, we cannot doubt. The recognition 
 of friends cannot possibly be a question of doubt. 
 No barriers of caste can separate those who are 
 children of the one Father and dwelling in the 
 same household. When Cineas, the ambassador of 
 Pyrrhus, came back from his visit to Rome in the 
 days of her glory, he reported to his sovereign that 
 he had seen a "commonwealth of kings." So will 
 it be in Heaven, where every heir of redeeming 
 grace will be as a king and priest unto God, and a 
 divine adoption shall make every one a member of 
 
 the royal family 
 
 Happy is that child of Jesus who is always 
 listening for the footfall this side of the golden 
 gate, and for the voice of invitation to hurry home. 
 . . . . There is a delightful permanence in 
 that word, " Forever with the Lord." 
 
 CCCXXVII. 
 
 There is something beautifully suggestive in the 
 many-sidedness of Heaven, with gates of entrance 
 from every point of the compass. It emphasizes 
 the catholicity of God's house, into which all the re- 
 deemed shall enter, from all parts of the globe, and 
 with their varying theological and denominational 
 opinions. All shall come in through Christ Jesus, 
 and yet through many gateways. Thank God, no 
 bigot shall be able to bar out one soul that has 
 been washed in the blood of the Lamb !
 
 246 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CCCXXVIII. 
 
 The glory of Heaven will be in seeing Jesus. 
 "A little while and ye shall see Me, because I go 
 unto my Father. Where I am ye shall be also." 
 When we return home after a long absence, it is 
 not the house or the furniture or fireside that 
 awaken our joy. It is meeting the loved ones. If 
 they have gone, every forsaken room or empty 
 chair is an agony. So in our Father's house, it 
 will not be the pearl gate or the streets of gold that 
 will make us happy. But oh ! how transcendently 
 glad will we be when we see our Lord ! If we 
 ever weep in Heaven it will be tears of joy at 
 meeting Jesus. Perhaps in that " upper room " 
 also he may show unto us his hands and .his 
 side, and we may then cry out as did happy 
 Thomas : 
 
 " My Lord, and my God ! " 
 
 CCCXXIX. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln lived to enter Richmond amid 
 the acclamations of the liberated slave ; he lived 
 until Sumter's flag rose again like Bethlehem's 
 star in the Southern sky ; and then with the mar- 
 tyr's crown upon his brow, and with four millions 
 of broken fetters in his hand, he went up to meet 
 his God. In a moment his life crystallized into 
 the pure white flame that belongs only to the mar-
 
 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 247 
 
 tyr for truth and liberty. Terrible as seemed 
 to us the method of his death, it was, after all, the 
 most fitting and glorious. In God's sight Lincoln 
 was no more precious than the humblest drummer- 
 boy who bled away his young life on the sod of 
 Gettysburg or Chattanooga. He had called on two 
 hundred thousand heroes to lay down their lives 
 for their country ; and now he has gone to make 
 his own grave beside them. 
 
 So sleep the brave who sink to rest 
 By all their country's wishes blest. 
 
 When that grave on yonder prairie shall finally 
 yield up its dead, glorious will be his resurrection. 
 Methinks I behold the spirit of the great liberator 
 in that judgment scene, before the assembled 
 hosts of Heaven. Around him are the tens of 
 thousands from whom he struck off the chain. 
 Methinks I hear their grateful voices exclaim : 
 " We were an hungered, and thou gavest us the 
 bread of freedom ; we were thirsty for liberty, and 
 thou gavest us drink ; we were strangers in the 
 land of our birth, and thou didst take us in ; we 
 were sick with two centuries of sorrow, and thou 
 didst visit us ; we were in the prison-house of 
 bondage, and thou earnest to us." And the King 
 shall say unto him, " Inasmuch as thou didst it to 
 the least of these my brethren, then thou hast done 
 it unto me. Well done, good and faithful servant, 
 enter into the joy of the Lord."
 
 248 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 cccxxx. 
 
 
 
 But few Americans ever saw Thomas Carlyle, 
 for he led a very secluded and laborious life, in 
 his little brick house at Chelsea, in the Southwest- 
 ern London, and he never kept open doors. He 
 had few intimate friends, and sometimes smoked 
 a pipe with Tennyson, and discoursed in a strain 
 of high poetry and rollicking fun beyond anything 
 in the Nodes Ambrosianae. Emerson and Dean 
 Stanley were also welcome guests. 
 
 During my college boy visit to England, in 1842, 
 I ventured to call on Mr. Carlyle. Thirty years 
 afterwards, in June, 1872, I felt a irrepressible de- 
 sire to see the grand old man once more ; and I 
 accordingly addressed him a note, requesting the 
 favor of a few minutes' interview. His reply was 
 perhaps the briefest letter ever written. It was 
 simply "3 p. M. T. C." He explained to me 
 afterward that his hand had become so tremulous 
 that he seldom touched a pen. 
 
 The Rev. Newman Hall asked the privilege of 
 accompanying me, for like most Londoners, he had 
 never put his eye on the recluse philosopher. We 
 found the same old brick dwelling, Number 5, 
 Cheyne Row, without the slightest change, outside 
 or in. But during those thirty years, the kind 
 good wife whom I had met in 1842 had departed, 
 and a sad change had come over the once hale, 
 stalwart man. After we had waited some time, a
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 249 
 
 feeble, stooping figure, attired in a long blue flan- 
 nel gown, moved slowly into the room. His gray 
 hair was unkempt, his blue eye was still keen and 
 piercing, and a bright hectic spot of red appeared 
 in each of his hollow cheeks. His hands were 
 tremulous, and his voice deep and husky. After a 
 few personal inquiries, the old man launched out 
 into a most extraordinary and characteristic ha- 
 rangue on the wretched degeneracy of these evil 
 days. The prophet Jeremiah was cheerfulness it- 
 self in comparison. Much of his extraordinary 
 language was like the eruption of Vesuvius ; but 
 the laugh he occasionally gave showed that he was 
 "mandating" about as much for his own amuse- 
 ment as for ours. He looked up at the portrait of 
 Oliver Cromwell behind him, and exclaimed with 
 great vehemence, " I have gone doon to the verra 
 bottom of Oliver's speeches, and naething in Demos- 
 thenes, or in any ither wull compare in Cromwell 
 in the piercing into the veritable core 'o the fact." 
 We led him to speak of the labor question, and 
 the condition of the working classes. He said the 
 turmoil about labor was only a " lazy trick o' both 
 master and mon, to do joost as little honest work 
 and get joost as much for it as they possibly can. 
 That's the lawbor question." It did my heart good 
 as a teetotaler to hear his scathing denunciation of 
 the drinking usages. He was fierce in his wrath 
 against the " horrible and detestable damnation of 
 whiskey and ivery kind 'o strong drink." In this
 
 250 BIGHT TO TI1E POINT. 
 
 strain the thin, weird-looking old iconoclast went 
 on for an hour. We enjoyed it as a postscript to 
 Sartor Resartus or the Latter Day Pamphlets, and 
 stared and laughed accordingly. Wonderful old 
 man ! 
 
 For fifty years this grand piece of tough, gnarled, 
 honest Scotch timber has been conspicuous. The 
 intimate friend of Edward Irving, the compeer 
 of Sir Walter Scott, the associate of Macaulay and 
 Brougham in the Edinburgh Review, lived to be in 
 literature what Wellington was among British cap- 
 tains. Nothing that ever came from Carlyle's pen 
 will live longer than his eulogy of Burns, which first 
 appeared in the Edinburgh Review. He wrote 
 it, and his Life of Schiller, before he had trans- 
 formed a rich and graceful English into his inde- 
 scribable Carlylese. Nothing like it has ever been 
 fashioned on the earth or in the waters under the 
 earth. He was the last of the giants in British 
 Literature. He will outlive many an author who 
 slumbers in " the great Abbey." 
 
 Thomas Carlyle was nurtured on the strong 
 meat of the Westminster catechism. The fogs of 
 German mysticism blew away as he drew towards 
 the end of his pilgrimage. Some stout, ringing 
 words he uttered in defence of the faith once com- 
 mitted to the saints. Mayhap by this time he has 
 risen to that clearer clime where faith is swallowed 
 up in sight. For one I owe him grateful thanks 
 for many stimulating thoughts, and shall always be
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 231 
 
 glad that I grasped the strong hand of Thomas 
 Carlyle. 
 
 CCCXXXI. 
 
 A dry, withered flower lies by me, which I 
 gathered on a sweet July morning, beside the 
 doorway of Wordsworth's cottage on Rydal Mount. 
 That cottage is now a lonely spot. The venerable 
 interpreter of nature no longer leans on his staff 
 beneath that doorway. Within a stone's throw of 
 that "Mount" is a plain tomb, on which more 
 than one moistened eye has read the name of 
 William Wordsworth. ... I had come up 
 from Ambleside to spend an hour with him, as he 
 always gave a hearty welcome to the few Ameri- 
 cans who wandered in to his secluded home. 
 The cottage was just what I expected in appear- 
 ance, but not its illustrious occupant. Instead of 
 a grave, pensive man, in scholastic black, I found 
 a most affable, smiling, lovable old man, dressed in 
 a well-worn coat of blue (with metal buttons), and 
 checked breeches, with a broad-brimmed white hat 
 lying by his side. He looked like a substantial 
 farmer just come in for his "nooning" ; and his 
 greeting had a broad heartiness in it that took me 
 all aback. His face was long and thin ; his com- 
 plexion highly florid ; his hair fell upon his 
 shoulders, and over his half-closed eyes he wore a 
 pair of large green spectacles He
 
 252 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 entered at once into a genial anu most familiar 
 conversation, talked of America with great enthu- 
 siasm, particularly of his friend Washington Irving, 
 and of Mrs. Sigourney, who had once paid him a 
 visit. 
 
 For years he had hoped to see our country for 
 himself, but the duties of a small office which he 
 held, and on which he was partially dependent, 
 had prevented the undertaking. His library was 
 not large. Had Wordsworth been a richer man he 
 would hardly have been a great collector of books. 
 When a visitor once said to his servant, " Is this 
 your master's study?" "No, sir," replied the 
 man; "my master's study is out of doors." I was 
 not surprised, therefore, to hear presently from 
 the old poet an invitation to walk out into his 
 grounds, and see the neighboring views. As we 
 moved about through the well-trimmed walks, he 
 talked on with the most lively enthusiasm. "Yon- 
 der is Rydal Water." And there it lay, a mere 
 shellful of water, environed round by bold, tower- 
 ing hills. In front, over the steeple of the parish 
 church, was Grasmere, the lake along whose beach 
 Coleridge was wont to wander, and beside which 
 he composed the Ancient Mariner." Beyond was 
 Helvellyn, the mountain king, with his retinue of 
 a hundred hills, and at his feet lay Robert Southey. 
 Of all these scenes, and the great men who had 
 haunted them during years gone by, the aged man 
 talked on until we reached again his cottage door.
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 253 
 
 He then bade me farewell, with a parting " God 
 bless you!" I pulled this little flower (then fresh 
 and bright), and turned slowly away from Rydal 
 Mount. 
 
 CCCXXXII. 
 
 The crowd in the Abbey was prodigious. Many 
 of the guests climbed on the monuments, to wit- 
 ness the ceremonies. After long and patient 
 waiting, we heard the funeral anthem sounding 
 through the nave, and presently the procession 
 entered. It contained the foremost living men of 
 England. The heir to the throne marched in and 
 occupied the pew of his old tutor, who was lying 
 in the coffin before him Upon the coffin were 
 wreaths of " immortelles," and white flowers from 
 the Westminster schoolboys, and a handful of 
 Chinese roses from the Queen herself. The ven- 
 erable Archbishop of Canterbury was in line, 
 Lord Shaftesbury, and Lord Houghton, and Tyn- 
 dall, and Browning, and the Bishop of Peterbor- 
 ough. The coffin was borne by the same hands 
 that had carried the Dean's beloved wife, Lady 
 Augusta, to her burial, in Henry the Seventh's 
 Chapel. It was set down before the pulpit in 
 which the Dean had stood a few days before. By 
 the foot of the coffin, the most conspicuous figure 
 was William E. Gladstone. 
 
 The funeral music to-day was solemn and sub-
 
 254 BIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 lime. Its rich strains swelled and rolled among 
 the lofty arches with prodigious grandeur. Then 
 the deep tones of the Dead March were heard, 
 and the procession formed again. The body of 
 Arthur Stanley was taken up and tenderly carried 
 over those historic stones which he himself had 
 trodden so often and so long. He was to be laid 
 among the great, in his death. With slow and 
 measured tread they bore him past the tomb of 
 Dryden. Old Spenser, and Ben Jonson, and the 
 author of the Elegy in a Country Churchyard^ were 
 sleeping close by. A little further on, they 
 passed the tomb of Edward the Confessor. The 
 heir to the Confessor's throne was in the proces- 
 sion, and the descendants too of many a great 
 warrior who lay in silent stone effigy on those 
 monuments. Gradually the line passed on and on 
 among the columns, until it entered the door of 
 Henry the Seventh's Chapel and disappeared from 
 my view. 
 
 CCCXXXIII. 
 
 Carlton House Terrace is one of the historic 
 spots in London. It is a long, stately row of man- 
 sions flanking St. James Park. At the foot of 
 broad Waterloo Place stands the lofty column to 
 the Duke of York. As he died heavily in debt, 
 the wags say " The Duke was put up on top of 
 the column to get him out of the reach of his credi-
 
 EIGHT TO THE POI^T. 255 
 
 tors." In the second or third house from the 
 monument resides Britain's ruler, the Premier 
 Gladstone. Technically, the ruler of the realm 
 dwells in Windsor Palace. But Major Jack Down- 
 ing tells us that when General Jackson on his 
 visit to Downingville got tired of shaking hands 
 with the crowd, he (the Major) hid behind him, 
 and poking his arm under old Hickory's shoulder, 
 he " shuck hands for the Gineral." So the hand of 
 royalty in England is really the hand of William 
 E. Gladstone slipped under the regal robes. I 
 had the honor of two very delightful interviews 
 with the Premier last summer. As the " Alabama 
 question" was just at its most exciting point, Mr. 
 Gladstone was quite ready to converse freely with 
 any American who was supposed to be familiar with 
 the state of public sentiment on this side of the 
 water. He very kindly invited me to visit him. 
 He received me with cordial freedom, and in the 
 half-hour's chat he opened his mind to me with 
 that transparent sincerity which belongs to the 
 character of a Christian statesman. As I rose to 
 leave, saying to him, " Your time belongs to the 
 British Empire and not to an American traveller," 
 he very cordially said, " Come and breakfast with 
 me on Thursday." Breakfast is the familiar meal 
 in English home-life, as "tea-drinking" is with 
 us. I went at ten o'clock on a June morning, and 
 found the Premier standing out on his rear bal- 
 cony, overlooking cool, verdant St. James Park.
 
 258 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone is in excellent preservation ; his 
 walk is alert, and his broad shoulders have never 
 stooped under the load of official responsibilities. 
 One secret of his vigorous health is that he is a 
 capital sleeper. "I never," said he to me, "allow 
 the cares of State to get inside of my bed-chamber 
 door." He says that he does not remember that 
 he was ever kept awake for half an hour by anxiety 
 but once. And that was at the country-seat of his 
 brother-in-law, Lord Lyttetton, where he had been 
 chopping down a tree just at twilight. He did 
 not quite finish the job, and the fear that the tree 
 might blow down before morning worried him out 
 of a little sleep. I am afraid that President Lin- 
 coln knew but little of such quiet slumbers during 
 his stormy administration. 
 
 At the breakfast-table of Mr. Gladstone I met 
 the venerable Dean Ramsay, of Edinburgh, and the 
 Rev. Newman Hall, who is on quite intimate terms 
 of friendship with the Premier. Mrs. Gladstone 
 who was the daughter of a substantial country 
 gentleman, and with whom Mr. Gladstone fell in 
 love in his student days is a warm-hearted lady, 
 whose beauty of character and manners surpass 
 her beauty of person. She is an untiring worker 
 in several schemes of active philanthropy. A son 
 was at the table, and a noble-looking daughter. An- 
 other son is in the Church of England pulpit. 
 And what a charming hour of chat was that at the 
 Prime Minister's breakfast ! A package of private
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 257 
 
 despatches from the Geneva Arbitrators was quietly 
 laid aside unopened until the coffee and toast and 
 strawberries were disposed of. The Presidential 
 campaign in America seemed to interest Mr. Glad- 
 stone deeply, and he inquired, " Have you read 
 Mr. Sumner's speech against the President ? It 
 is an extraordinary speech. If his charges are 
 unjust, they ought never to have been made. , If 
 they are just, it seems to me that impeachment is 
 inevitable. It would be thought so here. We do 
 not quite understan j "our freedom o* Congres- 
 sional criticisms." 
 
 But politics were soon ruled out for a playful 
 discussion of American humor, especially of the 
 negro type. Mr. Gladstone enjoyed hugely some 
 stories of plantation preaching, and said afterwards 
 that he had not laughed so heartily in many a 
 day. Negro wit (like negro music) is so indigenous 
 to our soil that it is fresher to foreign ears than to 
 our own. As the hour came for a morning ses- 
 sion of Parliament, we withdrew. Mr. Gladstone's 
 last words to me were, " I cannot tell what Provi- 
 dence may order, but no power on earth can hinder 
 the peaceful settlement of our controversy with 
 your country, and the complete triumph of the 
 treaty." He was a true prophet. And let us 
 rejoice that during all that long controversy, the 
 sagacious brain, and the noble Christian heart of 
 William E. Gladstone, guided the diplomacy of the 
 British Empire.
 
 258 RIGHT TO THE POINT 
 
 CCCXXXIV. 
 
 Switzerland is the land for sublimity ; the Tyrol 
 for a beauty that bewitches, but seldom overawes. 
 
 Nature has done wonders for the English land- 
 scapes, and art has wrought in harmony. Here an 
 old Gothic church lifts its tower amid the oaks ; 
 there an Elizabethan mansion heads an ascending 
 lawn; there a graceful bridge of stone arches some 
 clear silvery Avon, or Dee, or Trent ; even if a cot- 
 tage be two centuries old it wears its thatched 
 crown gracefully. To this perfect : on of rural 
 loveliness our mother-country has arrived after 
 twenty generations have expended their utmost toil, 
 and taste, and skill. 
 
 cccxxxv. 
 
 I expected to find Gethsemane desolate and 
 neglected. Instead of that I found it in beautiful 
 order, with an elegant inner iron railing, and laid 
 out in tasteful flower-beds. Alongside of the 
 ancient olive-trees many hundreds of years old 
 grow a profusion of roses, carnations, marigolds, 
 heliotropes, and many varieties of fragrant plants. 
 This adorning of the scene of my blessed Saviour's 
 agony was grateful to me. Why not ? Did he 
 not bear the grief that we might taste the sweet- 
 ness of the blessing of redemption ? I rejoiced 
 to see these fragrcint tributes blooming so thick,
 
 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 259 
 
 and rich, and beautiful, as tokens of the heavenly 
 hopes that have sprung up from Gethsemane's soil 
 once steeped in tears. 
 
 CCCXXXVI. 
 
 When Pericles had seen the last frieze placed on 
 the Parthenon, and the last exquisite moulding 
 carved around the doorway of the Erectheum, he 
 had seen the consummate perfection of all that man 
 can accomplish in the horizontal styles of architec- 
 ture. Since that time the world has seen the per- 
 pendicular in its perfection in many a Gothic 
 cathedral, but not one new idea has been added to the 
 Doric and the Ionic in three and twenty centuries. 
 That marvellous sense of beauty which the Greeks 
 of that age possessed, wrought itself out in every- 
 thing it touched. 
 
 All the finest Ionic structure in the world for 
 the last two thousand years have been only the 
 copies of what those Greek wonder-workers wrought 
 on that end of that little Erectheum with a single 
 decade. They struck perfection at once, and 
 all subsequent generations have done nothing but 
 try to imitate their handiwork, 
 
 CCCXXXVII. 
 
 Last Tuesday I climbed Mount Pentelicus, and 
 from its summit looked right down on the famous
 
 260 EIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 battle-field of Marathon. It is as smooth as a race- 
 course and so small that Miltiades with his ten 
 thousand Athenians could cover the whole front 
 against ten times as many Persians. On my way 
 I rode through groves of classic olive and pine, and 
 green vineyards. It seemed as if I might meet 
 Sophocles going out to meditate a new tragedy, or 
 Anacreon to compose a new song for the vine- 
 dressers. The air was instinct with the memories 
 and glories of the past. This little land of Attica 
 once ruled the world with its genius. On the 
 ruins of that wonderful commonwealth after 
 long, dark centuries of ignorance and obscurity 
 a new Athens and a new Greece have sprung up. 
 No land on the continent of Europe has a stronger 
 claim on our hearts, or excites a more thrilling 
 hope for its future than the land in which Pericles 
 builded, and Plato thought, and Phidias carved, 
 and Paul proclaimed the Gospel of eternal life. 
 
 CCCXXXVIII. 
 
 It will a Iways remain an enigma that within 
 a single century Grecian art and philosophy 
 should have flowed out in the most consummate of 
 their productions of genius and then straightway 
 ceased to bloom again ! All the greatest achieve- 
 ments of Athincan brains were wrought between 
 the battles of Marathon and Cheronea, and that 
 space does not cover more than the lives of a
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 261 
 
 father and son, provided that they both lived 
 seventy years. The only answer to this problem 
 is that it seems to be God's plan to illuminate this 
 world not by. single stars, but by constellations. 
 
 CCCXXXIX. 
 
 The melancholy air of decay which lingers about 
 the deserted palaces of what was once the splendid 
 Queen of the Adriatic, always saddens me in Venice. 
 When the novelty of paddling in a gondola through 
 the watery ways and close by the doorsteps of old 
 musty mansions is over, then the city becomes 
 just a trifle monotonous. The first day is a delight 
 and a marvel ; the treasures of the Doge's palace 
 and of ancient St. Mark are unsurpassed ; after 
 that Venice has no picturesque scenes like Cairo, 
 and no sublime memories to feed on like Jerusalem. 
 
 CCCXL. 
 
 As I passed through the very heart of England, 
 on my way from Hull, I could but think how rich 
 had been the mental and spiritual harvests gathered 
 from those old historic fields ! Nearly every town 
 has placed books in our libraries, or in some way 
 enriched our memories. When I read the name 
 of " Kettering " on the station-sign, I thought of 
 old Andrew Fuller's eight volumes of solid theology. 
 Northampton suggested Doddridge and his Rise
 
 262 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 and Progress. At Bedford I was in the birthplace 
 of both John Howard and the " Pilgrim " of John 
 Bunyan. Not far away were the green fields where 
 Cowper mused over the "Task" and " Olney 
 Hymns." Robert Hall, Lord Macaulay, Marvell, 
 and Kirke White had all been born and reared in 
 the region through which we ran ; and from amid 
 the smoke of Sheffield had come forth the musical 
 notes of Elliott and Montgomery. All these mem- 
 ories added new charms to the landscape that 
 smiled under the summer sun. 
 
 CCCXLI. 
 
 The American Republic is making a prodigious 
 impression upon the older continents. It is not 
 merely the coming nation ; it has come /'.-.. 
 
 It is not a matter for empty boasting, 
 
 but it is a matter of momentous responsibilty to 
 be an American citizen and to bear even the hum- 
 blest part in shaping its moral destiny. 
 
 CCCXLII. 
 
 Yesterday was a day of enchantment. We took a 
 walk about Zion ; we gazed over at the mountains 
 of Moab ; we caught our first view of sacred Geth- 
 semane. We stood by "Robinson's Arch," and 
 strolled among the ruined walls of the old rallying 
 place of the Knights Templars. We threaded the
 
 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 263 
 
 narrow streets and studied the picturesque crowds 
 that reproduced the days of Solomon and the days 
 of Godfrey of Bouilon. In one respect Jerusalem 
 has suffered great injustice. Most tourists describe 
 it as surrounded by wild, bleak desolation. I 
 expected to see only mountains of glaring white 
 limestone. But these travellers came at thewron^ 
 season of the year. April is the summer of Pales- 
 tine ; although the air yesterday was delightfully 
 cool. As I stood on Mount Zion, the Hill of Evil 
 Counsel and the mountains toward Bethlehem were 
 clothed with verdure. The gardens under Moriah 
 were bright with flowers. Olivet was green, except 
 for the white Jewish tombs on its southern end. 
 Scarlet poppies flamed among the stones of the 
 ancient walls. When we went out of the Damascus 
 gate, and stood on the low hill which many regard 
 as the true site of Calvary, the whole country 
 towards Samaria was luxuriant with waving barley 
 and with olive-orchards. 
 
 So must it have looked when the blessed Master 
 led his disciples among those very fields, and went 
 towards Galilee. So must the land have smiled 
 when over all its terraced hills and among its rich 
 valleys, it supported a population as teeming as the 
 population of Egypt to-day. I thank God I have 
 seen his goodly land of Canaan, not dreary and 
 desolate as I feared, but arrayed in the bright 
 robes of summer, and with these everlasting hills 
 wearing a verdant crown of beauty.
 
 264 RIGHT TO THE POINT. 
 
 CCCXLIII. 
 
 It is a striking coincidence that the finest 
 hymns in the English language should have been 
 composed in those southern counties that stretch 
 along the Channel. Toplady wrote the Rock of 
 Ages, and Charlotte Elliot her hymn, Just as I 
 am, in Devonshire. Henry Lyte, the author of 
 Abide with Me, lived in the same county. Charles 
 Wesley gave birth to Jesus, Lover of my Soul, and 
 Perronet to the hymn, All hail the power of Jesus, 
 Name, in that poetic belt of the south of England. 
 Isaac Watts penned his first hymn at Southampton, 
 opposite to the Isle of Wight.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Affliction, Discipline of CCXCIL-CCCXII. . . 227-35 
 
 Aspiration, XXIII.-IX 32-8 
 
 Atonement, The LV.-LXI 54-8 
 
 Bible, The X.-XXIII 23-32 
 
 Character, Christian CLVII.-LXXXVL . . . 119-43 
 
 Church, The CXLIIL-XLIX. ..... 110-14 
 
 Conversion, CV.-XXI _. 86-97 
 
 Communion with Christ, CCXCVII.-CCCH. . . 228-30 
 
 Cheerfulness, CCXXI.-XXVI 174-78 
 
 Childhood, CCLXXVI.-LXXIX 216-18 
 
 Christ the Redeemer, CCLVIII.-LXVIII. . . 204-11 
 
 Education, Home CCXL-XIV. . . . . . 169-71 
 
 Eloquence, VI.-X 17-23 
 
 Faith, LXXIX.-XCVII 69-82 
 
 Holiness, CXXI.-XXVI 97-102 
 
 Heart, The CCII.-IV 162-63 
 
 Heaven, CCCXXI.-XXIX. . * . . . . 240-46 
 
 Humility, CCXIV.-XXL 171-74 
 
 Intellect, III.-VI 14-17 
 
 Joy, CCCXII.-XVII 235-38 
 
 Law, God's CCXLVII.-LVIII 195-204 
 
 Love, CXCVI.-CCII 153-62
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Memory, CCCXIX.-XXI 239-40 
 
 Obedience, XCVII.-CIV 82-5 
 
 Providence, God's CCLXX.-LXXVI. . . . 212-16 
 
 Philanthrophy, CCXLII.-XLXII 191-95 
 
 Pulpit, The XXIX.-LV 38-54 
 
 Prayer, CXXX.-XLI11 104-10 
 
 Profession and Professors, CLXXXVI.-XCII. . . 143-50 
 
 Religion, CXLIX.-LVII. . ' 114-19 
 
 Repentance, LXIX.-LXXIX. 62-69 
 
 Recreation, CCXXXI.-XXXV 182-85 
 
 Reminiscences, CCCXXIX.-XXXIY. . . . 246-58 
 
 Revivals, CCV.-X. . . . . , 166-68 
 
 Sin, LXI.-LXIX. . . 58-62 
 
 Sacrifice, Self CXCII.-XCV 150-52 
 
 Salvation, CXXVI.-XXX. . 102-04 
 
 Sympathy, CCLXVIII.-LXX 211-12 
 
 Singing, CCXXVI.-XXXI. 178-82 
 
 Sketches, CCCXXXIV.-XLIII. . . . -. . 258-64 
 
 Thought, I.-III. 13-14 
 
 Temperance, CCXXXV.-XLII 185-91 
 
 Work, Christian CCLXXVIIl.-XCII. . . . 218-27
 
 NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 THE LORD'S PURSEBEARERS. By Hesba Stretton. 
 Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price $1.25. The name of 
 Hesba Stretton is too well known in English literature 
 to render it necessary to make special commendation of 
 any work from her pen. No writer of religious fiction 
 stands higher in England, and there is not a Sunday-school 
 library where some one of her volumes may not be found. 
 She has the faculty of entertaining and instructing at the 
 same time. The present publishers have made special 
 arrangements with her for the production in this country 
 of her latest work, and the probabilities are that all her 
 future books will bear their imprint. In The Lord's 
 Pursebearers the author draws a terrible picture of life 
 among the vicious poor in London streets, and shows 
 by what shifts the professional beggars and thieves of 
 the great Babylon manage to live and thrive on the mis- 
 placed charity of the pitying well-to-do population. She 
 arouses a strong feeling of sympathy for the children who 
 are bred in the haunts of vice, and who are instructed 
 in crime before they are old enough to know the meaning 
 of the word. The story is one of intense interest, and 
 the characters, especially those of old Isaac Chippendell, 
 his granddaughter Joan, and little Lucky, are forcibly 
 drawn. One can hardly believe that such places exist 
 or that such deeds are perpetrated as are here described, 
 but one who is familiar with London and its streets knows 
 that they are no exaggerations. The volume is illustrated. 
 
 THE AFTERGLOW OF EUROPEAN TRAVEL. By Adelaide 
 L. Harrington. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price $1.50. 
 This pleasant record of experiences abroad will delight those 
 who have gone over the same ground, as well as those who 
 have never strayed beyond the bounds of their own country. 
 It is not a connected story of travel, but consists of reminis- 
 cences and descriptions of various spots and objects which 
 made the deepest and most lasting impression upon the 
 writer.
 
 OUR BOOK TABLE. 
 
 POOR PAPA. By Mary W. Porter. Illustrated. Boston: 
 D. Lothrop & Co. Paper covers, 50 cents. Of all the lately 
 published books in which children bear a principal part, 
 one of the most natural and charming is Poor Papa. It 
 breathes the very spirit of childhood, and one is inclined to 
 believe that the author must have drawn her characters from 
 living models. Few writers have the faculty of describing 
 children as they are, and many of the so-called "juvenile " 
 books published are dreary failures simply because their 
 writers have no sympathy with their subjects. The children 
 whom Miss Porter describes are genuine children and not 
 make-believe. They have all the indescribable ways and 
 peculiarities that make little people oftentimes riddles to 
 their elders. Their journey abroad with " Poor Papa," who 
 comes all the way over the ocean for them, their adventures, 
 their quaint observations on what they see and hear, their 
 thorough enjoyment of everything, the comical surprises 
 they are continually giving those around them, are delight- 
 fully set forth, and will be as fascinating reading for the 
 older as for the younger ones. 
 
 "Poor Papa" is sure to be a favorite. It is a graphic 
 story of the perplexities of a father, left a widower, to care 
 for two children. The father is an artist, absorbed in paint- 
 ing, and having no knowledge of child-nature; while his two 
 children, loving and true, are like young colts, with irrepres- 
 sible life and spirits, and perpetually in trouble. They have 
 many amusing adventures in Italy, from their rollicking love 
 of freedom and fun, and barely escape with life from a 
 governess, whose martinet habits transform her into an ogre, 
 delighting in torture. But the troubles of papa and children 
 find a happy solution in the advent of a new mamma, the 
 sister of a brother artist, whose fine womanly instincts have 
 helped the children already over many a hard place. Sum- 
 mer travellers will have many a hearty laugh over the vol- 
 ume, and enjoy equally the humor of the children and the 
 perplexities of "Papa."
 
 NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 ORIGINALITY. By Elias Nason. Boston: D. Lothrop & 
 Co. Price $.50. Mr. Nason has here made a reply to 
 Wendell Phillips' "Lost Arts," which is well worth read- 
 ing for its point and suggestiveness. He endeavors to show 
 the meaning of the word, and what important results have 
 come from the originating powers of a few bright men since 
 the beginning of civilization. He takes up, one by one, the 
 points made by Mr. Phillips in his famous lectnre, and shows 
 on what slight grounds they rest, and of how little weight 
 they really are when examined and analyzed. Mr. Nason 
 does not believe that any of the useful arts have been lost. 
 The ancients had few to lose. They made glass, but they 
 did not know how to use it. They could embalm dead 
 bodies; but of what use were embalmed dead bodies ? They 
 had some knowledge of mathematics, but a school-boy's 
 arithmetic to-day contains more mathematical knowledge 
 than has come out of all the exhumed cities of the Orient. 
 There were more marvels of art displayed at the Centennial 
 exhibition than in the ancient world for twenty centuries. 
 Mr. Nason insists that the sesthetical productions of the 
 ancients have been vastly over-estimated. The periods of 
 Demosthenes," he says, " yield in Titanic force to the 
 double-compact sentences of Daniel Webster. Mr. Phillips 
 himself has sometimes spoken more eloquently than Cicero. 
 Homer never rises to the sublimity of John Milton." The 
 world grows wiser and better. Age by age, it has been de- 
 veloping its resources and adding pearl to pearl to the diadem 
 of its wisdom ; sometimes slower, sometimes quicker, but 
 always upward and onward. Mr. Nason writes in a fresh 
 and sparkling style, and the thousands who have listened 
 witli rapt attention to Mr. Phillips' eloquent presentation of 
 his side of the question will find equal pleasure and greater 
 profit in reading this charming essay, which is equally elo- 
 quent and unquestionably sounder in its conclusions. 
 
 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF CHARLES DICKENS. By 
 Phebe A. Hanaford. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price 
 $1.50. A life of Dickens, written by a popular author 
 and upon a new plan, will be sure to meet with favor at the 
 hands of the public. Mrs. Hanaford has not attempted to 
 write a critical and original analysis of the great author 
 from her own point of view, but, while sketching the main 
 incidents of his life, has quoted liberally from his works to 
 illustrate his genius, and from the correspondence and 
 writings of his personal friends to show the estimation in 
 which lie was held by them as a man, a philanthropist and 
 a Christian. The volume commends itself to every lover of 
 Dickens, and deserves to be widely known and read.
 
 NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 YENSIE WALTON'S WOMANHOOD. By Mrs. S. R. Graham 
 Clark. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price $1.50. Nine out 
 of ten Sunday-school scholars have read Yensie Walton, one 
 of the best and most interesting books that ever went into a 
 Sunday-school library. The present volume introduces 
 Yensie in a new home and under new conditions. She 
 enters the family of a friend as an instructor of the younger 
 members, and the narrative of her experiences will especially 
 interest those who have to do with the moral and mental 
 training of children. The author shows that all children 
 are not made after the same pattern, and that one line of 
 treatment is not of universal application. In one of her 
 pupils, a boy of brilliant mental endowments, whose mind 
 has become embittered because of a physical deformity, 
 Yensie finds much to interest as well as to discourage her. 
 She perseveres, however, and by studying his character 
 carefully and working upon him from the right side, she 
 gradually works a change in his disposition and brings his 
 better qualities into active exercise. This is scarcely accom- 
 plished when a call from Valley Farm reaches her. Ever 
 prompt to do duty's bidding, Yensie quits this happy home 
 for the sterner requirements of her uncle's family, where 
 she labored with unflagging interest and determination until 
 that izuch-loved relative says his last good-by. It is then 
 that the hitherto silenced wooer refuses to be longer quiet, 
 aud our heroine goes out from the old red farm-house to her 
 wedded home, where as a wife and mother she makes duty 
 paramount to pleasure, and every circumstance of life is 
 met with that same fortitude characteristic of the Yensie 
 Walton you so much admire. Besides the characters with 
 which the reader is already familiar through the former 
 work, others are introduced which are equally well drawn, 
 and which serve to round out the story to completeness. 
 
 THE MOTHER'S RECORD OF THE MENTAL, MORAL AND 
 PHYSICA:. LIFE OF HER CHILD. Boston : D. Lothrop & Co. 
 Quarto, $1.00. This work is valuable as it is unique. It is 
 prepared by a Massachusetts woman, and though originally 
 intended for her own benefit, has been published for the 
 help of mothers everywhere. It is intended for a yearly 
 chronicle of the child's growth and development, mental 
 and physical, and will be an important aid to mothers \vlio 
 devote themselves to conscientious training of their little 
 ones.
 
 NEW PUBLICATIONS- 
 
 THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET. By Samuel Woodworth. 
 Quarto Holiday edition. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price 
 $1.50. Of all the illustrated quarto presentation books yet 
 issued, this is by all odds the most artistic and tasteful. The 
 art of the designer, engraver and printer has in turn been 
 exhausted to bring it as near perfection as possible. The 
 drawings are from the skilful pencil of Miss Humphrey, and 
 represent her best work. The engraving is by W. N. Clos- 
 son, whose reputation in that line is equal to that of any 
 other man in the country, and the printing is from new 
 type on heavy paper with broad margins and gilt edges, In 
 general style and binding the volume is uniform with The 
 Ninety and Nine, Drifting, etc. 
 
 THE STOBT OP FOUR ACORNS. By Alice B. Engle. 111. 
 Boston : D. Lothrop & Co. Price $1.00. Children who like 
 fairy stories Till find in this handsome volume a fountain of 
 delight. The author possesses rare talent for interesting the 
 young, and has here turned it to the best advantage. She 
 has furnished a fascinating story, and has ingeniously 
 woven into it bits of poetry and song from famous authors 
 which will find easy entrance into the mind and create an 
 appetite for more. The illustrations are among Miss Lath- 
 bury's best, and do their part toward making the volume 
 attractive. 
 
 A capital idea is represented in the new book, Historic 
 Pictures, suggested by the success of last season's volume, 
 Write Your Oion Stories. It consists of a collection of pict- 
 ures illustrating places and events of historic interest, 
 thirty in number, with three blank pages after each picture, 
 which are to be utilized by the boys and girls in writing an 
 accoimt of the incidents which have made the various places 
 famous. The publishers offer a series of cash prizes for 
 competitors, the lists to remain open until July 1, 1882. 
 The one who sends the best series of stories or historical 
 descriptions of the pictures, will receive $25.00 ; the author 
 of the second best, $15.00, and the third in point of excel- 
 lence, $10.00.
 
 BOOK NOTICES. 
 
 Walks to Etmnaus. By the late Rev. Nehemiah Adam-* 
 D. D. Edited by his son, Rev. William H. Adams. First- 
 series. January-February. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. 
 12mo. pp 360. Price, $1.00. 
 
 " This is the first volume of one of the largest and most 
 promising homiletical works of the age. It will embrace 
 two sermons for every Sabbath of an entire year. It is " a 
 Christian year," yet not confined to the liturgy of any single 
 denomination of Christians, but aiming to include within 
 this compass one discourse on each topic of ordinary pasto- 
 rial use, or the needs of the religious reader. It is adapted 
 for the vacant pulpit, the sick room, and the private library. 
 
 It is agreed that no modern writer is better suited to all 
 classes and capacities than Dr. Adams. Encomiums of his 
 
 extensively circulated religious publications, " The Friends of 
 Christ," "Christ a Friend," "Communion Sabbath," " Cath- 
 arine," " At Eventide," &c., &c. Have justified this selec 
 tion of more than a hundred and twenty sermons from the 
 forty years' ministry of Rev. Dr. Adams, with the hope c\ 
 their wide circulation among all religious denominations. 
 Each of the six volumes now in preparation, to be issued 
 every year or two, will be complete in itself although form- 
 ing a part of this work designed as "one years discourses." 
 For, one of the " fifth sabbath sermons " may be employed 
 instead of one for a special occasion, for example "a new- 
 year's discourse." Every evangelical minister, theological 
 student, and household should possess this crowning work of 
 an eminent divine, and standard religious writer. The 
 volume is tastefully printed and bound."
 
 
 1 ""''