THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
UC<r»aA^ Ji' v^^
V«>H|e'
^¥C
a.
THE BEST WAY
BY
FREDERICK H. RINDGE
^
-MM"
PRIVATELY PRINTED
COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY FREDERICK H. RINDGB
e
©etjjcatcb in Hobe
TO WHOMSOEVER PERADVENTURE MAY READ THIS BOOK
TRUSTING IT WILL BRING TO SUCH
A REVENUE OF PEACE, HOPE
AND JOY
When the even was come, there came a rich
man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also
himself was Jesus' disciple, an honourable coun-
sellor who waited for the Kingdom of God.
He went to Pilate, and begged the body of
Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to
be delivered. — Matthew xxvii. 57, 58 ;
Mark xv. 43 ; Luke xxiii. 50, 51.
INTRODUCTION
Why do you think I wrote this book?
For money? No. For my health? No.
For pleasure? No. For praise? No, —
because if you gave it me I could not keep
it; for when, seventeen years ago, I gave
my heart to God, He waited to see if I were
sincere, it seemed to me ; then He told me
He wanted me to work for Him. I told
God I would, and that I should give to
Him all praise and glory for whatever I
might do.
But He pays me a commission, — peace
in the soul. Ah ! I am well paid.
It was written with the hope that it would
awaken holy aspirations and strengthen de-
terminations to live for Heaven.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Are you Saved ? i
Getting Religion 17
Can a Man know God ? . . . -31
The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning
of Wisdom 53
Trusting God 71
The Still, Small Voice of God . . 87
The Ecstasy of Hope 105
By their Fruits ye shall know them . 129
Who was Christ? 147
Love Divine 155
A Lost Law, or, the Perfect Law of
Liberty 169
ARE YOU SAVED?
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE NEW BIRTH,
OR AN EXPLANATION OF BEING
BORN AGAIN
ARE YOU SAVED?
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE NEW BIRTH, OR AN
EXPLANATION OF BEING BORN AGAIN.
The spirit of man can penetrate the mys-
tery of faith and spiritual things, but his
mind cannot unless it is aided by the Spirit
and controlled thereby. Spiritual things
must be spiritually discerned.
"A rational faith I must have," writes a
friend to me. That is a paradox. Consider.
Such a phrase means belief by the reason or
by the mind. Now Christian faith is some-
thing having its source in the spirit and not
in the mind. The mind only falls in line
when the spirit leads in faith. Paul in writ-
ing to Timothy says " the mystery of faith."
Paul had no rational faith, but he had a
"reasonable service," which partly consists
in taking the word of God as it is given,
and accepting, under obedience, its teachings
of Heaven and Hell, the way to enter one
4 THE BEST WAY
and escape the other, and in accepting its
definitions of faith.
Now we approach the consideration of a
spiritual matter.
Jesus Christ said unto Ruler Nicodemus,
" Except a man be born again, he cannot see
the Kingdom of God."
To be born implies the coaction and con-
junction of two forces or factors. Remem-
ber that marriage in the Lord is most holy
and typifies the union of Christ with His
church.
The new or second birth of a man is the
result of God's Spirit coming in contact with
man's spirit, by and with the consent of the
latter. God is always willing to give His
Holy Spirit to those who ask for it. As the
fisherman hears the breaking surf through
the fog and shapes his course thereby to the
unseen shore, so we steer for the invisible
shores of Paradise when we hear the holy
organ's surge, in unison with a divine hymn,
and the preacher's voice urging us heaven-
ward. Aye ! " Faith comes by hearing."
A man's mind hears the message of Christ
to repent and be saved ; the soul beneath the
mind hungers for the message and controls
ARE YOU SAVED? 5
the will and lets in the message borne by
the Holy Spirit. If the man keeps that
union of God's Spirit with his own, the
result is, in due time, the new birth. This
time or period varies. It is longer with
some, shorter with others. The length de-
pends upon how you apply yourself to
grow in grace, or rather to really believe in
Christ.
Again, there are those who, brought up
from childhood in the faith of their fathers,
cannot remember or discern the exact time
of their new birth. To others it comes like
a sudden revelation, so that they never can
forget the date, the hour, and the surround-
ings.
Now, with fish, or animals, or birds, or
with trees, by pollenization, in all cases in
fact, a second factor is necessary to accom-
plish a birth. The pollen of one tree must
reach the pollen of another tree. The fish
eggs deposited by the side of the stream
must be acted upon to create life.
The moment the pollen of one certain tree
blows upon another, that moment the possi-
hility of a new vital seed comes into exist-
ence.
6 THE BEST WAY
As in the beginning God breathed into
the nostrils of dust-made Adam and he be-
came a living soul, so when the Spirit of
God touches the spirit of man (even though
the way be incomprehensible)/ as the pollen
blows from tree to tree, then is begun to
be born within that man a new creature in
Christ Jesus, — a new life. But remember,
man is made a free agent: when he hears
the word preached or is impressed into con-
viction in any way, if he admits God's
Spirit into him, so that it can reach his
spirit, then he begins to be born again.
The moment the fish eggs deposited by
the brook's bank become acted upon by an-
other fish, that moment a new life begins;
you may reach down into the water and
destroy the eggs and kill the new life : you
may throw a bird's egg on the ground and
end its possibilities of song and beauty.
When God's Spirit touches your spirit,
there begins a new life, a new creature in
^ God's peace that he gives men " passeth understand-
ing," but we do know the way to get that peace. So
with the New Birth, while we cannot comprehend the
inner workings of its method, yet we know how it is
brought about.
ARE YOU SAVED? 7
Christ ; and when, after due time of growth
in grace, it is ready to be born, behold ! you
are born again, a new creature in Christ
Jesus, to be fertile in good works. This is
the new birth.
Now, while you have been reading these
words, if God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, has
touched your spirit in convicting power,
crush it not; destroy not the germ of eternal
life, but keep it warm by the tears of repent-
ance for sins committed (" all have sinned "),
feed it daily with the grace of Christ in your
every-day life, and in due time that germ
will develop and be born, and you will be
that which is born, — a new creature in Christ
Jesus. Then you will be " born again," —
born of the Spirit of God.
When you are born again you will realize
that you are born again, that you are a new
man in Christ Jesus. Then you are " born
of the Spirit."
What two forces coact to cause the new
birth? God's Spirit and your spirit. To
show their intimate relation, remember the
scripture, " The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of
God."
8 THE BEST WAY
Hold this explanation of the philosophy
of the new birth close to your memory, and
whenever the Spirit of God touches your
spirit, then will you understand what it
means and you can the better be bound to
God.
The ancient Greeks believed "to know
thyself" was the height of wisdom. It is
great wisdom. But to rule yourself is
greater. Alfred, the great king of England,
dying, called his son to him and said, " You
will soon rule England, but before you can
rule England, you must rule yourself"
And so, knowing yourself in your relation
to the new birth, and ruling yourself by not
driving away God's Holy Spirit when He
comes to bless you, you can make a success
of piety, a success of your religion.
Knowing ourselves, now let us rule our-
selves.
The words of Christ, " Ye must be bom
again," apply to each one of us ; we cannot
escape them, we do not want to, yet they are
the only way of escape we have.
But some one says, " How can I under-
stand the birth of the Spirit of God when the
scripture says, "The wind bloweth where it
ARE YOU SAVED? 9
listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it
goeth. So is every one that is born of the
Spirit." That is to say, it is incomprehen-
sible, but the mind of man illumined by the
Holy Ghost can discern and grasp a truth
hidden in those words which will help us.
You remem.ber the peace of God is men-
tioned as "the peace which passeth under-
standing," yet, though we do not know, nor
can we explain fully that peace, still we
know how to get it, since it is the fruit of
the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the
Holy Spirit is given to those who obey the
words of Christ.
It is so with being born again : there is a
great truth hidden in these words which the
mind of man can grasp when it is explained
to him.
But how can I so call on you, friend, who
are unsaved, to give your heart to God, that
you will be moved to repentance and love
for Heaven ? Alas, in my weakness I have
but one hope, to say as David said : —
" Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation.
Uphold me by Thy free Spirit."
Then God's Spirit will accompany my
lo THE BEST WAY
words and you will feel that it is not only I
that bear the message, but that the essence
of the message itself comes from God.
It may be, God will help me so to do by
a parable : —
Come with me into yonder field where
stands that derrick. They are boring an
artesian well, for this is in the artesian belt.
"Good morning, sir," I say, "what strata
of the earth has your drill gone through ? "
" Well," he replies, " we bored into the
loam and a deposit of clay, then we struck a
layer of dry sand, drilled through hard-pan
and bed rock, and are now in the gravel. If
you stay with us we expect soon to be in the
water-bearing sand."
While waiting, the foreman explained to
us that the waters underlying the land had
their source in the mountains, and the con-
sequent high pressure forced it to the surface
through the hole made by the drill.
All the men's faces were smiling because
they knew they were near the water. Sud-
denly the drill dropped and the foreman
called out to the engineer, " Reverse your
engine and hoist away. We 've struck it I "
Up came the drill, and the limpid, purling,
ARE YOU SAVED? ii
cool artesian water rose to the top of the
casing and flowed over to bless the ground
and make it fertile.
So to-day I bring you in love the glad
tidings that you will be safe when you are
saved, and I bid you hasten to make your
peace with God. I know you understand it.
The message is like the derrick's drill.
It may have to go down through the
stratum of doubt, through the shale of a
seared, hardened, deadened conscience, or
through layers of indifference and worldliness,
or of temptation, silliness, resistance, self-con-
ceit, self-reliance, hardness of cold culture,
fear of the world, or excesses in business,
fashion, or pleasure, of " I never did any
harm," and past the bed-rock of sin, of sins
committed and unforgiven sins, or of some-
thing else, but if the drill is God-sharpened,
it will finally penetrate the gravel of con-
viction, soon reach the water-bearing sand
of conversion, and God will give orders to
reverse the engine and hoist away, and the
living water of Life will flow up to bless
you forever.
Men, women, and children I Harken unto
me ! Your souls are in the artesian belt!
12 THE BEST WAY
And why does Christ liken the possession
of the Holy Ghost to a well of water within
us springing up to eternal life ? Why does
He not say it permeates our being or fills
our soul ? Is it not that its source is in
Heaven, just as the source of the artesian
well water is higher in the mountains ?
Are we saved *? Comrade, are you saved ?
Do you have a dread of death and a fear of
Hell, and a lack of assurance that if you
should die to-night you could escape Hell
and enter Heaven ?
Behold that sinking steamer and the fran-
tic passengers called to meet their God with-
out an hour's warning. The lifeboats can
never be launched in such a sea. Look, there
are people praying to God who never prayed
before, and who had denied the power of
prayer. They foolishly and against their
interest thought it was too much trouble to
pray. See them there! face to face with
death and unprepared ; the need of the soul
asserts itself and they pray. It is natural
to pray. It is unnatural not to. When you
do not feel in the element of prayer, be
afraid.
Oh. turn to-night ! There is a power right
ARE YOU SAVED? 13
by your side that will take away your sins,
save you, and satisfy your longing for peace
and rest in Christ. There is a present power
on earth to save us from our sins. That
power is the willingness of God to save you
and forgive you if you will only have sorrow
for your sins and take God as your God,
Christ as your Master, and the Holy Spirit
as your Comforter.
Oh, won't you turn to-night and be
freed from the power of sin *? Ah, then you
remember the pit from which you were dug
and rejoice in your salvation. Ah yes ! we
were all dug from a pit, we who have known
the saving power of God through Christ.
Your pit may have been shallow and mine
deep, yet yours was a pit nevertheless. It is
wrong not to trust God, not to give Him
your heart. Though you may be pure and
honest, yet are you Christ's? Have you the
witness of the Spirit that you are a child of
God ? Oh, be not deceived by cold culture
and being an honorable citizen. Those are
the rocks on which many eternal wrecks
have come.
Are you deep in a pit of sin *? Be of
good cheer. I know whereof I speak, and
14 THE BEST WAY
God can reach to the bottom and lift you
out. His arm is long and His heart full of
sympathy and mercy. Call up to Him and
see I
Be sorry for what you have done that is
wrong, turn from your sins and do good and
right, and God will put joy in your heart,
make your life beautiful, and give you a
passport into Heaven and a deliverance from
Hell.
Jesus loves children. He said, " Suffer
little children to come unto me, for of such
is the Kingdom of Heaven." Children ! be-
hold your Master, Christ Jesus. Love Him,
God's teacher; and He will never leave nor
forsake you.
The time is passing away. This hour is
closing. If the Spirit of God has touched
our spirit, let us hold fast that which we have
experienced, and go forth keeping that holy
thing in our hearts, not talking about it, but
doing like Mary, who kept these things in
her heart and did not tell her neighbors. So
keep warm your faith in God, read daily the
words of Christ, go where you can be helped
heavenward, and in due time God will say,
*' Let the redeemed of the Lord say so," and
ARE YOU SAVED? 15
then you will be strong enough to work for
God, and in Christian work there is always
room at the bottom as well as at the top of
the ladder.
GETTING RELIGION
GETTING RELIGION
Getting religion is like securing an edu-
cation ; you get something you did not have
before.
There is a certain mystery about it, be-
cause some of the greatest gifts that God has
given to man He has surrounded with mys-
tery, for He knows well the mind of man
and that he most esteems and stands in awe
of that which he cannot fully comprehend,
but understands well enough to realize its
blessing and to make use of it. Let him
fully grasp it and make it himself, he dis-
owns it and passes on, seeking other things
to conquer. But the religion of Christianity,
God has declared, shall not pass away, but
forever remain the system of eternal life.
So Paul says of " the mystery of faith ; "
namely, faith is a mysterious thing which can
bless a man, but the workings of which are
above his complete comprehension, as God
meant them to be, to hold him ever to its
20 THE BEST WAY
benefits. So is life itself, and electricity. So,
too, the peace which passeth understanding;
that blessing is beyond our grasp, but we still
know how to get it, and how to enjoy it. So,
too, the book of Revelation, which is the last
chapter in the Book of Life and Death,
instead of summing up all that has gone
before, like earthly books, prophetically gives
us glimpses of the future to delight us with
its promises and awe us with incomprehen-
sible statements. This book is a blessed mys-
tery.
Thus religion, and life, and electricity, and
faith, hope, love, and peace, are some of the
mysteries which bless mankind.
Religion is a mystery, so ordained of God
to create awe, which, makes man heed it in
reverence, because, if he understood it per-
fectly, his nature is such he would feel too
independent to worship God.
Yet religion, like peace, is to be obtained,
and we know how to get it : it can be grasped
by the mind and put in practice.
Let us consider this theme to-day.
When a man realizes that God is calling
him to repent and to lead the right life in
Christ, he feels that his duty is to obey, to
GETTING RELIGION 21
have faith in God and to do the words of
Christ. Believing is believing, but faith is
believing /«, and going ahead. A man says
he believes in life insurance, but does not get
his life insured. Another says he does and
goes and gets a policy. One believed in it,
the other had faith in it.
What is getting religion like ? It is as when
on a cold autumn day you are sitting and
resting from the hunt on a hillside, and there
is a passing cloud between you and the sun;
suddenly or gradually the sun bursts out of
the cloud and sheds its warmth on you.
If you wish to get religion, go back to the
faith of a little child, to which Christ likens
the Kingdom of Heaven. If you ask God's
forgiveness and seek His Holy Spirit, there
will be no trouble about your doubts, your
sins, your feelings, or any such matters ;
make your faith like a little child, and those
great black doubts will turn white as snow
by the power of God through Christ.
" But I can't believe as a little child," some
one says. But you can if you ask God to
help you, and so believe and are sincere.
Keep on asking until you receive. We
sometimes think we are sincere when we are
22 THE BEST WAY
not. Keep working at this sincerity until
you are really sincere.
Ask God to come to you and pray to Him
to help you know Him for yourself, so that
you can know His still small voice, that won-
derful " symbol of humility " and know from
Him the way you should go. The still small
voice is so still, yet it is audible to the soul.
Sound travels slowly, the flash of the cannon
is seen before the sound is heard. The throne
of God in distant Heaven is far away, so is
it not to be expected that when the voice
of God reaches us, the sound of it shall be
soft and low *? When the lightning flashes
near us, the loud report follows quickly
after, but when the lightning is far away, it
is a long time before the sound of it reaches
our ears, and then it is soft and low. In
Heaven, I fancy, the senses of the redeemed
are commensurate with the greatness of the
New Jerusalem. Our present eyes and ears
could not endure what is in store for the
faithful, yet the redeemed of the Lord rejoice
in their redemption powers and capacities.
What would you think, and how would
you like it, if you could know and be satis-
fied that God spoke to you and assured you
GETTING RELIGION 23
of a home in Heaven and an escape from
Hell *? You can know these things.
Pray to Him, " Come, Lord, come. Lord,
reveal Thyself to me, that I may know Thy
way and my way that I should go."
Last summer I met a little boy, barefoot,
peaked, and hungry, in the Union Station,
Boston. He asked me for five cents to get
some food with, as he had had nothing to
eat. I said, " Do you know God ? " " Yes,
He is my Father," was the quick reply.
"Where does He live?" "In Heaven,"
was the answer, which came with eyes and
a voice full of simple, childlike faith. That
kind of faith is what is going to get us into
Heaven. His faith was full of assurance ;
he knew.
Doctor Guthrie was dying; he asked to
have a hymn sung. "What shall we sing*?"
they asked. " Sing a bairn's hymn," he said.
So they sang, —
" Gentle Jesus, meek and mild.
Look upon a little child."
If you enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you
must be like a little child; simplicity and
sincerity of faith must be yours.
There are two present benefits of getting
24 THE BEST WAY
religion, or, rather, of having it. The first is,
if Satan ever tempts you to get blue, imme-
diately call in religion to the rescue. " Have
regard to the recompense of the reward."
That cheers us up. Then, with this advan-
tage gained, call on God for help to drive
Satan and his depression away, and soon an
angel of light will suffuse you with the warm
light of the heavenly presence and the dark-
ness will fliee away.
The other is this. Do the faces or names
of those you have wronged or misjudged
often come before your mind like accusing
witnesses to disturb your peace? Do you
seize an unwholesome novel or seek un-
worthy excitement to drive away such con-
demning thoughts ? There is a better way.
Confess your sins to God in repentance, tell
Him you will do differently henceforth.
Tell or write the person or persons whom
you have wronged, and lo ! if told in repent-
ance, the accusing sorrow will leave your
life, and Christ will be a hiding and resting
place more precious to you than a novel or
excitement, although these, when good and
wholesome, have their places in life.
Ah I if you want to get away from your-
GETTING RELIGION 25
self, get away from yourself in Christ, — not
in unwholesomeness. The Christ exchange
is the best bargain.
If you get religion, God and Christ and
the Holy Ghost will make something out of
you, ordinary one ! What do you amount
to, without God? Great one, you don't
amount to much now, pc-haps, in God's
sight, but Christ will make something out of
you, — something worth being; you will
amount to something then.
In Boston, the other day, I entered a store
to buy a picture of Longfellow's home. The
little old maid that sold the picture had
neither health, nor beauty, nor abundance,
nor height, nor fine clothing, nor jewels to
make her appear better ; yet she had an
appearance which commanded respect and
reverence. She had Christ in her eye, God
was apparent in her very presence, just as
Virgil used to say of Juno, " The goddess
was apparent by her walk."
This little woman I saw amounted to
something, was a power for good in the
world, and had a source of happiness to her-
self and to others; yet of herself, without
religion, you would have passed her by un-
26 THE BEST WAY
noticed, or bought the picture scarcely real-
izing she was there. I thought to myself,
"Well, God has made something out of
you, surely."
Friends, let God make something out of
us. Getting religion does it.
"Many arc called, but few are chosen,"
makes you stumble; you think you are
not called and are discouraged. But listen :
the explanation of this is that we are all
called to do the will of God, but, as we see
plainly enough, comparatively few meet the
requirements and complete their obedience
to the words of Christ. It is not that God
is partial to a few and selects them, but it
is that few prove themselves worthy to be
chosen, and so are chosen. We all have an
equal chance.
As an illustration, consider the exhibit of
the Royal Academy in London. Many
artists paint pictures and exhibit their abili-
ties, but comparatively few out of the num-
ber receive the prizes.
Blame not God, but arise to the work,
knowing that He will help the helpless, that
the poor in spirit are blessed, and that He is
not willing that one should be lost.
GETTING RELIGION 27
A man takes hold of the handles of an
electric battery and receives a shock into his
hands and arms; he cannot see it, yet he
feels it.
So the soul has feeling: when it receives
hope from God, when it receives divine for-
giveness in return for repentance and faith,
the soul feels the power and facts of hope
and forgiveness. A man cannot see it, but
he can feel it. It is as real as the battery
shock.
A man standing by the battery who had
not tried it might say, " You did not receive
any shock." So a man who knew not the
power of God to save and who had never
tried it, might say, " You have not received
salvation. It is all fancy. You have not
become reconciled to God. You do not
feel your sins are forgiven."
Yet both experiences were real and true.
Comrade, I speak to your soul ! I do not
come to condemn you, but to bring you
good news, glad tidings of great joy; that
there is a present power in the world, aye,
right by your side, which if you invoke will
put your sins far away from you and leave
peace and salvation in their stead. That
28 THE BEST WAY
power is the mercy of God through Christ
unto divine forgiveness. I come not to con-
demn you, but to tell you that there is only
a door between you and eternal life, and that
I know where the key is, and I have come to
tell you so you can go and get it and enter
in. The door is Christ, and the key is repent-
ance.
Be sorry for your sins ; resolve you will,
with God's help, leave them and follow His
way, that you may be blessed; and your
mourning shall turn to joy, your night to
day, and despondency to hope ! Turn ye,
turn ye, why will ye die ?
There is right by your side a power to
take away your sins, be they great or be they
small.
Is there any truth in the Bible ?
Is it a fact, this immortality of the soul ?
Is there a Heaven and a Hell ?
The oldest books in the world say so.
These books explain creation, foretell
what will be the outcome of the future, the
end of the world, and give such an accurate
picture of man that we see in it ourselves,
and wonder !
But stay. Is this terrible uncertainty of
GETTING RELIGION 29
the future for our own selves to be solved *?
Yes, religion solves it, through Christ. That
solution of uncertainty alone is worth attend-
ing to the demands of God and His com-
mands.
One wonderful thing about getting the
religion of Christ is that it solves the prob-
lem of eternity. There comes at times to
every man's mind a wondering about the
next world, whether there is any existence
after death, or if death is the end. If we
believe in Christ and seek to do His words,
this curiosity is satisfied, and we know to our
satisfaction that there is an existence after
death and that we cannot escape it any more
than we can escape death. When we have
reached that stage in faith, then we are ac-
tively concerned to see if we can cultivate
ourselves for Heaven, that we may surely
escape Hell.
Our home above is bright and fair.
The angels now are singing there.
And through the clear translucent air
The praise of God sounds everywhere.
Blessed religion ! by it we know how to
steer our course in everyday life, it helps us
to rise above temptations, it keeps us out of
30 THE BEST WAY
countless quarrels and troubles, it bids us not
to judge others and so keep peace, it bids us
not to take anything that does not belong to
us, which would make us poorer instead of
richer. Blessed religion ! It is divine help
to human helplessness. It is divine foresight
to guide human shortsightedness.
Have you got religion?
CAN A MAN KNOW GOD?
CAN A MAN KNOW GOD?
Can a man know God ? Yes, a man can
know God provided he tries to find Him
and does the preliminary work and study
required. By study I mean the appHcation
to his task which is necessary. He must
obey the words of Christ out of a heart made
wilhngly and longingly obedient through
fear of God and love of God, after being
very sorry for sins committed, to that extent
that he resolutely determines that he will sin
no more. The Bible becomes his text-book.
Can a man get a degree of doctor of phi-
losophy at Harvard University ? Yes, if he
pursues the curriculum laid down and ap-
plies himself to the task and so strives that
he is able to pass the examinations.
So, in knowing God, a man has to pass ex-
aminations before he gets his degree. God's
Spirit will in love seek to see if he knows
how to forgive his enemy and so does ; His
Spirit or God Himself will in love observe
34 THE BEST WAY
how he stands on points of purity, unselfish-
ness, long-suffering, and humility. If he can
pass the examination and is not found want-
ing, lo, he gets his degree as one who knows
God.
The man who took his degree of doctor
of philosophy at Harvard looks back to the
days of his primer and finds the alphabet and
multiplication table were as fundamentally
necessary to his high learning as were eventu-
ally the classics and logarithms. So, in the
pursuit of a knowledge of God, the simple
faith of a little child is as fundamentally re-
quisite as is an understanding of regeneration
and justification by faith.
He who begins to seek to acquire a full
knowledge of God should not despise the
day of small things, and should not forget
that in mastering one little fault he perhaps
strengthens the one weak stone in his founda-
tion ; the overcoming of that little fault may
be the sine qua non of his success in finding
God. Can one be bright in logarithms who
stumbles in arithmetic *? Ah, this point is a
place where many a one stumbles.
Another stumbling point with some is this.
One says, " How can I be sorry for sins when
CAN A MAN KNOW GOD? 35
my life has been good *? I have been pure
and honest." Has your heart been always
so good ? God says, " Give me thy hearty
He also says, "As a man thinketh in his
heart, so is he." Have you always been for-
giving, unresentful, pure, unselfish, full of
faith in Christ, and very humble in your
heart? Do you not need a new heart?
When we are told to follow Christ, it means
we are to be Christlike. Ah, now we see we
have all committed sin and can indeed be
desperately sorry for having done wrong,
realize that we need a new heart, and can cry
out of a sincere heart, " What must I do to
be saved?" If you had been differently
born, you might have been a greater sinner.
But something more than a determination
to lead a new life is necessary. For what
shall we do with the sins of the past which
come up in our memory to accuse and con-
demn us ? Ah, we need a Saviour tor those
sins, we need salvation and forgiveness be-
fore we can go on to a further knowledge of
God. This forgiveness Christ supplies; if
we believe in Him and sincerely pray for
forgiveness, He will do as we ask and put
our sins of the past away from us as far as
36 THE BEST WAY
Boston is from Los Angeles : we shall also
be satisfied that we are forgiven.
A determination to lead a new life with-
out getting our sins forgiven is not enough.
It will prevent us getting our degree which
will admit us to the higher education of
Heaven. We must have our past forgiven.
Otherwise it would be like the oft used simile
of a man who owed a debt to his grocer.
He made up his mind he would stop buy-
ing on credit and would pay his bills as he
went along. So he went to the grocer and
said, " Here, sir, I want to pay for these goods
I bought to-day, and hereafter I mean to pay
each time I buy. I have repented of my
slipshod way of doing business and we will
start on a new basis from this day." And he
turned to go out the door and leave the store.
But the grocer called out to him, " Say, hold
on, how about that old debt you owe me ?
You have not paid that ! "
Ah, there is the trouble ! Before we can
advance to a knowledge of God we must
get our debt of sin paid. Before we can get
further credit from God we must settle with
Him first. " Christ paid the debt and set us
free." Oh, get Christ so you can be free.
CAN A MAN KNOW GOD? 37
" Whoever cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out," saith the Saviour.
Some there are who seek to smother and
to press down out of sight and remembrance
certain wrongs they have done, and seek to
build upon such a foundation a complete
Christian character. They do not succeed
very well, because their foundation has a flaw
in it; they are a little false because their
foundation is a little false, in that they have
not been duly forgiven nor have they con-
fessed to those they have wronged. They
should undo the wrong done by confessing
to God and to those they have wronged.
Then their foundation would be true and
they would be complete.
Such a one seeks to get away from him-
self or herself Ah ! that is impossible : but
by repentance, confession, and forgiveness
divine we can get ourselves right so that we
will not want to get away from ourselves.
Oh, seek not to get away from yourself in
the depths of a sin-stained novel ; when the
book is ended, lo ! you yourself are there.
Seek rather to lose yourself in the service of
God, and then God will dwell in you, and
you will love yourself and your own com-
pany.
38 THE BEST WAY
To advance in a knowledge of God we
must be fully satisfied about our past and
our future ; then if our present is in harmony
with God and His laws, the past and future
do not scare us.
Almost all men believe in a Hell, or
rather they fear what Eternity may hold ; but
knowing God well takes away that fear of
Eternity.
In the Hawaiian Islands is a great cliff
called the Pali; on the tableland of which
this cliff is the edge there was once a fierce
battle. One army drove another over the
cliff, and a multitude fell to their death over
the steep precipice. For a generation peo-
ple used to go out there to the base of the
cliff to see the great pile of bleached human
bones that bore witness to the awful fight.
Now in Santa Monica there is a high bluff,
and very steep. I have often seen despond-
ent people sitting near the edge of this cliff,
and I would sometimes ask myself what it
was that kept these people from just falling
oflf that bluff and kiUing themselves ? Why
was it that there was not a pile of human
bones at its base just as there was beneath
the Pali ? Ah, I knew it was the dread of
CAN A MAN KNOW GOD? 39
Hell. Walking one day along the bluff
with a man, I asked him the same question ;
his reply was, " It is the fear of Eternity."
But, blessed be God, Christ and a know-
ledge of God takes away the fear of Eternity,
and in its place puts a love for and a confi-
dence in our long home.
That is one reason why it is good to know
God.
Some one says, " Oh, it is too much trouble,
this knowing God for yourself" Do not
deceive yourself Is it too much trouble to
step off the track upon the approach of an
express train? Is it too much trouble to
put on a life preserver when the ship is sink-
ing *? And those precautions are to save you
only for the few remaining years on earth.
Christ is the life preserver forever. And He
saves you against trouble and sorrow here all
your life as well as against eternal Hell.
Sometimes we think it too much trouble
to pray. A father said to his son, " Did you
say your prayers, son *? " " No, father, but I
was just going to."
There was a certain youth seventeen years
old who had a rifle. Two younger lads
looked up to him with great admiration.
40 THE BEST WAY
He was their hero. So they were kind to
him and did what he said, and cultivated him
in order that he would take them hunting.
It was not so much their duty to be kind to
him as it was to their interest; it was a priv-
ilege to go hunting, so it was a privilege to
cultivate him.
So, also, we should be kind towards God
and do what He says, and give Him praise
and prayer and cultivate His way, that we
may enjoy the blessings He alone has to
give. We should not look at it so much as
a duty, but rather as a privilege.
Another youth with a rifle could be found,
but there is only one God to know and to
reward us.
"Too much trouble to know God?"
" Too much trouble ? " when knowing Him
takes away the fear of Hell and saves you
from the eternal fires thereof? Away with
the words !
Good versus Evil. It is the present battle.
You have to take one side or the other.
There is no middle ground. You must de-
cide to serve God and to know Him, or else
you will drift, drift, drift, into the seas of
Satan, and get so near him you will know
CAN A MAN KNOW GOD? 41
him^ and drift about so constantly that you
will become waterlogged in sin and sink into
the eternal depths. Oh, turn I
Will it pay to know God? Yes.
Why am I here to reach your hearts
to-day *? For my health *? No. For money *?
No. For praise ? No ; because if you gave
it to me I would not keep it. Many years
ago I gave my heart to God. And I told
Him that whatever I did for Him, or accom-
plished through the power of the Holy Ghost,
I would take no glory for myself. So when
I receive cheques of praise or applause, I
endorse them over to Him and He pays me
a commission of peace in the soul. And I
am well paid, and oh, so well satisfied. It
is amply sufficient.
But why am I here ? Because it is my
duty. Because having been delivered from
the fear of death, and having come to know
God for myself, I come to bring the good
tidings of great joy to others, that they may
find the same blessings and know God for
themselves. Would I be right to be silent?
To know God we must get near Him,
near His heart : by doing His Son's words
we can get near Him. They are not so
42 THE BEST WAY
many but that we can learn them. Once in
a meeting, after a testimony by a Mr. Hem-
ingway, who to my great delight had recently
given his heart to God, I asked for the sing-
ing of the best hymn in the book. " Nearer
my God to Thee " was proposed and sung.
Yes, that is the best way to know God, —
get nearer and nearer to Him.
If we know God, God will make Himself
known to us. We can understand His mind
in large measure. We can realize to our
satisfaction that He speaks to us in "the
still, small voice," that best symbol of humil-
ity, as it has been said. We can be satisfied
in our own consciousness that He is lead-
ing us. We can be conscious o{ xh.2X.fact.
If we know God, we know we are heirs to
a great inheritance, that we have a mansion
in the skies, that everything works to our
good under a divine Master's foresight, and
that angels encamp around us to protect us
from harm.
If we know God, we are kept out of trou-
bles so dreadful that this fact alone is worth
our best endeavor to find Him.
A hundred years ago the preacher used to
ask, " Have you the witness of the Spirit that
CAN A MAN KNOW GOD?
43
you are a child of God?" If some one
said " No," the reply was, " Then you are
a child of the devil." That was wrong,
because there are those who are servants of
God, without being children of God. There
are those who believe in Christ enough to
keep them from committing great sins, who
are not yet sufficiently advanced in their edu-
cation, their growth in grace, to put them
in the advanced class of the beauty of holi-
ness, to get akin to Christ. Oh ! why do so
much without getting full wages, which you
could secure if you only did a little more ?
The wages God gives are righteously com-
parative, and methinks they increase in great
jumps the nearer we get to the glory of
complete obedience, to the sacred place
where every thought is brought into cap-
tivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ.
But lest we seem to assume too much, let
us see whether in the olden time there were
those who knew God, and that He was.
Listen unto Job : " I know that my Re-
deemer liveth."
And unto God through David : " Be still
and know that I am God."
And unto God through Jeremiah : " Was
44 THE BEST WAY
not this to know me ? saith the Lord." And
again from the same sources : " For they
shall all know me, from the least of them
unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord."
See also Hebrews viii. 1 1 .
Listen unto God through Hosea : " Thou
shalt know the Lord."
Listen unto Paul : " I know whom I have
believed."
Listen unto John : " We know that we
know Him," etc.
But while remembering these evidences
let us not forget that, as Paul says, " I know
nothing by myself" That is, things that
were once incomprehensible to our minds,
now by the power of the attained presence
of the Holy Spirit become knowable.
Says one, " If you know Him, why don't
I"?" Because you have not the Holy
Ghost.
And we need not stop with Paul. Each
century has its heroes of the faith who knew
God, great men and unknown men, down
from Paul, down, down, down to the doors
of our time and verily into the witnessing
voices of many now alive. Hallelujah I
Amen ! To the end of time I
CAN A MAN KNOW GOD? 45
Let us realize the goodness of the great-
ness of peace with God, which comes from
knowing Him. Let us be largely content
with such knowledge. Let us not entirely
give up our lives to nervously seeking to
obtain many things that strangle the spirit.
If the " many things " are to be ours from
God they will come to us, not in nervousness,
but in calmness. Oh yes ! in contentment
there is great gain. It is a ten per cent, pro-
position, net ; nay, it is sin to make it so
small : rather a hundred fold is right, so great
is the gain in contentment.
When we consider how vitally near we
are to God, whether we admit it or not, it
stands us in good stead to know God well.
The ancient Greeks thought it the height
of wisdom to " know thyself," yet if we know
not God we cannot know ourselves ; for it
is written, " In Him we live and move and
have our being." It was the breath of God
that made clay Adam a living soul.
Now since it is so important for a human
being to know God, in order to make his
life a success and his death a success, let us
consider how a man can know God.
46 THE BEST WAY
This is the way : take the New Testa-
ment, go into your room and lock the door
against interruption. Read the words of
Christ, what Jesus said ; then do them, each
one, and skip none. Mary said at the mar-
riage at Cana, " Whatsoever He saith unto
you, do it" Let her words also lead you.
If you cannot do everything Christ says the
first day, then do it the second, or keep prac-
tising at your task until you do. Then you
will gradually get religion; and, wearing it
in gradually, it will stay in.
Go into your private room and shut the
door. Do you do it ? Do you do whatso-
ever Christ says ? " No," some one says.
Then do not complain of a lack of grace,
or peace, or power, or a knowledge of God.
If we pray in secret, God rewards us openly.
When you try to do the words of Christ
and seem to lack enthusiasm or interest, it is
because you do not call to your mind your
past or present sins, and fail to remember the
pit from whence you were dug, no matter
how shallow or how deep that pit was.
Paul, it seems to us, always was a rare good
man, yet he calls himself the chief of sinners.
When you try to do the words of Christ,
CAN A MAN KNOW GOD? 47
remember He means just what He says.
There are two dangers here. One is to over-
estimate them, another to «»<^<?restimate
them.
For instance, a man with a family of chil-
dren might read the words, " Lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon earth," and might
give all his money away ; and when his chil-
dren needed it to help learn a trade or secure
an education, or perhaps to bury their father,
they would have none and it might have to
be done at the public expense. Now the
mistake such a man would make is this :
forgetting to notice the little words, " for
thyself" If he should keep money for right-
eous purposes it would not be for himself,
but for others and for right. God will reveal
to him how much he ought to give to God.
Indeed, it is always best to ask help of
those who are able to teach when we are
learning the meaning of the words of Christ.
Another way a man may a«d'<?restimate
the words of Christ is this : I used to know
a man who said, " When Christ commanded
us to love our enemies and be pure in our
heart as well as in our acts, of course He
did not mean that we could really love our
48 THE BEST WAY
enemies, but rather do them no harm ; and
by keeping our minds pure He rather meant
that we should not do anything impure."
Oh, comrade ! do not stumble on such
sad ideas of the holy Christ and on your own
capacity through the power of God's Spirit
indwelling in you and not yet fully resur-
rected from the dross of sin or neglect.
Christ means for us to have our affections so
pure that we indeed become pure in heart.
He means for our natural selves to be so
supernaturally changed that we become full
of love divine and can love our enemies.
But know this, that love is comparative ; we
cannot love a person naturally disagreeable
to us with the same love whereby we love
God or Christ, or our wife or children, or
those with whom we blend naturally, but we
can love such a person with a deep love, and
with a feeling that is love and nothing but
love. This we can do, not of ourselves, but
when the Holy Spirit dwells in us and con-
trols us. " In God we live and move and
have our being." Perhaps Christ loves best
the wickedest in His desire to save them.
When you find you have hard work to
love your enemy, go by yourself and on your
CAN A MAN KNOW GOD? 49
knees pray God for power so to do. If you
are sincere and mean what you say, the power
will come. If you cannot go by yourself,
pray where you are : the power will come.
You will be able.
i\gain, if you have hard work to be real
sorry for sin and are rather cold toward God,
begin at once to be alarmed and pray for
forgiveness, and ask Him for the presence of
the Holy Spirit that you may be convicted
anew of your sins and feel truly repentant,
truly sorry. Then the ability to be sorry
will come, if you mean what you say and are
in real earnest. Then God will reveal Him-
self to you.
When we call ourselves men and women
we often forget we are immortal spirits, des-
tined to live in either one of two places.
If we know God, we know we shall go to
Him if we are faithful to the end.
To continue to know God we should con-
tinue to praise Him. It is natural we should
be so grateful. "Worship and praise to Him
belong." Even the Hindoos have a proverb,
" Ingratitude is an unpardonable crime."
There was a certain man swimming in the
surf; suddenly a cramp came upon him and
50 THE BEST WAY
he was helpless. He called for aid, and a
strong-armed man braved the billows and
rescued him. The saved man was brought
ashore, was restored, and went up town into
the streets, and told his friends he had been
almost drowned, but did not mention, the
fact of his having been saved or name his
rescuer from the seas.
What do you think of such an ingrate as
that?
Ah, when we are saved from the surf of
sin, let us tell others how we were saved and
who saved us. Confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus.
It is a necessary way to get to know God.
Where would you be to-day if no one had
told you about the Saviour *?
You remember when Paul was in Athens
he was on Mars Hill, and as he was preach-
ing to the people he told them he saw an
altar in their city with these words, " To the
Unknown God." Paul told them that they
were too superstitious, and then he went on
to tell them about the God he knew, — their
Father in Heaven as well as his. The God
of Paul is the same God I have sought to
declare unto you.
CAN A MAN KNOW GOD? 51
It is noble to be pure.
It is right to be honest.
It is necessary to be temperate.
It is wise to be industrious.
But to know God through Christ is best
of all.
I have sought to plead my case. You are
the jury. I have been but a poor lawyer
for God, it may be ; but I have such confi-
dence in the merits of my case that I rest it
here. It is for you to give the verdict.
Can a man know God ?
THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS
THE BEGINNING OF
WISDOM
THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE
BEGINNING OF WISDOM
A LONG time ago, a certain pastor of the
Park Street Church of Boston, the old "Brim-
stone Corner " church, as the worldly called
it, because the whole truth was preached
there, gave it as his opinion that he would
have had more success in his ministry if he
had preached much more of the love of God
than of the wrath of God. Perhaps ; but I
think not.
At all events, perhaps following the said
pastor's lead, the many years since have seen
a great number of pulpits emphasizing the
love of God and forgetting to emphasize the
just wrath of God for His broken laws.
It is true that God's love is almost bound-
less, yet it is limited in that if we disobey
His commandments, penalties follow. This
proves His own proclamation that He is a
jealous God, jealous of the obedience to His
laws, and that He will punish those who
break them.
56 THE BEST WAY
The fact is, the fear of God and the love
of God should be interlinked in all presenta-
tions of divine law and truth.
It seems to me that the aforesaid pastor's
preferred system of presenting divine truth
from the pulpit has had somewhat to do with
the great lack of respect for authority in this
country.
There is only one way to get away from
the need of the fear of the Lord, and that is,
to have perfect love for Him. " Perfect love
casteth out fear." But the fear of God's
wrath precedes the beginning of the wisdom
of perfect love for Him, Daniel Webster
said the " fear of Heaven expels all other
fear." How true ! The nation or individual
who fears God is fearless, since wisdom then
begins, and men and nations know that God
is with them that fear Him.
We often see hanging on the walls of our
homes an embroidered inscription framed,
" God is Love." Did you think God is only
love, and has no just wrath; though, to be
sure, that is the result of love for our wel-
fare ? Ah, if you did, you don't know Him
as He is, for He is a jealous God and a God
of wrath when His laws are broken, — but
THE FEAR OF THE LORD 57
for our sake. Ah, you may well fear Him.
Look at the children born in sin and inno-
cently growing up in sin. See that young
man paralyzed, the result of sin, of God's law
insulted. See the penalty. Are you not
afraid of sin?
I think I can thus illustrate the love and
wrath of God contrasted : —
Some men were talking about their em-
ployer. One of the men had just come to
work on the ranch ; it was he who was in-
quiring about the employer.
" What kind of man is he ? " said he.
One replied, " He is a good man and kind,
but he means business. If you 'soldier'
under him he will warn you and tell you he
expects every man to do his duty; but if
you ' soldier ' again he will fire you."
God will permit innocent children to suf-
fer by the laws of heredity, visiting the in-
iquity of the parents on the children to the
third and fourth generation of them that hate
Him.
*' He does that, you say ? "
" Yes," I say, " he does."
" Well," a man says, " if God will do that
58 THE BEST WAY
I will not give my heart to such a God as
that ; " and another says, " No personal God
could do that."
Ah, but I tell you He does and is ; and is
worthy of the gift of our hearts and their
adoration.
Was not your father worthy of your love,
and yet he whipped you ? — fortunately for
you he did not spare the rod and spoil you.
You are under God's laws whether you
will or not. You are born on this earth,
which is His footstool. It matters not what
your opinion is; but it matters everything
to you whether you so live as to profit by
obedience to God's laws. Just as you ar-
range your life to profit by obedience to
certain laws of nature, so you should arrange
your spiritual life, and moral life, to profit
by obedience to God's laws through Christ.
When it is cold, you build a fire : you
don't sit and freeze. It would do no good
to say, " Oh, God would not freeze me to
death. He is too good."
Ah, we have to acknowledge God's laws.
It is our only hope, our only safety.
If it was all right to permit impurity in
any form, or promiscuous copulation, why
THE FEAR OF THE LORD 59
does disease follow therefrom *? Especially,
when in the marriage relation no disease
results, if both have been pure.
The world is in a sad condition. The
sins of the parents have been visited upon
their children's children, and these sins have
been increased in their bad effects by the
sins of the children themselves ; so that the
curses of disobedience gather upon the sons
of men in an aggravated arithmetical ratio.
Alas I the burden is so heavy upon us tliat
our only hope lies in the Burden-bearer,
Christ; for Him to get under the burden
and lift it off us, as He will do, if we ask
Him aright.
Remember, too, that though God warns
us that our sins will descend to our pos-
terity, and though we suffer from the sins of
our predecessors, yet God expressly says He
will show mercy to those who love Him and
keep His commandments. Our hope, then,
lies in His mercy and in our determination
to obey Him and to follow the words of
Christ.
Alas, O man ! Ancestral sins in your blood
perhaps augmented by your own sins !
If God is so jealous of His rights and of
6o THE BEST WAY
His laws as to permit an innocent babe to
be born of consumptive parents and live a
life burdened with disease, and to continue
that punishment sometimes to the third and
fourth generation, then I say He is a God
to be feared, — whose displeasure is to be
feared until you obtain and maintain that
perfect love which casts out fear.
And furthermore, if God permits a life-
time of physical suffering as a penalty for
disobedience to be inherited by the innocent,
then I find it reasonable for my soul to be-
lieve that Eternal Hell after death is a fact
unto those who die in revolt and disobedi-
ence against Him.
come and make your peace with God :
though He is a jealous God, yet He is full
of love, and of great mercy to those who seek
to please Him.
1 have not come to condemn you, but to
condemn sin ; I come to bring good news,
to give you hope, to declare salvation is
free !
Don't you want to be free *? God wants
to forgive. Why hold back ? God needs
you ! What can you say to Him *? He
will deny you nothing that is for your good !
THE FEAR OF THE LORD 6i
For each nickel you give Him, He will give
you a twenty dollar goldpiece. For the
old bone he takes away from you, He will
give you roast turkey.
Ah ! has not Satan given you a drug to
put you to sleep so you can't hear Jesus call-
ing ? Wake up I Wake up ! or the insidious
medicine will work and it will be too late.
Get Christ between you and the wrath of
God.
God said in the first dispensation, " I am
a jealous God and punish sin."
Christ said in the second dispensation
those awful words, " With what measure ye
mete, it shall be measured to you."
What prevents or hinders our getting and
keeping this fear of God which is the begin-
ning of wisdom? Three things occur to
my mind as so acting.
First, people hear the way to God preached
and believe it, but when it comes to accept-
ing the conditions necessary, they hold back ;
especially as to confession. Moody says he
never knew any man to be converted till he
confessed. When a man sees his sin as it is
revealed in the light of Christ's teachings and
hears the instruction that he should confess
62 THE BEST WAY
his sins to God and to those he has wronged,
if any, he instinctively knows that he should
do so. But sometimes Satan whispers, " Don't
confess ; what would the world say if you
turned to be a Christian, and how humiliating
to ask a man to forgive you for what you
have done." Satan always proposes the op-
posite that God does : so did he to Eve.
Under such darts from Satan's mind con-
fession seems as difficult a task as the lift-
ing of a big rock. But it is not when you
try.
It reminds me of a large pumice rock I
have which was brought from the Colorado
Desert. It is a large rock, and to look at it
you would think it would take a strong man
to lift it from the floor, but in reality it is so
light a man can hold it above his head with
one hand.
Sometimes when a stranger comes to my
office, a stranger to the rock I mean, I ask
him if he is feeling strong to-day, and if he
could lift that rock. He accepts the chal-
lenge, and pulling up his sleeves stoops over,
and, expecting the rock to require a mighty
effort, is chagrined to find the rock almost as
light as a feather.
THE FEAR OF THE LORD 63
Believe me, it is somewhat so with con-
fession. After you have made up your
mind to confess, it is not hard.
Another hindrance to the beginning of
wisdom is that people are building high
fences between them and Heaven, one line of
fence after another between them and God,
until some build five, some ten, and some
more : and by and by, when they come to
die, they will want to run to Heaven, but
there are the fences I Some they can climb,
but their strength is almost always insuffi-
cient to hold out, and they fall down ex-
hausted ; they perish, and their eternity is
out of Heaven, where Hell is.
Some of these fences are impurity, unbe-
lief. Sabbath desecration, deceit, selfishness,
dishonesty, cruelty, and worldliness. Others
have names you well know.
Oh ! I call on you to-day to stop building
fences between you and Heaven. They will
likely keep you out, unless you change.
Turn, won't you *? Repent, and God will
cause those high fences to fall, so that your
view of Heaven may be unobstructed.
Many are daily being deceived by de-
ceptions worse than the gold-brick swindle.
64 THE BEST WAY
Many are swapping off the way to holiness
for the way to silUness. Oh, halt I I call you
back ! Come back to-night !
If we would avoid a way which is contrary
to wisdom, let us ever remember to avoid
collision with disagreeable circumstances:
they will come, but steer out of their way.
When you see a boat bearing down upon
you, do you not change your course to avoid
collision? Once I was driving with my
family, and as we turned a corner in the road,
behold ! a runaway team was coming straight
for us. I had just time to turn my horses
out when the runaways dashed past.
So when disagreeable things come, turn
out for them and avoid collision. Meet them
with a smile inside, if not out. This is the
key to joy. As Christ says, "Agree with
thine adversary." Often silence is golden.
Bridle your tongue, and with a Spanish bit.
Do not talk back. It takes two to make a
quarrel. A soft answer turneth away wrath.
It is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong.
It is said that in the management and
training of children it is wise to avoid having
a direct breach.
THE FEAR OF THE LORD 65
My heart goes out to-day for those who
are beginning the battle of hfe. To such I
come to-day to tell them that lived religion
brings prosperity.
Satan will tell you another story, as he told
Eve in the Garden of Eden. But don't
believe him. If it is not wrong to be im-
pure, why should there be any physical pen-
alty after impurity *?
" There is a way which seemeth right unto
a man, but the end thereof are the ways of
death."
Oh, here let me tell you a great counsel,
a valuable bit of advice from the Book of
Ages, to wit ; Make a covenant with your
eyes not to look upon one of the other sex
in an unchristian way. If you practise that,
you will bless the day you began to do so.
" Do I want to do this, or don't I want to
do this ■? Will I pay this price of piety and
get the reward, or will I not pay and have
the license which leads to Hell *? Which
do I want. Heaven or Hell ? "
Such is the soliloquy each youth has to
solve. Oh, solve it right, won't you !
In the strength of your youth Satan tempts
you to think, " What do I want ? "
66 THE BEST WAY
Instead, I beg you to think, " What does
God want of me ^ " Ah, the Master needs
you ; won't you come to His help in the
battle against sin now going on *?
There is reason in God's laws for you : it
is a reasonable service.
Pray do not let Satan mislead you and
cheat you to believe in a lie. Remember
the penalties of sin, and beware.
Satan will dazzle you if you do not look
out. As a May bee flies about a candlelight,
attracted by the light, dazed by the glare, in-
toxicated by the glamour, he flies nearer and
nearer until he burns his wings and falls
disabled on the table. Hundreds of young
people to-night are flying about the dazzling,
attractive glare of sin : to-morrow they will
lie disabled by the poison of sin.
Ah, the better way is to know the danger
of disobedience and the penalties of sin, and
keep away from it. Make a covenant with
your eyes and bridle your tongue lest it
speak evil : also bring every thought into
captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ,
and you will win.
When in Christ, in the secret of His pre-
sence, in the fortress of His care, it seems as
THE FEAR OF THE LORD 67
it does when, in a mosquito district, you sit
at twilight by an open window, at peace
because the screen in your window keeps
the mosquitos from annoying you : they
can't get at you. But you can hear them
buzzing away outside. So when in the
secret place of the Most High you are safe;
though you can sometimes hear the emis-
saries of Satan, the demons of Hell, whisper-
ing and buzzing their insinuations of sin,
they can't get at you through the screen of
Christ.
Yes, we had better take time to be holy,
to talk more to God, to commune more
with Christ. Prayer is the price of peace.
" I don't pray, I 'm so busy," says one.
Then you will run into trouble. Sure I
Oh, youth, be careful of every step you
take ! A short time ago in Los Angeles, the
morning paper bore the headline : —
" ONE STEP SAVED HIM."
Then it told about a judge who went to
his door at night to answer the door-bell.
As he opened it, a man fired a revolver, but
68 THE BEST WAY
as he did so, the judge stepped one step and
the bullet missed its mark.
One step toward God or toward Satan
may save or ruin you.
When you are tempted, say to yourself,
" Is it right *? " If the answer comes " No,"
then it should really be no temptation. If
it is not right it will bring no blessing.
God does not want you to be lost. " As I
live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure
in the death of the wicked."
Are you keeping correct time towards
God*? Are you doing right in all your
ways? In a watch all the little wheels have
to be adjusted just right in order to have the
watch fulfil its purpose : It is so in our
spiritual life.
Are you " on time " in your obligations to
God ? If we are not, then we fail to be of
best use.
" Alas, I don't tell time right," says some
one.
Oh, to-day let us go to the great Watch-
maker and give ourselves into His hands
and be repaired, so that we can be fit for the
Master's use.
THE FEAR OF THE LORD 69
O ye daughters of Zion, clothed gloriously
(as I would like to see every one, in good
taste), God means the heart and soul to be
arrayed in righteousness. We might be
clothed in the finest of linen, yet that might
cover a heart as coarse as crash.
When we look in the mirror to behold
our God-given beauty, let us glance first in
the looking-glass of Heaven, to see how our
soul looks, and remember the beauty of
holiness.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom. God's penalties are sure, — some-
times swift, sometimes slow, but always sure.
What is the use talking about the injustice
of God, unbeliever? When you are cold
in winter, do you stop to talk about the in-
justice of the thermometer'? No indeed;
you go and put on your overcoat.
If you believe the wrath of God is too
severe, quit talking about it, get under the
shadow of His wings : put on your over-
coat. Pray to God to reveal Himself to
you, and keep on praying until you are de-
livered from doubts.
Then the peace which passeth understand-
ing will come into your life, like an orchestra
70 THE BEST WAY
of Heaven playing harmonious strains of
silent music, to give you peace and courage.
Get under the protection of God, and the
strength of Heaven will be on your side,
against which nothing can prevail. Then
the forces of Heaven, the artillery, the in-
fantry, and the cavalry, even the Father, Son,
and the Holy Ghost, will be for you. You
will thus have the law, the truth, and grace
to work for you, and you will win I
TRUSTING GOD
TRUSTING GOD
A NEW year stretches out before us ; the
road goes over mountains and down into
valleys. We shall be on the heights of joy,
but will also travel into the depressions, yet
these, if accepted aright, can be made level
with the heights. " Ah ! if thou didst but
know the joy of an accepted sorrow."
As we stand on the threshold of a new
year it is important that we give considera-
tion to our trust in God, because during the
year to come, if we trust in Him, we shall
have a good year, a year of peace and joy
and success. If we trust Him not, a year of
oppressing disasters will befal us, or worse
yet, we may be so forgotten of God as to be
permitted to go right along in our own way,
without hope in Christ, and be unchastised
of God to bring us to a stop in our mad
career.
But before we seek an explanation of what
trusting God is, let us consider some things
74 THE BEST WAY
that ought to be clear to our redeemed
mmds.
First, then, the atonement. Many there
are who do not have an intellectual concep-
tion of what the atonement is. With such,
combined with a spiritual discernment there-
of, one is helped to have more confidence in
God.
Then listen.
Thousands of years ago God put certain
men at the head of his divine law-giving
church, or permitted such men to be in au-
thority over the people in spiritual matters.
Melchizedek was the first priest of God, of
record. Now God ordained through His
said priests that a man must make sacrifices
for sins he committed, it being understood
that he must also, of course, be sorry. And
so it was the church law, that for certain sins
committed certain animal sacrifices should
be made, doves, lambs, or oxen. This church
law existed for centuries and for very many
generations of people.
But finally, I believe that God saw that
people would make the lamb sacrifices, but
would not be sorry within, and He made a
new dispensation, or law, whereby He Him-
TRUSTING GOD 75
self sacrificed the Lamb of God for all the
sins of the world, and called on men to
prove their sorrow by following the Man of
Sorrows.
To that end He chose His most precious
possession, His only begotten Son, Jesus,
and had Him come to the earth as a little
child and grow up to be about thirty, suffer-
ing as we have suffered and bearing agonies
we have only seen afar off in our experience,
and dying on the cross ; after teaching people
how to repent and be saved, by being sorry
for sin and doing His words, without any
further need of the sacrifice of animal life.
Christ taught that what God wanted more
than the blood of beasts was a contrite heart.
Now do you see what " The blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin"
means ?
As I said, for very many generations peo-
ple had become accustomed to the idea that
some sacrifice was necessary to propitiate
God in addition to repentance. It was in-
bred in their minds. It was an inherited
and re-inherited idea. It was a part of their
very being, a vital factor in their understand-
ing of spiritual things.
76 THE BEST WAY
Recognizing this fact God made the new
Christian dispensation to be able to fit into
the old without friction or hiatus.
Now, atonement means at-one-ment, satis-
fying, harmonizing. So the atonement or
sacrifice of Christ means that Christ was the
sacrifice acceptable to God for all the sins of
the world, and for our sins: and what we
have to do is to prove we are sorry for our
sins by accepting or believing in Christ,
God's sacrifice, and by doing His words,
which are the way and the truth and the
life.
With this understanding of what the atone-
ment means, our minds can be calm to pro-
ceed to trust in God through Christ.
Second, " There is none other name under
Heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved." Now there are some that tremble
at these words because they are not sure they
have Christ. To have Christ is to believe in
Him as the divine Son of God and to do His
words : that is to say, if a man lives in the
Law of Christ, or the Divine Law, he will
be saved. But here we must be very careful
lest we become bigoted, for Jesus says,
TRUSTING GOD 77
" Other sheep have I which are not of this
fold." I believe this means the people that
do the words of Christ without discerning
the whole truth about Him, and without
having any intellectual conception of the
atonement. It may mean more in heathen
lands, but I doubt this.
But what is that to us, since Christ says,
" Preach the Gospel to every creature " ?
Now we come to the third.
"Without holiness no man shall see the
Lord." Ah I this is an awful scripture. How
many times in the past have I stood in fearful
awe of these words, knowing I was not holy !
But let us consider them.
I believe that in the second or moment
in which a man has his heart focused on
God through faith in Christ, he is holy, pro-
viding his heart is constrained by the fear
and love of God into present obedience.
For the devils believe I Bad men believe at
times ! And yet they turn not.
Now, if this said moment or second is
extended by a growth in grace to several
moments, to an hour, to a day, to a year,
to the rest of your life, even unto the door
78 THE BEST WAY
of death, why hoUness is yours, and this text,
" Without hoKness no man shall see the
Lord," need not alarm you.
But if you have not the consistent witness
within that you are holy, wholly His, and if
God's Spirit does not bear witness with your
spirit that you are a child of God, then he
afraid.
Ah! many times would I have hidden
away from God, could I have done so.
Many times would I have put my hands
over my eyes, could I have kept out the all-
seeing eye of God. Sometimes I have been
so miserable and ashamed I could find no
relief save in penitential tears and absolute
contrition in the fear and love of God;
pained because I had not followed Jesus,
but had gone out of the way divine.
This text is the balance of our Christian
life : it is the index of our standing with God.
It is at the same time a sweet assurance and
a sharp warning. It is the alpha and omega
of texts.
With such an introduction, let us now
consider what it means to trust in God.
Before we can trust God we must know
TRUSTING GOD 79
Him, through Christ. " I know in whom I
have believed," joyfully cries Paul.
" I cannot trust Him," says a friend, " I
do not know Him."
How, then, can a man know God? The
answer is very simple. Do Christ's words,
whatever He says to do. As Mary said on
the occasion of the first miracle, " Whatsoever
He saith unto you, do it."
Thus do, and you will come to know
God. Your sincerity will find Him. Christ
will make you acquainted with Him, and if
you keep on doing Christ's words the ac-
quaintance will grow into friendship and
knowledge, and you will be able to under-
stand how Abraham was God's friend. Then
you will be able not only to know God, but
to tell others how to find Him. It is good
to know God.
To be able to trust a man you must know
him ; you must summer and winter him. So
to be able to fully trust God you must know
Him by the law of growth in grace in order
to have full confidence in Him.
It is beautiful to have confidence in God.
It brings contentment. Our past experi-
ences with God are written on the scroll of
8o THE BEST WAY
memory. Unroll the scroll for the good of
the soul ! What saith it *? Thus saith it :
When there was no peace, He gave me
peace ; When there was no joy, He gave me
joy; When there was no hope, He gave
me hope. Again, it saith : As the bed is rest
for the body and music for the mind, so
Thou, O God, art rest for my soul.
Such are the fruits of the experience of
trusting in God.
If we trust a man with money we have
confidence in him that he will return it. We
have confidence in his honesty and ability.
I knew a man who said of his Mexican va-
quero, " I would trust that man to take ten
thousand dollars over the mountains." So
if we trust God, we must have confidence
in Him that He will do as He says. Have
we ? Have we ever put Him to the test ?
Have we ever let Him into our hearts that
we might try His way ^ Have we known
Him long enough to judge of His ways and
laws'?
Now, we cannot trust Him fully unless
we know Him well. We cannot know Him
well unless we obey His commandments and
Christ's words. But listen : if you have
* TRUSTING GOD 8i
heard some man highly spoken of for honor
and abihty, you feel inclined to trust him,
even though you have had no personal deal-
ings with him. So with God and Christ;
you have heard others testify that " He is
able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day."
You have heard others, beside me, testify
of His goodness and mercy. Oh, therefore,
if thou be one who knowest Him not unto
trusting Him, accept Him and entrust unto
Him your heart, your life, your eternity!
He calleth thee. He needeth thee, — the
Master hath need of thee. Turn ye, turn ye,
for why will ye die unsaved?
If we trust a man, he pays us for trusting
him. So God pays us with blessings, if we
trust ourselves to Him and bow our heads
and hearts to His will.
Trust Him with your sorrow, your care,
your pain, your disappointment, your loss,
your distress, your bereavement, your weak-
ness, your temptation, and your future ; trust
Him and lay your trouble down at the feet
of God and do not pick it up again ! Ah,
there is the test of true trust ! Will you pick
it up again or leave it there, believing ?
82 THE BEST WAY
Art thou an invalid ? Thou canst, as did
Paul, rise to the height of glorying in thine
infirmities. God will help thee to rise. Per-
chance infirmities brought thee to God.
Are you trusting God with your future ?
If you are, you can enjoy life as you go
along ; not wait until you have made so
much, till you are married, till you are well,
till you have been elected to office; but en-
joy life now. Get in right relations with
God, so you can.
Very many people are living on the edge
of excitement, living in the future. Worry-
ing about this and that, not trusting God
with this and that. Borrowing trouble, bor-
rowing trouble I What would you do if the
fancied trouble never came ? "I should not
like to pay for all the trouble I have bor-
rowed," said a friend. Such people are mort-
gaging the present, and so lose peace ; they
gain nothing when the future comes, because
they have no nerves left to meet it.
Trust Him with the present; the best way
to show it is to be grateful for His benefits
now. " Count your blessings." Compare
your lot with that of the slum-dwellers.
Trust Him with the past. Divine forgive-
TRUSTING GOD 83
ness can make the past as a white piece of
paper, without condemnations.
In trusting God it is well to remember
one feature of this law divine, and that is that
God overrules things that to our finite minds
seem immutable, helpless and hopeless, into
matters surmounted, overcome, accomplished
and accompanied with hope. To fully com-
prehend the advantage, safety, and security of
trusting God, we should not lose sight of
His overruling power and His willingness to
use that power when He sees it is for our
good.
And remember that He is also able to
take away from us that which might seem to
us to our advantage, because in his greater
wisdom He sees that for us to keep it would
work to our harm.
This principle of overruling works two
ways.
Trusting God means to trust when you
have nothing else to depend on save God.
There are times when neither strength, nor
money, nor friends, nor influence, nor educa-
tion can avail. Then God avails and pre-
vails. When all else fails, faith fails not
84 THE BEST WAY
Trusting God will tell to your credit on
the last day.
See that man with head bent forward,
looking down as he walks. I saw him the
other Sunday in Santa Monica, his head full
of plans, and beating his brains. Doubtless
his plans were all right, but he was not trust-
ing God with them. He was depending
wholly on himself to fulfil them. If he had
taken God into co-partnership he could have
done all his part without so straining his
brain; for faith in God and trust in Him
would ease his thought and lubricate his
plans.
See that woman. Something in the past
disturbs her peace. Her face looks sad and
a great weight of depression hushes her hap-
piness. She did not do as she would be done
by.
Oh ! let us be wise and learn by observa-
tion to do right and trust in God. If it
hurts us to do right, still let us do it.
Have you a lawsuit, friend ? Then trust
it with God. Leave it in His hands. Leave
the outcome with Him. Then your life
^will not be worried out, like a lighted candle
being blown by a draught. But to do this.
TRUSTING GOD 85
a man himself must be in the right. So to
be able to trust to God, a man must be right
himself.
I will tell you something that will help
you to remember to trust in God during the
days to come, to remind you that you have
the privilege of trusting God. Every time
a half dollar comes into or leaves your pos-
session, be reminded of the fact that on that
coin it says " In God we Trust ; " and once
in a while please ask God to remember me
in mercy and blessing.
Have I said enough ^ Are we really trust-
ing God ? Do we grasp the meaning *?
To trust Him means to believe that He
will bring about everything to your best ad-
vantage if you put your case in His hands;
that He will do better for you than you
could do for yourself; that He can make your
life a life of beauty and a joy forever, — to
you and to Him I
Consider this ! It will revolutionize your
life ! Consider this, you who have no earthly
attractions calling you on. Heaven will
make up for it in spiritual gifts ! Consider
this, you who are so lonely ; in God is com- '
panionship. Consider this, you who have all
86 THE BEST WAY
things ; that without confidence in God, you
have nothing.
As for me, I am tired of handling my
own case. Disappointments have made me
come to believe that God can handle it better
for me. I have come to the end of my con-
ceit. " Lean not to thine own understand-
ing" it is written. In the last words of
Christ, " Father, into Thy hands I commit
my spirit," I see hope for you and for me,
and wisdom, and I cry, " O God, into Thy
care I commit my case, my life. I trust
Thee, help Thou my lack of trust."
Let us trust God ! Can we ? Aye, a
thousand times, aye ! Heaven is with us to
strengthen our determination, to reenforce
our resolves, to come to our help and rescue.
Come nigh, angel of the Most High I Help
me to do right so that I can fully trust !
Trusting God is living: not trusting is
slow death.
What will we get if we do not trust
Him?
THE STILL, SMALL VOICE OF
GOD
THE STILL, SMALL VOICE OF
GOD
Read i Kings xix. 1-12, Romans viii. 13-16, John
xvi. 7-14, and Hebrews iv. 12, and Matt, xxvii. 57.
From the creation of the world, the voice
of God has been prominent in great events,
great to the world in general and to indi-
viduals in particular. God said, " Let there
be light," and there was light. Again and
again in the creation He used His voice,
and all Nature obeyed.
Sometimes He would speak from Heaven,
fi-om a cloud, from a mountain, from fire, and
generally through the early centuries or thou-
sands of years related by the Bible He spoke
in a great and mighty voice. Only once in
that period does the record mention His
speaking with a still, small voice. The Old
Testament presages many of the things that
came to pass in the New, and this mention
of the still, small voice in the Old finds its
90 THE BEST WAY
greater fulfilment in the days since Christ,
when the Comforter came.
Now before Christ, God's commands to
men required an outward rather than an in-
ward observance, at least more stress was laid
on the former until after Christ's coming.
Before Christ, outward sin was condemned :
but Christ condemned sinful thoughts even,
unenacted, inward sins.
Before Christ, men had to make animal sac-
rifices for their sins, they had to perform
vows in public; with Christ's personal sacri-
fice, the altar's victims ceased, and the con-
trite heart placed upon the altar Jesus Christ
took their place.
*' Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain
Could give the guilty conscience rest or take away the
stain;
But Christ, the Heavenly lamb, takes all our sin away,
A sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they."
When Christ came, the audible voice of God
was heard at His baptism by the physical
sense of hearing. " This is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased," and again at
the Transfiguration sounded the same great
voice and from a bright cloud came the same
words, with " Hear ye Him " added. But
THE STILL, SMALL VOICE OF GOD 91
after Christ's ascension to Heaven there is
rarely any record, I beUeve, of any audible
voice of God to the physical ear, up to this
our time (though Paul and John heard it) ;
but instead of the audible voice to the ear
there was firmly established by God the still,
small voice of the Spirit, He Himself, which
was audible to the soul and to the conscious-
ness, of which it is written, " The Spirit it-
self beareth witness with our spirit that we
are the children of God." This great gift to
men is the source of assurance of hope in
Heaven, of a conviction that we are born
again and into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now, Adam, Moses, Samuel, Ezekiel,
Daniel, John, Paul, and others heard God's
audible voice. God seems to have chosen
to speak aloud on great occasions, when
great good could be done thereby, or when
He saw it was needed, perhaps : and it may
be it will be heard again during the centuries
that are left unto this world. But great thanks
be to our God, any one of us who will can
hear His still, small voice in the soul day by
day.
I believe Satan also spoke out loud. I
think he did to Eve and to Christ. It may
92 THE BEST WAY
be he did to Martin Luther at the time he
tempted him in his room, when he was writ-
ing those words which were to revolutionize
the world for God, when he threw his ink-
stand at the Devil.
This spirit of God, the third person of the
adorable Trinity, speaks peace to the soul
when we repent and believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He speaks in a still, small
voice. It is as real as if it were audible.
In the experience of human lives men
hear two voices in the soul warring against
each other. What is the explanation of this *?
Satan was once an angel in Heaven, trusted
and used by God. He disobeyed and was
thrust out of Heaven ; ever since that day,
he and his legions of evil spirits have sought
to undo the work of God in the souls and
hearts of men.
One of Satan's most common methods is
to imitate God's voice. Longfellow quotes
an old adage, " Satan apes God."
Remember how Satan said to Eve, " Ye
shall not surely die," and how in the tempta-
tion of Christ he said to Him, after he had
taken Him up on to an exceedingly high
mountain and showed Him all the king-
THE STILL, SMALL VOICE OF GOD 93
doms of the world and the glory of them,
" All these things will I give Thee if Thou
wilt fall down and worship me."
Christ said, " Get thee behind me, Satan."
Here we have contrasted the two voices,
good and evil.
Thus we see that Satan speaks to men as
well as God does. We all know this; in
various forms of temptation he whispers to
draw us away from God and to plunge us
into sins headlong, to his victory and our
defeat, to our sorrow and remorse and awful
punishment. Is it not sadly so ^
Now these two voices in the soul ; how
can we distinguish between them '? Gener-
ally our Christian conscience quickly tells us
which is which; but indirectly the Bible
gives us wisdom here. Sometimes Satan
imitates God so closely that it is necessary
for us to try the spirit to see whether he be
of God or the devil. If the influence of the
spirit, if the result of the listening to the
spirit's voice brings us peaceful, calm, restful,
assuring thoughts, and inspires us to gentle,
loving, tender communion with Jesus, we can
feel that the voice is of God. If, however,
the results of listening to the voice at first
94 THE BEST WAY
are peaceful and quieting, but soon give rise
to doubts and warring, confusing thoughts
as to whether we have done right, and accus-
ing convictions arise in us, then we can be-
lieve we listened to the wrong voice. We
should recall the scripture, " There is a way
which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death."
I think we should distinguish between the
conscience and the before named supernatu-
ral voices. I believe certain poets have called
the conscience the voice of God. It seems
to me the conscience is the natural voice
within man, and the voice of God the super-
natural : the conscience is what guides us
naturally {con and scio)^ but the voice of the
Spirit of God is what we know with super-
naturally. It is a distinction almost as deli-
cate as that between soul and spirit.
The conscience is an element of the mind,
the still, small voice is an element of the soul.
The capacity to apprehend the voice of God
is an element of the soul.
The soul is inherent in man from the very
beginning of man. The spirit is what
God breathed in the nostrils of Adam. By
this breath the soul became immortalized.
THE STILL, SMALL VOICE OF GOD 95
The soul is natural, the spirit supernatural.
The soul without the spirit would have been
mortal ; it became immortal. God breathed
into it the spark of immortality. The soul
is a natural element, the spirit a supernatural
element. When man became a living soul,
the natural soul was spiritualized and made
eternally alive.
So it seems to me.
It is this spark of divinity that gives man
peculiar power over the animal kingdom.
The conscience is sometimes called dead,
but the spirit of God never dies. According to
our Christian cultivation our conscience is
awake or sleeping. A man's conscience forbids
him to work on Sunday. Another's does not,
because he may have been born in Africa's
wilds. The conscience tells us what we
should do after we know what we ought to
do. The African's conscience tells him what
he ought to do according to the limits of
his philosophy of life.
The conscience is an element of the mind,
but it is awakened by the coming of the
Comforter, and so it is allied to the Holy
Ghost, if we will. As Paul says, " my con-
science also bearing me witness in the Holy
96 THE BEST WAY
Ghost." The conscience may be weak, un-
developed, evil, defiled, even seemingly dead,
but it can be strengthened, developed, en-
nobled, and made alive by the power of the
Holy Ghost. Paul speaks of " conscience of
the idol," or, as I understand, the conscience
a man has who worships idols: as in the
African's case above, the conscience is weak
or almost dead, but the coming of the Com-
forter makes the conscience alive.
Have you received the Holy Ghost ?
The still, small voice is equivalent to the
Comforter, the Holy Ghost, God.
The word conscience is not used in the
Old Testament. Of course it is a Gentile
word, but was its equivalent used? That
used to seem strange to me. After the Com-
forter came, when Christ ascended, the word
came to be used, " of a good conscience "
and the like. It seems to me the conscience
was in man, but the Comforter, the Holy
Ghost, awakened it into new possibilities
through Christ and Christ's resurrection.
The Dictionary says, "Conscience is the
power or faculty in man by which he dis-
tinguishes between right and wrong in con-
duct and character." Yes, but it has to be
THE STILL, SMALL VOICE OF GOD 97
christianized to make it trustworthy; this the
Holy Spirit does when sought.
But the voice of God, the still, small voice
of God, not only gives us wisdom, but guid-
ance and warning and instruction that do not
come within the province or abilities of the
conscience.
To hold our thought to our theme, let us
again remember that while there have been
times in the history of the world when God
for some especial purpose raised His voice to
a grandeur most wonderful, yet in our days
He speaks in a still, small voice to the soul.
Before Christ, much of worship was outward,
the visible sacrifice of the lamb without
blemish ; but when the Holy Lamb was sac-
rificed for the sins of the whole world and for-
ever, came the stress of the contrite heart ; it
changed in a measure from the outward to
the inward. " The Kingdom of God is
within you." Once in the olden days God
spoke in a still, small voice as if to justify our
believing His voice in these latter days.
The still, small voice of God counsels us
to be unselfish, to cultivate the soul, to do
good deeds, to imitate Christ; and whispers
that we shall get credit for these things, and
98 THE BEST WAY
that a great reward awaits us In Heaven if
we do them, as well as great rewards in the
inner consciousness here on this earth.
I remember having heard Dr. E. S. Chap-
man tell of two sons in Ohio. Their father
had died and left an estate which was to be
settled up gradually, until at the end of five
years it was to be distributed equally to the
two sons. Each year one fifth was to be
divided.
One of the sons had heard about Califor-
nia and believed in it : he wanted to get
there; he wanted to escape the rigors of
winter. So he sent on his first part of the
money to California and bought a piece
of land, and began to have it cultivated
and planted to an orchard by an agent. Each
year he would spend more money on it,
until at the end of five years he had water
developed, a house built, the orchards bear-
ing, and the ranch stocked and fenced.
When at the end of five years he came to
California his home awaited him, complete
in all details of use and beauty.
But the other son, when his money came
in from the father's estate, took it and with
THE STILL, SMALL VOICE OF GOD 99
his young friends scattered it abroad in
foolish living. The habit grew on him and
so at the end of five years he had about
nothing to his credit. He, too, at the end of
that time went to California, but nothing
awaited him there, no ranch, no home,
nothing beautiful to attract him. He had
lost all.
So will it be, comrades, when we leave the
Ohio of this world and go to the California
of Eternity.
The still, small voice assures us of eternal
life as we go along day by day. We who
are born again have eternal life; we have
begun it now ; it lasts through eternity.
I have heard of an infidel scientist who
was dying. He had said nature was enough
to supply a man's needs. But he lay dying,
and he gasped for life. A Christian friend of
his came to his bedside and said to him,
when the dying man stated he wanted to
live, " How long do you want to live ; another
year *? " " No," the man said, " death is so
dreadful I want to live always, to never die."
"Does nature give you all you want'?"
"No," the man replied, " I want life." " Well,"
loo THE BEST WAY
the other said, " become a Christian and
you will live forever and be satisfied with
death, since, to the Christian, it only begins
the life of Eternity in Heaven."
Ah, the still, small voice speaks peace to
the soul when dreadful death heaves in sight
like a black ship bearing down upon you in
the fog to crush and destroy.
Have you heard the still, small voice of
God in conviction and conversion? No*?
Then rest not till you have heard it. " Seek
and ye shall find." " Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."
Do you know your sins are forgiven "? Do
you feel the need of a Saviour and yet seem
helpless? "Man's extremity is God's op-
portunity." Look and live. Believe and be
saved. He is here to forgive and bless.
Have you heard the still, small voice ?
Has the Comforter come to you ? Into your
soul and into your life ?
What is it that makes a noise in the
soul? that drowns the still, small voice of
God? that hides His face and veils His
presence ?
THE STILL, SMALL VOICE OF GOD loi
Ah I to many the warring noise in the
soul is caused by wrongs done and not
righted, by a lack and neglect of confession.
Oh, confess your sins to God out of a re-
pentant heart, and to one another, and undo
what wrong you have done. That stops the
noise in the soul. Then you can hear on the
telephone the voice of God as it comes to
the ear of your soul.
Let us get near to God, so we can hear
His voice. Let us thank Him before we go
to do anything. " I thank Thee, Lord."
"In everything give thanks; for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
Let us commune with God more. Let us
talk with Him more often.
Do we do so ? " Not very well." " Not
very often."
Then we cannot complain if we do not
hear His voice often enough to recognize it.
" It don't work," you say ? Ah, but you
don't get near enough to hear Him. Stand
up close to the 'phone, put your ear close to
the receiver of His law and the words of
Christ. Then you will hear it. Are you
like a little child in your faith and trust to-
ward God, in your simplicity ?
I02 THE BEST WAY
Get nearer to God. Then He will hear and
answer, and you will know His voice. Stand-
ing afar off, can He hear you ? Can a man
in New York hear you speaking in Chicago *?
Nay, except by 'phone, and you have to pay
to use it. So with God ; get near Him in
simplicity and sincerity, or piety, which is the
price of using the divine telephone.
Yes, God has a telephone ; you have to
pay to use it. The charge is purity, unself-
ishness, humility, faith and works, combined
with Christlikeness. Ah, but it is worth it !
Again ask Him to speak to your soul.
Can you expect an answer from one of whom
you do not ask a reply"?
When we pray, we should ever wait for
an answer in the soul from God.
Let us keep God on our side. " How can
we*?" By always keeping on His side.
You see, when we have wronged a man or
have been mean to him, we do not feel we
can go to him and ask a favor ; that wrong
stands between him and us. We must first
confess to him and ask him to forgive. So
it is with God. Let us ever keep on God's
side, then we won't have to stop to ask for-
giveness, but rather so Hve that we can com-
THE STILL, SMALL VOICE OF GOD 103
mune with Him at once and hear His still,
small voice in guidance and counsel.
The voice of God will guide and counsel
and comfort to-morrow as well as to-day, I
have faith to believe, and so I rest in faith,
and faith brings rest. That sweet voice will
be with me on my last bed, if I am faithful,
and " Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord "
will bring me peace. Woe be unto me, or
any, if we hear not this encouragement at
the time of the transition of the soul.
" To-day, if ye will hear His voice, har-
den not your heart ; " " If any man hear
my voice, and open the door, I will come in
to him, and will sup with him, and he with
me."
Come ! let us humble ourselves. Let us
be where the still, small voice can be heard,
where we can receive inspired thoughts to
glorify our days. Come ! let us adorn our-
selves with purity, unselfishness, and humility,
that we may be fit for the coming of the
Comforter. He speaks, though Conqueror, in
a still, small voice. Himself " the best sym-
bol of humility."
Oh, come ! Let us follow the right voice
and heed His calling ; He is calling, calling
104 THE BEST WAY
yet ! He will lead you into pleasant paths
and introduce you to joys unthinkable. The
paths may have briars now and then by their
sides, but if you keep right in the path, they
will not prick you.
Acquaint yourself with this voice and you
will know the voice of your Shepherd, and
will follow Him in safety to the home above.
Come, O great God ! speak to each of
us to-day ; come and direct our paths, and
give us the comfort of Thy presence ! For-
give, and come.
O may Thy still, small voice graciously
guide us with Thy counsels, with Thy words
of comfort and harmony, echoes of heavenly
strains, drops of wisdom from afar, lights of
glory illuminating our way, guidance from
the great Guide, soft peace pillowing our
weary heads !
O God wilt Thou not speak peace to us
just now ?
THE ECSTASY OF HOPE
THE ECSTASY OF HOPE
What makes me feel sorry for a man is
to hear him say, " Oh yes, you talk about
Heaven and God; I know just as much
about it as you do, and no one knows any-
thing: it is only surmise."
What nonsense I
A lawyer might as well go to a surgeon
and say, "Oh yes, all the surgery and surgi-
cal knowledge you have is imagination ; I
know as much about it as you do, and no one
knows anything about surgery : it is all spec-
ulation."
What ! Have I sought God these seven-
teen years, yet know nothing ? When He
Himself says He is to be known ? Then
indeed am I a numskull.
That which also makes me feel sad for a
man's ignorance is this : A gentleman takes
up the morning paper and reads, " Henry
G. Wolf was arrested last evening on a
charge of having embezzled three thousand
io8 THE BEST WAY
dollars from the Overtrust Land Company of
which he was the trusted treasurer. His pro-
minence in church circles makes the arrest a
very sensational one."
The excited gentleman then exclaims to
his wife, as his glasses drop off his nose,
"Well, now, just listen to that! The old
hypocrite! And he has been posing as a
saint and a leader in charities ever since we
came to the city ! Well, that lets me out of
religion. The churches ! Pshaw ! These
church people are no better than any one
else, and not half as good as we are, wife. /
never stole a cent ! "
And the wife adds, " It is just disgust-
ing!"
The next Sunday they do not attend
church.
Now the trouble with these people who
so condemn religion, the Scriptures inci-
dentally, the churches and professors of
religion, is that they forget that these same
Scriptures and this same Christian doctrine
specially declares that there will be wolves
in sheep's clothing in the churches; and
then when something like H. G. Wolf's
case occurs, they forget that it is according
to Scripture.
THE ECSTASY OF HOPE 109
But know this, Mr. and Mrs. Scoffer, that
were there not some sincere people who fear
God and obey His precepts pretty well, the
church could not hold together. It would
soon go to pieces. Yet see how it lasts !
It is the same with a lodge. Did you
ever know a lodge without its black sheep
or one that was a little off color *?
Another man I feel sorry for is he who
says, " Oh, I have a peculiar kind of religion.
My religion is to do as I would be done by;
that is all." That is good, friend, as far as it
goes, but if you have not been born again
and your past sins forgiven, that will not
carry you through the pearly gates. You
have got to have something besides what
you do to carry you through ; you have got
to have faith in Christ. Listen, — in love I
tell you, — I am afraid your religion, if it is
only what you have mentioned, will not
satisfy you on your last bed.
Ah ! " if death were the end, death would
be deified and worshipped ; " but instead,
men fear the grave unless they are saved by
Christ, and the consequent release from dread
takes away that fear, casts it out, and hope
come in its place.
no THE BEST WAY
The present fashionable wile of Satan is to
make it popular to say, " I have got beyond
the fear of death, and have grown more inter-
ested in life's problems." Be not deceived.
Remember what the serpent said to Eve.
Life would be unbearable were it not for
hope. At times we could not stand our life
had we no hope. Aye, many die because
they just "give up," which is an abbrevia-
tion of "give up the ghost." They have no
hope to call them on, to make life worth liv-
ing. So they die I And in death they find
a horrible life eternal.
Is death the end*?
When we speak about hope to-day, we
know whereof we speak, and are constrained
to believe that a man without hope is hope-
less and homeless in so far as Heaven is
concerned ; and every one is concerned in
regard to Heaven, whether he admits it, or
not.
Hopeless and homeless, without a deed to
a home in Heaven, Alas, alas for thee !
But I bring you good news ! The deed
is ready to be executed. God will sign it,
if you will only give Him your heart in pay-
ment.
THE ECSTASY OF HOPE iii
Is hope in your heart ?
" Yes, the ecstasy of hope is mine," says
one.
Havejyoa hope?
" Nay, I have not hope," another says.
Why, what is the matter ?
Oh, get hope ! Hope comes as a result of
repentance and giving your heart to God
through Christ, resolving to lead a Christian
life.
Christianity is essentially hope, a religion
of hope ; under its inspiration something
beautiful beckons us on all the time, more
and more until the perfect day. This sys-
tem of hope fulfils the natural instinct of
accumulation which is within us, for by it
we are taught to lay up treasure in Heaven,
and are assured we receive credits for all the
good we think, or say, or do. It fulfils the
hope of gain.
This system, organized by the Creator,
promises delights in Heaven far more de-
sirable than Mahomet pictured. His were
sensuous. God's are spiritual, intellectual,
ethereal, heavenly ; and yet, remembering
our physical condition and appealing to that,
God promises us the tree which on itself
112 THE BEST WAY
bears the fruit of all trees : and this example
of what is in store for us in Heaven to delight
our physical condition is chosen by God as
the most refined of all physical desires, — the
fruit of the tree.
Hope ! I love that word.
Hope is the ladder to joy. Ah ! I have
found a good thing ! or, as they say in these
money days, I have found a good bargain,
to get much for little, — to get hope for
being good, and the hope will increase in
value as the years go by. But have I told
the whole truth? Is being good a little
thing *? No, it is not ; it is a great thing to
do, — to be good. Yet when we have at-
tained some degree of goodness, the hope we
have seems far greater than its price, —
piety.
If Satan ever tempts you to get blue, do
not forget to call in hope to your rescue
and quickly have regard to the recompense
of your reward; if you but keep the Holy
Spirit in your heart, you can drive tempta-
tion away through the power of the Holy
Ghost. That is the way to drive away the
blues. That is the use of hope.
The hope of harvest makes the ploughing
THE ECSTASY OF HOPE 113
easier : the hope of Heaven makes our tribu-
lations bearable.
Hope is wages; get full hope and full
wages by doing full Christ-work.
When an orchard or vineyard gets dis-
eased and will not bear fruit, the orchardist
goes among his trees and digs down around
the roots to see what is the matter. The
root-knot, or white ants, or something may
be the cause. But he digs down and saws
off the knots, or puts lye on the ants, and all
goes well. Let us also saw off the skin-knots
and put lye on the little ant-faults at the root
of our life-tree. Ah, then we should soon
have hope and bear fruit in Christ,
Prune-trees near the coast do not thrive.
Cut off the tops and bud them into apricot-
trees, which will do well. Then the tree
thrives. So, cut off your useless, idle, waste-
ful sins and bud on Christ, and you will then
have hope and bear good fruit.
The Christian Life, the Life of Hope, is
the only life worth living, but let it be re-
membered that this life does not preclude, or
forbid, the intellectual Hfe, the business life,
or the professional life.
114 THE BEST WAY
They can be lived together in company.
The Christian life sanctifies the other, which
of itself is already good, but not the best.
Let it not be forgotten, however, that the
intellectual, the professional, the business, or
the homespun life are not worth living with-
out the Christ-Life ; yet with it they become
glorified and glorious, lives for which it is
good to have been born.
" Oh yes, if you live this Christ-Life, this
Life of Hope, you have to give up every-
thing else worth having," says a very mis-
taken person,
" Give up ? " Why the Life of Hope is
the very ticket to admit you to all attractions
that deserve the name.
" Give up everything worth having ? "
Why I you only give up those things that
are not worth having, that do you harm.
Look at that man's face ! You can read
his controlling thought. There is no hope
of Heaven written there !
Look at that woman's face as she looks up
from the reading of an unworthy novel ! Is
hope written there *? No, but discontent and
evil. Look at her face again. Would it
do for a Saint Cecilia at the organ ? If we
THE ECSTASY OF HOPE 115
work for the soul, we must quit reading those
things which hurt the soul.
The countenance is an expression of the
condition of the soul, just as the eyes are its
windows.
When you are about to have your photo-
graph taken, spend all the preceding hours
with God. Get filled with His Spirit. Then
sit, seeking to please God and not the world,
oblivious of the artist, remembering only
God. Have hope in your face ; then it will
be beautiful, even though you are homely.
What dims our hope *?
Here is one thing, and also a way to escape
its influence.
If you know that any one, near by or at a
distance, is thinking evil of you, you can
overcome the influence of such thoughts and
drive them away by asking God to bless the
one or those so thinking. Such a prayer is
a safeguard against evil thoughts. God will
not let the evil reach you, if you so pray.
Sometimes when you have hope, your envi-
ronment is not congenial to hope, and may
be disastrous to it, unless you look out, and
so pray.
Also, if, alas ! you yourself ever think an
ii6 THE BEST WAY
evil, unkind, or uncharitable thought of an-
other, begin at once to ask the forgiveness
of God, and then pray for the one your mind
went out against, that he may be blessed.
Thus you can drive away from you this evil,
which dims your hope.
Now confession is an important element
in hope. Hope hesitates till confession pre-
cedes it. Hope comes from God, and to
receive anything from Him, we must be-
come reconciled to our Lord, for all have
sinned. The reconciliation to God requires
confession. We must confess our sins to
God and to those whom we have wronged,
except in the rare case when such latter con-
fession adds fuel to the fire.
You know how it is with a person ; when
any one has accused you falsely or done you
other harm, you can never feel really recon-
ciled to such a one until he has asked you to
forgive him, confessing that he was in the
wrong. Confession drives the evil away,
for evil cannot bear the presence of Christian
sincerity.
Neither is a complete reconciliation possi-
ble until the one at fault makes reparation
by an acknowledgment, no matter how much
THE ECSTASY OF HOPE 117
the innocent party may desire a reconcili-
ation. Now this is an explanation of the
philosophy of confession preceding recon-
ciliation between God and man.
Hope is like a perennial springtime, when
Nature is promising what she will do for
mankind and fulfilling the assurance each
day, giving a dividend in the growth of the
grass, payable every twenty-four hours.
Hope ever whispers to the listening ear
encouragement and contentment. As music
touches all the strings of the human heart, so
hope thrills into joy all the feelings of the
mind, and so sweet is the joy that it leaves
happiness and delight behind. Hope from
Heaven is ever new; a brand-new hope
born in the mind of God is wafted in tele-
phonic message from above the azure sky
each time you call it forth by a heavenward
thought. This message, secret unto us, com-
ing on the wings of Love, awakens our hope ;
and a rhapsody is born out of our joy to rise
to God in song divine. I will trust the Lord,
O my soul !
Melodious harmony, as the echo of harps
angelic, pervades my being ; it is the peace
which passeth understanding ; it is hope.
ii8 THE BEST WAY
Would you jeopardize that joy by dis-
obedience ■?
What is this joy ?
It is the child of hope.
And what is this hope *?
It is the reward of the cultivation of the
soul.
Beautiful hope ! thou dost dwell in the
green dale of peace. The hills of faith sur-
round thee, and the river of love waters thy
glades. Wilt thou not dwell also in my
heart*? — make it beautiful as a valley in
May, and plant in its garden sweet flowers
of faith, and have a spring of living water
bubbling up within me, a fountain of joy ?
How can we get this hope *?
The path that leads to hope is the same
that leads to God through Christ, to salva-
tion, to divine forgiveness, to being born
again, to knowing God for yourself, to read-
ing your title clear to a mansion in the sky.
Take the road to either, and it will also
lead you to hope.
When you are climbing the hills of hope,
plant your feet carefully upon the slope, the
rising ground, that nothing may deter you
from reaching the ecstasy of the heights of
THE ECSTASY OF HOPE 119
hope. Take with you the alpenstock of
determination.
Let this hour be the Cape of Good Hope
to your Soul, which, when sighted, gives
you an assurance of a harbor, the haven of
Heaven.
Do we earnestly desire to win in the matter
of hope versus no-hope *?
Our case is in safe hands.
God is the judge, Christ is the advocate :
the best attorney is on our side. The angels
are our witnesses. You see we have a just
judge, the best attorney, unimpeachable wit-
nesses, all on our side, and if we wish to be
good, nothing can win against us.
If we are vacillating and weak, and sur-
render our case to our adversary, Satan, with-
out trial, we deserve to be hopeless.
But even though we be weak, yet, having
a right purpose to be good, if we bring our-
selves before the judgment seat, confess our
sins, and plead mercy, our case is won, for
we have a judge that cannot be bought, who
loveth mercy and knoweth justice to do it.
" Hope on, hope ever."
But what say the Scriptures about hope*?
The word hope is not used by Christ, nor
120 THE BEST WAY
in the four Gospels, in our present sense;
but after the resurrection the word hope be-
came a permanent word in the Christian's
vocabulary. Hope and resurrection of the
dead ! Ah, Christ's death gave hope to men !
Thenceforth the word hope was on the
tongues of all men who know Him.
The Bible says we should rest, rejoice, and
abound in hope : that we should hope in God,
in Christ, in "His Word," and hope in His
mercy: that we should not be ashamed of
our hope, and be ready to give a reason for
the hope that is within us, with meekness and
fear, as the Scriptures teach.
It is also written that " the hope of the
righteous shall be gladness, but the expecta-
tion of the wicked shall perish." The hypo-
crite's hope also shall perish, and Job likens
it to a spider's web, as futile as a gossamer
and of no strength.
We are taught therein that when we have
hope we are secure and safe, happy and
blessed.
" Hope deferred maketh the heart sick."
Many times have I, discouraged, proven this
proverb; but then the moment I went to
God with my discouragement. He would say
.THE ECSTASY OF HOPE 121
to me, " Have you no hope to cheer you *?
No Heaven to look ahead to, if faithful *? "
" Yes, Lord, yes, Lord," I would say, " my
heart is now better, its sickness has passed
away."
It is written, " against hope believed in
hope," and again, " hope continually."
" And every man that hath this hope in
him purifieth himself even as he is pure."
Faith hath its peace, love its warmth, but
hope has its ecstasy. Love "hopeth all
things."
Hope is a door, ever open, a place to
enter for something good.
Disobedience kills hope.
If you have no hope you are in prison,
jailed by Satan, and your sentence will last
for eternity unless Christ pardons you out,
as He will, if you desire it.
Here are two scriptures worth remember-
ing:—
" Chasten thy son while there is hope, and
let not thy soul spare for his crying." Prov.
xix. 18.
" For to him that is joined to all the living
there is hope ; for a living dog is better than
a dead lion."
122 THE BEST WAY
So that you, being alive, have a chance.
But to return to our hope in Heaven.
God gives us hope through the Holy Ghost :
therefore we have to get the Holy Ghost in
order to get hope. God is the Father of hope
and as Holy Ghost He giveth it us.
The Lord Jesus is our hope : aye, a lively
hope by His resurrection from the dead. If
you are without God in the world, you have
no hope.
" We glory in tribulations also : knowing
that tribulation worketh patience; and pa-
tience, experience ; and experience, hope ;
and hope maketh not ashamed ; because the
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us."
Yes, patience in doing the words of Christ
is essential to getting the Christ-hope in the
heart.
" For we are saved by hope," it is written.
I think this means that our faith by which
we are saved is kept alive by hope, and so
hope saves us.
Let us keep this hope, then, unsullied to
the end, and have a full assurance of it.
Let us take refuge in this hope ; it is an
anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast.
THE ECSTASY OF HOPE 123
A friend of mine says he would not want to
live without this hope of Heaven, for it would
be like the cattle to be without any hope of
everlasting life, where we can be happy for-
evermore.
When everything else fails, the hope of
faith fails not. Job is the best example
of that, save Christ Himself; but among the
living there are excellent examples of it.
Depend alone on God for your hope and con-
solation; then you will never lose the peace
that passeth understanding. When disagree-
able things come, you will then say, " That is
all right, that does not interfere with my hope
or my divine consolation."
Hope is like expectancy : if you make a
journey or take a walk, never enjoyed before,
you are ever alert to see something new ; so
in your pilgrimage to the City of the Sky
we may ever expect some new vista of God's
goodness and remembrance of us, some fresh
visitations of His grace, and new exhibitions
of His power, since each day our way to
Heaven is diversified by varied blessings and
temptations.
There is something especially excellent
in possessing this hope in God, for the
124 THE BEST WAY
experience of having it becomes more and
more blessed until the perfect day when you
are ushered into the realms of bliss, — when
you fall asleep in Jesus and awake in Heaven.
If you get into politics it often happens that
you become very tired of them as you grow
older; perhaps some one gets more popular
than you, and it leaves you a disappointed
politician : if you secure great book learning
you are sometimes surfeited with the weari-
ness of it : but it is not so with serving God,
and abiding in hope, and getting religion.
What is getting religion like *?
It is like the sun bursting through a cloud
on a cold day, warming you with its warmth.
Your sins are the clouds, the Saviour is the
sun. Call on Him for forgiveness ; He will
dispel the clouds and warm you with His
divine presence. Oh, let Him in I
Some have hope of a temporal nature call-
ing them on: for instance, success in busi-
ness, in society, in your profession, in your
temporal work, but such hope of success will
not avail in time of failure, distress, sickness,
or death. That hope won't carry you through
all the vicissitudes of life, but hope in Christ
will ; such a hope dies not when distresses
THE ECSTASY OF HOPE 125
come. Tribulations cannot snufF out the
brightness of the candle of the Lord, — our
soul's hope; only disobedience can do that.
Hope thou in Christ : hope not in the
world or in the power thereof That is to
say, have not your highest, brightest, and
best hope dependent on what the world can
give, but on what God through Christ can
give.
If a famine comes to a man without God,
where is his hope ? But if he has hope in
God, then even though the dry year come he
has hope, and can be happy and at peace.
•* The Heavenly hope is all serene.
But earthly hope, how bright so e'er.
Still fluctuates o'er this changing scene
As false and fleeting as 'tis fair."
Heber.
If you are going to get all your hope from
this world instead of from Heaven, I will
tell you what it will be like, — you will be
paid in counterfeit money. There is only
one real hope, and that is "hope thou in
Christ," the Christ-hope.
That hope can extend to and include
things temporal as well as spiritual. That
hope opens the door to success, spiritual,
126 THE BEST WAY
physical, mental, and temporal. I used to
think God could do wonderful things for me
in a spiritual way, but it took me many years
to realize He could run a woolen mill better
than I, and to trust Him to manage temporal
matters for me.
" The bells of hope ring in my soul,
Their chime is sweet,"
the hymnal sings. The church bells ring;
do they bring hopes to your heart ? " The
mighty hopes that make us men" as
Tennyson says ?
If you have no hope in God, you are at
war with God. I bring you an offer of
peace. The terms are piety. The way out
is Christ. A declaration of peace to your
soul will immediately follow your obedience
to His words and acceptance of the terms.
In addition to peace, God offers you hope
and Heaven, and an escape from Hell.
If you do not accept God's offer of peace,
my instructions are to declare that war will
be continued until you repent or die (in love
I speak), and death without God means Hell
with Satan. I speak in plain terms, yet in
love. Oh, seek the Lord while He may be
THE ECSTASY OF HOPE 127
found. His spirit will not always strive
with you. Wont you accept His terms, end
the war, and enjoy the fruits of peace with
God?
There can be but one outcome if you per-
sist against Jesus. God, who holds steady
the solar system, is able to enforce His laws
to the utmost. To-day, He comes like a
loving father and says, " Turn ye, turn ye,
for why will ye die *? "
What is the trouble? Why do ye not
all know God ? Ah ! methinks the trouble
is there be some who forget to live the very
first commandment, "Thou shalt have no
other Gods before me," which, as Christ ex-
plains it, means " Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength."
Ah ! the trouble is that there be some of
us who love God with half the heart, with a
fraction of the mind, with a part of the soul,
and with too little of our strength, which last
appears to me to refer to that strength which
comes from practised purity.
And so our spiritual life is half-hearted,
blunted, blurred, weakened.
128 THE BEST WAY
Oh, let us turn to-day and take refuge in
obedience to the First Commandment, for
therein is our only hope.
When your hope is full, you will know
the meaning of the word Ecstasy.
BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL
KNOW THEM
BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL
KNOW THEM
California orchards are very complete.
In the East you hear a farmer speak of his
apple orchard or his pear orchard ; but on a
California ranch you can very often find in
the home orchard almost any kind of fruit,
fig, nectarine, olive, loquat, almond, or wal-
nut.
To be sure, this cannot compare with
Heaven's fruit-tree, which bears twelve kinds
of fruit each month in the year, but still a
California home orchard is a beautiful pos-
session.
Now, men are like trees ; some men bear
good fruit, some bitter, like the sour-apple-
tree. Some are so good that, like the tree of
Heaven, they bear nearly every kind of good
fruit and are always in bearing, every month
in the year. Some men are so evil that their
fruits are always evil, and their influence
never fails to be bad.
132 THE BEST WAY
It is by men's fruits that we are to know
them, so that thus we can tell whether we
can trust them, whether they are proper asso-
ciates, whether their influence over us will
be uplifting or degenerating. And we need
the help of God's Spirit in discerning, be-
cause it is written that even Christians,
indeed, can be deceived, but this is the ex-
ception which proves the rule. To summer
and winter a man is the old rule to find what
he really is.
Fruitage is the only test of discipleship, it
is often said, and it is the best test by which
we can measure our own standing with
Christ. Our influence at home and in the
community, — is it good *?
An apricot-tree in the home orchard is
known by the apricot, and the peach by the
peach. So among men, the reliable man is
known by what his neighbors say of him, —
the majority oi his neighbors; and the evil
man is known by his acts, which make his
reputation for evil.
While the test of discipleship of Christ is
fruits, we should beware lest we conclude
that great things, as the world goes, must
follow discipleship. The widow's mite dis-
BY THEIR FRUITS 133
proves such conclusion. In an old burying
ground in New Hampshire, on an ancient
tombstone, are these words : " She done what
she could." Could any one do more ?
All must bear fruit, and we of little talent
are very apt to like to talk, about the rich
young man who lacked the one thing need-
ful, and forget to meditate on the man with
one talent, who hid it in the earth, so it bore
no fruit.
Awake, ye of one talent, ye are the major-
ity ! Ye have power to transform the earth
unto righteousness I Do ye lack a leader *?
Is not Christ sufficient ?
One-talent people correspond to the com-
mon people: and remember it is written,
" The common people heard Him [Christ]
gladly." Yes, we of one talent have a
responsibility as great as the ten-talent men.
God loves you, ye of little faith !
Abraham Lincoln said, "God must love
the common people. He made so many of
them."
"What can we do?" Do ye thus in-
quire, ye one-talent people *? Do ye not
know the power of an example, the influence
of a soul hid with Christ in God ? Do ye
134 THE BEST WAY
not understand how ye, having nothing, yet
have all ; how ye can especially obtain glory
for Christ?
And ye, O preachers, have ye not neglected
those of one talent and preached the rich
young man, when there were a majority of
one-talent saints and sinners before you *? —
even if you did wish to bring out the point
of the one thing lacking.
A minister was called to a new charge,
and on his arrival in town, one of the Church
Board met him and said, "Now, Mr. New-
comb, I wish to give you a little advice
about preaching here. You will be wise if
you avoid preaching about a bad temper,
because Mr. A., one of our largest contribu-
tors, has a terrible temper, and you will
offend him. Do not speak about money,
because one of our board is very rich and he
does not like to have such matters spoken
of And, I beg you, never refer to temper-
ance, for Mr. B., although not a member,
gives a good deal towards the church, and he
is not as temperate as he should be. And
then" —
Here Mr. Newcomb interrupted and said,
"Well, what shall I preach about, then?"
BY THEIR FRUITS 135
The other thought a moment and replied,
" Preach about the Jews, — there is n't one
within twenty miles."
This story is told to anchor in our minds
the thought that we should always preach
that which needs to be preached.
Let us consider how this text applies to
the various Christian denominations. There
are many of these, and some are not so kind-
hearted to others as they should be.
We should remember that we all have
peculiarities of mind, condition, and tempera-
ment, made so largely by heredity and envi-
ronment; and we cannot all expect to look
at things at the same angle; but if our general
purposes are good, and we do not heinously
disobey, we are worth consideration, and so
are all such.
A Quaker and his wife were conversing
about how peculiar people were, and after
each had mentioned the peculiarities of vari-
ous ones, the Quaker at last said, " And now
I think of it, wife, thee is a little peculiar,
too."
A Congregationalist friend of mine said
that when a young lad he really got it into
his head that no one but a Congregationalist
136 THE BEST WAY
could go to Heaven ; and he told how sur-
prised he was when he grew up and went to
the Y. M. C. A. meetings to find that others
of different denominations knew and experi-
enced just what he did.
A Christian is one who resembles Christ, no
matter what other name men may call him.
But we should be careful not to be bitter
against the denominational idea. Kindly
read 1 Corinthians xii., xiii., and think.
There it is written, "And there are differ-
ences of administrations, but the same Lord."
This is not necessarily an approbation of
various denominations, but a justification
of them. Thus the Bible itself furnishes
the best comparative illustration or simile
of the denominational idea.
It is also written in Acts x. 35: "But
in every nation he that feareth Him and
worketh righteousness is accepted with Him."
Lest Satan should tempt any one to think,
" What, then, is the use of missions *? why
should we send men to foreign shores and
to our own people ? " I reply, " Because
Jesus commanded it ; " that is enough.
Moreover, would such a scripture as this
Acts X. 35 make us less loyal to our own
BY THEIR FRUITS 137
interpretation of Scripture ■? Nay, it should
not. We should not hesitate to speak the
truth in love (at such times as good can be
done thereby), or to point out mistakes and
errors in interpretation of scriptures, or mis-
taken allegations of creeds. Where should
we be, if Martin Luther, Knox, and Wesley
had been silent, and others in our day*?
All denominations have their differences,
each from each, yet if their fruits are decid-
edly Christian, we should not criticise them
too sharply. We should be merciful and
charitable, and ready to give all the benefits
of doubt to others; yet we should not be so
lax as to lose the blessings of all the blessed
doctrines from Genesis to Revelation.
In some denominational experiences of
life we should remember the scripture where
John forbade the man who was casting out
devils in Jesus' name because he would not
follow their number, and what Christ replied
to John in Mark ix. 39-41.
Again, sometimes we should recall Gama-
liel's advice, as recorded in Acts v. 35-39.
Again, remember that Christ said, " Other
sheep I have, which are not of this fold."
Selah,
138 THE BEST WAY
But if the fruits we bear are not so good
as they should be, shall we not begin to-day
to graft into us better fruits and to bud into
us more excellent ways?
Let us see if we cannot with God's help.
We can.
Perhaps we can give some spiritual sug-
gestions for so doing.
When you were converted and arose and
went to your Father, did you confess your
sins after repentance ? When you asked God
to forgive you, did you have true humility,
like the Prodigal Son, and say, somewhat as
he did, " Make me as one of thy hired ser-
vants"? All these things are necessary.
" Make me as one of thy hired servants "
gives me great comfort to repeat often; it
helps to keep me humble and contented
with my tribulations.
Sometimes we try to approach God in this
way : " Oh yes, I will be a Christian if you '11
find me a nice genteel place to work in a bank,
with a real good salary," or, " Oh yes, I '11 be
a Christian if you '11 make me well, or do this
or that." God cannot be met in that way.
But the prodigal had the right spirit, and
the father went out to meet him. " Before
BY THEIR FRUITS 139
you call I will answer," says God, so anxious
is He to meet you halfway.
Just think I you have sinned against God
and Heaven : but God calls you back through
the forgiveness Christ offers, — unforgiven,
you are lost. You have no hope against
Hell, but the Father offers mercy. To get
a chance to be forgiven, when you realize
your sin, are you not willing to use a grub-
bing hoe or a washtub, if need be *? You
cannot be in a ride-in-a-coupe frame of mind
when at the mercy-seat.
And the prodigal " arose " and made up
his mind to quit his meanness and go to his
father and accept any conditions, if only he
could be forgiven and accepted. Won't you
do the same towards God '?
But God will satisfy you with adoption,
not servitude, after you have exhibited the
right spirit. As the father in the parable
killed the fatted calf and put the robe of
equality on the repentant son, so God has
given you His only begotten crucified Son,
and He will bring you into the equality and
companionship of the sons of God through
the Elder Brother, if you adorn the doctrine
of the Master.
140 THE BEST WAY
" Make me as one of thy hired servants."
" They also serve who only stand and wait,"
doing what little they can. Invalid ! let this
encourage you. And yet some invalids,
through the distribution of tracts or the ex-
ample of Christlikeness, can do wonders for
God, and for their own Eternity.
A certain man had been ill, oh ! so many
weary years. Over twenty summers had
cast their shadows over his disappointed
hopes of recovery. " Oh, to be freed from
pain ! " he said, but still the pain remained.
He resisted his cross in his mind; he did
not make "a joy out of an accepted sorrow,"
but one day he awoke to the righteousness
of the resolve that he would not wait to be
happy until he was cured, but that he would
be happy right now. God speed him.
There was a certain man who was un-
happy in his constant loneliness ; he had not
a sufficiency of the companionship of God
and Christ ; he resisted his condition in his
mind.
Another man was unhappy in his lowly
condition, which remained the same as the
years rolled by.
"Alas," he said, "the years bring no
BY THEIR FRUITS 141
changes. Shall I never have power, but
always be as I am, a menial'? " and he re-
sisted in his mind. But both of these men
one day awoke to the folly of waiting to be
happy until their hopes were realized, so
they determined they would be happy now
and under the present conditions. God
speed them both.
A certain man was sitting under the shadow
of a great sorrow. It was the crucible in
which he was to be tested. He did not ac-
cept it as God's way of the Cross to humble
him and to cause him to cultivate the soul.
" Via Crucis, via lucis." He also resisted in
his mind. But he heard these other three
testify of the joy they found in accepting
their sorrows and in not waiting to be happy
until their sorrows were taken away. He,
too, thus learned to say, " Thy will, not mine,
be done," and found his sorrow a thing of the
past. He meant what he said. Thy will
be done. God speed him.
Sometimes when we are very weary with
the burden of ill health or poverty, lone-
liness or distress, domestic and financial, or
alas ! all combined, Satan takes advantage of
our weakness and whispers to us not to stand it
142 THE BEST WAY
any longer, but to resist it ; and he alleges
all sorts of reasons, except the right ones, for
our being in the fix we are in. Ever ready-
to insinuate that blame should rest where it
does not belong, he advises us to kick.
Now comes Jesus and He says, " It is hard
for thee to kick against the pricks." It don't
do any good to kick against the unpleasant
and galling conditions of life. The more we
kick or complain, the worse it will be for us ;
if they are incurable, they are chastisements
which must be borne with grace.
If you go to a thorn-bush, and, barefoot,
keep kicking it, the more you kick the more
the blood will flow. Stand off and stop kick-
ing, and the suffering abates.
When next you are tempted to complain,
remember the thorn-bush and the bare foot ;
it will help you to accept the condition which
smarts you.
Satan says, " Kick, kick ! " God says, " Do
not kick against the pricks."
O God, we will accept Thy chastisements,
we will accept in the right spirit the un-
pleasant conditions of our life, knowing that
in saying amen to them, so be it, is the royal
road to the celestial city. And we will rise
BY THEIR FRUITS 143
to greater heights and say, " I thank Thee,
Lord."
It is hard for you to do this, you say. It
is. But ask God to help you, and you can
do it. That is what religion is for.
I have found my Lord; so I am reconciled
to the sadness and sorrows of the past; and,
with God's help, I will be with those which
are to come.
What fruit are you bearing, brother*?
Fruits of the Spirit of God? Are you
" pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated,
full of mercy and good fruits, without par-
tiality and without hypocrisy % "
If we bear no fruit, we are dead to God,
and unless we change we shall be lost : nay,
we are lost now. Do you recall the parable
of the fig-tree *? You know the owner of the
place, when he saw the tree bore no fruit,
told his foreman to have it cut down ; why
cumbereth it the ground "? said he. But the
foreman said, " Let me try it, sir, won't you,
for another year ; let me dig around it, and
then if it don't bear fruit it shall be cut
down," He was like the Germans, whose
proverb says, " Sleep three nights before you
cut down a tree."
144 THE BEST WAY
The foreman pleaded for that tree's life,
lest it be lost; and so Christ pleads with God
for you, O thou who art out of the Kingdom,
lest you be lost in Hell. One year more !
One year more I And then perhaps, if thou
bearest no fruit, thou shalt be cut down !
And lost in Hell, to suffer forever !
Once in New York city I showed a friend
some inscriptions I had written for a public
building. At the end of one of them were
these words, —
" Men, women, children, obey these
words.
" If you do, you will be happy.
" If you do not, sorrow will come upon
you."
My friend read this and he said, " I like it
all but the last line; I should leave that
out."
" No," said I, " it is true and the truth shall
stand."
People don't like the thought of divine
punishment. Yet the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom.
Hell is. We have as much right to go
to the Bible and cut out that word as we have
to go to the dictionary and cut out the word
BY THEIR FRUITS 145
" fire." Our cutting it out does not stop the
existence of fire.
In conclusion, what is your influence ? Is
it for good? Is your fruit satisfactory to
you against the last day*? If not, had we
not better make it better ? If we are not
bearing good fruit, had we not better graft on
a better kind? Or bud into our way the
best way, — Christ's way ?
If we know a better variety of fruit than
what we bear, should we not secure it, until
" naught in our heart condemns us ? "
We should surely " bring forth fruits meet
for repentance ; " that is, if we have repented
of our sins, we should live accordingly.
So let us do, and may the consequent
peace of God abide with us all our days.
Amen.
WHO WAS CHRIST?
WHO WAS CHRIST?
Christ was the first great Christian teacher
that the great God sent to earth. I am go-
ing to explain to you who belong to the real
Christian Church. It is not the Protestants,
nor the Catholics, nor the Baptists, nor the
Episcopalians, nor the Methodist Church ; but
the real Christian Church is made up of all
those fi-om each of these I have mentioned,
or any other, or none, who believe in God and
Christ, and who are trying to be Christians
who mean business. That is the church,
I said Christ was the first great Christian
teacher. He taught others how to teach;
John and Matthew, and Luke the great phy-
sician teacher. Then came Paul. They
taught others, and others taught odiers, till
we come to Luther, Thomas a Kempis, and
Wesley, to Eliot and Edwards, Moody and
Munhall, and your good teacher and mine.
What is their message ? Repent and be
saved. The same as Christ's. Turn from
150 THE BEST WAY
sin and do right in the fear and love of
God.
Now a word of warning. You may meet
in your life some that will say, " Oh yes, Con-
fucius, the great Chinese teacher, taught men
to forgive, and Buddha and other teachers
taught men to be good." Yes, that is true,
but no man save Christ ever rose to such
grandeur of love as the instruction which
bids men not only to forgive their enemies
but to pray for those who are mean to them,
as well as to do them good. That is divine.
It is superhuman. Remember Job, who re-
ceived not the blessing until he prayed for
his enemies.
Christ was divine. He will conquer the
world. He needs you to help Him. You
can help Him by letting your light shine.
Who is this Christ, the Son of God?
What manner of man is He? Ah, man
never spake like this man. Man never did
as He did.
When He was arrested before His cruci-
fixion, one of His friends standing by drew
his sword and cut off the right ear of a ser-
vant of the high priest. What did Jesus
say ? Did He call out, " Come on, Andrew,
WHO WAS CHRIST? 151
come on Peter and John, clear them out.
We'll settle this'"? Oh no! You and I
might have said that.
But Christ said to His friend, " Put up thy
sword." Christ was without revenge or re-
sentment.
Again, when the time of His death was
near, and • thinking of the agonies He must
suffer, He prayed to God, " Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me ! Never-
theless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt."
"Mould me, O God, according to Thy pur-
poses, not mine," is the highest of wisdom's
heights.
We might have said, "O God, must I
suffer all this agony, this ignominious cruci-
fixion, after I have tried so hard to please
Thee ? " We might have said that, but
Christ knew God knew best, and He said,
" Thy will be done."
Again, when Jesus was crucified, while He
was in agony of pain, while the cruel spikes
were torturing His feet and hands, what did
He say ? Did He say, " Well, I give it up,"
and fall into a stupor of despair^ Or did
He cry — as you and I might cry if we were
to be hanged on the scaffold, innocent of the
152 THE BEST WAY
crime of which we had been charged — "I
am innocent. I declare unto the world my
innocence " ? We might have said so, but
the Christ, even at this moment, forgot Him-
self and prayed for others : " Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do."
Oh, to-day say, " Thy will be done," and
" Mould me according to Thy purposes, not
mine ; " and although you may not have re-
ceived any Christmas present tied up in a
handsome box, yet in bending your will to
God's will, you will receive one so great that
you will not need the little box. Though
men may forget you, God will not; and
to-day He gives you that great Christmas
present, Christ in the heart. Let the Christ-
mas bells peal in your soul, and go forth to
sing His praises. Amen.
Where is Christ now ^ To-day "? In the
bright land sitting at the right hand of
the great God, or riding the white horse, or
going here and there attended by His body-
guard of redeemed men who were found
without a fault.
And what shall we be like, if faithful to
the end and we go to Heaven *? What will
our spiritual bodies be made of? We know
WHO WAS CHRIST? 153
not ; but this we know, that we shall be like
Him!
"• God is a spirit, and they that worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and in
truth."
What is a spirit ? A spirit is an intelligent
form without a corruptible substance ; since
the Scriptures repeatedly affirm that God has
form (inasmuch as portions of it are named),
and that He is a spirit. What is that sub-
stance '? We know not ; but we know that
if we die in Christ and reach Heaven, we
shall awake in His likeness, — we shall be
like Him.
That is enough. The substance of our
spiritualized being will be like Christ.
Amen.
And Christ is coming again to this very
Earth of ours !
" Say, will He find you and me still watch-
ing" and loving His appearing*?
Will He find faith on the earth ? May
it be answered with a glorious affirmative in
Los Angeles.
LOVE DIVINE
LOVE DIVINE
I John iv.
On Sunday we come together to get our
natures in harmony with God, Christ, and
each other. So many things transpire in
week days to disturb our equanimity, we get
tired and are tempted to get cross. People
are so thoughtless and unkind. I wonder
why they can't always do what we would
like them to do. I wonder why we can't
always do what others would like us to do.
Oh yes I week days need the benediction
of a Sabbath. The Sabbath settles many a
quarrel, the Sabbath brings harmony when
discord prevails on Saturday.
How many church organizations could
hold together without the calming influence
of the word of God ?
Now there is love human, and what is
it ? It is preference. I like this man better
than that. It is a kind of selfish, although
158 THE BEST WAY
proper love. He is so noble, his eyes so
frank and true. I could marry him and live
in a hut on Pine Mountain. Oh, she is so
sweet and gentle, she is such a true woman,
nothing masculine about her. I could marry
her and work my fingers off to earn a home
for her.
Now this kind of love is much to be
praised. It will make noble sacrifices and
prove itself heroic. But yet you love such
a one to please yourself. It is because it
delights you.
But suppose your beloved dies in the hut
on Pine Mountain, or in the cottage by the
river *? Suppose misunderstandings arise ?
Suppose you are not married, and feel at
times, oh, so lonely; and lack the fulfilment
of this human love : for the human heart is
made to love and desire congenial compan-
ionship. What, what are you going to do in
such cases ?
If your love is lost, or never found?
You cannot force the highest type of
marriage.
The way to get married is to get married
in the Lord ; and if you want to get mar-
ried, ask God in prayer if it be His will to
find you a wife or a husband.
LOVE DIVINE 159
But we clearly see that human love is not
to be depended on. It may not last. The
angel of death may carry it away.
And if you have and keep this human love
until the sunset of the seventies, yet you can
love your husband or your wife better for
loving God best. And this love human with-
out the love divine, how is it going to bridge
over the grave, — if it is all the love you
have got?
Is love divine your guiding star? Is
it your bridge over to Eternity's shore of
peace ? Will you get the best of the grave,
or the grave the best of you ? Which will
have the victory ?
So it is very plain to see that love human
is not enough to be fortified with to fight the
battles of life and death.
But to-day I come bringing tidings of a
great and glorious blessing, "Love divine,
all love excelling."
This love will give you joy and a per-
petual honeymoon, whether you are married
or unmarried, or whether earthly love fails ;
when you are lonely you will yet have a
spouse and some one to adore. You do not
need to be a nun to be "the spouse of
i6o THE BEST WAY
Christ," and since in Heaven there is neither
male nor female, the manly heart can go to
Christ as well as the womanly heart. The
Virgin is not needed in adoration save as an
example of fidelity to God and obedience, in
that she was called blessed among women.
And now, lend me your whole hearts,
while I give you the well known definition
of this love divine, when the human heart
gets it.
It is the "desire to bless."
What does that mean ?
It means that as God is love, and as every
law of His is a desire to bless us, so if we
love God with all our heart and purposes
and obey all of His statutes through Christ,
we shall grow to be like the nature of God
in His attributes of love, absorbing them in
our natures, and awake some morning to find
we have a portion of this love divine, this
desire to bless. See John xvii. 26.
It means when you go to the breakfast
table, to go with a spirit or a desire to bless
the others by your presence and mind ; when
you go to school, to have a desire to bless the
school and teachers, to make it harmonious ;
when you go to the factory, a desire to
LOVE DIVINE • i6i
bless those with whom you come in contact.
Around the evening lamp, pitching hay, or in
the counting-room, the same, always be gov-
erned by a desire to bless. " Love divine,
all love excelling,"
The difference between love human and
love divine is that one is the desire to be
blessed while the other is the desire to bless.
Love human may die, but love divine
lasts and is sure to live forever.
Love divine is the Christ-love; it is the
kind of love which is meant by the expres-
sion "brotherly love." That is the power
that builds up churches, and makes them
powerful for good. Moody illustrates this in
a story about a boy who lived in Chicago
and whose family moved away from the part
of the city where the Sunday-school he at-
tended was located. Still he continued going
to his old school which meant a long tiresome
walk.
They asked him why he did not go to the
Sunday-school near by their new home.
"Oh," he said, "they love a fellow over
there."
People will go where they can get love
and be loved.
1 62 THE BEST WAY
O friend, go to God, and the love He will
shed abroad in your soul, and the radiance
and glory of His presence and blessing, will
fill you with satisfaction and contentment.
" We know that we have passed from death
unto life, because we love the brethren."
So if we get this love divine, we have
passed from death unto life. Oh, how great
and important a matter this is. Awake, my
soul I Awake ! Awake, my will I
If we all get this love divine, what heav-
enly harmony it makes. If the occupants of
one home get it, what heavenly harmony
prevails there. It is a foretaste of Heaven;
it is peace on earth and good-will to man,
love divine, the desire to bless.
If you get this love divine, you get within
you a " well of water springing up into ever-
lasting life." A well in biblical language
often means a spring. In Moses' time, in the
wilderness, they began in their distress to dig
for water, and they exclaimed, " Spring up,
O well ! "
Have you ever seen in the summer moun-
tains a bubbling spring coming up with great
vigor, cool and pure *? Well, if you get this
love divine, you will have in you a constant
LOVE DIVINE 163
source of refreshment ; like a bubbling spring
will be the water and influence of the Christ-
life. You will have within you a well bub-
bling with joy, ever flowing ; and when you
are weary, you can there find joy.
Be without this love, and ye are " wells
without water."
"God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever be-
lieveth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life." Love divine, a desire to
bless.
This love divine, this perfect love, casts
out fear : it takes away the fear of death.
Great love, O that we may be wise and pos-
sess it!
What else does love divine do for us?
See. "Hatred stirreth up strifes; but love
covereth all sins;" again, "it covereth a
multitude of sins." Think of it, — we shall
not be remembered by our sins, but by the
love we now have. Hallelujah !
Come I not with good tidings?
" If we love one another, God dwelleth in
us, and His love is perfected in us." Do
you realize that^. If we get this love divine,
God's love is made perfect in us. That is
i64 THE BEST WAY
the purpose of God's love, to bless us ; and
in gaining His love in us, we see it brought
to its fruitage, it does that for which it is in-
tended. Wonderful thought! Our little
hearts the places of fruition of God's bound-
less love, the place for its full and complete
development ! In other words, God needs
us. Amazing thought ! His love is bound-
less, and He needs all hearts !
Such a greatness in such a little space. It
is just as the still, small voice represents the
mighty voice of God, " the best symbol of
humility."
Moreover, thus is our love made perfect, if
we get this love divine, i John 4, 17.
What else among the countless things
does this love divine do for us?
Listen !
"He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in
God, and God in him."
If we get this love divine, which we can
get by accepting Christ, by doing the words
of Christ, by believing in Him, then we can
live in this love, which is dwelling in God,
and not only that, but God dwells in us.
It is as if we lived in a country, and that
the National Spirit of the country lived in
LOVE DIVINE 165
US. A poor and limited illustration, but who
can approach the greatness of the truth ?
Love divine means a desire to bless. A
simple illustration of what love divine is for
the children to take away in their minds is
that of a mother bird flying to her nest on
joyous wings with a fine worm in her mouth
for her little ones : ah ! that is the meaning
and emblem of love.
Love your children, love your husband,
love your wife. Love your associates. Love
your superiors and your inferiors as the world
goes. That 's the way to be happy. To
have within the " desire to bless,"
You know Christ says that on loving God
and your neighbors as yourself hangs all the
law and the prophets. You see Christianity
is a religion of love. This love divine tells
the story. Have you it ? Then you have
rehgion. Have you it not? Then alas,
alas ! But you can get it.
Many people and teachers make religion
disagreeable, and drive people away by
making it too much a system of " don't do
this and don't do that," on the basis of the
first dispensation of " Thou shalt not ; " but
Christ's way of teaching religion was more
1 66 THE BEST WAY
the way of love divine ; do this and do that,
and thou shalt be accordingly blessed. He
did not undo the law, but he suffused it with
love. Witness the Beatitudes.
A good way to discover if you have this
love divine is to ask yourself the question,
what is your influence among the people
of your home and the community in which
you dwell ^ Is it for good *? Is it for noble
manhood and womanhood, noble and bless-
ing-bearing *? Man, dost thou ennoble wo-
men by thy presence and ways *? Woman,
dost thou ennoble men by thy presence
and ways ?
Now we want to inquire into those ways
which stand in the way of getting this love
divine.
To maintain this love divine, we have got
to get where Paul climbed — to learn to be
content in whatever condition he found him-
self. Fighting wild beasts in the arena, ship-
wrecked, in prison, teaching religion, sleep-
ing on the ground or in his hired house,
beaten with stripes, hungry or not, it was
all the same with Paul. He had learned to
be content. He was not naturally content.
When the thermometer goes to loo, we
LOVE DIVINE 167
don't like it, but after ten years' experience
we say, " That 's all right, it will be cooler
in a day or two."
What are your purposes, friend *? When
the great searchlight of Heaven is turned
with its all-seeing rays upon them, will they
all pass muster, will they all look lovely?
Please make them so.
If your " hope is built on nothing less than
Jesus' blood and righteousness," and your
whole energy is bent on getting this love
divine, you can bear any insult, any aggrava-
tion, any disappointment, any cross. Why ?
Because these things accepted only enrich
your store of love divine. They put no
bars up against your heart's desire. They
only bind you closer to the experience of the
possession of love divine.
Come, let us accept this love divine to-
day. It is a gift to us. It is given freely.
Can I give it *? No. I can only lead you
to Him who will place it in your hands.
Come, let us go to Christ, believe in Him
and try to do His words, and the gift is
yours.
Repent, and be saved to-day.
i68 THE BEST WAY
O Great God, our Father, to whom we
pray, great Spirit of Heaven, First of the
Trinity, in whose image and likeness we are
made; Thou to whom Christ prayed, hal-
lowed be Thy ngme, — hallowed be Thy
name.
As now the seraphim in Heaven are prais-
ing Thee, saying, holy, holy, holy, — wilt
not Thou tune our little hearts to sing Thy
praise *?
O come, great God, to-day, and take away
the clouds and the burdens ; come with Thy
power and set us all free from the power of
sin, that we may get a closer glimpse of
Thy greatness, and of the depth of Thy
mercy and of Thy love. " Have mercy on
our weaknesses." O reveal now Thyself to
the ones that are waiting. O honor their
call, as their cry for Thee goes beyond the
stars. Ease their pilgrimage as, weary, they
journey to the New Jerusalem. Be with
them ; Thy loving presence is enough. And
as they go down through the valley of
death, we know to our joy that Thou wilt
still be with the justified.
A LOST LAW, OR, THE PERFECT
LAW OF LIBERTY
A LOST LAW, OR, THE PERFECT
LAW OF LIBERTY
James i. 25.
Think not that I come to bear tidings of
a law that once brought blessings to men, but
which now is irretrievably lost. Nay, I come
with the correlative text, " Seek, and ye shall
find;" with the explanation that although
this law is but little known, yet the efBcacy
of its virtues is as great and grand as when it
was first proclaimed centuries ago.
We hear of arts that were lost, and then
found again. It is in that spirit I speak these
words concerning a lost law. The famous
Toledo blades were once the admiration of
fighting Europe ; the steel was so mysteri-
ously tempered that its strength was preserved,
while a wonderful bending-without-breaking
suppleness was retained. It was claimed that
men had lost the art of so making them, until
some one rediscovered the fact that they were
tempered by dipping in pure olive oil.
172 THE BEST WAY
In the city of Limoges in France, a long
time ago, there was an art known as Limoges
enamel, which consisted of enamelling beau-
tiful pictures on copper. For generations this
art was lost, and only in comparatively recent
times has it been refound.
But what is this rediscovered lost law, this
" law of liberty " ? It is a law under which
you are free from depressing care, by which
you can cast your care on Christ ; it is to be
free from the power of sin, since Christ has
conquered sin, and, having Christ within, you
also can overcome evil. It is to be free in
mind ; not to have the brain under pressure
nor your body under wrought-up conditions,
but to be calm within ; since trusting in God,
which is a condition of this lost law, brings
about this wonderful peace.
This liberty can be had alone of God
through Christ, for no one else has it to give.
It is divine, and must come from God. It is
liberty gained through obedience to the law
of Christ.
The opposite of liberty is slavery ; there-
fore if you are not free in Christ, alas I are
you not more or less a slave of Satan"? And
more or less a slave to the power of sin?
And it is woe unto such slaves.
A LOST LAW 173
Liberty without restraint is not liberty, but
license, and license is clanger in disguise. If
you say, I like liberty without law, be not
deceived, for there is no liberty without some
law. Would a sea captain go to sea without
his instruments of navigation, his compass
and quadrant *? No, he must keep his course
within the restraint these instruments dictate ;
yet such restraint is a blessing to him and
will bring him to his port. Sail the seas of
life without a Bible, without God's law, and
thus be free from saving restraint, and how
canst thou find thy way to Heaven through
gales and tempests ? Be not deceived, thou
canst not.
This law of liberty Is sometimes expressed
by the word sanctification ; it is also desig-
nated " the second blessing." Many reli-
gious misunderstandings are caused by the
fact that while people are arguing and differ-
ing they sometimes mean the same thing in
their souls, but use different words to express
it, and not being used to such differences of
expression, they are perplexed and sometimes
offended.
"The perfect law of liberty" is a law, just
as we say the law of gravitation or that gravi-
174 THE BEST WAY
tation is a law. But note this, — the law of
gravitation may be hindered, stopped, or inter-
fered with. A boy throws a ball ; by the law
of gravitation it would fall to the ground ;
another boy catches it and hinders the law
from working.
Not so is it with the law of liberty. Note
this : it is called " the 'perfect law." If you
seek to do the precepts of Christ, no one can
prevent the law from acting in the resultant
blessing of liberty of the soul. If a man is
killed, like Stephen, while serving God, this
law is not hindered, but proven in a still
more glorious way; the man is promoted
into a security of perpetual enjoyment of the
law of liberty.
We need this liberty of the soul. By it
we can overcome physical and temporal op-
pressions, and rise above the disappointments,
attacks and assaults of the world, the flesh,
and the Devil. We need this liberty ! Oh,
we do need it ! We need it every hour ;
moment by moment, we need it.
Let us again remember that this liberty is
a law; it is the result of certain action on our
part. It is definite. We say steam produced
by heating water in a boiler is a law. So
A LOST LAW 175
if we seek Christ and do His words, we shall
have Uberty. It is a perfect law. The
Spirit of the Lord , God has come upon us,
anointing us " to proclaim liberty to the cap-
tives " bound in sin and in infidelity. The
Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, which rang out
the independence of our country to the world,
bears the scriptural words, " Proclaim liberty
throughout the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof" This is temporal liberty, but I bring
you still greater good tidings of that perfect
liberty of the soul which shall secure you
blessings not only in this world, but in the
world to come.
One way of telling whether you have this
law of liberty is by examining yourself to
see if you love everybody.
Another way by which you can better tell
if you are in this divine law is this : Christ
has said that if a man love Him and keep
His words, God and He Himself will come
and make their abode with him. Not only
come, but come to stay ! Have they come
into you'? Have they stayed *? No? What's
the matter, then *? The law never fails ; its
action is perfect. Ah I it is we that fail to
keep the words — we that are imperfect.
176 THE BEST WAY
" Yes," says one, " they came, but they did
not abide. It was my fault. I did not con-
tinue the conditions of their coming. I did
the words of Christ, but I did not keep doing
them."
Such people know God, but He is so far
away from them ! He is not near. Oh, keep
Him near by keeping the words of Christ.
Let Christ be the one vital principle of your
life. Seek Him, talk to Him, obey His words,
and He will come near you and usher God
Himself into your life, and they will abide
with you and proclaim liberty unto you, a
new and necessary divine declaration of inde-
pendence to your life.
So come and be free.
I will tell you one reason why it is good to
be free — to have the freedom of the Spirit
of God, — because then you have God, —
the Triune God, — Father, Saviour, Com-
forter, a sympathizer, one who knows what
you know. Ah ! that is a great thing to have.
When people accuse you falsely, slander you
unrighteously, forsake you, misunderstand
you, think you are a coward when you are
brave, oh ! then to be able to know God and
to say to Him, " O God, Thou knowest, and
A LOST LAW 177
I know. With Thee to sympathize and be-
lieve in me I can stand their sarcasm." Aye,
a man can do all things when Christ strength-
ens him.
Hundreds of suflferers there are to-day who
are misunderstood, and receive no compas-
sion from men. It is awful to be without
sympathy, human and divine. But to be
without human sympathy, and know not
God, oh! that is awful. But if such a
man knows God under the law of liberty,
he can find rest in such a prayer as this : " O
God, Thou knowest my pain, my suffering
in the body, which the world cannot see.
Though my cheek is pink and my eye bright,
yet the fearful pain is there. My associates
understand me not, and think me lacking in
spirit. They pass me by like the Levite, but
Thou art my Good Samaritan, Thou dost
pity me."
Aye ! it is good to have God !
So felt the Southern negroes in ante-bel-
lum days, when in groups about their cabins
they would sing in their physical slavery, in a
chorus of spiritually free voices, the words : —
** Nobody knows the trouble I 'se feeling,
Nobody knows but Jesus."
178 THE BEST WAY
One thing we should carefully avoid in
seeking the law of liberty. We should
beware lest Satan tempt us by saying, " You
could make a success of it if your physical
condition were not so weak : just think what
you could do if you were in perfect health,
or if you were in different circumstances or
surroundings, or had a better education."
That is Satan.
Ah I friend, we have got to find the law
of liberty, and be free under our present
conditions and surroundings. We may not
have rations of boned turkey and guava jelly
when we become soldiers of the Cross. God
wants soldiers who can fight on hard-tack
when the fight is upon us. He is training
us for the skies. He wants no more citizens
in Heaven who would do as Satan did, who
once was an angel of light, disobeyed God,
and was cast out, only to be an enemy of
Heaven.
God wants soldiers who will mind the first
time, and now, no matter what the condi-
tions.
We must not pray so much to have our
circumstances changed, but more that we may
have grace to accept them.
A LOST LAW 179
" Accept them " ! What power in that
word " accept " ! It has been said, "Ah ! if
thou didst but know the joy of an accepted
sorrow I "
Some one says, " If I were in different sur-
roundings I could get hold of this liberty
you preach, but I can't as it is. I have so
many cares and sorrows. If I could have
time to rest and have it easier, with more
quiet to myself and less anxiety, I believe I
could get hold of that liberty."
It may be so ; but, friend, my counsel is
that if you love the Lord, He will not per-
mit you to be tried beyond that which you
are able to bear ; and that your only hope of
finding this precious liberty is to expect to
find it where you are, by cultivating the
ground whereon ypu stand, by bending your
will till it blends with God's will, and by
saying "amen" to your present troubles.
Under that heavy burden lies the lost prize,
the lost law of liberty. In that way you can
find it.
And, invalid, awake to the bright side of
thy condition ! It is no small privilege to
live with eternity ever brought so near thy
mind, owing to thy weakness. The strong in
i8o THE BEST WAY
their strength are apt to forget to lean on the
Everlasting Arms.
But who ever got hold of this perfect
law of liberty *? Oh, thousands have, from
Enoch down to some humbler heart here.
But I will tell you a good example : that is
Job!
Every living soul ought to study Job and
know Job's experience, just as much as and
more than he should study the multipli-
cation table. In the dark days a remem-
brance of how Job won the fight will be like
a reinforcing army to you in your distress.
Well, let us consider Job.
Now Job got into the law of liberty.
Listen to how he did it : —
Job was a good man, pure, honest, bene-
volent. He was practically a man of God, as
far as any outward signs went. God loved
him and wanted him to be so completely
good that He could trust him anywhere, and
that after death He could have him to reign
with Christ in the Heavenly Lands. So He
doubtless told Job again and again that he
must rid himself of some of his secret faults.
But Job had one fault that he did not get
rid of, I think.
A LOST LAW i8i
God had tried loving counsel; it failed.
There was nothing left but chastisement.
And Job was so good and brave that no
small calamity would effect the removal of
the stain on his heart. Nothing but a severe
succession of calamities would avail. Here
they come I Leprosy, his wife turned against
him, his children cruel to him, his cattle and
herds taken from him, his friends reviling
him because he had preached religion and
told them how God would stand by His own
and make their paths those of pleasantness
and peace, and now^ — how had his God
treated him ? Ah, that was harsh for poor
Job. See him, foul with disease, bereft of
family affections, his property gone, and his
one hope in God assailed I O God, come
to his help I O God, remember how much
Job proved for Thee ! Remember his alms
and his honorable career I
Now wait a moment.
I do not believe that leprosy came on Job
because he had sinned against the laws of
purity. I think it was like the blind one in
Christ's day, of whom He said in reply to an
inquiry. Neither did this man sin, nor his
parents, but his blindness came upon him
i82 THE BEST WAY
that God might be glorified by a miracle
which was to follow, — his cure.
So with Job. Innocence, or practical in-
nocence, sometimes suffers, but out of the
suffering grows the graceful tree of conse-
crated usefulness.
" Sorrow never leaves us where it finds us."
Now why do I tell you about this ? It is
to remind you that when tribulations are
about you, and the blue sky does not come
your way, that very likely it is for your best
good, and out of your distress a blessing will
be born.
"'Tis against my sins He fighteth," we
sing in our hymn.
Yes, out of sorrow shall blessings be born.
All the pearls in my casket, — where did I
get them? In merrymaking and profit-tak-
ing? Nay, — the things that are most price-
less to me I got down in the shadows of
sorrowing, in the depths of distress, when I
trained myself to say "amen," and rose above
temptation.
But Job is sitting there, foul with leprosy,
deserted by his family, bereft of his property,
and in the presence of some reviling infidels
who have watched his career. Now they are
A LOST LAW 183
delighted to see him in deep distress. "Ah,"
they think, " his God has forsaken him ; it
is better to think as we do and be infidels."
And they turn to Job, and say, " Why don't
you curse God and die *? " And Job in his
agony of mind may have been tempted of
Satan to accept their advice, but God loved
Job and He was by his side ; He would not
suffer him to be tempted beyond his abiHty.
So the angel of the Lord that encamps around
those that fear Him said to Job in a still
voice, " Cease not to praise God, Job, this is
for some wise purpose."
" Curse God and die," they cry to Job.
In this spirit, men in the store, on the street,
or in the train, speak to many a man when
seeking to draw him away from his vows to
Christ.
" Curse God and die ; " but God says to
Job, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee," or words of like avail.
But still these wicked men taunt Job with
his leprosy and his bad luck, as men foolishly
say, and drive poor Job almost distracted;
and then, in the supreme test put upon him,
the Lord Himself, I think, came to Job and
said to his soul, " I will stand by you." At
i84 THE BEST WAY
that, Job in his misery of body faced his
revilers, and cried in a loud voice, " Though
He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."
Ah, that was one of the most majestic mo-
ments since creation !
Just think what faith and trust it required
for Job to say that; but still his leprosy is
upon him. It don't go away. His beset-
ting sin evidently was not a lack of trust in
God.
Take off your shoes, we are approaching
holy ground !
Now, as Job feels in his soul the presence
of God and realizes the companionship of
our Lord, he gazes upon the reviling infidels
before him, and a great pity for them, igno-
rant of God, comes upon him. And out of
that pity love is born, " love divine, all love
excelling." And the love of God is so greatly
shed abroad in his soul that in another su-
preme moment of holy experience he loves
these men, his enemies, and prays for them.
Methinks presently Job forgave and loved
all his enemies; all those who had reviled
and slandered him, all who had cheated him
in business, or who had borne false witness
against him. He loves his enemies now !
A LOST LAW 185
But what is happening now? Behold the
astonished faces of those infidels I Job's lep-
rosy is departing. His skin is becoming pink
and white, like that of a youth. The inflam-
mation has gone. Ah ! now I surely know
Job's besetting sin ; I think he did not really
love his enemies, nor pray for them. This
is what God, in his love for Job, was after.
Now good Job is ready to live and ready to
die, and to be promoted when his time shall
come.
But what is this, — what is this dust in the
distance? It must be a mighty herd of
cattle coming! Behold all of Job's live-stock
is coming back to him ; only — what can it
mean? There is a herd twice as large as
he had ! The infidels are converted, I think,
by the miraculous change in Job's condition
and property.
And Job is full of joy, but in his honest
heart he exclaims, " These cattle are not all
mine, nor all these camels. Such camels I
never saw ! See that magnificent specimen,
— the finest camel that ever bore a burden
for man ! "
Thereupon, one of the former revilers ex-
citedly called out, " Yes, Job, they must all
i86 THE BEST WAY
be yours; for, see, every one of them has
your mark."
Job, perceiving this, with reverent voice
may have said, " This is the Lord's doing ;
blessed be His name."
Now notice one thing. When Job had
proved that he would praise God no matter
what came, and would really love his enemies,
God gave him back his blessings of health
and prosperity ; but his afflictions of rebel-
lious wife and cruel children are not men-
tioned as having been brought back upon
him. Methinks Job proved so much, that
God tried him no longer.
Friend, think not that I have meant to
overstep the bounds of Scripture in the above
relation. It is meant only to explain what I
believe to be the deep things of the Book of
Job. Yes, — Job got hold of the law of
liberty. Job is my hero.
So Christ, as Job did, before his final
triumph of the spirit, groaned aloud in His
agony, " My God, why hast Thou forsaken
me ? Nevertheless Thy will, not mine, be
done. It was for this hour I came into the
world." So, friend, may it not be that it was
to be purified and refined and cultivated for
A LOST LAW 187
Heaven that you and I came into this world,
— to be fitted for the next ? If we would
share the glories of Christ, we must also share
His sufferings. Not otherwise can I under-
stand the mission of tribulations.
Ah ! I rejoice that I have shared some of the
sorrows of my Master.
But to pass nothing by that would espe-
cially hinder our gaining this law of liberty,
it is necessary to probe very deep into our heart
of hearts to discover the controlling motive
of our Christian life. What is your motive
in being good and in doing good ? If your
motive is solely to get pure and straight with-
out thought of helping others to Heaven : if
your motive is to gain, by righteousness, a
beautiful place in the world, to be loved and
respected by others for your purity and your
honesty, such motives will fail you and be
found wanting when you seek a divine mem-
bership in the fellowship of the law of liberty.
God will not give such the sanction of His
full support. Such motives may wither and
die. There is no real unselfishness, the water
of life, at their roots.
But what, then, shall a man's motive be *?
A Scotchman answered that. When asked
i88 THE BEST WAY
what his business was, he replied, " My busi-
ness is to glorify God, but I peg shoes for a
living." That is the secret of admittance into
the privileges of the law of liberty. That is
the keynote which preludes the harmony of
inspiration, — to glorify God by being pure
and unselfish and Christlike ; not for self-satis-
faction or good report among men or neigh-
bors. This motive God will seal with His
divine approval, and great peace and joy and
honor from above will be that man's portion.
Do you remember John v. 44, which reads,
" How can ye believe, which receive honor
one of another, and seek not the honor that
cometh from God only ? "
John Wesley went about, during the first
years of his ministry, almost fruitlessly, prov-
ing his own righteousness, so to speak ; but
when he forgot himself and sought the salva-
tion of men for the glory of God and for their
welfare, then came from Heaven the fire of
success, and the divine approval fanned the
fire till it spread, from a little spark in Eng-
land, to two continents and round the world.
Satan often seeks to intercept the divine
law by whispering to men the beauty of self-
holiness, whereas the only holiness possible
A LOST LAW 189
is that which leaves out self. Thus is the
personal element taken away and only God
is left in its place ; then men see God in you
and are convicted and converted. Your Hfe
then is inspired by the Most High.
" But," says one, " is it not enough to live
true religion by visiting the widows and
fatherless in their affliction and to keep one's
self unspotted from the world *? "
Yes, indeed, but the last part of that defi-
nition of religion covers the point I refer to,
namely, our motive in being religious should
be to glorify God without being spotted by
any thought of the glory or applause the world
will give us. So Longfellow witnessed when
he said the right way to do one's work was
to do the best we could without thought of
fame. This also strikes the keynote which
preludes the harmony of inspiration divine.
Ah I then if our motive is solely to glorify
God by our sincerely devout lives, then will
the glory of Heaven descend upon us ; dove-
like it will stretch its white wings of bene-
diction over us and accompany us in our
work, so long as by prayer and purpose we
keep at the point where our highest hope is
to glorify God.
I90 THE BEST WAY
Kindly note that word " keep." It has a
wonderful power in it. Christ said if ye love
me ye will do my words. But He also said,
if ye KEEP my words, my Father and I will
make our abode with you.
Let us, then, glorify God I
If your motive is to glorify God, that does
away forever with the hydra-headed monster
named " fear of the world." If such be your
motive, you care not for that bugbear of the
world, what it says or thinks of you, as long
as you do right and have God's approval
in your soul. To one truly consecrated to
Him, this fear of the world is but a bugbear,
a bear as large as an insect, — nothing very
terrible when you analyze its meaning.
When you make the motive of your life
to glorify God through Christ, and keep to it,
then you have solved the problem of life and
proved the Christ principle.
Thus only can you receive the degree of
a doctor of the law of liberty. It can be re-
ceived in the hayfield or in college.
Some one says, " I have no sickness, neither
do I cry. My barns are full ; prosperity sits
on my doorstep. I don't think I need the
law of liberty."
A LOST LAW 191
All right, such a one ! No, forgive me,
you are all wrong. You have not taken into
consideration your soul, that which will live
forever. Your soul needs the law of liberty.
In old age thy strength shall weaken. Then
shall thy sufficiency mock thee ; for thy suf-
ficiency will not bribe the angels that guard
the gates of eternity. Thou needest the law
of liberty now, but how much more wilt thou
need it then ?
I speak now to those in sorrow. As a
servant of the " Man of Sorrows," I offer you
the perfect law of liberty, which will make
you free, and free indeed. Your sorrow will
flee away.
This day have you not read or heard some-
thing that gives you a glimpse of happiness ?
" Yes," sa^^s one, " a thrill of joy awakens
me into the understanding of what I might
be if I would."
Very well, then willingly seek the Author
of the law of liberty, and peace and hope shall
be thine. Thy joy shall be fulfilled. The
thrill that came to thy heart was a ray of
God's mercy. Enfold it in thy heart, and
thou shalt hold the hope thou hast.
Some people there are who are seemingly
192 THE BEST WAY
under no restraint, and others who, mistaken,
are under the letter of the law, not discerning
the spirit of the law. Both are to be pitied,
and are out in the cold.
It is the wish of God that all should know
Him, and be free.
Those without restraint are going straight
into the depths of eternal bondage. They
cry, " Live while you live, for to-morrow you
die." The death of these shall be ever-dying,
and always living in agony ; no life in Heaven
shall they enjoy. But they shall know that
Heaven is, and that they have lost it.
Others there are who are bound by the
letter of the law and have not been freed by
the spirit of the law of liberty. Such are
bound by the infallible laws representing
the penalties of sin, some by ill-health, some
by pinching poverty, some by domestic dis-
tress grievous to be borne, unless the spirit
of freedom sets them free.
Yet this perfect law of liberty declares all
such freedmen to-day, if they but will be free.
It takes the hard yoke from the galled
shoulders and substitutes the yoke of Christ,
which is easy and light.
This law of liberty declares liberty to thee,
A LOST LAW 193
son of prosperity, who in health and abun-
dance yet knowest not God, the Giver of
both. Apparently without restraint, thou art
yet bound with double thongs of imprison-
ment. Oh, I love such. To think that thou
hast everything and yet hast nothing ! If thou
wouldst only turn thy heart heavenward all
thy prosperity could be turned into the joys
of usefulness. As it is, will not thy forces,
which thou art consuming in thoughtlessness,
turn into a fire which will consume thee thy-
self? Oh, turn to God, take Christ into thy
life, and thy consecrated prosperity shall bring
thee peace and safety. If thou turnest not,
it will lead thee, unheeding, ruthlessly down
the incline to Hell.
" Turn ye, turn ye. Why will ye die *? "
Be blessed by the perfect law of liberty.
Enroll thyself among its sons.
" Oh," another says, " I am free enough.
I don't think I will bother about this law of
liberty anyhow. Someway I don't like to
go to church. I don't hear anything that
makes me feel happy, and sometimes, if the
preaching is extra good and has the right
ring to it, I feel condemned. I often wish
I had stayed at home and read a book."
194 THE BEST WAY
Ah ! there *s the point ! You do need this
law of liberty, else you would not feel con-
demned in your spirit. Know this, then,
there is no condemnation to those who are in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Never hear anything
in church that gives you a thrill of joy, a
feeling of aspiration after something better,
an exaltation of hope, a knowledge of how
to escape from present condemnation ? Then
you have been listening to the wrong preacher.
Is it not enough to create happiness in you
to know that Christ now presents to you, if
you will come near enough to take it from
His own hand, a passport into everlasting
happiness and a protection from everlasting
Hell *? No sickness in Heaven, no sorrow nor
crying, no disappointments nor misunder-
standings; contentment, and your heavenly
wishes gratified forever ! Is this, then, not
enough ? If you wish more, you have it in
the words, " He that overcometh shall inherit
all things." There is nothing more than " all."
Jesus said, " The truth shall make you
free." But I have seen this scripture wronged,
and I have seen men who have wrested these
words from their true meaning unto their
own destruction.
A LOST LAW 195
This scripture is akin to the law of lib-
erty, and so I would help you to beware
lest you think those words of Christ mean
that the truth will make you free to be lib-
eral, as it is falsely called, to believe what
seems right to you, perhaps, unillumined by
the Spirit-Mind. "Liberal" means "fair,"
and it is fair to expound Scripture only
when your mind is in the power of the Holy
Ghost.
" Yes," says Mr. Liberal, " the Bible says
the truth shall make me free ; free to think
as I please. Then there is no Hell, because
the idea shocks me."
Oh, you don't say sol Are you any-
body in particular, to ruthlessly wrest the
truth from its pedestal of facts ? Did you
ever think tliat " free " meant free from the
power of sin?
" No Hell ? " you say. What right have
you to make such a statement in face of the
Bible saying the contrary *? Why not say
" no Heaven," and be an open and out-and-
out ambassador of Satan ?
"No Hell," no wrath of God, no divine
jealousy for broken laws divine ? Tell me,
then, why is an innocent child born a con-
196 THE BEST WAY
sumptive ? Why does the relentless law of
heredity bring the sins of the parents to the
third and fourth generations?
Ah, God's wrath is all about us, as well as
His love. It is stamped on the countenances
of many we meet. Believe me, in all kind-
ness, " The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom."
You surely cannot now say, " God is a God
of love alone."
Be not deceived. Hell is !
The law of liberty makes us free and safe
from the power of evil, hereafter as well as
here. There shall be no Hell for him who
wears at death the decoration of the law of
liberty on his soul. It conquers the grave,
and turns death to blessedness.
" But is the soul immortal *? " a friend
remarks.
Yes, it is immortal.
" Well, I would like you to prove it to
me."
I will tell you how it can be proved.
There are two ways in which the immor-
tality of the soul can be proved to your con-
•sciousness and to your satisfaction. The first
A LOST LAW 197
is by your will and consent, and the second,
whether you will or no.
The first proof is, if you willingly do or
obey the teachings of Christ, you will come
to realize, and to your satisfaction know, the
existence of a personal God, of Heaven
and Hell, of your own soul and its immor-
tality.
By such willing obedience your soul will
be made alive, which may now be dormant
and well-nigh covered up by the rubbish
of worldliness or unbelief In obeying the
words of Christ you cultivate and educate
that soul of yours, and bring it into its nor-
mal condition, which is to have faith in God.
Oh, won't you turn ? why will you die un-
saved ?
The second proof, whether you will or no,
is this : —
Come ; let us approach the time of death,
when the strength of your heart grows weak,
and dissolution is almost present.
When your breath gets short, when you
breathe with difficulty and are near the gates
of death, then you become conscious of some-
thing like a great light in you ; it is as if you
were turning into something else.
igS THE BEST WAY
What is this light ? It is that part of you
which is immortal.
Your body now seems to fall from you
like a discarded garment.
Your intellect seems to yield its suprem-
acy to the spirit, and here right before you
and in you and of you, right before your con-
sciousness, so that you are well aware of it,
is your immortal soul, your immortal self, —
that part of you which cleaves the sky after
death, and which, endowed with all sensibil-
ity, enjoys, if redeemed, a blessed existence
forever.
This is the second proof, made by divine
dictation, whether you will or no.
" How do I know this *? " you ask.
Because I have been down into that coun-
try where breaths come short and labored, —
the door of death, and I found it as I have
said.
When, on a bed of sickness, life grows
dim, the gate of Heaven seems to open to
our redeemed vision, and we may see angels
ready to welcome us. " Crown him victori-
ous ! " they shout. " Welcome to Heaven ! "
But then the voice of God speaks in the
soul of him who thought he would die, say-
A LOST LAW 199
ing, "Not yet; I am not yet through with
you; your work is not yet done. Again
must you enter the battle of life to live for
Me and to glorify Me ; and you shall enrich
your heavenly portion by suffering yet to
come, and by your labor of love for Me.
You must share Christ's sufferings, or you
cannot share His glory above."
Now at the time of death, the living spirit
transcends the dying physical, and its powers
are undimmed by ordinary limitations as is
not often the case when we are otherwise
situated, and the living spirit's vision is
now uninterrupted. Unveiled, the eye of
faith, an element of the soul, now sees with
wondrous clearness. Thus it is that a pure-
minded child or a consecrated adult dying
will often exclaim, " I see Jesus," or " I can
behold the Heavenly Land." Then is it
possible for the eye of faith to ascend to
Heaven, in some small measure, as the eye
of God descends to earth.
Thus, at the end of life, does the spirit
assert its right .of recognition, whether we
will or no.
What is a spirit when it goes to Heaven
and lives ?
200 THE BEST WAY
A spirit is an intelligent form without a
corruptible substance.
" You ask me to accept Christ, and live in
this law of liberty ? "
Yes, the love for Christ constrains me to
love you and your welfare.
" I will put it off to some other time."
Oh, pray do not put this matter off. Know
this, that when in sickness or your last illness,
with the failing strength of body, the mind
also, and your will, get weak ; each of these
is a servant of your heart's blood. Your mind
then finds action difficult. It cannot grasp
the truth in Christ as it can under stronger
conditions. Then your condemned heart
seeks to make your condemned mind get
hold of the truth of salvation. It tries, but
its strength fails it. God's Spirit shall not
always strive with thee.
Baffled by weakness, you perchance will
sink into the yawning gulf of insensibility,
and in your waning consciousness your ear
shall only hear the words that Satan shall say
in his soliloquy, " Another fool neglected his
chance to escape this doom."
Now when, instead of the Heaven-assuring
voice of God upon your death-bed, devils sur-
A LOST LAW 20I
round you and gloat over their supposed cap-
ture of you, how are you going to drive them
away ? They hover about you for your soul
just as buzzards hover about a dying beast,
anxious to possess it. How are you going
to drive them away? Perhaps you can't.
May be your conscience will be so dead and
your mind so weak you will not have strength
to approach the throne of grace, or get hold
of Christ, the Saviour.
But if you should happen to have enough
spiritual strength, even then you can repent
and be saved. You can call on God, and
your sincerity will bring Him very near, and
the devils cannot bear the brightness of His
coming. Like bats they will fly away and
hide in the dark.
But how many death-bed repentances think
you there are, out of the whole number,
counted worthy to enter Heaven ?
One per cent. ?
I think that is a very large estimate. Can
we take the chance of that one per cent. *?
Never ! The way for us is to make our peace
with God now. '''Now is the appointed
time." When you are ready to die you are
ready to live.
202 THE BEST WAY
And will you tell me this ? If you cannot
drive the evil away now through a present
knowledge of God and His power within you,
how are you going to drive it away when the
devil shall sit by your bedside, waiting for
you to die ? If you cannot now drive away
the evils of unbelief, impurity, selfishness,
and the other servants of Satan, how can you
when you are in the weakness of death ?
So — Ho, every one that thirsteth for the
perfect law of liberty, that law which is a
passport to Heaven and a protection from
Hell!
Ho I Every one that thirsteth to be free !
Ho I Every one that is being chastened
under the rods of ill-health, of distress domes-
tic or financial I
Ho ! Every one to whom the yoke of dis-
appointment is galling I
Ho ! Ye who are sitting in the shadows of
great sorrows !
Ho ! Ye who are tired of sin I
Good news for you to-day !
There is a way to be free ! There is relief
for you ! Your humiliation shall be turned
into rejoicing, and your distress to success in
the spirit of God.
A LOST LAW 203
Come, only come and take Christ into
your life.
Come, only come and give your heart to
God.
Come, in love I invite you.
Come, be bom again of the Holy Spirit.
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost will then be
your strength, your hope, your comfort.
Come under the wings of the perfect law
of liberty, which is the result of faith in and
obedience to Christ; and your tears shall be
wiped away, and a better smile than the long-
ago smile will transfigure your countenance.
" Harden not your hearts."
Arise and be free ! " And he arose and
came unto his father."
Determine you will serve God. Resolve
you will follow Christ. Make up your mind
you will keep the Holy Spirit in your soul.
And God through Christ will save you.
ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED
BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND CO.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
i-,os Angeies
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. '
URC MAR 2 9 J9^3 REC'
Im-ii^'. MAY 15 1SB9 ,
A1IAJ83O
1973
S DEC V75
-' ■ ■ !
^-.T> t^
1-^
OWON MAY13'89
I.DIURL
Form L9-Series 444
\^&-
3 1158 00198 2320
r»LE/>^ DO NOT REMOVE
TMJS BOCK CARD-si
"'RV FACILITY
University Research Library
"y
.j: