NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS
COMPRISING
CHOICE SELECTIONS, ANECDOTES, SIMILES, INCIDENTS EXPLANATORY AND
ILLUSTRATIVE, GATHERED FROM MANY SOURCES IN THIS AND OTHER COUNTRIES, TOGETHER
WITH ORIGINAL ARTICLES PREPARED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK, BY WHICH MORE THAN
ONE THOUSAND SELECTED PASSAGES
FROM
THE NEW TESTAMENT
ARE ILLUSTRATED.
BY
REV. WILLIAM JONES,
1 1
WITH ARTICLES FROM
Bishop Clark, Rev. Dr. Krummacher, Rev. T. L. Cuyler, Rev. D. Curry, D. D., Bishop
Thomson, Rev. Dr. Crosby, Bishop Hall, Rev. Dr. Buddington, Rev. Dr. Chalmers,
Rev. Dr. Tyng, Bishop Simpson, Rev. Dr. Busline!!, Rev. C. H. Spurgeon,
Rev. T. DeWitt Talmadge, and other Celebrated Authors.
ILLUSTRATED WITH STEEL ENGX
HARTFORD :
THE J. B. BURR PUBLISHING CO.
1875.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1874, by
WILLIAM JONES,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
3 PREFACE.
It has been the intention of the author of this work, from the begin-
ning of its construction, to use only such anecdotes and incidents as
peculiarly illustrate selected passages of the New Testament. It is pos-
sible that, to the minds of some readers, a portion of its articles may not
appear to illustrate the texts to which they are attached. From such he
craves a kind and charitable regard for the work, hoping they will
remember, that what to some minds may appear less relevant and pointed
than desirable to them may be valuable to others.
It is humbly believed that this volume fills a hitherto unoccupied space
in literature, by happily combining Scripture, Incident, and Exposition,
so that the most common passages of Holy Scripture, when read in con-
nection with the articles attached to them, will be invested with new
interest, and suggestive of new lines of -thought.
The following pages will preserve many valuable and hitherto scattered
fragments of literature by putting them in permanent form. About five
hundred different authors are represented in the work, which comprises
more than one thousand separate articles. Many of these authors have
been dead for centuries, but here speak again as voices from the grave.
The compiler trusts that the minister of the gospel will find in this col-
lection suitable illustrations to use in the pulpit, and helps in social meet-
ings ; and that the superintendent of the Sunday school will be greatly
aided by it in his work, while the common reader will find what will
interest and pro^t him wherever he may open the book.
The author would not Ml to make acknowledgment of indebtedness
to the New Cyclopedia of Illustrations, by Rev. E. Foster, from which a
few articles have been taken; also from Things New and Old, and
Arvine's Cyclopedia, and other smaller volumes; while many of the
selections have come from religious papers of various Christian denomi-
nations. A considerable portion of the book has never appeared in print
before, being original articles of the expository and incidental class, pre-
pured by the author and others expressly for this work.
If this volume shall strengthen the weak, encourage the young, in the
service of Christ, embolden the timid, establish the wavering, awaken
the careless, and recover the deceived from the error of his way, the
author will feel that the labor of years has not been in vain. That some
of these results, or all of them, may be realized by sending forth this
book to the world, is the prayer of
WILLIAM JONES.
LYONS, N. Y., October, 1*874.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
THE GOLDEN GATE, JERUSALEM FRONTISPIECE.
JERUSALEM AND THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, . . . . . .63
CHRIST WALKING ON THE SEA, 71
CHRIST GIVING SIGHT TO THE BLIND, 146
"SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME," .... 153
MOUNT SINAI AND THE PLAIN, 255
FRIENDS OF JESUS, 261
JESUS AND THE SAMARITAN, 28 1
MOSES AND THE TABLES OF THE LAW, . . . . . .30!
THE PRINCESS FINDING MOSES 383
CITY OF ANTIOCH, 405
MOUNT LEBANON AND THE COAST OF Si DON, .... 441
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
A.
A Beautiful Incident, .... 218
A Boy's Faith in God, .... 875
Absorbed in Religion, 630
Access to God, 625
Acknowledging God in Eating, . . 68
A Command disregarded, .... 665
A Compliment, 545
A Constant Miracle, 845
A Foretaste of Coming Misery, . . 837
A Fruitful Text, 424
After Death Influence, 843
Agony of Christ in the Garden, . 258
A Lesson of Trust, 557
All for the Best, 647
All Sufficiency of Christ, .... 628
A Life of Faith, 786
A Lost Man, 83
Almost and Altogether, .... 439
A man who Thought he Never _
Prayed, 419
Amusements, Things Miscalled, . 636
A Minister Reproved by his Dream, 380
A More Excellent way, .... 540
Amusements, what are Sinful, . . 835
An able Ministry, ." 565
An awful Confession, "I Am Lost," 570
And the Book was not There, . . 162
Anger without Sin, 807
An Incident with a Lesson, . . . 228
An Old Sea Captain's Advice, . . 582
A Misdirected Letter, 505
Answers to Prayer, 875
Apostles, Fate of, 355
Apostacy, Repenting of, .... 172
A Practical Refutation, 780
A Pulpit Baptism, 765
A Remarkable Meeting, .... 932
A Rich Poor Man, 742
A Sermon that Paid Well, . . . 434
A Skeptic's Test, 300
A Skeptic Silenced, 506
Ask Large Blessings, 340
PAGE.
A Solemn but True Charge, . . . 637
A Son who Preached his Father's
Funeral Sermon, 64
Atonement for sin, the felt want of
man, 545
Atonement Illustrated by a Simile,.. 766
A Touch of the Whip, .... 724
A Trusting Faith the best, .... 192
Avoiding Temptation, 677
Awakened by a Father's Dream, . 547
A way of Escape, 533
A War Against the Book, . . . 9(5
B.
Bad Books and their Influence, . . 420
Bad Principles Unsatisfactory in
Death, . 857
Baptizing in the Name of Jesus, . 119
Be a Christian Everywhere, . . . 920
Beast, A Scarlet Colored, .... 929
Beautiful Prayers, 245
Be Careful of your Influence, . . 528
Be Content to Know what God Re-
veals, 542
Be Devout in Conversation, . . . 648
Be Fair iii Comparing, 506
Be Gigantic Christians, .... 640
Begin Your Religion Aright, . . 266
Beguiling Souls by Corrupting
them, 595
Belief, A Man Responsible for his, . 497
Belief, Dr. Chalmer's on, .... 842
Believe and not Doubt, 91
Be Merciful to the Poor, .... 1 94
Be not Burdened, 718
Bethlehem of Judea, 23
Beware of Pride, 8GO
Be Ye Reconciled to God, . . . . 577
Beyond the Mercy of God, . . . 451
Bible, An Eloquent Tribute to the . 103
Bible or no Bible, 2S
Bible, Authority of the, . . . . 191
Bible Promises of General Application, 845
8
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Bible Reading, Remarkable Exam-
ples of, 906
Billy Dawson's Eloquence, . . . 907
Bishop Ridley on Faithfulness, . . 422
Boasting in Christ, 702
Bodily Indulgence, 465
Book* The Inestimable, .... 189
Boldness Through Love, . . . . 872
Bishop Ilatto or the Mouse Tower, 867
Bishop Lattimer's Old Sermon, . . 446
Blasphemy, 923
Blessings with Restraint, . . . . 443 !
Blessed are the Dead, 926
Blood Purifying, 779
Blood/The Price of, 116
Blood of Christ, The 856
Boldness through Love, .... 872
Bound with his own Chain, ... 95
Brilliant but not Successful, ... 201
Buchanan, Claudius the Highlander, 834
Building on the Sand, 42
Business that God will not take, . 775
Business and Prayer, 417
By these we Overcome, .... 921
C.
Call His Name Jesus, . . . . . 178
Can you Settle your Account ? . ." 234
Can we do More for Christ? . . . 464
Cares of this World, 61
Captain Waterman at the siege of
Lucknow, 838
Carrying on Business for Christ, . 680
Cast all upon Christ, ...'.. 839
Cheer Him, 500
Certainty of a General Judgment, . 497
Character, Christian a growth, . 134
Character indicated by works, . . 41
Change of the Sabbath, .... 174
Change a Great in a Short Time, 137
Character made up of Morsels, . . 803
Cranmer's Forgivingness, .... 161
Child, a Much Indulged, .... 6:39
Children, the Early Conversion of, . 82
Children to be Early taught Divine
Truth, 733
Childhood recognized in Christian-
ity, 153
Christ's Kingdom founded in Thought 347
Christ is Wonderful, 468
Christ the Soul Physician, ... 390
Christian Experience Everywhere, . 410
Children and Christianity, . . . 372
Christ the Only Name, 368
Christ's Coming at the Sea, . . . 353
Christ the Metropolis of the Script-
ures, 325
Christians represent Christ, . . . 344
Christ the Model Teacher, . . . 275
Christ our Sacrifice, 272
Christ our Soul's Food, .... 297
Christ Divine, 317
Christian Faithfulness, .... 47
Christ the Son of God, .... 72
Christianity a Finality, 100
Christ in the Garden, 113
Christ our Strength, 478
Christ our King, 930
Christ, be Alive for, 257
Christ, boldly Confessing, .... 402
Christ's heart given for the World, 170
Christ's Appeal to the Scriptures, . 27
Chiseled to make better, .... 798
Christ anticipating his finished work, 341
Christ's love Manifested in Sympathy, 320
Christ our Deliverer, 471
Christianity Exemplified, .... 492
Christ and Him Crucified, . . . 511
Christ and not Oratory, . . . . 511
Christian Labor not Mascrline, . . 655
Christ the Head of the Church, . . 660
Christian Burden a Blessing, . . 598
Christ our All in-all, 622
Christ at the Heart's Door, ... 901
Christ described by -St. John, . .917
Christ's Ascension, 268
Christian Women, 265
Christ in Sympathy with the Suffer-
ing, 45
Christ, double Sufferings of, . . . 1 73
Christmas Evan's Polislud Arrow, . 567
Christian Liberality, 589
Christian Courtesy, 833
Christian Effort, 652
Christianity proving itself, ... 318
Church, a shining, 32
Chrysostom's Eloquence, .... 67
Cleaving to Christ, 335
Clinging, a Scripture Poem, . . . 946
Coming back to Christ, .... 853
" Come ye to the Waters," . . . 303
Commune, Refusing to, 536
CONTENTS.
Come now, 226
Complete only in Christ, .... 664
Coming of the Son of Man, . . . 102
Converted Late in Life, 227
Confessor, a True, 484
Continued all Night in Prayer, . . 1 93
Convicted by their own Consciences, 305
Conquering one's self, 657
Conversion, 367
Conscience, Relief for a Distressed, 455
Count Gasparin, Conversion of, . 304
Courteous Reply to an Infidel, . . 293
Couple Heaveti with it, 840
Correct view of the Pulpit, . . . 735
Covetousness, the Sin of, . . . . 219
Covetousness, 635
Covetousness, a Soul Destroyed by, 816
Crucifixion Described, 350
Crowns of the Saints, 903
Cups of Cold Water, 151
Cyril of Cesarea, 573
D.
Dancing that led to Murder, . . . 143
Danger in Doubting, 307
Daniel confirmed by Historic Discov-
eries, 166
Daniel, Prophecy fulfilled, . . . 101
Day of Judgment and Perdition of
Ungodly Men, 851
Death of a Backslider, 713
Dead yet Living, 785
Death of a Noted Infidel, . . . . 115
Dealing with a Young Infidel, . . 84
Deceivableness of Sin, 470
Death-bed testimony against Avari-
ciousness, 221
Denying Christ through Covetous-
ness, 729
Delivered unto death for our sins, . 459
Deliver us from evil, 214
Delivered, Providentially, .... 396
Departing from God, 754
Delay Dangerous, 758
Description of our Saviour, . . . 349
Despise not Prophesying, .... 685
Demonology of the Bible, ... 407
Despising and Ridiculing Religion, 400
Did she Walk in Newness of Life? 463
Did he not do Right ? 370
Did you ever drink of that Fountain ? 937
PAGE.
Did not belong to Christ's Flock, . 862
Difficulties settled by Forgiving them, 559
Dignity of Believers, 749
Discipline of the Young, .... 797
Diligent in Doing Evil, .... 521
Dissimulation, 604
Divinity and Humanity of Christ, 480
Devices of Satan for purposes of
advantage over Men, .... 560
Divine Anathema explained, . . 556
Divine Love 'for the Unworthy, . . 804
Doctrinal Preaching, 711
Doctrinal and Practical Preaching, 715
Doers of the Word, 805
Double Sufferings of Christ, . . 173
Dome of God's Providence, . . . 146
Do Nothing Religion, 208
Do not leave Christ out, .... 386
Do not Fret, 253
Do the Truth, 2SO
Donald and the Duke, 779
Doing the Devil's Work, .... 393
Doing Good prevented Sin, . . . 453
Do you Ever Pray ? 489
Dr. Cummings on " The Real Pres-
ence," 5.35
Dr. Channing as a Preacher, . . C01
Dr. Fletcher and the Dying Infidel, 316
Dr. Guthrie's Secret, ..... 135
Dr. Hall's Tract, "Come ta Jesus," 55
Drifting, 6CO
Dr. Mason and the Dying Unitarian, COS
Dr. Miller's Duck Story, .... 641
Dr. Morrison, Boyhood of, ... 693
Dr. Nettleton's reply to a Caviler, . 409
Dr. Judson's Conversion, .... 821
Dress of Christian Women, . . . 831
Dress as an Idol, 808
Drunkenness, 524
Dr. Rush on Theater Going, . . 466
Dying of Thirst, 284
Dying Without Hope, . . . . . 782
E.
Earnest Faith, . . /TV . . 720
Earth, Destruction of by Fire, . . 853
Effects of Prayer, 868
Effectiveness of Appropriate Illustra-
tion, 128
Embarrassing a Priest, 144
Emotional Christianity, .... 426.
10
COXTENTS.
PAGE.
Enlargement a Great Blessing, . . 580
Epistle, a Living, 563
Epistles of Christ, 564
Error, Contributions to, .... 847
Error Blind? the Mind; .... 696
Established in Faith, 406
Eternal Life, 452
Eternal Duration, 85
Eternity, 132
Evangelism against Boinaiiisin, 694
Evidences of Genuine Conversion, . 5S8
Evil Company, 523
Expository Preaching, .... 717
Example, a bad, and its Influence, . 499
Exposition of St. Matt. 1G: 18, . . 75
F.
Faith, a Mother's, Rewarded, . . 75
Faithful Treadling, 103
Fair weather Christians, . . . . 115
Faith that Removes Mountains, . 160
Faith Triumphing over Nature, . 457
Faith which Justifies, 460
Faith Subject to the Will, ... 483
Faith, Contending for the, ... 882
Faithful Frances, ..;... C50
Faithful Resistance to Evil, . . .716
Faithfulness in the Discharge of
Duty, . . 8SO
Faith, Early Christian, .... 878
Faithful unto Death 894
Faithfulness Rewarded, .... 927
Faithful Dealing with Sinners, . . 931
False Conscientiousness, .... 100
False Charity, ....... 239
Falsir rivtenses, Rebuked for, . . 259
False Representations, .... 436
False Philosophy corrected by Chris-
tianity, 552
Far from God, a Punishment, . . 151
Farragut, Admiral, and the Priest, . 880
Fashionable Women, 527
Father and Son, Equal Honor to, . 290
Father Sewell, Anecdote of, . . . 169
Frar the Sexton, 216
I-Y.-d My Lambs, 354
Female Influence, 262
Female Helpers in the Ministry, . 503
Fenclon, A Pupil of, 569
Figures of Heaven, 911
Final Destruction of the Covcteous, 2::8
Finding Happiness in God, . . .
Fisk, 1). D., Rev. Wilbur, . . .
Five Steps to the Gallows, . . .
Flying to Christ, as the only Hope,
Follow the True Light, ....
For or Against Christ,
Forgiveness Among Neighbors, . .
Foolish Questions Wisely Answered,
For Charlie's Sake,
For the Gospel's Sake,
Forgiveness, Rule of,
Form of Godliness without the
Power,
Found Again in Safety, ....
Fruit after Many Days, ....
Fruitless Professors,
From Darkness to Light, .
Funeral Sermons, Be True in Preach-
ing,
Fully Saved,
G.
Getting on too Fast,
Gcrizime and Ebal,
Giving Thanks to God, ....
Giving to God, a Condition of Re-
ceiving,
Gifts of Gold to Jesus,
Give, Exalted to,
Giving, Father Sewell 's
Giving Scripturally and by Resolu-
tion,
Glory Awaiting us,
Glorying in the Cross of Christ, .
Glorifying God in all Things, . .
Glorying in Tribulation, . . .
" God was in Christ, "
God's Promises,
God's Way the Best Way, . . .
God is not a Me reliant, . . . .
God*s Name,
God our all Sufficiency, ....
God's Providence and Poor Jack, .
God our Inheritance,
God's Love to Man
Gospel Likened unto an Angel, .
Good Things Given with Grace,
God's Testimony of Approbation, .
God Answers Prayer,
"Go," . . . !
Go Ye and do Likewise, ....
PAGE
(.28
405
916
771
21
56
240
251
328
529
667
730
830
612
897
941
375
6SO
26
285
682
773
23
378
391
554
572
619
836
403
576
583
593
623
G51
65S
731
751
870
913
38
79
92
175
211
CONTENTS.
11
God and Two Cents are Everything, 241
Gospel Light, the only True, . . . 270
God Only can do These Things, . 338
Gospel, Characteristics of, ... 121
God's Word, 342
God with His People, 382
Good Shepherd, Christ the, ... 315
God's Way to a Wicked Heart, . . 412
God's Special Providence, . . . 432
God's Anvil, . 460
Good Out of Evil, 475
God is Able to Graft Them in
Again, 488
God's Word the Only Authority, . 508
God Giveth the Increase, . . . . 515
Great Results from Small Begin-
nings,' 810
Grace and Salvation from God, . . 812
Grace, A Better View of, .... 852
Growth in Grace, 855
Grace, a Spiritual Sight, .... 911
Grace Freely Offered, 461
Guilty for not Coming to the Light, 279
H.
Have Faith in God, .159
Harmony of Voice and Life, . . . 198
Habitual Christian Activity, . . . 501
Half a Century's Labors, .... 596
Having the Mind of Christ, . . . 650
Handsomely Declined, 717
Hardships of the Rich, . . . . 721
Having the Glory of God, . . . 941
He was God and Man, 44
Heaven Entered with Difficulty, . 154
Hearer, An Honest, 133
Hearing and Retaining, .... 199
He Rcceiveth Sinners, 230
He Pleads Guilty, 248
Heaven, Straight Road to, ... 239
He Mistook the Light, 252
He Healed the Distant Sick, ... 287
Heat and Light, 292
He Needed Light from Above, . . 319
" He Purgeth It," 333
Heaven a Locality, 357
Heroism of a Female Missionary, . 428
He will Raise us up, 472
"Heaven a Prepared Place, . . . . 480
He did not Keep his Vow, . . . 590
He gave More and felt Better, . . 591
PACK.
"He Knows not what ho Saith," . C01
He Died for us, 60:2
He shrewdly Covered his Tracks, . 646
He was Tempted Like as we are, . 763
" Heavier the Cross," 796
Heart, A Pure, 741
He Found an Altar for his Sacrifice, 802
Heavenly Inheritance, ..... 823
He had the True Hope, .... 8G6
Helping the Preacher, 881
Hear for thy Life, 889
His Name called Jesus, .... 20
His Blood Shed for Us, .... 256
" Him that Cometh to Me," ... 299
Hidden Treasures in the Word, . 663
His Doctrine old enough, not true, 695
His Mouth was Stopped, .... 739
His Rights Forfeited, 800
How the Pure in Heart see God, . 30
How do you Treat my Master? . . 50
How this World may End, . . . 167
How could you say the Lord's Prayer? 195
Holy Bible, Great is the, .... 186
Holding to our Profession, . . . 781
How an Ignorant Cobbler knew
Christ to be God, 198
Honor to Christ not to be Divided, . 204
How much do you owe the Lord ? . 235
How to have a Revival Church, . 364
How much a Christian is worth to
the Church, 379
How all may Preach, 427
Honor God in Asking much, . . 339
How we should Eat and Drink, . 5.74
How the Doctor, found Jesus, . . 5G5
How can I meet it? 58"J
Hoarding and Giving, 586
How Drunkards arc made, . . . 615
How best to Live in Pence, . . . 639
How to Make Successful Pastors, . 688
Holiness, 799
How a Fly Helped the Minister, . 895
Elugh Latimer's Conversion, . . . 200
Humility and Truth, 205
Elumility a Christian Grace, . . . 626
Humbled but Exalted, 813
Hurtful Pleasures Forbidden, . . 817
I.
I am Jesus," 369
I Am," ,944
12
CONTEXTS.
PAGE.
Idlers in the Church, 88
Identity not lost in Death, . . . 549
Idleness the Root of Vices, . . . 698
" If thou Knewest the Gift of God," 283
If Untrue to God, why not to Man ? 611
Ignorance the Father of Infidelity, 849
Ignatius, a Primitive Marlyr, . . 922
" I in You," 329
Illustrious Scholars Give a United
Testimony, 676
Importunity in Prayer, .... 215
Improve the Light now, . ... 323
Importance of Revival Labors, . . 368
Imputed Righteousness of Christ, . 458
Immortality of the Soul Proof of, 723
Imitation of Christ 858
Intended for a Joke, 85
Intention is Rewarded, 167
Infidelity does not Know,- .... 207
Integrity of the Sacred Text, . . 331
Inspiration, 362
Infidelity without Hope, .... 437
Intercession of the Spirit, . ". . 474
Invitation Society, 285
Instructive Etymology of the Word
Tribulation, 477
Internal Glory of the Believer, . . 566
Intellectual Culture not the Highest
Good, 606
Influence of the Hidden Life, . . 666
Infidel, An, and his Dog, . , . . 509
Inheritance, The Unseen, .... 659
Infinite Saviour, We need an, . . 664
In Season out of Season, ... 734
Innocence and Guilt Pictured, . . 755
Inscriptions on Believer's "Tombs, . 789
In Heaviness for a Season, . . . 823
Interesting Variety of the Bible, . 846
In the Spirit on the Lord's Day, . 893
Inexhaustible Store-house of Truth, 904
"It is I," 69
" It must Rain faster," .... 361
" It doth not yet Appear what we
shall be," 865
" I was Sick, and ye Visited Me," . 103
I will Give Nothing, 194
" I will never Leave Thee," ... 801
I would see Jesus. 322
J.
Jesus Swift to Save,
PAGE.
Jewish Phylacteries, 98
Jesus Tempted by Satan, .... 123
Jesus and the Blind Man, . . . 146
Jehoiada's Idea of Giving, . . . 163
Jesus in His Childhood, .... 185
Jesus at Jacob's Well, 281
Jesus the True Bread, 299
"Jesus Wept," 321
Jesus Whispering, 454
Jesuitical Ilvpocrisy, 708
Jesus Christ the True God, ... 878
Jesus the Lock, 899
John Maynard, the Faithful Pilot, . 106
Joy in Heaven, 231
Joy from Refreshing the Saints, . 747
John on Patmos, 892
Judgment Day Separations, ... 27
Judas, the Covetous Disciple, . . 168
Justly Ridiculed for his Wickedness, 309
Judgments of God Manifested, . . 374
Justification and Sanctification, . . 399
Judgment, the Future, 416
Judicious Advice to a Wag, . . . 454
Justly Rebuked, 578
Judgment, Fear of, 574
Justified through Faith in Christ, . 605
Judgment, A Solemn, 928
Judged at the Last Day, .... 935
K.
Keep the Commandments, ... 86
Keep the Gate Shut, 788
Keeping Our Garments Pure, . . 928
Kingdom of Heaven, Least in, . . 52
Kingdom of God, ^y^l - - - 521
Knowledge that will not Profit, . . 527
Knowledge shall Vanish away, . . 541
Laborer, a True Harvest, . .
La.ncntations of a Lost Soul,
Laying up Eternal Stores, .
Labor, Personal,
Laying Aside the Bones, . .
. 46
. Ill
. 450
. 418
. 854
Left Behind, . . * 43
Leaving all for Christ, . . . . 155
Learn to be Silent, 172
Learning the Way to Heaven, . . 512
Less Denominational More Chris-
tian, 514
Lepers of Jerusalem, 241
CONTENTS.
13
PAGE.
Let me go, for 7 am a Christian, . 933
Living by the Day, 38
Life Printing Itself, 59
Liberal Christians and Broad Church-
ism, 247
Life from God alone, . . '. . .413
Light Shining into Hearts, . . . 570
Live to be Useful, 575
Limited Atonement, 742
" Lord Save Me," 70
Lost Souls, no Hope to, . . . . Ill
" Lo, I am with you," 121
Love for Christ Stronger than Filial
Kelations, 229
Lost from Loving the Applause of
Men, 294
Looking only to Christ, .... 365
Longing to Save Souls, .... 529
Love the True Test, 541
Loving Silver the Eoot of Evil, . 719
Love for the Saints, 746
Look to Jesus, 794
Love a Christian Duty, .... 828
"Lost," "Lost," 936
Luther's Mode of Preaching, . . 510
Luther's Argument with the Devil, .702
M.
Made of one Blood, 414
Making Mock of Divine Things, . 224
Making the Right Use of his Eyes, 656
Mammoth Place of Amusement, . 421
Mansion, A Finer, 327
Martyr, A, of the Roman Coliseum, 51
Martyrdom of Paschal, .... 909
Martins, the Young Martyr, . . . 202
May Women Preach the Gospel, . 286
May we so Pray ? 644
Martyrdom at Rome, ..... 792
Means of Gi-ace properly used, . . 856
Mediator, Chi'ist our 704
Meditation, as a Moral Duty, . . 711
Melancholy and Temptations, . . 784
Meeting for the first time in Heaven, 919
Mirage, The Fatal, 616
Ministerial Propriety, 671
Ministerial Pride 705
" Mine is a Religion for all Weather," 873
Ministering to Him, ...... 107
Ministers, A Word to,' 130
Misfortune Changed to a Blessing, 136
Ministers Baptized of the Holy
Ghost, 355
Ministering Angels, ...... 396
Ministering at the Sick Bed,. . . 109
Missions, Progress of, 401
Ministry of Affliction, 473
Ministers, Suggestions to, .... 502
Miser, The, 220
Moral Instincts, or Sonl Powers,
Moral and Christian Men Contrasted,
Money Received in Exchange for his
Soul,
Modern Iscariots,
Modern Dancing and the Bible, . .
Modesty of Apparel,
Mother's Example, A Pious, . . .
My Master's Errand,
N.
Natural Goodness,
Named by the Angel, " The Son of
God,"
Nathaniel R. Cobb's Covenant, . .
Neglecting Salvation,
Neglected Truths,
Not Saved,
Nothing to do,
" Now God take Baby," ....
Novel Reading, President Humphrey
on,
" Nothing but Leaves," ....
Not Satisfied with a Part, ....
Noah did not Close the Door, . .
No Hope for the Moralist, . . .
Noah Webster, Conversion of, . .
Not by Works but by Faith, . . .
Not Conformed but Transformed, .
Now is the Accepted Time, . . .
No Longer a Persecutor, ....
Not Feeling but Faith,
Not Justice but Pardon, ....
Not What I Want Now, ....
Not Ashamed to call Them Breth-
54
87
149
171
233
705
723
176
145
179
196
750
ren,
No Mercy Except through Christ, .
Not Eloquence but Love, ....
Not Denominational but Christian,
Not Afraid of Father's Voice, . ,
O.
Obedience the Test of Piety, . . . 330
Obedience to Parents, 669
62
88
90
131
158
183
242
327
276
482
490
578
603
C07
634
678
752
783
869
910
915
CONTENTS,
Obey Authorities, 744
Obedience a Moral Obligation, . . 748
"O ! He is a Great Forgiver," . .261
Oldest Christian Hymn, .... 543
Olympian Race, 793
Omniscience of God, 404
Only Believe, 140
Ordained to Stewardship, .... 517
Our Sorrows a Bitter Cup, . . . 345
Our Accusers, 433
Our Relation to God, 609
Our High Callings, 654
Our Completeness in God, . . . 670
Our Sins not Hidden from God, . 761
Over-Scrupulousness, 165
Our Religion the First Thing, . . 627
Our Faith Pleasing to God, ... 787
P.
Paintings, The Spoiled 795
Parables, New Testament, . . . 209
Paine, Thomas, silenced, .... 225
Parental Duties in Regard to Child-
ren, 311
Payson's Illustration by the Thread, 324
Paul and Felix, . . ... . . . ' 435
Passover, Christ the Christian, . . 522
Passed through the Sea, .... 532
Pastoral Prudence, 620
Paul and Trophimus, . ..... . 737
" Pearl of Great Price," .... 65
Peace Proclaimed, an Illustration, . 139
Persistent Praying Illustrated, . . 244
Peril in Amassing Riches, . . . 274
Peace in Jesus, 332
Pentecost, A Modem, 360
Pentecostal Gifts, 360
Persecuted because he was Good, . 430
Peter Yannest and the Prcdestina-
rian 531
Persecuted but not Forsaken, . . 571
Perfeetncss of Christianity, . . . 806
Pigalle's Almsgiving, 215
Pilot, The Safe, . 296
Pious Christian Female, .... 503
Plants that shall be Rooted up, . . 73
Power of a Mother's Prayer, ... 74
Power of the Lord to Save, . . . 192
Power, The Indispensable, . . . 267
Power of Truth, The, 271
Power of Prayer, 373
PAGE.
Power of a Good Man's Life, . . 394
Power of God's Word, .... 496
Possessing all Things, 579
Positive Christianity, 647
Power in the Pulpit, 653
Popish Practices in a Protestant
Church, 850
Polycarp's Noble Confession, . . 924
Power Preaching of the Gospel, . 925
Power of the Bible, 937
Pray, 392
Prayer Answered, The "Wife's, . . 525
Prayer, Wrestling in, 670
Prayer, Extraordinary Answer to, 443
Praying in the Name of Christ, . 235
Prayer Answered Though Long
Delayed, 244
Prayer, An Extraordinary Act, . 364
Prayer, Acceptable, Essential to, . 176
Pray for the Preacher, 697
Prayer Answered to his Ruin, . . 754
Pray that Sermon, 767
Prayer Answered in Judgment, . 814
Prayer, Efficacy in Healing the Sick, 818
Preach to Them as Sinners, . . . 142
Preach for the Masses, .... 163
Preaching Accompanied with Di-
vine Power, 189
Preaching that Takes Hold, ... 562
Preaching by Telegraph, . . . . 313
Preaching the Main Thing, . . . 385
Preaching to a Single Hearer, . . 388
Preaching Peace by Jesus Christ, . 393
Preaching the Whole Truth, . . 424
Preaching an Institution of God, . 485
Preach Christ Crucified, .... 507
Preaching to one Passenger, . . . 693
Preach so as to Please God, . . . 675
Preaching from Experience, . . . 640
Preachers, Advice to, 631
Preach Pointedly and to Save, . . 53
I' reaching for a Crown, .... 7.'i6
Preacher, An Unfaithful, .... 738
Prevailing Prayer in the Old South
Church, ". 80
1 'reservation of Moses, .... 3b3
" Prepare to M.-.-t Thy God," . . 433
Present the Promises, 841
Presumption is not Faith, .... 848
Presented Faultless, 886
Private Prayer, 143
CONTENTS.
15
Prince of Excellence, ....
Profane Language, ....
Problem, A Hard to Solve, . .
Providence,
Proportionate Giving, . . . ,
Providential Deliverance, . . ,
Pruning the Vine,
Put a King on his Hand, . . . ,
Public Worship, Excuses for N"on
attendance
Pulpit, A Wonderful, . . . .
Punished in Part,
Punished Forever and Ever, . . .
Purity, the Beauty of the Soul,
Punishment, Endless, . . . .
Punished by a Judgment from God,
a.
Queen, A Christian, . . . .
Queen Victoria and the Sabbath,
Quenching the Spirit, ....
Quietness of Spirit, ....
K.
Reason and Religion
Reaching the Hearts of the People,
Reasons for Serving the Lord, . .
Reading Prayers under Difficulties,
Ready to Die,
Religion, A, That can be Despi ed, .
Religious Excitement Justifiable, .
Rebuking a Scoffer,
Rebuke, A Just,
Religious Conversation, ....
Reliei Obtained by a Dream, . .
Recognition oi Friends in Heaven, .
Refuge, City of, Christ our, . . .
Remarkable from Association^, . .
Remarkable Description of St. Paul,
Reproducing the New Testament, .
Repeating Sermons,
Remarkable Facts,
Redeemed from all Iniquity, . . .
Religion the Power of God, . . .
Retribution,
Religion not to be Covered up, . .
Reproach is Wealth,
Retribution, Future,
Resisting the Spirit,
Resisting the Devil,
Request of the Dying Infidel, . .
Revelation,
PAGE.
173
99
148
431
584
737
334
232
336
462
689
691
710
768
915
GO
263
683
832
126
129
23?
408
382
50
386
884
740
266
117
250
186
440
593
255
401
63
743
445
449
482
791
883
632
812
876
888
Resurrection, The, 550
Resurrection of the Dead, . . . 434
Rewarded Now or Then, .... 36
Rewarded for a Cup of Cold Water, 282
Resurrection, The Final, .... 291
Revivals, Dr. Lyman Beecher on, . 376
Responsibility, Personal, .... 498
Righteous Tribulation to Tfcv.iblevs, 690
Right and Wrong Relations of
Money, 722
Rich for a Moment, POl
Riches of the Gospel, . . . . . 06 1
Riches, Danger of, 246
Romanism, Escaped from, . . . 777
Romans, The First Chapter of, . . 446
Romish Errors, Date of, .... 447
Rowland Hill's Master Stroke, . . 672
Romanism Opposed to Improvement, 694
Rowing and Steering the Boat of
Life, 426
S.
Sabbath Keeping, A Blessing, . . 129
Salt, Covenant of, 152
Salvation, the Central Idea of the
Bible, 180
Salvation of one Soul, The, . . . 17r>
Saved by Believing, 321
Sanctification Through the Truth, . 343
Satan Vanquished, 279
Saved Through Grace, . . . . 4(3
Saved with Utmost Completeness, . 776
Sanctification Lost and Regained, 769
Sanctification, Archbishop Usher's
Views of, 6S7
Saying the Same Words, 114
Scarlet and Crimson Sins, . . . 910
Scandal, 714
Sharper than a Two Edged Sword, 709
Small Things Make up a Godly
Life, 4.30
Stars of the First Magnitude, . . 5-18
Stand up for Jesus, ...... 377
Stand Fast for Christ, 613
Stand Fast when Tempted, . . . 752
Stand by your Candidate, . . . 697
Straitened in Themselves, . . . 580
Shall I be one of Them 1 .... 926
St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, 429
St. Paul in Paradise, 597
Secret Prayer, 37
16
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Send for the Gas Man, .... 93
Search the Scriptures, 293
Selling a Soul, 78
Second Birth, 276
" Seen of Angels," 707
Seeing Jesus, 750
Swearing in Hebrew, 33
She Preferred Christ to Home, . . 147
She Died without Mercy, .... 782
Speaking Evil, 633
Speak the Truth Always, .... 644
Swearing a Great Sin, 818
Steadfastness to Principle Rewarded, 756
Speaking of Christ, 81
Speaking for Christ, 81
Serious Affairs To-morrow, . . . 662
Sleeping in Church, 421
Swearing Alone, 938
Skepticism, Belief and, 613
Sincerity not a Saviour, .... 387
Simplicity of Saving Faith, . . . 459
Sin, Different Estimates of, . . . 471
Simplicity of the Gospel, .... 558
Sin, Every Forbidden, 808
Sins are Linked Together, . . . 187
Simply Believe, 297
Sin Against the Holy Ghost, . . 57
Simple Preaching, 29
Stingy Christians, .589
Spiritual Wrestling, 643
Spiritism, 868
Scriptures, How to Read Them, . 384
Scriptural Titles of Christ, ... 20
Scripture Transcribers, 66
Scriptural Separation from the
World, 342
Spiritual Vision, 312
Spiritual Gifts 537
Spiritual Life Better than Ceremo-
nies, 809
Scriptural Drink, 533
Striking God's Children, . . . . 110
Striking Retribution, 397
So Ought Husbands to Love Tlu.ir
Wives, 638
Something More Valuable Thau
Gold, 931
Sorrows of the Rich 815
Something to Hold on by, . . . 762
Some one Must Pray, 43
So it is When Believers Die, . . . 551
PAGE.
Sons in the Family of God, . . . 610
Soul-Saving Perseverance in, . . 618
Sowing and Reaping, 617
So we Preach, 546
Solemn Thought Awakened, ... 26
Scoffer, A, Answered, 850
Snowden and his Unitarian Friend, 281
Slothfulness Forbidden, .... 492
Successfully Preaching Christ, . . 406
Sunday-school Teacher, A Success-
ful, 558
Sunday, John, Anecdote of, . . . 575
Suffering and Reigning Joined To-
gether, 726
Successful Preaching, 726
Sunday After the Resurrection, . . 352
Surrender, A Genuine, .... 298
Superstition and Conscience, . . . 346
Substitute, Christ our, 681
Systematic Giving, 555
St. Chrysostom's View of Piv.yer, . 212
T.
Table of Bible Money, 81
Transfiguration of Christ, . . . 150
Transubstantiation, 169
The Book that is ever Ahead, . . 19
The Cruse that Faileth not, . . 34
The Rector's Happy Experience, . 35
The Pen of Heaven, 59
They Took no oil with Them, . . 104
The Door is Shut, 105
The Last Time, 1">6
The Widow's Mite, 164
The Glory of the Lord, .... 182
The one Thing Needful, .... 212
The Value of Churches, .... 230
The Eternal Rock, 249
The Mountains of Scripture, . . . 254
The Word, Awakened by, ... 269
The Boy that Would not Lie, . . 308
The day of Christ seen from Afar, 310
The Eleventh Commandment, . . 326
The Divine Comforter, .... 337
The Priceless Gift, 345
The Primitive Church and their Prop-
erty, 3"3
The S'ilver Cup Restored, ... 438
The Rescue, 441
The Railway Ticket, 456
The Body of Sin Destroyed, . . . 464
CONTENTS.
17
PAGE.
The Flags that Saved Life, ... 476
The Old Scotch Woman's Faith, . 479
The Gospel of Christ the True Civ-
ilize.r, 481
The Bible is the Root, 487
Temperance, Catechism on, . . . 493
The Young Philosopher Confounded, 515
Temperance, Scriptural, .... 530
The Dividing Line, 581
The Fulness of Christ, .... 607
The Noble Convict, 613
The Absurdity of Error, .... 615
The Only Foundation, 625
The Coming of the Lord, . . . 679
The Miller and the Camel, . ' . . 686
Theological Preaching, . . . . 712
The Bible Tried by a Jury, . . . 725
The Snare of the J)cvil, .... 728
The Anchor Holds, 772
The Poisoned Ring, 805
The Tongue as an Index of the
Heart, 811
The Humanness of the Saints, . . 820
The Manifest Wisdom of God, . . 824
The Watchword, 825
The Holy Scriptures, 827
The Christian's Calling, . ... 829
The Weaker Vessel, .... . 833
The Devil a Wily Foe, .... 839
T he Bib'e, 844
The Anti-Christs of to day, . . . 861
The Promises of Christ," Proof of
Divinity, 891
The Deserting Soldier, .... 899
The Destroyer's Work, . . . . 918
The Devil Leads en to Destruction, 934
The New Jerusalem, 939
The Bible to be much Read, . . . 942
" This I Did for Thee, What Doest
Thou for Me?" 871
Trials and Endurance, 771
Trinity, Doctrine of, 863
Trinity in Unity, 472
Time's Flight, Texts for, .... 526
To Bristol either Way, .... 40
Thomas Paine's Last Hours,
Two Scenes, .491
Thoroughness in Preaching, . . . 727
Through Much Tribulation, ... 340
Tholuck's Seeking and Following, . 587
Trusting in God's Providence, . . 222
PAGE.
Trust in God, . 703
Trusted and Were Delivered, . .621
TJ.
Unapproachable Light, Glimpses of,
Unappreciation of the Bible, . . .
Unchangeable One, Christ the, . .
Unfaithfulness, t Temptations to, in
the Ministry,
Unbelief, Marvelotisncss of, ...
Uncle Johnson, Bound for Canaan,
Understanding and Faith, . . .
Unbelief, A Victim to,
Unlearned yet Powerful, . . . .
Unbelief a Sliding Agency, . . .
Universalism, Christ's Teaching on,
Unitarianism not Successful, . .
Undivided Attention to the Ministry
of the Word, .......
Unity of the Bible,
Universal Obligation,
Unitarianism, Dr. Holland's Views
on,
Unconscious Influence,
Unthought of Consideration, . .
" Unto Him Who hath Loved Us,"
Use Your Talents,
V.
Various Seasons of Prayer, . . .
Various Readings, '.
Variety in Gifts,
Variety in Experiences, ....
Value of a Single Tract, . . . .
Value of Personal Experience, . .
Very Injudicious,
Victory Over Himself,
Voltaire as a Translator, ....
720
486
801
371
y
225
278
306
369
757
224
363
381
629
743
887
351
495
890
533
126
734
539
594
204
273
701
874
732
W.
Warned by a Dream, 25
Warning, A Timely, Unheeded, . . 134
Walking in the Fatherhood of God, 39
Waiting to be Released, . . . . 177
Walking and Talking with Christ, 2G4
Warned by a Signal Fire, . . . 520
467 I Walking after the Pattern, . . . 603
Walking with God, 893
Warm Hearts Wanted 900
Waring Against the Saints, . . 918
Waiting to be Born Again, . . . 82f>
What Jesus is Able to do. 46
18
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
What will you say Sir ? .... 94
What Think Ye of Christ, ... 97
What Shall I do with Jesus, . . 118
What it Cost Him, 203
What I Have Seen, 237
" What is Truth ?" 348
What the Church Most Needs, . . 356
What the Reading of a good Book
Did, 518
\V*hat Disqualifies for the Kingdom
Of God, 524
" What is the State of Your Soul,
My Friend V GOO
What has it Done for You ? . . . G54
What a Country that will be, . . 791
What Shall / Carry into Eternity ? 943
" Wrath to Come," 674
Watchfulness, a Condition of
Strength, 897
We Have a Merciful God, ... 745
Wo Know in Part, 543
Weapons that are Mighty, . . . 592
Well Answered, 181
Wesley's Testimony Against Intoxi-
cating Liquors, 359
We Live by Believing, 785
Wreck of " The Sabbath Breaker/' 448
Where did Moses get that Law ? .301
Where is our Self-denial ? ... 77
Where is the Redeemer, .... 415
Witnesses for the Bible, . . . . 411
Wise in Spiritual Things, . . . 914
Willing to Bear his Proportion, . 395
PAGE.
Wine that Jesus Made, 273
Wines, Communion, 112
Wise for the World to Come, . .236
Wise in Winning Souls, .... 48
Whitefield's Eloquence, .... 416
Whirlpool, Avoid the, 758
Wisdom to Learn the Way to
Heaven, 804
Worship to be given to the Creator
Only, 903
Working for a Penny a Day, . . 89
Working in God's Vineyard, . . 92
Women as Helpers in the Church, . 358
Words Timely Spoken, .... 668
Work of the Spirit, 945
Words Acceptable to God, "'> 96
Worthy Example of Moral Princi-
ple, 494
Who are Saints ? 444
Who are Truly Strong, .... 860
Who Separate Themselves, ... 885
Why the Judge did not Help Them, 635
Why the Infidel was Troubled, . . 22
Why am I not a Christian ? . . .157
Why the Jewesses are Beautiful, . 261
Why were not the Angels Redeem-
ed? 883
Y.
Ye are the Salt of the Earth, . . 31
Ye are my Witnesses, 896
Youthful Firmness in Persecution, . 429
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE BOOK THAT IS EVER AHEAD.
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of
Abraham. Matthew 1:1.
THE Bible has a history in its make-up that belongs to no
other book. Portions of it antedate all other books by
at least one thousand years. It was not written during the
lifetime of any one man, nor in any one generation, nor in any
one country; for it was about seventeen hundred .years in
being written. It had nearly one hundred different writers,
of various educational attainments ; yet it contains no essential
error in science, philosophy, or art, while it is the standard
in morals for the whole world. Though written so long ago,
and by so many different persons, under such a variety of
social and political conditions, it needs no alteration in its de-"
scription of God, its code of morals, its system of motives, and
its adaptation to the needs of mankind. Other books wear
out, and are laid aside this Book multiplies with years.
Other books speak of the past, or cautiously approach the
present this Book opens up the future. The world out-
grows other books the world grows into this, for the
world is taking on the letter and spirit of the Bible. Bishop
T/iomson.
19
20 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
HIS NAME CALLED JESUS.
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS : for
he shall save his people from their sins. Matthew 1 : 21.
" nPHOU shalt call his name Jesus," said the angel who an-
JL nounced his birth to Joseph, " for he shall save his peo-
ple from their sins." -Even Joshua, whose name is identical
in Hebrew, was so called prophetically, as the saviour or
deliverer of Israel from enemies and dangers ; and in this he
was a type of him who was to come, not as a military con-
queror and earthly prince, though men so expected him ; not
as a deliverer of the Jews from Roman vassalage, and the re-
storer of their ancient independence, but as a Saviour from
a far worse bondage and a more terrific ruin from perdition,
from damnation, not of angels, nor of devils, nor of men, with-
out exception or discrimination ; but of those predestined to
belief in him ; his people, the Saviour of his people ; not from
temporal or physical distresses, but from sin ; not from the
sins of others, but their own ; not from its effects, but from
itself; not merely in the life, but in the heart ; not merely in
the stream, but in the spring, the source, the principle, the
essence ; for the gospel is not only good news of a Saviour,
but of him who came, of him who was called Jesus, because he
was to save his people from their sins. Joseph A. Alexan-
der, D. D.
SCRIPTURAL TITLES OF CHRIST.
Behold, a virgin shall he with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they
shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Matthew 1 : 23.
THE following collection of scriptural names which refer to
Christ is both curious and remarkable : Adam, Advocate,
Almighty, Amen, Angel, Ancient of Pays, Anointed, Apostle,
Author and Finisher of Faith ; Babe, Beginning of the Creation
of God, Begotten of the Father, Beloved, Bishop, Blessed,
Branch of Righteousness, Brazen Serpent, Bread of Life,
Bridegroom, Brightness of the Father's Glory, Bundle of
Myrrh ; Camphire, Captain, Child, Chosen, Consolation of
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 21
Israel, Corner Stone, Covenant, Counsellor, Covert, Crea-
tor; David, Day's Man, Day Star, Deliverer, Desire of all
Nations, Dew, Diadem, Door of the Sheep ; Eagle, Elect,
Emmanuel, Ensign, Eternal Life, Everlasting Father, Express
Image ; Faithful Witness, Feeder, Finisher of Faith, Fir Tree,
First Begotten, First Fruits, First and Last, Flesh, Fountain,
Forerunner, Friend of Sinners ; Gift of God, Glory of God,
Glorious Lord, God, Gold, Golden Altar, Governor, Gracious,
Guide ; Habitation, Head of the Church, Heir of all Things,
Help, Heritage, Highest, High Priest, Most High, Holy One
of God, Holy One of Israel, Holy Child, Honey-comb, Hope,
Horn of Salvation, Husband; I Am, Jacob, Jah, Jehovah,
Jesus, Image of God, Immanuel, Immortal, Inheritance, In-
visible, Israel, Judah, Judge ; King ; Ladder, Lamb, Lawgiver,
Leader, Light, Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Living God, Long
Suffering, Lord, Lovely ; Man, Master, Mediator, Melchisedek,
Merciful, Messenger, Messiah, Michael, Mighty God, Minister,
Morning Star ; Nazarite ; Offspring of David, Only Begotten,
Ointment; Passover, Plant of Renown, Potentate, Prince,
Prophet, Propitiation, Power of God, Purifier, Physician, Pol-
ished Shaft, Priest ; Ransom, Reaper, Redeemer, Resurrection,
Refiner, Refuge, Righteousness, Rock, Rod and Staff, Root
of David, Rose of Sharon, Ruler in Israel ; Sacrifice, Salvation,
Samaritan, Sanctification, Sanctuary, Seed of Abraham, Seed
of the Woman, Seed of David, Second Man, Servant, Shepherd,
Shield, Shiloh, Solomon, Son of God, Son of Man, Spirit, Stone
Refused, Strength of Israel, Strong God, Substance, Sun of
Righteousness, Surety, Sharp Sword ; Tabernacle, Teacher,
Temple, Testator, Treasurer, Tree of Life, Truth ; Vine ; Wall
of Fire, Way, Well of Living Water; Wedding Garment, Wis-
dom of God, Witness, Wonderful, Word of God, Worthy ;
Yesterday, To-day, and Forever.
FOLLOW THE TRUE LIGHT.
Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his
star in the east, and are come to worship him. Matthew 2 : 2.
T is the observation of a good man now with God (Bishop
Hooper, in a letter to Mistress Anne Warcup), that the
I
22 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
wise men, travelling to find Christ, followed only the star, and
as long as they saw it they were assured that they were in
the right way, and had great mirth in their journey ; but when
they entered into Jerusalem (whereas the star led them not
thither, but unto Bethlehem), and there would be instructed
where Christ was born, they were not only ignorant of the
place where, but they had lost the sight of the star that should
guide them thither. Whereof we learn in any case, that whilst
we be going to learn Christ, to seek Christ, which is above,
to beware we lose not the star of God's Word, who only is
the mark that shows us where Christ is, and which way we
may come to him. These are the good man's own words ;
whereunto may be added, that whereas David made the Word
of God a lantern to his feet, and a light unto his path (Psalm
119 : 105), we would not suffer ourselves to be led aside by
every ignis fatuus, every false fire that presents itself unto us,
but to keep close to the Word of God, which will bring us to
the knowledge of Christ here, and the full enjoyment of him
hereafter.
WHY THE INFIDEL WAS TROUBLED.
When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all
Jerusalem with him. Matthew 2 : 3.
"YTOTHING save the essential truths of God's Word can
li give comfort and true peace, either living or dying.
And in living, if men are not resting on the Word of God,
they can at least have no rest in denying it. The very fear
lest the Bible be true is enough to mar all earthly enjoyment.
A celebrated infidel said one day to a friend of his who
had imbibed the same principles, " There is one thing that
mars all the pleasures of my life." " Indeed ! " replied his
friend. " What is that ? " He answered, " I am afraid the Bible
is true ! If I could know for certain that death is an eternal
sleep, I should be happy ; my joy would be complete ! But
here is the thorn that stings me. This is the sword that
pierces my very soul. If the Bible is true, I am lost forever."
He will find it true.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 23
BETHLEHEM OP JUDEA.
And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the
princes of Judah : for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my
people Israel. Matthew 2 : 6.
VHAT sacred emotions fill the soul at the mention, of
Bethlehem ! What deep prophetic truths are uttered
concerning the nativity of our. Saviour 1 " And thou Bethle-
hem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes
of Judah : for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall
rule my people Israel." More than eighteen centuries have
rolled away since the shepherds of Judea watched on the
plains of Bethlehem, listening to the angelic strains, " Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
men." Since then, the name of Jesus, dear to millions, has
bowed the heart wherever it has been proclaimed. And at
this period, sublime with the march of Christianity, the name
of Jesus, upheld on the starry banner of the cross, pours the
oil of healing on the stricken, the suffering, and the oppressed,
with magic power. The pilgrim goes and comes from this
sacred spot deeply impressed with the sanctity of the place.
The Christian grows strong in faith, expecting the fulfill-
ment of the divine prophecy, when the Son of God shall ap-
pear in all his glory, descending to judge the nations of the
earth. Wm, D. Ensign.
GIFTS OF GOLD TO JESUS.
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with
Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him: and when they had
opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense,
and myrrh. Matthew 2:11.
ALL down through the Christian centuries, covetousness
has been the chief barrier to Christ's cause ; the one great
and only insurmountable obstacle in the way of the world's
evangelization. This world will never be converted until
Christian nations, imitating the example of the wise men front
24 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
the east, shall lay their gold at Jesus' feet. Prophecy is full
of this idea. Whenever she takes her harp to hymn the glories
of Messiah's reign, the consecration of the world's wealth
forms a prominent strain in the lofty anthem. " To him shall
be given of the gold of Sheba." " The merchandise of Tyre
shall be holiness to the Lord ; it shall not be treasured nor laid
up." " Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of
Tarshish, first to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their
gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God.' ; " Kings
shall bring presents unto him. 7 ' '- They shall bring gold and
incense." Dr. John Harris, in his admirable treatise on " Mam-
mon," utters a sentiment which ought to be read and re-read,
and pondered, and prayed over, by every disciple of Jesus.
He says, " We repeat the momentous inquiry, and we would
repeat it slowly, solemnly, and with a desire to receive the full
impression of the only answer which can be given to it, What
has prevented the gospel from fulfilling its first promise, and
completely taking effect ? What has hindered it from filling
every heart, every province, the entire mass of humanity, with
the one spirit of divine benevolence ? Why, on the contrary,
has the gospel, the great instrument of divine love, been threat-
ened, age after age, with failure ? It must be attributed solely
to the treachery of those who have had the administration of
it to the selfishness of the church. No element essential to
success has been left out of its arrangements ; all those ele-
ments have always been in the possession of the church ; no
new form of evil has arisen in the world, no antagonist has
appeared there, which the gospel did not encounter and sub-
due in its first onset ; yet at this advanced stage of its ex-
istence, when it ought to be reposing from the conquest of the
world, the church listens to an account of its early triumphs,
as if they were .meant only for wonder, and not for imitation ;
as if they partook too much of the romance of benevolence to
be again attempted."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 25
WARNED BY A DREAM.
And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod,
they departed into their own country another way. Matthew 2 : 12.
REV. G. TENNBNT, of New Jersey, relates that a young
man of his congregation, by trade a carpenter, from being
of sober habits became an habitual drunkard. He dreamed one
night that he returned home intoxicated, fell from the top of
the stairs to the bottom, broke his neck, and opened his eyes
in hell. Horrified at what he heard and saw, he entreated the
governor to let him depart. " No, no," said the governor,
" there is no discharge from this place ; you see thousands
coming in, but none going out." He, however, continued his
entreaties, and at last was allowed to leave on one condition
that he would return that day twelvemonth. In his efforts to
flee he awoke, and found it was a dream! He called on Mr.
Tennent the next day, and, greatly alarmed, related his dream.
Mr. Tennent told him it was a mercy he was out of hell, and
that if he did not repent, and seek for mercy through Christ,
he would in reality reap the fruit of his doings through an
eternity in hell. The young man forsook his former com-
pany, applied himself cheerfully to work, and became a re-
formed character. About six months after this he was met by
some of his old profligate companions, who began to jeer him
for his sober habits, and asked him to go with them and take
a glass. He first refused, but at last gave way. This led to
his former drunken habits. He returned home one night in-
toxicated, fell from the top of the stairs to the bottom, broke
his neck, and, without doubt, his guilty spirit must have been
hurried to that place of woe where hope never comes. " No
drunkard," says the Bible, "shall inherit the kingdom of God."
From a memorandum made by Mr. Tennent at the time the man
called on him, it appeared he was killed on the night twelve-
month on which he had dreamed the fearful dream. His dream
had been actually fulfilled.
4
26 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
GETTING ON TOO FAST.
And saying, Repent ye : for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Mat-
thew 3 : 2.
A PIOUS old slave had a wicked master. This master had
much confidence, however, in the slave's piety. He be-
lieved he was a Christian. Sometimes the master would be
serious and thoughtful about religion. One day he came to
the old slave, with the New Testament in his hand, and asked
if he would explain a passage to him. The slave was willing
to try, and asked what it was. " It is here in Romans/' said the
master. " Have you done all that it tells you to do in Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John ? " inquired the slave, seriously fixing his
eye upon his master's. " No, I haven't/' said he. " Then you're
getting on too fast, too fast, master. Go back to the begin-
ning of the book, do all that it tells you till you get to Romans,
and you will understand it easy enough then, for the book says,
If a man will do my will, he shall know of the doctrine."
SOLEMN THOUGHT AWAKENED.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his bap-
tism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee
from the wrath to come ? Matthew 3 : 7.
AN irreligious young man once went to hear Mr. Whitefield
preach; he took for his text Matthew 3:7, 8. "Mr.
Whitefield," said the young man, " described the Sadducean
character ; this did not touch me. I thought myself as good
a Christian as any man in England. From this he went to that
of the Pharisees. He described their exterior decency, but
observed that the poison of the viper rankled in their hearts.
This rather shook me. At length, in the course of his sermon,
he abruptly broke off, paused for a few moments, then burst
into a flood of tears, lifted up his hands and eyes, and ex-
claimed, ' 0, my hearers, the wrath to come ! the wrath to
come ! ' These words sank deep into my heart, like lead in
the waters. I wept, and when the sermon was ended, retired
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 27
alone. For days and weeks I could think of little else. Those
awful words would follow me wherever I went: i The wrath
to come ! the wrath to come ! ' ' The result was, that the
young man soon after made a public profession of religion, and
in a short time became himself a preacher of the gospel.
JUDGMENT DAY SEPARATIONS.
Whoso fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather
his wheat into the garner ; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire. Matthew 3 : 12.
AS wheat or chaff we all shall appear in the great day of
judgment. There is a machine in the Bank of England
which receives sovereigns, as a mill receives grain, for the pur-
pose of determining wholesale whether they are of full weight.
As they pass through, the machinery, by unerring laws, throws
all that are light to one side, and all that are of full weight to
another. That process is a silent but solemn parable for me.
Founded as it is upon the laws of Nature, it affords the most
vivid similitude of the certainty which characterizes the judg-
ment of the great day. There are no mistakes or partialities
to which the light may trust : the only hope lies in being of
standard weight before they go in. Arnot.
CHRIST'S APPEAL TO THE SCRIPTURES.
Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God. Matthew 4 : 7.
WE cannot fail to be struck, in the course of the Saviour's
public teaching, with his constant appeal to the word of
God. While at times he utters, in his own name, the author-
itative behest, " Verily, verily, J say unto you," he as often thus
introduces some mighty work, or gives intimation of some im-
pending event in his own momentous life : "These things must
come to pass, that the Scriptures be fulfilled, which saUli" He
commands his people to " search the Scriptures ; " but he sets
28 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
the example by searching and submitting to them himself.
Whether he drives the money-changers from their sacrilegious
traffic in the temple, or foils his great adversary on the mount
of temptation, he does so with the same weapon: " It is -writ-
ten" When he rises from the grave the theme of his first
discourse is one impressive tribute to the value and authority
of the same sacred oracles. The disciples on the road to Em-
maus listen to nothing but a Bible lesson : " He expounded
unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."
How momentous the instruction herein conveyed ! The ne-
cessity of the absolute subjection of the mind to God's written
word, making churches, creeds, ministers, books, religious
opinion, all subordinate and subservient to this " How
readest thou ? " rebuking the philosophy, falsely so called, that
would distort the plain statements of Revelation, and bring
them to the bar of proud Reason. If an infallible Redeemer,
" a law to himself," was submissive in all respects to the
" written law," shall fallible man refuse to sit with the teacha-
bleness of a little child, and listen to the divine message ? There
may be, there is, in the Bible what reason staggers at : " We
have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep." But " Thus
saith the Lord " is enough. Faith does not first ask what the
bread is made of, but eats it. It does not analyze the compo-
nents of the living stream, but with joy draws the water from
" the wells of salvation."
BIBLE OR NO BIBLE.
The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in
the region and shadow of death light is sprung np. Matthew 4 : 1C.
REV. DR. ADAMS, addressing the New York Bible Society,
beautifully illustrated the benign influence of the Word of
God, by contrasting those countries where it is perused with
those in which it is prohibited. " Tell me," said he, " where
the Bible is, and where it is not, and I will write a moral geog-
raphy of the world. I will show what, in all particulars, i.s the
physical condition of that people. One glance of your eye
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 29
will inform you where the Bible* is, and where it is not. Go
to Italy : decay, degradation, suffering, meet you on every
side. Commerce droops, agriculture sickens, the useful arts
languish. There is a heaviness in the air ; you feel cramped
by some invisible but mighty power. The people dare not
speak aloud they walk slowly an armed soldiery is around
their dwellings the armed police take from the stranger his
Bible before he enters the territory. Ask for the Bible in the
bookstores : it is not there, or in a form so large and expensive
as to be beyond the reach of the common people. The preacher
takes no text from the Bible. Enter the Vatican, and inquire
for a Bible, and you will be pointed to some case where it re-
poses among prohibited books, side by side with the works of
Diderot, Rousseau, and Voltaire. But pass over the Alps into
Switzerland, and down the Rhine into Holland, and over the
Channel to England and Scotland, and what an amazing con-
trast meets the eye ! Men look with an air of independence ;
there are industry, neatness, instruction for children. Why
this difference ? There is no brighter sky there are no
fairer scenes of nature -but they have the Bible ; and happy
is the people who are in such a case, for it is righteousness
that exalte th a nation," The light shines in Italy now.
SIMPLE PREACHING.
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preach-
ing the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all
manner of disease among the people. Matthew 4 : 23.
A CORRESPONDENT of the Christian Intelligencer, writ-
JLJL ing from Saratoga, speaks as follows : " One of the most
delightful acquaintances I have formed at the springs this
season was the great and good Judge McLean, of the United
States Court. He was built for the Supreme Bench, physically
and mentally. I was specially interested in his criticisms on
preaching. l We want,' said he, l more simple, practical ser-
mons right to the conscience made lively by Scripture,
history, and incidents. I like an occasional anecdote, if well
30 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
put ; for our Saviour spoke ifi parables. But I cannot abide
dry, abstract discussions, or cold homilies. Preaching should
be piquant and popular, and suited to " common people." '
There was a capital lecture on pulpit rhetoric in the judge's
remarks." Luther, reproving Dr. Mayer because he was faint-
hearted and depressed on account of his simple kind of preach-
ing, as he supposed, in comparison with other divines, reproved
him, and said, " Loving brother, when you preach, pay little
attention to the doctors and learned men, but think of the com-
mon people, and try to instruct and benefit them. In the
pulpit we must feed the common people with milk ; for each
day a new church is growing up which stands in need of plain
and simple diet."
HOW THE PURE IN HEART SEE GOD.
Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God. Matthew 5 : 8.
NOT the beholding of his glorious majesty in eternity, nor
yet the glorious God-Judge at the last great day. The
idea of union and communion with him in this life is involved
in this declaration of our Lord. It means that our spiritual
vision shall be so illuminated and enlarged, that we shall see
God in his works, his ways, and his Word. In his works, by
seeing him in this world as we never saw him before. We
see him in the green fields and budding trees ; we hear him
in the singing birds, the rippling stream, and roaring sea.
The pure in heart see God in his ways with the children of
men. Providences that by some are called severe, and that
often lead the unsaved to murmur and complain, are to the
sanctified soul all right. His heart saith, My Father is too
wise to err, and too good to be unkind. " Even so, Father,
for so it seemeth good in thy sight." The pure in heart see
God in his Word. To him the Bible is a new book.
"with open face, he beholds the glory of the Lord."
portions that used to be passed over with comparative indif-
ference, are now thought upon with delight, and he is often
led to say, " Lo, God is hero, and I knew it not." Rev. J.
in Guide to Holiness,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 31
"YE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH."
Ye arc the salt of the earth : but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith
shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and
to be trodden under foot of men. Matthew 5 : 13.
SALT is the one mineral that men eat. Its use is nearly as
ancient and as general as the race. The Hebrews had it in
abundance from the Salt Sea, and if they chose, from the Med-
iterranean, as well as from fossil salt near the Dead Sea. It
had a peculiar meaning to them from its place in the sacri-
fices. An indescribable longing for salt comes over any one
who has long been without it. In most countries the cattle
are very fond of it, and eagerly lick the rock salt. In Africa
the children suck a piece of salt rock as American children
do sugar. A mixture of salt and water will sometimes be
sweet enough to the delicate palate of the bee to attract it.
Salt is good. Nor is it savory only, but necessary. It is a
part of the blood, and the blood is the life. While it seasons
the food, it preserves for future use what is not needed for
present wants. What would otherwise rot is kept sweet by
its presence. Hence it suggests purity and perpetuity. And
the Lord's people, according to our Saviour, are the " salt of
the earth." They are necessary to its continuance, keep it
from corruption, and are finally to leaven and influence the
entire human race. There are many substances in the world
that look like salt. They crystallize, are white, more or less
heavy, and can be measured and weighed. But there is
a subtile essence in the salt that is perceived by the taste,
and which cannot be weighed and measured, but only tasted.
This makes the value of the salt. And it is so with profess-
ing disciples. They can be counted, and their influence or
their wealth can be measured. But the savor, that which dis-
tinguishes them as Christians, is too fine and delicate to be
declared in this way. It reveals itself to the judgment and
conscience of men, and to the eye of God. The saltness gives
value to'the salt. Eeal living godliness gives value to profess-
ing Christians. If we % had salt without saltness, according to
our Lord, it would be " good for nothing." And so professors
without true Christian life are good for nothing.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
A SHINING CHURCH.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5 : 1G.
A CHURCH may be what the world calls a strong church,
jLA_ in point of number and influence. A church may be
made up of men of wealth, men of in'.ellect, fashion; and
being so composed, may . be, in a worldly sense, a very
strong church. There are many things that such a church
can do. It can launch ships and endow seminaries. It can
diffuse intelligence, can uphold the cause of benevolence, can
maintain an imposing array of forms and religious activities.
It can build splendid temples, can rear a magnificent pile and
adorn its front with sculptures, and lay stone upon stone, and
heap ornament upon ornament, till the costliness of the minis-
trations at the altar shall keep any poor man from ever enter-
ing the portal. But, brethren, I will tell you one thing it
cannot do it cannot " shine." It may glitter and glare like
an iceberg in the sun, but without inward holiness it cannot
shine. Of all that is formal and material in Christianity, it
may make a splendid manifestation, but it cannot shine. It
may turn almost everything into gold at its touch, but it can-
not touch the heart. It may lift up its marble front, arid pile
tower upon tower, and mountain upon mountain ; but it cannot
touch the mountains and they shall smoke ; it cannot conquer
souls for Christ ; cannot awaken the sympathies of faith and
love ; it cannot do Christ's work in man's conversion. It is
cold at heart, and has no overflowing and saving influences to
pour out upon the lost. And with all its strength that church
is weak, and for Christ's peculiar work worthless: And with
all its glitter and gorgeous array, it is a dark church it can-
not shine. Ori the contrary, show me a. church, poor, illiter-
ate, obscure, unknown, but composed of praying people. They
shah 1 be men of neither power, nor wealth, nor influence ; they
shall be families that do not know one week where they are
to get bread for the next. But with them is the hiding of
God's power, and their influence is felt for eternity, and
wherever they go there is a fountain of light, and Christ in
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 83
them is glorified, and his kingdom advanced. They are his
chosen vessels of salvation, and his luminaries to reflect his
light. Dr. Olin.
SWEARING IN HEBREW.
But I say unto you, Swear not at all ; neither by heaven, for it is God's
throne ; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool ; neither by Jerusalem, for it
is the city of the great King. Matthew 5 : 3-i, 35.
A LADY, riding in a car on the New York Central Railroad,
was disturbed in her reading by the conversation of two
gentlemen occupying the seat just before her. One of them
seemed to be a student of some college on his way home for
a vacation. He used much profane language, greatly to her
annoyance. She thought she would rebuke him, and on beg-
ging pardon for interrupting them, asked the young student
if he had studied the languages. " Do you read and speak
Hebrew?" "Quite fluently." "Will you be so kind as do
me a small favor?" "With great pleasure. I am at your
service." " Will you be so kind as to do your swearing in
Hebrew?" The lady was not annoyed any more by the un-
gentlemanly language of this would-be gentleman. Probably
ten men swear in this country where one prays, and the
swearing man swears out loud a hundred times a day, while
the praying man prays secretly perhaps twice or thrice. If
men would swear in unknown tongues, it might spare the feel-
ings of their hearers ; but even then the Lord God would hear
it all. But there will be an end of this torrent of blasphemy
by and by. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of
his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all
that are ungodly of all their hard speeches which ungodly
sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 14, 15.)
34 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE CRUSE THAT FAILETH NOT.
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thec turn
not thou away. Matthew 5 : 42.
IS thy cruse of comfort wasting?
Rise and share it with another,
And through all the years of famine
It shall serve thee and thy brother.
Love divine will fill thy storehouse,
Or thy handful still renew ;
Scanty fare for one will often
Make a royal feast for two.
For the heart grows rich in giving ;
All its wealth is living grain j
Seeds which mildew in the garner,
Scattered, fill with gold the plain.
Is thy burden hard and heavy ?
Do thy steps drag wearily ?
Help to bear thy brother's burden ;
God will bear both it and thee.
Numb and weary on the mountains,
Wouldst thou sleep amid the snow ?
Chafe that frozen form beside thee,
And together both shall glow.
Is the heart a well left empty ?
None but God its void can fill ;
Nothing but a ceaseless fountain
Can its ceaseless longings still.
Is the heart a living power ?
Self-entwined its strength sinks low ;
It can only live in loving,
And by serving, love will grow.
Author of Schonberg- Cotta Family.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 35
THE RECTOR'S HAPPY EXPERIENCE.
Bo ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 5 : 48.
EEV. W. E. BOARDMAN, D. D., in The Times of Refresh-
ing, gives an account of an English rector, who was
happily led to a higher experience in the divine life, through
the instrumentality of a Wesleyan minister. The following is
the account :
One of his own servants was prostrated by disease, and
about to die. As the rector came to his bedside to receive
the last words of his dying servant, and administer to him the
last rites saving, as he believed them to be of his sacred
office, he was suddenly confounded by the words, which, in
whispering tones, fell on his ear. " Please, sir, won't you send
for the Wesleyan minister to come and see me ? " For a mo-
ment the rector sat in silence, and then said, " Am I not your
minister ? " " Yes, sir you are, sir but, sir I am dying,
and I want to know the way to heaven. You, sir, do not
know the way for yourself, and I am sure you cannot show it
to me."" The rector was struck as dumb before his own ser-
vant, by these words, as Zacharias had been before the Lord
by the words of Gabriel, and, like Zacharias, could only go
out and await the result. The Wesleyan was sent for.
The rector was careful to be present at the interview. The
servant was right. Like Philip, the Wesleyan preached
Christ, and the dying man believed and passed away, in the
triumphant assurance that he should be this day with Christ
in paradise. This was the voice of God, who, by his Son, is
speaking to us in these last days ; it utterly shook, and caused
to pass away, the foundation upon which the rector's confi-
dence had been placed, and suddenly burned up the hay,
wood, and stubble of his ritual superstructure built upon it.
He was humbled in the dust. His proud heart was broken.
Like his own servant, he took his place at the feet of the be-
fore despised Wesleyan, listened to the preaching of Christ by
his lips, believed, and. was saved.
A new career opened before him. He entered upon it with
36 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
all the ardor of a generous nature, stimulated by the energies
of a new life. Many were brought to believe in the Lord and
be saved. But it was not long before he became sensible of
the need of a still deeper work of grace, if he would be able
to overcome his own sinful propensities, and present Christ,
the overcomer, to his people. This necessity was still further
enforced by the consciousness of lack of power as a preacher
of the gospel. At times, indeed, he was borne up as on eagles'
wings, in his work, and felt himself sustained full} 7 , and rilled
to overflowing, like a spring welling up unto everlasting life,
and pouring forth streams of living water ; then, again, he felt
himself to be like the dry well, with a dry pump, from which
no living water would come, pump he never so hard. Still
further this matter came home upon him, by the Wesleyan's
testimony that all his needs in these respects and every other
might be supplied by our Lord Jesus Christ experimentally
received. Therefore once again he humbled himself in the
lowly seat of a learner at the feet of the Lord in the person
of his humble servant, and accepted Christ as his emancipator
from all sin, his pride, his unbelief, his impatience, his preju-
dice, himself, and as he by whom Satan and the world should
be overcome, his soul filled with faith and the Holy Ghost.
Nearly similar were the experiences of Dr. Coke.
REWARDED NOW, OR THEN?
And when thou prayest, thou slialt not be as the hypocrites are : for they
love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that
they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Matthew a : 5.
A MINISTER, in the early part of the seventeenth century,
JjL was preaching, before an assembly of his brethren ; and,
in order to direct their attention to the great motive from which
they should act, he represented to them something of the great
day of judgment. Having spoken of Christ as seated on his
throne, he described him as speaking to his ministers ; examin-
ing how they preached, and with what views they had under-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 37
taken and discharged the duties of the ministry. " What did
you preach for ? "
" I preached, Lord, that I might keep a good living that was
left me by my father ; which, if I had not entered the minis-
try, would have been wholly lost to me and my family."
Christ addresses him, " Stand by, thou hast had thy re-
ward/'' The question is put to another, " And what do you
preach for ? "
" Lord, I was applauded as a learned man ; and I preached
to keep up the reputation of an excellent orator, and an in-
genious preacher."
The answer of Christ to him also is, " Stand by, thou hast
had thy reward.'! The judge puts the question to the third,
" And what did you preach for ? "
" Lord," saith he, " I neither aimed at the great things of
this world, though I was thankful for the conveniences of life
which thou gavest me ; nor did I preach that I might gain the
character of a wit, or of a man of parts, or of a fine scholar ;
but I preached in compassion to souls, and to please and honor
thee ; my design, Lord, in preaching, was, that I might win
souls to thy blessed majesty."
The judge was now described as calling out, " Room, men I
room, angels ! let this man come and sit with me on my throne ;
he has owned and honored me on earth, and I will own and
honor him through all the ages of eternity." The ministers
went home much affected, resolving that, through the help of
God, they would attend more diligently to the motives and
work of the ministry than they had before done.
SECRET PRAYER.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast
shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret ; and thy Father which
seeth in secret shall reward thcc openly. Matthew G : 6.
PRESIDENT EDWARDS, in one of his discourses on prayer,
JL gives the following solemn advice : " I would exhort those
w r ho have entertained a hope of their being true converts, and
yet since their supposed conversion have left off the duty
38 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
of secret prayer, and do ordinarily allow themselves in the
omission of it, to throw away their hope. If you have left
off calling upon God, it is time for you to leave off hoping
and flattering yourselves with an imagination that you are the
children of God. Probably it will be a very difficult thing
for you to do this. It is hard for a man to. let go a hop.e of
heaven, on which he hath once allowed himself to lay hold,
and which he hath retained for a considerable time. Those
things in men which, if known to others, would be sufficient to
convince others that they are hypocrites, will not convince
themselves."
GOOD THINGS GIVEN WITH GRACE.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness ; and all these
things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6 : 33.
WHEN the great bargain is concluded between God and
the soul of man; when the kingdom of heaven with
righteousness is made sure, God throws into the bargain the
good and needful things of this life, as unworthy of mention
in so great a transaction. Like the farmer who sells a large
and valuable farm, he throws in certain second-hand imple-
ments of husbandry, or, like the importing merchant, who, in
selling one of his ships, throws in any cordage or other ship-
stores that may be lying about the vessel ; while he who
seeks to get " all these things " without securing the kingdom
of God, will be like the sailor, who, with ship-stores, finds,
when too late, he has not the ship. In securing the greater,
we get the less ; but if we look only for the less, we shall fail
to possess the greater, or enjoy the less. Hopkins.
LIVING BY THE DAY.
Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow : for the morrow shall take
thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Mattheio C : 34.
I COMPARE,' 7 says John Newton, the troubles which
we have to undergo in the course of the year to a great
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 39
bundle of fagots, far too large for us to lift. But God does
not require us to carry the whole at once. He mercifully un-
ties the bundle, and gives us first orie stick, which we are
to carry to-day, and then another, which we are to carry to-
morrow, and so on. This we might easily manage, if we would
only take the burden appointed for us each day; but we
choose to increase our troubles by carrying yesterday's over
again to-day, and adding to-morrow's burden to our load be-
fore we are required to bear it." William Jay puts the same
truth another way. " We may consider the year before us a
desk containing three hundred and sixty-five letters addressed
to us one for every day, announcing its trials, and pre-
scribing its employments, with an order to open daily no letter
but the letter for the day. Now, we may be strongly tempted
to unseal beforehand some of the remainder. This, however,
would only serve to embarrass. us, while we should violate the
rule which our Owner and Master has laid down for us :
1 Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow, for the morrow
shall take thought for the things of itself.' "
WALKING IN THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD.
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to
them that ask him? Matthew 7:11.
, brothers, think, sisters, we walk in the air of an
JL eternal fatherhood. Every uplifting of the heart is a
looking up to the Father. Graciousness and truth are around,
above, beneath us, yea, in us. When we are least worthy,
then, most tempted, hardest, unkindest, let us yet commend
our spirits into his hands. Whither else dare we send them ?
How the earthly father would love a child who would creep
into his room with angry, troubled face, and sit down at his
feet, saying, when asked what he wanted, " I feel so naughty,
papa, and I want to get good." Would he say to this child,
" How dare you ! Go away, and be good, and then come to
me " ? And shall we dare to think God would send us away
40 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
if we came thus, and would not be pleased that we came, even
if we were angry as Jonah ? Would we not let all the tender-
ness of our nature flow forth upon such a child ? And shall
we dare to think that if we, being evil, know how to give good
gifts to our children, God will not give us his own spirit when
we come to ask him ? George Macdonald.
"TO BRISTOL EITHER WAY."
Enter ye in at the strait gate : for wide is the gate, and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction, and many there he which go in thereat : Because
strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few
there be that find it. Matthew 7 : 13, 14.
FTIRAVELING, some years ago, in the interior of New
JL Hampshire, I reached a point from which two roads
diverged, passing in nearly opposite directions for some dis-
tance, but taking ere long a semicircular course, and meeting
at a well-known village. Just at the point of divergence,
above described, stood a post with a " guide board " attached
*to it, reading thus : " To Bristol either way." Very often
have I thought that this queer but truth-telling guide-board
represents a large class of preachers. Now, just look at that
Universalist minister, as he stands up before his people from
Sabbath to Sabbath, pointing with one hand to the narrow
way of life, and with the other to the broad way of death,
while he blasphemously exclaims, " To heaven either way 1 "
What an insult to the God of truth !
Has not the Lord Jesus Christ himself told us that the
" narrow way leadeth unto life/' while " few there be that find
it " ? Yes. And has he not also said, in the same breath,
that the " broad way leadeth unto destruction," and that
" many there be which go in thereat " ? Yes. Well, does not
the " narrow way " mean holiness, and does not the " broad
wav" mean sin? Most obviously. And does not life mean
heaven, while destruction signifies hell ? Are not two eter-
nities here brought to view ? What sensible, candid man will
question it?
But Christ declares that these two roads lead to two very
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 41
different worlds, while the Universalist contradicts the Son of
God, and tells you that both roads lead to heaven ! Now,
which will you believe ? 0, reader, be not deceived, God is
not mocked ; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap. If we sow to the flesh, we shall of the flesh reap" cor-
ruption ; but if we sow to the Spirit, we shall of the Spirit
reap life everlasting. 0, sow to the Spirit, and live forever !
CHARACTER INDICATED BY WORKS.
Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 1 : 20.
IN visiting the penitentiary the other day, we saw in a cell
a fierce, savage-looking man, and, on inquiry, we were told
that he- was sentenced for highway robbery. We asked the
warden if he claimed to be a Christian ! He was very much
astonished at our question, but replied, Such men never claim
to be Christians ; they invariably declare that Christianity is
mere priestcraft, Christians hypocrites, and the so-called doc-
trines of grace fit only to amuse women and children, and they
repudiate any sympathy with the concern. To this we replied,
That is precisely our experience. Wicked men are fully qual-
ified to be infidels and atheists, but not to be Christians. So
much is this felt to be the case, that they dare not make even
a pretense to being Christians. They feel that even the most
degraded would laugh at such a claim ! " Did you ever hear,"
said the late Dr. Mason to an infidel, " any great excitement
over a professed infidel getting drunk or breaking the seventh
commandment ? " And we would further ask, Is it usual to
charge against atheists and infidels that the} r are hypocrites
when they do such things, or that they violate the canon of
their creed by such conduct ?
6
42 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
BUILDING ON THE SAND.
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not,
shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.
Matthew 7 : 26.
IN the East the peasants' huts are often very unsubstantial
structures. They are built of mud or sunburnt brick. A
night's hard rain-storm will sometimes nearly demolish an
entire village. Their mountain streams also possess a very pe-
culiar character. The beds of these brooks are called wadies.
In the hot season they are entirely dry. Yet even then they
afford often the best pasturage. In the rainy season they are
swollen streams. The shepherd builds his hut by the banks
of one of these wadies. If it is built high upon the rock it is
safe. If it is built on the sandy soil, though there is no water
at the time of building, the treacherous foundation gives way
with the first freshet. Appearances are often deceitful this
is one lesson of the image. The. man's house seems safe so
long as the wady is dry. It needs a torrent to test it. No
man knows whether he is safe till he has been tried. The
storm is needed to show whether he is built on the rock or on
the sand. There is another lesson quite as important. The
hearers of Christ's sermon understood it, doubtless. A friend
of mine was traveling through Palestine. The party pitched
their tents in one of these wadies. The night was fair, the air
clear, the grass green and soft, the torrent bed dry. Suddenly
my friend was awakened by hearing the gurgling of water.
Before he was dressed it was a foot high beneath his bed. He
escaped with difficulty. His clothing, books, manuscripts,
were carried off by the stream. Rain in the mountains had
in a few hours filled the dry bed with a roaring torrent. So,
without, stormy experiences of temptation come. They that
are not built on a rock fall. There is no time to prepare after
temptation assails. Peter in the palace has no time to think.
He must do his thinking before.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 43
SOME ONE MUST PRAY.
And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and
shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of
heaven : but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer dark-
ness : there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 8:11, 12.
THE social life of heathen nations is penetrated through and
through by their religion, arid the commonest duties in
the family, in business, and in travel are identified with re-
ligious observances. It were well if Christian nations were
equally scrupulous. We give an illustration from the Sunday
School Times : " A man of learning and talent, but an unbe-
liever, was traveling in Manilla on a scientific expedition. He
was escorted by a native of rank, and, as they were about to
start, the native, with the refined politeness which character-
izes the Orientals, requested the white stranger to pray to his
God. This was probably the only thing he could have been
asked to do without being able to comply ; and on his declin-
ing, the native said, ' Well, some God must be prayed to, so
you will excuse me if I pray to mine.'
' Full many a shaft at random sent,
Finds mark the archer never meant.'
" So it was in this case. The unbeliever was rebuked by a
heathen, and the man of science, who had gone there in quest
of natural curiosities, returned, having found the ' pearl of
great price.' His next visit is to be as a missionary to preach
Christ."
LEFT BEHIND.
But Jesus said unto him, Follow me ; and let the dead bury their dead.
Matthew 8 : 22.
THE caravan was within but a few days' journey of the
Syrian limit, and of its desert journey more than three-
fourths had been performed. The tents had been lifted in the
first blush of the morning, and the company, before the sun
was an hour in the heavens, were out of sight from the spot
44 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
where they had halted. It was a little dell, which the shelter
of a high rock had produced. A fountain of sweet water
welled up through the matted soil, which the waving of the
long tropical ferns produced j and underneath the shade of the
rock was the double shade of the date and aloe tree. There
still rested a young man in sleep. No wonder that the cool-
ness of the shade and the softness of his bed should have de-
ceived him, but still he was left behind. There were leagues
of danger between himself and his company. Every moment the
danger increased. In a little while the danger would be in-
surmountable. If he had taken that moment for thought, he
might then have understood how time neglected becomes eter-
nity. Have you, my reader, been left behind ? Has the car-
avan of God's church passed out of your sight ? Hurry on,
for soon you will find that the distance is insurmountable.
Left behind ! And by what ? The lovety and holy of all ages
the general assembly and church of the first-born the
company of the just made perfect ! Only in that blessed host
which thus in its solemn procession has passed on can
salvation be found ; for who is there who is ashamed to ac-
knowledge his Master on earth, and to follow him without the
camp, who will be acknowledged by him in heaven?
HE WAS GOD AND MAN.
But the men marveled, saying, "What manner of man is this, that even
the winds and the sea obey him ! Matthew 8 : 27.
A WRITER in The Christian Advocate thus writes of
Christ : " What manner of man is this ? " He is truly
man, but how high does that manhood rise ? As line is added
to line in our faint sketch, we are compelled to higher and
higher conceptions of him, until with Thomas we adoringly
cry, " My Lord and my God ! " We cannot stop short of it.
Wo must so confess, or turn away from his earthly life as an
unsolved and unsolvable enigma. He is the God-man, our
divine-human Lord, manifesting God to men, and lifting hu-
manity up to God. To such a result do we come, tracing the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 45
facts upward from his conceded manhood. Suppose, however,
we begin at the uppermost fact, with God, as the Scriptures
reveal his character, and ask, If he were to become incarnate
for the purpose of saving a lost race, how different might we rea-
sonably expect him to be from what we actually find in Jesus
of Nazareth ? We freely concede that no man would before-
hand conceive such an incarnate life as his was ; but now that
it has been set before us, we can see that a God with such a
purpose, becoming just what Jesus was, doing just as he did,
speaking just as he spoke, and passing through just his career,
would take the course best adapted to secure his end. A God
incarnate to save men would be likely to appear as Jesus of
Nazareth.
CHRIST IN SYMPATHY WITH THE SUFFERING.
But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need
not a physician, but they that are sick. Matthew 9 : 12.
" /^OME unto me,' 7 says the blessed Jesus, " all ye that labor
\J and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." And
herein he exactly fulfills the appointment of his Father, and
acts in the most perfect conformity to the commission he
received from Him ; of which we have a fair copy in Isaiah
Ixi. 1, " The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the
Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek ;
he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them
that are bound." From this passage it plainly appears that
humbled, convinced souls are his peculiar charge ; he is the
physician, not of the whole^ but of the sick ; not of those that
justify themselves, but of those who are perishing in their
own apprehension, who feel their need of him, and know
something of the worth of that salvation which he brings.
Walker.
46 . NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
VIIAT JESUS IS ABLE TO DO.
And when he was come into the house, -the hlind men came to him: and
Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this ? They said unto
him, Yea, Lord. Matthew 9 : 28.
" A BLE even to subdue all things unto himself." Phil. 3 : 21.
jLl_ " Able to make all grace abound toward you ; that ye,
always having all-sufficiency in all things, may abound to every
good work." 2 Cor. 9:18.
" Able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy."
Jude 24.
" Able to succor them that are tempted." Neb. 2 : 18.
" Able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him." Heb. 7:25.
" What he had promised, he was able also to perform."
Rom. 4 : 21.
" Able to make him stand." - Rom. 14 : 4.
" Able to keep that which I have committed unto him."
2 Tim. 1 : 2.
" Able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance
among all them which are sanctified." Acts 20 : 32.
" Able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think." Eph. 3:20.
" Believe ye that I am able to do this ? " Matt. 9 : 28.
A TRUE HARVEST LABORER.
Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labor-
ers into his harvest. Matthew 9 : 38.
A BIBLE class in Troy, N. Y., was commenced twenty-two
years ago by a lady, who is still its teacher. The original
class numbered sixteen, fifteen of whom have died. Five
hundred persons have belonged to- this class. Three hundred
of them have united with the church. This excellent teacher
has kept an accurate history of each scholar, and has always
corresponded with the absent. She visits the regular mem-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 47
bers twice a year. They visit her socially, and as a class, by
invitation. Although from the poorer classes of the commu-
nity, arid all working for a livelihood, they support a native
preacher in Burmah, are educating a negro in Texas for the
ministry, and are helping to carry on a church in Iowa, besides
paying all their own class expenses. The daughter of one of
her former pupils is now a regular member of her class. Many
of the pupils have gone West, but she continues to respond to
their frequent requests for counsel. She has been at the fu-
nerals of all her class who have died. The secrets of her success
are these four : 1. Self-consecration. 2. The consecration
of her pupils to the Lord. 3. Visitation at their own homes,
with conversation and prayer. 4. Social influence at her
own home.
CHRISTIAN FAITHFULNESS.
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew 10 : 7.
"VTOT long since, while visiting the sick, in company with a
\ Christian brother, I received from him, in substance, the
following account : Many years ago, while in an unconverted
state, he was returning from a journey to the West, and tarried
at a public house, where many intemperate and profane peo-
ple were assembled. One old man, however, was there, who
neither swore nor drank with them. When they retired to
rest, it was his lot to sleep in the same room with this serious
aged man, who soon commenced a conversation on religion.
The veteran of the cross ascertained that his young friend
knew nothing, by experience, concerning the love of God shed
abroad in the heart. His pious observations made no sensible
impression on the mind of the youth, who soon fell into a slum-
ber. The morning came ; they arose ; and perhaps most
Christians would have thought any more religious conversation
with the careless sinner would have been useless. Not so
with this old gentleman. Before his friend left the place, he
took him by the hand and advised him to seek the salvation of
his soul. He received his thanks for his advice, but still the
48 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
youth was as careless as ever. However, lie had not traveled
far, before the recollection of the admonitions he had received
was made the means of his awakening. He thought of the af-
fectionate solicitude of one who was a perfect stranger to him,
and began to be anxious concerning his own state. While on
his way, he tarried a night at a tavern w^here frolicsome mirth
was abundant ; but it was a miserable place to him. At length
he reached home, but with feelings far different from those he
formerly had. Two months elapsed before he found him who
was born at Bethlehem, and when he did find him it was in a
manger. While on his knees in prayer, the Saviour appeared
in his behalf, and he was happy in God. What encourage-
ment is here to strive, at all times, to do good. " Go thou and
do likewise. 77
ISE IN WINNING SOULS.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves : be ye therefore
wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. Matthew 10 : 16.
IN March, 1854, Bishop Simpson and myself were passing
up the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon, to the
Dalles. It was before the keels of .noble steamers had vexed
the waters of the Upper Columbia. At the Cascades, seventy
miles from Portland, we took passage in an Indian canoe for
the Dalles, fifty miles distant. The whole country was a
wilderness, unoccupied save by a small company of United
States military at the Dalles and a few daring whites, adven-
turers, and some of them men of dissolute habits and depraved
morals. Besides these the Indians were numerous. Our crew
in the canoe were two Indians and three or four squaws. The
passengers, besides the bishop and myself, were two or three
Indian dogs, and two white men more depraved than the dogs.
Their hides the men's -r were full of mean whiskey, and
each luul a quart bottle full to replenish from as evaporation
diminished the supply they had imbibed. Their mouths were
full of cursing, bitterness, and obscenity. Their foul dialect,
employed for the purpose of irritating their clerical fellow-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 49
passengers, was very annoying. Once or twice a stern rep-
rimand rose to the lips of the writer, and it was almost half
uttered, but at a signal from the bishop it was repressed.
After a while one of the drunkards fell off into a condition of
insensibility. The other became silent. At length the bishop
very kindly inquired of him whether his mother were still liv-
ing. He very eagerly answered that she was. Another ques-
tion, "Is your mother a praying woman?" " 0, yes." " Do
you think she is praying for you every day?" With deep
feeling the answer came, " I have no doubt of it." Finding
that he had struck a chord that vibrated, the bishop con-
tinued, " Do you suppose your mother knows the kind of life
you are leading?" The sensibilities of the dissipated youth
were stirred, the fountains of tears were unsealed, and, with
sobs and flowing tears, the young man replied that " he would
not have her know it for the world."
The subject was followed up by the bishop with an earnest,
feeling exhortation, which was apparently well received. The
day passed away. We lodged at an Indian camp, and the
next morning parted with our whiskey-bloated fellow-passen-
gers. The bishop has probably never seen those men since ;
but the seed he sowed there by the wayside brought forth
its harvest in God's own good time, as the writer learned
more than ten years afterwards. In October, 1864, as I was
coming down the Upper Columbia in a splendid steamer, one
of perhaps a hundred passengers, a well-dressed, respectable-
looking gentleman introduced himself to me, informing me
that he was the young man to whom the bishop put those
searching but kindly questions in the canoe, in March, 1854,
and that that interview had been made a life-long blessing to
him, " for," said he, " I have drank no more whiskey ; I have
led a sober, industrious life ; I have a respectable family ; I
have amassed a competence, and I am trying to live a reli-
gious life." He ascribed it all, under God's blessing, to the
faithfulness of the good bishop. Rev. T. H. Pearne.
7
50 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
"HOW DO YOU TREAT MY MASTER?"
The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Matthew 10 : 24.
DR. PAYSON was once going to one of the towns in Maine
for the purpose of attending a ministers' meeting, accom-
panied by a friend, when they had occasion to call at a house
on the journey, where Dr. Payson was unknown. The family
had just sat down to tea, and the lady of the house, in the
spirit of genuine hospitality, invited the strangers to partake
of the social repast. Dr. Payson at first declined, but being
strenuously urged, he consented. As he took his seat, he in-
quired if a blessing had been asked ; and being answered in
the negative, requested the privilege, which was readily
granted, of invoking the benediction of Heaven. This was
done with so much fervor, solemnity, and simplicity, that it
had the happiest effect. The old lady treated the company
with the utmost attention, and as Dr. Payson was about to
leave, he said to her, " Madam, you have treated me with
much hospitality and kindness, for which I thank you sin-
cerely ; but allow me to ask, how do you treat my Master ?
That is of infinitely greater consequence than how you treat
me." He continued in a strain of appropriate- exhortation,
and having done his duty in the circumstances, proceeded on
his journey. This visit was sanctified to the conversion of
the lady and her household. The revival continued in the
neighborhood, and in a short time a church was built, and the
regular ordinances of religion established.
. A RELIGION THAT CAN BE DESPISED.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my
Father which is in heaven. Matthew 10 : 38.
FTUIE late Dr. Harris, of Dumbarton, walking out one day in
J_ one of the large villages of a neighboring state, met one
of the champions of Universalism. It was General P- ,
the leader and main supporter of the large Universalist
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 51
society which had for years existed in that place. He was a
high-minded man, quite wealthy, and very influential, hav-
ing a good deal of general information and considerable skill
in argument, which last he did not hesitate to use whenever
and wherever opportunities were presented. He and Dr.
Harris were personally strangers j but knowing something of
each other by reputation, they readily introduced themselves.
The general very soon lifted up his standard, and began his
war of words, not doubting but that, though he might fail to
convince his opponent, he should at least show him that he
was no ordinary combatant, but knew well on what ground he
stood, and how to wield the sword of sectarian warfare to good
advantage. The doctor heard him through ; then calmly
turned to him, and said, " General P , it is of no use for
us to contend. We shall not probably convince each other
by arguments ever so protracted. But there is one thing in
relation to this matter which deserves consideration. It is
this : I can treat your religion just as I please ; I can turn from
it, as an utter abomination ; I can despise it ; I can spit on it,
and trample it under my feet ; and yet, after all, I SHALL BE
SAVED shan't I, General P ?" The general, of course,
was obliged to assent, or give up the doctrine. There was
no room for evasion. " But/ 7 added the doctor, while the
general was writhing at the contempt thus thrown upon his
gods, " it will not do for you to- treat my religion so. If you
do, YOU ARE A LOST MAN ! " This was enough ; nothing more
was said. A religious system that can thus be despised with
impunity, is evidently not from God, and therefore unworthy
the faith or confidence of men.
A MARTYR OF THE ROMAN COLISEUM.
He that findeth his life shall lose it : and he that loseth his life for my
sake shall find it. Matthew 10 : 39.
ONE of the martyrs of the Coliseum was Ignatius, Bishop of
Antioch. While the Emperor Trajan was visiting that
city, he heard of the faith and zeal of this minister of Christ,
and offered him a reward if he would sacrifice to the Roman
52 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
gods. He replied, " Should you offer me all the treasures
of your empire, I would not cease to adore the only true and
living God.' 7 Ignatius was threatened, and when this had
no effect, he was summoned to Rome. On his way to the
imperial city, he was met everywhere by Christian friends
whom he encouraged to persevere, and who in turn strength-
ened his heart in his purpose not to shrink from any suffering
for the sake of Christ. He besought the disciples at Rome
not to intercede for his life, expressing his perfect willingness
to meet the wild beasts, and thus to prove his love to his
divine Master. When brought into the amphitheater, he thus
addressed the assembled multitude who were eager to witness
his death: "Men and Romans, know that I am not brought
here for any crime, but for the glory of the God I worship ; "
and the words were scarcely fallen from his lips, when the
lions were let loose upon him, and tore him in pieces. An
ancient tradition relates that Ignatius, when a child, was one
of those whom the Saviour took in his arms and blessed, say-
ing, " Suffer little children to come unto me/' &c.
LEAST IN THE- KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. .
Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of iromen there hath
not risen a greater than John the Baptist : notwithstanding, he that is least
in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Matthew 11 : 11.
HE who is least in the kingdom of heaven, is not the one
who has least piety, or the least faith, but the one who
is least, or humblest in rank or in gifts, while the whole
analogy of the comparison supposes him to have maturely
attained the light and privilege of Christ's kingdom. John
was more honored in official rank, and knew more of Christ,
than any of the prophets ; but here is one, in the kingdom of
heaven, of humblest capacity and rank, not called to be a
prophet, who has entered into the fullness of Christ's doc-
trine and dispensation. Few there are, and have been, in the
world's history, as compared with the multitude of nominal
believers, who have received by faith and assimilated into
their character by experience, the fullness of their dispensa-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 53
tions. Enoch did it when ho " walked with God." Abraham
did it when " faith wrought with his works, and by works his
faith was made perfect/' It was then he saw " Christ's day
and was glad." Moses did it when he received the law, and
when he beheld the glory of Jehovah. John entered into the
spiritual depths of redemption, as his gospel and epistles show.
Such like characters represented the light, knowledge, and
glory of their times, not by their extraordinary gifts, but by
their faith, and were more precious in the sight of God than
all the gifts of miracles that ever were delegated to man.
Rev. F. G. HMard, D. D.
PREACH POINTEDLY, AND TO SAVE.
But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
in the day of judgment than for thee. Matthew 11 : 24.
IN one of the battles of Philip, king of Macedon, an arrow
struck his eye and put it out. He picked it up, and found
it inscribed with the words, " To Philip's eye" An archer,
whose arm was so sure that he could mark his arrows with
their destination with a certainty that they would reach it,
had aimed at the eye of the king, and his arrow had reached
its point. Such should be the certain aim of the ministers of
Christ. There are arrows in the quiver of the Almighty for
every class of our race. The minister of the gospel should
select and send them to their destination with the precision
of the archer to the king's eye. When the bold blasphemer
enters the house of God, a pointed arrow should reach him,
dipped in the spirit of rebuke from the Almighty. So when
the humble penitent enters the sanctuary seeking peace, an
arrow should be ready prepared by God's mercy, and dipped
in the blood of Christ.
54 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
MORAL INSTINCTS, OR SOUL POWERS.
At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these tilings from the wise and pru-
dent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Matthew 11 : 25.
IT is not to be supposed that God should give to man power
through the senses to know material things, and not give
to him moral instincts, or soul-powers, by which he may know
his Creator, and enjoy his favor. Knowledge through the
senses is the lowest form of sentient life. It belongs to
brutes, as well as to men ; and is" often found in greater perfec-
tion in the lower order of animals than in man. Sight, hear-
ing, and smelling are senses enjoyed by beasts and birds, far
beyond human powers in those departments. But man is en-
dowed with another class of powers not found in the brute
creation, such as soul-poWers, or moral instincts, which an-
swer in man,, but in a higher degree, what is instinct in
brutes. These moral instincts are to be exercised by the
soul in finding its way back to God, through those channels
of instruction and enlightenment which God has mercifully
given to us. As the physical man does not hear with his
eyes, nor see with his ears, nor feel by smell or taste, so, in
threading back the path of departure, till he shall find God,
and repose in the light of his favor, man does not rest upon
his intellect, judgment, or understanding; but the moral in-
stincts cry for peace, and rest in the living God. In the lower
order of animals, instinct leads them to carry out the design
of their Creator for their greatest good. Moral instincts in
man turn their soul-powers towards God, as the soul's only
satisfying portion.
This spiritual sense is sometimes called " conviction," which
means that these soul-powers are stirred to unusual activity.
If a man should put out his own eyes, and then hope to see
with his ears, he would seek a result God will not allow
through such a channel. When man ignores his moral sense,
and throws himself upon the intellections and understanding
of his mind-nature, he will be as far from finding peace to his
soul as he who should substitute his ears for seeing, after hav-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 55
ing voluntarily destroyed his eyes. The Holy Ghost comes
into the sepulchre of the soul through this door of moral sense,
and calls these powers to " come forth." Till such moral resur-
rection, the soul is said to be " dead in trespasses and in
sins ; " but when revived, and exercised in humbly trusting in
God, a knowledge of spiritual and divine things is possessed
which is never reached by purely intellectual efforts. This
explains a fact widely known, why so many, though ignorant
in the learning of the schools, do possess a knowledge of God,
and spiritual things, that mere intellectual scholars never
loam. This fact helps us to understand those words of our
Lord, when he said, " I thank" thee, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise
and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." (Matt.
11 : 25.) Not hidden by any arbitrary decree on the part of
God, but only hidden, as hearing is hidden from the eye, or
light from the ear ; God's method of reaching the soul being
through the moral sense, and not through the intellect. The
worldly wise not using moral senses for moral results.
DR. HALL'S TRACT, "COME TO JESUS."
Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest. Matthew 11 : 28.
DR. NEWMAN HALL'S account of the origin of this tract,
as narrated by a correspondent of the "Sunday School
Times, is as follows : " While in Hull, attending a missionary
meeting, I accepted an invitation to dine at the house of a
wealthy merchant, a friend of missions and reform. When
the feast was ended and the cloth removed, as I do not drink
wine or smoke, I withdrew, and, in company with a friend,
went on the street to see something of the masses, and if
opportunity offered, to speak to them of Jesus. We turned
down an alley, and soon found a crowd, whose attention we
attracted by singing the familiar hymn, ' Come to Jesus,' in
which they joined heartily. Taking these words, l Come to
Jesus/ for a text, I asked, 'Who is Jesus? 7 'He is God.
56 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
He is man.' i Where is Jesus ? ' ' He is in heaven. He is
here.' Thus familiarly I talked to them of the Saviour, and
they listened attentively. Returning to my room, I jotted
down the eight or nine points of my simple talk ; and, reflect-
ing upon the deep impression it seemed to have made upon
my street audience, I embodied my rough notes in a sermon,
during the week, which I preached to my people the follow-
ing Sabbath. Soon after I was prostrated by a severe illness,
from which for a time it was thought I could not recover.
What shall I leave behind me if I die? I asked myself, de-
spondingly. Only a tract on Temperance. I wish I could
leave more than that one tract, and I will, if God should spare
my life. It was his good pleasure that I should recover, and
during my convalescence the tract was written, and it proved
a pleasant work for leisure hours. When ready for the press,
I ordered an edition of two thousand copies, which was soon
exhausted ; then ten thousand were issued ; then fifty thousand
followed, and soon one hundred thousand. Missionaries all
over the world translated it into other languages, and now it
is read in as many languages as the Bible. In England alone
one million arid a quarter copies have been circulated, and,
including America, two million in all. There is not," he con-
tinued, " much of man in it, for it did not cost great intellect-
ual effort ; but it contains only the simple truths of the gospel,
and it is such means that God often blesses in a wonderful
FOR, OR AGAINST, CHRIST.
He that is not with me is against me ; and he that gathereth not with me
scattereth abroad. Matthew 12 : 30.
DURING the remarks of Mr. Farwell, at a meeting in the
Howard Street Methodist Church, he related the follow-
ing incident of himself: About a dozen years ago, a Christian
young man of his acquaintance came into his store, and said
that he and a number of fellow-Christians had appointed a
prayer-meeting for the evening, and each one had promised
to" bring with him one of his inipi'iiiu-nt friends. He then
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 57
said that, in fulfillment of his part of the obligation, he had
come to ask Mr. Farwell to accompany him to the meeting.
As he, Mr. Farwell, was himself at that time a professor of
religion, the invitation did not afford him a great deal of
pleasure. It set him to reflecting, however, and, in thinking,
he came to the conclusion that if his life so far had been such
us to give, to those who knew him, the impression that he was
still among the u impenitent," it was time for him to be wak-
ing up, and to be more active in the cause of his Saviour. The
result, to those acquainted with him, is well known. He now,
though having the management of a large mercantile business,
finds time to do a great deal, by personal effort, for the spirit-
ual interest of his fellow-men. He told the writer that he
visited the Bridewell at Chicago which answers to the sta-
tion-house or city prison here as often as once a week, to
distribute tracts to the prisoners, and to talk to them about
eternal things ; and when he is abroad, he does not hesitate
to show his colors, and make himself known as a soldier of
the cross. This is what every Christian ought to do ; but we
very much fear that there are many in the church who give
but little evidence, by their lives, that they are not yet among
the " impenitent," and who need something like this to bring
them to a sense of their condition.
SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST.
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be for-
given unto men : but the blasphemy against the Hol^ Ghost shall not be
forgiven^unto men. Matthew 12 : 31.
THE late Rev. Herman Norton records the following affect-
ing instance. Often have I listened to its recital from
his own lips.
" An aged procrastinator, taking the servant of God by the
hand, said, < Sir, do you think there is any mercy in heaven
for a man who has sinned more than eighty years ? '
" < There is mercy/ I replied, < for those who repent of sin,
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.'
58 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" Stjll pressing my hand, while tears were flowing down his
wrinkled cheeks, and his frame trembling, he more earnestly
renewed his inquiry : { My dear sir, do you believe that God
will forgive a man who has rebelled against him eighty-one
years in this world ? ' Before a word was uttered in reply, he
cried out, in agony, 1 1 know I shall not be forgiven ! I shall
die in my sins ! '
" This caused me to ask how he knew, or what induced him
to believe, that God would never have mercy on him.
" He replied, ' I will tell you, and disclose what I have never
uttered to any human being. When I was twenty-one, I was
awakened to feel that I was a sinner. I was then intimate with
a number of young men, and was ashamed to have them know
that I was anxious for my soul: For five or six weeks I read
my Bible, and prayed every day in secret. Then I said in
my heart one day, I will put this subject off until I am married
and settled in life, and then I will attend to my soul's salva-
tion. But I knew that I was doing wrong.
" ' After I was settled in the world, I thought of the resolu-
tion I had made, and of my solemn promise to God then to
make my peace with him ; but, as I had no disposition to do
so, I again said in my heart, I will put off this subject ten
years, and then prepare to die.
" t The time came, and I remembered my promise ; but I
had no special anxiety about my salvation. Then did I again
postpone and resolve that if God would spare me through
another term of years, I would certainly attend to the con-
cerns of my soul. God spared me, but I lived on in my sins ;
and now I see my awful situation. I am lost.
" 1 1 believe that I sinned against the Holy Ghost when I
was twenty-one, and that I have lived sixty years since'my day
of grace was past. I know that I shall not be forgiven.'
" When asked if I should pray for him, he replied, < Yes ;
but it will do no good.' So fearfully certain was he of de-
struction i He continued in this state for weeks and months.
All attempts to urge him to accept of salvation were in vain ;
this blighting sentiment was ever first in his thoughts : ' It
will do no good.' His feelings were not contrition or repent-
ance for sin, but the anticipation of wrath to come. And in
this state he died."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 59
LIFE PRINTING ITSELF.
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
give account thereof in the day of judgment. Matthew 12 : 36.
OUR lives, whether good or bad, aro printed thoughts,
words, and deeds, for eternity.
By the discoveries of modern science, the rays of the sun
are made to form the exact portrait' of him on whom they
shine. We are all living in the sunlight of eternity, which is
transferring to plates more enduring than brass, the exact
portrait of the soul in every successive act with all its attend-
ant circumstances.
Interesting to the antiquary is the moment when he drags
out from the sands of Egypt some obelisk on which the " pen
of iron, and the point of a diamond," have graven the portraits,
the attitudes, the dresses, and the pursuits of men who lived
and died three thousand years ago. But none can utter the in-
terest of that moment, when from the silence of eternity shall
be brought out tablets thick set with the sculptured history
of a sinful soul, and men and angels, with the sinner himself,
shall gaze appalled on the faithful portraiture of a life of sin.
Remember, then, transgressor, you must meet the record
of your sin in eternity !
Reader, a stain on thy character, though not of flagrant
complexion, though it may have been made under many palli-
ating circumstances a stain, trivial though it may appear in
the view of the world, must stand on the page of thy history
for ever. A stain on thy character will not only have a bear-
ing on thy whole future welfare, but it may help to form the
grand result that shall be made out at the judgment.
THE PEN OF HEAVEN.
For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
condemned. Matthew 12 : 37.
THE most common action of life its every day, its every
hour is invested with solemn grandeur, when we think
it extends its issues into eternity. Our hands are now sowing
60 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
seed for that great harvest. We shall meet again all we are
doing, or have done. The graves shall give up their dead,
and from the tombs of oblivion the past shall give up all that
it holds in keeping to be witness for or against us. 0, think
of that ! In yonder hall of the Inquisition see what its effect
on us should be. Within those blood-stained walls one is
under examination. He has been assured that nothing he re-
veals shall be written for the purpose of being used against
him. While making frank and ingenuous confession, he sud-
denly stops. . He is dumb a mute. They ply him with
questions, flatter him, threaten him ; he answers not a word.
Danger makes the senses quick. His ear has caught the
sound : he listens ; he ties his tongue ; a curtain hangs beside
him, and behind it he hears a pen running along the pages.
The truth flashes. Behind that screen a scribe sits, com-
mitting to the fatal page every word he says, and he shall
meet it again on the day of trial.
Ah ! how solemn to think that there is such a pen going in
heaven, and entering on the books of judgment all we say or
wish, all we think or do. Would to God we heard it ! What
a check ! and what a stimulus ! Are we about to sin ? how
strong a curb ; if slow to duty, how sharp a spur. What a
motive to pray for the blood that blots out a guilty past, and
for such grace, as, in time to come, shall enable us to walk
in God's statutes, to keep his commandments, to do them.
" Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade
men." Dr. Guthrie.
A CHRISTIAN QUEEN.
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this genera-
tion, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the
earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and, behold, a greater than Solomon
is here. Matthew 12 : 42.
WILLIAM IV. expired, about midnight, at Windsor Palace.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, with other peers and
hiii-li functionaries of the kingdom, were in attendance. As
soon as the " scepter had departed " with the last breath of
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 61
the king, the archbishop quitted Windsor Castle, and made
his way with all possible speed to Kensington Palace, the res-
idence, at that time, of the princess already by the law of
succession queen Victoria. He arrived long before daylight,
announced himself, and requested an immediate interview
with the princess. She hastily attired herself, and met the
venerable prelate in her ante-room. He informed her of the
death of William, and formally announced to her that she was,
in law and right, successor to the deceased monarch. The
sovereign of the most powerful nation at the feet of a girl
of eighteen ! She was, de jure, queen of the only realm, in
fact or history, on which the " sun never sets." She was
deeply agitated at the formidable words, so fraught with
blessing or calamity, and the first words she was able to utter
were these, " I ask your prayers in my behalf."
CARES OF THIS WORLD.
He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word;
and the care of this world, and the deceitfulncss of riches, choke the word,
and he becometh unfruitful. Matthew 13 : 22.
THE good seed of God's word often falls on the ground
already pre-occupied with thorns ; the cares of this world
.and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it is
unfruitful. God intended business to be a thing which we
should LIVE BY, not a thing we should LIVE FOR. If men would
but use it as God intended it, there would be less of that
care which quenches or hinders the religious life. But when
thought, interest, energy- are concentrated with all their force
on this one thing, it takes possession of the whole of our na-
ture ; it rules us, enslaves us, and resolutely shuts out every
competing subject, very especially shuts out that which de-
mands to be chief and controller of all. " My son, give me
thine heart,'' says the great Father ; but the heart is already
given to the world, and cannot get free ; yea, is so thoroughly
absorbed in worldly care that it hardly hears the loving re-
quest so graciously made. " Seek first the kingdom of God
62 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
and his righteousness," says the Saviour, but the command is
received too late ; they are already seeking the things of the
world, and all the strength and richness of their nature are
drawn to that which soon, very soon, must perish. They do
not always gain what they thus earnestly seek after, and then
they lose both worlds. But, 0, if they succeed in their quest,
what shall it profit if they gain the whole world and lose their
own soul !
NOT SAVED.
Let both grow together until the harvest : and in the time of harvest I
will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in
bundles to burn them : but gather the wheat into my barn. Matthew 13 : 30.
harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are
not saved ! " Such are the words which the weeping
prophet Jeremiah put in the mouth of a " disobedient and
gainsaying people." To us it seems strange that summer
should be mentioned after the harvest, but this may be easily
explained. In Palestine the autumnal rains begin to fall the
last of October. This is the seed-time. Grain usually matures
in May, which is therefore the time of harvest. Later, and
during the summer, occurs the fig harvest.
This, then, is the passage plainly expressed : " The grain
harvest is past, the fig harvest is also ended, and we are not-
saved." The picture in all its sad beauty is this : The grain has
been sown, the early rain has fallen, winter is over, the latter
rain has also fallen, and the grain has matured. The reapers
have entered the field, and gathered much into the garner
but not all ! The fig harvest too ha.s come and is ended, but
many remain ungathered. Here and there stalks of grain in
the open field, and figs upon the leafless trees, remain, un-
sheltered and alone, when the harvesters have completed their
work ! These, when they find themselves left behind un-
saved, lift up their voices with the mournful cry, " The harvest
is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved ! "
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 63
REMARKABLE FACTS.
Another parable spake lie unto them : The kingdom of heaven is like unto
leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole
was leavened. Matthew 13 : 33.
CHRISTIANITY began its progress at Jerusalem. At the
VJ expiration of forty days after the death of Christ, it num-
bered about one hundred and twenty followers ; immediately
after, three thousand ; and soon after, five thousand more ; and,
in little less than two years, great multitudes at Jerusalem
only, as well as throughout Judea. Mohammed was three
years occupied in making fourteen converts, and those too of
his own family ; and proceeded so slowly at Mecca, where he
had no established religion to contend with, that in the sev-
enth year, when he was compelled to flee to Medina, only
eighty-three men and eighteen women retired to Ethiopia.
Within a century from the time of the ascension, Christianity,
without any aid but that of preaching, pervaded not merely
Syria and Libya, Egypt and Arabia, Persia, and Mesopotamia ;
not merely Asia Minor, Armenia, and Parthia, but a large por-
tion of Europe. Islam, on the contrary, had no considerable
success, until -it achieved it by the sword ; and when it ceased
to use the sword in making proselytes, its progress was at
once arrested. We then ask the infidel, To what was this
remarkable progress of Christianity owing ? Not, certainly,
to the rank or power of its author ; he passed the greater part
of his life in obscurity, working as an artisan, and the residue
as a wandering teacher ; and at last was publicly executed as
a malefactor. Not to the learning or influence of his follow-
ers ; they were fishermen and publicans. Not to the sword ;
he employed none, 'except "the sword of the spirit." Not
to the aid of government ; for both Jews and Romans were
banded together to destroy it. Not to the hopes of wealth,
honor, or power ; for its author very frankly told those who
became his followers, " My kingdom is not of this world ; " and
taught them to expect not merely contempt and persecution,
but the loss of all things, even of life. Not to its flattery of
the human character ; for it expressly declares, " Except a
64 A'EW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Not
to any license given to sensual indulgence ; for the language
of its author was, " If any man will come after me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Not
to the hopes of a sensual heaven ; " Into that city nothing shall
enter that defileth." Not to a blind credulity ; for many, who
embraced Christianity during the first two centuries, were
men of distinguished talents, and enlightened minds ; and all,
who cordially embraced it, became men of a virtuous charac-
ter. We then repeat the question to the infidel, " Why did
the religion of one who was publicly executed between two
thieves ; of one who was without friends, without influence,
and without power ; a religion which flattered no one, which
exposed its followers to the loss of all things in this world,
which required self-denial and self-renunciation, and offered
no reward in the future world but holiness, why did it im-
mediately pervade the city and region where he wg,s thus ex-
ecuted, and in a little period, all the surrounding world ? If
the infidel attributes it to miracles merely, he renounces his
infidelity. If he admits that it was owing to the inherent evi-
dence of its truth and its divine origin, he does the same ; and
if he denies both, he asserts a far greater miracle, in the
progress of Christianity under these circumstances, than any,
or than all those which he disowns.
A SON THAT PREACHED HIS FATHER'S FUNERAL
SERMON.
But the tares are the children of the wicked one ; the enemy that sowed
them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers. are
the angels. Mattheiv 13 : 38, 39.
T ATE in the winter of 1872, a Mr. P., who had been in
Jj other years a Christian and a minister of the gospel, but
who had been deposed from the ministry, and expelled from
the church of which he was a member, for acts of immorality,
and having taken up Universalism as better suited to his char-
acter, advertised to preach on a Sabbath evening at South
Shaftsbury, Vt, on " The Death of the Devil." In the afternoon
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 65
of the same day, Rev. S. W. Clemans, of the Troy Confer-
ence, preached in the same church, it being one of his reg-
ular appointments. After the preaching, Mr. Clemans said to
the congregation, with great solemnity, " I understand there
is to be a funeral in this church this evening, the peculiar
feature of which is, a son is to preach his father's funeral ser-
mon. The relatives are requested to take seats in the body
pews of the church." In the evening the sermon came off,
aocording to appointment ; only a few, however, of " the rela-
tives " occupied the designated pews. The notice, as given by
Mr. Clemans, was a pointed but just rebuke to one who had left
the service -of God, and had accepted service in the work of
the devil ; " strengthening the hands of the wicked, that he
should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life."
(Ezek. 13 : 22.) In the Scriptures, the term children describe
natural relations, and moral resemblances. Hence our Lord
said of certain wicked persons, " Ye are of your father the
devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." (John 8 : 44.)
Good persons are said to be " children ofGod" (1 John 3 : 10),
while bad persons .are called " the children of the wicked -one."
When a person does the work of " the wicked one," .in oppos-
ing the truth and work of God, when he uses his might
against the cause of the Lord Jesus, and seeks to turn away
souls from Christ, we have the example of our Lord for caUing
such " children of the devil." Great will be the condemnation
of such, who, in this age of gospel light and truth, accept the
old falsehood of Satan to Eve, " Ye shall not surely die," and
teach others so.
PEARL OF GREAT PRICE.
Who, when, he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that
lie had, and bought it. Matthew 13 : 4G.
A WEALTHY lady of Java, having married an English mer-
-LJL chant, went to England to reside. She was unacquainted
with the language, the customs and manners of the country.
She amused herself playing with her children, and decking her-
self with her jewels and pearls, of which she had a large and
9
66 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
costly collection. Her Scotch nurse being one day in her
room, she said to her in broken English : " Nurse, this poor
place poor place." " Why, madam ? " said the nurse. " We
look out of the window," replied the lady, " and see no woman
in the street all covered with diamonds and pearls, as in my
country." The nurse replied, " We have a pearl in this coun-
try, a i Pearl of great price.' ; The Javanese lady caught her
words with great eagerness and surprise. " Have you, in-
deed ? that my husband was come home ! He buy me this
pearl; me part with all my pearls when he come home, to get
this pearl of so great price." " 0," said the nurse, " this
pearl is not to wear. It is not to be had in the way you think.
They who have it are at peace with God, and are truly happy."
" Indeed," said the lady, " what can this pearl be ? " " The
pearl," said the nurse, " is the Lord Jesus Christ, who came
into the world to save sinners. All who truly believe in him,
have Christ in their hearts, and are truly happy. So precious
is Jesus to them, that they count all things loss for the excel-
lence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ their Lord." It pleased
God -to bless these words of the nurse to her mistress's spir-
itual good. By these few words, applied by the spirit of God,
she got a believing view of Christ, in whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and with this view of
Christ, this world's gems ceased to shine and attract, just as
the stars lose their brightness in the rising sunlight of day.
Some time after the lady died, and on her death-bed she de-
sired that her jewels might be sold, and the value realized go
towards sending the knowledge of the Pearl of Great Price to
those in far off countries who have it not.
SCRIPTURE TRANSCRIBERS.
Then said ho unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto
the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an householder, which bring-
eth forth out of his treasure tilings new and old. Matthew 13 : 52.
I
N transcribing the sacred writings, it has been a constant
rule with the Jews, that whatever is considered as corrupt
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 67
shall not be used, but shall be burnt, or otherwise destroyed.
A book of the law, wanting but one letter, with one letter too
much, or with an error in one single letter, written with any-
thing but ink, or written on parchment made of the hide of an
unclean animal, or on parchment not properly prepared for
that use, or prepared by any but Israelites, or on skins of
parchment tied together by unclean strings, shall be holden to
be corrupt ; that no word shall be written without a line first
drawn on the parchment, no word written by heart, or without
having been pronounced orally by the writer ; that before he
writes the name of God he shall wash his pen ; that no letter
shall be joined to another ; and that if the blank parchment
cannot be seen all around each letter, the roll shall be corrupt.
There are certain rules for the length and breadth of each
sheet, and for the space to be left between each letter, each
word, and each section. Even to this day, it is an obligation
on the persons who copy the sacred writing of the syna-
gogues, to observe them. Selected.
CHRYSOSTOM'S ELOQUENCE.
For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison
for lierodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. Matthew 14 : 3.
fT)HE following bursts of eloquence from Chrysostom, when he
JL was sentenced to banishment, are a good specimen of the
style of this " silver-tongued " preacher : " What can I fear ?
Will it be death ? But you know that Christ is my life, and
that I shall gain by death. Will it be exile ? But the earth and
all its fullness is the Lord's. Will it be the loss of wealth ? But
we brought nothing into the world, and can carry nothing out.
Thus all the terrors of the world are contemptible in my eyes,
and I smile at all its good things. Poverty I do not fear. Riches
I do not sigh for. Death I do not shrink from, and life I do
not desire, save only for the progress of your souls. But you
know, my friends, the true cause of my fall. It is that I have
not lined my house with rich tapestry. It is that I have not
clothed me in robes of silk. It is that I have not flattered the
68 HEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
effeminacy and sensuality of certain men, nor laid gold and
silver at their feet. But why need I say more ? Jezebel is
raising her persecution, and Elias must fly. Herodias is taking
her pleasure, and John must be bound in chains. The Egyptian
wife tells her lie, and Joseph must Jbe thrust into prison. And
so if they banish me, I shall be like Elias ; if they throw me
into the mire, like Jeremiah ; if they plunge me into the sea,
like the prophet Jonah ; if into the pit, like Daniel ; if they
stone me, it is Stephen that I shall resemble ; John the fore-
runner, if they cut off my head ; Paul, if they beat me with
stripes ; Isaiah, if they saw me asunder."
ACKNOWLEDGING GOD IN EATING.
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the
five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and
brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
Matthew 14 : 19.
AN English ship-of-war once touched at one of the ports of
the Sandwich Islands, when the captain gave a dinner to
the royal family and several of the chiefs. The table was
spread upon the quarter-deck, and loaded with viands and del-
icacies of all kinds. After the company were seated, and
everything was ready, the islanders seemed unwilling to be-
gin. The captain could not understand them, and thought the
hesitation arose from a fear to partake of such entertainment.
He assured them it was such as they might enjoy, but still they
refused to begin. A pious steward, guessing the cause of the
delay, whispered, " They are waiting for the blessing, sir."
" Ask it, then," said the captain. The steward did so, in a very
earnest and simple manner. No sooner was this done than
the royal party and the chiefs did ample justice to the feast,
and thus taught the English Christians a lesson how to eat to
the glory of God. Some time ago a landed proprietor in the
north of Scotland was visiting his tenantry, and happened to
call on one of them at the dinner hour. The farmer, a pious
man, was seated with his wife and family at the dinner table,
and was just about to begin their frugal meal. Apologizing
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 69
for his intrusion at such an unseasonable hour, the landlord
very familiarly urged his tenant to go on with his dinner, and
he would wait. The tenant, with much earnestness, asked a
blessing. After dinner, and when the landlord left, he said to
himself, " I stand reproved. Here is a poor man, with his
simple fare, thanking God for it, and praying for the bread of
life, while I, with every necessary and luxury that can be
desired, have never once acknowledged God's goodness in his
gifts." His conscience smote him. He could visit no more
that day. His mind was led to think over his state, and be-
coming alarmed as to his condition before God, was led to seek
for mercy and grace. He found the blessing, and now lives to
advance the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom.
"IT IS I."
But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer ; it is I ;
be not afraid. Matthew 14 : 27.
LORD, it is thou ! and I can walk
Upon the heaving sea
Firm in a vexed, unquiet way,
Because I come to thee.
If thou art all I hope to gain,
And all I fear to miss,
There is a highway for my heart
Through rougher seas than this.
These waters would not hold me up
If thou wert not my end ;
But whom thou callest to thyself
Even winds and waves defend.
Our very peril shuts us in
To thy supporting care ;
We venture on the awful deep,
And find our courage there.
It shall be strength howe'er it tend
The bidding sweet and still
TO NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Which draws to one ennobling love
And one benignant will.
Most precious when it most demands,
It brings that cheering cry
Across the rolling tide of life
" Take heart ! for it is I."
Forth from some narrow, frail defense,
Some rest thyself below,
Some poor content with less than all,
My soul is called to go.
Yes, I will come ! I will not wait
An outward calm to see ;
And, my glory, be thou great
Even in the midst of me.
"LORD, SAVE ME."
But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid ; and beginning to
sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. Matthew 14 : 30.
A MINISTER asked the maid of an inn in the Netherlands
if she prayed to God. She replied, she had scarce time
to eat, how should she have time to pray ? 'He promised to
give her a little money, if, on his return, she could assure him
she. had meanwhile said three words of prayer, night and
morning. Only three words and a reward, led her to make
him the promise. He then solemnly ga-ve her the following
words to repeat : " Lord, save me ! " For a fortnight she said
the words unmeaningly ; but one night she wondered what
they meant, and why he bade her repeat them. God put it
into her heart to look at the Bible, and see if it would tell her.
She liked some verses where she opened so well, that the next
morning she looked again, and so on. When the good man
went back, he asked the landlord for her, as a stranger served
him. " 0, sir ! she got too good for my place, and lives with
the minister 1 " He went to see her ; and so soon as she saw
him at the door, she cried, " Is it you, you blessed man ? I
jJ^IBS^
f?S
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 71
shall thank God through all eternity that I ever saw you. I
want not the money : I have reward enough for saying those
words ! " She then described how salvation by Jesus Christ
was taught her by the Bible, in answer to this prayer.
JESUS SWIFT TO SAVE.
And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said
unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ? Matthew 14 : 31.
rPHE Arabian gazelle is swift as the wind. If it get but one
J_ glimpse of the hunter, it puts many crags between. Solo-
mon, four or five times, compares Christ to an Arabian gazelle
(calling it by another name) when he says, "My Moved is
like a roe." The difference is, that the roe speeds the other
way ; Jesus speeds this. Who but Christ could have been
quick enough to help Peter, when the water-pavement broke ?
Who but Christ could have been quick enough to help the
Duke of Argyle, when, in his dying moment, he cried, " Good
cheer ! I could die like a Roman, but I mean to die like a
Christian. Come away, gentlemen. He who goes first, goes
cleanest"? I had a friend who stood by the rail-track at
Carlisle, Penn./when the ammunition had given out at Antie-
tam ; and he saw the train from Harrisburg, freighted with shot
and shell, as it went thundering down toward the battle-field.
He said that it stopped not for any crossing. They put down
the brakes for no grade. They held up for no peril. The
wheels were on fire with the speed as they dashed past. If
the train did not come up in time with the ammunition, it
might as well not come at all. So, my friends, there are times
in our lives when we must have help immediately or perish.
The grace that comes too late is no grace at all. What you
and I want is a God now. ! is it not blessed to think
that God is always in such quick pursuit of his dear children ?
T. De Witt Talmage.
72 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
CHRIST THE SON OF GOD.
Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a
truth thou art the Son of God. Matthew 14 : 33.
THEN they that were in the ship came and worshiped him,
saying, Of a truth, thou art the Son of God. (Matt. 14 : 33.)
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. (Matt. 16 : 16.) Thou art my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Mark 1 : 11.) And the angel
answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee :
therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall
be called the Son of God. (Luke 1 : 35.) For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only -begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(John 3:16.) He that believeth not is condemned already, be-
cause he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten
Son of God. (18.) And we believe, and are sure that thou
art that Christ, the Son of the living God. (John 6 : 69.) The
God of our fathers hath glorified his Son Jesus ; whom ye de-
livered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he
was determined to let him go. (Acts 3 : 13.) Unto you first,
God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent hkn to bless you.
(26.) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was
made of the seed of David according to the flesh ; and de-
clared to be the Son of (Grod with power, according to the
spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (Rom.
1 : 3.) For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to
God by the death of his Son ; much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life. (Rom. 5: 10.) God sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. (Rom. 8 : 3.) He that spared not his own
Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things? (32.) But when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye
are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 73
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Gal. 4:4-6.) And to wait
for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even
Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. (1 Thess.
'1:10.)
PLANTS THAT SHALL BE ROOTED UP.
But he answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father hath
not planted shall be rooted up. Matthew 15 : 13.
HAYING occasion to go into the cellar, Gotthold found a
turnip, which had been left by accident, and had vege-
tated and sent forth long and slender shoots. These, however,
were unnaturally of a pale yellow color, and therefore unfit
for use. Here, thought he, I have the 'type of a human under-
taking from which God withholds his blessing, and which must,
therefore, necessarily miscarry. This plant wants sunshine
and open air, without which it cannot thrive, and so it grows
in weakness for a little, and then withers and dies. It is the
same with all our acts and enterprises, which are not irradiated
by the grace of God, nor fostered by his blessing. According
to the words of the Saviour, " Every plant, which my Father
hath not planted, shall be rooted up." We imagine our faith,
our charity, our patience, to be of the most luxuriant growth,
although, perhaps, they are of the sickliest kind. " Experience
makes able men ; the cross, good Christians." This plant was
never shone on by the sun, nor moistened by the dew, nor
watered with the rain, nor shaken by the wind, nor hardened
by the cold, and, therefore, it is good for nothing. In like
manner the Christian, as yet not tried by prosperity and
adversity, favor and affliction, must be considered unripe.
Beautifully does the great and much-afflicted apostle say,
" Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and
experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed."
10
74 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
POWER OF A MOTHER'S PRAYER.
And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried
unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my
daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word.
And his disciples came and besought liim, saying, Send her away ; for she
crieth after us. Matthew 15 : 22, 23.
AN aged, pious woman had one son. She used every means
in her power to lead him to the Saviour, but he grew up
gay and dissipated. She still followed him with prayers and
entreaties, faithfully warned him of his awful state as a sinner
before God, and told him what his end would be, dying in that
condition. But all seemed alike unavailing. He one day said,
" Mother, let me have 'my best clothes ; I am going to a ball
to-night." She expostulated with him, and urged him not
to go ; but all in vain. " Mother," said he, " let me have my
clothes ; I will go : it's useless to say anything about it." He
put on his clothes, and was going out. She stopped him, and
said, " My child, do not go." He. still persisted ; when she
added, " My son, remember, when you are dancing with your
companions in the ball-room, I shall be out in that wilderness,
praying to the Lord to convert your soul." The youth went
to the ball, and the dancing commenced ; but instead of the
usual gayety, an unaccountable gloom pervaded the whole
assembly. One said, " We never had so dull a meeting in
our lives." Another observed, " I wish we had not come : we
have no life ; we cannot get along." A third continued, " I
cannot think what is the matter." The young man in ques-
tion felt his conscience smitten, and, bursting into tears, said,
" I know what is the matter : my poor old mother is now pray-
ing in yonder wilderness for her ungodly son." He took his
hat, and said, " I will never be found in such a place as this
again." From that night he began to pray for mercy ; his
mother's prayer was heard for his conversion, and he gave
evidence that he was become a new creature in Christ Jesus.
Rev. J. Young.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 75
A MOTHER'S FAITH REWARDED.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith : be
it xinto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that
very hour. Matthew J5 : 28.
A VENERABLE old lady, who looked serenely happy, was
JjL asked if her children were converted. " Yes," she re-
plied, " all my children are members of the church of Jesus.
Two of my sons, who were converted when they were only
fourteen years old, are just where they ought to be, ministers
of Christ." "It must be very cheering to you, madam, to
know that all your children are converted," remarked her
friend. " Yes/' she replied, while a beautiful and heavenly
smile played round her lips. " Yes ; but I always had faith
in the promises." Parents, have you such faith? Children,
have you gladdened the hearts of your parents by giving your-
selves to Christ ?
EXPOSITION OF MATTHEW 16 : 18.
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Mat-
thew 1G : 18.
lias been much dispute for centuries, respecting
JL the meaning of our Lord, when he uttered those words,
" Thou art Peter," &c. The following exposition is from the
Commentary of Dr. P. D. Whedon, which is evidently a faith-
ful and just explanation of the passage : " As Peter signifies
stone, and as thou and thy fellow-disciples are to be the foun-
dation stones of my new church, I name thee forever by that
symbolical title of Peter, that is, stone. In the Syriac language,
in which our Lord spoke, the word- Peter and this word rock
were doubtless the same word. But they were all as truly
stones, and made of rock,, as he. But as he alone spoke the
verbal confession, so to him alone was addressed and belonged
the verbal title which commemorated it. Indeed they are
expressly called stones (Eph. 2 : 20 : Rev. 21 : 14), though the
76 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
word, in the original, lithos, is a different, without being a less
expressive, word than Petros. The expression, this rock upon
which I build my church, has received very different interpre-
tations from the doctors of the church in various ages. The
first is the construction given by the Church of Rome, and
made the basis of the enormous imposture of the papacy. It
affirms that the rock is Peter individually, that the commission
constituted him supreme apostle, with authority inherited from
him by the bishops of Rome. But first, As may be shown,
not Peter alone, but each apostle, was a rock and a recipient
of the keys, and all were co-equal in powers. Second, Were
the authority .conveyed to Peter alone and personally, it must
still be shown that this personal prerogative was among the
successional attributes conferred upon him. Tnat Peter was
ever bishop of Rome, is without historical foundation ; and the
pretense of a succession from him by the Romish bishop is a fa-
ble. Some have made the word rode designate Christ himself.
They hold it to be derogatory to Christ's dignity for there to
be any other foundation stone of his church than Christ him-
self. They hold that our Lord said, Thou art Peter, a stone,
and upon this rock (pointing to himself) I will build my
church. But this is inconsistent with the laws of a natural
interpretation. Others understand that the confession which
Peter made was a rock. Thou art a stone, and upon this rock
of truth which thou hast confessed, and upon this faith which
thou hast professed, will I build my church. But Biblical
language always holds men, not truths, to the foundation
stones. The rock is not the doctrine, nor the confession, but
the confessor.
" I understand that it is the apostle himself who is the-
rock ; yet not as a man, nor as a private confessor of the
Saviour's Messiahship, nor as Lord of the apostolic Twelve, but
as a specimen and representative of what all the twelve were.
For the church is said by this same Peter (no doubt in allu-
sion to this celebrated passage) to be built on the foundation
of the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief corner stone. It is plain that the question which Peter
answered was put to the whole twelve, and that he confessed
for the whole twelve, and that the key^ which are given in
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 77
the nineteenth verse, were given to the whole. (18 : 18.)
They were all Peters, or stones of the foundation, as well as
he ; only he, being the first stone of the pile, bore the inscrip-
tion of the name of Peter, which essentially belongs to all.
This image of a rock, as Stanley remarks, may have been
suggested by the rock above the town, upon which stood the
temple of Caesar Augustus."
In regard to the promise of our Lord, that the " gates
of hell shall not prevail against it," Dr*. Whedon adds : " As
the gates would be special points of attack, they were forti-
fied so as to be specially impregnable. And as through the
gates the whole city went in and out, there were always the
concourse and the crowd. There men resorted for news, for
marketing, and for proclamations. The gates became struct-
ures with chambers, in which courts were held, legislation
was performed, and negotiations with foreign nations trans-
acted. Hence the word gate became a symbol of power and
of empire. The gates of death, the gates of hell, were the
powers of death or hell. Hell here is, in the original, Hades.
The word properly signifies the invisible state or place of de-
parted spirits, both of the righteous and the wicked. In this
sense it is opposed or antithetical to the state of the living.
But in a stricter or more usual sense it stands opposed to
paradise, and signifies the abode of the departed wicked, for
which we have no other English word than hell. The gates
of hell are, therefore, the infernal powers, who from their in-
visible stronghold manifest their visible hostility. The rock-
built church, and the gates of hades, are thence two opposing
potencies. 7 '
WHERE IS OUR SELF-DENIAL?
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Matthew 16 : 24.
A FEW years since, a pious lady was preparing for a journey.
As she was making some necessary additions to her ward-
robe, a friend suggested, " You will need a new silk, my dear.
Your means are sufficient, and you can well afford this indul-
78 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
gence. Come, let us select one." The lady hesitated. A
dress of less expensive material would answer her purpose
quite as well, and with the surplus she might do much good.
After some thought, the cheap material was procured, and the
money which otherwise must have been expended, carefully
laid aside, until, in the providence of God, it could be used for
some purpose. While journeying, she met with a young man
who, having the ministry in view, had entered college under
circumstances somewhat embarrassing, and even now was in
need of money to liquidate present liabilities. With a thank-
ful heart she turned to her companion : " Now I know why I
was not permitted to purchase that expensive silk/' said she ;
" I can spare enough to relieve our young friend, and still go
on my journey comfortably, and with a lighter heart than I
could had I worn an expensive dress, and found myself un-
able to respond to this call of my blessed Master." This
college student is now a preacher of the gospel, and often
refers to the time when he was strengthened and encouraged
to go forward in the path of duty.
SELLING A SOUL.
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his
own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? Matthew 16 : 26.
A GAY young lady was deeply impressed with the sense
of her sinfulness, and found no peace day or night. A
brother who had always shared with her in her worldly
amusements, was much troubled and annoyed at her present
state of mind. He tried all the shafts of ridicule and sarcasm
to turn her mind away from the solemn interests of eternity.
But still the conflict went on. She would not yield to his
persuasions, and she felt that she could not just yet decide
wholly for the Lord. At last her brother said, " Eliza, if you
will give this nonsense all up, and be yourself again, I will
give you five dollars." It seemed a paltry price indeed at
which to sell a soul; but the sister hesitated, and even to
parley with such a temptation was to give the enemy infinite
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 79
advantage. No doubt she considered that she could take the
money and dismiss the subject just for this time, resuming it
again whenever she chose. She took the five dollars, and her
destiny was sealed. Outwardly she was little changed. She
did not scoff at religion, nor oppose it in others ; but her heart
was as insensible to its influence as the hardest rock. Nor
did anything ever make an impression upon it afterward.
She saw that beloved brother lie upon his dying-bed, and
heard his agonizing entreaties that she would turn from that
fearful way into which he had led her footsteps ; but she heard
him perfectly unmoved. A short time afterward she also was
called away, and she died as she had lived. The awakening
from the frightful lethargy of soul was upon the other shore.
GOB'S TESTIMONY OF APPROBATION.
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them : and
behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased ; hear ye him. Matthew 17 : 5.
GOD adds his testimony of approbation to what was spoken
of the sufferings of Christ by Moses and Elijah; thus
showing that the sacrificial economy of the Old Covenant was
in itself of no worth, but as it referred to the grand atonement
which Jesus was about to make ; therefore he says, " In him
am I well pleased ; " intimating that it was in him alone, as
typified by those sacrifices, that he had delighted through
the whole course of the legal administration. That it was
only in reference to the death of his Son, that he accepted
the offerings and oblations made to him under the Old Cove-
nant. " Hear him." The disciples wished to detain Moses.
and Elijah that they might hear them ; but God shows that
the laio which had been in force, and the prophets which had
prophesied until now, must all give place to Jesus, and he
alone must now be attended to as to the Way, the Truth, and
the Life ; for no man could now come unto the' Father but
through him. This Transfiguration must have greatly con-
firmed the disciples in the belief of a future state, and in the
80 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
doctrine of the Resurrection ; they saw Moses and Elijah still
existing, though the former had been gathered to his fathers
upwards of fourteen hundred years, and the latter had . been
translated nearly nine hundred years. Dr. A. Clarice.
PREVAILING PRAYER IN THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Howbcit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Matthew 17:21.
THE great fire in Boston having spared the Old South
Church, it becomes more dear than ever to Bostonians,
and all New England. The following incident, showing the
power of prevailing prayer, is connected with the history of
that church, though more than a century ago. The French
Armament under the command of. Duke d'Anville, in the
year 1746, consisting of forty ships of war, was destined for
the destruction of New England ; had sailed from Chebucto in
Nova Scotia for that purpose ; but was itself destroyed in the
following manner : The godly men in Boston being apprised
of their danger, and feeling that their only safety was in God,
had appointed a day of fasting and prayer to be observed
in all their churches. While Rev. Mr. Prince was officiat-
ing in this Old South Church, on this fast day, and praying
most earnestly to God to avert the dreaded calamity, a sud-
den gust of wind arose (till now the day had been perfectly
clear and calm), so violent as to cause a loud clattering of the
windows. The pastor paused in his prayer, and looked round
upon the congregation with a countenance of hope, then re-
commenced his prayer with great devotional ardor, supplicat-
ing Almighty God to cause that wind to frustrate the object
of the enemy, and save the country from conquest and popery.
A tempest ensued in which the greater part of the French
fleet was wrecked on the coast of Nova Scotia. Duke d'An-
ville, the principal general, and the second in command,
both committed suicide. Many died with disease, and thou-
sands were consigned to a watery grave. The small number
that survived returned to France, without health and without
spirits. The enterprise was abandoned, and never again re-
sumed. Arvine's Cyclopedia.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
81
TABLE OF BIBLE MONEY.
Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast
a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up ; and when thou hast opened
his mouth, thou slialt find a piece of money : that take, and give unto them
for me and thee. Matthew 17 : 27.
THE following Table of Bible Money is from Professor
Hitchcock's Complete Analysis of the Holy Bible. The
money enumerated is reduced to United States currency, and
may be relied upon as being as accurate as it is possible to
determine at this distance of time.
Value, nearly.
$5.69
569.00
56,900.00
Denominations. Grains.
Gold Shekel, ... 132
Gold Maneh, . . . 13,200
Gold Talent, . . . 1,320,000
Silver Gerah, ... 11
Silver Beka, .. . . 110
Silver Shekel, . . . 220
Silver Maneh, ... 13,200
Silver Talent, . . . . 660,000
Copper Shekel, ... 528
Copper Talent, . . . 792,000
Persian Daric, or Dram (gold), 128
Maccabasan Shekel (silver), 220
" Piece of Money " (Stater, silver), 220
Penny (Denarius, silver), . 58^-
Farthing (Quadrans, copper), 42
Farthing (Assarium, copper), 84
Mite (copper), ... 21
SPEAKING OF CHRIST.
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and hecomc as
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18 : 3.
WHEN the famous Bishop Usher and Dr. Preston, who
were very intimate friends, were talking together, after
much discourse of learning and other things, the bishop would
say, " Come, doctor, one word of Christ now before we part."
11
82 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Christians, who owe their all to Christ, should be often talking
of him. And surely those who know the worth of souls cannot
but be concerned for their ignorant, careless neighbors ; which
concernedness should put us upon doing all we can to keep
out of that condition. And if there be any that are asking the
way to Zion with their faces thitherward, pray tell them the
way. Tell them, 1. There is but one gate into this way, and
that is the strait gate of sound conversion. 2. Tell them that
the way is narrow ; that there is not elbow-room for their
lusts. Let them know the worst of it ; and that those who would
be good soldiers of Christ must endure hardness. 3. Tell
them, notwithstanding this, it is a way of pleasantness ; it
gives spiritual, though it prohibits s,ensual, pleasure. 4. Tell
them there is life eternal at the end, and. let them be assured
that one hour of joy in heaven will make them amends for an
age of trouble upon earth ; one sheaf of that harvest reward
enough for a seed-time of tears, Ifenry,
THE EARLY CONVERSION OF CHILDREN.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it
were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he
were drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18 : 6.
I HAVE one incident which has written its lesson indelibly
upon my heart : At the age of a little over four years, one
of my little girls was converted to God, and from that time she
loved the Saviour, and endeavored, with child-like simplicity, to
follow his commands. A little after six years she was taken
sick ; she thought she was going to die ; her experience was
as bright and clear as the experience of a half century. We
could not give her up; we could not realize that death was
among us ; that so fair a flower could fade so early. Yet she felt
a n<! realized it. Whilst watching by her bedside, suddenly
we heard a voice breaking forth clear and distinct,
" Thcro is a happy land
Far, far away ; "
and she sang through the verse ; then, turning to her mother,
she said she wanted to say the Lord's Prayer, clasped her
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 83
little hands, looked to heaven, and died. O, what true Chris-
tian ever died more gloriously, or loved the Saviour more ?
Brethren, let us not be afraid of the conversion of the children ;
bring your influence to bear upon them everywhere ; do not
be satisfied, and do not let their teachers have any quiet, until
you see the children in your Sunday schools brought to Christ,
and infolded in the Church. Bishop Clark.
A LOST MAN.
For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. Matthew 18 : 11.
MR. WHITEFIELD, a brother of the Rev. George White-
field, after living some time in a backsliding and careless
state, was roused to a perception of his danger, but shortly
after sunk into melancholy and despondency. He was drink-
ing tea with the Countess of Huntington one afternoon, while
her ladyship was endeavoring to raise his hopes by conversing
on the infinite mercy of God through Jesus Christ. For a
while it was all in vain.
" My lady," he replied, " I know what you say is true. The
mercy of God is infinite. I see it clearly. But, ah ! my lady,
there is no mercy for me. I am a wretch, entirely lost."
" I am glad to hear it, Mr. Whitefield," said Lady Hunting-
ton. " I am glad at my heart that you are a lost man."
He looked with great surprise.
" What ! my lady, glad ! glad at your heart that I am a
lost man ? "
" Yes, Mr. Whitefield, truly glad ; for Jesus Christ came into
the world to save the lost."
He set down his cup of tea on the table.
" Blessed be God for that," he said. " Glory to God for
that word ! " he exclaimed. " 0, what unusual power is this
which I feel attending it ! Jesus Christ came to save the lost I
then I have a ray of hope ; " and so he proceeded.
As he finished his last cup of tea, his hand trembled, and he
complained of illness. He went out of the house for air, stag-
gered, was brought in, and shortly after expired.
84 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
DEALING WITH A YOUNG INFIDEL.
Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of
these little ones should perish. Matthew 18 : 14.
A YOUNG man once came to me to join my Bible class.
Said he, "Mr. Wells, I am no hypocrite." "I am glad
of that," I replied. " Give me your hand ; you are no hypo-
crite, I believe ; and I think you are very honest." Said he,
" Sir, I do not believe a word that is in the Bible."
" Well, you are going to take the very course to become a
believer ; you are coming under its influence." I did not sit
down and talk with him about his soul ; the time was not ripe
for it. I did not give him a regular lesson about the inspira-
tion of the Scriptures. I had much rather he would learn for
himself, and ask what a Christ was this, as we shall see, in a
few moments, he did. After a few months, he came to me one
morning, and I said, " Here is God's spirit working. Look
out, soul, how you interfere ! " He asked me about something
I had said in the Bible class in the afternoon. I replied,
" What difference does that make to you ? You are not a be-
liever. You cannot believe." " No," said he, " and I never
closed my eyes last night at all ! "
" Well, I am sorry on some accounts that you have lost your
night's sleep, but really I do not remember any remedy, unless
you find what was said is true. If there is any other remedy,
I do not know it." And I took out a little Testament, and
turned down the leaves at two or three texts, such as, " Able
to save to the uttermost all that come," <fcc. " It is not
the will of your Father that one of these little ones should
perish," &c.
Said I, " If this Bible is true, there is an able and willing
Saviour to save you now. I will pray for you. Go home, and
ask God if this be true." Said he, " I will." The next morn-
ing he came into the parlor, and threw his arms around me,
and said, " It is true ! " The sword of the truih had pierced
that heart. Ralph Wells.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 85
INTENDED FOR A JOKE, BUT OVERRULED FOR GOOD.
Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching
any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is
in heaven. Matthew 18 : 19.
SOME time ago there was living in New York an eminent law-
yer. He was a very clever man, but fond of worldly show
and gayety. Three ladies of that city, who were anxious to do
good, thought his conversion very desirable, and agreed that
they would meet and pray for him. They did so. A gen-
tleman who knew of this, met the lawyer, and said to him,
" Mr. F., some ladies have agreed to meet and pray for you."
"Indeed!" said he; "that's a capital joke. I should like to
hear them."
The gentleman told him he could put him in a place where
he could hear them pray, without its being known that he was
there. Mr. F. agreed to go, and went accordingly. He heard
the first lady pray, and was struck with her knowledge of his
character. He listened to the second ; and when he heard her
earnestness, knowing, as he did, that she could have no inter-
est in his conversion, he thought to himself, " What a wretch
I must be, to care nothing about my soul ! "
The words of these praying females sunk deep into his soul ;
he reflected, and turned to God ; and in a few weeks began
to preach the everlasting gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ ; and has since been blessed of God in turning many
souls from darkness to light.
ETERNAL DURATION.
And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing
shall I do, that I may have eternal life? Matthew 19 : 16.
ETERNITY ! Eternity ! How are our boldest, our strong-
est thoughts lost and overwhelmed in thee ! Who can
set landmarks to limit thy dimensions ; or find plummets to
fathom thy depths ! Arithmeticians have figures to compute
all the progressions of time ; astronomers have instruments to
86 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
calculate the distance of the planets ; but what number can
state, what lines can gauge, the lengths and breadths of
eternity ? It is higher than heaven, what canst thou do ?
deeper than hell, what canst thou know ? The measure there-
of is longer than the earth, broader than the sea. Mysterious,
mighty existence ! A sum not to be lessened by the largest
deductions. An extent not to be contracted by all possible
diminutions. None can truly say, after the most prodigious
waste of ages, " that so much of eternity is gone." For, when
millions of centuries are elapsed, it is but just commencing ;
and when millions more have run their ample round, it will be
no nearer ending. Yea, when ages numerous as the bloom of
spring, increased by the herbage of summer, both augmented
by the leaves of autumn, and all multiplied by the drops of
rain which drown the winter, when these, and ten thousand
times ten thousand more more than can be represented by
any similitude, or imagined by any conception, are all re-
volted. Eternity, vast, boundless, amazing eternity, will only
be beginning, or rather, only beginning to begin. What a
pleasant yet awful thought is this ! Full of delight and full
of dread. 0, may it alarm our fears, quicken our hopes, and
animate all our endeavors ! Since we are soon to launch into
this endless and inconceivable state, let us give -all diligence
to secure our entrance into bliss. Now, let us give all dili-
gence, because there is no alteration in the scenes of futurity.
The wheel never turns. All is steadfast and immovable be-
yond the grave. The saints always rejoice amid the smiles
of heaven ; their harps are perpetually tuned, their triumphs
admit of no interruption. The ruin also of the wicked is
irremediable* The fatal sentence, once passed, is never to be
repealed, but all things bear the same dismal aspect for ever
and ever. Hervey.
KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS.
But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Matthew 19 : 17.
late worthy Dr. Lockhart, of the College Church, Glas-
_L gow, when traveling in England, was sojourning in an inn
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 87
when the Sabbath came round. On entering the public room,
and about to set out to church, he found two gentlemen pre-
paring for a game of chess. He addressed them in words to
this effect : " Gentlemen, have you locked up your portmanteaus
carefully ? " " No. What ! are there thieves in this house ? "
" I do not say that; only I was thinking that if the waiter comes
in and finds you making free with the fourth commandment,
he may think of making free with the eighth commandment/'
Upon which the gentlemen said, " There was something in
that," and so laid aside their game. There is something in
all of God's commands ; not one is given without intention, or
without authority. In the sight of the Law Giver, no com-
mand he has given is of trifling importance. Fear God and
keep his commandments, which is the whole duty of man.
MORAL AND CHRISTIAN MEN CONTRASTED.
The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my
youth up : what lack I yet? Matthew 19 : 20.
A CHRISTIAN is one who is positive. A Christian is a
1JL fruit-bearer. A moral man is a vine that does not bear
fruit. But then it bears everything else good leaves, a good
strong stem, a healthy root, everything that is good and nice
in it, except the fruit. A Christian man is one that develops
graces into positivity. He acts out of himself and upon others.
A moral man is one that simply defends himself from the ac-
tion of evil. A moral man is like an empty bottle, well corked,
so that no defilement can get into it so that it may be kept
pure within. Pure ? And what is the use of a bottle that is
pure, if it is empty and corked up ? A moral man, I repeat, is
a negative. He does not swear, he does not steal, and he does
not murder, and he does not get drunk, and his whole life is
not. His language is, " Thou shalt not" and " Thou shalt
not," and " Thou shalt not." He is not all over, and nothing
more ! He is not positive. There is no aversehess to him,
Rev. H. W. Beecher.
88 JVEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRA TIONS.
IDLERS IN THE CHURCH.
And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the
market-place. Matthew 20 : 3.
are a great many idlers in the church. They come
JL into the church very much as they would go into a ferry
boat to be transported to a given locality. They pay their sti-
pend and fold the garments of self-righteousness about them,
and say in effect, if not in words, " Now I lay me down to sleep."
They are doing nothing for Christ ; have no idea of aggressive
Christian work ; they are " as idle as a painted ship upon a
painted ocean." Ask them what they are doing for Jesus,
they will tell you that they attend church. Satan has been
attending church for nearly six thousand years, and has been
going on from bad to worse all the while. Indeed, he is quite
a regular attendant, and, in the language of a quaint old writer,
" If the fiend can but get the church turned into a weekly
show-room of fashion, he would ring the bell himself rather
than it should lack a congregation." Ah, there are many in
the church who are saying, Lord, Lord, who are strangers to
the meek and lowly Jesus. They have not brought forth fruits
meet for repentance, and their faith being without works, is
dead. They dream of a heaven of purity and love, but the
trump of doom will arouse them from their dreams, and the
light of eternity shine away all empty professions, and reveal
their real characters. " Woe to them that are at ease in Zion."
"NOTHING TO DO."
And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle,
and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? Matthew 20 : 6.
" "VTOTHING to do," and Christian! one who has seen the
-L i " exceeding sinfulness of sin," felt himself condemned by
the holy law of God, and fleeing to Jesus for help, has found
in him the " One able to save." " Nothing to do ! " and this
from the lips of a professed follower of Him who through all
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 89
his earthly life " went about doing good/'' and at last -gave
himself a ransom for the sins of the world ; from one who hopes
at last to join the ransomed in the glad cry, " Worthy the
Lamb that was slain." Saved by the suffering and death
of Jesus, and yet " nothing to do " for him? " Nothing to
do ! " while millions of precious souls, for whom Christ died,
have never even heard of his love. " Nothing to do ! " arid
the world, which God so loved that he " gave his only begot-
ten Son " to save it, still lies in wickedness ; and the cries of the
oppressed and down-trodden, and the sighing of earth's needy
and sorrowing ones, go up from all its wide extent to heaven.
" Nothing to do " for the Master, whose command to all his dis-
ciples is, " Go, work to day in my vineyard." No cross of bitter
trial to be meekly borne ; no suffering to be patiently endured
because sent by a Father's hand ; no tear to wipe from the
eye of suffering ; no wandering soul to lead gently to the fold
of the " Good Shepherd ; " not '' a cup of cold water " even to
give to a weary disciple in his name, for his sake, and from
love to him. " Nothing to do " in the great work of the
world's evangelization ; no part in fulfilling the Saviour's last
command to " preach the gospel to every creature j " no influ-
ence to use for the conversion of individual souls ; no earnest,
agonizing prayers, no effort to bring this lost and ruined world
to Jesus ; no ignorant soul to instruct in the truths of God's
word ; not even one of Christ's lambs to feed ; no loving words
to speak for Jesus "nothing to do" for him! We cannot
conceive that Christ should rescue a soul from the thraldom of
sin, wash and sanctify it in his own precious blood, and yet
give it " nothing to do " for him in return for his unspeakable
love ! The Christian may have but " one talent " intrusted to
him, but it is given to him to be used in his Master's service,
not to be " hidden in the earth."
WORKING FOR A PENNY A DAY.
But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong : didst
not thou agree with me for a penny? Matthew 20 : 13.
TTTHEN in our boyhood we read in the Bible about the men
V V working in a vineyard for a penny a day, we remember
12
90 XE1V TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
that it seemed like very small wages indeed. But let us see
about this. In those days a penny was about as large as fif-
teen of our cents ; and as money was some ten times as valua-
ble as now, the penny a day was as good as one hundred and
fifty of our cents, so that those men really got as good wages
as the best men now generally have in harvest- time, that is, a
dollar and a half a day. So also when that good Samaritan
gave two pence to the landlord to take care of the man who
fell among thieves, you see it was equivalent to about three
dollars, which would probably pay for his board two weeks
in a country tavern, where board was very cheap. This gift
of the Samaritan was in addition to the raiment, the oil and
wine, and to the promise to pay anything more that the land-
lord might expend. By the same reckoning, how much was
that box of " very costly" ointment worth, which Mary used
upon the Saviour ? When the disciples asked if they should
buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, how many loaves were
they calculating for at about six cents a loaf a large price in
those days ? Remember to reckon money worth ten times as
much as now, and to call a penny worth fifteen cents.
" NOW, GOD, TAKE BABY."
And said unto him, Hearest them what these say? And Jesus saith unto
them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
thou hast perfected praise? Matthew 21 : 1G.
EEV. DR. CHEEVER relates this incident : " At the time
when President Olin was seized with that illness which
was the precursor of his death, his youngest child, a babe of
about two years old, was ill and restless, though the parents
did not then apprehend a fatal result. The day of discovered
danger the father was walking in the room where his child lay,
when- the babe suddenly called, 'Papa! 1 desiring to be lifted
in its father's arms. 'Pa, take baby!' Dr. Olin took the
child, and walked up and down the room. The child said,
1 Pa, kiss baby ! Mamma, kiss baby ! ' and, when this was done,
looked up and exclaimed, < Now, God, take baby ! ' and immo-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 91
diately breathed its last in the father's arms. Was not this a
ministration from the invisible world ? The believing father
received it as such, and was comforted. Children and death
are divine teachers. ' Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
thou hast perfected praise.' ' :
BELIEVE, AND NOT DOUBT.
Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have
faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is dons to the fig tree,
but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou" removed, and be thou
cast into the sea ; it shall be done. Matthew 21 : 21.
TVfOT long ago, a great drought prevailed in some of the mid-
Jj| land counties of England. Several pious farmers, who
dreaded lest their expected crops should perish for lack of
moisture, agreed with their pastor, and others, to hold a
special prayer-meeting to petition God to send the needed
rain. They met accordingly ; and the minister coming early,
had time to exchange friendly greetings with several of his
flock. He was surprised to see one of his little Sabbath
scholars bending under the weight of a huge old family um-
brella. " Why, Mary," said he, " what made you bring that
umbrella on such a lovely morning as this ? " The child, gaz-
ing on his face with evident surprise at the inquiry, replied,
" Why, sir, I thought, as we were a-going to pray to God for
rain, I'd be sure to want the umbrella." The minister smiled
on her, and the service shortly after commenced. Whilst they
were praying, the wind rose ; the sky, before so clear and
bright, became overcast with clouds, and soon, amid vivid
flashes of lightning and heavy peals of thunder, a storm of
rain deluged the country. Those who attended the meeting
unprepared to receive the blessing they sought, reached their
homes drenched and soaked, while Mary and the minister re-
turned together under the family umbrella.
92 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
GOD ANSWERS PRAYER.
And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall
receive. Matthew 21 : 22.
WHILE I was living in South America, a young man came
from England to Buenos Ayres, and there entered a mer-
cantile house. After continuing in this position six months,
his nineteenth birthday arrived. It was the seventeenth of
August, 1867. When the duties of the day were over, he sat
down in his room, and his thoughts naturally reverted to his
friends at home. " What is my mother doing at this moment ? "
The reply which rose to his mind was, " My mother is praying
for me." " If," said he, " my mother is praying for me, I
ought to pray for myself." The thought became so overpow-
ering, the image of his mother pleading for his salvation be-
came so vivid, that he knelt on the floor at once to pray. He
tarried long with God. He pleaded earnestly for pardon and
peace. He did not rise until he had promised to give his
heart and life to the Saviour. From that hour the object, the
purposes of his whole life, were changed. A divine, a joyous
love to Christ sprang up in his soul. By the next mail he
wrote to his mother a full account of his new and happy expe-
rience. She, too, wrote to her son immediately after his
birthday. Their letters crossed on the Atlantic. She told
him that she set apart this day as a day of prayer for the
conversion of her boy ; and added. " That night I felt confi-
dent that God had heard my petition. I believe my child will
become a child of God, and yet preach the gospel." That
young man is now in the United States studying for the min-
istry.
WORKING IN GOD'S VINEYARD.
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the
first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. Matthew 21 : 28.
SOME are God's sons only by creation ; the Jews were so by
national adoption ; believers are so by regeneration. They
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 93
are born of God, and adopted by God. Our God never in-
tended that his children should be idle ; he says to every
child, " SON, GO WORK." This is the command of a Father : it
contains affection, it flows from authority. We are to work
for his glory, for the good of others, and to lay up for our-
selves treasures in heaven. Working for God is creditable
profitable pleasant. Our work is in his vineyard ; the
church finds work for all. Some are employed to plant, some
to weed, some to water, and some to watch. The command
is, " WORK TO-DAY." The present is the period. To-day, while
you have light, strength, and opportunity. Remember, it is
but a day, a short period at longest, but it often proves to be
but a short day. Are you standing all the day idle ? Go into
the vineyard. Are you discouraged ? Imitate her who did
what she could. Look to the Lord; He will give ability
opportunity and crown with success.
"SEND FOR THE GAS-MAN."
But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to
his merchandise. Matthew 22 : 5.
"VTEWMAN HALL states that, at a religious temperance
-Ll meeting, a free-thinker arose, and declared that the man
who invented gas did more good than all the parsons. A
gentleman replied as follows : " Mr. Chairman, I'm for free
thought and free speech ; and yonder gentleman has a right
to speak and think for himself as much as I have. That
gentleman says he considers the man who invented gas did
more to enlighten the world than all the parsons. Well, if
that is his opinion, he has a right to hold it and to mention it.
But, whatever our different opinions, there is a time coming
to us all, which we call death ; when most men are somewhat
serious, and like to get advice and comfort respecting the
world they are go-ing to. Now, when this season comes to
our friend, I would recommend him to send for the gas-man."
Roars of laughter and a tumult of clapping followed this sally,
which was better than a sermon, demonstrative without formal
94 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
logic, and was not likely to be forgotten. In that solemn hour
it will not be " gas " we shall need, but grace the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
WHAT WILL YOU SAY, SIR?
And he saith unto him, Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having a
wedding garment? And he was speechless. Matthew 22 : 12.
THE following incident, though related from memory, is sub-
stantially correct. " Thomas Hoopoo, it will be recollected,
was a member of the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall, Ct.
After some two years' residence at Cornwall, at the request
of the clergyman of Brunswick, who had formed an acquaint-
ance with Thomas, he accompanied Deacon H., with whom
he was boarding, and who was on his way from Philadelphia,
to Brunswick. On the evening of their arrival, a select com-
pany, including the clergyman, were invited to spend the
evening with a celebrated attorney-at-law of the place.
Thomas, then about sixteen years of age, accompanied them.
The lawyer entertained the company for a long time by in-
terrogating Thomas in reference to his native country, their
customs, religion, employment, &c., and especially upon their
religion. Thomas very patiently answered his questions, often
to the great merriment of the company. At length the law-
yer, who was not a religious man, ceased, and Thomas com-
menced in substance as follows : * I am a poor heathen boy.
It is not strange that my blunders in English should amuse
you. But soon there will be a larger meeting than this. We
shall be there. They will ask us all one question, viz.,
" Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ ? " Now, sir, I think I
can say yes : what will you say, sir ? '
" He ceased : a death-like stillness pervaded the hall. At
length it was broken by a proposition of the lawyer, that, as
the evening was far spent, they should have a season of devo-
tion, in which Thomas should lead. It was acceded to, and
Thomas, in his accustomed meek and affectionate manner, ad-
dressed the throne of grace. Soon he prayed for the lawyer
in person, alluding to his learning and talent, and besought
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 95
that lie might not be ignorant of the way of salvation through
Christ. As he proceeded thus, the emotion of the lawyer's
breast rose above all restraint, the flowing tears could not
alleviate it. He sobbed aloud. The whole company were
affected, and the sobs drowned the speaker's voice. Soon
they separated, and retired to their respective rooms. But
there was no rest for the lawyer. The question of Thomas
rung in his ear, l What will you say, sir ? ' He paced his
room in anguish. The Spirit of God had touched his con-
science. He found no rest until he could answer the thrill-
ing question proposed by that i heathen boy ' in the affirma-
tive. A few days afterward, on the return of Deacon H.,
several of the party were rejoicing in hope, who were careless
sinners previous to the question of Thomas. A powerful re-
vival of religion followed, all apparently resulting from the
faithful dealing of that illiterate heathen boy, Christian friend,
go thou and do likewise."
BOUND WITH HIS OWN CHAIN.
Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him
away, and cast him into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Matthew 22 : 13.
A CERTAIN tyrant sent for one of his subjects, and said to
him, "What is your employment?" He said, " I am a
blacksmith." " Go home," said he, " and make me a chain
of such a length." He went home ; it occupied him several
months, and he had no wages all the time he was making it.
Then he brought it to the monarch, and he said, " Go and
make it twice as long." He gave him nothing to do it with,
but sent him away. Again he worked on, and made it twice
as long. He brought it up again, and the monarch said, " Go
and make it longer still." Each time he brought it, there was
nothing but the command to make it longer still. And when
he brought it up at last, the monarch said, " Take it, bind him
hand and foot with it, and cast him into a furnace of fire."
These were. his wages for making the chain. Here is a medi-
06 NEW TESTA ME NT ILL USTRA TIONS.
tation for you, ye servants of the devil ! Your master, the
devil, is telling you to. make a chain. Some of you have been
fifty years welding the links of the chain ; and he says, " Go
and make it longer still." Next Sabbath morning you will
open that shop of yours, and put another link on ; next Sab-
bath you will be drunk, and put another link on ; next Monday
you will do a dishonest action ; and so you will keep on mak-
ing fresh links to this chain ; and when you have lived twenty
more years, the devil will say, " More links on still." And
then, at last, it will be, " Take him, and bind him hand and
foot, and cast him into a furnace of fire." " For the wages
of sin is death." There is a subject for your meditation. I
do not think it will be sweet ; but if God makes it profitable,
it will do you good. You must have strong medicine some-
times when the disease is bad. God apply it to your hearts.
C. H. Spurgeon.
WORKS ACCEPTABLE TO GOD.
And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?
Matthew 22 : 20.
NOTHING passes current in heaven but what is coined
there, and comes out of it. The thing that you do your-
self, man, woman, it wants the King's stamp upon it. Whose
superscription hath it? It is but the product of your own
heart. But that only which is the fruit of the Spirit of God
is good and pure in his sight. If you bring false coin to a
king, that you have coined yourself, or if it be discovered
that you have done it, you put yourself in hazard of death
thereby ; even so, your duties that have not the right stamp,
and wherein you have not been influenced by the Spirit and
grace of God, instead of saving you, they put you in hazard
of death and damnation.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 97
WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?
Saying, What think ye of Christ ? whose son is he ? They say unto him,
The son of Dav.id. Matthew 22 : 42.
" TI7HAT think you of Christ ? " is the test,
V V To try both your state and your scheme ;
You cannot be right in the rest,
Unless you think rightly of HIM :
As JESUS appears in your view,
As he is beloved or not,
So God is disposed to you,
And mercy or wrath is your lot.
Some take him a creature to be
A man, or an angel at most ;
But they have not feelings like me,
Nor know themselves wretched and lost :
So guilty, so helpless am I,
I durst not confide in his blood,
Nor on his protection rely,
Unless I were sure he is God.
Some call him a Saviour, in word,
But mix their own works with his plan ;
And hope he his help will afford
When they have done all that they can :
If doings prove rather too light
(A little they own they may fail),
They purpose to make up full weight
By casting his name in the scale.
Some style him " the Pearl of great price,"
And say he's the fountain of joy ;
Yet feed upon folly and vice,
And cleave to the world and its toys :
Like Judas, the Saviour they kiss,
And, while they salute him, betray :
! what will profession like this
Avail in his terrible day ?
13
98 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
If asked what of Jesus /think,
Though still my berst thoughts are but poor,
I say, he's my meat and my drink,
My life, and my strength, and my store j
My Shepherd, my trust, and my Friend,
My Saviour from sin and from thrall ;
My Hope from beginning to end,
My Portion, my Lord, and MY ALL.
JEWISH PHYLACTERIES.
But all their works they do for to be seen of men : they make broad their
phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments. Matthew 23 : 5.
PROFESSOR HITCHCOCK brought back from the Holy
X Land, among other curiosities, preserved phylacteries,
which are described as follows in the New York Evening
Post : " Phylacteries the common Greek word for amulets
were worn very generally by the Jews at the commence-
ment of the Christian era. They consist of a narrow strip of
parchment, about eighteen inches long, on which are care-
fully written in voweled Hebrew four passages from the Old
Testament. (Exod. 13 : 2-17 ; Deut. 6 : 4-9, 13-22.) The strip is
rolled up, and placed in a little leathern box, one inch and a half
square, which is then bound to the left elbow by cowhide straps
half an inch wide, and long enough to be wound spirally about
the arm down to the base of the middle finger. There is a small-
er phylactery for the forehead, the box for which is scarcely
an inch square. It has also a leathern fillet, which is tied at
the back of the head, and then brought around to the breast.
When Christ reproved the Pharisees for making broad their
phylacteries (Matt. 23 : 5), he doubtless alluded to their cus-
tom of increasing this smaller box, so as to make its diameter
three or four inches, and conspicuously wearing it over their
eyes to attract the attention of the multitude. Except by the
Pharisees, who paraded them on all occasions, they were worn
only at times of prayer. Subsequently they were put on for
charms, like the Koran among the modern Mohammedans, and
were supposed to drive away the devil, ward off temptation,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 99
and insure long life. There is no historical reason for believ-
ing that they were in use in pre-exile times. Indeed, from
the similar customs of the Babylonians and other Oriental
nations at the time of the captivity, it is probable that the
Jews learned the practice from their captors."
PROFANE LANGUAGE.
And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by
him that sitteth thereon. Matthew 23 : 22.
IT is very vulgar, and very sinful in the sight of God, to use
profane language j and yet there are many men and many
boys who, when they get angry, not caring for what people
think of them, or what God has said, curse and swear, and
blaspheme the name of God. They do not think at the time
that " for all these things God will bring them into judgment."
Sometimes the Lord sends judgments on people in this life for
profane swearing, as well as for other sins. He does this, no
doubt, as a warning to people. Some have been struck dead
while blaspheming the name of God. A few years since a
very wicked, thoughtless man went into the field to make
hay, while his family attended a religious meeting. Present-
ly a shower came up, at which he became angry. Soon it
lightened and thundered, at which he swore. Again it light-
ened in a most terrific manner, and again he cursed the Lord.
Then a third flash of lightning broke from the dark thunder
cloud, knocked him senseless to the ground, and burned his
mouth in a terrible manner, so that it was skinned to his throat,
yet the -Lord permitted him to live. This was about eleven
o'clock in the morning, and about four in the afternoon he was
enabled to crawl down to his house, and tell about his narrow
escape from an awful death. From that time he concluded
he had sinned quite long enough, and that it was time for him
to repent, and seek the pardoning favor of his offended God.
This he did, and he is now living, and is a member of a Chris-
tian church. The circumstance he related to me about six
months ago. He now bears a good Christian character. It
was ; indeed, a great mercy that he was spared.
100 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
FALSE CONSCIENTIOUSNESS.
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and -swallow a camel.
Matthew 23 : 24.
A MAN came down from the hills to a Neapolitan priest, to
confess a sin which lay heavy upon his conscience. In
the busy season of Lent, while engaged in making cheese,
some of the whey had fallen upon his lips, and, miserable man
that he was, he had swallowed it. " Free my distressed con-
science," he besought, " from its agonies by absolving me
from my guilt." " Have you no other sins to confess ? " asked
the priest. " No, I do not know that I have committed any
other." " We often hear of robberies and murders committed
in your mountains. Have you never been concerned in these ? "
" Yes, but all of us do these things. We never account them
as crimes needing confession and absolution." We may smile
at such a type of conscientiousness, but if we search strictly
our own hearts, may we not find there some similar " strain-
ing at a gnat," which, with our greater light, is far more in-
excusable ? Are we not all tempted to think more of a strict
outward observance of our religious duties, than of deep, in-
ward, hourly communion with Jesus?
CHRISTIANITY A FINALITY.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a
witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come. Matthew 24 : 14.
TI7E find in Christianity the qualities and capabilities which
V V so endow it as to properly make it a finality. If a final-
ity, we would naturally expect to find in it extraordinary qual-
ities. This is what we expect in other works of God that are
designed to be eternal, and fulfill, without waste or exhaustion,
offices of beneficence for ever. When God placed the sun in
the heavens, he placed it there as a finality. He did not ex-
pect to take it down, or replace it by another. Possessing all
fullness and capacity, shining will never hurt it, endurance
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 101
never waste, age never affect it. We do not need any other.
It has all the light and heat in it that we want. As, then, we
could not on any ground expect that a sun could be made that
would suit our world any better than the one we have ; and as
we must believe that the same sun that has been shining for
ages upon our world will shine with equal splendor and effi-
ciency for ages to come, and answer to the wants of man any
number of ages hence as well as now, so must we reason with
respect to Christianity. It is one of the grand characteristics
of Christianity that it is an only source of illumination to every
man. It shines for me, explains mysteries to me, discovers
truth to me, opens immortality to me, and speaks of God, and
judgment, and responsibility to me. And in these respects it
is an ONLY source of light to me. There is no other, there can
be no other, there is no need of any other it is a finalit}^.
Well, what it is to me it is to all about me. What it is to-day
it will be to-morrow and forever. Its author says, " I am the
light of the world."
DANIEL'S PROPHESY FULFILLED.
When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him under-
stand). Matthew 24 : 15.
," says Dr. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary, " refers
to the Roman army ; and this abomination, standing in
the holy place/ is the Roman army besieging Jerusalem ; this,
our Lord says, is what was spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
in the ninth and eleventh chapters of his prophecy. The Ro-
man army is called an abomination, for its ensigns and images
were so to the Jews." " To every legion was a golden eagle
with expanded wings, grasping a thunderbolt. These eagles,
with the standards of the cohorts, ten in each legion, were ob-
jects of worship among the Romans, and therefore were an
abomination to the Jews. We learn from Josephus, that after
the city was taken, the Romans brought their ensigns into the
temple, and placed them over against the eastern gate, and
there sacrificed to them." Benson. " And as it was to des-
102 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
olate and lay waste Jerusalem, it is fitly called l abomination
of desolation.' * Standing in the holy place/ not only means
the temple and city, but for several furlongs round about it
were acounted holy, particularly the mount on which our Lord
now sat, and on which, afterwards, the Romans placed their
ensigns."
COMING OF THE SON OF MAN.
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the
west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Matthew 24 : 27.
FTHHREE things are worthy of our thought : I. Jesus Christ
JL will come again. 1. He came into the world when he
took on him our nature, and was made in the likeness of sinful
flesh. Then he came to seek and to save the lost. 2. He
came in judgment to destroy Jerusalem for its sins. 3. He
will come at the last day to judge the world. II. When he
comes whenever and however it is, he takes care of his peo-
ple. 1. When he came at first, it was to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself, and to purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. 2. When he came to destroy
Jerusalem, he so ordered it in his providence that none of his
people perished in that wicked city. 3. When he comes to
call his people away by death, he takes them to the mansions
he has gone to prepare for them. 4. When he comes to judge
the world, he will not overlook any of his- people ; none of
them shall be lost. He will say, " Come, ye blessed, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you ! " III. We should expect his
coming, and be ready for it always ready ; for we know
neither the day nor the hour. To us, death is the same as the
end of the world it closes our probation and fixes our des-
tiny ; and it becomes us to be ever ready for the coming of the
Son of man.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 103
AN ELOQUENT TRIBUTE TO THE BIBLE.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Matthew 24 : 35.
FRIENDS, if there is one great thing in this world, it is
, the Bible of God; great in origin, great in thought, great
in promise, great in beauty, great in purpose, great in power,
great in its results ! It hangs as by a golden cord from the
throne of the Highest, and all heaven's light, life, love, and
sweetness come down into it for us. It hangs there like a
celestial harp ; the daughters of sorrow tune it, and awake a
strain of consolation. The hand of joy strikes it, and feels a
diviner note of gladness. The sinner comes to it, and it dis-
courses to him of repentance and salvation. The saint bends
an ear to it, and it talks to him of an intercessor and immortal
kingdom. The dying man lays his trembling hand on it, and
there steals thence into his soul the promise, 4 Lo, I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world." ' " When thou
passest through the waters, they shall not overflow thee, and
through the fires, thou shalt not be burned." " Be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world ! " " The last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death. 7 ' " This mortal shall put on im-
mortality, and this corruptible shall put on* incorruption, and
death shall be swallowed up in victory." Where is promise,
where is philosophy, where is song like this ! Magnify the
word of God ! Rev. E. E. Adams. '
FAITHFUL PREACHING.
Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler
over his household, to give them meat in due season ? Matthew 24 : 45.
IN one of the sermons which Bourdaloue preached before
the monarch, he describes, with infinite eloquence, the hor-
rors of a licentious life, its abomination in the eye of God, its
scandal to man, and the public and private evils which attend
it ; but he managed his discourse with so much address, that
he kept the king from suspecting that the thunder of the
104 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
preacher was ultimately to fall upon him. In general, Bour-
daloue spoke in a level tone of voice, and with his eyes almost
shut. On this occasion, having wound up the attention of the
monarch and the audience to the highest pitch, he paused.
The audience suspected something terrible, arid seemed to fear
.the next word. The pause continued for some time ; at length,
the preacher, fixing his eyes directly on his royal hearer, and
in a tone of voice, equally expressive of horror and concern,
said, in the words of the prophet, " Thou art the man !" then,
leaving these words to their eifect, he concluded with a mild,
and general prayer to heaven for the conversion of all sinners.
A miserable courtier observed, in a whisper to the mon-
arch, " the preacher exceeded all bounds, and should be
checked." " No, sir," replied the monarch, " the preacher has
done his duty j let us do ours." When the service was con-
cluded, the monarch walked slowly from the church, and or-
dered Bourdaloue in his presence. He remarked to him, his
general protection of religion, the kindness which he had
ever shown to the Society of Jesus, his particular attention to
Bourdaloue and his friends. He then reproached him with
the strong language of the sermon, and asked him what could
be his motive for insulting him, thus publicly, before his sub-
jects ? Bourdaloue fell on his knees : " God," he assured the
monarch, " was his witness, that it was not his wish to insult
his majesty ; but I am a minister of God," said Bourdaloue,
" and must not disguise his truths. What I said in my sermon
is my morning and evening prayer. May God, in his infinite
mercy, grant me to see the day when the greatest of kings
will be the holiest." The monarch was atTected, and silently
dismissed the preacher ; but, from this time, the court began
to observe the change which afterwards, and at no distant pe-
riod, led Louis to a life of regularity and virtue. Butler's
Remin.
THEY TOOK NO OIL WITH THEM.
They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them.
Matthew 25 : 3.
THE oil is the Holy Spirit. To oil he is likened throughout
all Scripture, though in some places to fire and water, and
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 105
to wind or air. But it is as the light-giving oil that he is
specially spoken of here ; and the lack of him, as such, makes
the difference between the foolish and the wise ; having not
the spirit. (Jude, verse 19.) Thus a man may be very like
a Christian, and yet not be one. He may come very near the
kingdom, and yet not enter it. He may have all the outward
features of a Christian, and be lacking the main one. He may
have the complete dress of a saint, and yet not be one. He
may have a good life, a sound creed, a strict profession; he
may be one who says and does many things excellent; he
may be a subscriber to all the religious societies in the land, a
member of all their committees, or a speaker at all their meet-
ings, and a supporter of all their plans ; he may profess to be
looking for Christ's coming, and going forth to meet the Bride-
groom, and yet not necessarily a Christian. He may lack the
oil the Holy Spirit. A religion without the Holy Ghost
profiteth nothing. There is the religion of the intellect, of the
sense, of the fancy, of the flesh, of the creed, of the liturgy, of
the catechism, of nature, of poetry, of sentiment, of mysticism,
of humanity ; but what are these without the Spirit. Chris-
tianity without Christ what would that be ? Worship with-
out God what would that be ? So religion without the Holy
Spirit what would that be ? Go to them that sell, and buy
for yourselves. Not to men, or churches, or ministers, but to
Christ. Go to him. He is exalted to give it, and he will.
Apply to him ere it be too late. Sonar.
"THE DOOR IS SHUT."
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came ; and they that were ready
went in with him to the marriage : and the door was shut. Matthew 25 : 10.
OUR Irish correspondent, in a recent letter, writes, " My
old friend, John Hands, for many years & missionary in
Hindostan, and, on his return, the London Missionary Society's
agent in this city, now in his eighty-third year, resides at
Kingstown. Some months ago he was making his way to the
platform of the Westland Row railway station, when he saw
14
106 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
the train move off, and a lady met him, exclaiming, ' 0, sir, just
as I went up, the door was shut.' They went together into
the waiting-room to stay for the next train, and Mr. Hands
said to the lady, ' Madam, though that door was shut, it will
be opened again in half an hour ; but there is another door
now open which, when shut, will be closed forever.' He then
unfolded to her the way of salvation, urging an immediate
entrance through the open door. The train was now ready.
The lady entered a first-class carriage, Mr. Hands took his
place in a second-class, and he saw her no more. A few even-
ings since a messenger came to Mr. Hands, requesting him to
go immediately* with her to see a lady supposed to be dying.
He did so, and was shown up stairs into a bedroom, where the
window-blind was down, and the silence of the attendants pre-
sented a gloom and solemnity befitting the scene. It was one
of death. From the bed, which he was invited to approach,
was stretched the emaciated hand of one on whose face was
the paleness and on whose brow stood the dew of death. ' Sir/
said she, < I wished to see you before going to my Saviour, to tell
you that it was your conversation about " the shut door " that
led me to him, and that you might join me in giving thanks to
him.' Mr. Hands did so, and she died."
JOHN MAYNARD, THE FAITHFUL PILOT.
His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant ; thou hast been
faithful over a few tilings, I will make thee ruler over many things : enter thou
into the joy of thy lord. Matthew 25 : 23.
JOHN MAYNARD was well known as a God-fearing pilot on
Lake Erie. He had charge of a steamer from Detroit to
Buffalo. One summer afternoon smoke was seen ascending
from below ; and the captain called out, " Simpson, go down
and see what that smoke is ! " He came up with his face as
pale as ashes, and said, " Captain, the ship is on fire ! " " Fire,
fire, fire ! " instantly resounded in all directions. All hands
were called up. Buckets of water were dashed on the flames,
but in vain. There were large quantities of rosin and tar on
board ; and it was useless to try to save the ship. The pas-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 107
sengers rushed forward, and inquired of the pilot, " How far
are we from land ? " " Seven miles." " How long before we
reach it ? " " Three quarters of an hour, at our present rate
of steam." " Is there any danger ? " " Danger enough here !
See the smoke bursting out ! Go forward, if you would save
your lives ! " Passengers and crew, men, women, and chil-
dren, crowded to the forward part of the ship. John Maynard
stood at his post. The flames burst forth in a sheet of fire ;
clouds of smoke arose. The captain cried out through his
trumpet, "John Maynard!" "Ay, ay, sir!" responded the
brave tar. " How does she head ? " " South-east by east, sir."
" Head her south-east, and run her on shore." Nearer, yet
nearer, she approached the shore. Again the captain cried
out, " John Maynard ! " The response came feebly, " Ay, ay,
sir ! " " Can you hold on five minutes longer, John?" " By
God's help I will ! " The old man's hair was scorched from
the scalp, one hand was disabled, and his teeth were set ; yet
he stood firm as a rock. He beached the ship. Every man,
woman, and child was saved, as John Maynard dropped over-
board, and his spirit took its flight to his God. J. B. Gough.
MINISTERING TO HIM.
For I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave
me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Matthew 25 : 35.
fTHHERE is an old legend which says that Christ, the Man of
J_ Sorrows, is still a wanderer upon earth, and that every
year he comes, an unknown mendicant, to the gates of some
charitable institution, and tests its charity. Sure I am that
Christ comes to our door in the person of his needy disciples,
and tests our love and liberality to him. In his saints he is
perpetually incarnate, and is ever undergoing again the treat-
ment that he received on earth. The apostle urges us to hos-
pitality on the ground that peradventure we may entertain
angels unawares. May we not be urged to charitable helping
on the ground that we are ministering to Christ himself?
Angels gladly ministered to him in his earthly need ; his temp-
108 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
tation, his agony. We may minister as angels cannot, min-
ister a daily service to him in his saints ; their agonies are his,
their desert-fastings and temptations, their bitter cup of fear
and death. We may be as angels to strengthen them, and if
we refuse, why, he will judge it as if the angel had refused his
minister. Rev. Henry Alton.
"I WAS SICK, AND YE VISITED ME."
Naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison,
and ye came unto me. Matthew 25 : 3G.
IN September, 1847, Bishop Paine, of the Methodist Episco-
pal Church, South, went on board a steamboat at Memphis,
on his way to Kentucky. Nearly every boat from New
Orleans had on board persons suffering with yellow fever,
and though no such case was acknowledged to exist on the
boat in question, the bishop kept a " sharp lookout " for in-
dications of that kind. At a late hour that night, he saw a
man belonging to the boat go rather stealthily to a state-room,
and hastily open and shut the door, passing something in,
without entering. His suspicions were now awake, but he
could get no information that night. Next morning he de-
manded to know if there was not a sick man on board. The
answer was evasive, but he pressed the question categorically,
until finally it was confessed that there was a sick man, said
to be a Catholic priest from New Orleans, ill, in the state-room
in question. The bishop requested to see him, but was put
off with excuses ; he urged the matter, and finally declared he
would see him. His importunity and resolute stand gave him
success; the door was opened, and from it issued a sickening-
stench, which, for a moment, drove him back ; but he rallied,
and made his entrance, and found a miserable being apparently
at the point of death, who had been for twenty-four hours
begging in vain for even a cup of cold water to be handed to
him. But what was the good bishop's surprise, when, instead
of some suffering stranger, he found that victim of disease and
neglect to be Rev. Joseph Cross, of IVydras Street Methodist
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 109
Church, New Orleans ! The bishop had him well taken care
of, becoming himself his nurse, and by proper attention the
patient speedily recovered. Professor Cross believes that, but
for the bishop's kind interposition in his behalf, he could not
have recovered. The bishop resolved at all risks to succor a
stranger, but unexpectedly found himself saving a friend.
MINISTERING AT THE SICK-BED.
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed
tliee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Matthew 25 : 38, 39.
WHEN Rev. Dr. Binney, of India, was in this country, he
was one evening called out of the room to see a man
who proved to be a perfect stranger. " I heard that a minis-
ter by the name of Binney was stopping at this house, sir, and
I want you to go and see my wife, who is very ill. She has
been trying all day to make me understand what she wanted,
and at last I found it was a minister. Do come quickly, for
she is very low, and will, I fear, soon be unconscious."
They started at -once, and on the way the doctor ascertained
that neither he nor his wife knew anything of religion. On
reaching the place, the doctor said to the man, " You must sit
down beside your wife, and I shall address all my conversa-
tion to you, as she is too ill to be spoken to, and you "must
reply to my questions." He promised to do so. Then the
doctor, speaking slowly and distinctly, explained the way of
salvation through Christ, and closed with an affectionate and
earnest appeal to him to give his heart at once to the Saviour.
The man was deeply affected. His wife lay through it all,
apparently unconscious ; but he knelt and offered fervent
prayer for mercy for both, and left them.
Two or three months after, he received a letter from the
woman, who, to the surprise of all, had recovered. She told
him that, although unable to speak or move, she had heard
every word he had addressed to her husband, and then and
there she gave herself to Christ. Her husband had been con-
110 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
verted by means of the same conversation, and they had both
united with .the church.
Dr. Binney, in telling the story, said it had been a life-long
lesson to him to point the soul to Christ, even if apparently
too far gone to listen, and to speak words of comfort to depart-
ing souls while life lasted.
STRIKING GOD'S CHILDREN.
And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, In-
asmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have
done it unto me. Matthew 25 : 40.
MANY years ago, when Joshua Morse was preaching the
gospel in a private house in Stonington, Connecticut,
without permission of the law, as enacted by the " standing
order," he was beset, knocked down, and dragged out of the
house. Afterwards he was fined, and sentenced to be pub-
licly whipped for preaching contrary to law. It is related
that when he was brought to the place to be scourged, he said
to the officer, " I suppose you must do your duty ; but re-
member that, when you strike me, you strike one of God's
children." The officer was touched, burst into tears, released
him, and paying the fine himself, sent the good man home.
How many wrongs are done which would not be if men
would remember that they are dealing with " God's children."
Wronged, robbed, cheated, smitten, and abused, their unresist-
ing patience makes them the easy prey of unreasonable and
wicked men ; but in all their humiliation the Lord still loves
them, pities them, and will at last " avenge his own elect that
cry day and night unto him."
Striking God's children is serious business ; how serious
will never be known until the judgment day, when the King
shall say to them on his left hand, " Inasmuch as ye did it to
one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. \\\
NO HOPE TO LOST SOULS.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment : but the righteous
into life eternal. Mattliew 25 : 46.
CONCERNING the duration of future punishment, Dr. Adam
\J Clarke remarks,
" No appeal, no remedy to all eternity ! No end to the
punishment of those whose final impenitence manifests in them
an eternal evil, and desire to sin. By dying in a settled op-
position to God, they cast themselves into a necessity of con-
tinuing in an eternal aversion from him.
" But some are of opinion that this punishment shall have
an end. This is as likely as that the glory of the righteous
shall have an end ; for the same word is used to express the
duration of the punishment, as is used to express the duration
of the state of glory. I have seen the best things that have
been written in favor of the final redemption of damned
spirits, but I never saw an answer to the argument against
that doctrine, drawn from this verse, but what sound learning
and criticism should be ashamed to acknowledge. The origi-
nal word is certainly to be taken here in its proper grammati-
cal sense, continual being, never ending. Some have gone
a middle way, and think that the wicked shall be annihilated.
This, I think, is contrary to the text. If they go into punish-
ment, they continue to exist; for that which ceases to be,
ceases to suffer." See the note on Gen. 21 : 33. Thus writes
the " calm and learned " Dr. Clarke.
LAMENTATIONS OF A LOST SOUL.
The Son of man goeth as it is written of him : but woe unto that man by
whom the Son of man is betrayed ! it had been good for that man if he had
not been born. Matthew 20 : 24.
" TNFINITE years of sorrow must I spend,
JL Years that shall never, never know an end ?
And must I live in torment and despair
As many years as atoms in the air ?
112 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
When these are spent so many millions more
As grains of sand now washed on ocean's shore,
When these are gone as many still behind
As forest-leaves tossed by the autumn wind ?
When these have fled, as many to ensue
As blades of grass besprinkled with the dew,
Succeeding these as many on their march,
As silver stars that light yon azure arch ?
When these are gone as many millions more
As moments in the millions gone before ;
When all these years are spent in woe and pain,
And multiplied by myriad years again,
Till numbers vast the soul doth overpower,
As bends the grain beneath the drenching shower ;
Could I suppose e'en^then my suffering life would close,
Or find in coming years some moment of repose,
'Twould give some ease, my griefs it would assuage
That crush me now, increasing with each age ;
But, 0, the dread abyss, where I tormented lie,
Is time no more, but vast eternity."
COMMUNION WINES.
And lie took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink
ye all of it. Matthew 20 : 27.
following high authorities show that the Lord's Supper
JL was instituted with non-intoxicating wine :
Rev. Dr. William Patton, in his book, Laws of Fermenta-
tion and Wines of the Ancients, says, " More than thirty-five
years since, when revising the study of Hebrew with Pro-
fessor Seixas, an eminent Hebrew teacher, I submitted to him
the collection of texts which I had made, with the request
that he would give me his deliberate opinion. He took the
manuscript, and in a few days after returned it with this state-
ment, ' Your discriminations are just ; they denote that there
were two kinds of wine, and the Hebrew Scriptures justify
this view.' "
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 113
Mr. Thayer, in his book entitled Communion Wines, and
Dr. Patton, in Laws of Fermentation, give a very large num-
ber of authorities to show that there were two kinds of wine,
one fermented and the other unfermented. A dozen mission-
aries have testified to it. Rev. I. S. Diehl, who has traveled
over, and visited most of the Oriental lands, spending years
upon his travels, testifies to the existence of the unfermented
wines.
Rev. Albert Barnes says, " The wine of Judea was the pure
juice of the grape, without any mixture of alcohol, and com-
monly weak and harmless. It was the common drink of the
people, and did not tend to intoxication."
Professor Moses Stuart says, " Facts show that the ancients
not only preserved wine unfermented, but regarded it as a
higher flavor and higher quality than fermented wine."
Dr. Nott, late president of Union College, says, " That un-
intoxicating wines existed from remote antiquity, and were
held in high estimation by the wise and good, there can be no
reasonable doubt. The evidence is unequivocal and plenary."
CHRIST IN THE GARDEN.
And lie went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, my
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me : nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. Matthew 26 : 39.
HE knelt the Saviour knelt and prayed,
When but his Father's eye
Looked through the lonely garden's shade,
On that dread agony !
The Lord of all, above beneath
Was bowed with sorrow unto death.
The sun set in a fearful hour
The heavens might well grow dim,
When this mortality had power
So to o'ershadow him !
15
114 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
That he who gave man's breath might know
The very depths of human woe.
He knew them all ! the doubt, the strife,
The faint perplexing dread ;
The mists that hung o'er parting life,
All darkened round his head ;
And the deliverer knelt to pray -
Yet passed it not, that cup, away.
It passed not though the stormy wave
Had sunk beneath his tread !
It passed not though to him the gravr
Had yielded up its dead !
But there was gent him from on high
A gift of strength, for man to die.
And was his mortal hour beset
With anguish and dismay ?
How may we meet our conflict yet
In the dark, narrow way ?
How, but through him, that path who trod ?
Save, or we perish, Son of God ! Mrs. Hemans.
"SAYING THE SAME WORDS."
And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying
the same words. Matthew 2G : 44.
IT is a comforting reflection for the afflicted disciple, that
Christ in his agony in the garden went repeatedly to the
Throne of Grace with his burden. With no new plea to urge,
no unused petition to offer, he poured out his soul to his
Father " the third time, saying the same words."
What encouragement is here to the human sufferer, who
can think of no language in which to clothe his petition. His
heavenly Father will not turn away his ear, though he come
often with the same sorrow, and tell it in the same words.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 115
Though a story of distress may awaken the sympathy of an
earthly friend upon its first recital, its repetition soon wearies,
and ceases to create emotion. However heavily a burden may
oppress us, if long continued we have little to hope from
human sympathy but he who went again and again to his
Father, saying the same words, will not refuse to listen when
we come to him with our trials because we have told them
many times before. If the cross be heavy, and the way be
long, he will not be weary, or refuse to pity and help us ; for
he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
FAIR-WEATHER CHRISTIANS.
But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.
Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled. Matthew 26 : 5G.
T)URGOMEISTER GUERICKE constructed a gigantic ba-
JJ rometer, with a tube thirty feet in height, part of which
projected above the roof of his house, at Magdeburg. The
index was the figure of a man, who, in fair weather, was seen
standing full size above the roof; but, when a storm was
brewing, he cautiously withdrew for security and shelter.
Antitype of religionists and politicians ! When the sun
shines brightly, and the breezes scarcely breathe across the
landscape, how erect and bold they look ! But let the clouds'
gather, and the thunders mutter, and what a drawing in of
diminished heads ! 0, rare, satirical Burgomeister ! you must
have had an alderman's experience. Dr. W. F. Warren.
DEATH OF A NOTED INFIDEL.
Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned,
repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief
priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent
blood. And they said, What is that to us ? see thou to that. Matthew 27 : 3, 4.
THE Right Reverend Manton Eastburn, Bishop of the Dio-
cese of Massachusetts, in a sermon preached before the
Young Men's Christian Association of Boston, on the value
116 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
of the Bible, related a striking and impressive fact respect-
ing the last hours of Thomas Paine, the author of the Age
of Reason, showing that the principles he advocated in his
life failed him in the hour of his extremity. Referring to the
fact that, in the solemn and decisive hour of death, the Bible
alone shows us how to get an actual, real, living sense of com-
fort, derived from a confident hope of better things to come,
the bishop said, " How worthy of consideration the fact, that
this religion of the Bible never fails to give comfort to those by
whom it has been embraced. ' And how remarkable another
fact, that no man ever repented on the bed of death of having
made these Scriptures his trust ; while, on the other hand, un-
counted myriads have repented of the neglect of this book,
and have closed a life of indifference with an end of remorse
and agony. Even some of the great leaders and apostles of
infidelity have expired amid the most horrible blackness of
despair. During my residence in the city of New York, one
of my parishioners was the physician who attended in his last
illness the famous Thomas Paine. And I had it from the lips
of that person that this noted blasphemer, not many hours
before his departure, and while in possession of his mental
faculties, was overheard by him calling repeatedly for help
on that very Lord Jesus Christ whom it had been the object
of all his previons life to hold up to scorn and execration.
His end was the very consummation of fear and foreboding.
But who ever heard of a Christian shrieking out for sorrow,
when his last hour came, that he had not been an unbeliever?
Ah, no ! The Bible, besides meeting all our other wants,
effectually provides for this last want the need of support
when time recedes, and eternity is at hand. And it hereby
does what nothing else is able to do."
THE PRICE OF BLOOD.
And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to
put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. Matthew 27 : 6.
N Zion's Herald, of Boston, November 4, 1869, the editor
thus describes the wickedness of the rum traffic: " Last
i
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. H7
Thursday, at the Beach Street Presbyterian Church, was an
awful picture, which could have been entitled, ' The Price of
Blood.' A coffin lay before the pulpit, and in it the form of
the most popular temperance orator New England has known,
except John B. Gough. Bribed first by medicine, then by a
fainting fit, which was wickedly and intentionally relieved by
brandy, he ran violently down the steep gulf, even to self-
destruction. His conscience was quick, his prayers fervent,
his desires ardent, but his will failed before the demon appe-
tite. The rum-sellers of this city took his watch, rings, and
mementos for whiskey, and murdered -him in cold blood for
gold. That death was the price of blood. It was given by
fashion, wealth, political ambition, and business fanaticism, to
sustain a gigantic and growing crime. But for Boston's de-
fiance of the law, the popular orator would now be alive.
And Boston has killed one of her most eloquent sons for her
love of lucre. It is the price of blood."
RELIEF OBTAINED BY A DREAM.
When he was set down on the judgment scat, his wife sent unto him, say-
ing, Have thou nothing to do with that just man : for I have suffered many
things this day in a dream because of him. Matthew 27 : 19.
God sometimes communicates with us by dreams, is
JL sustained by Scripture and experience. Captain Yount,
of California, in a midwinter's night, had a dream, in which
he saw what appeared to be a company of emigrants arrested
by the snows of the mountains, and perishing rapidly by cold
and hunger. He noted the very cast of the scenery, marked
by a huge perpendicular front of white rock cliff; he saw the
men cutting off what appeared to be tree-tops rising out of
deep gulfs of snow ; he distinguished the very features of the
persons, and the look of their particular distress. He woke,
profoundly impressed with the distinctness and apparent
reality of his dream. At length he fell asleep, and dreamed
exactly the same dream again. In the morning, he could
not expel it from his mind. Falling in, shortly, with an old
118 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
hunter comrade, he told him the story ; and was only the more
deeply impressed by his recognizing, without hesitation, the
scenery of the dream. This comrade came over the Sierra
by the Carson Valley Pass (in California), and declared that
a spot in the pass answered exactly to his description. By
this, the unsophisticated patriarch was decided. He imme-
diately collected a company of men with mules and blankets,
and all necessary provisions. The neighbors were laughing,
meantime, at his credulity. " No matter," said he ; " I am
able to do this, and I will ; for I verily believe that the fact
is according to my dream." The men were sent into the
mountains one hundred and fifty miles distant, directly to the
Carson Valley Pass ; and there they found the company in
exactly the condition of the dream, and brought in the rem-
nant alive. A gentleman present, when the captain told me,
said, " You need not doubt this ; for we Californians all know
the facts, and the names of the families brought in, who look
upon our venerable friend as a kind of savior." Their names
he gave, and the places where they reside ; and I found, after-
wards, that the California people were ready everywhere to
second his testimony. Dr. Bushnell.
WHAT SHALL I DO WITH JESUS?
Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called
Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. Matthew 27 : 22.
SOONER or later, to every one, comes the question which
Pilate asked the Jews, " What then shall I do with Jesus,
which is called Christ?" If a man cares nothing for the
principles of science or art, or takes no interest in politics,
he simply lets the subject alone, giving no thought to it. But
this question will be answered, and can be but in one or two
ways. No one can settle the matter for you ; each soul must
make its own reply. Careless, indifferent fellow-sinner, do
you think to evade replying to this all-important question
while you live? If you pass your life thus, you have already
answered it, unconsciously to yourself it may be, but it has
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 119
had a reply in the rejection of him. But when at the judg-
ment you stand before your despised Saviour, you will not
then think, " What shall I do with Jesus? " The one thought
will be, " ! what will he do with me ? " Then you may be
constrained to ask yourself these questions, What can he do
with me ? Can he receive me into heaven, when I have not
received him into my heart? What ought he to do with me?
What will he do with me ? He tells us in his Word what he
will do.
BAPTIZING IN THE NAME OF JESUS.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matthew 28 : 19.
CONCERNING the Great Commission, Dr. Lightfoot makes
\J the following very judicious remarks :
First. " Christ commands them to go and baptize the na-
tions ; but how much time was passed before such a journey
was taken ! And when the time was now come that this work
should be begun, Peter doth not enter upon it without a pre-
vious admonition given him from heaven. And this was oc-
casioned hereby, that, according to the command of Christ,
the gospel was first to be preached to Judea, Samaria, and
Galilee.
Second. " He commands them to baptize in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; but among the
Jews they baptize only in the name of Jesus. (Acts 2 : 38 ;
8:16; 19 : 5.) For this reason, that thus the baptizers might
assert, and the baptized confess Jesus to be the true Messias ;
which was chiefly controverted by the Jews. Of the same
nature is that apostolic blessing, ' Grace and peace from "God
the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.' Where, then,
is the Holy Ghost? He is not excluded, however he be not
named. The Jews did more easily consent to the spirit of
the Messias, which they very much celebrated, than to the
person of the Messias. Above all others, they deny and
abjure Jesus of Nazareth. It belonged to the apostles, there-
120 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS..
fore, the more earnestly to assert Jesus (to be the Messias),
by how much the more vehemently they opposed him ; which
being once cleared, the acknowledging of the Spirit of Christ
would be introduced without delay or scruple. Moses (Ex.
6 : 14), going about to reckon up all the tribes of Israel, goes
no further than the tribe of Levi ; and takes up with that to
which his business and story, at that present, related. In like
manner the apostles, for the present, baptize in the name of
Jesus, and bless in the name of the Father and of Jesus, that
thereby they might more firmly establish the doctrine of
Jesus, which met with such sharp virulent opposition ; which
doctrine being established among them, they would soon agree
about the Holy Ghost.
Third. " Among the Jews the controversy was about the
true Messias ; among the Gentiles, about the true God. It
was, therefore, proper among the Jews to baptize in the name
of Jesus, that he might be vindicated to be the true Messias.
Among the Gentiles, in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; that they might be hereby in-
structed in the doctrine of the true God. Let this be partic-
ularly noted.
Fourth. " The Jews baptized proselytes into the name of
the Father, that is, into the profession of God, whom they
called by the name of Father. Tlie apostles baptized the
Jews into the name of Jesus the Son, and the Gentiles into
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost.
Fifth. " The Father hath revealed himself in the Old Cove-
nant, the Son in the New ; in human flesh by his miracles, doc-
trine, resurrection, and ascension ; the Holy Ghost in his gifts
and miracles. Thus the doctrine of the ever blessed Trinity
grew by degrees to full maturity ; for the arriving to the
acknowledgment of which it was in'cumbent upon all who
professed the true God to be three in one, to be baptized into
his name."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 121
"10, I AM WITH YOU."
Teaching them to observe all tilings whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Matthew 28 : 20.
THE results recorded in the following instances show Christ
with his ministers. There are extant well authenticated
instances of modern sermons and preachers being favored
with blessed success. We know a London minister who de-
livered a s^ermon which was the means of twenty-eight con-
versions. We know another who preached a discourse of
great power, and thirty- six conversions took place. An emi-
nent Independent minister in the Provinces preached one
Sunday evening, and seventy-six persons attributed their con-
versions to his appeals, and one of them became the mayor
and member of Parliament for the city in which the preacher
resides. A tradition obtains in Cornwall that the celebrated
Joseph Benson once preached to an immense open-air congre-
gation, and that five hundred persons professed to find the
Saviour, and joined the Wesley an societies ; and those who
have read his life know that he often preached with such
transcendent power that his congregations could scarcely
keep their seats. May similar results attend the Word in
these days.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPEL.
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark 1 : 1.
THE Bishop of Bristol and Gloucester, in the introductory
lecture of his course on the " Life of Christ," gives, in a
note, the following condensed summary of the principal points
in which the four evangelical narratives are distinguished from
each other :
First. In regard to their external features and character-
istics :
The point of view of the first gospel is mainly Israelitic ; of
16
122 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
the second, Gentile ; of the third, universal ; of the fourth,
Christian.
The general aspect, and, so to speak, physiognomy of the
first, mainly, is Oriental : of the second, Roman ; of the third,
Greek ; of the fourth, spiritual.
The style of the first is stately and rhythmical ; of the second,
terse and precise ; of the third, calm and copious ; of the fourth,
artless and colloquial.
The most striking characteristic of the first is symmetry ;
of the second, compression ; of the third, order ; of the fourth,
system.
The thought and language of the first are both Hebraistic ;
of the third, both Hellenistic ; while in the second, the thought
is often Occidental, though the language is Hebraistic, and in
the fourth, the language is Hellenistic, but the thought He-
braistic.
Second. In respect to their subject-matter and contents :
In the first gospel we have narratives ; in the second,
memoirs ; in the third history ; in the fourth, dramatic por-
traiture.
In the first we have often the record of events in their ac-
complishment ; in the second, events in their detail ; in the
third, events in their connection; in the fourth, events in re-
lation to the teaching springing from them.
Thus, in the first we more often meet with the notice of im-
pressions ; in the second, of facts ; in the third, of motives ; in
the fourth, of words spoken.
And, lastly, the record of the first is mainly collective, and
often antithetical ; of the second, graphic and circumstantial ;
of the fourth, selective and supplemental.
Third. In respect to their portraiture of our Lord : -
The first gospel presents him to us as the Messiah ; the
second, mainly as the God-man ; the third, as the Redeemer ;
the fourth, as the only-begotten Son of God.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 123
JESUS TEMPTED BY SATAN.
And he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan.
Mark 1 : 13.
ON the subject of the temptation of Jesus by Satan, or the
devil, no better exposition is to be found, from the writings
of any theologian, than that given by Dr. Whedon, in his Com-
mentary on St. Matthew, 4th chapter. He says, "We can
view this transaction neither as a mere train of thought, as a
vision, as a parable, nor a myth ; but as a great verity, occupy-
ing a most significant place in the system of sacred realities.
The first Adam truly was tempted, and fell ; the second Adam
was as truly tempted, and won the victory. Hence he became
the great Head of triumphant humanity. Tempted in all
points as we, he shows how to overcome. We remark,
First. " The history implies in the abstract human nature of
Jesus, the power to sin. This is necessary in order to a re-
sponsible, free agency. If he had no power, to choose sin, it
is difficult to see how he could be tempted to a choice, not
only impossible, but consciously impossible. If he could not
comply with temptation, there could be no danger, and truly
no temptation at all. If he were unable to comply with the
temptation, there was no virtue in the non-compliance. He
was that much no free agent ; his non-compliance was neces-
sary and mechanical, and *so non-meritorious. The supposi-
tion that Christ could not sin, raises him above all fitness to be
an example for us as one ' tempted in all points like as we are,
yet without sin.' Propose such a pattern to a fallible sinner,
and he can answer, conclusively, l Make it impossible for me
to sin, and I will be as holy as he.' None but a free agent can
be an example for a free agent. Nor is any but a free agent
capable of responsible probation.
" This free agency implies not, indeed, a preferential state of
soul for evil, as exists in depraved man, but a susceptibility, as
in the perfect first Adam, to impressions which, voluntarily
followed out to excess or misdirection, would become sin.
This view implies no uncertainty of his accomplishing our
redemption. For, in full view of all possibilities, the infinite
wisdom and foreknowledge of God had selected for Messiah,
124: NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
that being, of all others, who, he foresaw, would, with perfect
free will, prefer God to Satan, and, in spite of all temptation,
prove true to his redemptional offioe. Hence, while there was
an intrinsic possibility in the thing, there was a full and perfect
certainty upon which the . divine mind could rest, that the
possible catastrophe of his fall would not take place.
Second. " In the whole transaction we are to view the Saviour
in pure humanity. As he is led by the spirit to the scene, so
the blessed human One stood in the universe, a pure, lone
man, as the first Adam himself, leaning, indeed, as every Chris-
tian may, on the divine arm, yet as truly able to fall by his
own will from all union with God, as our first progenitor, and
truly able, by freely standing, to maintain an identification
with God, impossible to the man of Eden.
Third. " As God said to Satan of Job, so now, we conceive,
he said of his Son, * Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his
life.' Satan had it in his power to tempt him only with appar-
ent good. Not now was his hour and power to try him with
untold agonies. But by withstanding the temptations to the
apparent good, the man-Jesus proved his fitness to stand the
terrible ordeal of ill.
Fourth. " This surrender to Satan was greater, we think,
than is ordinarily conceived. So far forth as the necessities
of the trial required, yet with no power of violence or con-
tamination, our Lord's person was in his hand. How else did
Satan take him to the temple's summit, or to the mountain top ?
Or how else did he make all the kingdoms of the world visible
to his eye ? The miracles indicated in the first query may
be supposed to be performed, first, by creating the .concep-
tions in the Saviour's mind ; or, second, by snatching his soul
from his body ; or, third, by transporting his person so with
the quickness of a thought, that lie is not to be conceived as
on his way at any intermediate point. We adopt the last as
being perfectly supposable, and as best meeting the honest
demands of the literal history. The miracle suggested in the
second question above, of making visible to his eye all the
kingdoms of the world, but simply requires that we frame our
ideas to the unparalleled statement. It is as conceivable that
Satan should endow a human eye with miraculous vision, as
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 125
that lie should fire the human blood of Job with miraculous
heat, and compel it to fling out boils upon the skin. That he
should do this upon a high mountain, where the natural eye
could see as far as possible, accords with the universal rule,
that the miraculous should never be used where the natural
will suffice ; or, rather, that the natural should furnish a nu-
cleus for the miraculous, just as our Saviour touched with his
finger, or with a clay-and- spittle ointment, the eyes of the
blind, formed the nucleus for the miracle of restoration of sight.
' To be tempted,' Put to the test. His virtues were to be
tried by a contest with his and our great adversary.
" The heads of the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of
hell must meet in contest. How vapid to reduce all this to a
vision ? l The devil] The Diabolus or Accuser. The be-
ing who accused Job, and who brings even a charge against
God's elect. He is not the l personified principle of evil,' but
a being deeply animated by the purpose of evil. We have no
more right to reduce Satan and hell to a figure, than we have
Christ, angels, and heaven, nay, God himself. If there are
good beings in the body, there are also bad. So, also, if there
are good bodiless spirits, there may be bad. It is no more
conjrary to the nature of God's government that there should
be a Satan, than that there should be a Nimrod, a Tamerlane,
or a Mohammed. Though Satan is not omnipresent, nor om-
nipotent, he may fill a vast space .with his presence. We
know not how much of the earth he may overshadow at the
same moment. And we know not how numerous the demoniac
angels .who do his bidding, and through whom he tempts the
sons of men. The allusions to Ids fall from a state of purity
are too numerous and pointed to leave a doubt as to its be-
ing a doctrine of Scripture. Such are John 8 : 44 ; Jude 6 ;
2 Peter 2 : 4. Satan is crafty beyond measure, but very little
wise. There may be depths of cunning and masses of knowl-
edge in him ; and yet many of the plainest, simplest things of
redemption, Christ, and Scripture, may be utterly unintelligi-
ble to his fatuity. The simplest saint, though immeasurably
outwitted by him, may be deep beyond his comprehension in
the things of God. So the bee can build her comb with the
science of a profound mathematician without being able to
count three."
126 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
VARIOUS SEASONS OF PRAYER.
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and
departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. Mark 1 : 35.
T)RAYER is not to be limited to particular days, or times in
JL the day, but, as indicated below, at all times, both day
and night.
Always. Luke 18:1; Epli. 6 : 18.
Without ceasing. 1 TJiess. 5 : 17.
Three times a day. Dan. 6:10.
Evening, and morning, and at noon. Ps. 55 : 17.
Every morning and at even. 1 Chron. 23 : 30.
All night, Luke 6:12.
Night and day. 1 These. 3:10.
Seven times a day. Ps. 99 : 164.
A great while before day. Mark 1 : 35.
In the night-watches. Ps. 63 : 6.
About the sixth hour. Acts 10 : 9.
The ninth hour. Acts 3:1.
At the even tide. Gen. 24 : 63.
By night. Ps. 134:1.
At midnight. Ps. 134 : 62 ; Acts 16 : 25.
Read the passages in the Bible.
REASON AND RELIGION.
And immediately, when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned
within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your
hearts? Mark 2:8.
office of reason in religion is easily understood, but
JL liable to be badly perverted. Human reason is not ignored
in accepting Christianity, but holds a most important relation
to it. It belongs to reason to discover man's need of a divine
revelation, and to judge of the evidence that authenticates
such a revelation. The lines of evidence that center on the
Bible, as a revelation from God, are such as are found in no
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 127
other book in this world. It does not belong to reason to sit
in judgment on what God has revealed, on the plea that this
or that declaration is unreasonable, for that would exalt each
man's reason above revelation, a thing most unreasonable.
The traveler through a vast wilderness uses his compass to
indicate the direction he wishes to go. In his path lie obsta-
cles that impede his progress : now a stream, now a bold cliff
of rocks, here a fallen tree, and there a bog that would sink
him in mire. Should that traveler use his reason in disputing
the direction indicated, instead of determining how to cross
this stream, or avoid this bold ledge of rocks, he would be
greatly at fault. The direction indicated by his compass must
be accepted by him ; how best to travel in that direction is to
be determined by his reason. The captain of a ship receives
his compass, chart, and sailing directions, as established facts.
His reason is to find its scope in bringing his ship through
storm and calm, through adverse winds and counter currents,
to the destined port. Should that sailor dispute his compass,
despise his chart, and disregard his sailing instructions ; should
he refuse these aids, and in his boasted confidence sail that ship
according to his reason, who would wonder at its speedy
wreck? What sailor ever made an ocean voyage without
help beyond himself? Life is a voyage, time is the ocean on
which we all are sailing. The Bible is both compass and
chart, not only pointing the way we should go, but indicating
safety and danger along the voyage. He who shapes his life-
course according to this book, will reach the desired haven in
safety, while he who disputes these truths, and takes life's
responsibilities into his own keeping, will become wrecked
ere the voyage is closed, and in dying will be compelled to
say, " I take a leap in the dark." W. J.
128 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
EFFECTIVENESS OF APPROPRIATE ILLUSTRATIONS.
And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sin-
ners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with
publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that
are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick : I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Mark 2 : 16, 17.
DR. ARNOLD, of Rugby, said, There are moments that
are worth more than years. We cannot help it ; there is
no proportion between spaces of time in importance nor in
value. A stray unthought-of five minutes may contain the
event of a life. And this all-important moment, dispropor-
tionate to all other moments, who can tell when it will be upon
us?"
We are seldom conscious of the vital importance of these
critical moments, which make or unmake us. Yet all human
biographers and all national histories are full of them. A
striking instance occurs to us in the life of the late Rev. Dr.
Guthrie. For more than two years after his theological studies
were finished he was unable to obtain a call to any church.
Discouraged, he went to the continent and studied medicine
for a time. Then he came home and entered his father's
banking-house. His biographer says that at this time " he had
not the knack of making friends either in or out of the pulpit."
After one of his trial discourses, one of his critics called him
a " bullerin blockhead " - the word "bullerin" being proba-
bly a coarse synonym for " bellowing," for he always gave
full play to his great voice in preaching. Something, what-
ever it was, kept him from reaching the popular ear and heart.
At last, Lord Panmure presented him the living of the little
church of Arbirlot. Things went on smoothly enough among
his quiet farmers, but he made little impression either by
thundering the laws or piping peace. So it went on until one
day he observed that an anecdote which he ventured to tell
in a racy way woke up his sleepy hearers, and kept thrm
a \\;ike to the close of his sermon. From that moment he
changed his style of preaching, giving full play to his wonder-
ful genius for splendid illustration. After ten years in the coun-
try he removed to Edinburgh, where for thirty years more he
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 129
preached the gospel with a popularity that never waned, and
to crowds that never failed to throng his church. The turning-
point in his ministry was that brief pulpit experiment upon
his country audience.
SABBATH-KEEPING A BLESSING.
Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. Mark 2 : 28.
A NOTHER source of human weal, which is older than Chris-
/A_ tianity, and more extensive than Judaism, is the Sabbath.
The father of political economy, Adam Smith, without regard
to its religious associations, acknowledges that it is indispen-
sable in social life. Man's constitution seems to have an
inborn necessity of a weekly holiday. Were he only an animal,
compelled to observe the day of rest, he would praise God, as
unintelligent nature praises him, in the enjoyment of his rest,
in the physical comfort it bestows, in the'health it preserves,
in the life it prolongs. But the intellectual and moral man
finds the holiday a restorer of vitality and vigor to the mind,
and a power that regenerates the moral aspirations. The
divine goodness in the appointment of the day is the more
obvious, in that the rest subtracts nothing from the labor of
the world. Experience shows that the poor man cannot afford
to lose the day of rest, and those who are pressed with urgent
duties cannot spare the exhilarating and clarifying effect of a
Sabbath on their mental faculties. Indeed, God has given
man one seventh of his time for leisure, making, if efficiency
were the only measure of time, the six parts really more than
the seven. Dr. George N. Boardman.
REACHING THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE.
And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved
for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine
hand. And he stretched it out : and his hand was restored whole as the other.
Mark 3 : 5.
T is, I think, an error into which many of our modern min-
isters, whose education has been carried to a high pitch,
17
i
-130 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
have fallen, that everything is to be done by the head rather
than by the heart. We know very well that the true method
is to reach the heart through the head, and men must be made
to feel by being shown why they should feel, and what it is to
make them feel. But in many cases the head is to be reached
by appeals to the heart. We often hear the remark, " Yes, it
was a smart sermon, but wanted heart. It sparkled like the
stars, or shone like the moon on a wintry night, but it warmed
no one." I have been sometimes struck, as every one must
have been, with the varying effect produced by diiferent
speakers at a public meeting ; and how much power over an
audience, and how much more the object of the meeting has
been accomplished by a few gushes of simple eloquence from
the heart of some earnest and ardent advocate, than by the
elaborate, but passionless pleader. The latter was coldly ad-
mired, and admitted to be an eloquent speaker ; but the former
melted and moved Jiis audience by the depth and intensity
of his own feelings. James.
A WORD TO MINISTERS.
And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might
send them forth to preach. Mark 3 : 14.
MAKE no apologies. If you have the Lord's message,
declare it ; if not, hold your peace. Have short pre-
faces and introductions. Say your best things first, and stop
before you get prosy. Do not spoil the appetite for dinner
by too much thin soup. Leave yourself out of the pulpit, and
take Jesus in. Defend the gospel, and let the Lord defend
you and your character.
Do not get excited too soon. Do not run away from your
hearers. Engine driving-wheels whirl fast on an icy track,
but when loaded go slower. It takes a cold hammer to bend
hot iron. Heat up the people, but keep the hammer wet and
cool. Do not bawl and scream. Too much water stops mill-
wheels, and too much noise drowns sense. Empty vessels
ring the loudest. Powder is not shot. Thunder is harmless ;
lightning kills.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 131
If you have lightning, you can afford to thunder. Don't
scold the people. Do not abuse the faithful souls who come
to meeting on rainy days, because others are too lazy to attend.
Preach the best to the smallest assemblies. Jesus preached
to one woman at the well, and she got all Samaria out to hear
him next time.
PRESIDENT HUMPHREY ON NOVEL-READING.
No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except
he will first bind the strong man ; and then he will spoil his house. Mark 3 : 27.
" YTOTHING," says President Humphrey, " is more to be
-Li deprecated in a family, than a morbid appetite for
novels. Experience proves how difficult it is to keep it from
becoming absolutely ravenous, if indulged at all. There is a
striking resemblance, in this respect, between the novel-reader
and the dram-drinker. Both begin moderately. Both are
sure a little does them good, and that they can refrain when-
ever they please. But reading one work of fiction is almost
certain to create in the young and susceptible mind a more
eager demand for another ; and the demand rises in every
step of the progress, till it is prepared to break over all bounds,
and devour whatever comes in its way, however it may inflame
the passions, pollute the imagination, or corrupt the heart.
The appetite for strong drink, and novel-reading, is sharpened
by indulgence, till" self-control is completely at the mercy of
its own insatiabieness. The only safe course in either case is,
' touch not, taste not, handle not'/ total abstinence. One of the
evils which comes of novel-reading even of the higher or
better class of novels is the perversion of life from the real
and actual, to the ideal and imaginary. It is not good while
in this world to lose sight of the actualities of life. The good
there is in life we should appreciate, and be thankful for to the
almighty Giver ; the bad in life should be known, that it may
be removed, and something better substituted in its place."
132 KEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ETEENITY.
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness,
but is in danger of eternal damnation. Mark 3 : 29.
1 T NEVER can forget that word which was once whispered
JL to me in an inquiry-meeting." "What word, was it?"
" It was the word eternity. A young Christian friend, who
was yearning for my salvation, came up to me as I sat in my
pew, and simply whispered i eternity ' in my ear, with great
solemnity and tenderness, and then left me. That word made
me think, and I found no peace till I came to the cross of
Christ for salvation."
It is enough to make any one think. My friend, have you
ever taken the measure of that word ? Have you ever
weighed it ? You are wearing out life, perhaps, in the desper-
ate endeavor to grow rich have you ever asked yourself
how much you will be u worth " in eternity ? Some men will
be millionaires -in heaven ; men like Paul, and Oberlin, and
Luther, and Wilberforce ; how rich will you be when death has
reduced your form to a house of six feet by two ? You are
anxious, perhaps, about your society on earth have you
thought, With whom shall I spend my eternity ? and where ?
Eternity ! Dwell on that portentous word. Revolve it.
Study it. Hang over its infinite depths ; fathom it, if you can.
Gaze upward, and scale its heights, if you can. Stretch away
over its illimitable breadth; measure it, if you can. Give
wings to your imagination, and speed onward ; find its end, if
you can.
Heaven will be as endless in its joys as hell is endless in
its remorseful agonies of soul. So I read, for one, the revela-
tions of God's word. In heaven new joys must open every
moment. New recognitions of the Lord ; new discoveries of
God's unexhausted truth. New strains of rapture will fill the
ear ; new banquets of God's beauty and glory fill the soul.
And yet newer, fresher, sublimer, more magnificent revela-
tions ever bursting upon the glorified spirit !
The eternity is just at the door. You and I may be launched
into it before to-morrow's sun goes down. What is time to us
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 133
but the brief hour for preparing to meet the destinies of that
eternal state ? What have we to do but to save our souls, and
to save others, too, with the utmost alacrity of Christian love ?
Every moment spent for God and our fellow-men now will
yield to its centuries of bliss. Let us live as earth's best
and holiest have lived in the light of eternity.
"Here, take this watch, my friend," said the noble Lord
Russell when he mounted the scaffold to die as a patriot mar-
tyr ; " take this watch, I have no more to do with time. My
thoughts are now about eternity."
So would I say to many a reader with whom I have grown
intimate. Take your Bible, my friend ; learn from it how to
live, and how to die. You will soon have done with time. Let
your thoughts be about eternity. Rev. T. L. Cuyler.
AN HONEST HEARER.
And these are they which are sown on good ground ; such as hear the
word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and
some a hundred. Mark 4 : 20.
LORD, the preacher this day came home to my heart. A
left-handed Gibeonite hit not the mark more surely than
he my darling sins. I could find no fault with his sermon,
save only that it had too much truth. But this I quarreled
at, that he went far from his text to come close to me, and so
was faulty himself in telling me of my faults j and yet I cannot
deny that which he spoke, though nothing to that portion of
Scripture which he had for his text was according to the pro-
portion of Scripture. For is not thy word in general the text
at large of any preacher ? Yea, rather I should have con-
cluded that if he went from his text, thy goodness sent him to
me ; for without thy guidance it had been impossible for him
so truly to have traced the intricate turnings of my deceitful
heart. Thomas Fuller.
134 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
A TIMELY WARNING UNHEEDED.
And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear. With what measure ye
mete, it shall be measured to you ; and unto you that hear, shall more be
given. Mark 4 : 24.
THE Roman senators conspired against Julius Caesar to kill
him. That very next morning Artemidorus Cesar's
friend delivered him a paper (desiring him to peruse it)
wherein the whole plot was discovered j but Caesar compli-
mented away his life, being so taken up to return the saluta-
tions of such people as met him in the way, that he pocketed
the paper among other petitions, as unconcerned therein, and
so going to the senate-house, was there slain. Thus the world,
the flesh, and the devil have a design for the destruction of
men ; ministers, such as watch for their good, bring a letter
of advice, God's word, wherein all the conspiracy is revealed ;
but who doth believe their report ? Most men are so busy,
and taken up with worldly delights, that they are not at leisure
to listen to them, or read the letter, but thus, alas ! run head-
long to their own destruction.
CHRISTIAN CHARACTER A GROWTH.
For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear,
after that the full corn in the ear. Mark 4 : 28.
IT matters not if you cannot tell just when you become a
Christian. If we sow a handful of wheat in your garden,
we could not tell, though we watched it ever so narrowly, the
exact moment when it germinated. But when we see the
waving grain in the autumn, we know it did germinate, and
that is all we care for. The young disciple should not expect
too much light at once. It will grow brighter with every
Christian duty he performs. The Christian life is a sort of
mountain path ; and the higher one climbs the clearer the at-
mosphere, and the sooner he will see the morning sun. To
the adventurous traveler who has ascended to the summit of
Mont Blanc, the sun rises earlier and sets later, and the night
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 135
is therefore shorter, than to the peasant who lives down in the
valley at its base. So it is in the Christain life. Clearness of
vision, and firmness of foot, and beauty of prospect, come only
to those who have struggled up to the heights to the heav-
enly places in Christ Jesus. Conversion may be the work of
a moment, but a saint is not made in an hour. Character,
Christian character, is not an act, but a process ; not a sudden
creation, but a development. It grows and bears fruit like a
tree ; and, like a tree, it requires patient care and unwearied
cultivation.
DR. GUTHRIEtS SECRET.
And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were
able to hear it. But without a parable spake he not unto them : and when
they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. Mark 4 : 33, 34.
REV. MR. TAYLOR, of Liverpool, gives the following ac-
count of the manner in- which Dr. Guthrie became such
a master of the art of illustration :
'" I do not know that there is a minister, either in the old
country or the new, who could so arrest at the beginning of
his discourse, and hold it unbroken to the end, the attention
of his hearers, as Dr. Thomas Guthrie of Edinburgh; bat it
Was not always so with him. God cast his lot in a northern
parish in Scotland, and he had there a Sabbath afternoon class.
Fart of the exercises of this class was for each to repeat as
much of the sermon as he could remember. To the amaze-
ment of the preacher, and somewhat also to his regret, he dis-
covered that those passages of his sermon which he, in his
ignorance, thought the most telling, and the most likely to be
remembered, were not brought up at all, but this and that
illustration were brought up, and the truth connected with
them. So, gathering wisdom from the discovery, he began to
try to make all his sermons consist of such things as the mem-
bers of his church remembered, until at length they came to
remember the sermon from beginning to end. If Sunday-
school teachers were to proceed upon a plan like this, we
should very soon engage the attention, and interest the hearts
of children."
136 KEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
MISFORTUNE CHANGED TO A BLESSING.
And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil,
and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind ; and they were
afraid. Mark 5 : 15.
IN the year 1825, a rich young nobleman of Russia, Mr. W.,
was suspected of having taken part in a conspiracy against
the life of the Emperor Nicholas. He was arrested and
thrown into prison at St. Petersburg. Naturally of a quick
and violent temper, the injustice done him aroused the deep-
est passions of his soul, and he spent that first long Decem-
ber night swearing and stamping on the ground, alternately
cursing the sovereign of his country who had ordered his
arrest, and the Sovereign of heaven who had permitted it.
Exhausted at last, he threw himself on his bed of straw, and
remained there for hours in mournful silence. Thus eight
wretched days passed away.
On the evening of the ninth a venerable clergyman came to
pray with and for him, and to entreat him to accept the invita-
tion of the Saviour, who says, " Come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt.
11 : 28.) The only answer was a scornful laugh. On leaving,
however, the old man gave him a Bible, begging him to read
it. But as soon as the door was closed, Mr. W. kicked it into
a corner, exclaiming, " I want nothing to do with the Word of
God who permits injustice ; " and there the sacred book was
left for days unnoticed. But time hung heavily ; hours seemed
days, and days months. To relieve his utter weariness, he
took up the Bible and opened it. The first verse that caught
his eye impressed him deeply : " Call upon me in the day of
trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." (Psu.
50 : 15.) But he shut the book immediately, as if ashamed to
have been affected by reading anything in the Bible. The
next day he opened it again, and was soon surprised at the
wisdom it evidently contained. He went through whole
chapters, sometimes even learning them by heart, and at last
became so much interested that he often waited impatiently
for daylight, to read and study his Bible.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 137
It was not long before he began to know something of the
state of his own heart, and to see that, like every human heart,
it was " desperately wicked." (Jer. 17 : 9.) He began to feel
that in the sight of God he was a sinner, deserving eternal
punishment. In his distress he fell upon his knees, crying
out, " Lord, save me, or I perish. Lord, wash away my
sins. Blot them out with the precious blood of Christ. For
Jesus' sake, have mercy upon me, a miserable sinner." His
prayer was answered : he felt that his sins were pardoned ;
and now, instead of complaining of the injustice of others, he
was mourning over his own sinfulness, and thinking of the
love of Jesus. He asked to see the old minister j and the joy
of the good man may be imagined when, on entering the cell,
he found the once enraged prisoner sitting with a quiet, happy
countenance, rejoicing in the hope that Christ had now become
his Saviour and Friend. " At first," said Mr. W., " I considered
my imprisonment a great misfortune ; but now I see why I was
placed here, and I thank God for it. If I had continued in my
prosperity, I should, perhaps, never have read this holy book,
which, by the grace of God, has led mo to Jesus."
A GREAT CHANGE- IN A SHORT TIME.
Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy
friends, and tell them how great things the'Lord hath done for thee, and hath
had compassion on thee. Mark 5 : 19.
IN the fall of 1825, a prayer-meeting was established at
Fern's Bridge, Ga., that was usually conducted by a
young convert, who was engaged as a teacher some miles
off; but Satan, who is ever ready to resist, stirred up the
heart of a noted infidel, who publicly declared that " he meant
to defeat the schoolmaster, and in order to do it he would
attend the next meeting himself, and prove to the people that
their praying people were all fools and liars." The day ar-
rived, and the teacher having heard of his purpose was much
cast down, as the traveling preacher on the circuit, and on
whom he depended for aid, was sick, and could not be there
to assist him. He was about to start, not knowing how he
18
138 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
should faro, when God, in his providence, sent to his rescue
the Rev. James Osgood Andrew; and never, perhaps, were
the services of that man of God more truly acceptable than
upon that occasion.
Brother Andrew heard the circumstance, and though not
within the bounds of his own circuit, with the utmost cheer-
fulness offered to go and lead the meeting, saying, as he did
so, " that he could now see why God refused to let him pass
by Providence circuit, for when he started, he designed to
have gone another way."
The place was reached, and true to his threat, the infidel
was there, seated, too, at the end of the only aisle in the room
where he could command a full view of the speaker and the
audience ; the room was full, and at the proper moment brother
A. took his place at the table and gave out the hymn, on page
401, " Shall I for fear of feeble man," <fec. ; and while singing,
moved his chair toward the place where the infidel was
seated, by whom he finally took his stand. At the close of
the hymn he said, " Let us all pray, and I trust no man will
stand in the house." The skeptic knelt with the rest, but was
surprised and confounded when he felt himself struck kindly on
the back, accompanied with a request, " Brother, pray with
us." The poor man knew not what to do, but concluded he
had better make a trial, and accordingly began, " Lord, them
knowest I never did pray ; them knowest I cannot pray."
"That's right, brother, tell him the truth, and he will help
you/' rejoined brother A. Another stammering petition, and
another response, was followed by a silence of a few moments,
during which the suppliant found the barriers of infidelity
giving way, and the heart softening in a most uncommon man-
ner ; and the next burst was a hearty cry for mercy : " Lord !
Lord ! have mercy ; " and now the sonorous voice of the
preacher was heard above the sobs and cries (for the room
was now filled with them), most fervently imploring mercy
for the poor deluded infidel. This intercession with God in
his behalf continued without ceasing, and in less than half an
hour the cry for mercy was turned into songs of rejoicing;
the man who had gone to scoff, had received a " new mind,"
and the pious worshipers returned, glorifying God for the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 139
great things he had done for them. It is gratifying to add
that the change proved as permanent as it was sudden and
decisive ; he has since proved as great a Boanerges for the
Lord, as he then was for the devil.
PEACE PROCLAIMED -AN ILLUSTRATION.
And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus
had done for him : and all men did marvel. Mark 5 : 20.
IN a sermon of Dr. Wayland, entitled " The Apostolic Minis-
try," he illustrates the duty of every man to take part in
preaching the gospel, spreading the glad tidings, evangeliz-
ing the world.
" At the close of the last war with Great Britain, I was in
the city of New York. The prospects of the nation were
shrouded in gloom. We had been for two or three years at
war with the mightiest nation on earth ; and as she had now
concluded a peace with the continent of Europe, we were
obliged to cope with her single-handed. Our harbors were
blockaded. Communication coastwise between our ports was
cut off. Our ships were rotting in every creek and cove
where they could find a place of security. Oar immense
annual products were molding in our warehouses. The
sources of profitable labor were dried up. Our currency was
reduced to irredeemable paper. The extreme portions of our
country were becoming hostile to each other, and differences
of political opinions were imbittering the peace of every
household. The credit of the government was exhausted.
No one could predict when the contest would terminate, or
discover the means by which it could be much longer pro-
tracted.
" It happened that, on a Saturday afternoon in February, a
ship was discovered in the offing, which was supposed to be n
cartel, bringing home our commissioners at Ghent, from their
unsuccessful mission. The sun had set gloomily before any
intelligence from the vessel had reached the city. Expecta-
tion became painfully intense as the hours of darkness drew
140 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
on. At length the boat reached the wharf, announcing that a
treaty of peace had been signed, and was waiting for nothing
but the action of our government to become a law. The men
on whose ears these words first fell, rushed in breathless haste
into the city to repeat them to their friends, shouting, as they
ran through the streets, ' Peace ! Peace ! ' Every one who
heard the sound repeated it. From house to house, from
street to street, the news spread with electric rapidity. *The
whole city was in commotion. Men bearing lighted torches
were flying to and fro, shouting like madmen, l Peace ! Peace !
Peace ! ' When the rapture had partially subsided, one idea
occupied every mind. But few men slept that night. In
groups they were gathered in the streets and by the fireside,
beguiling 'the hours of midnight by reminding each other that
the agonies of war were over, and that a worn-out and dis-
tracted country was about to enter again upon its wonted
career of prosperity. Thus, every one becoming a herald, the
news soon reached every man, woman, and child in the city,
and in this sense the city was evangelized. All this, you see,
was reasonable and proper. But when Jehovah has offered
to our world a treaty of peace ; when men doomed to hell
may be raised to seats at the right hand of God, why is not
a similar zeal displayed in proclaiming the good news ? Why
are men perishing all round us, and no one has ever personally
cfffered them salvation through a crucified Redeemer ? "
ONLY BELIEVE.
As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler
of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. Mark 5 : 36.
SAYS a pious servant of Christ, " Several years ago, when I
was going home one day from church, I encountered an
old gentleman who looked very unhappy. I approached him,
and said,
" l My dear friend, you seem not to be happy.'
" ' O, no/ he replied, ' indeed- 1 am not.'
" ' Why ? ' I continued ; ' are you not sure of your salva-
tion?'
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 141
" ' Xo,' he answered, ' I am not ; and yet I have made it a
subject of prayer for twenty years.'
" ' Prayed for it twenty years/ I said, l and not yet saved !
Then I will tell you a story. Some time ago I saw a re-
spectable man who, bein^lame on one side, used to be carried
about in a little carriage. At the corner of a street lie saw a
beggar, who was suffering in the same way, and was also blind,
and who asked alms of him. The gentleman offered him a
dollar, saying, as he held it out to him, " Here, my poor friend,
is a gold dollar for you." Now the poor man was not only
lame and blind, but deaf also; and thus, while the gift was
held out to him in all its richness and value, he continued to
beg for two pennies, until the gentleman caused his carriage
to be wheeled up close to him, and again he shouted into his
ear, " Here is a dollar for you. 77 And then first he accepted
the gift with great joy. Is it not the same with you, 7 I said,
' dear friend ? God has given his own Son. He offers you
forgiveness of sins in his blood. But you keep praying for
that very thing.' *
" l What ! 7 answered he, ' can I be saved in so simple a
way ? '
" ( Certainly, 7 I replied. < The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. " Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. 7 ' " Whosoever believeth in
him hath everlasting life. 7 ' '
" l 0, now I see it ! ' he exclaimed, full of joy ; ( I am called
to salvation.' And he went on his way rejoicing."
Is there not many a burdened soul which has gone sorrow-
ing and doubting for many years, and whose only need is to
grasp the meaning of Christ's precious words, " Only believe."
THE MARVELOUSNESS OF UNBELIEF.
And lie marveled because of their unbelief. Mark G : 6.
TTNBELIEF is represented as filling Jesus with surprise ;-and
U is it any wonder, especially our unbelief? Consider what
142 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
God hath done to remove doubt. He hath sent his character :
" God is love." He hath made a proclamation: " Behold now
is the accepted time ; behold now is the day of salvation." He
hath given an invitation : " Look unto me, and be ye saved."
He hath employed entreaty : " As Chough God did beseech
you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to
God." He hath issued a command : " This is his command-
ment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus
Christ," He hath sworn an oath, " That by two immutable
things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might
have strong consolation." He hath given his Son as a pledge
to assure us that " whosoever believeth on him shall never
perish, but have eternal life." He hat'h added the testimony
of all his saints. Well, then, may he marvel at our unbelief.
Never let us attempt to excuse it, but let us plead and pray
against it, until we conquer it. Because the Lord has done
so much to secure the confidence Of men, and lead them to
trust in him, that when they refuse and persist in unbelief,
there is no'hope for their recovery. Unbelief is, therefore,
truly called " the damning sin ; " for it is written, " He that
believeth not shall be damned."
PREACH TO THEM AS SINNERS.
And they went out, and preached that men should repent. Mtirk 6 : 12.
AT a dinner-table in Princeton, N. J., several clergymen
were discussing the difficulty of preaching to the college
students. " Pshaw ! " said the late Dr. Phillips, of New York,
" there's no difficulty in the matter if you preach to them as
pinners. They need regeneration, faith, repentance, the atone-
ment, just as other sinners do. Why not treat them as you do
other congregations ? " We are reminded of this incident by
the following : " A minister's wife asked Mr. P. how he felt
when about to preach in St. Paul's church, Methodist, New
York City. He said, when he saw the millionaires and other
persons of note coming in, he felt very small ; but when he
saw a colored woman come 1 in and kneel in one corner of her
pew to pray, he felt he was all right,"
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 143
DANCING THAT LED TO MURDER.
And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and
pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the'king said unto the damsel, Ask
of me whatsoever thou wilt, antf I will give it thee. Mark G : 22.
HEN I hear of a dancing party, I feel an uneasy sensation
about the throat, remembering that a far greater preach-
er had his head danced off in the days of our Lord. However
pleasing the polkas of Herodias' daughter might be to Herod,
they were dear to John the Baptist. The caperings and wan-
tonings of the ball-room are death to the solemn influence of
our ministry, and many an ill-ended life first received its bent
for evil amid the flippancies of gay assemblies met to trip away
the hours. Ever since Herodias danced off the head of the
Lord's prophet, the curse of God seems to be on the dance.
It is death to the moral influence of those who engage in it,
It will bring spiritual and eternal death ; for it inflames the
passions, blunts the conscience, and leads on to greater vices.
Parents cannot be too careful in restraining their children
from this evil.
PRIVATE PRAYER.
And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
Mark 6 : 46.
IT is very helpful to spend a few moments in preparation
before we engage in secret devotion. " You cannot," says
Flavel, " come reeking hot out of the world into God's pres-
ence, but you will find a taste of it in your duties." How ex-
cellent was the plan of the mother of the Wesleys, whose habit
was, when she went alone for prayer, to sit down and think
of God for some minutes before she addressed him. M;>ny a
golden opportunity of fellowship with Christ is lost for want of
this. Let us, when we enter into our closet, and shut the door,
think, " I am now alone with God ; no eye but his looks down
upon me ; no ear but his hearkens to my words. His presence
surrounds me, and I kneel before him to implore his help. Let
144 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
me, with deep seriousness, and lively faith, address myself to
the supreme God.
" I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often, when I
sleep long, or meet with others early, and then have family
prayer, and breakfast, and forenoon-callers, it is eleven or
twelve o'clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched
system. It is unscriptural. Christ rose before day, and went
into a solitary place. David says, ' Early will I seek thee ;
thou shalt early hear my voice.' Mary Magdalene came to
' the sepulcher ' while ' it was yet dark/ Family prayer loses
much of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those
who come to seek it from me. The conscience feels guilty,
the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then, when secret
prayer comes, the soul is often out of tune. I feel it is far
better to begin with God, to see his face first, to get my soul
near him before it is near another. ' When I awake, I am still
with thee.' " Robert M. McCheane.
EMBARRASSING A PRIEST.
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples
according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
Mark 7 : 5.
DR. JESSUP, writing to the Evangelist from Beyrout, Syria,
say's, " I am almost amazed at the extent to which evan-
gelical light pervades the nominally Christian communities here.
The Greek church in Beyrout will go over en masse some day
to Protestantism, if the light continue to spread in the future
as it has in the past ten years. A prominent Greek said, a few
days ago, l You Protestants need not trouble yourselves about
converting Syria. Our children are all going to be Protes-
tants whether you will or not. The Bible is doing the work.'
Another Greek was visited recently by a priest who came to
receive the confession of the family previous to the Mass. The
priest said, ' My son, I have come to hear you confess.' ' All
right, your reverence. I have a big score to confess to-day.'
' Go on, my son.' ' I do not believe in the worship of pictures.'
(This is a cardinal point in the Greek church.) ' No matter
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 145
about that, as long as you are orthodox Greek.' l But I do not
believe in the invocation of the Virgin and the saints.' ' Ah !
you do not? Well, that is a small matter. Go on.' l Nor do I
believe in transubstantiation.' * No matter about that ; it is
a question for the theologians.' ' Nor do I believe in priestly
absolution.' < Very well ; between you and me, there is room
for objection to that, so no matter as long as you confess.'
1 But I do not believe in confession to a priest.' Here the
priest became somewhat confused, but finally smoothed the
matter over, and said, l No matter about that.' The man then
replied, * What business have I, then, in the Greek church?
Good morning, your reverence ; I have done with the tra-
ditions of men.' "
NATURAL GOODNESS.
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness,
an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. Mark 7 : 21, 22.
TOU go home, some evening, and find your clock stopped.
But it so happened that the hands just now are exactly
right. Does that prove that the works inside are in order?
But, having nothing to do, you sit down and slowly move the
hands round with your finger, and so keep them right the whole
evening ; will that put the works in good condition ? How
many such operations would mend a broken main-spring, or
clean the wheels ? Now, a man who is all wrong at the main-
spring, in the heart a man who has none of the love to God,
which is the foundation principle of a sound character may
often do generous acts in his life, outside, on his dial-plate, and
be essentially the same man as before.
To be acceptable to God, we must be right at heart.
Christianity provides for making the bad good, by taking
away heart-sins, and regenerating the soul by the power of
the Holy Ghost, As some external power mighfc move the
hands on the dial till they were occasionally right, but could
not correct the internal defect, so some acts of outward mo-
rality may appear well, even when the heart is wrong.
19
146 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
DOME OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE.
He hath done all things well. Mark 1 : 37.
IN the Baptistery of the cathedral at Pisa is a wonderful
dome. Spacious, symmetrical composed of the choicest
marble. It is a delight to stand beneath, and gaze upon its
beauties. Thus I stood, one sunny April day, when suddenly
the air became instinct with melody. The great dome seemed
full of harmony. The waves of music vibrated to and fro,
loudly beating against the walls, swelling into full chords like
the roll of a grand organ, and then dying away into soft,
long-drawn, far-receding echoes, melting in the distance into
silence. It was only my guide, who, lingering behind me a
moment, had softly murmured a triple chord. But beneath
that magic roof every sound resolved into a symphony. No
discord can reach the summit of that dome and live. Every
noise made in the building, the slamming of seats, the tramping
of feet, all the murmur and bustle of the crowd, are caught up,
softened, harmonized, blended, and echoed back in music. So
it seems to me that over our life hangs the great dome of
God's providence. Standing as we do beneath it, no act in
the divine administration toward us, no affliction, no grief, no
loss which our heavenly Father sends, however hard to bear
it may be, but will come back at last, softened, and blended
into "harmony, within the over-arching dome of his Avisdom,
mercy, and power, till to our corrected sense it shall be the
sweetest music of heaven. Professor J. Dorman Steele.^
JESTJS AND THE BLIND MAN.
And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the toAvn ; and
when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if lie
saw aught. Mark 8 : 23.
CAN we read this narrative without being deeply touched
by the ways of our lowly and loving Lord ? No hand but
his own guided that poor blind man ; and as we contemplate
him gently leading " the blind by a way they knew not,"
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 147
prophecy and promise stand out before us as finding their true
fulfillment here, and the action of our Lord is seen to be sig-
nificant of his wondrous way in all time with his Church as a
whole, with his people as individual. Blind as this poor man
was, surrounded by unbelievers like those in Bethsaida, Jesus
finds us dark by nature and ignorant. Then he puts forth his
guiding, his saying hand, and, leading us apart, away from the
busy crowd of careless and indifferent men, he draws us iii
solitary thought to deal with him alone, till the blessed moment
when he puts his hand forth again, and opens the blind eyes.
It has been well said by Tholuck, " Faith is a new sense."
This is true in the experience of those who have it ; but in
order that they may attain it, Jesus has led them by the hand
" out of the town," and has dealt with them as he deals with
those whom his Father has given him, out of the world.
But there is often a difference between our cases and that
of this man. He was willing, thankful, happy to be led
wherever Jesus pleased : how often are we faithless, reluc-
tant, rebellious ! " The meek will he guide in judgment
the meek will he teach his Avay." Let us pray that he give
us meek hearts, willing to be guided ever by that gracious
hand !
SHE PREFERRED CHRIST TO HOME.
Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross,
and follow me. Mark 8 : 34.
wise choice in the following incident is worthy of
JL commendation :
" A gentleman and his wife were present at a camp-meeting.
Neither had ever made a profession of religion. Under one
of the sermons the lady was deeply and sorely convicted of
sin. She desired to go forward and kneel at the altar as a
poor penitent. Her husband protested against it, and tried to
lead her from the ground. Her conviction was so profound
and intense that she insisted upon presenting herself at the
altar. He used his authority, forbidding her to go. She pleaded
with him, for her soul's sake, not to interfere with her con-
148 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
science. He threatened to desert her if she dared to go.
' Never return to rny house if you go/ said he. Swept as by
an irresistible current of anxiety and longing, she ran to the
altar. Casting herself upon the ground, she pleaded for the
divine mercy. Such earnest longing found a speedy response,
and the i peace of God ? rested upon her spirit. ' 0, where
is my husband ? ' she exclaimed, as she tried to rise from her
knees. ' Here I am,' sobbed the crushed and penitent man,
who had followed her in her flight toward God, and had fallen
by her side, himself crying for mercy. Peace soon came to
his heart, and they went from the meeting rejoicing in God."
A HARD PROBLEM TO SOLVE.
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose
his own soul? Mark 8 : 36.
A YOUNG man who had graduated at one of the first col-
leges, and was celebrated for his literary attainments,
particularly his knowledge of mathematics, settled in a village
where a faithful minister of the gospel was stationed. It was
not long before the clergyman met with him in one of his
evening walks, and, after some conversation, as they were
about to part, addressed him as follows :
" I have heard you are celebrated for your mathematical
skill ; I have a problem which I wish you to solve."
" What is it ? " eagerly inquired the young man.
The clergyman answered with a solemn tone of voice,
" What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world,
and lose his own soul ? "
The youth returned home, and endeavored to shake off the
impression fastened on him by the problem proposed to him,
but in vain. In the giddy round of pleasure, in his studies,
the question still forcibly returned to him, " What if I gain
the whole world, and lose my own soul ? " It resulted in his
conversion, and his becoming an able advocate and preacher
of the gospel he once rejected.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 149
MONEY RECEIVED IN EXCHANGE FOR HIS SOUL.
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Mark 8 : 37.
THE great London preacher, Mr. Spurgeon, tells the follow-
ing story in one of his sermons :
" There is a story told of a most eccentric minister, that
walking out one morning he saw a man going to work, and
said to him, ' What a lovely morning ! How grateful we ought
to be to God for all his mercies!' The man said he did not
know much about it. t Why,' said the minister, ' I suppose
you always pray to God for your wife and family for your
children don't you?' 'No/ said he, 'I do not know that I
do.' i What,' said the minister, ' do you never pray ? ' ' No.'
'Then I will give you. half a crown, if you will promise me
you never will, as long as ever you live.' ' 0,' said he, ' I shall
be very glad of half a crown to get me a drop of beer.'
" He took the half crown, and promised never to pray as
long as he lived. He went to his work, and when he had
been digging for a little while, he thought to himself, l That's
a queer thing I've taken money, and promised never to
pray as long as I live.' He thought it over, and it made him
feel wretched. He went home to his wife, and told her of it.
' Well, John/ said she, l you may depend upon it, it was the
devil; you've sold yourself to the devil for half a crown.'
This so bowed the poor wretch down that he did not know
what to do with himself. This was all his thought that he
had sold himself to the devil for money, and would soon be
carried off to hell.
" He commenced attending places of worship, conscious that
it was of no use, for he had sold himself to the devil ; but he
was really ill, bodily ill, through the fear and trembling which
had come upon him. One night he recognized in the preacher
the very man who had given him the half crown ; and probably
the preacher recognized him, for the text was, ' What shall it
profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own
soul?' The preacher remarked that he knew a man who had
sold his soul for half a crown. The poor man rushed forward,
and said, 'Take it back! Take it back!' 'You said you
150 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
never would pray/ said the minister, l if I gave you half a
crown ; do you want to pray ? ' ' 0, yes ; I would give the
world to be allowed to pray.' That man was a great fool to
sell his soul for half a crown ; but some of you are a great deal
bigger fools, for you never had the half crown, and yet you do
not pray, and I dare say never will ; but will go down to hell,
never having sought God."
TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST.
And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses : and they were talking
with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us
to be here : and let us make three tabernacles ; one for thee, and one for
Moses, and one for Elias. Mark 9 : 4, 5.
CONCERNING the wonderful event known as the Trans-
\J figuration of Christ, Dr. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary
on Matt. 17 : 7, 9, says, " It is very likely that this transfigura-
tion took place in the night, which was a more proper season
to show forth its glory than the daytime, in which a part of
the splendor must necessarily be lost by the presence of the
solar light. That this transfiguration was intended to show
forth the final abolition of the whole ceremonial law ; which
necessarily could not fail to irritate the Jewish rulers and peo-
ple, and should therefore be kept secret till Jesus had accom-
plished vision and prophecy by his death and resurrection.
" The whole of this emblematic transaction appears to me
to be intended to prove the reality of the world of spirits, and
the immortality of the soul ; the resurrection of the body, and
the doctrine of future rewards and punishments ; the abolition
of the Mosaic institutions, and the fulfillment of the predictions
of the prophets relative to the person, nature, sufferings, death,
and resurrection of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
The establishment of the mild, light-bringing, and life-giving
gospel of the Son of God. That as the old Jewish covenant
and mediatorship had ended, Jesus was now to be considered
as the sole teacher, the only availing offering for sin, and the
grand mediator between God and man."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 151
CUPS OF COLD WATER.
For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because
ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
Mark 9 : 41.
THERE is a pleasant story told of a man living on the bor-
ders of an African desert, who carried daily a pitcher of
cold water to the dusty thoroughfare, and left it for any thirsty
traveler who might pass that way. And our Saviour said,
" Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones
a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say
unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." But cups of
cold water are not given in African deserts alone. A spiritual
Sahara spreads over the whole earth, and to its fainting trav-
elers many a ready hand holds forth the grateful " cup." .
A lady, whose home looks out upon our beautiful Common,
called to ask me if I would tell her of some poor and sick per-
sons to whom she could be of service in furnishing good books.
The names of two were given ; and the Testament, in large
type, which shortly found its way to the old man's abode, also
the green tea and white sugar rare luxuries for the feeble
woman in the cellar kitchen, and the dollar bill, slipped into
her hand at parting, were they not " cups of cold water ? "
TAR FROM GOD -A PUNISHMENT.
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Mark 9 : 46.
LET the fairest star be selected, like a beauteous island in
the vast and shoreless sea of the azure heavens, as the
future home of .the criminals from the earth, and let them pos-
sess whatever they most love, and all that it is possible, for
God to, bestow; let them be endowed with undying bodies,
and with minds which shall for ever retain their intellectual
powers ; let no Saviour ever press his claims upon them, no
God reveal himself to them, no Sabbath ever dawn upon them,
no saint ever live among them, no prayer ever be heard within
152 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
their borders ; but let society exist there for ever, smitten only
by the leprosy of hatred to God, and with utter selfishness as
its all-prevailing and eternal purpose ; then, as sure as the law
of righteousness exists, on which rests the throne of God, and
the government of tlie universe, a society so constituted must
work out for itself a hell of solitary and bitter suffering, to
which there is no limit, except the capacity of a finite nature !
Alas ! the spirit that is without love to its God or its neigh-
bor, is already possessed by a power which must at last
create for its own self-torrnent a worm that will never die,
and a fire that can ne.ver more be quenched. Dr. Norman
Madeod.
COVENANT OF SALT.
Salt is good : but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season
it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. Mark 9 : 50.
IN order to give a pledge of the inviolability of their engage-
ments, the Orientals have, from time immemorial, been in
the habit of eating salt together. Some think that, as with
all sacrifices salt was offered, a covenant of salt means one
confirmed by solemn sacrifice. Others are of opinion that
it contains an allusion to the fact that covenants were gener-
ally confirmed by the parties eating together, salt being a
necessary appendage. This act of eating another's salt has
always been regarded as a token of fidelity and friendship ;
hence, during the British war in India, there were bitter
complaints that those who had eaten English salt had rebelled
against English authority. Tamerlane, speaking of a traitor
who had gone over to the enemy, but who afterwards returned
to loyalty and obedience, says, " My salt which he had eaten
filled him with remorse, till at length he fled from his new
master, and threw himself on my mercy." -
If Herbetat mentions the following incident of Jacoub-ben-
Laith, the founder of a dynasty of Persian princes, who is said
to have broken into the palace of that country, and having
collected a very large booty, which he was on the point of
carrying off, he found las foot kicked something which made
LITTLE CHILBREH TO COME KIOTO) ME
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 153
him stumble. He imagined it might be something of value,
and putting it to his mouth the better to distinguish what it
was, soon found it was a lump of salt. Upon this he was so
touched that he left all his booty, and retired without taking
any part of it with him. Great was the surprise in the palace,
and strict the inquiry made on the following morning, when it
was found that Jacoub was the guilty man. On examination,
he stated the whole of the circumstances to the prince, with
such apparent sincerity, as to gain his favor. Having been
engaged in many successful enterprises, he was raised by the
prince to the highest position in the army, and on the death
of his sovereign, became the absolute master of the province,
from whence he afterward spread his conquests far and wide.
His regard to salt, and the principles it symbolized, laid the
foundation of his greatness.
CHILDHOOD RECOGNIZED IN CHRISTIANITY. '
And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them; and
his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was
much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto
me, and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom of God. Mark 10 : 13, 14.
OF all the great religious systems, such as Pagan, Moham-
medan, and Christian, Christianity alone officially recog-
nizes childhood. By this recognition, it shows it is designed
for humanity, without regard to age or sex. Little children
are made partakers of its benefits, and sharers in the privileges
of its covenant blessings. It not only allows little children
attendance upon the public worship of God, but before they
can express a faith, or perform obedience, they are allowed
to enter covenant relations, and receive the seal of that cove-
nant in baptism. Jesus said, " Suffer the little children to
come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the king-
dom of God." The " come unto me," means as much wln-n
predicated of children as of adults, though the " coming " may
require the parents' arms in bringing them. It is worthy of
remark that our Lord was never " much displeased," except
when his mistaken disciples rebuked those parents who brought
young children to him, that he might touch them.
20
154 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
He was betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter, mocked by
Roman soldiers, spit upon, and beaten by his enemies, and
delivered over by his countrymen to be crucified ; but in all
this he was not " much displeased." But when his disciples,
without authority, rebuked those parents as they brought their
infant children to Jesus, then was he " much displeased." If
allowed to pass unnoticed and unrebuked by our Lord, that
unchristian act of the disciples might be taken as an indication
that children under the gospel dispensation are disallowed
covenant blessings. But with the sharp rebuke of our Lord
to those disciples, and his words which follow, no Christian
parent should hesitate to secure to his infant child Christi-
anity's official recognition. That little children are officially
recognized in the gospel is shown
First. By the unrepealed constitution of the Jewish church,
which allowed to infant children the relation of members with
their parents, and the same seal of the covenant as their par-
ents. That the Jewish church, founded in Abraham upon the
basis of faith, is continued in its fundamental principle under
the gospel dispensation, is shown by the apostle, who says,
" Know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same
are children of Abraham." (Gal. 3 : 7.) And St. Paul calls him
" the father of all them that believe." (Rom. 4:11.)
Second. By the declaration of Jesus : " Suffer the little chil-
dren to come unto me, and forbid them riot."
T/iird. By the renewal on the day of Pentecost, of the
promise made by Joel the prophet : " For the promise is unto
you and to your children." (Acts 2 : 39.)
Fourth. The baptism of households by the apostles. (Acts
16:15; 1 Cor. 1 : 16.) JF. /.
HEAVEN ENTERED WITH DIFFICULTY.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of God. Mark 10 : 25.
ALL the important cities of the East, in ancient times, were
surrounded by high and massive walls ; and so they are,
as the modern traveler informs us, at the present day. At
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 155
certain points these walls are perforated by large pass-ways
for the exit and entrance of the inhabitants. These passage-
ways in times of peace were open by day, but at night they
were closed by massive gates, capable of resisting any com-
mon assault. Now, by these large entrances were very much
smaller ones, used by foot passengers, and by those who had
occasion to go forth or enter the city by night. They were
called " the needle's eye/ 7 as Lord Nugent, an English traveler
of modern times, when at Hebron, was directed to go out by
the " needle's eye," that is, by the small side gate of the city.
The camel can go through the needle's eye, but with difficulty,
and hardly with a full load, nor without stooping.
I think this expresses the just idea of the passage, " It is
easier for a camel to go through the needle's eye, than for a
rich man to enter the gate of heaven." It is not impossible
for a rich man to enter heaven, for we may believe there are
many already in the paradise of God who consecrated their
wealth to the service of their Redeemer, and trusted in him
always for salvation. But just as the camel must be relieved
of part of his load before he can pass through the " needle's
eye," so the rich man must divest himself of large portions of
his wealth in the walks of benevolence in order to enter the
gates of glory. Our Saviour seems to have reference to the
same idea when he says, " Strait is the gate." And as the
camel was compelled to stoop in order to enter by the low and
narrow gate of the city, so must the rich man learn humility
if he would " see the Lord in the fullness of joy."
LEAVING ALL FOR CHRIST.
Then Peter began to say unto Mm, Lo, we have left all, and have followed
thee. Mark 10 : 28.
ITHE late Rev. W. E. Miller, before he devoted himself to the
-L Wesleyan ministry, was an eminent musician in Sheffield.
He possessed a violin which, it is said, he estimated at the
value of three hundred guineas ; the probability is, that, with
his well-known disregard of money, it was invaluable. The
156 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
tradition in current vogue used to be, that, when young Miller
was in India, he heard that, in the court of Tippoo Saib, an
exquisite instrument was in use by one of the sultan's band ;
and, having pushed his way to Seringapatam, he so enchanted
the sovereign by his performances as to obtain possession of
the prize. Whatever may have been the means by which he
came to be possessed of it, he acquired it in India. That
which is the means of acquiring happiness or glory, though
in itself unimportant, becomes interesting to its possessor, and
often the fond object of superstitious affection. The horse
which carried Alexander through his wars was next to deified
by the hero. Mr. Miller's violin had more than carried him
to the height of his fame and popularity : it had been the com-
panion of his wanderings in a foreign land ; it had soothed his
hours of weariness on board ship ; and it had given life to, and
made vocal, the deep, tender, enthusiastic, and melancholy
emotions of his inmost soul. When, however, Mr. Miller was
brought to feel the necessity of a perfect decision in religion,
he found that this instrument stood in his way ; it was the idol
of his heart ; he was perfectly wedded to it ; and he felt it to
be a great snare. " With almost unexampled firmness and
resolution," adds his biographer, " he laid it aside, though
at the time he was esteemed the second, if not the first, per-
former in England, with the purpose never to touch it more;
and he kept his resolution to the day of his death."
THE LAST TIME.
And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and
say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Mark 10 : 47.
A CLERGYMAN of this city, while making some remarks on
J\_ the case of blind Bartimeus, as recorded in Mark 10 : 46-
51, observed that our Saviour on that occasion was passing
through Jericho for the last time ; and that it was the last oppor-
tunity which the poor man could ever have enjoyed for obtain-
ing that mercy which he sought. In applying this to the case
of impenitent sinners, he observed that there is to each one a
last time in which the offers of salvation are made. To impress
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 157
this truth more deeply, he mentioned a case which came under
his own observation : He was called to visit a very aged man
on his death-bed, so deaf that it was with great difficulty he
could understand what was said to him. A young woman was
present, to whom the clergyman observed that it was dan-
gerous putting off preparation for death till a dying hour
that the present was the best time to attend to so important a
concern and that it might be the last time in which the offers
of salvation would be made to her. She was soon after taken
with a violent fever, which deprived her of her reason. The
clergyman was sent for. but it was too late she had heard the
gospel for the last time, and neglected it, and death closed the
scene.
WHY AM I NOT A CHRISTIAN?
And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call
the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise ; he calleth thee.
Mark 10 : 49.
1. TS it because I am afraid of ridicule ?
_L " Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words,
of him shall the Son of man be ashamed."
2. Is it because of the inconsistencies of professing Chris-
tians ?
"Every man shall give an account of himself to God."
3. Am I not willing to give up all for Christ ?
" What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world,
and lose his own soul ? "
4. Am I afraid that I shall not be accepted ?
" Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out."
5. Is it for fear I am too great a sinner ?
" The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin."
6. Is it because I fear I shall not " hold out " ?
" He that hath begun a good work in you, will perform it
unto the day of Christ Jesus."
7. Am I thinking that I will do as well as I can, and that
God ought to be satisfied with that ?
" Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one
point, is he guilty of all."
158 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
8. Is it because I am postponing the matter, without any
definite reason ?
" Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thoti knowest not what
a day may bring forth."
Reader ! think of these several questions, divinely an-
swered.
NOTHING. BUT LEAVES.
And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might
find any thing thereon : and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves ;
for the time of figs was not yet. Mark 11 : 13.
]^TOTHING but leaves ! The Spirit grieves
\ Over a wasted life :
O'er sins committed while conscience slept ;
Promises made but never kept ;
Folly, and shame, and strife ;
Nothing but leaves.
Nothing but leaves ! No gathered sheaves
Of life's fair ripening grain ;
We sow our seeds, lo ! tares and weeds,
Words, idle words, for earnest deeds ;
We reap with toil and pain,
Nothing but leaves.
Nothing but leaves ! Sad memory weaves
No vail to hide the past ;
And as we trace our weary way,
Counting each lost and misspent day,
Sadly we find at last
Nothing but leaves.
Ah ! who shall thus the Master meet,
Bearing but withered leaves ?
Ah ! who shall at the Saviour's feet,
Before the awful judgment-seat,
Lay down for golden sheaves
Nothing but leaves ?
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 159
"HAVE FAITH IN GOD."
And Peter calling to remembrance, saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig
tree which thou cursedst is withered away. And Jesus answering, saith unto
them, Have faith in God. Mark 11:21, 22.
IT appears from the chapter in which these words are found,
that Christ had said of the fruitless fig tree, " No man shall
eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever." " And his disciples heard
it." Subsequently, " as they passed by, they saw the fig tree
dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance,
saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst
is withered away." The Saviour replied, " Have faith in God."
This, says Dr. Clark, is a mere Hebraism ; have the faith of
God ; i. e., have strong faith, or the strongest faith.
The importance of having " the faith of God " cannot be too
deeply felt by every Christian who would act understand-
ingly and efficiently in the work assigned him. The apostle
is clear and emphatic on this point, in the llth chapter of
Hebrews : " But without faith, it is impossible to please him ;
for he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he
is a re warder of them that diligently seek him."
While we consider the importance of faith, the inquiry nat-
urally arises in the mind, "What is faith?" And this is an
inquiry of momentous importance to every one who believes the
doctrine of the moral agency of man, and that man's salvation
depends upon his having faith in " God manifested in the
flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."
Fortunately for us, a question of so much importance is not
left without an answer an answer so plain that " the way-
faring men, though fools," need " not err therein." " Now
f-iithis the substance (margin, ground, or confidence) of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is the
subsistence of things hoped for ; the demonstration of things not
seen. (Clarke.) This question, and the answer, should receive
our most serious, candid, and prayerful consideration. No
man ever became great in any sense, without laboring for it
with all his strength ; and especially is it true, that no one
160 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ever became a distinguished Christian, without taking great
pains. If we would obtain the crown, we must " run with pa-
tience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith."
FAITH THAT REMOVES MOUNTAINS.
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain,
Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea ; and shall not doubt in his
heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass ; he
shall have whatsoever he saith. Mark 11 : 23.
IN one of the Swiss valleys there is a tremendous mountain
of rock, which completely blocks up one end. Two travel-
ers, journeying up this valley, caught sight of this mighty
barrier, and one of them said, " Let us turn back ; there is no
way in this direction j it is quite impossible to climb that per-
pendicular rock." " Come on," said the other, " I am sure we
shall get over." So on they went, and at length discovered a
wonderful groove, cut in zigzags, on the face of this rock, by
means of which they gradually ascended, and passed out of
the valley. Now, you see the belief which the one traveler
had, prevented that mountain appearing to his mind such an
insurmountable thing as it seemed to the other. Jesus urges
us to have a faith which will remove mountains ; that is, such
a belief as will prevent our thinking any spiritual difficulty
insurmountable, or anything too hard for the Lord.
The faith which saves is not a faith in Christianity, but a
faith in Christ. The question is, " How can we get from this
valley of sin and death into the region of holiness and life?"
Our guilt seems to be like an impassable barrier that per-
pendicular rock; but as soon as we believe in Christ, the diffi-
culty at once vanishes, for we see that Christ is the way. We
believe in him, and then feel sure he will guide us home.
Whenever you ride calmly through a railway tunnel, it is
because you have faith, .or confidence, in the engine driver :
and all who have a holy calmness in the darkest part of the
valley of death, get it by trusting entirely in the grace, merit,
and mercy of the Lord Jesus. Thus they " go in peace ;
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 161
their faith saves them " from all vain fears. As a little child
can take its spoonful of rnilk, and be sustained by it as surely
as the man is sustained by his strong meat, so the little child
with its hand of faith can take as firm a- hold of Christ, and
get life and salvation as surely as an aged Christian.
CRAMER'S FORG1VINGNESS.
But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven for-
give your trespasses. Mark 11 : 26.
AMONG the early enemies of this great and good man were
Dr. Thornton, suffragan of Dover, and Dr. Barber, a
civilian, who, though entertained in his family, intrusted with
his secrets, and indebted to him for many favors, entered into
a conspiracy against him. Their letters were discovered :
Cranmer took them both into his study, telling them that he
had been basely and falsely abused by some, in whom he had
always reposed the greatest confidence, and desiring them to
give him their advice as to the conduct to be pursued toward
them. " Harry ! " said Barber, " such villains and knaves
deserve to be presently hanged, without further trial."
" Hanging is too good for them," said Thornton ; " and if there
wan't an executioner, I would be hangman myself! " " Lord,
and most merciful God ! " exclaimed Cranmer, solemnly looking
up to heaven, " whom may a man trust in these days ? How
truly is it said, i Cursed be he that trusteth in man and maketh
flesh his arm.' 7: Then, taking out the letters from his pocket,
he asked, " Know you these letters, my masters ? " They fell
on their knees, and humbly sued for forgiveness. " Well,"
replied the archbishop, with mingled tenderness and dignity,
" God make you both good men ; I never deserved this at
your hands ; but ask forgiveness of God, against whom you
have highly offended."
21
162 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
"AND THE BOOK WAS NOT THERE."
This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Mark 12 : 11.
IN the year 1832, the Flat Heads and Nez Perces tribes of
American Indians had determined, in solemn council, to
send four of their number to " the Rising Sun," for that " Book
from Heaven." They had learned, in some way, of the Bible
and the Saviour, from the Iroquois. Four Indians, one of them
a chief, made their way to St. Louis. The perils of this great
journey of over one thousand miles were so many, that but
one of them lived to return. They fell into the hands of Gen-
eral Clark, who, with Lewis, had traveled extensively in the
regions of the Columbia River, in the north-western territory.
He was a Romanist, and took them to his church, and, to en-
tertain them, to the theatre. How utterly he failed to meet
their wants is revealed in the sad words with which they
departed : " I came to you," and the survivor repeated the
words to Rev. Mr. Spaulding, years afterwards, "I came to
you with one eye partly opened; I go back with both eyes closed
and both arms broken. My people sent me to obtain that
Book from Heaven. You took me where your women dance
as we do not allow ours to dance, and the Book was not there.
You took me where I saw men worship God with candles, and
the Book was not there. I am now to return without it, and my
people will die in darkness." And so they took their leave.
But this sad lament was overheard. A young man wrote to
liis friends in Pittsburg. They showed the account to Catlin,
of Indian portrait fame, who, ascertaining the facts, said, " Give
tlftj Bible to the world." The Rev. Mr. Lee was soon sent out
in search of these tribes, who, with certain others, established
a Christian mission among them. They got the Book, and
with it light from heaven. With the Book came the knowledge
of Christ, then peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. There is no
substitute for the Book of God the Holy Bible. All grades
of society, and classes of men, alike need it. That is a false
religion that keeps " the Book " from the people.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 163
PREACH FOR THE MASSES.
And the common people heard him gladly. Mark 12 : 37.
IF the minister will lose sight of self, he will more effectually
exhibit Christ. Our fine preachers embody too many
ideas in their discourses, and mystify them with too many
learned words. They attempt to meet the supposed demands
of the cultured few in their congregations, instead of the simple-
minded many. Consequently the few praise the preacher,
while the many go away unfed. Nine tenths of the hearers
of some preachers can give no intelligible synopsis of their
sermons, and for the reason that they are over-crowded with
thoughts expressed ^in language beyond the comprehension of
the people. I often wonder, while listening to such dis-
courses, what models do such preachers follow. Certainly not
Christ and his apostles. Their discourses were simple talks,
with few but clearly-defined ideas, expressed in the plainest
language of the people, and accompanied with convincing
power. Such, too, was the style of the early Methodist preach-
ers ; such must our fine preachers condescend to adopt if
they would have the " common people hear them gladly."
a a North.
JEHOIADA'S IDEA OF GIVING.
And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast
money into the treasury : and many that were rich cast in much. Mark 12:41.
IN collecting money for the repairs of the temple, which
Athaliah and her sons had dilapidated, the good priest did
a thing worth noticing. He had a chest placed right alongside
the brazen altar in front of the temple, and in the lid of the
chest was a hole bored, and into the hole the priests, selected
for the purpose, dropped the coins which the people brought,
either as their half-shekel tax, or as the offerings for vows, or
as the free-will offering to the temple of Jehovah. When I
read this story, and then read from Paul's First Epistle to the
Corinthians, "Upon the first day of the week (the Lord's day,
164 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
mind you !) let every one of you lay by him in store, as God
hath prospered him," I cannot help thinking that giving is a
part of worship. Close alongside the great altar where the
type of the Lamb of God was offered up was the money-chest.
How exalted giving to the Lord's cause is in this light ! And
Paul calls it Sunday work, puts it with prayer, and praise, and
Bible instruction, and all that is improving to the soul. I take
it that if all Christians in our land would entertain the notion of
Jehoiada and Paul about giving to the Lord (and it is not their
notion but the Holy Ghost's), our spiritual temple would not
be so dilapidated thousands would flow forth from willing
hearts, where now hundreds are squeezed out. Take the idea,
my brother with the long purse, yes, and my brother with the
short purse, too. Make your giving a part of your worship,
and then thank Jehoiada and Paul, but above all the Lord, for
making your Christian life the happier. Rev. Dr. Crosby.
THE WIDOW'S MITE.
And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which
make a farthing. Mark 12 : 42.
IT is quite time that the value of the widow's mite should
be determined. Her example is frequently quoted, and
even the penurious use it as a sort of shield. A gentleman
called upon a wealthy friend for a contribution. " Yes, I must
give my mite," said the rich man. " You mean the widow's
mite, I suppose ? " replied the other. " To be sure I do." The
gentleman continued, " I will be satisfied with half as much as
she gave. How much are you worth ? " " Seventy thousand
dollars," he answered. " Give me, then, a check for thirty-
five thousand, that will be just half as much as the widow
gave ; for she gave all she had." It was a new idea to the
wealthy merchant.
The late missionary, Rev. Daniel Temple, once said at a
meeting of the missionary board, " The poor widow's gift is
not to be estimated so much by what she gave, as by what she
Lad left."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 165
OVER-SCRUPULOUSNESS.
But take heed to yourselves. Mark 13 : 9.
THE Rev. Dr. McLeod (father of the late Norman McLeod)
was proceeding from the manse of D to church, to
open a new place of worship. As he passed slowly and
gravely through the crowd gathered about the doors, an
elderly man, with the peculiar kind of wig known in that dis-
trict bright, smooth, and of a redidsh brown, accosted him.
il Doctor, if you please, I wish to speak to you."
" Well, Duncan," says the venerable doctor, " can ye not
wait till after worship ? "
" No, doctor ; I must speak to you now, for it is a matter
upon my conscience."
" 0, since it is a matter of conscience, tell me what it -is ;
but be brief, Duncan, for time presses."
" The matter is this, doctor. Ye see the clock yonder on
the face of the new church. Well, there is no clock really
there nothing but the face of the clock. There is no truth
in it but only once in the twelve hours. Now, it is, in my
mind, very wrong, and quite against my conscience, that there
should be a lie on the. face of the house of the Lord."
" Duncan, I will consider the point. But I am glad to see
you looking so well ; you are not young now ; I remember
you for many years ; and what a fine head of hair you have
still ! "
" Eh, doctor, you are joking now ; it is long since I have
had my hair."
" 0, Duncan, Duncan ! are ye going into the house of the
Lord with a lie upon your head ? "
This settled the question, and the doctor heard no more of
the lie on the face of the clock.
166 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
DANIEL CONFIRMED BY HISTORIC DISCOVERIES.
But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel
the prophet, standing where it ought not (let him that readeth understand),
then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains. Mark 13 : 14.
E read in Daniel 5 : 30, that when Darius took Babylon,
Belshazzar, the king of it, was in the city, and in " that
night was Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, slain." Herodo-
tus, the Greek historian, informs us that the king of Babylon,
whose name was Labynetus, was absent when the city was
taken ; that he sought shelter in Barsippa ; that Cyrus attacked
him there, took him, stripped him of his regal dignity, but
allowed him to retire, and to spend the rest of his life in ease
in Caramansa. The two statements appear to be contradic-
tory, and that the credit of historic veracity must be denied
either to Daniel or to Herodotus. Thus stood the matter,
when Sir Henry Rawlinson, the celebrated Oriental scholar,
discovered in his Eastern researches one of those cylinders on
which historic records used to be written in the cuneiform
characters by the ancients. Having deciphered the writing
on this relic of antiquity, it was discovered that at the capture
of Babylon, referred to by Daniel and Herodotus, there were
two kings presiding over the empire, a father and his son ;
and thus we can see that Herodotus speaks of the father, who
escaped, while Daniel speaks of the son, who was slain. This
unsuspected fact not only reconciles the prophet and the his-
torian, but explains an otherwise inexplicable expression, in
Daniel, where it was promised to the prophet by Belshazzar,
that if he could explain the writing on the wall, he would make
him the third ruler in the kingdom. (Daniel 5 : 17.) Now,
why not the second ruler, as Joseph in similar circumstances
had been made in Egypt ? The cylinder answers the ques-
tion : there were two kings in Babylon, and therefore the
place next to the throne could be only the third ruler in the
kingdom.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 167
HOW THIS WORLD MAY END.
Heaven and earth shall pass away : but my words shall not pass away.
Mark 13 : 31.
THE disappearance of stars from the planetary world is
suited to awaken deep and solemn reflections in the human
mind. They indicate that the period is coming when this
earth also will disappear, and the heavens be rolled together
as a scroll, and the grand catastrophe at the end of the world
will come to pass.
During the last two or three centuries, upwards of thirteen
fixed stars have disappeared. One of them, situated in the
northern hemisphere, presented a peculiar brilliancy, and was
so bright as to be seen by the naked eye at midday. It
seemed to be on fire, appearing at first of dazzling white, then
of a reddish yellow, and lastly of an ashy pale color. La Place
supposed that it was burned up, as it has never been seen
since. The conflagration was visible about sixteen months.
How dreadful ! a whole system on fire, the great central lumi-
nary and its planets, with their mountains, forests, villages,
cities, and inhabitants, all in flames, consumed ! And here we
have a presumptive proof of the truth, and a solemn illustra-
tion of a singular passage in the Bible, " The heavens will
pass away with a great noise, the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the world also, and the works therein, shall be
burned up."
INTENTION IS REWARDED.
She hath done what she could : she is come aforehand to anoint my body
to the burying. Mark 14 : 8.
"VTO higher praise could be bestowed upon a servant of
\\ Christ than this. All that our Saviour and Master does
is not to exact of us this or that visible or positive result, and
then for this, and this alone, reward us ; he simply requires
that, in whatsoever position, and under whatsoever circum-
stances, we do what we can to advance his cause. He will
not ask what has he done, but what has he desired to do, and
1G8 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
tried his very best to do ; not how many sheaves has he gath-
ered, and does he bring from the great harvest-field, but how
many has he sought to bring. I bless God for this comforting
thought. I see little that we have done to encourage us to
continue to labor and toil, to preach and pray ; little that is
calculated to sweeten the retrospections of my dying pillow ;
but, blessed thought ! Jesus will consider only what I have
desired and sought to do.
JUDAS, THE COVETOUS DISCIPLE.
And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to be-
tray him unto them. And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised
to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.
Mark 14 : 10, 11.
sin of covetousness has an awful record ; for many
JL crimes have sprung from it, as its prolific root.
Achan's covetous humor made him steal that wedge of gold
which served to cleave his soul from God ; it made Judas be-
tray Christ ; " what will ye give me and I will deliver him unto
you." It made Absalom attempt to pluck the crown from his
father's head. He that is a Demas, will soon prove a Judas.
(2 Tim. 3 : 2), " Men shall be covetous ; " and it follows in the
next verse, " traitors." When covetousness is in the premises,
treason will be in the conclusion. Why did Ahab stone Na-
both to death, but to possess the vineyard ?
The covetous person bows down to the image of gold. His
money is his god, for he puts his trust in it. Money is his
creator ; when he hath abundance of wealth, then he thinks he
is made : it is his redeemer ; if he be in any strait or trouble,
he flies to his money, and that must redeem him : it is his
comforter; when he is sad, he tells over his money, and with
this golden harp he drives away the evil spirit. When you
see a covetous man, you may say, there goes an idolater.
In the parable, the thorn choked the seed. This is the
reason the word preached doth no more good ; the seed often
falls among thorns ; thousands of sermons lie buried in earthly
hearts. A covetous man hath a withered hand, he cannot
reach it out to clothe or feed such as are in want.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 169
TRANSTJBSTANTIATION.
And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave
to them, and said, Take, eat ; this is my body. Mark 14 : 22.
WHEN Wolsey and Erasmus disputed on this point (an
essential change in the elements), Wolsey said to Eras-
mus at parting, " Well, only believe that it is so, and it will
be so." Erasmus, on leaving England, borrowed Wolsey's
palfrey to take him to the ship ; but, instead of returning it,
carried the animal off with him to the continent, and sent
Wolsey this answer on paper :
" If wine and bread, mere human food,
Becomes the Saviour's flesh and blood,
When I in faith receive it ;
Then faith for you as much may do,
And your lost jade is safe with you,
If you will but believe it."
ANECDOTE OF FATHER SEWALL.
And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them :
and they all drank of it. Mark 14 : 23.
THE inconsistency of refusing to commune with those who
are manifestly good Christians, whose baptism has not been
after a particular pattern, is well rebuked in the following
anecdote :
" The recent death of this good man reminds me of an inci-
dent I heard of him several years since, which is too good to
be lost. He had been employed by a Baptist church in the
State of Maine as a stated supply, during a season when they
were unable to support a settled pastor. His fervent piety
and faithful labors won their Christian confidence, and even
veneration. At length, desiring to commemorate the Lord's
supper, they obtained a Baptist clergyman to come and admin-
ister the ordinance, a measure in which Mr. Sewall very
cheerfully concurred. When the season arrived, the brethren
22
170 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
were much embarrassed about Mr. Sewall. He was present,
and would probably partake of the supper, unless forbidden.
But how could they forbid such a man their own preacher,
under whose ministry they had sat with so much delight and
profit? No wonder their best feelings revolted at the ungra-
cious task. They, however, mustered courage to signify to
him, that, according to the rules of the Baptist church, he could
not be permitted to commune with them on that occasion.
4 What/ said he, 'is not this our Father's table?' i Of
course it is,'' they replied. l Do you not, then, regard me as a
child of God ? ' i Certainly/ they answered ; l we have more
confidence in your piety than in our own.' ' If, then, I am a
child of God, why may I not come to my own Father's table ? '
More confused and embarrassed than ever, they could only
reply, that it was contrary to the rules of their church. ' Well,
then/ said the old gentleman, l if you will not let me come
to my own Father's table, I will go and tell my Father. ,' He
rose from his seat and moved toward the door, when the
Baptist brethren, overcome by the obvious and irresistible
force of so simple an argument, begged him not to ' tell his
Father/ and they would receive him to the table."
CHRIST'S HEART GIVEN FOR THE WORLD.
And saitli unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death : tarry ye
here, and watch. Mark 14 : 34.
FT is one of the traditions of the age of chivalry," says Rev.
JL Dr. Williams, " that a Scottish king, when dying, be-
queathed his heart to the most trusted and beloved of his
nobles, to be carried to Palestine. Enclosing the precious
deposit in a golden case, and suspending it from his neck, the
knight went out with his companions. He found himself, when
on his way to Syria, hard pressed by the Moors of Spain. To
animate himself to supernatural efforts, that he might break
through his thronging foes, he snatched the charge intrusted to
him from his neck, and, flinging it into the midst of his ene-
mies, exclaimed, ' Forth, Heart of Bruce ! as them wast wont,
' NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 171
and Douglas will follow thee or die.' And so he perished, in
the endeavor to reclaim it from the trampling feet of the infi-
dels, and to force his way out." Your Master's heart has
flung itself in advance of your steps. In the rushing crowds
that withstand you in your work of the ministry, there is not
one whom that heart has not cared for and pitied, however
hostile and debased, unlovely and vile. It is your business to
follow the leadings of his heart, and to pluck it from beneath
the feet of those who, in ignorance and enmity, would tread it
in the dust.
MODERN ISCARIOTS.
And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I
shall kiss, that same is he ; take him, and lead him away safely. Mark 14 : 44.
WE do great injustice to Iscariot in thinking him wicked
above all Avickedness. lie was only a money-lover ; did
not understand Christ ; could not make out the worth of him.
He did not want him to be killed. He was horror-struck when
he found that Christ would be killed ; threw his money away
instantly, and hanged himself. How many of our present
money-seekers, think you, would have the grace to hang them-
selves whenever they killed ? But Judas was a common, selfish,
muddle-headed fellow, his hand always in the bag of 'the poor,
but not caring for them. He didn't understand Christ, yet he
believed in him much more than most of us do ; had seen him
do miracles, thought he was strong enough to shift for himself,
and he might as well make his own by-perquisites out of the
affair ; Christ would come out of it well enough, and he have
thirty pieces.
Now, that is the money-seeker's idea all over the world.
He does not hate Christ, but he can't understand him ; he does
not care for him, sees no good in. that benevolent business, but
takes his own " little job " of it at all events, come what may.
And thus, out of every class of men, you have a certain amount
of bagmen men whose main object is to make money,
and they do make it in all sorts of unfair ways, chiefly by
172 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
weight and force of money itself, or what is called capital ;
that is to say, the power which money once obtained has over
the labors of the poor, so that the capitalist can take all the
produce to himself except the laborers' feed. That is the
modern Judas' way of " carrying the bag," and bearing what
is put therein. Ruskin.
REPENTING OF APOSTASY.
And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word
that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me
thrice. And when 1 he thought thereon, he wept. Mark H : 72.
. A RCHBISHOP CRANMER, under the pressure of the queen
J\. and court, was induced to subscribe to the errors of Rome.
Of this he soon repented, and took his former decided posi-
tion, which brought upon him the wrath of Bloody Mary.
When the flames of martyrdom were kindled around him, he
thrust the hand that subscribed to his shame into the flames,
and held it until consumed, often exclaiming, " That unworthy
hand."
LEARN TO BE SILENT.
And the chief priests accused him of many things ; but he answered noth-
ing. Mark 15 : 3.
IT is a great art in the Christian life to learn to be silent.
Under oppositions, injuries, still be silent. It is better to say
nothing, than to say it in an excited or an angry manner, even
if the occasion should seem to justify a degree of anger. By
remaining silent, the mind is enabled to collect itself, and to
call upon God in secret aspirations of prayer. And thus you
will speak to the honor of your holy profession, as well as the
good of those who have injured, when you speak from God.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 173
DOUBLE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST.
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Mark 15 : 34.
E may paint the outward appearance of his sufferings,
but not the inward bitterness or invisible causes of them.
Men can paint the cursed tree, but not the curse of the law
that made it so. Men can paint Christ bearing the cross to
Calvary, but not Christ bearing the sins of many. We may
describe the nails piercing his sacred flesh, but who can de-
scribe eternal justice piercing both flesh and spirit? We may
describe the soldier's spear, but not the arrows of the Al-
mighty ; the cup of vinegar which he but tasted, but not the
cup of wrath, which he drank out to the lowest dregs ; the
derision of the Jews, but not the desertion of the Almighty
forsaking his Son, that he might never forsake us who were
his enemies. J. Madaurin.
PRINCE OF EXCELLENCY.
And when the centurion which stood over against him, saw that he so
cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.
Mark 15 : 39.
IF you go to weigh Jesus, his sweetness, excellency, glory,
and beauty, and lay opposite to him your ounces or drachms
of suffering for him, you will be straitened in two wa} 7 s: 1.
It will be a pain to make the comparison, the disproportion
being by no understanding imaginable ; nay, if heaven's arith-
metic and angels were set to work, they could never number
the degrees of difference. 2. It would straiten you to find a
scale for the balance to lay that high and lofty One, that ever-
transcending Prince of Excellency. If your mind could fancy
as many created heavens as time hath minutes, trees have
had leaves, clouds have had rain in drops, since the first stone
of the creation was laid, they would not make half a scale in
which to weigh boundless excellency. Rutherford.
174 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
CHANGE OF THE SABBATH.
And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto
the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. Mark 1C : 2.
A NOTHER confirmation of the doctrine of the resurrection
1A_ of Christ, is the establishment of the first day of the week
as the Lord's day, in commemoration of this great event. The
apostles, as instructed by their Lord, and taught by the Holy
Spirit, enforced upon all Christians the obligation of observing
the first day of the week as the day of holy rest and of religious
worship. The seventh day had been appointed as the Sabbath
in Eden, as a sign of the completion of creation, when God
did rest the seventh day from all his works. But Jesus, as
the Lord of the Sabbath, exercised his prerogative in changing
the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, as
a remembrance to the end of time that a greater work than
that of creation had been achieved by the death of the Son of
God, and by his resurrection from the dead, the greater work
of redemption for a lost world.
The New Testament records, the testimony of early Christian
writers, and of contemporary writers who were not Christians,
all go to show that it was an established ordinance among
Christians, universally observed, to keep the first day of the
week as the Lord's day, in commemoration of the resurrection.
It is fitting that a work vastly more glorious than that of
speaking into existence a world from nothing, the wondrous
work of redemption, and the declaration of its completion
and of the triumph of the Son of God over sin and death and
hell by his resurrection from the dead, should be perpetually
declared by the sacred observance of the holy day of the Lord,
and that his people, blending into one the world's creation and
man's redemption, should celebrate both on the Christian Sab-
bath. The religious observance of the Lord's day was, among
primitive Christians, a badge of the Christian profession ; hence,
says Ignatius, " All who love the Lord love the Lord's day as
the queen and chief of all days."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 175
GO.
And he said unto them, Go yc into all the world, and preach the gospel to
every creature. Mark 16 : 15.
IT is with Christian work just as with all other work, the
chief desideratum is persistent application. Arago says, in
his autobiography, that his greatest master in mathematics
was a word or two of advice which he found in the binding of
one of his text-books, the words of D'Alembert to a discour-
aged student : " Go on, sir, go on." Those two little words
made Arago the greatest astronomical mathematician of his
age. And those two words have made many a life a poem
which shall sing for ever. Christ abbreviated them into one,
and his almighty " Go " (spoken when he stood on the extreme
verge of this world, only one step from his throne), drove
Paul restlessly around Asia and Europe with the message of
mercy, and has been sounding in the ear of the Church ever
since as its unrepealed and unrepealable marching order.
Rev. C. D. Foss.
THE SALVATION OF ONE SOUL.
He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved ; but he that believeth not,
shall be damned. Mark 16 : 16.
JOHN ANGELL JAMES, in the preface of his admirable
book, " An Earnest Ministry," makes this observation,
which we transcribe to set, as a star, in sight of every reader.
" There is a time coming in every man's history when the
knowledge of having been the instrument to pluck a single
brand from eternal burning, will yield more real satisfaction
than the certainty of having accomplished the loftiest objects
of literary ambition."
The remark is specially designed for the ministry, but it is
pertinent to every member of human society. It has a truth
in it that should dwell in every heart, and rouse to energy and
zeal. The fact is, that no man lives without influence, and
there is none so poor, so lowly, so obscure, as to be unable to
176 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
do something for the salvation of men. What is the honor of
saving men compared to the joy of saving a soul from death !
" 0," said an eloquent preacher, who loved the souls of men
far more than their praise, though of this he had much, " God
knows I do not want their applause I want their salvation."
" The time coming," to which Mr. James alludes, may be the
hour of death, or of judgment, or away in eternity ; but it will
come, and the truth of his remark will be felt for ever.
ESSENTIAL TO ACCEPTABLE PRAYER.
But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias : for thy prayer is heard.
Luke 1 : 13.
SEE here, my brother, do you remember how often it has
occurred to you, when you warmed up in prayer, threw
off your embarrassment, and had an easy, happy flow of lan-
guage, that you were now doing very finely in your petitions,
and that God was giving special audience to your unfettered
utterance ? Now, just take a second thought, and remember
that all one's easy, happy flow of language usually indicates
but little, and that in itself it is nothing in the hearing of God.
Remember that it is the honest heart, the upright and obedi-
ent life, that are essential to acceptable prayer. If your heart
and life are right, your most stammering utterance shall pre-
vail with God. If your heart and life are wrong in God's
sight, your tongue of eloquence will be only babbling and
mockery in the ears of the Almighty. Never, then, con-
gratulate yourself upon liberty in prayer till you are convinced
that that prayer went from a heart honest, sincere, and wholly
given up to love and serve the Lord.
MY MASTER'S ERRAND.
And the angel answering, said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the
presence of God ; and am sent to speak unto thce, and to shew thee these glad
tidings. Luke 1 : 19.
CHRISTIAN brother, in New York, on entering a car,
felt it his duty to speak to a gentleman respecting his
A
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 177
soul. The gentleman seemed restive, and soon said, " Sir, will
you cease speaking to me upon that subject ? " " As soon," said
the devoted brother, " as I have done my Master's errand ; "
and went on until the Holy Spirit assured him he had.
Months after, a gentleman grasped his hand on the crowded
street. He was surprised.
" Do you not recognize me the man to whom you would
do your f Master's errand ' on the cars ? "
" 0, yes ; now I do."
" Well, that conversation was, by the blessing of God, the
means of my soul's salvation," said he, with tears of joy j and
together, in Mammon's thoroughfare, they gave praise to God.
WAITING TO BE RELEASED.
And it came to pass, that as soon as the days of his ministration were ac-
complished, he departed to his own house. Luke 1 : 23.
PRESIDENT HITCHCOCK tells an incident. which thrilled
JL his soul with holy emotions, witnessed by him in one of
the deep coal mines of Virginia, where he was more than a
thousand feet below the surface of the earth.
He says, " While wandering through their dark, subter-
ranean passages, the sound of music broke upon my ear. It
ceased upon my approach, and I caught only the sweet re-
frain, <I shall be in heaven in the morning.' On advancing
with our lamps, we found the passage closed by a door, in
order to give a different direction to a current of air for the
purpose of ventilation. This door must be opened to allow the
tram-rail cars to pass with their loads of coal to the shafts, and
closed immediately. To do this work sat an aged, blind slave,
whose eyes had been entirely destroyed by a blast of gun-
powder, many years before, in that mine. There he sat, on a
seat cut in the coal, from morn till evening his only busi-
ness being to open and shut this door. We requested' him to
sing again this hymn, which he did.
" I have heard gigantic intellects pour forth enchanting elo-
quence, but never did music or eloquence so overpower my
23
178 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
feelings as did this scene. Never before did I witness so
grand an exhibition of sublimity. 0, how insignificant did
earth's mightiest warriors, statesmen, and philosophers, with-
out piety, appear ! This poor, blind slave was performing his
daily task waiting < for the morning.' He had a principle
within him superior to princes or emperors, who live without
Christ ; and when that morning shall come of which he daily
sings he will hail with joy the light of that eternal day,
leaving behind, and forgetting for ever, his days of darkness
and toil. That bright hope of a resurrection morning shall
not deceive him; for that Saviour in whom he trusts will
come and manifest himself l The Mighty to Save'- even
to one down deep beneath the mountain rocks.''*
"CALL HIS NAME JESUS."
And behold, them shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and
shalt call his name JESUS. Luke 1 : 31.
' "ITT HEX a person is dear, everything connected with him
YV becomes dear for his sake. Thus, so precious is the
person of the Lord Jesus in the estimation of all true believers,
that everything about him they consider to be inestimable
beyond all price. ' All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes,
and cassia/ said David, as if the very vestments of the Saviour
were so sweetened by his person that he could not but love
them. Certain it is that there is not a spot where that "hal-
lowed foot hath trodden there is not a word which those
Messed lips have uttered nor a thought which his loving
Word has revealed, -which is not to us precious beyond all
price. And this is true of the names of Christ; they arc all
sweet in the believer's ear. Whether he be called the Husband
of the Church, her Bridegroom, her Friend ; whether he be
styled the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world the
King, the Prophet, or the Priest every title of our Master
Shiloh, Emmanuel, Wonderful, the Mighty Counsellor every
name is like the honey-comb dropping with honey, and lus-
cious are the drops that distill from it. But if there be one
name sweeter than another in the believer's ear, it is the name
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 179
of JESUS. Jesus ! it is tlie name which moves the harps of
heaven to melody. Jesus, the life of all our joys. If there be
one name more charming, more precious than another, it is
this name. It is woven into the very warp and woof of our
psalmody. Many of our hymns begin with it, and scarce any,
that are good for anything, end without it. It is the sum total
of all delights. It is the music with which the bells of heaven
ring ; a song in a word ; an ocean for comprehension, although
a drop for brevity ; a matchless oratorio in two syllables ; a
gathering up of the hallelujahs of eternity in five letters."
Spurgeon.
NAMED BY THE ANGEL "THE SON OF GOD."
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall oversliadow thee : therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of
God. Luke 1 : 35.
fTTHE most important biblical truth that should be early
J_ settled, and well fixed in the mind, is the divinity of Christ.
The doctrine of our Lord's divine nature is well established
in the Holy Scriptures, and by no passages more clearly than
those which speak of his nature as " the Son of God." Son,
implies similarity of nature ; that is, having the same nature.
Son of man, is man in nature, though he may be only an infant
in days. Drop out the idea of time, which cannot make or
unmake the nature of a being, and an infant child is a man,
having human nature, as distinguished from the nature of
some other creature. So concerning " the Son of God." The
Scriptures frequently call our Saviour " The Son of God."
"Declared to be the Son of God with power." (Rom. 1 : 4.)
" Of a truth thou art the Son of God." (Matt. 14 : 33.) Son-
ship was understood among the Jews to imply similarity of
nature ; for, on one occasion, " the Jews sought to kill him,
because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also
that God was his Father, making himself equal with God."
(John 5:18.) "Equal with God," in the estimation of the
Jews, came of his being " the Son of God." And this term
was not an unwarrantable assumption ; for the angel Gabriel,
180 NEW TESTA ME NT ILL USTRA TIONS.
who appeared unto Mary before his birth, declared the child
that should be born, should be called " The Son of God."
Some person may say, If Son of God means equality with
God in nature does not that make two Gods the Father
and the Son ? To which we answer, No j for., in the sense in
which he was the Son of God, our Lord was not a God created
as a separate and independent being, but as our Saviour said
of himself, " I and my Father are one " (John 10 : 30) : and
as St. Paul said, " God was manifest in the flesh." (1 Tim.
3:16.) Hence Jesus was perfect humanity in his material
nature, by the creative act of God ; and in essence was God
himself.
SALVATION, THE CENTRAL IDEA OF THE BIBLE.
And thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt
go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways ; to give knowledge of sal-
vation unto his people, by the remission of their sins. Luke 1 : 76, 77.
THE idea pervading the Bible is, that a salvation from sin is
provided for man. A plan of salvation for sinners is the
thread running through the whole, from the record of the fall
to the final words of the Apocalypse. They who have failed
to discern it, have studied the book to but little purpose. The
Bible is not a volume of history, poetry, philosophy, or ethics,
but a volume disclosing God's moral government of the world,
or, in other words, the development of his plan of saving sin-
ners. It contains a history a history of God in his relations
to the world in the furtherance of this plan, and therefore, of
necessity, some history of men in their submission to or rejec-
tion of it, involving more or less particulars of their relations
to one another as individuals, families, or nations. Of poetry,
there are specimens sweeter, grander than can be found else-
where ; but its loftiest and most admired strains are on the
line of the great plan. The Hebrew mind was not philo-
sophic like the Greek ; it could not think so acutely, or dis-
criminate so sharply; but the Bible contains a philosophy
based upon facts, which the world in its highest wisdom may
well heed. Its ethics, whatever be the age in which they were
uttered, are perfect. Nothing can be added to them ; nothing
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 181
taken away. But all these are only secondary to the leading
idea : they are chariots of the king.
All religions of the world have recognized the necessity of
some means of salvation for sinners. They proceed upon the
assumption that men are sinners, that God is angry with the
wicked, that sin is somehow to be expiated. The sacrifices
offered to appease the divine wrath, whether by Jew, Greek,
Brito, or American Indian, are in proof of it. It is claimed
that this is a heathen notion, incorporated into the Christian
system ; but it is rather a notion that existed before heathen
lived. It is as old as the sacrifice of Abel, which God accepted ;
as old as the day of the fall, when Adam presented his sin-
offering on the altar. It is easy to see where heathen nations
obtained the idea. But is it not strange that in all the per-
versions of truth delivered by tradition after the deluge, in all
the forge tfulness of God and the inventions of polytheism, and
in all the systems devised to meet the wants or fancies of men,
this idea was never lost sight of, and that we find prominent
everywhere the practice of sacrifice in expiation of sin ? On
the infidel theory, it is amazing and unaccountable. On the
Christian theory, the easy solution is, that in the human soul
lies the conviction that men are sinners. In deep moral
corruption, like that of Pompeii, whose hideous secrets are
brought to lignt in this century of moral purity as compared
with the Sodomitish iniquity that reveled there, or like that
of modern China and India, which insists that the first chapter
of Romans was written as a description of themselves ; in
Asia, in Africa, in Europe, in America, in the isles of the sea ;
in the days of Moses, of Tacitus, and of ourselves, we find this
universal conviction that men are sinners, that God is offended
by sin, and that an atonement must be made.
WELL ANSWERED.
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the way of peace. Luke 1 : 79.
THE following anecdote is from a sermon of the Rev. S. E.
Dwight, entitled, "The Gospel its own Witness to the
Conscience/' recently published at Portland :
182 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
11 When the celebrated Tennent was traveling in Virginia,
he lodged one night at the house of a planter, who informed
him that one of his slaves, a man upwards of seventy, who
could neither read nor write, was yet eminently distinguished
for his piety, and for his knowledge of the Scriptures. Having
some curiosity to learn what evidence such a man could have
of their divine origin, he went out in the morning alone, and
without making himself known as a clergyman, entered into
conversation with him on the subject. After starting some
of the common objections of infidels against the authenticity
of the Scriptures, in a way calculated to confound an ignorant
man, he said to him, < When you cannot even read the Bible,
nor examine the evidence for or against its truth, how can you
know that it is the word of God ? ' After reflecting a moment,
the negro replied, l You ask me, sir, how I know that the
Bible is the word of God ; I know it by its effect upon my
own heart. 7 "
THE GLORY OF THE LORD.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord
shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. Luke 2 : 9.
power of God is put side by side with the weakness
JL of men, not that he, the perfect, may glory over his feeble
children ; not that he may say to them, " Look, how mighty I
am, and go down on your knees and worship," - for power
alone was never yet worthy of prayer, but that he may say
thus : " Look, my children, you will never be strong but with
my strength ; 1 have no other to give you ; and that you can
only get by trusting in me. I cannot give it you in any other
way. There is no other way. But can you not trust in me ?
Look, how strong I am ; you wither like the grass. Do not
fear. Let the grass wither. Lay hold of my word, that which
I say to you out of my truth, and that will be life in you that
the blowing of the wind that withers cannot reach. I am
coming with my strong hand and my judging arm to do my
work. And what is the work of my strong hand and ruling
arm ? To feed my flock like a shepherd, to gather the lambs
with my arms, and carry them in my bosom, and gently lead
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 183
those that are with young. I have measured the waters in
the hollow of my hand, and held the mountains in my scales,
to give each his due weight, and all the nations, so strong and
fearful in your eyes, are as nothing beside my strength and
what I can do. Do not think of me as of an image that
your hands can make, a thing you can choose to serve, and for
which you can do things to win its favor. I am before and
above the earth, and over your life, and your oppressors I will
wither with my breath. I come to you with help ; I need no'
worship from you. But I say, Love me, for love is life, and I
love you. Look at the stars I have made ; I know every one
of them. Not one goes wrong, because I keep him right.
Why sayest thou, Jacob ! and speakest, Israel ! my way
is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from
my God ; I give power to the faint, and to them that have no
might, plenty of strength/' Rev. George McDonald.
NOT SATISFIED WITH A PART.
A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
Luke 2 : 32.
A ROMAN CATHOLIC priest in Ireland, deeply sympa-
thizing with the moral condition of his parish, contrived
what could be done, consistent with his own religious need, to
overtake the population with some remedial measures ; and it
struck him it would be well to print and circulate the Epistles
of St. Peter by themselves, in a separate tract. He did so ;
but somehow or other they did not sell. He then thought he
had better add to the title, " The Epistles of St. Peter, Head
of the Church." Still, however, nobody bought them. At last
it suggested itself to his mind that if he placed between the
title-page and the epistles themselves a representation of St.
Peter's Cathedral at Rome, they would sell. He did so ; and
now the whole edition was soon bought up. One of the copies
fell into the hands of a man, who, having. read it, went to the
priest, and having ascertained that he had put them in circula-
tion, said,
" I have not got all. Are there not the epistles of some
other fellows ? "
184 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" What makes you think so ? " said the priest.
" Because/' replied the man, " I find it is written, As our
beloved brother Paul hath said. Now where are the Epistles
of St. Paul ? "
" It is even so," said the priest.
The man never rested until he had procured a copy of
the New Testament. Having read this, he came again to
the priest.
" Ah ! I have not got it all yet," said he.
" Why not ? " said the priest.
" Because I read, As it is written in the book of Psalms ;
As it is written in the book of Hosea ; As saith the prophet
Jeremy ; As saith the prophet Isaiah." And then, with all the
characteristic ardor of an Irishman, he pointed out to the
priest the numerous array of finger-posts and landmarks in the
New Testament, pointing to the existence of the Old.
' Well," said the priest, " you are right now also ; there is
another book, much larger than that which you have."
" 0, let me have it," said the man ; and he never rested till
he was possessed of a perfect copy of the Scriptures. Having
then penetrated, as it were, both strata, both hemispheres, and
absorbed the light of both, the man went to his own priest,
and applied for absolution, which was refused him, among
other reasons, because he was a Bible reader, and that, there-
fore, there was no absolution for him. However, he urged his
suit with that irresistible Irish force to which there was no
parallel in the universe, that the priest agreed to let him have
absolution upon payment of a certain sum of money. The
man then pulled from under his coat the Bible, and said to
the priest, " I come to you for absolution ; you say I must not
have it, because I am a Bible reader ; at last you agree to give
me absolution if I pay you half a crown. I~do not want your
absolution ; " and opening the Bible in the middle, as a person
in his condition naturally would do, he read (and it was fit
that such a blessed passage should be found in the center of
the Bible), " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the wa-
ters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy and eat, with-
out money and without price." Richard Dorikersley.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 185
JESUS IN HIS CHILDHOOD.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and
man. Luke 2 : 52.
WHEN we thus speak of the Son of the Most High God, of
the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind, it is with im-
pressions of the profoundest reverence. He certainly stood
not in need of previous culture and discipline to fit him for
glory. The rays of divinity shone around him from the hour
of his birth with a native original lustre. What is therefore
recorded of his life, is but to furnish to mankind an example
and pattern for their imitation, to set before us the beauty of
holiness, and invite us to pursue the same path, which lie has
gone before us, in the attainment of every imitable excel-
lence.
Other creatures arrive at that perfection of stature which
Providence allows them without exertion ; but the whole of
man's existence is a state of discipline and progression. Youth
is his preparation for maturer years, and his whole life a prep-
aration for the next. The soil is given to us, but the cultiva-
tion and improvement of it depends, under God, on our own
labor. The neglected ground will be certainly overrun with
weeds. Experience teaches, that where a foundation is not
laid in the early part of life, little proficiency is to be expected
both in the natural and the moral world ; a plentiful harvest
depends on a kindly spring. Autumn blossoms seldom ripen
into fruit. If the soil is not softened and prepared at that
critical season, if the fair buds and blossoms of true wisdom
wither and decay, there is but feeble hope that they will after-
ward revive and flourish, and quicken into fruit.
If, therefore, we desire that our children should copy after
the pattern of Jesus, who increased in wisdom and stature, and
in favor with God and man, let parents, public teachers, and
guardians of youth unite in training them up in the way they
should go, and when old they will not depart from it ; and their
work and labor of love shall not be in vain in the Lord,
24
186 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
GREAT IS THE HOLY BIBLE.
The word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
Luke 3 : 2.
FRIENDS, if there is one great thing in this world, it is
the Bible of God j great in origin, 'great in thought, great
in promise, great in beauty, great in purpose, great in power,
great in its results ! It hangs as by a golden cord from the
throne of the Highest, and all heaven's light, life, love, and
sweetness come down into it for us. It hangs there like a
celestial harp ; the daughters of sorrow tune it, and awake a
strain of consolation. The hand of joy strikes it, and feels a
diviner note of gladness. The sinner comes to it, and it dis-
courses to him of repentance and salvation. The saint bends
an ear to it, and then it talks to him of an intercessor and im-
mortal kingdom. The dying man lays his trembling hand on
it, and there steals thence into his soul the promise, " Lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end of the world." " When
thou passest through the waters, they shall not overflow thee,
and through the fires, thou shalt not be burned." " Be of good
cheer ; I have overcome the world ! " " The last enemy that
shall "be destroyed is death." " This mortal shall put on im-
mortality, and this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and
death shall be swallowed up in victory." Where is promise,
whore is philosophy, where is song like this ? Magnify the
Word of God \-E.E. Adams.
CHRIST OUR CITY OF REFUGE.
As it is written in the hook of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying,
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight. Luke 3 : 4.
THE ancient city of refuge was a very beautiful type of
Christ. Everything was done to render the city easy of
access. It was not to be built in a valley, concealed among
trees, but set on a hill, that it might be seen from afar. So
" Christ is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour," and u exalted
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 187
to show mercy." The roads leading to it were to be very wide
and spacious. Once every year the magistrates sent workmen
to clear them, and put them in complete repair. So the way
to Christ is plain ; and it is the work of ministers to keep it
clear. God says to them, " Cast up the highway, take up the
stumbling-block, gather out the stones, prepare the way of my
people." Stones were set up on the road at every crossway,
for fear the fugitive should go astray. The word Refuge was
written on the stone in large letters, so that one might read as
he ran. Tims do faithful preachers and teachers direct sinners
to the Saviour, and cry, " Refuge ! ' Flee from the wrath to
come ! ' ' The gates were never shut, day nor night ; so that
at any hour the manslayer could enter. Christ says, " Him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." The people of
the city were to receive the fugitive, and provide him with
food and lodging, and everything he needed. So does Christ
feed and clothe those who flee to him. He that believeth
shall never hunger nor thirst. There is no want to them that
fear him. This city was for all strangers as well as for Jews.
So Christ is offered alike to all of every kindred and people
and nation and tongue.
SINS ARE LINKED TOGETHER.
But Herod the tctrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother
Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above
all, that he shut up John in prison. Luke 3 : 19, 20.
ONE sin draws after itself many more. Joseph's brethren
envied him that was a great sin ; then they stripped him
of his beautiful coat, and cast him into a pit another sin ;
then they sold him to the Ishmaelites still another ; then,
to hide these sins, they must add an act of falsehood and cruel
deception: they dipped Joseph's coat in the blood of a kid,
and carried it to their father, pretending that they had found
it in the field. At the sight of it Jacob's heart died within
him. " An evil beast," said he, " hath devoured him : Joseph
is, without doubt, rent in pieces." Now they must try to
comfort him, and in so doing they were obliged to play the
hypocrite. Then they must persist in their falsehood and
188 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
deception during all the long years at least twenty-two
that passed until Joseph made himself known to them in
Egypt. What a chain of dreadful sins ! Yes, what a chain ;
for all these wicked deeds were linked together. The first
drew after it all the rest.
So Herod first did an unlawful deed in marrying Herodias,
his brother Philip's wife ; then, when John reproved him for
this sin, he u added yet this above all, that he shut up John in
prison." The first sin led to the second. But that was not
the end. This same Herodias, whom he had unlawfully mar-
ried, what di<J she do ? When her daughter Salome danced
before Herod and his lords, he was greatly delighted, and
promised, with an oath, to give her whatsoever she should ask.
This was both foolish and wicked. And now see how these
two sins, that of marrying Herodias, and that of making this
oath to Salome her daughter, united in producing another
dreadful deed. At the mother's suggestion, who hated John
for his faithfulness in reproving Herod, the daughter asked
for the head of John the Baptist, and, for " the oath's sake,"
Herod sent and beheaded John in prison.
Take a case from modern history. General Arnold first
indulged in an expensive and showy style of living, by which
means he ran himself into debt. Then, to free himself
from this, he practiced extortion, and embezzled the public
funds. For this Washington reproved him ; then he attempt-
ed to sell his country to the British ; when this scheme failed,
he must join their side, and fight against his own country.
Thus has it ever been, and thus it will always be. One sin
leads to another, and that to another still, and so on without
end. He who cheats is driven into lying, and he who tells
one lie, must tell another to hide the first. Sabbath-breaking,
disobedience to parents, and keeping company with the wick-
ed, are all sins, and they lead to a great many more sins. You
are never safe except when you keep all God's commands.
When you take one wrong step, you know not whither it will
carry you.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 189
THE INESTIMABLE BOOK.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down.
And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luke 4 : 20.
Bible is a book of inestimable value, containing the
JL great charter of grace, by which the Lord God has grant-
ed, under his hand and seal, by his covenant and oath, a full
discharge from sin and misery, and a perfect title to life and
glory everlasting. These blessings he has given in his Son,
and he applies them by his Spirit ; therefore the record of
God concerning his Son is the subject of the whole book
What he was in his person, Emmanuel, and what he actually
was, God manifest in the flesh ; what he was to do, and has
done ; what he was to suffer, and has suffered ; his resurrec-
tion; his complete redemption, his prevailing intercession;
and what he will do for his people in glory. These points are
treated of at large. And because we are dead to these truths,
we cannot understand nor believe them, nor make the proper
use of them by any power of our -own ; therefore God the
Spirit, who inspired the book, still accompanies the hearing
of it, and renders it the effectual means of quickening the
dead, of working the saving knowledge of Jesus, and, through
faith in him, of manifesting the love 'of the Father." Would
you grow in this knowledge, in this faith, in this love ? Here
is the ordinance of God. His almighty power still accom-
panies his own Word ; still he works in it and by it as truly
as when he spake, and the world was made ; when he com-
manded, and all things subsisted. Hear, read, study, medi-
tate, mix faith with it, pray over it, and you will find it able
to make you wise unto salvation, and that is as wise as you
need to be. Romaine.
PREACHING ACCOMPANIED WITH DIVINE POWER.
And they were astonished at his doctrine : for his word was with power.
Luke 4 : 32.
JAMES SHERMAN often preached with great effect. A
brief extract from his biography will confirm this state-
ment. We quote his own words :
190 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" Occasionally God blessed and distinguished the preaching
of his word by remarkable manifestations of his saving power.
In the early part of the year 1837, I preached one Sabbath
evening from Mark 6:36, 'And there were also with him
other little ships.' The text was striking, and caught the
attention of the congregation. The subject was the earnest-
ness witli which men must seek for Christ, and the risks they
must be willing to run to find him. As I proceeded in the illus-
tration and enforcement of the principle stated, there came
from heaven a celestial breeze, and one little ship after another
seemed to start in search after Christ, until they became a
fleet. The feeling upon my own mind was, that I was ready
to risk all to go with Christ, so glorious a Saviour, so exalted
a Captain did he appear. And this feeling was apparently
communicated to the congregation. They were melted into
penitence and tears. Never shall I forget the impression
made, when, at the close of the sermon, I gave out the
hymn,
' Jesus, at thy command,
I launch into the deep.'
" Had it been possible and decorous then and there to have
put the question, and to have asked every one willing to em-
bark for the celestial country to hold up the hand, I verily
believe "almost every one, and most of them with tears, would
have uttered, < Here am I take me/ When I descended
from the pulpit, both vestries and the school-room were filled
with persons anxious to converse with me. I began to talk
with them one at a time, and asked a few elderly persons in
the church to distribute themselves among those in the school-
room. In the midst of my converse, and after he had waited
for more than an hour, a gentleman of some position knocked
at my vestry door, and said, ' Sir, here are enough to fill
twenty boats ; what will you do with us ? ' Exhausted be-
yond measure, I kneeled down and prayed with them. The
place was literally a Bochim.
" After pronouncing the benediction, I begged of them to
retire, and to come and see me on the morrow or Tuesday.
The greater number did so; but some wnv afraid, dear souls,
that th impression would wear away, and others were so cir-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 191
cumstanced that that was the only time they had, and they
begged as for their life that I would converse with them for
a few minutes. I remained among them until eleven o'clock,
listening to their respective vows and anxious expressions of
faith in Christ. The excitement sustained me for the time,
and a night's rest recruited me. But, ! it was worth dying
for to witness such a scene. After suitable examination, many
were admitted to the church, eighty-four of whom attributed
their conversion to Christ to that sermon. How many joined
other churches is known only to God alone. The larger
number remained for years ; many of them remain to this day,
among the most active and devoted members of the church."
AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE.
And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a
word is this ! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits,
and they come out. Luke 4 : 36.
THE Rev. Adolphe Monod gives the following illustration
of the benefits arising from the reading of the Bible :
" The mother of a family was married to an infidel, who made
a jest of religion in the presence of his own children ; yet she
succeeded in bringing them all up in the fear of the Lord.
I one day asked her how she preserved them from the influ-
ence of a father whose sentiments were so openly opposed to
her own. This was her reply : l Because to the authority of a
father I did not oppose the authority of a mother, but that of
God. From their earliest years my children have always seen
the Bible upon my table. This holy book has constituted the
whole of their religious instruction. I was silent that I might
allow it to speak. Did they propose a question, did they
commit any fault, did they perform any good action, I opened
the Bible, and the Bible answered, reproved, or encouraged
them. The constant reading of the Scriptures has alone
wrought the prodigy which surprises you.' ?1
192 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
A TRUSTING FAITH THE BEST.
Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the
deep, and let down your nets for a draught. Luke 5 : 4.
LOOK how it is with two watermen : the one hauls his boat
about the shore, and cannot get off, but tugs and pulls
hard, yet never puts her forth to the tide ; the other, having
more skill, puts off presently, sets up his sail, and then sits
still, committing himself to wind and tide, which easily carry
him whither he is to go. Just thus it is with a faithful soul,
and an unbeliever ; all the care of the one is to put himself
upon the stream of God's providence, to set up the sail of
hope, to take the gale of God's mercy, and so he goes on
cheerfully. And why ? but because he is not moved by any
external principle. It is faith in Christ Jesus that puts him
on ; it is by faith that he has got a skill and a kind of flight to
put over all cares to another ; and though he take up the
cross, yet he hurls all the care upon Christ, and then it is an
easy matter to lie under the burden when another bears the
weight. But the unfaithful, unbelieving soul, thinking by his
own wit and power to bring things about, tugs and pulls hard,
yet finds neither ease nor success, but sinks under the press-
ure of every carnal, worldly current that betides him.
POWER OF THE LORD TO SAVE.
And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were
Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town
of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem : and the power of the Lord was pres-
ent to heal them. Luke 5:17.
THE Rev. Mr. Guthrie, an eminent minister in Scotland of
the olden time, was one evening traveling home very Lite.
Having lost his way on a moor, he laid the reins on the neck
of his horse, and committed himself to the direction of Provi-
dence. After long traveling over ditches and fields, the horse
brought him to a farmer's house, into which he went, and
requested permission to sit by the fire till morning, which was
granted. A Popish priest was administering extreme unction
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 193
to the mistress of the house, who was dying. Mr. Guthrie
said nothing till the priest had retired. Then he went forward
to the dying woman, and asked her if she enjoyed peace in
the prospect of death, in consequence of what the priest had
said and done to her. She answered that she did not ; on
which he spoke to her of salvation through the atoning blood
of the Redeemer. The Lord .taught her to understand, and
enabled her to believe the message of mercy, and she died
triumphing in Jesus Christ as her Saviour. After witnessing
this astonishing scene, Mr. Guthrie mounted his horse and
rode home. On his arrival, he told Mrs. Guthrie he had seen
a great wonder during the night. " I came," said he, " to a
farm-house, where I found a woman in a state of nature ; I saw
her in a state of grace ; and I left her in a state of glory.
CONTINUED ALL NIGHT IN PRAYER.
And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray,
and continued all night in prayer to God. Luke 6 : 12.
A MINISTER'S wife, in the public congregation, requested
/1_ twelve leading men of the place to meet her at the par-
sonage on a certain evening. Her husband had no faith that
they would come ; but at the time appointed he saw them
coming to his house. He and his boy of a dozen years were
in the cook-room, where they knelt in prayer, while she re-
ceived them in the parlor. After a short interview they
returned to their homes. The husband looked into the parlor
and saw his wife on her knees, and at the proper time retired
for the night. He came down at midnight, and found her still
praying ; and again at four in the morning, and she was still
wrestling in prayer. She then spoke to her husband, and
asked him to bring a light, as she wished to see on what pas-
sage in the Bible her finger was placed. They read, " Thy
name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel ; for as a prince
hast thou power with God, and with men, and hast prevailed."
She had continued all night in prayer for these men. Within
three weeks nine of the twelve were converted. " Call unto
me, and I will answer thee."
25
194 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
"I WILL GIVE NOTHING."
Give to every man that asketh of tliee ; and of him that taketh away thy
goods, ask them not again. Luke 6 : 30.
A MINISTER, soliciting aid toward his chapel, waited upon
an individual distinguished for his wealth and benevo-
lence. Approving the case, he presented to the minister a
handsome donation, and turning to his three sons, who had
witnessed the transaction, he advised them to imitate his
example. " My dear boys," said he, " you have heard the
case; now what will you give?" One said, "I will give all
that my pockets will furnish ; " another observed, " I will give
half that I have in my purse ; " the third sternly remarked,
" I will give nothing." Some years after the minister had occa-
sion to visit the same place, and, recollecting the family that
he had called upon, he inquired into the actual position of the
parties. He-was informed that the generous father was dead ;
the youth who had cheerfully given all his store, was living in
affluence ; the son who had divided his pocket-money, was in
comfortable circumstances ; but the third, who had indignantly
refused to assist, and haughtily declared he would give
" nothing/' was so reduced as to be supported by the two
brothers.
The above anecdote is a striking illustration of the words
of Solomon. Men of property should contribute largely ; they
should recollect that they are responsible to God for the use
they make of their fortune, and that he will hereafter call 'for
the account.
BE MERCIFUL TO THE POOR.
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Luke G : 36.
A PIOUS German woman, herself an invalid, heard that her
-iJL neighbor in the yard below was yet more feeble. The
bottle of wine, provided for her at the doctor's suggestion,
would surely do that neighbor good. And so nimble little feet
are soon at the widow's door, a bright face looks in, and with
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 195
a " Mother sent you this/' the little flask stands upon the
table. Wine to the sick woman it may be, but the divine
chemistry, which years ago changed water into wine, can show
this also to be a " cup of cold water."
Late one Saturday evening, a pious widow, in humble cir-
cumstances, who had not walked, save from one chamber to
another, for years, sent me a loaf of bread, with the message,
" The Lord sent it to me for some poor woman." The late-
ness of the hour, and our Lord's saying, that it was lawful to
do good on the Sabbath day, determined me to leave it until
the morning, when I took it where I thought it would be wel-
come. " The Lord has sent you a loaf of bread, 'Mrs. S.," I
remarked, as I went in. Lifting up her hands toward heaven,
her eyes filling with tears, she exclaimed, " The Lord be
praised ! " Then, pointing to the neatly-spread table, with its
scanty breakfast, she said, " There is all we had for to-day."
Was it strange that the ringing of the church bells made glad
music in my ear that morning ? And may we not believe
notes of joy were heard above, as the heavenly chronicler
noted down, in that wondrous book, another fl cup of cold water
in the name of a disciple ? "
And so streams of refreshing flow through the parched
desert. So to fainting lips is pressed, by loving hands, the
overflowing " cup." Life of Susan M. Underwood.
HOW COULD YOU SAY THE LORD'S PRAYER?
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged : condemn not, and ye shall not be
condemned : forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Luke 6 : 37.
A SIMILAR question was put to an eminent clergyman by
one of his own children, after being punished for an act
of disobedience. It happened one day that little Frank was
sent into the garden to play with the other children, and, in a
short time, fixed his longing eyes upon a favorite cherry tree
of his papa's, the fruit of which all the little ones had been
forbidden to touch ; but the temptation was too strong for
poor Frank. He looked again, then tasted, after which he
returned to his companions ; and in a few minutes after, his
196 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
father entered the garden. Seeing what had been done, he
called the children around him, and inquired what had become
of the missing cherries ? For a moment all was silent, when
little Frank looked up and said, " Papa, I cannot tell a lie ; /
did it." " How many have you taken ? " was the next ques-
tion asked by his father. " Three," replied Frank. " Then,"
said Mr. C., " for the next three days, sir, you will live on
bread and water, as a punishment for your disobedience."
For two days the plate of dry bread and cup of cold water
waited for poor Frank at meal times, instead of his usual fare ;
and on the morning of the third day, while standing at the
breakfast table, his father asked him how he liked his fare ?
The child answered, " I can eat it very well, papa, but I don't
much like it ; " and, after standing in silence for a few minutes,
looked up and said, " Can't you forgive me, papa? " " No, sir,
I cannot ; my word has passed, and you must take your three
days, as I told you." The question was again asked, " But
can't you really forgive me, papa?" u No," was the answer,
" I cannot break my word." Frank instantly said, " Then,
papa, how could you say the Lord's Prayer this morning?"
Mr. C. was much struck with the child's reproof, ordered
the bread and water to be removed, and turning to his little
one, said, with evident pleasure, "My boy, you have preached
me a better sermon than ever / preached in my life."
NATHANIEL R. COBB'S COVENANT AGAINST RICHES.
Give, and it shall be given unto you ; good measure, pressed down, and
shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with
the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.
Luke 6 : 38.
MR. NATHANIEL R. COBB, of Boston, a beneficent Chris-
tian gentleman, was one of the few who recognized God as
the Giver of wealth, and who believed in the duty of using
that wealth for the glory of God. Having seen the evils that
come of setting the heart on property, and making a god of this
world, Mr. Cobb, in early business life, drew up a covenant to
bind himself to a proper distribution of his gains, before large
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 197
fortunes should blind his eyes, or corrupt his principles. In
the year 1821 he executed the following document, which was
faithfully adhered to :
" By the grace of God, I will never be worth more than fifty
thousand dollars.
" By the grace of God, I will give one fourth of the net
profits of my business to charitable and religious uses.
" If I am ever worth twenty thousand dollars, I will give
one half of my net profits, and if ever I am worth thirty
thousand, I will give three fourths ; and the whole profits after
fifty thousand, so help me God, or give to a more faithful
steward, and set me aside.
(Signed) " N. R. COBB."
NOVEMBER, 1821.
Thus, at the age of twenty-three, this Christian man, and
worthy member of the Baptist church, guarded his soul against
the corrupting influences of wealth, and set an example that
was not lost on others. At one time, finding his property had
increased beyond fifty thousand dollars, he at once devoted
the surplus of seven thousand five hundred as a foundation
for a professorship in the Newton Institute, for the education
of Christian ministers, to which he gave, on other occasions,
at least twice that amount. Though he died at the early age
of thirty-six years, by the blessing of God, on his systema-
tized plan of beneficence, he had given to the cause of God
over forty thousand ($40,000) dollars, besides having acquired
the utmost limit of wealth which his resolutions allowed him
to possess. The blessedness he found in giving was only sur-
passed by the glorious presence of God when near to death.
His dying words were worthy of the man who would not be
rich. On his death-bed he said, " Within the last few days
I have had some glorious views of heaven. It is, indeed, a
glorious thing to die. Nothing can equal my enjoyment in
the near prospect of heaven. My hope in Christ is worth
infinitely more than all other things. The blood of Christ.
The blood of Christ ; none but Christ." Arvine's Cyclopaedia.
198 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
HARMONY OF VOICE AND LIFE.
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Luke 7 : 23.
A GERMAN, whose sense of sound was exceedingly acute,
J\. was passing by a church a day or two after he had landed
in this country, and the sound of music attracted him to enter,
though he had no knowledge of our language. The music
proved to be a piece of nasal psalmody, sung in the most dis-
cordant fashion, and the sensitive German would fain have
covered his ears. As this was scarcely civil, and might appear
like insanity,, his next impulse was to rush into the open air,
and leave the hated sounds behind him. " But -this, too, I
feared to do," said he, " lest offense might be given ; so I
resolved to endure the torment with the best fortitude I
could assume ; when, lo ! I distinguished amid the din the soft,
clear voice of a woman singing in perfect tune. She made no
effort to drown the voices of her companions, neither was she
disturbed by their noisy discord, but patiently and sweetly
she sang in full, rich tones ; one after another yielded to the
gentle influence, and before the tune was finished all were in
perfect harmony."
It is in this way a quiet and pure life brings other lives
under its gentle sway. It uses no words of protest against
prevailing discord, but sings on its own sweet song of obedi-
ence, and faith, and joy, until others feel and thrill with its
power. It is better, by far, to be charmed by the good, than
be offended by the .e 1 vil. Forget the discords in life, by lis-
tening to the harmony.
HOW AN IGNORANT COBBLER KNEW CHRIST TO
BE GOD.
And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat
with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
Luke 7 : 48, 49.
A POOR man, unable to read, who obtained his livelihood by
mending old shoes, was asked by an Arian minister, how
he knew that Jesus Christ was the Son of God ? " Sir/' he
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS* 199
replied, " I am sorry you have put such a question to me
before my children, although I think I can give you a satis-
factory answer. You know, sir, when I first became concerned
about my soul, and unhappy on account of my sins, I called
upon you to ask for your . advice, and you told me to get into
company, and spend my time as merrily as I could, but not to
go to hear the Methodists." " I did so," answered the ungodly
minister. " I followed your advice," continued the illiterate
cobbler, " for some time ; but the more I trifled, the more my
misery increased; and at last I was persuaded to hear one of
those Methodist ministers who came into our neighborhood
and preached Jesus Christ as the Saviour. In the greatest
agony of mind, I prayed to him to save me, and to forgive my
sins ; and now I feel that he has freely forgiven them ! and
by this I know that he is the Son of God."
HEARING AND RETAINING.
But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart,
having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. Luke 8 : 15.
C\ OTTHOLD had, for some purpose, taken from a cupboard
vT a vial of rose-water, and after using it, had inconsider-
ately left it unstopped. Observing it some time after, he found
that all the strength and sweetness of the perfume had evapo-
rated. This, thought he with himself, is a striking emblem of
a heart fond of the world, and open to the impressions of out-
ward objects. How vain it is to take such a heart to 'the
house of God, and fill it with the precious essence of the roses
of Paradise, which are the truths of Scripture, or raise in it a
glow of devotion, if we afterward neglect to close the outlet
that is to keep the word in an honest and good heart ! (Luke
8:15.) How vain to hear much, but to retain little, and practice
less ! How vain to excite in our heart sacred and holy emo-
tions unless we are afterward careful to close the outlet by
diligent reflection and prayer, and so preserve it unspotted
from the world. Neglect this, and the strength and spirit of
devotion evaporates, and leaves only a lifeless froth behind.
200 -NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Lord Jesus, enable me to keep thy word like a lively cordial
in my heart. Quicken it there by thy Spirit and grace. See
it also in my soul, that it may preserve for ever its freshness
and power. Illustrative Gatherings.
HUGH LATIMER'S CONVERSION.
And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great
things Jesus had done unto him. Luke 8 : 39.
HUGH LATIMER, the great and eloquent preacher, and
Bishop of Worcester in the reign of Henry VIII., became
a champion of the Reformation in a most singular manner.
We extract from the " History of the Great Reformation "
the following :
" Latimer was a zealous Romanist, and preached, on receiv-
ing his degree in the university, a stirring sermon against the
doctrines of Luther. Thomas Bilney, a fellow-student who
had embraced the doctrines, heard it, and thought if so eloquent
a man could be won to the truth, the amount of good he might
perform would be incalculable. How could it be done ? A
difficult task, but he would try.
" He went to Latimer's study, and told him he wished to
confess. And there, in the privacy of that solitary chamber,
he poured upon his heart the burning story of his own con-
version. He told him of the load which he had once felt upon
his soul. He told him of the struggles which he had made to
remove it. He told him how carefully he had observed the
precepts of the church, and how vain it had been to him.
And when he came to describe how he looked to Jesus, and
believed, trusted in him, relied upon him, and loved him, there
was something in his voice which went to the very depths of
Latimer's heart. The same Jesus who had said, ' Lo, I am
with you alway ! ' was helping him. But when he came to
describe the joy which he felt, and the witness which he lia<l
received that God had taken away his sins, the heart of Lati-
mer burned with new sensations, and there the Holy Spirit
imparted to him the same peace, the same joy, the same wit-
ness which Bilney had described. From that hour the course
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 201
of his life was changed, and his talents, his piety, his eloquence
were consecrated to the cause of the Reformation.
" He lived to be about eighty-five years of age, and died at
the stake in the reign of Queen Mary. As the flames rose
around him, the aged saint rubbed his hands in them and put
them on his face. Before he expired he made that memorable
remark to a fellow-sufferer: ' Be of good comfort, Master Ridley,
and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by
God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out. "
BRILLIANT BUT NOT SUCCESSFUL.
And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and
healing everywhere. Luke 9 : 6.
LORD, save ministers of the gospel from believing there is
honor or praise in a ministry that does not have " its fruits
unto holiness," in saving souls from hell. Not the skill of the
operator, but the result of the operation, is the thing to be
kept in mind. Sir Ashley Cooper, on visiting Paris, was asked
by the surgeon-in-chief of the empire how many times he had
performed a certain wonderful feat of surgery. He replied
he had performed the operation thirteen times. " Ah, but,
monsieur, I have done him one hundred and sixty times.
How many times did you save life ? " continued the French-
man, after he had looked into the blank amazement of Sir
Ashley's face. " I," said the Englishman, u saved eleven of
the thirteen. How many," said the English surgeon, "did
you save out of your one hundred and sixty ? " " Ah, monsieur,
I lose them all ; but the operation was very brilliant." Of
too many popular ministers might this same verdict be given.
Souls are not saved, but the preaching is very brilliant.
Thousands are attracted and operated on by the rhetorician's
art, but what if he be compelled to say, as the French surgeon
did, " I lose them all," but the sermons were very brilliant ?
What is preaching good for if it does not wake up the sinner,
and start him off in the way to heaven ? Results ! 0, man of
God, not the admiration of the hearer, is what you are most
deeply concerned in. Preach for results that will show well
in eternity. W. J,
26
202 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
MARTIUS, THE YOUNG MARTYR.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it : but whosoever will lose his
life for my sake, the same shall save it. Luke 9 : 24.
LONG years ago, in the early times of the Christian Church,
a Christian soldier, named Martius, served in the Roman
army. This was no uncommon circumstance then, for it was
not a time of violent persecution ; and as the faithful servants
of Jesus were doubtless found also the most faithful to an
earthly master, the old laws against them were not much
regarded.
Martius was young, of a good and wealthy family, and much
respected in his profession. The office of centurion becom-
ing vacant, he Avas chosen as a suitable person to hold it. But
another soldier, of a jealous and ambitious disposition, came
forward, and declared that Martius, being a Christian, was
legally unfit for the post ; and that he himself, being next in
rank, ought to be preferred.
Martius, being questioned, at once confessed his religion :
but the governor, knowing the terrible consequences which
must follow if the point were to be seriously taken up, said
he might have three hours for consideration, after which the
question would be repeated.
Theotechnes, Bishop of Cesarea, heard what was going on.
He came to the tribunal, and taking the arm of Martius, led
him into the nearest church. Then, taking a soldier's sword,
he laid it down beside a New Testament. li And now," he
said, " choose, my son, between these two."
Martius did not hesitate ; he laid hold at once of the Word
of God.
" You have done well, my- son/' said the faithful pastor.
" Hold fast by him whom you have chosen, and you shall soon
enjoy him for ever. He will strengthen you for all that re-
mains, and you shall depart in peace."
The remaining time was spent, we may believe, in earnest
exhortation and solemn prayer. When the three hours were
past, he was again summoned to. the bar. He boldly con-
fessed his faith in Christ, was condemned, and beheaded. His
name will ever be remembered with honor as one of " the noble
army of martyrs " who sealed their testimony with their blood.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 203
WHAT IT COST HIM.
For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose him-
self, or be cast away? Luke 9 : 25.
' "TT7HAT is the value of this estate ? " said a gentleman to
T V another, with whom he was riding, as they passed a
fine mansion, surrounded by fair and fertile fields.
" I don't know what it is valued at ; I know .what it cost
its late possessor."
" How much ? "
" His soul ! "
A solemn pause followed this brief answer, for the in-
quirer had not sought first the kingdom of God and his right-
eousness.
The person referred to was the son of a pious laboring man.
Early in life he professed faith in Christ, and he soon obtained
a subordinate position in a mercantile establishment in the
city. He continued to maintain a reputable religious pro-
fession till he became a partner in the firm. Labor then in-
creased. He gave less attention to religion, and more and
more to his business, and the cares of the world choked the
word. Ere he became old, he was exceedingly rich in money,
but so poor and miserly in soul, that none who knew him would
have suspected that he had ever borne the sacred name of
Him, who said, " It is more blessed to give than to receive."
At length he purchased the large landed estate referred to,
built him a costly mansion, sickened, and died. Just before
he died, he remarked, " My prosperity has been my ruin."
0, what a price for which to barter away immortal joy and
everlasting life ! yet how many do it. " When I have finished
this house," said one man, " then I will seek the Lord."
" Years afterward," said the narrator, " I passed that way ;
the house was not finished, but the man was dead ! "
" What, shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul ? Or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8 : 36, 37.)
204 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS,
HONOR TO CHRIST NOT TO BE DIVIDED.
And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son :
hear him. Luke 9 : 35.
ONE says, " I have religion, and there is a Christ in it ; for I
worship Nature, and he is the God of Nature." This kind
of worship is too much mixed ; there should be no Nature in
it. Another says, " I have religion ; I bow before great and
good men," and places Jesus beside Aristotle and Confucius.
That will not do ; Jesus must be alone. No glorified being
can stand beside him. Peter was ambitious for the Master's
comfort on the mount of transfiguration ; he said, " Let us
make three tabernacles ; one for thee, one for Moses, and one
for Elias/' But hear the rebuke from the clouds : " This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him.' 7
Nothing said about Moses and Elias. Hear my Son ; attend
to Jesus ; he is all in all. Ask the man of this world what he
thinks of Christ, and he will answer the question according to
his age in sin ; varying all the way from veneration to blas-
phemy. Ask the humblest saint a similar question, and he
begins to meditate. He can hardly give an answer ; there is
so much implied in the inquiry that his best chosen words
were a puerile means of conveying his thoughts. He may
weep, and think of the time when
" Darkly the pall of sin was cast
Around me, faint with terror;
In that dread hour how did my groans
Ascend for deeds of error ! "
Eev. Wilson Gray.
VALUE OF A SINGLE TRACT.
And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. Luke 9 : 43.
IN attempting to cross a river in America, Dr. Coke missed
the ford, and got into deep water; but by catching hold of
a bough, reached dry land in safety. After drying his clothes
in the sun, he met a man who directed him to the nearest vil-
lage, telling him to inquire for a good lady's house, where he
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 205
received all the kindness and attention she could show him.
The next morning the doctor took leave of his kind hostess,
and proceeded on his journey. After a lapse of five years, he
happened to be in America again. As he was on his way to
one of the provincial conferences, in company with about thirty
other persons, a young man requested the favor of being
allowed to converse with him ; and on asking him if he recol-
lected being in such a part of America about five years ago,
he replied in the affirmative. " And do you recollect, sir, in
attempting to cross the river, being nearly drowned ? " "I re-
member it quite well." " And do you recollect going to the
house of a widow lady at such a village ? " "I remember it
well," said the doctor; " and never shall I forget the kindness
which she showed me." " And do you remember, when you
loft, leaving a tract at that lady's house ? " "I do not recollect
that," said the doctor ; " but it is very possible I might do so."
" Yes, sir," said the young man, "you did leave there a tract,
which that lady read, and the Lord blessed the reading of it
to the conversion of her soul ; it was also the means of the
conversion of several of her children and neighbors, and there
is now in that village a little flourishing society."
The tears of the good doctor showed something of the feel-
ings of his heart. The young man resumed : " I have not, sir,
quite told you all.- I am one of that lady's children, and owe
my conversion to God to the gracious influence with which
he accompanied the reading of that tract to my mind, and I
am now, Dr. Coke, on my way to conference as a traveling
preacher."
HUMILITY AND TRUTH.
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent,
and hast revealed them unto babes : even so, Father ; for so it seemed .good
in thy sight. Luke 10 : 21.
" ITIHERE are some truths," says Dr. Tayler Lewis, " which
JL only a very low position will enable us to see at all.
Among these is the very sublimity of the declaration that most
206 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
emphatically announces it to man : * I thank thee, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes :
even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.' All boast-
ing here, all proud talk of ' high views/ and ' wide views,'
and l lofty culture,' all that babbling of 'sweetness and
light ' we hear from men whose style and language show that
they have never known anything of a humbling Christian
experience, are more blinding than the densest physical or
mental darkness. To this region of contemplation belongs the
true knowledge of the human soul in its relation to a divine
law the awful conclusions that inevitably follow from the bare
thought that the infinite God is not indifferent to human moral
action: the immeasurable difference between a moral and re-
ligious theism and one that is merely theoretical ; all, in short,
that pertains to sin and holiness those two words of dread
significance so utterly unknown to any systems of science or
philosophy. To the student in this department of truth, the
first and indispensable sfep is humility. We only follow the
highest authority in saying that here the first duty of man is
to look down, to look to the deep world within, if he can bear
1 to cast his dizzy eyes so low,' ' to turn away his eyes from
beholding vanities,' and, as Christ commands him, become as a
little child, that he may ' enter into the kingdom of heaven.'
" There is now prevalent, even in the church, a style of
literature and literary oratory full of ideas the very reverse
of this. Its talk is of ' high views,' and < wide views,' and ' en-
larged conceptions,' and < lofty aspirations.' Our leading peri-
odicals are full of it. Especially at our collegiate anniversaries
is this language heard : ' Aim high,' ' strike out,' 'keep in ad-
vance of this rapidly advancing age.' Many of the addresses
to our young men on such occasions are but endless repetitions
of these cant phrases, with variations and modulations into
every conceivable key. But should we not have aims and
loft}- aspirations? Is it not right to tell our young men to
' Orient themselves,' as some of our Eastern sages are fond of
saying? There may be truth in such language there is
truth in it but turned to the direst falsehood by its sad mis-
timing. There may be a time to say, ' Look up,' l aim high,'
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 207
( make your mark/ ' strike out loftily ; ' but our social and
political experience, to say nothing of anything religious,
should be sufficient to convince us that some other instruction,
and of a very different style, is first needed."
INFIDELITY DOES NOT KNOW.
All things are delivered to me of my Father : and no man knoweth who the
Son is, but the Father ; and who the Father is, hut the Son, and he to whom
the Son will reveal him. Luke 10 : 22.
WALKING one day in the village where I was laboring, I
met a man who 1 knew openly avowed himself an infi-
del. After the usual salutations, I said to him,
" Well, Mr. B., what is the condition of your soul this morn-
ing ?"
His answer was,
" ! I am an infidel."
" I know that, Mr. B. ; but as a man of reflection, who un-
derstands what infidelity is, you will not pretend to me that
you know the Bible is not the Word of God."
After a few moments' reflection, he replied,
" I acknowledge that I do not know that it is not, but I do
not believe it is."
" Well, Mr. B., if the Bible should not be the Word of God,
can you be sure that there will not be just such a state of retri-
bution beyond the grave as the Bible describes?"
" No, I am sure of nothing beyond the grave, but I do not
believe there will be any retribution."
" Then, Mr. B., your reason compels you to admit that you
cannot know, but, living and dying as you are, you will go to
hell, and be as miserable there to all eternity, as the Saviour
represented the rich man to be."
" It is true, I can be certain of nothing beyond the grave,
whether I shall exist at all there, or'if I do, what will be my
condition is a mere, matter of conjecture."
" Keep this in mind, Mr. B., when you lie down and when
you rise up, that you do not know but you shall go to hell
when you die ; and if you can rest with the possibility of sucli
208 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
a dreadful end, your mind is differently constituted from
mine/'
We parted, and he went about his business ; but, as I after-
ward learned, never enjoyed any peace until he indulged a
hope in Christ.
In a few weeks he united with the Baptist church.
Infidels do not reflect how baseless their scheme is. It
keeps them from the consolations of a hope of a blessed im-
mortality, and gives them nothing in return. Surely their
rock is not our rock, our enemies themselves being judges.
Wisner's "Incidents."
DO-NOTHING RELIGION.
And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right : this do, and thou shalt
live. Luke 10 : 28.
IN these latter days of ease from persecution, a profession of
religion may be made, and a decent outside may be pre-
served, without much cost. There is one class of professors,
and that by no means a small one, made up of those who have
received a religious education, have been trained up to an
outward conformity to the precepts of the gospel, who ab-
stain from the open follies and corruptions of the world, but
remain quite satisfied with a negative religion.
They do not profane the Sabbath.
They do not neglect the ordinances of God's house.
They do not live without a form of prayer.
They do not take the holy name of God in vain.
They do not defraud their neighbor.
They do not neglect the poor and needy.
They do not run a round of gayety and folly.
They are not seen on the race-ground.
They do not frequent the theatre.
They do not take their place at the card-table.
They do not appear in- scenes of riot and dissipation.
They are not drunkards.
They are not swearers.
They do not bring up their children without some regard to
religion.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 209
They do not cast off the fear of God.
But they do not love him.
They do not experience his love shed abroad in the heart.
They do not enjoy vital, heartfelt religion.
They do not give God their hearts.
They do not delight themselves in him.
They do not esteem his Word more than their necessary
food.
They do not love his habitation, and the place where his
honor dwelleth, though they attend it.
They do not enjoy the peace of God which passeth all under-
standing.
They are not the temples of the Holy Ghost.
They are not habitations of God through the Spirit.
They have not passed from death unto life.
They are not new creatures in Christ Jesus.
They have not been translated from the kingdom of dark-
ness.
They are not born again ; consequently cannot enter into
the kingdom of God.
0, that such would now stop and examine their hearts and
their hopes ; and let them seek the Lord while he may be
found, and call upon him while he is near.
NEW TESTAMENT PARABLES.
And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and
wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Luke 10 : 30.
A LATE traveler, Mr. Stanley, draws attention to one* im-
1JL portant consideration commonly overlooked in the study
of the gospel history ; that, whereas the first three Gospek
turn almost exclusively upon the ministry of our Lord in
Galilee, that of St. John turns almost entirely upon his minis-
trations in Judea. The consideration is important, not only
as explaining some of the divergences between the two sets
of narratives ; as, for instance, the omission in what we may call
the " Galilean " Gospels of the miracle of the raising of Lazarus,
27
210 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
which took place in Judea, and on the other side, the omission
in the " Judean " gospel of St. John of the histories of the
demoniacs, whose peculiar habitat was around the shores of
the Lake of Galilee ; but also as illustrating many of the cir-
cumstances, and even somewhat of the character, of the teach-
ing recorded in each. And this is peculiarly observable in
the two classes into which the parables of the gospel are dis-
tinctly divisible. Some parables, it is true, contain no dis-
tinctive allusions proper to any locality ; but certain of them
are plainly Judean ; certain others are as clearly referable to
Galilee. Thus, to take the beautiful parable of the Good
Samaritan, which appears to have been spoken on the way to
Bethany, we are forcibly reminded of its appropriateness by
the still traceable characteristics of the locality. We still see
the " long descent of three thousand feet by which the traveler
went down from Jerusalem, on its high table-land, to Jericho
in the Jordan valley." From this valley we might even still
expect to see issuing the Bedouin " robbers," who to this day
make it impossible for the pilgrim to pass without a Turkish
guard, and who still, as in the days of the parable, fall upon
the traveler, strip him naked, beat him severely, and leave
him to die. To this day it is only " by chance " that, on that
unfrequented road, the aid of a passing traveler could be
hoped for; and of the three " passers by " of the parable, two
at least were just those whose presence would be most natural
in that locality the priest and the Levite going or return-
ing between the two sacerdotal cities of Jericho and Jerusa-
lem, while the solitary Samaritan might also be expected,
if at all within the Jewish border, upon the great thorough-
fare between two such stations. The " inn " of the gospel
might still be almost identified in a rude hospice which stands
on the mountain side, about half way between Jerusalem and
Jericho.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 211
GO YE AND DO LIKEWISE.
Which now of those throe, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell
among the thieves? And lie said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said
Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. Luke 10 : 36, 37.
WE commend the following to those wives and sisters who
are anxious to do work for the Master. None can do
such work so well as they.
" A lady of good social position in Cleveland, Ohio, while on
her way to a meeting of the Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion, saw, as she passed a beer saloon, a young man about to
raise a glass of liquor to his lips. Following instantly the mo-
tion of the Spirit would that Christians always did this !
she left her companion at the entrance, and stepping in, said
to the youth,
" l 0, my friend, stop ; don't touch it ! "
" Startled by the appearance of a well-dressed lady in such
a place, he turned, and asked,
" ' What brings you here ? '
" l To save you from ruin/ she replied.
" ' What do you want of me ? ' he again asked, confused by
the unexpectedness of the scene.
" 1 1 want you to let me take your arm, and go with you
to the Young Men's Christian Association meeting," she
answered.
" ' But you will be ashamed to walk with me,' he said.
" ' Not in the least ; I would be rejoiced to go there with
you,' she replied.
" Unable to resist her persuasive manner and heartfelt
interest in his welfare, the young man left the untouched
glass, and went to the meeting. Here prayer was specially
made for him, and her act of immediate obedience resulted in
his conversion. He became not only a Christian, but one of
the most active workers for the gospel in Cleveland."
212 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE ONE THING NEEDFUL.
But one thing is needful ; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which
shall not be taken .away from her. Luke 10 : 42.
" T REMEMBER/' says the Rev. George Burder, " a woman
JL whose house was on fire. She was very active in re-
moving her goods, but forgot her child who was sleeping in
the cradle. At length she remembered the babe, and ran
with earnest desire to save it. But, alas ! it was too late, the
suffocating smoke and roaring flames forced her back : and in
agony, which none but a bereaved mother knows, she ex-
claimed, i 0, my child, my child ! I have saved my goods, but
I have lost my child ! ' !
So it will be with many a one at the last, who, " careful and
troubled about many things," has forgotten his soul.
I got a good trade, will one say, but lost my soul ; I got
office, will another say, but lost my soul ; I got friends, but
God is mine enemy ; I got pleasure, but now I am in pain ; I
got the world, but, alas ! I am now in hell, too poor, too help-
less to obtain a drop of water to cool my parched tongue !
The loss, of the soul is a loss irreparable. Other losses may
be repaired, but there is no second soul for him who has lost
one. Reader, take care of thy soul first, other matters after-
ward ; for though the body dies, the soul lives. And now,
if ever, it must be saved. " Now/ 7 emphatically, " is the ac-
cepted time/' and " now is the day of salvation."
ST, CHRYSOSTOM'S VIEW OF PRAYER.
And it came to pass, that as he was praying in a certain place, when he
ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John
also taught his disciples. Luke 11:1.
T)RAYER is an all-efficient panoply; a treasure undimin-
JL ished ; a mine which never is exhausted ; a sky unob-
scured by clouds ; a haven unruffled by the storm ; it is the
root, the fountain, and the mother of a thousand blessings. I
speak not of the prayer which is cold and feeble, and devoid
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 213
of energy ; I speak of that which is the child of a contrite
spirit, the offspring of a soul converted, born in a blaze of
unutterable inspiration, and winged, like lightning, for the
skies.
The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire ; it
hath bridled the rage of lions ; hushed anarchy to rest ; ex-
tinguished wars ; appeased the elements ; expelled demons j
burst the chains of death ; expanded the gates of heaven ; as-
suaged diseases ; repelled frauds ; rescued cities from destruc-
tion ; it hath stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the
progress of the thunderbolt ; in a word, it hath destroyed
whatever is an enemy to man. I again repeat, that I speak
not of the prayer engendered by the lips ; but of that which
ascends from the recesses of the heart. Assuredly, there is
nothing more potent than it ; yea, there is nothing comparable
to it. A monarch vested in gorgeous habiliments is far less
illustrious than a kneeling suppliant ennobled and adorned
by communion with his God. Consider how august a privi-
lege it is, when angels are present, and archangels throng
around ; when cherubim and seraphim encircle with their ,
blaze the throne ; that a mortal may approach with unre-
strained confidence, and converse with heaven's dread Sov-
ereign ! 0, what honor was ever conferred like this ! When
a Christian stretches forth his hands and invokes his God, in
that moment he leaves behind him all terrestrial pursuits, and
traverses on the wings of intellect the realms of life ! he con-
templates celestial objects only, and knows not of the present
state of things during the period of his prayer ; provided that
prayer be breathed with fervency. Could we but pray with
fervency ; could we pray with a soul resuscitated, a mind
awakened, an understanding quickened, then were Satan to
appear, he would instantaneously fly ; were the gates of hell to
yawn upon us, they would close again.
Prayer at once secures the continuance of our blessings,
and dissipates the cloud of our calamities. 0, prayer ! 0,
blessed prayer ! Thou art the unwearied conqueror of human
woes ; the firm foundation of human happiness ; the source of
ever-during joy ; the mother of philosophy ! The man who
can pray truly, though languishing in extremest indigence, is
214 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
richer than all beside j while the wretch who never bowed the
knee, though proudly seated as monarch of the nations, is of
all men most destitute.
Let us, then, direct our thoughts to Him that was poor, yet
rich ; rich because he was poor. Let us overlook the enjoy-
ments of the present, and desire the blessing of the future ;
for so shall we obtain the blessings of the present and the
future. ! may we all obtain them through the grace and
beneficence of Christ our Lord ; to whom, with the Father and
the Holy Spirit, be ascribed all glory, now and for evermore !
Amen.
"DELIVER US FROM EVIL."
And forgive us our sins ; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to
us. And lead us not into temptation ; but deliver us from evil. Luke 11:4.
SOME years ago, a good missionary in the Island of Jamaica,
went a long journey to visit a sick friend, and staid so
late that it was nearly dark when he set out on his way home.
He knew that the road was very dangerous, with frightful
precipices at the side. How could he escape falling over
them in the dark ? His friend offered him a pony, but he
thought he had better go on foot. And how do you think
God protected and delivered him? He did not send an angel,
as we often read of in the Bible, but a little insect, which he
made answer the purpose as well. A beautiful fly in that
country, called the Candle Fly, shines at night almost as
brightly as a lamp. One of these small creatures kept hover-
ing close to the missionary during all the bad part of the road,
arid gave him light till he had got past the danger. And often
afterward, he says, he has taken hope and courage in other
times of trouble, by recollecting how God protected him by
the candle fly.
Keep us in thy holy keeping,
Day by day our goings guide ;
Guard in school, at home, or sleeping,
Let no evil e'er betide.
Friend of children !
Still in Thee we will confide.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 215
IMPORTUNITY IN PRAYER.
I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his
friend, yet because of his importunity lie will rise and give him as many as he
needcth. Luke 11:8.
/CAPTAIN L.,in one of his journeys across the Isthmus from
\J the Gulf of Nicoyo in the Pacific to the Atlantic, took up
his lodging for a night in a venta, or country house on a
mountain, midway between the two seas. The house had a
good door to it, which is not very usual in that part of the
country, and which after dark was closed and barred. About
midnight a severe knocking was heard, and the landlord de-
manded a reason from the intruder, who requested to be ac-
commodated with a lodging and food for himself and cattle.
He was stoutly refused, and as stoutly did he persist in knock-
ing ; but was again told that it could not be afforded.
Captain L., a very consistent Christian, lying in his bed and
listening to what was going on, secretly wished that the party
outside would continue their knocking; and sure enough, it
was not only continued, but with increased earnestness, and
a strong appeal in behalf of the exhausted state of himself and
his cattle, declaring that they must die if they could get no
nourishment before morning. The landlord declared he could
not open to him, for that he and his family were all in bed.
Now the traveler became more boldly importunate in his
knocking and appeals, when the landlord .rose, and said, " For
you and your cattle I do not care ; yet if I do not let you in, I
shall get no rest, nor will my family." Thus the exhausted
travelers were accommodated and nourished ; the whole cir-
cumstance affording an admirable comment on the parable in
which our Lord teaches the advantage to be obtained by a holy
importunate prayer.
PIGALLE'S ALMS-GIVING.
But rather give alms of such things as ye have ; and, behold, all things are
clean unto you. Luke 11 : 41.
T)IGALLE, the celebrated artist, was a man of great hu-
jL inanity. Intending, on a particular occasion, to make a
216 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
journey, he laid by twelve pounds to defray his expenses.
But a little before the time proposed for his setting out, he
observed a man walking with strong marks of deep-felt sor-
row in his countenance and deportment. Pigalle, impelled
by the feelings of a benevolent heart, accosted him, and in-
quired, with much tenderness, whether it was in his power
to afford him any relief. The stranger, impressed with the
manner of this friendly address, did not hesitate to lay open
his distressed situation.
" For want of ten pounds," said he, " I must be dragged this
evening to a prison, and be separated from a tender wife and
a numerous family."
" Do you want no more ? " exclaimed the humane artist.
" Come along with me : I have twelve pounds in my trunk,
and they are all at your service."
The next day a friend of PigahVs met him, and inquired
whether it was true that he had, as publicly reported, very
opportunely relieved a poor man and his family from the great-
est distress.
" Ah, my friend ! " said Pigalle, " what a delicious supper did
I make last night, upon bread and cheese, with a family whose
tears of -gratitude marked the goodness of their hearts, and
who blessed me at every mouthful they ate ! "
FEAR THE SEXTON.
And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body,
and after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom
ye shall fear : Fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into
hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. Luke 12:4, 5.
NOT many years ago, a clergyman on a journey stopped to
spend a Sabbath in a small village, where there was no
church edifice, but where he soon found that the Universalists
had been preaching in the school-house for some time past.
Two or three preachers of that persuasion were still in the
village, some public meeting connected with their cause hav-
ing called them there.
The traveling clergyman succeeded in obtaining the use
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 217
of the house for a part of the day, and gave out word that he
would preach. The people came together, not knowing what
they should hear, but most of them being inclined to Uni-
versalism.
He took his text, Luke 12 : 4, 5 : -
" And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that
kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do ;
but I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear : Fear him, which
after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell ; yea, I say
unto you, Fear him."
He then went on to say that there were two opinions as to
the meaning of the word " hell " in this passage. One opinion
i.s, that it means a place of torment into which the wicked will
be cast after the death of the body. But the other opinion is,
that the word means the grave. On this latter opinion it is
very evident, he said, whom we are warned in these words
to fear: " Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and have
no more that they can do. But I forewarn you whom you
shall fear : Fear him, which, after he hath killed, hath power
to cast into the grave ; yea, I say unto you, fear him ! " Fear
not the assassin, who comes armed with a deadly weapon ; he
can only kill the body ; but, 0, my friends, I warn you whom
to fear : fear him who has power to cast your murdered body
into the grave ; yea, I say unto you, fear the Sexton !
He then proceeded with a very simple but pointed dis-
course in defense of the gospel, and in opposition to the doc-
trines of the false teachers that were misleading the people,
and showed them that the Bible must be full of just such non-
sense as he had made of this passage, if there were any truth
in Universalism.
A plain man, one of his hearers, remarked on coming out,
that this unknown preacher by a single stroke had demolished
all that the Universalists had done in all their previous labors
in that vicinity. Abednego.
28
218 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
A BEAUTIFUL INCIDENT.
But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not there-
fore : ye are of more value than many sparrows. Luke 12 : 7.
T ET the world imagine to itself a magnificent deity, whose
Jj government is only general. We adhere to the Lord God
of Elijah, and rejoice in his providential superintendence of the
smallest affairs.
And this God still liveth, a living Saviour, who is always
to be found of them that seek him, and is nigh unto them that
call upon him. Mighty hosts are encamped about his servants,
and when he saith, " Come,' 7 they come, or " Go," they go. And
there has been no end to his wonderful providence, even to the
present day. Who else was it but the Lord God of Elijah,
who, but a short time since, in our very midst, so kindly de-
livered a poor man out of his distress, not, indeed, by a raven,
but a poor little fugitive singing bird ? You are all well ac-
quainted with the circumstance. The poor man Avas sitting
at his front door early in the morning, his eyes red with weep-
ing, and his heart crying to heaven ; for he was expecting an
officer, that very day. to come and sell his property for a small
debt which he could not pay. While sitting thus, with a
heavy heart, a little bird flew through the street, fluttering
up and down as if in distress, until at length, quick as an
arrow, it flew over the good man's head into his cottage, and
perched itself upon an empty cupboard. The good man, little
imagining who had sent him the bird, closed the door, caught
the bird and put it in a cage, where it immediately began to
sing very sweetly, and it seemed to him as if it were singing
the tune of a favorite hymn, namely, " Fear thou not when
darkness reigns ; " and as he listened to it, he found himself
much soothed and comforted by its melody.
Suddenly a knock is heard at the door. "Ah, it is the
officer," thought the poor man, and arose to open it with fear
and trembling. But no, it was the servant of a respectable
lady. He said that the neighbors had seen a bird fly. into his
house, and he wished to know if he had caught it.
" 0, yes," answered the poor man, " and here it is."
In a few minutes the servant returned, and said, " You have
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 219
done my mistress a great service, for she sets a high value
upon this bird. She is much obliged to you, and requests you
to accept this trifle with her thanks."
The poor man received it thankfully, and it proved to be
neither more nor less than the very sum for which he was
sued.
Soon after the officer came ; the poor man handed him the
money, saying, u Here is your money, God has sent it ; now
leave me in peace." Dr. F. W. Krummacher.
THE SIN OF COVETOUSNESS.
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousncss : for a
man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
Luke 12: 15.
nOVETOUSNESS was the first sin of the Jewish church in
\J Canaan, and the first sin of the Christian church also. The
heinousness of the sin may be inferred from the quick and
awful penalty visited upon the offenders, Achan in the one
case, and Ananias and Sapphira in the other. At the bidding
of Mammon the temple was profaned, so that Christ had to
drive out the buyers and sellers from its sacred precincts ;
and the same imperious master impelled Judas to. sell his and
all men's only rightful Master for thirty pieces of silver. All
along the ages the love of money has been enervating and cor-
rupting the church. " Each one," says Cyprian, as early as
the middle of the third century, " each one studies to increase
his patrimony ; and forgetting what the faithful did in apos-
tolic times, or what they ought always to do, their great pas-
sion is an insatiable desire of enlarging their fortunes." For
money the Romish church gave dispensations from sins com-
mitted, and indulgences for sins intended ; and even resorted
to the shrewd expedient of creating an imaginary purgatory,
from which the jingle of sufficient gold dropped into her
strong box can release the souls of the departed. For money
the " livings " in the Church of England are recklessly bar-
tered, and " the cure of souls " turned into a farce. And
everywhere the church is hampered in its beneficent work by
the spirit of Mammon. Rev. C. D. Foss.
220 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE MISER.
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of
thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?
Luke 12 : 20.
are but few examples of ruined and lost men worse
J_ than that of the miser. He is lost to personal happiness
and noble enjoyment. He is lost to usefulness in the world
where he has accumulated his riches ; for, whether much
or little, he holds them with the grasp of a dying man. Ho
is lost for the world to come, for, like that New Testament
miser, called by the Lord " Thou fool," he is " not rich toward
God." Having made a god of this world, he will appear at
the judgment day an idolater of the basest sort. He is an
offender against God and the highest law of the universe - the
law of love. A worldly avariciousness leads on to covetous-
ness, and covetousness produces such a, morbid condition of
the soul, that miserliness comes on as an advanced stage of
the disease of selfishness ; a moral disease, self-induced. The
miser cannot shield himself, in the day of final account, by
claiming that he was honest in getting his riches ; for the law
which says, " Thou shalt not steal," says also, in a later en-
actment, "Give, and it shall be given unto you." (St. Luke
6 : 38.) This later command for acts of beneficence is as
binding as that earlier prohibitive command of the decalogue.
The brotherhood of mankind disallows any one to live only
for self. Talk of a miser being honest, when the poor and needy
about him suffer for food and shelter ! 'Tis false ; he only is
honest, who obeys the law of God in distributing as well as in
accumulating. The personal wretchedness of the miser is
part punishment for the wickedness of a life wholly given up
to getting and keeping. Rowland Hill, that faithful servant
of God, once said in a sermon, " Had I my way I would hang
all misers, but the reverse of the common mode. 1 would
hang them up by the heels, that their money might run out of
their pockets, and make a famous scramble for you to pick up
and put in the plates."
There was a certain nobleman who kept a fool, or merry-
man, to whom he one day gave a staff, with a charge to keep
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 221
it till he should meet with one who was a greater fool than
himself. Not many years after the nobleman fell sick, even
unto death, when the fool came to see him. The sick lord said
to him, " I must shortly leave you/'
" And whither are you going? " said the fool.
" Into another world," replied his lordship.
" And when will you come again ? Within a month ? "
" No."
"Within a year?"
" No."
" When then ? "
" Never."
" Never ! " said the fool ; " and what provision hast thou
made for thy entertainment whither thou goest ? "
" None at all."
" No ! " said the fool, " none at all ? Here, then, take my
staff; for, with all my folly, I am not guilty of such folly as
this." Bishop Nail
DEATH-BED TESTIMONY AGAINST AVARICIOUSNESS.
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
Luke 12 : 21.
THE New York Daily Star says that the following occurred
in New York recently :
" A gentleman died last week, at his residence in one of our
lip-town fashionable streets, leaving eleven million dollars.
He was a member of the Presbyterian church, in excellent
standing, a good husband and father, and a thrifty citizen. On
his death-bed, lingering long, he suffered great agony of mind,
and gave continued expression to his remorse for what his
conscience told him had been an ill-spent life. <0! T he ex-
claimed, and his weeping friends and relations gathered about
his bed < ! if I could only live my years over again. ! if
I could only be spared for a few years, I would give all the
wealth I have amassed in a lifetime. It is a life devoted to
money-getting that I regret. It is this which weighs me down,
and makes me despair of the life hereafter ! ' His clergyman
222 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
endeavored to soothe him, but he turned his face to the wall.
1 You have never reproved my avaricious spirit/ he said to the
minister. ' You have called it a wise economy and forethought,
but I now know that riches have been only a snare for my
poor soul ! I would give all I possess to have hope for my
poor soul ! ' In this sad state of mind, refusing to be con-
soled, this poor rich man bewailed a life devoted to the mere
acquisition of riches. Many came away from the bedside im-
pressed with the uselessness of such an existence as the
wealthy man had spent, adding house to house, and dollar to
dollar, until he became a millionaire. He would have given
all his wealth for a single hope of heaven."
A smaller sum may prove the ruin of others.
TRUSTING IN GOD'S PROVIDENCE.
Consider the ravens : for they neither sow nor reap : which neither have
store-house, nor barn ; and God fcedeth them. How much more are ye better
than the fowls? Luke 12 : 24.
MR. JOHN NOSWORTH Y, M. A., a Non-conformist minister,
ejected from Ippleden, in Devonshire, was several times
reduced to great straits ; but he encouraged himself in the
Lord his God, and exhorted his wife to do the same. Nor was
it in vain. Once, when he and his family had breakfasted, and
had nothing left for another meal, his wife lamented their con-
dition, and said, " What shall I do with my poor children ? "
He persuaded her to walk abroad with them ; and, seeing a
little bird, said to her, " Take notice how that bird sits and
chirps, though we cannot tell whether it has been at breakfast ;
and if it has, it certainly knows not whither to go for a dinner.
Therefore, be of good cheer, and do not distrust the provi-
dence of God ; for, are we not better than many sparrows ? "
Before dinner-time they had plenty of provision brought
them.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 223
UNCLE JOHNSON BOUND FOR CANAAN.
Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning ; and ye yourselves
like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding :
that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
Luke 12 : 35, 36.
UNCLE JOHNSON was a pious old slave of the family of
President Harrison, who was made free at the age of one
hundred years. A friend of his for many years gives the fol-
lowing account : " One day, while at work in his garden,
singing and shouting, I said, ' You seem happy to-day.' l Yes,
massa ; I'se jus' thinking ' and then his emotions prevented
further utterance ' I'se jus' thinking dat if de crumbs dat
fell from de Master's table in dis world am so good, what will
de great loaf in glory be ? I tells ye, massa, dar will be 'nuflf
an' to spare dere.' At another time, when he seemed very
happy, and I heard him shout, ' Lord Jesus, will dere be one
for me?' I said, ( You are having a good time to-day?' He
answered, ' massa ! I was meditatin' 'bout Jesus bein' de
carpenter ; an' so he can make mansions for his people in
glory.' And then, with uplifted face, and with tears, he cried
out, 4 Jesus! will dere be one for me?' Once, after he
had been ill for a few days, I said, * Uncle Johnson, I thought
your appointed time had about come.' ' 0, yes, massa ! one
day I fought I could see de dust ob de chariot comin' ober de
mountains ; and den ' something said, " Hold on, Johnson, a
little longer; I'll come around directly." Yes; an' I will
hold on another hundred years, for I'm bound for Canaan.'
One day Rev. Dr. H. called on him. At parting, the doctor
said, ' Well, Uncle Johnson, I must go ; ' and then, taking him
by the hand, said, i Good by : I shall probably hear soon that
you have gone over Jordan, but we will follow on.' The old
man replied, l Yes, massa ; a great many years ago, young
men like you tell me dat ; an' 'den, after a bit, I'd hear dey ha'
gone, an' I'm a pilgrim yet ; but I always manages to send
word.' * Well, if I should die first, what word would you
send?' said Dr. H. ''0, massa! if you get home to glory
afore I do' (weeping), 'tell 'em to keep de table standing for
Johnson is holding on his way.' " A true faith and a rich
experience.
224 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
MAKING MOCK OF DIVINE THINGS.
I tell you, Nay : but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luke 13 : 3.
IN the days of Whitefield, Thorpe, one of his most violent
opponents, and three others, laid a wager who could best
imitate and ridicule Whitefield's preaching. Each was to open
the Bible at random, and preach an extempore sermon from
the first verse that presented itself. Thorpe's three com-
petitors each went through the game with impious buffoonery.
Then, stepping upon the table, Thorpe exclaimed, " I shall
beat you all." They gave him the Bible, and by God's inscru-
table providence his eye fell first upon this verse, " Except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish" He read the words, but
the sword of the Spirit went through his soul in a moment,
and lie preached as one who scarce knew what he said. The
hand of God laid hold upon him, and intending to mock, he
could only fear and tremble. When he descended from the
table, a profound silence reigned in the company, and not one
word was said concerning the wager. Thorpe instantly with-
drew, and after a season of the deepest distress, passed into
the full light of the gospel, and became a most successful
preacher of its grace. Illustrative Gatherings.
CHRIST'S TEACHING ON UNIVERSALISM.
Then said one unto liim, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said
unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate : for many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in, and shall not be able. Luke 13 : 23, 24.
ON one occasion during our Saviour's ministry, the question
was put to him, " Lord, are there few that be saved ? "
If Christ had been preaching the final salvation of all men, it
is strange that such a question should have been proposed to
him. Yet he manifested no surprise at it. He did not
reprove or correct the inquirer for having dishonored the
goodness of God by the supposition that any would be finally
lost. He did not refer him to his past teachings to learn that
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 225
all would be saved. Nor did Christ then advance the doctrine
of universal salvation. Never had he a better opportunity.
The question was directly to that point, Are there few that
be saved? What did he answer? Did he say, all men shall
be saved ? Did he even say, many the great majority of
mankind shall be saved ? Did he say, a just and benevolent
God will never punish any after this life ? His answer was,
" Strive to enter in at the strait gate," that is, agonize to
enter heaven by an incessant warfare with sin, " for many, I
say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.' 7
Whoever may preach universal salvation, and upon whatever
authority, certain it is that Christ preached no such doctrine.
THOMAS PAINE SILENCED.
And they could not answer him again to these things. Luke 14 : 6.
ONE very warm evening, about twenty years ago, passing
the house where Thomas boarded, the lower window was
open, and seeing him sitting close by, and being on speakable
terms, I stepped in for a half hour's chat ; seven or eight of
his friends were also present, whose doubts, and his own, he
was laboring to remove by a long talk about the story of
Joshua commanding the sun and moon to stand still, &c., and
concluded by denouncing the Bible as the worst of books, and
that it had occasioned more mischief and bloodshed than any
book ever printed, and was believed only by fools and de-
signing knaves, &c. Here he paused, and while he was
replenishing the tumbler with his favorite brandy and water,
a person, who I afterwards found was an intruder like myself,
asked Mr. Paine if he ever was in Scotland ? The answer
was, yes. So have I been, continues the speaker ; arid the Scotch
are the greatest bigots with the Bible I ever met; it is their
school-book ; their houses and churches are furnished with
Bibles, and if they travel but a few miles from home, their
Bible is always their companion ; yet, continued the speaker,
in no country where I have traveled have I seen the people
so comfortable and happy ; their poor are not in such abject
poverty as I have seen in other countries ; by their bigoted
29
226 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
custom of going to church on Sundays, they save the wages
which they earn through the week, which in other countries
that I have visited is generally spent by mechanics and other
young men in taverns and frolics on Sundays ; and of all the
foreigners who land on our shores, none are so much sought
after for servants, and to fill places where trust is reposed, as
the Scotch ; you rarel} 7 find them in taverns, the watch-house,
almshouse, bridewell, or state prison. Now, says he, if the
Bible is so bad a book, those who use it most would be the
worst of people ; but the reverse is the case. This was a
sort of argument Paine was not prepared to answer, and an
historical fact which could not be denied, so, without saying
a word, he lifted a candle from the table, and walked up stairs ;
his disciples slipped out one by one, and left the speaker and
T. to enjoy the scene.
COME KOW.
And sent his servant at supper-time, to say to them that were bidden, Come,
for all things are now ready. Luke 14 : 17.
" /^|OME now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord."
\J Come now; you have sinned long enough; why should
you harden your hearts by longer delay? Come now; no
season can be better. If ye tarry till you are better, ye will
never come at all. Come now ; you may never have another
warning ; the heart may never be so tender as it is to-day.
Come now ; no other eyes may ever weep over you ; no other
heart may ever agonize for your salvation. Come now, now,
noiv, for to-morrow you may never know in this world. Death
may have sealed your fate, and the once filthy may be made
filthy still. Come now ; for to-morrow thy heart may become
harder than stone, and God may give thee up. Come now ;
it is God's time ; to-morrow is the devil's time. " To-day, if
ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the
provocation, when your fathers tempted me and proved me in
the wilderness,, and saw my works." Come now. Why delay
to be happy ? Would you put off your wedding-day ? Will
you postpone the hour when you are pardoned and delivered?
TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 227
Come now ; the bowels of Jehovah yearn for you. The eye of
your Father sees you afar off, and he runs to meet you. Come
now ; the church is praying for you ; these are revival times ;
ministers are more in earnest. Come now. Is heaven a trifle,
that thou must needs lose it ? What ! is the wrath of God
which abideth on thee no reason why thou shouldst labor to
escape ? What ! is not a perfect pardon worth the having ?
Is the precious blood of Christ worthless ? Is it nothing to
thee that the Saviour should die ? Man, art thou a fool? Art
thou mad ? If thou must needs play the fool, go and sport
with thy gold and silver, but not with thy soul. Dress thy-
self like a madman, wear a mask, paint thy cheeks, walk
through the street in shame, and make a mockery of thyself,
if thou must needs play the fool ; but why cast thy soul into
hell for a joke ? Why lose thy eternal interests for a little
ease ? Be wise, man.
CONVERTED LATE IN LIFE.
And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet
there is room. Luke 14 : 22.
MR. FLAYEL, on one occasion, preached from the following
passage : " If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let
him be anathema maranatha." The discourse was unusually
solemn, particularly the explanation of the words anathema
maranatha "cursed with a curse, cursed of. God with a
bitter and grievous curse." At the conclusion of the service,
when Mr. Flavel arose to pronounce the benediction, he paused,
and said, " How shall I bless this whole assembly, when every
person in it who loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ is anathema
maranatha ? "
The solemnity of this address affected the audience, and one
gentleman, a person of rank, was so overcome by his feelings',
that he fell senseless to the floor. In the congregation was
a lad named Luke Short, then about fifteen years old, and a
native of Dartmouth, England. Soon after he went to America,
where he passed the rest of his life, first at Marblehead, and
afterwards at Middleboro', Mass.
228 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Mr. Short's life was lengthened much beyond the usual
time. When a hundred years old, he had sufficient strength
to work on his farm, and his mental faculties were very little
impaired. Hitherto he had lived in carelessness and sin ; he
was " now a sinner, an hundred years old," and apparently
ready to " die accursed." But one day, as he sat in the field,
he busied himself in reflecting on his past life. Recurring to
the events of his youth, his memory fixed upon Mr. Flavel's
discourse above alluded to, a considerable part of which he
was able to recollect. The affectionate earnestness of the
preacher's manner, the important truth he delivered, and the
effects produced on the congregation, were brought fresh to
his mind. The blessing of God accompanied his meditation ;
he felt that he had not " loved the Lord Jesus Christ ; " he
feared the dreadful " anathema ; " conviction was followed by
repentance, and at length this aged sinner obtained peace
through the blood of atonement, and was il found in the way
of righteousness." He joined the Congregational church in
Midctleboro', and to the day of his death, which took place in
his one hundred and sixteenth year, gave pleasing evidences
o"f piety.
AN INCIDENT WITH A LESSON.
And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges,
and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. Luke 14 : 23.
A YOUNG man, with a warm heart, a few weeks since
went to the weekly prayer meeting in one of our large
cities. He saw but a few present the deacon and his wife,
and here and there another, and it looked cold and forbidding,
and he thought to himself, " This is too bad," and said to a
young brother, " Let us go out and find somebody to come in."
It was a little early and they went into the street, and saw
two young men standing near, and they went directly to them,
arid saluted them in a kind and gentlemanly manner, saying to
them, u We have a prayer meeting right here in the church ;
will you not go in ? " They began to excuse themselves.
" But have you other engagements ? " it was asked. They
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 229
said no, but further objected. Finally they went in, and after
the meeting closed, the young men asked them if they had
enjoyed the meeting. They had, " one of them in particular."
"But are you a Christian?" "No; but I ought to be."
Some kind advice was given to him, and they parted ; and our
young Christian brother had nearly forgotten it, when one day
a } T oungman came to him, and asked him for his picture. Sur-
prised, he inquired, " Why do you want my picture ? " " Don't
you remember," said the other, " you invited two young men
at such a time to the prayer meeting ? " He did remember it.
" Well," said the other, " I was one of them ; and I went home
and thought of it, and it weighed upon me, and I thought over
it, and hope I have found peace in believing." And now that
young man is himself doing the very work which brought him
in, going into the streets and asking others to come to the
prayer meeting ; and who can tell the results of that one en-
deavor to fill up the prayer meeting ?
Now, the lesson is first to Christians. How seldom do they
try to induce others to go to the prayer meeting ! They com-
plain of the few there ; they feel disheartened at it ; but do
they try to remedy it ? Should they make the effort, that of
itself, if done sincerely and prayerfully, will kindle their own
hearts, would fill their minds with thought, would prompt
them to prayer, and would bring them into sympathy with the
Holy Spirit.
LOVE TO CHRIST STRONGER THAN FILIAL
RELATIONS.
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and
children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he can not be
my disciple. Luke 14 : 26.
IT was a true Christian-like speech of St. Jerome, " If my
father should stand before me, my mother should hang
upon me, my brethren should press about me, I would break
through my brethren, throw down my mother, tread under
feet my father, that I might the faster cleave unto Christ my
Saviour. 0, the surpassing love to Christ that is in a true
230 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
disciple of Christ ! Let money perish, and friends fail, the world
frown, yea, life itself vanish, Christ is better than them all.
If Christ should say to him, Take thy fill of sinful delights,
eat, drink, and be merry, solace thyself in the midst of all thy
abundance, thou shalt not perish, only thou shalt not be with
me. Not with thee, Lord Jesus ? Where then ? Then farewell
delights, farewell pomp and plenty, farewell all : I will follow
thee whithersoever thou goest, for it will certainly- be hell
where thou art not." Daniel Featly's Sermons.
THE VALUE OF CHURCHES.
Salt is good : but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be sea-
soned? Luke 14: 34.
THE value of a church is not determined by the number of
its membership, nor the wealth or fashionableness of its
worshipers, but by what it does for Christ in saving souls.
God is every day estimating churches. He puts a great
church into the scales. He puts the minister, and the choir,
and the grand structure that cost hundreds of thousands of
dollars on the same side. On the other side of the scales he
puts the idea of spiritual life that the church ought to possess,
or brotherly love, or faith, -or sympathy for the poor. Up goes
the grand meeting-house, with its minister and choir. God
says that a church is of much worth only as it saves souls ; and
if, with all your magnificent machinery, you save but a hand-
ful of men when you might save a multitude, he will spew you
out of his mouth. Weighed and found wanting !
HE RECEIVETH SINNERS.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sin-
ners, and eateth with them. Luke 15 : 2.
YES, this intercourse with the Lord Jesus requires us con-
tinually to recur to the gospel terms, on which alone we
can acquaint ourselves with God, and be at peace ; or our
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 231
spirit, especially when tried and harassed, will faint and shrink
back from the divine glory of this society. " This man re-
ceiveth sinners." Sinners no other recommendation needed.
He came into the world to call and to save sinners weary,
woful, weeping sinners ; these are the invited ones. Re-
ceived everything is contained in that; if received, then
chosen, called, pardoned, robed, renewed, smiled upon, wel-
comed, embraced, admitted to fellowship. By a Man, " the
man Christ Jesus ; " that secures fellow-feeling, power of
sympathy, acquaintance with human wants and woes. By
this Man; "the Word was made flesh." Here is the sum of
consolation, received by Emmanuel, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Good Physician,
the Saviour of the lost. Search and look if in the whole com-
pass of human distress you can find one grief this fellowship
will not assuage. " This man receiveth sinners." 0, muse
on this ; ruminate on this for hours, for you will find exhaust-
less nourishment herein.
JOY IN HEAVEN.
Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth. Luke 15 : 10.
YOU remember the occasion when the Lord met with thee.
0, little didst thou think what a commotion was in
heaven. If the queen had ordered out all her soldiers, the
angels of heaven would not have stopped to notice them. If
all the princes of earth had marched through the streets, with
all their jewelry, and robes, and crowns, and all their regalia,
their chariots, and their horsemen ; if the pomp of ancient
monarchs had risen from the tomb ; if all the mighty of Baby-
lon, and Tyre, and Greece had been concentrated in one great
parade ; yet not an angel would have stopped in his course to
smile at these poor, tawdry things ; but over you, the vilest
of the vile, the poorest of the poor, over you angelic wings
were hovering, and concerning you it was said on earth and
sung in heaven, Hallelujah, for a child is born to God to-day ! .
Spurgeon.
232 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
REASONS FOR SERVING THE LORD.
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my
fathers have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger I
Luke 15 : 17.
A YOUNG lady, a lover of pleasure, was aroused to think
of her eternal interests. She knew that the life she had
led was unworthy an heir of immortality ; but the pleasures
of the world were alluring, and the path marked out for the
Christian seemed to her indeed narrow and unattractive.
Thinking of these things one night in the solitude of her
chamber, she said to herself, " I will decide this matter. Why
should I longer halt between two opinions." Taking from her
desk a sheet of paper, she wrote on one side, " Reasons why
I should serve the world ; " on the other, " Reasons why I
should serve the Lord ; " trying to give a fair statement in both
cases: When all was done, she made comparison, and so
paltry seemed the reasons for continuing in the service of the
world, and so momentous the reasons why she should give God
her heart, that, flinging the paper impatiently from her, she
threw herself upon her knees, and in earnest supplication en-
treated God to accept the heart so long withheld from him.
She had fed upon husks until her soul loathed them. Now
she pleaded for the bread of life for her famishing soul. That
night she broke away from the bondage in which she had so
long been held a willing captive, and was made free in
Christ.
Reader, have you ever, like this young lady, sat down seri-
ously to count the cost of serving this world ? " What shall
it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his
own soul ? "
"PUT A RING ON HIS HAND."
But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the hest rohe, and put it on
him ; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. Luke 15 : 22.
may seem a small thing for Jesus to mention in so
JL thrilling a description of the welcome home of the wayward
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 233
but penitent son. And if it were to be estimated merely as
it is used for ornament, by its costly jewels and cunning work-
manship, it would be trifling with a solemn occasion. But the
ring, from time immemorial, lias been employed as a signal or
token of precious things. Did you ever have a wife or sister
die, and, as she passed away, take a ring from her finger, and
give it to you, saying, " Wear that for me " ? If so, you have
some appreciation of its value. " Put a ring on his finger,"
says Jesus. Let him know that he is not only forgiven, but
loved. So with the forgiven sinner ; all that has ever been
symbolized is given to him. It is the emblem of an inviolable
covenant of love. So God declares, " I have made an ever-
lasting covenant with you". I have loved you with an ever-
lasting love." If the poor, self-condemned sinner ever doubts
the love of God, let him think of the rin-g on his hand. It is
also an emblem of delegated power. When Joseph inter-
preted the dreams of the Egyptian king, and was appointed
his deputy, Pharaoh drew a ring from his finger, and placed
it on Joseph's finger ; then whoever touched Joseph touched
Pharaoh. So with Ahasuerus and Mordecai. So with Jesus :
" Whosoever receiveth you receiveth me, and whoso rejecteth
you rejecteth me." The ring of divine protection is on the
finger.
MODERN DANCING AND THE BIBLE.
Now his elder son was in the field : and as he came and drew nigh to the
house, he heard music and dancing. Luke 15 : 25.
HAYING carefully examined every text in the Old and
New Testaments, says Rev. Dr. Patton, in which the word
dancing occurs, we are led to the following conclusions : -
1. That dancing was a religious act among idolaters as well
as worshipers of the true God.
2. That it was practiced as the demonstration of joy for vic-
tories and other mercies.
3. That the dances were in the daytime.
4. That the women danced by themselves ; that the dancing
was mostly done by them.
30
234 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
5. No instance is recorded in which promiscuous dancing
by the two sexes took place.
6. That when the dance was perverted from a religious
service to mere amusement, it was regarded disreputable, and
was performed by the " vain fellows."
7. The only instances of dancing for amusement mentioned
are of the worldly families described by Job the daughter
of Herodias, and the " vain fellows." Neither of these had
any tendency to promote piety.
8. That the Bible furnishes not the slightest sanction for
promiscuous dancing as an amusement, as practiced at the
present time. The dancing professor of religion must not
deceive himself with the impression that he is justified by
the Word of God. If he still holds on to the practice, let him
find his justification from other sources, and say frankly, I love
the dance, and am determined to practice it, Bible or no Bible.
CAN YOU SETTLE YOUR ACCOUNT?
And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee?
give an account of thy stewardship ; for thou mayest be no longer steward.
Luke 16: 2.
A STARTLING question ! The bankrupt looks at his ac-
counts "What have I," he says, " wherewith to meet
my liabilities ? " Sometimes the investigation makes him
turn pale. The prison looms up before him; or at least a
ruined business reputation. But what is this compared with
his indebtedness to God ?
Reader, look into the account which has been running on
with God ever since you drew the breath of life. He giving
you receiving : he claiming recognition, gratitude, the
proper use of his gifts you never recognizing his hand,
showing no gratitude, abusing his gifts to purposes of sinful
indulgence. 0, what a debt ! But more. God has put a
price into your hand to " buy the truth " to obtain " the
pearl of great price;" but you have flung it away, or trampled
it under your feet. Heavy is the debt thus rolled up year
after year against you. How can you meet it? All the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 235
wealth of the Astors could not buy you off. You must face
this account with God j and what then will you have to say ?
But there is one. and only one, who, in your behalf, can pay
this tremendous debt. And he does it, " not with silver and
gold, " but with his own precious blood. Weighed down with
your soul's burden, go to him, and say, " Jesus, thou Son of
David, have mercy on me 1 " There is -no other security no
other hope. J. B. W.
HOW MUCH DO YOU OWE THE LORD ?
So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the
first, How much owest thou unto my lord? Luke 16 : 5.
' T N reading the biography of the most eminently pious and
J- useful in different ages," says a London paper, " we have
often been struck with the fact, that almost all of them devoted
a regular proportion of their income to pious and charitable
uses. We will mention a few whose names are familiar, whose
writings are venerated, and whose memory is precious. Among
those who made a tenth the fixed proportion of their almsgiv-
ing was Lord Chief Justice Hale, the Rev. Dr. Hammond, and
the Rev. Dr. Annesley. Baxter informs us, that he long ad-
hered to this, until, for himself, he found it too little, and ob-
serves, * I think, however, that it is as likely a proportion as
can be prescribed ; and that devoting a tenth part ordinarily
to God, is a matter that we have more than human direction
for.' Doddridge was another instance of this kind : 1 1 make a
solemn dedication of one tenth of my estate, salary, and income,
to charitable uses j and I also devote to such uses an eighth of
everything I receive by gift or present.' A fifth part was the
fixed proportion of Archbishop Tillotson and Dr. Watts. A
fourth part was the proportion constantly given by Mrs. Bury,
the wife of the eminently pious and useful Rev. Mr. Bury. Her
husband, in his account of her life, says, l She thought it was
reasonable that such as had no children should appropriate a
fourth part of their net profits to charitable purposes.' Mrs.
Elizabeth Rowe gave even more than this. ( I consecrate,'
says that excellent female, t half of my yearly income to
236 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
charitable uses ; yea, all that I have beyond the bare con-
veniences and necessities of life shall surely be the Lord's.'
Such, too, was the constant practice of the Hon. Robert
Boyle, of the Rev. Mr. Brand, and of the Rev. Thomas Gouge.
Of the latter, Archbishop Tillotson says, in his funeral sermon,
1 All things considered, there have not been, since the primi-
tive times of Christianity, many among the sons of men to
whom that glorious character of the Son of God might be
better applied, that he went about doing good.' "
WISE FOR THE WORLD TO COME.
And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely :
for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children
of light. Luke 1C : 8.
IF two men, one civilized, the other savage, were cast upon
an island in the midst of the ocean, the savage might for
the time appear the better man. He can out- swim, out-hunt,
and out-fish his companion. Where the civilized man would
starve, or be torn in pieces by wild beasts, the savage would
live in plenty and sleep secure. The man of culture would be
despised for his ignorance, and forced to toil as a slave.
But let them cross the sea together, and come upon the
shores of a civilized country into the society of the refined
and cultivated. The despised one would now be at home, and
at once appreciate the society in which he is placed. The
other, whose skill is only brute force, appears in his true char-
acter a mere savage. Such are saints and sinners in this
world, in their relation to the world to come. Here the man
of this world boasts his superior knowledge in the arts and
tricks, in the practices and usages, the ways and works, of
ungodly men. He can get more fame, more money, more
honor, and more praise out of this world than his more con-
scientious companion.
But let them both step over " the stream, the narrow stream
of death." They now appear in their true character. The
child of God, once despised and abused, now rises to com-
panionship with that holy company, in preparation for which
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 237
lie had been spending his life here. The crosses he bore, the
self-denial he practiced, the faith he exercised, the labor he
performed for the Master, now tell to his credit as he, rises
honored, blessed, happy, and glorified for ever. But what of
that fellow-companion who only lived for the base pleasures
of this life ? In yonder world he will find no place to prac-
tice the arts and schemes that made him great in this world.
By a low standard he was considered high ; now by a high
standard he is seen to be low, too low, too base, for a place
among the blessed. He lived a moral savage, and such he must
remain for ever. Estimate human worth by the standard that
shall judge us at the last day. Be wise for another world.
WHAT I HAVE SEEN.
No servant can serve two masters : for either he will hate the one, and love
the other ; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye can not
serve God and mammon. Luke 16 : 13.
I HAVE seen a woman, professing to love Christ more than
the world, clad in a silk dress costing seventy-five dollars ;
making up and trimmings of same, forty dollars ; bonnet (or
.apology for one), thirty-five dollars; velvet mantle, one hun-
dred and fifty dollars; diamond ring, five hundred dollars;
watch, chain, pin, and trappings, three hundred dollars ; total,
one thousand one hundred dollars ; all hung upon one frail,
dying worm. I have seen her at a meeting in behalf of home-
less wanderers in New York wipe her eyes upon an expensive
embroidered handkerchief at the story of their sufferings, and,
when the contribution-box came round, take from a well-filled
portemonnaie of costly workmanship twenty-five cents to aid
the society formed to promote their welfare. " Ah, 77 thought
I, " dollars for ribbons, and pennies for Christ. 77
I have seen a man who had long been a member of the
visible church rush to his business after a hastily-swallowed
breakfast, without a prayer in his family for God's blessing
through the day, spend hours in the eager pursuit of that
which perishes Avith the using, speaking not a word save of
stocks, of bonds, and mortgages, and, when business hours
238 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
were over, return to his home exhausted and petulant, to
turn away from a sad story of want and suffering with, " I am
tired, and cannot hear it ! " I have seen him sleep away his
evening without a pleasant word for wife or children, and
retire to rest with no more apparent thought of God, his
Maker, than if his meeting him at the last great day were an
idle tale. " Ah," thought I, " days and years for Mammori, but
not a moment for Christ."
FINAL DESTINATION OF THE COVETOUS.
And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things : and
they derided him. Luke 16 : 14.
1 TN a popular sense, the covetous man may have been moral,
JL and occasionally generous ; but he had ' made gold his
hope, and had said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence.'
His wealth had been his strong tower, but that tower shall
attract the bolt of heaven. His very armor shall draw the
lightning down. The exposure of his trust shall excite the
.scorn and derision of the universe. He shall be an object of
wonder and aversion to all the righteous. ' Men shall clap
their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.' That-
he should have thought to extract happiness from a clod of
earth ; that he should have reckoned a little gold an equivalent
for God ; that a rational and immortal being should have been
guilty of such an enormity, will suspend all pity in the minds
of the righteoUvS. The unhappy being will behold every finger
pointed at him in scorn ; will hear himself mocked at as a
prodigy of folly ; will be scoffed and chased beyond the limits
of God's happy dominions. l He shall not inherit the kingdom
of God.' In the classifications of this world, the Christian
mammonist may stand among the excellent of the earth ; but
in the final arrangements of the judgment day he will have a
n<-\v place assigned to him. As soon as his character becomes
known, the righteous will no longer be burdened and dis-
graced with his presence ; they will give their amen to his
being cast forth as an alien from their community. And the
very same act which removes him from their community shall
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 239
transfer him ' to his own place/ to the congenial society of
the drunkard, the unbeliever, the idolater, and of all who, like
himself, made not God their trust. The final destination of
the covetous is hell."
A STRAIGHT ROAD TO HEAVEN.
And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom : the rich man also died, and was buried. Luke 16 : 22.
TJRESIDENT NOTT once preached a discourse near Sche-
X nectady, in which he set forth the intense and eternal tor-
ments of the finally impenitent. One of our modern restora-
tionists heard the discourse ; and, having " an itching palm "
to show his knowledge of futurity and divine dispositions, he
followed the president to the house where he took tea after
the exercises of the day were closed, and introduced himself
by saying to Mr. Nott, " Well, sir, I have been to hear you
preach, and have come here to request you to prove your
doctrine." " I thought I had proved it ; for I took the Bible
for testimony," was the reply. " Well, I do not find anything
in my Bible to prove that the sinner is eternally damned, and I
do not believe any such thing." " What do you believe ? "
" Why, I believe that mankind will be judged according to the
deeds done in the body, and those that deserve punishment will
be sent to hell, and remain there until the debt is paid," &c.
Says Mr. Nott, " I have but a word to say to you j and first,
for what did Christ die? And lastly, there is a straight road
to heaven ; but if you are determined to go round through
hell to get there, I cannot help it." The man took his leave,
but his mind was " ill at ease." There is a straight road to
heaven, still rang in his ears: he went home, read -his Bible
attentively, and was soon convinced of, and acknowledged his
error, and after a suitable time united with the followers of
the Lamb.
2iO NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
FORGIVENESS AMONG NEIGHBORS.
Take heed to yourselves : If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke
him ; and if he repent, forgive him. Luke 17 : 3.
IN a small country town in Massachusetts there lived two
wealthy farmers, whose lands joined each other. On some
account or other they became involved in a lawsuit, which
both lessened their money and promoted a spirit of rancor
toward each other. After a time, one of these men was con-
vinced of the sinfulness of his past conduct, when, yielding to
the influences of the gospel, he became desirous of reconcilia-
tion and friendship with his neighbor. With a trembling
heart, he rapped at the door of the man he had offended,
which he had not before entered for six years. Not suspect-
ing who it was, his neighbor invited him in. He went in, took
his seat, acknowledged that he had in the affair been much to
blame, and entreated forgiveness. The other was much as-
tonished, but maintained his high ground. " I always knew
you were to blame, and I never shall forgive you," with much
more to the same purpose, was the reply given to him. He
again confessed his wrong, asked the pardon of his neighbor,
expressed a hope that the Divine T3eing would forgive him ;
and added, "Wo have been actuated by a wrong spirit; and
we shall be afraid to meet each other at the bar of God, where
we must soon appear.' 7 The other became a little softened,
and they parted!
The family, Avhen left to themselves, were filled with as-
tonishment. But the mystery was solved when they learned
that their neighbor had .become a follower of Christ. ' k What ! "
said the farmer, " has S. become a Christian? Why should he
come and ask my forgiveness? If religion will humble such
a man, it is surely a great thing. He said, ' We shall be afraid
to meet each other at the bar of God.' " Such reflections as
these, with a consciousness of his own ill-conduct, occasioned
him great distress for several days. At length he could
smother his feelings no longer ; he took his hat, and went to
see his once hated neighbor. As he entered the door, he re-
ceived a cordial welcome ; they took each other by the hand,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 241
and burst into tears. He said, " You came to ask my forgive-
ness the other day, but I find I have been a thousand times
worse than you." They retired and prayed together. They
became members of the same church, and lived many years
in uninterrupted harmony. Such are the triumphs of Chris-
tianity, compared with which
" The laurels that a Caesar reaps are weeds."
"GOD AND TWO CENTS ARE EVERYTHING."
And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. Luke 17:5.
PRESIDENT EDWARDS taught that love is. the choice of
JL the good of all sentient being, and that it chooses the
blessedness of God supremely, because there is more being
in God than in all the universe besides. From this doctrine
of religious philosophy, that God is the majority of the uni-
verse, has come the saying, now repeated as a commonplace
by all unpopular reformers, that " God and one man constitute
a majority." The Roman Catholic, St. Theresa, uttered a
parallel thought, full of heroic faith and truth, when com-
mencing the erection of a great temple with but two coppers
in her purse. She exclaimed, " Two cents and Theresa are
nothing ; but two cents and God are everything." It would
be hard to find a sentiment more true or beautiful anywhere.
We are nothing, our money is nothing, without God, but with
him we are all things.
THE LEPERS OF JERUSALEM.
And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were
lepers, which stood afar off. Luke 17 : 12.
TUST within Zion's gate, and close to the wall of the city,
U we saw a row of wretched hovels, called " houses of the
miserable ones," because occupied by a colony of men, women,
and children suffering from the terrible malady of leprosy.
Though, as in ancient times, they are compelled to " dwell
alone/ 1 they are not confined to their houses, but are permit-
31
242 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ted to sit " at the entering in of the gate/' to ask alms. (Lev.
13 : 45, 46 ; 2 Kings 7:3; Luke 17 : 12, 13.)
Never can we forget a company of miserable lepers sitting
in a row by the wayside as we entered the Jaffa gate. More
disgusting objects in human flesh can hardly be imagined.
The hair and eyebrows had fallen off; the faces were livid,
bloated, and covered with festering ulcers ; and the eyes
bloodshot or blincf. The nose of one was half eaten off, the
upper lip of another entirely gone. The hands of one were
fingerless, the arms of another handless. As we passed them,
they extended their diseased hands toward us, and in a dry,
husky, gasping voice, cried, " Howadji, Allah, backsheesh ;"
that is, Traveler, in the name of God, money. 0, how vividly
did those pitiable objects bring to mind the expression, lt the
leprosy of sin ; " and what an illustration were they of the
power of that Jesus who could say to a leper, " I will ; be
thou clean ! "
This malady is beyond the reach of medical skill. Some
years ago a French physician, supposing he had found a
cure, went to Jerusalem to try the value of his discovery ;
but instead of helping the lepers, he became a victim of the
dreadful disease, and died, within three months. It is not,
however, generally considered contagious, but is transmitted
from parent to child. It is common to see a frightfully dis-
eased mother with a bright healthy child in her arms ; but the
little one inherits the curse, and Jn a few years is sure to be
a leper. Strange that marriages among them are not prohib-
ited. 8. W. Brown.
NOAH DID NOT CLOSE THE DOOR.
Andtis it was in the days of Noe, so shall it he also in the days of the Son
of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in
marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and
destroyed them all. Luke 17 : 20, 27.
IN the Life of the late Hugh Miller we find the following pas-
sage from Stewart, of Cromarty, whom Miller considered
one of the very best and ablest of Scotland's ministers, of the
generation which has just passed away :
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 243
" Noah did not close the door. There are works that God
keeps for himself. The burden is too heavy for the back of
man. To shut the door on a world about to perish would
have been too great a responsibility for a son of Adam ; the
stress of it would have borne too heavily on a human heart.
Another moment, and another, and another, might have been
granted by the patriarch, and the door might never have been
shut. And would he have done the work conclusively, even
if he had in the first instance closed the door ? Who knows
but that, when the waters rose, and he heard the wailing
around, and friends whom he loved held towards him their
little ones, and shrieked to be taken in, he might have re-
lented, and opened, and a rush might have been made, and the
ship that carried the life of the world might have been
swamped ? He dared not open a door which God had shut ;
perhaps he could not open i't. We never hear that he opened
the door even when the earth was drying. God told him
when to go out. And so it is in the ark of salvation. It is not
the church, it is not the minister, that shuts or opens the door.
These do God's bidding; they preach righteousness, they
offer salvation, they gather in ; it is God that shuts and opens
the door. And what a sound was that when, in the listening,
ominous hush of earth's last evening, God shut the door !
There have been sounds as well as sights to make the boldest
heart quail, and the flintiest heart melt ; the cry has gone up
from cities given over to fire and sword, the shuddering throe
of earthquakes which hurries myriads to death ; but, except
the cry on Calvary, which corresponded to it, no more solemn
and melancholy sound has been heard by human ears than
that which passed into the evening stillness when the broad
green earth was left to be the grave of mankind and God shut
the door of the ark. Once again will God shut the door.
Man will not do it. Angels will not do it. But 0, what a
sigh and shudder will pass through the listening universe
when God will shut the door of the heavenly ark upon the
lost !
244 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
PERSISTENT PRAYING ILLUSTRATED.
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to
pray, and not to faint. Luke 18 : 1.
DR. GUTHRIE, in his Discourses on the Parables, gives an
illustration from Eastern life, which throws a flood of light
on the success of the woman pleading with the unjust judge.
He says of her importunity,
" This art is carried to the highest perfection in the East.
A traveler in Persia tells how he was besieged by one who
solicited a gift more -costly than he was prepared to give.
The hoary, and, as the people esteemed him, holy mendicant,
sat himself down before his gate, throwing up a rude tent to
shelter himself from the noonday sun. There he remained
like a sentinel, nor left his post but to follow the traveler out
of doors, and return with him. Taking snatches of sleep
during the day, when the other rested in the house, he kept
up a hideous howling and clamorous demands all the hours
of the night an annoyance which, persisted in for successive
days and nights, and even weeks, seldom fails, as you can
suppose, to gain its object. Such were the means by which
the widow gained hers."
PRAYER ANSWERED, THOUGH LONG DELAYED.
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him,
though he bear long with them? Lvke 18 : 7.
MR. BRIGGS was born March 28, 1772, in Rochester, Mass.
His parents were exemplary members of the Congrega-
tional church in that place. His early education was strictly
religious. At the age of sixteen he went to sea, and for four-
teen years was engaged in the whaling and merchant service.
During the French revolution he spent some time in France,
imbibed infidel sentiments, and became an admirer of Paine's
writings. At the age of thirty, having previously married an
amiable and pious lady, he removed to New York State.
During a severe sickness, some fourteen years since, he was
much shaken in his infidel sentiments, but did not renounce
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. -245
them. About nine years since he came to reside in S. For
the last four years, the writer has known the exercises of his
mind. Never has he spoken to me disrespectfully of religion.
About four months since, he sent for me with a view to reli-
gious conversation, arid from that time till the day of his death
he seemed as one putting on the nature of the lamb. He died
in peace ; and we will hope that the old sailor has found rest
at last.
But how comes this to pass ? In answer to prayer. Of this
man's long life not a day has passed without special prayer in
his behalf. For about fifty years he has enjoyed the fervent
and believing prayers of a praying wife. Often has she said
to me, " Mr. - , I have confidence to believe that my hus-
band will yet be brought in. I can't give it up."
Christian wives, though your husbands be unbelievers,
amid the perils of the ocean, have faith in God, and keep on
praying.
BEAUTIFUL PRAYERS.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes
unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sin-
ner. Luke 18 : 13.
prayers are beautiful that reach the ear of God. The
_L fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much, and is
beautiful. The prayer of the widow and fatherless, who have
110 helper save he who heareth the orphan's cry, is beautiful.
The prayer of the infant, who takes God's promise in his
" most implicit grasp," as he does his mother's hand, is beauti-
ful. The prayer of the lowly saint, unlettered and ungrammati-
cal, is beautiful. The prayer of the poor man, when " God heard
him and delivered him out of his troubles," was beautiful.
The prayer of the publican, who smote upon his breast, and
said, " God be merciful to me a sinner," was beautiful. The
prayer of Stephen, when amid the storm of stones he cried,
just before he " fell asleep," " Lay not this sin to their charge,"
was beautiful.
There is a grammar and rhetoric of heaven, but it is foreign
to the culture of this world. The courtiers there wear " wed-
246 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ding garments/' and they speak the celestial language ; but
sometimes they seem ragged and ignorant to the eyes that
are blinded with the clay and dust of our earthly roadsides.
We cannot always discern the fashions of heaven. There
is a flippery that sometimes claims to be the garb 'divine, but
it is mere tinsel. There is an " excellency of speech " which
is jargon and mockery in the ear of God. There is " sounding
brass and tinkling cymbal 7 ' mere clatter, and not celestial
music at all. There are " beautiful prayers " that are unlovely
and abominable before the Searcher of hearts.
DANGER OF RICHES.
And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful : for lie was very rich.
And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall
they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! Luke 18 : 23, 24.
fTVHERE was in the king's (of Denmark) court one that
JL played on the harp so exceedingly well, that it was said
he could put men into what passion he listed, though it were
into fury and madness. One desirous to make the trial would
needs hear him, but so that divers gentlemen standing aloof
off out of the hearing, should be ready to come in and stay
the music, if they saw him in any distemper. Things thus
ordered, the musician began to play, and first he struck so
deep and sweet a note, that he put the man into the dumps,
so that he stood like one forlorn, his hat in his eyes, his arms
across, sighing and lamenting. Then the musician began a
new note, and played nothing but mirth, and devices, that the
man began to lose his dumps, and fell a dancing. But in the
third place the harper so varied his notes, and by degrees so
wrought upon the man according as he saw him incline, that
from dancing he brought him to shouting, until he grew
frantic, and slew four of his friends that came to stay him.
And thus it is Avitli riches, if not used wisely, they will play
such feats as the harper did ; first in the beginning, when a
man is gathering of them together, they fill him with care and
restlessness, that nothing is more miserable than a man carking
ai'ter the world. Then, in the second place, when he hath
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 247
tasted the sweetness of them, and is gotten through his travel,
when he comes to be master, then he falls a dancing, shows
the vanity of his mind, speaks high, looks big, and his apparel
is excessive, and usually in this fit his wife fetches a frisk or
two with him. But when his merry fit is over, the third pas-
sion is frenzy, killing and slaying all that come in his way ; he
becomes a rapacious, griping usurper, grinds the face of the
poor, breaks the backs, and cuts the throat of many a man,
and is so strong and boisterous, that no man can tell how to
get within him, and come off with safety. John White's Ser-
mon at St. Paul's, 1616.
LIBERAL CHRISTIANS AND BROAD CHURCHISM.
But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will
not have this man to reign over us. Luke 19 : 14.
IT is a common thing for persons of a certain class to speak
in high terms of liberal Christianity, just as though there
was a Christianity that was not liberal. The gospel of the Lord
Jesus is a liberal plan of salvation, for the sinner can be saved
bv no other. It abounds in mercy. It is long in forbearing,
and ready in forgiving.
But, by this representation of Christianity, we do not mean
that mongrel compound of skepticism, Unitarianism, and Uni-
versalism, with a tincture of Rationalism, which seeks admit-
tance to Christian society under the cognomen of " Liberal
Christianity." Such principles are indeed liberal to sin, but
prove destructive to the sinner, by holding out the false hope
of heaven without a preparation for it. " The Broad Church ?>
may be an attractive title to the man who does not wish to
part with his sins ; but scan it closely, and its " broadness "
may be its chief objection. It is too broad for its depth, for it
does not go down into the heart- work of a sinner. It is too
broad for its length, for it stops short of meeting the needs of
the soul. It is too broad for its height, for it does not reach
up to the higher graces of the Spirit ; and it is too broad for
" the narrow way and strait gate," which lead to life. Our
Lord's liberal Christianity goes through the strait gate of
pardon, regeneration, and sanctification of the Spirit.
248 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATION'S.
HE PLEADS GUILTY.
And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou
wicked servant. Luke 19 : 22.
A CLERGYMAN was once preaching in a town much in-
fested with the heresy of the Universalists, who profess
to believe that all men, whatever may be their character, shall
ultimately be saved. A preacher of this doctrine, who wus
present with a view to " withstand the truth," became greatly
enraged in the progress of the discourse. It was no sooner
closed than he began to challenge the preacher to a defense
of his doctrines. As it was rather late, the clergyman who
was preaching declined a formal debate, but proposed that
each should ask the other three questions, to which a direct
answer should be returned. This was agreed to. The Uni-
versalist began. He put his questions, which were promptly
answered. It then came the clergyman's turn. His first
question was,
" Do you pray in your family ? "
Thunderstruck, and dismayed, the preacher of smooth things
knew not what to say. At length he asked, " Why, what
has that to do with my doctrines ? "
" Much," was the reply. " By their fruits ye shall know
them."
At length he frankly confessed that he did not. Then for
the second question,
" When you get somewhat displeased, do you not sometimes
make use of profane language ? "
This was carrying the war into the inner temple of his infi-
del ambitions. There was no door of escape. Answer he
must. It was of no use to deny it ; he confessed that he was
profane.
" I will go no further," said the pious clergyman, " I am
satisfied ; " and, turning to the congregation, added, " I pre-
sume you are also. You dare not trust your immortal welfare
to a prayerless and profane guide." Anecdotes for the
Family.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 249
THE ETERNAL ROCK.
"Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken ; but on whomsoever
it shall fall, it will grind liim to powder. Luke 20 : 18.
TTTHAT a commentary upon the word, " Whosoever falls on
T V this stone shall be broken," is the whole history of the
heresies of the church and the assaults of unbelief! Man
after man, rich in gifts, endowed often with far larger and
nobler faculties than the people who oppose him with indomita-
ble perseverance, a martyr to his error, sets himself up against
the truth that is sphered in Jesus Christ; and the great Divine
message simply goes on its way, and all the babblement and
noise is like so many bats flying against a light, or the wild
sea-birds that come sweeping up in the tempest and the night,
against the hospitable Pharos that is upon the rock, and smite
themselves dead against it. Skeptics well known in their gen-
eration, who made people's hearts tremble for the ark of God,
what has become of them ? Their books lie dusty and undis-
turbed on the top shelf of libraries ; whilst there the Bible
stands, with all the scribblings wiped off the page, as though
they had never been. Opponents fire their small shot against
the great Rock of Ages, and the little pellets fall flattened,
and only scale off a bit of the moss that has gathered there !
My brother, let the history of the past, with other deeper
thoughts, teach you and me a very calm and triumphant
confidence about all that people say nowadays ; for all the
modern opposition to the gospel will go as the past has done,
and the newest systems which cut and carve at Christianity
will go to the tomb where all the rest have gone, and dead old
infidelities will rise up from their thrones, and say to the bran
new ones of this generation, when their day is worked out,
" Ah, are ye also become. like one of us ? " " Whosoever shall
fall on this stone shall be broken ; " personally, he will be
harmed ; and his opinions, and his books, and his talk, and all
his argumentation, will come to nothing, like the waves that
break into impotent foam against the rocky cliffs. Alex.
McLaren.
32
250 A'EW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS IN HEAVEN.
But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the
resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage : neither
can they die any more : for they are equal unto the angels ; and are the chil-
dren of God, being the children of the resurrection. Luke 20 : 35, 36.
" C1HALL we know eacli other there?" is a question often
k3 asked, as if by some irrepressible impulse of the soul.
From all the light we have on the subject of recognition in
heaven, it is certain beyond a doubt that we shall know our
friends there, for "we shall be as the angels of God." But
shall our knowledge of that happy throng be limited to our
friends only ? They will be few as compared with that great
" company which no man can number." Recognition implies
previous knowledge, for cognition means to know ; recognition
means to know again. Will not intuition almost infinitely
surpass recognition, as a soul attribute in the heavenly world ?
Shall we not know all the saints, as well as recognize such a
number of them as we chanced to know here on the earth ?
When Peter and John, on the mount of transfiguration, knew
Moses and Elias, that was not recognition, but intuition ; for
those apostles had never known those Old Testament apostles.
So we think it will be in heaven. Our knowing the glorified
ones, saved, as we then shall be from all the infirmities of the
flesh, and exalted through Christ, the second Adam, to a con-
dition higher than that of the first Adam in Eden, we shall
know, by intuition, our fellow -saints with whom we are to
spend a happy eternity. But, along with this subject of re-
cognition and intuition, many persons have thoughtlessly
attached in their minds the idea of natural affection, supposing
that this element, which belongs to our earthly relations, will
continue in heaven. Such persons do not heed what our Lord
said about those " which shall be accounted worthy to obtain
that world and the resurrection from the dead," that they
" neither marry nor are given in marriage, neither can they die
any more, for they are equal unto the angels." Natural affec-
tion belongs to natural life, and will end with it. It is neces-
sary to the relations we sustain to each other here ; but with
these relations ended, natural affection will have served its
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 251
purpose, and expire. Love in heaven there will be, incom-
parably higher and purer than parental or filial love here, but
it will not be affection growing out of the relations we sustain
to each other in this life j but then, as we shall be " children
of God, being the children of the resurrection/ 7 our love will
be to God, and the whole family of the saved, world without
end. An argument is sometimes framed against the Bible
doctrine of everlasting punishment, on the basis of natural
affection. Appeals are made to family feelings, and the claim
set up that a parent saved in heaven would be rendered mis-
erable by the knowledge that a sinful son or daughter was lost
in hell. Such an argument is utterly worthless, because it
sets out with a false premise, that "flesh and blood," with
the instincts and affections belonging thereto, will be trans-
ferred to heaven, which is positively contradicted by our Lord.
No soul saved in heaven will mourn over any administrative
act of God, but will rather say, " Great and marvelous are
thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways,
thou King of Saints."
FOOLISH QUESTIONS WISELY ANSWERED.
And after that they durst not ask him any question at all. Luke 20 : 40.
A CERTAIN man went to a dervis, and proposed three
questions.
First. " Why do they say that God is omnipresent ? I do
not see him in any place ; show me where he is.
Second. u Why is man punished for his crimes, since what-
ever he does proceeds from God ? Man has no free will, for
he can not do anything contrary to the will of God ; and if he
had power, he would do everything for his own good.
Third. " How can God punish Satan in hell fire, since he is
formed of that element? and what impression can fire make
on itself?"
The dervis took up a large clod of earth, and struck him on
the head with it. The man went to the cadi, and said, " I
proposed three questions to a dervis, who flung such a clod of
earth at me as has made my head ache." The cadi, having
252 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
sent for the dervis, asked, "Why did you throw a clod of earth
at his head, instead of answering his questions ? " The dervis
replied, " The clod of earth was an answer to his speech. He
says he has a pain in his head ; let him show me the pain, and
1 will make God visible to him. And why does he exhibit a
complaint to you against me ? Whatever I did was the act of
God. I did not strike him without the will of God, and what
power do I possess ? And, as he is compounded of earth, how
can he suffer pain from that element ? " The man was con-
founded, and the cadi highly pleased with the dervis's an-
swer. J. H. Vincent.
HE MISTOOK THE LIGHT.
And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived. Luke 21:8.
AND what was the consequence ? Why, one of the largest
steamships in the world, with a rich cargo, and a company
of three hundred souls on board, was wrecked, in a dark and
stormy night, on the most dangerous part of the coast of Ire-
land. The noble ship, which cost upward of a million of dol-
lars, left her port that very afternoon, in fine trim, and with
every prospect of a safe and speedy voyage ; and at nine
o'clock she was thumping upon the rocks, the seas breaking
over her with terrific violence, and threatening to send peo-
ple, ship, and cargo to instant destruction.
But how could they mistake the light ? Were the captain
and his officers on the lookout ? Yes. Was the chart closely
examined ? Yes. And were the common precautions taken
to keep the ship on her proper course ? Yes ; all this was
done.
How, then, could she have met such a sad disaster? Why,
because a light appeared which was not noted on the chart ;
and the captain was deceived by it. He mistook it for another
light that was on the chart; and so, when he supposed he was
running out to sea, he was really running in upon the breakers.
How great a mistake ! and how terrible the consequences !
Every reader of these lines is sailing on a more hazardous
voyage than "The Great Britain" attempted, and has the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 253
command of a nobler vessel and a richer freight than hers ;
yes, richer than all the treasures of the world. Thousands of
plans are laid to mislead and divert him from his course.
False lights are purposely held out to betray him ; and tides
and currents, of almost resistless power, set against him from
every point of the compass. Will he steer clear of them all ?
It will depend on two things : 1. Whether he has the true
chart the Holy Scriptures. 2. Whether he commits him-
self, and the whole direction of the voyage, to Him whose foot-
steps are on the sea, and who rides upon the wings of the
wind.
DO NOT FRET.
In your patience possess ye your souls. Luke 21 : 19.
/CALMNESS and equanimity ought to be part of every one's
\J religion, even as it is a part of the Quaker's. " I dare no
more fret," said John Wesley, " than to curse and swear."
One who knew him so well said that he never saw him low-
spirited or fretful in his life. He could not endure the society
of people who were of this habit. He says of them, " To have
persons at my ears murmuring and fretting at everything, is
like tearing the flesh from my bones. By the grace of God I
am discontented at nothing. I see God sitting on the throne,
and ruling all things."
If every one was of John Wesley's spirit, it would revolu-
tionize the world. Christians lose all their wayside comforts,
and dishonor the Master by their fretfulness over little troubles.
Some who can bear the great sorrows of life with a martyr's
faith and patience are utterly overthrown by the breaking of
a vase. We have seen men in fever of impatience, even anger
over the loss of a shirt-button, the mislaying of a cane, or
fifteen minutes' delay of dinner, who have stood by the graves
of dear ones gone and made no sign.
Men and women have come to 'think, somehow, that Chris-
tian calmness finds its test hour only when some great afflic-
tion crushes down. There never was a more sad mistake.
Christian calmness has meet opportunity for exercise daily
254 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS,
and hourly. It is the little trials that test it most. In every
family circle much is happening that demands its perpetual
presence and influence. Necessarily a cultivated virtue, in
nearly all cases, let us see that it is more thoroughly cultivated.
So shall our homes be more beautiful, our happiness more per-
fect, our Christianity more generous and loving, we had almost
said more saving.
THE MOUNTAINS OF SCRIPTURE.
Then lot them which are in Judea flee to the mountains. Luke 21 : 21.
MOUNT ARARAT, whereon, says Moses, the ark rested,
consists of two peaks separated by a valley. The Great
Ararat rises to a height of seventeen thousand two hundred
and ten feet from the level of the sea, and the lesser, or Little
Ararat, to thirteen thousand. The Great Ararat was as-
cended, after great toil, by Professor Parrot, in 1829 ; probably
then pressed by the foot of man for the first time since Noah.
CARMEL, the scene of the trial between Elijah and the wor-
shipers of Baal, as to whether Jehovah or Baal was God, is the
general name of a range of hills extending north-west from the
plain of Esdraelon, and ending in a bold promontory on the
shore of the Mediterranean, forming the bay of Acre. The
extent of the range is six miles, and the greatest height fifteen
hundred feet.
MOUNTS EBAL and GERIZIM, in Samaria, rise about eight hun-
dred feet, having a valley about two hundred and fifty paces
wide between. On these hills was performed the grand cere-
mony, on the Israelites gaining possession of the land of
promise, for which Moses had left directions. Six tribes were
placed upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people, and six upon
Mount Ebal to curse. In later times, the Samaritans built a
i''in])le on Mount Gerizim, and the Samaritans still regard it
as holy ground.
MOUNT HOR, on the summit "of which Aaron died, is situated
in Arabia Petraea, on the confines of Idumea, and rises to the
elevation of three thousand feet.
LEBANON, whose renowned " cedars " are many times alluded
t. is the name applied in Scripture to both the Libanus and
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 255
Anti-Libanus mountains, two parallel ranges, running from
north-east to south-west, on the northern shores of Palestine.
The average height of the range is about ten thousand feet.
MOUNT MORIAH, one of the hills upon which Jerusalem was
built of old, and the site of Solomon's Temple, and the present
Mosque of Onier, is about two thousand feet above the level
of the Mediterranean, and separated from the Mount of Olives
by the narrow valley of Jehoshaphat.
The MOUNT OF OLIVES, sacred as the frequent resort of the
Saviour for meditation and prayer, derived its name from the
number and beauty of its olive trees. It rises about five hun-
dred feet above its' opposite neighbor Moriali, and is the place
of burial of the Jews.
MOUNT SINAI, where " the Lord descended in fire," and gave
the commandments to Moses, is a wild, desolate region of
granite peaks and precipices, deep ravines and watercourses.
Its height is seven thousand feet, and the length of the whole
range three miles.
MOUNT TABOR is a beautiful mountain, standing alone on the
north-east border of the plain of Esdraelon, south from Naza-
reth. To this hill tradition points as the spot hallowed by the
transfiguration of our Lord ; and this event is still yearly cele-
brated there by the Latin and Greek churches.
MOUNT ZION, many times alluded to in Scripture as the
" holy hill," " beautiful for situation," <fcc., was one of the four
hills upon which ancient Jerusalem was built.
REPRODUCING THE NEW TESTAMENT.
Heaven and earth shall pass away ; hut my words shall not pass away.
Luke 21: 33.
IN the Memoirs of Ilaldane we are told of a literary party,
gathered at a Scotch dinner, and greatly interested- in this
" question which puzzled the whole company : " Supposing
all the New Testaments in the world had been destroyed at
the end of the third century, could their contents have been
recovered from the writings of the first three centuries ? No
one hazarded a guess in reply.
256 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Two months later, Dr. Buchanan breakfasted with Lord
Hailes, Sir David Dalrymple, each having been thinking
seriously upon the inquiry proposed at the dinner. The talk
soon ran upon it.
" Well," said Lord Hailes, " that question quite accorded
with the tune or taste of my antiquarian mind. On returning
home, as I knew I had all the writers of those centuries, I be-
gan immediately to collect them, that I might set to work on
the arduous task as soon as possible." Then pointing to the
mass of papers on his desk, he added, " There have I been
busy these two months, searching for chapters, half chapters,
and sentences of the New Testament, and have marked down
what I found and where 1 found it, so that any person may
examine- and see for himself. I have actually discovered the
whole New Testament, except seven or eleven verses, I for-.
get which, and this satisfies me that I could discover them
also. . . . Now, here was a way in which God concealed, or
hid, the treasures of his word, that Julian, the apostate emperor,
and other enemies of Christ, who wished to extirpate the gos-
pel from the world, never would have thought of; and though
they had, they never could have effected its destruction."
Were such a test applied to the writings, the sermons,
the theological treatises of our age, would there be the same
result ?
HIS BLOOD SHED FOR US.
Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament
in my blood, which is shed for you. Luke 22 : 20.
I ONCE heard a very earnest and evangelical minister say
that he had been accosted by a man who had heard him
preach with this criticism, " I don't like your theology. It is
too bloody. It savors of the shambles. It is all blood, blood,
blood. I like a pleasanter gospel." He replied, " Well, my
theology is bloody: it recognizes as its foundation a very
sanguinary scene the death of Christ, with bleeding hands
and feet and side. And I am quite content it should be
bloody ; for God hath said, that ' without shedding of blood
is no remission ' of sins. " C. D. Foss.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 257
BE ALIVE FOR CHRIST.
But I hare prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not : and when thou art con-
verted, strengthen thy brethren. Luke 22 : 32.
TOO many churches are mere hospitals. Every church ought
to be an arsenal and an armory a place of equipment for
the holy war and a. conquering legion. Too many disciples
are mere valetudinarians, forever feeling of their own pulses,
looking at their own tongues, studying their own symptoms.
Their presence is like the chill of a November fog. They are
always just about to die ; yet, somehow, they never do die and
make way for others who might be of use to somebody. They
are for ever groaning out
11 'Tis a thing I long to know,
Oft it gives me anxious thought,
Do I love the Lord, or no?
Am I his, or am I not? "
The well-meaning, severe, gloomy old " father " in " Step-
ping Heavenward," might sit for the portrait of thousands.
In respect to physical health, this state of things admits of
partial excuse. There are conditions of body, far short of
death, which inevitably depress the mind. In such cases no
medication is likely to do much good, unless it be coupled
with a salutary forgetfulness of self, and with strenuous ex-
ertions to benefit others. But for that spiritual invalidism
which proclaims and pets and nurses its own ailments, there
is no palliation, because there is " balm in Gilead." The great
Physician offers gratis to every patient in this great world-
hospital a quick cure. " And when thou art converted " (feel
thy pulse, and gloam over thy remaining infirmities, and labo-
riously care for thyself alone ? No, no, no ! but) " strengthen
thy brethren." Dr. C. D. Foss.
33
258 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
CHRIST'S AGONY IN THE GARDEN.
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down,
and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me :
nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel
unto him from heaven, strengthening him. Luke 22 : 41-43.
r\ ETHSEMANE and Calvary are places of thrilling interest
\JT to every saint and convicted sinner. On Calvary the
fountains of the great deep of the love of God were broken
up to deluge the moral world ; there the rock was smitten
from which issued the streams in which a guilty world may
wash away its crimes, no matter how numerous or how aggra-
vated ; but at Gethsemane the larger part of the atonement
was wrought.
We have read many comments and heard many sermons on
the agony endured by Jesus in the garden, but were never
satisfied with the views expressed. The general idea is, that
Jesus prayed against the death of the cross when he asked,
" If it be possible let this cup pass, nevertheless, not my will,
but thine, be done: 7 ' that this prayer was not heard or an-
swered, and that he did not expect that his petition would be
granted, but that he prayed as an example for us, and to show
his perfect resignation and submission to the will of his Father.
And it was not till we had thought much, and searched the
Scriptures carefully, that we obtained a satisfactory solution
of the difficulty under which our mind labored ; but now we
do not hesitate to say the prayer was answered, and the cup
did pass. We arrived at this conclusion by observing that
Jesus, on separating from his disciples for the purpose of
prayer, said, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto
death." He then uttered his prayer and returned to his
disciples, and found them sleeping. Again going apart, lie
twice urged his petition with increasing earnestness. When
he returned to his disciples, and calmly spoke of his betrayal
into the hands of sinners, to us it is clear the cup had passed,
for another evangelist tells us there appeared an angel
strengthening him ; and St. Paul, in Hebrews, says, " Who
in the days of his flesh poured out supplications and prayers,
with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was able to save
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 259
him from death, and was heard in that which he feared."
The cup, then, was the fear that the intense suffering he
endured would destroy the life of the body in the garden,
and so prevent the accomplishment of the work of redemp-
tion by his death on the cross. Well might he say, " I have
a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it
be accomplished." And surely this view ought to increase
our love to Jesus. " He trod the wine-press alone, and of the
people there were none with him." That the power of his
Godhead was inoperative at that time is clear, or he needed
not the ministry of that angel. He created the angel, and
sustained him in existence, and could, if he pleased, have
blotted him out of existence ; but as a man, he needed the
ministry of the angel. The man, therefore, wrought the
atonement, the God being there only to give vitality and
efficacy to the great work being performed ; and surely this
view is most comfortable to poor sinners like us. If Jesus
magnified the law of God and made it honorable, as man, we
see how we can work out our own salvation with fear and
trembling, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith ; but if he only magnified the law of God, and made it
honorable because he was God, what hope would there be
for us ?
This view is much more honorable to the Saviour than to
suppose that he sought to avoid the death of the cross. So
far from this, his earnest cries and tears were for strength .to
accomplish and perfect the great work he had undertaken,
namely, to redeem the world.
" 'Twas great to speak a world from naught,
'Twas greater to redeem."
REBUKED FOR FALSE PRETENSES.
And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas,
one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.
But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss ?
Luke 22 : 47, 48.
A YOUNG lady of wealth and position decided to give a
large party. As she had many acquaintances among
260 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS,
those who do not deem it essential to the completeness of an
entertainment that li reel, and jig, and waltz " be introduced, the
stylish invitations were prefaced with the announcement, " No
dancing." At the same time, the young lady personally as-
sured her friends that the arrangement would be perfectly
understood by all the company, and their scruples would not
be infringed upon.
Judge of their surprise when, at an early hour in the even-
ing, " a set " was hastily formed in the back parlor, and a
young girl who had but lately made a profession of religion
was coolly invited to play for them. Words failed to express
the surprise and regret at this twofold indignity, especially
when the young convert, apparently acceding to the request,
accepted the arm of an escort to the piano.
Pausing a moment, however, she begged a friend to ac-
company her one whom all recognized as an efficient mem-
ber of the church. As the two stepped across the floor, a few
words passed between them ; the older lady taking up a volume
of bound music, quietly turned the leaves, while the younger,
awaiting her movements, gave the listeners a spirited prelude,
which, presently, softly and tenderly died away as the clear
voices of the two ladies in " harmonious accord/' rendered
with thrilling power,
" I would not live alway, I ask not to stay."
A few steps were taken by the waiting dancers ; then a
silence as of death fell on them, as a young lady, one of the
gayest of the gay, exclaimed, in shuddering dismay,
" That's not the right tune to dance by ! "
But the song went on, gathering in richness and power, as
here and there, from different corners, deep, manly voices,
and woman's tender tones, at length joined in with electrify-
ing power.
At its close, the player arose, and courteously bidding her
hostess good evening, retired, followed by all who had been
" lured in by false pretenses."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 261
WHY JEWESSES ARE BEAUTIFUL.
But Jesus turning unto them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for
me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. Luke 23 : 28.
/CHATEAUBRIAND gives a fanciful but an agreeable reason
\J for the fact that Jewish women are so much handsomer
than the men of their nation. He says Jewesses have escaped
the curse which alighted upon their fathers, husbands, and
sons. Not a Jewess was to be found among the crowd of
priests and rabble who insulted the Son of God, scourged him,
crowned him with thorns, and subjected him to the. infamy
and the agony of the cross. The women of Judea believed
in the Saviour, and assisted, and soothed him under affliction.
A woman of Bethany poured on his head precious ointment,
which she kept in a vase of alabaster. The sinner anointed
his feet with perfumed oil, and wiped them with her hair.
Christ on his part extended mercy to the Jewesses. He
raised from the dead the son of the widow of Nain, and
Martha's brother Lazarus. He cured Simon's mother-in-law,
and the woman who touched the hem of his garment. To
the Samaritan woman he was a spring of living water. The
daughters of Jerusalem wept over him ; the holy women ac-
companied him to Calvary, brought him balm and spices, and
weeping, sought him in the sepulcher. " Woman, why weep-
est thou ? " His first appearance after the resurrection was
to Mary Magdalene. He said to her, " Mary." At the sound
of his voice, Mary Magdalene's eyes were opened, and she an-
swered, " Master." The reflection of some beautiful ray must
have rested on the brow of the Jewesses.
"0, HE IS A GREAT FORGIVER!"
And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with
me in paradise. Luke 23 : 43.
MR, FLEMING, in his " Fulfilling of the Scriptures," relates
the case of a most hardened sinner, who was put to death
in the town of Ayr. It pleased the Lord to bring him to re-
262 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
pentance when in prison, and so full was his assurance of par-
doning mercy, that when he came to the place of execution,
he could not help crying out to the people, under the sense of
pardon, " 0, he is a great forgiver ! He is a great forgiver ! "
And he added, " ' Now hath perfect love cast out fear.' (1 John
4: 18.) I know God hath nothing to say against me (Rom.
8:1), for Jesus Christ hath paid all ; and those are free whom
the Son makes free." (John 8 : 36.)
FEMALE INFLUENCE.
And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after,
and beheld the sepulcher, and how his body was laid. Luke 23 : 55.
UNDER God, I owe my early education, nay, all that I have
been or am, to the counsel and tutelage of a pious mother.
It was, peace to her sainted spirit, it was her monitory voice
that first taught my young heart to feel that there was danger
in the intoxicating cup, and that safety lay in abstinence.
And, as no one is more indebted than myself to the. kind
of influence in question, so no one more fully realizes how de-
cisively it bears upon the destinies of others.
Full well I know that by woman came the apostasy of
Adam, and by. woman the recovery through Jesus. It was
woman that imbued the mind, and formed the character of
Moses, Israel's deliverer. It was a woman that led the choir,
and gave back the response of that triumphal procession,
which went forth to celebrate, with timbrels, on the banks
of the Red Sea, the overthrow of Pharaoh. It was a woman
that put Sisera to flight, and composed the song of Deborah,
and Barak, the son of Abinoam, and judged in righteousness,
for years, the tribes of Israel. It was a woman that defeated
the wicked counsels of Haman, delivered righteous Mordecai,
and saved a whole people from their utter desolation.
And now, not to speak of Semiramis of Babylon, of Cath-
arine of Russia, or of those queens of England whose joyous
reigns constitute the brightest periods of British history, or
her, the young and lovely, the patron of learning and morals,
who now adorns the throne of the sea-girt isles ; not now to
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 2G3
speak of these, there are others of more sacred character, of
whom it were admissible even now to speak.
The scepter of empire is not the scepter that best befits the
hand of woman ; nor is the field of carnage her field of glory.
Home, sweet home, is her theater of action, her pedestal of
beauty, and throne of power. Or, if seen abroad, she is seen
to the best advantage "when on her errands of love, and wear-
ing her robe of mercy.
It was not woman that slept during the agony of Geth-
semane ; it was not woman that denied her Lord at the palace
of Caiaphas ; it was not woman that deserted his cross on the
hill of Calvary. But it was woman who dared to testify her
respect for his corpse ; that procured spices for embalming it,
and that was found last at night and first in the morning at
his sepulcher. Time has neither impaired her kindness, shaken
her constancy, nor changed her character.
Now, as formerly, she is most ready to enter, and most re-
luctant to leave, the abode of misery. Now, as formerly, it is
her office, and well it has been sustained, to stay the fainting
head, wipe from the dim eye the tear of anguish, and from
the cold forehead the dew of death. Dr. Nott.
QUEEN VICTORIA AND THE SABBATH.
And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the
Sabbath day, according to the commandment. Luke 23 : 56.
THE following interesting incident, which occurred at the
beginning of Queen Victoria's reign, was a striking evi-
dence of her majesty's reverence for the duties of the Sab-
bath :
i l One of her majesty's ministers arrived at Windsor late on
Saturday night, and informed his youthful sovereign that he
had brought some papers of importance for her inspection ;
i but as they must be gone into at length,' he added, ' I will
not trouble your majesty with them to-night, but request your
attention to them to-morrow morning.' ' To-morrow morn-
ing ! ' repeated the queen ; l to-morrow morning is Sunday, my
lord.' ' But business of state, please your majesty ' ' Must
264 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
be attended to, I know,' replied the queen ; i and as, of course,
you could not come down earlier to-night, I will, if these papers
are of such vital importance, attend to them after we come
from church to-morrow morning.' To church went the royal
party, and also the noble statesman, and, much to his edifica-
tion, we hope, the sermon was on the duties of the Sabbath.
* How did your lordship like the sermon ? ' asked the young
queen. ' Very much, your majesty,' replied he, with the best
grace he could assume. i I will not conceal from you,' said
the queen, ' that last night I sent the clergyman the text from
which he preached. I hope we shall all be the better for it.'
The day passed without a single word on the subject of the
papers. At night, when the queen was about to withdraw,
she said, i To-morrow morning, my lord, at any hour you
please as early as seven, if you like we will go into
these papers.' His lordship could not think of intruding at
so early an hour on her majesty : l nine would be quite time
enough,' he said. ' As they are of importance, my lord,' ob-
served the queen, ' I would have attended to them earlier, but
at nine be it.' "
WALKING AND TALKING WITH CHRIST.
And it came to pass, that, while they communed together, and reasoned,
Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. Luke 24 : 15.
IF we are to walk with God, we must go nowhere that Christ
will not go. 0, how many venture beyond the territory in
which they ought to walk, and they wonder why they have
not the enjoyments of religion ! They go where Jesus will
not go. " Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly." Christ is not there. " Nor sitteth in the
seat of the scornful." Christ is not there. " Nor standeth in
the way of sinners." Christ is not there. If you walk with
Christ, keep out of all evil company, of all evil associations,
keep from all evil places from every place where you can
not go in the Spirit of Christ, and that, if upon earth, you
might not expect to meet him there. If you go out of the
territory where he would go, you need not expect to find him.
Simpson.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 265
CHRISTIAN WOMEN.
Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which
were early at the sepulcher. Luke 24 : 22.
1 ^ITTHAT women these Christians have ! " exclaimed the
VV heathen rhetorician Libanus, on learning about An-
thusa, the mother of John Chrysostom ; the famous " golden-
mouthed " preacher of the gospel at Constantinople, in the
fourth century. Anthusa, at the early age of twenty, lost her
husband, and thenceforward devoted herself wholly to the
education of her son, refusing all offers of further marriage.
Her intelligence and piety molded the boy's character, and
shaped the destiny of the man, who, in his subsequent position
of eminence, never forgot what he owed to maternal influence.
Hence it would be no overstrained assertion to say that we
owe these rich homilies of Chrysostom, of which interpreters
of Scripture still make great use, to the mind and heart of
Anthusa. Nor was the mother of Chrysostom alone in this
Christian fidelity and wisdom. The student of church history
will at once call to mind the mother of Theodoret, who used
to take him, in early childhood, to receive the blessing and
instruction of holy monks ; and who thus secured impressions
which were never effaced, and which had their part in making
him, in certain respects, one of the best students and ex-
positors of Scripture of his time. The pious Nonna will also
come to mind, who, by prayer and holy example, won her hus-
band from heresy. Their first-born son she carried to the
church soon after his birth, with the Gospels placed in his
hands, and there solemnly dedicated him to God. That son of
consecration was not allowed to forget the fact. His mother
constantly reminded him ofjt, and so fortified her boy by her
prayers and instructions, that when he went as a youth to
Athens, and was exposed to all the temptations of seductive
paganism in that metropolis, he was true to Christ. He is
known in history as the distinguished church teacher, Gregory
of Nazianzum ; and he was wont to speak of his mother as like
Hannah in the Old Testament, who offered her Samuel to the
Lord. And surely no one will fail to think of Monica, the
34
2G6 A 7 JV TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
mother of Augustine, whose faith and petitions had such illus-
trious answer and reward in the final character and work of
that greatest of the Christian fathers eminent alike for his
personal piety, and for his lasting influence, through his writ-
ings, on the church of subsequent ages.
RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION.
And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us while he
talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?
Luke 24 : 32.
/CONVERSATION about religious things is not necessarily
\J religious ; much of it is very irreligious. All such con-
versation about ministers, churches, and good men that is
dictated by suspicion, or envy, or jealousy, or rivalry, is self-
ish, and therefore irreligious. Religious conversation is that
which is dictated by Christian charity. It is always reverent
toward God, and loving toward all men.
Our duty to engage in such conversation is seen from the
command, " And these words which I command thee this day
shall be in thy heart ; and thou shalt teach them diligently to
thy children," <fcc. ; and also from the command of the Saviour,
" Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature."
As to the methods of personal religious conversation we
have not only a divine command, but a divine model, and may
refer to the conversation of Nathan with David, of Philip with
Nathanael, of Philip with the eunuch, of the Saviour with
Nicodemus, also with the young ruler, also with the woman
of Samaria, and also with the disciples journeying to Emmaus.
All these were written for our examples, and are perfect
models for our imitation.
BEGIN YOUR RELIGION ARIGHT.
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Luke 21 : 47.
T was the command of our Lord that his apostles should
preach his truth throughout all the world, beginning at
I
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 267
Jerusalem. That city was not only to be the geographical
starting-point, but there was a moral signification also in the
requirement. Preaching Christ from Jerusalem, as the point
of departure, could not fail to make prominent in their minis-
trations the doctrines of the atonement as the sacrifice for the
sins of the world, and his resurrection from the dead " for our
justification." We must begin our religion aright. It must
have the true starting-point. As religion develops a new life,
we can enter it only by " a new birth." Our national cur-
rency possesses value because it issues from the hand of the
government, and not from superiority in the material or work-
manship over counterfeit notes. Its origin gives it value. So
it is in religion. Is it of God, or of man ? If it is of God, it
is born of grace ; if of man, it prates of works. That man's
religious principles that do not start out with saving faith in
Christ, principles which know nothing of a spiritual birth or
the forgiveness of sins, may produce in his life a close re-
semblance in some things to the life of a Christian ; yet, after
all, he is but an imitation, and not a genuine.
He did not begin aright. He seeks to pass among men as
the true currency of heaven, without that essential impress of
regeneration by the Holy Ghost which only can make our re-
ligion pass current in the government of God. Those various
errors and issues which discard the vicarious atonement of
Christ, and deny the necessity of " the new birth " and the for-
giveness of sins by faith in Christ, yet preach up good works
and high ideal morality, while depending upon no divine power
to produce the results, are but counterfeit manufactories,
sending out a false currency, destitute of the seal of God.
Such counterfeits may pass here for a time, but cannot deceive
the Judge in the last day. W. J.
THE INDISPENSABLE POWER,
And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you : but tarry ye in
the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Luke 24 : 49.
one essential element in a church of Christ is the abid-
ing of the " power from on high." It was this Pentecostal
268 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
energy, revived on earth a hundred and forty years ago, that
awakened a new spiritual life in believers, and rendered the
preaching of the evangelists of that age so effectual in turn-
ing men from sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the living
fire from the altar of heaven, burning in the hearts of White-
field, Wesley, Harris, and others, and making hot the words
that leaped from their tongues. It was a consuming zeal in
the bosoms of Asbury, Garrettson, Abbott, Whatcoat, M'Ken-
dree. Like fire in dry stubble, it spread wherever our early
itinerants went, with the burden of the Lord upon their souls,
and the word of the Lord upon their lips. Old men and chil-
dren, young men and maidens, all caught the hallowed flame.
It was in the preaching of the pulpit, whether that pulpit was
in the regularly consecrated house of worship, a stump in the
forest, or the floor of a log-cabin. It was carried to the family
altar, where heavenly baptisms often descended ; to the class-
meeting and love-feast, where it showed itself in shouts and
tears ; and to the gatherings for prayer and praise, where
godly men and saintly women poured out their souls in suppli-
cations to God, and exhortations to sinners. They sung of
salvation, they talked and prayed about it by day, and it was
often in their dreams by night. Rev. D. Curry, D. D.
CHRIST'S ASCENSION.
And he led them out as far as to Bethany : and he lifted up his hands, and
blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted
from them," and carried up into heaven. Luke 24 : 50, 51.
IT was a balmy morning in the East ; a morning in which
the fragrance of Judea's bright-eyed flowers rose up to
greet the rosy-fingered day. Out of the green city of Pales-
tine went forth a little band of unlettered peasants. If their
intellects were untrained, their hearts and souls were gen-
erously large.
Humility adorned them. Though nature smiled in all her
affluence of beauty, yet that company were sad, and grief
blinded their eyes to the witchery about them. One distin-
guished above the rest, at a glance led them up the slope,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 2G9
whose brow is embossed with olives. And who was that
leader ? Glory celestial sat on his brow, like the garland of
stars gracing the midnight moon. Did earth ever before see
such majesty blend with sweet meekness ; such a countenance
impearled with serenity ; such eyes, from whose azure depths
shone divinity ?
They stood on Olivet's top, and the Master spoke. The
tone had such music that the birds ceased, and listened with
awe. His pathetic words glided smoothly to those weeping
hearts. That eloquence was winged with more than mortal
power, and every word blossomed, rose-like, in those followers'
breasts. Hope, and fortitude, and reverence opened arid closed
after them the gates of their hearts, and flung away the keys.
And as this consolation began to cheer up those formerly
drooping hearts lo ! was it a- dream ? Those apostles look
wild, and can scarcely believe their senses. Still it is true
upward, and still upward ascends the teacher, Jesus. He soars
up in a golden, cloudy chariot, and soon
" The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls,"
and he is seen no more by man ; but happier spheres appear
chiming a choral welcome to their Lord's approach.
His was a conqueror's triumphal entry, not to a paltry
Rome, but to the heavenly city of God. Now myriads of
angels, cherubim and seraphim, come forth to welcome the
Saviour of the world ! and Enoch, Moses, Abraham, and David
came flying forth, and the throng of saints and the just hovered
near with song. Now sound harp, and timbrel, and sackbut of
heavenly make, so that their melody, woven with the anthem
of the hosts, shook the hills of immortality, and the pedestals
of heaven trembled. The Herald and Journal.
AWAKENED BY THE WORD.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. John 1:1.
FRANCIS JUNIUS, the Younger, was a scholar, but had
imbibed a deadly prejudice against the truth of the Bible.
270 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
His father perceived the fact in grief, and placed a New Tes-
tament among his books of study. The infidel son finding it
there, took it np one day, and thought he would just open it,
to view some passages that might meet his eye. His eye
fastened on the text, " In the beginning was the Word," <fcc.
He was so struck with the text, that he read on through the
chapter. He found himself solemnly arrested with the divinity
of the argument, and the majesty and authority of the compo-
sition, as infinitely surpassing everything human. He says,
My body shuddered, my mind was all in amazement, and I
was so agitated the whole day that I scarce knew who I was."
He adds with gratitude, " Thou hast remembered me, Lord
my God, according to thy boundless mercy, and didst bring
back the lost sheep of thy flock." From that time the relish
of his soul was turned from the objects of his past delights
to the word of God, and the great and glorious things of his
kingdom. 0, unbelievers of the word of God, ye must expe-
rience the same change by the Spirit of grace, or you must
sink in eternal death.
GOSPEL LIGHT THE ONLY TRUE LIGHT.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world. John 1 : 9.
C\ OSPEL light is durable, lasting ; it will never go out and
VT leave you in the dark ; and, what is most surprising is, you
can look at it without dazzling your eyes or distracting your
brain. It is a light that shines at a great distance ; it pene-
trates the dark caverns of the grave, the wretched abode of
the damned. The horrid glare of hell shrinks before it,
devils and wicked spirits seek to hide themselves from its
scorching light in vain, heaven with all its glories is seen in
the distance. The high hills of salvation over the dark valley
of death are distinctly seen by its light. Yet as the Christian
travels through that valley he " fears no evil ; " gleams of
heavenly light shine upon his pathway, which make the road
pleasant. As he climbs up the celestial hills, it becomes
more and more brilliant, until it becomes one immense, infinite
body of light, in which the inhabitants of heaven live, move,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 271
and have their being. This glorious light will never be ex-
tinguished ; the sun may grow dark, the moon refuse to shine,
the stars fall, the earth disappear, all the light and glory of
man cease to be then, then will this glorious light shine
with its brightest beams, bursting forth from the throne of
God, and darting its rays across the sunny plains of heaven,
to the last and darkest part of creation, till the whole universe
rises in one immeasurable body of light, and shouts forth the
everlasting praises of God and the Lamb. This gospel as it
was, as it is, and as it ever will be, is the only sure and proper
light of the world. Woe to that man who forsakes this true
light for a false one ; he may have what he terms light, for a
season, but when he wants it most, it will be gone. I have by
this light drawn some dark pictures of men and things. There
are bright ones too ; God reigns, Christ lives, the Holy Spirit
strives, the gospel shines it will ever shine ; the dark
clouds that hang about it will be dispersed. Mist and fog
must flee before it ; men's "little farthing lights " be entirely ex-
tinguished by it. The church, the world, the universe, will yet
be lighted up with this heaven-born light. One trouble is, too
many of us are following false lights, meteors, Jack-o'lantern
lights, that lead us out of the true path and leave us in the
dark, or sparks of our own kindling. This is a fanciful age
geology, phrenology, and a lot more of ologies are leading
many a poor soul into dismal swamps, from which if they ever
get clear they will do well. Recollect, the Bible as it is, first
science, last. If you can not have both lights, have the
first gospel light and grace before everything. E.
THE POWER OF TRUTH.
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by J:sus
Christ. John 1:17.
THE celebrated Gilbert West and Lord Lyttleton, both men
of acknowledged talent, had received the principles of infi-
delity from a superficial view of the Scriptures. They agreed
together to expose what they termed the imposture of the
Bible, and Mr. West chose the resurrection of Christ, and Lord
272 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Lyttleton the conversion of St. Paul, as the subjects of their
criticism. Both sat down to their respective tasks full of
prejudice, and a contempt for Christianity. But what was the
result ? They were both converted by their endeavors to
overthrow the truth of Scripture. They came together, not
as they expected, to exult over an imposture exposed to ridi-
cule, but to lament their former unbelief, and to congratulate
each other that they had discovered the truth of revelation.
They published their inquiries, which form two of the most
valuable treatises now existing, in favor of the truth of God's
word, one entitled " Observations on the Conversion of St.
Paul," and the other " Observations on the Resurrection of
Christ."
CHRIST OUR SACRIFICE.
And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God !
John 1 : 36.
SIN requires a sacrifice, and the sacrifice must be in propor-
tion to the offense, and the dignity of the offended ; such
a sacrifice could not be found, but God condescended to pro-
vide one, which was no less a person than his only-begotten
Son. This Lamb was provided to expiate and remove sin ; to
honor the divine government, and reconcile us to God. Let
us daily direct our attention to the Lamb of God, who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was
manifested in these last times for us. He is set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood, and to be the daily
object of our faith, desire, and affection. Provided by God,
he presented to God an infinite atonement; and we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of our
sins. The Lamb is to be presented daily to God by us, in our
prayers and praises ; and all our expectations are to be founded
upon what he is, what he has done, and what he is doing now
before the throne of God. Take off your attention from all
other subjects, and " BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. . 273
VALUE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Naz-
aretli? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. John 1 : 46.
MANY honest-minded persons have prejudices against reli-
gion, and at times entertain serious doubts of its divine
origin. These prejudices and doubts proceed from a want of
close and rigid examination of the Bible, its sacred teachings,
and the evidences of its truthfulness. Nathanael, when he
heard from Philip, that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah,
was so prejudiced against that place, that for a time he could
not receive the truth. He did not believe that anything good,
much less that a prophet, and still less that the Messiah, could
come out of a place so unimportant and wicked as Nazareth.
Philip presents no labored argument to remove this prejudice,
but says kindly and affectionately to him, " Come and see."
As much as to say, " Do not take my word, but examine and
judge for yourself. See if this is not so." " If any man will do
his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or
not." It is impossible to explain colors to a blind man, sounds to
a deaf man, or sweetness to one without taste. All these to be
known must be tested by personal experience. So to know
the religion of Christ, its truth, its power to save, its refining
and joyful influence, it is necessary to test it for ourselves.
The infidelity and prejudices of the times will yield, when all
are willing to give Christianity a thorough investigation, and
as they may be convinced of its divine origin, test for them-
selves its saving power. Try it.
WINE THAT JESUS MADE.
Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with water. And they filled them
up to the brim. And he saith unto them, draw out now, and bear unto the
governor of the feast. And they bare it. John 2:7, 8.
IN the miracle at Cana of Galilee, did Jesus make intoxicating
wine ? Dr. S. M. Isaacs, an eminent Jewish rabbi of New
York, says, " In the Holy Land, they do not commonly use
35
274 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
fermented wines. The best wines are preserved sweet and
unfermented. In reference to their customs at their religious
festivals, he repeatedly and emphatically said, l The Jews do
not, in their feasts for sacred purposes, including the marriage
feast, ever use any kind of fermented drinks. 7 In their oblations
and libations, both private and public, they employ the fruit
of the vine that is, fresh grapes unfermented grape-juice
and raisins, as the symbol of benediction. Fermentation is to
them always a symbol of corruption, as. in nature and science
it is itself decay, rottenness."
If anything further is needed, take the Bible, and compare
the texts which refer to wine, as both a blessing and a curse,
an emblem of both salvation and damnation, the symbol of
divine wrath and mercy, as both recommended and forbidden,
as making the heart glad and yet stinging like an adder ; and
then to assert that it is all one and the same thing, is so absurd
as to refute itself. For further information, facts, authorities,
&c., we refer to Dr. Lees' " Bible Commentary," Dr. Pattern's
" Laws of Fermentation," Rev. Mr. Thayer's " Communion
Wine," Rev. Dr. Ritchie's " Scripture Testimony against In-
toxicating Wines," Dr. Duffield's " Bible Rule of Temperance,"
all of which are able advocates of the theory that there are
two kinds of wine referred to in the Bible and in use among
the ancients, the one fermented and the other unfermented,
the one intoxicating and the other unintoxicating, the one rec-
ommended and the other forbiddden.
PERIL IN AMASSING RICHES.
And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the
changers of money sitting. John 2 : 14.
IF you have been accustomed to feel that there is no grea.t
peril connected with the amassing of riches, then the deceit
has begun to work in you. There is peril in it. Ho who has
begun to accumulate money ought, morning and evening, to
humble himself before God, and say, " Search me, God ! try
me, and see if there be any evil way in me." You need to
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 275
lean upon the promise of God, "Lo, I will be with you to the
end." If you walk in a consecrated way ; if you have con-
secrated your heart to God ; if you have lifted your right hand,
and consecrated your wealth to God ; if you feel in your
very soul, " I am the steward of God ; this is not mine ; it is
lent to me to be improved upon for the good of my fellow-men
and for the glory of my Lord ; " if God has given you this spirit,
then all hail ! You are doing a noble work, and are walking
in a noble way, and not far before you is the crown arid the
cky of refuge. But if you have no consecration, no moral
purpose, no daily prayer, no fear, no outlooking, no watching;
if you are going along that way in which so many hundreds
of thousands have perished, without conscience and without
guard, woe be to you ! Beecher.
CHRIST THE MODEL TEACHER.
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that
tliou art a teacher come from God : for no man can do these miracles that thou
doest, except God be with him. John 3 : 2.
AS to his mode of teaching, it was not systematic ; and in
this his example was imitated by the apostles. The
language and form in which it was delivered were unphilo-
sophical ; that is, instead of employing terms of science, he
formed his expressions from passing occurrences, and what-
ever objects happened to be present to his hearers at the
time of his addressing them. Or else he spoke in parables,
or made use of that ancient symbolic language so often adopt-
ed by the Jewish prophets, as when he washed his disciples'
' feet, and set a child in the midst of them. As to the matter
of his teaching, his discourses aim either at correcting what
was perverted, and explaining what was obscure in the pre-
ceding state of morals and religious knowledge, or else they
decla-re truths not before revealed. With the several lead-
ing topics which they embrace the Christian reader is- pre-
sumed to be familiar ; and it is sufficient to observe, briefly,
that of the former kind are his exhortations of inward purity,
as opposed to mere outward acts of obedience, and compliance
276 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
with the spirit rather than with the letter of the precept. To
the latter class belong the doctrines of atonement and grace,
of the Trinity in unity, certain points of revelation relating to
a future state, and whatever else may be considered as pe-
culiar to the Christian revelation. Bishop Hinds.
SECOND BIRTH.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except
a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God. John 3 : 3.
rE Rev. Dr. Tyng preached from the following text :
Ps. 87 : 4, 5. " I will make mention of Rahab and Baby-
lon to them that know me : behold Philistia, and Tyre, with
Ethiopia ; this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be
said, This and that man was born in her : and the Highest
himself shall establish her."
His subject was birth, and the new birth, which he treated
with great earnestness and power.
In the introduction, Dr. T. related the following incident:
Shortly after the celebrated Summerfield came to this-
country, the young and beautiful preacher on some public
occasion met a distinguished doctor of theology, who said to
him,
" Mr. Summerfield, where were you born, sir ? "
" I was born/ 7 said he, " in Dublin and in Liverpool."
" Ah, how can that be ? " inquired the doctor.
The boy preacher paused a moment, and answered, " Art
thou a master in Israel and understandest not these things ? "
THE CONVERSION OF NOAH WEBSTER, IL.D.
Marvel not that I said unto thec, Ye must be born again. John 3 : 7.
HE came of a pious stock, and was a child of prayer, but
being of an independent spirit, and disposed to inter-
meddle with all learning, he grew up averse to the doctrinal
formulas of the day ; and though never a disbeliever in the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 277
Scriptures, and constant in worship, he withheld himself from
any personal faith in Christ. His wife was a humble and
prayerful Christian. At the time of which I speak his family
consisted of two daughters, the older of sixteen years, the
younger of fourteen, and some younger children. His pastor,
in the Old Centre Church of New Haven, was Moses Stuart,
then a young and fervid preacher of the new theology. Those
plain, earnest ministrations of the Word were stirring the
community to its depths. The Spirit of God was applying the
truth to men's consciences, and numbers among that people
were being convinced of sin and brought to the Saviour. The
two daughters of Mr. Webster became deeply concerned for
their own salvation. Their distress of mind was evident. A
decided man, he wrote a note to Mr. Stuart, courteously but
positively prohibiting him from conversing further with them
on the subject of religion, and intimating that they needed, in
his judgment, no such change of character as Mr. Stuart urged,
and were all that, as their father, he desired them to be. The
elder he sent out of the city to visit some friends, as a means
of diverting her mind ; but God graciously led her to himself
during her absence. The younger daughter, my mother, re-
mained at home, and within a week found peace in Christ,
unhelped save by his word and grace. The change wrought
in her, and manifested in her very air and manner, in the
serene gladness of her life, and her tender assiduity of love
toward her parents, struck the father to his heart. He was
too candid a man not to own a fact when he saw it. Trouble
seized upon him also, as he felt the reality of a change he
never had experienced a change clearly wrought by divine
grace. For days he shut himself in his study with his Bible,
and gave himself honestly to know what that taught him of
his condition before God. At last he sent for Mr. Stuart, and
unburdened his whole mind to him as a sinner without excuse.
He soon found peace in believing, and not long after, with his
daughters, he joyfully confessed Christ in his church. At the
age of eighty-four he died, giving this testimony : " I have not
one wavering doubt or fear. I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed to him till that day." Rev. W. H. Goodrich, D. D.
278 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
UNDERSTANDING AND FAITH.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things he?
John 3:9.
CHRISTIANITY is the religion of faith. In this respect it
VJ differs from all other systems. Understanding all about
it ; comprehending its vastness, and knowing it, before experi-
encing it, are simply impossible, and contrary to the philoso-
phy of religion. Believing the word of him who has revealed
it to us, or faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is indispensably
necessary. " How can these things be ? " was the question
of the unenlightened and unconverted Nicodemus, when
the doctrine of the new birth was preached to him by our
Lord. In that remarkable interview Jesus did not explain,
nor attempt to explain, the philosophy of the new birth, but
made a personal application of this truth to his heart, " Ye
must be born again."
Nicodemus represents that class of unregenerate men who
try to reduce the religion of faith to the comprehension of
their understanding, a vain effort to change the essential
nature of Christianity from faith to knowledge. That there
is knowledge of divine things, possessible by man, is a glorious
reality, but it is possessed by such as are inducted into the
mysteries of godliness by faith. The whole system of revealed
and experimental Christianity, in all their essential parts, is
addressed to our faith. This explains why so much is said in
the Bible about faith, and so little about understanding. " If
thou canst believe/' said Jesus to the father who asked for
divine help in behalf of his son. (Mark 9 : 23.) To that noble-
man who went from Capernaum to Cana of Galilee, to have
Jesus " come down and heal his son," who laid at the point of
death, Jesus said, " Go thy way, thy son liveth." (John 4 : 50.)
Had that nobleman lingered about the Saviour to understand
how Jesus' word in one place could heal his son in another
town several miles away, he would have been rebuked for his
unbelief, and his son would not have been healed. But the
account tells us " he believed the word that Jesus had spoken
unto him, and he went his way."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 279
SATAN VANQUISHED.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that who-
soever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3 : 16.
is a story how the devil appeared to a dying man,
_L and showed him a parchment roll, which was very long,
wherein was written on every side the sins of the poor sick man,
which were many in number ; and there were also written the
idle words lie had spoken in his life, together with the false
words, the unchaste words, and angry words ; afterward came
his vain and ungodly words ; and lastly, his actions, digested
according to the commandments ; whereupon Satan said, "See
here, behold thy virtues 1 see here what thy examination must
be ! " Whereupon the poor sinner answered, " It is true ; but
tliou hast not set down all ; for thou shouldst have added, and
set down here below, ' The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
us from all our sins j ' and this also should not have been for-
gotten, that ' Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but
have everlasting life.' " Whereupon the devil vanished. Thus,
if the devil should muster up our sins, and set them in order
before us, let but Christ be named in a faithful way, and he will
give back, and fly away with all speed.
GUILTY FOR NOT COMING TO THE LIGHT.
For every one that doeth evil hatoth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. John 3 : 20.
IT is fashionable, in some quarters, to deny responsibility for
belief, on the ground that a man's opinion is not under his
own control. There is precisely the same ground for affirm-
ing that a man can not help his actions. His opinions do no
doubt influence his actions, but his actions also influence his
opinions. A bad life deranges the judgment, and a deranged
judgment deteriorates still more the life. These two act
reciprocally as causes, and emerge alternately as effects.
Truth shines like light from heaven ; but the mind and con-
science within the man constitute the reflector that receives
280 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
it. Thence we must read off the impressions, as the astrono-
mer reads the image from the reflector at the bottom of his
tube. When that tablet is dimmed by the breath of evil
spirits dwelling within, the truth is distorted and turned into
a lie. It was because the man's deeds were evil that he
missed the truth. He is responsible for his erroneous opinion
as certainly as he is responsible for his unrighteous act.
DO THE TRUTH.
But he that doeth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made
manifest, that they are wrought in God. John 3:21.
DIVINE truth is put into our hands to be a motive-power
in bringing us up to God. We are not to regard the
Bible as a revelation of truth simply claiming our assent ; for
then but little good could come of it. We must use divine
truth in finding the gate of life. It will do us no good to
say of any truth, or class of truths, " Yes, I believe that," and
stop there.
We should regard the promises of God's word as so many
orders on his storehouse of mercy and grace, all made out to
us, and ready to be presented for the rich gifts of pardon,
grace, and might. If a friend gives me notes of great value,
I must present them for payment, in order to get any good out
of them ; for as notes they are of no value ; they will neither
feed nor clothe me ; but since they promise what I need, and
are against reliable parties, by presenting them my wants may
all be supplied.
So the Bible unread, its truth unpresented back to the Giver
in prayer, will be worthless. Needy soul ! take an appropriate
promise out of God's word ; take it on your knees to the
throne of grace, and there cry, " Heavenly Father, I present
this promise for fulfillment ; the promise was made to me, and
I need the things specified." Then will he " open the win-
dows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall
not be room to receive it."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 281
SNOWDON AND HIS UNITARIAN FRIEND.
The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
John 3 : 35.
771ATHER SNOWDON, the famous colored preacher of Bos-
JL ton, being asked once by a Unitarian friend, " What was
Christ before the Father gave all things into his hand?" an-
swered like his Master by asking a question, " What was God
the Father after he had given all things into his hand?" Thus
Unitarianism gained nothing by the inquiry ; for whatever it
sought to gain against the divinity of Christ, by the gift of
" all things into his hand," it lost as much in the Godhead of
the Father who had given all things unto the Son.
The things given were not divine attributes, for " the Word
was in the beginning with God, and the Word was God ; " but
that supreme control and authority over his church, and the
destinies of all men on the earth, so that the words of Christ
are exalted to the same authority as the law given from
Sinai. Embodied divinity " bore our griefs and carried our
sorrows/' and to him was committed supremacy and ultimate
authority, which justify the statement of the following verse :
" He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; and he
that believeth not the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of
God abideth on him." And also the words of our Lord in the
great commission :. " He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark
16 : 16.) The whole scheme of human salvation, our pardon,
regeneration, sanctification, resurrection, and final destiny by
his righteous judgment, are put into his hands, who was " God
manifest in the flesh."
JESUS AT JACOB'S WELL.
Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied Avith his jour-
ney, sat thus on the well : and it was about the sixth hour. John 4 : G.
I
T was about noon. A woman of Shechem came to draw
water. Jesus asked a drink of her, which greatly aston-
36
282 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ished her, the Jews ordinarily abstaining from all intercourse
with the Samaritans. Now, by the conversation of Jesus, the
woman recognized in him a prophet, and expecting reproaches
regarding her creed, anticipated him. " Lord," said she, " our
fathers worshiped upon this mountain, but you say we must
worship at Jerusalem." " Woman, believe me," responded
Jesus, " the hour is come when the Father will no longer be
worshiped either upon this mountain or at Jerusalem, but
when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
and in truth." The day when he pronounced that speech he
was really the Son of God. He uttered, for the first time, the
word upon which will repose the edifice of eternal religion.
He founded the pure worship, without date, without country,
which all elevated souls will practice until the end of time.
On that day he proclaimed not only the religion worthy of hu-
manity, but the absolute one ; arid if other planets have inhab-
itants, endowed with reason and morality, their religion can not
differ from that declared by Jesus near Jacob's well. Man has
not been able to adhere to it, for the ideal is reached only for
a moment. The word of Jesus was a glimmer of light in an
obscure night ; it has required eighteen hundred years for the
eyes of humanity (what say I of an infinitely small portion
of humanity) to become habituated to it. But the glimmer
will become the full day, and after having passed through all
the circles of error, humanity will return to that word as to
the immortal expression of its faith and its hopes.
REWARD FOR A CUP OF COLD WATER.
There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water : Jesus saith unto her,
Give me to drink. John 4 : 7.
A YOUNG Englishwoman was sent to France to be educated
in a Huguenot school in Paris. A few evenings before
the fatal massacre of St. Bartholomew's day she and some of
her young companions were taking a walk in some part of the
town where there were sentinels placed, perhaps on the
walls, and you know that when a soldier is on guard he must
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 283
not leave his post until he is relieved ; that is, till another
soldier comes to take his place. One of the soldiers, as the
young ladies passed him, besought them to have the charity
to bring him a little water, adding that he was very ill, and it
would be as much as his life was worth to go and fetch it him-
self. The ladies walked on, much offended at the man for
presuming to speak to them ; all but the young Englishwoman,
whose compassion was moved, and who, leaving her party,
procured some water and brought it to the soldier. He begged
her to tell him her name and place of abode, and this she did.
When she rejoined her companions, some blairied and others
ridiculed her attention to a common soldier ; but they soon
had reason to lament that they had not been equally com-
passionate, for the grateful soldier contrived on the night of
the massacre to save this young Englishwoman, while all the
other inhabitants of the house she dwelt in were killed.
"IF THOU KNEWEST THE GIFT OF GOD."
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and
who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink ; thou wouldest have asked of
him, and he would have given thee living water. John 4 : 10.
T)ERHAPS no cry is more striking, after all, than the short
JL and simple cry of the water-carrier. " The gift of God ! "
he says, as he goes along. with his water-skin on his shoulder.
It is impossible to hear this cry without thinking of the Lord's-
words to the woman of Samaria : " If thou knewest the gift of
God, and who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink, thou
wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee
living water." It is very likely that water, so invaluable and
so often scarce in hot countries, was, in those days, spoken of
as now, as the " gift of God," to denote its preciousness ; if so,
the expression would be exceedingly forcible to the woman,
and full of meaning.
The water-carrier's cry in Egypt must always arouse a
thoughtful mind to recollection of the deep necessities of the
people; of the thirst which they as yet know not of; and of
the living water, which few, if any, have ever yet offered to-
284 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
the poor Moslems in that great city ; and make him wish and
pray for the time when the sonorous cry of " Ya aatee Allah "
shall be the type of the cry of one bringing the living water
of the gospel, and saying, " Behold the gift of God." Ragged
Life in Egypt.
DYING OF THIRST.
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst ;
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up
into everlasting life." John 4 : 14.
IT is said that there is no physical suffering so great as that
of dying from thirst. Soldiers on an exposed road or battle-
field will risk their lives often in crossing an exposed road or
space to get a drink of water. There is no substitute that can
give relief, no luxury but what would be gladly exchanged for
a cup of cold water by one who is thus perishing. A poor
soldier, wounded in the battle of the Wilderness, was lying
upon the battle-field suffering from thirst. A comrade brought
him his canteen filled with refreshing water. How eagerly
the dying man gazed upon it ! How he blessed the hand that
brought it ! But how great was his agony and disappointment
when he found that he could not swallow. In vain were all
his efforts, and with a look of despair it was set aside.
There are many poor souls around us dying of thirst who do
not feel their want. But they will one day. No one ever
died happily who did not love the Lord Jesus while in life and
health. His salvation is called the water of life. If our souls
drink of it they shall never thirst. If we do not take of it we
shall miserably perish. It is offered us " without money and
without price," so we alone are to blame if we do not obtain
it. The very best time to seek Jesus is in childhood and
youth.
If we neglect it then, the time may come when we may
seek but can not find him. We may be in great agony because
we are not Christians, and one may tell us of a Saviour's love ;
but, like the poor soldier, we may not be able to drink of this
cup of life. Once we could easily have repented and turned
-to him ; now it is too late.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 285
EBAL AND GERIZIM.
Our fathers worshiped in this mountain ; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is
the place where men ought to worship. John 4 : 20.
AN interesting experiment was recently tried in connection
with Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, for the purpose of meet-
ing the doubts sometimes expressed as to whether the bless-
ings and curses recorded in the twenty-seventh chapter of
Deuteronomy could be heard in the valley below. On this
point a correspondent of the London Sunday School Times re-
lates the following incident :
" On the 22d day of March last, I stood myself on Ger-
izim not on the top, bu-t on a spur, like a platform, on its
side, above the valley ; and there is a similar platform oppo-
site, on Ebal. A friend stood on Ebal, opposite. There was
a congregation of from twelve to fifteen below us. My friend
on Ebal first read the curses (See Deut. 27), one by one, and
the people below shouted i Amen ' after each of them. I fol-
lowed, reading the blessings in the next chapter, and our
friends below responding to the same with their 'Amen.'
Then we read several verses in the first chapter of John, the
one and the other reading every alternate sentence. Not only
the people in the valley below, but I myself, standing on the
side of Gerizim, could hear most distinctly every word that
my friend read on the side of Ebal, and vice versa. We did
not measure the distance, but it was estimated by the party
to be nearly a mile. 7 '
THE INVITATION SOCIETY.
Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did : is not this the
Christ? John 4 : 29.
SOME years ago a gentleman residing in one of our cities
was deeply impressed and grieved by seeing multitudes
who neglected public worship ; and he determined to make
the effort to induce some of the Sabbath-breakers to frequent
the house of God. It required some little effort at first, but
he overcame his timidity. The Lord's day evening he went
288 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
0, how willing would we give all our possessions for the res-
toration of our dying boy ! "
" No," says one, " there is still hope. Physicians can't save
him. Medicines can do him no good, but there is One who is
greater, and wrser, and better than all physicians. He at-
tended a marriage, not long since, and actually converted, for
the benefit of the guests in attendance, six large vessels of
water into excellent wine. He can save your child ! "
The agonized father acts upon this suggestion, and starts
out at once for Cana of Galilee. He makes no apology for his
rudeness, and rushes at once into the presence of the miracle-
worker. His manner indicated to all " the strong contrast of
an outward need, a need which no other but he could
supply." " Come down to Capernaum at once, my son is
dying," is the touching request. " Except ye see signs and
wonders, ye will not believe," is the ambiguous response.
The anxious nobleman needed a gentle reproof. How he
had rushed into the presence of one who had power to open
the eyes, unstop the ears, still the waves, and raise the dead ;
and yet in his heart he limits the power of Jesus, and seems to
think that nothing but his actual presence can do any good for
the dying child ! He had faith enough to go to Jesus, but he
seemed to doubt his ability to send help so far ! He repeats
the request, " Sir, come down ere my child die." The response
is, " Go thy way : thy son liveth." With the utterance of
these words, there goes forth a power that is felt in that
distant sick chamber.
To the astonishment of the attendants, a sudden, a striking,
an unprecedented, an unaccountable, a miraculous change
takes place. The pulses at once become regular, the skin
moist, the eyes natural, the limbs strong, the voice right ; the
dying child leaps up from his couch, and is just as well as any
of the attendants.
The next day the father, strong in the faith that the Sa-
viour's word was true, is delighted to hear as he approaches
the house, " Thy son liveth." " At what hour began he to
amend ? " asked the nobleman. " Yesterday, at the seventh
hour, the fever left him." Here now was a " mathematical
proof" that the telegraph worked accurately. Thus the ruler
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 289
reasoned : Yesterday, in Cana, at one o'clock in the afternoon,-
I besought Jesus ; and here, in Capernaum, twenty-five miles
distant, at one o'clock precisely, the fever left him.
Is it any wonder that this man and his whole house be-
lieved ? May not that same incident serve to establish our
faith in the ability of Jesus, who is still the Lord of life ?
FALSE CHARITY.
Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold,
thou aft made whole : sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
John 5 : 14.
THAT is a very poor kind of charity which clears the sinner
by making light of his sin. It is not uncommon to speak
of swindling as an "irregularity;" of gambling and drunk-
enness as " youthful indiscretions ; " of profanity as " free
speech ; " and licentiousness as an " unfortunate laxity."
There is a deep wrong done tq society by the use of these
deceitful phrases. When a crime is called a " fault," in order
to save the feelings of the criminal, or when any wicked act
is treated with indifference by reputed good men, the cause
of righteousness suffers. We are insensibly governed by the
estimates put upon actions by the careless speech of our fel-
lows. We can not long hear vices rated with mere misfortunes
without remitting somewhat of the blame which properly
belongs to them.
It is certainly uncharitable to hinder any man's return to
respectability and integrity by unnecessary allusions to past
wickedness. Man cannot refuse to receive whom God receives,
as he does every penitent and reforming soul. But to make
no distinction between a mistaken judgment and deliberate,
willful transgression, is just the opposite of Christ's method.
He said not, You were indiscreet, but, Sin no more.
Down below all the crust of human conceptions, of human
ideas, Christ sank an artesian well into a source of hfeppineqp
so pure and blessed that even yet the world does not believe
in it.
37
290 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
EQUAL HONOR TO THE FATHER AND THE SON.
That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He
that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him.
John 5 : 23.
IN the days of Theodosius, the Arians, through his conni-
vance, were grown very bold, and not only had their
meetings in Constantinople, the chief city of the empire, but
would dispute their opinions etiam in foro, and no man could
prevail with the emperor to lay restraints upon them, because
(saith the historian) he thought it nimis severum et indemens
esse. At length comes to Constantinople one Amphilochius,
Bishop of Iconium, a poor town ; an honest man, but no great
politician for the world. He petitions the emperor to restrain
the Arians, but in vain ; next time he comes to the court,
finding the emperor and his son Arcadius (whom he had lately
created joint-emperor) standing together, he doth very low
obeisance to the father, but none to the son, yet coming up
close to him, in a familiar manner stroketh him on the head,
and saith, Salve mifili, God save you, my child. The emperor
taking this for a great affront, being full of rage, bids turn the
man out of doors. As the officers were dragging him forth,
he, turning to the emperor, saith, Ad hunc modum existima, O
imperator, &c., Make an account, emperor, that thus, even
thus is the Heavenly Father displeased with thosB that do
not honor the Son equally with the Father ; which the emperor
hearing, calls the bishop back again, asks him forgiveness,
presently makes a law against Arianism, forbids their meetings
and disputations, constituta pcena. Here was a blessed artifice
by which the zeal of this emperor was suddenly turned into
the right channel ; and he was taught by his tenderness over
his own honor, and the honor of his son, to be tender over the
honor of God, and his Son Christ Jesus. Now, so it is that
much of Arius is at this day in England, and more than ever
was since the name of Christ was known in England ; yet it
is much hoped and heartily wished for, that as there hath
been some actings for God, that men may no longer impugn
wickedly, and pertinaciously blaspheme his glorious essence
and attributes, so to show the like zeal for the glory of his
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 291
eternal Son and Spirit ; this being the will of God, that all
men should honor the Son, as they honor the Father: he that
honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father. (John 5 : 23.)
Matth. Newcomen, Sermon at Westminster, 1647.
THE FINAL RESURRECTION.
Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the
graves shall hear his voice. John 5 : 28.
THE final resurrection will be an event of inconceivable
grandeur and magnificence. Think of an assembled uni-
verse before the great white throne of its Maker and Judge !
Every son and daughter of Adam will be there. You and I,
dear reader, will be there. If the earth contains eight hun-
dred millions of souls, what a congregation must all those
generations make, which have succeeded each other* for six
thousand years ! What an immense harvest of men and
women, springing up from the caverns of the earth and the
depths of the sea ! Stand a while, my soul, and contemplate
the wonderful spectacle. Adam formed in Paradise, and the
babe born but yesterday ; the earliest ages and the last gen-
erations meet upon the same level. Jews and Gentiles, Greeks
and barbarians, people of all climes and languages unite in the
promiscuous throng. Here those vast armies, which, like
swarms of locusts, covered countries : which, witll an irresist-
ible sweep overran empires ; here they appear, and here are
all lost lost, like the small drop of the bucket when plungefd
amid the boundless and unfathomable ocean. 0, the mul-
titudes which these eyes shall behold, when God calleth the
heavens from above, and the earth, that he may judge his
people !
" The time draws on,
When not a single spot of burial earth,
Whether on land, or in the spacious sea,
But must give back its long-committed dust
Inviolate ; and faithfully shall these
Make up the full account, not the least atom
Embezzled or mislaid, of the whole tale.
Each soul shall have a body ready furnished,
292 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
And each shall have his own. Hence, ye profane !
Ask not, How can this be? Sure the same power
That reared the piece at first, and took it down,
Can reassemble the loose, scattered parts,
And put them as they were. Almighty God
Has done much more ; nor is his arm impaired
Through length of days, and what he can, he will
His faithfulness is bound to see it done.
When the dread trumpet sounds, the slumbering dust,
Not unattentive to the call, shall wake,
And every joint possess its proper place,
With a new elegance of form unknown
To its first state."
HEAT AND LIGHT.
He was a burning and a shining light : and ye were willing for , season to
rejoice in his light. John 5 : 35.
THE - Lacedsemonian in Plutarch said, when he heard how
sweetly the nightingale sang, " 0, that I had this bird !
surely it is a rare dish ; " and after a while, when he had taken
it, and ate it, and found but a little picking meat, he concluded
with that proverbial saying, Vox et prceterea nihil, " Now I
see thou art mere voice, and nothing else." And such are
they that go up into the pulpit with stentorian voices, that
have big words, but small matter, so that the people may be
said to hear a sound, but know not what it means ; whereas a
faithful minister of Jesus Christ is not verbal, but real in his
expressions; such as John the Baptist, who was more than a
voice a burning and a shining, light ; there was life and heat
in his ministry ; so that a man may be said to preach much,
yet preach little ; but it were far better to make less use of
his lungs, and more of his heart, which will at the last prove
to be a great comfort to his own soul, and advantageous to
those that hear him. Mr. Ftnner.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 293
COURTEOUS REPLY TO AN INFIDEL.
But I have greater witness than that of John : for the works which the
Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me,
that the Father hath sent me. John 5 : 36.
AN American traveler being unexpectedly detained at the
mole or quarantine in Odessa, was very civilly offered
" half of his apartments, and .a sofa to lie on/' by a young
Englishman who acted as translator to the mole. After they
had formed an intimate acquaintance, and one evening had
retired to rest, the traveler asked his friend how he could
endure the blasphemy which was so constantly heard there.
The young Englishman replied, that " as a gentleman these
things were disagreeable to him, but as to their being in-
trinsically wrong, it was no matter of concern to him, as he
denied the truth of all revelation, and believed Jesus Christ
to be an impostor."
The traveler, without supposing the remark would be
heeded except by courtesy, replied, " Either Christ was an
impostor, or he was not. If he was an impostor, we have the
inconceivable phenomenon of a base man practicing virtue,
self-denial, charity, forgiveness of injuries through his whole
life, in spite of scourging, contumely, and even crucifixion.
Is it philosophical to suppose that a bad man would take so
much pains to make men good ? But if he was not an impos-
tor, then he has told the truth, and we must believe him."
" Is it possible I never saw that before ? " was the reply
of the young Englishman ; but the argument sunk deep into
his heart ; and when the traveler had arrived at Alexandria,
he received a letter from the former skeptic, acknowledging
him as " the best friend he ever had," encouraging him to be
equally faithful to others ; and praying him not to forget " his
Odessa convert."
"SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES."
Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they
are they which testify of me. John 5 : 39.
fT^HERE is a great difference, between reading and searching
JL the Scriptures. There have been, and still are many, that
294 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
read much ; but our knowledge of divine truth depends more
upon the manner we read, than upon the quantity. Dr.
Gough, it is said, read fifteen chapters a day ; Jeremiah Whit-
tiker read all the Epistles of the New Testament in Greek,
every week ; and Roger Cotton read the whole Bible through
twelve times every year.
This rapid reading of the Bible is not the most profitable.
I have been impressed of late, more than ever, with the neces-
sity of" meditating in the law of the Lord," of pausing and re-
flecting upon the portion we read, of looking at it from differ-
ent standpoints, till we are sure we have before our minds
the precise idea the Holy Spirit meant to convey. We should
consider when the passage under consideration was written,
by whom, to whom addressed, and for what purpose.
By searching the Scriptures carefully, by comparing parallel
texts, and similar facts, a person can hardly fail of becoming
deeply interested in the contents of the sacred volume. Wo
shall sympathize with David, who said, " How sweet are thy
words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth.' 7
By studying the Bible, rather than readin'g it, the mind is
stored with ideas, the conscience is enlightened, and each
single thought is kept before the mind long enough to pro-
duce an impression. Pastors and Sabbath-school, teachers
should take pains to instruct those under their charge how to
read the Bible so as to derive the most benefit from it.
If the Bible was studied, instead of being rapidly read, I
have no doubt it would be, much oftener than it is, like the fire
and the hammer which breaketh the rock in pieces.
"LOST; FROM LOVING THE APPLAUSE OF MEN.
How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the
honor that cometh from God only? John 5 : 44.
THE following extract from the Imperial Magazine for De-
cember, 1819, may be of service to every minister of the
gospel. It is the substance of a remarkable dream related by
the late Rev. R. Bowden, of Darwen, who committed it to
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 295
writing from the lips of the person to whom the dream hap-
pened, on the evening of May 30, 1813 :
"A gospel minister of evangelical principles, whose name, from
the circumstances that occurred, it will be necessary to conceal,
being much fatigued at the conclusion of the afternoon service,
retired to his apartment in order to take a little rest. He
had not long reclined upon his' couch, before he fell asleep and
began to dream. He dreamed that, on walking into his gar-
den, he entered a bower that had been erected in it, where
he sat down to read and meditate. While thus employed, he
thought he heard some person enter the garden ; and leaving
his bower, he immediately hastened toward the spot whence
the' sound seemed to come, in order to discover who it was
that had entered. He had not proceeded far before he dis-
cerned a particular friend of his a gospel minister of con-
siderable .talents, who had rendered himself very popular by
his zealous and unwearied exertions in the cause of Christ.
On approaching his friend he was surprised to find that his
countenance was covered with a gloom which it had not been
accustomed to wear, and that it strongly indicated a violent
agitation of mind, apparently arising from conscious remorse.
After the usual salutations had passed, his friend asked the
relater the time of the day, to which he replied, < Twenty-five
minutes after four. 7 On hearing this, the stranger said, l It
is only one hour since I died, and now I am damned/
' Damned ! for what ? ' inquired the dreaming minister. ' It
is not,' said he, ' because I have not preached the gospel,
neither is it because I have not been rendered useful, for I
have now many seals to my ministry, who can bear testimony
to the truth as it is in Jesus, which they have received from
my lips ; but it is because I have been accumulating to my-
self the applause of men more than the honor which cometh
from above : and verily I have my reward ! ' Having uttered
these expressions, he hastily disappeared, and was seen no
more.
u The minister awaking shortly afterward with the contents
of this dream engraven deeply on his memory, proceeds!,
overwhelmed with his serious reflections, toward his chapel,
in order to conduct the evening service. On his way thither
296 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
he was accosted by a friend, who inquired whether he had
heard of the severe loss the church had sustained in the death
of that able minister. He replied, ' No ; ' but being much
affected at this singular intelligence, he inquired of him the
day and the time of the day when his departure took place.
To this his friend replied, ' This afternoon, at twenty-five
minutes after three o'clock.' "
THE SAFE PILOT.
Then they willingly received him into the ship : and immediately the ship
was at the land whither they went. John 6:21.
A SHIP was coming into port with a valuable cargo of pre-
cious merchandise on board, and a still more valuable
freight of precious lives. When nearing their destined port
a heavy storm arose. There was no hope for her unless she
could reach the harbor before the heaviest fury -of it fell upon
her. But, alas ! her pilot was an incompetent one. He did
not know the waters through which he preferred to lead them.
Their peril was seen from the shore, and soon a pilot-boat, with
a few resolute men on board, set out through the stormy sea
to come to their rescue. Soon a new pilot was on the deck,
the old one displaced, and the men assigned to their various
posts. The captain took the wheel, and followed implicitly
the directions of the new leader.
The ship was headed directly toward the foaming breakers.
" Shall I put about ? " cried the captain.
" Steady," was the calm reply ; and in a moment more came
the order, " About ship ! " The ship sailed steadily through
a narrow pass, between two sunken rocks, and soon all danger
was over, and the vessel safely anchored in the harbor.
0, what a crowding about that noble pilot who had risked
his life to come to them who had guided them so steadily,
safely through the storm and the breakers ! * The captain left
the wheel, and threw his arms about him in a transport of
gratitude. The passengers and crew were all eager to grasp
his hand, and testify by words and gifts their gratitude to one
who had saved them from death.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 297
Do you not think in the last day there will be such a gather-
ing about the great Pilot of souls, 'who has brought his chosen
ones safe into the heavenly harbor ? Do you think they can
ever forget that he not only risked, but gave his life to rescue
them ? We must begin this song of loving gratitude on earth,
if we would share in the joy of Christ's ransomed ones in
heaven.
SIMPLY BELIEVE.
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works
of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that
ye believe on him whom he hath sent. John 6 : 28, 29.
LET me entreat you to look to the word of God's testimony,
and think not that anything else than a simple reception
of these words, " that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all
sin," is necessary for the purpose of your being cleansed from
your sin. It is the idea that something more is necessary,
which obstructs this reception. It is the imagination of a
great personal work to which you must set yourself, and in
which you have hitherto sat down in listlessness and despair,
that keeps you at a distance from God. He approaches you
with overtures ; and what you have to do is to close with them.
He approaches you with tidings ; and what you have to do is
to give credit to them. This is doing the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he hath sent ; and could this transi-
tion be accomplished, then would you be translated into a
habit of cheerful and progressive obedience, which in a way
of legalism, or in the attempt to establish a righteousness of
your own, you never can attain. Dr. Chalmers.
CHRIST OUR SOUL FOOD.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life : he that cometh to me,
shall never hunger ; and he that believeth on me, shall never thirst.
John 6 : 35.
fTlHESE words by the Rev. Hugh Macmillan are worth con-
JL sidering well :
" It is only when the earth becomes organized by a living
38
298 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
agency that it can nourish the body. It is only in the tis-
sues of the plant in the ear of corn, in the form of bread
that the earth can feed you. And so it is only in and through
Christ, who only hath life, that you can truly enjoy the world,
that all things become yours, ministering to your faith and to
your growth in grace. If you go to the world first and fore-
most, if you seek your happiness in it indirectly, you must
necessarily feed on ashes ; you are like the man who seeks his
food in the mineral contents of the earth in its clays and
sands instead of in the corn that groweth out of the earth.
But if you feed upon Christ in the fullness that dwelleth in
him bodily, you have stored up, and concentrated, and organ-
ized for you all that your souls need. The world, when
sanctified and transformed by him, will become a teacher of
heavenly wisdom instead of a deceiver, a rich and ever- varying
banquet, instead of ashes ; and all things will work together
for your good. 77
A GENUINE SURRENDER.
All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me ; and him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. John 6 : 37.
A SKEPTICAL soldier, in the hospital at Atlanta, sent for a
chaplain, and, in various ways, tried to get rid of his
doubts. Upon the wall was hung the Scripture, " Whoso
cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out, 77 which caught his
attention one night. In the morning, he asked to have a letter
from his mother read to him. It was an earnest entreaty to
accept Christ. The reader came to the words, " Whoso cometh
unto me, I will in no wise cast out. 77 " There, 77 said he, " that's
what I want. I thought mother said that. Read it again.' 7
It was read. " Mother says that, dqes she ? 77 " Yes. 77 " And
it's in the Bible, too? 77 "Yes. 77 "Then it must be true.
Jesus will receive me. I will come to him. Here, Lord, I
give myself up. 7 ' It appeared to be a genuine surrender, and
a gracious acceptance.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 299
"HIM THAT COMETH TO ME."
Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father,
cometh unto me. John 6 : 45.
/COMETH. If you would be blessed, you must come. If,
\J careless and indifferent, or even thoughtful and apprehen-
sive, you remain .where" you are, perish you must. If your
heart moves not, if you put forth no effort, offer no prayer,
perish you must. If you cast no look upon Jesus, for you there
is no hope.
Is it enough to know that you may come ? Enough to
think about coming ? To wish to come ? To resolve to come
at some future time ? No, no. To see the glass of sparkling
water will not allay the thirst of the man ready to die. He
must press the goblet to his lips. To know that there is a
remedy will not restore health to the sick man. He mtfst
make use of that remedy. With your whole soul call upon
the Lord. Come, yes, come to Jesus. Come as the blind
beggar, as the leper came, and you shall rejoice as they re-
joiced. Only come. No tongue can tell what Jesus will then
do for you.
JESUS THE TRUE BREAD.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven : if any man eat of
this bread, he shall live for ever : and the bread that I will give is my flesh,
which I will give for the life of the world. John 6 : 51.
THE preciousness of God's word is often lost to the soul by
the captious inquisitiveness of men. The following ele-
gant extract from Pierpont shows the folly of all such per ;
sons :
" Give me to know that the doctrine of Jesus is bread from
heaven, and that it sustains the spirit, and prepares it for
heaven, and I may well be indifferent whether that bread
descended, like the manna in the desert, in nightly dew, or
whether, like the food of Elijah, it was brought to my eager
hands by the ravens, or whether it was broken, for myself and
300 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
the hungry thousands around ne, by a hand endued with
miraculous powers. So long as I know that it was sent me by
the Father of my spirit, and that eating it I shall live for ever,
I know all that can give it value, or awaken my gratitude.
When some friendly hand presses a cup of cold water to my
lips, as I am fainting with thirst in a weary land, I will not
ask, for I do not care, whether that water was showered from
the skies, or whether it flowed in a -river or guslied from a
spring. I ask not whether it was brought me in a golden
urn. or whether it was presented in a crystal vase, or a sol-
dier's helmet. It is water that bids me live, and that is
enough for me." Pierpont.
A SKEPTIC'S TEST.
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be
of God, or whether I speak of myself. John 7:17.
A SHORT time since, an aged man related to me his own
history, which I give, as far as I can recollect, in his
own words :
" I did not believe in the^ Bible, or in the reality of religion,
at all. I considered what was called Christian experience as
a delusion, the effect of excitement upon the imagination, and
Christians as a set of fanatics. I had studied skeptical writ-
ers, and was confirmed in my belief that death is an eternal
sleep no heaven, no hell.
" And yet, at times, as the years sped on, an occasional
doubt would arise. The question would force itself on. me,
What if these things should prove true ? Then what will
become of me ?
% " After suffering long from these annoying doubts and sug-
gestions, I at last resolved to try a method which would enable
me to become entirely and for ever free from them. I said to
myself, ' I will secretly try the very method these Christians
propose. They recommend prayer and Bible reading. I will
test their own appointed way myself, and if there be anything
in religion I will find it ; if not. my mind shall never more again
be disturbed by a doubt.' Accordingly, I secured a day of
^*~~f|r^:
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 30 1
solitude, a Sabbath when all the members of the family were
absent at church.* I knelt and prayed,
" ' Lord, if thou dost exist, hear me. If there be a heaven
to gain, and a hell to shun, show it to me. I have never be-
lieved it, but if all these things be true, and the Bible true,
reveal it unto me, and enlighten me. 7
" Then I searched the Bible. Commencing with the New
Testament, I read continuously chapter after chapter, with
intense interest and absorbed attention, ever and anon asking
God to show me the truth. The more I read the stronger
my interest grew, and deeper and deeper the conviction, the
astounding conviction fastened upon me, that all this is true !
I have lived all my life believing lies ! I am a sinner ! I
am lost !
" " I examined the Bible throughout. I dwelt on the creation,
the fall, the coming of Christ. Deeper and deeper grew the
conviction of my guilt ; my anxiety became intense, and I did
not attempt to conceal it. Throughout every day of that
week I spent all my time in searching the word of God and in
prayer, sometimes spending the whole day alone in the wood,
beseeching God to have mercy on my soul.
" At last, on Sabbath morning, just a week from the day I
set apart to ' see if these things were true/ while riding to
church, Christ revealed himself to me as a Saviour my justi-
fication. The way of salvation seemed clear and plain, and I
inwardly exclaimed, ' I know that my Redeemer liveth ! ; My
soul was filled with unspeakable joy. l My tongue broke forth
in unknown strains, and sang redeeming grace.' I had, in
truth, found out by my own experience the truth and reality
of religion, and I soon commenced to tell others what a won-
drous Saviour I had found."
"WHERE DID MOSES GET THAT LAW?"
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you kecpetli the law?
John 7 : 19.
A
LAWYER of great eminence, who had long been an in-
fidel, was induced by a friend to read the Bible. After
302 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS,
having read the decalogue, he said to the gentleman who had
persuaded him to read the Scriptures, " I have been looking
into the nature of that law. I have been trying to see whether
I can add anything to it, or take anything from it, so as to
make it better. Sir, I cannot. It is perfect"
11 The first commandment," continued Ire, " directs us to
make the Creator the object of our supreme love and rever-
ence. That is right. If he be our Creator, Preserver, and
Supreme Benefactor, we ought to treat him, and none other,
as such. The second forbids idolatry. That certainly is right.
The third forbids profanity. The fourth fixes a time for re-
ligious worship ; and if there be a God, he ought surely to be
worshiped. It is suitable that there should be an outward
homage, significant of our inward regard. If God be wor-
shiped, it is proper that some time should be et apart for
that purpose, when all may worship him harmoniously and
without interruption. One day in seven is certainly not too
much, and I do not know that it is too little. The fifth defines
the peculiar duties arising from family relations. Injuries to
our neighbor are then classified by the moral law. They are
divided into offenses against life, chastity, property, and char-
acter. And," said he, applying to a legal idea with legal
acuteness, " I notice that the greatest offense in each case
is expressly forbidden. Thus the greatest injury to life is
murder ; to chastity, adultery ; to property, theft ; to charac-
ter, perjury. Now the greater offense must include the
less of the same kind. Murder must include every injury
to life ; adultery every injury to purity, and so of the rest.
And the moral code is closed and perfected by a command
forbidding every improper desire in regard to our neighbors.
I have been thinking," he proceeded, " where did Moses get
that law? I have read history; the Egyptians and the adja-
cent nations were idolaters ; so were the Greeks and Romans ;
and the wisest and best Greeks or Romans never gave a code
of morals like this. Where did Moses get this law, which
surpasses the wisdom and philosophy of the most enlightened
ages? He lived at a period comparatively barbarous, but
he has given a law in which the learning and sagacity of all
subsequent time can detect no flaw. Where did he get it ?
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 303
He could not have soared so far above his age as to have de-
vised it himself. I am satisfied where he obtained it. It
came down from heaven. I am convinced of the truth of the*
religion of the Bible."
The infidel infidel no longer remained to his death a
firm believer in the truth of Christianity.
"COME YE TO THE WATERS."
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,
If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. John 7 : 37.
THERE is on record the case of a very wicked and hardened
man whose feelings were so touched by the soft notes of a
dove that he was, by the Divine Spirit, led to Christ and to a
Christian life. In the incident below, the prattling of a babe
was blessed to the same result. During a revival in a town
in Ohio, a man who had been very worldly-minded was awak-
ened, but for some time concealed his feelings even from his
wife, who was a praying woman. She left him one evening
in charge of his little girl of three years of age. After her
departure, his anxiety of mind became so great that he could
not rest, and he began to walk the roo.m in his agony. The little
girl soon noticed his agitation of mind, and inquired, " What
ails you, pa?" He replied, "Nothing," and endeavored to
re-quiet his feelings, and divert his mind from the subject. But
all in vain.! Conscience would not 'hush up at his bidding.
He could not calm the troubled deep of his sin-polluted heart.
After sitting a short time he rose again and commenced
walking to and fro as before. Soon the attention of his
daughter was again arrested, and wondering, doubtless, at her
father's uneasiness, and ignorant of its cause, she looked up
sympathizingly in his face and inquired, with all the artless-
ness and simplicity of childhood, "Pa,, if you were dry,
wouldn't you go and get a drink of' water ? " The father
started as if a voice from heaven had fallen on his ear. He
thought of his thirsty soul famishing for the waters of life. He
thought of that living fountain opened in the gospel, and he
304 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
heard the voice of Jesus saying, " If any man thirst, let him
come unto me and drink ! Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters ! " He thirsted. From that hour he dates
the dawning of a new light, and the beginning of a new life.
CONVERSION OF COUNT GASPARIN.
Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees ; and they said
unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never
man spake like this man. John 7 : 45, 46.
A DOLPH MONOD, one of the most gifted and faithful evan-
jLl_ gelical ministers of the present century, preached Christ
crucified and his free grace, to his church in Lyons, France.
One Lord's day, preaching from the text, " God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life,"
he spoke of the person of Christ as the true God-man. He
announced at the same time that the next Sabbath he should
show how men could be saved through faith in this God-man.
But the authorities of this church were full of Catholic and
other errors, and opposed to a doctrine so truly evangelical.
Hence, they informed Monod that if he did not omit the ser-
mon he had announced,, they would have him arrested, and
brought before the prefect, and dismissed from his office. Mo-
nod, notwithstanding, preached his sermon, and the authorities
made their complaint. The prefect demanded the two ser-
mons of the accused, and Monod sent them to . him. The
prefect was a Catholic count Count de Gasparin. He came
home at evening to his wife, and found the sermons. He
never liked sermons, especially evangelical sermons. But he
was a man who discharged faithfully the duties of his office.
It was necessary that the sermons should be read. He came
to his wife with the manuscripts in his hand, complaining that
he would have to give up the whole evening to this irksome
and protracted labor. " She offered, as her husband's worthy
helpmeet, to read the sermons with him, so that Iho task might
seem to him less tedious. They began. They read the first.
With every page tjiey grew more interested. They forgot
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 305
that it was evening and night. That which was at first an
official duty, became a service of the heart. They finished
the first, and eagerly grasped the second. And what was
the result? As a magistrate as a prefect Gasparin was
forced to deprive Mo nod of his place, because all the authori-
ties demanded it. But he and his wife became evangelical
Christians ; yes, living, joyful, and happy believers in Christ.
They found that night the pearl of great price, and it has re-
mained in the family. Their son, Count Agenor de Gasparin,
lias long been the head and pillar of the evangelical party in
France.
CONVICTED BY THEIR OWN CONSCIENCES.
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went
out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. John 8 : 9.
flHHE Kansas City (Mo.) Intelligencer says that at the union
J_ meeting held recently at the Congregational church in
that city, one of the speakers, who had lately u enlisted in the
army of the Lord," told an incident, which is given in his
own language as follows :
" I was passing up Main Street on Tuesday morning, and I
was going by a saloon, when I was hailed by a party of men,
some of whom I knew, and was invited into the saloon to take
a glass of beer. It seems they had met and agreed to invite
to l take a drink ' the first man of their acquaintance who
they knew had lately taken a stand for Christ. I happened
to be their victim, and was, therefore, pressed to join them in
a glass of beer. I told them I could not drink with them.
They asked me then to come into the saloon and ask a bless-
ing over the beer they would drink, and make a prayer. I
answered that I was willing to pray for them, and we went
into the saloon. They called for the beer, and each glass was
filled. They then told me to pray before they drank ; and I
did try to pray. I wept some, and prayed some, and again
wept, and then prayed again. When I ceased praying I looked
up, and there stood the glasses filled with beer, but there was
nobody present but the bar-tender. All the men had slipped
39
306 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
out of the saloon one by one, leaving their beer untasted ! Well,
I took the glasses and (perhaps it was a wrong impulse, per-
haps not), I quietly emptied the, beer on the ground, and,
offering up a prayer for the bar-tender, that God would bless
him and change his heart, I left the saloon."
A VICTIM TO UNBELIEF.
I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins : for if yc believe
not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. John 8 : 24.
A VESSEL named The Thetis was cruising in the Medi-
1JL terranean in search of a shoal or bank, or something of
that kind said to exist beneath the treacherous waters. The
captain, after he had adopted all the means he thought neces-
sary, having failed, abandoned the enterprise, declaring that
the reported danger was all a dream. An officer on board
formed a different judgment, went out by himself on an expe-
dition afterwards into the very same latitude and longitude,
and there discovered a reef of rocks, which he reported to the
admiralty; and it was inserted in the charts, the discoverer
being awarded with a high appointment. The intelligence
came to the captain's ears ; he would not believe in the dis-
covery. He was a shrewd, clever, practical man, but unsci-
entific, incredulous, and obstinate. " The whole thing is a
falsehood ! " he exclaimed ; adding, " if ever I have the keel
of The Thetis under me in those waters again, if I don't carry
her clean over where the chart marks a rock, call me a liar and
no seaman." Two years after, he was conveying in the same
vessel the British ambassador to Naples. One windy night,
he and the master were examining the chart on deck by tho
light of the lantern, when the latter pointed out the sunken
rock on the map. " What ! " exclaimed the old seaman, " is
this invention to meet me in the teeth again ? No. I swore I
would sail over that spot the first chance I had ; and I'll do
it." He went down into the cabin, merrily related the story
to the company, and said, "Within five minutes we shall
have passed the spot." There was a pause. Then, taking
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 307
out his watch, he said, " 0, the time is past ! We have gone
over the wonderful reef." But presently a grating touch was
felt on the ship's keel, then a sudden shock, a tremendous
crash : the ship had foundered. Through great exertions,
most of the crew were saved ; but the captain would not sur-
vive his own mad temerity ; and the last seen of him was his
white figure, bareheaded, and in his shirt, from the dark hull
of The Thetis, as the foam burst round her bows and stem.
He perished, a victim of unbelief. So perish multitudes.
Rev. John Stoughton.
DANGER IN DOUBTING.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8 : 32.
THE first step toward the abyss of infidelity is a doubting
or skeptical state of mind in regard to some parts, or the
whole, of the Scriptures ; the next is either into the wilder-
ness of universal doubt, or into the abyss itself. Skepticism
is a most dangerous state of the mind. Like moderate drink-
ing, it leads on its unhappy victim from bad to worse, till both
mind and heart are ruined and damned for ever. It is the
moral inebriation of the man in its incipient stages. Beware of
it, ye young men, as ye would the contagion of death. It has
the power of fascination. Its breath is tainted and repugnant.
Its administrations to the soul are those of sorrow. Break
away from the first symptoms of its deadly approach. Let
not a corrupt and unbelieving heart beguile thee with the
promises of a proud and vain philosophy. There is no safety
in a cultivated intellect, nor in all the resources of a Christian
education, the watchfulness and teachings of friends no, not
even under " the droppings of the sanctuary." In the faith
of Jesus only there is safety. Believe in him to the salvation
of the soul ; then will you " know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free."
308 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE BOY THAT WOULD NOT TELL A LIE.
But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth.
John 8 : 40.
TWO weeks ago, on board an English steamer, a little ragged
boy, aged nine years, was discovered on the fourth day of
the outward voyage from Liverpool to New York, and carried
before the first mate, whose duty it was to deal with such
cases. "When questioned as to the object of his being stowed
away, and who brought him on board, the boy, who had a
beautiful sunny face, and eyes that looked like the very mir-
rors of truth, replied that his step-father did it, because he
could not afford to keep him, nor pay his passage out to Hali-
fax, where he had an aunt who was well off, and to whose
house he was going. The mate did not believe the story, in
spite of the winning face and truthful accounts of the boy.
He had seen too much of stowaways to be easily deceived
by them, he said ; and it was his firm conviction that the boy
had been brought on board and provided with food by the
sailors. The little fellow was very roughly handled in con-
sequence. t)ay by day he was questioned and requestioned,
but always with the same result. He did not know a sailor
on board, and his father alone had secreted him, and given him
the food which he ate.
At last the mate, wearied by the boy r s persistence in the
same story, and perhaps a little anxious to inculpate the sail-
ors, seized him one day by the collar, and dragging him to
the foremast, told him that unless he confessed the truth in
ten minutes from that time, he would hang him on the yard-
arm. He then made him sit down under it on the deck. All
around him were the passengers and sailors of the midday
watch, and in front of him stood the inexorable mate, with his
chronometer in- his hand, and the other officers of the ship by
his side. " It was the finest sight," said our informant, " that
we had ever beheld to see the pale, proud, sorrowful face
of that noble boy, his head erect, his beautiful eyes bright
through the tears that suffused them." When eight minutes
had fled, the mate told him that he had but two minutes to
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 309
live, and advised him to speak the truth and save his life ; but
he replied/ with the utmost simplicity and sincerity, by ask-
ing the mate if he might pray.
The mate said nothing, but nodded his head, and turned
as pale as a ghost, and shook with trembling like a reed with
the wind. And there, all eyes turned on him, this brave and
noble little fellow, this poor waif whom society owned not,
and whose own step-father coul.d not care for him, there he
knelt, with clasped hands, and eyes upraised to heaven, while
he repeated audibly the Lord's Prayer, and prayed the dear
Lord Jesus to take him to heaven.
Our informant adds that there then occurred a scene as of
Pentecost. Sobs broke from strong, hard hearts, as the mate
sprang forward to the boy and clasped him to his bosom, and
kissed him and blessed him, and told him how sincerely he
now believed his story, and how glad he was that he had been
brave enough to face death, and be willing to sacrifice his life
for the truth of his own word.
JUSTLY RIDICULED FOR HIS WICKEDNESS.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do : ho
was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth ; because there
is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own : for he
is a liar, and the father of it. John 8 :" 44.
AN instance of the indignant and sarcastic severity with
which he (Rev. Daniel Isaac) sometimes reproved open
profanity, occurred while he was stationed in the Sheffield
circuit. An infidel bookseller, copying, and probably embold-
ened by, the example of a London tradesman of infamous
memory, exhibited in his shop window a hideous and obscene
picture as a representation of the sacred Trinity, and, sur-
passing the metropolitan in utter and shameless profanity, at-
tached a label to the picture, to the effect that a portrait of
the devil was wanted as a companion picture.
This caught Mr. Isaac's eye as he passed, and his righteous
anger was awakened. Stepping into a grocer's shop on the
opposite side of the street, he asked for a pen, ink, and paper,
310 NEIV TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
and hastily scrawling these words, addressed them to the
offender : " Sir, if you want a portrait of the devil, get your
own taken ; for who so like the father as the son? D. Isaac."
" There," said Mr. Isaac to the clerk, " just take that to the
vile fellow across the way." The young man declined, per-
haps thinking it unneighborly, or fearing an unpleasant result.
" Then 111 take it," said Mr. Isaac.
The message was soon noised abroad, for the grocer told
many of his friends ; and, in the course of the day, first one
vagrant boy, and then another wicked urchin, would put his
head just inside the door of the infidel's shop, in the window
of which the offensive requisition was still suspended, and
call out, " Get your own taken; for who so like the father as the
son ? "
On the following day quite a crowd of youngsters was as-
sembled, and the inquiry was repeated in almost every possi-
ble modulation of voice, until the wretched man was so an-
noyed, that he called in the aid of the police. This but
increased the notoriety of the rebuke, and that again swelled
the numbers of the crowd. The public feeling, too, was with
the boys, for common decency had been outraged. The re-
sult was, that in the course of two or three days the man
was obliged to close his shop and decamp, unable to withstand
the torrent of ridicule and contempt which Mr. Isaac had been
the means of turning upon him.
THE DAY OF CHRIST SEEN FROM AFAR.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day : and he saw it, and was
glad. John 8 : 56,
TT^YERY seer of the past saw, and glowingly depicted the
JJ Christly dispensation as something .that was to be con-
tinued ; as possessing institutions and blessings that were to
abide for ever. All-embracing, all-enduring such was their
view of the Messiah's kingdom.
And all former economies looked to Christianity. Every
finger-board of the post pointed to Calvary ; all the streams
of things ran in that direction, and the types stood with their
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 311
faces that way. Moreover, all the industry and action of man
seems a preparation for Christianity. Abraham, who has
crossed the desert, explored Canaan, visited Egypt, lives in a
tabernacle, and dies with hopes unfulfilled, still waiting for
something. And so with Isaac and Jacob. We hear Moses
crying, " I beseech thee show me thy glory ; " and from Nebo,
where his toil of life ends, he beholds the land that is to be
the theater of the most wonderful of all histories evolved from
the economy he has founded.
The true view of all past history is, that it was a prepara-
tion for Christianity. Christianity was the temple that was to
be eternal, and on it, as unconscious builders, men were labor-
ing in all the ages from the creation. And if so long in
preparation, may we not anticipate it will be a finality ?
About the temples built by the kings of Oriental monarchies
there were other lesser fabrics ; but with the kingly one
alone the idea of permanence was associated. So of- St.
Peter's at Rome and the Cathedral at Milan. The lesser fab-
rics have disappeared for ever.
When Christianity was completed, its lesser structures and
essential scaffoldings were all removed. Priests and smoking
altars suddenly and for ever disappeared. The temple of
Christianity alone remains. Rev. C. D. Foss, D. D.
PARENTAL DUTIES IN REGARD TO CHILDREN.
His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and
that he was born blind. John 9 : 20.
REY. DR. JAMES W. ALEXANDER wrote to a friend,
" As I grow old as a parent, my views are changing fast
as to the degree of conformity to the world which we should
allow to our children. I am horror-struck to count up the
profligate children of pious persons, and even ministers. The
door at which these influences enter, which countervail pa-
rental instruction and example, I am persuaded is yielding to
the ways of good society. By dress, books, and amusements
an atmosphere is formed which is not that of Christianity.
More than ever do I feel that our families must stand in a kind
312 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
but determined opposition to the fashions of the world, breast-
ing the waves, like the Eddystone Lighthouse. And I have
found nothing yet which requires more courage and indepen-
dence than to raise even a little, but decidedly, above the par
of the religious world around us. Surely, the way in which
we commonly go on is not the way of self-denial, and sacri-
fice, and cross-bearing, which the New Testament talks of.
Then is the oifense of the cross ceased."
Dr. Hague, in the National Teacher, thus speaks of the dif-
ference between training and mere instruction : " ' Train up a
child in the way he should go/ is not merely to give him pre-
cepts of sterling worth, or even to exemplify those precepts
before him, but it is to connect with all these such a cultiva-
tion of his sympathies, such a discipline of his appetites and
passions, such a control of his conduct, as shall render the
practice of what is right and fit habitual in early life. All
these l God has joined together ; ' let one of them be sundered
from the rest, and there is no real training."
The most excellent principles may be inculcated by precept,
and illustrated by example ; nevertheless, unless realized and
made effective by practice, they will be unproductive of last-
ing good. It has been well said that the parent whose pre-
cept and example clash is as one who " points his child heaven-
ward, then* takes him by the hand and leads him hellward."
It is God's design that truth should shine both from the 'word
and the life. This is the secret of real influence.
SPIRITUAL VISION.
He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not : one
thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. John 9 : 25.
SIGHT depends upon the clearness of the medium through
which we look. When the mists hang heavy about the
hills and in the valleys, our view is but dim and indistinct ; but
when the atmosphere is free from all haze and cloud, the land-
scape is clearly revealed. How different the story of two
travelers who have stood upon the same spot ! One tells you
that he saw nothing but cloud and mist ; the other speaks in
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 313
glowing words of the picturesque valleys and the far-off moun-
tain ranges. With the same organs of vision, how different
the sight !
Purity of heart creates such an atmosphere for the soul-life
to dwell in as gives clearness to the spiritual vision. All de-
filing, hindering influences being removed, the soul is per-
mitted to " see the King in his beauty."
Why is it that we find so marked a difference in the growth
and character of those who started in the Christian course
with the same bright assurance of faith ? Do not the words
of our Saviour explain this contrast : " Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God " ? It makes all the difference
between seeing God and not seeing him, whether our hearts
are full of purity, born of spiritual thoughtfulness and action,
or occupied with that which is earthly and temporal. God is
revealed to us just in proportion as our worship is spiritual.
How can we be spiritual but as we cast aside the earthly ?
And we rise out of the earthly into the spiritual only as we
become pure in heart.
PREACHING BY TELEGRAPH.
The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvelous thing,
that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
John 9 : 30.
A TOUCHING incident was related in the noon-day prayer
JLJL meeting, Pittsburg, on Thursday, February 8, by a
stranger. He said that a young man at Zanesville, Ohio, a
telegraph operator, was recently converted while in the act
of asking for the prayers of the church at a public meeting.
The case was one of peculiar clearness and power, and made
a profound impression upon the community, where he was
well known and highly esteemed. The incident was shortly
afterward related in a meeting in Cincinnati, by a Christian
neighbor who was well acquainted with the circumstances.
At the Cincinnati meeting a young gentleman, also a tele-
graph operator, was present, and, although interested in the
account, being of the doubting Thomas cast of mind., and an
unbeliever, was inclined to look upon the whole story as sen-
40
314 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
sational and overwrought. He went away from the meeting
with feelings somewhat imbittered against Christianity and
its advocates.
The same evening, in his office, while thinking the incident
over, the business upon the wire being unusually slack, he
concluded to inquire by telegraph, of the Zanesville opera-
tor, whether such a case as that related in the Cincinnati
meeting had occurred. He tapped the signal sound for Zanes-
ville. Zanesville answered the Cincinnati call. Touching the
mystic key, he asked for information, giving in a few words
the story which he had heard, and the name of the young man,
which also he had procured. " Yes," answered the operator
at Zanesville, " it is true, and I am the man myself." There-
upon a conversation was carried on along the wires between
the converted and the unconverted operators, and Christ Jesus
was preached by the new convert until the inquirer was
awakened to call what he must do to be saved.
" Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved/'
came in eloquent utterance along the line like a message from
the skies.
" Pray for me now," said the penitent to his unseen friend
two hundred miles away.
And the two young men kneeled, the one in Zanesville, the
other in Cincinnati ; a new line of communication was opened
from earth to heaven, petitions went up in the dark winter
night straight to the Christ of God. An answer came quick
as an electric touch, and the two young men rejoiced to-
gether, in spirit, at the conscious power of pardoning grace.
The case is a most interesting and suggestive one. How
surely and quickly God answers earnest prayer ! When,
amid secular pursuits and annoying doubts and cares, the
troubled soul inquires after peace, it comes and abounds like
a river. If believers would only improve the opportunities
offered in daily vocations for preaching Jesus, what multitudes
might be brought to the Saviour ! There is never a day,
scarcely an hour, passes over us, but when some helpful word
or act might lead a sinner to the cross. Let us watch the
time and use the means to bless our fellow-men.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 315
CHRIST THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the
sheep follow him : for they know his voice. John 10 : 4.
SOME years ago, a friend of mine was in Greece, in the
month of March. He was traveling in the country where
the shepherds live. He came to three shepherds with their
flocks. One had about six hundred and fifty sheep, another
had about seven hundred, and the other had about seven hun-
dred and fifty. In all, they had about twenty-one hundred
sheep. They were out in the valleys where the grass grew.
All the flocks were mingled together. Every sheep had its
own name. It would not come nor go if called by any other
name ; nor would it come or go if called by any but its own
shepherd. Every shepherd knew all his own sheep. He
knew their names also. If any one was about to go into a
wrong place, he called it, and it turned back. If the. way was
narrow or steep, he would go before, and they would follow
him. This is just what the Bible says about Christ and his
flock. " The sheep hear his voice j and he calleth his own
sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth
forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep fol-
low him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will they
not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice
of strangers. I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep,
and am known of mine. I lay down my life for the sheep."
The day my friend saw the shepherds was a cold day.
Some of the lambs were quite strong and full of play ; but
some of them were very young and tender. The cold chilled
them, and they could not walk. The shepherds had on some-
thing like large cloaks, tied around their necks, and girt about
their waists. So they took up the little lambs and put them
in their bosoms. But they did not smother them. They left
their heads out, so that they could breathe well. But they
kept them snug and warm. It was a pleasing sight to see an
old shepherd with his long gray beard and his bosom full of
lambs. Just so the Bible says of Christ. " He shall gather
the lambs in his arms ; and carry them in his bosom." Many
316 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
little children have loved Christ ; and he has never let such
perish. He is as good to little children as to old people. He
says, " I love them that love me, and those that seek me early
shall find me."
Among the twenty-one hundred sheep were some old and
feeble ones. They could not walk much. If the way was
miry or steep they could hardly go along. So the shepherds
would come and put their crooks under their bodies, just be-
hind their fore legs, and help them along. They treated them
with great gentleness and care. Just so " the good Shepherd
has pity on the weak, and gently helps them along." He never
leaves nor forsakes them. " His rod and his staff comfort
them." He leads all his sheep into his fold for safety. He
leads them out, that they may find pasture. If little boys and
girls are wise, they will desire above all things to belong to
Christ's flock. I hope all of you will commit to memory the
twenty-third Psalm. It is beautiful. " The Lord is my shep-
herd ; I shall not want." Rev. Dr. Plumer.
DR. FLETCHER AND THE DYING INFIDEL.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me : and I
give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. John 10 : 27, 28.
ONE morning Dr. Fletcher, of Stepney, received a request
to visit a man who was a professed skeptic, and apparently
near his end. On entering the chamber where he lay, he be-
held the attenuated form of one who had been a tall, athletic
man, struggling under the ravages of a disease at once the most
painful and incurable. The doctor addressed him by sundry
kind inquiries and expressions of sympathy, reminding him of
the sufferings of Christ, who gave himself a ransom for sin-
ners, that through his atoning sacrifice they might obtain the
forgiveness of sin and be restored to the favor of God.
Hearing this, the dying man said. " Sir, I don't believe that ;
I wish I could, as my dear wife there does ; she believes all
you say."
" Well," said Dr. F., " but you say you wish you could, and
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 317
that is a great point toward attaining it, if you are sincere.
Now, what do you believe concerning Jesus Christ ? "
" Why," he replied, " I believe such a man once lived, and
that he was a very good, sincere man ; but that is all."
Jt was a principle with Dr. F. when reasoning with un-
believers, if they acknowledged the smallest portion of truth,
to make it a position from which to argue with them. This
mode he now adopted, and said,
" You believe that Jesus Christ was a good man a sincere
man. Now, do you think that a good man would wish to deceive
others ? or, a sincere man use language that must mislead ? "
u Certainly not," he replied.
" Then how do you reconcile your admission that he was a
good man with his saying to the Jews, 'I and my Father are
one ' ? When they took up stones to kill him, he did not unde-
ceive them, but still maintained the fact of his Godhead ; add-
ing, ' My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, and I know
them, and I give unto them eternal life.' Now, could any
mere man say, ' I give unto them eternal life ; ? Could any
angel, however exalted ? "
" Stop ! " cried the dying man, with an excited voice. " Stop,
sir ; I never saw this before ; a new light breaks in upon me ;
stop, sir ! "
Holding up his emaciated hand, as if fearing that a breatli
might obscure the new light breaking in upon his benighted
soul, and with a countenance lighted up with a sort of preter-
natural expression quite indescribable, but with eyes intently
fixed on Dr. F., he exclaimed, after a short pause, while big
tears rolled down his cheeks,
" Sir, you are a messenger of mercy sent by God himself to
save my poor soul ! Yes, Christ is God, and he .died to save
sinners ! Yes, even me ! "
CHRIST DIVINE.
I and my Father are one. John 10 : 30.
P(OME, now, all ye that tell us in your wisdom of the mere
\J natural humanity of Jesus, and help us to find how it is
318 NEW TESTAMENT. ILLUSTRATIONS.
that he is only a natural development of the human. Select
your best and wisest character ; take the range, if you will,
of all the great philosophers and saints, and choose out one
that is most competent ; or if, perchance, some one of you
may imagine that he is himself about upon a level with Jesus
(as we hear that some of you do), let him come forward in
this trial and say, " Follow me ! " " Be worthy of me ! " "I
am the light of the world ! " " Ye are from beneath, I am
from above!" ^Behold, a greater than Solomon is here!"
Take on all these transcendent assumptions, and see how soon
your glory will be sifted out of you by the detective gaze, and
darkened by the contempt of mankind ! Why not ? Is not
the challenge fair? Do you not tell us that- you can say as
divine things as he ? Is it not in you, too, of course, to do
what is human ? Are you not in the front rank of human
development? Do you not rejoice in the power to rectify
many mistakes and errors in the words of Jesus ? Give us,
then, this one experiment, and see if it does not prove to you
a truth that is of some consequence, viz., that you are a man,
and that Jesus Christ is more even God. Dr. Buslinell.
CHRISTIANITY PROVING ITSELF.
If I do not the works of my Father, helieve me not. But if I do, though
ye believe not me, believe the works : that ye may know and believe that the
Father is in me, and I in him. John 10 : 37, 38.
SOME one has well said, " The best proof of Christianity is
a converted heart." It is a kind of evidence from which
there is no appeal, direct, obvious, and conclusive. Men may
deny the truth of a Christian doctrine, but the beauty of a
Christian life subdues prejudice and wins admiration. It
compels assent to the power of a religion which yields such
fruit, and the words of Jesus find fulfillment " If ye believe
not me, believe the works." For the change of life wrought
by Christianity is often sudden and immediate. It is not the
fruit of a wise education, or of long and careful training. It
takes place in those who have been surrounded from child-
hood by evil influences, who have had no moral training,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 319
whose lives have been stained by degrading vices. Nor is it
the result of long and earnest struggles, of habits slowly
formed by resolute* efforts. It is as sudden as it is radical.
The drunkard loathes his cups. The blasphemer becomes
devout. The licentious man grows pure in thought as in life.
The unbeliever has an unquestioning faith.
Such changes do not spring from natural causes. They are
not intelligible by the common laws of life. Character is of
slow growth, and gains strength by painful and protracted
struggles. But Christianity claims to bring supernatural
power to man's help, to supply a divine agency for immediate
results. Thousands of converts were made in a single day at
Pentecost. The hardened jailer of Philippi, by the experience
of a few moments, becomes another man. The publican of
Jericho, hard and exacting, is made just and liberal by a
single visit of Jesus. Similar results are witnessed in every
revival, and under the preaching of every faithful minister of
Jesus. Christianity claims power to effect such changes.
They are wrought by its agency, and the results demonstrate
its truth and its divine origin.
HE NEEDED LIGHT FROM ABOVE.
But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in
him. John 11 : 10.
THE celebrated Mr. Hume wrote an essay on the sufficiency
of the light of nature ; and the not less celebrated Robertson
wrote on the necessity of revelation, and the insufficiency of
the light of nature. Hume came one evening to visit Rob-
ertson, and the evening was spent in conversing on this sub-
ject. The friends of both were present ; and it is said that
Robertson reasoned with unaccustomed clearness and power.
Whether Hume was convinced by his reasonings, or not, we
can not tell ; but at any rate he did not acknowledge his con-
victions. Hume was very much of a gentleman, and as he was
about to depart, bowed politely to those in the room, while,
as he retired through the door, Robertson took the light to
show him the way. Hume was still facing the door. " 0,
320 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
sir/' said he to Robertson, " I find the light of nature always
sufficient;" and he continued, "Pray don't trouble yourself,
sir," and so he bowed on. The street door was open j and
presently, as he bowed along in the entry, he stumbled over
something concealed, 'and pitched down stairs into the street.
Robertson ran after him with a light ; and as he held it over
him, whispered, "You had better have a little light from
above, friend Hume." And, raising him up, he bade him good
night, and returned to his friends.
CHRIST'S LOVE MANIFESTED IN SYMPATHY.
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which
came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where
have ye laid him? They say unto him, Lord, come and see. John 11 : 33, 34.
YOU point me to the universe around men, and above, and
I admire the wisdom that has planned it, the might that
has established it, and the will that carries it forward in its
sweep, without a single jar or break, from age to age. But I
see nothing in all this universe of that tender and intimate
sympathy with man in the feebleness, the suffering, and the
peril he experiences which was revealed in the Son of God
when he took little children into his arms and blessed them ;
when he stood at the grave of Lazarus, and wept there. The
showers that fall in their shining beauty out of the skies,
dropping upon the earth in its spring-tide, and giving bright-
ness to the blossom, and fruitful life to all the scene, they
come as blessings descending upon the earth, and we may
well be grateful for them. But they are not tears of personal
sympathy, falling upon us from the eyes of Omnipotence.
They are the fluent crystal jewels, scattered from the casket
which is full of such treasures. But when I see the Lord
himself, who has all might and government in his hand, stand-
ing before the grave -of his friend, and weeping there, it is
more to me than all spring showers ! For there is the spirit,
not of wisdom alone, or of bounteous compassion, but of ten-
derest sympathy, behind the tears ; and my heart swells and
melts as I read of it. Rev. Dr. Storrs.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 321
"JESUS WEPT."
Jesus wept. John II: 35.
CHRIST'S humanity is touchingly pictured in the two words
which comprise the shortest verse in the Bible. In the
same chapter wherein is found the sublime declaration, " I am
the resurrection and the life," it is recorded, " Jesus wept."
Divinity speaks forth in the declaration ; humanity sorrow-
fully manifests itself in the brief, simple record.
Though, as we read the gospel narrations, we can readily
believe the Saviour to be " a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief," we never realize how closely his nature is allied
to our own until we see him weeping in sympathy with others
over a friend dead. Christ healing the sick, making the blind
to see, causing the lame to walk, and performing all those God-
like miracles which so clearly prove his superior power, wins
our most devout worship; Christ sorrowing as we sorrow,
stricken in heart with a grief so common to us all, calls out
our deepest and warmest love.
Human grief is so very human that it moves us with a
strange control. We cannot look upon it in idle indifference.
Griefs are of many kinds, however, and not all move us alike.
Sorrow born of death has the strongest influence. Speaking
of this sorrow, one said once, in our hearing, " When a friend
dies, it is not so much that one we love is dead, but that a part
of our life is wanting." And so when we see stricken ones
mourning over the part of their life which they miss, our
hearts respond in sincere sympathy. When the Redeemer
weeps over Jerusalem, because of its wickedness, we are
touched, but in only a slight degree ; when, with Martha
and Mary, he weeps over the dead friend and brother, we can
scarcely do other than add our tears to his.
SAVED BY BELIEVING.
Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe,
thou shouldest see the glory of God ? John 11 : 40.
A DOCTOR who was once visiting a Christian patient had
himself been anxious to feel that he was at peace with
41
322 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
God the Spirit of God had convinced him of sin and need,
and he longed to possess " that peace which the world can not
give." On this occasion, addressing himself to the sick one,
he said,
" I want you just to tell me what it is, this believing and
getting happiness faith in Jesus, and all that sort of thing,
that brings peace."
His patient replied, " Doctor, I have felt that I could do
nothing, and I have put my case in your hands I am trust-
ing in you. This is exactly what every poor sinner must do
in the Lord Jesus."
This reply greatly awakened the doctor's surprise, and a
new light broke in on his soul.
" Is that all ? " he exclaimed ; " simply trusting in the Lord
Jesus ? I see it as I never did before. - He has done the
work."
Yes, Jesus said on the cross, " It is finished." And " who-
soever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting
life." From that sick-bed the doctor went a happy man,
rejoicing that his sins were washed away in the blood of the
Lamb.
I WOULD SEE JESUS.
The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and
desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. John 12 :.21.
I WOULD see Jesus in prosperity, that his fascinating light
may not lead me to a dreadful precipice ; but that his good
Spirit may whisper to my heart the noble inducements Chris-
tians have to devise liberal things ; that I may ever be saying,
" What am I, Lord, that thou shouldst put into my heart to
do these things, when the earth is thine and the fullness there-
of; it is but thine own which I return unto thee?"
9 I would see Jesus in adversity, because he is a friend born
for such a state ; because, when all the fallacious props of
happiness give way, his single name alone supports the build-
ing. I would see Jesus in adversity, that I might order my
cause before him, for he has all power in heaven and on earth,
and easily can arrange future events so as to throw a luster on
the darkest circumstances.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 323
I would see Jesus in health, that I may turn at his gentlest
reproof; that I may not be full and forget God, and be devoted,
body as well as soul, to his praise.
I would see Jesus in sickness, because he healeth all my dis-
eases ; he alone dispenses the balm of Gilead j he alone is the
Physician there.
I would see Jesus in ordinances ; for what are ordinances
without Christ ? He shows himself through the lattices, he
appears in his beauty, he is as the dew unto Israel, as the
shadow of. a great rock in a weary land ; his people sit under
his shade with great delight, and his fruit is pleasant to their
taste. They say continually in ordinances, " Make haste,
my beloved, be thou like a young hart upon the mountains."
I would see Jesus in social intercourse. For what are the
charms of friendship ? What the refinements of taste ? What
the pleasures of conversation ? Are they not all unsatisfying
and delusive, unless sanctified by the grace of the Redeemer ?
I would see Jesus in my own heart, as Lord of its affections,
of its purposes, of its pleasures ; as the, mover of its hopes and
fears, the author of its existence and happiness.
I would see Jesus in death, as the Sun of Righteousness,
whose beams in the darkest moments can spread light and
healing. I would listen to his voice, saying, " To him that
overcometh Avill I give to eat of the tree of life." " Fear not,
I have the keys of hell and death." Arise, thou weary fol-
lower of thy crucified Lord, and enter into thy rest.
I would see Jesus in glory ; for what is heaven itself with-
out him ? But when we shall see him as he is, then shall we
be like him, and be for ever happy in his presence.
IMPROVE THE LIGHT NOW.
Then Jesus said unto. them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk
while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you : for he that walketh ^n
darkness knoweth not whither he gocth. John 12 : 35.
IT was day at Jerusalem in Christ's time ; at Ephesus, in St.
John's time ; at Corinth, Philippi, <fec., in St. Paul's time ;
at Crete, in Titus' time ; at Alexandria, in St. Mark's time ; at
324 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Smyrna, in Polycarp's time ; at Pergamus, in Antipas' time ;
at Antioch, in Evodius' and Ignatius' time ; at Constantinople,
in St. Chrysostom's time ; at Hippo, in St. Augustine's time r
<fcc. It is now night with most of them, and yet day with us *
Jerusalem had a day, and every city, every nation, every
church, every congregation, every man hath a day of grace,
if he have but grace to take notice of it, hath an accepted
time if he do but accept of it, and he may find God if he seek
him in time ; but if he let the Sun of Righteousness go down r
and work not out his salvation whilst it is called To-day, he
must look for nothing but perpetual darkness, when time will
be swallowed up in eternity, when there will be no time at
all. Things Neic and Old.
PAYSOFS ILLUSTRATION OF THE THREAD.
He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth
"him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last
day. John 12 : 48.
PAYSON once ga^ notice in Portland, that he would be
glad to see any person who did not intend to seek reli-
gion. About forty came. He spent a very pleasant interview
with them, saying nothing about religion, till just as they were
about to leave, he closed a few very plain remarks thus : " Sup-
pose you should see coming down from heaven a very fine
thread so fine as to be almost invisible, and it should come
and gently attach itself to you. You knew, we will suppose,
it came from God. Should you dare to put out your hand and
thrust it away ? " He dwelt for a few moments on the idea,
and then added, " Now such a thread has come from God to
you this afternoon. You do not feel, you say, any interest in
religion. But by your coming here this afternoon God has
fastened one little thread upon you all. It is very weak and
frail, and you can easily brush it away. But you will not do
so ? No: welcome it, and it will enlarge and strengthen itself
until it becomes a golden thread to bind you forever to a God
of love 1"
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 325
CHRIST THE METROPOLIS OP THE SCRIPTURES.
Ye call me Master, and Lord : and ye say well ; for so I am. John 13 : 13.
A YOUNG man had been preaching in the presence of a
venerable divine, and after he had done, he went to the
old minister, and said,
" What do you think of my sermon ? "
" A very poor sermon, indeed," said he.
" A poor sermon ! " said the young man ; " it took me a long
time to study it."
"Ay, no doubt of it."
" Why, did you not think my explanation of the text a very
good one ? "
" 0, yes," said the old preacher, " very good indeed."
" Well, then, why do you say it is a poor sermon ? Didn't
you think the metaphors were appropriate, and the arguments
conclusive ? "
" Yes, they were very good, as far as that goes ; but still it
was a very poor sermon."
" Will you tell me why you think 'it was a poor sermon ? "
" Because," said he, " there was no Christ in it."
" Well," said the young man, " Christ was not in the text ;
we are not to be preaching Christ always ; we must preach
what is in the text."
So the old man said,
" Don't you know, young man, that from every town, and
every village, and every little hamlet in England, wherever it
may be, there is a road to London ? "
" Yes," said the young man.
" Ah ! " said the old divine, " and from every text in
Scripture there is a road to the metropolis of the Scrip-
tures that is Christ. And, my dear brother, your business
is, when you get a text, to say, l Now what is the road k>
Christ ? ' and then preach a sermon, running along the road to
the great metropolis Christ. And," said he, " I have not
yet found a text that has not a road to Christ in it. If I
should, I would make one. I would go over hedge and ditch,
but I would get at my Master, for the serfnon can not do any
good unless there is a savor of Christ in it."
326 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT.
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another ; as I have
loved you, that ye also love one another. John 13 : 34. .
A RCHBISHOP USHER, being once on a visit to Scotland,
]\. heard a great deal of the piety and devotion of Mr. Sam-
uel Rutherford. He wished much to witness what had been
told him, but was at a loss how to accomplish his design. At
length it came into his mind to dress himself like a pauper ;
and on a Saturday evening, when turning dark, he called at Mr.
Rutherford's house, and asked if he could get quarters for a
night. Mr. Rutherford consented to give the poor man a bed
for the night, and desired him to sit down in the kitchen, which
he cheerfully did. Mrs. Rutherford, according to custom on
Saturday evening, that her servants might be prepared for
the Sabbath, called them together and examined them. In
the course of the examination she asked the stranger how
many commandments there were. To which he answered,
" Eleven." On receiving this answer, she replied, " What a
shame is it for you, a man with gray hairs, in a Christian
country, not to know how many commandments there are !
There is not a child of six years old in this parish, but could
answer this question properly." She troubled the poor man
no more, thinking him so very ignorant, but lamented his
condition to her servants. After giving him some supper, she
desired a servant to show him up stairs to a bed in the gar-
ret. Mr. Rutherford, on discovering who he was next morn-
ing, requested him to preach for him that day, which the
bishop consented to do, on the condition that he would not
discover him to any other. Mr. Rutherford furnished the
bishop with a suit of his own clothes, and early in the morn-
ing he went into the fields ; the other followed him, and
brought him in as a stuange minister passing by, who had
promised to preach for him. Mrs. Rutherford found that the
poor man had gone away before any of the family were out
of bed. After domestic worship and breakfast, the family
went to the church, and the bishop had for his text, John
13 : 34, " A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 327
one another." In the course of his sermon he observed, that
this might be reckoned the eleventh commandment : upon
which Mrs. Rutherford said to herself, " That is the answer
the poor man gave me last night ; " and looking up to the
pulpit, said, " It can not be possible that this is he ! " After
public worship, the strange minister and Mr. Rutherford spent
the evening in mutual satisfaction ; and early on Monday morn-
ing the former went away in the dress in which he came, and
was not discovered.
A FINER MANSION.
In my Father's house are many mansions : if it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14 : 2.
ANEW ZEALAND chief, Tamahana, who visited England a
few years ago, was remarkable for the deep spirituality
of his mind, and his constant delight in the Word of God. One
day he was taken to see a beautiful mansion one of the show-
places near London. The gentleman who took him expected
to see him greatly astonished and much charmed with its
magnificence and splendor ; but it seemed, to his surprise, to
excite little or no admiration in his mind. Wondering how
this could be, he began to point out to him its grandeur, the
beauty of the costly furniture brought from all parts of the
world, the view from the windows, &c. Tamahana heard all
silently ; then, looking round upon the walls, replied, " Ah !
my Father's house finer than this." " Your father's house ! "
thought the gentleman, who knew his father's home was but
a poor mud cottage. But Tamahana went on, " My Father's
house finer than this ; " and began to speak in his own expres-
sive, touching strain of the house above the house of " many
mansions " the eternal home of the Redeemer.
NO HOPE FOR THE MORALIST.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life : no man
cometli unto the Father, but by me. John 14 : 6.
A MAN once dreamed that he died, and went into the other
world. He saw a high enclosure surrounding heaven,
328 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
with a little gate through which he was about to pass. As he
came near to enter, he saw written at the top of the gate,
" Without holiness no man shcdl see the Lord I " " All right/'
said he ; " I have that ; " and he was for marching straight in.
But at that moment a man touched his shoulder, saying, " Stop !
you think of entering through that gate ? " " Certainly," said
he ;." I have holiness : I am no sinner." " But do you not re-
member that when we were boys, and were playing together,
you once cheated me out of a marble ? " " Yes, I believe I
do." " There is one sin, then," said the man ; " and since you
have committed one sin, you can not go in at that gate." At
this the moralist was in trouble and deep distress. And while
weeping at his exclusion and disappointment, he saw another
gate, over which was written, " TJie blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth from all sin." " Thank God for that ! " he cried, and
immediately renounced his own righteousness, and sought ad-
mittance through Christ, who is " the way, and the truth, and
the life. 19
FOR CHARLIE'S SAKE.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. John 14 : 13.
" GOME years ago, in war time," said Mr. Moody, " a well-
O known judge, who had much interested himself for the
welfare of the suffering soldiers, resolved that while a certain
case was pending, he would turn away all applicants for char-
ity, that he might devote himself wholly to the duties of his
profession.
" One day a soldier came into his office, poorly clad, his face
bearing the deep lines of suffering. The judge, pretending
not to notice him, continued his work. The soldier fumbled
in his pockets for a long time, and then said, in an uncertain,
disappointed voice, as though ho saw that he was unwelcome,
' I did have a letter for you.' The judge, acting against the
prompting of a warm, generous heart, made no reply. Pres-
ently a thin, trembling hand pushed a note along the desk.
The judge raised his face slightly, and was about to say, ' I
have no time for such matters as those/ when he discovered
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 329
the writing was that of his own son, a soldier in the army. He
took up the note. It read in substance, l Dear father : The
bearer is a soldier, discharged from the hospital. He is going
home to die. Assist him in any way you can, for Charlie's
sake.'
" All the tender emotions of his soul were laid open. He
said to a friend afterward, ' I took the soldier to my heart, for
Charlie's sake; I let him sleep in Charlie's bed. I clothed
him, and supplied him with every comfort for the sake of my
own dear boy.'
" My friends, God will never turn the needy away without
a blessing, for his dear Son's sake for Jesus' sake."
"I IN YOU."
At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in
you. John 14 : 20.
THE most wonderful event in the history of the universe is
the Incarnation. That God should in very deed dwell
with man, made the wise soul of Solomon bow the lower in
astonishment and adoration. What if he had seen that he
would dwell in a Person, selected, created for this purpose ;
that he would appear before all the hosts of earth, and heaven,
and hell, not only the Son of God, but the Son of Man ? How
far mightier an awe would have possessed his soul ! He saw,
as in a glass darkly, this strange futurity. Beyond his appre-
hension stood forth the object of his faith ; the seed of the
woman bruising the head of sin, and delivering the soul of the
sinner. But Christ in his parting words goes farther than the
wisest dare to dream or hope. God has in very deed dwelt
with man. He has clothed himself in the garments of hu-
manity, spirit, and flesh. He has made these finite robes
lustrous with the glory that shone through them upon the
most bleared and prejudiced eyes. Now he is about to lay
them aside for a season. He will resume them, only to trans-
fer them from the sight of mortals to that of immortality. His
friends gather round him to catch his last words. Sorrow fills
their hearts. Dread of their enemies, in whose power they
42
330 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
will seemingly be left, increases their grief. Weakness and
anguish come upon them. Then speaks the mighty Emmanuel.
In this day of my departure and your distress shall ye know
that " I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you."
What means this divine enigma ? Will God in very deed
dwell with man ? Will he reincarnate himself in his creatures ?
Is the mystery of Bethlehem to be repeated multitudinously
throughout earth and time ? So some fancy who reduce that
mystery to a mere inspiration of God in the soul of a Jewish
youth. If we follow the faith of Renan, and of a large body
of dreamers of our day, who call themselves reasoners, all the
more as they exhibit the less of reason, we can easily read the
meaning. " Jesus, the Son of Mary, was a good man. His
goodness came from God. The influence of his example has
affected all other seekers after the good, and so he dwells in
God, God in him, and he in every l meek lover of the good.' ' :
Is this all ? Then why these sublime exhortations and prayers ?
Why this weight of agony upon both Disciple and Teacher, a
weight of infinite burden upon his soul ? Why this promise
of the Comforter, not an effluence, but a Person ; even the
Spirit of Truth. " He," not it, shall be in you. No mirage of
mere breath, however divine, is this Splendor of strength and
joy. " I in You," is the personal, conscious communion of
Christ with his believer. It is as separate, yet as intimate as
the fellowship of two kindred souls ; more separate, and more
intimate. It is as clearly revealable to our consciousness as the
fact of our own being. We are one with him, yet infinitely
below him. We are in perfect communion, and in ineffable
contrast. Our natures assume his likeness. Our thoughts
are as his thoughts ; our ways as his ways. Not because they
are ours, but his.
OBEDIENCE THE GREAT TEST OF PIETY.
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, lie will keep my
words : and my father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make
our abode with him. John 14 : 23.
THE Bible assigns peculiar importance to the test of religious
character which is furnished in obedience. God knows
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 331
the blindness of the human heart, and the strange exposure of
men to self-deception. He has therefore provided that the
reality of those dispositions we profess to cherish toAvard him,
shall be evinced by corresponding conduct. Do you inquire,
who are the friends of Christ ? " Ye are my friends if ye do
whatsoever I command you." Do you ask, who are those that
love the Redeemer? " He that loveth me, keepeth my com-
mandments." Do you ask, how shall we know that we pos-
sess a saving knowledge of him ? " Hereby do we know that
we know him, if we t keep his commandments. 7 ' ; Would we
know the evidence of hostility to Christ ? " He that loveth
me not, keepeth not my sayings." Would we know who are
they that are deceived or deceivers ? " He that saith he
knoweth him and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and
the truth is not in him." Would we trace out the grand line
of demarkation between saints and sinners ? " In this the
children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil
he that doeth not righteousness is not of God." Would we
know what will be the grand and universal rule of trial at the
final day ? " Without respect of persons, the Father will judge
every man according to his works." From beginning to end,
from first to last, the great test of character is, " .By their
fruits shall ye know them,"
INTEGRITY OF THE SACRED TEXT.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in
my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remem-
brance, whatsoever I have said unto you. John 14 : 2G.
DR. KENNICOTTS testimony respecting the Hebrew
Scriptures has been often quoted. When he had an au-
dience of his sovereign to present his great work, his majesty
asked him, What, upon the whole, had been the result of his
learned and laborious investigation ? To which he replied,
that he had found some grammatical errors, and many varia-
tions, in the different texts ; but not one which in the smallest
degree affected any article of faith or practice. Similar is the
following testimony, recently borne by a distinguished bibli-
cal student, James Smith, Esq., of Jordan Hill, F. R. S. :
332 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" It may be satisfactory to those who look with suspicion
upon the numerous various readings appended to critical
editions, to know that, in that very considerable portion of the
Gospels which I have copied, I have not been able to detect a
shade of difference in the meaning, either doctrinal or histori-
cal. But the difference between the earlier and the later
MSS., although unimportant as to the matter, are of great im-
portance in an inquiry like the present" (Origin and Con-
nection of the Gospels), " where so much depend supon verbal
expression. 7 '
PEACE IN JESUS.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you : not as the world giveth,
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John H : 27.
BLESSED heritage ! The Saviour lays great stress upon
it. The apostles speak of it continually. Scarcely any
word is so often repeated in the Bible as Peace. Every be-
liever ought to have it. None ought to be a day without it..
Peace in Jesus is a free gift. Simply to take it on trust is to
have it. Trust brings rest. The presence of Jesus is always
manifested to the trusting soul. Power accompanies his man-
ifested presence. Peace is the work of his power.
It is an abiding privilege. Nor does it abide alone. Where
the peace of God is, there is also the very God of peace.
Where peace in Jesus abides, there abides Jesus, the Prince
of Peace. Where peace keeps the heart and mind, there
dwells the Comforter, without whom no one can say that Jesus
is the Son of God.
The peace of God indicates the will of God. He who has
the peace of God in him can not be out of his will. Would you
know how to tell when you are in God's will? You can
quickly tell when you are not in his will. When peace de-
parts from you, it is because you depart from God. Like the
pillar of cloud and of fire over Israel, the peace of God abides
with you while you abide in God's will.
It is also a great power. It keeps the heart and mind in
love, in obedience, in the will of God, in the Spirit, and so in
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 333
the power of God. One word spoken in the will, and in the
Spirit, and in the power of God is worth a hundred sermons
in self. One casting of the net on the right side of the ship,
in obedience to the will of a present Saviour, is worth a thou-
sand fruitless efforts in the night of toil, in the absence of
Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
"HE PURGETH IT."
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away : and every
branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
John 15 : 2.
\
IN a sermon on " Christ the True Yine," by Trench, we find
this comforting thought, for those who watch and often
wonder at God's dealings with his children :
" We sometimes wonder, with regard to some of God's deal-
ings with the elect, that he should cast them again and again
into the crucible of trial. It seems to us as though they were
already refined gold. But he sees that in them which we do
not see, a further fineness which is possible ; and he will not
give over till that be obtained. It is just as in a portrait by
some cunning artist, which is now drawing near to its com-
pletion. Men look at it, and count it perfect, and are Well-
nigh impatient that the artist does not now withhold his hand
and declare it is finished, while he, knowing better, touches
and re-touches, returns again and again to his work. And
why? Because there floats before him an ideal of possible
excellence at which he has not yet arrived, but which he will
not rest nor be contented till he has embodied in his Avork.
It is thus with God and some of his elect servants. Men
seeing their graces, which so far exceed those of* common ^
men, wonder sometimes why they should suffer still ; why they
seem to be ever falling from one sorrow to another. But he
sees in them that which no other eye can see : the grace which
is capable of becoming more gracious still ; and in his very
faithfulness he will not deprive them, or suffer them to come
short of this. They are fruit-bearing branches, and because
they are so, l he purges "them, that they may bring forth
334 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
more fruit.' My brethren, how blessed must God's service
be, when he can give nothing better to his servants, in reward
of their obedience, than the ability to serve him more and
better ! "
PRUNING THE VINE.
I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit ; for without me ye can do nothing.
John 15 : 5.
r\ OTTHOLD, visiting a person who was in deep affliction and
VJ sorrow, was told by the family that he was in the garden.
Thither he followed, and found him employed in clearing a
vine of its superfluous leaves. After a friendly salute, he
inquired what he was doing. " I find," was the reply, " that
owing to the abundant rain, this vine is overgrown with wood
arid leaves, which prevents the sun from reaching and ripen-
ing the grapes. I am therefore pruning part of them away,
that it may bring its fruit to maturity." Gotthold rejoined :
And do you find that in this operation the vine resists and
opposes you ? If not, why are you* displeased that a gracious
God should do to you, what your vine must not be displeased
that you do to it ? You prune off the superfluous foliage in
order that it may bear the better fruit ; and God takes away
your temporal blessings and earthly comforts, in order that
faith may produce its noble fruits of love, humility, patience,
hope, and prayer, and these larger, and fairer, and sweeter than
before. Let them talk as they please. When a man has- a
superfluity of all things, and is a total stranger to the cross,
the Sun of Righteousness, with its gracious rays, can scarcely
reach the heart ; and hence his Christianity usually bears only
the. harsh and acrid fruits of hypocrisy, pride, ivnkindness. and
implacability. Let God, therefore, do with you as he will ;
he will do you no harm. You are now stripping the vine of
its leaves; in spring you hoed it, planted layers, pruned the
suckers, and bound the branches. My friend, you arc yourself
a branch on the spiritual Vine, which is the Lord Jesus. God
i> the dresser, and he well knows that, without his grace and
care, he can look for no good at your hands. This is the reason
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 335
why he employs contempt to lay you in the earth, trials to
prune, affliction to restrain, and poverty to strip you of your
leaves. He intends it all to make his grace sweeter to you,
and your heart sweeter to him.
CLEAVING TO CHRIST.
If yc abide in me, and my Words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you. John 15 : 7.
I HAVE seen a heavy piece of iron hanging on another
not welded, not linked, not glued to the spot, and yet it
cleaved with such tenacity as to bear not only its own weight,
but mine too, if I chose to seize it and hang upon it. A wire
charged with an electric current is in contact with the mass,
and hence its adhesion. Cut that wire through, or remove it
by a hair's breadth, and the piece of iron drops dead to the
ground, like any other unsupported weight.
A stream of life from the Lord, brought into contact with
a human spirit, keerJs the spirit cleaving to the Lord so firmly
that no power on earth or hell can wrench the two asunder.
From Christ the mysterious life-stream flows, through the
being of a disciple it spreads, and to the Lord it returns again.
In that circle the feeblest Christian is held safely, but if the
circle be broken the dependent spirit instantly drops off.
Arnot.
PRAYING IN THE NAME OF CHRIST.
Ye haVe not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye
should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit shouhl remain : that whatso-
ever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. John 15 : 1(5.
E can not pray in our own names, for our names are evil :
we can not make mention of our own righteousness, for
we have none ; "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ; " but
in the name of Christ we may ask what we will, assured that
God will hear us for the sake of his only begotten Son.
Every rJrayer, therefore, offered by the Christian, should be
336 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
definitely presented in the name of Jesus Christ ; for there is
no approach to -the Father but by his Son our Lord.
We must come to God in the name of Christ, then he will
be our Bondsman, Surety, Indorser, Intercessor with the
Father. He will present our petition, and plead his own
merits in our behalf; and he never pleads in vain.
As the high-priest, under the Levitical dispensation, entered
the Holy of Holies once a year, bearing the names ^of the
chosen tribes on his breastplate, so. the great High-Priest of
our profession now stands in the holiest of all, bearing the
name of every follower and friend on his heart. When you
send up your prayers, be sure to direct them to the care of
the Redeemer, and then they will never miscarry. M.
Henry.
EXCUSES FOR NOT ATTENDING PUBLIC WORSHIP.
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin ; but now
they have no cloak for their sin. John 15 : 22.
OVERSLEPT myself could not dress in time. Too cold -
too hot too windy too dusty. Too wet too damp
too sunny too cloudy. Don't feel disposed. No other
time to myself. Look over my drawers. Put my papers to
rights. Letters to write to my friends. Taken a dose of
physic. Mean to walk to the canal. Going to take a ride.
Tied to business six days in the week. No fresh air but on
Sundays. Can't breathe in church, always so full. Feel a
little feverish. Feel a little chilly. Feel very lazy. Ex-
pect company to dinner. Got a headache. Intend nursing
myself to-day. New bonnet not come home. Tore my
muslin dress comirig down stairs. Got a new novel must be
returned on Monday morning. Wasn't shaved in time. Don't
like a liturgy always praying for the same thing. Don't
like extempore prayer don't know what is coming. Don't
like an organ 'tis too noisy. Don't like singing without
music makes me nervous. Can't sit in a draft of air
windows or door open in summer. Stove so hot in- winter,
always get a headache. Can't hear an extempore sermon .
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 337
too frothy. Dislike a written sermon too prosing. Nobody
to-day but our minister. Can't always listen to the same
preacher. Don't like strangers spurn them with contempt.
Can't keep awake when at church. Snored aloud last time I
was there shan't risk it again. Mean to inquire of some
sensible person about the propriety of going to so public a place
as church. Will publish the result. Amicus.
THE DIVINE COMFORTER.
Nevertheless I tell you the truth : It is expedient for you that I go away :
for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I
will send him unto you. John 16 : 7.
THE peculiar designafion, " the Comforter," or " the Par-
aclete," which is only the Greek word put into an English
form, given to the Holy Spirit by our Lord in his utterances
on the night of his betrayal, is a good, strong term, and affords
a foundation for a hope of the largest help. Four times in the
three chapters here alluded to the word is applied to the Holy
Spirit ; besides which it occurs but once in the whole New
Testament, and then it is used of the Lord Jesus as our " ad-
vocate with the Father." There is no single word in our
language that exactly expresses its import ; literally it signi-
fies one who is called to our side to aid us. The word " advo-
cate " suggests the thought of aid given us by one speaking
in our behalf; and so Christ does speak in our behalf with
God, and the Holy Spirit speaks in his behalf with us. When
we talk of " comfort," the idea is quite commonly of relief and
support under some distress of body or mind ; and the Holy
Spirit does sympathize with us in every trouble. But this
only partly covers the ground. The Divine Comforter is sent
to our side to aid us in every way, and to help and strengthen
us in everything in which Jesus helped and strengthened his
disciples while he was on the earth, and in which we can de-
rive help from the presence of our God. To our side, we say ;
and yet nearer than that is he to us, for Jesus said of him,
" He dwelloth with you, and shall be in you ; " and the apostle
taught that the bodies of believers are temples of tho Holy
43
338 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Spirit. He is, then, a divine indweller and helper, in whom
God's children may implicitly trust, in the expectation of be-
ing upheld and kept by his power, and of finding support and
the blessedness of a perfect rest of soul.
GOD ONLY CAN DO THESE THINGS.
All things that the Father hath are mine : therefore said I, that he shall
take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. John 16 : 15.
' T CAN NOT find, in the lively oracles, a single distinctive
JL mark of Deity, which is not applied without reserve or
limitation, to the only begotten Son. l All things whatsoever
the Father hath are his. 7 Who is that mysterious Word that
was in the beginning with God ? 'Vftio is the Alpha and the
Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last
the Almighty ? Who is he that knows what is in man, because
he searches the deep and dark recesses of the heart ? Who
is the Omnipresent, that has promised, l Where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them ; ' the light of whose countenance is at the same moment
the joy of heaven and the salvation of earth ; who is encircled
by the seraphim on high, and walks in the midst of the golden
candlesticks ; who is in this assembly ; in all the assemblies of
his people ; in every worshiping family ; in every closet of
prayer ; in every holy heart ? Whose hands have stretched
out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth ? Who
hath replenished them with inhabitants, and garnished them
with beauty, having created all things that are in both, ' visi-
ble and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers 7 ? ^ By whom do all things consist ?
Who is the Governor among the nations, having on his vesture
and on his thigh, a name written, l King of kings and Lord of
lords'? Whom is it the Father's will that all men shouhl
honor, even as they honor himself? Whom has he commanded
his angels to worship ? Whom to obey ? Before whom do the
devils tremble ? Who is qualified to redeem millions of sin-
ners from the wrath to come, and preserve them by his grace
to his everlasting kingdom ? Who raiseth the dead, having
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 339
life in himself to quicken whom he will, so that at his voice all
that are in their graves shall come forth ; and death and hell
surrender their numerous and forgotten captives ? Wlio shall
weigh in the balance of judgment the destinies of angels and
men, dispose of the thrones of paradise, and bestow eternal
life ? Shall I submit to the decision of reason ? Shall I ask a
response from heaven ? Shall I summon the devils from their
chains of darkness ? The response from heaven sounds in my
ears ; reason approves, and the devils confess This, Chris-
tians, is none other than the great God our Saviour"
HONOR GOD IN ASKING MUCH.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my
name, he will give it you. John 16 : 23.
SMALL attainments in grace, when " great grace " is freely
offered, dishonors God. The world does not see in such
persons how mightily the gospel of Christ can save. God is
honored when we ask and receive large blessings.
" What would you think of one who was permitted to light
his dwelling at night as brilliantly as he would, without cost,
who should only kindle a solitary jet amid the darkness of his
home, and sit down content in that somber twilight ? Or of
one who should have free access to a spacious garden filled
with bloom, with leave to pluck and gather what he chose,
who should only put one foot inside the gate, and take away
a single flower ? Or of one made welcome to draw from a
bank account of millions, who should fill his check for only
enough to keep him from absolute starvation ? Would these
men be any wiser, would they honor their benefactors more
than we, to whom Jesus opens all his stores of grace, and who
yet keep so faint a spark of spiritual life, and who experience,
so little of comfort and strength ? " Rev. A. L. Stone, D. D.
340 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ASK LARGE BLESSINGS.
Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name : ask, and ye shall receive,
that your joy may be full. John 16 : 24.
A LEXANDER THE GREAT had a famous, but indigent,
jLl_ philosopher in his court. This adept in science was once
particularly straitened in his circumstances. To whom alone
should he apply but to his patron, the conqueror of the world ?
His request was no sooner made than granted. Alexander
gave him a commission to receive of his treasurer whatever
he wanted. He immediately demanded, in his sovereign's
name, ten thousand pounds. The treasurer, surprised at so
large a demand, refused to comply ; but waited upon the king,
and represented to him the affair, adding withal, how un-
reasonable he thought the petition, and how exorbitant the
sum. Alexander heard him with patience ; but as soon as he
had ended his remonstrance, replied, " Let the money be in-
stantly paid. I am delighted with this philosopher's way of
thinking he has done me a singular honor ,* by the largeness
of his request he shows the high idea he has conceived, both
of my superior wealth and my royal magnificence." Thus let
us*honor what the inspired penman styles the marvelous loving-
kindness of Jehovah. " He that spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things ? "
THROUGH MUCH TRIBULATION.
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In
the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer : I have overcome
the world. John 16:33.
NO one reaches heaven without passing through the waters
of tribulation. It is the law of the kingdom, and a neces-
sary law. The Psalmist accounts for it on the principle im-
plied in the declaration, " Because they have no changes,
therefore they fear not God." Yes, changes, sad and painful
changes, are often necessary in order to the turning the faces
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 341
of God's chosen heavenward. Said a Christian, who lost his
house and property by fire, " If they had not perished, I should
have perished ; " and another, who had lost his eyesight, " I
could never see till I was blind." Thus God leads through
the troubled waters, up to the sunshine and the peace of the rest
above. Most true it is, through much tribulation ye shall
enter the kingdom.
CHRIST ANTICIPATING HIS FINISHED WORK.
I have glorified thee on the earth : I have finished the work which tliou
gavest me to do. John 17 : 4.
T) IBLICAL scholars long since remarked the peculiar majmer
JD of the Saviour, in the prayer recorded in this seventeenth
chapter of John. The form of the verb, which he uses in
speaking of his own work, is the indefinite past (the Aorist),
the Greek tense of narration, employed in speaking of events
that belong to past time, and without reference (as in the per-
fect tense) to the present. Thus he says in verse 4, " I glori-
fied thee on earth : I finished the work which thou hast given
me to do ; " in verse 6, " I manifested thy name to- the 'men
whom thou hast given me out of the world ; " in verse "12,
" Those whom thou hast given me, I watched over, and nono
of them perished ; " in verse 18, " As thou didst send me into
the world, I also send them into the world ; " in verse 25,
" And the world knew thee not ! But I knew thee, and these
knew that thou didst send me."
The key to this remarkable peculiarity is found in verse 12,
" While I was with them, I kept them in thy name." He was
still with them, and still was keeping them. But his thoughts,
while thus absorbed in communion with God, are withdrawn
from the present, and contemplate his earthly mission as a
completed work, on which he looks back, and speaks of it as
finished and belonging to the past. It is for this reason he
says in verse 4, u I glorified thee on the earth ; I finished the
work which thou hast given me to do." This shows the con-
sistency of the petition in verse 5 (as also in verse 2), " And
now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the
342 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
glory which I had with thee before the world was ; " for in
view of his finished work, as he was now contemplating it, he
could claim that glory which was to be its reward. The whole
passage is thus clothed with new light and beauty, when we
are permitted to trace what was passing in the Saviour's
mind, just as the sacred writer himself expressed it.
SCRIPTURAL SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD.
I have given them thy word ; and the world hath hated them, because they
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. John 17 : 14.
AS truly now as in the days when the apostles were ac-
counted the " offscouring of all things " are the real
disciples of Jesus a " separate " people. And it is only by their
keeping up wisely, kindly, and decidedly this line of spiritual
separation that they will preserve themselves from the " evil "
of the world, and become the instruments of its salvation.
As the Father sent the Son into the world to redeem it, so the
Son sent his disciples. For their sakes he sanctified himself,
that they might sanctify themselves for the salvation of their
fellow-men. They were to be no more of the world than was
he>; and they would not, he assured them, be specially loved
by the worldly heart, as the world had not loved him. The
church will not save the world by yielding to its demands to
secularize itself, to conform to its spirit, to accept its codes of
morality, and to drink from its fountains of enjoyment. When
the world has succeeded in bringing the church to its senti-
ments as to all human relations, and secured so broad a creed
as to cover every body, what has it gained ? It certainly has
not improved its own condition, and it has destroyed the vital
leaven by which God is pleased to save human society and
individual souls.
GOD'S WORD.
Sanctify them through thy truth : thy word is truth. John 17 : 17.
SEEING a man reject the inspiration of the Scriptures, while
he said he maintained his belief in Jesus Christ and his
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 343
redemption, I had compared him to some one who has a costly
perfume in a glass vessel ; he breaks the vessel, thinking that
he can at the same time preserve the perfume, but he loses it
all. Set aside the inspiration of the Scriptures, and all Chris-
tian doctrine will disappear. This is not a theory, I have
seen it to be a fact ; therefore the question is one of the
greatest importance. I am not ignorant of the objections, of
the difficulties that are raised, but the plenitude of the divin-
ity to be found in the Scriptures is too great to be in the least
prejudiced by them. I say from the depth of my heart,
" Thy word is truth." Not to believe that the Bible is God's
message is voluntarily to deprive one's self of all true, whole-
some, well-founded knowledge about God and our future state.
It is returning to darkness ; it is to ruin our own prospects,
and perhaps also the welfare of many others with us. Merle
D'Aubigne.
SANCTIFICATION THROUGH THE TRUTH.
And for their sakcs I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. John 17 : 19.
THE reception of divine truth, and its relation to personal
salvation, are subjects of the utmost importance. The
truth of God as revealed in the Bible is operative, not a mere
idea, or a dogmatic creed ; but a divine energy in the soul,
moving it toward Christ as a Saviour, and toward heaven as
its ultimate destiny. When a person apprehends God's truth
by a willing faith and obedient spirit, that truth, like leaven
in the meal, begins to work the purification of that soul, as
Jesus prayed that they " might be sanctified through the
truth.''' This shows us the difference between truth and error
in moral results. Error is powerless for good, while truth is
the power of God unto salvation. Sanctification through the
truth is not the reward of receiving the truth, but the result
of it. " He that believeth not shall be damned," is not a pen-
alty for not believing the gospel, but the result of it. Truth
lifts up the soul, purifies the heart, clothes with garments of
righteousness, and prepares us for heaven. Error has no such
power. The five foolish virgins were not shut out of the mar-
344 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
riage festivities because they went away to buy oil, but- be-
cause they were not prepared to enter at the only entering
time. Unitarianisin fails to be a system of saving faith be-
cause it exalts and magnifies manhood into untrue and unnat-
ural proportions, lifting it above where the Bible puts it, while
it minifies the Godhead by denying the divinity of Christ,
whom the Scriptures call " The true God and eternal life."
So also of Universalism and Deism ; they have no power to
bring up the fallen soul into acceptance with God, but are
opiates to quiet the awakening of Conscience. Truth is life-
imparting and life-preserving.
CHRISTIANS REPRESENT CHRIST.
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one ; and that
the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast
loved me. John 17 : 23.
WHILE Christ in glorified humanity represents his re-
deemed ones before the throne of his Father in heaven,
he leaves them here to represent him on earth. His redeemed
family on earth are as truly precious objects of his love and
care, as are his angel family in heaven. Angels were never
redeemed, but proportionate to the price paid for man's re-
demption is he more precious than even angels in the sight
of God. Christ can just as fully save a soul on earth and keep
it free from the touch of pollution, as he can thus save and
keep a soul in heaven. " All power is given him in heaven
and on earth. 7 ' Who would dare to limit the power of Christ
to save to the uttermost, whether the subject of his saving
power be on earth or in heaven ? If, then, we may as surely
be kept and saved on earth as though we were already in
heaven, who would not rather inhabit a human form, and for a
short space do the will of God on earth, and go about doing
good ? Surely, it is more glorious to be a representative of
Christ than a representative of angels. How much more effi-
cient in the work of saving souls, the services of a purified
spirit inhabiting a human form, than the services of the highest
sin-hangcl robed in the glories of immortality! Mrs. P.
Palmer.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 345
THE PRICELESS GIFT.
And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it : that the love
wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them. John 17 : 20.
rflHE Eev. Dr. Wentworth relates the following interesting
JL incident :
" The Chinese are exceedingly mercenary. They will do
almost anything for money. They have no notion of any man
taking a course which does not tend to profit. Many of them
think we pay people to become Christians j that we hire men
and women to receive baptism, and profess faith in the doc-
trine of Jesus. One of our new converts recently held the
following dialogue with a neighbor who attempted to catechise
him on the- subject:
" ' How much did these foreigners give you to join their
church ? twenty dollars ? '
" < More than that.'
" < A thousand dollars ? '
" l More than that.'
" l How much, pray ? '
" ' More than the value of the weight of this mountain in
silver and gold.'
" ' In the name of Buddha ! what"? ' cried the astonished in-
terrogator.
" ' This precious book/ said the Christian 2 holding up the
Bible, ' which tells me of God and Christ, Calvary, salvation,
everlasting life in heaven ! ' "
OUR SORROWS A BITTER CUP.
Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath : the cup
which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? John 18 : 11.
ONE of the most eminent divines of New England tells us
that soon after the death of his wife his two children were
taken from him within a few hours of each other. " My cup
of sorrow," he says, " was filled to the brim. I stood a few
moments and viewed the remains of my two darlings who had
44
346 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
gone to their long home never to return. I felt at first as if
I could not submit to such a complicated affliction. My heart
rose in all its strength against the government of God, and
then suddenly sunk under its distress, which alarmed me. I
sprang up, and said to myself, ' I must submit, or I am undone
for ever.' In a few moments I was entirely calm and resigned
to the will of God. I never enjoyed greater happiness than
during that day and the next. My mind was full of God, and
I used to look toward the burying-ground, and wish for the
time when I might be laid by the side of my departed wife
and little ones."
There is a great beauty in such religion as this j for the
grace of submission to a bereaving father is the hardest and
rarest of Christian attainments. There is such a temptation
to angry rebellion when the blow cuts deep. A wife is sud-
denly taken ; a crib is left empty, or a cradle deepens into a
grave. A noble, gifted son is cut off in his sinewy prime ; a
son who was all the world to her who leaned upon him. A
lovely daughter withers and droops ; her beauty falls off like
the rose-leaves, and presently she goeth down to darkness and
the worm.
Beside such new-made graves unbelief utters its reproaches,
" not loud,. but deep." But submission whispers with faltering
lips and choking utterance, " The cup that my Father hath
given me, shall I not drink it ? " The will of the Lord be
done.
SUPERSTITION AND CONSCIENCE.
Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment : and it was
early; and they themselves went not into the judgment-hall, lest they should
be defiled ; but that they might eat the passover. John 18 : 28.
A LATE narrative of travels in Russia contains the follow-
ing illustration of religious fervor in that country : -
" A lady on leaving a private party in St. Petersburg, at a
rather advanced hour in the morning, called a droschke, and
having given directions to the driver, the latter proceeded
toward her home, as she thought, instead of which he drove
her to a rather deserted part of the city, when he 'suddenly
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 347
turned round and cut her throat, the sable -lined cloak in which
she was enveloped having excited his cupidity. Having
divested her of this, he dragged the body to the brink of the
canal, and threw her into it. On his way back to the stand
he was hailed by a gentleman, and however reluctant, obliged
to take him as a fare. The gentleman not only noticed the
cloak, but touching it found his fingers stained with blood.
He said nothing till he reached a police station, where, having
ordered the driver to stop, he gave him into custody on sus-
picion. The gentleman was the husband of the lady, and
recognized the cloak as belonging to his wife. The tragedy
happened during Lent, when meat -is forbidden. The mur-
dered lady had a little basket with her which contained a pie.
Having been asked by the commissary why he had not eaten
the pie, l How could I think of eating the pie ! ' replied the
assassin, l it may contain meat, and ' devoutly crossing him-
self ' I am, thank God, a good Christian ' ! "
CHRIST'S KINGDOM FOUNDED IN THOUGHT.
Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of
this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the
Jews : but now is my kingdom not from hence. John 18 : 36.
EEV. WILLIAM ARTHUR lately said in a speech, " The
Lord founded a kingdom, very unlike any other kingdom.
He founded it without drum, or trumpet, or banner, or scep-
ter, or throne, or crown. He founded it without geographical
limits without fortress, without fleets. He founded it as a
kingdom whose foundations were laid in thought ; as a king-
dom whose wars were to be carried on in thought ; as a king-
dom whose instruments were those of thought ; whose sword
was not the sword in hand, but the sword that ' proceedeth
out of the mouth of God ; ' whose charter was the power of
the Word ; whose battle-field was only and ever the battle-
field of thought. Into this world of thought Christ's kingdom
came, to attack all who opposed ; and in its own calm, search-
ing, but irrepressible way, with. a word, with a message, with
an invitation, with an argument, with an exhortation, with an
348 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
entreaty, with a continuous pointing upward upward, as if
it had a distinct connection with invisible powers, which it
had ; and ' bringing into captivity every thought to the obedi-
ence of Christ,' thoughts high, thoughts deep, thoughts old,
thoughts built upon the foundations, as men supposed, of ever-
lasting principles, thoughts certainly reared up with all the
elaborate beauty of human genius and of vast national toil,
thoughts consolidated by the suffrage of ages, and thoughts
adorned and enriched by the splendor of empires ! What was
the result ? Of all other powers none has the hold upon hu-
man thought that Christ has at this moment, and there is none
advancing year by year as is the kingdom of the Lord Christ.
The world has been always talking of its feebleness and fail-
ure, but where is the power that will venture at this moment
to say, ' I will sweep Christ out of human thought ; ? "
WHAT IS TRUTH?
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went
out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
John 18 : 38.
THERE is a circle of earthly truths, the dust, the shell of
things, and inward lies the " pearl of great price," the
truth of truths, that leadeth up to God ; that grows more and
more glorious, through the endless cycles of eternity through
Christ's eternal salvation.
That truth is eternal, because it is from God, and ends in
God surrounded by infinite mind, infinite love, infinite
glory, infinite peace and bliss. The panorama of the world
its wisdom the scene of the stars all things of time
will be as nothing compared with an eternal communion witli
God by the souls of "just men made perfect by the blood of
Christ." Why not, man ! seek this truth ? You love the
truth ; and do you not think that the loving and truthful Jesus
spoke the truth when he said, " I am the truth " ? O, how
sweet is that truth ; how glorious is its author ! He shed his
precious blood on the cross to prove it, and save all who come
by that way ! More than eighteen centuries have passed
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 349
away, and now, in the midst of the nineteenth century, and
all its civilization, learning, and grandeur, we can do nothing,
see nothing, learn nothing, beyond the grave, if we accept
not the truth as it is in the Lord Jesus, who is the resurrec-
tion and life from God to every man who confesseth hirn ; and
consents to walk with him in spirit.
DESCRIPTION OF OUR SAVIOUR.
And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man ! John 19 : 5.
THE following epistle was taken by Napoleon from the public
records of Rome, when he deprived that city of so many
valuable manuscripts. It was written at the time and on the spot
where Jesus Christ commenced his ministry, by Publius Len-
tullus, the emperor. It was the custom in those days for the
governor to write home of any event of importance which tran-
spired while he held office :
" Conscript Fathers : There has appeared in these our days
a man named Jesus Christ, who is yet living among us, and of
the Gentiles is accepted as a prophet of great truth ; but his
own disciples call him the Son of God. He hath raised the
dead, and cured all manner of diseases. He is a man of na-
ture somewhat tall and comely, with a very ruddy counte-
nance, such as the beholder may both love and fear. His hair
is the color of the filbert when fully ripe, plain to his ears,
whence downward it is more orient of color, curling and wav-
ing about his shoulders ; in the middle of his head is a seam
or partition of long hair, after the manner of the Nazarites.
His forehead is plain and delicate ; his face without spot or
wrinkle, beautified with a comely red ; his nose and mouth are
exactly formed ; his beard is of the color of his hair, and thick
not of any great length, but forked. In reproving, he is
terrible ; in admonishing, courteous ; in speaking, very modest
and wise ; in proportion of body, well shaped. None have
seen him laugh, but many have seen him weep. A man, for
his surpassing beauty, excelling the children of men."
350 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
CRUCIFIXION DESCRIBED.
And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull,
which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha : where they crucified him, and two
others with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. John 19 : 17, 18.
MR. JAMES JONES of Amoy, an eye-witness, says, " The
cross was of the Latin form, the foot being inserted in a
stout plank ; and the criminal, standing on a board, had nails
driven through his feet, his hands stretched and nailed to the
cross-beam. His legs were fastened to the cross with an iron
chain, and his arms bound with cords ; and on the cord round
his waist was inserted a piece of wood, on which was written
his name and offense. A similar piece on his right arm con-
tained his sentence ; namely, to remain on the cross day and
night until he died : another on his left arm had the name of
the judge, with his titles and offices. The criminal was nailed
to the cross inside the yamun, in the presence of the magis-
trate, and then carried by four coolies to one of the principal
thoroughfares leading from the city, where he was left during
the day, but removed at night inside the prison for fear of his
friends attempting to rescue him, and again carried forth at
daylight in charge of two soldiers. He was crucified at noon
on Wednesday, and at five in the evening complained of pain
in the chest, and thirst. On Thursday he slept for some hours,
when the cross was laid down within the jail enclosure. No
one was allowed to supply him with food or drink ; and dur-
ing the day there was quite a fair in front of the cross, peo-
ple being attracted from a distance, and the sweetmeat vend-
ers driving a large trade. On Saturday he was still alive,
when the taotal was appealed to by a foreigner to put an end
to the wretch's sufferings ; and he immediately gave orders
that vinegar should be administered, which he expected would
produce immediate death ; but the result was otherwise ; and
at sunset, when the cross was taken within the jail, two
soldiers, with stout bamboos, broke both his legs, and then
strangled him." Foster's Cyclopedia.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 351
UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE.
Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and
seeth the Ifnen clothes lie ; and the napkin that was about his head, not lying
with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went
in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw, and
believed. John 20 : G-8.
IT is said that among the high Alps at certain seasons the
traveler is told to proceed very quietly, for on the steep
slopes' overhead the snow hangs so evenly balanced that the
sound of a voice or the report of a gun may destroy the equi-
librium, and bring down an immense avalanche that will over-
whelm everything in ruin in its downward path. And so
about our way there may be a soul in the very crisis of its
moral history, trembling between life and death, and a mere
touch or shadow may determine its destiny. A young lady
who was deeply impressed with the truth, and was ready,
under a conviction of sin, to ask, " What must I do to be
saved ? " had all her solemn impressions dissipated by the un-
seemly jesting and laughter of a member of the church by her
side as she passed out of the sanctuary. Her irreverent and
worldly spirit cast a repellent shadow on that young lady not
far from the kingdom of God. How important we should
always and everywhere walk worthy of our high calling as
Christians !
" So let our lives and lips express
The holy gospel we profess."
Let us remember that we are always casting the shadow of
our real life upon some one ; that somebody is following us, as
John followed Perter into the sepulcher. Happy if, when all
the influences of life flow back and meet us at the judgment,
we can lift up clean hands and spotless robes, and say, " I am
free from the blood of all men ! " Happy then to hear even
one soul saying to us out of the great multitude, that, follow-
ing the shadow of our Christian life and devotion, he found
Jesus and heaven. Rev. T. Stork, D. D.
352 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
SUNDAY AFTER THE RESURRECTION.
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the
doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came
Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
John 20 : 19.
4
THE second appearance of our Lord after his resurrection
was on the eighth day, or on the second Sunday of the
Christian dispensation. " The Sunday after the Sunday of
the resurrection, the second Christian Sabbath or Lord's day.
It has not ceased to be commemorated from that time to this,
as a holy day in the tradition of the Christian church. The
fourth commandment requires that one day in seven should be
Sabbath ; the Jewish church, under divine guidance, fixed that
seventh upon Saturday, the Christian church upon Sunday." -
Whedon.
" Where Christ was during these eight days, and the rest
of the time of his abode on earth, would be folly to inquire,
and presumption to determine. He deferred his second ap-
pearance so long as seven days, for three reasons :
"First. That he might put a rebuke on Thomas for his in-
credulity, and perhaps also for his negligence.
"Second. That he might try the faith and patience of the
rest of the disciples.
"Third. That he might put an honor upon the first day of
the week, and give a plain intimation of his will, that it should
be observed in his church as the Christian Sabbath, that is,
the weekly day of holy rest and holy convocations. That one
day in seven should be religiously observed, was an appointment
from the beginning, as old as innocence ; and that, in the king-
dom of the Messiah, the first day in the week should be that
solemn day, Christ's meeting his disciples in a religious as-
sembly once and again on that day, was indication sufficient.
" Add to this, it is highly probable, that in his former ap-
pearance to them he had ordered them to come together
again that day seven-night, and had promised to meet them,
and also that he appeared to them every first day of the week
during forty days. And the religious observance of that day
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 353
has been from thence transmitted down to us through every
age of the church. This, therefore, is the clay which the Lord
has made sacred, and appointed for his peculiar worship and
service." Benson.
CHRIST'S COMING AT THE SEA.
But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore ; but the
disciples knew not that it was Jesus. John 21 : 4.
I SUPPOSE there is no event in the whole life of Christ to
which, in hours of fear or doubt, men turn with more anx-
ious thirst to know the close facts of it, or with more earnest and
passionate dwelling upon every syllable of its recorded narra-
tive, than Christ's showing himself to his disciples at the Lake
of Galilee. There is something preeminently open, natural,
full, fronting our disbelief in this manifestation. The others,
recorded after the resurrection, were sudden, phantom-like,
occurring to men in profound sorrow and wearied agitation of
heart; not, it might seem, safe judges of what they saw. But
the agitation was now over. They had gone back to their
daily work, thinking still their business lay net- ward, unmeshed
from the literal rope and drag. " Simon Peter said unto them,
I go a-fishing." They say unto him, " We also go with thee."
True words enough, and having far echo beyond those Galilean
hills. That night they caught nothing; but when morning
came, in the clear light of it, behold a figure stood on the
shore. They were not thinking of any thing but their fruit-
less hauls. They had no guess who it was. It asked them
simply if they had caught anything. They said, No. And it
tells them to cast yet again. And John shades his eyes from
the morning sun with his hand to see who it is ; and though
the glistening of the sea, too, dazzles him, he makes out who
it is at last; and poor Simon, not to be outrun this time,
tightens his fisher's coat about him and dashes in, over the nets.
One would have liked to see him swim those hundred yards,
and stagger to his knees on the beach. Well, the others got
to the beach too, in time, in such slow way as men in general
do in this world, to its true shore, much impeded by that won-
45
354 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
derful " dragging the net with fishes," but they get there
seven of them in all first the denier, and then the slowest be-
liever, and then the quickest believer, and then the two throne-
seekers, and two more, we know not whom. They sit down on
the shore, face to face with him, and eat their broiled fish as
he bids. And then, to Peter, all dripping still, shivering and
amazed, staring at Christ in the sun on the other side of the
coal fire thinking a little, perhaps, what happened by
another coal fire, where it was cooler, and having had no
word once changed with him by his Master since that look
of his to him, so amazed, comes the question, " Simon,
lovest thou me ? " Try to feel that a little, and think of it until
it is true to you. Ruskin*
"FEED MY LAMBS."
So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonng,
lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord : thou know-
est that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. John 21 : 15.
T)ARENTS, Pastors, Teachers : Do you hear these stirring
JL and imperative words of Jesus, " Feed my lambs " ? The
clear little souls that cluster around you are the lambs of Jesus,
the great Shepherd.
Should not every pastor feel that it is his duty and privilege,
simply but faithfully to preach such sermons as the youthful
part of his flock can fully understand? Sermons that will tell
upon their young and tender hearts, and which shall help to lead
the lambs of Jesus into the green pastures of his love, and by
the side of the still waters of his salvation? Then in the Sabbath
school, and in the common schools, as opportunities serve,
should he not still press eternal truths upon the rising race,
and also from house to house ? Where can he find a more
promising field? How easy children maybe converted by
wise arid proper care, and also kept from falling back ! x
But a great share of the duty of feeding these precious
lambs of Jesus devolves upon parents and teachers. They
can impart knowledge which none else can, and which chil-
dren will not otherwise obtain.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 355
FATE OF THE APOSTLES.
Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to
thee? follow thou me. John 21 : 22.
ALL the apostles and evangelists were assaulted by the en-
emies of their Master. They were called to seal their
doctrines with their blood, and nobly did they bear the trial.
Schumacher says,
" Matthew suffered martyrdom by being slain with a sword
at a distant city of Ethiopia.
" Mark expired at Alexandria, after having been cruelly
dragged through the streets of that city.
" Luke was hanged upon an olive tree in the classic land of
Greece.
' John was put into a caldron of boiling oil, but escaped
death in a miraculous manner, and was afterward banished to
Patraos.
" Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downward.
" James the Greater was beheaded at Jerusalem.
" James the Less was thrown from a lofty pinnacle of the
temple, and then beaten to death with a fuller's club.
" Bartholomew was flayed alive.
" Andrew was bound to a cross, whence he preached to his
persecutors until he died.
" Thomas was run through the body with a lance at Coro-
mandel in the East Indies.
" Jude was shot to death with arrows."
MINISTERS BAPTIZED OF THE HOLY GHOST.
And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they
should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father,
which, saith he, ye have heard of me. Acts 1 : 4.
THE difference in moral results, between a minister bap-
tized of the Holy Ghost, and not so baptized, is thus de-
scribed :
" Wesley, the learned, the prayerful, watching, fasting, alms-
giving, visiting the sick and imprisoned, economical of mo-
356 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS,
ments, but unfruitful in saving souls, is a type of a ministry
unbaptized from on high : Wesley, adding to these a " heart
strangely warmed," going forth full of the Holy Ghost and of
faith, and setting the kingdom in a blaze, the spiritual father
of thousands and millions who have now risen up and call him
blessed, is the representative of the ministry that must con-
quer the world. Of two ministers r one learned and the other
unlearned, the Holy Spirit being upon them alike, we cannot
question which will accomplish the most for the church. A
Wesley without the Holy Spirit could not hold his own ; an
Abbott with the Holy Spirit shook all New Jersey. Let our
ministry be thus endowed from on high, and the weakest will
become strong, while our strong men will become mighty.
We are building and enriching our schools in the hope of a
future, of a higher and more complete culture, but it must
be a culture of heart as well as brain, through the sanctifica-
tion of the Holy Spirit." Rev. D. Curry, D. D.
HAT THE CHURCH MOST NEEDS.
But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon yon :
and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1 : 8.
EEV. B. F. CRARY, D. D., editor of the Central Christian
Advocate, thus speaks of the need of the church at this
time :
" The great institutions of the church need not be changed,
but we need most of all the outpouring of the Holy Gfrost
upon all our ministers and members. Methodism with the
Pentecostal baptism would make a world-wide impression.
Now she sheds a feeble light ; then she would spread such a
fire as, by the grace of God, would be seen over the whole
earth. Our prime want is not more machinery, but more of
the Holy Ghost in our lives and preaching. We feel a sort of
dread when wo see the church hoping or depending on any
other means of saving sinners than the Holy Ghost. T^iy,
scholastic preaching, devoid of spiritual power and unction,
will only paralyze the churck It is a sad thing to see any
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 357
church trying to live without the life which Christ imparts.
There is but one spiritual life, and that is Christ Jesus himself.
He lives in us, if we are his. Our strength and hope are in
him. We need not more machinery, but more power, and
power is the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. If the church
drifts away from the old doctrine and the old experience of
the regenerating, sanctifying effects of the Holy Spirit, she
will perish, for she has no real glory, no real power but this.
All else is but the walls and trappings of the temple, this is
the Shekinah on the mercy -seat, the light and fire on our
altars."
The above primal need is as true concerning all other
churches as that of the Methodist Episcopal church.
HEAVEN A LOCALITY.
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Acts 1:11.
IT has been made a question whether heaven this term
denoting in general the happy condition of the righteous
after death, either before or after the resurrection has any
locality, or is only a state. But no question seems to us more
idle. Certainly, the Scriptures, in the phrase " a better coun-
try," and in other instances, assign a place to them or assign
them to a place. The Saviour, at his second coming, and even
on their departure from this world, will receive them to him-
self, in order that, as he said, they may " be with me where
I am," " that where I am, there ye may be .also." " To-day,"
said he to the penitent thief, " thou shalt be with me in Para-
dise." There would have been no doubt as to the obvious
meaning of these and other representations, but for the meta-
physical notion that space and time belong to our present
mode of being, and can not be as positively affirmed of any
other. Hence some persons count it philosophical to limit the
idea of heaven to that of a mental state, and would construe
the inspired language accordingly. But it never can be
shown that space is not as real in all other modes of .being as
358 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
in ours, or that we can ever possibly exist without it. Nor
can we so much as conceive of our existence, now or here-
after, apart from any place. That we can not determine our
future locality, unless it be the renovated earth, is not im-
portant. Of course, no mere place, apart from a suitable
mental state, can ever be to us a heaven ; our heavenly condi-
tion can not be external only, but must be internal also ; yet
still we must conceive of the mental place as having also its
"own place." Even if the Scriptures had not used the
language of locality in this connection, in entertaining the
subject itself, we could not rid our minds of the notion. We
have no right, therefore, to reject or overlook it in their rep-
resentations ; we ought to receive them in this their obvious
import. It is both scriptural and rational to speak intelligibly
and familiarly, as we may, of our final home as another country
and a better country.
WOMEN AS HELPERS IN THE CHURCH.
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the
women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. Acts 1 : 14.
THE faith, devotion, and Christian zeal of godly women
have greatly aided the cause of God.
" The strength of the church has always largely been in its
women ; from the time when they lovingly ministered to the
Saviour, in life and at death, met with the apostles for prayer
prior to the Pentecostal baptism, and were the comforts and
helpers of Paul in his missionary labors, down to the present
day. They have so lived and worshiped, have so exemplified
the virtues of the wife and mother, have so illustrated the
beauty of holiness, have so trained for the church its noblest
men, that they have compelled the admiration of the worldling
and the skeptic. Many a man has found that the last link
which still bound his believing mind to some intellectual faith
in Christianity was the remembrance of his mother's piety, or
the daily vision of the purity of his wife. The eulogy of Li-
banus, pronounced upon the Christian women of the primitive
churches, has lost none of its meaning in this nineteenth cen-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 359
tury. In chasteness of morals, general intelligence, social
culture, self denying benevolence, and genuine and unaffected
piety, our Christian women are the glory of the age; and it is
at once the honor and the triumph of the missionary work
that it is rapidly raising the converted women of heathen
lands to a similar level."
WESLEY'S TESTIMONY AGAINST INTOXICATING
LIQUOR.
Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity ; and falling
headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
Acts 1:18.
E may not sell anything which tends to impair health.
Such is, eminently, all that liquid fire commonly called
drams or spirituous liquors. It is true these may have a place
in medicine ; they may be of use in some bodily disorders,
although there would rarely be any occasion for them, were
it not the unskillfulness of the practitioner. Therefore, such
as prepare and sell only for this use may keep their con-
sciences clear. But who are they ? Who prepare them only
for this end ? Do you know ten such distillers in England ?
Then excuse these. But all who sell them in the common
way, to any that will pay, are poisoners- general. They murder
his majesty's subjects by wholesale, neither does their eye
pity or spare. They drive them to hell like sheep. And what
is their gain ? Is it not the blood of these men ? Who, then,
would envy their large estates and sumptuous palaces? A
curse is in the midst of them. The curse of God cleaves to
the stones, the timber, the furniture of them ! The curse of
God is in their gardens, their walks, their groves ; a fire that
burns to the nethermost hell ! Blood, blood ! is there. The
foundation, the floor, the walls, the roof, are stained with
blood ? And canst thou hope, and thou man of blood, though
thou art " clothed in scarlet and fine linen, and farest sump-
tuously every day," canst thou hope to deliver down thy
fields of blood to the third generation ? Not so ; for there is
360 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
a God in heaven, therefore thy name shall soon be rooted out.
Like as those whom thou hast destroyed, body and soul, " thy
memorial shall perish with thee." J. Wesley.
A MODERN PENTECOST.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one
accord in one place. Acts 2 : 1.
IN one of the German churches, just as the company who
had been together from the station and out-stations were
about to break up to take a little refreshment and then depart,
a young lad came to the minister, and said, " We must put off
the eating and drinking, and keep on praying. There is a
little cloud, as big as a man's hand, and it is going to rain."
While he was speaking, another came with a more pressing
message, and, as the German brother said, they had to " let
their coffee grow colder while their hearts grew warmer." It
was like another Pentecost. They fell down together before
God, and for two hours continued in prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving. An unconverted spectator might have said,
as they did anciently, " These men are full of new wine." At
the close twenty-two persons were found to have been " bap-
tized with the Holy Ghost and with fire," happy in a new
life, and they went on their way rejoicing.
PENTECOSTAL GIFTS.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2 : 4.
descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles is generally
JL supposed to have been about the fiftieth day from the res-
urrection of Christ, the latter end of May, and about nine
o'clock in the morning. Now, on this day, let us view them
all humbly waiting at the footstool of God's throne, in obedi-
ence to their Master's command, and in full expectation of the
fulfillment of his promise, perfectly in the use of their reason,
JVEIV TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 361
and feeling a sweet unanimity and love among themselves.
And, behold ! how suddenly they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit. Here were twelve apostles and seventy disciples, with
thirty-eight other Christians, which amounted to one hundred
and twenty of the faithful followers of Christ. The apostles and
disciples were poor illiterate men, who had never been at any
college of learning in their lives, and yet in a moment they
were enabled to speak with fluency and propriety no less than
fifteen languages, and were capable of addressing these dif-
ferent nations in their respective tongues ; and in these lan-
guages of the east, the west, the north, and the south, they
proclaimed the wonderful works of redemption and salvation.
Let us contemplate with the utmost veneration this illustrious
day, and glory in such a clear evidence of the truth and excel-
lence of the Christian religion. Ryland.
"IT MUST RAIN FASTER."
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my
Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and
your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
Acts 2 : 17.
MANY of our readers will remember this characteristic ex-
pression of Dr. Lyman Beecher, in describing, a few years
ago, at a public meeting in New York, the necessity of increased
revivals. Regarding our past history, the growth of our popu-
lation, the multiplying inroads of skepticism, indifferentism,
and worldliness, he cast his eyes with a somewhat prophetic
ken into the future, exclaiming, in view of the religious affla-
tus that is needed to keep alive and expand the flame of god-
liness, " It must rain faster." The demands of Christ's cause
call not for occasional but for frequent and copious effusions
of the Holy Spirit. Well might such an utterance from one
who combined so much experience, wisdom, and zeal in the
kingdom of his Master, come, as it did, with the force of an
oracle.
46
362 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
INSPIRATION.
And on my servants, and on my hand-maidens, I will pour out in those days
of my Spirit ; and they shall prophesy. Acts 2 : 18.
REV. DR. FLOY is much pleased with the character of
some of the most pious negroes in the South. The fol-
lowing opinion is worthy of thought :
" And here I will place on record my own deliberate convic-
tion as to the means by which so much gospel light has pene-
trated the thick darkness in which these people have dwelt
from generation to generation. By all who associate with
them and listen with unprejudiced ears to their religious con-
versation, it is an unceasing source of wonder that they are
so well acquainted with the great truths, the practical teach-
ings of Christianity, and many of the deep things of God. Not
from the written word did they derive this knowledge, for
probably not one in a thousand knows a letter of the alphabet ;
and as certainly not from oral instructions, which are always
meager the merest skimming upon the surface. My opin-
ion is, that God himself teaches them, even as he taught the
bondrnen in Egypt, and our fathers in the olden time when as
yet there was no Bible. Many of the elders among these de-
graded people talk of revelations from the Lord. They profess
to have dreams and visions in the night season. Christians
brand all these assertions as absurd, arid ridicule them as the
results of distempered brains and ignorant superstition. I
think there were among the ancient Israelites those who thus
regarded that strange story told by Moses about the burning
bush. Possibly, too, Jacob's vision at Bethel would be placed
by many, even at this day, in the same category, were it not
recorded in a book that we deem divine. There can be no
doubt that our heavenly Father could, if it pleased him, by
similar methods reveal himself, and make known his will to
those bondmen for whom Christ died ; and it seems to me
perfectly consistent, and in harmony with all his glorious per-
fections, that he should do so."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 363
UNITARIANISM NOT SUCCESSFUL.
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto
Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Acts 2 : 37.
"VTO wonder Unitarians are studying the genius of Method-
-Ll ism, and lamenting the comparatively insignificant practi-
cal results of their own system. There are some considerations
which might have led to the anticipation that Unitarianism
would be a very popular religion. It has intelligence and
wealth. It is exceedingly easy in its demands on the moral
conduct of its adherents, and grants unbounded license in
belief. The religion it teaches is of a very satisfactory sort
to the natural heart ; there is nothing humiliating nor hard
about it ; it is the religion of natural goodness, self-culture,
and universal salvation. If any one had been asked before-
hand how such a religion would succeed, the answer would
probably have been, " Men will like it ; it will be a popular
panacea for wounded consciences ; it will soon outnumber all
other denominations." Ah, the aching heart of man spurns
the counterfeit, apprehending that it is cheap because it is
worthless ! It has less than fifty thousand communicants in
this country, and, so far as we know, not a single mission sta-
tion in all the heathen world.
The plain, searching declaration of the Bible about the de-
pravity of the heart, about our guilt and peril, about the need
of a new birth and a divine Saviour, find a ringing answer in
men's experience. The heart hates the gospel, but feels it to
be true. And so the world sees plain, blunt Methodism start-
ing among the lowly, and multiplying to more than two mil-
lions ; and cultured Unitarianism, sneering at depravity, prat-
ing of self-culture, denying a divine Saviour, throwing down
all barriers to church membership, and managing to rally to
its standard a pitiful and motley fifty thousand ! licv. D.
Gurrig, D. D.
364 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
HOW TO HAVE A REVIVAL CHURCH.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and
in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2 : 42.
Pulpit and the Pew thus discourses on the method of
-L securing a revival :
" That pastor can not fail who understands how to develop
the powers of his people. 1 1 envy Dr. S. more than any other
minister in New York/ said the late Dr. Alexander, ' for he has
the art of keeping all his people at work.' It is a rare art, and
one acquired by prayer and experience. The most effectual
way to make a working church is to feed the church into
strength with solid gospel food, and to fire it into enthusiasm
kindling in their souls the love of Jesus. This is the one un-
dying inspiration. If you want a revival, give your people
searching, arousing, practical discourses. Use God's fire, and
not your own devices. When you get the most bountiful
contributions to a benevolent cause, it will not be by elabo-
rate begging ; it will be after you have roused and kindled
their hearts by the glorious gospel of Christ. Pitch your
preaching to a heavenly key ! Magnify the cross of Calvary !
Pour on your people's hearts overwhelming claims of God.
Come to them every Sabbath with Christ in your heart, and
Christ on your tongue. The l power from on high ' will then
come with you, and the baptism of fire will give you a pen-
tecost. The church that is mighty in prayer is mighty in
work."
PRAYER AN EXTRAORDINARY ACT.
Now Peter and John went up together into the temple, at the hour of
prayer, being the ninth hour. Acts 3 : 1.
late Professor Peabody, of Dartmouth College, in a dis-
_L course published by the Congregational .Journal, remarks,
that " Prayer is one of the most natural, and, at the same
time, one of the most extraordinary acts of life. It is one of
the most natural : for what is it but the cry of helplessness for
succor of guilt for pardon of anguish for relief? And it
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 365
is one of the most extraordinary acts ; for what can be more
wonderful than an earthborn creature approaching, with un-
shrinking assurance, the infinite God a self-ruined sinner
laying hold of the Almighty arm as if, in the agony of inter-
cession, to modify the dispensations of providence and grace !
Here we see absolute weakness maintaining its cause before
omnipotent sovereignty ; a mere particle of intelligent being,
stained with sin, and conscious of death- worthiness, entering
into the presence and seeking a special interest for itself, or for
others like itself, in the government of the eternal, omniscient
mind. Thus it is, that in the duties as well as in the doc-
trines of religion, the finite and the infinite are brought into
close conjunction : a circumstance which, while it may offend
and perhaps disgust the unbeliever, imparts a sublimity to our
faith, and a perfection to the character founded upon it, which
nothing else can supply.
" Prayer is the link between our own littleness and the vast
resources of power and grace above us. It is an acknowledg-
ment of what we are, and an apprehension of what we are
allied to, and what we may secure in the spiritual world. It
is the labor of a poor helpless spirit, striving to reunite the
broken chain between itself and God, to regain his forfeited
favor and lost image. It is the medium through which celes-
tial light is conveyed into the darkened understanding, and
the riches of unbounded love poured into the desolate soul."
LOOKING ONLY TO CHRIST.
Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on
us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
Acts 3:12.
A GENTLEMAN said he heard Rev. Mr. Spurgeon, in Lon-
IJL. don, relate the following in regard to Whitefield :
" It had come to be believed among the common people of
England in general, that Mr. Whitefield never staid over a
night in a family that he did not have them all converted
when he left them the next morning. A well-to-do family had
heard this same thing, and they believed it. They were not
366 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
indifferent on the subject of religion, but were anxious. So
the husband said one day, ' Wife, I am not a Christian, nor are
either of our five children. Now let us send for Mr. White-
field, and ask him to stay over night.' So they sent an earnest
invitation to him to come and spend three days, and they would
do all they could to make him comfortable.
" When Mr. Whitefield came, in obedience to this invita-
tion, they did all they could to make him happy. They were
intelligent people, and knew how to do it. The first day
passed away, and Mr. Whitefield said nothing on the subject
of religion. On the next their attentions were redoubled, but
salvation was not named. The third day passed in the same
way. They were sedulous and anxious, but religion was not
named ; and the hour of his departure came, and he was gone.
" These people were in sore distress, and they said to each
other, l What does this mean ? Three days, and he has not
said a word about religion not a word.'
" Mr. Whitefield, just before leaving, had written on the
window-pane of the room where he lodged, with his diamond
ring, these words, l One thing thou lackest.'
" The host, in looking over the room where the good man
had slept, discovered these words, and called to his family
below, ' Come up here ! come right up here, every one of you !
Come up here ! ' And when they came, the good man. of the
house said, ' Here is Mr. Whitefield's message. It is true
every word true ; we all lack the one thing needful.'
" The wife said, ' I thought how sad he looked, 0, so sad !
Now I know why he looked so.'
" l 0, let us pray/ said the husband, ' for that one thing
needful, and choose to day the good part that shall never be
taken away.'
" They fell on their knees around the bed, and there they
gave themselves to Christ, and afterward proved the sincerity
of their consecration in their earnest Christian lives."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 367
CONVERSION.
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,
when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
Acts 3 : 19.
IN St. Dennis Hotel, once, in Broadway, New York, I was
summoned to visit a sick young man, who came from
Charleston with a widowed mother. I had known them there
the mother, not the youth. They had been a^ Saratoga,
and had come back to New York, and in this hotel the young
man was lying to die. His mother had sent for another
clergyman to visit him, and that clergyman said that the
poor young man was crazy ; and when I asked that religious
brother, " What did you do to him .? " he said, " Do ? I tried
to pacify him ; I tried to quiet him ; I said, ' We will not talk,
but say a little prayer/ and I left him in peace." His mother
was not satisfied, and sent for me. He lay before me, a splen-
did youth of nineteen, his eyes like jets of the brilliancy of a
diamond. " Dr. Tyng," said the young man, " my mother has
always told me that I must be converted : that I could not be
saved except I was converted. I am not converted. How
can I be converted ? Can I be converted ? 0, tell me how,
how can I be converted ? "
I sat by a the side of that youth, and told him the story of
Jesus. I showed him the simplicity of the gospel plan of
salvation. I bade him realize that his heavenly Father had
received and accepted him in Christ when Christ willingly
died to bear his load, and he was to come in the simplest faith
of a little child, and rest himself gratefully, hopefully upon it.
We spent an hour in conversation. Twenty-four hours after
I called again. 0, how changed that face ! It shone like an
angel's. He reached out his long, tapering hand to me with
the sweetest possible smile, and said, " 0, sir, I understand it !
I understand it. Love for Jesus is conversion ! Love for
Jesus is conversion ! Sir, all night I was asking Jesus to let
me love him ; to show me how to love him ; and I feel to-day
as if my whole soul was overflowing with love to Jesus. Is
that conversion ? " " My dear Julian, that is conversion."
Dr. Tyng.
3G8 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
IMPORTANCE OF REVIVAL LABORS.
Howbeit, many of them which heard the word, believed ; and the number
of the men was about five thousand. Acts 4 : 4.
CJTRANGE, indeed, is it that any professing to be Christians
O should not desire what are popularly termed revivals, when
the very commencement of the church was with such a blessed
outpouring of the Spirit. Men may talk about constant re-
vivals, and" the superior advantages of a regular increase, by
the use of ordinary means, as much as they please, there never
was a truly prosperous age of vital piety that was not charac-
terized by revivals, and the constitution of human nature
must be changed before the work of God can truly advance
without them. So long as man is a social being, and men are
moved by men, there will be times when masses will be
influenced by the same impulses, when the attention of many
will at once be directed to religion, and when the prayers of
the faithful will arise with unwonted fervency, and when the
sluggish will be aroused to activity, and when the Spirit will
display its mightiest power, and when souls will be added to
the church daily of such as are saved ; and then is the time
for Christians, if need be, to make extraordinary sacrifices to
God. Such was the occasion when the apostles first unfolded
to the world the banner of the gospel, and to carry on the
work, the first subjects of it contributed all they had. Rev.
E. 0. Haven.
CHRIST THE ONLY NAME.
Neither is there salvation in any other ; for there is none other name under
heaven given among men^ whereby we must be saved. Acts 4 : 12.
A FEW persons were collected round a blind man, who had
taken his station on a bridge and was reading from a
Bible with raised letters. While he received from the passers-
by of their carnal things, he ministered 1<> them spiritual
things. A gentleman on his way home from the city was led
by curiosity to the outskirts of the crowd. Just then the poor
man, who was reading the fourth chapter of the Acts, lost his
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 369
place, and while trying to find it with his fingers, kept repeating
the last clause he had read, " None other name none other
name none other name." Some of the people smiled at the
blind man's embarrassment, but the gentleman went away
deeply musing. He had lately become convinced that he was
a sinner ; he had been trying in many ways to obtain peace of
mind ; but religious exercises, good resolutions, altered habits,
all were unable to relieve his conscience of its load, and enable
him to rejoice in God.
The words he had heard from the blind man, however, rang
like solemn music in his soul " None other name." When
he reached his home and retired to rest, these words were still
heard: " None other name none other name none other
name." And when he awoke, the strain continued : " None
other name none other name none other name." The
music entered his soul, and by the blessing of God he awoke
to a new life. " I see it all," said he ; " I see it all ! I have
been trying to be saved by my own works, my repentance,
my prayers, my reformation. I see my mistake. It is Jesus
who alone can save. To him I will look. Neither is there
salvation in any other. For there is none other name none
other name none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved."
UNLEARNED, YET POWERFUL.
Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that
they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled ; and they took knowl-
edge of them, that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4 : 13.
THE apostles were, for the most part, unlearned, in the
worldly acceptation of that term, and yet a more efficient
class of ministers never existed. And what great numbers,
both of ministers and laymen, unlearned in human science,
have been among the most efficient and powerful ministers
and laymen in the church of God ; while, for the most part,
men that have been the most famed for human learning, have
been, in a great measure, inefficient and useless in the church
of God. This by no means proves that human learning is
47
370 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
unimportant, but it does prove, beyond all gainsaying, the
paramount importance of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
I would therefore repeat, with great emphasis, what I said
at first, that the difference in the efficiency of ministers does
not consist so much in the difference of intellectual attain-
ments, as in the measure of the Holy Spirit which they enjoy.
And how abundantly do the facts that lie right upon the face of
the church's history demonstrate the truth of the assertion ! I
do not hesitate to say, that whatever the age or the . learning
of ministers may be, he is a mere child in spiritual knowledge,
experience, and qualifications for his office, without the bap-
tism of the Holy Ghost. He certainly will, and must for ever
remain so. Until he knows what it is to be " filled with the
Spirit," " to be led by the Spirit," " to be endued with power
from on high," to fulfill his high and reasonable functions, he
is a mere child, and by no means qualified to be a leader in
the church of God.
A thousand times as much stress ought to be laid upon this
part of a thorough preparation for the ministry as has been.
Until it is felt, acknoAvledged, and proclaimed upon the house-
tops, run through our halls of science, and sounded forth in our
theological seminaries that this is altogether an indispensable
part of the preparation for the work of the ministry, we talk in
vain and at random when we talk of the necessity of a thor-
ough preparation and course of training. Rev. C* G. Finney*
DID HE NOT DO RIGHT?
But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right
in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Acts 4 : 19.
/GEORGE WALKER, who died in 1651, aged seventy years,
U was called by Anthony Wood, " A learned man, but a
severe Puritan." He merited the title by his earnest opposi-
tion to popery, his zeal for the observance of the Sabbath, and
his belief that we ought to obey God rather than men. For
urging the necessity of observing the Sabbath, he was called
before Laud, and received canonical admonition. He was
NE W TESTAMENT ILL USTRA TIONS. 371
afterward called before the star-chamber. He had preached
in his own church a sermon to prove " that it was a sin to
obey the greatest monarch upon earth, in those things which
stand opposed to the command of God." For this heinous
offense he was arrested and kept in prison ten weeks, when
he was brought to trial, as it was called. His living was
taken from him, and he was compelled to enter into bonds for
a thousand pounds to confine himself to his brother's house in
Cheswick. He continued thus a prisoner for two years, when
he was released by order of Parliament. The House of Com-
mons declared his prosecution and imprisonment illegal and
unjust, and that he ought to receive reparation for the dam-
ages he had sustained. After his release, he returned to his
ministerial charge, and continued it to the close of his life
without molestation.
TEMPTATIONS TO UNFAITHFULNESS IN THE
MINISTRY.
And now, Lord, behold their threatenings : and grant unto thy servants,
that with all boldness they may speak thy word. Acts 4 : 29.
MEN do not like to have their sins brought to light and re-
buked, or to be hard pressed with the humiliating and
self-denying doctrines of the gospel ; and yet, many who
cleave to their sins often become the most liberal patrons of
the ministry, and when rich and influential and some such
are found in most congregations, especially in our cities
how great the temptation to the servant of God to yield to
their demand that he prophesy to them smooth things. Alas,
this has been the bane of the church in all ages ! It was so
in the time of Israel's apostasy, and so it was with the church
of Rome, and so, to a greater or less extent, has it always
been. Witness the silence of the American pulpit, for more
than a half century, upon the great sin of the nation, a sin
which at length brought upon it the overwhelming calamities
of civil war.
372 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
CHILDREN AND CHRISTIANITY.
By stretching forth thine hand to heal ; and that signs and wonders may
be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. Acts 4 : 30.
IX an address at the late anniversary of the American Sun-
day School Union, Rev. Dr. Armitage said,
" I find a child in no religion but in the religion of Jesus..
Mohammed seemed to know nothing about a child. The hea-
then seemed to know nothing about children in their mytholo-
gy. Their gods were not born as children. They were never
clothed with the sympathies of children. They were never
endowed with the attributes of children. They never threw
themselves into the social ties of children. 0, no ! That
would not have been natural. That would not have been
divine, in their conception. And hence they make no pro-
vision for children.
" But the great elemental fact of Christianity is the holy
Child Jesus. Born of a woman, born under the law, in total
helplessness, physically, laid in a manger, cared for by no man y
but the Child of the everlasting Father and the Prince of
Peace. So that the gospel of Jesus is the only religion on
earth that makes provision for a child, and is the only religion
in which a child is laid at the basis and foundation of its faith.
" The Bible is the child's book as well as the philosopher's
book ; and if the stern facts of the Bible, beautiful in love,
came to the heart of the sturdy old tinker in Bedford jail, they
also stole upon the heart of his little blind Mary at his feet !
So that the philosopher and the child stand on equal ground
in the matter of salvation. A child is not expected to depend
upon the faith of mystery, but the faith of great, grand moral
facts. The Saviour is a fact ; Sin is a fact not a doctrine,
nor a theory, merely ; God is a fact ; Holiness is a fact ; Heaven
and Hell, and Christ, and Faith, and Love are all facts ; and
when a child feels that he is a living fact, and a loving God
inspires him with love, with faith, with obedience, what can
Gabriel more than love, and believe, and obey God in
return ? "
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 373
POWER OF PRAYER.
And when they had prayed, the place Avas shaken whera they were assem-
bled together ; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake
the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:31.
THE Bible account of the power of prayer is the best we
have, or can have.
Abraham's servant prays Rebekah appears.
Jacob prays the angel is conquered ; Esau's revenge is
changed to fraternal love.
Joseph prays he is delivered from the prison of Egypt.
Moses prays Amalek is discomfited ; Israel triumphs.
Joshua -prays the sun stands still ; victory is gained.
Hannah prays the prophet Samuel is born.
David prays Ahithophel goes out and hangs himself.
Asa prays Israel gains a glorious victory.
Jehoshaphat prays God turns away his anger, and smiles.
Elijah prays the little cloud appears j the rain descends
upon the earth.
Elisha prays the waters of the Jordan are divided ; a
child is restored to life.
Hezekiah prays one hundred and eighty-five thousand As-
syrians are dead.
Hezekiah prays the sun-dial is turned back ; his life is
prolonged.
Mordecai prays Haman is hanged ; Israel is free.
Nehemiah prays the king's heart is softened in a minute.
Ezra prays the wall of Jerusalem begins to rise.
The church prays the Holy Ghost is poured out.
The church prays again Peter is delivered by an angel.
Paul and Silas pray the prison shakes j the door opens,
every man's bands are loosed.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH AND THEIR PROPERTY.
Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles'
feet. Acts 4 : 37.
E believe that the primitive converts who sold their
possessions, lands, and goods, and laid the price at the
374 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
apostles' feet for distribution, were impelled to that act by the
Holy Spirit ; that not enthusiasm but genuine piety moved
them, and that for that act they deserve not our pity, but our
highest praise. Moreover, the fruit of their generosity suf-
ficiently exhibits its true glory ; for we are told in immediate
connection, " And the Lord added to the church daily such as
should be saved."
It is necessary, if we would correctly appreciate the true
spirit of this history, that we should have an exact understand-
ing of the event itself. It is evident that it was voluntary.
It Avas not an express or implied condition of membership with
Christ's followers to sell every or any possession, and throw
the proceeds into the common fund. The act does" not seem
to have emanated from the command, or even the advice, of
the apostles. There is no intimation of the kind in the history.
On the other hand, Peter said to Ananias, who sold his land
and brought only a part of the price of it to the apostles,
" While it remained was it not thine own ? and after it was
sold was it not in thine own power ? " Implying clearly that
if Ananias had let his land remain without sale, he would not
have sinned, and even if after the sale he had retained the
whole price for himself, he would have incurred no blame.
But he could not have remained out of the church of Christ
without sin ; certainly he could not have refused Christ with-
out sin ; therefore he might have been a Christian, and yet
not sold his land. The sin of Ananias was lying bringing
only a part of the price, under the pretense that it was the
whole price; had he brought a part, and openly avowed that
it was but a part, he would have been free from blame. The
whole act was voluntary, and seems to have proceeded from
a spontaneous impulse, felt by the Christians themselves,
prompted, we suppose, by the Holy Spirit. Rev. E. O. Haven.
JUDGMENTS OF GOD MANIFESTED.
A/id Ananias hearing these words, fell down, and gave up the ghost. And
great fear came on all them that heard these things. Acts 5 : 5.
ALTHAZAR'S quaffing in the church plate proved a fatal
draught unto him. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram had no
B
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 375
sooner opened their rebellious mouths against Moses, but the
earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up quick. An-
anias and Sapphira had no sooner told a lie, and stood to it,
but the/ are struck dead to the ground. Herod had scarcely
made an end of his oration to the people, and received their
applause, but the angel of the Lord smote him, and made an
end of him. 0, that sinners of all sorts, blasphemous swearers,
bloody murderers, unclean adulterers, and sacrilegious church
robbers, when the devil eggs them on to any impiety or vil-
lainy, would but cast this rub in their way, and say to them-
selves, What if God should take me in the manner, and strike
me in the very act, and cast me into the dungeon of hell, there
to be tormented with the devil and his angels for evermore ?
Do I not provoke him to do it ? Do I not dare him ? hath he
not threatened as much? hath he not done as much? That
which is one man's case, may be any man's case, <fcc. Things
New and Old.
BE TRUE IN PREACHING FUNERAL SERMONS.
And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried
him. Acts 5:6. %
E all know the feeling of mingled surprise and incredu-
lity with which we have listened, at the obsequies of some
friend or neighbor, to eulogiums of the dead that would seem
rather extravagant if pronounced over the ashes of even a Paul
or a Judson. Could such a paragon of all Christian graces, we
have asked ourselves, have walked with us so long, and we
not know it ? For the moment, we have been quite cast down
by our seeming lack of discernment ; but then the recollection
that extravagance of eulogy is the custom in such cases
comes to our aid, and we are comforted. Of course, every
one is aware that the speaker does not really intend to present
a false picture of character, and that the suppression of all
dark shades is due simply to a desire to spare the feelings of
sorrow-stricken relatives ; but inasmuch as a false impression
is thereby actually made, or the listeners are led to doubt the
sincerity, or to question the truth of what is said, wou'd it not
876 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
be the better course either to make no personal allusions at
all, or, if that be out of the question, to be more truthful in
making them ?
We cannot but admire the bluff honesty of the old Scotch
divine who, when asked to preach the funeral sermon of a
young scapegrace of his parish, at first declined, but on being
pressed satisfied at once his conscience and the truth in the
following brief discourse : " Well, Jock is dead ; speak gude
of him I canna; speak ill of him I winna ; but he's gane to his
fathers."
DR. BEECHER ON REVIVALS.
And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men
and women. Acts 5 : 14.
MY brethren, we must have revivals ! It must rain faster,
or we perish with drought ! There is no such thing as a
growing, progressive church without them ; no such thing as
a prosperous country without them. God has never multi-
plied his people, never built up his kingdom rapidly without
them, and never will. This is the thought Ijwould impress
upon those who hear me the indispensable necessity of re-
vivals of religion to perpetuate the church and to convert the
.world.
Revivals are necessary as a kind of substitute for miracles.
God is the author of conversion ; but not in the way of mira-
cles not without referencje to and conformity with the laws
of mind. Miracles can not convert the soul. How many of
those who witnessed the miracles of Christ, do you suppose,
were converted by the prodigies that astounded them ? Mir-
acles had their use, but that use was not the conversion of the
soul. But now their object is accomplished ; the gospel is
authenticated ; the work is under motion. Hear the world
roar as it rushes along ; and see, as civilization advances,
wealth accumulates, luxury abounds, and society rises higher
and higher, how men dislike the humbling doctrines of the
cross ! Religion becomes offensive ; the gospel is odious ; and
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 377
if they go on, they will scout it out of the world with their
sneers and contempt. How are you to make head against all
this accumulating hatred ? By jogging along in the old orthodox
way ? No ; men will go to hell by whole generations if some-
thing be not done. But go into a church filled with these gay,
self- sufficient, contemptuous schemers, when the Spirit of God
is abroad, and the atmosphere of revivals envelops the mass.
Then see how they stir ; what an arrest is put upon the cur-
rent of their worldliness ! The whole town is affected. Con-
viction spreads' from heart to heart, like a fire in a dry forest.
Everybody feels, and you can not tell why. In Litchfield,
during a great revival, I would hear of conversions taking
place simultaneously ten miles apart, without any contact or
intercommunion. The gospel then took hold. It was invested
with a kind of almightiness. It is impossible for the truth to
make such an impression at any other time. We must have
revivals, if the world is ever to be converted. To wait till
the church is filled with the droppings of the sanctuary is to
wait for ever.
STAND UP FOR JESUS.
Saying, Did not we straitly command you, that ye should not teach in this
name? and behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend
to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles an-
swered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. Acts 5 : 28, 29.
THE Emperor Vespasian commanded a certain senator not
to appear at the senate, or if he did come, not to speak
anything the emperor would not approve.
To this the senator bravely replied that, " As he was a sen-
ator, it was fit he should appear at the senate ; and if, being
there, he was required to give his advice, he must speak
freely what his conscience commanded him."
" Then you shall die," said the enraged ruler.
" I have never professed to be immortal," was the reply.
" Do what you will, -and I will do what I ought. It is in
your power to put me to death unjustly, and in my power to
die constantly."
If this heathen, with no gospel sun-ray to lighten the dark
48
378 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
valley, could thus stand firm to his principles in the very face
of death, surely we should not shrink from duty because of a
few straws of opposition in our way. If we would come after
Christ, we must take up our cross and so follow him.
At a certain council of war, it was remarked by a lord
present that the enemy had many pieces of ordnance planted
in a certain place where it would be very dangerous to fight.
" My lords," said the valiant commander, Sir Horace Vere,
" if you fear the mouth of a cannon, you must never come into
the field."
So the Christian must nerve himself for strong opposition
from the great enemy if. he seeks to be useful to his Master.
He can not stand up manfully for Jesus without having many
seek to cast him down, and the worst foe, of all will be found
in his own bosom.
" Thanks be unto God who -giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ."
EXALTED TO GIVE.
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for
to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. Acts 5 : 31.
WHEN the Jewish rulers, who had sworn the life of Jesus
away before the tribunal of the Roman governor, heard
first of his resurrection, they remonstrated with the witnesses,
" Ye intend to bring this man's blood upon us." The resur-
rection of Jesus had no other meaning to them than vengeance.
They reasoned, " If he whom we slew is exalted, woe unto
us!" But to these very men the apostles preached pardon.
They proclaimed that Jesus is exalted for the purpose of
showing mercy to his murderers. He is exalted to give, and
he gives even to them. He gives to all, and upbraideth not.
Now that he is exalted, and his enemies are in his power, in-
stead of taking vengeance, he gives remission of sins.
The water is exalted into the heavens in order that it may
give rain upon the earth it is exalted to give. It is drawn
up as by a resurrection, and arises pure into the heavens,
that it may be in a capacity to send refreshing to the thirsty
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 379
ground. In the same way he who comes as rain on the mown
grass was exalted that he might give that he might give
Himself, as the living water, to his own. Arnot.
HOW MUCH A CHRISTIAN IS WORTH TO THE
CHURCH.
And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Acts 5 : 41.
LET us examine ourselves a little, to see if we are not a
little deceived in ourselves. Do we not think we are brave
because we go with the tide in the hour of prosperity ? Are
we not all the while apologizing for ourselves because we feel
all the heroism pressed out of us in the day of adversity?
Then let every one say to himself, " I am worth to the church
and its Master just what I am willing to do and suffer in its
hour of need and nothing more." Let every man remem-
ber that he who would have a mighty influence for good, who
would have men repose fullest confidence in his Christian in-
tegrity, must keep his heart strong under- all clouds ; who
is unfaltering in his attachment to, and service for, the Re-
deemer and his cause.
Many were ready, in the days when the Saviour appeared in
the flesh, to be his followers, and share his kingdom, when
they dreamed it to be an earthly kingdom, to come in great
pomp and triumph ; but when the cross was revealed, " they
all forsook him and fled." In all ages, the " day of adversity "
has winnowed the church. If a deal of chaff has been blown
away, some wheat has remained, and this has always been the
" seed of the church."
Don't think that you are good and brave because the tides
of prosperity in the church are bearing you along. Find out
how much you are willing to do. More, find out how much
you are willing to bear and suffer ; find out in earnest heart-
searchings in your closets before God, how much you are
doing and suffering for him and his church, and reckon your
strength by this test. For remember, " if thou faint in the
day of adversity, thy strength is small."
380 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
A MINISTER REPROVED BY HIS DREAM.
Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said,
It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
Acts 6 : 2.
was, some years since, a revival of religion in a
JL neighboring town, and a protracted meeting was in prog-
ress. A messenger was sent to request a certain minister,
whom I know, to visit the place, and assist in holding the
protracted meeting in which the brethren were engaged. He
excused himself from going, stating that he had some business
to which he must attend, which would render a compliance
with their wishes exceedingly difficult. This was true, but it
was temporal business to which he alluded ; business which re-
lated to his own personal comfort. However, he invited the
messenger to stay with him, and not depart until the next
morning, and the messenger complied with his request.
That night the minister dreamed that he was in a place of
worship, and was engaged in administering the sacrament of
the Lord's Supper, and that two or three younger brethren
were assisting him. He thought he was distributing the
bread, and it seemed to him that as he proceeded, the bread
became more and more unlike bread, and unsuitable for food,
until it seemed more like chips or slivers of wood than like
bread. When he had got partly through distributing the
bread, he left the altar, around which the people were kneel-
ing, thinking his younger brethren might finish the work.
He found himself in the outskirts of the congregation, busily
engaged in transacting some worldly business. After being
thus engaged for a considerable while, he cast his eyes toward
the altar, and observed the people who had come forward to
receive the sacrament were still on their knees around the
altar, just as he had left them, waiting for their minister to
return ; for all the other preachers had followed his example :
they, too, had left the work, and had gone to attend to their
secular concerns. He felt ashamed that he had set such a
poor example to his younger brethren in the ministry ; and it
especially mortified his feelings that he had left a large and
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 381
solemn assembly so long in waiting, and so many on their
knees, with the sacramental services but half finished. He
immediately hastened back to the altar to finish his work,
and while he was confessing his fault in neglecting them, he
awoke.
I need not say this dream was a powerful reproof to him ;
how could it be otherwise ? In the morning he told the mes-
senger he had concluded to accompany him ; he did so. He
remembered the Macedonian cry, " Come over and help us,"
and he felt the power of the words of the apostle : " It is
not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve
tables."
The above is not a fiction the writer knows it to be a
fact. T. S.
UNDIVIDED ATTENTION TO THE MINISTRY OP THE
WORD.
But \ve will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the
word. Acts 6 : 4.
Holy Ghost gives edge and power to the word. One
JL Sabbath morning, while the Rev. Dr. Bedell, of Philadel-
phia, was preaching, a young man passed by, with a number
of companions as gay and thoughtless as himself. One of
them proposed to go into the church, saying, " Let us go and
hear what this man has to say, that everybody is running
after." The young, man made this awful answer, " No, I would
not go into such a place if Christ himself was preaching."
Some weeks after, he was again passing the church, and be-
ing alone, and having nothing to do, he thought he would go
in without being observed. On opening the door, he was
struck with awe at the solemn silence of the place, though it
was much crowded. Every eye was fixed on the preacher,
who was to begin his discourse. His attention was instantly
caught by the text, " I discerned among the youths a young
man void of understanding." (Prov. 7 : 7.) His conscience
was smitten by the power of truth. He saw that he was the
young man described. A view of his profligate life passed
382 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS'.
before his eyes, and for the first time he trembled under the
feeling of sin. He remained in the church till the preacher
and congregation had passed out ; then slowly returned to his
home. He had early received infidel principles, but the Holy
Spirit who had aroused him in his folly, led him to a constant
attendance on the ministry of Dr. Bedell, who had been the
instrument of awakening his mind. He cast away his beset-
ting sin, and gave himself to a life of virtue and holiness. He
afterward declared openly his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and his desire to devote himself to his service. Arvine's
Cyclopedia.
READY TO DIE.
And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as
it had been the face of an angel. Acts 6 : 15.
A LADY once asked Mr. Wesley, " Supposing that you knew
that you were to die at twelve o'clock to-morrow night,
how would you spend the intervening time ? " " How,
madam?" he replied. "Why, just 'as I intend to spend it
now. I should preach this evening at Gloucester, and again
at five to-morrow morning ; after that I should ride to Tewks-
bury, preach in the afternoon, and meet the societies in the
evening. I should then repair to friend Martin's house, who
expects to entertain me, converse and pray with the family as
usual, retire to my room at ten o'clock, commend myself to
my heavenly Father, lie down to rest, and wake up in glory."
Such a man has his house " set in order." Living to such
a man is not the end of his life, nor is dying the destruction
of his hopes. He lives for eternity, and dies to enter it, and
live for ever with the Lord. " Let me die the death of the
righteous, and let my last end be like his."
GOD WITH HIS PEOPLE.
And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt : but God
was with him. Acts 7 : 9.
CD did not prevent Joseph's sale to the Ishmaelites, and
his bondage in Egypt, but he was with him there, which
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 383
was better. God did not take up the three Hebrews out of
the furnace of fire, but he came down and walked with them
in it. He did not remove Daniel from the den of lions, but he
sent his angel to close the mouths of the beasts. He did not
answer the prayer of Paul, by removing " the thorn in the
flesh," but he gave him superior grace to bear it. He did
not protect the apostles and early Christians from the suffer-
ings of martyrdom, but he sustained them in those sufferings,
and made their death turn to the furtherance of the gospel.
He does not keep us from dying, but will raise us up from
the grave in the resurrection "at the last day." He does
not bring heaven down to earth to make our paradise here,
but he takes us to be with him where he is ; that we may be
" for ever with the Lord." How much better are his ways
than our ways ? We shall be Christ-like when we can say
from the heart, " Thy will be done."
PRESERVATION OF MOSES.
In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up
in his father's house three months. Acts 7 : 20.
JOSEPHUS tells us that the name of the princess who pre-
served Moses was Thermutis. He adds that the child
grew up surpassingly beautiful ; " so charming, that those
who met him in the road would turn back to gaze after him ;
and people working by the wayside would leave what they
were about, to stand and admire him. It is worth while to
note that nothing is said in the Old Testament about the per-
sonal beauty of Moses. Our Bible authorities for this fact
are Stephen (Acts 7 : 20) and Paul (Heb. 11 : 23), with whom
Josephus here accords.
The introduction of the child Moses to Pharaoh is thus re-
lated by the Jewish historian. Thermutis led him to Pharaoh,
her father, and said,
" I have brought a child who is of a heavenly form and of a
generous mind ; and as I have received him in a wonderful
manner from the bounty of the river, I have thought proper to
adopt him for my son, and the heir of thy kingdom."
384 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
On this the king took the child in his arms and caressed
him, putting the royal crown playfully upon Moses' head.
But the little boy seized the diadem, threw it to the ground,
and playfully trampled upon it. This made Pharaoh grave,
as he fancied it to be a bad sign for the kingdom. Others,
standing by, prophesied that the child was born to bring evil
upon Egypt, and advised that he should be put to death. But
Thermutis snatched her favorite away, and Pharaoh, out of
love to his daughter, disregarded the cruel advice ; " God him-
self, whose providence protected Moses, inclining the king to
spare him."
HOW TO READ THE SCRIPTURES.
And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would
have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren ; why do ye wrong
one to another? Acts 7 : 26.
TT7HEN Moses saw an Egyptian and an Israelite striving
VV together, he killed the Egyptian, and saved the Israelite.
(Exod. 2 : 12.) But when he saw two Israelites striving to-
gether, he labored to reconcile them, saying, Ye are brethren,
why do yc strive ? So when we read or see the Apocryphal
books, or heathen story, or popish traditions, contradicting
Scripture as, for instance, Jacob cursed Simeon and Levi
for murdering the Shechemites (Gen. 49:7) and Judith
blessed God for killing of them (Judith 9). Here} and in such
like places, let us kill the Egyptian, but save the Israelite ; set
a value on the Scriptures, but slight the Apocrypha. But
when we meet with any appearance of seeming contradiction
in the canon of Scripture as where it is said, God tempted
Abraham (Gen. 21 : 1) and God tempteth no man (James
1:13) here now, and in many other places, we must be
reconcilers, and distinguish betwixt a temptation of trial which
is from God, and a temptation of seducement, which is by the
devil, and these two seeming different friends will appear to
be brethren, and agree well.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 385
PREACHING THE MAIN THING.
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the
word. Acts 8 : 4.
ITIAKE heed to your preaching. This is, after all, the main
JL thing. If you are no preacher, you are nothing. Let the
pulpit be your throne. Who says that the pulpit has become
effete ? or that it has lost its power? God himself has put the
pulpit on the throne. The preacher is not the lecturer, nor
the philosopher, nor the critic, but the lifter up of the cross of
the Saviour. This is your work. 0, if you fail here, you miss
your way. If there be anything in our ministry which does
not lead to Christ, it is strange doctrine ; God himself will
destroy it ; it is a blemish which disfigures the whole ; it is
but as the meteor of the marsh, which may beguile, but can not
dissipate the darkness. It suggests the idea of darkness in
the blaze of day, like the glare of the city gaslight kindled in
the mockery of noon. Then preach Christ. You ask me how
to preach Christ ? In your own style. If you have the imagi-
nation of the poet, use it ; if you have the eloquence of a
Cicero, use it j if you have a quiet style of your own, then be
yourself. If you have the polish in the grain, bring it out ;
don't let the pine grain sneer at the mahogany grain. Don't
let us have the class of revival and non-revival brethren. Be
lucid as Matthew, if you can ; logical as Paul, poetic as Isaiah,
tender and melting as John the beloved, stern and fiery as
Ezekiel ; only let us feel the power! You need power
power over the conscience. If you -speak to the imagination,
the poet will- beat you ; if you speak to the disputer, you will
be worsted ; but speak to the conscience, and no man can
rival you there. You are a czar of many lands.
Above all, be in earnest. Preach wisely ; aim at the fifth
rib ; let there be no affectation ; not the bursting of a volcano,
but the gentle dawning of the light, that, while it would not
wake the slumbering babe, would fill the world with glory.
Aim at success. God's word promises it : " As I live, saith
the Lord, my word shall not return unto me void." Trust
God. The husbandman patiently waiteth, believeth, for the
precious fruits of the earth j so may you. Expect success.
49
386 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
You have the promise. May God save us from invoking ex-
cuses for want of success, when our barrenness should drive
us to our knees ! Let us dread above all things the curse of an
unfaithful ministry. Preach the gospel. Don't fear because
of the pride of rank or wealth ; don't be afraid of them, lest
you have the guilt of souls on your hands. " Deliver me from
bloodguiltiness, God, thou God of my salvation." He who
labors for God will get souls. that you may invoke the
baptism of the Holy Ghost upon these brethren ! and let the
people say Amen.
RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT JUSTIFIABLE.
And there AVRS great joy in that city. Acts 8:8.
REV. DR. STORES, of Brooklyn, in a recent sermon, met
the objection to excitement in religion, made by those who
hold " that imperturbable coolness is essential to manly nature,
and that appeals to the feelings of men in preaching the gos-
pel are unwise," by the timely and pertinent illustration of the
gold panic. He pictured the scene when sedate men, who had
a hundred thousand dollars to pay in gold that had risen from
thirty to sixty, rushed about the streets " as though they were
shot out of artillery ; " and when an " assembly of decorous,
well-established, successful men resolved itself, as it were, into
a menagerie of struggling, screeching animals," and said, " I
do not quarrel with that ; but don't talk to me of the impro-
priety of excitement on religion, where more is at stake than
in millions of money. Excitement is not only natural and rea-
sonable, but it is necessary, and a lack of it is a discredit to
the gospel, a shame to human nature, and infidelity to God."
DO NOT LEAVE CHRIST OUT.
But when they believed Philip, preaching the tilings concerning the king-
dom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and
women. Acts 8 : 12.
THE people want the everlasting gospel in one form or
another, fully brought out every Sabbath as much, at
least, as would save those hearers who, by the providential
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 387
appointment of God, are never to hear another sermon ere
they pass into eternity. Well does the writer remember hear-
ing a remarkable illustration of these words from the lips of a
faithful servant of God, long since departed. On one Monday
morning he was informed that a man who, the preceding
evening, had listened to his discourse in his usual health, had
suddenly been ushered into eternity. His personal responsi-
bility to preach the gospel to men, as dying men as to those
who, for aught he knew, might be about to appear at the bar
of God at once flashed on his mind. Rising anxiously from
his seat, he proceeded to examine the manuscript of the ser-
mon which the departed soul had last heard, with the intensely
earnest hope that he should find in it as much gospel truth as,
had it been there and then, through the grace of God, under-
stood and believed by the departed hearer, would have saved
his soul. To his inexpressible grief, after the examination
was over, he found the contrary. He saw that the hearers
might have believed every word of that discourse, and re-
mained unsaved. The sermon was scriptural, and well pre-
pared, lacking in nothing save the gospel suited to a dying
man. Penetrated with a sense of his unfaithfulness on that one
occasion (for generally he was distinguished for the constancy,
ardor, and faithfulness with which he preached the glorious
gospel, and for very many seals to his ministry), he burst into
a flood of tears, and, falling down at the mercy^seat, confessed
before God, with much contrition, his dread omission ; and ere
he rose from his knees, he made the solemn vow that, with
divine help, to the day of his death, he would never preach a
sermon without setting forth as much of the glorious gospel as
would, if truly believed, save any unre gene rated soul then
present .who might be about to enter the world of spirits,
SINCERITY NOT A SAVIOUR.
Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter : for thy heart is not right in
the sight of God. Acts 8 : 21.
I
N morals the motive is an effective constituent of every
transaction; and if a man endeavor to form a right judg-
388 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ment, and yet fall into error, will not his sincerity exempt him
from the consequences of his mistake? This supposition is
contrary both to the testimony of the word, and to the analogy
of nature. It sets up willful fancy against uniform fact. A
man contracts and pays for a ship of first-rate material and
workmanship. In due time a vessel is delivered to him of
goodly appearance, but built of unseasoned material, and not
water-tight in the joints. He embarks- with his family and his
goods in the treacherous bottom. When he is out of sight, and
the storm has begun to blow, the truth begins to circulate
from lip to lip among his former neighbors that the ship is not
seaworthy, and the question is anxiously discussed whether
she can accomplish the voyage. If one of them should reason
that because the man did his best, and honestly believed the
ship was good, a just God, overruling ail, would not permit the
innocent to be drowned, while the guilty stood on dry land
safe, the suggestion would be scouted by common consent as
an unsubstantial dream. We all know that the laws of nature
do not turn aside to shield a man from the consequences of
his error, because his intention was good. Every man, also,
may, by a little consideration, come to see that this arrange-
ment is best for the interests of all. Such is the principle
that operates with undeviating uniformity in all the region
which lies within the view of man ; and what ground have we
for believing that order will be exchanged for anarchy in the
government of God, whenever it steps over the boundary of
things seen and temporal ?
PREACHING TO A SINGLE HEARER.
Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and
preached unto him Jesus. Acts 8 : 35.
A CHRISTIAN laborer related the following: "One Sab-
bath evening, while returning from public worship, I
overtook a young man, a stranger to me, and invited him to a
seat in my carriage. After a brief conversation, I introduced
the subject of personal piety, by inquiring if he enjoyed the
consolations of religion. His reply was, that, though the im-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 389
portance of a change of heart had long been impressed on his
mind, he had not become a Christian. I urged him to come to
a speedy decision, to seek God with all his heart, to make a
preparation for heaven the first and great object of life. I
endeavored to direct him to the Saviour as able, willing, and
waiting to save every penitent sinner that would trust in him ;
and urged him to improve all the means of grace, and cease
no effort till he should find peace with God. We parted.
The next morning he left the place to reside in another town.
He followed the advice given, and in a few days was happy
in the forgiveness of sin. A few months subsequent to this
time he called on me, and after informing me of his conversion,
and his delight in the service of Christ, he alluded to our
former conversation. l That/ said he, ' was the first time I
was ever addressed directly on the subject of personal piety,
and but for that inquiry and advice of yours, I might never
have obtained religion.' My heart was filled with gratitude
that God had rendered that interview instrumental in his con-
version. Other reflections also passed through my mind.
How many opportunities of addressing, not only him but
others, had Christians and ministers neglected ! ' I may be
repulsed/ l It will do no good/ say they, while the friend or
the stranger may be desirous of obtaining direction and en-
couragement in seeking salvation. Diligence and improving
providential opportunities, and faithfulness in recommending
religion, will turn many to righteousness, will lead many souls
to heaven."
"I AM JESUS."
And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom
thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Acts 9 : 5.
TMMANUEL presents himself, and tells us he is exactly
J_ suited to us, whatever may be our circumstances or feel-
ings. He says, " I am Jesus." Are you seeking the Lord ?
He is Jesus, the gracious, powerful, tender-hearted, ready and
willing Saviour. Are you tried, troubled, and cast down ?
He is Jesus, the constant, sympathizing, present, wise, and
390 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
unchangeable friend. Are you a returning backslider, filled
with your own ways ? He is Jesus, and he says, " I will re-
ceive you ; I will heal you ; I will restore you ; I will rejoice
over you, as the shepherd over the sheep he had lost." Be-
loved, Jesus is the Lord our God, our all in all ; our God is
Jesus the Saviour, merciful, kind, and tender ; this procla-
mation is cheering to the sinner, and delightful to the saint.
Let us remember, whoever may change, whatever may change,
he is Jesus still ; still touched with the feeling of our infirmi-
ties ; still able and willing to help us ; still full of compassion
and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon him ;
still ready to forgive, waiting to be gracious, full of pity, and
pledged to receive us.
CHRIST THE SOUL-PHYSICIAN.
And Peter said unto him, Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole : arise,
and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. Acts 9 : 34.
THERE are physicians who prescribe for the symptoms only
of their patients, who leave the deep-seated disease un-
touched, and thereby furnish more subjects for the undertaker
than they restore to friends and society. Such medical pre-
tenders are a disgrace to the honorable profession, and should
never enter a sick-room. But there is another class of quack
doctors more hurtful than these, because their blundering
ignorance of spiritual things is more fatal in results. These
are those self-constituted preachers who direct their ministra-
tions to the symptoms of a disease deep-seated in the heart ;
who claim they are doing a good work because they expatiate
on the beauties of morality, while they neglect or repudiate
that change of heart from which only a correct morality can
proceed. Such pretenders are doctoring the symptoms only.
The vices of society are but the development of the " ovil
heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." A head
faith can never cure an unbelieving " evil heart."
The true cure for symptom vices is that described in the
word of God : " I will take the stony heart out of their flesh,
and will give them a heart of flesh : that they may walk in
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 391
my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them." (Ezek.
11 : 19, 20.) This doctrine, when re-stated in the New Testa-
ment, is called " the washing of regeneration and the renew-
ing of the Holy Ghost." (Titus 3:5.)
It is in this way Christ is our soul-physician. How incon-
sistent and blind are many persons 1 They would not call a
quack doctor into their family in case of sickness, but do ac-
cept, as a religious adviser and spiritual guide, a mere quack
in divine knowledge, without a Christian experience, and
whose declamations from the pulpit are as powerless to save
the soul as prescribing to the symptoms is powerless in healing
the patient. Such blindness was foretold by our Lord when
he said, " And this is the condemnation, that light is come
into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, be-
cause their deeds were evil." Christ, as the soul-physician,
makes an entire cure. " And Peter said unto him, Eneas,
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole." (Acts 9 : 34.)
FATHER SEWALL'S GIVING.
And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord?
And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memo-
rial before God. Acts 10 : 4.
THE venerable Father Sewall, of Maine, once entered a
meeting held for the benefit of foreign missions, just as
the collectors, having received the contributions, were re-
suming their seats. The chairman of the meeting requested
Father Sewall to lead in prayer. The old gentleman stood
hesitating, as if he had not heard the request. It was re-
peated in a louder voice, but there was no response. Father
Sewall all this time was diligently feeling about his pockets,
and presently he produced a piece of money, which he depos-
ited in the contribution box. The chairman, thinking he had
not been understood, said loudly,
" I didn't ask you to give, Father Sewall ; I asked you to
pray ! "
" 0, yes," he replied ; " I heard you ; but I can't pray till I
have given something."
392
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
If Father Se wall's principles were universally adopted,
would there be more giving or less praying ? Some people
give prayers without alms, others give alms without prayers ;
but as prayer without effort is as wrong as effort without
prayer, the better way seems to be to put prayer and alms
together, thus praying and giving, giving and praying.
PRAY.
On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city,
Peter went up upon the house-top to pray, about the sixth hour. Acts 10 : 9.
1VTEVER mind what scientific men say against prayer, pray.
JLl Law and order there is ; but the Lord of law and order
prayed, and says pray. He lived and died praying. He
prayed in the garden and on the cross. He prayed early in
the morning, in the evening, and even continued all night in
prayer. Privately, with his disciples, and in public, he prayed.
For his friends and his enemies, he prayed. In duties, ordi-
nances, enterprises, trials, he prayed. What a lovely and forci-
ble example of prayer he has given to men !
As he practised, so he preached. He taught men to pray.
An inimitable form and model is given, and placed upon the
sacred record. He taught that men ought always to pray, and
not to faint.
Pray often. Wait not the compulsory hour of accident, or
danger, or bereavement. In every time of need, pray. At
the commencement of enterprises, during their continuance,
with their ending, pray. Afflicted, surrounded by enemies,
attending ordinances, pray. In every labor, sorrow, and joy,
pray. Live by prayer. Walk as Jesus walked. Pray with-
out ceasing.
Pray boldly. Prayer is placed among the Christian equip-
ments for Christian conflict. Enemies will often quail before
the bold requests of the followers of Christ. Whatever an 1
whoever opposes Christianity, fear not. Boldly go to the
throne of grace with the necessity of the , hour and place.
Make large and distinct and impressive requests. Let the
world of sinners know the greatest blessings for immortals are
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 393
within the power of believing pra} T er. Let God be glorified
among men in the answer of your bold requests.
Pray short. Let words be few. Especially ought this to
be the case in social prayer. Short prayers place something
distinctly before the minds of all who believe. United prayer
is thus secured. Length of prayer is not strength of prayer.
Faith may be weakened by the want of brevity, as the mind
may lean on the work of long praying in expecting an answer.
Do not expect answer of prayer, because of prayer, but only
and solely because of the word of God.
Pray in faith. Believe when ye pray. Believe the divine
promises unhesitatingly, fully. Believe because God says so
and so. It is better ground than your sight, feelings, or
reason. Each of these may deceive you. The word of God
has no such liability. It is truth. Rest on the word of God.
It is the body of true religious faith. Without that word, this
faith cannot subsist.
Pray in Jesus 1 name. The Mediator must be now honored
in prayer. He is clearly revealed. Men may despise him
when they pray. They may cast out his name. But they
ask amiss. They will get no answer from the Infinite Throne.
Their case will receive no gracious attention from the Lord
our God. Let Jesus be the authority for prayer as well as
faith. Let his merits be always before the mind in prayer.
The reconciliation of his death, and the intercessions of his
life, give human prayer its opportunity to prevail.
PREACHING PEACE BY JESUS CHRIST.
The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by
Jesus Christ : (he is Lord of all.) Acts 10 : 36.
[ ISTEN, dear reader ! I have a message for you. Not from
JU your chief magistrate, nor from your general ; but from the
King of kings ; a gracious and tender invitation which comes
to you from God the Father, from his Son Jesus- Christ, arid
from the Holy Spirit, echoed back and urgently enforced by
the pleadings of pious friends, perhaps a Christian mother.
" Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man
50
394
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
his thoughts ; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will
have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. Arid the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let
him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst,
come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely." There can be no mistake ; these words are for you,
if you are a sinner and need a Saviour. God invites ; stay not
therefore to inquire if you feel the need of salvation sufficient-
ly. That feeling is only sufficient when it leads you to come ;
linger not in the vain attempt to find something to give in
exchange for, or to merit, this salvation. The price is already
paid, even the precious blood of Christ. His righteousness
only can avail. Like the seamen in a storm on the coast,
delay not, when a pilot is offered you, to say, Do I feel my
need of him sufficiently ? Can I do something to save my-
self? If you linger, your doom will be sealed. Hasten, then,
to take the Lord Jesus Christ as your Pilot, your Guide, your
All, remembering that this salvation is all of grace the sin-
ner is nothing, and can do nothing. All is done, and Christ
must be all in all !
" Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall ;
If you tarry till you're better,
You will never come at all."
By the author of " He is my Christ"
POWER OF A GOOD MAN'S LIFE.
For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith : and much
people was added unto the Lord. Acts 11 : 24.
" HHHE beauty of a holy man's life," says Chalmers, " consti-
J_ tutes the most eloquent and effective persuasion to re-
ligion, which one human being can address to another. We
have many ways of doing good to our fellow-creatures, but
none so efficacious as leading a virtuous, upright, and well-
ordered life. There is an energy of moral suasion in a good
man's life passing the highest efforts of the orator's genius.
The seen but silent beauty of holiness speaks more eloquently
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 395
of God and duty than the tongues of men and angels. Let
parents remember this. The best inheritance a parent can
bequeath to a child is a virtuous example a legacy of hal-
lowed remembrances and associations. The beauty of holiness
beaming through the life of a loved relative or friend, is more
effectual to strengthen such as do stand in virtue's ways, and
raise up those that are bowed down, than precept, command,
entreaty, or warning. Christianity itself, I believe, owes by
far the greater part of its moral power, not to the precepts or
parables of Christ, but to his own character. The beauty of
that holiness which is enshrined in the four brief biographies
of the man of Nazareth, has done more, and will do more to
regulate the world, and bring in an everlasting righteousness,
than all other agencies put together. It has done more to
spread his religion in the world than all that has ever been
written on the evidences of Christianity."
WILLING TO BEAR HIS PROPORTION.
Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send
relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea. Acts 11 : 29.
A GENTLEMAN of wealth who had been much addicted to
IJL frolic and sports, was converted and became a member
of one of our congregations. This congregation had adopted
the ad valorem principle as a means of defraying its expenses.
In a few months after this gentleman's conversion the deacons
waited on him in order to make their assessment ; and know-
ing that he was rich, and that his proportion of the expenses
would amount to a pretty handsome sum, they feared that he
would not be willing to bear it, and their demand give him
serious offense, and prove an injury to him. Hence they ap-
proached their business with some trepidation and great cau-
tion. At first he was at a loss to ascertain the reasons of their
apparent diffidence. The deacons perceiving this, became, of
course, more explicit. The gentleman was surprised. " What
on earth/' said he, " do you mean ? Do you suppose that I
would be unwilling to pay my full proportion ? When I was
a man of the world, and united with others in the scheme of
396 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
pleasure, I would have deemed myself a mean man had I not
paid the full proportion of the expense. Go to the assessor's
book, and put me down for my full proportion of the expenses
of the church. Do you think that I intend to be a meaner
man now, since I have become a servant of God, than I was
when a servant of the devil ? "
MINISTERING ANGELS.
And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in
the prison ; and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise
up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. Acts 12 : 7.
THE doctrine of the ministry of angels is clearly taught in
the Scripture of Truth, and especially in the Revelation ;
nevertheless, little attention is paid to that doctrine by many
professing Christians. Angels appeared to patriarchs, to
Moses, to the prophets, to our Lord, and to his apostles.
Sometimes, though ministering, they were invisible, as when
the prophet saw encompassing him " chariots and horses of
fire." At other times they came in disguise, as unto Abra-
ham, and Lot, and Israel. At other periods they appeared in
their proper persons, as at the tomb of Jesus ; for then their
countenances were as the lightning, and their garments white
as snow. Thus, too, it was with Lazarus, when they carried
him from earth to Abraham's bosom.
At the end of the world angels will come with Christ (Matt.
25 : 31) to gather mankind to judgment (Matt. 13 : 41) at the
revelation of Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:7). Angels proclaimed
his birth; they also will attend his second appearing. Jones.
PROVIDENTIALLY DELIVERED.
But he beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared
unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. Acts 12 : 17.
IN a village near Warsaw there once lived a pious peasant
of German extraction, by name Dobry. Without any fault
of his own, he had fallen into arrears with his rent, and the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 397
landlord determined to turn him out ; and it was winter. He
went to him three times, and besought him in vain. It was
evening, and the next day he was to be turned out with all
his family ; when, as they sat there in their sorrow, Dobry
kneeled down in their midst, and sang,
" Commit thou all thy griefs
And ways into His hands."
And as they came to the last verse
" When Thou wouldst all our need supply,
Who then shall stay Thy hand ? "
there was a knock at the window. It was an old friend a
raven that Dobry's grandfather had taken out of the nest, and
tamed, and then set at liberty. Dobry opened the window ;
the raven hopped in, and in his bill was a ring set with pre-
cious stones. Dobry thought he would sell the ring ; but he
thought again that he would take and show it to his minister ;
and he, who saw at once by the crest that it belonged to King
Stanislaus, took it to him, and related the story. The king
sent for Dobry, and rewarded him so that he was no more in
need, and the next year built him a new house, and gave him
cattle from his own herd ; and over the house-door there is an
iron tablet whereon is carved a raven with a ring in his beak,
and, underneath, this verse :
" Thou everywhere hast sway,
And all things serve Thy might ;
Thy every act pure blessing Js
Thy path unsullied light."
STRIKING RETRIBUTION.
And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because lie g.ive not
God the glory : and he was eaten of M r orms, and gave up the ghost.
Acts 12 : 23.
WHEN the darkest of its many dark tragedies was en-
acted the St. Bartholomew massacre Knox was still
alive. " Being conveyed to the pulpit," says McCrie, " and
summoning up the remainder of his strength, he thundered the
vengeance of heaven against t that cruel murderer and false
398
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
traitor, the King of France/ and desired Le Croc, the French
ambassador, to tell his master, that sentence was pronounced
against him in Scotland, that the divine vengeance would
never depart from him, nor from his house, if repentance did
not ensue ; but his name would remain an execration to pos-
terity, and none proceeding from his loins should enjoy his
kingdom in peace. " Have the kings of France since that day
reigned in peace, or descended from the throne in years and
honors ? Charles IX., by whom the dreadful tragedy was en-
acted, died soon after in awful horrors, the blood flowing from
every pore in his body. Henry III., his successor, fell by the
hand of an assassin. Henry IY., after a reign of twenty years
distracted by civil wars, died by the dagger of Ravaillac.
His successor, Louis XIII., after a reign of thirty-three years,
spent mostly in warring with his subjects, died on his bed.
Of Louis XIY. it is impossible to say whether the opening of
his career was the more brilliant, or its close the more dis-
astrous and unhappy. The reign of Louis XV. was marked
by private profligacy, public profusion, increasing financial
embarrassment, and growing discontent. The king expired
of a mortal distemper caught in the pursuit of his pleasures.
In the next reign the revolution appeared upon the scene, and
Louis XVI. perished on the scaffold. The troubled lives and
dishonored ends of the French kings since that period are too
well known to require that we should dwell upon them. And
now the death of Louis Philippe adds another to the list of dis-
crowned heads which have gone down in exile into the tomb.
DOING THE DEVIL'S WORK.
But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his nanu 1 l>y interpretation) withstood
them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Acts IS : 8.
chief thing the devil does in this world, is to tempt
JL people to do wrong. Awful as it is to say this of any d'
God's creatures, he lives only to sin himself mid to make
others sin. Is it not an awful thing, my young friends ? Yet
there are people in this world who, though not as bad as the
devil, are very much like him, and take pleasure in doing his
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 399
work for him. Who are they ? Who does the devil's work
for him ? Every person, every boy, and every girl who tempts
any one to do wrong ; every such person is doing the devil's
work. And of all awful things in the world, is not this among
the most awful ? There is nothing that makes one so like the
devil as tempting people to sin.
Now, has no one who reads this sometimes done this very
thing ? A boy wants to stay from Sunday school, and tries to
prevail upon some other to do the same. By so doing he
tempts him, and thus does the devil's work. A little girl dis-
obeys her mother, and then asks her sister not to tell their
mother, when she inquires who did it. And this little girl
does the devil's work by tempting her sister to tell a lie. Yes,
every boy or girl is doing the devil's work who tries to make
any one do what that person knows to be wrong. The sin of
tempting others makes one like the devil. 0, never do this.
Never ask any one, or try to prevail upon any one, to do wrong.
It is hateful to God.
JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION.
And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye
could not be justified by the law of Moses. Acts 13 : 39.
JUSTIFICATION regards something done for us; sancti-
fj fication something done in us. The one is a change in
our state, the other in our nature. The one is perfect, the
other gradual. The one is derived from the obedience of the
Saviour, the other from his spirit. The one gives us a title to
heaven, the other a meetness for it. Suppose you had a son
you forbade him to enter a place of contagion on pain of
losing all you could leave him. He goes, and is seized with
the infection. He is guilty, for he has transgressed your com-
mand, but he is also diseased. Do you not perceive that your
forgiving him does not heal him? He wants not only the
father's pardon, but the physician's aid. In vain is lie freed
from the forfeiture of his estate, if he be left under the force
of the disorder. Rev. W. Jay.
400
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
DESPISING AND RIDICULING RELIGION.
Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish : for I work a work in your
days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto
you. Acts 13 : 41.
NEVER laugh at religion. Never make a jest of sacred
things. Never mock those who are serious and in ear-
nest about their souls. The time may come when you will
count those happy whom you laughed at ; a time when your
laughter will be turned into sorrow, and your mockery into
heaviness. Whatever you please to laugh at, don't laugh at
religion.
Contempt of holy things is the high road to infidelity. Once
let a man begin to make a jest and joke of any part of Chris-
tianity, and I am never surprised to hear that he has turned
out a downright unbeliever.
Have you really made up your mind to this ? Have you
fairly looked into the gulf which is before you if you persist
in despising religion ? Call to mind the words of David :
" The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." (Ps. 14 : 1.)
The fool, and none but the fool ! He has said it, but he has
never proved it ! Remember, if ever there was a book which
has been proved true from beginning to end, by every kind of
evidence, that book is the Bible. It has defied the attacks of
all enemies and fault-finders. " The word of the Lord is in-
deed tried." (Ps. 18 : 30.) It has been tried in every way,
and the more evidently has it been shown to be the very
handiwork of God himself.
Matthew Henry tells a story of a great statesman in Queen
Elizabeth's time, who retired from public life in his latter days,
and gave himself up to serious thought. His former gay
companions came to visit him, and told him he was becoming
melancholy. " No," he replied, " I am serious ; for all are
serious around about me. God is serious in observing us,
Christ is serious in interceding for us, the Spirit is serious in
striving with us, the truths of God are serious, our spiritual
enemies are serious in their endeavors to ruin us, and why
them should not you and I be serious too." Don't laugh at
religion. Rev. J. C. Ryle.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. . 401
REPEATING SERMONS.
And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought
that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Acts 13 : 42.
A VERY senseless prejudice exists in many minds against
11. the repetition of sermons. The feeling is peculiarly prev-
alent in the West. In the East, the repetition is much more
common. The Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, writing from Sara-
toga, uses the following language with respect to this matter :
" A poor, juiceless sermon ought never to be preached the
first time ; but a nutritious, savory discourse may be made all
the better on a second delivery. Dr. Addison Alexander
preached his glorious sermon on the ' Faithful Saying ' until
he wore out the manuscript ; and Dr. Griffin repeated his
elaborate discourse on the ' Worth of the Soul ' ninety times !
He never wearied of it nor did his audience either. As
congregations change constantly, and memories are leaky, a
first-rate practical sermon ought to be repeated (with extem-
pore improvements) about once in five years. Fewer sermons
and richer should be a settled pastor's aim. Whitefield at-
tained great finish and power by giving the same discourses
over and over again through all his missionary tours.-"
PROGRESS OF MISSIONS.
For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light
of the Gentiles, and thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the
earth. Acts 13 : 47.
SOME years ago a secretary of the Home Missionary Society,
who has since gone to his rest, said to me, " When I think
that for every blow which the church strikes in behalf of mis-
sions, God strikes ten, it overwhelms me." And well it may
overwhelm us all, when we look at the history of missions.
Go back, for instance, thirty years, and see what changes God
has wrought in this work. Thirty years ago the missionaries
who had gone to China were sitting down under the shadow
of those high walls, patiently, hopefully, trustfully waiting for
51
402
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
the first practical breach. Thirty years ago the empire of
Japan was sealed utterly against the Christian world, with the
exception of a few Dutch traders at Nangasaki. Thirty
years ago Hindostan was held by the East India Company
that great corporation that was so blind to its true mission
even to the end. But He that is glorious in his apparel, trav-
eling in the greatness of his strength, has gone forth, and now
Asia, from the Mediterranean to the utmost borders of Niphon,
is trembling under his footsteps. Bev. S. B. Treat.
BOLDLY CONFESSING CHRIST.
Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which "gave
testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be
done by their hands. Acts 14 : 3.
ONE of Frederick the Great's best generals was Hans
Joachim von Zieten. He was never ashamed of his
faith. Once he declined an invitation to come to his royal
master's table, because on that day he wished to present
himself at the table of his Lord and Master Jesus Christ. It
was sacrament day. The next time he appeared at the palace ,
the king,* whose infidel tendencies were well known, made use
of some profane expressions about the holy communion of the
Lord's Supper ; and the other guests laughed at the remarks
made on the occasion. Zieten shook his gray head solemnly,
stood up, saluted the king, and then said with a firm voice,
" Your majesty knows well that in war I have never feared
any danger, and everywhere have boldly risked my life for you
and my country. But there is One above us who is greater
than you or me, greater than all men : he is the Saviour
and Redeemer, who has died also for your majesty, and has
dearly bought us all with his own blood. This Holy One I
can never allow to be mocked or insulted; for on him ivpose
my faith, my comfort, and my hope in life and death. In the
power of this faith, your brave army has courageously fought
and conquered. If your majesty undermines this faith, you
undermine, at the same time, the welfare of the state. I salute
your majesty." This open confession of his Saviour by Zioten
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 403
made a powerful impression on the king. He felt he had been
wrong in his attack on the faith of his general, and he was not
ashamed to acknowledge it. He gave his hand to Zieten, his
right hand, placing the left on the old man's shoulder, and said
with emotion, " happy Zieten ! how I wish I could also believe
it ! I have the greatest respect for you. This shall never
happen again.' 7 The king then rose from the table, dismissed
his other guests, but said to Zieten, " Come with me into my
cabinet." What passed in that conference, with closed doors,
between the great king and his greater general, no one has
ever learned ; but this we know, that the Lord's own words are
now verified to Zieten : " Whosoever shall confess me before
men, him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven."
British Workman.
GLORYING IN TRIBULATION.
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in
the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom
of God. Acts H : 22.
C\ UY DE BREZ, a French minister, was prisoner in the
VJ Castle of Tournay, in Belgium. A lady who visited him said
she " wondered how he could eat, or drink, or sleep in quiet."
" Madam," said he, " my chains do not terrify me, or break
my sleep ; on the contrary, I glory and take delight therein,
esteeming them at a higher rate than chains and rings of gold,
or jewels of any price whatever. The rattling of my chains
is like the effect of an instrument of music in my ears ; not
that such an effect comes merely from my chains, but it is
because I am bound therewith for maintaining the truth of
the gospel."
SAVED THROUGH GRACE.
But we believe, that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall
be saved, even as they. Acts 15 : 11.
WHEN M. Monod and I attended the University of Geneva,
there was a professor of divinity who confined himself
to lecturing on the immortality of the soul, the existence of
God, and similar topics. As to the Trinity, he did not believe
404 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
/t
it. Instead of the Bible, he gave us quotations from Seneca
and Plato. St. Seneca and St. Plato were the two saints
whose writings he held up to admiration. But the Lord sent
one of his servants to Geneva : and I well remember the visit
of Robert Haldane. I heard of him first as an English or
Scotch gentleman who spoke much about the Bible, which
seemed a very strange thing to me and the other students, to
whom it was a shut book. I afterward met Mr. Haldane at
a private house, along with some other friends, and heard him
read from an English Bible a chapter from Romans, about the
natural corruption of man, a doctrine of which I had never
heard before ; in fact, I was quite astonished to hear of men
being corrupt by nature. I remember saying to Mr. Haldane,
" Now I see that doctrine in the Bible." " Yes," he replie'd ;
" but do you see it in your heart ? " That was a simple ques-
tion ; but it came home to my conscience. It was the sword
of the Spirit ; and from that time I saw that my heart was
corrupt, and knew from the word of God that I could be saved
by grace alone. Dr. Merle D'Aubigne.
OMNISCIENCE OP GOD.
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
Acts 15 : 18.
all-seeing and the all-knowing of God are truths over-
J_ whelming to man. Is this universe an unsurveyed and sol-
itary waste ? Do you fancy there is no presence to cheer it,
nor eye to look upon it for ever ? There is an eye whose
vision is spread all over this amazing scene. There is a mind
present unto it in all its illimitable extent. The Eternal One,
at the same moment, converses with its immeasurably remote
extremes. There is a mind to whose intelligence all this
amazing vast of worlds on worlds, and suns on suns, and sys-
tems on systems, is distinctly apparent. Every atom in this
magnificent immensity, whether sinking in its depths or Aspir-
ing in its heights, whether resting on its axis, or whirling on
its verge, is watched by the intense and eternal scrutiny of
the omnipresent and omniscient God. Bishop Hamliue.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 405
KEY. WILBUR FISK, D. D.
Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send
chosen men of their own company to Antioch, with Paul and Barnabas ; name-
ly, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren.
Acts 15 22.
T)ERHAPS no individual, of any denomination, had acquired
J[ throughout New England so universally the esteem and
confidence of all classes as did Dr. Fisk. We recollect an
instance in which the influence of his name was strikingly
exhibited. It occurred during a trip from Middletown to
New York, a short time before the General Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church of 1832. The doctor was on
his way to the conference. The number of passengers was
greater than usual, and they all had assembled in the cabin
for the purpose of having their berths assigned them for the
night. Immediately after this business had been attended to,
the clerk of the boat announced that Dr. Fisk would perform
religious services before the company retired to rest, and re-
quested those who were not favorable to it to withdraw to the
forward cal}in. One individual, apparently a military officer,
availed himself of this privilege. The doctor rose near the
stairway, and after making a few remarks, intended to pro-
duce a feeling of dependence upon God, especially under the
circumstances by which we were then surrounded, he gave
out an appropriate hymn, in singing which a number of the
passengers united. When he bowed to address the throne
of grace, we paused a moment to look over the solemn and
unaccustomed scene before us. It is usual, as is well known,
in miscellaneous assemblies, for all to stand during prayer, but
in this instance it was otherwise ; with scarcely an exception
every one of the passengers had bent themselves before the
Lord, thus evincing not only a proper veneration for religion,
but their high respect for the individual who was leading the
devotions. Those who knew the doctor need not be told what
was the effect of these services, for no man possessed the
faculty of improving such occasions to better advantage. We
retired to rest that night with more devotional feelings than
we ever experienced on board of a steamboat, and it will
be long befor.e the impression produced by this circumstance
will be effaced.
406 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ESTABLISHED IN FAITH.
And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number
daily. Acts 16 : 5.
IF a man pray as he should, it is " the prayer of faith." If a
man obey as he should, it is " the obedience of faith." If
a man war in the church militant, it is " the fight of faith."
If a man live as a Christian and holy man, he " liveth by faith."
Nay, shall I yet say more ; if he die as he ought, he " dieth by
faith." " These all die in faith." What is that ? The power
of faith that directed and ordered them in the cause of their
death, furnished them with grounds and principles of assur-
ance of the love of God, made them carry themselves patiently
in death. I can say no more, but with the apostle, " Examine
yourselves whether you be in the faith." Why does not the
apostle say, Examine whether faith be in you ; but " whether
you be in faith " ? His meaning is, that as a man is said to
be in drink, or to be in love, or to be in passion, that is, under
the command of drink, or love, or passion ; so the whole man
must be under the command of faith. If he pray, faith must
indite his prayer ; if he obey, faith must work ; if he live, it is
faith that must quicken him ; and if he die, it is faith that
must order him in death. And wheresoever faith is, it will
.do wonders in the soul of that man where it is ; it can not be
idle ; it will have footsteps ; it sets the whole man on work ; it
moves feet, hands, eyes, and all parts of the body. Mark how
the apostle disputeth : " We, having the same spirit of faith, ac-
cording as it is written : I believe, therefore have I spoken ;
we also believe, and therefore speak." The faith of the apos-
tle, which he had in his heart, set his tongue agoing. If a
man have faith within, it will break forth at his mouth. Thos.
Hooker.
SUCCESSFULLY PREACHING CHRIST.
These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the
way of salvation. Acts 16 : 17.
R. COLLINS' preaching was often attended by divine
unction almost resistless. Crowded congregations bowed
M
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 407
beneath its influence as trees in a wood before a mighty wind.
While preaching at Northianl, from Isaiah 43 : 25, 26, feeling
grew until the people instinctively rose from their seats.
During the final appeal preaching merged into praying, all
seemed carried to the throne, the chapel resounded with loud
amens and shouts of glory, glory. Many were saved, and be-
lieving souls were filled with glory and with God.
Success was not limited to trophies won at the altar for
penitents. A certain baker, whose wife was pious, finding
the chapel lit up late one evening, walked in. The flour-
covered garb of his trade made the man very conspicuous as
he stood curiously and undevotionally gazing in wonder at the
scene. " Lord, have mercy on that baker/ 7 cried Mr. Collins.
The man started like a frightened deer, but the arrow was in
him. u Lord, have mercy on that baker," kept ringing in his
ears until he made the prayer his own. It was answered then,
and a few weeks after, happy in God, he joined the society
from whose sanctuary in such scared confusion he had fled.
D. Nash.
BIBLE DEMONOLOGY.
But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in
the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same
hour. Acts 1G : 18.
DR. WHEDON, in his excellent Commentary on the Gospels,
makes the following exposition on the subject of the New
Testament demons. In his notes on Mark 5 : 2, Dr. Whedon
s.\ys,
u First. The whole system of Bible demonology presupposes
an arch-enemy of God and man, finite, yet powerful, an arch-
angel of evil, who is the mightiest finite representative of
wickedness revealed to us in the universe. (See note on Matt.
4:1.) He makes his appearance in Eden under the base guise
of a serpent, and procures the fall of man. As Belial, he is
known in Old Testament history, and perhaps as Azazel. He
is Satan, in the book of Job. He is Satan, Beelzebub, and
prince of devils, in the New Testament.
"Second. Out of the range of the Scripture lands, the powers
408 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
of evil widely and powerfully ruled. Yet it may have been
under other names, and wearing other guises. The same
world of invisible evil powers in its great outlines is dimly
disclosed ; but the demoniac agencies appear in different
specific modes and styles, as the customs and institutes of
men admitted them. There were the oracles, revealing ap-
parently more or less of hidden truth, and with their devotees
more or less inspired and frenzied. And it is by this very
oracular inspiration that the girl, in Acts 16 : 16, was said to
be filled, namely, by the spirit of Pythan, which was the name
of the god of the oracles. And this maiden exhibited the
same peculiar phenomena as those demoniac, in showing a
supernatural knowledge of the true character of the apostles,
proclaiming them to be the servants of the Most High, while
she herself only professed to belong to a far inferior. opposing
power.
" It is a striking fact (which we shall again notice) that the
Father of the Christian church boasted that the oracles be-
came dumb after the coming of Christ. This brings us also
to another striking conclusion of the church, namely, that the
demons of the New Testament the devils of Scripture
lurked under the guise of much of the mythology of heathen-
dom. And in that view of the case, we are at no loss to find
an abundance of phenomena, in pagan antiquity, analogous to
the possessions in the New Testament." W. Jones.
READING PRAYERS UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison,
and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas
prayed, and sang praises unto God : and the prisoners heard them.
Acts 16 : 24, 25.
THE following witty anecdote is related of Rev. Dr. Calvin
Chapin, formerly a Congregationalist preacher in Albany,
N. Y.:
" Many years ago, before Albany was linked to .Boston by
iron bands, a meeting of the American Board of Commission-
ers for Foreign Missions was held at Albany, and Dr. Chapin,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 409
with a number of other clergymen from this region, attended,
performing the journey by stage. At the close of the meet-
ing they returned by the same conveyance. The stage started
at four o'clock in the morning, which at that season of the
year was before daylight, Al* the passengers in the stage
but one were Congregational clergymen ; that one was a young
Episcopal minister. At first starting, the passengers were all
silent, till after some time our young Episcopal friend, with
somewhat more of courage than of discretion, proceeded to de-
liver himself substantially as follows :
" ' I have been examining those portions of the Scriptures,
lately, in which prayer is spoken of, and have satisfied myself
that prayer is never spoken of in the Bible where the circum-
stances do not render it probable yea, I may say certain
that the prayer must have been read.'
" To this somewhat startling proposition, no one made any
reply ; but our young friend, nothing daunted, went on :
" i I will defy any gentleman present to bring forward an in-
stance where this was not the case.'
" There was again a short silence, which was broken by Dr.
Chapin, who said in his blandest and most deferential tones,
" 1 1 do not mean to deny your position, sir ; but there is a
question I should like to ask, if you will be so kind as to an-
swer it.'
" l 0, ask as many questions as you please I will answer
them,' said the young man.
" ' The question I wished to ask, was,' said Dr. Chapin, very
deliberately too, ' who it was held the candle for Jonah when
he read prayers in the whale's belly ? '
" It is said that the juvenile divine maintained a dignified
silence during the rest of that journey."
DR, NETTLETON'S REPLY TO A CAVILER.
Then ho called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell
down before Paul and Silas ; and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must
I do to be saved? Acts 16 : 29, 30.
A CAVILER once asked Dr. Nettleton, " How came I by my
1JL wicked heart ? " " That," he replied, " is a question
52
410 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
which does not concern you so much as another, namely,
How you shall get rid of it. You have a wicked heart, which
renders you entirely unfit for the kingdom of God ; and you
must have a new heart, or you can not be saved ; and the
question which now most deeply concerns you is, How shall
you obtain it ? " " But," says the man, " I wish you to tell me
how I came by my wicked heart." " I shall not/' replied Dr.
Nettleton, " do that at present ; for if I could do it to your
entire satisfaction, it would not in the least help you toward
obtaining a new heart. The great thing for which I am
solicitous is, that you should become a new creature, and be
prepared for heaven." As the man manifested no disposition
to hear any thing on that subject, but still pressed the ques-
tion how he came by his wicked heart, Dr. Nettleton told him
that his condition resembled that of a man who is drowning,
while his friends are attempting to save his life. As he rises
to the surface of the water, he exclaims, " How came I here?"
" That question," says one of his friends, " does not concern
you now. Take hold of this rope." " But how came I here?"
he asks again. " I shall not stop to answer that question now,"
replies his friend. "Then I'll drown," says the infatuated man;
and spurning all proffered aid, sinks to the bottom.
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE EVERYWHERE.
And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them,
and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. Acts 16 : 34.
prominent features of religious experience are the same
JL among all Christian people in every quarter of the globe.
There are certain marks of genuine conversion, which, wherever
appearing, carry with them irresistible evidence that the per-
son has indeed become the workmanship of the Holy Spirit.
In South Africa I have met with many who know by happy
experience the saving power of godliness; who exemplify its
principles by their general walk and conversation, and in
wliom we are compelled to glorify God. They prove them-
selves to be true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. I
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 411
remember one young man, connected with the society in Fort
Beaufort, a Fingoe, whose modest spirit, sincere piety, and
consistent deportment won my ardent affection. He was a
local preacher, and evidently lived in the enjoyment of God's
saving grace. This young man 'informed me, that when he
was awakened to a sense of his condition as a sinner, he left
his home, and wandered to the distant mountains in search of
solitude for prayer. There he continued two days and a
night, engaged in religious meditation and fervent pleading
with God for pardon, determined not to rest until God had
removed from his conscience the burden of guilt. Nor was
he disappointed. His prayer was heard, his guilt canceled,
his soul brought into glorious liberty ; and he returned from
the mountains rejoicing in God his Saviour. This is the
course frequently pursued by the people in such circum-
stances. The majority of those whose testimony to the enjoy-
ment of the divine favor I have heard, appear to have found
the- blessing in the mountain or the bush.
WITNESSES FOR THE BIBLE.
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days
reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. Acts 17 : 2.
THE Rev. Professor Leonard Woods said, " When I com-
menced my duties of professor of theology, I feared that
the frequency with which I should have to pass over the same
portions of Scripture would abate the interest in my own mind
in reading them ; but, after more than fifty years of study, it
is my experience that with every class my interest increases."
Daniel Webster said, " From the time that, at my mother's
feet, or on my father's knee, I first learned to lisp verses from
the Sacred Writings, they have been my daily study and
vigilant contemplation. If there be anything in my style or
thoughts to be commended, the credit is due to my kind par-
ents in instilling into my mind an early love of the Scrip-
tures/'
Fisher Ames said, " I will hazard the assertion that no man
412 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ever did or ever will become truly eloquent without being a
constant reader of the Bible, and an admirer of the purity and
sublimity of its language."
The great Milton said, " There are no songs comparable to
the songs of Zion, no orations equal to those of the prophets,
and no polities like those which the Scriptures teach."
Even the brilliant infidel Rousseau said, " I must confess to
you that the majesty of the Scriptures astonishes me ; the
holiness of the evangelists speaks to my heart, and has such
strong and striking characters of truth, and is, moreover, so
perfectly inimitable, that if it had been the invention of men,
the inventors would be greater than the greatest heroes."
GOD'S WAY TO A WICKED HEART.
God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of
heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Acts 17 : 24.
" INHERE was an infidel in England," said a speaker in the
JL Fulton Street prayer meeting, " who had a very pious
wife, and also a little girl about twelve years old, who was a
great pet with her father, and of whom he was very fond. He
would never allow her to be taught to read, for fear she might
be led to read the Bible, for he hated the Bible with a bitter
hatred. He would not allow the name of Christ to be spoken
in his presence. He would not allow his wife to speak to him
on the subject of religion. This poor, anxious woman often
studied how she could reach the heart of her wretched hus-
band. She had a pious friend with whom her husband was
intimate. So she resolved to invite him to come and talk with
her husband about the salvation of his soul. She did so ;
and the conversation made no impression upon him. He was
very angry with. his wife. He declared he would have no
more of this ; and to make the matter certain, he took a piece
of board and wrote on it, in large letters, with chalk, ' God is
nowhere/ and nailed the board to the foot of the bed, so that
all could see it who entered the room. He said he was not
going to have his sentiments mistaken ; all should know that
lie disbelieved in a God."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 413
" He was taken very sick, and even his little daughter could
not see him he was so ill. Meantime his daughter began to
learn to read, and improved rapidly. One day, when the
father had got better from his long sickness, he had his little
daughter called into the room.
" i What have you been doing/ said he, l since I have been
sick ?
11 ' I have been learning to read, father,' she answered.
a i "Well, then, read what is written on the board.' The
child could only read by spelling out the words. So she be-
gan : l God is now here ' reading wrong one word. But
that misreading was the means of the father's conversion.' 7
LIFE PROM GOD ALONE.
Neither is worshiped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, see-
ing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things. Acts 17 : 25.
IN {he course of his address at the opening of the Belfast
Methodist College, the Rev. W. Arthur, president, said,
u No man knew the sublime teaching but the man who felt
faith in the active intervention of God for the regeneration of
human beings. Every visitor to Rome had stood before that
wonderful horse 011 the Capitoline Hill, and almost fancied that
he saw Michael Angelo standing before it, and staring at it till
it had impressed itself upon his soul, and then saying, 'Animal,
march, march ! ' This was not the utterance of hope, but of
despair. It was his aspiration striking against the cage that
held in his ambition. With what faith would that man have
gone to work if there was a possibility that at some point of
his progress, on the touch of his chisel, a fire from the unseen
world would enter, and his work would begin to live ! Now,
that was the position of the Christian teacher. He was work-
ing upon an immortal being, working upon the image of God
with an instrument pointed by God, and moment by moment
expecting that God himself would appear in the midst of the
work, and send through it the unseen fire that would light up
within that soul the principles of eternal life."
414 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS
."MADE OF ONE BLOOD."
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face
of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds
of their habitation. Acts 17 : 26.
THERE is a common life- stream flowing through the veins
of all men, of whatever tribe or nation, which, notwithstand-
ing its accidental modifications caused by influence of climate,
food, health, and habits, is yet everywhere characteristically
the same, and can be recognized as such.
This life-stream of the human race is characteristically dif-
ferent from all other life-streams found in all other creatures,
in other words, the blood of beasts, birds, or fishes, or any
other creeping thing, and can be clearly distinguished there-
from.
Science has actually established our interpretation of the
Pauline statement as the true one ! The light breaks at last
upon our path ! The achievements of scientific naturalists
furnish to our hand the materials for a true interpretation, and
bring vividly to mind the pertinent and far-reaching remark
of Bishop Butler, that " Events as they come to pass will
open the fuller sense of Scripture." The microscope ac-
complishes to-day a splendid work in behalf of the living-
oracles of God. It interprets to-day a part of the oration of
Paul. It has superseded the tedious and circuitous method
of chemical analysis, relied upon for the last twenty years,
but with so much misgiving and dissatisfaction. The motit
that could be accomplished by this means, was simply the
detection of the presence of coloring matter in the blood,
without any evidence whatever whether the blood was that
of a man, a beast, or a bird. But the microscope has done
more. It has done for the blood just what the telescope has
done for the nebulous stream in the heavens. It has resolved
the mazy mass into separate globes, an<l determined the vari-
ety, character, and size of each. First came the discovery
that the blood of every animal is composed of an infinite
number of minute, red globules, floating in a colorless fluid.
Next, in the mammal class, these globules were uniformly
circular, and somewhat flat ; in thickness equal to one fourth
NEIV TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 415
the diameter. Next, that in birds, fishes, and reptiles, these
globules are oval in form ; and last of all, that " every kind of
animal has its blood-globules, differing in size from those of
every other kind."
WHERE IS THE REDEEMER?
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and
find him, though he be not far from every one of us. Acts 17 : 27.
SUCH is the ruling view of the natural heart regarding the
soul's necessities, and such is the habit of mankind touch-
ing the great matters of death and eternity, that one who
seeks salvation with the earnestness due to the subject is
sure to be called " beside himself.'' This is no new thing.
The exhorters on the day of Pentecost, and Paul before Festus,
suffered the same charge.
A touching story is told of a poor negro on the coast of
Africa, who became distressed about his soul. One day an
English sailor, who chanced to hear his lamentations, told him,
in a careless manner, that he must go to England, and there he
would hear of the Christian's God who paid the debt. The
soul-burdened negro resolved to follow this advice. After
going a long distance to find a ship, he obtained leave to work
his passage to England. On board the ship, and in the
streets of London, he inquired in vain for the object of his
search. The poor negro, asking " for the Christian's God dat
pay de debt," was ridiculed as a fool, or pitied as a lunatic.
One day, when he was lamenting to himself his want of suc-
cess, a gentleman overheard him, and stopping to speak to
him, told him if he would go to a certain place that evening,
he would hear about the Christian's God. He went, and
found that the gentleman who had spoken to him was himself
the preacher. There he heard of the debt of sin ; how Jesus
had paid that debt, and, having paid it, invites poor, helpless
sinners to come to him and find peace and rest. Before the
sermon was finished, the poor negro started up in his seat,
with clasped hands, and tears streaming down his sable cheeks,
and those near him could hear him whisper, " Me have found
him ! Me have found him! the Christian's God dat pay de
debt !
416 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE FUTURE JUDGMENT.
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained : whereof he hath given as-
surance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Acts 17:31.
GOD hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world
in righteousness. All will then give account to God.
And what an account ! Every work, with every secret thing,
whether good or evil, will be brought forth, and the decision
of the only wise God will find a response in every mind.
What interests are involved in the issues of the judgment !
The decision is irreversible ; from it there is no appeal.
Here is a powerful motive to deter from all evil and to
incline to all holiness. The certainty of the day of final
reckoning is appalling to the oppressor ; the licentious tremble
in view of it ; the proud, the covetous, the lovers of pleasure
more than lovers of God dread to contemplate it, for it will be
a revelation of the wrath of God to them because of ungodli-
ness. Only through repentance toward God and faith toward
our Lord Jesus Christ can that wrath be turned away. To
the faithful believer in Christ the judgment conveys no alarm ;
he is accepted of God through his Saviour, and is an heir of
eternal life. At the tribunal of heaven he will be publicly
recognized as a child of God, and enter on his everlasting in-
heritance. If we are holy, if " our love is made perfect," we
shall have boldness in the day of judgment, because as Christ
is, so are we in this world. 0.
WHITEFIELD'S ELOQUENCE.
And a certain Jew, named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man,
and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. Acts 18 : 24.
AN intimate friend of the celebrated historian Hume asked
him what lie thought of Mr. WhitciiVM's preaching; for
he had listened to the latter part of on*' <>f his sermons at
]vlin!)iir;j,-li. " lie is, sir," s-iid Mr. Hume, " the most inir.Mi-
ious preacher I ever heard; it is worth while to go. twenty
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
417
miles to hear him." He then repeated a passage toward the
close of the discourse which he had heard. After- a solemn
pause, he thus addressed his numerous audience: " The at-
tendant angel is just about to leave the threshold, and ascend
to heaven. And shall he ascend, and not bear with him the
news of one sinner among all this multitude, reclaimed from
the error of his ways?" To give the greater effect to the
exclamation he stamped with his foot, and with gushing tears,
cried aloud, " Stop, Gabriel ! stop, Gabriel ! stop ere you enter
the sacred portals, and yet carry with you the news of one
sinner converted to God ! " He then, in the most simple but
energetic language, described what he called a Saviour's dying
love to sinful man, so that almost the whole assembly melted
into tears. This address was accompanied with such animated
yet natural action, that it surpassed, said Hume, anything that
I ever saw or heard in any other preacher.
BUSINESS AND PRAYER.
This man was instructed in the way of the Lord. Acts 18 : 25.
IF a professed disciple would not have his secular business
become as a millstone about his neck to drown him in per-
dition, he must be a man of prayer ; he must daily secure
spiritual communion with God. If he suffer his business to
consume his time and spirit so as to deprive him of oppor-
tunities for prayer, reading. the Bible, and real communion
with God, he must decay in piety, and his service of mammon
eat up his service of God. No one who believes that God an-
swers prayer will think of omitting either secret or family
devotion for want of time, even when business is unusually
urgent. Which is worth more to you or your family an
additional period of your own unblessed labor, or the blessing
of God on your efforts, won by spending that time in pleading
with him in prayer ? The plea of want of time is essentially
atheistical ; none should urge it but those who regard prayer
as an empty mockery that never receives an answer from the
Lord. Let the clay begin with communion with God, let the
53
418 * NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
disciple pass the whole day in the spirit of prayer, and all its
scenes will be inscribed with " Holiness to the Lord."
This point may be best enforced by the words of a de-
voted disciple of Christ. He said, with great earnestness and
simplicity, " I have made a discovery this summer which I
regard as of great value. I used -to defer my morning devo-
tions till after the first work of the morning. But this sum-
mer, immediately on rising, before doing aught else, I pray ;
and I pray till I feel God's presence. Then I read the
Scriptures till breakfast, and I find my heart warm, and ready
to engage with interest in family prayer. At noon the hay
wants turning ; but I push* on to spend a season in prayer ;
and the heart having become warm in the morning, it needs
but little to restore its fervor, and I am soon at work again
with a lively sense of God's presence. When all is done, I
look back on the day spent with God, and give thanks for all
his mercies, commending myself to him. And now," he
added, with the greatest animation, " I can commend the plan
to all Christians. It has carried me all through haying and
harvesting, and in the busiest of it all 1 have had as much
enlargement of heart and spiritual joy as ever in my life."
PERSONAL LABOR.
And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue : Whom, when Aquila and
Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the
way of God more perfectly. Acts 18 : 26.
DR. WAYLAND says, " After leaving college I entered
upon the study of medicine. I was sitting alone one day
in the office of the physician with whom I studied, when a
plain man, evidently from the country, entered to procure some
medical advice. After we had sat some time in silence, or in
conversation upon different subjects, without any introduc-
tion he turned to me, and asked,
" ' What is the difference between hope and expectation ? '
" I was taken by surprise, and gave him such an answer as
occurred to me. He said,
" ' We may hope for a thing when we have no definite
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 419
ground on which our hope rests, and while we are making no
effort to secure it, as we hope for fair weather or rain. When
we expect a thing, we at least believe that we have some solid
ground on which our expectation rests, and we, of course,
make efforts necessary to secure it. I suppose every man
hopes to be saved at last, whatever may be his life, or how
much he may neglect the great salvation. A man, however,
never expects to enter heaven unless he has some solid reason
on which his expectation may be realized.'
tl He then made a brief application of the subject to me
personalty, and shortly afterward left the office. I have never
seen him since, I never knew his name ; but I never think of
him without gratitude and love. If ever I shall be so happy
as to enter the gates of the New Jerusalem, I know that I
shall meet him there, and shall thank him, in better language
than I can n<jw command, for his Christian care for a thought-
less stranger. I can remember no sermon that made so deep
an impression on my mind as this brief conversation."
A MAN WHO THOUGHT HE NEVER PRAYED.
Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over
them which had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure
you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. Acts 19 : 13.
fTlHE Rev. Mr. Kilpin passed a very profane man, and having
J_ omitted to rebuke him, he awaited him in the morning in
the same place. When he approached, Mr. Kilpin said,
" Good morning, my friend ; you are the person I have
been waiting for."
" 0, sir," said the man, " you are mistaken, I think."
" I do not know you ; but I saw you last night when you
were going home from work, and 'I have been Awaiting some
time to see you."
" Sir, you are mistaken ; it could not have been me ; I never,
saw you in my life before, that I know of."
" Well, my friend," said Mr. Kilpin, " I heard you pray last
night."
420 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" Now I assure you that .you are mistaken. I never prayed
in all my life."
" ! " said Mr. Kilpin, " if God had answered your prayer
last night, you had not been seen here this morning. I heard
you pray that God would destroy your eyes, and ruin your
The man turned pale, and, trembling, said,
" Do you call that prayer ? I did, I did."
" Well, then, my errand this morning is to request you from
this day to pray as fervently for your salvation as you have
done for damnation ; and may God in mercy hear your
prayer ! "
The man from that time became an attendant on Mr. Kilpin's
ministry, and it ended in his early conversion to God.
BAB BOOKS AND THEIR INFLUENCE.
Many also of them which used curious arts, brought their books together,
and burned them before all men ; and they counted the price of them, and
found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. Acts 19 : 19.
A YOUNG man who recently committed suicide in Indiana,.
J\. ascribed his downfall to the influence of " the vilest kind
of novels," which he was allowed to read when eight or nine
years old. " If good books had been furnished me," he says,
" and no bad ones, I should have read the good books with as
great zest as I did the bad ones. Persuade all persons over
whom you have any influence not to read novels," was his
parting message to his brother. The chaplain of Newgate
prison in London, in his annual report to the lord mayor,
referring to many fine-looking lads of respectable parentage
in the city prison, says he discovered " that all these boys,
without one exception, had been in the habit of reading those
cheap periodicals which are now published for the alleged in-
struction and amusement of the youth of both sexes."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 421
MAMMOTH PLACE OF AMUSEMENT.
And the whole city was filled with confusion : and having caught Gaius and
Aristarclms, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with
one accord into the theater. Acts 19 : 29.
ancient theater of Ephesus has recently been examined
J_ and measured. It must have been the largest ever erect-
ed. Its diameter was six hundred and sixty feet, forty feet
more than the major axis of the Coliseum. Allowing fifteen
inches for each person, it would accommodate fifty-six thou-
sand seven hundred spectators. Drury Lane will only con-
tain three thousand two hundred, and old Covent Garden held
two thousand eight hundred. This edifice was the scene
of one of Apollonius' miracles. It is memorable for the up-
roar described in Acts 19, when the Ephesians accused Paul
and the Christians in this very building. To this edifice the
writer to the Corinthians alluded, probably, when he said, " If
after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus,
what advantageth it me ? " Nearly as large as this theater
was the great Coliseum of Boston, which had a seating capacity
of fifty thousand persons. It was built in 1872, under the
direction of Mr. Gilmore, for a world jubilee, when two thou-
sand instruments and twenty thousand voices participated.
SLEEPING IN CHURCH.
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being
fallen into a deep sleep : and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with
sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. Acts 20 : 9.
PAUL found it easier to raise Eutychus from the dead than
to keep him awake during the long sermon which lasted
till midnight. Whether or not this circumstance is a rebuke
to the sleepers of the sanctuary, it should be some comfort to
those whose ministrations are afflicted by them. A sleeping
hearer is worse by far than an empty pew or a lifeless post.
We can comprehend his infirmity, sympathize with him in his
constitutional proclivity, and we might even hazard the opin-
422 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ion that it is better for him to come than to stay away. If he
does his best goes to bed early the night before, takes his
coffee as usual, and does not overfeed he must be borne
with, and all parties must be resigned to the inevitable. At
a venture some stray arrow may hit him between the dreamy
naps, and the wakeful interludes of prayer and song may be
a partial means of grace. Some of the best Christians we
have known have been deep and habitual sleepers ; but they
have not been helpful hearers. There are various degrees of
sleepers. While some make a full and unconditional surrender,
others spend their entire time and strength in the laudable
effort to maintain their consciousness. They rub their eyes,
change position, nod, and then sit straighter than ever, to
show that they are most attentive. Such persons deserve
credit for a resolute and determined spirit, and illustrate the
power of the will to overcome the weakness of the flesh.
BISHOP RIDLEY'S FAITHFULNESS.
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto my-
self, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have
received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
Acts 20 : 24.
PREVIOUS to the accession of the bloody Mary to the
JL throne of England, Dr. Ridley, the bishop of London, paid
the princess a visit at her place of retirement in the country.
Mary thanked him for his civility, and entered into conversa-
tion with him for about a quarter of an hour. She told him
that she remembered him at court, and particularly mentioned
a sermon of his before her father ; and then leaving her cham-
ber of presence, she dismissed him to dine with her officers.
After dinner she sent for him again, when the bishop informed
her, that he not only came to pay her a visit, but also to offer
to preaeh before her next Sabbath, if she would be pleased to
permit him. On this she changed countenance, and after some
minutes' silence, said,
" As for this matter, I pray you, my lord, make the answer
to it."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 423
And upon the bishop urging the matter, as a sense of con-
science and duty, she at last told him that the doors of the
parish church should be opened to him,- where he might
preach if he pleased, but neither herself nor any of her ser-
vants should hear him. .
" Madanij I trust you will not refuse God's word."
" I can not tell what you call God's word. That is not God's
word now which was God's word in my father's days."
" God's word is the same at all times, but has been better
understood at some times than in others."
Mary, enraged, replied,
" You durst not, for your ears, have avouched that for God's
word in my father's days, that you do now. As for your new
books, I thank God I never read any of them j I never did,
and I never will."
After using much harsh language, she took leave of the
bishop with these words : .
" My lord, for your civility in coming to see me, I thank
you ; but for your offering to preach before me, I thank you
not a whit."
This interview gave the bishop a sorrowful prospect of what
was to be expected if ever the princess came to the throne.
When she ascended the throne, Ridley went to do her homage,
and to submit himself to her clemency. He was immediately
sent to the Tower, and after three months imprisonment was
removed to Oxford, and condemned for heresy. During the
two weeks between his condemnation and death, the priests
used every means in their power to gain him over to their
cause ; but he was deaf to their remonstrances, and was not
to be shaken from the principles he had adopted. When the
day of his death arrived, he was calm and intrepid. He called
it his wedding-day ; and having invited some friends, he supped
the preceding evening with great cheerfulness. One of his
friends proposed to sit up with him, but he declined, saying,
that by God's help he hoped to sleep as quietly as ever he had
done. On the morning he dressed himself in his Episcopal
habit, and walked to the place of execution between the mayor
and one of the aldermen ; and seeing Latimer approach, ran to
meet him, embraced him, and exclaimed,
424 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" Be of good heart, brother, for God will either assuage the
fury of the flames, or else give us strength to endure them.' 7
At the stake he knelt down and embraced it. Both he and
Latimer prayed, and both suffered tfye most cruel death with
the greatest courage.
PREACHING THE HOLE TRUTH.
For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Acts 20 : 27.
I HAVE always felt that it is one of the chief points of wis-
dom, in the ministry of the Word, that we give a due pro-
portion to every part of divine teaching. Hence, in the earlier
days of my ministry, I hung up in my study a large board, with
ruled lines, and with headings, " Doctrinal," " Experimental,"
" Preceptive,'-' " Promissory," and so on ; and I entered the
texts each Sunday, each under its proper head, so that at a
glance I could see whether I was giving a due proportion to
every part of God's truth; and when I found any part deficient,
I immediately added to that, feeling that I was best honoring
God's word in honoring all God's word. When we speak of
preaching the gospel, we do not mean reiterating certain truths
to the exclusion of all others ; our duty is to present, as in a
great historical picture, the whole of God's word, every figure
in its place and proportion ; ever bearing in mind that the great
center figure of the whole group, on which the whole depends,
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Canon Stowett.
A FRUITFUL TEXT.
I have shewed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the
weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more
blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20 : 35.
IT was a good text that Rev. Dr. Mellor, the pastor of the
Congregational church of Halifax, England, selected for a
sermon, when he chose the words of the Lord Jesus, " It is
more blessed to give than to receive ; " but little did he con-
NE W TESTAMENT ILL USTRA TIONS. 425
ceive of the effect that would follow from his treatment of it.
That sermon impressed upon the conscience of one of his
wealthy hearers the duty of generosity as a principle ; arid the
city of his residence, his native land, and the heathen world,
have felt the happy impulse then given. " To that sermon,"
he was wont to say, " the "town of Halifax owes whatever God
has enabled me to do by its park, its almshouses, and its or-
phanage." And when he afterward gave fifty thousand dol-
lars to the. London Missionary Society, and an equal amount
to the Pastors' Retiring Fund, he remarked, " Whatever pleas-
ure I have had in getting money, I have had a thousand times
more in giving it."
This liberal Christian steward was Sir Francis Crossley ; he
died at Halifax, January 5, 1872. He was the youngest of the
three brothers who constituted the celebrated carpet manu-
facturing firm, the largest in the world. Their wonderful suc-
cess may have been owing in no small degree to their rule of
" giving as God prospered them," and to their kind considera-
tion of their working men, for they were the first to take their
operatives into partnership with themselves, and to share with
them the enormous profits of their business. %
While the gifts of all the brothers were princely, those of
Sir Francis were the largest. He was a man of large-hearted
Christian catholicity, and while strongly attached to his own
denomination, was always ready to respond to appeals from
every quarter. The people of Yorkshire were justly proud
of him, and four times returned him as their member of Parlia-
ment.
In his speech, on presenting the beautiful park to the citi-
.zens of Halifax, August 14, 1857, he stated an interesting fact
in regard to the suggestion of the idea to him. While on a
tour to America, he was gazing on the White Mountains. The
magnificent sight overwhelmed him with gratitude at God's
great goodness to him, and he asked, " Lord, what wilt thou
have me to do ? " The answer came immediately, " It is true
thou canst not bring the many thousands thou hast left in thy
native country to see this beautful scenery ; but thou canst
take this to them. It is possible so tq arrange art and nature
that they shall be within the walk of every working man in
54
426 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Halifax, so that he may be able to stroll there after his day's
work is done, and to get home again without being tired." In
recognition of his noble generosity for the good of the people,
he received in 1863 the title of baronet.
EMOTIONAL IN CHRISTIANITY.
And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him, sorrowing
most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no
more. And they accompanied him unto the ship. Acts 20 : 37, 38.
A LATE writer gives as one reason for the progress of Me-th-
JL\. odism, that it assigns the emotional its true place. And
he spoke wisely. " It is not thinking that makes a man good,"
said Adam Bede, " it is feeling." Yet we are becoming
ashamed of real, hearty, gushing feeling, and more and more
the absurd aphorism, " Christianity is not feeling, it is prin-
ciple," gains credence. It will always be popular where
godlessness rules. " A gentleman," said Bishop Doane, " con-
ceals his feelings." Then Jesus Christ was not a gentleman,
for he wept, groaned, cried, and rejoiced. Then Paul, who
fell on the necks of his brethren, was not a gentleman. Then
Christianity is not a genteel religion. A false modesty is as
foolish as it is offensive to all right-minded people. If Christ
and his apostles were to appear among men incognito, these
non- emotional religionists would regard them far behind the
times, and unfit for religious leaders.
ROWING AND STEERING THE BOAT OF LIFE.
And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship; and they
returned home again. Acts 21 : 6.
THE servants of the Saviour are like rowers in a boat.
They sit with their backs to the bow, and can not see what
lies ahead. But the helmsman at the stern is on the lookout,
and he steers the boat withersoever he wills. So in our
godly undertakings we sit with our backs to the future. We
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 427
know not what the morrow may bring forth. But it is our
business to pull at the oar of prayer .and earnest labor. There
is a divine Helmsman who sees the future, and who holds the
rudder in his hand. We have only to commit our way to him,
and to pull the oar of duty. This is trust. This is faith.
This is the way that Paul pulled his boat toward Rome, not
knowing or caring what stripes and imprisonments, or what
triumphs of the gospel, were awaiting him there. What a
blessed thing it is that we can not foresee the future ! We
might b*e so paralyzed by the peril, or the difficulties, or the
sufferings before us, that we would drop the oars in despair.
What a mercy it is that a mother does not know all that shall
befall the child of her bosom ! What a mercy that we minis-
ters do not know what failures we have to encounter during
the year of labor which we are just entering ! Every true
Christian toiler is continually " saved by hope." He pulls the
oar and trusts. T f L. CuyUr.
HOW ALL MAY PREACH.
And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.
Acts 21 : 9.
ALL can not preach from the pulpit, or deliver long and elo-
quent orations ; but there is a kind of preaching that is
permitted to all men : this kind is most effectual. Offices of
kindness to the bodies and souls of those around us j words of
encouragement to the weak, of instruction to the ignorant, of
consolation to the troubled, of brotherly kindness to all, spoken
by the fireside, the wayside, or bedside ; or devotion to the
services of religion in our families and our closets, as well
as in the sanctuary ; in a word, all tokens of earnest, active,
self-denying love to our fellow-beings, springing from our love
to God, will form a most impressive sermon, a most convincing
proof to the world around us, that we have been with Jesus.
All Christians are called out in this way to preach the gospel.
Woe to them if they neglect the call, and blessed are they
who fulfill this ministry, and in their humble sphere prove
themselves to be workers together with God.
428 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
HEROISM OF A FEMALE MISSIONARY.
Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart?
for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die, at Jerusalem for the name
of the Lord Jesus. Acts 21 : 13.
A FTER the Rev. Marcus Whitman had been sent out by the
JLJL American Board, and had been welcomed by them, he
returned to the States for his intended wife, and to enlist fellow-
missionaries. He found Rev. Henry Spalding and wife under
appointment to go to labor with the Osage Indians*; but he
solicited them to accompany him and his bride to Oregon. In
response to their inquiries, he told them it would probably take
two summers to make the journey ; that their convoy would be
the American Fur Company ; that their meat would be the buf-
falo ; that their journey would be on horseback ; and that they
would have to swim the rivers. Having reached a resting-
place, they spent some time in prayer, and then left Mrs.
Spalding to herself. Though she had just risen from a lin-
gering illness, she in a few minutes appeared with the joy of
the Lord beaming in her angelic face, and said, " I have made
up my mind to go." Her husband told her of her weakness,
and of the dangers of captivity, and, overcome with emotion,
he wept like a child ; but she said she was willing " to die at
Jerusalem or in the Rocky Mountains for the name of the Lord
Jesus." Her husband reluctantly yielded before her heroism.
As they went on their journey, people sought to induce her
to turn back. Tales of horror were told her about companies
massacred, all except the women, and they led into captivity
by lustful savages ; but not a hair's breadth was she moved
from her purpose. Sick or well, or even fainting by the way,
she insisted on pressing forward. On one occasion, when urged
to tarry and rest, she said, " No ; I started to go over the
mountains in the name of my Saviour, and I must go on."
Messrs. Whitman and Spalding, with their heroic wives, six
years before Fremont was known as the " Pathfinder," de-
monstrated that women could cross the Rocky Mountains.
Mrs. Spalding, having been hailed with gladness by the NCJS
Perce women, and being nourished by the roots and fish with
which they fed her, improved in her health, and labored among
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 429
them as a missionary till called to wear a martyr's crown.
Talk of the heroism of carnal warfare ! Where has it pro-
duced a hero or heroine comparable to Mrs. Spalding? Long
let her name live, and let her example be held up to incite to
heroic sacrifice and deeds of noble daring for Christ's sake.
YOUTHFUL FIRMNESS IN PERSECUTION.
And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into
prisons both men and women. Acts 22 : 4.
AT Cesarea, in Cappadocia, a child named Cyril, in a time
of heavy persecution, called continually upon the name of
Jesus Christ ; and neither threats nor blows could divert him
from it. Many children of his own age persecuted him, and
his heathen father turned him out of doors. At last he was
brought before the judge, who threatened him, and expostulated
with him. With undaunted boldness he said, " I rejoice to
bear your reproaches : God will receive me. I am glad that
I am expelled out of our house : I shall have a better mansion.
I fear not death, because it will introduce me to a better life."
He was condemned to the flames, with a full expectation that
he would recant, and save his life. He remained firm, saying,
" Your fire and your sword are insignificant : I go to a better
house and more excellent riches ; dispatch me presently, that
I may enjoy them." He suffered, being burned to death amid
a throng of wondering spectators.
ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES.
And he said unto me, Depart : for I will send thee far hence unto the Gen-
tiles. Acts 22 : 21.
IT was St. Paul's peculiar appointment to be the apostle of
the Gentiles ; for though he preached frequently to the
Jews, yet to preach th.e gospel to the Gentiles, and to write
for the conversion and establishment of the Gentile world,
were his peculiar destination. Hence we find him and his
4'30 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
companions traveling everywhere, through Judea, Phenicia,
Arabia, Syria, Cilicia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, Pamphylia, Galatia,
Phrygia, Macedonia, Greece, Asia, the Isles of the Mediter-
ranean Sea, the Isles of the JEgean Sea, Italy, and some add
Spain and even Britain. This was the diocese of this primi-
time bishop. None of the apostles traveled, none preached,
none labored as this man ; and we may add, none were so
greatly owned of God. The Epistles of Peter, John, James,
and Jude are great and excellent ; but when compared with
those of Paul, however glorious they may be, they have no
glory, comparatively, by reason of that glory that excelleth.
Next to Jesus Christ, St. Paul is the glory of the Christian
church. Jesus is the foundation, Paul the master-builder.
Clarke's Commentary.
PERSECUTED BECAUSE HE WAS GOOD.
And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the
air, the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade
that he should be examined by scourging, that he might know wherefore they
cried so against him. Acts 22 : 23, 24.
A WOLF flies not upon a painted sheep, and men can look
upon a painted toad with delight. It is not the soft pace,
but the furious march, of the soldier that sets men a- gazing
and dogs a-barking. Let but a man glide along with the
stream of the world, do as others do, he may sit down and
take his ease ; but if he once strive against the stream, stand
up in the cause of God, and act for Christ, then he shall be
sure to meet with as much malice as men and devils can possi-
bly throw upon him. Spencer.
SMALL THINGS MAKE UP A GODLY LIFE.
And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have
lived in all good conscience before God until this day. Acts 23 : 1.
DID a holy life consist of one or two noble deeds, some
signal specimens of doing, or enduring, or suffering, we
might account for the failure, reckon it small dishonor to turn
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 431
back in such a conflict. But a holy life is made up of small
things of the hour, and not the great things of the age, that
fill up a life like that of Paul or John, like that of Rutherford,
or Brainerd, or Martyn.
The avoidance of little evils, little sins, little inconsistencies,
little weaknesses, little follies, little indiscretions and impru-
dences, little foibles, little indulgences of self and of the flesh,
little acts of indolence or indecision, or slovenliness or coward-
ice, little equivocations or aberrations from high integrity,
little touches of shabbiness or meanness, little bits of covetous-
ness or penuriousness, little exhibitions of worldly gayety,
little indifferences to the feelings or wishes of others, out-
breaks of temper, or crossness and selfishness, or vanity ; the
avoidance of such little things as these goes far to make up at
least the negative beauty of holy life. And then attention to
the little duties of the day and hour in public transactions, or
private dealings, or family arrangements ; the little words, and
looks, and tones ; little self-denials, and self-restraints, and self-
forgetfulness ; little plans of kindness and thoughtful con-
sideration for others ; to punctuality and method, and true
aim in the ordering of each day, these are the active devel-
opments of holy life, the rich and divine mosaics of which it
is composed.
What makes yon green hill so beautiful ? Not the out-
standing peak or stately elm, but the bright sward which
clothes its slopes, composed of innumerable blades of slender
grass. It is of small things that a great life is made up ; and
he who will acknowledge no life as great, save that which is
built up of great things, will find little in Bible character to
admire or copy.
PROVIDENCE.
And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and
entered into the castle, and told Paul. Acts 23 : 16.
C\ OD controls and directs the powers of nature, not by vio-
VJ lating or suspending its laws, except in case of miracles,
but he works in, by, and through them, in such a manner
432 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS,
as that when " his judgments are abroad in the earth, the in-
habitants of the world will learn righteousness."
It is impossible to tell how God controls these natural
agents ; but surely it is not more difficult to believe that he
does control them than that he created them. This doctrine
is attended with fewer difficulties than that theory which ex-
cludes God from his own works, subordinates his power to
the forces of nature, and exalts law above the lawgiver.
The scriptural idea of providence the connection of the
divine energy with the laws and forces of nature is beauti-
fully described by the Psalmist : " He sendeth forth his com-
mandments upon the earth, his word runneth very swiftly.
He giveth snow like wool ; he scattereth his hoar frost like
ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels ; who can stand
before his cold ? He sendeth out his word and melteth them ;
he causeth his winds to blow and the waters to flow." And,
" He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good ; and he
sendeth his rain on the just and the unjust." The wild storm
in its fury, the thunderbolts of heaven ; " the pestilence that
walketh in darkness, and the destruction that wasteth at noon-
day ; " famine, pestilence, and sword ; " fire, hail, snow, vapor,
and stormy wind," are only instruments in the hands of om-
nipotent power and infinite wisdom, and are employed as God's
agents, either as the messengers of his mercy or the ministers
of his justice.
GOD'S SPECIAL PROVIDENCE.
Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this
young man unto the chief captain ; for he hath a certain thing to tell him.
Acts 23 : 17.
IT is said that John Fletcher, when a young man, was very
anxious to join the army to go to South America. The
vessel was ready to start, friends secured him an appointment ;
but the morning he was to have sailed, the servant, in coming
into his room at breakfast, stumbled, and spilled over him the
boiling coffee, and so scalded him that he was unable to go on
his journey. He lamented the accident was disappointed in
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. - 433
all his plans ; but the vessel was never heard from. Fletcher
was spared to become a preacher of the gospel, a man who
wielded by his pen, as well as by his voice, an overwhelming
influence upon the minds of men, and being dead yet speak-
eth. No miracle was wrought. Wesley, the little boy, is
sleeping in the upper story of Epworth rectory. It is on fire ;
he is forgotten ; but suddenly a woman remembers there is a
child asleep, and she calls, and the child shows his head at the
window ; and a brave man, at the risk of himself being burned,
mounts a ladder, and the little fellow throws himself into his
arms, and is saved, and Wesley is spared to enlighten the
world.
OUR ACCUSERS.
Commanding his accusers to come unto thee : by examining of whom
thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things, whereof we accuse him.
Acts 24 : 8.
ALL the elements accuse me. The heaven says, I have
given the light for thy comfort. The air says, I have
given every sort of winged creature for thy pleasure. The
water says, I have supplied thy table with my countless luxu-
ries. The earth says, I have furnished thee bread and wine ;
but yet thou hast abused all these blessings, and perverted
them to a contempt of their Creator. Therefore all our bene-
fits cry out against me. The fire says, Let him be burned in
me. The water says, Let him be drowned in me. The air
says, Let him be shaken by a tempest. The earth cries, Let
him be buried in me. The holy angels, whom God has sent
for ministers of love, and who are to be our joyful companions
in the future, accuse me. By my sins I have deprived myself
of their holy ministries in this life, and the hope of their fellow-
ship in the future. The voice of God. which is the divine law,
accuses me. The law must be fulfilled, or I perish ; but to
fulfill the law is, for me, impossible, and to perish in eternity
is intolerable. God, the most severe Judge, the powerful ex-
ecutor of his eternal law, accuses me. I can not deceive him,
for he is omniscience itself. I can not escape him, for his
omnipotence everywhere reigns. Gerhard's Meditations.
55
434 - NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.
And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there
shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust, Acts 24 : 15.
CiOME years ago a vase, closely sealed, was found in a rnuin-
O my pit in Egypt, by the English traveler Wilkinson, who
sent it to the British Museum. The librarian having unfortu-
nately broken it, discovered in it a few peas old, wrinkled,
and as hard as a stone. The peas were planted carefully under
a glass, on the 4th of June, 1844, and at the end of thirty days
these seeds were seen to spring up into new life. They had
been buried, probably, about three thousand years ago, per-
haps in the time of Moses, and had slept all that time appar-
ently dead, yet still living in the dust of the tomb. Gaussen*
What this writer has told us about seeds should remind us
that God is just as able to raise our dead bodies from the
grave, and give them new life. For why should it be thought
a thing incredible that God should raise the dead ? " For our
conversation is in heaven ; from whence also we look for the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile
body according to the working whereby he is able even to
subdue all things unto himself."
A SERMON THAT PAID WELL.
And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which
was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
Acts 24 : 24.
WILLIAM BROWN was a local preacher, and a tenant on
the vast estate of General Van Rensselaer. Once Brown
received notice to pay his rent. He collected a load of wheat,
and went with it to Albany, and calling on the general, told
him that was all he could raise.
" What do you do ? " said the general.
" Work at tailoring, and let out my lots."
" Don't you preach sometimes ? "
" Yes."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 435
" Will you preach at my house to-night ? "
" Yes."
The general called in his friends to hear the poor mechanic.
He was a small man and unpromising in his appearance, and
the landlord undoubtedly thought to have a little fun with
him. Brown was shrewd and fearless. He took for his text,
" They that will be rich," &c. The next day the general
gave him a free lease of his farm during his life and that of
his wife, receipted the back rents, and had his wheat ground
and sent back to him.
PAUL AND FELIX.
And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come,
Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time ; when I have a con-
venient season I will call for thee. Acts 24 : 25.
VE know how Paul would bring home the word on both
sides. He would keep nothing back. He strikes with
a will. He thrusts the sword in to the hilt. He has no com-
passion ; for he knows that compassion in this place is unfaith-
fulness to a fellow-sinner's soul. Felix is compelled to listen,
and, what is much more, Felix is compelled to listen with secret
application of the dreadful word to himself. As the preacher
advanced from point to point, the conscience of the governor,
as the voice of God in his breast, murmured, " Thou art the
man." On the one side he is unrighteous ; on the other he is
impure ; and when the judgment to come was pressed for-
ward, he felt as if an angel with a flaming sword were ap-
proaching to destroy him, while he had no power to escape.
Felix is like a man chained to the ground in the middle of
the Mont Cenis Tunnel. Above, below, and on either side
he is shut in. Without a figure, the barriers on all sides are
nothing else and nothing less than the everlasting hills.
While he is chained to the spot in that dark avenue, he looks
along the gloomy telescope tube, and, lo, in the distance, a
red fiery spark, like a fixed star. It is like an eye, all-seeing
and angry, glaring on him from afar. But as he gazes on it,
he perceives that it is growing larger, and, 0, horror ! it is ad-
vancing. It is coming with inexpressible speed. It is the
fiery engine rushing on rushing over him !
436 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Felix trembled ; and well he might. He has reached that
point in spiritual experience on which the Philippian jailer
stood, when he " called for a light and sprang in trembling."
But, alas ! he does not seek relief from the terror of convic-
tion where the official in Philippi sought and found it. In-
stead of, " What must I do to be saved ? " it is, " Go thy way
for this time/' Two men may be led by nearly the same path
into those soul-pangs which accompany conviction of sin, and
yet the two men may follow opposite courses in life, and meet
opposite rewards in eternity. It is not how you fall into the
pains of conviction that fixes your state, but how you get
out of them. Not how you were wounded, but how you are
healed, is the turning-point of the loss or saving of the soul.
Instead of seeking healing in accepting Christ his Saviour,
Felix sought ease by stifling the preacher's voice quench-
ing the Spirit, who spoke in the preacher.
FALSE REPRESENTATIONS.
And when he was come, the Jews which came dawn from Jerusalem stood
round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they
could not prove. Ads 25 : 7.
WHEN the first missionaries from America reached the
Sandwich Islands, in the spring of 1820, an effort was
made by some of the foreigners to have their landing and
establishment at the islands forbidden by the government.
With this view their motives were misrepresented by them
to the king and chiefs. It was asserted that, while the ostensi-
ble object of the mission was good, the secret and ultimate
design was the subjugation of the islands, and the enslave-
ment of the people ; and by way of corroboration, the treat-
ment of the Mexicans, and aborigines of South America and
the West Indies, by the Spaniards, and the possession of
Hindostari by the British, were gravely related. It was in
consequence of this misrepresentation that a delay of eight
days occurred before the missionaries could secure permission
to disembark. In answer to these allegations, the more in-
telligent of the chiefs remarked,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 437
" The missionaries speak well ; they say they have come
from America only to do us good ; if they intend to seize our
islands, why are they so few in number ? where are their
guns ? and why have they brought their wives ? "
To this it was replied,
" It is true their number is small ; a few only have come
now, the more fully to deceive. But soon many more will
arrive, and your islands will be lost."
The chiefs again answered,
" They say that they will do us good ; they are few in num-
ber : we will try them for one year, and if we find they deceive
us, it will then be time enough to send them away."
Permission to land was accordingly granted. The result has
shown how groundless were these accusations.
INFIDELITY WITHOUT HOPE.
For if I be an offender, or have committed anything worthy of death, I
refuse not to die : but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse
me, no man may deliver me unto them. Acts 25 : 11.
TNFIDELITY claims to be without fear; it is certainly
JL without hope. Mr. Owen visited Alexander Campbell,
at Bethany, to make arrangements for their discussion on the
evidences of Christianity. In one of their excursions about
the farm, they came to Mr. Campbell's family burying-ground,
when Mr. Owen stopped, and, addressing himself to Mr. Camp-
bell, said,
" There is one advantage I have over the Christian I am
not afraid to die. Most Christians have fear in death ; but if
some few items of my business were settled, I should be per-
fectly willing to die at any moment."
lt Well," answered Mr. Campbell, " you say you have no fear
in death ; have you any hope in death ? "
After a solemn pause
" No," said Mr. Owen.
" Then," rejoined Mr. Campbell (pointing to an ox standing
near), " you are on a level with that brute. He has fed until
438 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
he is satisfied, and stands in the shade, whisking off the flies,
and has neither hope nor fear in death."
Such is infidelity. It degrades man to the level of brutes ;
it is brutish.
THE SILVER CUP RESTORED.
Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should
raise the dead? Acts 26 : 8.
IN Dr. Brown's work on the Resurrection, there is a beauti-
ful parable from Hally. The story is of a servant, who, re-
ceiving a silver cup from his master, suffers it to fall into a
vessel of aquafortis, and seeing it disappear, contends in argu-
ment with a fellow- servant that its recovery is impossible, till
the master comes on the scene and infuses salt water, which
precipitates the silver from the solution, and then, by melting
and hammering the metal, he restores it to its original shape.
With this apologue a skeptic one of whose great stum-
bling-blocks was the resurrection was so struck that he ulti-
mately renounced his opposition* to the gospel, and became a
partaker of the Christian hope of immortality. This converted
skeptic died, trusting in his Saviour, only six months after Dr.
Brown was interred in the same bury ing- ground ; and, by a co-
incidence altogether undesigned, he was laid near Dr. Brown's
grave near his feet.
PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD.
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and in-
heritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Acts 26 : 18.
A SOCIETY was some years ago established to distribute
tracts by post in the higher circles. One of these tracts,
entitled " Prepare to meet thy God," was not long since en-
closed in an envelope, and sent by post to a gentleman well
known for liis ungodly life and reckless impiety. He was in
his study when he received this letter among others.
" What is that," said he " ' Prepare to meet thy God ' ?
Who has had the impudence to send me this cant ? "
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 439
And with an imprecation on his unknown correspondent, he
arose to put the paper in the fire.
" No, I won't do that," he said to himself on second thought.-
" I know what I will do ; I'll send it to my friend B. ; it will
be a good joke to hear what he will say about it."
So saying, he enclosed the tract in a fresh cover, and in a
feigned hand directed it to his boon companion.
Mr. B. was a man of his own stamp, and received the tract,
as his friend had done, with an oath at the Methodistical
humbug, which his first impulse was to tear in pieces.
" I'll not tear it either," said he to himself. " Perhaps I may
make some fun out of it to tell our club. I'll have a look at
it before it goes."
He sat down and read it. The solemn words, " Prepare to
meet thy God," at once arrested his attention, and smote his
conscience. Like those of whom the poet says,
" They came to scoff, and remained to pray,"
the arrow of conviction entered his heart as he read, and he
was converted on the spot, " from darkness to light, from the
power of Satan unto God."
Almost his first thought was for his ungodly associates.
" Have I received such blessed light and truth, and shall I
not strive to communicate it to others ? "
He again folded the tract, and inclosed and directed it to
one of his companions in sin.
Wonderful to say, the little arrow again hit the mark. His
friend read. He also was converted, and both are now walk-
ing as the Lord's redeemed ones.
ALMOST AND ALTOGETHER.
Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Chris-
tian. Acts 2G : 28.
ONCE, as two ladies were conversing together in their quiet
parlor, an aged clergyman entered. The conversation
immediately took a religious turn, and' the peace and comfort
440 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
of a Christian hope were spoken of. Suddenly the clergyman
turned to one of his friends, and said, rather abruptly,
. " Madam, is your husband a Christian ? "
The lady's face flushed painfully. For a moment she hesi-
tated, then said,
" My husband is one of the best persons I ever knew. He
is so amiable and benevolent that I think few Christians can
equal him."
" And yet," said the clergyman, " you must feel deeply
anxious for his salvation."
" I don't know," said the lady. " I can not but think that all
will be well with him. He is so good. He has such a respect
for religion. He is almost a Christian."
The clergyman bent upon her a look of tender concern and
sympathy as he said,
" But almost saved is altogether lost. Remember that."
The words smote her with a sudden conviction of her hus-
band's danger, and from that time forth her prayers for him
were constant and fervent.
REMARKABLE FROM ASSOCIATIONS.
And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over
against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against
Salmone. Acts 27 : 7.
T EAVING Gibraltar on the afternoon of the 25th of August,
JJ we entered the Mediterranean, a sea of rich classic
memories, where, long ere the Anglo-Saxon race was known
as a power on earth, there sailed the rich-laden ships of na-
tions that are now in their graves. Here the vessels of
Tyre's " merchant princes," when she was the " mart of
nations," were found bearing the luxuries of the East to the
very borders of the Atlantic. Here the fleets of Egypt, of
Carthage, of Greece, and of Rome, and the Moslem, sailed when
such names as those of Alexander, and Cleopatra, and Caesar,
and Hannibal, and the Crusaders filled the ear of the world
with their deeds. On these waves the fate of nations has
once and again been decided, and the horrid trade of war has
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 441
frequently reddened them with human gore. Here Jonah, un-
faithful to his mission, sought to fly " from the presence of
the Lord," and, ere he could arrest his blind career, sank
deep into these depths, and found himself in the " belly of
hell." Here St. Luke, and Titus, and Timothy sailed, and
he're the great apostle of the Gentiles (not far from where
these notes were written) was " in perils of the waters," and
suffered shipwreck.
Within sight of this sea the larger portion of the Holy
Scriptures was written ; and, above all, how pleasing was the
reflection that these very waters on which we sailed have
been looked upon by " God manifest in the flesh " ! On the
eastern shores of this sea has Immanuel walked ; and from it
he drew some of his illustrations when teaching " in the coast
of Tyre and Sidon." Beautiful sea ! the gayest flotilla that
ever was sent forth by that same Tyre to deck thy bosom
with its "perfect beauty" (see Ezekiel, chap. 27) conferred
on thee, to my heart, no such honor as did that glance of thy
Maker, who was at the same time
" My God incarnated for me ! "
Rev. William Sutler, D. D.
THE RESCUE.
And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And
so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land. Acts 27 : 44.
SEVERAL years ago a ship was burned near the mouth of
the English Channel. Among the passengers were a
father, mother, and their little child, a daughter not many
months old. When the discovery was made that the ship was
on fire, and the alarm was given, there was great confusion,
and the family became separated. The father was rescued
and taken to Liverpool, but the mother and her infant were
crowded overboard, and, unnoticed by those who were doing
all in their power to save the sufferers still in the ship, they
drifted out of the Channel with the tide, the mother clinging
* 56*
442 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
to a fragment of the wreck, with her little one clasped to her
breast.
Late in the afternoon of that day a vessel bound from New-
port, Wales, to America, was moving slowly along in her
course. There was only a light breeze, and the captain was
impatiently walking the deck, when his attention was called
to an object some distance off which looked like a person in
the water. The officers and crew watched it for some time,
and, as no vessel was near from which any one could have
fallen overboard, they thought it impossible that this could be
a human being. But, as their vessel was scarcely moving, it
was thought best to get out a boat and row to the object.
The boat was accordingly lowered and manned. It was
watched with considerable interest by those who remained on
board, and they noticed that, as it drew near to the drifting
speck, the rowers rested on their oars two or three minutes,
then moved forward, took in the object or thing, they knew
not which, and returned to the ship. When the boat's crew
came on board, they brought with them this mother and her
child, alive and well; and the sailors said that, as they drew
near, they heard a female voice sweetly singing. As with a
common impulse, the men ceased rowing, and listened ; and
then the words of the beautiful hymn sung by this trusting
Christian, all unconscious that deliverance was so near, came
over thQ waves to their ears:
" Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high ;
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
Till the storm of life is past ;
Safe into the haven guide,
O, receive my soul at last ! "
In due time the vessel arrived in America. The mother
wrote to her friends in England, and thus the father learned
of the safety of his wife and child, and in about four months
from the time of their separation they were happily reunited.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 443
EXTRAORDINARY ANSWER TO PRAYER.
And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a
bloody flux : to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him,
and healed him. Acts 28 : 8.
IN a small volume of sermons, 'entitled " Good News from a
Far Country," preached at Newburyport, Mass., about one
hundred years ago, by Rev. Jonathan Parsons, then pastor of
the Presbyterian Church there, in a note appended to page
55, an account is given of a remarkable case which occurred
in Ipswich, Mass. A young woman, living there, had been
confined to her bed for the space of two years and two months ;
she had not been able to speak a loud word for a year and
eight months, had been speechless about four weeks, and blind
about three weeks. At her desire, several ministers met at
her room December 15, 1755, and joined with a number of
private Christians in prayer for her. During one of the
prayers, and while her case was spreading before the Lord, she
sprang up in the bed, opened her eyes, and spoke with a loud
voice, expressing her great surprise at the power and grace
of Jesus Christ, calling upon all to help her praise God for the
marvelous work he had wrought upon her soul and her body that
day. Her sight and her speech recovered gradually, till, in
about an hour, they were both clear and distinct. The same
day she was dressed, and walked several times across the
room without help, and, with a very little help, walked out.
The foregoing account was written several months after, by
Rev. Mr. Parsons, who was present at that meeting ; and he
concludes by saying, " She has continued now, for several
months, to gain strength, attends the public worship of God,
and gives good evidence of being a real Christian."
BLESSINGS WITH RESTRAINT.
And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all
that came in unto him. Acts 28 : 30.
V
ISITING a friend one day, Gotthold found him seated
with his family at table, and observed that the children
444 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
all received a due portion of food, and were required to eat it
in a quiet and orderly way ; but that beside the father's plate
there was also lying upon the table a rod, to warn them against
improprieties of conduct and manners. He thereupon ob-
served to his friend, " You treat your children as our heavenly
Father treats his. He, too, prepares a table before them, and
gives them all sorts of good things, spiritual and temporal, to
enjoy ; and yet the rod, which is another name for the cross,
must likewise be at hand, that we may not become froward,
but walk in holy fear and filial obedience. Of this truth God
has given us an almost similar emblem in the sacred Scrip-
tures. For the ark of the Old Testament contained not only
the golden pot with the manna, but also Aaron's rod, which
blossomed, to intimate the authority he exercises over his
family, and teach us that- although he feeds the members with
the hidden manna of his sweet grace, he also purposes to use
the rod if he shall see cause."
WHO ARE SAINTS?
To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints : Grace to you,
and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1 : 7.
ALL God's people are saints. The Scriptures make no dis-
tinction among them. Saints are sanctified or holy ones.
The pious under former dispensations were saints. David
speaks of " the saints that are in the earth." We read of
" the saints in Jerusalem," the " saints at Rome," the " saints -
in Achaia," all the " saints in Christ Jesus," <fec. The meanest
Christian is a saint. " To me," says Paul, " who am less than
the least of all saints, is this grace given." For the Popish
custom of canonization there is no authority in Scripture, and
no foundation in reason. It makes a distinction where God
makes none. It pronounces judgment on the characters of
men from an imperfect human knowledge. How does the
pope know, how can mortals know, who are holy and who are
not ? All believers, in the charitable language of Scripture,
are saints; a select few, in the presumptuous language of
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 445
Romanism; are saints. " With me/ 7 says Paul, " it is a very
small thing that I should be judged of man's judgment."
It is custom, we presume, rather than a conviction of its
propriety, which leads many Protestants and some Baptists to
employ the language of the Romish canon, and say St. Paul,
St. Peter, &c. We do not affirm that it is sinful to use this
epithet Peter and Paul were ' saints eminent saints -
though Paul accounted himself the least of all ; but it is inex-
pedient to use it. It is countenancing a false distinction and
a superstitious practice, which have given birth in the Romish
church to numerous feasts and ceremonies, which we are sorry
to see, to some extent, adopted by the Protestant Episcopal
church. To be consistent, we should call all Christians saints,
or we should call none so. If we say St. Peter, then let us
say St. Chrysostom, St. Luther, St. Doddridge, St. John New-
ton, and St. John Bunyan.
To some it may seem wanting in reverence to say simply
Paul. Call him then " brother Paul ; " for so he is styled in
the Bible. It is certainly not more disrespectful .to speak of
Paul without a title, than it is to speak of Abraham, Isaiah,
and Jesus without one. How would St. Jesus sound ? The
late Andrew Broddus, of Caroline, in anticipation of his death,
directed that these words should be inscribed on his tomb-
stone : A Sinner Saved by Grace^He was, doubtless, as
worthy of canonization as multitudes who have been super-
stitiously canonized and worshiped.
RELIGION THE POWER OF GOD.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : for it is the power of God
unto salvation to every one that believeth ; to the Jew first, and also to the
Greek. Romans 1 : 16.
T) ELIGION is something more than opinion ; something
JLl more than ecclesiastical relationship ; something more
than ceremony. It is not only light, but life ; its seat is not
only in the head, but in the heart ; it is a thing of the will,
affections, and conscience, as well as of the intellect, and mem-
ory, and bodily organs. It is a deep conviction of guilt in the
446 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
sight of God, a humbling sense of corruption of nature, true
faith in Christ as the great atonement, peace through belief
in the gospel, supreme gratitude and love to God, a spiritual
and heavenly mind, and a holy life.
" It is the mind of Christ, the image of God, the Bible
lodged in the heart as the rule of the inward and outer life
a thing God-wrought, heave'n-descended, and eternal."
BISHOP LATIMER'S OLD SERMON.
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither
were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart
was darkened. Romans 1 : 21.
IN Bishop Latimer's famous old sermon, " Of the Plow," is
a passage, which, though written three hundred years ago,
applies admirably to what is now going on in the church of
England. " Where the devil is resident, and has his plow
going, there away with books, and up with candles ; away
with Bibles, and up with beads ; away with the light of the
gospel, and up with the light of candles, yea, at noonday.
Where the devil is resident, that he may prevail, up with all
superstition and idolatry ; censing, painting of images, candles,
palms, holy water, and new service of men's inventing, as
though man could iinQftit a better way to honor God with
than God himself hath appointed. Down with Christ's cross,
up with purgatory pick-purse, up with him the Popish pur-
gatory, I mean. Away with clothing the naked, and up with
gay garnishing of stocks and stones ; up with man's traditions
and his laws ; down with God's traditions and his most holy
word. Down with the old honor due to God, and up with the
new god's honor."
THE FIRST CHAPTER OF ROMANS.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory
of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to
birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Romans 1 : 22, 23.
R. WORCESTER once said that he had been told by a re-
turned missionary, that after reading the first chapter of
D
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 447
Romans to a heathen congregation, they came around him at
the close of the service, and said, " You wrote that chapter
for us." The Watchman and Reflector says, " We have heard
the Rev. Dr. Dean, of China, relate a similar fact. He had
been conversing with an intelligent Chinese respecting our
sacred books, assuring him that they are very old. He gave
him a specimen. Soon after the man came to Dr. Dean, and,
with a look of triumph and accusation, exclaimed, i You told
me your book was very ancient ; but that chapter,' pointing to
the first of Romans, t you have written yourself since you came
here and learned all about Chinamen.' ;;
DATES OF ROMISH ERRORS.
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the crea-
ture more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. Romans 1 : 25.
ONE of the chief differences between the Roman Catholic
church and Protestants is, the former disregard the Holy
Scriptures as the only sufficient rule of faith. The following
exhibits the dates when the principal Popish errors were made
articles of faith by the sanction of a general council :
Invocation of saints, 700 ; image worship, 787 ; infallibility,
1076; transubstantiation, 1215; supremacy, 1215 ; half com-
munion, 1415 ; purgatory, 1438 ; seven sacraments, 1547 ; sacri-
fice of the mass, 1563 ; apocryphal books, 1547 ; priestly inten-
tion, 1547 ; indulgences introduced in the fifteenth century,
but not sanctioned by a council till 1563 ; venial sins, 1563.
Popery is, therefore, a new system ; it is a piece of patchwork.
One patch was added by one pope or one council, and another
by another. The work was finished at Trent in 1564, when a
few additional patches were added. It bears something of the
semblance of Christianity, just as the counterfeit coin resembles
that which is genuine. There is not a single doctrine, with
the exception of the Trinity, in which Romanists do not differ
from the ancient Catholic church. How, then, can it be said
Popery is the religion of Jesus Christ, when its principles are
not to be found in any of our Lord's discourses, or in the writ-
ings of his apostles ?
448 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
WRECK OF THE "SABBATH-BREAKER."
But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against
them which commit such things. Romans 2 : 2.
IN a quiet village, situated on the shores of a beautiful lake,
lived a man of some wealth and independent manners. He
disregarded the Sabbath entirely, and pursued his business or
pleasures as best suited his taste or convenience. He com-
menced building a boat, principally for pleasure excursions on
the lake. While he was proceeding with the enterprise, which
it was whispered abroad would afford an opportunity for Sun-
day sailing, he was called on by a minister, who inquired about
the boat, and expostulated with him, as the enterprise would
increase the wildness and immorality of their village.
" I am afraid," said the minister, " your boat will prove a
Sabbath-breaker."
The man looked him in the face, and with much assurance
said,
" Yes, it will that's just what I'll name my boat. I have
been thinking some time what to call her, and you have just
hit it. I thank you for the suggestion. This boat shall be
called ' The Sabbath-Breaker.' "
As he said this, he bade the minister good day, with a
chuckle at his evident surprise and mortification. The build-
ing went on, and especially on Sunday. She was soon ready
to launch, and was launched on Sunday, and named " The
Sabbath-Breaker," amid the cheers of some twenty or thirty
ha If- intoxicated men. An old sailor or two shook their heads
at the way she struck the water ; but the folly usual to such
an owner hid his eyes to the truth. She was rigged and fitted
for an excursion. She must go out on Sunday. A general
invitation was given, and numbers crowded on board. On the
streamer was floating the name in large black letters, " The
Sabbath-Breaker."
She put out. Several, seized by an indefinable dread as
they read the name over their heads, sprang on shore ; others
would have done so, but the boat was off. She sailed well
enough for a while. The timid felt reassured, and music and
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 449
mirth began. But scarcely four hours had passed when the
boat was struck by a flaw of wind which came very suddenly
upon her. Confusion reigned aboard. Scarce an effort was
made. She keeled almost instantly over, and went to the
bottom. Now, what an outcry ! But soon all was over.
Forty souls, mostly youth, had found a watery grave, and
just above the surface of the lake floated the streamer bear-
ing a terrible meaning << The Sabbath-Breaker." If earth
furnishes such incidents, what will eternity unfold of the wreck
of the Sabbath-breaker ?
RETRIBUTION.
And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and
doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Romans 2 : 3.
JACOB deceived his father, and was in turn deceived by his
own sons.
The Egyptians killed the Hebrew male children, and God
smote the first-born of Egypt.
Sisera, who thought to destroy Israel with his iron chariots,
was himself killed with an iron nail, stuck through his temples.
Adoni-bezek, Judges 1 : 5-7.
Gideon slew forty elders of Succoth, and his sons were mur-
dered by Abimelech.
Abimelech slew seventy sons of Gideon upon one stone, and
his own head was broken by a piece of millstone thrown by a
woman.
Samson fell by the " lust of the "eye," and before death the
Philistines put out his eyes.
Agag, 1 Sam. 15 : 33.
Saul slew the Gibeonites, and seven of his sons were hung
up before the Lord, 2 Sam. 21 : 1-9.
David, 2 Sam. 12 : 10-14.
Ahab, after coveting Naboth's vineyard, 1 Kings 21 : 19,
fulfilled, 2 Kings 9 : 24-26.
Jeroboam, the same hand that was stretched forth against
the altar was withered, 1 Kings 13 : 1-6.
57
450 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Joab, having killed Abner, Amasa, and Absalom, was put to
death by Solomon.
Daniel's accusers thrown into the lion's den meant for Daniel.
Haman hung upon the gallows designed for Mordecai.
Judas purchased the field of blood, and then went and
hanged himself.
So, in the history of later days, Bajazet was carried about
by Tamerlane in an iron cage, as he intended to have carried
Tamerlane.
Mazentius built abridge to entrap Constantine, and was over-
thrown himself on that very spot.
Alexander VI. was poisoned by the wine he had prepared
for another.
Charles IX. made the streets of Paris to stream with Protes-
tant blood, and soon after blood streamed from all parts of his
body in a bloody sweat.
Cardinal Beaton condemned George Wishart to death, and
presently died a violent death himself; he was murdered in
bed, and his body was laid out in the same window from
which he had looked upon Wishart 7 s execution.
LAYING UP ETERNAL STORES.
But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself
wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of
God. Romans 2 : 5.
EYERY man is treasuring up stores for eternity : the good
are laying up treasures in heaven, where moth doth not
corrupt ; the evil and impenitent are " treasuring up wrath
against the day of wrath." What an idea is this ! Treasures
of wrath ! Whatever the impenitent man is doing, he is treas-
uring up wrath. He may be getting wealth ; but he is treasur-
ing up wrath. He may be getting fame ; but he is treasuring
up wrath. He may be forming pleasing connections ; but he
is also treasuring up wrath : every day adds something to the
heap. Every oath the swearer utters, there is something
gone to the heap of wrath. Every lie the liar tells, every
licentious act the lewd man commits, adds something to the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 451
treasure 'of wrath. The sinner has a weightier treasure of
wrath to-day than he had yesterday ; he will have a weightier
to-morrow than he has to-day. When he lies down at night,
he is richer in vengeance than when he arose in the morning.
He is continually deepening and darkening his eternal por-
tion. Every neglected Sabbath increases his store of wrath ;
every forgotten sermon adds something to the weight of
punishment. All the checks of conscience, all the remon-
strances of friends, all the advice and prayers of parents, will
be taken into the account ; and all will tend to increase the
treasures of wrath laid up against the day of wrath. J. A.
James.
BEYOND THE MERCY OF GOD.
Who will render to every man according to his deeds. Romans 2 : 6.
AN intelligent and excellent minister was once called to
visit a man, then on his death-bed, who had been for
many years engaged in the African slave-trade. He had been
commander of a swift and successful ship, but had been often
compelled to throw his poor captives to the sharks and the
sea, to save his vessel from the cruisers, or to lighten it in the
storm j and had passed through the various terrible scenes
incident to the prosecution of that infamous traffic. And now
he was dying, in the full maturity of his powers, and in the
midst, if we remember rightly, of pecuniary prosperity and
social comfort. The minister spoke to him of repentance.
" Repentance ! " was his reply ; " I can not repent ! You
have seen many sorts of men, sir ; and perhaps you think you
have seen the most wicked and desperate among them. But
I tell you that you don't know anything about an African
slave-dealer. His heart is dead. Why, sir, I know perfectly
well I understand it fully that I shall die in spite of every-
thing ; and I know that I shall go to hell. There is no possi-
ble salvation for me. It is perfectly impossible but that I shall
be damned. And yet it don't move me in the least. I am just
as indifferent to it as ever I was in my life."
And so he died with despair perfected into insensibility and
452 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
death, the very fires of divine wrath, as they flashed upon his
face, not starting a sigh, or a pulse of emotion. His heart was
dead."
ETERNAL LIFE.
To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory, and honor,
and immortality ; eternal life. Romans 2 : 7.
HOWE, in his Blessedness of the Righteous, has a noble
passage, in which he contemplates innumerable multi-
tudes of pure and happy creatures inhabiting and replen-
ishing ample and spacious regions above, ignorant of
nothing lawful and pleasant to be known, curious to know
nothing useless, endowed with a self-governing wisdom, yet
with a noble freedom, all everywhere full of God, full of rev-
erence and dutiful love, every one in his own eye as nothing,
self- consistent, even free of all self-displeasures, all assured of
their acceptance witb God, all counting each other's felicity
their own, and every one's enjoyment multiplied so many
thousand-fold, as he apprehends every one as perfectly pleased
and happy as himself. Well may the Christian say, as he
ponders these noble thoughts, " 0, what will it be to be there ! n
And if the joy is so rapturous, the rest so blessed, the com-
pany so edifying, the place so glorious, Christ visible, God
near, death behind, judgment over, what is our hope of this
glory, and what result does it produce in us? Does it
strengthen us for the duties of life, and console us under its
sorrows, making its crosses light, and its gains trifling ? Surely
we Christians are but half awake, and the children of this
world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
There are treasures for us that we will hardly think of, a
home that is barely worth our while to prepare for, joys which
we languidly taste, gifts which we slothfully use. Yet the
night is far spent, the day is at hand. We have slumbered
and slept till our lamps are all but gone out ; let us haste to
trim them, for the bridegroom is coming. Surely, if we quite
believe about heaven all that the Bible tells of it, how humil-
ity would clothe us, and zeal inflame us, and the thought of
our inheritance ennoble us, making us calm and brave as the
sons of God I
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 453
DOING GOOD PREVENTED SIN.
But glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good ; to the Jew
first, and also to the Gentile. Romans 2 : 10.
THE following singular adventure was related some years
ago in an English newspaper: Two men, tired of life,
took the resolution of drowning themselves. Chance led them,
without being known to each other, to fix on the same spot
for the execution of their purpose ; and they met on West-
minster Bridge, from whence they purposed to throw them-
selves into the Thames. Very different motives had led to
this result. One, born to a large fortune, was satiated with
pleasure, and having no resources within himself, resolved to
get rid of life which he found painful and burdensome the
other, having applied himself to commerce, which he had pur-
sued for many years with indefatigable industry, was now, by
a series of losses and disasters, irretrievably ruined. Despair
brought one thither, disgust and satiety the other. Both, being
young, were struck with having come to the same spot for the
same purpose by different routes. The disgusted man, having
heard the other's story, said to him, " There is no remedy
for my unhappiness ; there is for yours. I am rich, and can
heal your sorrows by giving you part of my property. I shall
at least have performed one good action before I destroy my-
self, and your motive for getting rid of life will be removed."
The despairing man was delighted with the project of the
disgusted one ; but the latter, after saving the life of the
other, had no longer any wish to make an end of his own ; the
good action he had done reconciled him to existence. A
etrong friendship ensued between the two men in consequence
of this meeting ; one gave the other his daughter in marriage,
and both are now as much attached to life as they were for a
moment disgusted with it.
454 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
JESUS WHISPERING.
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience
also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing, or else ex-
cusing one another. Romans 2 : 15.
' TT7HAT is conscience ? " said ^ Sabbath school teacher one
YV day to the little flock that gathered around to learn
the word of life.
Several of the children answered, one saying one thing, and
another another, until a little timid child spoke out,
" It is Jesus whispering in our hearts."
Does Jesus whisper in your heart ?
When you do right, does he approve ? When you do wrong,
does he rebuke ? Does he make your heart sad when you
have sinned, and happy when you have done right? Be
thankful, then, for this, and remember always to heed the Sa-
viour's whisper, and study his word, and pray to know his
will, and then you will be safely guided to his heavenly home
at last.
JUDICIOUS ADVICE TO A YOUNG WAG.
For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of
God without effect? Romans 3 : 3.
A VENERABLE minister at H. preached a sermon on the
J\. subject of eternal punishment. On the next day, it was
agreed among some thoughtless young men, that one of them
should go to him and endeavor to draw him into dispute,
with the design of making a jest of him and of his doctrine.
The wag accordingly went, was introduced into the minister's
study, and commenced the conversation by saying, " I believe
there is a small dispute between you and me, sir, and I
thought I would call this morning and try to settle it."
" Ah," said the clergyman, " what is it ? "
{< Why," replied the wag, " you say that the wicked will go
into everlasting punishment, and I do not think that they will."
" 0, if that is all," answered the minister, " there is no dis-
pute between you and me. If you turn to Matt. 25 : 46, you
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 455
will find the dispute is between you and the Lord Jesus Christ,
and I advise you to go immediately and settle it with him."
This unexpected turn in the conversation introduced the
young disputant to a third party, with whom he was not on
very friendly terms j he therefore thought it best to drop the
subject.
RELIEF FOR A DISTRESSED CONSCIENCE.
Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Romans 3 : 24.
IN his recently published Notes of a Tour in -Switzerland,
Rev. Baptist Noel observes that there are states of mind in
which nothing but the gospel can afford peace, and illustrates
the sentiment by this remarkable anecdote :
" Not long since, a Protestant lady in the south of France,
supposing herself to be. near death, was seized with deadly
terror. It was in vain that her husband sought to console her.
They had lived a thoughtless life, and she could not bear to
stand before the judgment seat of God. ' Then let us send
for the minister,' said her husband. l What use is it ? ' replied
the sick person: 'I know what he will say; it avails nothing.'
However, the young minister was sent for. Being a young
rationalist, who had often opposed evangelical doctrine, he
endeavored, when he reached the chamber of sickness, to
console her by the memory of her domestic virtues, and by
the assurance of the boundless mercy of' God. But his efforts
were utterly vain ; all his fine speeches could not silence a
reproachful conscience ; she felt that the justice of God was
in terrible array against her ungodliness, and the very mission
of Christ convinced her of unpardonable ingratitude to the
Redeemer. The minister was perplexed ; all his stores of
commonplace, heartless palliatives to mental anguish were
exhausted, and she wildly told him that she was wretched and
undone. What could he say more ? At that moment it flashed
upon his mind that the evangelical doctrine which he had so
often opposed would silence all her fears ; it was precisely
what her agonized mind was asking for ; it would be to her
456 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
like water in the scorched 'desert. He knew the doctrine of
justification by grace through faith well, for he had often ma-
ligned it ; he was familiar with the texts cited by evangelical
ministers, for he had employed his powers of criticism to
refute their evangelical meaning. l If he could but speak to
her as an evangelical minister, he could hush that awful tem-
pest, which he could scarcely bear, to witness. But how could
he say what he did not believe ? How calm even that agony
by a lie ? At least, he could read those passages supposed to
contain evangelical doctrine ; there could be nothing wrong
in that.' Baffled and perplexed, he directed her to the word
of God for consolation, and read to her such texts as these :
' God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.' l He that believeth on the Son hath ever-
lasting life.' ' As many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name.' ' Therefore we conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law.' ' Being justified freely
by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.'
1 There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus.' No more was wanted ; it was light to her
perplexed path, it was peace to her anguish, it was life to the
dying, it was an instant cure for her despair ; and she wel-
comed the gospel as the flower in the desert welcomes the
rain, held fast the consolation, and died rejoicing in faith a
single instance of the adaptation of the gospel to our moral
wants."
THE RAILWAY TICKET.
To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness : that he might he just,
and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3 : 26.
" TJ OW do you think you are to be justified before God ? "
JJL said an Irish clergyman to a man in his parish.
" How, sir ? By the righteousness of Christ, to be sure ! "
" Well, but I want you to inform me what you understand
by the righteousness of Christ," rejoined the clergyman.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 457
The man hesitated for a moment, and then replied,
" Suppose, sir, I want to go to Limerick. I go down to the
railway station, and try to get into a carriage. A porter
comes tip to me, and asks for my ticket. I am obliged to tell
him I have none, and have no money to buy one. He pushes
me back, and says I must not go. A kind, rich man is stand-
ing by ; he says to me, 'I will purchase a ticket for you.'
This he does, and hands it to me. I show it to the porter,
who then allows me to get into a carriage, and away I go to
Limerick. In the same way I want to go to heaven. I have
no way of purchasing the title to it. Jesus sees my anxiety
to go ; he died to pay the debt of my sins ; he gives me his
righteousness ; I show this to God : and as the railway ticket
admitted me to the train, this gives me a title to heaven which
of myself I did not possess, and by my own power I could
never have obtained."
FAITH TRIUMPHING OVER NATURE.
_ Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace ; to the end the promise
might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to
that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us* all.
Romans 4 : 16.
THE important part which faith performed in the early his-
tory of God's people is well set forth by Dr. Whedon in
his Commentary on Romans 4:16. He says, " The Jewish
Race-Church was born by miracle from Abraham's faith. It
was a wonderful fact that not only Abraham's spiritual seed,
but even his bodily posterity, was born of his faith, and but
for that faith had never existed. In patriarchal times, great
was great paternity. To be a bountiful mother was the glory
of a woman ; to be father of a family, the power of a man. To
be father of a tribe was power ; to be father of a nation was
greatness ; to be father of many nations was the greatest of
greatness. The great promise had then been given to Abra-
ham, that he should be father of many nations. The stars of
the firmament indicated their number and prefigured their
glory. But a direful stoppage was in the way. The multi-
tudinous streams of generations were dry at the fountain head.
58
458 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
The birth of the future church and its Messiah was naturally
impossible. But Abraham was no mere naturalist. He be-
lieved in a God above nature, a God of holiness and truth ; he
held fast to the divine promise, and left to the divine will the
question of the How. And so by divine miracle was Israel born,
a miracle dimly foreshadowing the miracle of the generation
of Israel's Messiah, and the miracle of the regeneration through
the Messiah."
IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST.
And being fully persuaded, that what he had promised, he was able also
to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Romans 4 : 21, 22.
THE doctrine of " Christ's imputed Righteousness " is thus
treated by Dr. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the
fourth chapter of Romans, concluding remarks : " To say
that Christ's personal righteousness is imputed to every true
believer, is not scriptural ; to say that he has fulfilled all
righteousness for us, or in our stead, if by this is meant his
fulfillment of all moral duties, is neither scriptural nor true.
That he has died in our stea"d, is a great, glorious, and scrip-
tural truth ; that there is no redemption but through his blood,
is asserted beyond all contradiction, in the oracles of God.
But there are multitudes which the moral law requires, which
Christ never fulfilled in our stead, and never could. We have
various duties of a domestic kind, which belong solely to
ourselves, in the relation of parents, husbands, wives, ser-
vants, &c., in which relations Christ never stood. The salva-
tion which we receive from God's free mercy, through Christ,
binds us to live in a strict conformity to the moral law ; that
Itiw which prescribes our manners, and the spirit by which
they should be regulated, and in which they should be per-
formed. He who lives not in the due performance of every
Christian duty, whatever faith he may profess, is either a vile
hypocrite or a scandalous Aritinomian."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 459
SIMPLICITY OF SAVING FAITH.
But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that
raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Romans 4 : 24.
THE late King of Sweden was greatly exercised upon the
subject of faith some time previous to his death. A peasant
being once on a particular occasion admitted to his presence,
the king, knowing him to be a person of singular piety, asked
him, " what he took to be the true nature of faith." The
peasant entered deeply into the subject, and much to the king's
comfort and satisfaction. The king, at last, on his death-bed,
had a return of his doubts and fears as to the safety of his
soul, and still the same question was perpetually in his mouth
to those about him : " What is real faith ? " His attendants
advised him to send for the Archbishop of Upsal, who, coming
to the king's bedside, began, in a learned and logical manner,
to enter into the scholastic definition of faith. The prelate's
disquisition lasted an hour. When he had done, the king said,
with much energy, " All this is ingenious, but not comfortable ;
it is not what I want. Nothing but the farmer's faith will do
for me."
DELIVERED UNTO DEATH FOR OUR SINS.
Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justifi-
cation. Romans 4 : 25.
/CHRIST atones for us on the cross ; he justifies us on the
\J throne. That he may purchase our pardon for us, he
must die ; that he may secure the application of his blood to
our case, he must rise again. He must ever live to intercede
for us by pointing to the merit of his death. He must ever
live and reign, that he may apply the pardoning grace to the
successive generations of the penitent as they appear in faith
before him. Dr. D. D. Hliedon, in Com.
460 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
FAITH WHICH JUSTIFIES.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1.
IF we would at once see what a true and saving faith is, we
may take the sum of it in this description. It is when a
sinner, being, on the one hand, thoroughly convinced of his
sins, of the wrath of God due to him for them, of his utter
inability either to escape or bear this wrath, and on the other
hand, being likewise convinced of the sufficiency, willingness,
and resignation of Christ to satisfy justice, and to reconcile
and save sinners, doth hereupon yield a firm assent unto
these truths revealed in the Scripture, and also accepts and
receives Jesus Christ in all his offices, as his prophet, resolv-
ing to attend unto his teaching ; as his Lord and King, re-
solving to rely upon his sacrifice alone, and doth accordingly
submit to him, and confide in him sincerely and perseveringly.
This is that faith which doth justify, and will certainly save
all those in whom it is wrought. Bishop Hopkins, of Lon-
donderry.
GOD'S ANVIL.
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also ; knowing that tribula-
tion worketh patience. Romans 5 : 3.
means threshing; and Trench, in his excel-
lent little treatise on the study of words, has carried out
the figure, showing that it is only by threshing us that God sep-
arates the wheat from the chaff. Here is a precious little
morsel which somebody has clipped from an old paper and
sent to us, credited " to the German of Julius Sturm," and
which will speak touchingly to many a heart which has been
put into the furnace of affliction.
"I HOLD STILL."
" Pain's furnace heat within me quivers,
God's breath upon the flame doth blow,
And all my heart in anguish shivers,
And trembles at the fiery glow ;
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
And yet I whisper, ' As God will ! '
And in his hottest fire hold still.
u He comes and lays my heart, all heated,
On the hard anvil, minded so
Into his own fair shape to beat it
With his great hammer, blow on blow ;
And yet I whisper, ' As God will ! '
And at his heaviest blows hold still.
" He takes my softened heart and beats it ;
The sparks fly off at every blow ;
He turns it o'er and o'er and heats it,
And lets it cool, and makes it glow ;
And yet, I whisper, ' As God will ! ;
And, in his mighty hand, hold still.
" Why should I murmur ? for the sorrow
Thus only long-lived would be ;
Its end may come, and will, to-morrow, '
When God has done his work in me ;
So I say, trusting, l As God will ! ;
And, trusting to the end, hold still.
" He kindles, for my profit purely,
Affliction's glowing, fiery brand,
And all his heaviest blows are surely
Inflicted by a Master-hand :
So I say, praying, ' As God will ! '
And hope in him, and suffer still."
461
GRACE FREELY OFFERED.
But not as the offense, so also is the free gift : for if through the offense
of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace,
which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. Romans 5 : 15.
C\ RACE does not stand upon a distant mountain-top, and
VT call on the sinner to climb up the steep heights, that he
462 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
may obtain its treasures ; it comes down into the valley in
quest of him ; nay, it stretches down its hand into the very
lowest depths of the horrible pit, to pluck him thence out of
the miry clay. It does not offer to pay the ninety and nine
talents if he will pay the remaining one ; it provides payment
for the whole, whatever the sum may be. It does not offer to
complete the work if he will only begin it by doing what he
can ; it takes the whole work in hand, from first to last, pre-
supposing his total helplessness. It does not bargain with
the sinner, that if he will throw off a few sins, and put forth
some efforts after better things, it will step in and relieve
him of the rest'by forgiving and cleansing him; it comes up
to him at once, with nothing short of complete forgiveness, as
the starting-point of all his efforts to be holy. It does not
say, " Go, and sin no more, and I will not condemn thee ; " it
says at once, " Neither do I condemn thee ; go and sin no
more." Rev. H. Bonar.
A WONDERFUL PULPIT.
Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound. Romans 5 : 20.
THE pulpit of a true Christian ministry is- no rose-water
affair, to suit the likes and dislikes of men in their sins. It
must show " the exceeding sinfulness of sin," that the remedy
for sin may be sought after and applied to the soul. Those
ministers who make prominent their laudations of human na-
ture, and keep out of sight man's deep depravity, and his need
of pardon and converting grace, as declared in the Bible, are
quack doctors in the hospital of this world's humanity. They
seek to effect a surface cure, while the disease of sin is deep-
seated, and demands the most faithful probing to touch its
depths of corruption. That only is a cure that changes the
heart. That sinner only is saved into whose moral nature
God puts the "new spirit" (Ezekiel 11:19), after taking
away " the stony heart." Rev. W. F. Crafts, A. M., gives us
a beautiful illustration of a true gospel pulpit :
" In the cathedral of Brussels there is one of the most won-
derful pulpits in the world, which is called ' The Chair of
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 463
Truth.' It is carved very skillfully in wood, and represents
the pulpit in the midst of l the tree of life,' so that the preacher
seems to speak, indeed, in God's stead, as if he were only a
1 voice/ like John the Baptist, uttering the message of God's
heart. Beneath the pulpit, and beneath the tree, we see
Adam and Eve, hanging their guilty heads in shame, and
hastening from the garden, driven forth by the angel with the
flaming sword, who is following them. The serpent's form is
twined about the tree, and its head, with open mouth, is seen
above the pulpit; but upon that head stands the Christ-child,
with the cross as its spear and staff, and his mother behind
him. The seed of the woman is bruising the serpent's head.
This symbolic pulpit is a powerful lecture in homiletics, and
the art of Christian teaching generally. Every successful
pulpit must be founded on an intense realization of sin, and
crowned with a grand assurance of the power of Christ to
triumph over sin."
Every Christian teacher, whether in the pulpit, in the
home circle, or in the Sunday school, needs the same realiza-
tion of ntan's sinfulness, and the same assurance of. Christ's
saving power. " Sin abounds." " Grace does much more
abound." These two supreme facts must be intensely real in
the heart of every teacher of God's word, that he may indeed
be a " fellow-helper to the truth."
May, 1874.
DID SHE WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life. Romans 6 : 4.
MRS. A. was a church member. She thought herself ex-
ceedingly benevolent. She gave to almost every cause.
We will see how benevolent she was. She gave six dollars
for a pocket handkerchief, and having a dollar left after the
purchase, dropped it in the box for " foreign missions." She
gave forty dollars for a crape shawl, and two dollars the same
day to " domestic missions/' She gave ten dollars for a pair
of earrings, and a quarter of a dollar to the " tract society ; "
464 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
three hundred dollars she expended on a fashionable party
when her daughter Amelia " carne out/ 7 and fifty dollars went
towards repairing the church and paying the pastor. Her
elegant cut velvet hat cost fifteen dollars ; she paid fifty
cents about the same time towards a new Sabbath school
library. She gave three dollars for Eliza Ann's senseless wax
doll, and one dollar towards educating a young immortal in
Africa. Which weighed the heaviest in her heart, Christ or
the fashionable world ? Will God be satisfied with the dribblets
which chance to remain in the Christian's purse, after every
elegant taste has been gratified, and that, too, when a heathen
world is perishing?
THE BODY OF SIN DESTROYED.
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Romans 6 : 6.
A MAN may beat down the bitter fruit from an evil tree
until he is weary ; whilst the root abides in strength and
vigor, the beating down of the present fruit will not hinder it
from bringing forth more. This is the folly of some men ;
they set themselves with all earnestness and diligence against
the appearing eruptions of lust, but, leaving the principle and
root untouched, perhaps unsearched out, they make but little
or no progress in this work of mortification. John Owen,
D.D.
CAN WE DO NO MORE FOR CHRIST?
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:11.
IN this day and age of the world, a large and wide field is
open for Christian philanthropy and zeal, wherein to exer-
cise its fullest benevolence and most extended schemes of
usefulness, in the blessed work of Sabbath schools, Bible and
tract distribution, missions, and many other noble plans for
benefiting our fallen race. One hardly need be in want of a
place to work. Yet, with all these opportunities for doing
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 465
good, there are those who find little or nothing to do for Christ.
Such go upon the ground that all cannot engage in Sabbath
school instruction, or in carrying the word of life from door
to door, or enlist as foreign and home missionaries. And
must there, on this account, be some idlers in the vineyard,
some excused from labor for Christ, except so far as their
pecuniary aid is called for ? Admit that all these avenues of
usefulness are closed to you ; can you not speak a word for
Christ ? Were our conversational powers given us for our
own gratification and that of our friends merely, or for this,
as the chief object? Much of our influence, for weal or woe,
upon those around us, must depend upon the use we make of
the " one talent " committed to us in the gift of speech. Look
at it, Christian friend ! You have an impenitent man in your
employ. He has been by your side, engaged in the same
labor, for weeks, and months, perhaps even years, and there
has been a free interchange of thought and feeling on almost
every subject ; but have you ever talked with him frankly on
the one thing needful inquired after his soul's interest ?
The wife and mother, who regrets that she " is so shut up at
home," has she been faithful in urging the claims of Christ
upon her children and domestics, and up<3n all who make up
that dear home circle ?
BODILY INDULGENCES.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in
the lusts thereof. Romans 6 : 12.
/CHRISTIANITY forbids all hurtful indulgences, which war
\J against the soul.
Many are the New Testament passages referring to the
hindrances which wrong physical appetites throw in the way
of spiritual advancement. " Seeing we are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us ; and let us
run with patience the race that is set before us." Here,
under the same figure, the apostle urges physical and dietetic
59
4G6 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
discipline, like that of the foot-racers, as essentially connected
with growth in spiritual grace. In Romans 6, he says, " Let
not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should
obey it in the lusts thereof." Peter says, " Abstain from
fleshly lusts," extravagant appetites and passions, - " which
war against the soul." There are other scriptures showing
the intimate relation which the bodily system bears to the
spiritual character j and it has seemed strange to me that ser-
mons based upon this great and important fact, to which so
many scriptures attest, are almost never preached. There is,
probably, greater damage done to the soul of Christianity at
the present day by the varied sensualities of the lips, than by
almost any other means. And yet there is but just one form
of intemperance referred to in the preaching of the day, and
that too often omitted.
DR. RUSH ON THEATER-GOING.
Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his ser-
vants ye are to whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience
unto righteousness? Ifymans 6 : 16.
DR. RUSH told a friend that he was once in company with
a lady, a professor of religion, who was speaking of the
pleasure she anticipated at the theater in the evening.
" What, madam," said he, " do you go to the theater ? "
" Yes," was the reply ; " and don't you go, doctor ? "
" No, madam," said he ; " I never go to such places ! "
" Why, sir, do you not go ? Do you think it sinful ? "
said she.
He replied, " I will never publish to the world that I think
Jesus Christ a bad master, and religion an unsatisfying portion,
which I should do if I went on the devil's ground in quest of
happiness."
This argument was short, but conclusive. The lady de-
termined not to go.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS,
467
THOMAS PAINE'S LAST HOURS.
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for
the end of those things is death. Romans 6 : 21.
A RECENT memoir of Stephen Grellet, a beloved Christian
minister among the Friends, furnishes us some facts con-
nected with the death-bed of Thomas Paine, which have never
before been published, and which will be read with the deepest
interest. There is a terrible pathos in the story of a life of
such blasphemy and darkness, lit up at last with the stern re-
vealings of death.
" A few days previous to my leaving home on my last re-
ligious visit," says Mr. Grellet, " on hearing that he [Paine]
was ill, and in a very destitute condition, I went to see him,
and found him in a wretched state ; for he had been so neg-
lected and forsaken by his pretended friends, that the common
attentions to a sick man had been withheld from him. The
skin of his body was, in some places, worn off, which greatly
increased his sufferings. A nurse was provided for hinij and
some needful comforts were supplied. He was mostly in a
state of stupor ; but something that had passed between us had
made such an impression upon him, that some days after my
departure, he sent for me, and on being told I was gone from
home, he sent for another Friend.
" This induced a valuable young Friend, Mary Roscoe, who
had resided in my family, and continued at Greenwich during
part of my absence, frequently to go and take him some little
refreshments suitable for an invalid, furnished by a neighbor.
" Once, when she was there, three of his deistical associates
came to the door, and in a loud, unfeeling manner, said, ' Tom
Paine, it is said you are turning Christian 5 but we hope you
will die as you have lived ; ' and then went away. On which,
turning to Mary, he said l You see what miserable comforter^
they are.'
" Once he asked her if she had ever read any of his writings ;
and on being told that she had read but very little of them, he
inquired what she thought of them, adding, ' From such a one
as you I expect a correct answer.' She told him that, when
468 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
very yoimg, his ' Age of Reason ' was put into her hands, but
that the more she read in it, the more dark and distressed she
felt, and she threw the book into the fire.
" * I wish all had done as you/ he replied ; l for if the devil
has ever had any agency in any work, he has had it in my
writing that book/
" When going to carry him some refreshment, she repeat-
edly heard him uttering the language, ' Lord ! Lord God I'
or, l Lord Jesus ! have mercy upon me ! '
" It is well known that during some weeks of his illness,
when a little free from bodily pain, he wrote a great deal ; tin's
his nurse told me : and Mary Roscoe repeatedly saw him writ-
ing. If his companions in infidelity had found anything to
support the idea that he continued on his death-bed to espouse
their cause, would they not have eagerly published it ? But
not a word is said ; there is a total secrecy as to what has be-
come of these writings/ 7
CHRIST IS WONDERFUL.
For I was alive without the law once ; but when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died. Romans 7:9.
WELL may Christ be called Wonderful. He is wonderful
for what he is in the present. And here I will just
appeal to you personally is he wonderful to you ? Let me
tell the story of my own wonderment at Christ ; and, in telling
it, I shall be telling the experience of all God's children.
There was a time when I wondered not at Christ. I heard
of his beauties, but I had never seen them j I heard of his
power, but it was naught to me ; it was but news of something
done in a far country ; I had no connection with it, and there-
fore I observed it not.- But, once upon a time, there came one
to my house of a black and terrible aspect. He smote the
door. I tried to bolt it, to hold it fast. He smote again and
again, till at last he entered, and with a rough voice, he
summoned me before him ; and he said, " I have a message
from God for thee. Thou art condemned on account of thy
Bins." I looked at him with astonishment. I asked him his
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 469
name. He said, " My name is the Law ; " and I fell at his feet
as one that was dead. " I was alive without the law once ;
but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died."
As I lay there, he smote me. He smote me till every rib
seemed as if it must break, and the bowels be poured forth.
My heart was melted like wax within me. I seemed to be
stretched upon a rack to be pinched with hot irons to be
beaten with whips of burning wire. A misery extreme dwelt
and reigned in my heart. I dared not lift up mine eyes, but
I thought within myself, " There may be hope, there may be
mercy for me. Perhaps the God whom I have offended may
accept my tears and my promises of amendment, and I may
live." But when that thought crossed me, heavier were the
blows, and more poignant my sufferings, than before, till hope
entirely failed me, and I had naught wherein to trust. Dark-
ness, black and dense, gathered around me. I heard a voice
as it were of rushing to and fro, and of wailing and gnashing
of teeth. . I said within my soul, " I am cast out from his sight ;
I am utterly abhorred of God ; he hath trampled me in the
mire of the streets in his anger." And there came one by of
sorrowful but of loving aspect, and he stooped over me, and
he said, " Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give thee light." I arose in astonishment,
and he took me, and he led me to a place where stood a cross,
and he seemed to vanish from my sight. But he appeared
again hanging there. I looked upon him as he bled upon that
tree. His eyes darted a glance of love unutterable into my
spirit, and in a moment, looking at him, the bruises that my
soul had suffered were healed ; the gaping wounds were cured ;
the broken bones rejoiced ; the rags that half covered me were
all removed ; my spirit was white as the spotless snows of the
far- off- north. I had melody within my spirit ; for I was saved,
washed, cleansed, forgiven, through him that did hang upon
the tree. 0, how I wondered that I should be pardoned ! It
was not the pardon that I wondered at so much ; the wonder
was, that it should come to me. I wondered that he should be
able to pardon such sins as mine. C. H. Spurgeon.
470 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
DECEIVABLENESS OF SIN.
For sin, taking* occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it
slew me. Romans 1 : 11.
Watchman and Reflector has some very sensible criti-
JL cisms on the semi-infidel theories of natural goodness and
excellences of sinful nature. It says these rose-water theories
as to what sin actually is, in its root and character, belong
purely to the study, and find no favor practically in the great
out-door world. One of these very writers, if he were to
awake some morning and find that his house had been robbed,
would be just as eager as any one else to .catch the thieves,
and have them brought to punishment. The sinners that
break into his own house to steal, and, if need be, to kill, are
not the kind of sinners contemplated in his theory. In short,
in the actual business of life, and where the great common
sense of humanity has free course, sin is estimated, in its tem-
per and quality, just as it is in the Bible, and in all true evan-
gelical preaching. Everywhere on the face of the earth, in
the common details of their daily life, men regard sin as that
which is guilty and punishable. So strongly is this sentiment
imbedded in the human mind that where courts are corrupted
and justice is delayed, where crimes are winked at and go
unpunished, the people as a mass will rise up and become the
summary avengers of iniquity. When a band of men, in the
silence of the night, take a gang of robbers from the officers
of the law, and hang them upon the nearest tree because they
cannot otherwise have justice done, is it to- be supposed that
they and the wide-spread community which they represent
hold to these soft and sickly theories as to what sin is ? Would
they be content to talk of it and think of it as a " mere defect
of nature," or as " arising from imperfect knowledge " ? No ;
the Bible and the common sense of mankind agree on this sub-
ject, as upon many others, and these feeble theories are as
offensive to reason as they are to Christian doctrine.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 471
DIFFERENT ESTIMATES OF SIN.
Was then that which is good made death unto me? Gqd forbid. But sin,
that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin,
by the commandment, might become exceeding sinful. Romans 7 : 13.
WHEN" the doctrine of man's natural depravity is preached
in scriptural fashion from the evangelical pulpit, there
are multitudes of men who curl the lip in scorn, and bless
themselves that they take more elevated and cheerful views
of human nature. Those especially who call themselves Liberal
Christians are always greatly shocked at the bare mention of
" total depravity/' though they seldom take pains to inform
themselves what that doctrine, as held by the evangelical
churches, really is. We have also an abundance of writers in
these modern times, who, when they sit down to theorize
about sin, make it such an exceedingly simple and innocent
affair, that no one need be troubled by it. It is a mere defect
of nature, arising from want of proper knowledge. It is inci-
dental to all early and finite training. It is not only harmless
in the long run, but a positive source of good.
CHRIST OUR DELIVERER.
0, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
death ? Romans 7 : 24.
THE seventh chapter of Romans is too often made a hiding- '
place for backslidden professors, and such as professed
religion without ever experiencing a change of heart. The
true Christian leaves this chapter, as a description of experi-
ence at his conversion, as quickly as the sick man leaves the
hospital when fully cured.
Our Lord does more than pardon, he delivers. "Who
shall deliver me ? " is the cry of a seeker.
Man in the flesh, as a child of Adam, wants two 'things
the forgiveness of the sins which he committed in that state ;
and also deliverance out of that state, and to get into a new
state. For man, the judgment will be according to the deeds
472 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
done in his body, whether good or bad. Now, as Christians,
we find that we are forgiven our sins, for which Christ died ;
and not only this, but that our old man is crucified with him,
that the body of sin might be destroyed. God has turned to
the tree, and says, " The tree is bad." Then he deals with
it in Christ, in judgment, not merely its fruit. Then he shows
the source of life to us, Christ himself, after he has cut
all away ! Times of Refreshing.
TRINITY IN UNITY.
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God. Romans 7 : 25.
THE authority of the law of God, says the Rev. N. West, is
the authority of a Trinity in Unity. " I myself serve the
law of God." (Rom. 7 : 25.) "Fulfill the law of Christ."
(Gal. 6 : 2.) "The law of the Spirit of life." (Rom. 8 : 2.)
The divine law is, then, the law of God, of Christ, and of the
Spirit. But it is written, " There is one lawgiver, who is able
to save," &c. (James 4 : 12.) Therefore these three are one.
Here, then, is the true reason why the Scriptures represent
the whole Trinity was tempted and resisted by the disobedi-
ence of man. For sin being the transgression of the law, and
the law resting on the sanction of the undivided authority of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, every breach of it
is against the Trinity. Hence the strong prohibition, " Ye
shall not tempt the Lord your God." (Deut. 6 : 16.)
HE WILL RAISE US UP.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the (load dwell in you,
he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Romans 8 : 11.
THE earth is God's chest, in which he locks up the dust of
his saints for a short time ; but when God calls for this
treasure again, the earth shall presently be willing to yield
what was intrusted to her bowels : as the dew of heaven full-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 473
ing upon the herbs after they are withered and almost dead
by the parching heat of the sunne, again waxe green and
flourish, so when we have laine withering in the grave, the
Lord Jesus Christ shall be as the dew of heaven upon us ; He
shall come down in His power and put a new life into us, and
after death Ave shall be raised to a life of glory. Our bodies
are called in Scripture the temples of God. Let me tell you
that God will not pull downe His temples, unless He intended
to build them up againe ; He will set up these temples in
glory, which he pulls downe and layes in the dust with
dishonour.*
MINISTRY OF AFFLICTION.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory wluch shall be revealed in us. Romans 8 : 18.
AN invalid of twenty years, whose sufferings were extreme,
was one night thinking of the reason of this long-con-
tinued affliction ; suddenly the room filled with light, and a
beautiful form bent over her, saying,
" Daughter of sorrow, art thou impatient?"
" No ; but I am full of pain and disease, and I see no end ;
nor can I see why I must suffer thus."
" Come with me, daughter, and I will show thee."
He tenderly took her up in his arms, and carried her over
land and water, till he set her down in a far-off city, and in the
midst of a large workshop. The room was full of windows,
and the workmen seemed to have small brown pebbles, which
they were grinding, and shaping, and polishing. The guide
pointed her to one who seemed to be most earnestly at work.
He had a half-polished pebble, which was now seen to be a
diamond, in a pair of strong pincers. He seemed to grasp the
little thing as if he would crush it, and to hold it to the rough
stone without mercy. The stone whirled, and the dust flew,
and the jewel grew smaller and lighter. Ever and anon he
* From " The Perfection of Justification maintained against the Pharise,
and the Purity of the Sanctification against the Stainers of it. By John Simp-
son, an unworthy publisher of Gospel Truths in London." London, 1G48.
60
474 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
would stop, hold it up to the light, and examine it carefully.
" Workman," said the sufferer, " will you please tell me why
you bear on and grind the jewel so hard ? "
" I want to grind off every flaw and crack in it."
" But don't you waste it ? "
" Yes ; but what is left is worth so much more. The fact is,
this diamond, if it will bear the wheel long enough, is to
occupy a very important place in the crown we are making
up for our king. We take more pains with such. We have
to grind and polish them a great while j but when they are
done they are beautiful. The king was here yesterday, and
much pleased with our work, but wanted that this jewel in par-
ticular should be ground and polished a great deal. So you
see how hard I hold it down on this stone. And see, there is
not a crack nor a flaw in it ! What a beauty it will be ! "
Gently the guide lifted up the poor Sufferer, and again laid
her down on her bed of pain.
" Daughter of sorrow, dost thou understand the vision ? "
" 0, yes ; but may I ask you one question? "
" Certainly."
" Were you sent to me to show me all this ? "
" Assuredly."
" 0, may I take to myself the consolation that I am a dia-
mond, and am now in the hands of the strong man who is pol-
ishing it for the crown of the great King? "
" Daughter of sorrow, thou mayst have consolation : and
every pang of suffering shall be like a flash of lightning in a
dark night, revealing eternity to thee ; and hereafter thou shalt
' run without weariness and walk without faintness,' and sing
with those who have come out of great tribulation."
INTERCESSION OF THE SPIRIT.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities ; for we know not what we
should pray for as we ought ; hut the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us
with groanings which can not be uttered. Romans 8 : 2G.
D
R. CHALMERS gives the following interesting explana-
tion of the intercession of the Spirit :
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 475
<k How is it, that l the Spirit itself maketh intercession for
us with groanings which can not be uttered ? ' When the
Spirit maketh intercession for us, it is not by any direct sup-
plication from himself to God the Father on behalf of any one
individual, but it is by pouring upon that individual the spirit
of prayer and supplication. The man whom he prays for is, in
fact, the organ of his prayer. The prayer passes, as it were,
from the Spirit through him who is the object of it. These
groanings of the Spirit of God which can not be uttered are
those unutterable desires wherewith the heart is charged,
and which can only find vent in the ardent but unspeakable
breathings of one who feels his need, and longs to be relieved
from it ; who has a' strong and general appetency after right-
eousness, and yet can only sigh it forth in ejaculations of in-
tense earnestness. These are called the groanings of the
Spirit of God, because it is, in fact, he who hath awakened
them in the spirit of man. When he intercedes for a believer,
the believer's own heart is the channel through which the
intercession finds its way to the throne of grace."
GOOD OUT OF EVIL.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God ;
to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8 : 28.
rilREASONS, seditions, battles, and revolutions, so far as they
JL are made up of evil, are of man ; but in this evil development
are to be recognized, nevertheless, the controlling purpose
and overruling goodness of God. Judas was the son of per-
dition, and Satan. possessed him; but his intended decadence
sped on the work of redemption. The fall of Jerusalem
seemed like a geyser of hell, springing up to meet an over-
turned vial of the hottest wrath of Heaven ; but into the heart
of that glowing ruin, as into molten wax, was stamped down
a new seal of attestation to Christ's Messiahship, and out of
that furnace-mouth of vengeance went a new pentecostal fire,
a fresh and wider evangelization of the Gentiles. The wars
that marked the Protestant reformation on the soil of Ger-
many, Holland, France, England, and Scotland, and the later
476 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
struggles of the English commonwealth, spread round much
of woe, and wrong even ; but who could spare from European
and American history the seeds of truth and life, order and
freedom, that those conflicts scattered? The good very far
outweighed the precedent and attendant ills. Could litera-
ture, could freedom, could religion forego the heroes, martyrs,
sages, and confessors that emerged in those trials, and be-
queathed to us their enduring triumphs ?
We are, throughout our land, once so peaceful, and fertile,
and teeming with promise, now feeling the terrible ills of
warfare ; but are we because of its drafts of men and its
heavy burdens of taxation and consumption, the harvest fields
that it tramples down, and the hospital couches that it litters
with human sufferers, the households that it shivers, and the
graves that it fills to say that it has abrogated a prayer or
a Sabbath ? Has it repealed the gospel, or banned the further
descent of the regenerating and sanctifying Spirit of God ?
None of all these. God is in the struggle. We, in our temerity,
clay as we are, are too prone to forget this, and to question
and to instruct the divine Worker who is tempering and
molding the ductile mass. When man undertakes to mend
God's sovereign behests, he spoils himself into a misshapen
vessel of dishonor. God is in the struggle. And for his
church shall good emerge from all these dark and stormy
scenes. Dr. Williams.
THE FLAGS WHICH SAVED LIFE.
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Romans 8:31.
AN American citizen, whose birth was in the British empire,
was temporarily residing in Spain. While there, he was
accused of committing a capital crime, in the estimation of that
semi-barbarous nation. He was tried, condemned, and sen-
tenced to be shot. He sought the interposition of the Ameri-
can consul in his behalf. The consul inquired into the case,
and found the penalty too severe for the offense, according to
the laws of civilized nations. He therefore begged the au-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 477
tliorities to forbear the execution of the condemned man, but
to no avail. An appeal was made to the British consul to use
his influence to save the life of the unjustly condemned man,
which he cheerfully did ; but the authorities were inexorable.
Nothing but his death would satisfy them. The day of execu-
tion was fixed, and the place indicated. The victim of Spanish
hatred was led out in front of a file of soldiers, who only waited
the order to fire, when an American citizen would be unjustly
put to death. At this critical moment, by a mutual under-
standing, the British and American consuls, each with the flag
of his country, stepped forward and enveloped the trembling
culprit within the folds of the flags which represent the two
great nations of Christendom. Will they fire now? No,
they dare not ; for those flags represent powers which they
dare not disregard. The culprit was saved.
There is another banner, the symbol of mercy, power, and
pardon. It is the banner of the cross the colors of that
" kingdom which is not of this world." "Wrap this around the
soul of any of earth's guiltiest ones, and he may bid defiance
to the powers of earth and hell. " For if God be for us, who
can be against us ? " Divine justice can send no arrow of
eternal death against the soul of one whom Jesus saves
through faith in his blood. Rev. W. S. Titus.
INSTRUCTIVE ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD "TRIB-
ULATION."
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ?
Romans 8 : 35.
"TT7E all know, in a general way, that this word, which occurs
I V not seldom in Scripture and in the Liturgy, means afflic-
tion, sorrow, anguish ; but it is quite worth our while to know
how it means this, and to question the word a little closer.
It is derived from the Latin tribulum, that word signify-
ing the threshing instrument, or roller, by which the Romans
separated the corn from the husks ; and tribulatio, in its
primary significance, was the act of this separation. But
478 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
some Latin writer of the Christian church appropriated the
word and image for the setting forth of a higher truth ; and
sorrow, and distress, and adversity being the appointed means
for the separating in men of their chaff from their wheat, of
whatever in them was light, and trivial, and poor, from the
solid and the true, therefore he called these sorrows and griefs
" tribulations," threshings, that is, of the inner spiritual man,
without which there could be no fitting him for the heavenly
garner. Trench.
CHRIST OUR STRENGTH.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us. Romans 8 : 37.
IT is the inactivity of faith in Jesus that keeps us so imper-
fect, and wrestling with our corruptions, without any ad-
vancement. We wrestle in our own strength too often, and
so are justly, yea, necessarily, foiled ; it can not be otherwise
till we make him our strength. This we are still forgetting,
and had need to be put in mind of, and ought frequently to
remind ourselves. We would be at doing for ourselves, and
insensibly fall into this folly even after much smarting for it,
if we be not watchful against it. There is this wretched
natural independency in us that is so hard to beat out. All
our projectings are but castles in the air, imaginary buildings
without a foundation, till once laid on Christ. But never shall
we find heart peace, sweet peace, and progress in holiness, till
we be driven froni'it, to make him all our strength ; till we be
brought to do nothing, to attempt nothing, to hope or expect
nothing, but in him ; and then shall we indeed find his full-
ness and all-sufficiency, and " be more than conquerors through
him who hath loved us." Archbishop Leighton.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 479
THE OLD SCOTCH WOMAN'S FAITH.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principal-
ities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor hight, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8 : 38, 39.
BY the side of a rippling brook in one of the secluded glens
of Scotland there stands a low, mud-thatched cottage,
with its neat honeysuckle porch facing the south. Beneath
this humble roof, on a snow-white bed, lay, not long ago, old
Nancy, the Scotch woman, patiently and cheerfully awaiting
the moment when her happy spirit would take its flight to
" mansions in the skies," experiencing with the holy Paul,
" We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens." By her bedside, on a small
table, lay her spectacles and her well-thumbed Bible, her
" barrel and her cruse," as she used to call it, from which
she daily, yea, hourly, spiritually fed on the " bread of life."
A young minister frequently called to see her. He loved to
listen to her simple expressions of Bible truths ; for when she
spoke of her " inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that
fadeth not away," it seemed but a little way off; and the lis-
tener almost fancied he heard the redeemed in heaven saying,
" Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his
own blood."
One day the young minister put to the happy saint the fol-
lowing startling question : " Now, Nanny," he said, " what if,
after all your prayers, and watching, and waiting, God should
suffer your soul to be eternally lost ? " Pious Nanny raised
herself on her elbow, and turning to him .a wistful look, laid
her right hand on the precious Bible, which lay open before
her, and quietly replied, " Ae, dearie me, is that a' the length
you hae got yet, mon ? " and then continued, her eyes spar-
kling with almost .heavenly brightness, "God would hae the
greatest loss. Poor Nanny would but lose "her soul, and that
would be a great loss indeed ; but God would lose his honor
and his character. Haven't I hung my soul on his < exceed-
480 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ingly precious promises ' ? and if he brak' his word he would
make himsel' a liar, and a' the universe would rush into con-
fusion ! "
Thus spoke the old Scotch pilgrim. These were among the
last words that fell from her dying lips, and most precious
words they were like " apples of gold in pictures of silver.' 7
CHRIST'S DIVINITY AND HUMANITY.
Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came,
who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Romans 9 : 5.
DO you ask how^you shall distinguish when a text speaks
of Christ in respect to his human nature ? I answer, just
as, when you speak of a man, you distinguish whether what is
said relates to his body or his soul. When I say, " Abraham
is dead/' I mean obviously his mortal part. When I say,
" Abraham is alive," I mean obviously his immortal part.
When the evangelist says that Jesus increased in stature
and wisdom, and in favor with God and man, and when he
affirms of him other things predicable of our human nature,
he obviously means to apply all this to his human nature.
When he affirms that the Logos is God, and that he made the
universe, when the apostle says that he is God over all and
blessed for 'ever, I cannot help thinking it to be equally obvi-
ous that they predicate this of his divine nature." The simple
answer to your question then is, that we must determine which
nature is meant by what is affirmed concerning it. M. Stuart
to Channing.
HEAVEN A PREPARED PLACE.
And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory. Romans 9 : 23.
A SCOFFING infidel of considerable abilities, being once in
company with a person of weak intellect, but a real
Christian, and supposing, no doubt, that he should obtain an
easy triumph, and display his ungodly wit, put the following
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 481
question to him : " I understand, sir, that you expect to go to
heaven when you die ; can you tell me what sort of a place
heaven is ? " " Yes, sir," replied the Christian ; " heaven is
a prepared place for a prepared people, and if your soul is not
prepared for it, with all your boasted wisdom, you will never
enter there."
" For vain applause transgress not Scripture rules;
A witty sinner is the worst of fools."
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST THE TRUE CIVILIZER.
And he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people which were not my
people, and her beloved which was not beloved. Romans 9 : 25.
IN Mr. Pritchard's Researches into the Physical History of
Mankind, vol. i. p.. 183, we find a beautiful confirmation of
the above important truth. He says, " So rapid has been the
spread of civilization around the settlements of the United
Brethren, by whom the task of introducing the Christian reli-
gion among the Hottentots was undertaken, as to have given
rise to a general notion that the missionaries of that church
direct their endeavors in the first place to the diffusion of
industry and social arts, and make religion a secondary object
of attention. This, however, they uniformly deny. It is the
unvarying statement of these missionaries, deduced from the
experience of a hundred years of patient service and laborious
exertions among the rudest and most abject tribes of human
beings, that the moral nature of man must be in the first
instance quickened, the conscience awakened, and the better
feelings of the heart aroused by the motives which Christian-
ity brings with it, before any improvement can be hoped for
in the outward behavior and social state ; that the rudest sav-
ages have sufficient understanding to be susceptible of such. a
change ; and that, when it has once taken place, all the bless-
ings of civilization follow as a necessary result."
61
482 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
NOT BY WORKS, BUT BY FAITH.
What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after
righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which
is of faith. Romans 9 : 30.
A P.OOR Indian, who had been a very wicked man, but who
had become pious, was desired to tell how it was that he
had been led to Christ. He described it in this way, taking
his figures from his way of life, as he had been accustomed to
chase the deer and the bear over mountains and through
morasses :
" I was in the mud," said he ; "I tried to get out, and I
could not. I tried the harder, and the harder I tried the faster
I sunk. I found I must put forth all my strength ; but I went
down deeper, and deeper, and deeper. I found I was going
all over in the mire ; I gave the death-yell, and found myself
in the. arms of Jesus Christ."
Admirable picture of the fruitlessness of all our efforts to
save ourselves ! How slow we are in learning that all per-
sonal -and human expedients to extricate ourselves are utterly
in vain ! But no sooner is the discovery made than the arms
of Jesus are open to receive us.
There is but one step out of self into Christ. As soon as
" 0, wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me ? " bursts
from the convicted and anguished soul, and the eye of faith -is
fixed upon Christ, the cry of deepest distress is immediately
changed into " Thanks be unto God, through Jesus Christ our
Lord ! "
RELIGION NOT TO BE COVERED UP.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt be-
lieve in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. Romans 10 : 9.
IN a recent outpouring of the Spirit in A., there was a large
and interesting family, in which the mother was the only
professor of religion. They lived three miles from the church.
The father, some fifty years old, took great pains to be at tho
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 483
meetings ; and the mother, though the family ran down to the
cradle, contrived to have all but a picket guard round the baby
out to every meeting. Soon the children began to manifest
anxiety ; the eldest daughter gave her heart to Christ ; a little
son expressed full determination to be the Lord's.
The heart of the father was moved, and in a social meeting
he said, " My friends, I am a wretched sinner. When I was
sixteen years old, away at school, my mind was awakened,
and I awoke one morning very happy, trusting in Christ:
everything seemed to be praising God ; but I covered it up
in my heart, and it soon passed away. From that time I have
been a miserable man, of no account to myself or anybody
else, and I don't think there is any mercy for me now."
Fervent prayers were offered for him. He was exhorted to
lay aside his fears and come to Jesus. He went home, set up
an altar in his house, and, after a great struggle, publicly con-
secrated himself to God. Two grown sons and two smaller
ones came to the Saviour, the father, daughter, and five sons
all sitting at the Saviour's feet. There is great joy in that
house. " Them that honor me I will honor/' says God.
FAITH SUBJECT TO THE WILL.
For with the heart man bclieveth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10 : 10.
I HAVE a striking illustration to mention. I was asked one
day to breakfast at the house of an excellent man, who
has gone to his everlasting rest the late Thomas Meux, of
Bloomsbury Square ; and, on going in, I heard him saying,
u You deny the Bible, and therefore there is no arguing with
you." I instantly guessed there was a skeptic present, and
instead of giving an exposition of a chapter, as I had done on
one or two occasions, I resolved to give a succinct summary
of the evidences of the Christian faith. In the course of my
remarks, I made the following statement, which I had received
from good authority : " There was an infidel of great notoriety,
and of no ordinary pjowers of mind. He had a wife who was
484 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
a Christian, and a daughter who was believed to be so : his
wife died, and went to her rest, and after some time consump-
tion laid the daughter also on her dying bed. Three or four
days before her death, she called her father to her bedside,
and put the question to him, l Father, am I to die in the creed
you teach, or in the faith in which my mother died ? ' The
struggle in the father's mind was intense, and his frame was
convulsed for a time. At last, in the agony of his feelings, he
gave utterance to the convictions of his heart l Die, my
child, in your mother's faith/ 7)
I little suspected, when I rose from the table, and was in-
troduced to the party, that that very father was at the moment
in the room. There were tears in his eyes, but no conviction
carried to his heart ; though I reasoned with him for two hours,
no impression was made apparently upon his hardened heart,
or his seared and deadened conscience. But carry this fact
with you, that infidelity may do for Sunday newspapers and
Socialist halls, but it will not bear the terrible test of the
departing hour. Dr. Gumming*
A TRUE CONFESSOR.
For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Romans 10 : 11.
n chapel of the Consumptives' Home, Boston, connects
ie various wards. A door opens at each corner of the
chapel directly into a ward. Those who are able to do it have
only to step in, and those who are obliged to remain can hear
much of what passes in the chapel through the open doors.
One morning a young man rose and spoke in a voice re-
duced by his disease to a hoarse whisper ; yet he was heard by.
all. Tall arid finely formed, yet attenuated to a shadow, he
stood erect. His face was brilliant from its pallor, contrasted
with the hectic flush of his hollow cheeks. His eyes were
large and clear. His words were caught by the eager listen-
ers, and every one seemed to tell on every heart.
He said, " I am a Canadian Frenchman, born and bred a
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 485
Catholic. I knew nothing of Jesus until I came here. My
prejudices were deep and strong. The kindness I met here
on every side touched me. I never was in such a place be-
fore. Everybody seemed happy, and they all agreed that it
was Jesus who made them so. It was too much for me. I
saw they had something I had not. None were afraid of
death. I was ; it made me very miserable. I asked the doc-
tor about it. He told me to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he would set me right, and then confess him, and he would
make me as happy as anybody else.
" My proud heart rebelled. At last I yielded, broke down,
made up my mind to trust and confess ; I did so, and was
blessed. Jesus has filled me with love, joy, and peace, and
now I am going to stand up and speak for him as long as I
can whisper his name ; and when my voice is all gone, and I
can not speak at all, I will still stand up for him as long as my
strength lasts ; and when I can't do that, I will raise up my
hand for him. Blessed be his holy name."
PREACHING AN INSTITUTION OF -GOD.
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beau-
tiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring gladtidings
of good things ! Romans 10 : 15.
MEN, called of God to the work of the Christian ministry,
preach for spiritual and eternal results. Concerning
their worth, a writer has said,
Preaching is not a trade. It comes not under the rules of
business. We are sorry it passes for one of the " professions."
It is work brain work, heart work, life work. It takes cog-
nizance of all trades, all business, all professions. It looks into
all die relations of men, and deals with all truth and all error.
There is nothing so private or so public as to be out of its
range. Preaching intermeddles with all knowledge ; it has to
do with wisdom and ignorance, with potentate and beggar.
It searches all thoughts, and tests all motives. It goes into
the deepest chambers of the soul, and touches the springs of
thought and the foundations of life. In the name of God it
486 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
lays the hand of authority upon the motives of men, and inter-
weaves itself with the very texture of character. Well might
an inspired man exclaim, " Who is sufficient for these things ? "
Would that every preacher could feel with Paul the .burden
of this ministry.
UNAPPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE.
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10 : 17.
IMAGINE yourself living in that age and state of the world
in which human nature is found unenlightened by revela-
tion. Fancy yourselves, for a moment, encompassed with the
darkness of heathenism ; the paths of virtue and safety ob-
scured ; your Maker hidden from your view ; your origin,
your duty, your destination unknown ; the way to the tomb,
your inevitable course, haunted with spectres of doubt and
dismay ; your spirits turning on every side for light and
direction, but finding on every side darkness and uncertainty.
In the midst of this gloom, suppose the heavens opened, and
there descended to you a messenger, bringing to you a book,
which informed you of your origin and destiny; which re-
vealeH to you the true God, and assured you of his love and
favor ; which made the path of every virtuous excellence plain
before you, and disclosed to you a title, an eternal title, to im-
mortality. With what transports of delight would you receive
the messenger ! I see you, in imagination, falling prostrate at
his feet. The book which he gives you you would press to
your lips * you would hold it to your bosom ; you would drop
on it the tears of excessive joy. As the messenger returned
to the skies, you would follow him with benedictions, till he
vanished from your view ; and the precious volume you would
carry to your habitation with care and unspeakable exultance.
Your wife and your children would be called to behold the
gift. Your neighbors and friends would be shown the treas-
ure. And were the wealth of the world offered you in ex-
change for it, you would again clasp it in your hands, and
declare it above all price. But, my brethren, take away the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 487
Scriptures, and what is your condition but the condition of
unenlightened nature ? Consider their inspiration of God, and
their important contents, and what is their value less, than if
they were brought to you immediately from the skies ? And
yet how imperfectly are they appreciated ! Who hath suffi-
ciently regarded them ? Of the worth of the sacred volume
no estimation would be too high. For the kindness and con-
descension of the Almighty in giving it to us no measure of
gratitude would be excessive. But, because we have always
been in the enjoyment of it, and its light and comfort are
familiar to our minds, we behold it, as we behold the sun in
the heavens, unmindful of the majesty and benignity of its
Author, and almost unconscious of the importance of its beams.
Surely, if the views we have taken of the subject are remem-
bered, this insensibility to the value of the best blessing of
life will be reproved by your consciences, and carefully cor-
rected. When 3 r ou think of the inspiration of the Scriptures,-
of their completeness, and of their end and uses, unless you
are ungrateful to your Maker and unjust to yourselves, you
will be, like the Psalmist, as glad of God's word as one that
findeth great spoils. Bishop Dehon's Sermons on the Scrip-
THE BIBLE IS THE ROOT.
Boast not against the branches ; but if thou boast, thou bearest not the
root, but the root thee. Romans 11 : 18.
A BRAHMIN in Mysore, India, was led by the Holy Spirit
to inquire into the truth of Christianity. He read the
Scriptures and religious tracts very eagerly. He was deeply
impressed with the Pilgrim's Progress. " That book is better
than the Bible," said he.
His teacher (Mr. Sanderson, the missionary) did not think
it desirable to give a direct contradiction to that statement,
but he taught him the difference by a sort of parable. Point-
ing to a scene before him, he said to him, " Do you see that
beautiful mango tree there ? " *
" Yes," was the answer.
488 A 7 .JF TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" Don't you see the beautiful fruit, which drops its nectar
upon the ground ? "
" Yes."
" Don't you eat the fruit, and enjoy its sweetness ? "
" Yes."
" And where would that tree be if there were no root to
the tree ? "
" 0," said the man, " now I see what you mean : the Bible
is the root, and all other good books in the world spring
from it."
He never afterward said that any book was better than the
Bible.
It pleased God so to bless the teaching of his own word,
that this poor man became a humble and earnest Christian,
and his own son and daughter have grown up to be useful
workers among the heathen around.
"GOD IS ABLE TO GRAFF THEM IN AGAIN."
And they, also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in ; for
God is able to graff them in again. Romans 11 : 23.
A WRITER in the Foreign Missionary says, " A most ex-
traordinary change has come over the general state of the
Jews in Berlin. Many of the leading statesmen and literati
in Prussia are of the house of Israel. I have a list before me,
containing no less than twenty-seven names of Hebrew Chris-
tians, professors or teachers, who have recently been engaged
in the noble University of Berlin to give instruction in theolo-
gy, law, medicine, or other branches of science ; and in every
department of public life many are to be found who are dis-
tinguished for their attainments and services in every good and
noble cause, who show that, by God's mercy, there is no differ-
ence between the Jew and the Greek ; both are one 4 in Christ.
And yet, as Dr. Biesenthal assured me, no less than forty
thousand copies of some of the treatises of the Talmud have
been sold in one year by oe printer in Berlin. This seems
to be incredible, These copies are used in various schools,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 489
where Jewish youths are educated in all the darkness of rab-
binical night.
" It may be said, Very few of these forty thousand copies
remain in Berlin. It is obvious that, aniid a population of
twenty-five thousand Jews, only a comparatively small number
of these copies could be required in one year, as, no doubt, the
Talmudic schools in that place must have been already sup-
plied with books a year ago, and the wear and tear of a single
year can not be so very great. But still the fact is a startling
one ; and the more so. as Dr. Biesenthal assured me also, that
students may now be found in the college where the Talmud
is taught in Berlin at the early hour of three in the morning."
DO YOU EVER PRAY?
0, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out !
Romans 11 : 33.
SOME years ago, as Rev. George Buel was passing a public
liouse in Baltimore, a half- intoxicated young man came out,
and Mr. Buel gave him two tracts ; one, " Am I Prepared to
Die?" the other, "Do you ever Pray ? " Not a word was
spoken. Years went by, and the event passed out of the
minister's mind.
A few years after, as Mr. Buel was pacing' the deck of
one of our ocean steamers, a gentleman approached him, ex-
tended his hand, and spoke cordially. But Mr. Buel strove in
vain to recall the features before him. " I perceive," said the
gentleman, " that you do not recognize me j but I shall have
reason to thank God throughout eternity for your kindness
years ago." He then related the above circumstances, and
said, " At first I was angry ; but afterward I read the tracts.
My mother, who had been dead for several years, was piouSj
and taught me in early life to pray j but I wandered from her
teachings, and the tavern had become my constant resort.
The tract, ' Do you ever Pray ? ' brought back to my mind
my mother, and all her hallowed teachings. ' Am I Prepared
to Die ? ' The question rang through my very soul ! My
62
490 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
sins rose up before me in fearful array, until I cried aloud for
mercy ; and, blessed be God, he heard my prayer, "forgave my
sins, and bestowed on me the hope of eternal life through Jesus
Christ his Son."
Mr. Buel found that the young man was now residing in the
west, a thriving merchant, laboring to advance the cause of
Christ, and especially to induce ah 1 to touch not, taste not, the
intoxicating cup. M. E. K.
NOT CONFORMED, BUT TRANSFORMED.
And be not conformed to this world ; but be ye transformed by the renew-
ing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect will of God. Romans 12 : 2.
HOW does the world around us need now the aspect of a
robust piety in all its conspicuous walks ! No argument
to prove that faith in Christ and him crucified is so potent to
save a man at this hour as when Paul preached in Corinth,
could be as convincing as the holy life of one with the world
under his feet, using his talent for business and for accumula-
tion simply to honor Christ and to aid in uplifting his fellow-
men everywhere. It is an honor to be considered a " pe-
culiar" people in the sense of the New Testament. It is
much safer to be accounted of the world too strict and rigid
in our interpretation of duty and service, than to be so lax as
to win its ready compliments for our great breadth of charity
and liberality of sentiment. There is, after all, to be in every
instance a positive and permanent choice of masters, and there
is a world- wide difference between them. The progress of
civilization does not harmonize them. Their subjects can not
in heart be brought nearer together. They are instinctive
foes to each other's prevailing sentiments. Christ leads one
Jiost, and Mammon the other. To be for Christ is to turn the
back upon the world as an object of leading desire and ser-
vice. To make the ambitions, promises, or pleasures of the
world an end, is to turn the face away from Christ and to wor-
ship at another shrine. Rev. D. Curry, D. D.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 491
TWO SCENES.
Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil ; cleave to that
which is good. Romans 12 : 9. .
A GENTLEMAN took his son to a drunken row in a tavern,
-LJL where the inmates were fighting and swearing, and said
he,-
" Do you know what has caused all this ? "
" No, sir."
His father, pointing to the decanters, sparkling with rum,
said,
" That's the cause ; will you take a drink ? "
The boy started back with horror,' and exclaimed,
" No ! "
Then he took his child to the cage of a man with delirium
tremens. The boy gazed upon him affrighted as the drunk-
ard raved and tore ; and thinking the demons were after him,
cried,
" Leave me alone ! leave me alone ! I see 'em ! they're
coming ! "
" Do you know the cause of this, my boy ?"
" No, sir."
" This is caused by drink ; will you have some ? " and he
shrank with a shudder as he refused the cup.
Next- they called at the miserable hovel of a drunkard, where
was squalid poverty, and the drunken father beating his wife,
and, with oaths, knocking down his children.
" What has caused this ? " said the father.
..The son was silent. When told that it was rum, he de-
clared he would never touch a drop in his life. But suppose
that lad should be invited to a wedding feast, where with fruit
and cake the wine-cup is passed amid scenes of cheerfulness
and gayety, where all the friends are respectable, beloved,
and kind to each other, and he should be asked to drink ; would
he refuse ? Or, suppose him walking out with his father on
New Year's day to call upon his young lady friends to enjoy
the festivity of the ushering in of the new year. With other
things, wine is handed to him by a smiling girl. His noble-
492 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
hearted father, whom he loves, presses the wine-glass to his
lips, and compliments the young lady upon the excellence of
its quality ; what wonder if the son follow his example ?
Emblem Annual.
SLOTHFULNESS FORBIDDEN..
Not slothful in business .; fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Ro-
mans 12 : 11.
SUBJECTION to worldly labor and toil puts us in mind of
O our fallen state, and is really a mercy to us fallen crea-
tures ; for occupation both for our minds and bodies in the
concerns of the world is conducive to our bodily health. It
calls forth the powers of the mind into exercise, and it espe-
cially is a great preservative against many temptations to which
otherwise we should be exposed. Six days of the week are
allotted for arranging all our worldly matters, as well as one
day of the seven which is immediately set apart for the service
of God. < Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work."
But sin, that mars everything, does also mar that wise and
gracious ordination which assigns to us occupation in the
world. In two opposite ways it injures us. It either leads
men to neglect their lawful callings through sloth and indo-
lence, or by wholly engrossing their attention, from love of
money and covetousness, it induces them to act unfairly toward
others, and to ruin their own souls. Muirhead.
CHRISTIANITY EXEMPLIFIED.
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink :
for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Romans 12 : 20.
ITIHE following is a touching illustration of the spirit which
1 Christianity begets, contrasted with that which heathen-
ism inspires :
Two men living in the southern part of Africa had a quar-
rel, and became bitter enemies to each other. Soon after, one
of them found a little girl belonging to his enemy in the woods,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 493
at some distance from her father's house. He seized her and
cut off two of her fingers ; and as he sent her home scream-
ing with her bleeding hands, he cried, " I have had my re-
venge ! "
Years passed away. The little girl had grown up to be
almost a young woman. One day there came to her father's
door a poor, worn-out, gray-headed old man, who asked for
something to eat. She knew him at once as the cruel man
who had cut off her fingers. She went into the hut, and
ordered the servant to take him bread and milk as much as
he could eat, and sat down and watched him eat it.
When he had finished she dropped the covering that hid
her hands from view, and, holding them up before him, she
said, " I have had my revenge ! " The man was overwhelmed
with surprise. The secret of the girl's conduct was, that in
the mean time she had become a Christian, and had learned
the meaning of the verse, " If thine enemy be hungry, give
him bread to eat ; if he be thirsty, give him water to drink :
for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head."
How beautiful the conduct of this injured Christian girl ap-
pears in contrast with that of her heathen enemy ! Let us
imitate such conduct, arid endeavor by God's grace to follow
closely the teaching and example of Him who is the bright
pattern of the Christian life. Jesus conquers by kindness and
love. When we were enemies, he died for us ; and in propor-
tion as we have his spirit shall we manifest love and kindness
toward any who have injured us or are unfriendly toward us.
BIBLE CATECHISM ON TEMPERANCE.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12 : 21.
INTEMPERANCE is now the greatest of evils, and is over-
coming to their ruin thousands every year.
1. Who was the first drunkard ? Gen. 9 : 20, 21.
2. Who took the first temperance pledge ? Judges 13 : 13, 14.
3. Did anybody mentioned in the Bible ever take the pledge
of his own accord ? Dan. 1 : 8.
494 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
4. Was he any healthier or wiser in consequence ? Dan. 1 :
15-17.
5. Ought kings to drink wine ? Prov. 31:4.
6. Ought ministers to drink wine ? Lev. 8 : 9.
7. Ought we to make companions of drunkards? 1 Cor. 5:11.
8. Can any drunkard enter the kingdom of heaven ? 1 Cor.
6 : 9, 10.
9. Does God pronounce any woe upon drunkards ? Isaiah
5 : 11-22.
10. Why has he pronounced his woe ? Isaiah 28 : 7, 8.
11. Are drunkards likely to get rich? Prov. 21 : 17.
12. What are 'the consequences of drinking? Prov. 23:
29, 30.
13. How may we avoid these consequences? Prov. 23 : 31.
14. What will be .the result if we disregard this advice ?
Prov. 23 : 32.
15. Is it wise to tamper with strong drink? Prov. 20 : 1.
16. Where was the first temperance society ? Jer. 35 : 6-8.
17. What blessing did God pronounce upon the first temper-
ance society? Jer. 35 : 18, 19.
18. Is intemperance a vice ? Gal. 5 : 21.
19. When is temperance a virtue ? Gal. 5 : 22, 23.
20. Tobacco and opium were not known when the Bible was
written, so that they are not mentioned by name in the Bible ;
but is there anything in the Bible that covers all intemperate
habits ? Rom. 14 : 21.
WORTHY EXAMPLE OF MORAL PRINCIPLE.
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. Romans 18 : 1.
TEREMIAH HORROX,a young and enthusiastic astronomer
U in the seventeenth century, looked forward with great in-
terest to the first known transit of Yenus across the sun's disk.
Eminent astronomers, as Kepler and Tycho Brahe, had fore-
told this passage to take place on a* given day in the year
1631.
The day came and passed, but the transit did not occur.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 495
Young Hor'rox set himself to the task of carefully examining
the long table of figures and calculations by which the time
of its crossing the sun's face should be known. After much
careful study he discovered a mistake in those tables, and
that its passage would occur on the 4th of December, 1639,
or eight years later than was first supposed. But the 4th
of December that year came on, the holy Sabbath. Should he
sit at his telescope and examine this hitherto unseen phenom-
enon, or should he go to his accustomed place of worship in
his Sabbath devotions ? Moral principle with him was
stronger than love for his favorite study, or desire to see this
planet in its first known transit.
He commenced his observations with the rising sun, con-
tinued them till time for public worship, then, dropping all, he
went to church ; returned to his instrument for a few minutes
at noon, then back to his place of worship in the afternoon ;
then returning to his telescope, he was gratified in seeing
what no mortal eye had ever before seen the transit of Venus
across the sun's disk. He could not hope to see another transit
of this planet, as it would be one hundred and twenty-two
years before it would recur. Great as was his anxiety to see
this astronomical phenomenon, his regard for the worship of
God was greater. Moral principle triumphed.
UNTHOUGHT-OF CONSIDERATION.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand ; let us therefore cast off the works
of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Romans 13 : 12.
WHILE traveling, Mr. Hervey met with a lady who largely
expatiated on the amusements of the stage, as being, in
her opinion, superior to all other pleasures. She remarked
that there was the pleasure of thinking on the play before she
went, the pleasure she enjoyed while there, and the pleasure
of reflecting on it afterward. Mr. Hervey, who had heard her
remarks without interruption, now said, with his usual mild-
ness, that there was one pleasure more which she had forgot-
ten. " What can that be ? " she eagerly asked ; for she thought
she must have included them all. With a grave look and
496 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
striking manner Mr. Hervey replied, " Madam, the pleasure it
will give you on a death-bed." A clap of thunder or a flash
of lightning could not have more surprised her : the remark
went to her heart. She had no reply to make ; the rest of the
journey was occupied in deep thought j she abandoned the
theatre, and heartily pursued those pleasures which afford
present satisfaction, and can impart solid comfort in a dying
hour.
POWER OF GOD'S WORD.
Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not
in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. Romans 13 : 13.
JUNIUS was reclaimed from atheism by casting his eye upon
the New Testament lying open in his study, and reading
the first of St. John's Gospel, " In the beginning was the Word/' 7
&c., being amazed with the strange majesty of the style, and
profoundness of the mysteries therein contained. What should
I speak of St. Augustine ? who was strangely converted by
hearing a voice saying, " Tolle, lege, Tolle, lege" and fastening
his eyes upon the first passage of Scripture he lighted on,
which was this, " Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in
gluttony and drunkenness," <fcc. (Rom. 13 : 13, 14.) No sooner
was the verse read, than a pious resolution for amendment of
life settled in him. Alipius, certified hereof, desires to peruse
the place, and falleth upon the verse immediately following,
" Him that is weak in faith receive ye ; " which he applying to
himself, besought St. Augustine to strengthen him in the
truth, as Christ commanded Peter, " Tu conversus, confirma
fratres ; " which task he so well performed, that with little
travail in a short space, two twins were brought forth to the
churcjb at one time. Thus the word of God, whether heard
or read, non ut sonus, non ut litera, not as it is ink and
paper, not as it is a sound or collision of the air, but as it is
an instrument of God, and the power of God unto salvation
(Bom. 1 : 16), maketh the man of God perfect (2 Tim. 3 : 17).
It frameth and moldeth the heart, it printeth it like a stamp,
melteth it like wax, bruise th it like a hammer, pricketh it like
a nail, and cutteth it asunder like a sword. Things New
and Old.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
497
A MAN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS BELIEF.
For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. Ro-
mans 14 : 7.
is a mercantile company which bulks largely in the
_L public eye, and turns over vast sums, and spreads its
agencies widely over the world. You think the concern is
solid, and court its alliance. You are accepted; your -inter-
ests are bound to its fortune, and are ruined in its fall. Your
favorable opinion of a hollow pretense did not prevent the loss
of your means when the bubble burst. The law is universal.
In the nature of things it can not be otherwise. It is a hollow
form of philosophy that deceives some men on this point.
They say, Surely God will not punish a man hereafter who
conscientiously walks up to his convictions, although these
convictions be in point of fact mistaken. They err, knowing
neither the inspired Scriptures nor the natural laws. Do men
imagine that God, who has established this world in such ex-
quisite order, and rules it by regular laws, will abdicate, and
leave the better world in anarchy? This world is blessed by
an undeviating connection between causes and their effects ;
will the next be abandoned to random impulses, and run back
to chaos ? The idea is not only false, but impossible and ab-
surd. It is not even conceivable that the direction of a man's
course should "not determine his landing-place.
CERTAINTY OF A GENERAL JUDGMENT.
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost'thou set at naught
thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Ro-
mans 14 : 10.
LET us suppose that, at the time when Britain was peopled
by half-savage" tribes, before the period of the Roman
sway, some gifted seer among the Druids had engraven upon
a rock a minute prediction of a portion of the future history
of the island. Suppose he had declared that it should, ere
long, be conquered by a warrior people from the south ; that
63
498 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
he should name the Caesar himself, describe his eagle standard,
and all the circumstances of the conquest. Suppose he should
portray the Saxon invasion centuries after, the sevenfold di-
vision of the monarchy, the Danish inroad, the arrival and
victory of the Normans. Our imagined prophet pauses here,
or at whatever other precise period you please to suppose ;
and his next prediction, overleaping a vast undescribed in-
terval, suddenly represents the England of the present day.
Now 'conceive the forefathers of existing England to have
studied this wondrous record, and to find, to their amazement,
that every one of its predictions was accurately verified ; that,
as their generations succeeded, they but walked in the traces
assigned for them by the prophetic inscription, and all it spoke
progressively became fact. Can we suppose that, however fur
away in futurity was the one remaining event, and however
impossible to them, at their early stage, to conceive the means
by which all the present wonders of this mighty empire could
ever be realized, they wtmld permit themselves to doubt its
absolute certainty after such overwhelming proofs of the super-
natural powers of the seer who guaranteed it ? Would they not
shape their course as confidently in view of the unquestionable
future as in reference to the unquestionable past ? It should
be thus with regard to the coming judgment. Arclibp. Butler.
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY:
So then every one of us shall give account o* himself to God. 7?o-
mans 14 : 12.
T)EMEMBER that, in the day of judgment, thy account must
Xi be personal. God will not ask you what your church did ;
he will ask you what you did yourself. Now, there is a Sun-
day school. If God should try all members of the church in a
body, they would each of them say, Lord, as a body, we
had an excellent Sunday school, and had'many teachers : and
so they would excuse themselves. But no ; one by one, all
professors must come before him. " What did you do for the
Sabbath school ? I gave you a gift for teaching children ;
what did you do ? " " Lord, there was a Sabbath school."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
499
That has nothing to do with it ; what did you do ? You are
not to account now for the company with which you were
united, but for yourself as an individual. " 0," says one,
" there were a number of poor ministers ; I was at the Surrey
Hall, and so much was done for them." No ; what did you
do ? You must be held personally responsible for your own
wealth, for your own ability. " Well," says one, " I am happy
to say there is a great deal more preaching now than there
used to be ; the churches seem to be roused." Yes, sir ; and
you seem to take part of the credit to yourself. Do you
preach more than you used to ? Remember, it is not what
your brethren are doing, but it is what you do, that you will
be called to account for at the bar of God; and each one of
you will be asked this question : " What hast thou done with
thy talent?" All your connection with churches will avail
you nothing ; it is your personal doings your personal ser-
vice toward God that is demanded of you as an evidence of
saving grace. And if others are idle, if others pay not God
his due, so much the more reason why you should have
been more exceedingly diligent in doing so yourself, C. H.
Spurgeon.
A BAD EXAMPLE AND ITS INFLUENCE.
It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy
brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Romans 14 : 21.
A VERY marked and painful instance of the effects of a bad
example occurred recently in the vicinity of Boston. A
gentleman of high social position, a member of an evangelical
church, and the father of an interesting family, one whose
life was closely watched, and whose errors as well as virtues
were sure to be imitated, gave a large party. It was on the
occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his marriage. The
company was very select, consisting in most part of clergymen
of his own denomination, and the leading literary and business
men of his acquaintance, with their families, nearly all being
professed Christians.
At the bountiful supper which was provided, conspicuous
among the articles of luxury on the tables, appeared a goodly
500 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
supply of wine. The clergymen, with others, freely partook
of the wine which had been so bountifully provided.
One gentleman looked upon the scene with evident surprise
for a time, then he seemed to hesitate, and finally he drank more
than all the rest. He went home and drank again that night, and
again the next day, and the next. In a week he was a ditch
drunkard, and in a month was discharged from the church, of
which he had been a consistent and valued member for seven
years. He had been accustomed in early life to habits of dis-
sipation, and that single evening's experience was sufficient
to bring the old temptation upon him with overwhelming force.
Christian duty, home, manliness, all that he was or ever hoped
to be, were swallowed up in that one low passion. The exam-
ple of his own pastor had ruined him.
What say our defenders among the churches of moderate
drinking? Is no one responsible in such a case as this ? Does
not the Bible say something about him " who putteth the oup
to his neighbor's lips"? In this instance the results are
clearly traceable ; but who will dare to say how often as ter-
rible consequences follow when nothing is said and little is
publicly known of them ?
CHEER HIM.
Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. Ra-
mans 15 : 2.
IN one of our large cities, a fire broke out in a lofty dwelling.
It was near midnight, and the flames had made headway
before they were discovered. The fire companies rallied, but
the smoke had become so thick that the outlines of the house
were scarcely visible, and the fiery element was raging with
fearful power, when a piercing cry thrilled all hearts as they
learned that there was one person yet unsaved within the
building. In a moment a ladder was swung through the
flames and planted against the heated walls, and a brave fire-
man rushed up its rounds to the rescue. Overcome by the
smoke, and perhaps dauitted by the hissing flames before him,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 501
he halted and seemed to hesitate. It was an awful scene. A
life hung in the balance, and each moment was an age.
" Cheer him ! " shouted a voice from the crowd ; and a wild
" hurrah ! " burst like a tempest from the beholding multitude.
That cheer did the work, and the brave fireman went upward
amid smoke and flame, and in a moment descended with the
rescued one in his arms.
Friend, brother, when you see a brave soul battling with
temptation, struggling under the cross, rushing forward to
rescue dying men, and yet faltering in an hour of weakness or
a moment of peril, then " cheer him." And as a pebble's fall
may change a river's course, so your words of sympathetic
kindness may uplift a drooping heart, and fix its faltering
purpose for a noble life.
HABITUAL CHRISTIAN ACTIVITY.
Now, the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye
may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Romans 15 : 13.
WHAT is especially needed now is a habit of Christian ac-
tivity. Mere momentary impulse, under some cogent
appeals, is certainly better than immovable idleness or stolid
indifference, but it is not the thing needed. Neither is it
enough to maintain only the positions already attained, or be
satisfied simply with the silent influence of personal holiness
of character ; but there must be positive, personal, aggressive
effort upon sin in every form. There must be a full appre-
ciation of the tremendous interests at stake, both to the church
and to the world, of the approaching crisis, when from every
quarter of the globe God's people are summoned to more
splendid exhibitions of piety, and to more heroic exploits of
self-denial. Resolutions at conventions, synods, and assem-
blies, are good, but if not put into the concrete form of vigor-
ous action, they are only blank cartridges fired upon a mob,
irritating and stimulating to greater resistance those who are
to be subdued to the sway of truth.
Hold up, however, a bleeding Saviour, and you will beget
bleeding hearts. Exhibit an ever-faithful, self-sacrificing Son
502
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
of God, who, though " he was rich, yet for our sakes became
poor, and who, though he thought it not robbery to be equal
with God, yet made himself of no reputation, but took upon
him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross," and you crucify the spirit that
has pounds for fashion, but pennies for salvation, that has
loaves for luxury, but crumbs for a starving world. This
sweetens oceans of Marah and begets an elasticity of spirit
equal to the most arduous or most multifarious toils. This
makes the timid bold and the slothful diligent, the indifferent
zealous and the cold ardent. This puts energy into the with-
ered arm and ingenuity into the dull brain, wings to leaden
feet and eloquence in stammering lips. A. C. Wedekind, D.D.
SUGGESTIONS TO MINISTERS.
Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel. Romans 15 : 20.
A GIFTED preacher now walking through the " border
land," almost home, gives this as the secret of his large
success : he has ever aimed to convey one central idea in each
discourse, and generally but one main fact. Thus have the
" arrows " in his hands l>een made " sharp," and his hearers
have uniformly left with one definite and vivid impression
dominant in the mind. " Ye must be born again ; " from this
a powerful argument for the necessity of the new birth was
drawn, everything centering on " must." So another of his
remarkable discourses is remembered by the word " almost "
" almost persuaded," etc., being the text.
We are so anxious to get thoughts into our discourses that
we sometimes make them appear, as Professor Phelps says,
" like a table of contents." Better digest one weighty truth,
and then bring it home with vigor, so that it will tell on heart
and conscience. Again, are we not too anxious to say new
things, overlooking the actual daily wants of our people in
seeking mere intellectual novelties ? Sydney Smith well said
that the object of preaching was " constantly to remind man-
kind of what mankind is constantly forgetting ; not to supply
the defects of human intelligence, but to fortify the feebleness
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 503
of human resolutions ; to recall mankind from the by-paths
where they turn, into the path of salvation, which they all
know, but few tread ; in other words, to persuade men to be-
come reconciled to God." Christian Mirror.
PEMALE HELPERS IN THE MINISTRY.
Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus. Romans 16 :-3.
GOD has greatly honored the labors of Mrs. Van Cott in her
public services as an Evangelist, as the following extract
from her letter, recently published in the North- Western
Christian Advocate, will show:
" I have been at Lynn, Mass., three weeks. Two hundred
and three have started for heaven. Last night, eighteen new
cases, all adults ; night before last, seventeen new cases
two drunkards and one rum-seller. On Tuesday night the
devil declared that we should not prevail. I declared, by the
grace of God, that I would not leave the house until I had
seen a victory ; and so, with thirty young converts, spent the
entire night in prayer. The interest never for one moment
abated. The pastor and many of the older members remained
with us. I never left that house for a moment for thirty-three
hours. But, 0, what praying ! And, glory be to God ! we
did have the victory in answer to prayer. We heard, from all
parts of the city, that men and women were awakened ; some
at midnight, others at three o'clock in the morning, arose, and
prayed earnestly for salvation. Many of these did not know
that the meeting was being held. Glory be to God ! "
How much better to work for God in the salvation of souls,
than be prating about the propriety of women preaching.
PIOUS CHRISTIAN FEMALES.
Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Salute the be-
loved Persis, which labored much in the Lord. Romans 16 : 12.
PIOUS Christian females, presenting patterns of genuine
wives and mothers, often furnish a beautiful contrast to
the prevailing depravation of manners, and reckless pursuit
504 XEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
of earthly things, to be found in families of pagans, or of mere
nominal Christians. By them the seeds of Christianity were
planted in the souls of those who afterward produced great
effect as teachers of the church. The pious Nonna, by her
prayers and the silent influence of the religion which shone
through her life, gradually won over to the gospel her husband
Gregory, who had belonged to an unchristian sect ; and he be-
came a devoted bishop. The first born .son was carried, soon
after his birth, to the altar of the church, when they placed a
volume of the Gospels in his hands, and dedicated him to the
service of the Lord. The example of a pious education, and
this early consecration, first received from his mother, of which
he was often reminded, made a deep impression on the son ;
and he compares his mother to Hannah, who consecrated Sam-
uel to God. This impression abode with him while exposed,
during the years of his youth which he spent at Athens, to the
contagion of the paganism which there prevailed.
This son, the distinguished church teacher, Gregory of Na-
zianzen, says of his mother, that her emotions, when dwelling
on the historical fact connected with her faith, overcame all
sense of pain from her own sufferings, and death surprised her
while praying at the altar. The pious Arethusa, of Antioch,
retired from the bustle of the world, to which she belonged
by her condition, into the still retreat of domestic life. Hav-
ing lost her husband at the age of twenty, she chose, from
regard to his memory, and a desire to devote herself wholly to
the education of her son, to remain a widow, and it was owing
in part to this early, pious, and careful education, that the boy
became afterward so well known as the great church teacher,
John Chrysostom. In like manner, Monica, by her submissive,
amiable, and gentle spirit, softened the temper of a violent,
passionate husband, and while she had much to suffer from
him, scattered the seeds of Christianity in the soul of her son,
Augustine, which, after many stormy passages of life, brought
forth fruit in h;m abundantly. Forest's Neander.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 505
A MISDIRECTED LETTER.
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ^
ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you ; but
that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judg-
ment. 1 Cor. 1 : 10.
fTlHE Rev. Mr. Bulkley, of Colchester, Conn., was famous in
_L his day as a casuist and sage counselor. A church in his
neighborhood had fallen into unhappy divisions and conten-
tions, which they were unable to adjust among themselves.
They deputed one of their number to the venerable Bulkley,
for his services, with a request that he would send it to them
in writing. The matters were taken into serious considera-
tion, and the advice, with much deliberation, committed to
writing. It so happened that Mr. Bulkley had a farm in an
extreme part of the town, upon which he intrusted a ten-
ant. In superscribing the two letters, the one for the church
was directed to the tenant, and the one for the tenant to the
church. The church was convened to hear the advice which
was to settle all their disputes. The moderator read as fol-
lows : " You will see to the repair of the fences, that they be
built high and strong, and you will take special care of the old
black bull." This mystical advice puzzled the church at first ;
but an interpreter among the more discerning ones was soon
found, who said, " Brethren, this is the very advice we most
need j the direction to repair the fences is to admonish us to
take good Heed in the admission and government of our mem-
bers ; we must guard the church by our Master's laws, and
keep out strange cattle from the fold. And we must in a par-
ticular manner set a watchful guard over the devil, the old
black bull, who has done so much hurt of late." All perceived
the wisdom and fitness of Mr. Bulkley's advice, and resolved
to be governed by it. The consequence was, all the animosi-
ties subsided, and harmony was restored to the long-afflicted
church. Arvine's Cyclopedia.
64
506 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
A SKEPTIC SILENCED.
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 1 Cor. 1 : 20.
A SKEPTIC, wise in his own eyes, and prudent in his own
J\. sight, once asserted, in the presence of a Christian, that lie
would believe nothing which he could not explain and compre-
hend. Said the other, " I believe thousands of things which
I can neither explain nor comprehend, and so does the mass
of mankind." The infidel scornfully replied, " I will not ! "
Said the Christian, " Explain this if you can : here are four
animals feeding in a meadow ; on the back of one grow
feathers, on another wool, on a third bristles, on the fourth
hair. Please explain this they all eat grass. Why this
diversity ? " The infidel was silenced.
A little girl was intently reading her Bible, when accosted
by a skeptic with, " Child, you can't understand that book, and
it is not true ! " Looking up in his face, she said, " There is
one thing in the Bible certainly true." " Pray, what is that?"
" The Bible says, < In the last days shall come scoffers,' and
you are one of them." It is needless to add that the infidel
was silenced, and soon left the child to peruse her precious
book.
BE FAIR IN COMPARING.
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
1 Cor. 1 : 21.
IT is to no purpose for the infidel to offer us experiments
made under these Christian heavens, and on soil mellowed
and prepared by the gospel. This sort of fraud has been
much practised. Infidels have wrought out their theories
under the full blaze of the Bible, and said, Behold the light
of reason ! They have stolen a torch from the temple of
Christianity, and boasted of seeing by nature. Gathering
clusters from Christ's vine, the} r have twined them round the
dead trunk of infidelity, and said, See what fruit our system
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 507
produces ! And this may be a cunning device, but in the
way of argument it is worse than nothing. If infidelity would
measure itself with Christianity, let it assume an equal task.
Let it take a field as deep in idolatry and corruption as ever
the Christian missionary entered, and with only its own sys-
tem bring it up to intelligence and refinement ; to the social
order and Sabbath worship of a New England town. Let the
preachers of infidelity attempt to bring a besotted, cannibal
race up to such a height of culture, purity, and happiness,
without the Bible, without the knowledge or name even of
Jesus Christ, without a precept of the gospel or a sanction
from the Bible - with nothing but the evidences of creation
and man's wisdom. And to make the experiment a fair one,
these infidel missionaries must themselves have had no Bible,
no Christian training, no ideas of God, of the soul, of immor-
tality, and the hereafter none more than had the old pagan
philosophers. But taking infidelity as it is educated by the
Bible, what has it ever done for the world ? Where are the
fields it has turned from chaos to moral beauty, the people
it has raised from heathen debasement to a civilized and re-
fined state, with nature and reason only ? There is no such
example. The face of the earth presents none, and history
records none. Not a foot of this world's territory has been
redeemed from paganism by infidels ; not a spot in all heathen-
dom has bloomed under their culture ; not an inch of moral
verdure is due to their teachings. Their scheme is worthless.
It not only does nothing, but it has not in it vitality enough to
attempt anything. It stays at home, prates of reason, sneers
at Christianity, and that is all.
PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED,
But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto
the Greeks foolishness. 1 Cor. 1 : 23.
"T)REACH Christ crucified." Turn not aside from this,
JL under the temptation of meeting some question of the
day, or some bearing of the public mind. There is some
mystic verbiage which some esteem to be of transcendental
508 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
depth. There is much pantheism, which some regard as
original and sublime. Your versatility will often be urged
to follow after these conceits. You will be told of their amaz-
ing influence. They really are nothing ; they are bubbles of
the hour. They can not boast even a novelty. I conjure you,
care little for them. Yours is not a discretionary theme : it is
unchanging. Keep to it ; abide by it. It is one, but it is an
infinite one. It is the word of Christ, divinely great and true.
Its rigidness can never hamper your thought ; its reiteration
can never weary your inquiry. At no point can it restrict
you. It is a large place. It is a boundless range. It is a
mine of wealth. It is a firmament of power. Whither would
ye go from it ? It is the unwinding of all great principles ;
it is the expansion of all glorious thoughts ; it is the capacity
of all blessed emotions. Calvary, we turn to thee ! Our
nature (a wreck, a chaos) only canst thou adjust. We have
an aching void which only thou canst fill ! We have pant-
ings and longings which only thou canst satisfy ! Be thou the
strength and charm of our inward life ! Be thou the earnest-
ness of our deepest interest ! Be thou our inspiration, impul-
sion, divinity, and all ! Our tears never relieved us until thou
taughtest us to weep ! Our smiles only mocked us until thou
badst us rejoice ! We knew no way of peace until we found
our way to thee ! Hope was banished from us until its dove
.flew downward from thee upon our heart ! All was dormant
until thou didst stir ; all was dull until thou didst excite us !
Our eyes are still lifted up to thee as to the hill from which
cometh all our help ! Our feet shall stand upon thee, high
mountain, and thou shalt make them beautiful, while we pub-
lish the glad tidings of Christ crucified ! Hamilton.
GOD'S WORD THE ONLY AUTHORITY.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of
God is stronger than men. 1 Cor. 1 : 25.
IT is a common error into which many fall, that reason, and
so much of the Bible as seems to be in harmony with the
mind of men, shall determine our faith concerning the world
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 509
to come, and that wherein the Bible speaks adversely to
human notions, it shall be cast off as of no account, and reason
only be the guide. Such a course of reasoning is but a device
of the devil. For he whose mind is so darkened or depraved
as to exalt reason above revelation, is of all men least quali-
fied to make reason the guide and authority of his religious
principles.
The wisdom of the whole world is as nothing compared to
God's inspired word. A single sentence from that word will
outweigh the conclusions of all men in all ages, could they be
combined and concentrated on a single proposition.
A single declaration of the Holy Scriptures could not be
stronger if it were to receive the concurrent approval of all
mankind. Neither would it be weaker, if disapproved by the
combined reason of all men. We can neither add nor detract
from the wisdom, authority, and certainty of all that God has
revealed in his word. It is ours to profit by it, but not to
improve upon it. St. Paul tells us, " The foolishness of God is
wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than
men." It is written, ""There are many devices in a man's
heart ; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord shall stand." A
Hebrew prophet has also said, " The Lord of hosts hath sworn,
saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and
as I have purposed so shall it stand."
AN INFIDEL AND HIS DOG.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise,
and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty. 1 Cor. 1 : 27.
SOME men are wise above all that is written. Such were
some of us until we were taught that we really knew
nothing aright.
A blind woman, anxious to do good in the name of our
blessed Lord, took the hand of a little girl and went about with
tracts for distribution, and 'with such words as were put into
her mouth to speak to one and another as opportunity offered.
One day she happened to meet a man who looked upon the
510 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
word of God as a fable, and religion as a superstition, and
when she held out a tract for him he struck it out of her hand,
and it fell to the ground. This man had a well-trained dog,
which took up the tract in his mouth and sat upon his haunches,
holding it up to his master. The woman passed on, leaving
the dog in this position, face to face with his master. When
the dog had remained some minutes, holding the tract up to
his master, the man finally took it out of pity to the animal,
and some words in it riveted his attention and induced him to
read it through. Conviction seized upon him, ending in his
becoming a true believer in Christ.
A dog may know his owner better than a man his heavenly
Father ; and in this case the dog's faithfulness to his master
was the means of the man's conversion to God.
A blind woman may see invisible things better than a man
wise in his conceit with both eyes open. So it was here ; for
this man, though seeing with both eyes, was spiritually blind ;
and the woman without sight was God's instrument for open-
ing his blind eyes. Rev. William E. Boardman.
LUTHER'S MODE OF PREACHING.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech
or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 1 Cor. 2 : 1.
" T DISCOURSE as plainly as possible, for I desire that the
JL commonest people, that children, that servants, should
understand what I say. It is not for the learned we go into
the pulpit ; they have their books." Dr. Erasmus Alberus, pre-
vious to his departure for Brandenburg, questioned Dr. Luther
as to how he ought to preach before the electors. "Your
sermons," replied Martin, " should be addressed, not to princes
and nobles, but to the rude, uncultivated commonalty. If in
my discourses I were to be thinking about Melanchthon and
the other doctors, I should do no good at all ; but I preach in
plain language to the plain, unlearned people, and that pleases
all parties. If I know the Greek, Hebrew, and Latin lan-
guages, I reserve them for our learned meetings, where they
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 511
are of use ; for at these we deal in such subtilties and such
profundities that God himself, I wot, must sometimes marvel
at us."
CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED.
For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and
him crucified. 1 Cor. 2 : 2.
A SPANISH artist was once employed to paint " The Last
Supper." It was his object to throw all the sublimity of
his art into the figure and countenance of the Lord Jesus ;
but he put on the fable in the foreground some chased cups,
the workmanship of which was exceedingly beautiful. When
his friends came to see the picture on the easel, every one
said, " What beautiful cups ! " " Ah ! " said he, " I have made
a mistake; these cups divert the eyes of the spectator from
the Lord, to whom I wished to direct the attention of the ob-
server." And he forthwith took up his brush and blotted
them from the canvas, that the strength and vigor of the chief
object might be prominently seen and observed. Thus all
Christians should feel their study to be Christ's exaltation ;
and whatever is calculated to hinder man from beholding him
in all the glory of his person and works, should be removed
out of the way. " God forbid that I should glory, save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
CHRIST, NOT ORATORY.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. 1 Cor. 2 : 4.
MY brethren, the preaching of the gospel minister should
always have soul- winning for its object. Never should
we seek that the audience should admire our excellency of
speech. I have in my soul a thousand times cursed oratory,
and wished that the arts of elocution had never been devised,
or, at least, had never profaned the sanctuary of God j for often
as I have listened with wonder to speech right well conceived,
512 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
and sentences aptly arranged, I have felt as though I could
weep tears of blood that the time of the congregation on the
Sabbath should be. wasted by listening to wordy rhetoric,
when what was wanted was a plain, urgent pleading with men's
hearts and consciences. It is never worth a minister's while
to go up his pulpit stairs to show his auditors that he is an
adept in elocution. High-sounding words and flowery periods
are a mockery of man's spiritual needs. If a man desireth to
display his oratory, let him study for the bar, or enter Parlia-
ment ; but let him not degrade the cross of Christ into a peg
to hang his tawdry rags of speech upon. C. H. Spuryeon.
LEARNING THE WAY TO HEAVEN.
"Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teach-
eth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth;. comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. 1 Cor. 2 : 13.
I AM a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow
through the air. I am a spirit come from God, and re-
turning to God ; just hovering over the great gulf, till a few
moments hence I am no more seen. I drop into an unchange-
able eternity! I want to know one thing the way to
heaven ; how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself
has condescended to teach the way ; for this very end he came
from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. 0, give me
that book ! At any price, give me the book of God ! I have it
here. Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo uniiis
libri. Here, then, I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit
down alone only God is here. In his presence I open, I
read his book, for this end : to find the way to heaven. Is
there a doubt concerning the meaning of what I read ? Does
anything appear dark or intricate ? I lift up my heart to the
Father of lights. Lord, is it not thy word, " If any man lack
wisdom, let him ask of God"? Thou " givest liberally, and
upbraidest not." Thou hast said, " If any be willing to do
thy will, he shall know." I am willing to do : let me do thy
will. I then search after and consider parallel passages of
Scripture, " comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
Wesley.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 513
BELIEF AND SKEPTICISM.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because they are spiritu-
ally discerned. 1 Cor. 2 : 14.
FAITH, reverence, and humility are the most spiritual traits
of character, and the mystery that rightly fosters them is,
therefore, to be gratefully accounted among the great spirit-
ualizers of that character. When the Saviour was asked by
Nicodemus, " How can these things be ? " he intimated that
the " mysteries of the kingdom of heaven " can be discov-
ered only by a spiritual faculty, as his apostle afterward de-
clared, " Spiritual things are spiritually discerned." To unlock
those secret things, even for us to see that they exist, is given
only to those who hold for a key the " new white stone." But
blessed be that overarching world of mystery that evermore
stimulates our wonder, and so re-inspires our prayers.
How sad the abuse, if we will be always taking these glo-
rious and animating mysteries of faith, and melting them down,
and running them into the casting molds of our own theories,
kneading the sweet manna of the wilderness into sour Egyp-
tian dough, " grinding over the immortal seed of heavenly
truth, and mixing it with the leaven and spices of worldly
wisdom " ! Better to make our arrogant minds kneel and
worship at the throne.
Contrast, side by side, the believing spirit and the skeptical,
in all that makes up nobleness and strength of soul ! The
one fearless, calm, steadfast, devout ; the other timid, agitated,
wavering, and self-willed ! The one broad and generous in
his manhood ; the other contracted and shrinking ! The one
grateful for what is revealed ; the other peevishly inquisitive
into what never can be ! How can a man be saved unless he
will stop asking impatient and profitless questions, and turn to
the vigorous, conscientious doing of those things that belong
to him to be done even all the words of the law of Christ?
So much was signified to the speculating disciples who asked,
" Are there few that be saved? " " Strive to enter in at the
strait gate ! " Toil and prayer are for you. " Secret things
belong unto the Lord our God."
65
514 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
LESS DENOMINATIONAL, BUT MORE CHRISTIAN.
For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are yc not
carnal? ! Cor. 3:4.
rPHERE are as many church registers as there are church
JL houses. But there is only one Lamb's Book of Life for all
the ransomed sinners of the world. That is the place for your
name. It is not Methodism, nor Presbyterianism, nor Lu-
theranism, nor any other ism of men, but it is the life and power
of the Son of God, we preach. The different denominations
are but symmetrical and convenient 'apartments in the one
great sanctuary of the Lord. These distinct organizations are
harmonious counterparts. Yet men separate themselves into
sects, and magnify their consistent differences into conflicting-
doctrines. They build theological walls around themselves,
the closer the safer, as they vainly imagine ; and they begin,
in their stifled atmosphere and necessary shade, to doubt the
orthodoxy of their neighbors. They put colored glass in in-
tervening windows, draw down the blinds, bolt the doors, and
nestle together, as though all outside Christendom were
turning infidel, and as if they, secluded company alone of all
the earth, held fast the faith once delivered to the saints.
Such a faith, so monkishly bound, needs a new deliverance !
Now, when you find yourself up in arms in defense of your
creed, pause a moment, and consider whether, in all your life,
you have been so brave in defending the Bible. You become
excited when you hear your Luther, or your Calvin, or your
Wesley, or your Campbell criticised ; but you will stand silent
and unmoved when the name of your Jesus is blasphemed !
Unless you can recognize prosperity in other churches as
heartily as in your own, and rejoice at the conversion of sin-
ners under anybody's preaching and under any church's roof,
you may write " sectarian " as a fit suffix to your name. You
have been tempted through self and sect to enter a refuge of
lies. '1st and 'ism are warp and woof of the enemy's tent-
covers, and you have been deceived. You are attracted by
the sound of your church name more than by all the cries of
Calvary ! Verily, you have your warning, and must bear the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 515
awful consequences of trimming your Christianity to a Disci-
pline, or Confession, or Catechism, and of wounding your Lord
in the house of his friends. The Gospel in the Trees, by
A. Clark.
GOD GIVETH THE INCREASE.
I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 1 Cor. 3 : 6.
AN American Methodist minister, Dr. Bangs, was so dis-
couraged in the first year of his itinerancy as to mount
his horse to go home and give up the work. The break-
ing up of the ice on Grand River made it impossible for him
to cross it, and compelled him to return. That night he
had a striking dream, which influenced all his after-life : he
was plying a sledge on a huge rock, but, making no impres-
sion, gave up in despair, when a dignified form appeared
before him and asked why he stopped, and, receiving his
answer, bade him strike on ; that the work was his, not the
result. He struck again, and the rock was shivered to its
foundation.
Here is a lesson for us, we whose souls are sometimes " dis-
couraged because of the way," when we do not see imme-
diate fruit of our labors.. The work is ours, the results are
God's,
THE YOUNG PHILOSOPHER CONFOUNDED.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God ; for it is written, He
taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the
thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 1 Cor. 3 : 19, 20.
A YOUNG man from the Provinces, who was sent to Paris
to finish his education, had the misfortune of getting into
bad company. He went so far as to wish, and finally say, there
is no God ; God was only a word. After staying several years
in the capital, the young man returned to his family. One
day he was invited to a respectable house where there was a
numerous company. While all were entertaining themselves
with news ; pleasure, and business, two girls, aged respectively
516 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
twelve and thirteen, were seated in a bay-window, reading
together. The young man approached them, and asked,
" What beautiful romance are you reading so attentively,
young ladies ? "
" We are reading no romance, sir ; we are reading the his-
.tory of God's chosen people."
" You believe, then, that there is a God ? "
Astonished at such a question, the girls look at each other,
the blood mounting to their cheeks.
" And you, sir, you do not believe it ? "
11 Once I believed it, but after living in Paris, and studying
philosophy, mathematics, and politics, I am convinced that
God is an empty word.' 7
" I, sir, was never in Paris ; I have never studied philoso-
phy, or mathematics, or all those beautiful things which you
know ; I only know my Catechism j but, since you are so
learned, and say there is no God, you can easily tell me
whence the egg comes?"
" A funny question, truly ; the egg comes from the hen.' r
" And now, sir, whence comes the hen ? "
" You know that as well as I do, miss ; the hen comes from
the egg."
" Which of them existed first, the egg or the hen ? "
" I really do not know what you intend with this question
and with your hen ; but yet that which existed first was the
hen."
" There is a hen, then, which did not come from an egg? ' r
" Beg your pardon, miss, I did not take notice that an egg
existed first."
" There is, then, an egg which did not come from a hen ? "
" 0, if you beg pardon that is you see
" I see, sir, that you do not know whether the egg existed
before the hen, or the hen before the egg."
" Well, then, I say the hen."
" Very well ; there is, then, a hen which did not come from
an egg. Tell me now who made this first hen, from which all
other hens and eggs come ? "
" With your hens and your eggs, it seems to me you take
me for a poultry dealer."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 517
" By no means, sir ; I only ask you to tell me whence the
mother of all hens and eggs conies ? "
"But for what object?"
" Well, since you do not know, you will permit me to tell
you. He who created the first hen, or, as you would rather
have it, the first egg, is the same who created the world ; and
this being we call God. You, who can not explain the exist-
ence of a hen or an egg without God. still wish to maintain to
be able to explain the existence of this world without God."
The young philosopher was silent ; he quietly took his hat,
and full of shame departed.
ORDAINED TO STEWARDSHIP.
Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.
1 Cor. 4 : 2.
ABOUT a generation ago, there lived near the eastern bor-
der of New Hampshire a man named Ichabod C., who,
though a man of marked peculiarities in thought and speech,
was fervent in his zeal for God, and watchful to obey the lead-
ings of the Holy Spirit.
In this obedience he was sometimes called to deal his bread
to the hungry, distributing to the necessities of the saints, and
probably also to the necessities of the sinners, who dwelt in
that region of country.
His excellent wife, though of a liberal spirit, occasionally
felt obliged to check him in what she deemed his unwise or
lavish distributions, and cautioned him to use better judgment
in discharging his duty to the poor. One day, after listening
to one of her earnest homilies on this subject, and perhaps
feeling a little the force of her remarks, and possibly despair-
ing of ever conducting that branch of his religion to her sat-
isfaction, he turned to her and said,
" I will ordain you steward to attend to this whole matter ; "
and, putting his hands upon her head, he then and there offered
up a solemn prayer to God, and formally transferred to her
charge the stewardship of the property and the care of the
poor and needy.
518 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
To some this might have seemed an idle ceremony. Not so
to Mrs. C. She could not rid herself of the sense of obliga-
tion ; while as for her husband, he took no sort of responsibil-
ity in the case. She was the steward, she had care of the
poor, and she must attend to that matter herself. And she
did attend to it ; for she would sometimes feel so impressed
with a sense of duty in that direction that she would be
obliged to start in the morning before breakfast, and go and
visit the poor and relieve their distresses.
This incident has suggested the thought, that others, who
find fault with the imperfect service of their fellow-laborers,
might feel the hand of God laid upon them, and upon all they
have, ordaining and consecrating them to stewardship and
service in his cause ; that they might more faithfully do the
work, and more worthily fill the places of those whose errors
they are so quick to perceive.
Stewardship is a solemn trust. And those who mark the
faults and failings of others' modes of administration, are not
thereby discharged from duty, nor released from the perform-
ance of their appointed work. The time is short, the needs
are urgent, and it shall be said to one and another of those
who read these lines, " Give an account of thy stewardship,
for thou mayst be no longer steward." Happy shall they be
in that day who now so make unto themselves friends with
the Mammon of unrighteousness, that when their earthly lot
and portion fail, the eternal gates shall be opened wide be-
fore them, and they shall be welcomed to everlasting habita-
tions, and bidden to enter the joy of their Lord.
WHAT THE READING OF A GOOD BOOK DID.
And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive
it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? 1 Cor. 4 : 7.
THE world is full of books. Pre-eminent, and above all other
books, is the Book of books, God's Book. Then there are
books on a descending scale, from good to bad, from bad to
worse, till you get down to such as corrupt at the first sight
or touch.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 519
The reading of a good book has often turned the life- course
of a man into a higher and nobler plane of living. The follow-
ing incident is an example. The writer heard it from the lips
of the author of Systematic Beneficence, Rev. J. Ashworth.
He said, " A fellow-minister was sent to a charge, which for
years had been embarrassed with a small debt on the church
property. At the time of the incident the amount of the in-
debtedness was three thousand dollars. Former ministers had
tried to pay off this debt. Subscriptions had been circulated,
but the small and insufficient pledges of one or two wealthy
members had damaged the efforts, and discouraged others, and
every effort had failed through the stinted pledge of a rich
member of the church. Profiting by the example of his pred-
ecessors, the minister referred to resolved to make another
effort to pay off that old church debt ; but before asking for
money, he sought to shed some light on the conscience of this
rich man. He visited him one day, and asked him if he had
ever read that small volume, entitled Systematic Beneficence,
by Rev. J. Ashworth. " No/ 7 said the brother j " I never
have." " Will you read it," said his pastor, " if I lend it to
you ? " " Yes. I have no objections," said this man of wealth.
The minister drew the book from his pocket, and, handing it
to him, left his house. The book was kindly received, and
read j conviction fastened on the conscience of this man, that
he had not been a good steward in the distribution of the
wealth God had committed to him. This good book had
shown him that the ownership of all things is in God ; that to
him belong the gold and silver, and " the cattle upon a thou-
sand hills ; " and that we are the stewards, or almoners of the
bounty of Heaven.
His conscience condemned him for allowing the cause of
God to suffer, while he had the means of preventing it. With
this conviction he came to the home of the minister, and,
addressing his pastor, said, " I feel as though I had not done
all I ought to do about that church debt ; if you will write a
subscription paper, I will sign, and will go around with you,
and I guess we can remove it from the property. The minister
drew up the scription, and this brother, who had on former
occasions put down one hundred dollars, went down on that
520 A r EW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
paper for one thousand dollars and his heart was in it. The
minister and member went together in the circulation of the
paper ; others were encouraged, and signed liberally, and at
the end of two da} 7 s the charge had been well canvassed, and
pledges to the amount of twenty-five hundred dollars had been
secured. Five hundred remained ; when this brother, who
made the first subscription of one thousand, said, " I think I
will take this remaining five hundred," and his name went
down for five hundred more. His former one hundred dollar
pledge was all he could do ; now, with clearer convictions of
duty, fifteen hundred dollars were cheerfully paid.
WARNED BY A SIGNAL-FIRE.
I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn
you. 1 Cor. 4 : 14.
AS a boatman stood at the wheel of a steamer, and guided
her down the deep, narrow Cumberland, he saw directly
in the channel a light. It was regarded as the signal of a
small craft, which seemed to be anchored in the narrow chan-
nel. If a craft, it was evidently out of its place, and the first
impulse was to run the steamer directly over the signal and
the bark it protected. But as the vessel neared the signal
fire, a voice was heard, with a corresponding wave of the
hand, " Keep off ! keep off ! "
After a moment's struggle with his own feelings, the pilot
passed around the signal light. He was very angry, and
poured forth a torrent of imprecations upon the crew of the
supposed craft ; but when he reached the port below, he was
informed that a huge stone had separated from the mountain
summit which hung over the margin of the beautiful river, and
lodged directly in the channel ; that the signal-fire and the
voice of warning proceeded from a sentinel employed and
stationed there by some benevolent persons, who regarded the
lives and property of their fellows.
Infinite goodness has lit the fire of truth, and utters a warn-
ing voice to mariners on every rock that lifts its head in the
stream of life. We arc often turned and saved from shipwreck
NE W TES TA ME NT ILL US TRA TIONS.
521
by the kind providence of God, while that providence is mys-
terious and afflictive to us ; and not until we reach the port in
safety shall wo fully appreciate the design and benevolence
which prompted it.
KINGDOM OF GOD.
For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 1 Cor. 4 : 20.
TIHE kingdom of God is a kingdom of both grace and glory.
The former leads to the latter. These two kingdoms of grace
and glory differ not specifically, but gradually j they differ not
in nature, but only in degree. The kingdom of grace is noth-
ing but the inchoation or beginning of the kingdom of glory ;
the kingdom of grace is glory in the seed, arid the kingdom of
glory is grace in the flower ; the kingdom of grace is glory in
the daybreak, and the kingdom of glory is grace in the full
meridian ; the kingdom of grace is glory militant, and the king-
don of glory is grace triumphant. There is such an insepara-
ble connection between these two kingdoms, grace and glory,
that there is no passing into the one kingdom but by the other.
At Athens there were two temples a temple of virtue and
a temple of honor ; and there was no going into the temple of
honor but through the temple of virtue. So the kingdoms of
grace and glory are so joined together, that we can not go
into the kingdom of glory but through the kingdom of grace.
Many people aspire after the kingdom of glory, but never look
after grace ; but these two, which God hath joined together,
may not be put asunder. The kingdom of grace leads to the
kingdom of glory. T. Watson.
DELIGPIT IN DOING EVIL.
To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the
spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 1 Cor. 5 : 5.
WHO is the most diligent bishop and prelate in all England ?
I will tell you. It is the devil. He is the most diligent
preacher of all other : he is never out of his diocese ; he is
66
522 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
never from his curd ; we shall never find him unoccupied ;
he is ever in his parish ; he keepeth residence at all times ; ye
shall never find him out of the way, call for him when ye will ;
he is ever at home, the most diligent preacher in all the realm ;
he is ever at his plow ; he is ever applying to his business ;
ye shall never find him idle, I warrant you ; and his office is
to hinder religion, to maintain superstition, to set up idolatry,
to teach all kinds of Popery. He is as ready as can be wished
to set forth his plow ; to devise as many ways as can be to
deface and obscure God's glory. Where the devil is resident,
and hath his plow going, there away with books, and up with
candles j away with Bibles, and up with beads ; away with the
light- of the gospel, and up with the light of candles, yea, at
noonday. Where the devil is resident, that he may prevail,
too, with all superstition and idolatry, censing, painting, im-
ages, candles, palms, ashes, holy water, and new service of
men's inventing, as though man could invent a better way to
honor God with than God himself hath appointed, down with
Christ's cross, up with Popish purgatory ; away with clothing
the naked, supporting the poor and impotent, up with the
decking of images and gay garnishing of stocks and stones ;
down with God's will and most holy Word, up with man's tra-
ditions and his laws ; down with the old honor due unto God,
and up with the honor of the new gods. Bishop Latimer.
CHRIST IS THE CHRISTIAN'S PASSOVER.
For even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us. 1 Cor. 5 : 7.
EEY. L. D. BARROWS, in Zion's Herald, makes the follow-
ing explanations of the passover. He says,
" The Lord's passover was celebrated in the first month,
Abib, of their ecclesiastical year, as they were commanded
(Ex. 12:2) to reckon the beginning of their year from the
memorable event of the passover. This is called the Lord's
passover, because he passed over the houses of Israel when
the destroying angel slew the Egyptian iirst-born. On that
occasion a lamb was slain, and the blood Avas spr.inkled with a
bunch of hyssop on the lintel and the two side-posts of the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 523
door. The feast to commemorate this wonderful event was
devoted to meditation, prayer, praise, and other suitable offer-
ings to God. A male lamb without blemish was slain and
eaten with lettuce, or bitter herbs, with unleavened bread.
This they did in the posture of travelers, reins girt, shoes on
their feet, staves in their hands, and eaten in a hurry. How
indicative of that dreadful night ! Death was the penalty for
neglect of this feast of the passover. Since the destruction
of Jerusalem the Jews have ceased to offer the paschal lamb,
though they still continue this anniversary. Our Lord ob-
served this passover, and in its place instituted the sacrament
of the Lord's Supper, the night before his death. Then he,
the Lamb of God, shed his own blood, by which alone we can
be saved from the destroying wrath of an offended and in-
sulted God. Jehovah has decreed that without the shedding
of blood there is no remission of sin. And, as it was not
enough that the paschal lamb was slain, but his blood must
be sprinkled on the door-posts, so it is not enough that Christ
has died for us j his blood must be applied to our hearts by
faith in him, or we perish. Our Paschal Lamb is our only
hope."
EVIL COMPANY.
I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators. 1 Cor. 5 : 9.
HPHE following beautiful allegory is translated from the Ger-
JL man :
Torphronius, a wise teacher, would not suffer even his own
grown-up sons and daughter to associate with those whose con-
duct was not pure and upright.
" Dear father," said the gentle Eulalia to him one day, when
he forbade her, in company with her brother, to visit the vola-
tile Lucinda, " dear father, you must think us very childish if
you imagine that we should be exposed to danger by it."
The father took in silence a dead coal from the hearth, and
reached it to his daughter.
" It will not burn you, my child ; take it."
Eulalia did so ; and behold ! her delicate white hand was
soiled and blackened, and, as it chanced, her white dress also.
524 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" We can not be too careful in handling coals/' said Eulalia,
in vexation.
" Yes, truly," said the father ; " you see, my child, that coals,
even if they do not burn, blacken. So it is with the company
of the vicious."
WHAT DISQUALIFIES FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effem-
inate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. 1 Cor. 6 : 9.
A TRAVELER crossed the frontier, and had to pass the
J\. custom-house. The officers said to him,
" Have you any contraband goods ? "
He replied, " I do not think I have."
" That may be all true," said the officers ; " but we can
not permit you to pass without examination. Permit us to
search."
" If you please," said the traveler.
The examination over, the traveler addressed the officers,
saying,
" Gentlemen, will you allow me to tell you what thoughts
this examination has awakened in my mind ? We are all
travelers to an eternal kingdom, into which we can not take
any contraband goods. By these forbidden things, I mean
deceitfulness, anger, pride, lying, covetousness, and similar
offenses, which are hateful in the sight of God. For all
these, every man who passes the boundary of the grave is
searched far more strictly than you have searched me. God
is the Great Searcher of hearts ; from him nothing is hid ; and
in that kingdom, as in this, every forbidden article subjects a
man to punishment." Foster's Cyclopedia.
DRUNKENNESS.
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners,
shall inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Cor. 6 : 10.
"PvRUNKENNESS is thus characterized by Watson, an old
JL/ Puritan divine :
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 525
" There is no sin which doth more efface God's image than
drunkenness. It disguiseth a person, and doth even unman
him. Drunkenness makes him have the throat of a fish, the
belly of a swine, and the head of an ass. Drunkenness is the
shame of nature, the extinguisher of reason, the shipwreck of
chastity, and the murderer of conscience. Drunkenness is hurt-
ful to the body: the cup kills more than the cannon. It causeth
dropsies, catarrhs, apoplexies ; it fills the eyes with fire, and
the legs with water, and turns the body into a hospital. But
the greatest hurt it doth is to the soul : excess of wine breeds
the worm of conscience. The drunkard is seldom reclaimed
by repentance, and the ground of it is partly because by this
sin the senses are so enchanted, the reason so impaired, and
lust so inflamed ; and partly it is judicial, the drunkard being
so besotted by his sin, that God saith of him as . of Ephraim,
1 He is joined to his cups, let him alone ; let him drown himself
in liquor until he scorch himself in fire.' "
THE WIFE'S PRAYER ANSWERED.
For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or
how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife ? 1 Cor. 7 : 16.
A WRITER in a late number of the Christian Advocate
JLJL vouches for the truth of the following narrative :
The Rev. Benjamin Collins, a zealous and successful minis-
ter of the gospel in New Jersey, was converted in answer to
the prayers of his wife. Having experienced religion herself,
she became deeply solicitous for the spiritual welfare of her
husband. She set apart six months, during which time she
determined to make his conversion a matter of earnest prayer.
That period having nearly expired, she saw no signs of serious-
ness in his behavior. On the contrary, he seemed to be grow-
ing worse. He appeared ill-humored, his aim being to have
her give up her religion. One morning, about the close of the
six months, he left home in an apparent bad humor, and on his
return in the evening he heard some one talking. Supposing
it to be a neighbor, he halted at the door to recognize, if pos-
sible, the voice ; but it was his wife at prayer ; she was pray-
526 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ing earnestly for him. If she could thus pray for him, after
the treatment he had bestowed upon her, she must have some-
thing he had not, was his conclusion, to which reason drove
him. It was there where he was first convicted. After they
had retired for the night, she, much discouraged, spoke to. the
following effect: u Ben" (her usual style of addressing him), "I
want to save my soul, and want to know if you will go with
me to heaven ; if not, I will go with you to hell, for we can't
be separated." A terrible alternative ! It made a deep im-
pression upon Collins. The idea of his wife going to hell on
his account was too much. He entreated her to continue her
prayers in his behalf, which she did, and very soon both hus-
band and wife were rejoicing in the knowledge of sins for-
given. What knowest thou, wife, whether thou shalt save
thy husband.
TEXTS FOR TIME'S FLIGHT.
But this I say, brethren, The time is short : it remaineth that both they
that have wives be as though they had none. 1 Cor. 7 : 29.
following texts were selected by one on a bed of sick-
J_ ness, a few months before her death, in reference to the
hours of the day a text corresponding, in number of words,
with each hour as the clock struck :
1. Trust. Ps. 37 : 3.
2. Fear not. Isa. 43 : 5.
3. God is love. 1 John 4 : 8.
4. Have faith in God. Mark 11 : 22.
5. Seek, and ye shall find. Matt. 7 : 7.
6. I know that my Redeemer liveth. Job 19 : 25.
7. Not my will, but thine, be done. Luke 22 : 42.
8. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Heb. 13 : 5.
9. And as thy days, so shall thy strength be. Deut. 33 : 25.
10. There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God.
Heb. 4 : 9.
11. Casting all your care upon him ; for he careth for you.
1 Peter 5 : 7.
12. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
John 6 : 37.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 527
FASHIONABLE WOMEN.
And they that use this world as not abusing it ; for the fashion of this
world passeth away. 1 Cor. 7 : 31.
FASHION kills more than toil or sorrow. Obedience to
fashion is a greater transgression of the laws of woman's
nature, a greater injury to her physical and mental constitu-
tion, than the hardships of poverty and neglect. The slave
woman at her task still lives and grows old, and sees two or
three generations of her mistresses pass away. The washer-
woman, with scarcely a ray of hope to cheer her in her toils,
will live to see her fashionable sisters all extinct. The kitchen
maid is hearty and strong, when her lady has to be nursed
like a sick baby. It is a sad truth that fashion-pampered
women are always worthless for all good ends of life : they
have but little force of character ; they have still less power
of moral will, and quite as little physical energy. They live
for no great ends. They are dolls, formed in the hands of
milliners and servants, to be fed to order. If they rear chil-
dren, servants and nurses do all, save to conceive and give_
them birth ; and, when reared, what are they ? What do
they amount to but weak scions of the old stock ? Who ever
heard of a fashionable woman's child exhibiting any virtue
and power of mind for which it became eminent ? Read the
biographies of our great and good men and women. Not one
of them had a fashionable mother !
KNOWLEDGE THAT WILL NOT PROFIT.
Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. 1 Cor. 8:1.
" 4 MAN," said Dr. Guthrie, " may know all about the rocks,
1JL and his heart remain as hard as granite or adamant ; he
may know all about the winds, their courses and their cur-
rents, and be the sport of passions as turbulent and fierce as
they ; he may know all about the stars, and his fate be the
meteor's, that blazes for a little while and is then lost, quenched
528 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
in eternal night ; he may know all about the sea, and be a
stranger to the peace of God ; his soul may resemble its
troubled waters, which, lashed by storms and ruffled by every
breath of wind, can not rest, but throw up mire and dirt ; he
may know how to rule the spirit of the elements, and not
know how to rule his own ; he may know how to turn aside
the deadly thunderbolt, but not the wrath of an angry God ;
you may know all, in short, that man has discovered or his
skill invented, but if you do not know Jesus Christ, if your
eyes have never been opened to a saving knowledge of the
truth, what will that avail you when they are fixed in their
sockets, glazed by the hand of death ? Equally by the death-
bed of the greatest philosopher, as of the hardest miser that
ever ground the faces of the poor, there is room and reason
for the solemn question : What shall it profit a man if he shall
gain the whole world, all its learning, its wealth, its pleasures,
and honors, and lose his own soul ? "
" There may be a knowledge without love. Did you
ever know any so cunning in the story of the gospel that they
could tell you the manner of Christ's life and death, from point
to point, and yet have no more love of Christ in them than
there is fire in a fish-pond ? The seat of knowledge is the
head ; of love, the heart. The sun may shine in a clear, frosty
day, yet for all his light it may be bitter cold, and the face of
the deep be frozen. Our eyes may see when our bones shake.
The beams of knowledge may fill our heads, and yet winter lie
cold in our hearts." Adams.
BE CAREFUL OF YOUR INFLUENCE.
But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling-
block to them that are weak. 1 Cor. 8 : 9.
A MAN who bore the reputation of a Christian at home,
being in the city, went to the theater, thinking the act
would never be known. Some years after, he was sent for to
visit a dying 'man. This man charged him with the ruin of
his soul. While young, he had seen the professed Christian
enter the theater, and followed his example, saying to himself,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 529
that if a church member and Sunday school superintendent
could do this, he could. He had become hardened in sin, and
now lay hopeless in death, but felt that the crisis of his life
was that fatal example.
Be careful of your influence everywhere ; for no one can
tell who is being affected by your words or example. Be the
Christian everywhere.
LONGING TO SAVE SOULS.
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak : I am made
all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 1 Cor. 9 : 22.
IT is said of the learned John Smith " that he had resolved
to lay aside other studies, and to travail in the salvation
of men's souls, after whose good he most earnestly thirsted."
Of Alleine, author of the Alarm to Unconverted Sinners,
it is said that " he was infinitely and insatiably greedy of the
conversion of souls ; and to this end he poured out his very
heart in prayer and preaching." Bunyan said, " In my
preaching I could not be satisfied unless some fruits did
appear in my work." " I would think it a greater happiness,"
said Matthew Henry, " to gain one soul to Christ than moun-
tains of silver and gold to myself. If I do not gain souls I
shall enjoy all other gains with very little satisfaction, and I
would rather beg my bread from door to door than undertake
this great work." Doddridge, writing to a friend, remarked,
u I long for the conversion of souls more sensibly than for
anything besides. Methinks I could not only labor, but die
for it with pleasure."
FOR THE GOSPEL'S SAKE.
And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with
you. 1 Cor. 9 : 23.
BEHIND all the ingenuities of address, and all shiftings of
measures, and all tentative enterprises, stands one un-
changing, unchangeable purpose and that to plant, and push,
and proclaim, and enthrone everywhere one unchanging and
67
530 KEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
unchangeable fact the faith of Christ. For that, and that
simply, and that always, Paul wants to gain the Jew and the
Gentile, the legalist and the Antinomian, the weak and the
powerful. When he meets a man, the first question he has to
ask about him is, how to make a Christian of him a good
model for every Christian minister. Paul would never desire a
parishioner merely to take up a pew, help to fill the church,
and swell the parish revenue. The moment he got a hearing
from anybody, " Christ and the resurrection " was the next
word. The moment he gained attention, the kingdom of
heaven was the message. If anybody admired his eloquence,
or was struck with his dialectics, or stopped to recognize his
manly simplicity and courage, Paul had not an instant to lose
before trying for his conversion. If he found a welcome in
any city, or even an entrance with bonds and afflictions instead
of salutes, he determined not to know anything there but
Christ and him crucified, and ceased not to preach him till he
departed thence. Eev. F. D. Huntington, D. D,
SCRIPTURAL TEMPERANCE.
And every man that Btriveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.
1 Cor. 9 : 25.
gospel temperance principle is not a matter of one idea,
but covers the whole field of dietetic habits. Belonging
to this principle there are two important features : moderation -
iii the use of everything needful, and entire abstinence from
everything hurtful. The first feature embraces all our using
of needful food and drink. The bread which Heaven has given
us should be eaten with such moderation, and in such conform-
ity to divine arrangement given to the digestive forces, that the
blessing shall not be transformed, by our rebellion against
organic law, into a curse. After asking God to bless our food,
it is profanity so to abuse its use as to render it impossible for
him to bless it, without entirely repealing his own fixed laws
pertaining to its assimilation.
While rebelling against our own physical being, we are also
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 531
warring against the soul. Deranged physical functions blunt
the susceptibility and activity of the spiritual. A gormandizing
mouth blunts the impressibility of the moral sense. A dys-
peptic stomach and a torpid liver hinder growth in grace and
sanctification of the heart. While creating morbid functions
of the body, and pushing it into an early grave, we are grad-
ually paralyzing the soul and lowering the standard of its
spirituality. While laying a lame physical sacrifice upon the
altar of Christ, we blemish the value of the dedicated inner
man. To have a pious soul rise in the scale of spirituality, it
must be allowed to dwell in a pious body, whose lusts are
subdued and denied.
PETER VANNEST AND THE PREDESTINARIAN.
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any
means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
1 Cor. 9 : 27.
WHILE traveling the Ponsett circuit, in the year 1797, the
Rev. Peter Vannest was often set upon by persons hold-
ing to Calvinistic theology, when short and decisive encoun-
ters would occur. The following is an example. In a letter
to the Rev. A. Stevens, D. D., Mr. Vannest recalls one of those
theological encounters. He says,
" As I was on my way from Norwich to Bozrah, a man came
up to me, in great haste and concern, and asked me if I was a
Methodist preacher. I said, ' Yes, a poor one.' He said, 1 1
have been wishing and looking to see one these several years,
and I am glad I have found one at last. 7 I asked him what he
wanted with him. He said, < To make him ashamed of his
erroneous principles.' ' What are they ? ' I asked. < You hold
to falling from grace don't you ? ' I said, { Not so ; we hold to
getting grace and keeping it.' ' But you allow that people
can fall from grace ? ' ' That is another thing ; angels fell ;
Adam fell ; and St. Paul said, " I keep under my body, and
bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others,
I myself should be a castaway." If you do not believe the
Scriptures you are an infidel.' He said he believed in de-
grees of falling; that we may fall partly, but not finally.
532 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
1 Now sir, if you please, I will ask you a few plain questions.
Have you ever had grace?' He answered, l Yes.' ' Have
you any grace now ? ' t To be sure I have, as I can not lose
it.' l Now be honest. Don't you get angry ? ' ' Yes, I do.'
1 Do you not swear?' ' Yes, I do.' < Do you not get drunk? '
1 Yes, I do.' l What ! you do these things ? Why, you have
no more religion than the devil. Sir, I allow two degrees in
falling : the first is to fall from grace as you have, if you ever
had any ; and if you do not repent and do your first works,
the next fall will be into hell, to be miserable for ever.' He
put whip to his horse and went off in a hurry, and I thought
he would not be in haste to find another Methodist preacher."
Stevens's History of H. E. Church.
"PASSED THROUGH THE SEA."
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all
our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 1 Cor. 10 : 1, 2.
REV. DR. HODGE, in his comments on the " Confession,"
has the following: " In 1 Corinthians 10 : 1, 2, the Israel-
ites are said to have been * baptized unto Moses in the cloud
and in the sea.' Compare Exodus 14 : 19-31. But the
Egyptians who were immersed were not baptized ; and the
Israelites who were baptized were not immersed. In 1 Peter
3 : 20, 21, it is said that baptism was the antitype of the salva-
tion of the eight souls in the ark. Yet the very gist of their
salvation consisted in their not being immersed." As there
are many immersions that are not baptisms, so there are many
baptisms that are not immersions. A large majority of the
baptisms that have been administered in the Christian church
have not been immersions, but effusions the pouring of
water upon the candidate. It would seem to be more in har-
mony with the design of Christianity that the element (water)
in consecration should be applied to the person, rather than
the person to the element, as in immersion. The spirit bap-
tism on the day of pentecost was by pouring. Baptism with
water is an emblem of the work of the Spirit of God upon our
hearts, now that it is " poured out " in these latter days.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 533
SPIRITUAL DRINK.
And did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual
Rock that followed them ; and that Rock was Christ. 1 Cor. 10 : 4.
DURING a revival in a town in Ohio, a man who had been
very worldly-minded was awakened, but for some time
concealed his feelings even from his wife, who was a praying
woman. She left him one evening in charge of his little girl
of three "years of age. After her departure, his anxiety of
mind became so great that he walked the room in his agony.
The little girl noticed his agitation, and inquired, " What ails
you, pa ? " He replied, " Nothing," and endeavored to quiet
his feelings, but all in vain. The child looked up sympathiz-
ingly in his face, and inquired, with the artlessness and sim-
plicity of childhood, " Pa, if you were dry, wouldn't you go
and get a drink of water ? " The father started as if a voice
from heaven had fallen on his ear. He thought of his thirsty
soul famishing for the waters of life ; he thought of that living
fountain opened in the gospel ; he believed, and straightway
fell at the Saviour's feet. From that hour he dates the dawn-
ing of a new light and the beginning of a new life.
"A WAY OF ESCAPE."
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man ; but
God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able,
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to
bear it. 1 Cor. 10 : 13.
THE Chronicles of Froissart relate the strange issue of a
siege which took place in the chivalry, and somewhere, I
think, in France. Though gallantly defended, the outworks
of the citadel had been carried. The breach was practicable ;
to-morrow was fixed for the assault. That none, alarmed at
the desperate state of their fortunes, might escape under the
cloud of night, the besiegers guarded every sally-port, and, in-
deed, the whole sweep of wall. They had the garrison in a net,
and only waited for the morrow to secure or to slaughter them.
534 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
The night wore heavily on ; no sortie was attempted ; no
sound came from the beleaguered citadel ; its brave but ill-
starred defenders seemed to wait their doom in silence. The
morning came ; with its dawn the stormers rushed at the
the breach ; sword in hand they poured in to find the nest
empty, cold. The bird was flown; the prey escaped. But
how ? That was a mystery ; it seemed a miracle till an open-
ing was discovered that led by a flight of steps down into the
bowels of the rock. They descended, and explored their way
with cautious steps and lighted torches, until this subterranean
passage led them out a long way off from the citadel, among
quiet, green fields and the light of day. It was plain that by
this passage, the doors of which stood open, their prey had
escaped under cover of night. A clever device, a wise pre-
caution. It was a refuge of the besieged, provided against
such a crisis. And when affairs seem desperate, and the worst
has come to the worst, how should it encourage- God's peo-
ple to remember that he has promised them as safe a retreat !
What says an apostle ? " God is faithful, who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that ye are able ; but will, with the
temptation, also make a way to escape." Han and the Gospd.
HOW E SHOULD EAT AND DRINK.
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory
of God. 1 Cor. 10 : 31.
TO do all things for the glory of God is the Christian's law.
All things ; the apostle specifies among them eating and
drinking. , He means evidently that a Christian is to eat and
drink those things, and in those measures, which conduce to
his highest efficiency of mind and body, for this reflects honor
upon the Creator ; the healthier, the happier, the better in all
respects a man is, the more glory is reflected upon the wisdom
and goodness of God. The rule to eat and drink to the glory
of God, is not obeyed by merely stopping short of drunkenness
and gluttony. It is not enough that a man do not hurt him-
self, be not a slave to appetite ; he must make his eating and
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 535
his drinking a revenue of good to himself and honor to the
Being that made him.
By parity of reasoning must the Christian dress to the glory
of God. This surely is included in the " all things " to which the
rule applies, and it is not a little thing, but a great thing ; it is
to be ranked next to if not alongside of eating and drinking as
a manifestation of the Christian life. The Christian law is too
plain to be misunderstood. St. Peter and St. Paul alike have
laid it down. " Outward adorning " is in express terms put
under the ban ; specifications are made, just such as the times
need " broidered hair, gold, pearls, costly array." In precise
and well-considered terms, " modest apparel " is required ;
good works in place of gay clothing; the manifestations of
" the hidden man of the heart," even the incorruptible " orna-
ment of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God
of great price." Rev. Dr. Buddington.
DR. GUMMING ON THE "REAL PRESENCE."
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my
body, which is broken for you . this do in remembrance of me. 1 Cor. 11 : 24.
EEY. DR. GUMMING, of London, recently said, that in the
Highlands of Scotland, he once met a lady of noble birth,
who asked him if he believed in the " real presence." " Cer-
tainly I do," he said. " I am very glad," she replied ; " but
you are the first Protestant clergyman I ever met with who
did." " We attach different meanings to the same words,"
said Dr. Gumming. " I believe in the real presence of our
Lord wherever two or three are gathered together in his name.
I can not believe as you do about the real presence, when I
consider the words l in remembrance of me.' Memory has to
do with the past, with an absent friend. To eat and drink in
remembrance of one who is actually present before one's eyes
is an absurdity."
A lady who accompanied her was silent ; but a few months
ago, Dr. Gumming received a letter from her father, saying,
that when his daughter went to Scotland she was on the verge
536 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
of Romanism, owing to the influence of this noble friend, and
that the words of Dr. Gumming on " in remembrance of me,"
were blessed by God in preventing her from becoming a
Romanist, and that she was converted, and had just died, re-
joicing in Christ.
REFUSING TO COMMUNE.
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink
of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh
damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 1 Cor. 11 : 28, 29.
SOME time since we attended a sacramental meeting in a
neighboring church, and as we were distributing the ele-
ments, we observed a worthy deacon sitting on the seats ap-
propriated to the portion of the assembly that did not wish to
partake of the ordinance. Knowing him to be a very good
man, we took occasion, after the service was over, to express
our surprise and regret at seeing him in such a position. He
replied, that he had a personal difficulty in a pecuniary trans-
action with one of the members of the church, and having lost
all confidence in his piety, could never again sit down at the
same communion table with him. He seemed to think he was
perfectly justifiable in his course. We replied by asking a
single question: Do you consider yourself better than the
Saviour ? He sat down to his own table with Judas, who, he
knew, in a few hours would betray him ; and was a thief from
the beginning. .
The question seemed to puzzle him, and we parted. But,
as we were about to leave the next day, he came and ex-
pressed his great sorrow for having acted as he did. We then
took occasion to remark, there was a strong probability that
he had harshly judged his brother ; but if he had not, the other
having done wrong could never justify him in committing an-
other wrong, in refusing to remember Christ. The command
of the Master was, " Do this in remembrance of me." The
fact that another had defrauded him could never authorize him
to defraud his Saviour of that grateful and heartfelt remem-
brance of him, in his ordinance, which was his just due. He
quoted the saying of the Saviour, " If thou bring thy gift to
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 537
the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother has aught
against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy
way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and
oiler thy gift." We replied, that that passage was not more
applicable to the Lord's Supper than it was to prayer, or any
other approach to God ; that if his interpretation of it was
correct, he ought never to pray any more until he had settled
his difficulty with his brother. We parted, and were happy to
learn from him, a short time since, that the train of thought
then started in his mind, had led him to seek a reconciliation,
and that he had been successful. Perhaps the same thoughts
may be useful to some of our readers who have been guilty of
similar folly with this good brother.
When will Christians learn that they should partake of the
Lord's Supper because the Saviour commanded them thus to
do ? and that no course which their brethren may take will
justify them in neglecting that blessed institution?
SPIRITUAL GIFTS.
Now,, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
1 Cor. 12 : 1.
THE Holy Spirit is able to make the word as successful now
as in the days of the apostles. He can bring in by hun-
dreds 'and thousands as easily as by ones and twos. The rea-
son why we are not more prosperous is, that we have not the
Holy Spirit with us in might and in power as in early times.
If we had the Spirit sealing our ministry with power, it would
signify very little about our talent. Men might be poor and
uneducated ; their words might be broken and ungrammati-
cal ; there might be none of the polished periods of Hall, or
the glorious thunders of Chalmers ; but if the might of the
Spirit attended them, the humblest evangelist would be more
successful than the most eloquent preachers. It is extraordi-
nary grace, not talent, that wins the day. It is extraordinary
spiritual power that we need. Mental power may, for a time,
draw a crowd to the house of God ; but it is moral power that
68
538 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
brings them to the foot of the cross. Mental power may call
forth applause to man, but it is moral power that brings glory
to God.
0, we know some before whom we shrink into nothing as to
talent, but who have no spiritual power, and when they speak
they have not the Holy Spirit with them ; but we know
others simple-hearted, worthy men who speak their coun-
try dialect, and who stand up to preach in their country place,
and the Spirit of God clothes every word with power. Hearts
are broken, souls are saved, and sinners are born again. 0,
Spirit of the living God, we want thee ! Thou art the life, the
soul, the source of thy people's success. Without thee they
can do nothing, with thee they can do everything. C. H.
Spurgeon.
USE YOUR TALENTS.
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 1 Cor. 12 : 4.
" A ND unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to
J\- another one. 7 ' There are many warm hearts and will-
ing hands in the world, anxious, eager to do good, yet because
they have not the ability to do precisely what they see others
perform in walks of usefulness, they are often discouraged, and
sometimes idle. That each person is gifted with power to
be useful in some way, let us illustrate by a story which is a
true one.
A young lady was heard to say, " I wish I could do some-
thing for my country ; I would willingly become a nurse in a
hospital, but I have not the physical strength. WHiat can I
do?"
A friend replied, " You can sing."
" Yes, I can sing, but what of that ? "
" Go to one of the hospitals and sing for the soldiers."
The Idea pleased her. She accompanied a friend who was
long used to such visits, and who introduced her by saying to
the patients,
" Here is a young lady who has come to sing for you."
At the mere announcement every face was aglow with ani-
. NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 539
mation, every eye was riveted upon her with expectant pleas-
ure. She sang a few songs, commencing with the glorious
" Star-spangled Banner." As the thrilling notes of that song
rang through the apartment, one poor man, who had been given
up by the physician as an almost hopeless case, half raised him-
self in his cot, leaned his head upon his hand, and drank in
every note like so much nectar. The effect was electrical.
From that hour he began to amend, and finally recovered.
VARIETY IN GIFTS.
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom ; to another, the word
of knowledge by the same Spirit ; to another, faith by the same Spirit ; to an-
other, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit. 1 Cor. 12 : 8, 9.
VHERE the notion that the talent employed in Christian
teaching ought to lie within limited and humble range,
without any high flights, any deep soundings, any glowing
language, any metaphorical illustrations, or any masculine ar-
gument, can have originated, one would be at a loss to learn,
were the Bible alone Old Testament and New the source
of their information. There we see the power of the Holy
Spirit, not allying itself with one order of mind, or with one
stamp of composition, tamed down to a standard of proper-
ness, consecrated by the esthetics of some small and proper
men, but using every faculty that God ever gave to the hu-
man soul, every faculty of thought, illustration, and speech,
hallowing by its fire all genius, all life, and all nature, touch-
ing everything and illumining everything ; so that there is not
one scene of domestic life, and not one object of God's outer
world, to ^ which the tongue of psalmist or prophet, or the
Great Teacher himself has not given a voice, and made it
speak to us in sacred poetry. From the grass beneath the
mower's scythe, or the lily that a child has plucked, from
the bridegroom's beaming face, or the nursing mother's bosom,
up to the lightning, the sun, and the stars, everything is
hallowed by a ray from the Bible, and is hung round by its
sacred associations.
We can not but believe that this is the intentional model,
540 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
and that men of all orders, with talents of every possible shade,
are meant to be employed in God's holy ministry ; and that,
therefore, any narrower view, founded either upon the ideal
of some prominent example in one class of preaching, on the
taste of a given age, or on~any notion whatever of classic style
and propriety, is but an invention to cramp and trammel that
which must everlastingly be free the utterance of men who
come to speak to us of all things infinite. Arthur s Tongue
of Fire.
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY.
But covet earnestly the best gifts ; and yet shew I unto you a more excel-
lent way. 1 Cor. 12 : 31.
THE Observer relates that, in a recent prayer-meeting in
Fulton Street, New York, a gentleman from London
stated that on his passage homeward they encountered a
terrible storm. The shaft of the steamship was broken, one
wheel was disabled, and they expected every moment to go
down. On board they had in one cabin several Catholic
priests, and as many nuns, or Sisters of Charity. They had
also a very pious Methodist man. In the midst of the storm
the priests were about to administer extreme unction, the last
rite of the church, by which all sin is supposed to be washed
away. This Methodist had been with them, and to him one
of the priests said,
" I feel it my duty to tell you that we are about to administer
extreme unction for the cleansing away of all sin. I must tell
you that you are out of the true church, and that if you die as
you are, you will be lost forever you will be damned. Will
you allow me to administer to you extreme unction, and thus
save your soul ? "
" Sir," said the Methodist, " I have been down to my state-
room for some time alone, with the High Priest of my profes-
sion. I have made a full and unreserved confession of all my
sins. He has pronounced absolution from all my guilt. He
has administered to me extreme unction. He has assured me
that he is ready to receive me. He is mighty to save, and he
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 541
tells me he can save, to the uttermost, all who come unto God
through him. He has prepared me for death. I know that
my Redeemer liveth. I am ready to have this vessel go down.
I ask you if you really believe I need any preparation at your
hands ? "
The priest was confounded, and said no more. This, the
speaker said, evinced the power of prayer to calm the mind
in view of the most imminent dangers and the near prospect
of death itself.
LOVE, THE TRUE TEST.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give
my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
1 Cor. 13 : 3.
/CHRIST will not take sermons, prayers, fastings, no, nor
\J giving our goods, nor the burning of our bodies, instead
of love. And do we love him, and yet care not how long we
are from him? Was it such a joy to Jacob to see the face of
Joseph in Egypt, and shall we be contented without the sight
of Christ in glory, and yet say we love him ? I dare not con-
clude that we have no love at all when we are so loth to die ;
but I dare say. were our love more, we should die more will-
ingly ; by our unwillingness to die, it appears we are little
weary of sin. Did we take sin for the greatest evil, we should
not be willing to haVe its company so long. Baxter.
KNOWLEDGE SHALL VANISH AWAY.
Charity never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail;
whether there be tongues, they shall cease ; whether there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away. 1 Cor. 13 : 8.
TOHN SELDEN was a most erudite Englishman, possessed
U much antiquarian, historical, and legal knowledge ; was
master of many languages, and author of works which have
filled Europe with his fame ; and was possessor of a library
of eight thousand volumes. When he lay dying, he said to Arch-
542 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
bishop Usher, " I have surveyed most of the learning that is
amongst the sons of men, and my study is filled with books
and manuscripts on various subjects ; but at present I can not
recollect any passage out of all my books and papers whereon
I can rest my soul, save this from the sacred Scriptures : f The
grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all
men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present
world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appear-
ing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave
himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good
works.' "
BE CONTENT TO KNOW WHAT GOD REVEALS.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 1 Cor. 13 : 9.
"VTOU know as much as is good for you. For it is with the
JL mind as it is with the senses. A greater degree of
hearing would terrify us. If our eyes should see things micro-
scopically, we should be afraid to move. Thus our knowledge
is suited to situation and circumstances. Were we informed
beforehand of good things provided for us by Providence,
from that moment we should cease to enjoy the blessings
we possess, become indifferent to present duties, and be
filled with restless impatience. Or suppose the things fore-
known were gloomy, and adverse ; what dismay and despon-
dency would be the consequence of the discovery ! And how
many times should we suffer in imagination what we now
only endure in reality ! Who would wish to draw back a vail
which saves them from so many disquietudes ? If some of you
had known the troubles through which you have since waded,
you would have fainted under the prospect. But what we
" know not now we shall know hereafter."-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 543
WE KNOW IN PART.
For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face : now I know
in part,' but then shall I know even. as also I am known. 1 Cor. 13 : 12.
MR. WARD, the Indian missionary, used to tell a story of a
Brahmin, who was asked if the various views of Chris-
tians about their own religion did not lead him to doubt its
divine origin. He replied, " Not at all. Hear, my brother.
There was once a city, of which all the inhabitants had lost
their sight they were blind. It was one day rumored that
a magnificent elephant was to pass through their streets ; and
as none of the people had ever seen an elephant, all rushod
down to examine it, and pressed close for free inquiry. One
felt his leg, another his trunk, another his tail, one his ears,
and one his tusk ; till they were satisfied. The elephant went
his way, and they returned home. Many were obliged to be
content with the reports of the more fortunate. After a time,
the various visitors of the gigantic animal began to converse
about him, and to describe to others what they had observed ;
but all their evidence seemed contradictory, since each bore
testimony only to the particular member with which he had
come in contact, and each denied what his brother attested.
Disputes were running very high, when a wise old Brahmin
interposed, and said, ' My dear brothers, forbear, I beseech
you. All those to whom you have listened are right, and all
are wrong. You each know a little, and only a little, of the
great creature concerning which you would be informed.
Now, instead of disputing, put together all you have heard,
combine the different testimonies you have received, and by
so doing you may best hope to gain some idea of the whole. ' "
Mrs. Sckimmelpenriinck.
OLDEST CHRISTIAN HYMN IN THE WORLD.
I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
1 Cor. 14 : 15.
IN Pged., Lib. III., of Clement of Alexandria, is given (in
Greek) the most ancient hymn of the primitive church.
It is there (one hundred and fifty years after the apostles)
asserted to be of much earlier origin. It may have been sung by
544 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
the " beloved disciple." before he ascended to his reward. The
following version will give some imperfect idea of its spirit :
" Shepherd of tender youth,
Guiding in love and truth,
Through devious ways,
Christ, our triumphant King,
We come thy name to sing,
And here our children bring,
To shout thy praise.
" Thou art our holy Lord,
The all- subduing Word,
Healer of strife !
Thou didst thyself abase,
That from sin's deep disgrace
Thou mightest save our race,
And give us life.
" Thou art wisdom's High Priest ;
Thou hast prepared the feast
Of holy love ;
And in our mortal pain
None calls on thee in vain ;
Help thou dost not disdain
Help from above.
" Ever be thou our Guide,
Our Shepherd and our pride, -
Our staff and song.
Jesus, thou Christ of God,
By the perennial word,
Lead us where thou hast trod,
Make our faith strong.
" So now, and till we die,
Sound we thy praise on high,
And joyful sing.
Infants, and the glad throng
Who to thy church belong,
Unite and swell the song
To Christ our King !
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 545
A COMPLIMENT.
Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding,
that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an un-
known tongue. 1 Cor. 14 : 19.
MANY years ago there was a preaching station some dis-
tance from Princeton, to which it was usual to send the
licentiates of the Seminary to preach ; and they, very properly,
performed the duty assigned them with a due regard to the
great importance of preaching well-prepared sermons. One
of their habitual hearers was an old New Jersey slave, known
as Uncle Sam, a sincere, humble Christian man, but of course
wholly uneducated. Always when he came home from the
preaching he would try to tell his mistress what he could re-
member of the sermon, and he always came with the same
complaint. He was a poor, ignorant old man, he would say,
and he could not understand these learned men at all. The
little he did comprehend was mingled with so much that was
deep that he could not remember it. One day, however, Uncle
Sam came home in a great good humor. There was a poor,
ignorant old man, just like himself, he said, who had come to
preach that day. It was plain that he did not know much ;
indeed, he was hardly fit to preach to the white people ; but
Sam was glad he had come for his own sake, for he could re-
member everything he had said. . On inquiry it was found
that Sam's ignorant old preacher was Dr. Archibald Alexan-
der ; and when the doctor heard the criticism, he said it was
the highest compliment ever paid to his preaching.
ATONEMENT FOR SIN THE FELT WANT OF MAN.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. 1 Cor. 15 : 3.
A DISTINGUISHED minister lately remarked in a sermon
that the doctrine of the atonement was eminently de-
signed to arrest the attention of sinners ; that it was so con-
structed by God, who best knows the philosophy of the human
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546 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
mind, as to make itself palpable and easily understood, while
many things apparently simple fail to be comprehended.
Said he, a Brahmin, enlightened by that light which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world, felt the weight of his
sins bearing heavily upon him, and was aroused, by that dread-
ful foreboding acknowledged in every man's conscience! to do
something to save himself from the wrath to come. He went
to a distinguished Brahmin to learn what would give his mind
relief. A long journey was prescribed for him, which he was
to accomplish in shoes filled with sharp points, goading his
feet at every cruel step. On his travels he saw a multitude
gathered around a man who was earnestly addressing them ;
he drew near and heard Mr. Thomas, the Baptist missionary
to India, preaching Christ and his blessed salvation from sin.
He was so impressed with what he heard that he cried aloud,
" This is just what I want." Throwing away his bloody
shoes, he listened to further instructions, and is now not only a
believer in the salvation by Christ, but a teacher of this blessed
doctrine.
"SO WE PREACH."
Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
1 Cor. 15 : 11.
T)REACHING the gospel is the greatest institution of Chris-
L tianity on its human side. Christ's ministers are a great
power considered numerically, intellectually, and socially ; but
chiefly because appointed and attended of God. Every man
called of God to preach the gospel should carefully and con-
stantly study to make the most of his commission, not for him-
self, but for Christ. If this be his aim, every time he stands
up to preach he will have some distinct thought to present
concerning Christ or his kingdom. His text will not be for a
key to open the door of his own storehouse of knowledge, that
he may exhibit the numerous collections of his intellectual
cabinet ; nor will he try to say all he can on his subject, and
so overburden his text and his hearers ; but he. will seek to
know the mind of God in that passage of Scripture, and make
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 547
that divine thought the center and front of the sermon. The
skillful artist does not put the largest possible amount of paint
on the canvas, but only so much, and in such proportions and
shades, as to make most impressive the intent of the design.
Preaching fails of the effectiveness it might have when the
preacher " darkeneth counsel by words without wisdom,"
which is always the case when no one great truth is forcibly
urged upon the minds of the hearers, though many good and
beautiful things may be said. Drive home some one truth,
but strike no blows that do not tend to that object. In the
Methodist discipline, under the Rules for a Preacher, is this
exceedingly wise advice : u Take care not to ramble, but keep
to your text, and make out what you take in hand." Have a
central thought. See that it stands nearly related to Christ
as a Saviour, or to the soul of man to be saved. Be deeply
impressed with that thought before and while preaching. So
present that thought with all the eloquence and power you
possess, that it shall go deepest into the minds of the hearers,
and be longest remembered, and, if possible, never forgotten.
AWAKENED BY A FATHER'S DREAM.
Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of
God. I speak this to your shame. 1 Cor. 15 : 34.
A PIOUS man once related the following dream, which we
will give you in his own words :
" I have known the grace of God for nearly thirty years.
But in spite of all my advice to my five sons and two daugh-
ters, all running on in the broad way to destruction, they cost
me many prayers and tears, and yet I saw no fruit of my labor.
In January last I dreamed that the day of judgment was come ;
I saw the Judge on his great white throne ; the holy angels
sat around him, and all nations were gathered before him. I
and my wife were on the right hand of the Judge; but I could
not see my children. Said I, ' I can not bear this ; I must go
and seek them.' So I went to the left hand ; and I saw them,
all seven, standing together, tearing their breasts, cursing the
day that ever they were born. As soon as they saw me they
548 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
caught me, and said, ' 0, father, we will part no more.' I
said, ' My children, I am come to try and get you out of this
dismal situation.' So I took them all with me ; but when I
came within a short distance of the Judge, I thought he looked
angry, saying, ( What have thy children to do with thee now ?
They would not take warning when upon earth ; they shall
not share the crown with thee in heaven. Depart, ye cursed.'
" At these words I awoke, bathed in perspiration and tears.
Some time after this I related it to them, as we were all to-
gether on a Sunday night. And no sooner had I begun to
speak than I observed an apparent change upon them, first
.one and then another. Four of these are now rejoicing in
God their Saviour, and I believe that he is at work in the
hearts of the other two, so that I doubt not but God will also
save them in answer to my prayer."
They have since been converted to God.
STARS OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another
glory of the stars ; for one star differeth from another star in glory.
1 Cor. 15 : 41.
AT the close of his comments on 1 Cor. 15, Dr. Adam Clarke
remarks as follows :
" The reader is probably amazed at the paucity of large stars
in the firmament of heaven ! Will he permit me to carry his
mind a little further, and either stand astonished at or deplore
with me the fact that out of the millions of Christians in the
vicinity and splendor of the eternal Sun of Righteousness, how
very few are found of the first order? How very few can
stand examination by the test laid down in the thirteenth
chapter of this Epistle ! How very few love God with all
their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbor as
themselves-! How few mature Christians are found in the
church ! How few are in all things living for eternity ! How
little light, how little heat, and how little influence and activity
are to be found- among them that bear the name of Chris-t !
How few stars of the first magnitude will the Son of God have
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 549
to deck the crown of his glory ! Few are striving to excel in
righteousness ; and it seems to be a principal concern with
many to find out how little grace they may have and yet get
to heaven. In the fear of God I register this testimony, that
I have perceived it to be the labor of many to lower the
standard of Christianity, and to soften down or explain away
those promises of God that himself has linked with duties ;
and because they know that they can not be saved by their
good works, they are contented to have no good works at all ;
and thus the necessity of Christian obedience and Christian
holiness makes no prominent part of some modern creeds. Let
all those who retain the apostolic doctrine, that the blood of
Christ cleanseth from all sin in this life, press every believer
to go on to perfection, and expect to be saved while here be-
low, into the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus.
To all such my soul says, Labor to show yourselves approved
unto God ; workmen that need not be ashamed, rightly divid-
ing the word of truth ; and may the pleasure of the Lord pros-
per in your hands ! Amen."
IDENTITY NOT LOST IN DEATH.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is
raised in incorruption ; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory ; it is sown
in weakness, it is raised in power. 1 Cor. 15 : 42, 43.
OUR mortal body is the seed, our immortal, the plant that
grows out of that seed, transformed, and yet its identity not
lost ; renewed, and yet recognizable ; raised in incorruption,
glory, and power, and yet the same as that which was sown
in corruption, dishonor, and weakness.
There are helpful illustrations in nature, which are often
appealed to, such as the apparent death of winter followed by
life of spring, the chrysalis and the winged moth ; but this
divinely-chosen analogy of the seed and the plant is to me of
all the most suggestive regarding our spiritual body as it shall
be hereafter. For. take the bulb of a hyacinth, or of any other
flower, submit it to a naturalist, and he will tell you by aid of
the microscope what the perfected flower will be ; yet who
that did not know the mysteries of vegetation could believe
550 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
that from that dull and dismal bulb would spring that gor-
geous flower enveloped in its sheltering leaves ? Yet such
shall be our body then compared with our body now ; that
building of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,
compared with the earthly house of this tabernacle, which is
awaiting its dissolution. Rev. E. H. JBickersteth, M. A.
THE RESURRECTION.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality. 1 Cor. 15 : 53.
WHEN Lord Lindsey was traveling in Egypt, he found a
mummy, the inscription on which showed that it was
two thousand years old. Unwrapping it, he discovered in one
of its hands a tiny root. He brought the root to England,
and planted it ; when, lo ! it bloomed, and produced a lovely
flower.
The following beautiful stanzas, by Mrs. S. H. Bradford,
were suggested by this interesting incident :
Two thousand years ago a flower
Bloomed lightly in a far-off land ;
Two thousand years ago its seed
Was placed within a dead man's hand.
Before the Saviour came to earth
That man had lived, and loved, and died ;
And even in that far-off time
The flower had spread its perfume wide.
Suns rose and set, years came and went ;
The dead had kept its treasure well ;
Nations were born and turned to dust
While life was hidden in that shell.
The shriveled hand is robbed at last,
The seed is buried in the earth ;
When, lo ! the life long hidden there
Into a glorious flower bursts forth.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Just such a plant as that which grew
From such a seed when buried low,
Just such a flower, in Egypt bloomed
And died two thousand years ago.
And will not He who watched the seed,
And kept the life within the shell,
When those he loved are laid to rest,
Watch o'er their buried dust as well ?
And will he not from 'neath the sod
Cause something glorious to arise ?
Ay, though it sleep two thousand years,
Yet all that buried dust shall rise.
Just such a face as greets you now,
Just such a form as here we wear,
Only more glorious far, will rise
To meet the Saviour in the air.
Then will I lay me down in peace,
When called to leave this vale of tears,
For " in my flesh shall I see God,"
Even though I sleep two thousand years.
551
SO IT IS WHEN BELIEVERS DIE.
Death is swallowed up in victory. 1 Cor. 15 : 54.
AN Alpine hunter, ascending the Mont Blanc, in passing
over the Mer de Glace, lost his hold and slipped into
one of those frightful crevasses by which the sea of ice is
cleft to its foundations. By catching himself in his swift de-
scent against the points of rocks and projecting spurs of ice,
he broke his fall, so that he reached the bottom alive, but only
to face death in a more terrible form. On either hand the icy
walls rose up to heaven, above which he saw only a strip of
blue sky. At his feet trickled a little stream, formed from
552 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
the slowly melting glacier. There was but one possible
chance of escape to follow this rivulet, which might lead
to some unknown crevice or passage. In silence and terror
he picked his way down the mountain-side, till his further
advance was stopped by a giant cliff that rose up before him,
while the river rolled darkly below. He heard the roaring
of the waters, which seemed to wait for him. What should
he do? Death was beside him and behind him, and, he might
fear, before him. There was no time for reflection or delay.
He paused but an instant, and plunged into the stream. One
minute of breathless suspense a sense of darkness and cold-
ness, and yet of swift motion, as if he were gliding through
the shades 'below and then a light began to glimmer faintly
in the waters, and the next instant he was amid the green
fields, and the showers, and the summer sunshine of the Yale
of Chamouny.
So it is when believers die. They come to the bank of the
river, and it is cold and dark. Nature shrinks from the fatal
plunge. Yet one chilling moment, and all fear is left behind,
and the Christian is amid the fields of the Paradise of God.
FALSE PHILOSOPHY CORRECTED BY CHRISTIANITY.
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks
be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Cor. 15 : 56, 57.
eminent philosophers who have proved to their own
J_ satisfaction that they are descended from monkeys, ba-
boons, gorillas, and orang-outangs, occasionally meet with
some perplexing facts.
One of these was referred to by Mr. Lawrie, a missionary
from the South Sea region, in an address delivered before the
British and Foreign Missionary Society, at one of its anniver-
saries. After alluding to the evil influences spread by disso-
lute sailors in their visits to heathen countries, Mr. Lawrie
remarked that he wished it were in his power to say that
English sailors were the only persons who in other lands sunk
the Christian character. He had met with a great number of
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 553
persons, not sailors, who acted in a way directly calculated to
disgrace the name by which they were called.
Many years ago he was dining with Sir Thomas Gisborne,
who was a truly Christian gentleman, at Paramatta. An Eng-
lish philosopher was present, who had visited New Holland
with a view of ascertaining what kind of beings the aborigines
were. He set about examining the craniums of the blacks,
and having examined all the bumps of their skulls, he pro-
nounced them to -be of the orang-outang species. Mr. Lawrie
had then labored among this people two or three years, and a
young man who had become the subject of converting grace
was then dying of pulmonary disease. He invited the doctor
to accompany him on the following morning, stating that he
could produce an argument quite new to him in his investiga-
tions. The doctor accepted the invitation, and they visited
the poor consumptive. On entering the room where the young
black was lying, Mr. Lawrie said,
" Now, Thomas, relate to this gentleman what you were,
what Christianity has done for you, and what are your hopes
and views concerning another world."
The sick man, in response to this request, gave as clear an
account of his heathen, wretched, polluted condition, as any
man could do, in a few words. He then detailed the opera-
tions of the Spirit of Christ upon his heart, giving him to feel
that he was a sinner, and needed a Saviour. He next spoke
of ejnbracing Christ by faith, and finding peace with God, and
concluded in the language of the apostle, " The sting of death
is sin ; the strength of sin is the law ; but thanks be unto God,
who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Mr. Lawrie then thought that he had a fair opportunity of
coming into direct contact with his learned antagonist, and
said to him,
" Did you ever see a monkey die like that man ? "
The wise man was at a loss for a reply ; he was in a new
sphere of investigation, and found that there were more things
in heaven and earth than he had dreamed of or explored. With
some delay and difficulty, Mr. Lawrie managed to obtain from
him this answer :
" Sir, my philosophy stands corrected by your Christianity."
70
554 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
A good deal of man's philosophy will bear to be corrected
by Christianity and common sense. Will some of the wise
make a little investigation into the matter of monkeys' death-
beds, and report to the world the results ? They have investi-
gated the origin of monkeys and men ; let them now examine
their end. Let them note whether infidels and philosophers
who have proved themselves the descendants of monkeys
sustain the monkey character in the closing scene. And
when they have satisfied themselves on this point, let them
visit the death-beds of those who die in the Lord, whether in
kings' palaces or in beggars' huts, and observe the facts, and
draw their own conclusions. Let them stand by the dying
Prince Albert, while he says, " I have had wealth, rank, and
power. But if this were all I had, how wretched should I be
now !
' Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.' "
GIVING SCULPTURALLY AND BY RESOLUTION.
Now, concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the
churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 1 Cor. 1C : 1.
AT a missionary meeting held among the negroes at Jamaica,
these three resolutions were agreed upon :
1. We will all give something.
2. We will all give as God has enabled us.
3. We will all give willingly.
So soon as the meeting was over, a leading negro took hi a
seat at the table, with pen and ink, to put down what eacli
came to give. Many came forward and gave, some more and
some less. Amongst those that came was a rich old negro,
almost as rich as all the others put together, and threw down
upon the table a small silver coin.
" Take dat back again," said the negro that received the
money. " Dat not be according to do second resolution."
The rich old man accordingly took it up, and hobbled back
again to his seat in a rage. One after another came forward,
and as almost all gave more than himself, he was fairly ashamed
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 555
of himself, and again threw down a piece of money on the table,
saying,
" Dare, take dat ! "
It was a valuable piece of gold, but it was given so ill-tem-
peredly that the negro answered again,
" No I dat won't do yet. It may be according to de first
and second resolutions, but not according to de last ; " and he
was obliged to take up his coin again.
Still angry at himself and all the rest, he sat a long time,
till nearly all had gone, and then came up to the table, with a
smile on his face, and very willingly gave a large sum to the
treasury.
" Very well," said the negro ; " dat will do. Dat according
to all de resolutions."
SYSTEMATIC GIVING.
Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store,
as "God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
1 Cor. 16 : 2.
THERE is no Christian duty which is performed in a more
slovenly manner by many good people than the duty of
giving money in charity. Some give lazily to whatever and
whoever begs the most lustily ; they are quite as likely to en-
courage impostors as deserving objects, for they are too care-
less to inquire and discriminate. Some give money fitfully,
under the spasmodic inspiration of an eloquent appeal ; others
give only when their digestive organs are " all right," and they
are in good humor. A third class give for ostentation, like
the selfish curmudgeon who bestowed a hundred dollars on a
town clock because he " liked to give his money where he
could hear it tick"
There are a sensible few who give by system, and give on
principle and give, too, with discrimination. This is the
way in which the late Arthur Tappan bestowed his liberal
benefactions. The popularity of the object never bribed him,
and the unpopularity never deterred him. He held his wealth
in trust for Jesus Christ, and lived up to an honest, conscien-
tious stewardship.
556 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
James Lennox, Esq., of New York, whose benefactions for
the last thirty years have amounted to a larger sum than Mr.
Peabody's, has also set an example of judicious distribution, as
well as of princely liberality.
DIVINE ANATHEMA EXPLAINED.
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-
atha. 1 Cor. 16 : 22.
MR. LUKE SHORT, who formerly lived under the ministry
of Mr. Flavel, but afterward lived and died at Middle -
boro', in New England, often spoke with great affection of
Mr. Flavel's powerful and successful preaching ; and, among
other instances, gave this that one Lord's day Mr. Flavel be-
gan his sermon with an introduction of this importance : " My
dear hearers, you know I have been long endeavoring to set
forth the Lord Jesus Christ in his amiable excellences and all-
sufficiency before you, that if possible you might be allured
to love him ; and I have used all the powerful arguments and
motives I could think of to persuade you to come to him, and
heartily embrace him. And these winning methods you know
are most agreeable to my natural temper and disposition ; and
I desire to rejoice in the hope, that, through the grace of
Christ, there are some among you who have been allured and
persuaded to love and embrace him. But, alas, alas ! I have-
sufficient reason to fear that there are others among you who
have not yielded to all my alluring representations of him,
nor all the cogent arguments and motives which I have been
so long using, and so frequently and earnestly pressed upon
you ; but, ! after all I can say and do, you will not love him !
And now, alas ! I must change my note ! I must deliver a
message to you that I am loth to deliver; but my Lord and
Master requires it of me, in order to deliver the whole counsel
of God. It is that dreadful message in 1 Cor. 16:22: 'If
any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema
Maranatha ' i. e., let him be accursed of God, till God shall
come and judge him. If any man, or any one, whether male
or female, high or low, rich or poor, old or young, love not the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 557
Lord Jesus Christ above everything in the world, let them,
says the word and majesty of God, be Anathema Maranatha
accursed of God, and the curse of God, until the Lord shall
come and execute the fullness of his wrath upon them " or
words to this purpose. Upon which the whole assembly was
struck into a very great and visible consternation ; some deeply
affected for themselves, and some for their children; and
among the rest a gentleman of wealth and figure fell down
as dead in his pew, though he revived, in great distress of
soul.
A LESSON OF TRUST.
But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in
ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead; who delivered us from so great
a death, and doth deliver ; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.
2 Cor. 1 : 9, 10.
SOME time ago, a boy was discovered in the street, evidently
bright and intelligent, but sick. A man, who had the feel-
ing of kindness strongly developed, went to ask him what he
was doing there.
" Waiting for God to come for me," he said.
" What do you mean ? " said the gentleman, touched by the
pathetic tones of the answer, and the condition of the boy, in
^whose eyes and flushed face he saw the evidences of fever.
" God sent for mother, and father, and little brother," said
he, " and took them away to his home up in the sky ; and
mother told me, when she was sick, that God would take care
of me. I have no home ; nobody to give me anything j and so
I came out here, and have been looking so long in the sky for
God to come and take care of me, as mother said he would.
He will come won't he ? Mother never told a lie."
" Yes, my lad," said the gentleman, overcome with emotion ;
" he has sent me to take care of you."
You should have seen his eye flash, and the smile of triumph
break over his face, as he said,
" Mother never told a lie. sir ; but you have been so long
on the way ! "
What a lesson of trust ! and how this incident shows the
effect of never deceiving children with tales !
558 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL.
For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplici-
ty and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we
have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
2 Cor. 1 : 12.
THE simplicity of the Christian life is often overlooked. Our
nearness to an almighty and willing Saviour is not suf-
ficiently comprehended by the masses of the people. Not by
works, but by faith, we find Christ and heaven.
A learned divine one day accosted a simple-hearted Chris-
tian, busy in his daily toil, " Well, John, it is a long and hard
way to heaven is it not?" " 0, no, sir," was the ready an-
swer ; " it is only three steps." " Three steps ! how is that,
John ? " " Why, sir, nothing is plainer. First, step out of
yourself; second, step into Christ; third, step into heaven."
The astonished minister, years afterward, acknowledged his
indebtedness to that poor rustic for one of his profoundest
and most comprehensive lessons in experimental theology.
A SUCCESSFUL SUND.AY SCHOOL TEACHER.
For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the
glory of God by us. 2 Cor. 1 : 20.
MR. WILLIAM REYNOLDS, of Illinois, related the follow-
ing : " I taught a class once without results. It troubled
me sorely. I told my troubles to a minister of Christ who was
staying with me. ' You lack faith,' he said. ' Have you ever
taken your scholars one by one, and asked them personally
why they were not Christians ?' ' No, I never have.' 'Well,
there is your difficulty. You have lacked faith in the virtue
of such direct labor with them. Take your class now, and ask
each one of them personally, " What keeps you, my dear - ,
from the Lord Jesus Christ ? " Let us go apart, and pray for
your scholars.' We went to an upper room, and prayed that
God would give me, as the teacher, each one of my scholars
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 559
on the very next day. The next day was the Sabbath. I
resolved that I would honor God by believing his promises.
There was no unusual religious interest in the school. As I
longed and prayed for my class, my faith increased. I pleaded,
' Lord, for thy name's sake, for Jesus' sake, for these dear
souls' sake, give me all my scholars for thee on the morrow ! '
I went to my class the next day with feelings I never had be-
fore. I taught the lesson. I applied it. ' Annie, when do
you expect to be a Christian ? ' ' I don't know, Mr. Reynolds.'
' Don't you feel that you ought to be one now ? Annie, will
you not surrender your heart to Jesus ? ' She burst into tears.
I faithfully spoke to the next, and the next, until my five
scholars were in tears ; and one of them said to me, ' Won't you
please meet us in a prayer-meeting at our house, Mr. Rey-
nolds ? ' ' With pleasure.' I went there. We knelt in prayer,
and every one of them, upon their knees, gave themselves
away to Jesus ; and they are earnest Christians to-day, three
of them in my Sabbath school, leading others to the same
Saviour. I took another class, and pursued the same course.
All but one were converted to Christ."
DIFFICULTIES SETTLED BY FORGIVING THEM.
So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him,
lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
2 Cor. 2 : 7.
A MEMBER of the seminary at Bebek, one of the youngest
-flL in the school, was spending his vacation in Psamatia, a
quarter of the city of Constantinople on the Sea of Marmora,
six or seven miles distant from Pera. It happened one even-
ing, in the providence of God, that he was brought into a
family, the parents of which were at variance with each other,
and both openly saying that they wished to separate for life.
Perceiving the state of things, he took a Testament and read
to them Christ's Liw of the marriage institution. Then he
preached the gospel to them so faithfully, that, partly in amaze-
ment afr such a youthful preacher, and partly from the force of
truth, they relented, and proposed that he should judge be-
560 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
tween them and settle their strifes, after having heard a full
statemeDt from each of them. " No," said he, " this is not
the way ; let me tell you Christ's way. Forgive ! make all
your strifes into a bundle, and throw them into the Marmora,
and forget them ; and begin from this evening to live by the
gospel, and you and your children will all be happy."
The effect of this and his subsequent visits were such that
a relative of the family, who was equally unfortunate with his
wife, seeing the change, went for the youthful peace-maker
and brought him home. He kept him with him a week ; and
in speaking of it afterward he said they often sat till morning
light, reading, talking, and praying. Both these families are
now peaceful and happy, and say that they have just begun to
live, and that since he came to them, neither wine nor angry
words have passed their lips. Each of them has sent a son to the
seminary and a daughter to the female boarding-school. What
a fine instance of a vacation well spent ! How worthy to
awaken an emulation among the students of our land in doing
good !
DEVICES OF SATAN FOR PURPOSES OF ADVANTAGE
OVER MEN.
Lest Satan should got an -advantage of us ; for we are not ignorant of his
devices. 2 Cor. 2:11.
GOD has not left us in ignorance of Satan's devices. The
terms by which this enemy is known are descriptive of
his nature and work. Satan signifies adversary, or accuser.
St. Peter says, " Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5 : 8.)
Several terms are used in the Bible to describe this being,
such as " Satan," " the devil," "the "old serpent/' " the angel
of the bottomless pit," " the prince of the power of the air,"
" the wicked one," " the father of lies," and " the god of this
world," &c. In regard to his origin, we learn from God's word
that he was once an angel in heaven, but having sinneM there
against God, he was cast down to hell. " For if God spared
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 561
not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and
delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto
judgment." (2 Peter 2 : 4.) Our Lord also speaks of Satan's
fall from heaven : " And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as
lightning fall from heaven." (St. Luke 10 : 18.) But some
may say, " If angels fell from heaven, then heaven is mutable
and uncertain ; and how do we know if ioe get there we shall
not fall from it?"
To this it may be answered, The angels did not fall from
the heaven of reward, but from the heaven of probation, just
as man fell from the paradise of probation, not from the para-
dise of reward. All moral beings have a time of probation.
During the probation of angels, some " sinned, and were cast
down to hell," the chief and -leader of whom is called Satan.
But the Scriptures warn us of " his devices ; " that is, he
invents or contrives ways and means by which he may blunt
the conscience, corrupt the mind, harden the heart, induce un-
belief, prejudice the judgment, excite the hatred, or encourage
false hopes ; that in one or another of these ways he may lead
the soul to ruin. He assailed our Lord with three successive
temptations, but was repulsed by, " It is written."
To one, his device may be to induce a false estimate of
natural goodness, denying natural depravity and the need of
pardon and regeneration. To another, who feels the depravity
of sin, and is deeply convinced of the need of conversion, he
persuades to put off the work for the present. To another, he
excites the fear of falling away if the person did begin, thus
discouraging the beginning of a good life. To another, he
contrives to fix in the mind the false idea that honesty in
dealing with man is a substitute for piety at heart toward God.
To another, he holds up to the mind, prominently, the faults
of professing Christians. To another, he wouldso magnify the
goodness and mercy of God as to induce the belief, if possible,
that God is too good to be true to his word ; that though
they " die in their sins," they shall be with Christ.
The whole theory that God will save the sinner without
repentance, without faith, without the washing of regenera-
tion, and without the applied " blood of Christ, which cleanseth
from all sin," or that what grace failed to do in this life
71
562 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
in preparing the soul for heaven, limited punishment will
do in the future state, is but a device of the devil. These
numerous devices, and many others that are constantly in-
vented, are designed by the devil to be the everlasting ruin
of immortal souls. Our hope is to be " not ignorant of his
devices."
PREACHING THAT TAKES HOLD.
For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved and
in them that perish. To the one we are the savor of death unto death, and to
the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
2 Cor. 2 : 15, 16.
I" IGHTS and colors, and censers, will not convert men.
JJ They may for a little amuse children. Even our incom-
parable Liturgy will not attract the rude multitude. Our
claims to apostolic catholicity are to them utterly unintelli-
gible. They will -follow earnest preachers and sympathetic
pastors wherever they may be found. A powerful pulpit will
.command a listening people. A ministry to the masses Avill
always control the masses. Do we mourn that the narrowness
of our sphere does not correspond to the greatness of our
claim ? Do we blush that with the primitive order we have
so little of the primitive success among the poor? Do we
search for a link that will bind us, not to a class, but to mankind ?
We will find it, not in our modern expedients, but in God's
own institution. The ordained embassadors of heaven are the
appointed agencies to connect the people and the church.
Nor need they pervert their divine function by degrading
themselves into charlatans. A gospel properly proclaimed is
its own attraction. It appeals to a man's deepest wants. It
has the strongest possible hold on human nature. It is ex-
haustless in it* themes, and universal in its application. Pop-
ular sky-rockets, after a sudden flash and noise, leave a deeper
darkness. The great sun, still, and bright, and bounteous,
shines, the source of light and life, forever. What the church
wants, to fulfill her entire mission, is a clergy educated, con-
secrated, anointed by the Holy Ghost, prepared to address
all classes of mankind, qualified to instruct and to convert, and
who by the power of the pulpit shall find their way to the
hearts and homes of the people. Prof. Bartlett.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 563
A LIVING EPISTLE.
Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men.
2 Cor. 3 : 2.
ONE day, in my travels, says Mr. Jay, I heard of a servant
who had attended a Wesleyan chapel. This offended her
master and mistress, who told her that she must discontinue
the practice, or leave their service. She received the infor-
mation with modesty, said she was sorry, but so it must be ;
she could not sacrifice the convictions of her conscience to
keep her place. So they gave her warning ; and she was now
determined, if possible, to be more circumspect and exemplary
than ever ; determined that, if she suffered for her religion,
her religion should not suffer for her. Some time after this,
the master said to the mistress,
" Why, this is rather a hard measure with regard to our
servant : has she not a right to worship God where she pleases,
as well as ourselves ? "
" 0, yes," said the mistress ; " and we never had so good a
servant; one who rose so early, and got her work done so
well ; was so clean, and was so economical, never answering
again."
And so they intimated that she might remain. Some time
after this the wife said to her husband,
" I think Mary's religion does her a great deal more good
than our religion does us ; I should like to hear her minister."
And so she went, and was impressed, and prevailed upon
her husband to go, and he was impressed ; and now they are
all followers of God, and have the worship of God in their
house.
Matt. 5:16. " Let your light so "shine before men, that they
may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven."
564 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
EPISTLES OF CHRIST.
Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ minis-
tered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God ; not
in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. 2 Cor. 3 : 3.
EVERY one's life is an open letter. Every man, whether he
is a Christian or not, is written and read. Some are epis-
tles of Christ; some are epistles of vanity; some are epistles
of covetousness ; some are epistles of selfishness ; some are
epistles of the wicked one. The main features of the father
of lies are written largely on the life of some of his followers.
The spirit that reigns within is more or less visible in the
outward conduct. In some countries the master's name is
branded in the flesh of the slave, so that if the slave should
run away, every one should know to whom he belonged. The
captive may indeed be bought with a price, and then he re-
ceives the mark of his new master. Thus, whether we like
it or not, people may read in our lives, with a considerable
degree of accuracy, whose we are and whom we serve. The
surest way to appear a Christian, in all places and at all times,
is to be one. The surest way to make people, when you go
out, take knowledge that you have been with ?esus, is really
to be with Jesus.
Considering how defective most readers are either in will
or skill, or both, the living epistles should be written in char-
acters both large and fair. Some manuscripts, though they
contain a profound meaning, are so defectively written, that
none but experts can decipher them. Skilled and practiced
men can piece them together, and gather the sense, where, to
ordinary eyes, only unconnected scrawls appear. Sucli should
not be the writing on a disciple's life. If it be such, most people
will fail to understand it. It should be clear and bold through-
out, that he who runs may read it.
Benevolent ingenuity in our day has produced a kind of
writing that even the blind can read. The letters, instead of
merely appealing to the eye by their color, are raised from the
surface so as to be sensible to touch. Such, methinks, should
be the writing of Christ's mind on a Christian's conversation.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 565
It should be raised in characters so large, and sharp, and high,
that even the blind, who can not see, may be compelled, by
contact with Christians, to feel, that Christ is passing by.
Arnot.
HOW THE DOCTOR FOUND JESUS.
And such trust hare we through Christ to God-ward. 2 Cor. 3 : 4.
A DOCTOR, who was once visiting a Christian patient, had
1JL himself been anxious to feel that he was at peace with
God. The Spirit of God had convinced him of sin and need,
and he longed to possess " that peace which -the world can not
give." On this occasion, addressing himself to the sick one,
he said,
" I want you just to tell me what it is, this believing and
getting happiness faith in Jesus, and all that sort of thing,
that brings peace."
His patient replied, " Doctor, I have felt that I could do
nothing, and I have put my case in your hands. I am trusting
in you. This is exactly what every poor sinner must do in
the Lord Jesus."
This reply greatly awakened the doctor's surprise, and a
new light broke in on his soul.
" Is that all ? " he exclaimed ; " simply trusting in the Lord
Jesus? I see it as I never did before. He has done the
work."
Yes, Jesus said on the cross, " It is finished." And " whoso-
ever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting
life." From that sick bed the doctor went a happy man, re-
joicing that his sins were washed away in the blood of the
Lamb.
AN 'ABLE MINISTRY.
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of
the letter, but of the spirit ; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
2 Cor. 3 : 6.
I
N a late number of the London Watchman, the following
very sensible remarks are found on what constitutes an
566 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATFONS.
able ministry. May the Lord vacate inefficient pulpits, by
removing the occupants, and fill them with able ministers.
" But mere study, however ardent, mere learning, however
profound, can never make a man an able and useful minister.
They may make him an agreeable companion, an influential
member of the community, but the} 7 can not make him a true
minister of the gospel. The work is a spiritual work, and can
only be done by a spiritual power. Fastidious hearers may
clamor for deep research and polished style, but dying sinners
want men who have power in prayer, men full of faith and of
the Holy Ghost. Men who shock no prejudice, and who offend
no taste, who never misplace an aspirate, and who never wound
a conscience, are not wanted in the Christian ministry. And the
sooner they get out of it the better, even though they left it by
hundreds, and left vacant pulpits and expectant congregations
by hundreds too. Better for the people, who have too long
seen religion made into a prosperous trade. Better for them-
selves, for how dread the account which awaits the < fisher of
men ' who never, never catches any ! Better for the in-
terests of religion, now and in future ages, for all treachery
to the kingdom of the Redeemer, that which betrays his living
church into feebleness and failure, is the most deadly. We
want ministers, not to keep up the standard of respectability,
but to save souls. It may be that ' not many wise, not many
mighty, not many noble ' are among God's chosen instruments
for this work ; but let us have Gideon's three hundred men
that conquer, rather than the great army that Heaven does not
commission."
INTERNAL GLORY OF THE BELIEVER.
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the
ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 2 Cor. 3 : 9.
HIS glory is from within. It is a radiation. Put him where
you will, he shines, and can not but shine. God made
him to shine. For instance : Imprison Joseph, and he will
shine out on all Egypt, cloudless as the sky where the rain
never falls. Imprison Daniel, and the dazzled lions will retire
to their lairs, and the king comes forth to worship at his rising,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 567
and all Babylon blesses the beauty of the brighter and better
day. Imprison Peter, and, with an angel for a harbinger star,
he will swell his aurora from the fountains of Jordan to the
walls of Beersheba, and break like the morning over mountain
and sea. Imprison Paul, and there will be a high noon over
all the Roman empire. Imprison John, and the isles of the
JEgean and all the coasts around will kindle with sunset vis-
ions too gorgeous to be described, but never to be forgotten,
a boundless panorama of prophecy, gliding from sky to sky, and
enchanting the nations with openings of heaven, transits of
saints and angels, and the ultimate glory of the city and king-
dom of God. Not only so, for modern times have similar
examples examples in the church, and examples in the state.
For instance, bury Luther in the depths of the Black Forest,
and the " angel that dwelt in the bush " will honor him there ;
the trees around him will turn like shafts of ruby, and his
glowing orbs loom up again, round and clear as the light of all
Europe. Thrust Bunyan into the gloom of Bedford jail, and
as he leans his head on his hand, the murky horizon of Britain
will flame with fiery symbols "Delectable Mountains" and
celestial mansions, with holy pilgrims grouped on the golden
hills, and bands of bliss, from the gates of pearl, hastening to
welcome him home. Rev. Dr. T. H. Stockton.
CHRISTMAS EVANS'S POLISHED ARROW.
Seeing, then, that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.
2 Cor. 3 : 12.
THE Rev. Christmas Evans, a distinguished preacher in
Wales, met with much trouble in his temperance efforts
from his brother ministers, who were not willing to make
the entire sacrifice. One in particular, Mr. W., of A., was
constantly opposed. Evans prepared to meet him. He pol-
ished an arrow, and put it in his quiver. On one occasion, he
was appointed to preach, and, as usual, there were gatherings
from far and near to hear him. Mr. W., of A., was there
also ; but, as in anticipation of an attack, he at first said he
568 KEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
should not be present while Evans preached ; yet such was the
fascination that he could not stay away. By and by he crept
up into the gallery, where the preacher's eye for he had but
one which had long been searching for him, at length dis-
covered him. All went on as usual, until the time came when
the arrow might be drawn, which was done slyly and unper-
.ceived. " I had a strange dream the other night/' said the
preacher ; " I dreamed that I was in Pandemonium, the council-
chamber of Hades. How I got there I know not, but there I
was. I had not been there long before there came, a thunder-
ing rap at the gate. ' Beelzebub, Beelzebub, you must come
to earth directly.' ' Why, what is the matter now ? ' l They
are sending out missionaries to preach to the heathen.' ' Are
they ? Bad news this. I'll be there presently.' Beelzebub
came, and hastened to the place of embarkation, where he saw
the missionaries, their wives, and a few boxes of Bibles and
tracts ; but, on turning round, he saw rows of casks piled up,
and labeled < Gin,' < Rum,' < Brandy,' &c. ' That will do,' said
he ; ' no fear yet. These casks Avill do more harm than the
boxes can do good.' So saying, he stretched his wings for
hell again. After a time came another loud call : ' Beelzebub,
they are forming Bible Societies.' ' Are they ? Then I must
go.' He went, and found two ladies going from house to house,
distributing the word of God. ' This won't do,' thought he ;
' but I will watch the result.' The ladies visited an aged fe-
male, who received a Bible with much reverence and many
thanks. Satan loitered about, and, when the ladies were, gone,
saw the old woman come to the door and look around, to as-
sure herself that she was unobserved. She then put on her
bonnet, and, with a small parcel under her apron, hastened to
the public house, where she pawned the new Bible for a bottle
of gin. l That will do,' said Beelzebub ; < no fear yet ; ' and
back again he flew to his own place. Again came a loud and
hasty summons. ' They are forming Temperance Societies.'
'Temperance Societies! What's that? Ill come and see.'
' He came and saw, and flew back, muttering, " This won't do
much harm to me or my people ; they are forbidden the use
of ardent spirits ; but they have left my poor people all the ale
and porter, and the rich all the wines ; no fear yet." Again
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 5G9
came a loud rap, and a more and more urgent call. l Beelzebub !
you must come now, or all is lost ; they are forming Teetotal
Societies.' ' Teetotal ! What in the name of all my imps is
that ? ' 'To drink no intoxicating liquors whatever. The sole
beverage is water. 7 l Indeed ; that is bad news ! I must see
after this/ And he did, but went back again, to satisfy the
anxious inquirers of his legions, who were all qui vive about
the matter. ' 0,' said he, * don't be alarmed. True, it's an
awkward affair, but it won't spread much yet, for all the par-
sons are against it, and Mr. W., of A. (sending up an eagle
glance of his eye at him), is at the head of them.' " " But
I won't be at the head of them any longer," cried out Mr.
W., and, walking calmly down to the table pew, signed the
pledge. (Loud cheers.) Now, my friends, the moral of the
anecdote is easily pointed out. I shall simply say, " Go ye
and do likewise."
A PUPIL OF FENELON.
But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in crafti-
ness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but, by manifestation of the
truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
2 Cor. 4 : 2.
DR. WAYLAND, in his admirable illustrations of the laws
of veracity, refers to a beautiful story of the Duke of
Burgundy, a pupil of Fenelon, which is wdHhy of being had
in continual remembrance. Shortly before his death, he was
present at a cabinet council, in which it was proposed to
violate a treaty, in order to secure important advantages to
France. Reasons of state were offered in abundance to justify
the deed of perfidy. The Duke of Burgundy heard them all
in silence. When they had finished, he -closed the conference
by laying his hand upon the instrument, and saying, with em-
phasis, " Gentlemen, there is a treaty." This single senti-
ment is a more glorious monument to his fame, than a column
inscribed with the record of a hundred victories.
72.
570 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
AN AWFUL CONFESSION -"FM LOST."
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. 2 Cor. 4 : 3.
following sad account of a young man who, for a time,
attended the ministry of the Rev. Baptist Noel, of London,
illustrates the fearful consequences of breaking away from the
influence of the gospel :
The young man was the son of pious parents, and for sev-
eral years was regular in his attendance at the house of God.
At 'length he became acquainted with some young men of
infidel principles. The more he associated with them, the less
pleasant he found it to listen to the gospel. Ere long he ab-
sented himself wholly from the sanctuary. He then began to
indulge in the pleasures of sin, and went to such length in
'.criminal indulgence, that he soon laid the foundation of a fatal
illness. Three months after he had abandoned the house of
God, he was on the verge of the grave. Mr. Noel was then
called to visit him. The dying youth refused to converse with
the man of God, but covered his head with the bed-clothes.
After several vain attempts to enter into conversation, Mr.
Noel offered a prayer for him, and was about to quit the
apartment. Just as his hand was upon the latch of the door,
the young man made an effort to sit up in bed, and asked Mr.
Noel to stay a minute. Mr. Noel returned to the bedside.
The sufferer's strength was well nigh exhausted. He whis-
pered in the ear of Mr. Noel the appalling words, " I'm lost ! "
He sunk down in the bed, drew the clothes over his head, and
never spoke again.
LIGHT SHINING INTO DARK HEARTS.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined
in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6.
A YOUNG girl was sweeping a room one day, when she
went to the window- shade and hastily drew it down.
" It makes the room so dusty," she said, " to have the sun-
shine coming in ! "
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 571
The atoms of dust which shone golden in the sunbeams were
unseen in the dimmer light. The untaught girl imagined it
was the sunshine which made the dust.
Now, many persons imagine themselves very good people.
One poor old man, who had lived all his life without a thought
of love to God, said he was all ready to die. " He didn't owe
any man a cent." If the Spirit of God should shine brightly
into such a heart, how would it look ? It would show them
sins enough to crush them !
This light of the Spirit is like the sunshine in the dusty
room. It reveals what was before hidden. When we begin
to feel unhappy about our sins, let us never try to put away
the feeling. Don't let us put down the curtain, and fancy
there is no dust. It is the Holy Spirit's voice in our hearts.
He is showing us ourselves ; and better still, he will show us
the true way of happiness.
"PERSECUTED, BUT NOT FORSAKEN."
Persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast down, but not destroyed. 2 Cor. 4 : 9.
HHHE day of the wonder-working power of the gospel and
_L grace of Christ is not passed. The same overmastering
love which could change the imperious and cruel persecutor
into the humble, toiling apostle, cheerfully enduring labors,
perils, stripes, prisons, and death, " taking pleasure in infirmi-
ties, in reproaches, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's
sake," still manifests its renewing, transforming influence over
the heart and life. Rev. Mr. Baldwin, of the Methodist mis-
sion at Foochow, China, relates a striking instance of its power
over one seemingly hopeless and unpromising.
He was a sorcerer and opium- smoker, but having heard the
gospel in one of the chapels, was arrested by the truth, and
became truly converted, and commenced at once to work for
Christ. Going among his own people and telling them of the
change he had experienced, he was stoned. Not at all dis-
couraged, he went to the next village, and while preaching
was arrested and thrown into prison ; but even there, while
the crowd had gathered to see a man who dared to believe
572 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
and teach a foreign doctrine, he preached Jesus. The magis-
trate sentenced him to receive two thousand lashes from the
Chinese whip, having three hard leathern thongs, making six
thousand blows. This cruel punishment was inflicted ; but
while groaning with intense agony from the severe bruises,
he testified his love to Jesus, and urged those who stood by
to seek the Saviour.
As soon as he could walk, he went back to the place where
he had been so barbarously treated, to preach again the
tidings of salvation. Four hundred souls in that "district now
look to him as the instrument of their conversion. When he
had fully preached the gospel there, he went to another dis-
trict, where he was successful in bringing many to Christ.
He then went to the Island of Laxayit, where Dr. Medhurst
had scattered Christian books thirty years before. This good
seed was ready to bear its precious fruit, only needing Chang
Ting to put in the sickle and harvest it. In six months after
he began his labors, sixty united with the church, which now
numbers one hundred and thirty. Among the pirates on that
island, the truth, as preached by this zealous convert, had
powerful effect, bringing from among these desperate charac-
ters strong and faithful Christian men into the church.
The gospel of Christ is still " the power of God unto salva-
tion to every one that believeth."
GLORY AWAITING US.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 2 Cor. 4 : 17.
ALL that awaits us is glorious. There is " a rest," a Sab-
bath-keeping in store for us (Heb. 4:6); and this " rest
shall be glorious." (Isa. 11 : 10.) The kingdom that we claim
is a glorious kingdom, the crown which we are to wear is a
glorious" crown. The city of our habitation is a glorious city.
The garments which shall clothe us are garments " for glory
and beauty." Our bodies shall be glorious bodies, fashioned
after the likeness of Christ's " glorious body." (Phil. 3 : 21.)
Our society shall be that of the glorified. Our songs shall be
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 573
songs of glory. And of the region which we are to inhabit it
is said, the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the
light thereof. (Rev. 21 : 23.)
" That they may behold my glory," the Lord pleaded for
his own. This is the sum of all. Other glories there will be,
as we shall see ; but this is the sum of all. It is the very
utmost that even " the Lord of glory " could ask for them.
Having sought this, he could seek no more ; he could go no
further. And our response to this is, " Let me see thy glory ; "
yes, and the glad confidence which we rest in is this : " As
for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness ; I shall be
satisfied when I wake with thy likeness." This is our ambi-
tion. Divine and blessed ambition, in which there is no pride,
no presumption, and no excess ! Nothing less can satisfy than
.the directest, fullest vision of incarnate glory. Self-emptied,
before the infinite Majesty, and conscious of being wholly
unworthy even of a servant's place, we yet feel as if drawn
irresistibly into the innermost circle and center, satisfied with
nothing less than the " fullness of Him that filleth all in all."
Rev, H. Bonar, D. D.
CYRIL OP C^ISAREA.
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. 2 Cor. 5:1.
IN the persecution of the Christians by the Emperor Vale-
rian, a child named Cyril, of Csesarea in Cappadocia, showed
uncommon courage. He caUed on the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ without ceasing, nor could blows or threats prevent
him from owning himself a Christian. Several children of his
own age persecuted him, and his father drove him out of his
house. The judge had him brought before him, and said,
" My child, I will pardon you, and your father will receive
you again. It is in your power to enjoy your father's estate,
if you will only be wise."
" I rejoice to bear your reproaches," said the child ; " God
will receive me. I am not sorry that I am turned out of our
574 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
house ; I shall have a better mansion. I fear not death ; it will
bring me to a better life."
The judge then ordered him to be bound, and led, as it were,
to execution, but gave strict orders to bring him back, hoping
that he would yield at the sight of the fire. But Cyril remained
unmoved, and only replied to their entreaties,
" Your fire and wood do not alarm me. I go to a better
house ; I go to more excellent riches ; dispatch me presently,
that I may enjoy them." The bystanders wept with compas-
sion. " You ought to rejoice for me," said he. " Ye know not
what a city I am going to inhabit, nor what is my hope."
Then the young martyr went to his death, and was the
wonder of the whole city. Such an example illustrates the
scripture, " Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou
hast ordained strength."
FEAR OF JUDGMENT.
For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one
may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. 2 Cor. 5 : 10.
JEKOME used to say that it seemed to him as if the trumpet
of the last day was always sounding in his ear, saying,
" Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment." The generality,
however, think but little of this awful and important period.
A Christian king of Hungary being very sad and pensive, his
brother, who was a gay courtier, was desirous of knowing the
cause of his sadness.
" brother," said the king, " I have been a great sinner
against God, and I know not how to die, or how to appear be-
fore him in judgment."
His brother, making a jest of it, said, " These are but melan-
choly thoughts."
The king made no reply ; but it was the custom of the
country, that if the executioner was to sound the trumpet
before any man's door, he was presently led to execution.
The king, in the dead hour of the night, sent the executioner
to sound the trumpet before his brother's door, who, hearing
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 575
it, and seeing the messenger of death, sprang into the king's
presence, beseeching to. know in what he had offended.
" Alas ! brother," said the king, " you have never offended
me. And is the sight of my executioner so dreadful, and shall
not I, who have greatly offended, fear to be brought before the
judgment-seat of Christ ? "
LIVE TO BE USEFUL.
And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto
themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 2 Cor. 5:15.
T) IVERS of themselves would run the straightest and di-
ll rectest way to the sea, as being greedy to pay tribute
unto their great master, the ocean ; but God, in his wise dis-
posal of all things, hath set here a mountain and there a hill
in the way, that so by turning and winding now this way,
now that way, and going further about they might enrich
the earth, as they pass along, with fertility and abundance.
Thus a good man, and a good Christian man, having but once
tasted of God's love, 0, how he desires to be dissolved, and to be
with Christ ! He prays (but still with reference to God's will)
that his hope may be turned into fruition, his faith into vision,
and his love into perfect comprehension ; but God, in his provi-
dence, hath resolved upon the negative, that his days shall be
prolonged to do good unto others, that he may be serviceable
in his place to him and his country. Joh. Donne's Sermon at
St. Paul's, 1626.
ANECDOTE OF JOHN SUNDAY.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; old things are
passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Cor. 5 : 17.
" T UNDERSTAND," said John Sunday, the converted Indian
_L chief, to a congregation which he was called to address
at Plymouth, England, in the year. 1837, " that many of you
are disappointed because I have not brought my Indian dress
with me. Perhaps, if I had it on, you would be afraid of me.
Do you wish to know how I dressed when I was a pagan
576 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Indian ? I will tell you. My face was covered with red
paint. I stuck feathers in my hair. I wore a blanket and
leggings. I had silver ornaments on my breast, a rifle on
my shoulder, a tomahawk and scalping-knife in my belt. That
was my dress then. Now, do you wish to know why I wear
it no longer ? You will find the cause in 2 Cor. 5:17 l There-
fore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; old things
are passed away j behold, all things are become new. 7 When
I became a Christian, feathers and paint l passed away.' I
gave my silver ornaments to the mission cause. Scalping-
knife f done away.' That my tomahawk now," said he, hold-
ing up at the same time a copy of the Ten Commandments in
the Ojibwa language. " Blanket l done away.' Behold," he
exclaimed, in a manner in which simplicity and dignity of
character were combined, " behold ; all things are become
new ! "
GOD WAS IN CHRIST.
To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not im-
puting their trespasses unto them ; and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation. 2 Cor. 5 : 19.
C\ OD was in Christ sublime, delightful thought !
vT My soul in solemn awe the truth receives :
God was in Christ the Father, Son, inwrought ;
My soul, no more with fear oppressed, believes.
God was in Christ a Father reconciled ;
My soul basks in the sunshine of his love :
God was in Christ no more with sin defiled,
My soul spreads forth its -wings and soars above.
God was in Christ when on the cross he died,
The earthquake's voice and opening graves attest:
God was in Christ though Jews and Greeks deride,
Sinners awake, repent, believe, are blessed.
God was in Christ the world, by sin oppressed,
From Satan's iron bondage is set free :
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
God was in Christ the nations now have rest,
And earth's unnumbered tribes keep jubilee.
God was in Christ death's gloomy shadows flee,
And heaven its pearly gates throws open wide ;
God was in Christ eternal mystery ;
The world's redeemed, Jesus is satisfied.
577
"BE YE RECONCILED TO GOD."
Now, then, we are embassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you
by us : we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 2 Cor. 5 : 20.
THE whole scheme of redemption by Christ supposes a
state of hostility, mutual hostility, previously to exist be-
tween God and man. I say mutual, for if God is not offended,
but is, on the contrary, well pleased with us, what propriety
in urging us to a reconciliation ? That the fittest terms have
not always been employed to express this hostility or variance,
may be admitted. Thus the term " enmity " is often used in a
bad sense, to express a malignant or revengeful feeling, which
can not be supposed to exist in the mind of a holy God. But
it should be borne in mind that this is not a personal, but
a legal relation that of a sovereign in his high judicial ca-
pacity, and a criminal who has violated his law, " and risen up
against his authority. And though the nature of the case re-
quire that God should regard man as an enemy, it is, never-
theless, with a feeling of compassion, of extreme pity. As the
judge upon the bench is supposed not to entertain any feeling
of enmity or ill-will toward the prisoner at the bar, but, on the
contrary, to be actuated by a feeling of compassion, of real
sympathy toward him, yet his official position as the exponent
of the law places him in an attitude of hostility. So God, in
his character of Supreme Ruler of the universe, sustains an
attitude of hostility toward man, who has rebelled against his
government.
Enmity may exist in the heart of man "in the sense of hatred
or revenge, but it constitutes no part. of the relation itself: it
is but a manifestation, an outbreaking of that corrupt nature
73
578 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
which had previously rendered him obnoxious to the dis-
pleasure of God and the penalty of his law, and placed him in
the attitude of an enemy. It is to this judicial variance that
reference is had by the term " reconciliation," and kindred
expressions in the Bible.
"NOW IS THE ACCEPTED TIME."
For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salva-
tion have I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time : behold, now is
the day of salvation. 2 Cor. 6 : 2.
DURING the closing services one Sabbath, my eyes rested
on a lovely youth. I approached him, and exhorted him
to repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. He replied,
" I am not ready now, but in two weeks I am resolved to seek
the salvation of my soul." A few days after, this minister was
summoned to visit him upon a bed of sickness. He said to
the minister, " I was invited to the Saviour at the meeting on
the Sabbath, but replied that I was not ready then, and now I
am not ready to die." On a subsequent visit, the dying youth
exclaimed, " I was not ready to seek God at the meeting ; I
was not ready to die when the message came ; and now I am
not ready to lie down in hell ! My two weeks have not yet
elapsed when I hope'd to have made my peace with God, and
sickness, death, and hell have overtaken me, and I am for
ever lost."
I conversed with a young lady on the necessity of securing
Mary's portion. She attended to my instruction'with serious-
ness and attention. I left her, and in a few days was informed
of her sudden and awful death, having fallen down dead while
dancing at a ball. How strikingly the text is exemplified :
" He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall
suddenly be destroyed." E. P. Hill, Georgia.
JUSTLY REBUKED.
Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed. 2 Cor. 6 : 3.
AT a temperance meeting, some years ago, a learned clergy-
man spoke in favor of wine as a drink, demonstrating its
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. . 579
use, quite to his own satisfaction, to be scriptural, gentlemanly,
and healthful. When he sat down, a plain, elderly man rose,
and asked leave to say a few words. " A young friend of
mine," said he, " who had long been intemperate, was at length
prevailed upon, to the great joy of his friends, to take the
pledge of entire abstinence from all that could intoxicate. He
kept the pledge faithfully for some time, struggling with his
habit fearfully ; till, one evening, in a social party, glasses of
wine were handed around. They came to a clergyman pres-
ent, who took a glass, saying a few words in vindication of
the practice. { Well,' thought the young man, l if a clergy-
man can take wine, and justify it so well, why not I ? ' So he
took a glass. It instantly kindled his fiery and slumbering
appetite, and after a rapid downward course, he died of deliri-
um tremens died a raving maniac. "
The old man paused for utterance, and was just able to
add, " That young man was my son, and the clergyman was
the person who has just addressed the assembly."
"POSSESSING ALL THINGS."
As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich ; as hav-
ing nothing, and yet possessing all things. 2 Cor. 6 : 10.
THE Lord's family are generally poor; men may look at
them as having nothing valuable, important, or calculated
to make them happy ; but, in reality, they possess all things,
because God is theirs. Our God has said, " I am their in-
heritance," and we say, " Thou art my portion, Lord." His
eternity is the date of our happiness his unchangeableness
the rock of oar rest his omnipotence our constant guard
his faithfulness our daily security his mercies our overflow-
ing . store his omniscience our careful overseer his wis-
dom our judicious counselor his justice our stern avenger
his omnipresence our sweet company his holiness the
fountain from which we receive sanctifying grace his all-
sufficiency the lot of our inheritance and his infinity the
extent of our glorious portion. This is the blessedness of the
people of the Lord ; they have God for their Lord, and all his
580 . NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
perfections engaged to make them blessed. 0, love the Lord !
Live upon the Lord ! Glorify God in the day of visitation !
Make him your portion and everlasting all 1
STRAITENED IN THEMSELVES.
Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.
2 Cor. 6 : 12.
BE no more straitened in your own bowels ; stretch yourself
to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Expect to be all that he will make you.- And that you may
be, open your whole heart to him broad as.^the sea. Give him
all the widest spaces of your feeling guest-chambers opened
by your loving hospitality. Challenge for him his right to be
now received by his disciples as he has never yet been. Tell
what changes and wondrous new creations will appear when
lie finally breaks full-orbed on human experience his true
second coming in power and great glory. For this great con-
summation everything is preparing ; and if there be voices
and calls chiming through the spaces round us, which, for
deafness, we have all these ages failed to hear, what is their
burden but this ? " Lift up your heads, ye gates, and be ye
lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall
come in." Dr. Bushnell.
ENLARGEMENT A GREAT BLESSING.
Now, for a recompense in the same (I speak as unto my children), be ye
also enlarged. 2 Cor. 6 : 13.
/CONTRACTION is a great evil, enlargement is a great bless-
\J ing. We need to be enlarged in our knowledge, love,
hope, liberality, faith, and every grace. Our God disapproves
of contraction. The apostles set a different example. Pro-
vision is made in the covenant to gratify enlarged desires.
The promises warrant enlarged expectations. Jesus bids us
ask largely. The gospel calls for enlargement in prayer, be-
nevolence, pity, and compassion, and in our efforts for God's
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. . 581
glory. Let us beware of narrow views or feelings, for the
heart of God is large ; the love of Christ is large ; the provis-
ion of mercy is large ; the gospel commission is large ; and the
mansions of glory are large. We are not straitened in God,
nor in his gospel, but we are straitened in our own bowels.
O, Jesus, enlarge our narrow hearts ; expand our contracted
souls ! Fill us with all joy and peace in believing, that we
may abound in hope, by the power of the Holy Ghost. May
we be full of goodness, able also to admonish one another. 0,
to be filled with the Holy Ghost and with power !
THE DIVIDING LINE.
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? 2 Cor. 6 : 15.
WHERE does the dividing line run between true religion
and the world ? We answer, that it runs just where
God's word puts it ; and a conscience which is enlightened by
the word and by prayer does not commonly fail to discover it.
Where Christ would be likely to go if he were on earth, is the
right side ; bat where a Christian would be ashamed to have
his Master find him, there he ought never to find himself.
Wherever a Christian can go, and conscientiously ask God's
blessing on what he is doing, there let that Christian go. He
is not likely to wander over the line. And when a church
member can enter a play-house, or into a dancing frolic, and
honestly ask God's blessing on the amusements and come
away a better Christian for it, then let him go ; but not before.
But should not every good man be a " friend of the world " ?
Was not the divine Jesus a friend of the world when he so
loved it that he gave himself for its redemption? Did not
Paul love the world when he endured hardship, humiliations,
and martyrdom to lead sinners to the cross ? Ah, yes very
true ; but what the Redeemer and his apostles were after was
not sinners' sins, but sinners' souls. And they sought to save
the world, not by conformity to it, but by transforming it to a
higher and holier ideal of life.
Nor is it by going over to the world that we can save the
582 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
worldling. If we are to impress the world, we must live
above the world ; if we would save sinners, we must, in the
same sense that Jesus was, be " separate from sinners." The
moment we go over the line to " curry favor " with the vota-
ries of sin, we never reach them, and only run the risk of
ruining ourselves. Would to God that, in trying to .draw the
world into conformity to Christ, we did not allow the world to
drag us down into conformity with itself!
AN OLD SEA CAPTAIN'S ADVICE.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. 2 Cor. 6 : 17.
T) RESIDENT ALLYN, in closing a discourse in a western city
JL recently, urged upon persons who might be changing their
residence the necessity of handing in with promptness their
certificates of church membership. " Many years ago I was
on my way to Philadelphia/' said he, " to fill a situation. In the
car, same seat with myself, was a veteran Massachusetts man,
who inquired of me my destination, my home, occupation, <fec.
Rather suddenly changing the subject, he remarked,
" ' And your certificates have you any ? '
" ' Yes, sir j ' and I handed him one in the handwriting of
Wilbur Fisk.
" ' Very good very good ; have you any other ? '
" i Yes, sir ; ' and I handed him one made out by Dr.
Holdich.
" l Excellent but have you no other ? '
" l No more, sir.'
" ' None from your preacher ? '
" ' 0, yes, I have one of that sort,' said I, drawing it out
instantly.
" < Well, sir, that is what I wished to see. Now let me give
you a little advice. I am an old sea captain, and have seen a
good deal of society, a good deal of the world, and a good
deal of the church. I have found it good policy, in coming into
port, always to tie my vessel up at once, fore and aft, to the
spiles on the wharf, although it may cost me something for
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 583
wharfage, instead of anchoring her in the stream, and letting
her swing with the tide. You understand me, I see. Hand
in your certificate, then, as soon as you reach Philadelphia ;
you will find it the best and safest policy, though the stewards
may possibly desire your co-operation on a question which
is somewhat intimately related to the flour barrel of the
preacher.' ' ;
. GOD'S PROMISES.
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the. fear of
God. 2 Cor. 7 : 1.
THE promises derive preciousness from the root and princi-
ple from which they spring. They are so many beams of
Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, and impart a light which
discovers his excellency. They are the crystal streams of that
river of life, which proceeded out of the throne of God and of
the Lamb (Rev. 22 : 1), whose waters in time of drouth never
fail, but with their overflowing plenty satisfy the thirsty, with
their cooling virtue allay the heat of the wearied, and with
their sweetness cheer and revive the drooping and dejected
spirits.
They are the precious objects of " precious " faith, as the
apostle styles it. (2 Peter 1:1.) True it is, that the quickening
influence and virtue of the promises reach every grace of the
Spirit. By them hope is kept alive in its expectation of good,
patience is supported under difficulties, holiness is perfected,
love is inflamed, and a blessed fear of God is preserved.
"HOW CAN I MEET IT?"
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of,
but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 2 Cor. 7 : 10.
" HHHE trial-balance," said the book-keeper, passing the mer-
-L chant, his employer, a sheet.
" The trial-balance," repeated Mr. H., as he took it, with a
nervous motion of his body.
584 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" Yes," responded the clerk, turning away to his desk.
The foct is, it had been a very unprofitable year, and Mr.
H. almost feared to see his trial-balance, while yet he wanted
to know how he stood. It was on this account that his hand
shook with a nervous tremor when he took it.
A single glance told the whole story, and a deathly pallor
spread over his face. It was even worse than he anticipated.
The clerk saw it, nor wondered. He made no remark, how-
ever.
It was too much for Mr. H. A long, dangerous fever was
the result. Hour after hour the burning patient tossed upon
his bed with delirium, and ever and anon he would say, " The
trial-balance, the trial-balance."
He went down to the verge of the grave, and anxious
friends waited to -see him close his eyes in death ; but he
rallied.
When reason resumed its throne, and his mental powers
grew vigorous again, his thoughts passed from the trial-
balance of earth to that of the judgment.
" How can I meet it ? " he inquired within himself.
" God's trial-balance ! " said conscience.
" I know it," replied the merchant. " 0, shall I be an ever-
lasting bankrupt ? "
He wept over his sins ; and he who could not look upon
the trial-balance of his business without turning deadly pale,
was not afraid to see God's trial-balance in the day of retri-
bution.
PROPORTIONATE GIVING.
Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowl-
edge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this
grace also. 2 Cor. 8 : 7.
THERE are some remarkable instances of proportionate
giving, or acts of beneficence, by persons, to moral and
religious objects, in proportion as God has prospered them.
Mr. Wilkes, a member of the Methodist connection in Eng-
land, is a worthy example. He not only made money rapidly,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
585
but consecrated a portion of it as faithfully to the Lord as it
came into his hands. When a journeyman mechanic, he in-
vented an improvement in the machinery for the manufactur-
ing of cotton ; but being without capital to avail himself of
the advantages of his patent, he made it a subject of prayer,
that he might be directed to some one able and willing to help
him. Soon after he fell in with an elderly Quaker, though a
perfect stranger, who accosted him with the inquiry, " Friend",
I would like to know if a little money would be of any service
to thee ? " Upon learning of Mr. Wilkes that he could profitably
use some, the Quaker at once advanced him all he needed.
Mr. Wilkes started in business on his own account, and as he
prospered he did not forget his vow to devote a fair propor-
tion of his income to the Lord. His missionary subscription
for the year 1853 was seven guineas per day, or upwards or
ten thousand dollars for the year. Another item of his benefi-
cence, for the same year, was one thousand guineas to the
fund for the payment of the denominational debt. His sub-
scriptions increased with the increase of his business, so that
in the following year he was reported to have promised, if God
spared his life through the year, to give to the missionary
society fifty guineas per day throughout the entire year,
about ninety thousand dollars.
The well-known beneficence of the Remington Brothers, of
Ilion, N. Y., is worthy of grateful recognition, who, during a few
years, in a quiet way, have given hundreds of thousands of
dollars to worthy objects, as offerings made unto the Lord.
To Syracuse University, to church building in Syracuse, N. Y.,
to the Church Extension Society, of the Methodist Episco-
pal church, to private applications in aid of weak societies for
church building purposes, to individuals for personal help in
want, their munificence is wide-spread and generous, calling
back upon them the blessings of grateful recipients and the
favor of Almighty God. In their prosperity in business, they
have not forgotten they are " stewards of the manifold grace
cff God; " but as stewards, and knowing they must give account
to God for the use of the wealth put into their keeping, they
do constantly " honor God with their substance." They do
truly " abound in the grace of Christian liberality."
74
586 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
The following example of a farmer, who- practiced propor-
tionate giving-, is thus described by a Bible collector who
asked the farmer for a contribution to the Bible cause. He
said, " When I was in Caledonia, Racine County, this summer,
I called upon a man for his contribution to the Bible cause.
He is not a wealthy man. He does his own work on the farm.
He looked over his books, and said his contribution would be
seventy dollars. I asked him, ' Why this remarkable benev-
olence ? ' He said, ' Six years ago I felt I was not giving
enough to the Lord ; so I resolved to give in proportion to his
blessings, and I hit upon this plan : I will give five cents for
every bushel of wheat I raise, three cents for every bushel of
oats, barley, <fec., ten per cent, for the wool, butter, &c., that I
sell. The first year I gave twenty dollars, the second thirty-
five, the third forty-seven, the fourth forty-nine, the fifth fifty-
nine, and this year my Bible contribution is seventy dollars.
For twenty years previous/ he continued, ' my doctor's bills
had not been less than twenty dollars a year, but for the last
six years they have not exceeded two dollars a year. I tell
you, " There is that scattereth and yet increaseth," and " The
liberal soul shall be made fat/' ' " How many will follow this
man's example ?
HOARDING AND GIVING.
But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply
for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want ; that
there may be equality. 2 Cor. 8 : 14.
MOST men are better at the rake than at the pitchfork ;
readier to pull in than to give out. Men by their con-
duct generally say, "Let religion wait upon the world ;"
but we say, " Let the world wait upon religion." But although
a wise man will lay out his wealth for God's sake, too many
are found who will rather worship God for their wealth's sake.
There are four terms, descriptive of quality, which are here
worthy of note : " little, nothing, too much, enough." The
poor hath little, the beggar nothing, the rich too much ; but
who hath enough ? Let us not only receive, but communicate.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 587
If the Lord has sown plentiful seed, he expects plentiful har-
vest. If God has made the bushel great, make not you the
peck small. Deal not the bounty of heaven according to the
mean practices of earth. To disperse abroad is " to make safe
the "rest afc home. As God has laid up for you in this world,
so lay ye up for yourselves in the world to come. You shall
find God the best creditor. He will pay great usury, not ten
for a hundred, but a hundred, a thousand, for ten. The happy
solace of a well-pleased conscience shall then rejoice you, and
the never-failing promises of God shall satisfy you. No man
is the poorer for that which he gives to the poor, but, summing
up his books, he shall ever find himself the richer. The pray-
ers of the por, whom he helps, shall- prevail with God for
blessings upon him.
" Freely ye have received, freely give." (Matt. 10 : 8.) " To
do good and to communicate forget not, for with such sacri-
fices God is well pleased." (Heb. 13 : 16.)
THOLUCK'S SEEKING AND FOLLOWING.
But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of
Titus for you. 2 Cor. 8 : 16.
PROFESSOR THOLUCK, of the University of Halle, was so
JL devoted to the moral interests of his students, and sought
after the erring with so much tenderness and care, that he
was called the student-professor. He- not only sought, but
followed up his seeking. A single instance of this blessed
working must here suffice. There was a student brought near
to his heart by a godly mother. He was led away into evil ;
contrition and return followed ; then came another fall. " When
he could be found at home at no other time, I sought him more
than once at six o'clock in the morning. I visited him in
prison, that I might remind him of what he well knew, but
always forgo f t." He now promised again to abandon his asso-
ciates and enter upon a new life. Four or five days after,
late in the evening, came a card from him : " Tholuck sighs,
Tholuck prays, but we will have our drunk out." Still the
student-professor perseveres in the love that seeks and follows.
588 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
And that youth is now a preacher of the gospel of Jesus in the
imperial city of Berlin. Hundreds and thousands of youthful
hearts have thus been won by this man of God ; won from
rationalism and infidelity to Christ and the church. How much
has this good man been enabled to do by his teaching, his
preaching, and his written works ! His praise is in all the
churches ! Hear him as he says, " What I have done in this
way is known to the world ; but all this I value less than that
I have been permitted, though in weakness and imperfection,
to exercise that love which seeks and follows. This is a work
of which the world knows little, but of which the Lord God
knows much." Eev. G. Draper.
EVIDENCE OF GENUINE CONVERSION.
Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your
love, and of our boasting on your behalf. 2 Cor. 8 : 24.
ONE of the strongest and most infallible evidences of true
conversion to Christ is that charity which prompts to
efforts for the removal of poverty and the mitigation of sorrow
among men. Jesus Christ and his disciples carried one com-
mon purse, from which they moderately supplied their own
necessities, and doubtless contributed according to their ability
to the necessities of the suffering. The precepts of Christ
breathe the spirit of kindness and love. The practice of con-
tributing to the support of the needy continued among the
Christians, and the business of receiving and disbursing the
funds became so onerous to the apostles, and so beset with
difficulties, that they could not attend to it without interfering
with their call to preach the gospel ; wherefore the church at
Jerusalem appointed seven men to act as deacons, whom the
apostles ordained for this peculiar office ; and this practice was
probably imitated in other churches ; for allusion is made to
it by Paul in his Epistles both to the church at Corinth and to
the church at Galatia. (2 Cor. 9:12; Gal. 2 : 10.) Indeed, he
exhorts the members of the church at Corinth to lay aside, on
every Sunday, what they could consistently contribute for this
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
589
purpose (1 Cor. 16:1); and in some of his journeyings he had a
traveling companion to distribute properly these funds. (2 Cor.
8 : 19.) Bev. E. 0. Haven.
CHRISTIAN LIBERALITY.
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he
which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 2 Cor. 9:6.
THE time will come, says the venerable Dr. Alexander, and
I can not but hope that it is near at hand, when all the dif-
ficulty about funds for the spread of the gospel will be done
away ; when Christians will learn a lesson which hitherto they
have been very slow to learn, that the richest enjoyment of
wealth is to give its increase to the treasury of the .Lord, and
that the sweetest of incentives to labor is the hope of gaining
something that may aid in furthering the cause of God. The
excuses for our want of liberality are utterly futile ; they are
wor se they are often impious. If we are Christians, let us
act like Christians, and not dishonor that sacred name by a
base, selfish, avaricious spirit, which keeps back from the Lord
what is due. If we are Christians indeed, we owe not only
our wealth, but ourselves, to the Redeemer, who has bought us
with a price. Was he willing to purchase our salvation by
pouring out his blood, and shall we be unwilling to give liber-
ally of what he has given us ? The very heathen will rise up
in judgment against narrow-hearted Christians ; for they ex-
pend ten times as much on their idols as these tlo in supporting
and propagating a religion which is truly divine, and which is
the only hope of salvation. that mgn would remember that
they -are but stewards, and that God will require a strict ac-
count of the manner in which they dispense what has been
committed to them !
STINGY CHRISTIANS.
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give ; not
grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. 2 Cor. 9 : 7.
THE Christian Advocate and Journal makes the following
very sensible remarks in reference to a class of Christians
very frequently met with :
590 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
11 We confess, however, that we have often questioned the
Christian character of some loud professors whom we have
known, on account of their stingy contributions to the support
of the gospel and the relief of the poor. We have known some
who would visit the sick poor, and pray with them as long and
as loud as anybody, but you could no more get a dollar from
them for the relief of the sufferers, than you could one of their
teeth ; and it was evident that if they could sell their prayers
for a dollar apiece, they would not have given one away.
The minister and his family might have starved if their breth-
ren, less able to give, had not felt their Christian obligations
differently. Such people have always by them that ' neat little
pocket edition of selfishness/ as Watson calls it, ' Charity be-
gins at home ; ' and, verily, their charity leaves off where it
begins. They add annually to their gains, and their love of
gain feeds and grows on the accumulation, until it hardens the
heart, and seal's the conscience against all the claims which
the gospel has upon them, and all the calls of mercy and be-
nevolence in favor of suffering humanity. But the strangest
thing of all is, that such people really persuade themselves
they are pious Christians, because they can, now and then,
work themselves up to some pious feelings and emotions.
Thus they deceive themselves, until at length they hear, < Thou
fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee ; then whose
shall these things be which thou hast provided ? '
HE DID NOT KEEP HIS VOW.
And God is able to make aft grace abound toward you, that ye, always hav-
ing all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. 2 Coi* 9 : 8.
SOME years ago a poor lad went to London, in search of a
situation as errand-boy ; he made many unsuccessful appli-
cations, and was on the eve of returning to his parents, when
a gentleman, prepossessed by his appearance, took him into his
employment, and, after a few months, bound him apprentice.
He so conducted himself during his apprenticeship as to gain
the esteem of every one who knew him ; and after he had
served his time, his master advanced a capital for him to com-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 591
mence business. He retired to his closet with a heart glow-
ing with gratitude to his Maker for his goodness, and there
solemnly vowed that he would devote a tenh part of his an-
nual income to the service of God. The first year his donation
amounted to ten pounds, which he gave cheerfully, and con-
tinued to do so till it amounted to five hundred pounds. He
then thought that was a great deal of money to give, and that
he need not be so particular as to the exact amount; that
year he lost a ship and cargo, to the value of fifteen thousand
pounds, by a storm. This caused him to repent, and he again
commenced his contributions, with a resolution never to
retract. He was more successful every year, and at length re-
tired. He then devoted a -tenth part of his annual income
for several j^ears, till he became acquainted with a party of
worldly men, who, by degrees, drew him aside from God ; he
discontinued his donations, made large speculations, lost every-
thing, and became almost as poor as when he first arrived in
London as an errand-boy.
HE GAVE MORE AND FELT- BETTER.
As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor; his
righteousness remaineth for ever. 2 Cor. 9 : 9.
THE Rev. Robert Newton, in an address at a missionary
meeting in England, related the following incident :
" I will tell" you what I witnessed the other day at a meet-
ing in the country. We had a very interesting meeting during
the day, and it fell to my lot to occupy the pulpit in the even-
ing. After the meeting dispersed, I stepped into a neigh-
boring house. I was sitting there quite alone, until a man,
without ceremony, opened the door, and looked at me steadily,
and with an expression of so much solicitude, that I became
quite alarmed. At last I said
" ' What is the matter ? '
" l Matter ! matter ! I am not satisfied about this.'
" ' About what ? '
" ' Why, about this business.'
"'What business?'
592 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
11 ( Why, the condition of those poor creatures, those poor
heathen. I have been a mile on the road ; it is very dark,
and very dirty ; f was thinking about all you and the others
had been telling us and surely you would not tell us what
was not true.'
" ' God forbid that we should. The whole that we told you
was truth, and we might have told you much more.'
" l Well, I gave a shilling ; and I thought that was pretty
well for a man in my situation. I left the meeting, and got a
mile on the road ; but thinking on these things, I thought that
if I went home having given only my shilling, I might have no
peace ; I was, therefore, like to come back again.'
" Taking a sovereign out of his' pocket, and laying it before
me, the man's countenance brightened up, and IQG began to
smile, and said, l Ye're like to take ; ' and then, shaking me by
the hand, as if he felt he was at peace with his own conscience,
away he walked, caring nothing about the dark night, and the
dirty road which he had to travel over again."
WEAPONS THAT ARE MIGHTY THROUGH GOD.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty, through God,
to the pulling down of strongholds. 2 Cor. 10 : 4.
preaching of the late Rev. J. Scott having been made
JL effectual to the production of a great change in a young
lady, the daughter of a country gentleman, so that she could
no longer join the family in their usual dissipations, arid ap-
peared to them as melancholy, or approaching to it, her
father, who was a very gay man, looking upon Mr. Scott as
the sole cause of what he deemed his daughter's misfortune,
became exceedingly enraged at him ; so much so that he
actually lay in wait, in order to shoot him. Mr. Scott, being
providentially apprized of it, was enabled to escape the dan-
ger. The diabolical design of the gentleman being thus de-
feated, he sent Mr. Scott a challenge. Mr. Scott might have
availed himself of the law, and prosecuted him ; but he took
another method. He waited upon him at his house, was intro-
duced to him in his parlor, and, with his characteristic bold-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 593
ness and intrepidity, thus addressed him : " Sir, I hear you
have designed to shoot me, by which you would have been
guilty of murder ; failing in this, you sent me a challenge j and
what a coward you must be, sir, to wish to engage with a blind
man! (alluding to his being short-sighted). As you have given
me a challenge, it is now my right to choose the time, the
place, and the weapon ; I therefore appoint the present mo-
ment, sir, the place where we now are, and the sword for the
weapon to which I have been most accustomed." The gentle-
man was evidently greatly terrified when Mr. Scott, having
attained his end, produced a pocket Bible, and exclaimed,
" This is my sword, sir the only weapon I wish to engage
with." " Never," said Mr. Scott to a friend) to whom he re-
lated this anecdote, " never was a poor careless sinner so de-
lighted with the sight of a Bible before." Mr. Scott reasoned
with the gentleman on the impropriety of his conduct in treat-
ing him as he had done, for no other reason than because he
had preached the everlasting gospel. The result was, the
gentleman took him by the hand, begged his pardon, ex-
pressed his sorrow for his conduct, and became afterward
very friendly to him.
REMARKABLE DESCRIPTION OF ST. PAUL'S PERSON.
For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful ; but his bodily pres-
ence is weak, and his speech contemptible. 2 Cor. 10 : 10.
HOW little stress is to be laid on external appearance ! This
prince of apostles seems to hint concerning himself, that
his bodily presence was not calculated to command respect at
first sight. (2 Cor. 10:10.) St. Chrysostoni terms him "a
little man, about three cubits [or four feet and a half] in
height."
Lucian, or whoever is the author of the Philopatris, is sup-
posed to have had St. Paul in view, when he introduces " a
Galilean " (for so the Christians were contemptuously styled),
" rather bald-headed, with an aquiline nose, who traveled
through the air into the third heaven."
But, of all other writers, Nicephorus Callistus has given us
the most circumstantial account of St. Paul's person. " St.
75
594
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Paul was small of stature, stooping, and rather inclined to
crookedness ; pale-faced, of an elderly look, bald on the head ;
his eyes lively, keen, and cheerful,- shaded, in part, by his
eyebrows, which hung a little over ; his nose rather long,
and not ungracefully bent ; his head pretty thick of hair,
and of a sufficient length, and, like his locks, interspersed with
gray."
VARIETY IN EXPERIENCES.
For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves
with some that commend themselves ; but they, measuring themselves by
themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
2 Cor. 10 : 12.
IT is very important that young persons, and persons who
are just entering upon a Christian life, should be taught
not to try themselves by other people's evidences. It is sup-
posed that if religion is of God, it will, of course, be just the
same in all men. But, in fact, religion is the right using of
the whole mind and life. Men are different one from another.
They were meant to be. The strength of some lies in their
feelings, of others in their intellect, of others in their stability
and will. Some men are calm, others excitable. Some are im-
aginative, and others literal and practical. Some are nervous
and quick, others phlegmatic and slow. Besides these constitu-
tional differences, men have had widely different teaching and
training, and all these circumstances conspire to make their
religious developments personal and peculiar. God leads
every soul according to what that soul is ; and although love
is the one central experience, in all, and is that grand and
characteristic element which makes all men alike Christians,
yet love develops itself in different men in some gradually,
in others suddenly ; in some it is transfused with the imagina-
tion, in others it is a very plain and homely emotion. It rushes
like a mountain torrent from some hearts ; in others it is like
a >ilver spring in a meadow silent, gentle, and almost in-
visible.
No man should try to produce in himself another man's ex-
perience, unless he first becomes that other man. In an orches-
'NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 595
tra, the flute, the violin, the clarinet, the horns, all give forth
music. But music is not the same sound nor of the same
quality in each of them as in the other. Love God and love
men with your nature. And do not lose comfort and growth
in grace by waiting to feel like some other Christian. Be a
Christian. Consecrate your heart and your life to Christ's
service, and then the greater the difference between you and
other Christians the better ; just as in a flower-garden, the
summer is rich, not by having all flowers just like each other,
but by having as many different varieties as is possible.
BEGUILING SOULS BY CORRUPTING
But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled
subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplic
Christ. 2 Cor. 11: 3.
IT has been the work of Satan, since the creation of man, to
accomplish the ruin of souls by deception. He has no
power to destroy, directly of himself. But by deceiving, be-
guiling, imposing upon by artifice, he leads on to acts which
effect the ruin of souls. " The serpent beguiled me, and I
did eat," is the testimony of the first woman to the deceiving
power of the devil. The history following that act is a sad
one. The eagle of the Alpine mountains can not kill the
chamois by a fair fight, but by filling her feathers with sand,
then by flying into the face of the chamois, and flapping her
wings, and shaking her feathers, can, by fright and purblinding
the animal, make it leap the precipice, to be dashed in pieces
among the rocks, where it can be devoured at will. So Satan
beguiles souls by corrupting the mind with unbelief, or indu-
cing to wicked deeds, either of which will lead to destruction.
But the saddest thought of all is, Satan uses one human soul
to beguile others. He approached Eve embodied in the ser-
pent, for then there were no depraved souls to be used as his
agents. The trick was successful, and Eve listened to its
voice, that spoke to her in her own language. But sin^e man
has become separated from God by wicked works, Satan no
longer uses serpents, or other creatures of the field, by which
596 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
to approach man and effect his ruin. But now he passes
among men embodied in men, by whom he deceives, beguiles,
and destroys by unbelief, by false doctrine, by inducing preju-
dice to the truths of. God, by leading man to array himself
against God's law, and by inducing a state of impenitence that
refuses to seek forgiveness through Jesus Christ. It is won-
derful how he sticks to his old text, which was once so sadly
successful. " Yo shall not surely die," is the key-stone of
the arch which bears up all the Universalism, Unitarianism,
Rationalism, and Deism, that now hold thousands of souls
within their bands of unbelief. What a sad reflection will
they have who lead astray, as they remember that in this
world they were made the cat's paw for the devil to drag
souls away from the truth as it is in Jesus ! St. Paul says, " I
fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the sim-
plicity that is in Christ."
HALF A CENTURY'S LABORS.
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) ; I am more ; in labors
more abundant. 2 Cor. 11 : 23.
THE following summary of the ministerial labors of the
venerable Bishop Morris is published in the Ladies' Re-
pository. It is the subject of a note from him to the editor of
that periodical :
" I was licensed to preach April 2, 1814, by Elder David
Young, and by him employed on a circuit in 1815 ; admitted
on trial by the Ohio Conference in 1816, and in full connec-
tion and ordained deacon in 1818, and ordained elder in 1820,
and bishop in 1836.
During the four years and a half that I was a licen-
tiate I preached sermons, over . . . 1,000
As deacon two years, 500
As elder sixteen years, ..." 3,000
As bisnop twenty-eight years,. about 3,000
In all, say 7,500
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 597
I traveled as a preacher before I was bishop, mostly on
horseback, miles 0,000
As bishop, mostly by public conveyance, .... 140,000
In all, say, miles, 200,000
During twenty-eight years' episcopal service I presided
in annual conferences, say
Ordained preachers, 5,000
Appointed preachers to their work, about .... 20,000
" The above figures are taken from the best data in my pos-
session, and are believed to be reliable."
ST. PAUL IN PARADISE.
How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words,
which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 2 Cor. 12 : 4.
" T)ARADISE," says Rev. Joseph Benson, in his Commen-
JL tary, " is the seat of happy spirits in their separate state
between death and the resurrection. Holy souls enter this
place or state immediately upon death." (Luke 23 : 43.) Con-
cerning St. Paul's transportation to paradise, Dr. Macknight
observes, " Since the things which he saw and heard in para-
dise could not, or might not, be expressed in human language,
it is plain that the purpose for which he was caught up was
not to receive any revelation of the gospel doctrine, because
that could have served no purpose, if the apostle could not
communicate what he heard ; but it was to encourage him
in the difficult and dangerous work in which he was engaged.
Accordingly, by taking him up into paradise, and showing
him the glories of the invisible world, and making him a wit-
ness of the happiness which the righteous enjoy with Christ,
even before their resurrection, his faith in the promises of the
gospel must have been so exceedingly strengthened, and his
hope so raised, as to enable <him to bear with alacrity that
heavy load of complicated' evils to which he was exposed in
the course of his ministry. Not to mention this confirmation
of the apostle's faith, is no small confirmation of ours also.
598 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Some suppose that it was here the apostle was made ac-
quainted with the mystery of the future state of the church,
and received his orders to turn from the Jews, and go to the
Gentiles."
GOD'S WAY THE BEST WAT.
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made
perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmi-
ties, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Cor. 12 : 8, 9.
GOD did not take up the three Hebrews out of the furnace
of fire ; but he came down and walked with them in it.
He did not remove Daniel from the den of lions j he sent his
angels to close the mouths of the beasts. He did not, in an-
swer to the prayer of Paul, remove the thorn in the flesh, but
he gave him a sufficiency of grace to sustain him. Our prayers
should not be so much to be delivered from trials, as for grace
to bear them. Our trials make occasion for God's presence
and grace to be manifested in us and by us. God's power to
divide the Red Sea would never have been manifested 3 had
not Israel been called to pass over on their way to Canaan.
CHRISTIAN BURDEN A BLESSING.
For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that
I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong. 2 Cor. 12 : 13.
A LIBERAL Christian merchant, when asked how he could
JLJL give so liberally to every good object, replied,
" Before I was converted I spent liberally for self and the
world, and at my conversion I solemnly promised to give a
fixed proportion of all my income to doing good ; and every
year my business has steadily increased, so that now I can
steadily give more to Him who gives me all."
And to another, who had suffered heavy losses, his pastor
said,
" You have lost so much this year that I did not think of
calling on you."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 599
" Yes/' he replied, " I have suffered great losses, and must
begin to retrench ; but retrenchment must not begin at the
house of God."
And Thornton, the rich and liberal friend of Cowper and
John Newton, in similar circumstances, said,
" The wealth is not mine, but the Lord's, and may be he is
going to take it out of my hands, and give it to another who
will be more faithful ; and if so, I ought to be making good use
of what is left." And he doubled his usual subscription.
In a similar spirit Richard Baxter writes,
" I never prospered more in my small estate than when I
gave away most. My rule has been to study to need as
little as possible for myself; to lay out nothing on need-nots ;
to live frugally on little ; to serve God on what he allowed
me. so that what I took for self might be as good work for the
common good as that which I gave for others ; and then to do
all the good I could with the rest. And the more I have had
to do with (for to the glory of God's grace he will be no man's
debtor), and when I gave away almost all, the more came in,
I scarce know how, when unexpected and unplanned for ; and
when, by improvidence, I was led to use too much on myself,
or on things of little importance, then I prospered less than
when I did otherwise. If I had planned to give only after my
death, then all might have been lost ; whereas, when I gave
away at present, and trusted God for the future, then I wanted
nothing and lost nothing."
It reminds one of the epitaph on the old tombstone in
Italy :
" What I spent, I had ; what I gave, I saved ; what I kept,
I lost."
Or, as Mark Antony said, when in distress, and at the ebb
of fortune,
" I have lost everything except what I have given away."
Good old John Bunyan writes,
" A man there was, and they called him mad;
The more he gave the more he had."
" And giving to the Lord," says another, " is but transport-
ing our goods to a higher floor."
When a poor heathen came to one of our missionaries, giv-
600 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ing firkt for himself, then for his wife, and then for each one of
his children, on being asked if he was not giving too much,
his touching and memorable reply was, " God's work must be
done, and I may be dead ! " The lesson is one that all may
well remember ; and, in giving as well as doing, God's provi-
dence, as well as his word, continually teaches that we do with
our might what our hands find to do, and that in endeavoring
to be faithful we shall be blessed.
"WHAT IS THE STATE OF YOUR SOUL, MY FRIEND?"
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own selves.
2 Cor. 13 : 5.
ONE day, as Felix Neff was walking in a street in the city
of Lausanne, he saw, at a distance, a man whom he took
for one of his friends. He ran up behind him, tapped him on
the shoulder before looking in his face, and asked him, " What
is the state of your soul, my friend ? " The stranger turned :
Neff' perceived his error, apologized, and went his way.
About three or four years after, a person came to Neff, and
accosted him, saying he was indebted to him for his inestima-
ble kindness. Neff did not recognize the man, and begged lie
would explain. The stranger replied, " Have you forgotten
an unknown person whose shoulder you touched in a street in
Lausanne, and asked him, < How do you find your soul ? ' It
was I : your question led me to serious reflection, and now I
find it is well with my soul." This proves what apparently
small means may be blessed of God for the conversion of sin-
gers, and how many opportunities for doing good we are con-
tinually letting slip, and which .thus pass irrecoverably beyond
our reach. One of the questions which every Christian should
propose to himself on setting out on a journey is, " What op-
portunities shall I have to do good? " And one of the points
on which he should examine himself on his return is, " What
opportunities have I lost ? " James.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. G01
"HE KNOWS NOT WHAT HE SAITH."
Now I pray to God that yc do no evil. 2 Cor. 13 : 7.
A WEALTHY merchant once gave the following account :
J\. As he wa^ standing at his door one day a venerable, gray-
headed man approached him and asked alms. He answered
him with severity, and demanded why he lived so useless a
life. The beggar answered that age disabled him for labor,
and he had committed himself to the providence of God and
kindness of good people. The rich man was at this time an
infidel. He ordered the old man to depart, at the same time
casting some reflections on the providence of God. The ven-
erable beggar descended the steps, and kneeling at the bottom,
offered up the following prayer : " my gracious God, I thank
thee that my bread and water are sure, but pray thee, for thy
dear Son's sake, to remember this man ; he hath reflected on
thy providence. Father, forgive him ; he knows not what he
saith ! "
Thus the present scene ended. The words, " Father, for-
give him ; he knows not what he saith ! " constantly rang in
the ears of the rich man. He was much disconcerted the
following night. The next day, being called on business to a
neighboring town, he overtook the old man on the road. As
he afterward confessed, the sight almost petrified him with
guilt and fear. He dismounted, when an interesting conver-
sation ensued. At the close of it the old man remarked,
" Yesterday I was hungry, and called at the door of a rich
man. He was angry, and told me he did not believe in the
providence of God, and bade me depart ; but at the next house
I had a plentiful meal. And this, mark ye, was at the house
of a poor woman."
The wealthy man confessed that at this moment he was
pierced with a sense of guilt. He then gave some money to
the poor man, of whom he never could hear afterward ; yet the
sound of these words, being impressed upon his mind by the
last interview, " He knows not what he saith," never left
him till he was brought to Christian repentance.
76
602 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
HE DIED FOR US.
"Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present
evil world, according to the will of God and our Father. Gal. 1 : 4.
A SAILING ship started from England many years ago ; it
JLJL was loaded with passengers, who were seeking a home in
America. Among them were two brothers : one was married ;
his wife and two children were already in America, and ex-
pecting his arrival ; the other was single. The ship sprung
a-ieak near the Banks, and had to be abandoned ; the ship's
boats were sufficient to take two thirds of the passengers, and
no more. It was determined by lot who should go into the
boats, and who should stay on the sinking ship. In casting
the lot, the single brother was chosen to go, and the married
one elected to stay on the ship. They looked at each other,
but did not speak ; after a few breathless moments the single
man stepped out of line and beckoned the brother to take his
place. Said he, " You have a wife arid two children depend-
ing upon you ; 1 have none to care for but mother, and I never
expect to see her." The married brother hesitated, and the
other as much insisted on his going, until the time had arrived
for one or the other to go. The married man jumped into the
boat, and in a few minutes all was over with those that re-
mained. He met his wife and children ; their hearts were
made glad together. The joy of that meeting, with new scenes,
banished for a while the lost brother from the husband's mem-
ory, until his wife asked where James was (meaning the single
brother). Then the scene on shipboard flashed before his
mind, and, overwhelmed with grief, he wept, but did not speak.
When he did speak, does any one suppose he said, I remember
James as I do a bird I once had, or as the flowers that grew
in our garden, or as I do a summer's day ? No, hardly. He
spoke, and it was this: "James gave his life for my life and
yours ; " then the whole story was told. The wife wept ; they
both wept and prayed together ; and ever After, the mention
of that brother's name brought tears to the eyes of those
parents.
We were chosen to die ; Jesus took our place, and we live
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 603
to enjoy salvation. What shall I say of him? he is a good
man ? No, hardly that. The lawyer called him good ; infidels
call him good. No more virulent epithet could be chosen or
invented than to apply the term " good " to my Saviour. He
gave his life for my life and yours. Let tears tell the rest.
Rev. Wilson Gray.
DR. CHANNING AS A PREACHER.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Gal. 1 : 8.
REV. DR. JOHN M. MASON, of New York, having heard
the celebrated Unitarian minister, Rev. Dr. Charming,
preach, was asked what he thought of his sermon. " I ad-
mired," said he, " the beauty of its style, the splendor of its
imagery, the correctness of its sentiments, and the point of
its arguments ; but it lacked one thing : it needed to be bap-
tized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to entitle it to the
name of a Christian sermon."
A beautifully- written essay may be very fine as an essay ;
but to read it from the pulpit on the Sabbath day, as a gospel
sermon, would be a failure to the reader, and robbery to the
people. The people want bread.
. NO LONGER A PERSECUTOR.
But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past, now
preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. Gal. 1 : 23.
CjEVERAL years ago, a charity sermon was preached in a
U dissenting chapel in the west of England ; and when the
preacher ascended the pulpit, he thus addressed his hearers :
" My brethren, before I proceed to the duties of this evening,
allow me to relate a short anecdote. Many years have elapsed
since I was within the walls of this house. Upon that very
evening there came three young men, with the intention not
only of scoffing at the minister, but with their pockets filled
with stones, for the purpose of assaulting him. After a few
694 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
words, one of them said, with an oath, l Let us be at him now ; '
but the second replied, < No, stop till we hear what he makes
of this point.' The minister went on, when the second said,
* We have heard enough ; now throw ! ' But the third inter-
fered, saying, * He is not so foolish as I expected ; let us hear
him out.' The preacher concluded without having been in-
terrupted. Now, mark me, brethren : of those three young
men, one was executed a few months ago, at Newgate, for
forgery ; the second lies under sentence of death, at this mo-
ment in the jail of this city, for murder j the other," con-
cluded the minister, with great emotion, " the third, through
the infinite grace of God, is even now about to address you ;
listen to him."
DISSIMULATION.
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas
also was carried away with their dissimulation. Gal. 2 : 13.
"TTTHEN Bishop Chase was bishop of Ohio, he encountered,
VV on one occasion, the Hon. , then chief judge of the
same state, and whom he had not met for many years. They
had been schoolmates, and the bishop reminded his friend of
old times, and, with a comfortable air of self-satisfaction, con-
gratulated him upon their success in life, and the honorable
position in which they found each other after their long sepa-
ration, concluding, " And, better than all, judge, I find you are
a member of our church." " Well," said the judge, " that's more
a matter of chance than anything else. You see, when I was
getting established in my profession, wife and I thought we
ought to join some church ; 'twas more respectable. So, after
mature deliberation, we settled down with the Baptists, and
got on very well for a time ; but they kept harping on ' faith,'
1 faith,' till we pretty soon discovered that they required
more ' faith ' than we had ; so itjbecame necessary to make a
change. We turned the matter over considerably, and 'at last,
from various reasons, made up our minds to join the Method-
ists. Here we found the demand was, < work,' < work,' inces-
santly ; and it was presently apparent that they demanded more
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 605
1 work ' than we were able to perform. It was with great re-
luctance that we concluded that we* must change again, and
cast about with much caution, that this move might be final.
At last we decided to connect ourselves with your church,
bishop, and have got along famously ever since, without either
faith or works."
JUSTIFIED THROUGH FAITH IN -CHRIST.
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might
be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the
works of the law shall no flesh be justifi Gal. 2 : 16.
WHEN a person has been brought to trial, and found guilty,
if he is able to mako a sufficient satisfaction for his
offense, either through his own ability or that of his friends,
and the law accepts such an indemnification, the criminal would
depart from the trial justified. The accepted satisfaction
would not, indeed, render him an innocent man ; but he would
be so regarded by the law ; and, though guilty, he would be
no more liable to prosecution and punishment for that offense
than a person who had never committed it. Now, this is the
way in which we are justified in the sight of God. We are
found guilty by this just Judge ; and at any moment his jus-
tice may inflict upon us the deserved sentence of eternal
death. We have no ability of our own to make satisfaction ;
but an Almighty Friend and Saviour has died to make "an
atonement for our sins; and he permits us to offer the
merits of his most precious blood-shedding to God for the
remission of those sins. God accepts this satisfaction from all
who have a right to offer it, and, in consideration of it, releases
them from the penalty of eternal death, to which they stood
exposed. A person pleading this satisfaction is not, indeed,
rendered innocent through what his Saviour has done for him,
but he is treated as such ; he is no longer liable to punish-
ment ; and we may say that an angel in heaven is in as much
danger of eternal torment as is a person who is found in Christ,
having the infinite merits of his Saviour to plead for his own
justification. Lewis.
606 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
INTELLECTUAL CULTURE NOT THE HIGHEST GOOD.
I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liv-
eth in me ; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Gal. 2 : 20.
I WOULD by no means represent intellectual culture as
the highest good. We have a better part, a nobler en-
dowment, than the faculties of the intellect a higher destiny
than to be well educated. To be virtuous is better than to be
intelligent, and to be good is the highest wisdom. Science
does not unfold the faith by which the Christian walks the
troubled seas of life ; learning gives not that hope which over
the wreck of earthly joys sustains the sinking heart ; knowl-
edge can not save the soul from sin, nor redeem it from the
consequences of transgression ; but for the hope of salvation,
for the gift of eternal life, the learned and the ignorant must
alike come to Jesus. Not on the mighty intellect, not on the
tutored mind, but on the'meek, the merciful, the pure in heart,
did the Saviour pronounce the blessing. The way to holiness,
and hope, and heaven is lighted from above, not from the
human understanding. Jesus is himself the way, the truth,
and the light. The glad tidings of his love and mercy are to
all to those sunk in ignorance as well as to the learned. His
offer of pardon, of salvation, of restoration to unity with the
eternal Father, is freely made to all the children of a fallen
race, repentance and faith in Christ being the only condition
of* acceptance with him.
But the goodness of our heavenly Father has so framed
our mental constitution, that there is no antagonism between
the intellect and the heart ; but each is developed best when
both are developed conjointly. Moses, the lawgiver, and Paul,
the apostle, are examples where the highest intellectual train-
ing has been dedicated to the service of God examples
sufficient to show us that learning is not incompatible with
humility and holiness, and that he who has reached its highest
attainments may yet " do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly
with his God." Mahcdah Fay.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 607
NOT FEELING, BUT FAITH.
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident ;
for, The just shall live by faith. Gal. 3 : 11.
THE Bible makes little or no account of our feelings, but
great account of faith. Predominance of faith over feel-
ing is a very decisive mark of maturity of grace. In times
when our experience is put to the proof, and we are required
to give a reason for the hope that is in us, the babe in Christ
looks to himself; the man in Christ instinctively and instantly
looks to God. The one looks after his experience, the other
looks after his Saviour. Can not many attest what is here
stated ? Does not the weak believer, when sore temptations
press upon him, or severe sickness startles him, look back upon
the past, and, while he deplores his sins,, draw his comfort from
the memory of his conversion and of the other Bethels where
he has set up Ebenezer stones? And does not the confirmed
believer, in such cases, look right up to God ? It is well to
have lively emotions, but it is not well to trust in them, for
the dyspepsia can cloud them, and Satan may be permitted to
destroy them. That Christian only is in an impregnable for-
tress, bomb-prooF against hell's artillery, who can say with
faith, " Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died."
THE FULLNESS IN CHRIST.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us ; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on atree. Gal. 3 : 13.
HOW difficult it would be to name a noble figure, a sweet
simile, a tender or attractive relationship, in which Jesus
is not set forth to woo a reluctant sinner and cheer a despond-
ing saint ! Am I wounded ? He is balm. Am I sick ? He is
medicine. Am I naked? He is clothing. Am I poor? He
is wealth. Am I hungry? Ho is bread. Am I thirsty? He
is water. Am I in debt? He is a surety. Am I in darkness ?
He is a sun. Have I a house to build ? He is a rock. Must
I face that black and gathering storm? He is an anchor, sure
608 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
and steadfast. Am I to be tried? He is an advocate. Is
sentenced passed, and am I to be condemned ? He is pardon.
To deck him out and set him forth, Nature culls her finest
flowers, brings her choicest ornaments, and lays these treasures
at his feet. The skies contribute their stars. The sea gives
up its pearls. From fields, and rivers, and mountains, Earth
brings the tribute of her gold, and gems, and myrrh, and
frankincense, the lily of the valley, the clustered vine, and the
fragrant rose of Sharon. He is " the chiefs st among ten
thousand, and the One altogether lovely." " In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." I offer him to you
make a free offer of him ; and, doing so, will challenge you to*
name a want for which I shall not find a full supply in Christ
something that fits your wants as accurately as the works
of a key the wards of its lock.
Tertullian saith, " If thou endurest wrong for Christ's sake,
he is a Revenger ; if sorrow, he is a Comforter ; if sickness,
he is a Physician ; if loss, he is a Restorer ; if life, he is a
Reviver.
DR. MASON AND THE DYING UNITARIAN.
Now, a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Gal. 3 : 20.
THE Rev. Dr. Mason, of New York, was once requested to
visit a lady in dying circumstances, who, together with her
husband, openly avowed infidel principles, though they at-
tended on his ministry. On approaching her bedside, he
asked her if she felt herself a sinner, and perceived the need
of a Saviour. She frankly told him she did not ; and that she
wholly disbelieved the doctrine of a Mediator. " Then/' said
the doctor, " I have no consolation for you ; not one word of
comfort. There is not a single passage in the Bible that war-
rants me to speak peace to any one who rejects the Mediator
provided for lost sinners. You must abide the consequences
of your infidelity." Saying that, ho was on the point of leav-
ing the room, when some one said, " Well, but, doctor, if you
can not speak consolation to her, you can pray for her." To
this he assented, and kneeling down by the bedside, prayed
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 609
for her as a guilty sinner, just sinking into hell j and then
arising from his knees, he left the house. A day or two after,
he received a letter from the lady herself, earnestly desiring
that he would come and see her without delay. He immedi-
ately obeyed the summons ; but what was his amazement,
when, on entering the room, she held out her hand to him, and
said, with a benignant smile, " It is all true ; all that you said
on Sunday is true. I have seen myself the wretched sinner
which you described me to be in your prayer. I have seen
Christ, that all-sufficient Saviour you said he was ; and God
has mercifully snatched me from the abyss of infidelity in
which I was sunk, and placed me on the Rock of Ages. There
I am secure ; there I shall remain. I know in whom I have
believed ! " All this was like a dream to him ; but she pro-
ceeded, and displayed as accurate a knowledge of the way of
salvation revealed in the gospel, and as firm a reliance on it,
as if she had been a disciple of Christ for many years. Yet
there was nothing like boasting or presumption ; all was hu-
mility, resignation, and confidence. She charged her husband
to educate their daughter in the fear of God, and, above all,
to keep from her those novels and books of infidel sentimen-
tality by which she had been nearly brought to ruin. On the
evening of the same day she expired in fullness of joy and
peace in believing. Arvine's Cydopcedia.
OUR RELATION TO GOD.
And, because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into
your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Gal. 4:6.
" T)ECAUSE ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of
JJ his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father ! '' This
is the common privilege of believers in Christ ; and by means
of this they are delivered from the carnal mind, which is enmity
against God ; they are endowed with power from on high ; they
are renewed in the spirit of their mind ; and thenceforth, " as
obedient children," it is their inestimable privilege, not to
fashion themselves according to the former lusts in their igno-
rance, but as He who hath called them is holy, to be also
77
610 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" holy in all manner of conversation." Thus, it will be seen,
the order of the events in a scriptural conversion are obvious
and instructive. The sinner is called to repent and believe
the gospel. By the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit, ac-
companying his own truth, he is enabled to do so. * Some
obey the call. They mourn over past sin, and grieve to find
that still, when they would do good, evil is present with them.
Broken in heart, and calling for the mercy of God, they submit
to be saved by grace, and therefore believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. For the sake of his well-beloved Son, in whom all
their trust is reposed, God at once acts the Sovereign's part in
pardoning their transgressions, the Judge's in justifying them,
and the Father's in adopting them. That instant he also be-
stows upon them the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit im-
mediately bears his testimony to the fact of their adoption,
and by so doing he produces love to that God who first loved
them. " And every one that loveth is born of God, and know-
eth God."
, SONS IN THE FAMILY OF GOD.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son ; and if a son, then an
heir of God through Christ. Gal 4 : 7.
IT would have been a great mercy if God had made us his
servants, after we had proved his enemies; "but he has
adopted us as his sons, and taken us to the bosom of his love.
He is now our Father, and wishes us to call him so ; we are
his children, and he wishes us to walk and act as such. "NVe
are not mere servants, therefore we should not be servile ; we
are sons, therefore we should love, obey, and delight in God
as our Father. " Beloved, now are we the sons of God." V\V
are delivered from bondage, introduced into favor, have the
promise of eternal life, and should rejoice with joy unspeak-
able and full of glory. It was free grace which adopted us ;
the Holy Spirit, by the word, begot us to a lively hope ; and
the gospel proclaims, our privileges, and invites us to enjoy
them. Let us to-day think, "I am a son of God. My Father
is holy, his children are holy, his word is holy : he loves holi-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 611
ness, and commands me to be holy ; I will therefore lift up my
heart to him, seek grace from him, and in all things aim to
glorify him."
IF UNTRUE TO GOD, WHY NOT UNTRUE TO MAN?
But now, after that ye have known God, or rather arc known of God, how
turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire again to
be in bondage? &al. 4: 9.
VHILE preaching in Watertown, N. Y., Rev. Ebenezer
Arnold illustrated the importance of faithfulness to God,
on the part of all professing Christians, by the following inci-
dent :
" A Christian lady was engaged in marriage to a gentleman
who respected, but did not profess, religion. Thinking that it
might please him to attend a ball and mingle in the dance, she
proposed that they both go to the ball. To her astonishment
he declined, for he was greatly surprised that one who pro-
fessed to follow Christ * in the narrow way/ should offer to
enter with him through that wide gate, into * the broad way
which leadeth to destruction.' In a few minutes he withdrew
for the evening. When he next called, he asked that their
engagement of matrimony might be broken off. Mortified at
the request of her affianced husband, she requested an expla-
nation of his unlooked-for demand. He replied, ' You have
solemnly vowed to Christ to be his, yet you propose to turn
your back on him and mingle with sinners in the dance. Your
relation to Christ is more sacred than your relation to me could
be if we were married. If you are untrue to God- in your
offer to forsake him what reason have 1 to .believe you would
not be untrue to me, and forsake me ? The greater always in-
cludes the less.' Severe as his conclusion was, she could not
say it was unjust, for there is an adultery which consists of
broken vows to God, as well as broken marital relations" ( Jer.
3:9; Ezek. 23 : 37.)
612 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
FRUIT AFTER MANY DAYS.
But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only
when I am present with you. Gal. 4 : 18.
A SUPERINTENDENT of a school in Virginia had among
J\. his scholars a fiery, funny, red-headed scamp of a boy.
He annoyed everybody, and what was worse, he could not be
driven from the school. The superintendent was out-gener-
aled, and finally brought the boy to the platform and laid the
responsibility of a verdict in his case upon the school. A little
girl rose up and said, " Pray for him." The superintendent
seated the boy on the chair, taking a good firm grip of his
neck, knelt down by his side, and raising his left hand, im-
plored earnestly that God would in mercy spare the boy's
soul, forgive him, convert him, and make him a useful man.
Tears of many flowed that day for that bad boy.
Time rolled on, and the boy was lost sight of for many years.
No one knew what had become of him. Not long since this
same good brother was visiting a western city, and, spending
the Sabbath there, inquired where he could find an interesting
Sunday school to which he could go and gather some new
ideas. He was taken to the outskirts of the city, to one of
the largest and the best mission schools. He was pleased at
the sight that met his eye. The superintendent of the school
invited him to speak. He began to tell the story of his early
labors in Virginia, and naming several places, the superinten-
dent became interested, and called to mind his own history
as a scholar. Interrupting the speaker, he asked him if he
was Mr. So-and-so, from such a place in Virginia.
On his responding affirmatively, he said, " Do you remember
the red-headed scamp of a boy in your school at ? Well,
sir, I am the boy. .Here I stand superintendent of this school,
a monument of grace, and indebted to your prayer for the con-
version of my soul."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 613
STAND FAST IN CHRIST.
Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Gal. 5 : 1.
ALL colors are wrapped up in the sunlight, which, as is well
known, may be seen resolved into its elementary colors
in the prism or rainbow. Apart from the sunlight, no object
has any color, as is shown by the fact that, as soon as light is
withdrawn from the landscape, the colors fade from the robe
of Nature. The difference of color in different objects, while
the sun is shining, is produced by some subtile difference of
texture or superficies, which makes each object absorb certain
rays, and reflect certain other rays, in different proportions.
Now, Christ is the Sun of Righteousness, in whom dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead- bodily the fair color of every
grace and Christian virtue* When Christ is shining upon
the heart, then these virtues are manifested there by one
Christian graces of one description, by another of another, ac-
cording to their different receptivity and natural temperament;
just as, when the sun is shining, colors are thrown upon a land-
scape, and reflected by the different objects in different pro-
portions. But as no part of the landscape has" any color in
the absence of the sun, nor can acquire any independently of
the sun, so Christians have no grace except from Christ, nor
hold any virtue independently of him. Dr. Goulbourn.
THE NOBLE CONVICT.
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty ; only use not liberty for an
occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Gal. 5 : 13.
A YOUNG man ran away from the galleys at Toulouse. He
was strong and vigorous, and soon made his way across
the country and escaped pursuit. He arrived the next morn-
ing before a cottage in an open field, and stopped to beg
something to eat, and get refuge while he reposed a little.
But he found the inmates of the cottage in the greatest dis-
tress. Four little children sat trembling in the corner, their
614 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
mother was weeping and tearing her hair, and the father
walked the floor in agony. The galley-slave asked what was
the matter, and the father replied that they were that morn-
ing to be turned out of doors because they could not pay the
rent. %
" You see me driven to despair/' said the father ; " my wife
and little children without food or shelter, and I without means
to provide any for them."
" I will give you the means. I have but just escaped from
the galleys. Whoever secures and takes back an escaped
prisoner is entitled to a reward of fifty francs. How much
does your rent amount to ? "
" Forty francs," answered the father.
" Well," said the other, " put a cord around my body. I will
follow you to the city, where they will recognize me, and you
will get fifty francs for bringing me back."
" No, never ! " exclaimed the astonished listener ;." my chil-
dren should starve a thousand times before I would do so base
a thing."
The generous young man insisted, and declared at last that
he would go and give himself up if the latter would not con-
sent to take him.
After a long struggle the latter yielded, and taking his pre-
server by the arm, led him to the city and to the mayor's office.
Everybody was surprised that a little man like the father
should be able to capture such a strong young fellow ; but the
proof was before them. The fifty francs were paid, and the
prisoner sent back to the galleys. But after he was gone
the father asked a private interview with the mayor, to whom
he told the whole story. The mayor was so much affected
that he not only added fifty francs more to the father's purse,
but wrote immediately to the minister of justice, begging the
noble young prisoner's release.
The minister examined into the affair, and finding that it
was comparatively a small offense which had condemned the
young man to the galleys, and that he had already nearly served
out his time, ordered his release.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 615
HOW DRUNKARDS ARE MADE.
Now, the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these : Adultery, for-
nication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told
you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom
of God. Gal. 5 : 19-21.
A YOUNG man entered the bar-room of a village tavern,
and called for a drink. " No/ 7 said the landlord ; " you
have had delirium tremens once, and I can not sell you any
more." He stepped aside to make room for a couple of young-
men who had just entered, and the landlord waited upon them
very politely. The other had stood by, silent and sullen,
and when they finished, he walked up to the landlord, and
thus addressed him : " Six years ago, at their age, I stood
where those young men are now ; I was a man with fair pros-
pects. Now, at the age of twenty-eight, I am a wreck, body
and mind. You led me to drink. In this room I formed the
habit that has been my ruin. Now, sell me a few glasses
more, and your work will be done. I shall soon be out of the
way ; there is no hope for me ; but they can be saved. Do not
sell it to them. Sell to me, and let me die, and the world will
be rid of me ; but for Heaven's sake sell no more to them ! "
The landlord listened, pale and trembling. Setting down his
decanter, he exclaimed, " God help me, this is the last drop I
will ever sell to any one ! " And he kept his word." The
curse of God is on the liquor traffic. The " woe " pronounced
by God on him that " giveth his neighbor drink " (Hab.
2 : 15) is not repealed.
THE ABSURDITY OF ERROR.
For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiv-
eth himself. Gal. 6:3.
I HAVE often seen Universalism reduced to an absurdity ;
but seldom, if ever, has it been better done than in the
following, which I beg to recite for the benefit of any who
may need it.
616 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
11 1 am a Universalist," said G. K., boastingly, " and you
Orthodox are not fair in saying that our system is inconsistent
with reason." This he addressed to one who held an oppo-
site system.
" But I will prove the irrationality of your system," said
his friend. " You believe that Christ died to save all men? "
" Yes, I do."
. " And you don't believe there is a hell ? "
" No, I do not."
" You don't believe there is any punishment hereafter?"
" No, I do not | men are punished for their sins in this life."
" Well, now, let us put your l rational ' system together, if we
can. It amounts to just this : that Christ the Saviour died to
save all men from nothing at all ! Not from hell, because,
according to you, there is none. Not from punishment in a
future state of being, for man receives his whole punishment
in this life. Yours is the absurd spectacle of ropes and life-
preservers thrown at an immense expense to a man who is
on dry land, and in no danger of being drowned. Let me tell
you that your religion is stark infidelity. If you heartily be-
lieved the Bible, you could not believe Universalism."
THE FATAL MIRAGE.
Be 'not deceived ; God is not mocked ; for whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap. Gal. 6 : 7.
IN that recent publication, The Nile Tributaries of Abys-
sinia, by Sir Samuel W. Baker, is the following thrilling
incident, which very appropriately points' a moral :
" Many years ago, when the Egyptian troops first conquered
Nubia, a regiment was crossing a desert. The heat was op-
pressive, almost beyond endurance ; the supply of water nearly
exhausted. Far in the horizon they seemed to see a beautiful
lake, bordered with palm trees. The Arab guide, who well
understood the desert wastes, told the soldiers there was no
lake there ; that what they saw was only a mirage a float-
ing delusion on the sky. But the thirsty soldiers saw some-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 617
thing which they believed to be water, and were determined
to trust their sight rather than his words. They insisted upon
their guide leading them to the water. He protested, and
resisted even to death. When they had killed him, the whole
regiment, wild with excitement, and eager for the cooling
waters, leave the course indicated by their guide, and start
for the lake. On and on they press over the burning sands ;
hour after hour they endure the heat, hoping to gain the re-
"freshing waters of the lake ; but that object flees before them
like a phantom. Self-deceived, exhausted by the heat, and
overcome with fatigue, they begin to fall upon the burning
sands and die. They all perished. Long after, the Arabs, in
search, found the body of the guide, a martyr to his faithful-
ness, while the bodies of the soldiers were found far out upon
the wild wastes, where they fell in their vain search to find
water where there was none. Their sincerity did not save
them from death."
We have a divine Guide in the person of Jesus Christ. He
points out the only way to heaven, and tells us it is only found
in the new birth and faith in him. " Except a man be born
again he can not see the kingdom of God ; " and " He that be-
lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth
not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on
him." He who disregards these words of our Saviour, and
fancies he sees the way open to heaven in some other faith
than this pure evangelism of Christ, is deluded by the mirage
that floats in his imagination. Only what the divine word
teaches is to be trusted.
SOWING AND REAPING.
For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption : but he
that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Gal. 6: 8.
A CHRISTIAIN gentleman was staying a few days with a
jLJL farmer, who, though a man of sound sense and many
amiable traits, was a neglecter of religion.
One day the gentleman walked out where the farmer was
scattering his seed broadcast in the field.
78
618 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" What are you sowing, Mr. H. ? " was his pleasant inquiry.
" Wheat," was the answer.
" And what do you expect to reap from it ? "
" Why, wheat, of course," said the farmer.
At the close of the day, as all were gathered in the family
circle, some little thing provoked the farmer, the husband,
the father, and the head of the family, and at once he flew
into a violent passion, and, forgetting, in his excitement, the
presence of his guest, he swore most profanely.
The latter, who was sitting next to him, in a low and seri-
ous tone said, " And what are you sowing now ? "
The farmer seemed startled. A new light at once flashed
on him from the question of the morning. " What ! " he said,
in a subdued and thoughtful tone, " do you take such serious
views of life as that, such serious views of every mood, and
word, and action ? "
" Yes," was the reply ; " for every mood helps to form the
permanent temper ; and for every word we must give account ;
and every act but aids to form a habit ; and habits are to the
soul what the veins and arteries are to the blood the courses
in which it moves, and will move for ever. By all these little
things we are forming character, and that character will go
with us to eternity, and according to it will be our destiny for
PERSEVERANCE IN SOUL-SAVING.
And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if
we faint not. Gal. 6:9.
AN old man, whom the Rev. S. Thornton had often and un-
successfully urged to attend to the duty of coming to pub-
lic worship, was laid up in bed from illness. The curate, on
hearing this, called upon him. Entering the cottage, he asked
to see him. The old man, recognizing his voice, and perhaps
hearing his request, called out rudely,
" I don't want you here ; you may go away."
The next day Mr. Thornton again presented himself, with
inquiries after him, and an expressed desire to see him ; cull-
ing out from the stairs,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 619
" Well, my friend, may I come up to you to-day ? "
Again he was answered, " I don't want you here."
Twenty-one days successively did the patient clergyman
come to the cottage with the same request, and on the twenty-
second obtained admittance to the bedside of the sick man.
Henceforth he was permitted to read God's word to him, pray
by him, and impart such instruction as was blessed to the poor
man's soul. The aged sufferer recovered, and became hence-
forth one of the most regular attendants on the services of the
church.
GLORYING IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Gal. 6 : 14.
1VTOWHERE in the material universe do we see declared, in
1A its most complete and impressive exhibition, that infinite
love which was in Christ toward the world of mankind ; that
love which led him even to the cross, and the sacrifice of him-
self, for our advantage. All other manifestations, therefore,
o.f that which is really divine in character, are pale and poor
by the side of this. You tell me of the Southern Cross, lifting
its stars in the sky that bends beyond the horizon ; and that
shall be to me a symbol, perhaps almost a foreshadowing, but
it never is the parallel of this cross upon Calvary. This shines
with no starry splendor upon the earth. Over it was gathered,
rather, the shrouding of a supernatural darkness, fromthe sixth
hour to the ninth. But the lesson that comes from it is the
grandest and most precious the world has heard. The Cross
lifted among the stars, in those yet unseen southern skies,
tells of the power of Him who built it. But the cross so
stained, and dark, and bloody that was lifted on Calvary
tells of the infinite and unsearchable love in the heart of Him
who hung upon it. From this we get views, therefore, which
we can not from any part of the universe that sweeps its radi-
ant circles above us which we can riot from even the soul
of man, to which this outward is the setting of the character
ofljrod ; not of his infinite righteousness only, but of his eter-
620 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
nal and measureless love ; of his sympathy with the suffering;
of his incomparable and unconquerable patience toward even
those who sin against him. Rev. Dr. Storrs.
PASTORAL PRUDENCE.
Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
Eph. 1 : 8.
THE Christian pastor should be a man of prudence. By
prudence, however, I do not mean that time-serving, man-
fearing, earth-born policy, which in the desk keeps out of sight
what are called the hard doctrines, and never has the rudeness
to disquiet the sinner's conscience, and is so very polite and
civil as never to utter the word hell without a humble apology,
or to name the prince of darkness without turning him into a
harmless Eastern metaphor ! Nor by ministerial prudence do
I mean that cringing spirit which never dares to look titled
wickedness in the face that aspen timidity which always
says yes to the world, whatever it may dictate or propose,
and which never troubles the gay, the rich, the great, the
polite, with any of the unwelcome and old-fashioned topics
of religion ; or, at any rate, not till they are just leaving the
world, and want to be assured that such harmless and good-
hearted people as they are have nothing to fear. All this,
and more, which sometimes passes current under the impos-
ing garb of prudence, deserves a very different name. It is a
gross perversion both of the word and the thing.
Genuine ministerial prudence keeps back no important truth,
listens to no compromise with sin, connives at no fashionable
vice, cringes before no lordly worldling, is never silent when
it ought to speak, and never sits quaking in cowardly conceal-
ment when the honor of religion calls for boldness and activity.
But prudence is always the opposite of rashness and incon-
sideration. It neither speaks nor acts till it has had time to
deliberate. Its words, being " fitly spoken, are like apples
of gold in pictures of silver." In rebuking transgression, it
strives to conciliate and gain the offender. It disarms preju-
dice, inspires confidence, gains friends, and wards off the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. G21
attacks of enemies. Ordinary talents, under the direction of
prudence, will do more in the ministry than the greatest gifts
without it. Indeed, without prudence no pastor can long be
either useful or happy. Dr. Humphrey's Sermon.
TRUSTED AND WERE DELIVERED.
That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In
whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation ; in whom, also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. EpK. 1 : 12, 13.
IN Madagascar, some time ago, an insurrection broke out,
and the army were ordered to march to quell it ; but be-
fore they set out, the great national idol was to be dragged
forth to bless the people, and they were to be sprinkled with
holy water. Now, it happened that three hundred of the
soldiers had cast off idolatry ; and when they heard what was
coming, they said one to another, " What shall we do ? If we
do not bow before the idol, we shall be counted among the
rebels, and shall surely be put to death." The leader of the
Christian band asked his brethren to meet together in the
evening, that they might consult what steps they had better
take. They met accordingly. Some said, " We are poor,
feeble creatures ; we hope that God will forgive us, though
we should bow before the idol ; it will be only to preserve
our lives." Others said, " We are married men ; it will never
do for us_to leave our wivefc widows, and our children father-
less." The leader of the party, after he had heard the opinion
of his companions, took his New Testament from his pocket,
and read aloud, " He that loveth father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me ; and he that loveth his life more
than me is not worthy of me." It was enough. Their de-
cision was made at once. They would not forsake their
Saviour. But it was a fiery trial through which they had to
pass, and they knelt down to ask of him. that he would not
leave them to pass through it alone. They then pledged one
another to stand to their resolution.
One of them was a traitor. He went and told the command-
622 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ing officer. " Three hundre'd of the soldiers," said he, " are
believers, and they have resolved not to worship the national
god." The Christian leader was sent for, and asked if it was
so. He confessed it was. This made the officer very angry,
and he ordered that the three hundred were not to attend
when the idol was brought out ; but he added, " The god will
avenge himself upon them." He would not put them to death,
because they would be wanted in the army ; but he deter-
mined to place them somewhere where they would be sure to
be cut off.
The army marched to meet the rebels. They came up to
them in a ravine between two lofty mountains. Here the
Christians were ordered to occupy the front ranks. Their
enemies took it for granted that they must fall there : but a
hand greater than that of man so arranged the order of the
battle that the arrows never touched the Christian band.
When the sun set a retreat was sounded, the roll was called,
and it was found that, though there had been great destruc-
tion among the heathen, not one of the Christian soldiers was
missing. The other soldiers asked them how they had been
preserved, and began to suspect that the New Testaments in
their pockets were charms. " It was not these that saved us,"
they made answer ; " it was the God whom we serve." The
rest were thunderstruck, and a hundred of them cast away
their idols from that day.
Who has an arm like God ? Whose rock is like our Rock ?
" They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which
can not be removed, but abideth for ever."
CHRIST OUR ALL IN ALL.
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over
all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all
in all. Eph. 1 : 22, 23.
THE Lord Jesus Christ is the All in All of his redeemed. In
every want he is their Friend. In every danger he is
their Defense. In weakness he is their Strength; in sor-
row, their Joy ; in pain, their Peace ; in poverty, their Pro-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 623
vider ; in sickness, their Physician ; in hunger, their Bread ;
in trouble, their Consolation ; in perplexity, their Counselor ;
in the furnace, their Refiner; in the floods, their Rock; in
assaults, their Refuge ; in accusations, their Advocate ; in debt,
their Surety ; in slavery, their Ransom ; in captivity, their De-
liverer ; in the day, their Sun ; in the night, their Keeper ; in
the desert, their Shepherd. In life, he is their Hope ; in death,
their Life ; in the grave, their Resurrection ; in heaven, their
Glory.
Let Christ, therefore, be thy All in- All, for time and for
eternity. With the faithful martyr say, while living, " None
but Christ." When dying say, " None but Christ." Through
all eternity say, " None but Christ." Let this triumphant
name, " The Lord our Righteousness," settle every difficulty,
solve every doubt, and silence every accusation. When con-
science tells thee thy sins are both many and great, answer
thou, " Christ's blood cleanseth from all sin." When re-
minded of your ignorance, say, " Christ is my wisdom" When
your ground and title to the kingdom are demanded, say,
" Christ is my righteousness. 11 When your meetness to enter
its sacred walls is challenged, say, " Christ is my sanctifica-
tion" When sin and the law, when death and Satan, claim
thee as their captive, reply to them all, " Christ is my redemp-
tion.' 1 The law saith, Pay thy debt; the gospel saith, Christ
hath paid it. The law saith, Make amends for thy sins ; the
gospel saith, Christ hath made it for thee. The law saith,
Thou art a sinner ; despair, for thou shalt be condemned ; the
gospel saith, Thy sins are forgiven thee ; be of good comfort ;
thou shalt be saved.
GOD IS NOT A MERCHANT.
For by grace arc ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves ; it is
the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. Eph. 2 : 8, 9.
ONCE there was a poor woman standing before the window
of a royal conservatory which looked into the public
street. It was the dead of winter, and no flowers were in the
garden, and no fruit on the trees. But in the hot-house a
624 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
splendid bunch of grapes hung from the glass ceiling, basking
in the bright winter sun, and the poor woman gazed at it ti'l
the water came into her mouth, and she sighed, " 0, I wish I
could take it to my sick darling ! " She went home and sat
down to her spinning-wheel, and wrought day and night till
she had earned half a crown. She then went to the king's
gardener, and offered that sum for the bunch of grapes ; but the
gardener received her unkindly, and told her not to come again.
She returned home, and looked around her little cottage to see
whether there was anything she could dispense with. It was
a severe winter, yet she 'thought she could do without a blanket
for a week or two ; so she pawned it for half a crown, and
went to the king's gardener, and now offered him five shillings.
But the gardener scolded her, and took her by the arm rather
roughly, and turned her out. It just happened, however, that
the king's daughter was near at hand ; and when she heard the
angry words of the gardener and the crying of the woman, she
came up and inquired into the matter. When the poor woman
had told her story, the noble princess said, with a kind smile,
" My dear woman, you were mistaken ; my father is not a
merchant, but a king ; his business is not to sell, but to give; "
whereupon she plucked the bunch from the vine, and gently
dropped it into the woman's apron. So the woman obtained
as a free gift what the labor of many days and nights had
been unable to procure.
The salvation of the soul is the greatest treasure you can
desire. But you can not buy it with all the riches of the
world, with all the prayers you can pray, with all the alms you
can give, with all the useful works you could perform during
a life as long as that of Methuselah. The fact is, your soul's
salvation is in the hands of a King, and not of a merchant. If
youl-eceive it at all, it must be as a gift, for you never can buy
it.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 625
ACCESS TO GOD.
For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Eph. 2 : 18.
TTOWEYER early in the morning you seek the gate of ac-
JjL cess, you find it already open ; and however deep the
midnight moment when you find yourself in the sudden arms
of death, the winged prayer can bring an instant Saviour near,
and this wherever you are. It needs not that you should
enter some awful shrine, or put off your shoes on some holy
ground. Could a memento be reared on every spot from which
an acceptable prayer passed away, and on which a prompt
answer has come down, we should find Jehovah shammah,
" The Lord hath been here," inscribed on many a cottage
hearth and many a dungeon floor. We should find it not only
in Jerusalem's proud temple, David's cedar galleries, but in
the fisherman's cottage, by the brink of Genesareth, and in
the upper chamber where Pentecost began.
And whether it be the field where Isaac went to meditate,
or the rocky knoll where Jacob lay down to sleep, or the brook
where Israel wrestled, or the den where Daniel gazed on
the hungry lions and the hungry lions gazed on him, or the
hill-side where the Man of Sorrows prayed all night, we should
still discern the print of the ladder's feet let down from
heaven, the landing-place of mercies, because the starting-
point of prayer. Hamilton.
THE ONLY FOUNDATION.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner stone. Eph. 2 : 20.
AT a recent Baptist Sunday School Convention held at St.
Louis, Rev. Dr. Hodge concluded an address with the
following remarks :
u The people of this goodly city of St. Louis look forward to
the time when the ponderous engine, followed by its heavily
freighted train, shall roll on the iron track that is to span their
79
626 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
great river. To sustain the burden on their projected bridge,
they are constructing foundations of solid masonry, eighty feet
in length and sixty feet in breadth, which are to be sunk sev-
enty feet below the bed of the river, even down to the under-
lying rock formation, so useless do they deem it to raise sup-
ports for the great pressure of commerce on the basis of
yielding water or of treacherous sand. Beloved, the immense
burden which must come rolling on upon the next generation
of living men demands of us that we build not slightly. Com-
pute, if you can, the weight of interests with which the next
hundred years will be freighted, and learn from your compu-
tation what moral masonry will be adequate to support that
weight. Beneath all that man can build must lie the divine,
the immovable Rock, which is the Son of God and the Saviour
of men, and we, as builders, must go down to the rock and
start from it with the foundations we lay. To do this we must
penetrate the accumulated dobris of ages. It is said that an
English builder, a few years since, determined to build a
house within the walls of the old Jerusalem, and having re-
solved to lay its foundation on the rock of David's time, he
found it necessary to excavate through fifty feet of accumu-
lated rubbish. These Christian centuries have been prolific
in religious rubbish, and whoever now will build with the Son
of David must dig down through superstition, and priestcraft,
and tradition, and prejudiced interpretations, until he finds the
'Word of the living God.'"
HUMILITY A CHRISTIAN GRACE.
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that
I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Eph. 3 : 8.
SOME time since, I took up a little work purporting to be
the lives of sundry characters as related by themselves.
Two of these characters agreed in remarking that they were
never happy until they ceased striving to be great men. This
remark struck me, as yon know the most simple remarks will
strike us, when Heaven pleases. It occurred to me at once
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 627
that the most of my sufferings and sorrows were occasioned
by my unwillingness to be nothing, which I am, and by con-
sequent struggles to be something. I saw if I could but cease
struggling, and consent to be anything or nothing, just as
God pleases, I might be happy. You will think it strange
that I mention this as a new discovery. In one sense it is
not new ; I had known it for years ; but I now saw it in a new
light. My heart saw it, and consented to it ; I am compara-
tively happy. My dear brother, if you can give up all desire
to be great, and feel heartily willing to be nothing, you will
be happy too. Dr. Payson.
OUR RELIGION THE FIRST THING.
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and
grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the
breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.
Eph. 3 : 17-19.
WE want to have spiritual life so developed in us that it
shall be supreme. A Christian, in the old times was,
first of all, a Christian, and then, a long way down, perhaps he
was a shoemaker. He was a Christian, and perhaps he might
belong to Caesar's household ; but that you might hardly know.
Nowadays what are we ? We are bankers or merchants ;
everybody knows that. Then, after a little inquiry, perhaps
it may be found out that we are Christians. The thing ought
to be reversed. Our religion should be the first thing. Too
much the Lord Jesus gets the scraps and the spare victuals,
and the world gets the banquets. Men give to the Lord
Jesus their odd minutes, and to money-getting the main
strength of their lives. I do believe that will have to be
altered before we shall see any great work done in the land,
and multitudes of conversions.
How it is going to be altered, I can not tell, except by this
that life has a wonderful faculty for accomplishing great
things. A little seed has been sown in a mass of rock, and
you could hardly suppose it could live ; but yet it has thrust
itself up, and is become a tree, and has lifted up the mass of
628 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
rock, and by and by it will move the rock away to make space
for itself. And life in God's people at this time is very like
that seed in the rock. Our modes of living, and our habits
are altogether prejudicial, I believe, to any very wonderful
display of life ; but life will do it somehow ; it will achieve its
purpose by some means. I pray God to give us that life.
C. H. Spurgeon.
FINDING HAPPINESS IN GOD.
Now, unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in
the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Eph. 3 : 20, 21.
/CHRISTIANS might avoid much trouble and inconvenience
\J if they would only believe what they profess that God
is able to make them happy without anything else. They
imagine that if such a dear friend were to die, or such and such
blessings were removed, they should be miserable ; whereas
God can make them a thousand times happier without them.
To mention my own case. God has been depriving me of one
mercy after another ; but, as one is removed, he has come in
and filled up its place. Now, when I am a cripple, and not
able to move, I am happier than ever I was in my life before,
or ever expected to be ; and if I had believed this twenty
years ago, I might have been spared much anxiety. If God
had told me some time ago that he was about to make me as
happy as I could be in this world, and then had told me that
he should begin by crippling me in all rny limbs, and removing
me from my usual sources of enjoyment, I should have thought
it a very strange mode of accomplishing this purpose. And
yet how is his wisdom manifest even in this 1 Dr. Payson.
ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST.
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens,
that he might fill all things. Eph. 4 : 10.
[ LL the good things that can be reckoned up here below
have only a finite and limited benignity : some can clothe,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 629
but can not feed ; others can nourish, but they can not heal ;
others can enrich, but they can not secure ; others adorn, but
can not advance : all do serve, but none do satisfy. They are
like a beggar's coat, made up of many pieces, not all enough
either to beautify or defend. But Christ is full and sufficient
for all his people. He ascended on high that he might fill all
things (Eph. 4 : 10), that he might pour forth such abundance
of spirit on his church as might answer all the conditions
whereunto they may be reduced ; righteousness enough to
cover all their sins, plenty enough to supply all their wants,
r grace enough to subdue all their lusts, wisdom enough to
resolve all their doubts, power enough to vanquish all their
enemies, virtue enough to cure all their diseases, fullness
enough to save them, and that to the utmost : over and be-
sides, there is in Christ .something proportionable to all the
wants and desires of his people ; he is bread, wine, milk, living
waters to feed them (John 6 : 5, 7, 35) ; he is a garment of
righteousness to cover and adorn them ; a physician to heal
them (Matt. 9:12); a counselor to advise them (Isa. 9:6);
a captain to defend them (Heb. 2 : 10) ; a prince to rule, a
prophet to teach, a priest to make atonement for them, a hus-
band to protect, a father to provide, a brother to relieve, a
foundation to support, a root to quicken, a head to guide, a
treasure to enrich, a sun to enlighten, and a fountain to cleanse.
So that as the one ocean hath more waters than all the rivers
of the world, and one sun more light than all the luminaries in
heaven, so one Christ is more all to a poor soul, than if it had
the all of the whole world a thousand times over. Things
New and Old.
UNITY OF THE BIBLE.
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ. Eph. 4 : 13.
AS in Beethoven's matchless music there runs one idea,
worked out through all the changes of measure and of
key, now almost hidden, now breaking out in rich natural
melody, whispered in the treble, murmured in the bass, dimly
630 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
suggested in the prelude, but growing clearer and clearer as
the work proceeds, winding gradually back till it ends in the
key in which it began, and closes in triumphant harmony so
throughout the whole Bible there runs one great idea man's
ruin by sin, and his redemption by grace ; in a word, Jesus
Christ the Saviour. This runs through the Old Testament, that
prelude to the New, dimly promised at the fall, and more
clearly to Abraham j typified in the ceremonies of the law ; all
the events of sacred history paving the way for his coming ;
his descent proved in the genealogies of Ruth and Chronicles ;
spoken of as Shiloh by Jacob, as the Star by Balaam, as.
Prophet by Moses ; the David of the Psalms : the Redeemer
looked for by Job ; the Beloved of the Song of Songs. We
find him in the sublime strains of the lofty Isaiah, in the writ-
ings of the tender Jeremiah, in the .mysteries of the contem-
plative Ezekiel, in the visions of the beloved Daniel, the great
idea growing clearer and clearer as the time drew on. Then
the full harmony broke out in the song of the angels : " Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
men." And evangelists and apostles taking up the theme, the
strain closes in the same key in which it began : the devil,
who troubled the first paradise, for ever excluded from the
second ; man restored to the favor of God, and Jesus Christ
the key-note of the whole.
ABSORBED IN RELIGION.
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which
is the head, even Christ. Eph. 4 : 15.
DR. CHALMERS said, "Unless I make religion my great
and engrossing concern, I shall be a stranger to all solid
peace and enjoyment. I have at times caught a glimpse of
the comfort which it yields the spirit when I merge my will
into God's will when I resolve to have no will of my own
separate from God. I feel quite assured that this entire re-
nunciation of self, and entire devotion to Christ's service,
would give a simplicity and grandeur to my existence -
would throw an unclouded sunshine over all my ways, would
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 631
raise me above the cares and provocations of this life, would
enhance even my sensible gratifications, and superadd those
gratifications of a higher order which constitute the main
and essential blessedness of heaven. my God, may it be
thus with me ! Call me out of nature's darkness into thine
own marvelous light. Give me to aspire after the graces, and
hold forth to my acquaintances, and, above all, to my children,
the example of all righteousness. Conform me tb the gospel
economy under which I sit, that as Christ died for sin, I may
die to it, that as he rose again, I may rise to newness of life,
and feel it my meat and drink to do thy will."
ADVICE TO PREACHERS.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which
is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Eph. 4 : 29.
1. TTNDERSTAND your text. 2. Confirm your view by ref-
U erence to the original. 3. Strengthen your opinion by
once more reading the whole text. 4. Avoid a display of learn-
ing ; criticise in the study ; teach in the pulpit. 5. Divide your
subject it helps the hearers. 6. Speak in short sentences
it helps the preacher. 7. Use plain words they are good for
all sorts and conditions of men. 8. Avoid parentheses they
trouble the speaker, they puzzle the hearer. 9. Speak in the
first person singular it gives reality. 10. Avoid the first
person plural kings speak thus; preachers should not. 11.
Apply pointedly all within the church walls are not of the
church of Christ. 12. Rebuke boldly. 13. Warn lovingly.
14. Encourage heartily. 15. Preach frequently with your
tongue. 16. Preach always by your life. 17. Honor the Holy
Ghost. 18. Remember your Master seek his glory, not
your own. Old John Owen says somewhere, " To preach the
word, and not to follow it with prayer constantly and fre-
quently, is to believe its use, neglect its end, and cast away all
the seed of the gospel at random." (1 Cor. 1 : 21.)
632 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
RESISTING THE SPIRIT.
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day
of redemption. Eph. 4: 30.
IT is a spectacle over which an angel might weep if there
could be tears in heaven ; man, feeble man, child of dust,
and crushed before the moth, strives with Almighty God.
Who has not done it ! How many are doing it yet ! And
while man does it in his thoughtlessness, he hears not, or, if he
hears, heeds not the sound which comes from the distance and
falls upon the ear in tones so solemn and distinct, and with a
cadence so dreadful, " My Spirit shall not always strive with
man." He heeds it not, but goes on his way resisting the
Holy Ghost. Thus he hastens on to a condition of hopeless-
ness and helplessness. Quick as the mind can act, he speeds
him onward. Every stifled conviction accelerates his move-
ments. Every Sabbath's light but lights him forward. Every
message of truth, every argument and appeal of the sanctuary
which fall upon his ear, and reach his spirit, serve but to
quicken his progress. Ere long the crisis comes. In an un-
looked-for moment the grieved and insulted Spirit spreads his
wings for a final flight, and as he goes he leaves upon the soul
a seal which neither earth, nor heaven, nor hell can break.
The die is then cast, the work is done, the decision is recorded.
" Let him alone," is the sentence which has gone forth, and
the man is lost. Thenceforward his career is one of growing
sinfulness. Thenceforward his state is one of spiritual sleep,
profound as that of the grave, undisturbed by any Sabbath
argument, unbroken by any threatening omen, unaffected by
the approaching realities of another world ; and though he
may live amid scenes of spiritual beauty, and though the re-
freshing showers of heavenly grace may brighten and give
new verdure to the moral landscape around him, there he is
a spot blasted by heaven's fire, which can never be cultivated ;
a tree scathed by heaven's lightning, ready to be cut down as
fuel for the burning. I may seem to you to speak strongly ;
but 0, how lame and feeble are my words to give expression
to the sentiment which God hath uttered, " Woe unto them
when I depart from them ! ' ? - Hcv. Ersldne Mason.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 633
SPEAKING EVIL.
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be
put away from you, with all malice. Eph. 4:31.
DR. McINTYRE has these observations on despising the
gifts of others : " Preachers are sometimes very severe,
if not censorious, critics on each other's gifts, and by their
remarks bring them into contempt with many people who would
otherwise be benefited. They lessen, instead of increasing, the
entire availability of the ministry. This matter has another
aspect: Dr. Alexander once remarked that he could observe
a continual growth in grace in one of his old ministerial asso-
ciates, and that this was .evidenced by a gradual extinction
of anything like vanity or envy. The observation is worth
recording. The surroundings of ministers expose them to
these very temptations. Almost every human agency is set to
work to fan the flame. ' Young men/ said a very wise bishop
to a graduating class, ' you may be both ugly and dull, but
there will be at least some silly woman ready to tell you that
you are smart and handsome.' Once tainted by this spirit,
the next step is jealousy, arid the next a system of -habitual
detraction of all with whom he may be brought into rivalry,
unless, perhaps, he may be bound by some selfish tie, such as
that of party or clique. It has been wondered why the sons
of the evangelical Wilberforce did not turn out evangelicals.
One of the reasons assigned for the dislike taken by them to
the clergy of the evangelical school is, that among the num-
bers by whom that eminent statesman's house was frequented
there were some who were habitually censorious of their
brethren. A young and generous mind revolts from such
things, and suspects the system that produces them. If we
lame and damage the instruments, and diminish, by manner or
word, their influence, how can the work be done ? Verily, in
despising each other's gifts, in speaking lightly of each other,
preachers do the devil service. l From envy, hatred, and
malice, good Lord, deliver us.' "
80
634 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
NOT JUSTICE, BUT PARDON.
And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even
as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Eph. 4 : 32.
WE are shocked when we hear men talk of dealing with
God on their personal merits. The man who thus
speaks is either ignorant, willfully deceived, a hypocrite, or
a fool.
In the days when Napoleon was first consul of France, a
well-dressed girl, fourteen years of age, presented herself
alone at the gate of the palace. By tears and entreaties she
moved the kind-hearted porter to allow her to enter. Fac-
ing from one room to another, she. found her way to the hall
through which Napoleon, with his officers, was to pass. When
he appeared, she cast herself at his feet, and in the most ear-
nest and moving manner cried,
" Pardon, sire ! pardon for my father."
" And who is your father ? " asked Napoleon ; " and who are
you ? ''
" My name is Lajolia," she said ; and with flowing tears add-
ed, " but, sire, my father is doomed to die."
" Ah, young lady," replied Napoleon, " I can do nothing for
you. It is the second time that your father has been found
guilty of treason against the state."
" Alas ! " exclaimed the poor girl, " I know it, sire ; but I do
not ask for justice, I implore pardon. I beseech you, forgive,
0, forgive my father ! "
Napoleon's lips trembled, and his eyes filled with tears.
After a momentary struggle of feeling, he gently took the hand
of the young maiden, and said,
" Well, my child, for your sake I will pardon your father.
That is enough. Now leave me."
Reader, whoever you are, know that, as a sinner against
God, the cry from your lips must always be, " Not justice, but
pardon."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 635
COYETOUSNESS.
For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous
man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of
God. Eph. 5 : 5.
THE covetous man is like the spider. He does nothing
but lay his wits to catch every fly, gaping only for a
booty of gain ; so yet more in that whilst he makes nets for
these flies, he consumeth his own bowels, so that which is his
life is his death. And yet he is at least to be pitied, because
he makes himself miserable ; like wicked Ahab, the sight of
another man's vineyard makes him sick ; he wants it for him-
self. He hates his neighbors as bad as he is hated by them,
and would sell his best friend, if he had one, for a groat. He
pines his body that he may damn his soul ; and whenever dis-
appointed of his expected gain, through the accursed discon-
tent of his mind, he would dispatch himself, but that he is loth
to cast away the money on a cord. Bishop Hall.
Riches, oftentimes, if nobody takes them away, make to
themselves wings and fly away ; and truly, many a time the
undue sparing of them is but letting their wings grow, which
makes them ready to fly away ; and the contributing a part of
them to do good only clips their wings a little, and makes
them stay the longer with their owner. Archbishop Leighton.
The only privilege of the affluent which I covet, is the good
which I might do with their wealth, and the pleasure I might
enjoy in doing it. Dr. Dwicjht.
WHY THE JUDGE DID NOT HELP THEM.
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
reprove them. Eph. 5 : 11.
IN one of the Middle States, a Universalist preacher, some
time since, made great efforts to establish a society of his
own faith. A few persons, of little character and influence,
were deeply anxious that such a society should be formed
636 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
among them, but knew not how to effect their object and
build a house. It was finally agreed that the preacher and
one of his followers should wait on a distinguished judge who
resided in the village, and solicit his patronage. The judge
heard the loquacious preacher with great patience for almost
half an hour, when he closed by asking the judge's aid in estab-
lishing the society.
u No/' says the judge, " I shall not be disposed, sir, to lend
you any assistance in forming such a society. For, in the first
place, it seems to me that your system of faith is not support-
ed by the Holy Scriptures. I confess I am not so thoroughly
versed in those writings as I ought to be ; yet I should hardly
know how to express the eternity of future punishment more
clearly than I often see it there described. But this, sir, I do
believe (let the Scriptures say what they may), that were all
clergymen to preach this doctrine which you preach, there
would soon be a heil in this world, if not in the next." The
judge then added with seriousness, that if all who profess to
preach the gospel were to adopt and inculcate such senti-
ments, he did not believe it would be possible to hold ci\ 7 il
society together. Human laws would be trampled under foot,
and their penalties, if not backed by divine threatenings, would
be but a subject of mockery. With these views he must be
excused from making any efforts to establish a Universalist
society in that place or any other.
The correctness of the above-cited occurrence may be re-
lied on ; and, as to the justness of the judge's views, reason,
common sense, and the Scriptures say, Amen.
THINGS MISCALLED AMUSEMENTS.
For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in
secret. Eph. 5 : 12.
THE popular amusements of the day are grievously mis-
named. They should be called excitements. The Anglo-
Saxons and the Celts, the races that give character to our
American civilization and religion, know little of amusements
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 637
in the proper sense. It does not content them. The dance,
the evening party, the card-table, the theater and opera, the
race- course, the billiard-saloon, and the tenpin-alley, are, either
in their very nature or by their almost invariable associations,
excitements of the most unwholesome, inordinate, and per-
nicious sort. Such a party as that given by a prominent New
England representative in Washington last winter, when, after
the usual gayeties, and feasting, and drinking had extended to
one o'clock in the morning, we are told " the German " was
commenced, and kept up till near daybreak, and the whole was
finished by a champagne breakfast, could this be rightly
called amusement ? By no means. It was a piece of real
business, of the hardest and most trying nature, cruel to body
and soul, as severe a draught upon the nerve-force as a forced
march, or a total rout and pell-mell retreat of an army. Nay,
we believe the downright butchery of a battle-field is less bar-
barous and more truly amusing than the orgies of such a first-
class all-night party at the metropolis. The theater is also
the scene of wearying, demoralizing, imbrutirig excitement,
more enfeebling and corrupting than a miasm. The fierce
passions, the gorgeous lewdness, the unmitigated sensuality
of spectacle, and costume, and situation, and plot of the staple
performances of the drama, what refreshment is there in all
this ? what refreshment, indeed, on the very crater of hell, in-
haling the sulphurous fumes of the pit ? Men do not go to
those places for the innocent and wholesome thing properly
called amusement ; they go for excitement. They go not to be
entertained, but to be inflamed.
A SOLEMN BUT TRUE CHARGE.
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess ; but be filled with the
Spirit. Eph. 5 : 18.
DR. GUTHRIE says, " Before God and man, before the
church and the world, I impeach intemperance. I charge
it with the murder of innumerable souls. In this country,
blessed with freedom and plenty, the word of God, and the
liberties of true religion, I charge it as the cause whatever
638 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
be their source elsewhere of almost all the poverty, and
almost all the crime, and almost all the misery, and almost all
the ignorance, and almost all the irreligion that disgrace and
afflict the land. * I am not mad, most noble Festus. I speak
the words of truth and soberness.' I do in my conscience be-
lieve that these intoxicating . stimulants have sunk into perdi-
tion more men and women than found a grave in that deluge
which swept over the highest hill-tops, ingulfing a world of
which but eight were saved/' 7
From the teachings of Scripture, from the history of crime,
from the observation of men in all ages, and from the sad ex-
amples of intemperance so generally manifest, can a Chris-
tian aid, by voice or ballot, the cause of intemperance ?
SO OUGHT HUSBANDS TO LOVE THEIR WIVES.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave
himself for it. Eph. 5 : 25.
A SBESTOS is the most extraordinary of all fossils. It is of
J\. the nature of alabaster, but may be drawn out into fine
silken threads of a grayish or silver color.' It is indissolvable
in water, and remains unconsumed in fire. A handkerchief,
made of this material, many years ago, and presented to the
Royal Society of England, was thrown into an intensely hot
fire, and lost but two drachms of its weight, and when thus
heated was laid upon white paper, and did not burn it. Con-
nubial love is like the asbestos. Neither fire nor water can
destroy it ; for it can neither be dissolved nor consumed. The
waves of sorrow will riot wash it away ; the scorching flames
of tribulation will not burn it up. If this be true concerning
genuine connubial love, ho\v beautifully does it illustrate the
indissolvable love between Christ and his church, which is
called " The bride, the Lamb's wife ! " (Rev. 21 : 9.) From
Dr. Strikers Lecture on Matrimony.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 639
HOW BEST TO LIVE IN PEACE.
Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as
himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Eph. 5 : 33.
MR. JOHNSTON, of West Africa, in one of his journals,
relates the following very pleasing and instructive inci-
dent :
11 In visiting a sick communicant, his wife, who was formerly
in our school, was present. I asked several questions, viz., if
they prayed together, read a part of the Scriptures (the wo-
man can read), constantly attended public worship, and lived
in peace with their neighbors. All these questions were an-
swered in the affirmative. I then asked if the} 7 lived in peace
together. The man answered, ' Sometimes I say a word my
wife no like, or my wife talk or do what I no like ; but when
we want to quarrel, we shake hands together, shut the door,
and go to prayer ; and so we get peace again.' This method
of keeping peace quite delighted me. 7 ' Cheever's Anecdotes.
A MUCH INDULGED CHILD.
Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with prom-
ise, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst live long on the earth.
Eph. 6 : 2, 3.
THE tragic murder of Dr. Parkman, of Boston, by Pro-
fessor Webster, filled the community with horror. A chain
of circumstantial evidence proved his guilt, and he was con-
demned to die upon the gallows. In the prison, while awaiting
his awful doom, he petitioned the governor for a milder pun-
ishment, at the same time confessing the crime. In his peti-
tion for executive clemency he said, " I am irritable and
passionate ; a quick-handed and brisk violence of temper have
been the besetting sins of my life. I was an only child, much
indulged, and have never acquired the control over my tem-
per, as I ought to have acquired early ; and the consequence
is all this." Where was parental government? Remember,
you who have the responsibility of bringing up children, that
640 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
11 much indulged " was the seed sown, which ripened into mur-
der at the harvest. Restraint is an indispensable element in
family government. Of Eli it said, " His sons made them-
selves vile, and he restrained them not." (1 Sam. 3 : 13.)
PREACHING FROM EXPERIENCE.
Not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing
the will of God from the heart. Eph. 6 : 6.
HE that can tell men what God hath done for his own soul
is the likeliest to bring their souls to God ; hardly can he
speak to the heart that speaks not from it. Before the cock
crows to others, he claps his wings, and rouses up himself.
How can a frozen-hearted preacher warm his hearers' hearts,
and enkindle them with the love of God? But he whom the
love of Christ constrains, his lively recommendations of Christ,
and speeches of love, shall sweetly constrain others to love
him. Above all loves, it is most true of this, that none can
speak sensibly of it but those that have felt it.
BE GIGANTIC CHRISTIANS.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his
might. Eph. 6 : 10.
/CONCERNING Christian progress, Mr. Spurgeon says,
\J " Let me offer a word of practical exhortation. Do set a
very high standard to yourselves of what a Christian should
be. We might develop into giants if we did but aim at be-
ing gigantic. Some men have never thought they could be
otherwise than trembling, and so have remained doubting and
fearing always. Some have fancied they never could be any-
thing other than mere patients in Christ's hospital, and they
have remained there all their lives long. You have a child ;
you put it in a perambulator, and you are glad to wheel it
through the street ; you, the mother, think it is a beautiful
sight. But suppose, fifteen years hence, your child shall need
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.. 641
to be wheeled about in the same way, shall need to be fed on
the same food, and carried tenderly in the same arms ; will
that be a pleasing sight? Will that delight you? Father
and mother will whisper together what they dare hardly at
first say: ' We are the unhappy parents of a dwarfed child,
an imbecile ; ' and those dear friends, who, when they first
came in to see the child, congratulated 3 7 ou upon the little
stranger, would hardly dare to bring up such an unhappy
topic of consideration. Now, I know some Christians that I
used to wheel in perambulators fifteen years ago. I had
choice texts for them, and sermons full of consolation, and I
have to do much the same for them now. I suppose in ouc
churches there is a very large proportion of Christians who
are not one whit more manly, more daring, more believing, or
even more intelligent in the things of God, than they were
fifteen or twenty years ago. Unhappy church, to be the moth-
er of a tribe of dwarfs ! How much of this dwarfing comes
from our belief that we can not be anything but dwarfs ? It
is not so. Ye can l be strong in the Lord, and in the power
of his might.' I pray you, seek after it, and you shall have it,
for according to your faith in this thing, as in many others,
shall it be unto you."
DR. MILLER'S DUCK STORY.
Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. Epli. 6:11.
THE late Dr. Miller, of Princeton, as all his students will
remember, abounded in anecdotes, which he related to his
classes from year to year, to illustrate the points made in his
lectures. One of them occurs to us, just now, as*specially ap-
plicable to the new converts which have recently come into
the churches within the bounds of our circulation.
A celebrated judge in Virginia was, in his earlier years,
skeptical as to the truth of the Bible, and especially as to the
reality of experimental religion. He had a favorite servant,
who accompanied him in his travels round his circuit. As
they passed from court-house to court-house, they frequently
81
012 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
conversed on the subject of religion, the servant, Harry, ven-
turing at times to remonstrate with his master against his in-
fidelity. As the judge had confidence in Harry.'s honesty and
sincerity, he asked him a great many questions as to how he
felt and what he thought on various points. Amongst other
things, Harry told his master that he was often very sorely
tempted and tried by the devil. The judge asked Harry to
explain to him how it happened that the devil attacked him
(Harry), who was so pious a man, so sorely whilst he allowed
himself, who was an infidel and a sinner, to pass unnoticed and
untempted. Harry asked, " Are you right sure, massa, dat
he does let you pass widout troubling you ? " " Certainly I
am," replied the judge ; I have no dealings with him at all.
I do not even so much as know that there is any such being hi
existence as the devil. If there is any such being, he never
troubles me." " Well," said Harry, " I know that there is a
devil, and that he tries me sorely at times."
A day or two afterwards, when the judge had finished
his docket, he concluded to go on a hunt for wild ducks on
one of the streams which lay across his road homeward.
Harry accompanied him. As they approached the river they
espied a flock of ducks quietly floating on its surface. The
judge stealthily crept up the bank and fired upon them,
killing two or three and wounding as many others. He at
once threw down his gun, and made strenuous efforts, with
the aid of clubs and stones, to secure the wounded ducks,
while he permitted the dead ones to float on, for the time,
unnoticed by him. Harry, as he sat on the seat of the car-
riage, watched his master's movements with deep interest, ;m<l
when he returned said to him, " Massa, whilst you was a
splashin' in de water after dem wounded ducks, and lottin de
dead ones float on, it jist come into my mind why it is dat de
debil troubles me so much, whilst ho lets you alone. You are
like the dead ducks; he's sure he's got you safe. I'm like de
wounded ones, trying to git away from him, and he's. afraid I'll
do it ; so he makes all de fuss after me, and jist lets you float
on down de stream. He knows he can git you any time ; but
he knows it's % now or neber wid me. If you were to begin to
flutter a little, and show signs like you were agoin' to git away
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 643
from him, he would make jist as big a splashin' after you as he
does after me."
The illustration struck the learned judge with great force,
and led him to reinvest! gate the grounds of his skepticism ;
and, through Harry's instrumentality, he was finally brought to
sit with him at the feet of Jesus, and to learn of him. The
illustration is a homely one, but it sets forth a great truth in
the experiences of those who set out in the Christian course.
SPIRITUAL WRESTLING.
\A ''K z-
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against pN^rYc.ipalities,''
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spir-
itual wickedness in high places. Eph. 6 : 12.
VRESTLERS, before they began their combats, were rubbed
all over in a rough manner, and afterward anointed
with oil, in order to increase the strength and flexibility of
their limbs. But as this unction, in making the skin too
slippery, rendered it difficult for them to take hold of each
other, they remedied that inconvenience sometimes by rolling
themselves in the dust of the palaestra, sometimes by throwing
fine sand upon each other, kept for that purpose in xysta, or
porticoes of the gymnasia. Thus prepared, they began their
combat. They were matched two against two, and sometimes
several couples contended at the same time. In this combat
the. whole aim and design of the wrestlers were to throw their
adversaries on the ground. Both strength and art were em-
ployed to this purpose ; they seized each other by the arms,
drew forward, pushed backward, used many distortions and
twistings of the body ; locking their limbs in each other's, *
seizing by the neck or throat, pressing in their arms, strug-
gling, playing on all sides, lifting from the ground, dashing
their heads together like rams, and twisting one another's
necks. In this manner the athietae wrestled standing, the
combat ending with the fall of one of the competitors. To
this combat the words of Eliphaz seem to apply : " For he
stretcheth out his hand against God," like a wrestler chal-
lenging his antagonist to the contest, " and strengthened him-
644 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
self/' rather vaunteth himself, stands up haughtily, and boasts
of his prowess in the full view of " the Almighty/' throwing
abroad his arms, clapping his hands together, springing into
the middle of the ring, and taking his station there in the ad-
justed attitude of defiance. " He runneth upon him, even on
his neck," or with his neck stretched out, furiously dashing
his head against the other j and this he does even when he
perceives that his adversary is covered with defensive armor,
upon which he can make no impression " he runneth upon
the thick bosses of his bucklers."
SPEAK THE TRUTH ALWAYS.
* Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on
the breastplate of righteousness. Eph. 6 : 14.
ANY one can count on his fingers all of his acquaintances
who are accustomed to tell the truth. Let them describe
some. incident or object, and ninety-nine out of a hundred inev-
itably exaggerate or color it. They are not accustomed to
look carefully and describe accurately. The fault is perhaps
half in the seeing and half in the telling, and in both cases it
is a curable fault. Let children be checked when they talk
vaguely, or at random, of something they have just seen or
heard, and of which, therefore, they ought to have some clear
idea. When they look at some new thing, teach them to
scrutinize it carefully, so that they can describe it after-
ward. When they hear a "narrative, let them be trained to
listen intently ; and when they say anything, teach them to say
just what they mean. Slipshod observation and slipshod
speech are some of our inheritances from our first parents, and
we make slow work in outgrowing them.
MAY WE SO PRAY.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching
thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Eph, 6 : 18.
NUMBER of ministers were assembled for the discussion
of difficult questions ; and, among others, it was asked
A
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 645
how the command to " pray without ceasing " could be com-
plied with. Various suppositions were started ; and at length
one of the number was appointed to write an essay upon it, to
be read at the next meeting ; which being overheard by a
female servant, she exclaimed,
" What ! a whole month waiting to tell the meaning of that
text ? It is one of the easiest and best texts in the Bible."
" Well, well ! " said an old minister. " Mary, what can you
say about it ? Let us know how you understand it. Can you
pray all the time ? "
" 0, yes, sir ! "
" What ! when you have so many things to do ? "
" Why, sir, the more I have to do, the more I can pray."
" Indeed ! Well, Mary, do let us know how it is ; for most
people think otherwise."
" Well, sir," said the girl, " when I first open my eyes in
the morning, I pray, ' Lord, open the eyes of my understand-
ing ; ' and while I am dressing, I pray that I may be clothed
with the robe of righteousness ; and when I have washed me,
I ask for the washing of regeneration ; and as I begin to work,
I pray that I may have strength equal to my day ; when I
begin to kindle up the fire, I pray that God's work may revive
in my soul ; and as I sweep out the 'house, I pray that my
heart may be cleansed from all its impurities ; and while pre-
paring and partaking of breakfast, I desire to be fed with the
hidden manna and the sincere milk of the word ; and as I am
busy with the little children, I look up to God as my Father,
and pray for the spirit of adoption, that I may be his child ;
and so on all day. Everything I do furnishes me with a
thought for prayer."
" Enough, enough ! " cried the old divine ; " these things
are revealed to babes, and often hidden from the wise and pru-
dent. Go on, Mary," said he ; " pray without ceasing ; and as
for us, my brethren, let us bless the Lord for this exposition,
and remember that he has said, ' The meek will he guide in
judgment.' "
After this little event, the essay was not considered neces-
sary.
646 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
HE SHREWDLY COVERED HIS TRACKS.
And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my
mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel. Eph. 6 : 19.
EEV. DOLPHUS SKINNER, for many years a leading
clergyman in the Universalist denomination in the State
of New York, was more distinguished for his adroitness in
avoiding distinct statements of. his doctrine, or of boldly de-
claring adverse views to the generally received doctrines of
Christianity, than for any other quality in his pulpit efforts.
A gentleman who had often heard him was asked, " What are
Mr. Skinner's strong points ? " His reply was, " In talking
much and saying little, for no one can repeat any connected
ideas of his sermon an hour after he has heard him." With
an excellent command of language, with an easy elocution,
and with a better understanding of human nature than of "the
new creature in Christ Jesus," his preaching was in striking
contrast with the apostle who desired the prayers of Chris-
tians that he might " open his mouth boldly to make known
the mystery of the gospel." Mr. Skinner scattered his semi-
infidel sentiments, not by proving the orthodox faith to be
untrue, not by demonstrating that " these shall (not) go away
into everlasting punishment," but by gentle words, in care-
fully prepared expressions, that insinuated, rather than de-
clared, a positive unbelief, he drew many unthinking and non-
investigating minds into accepting a creed that does not lead
to Christ, because mostly made up of negatives ; while Chris-
tianity is a positiveness in its faith, in its power to save, in its
source, and in its ultimate destiny. All true ministers of
Christ are positive in experience, and in their utterances of
divine truth. Luther, John Knox, Wesley, Whitefield, and
hosts of others who have led on the army of the Lord, and
won victories, for Christ, all " opened their mouths boldly in
making known the gospel."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. G7
POSITIVE CHRISTIANITY.
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ,
unto the glory and praise of God. Phil. 1 : 11.
BE not content with a purely negative religion. It is much
easier to be negative that is, not to commit gross sins
than to be positive. It is not so easy to be an outspoken,
active, decided Christian. The world will bear with us any
length if we do not push the thought of eternity upon them.
But this is what the Lord wants ; not merely negative Chris-
tians, who do no great harm gliding on smoothly with the
current, but bold and active laborers, who seek by word and
deed to turn men to God. Scripture speaks of the salt and
the light.
Observe that while salt preserves from corruption, light
dispels the darkness ; that while the salt is meant for the
church, the light is meant for the world. And we are not
only to have salt in ourselves, to preserve what is good
amongst the saints, but we are also to be lights in the world,
to dispel the evil, pushing forward among perishing sinners,
in the activity of the new man, not only not doing what is
evil, but doing positive good, and seeking the salvation of
souls, bearing the fruit of the Spirit in all goodness, and right-
eousness, and truth, and then glory will be brought to God by
our lives. May we be less content with moderate attainments,
and more desirous to be filled with the Spirit, that we may be
as overflowing vessels ; for when a vessel is full to the brirn,
the least little touch will overflow it ; so it shall be with us, that
the least opportunity will cause our full hearts to overflow with
words of grace and love to those around.
"ALL FOR THE BEST."
But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which hap-
pened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.
Phil. 1 : 12.
T)ERNARD GILPIN was a great and good man, whose
J3 pious labors in the counties of Westmoreland, Cumber-
68 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
land, Northumberland, and York, at the period of the refor-
mation, procured for him the title by which -he is still remem-
bered in those parts, as the " Apostle of the North."
It appears that it was a frequent saying of his, when ex-
posed to losses or troubles, " Ah," well, God's will be done ;
nothing happens which is not intended for our good j it is all
for the best ! "
Toward the close of Queen Mary's reign, Mr. Gilpin was
accused of heresy before the merciless Bishop Bonner, and
was speedily apprehended. He left his quiet home, " noth-
ing doubting," as he said, " but that it was all for the best,"
though he was well aware of the fate that might await him ;
for he gave directions to his steward " to provide him a long
garment, that he might go the more comely to the stake," at
which he would be burnt.
While on his way to London, by some accident he had a
fall, and broke his leg, which put a stop for some time to his
journey. The persons in whose custody he was, took occasion
thence maliciously to retort upon his habitual remark.
" What ! " said they, " is this all for the best ? "
" Sirs, I make no question but it is," was the meek reply ;
and so in very truth it proved, for before he was able to travel,
Queen Mary died, the persecution ceased r and he was restored
to his liberty and friends.
BE DEVOUT IN CONVERSATION.
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ ; that
whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that
ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the
gospel. Phil. 1 : 27.
nHHERE once was a young minister preaching very earnestly
JL in a certain chapel, who, after service, had to walk some
four or five miles to his home along a country road. A young-
man who had been deeply impressed during the sermon re-
quested the privilege of walking with the minister, with an
earnest hope that he might get an opportunity of telling his
feelings to him, and obtaining some word of guidance or com-
foit. Instead of that, the young minister, all along, told the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 649
most singular tales to those who were with him, causing loud
roars of laughter. He stopped at a certain house, and this
young man with him, and the whole evening was spent in
frivolity.
Some years after, when the minister had grown older, he
was sent for to the bedside of a dying man. He hastened
thither with a heart desirous to do good. He was requested
to sit down at frhe bedside, and the dying man, looking at him
and regarding him more closely, said to him,
" Do you remember preaching in such a village, and on such
an occasion ? "
" I do," said the minister.
" I was one of your hearers," said the man, " and I was
deeply impressed by the sermon."
" Thank God for that ! " said the minister.
" Stop ! " interrupted the man ; " don't thank God till you
have heard the whole story. You will have reason to alter
your tone before I have done."
The minister changed countenance ; but he little guessed
what would be the full extent of that man's testimony.
Said he, " Sir, do you remember, after you had finished your
sermon, that I, with some others, walked home with you ? I
was sincerely desirous of being led in the right path that
night ; but I heard you speak in such a strain of levity, and
with so much coarseness, too, that I went outside the house
while you were sitting down to your evening meal. I
stamped my foot upon the ground ; I said that you were a
liar ; that Christianity was a falsehood ; that if you could pre-
tend to be in earnest in the pulpit, and then come down and
talk like that, the whole thing must be sham. And I have
been an infidel," said he, " a confirmed infidel, from that day
to this. But I am not an infidel at this moment. I know
better. I am dying, and about to be damned, and at the bar
of God I will lay my damnation to your charge. My blood is
upon your head ! "
And with a dreadful shriek, and a demoniacal glance at the
trembling minister, he died.
82
G50 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
FAITHFUL FRANCES.
Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory, but in lowliness of mind
let each esteem other better than themselves. Phil. 2 : 3.
AT a time- of great scarcity in Germany, a certain rich man
invited twelve children to his house, and said to them,
" In this basket there is a loaf of bread for eagh of you ; take
it, and come again every day at this hour till God sends us
better times."
The children seized upon the basket, wrangled and fought
for their bread, as each wished to get the best and largest
loaf ; and at last they went away, without ever thanking him.
Frances, alone, a poor but neatly-dressed child, stood mod-
estly at a distance, took the smallest loaf which was left in the
basket, thanked the gentleman, and then went home in a quiet
and orderly manner.
On the following day the children were just as ill behaved ;
and poor Frances this time received a loaf which was scarcely
half the size of the rest. But when she came home, and her
mother began to cut the bread, there fell out of it a number
of bright new silver pieces.
Her mother was perplexed, and said, " Take back the money
this instant ; for it has, no doubt, got into the bread through
some mistake."
Frances carried it back. But the benevolent man said,
" No, no ; it was no mistake. I had the money baked in the
smallest loaf in order to reward you, my dear child. Remem-
ber that the person who is contented with the smallest loaf,
rather than quarrel for the largest one, will find blessings still
more valuable than money baked in bread."
HAYING THE MIND OF CHRIST.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Phil. 2 : 5.
is a story of an earl, called Elzearus, that was much
JL given to immoderate anger ; and the means he used to
cure this disordered affection was, by studying of Christ, and
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 651
of his patience in suffering the injuries and affronts that were,
offered unto him. And he never suffered this meditation to
pass from him before he found his heart transformed to the
similitude of Christ Jesus. Now, we are all of us sick of a
hard and stony heart, and if we ever desire to be healed of
.this soul-damning disease, let us have recourse to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and never leave meditating of his breakings and
woundings for us, till we find virtue coming out of him, that
the great heart-maker may become a great heart-breaker unto
us. Ed. Calamy, a Fast Sermon at Westminster.
GOD'S NAME.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.
Phil. 2 : 9, 10.
" fTlHOU shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in
JL vain." That is the third commandment, you know ; and
in the Lord's Prayer we find, " Hallowed be thy name."
Jessie and George asked why so much was made of a name.
A great deal is said in the Bible about the Lord's name, and
the way we ought to use it. " Sing praises to his name ; "
" Exalt is name ; " " Bless his name."
Why, you ask, is so much said about a mere word. If you
think a moment, you will notice the name of a person brings
up to your mind all you know about him. Take anybody
you are acquainted with, and the moment his name is spoken
you instantly know how he thinks, talks, and acts, and wherein
you like or dislike him. His name, instead of being a mere
word, is really the same thing as himself. It is a good or a
bad name, according as he has behaved well or ill ; so that
people think him a good or a bad man. If you love him very
much, you will speak it lovingly ; if you dislike him, you will
show your dislike in the way you speak it ; if you do not care
anything about him, you will show that too.
Just so the Lord's name stands for all we know or think
about him ; and if we love and honor him, we shall always
652 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
speak his name reverently. To use his name to swear by, as
wicked men do, is telling everybody we do not care about
him ; and to speak it carelessly, or in anger, or without think-
ing who he is, shows that we do not really believe in him, and
worship him; for if you really believed in. him and worshiped
him, you could no more take his name in vain than you could .
speak to him or of him disrespectfully, if you saw him stand-
ing before you.
CHRISTIAN EFFORT.
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. Phil. 2:12.
GOD is not to be served by child's play, or sham work with
no toil in it. I believe with all my heart in the Spirit of
God ; but I do not believe in human idleness. Celestial power
uses human effort. The Spirit of God usually works most
where we work most. With regard to our own salvation, the
meritorious part of that is finished for us ; but still it is writ-
ten, " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ; "
and the reason given is, " For it is God which worketh in you,
both to will and to do of his good pleasure." We work be-
cause God works ; to loiter because God works is wicked
reasoning. Do not tell me that because God will fulfill his
own promises, therefore his people may go to sleep ; for it
never was his purpose to lull his people to slumber ; but his
great design is the education of an intelligent host of co-
workers with himself. The Lord has made us and ordained
us that we in our measure may work together with- him. It
is his office to bless our efforts ; but it is at once our privilege
and our duty, each one of us, to yield ourselves as the instru-
ments of the divine purpose. Let but men be prepared to
labor, and God is prepared to bless their labor ; for is it not
written, " Paul planteth, and Apollos watereth " ? And what
happens? "God giveth the increase." He seldom denies
the increase where there is a planting Paul and a watering
Apollos. Earnest efforts and believing dependence upon God
are sure to be attended with a blessing.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 653
POWER IN THE PULPIT.
For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Phil. 3 : 3.
difference in religious character explains a difficulty in
JL regard to culture in the ministry which perplexes many.
There are some pastors to whom a rich culture seems a posi-
tive evil. It blunts the edge of their preaching. It tempts
to literary essays rather than pungent sermons. It begets a
regard for the proprieties in the pulpit and in social life, rather
than an eager desire to win souls. In spite of their culture
and mental power, they fail of success in the ministry. The
fatal error is, religion has not got them, but they have got re-
ligion. It is only a part of their life, and culture is another
part of equal value. It does not make learning and thought
subordinate to its own ends, but esteems them for inherent
worth.
Another class of ministers are equally studious, and covet a
varied culture. But it is only incidental to their life-work in
saving men. They are never beguiled by literature, nor led
astray by learning. Religion has an absolute mastery within
them, and turns all their attainments to Christian uses. All
growth adds to their power and success, for everything is
given with intense earnestness to service for Christ.
The terribly earnest men of history, whose lives have been
a power, have been mastered by some great idea. It pos-
sessed the center of their being, and appropriated natural
gifts, position, and attainments to its uses. Such men are
always needed in the church of Christ, in whose hearts a love
for Jesus is a constraining power, fusing all opposing elements
by its intense heat ; who have a passion for saving souls, which
success can not sate, nor failure suppress. Too many Chris-
tians in our day have got religion. It would be better for the
churcn if religion had got them.
654 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
OUR HIGH CALLING.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. Phil. 3 : 14.
/CHRISTIAN progress is only possible in Christ. It is a very
\J lofty thing to be a Christian ; for a Christian is a man who
is restoring God's likeness to his character ; and therefore the
apostle calls it a high calling. High as heaven is the calling
wherewith we are called. But this very height makes it seem
impracticable. It is natural to say, " All that was well enough
for one so transcendently gifted as St. Paul to hope for ; but
I am no gifted man ; I have no iron strength of mind ; I have
no sanguine hope, no fullness of character ; I am disposed
to look on the dark side of things ; I am undetermined, weak,
vacillating ; and then I have a whole army of passions and
follies to contend with." We must remind you of one thing
you have forgotten. It is the high calling of God, if you will,
but it is the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. What the
world calls virtue, is a name and a dream without Christ. The
foundation of all human excellence must be laid deep in the
blood of the Redeemer's cross, and in the power of his resur-
rection. First let a man know that all his past is wrong and
sinful, then let him fix his eye on the love of God in Christ loving
him, even him, the guilty one. Is there no strength in
that ? no power in the knowledge that all that is gone by is
gone, and that a peculiar future is open? It is not the prog-
ress of virtue that God asks for, but progress in saintliness,
empowered by hope and love.
"WHAT HAS IT DONE FOR YOU?"
Whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in
their shame, who mind earthly things. Phil. 3 : 19.
other day Mr. Bradlaugh was lecturing in a village
_L in the north of England, and at the close he challenged
discussion. Who should accept the challenge but an old, bent
woman, in the most antiquated attire, who went up to the lee-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 655
turer and said, " Sir, I have a question to put to you." " Well,
my good woman, what is it? " " Ten years ago," she said, ** I
was left a widow, with eight small children utterly unprovided
for, and nothing to call my own but this Bible. By its direc-
tion and looking to God for strength, I have been enabled to
feed myself and family. I am now tottering to the grave ; but
I am perfectly happy, because I look forward to a life of im-
mortality with Jesus in heaven. That's what my religion has
done for me. What has your way of thinking done for you ? "
" Well, my good lady," rejoined the lecturer, " I don't want to
disturb your comfort; but " " 0, but that's not the ques-
tion," interposed the woman ; " keep to the point, sir. What
has your way of thinking done for you ? " The infidel en-
deavored to shirk the matter again. The feeling of the meet-
ing gave vent in uproarious applause, and Mr. Bradlaugh had
to go away discomfited by an old woman.
CHRISTIAN LABOR NOT MASCULINE.
And I entreat thee, also, true yoke-fellow, help those women which labored
with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow-laborers,
whose names are in the book of life. Phil. 4 : 3.
SOME persons, who would be " wise above what is written,"
deny to women the right to speak and pray in social and
public worship. Hence a large number of Christian women,
of unbounded piety and acknowledged talent, are almost lost
to the working forces of Christianity, because the idea pre-
vails in some minds that Christian labor is masculine ; that
preaching, praying, speaking, or publicly confessing Christ,
belongs to men exclusively. This is evidently a misappre-
hension of the gospel. It appears from the writings of the
apostle, that women were laborers in the gospel with St.
Paul and Clement. (Phil. 4 : 3.) Whatever they did, it was
" labor in the gospel." Clement is acknowledged to have been
one of the early bishops of Rome ; and St. Paul, by associ-
ating certain Christian women with himself and Clement as
" laborers," precludes the idea that their work was that of the
family only, but justifies the conclusion that it was rather
ministerial than domestic. While neither in the Aaronic
C56 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
priesthood, nor among the apostles, were there women, yet
both under the old and new dispensations, God did call women
to prophetical and ministerial services, thereby showing that
public Christian labor is not exclusively man's work. Miriam,
the sister of Aaron and Moses, was a prophetess. (Ex. 15 : 20.)
Deborah was a prophetess : her song (Judg. 5) is one of the
finest passages in the Old Testament. Huldah was a proph-
etess, and spoke the word of the Lord. (2 Kings 22 : 15.) Anna
was a prophetess that departed not from the temple, but served
God with fastings and prayer night and day. (Luke 2 : 36, 37.)
Philip, one of the seven deacons, had four daughters that -did
prophesy. (Acts 21 : 8, 9.) And to certain Christian women,
who were early at the sepulcher on the morning of the third
day, Christ gave the peculiar honor of being the first to preach
his resurrection, and that to his less devoted apostles. (Matt.
28 : 10 ; Luke 24 : 22, 23.)
MAKING A EIGHT USE OF HIS EYES.
I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound ; everywhere
and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, botli to
abound and to suffer need. Phil. 4 : 12.
AN Italian bishop struggled through great difficulties with-
out repining, and met with much opposition without ever
betraying the least impatience. An intimate friend of his,
who highly admired these virtues, which he thought impossible
to imitate, one day asked the bishop if he could communicate
his secret of being always easy.
" Yes," replied the old man, " I can teach you my secret
with great facility : it consists in nothing more than making a
right use of my eyes."
His friend begged him to explain himself.
" Most willingly," returned the bishop : " in whatever state
I am, I first of all look up to heaven, and remember that my
principal business here is to get there ; I then look down on
the earth, and call to mind how small a space I shall occupy in
it when I come to be interred ; I then look abroad on the
world, and observe what multitudes there are who are in all
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 657
respects more unhappy than myself. Thus I learn where true
happiness is placed, where all our cares must end, and how
very little reason I have to repine or complain."
CONQUERING ONE'S SELF.
I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me. Phil. 4 : 13.
power of faith to give us the victory over every beset-
JL ting sin is well illustrated in the following incident :
A certain lady, residing in Boston, was of a peculiarly irri-
table temper, and its unlovely exhibitions caused her, as a pro-
fessed Christian, the greatest mortification and the deepest
grief. She struggled and prayed, she resolved and wept, all,
apparently, in vain. Every purpose was swept away in the
first excitement of even a slight temptation on this sensitive
side, till she despaired of .victory. Finally, she was urged at
a meeting to confide, by simple faith, in the power of Christ
to keep her, and to make a full-hearted surrender of her entire
being to him for that purpose. She embraced the thought,
and consciously laid her soul in the hands of Jesus, inwardly
praying all the way back to her house. This was the more
appropriate, as her peculiar trials and temptations were at
home, and these she had always declared to be so many that
it was impossible for her to rise above them. Opening the
front door, she saw a domestic violating one of her most ex-
plicit rules by carrying a slop-pail down the front stairs ; and,
to make the matter worse, the domestic was so alarmed at the
sight of her mistress that she dropped the pail, and the water
flowed down the stairs and over the carpet into the hall ! The
lady uttered not an audible word, but whispered over and
over, " Jesus, help me ! Jesus, help me ! " and gained the vic-
tory. With entire composure she went in, and from that mo-
ment found no difficulty in controlling her before ungovernable
temper.
83
658 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
GOD OUR ALL-SUFFICIENCY.
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by
Christ Jesus. Phil. 4 : 19.
T)ELIEVE him, and not only will the gates of the celestial
J3 city open to receive us, but even here we shall rest in the
shadow of a great love.
But dangers stand thick on every hand, suggests Faint-
heart ; how can we help being anxious ? Only believe ; the
Lord is a shield to them that put their trust in him.
Silver-tongued temptation may assail us. He is able to suc-
cor them that are tempted.
What if poverty be our lot ? The Lord knoweth the poor.
What if riches, and we are encumbered with many cares ?
Give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.
We may be homeless. Our Lord had not where to lay his
head.
Friendless. There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a
brother.
Afflicted. He bindeth up the broken-hearted.
Unjustly accused. The Almighty shall be thy defense.
The night cometh. He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Accidents may befall us. The Lord will preserve thy going
out and thy coming in.
Pain and sickness. The Lord will make all thy bed in thy
sickness.
The infirmities of age. They shall still bring forth fruit in
old age.
There are heavy burdens to be borne, perchance incessant
daily toil. There remaineth a rest.
Wearisome nights may be appointed to us. He giveth songs
in the night.
Death will surely come. It knocketh alike at the lordly
palace and the lowly cottage. It is well with the righteous.
Death is- swallowed up in victory.
To the believer every providence is but another stroke of
the chisel upon the marble rock, shaping it for its position in
the heavenly temple.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 659
THE UNSEEN INHERITANCE.
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. Col. 1 : 12.
AN aged Christian man was on his death-bed, and was happy
in the prospect of soon entering into the joy of his Lord.
He had a brother who had made the world the great object
of his life, and who, of course, was very poor toward God, and
with all his worldly shrewdness was so short-sighted as to
have made no provision for the world to come, and had no idea
of enjoying an inheritance beyond the grave.
His dying brother had given greater attention to the ac-
quirement of true riches than to the realization of worldly
wealth ; and in his infirmities and sickness he required that
Christian friends should minister to his necessities, as the holy
women ministered of their substance to his Lord.
When his rich brother came to see him, he upbraided him
for giving so much attention to the things of God, and giving
away so much of his substance for religious purposes, and
subjecting himself to poverty, when, if he had followed his
advice and example, he might now have been in the enjoy-
ment of plenty, instead of being, as he termed it, a burden to
his friends.
With great calmness and earnestness the dying saint re-
plied, waving his wasted hand toward his poor, self-deceived
brother,
" Quiet ! quiet ! Whisht, whisht, Tam ! I have a kingdom
no begun upon, and an inheritance that I hav'na yet seen.' ;
Who was the richer of the two brothers ? The one who
had his good things here in this perishing world, or the one
who was begotten again to a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, and who knew that he was heir
to an inheritance which is incorruptible and undefined, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven.
660 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
CHRIST THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH.
And he is the head of the body, the church ; who is the beginning, the first-
born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence.
Col. 1 : 18.
THE church is the body of Christ. Jesus and 'his people are
one. They are his elect whom he hath chosen ; his seed
which he hath begotten ; his portion which he hath received ;
his delight and glory, in which he constantly rejoices. He
saves them by substitution ; he took their place, their obliga-
tions, and their sins ; he saves them by communication, giv-
ing them grace and his Holy Spirit, with every spiritual bless-
ing. He saves them by instruction ; for they are all taught
of God. He saves them by separation ; bringing them out of,
and delivering them from, this present evil world. He saves
them by visitations j he grants them life and favor, and his
visitations preserve their spirits. He saves them by transla-
tion ; first out of the kingdom of Satan into his kingdom of
grace, and then out of the present world into his kingdom of
glory. He saves them to display his perfections, confound
his foes, exalt his name, satisfy his love, and from sympathy
with them. All who. are saved form part of his body. Salva-
tion is entirely of God. What happiness to be saved thus !
DRIFTING.
If ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away
from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a min-
ister. Col. 1 : 23.
DR. CHEEVER relates that when once sailing from one of
the West India islands, at the close of a day's progress it
was calculated that they had advanced sixty miles upon their
voyage ; but upon an observation being taken, they learned
their actual position, and to their surprise found that such had
been the force of the currents acting upon the vessel, that, in
spite of the fair but faint winds which had filled their sails,
they had actually drifted thirty miles in the rear of the point
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 661
from which, they started. Like powerful currents are con-
stantly operating in the political and religious world, and must
be carefully considered by those interested in the true progress
of the race.
The churches themselves, while apparently making very
rapid progress, building expensive edifices, establishing im-
posing institutions and wide-reaching charities, with all their
sails spread to catch the fair breezes overhead, are constantly
liable to these powerful, silent under-currents, bearing them
downward rather than forward in the course of true Christian
advancement. With all this outward prosperity, how is it
with reference to the administration of discipline ? Has the
moral power of the church held any adequate proportion to
her increased material resources ? What would be the result
now of a general and faithful administration of discipline?
What a drifting toward the world is everywhere apparent with
all this brave display of sails and colors !
RICHES OF THE GOSPEL.
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles ; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Col. 1 : 27.
WHEN I go to the house of God, I do not want amuse-
ment. I want the doctrine which is according to godli-
ness. I want to hear of the remedy against the harassing of
my guilt and the disorder of my affections. I want to be led
from weariness and disappointment to that goodness which
filleth the hungry soul. I want to have light upon the mystery
of Providence ; to be t taught how the judgments of the Lord
are right ; how I shall be prepared for duty and for trial ; how
I may pass the time of my sojourning here in fear, and close
it in peace-. Tell me of that Lord Jesus " who his own self
bare our sins in his own body on the tree." Tell me of his
" intercession for the transgressors," as their " advocate with
the Father." Tell me of his Holy Spirit, whom they that
believe on him receive, to be their Preserver, Sanctifier, Com-
forter. Tell me of his chastenings, their necessity, their use.
662 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Tell me of his presence, and sympathy, and love. Tell me of
the virtues, as growing out of his cross, and nurtured by his
grace. Tell me of the glory reflected on his name by the
obedience of faith. Tell me of the vanquished death, of the
purified grave, of a blessed resurrection, of the life everlast-
ing, and my bosom warms. This is gospel ; these are glad
tidings to me as a sufferer, because glad to me as a sinner.
Dr. John M. Mason.
"SERIOUS AFFAIRS TO-MORROW."
Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wis-
dom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Col. 1 : 28.
WHEN Pelbpidas and his companions had entered Thebes
secretly, to deliver it from its bondage by killing Archias
and Philidas, they found them gratifying their passions by
feasting, drinking, and debauchery. The Athenians, con-
cerned for their welfare, sent a courier to Archias in great
haste, with a packet containing a circumstantial account of
the whole conspiracy. When he delivered the packet to Ar-
chias, he said, " The person who writes you these letters con-
jures you to read them immediately, being serious affairs."
Archias replied, laughing, " Serious affairs to-morrow ; " and,
taking the letters, he put them under his pillow, and continued
his conversation and debauch. The conspirators, through
this fatal neglect, by stratagem entered the house of feasting,
and destroyed its thoughtless inmates.
What a striking picture is this of multitudes of our fellow-
men ! In spite of all the warnings of conscience, of God's Spirit
and ministers, and the occurrence of providence around them,
faithfully warned of the approach of Death, who often comes
as a thief in the night, sudden and unexpected, yet they, by
their practice, say, " Serious affairs to-morrow," till the cup
of their iniquity is full, and the patience of God- exhausted.
Then the pains of death take hold of them, and they " die in
their sins," and are justly doomed to eternal despair and pun-
ishment. One of the fiercest pangs of the second death will
be the remembrance of the fact, that when the gospel and all
its fullness were brought before them, they foolishly said, with
the majority of mankind, " Serious affairs to-morrow."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 663
HIDDEN TREASURES IN THE WORD.
That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto
all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the
mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ ; in whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Col. 2 : 2, 3.
IN the " green-room " at Dresden, where, for centuries, the
Saxon princes have gathered their gems and treasures,
until they have become worth millions of dollars, may be seen
a silver egg, a present to one of the Saxon queens, which,
when you touch a spring, opens and reveals a golden yolk.
Within this is hid a chicken, whose wing, being pressed, also
flies open, disclosing a splendid gold crown, studded with
jewels. Nor is this all. Another secret spring being touched,
hidden in the center is found a magnifient diamond ring.
So it is with every truth and promise of God's word a
treasure within a treasure. The more we examine it, the
richer it becomes. But how many neglect to touch the
springs.
WALKING AFTER THE PATTERN.
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
Col. 2 : 6.
ALL who profess Christ are supposed to possess a new
nature ; they are brought under new obligations, and are
expected to keep new objects in view. Being baptized into
the death of Christ, and participating in his resurrection, they
should walk as influenced by new principles ; the free grace,
holy truth, and divine power of God should lead them to
newness of life". They should walk by new rules, no longer
following custom, or imitating the world ; they should walk
according to God's word, the Saviour's golden rule and bright
example. The love of God, gratitude to God, and zeal for his
glory, should be the motives from which they act : while to
honor God ; to enjoy his presence ; to exalt Jesus ; to benefit
others ; to prove the power and purity of their principles ; to
justify their profession ; and to evidence their faith and love,
664 KEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
should be the ends they have constantly in view. A new life
is expected from new creatures ; and without it our religion
is vain, and our profession a falsehood. Beloved, do we walk
in newness of life ?
E NEED AN INFINITE SAVIOUR.
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Col. 2 : 9.
IT is said that once in a company of literary gentlemen, Mr.
Webster was asked if he could comprehend how Jesus
Christ could be both God and man. " No, sir," he replied,
" I should be ashamed to acknowledge him as my Saviour if I
could comprehend him. If I could comprehend him, he would
be no greater than myself. Such is my sense of sin, and con-
sciousness of my inability to save myself, that I feel I need a
superhuman Saviour, one so great and glorious that I can not
comprehend him."
During the progress of a revival in New Hampshire, some
time since, an intelligent and popular man, sitting in his place
of business, reasoned thus: "This religion is either divine or
human in its origin. If it is divine, I ought to know it and
to experience its power. Doubtless God could tell me if he
would. Possibly, if I were a sincere inquirer, he would.
There is no possibility of loss, and gain is probable. I'll in-
quire ; but whom shall I ask? Why not God himself? Sure
enough ! I will ask him now in prayer." He did so honestly,
and is now a sincere disciple, with an experience of Jesus'
love to tell of and to rejoice in. Christ fulfills his promise to-
day : " Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Whoever doeth my
will shall know of the doctrine, whether I be sent of God ; or
whether I come of myself. Apples of Gold.
COMPLETE ONLY IN CHRIST.
And 70 arc complete in him, which is the head of all principality and
power. Col. 2 : 10.
T is reported, by the poets, of Achilles, the Grecian captain,
that his mother, being warned by the oracle, dipped him
i
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 6G5
(being a child) in the River Styx, to prevent any danger that
might ensue by reason of the Trojan war ; but Paris, his in-
veterate enemy, understanding also by the oracle that he was
impenetrable all over his body, except the heel, or small of
his leg, which his mother held by when she dipped him, took
his advantage, shot him in the heel, and killed him. Thus,
every man is, or ought to be, armed cap-d-pie with that panoply,
that whole armor of God. For the devil will be sure to hit
the least part that he finds unarmed. If it be the eye, he will
dart in at that casement by the presentation of one lewd object
or other ; if it be the ear, he will force that door open by bad
counsel ; if the tongue, that shall be made a world of mischief;
if the feet, they shall be swift to shed blood, &c.
A COMMAND DISREGARDED.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Col. 3 : 2.
ANEW HAMPSHIRE farmer lived upon a farm a few miles
back from the village containing the post office and store.
He was noted for being a hard worker, and for being " close "
in his dealings, and was supposed to be in but moderate
circumstances. He became ill, and the physician, calling
upon him one day, found that the disease had made such
progress as to render speedy death certain. He informed his
patient of the fact, counseling him that, if he had any dispo-
sition of his property to make previous to his death, to attend
to it quickly. This, announcement seemed to astound the
sick man. It was evident that he did not know what to do.
Being warned again of the brief time before him, he sent one
of his children to the barn, instructing him to bring a stocking
which he would find under a certain sill. The boy did as re-
quested, and the father took the -stocking and emptied it upon
the bed-quilt before him. It contained gold coin. He then
directed the boy to a corner of the attic, where he would find
another stocking. The contents of this were poured upon the
bed ; it was gold. The boy was thus sent to various places,
till the treasure was collected and poured in a glittering pile
upon the counterpane. The dying man laid his hands upon
666 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
it, feeling over the coins. As he did not seem to realize the
necessity of completing his arrangements, the physician again
said to him, " If you have any disposition to make of this, or
if you have any directions to give your family, you had better
attend to it at once, as your time is short."
Still his fingers were busy with the coins, and, though his
family were dear to him, the separation from his toil- earned
treasure seemed the more painful. Despite the repeated
urging of friends, he gave his family no parting counsel, and
made no disposition of his property. Death overtook him with
his hands still spread over the gold he was forced to leave.
The incident carries its own moral : " Let not your affec-
tions be set on things of this world."
INFLUENCE OF THE HIDDEN LIFE.
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Col, 3 : 3.
coast of Cornwall, particularly in and near Mount's Bay,
JL is visited by the warm Gulf Stream, which is the secret of
its healthful temperature. There is little alteration in the
atmosphere by day or night. There is not much information
to be obtained concerning this interesting phenomenon, but
the influence is felt and seen, though the Gulf Stream itself
flows unseen in the wide ocean, separated in a manner from
the deep waters through which it passes without mingling.
The lands it visits are warmed by it ; the air above and in the
vicinity is soft and balmy. Exotics, seen nowhere else in
England, flourish in its neighborhood, and many an early blos-
som is put forth before the winter elsewhere has departed. In
the caves of the rocks, and occasionally in some places of the
coast, its presence is known by the rare and beautiful shells
which, carried safely by the current through the ocean, are
left as the production of a distant shore, and tell whence the
stream flowed.
As I felt the soft influence of this genial stream in the months
of early spring, it never failed to remind me of the hidden life
of Christ the positive blessing flowing from the fullness of
the Spirit in the soul of a child of light dwelling in the un-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 667
godly world ; a continual contrast to that Christianity which
lives only on the lips of formal professors, bringing neither
warmth to themselves nor light and gladness to others. The
Secret of the Lord.
RULE OF FORGIVENESS.
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a
quarrel against any ; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Col. 3 : 13.
IN the middle ages, when the great lords and knights were
always at war with each other, one of them resolved to
revenge himself upon a neighbor who had offended him. It
chanced that, on the very evening when he had made this
resolution, he heard that his enemy was to pass near his castle,
with only a few men with him. It was a good opportunity to
take his revenge, and he determined not to let it pass. He
spoke of this plan in the presence of his chaplain, who tried
in vain to persuade him to give it up. The good man said a
great deal to the duke about the sin of what he was going to
do, but in vain. At length, seeing that all his words had no
effect, he said,
" My lord, since I can not persuade you to give up this plan
of yours, will you at least consent to come with me to the
chapel, that we may pray together before you go ? "
The duke consented, and the chaplain and he knelt together
in prayer. Then the mercy-loving Christian said to the re-
vengeful warrior,
" Will you repeat after me, sentence by sentence, the prayer
which our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught to his diciples ? "
" I will do it," replied the duke.
He did it .accordingly. The chaplain said a sentence, and
the duke repeated it, till he came to the petition, " Forgive
us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against
us." There the duke was silent.
" My lord duke, you are silent," said the chaplain. " Will
you be so good as to continue to repeat the words after me, if
you dare say so ? l Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
them that trespass against us. 7 "
" I can not," replied the duke.
668 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" Well, God can not forgive you ; for he has said so. He
himself has given this prayer. Therefore you must either
give up your revenge, or give up saying this prayer; for to
ask God to pardon you as you pardon others is to ask him to
take vengeance on you for all your sins. Go now, my lord,
and meet your victim. God will meet you at the great day
of judgment."
The iron will of the duke was broken.
"No," said he, "I will finish my prayer: 'My God, my
Father, pardon me ; forgive me as I desire to forgive him who
has offended me ; lead me not into temptation, but deliver me
from evil ! ' :
" Amen ! " said the chaplain.
" Amen ! " repeated the duke, who now understood the
Lord's Prayer better than he had ever done before, since he
had learned to apply it to himself. Bib. Treasury.
ORDS TIMELY SPOKEN.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom ; teaching and ad-
monishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. Col. 3 : 16.
IN a boarding-house in England was a young East Indian
girl, of engaging manners and personal attractiveness. I
found her one day seated at the musical instrument, and play-
ing some favorite airs with great spirit. When she paused for
a few moments, I placed a sacred air before her, requesting
her to sing some verses which I would repeat. She instantly
complied. At length she came to the following stanza,
" Sweet to rejoice in lively hope
That, when my change shall come,
Angels shall hover round my bed
To waft my spirit home."
At this moment I was overcome by the emotions springing
from a train of ideas, and I wept. She paused and said, " Dear
sir, what is the matter ? " " 0, Annie," I replied, " you are about
to leave, never, it is probable, to see us again in this world-; and
you are quitting us in a state of mind that makes me fear that
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 669
angels will not hover round your bed to waft your spirit
home." " But why not?' 7 she pleasantly rejoined ; and yet I
observed a rising tear, which she brushed away. From that
hour I saw her no more.
At the end of a few years a young lady from India called at
my house. She had been the bosom friend of Annie .
Soon after her return to India she was well married, and had
become thoughtful, serious, and devout. But she fell into a
rapid decline, and was soon laid upon a dying bed. Prior to
her decease and the departure to this country of her friend,
who was my visitor, she called her to her bedside, and charged
her to call on me, and say that the words I had spoken to her
at the instrument of music had never gone from her mind.
They led her to entertain my fears that what she had been
singing would never be hers to appropriate. " But tell him;"
she said, " that I have been brought to the Saviour, and have
found him to be my Saviour. And tell him, 0, tell him, that
angels are hovering round my bed to waft my spirit home,
and that I hope to welcome him in that abode of the blessed,
and to tell to him in heaven what I now commission you
to narrate to him on earth."
OBEDIENCE TO PARENTS.
Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the
Lord. Col. 3 : 20.
IF you perceive that anything in your ways makes your par-
ents unhappy, you ought to have no peace until you have
corrected it ; and if you find yourself indifferent or insensible
to their will and wishes, depend upon it yours is a carnal, dis-
obedient, ungrateful heart. If you love them, keep their
commandments ; otherwise love is a mere word in the mouth,
or a notion in the fancy, but not a ruling principle in the heart.
They know much of the world, you very little ; trust them,
therefore, when they differ from you and refuse compliance
with your desire. They watch over you for God, and are
entitled to great deference and cheerful obedience. You may
easily shorten the lives of affectionate and conscientious
670 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
parents by misconduct, bad tempers, and alienation from their
injunctions. Let not this sin be laid to your charge. Leyh
Richmond.
WRESTLING IN PRAYER.
Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Col. 4 : 2.
TACOB, the patriarch, had a struggle in that remarkable and
fj mystical scene at Penuel. We are told that he wrestled
with the angel of the covenant (who may have been the incar-
nate Jesus) until the breaking of the day. The angel said,
" Let me go ; the day breaketh." Here was a trial of the patri-
arch's faith. " What is that to me," thought the eager man,
" that the day is breaking ? I must have the blessing now.
There is no daylight of hope for me unless I obtain what I am
struggling for. I will not let thee go, except thou bless me 1"
He triumphed on the spot.
So clung the Syro-Phcenician mother to Christ when she
was beseeching him to heal her sick daughter. The Master
seemed to put her off, in order to try the mettle of her faith.
But she came up into what the old Scotchman called a closer
grip with the heart of infinite love, and she carried the day.
" Go thy way," said Jesus unto her. " woman ! great is
thy faith ; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." And so he
grantee! to a great faith what he might have denied to a
little faith. Precisely so is it with Christians now, and with
churches. An honest, persevering faith a faith that works
while it prays, a faith that holds on through discouragements
-achieves the result it pleads for. For faith creates such a
condition of things that it is wise for God to grant what would
otherwise be denied. T. L. Cayler.
OUR COMPLETENESS IS IN GOD.
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always
laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete
in all the will of God. Col. 4 : 12.
E should not judge of our completeness from our weak-
ness, but from the divine strength. The Christian who
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 671
abides in Christ is less dependent than others upon externals,
alike for his joy and for his grief. His highest joys and his
deepest sorrows have little to do with merely temporal con-
cerns. In this all Christians differ from other men ; but they
also differ from each other, according as they are more or less
advanced and established in grace.
See in what different degrees mature and immature dis-
ciples are dependent on externals for their joy. Let a sincere
but superficial believer be deprived of the means of grace.
Fie finds it hard to keep up his religious comfort. He deeply
feels the lack of the spirit-stirring songs of praise, the earnest
prayers and the warm sympathies of social worship, and of
the hallowed devotions and instructions of the sanctuary. The
more advanced believer enjoys all these things even more than
the other, but when kept from them by sickness or other law-
ful cause, he finds himself by no means destitute of joy. He
has within him " a well of water springing up unto everlast-
ing life."
" My earth thou waterest from on high,
But make it all a pool ;
Spring up, Well, I ever cry,
Spring up within my soul ! "
MINISTERIAL PROPRIETY.
And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received
in the Lord, that thou fulfill it. Col. 4 : 17.
"YTO minister can command the respect of his people, nor win
1.1 souls to Christ, who allows himself to indulge in the pulpit
in vulgarisms, cant phrases, a low wit ; nor can he practice
these things out of the pulpit and be respected. Many a
minister destroys all of his influence for good by allowing
himself to act the part of a clown, when he ought to maintain
the dignity of a gentleman. Ministers should be models for
the people in their demeanor in the social circle, and their
language in the pulpit and out of it should be well chosen
and chaste, their illustrations of a high order, such as will be
commended by the nicest ear and the most critical mind ;
such as the best and most refined scholar will feel pleased
672 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
with. What a pity it is that some men of talent, of eloquence,
and of learning, neutralize the influence of a good sermon, on
the whole, by initiating into it some cant phrases and vulgar
illustrations ! Truth needs no such garments to 'give it beauty
and attraction. Let ministers remember that- they are ambas-
sadors of Christ, and that they should intensely study to do
and say nothing in the pulpit, nor out of it, but what Christ
would approve or do himself. " Study to show thyself ap-
proved of God ; a workman who needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of God/' was the exhortation of the
prince of preachers to his son in the gospel. Again he said to
him, " Take heed, unto yourself."
ROWLAND HILL'S MASTER-STROKE.
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in
the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance ; as ye know what manner of men we
were among you for your sake. 1 Thess. 1 : 5.
ON one occasion, the celebrated Rowland Hill was preach-
ing in the open air in that suburban portion of the city
of London denominated Moorfields. An immense assemblage
was present. His text was taken from the Song of Solomon
1 : 5, " I am black, but comely." The text he regarded as
having application to the church, which, in the estimation of
the world, was black, "black as the tents of Kedar," but in
the estimation of her glorified Head, comely " as the curtains
of Solomon." While discussing these themes with his accus-
tomed earnestness, it so happened, in the providence of God,
that Lady Anne Erskine, in an equipage corresponding with
her high position in society, passed that way. Seeing the
immense multitude, she asked one of her attendants the cause
of that assemblage. She was informed that the renowned
Rowland Hill was preaching to the people. Lady Anne re-
plied she had often wished to hear that eccentric preacher,
and she would avail herself of the present opportunity to
gratify that cherished desire, and requested her charioteer
to place her carriage as near to the preacher's stand as pos-
sible, so that she might hear every word that he uttered. Ac-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 673
cordingly, in a few moments she found herself accommodated
immediately in the rear of the temporary pulpit from which
the speaker addressed the listening throng, that being the
only unoccupied position within reach of his voice. The
splendor of the equipage, and the sparkling appearance of
the illustrious personage that occupied it, soon attracted the
attention of many of the people from the sermon to the gor-
geous accession which had just been made to the audience by
the advent of Lady Anne. The observant eye of Rowland
Hill soon detected this diversion, and his inventive mind at
once suggested a hazardous but an effective remedy. Paus-
ing in the discussion of his subject, and elevating his voice
beyond its usual pitch, he exclaimed,
" My brethren, I am now going to hold an auction, or vendue,
and I bespeak your attention for -a few moments. I have here
a lady and her equipage to expose to public sale ; but the lady
is the principal, and the only object, indeed, that I wish to
dispose of at this present j and there are already three earnest
bidders in the field. The first is the world. Well, and what
will you give for her ? 1 1 will give riches, honor, pleasure.'
' That will not do. She is worth more than that ; for she will
live when the riches, honors, and pleasures of the world have
passed away like a snow-wreath beneath a vernal shower.
You can not have her.' The next bidder is the devil. Well,
and what will you give for her ? ' I will give all the king-
doms of the earth, and the glory of them.' ' That will not do ;
for she will continue to exist when the kingdoms of the earth
and the glory of them have vanished like the shadows of the
night before the orient beams ! You can not have her.'
" But list ! I hear the voice of another bidder ; and who
is that ? Why, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what will you
give for her ? 1 1 will give grace here and glory hereafter ;
an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not
away.' Well ! well ! " said the preacher, " blessed Jesus, it is
just as I expected ; just the noble gen.erosity which thou art
wont to display. I will place her at your disposal. * She
is black, but comely,' and you shall be the purchaser. Let
heaven and earth authenticate this transaction."
And then, turning to Lady Anne, who had listened to this
85
674 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
adventurous digression with the commingled emotions ot'
wonder and alarm, the speaker, with inimitable address, ex-
claimed,
" Madam ! madam ! do you object to this bargain ? Remem-
ber you are Jesus Christ's property from this time henceforth
and for evermore. Heaven and earth have attested the solemn
and irreversible contract ! Remember you are the property of
the Son of God. He died for your rescue and your purchase.
Can you, will you, dare you object ? "
The arrow thus sped at a venture, under the guidance of
the divine Spirit, found its way to the heart of Lady Anne,
and she was submissively led to the cross of Messiah, that the
hand which was pierced for our salvation might extract the
barbed shaft, and heal the wound which had been so unexpect-
edly inflicted. She became subsequently identified, to a con-
siderable extent, with Lady Huntingdon in her deeds of noble
charity, and having served her day and generation, she, like
her illustrious associate, sweetly fell asleep in Jesus.
"WRATH TO COME."
And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even
Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. 1 Thess. 1 : 10.
THE learned and pious Burkitt, in his very valuable com-
mentary, says, " Note here a soul-affecting description
of that wrath which doth await every wicked and impeni-
tent sinner : it is a l wrath to come.' After thousands, yea,
millions of years, that sinners have lain under it, still it is a
wrath to come ; and they are as far from being delivered from
it as the first hour they fell under it ; and Jesus Christ de-
livered up himself to death that he might be a Saviour and
deliverer to his people from 'this wrath." Christianity, as it
appears in this life, is an unsettled account between God and
the world. The Christian works on credit ; his faith in the
truth of God guarantees the payment ; now he is waiting for
the Son of God to come from heaven to close up the long-
standing account, and reward his faithfulness with the " crown
of life." Largely that reward will consist of deliverance from
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 675
" the wrath to come." Dr. Macknight says, " Christ himself,
on two different occasions, promised that he would return from
heaven. (Matt. 16 : 27 ; John 14 : 3.) The angels, likewise,
who attended at his ascension, foretold the same things. (Acts
1 : 11.) And as the great design of his return is to punish his
enemies and reward his faithful servants, his second coming
was always a principal topic on which the apostles insisted in
their discourses ; consequently it was a principal article of
the faith and hope of the first Christians, a frequent subject
of their conversation, and a powerful source of consolation to
them in all their afflictions and troubles. May it ever be the
object of our faith and hope, and the source of our consolation,
especially at death ! " So great is the reward, we can afford to
wait for the Son of God from heaven ; every promise of his
word, every blessing of his grace, every victory of his cross,
every triumphant death, are so many pledges that he will
come.
Are we ready to meet him ?
PREACH SO AS TO PLEASE GOD.
But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even
so we speak ; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
1 Thess. 2 : 4.
THERE is a story of that holy martyr of Jesus Christ, Bishop
Latimer, that having, in a sermon at court in Henry the
Eighth's days, much displeased the king, he was commanded
next Sunday after, to preach again, and make his recantation^
According to appointment, he comes to preach, and prefaceth
to his sermon with a kind of dialogism in this manner : Hugh
Latimer, dost thou know to whom thou art this day to speak ?
to the high and mighty monarch, the king's most excellent
majesty, &c., that can take away thy life if thou offend : there-
fore take heed how thou speak a word that may displease ;
but, as it were recalling himself, Hugh, Hugh, saith he, dost
know from whence thou comest, upon whose message thou
art sent ? and who it is that is present with thee and be-
holdeth all thy ways ? Even the great and mighty God, that
C76 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
is able to cast both body and soul into hell for ever ; therefore
look about thee, and be sure that thou deliver thy message
faithfully, &c. ; and so comes on to his sermon, and what he
had delivered the day before he confirms and urgeth with
more vehemency than ever. Sermon being done, the court
was full of expectation what would be the issue of the matter:
after dinner, the king calls for Latimer, and, with a stern
countenance, asked him how he durst ,be so bold as to preach
after that manner. He answered, that duty to God and his
prince had enforced him thereunto, and now he had discharged
his conscience and duty both, in what he had spoken, his life
was in his majesty's hands. Upon this the king rose from his
feet, and; taking the good man from off his knees, embraced
him in his arms, saying, he blessed God that he had a man in
his kingdom that durst deal so plainly and faithfully with him.
Thus, did but all men, especially ministers, preachers of the
word, such as are immediately employed by God, seriously
take notice of his omnipresence, and continually remember
how his eye is always upon them, 0, how diligent ! how confi-
dent ! how abundant would it make them in the work of the
Lord ! how faithful ! how courageous ! how unbiased ! how
above the frowns and smiles of the greatest of the sons of
men ! &c. M. Newcomen's Sermon at Westminster, 1647.
ILLUSTRIOUS SCHOLARS GIVE A UNITED TESTIMONY.
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye
received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the
word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually work-
eth also in you that believe. 1 Thess. 2 : 13.
IT is difficult for us now to comprehend the trepidation once
awakened by the simple collation of manuscripts. When
Brian Walton, in his Polyglott, gave a summary of various
readings, he was assailed by John Owen for undermining the
faith of the churches ; and Mill's thirty years' labor upon the
text met with the same treatment from Whitby. Bengel de-
clared himself to have been " horribly tormented " by these
investigations. Wetstein was not suffered to publish his crit-
ical results in any part of Switzerland.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 677
These things have passed away. A line of illustrious schol-
ars have bestowed a hundred and fifty years, at least, of con-
tinuous toil upon the text of the New Testament alone. The
fathers of five centuries have been hunted through ; ancient
versions accumulated ; every nook and corner of Europe ran-
sacked for manuscripts ; while Scholz and Tischendorf have
pushed their search to the Libyan desert, the mountains of
Arabia, the shores of the Dead Sea, and all between.
The results I need not detail ; variations seemingly numer-
ous, such as they are, though scarcely more in those thousand
manuscripts than are sometimes found in three or four manu-
scripts of a classic author ; fewer than could be found in King
James' version, similarly treated ; seriously affecting the sense
of fewer passages of the entire New Testament, so it is said,
than the important and disputed readings of any one of Shak-
speare's thirty- seven plays. " Nineteen of every twenty are
to be dismissed at once," says Professor Norton, " as palpable
oversights ; and of the remainder the great majority are entire-
ly unimportant," rising, perhaps, no higher than a question of
spelling, of collocation, or of grammar ; often too slight to be
indicated in translation. By the total result, Orthodoxy loses
nothing scarcely even the famous text of the "three heav-
enly witnesses ; " for that did not appear in the first two
editions of Erasmus. We part, perhaps, with one, and it may
be two of the texts in which Christ is called God (Acts 20 : 22 ;
1 Tirn. 3:16), and possibly receive another in their place (John
1 : 18) ; while all the passages that ascribe to him the works,
attributes, glory, and worship of the supreme God remain un-
modified. Professor Bartlett, in the Bibliotheca Sacra.
AVOIDING TEMPTATION.
For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith,
lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain.
1 Thess. 3 : 5.
REV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE, in his sermon The Gospel
Trumpet, thus speaks of keeping out of the way of temp-
tation :
G78 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" This gospel trumpet is also one of retreat. It is folly for a
hundred men to attack ten thousand. It is the part of good
generalship, sometimes, to blow the trumpet of retreat. There
is no need of your trying to face certain temptation. You are
foolhardy to try it. Your only safety is in flight. It is as
fifty against five thousand. If you be given to appetite,
escape the presence of decanter and demijohn. If you are
given to pride, go not amid things that flatter it. If your
proclivity be toward uncleanness, like Job make a covenant
with your eyes, that you look not upon a maid. You know
how the city of Ai was taken. Joshua's forces went up to
capture it, but were miserably cut to pieces. The next time
they hit upon this stratagem : The host was to advance to the
city, and when the assault was made upon them, they were to
fly. And so they' did, until the people of Ai came out to follow
them, and then, at the holding up of Joshua's spear, the re-
treating host rallied and took the city. So, sometimes it is
as necessary to fly, as at others it is to advance. I blow the
trumpet of retreat for those of you who are tempted. ' Lead
me not into temptation,' be your morning and evening prayer.
No need of your trying with one round of buckshot to meet
an enemy with ammunition-wagons of grape and canister. No
use in trying with a North River schooner to run down the
Great Eastern. Washington's retreats were sometimes his
grandest successes ; and while God generally calls upon us to
advance, at other times he bids us flee. The lion-tamer puts
his head into the monster's mouth, and the people applaud ;
but it is a foolish thing to do. The shaggy monster after a
while forgets his placidity, and the lion-tamer puts in his head
once too often."
NOT WHAT I WANT NOW.
Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might
perfect that which is lacking in your faith. 1 Thess. 3 : 10.
WHEN Archbishop Seeker was laid on his dying bed, his
friend, Mr. Talbot, came to see him. He felt it was
their last meeting together ; so he said,
" You will pray with me, Talbot, before you go away ? "
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 679
Mr. Talbot rose, and went to look for a prayer book.
" That is not what I want now," said the dying prelate ;
" kneel down by me, and pray for me in the way I know you
are used to do."
So the good man knelt by his friend's bedside, and poured
out his soul for him before his heavenly Father in such words
as his heart dictated. The Holy Spirit blessed them to the
comfort of the dying man. There was a life and spirit in them
that he could not find in forms, however excellent.
When we come to that solemn hour, we shall want some-
thing more than a formal religion. It may have satisfied us
very well before, but it will give us no light for the dark
valley. " God, be merciful to me a sinner," will have more
meaning to us than a volume of the most " beautiful prayers,"
pronounced with the most faultless elocution.
THE COMING OF THE LORD.
To the end he may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God,
even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.^
1 Thess. 3 : 13.
I HAVE sometimes indulged my imagination by supposing I
beheld the morning sun arise, and nature appearing in all
her glory, animated beings quitting their wonted repose, and
every countenance smiling and looking joyful ; the laborer
returning to his employ, and men of leisure to their various
recreations ; they marry, they are given in marriage ; and
business and pleasure occupy the world. In a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, the trumpet sounds! The dead arise !
The artificer drops his hands ! The man of pleasure stands
amazed ! The whole earth is filled with astonishment ! And
all plots and contrivances of men immediately cease ! In the
midst of the heavens the Judge appears ! Ten thousand
thunders roll before him ! The books are opened ! Every
heart is searched ! All secrets 'are revealed ! An everlast-
ing division is made between the followers of the Lamb and
the objects of eternal vengeance ; and both go away to their
own place.
680 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Circumstances apart, a very little while will realize the
scene, drop the curtain, and hide all things else from our eyes
for ever. Then shall immutability be written upon our state,
and happiness or misery shall be our everlasting portion.
FULLY SAVED.
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain
from fornication. 1 Thess. 4 : 3.
WOULD you know where I am ? I am at home in my
Father's house, in the mansion prepared for me there.
I am where I would be, where I have long and often desired
to be ; no longer on a stormy sea, but in a safe and quiet
harbor. My working time is done, I am resting ; my sowing
time is done, I am reaping ; my joy is at the time of harvest.
Would you know hoAv it is with me ? I am made perfect
in holiness ; grace is swallowed up in glory ; the top-stone of
the building is brought forth.
Would you know what company I have? Blessed company,
better than the best on earth ; here are holy angels and the
spirits of just men made perfect. I am set down with Abra-
ham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God, with the
blessed Paul and Peter, and James and John, and all the
saints; and here I meet with many of my old acquaintances
that I fasted and prayed with, who got before me hither.
And lastly, would you consider how long this is to con-
tinue ? It is a garland that never withers ; a crown of glory
that fades not away ; after millions of millions of ages it will
be as fresh as it is now ; and therefore weep not for me.
Matthew Henry.
CARRYING ON BUSINESS FOR CHRIST.
And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work
with your own hands, as we commanded you. 1 Thess. 4 : 11.
M
ANY years ago, happening to be in South Wales, I made
the acquaintance of a Welsh gentleman. He was then
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 681
a landed proprietor, living in his own mansion, and in very
comfortable circumstances. He had before been carrying on
an extensive business in a large town. By the death of a
relative he had unexpectedly come into possession of this
property. After considering whether he should retire from
business, he made up his mind he should still continue to carry
it on, though no longer for himself, but for Christ. I could not
help being struck with the gleesomenesfc of a holy mind which
lighted up his countenance when he said, " I never knew
before what real happiness was. Formerly I wrought as a
master to earn a livelihood for myself, but now I am carrying
on the same work as diligently as if for myself, and even more
so ; but it is now for Christ, and every halfpenny of profits is
handed over to the treasury of the Lord, and I feel that the
smile of my Saviour rests upon me." I think that is an exam-
ple worthy of being imitated. Dr. Duff.
CHRIST OUR SUBSTITUTE.
Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together
with him. 1 Thess. 5 : 10.
REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER, at his Friday evening
prayer-meeting, related the following :
" Not long since I found myself at Cincinnati, with a little
spare time, and I thought I would improve it by visiting some
of the southern battle-fields and burial-places. I first pro-
ceeded to Nashville. On going out to the Soldiers' Cemetery,
I observed a man planting a flower over a grave. I approached
him, and asked if his son was buried there.
" l No,' was the response.
" l A son-in-law ? '
< No.'
< A brother ? '
" < No.'
" < A relative ? '
" < No.'
" ' Whose memory, then, do you cherish ? ' I ventured to ask.
6
682 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
11 After delaying a moment, and putting down a small board
which he had in his hand, he replied,
" ' Well, I will tell you. When the war broke out I lived in
Illinois. I wanted to enlist, but I was poor, and a large family
of children depended upon me for their daily bread. Finally,
as the. war continued, I was drafted. No draft money was
given me ; I was unable to procure a substitute, and made up
my mind to go. Afte*r I had got everything in readiness, and
was just going to report for duty at the conscript camp, a
young man whom I had known came to me, and said, ' You
have a big family, whom your wife can not support while you
are gone ; I will go for you.' In the battle of Chickamauga
the poor fellow was dangerously wounded. Owing to Bragg's
offensive demonstrations on Chattanooga, he, along with others,
was taken back to hospital at Nashville. After a lingering
illness he died and was buried here. Ever "since hearing of
his death I have been desirous of coming to Nashville, and
seeing that his remains were properly buried. Having saved
sufficient funds, I came on yesterday, and have to-day found
the poor fellow's grave-.'
" On completing his story, the man took up the small board,
and inserted it at the foot of the grave. Turning to look at
it, I saw this simple inscription, and nothing more : ' He died
for me.'
GIVING THANKS TO GOD.
In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus con-
cerning you. 1 Thess. 5 : 18.
FWERYTHING we enjoy should be viewed as coming from
J_J the liberal hand of God ; all was forfeited by sin ; what we
receive is of grace. The providence that supplies us is the
wisdom, benevolence, and power of God in operation for us,
as expressive of his infinite love and unmerited grace. Tal-
ents to provide supplies, opportunities to obtain, and ability
to enjoy, are alike from the Lord. Every mercy increases our
obligation and deepens our debt. Thanksgiving is the ordi-
nance that God hath appointed, that we may express our
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 683
gratitude, and acknowledge our obligation ; and our thanks-
givings are acceptable and well-pleasing in his sight. Thanks-
giving is never out of season, for we have always much to be
thankful for. In everything we should give thanks, to that
end view all things as arranged by his wisdom, dependent on
his will, sanctified by his blessing, according with his promises,
and flowing from his love. All our blessings come through
Jesus, and all our praises must ascend through him ; for our
Father only accepts what is presented in the name of his be-
loved Son.
QUENCHING THE SPIRIT.
Quench not the Spirit. 1 Thess. 5 : 19.
A FEW years ago, as I was laboring in our western wilds,
J.JL an individual rode up, and, taking me by the hand, in-
quired earnestly,
" Will you go and see a dying young man? He is in agony,
and says there is no hope."
There was no time to be lost. I went with him. After
climbing many a rocky ascent, I came into an open path,
which soon conducted me to the house. Anxious ones stood
weeping without, and soon held both my hands, conducting
me up a long flight of steps to the room of the dying man.
Not a word was spoken. Other hearts were too full, and my
own was sinking beneath a weight of responsibility. Earnestly
seeking the divine blessing, I ascended the steps.
On reaching the top, a venerable mother approached me,
saying,
" I'm glad you have come. Do speak to my son ; perhaps
he may yet be saved."
I pressed the hand that had led me in, and in a moment the
most heart-rending scene was before me a young man in
.the agonies of death rolling his eyes, and flinging his arms
wildly about him crying out,
" 0, I am lost ! Hell is before me ! In v a few moments I
shall be among the damned ! "
He ceased speaking, and I feared his spirit had taken its
684 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
flight for the regions of woe. He soon revived again. Seiz-
ing the opportunity, I repeated slowly the words, " Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." " The blood
of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." Seeing that I had
his attention, I spoke of the free, unmerited mercy of Christ,
able to save the chiefest of sinners, saying,
" There is hope for the repenting sinner, even at the eleventh
hour."
He replied, " No, there is no hope. Once I might have been
saved ; but now it is too late too late." Then with a groan
of the deepest despair he exclaimed, " that I had heard
them ! "
In vain I urged him to cast himself unreservedly on the
sovereign mercy of God, as " able to save unto the uttermost
all that come unto God through him."
He only replied, " I have resisted the Holy Ghost j there is
no hope."
I proposed prayer.
He only replied, " Pray for others, not for me."
I knelt. Perfect silence reigned, save as a low, deep moan
came from the dying bed. I tried to commit him to the mercy
of Christ.
I spoke to him again, but he hopelessly said,
" It is of no use. Tarn hastening to eternity."
No tear fell. He manifested no contrition for sin, no ray of
hope. A wild, piercing cry wrung our hearts with anguish,
and he sank upon his pillow. Reviving yet again, he said,
thoughtfully,
" Once I was brought to feel myself a sinner. For days and
weeks I was anxious about my soul. Something said, * Now
is the accepted time : ' my heart said, ' Not now ; to-morrow.'
But when l to-morroW ' came, I still put it off. My gay com-
panions laughed at my seriousness, and tried to allure me back
to the follies of sin. I said to myself, ' I will go with you to-
day, but to-morrow I will not.' "
Pleased with present victory, they led him on from pleasure
to vice, the card-table, and the social bar. He took wine, he
laughed, and was the gayest of the gay. Conscience raised
her warning voice, and bade him pause ; but he rushed heed-
lessly on.
NE W TESTAMENT ILL USTRA TIONS. 685
He stated, that one pleasant Sabbath morning, a young man
met him when on his way to join his companions, and taking
him cordially by the hand, said,
" Friend, you seem to be enjoying yourself; come with me,
and we will have better enjoyment still."
He joined him in a walk, which ended at the house of God.
Startled, he drew back, and would have fled from the sanctu-
ary, had not his friend urged affectionately,
" Do come in a little while."
He yielded to the entreaty, resolving it should be only a
" little while," and took his seat among the worshipers. Here
conscience, as if roused to a final conflict, reminded him of
broken resolutions, and bade him seek Christ to-day. " No,
not to-day," was his response to the gentle whispers of the
Spirit. He remained through the morning services. His
friend, encouraged by his stay, drew him into a "Bible class,"
where the teacher faithfully enforced the duty of immediate
preparation for eternity. The young man was impressed, and
sat thoughtfully revolving the question, " Shall I, or not ? I
will decide now, or else put it for ever out of my mind." The
class was dismissed. The words, " To-day prepare to meet
thy God," rang in his ears as he walked down the aisle.
The decision was made : " Not to-day, but to-morrow I will."
From that moment all was darkness, terror, and dismay. Efe
the night had passed over him, he was seized with a malig-
nant fever, which in two days left him in the state I found
him.
" And now," he added, " I have cursed my Maker, and am
dying without hope without hope."
I still . urged him to flee to Christ, but in vain. Despair
only was his ; one deep groan and shriek of terror, and he ex-
pired with these fearful words on his lips, " Lost, lost, lost."
"DESPISE NOT PROPHESYINGS."
Despise not prophesyings. 1 Thess. 5 : 20.
E are apt to dismiss this short exhortation of our be-
loved brother Paul, as if the world had outgrown its
(586 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
application. We assume that all the prophets are dead. We
think that we do them sufficient honor if we do not challenge
their utterances as written in the word of God. We seem
rather to esteem spiritual gifts in proportion to the length of
time since they were displayed, and to enhance the honor which
we pay to Moses, and Elijah, and Paul, and Cephas by the dis-
paragement of present witnesses.
Is there not danger of falling into the Pharisaic mistake of
building the sepulcher of dead prophets, and rejecting the tes-
timony of living ones? If the testimony of Jesus is the spirit
of prophecy, there is no true Christian who may not be an
imparter of revelations. Union with Christ gives keen insight
into spiritual truth. Faith has a piercing eye, and the char-
acters and moral purposes of men, the relation and value of
religious movements, the significance of ecclesiastical devel-
opment, of false philosophy, of corruption within and without
the church, lie more plainly open to those whose abiding inti-
macy with the Saviour has made them partakers of his spirit
and work.
Our disregard of the apostolic injunction arises from the
infrequency of this close union with the Saviour, and the dis-
repute brought upon the modern gift of prophecy by false
prophets, and by those who might be true prophets, did they
prophesy according to the proportion of faith. No Christian,
who has in any measure the spirit and power of Elias, will be
eager to set the multitude agape by predictions, or by the
display of useless wonders. Notoriety is not the ambition of
the humble. But the bearing of events upon the coming of
the kingdom, as seen by the few whose Christianity is a
burning light, is startling enough, did we but comprehend it,
to rank with the warnings which, in apostolic times, astonished
those who had ears to hear.
T
THE MILLER AND THE CAMEL.
Abstain from all appearance of evil. 1 Thess. 5 : 22.
HE Arabs repeat a .fable of a miller, who was one day
awakened by having the nose of a camel thrust into the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 687
window of the room where he was sleeping. "It is very cold
out here/' said the camel ; " 1 only want to get my nose in."
The miller granted his request. After a while the camel asked
that he might get his neck in, and then he gained permission
to have his fore feet in the room, and so, little by little,
crowded in his whole body. The miller found his rude
companion was becoming exceedingly troublesome, for the
room was. not large enough for both. When he complained to
the camel, he received for answer, " If you do not like it, you
may leave ; as for myself, I shall stay where I am."
So it is with sin. It comes and knocks at the heart, and
pleads for only a little indulgence, and so goes on, increasing
its demand until it becomes master in the soul. What, then,
shall the young do but guard against sin, beware of its very
appearance, and, above all, pray for the aid of the Holy Spirit,
that by his grace they may be enabled to keep their heart
with all diligence, and to guard against the entrance of any-
thing that may defile or ruin the soul ?
SANCTIFICATION AS VIEWED BY ARCHBISHOP
USHER.
.And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your
whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thess. 5 : 23.
A FRIEND of Archbishop Usher repeatedly urged him to
_/JL write on sanctification ; which at length he engaged to
do ; but a considerable time elapsing, the performance of his
promise was importunately claimed. The bishop replied to
this purpose : " I have not written, and yet I can not charge
myself with a breach of promise ; for I began to write, but
when I came to treat of the new creature which God formeth
by his Spirit in every regenerate soul, I found so little of it
wrought in myself, that I could speak of it only as parrots, or
by rote, without the knowledge of what I might have ex-
pressed ; and therefore I durst not presume to proceed any
further upon it."
His friend was amazed to hear so holy a man speak in this
688 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
manner. The bishop added, " I must tell you, we do not un-
derstand what sanctification and the new creation are. It is
no less than for a man to be brought to an entire resignation
to the will of God, and to live in the offering up of his soul
continually in the flames of love, as a whole burnt-offering to
Christ. ; how many who profess Christianity are unacquaint-
ed, experimentally, with this great work upon their souls ! "
Since the days of Archbishop Usher, a dear light and a
better experience have come upon the church of Christ.
Christians are learning that gospel promises may be Christian
experiences j and many are enjoying sanctification of soul and
spirit.
HOW TO MAKE SUCCESSFUL PASTORS.
Brethren, pray for us. 1 Thess. 5 : 25.
TWERY minister will be successful, we believe, who has
_LJ one member in his church given to constant prayer for
his success. We would that every pastor had just one friend
who never ceased to bear him and his work to the throne of
grace, and to supplicate for the gifts of the Holy Spirit fol-
lowing his labor and giving his preaching power. Let facts
such as the following speak :
" Mr. Finney tells of a pastor who was constantly successful
enjoyed a revival every year for twelve years, and could
not account for it, till one evening, at a prayer meeting, a
brother confessed that for a number of years past he had been
in the habit of ' spending every Saturday night, until midnight,
in prayer for his pastor the next day.' That explained the
secret, in part at least. Such a man praying would make any
ministry successful. The great John Livingston, of Scotland,
once preached an ordinary sermon with such power and suc-
cess that five hundred were converted under it ; but it was
after a large company of Christians had spent the whole pre-
vious night in prayer for that object."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
PUNISHED IN PART.
Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God. 2 Thess. 1 : 5.
GOD sometimes sends his judgments upon flagrant trans-
gressors as part punishment for great wickedness. A
very remarkable example of this occurred with a man known
to the writer many years ago, in the State of Ohio, and in the
vicinity of the place where the writer at one time resided.
The present subject of our remarks, being addressed on the
topic of religion, was filled with rage, and with terribly pro-
fane expletives: he passionately declared that if Jesus of Naz-
areth was there he would wring his neck ; at the same time
lifting his eyes defiantly toward the heavens, and contorting
his features into a grimace, expressing a feeling of intense
hate and utter scorn. In a moment the judgment of an of-
fended Deity descended upon him; his distorted features
became fixed, a violent spasm seized his neck, so that it was
twisted round, and he rolled his eyes about so that they
seemed to be in danger of leaving their sockets ; and he was
left in this horridly frightful condition, a living example of
outraged omnipotence.
A writer in the Vermont Chronicle, referring to this terrible
occurrence some time after it happened, said, " This fact was
stated at a public meeting in this vicinity, lately, by a re-
spectable gentleman of the bar from Ohio." The meeting
spoken of was held in Lebanon, Ohio, and the lawyer alluded
to was Mr. Latham, whose statements being doubted, he pro-
cured a full corroboration of them from the Rev. Ahab Jinks,
of Delaware, Ohio, who resided in the immediate vicinity of
the place, and who accompanied his corroboration with a more
minute detail of the facts, together with the names of other
gentlemen who also resided in the neighborhood of the star-
tling providence. Dr. Dillon, in the Pacific Christian Ad-
vocate.
87
690 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
RIGHTEOUS TRIBULATION TO TROUBLERS.
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them
that trouble you. 2 Thess. 1 : 6.
" A PRIL 17, 1797, 1 was desired," says Mr. Rhodes, the narra-
j\. tor of the following account, " to visit William Pope. For
some months he had been afflicted with a consumptive com-
plaint. At the same time the state of his mind was. deplorably
wretched. When I first saw him, he said, l Last night I believe
I was in hell, and felt the horrors and torments of the damned ;
but God has brought me back again, and given me a little
longer respite. My mind is also alleviated a little. The
gloom of guilty terror does not sit so heavy upon me as it
did j and I have something like a faint hope that, after all I
have done, God may yet bless and save me.' After exhorting
him to repentance, and confidence in the Almighty Saviour, I
prayed with him, and left him.
" April 18, I went to see William Pope ; he had all the ap-
pearance of horror and guilt which a soul feels when under a
sense of the wrath of God. As soon as he saw me, he ex-
claimed, ' You are come to see one who is damned for ever.'
I answered, * I hope not ; Christ came to save the chief of sin-
ners.' He replied, ' I have rejected him, I have denied him ;
'therefore he hath cast me off for ever ! I know the day of grace
is past gone gone never more to return ! ' I entreated
him not to draw hasty conclusions respecting the will of God ;
and I asked him if he could pray, or felt a desire that God
would give him a broken and contrite heart. He answered,
k I can not pray ; my heart is quite hardened ; I have no desire
to receive any blessing at the hands of God ; ' and then im-
mediately cried out, ' 0, the hell I the torment ! the fire that
I feel within me ! 0, eternity, eternity ! To dwell for ever
with devils and damned spirits in the burning lake must be
my portion ! and that justly yea, very justly ! '
" On Thursday I found him groaning under the weight of the
displeasure of God. His eyes rolled to and fro ; he lifted up
his hands, and with vehemence cried out, ' 0, the burning
flame ! the hell ! the pain Libel ! Rocks, yea, burning moun-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 691
tains fall upon me, and cover me ! Ah, no ! they can not hide
me from his presence who fills the universe ! ' I spoke a
little of the justice and power of Jehovah, to which he made
this pertinent reply : ' He is just, and is now punishing and
will continue, to punish me for my sins. He is powerful, and
will make me strong to bear the torments of hell to all eterni-
ty. You do not know what I have done. My crimes are not
of an ordinary nature. I have done done the deed the
horrible, damnable deed ! ' I prayed with him ; and while I
was thus employed, he said, with inexpressible rage, { I will
not have salvation at the hands of God ! No, no ; I will not
ask it of him ! ' After a short pause, he cried out, ' 0, how I
long to be in the bottomless pit 1 in the lake which burns with
fire and brimstone ! 7
" When I mentioned the. power of the Almighty to save,
' God/' said he, < is almighty to damn me ! He hath already
sealed my damnation, and I long to be in hell ! ' The mel-
ancholy affair happened in the year 1797, and excited consid-
erable attention in the town and neighborhood of Bolton, in
Lancashire, England, where he lived."
PUNISHED FOR EVER AND EVER.
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord, and from the glory of his power. 2 Thess. 1:9.
THE following illustration is from the pen of an eloquent
French writer :
" When I endeavor to represent eternity, I avail myself of
whatever I can conceive most firm and durable ; I heap im-
agination on imagination, conjecture on conjecture. I go from
our age to the time of publishing the gospel, thence to the
publication of the law, and from the law to the flood, and from
the flood to the creation. I join this epoch to the present
time, and I imagine Adam yet living. Had Adam lived till
now, and had he lived in misery, had he passed all his time in
a fire, or on a rack, what idea must we form of his condition ?
At what price would we agree to expose ourselves to miseries
so great ? What imperial glory would appear glorious, were
G02 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
it followed by so much woe ? Yet this is not eternity ; all this
is nothing in comparison of eternity 1
" I go further still. I proceed from imagination to imagina-
tion, from one supposition to another. I take the greatest
number of years that can be imagined. I add ages to ages,
millions of ages to millions of ages. I form of all these one
fixed number, and I stay my imagination. After this I suppose
God to cre.ate a world like this which we inhabit. I suppose
him creating it by forming one atom after another, and em-
ploying in the production of each atom the time fixed in my
calculation, just now mentioned. What numberless ages would
the production of such a world in such a manner require !
Then I suppose the Creator to arrange these atoms, and to
pursue the same plan of arranging them as of creating them.
What numberless ages would such an arrangement require !
Finally, I suppose him to dissolve and annihilate the whole,
observing the same method in the dissolution as he observed
in the creation and disposition of the whole. What an im-
mense duration would be consumed ! Yet this is not eternity.
All this is only a point in comparison of eternity.
" My God, one night passed in a burning fever, or in strug-
gling among the waves of the sea, between life and death,
appears of an immense length ! It seems to the sufferer as if
the sun had forgotten his course, and as if all the laws of nature
itself were subverted. What, then, will be the state of those
miserable victims to divine displeasure, who, after they shall
have passed through the ages which we have been describing,
will be obliged to make this overwhelming reflection : 'All this;
is but an atom of our misery 1 ' What will their despair be,
when they shall be forced to say to themselves, ' Again we must
revolve through these enormous periods ; again we must suffer
the privation of celestial happiness ; devouring flames again ;
cruel remorse again ; crimes and blasphemies over and over
again ; for ever, for ever ! ' Ah, how severe is this word, even
in this life ! How great is a misfortune, when it is incapable
of relief ! How insupportable, when we are obliged to add/or
ever to it ! These irons for ever ! These chains for ever !
This prison for ever I This universal contempt for ever ! Poor
mortals, how short-sighted are you, to call sorrows eternal
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 693
which end with your lives ! What, this life, this life, which
passeth with the rapidity of a weaver's shuttle, - this life,
which vanisheth like a sleep, is this what you call for ever ?
Ah, absorbing periods of eternity, accumulated myriads of
ages ; these if I may be allowed to speak so these will be
the for ever of the damned ! "
PREACHING TO ONE PASSENGER.
That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye
in him, according .to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Thess. 1 : 12.
I WAS once crossing the sea in a Havre packet. Among the
passengers was an intelligent Englishman, with whom I
had a good deal of pleasant intercourse. On the last day of
the voyage, as we were entering the bay of Havre, I was
standing apart with him on the upper deck. In a few hours we
were to part, probably for ever, and I spoke to him earnestly
about the salvation of his soul. As he received my words
kindly and attentively, I pressed the matter upon his atten-
tion, opening the gospel scheme, of which, though a well-
informed and thoughtful man, he seemed to have no very clear
idea, and urging him by its great and solemn motives to be
reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. His countenance
showed strong emotion, and he shed tears. " I assure you,
sir," he said, " I feel deeply the truth of what you have said,
and I hope the time will come when "
I interrupted him : " If the time has not come now," I re-
plied, " there is no reason to hope that it ever will come. The
Spirit of God is striving with you. He will not always strive.
If you grieve him by delay, will he not forsake you ? Your
heart is touched with the force of divine truth. If you let the
melting moment pass away, will it return ? "
I entreated him to " yield himself to God," and told him that
all the feeling he had shown would not give me hope in his
behalf, if he delayed even for an hour.
I received a letter from him afterward, stating that God
had blessed these parting words, and had, he hoped, given
him grace from that hour to set his face toward heaven.
694 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ROMANISM OPPOSED TO IMPROVEMENT.
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshiped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself
that he is God. 2 Thess. 2 : 4.
IS there a solitary instance of a Roman Catholic country hav-
ing prospered up to the present age of the world ? or is
there a solitary instance of a country where popes, cardinals,
archbishops, bishops, friars, with their vicegerents, form, de
facto and de jure, a controlling influence for civil govern-
ment, having prospered? If no such instance can be dis-
covered, is it not now, it might be asked, an age of the world
which seems to indicate the importance of deep reflection on
the part of the leaders in that doctrine, as to whether the
deterioration is imbibed with the doctrines which follow in
their train, the assumed " holy orders " of Popery which pro-
hibit its priesthood from having wives, which sanction Catho-
lic nunneries in which numerous women are kept secluded,
which prohibit freedom of speech, which sanction the shed-
ding of human blood for opinion's sake in the horrible secret
cells of inquisitions, which discourage education, and conse-
quently encourage the miseries, in all their various forms,
that result from the want of education ?
EVANGELISM AGAINST ROMANISM.
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume
witli the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his com-
ing. 2 Thess. 2 : 8.
AT the Fifth National Camp Meeting, held at Milton Grove,
Oakington, Md., on the day when the dogma of infallibility
was proclaimed in Rome, the following scene took place :
u It was announced that at about this time the pope's in-
fallibility was being promulgated at Rome. Rev. W. H. Boole
arose, and said, ( Brethren, in the faith of the Lord Jesus
Christ and his gospel, and in the midst of his church here
assembled, I put this sixty acres of Maryland against all
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 695
Rome.' The interest was intense, while the immense congre-
gation arose to their feet, and with uplifted hands sang,
' All hail the power of Jesus' name ;
Let angels prostrate fall ;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown him Lord of all.
* Let every kindfed, every tribe,
On this terrestrial ball,
To him all majesty ascribe,
And crown him Lord of all.'
Then with long, loud, multitudinous voices the shout arose,
1 We crown him ! We crown him ! Hallelujah ! ;
" It did seem that the final day of coronation had come, and
that the hosts above had broken through the vail, not only to
listen, but to join in placing the crown on the brow of Jesus.
Never will that assembly forget that scene. It was quite on
the verge of heaven."
HIS DOCTRINE WAS OLD ENOUGH, BUT NOT TRUE.
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power, and
signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in
them that perish ; because they received not the love of the truth, that they
might be saved. 2 Thess. 2 : 9, 10.
rPHE publisher of a Socinian Universalist paper in Milledge-
JL ville, proposes to print a book, in which is proved from
Scripture that there is "no devil no hell no angry God!"
Those who are weak enough to believe the plain declaration
of the Bible, that God is angry with the wicked every day,
will be astonished to hear from Milled geville that sin no longer
taints the moral atmosphere of this world ! Man has ceased
to do evil ! There is no avenging God ! Well indeed may
the publisher of such news declare that " it is highly interest-
ing to every living man and woman." But why not take the
last step in this march of " reason," and say at once there is
no God. The existence of Jehovah is not more clearly taught
in the Bible than is the future punishment of the impenitent
and unbelieving. We are told that " in this work is concen-
trated the wisdom of ages, of nations, and of languages, the
696 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
truth of Scripture, and the words of God." The antiquity
of some of its doctrines will not be disputed, for they were
preached in the garden of Eden. (See Gen. 3 :.4.)
ERROR BLINDS THE MIND.
But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. 2 Thess. 2 : 13.
IN the following incident the blinding effect of error is very
apparent :
" On one of the latter days of a return voyage across the
Atlantic, we paced the level deck beneath a brilliant sun, and
on a placid sea, in earnest and protracted conversation with a
benevolent and accomplished Englishman. He was sincerely
religious in his own way ; and a part of his confession was,
that every man's religion would carry him to heaven, what-
ever it might be in itself, provided he sincerely believed it.
He accounted it rank bigotry to doubt the safety of any fellow-
mortal on the ground of erroneous belief. His creed, although
he would probably have refused to sign it, if he had seen it
written out, was, ' Safety lies in the sincerity of the believer,
without respect to the truth of what he believes.' We plied
him with the analogy of nature in the form which circum-
stances most readily suggested. ' We are here coursing over
the ocean at the rate of three hundred miles a day. We have
seen no land since we left the shores of America, nine days
ago. We are approaching the coast of Ireland, and will, no
doubt, pass about a quarter of a mile on the safe side of Cape
Clear. The captain and his officers have been carefully tak-
ing their observations, and calculating their course. We have
confidence in their capacity and truth. But if they should
commit a mistake, and cast up an erroneous reckoning, whether
by their own ignorance, or by a false figure in their tables, or
a misplaced mark on their quadrant whether by their own
fault, or the fault of others whom they innocently trusted
will the sincerity of their belief that they are in the right
course save them and us from the consequences of having
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 697
deviated into a wrong one? If the ship is directed right upon
a rocky shore, will the rocky shore not rend the ship asunder,
because the master thinks he is in the accustomed track ? ' Our
friend was silenced, but he was not convinced. Argument
alone will not remove such an error. It is not a clearer head
that is needed, but a softer heart. .When in conscious un-
worthiness and godly simplicity we are willing to have it so,
we shall perceive that it is so. ' Unto the upright there ariseth
light in the darkness.' ;:
PRAY FOR THE PREACHER.
Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free
course,, and be glorified, even as it is with you. 2 Thess. 3 : 1.
JOHN LIVINGSTON, of Scotland, once spent a whole night
with a company o his brethren in prayer for God's bless-
ing, all of them together besieging the throne ; and the next
day, under his sermon, five hundred souls were converted.
All the world has heard how the audience of the elder Presi-
dent Edwards was moved by his terrible sermon on " Sinners
in the Hands of an Angry God ; '* some of them even grasping-
hold of the pillars of the sanctuary, from feeling that their feet
were actually sliding into the pit. But the secret of that ser-
mon's power is known to but very few. Some Christians in
that vicinity (Enfield, Mass.) had become alarmed, lest, while
God was blessing other places, he should in anger pass them
by ; and so they met on the evening preceding the preaching
of that sermon, and spent the whole of the night in agonizing
prayer. Dr. H. C. Fish.
STAND BY YOUR CANDIDATE.
Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and
not after the tradition which he received of us. 2 Thess. 3 : 6.
QUITE a scene occurred in the Unitarian Church at Ann
Arbor on Sunday evening, February 26, 1871, which is
thus described :
" Rev. C. H. Brigham, the pastor, preached upon ' The
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698 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Devil,' and defended that personage against an assault pre-
viously made upon him in one of the Orthodox churches by
Elder Knapp, the evangelist. At the close of Mr. Brigham's
able defense of his Satanic Majesty, and after the brief ad-
dress of Mr. Alcott of Boston, a stranger (who afterward
turned out to be Mr. S. C. String-ham) arose, stepped into
the broad aisle, and respectfully asked permission to speak.
Mr. Brigham assented, and invited the stranger to take the
platform, which, was respectfully declined. He stated that he
had attended nearly all the meetings which had been held in
the city for several weeks past, and had taken part in many
of them ; that three of the evangelical churches had con-
centrated their forces at the Presbyterian house in a union
effort, and that other churches were engaged in extra 1 ser-
vices in their respective places of worship; that he regarded
the campaign as now fairly inaugurated, and he was pleased
to see the general interest manifested. He, the { stranger,'
said it reminded him of some of our political campaigns, when
there were always two candidates in the field. So it seemed
to be in this instance. He remembered one such occasion,
when the excitement ran pretty high, a gentleman passing his
neighbor's residence, who was on the opposite side of politics,
hurrahed for his man. The other indignantly replied, l Hur-
rah for the devil ! ' i That's right,' replied the former ; l stick
to your candidate, and I'll stick to mine.' ' And so,' said the
stranger, ' stick to your candidate : but I vote for God, for Jesus
Christ, and the Bible ! ' "
IDLENESS THE ROOT OF VICES.
For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any
would not work, neither should he eat. 2 Thess. 3 : 10.
I REALLY believe, young friends, that idleness is the ground
of most vices. I am acquainted with certain young men
who are running about the streets, whom I see stepping out
of drinking saloons. Some of them are sons of reputable par-
ents. I remember a short time since meeting a young man, one
of the best-dressed ' lads in the city a young man whom I
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
699
met in the omnibus frequently, riding up and down ; and I had
seen him so often, and always with such a leisurely air, that I
said one day, calling him by name,
" What are you doing ? "
" I have not any particular business," he said.
" Well, haven't you anything to do ? "
" Nothing in particular," he answered.
It was somewhat impertinent, but I said,
" Well, I suppose now you are out of school, you mean to
get into something pretty soon."
" Well, I have not anything just now in view," he replied.
To make a long story short, the poor fellow has not any-
thing in view, never did have much of anything in view, and
never will have much of anything in view. Drifting, drifting,
drifting ! Down, down, down 1 He is not the boy that he
was when I conversed with him last summer. There is noth-
ing truer, though trite, than the adage, " An idle brain is the
devil's workshop." Unless there is an aim, a plan, a purpose
in a man, there is depravity, and app.etite, and lust, and pas-
sion. It is idleness that fills our jails and our prisons. It is
idleness that rolls up millions and millions of dollars for spirit-
uous liquors every year.
Industry, my young friends, is the first law of success.
Some one asked a man, who was counted a great genius, to
define genius ; and he said, " Genius is industry." Things
never come about of themselves. The man who writes a
great book never wrote it in a day, or a week. The man
who has reported a great invention did not combine wheel
and piston in an hour, or a month ; but it was the industry of
inquiry, the industry of application. Industry is the first law
of success.
BOYHOOD OF DR. MORRISON.
But ye, brethren, be not wear.y in well-doing. 2 Thess. 3 : 13.
FROM my boyhood I have heard of Dr. Morrison, who trans-
lated the Bible into Chinese. Last year I learned from
an aged gentleman, who was acquainted with the superin-
700 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
tendent of a Sunday school that Morrison first . attended, the
following particulars :
The superintendent saw a young lady come into the school j
he went to her and asked if she would like to be a teacher.
" If you have a class for me," she replied.
" I have none ; but how would you like to go into the street
and get one ? "
At first she hesitated, but finally consented, went out, and
found a company of ragged, dirty boys, and persuaded them
to come and form a class. The superintendent told the boys
that if they would come to his house he would give them a
suit of clothes.
Next Sabbath she found two there, but young Morrison was
missing. She sought him, found the truant, and brought him
back with difficulty. The next Sabbath it was just so again,
and so the third Sabbath. After the fourth Sabbath, at the
monthly meeting, she reported that she could no longer feel
responsible for him. The superintendent, however, exhorted
her once more to try to. save him. At last she replied,
" Why, sir, the suit of clothes you gave him is all ragged
and torn."
" Well, if you go, I'll give him another suit, if he will come
to school."
So next Sabbath she hunted him up, and induced her truant
boy to return once more. He called upon the superintendent
the next week and got his suit of clothes ; but lo ! the next
Sabbath he was again among the missing ; and so it proved
again four weeks more : so at the next monthly meeting
she reported how unsuccessful she had been. " I must give
him up."
The superintendent said, " Why, it is hard to give him up,
and let him go to ruin." He exhorted the lady then to try
one month longer. She begged to be excused. " Why, that
second suit you gave him has shared the fate of the first."
" Well, well, never mind ; if you will go and try it again, I
will give him a third suit."
So she went and brought the boy back for the three follow-
ing Sabbaths ; but on the fourth Sabbath she found, to her sur-
prise, little Morrison there in his place of his own accord ; and
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 701
from that time on he became a most interesting scholar. He
was led to the Saviour, experienced religion, made great im-
provement, became a mighty and useful missionary of the
Christian church.
"VERY INJUDICIOUS."
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the
lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and pro-
fane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for man-slayers, for
whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealcrs,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary
to sound doctrine. 1 Tim. 1 : 9, 10.
Congregational Herald says, in his remarks before the
JL Congregational board of publication at Boston, lately, Rev.
Dr. Cheever thus shows up the doctrine of expediency in
publishing the gospel :
" In the publication of books, the principle and policy of
omitting a truth because this or that man objects to it, is bad.
One man's corn will be on his heel, another's on his toe, and
another's on the bottom of his foot ; and if we are to cut and
trim to please each, we shall cut the shoe all to pieces. The
gospel is not a great benevolent society a book of one idea.
It is comprehensive. It embraces all sinners. It denounces
one class as ' man-stealers.' It is a little word ; why not leave
it out of the Bible ? How unfair to hinder the circulation of
this book by retaining such an offensive phrase ? The law,
says Timothy, is not made for a righteous man, but for the law-
less and disobedient for men-steers. The theory of expe-
diency would expunge this passage. Paul, again, would med-
dle with circumcision, and stir up the prejudices of the Jews.
Why could he not let that delicate subject alone, and stick to
preaching the gospel? And John why not let Herod's sin
alone ? Why take up the case of the daughter of Herodias,
and thunder and lighten at the sin of dancing? What fanati-
cism in this preacher to denounce Herod's adultery, when he
knew he might enrage the sinner 1 Could he not easily pass
702 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
by the sin of adultery, and spend his zeal in preaching the
gospel ? But no, John could not do this ; he must declare the
whole truth, though he lost his head by it. According to the
expediency doctrine, John was probably a good man, but very
injudicious."
LUTHER'S ARGUMENT WITH THE DEVIL.
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners ; of whom I am chief. 1 Tim. 1 : 15.
I" UTHER says, " Once upon a time the devil came to me,
JLJ and said, l Martin Luther, you are a great sinner, and you
will be damned ! ' ' Stop ! stop ! ' said I ; ' one thing at a time :
I am a great sinner, it is true, though you have no right to tell
me of it. I confess it. What next ? ' < Therefore you will be
damned.' * That is not good reasoning. It is true I am a
great sinner, but it is written, " Jesus Christ came to save
sinners ; " therefore I shall be saved. Now go your way.' So
I cut the devil off with his own sword, and he went away
mourning because he could not cast me down by calling me
a sinner."
" If all the sins which men have done,
In thought or will, in word or deed,
Since worlds were made, or time begun,
Were laid on one poor sinner's head,
The stream of Jesus' precious blood
Could wash away the dreadful load."
BOASTING IN CHRIST.
According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed
to my trust. 1 Tim. 1:11.
THE following is one of the most remarkable compositions
ever published. It evinces an ingenuity of arrangement
such as we have never seen before. The initial capitals spell,
" My boast is the glorious cross of Christ." The words in
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 703
Italics, when read from top to bottom and from bottom to top,
form the Lord's Prayer complete.
Make known the gospel truths, Our Father, King ;
Yield us thy grace, dear Father from above ;
Bless us with hearts which feelingly can sing,
" Our life thou art for ever, God of Love ! "
Assuage our grief in love, for Christ, we pray,
Since the bright Prince of heaven and glory died,
Took all our sins, and hallowed the display,
Infant be ing first, a man, and then was crucified.
Stupendous God ! thy grace and power make known ;
In Jesus' name let all the world rejoice.
New labor in thy heavenly kingdom own
That blessed kingdom for thy saints the choice.
How vile to come to thee is all our cry !
Enemies to thy self and all that's thine,
Graceless our will, we live for vanity,
Loathing thy very be ing, evil in design.
God, thy will be done from earth to heaven.
Reclining on the gospel let us live,
In earth from sin deliver ed and forgiven.
! as thyself but teach us to forgive.
Unless it 's power temptation doth destroy,
Sure is our fall into the depths of woe.
Carnal in mind we've not a glimpse of joy
Raised against heaven : in us hope can flow.
0, give us grace, and lead us on thy way ;
Shine on us with thy love, and give us peace j
Self and this sin that rise against us slay.
O ! grant each day our trespass es may cease.
Forgive our evil deeds that oft we do ;
Convince us daily of them to our shame ;
Help us with heave/ily bread ; forgive us, too,
Recurrent lusts, and ice '11 adore thy name.
In thy forgive ness we as saints can die,
Since for us and our trespasses, so high,
Thy Son, our Saviour, bled on Calvary.
704 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
CHRIST OUR MEDIATOR.
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus. 1 Tim. 2 : 5.
IN contemplating the work of our Redeemer, we are apt to
think of him as he was when upon earth, going about doing
good, hearing the voice of man's necessities and his cries for
help. We remember, also, that Christ endured cruel mockings
and scourgings ; and that, after suffering death for us, he arose
from the grave, and ascended to heaven.
But the great fact that we have still an interceding Saviour
is too much out of our thoughts. While we remember what
he was, let us think of what he is. " He ever liveth to make
intercession for us ; " as though this was, so to speak, the gov-
erning object of his present existence. The governing object of
a mere man often becomes a power for good or for evil. When
we can say, " One thing have I desired of the Lord ; that will
I seek after," that one thing, pursued with all our endeavors,
is most generally obtained. Then what well-grounded hopes
must cluster around the concentrated intercessions of a divine
Saviour !
He ever liveth to make intercession for us. While such a
voice is lifted up for us,. close to the ear of God, ought we not
to cherish the most joyful hope ?
Poor, afflicted disciple ! When it seems as though there '
was no eye to pity, or arm to save, remember that thy Re-
deemer is praying for thee ! The same voice that was lifted
up on Calvary, saying, " Father, forgive them ! " still prays
for thee. He sympathized with all thy distresses ; he means
to save thee from all thy sins. The good work he has begun
in thee he will not leave half done. He is praying for thee !
Never again be discouraged. Thy Saviour is praying for
thee!
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 705
MODESTY OF APPAREL.
In like manner, also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with
shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or
costly array. 1 Tim. 2 : 9.
THE best bred people of every Christian country but our
own avoid all personal display when engaged in worship
and prayer. Our churches, on the contrary, are made places
for the exhibition of fine apparel and other costly and flaunt-
ing compliances with fashion, by those who boast of superior
wealth and manners. We shall leave our gewgawed devotees
to reconcile humiliation in worship with vanity in dress. How
far fine clothes may affect the personal piety of the 'devotee,
we do not pretend even to conjecture ; but we have a very
decided opinion in regard to their, influence upon the religion
of others. The fact is, that our churches are so fluttering
with birds of fine feathers, that no sorrow fowl will venture in.
It is impossible for poverty, in rags and patches, to take its
seat, if it should be so fortunate as to find a place, by the side
of wealth in brocade and broadcloth. The church being the
only place on this side of the grave designed for the rich and
the poor to meet together in equal humility before God, it
certainly should always be kept free to all. It is so in most
of the churches of Europe, where the beggar, in rags and
wretchedness, and the wealthiest and most eminent, whose
appropriate sobriety of dress leaves them without mark of
external distinction, kneel down together, equalized by a
common humiliation, before the only Supreme Being. The
adoption of a more simple attire for church, on the part of the
rich in this country, would have the effect, certainly not of
diminishing their own personal piety, but probably of increas-
ing the disposition for religious observances on the part of the
poor.
MINISTERIAL PRIDE.
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation
of the devil. 1 Tim. 3 : 6.
NE of the most ruinous and palpable sins is pride. A sin
this which has too much interest in the best, but is more
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706 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
hateful and inexcusable in us than in any ; yet it is so preva-
lent in some of us that it indites our discourses ; it chooses
our company it forms our countenances ; it puts the accents
and emphasis upon our words ; when we reasonlt is the de-
terminer and exciter of our cogitations ; it fills some men's
minds with aspiring thoughts, desires, and designs ; it pos-
sesses them with envious and bitter thoughts against those
who stand in their light, or by any means eclipse their glory,
or hinder the progress of their idolized reputation. 0, what
a constant companion, what a tyrannical commander, what a
sly, subtle, and insinuating enemy, is pride ! It goes with men
to the draper, the mercer, arid the tailor; it chooses them their
cloth, their trimming, and their fashion, and dresses them in
the morning. Fewer ministers would follow the fashion in
hair and habit were it not for the influence of this imperious
vice ; and I would that were all ; but, alas ! how often it goes
with us to our studies, and there sits with us and does our
work ! How often does it choose our subject, and our words,
and ornaments ! God bids us be as plain as we can, that we
may inform the ignorant, and as convincing and serious as we
can, in order to melt and change the unchanged hearts ; but
pride stands by and contradicts all. It puts in toys and
trifles, and under pretense of laudable ornaments, dishonors
our sermons with childish conceits. It takes off the edge and
life of all our teaching, under pretense of filing off the rough-
ness and superfluity. If we .have a plain and cutting pas-
sage, it throws it away as rustical or ungraceful. When God
charges us to deal with men as for their lives, and beseech them
with all the earnestness we are able, this cursed. sin controls
all, and condemns the holy commands of God, calls our most
necessary duty madness, and says to us, " What ! will you
make people think you are mad ? Will you make them say you
rage or rave ? Can not you speak soberly and moderately ? ''
Thus does pride make men's sermons ; and what pride makes,
the devil makes ; and what sermons the devil will make, and to
what end, we may easily conjecture. Though the matter be
of God, yet, if the dress, and manner, and end be from Satan,
we have no great reason to expect success.
And when pride has made the sermon, it goes with them
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 707
into the pulpit ; it forms their tone, animates them in their
delivery, takes them off from that which may be displeasing,
however necessary, and sets them in pursuit of vain applause;
and the sum 6f all this is, that it makes men, both in. studying
and preaching, seek themselves and deny God, when they
.should seek God's glory and deny themselves. When they
should ask, " What shall I sa} 7 , and how shall I say it to please
God best and do most good ? " it makes them ask, " What
shall I say, and how shall I deliver it to be thought a learned
and able preacher, and to be applauded by all who hear me ? "
When the sermon is over, pride goes home with them, and
makes them more eager to know whether they were applauded
than whether they prevailed with any for the saving of their
souls. They could find it in their hearts, but for shame, to ask
folks how they liked them. Rev. Richard Baxter.
"SEEN OF ANGELS."
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was man-
ifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. 1 Tim. 3 : 16.
ANGELS of mercy ! you saw him leave his seat of glory
above, and descend to the meanest and most wretched of
his worlds. Ye were in attendance when he stooped from the
height of his power, and was born in a stable at Bethlehem !
Ye were with him in the vast howling wilderness when the
dark hour of temptation had passed and he was left alone. Ye
were with him in his retirements, in the secret and fervent
pouring forth of prayer, such as never man prayed. Ye were
with him in his hour of desertion and mocking, of scourging
and death ! And ye were with him in the sepulcher, and ye
saw the stone rolled from the door, the guard set, and ye
heard the last call answered, and the last watchword given.
Angels of glory ! ye saw him burst the bonds of the tomb,
and rise triumphant ! Ye saw him chain to his infernal den
the king of hell, and seize the keys of death and the pit !
Through your shining ranks he passed, on his way to his
Father's mansions ! Ye have seen that glorified body which
708 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
was pierced for man ! Ye have bowed before him in heaven !
Ye see him now above, all lovely as he is, and cast your
crowns before his throne, and give him blessing, and honor,
and glory, and praise, and power, for ever and ever.
0, then, for your tongues to describe his sufferings ! for
your harps to celebrate his glories 1
JESUITICAL HYPOCRISY.
Speaking lies in hypocrisy ; having their conscience seared with a hot iron ;
forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath
created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the
truth. 1 Tim. 4 : 2, 3.
IT is well known that for many years there has been a strong
leaning in the Church of England toward Roman Catholi-
cism, and more within a few years past than formerly. The
following incident, as given by Rev. Dr. Jacoby, helps largely
to explain the cause of this going backward. It is dishonora-
ble, in war, to sail under an enemy's flag, or wear the enemy's
uniform to deceive. It is unchristian and hypocritical .to
sanction false pretenses in appearing to be Protestants, and
filling Protestant pulpits, the more effectually to deceive. But
Rome has no conscience.
In December, 1871, a distinguished clergyman died in Eng-
land. He had appointed his brother, a British admiral, and
his friend, also an admiral, as executors of his will. These
two gentlemen were not able to meet to finish this business
until the summer of 1872. They found among the papers of
the deceased a well-sealed parcel, on which was written, " To
be destroyed without opening." The two gentlemen consulted
what to do in this matter, and came to the conclusion that
they, as executors, should open this parcel. And what did it
contain ? A dispensation from the pope, by which the de-
ceased had permission to officiate as minister in the Church
of England, though he had become not only a member, but
also a priest, in the Church of Rome. The same parcel con-
tained also a list of names of other clergymen of the Church
of England in the neighborhood, who had received the same
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 709
dispensation, and on whose support and sympathy the de-
ceased could trust.
That was a heavy blow for these upright seamen, and they
found it their duty to deliver the parcel to the bishop of the
diocese in which these wolves resided. It is to be feared that
he was not much surprised.
Does not the Roman Church openly say, " Let us do evil
that good may come " ? But what says the apostle ? " Whose
damnation is just." - Dr. Jacoby.
TRUST IN GOD.
For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the
living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
1 Tim. 4 : 10.
SOME years ago, a pious class leader in the Methodist con-
nection narrated to the writer the following interposition
of divine Providence. I give the whole of it as correctly as
my memory will admit.
"Owing to a severe depression in trade, I was, some time
since, greatly reduced in my circumstances. The s*tate of my
affairs affected both my mind and my body to such a degree
that my health suffered a serious injury. One day, when
I went into my shop to work, I felt so remarkably feeble,
owing to the want of food, that I could not proceed in busi-
ness ; I therefore returned to my house. After a short pause,
I said to my wife, ' What have we in the house to eat ? ' She
instantly replied, ' All that you see upon the table.' I looked
there was nothing. The poor woman felt the weight of
our trying condition, but it is to be feared that she had not
learned with submission to make a sanctified use of it. ' James,'
said the impatient female, l you have, for a considerable period
of time, made a profession of religion ; but I fear you are a
hypocrite. If you were sincere, the Lord would not leave
you to suffer as you do.' This was speaking daggers to my
heart. While my mind was engaged in agitating the question,
I very abruptly said, ' Stand still, and see the salvation of
God.' But no sooner had I uttered this sentence, than my
710 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
feelings were roused, and my surprise greatly excited at my
temerity. Where, thought I, can immediate help be obtained ?
I fear that I have said too much. My dullness, however, was
soon reproved. A person suddenly opened the door and in-
quired, ' James, have you such a number of pipes on hand ? '
1 No, sir.' ' Can you make me that quantity in the course of a
few days ? ' I answered in the affirmative. t Then,' said he,
1 in order to secure them, I will pay you down the money.'
He instantly handed me the sum ; I went and purchased food,
and, blessed be God, I have never wanted bread since ! "
PURITY THE BEAUTY OF THE SOUL.
Let no man despise thy youth ; but be thou an example of the believers, in
word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 1 Tim. 4 : 12.
THE beauty that sets off a soul in God's eye is purity of
heart. The most beautiful person is but a spiritual leper
till he becomes pure in heart. God is pleased with the pure
heart, for he sees his own picture drawn there. Holiness is a
beam of God ; it is the angels' glory ; they are pure virgin
spirits. Take away purity from an angel, and he is no more
an angel, but a devil. Those who are pure in heart have the
angels' glory shining in them ; they have the embroidery and
workmanship of the Holy Ghost upon them. The pure heart
is God's paradise, where he delights to walk ; it is his lesser
heaven. The dove delights in the purest air ; the Holy Ghost,
who descended in the likeness of a dove, delights in the purest
soul. God saith of the pure in heart as of Sihon (Psalm 132 :
14), " This is my rest for ever ; here will I dwell." God loves
the holy soul ; the pure in heart is Christ's bride, decked and
bespangled with the jewels of holiness. " Thou hast ravished
my heart with one of thine eyes." (Cant. 4:9.) Thine eyes,
that is, thy graces, these as a chain of pearl have drawn my
heart to thee. Of all hearts God loves the pure heart best.
Thou who dressest thyself by the glass of the word, and adorn-
est the hidden man of thy heart, art most precious in God's
eyes. Though thou mayest be blear-eyed as Leah, or lame as
Barzillai, yet, being pure in heart, thou art the mirror of
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 7U
beauty, and inayest say, " Yet shall I be glorious in the eyes
of the Lord." How may this raise the esteem of purity !
This is a beauty which never fades, and which makes God
himself delighted with us.
DOCTRINAL PREACHING.
Till I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
1 Tim. 4 : 13.
IN these days I fear that good, sound, old-fashioned, stout,
doctrinal preaching is going out of vogue. I beg of you,
do not yield to this unhappy drift no, not for an hour !
Sound doctrine is the backbone of truly successful preaching.
The mightiest discourses that have shaken vast assemblies,
and sent sinners trembling to the cross of Christ, have been
vitalized by some stupendous " doctrina" or revealed teaching.
of Almighty God. My brilliant neighbor, Beecher, has un-
wisely said that " doctrine is only the skin of truth set up and
stuffed. " Just imagine St. Paul writing to Timothy, " Give
attendance to the stuffed skin of truth I "
If you are ever dry, never be dry in your doqtrinal ser-
mons. Always preach doctrine with intense emotion. Heat
your argument red hot. Introduce all the lively and pic-
turesque illustrations you can into your doctrinal discourses; it
will make them interesting, and the truth will become picto-
rial to the mind's eye and to the memory. This was our
Saviour's method. What a matchless discourse on the doctrine,
of God's mercy to the sinner is the parable of the Prodigal
Son ! A good minister is nourished in the words of faith and
of good doctrine. Rev. Dr. Cuyler.
MEDITATION AS A MORAL DUTY.
Meditate upon these things. 1 Tim. 4 : 15.
CjCRIPTURE truth becomes more profitable by meditation,
kj The promises are flowers, growing in the paradise of
Scripture ; meditation, like the bee, sucks out the sweetness
7 1 2 NEW TESTAMENT ILL USTRA TIONS.
of them. The promises are of no use or comfort to us till
they are meditated upon. For as the roses hanging in the
garden may give a fragrant perfume, yet their sweet water
is distilled only by the fire, so the promises are sweet in
reading over, but the water of these roses the spirit and
quintessence of the promises is distilled into the soul only
by meditation. The incense, when it is pounded and beaten,
smells sweetest. Meditating on a promise, like the beating
of the incense, makes it most odoriferous and pleasant. The
promises may be compared to a golden mine, which then only
enricheth when the gold is dug out. By holy meditation we
dig out that spiritual gold which lies hid in the mine of the
promise, and so we come to be enriched. Cardan saith,
" There is no precious stone but hath some hidden virtue in
it." The} 7 are called " precious promises." (2 Peter 1:4.)
When they are applied by meditation, then their virtue ap-
pears, and they become precious indeed. Wcctson's Saints'
Spiritual Delight, 1657.
THEOLOGICAL PREACHING.
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine ; continue in them ; for in
doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. 1 Tim. 4 : 1G.
THE conviction has been gaining ground of late, with some
at least, that a more decided theological element would be
a source of power in the pulpit. The matter is, to say the
least, worthy of serious consideration. The almost entire
absence of doctrinal preaching is one of the most noticeable
features of the modern pulpit. One seldom hears in our
churches what might, with any propriety, be called a theo-
logical discourse. The reasons we will not undertake to
give, but the fact is undeniable. It is certainly a question
whether this deficiency of doctrinal preaching is a source of
weakness or of strength to the pulpit whether we gain in
point of attractiveness as much as we lose in real power by
this course.
Many reasons might be mentioned in favor of giving to the
discourses of the pulpit a more decidedly theological character;
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 713
as, e. g., that the study of theological truth elevates and en-
larges the mind of the preacher, and so contributes to his
power and efficiency in the pulpit ; that it contributes to
variety in his pulpit discourse, by introducing a wider -range
of subjects, each requiring distinct and definite treatment ;
that it instructs and edifies the hearers as no other method of
preaching can so fully do.
To urge these reasons, however, there is one consideration
not so obvious, nor so likety to be admitted, to which we would
call attention ; and that is, that theological preaching by
which we mean the discussion of the leading doctrines of
the Christian faith is, when rightly and Avell done, one of the
surest ways of interesting the audience. It gives people some-
thing to think of something definite and tangible some-
thing for them to believe or disbelieve : in either case, their
attention is aroused and their interest awakened. It is a
great mistake to suppose that people will be interested only
in flashy and sensational discourses, or in goodish common-
places of pulpit exhortation, which some sharp critic has very
aptly styled " gospel and water."
DEATH OF A BACKSLIDER.
Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith. 1 Tim. 5 : 12.
AS I approached the house I heard the voice of lamentation.
I entered. It was the voice of my friend. Long had we
been acquainted with each other. Often had we walked to-
gether to the house of God in years which had passed by.
Often in the assembly of the saints had our voices been united
in songs of praise. We had taken sweet counsel together ;
our joys and our hopes had once been one. But since those
days she had been united to a man of the world. She Jhad
been placed in circumstances unfriendly to religion. She had
lost the pearl of great price, and had been seeking happiness
here on earth. But her worldly prospects were now suddenly
blighted, and a dark cloud hung between her and a throne of
grace. She was arrested by a fatal disease, and exclaimed,
" I must die."
90
714 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
I approached her bedside, and inquired how she was.
She replied, " 0, my distress of body, no one can tell ; but
that is nothing compared to my distress of mind. Once I en-
joyed* a day of grace ; a Saviour's love was in my heart. That
day is gone, for ever gone. Once I was united with Chris-
tian people ; then, if I had pi'oved faithful, I might have been
saved ; but now salvation is beyond my reach. I am just go-
ing into a world of spirits. I have wandered from God, and
from God I must now be driven. that God would give me
but one year more ! I would repent and do my first works
again. But that favor I can not have. One month, or even a
week, might I stay ! 0, how earnestly would I seek his mercy
once more ! But no ! that favor is denied me ! not one- day
can I stay I must die. If I look upward, I see an angry
God. If I look downward, I see a yawning hell ready to re-
ceive me. Where, 0, where shall I flee from my much offend-
ed God?"
I staid with her several hours to witness her sad and de-
sponding lamentations ; but my endeavors to comfort her dis-
tressed mind were all in vain. She rolled from side to side in
deepest agony, as though the pains of hell had seized upon
her. When about to retire, I asked her if I should call on
some one to pray with her ; she answered, " Yes." I hastened
to the house of the man of God, to bear her last request. He
went ; but it was too late. Stupidly she rolled her eyes, sunk
deep in death ; and ere the sun went down, she sighed and
breathed her last.
SCANDAL.
And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house ;
and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busybodies, speaking things which they
ought not. 1 Tim,. 5 : 13.
THE story is told of a woman who freely used her tongue to
the scandal of others, and made a confession to the priest
of what she had done. He gave her a ripe thistle top, and
told her to go out in various directions and scatter the seeds
one by one. Wondering at the penance, she obeyed, and then
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
715
returned and told her confessor. To her amazement, he bade
her go back and gather the scattered seeds ; and when she
objected that it would be impossible, he replied that it would
be still more difficult to gather -up and destroy all the evil
reports which she had circulated about others. Any thought-
less, careless child can scatter a handful of thistle seed before
the wind in a moment, but the strongest and wisest man can
not gather them again.
DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL PREACHING.
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially
they who labor in the word and doctrine. 1 Tim. 5 : 17.
IN Dr. Pond's recent address to the graduating class of the
Bangor Theological Seminary, we find the following truth-
ful paragraph under the designation of " Good Preachers : j;
" First of all, then, let me say, that we wish you to become
good preachers; and this, you know, involves a great deal.
What is good preaching ? Good preaching is scriptural
preaching ; including, as to the matter of it, both the doctri-
nal and -the practical, and each in due method and propor-
tion. A doctrinal sermon, with no practical application, is a
skeleton without flesh, or rather a basis without superstruc-
ture. A practical sermon, without doctrine, is a superstructure
without a base ; a soap-bubble, a will-of- the -wisp, beautiful it
may be to the sight, but destined soon to disappear, and leave
not a trace behind. Every direction or exhortation of the
Bible is based upon some doctrine, and has no application or
meaning without it. l Flee from the wrath to come.' l Be-
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'
1 Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted
out.' How much important doctrine is involved in exhorta-
tions such as these ! And how can the exhortations be ap-
plied and enforced, so as to leave an abiding impression, unless
the implied doctrines are believed and inculcated ? "
716 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
FAITHFUL RESISTANCE TO EVIL.
Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. 1 Tim. 5 : 20.
MORE tlian forty years ago, a young man was preceptor of
Bradford Academy who had just become interested in
religion. He was invited to a social party, to spend the even-
ing. After tea the tables were prepared for card-playing.
This young man was very much tried when he saw this prepa-
ration. Several of the company were young ladies who were
members of his school, and he felt a responsibility respecting
the influence which he should exert upon them. He made up
his mind that he^would not engage in the amusement, and re-
tired to another room. The young ladies asked, " Where it*
the preceptor ? " They all gathered around him, and entreat-
ed him to join them in card-playing. He told them he could
not, and gave them his reasons. This afforded him an oppor-
tunity to enter into a free conversation on the subject of per-
sonal religion. Among the young ladies present that evening
was Harriet Atwood, who was afterward Harriet Newell, of
the first company of missionaries who went from this country.
The faithful conversation of that young man resulted in her
conversion. Through the blessing of God, an entire revolu-
tion was wrought in her feelings and purposes.
She devoted herself to preaching the gospel to the heathen.
She had it in her heart to do this work, but lived only to come
in sight of heathen land. Her Memoir, prepared and published
by Dr. Woods, has done a great work. She, being dead, yet
speaketh. Hundreds have been baptized into her name, as well
as imbued with her spirit. Her example will live, and con-
tinue to exert an influence, until earth's remotest nations shall
have learned Messiah's name.
The young man who took this stand has been a successful
pastor in New Hampshire more than forty years. The good
accomplished by the decided stand which he took that night
will never be fully understood until the secrets of all hearts
shall be revealed. How important that Christians be decided !
NtiW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 717
HANDSOMELY DECLINED.
Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins ;
keep thyself pure. 1 Tim. 5 : 22.
THE late Bishop Doane, of New Jersey, was strongly opposed
to temperance, and his sideboard and tables were loaded
with brandy, wine, &c.
On one occasion Rev. Mr. Perkins, of the Sons of Temper-
ance, dined with the bishop, who, pouring out a glass of wine,
desired him to drink with him.
" Can't do it, bishop : ' Wine is a mocker.' ;
" Take a glass of brandy, then."
" Can't do it, bishop : ' Strong drink is raging.' r
By this time the bishop, becoming somewhat restive and
excited, remarked to Mr. Perkins,
" You'll pass the decanter to the gentleman next to you."
" No, bishop, I can't do that : ' Woe unto him that putteth
the bottle to his neighbor's lips.' "
EXPOSITORY PREACHING.
If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to
godliness. 1 Tim. 6 : 3.
NEXT to the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which itself can be
anticipated only in connection with the faithful proclama-
tion of the truth, we regard expository preaching as the great
need of the church. Not more government, not a more elabo-
rate ritual, not better music, but more truth, is what we want
the truth of God, as such in all its native power, directness,
and simplicity, in all its divine fullness and proportion, pressed
home upon the hearts and consciences of men. Textual and
topical preaching has its advantages, but its exclusive adop-
tion has been a great injury to the church. It has led to
forms of address by which the church has for a while been
stimulated, leading in the end, however, to a reactionary lan-
guor, decay, and death. The word of God is the divinely-
718 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
appointed food of souls. They must have a bountiful supply,
not once or twice a week, the poor dribblet of a verse, ham- 1
me red out into platitudes, thin and unsubstantial, but whole
paragraphs or chapters, their contents carefully analyzed, and
presented in all their native richness.
BE NOT BURDENED.
For we brought nothing into this Avorld, and it is certain we can carry
nothing out ; and having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.
1 Tim. 6:7,8.
VHEN Cortez entered Mexico, he believed the conquest
of the city easj 7 . But on the night of July 7, 1620, he
found it much too hot for him. A forced escape, sword in
hand, through a narrow path, beset on either side by great
numbers of infuriated natives, was the only one possible. Im-
mense treasures, for which he had ventured into his perilous
condition, lay about him. Notwithstanding the midnight trial
of nimble feet and skillful sword arms, some of his followers
began to load themselves with gold and silver. " He travels
safest who travels lightest ! " exclaimed the commander. But
the Spaniards, being willing, as the majority of men of every
age have been, to run great risks for gold, went forth to the
conflict with the fatal encumbrance. About half of them
perished by the way. Those who reached in safety the open
country had at last been obliged to strip themselves for the
flight.
Gold, beyond what secures the food and raiment with which
we are commanded to be content, is an occasion of fatal stum-
bling. It is said that the companions of Cortes, who, on that
terrible night, were known to carry treasures, were the objects
of the most numerous and sharpest arrows. So do riches in-
vite our enemy's " fiery darts."
Christian brother, inquire whether better spiritual progress
could not be made by you, if you parted, for Christ's sake,
with more of your worldly substance. Lighten your load by
feeding the hungry* clothing the naked, giving wings to the
Bible, and a voice to the gospel in heathen lands. It may be
7V?T W TESTAMENT ILL USTRA TIONS. 7 1 9
you have too much set apart for home expenditures, too much
for worldly gratification, to insure good progress heavenward.
Christian woman, do you travel as safely in the path of life
as you would if traveling lighter? Dress, made specially
attractive in the eyes of the world, is a favorable mark to him
who ever seeks through it to wound the soul. Costly apparel
entangles the feet in the narrow way. Jewels weigh down
the higher life.
LOVING SILVER THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL.
For the love of money is the root of all evil ; which while some coveted
after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with
many sorrows. 1 Tim. 6 : 10.
THE direct and literal rendering of Paul's famous proverb
about money is, " The root of all -evil is love of silver " -
that is, covetousness. The thing it speaks of is a passion of
the soul, and not a possession in the hands. It belongs to the
pauper as well as to the millionaire. Covetousness may burn
as fiercely in the breast of a man without a cent in his pocket,
as of one whose check is good for millions. If a man will, he
can drown himself in a shallow brook as effectually as in the
ocean. It is a disposition, and not the success or failure at-
tending its exercise, which is anathematized.
The sweeping statement concerning this passion is, that it
is " the root of all evil ; " not, of course, of each particular sin
ever committed, but of all sorts of evil. There is no kind of
bitter fruit which does not, in innumerable instances, grow
from this prolific root. The love of money causes the viola-
tion of every command in the Decalogue. It puts " Mammon "
above God. It " is idolatry." It moves men to take God's
name in vain, to violate the Sabbath, to dishonor parents, to
kill, to commit adultery, to steal, to bear false witness, and it
is the specific violation of the tenth. One might say of it as
Robert Hall said of war, " It is a virtual repeal of the Ten
Commandments." Rev. Cyrus D. Foss.
720 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
EARNEST FAITH.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. 1 Tim. 6 : 12.
A SEA captain related at a prayer meeting in Boston, a
short time ago, a thrilling incident in his own experience.
" A few years ago," said he, " I was sailing by the Island of
Cuba, when the cry ran through the ship, l Man overboard ! '
It was impossible to put up the helm of the ship ; but I in-
stantly seized a rope and threw it over the ship's stern, cry-
ing out to the man to seize it as for his life. The sailor
caught the rope just as the ship was passing. I immediately
took another rope, and making a slipnoose of it, attached it
to the other, and slid it down to the struggling sailor, and
directed him to pass it over his shoulders and under his arms,
and he would be drawn on board. He was rescued ; but he
had grasped that rope with such firmness, with such a death-
grip, tliat it took hours before his hold relaxed, and his hand
could be separated from it. With such eagerness, indeed, he
had clutched the object that was to save him, that the strands
of the rope became embedded in the flesh of his hands 1 "
And so it seems as if God had let down from heaven a rope
to every sinner on the earth, that every strand was a precious
promise, and that we ought to be so intensely eager to secure
these promises as to lay hold on them as if for our lives, and
suffer neither the powers of earth nor hell to shake our confi-
dence or disturb our hope.
GLIMPSES OF THE UNAPPROACHABLE LIGHT.
Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can ap-
proach unto ; whom no man hath seen nor can sec ; to whom be honor and
power everlasting. Amen. 1 Tim. 6 : 16.
SOME years ago, in the city of Brooklyn, it was my great
privilege to pay frequent pastoral visits to a saint on the
eve of her translation. Her room was always an open gate
of heaven. One day I received a message from her that she
was in trouble, and wished to see me. Wondering what final
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 721
art the arch enemy might be using against her, I hastened to
her bedside. She said, " I can not pray any more. As soon
as I begin, my prayers are all turned into hallelujahs. I would
have esteemed it a privilege if God would have permitted me
to spend my remaining days in supplications for my friends ;
but as soon as I open my mouth, it is all glory, glory, glory ! "
I congratulated her on being drafted into the employment of
the celestial choir before the time. She lived for two weeks
in a gust of praise, and so she died. It seemed as though the
" light which no man can approach unto " had streamed out
over the walls of jasper, and come down to earth to linger
about that humble cot. " Let me die the death of the right-
eous." Rev. C. D. Foss, D. D.
HARDSHIPS OF THE RICH.
Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor
trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy. 1 Tim. 6 : 17.
THE rich often have it very hard. The care of a great es-
tate or an extensive business is a great burden. It de-
prives of sleep, and sometimes ruins health. When men are
in this condition they are apt to think the state of the poor
very enviable. It is said that " Seneca, with two millions of
pounds out on usury, wrote on a table of gold in favor of pov-
erty." No wonder. The poor man must have been perplexed
to death to collect so much interest money ! It is undoubt-
edly true that God has made man in reference to gold as in
reference to food. Beyond a reasonable amount it cloys and
nauseates. 0, if all our rich men did but understand God's
plan ! He gives to us unceasingly that we may enjoy the
luxury of giving to others unceasingly. One of the sweetest
pleasures of life is to give. How few understand it ! How
many carry a burden which might instantly be transformed
into a delight ! Jesus expresses this truth with an emphasis
unsurpassed when he says, " It is more blessed to give than to
receive" Watchman and Reflector.
91
722 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
RIGHT AND WRONG RELATIONS TO MONEY.
That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute,
willing to communicate. 1 Tim,. 6 : 18.
is, doubtless, in point of fact, very great wrong
JL attaching to the getting of wealth in most cases. The
wrong, however, is not in the thing itself, but in its circum-
stances and connections ; not in the fact of getting wealth,
but in getting it wrongly, in setting the heart on it, in refus-
ing to part with a due proportion for benevolent uses, and in
getting too much. No doubt accumulation is a sin to some
men. The demands of Providence on them are such that
they ought to spend every dollar of their income, and content
themselves with a moderate competency.
But, having made these qualifications, we now repeat that
the amassing of wealth is not in itself wrong.
Look into human nature : men are very differently endowed ;
and among the special endowments God has bestowed is the
" power to get wealth." Some men are just as clearly made
to be merchants as others are to be mathematicians or authors.
Are these special gifts for no good end ? Look into civilized
society. It will be seen that there is need for the use of this
talent for acquiring and managing money. Do not the inter-
ests of commerce, manufactures, science, education, and reli-
gion require to a certain extent the existence of wealth ?
How could ships, or railroads, or colleges be built if there
were no instances of large capital in the hands of a few men ?
Look into the Bible. In it wealth is nowhere indiscriminately
forbidden, but is often promised as a blessing. The dishonest
and the hasty acquisition of it, the determination to get it at
all hazards, setting the heart upon it, trusting in it, loving it,
hoarding it, and the various other abuses of it, are indeed vis-
ited with the severest maledictions ; but not the bare fact of
possessing wealth, nor of increasing it. " The father of the
faithful " was " very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold."
His wealth is declared to have been a blessing from God.
" Abraham was old, and well-stricken in years, and the Lord
had blessed Abraham in all things." Job was the richest
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
723
man in all the country round about. It is true that among
other afflictions he suffered the loss of all his possessions ; but
the Lord restored to him double.
Many among the poor take for granted that the rich are
their natural enemies and the enemies of all righteousness.
On the contrary, many of the best friends of the poor and of
Jesus are to be found among the rich. Eev. Cyrus D. Foss.
A PIOUS MOTHER'S EXAMPLE.
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which
dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and I am per-
suaded that in thee also. 2 Tim. 1 : 5.
A YOUNG infidel was one night in bed, contemplating
/JL the character of his mother. " I see," said he within
himself, " two unquestionable facts. First, my mother is
greatly afflicted in circumstances, body and mind ; and I see.
that she cheerfully bears up under all by the support she
derives from constantly retiring to her closet and her Bible.
Secondly, that she has a secret spring of comfort of which I
know nothing ; while I, who give an unbounded loose to my
appetites, and seek pleasure by every means, seldom or never
find it. If, however, there is any such secret in religion, why
may not I attain to it as well as my mother ? I will immedi-
ately seek it of God." Thus the influence of Christianity,
exhibited in its beauty by a living example before him, led
Richard Cecil to know Christ himself, and to glorify him by a
life of most successful devotion to his service. Morse.
REMARKABLE PROOF OF THE IMMORTALIT? OF
THE SOUL.
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. 2 Tim. 1 : 10.
C\ ENNADIUS, a physician, a man of eminence in piety and
VJ charity, had, in his- youth, some doubts of the reality of
724 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
another life. He saw one night, in a dream, a young man of
celestial figure, who made him follow him. The apparition
led him into a magnificent city, in which his ears were charmed
by melodious music, which exceeded the most enchanting har-
mony he had ever heard. To the inquiry from whence came
these ravishing sounds, his conductor answered that they were
the hymns of the blessed in heaven, and disappeared. Gen-
nadius awoke, arid the impression of the dream was dissipated
by the transactions of the day. The following night the young
man appeared, and asked whether he recollected him. " The
melodious songs which I heard last night," answered Genna-
dius, " are now brought again to my memory."
" Did you hear them/' said the apparition, " dreaming, or
awake ? "
"I heard them in a dream."
" True," replied the young man, " and our present conver-
sation is a dream ; but where is your body while I am speaking
to you ? "
" In my chamber."
" But know you not that your eyes are shut, and that you
can not see ? "
" My eyes are indeed shut."
"How, then, can you see?" Gennadius could make no
answer. " In your dream, the eyes of your body are closed
and useless, but you have others with which you see me.
Thus, after death, although the eyes of your flesh are deprived
of sense and motion, you will remain alive and capable of sense
and motion by your spiritual part. Cease, then, to entertain
a doubt of another life after death."
By this occurrence, Gennadius affirms, he became a sincere
believer in the doctrine of a future state.
A TOUCH OF THE WHIP.
For the which cause I also suffer these things ; nevertheless I am not
ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. 1 Tim. 2 : 12.
f" NOTICED, when once riding on the top of a stage-coach, that
J. the driver, at certain points on the road, gave one of his
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 725
forward horses a slight touch of his whip. And, as the horses
were going at a fair pace, I asked him why he did it. Ho
replied that that horse had been in the habit of starting and
sheering at something seen or imagined at those places, and a
touch of the whip, just before arriving there, gave him some-
thing to think of, so that he passed by without noticing what
had before startled him.
And is it too much to believe that He who is conducting
many sons and daughters to glory, notices all the perilous
points they pass, and, when the case requires it, diverts
their thoughts and purposes from dangerous directions by
giving them such things to think of as will break the force
of temptation, and secure them from wandering? A sad
bereavement, a bitter disappointment, a serious illness, a pe-
cuniary loss, as the hour of temptation is at hand, is the touch
of the whip. It awakens serious thought. It drives the
soul to prayer. It dims the false brightness of things earthty,
and gives fresh vividness and power to things heavenly and
eternal ; so that, under such spiritual influences, the points of
danger are safely passed, and the rest of life's journey is trav-
eled all the more safely, and the prospects of heaven are made
all the brighter.
THE BIBLE TRIED BY A JURY.
Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil-doer, even unto bonds ; but the word
of God is not bound. 2 Tim. 2 : 9.
IN Lower Canada, some time ago, a French Canadian bought
a New Testament from one of the agents or missionaries
of the French Canadian Missionary Society. The man, very
much alarmed by being told next day by several persons
that it was a Protestant book, and ought to be burned, as the
priest directed, hit upon a singular expedient to solve his
doubts, and invited all the neighbors to come to his house
the next evening to decide whether the book was good or
bad. Being met, they sat, like a jury, upon the New Testa-
ment, and it was agreed that if the book was found bad, it
would be immediately committed to the flames ; but if pro-
726 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
uounced good, the owner should be allowed to keep it undis-
turbed. The whole evening was spent in reading it aloud,
and the unanimous decision was, that the book, being good,
should be kept.
SUFFERING AND REIGNING JOINED TOGETHER.
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him ; if we deny him, he also will
deny us. 2 Tim. 2 : 12.
BUFFERING here with Christ, that we may reign with him
U in glory, is a law of the moral government of God, which
many persons hav^ not learned, and are slow to learn. Cole-
ridge remarked, that the temper of the present age inclines it
to every enervating indulgence. Men appear to think the
Christian armor an unnecessary encumbrance j they have no
desire to engage in any combat, to undergo any trial : if re-
ligion is to be cultivated, it must be as one of the fine arts as
an element of belles-lettres ; they forget, or despise, the saying
of Bishop Patrick, that there is no passage to celestial glory
but by some cross ; that we must suffer with Christ, as well as
confess him^if we would be with him in paradise.
SUCCESSFUL PREACHING.
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Tim. 2 : 15.
SUCH an earnestness as becomes the Christian minister
will lead him to " study to shew " himself " approved unto
God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly divid-
ing the word of truth." The ministry, therefore, which the
Lord requires, is a studious ministry, and one given to " read-
ing ; " but all study and all reading should have direct refer-
ence to the approval of God in the great work of saving souls,
that the minister may be able rightly to divide the word of
truth, making such an application of it to saint and sinner,
awakened and unawakened, ignorant and enlightened, as shall
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 727
be applicable to the case. That kind of preaching which will
save the most, and that alone, is to be a subject of earnest;
prayerful, and persevering " study." That is the best sermon
which best answers the ends of preaching. Sometimes the
remark is made, that such a man " is a very good sermonizer,
but not a very successful preacher." Such a declaration
is a monstrous perversion of language, and at war with all
common sense, as applied to everything else than preaching.
It is like saying a man has very good eyes, but he can not see
much ; he has a very good watch, but it is not a very good
time-keeper ; and he himself is a very good physician, but he
is -not successful among the sick that is to say, he is a very
good doctor when nothing is the matter ! We can not right-
fully pronounce anything whatever to be good, only in so far
as it answers the end intended. " The tree is known by its
fruit." A minister has no right to study to please men, any
further than their pleasure is compatible with their salvation.
The Saviour himself could not please all men, and " it is enough
that the disciple should be as his Lord."
THOROUGHNESS IN PREACHING.
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God, peradven-
ture, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
2 Tim. 2 : 25.
THE best ministers can not always preach great sermons.
It is unwise for them to attempt it, and folly for their
hearers to expect it. Nor is it good policy to expend the
hours of study in each week in preparation for the next Sab-
bath's sermons. It is far better to condense occasionally into
a single sermon, or a series of sermons, the hard study of
months, and give to one's people the result of a thorough
mastery of some great subject.
An exchange gives an instructive illustration of this method
of working. A pastor devoted a long period to a careful study
of the subject of sin its nature, and effects, and cure. The
fruits of this study were given to his people in sermons which
awakened interest by their freshness and power. Soon after,
7> NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
lie treated the subject of the divinity and work of the Holy
Spirit in the same thorough way. A revival followed, in which
a hundred and fifty persons professed conversion, and their
views of doctrine and the Christian life were remarkably clear
and sound.
In forming a general plan for the year's labor, would it not
be well for every minister to select some great doctrine for
special investigation, and for sermons of a high order of merit ?
The thorough study needed for a mastery of the subject would
furnish the best kind of intellectual discipline ; and sermons
prepared in this way might profit a congregation more than
half a year's ordinary preaching. In our day, when unbelief
pervades the popular literature, it is important that the people
be instructed in the great doctrines of the Bible by men qual-
ified to teach, because they have studied them profoundly in
all their relations and bearings.
THE SNARE OF THE DEVIL.
And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who
are taken captive by him at his will. 2 Tim. 2 : 26.
HERE are men in the snare of the devil, and to recover
them out of it is the object of gospel labor.
1. The devil has a snare. This snare may be infidelity ; it
may be the pursuit of worldly wealth ; it may be worldly
pleasure, the pride of life, pursuit of power and greatness ;
it may be vicious habits, or vicious and evil company ; but
whatever form this snare takes, it is in all cases the means by
which Satan holds the soul in bondage to sin.
2. This snare has its lure. The lure, or bait, is that which
entices the unsuspecting animal into the snare. The lure of
Satan is that promise of good in this life which entices silly
souls to forsake the path of righteousness and to sin against
God. The devil promises the sinner honor, wealth, happiness,
ease, gratification of carnal desires, great success in this life,
and indemnity against punishment in the life to come. He
promised mother Eve wisdom and knowledge, and exemption
from death ; he promised Christ the kingdoms of this world ;
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 729
and he promised Achan and Judas riches, and success in their
schemes. He promises the philosophic skeptic great freedom
of reason, exalted wisdom, and a contented mind. All this is
to draw men into his snare. He tells the half-hearted profess-
or there is an easier way to heaven than that which Moses,
Daniel, and Paul trod ; and he tells the impenitent sinner there
is time enough yet.
3. This snare is covered up. " In vain is the snare spread
in the sight of any bird." The devil covers his snare, and
keeps it out of sight. If it is a doctrinal snare, he covers it
with sophistry, and makes error look plausible ; but in any
case, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride
of life, give false gildings, make sin appear pleasing, attractive,
and desirable.
4. No wonder, then, that souls are taken captive by him.
The word literally means, " taken olive by him." Ah ! yes.
They are taken in the full possession of their responsible
faculties. They are taken while they are thinking, planning,
desiring, choosing, and full of hope and anticipation, alive to
all but God, alive in the awful responsibilities of a moral agent,
but not alive to them.
5. They are taken by him " at his will," so completely are
they in the power of the devil ; so completely are they charmed,
and lulled, and deceived by Satan. His will is their will ! so
entirely disarmed of fear, drawn along by desire, and overcome
by fatal persuasion ! so attracted are they by the " baits of
pleasing ill ; " and so enervated in their power to resist, that
the will and desire of the great seducer, not their own judg-
ment or conscience, govern them. Such is their state.
Reader, art thou in the devil's snare ? Be alarmed and cry
mightily to God. Art thou tempted by his lure ? Stop short,
and fly back to Christ. Eev. F. G. Hibbard, D. D.
DENYING CHRIST THROUGH COVETOUSNESS.
For men shall lie lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. 2 Tim. 3 : 2.
CORRESPONDENT of one of our religious exchanges
says, " I once heard a conversation between a church
92
A
730 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
member and an infidel. After arguments were urged at some
length on both sides, the infidel observed to his friend that
they might as well drop the subject of conversation ; i for/
said he, ' I do not believe a single word you say, and more
than this, I am satisfied that you do not really believe it your-
self; for to my certain knowledge you have not given, for the
last twenty years, as much for the spread of Christianity
such as the building of churches, foreign and domestic mis-
sions as your last Durham cow cost. Why, sir, if I believed
the one half of what you say you believe, I would make the
church my rule for giving, and my farm the exception.' "
Many a covetous professor can profit by this rebuke.
FORM OF GODLINESS WITHOUT THE POWER.
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such
turn away. 2 Tim. 3 : 5.
IT was late in the autumn of 1867 that two sisters left their
home in the west of England to obtain medical advice in
London for the younger, who had been a sufferer for many
years. The elder sister's mind was full only of anxious
thought concerning the invalid, so that when the physician
told her that she herself was the patient most needing all his
skill and care, she almost refused to believe it.
But before many days had passed away, her increasing ill-
ness proved the truth of his opinion : then it was broken to
her that she had only a few more weeks to live ; and the sud-
den sentence of death filled her soul with astonishment and
alarm.
" It is kind of you to come to me," she said, at our first
meeting ; " but it is in vain. It is too late to do anything for
me now. Mine has been a Christless Christianity, and I must
abide by the consequences."
It was some time before she gave an explanation of this de-
spairing conviction ; but after a while she added,
" I have been a good Church woman, and have passed for a
good Christian. I have been diligent in my attendance at
church, and have cared for an excellent ministry. I have
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 731
never willingly passed by an opportunity of partaking of the
holy communion. I have given largely to religious and
charitable causes. I have admired Christianity, and have
tried to bring its precepts into my practice. But I have
never cared to know a living Saviour, to make a personal
acquaintance with him, nor to know from him that my sins
are forgiven. It is too late to seek it now. I have had the
form of godliness without the power of it. I am lost lost
for ever."
It is to be feared that the sad condition of this English lady
describes that of many nominal professors in this country
strict observers of forms of worship, but ignorant of that sav-
ing grace which alone makes the gospel of Christ the power
of God unto salvation.
GOD'S PROVIDENCE AND POOR JACK.
Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at
Lystra; what persecutions I endured; but out of them all the Lord delivered
me. 2 Tim. 3: 11.
THE following account is given by the Rev. Legh Richmond,
as having been related by a minister in a meeting of the
British and Foreign Bible Society :
A drunkard was one day staggering in drink on the brink
of the sea. His little son by him, three years of age, being
very hungry, solicited him for something to eat. The misera-
ble father, conscious of his poverty, and of the criminal cause
of it, in a kind of rage occasioned by his intemperance and
despair, hurled the little innocent into the sea, and made off'
with himself. The poor little sufferer, finding a floating plank
by his side in the water, clung to it. The wind soon wafted
him and the plank into the sea.
A British man-of-war, passing by, discovered the plank and
child ; and a sailor, at the risk of his own life, plunged into
the sea, and brought him on board. He could inform them
little more than that his name was Jack. They gave him the
name of Poor Jack. He grew up on board that man-of-war,
behaved well, and gained the love of all the officers and men.
He became an officer of the sick and wounded department.
732 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
During an action of the late war, an aged man came under his
care, nearly in a dying state. He was all attention to the
suffering stranger, but- could not save his life.
The aged stranger was dying, and thus addressed this kind
young officer : " For the great attention you have shown me, I
give you this only treasure that I am possessed of present-
ing him with a Bible, bearing the stamp of the ' British and
Foreign Bible Society/ It was given me by a lady, has been
the means of my conversion, and has been a great comfort to
me. Read it and it will lead you in the way you should go."
He went on to confess the wickedness and profligacy of his
life before the reception of his Bible ; and, among other enor-
mities, how he once cast a little son, three years old, into the
sea, because he cried to him for needed food.
The young officer inquired of him the time and place, and
found here was his own history. Reader, judge, if you can,
of his feelings to recognize in the dying old man his father,
dying a penitent under his care ! And judge of the feelings
of the dying penitent to find that the same young stranger
was his own son, the very son whom he had plunged into the
sea, and had no idea but that he had immediately perished !
A description of their mutual feelings will not be attempted.
The old man soon expired in the arms of his son. The latter
left the service, and became a pious preacher of the gospel.
On closing this story, the minister in the meeting of the Bible
Society bowed to the chairman, and said, " I am Poor Jack."
VOLTAIRE AS A TRANSLATOR.
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived. 2 Tim. 3 : 13.
PRESUMPTUOUS individuals, who venture to attack the
J7 Holy Scriptures with unpurified hearts and mere scholas-
tic learning, without being enlightened by the Holy Spirit,
are punished with confusion, blindness, and delusion. Vol-
taire was once daring enough to versify that affecting peni-
tential Psalm, the fifty-first. -Everything went well until lie
came to the tenth verse, where it is said, " Create in me a
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 733
clean heart, God." But his pride and truly infernal hatred
against God and his worshipers did not permit him, with the
royal -penitent, to entreat of God a pure and sincere heart;
however, he strove to translate the verse poetically. But sud-
denly the terrors of hell seized him ; the pen refused to move
beneath the hand of the reprobate who had indited so many
blasphemies and obscenities for the destruction of innocence
and the fear of God. He sought to flee, but could not ; he
fell half senseless on his couch, and afterward confessed sev-
eral times to his friends that he could never think of this ap-
palling occurrence without inward tremor and uneasiness.
Preface to Dr. Van Ess' New Testament.
INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE.
And that from a child them hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able
to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Tim. 3 : 15.
" finHE mother of a family," says Rev. Adolph Monod, " was
JL married to an infidel, who made jest of religion in the
presence of his own children ; yet she succeeded in bringing
them all up in the fear of the Lord.
" I asked her" one day how she preserved them from the
influence of a father whose sentiments were so opposed to her
own. This was her answer : l Because to the authority of a
father I do not oppose the authority of a mother, but that of
God. From their earliest years my children have always seen
the Bible upon my table. This holy book has constituted the
whole of their religious instruction. I was silent .that I might
allow it to speak. Did they propose a question, did they com-
mit a fault, did they perform a good action, I opened the
Bible, and the Bible answered, reproved, or encouraged them.
The constant reading of the Scriptures has wrought the prod-
igy which surprises you.' J:
73-4 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
VARIOUS READINGS.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 2 Tim. 3 : 16.
ON the plenary inspiration of Scripture, Dr. Gumming re-
marks,
" It has been objected that there are various readings in the
original of the New Testament, and Old Testament, too, and
that this shows we can not hold by the idea that the words are
inspired. Let me state the facts of the case : Michaelis, the
ablest critic perhaps that ever examined the Scriptures, la-
bored thirty years in critical researches in the manuscripts.
Dr. Kennicott labored ten years, and consulted five hundred
and eighty-one*different manuscripts, and compared them word
for word, and letter for letter. Professor Rossi examined six
hundred and eighty manuscripts ; Griesbach examined three
hundred and thirty-five for the Gospels alone ; and Scholz ex-
amined six hundred and seventy four, comparing word with
word, letter with letter. What is the result of all ? Literally
nothing ; and the very nothingness of the result is the mag-
nificent proof of the inspiration of the original. All they have
discovered is to a great extent that the aspirate should be
here, or the article should be omitted there, or a letter should
be inserted elsewhere. I will take only one of the testimonies
they have left. Eichhorn says, ' The different readings collated
by Kennicott scarcely afford enough interest to repay the la-
bor which has been bestowed upon them.' Now, what does
this prove ? It proves that God not only inspired that blessed
book, but spread over it the wing of his protecting provi-
dence from year to year and age to age. The grand fruit of
elaborate research is negative.' 7
"IN SEASON, OUT OF SEASON."
Preach the word : be instant in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. 2 Tim. 4 : 2.
T
HE good and great Dr. Chalmers on one occasion was the
guest of a nobleman near Peebles. His powers of con-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 735
versation made him the life and soul of the company, and the
subject interested the whole circle " Pauperism, its causes
and cure." Among the guests there was a venerable High-
land chief, who listened with intense interest to the gifted
speaker. It was late when the party broke up, and the apart-
ment to which the doctor was conducted was exactly opposite
to that occupied by the old Highlander. Shortly the doctor
heard an unusual sound in the chieftain's room, like a heavy
fall accompanied by a deep groan. He hastened to the apart-
ment, and there beheld a white-haired man in the arms of his
attendant, having sunk in a fit of apoplexy. The room was
soon filled by the late company, but they could do nothing for
their old friend, who breathed for a few minutes, and then
expired. Dr. Chalmers stood in silence, with both hands
stretched out, bending over the deceased, the picture of dis-
tress. When he broke silence, it was to say to the assembled
group in a tremulous voice, " Never did I see or feel till now
the full meaning of the text, ' Preach the word ; be instant in
season, out of season/ &c. Had I known that our venerable
friend was on the threshold of eternity this -evening, I would
not have dwelt on the subject of our conversation. I would
have preached to him and to you Christ Jesus and him cruci-
fied. You would have thought and pronounced it out of sea-
son ; but ah ! it would have been in season, both for him and
for you."
CORRECT VIEW OF THE PULPIT.
But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evan-
gelist, make full proof of thy ministry. 2 Tim. 4 : 5.
ON a recent Sabbath morning, Dr. Armitage, of New York,
after announcing his text, made the following very excel-
lent remarks :
" I am conscious of responsibility, and believe in banishing
from the pulpit everything but directness, earnestness, zeal,
personal religion, practical piety. Last Sabbath there sat
there (pointing to a part of the house) a lady down whose
cheeks tears were falling. She was impressed with the truth,
736 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
and took not her eyes off the pulpit during the service. This
morning her brother came to me in deep distress, and asked
me if I would attend her funeral. l Last Sabbath/ said he,
1 she was with you, listening to the word of God. She left us
during the week in perfect health. Yesterday she took her
flight from this world/ Perhaps it may be so with some here
to-day."
The sermon was direct and very impressive,, and many men
and women were to be seen weeping. No essay was read to
exhibit the art of dictionary study and nicely-rounded periods,
but, with the freedom of one whose heart has something in it,
he preached the word. Several have been converted, and
others are inquiring the way of life.
PREACHING FOR A CROWN.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day ; and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love his appearing. 2 Tim. 4 : 8.
Rev. H. Davies, sometimes called " the Welsh apostle,"
JL was walking, one Sabbath morning, to a place where he
was to preach. He was overtaken by a clergyman on horse-
back, who complained that he could not get above half a guinea
for a discourse. " 0, sir, said Mr. Davies, " I preach for a
crown ! " " Do you ? " replied the stranger ; " then you are a
disgrace to the cloth." To this rude observation he returned
this meek answer : " Perhaps I shall be held in still greater
disgrace, in your estimation, when I inform you that I am
now going nine miles to preach, and have but seven pence in my
pocket to bear my expenses out and in ; but I Jook forward to
that crown of glory my Lord and Saviour will bestow upon
me when he makes his appearance before an assembled world."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 737
PROVIDENTIAL DELIVERANCE.
Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me, that by me
the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear ; and
1 was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 2 Tim. 4 : 17.
A DMIRAL SIR THOMAS WILLIAMS, a straightforward
J\. and excellent man, was in command of a ship crossing the
Atlantic Ocean. ' His course brought him in sight of the Island
of Ascension, at that time uninhabited, and never visited by
any ship, except for the purpose of collecting turtles, which
abound on the coast. The island was barely descried on the
horizon, and was not to be noticed at all ; but as Sir Thomas
looked at it he was seized by an unaccountable desire to steer
toward it.
He felt how strange such a wish would appear to his crew,
and tried to disregard it, but in vain. His desire became more
and more urgent and distressing, and foreseeing that it would
soon be more difficult to gratify it, he told his lieutenant to
prepare to " put about ship,'' and steer for Ascension. The
officer to whom he spoke ventured to respectfully represent
that changing their course would greatly delay them that
just at that moment the men were going to their dinner ; that
at least some delay might be allowed.
But these arguments seemed to increase Captain Williams'
anxiety, and the ship was steered toward the uninteresting
little island. All eyes and spy-glasses were now fixed upon
it, and soon something was perceived on the shore. " It is
white it is a flag it must be a signal ! " And when they
neared the shore, it was ascertained that sixteen men, wrecked
on the coast many days before, and suffering the extremity of
hunger, had set up a signal, though almost without hope of
relief.
PAUL AND TROPHIMUS.
Erastus abode at Corinth, but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.
2 Tim. 4 : 20.
"mROPHIMUS have I left at Miletum sick." Did you,
_L Paul ? And why did you leave him sick, when you pos-
93
738 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
sessed the power of working miracles? Why were you so
profuse of your miracles in Melita, while you are so sparing
of them among your best friends ? For the very reason of
showing that miracles are rather for the proof of the gospel
than for the private benefit even of the heirs of glory. God
is sovereign in this as well as in everything else. Jesus healed
the ear of the high priest's servant, while Paul did not heal
his friend Trophimus.
The apostles exercised their power, not by their discretion
or caprice, but by the suggestion of the Holy Spirit. This,
then, is a providential fact, the record of which, though to
human wisdom trifling, is yet of great importance to the chil-
dren of God. They are not to expect that they will always
be free from sickness, or that their sickness will be soon dis-
missed. They have reason to trust that God will always be
with them, and will turn everything to good for them. But
they must submit to him as a Sovereign who gives no account
of his matters. Dr. Carson.
AN UNFAITHFUL PREACHER.
But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is
committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour.
Titus 1 : 3.
DR. SPRAGUE tells the following anecdote of an evangeli-
cal clergyman of the English Church, named Jones. The
story was given him by the Rev. George Burder.
Mr. Jones had a college classmate, who entered the minis-
try at the same time with himself, but was a mere man of the
world, and knew little, and cared nothing, about the true gos-
pel. This man, conversing one day with Mr. Jones, said to
him, half jocosely, half seriously,
" Why is it that you are so popular as a preacher, and so
few come to hear me, when everybody knows that at the
university I was considered greatly your superior ? "
" Why," said Mr. Jones, " the reason is, that I preach the
gospel."
" The gospel ! " said the other ; " so do I. Almost every
text I preach upon is from Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 739
Said Mr. Jones, " You may do that, and yet never preach
Jesus Christ."
" Well," said the other, "lend me one of your sermons, and
see what effect it will have."
He actually did lend him one, and he preached it, as he had
^engaged to do ; and as he was coming out of the church at
the clo,se of the service, he was accosted by a man who, in
listening to the borrowed discourse, had been thrown into a
state of anxiety in respect to his salvation.
Says the minister, somewhat confused by the strange result
of his preaching, " Wait, wait ; say nothing about it till the
people have all gone out."
After the congregation had retired, the anxious inquirer
began further to explain himself, when the clergyman inter-
rupted him by saying,
" But what is the matter with you ? I see no occasion for
making yourself so unhappy."
" Matter \ " replied he ; " why, your preaching has made me
feel like a condemned criminal, and I fear there is no mercy
for me."
"Well, really," said the minister, "I am very sorry that I
have wounded your feelings I had no intention of domg it ;
but, since you have got into this uncomfortable state, I advise
you to go and see Mr. Jones."
HIS MOUTH WAS STOPPED.
Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things
which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. Titus 1:11.
TRAVELING in the stage, a short time since, I was highly
JL amused with the various characters that came into contact.
The peculiarities of each were exhibited in the clearest point
of view by the contrast. My attention was particularly at-
tracted by the modesty, good sense, and sound principles of
a Quaker, who said little, and that to the purpose, while the
whole company was exceedingly annoyed by the incessant
prating of a conceited coxcomb, who knew everything, except
the very evident fact that every person present was disgusted
710 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
with his conduct. He was by turns a farmer, a politician, a
philosopher, and a divine. From him we learned what Satan
has preached from the beginning that the wicked shall not
surely die, and that the whole tenor of Scripture and the very
nature of the gospel teach, in the clearest and most forcible
manner, the doctrine of universal salvation ; and that any other
system of doctrines was founded on ignorance of the Bible. In*
the course of his preaching for he was, in fact, as we after-
ward learned, a Universalist preacher of much renown he
repeatedly boasted of his knowledge of Scripture, and of his
ability to quote more texts than any other person present, or
even in this country. After a while, the Quaker, who had
hitherto said nothing on the subject, cast on him a countenance
beaming with the law of kindness. " Friend," said he, " I think
I heard thee say thou art very learned in the Scriptures."
" Yes/' replied the preacher; " and who disputes it ? I'll bet a
hat that I can quote more passages than all of you together."
" Well, friend, then thou dost doubtless recollect this one pas-
sage : l Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit ? There is
more hope of a fool than of him ! ' " The effect of this reproof
was instantaneous and astonishing. It was a word fitly spoken.
The man appeared to lose at once all knowledge of Scripture
and command of his tongue. He seemed to be deaf, and he
was almost literally dumb, the remainder of the journey. I
was no less surprised than delighted to find that the words
of the wise are indeed as goads, and that the fool's mouth can
be so easily sealed up.
A JUST REBUKE.
This witness is true ; wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be
sound in the faith. Titus 1 : 13.
SIR ISAAC NEWTON set out in life a clamorous infidel ;
but, on a nice examination of Christianity, he found reason
to change his opinions. When the celebrated Dr. Edmund
Halley was talking infidelity before him, Sir Isaac addressed
him in this wise : " Dr. Halley, I am always glad to hear you
speak about astronomy, or other parts of the mathematics,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 741
because those are subjects which you have studied, and well
understand ; but you should not talk of Christianity, for you
have not studied it. I have, and I am certain that you know
nothing of the matter/" This was a just reproof, and one that
would be very suitable to be given to half the infidels of the pres-
ent day, for they often speak of what they have never studied,
and what, in fact, they are entirely ignorant of. Dr. Johnson,
therefore, well observed, that no honest man could be a Deist,
for the reason that no man could be so after a fair examination
of the proofs of Christianity. On the name of Hume being
mentioned to him, " No, sir/' said he. " Hume once owned to a
clergyman in the bishopric of Durham, that he had never read
the New Testament with attention."
A PURE HEART.
Unto the pure all .things are pure ; but unto them that are defiled and un-
believing is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Titus 1 : 15.
A PURE heart is more precious in the sight of God than
aught else on earth. A pure heart is a fair, fitly-adorned
chamber, the dwelling of the Holy Ghost ; a golden temple of
the Godhead ; a sanctuary of the only-begotten Son, wherein
he worships the heavenly Father ; an altar of the grand, divine
sacrifice, on which the Son is daily offered to the heavenly
Father. A pure heart is the throne of the Supreme Judge ;
the seat and secret chamber of the Holy Trinity ; a lamp
bearing the eternal light; a secret council-chamber of the
Divine Persons ; a treasury of divine riches ; a storehouse of
divine sweetness ; a panoply of eternal wisdom ; a cell of di-
vine solitude ; the reward of all the life and sufferings of Christ.
A pure heart is a tabernacle of the Holy Father; a bride of
Christ ; a friend of the Holy Ghost ; a delight to the eyes' of all
saints ; a sister of the angels ; a cause of joy to the heavenly
hosts ; a brother of all good men ; a terror to the devil ; a vic-
tory and conquest over all temptation ; a weapon against all
assaults ; a reservoir of divine benefits ; a treasury of all vir-
tue ; an example to all men ; a restoration of all that has ever
742 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
been lost. Now, what is a pure heart ? It is, as we have said
before, a heart which finds its whole and only satisfaction in
God which relishes and desires nothing but God; whose
thoughts and intents are ever occupied with God ; to which
all that is not of God is strange and jarring j which keeps itself,
as far as possible, apart from all unworthy images, and joys,
and griefs, and all outward cares and anxieties, 'and makes all
these work together for good for to the pure all things are
pure, and to the gentle is nothing bitter. Tauter.
LIMITED ATONEMENT. .
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.
Titus 2: II.
IT is difficult at the present day to conceive to what extent
the doctrine of the limited atonement, and the views of
election which accompanied it, were carried. I once knew a
popular minister, who used to quote the passage, " God so
loved the world." <fec., by inserting the word elect before world :
" God so loved the elect world, 77 &c. I was, in the early part
of my ministry, settled in a respectable town in Massachusetts ;
one of my members, a very worthy man, and the son of a Bap-
tist minister, and reputed to be very clear in the doctrines
(this was the term applied to this form of belief), had an inter-
esting family wholly given up to worldliness. I wished to
converse with them on the subject of personal religion, and
mentioned to him my desire. He kindly but plainly told me
that he did not wish any to converse with his children on that
subject. If they were elected, God would convert them in his
own time ; but if not, talking would do them no good ; it would
only make them hypocrites. Dr. Wayland.
A RICH POOR MAN.
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God
and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Titus 2 : 13.
NE windy afternoon I went with a friend into a country
almshouse. There was sitting before a feeble firo a very
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 743
aged man, who was deaf, and so shaken with the palsy that
one wooden shoe constantly pattered on the brick floor. But
deaf, sick, and helpless, it turned out that he was happy.
" What are you doing, Wisby ? " said my friend.
" Waiting, sir."
" And for what ? "
" For the appearing of my Lord."
" And what makes you wish for his appearing ? "
" Because, sir, I expect great things then. He has promised
a crown of righteousness to all that love his appearing."
And to see whether it was a right foundation on which he
rested that glorious hope, we asked old Wisby what it was.
By degrees he got on his spectacles, and opening the great
Bible beside him, pointed to the text, " Therefore, being justi-
fied by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of
God."
Though you possess untold wealth, if you have not old
Wisby's faith, you are a poor man ; if you have that faith, and
are " rich toward God," count it all joy if you are as poor as
Lazarus or Wisby in worldly goods. Your inheritance is as
sure as God's promise, and as glorious as a throne and a crown
can make it. Better have Wisby's hope than Victoria's scep-
ter, Lazarus' rags than Dives' purple. Better is poverty with
piety than riches with perdition. Bishop Heber.
REDEEMED FROM ALL INIQUITY.
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and
purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. Titus 2 : 14.
TESUS never enters the soul of man to drive out one or two
U sins, nor even to overcome a band of vices to the excep-
tion of others : his work is perfect, not partial ; his cleansings
are complete baptisms ; his purify ings tend to remove all our
dross, and consume all our tin. He sweeps the heart from its
dust as well as its Dagons ; he suffers not even the most insig-
nificant spider of lust to spin its cobweb, with allowance, on
74 i NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
the walls of his temple. All heinous sins and private sins,
youthful sins and manhood's sins, sins of omission and of com-
mission, of word and of deed, of thought and of imagination,
sins against God or against man, all will combine like a col-
umn of serpents in the desert to affright the new-born child of
heaven ; and he will desire to see the head of every one of
them broken beneath the heel of the destroyer of evil, Jesus,
the seed of the woman. Believe not thyself to be truly
awakened unless thou abhorrest sin in all its stages, from the
embryo to the ripe fruit, and in all its shades, from the com-
monly allowed lust down to the open and detested crime.
When Hannibal took the oath of perpetual hatred to the
Romans, he included in that oath plebeians as well as pa-
tricians ; so if thou art indeed at enmity with evil, thou wilt
abhor all iniquity, even though it be of the very lowest de-
gree. Beware that thou write not down affright at one sin as
being repentance for all. Spurgeon.
OBEY AUTHORITIES.
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magis-
trates, to be ready to every good work. Titus 3 : 1.
DURING the inauguration of General Taylor, at Washing-
ton, D. C., March 4, 1849, the police regulations, as usual,
required that after the speech of the new president had com-
menced, the gates of the Capitol grounds should be closed, and
no carriage of any kind allowed to pass until the speech was
finished, to prevent confusion.
The minister of all the Russias, M. Bodisco, was very late,
and after the speech had begun, drove up to the gate in
great haste, the horses covered with foam, when the coach-
man shouted to the guard,
" Open ze gates, iv you please."
The footman next called out, " Will you open ze gates for ze
Russian minister ? "
The guard again shook his head, without answering a word-
Next the grand minister put his head out of the carriage win-
dow, and called to the guard,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 745
" Open ze gates to ze gran minister of all ze Russias, Min-
ister Plenipotentiary, M. Bodisco ; I am ze minister." *
There was a great crowd around the gates within and with-
out, and all this fuss created quite a stir. The guard drew
himself up, and in a firm but pleasant manner, replied,
" If you were a free-born American citizen of these United
States of America, you could not pass the gate in a carriage."
The crowd came very near giving three cheers for the
guard, but better manners prevailed j and M. Bodisco stepped
out of his elegant equipage, and entered the side gate with
the sovereign people, his carriage remaining outside until all
the ceremonies were over.
"WE HAVE A MERCIFUL GOD."
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy
Ghost ; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Titus 3 : 5, 6.
HOW often do we hear the expression from the lips of
wicked persons, when conversed with on the subject of
religion, " We have a merciful God 7/t ! They say this without
any proper comprehension of the plan of salvation, or how the
mercy of God saves the sinner.
True, we have a merciful God ; but nowhere in the Bible is
there the least intimation that the mercy of God flows out in-
discriminately upon a world of sinners to the extent of secur-
ing their salvation. Temporal blessings and a gracious pro-
bation show the mercy of God very clearly ; but salvation
from sin and its consequences is regulated by the law of
God's moral government. The mercy of God is as much
directed by the divine law as the justice of God. It was the
mercy of God that provided " a way to escape " by the atone-
ment for sin which was made by the Lord Jesus Christ. God
is now approachable, and heaven obtainable, through this new
and living way. But to that sinner who despises the Lord
Jesus Christ and refuses obedience to him, the mercy of God
does not avail. St. Paul said, " Our God is a consuming fire."
94
746 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
(Heb. 12 : 29.) It would be neither mercy nor justice for God
to takfc into heaven that man who, through all his life, had re-
pudiated God's plan of saving the sinner, which is " by repent-
ance toward God and faith in the* Lord Jesus Christ."
The divine government reveals no way into heaven but by
the Lord Jesus Christ, and our faith in him is essential to our
induction into that way. Hence St. Paul said to the jailer at
Philippi, " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved." " There is none other name under heaven given
among men. whereby we must be saved." " No man cometh
unto the Father but by me." And St. Paul declares that
those who " obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the pres-
ence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." (2 Thess.
1 : 8, 9.) The mercy of God neither closes hell nor opens
heaven to that sinner who is not " putting on the Lord Jesus
Christ."
LOVE FOR THE SAINTS.
Hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and
toward all saints. Phil. 5.
A RICH merchant in St. Petersburg, at his own cost, sup-
ported a number of native missionaries in India, and gave
like a prince to the cause of God at home. He was asked one
day how he could do it. He replied, " When I served the
devil, I did it on a grand scale, and at princely expense ; and
when, by his grace, God called me out of darkness, I resolved
Christ should have more than the devil had had. But how I
can give so much you must ask of God, .who enables me to give
it. At my conversion, I told the Lord his cause would have
a part of all that my business brought me in ; and every year
since I made that promise, it has brought me in about double
that it did the year before : so that I can and do double my
gifts in his cause." Bunyan said,
" A man there was, some called him mad,
The more he cast away, the more he had."
Fosters Cyclopedia.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 747
JOY FROM REFRESHING THE SAINTS.
For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of
the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. Phil. 7.
clergy of Amida, at the instigation of the bishop, sold
_L all the gold and silver vessels of their churches in order
to supply the wants of seven thousand Persian prisoners who
were thrown into that city by the Romans in a most destitute
condition. A certain cardinal once took pity upon a poor
woman who applied to him for five crowns to pay her rent,
and he gave her five hundred because of her virtue, honesty,
and piety. Pisistratus, the Athenian, always had a servant
near him with a bag of silver coin, from which he always sup-
plied the wants of the sickly, the insolvent, &c. Cyrus said
that he had prodigious riches ; and the chief end he aimed at
in the use of them was to reward those who serve the public
faithfully, and to succor and relieve those that would acquaint
him with their wants and necessities. Pliny, a Roman orator,
though not very rich, yet by frugality bestowed great sums
of money upon his friends. A friend of his, who became in-
solvent, he became responsible for. When his friend died, his
daughter would have given him all her father's effects } but
Pliny generously forgave her all, and, besides, contributed a
large sum of money as an addition to her fortune. Julius
Caesar used to say that there was no music so charming in his
ears as the requests of his friends, and the supplications of
those in want of assistance. Marcus Aurelius says that he
could not relish a happiness which nobody shared but himself.
Marc Antony, when depressed, and at the ebb of fortune, cried
out that he had lost all, except what he had given away.
Cato, at the close of life, declared to his friends that the great-
est comfort of his old age, and that which gave him the highest
satisfaction, was the pleasing remembrance of the many
benefits and friendly offices he had done to others. L. M.
Stretch.
748 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
OBEDIENCE A MORAL OBLIGATION.
Having confidence in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou
wilt also do more than I say. Phil, 21.
TIHE first rule of the order which St. Francis founded was
implicit submission to the superior. The legend says that
one day a monk proved refractory, and must be subdued. By
order of St, Francis, a grave was dug deep enough to hold a
man ; the monk was put into it, and his associates began to
shovel in the earth, while the superior looked on stern as death.
When the mold reached the knees of the stubborn monk, St.
Francis, stooping down, asked him, "Are you dead yet?
Is your self-will dead? Do you yield? " There was no an-
swer. In the grave there seemed to stand a man with a will
as iron as his own. The burial continued to the middle, to the
shoulders, to the lips. Once more St. Francis bent down to
repeat his question, " Are you dead yet ? " The suffocating
monk saw no relenting in the stern countenance of his supe-
rior. Resistance was useless. A few moments more and the
earth would cover him. Then the iron will was broken ; the
funeral was stayed, and the submissive monk replied, "I am
dead." The monk is the type of many, some of whom yield
in the last extremity, and others go into eternity still raging
against the Supreme. Foster's Cydopcedia.
UNIVERSAL OBLIGATION.
And again, when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith,
And let all the angels of God worship him. Heb. 1 : 6.
THE command that all the angels of God should worship
the Lord Jesus Christ would also make it the duty of
men. The greater would include the less. All the great
duties of a Christian life are no more incumbent upon Chris-
tians than upon other men; for men are bound to be and
do right on the religious scale of rectitude, not because
they are Christians, but because they are men. Religious
obligations took hold of us when we were born. They
waited for us as the air did. "They have their sources
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 740
back of volition, back of consciousness, just as attraction has.
Though a man declares himself an atheist, it in no way alters
his obligations. Right and wrong do not spring from the na-
ture of the church. Obligation lies deeper than that. The
church is a mere organization to help a man fulfill his duties ;
it is not the source from whence those duties sprang. It is
as much the worldling's duty to love God and obey his laws
as the Christian's. Beecher.
DIGNITY OF BELIEVERS.
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation ? Ileb. 1 : 14.
THE high estimate set by Heaven on the true people of God
is made apparent by the fact that angels minister unto
them.
The wicked may revile them, and point at them the finger of
scorn j but angels, unspotted, noble, glorious angels love them,
appreciate them, and cheerfully do them service. The name
saint in this world, where right and wrong are confounded, and
vice bears rule, is often a term of reproach. what a differ-
ent meaning does that word convey to the mind of Him " who
seeth not as man seeth, but who looketh upon the heart," and
to the mind of intelligent heaven ! There are those now
who are ashamed to be considered Christians. Look at it.
Ashamed to be one of those to whom angels are not ashamed
to minister ! How ridiculous in the eyes of angels and of God
do such appear ! or rather, if angels could blush at what others
ought to blush at, how would they blush at such a spectacle !
No. " Let evening blush to own her stars ; " let Satan, apos-
tate, abandoned Satan, blush at the remembrance of his once
lofty perfections and dignified estate ; but let no man blush at
the name of Christian. I wonder not that the wicked are
represented at the last day as " calling upon the rocks and
mountains to fall upon them,' 7 I wonder not that, having been
ashamed of Christians and the Christian name, they should
then be ashamed of themselves, and " awake to shame and
everlasting contempt." I* wonder not at that expression,
750 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" confusion of face." I should think that there would be con-
fusion of face whenever the ungodly looked at their Maker,
their conduct, or their company.
NEGLECTING SALVATION.
How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first be-
gan to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard
him? Heb. 2:3.
MOST of the calamities of life are caused by simple neglect.
By neglect of education children grow up in ignorance.
By neglect a farm grows up to weeds and briers ; by neglect
a house goes to decay ; by neglect of sowing a man will have
no harvest ; by neglect of reaping the harvest will rot in the
field. No worldly interest can prosper where there is neglect ;
and may it not be so in religion? There is nothing in earthly
affairs that is valuable that will not be ruined if it is not at-
tended to ; and why may it not be so with the concerns of the
soul ? Let no one infer, therefore, that because he is no,t a
drunkard, or an adulterer, or a murderer, that he will be saved.
Such an inference would be as irrational as it would be for a
man to infer that because he is not a murderer, his farm will
produce a harvest, or that because he is not an adulterer,
therefore his merchandise will take care of itself. Salvation
would be worth nothing if it cost no effort, and there will be
no salvation where no effort is put forth.
SEEING JESUS.
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suf-
fering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God,
should taste death for every man. Heb. 2 : 9.
TO see Jesus clearly with the eye of faith, is to see the deep
opening a way from Egypt to freedom's shore ; is to see
the water gush full and sparkling from the desert rock ; is to
see the serpent gleaming on its pole over a dying camp ; is to
see the life-boat coming when our bark is thumping on the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 751
bank, or ground on rocks by foaming breakers ; is to see a
pardon when the noose is round our neck, and our foot is on
the drop. No sight in the wide world like Jesus Christ, with
forgiveness on his lips, and a crown in his blessed hand !
this is worth laboring for, praying for, living for, suffering for,
dying for. You remember how the prophet's servant climbed
the steeps of Carmel. Three years, and never cloud had dappled
the burning sky ; three long yea^rs, and never a dew-drop had
glistened on the grass, or wet the lips of allying flower; but
the cloud came at last. No bigger than a man's hand, it rose
from the sea, it spread ; and as he saw the first lightning's
flash, and heard the first thunder's roll, how did he forget all
his toils, and would have climbed the hill not seven, but seventy
times seven, times, to hail that welcome sight ! It is so with
sinners so soon as their eyes are gladdened with a believing
sight of Christ; when they have got Christ, and with him
peace. Dr. Gutlirie.
GOD OUR INHERITANCE.
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation per-
fect through sufferings. Heb. 2 : 10.
GOD is our inheritance. The best, the richest, the bright-
est, the most beautiful of all that is in God, of good, and
rich, and bright, and beautiful, shall be ours. The glory that
fills heaven above, the glory that spreads over the earth be-
neath, shall be ours.
" The wise shall inherit glory." (Prov. 3 : 35.) The saints
shall be joyful in glory." (Psalm 149 : 5.) That to which we
are called is "eternal glory." (1 Peter 5 : 10.) That which
we obtain is " salvation in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory."
(2 Tim. 2 : 10.) It is to glory that God is "bringing many
sons " (Heb. 2 : 10) ; so that as he, through whom we are
brought to it, is " crowned with glory and honor," so shall we
be." (Heb. 2 : 9.) We are not only " witnesses of the suffer-
ings of Christ, but partakers of the glory that shall be re-
vealed" (1 Pet. 5:1); so that the word of exhortation runs
thus: " Rejoice, inasmuch as yc are partakers of Christ's suf-
752 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
fe rings ; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad
also with exceeding joy." (1 Pet. 3 : 13.) And the promise is
not only, " If we suffer, we shall also reign with him, " but, " If
we suffer with him, we shall be also glorified together."
(Rom. 8:17.) Dr. Sonar.
"NOT ASHAMED TO CALL THEM BRETHREN."
For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one ; for
which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Heb. 2:11.
reply once made by an English embassador to a French
JL king is regarded as one of the finest retorts upon record.
The King of England had instructed his representative to sue
for the release of certain Huguenots, who had been thrown
into the Bastile for their religion. " What would your master,
the King of England, say, if I sue for the release of the pris-
oners in Newgate ? " was the French king's reply. The em-
bassador's reply was perfect in Spartan simplicity, keen wit,
courtesy, and magnanimity. He said, " Your Majesty may
have every one of them if you will claim them as your breth-
ren." But what a thought, that the Lord Jesus Christ makes
precisely this claim in behalf of all on the earth who trust in
him !
STAND FAST WHEN TEMPTED.
For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor
them that are tempted. Heb. 2 : 18.
fTVHERE is an awful intensity of meaning in the words, as
JL applied to Jesus, " He suffered, being tempted " ! Though
incapable of sin, there was in the refined sensibilities of his
holy nature that which made temptation unspeakably fearful.
What must it have been to confront the arch-traitor? to
fftand face to face with the foe of his throne, and his universe ?
But the " prince of this world " came, and found " nothing in
him." Billow after billow of satanic violence spent their fury,
in vain, on the Living Rock.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 753
Reader, you have still the same malignant enemy to contend
with, assailing you in a thousand insidious forms ; marvelously
adapting his assaults to your circumstances, your tempera-
ment, your mental bias, your master-passion ! There is no
place*where "Satan's seat" is not ; " the whole world lieth
in the wicked one." (1 John 5 : 19.) He has his whisper
from the ear of childhood ; hoary age is not inaccessible to
his wiles. " All this will I give thee," is still his bribe to
deny Jesus and to " mind earthly things." He will meet you in
the crowd ; he will follow you to the solitude ; his is a sleepless
vigilance !
Are you bold in repelling him as your Master was ? Are
you ready with the retort to every foul suggestion, " Getthee
hence, Satan ? " Cultivate a tender sensitiveness about sin.
The finest barometers are the most sensitive. Whatever be
your besetting frailty, whatever bitter or baleful passion
you are conscious aspires to the mastery, watch it, crucify
it, "nail it to your Lord's cross." You may despise "the
day of small things " the great adversary does not. He
knows the power of littles : that little by little consumes and
eats out the vigor of the soul. And once the retrograde
movement in the spiritual life begins, who can predict where it
may end ? the going on " from weakness to weakness"" instead
of " from strength to strength." Make no compromises ; never
join in ungodly amusement, or venture on the questionable
path with the plea, " It does me no harm." The Israelites,
on entering Canaan, instead of obeying the divine injunction
of extirpating their enemies, made a hollow truce with them.
What was the result? Years upon years of tedious warfare.
" They were scourges in their sides and thorns in their eyes ! "
It is quaintly but truthfully said by an old writer, " The candle
will never burn clear while there is a thief in it. Sin in-
dulged in the conscience is like Jonah in the ship, which
causeth such a tempest, that the conscience is like a troubled
sea, whose waters can not rest." Thomas Brooks.
95
754 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
PRAYER ANSWERED TO HIS RUIN.
Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts, as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the
wilderness. Heb. 3:7, 8.
A YOUNG man, whose soul was passing through the deep
J\. waters of conviction, retired to a grove to pray. Ease
from his heavy burden was all he desired, and he deliberately
asked God to give him quiet by taking his Holy Spirit from him.
It was a fearful prayer, but it was answered. He arose with
all his burden gone. For twenty years he lived on, careless
and unconcerned, and when death came to him he related this
fact in his history to a friend standing beside him. " I know,"
he said, " that I shall soon be in hell. Nothing can save me.
My doom is sealed, and yet I am quite indifferent to the fu-
ture."
Many, who do not thus pray to have the Spirit depart, do
quite as surely grieve him away. It is not by an outspoken
word or glaring act of sin, but in some very natural, easy path,
the tempter leads them off from the great highway they were
aboyt to enter.
It may be a novel, carelessly thrown in their way, that leads
them to fbrget their convictions. A party of pleasure, inno-
cent at another time, may seal their doom. Needful cares and
duties are often made the pretext for putting aside, for the
present, the concerns of the soul.
There is but one way of safety for the awakened soul.
That is, to lay aside every weight, and for the time give all
his attention to seeking the Saviour, in humble prayer and
in reading God's word. The Spirit will not fail to meet such
a seeker with heavenly blessings on his wings. 0, trifle not
with these strivings of the Spirit !
DEPARTING FROM GOD.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief
in departing from the living God. Heb, 3 : 12.
LL our mercies are to be traced up to our God, and all
our miseries to ourselves. We are constantly making
A
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
755
ourselves wretched by departing from our God, or by putting
creatures in his place. We often put persons and things in
God's stead, in reference to our affections, loving them inordi-
nately ; in reference to our dependence, trusting them instead
of him ; in reference to our worship, idolizing them instead
of adoring him ; and in reference to our expectations, expect-
ing them to relieve, comfort, or deliver, instead of him. But
insufficiency is written upon every created object. No crea-
ture can fill the place of Jehovah 5 take the richest, the wisest,
the kindest, the nearest relative or friend, and you must ex-
claim, " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." But Jehovah can
fill the place of all ; he can be instead of father, husband,
child, wealth, health, yea, of all things. Creatures may say,
Am I in God's stead? If not, why look to me? Why depend
on me ? Why expect from me ? Why grieve so to part with
me ? Am I in God's stead ? If so, he will remove me, or I
shall disappoint you.
INNOCENCE AND GUILT PICTURED.
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day, lest any of you be
hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Heb. 3 : 13.
A PAINTER, who wanted a picture of Innocence, drew the
likeness of a child at prayer. The little suppliant was
kneeling by the side of his mother, who regarded him with
tenderness. The palms of his lifted hands were reverently
pressed together ; his rosy cheek spoke of health, and his mild
blue eye was upturned with an expression of devotion and
peace. This portrait of young Rupert was highly prized by
the painter ; for he had bestowed on it great pains : he hung
it up in his study, and called it Innocence. . Years rolled
along, and the painter became an aged man ; but ,the picture
of Innocence still adorned his study walls. Often had he
thought of painting a contrast to his favorite portrait ; but
opportunity had not served. He had sought for a striking
model of Guilt, but had failed to find one. At last he effected
his purpose by paying a visit to a neighboring jail. On the
damp floor of his dungeon lay a wretched culprit named
756 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Randal, heavily ironed. Wasted was his body, worn was his
cheek, and anguish was seen in his hollow eye ; but this was
not all : vice was visible in his face, guilt was branded, as with
a hot iron, on his brow, and horrid imprecation burst from his
blaspheming tongue. The painter executed his task to the
life, and bore away the successful effort of his pencil. The
portraits of young Rupert and old Randal were hung side by
side in his study, the one representing Innocence, the other
Guilt. But who was young Rupert, that knelt in prayer by the
side of his mother in meek devotion? And who was old Randal,
that lay manacled on the dungeon floor, cursing and blasphem-
ing? Alas ! the two were one ! Young Rupert and old Randal
were the same. Led by bad companions into the paths of sin,
no wonder that young Rupert found bitterness and sorrow.
That brow which in childhood was bright with peace and joy,
in years became darkened by guilt and shame ; and that heart,
which was once the abode of happiness, afterward became the
habitation of anguish.
STEADFASTNESS TO PRINCIPLE REWARDED.
For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our con-
fidence steadfast unto the end. Heb. 3 : 14.
IN the great revival of 1857-8, a young man in the- State of
Maine, having given himself to the Lord, determined always
to stand up for Jesus, and never compromise his principles.
He soon after went west. "When sailing down the Mississippi
River in a steamboat, one night, as he was about to go to bed,
he found a party of twelve men playing cards around a table
in front of his berth. Cursing and swearing, the usual ac-
companiments of card-playing, were freely indulged.
" What shall I do ? " said he to himself. " I will go to the
captain and make complaint." He went as far as the gang-
way, when he thought to himself, " I will not complain to the
captain, but will go back and do my duty: I will offer up my
evening prayer to God."
He went back and knelt down at first to pray to himself;
but soon such a burden rested on him for others, that he be-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 757
gan to pray aloud to God to have mercy on those about him.
When he arose from prayer, the profane card-players were all
gone. He went to bed, believing he had done his duty.
A short time after this, he was walking on one of the streets
in Cincinnati, when two men crossed and came up to him, and,
taking him by the hand, said,
" Do you not know us ? "
The young man replied, " No, I do not."
" Do you not remember praying on a steamboat one night,
when we were playing cards near your berth? "
" Yes, I do."
" Well, that prayer was the means of our conversion to God,
and five more of those twelve are now rejoicing in hope through
our Lord Jesus Christ."
The Spirit of God uses man in saving men. Old South
Prayer Meeting.
UNBELIEF AS A SLIDING AGENCY.
And to whom swarc he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them
that believed not? Heb. 3 : 18.
A YOUNG man who began preaching the doctrine of univer-
sal salvation, apparently in sincerity, though soon led by
divine grace to renounce it, when once conversing with a lead-
ing member of his church, sustained an opinion he had ad-
vanced, by saying that the Bible plainly taught the same senti-
ment.
" The Bible ! " said the parishioner ; " I don't believe the
Bible !
" Don't believe the Bible ? " said the minister, in astonish-
ment. " You don't believe the Bible ? Then why did you
send for, and why do you keep me here to preach to you ? "
" Well," said the other, " to be candid, I will tell you. The
truth is, both as to myself and all 'the leaders of your congre-
gation, that we don't believe the Bible. Most of us are either
atheists or infidels, and we would like to bring all the com-
munity to our views. But such are the prejudices of educa-
tion and early impressions, that we can't and don't expect to
758 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
do all this at once. But we thought, if we could get you to
preach Universalism, and make people believe that, they would
all gradually slide over to our views, and in the end be sure
to be with us."
Such was the substance of the answer actually given, and
which was one means of awakening the preacher to see the
error of his doctrine, and to renounce it for the gospel, which
he now preaches. May it be blessed of God to others.
DELAY DANGEROUS.
To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Heb. 4 : 7.
" fTK)-DAY, if ye will hear his voice," " Now is the accepted
JL time, now is the day of salvation," are the declarations
of Scripture. There is no promise for to-morrow ; every delay
makes it so much more likely that you will always neglect the
offers of grace. This might be expected from the law of habit,
which, as every one knows, in a great degree controls our
actions. Dr. Spencer says, in one of his sermons, " Make up a
congregation of a thousand -Christians. Divide them into five,
classes, according to the age at which they became Christians.
Place in the first class all those converted under twenty years
of age, and in the fifth class all those converted between fifty
and sixty. Of your thousand Christians there were hopefully
converted, under twenty years of age, five hundred and forty-
eight ; between fifty and sixty years of age, three. But, you
ask, why stop at sixty ? Ah ! well, then, if you will have a
sixth class converted between sixty and seventy years of
age one. Just one out of a thousand Christians converted
over sixty years old ! What a lesson on delay ! "
AVOID THE WHIRLPOOL.
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the
same example of unbelief. Heb. 4 : 11.
TTNBELIEF, in leading on to open infidelity, is a whirlpool,
U as destructive to the souls of men as the one described
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 759
in this incident was to their bodies. The following is related
by the journalist of the United States Exploring Expedition,
and shows with what fearful suddenness men sometimes pass
unexpectedly from time to eternity :
" Mr. Ogden was descending the Columbia River in one of
the company's boats, with ten Canadian voyagers, all well
experienced in their duties. On arriving at the Dalles, they
deemed it practicable to run them, in order to save the por-
tage. Mr. Ogden determined, however, that he would pass
the portage on foot, believing, nevertheless, the river was in
such a state that it was quite safe for the boat to pass down.
He was accordingly landed, ascended the rocks, from which
he had a full view of the water beneath, and of the boat in its
passage. At first she seemed to skim over the waters like
the flight of a bird : but he soon perceived her stop, and the
struggle of the oarsmen, together with the anxious shout of
the bowman, soon told him that they had encountered the
whirl. Strongly they plied their oars, and deep anxiety, if
not fear, was expressed in their movements. They began to
move, not forward, but onward with the whirl. Round they
swept with increasing velocity, still struggling to avoid the
now evident fate that awaited them. A few more turns, each
more rapid than the last, until they reached the center, when
in an instant the boat, with all her crew, disappeared. So
short had been the struggle, that it was with difficulty Mr.
Ogden could realize that all had perished. Only one body out
of the ten was afterward found at the bottom of the Dalles, torn
and mangled by the strife it had gone through.
"SHARPER THAN A TWO-EDGED SWORD."
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of
the joints and marrow, and is a discernej* of the thoughts and intents of the
heart. Heb. 4 : 12.
AT a temperance meeting, held in Worcester, Mass., April
15, 1874, at which reports and letters concerning the
work were heard and read, the following letter from Mrs.
7GO NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. .
Lutlicr Hills, relating the facts concerning the death of Mr.
Simpson, of East Douglas, was read.
"We went into Mr. Simpson's saloon. I shook hands with
him, and introduced the ladies, and spoke of our coming in
love and kindness to talk with him -about his business. After
some conversation, he was asked if he would not refrain from
selling liquor; he said, 'I can not promise to;' then being
asked if he thought it right, he replied, l Just as ri'ght as to
sell groceries.' I then said, l Let us see what the word of
the Lord says.' Opening to 1 Cor. 6 : 10, I read, ' Nor
thieves, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall in-
herit the kingdom of God.' He replied, ' I knew it before,
but that does not include me.' The reply was, f We did not
expect to bring anything new, only to call to remembrance.
You said it was right to sell, but this shuts all who use it out
of the kingdom of heaven ; and you don't want to be shut out,
Mr. Simpson.' Then, turning to Habakkuk 2:15, ' Woe unto
him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle to
him, and makest him drunken also.' Then to Deuteronomy
29 : 19, 20, ( And it come to pass, when he heareth the words
of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall
have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to
add drunkenness to thirst. The Lord will not spare him ; but
then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against
that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall
lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under
heaven.'
" On looking up, his eyes were riveted on mine, and he was
very much agitated, trembling exceedingly. No further words
were given us to say ; we were all spell-bound for what
seemed a long time. At length one of the ladies said to his
partner, <I think something is the matter with him.' No
movement was made until urged the second time. He was
then removed from the counter by which he was supporting
himself, when his tongue saemed to be loosed, and he cried
out twice, ' God, have mercy on my soul ! '
" He was taken to a room back. We were about to retire,
when another cry for mercy arrested our attention ; those who
were with him begging us to stay and talk with him, all
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 761
saying it was the Holy Spirit. I said it was the word of the
Lord, ( sharper than any two-edged sword.' Comforting words
quieted his agitation. His mind was clear, but he could not
talk. He was soon taken home, and died about eleven hours
after.
" I have since visited some of the men who were there at
the time ; one of them said, to use his own words, l We were
all tied up j there's no use getting around that.' They all
looked very pale. We proceeded to the other saloons ; a
solemn stillness pervaded them, and those who were gathered
to slur at us seemed to be held by the same power. Just one
week later the saloons were all closed, and the liquor carried
out of town. I have been thus particular to show that it was
not of us, but of God ; and to him be all -the glory."
It is a fearful thing to fight against God.
OUR SINS NOT HIDDEN FROM GOD.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight ; but all things
are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Neb. 4 : 13.
T)ROFESSOR MITCHEL was once taking observations on
JL the sun, and as it neared the horizon, the great eye of his
telescope took in a hill-top, some seven miles away. On that
hill were some apple trees, and in one of them two boys were
stealing apples. They looked this way and that, but no one
was in sight. They thought themselves unobserved ; but
there, in his observatory, seven miles away, sat the professor,
noting every movement.
What an illustration of the power of that eye which never
slumbers, but which compasses " our down-sittings and up-
risings, and is acquainted with all our ways." We may learn
from it, too, that unseen eyes, which we least suspect, are
watching us all the time. There are telescopic eyes which
take note of our actions when we are far away, and suppose
that we are lost in the throngs ; but they know our goings out
and our comings in. We may go to the theater just once, and
fancy our example will hurt no one, for none of our acquaint-
96
762 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ance will know it ; " but a bird of the air shall carry it." We
may change our habitation to one far remote from a former
home, hoping that the story of evil deeds will not follow us ;
but before we are aware of it, all is open as the noonday.
The Lord has detectives ever at work, whom no vigilance can
elude. Often in the moment of greatest apparent security the
exposure cornes with overwhelming force.
Let us think of these unseen eyes when we are tempted to
walk in winding ways, instead of in the great highway of holi-
ness. Not only is our departure from the right set down
against us in God's book, but it will stand against us in the
memory of many who will be encouraged by it in their own
evil doings. Mrs. J. E. McConaugliy.
SOMETHING TO HOLD ON BY.
Seeing, then, that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heav-
ens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Heb. 4 : 14.
A WOMAN who had been a prominent lecturer on infidelity
came to her dying pillow. Being much disturbed in her
mind, her friends gathered about her and exhorted her to " hold
on to the last."
" Yes, I have no objection to holding on," said the dying wo-
man ; " but will you tell me what I am to hold on by ? "
These words so deeply impressed an infidel standing by, that
he was led to renounce his delusion.
False doctrine may satisfy the heart when in health and
vigor, but it will not do " to hold on by " in the solemn hour
of death.
" Father," said a young man, as he lay dying, " I find eter-
nal punishment, which I have so long disputed, now to be an
awful reality." At another time he said, " As soon as I am
dead, write to brother E., and to Z. T. and S. T., that the doc-
trine we have tried to propagate is an awful delusion that
it forsook me on my death-bed."
Said another under similar circumstances, " For several
years I have followed the doctrines of W. and B.," Univer-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 763
salist preachers, "and believed as they did; but I find it all a
delusion now. Tell my old friends not to trust in such a ref-
uge of lies, but to repent and be converted."
How different it was with the lovely Dudley A. Tyng,
called away so suddenly from a life of active service for the
Master. " 0, how dearly I love you all ! " he said to the
weeping ones around him. " But I would rather be with
Jesus than with my dearest ones on earth. Lay me straight
in the bed, father, and cover me up, and let me wait my
Father's time."
And there he lay, composed and sweetly at rest, waiting
for death.
HE WAS TEMPTED LIKE AS WE ARE.
For we have not a high priest which can not be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Neb. 4 : 15.
is a twofold temptation to sin, inward and outward ;
_L inwardly Christ was not tempted to sin, outwardly he was,
and with the greatest vehemency assaulted both by men and
devils to the worst of sins that ever man was ; but he always
resisted, and always overcame. 0, what a consolation is this*
unto us, under all our temptations, that Christ was in all things
tempted like unto us, but without sin ! Burkitt.
Concerning the temptation of our Lord, after his baptism by
John, in the wilderness of Judea, a modern commentator has
the following judicious remarks :
1. "In this threefold temptation there is noticeable a regu-
lar progression. The first appealed to the body ; the second,
to love of admiration ; the third, to love of power. The first,
to a mere bodily appetite ; the second, to a more honorable de-
sire of fame, founded on human sympathy ; the third, to a noble
ambition, which Satan tried to pervert. The first called for
an act seemingly miraculous ; the second, for one ostentatious
and presumptuous ; the third, for one blasphemously wicked.
The first disguised itself under an appeal to reason ; the sec-
ond sustained itself by an appeal to Scripture ; and in the
764 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
third all disguise was cast off, and Satan revealed himself.
The first was the most deceptive ; the second, the most plausi-
ble ; the third, the most audacious. In the first, Satan tried
to mislead by hiding the sin j in the second, by sanctioning
the sin because of a greater good to be accomplished by it ; in
the third, to compensate for the sin by a promised reward.
2. " Christ receives the temptation as a man, and resists it
as a man. As he is tempted in all points like as we are, so
his resistance is an example to us how to resist. He conquers
the temptation through bodily hunger, by trust in God ; the
temptation to presumption and ostentation by humble obedi-
ence to, and patient waiting on, God ; the temptation to
worldly ambition by supreme love and reverence for God :
thus in every onset it is faith in God which is the shield that
quenches the darts of the adversar} r . (Eph. 6 : 16.)
3. " We share Christ's first experience when poverty tempts
us to violate God's law that we may provide for our daily
wants ; we share the second experience when we are tempted
to neglect duties which God's providence lays upon us, or to
run into needless dangers or difficulties, or to assume un-
called-for hazards, and trust the result to God, or to make an
ostentatious display of our faith in God j we share the third
experience when we are tempted, for the sake .of power,
wealth, or influence, to conform to the world, and to employ
Satan's instruments in even seeming to do God's service.
We yield to the first temptation when we distrust God's
providential care ; we yield to the second when we presume
unwarrantably on his grace, or make a show of our reliance
on his word ; we yield to the third when we are conformed to
this world, and adopt its policies and methods, and imbibe its
spirit, for the sake of its rewards. The first sin is forbidden
by Matt. 6 : 25, the second by 6 : 1-7, the third by 6 : 24.
We resist the first temptation when we seek first the king-
dom of God and his righteousness, and trust food, raiment,
and shelter to him; we resist the second when, in humble
trust in him, we do all that God has given us power to do,
looking to him only to protect us from ills against which we
can not, by reasonable precaution, guard ourselves, and pa-
tiently waiting for him to bring about his own results in his
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 765
own time and way ; we resist the third when we make
supreme love to God the sole inspiration of our hearts, and
supreme allegiance to him the sole rule of our lives." Rev.
Lyman Abbott.
A PULPIT BAPTISM.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Heb. 4 : 16.
MY sermons yesterday were almost fully written, but I was
too full of my subject to require their aid. 0, 1 like new
light to fall upon my texts in the pulpit. It makes notes ap-
pear mean, paltry things. I remember, when living with the
Rev. Dr. Dickson, in Edinburgh, that he handed me a sermon
to read, and I went to church expecting to hear him preach
it. He took the same text, but not an idea of what he had
written and I read did he utter. At dinner he asked if I had
observed anything at church that seemed strange. I said I
had.
" What was it ? " said he.
" Why, doctor, you fook your Sunday evening text, but ut-
tered not one idea upon it you had written to preach."
" I thought you would notice, it," said he ; "I got such a
new and precious view of my text when in prayer, that I
put riot my sermon on the Bible, but spoke just as I saw and
I felt."
His wife said, " Well, doctor, I wish you would always
preach as you see and feel. I should see the truth better,
and come home feeling better, than when you read what you
have written on your text."
This will happen sometimes, but not always. When at
Great Bourton, England, I once forgot my text, and in my first
prayer had such a full and glorious view given me of those
precious words, " Therefore let us come boldly to a throne of
grace," <fcc., I could preach from them all day, I saw so much
and felt so much in them.
But God had a poor trembling sinner to save that day, by
that word, who said, " I could perish pray I dare not."
766 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
And God showed that trembling penitent then that there
was neither necessity to perish nor to restrain prayer before
him. 0, the joy that soul rejoiced in before the sermon was
ended, -to which full expression was given at the house of the
pious Deacon Knill at its close ! 0, I love the pulpit baptism.
I think God has some design in it for good to souls ; and that
is the sugar that sweetens my soul.
ATONEMENT ILLUSTRATED BY A SIMILE.
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all
them that obey him. Heb. 5:9.
Y/DNDER in the ocean, out of the track of commerce, is
JL an island. The inhabitants, though never overstocked
with provisions, are, by an unusually severe dearth, reduced
to want, and starvation seems their only doom. By some
means their destitution is known on the continent, and the
king of a great realm hastens to afford timely relief. A store-
house of provisions is established among that famishing peo-
ple. A royal proclamation is made that a great king has
come with stores for their relief. The provisions are abun-
dant and free. All are invited to come, and take to the full
extent of their necessities. .Some, yea, many, come, receive,
and live. -But others, through the agency of some evirgenius,
are prejudiced unfavorably toward this beneficent king. They
refuse to learn of the purity of his motives, and they refuse
to go and be supplied. They are urged, messengers are sent
out to every part of the island to entreat them to come ere
they die. But so strong is their hate, they refuse all entrea-
ties in their behalf, till they die. This bountiful supply was
not made in detail, just so much to one, and more to another,
but, in the aggregate, enough for all, but given to each, only
on application.
That famine -stricken island is our world. That king is our
Lord and Saviour. That storehouse is the atonement. Those
messengers are the ministers of Christ. That evil genius is
the devil. Those starving, but unwilling-to-come islanders
are the sinners who refuse the offers of mercy. Those deaths
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 767
by starvation, are not from any want of provision for them,
but because they refused to come and partake. Atonement
does not mean pardon applied, nor guilt removed, nor the sin-
ner's debt paid, nor the ultimate ends of justice satisfied ; but
it means mercy stored up for the ill-deserving. Not dispensed
in detail, but the storehouse of God's mercy filled, with all its
excellences, awaiting the approach of the needy. Without
such seeking in faith and humility, the penalty of the divine
law is as sure and as heavy as if no atonement had been
made. " For if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in
your sins."
"PRAY THAT SERMON."
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach
you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God ; and are become
such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. Heb. 5 : 12.
A YOUNG licentiate, after throwing off a highly-wrought,
and, as he thought, eloquent gospel sermon, in the pulpit
and presence of a venerable pastor, solicited of his experienced
friend the benefit of his criticism upon the performance.
" I have but just one remark to make," was his reply, " and
that is, to request you to pray that sermon."
" What do you mean, sir ? "
" I mean literally just what I say ; pray it, if you can, and
you will find the attempt a better criticism than any I can
make upon it."
The request still puzzled the young man beyond measure ;
the idea of praying a sermon was a thing he never heard or
conceived of; and the singularity of the request wrought
powerfully on his imagination and feelings. He resolved to
attempt the task. He laid his manuscript before him, and on
his knees before God, undertook to make it into a prayer. But
it wouldn't pray ; the spirit of prayer was not in it, and that
for the very good reason as he then clearly saw for the first
time that the spirit of prayer and piety did not compose it.
For the first time he saw that his heart was not right with
God ; and this conviction left him no peace until he had
"Christ formed in him the hope of glory." With a renewed
768 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
heart he applied himself anew to the work of composing ser-
mons for the pulpit, preached again in the presence of the
pious pastor who had given such timely advice, and again so-
licited the benefits of his critical remarks.
" I have no remarks to make," was his complacent reply.
" You can pray that sermon."
ENDLESS PUNISHMENT.
Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrec-
tion of the dead, and of eternal judgment. JJeb. 6 : 2.
TNTERPRETERS observe that the doctrine of Origen touch-
_L ing the period of the torments of the damned is here con-
demned (referring to Heb. 6:2); and, indeed, the primitive
fathers, not Origen himself excepted, taught the contrary.
" If we do not the will of Christ/' says Clemens Romanus,
" nothing .will deliver us from eternal punishment." " The
punishment of the damned," says Justin Martyr, " is endless
punishment, and torment in eternal fire." In Theophilus it is
" eternal punishment." Irenseus, in his symbol of faith" makes
this one article, " that God would send the ungodly and unjust
into everlasting fire." Tertullian declares that " all men are
appointed to torment or refreshment, both eternal." And " if
any man," says he, " thinks the wicked are to be consumed,
and not punished, let him remember that hell fire is styled
eternal because designed for eternal punishment; and their
substance will remain for ever, whose punishment doth so."
St. Cyprian says, " The souls of the wicked are kept with
their bodies, to be grieved with endless torments." " There
is no measure nor end of their torments," says Eusebius.
Lastly, Origen reckons this among the doctrines defined by
the church : " That every soul, when it goes out of this world,
shall either enjoy the inheritance of eternal life and bliss, if its
deeds have rendered it fit for bliss, or be delivered up to eter-
nal fire and punishment, if its sins have deserved that state."
Whtiby.
Nothing can be plainer than the fact that Clemens Roma-
nus, Barnabas, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Theophilus,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 769
and Irenseus (fathers of the first two centuries) believed and
taught the doctrine of endless punishment.
In view of these facts, what shall we think of those who
constantly affirm that the only period in which Universalism
flourished in its glory was in the apostolic age ? W.
McDonald.
SANCTIFICATION LOST AND REGAINED.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted
the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall
away, to renew them again unto repentance ; seeing they crucify to themselves
the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. Heb. 6 : 4-G.
IN that very excellent little volume, Sanctification Practi-
cal, by Rev. J. Boynton, the following lucid explanation
is given to that somewhat difficult passage in Hebrews 6 : 4-6.
It is given in the form of question and answer.
Question. " If we lose the blessing of sanctification, can we
regain it?"
Answer. " Yes, providing you have not fallen so far as to
have lost the grace of enlightenment."
" We are aware that many suppose St. Paul teaches us, in
his Epistle to the Hebrews, that if we attain to this grace, and
then fall from it, we can never regain it. It may be well, in
this connection, to examine the text referred to : ' For it is
impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have
tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the
Holy Ghost, and have tasted of the good word of God, and the
powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew
them again unto repentance ; seeing they crucify to them-
selves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.'
(Heb. 6:46.) Here are five states of grace brought to
view. They are enlightenment, conversion, the evidence of
conversion, sanctification, and the evidence of sanctification.
We may illustrate the text thus : Suppose we have a ladder
with five rounds. When we are ' enlightened ' we stand upon
the first round. This grace all men receive : l The grace of God
which bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men.' (Titus
97
770 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
2:11.) By improving upon this grace we reach the next
round, and i taste of the heavenly gift.' Now we are con-
verted. When we receive the evidence of conversion, we are
made ' partakers of the Holy Ghost. 7 Now we stand on the
third round. When we l taste of the good word of God/ we
are sanctified, and stand on the fourth round. When we taste
of the ' powers of the world to come/ we have the evidence
of sanctification, and are on the fifth round of the ladder. And,
by the way, we are sure all who ever stood there will agree
in saying that St. Paul used exactly the right words to express
the thing itself : < And have tasted the good word of God, and
the powers of the world to come.' Now, says 'Paul, f if they
fall away [which teaches that there is a possibility of falling
even from this high state of grace the evidence of sanctifi-
cation], it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance.
He does not say, if they fall from the fifth to the fourth, that
they can not regain it, nor does he say if we fall step by step
until we again stand on the first round, that we can not regain
those from which we have fallen ; but he says, * if they shall
fall away/ i. e., if those fall entirely away, so as to lose the grace
of enlightenment, when we lose this grace, the Spirit of
God has left us, and we are in darkness. No ray of light will
ever penetrate our gloom when once the Spirit of God has
taken its flight ; and without the enlightening, convincing,
drawing, and melting influences of the Spirit of God, we can
never again secure those high states of grace. When the
Spirit of God has taken its everlasting flight, our damnation
is as sure as if we were already dead, and shut up in the pit
of woe. But, on the other hand, while we are favored with
the influences of the divine Spirit, we can repent, we can
believe, we can be forgiven, adopted, sanctified. This we
understand .to be clearly taught in the Bible, and corroborated
by human experience. Hence, we repeat, if we have lost the
sanctifying grace of God, we may regain it, if we arc not so
far fallen as to have lost the grace of enlightenment."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 771
TRIALS AND ENDURANCE.
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Heb. 6 : 15.
A BRAHAM was long tried, but he was richly rewarded.
J\. The Lord tried him by delaying to fulfill his promise.
Satan tried him by temptations ; men tried him by jealousy,
distrust, and opposition; Hagar tried him by contemning her
mistress ; and Sarah tried him by her pee'vishness. But he
patiently endured. He did not question God's veracity, nor
limit his power, nor doubt his faithfulness, nor grieve his love ;
but he bowed to divine sovereignty, submitted to infinite wis-
dom, and was silent under delays, waiting the Lord's time.
And so, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
God's promises can not fail of their accomplishment. Patient
waiters can not be disappointed. Believing expectations
shall be realized. Beloved, Abraham's conduct condemns a
hasty spirit, reproves a murmuring one, commends a patient
one, and encourages quiet submission to God's will and way.
Remember, Abraham was tried ; he patiently waited ; he re-
ceived the promise, and was satisfied. Imitate his example,
and you will share the same blessing.
FLYING TO CHRIST AS THE ONLY HOPE.
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie,
we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us. Heb. 6 : 18*
T) ROTHER WISE : Another incident in the revival, of which'
JJ I wrote in my last, may not be uninteresting to the lovers
of revivals of pure religion. One evening, after the most part
of the congregation had retired, we tarried to pray with thirty
or forty broken-hearted penitents, when, to our great astonish-
ment, up rose an old atheist doctor in the gallery, and ex-
claimed, " You may think it strange, my friends, to see me rise
to speak ; but I am constrained to confess that I believe the
work going on here is the work of an Almighty God," and sat
down. Strange ? Yes, we did think it strange to hear such
772 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
a confession from the man who had been fool-hardy enough to
deny the being of God. I said in my heart that God had put
a hook in the jaws of that Leviathan and so it proved.
After this, little knots of these skeptics could be seen at dif-
ferent points, seriously inquiring if they felt anything of this
mysterious influence, which affected a greater part of the com-
munity to an extent never known before. One of the most
influential infidels of the place told me, one day, " he might
preach his doctrines till doomsday, and not see such great
results." The old doctor became very much alarmed, and
discovered in his countenance that a terrible conflict was
going on in his soul. He was asked by one of his infidel com-
panions, one morning, how he felt. " My life," he replied,
" behind me is black as hell ; an angry God is above me, and
a yawning perdition beneath me." " What are you going to do
in such a case?" was the inquiry. "I'm going to fly to 'the
Lord Jesus Christ ; if he fails me, I must sink to hell." He
did fly, and found a refuge from the storm, and so did many
others, in the same glorious work. Glory be to God for a
gospel that has a power in it to save to the uttermost.
THE ANCHOR HOLDS.
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and
which entereth into that within the vail. lleb. G : 19.
I ONCE stood upon an eminence above the sea, and saw a
home-bound vessel driven by a fearful tempest toward the
land. The waves, now lashed to fury, broke in foaming whirls
upon a reef that ran along between me and the ship. The
wind was. rising to a perfect gale. The spray came spattering
over me, and the bark was drawing closer and closer in upon
the fatal breakers. I could see the sailors raise their hands
to heaven for mercy. I could hear faint cries to God above
the booming of the ocean.
In, in upon the rocks the great ship comes ; hearts melt like
wax, and prayers ascend from thousands on the shore for her
salvation. But now the foaming brine rolls over her j she
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 773
swings around alongside of the deadly breakers ; one wave
more will dash her right upon them. It comes the mighti-
est of all ; it strikes the ship, it dashes over her, it breaks
away ; and there, 0, joy and gladness she holds still, and
firm, and steadfast. She stands to her position, and though
wave after wave comes rolling on, and breaks with deadening
weight against her sides, though the rocks are but a cable's
length from her, she rides all through the long, darkling night
in perfect safety.
What holds her there ? No saving power is visible. What
prevents the wreck and ruin ? Her massive anchor clinches
fast into a rock.
Unseen, but mighty, it resists the impetus of the storm, and.
gives those tars of ocean to their homes again.
So, like that strong iron anchor is the Christian's hope in
Jesus. Though not observed by every eye, it still clings fast to
the " Rock of Ages.' 7 Wedged into that immovable foundation,
it holds him firm and steady amidst the fluctuations and vicis-
situdes of this mortal life ; holds him when amidst the surges
of temptation, when amidst the sunken rocks of false philoso-
phy, when buffeted by the sharp winds of adversity ; holds
him when the sea of God's indignation overwhelms the wicked ;
holds him when he is brought alongside of, and hears the tre-
mendous roar of the breakers of eternity ; holds him until Jesus
clasps him in his arms, and bears him to that golden shore, be-
yond the reach of ocean storm, or wreck, or death.
GIVING TO GOD A CONDITION OF RECEIVING.
Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abra-
ham gave the tenth of the spoils. Heb. 1 : 4.
THE following incident occurred in England, and is re-
liable :
Much had been said one evening, at the meeting of a mis-
sionary society, on a blessing which always seemed to rest on
those who gave largely toward the support of Christian mis-
sions. The next morning, at breakfast, a lady gave the follow-
774 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ing account to one of the party, who were her visitors on that
occasion :
" I had three brothers," she said, " who had been brought
up with much care by my excellent father and mother. They
had endeavored to impress upon all their children the duty
and the high privilege of laying by and giving even of their
little store, to the spreading of the kingdom of our blessed
Redeemer. It happened that each of these brothers possessed
a box, in which he was accustomed to drop any small sum of
money that might be given to him. In the confusion of mov-
ing from our residence at to another house, these boxes
were, for a time, mislaid, and were long looked for in vain.
Some time' afterward, the three boxes were unexpectedly
found. The boys were delighted at the recovery of their lost
treasures, and determined at once to open their boxes. It was
rather a curious circumstance that the three boxes contained
almost the same sum of money about ten potfnds.
" My eldest brother had long wished to possess a watch ;
and without hesitation he instantly appropriated the whole x>f
the contents of his box to purchase one.
" My second brother was of a divided mind ; he accordingly
separated his money into two portions ; one he spent for his
own gratification, and the other portion he gave to some re-
ligious society.
" My youngest brother gave up all ; he reserved no portion
for his own self-indulgence, but freely and joyfully gave the
whole to the Lord.
" And now," added the lady, " I must tell you something of
the after-life of each of my brothers. The dispositions which
were then shown in so marked a way proved indicative of the
future course of each of these young men. The eldest has
been engaged in many undertakings, which seemed to promise
wealth, and he has expended large sums of money ; but he
has failed in everything ; and at the close of a long life he is a
poor man, and has been for some considerable time dependent
on the bounty of his youngest brother.
" My second brother is not poor ; but he has never been
rich, nor satisfied with his very moderate circumstances.
" I am now in mourning for my youngest brother. He died
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 775
lately, leaving one hundred thousand pounds, after having
freely given away at least as much to missions among the
heathen, and to other works of love. God prospered him in
everything that he undertook ; and he ceased not, throughout
the whole course of his life, to give freely of all that God gave
to his hand. Freely he had received, and freely and cheerfully
did he give.' 7
BUSINESS THAT GOD WILL NOT TAKE.
For he of whom these things are spoken pertaincth to another tribe, of
which no man gave attendance at the altar. Heb. 1 : 13.
A FEW years ago, as Rev. Professor Finney was holding a
series of meetings in the city of Edinburgh, many persons
called upon him for personal conversation and prayer.
One day a gentleman appeared in great distress of mind.
He had listened to Mr. Finney's sermon on the previous even-
ing, and it had torn away his " refuge of lies." Mr. Finney
was plain and faithful with him, pointing out to him the way
of life clearly, as his only hope of salvation. The weeping
man assured him that he was willing to give up all for Jesus ;
that he knew of nothing he would reserve all for Jesus.
" Then let us go upon our knees and tell God of that," said
Mr. Finney. So both knelt at the altar, and Mr. Finney
prayed: a 0- Lord, this man declares that he is prepared to
take thee as his God, and to cast himself upon thy care now
and for ever."
The man responded, " Amen," heartily.
Mr. Finney continued : " Lord, this man vows that he is
ready to give his wife, family, and all their interests up to
thee."
Another hearty " Amen " from the man. '
He went on : "0 Lord, he says that he is willing to give
thee his business, whatever it may be, and conduct it for thy
glory."
The man was silent no, response. Mr. Finney was sur-
prised at his silence, and asked, " Why do you not say ' Amen '
to this ? '
770 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" Because the Lord will not take my business, sir ; I am in
the spirit trade," he answered.
The traffic could not withstand such a test as that. " The
Lord will not take " such a business under his care. He de-
mands its destruction, as one of the mightiest obstacles to the
progress of his kingdom in the earth.
SAVED ITH UTMOST COMPLETENESS.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Ileb. 1 : 25.
HOW rich are the terms Scripture applies to salvation
through Jesus ! " He is able to save them to the utter-
most that come unto God by him." What can go further than
" uttermost " ? Dr. Clarke says, " He is able to save from the
power, guilt, nature, and punishment of sin, to the uttermost,
to all intents, degrees, and purposes, and always, and in, and
through all times, places, and circumstances ; for all this is
implied in the original word." The Dutch Bible translates
the word " perfectly ; " the German has it " for eve'r ; " Dr.
Leander Van Ess translates " complete ; " Berlenburg Bible,
" most perfectly ; " Catholic Bible (German), " eternally ; " Dr.
Stier renders it " most complete." The original word seems to
combine the two ideas of continuity and utmost completeness.
Hence Jesus saves for ever to the uttermost. But you must
come unto God by him, and keep coming all the time, which
implies a complete separation from sin and an entire conse-
cration to God. Here is full salvation for you, hungering
poul. Christ offers to you the overflowing well of salvation,
thirsty heart. You are not straitened in him ; you may receive
from his fullness grace for grace. Come and be saved for ever
to the uttermost. Evangelical Messenger.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 777
ESCAPED FROM ROMANISM.
Because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith
the Lord. Ucb. 8:9.
IT was in the year 1572 that the noise of battle was heard
around-Jouarre. It came nearer, nearer, to the very doors
of the convent. In vain did the nuns supplicate their images ;
the gates were assailed by an infuriated soldiery ; the nuns
yielded, and, driven in terror from their cloistered home,
sought a temporary shelter in the neighboring woods. Char-
lotte de Bourbon was free ! The proud self-will of her ducal
father had imprisoned her there, but her gentle mother's
prayers had " burst the gates of brass, and broken the bars
of iron in sunder." Not all the power of Romish superstition,
with a Bourbon to back it, could hinder the accomplishment
of a lonely Christian mother's prayer for her helpless child.
Yain had been all the efforts of the adversary to destroy the
seed sown in secret by a mother's voice, and watered by her
tearful supplications ; vain the enticements of a gaudy reli-
giousness ; vain the stone walls and iron gratings of the gloomy
convent ; " the snare was broken, and the prisoner escaped."
Adopting various disguises, she fled through France. Her
peril was great ; detection was death or life-long imprison-
ment ; and often was she on the eve of being discovered, but
her mother's prayers were her protection still. After many
narrow escapes she at last reached Heidelberg, where there
were Christians glad ^o receive and able to protect her from
the baffled rage of the Romish priesthood, and the vengeance
of an angry and bigoted parent. Here she made a public re-
nunciation of the Romish religion. It grieved her to the heart
to disappoint her father's wishes and purposes thus, but she
was supported by the word, " Whoso loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me." That a lady abbess, the
daughter of a duke, and of the royal house of France, should
thus sacrifice everything for the truth's sake, and contentedly
enter into obscurity, was a cause of joy to those who love the
Lord, while it was a source of bitter disappointment to the
pride of the Bourbons. But she was not long allowed to
98
778 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
remain in the obscurity she had willingly sought. William,
Prince of Orange, had heard of her piety, and the sacrifices
she had made, and, being himself a Protestant, he sought and
obtained her hand in marriage. Thus raised to a position
higher than that she had resigned for the Lord's sake, she be-
came an example alike to the ladies of her court and the lowly
mothers in their families j and if the meekness, charity, and
devotion which characterized the whole after-life of Charlotte
de Bourbon were blessed to any, it, too, was traceable to the
teaching and prayers of that mother, who, in her childhood,
had sought to lead her to Him who said, " Suffer the little
children to come unto me, and forbid them not."
As Princess of Orange, and the highest lady of rank in the
Netherlands, she had a wide sphere of opportunity for adorn-
ing her Christian profession, and thus giving glory to Him who
had loved her, and bought her with his precious blood. And
when at last the time ^of her departure arrived, she resigned
her spirit into his hands with a confidence and an assured
hope which nothing but faith in that blood could give. Surely
a Christian mother's prayers proved an unspeakable blessing
to the abbess of Jouarre.
NEGLECTED TRUTHS.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them
in their hearts ; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a peo-
ple. Heb. 8 : 10.
THERE is a feeling after sacerdotalism among many who
should know better, which most intelligent people regard
with contempt. But such errors are the common avengers
of neglected truths. The neglected truth is the priesthood
of all the saints. Let us revive and illustrate it. An idle,
selfish, corrupt clergy has always provoked the dislike and
scorn of men. But what if the priesthood of the world neglect
its duties, and prove unfaithful to its trust? For we are, if
saints at all, " a peculiar people to show forth the praises of
him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous
light." Let us keep our vows. Let us fulfill our calling.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 779
Let us offer our daily sacrifices. What hope is there for the
world if the church be useless ? What can a dead world do
if the church be lifeless? If the priests be recreant to God,
and set up the golden calf, what can come but apostasy and
judgment? Let us, in our homes, our business relations,
our givings, our labors, be holy, and to us shall be made the
promise that binds together both Testaments and both worlds
" Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord ; men shall call
you the ministers of our God." Isaiah 61 : 6. Rev. J. Hall,
D.D.
BLOOD PURIFYING.
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood ; and without shed-
ding of blood is no remission. Heb. 9 : 22.
THERE was a custom in ancient Phrygia, practiced for the
purpose of purifying, which evidently came by tradition
from the scriptural account of blood sacrifices. When a per-
son desired to be purified, he was placed by the priests in a
pit prepared for the purpose, which was covered by a plat-
form. This platform was perforated with many small holes ;
then a beast for sacrifice was brought and slain on this plat-
form, so that its blood might flow through these perforations
upon the person beneath. As the blood came down upon the
head, the hands, the feet, the limbs, and the whole person, he
was considered purified. The Bible declares, " Without shed-
ding of blood is no remission " of ^ins ; arid also, " The blood
of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. 77
DONALD AND THE DUKE.
For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are
the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in' the presence
of God for us. Heb. 9 : 24.
A PROTESTANT who rented a small farm under Alexan-
der, second Duke of Gordon, having fallen behind in his
payments, a vigilant steward, in his grace's absence, seized
780 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
the farmer's stock, and advertised it to be sold by auction on
a fixed day. The duke happily returned home in the inter-
val, and the tenant went to him to supplicate for indulgence.
" What is the matter, Donald ? " said the duke, a^ he saw him
enter, with sad, downcast looks. Donald told his sorrowful
tale in a concise, natural manner ; it touched the duke's heart,
and he produced a formal acquittance of the debt. Donald, as
he cheerfully withdrew, was staring at the pictures and im-
ages which he saw in the ducal hall, and expressed to the
duke, in a homely way, a wish to know what they were.
" These/' said the duke, who was a Roman Catholic, " are
the saints, who intercede with God for me."
" My lord duke," said Donald, " would it not be better to ap-
ply yourself directly to God ? I went to muckle Sawney Gor-
don, and to little Sawney Gordon; but if I had not come to your
good grace r s self, I could not have got my discharge, and both
I and my bairns had been turned out from house and home."
A PRACTICAL REFUTATION.
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
Eeb. 9 : 27.
A RELIGIOUS system that cowers before approaching
death will not stand in the judgment. A Christian
gentleman, one Colonel Richardson, was in a boat along with
two Universalists, on the river, some distance above the
Falls of Niagara. The Universalists began to rally the colo-
nel on his belief of future punishment, and expressed their
astonishment that a man of his powers of mind should be
so far misled as to believe the horrid dogma. The colonel
defended his opinions, and the result was a controversy, which
was carried on so long and earnestly that when they, after
some time, looked round, they found that the boat was hurry-
ing, with great rapidity, towards the falls. The Universalists
at once dropped the oars, and began to cry to God to have
mercy on them. Richardson laid hold of the oars, exerted all
his strength, and, by God's mercy, pulled ashore. When they
had landed, he addressed his companions : " Gentlemen, it is not
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 781
long since you were railing at me for believing in future pun-
ishment. Your opinion is, that when a man dies, the first thing
of which he is conscious is being in heaven : now, I want to
know why you were so terribly frightened when you thought
that in five minutes more you'd be over the falls in glory ? "
The Universalists were silent for some time ; at length one of
them, scratching his head, said, " I'll tell you what, Colonel
Richardson, Universalism does very well in smooth water, but
it will never do to go over the Falls of Niagara ! "
HOLDING TO OUR PROFESSION
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is
faithful that promised. lleb. 10 : 23.
SOLOMON charges us to " buy the truth, and sell it not."
Purchase it at any price, and part with it at none. Many
have refused to give its price, and others have parted with
it ; always infinitely below its worth. Paul, who had made
great Sacrifices to obtain this precious pearl, when writing to
the Christian Hebrews, who had also given their all for it,
said, " Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering ; for he is faithful that promised." Not a few have
done this. A poor girl, who resided on the sea-coast of Eng-
land, was asked, when dying, by a clergyman, what she thought
of Jesus: her reply was beautiful and sublime " Jesus?"
said she ; <' I cleave to him as the limpets to the rocks." Ex-
cellent girl! who does not almost envy her? Yes, the Chris-
tian will cleave to Jesus in spite of everything. The stormy
ocean, hurling its destructive fury around, only causes the
limpets to cleave to the rocks more firmly. So was it with
Job ; the more heavily his sorrows fell upon him, the more
fully did he determine, " though he slay me., yet will I trust
in him."
When tempted to desert the truth, or to renounce the cause
of Christ, " we may," says Andrew Fuller, " imagine that the
martyrs in heaven are calling to us. One may say, ' Hold it
fast; I died in a dungeon rather than forego it.' ' Hold it
fast/ says another ; ' I bled for it.' ' Hold it fast,' says a third ;
' I burned for it.' "
782 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Let this duty be considered as practically devolving ov
every one who lias named the name of Christ. Let us boldly
confess Christ, and cleave to him constantly, that so we may
humbly expect that he will own us in the presence of his Fa-
ther and an assembled universe. Such a line of conduct
ennobles us in the esteem of all holy beings, while even the
most ungodly can not despise ns ; it strengthens us for the
discharge of all duties, and makes us blessings to the world.
We thus serve the church while we live, and obtain a victory
over the last enemy when we die.
DYING WITHOUT HOPE.
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which
shall devour the adversaries. Ileb. 10 : 27.
DR. SPRING, reviewing his long ministerial career, gives
the following testimony, which is instructive, solemn, and
full of warning : " I have seen Universalists and infidels die,
and during a ministry of fifty-five years I have not found a
single instance of peace and joy in their views of eternity.
No ; nothing but an accusing conscience and the terrors of
apprehension. I have seen men die who were men of mercurial
temperament, men of pleasure and fun, men of taste and liter-
ature, lovers of the opera and the theater rather than the
house of God, and I never saw an instance in which such per-
sons died in peace. They died as they lived. Life was a
blank, and death the king of terrors; a wasted life, an undone
eternity ! " Life that ends thus was a great failure, and fore-
bodes the loss of the soul for ever.
SHE DIED WITHOUT MERCY.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three wit-
nesses. Heb. 10 : 28.
A YOUNG lady, once awakened, then becoming careless,
was seized with consumption, and said to the minister
calling upon her, " Such a time I had pardon and salvation
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 783
offered me ; but now I am a reprobate. I can not pray, and
if I could, it would not be heard." When she felt the chill
of death, she began to cry aloud, " 0, I can't die ; I am not
fit to die; you must not let me die ! If I die, I am lost for
ever ! 0, send for the doctor. Can't he save my life ?
O, must I die in my guilt?'* Her little brother burst into
tears, and said, " Why don't you pray to God ? Why don't
you pray for mercy ? " " There is no mercy for me," she an-
swered ; " I have abused mercy. When God offered me mercy,
I rejected it. Now there is no mercy for me. I have t shut
the door of mercy against myself.' " Thus she continued her
cries, growing weaker and weaker, till her voice was hushed
in death. Who shall say that for her wicked choice she had
not been given over of God ?
NO MERCY EXCEPT THROUGH CHRIST.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. ffeb. 10 : 31.
"YTOTHING so cold as lead, yet nothing more scalding if
-Li molten ; nothing more' blunt than iron, and yet nothing so
keen if sharpened. The air is soft and tender, yet out of it
are engendered thunderings and lightnings ; the sea is calm
and smooth, but if tossed with tempests it is rough above
measure. Thus it is that mercy abused turns to fury : God,
as he is a God of mercies, so he is a God of judgment ; and it
is a fearful thing to fall into his punishing hands. He is loth
to strike, but when he strikes he strikes home. If his wrath
be kindled, yea, but a little, woe be to all those on whom it
lights ; how much more when he is sore displeased with a
people or person ! Who knows the power of his anger ? says
Moses. Let every one therefore submit to his justice, and
implore his mercy. Men must either burn or turn ; for even
our God is a consuming fire.
784 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
MELANCHOLY AND TEMPTATIONS.
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense
of reward. Heb. 10 : 35.
~l TELANCHOLY Christians are in danger of Satan's tempta-
jLuL tions. Melancholy is defined to be a black humor seated
chiefly in the brain. The devil works much with his tempta-
tions upon this humor. Melancholy clothes the mind in deep
gloom, therefore unfits a Christian for the discharge of reli-
gious duties. Lute -strings will give no sound when wet : so
a Christian is out of tune for spiritual exercise when the spirit
is sad and depressed. Melancholy sides with Satan against
God. Satan tells the saint God does not love him, and the
saint believes him, and then casts away his confidence,
"which has great recompense of reward.' 7 Melancholy knocks
off the chariot wheels of the soul, and the saint loses his en-
ergy and the spirit of perseverance ; that is, to use a common
saying, " he gives up." Melancholy breeds discontent, and
discontent leads to sin, and thence to self-murder. And one
would think melancholy Christians tempt Satan to tempt
them. God save us from melancholy ! Give us happy and
cheerful spirits, sanctioned by grace ! The devil lies in am-
bush to do us mischief. He is not fully cast into prison, but
is like a prisoner on bail. He is ever ready to take his prey.
He walketh about ; he is never at ease ; he is a restless spirit.
He is like a Roman captain Hannibal speaks of: whether he
was the conqueror or the conquered, he never was quiet. He
works with his temptations upon the unbelieving. He who
doubts a Deity, or denies a hell, what sin will not such a man
be drawn into ! He is a metal that Satan can cast into any
mold dye him any color. An unbeliever like this will
stick to any sin. Paul was afraid of none so much as them
that did not believe ; he prayed to be delivered from the un-
believers in Judea. Still, Satan is not quiet ; by putting his
own coloring upon the unbeliever, he goes about, not as a
pilgrim, but as a spy. Satan follows with his temptations till
the saint is about to set his foot upon the deathless shore of
Canaan ; even then the devil tells the dying child of grace
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 785
that he is a hypocrite, and all his evidences, hitherto, of his
acceptance with God were counterfeit. It is true Satan can
not blot out the Christian's evidence of the pardoning grace
of God ; but he can throw sand in the eyes of faith, so that
we can not always see it. This Satan often does when the
saint is ready to die. Like a coward, he strikes when the
saint is down ; while death is striking at the body, he is strik-
ing at the soul.
SAVED BY BELIEVING.
But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that
believe to the saving of the soul. Heb. 10 : 39.
DR. JOHNSON could not find the primary meaning nor the
origin of the word believe. It was formed from the Gothic
Be-lifian, which is something by which a person lives. When
a man believes anything, he adapts his life to it. Hence the
great significance of this word. When a man professes to be-
lieve Christianity, and fails to conform his life to it, he thereby
shows that he does not believe what he professes. There are
many such persons, to whom Plato's use of the word opinion
may be correctly applied. Plato said that " opinion is the
half-way house between ignorance and knowledge ; " and a
great many opinions take their final lounge in the domain of
ignorance.
The important place which belief occupies in the economy
of salvation, is seen by our Lord making belief the condition
of salvation " He that believeth on the Son hath life," <fcc.
DEAD, YET LIVING.
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by
which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts ;
and by it he, being dead, yet speaketh. Heb. 11:4.
THE cedar is most useful when dead. It is the most pro-
ductive when its place knows it no more. There is no
timber like it. Firm in the grain, and capable of the finest
99
786 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
polish, the tooth of no insect will touch it, and Time himself
can hardly destroy it. Diffusing a perpetual fragrance through
the chambers which it ceils, the worm will not corrode the
book which it protects, nor the moth corrupt the garment
which it guards. All but immortal itself, it transfuses
its amaranthine qualities to the objects around it. Every
Christian is useful in his life, but the goodly cedars are the
most useful afterward. Luther is dead, but the Reformation
lives. Knox, Melville, and Henderson are dead, but Scotland
still retains a Sabbath and a Christian peasantry, a Bible in
every house, and a school in every parish. Bunyan is dead,
but his bright spirit still walks the earth in its Pilgrim's Prog-
ress. Baxter is dead, but souls are still quickened by the
Saints' Rest. Cowper is dead, but the " golden apples " are
still as fresh as when newly gathered in the " silver basket "
of the Olney Hymns. Eliot is dead, but the missionary
enterprise is young. Henry Martyn is dead, but who can
count the apostolic spirits who, phoenix-like, have started
from his funeral pile ? Howard is dead, but modern philan-
thropy is only commencing its career. Raikes is dead, but
the Sabbath schools go on. Wilberforce is dead, but the
negro will find for ages a protector in his memory. Rev.
James Hamilton.
A LIFE OF FAITH.
By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death ; and was not
found, because God had translated him ; for before his translation he had this
testimony, that he pleased God. Heb. 11:5.
A LIFE of religion is a life of faith, and faith is that strange
faculty by which man feels the presence of the invisible,
exactly as some animals have the power of seeing in the dark.
That is the difference between the Christian and the world.
Most men know nothing beyond what they see ; their lovoly
world- is all in all to them its outer beauty, not its hidden
loveliness. Prosperity, adversity, sadness, it is all the same ;
they struggle through it all alone, and when old age comes,
and the companions of early life are gone, they feel that they
are solitary. In all this deep, strange world, they never meet,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 787
but for a moment, the spirit of it all, who stands at their very
side. And it is exactly the opposite of this that makes a
Christian. Move where he will, there is a thought and a
presence which he can not put aside ; he is " haunted for ever
by the eternal mind." God looks out upon him from the clear
sky and through the thick darkness, is present in the rain-drop
that trickles through the branches, and in the tempest that
crashes down the forest. A living Redeemer stands beside
him, goes with him, talks with him as a man with his friend.
The emphatic description of a life of spirituality is, " Enoch
walked with God."
OUR FAITH PLEASING TO GOD.
But without faith it is impossible to please him. Heb. 11:6.
THE idea of faith is as widely spread over the earth as the
race of man, and is coeval with his existence upon it.
Abel, the second son of Adam, is spoken of as having faith ;
and by it he offered a more acceptable offering to God than
his older brother, Cain. The Scriptures speak of faith oftener
than of any other duty required of man, and make it more
prominent in the Christian life. So important is it, that in-
spiration has written, " But without faith it is impossible to
please him " (God). There is no subject within the range
of Christian ethics, that the individual Christian and the
organized church so much need to study, to inwardly digest,
and act upon, as the doctrine of faith. There are weakness,
loss of influence, smallriess of success, oft discouragements, -
because of the absence of faith in God, or, at best, but " little
faith." Faith lies at the foundation of personal and churchly
success in the work of God. The Christian who ventures
nothing upon faith, but depends upon " sight," upon seeing
his way clear, waiting, before acting, till he can see how an
enterprise for God can be successfully carried out, drops out
the greatest element of moral power, and lets go his hold on
Omnipotence.
More than that, to act in the cause of God without faith is
displeasing to God. For God is only pleased with our plan-
788 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ning for him, when we venture, with a true regard for his
glory, out beyond visible resources, and expect God to help
us, on in that cause which is more dear to the heart of the
Saviour than it can be to us. There is no faith where we
can see how the end can be reached according to the ordinary
course of life, for faith only begins where sight ends. Faith
prompts to progress. The individual and the organized body
of believers must " go on," or go back in declension and ruin.
The great doctrine of the Bible, confirmed by experience, is,
" Go on/ 7 or die.
KEEP THE GATE SHUT.
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he
should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing
whither he went. Jleb. 11:8.
AN English farmer was one day at work in his fields, when he
saw a party of huntsmen riding about his farm. He had
one field that he was specially anxious they should not ride
over, as the crop was in a condition to be badly injured by the
tramp of horses. So he dispatched one of his workmen to this
field, telling him to shut the gate, and then keep watch over
it, and on no account to suffer it to be opened. The boy went
as he was bidden, but was scarcely at his post before the
huntsmen came up, peremptorily ordering the gate to be
opened. This the boy declined to do, stating the orders he
had received, and his determination not to disobey them.
Threats and bribes were offered alike in vain ; one after
another came forward as spokesman, but all with the same
result ; the boy remained immovable in his determination not
to open the gate. After a while, one of noble presence ad-
vanced, and said, in commanding tones,
" My boy, you do not know me. I am the Duke of Welling-
ton, one not accustomed to be disobeyed ; and I command you
to open that gate, that I and my friends may pass through."
The boy lifted his cap, and stood uncovered before the
man whom all England delighted to honor, then answered,
firmly,
" I am sure the Duke of Wellington would not wish me to
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 789
disobey orders. I must keep this gate shut, nor suffer any
one to pass but with my master's express permission."
Greatly pleased, the sturdy old warrior lifted his own hat
and said,
" I honor the man, or boy, who can be neither bribed nor
frightened into doing wrong. With an army of such soldiers
I could conquer not only the French, but the world." And,
handing the boy a glittering sovereign, the old duke put spurs
to his horse and galloped away, while the boy ran off to his
work, shouting at the top of his voice,
" Hurrah, hurrah ! I've done what Napoleon couldn't do
I've kept out the Duke of Wellington."
Every boy is a gate-keeper, and his Master's command i*,
" Be thou faithful unto death." Are you tempted to drink, to
smoke or chew tobacco ? Keep the gate of your mouth fast
closed, and allow no evil company to enter. When evil com-
panions would counsel you to break the Sabbath, to lie, to
deal falsely, to disobey your parents, keep the gate of your
ears fast shut against such enticements ; and wheij the bold
blasphemer would instill doubts of the great truths of re voli-
tion, then keep the door of your heart locked and barred
against his infamous suggestions, remembering that it is only
the fool who " hath said in his heart, There is no God."
INSCRIPTIONS ON THE TOMBS OF BELIEVERS.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Ileb. 11 : 13.
ONE of the gloomiest tokens of the emptiness of all worldly
gayety, fashion, and power, is in the uniform tone of faith-
less despondency among the inscriptions of Pre Lachaise
itself a sadder monument than any in the field. French
vivacity and genius have found no serene thoughts to chisel
on the splendid marbles of rank and fame.
But go from Paris to Rome ; read the epitaphs of those first
Christians, who worshiped and suffered martyrdom in the
catacombs. They were cut by unlettered gravers, on rough
790 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
rocks, with rude instruments, in subterranean chambers, where
converted sand-diggers nursed the early church, and where
the indomitable confessors of Christ hid from the fierce cru-
elties of royal persecutors. Often they were scraped in haste
and in the dark j and the ill-spelled plebeian names show
how God, as his economy often is, chose the witnesses of his
religion out of lowly places, and made the weak things of the
world to confound the wisdom of the mighty. For they have
confounded it.
When the Cross had triumphed over the Praetorian eagles,
'and the despised religion of Nazareth had gone up to sit on
the throne of the Cassars, those humble gravestones were
lifted from the shadows of the catacombs into the light, and
installed in honored niches among the pomps of the Vatican.
There you may read, in impressive contrast with the formal
flatteries and inflated threnodies of more artificial days, what
phrases men who stood very near to the Master thought
worthy to be stamped on the sepulchers of their friends.
Simple, as the Saviour's beatitudes ! Brief, as if a life so
sorely straitened by trial had no time for diffuse eulogies !
Patient, as if they had lived long enough when they might
go home to their God, or when they could shed their blood for
Christ words actually written on the tomb of Marius, a young
soldier, slain for his faith ! No petulant murmurs at their
losses and separations ; no arrogant suspicions of the provi-
dential mercy ; no vengeful anathemas on their murderers ;
but such sweet, plain, sublime sentences as these, mostly
from evangelists and apostles : " In peace ; " " In Christ ; "
" At rest with God ; " " Maximius, friend of all men ; " " Gor-
gonius, enemy of none ; " " Our beautiful boy, Irenasus, borne
away by angels ; " " My husband, faithful unto death ; " "A
wife, fallen asleep in Jesus ; " " To Claudius, the well-deserv-
ing, who loved me ; " " Victorina sleeps ; " " Arethusa in
God ; " " Lanna3us, Christ's martyr, rests here ; " " Petronia, a
deacon's wife, the image of modesty. Spare your tears, and
believe that it is forbidden to weep for one who lives for God."
All speak of love and peace, victory and life eternal.
Huntingdon.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 791
WHAT A COUNTRY THAT WILL BE.
But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly ; wherefore God
is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.
Heb. 11 : 16.
SO much as moments are exceeded by eternity, and the
sighing of a man by the joys of an angel, and a salutary
frown by the light of God's countenance, a few frowns by the
infinite and eternal hallelujahs, so much are the sorrows of the
godly to be undervalued in respect to what is deposited for
them in the treasures of eternity. Their sorrows can die, but
so can not their joys. And, if the blessed martyrs and con-
fessors were asked concerning their past sufferings, and their
present rest, and the joys of their certain expectations, you
should hear them glory in nothing but in the mercies of God
and in the cross of the Lord Jesus. Every chain is a ray of
light, and every prison is a palace, and every loss is the pur-
chase of a kingdom, and every affront in the cause of God is
an eternal honor, and every day of sorrow is a thousand years
of comfort, multiplied with a never-ceasing numeration ; days
without nights, joys without sorrows, sanctity without sin,
charity without stain, possession without fear, society without
envying, communication of joys without lessening ; and they
shall dwell in a blessed country, where an enemy never en-
tered, and from whence a friend never went away. Jeremy
Taylor.
REPROACH IS WEALTH.
Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater, riches than the treasures in
Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Heb. 11 : 26.
THE Christian finds wealth in reproach far greater than the
riches of Egypt. Those riches of Egypt have all passed
away. Pharaoh's chariots and cavalry are buried in the depths
of the Red Sea. The stores of the Ishmaelite merchants, once
so large, have disappeared. The pyramids of Egypt alone
remain, as if to mark the height to which the tide of 'its mag-
nificence rose ; and to be instructive proofs to future genera-
792 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
tions how thoroughly it has ebbed away. Where the glories
of Egypt once were, are now, few and far between, caravans
passing through the desert, or pilgrims of Mecca going to the
tomb of the false prophet. The riches of Egypt have fled
away ; but the wealth of Moses endures, for unsearchable
riches never fade. Moses does not repent beside the throne,
nor regret for one moment that he preferred the reproach of
Christ to all the treasures of Egypt ; " for," it is added, in the
next place, " he had respect unto the recompense of the re-
ward." Humming.
MARTYRDOM AT ROME.
And others had trial of cruel moekings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of
bonds and imprisonment. Jleb. 11: 36.
A CORRESPONDENT of the New York Crusader, writing
from Rome, says,
" The prisons of Diocletian are deep, narrow, and damp.
No daylight shines into these caves ; no pure air is breathed
by the unfortunate inmates. The food is of the worst kind,
and better victuals can not be obtained even with money.
The prisoners are not allowed a spoon, fork, or knife ; they
are compelled to eat like brutes, and are not permitted to see
any friend or relative. These jails may be compared to hell
on earth ; the keepers are cruel, without any feeling. Here
are chained hundreds of political criminals.
" A young man from Bologna, full of genius and promising
success, called Gavazzi, and a nephew to the illustrious Cru-
sader of Italy, had been imprisoned in the Baths of Diocletian
for five years. Being reduced by tortures and privations
almost to a skeleton, the physician applied to the cardinal-
vicar to grant him a more healthy abode, asserting that the
poor youth could not live longer in his present prison. The
favor was refused. At last, on the night of February 1, the
patient grew worse ; the doctor was called for, who, on ex-
amining the languishing patriot, exclaimed that all was lost,
and there was no more hope of saving life.
" The poor victim smiled at the idea of his physician, and
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 793
said, ' If the body is lost, the soul will be saved. 7 The chap-
lain, a Capuchin friar, came to administer the sacraments, and
to read prayers ; but Gavazzi refused to confess, and would
not listen to any advice or threatenings of eternal damnation.
This mournful news reached the ears of the Holy Father, who,
professing to desire that ( one Gavazzi,' at least, should die in
the bosom of the Catholic church, dispatched to the living
tomb my lord Matteucci, who enjoys a wide reputation of be-
ing able to convert the most firm unbelievers. But even this
prelate proved of no avail. When he spoke to the young man
of Christ, the patient answered that he believed in him, but
Christ never persecuted, nor taught his ministers to persecute,
his fellow-creatures. Young Gavazzi died on the night of the
2d of February. His body was buried, as that of a heretic,
outside of the graveyard, and burned with lime !
" I am informed that the principal charge brought by the
tribunal of the Sacred Consulta against this young man, is that
of having, during the Republic of Rome, stormed, at the head
of the soldiers, the beautiful villa Patrizi, which was the earthly
paradise of the ferocious Patriz, who obtained against his foe
a condemnation of twenty years' imprisonment in the Bath of
Diocletian."
OLYMPIAN RACE.
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. ffeb. 12 : 1.
THE Olympian Games were consecrated to Jupiter, and were
held in the stadium, an immense arena of about six hun-
dred feet in length, surrounded by rising tiers of benches, to
accommodate ten thousand spectators. Upon the arena were
the judges of the course, who proclaimed aloud the names of
the competitors, and challenged any one to speak, if they knew
anything against the freedom and virtue of those who were
about to contend for the prize. These competitors had been
long in training ; they had been keeping their bodies in sub-
jection, and exercising themselves, in order that they might,
if possible, succeed on this eventful day. There is every
100
794 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
stimulus to excite their energy. Upon the pillars of the race-
course were mottoes bearing the inscriptions, " Excel," " Has-,
ten," " Finish the course." There were the judges waiting to
confer the prize on the successful competitors j there was the
sacred tripod, with the coveted prize upon it, which entitled
the wearer of it to a triumphal reception into his native city
when he returned, to be commemorated all over the world, as
he supposed ; there were the throngs of spectators all around.
The competitor looked upward. First he was bewildered by
the great cloud of witnesses whom he beheld, and then he be-
gan to recognize amongst the multitude here, princes and
consuls, with their embassadors from foreign states, vying one
with another in the splendor of their attire, and the number
of their retinue ; there, fellow-citizens, who were looking as
interested spectators, anxious for the credit of their town ;
yonder, literary men, who would describe his deeds; and there,
warriors, who, with the eye. of experience, were looking down
upon the events of that day Olympic victors, who had
already trod that arena, and won that prize. As he looked up-
ward and around, conscious that the eye of Greece and of the
world was upon him, how, at the appointed signal, did he cast
aside every weight and every incumbrance ! He loitered
not, he looked not around ; his eye was upon the goal, and
thither, with all eagerness, he urged his course. Foster's
Cyclopaedia.
LOOK TO JESUS.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy
that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. ffeb. 12 : 2.
IN every enjoyment, Christian, look unto Jesus : receive it
as proceeding from his love and purchased by his agonies.
In every tribulation, look unto Jesus: mark his gracious hand
managing the scourge, or mingling the bitter cup ; attemper-
ing it to a proper degree of severity ; adjusting the time of its
continuance ; and ready to make these seeming disasters pro-
ductive of real good. In every infirmity and failing look unto
Jesus, thy merciful High Priest, pleading his atoning blood,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 795
and making intercession for transgressors. In every prayer
look unto Jesus, thy prevailing Advocate, recommending thy
devotions, and " bearing the iniquity of thy holy things." In
every temptation, look unto Jesus, the Author of thy strength,
and Captain of thy salvation, who alone is able to lift up the
hands which hang down, to invigorate the enfeebled knees,
and make thee more than conqueror over all thy enemies.
But especially when the hour of thy departure approaches,
when thy flesh and thy heart fail, when all the springs of life
are irreparably breaking then look unto Jesus with a be-
lieving eye. Like expiring Stephen, behold him standing at
the right hand of God, on purpose to succor his people in this
their last extremity. Yes, my Christian friend, when thy
journey through life is finished, and thou art arrived on the
very verge of mortality, when thou art just launching out into
the invisible world, and all before thee is vast eternity, then,
0. then look unto Jesus. See by faith the Lord's Christ.
View him as the only " way 7? to the everlasting mansions ; as
the only " door" to the abodes of bliss. Rev. James Hervey.
THE SPOILED PAINTING.
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou
art rebuked of him. Heb. 12:5.
WHEN Sir James Thornhill was painting the inside of the
cupola of St. Paul's, he stepped back one day to see the
effect of his work, and came, without observing it, so near the
edge of the scaffolding that another step or two would have
proved his death. A friend, who was there and saw the dan-
ger, rushed forward, and, snatching up a brush, rubbed it
straight over the painting. Sir James, transported with rage,
sprang forward to save his work, and received the explana-
tion, " Sir, by spoiling the painting, I have saved the life of
the painter.''
And has not our heavenly Friend many times wrought thus
to save a soul from death ? Often, in their blind idolatry, men
have walked near the verge of utter and eternal ruin. And
when nothing else would save them, God has broken their
796 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
reverie by some strange and startling act; and when their
rage and wrath were gone, they have found that a kind heart
guided the destroying hand, and that naercy presided at the
ruin of their hopes and joys. Thus does the Lord, in his wis-
dom, mar the pride of our glory ; but who that sees the mercy
he has in view, would not praise him for his goodness ? Who
that has felt his chastening can not bear witness to his love ?
Let us murmur no more at his chastisements.
HEAVIER THE CROSS.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons ; for what son
is ho whom the father chasteneth not? lleb. 12 : 7.
HEAVIER the cross, the nearer heaven ;
No cross without, no God within :
Death, judgment, from the heart are. driven
Amid the world's false glare and din.
Oh, happy he, with all his loss,
Whom God hath set beneath the cross.
Heavier the cross, the better Christian ;
This is the touchstone God applies.
How many a garden would be wasting
Unwet by showers from weeping eyes !
The gold by fire is purified ;
The Christian is by trouble tried.
Heavier the cross, the stronger faith ;
The loaded palm strikes deeper root ;
The vine juice sweetly issueth
When men have pressed the clustered fruit;
And courage grows where dangers come,
Like pearls beneath the salt sea-foam.
Heavier the cross, the heartier prayer ;
The bruised herbs most fragrant are.
If sky and wind were always fair,
The sailor would not watch the star ;
And David's Psalms had ne'er been sung
If grief his heart had never wrung.
TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 797
Heavier the cross, the more aspiring ;
From vales we climb to mountain crest ;
The pilgrim, of the desert tiring,
Longs for the Canaan of his rest.
The dove has here no rest in sight,
And to the ark she wings her flight.
Heavier the cross, the easier dying ;
Death is a friendlier face to see ;
To life's decay one bids defying,
From life's distress one then is free.
The cross sublimely lifts our faith
To Him who triumphed over death.
Thou Crucified ! the cross I carry
The longer, may it dearer be ;
And lest I faint while here I tarry,
Implant thou such a heart in me
That faith, hope, love, may flourish there,
Till for the cross my crown I wear.
From the German.
DISCIPLINE OF THE YOUNG.
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we
gave them reverence ; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the
Father of spirits, and live? Hcb. 12 : 9.
oldest son of President Edwards, congratulating a friend
JL on having a family of sons, said to him with much earnest-
ness, " Remember there is but one mode of family govern-
ment. I have brought up and educated fourteen boys, two
of whom I brought up, or suffered to grow up, without the
rod. One of these was my youngest brother, and the other,
Aaron Burr, my sister's only son, both of whom had lost their
parents in their childhood ; and from both my observation and
experience, I tell you, sir, a maple-sugar government will
never answer. Beware how you let the first act of disobedi-
ence in your little boys go unnoticed, and, unless evidence
of repentance be manifest, unpunished."
798 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Of all the sermons I have ever heard, long or short, this has
been amongst the most useful, so far as the world is concerned.
It is a solitary lesson, to be prayerfully pondered by all parents
and guardians. The Bible lays down four great rules, involv-
ing the four great elements of the successful training of chil-
dren prayer, instruction, example, and restraint. And it
is doubted if a solitary case can be found where the child
has not followed in the footsteps of the pious parent ; while,
on the other hand, if but only one of the four has been
neglected, it may have been the ruin of the child.
Remember, Christian parents, it is not enough to pray for,
or even with, your children, if you do not also instruct them
if your own example contradicts your teaching ; and in vain
will be the prayer, the instruction, the example, if, like Eli,
when your children do wrong, you " restrain them not." But
let all be found united, and you may trust in God that he will
fulfill his promise, and that your children will grow up to
serve him, and to bless 'you for your fidelity to their highest
interests.
CHISELED TO MAKE BETTER.
Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to he joyous, but grievous ;
nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto
them which are exercised thereby. Heb. 12 : 11.
rFROUBLES are often the tools by which God fashions us for
JL better things. Far up the mountain side lies a block of
granite, and says to itself, " How happy am I in my serenity !
above the winds, above the trees, almost above the flight of
the birds ! Here I rest, age after age, and nothing disturbs
me." Yet what is it? It is only a bare block of granite,
jutting out of the cliff, and its happiness is the happiness of
death.
By and by comes the miner, and with strong and repeated
strokes he drills a hole in its top ; and the rock says, " What
does this mean? " Then the black powder is poured in, and
with a blast that makes the mountain echo, the block is blown
asunder, and goes crashing down into the valley. " Ah," it
exclaims, as it falls, "why this rending?" Then come saws
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 799
to cut and fashion it ; and humbled now, and willing to be
nothing, it is borne away from the mountain, and conveyed to
the city.
Now it is chiseled and polished, till, at length, finished in
beauty, by block and tackle it is raised, with mighty hoistings,
high in air, to be the top stone on some monument of the
country's glory.
So God Almighty casts a man down when he wants to chisel
him, and the chiseling is always to make him something finer
and better than he was before.
HOLINESS.
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see
the Lord. Heb. 12 : 14.
true signification of the term " holiness " is " wholeness."
_L In a moral sense, " entire," " complete," " perfect." Holiness
in its nature, then, is the conformity of the whole man to the
image of God. Without this there is no salvation. It can have
no substitute. None being holy by nature, it is a special work
of the Spirit, wrought in the heart, and developed in the life
actions. The doctrine that men grow up in this state from
infancy is false. All men have upon their souls the stamp of
sin, and therefore need to put on the new man which is cre-
ated in righteousness and true holiness.
Holiness is to the Christian what the heart is to the human
body the central principle the vitality of the soul pro-
pelling the " life-blood " of the gospel through the whole man.
The soul can no more live without holiness than can the body
without the heart. Holiness away, and death reigns. Evi-
dences of present holiness may be both numerous and satis-
factory. We mention a consciousness of an indwelling, living
Saviour, as among the greatest. We would in this emphasize
the term " consciousness," as this, to us, is the highest testi-
mony, and therefore conclusive. A correct conversation
shows the state of the heart. This is the stream which
exhibits the character of the hidden fountain.
Obedience to the divine commands is essential to convince
800 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ourselves and others that we are holy. Patience under trials
and afflictions brings out this great blessing to the gaze of
men and angels. Love of holy society must be realized by
constant experience, or our hope may be a fallacy. Holy souls
have an affinity for each other. Love is an attraction for all
good.
Reader, are you holy? If not, will- you seek to become
such?
HIS RIGHTS FORFEITED.
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one
morsel of meat sold his birthright. Ileb. 12 : 16.
T)EFORE a court in the province of Pesth, Hungary, a suit
JD was pending in which an aged Jew was to make a state-
ment under oath. He was ready to take the oath, when an-
other Jew arose and protested against it.
" This man dare not take an oath."
" Why not? " asked the judge.
" There exists a Hebrew prayer which contains the sentence
that l every Jew has a share in the life to come.' It is now
about twenty years ago, and I was present, when the man who
is now about to take an oath sold his ' share in the life to
come/ guaranteed to him in the prayer, to another Jew, a Mr.
Y., who paid him a certain amount of money for it. As he,
therefore, can not count any longer on a future existence, he
has nothing to fear or hope for in the life to come ; it must
be certainly indifferent to him whether he swear to a truth or
a falsehood."
The matter was examined into, and as the strange transac-
tion was found to have taken place in reality, the court
granted the protest of the old man, and the party who sold
his " share in the life to come " was declared incapable of
taking an oath.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 801
"I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE."
Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such
things as ye have ; for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee. Heb. 13 : 5.
IN these words the English language fails to give the full
meaning of the Greek ; it implies, " never, no, never ; no,
nor ever." This world is a world of " leaving, parting, sepa-
ration, failure, and disappointment." Think of finding some-
thing that will never leave nor fail. Grasp this promise, " I
will never leave thee," and store it in your heart ; you will
want it one day. The hour will come when you will find
nothing so comforting and cheering as a sense of God's com-
panionship. Stick to that word " never." It is worth its
weight in gold. Cling to it as a drowning man clings to a
rope. Grasp .it firmly, as a soldier attacked on all sides, grasps
his sword. " Never ! " Though your heart faints, and you are
sick of self- failures and infirmities even then the promise
will not fail. " Never ! " When the cold chill of death creeps
on, and friends can do no more, and you are starting on that
journey from which there is no return even then Christ will
not forsake you. " Never ! " When the day of judgment
comes, and the books are opened and eternity is beginning
even then the promise will bear all your weight ; Christ will
not let go his hold on your soul. Rev. J. C. Ryle.
CHRIST THE UNCHANGEABLE ONE.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. Heb. 13 : 8.
IN a world of change, we thirst for the permanent. We
long for identification with the unchangeable, because we
are immortal. In Jesus Christ, the changeless One amid all
changes, we have a constant and abiding refuge. The For-
giver of sins in the past is still the same in power and tender-
ness. In him there is a refuge abiding, always open, always
perfect and complete. In the changeless Christ we have a
stable arid an immutable government. A flaw would destroy
101
802 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
it. No supplementary review or amendment could add to its
perfection. Here alone is reliable and perennial friendship.
This gives us the foundation for unfailing and permanent suf-
ficiency. No exigency can arise in man's history for which
Christ is unprepared. It is not only God who continues the
same, but Jesus Christ, our Saviour, our divine Friend, in all
the tenderness of his humanity, in all the richness of his hu-
man experience. In the changeless One is presented a beauti-
ful and imperishable prospect. We can not depend upon hu-
man friendships, but we can depend upon Christ.
HE FOUND AN ALTAR FOR HIS SACRIFICE.
But to do good and to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices
God is well pleased. Heb. 13 : 16.
A RICH young man of Rome had been suffering from a
severe illness ; but at length he was cured, and recovered
his health. Then he went for the first time into the garden,
and felt as if he were newly born. Full of joy, he praised God
aloud. He turned his face up to the heavens, and said,
" thou Almighty Giver of all blessings, if a human being
could in any way repay thee, how willingly would I give up
all my wealth ! "
Hernias, the shepherd, listened to these words, and he said
to the rich young man,
" All good gifts come from above ; thou canst not send any-
thing thither. Come, follow me."
The youth followed the pious old man, and they came to a
dark hovel, where there was nothing but misery and lamenta-
tion ; for the father lay sick, and the mother wept, whilst the
children stood round naked and crying for bread. Then the
young man was shocked at this scene of distress.
But Hermas said, "-Behold here an altar for thy sacrifice !
Behold here the brethren and representatives of the Lord ! "
The rich young man then opened his hand, and gave freely
and richl} 7 to them of his wealth, and tended the sick man.
And the poor people, relieved and comforted, blessed him, and
called him an angel of God.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 803
Hermas smiled, and said, " Ever thus turn thy grateful looks
first toward heaven, and then to earth." Translated from the
German of Krummacher.
CHARACTER MADE UP OF MORSELS.
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting cov-
enant, m:ike you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you
that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be
glory for ever and ever. Amen. Heb. 13 : 20, 21.
I HAVE just come across a letter from an eminent clergy-
man to his son who was then in college, and is now one
of the most successful business -men in New York.
" It is easy, my son, to tell you how to be happy. Set your
heart on God. Say to yourself, God made me, and has a right
to me, and shall have my whole heart. Make it your business
to prepare to be useful. Do nothing merely because you love
to, unless it be right, and wise, and good. Do nothing that
you will have to deny you did. Do nothing that you will be
ashamed of having done. Do right. Do unto others as you
would that they should do to you. Be the best scholar you
can be. Lose no time ; time is money.
" Read your Bible daily, and every day pray for heavenly
wisdom. Refuse to be found in the company of vile men.
Remember that character is made up of morsels ; and every
look and gesture, word, and smile, and frown, constitutes each
its distinct morsels of that character.
" my son, you can not cease to be till the sun goes out,
and time runs out, and eternity wears out, and God shall cease
to be. Now, one that must live so long, and whose happiness
through all that long life depends wholly on character, can
not take too much pains in forming that character just right.
I embrace religion, of course, in my calculation respecting
character. What will render us estimable in the sight of God,
as well as in the sight of men, is above all price.
" It will soon be too late. The college character is fixed
the first year ; and the character for life fixed in college, and
the character for eternity fixed in early life. Now you must
804 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
love your Maker, or what can you love ? must care for what
he says, or whom can you care for or what ? How tremen-
dous are the months that are now rolling over you ! months
that will tell on your character and destiny, when myriads of
ages have rolled away.' 7
WISDOM TO LEARN THE WAY TO HEAVEN.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men lib-
erally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. James 1 : 5.
I AM a creature of a day, passing through life as. an arrow
the air. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to
God | just hovering over the great gulf ; till a few moments
hence, I am no more seen. I drop into an unchangeable
eternity ! I want to know one thing the way to heaven ;
how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has con-
descended to teach the way j for this very end he came from
heaven. He hath written it down in a book. 0, give me
that book ! At any price, give me the book of God ! I have
it. Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo
unius libri. Here, then, I am, far from the busy ways of
men. I sit down alone only God is here. In his presence
I open, I read his book, for this end : to find the way to
heaven. Is there a doubt concerning the meaning of what I
read ? Does anything appear dark or intricate ? I lift up
my heart to the Father of lights. Lord, is it not thy word,
" If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God " ? Thou
" givest liberally, and upbraidest not." Thou hast said, " If
any be willing to do thy will, he shall know." I am will-
ing to do ; let me do thy will. I then search after and con-
sider parallel passages of Scripture, " comparing spiritual
things with spiritual." Wesley.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 805
THE POISONED RING.
Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death. James 1 : 15.
A MAN who wished to buy a handsome ring went into a
jeweler's at Paris and desired to see some. The jeweler
showed him a very ancient gold ring, remarkably fine, and
curious on this account, that on the inside of it were two
little lions' claws. The buyer, while looking at the others,
was playing with this ; at last he purchased another, and went
away. But he had scarcely reached home when first his hand,
then his side, then his whole body became numb and without
feeling, as if he had had a stroke of the palsy ; and it grew
worse and worse, till the physician, who came in haste,
thought him dying. " You must somehow have taken poison,"
he said. The sick man protested that he had not. At length
some one remembered this ring ; and it was then discovered
to be what used to be called a death-ring, and which was
often employed in those wicked Italian states three or four
hundred years ago. If a man hated another, and desired to
murder him, he would present him with one of them. In the
inside was a drop of deadly poison, and a very small hole, out
of which it would not make its way except ijt was squeezed.
When the poor man was wearing it, the murderer would come
and shake his hand violently, the lion's claw would give his
finger a little scratch, and in a few hours he was a dead man.
Now, see why I told you this story. For four hundred years
this ring had kept its poison, and at the end of that time it
was strong enough almost to kill the man who had uninten-
tionally scratched his finger with the claw ; for he was only
saved by great skill on the part of the physician, and by the
strongest medicines. I thought, when I read that story, how
like this poison was to sin. You may commit a sin now, and
for the present forget it ; and perhaps ten or twelve years
hence the wound you then so to speak gave yourself may
break out again, and that more dangerously than ever. And
the greatest danger of all is, lest the thoughts of sins we have
committed, and the pleasure we had in committing them,
should come back upon us in the hour of death. Dr. J. H.
Neale.
806 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
DOERS OF THE WORD.
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own
selves. James 1 : 22.
T EARN to be working Christians. " Be ye doers of the
JJ word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. "
It is very striking to see the usefulness of many Christians.
Are there none of you who know what it is to be selfish in
your Christianity ? You have seen a selfish child go into a
secret place to enjoy some delicious morsel undisturbed by
his companions. So it is with some Christians. They feed
upon Christ and forgiveness; but it is alone and for them-
selves. Are there not some of you who can enjoy being a
Christian while your dearest friend is not, and yet will not
speak to him? See, here you have got work to do. When
Christ found you he said, " Go, work in my vineyard." What
were you hired for, if it was not to spread salvation ? What
blessed for ? 0, my Christian friends, how little you live as
though you were the servants of Christ ! How much idle
time and idle talk you have ! This is not like a good ser-
vant. How many things you have to do for yourself! how
few for Christ and his people ! This is not like a servant.
McCheyne.
PERFECTNESS OF CHRISTIANITY.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein,
he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be
blessed in his deed. James 1 : 25.
/CHRISTIANITY is perfect. " It needs no amendment or
\J change that it may be adapted to our age or any other
age." We may, on good grounds, conclude that a religion
that remains from age to age as perfectly adapted to the wants
of all men as it was in the beginning, is not only divine, but
final.
"But," says one, "how do you know that Christianity is
Avlrat all men want, and that it will suit all climes and all gen-
erations ? Are not your assertions mere dogmatism? "
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 807
How do I know that the appearance of a star of unusual
magnitude and brilliancy will awaken universal admiration ?
How did I know ; when looking at the total eclipse of the sun,
that emotions similar to my own were in millions of other
hearts ? How do I know that the sight of some grand river or
mountain will awaken in others the same feelings it awakened
in me ? That a landscape of mountain, and vale, and stream,
and woodland, of wonderful combinations, will awaken sub-
stantially the same emotions in the heart of every traveler ?
How do I know, when on the tops of the mountains of Central
America, beneath a burning sun, exhausted with weariness,
and heat, and thirst, that the waters of the cooling fountain
the natives have shown me, will be hailed by others yet to
come that way ? How do I know all this ? , I know it because
I know myself. And knowing myself, and having made the
acquaintance of Christianity as a vital and life-giving power,
I know it to be suitable everywhere, and will make the heart
rejoice for my brother, and cause man to look upward and seek
for purity, honor, immortality.
ANGER WITHOUT SIN.
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the
fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from
the world. James 1 : 27.
ONE of the late Dr. Spencer's parishioners, in Brooklyn,
New York, met him hurriedly urging his way down the
street one day ; his lip was set, and there was something strange
in that gray eye. " How are you to-day, doctor ? " he said,
pleasantly. He waked as from a dream, and replied, soberly,
" I am mad I " It was a new word for a mild, true-hearted
Christian ; but he waited, and with a deep, earnest voice went
on : "I found a widow standing by her goods thrown in the
street; she .could not pay the month's rent; the landlord
turned her out, and one of her children is going to die ; and
that man is a member of the church ! I told her to take her
things back again. I am on my way to see him."
808 NEIV TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
DRESS AS AN IDOL.
For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly
apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment. James 2 : 2.
DR. JOHNSON used to say that a gentleman ought to dress
so that after he has left you you can not remember what
he had on. This is the dictate of common sense. The man
should be so much more apparent than his clothes that he
should be thought of, and they not. Now, the Christian law is
only this maxim of good taste enlarged and consecrated. Let
the Christian dress so that Christian manhood shall not be
overlaid, disguised, or misinterpreted. Let Christians so dress
as to show that their hearts are not on these things, but
heavenly. Whatever goes to indicate the dress is a supreme
object in life, and whatever implies this, is just so far both
wrong and unchristian. There is no better definition of an
idol than that it steals the heart away from God, and when
dress does this it is as much an idol as ever Moloch was ; and
it is fast coming to be seen that it is a worship no less cruel
and bloody. Rev. Dr. Buddinyton.
EVERY SIN FORBIDDEN.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all. James 2 : 10.
ST. JAMES says, " Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and
yet offend in one point, is guilty of all." From this we
are to understand that the divine law is to be regarded as one
total and entire law : the breaking of one precept, the whole
(being a collection of precepts) is broken. It is a perfect
chain ; the breaking of one link breaks the whole chain.
A late expositor says, " The apostle does not say that this,
in fact, ever did occur; but he says that if it should, and yet a
man should have failed in only one particular, he must be judged
to be guilty." The apostle means to say, according to this
' "ii imentator, that whosoever shall perform an impossibility,
i. e., keep the whole law, and shall fail in one point in per-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 809
forming what is impossible, he shall be adjudged guilty of
failing to do what it is impossible to do. This is the logic of
this kind of theology.
Are there not the same reasons for turning from every sin
that there are for turning from any one sin ? Do we turn from
any one sin because God has forbidden it ? Why, for the same
reason, should we not turn from all sin ? He who turns from
any one sin because it is a dishonor to God, a reproach to
Christ, a grief to the Spirit, a wound to religion, is under obli-
gations to turn from all sin for the same reason. One sin has
done much harm. Only one sin has stripped the fallen angels
of all their dignity and glory. One sin only one robbed
our first parents of all their purity and power. One thief may
rob you of all your treasures. One disease may deprive you
of all your health. One dagger, plunged to the heart, kills as
effectually as ten. One spark explodes the whole magazine.
If a ship springs a leak in three places or ten, and all are
stopped but one, that one leak will sink the ship.
We can not take one sin into our bosom, and shut all the
rest out. They come in swarms, at the bidding of the lone
occupant. A little thief, put in at the window, will open the
door for fifty much larger and stronger to enter.
We should remember that a holy God will never share hon-
ors with an unholy devil. He approves of neither halting nor
halving. He will not allow us to divide our hearts between
holiness and sin, between Christ and the world. We can
not swear by God and Mammon, nor halt betwixt God and
Baal. We are required to abandon our covert as well as our
open sins, our loved as well as our loathed lusts, our baby
iniquities as well as our giant-like provocations. Rev. W.
McDonald.
SPIRITUAL LIFE BETTER THAN CEREMONIES.
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead
also. James 2 : 26.
WHEN the church grows cold, ceremonies multiply. Wor-
ship is simple in proportion to the nearness of the soul
102
810 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
to God. Ceremonies can not deceive the Almighty, nor satisfy
the longings of a sincere Christian.
When we go to our children's beds at night, and find them
warm and breathing healthfully, we make little ado. We
leave the rosy cheek reposing on the chubby hand, and the
limbs thrown about with careless grace in childish abandon
of manner. '
When they are dead, how changed the scene ! We straighten
the limbs, we place flowers in the cold hands, and wreaths
and crosses on the coffin, until the lifeless form is embedded in
fragrant blossoms, whose sweet perfume fills the air.
So, as the Holy Spirit departs, and life expires in the church,
is there not danger that pompous ceremonies, delicious music,
entrancing scenes, and pictures may be resorted to, to conceal
the fact that life has departed ?
GREAT RESULTS FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS.
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold,
how great a matter a little fire kindleth ! James 3 : 5.
THE burning of a single shop in a great city is but a small
matter comparatively a little thing ; but the results of it
may be tremendous.
About ten o'clock ; on Saturday evening, September 2, 1666,
a fire broke out in a baker's shop, near to the spot on which
the Monument of London now stands. In its commencement it
was but a little fire, and every one who saw it said it would
very soon be extinguished. Notwithstanding these favontble
predictions, it continued to spread. Adjoining houses were
soon enveloped in the devouring flame, and by noon of the
next day, John Evelyn, who was a spectator of it, writes,
" All the sky was of a fiery aspect, like the top of a burning
oven. God grant that my eyes may never behold the like,
now seeing above ten thousand houses all in one flame the
noise, and the cracking, and thunder of impetuous flames
the shrieking of women and children the hurry of peo-
ple the fall of towers, houses, and churches was like a
hideous storm, and the air about so hot and inflamed, that at
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 811
last one was not able to approach it ; so that they were forced
to stand still, and let the flames burn on, which they did for
near two miles in length and one in breadth. Thus I left it
that afternoon burning, a resemblance of Sodom or the last
day. Thus it continued its awful progress for another day or
two, and then it was found to have destroyed eighty-nine
churches, the city gates, Guildhall, several hospitals, schools,
and public libraries, a very great number of stately edifices,
thirteen thousand two hundred dwelling-houses, and upward
of four hundred streets. f Behold how great a matter a little
fire kindleth.' "
So is it with sin. Depravity feeds it, passions scatter it,
and the devil fans it.
THE TONGUE AS AN INDEX OF THE HEART.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity ; so is the tongue among our
members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of
nature ; and it is set on fire of hell. James 3 : 6.
" flHHE only edged tool that becomes sharper by constant
JL use " is the tongue. It is often a sting full of deadly
poison. It is both an offensive and defensive weapon a
shield and a spear. Some carry dirks in their pockets, others
in their mouths. The tongue of the malignant is like a masked
battery, which makes us feel fire when we can't see smoke.
There's never a spur for the tongue in all the Bible, but many
a bit. As a condition of longevity, physicians say, " Keep the
head cool and the feet warm." This is Peter's receipt for a
long and happy life : " He that will love life, and see good
days, let him restrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from
speaking guile." Physicians are accustomed to judge of the
state of the body by the condition of the tongue, assuming as
a settled principle that there is an intimate connection be-
tween the state of the tongue and the tone of the system.
The apostle James adopts a similar course. To judge of soul-
health, he looks at the tongue. If any man offend not in word,
his moral health is perfect. On the other hand, if any one seem
to be religious while the tongue is unbridled, that man's soul
is sick. Read the third chapter of James. What a delinea-
tion of the soul-sickness of the race !
812 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
GRACE AND SALVATION FROM GOD.
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud,
but giveth grace unto the humble. James 4 : G.
THIS is good news, for except the Lord give us grace we
shall never be sanctified, and unless he give us glory we
shall never be glorified. All must be the free gift of free
grace. If anything good was required of us to entitle us, we
must sit down in despair ; but now all is of divine bounty ; we
can hope ; we need not be afraid. The Lord has given grace
to thousands. He has given grace to us ; and he will give
more grace ; grace to fit for duty, grace to support in trial,
grace to sanctify the heart ; and he will give glory, which is
grace in perfection. Brethren, let us endeavor to believe
that our God is as kind, bountiful, and beneficent as his word
declares. Let us confess our sins before him, seek grace from
him, and look to be glorified with him. Our all is in God ; our
all must come from God ; and all the glory should be daily
given to God. Whenever we want grace, let us ask it of
God ; for he giveth liberally, and upbraideth not. Let us ap-
proach his throne, and be this our prayer : " Lord, give us more
grace. Give us grace daily, grace to devote us to thy service,
and fill us with holy love."
RESISTING THE DEVIL.
. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee
from you. James 4 : 7.
" T AM in the habit," said a clergyman to his friend, " of
JL ' stealing a march ; on 'the devil. I know his subtlety and
power from a sorrowful experience, and the skill with which
he adapts his temptations to our circumstances. He is not,
however, omniscient, nor can he know the thoughts of the
heart but from some outward manifestation. When engaged
in oral prayer, confessing sins, acknowledging those most be-
setting, {ind pk'uiling for special mercies, he has so much of
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 813
my spiritual history as enables him sagaciously to determine
the most plausible method of assault. Thus he takes advantage
even of my devotions to give point to his artifice. I adopt
two methods to foil him. The one is, to keep my soul in the
tuneful habit of praising God. He can take comparatively little
advantage of that. It perplexes him to hear the Christian
celebrating the majesty, the glory, and the benevolence of
God, while the exercise amazingly strengthens the Christian.
The other method is, to cultivate a habit of silent prayer, when
I walk by the way, when I sit in my house, when I am en-
gaged in ordinary business. Thus I minutely confess my
secret sins, mention my constitutional infirmities, speak of the
necessities which most press on me. God can hear, even when
no words are spoken, but Satan can only conjecture what I am
about j he is not omniscient, and can have no certain knowl-
edge of my thoughts. Thus I gain a great advantage over
him."
HUMBLED, BUT EXALTED.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
James 4 : 10.
THE grace of God truly exalts us by making us more heav-
enly minded, but really humbles us in view of our un-
worthiness. The mature Christian is characterized by great
and growing humility. He remembers " the rock " and " the
hole of the pit." He often looks back upon his path, and is
deeply humbled by the recollection of his frequent relapses
into sin, and his far more frequent failures in duty and errors
of judgment. He makes a modest estimate of his own attain-
ments. Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, calls himself " the
least of the apostles." Five years later he tells the Ephesians
he is "less than the least of all saints." The year after he
assures Timothy he is " the chief of sinners." Glorious climb-
ing ! The Christian may, indeed, have a suitable self-con-
sciousness. He may know that he is growing in grace ; but
the higher he climbs, the loftier are the heights he sees beyond.
The nearer he gets to heaven, the more he feels the contrast
between the tireless zeal of its glorified hosts and his own
8U NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
dullness. On Pisgah's topmost height he falls prostrate, and
in humble rapture cries,
" I lothe myself when God I see,
And into nothing fall,
Content if thou exalted be,
And Christ be all in all."
Bev. C. D. Foss.
PRAYER ANSWERED IN JUDGMENT.
For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or
that. James 4 : 15.
A "WIDOWED mother had an only son, who, while yet a
youth, was seized with an alarming illness. Her heart
was in the greatest tumult of grief at the prospect of his re-
moval. She sent for her minister to pray for her child's re-
covery. It was his preservation from death that was to be
the subject of the minister's petitions, rather than the mother's
submission to the will of God. Like a faithful pastor, he
begged her to control her excessive grief and solicitude, and
resign her son to God's disposal ; but to no avail ; it seemed
as if she neither could nor would give him up. Prayer was
to pluck him from the borders of the grave, whether God was
willing to spare him or not.
Her son lived ; the mother, with ecstatic joy, received him
back as from the borders of the tomb. He grew to adult
age ; but it was to die in circumstances ten thousand times
more afflictive to the mother's heart than his earlier removal
would have been. As he came to manhood, he turned out
profligate, extravagant, dishonest. His crime became capital ;
he was detected, tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged ;
and seven years from the day when that minister prayed for
his life, he went to visit this wretched mother, to be with her
and comfort her, if, indeed, her heart could receive consolation
on the day of his execution.
0, widow, is there not a heavier calamity than the death, in
ordinary circumstances, of an only son? I would not for a
moment suggest that it is probable your son would have come
to this, but it is possible ; or, if not to this, yet to something
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 815
that would have embittered all your future days. Would not
this distressed woman look with envy upon others whose
children had died in honor and reputation, and think their
affliction not worthy of the name, compared with hers ? Would
she not look back with deep compunction upon her own rebel-
lious grief and unwillingness to give up her child at the will
of God? James.
SORROWS OF THE RICH.
Go to, now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come
upon you. James 5 : 1.
"VTEVER envy any man. All have their burdens, and " he
\ that tempereth the wind to the shorn lamb " hath en-
dowed habit with the power of alleviating the heaviest loads.
The other day there was a splendid funeral in the street, a
few doors below the house in which I live. All the hideous
pageantry, which increases the horrors of death, was assem-
bled. The crowd was numerous. The luxurious mansion of
the great banker was one great funeral chamber. The banker
is worth a million of dollars. His average income is a hun-
dred and twenty thousand dollars. He is the head of a joint
stock banking company, which enables him to dispose of ten
million dollars at his pleasure. He is one of the lions of
"Change." Don't you envy him? 0, no; don't envy him ;
he has his sorrows, as well as anybody ; for 'twas only six
months ago the undertaker laid his third son, then nineteen,
in the grave ; the other day his second son was carried away
by the same somber tradesman to the graveyard, though the
boy was one and twenty. His oldest daughter is a hunch-
back, and is in declining health. His second daughter is bed-
ridden with consumption, and will surprise the doctors if she
outlives the winter. The banker himself is blind from over
labor ; he has been known to pass twenty days without once
undressing and sleeping in a bed ; all his repose being a few
hours of feverish slumber snatched from corroding cares a
respite passed on a sofa. 0, don't envy the rich banker, though
his coffers overflow with gold, for it avails little to him ; and
816 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
though, as I grant ye, the resonant chime of coin, tossed
about as so much trash in his cash office, sounds musically to
the ear, yet the oft-heard passing bell and doctor's tread, com-
mon in that house as the resonance of gold, destroy effects,
except the painful contrast between the emptiness of human
vanity and ambition ! So, envy no man.
A SOUL DESTROYED BY COVETOUSNESS.
Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness
against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure
together for the last days. James 5 : 3.
/CONCERNING- covetousness, an eloquent writer has said,
\J To the soul which harbors it this is a most narrowing and
corrupting passion. It is the upas of the heart. It exhales
poison upon all the virtues, so that no one among them all can
have a normal growth in its presence, and many of them
shrivel and die. It warps the judgment, and dulls the ear of
conscience to the plainest demands of duty. It is the most
irremediable of all vices, strengthening with advancing years,
until it obtains complete mastery of the soul.
Take the case of a strictly honest man possessed by this
passion. He becomes the very type of rapacious grasping,
greedy hoarding, and intolerable meanness. On a recent rail-
road ride, a plain, intelligent old gentleman, whom I invited
to share my seat, gave me the history of such a man, a Ger-
man by birth, who began his career in his adopted country
penniless. He invested the first few hundred dollars he saved
in a small farm in Western New York. To this he added from
year to year, until he became known as one of the most thrifty
farmers in all the state. He shaved notes. He took advan-
tage of his neighbors 7 necessities in buying and selling cattle
and lands. His life was an " enormous suction " of everything
within his reach. After he became a millionnaire, he would
mow all day at the head of his twenty men, and keep his ac-
counts nights and Sundays. He never was known to give a
dollar to any benevolent object. At last he died, " as a fool
dieth," from overwork in carrying railroad ties upon his
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 817
shoulders from morning to night for two weeks, in order to
show a posse of men in his employ that the timbers were
not too heavy for one man to handle. He left one million
eight hundred thousand dollars personal property, besides his
immense farms. Jeremiah must have had such a man before
his eye when he wrote, " As the partridge sitteth on eggs and
hatcheth them not /M (the poor silly bird not knowing that the'y
were addled from the start), " so he that getteth riches, and
not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and, . at
his end shall be a fool." Rev. Cyrus D. Foss.
HURTFUL PLEASURES FORBIDDEN.
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton ; ye have nour-
ished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. James 5 : 5.
A MUSEMENT, relaxation, innocent gayety, hilarity, spor-
1JL tiveness, is a gospel duty. There is a time to laugh. But
it is one of the gravest mistakes of our age and country that it
knows so little of amusements, and has gone almost exclu-
sively into dissipation in their stead. With that the true
Christian plainly has nothing to do but to discountenance,
and if the way is hedged up against reformation, to withdraw
from it utterly. Dissipation is not among things indifferent.
Gay parties lasting till past midnight, in which everybody is
over-dressed or under-dressed ; in which dances handed down
from those of the children of Israel around the golden calf -are
the main attractions; theaters, operas, and races, these are
not things indifferent, these are not amusements, but gross
abuses, by which, in the false guise of amusement, body and
soul are damaged, spirituality rendered impossible, and our
eternal well-being put in jeopardy. Toward all these a'Chris-
tian has but one simple duty Touch not, taste not, handle
not. Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith
the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.
103
818 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
SWEARING A GREAT AND COMMON SIN.
But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither
by the earth, neither by any other oath ; but let your yea be yea, and your
nay, nay, lest ye fall into condemnation. James 5 : 12.
THE most truthful and straightforward article on this dis-
gusting habit that we have ever read, is the following,
whose author's name we are not acquainted with : " It is no
mark of a gentleman to swear. The most worthless and vile,
the refuse of mankind, the drunkard and the prostitute, swear
as well as the best dressed and educated gentleman. No par-
ticular endowments are requisite to give a finish to the art of
cursing. The basest and meanest of mankind swear with as
much tact and skill as the most refined ; and he that wishes to
degrade himself to the very lowest level of pollution and
shame should learn to be a common swearer. Any man has
talents enough to learn to curse God, and imprecate perdition
on fellow-men. Profane swearing never did any man any
good. No man is the richer, or wiser, or happier for it. It
helps no one's education or manners. It commends no one to
any society. It is disgusting to the refined, abominable to
the good, degrading to the mind, unprofitable, needless, and
injurious to society. Wantonly to profane his name, to call
down his vengeance, and to curse him, is perhaps of all of-
fenses the most awful in the sight of God."
EFFICACY OF PRAYER IN HEALING THE SICK.
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him
up ; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. James 5 : !.">.
REV. C. G. FINNEY, ex-president of Oberlin College, Ohio,
and who for many years was a distinguished revivalist,
in writing to a friend of his in Troy, N. Y., under date of
Oberlin, November 11, 1872, gives the following remarkable
instance of the efficacy of prayer in healing the sick. He
says,
" You remember Mrs. Miller, sister of Deacon Andrews, and
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 819
wife of Rev. Mr. Miller. She has been a great sufferer from
rheumatism for .thirty years'. She inherited it from her par-
ents. For seven years she has not walked without the aid of
crutches, and has been carried about, unable to go anywhere
or to do anything except on crutches. About six or eight
weeks ago she was entirely and instantly cured in answer to
prayer. She had been growing worse as the fall weather
came on. She was using no remedies, and had accepted her
lameness, and had had for a long time no expectation of ever
being any better. She has long been a praying woman, and
one of our -best. Of late a spirit of inquiry and of faith has
sprung up in our midst, in regard to this question of healing
in answer to the prayer of faith. Some striking cases of the
kind have occurred here within the past few months. Mrs.
Miller finally found herself able to believe in the healing
power. It was at a time of more than ordinary suffering.
She and a sister united in prayer for healing. She felt a
mysterious power resting upon her. The pain suddenly
ceased. She arose, and found her whole frame limber and
well. Since then she has been full of the Holy Ghost and of
praise, and says she never had such health before. She testi-
fies and gives glory to God wherever she goes. Our whole
church can witness to the fact of her previous suffering and
present health. Last Monday she rode from Strongville
(twenty miles) in the cold rain without the least injury. She
moves among us a living wonder."
In answer to inquiries respecting the above case, Mr. Fin-
ney replies to the author as follows :
"OBERLIN, March 29, 1873.
" Mrs. Miller still remains entirely free from her former dis-
ease. She declares herself to be, and certainly appears to be,
in the best of health, soul and body. She seems to be con-
stantly overflowing with holy love and joy.
" God bless you.
"C. G. FlNNEY."
820 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE HUMANNESS OF THE SAINTS.
Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly
that it might not rain ; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three
years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and
the earth brought forth her fruit. James 5 : 17, 18.
VE are apt to form mistaken notions of God's saints. We
are apt to think of them as if they were beings of a dif-
ferent order from ourselves, raised above the level'of human
infirmity. And from this mistaken notion flows great practi-
cal mischief. Be not deceived in this matter.
The greatest saints who ever lived, whether under the old
or new dispensations, are on a level which is quite within
our reach. The same forces of the spiritual world which were
at their cornmandj and the exertion of which made them such
spiritual heroes, are open to us also. If we had the same
faith, the same hope, the same love which they exhibited, we
could achieve marvels as great as those which they achieved
not, indeed, the marvels which change the outward face of
nature, but those higher marvels whose field is the heart and
soul of man. A word of prayer in our mouths would be as
potent to call down the gracious dews and the melting fires
of God's Spirit, as it was in Elijah's mouth to call down literal
rain and fire, if we could only speak the word with that full
assurance of faith wherewith he said it. Let us no more say,
querulously, as an excuse to our consciences for not prosecut-
ing the high end to which we are called, " God has put the
great standard of holiness out of my reach." It is not so.
As if with the design of meeting such an objection, he ex-
hibits to us in his word the occasional failures and feebleness
of his most illustrious servants, and gives us a glimpse of
them, not only in the triumphs of grace, but in the infirmities
of nature. Seen in plain truth, and not through the distorting
medium of distance, they were " men of like. passions with our-
selves," though under the empire of principles which brought
God into immediate relation with them, and thus lifted "them
above self and the world. Why should we not follow them,
even as they followed God and Christ ? Plainly the reason is
not to be sought in any disadvantages under which we labor,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 821
in comparison of them. It is not that holiness was originally
more congenial to their nature than to ours. It is not that
privileges accorded to them a-re denied to us. It can be noth-
ing but that laggardness of will, that, indifference to high moral
aims, that want of spiritual energy, that cheerful acquiescence
in the popular standard of religion, which have caused many a
soul, when " weighed in the balances," to be " found wanting,''
to be counted unworthy of the calling and the kingdom of
God. Dean Goulburn.
DR. JUDSON'S CONVERSION.
Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his
way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
James 5 : 20.
A DONIRAM JUDSON, the illustrious American missionary,
.iJL was a minister's son. He was very able and very ambi-
tious. He was early sent to college. In the class above was
a young man of the name of E., brilliant, witty, and popular,
but a determined Deist. Between him and the minister's son
there sprang up a close intimacy, which ended in the' latter
gradually renouncing all his early beliefs, and becoming as
great a skeptic as his friend. He was only twenty years of
age, and you may be sure it was a terrible distress and con-
sternation which filled the home circle, when, during the re-
cess, he announced that he was no longer a believer in Chris-
tianity. More than a match for his father's arguments, he
steeled himself against all softer influences, and with his mind
made up to enjoy life and see the world, he first joined a com-
pany of players at New York, and then set out on a solitary
tour. One night he stopped at a country inn. Lighting him
to his room, the landlord mentioned that he had been obliged
to place him next door to a young man who was exceedingly
ill, in all probability dying, but he hoped that it would oc-
casion him no uneasiness. Judson assured him that, beyond
pity for the poor sick man, he should have no feeling what-
ever. Still the night proved a restless one. Sounds came
from the sick chamber sometimes the movements of the
822 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
watchers, sometimes the groans of the sufferer, and the young
traveler could not sleep.
" So close at hand, with but a thin partition between us,"
he thought, " there is an immortal spirit about to pass into
eternity ; and is he prepared ? " And then he thought, " For
shame of my shallow philosophy ! What would E., so clear-
headed and intellectual, think of this boyish weakness ? "
And then he tried to sleep, but still the picture of the dying
man rose up to his imagination. He was a " young man," and
the young student felt compelled to place himself on his neigh-
bor's dying bed, and he could not help fancying what, in
such circumstances, would be his thoughts. But the morning
dawned, and in the welcome daylight his " superstitious illu-
sions fled away." When he came down stairs, he inquired of
the landlord how his fellow-lodger had passed the night.
" He is dead ! " was the answer.
" Dead ! "
" Yes ; he is gone, poor fellow ; the doctor said he would
probably not survive the night."
" Do you know who he was ? "
" 0, yes ; it was a young man from Providence College, a
very fine fellow his name was E."
Judson was completely stunned. Hours passed before he
could quit the house ; but when he did resume his journey,
the words Dead ! Lost ! Lost ! were continually ringing in
his ears. There was no need for argument. God had spoken,
and from the presence of the living God the chimeras of unbelief
and the pleasures of sin alike fled away. The religion of the
Bible he knew to be true ; and, turning his horse's head
toward Plymouth, he rode slowly homeward, his plans of
enjoyment all shattered, and ready to commence that rough
and uninviting path which, through the death-prison at Ava
and its rehearsal of martyrdom, conducted to the grave at
Maulmain. Dr. James Hamilton.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 823
HEAVENLY INHERITANCE.
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you. 1 Peter 1 : 4.
HEAVEN is a place where all is right. The mind hovers
around that thought, is pleased with it, settles down in
it. We are living upon the surface of a shattered world.
The earth is in the midst of an eclipse. A deformed race are
born here, and here they die. No damaged thing is found in
heaven. The souls and circumstances there are just as they
should be. Heaven is the chief joy amid the realms of God.
Glorious land, how many sigh to reach thine abodes ! In
exile we wander here ; in darkness ; in the midst of death.
No day finds us well ; no hour is radiant with the light of the
eternal morning. How the spirit tires in its toilsome way,
wishing that repose might come quite soon ! We long for a
righted nature, for a vision of complete life, for a Divine
Presence to beam upon us. What a moment that will be
when first we reach heaven ! The soul embosomed in bliss,
at home in the lands of eternity, living* with God !
IN HEAVINESS FOR A SEASON.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now, for a season, if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations. 1 Peter 1 : 6.
rPEMPTATIONS are trials, and are intended to test our prin-
_L ciples, try our profession, and prove the strength of our
graces. The temptations, or trials, of the believer are mani-
fold. They come from various quarters, they affect us in
various ways ; but they are limited. They are but for a season.
" In the day. of adversity consider." " The hour of tempta-
tion." " Our light affliction, which is but for a moment"
" For a small moment have I forsaken thee." Thus they are
limited sometimes to " a day," " an hour," " moment," a " small
moment." God fixes the limit to every trial ; and however
long that limit may be, it is confined to the present time. " I
reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy
824 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us."
Beloved, however severe the trial, it can not be long ; however
heavy the burden, you have not far to carry it. We shall soon
lay down our cross, and ascend to receive our crown. If our
Father frown upon us now, he will smile again soon. " His
anger endureth but for a moment ; " *' in his favor is life ; "
" weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morn-
ing." Thy present trouble is but for a season, and that season
will soon close ; therefore bear it patiently, prayerfully, and
hopefully. Yield not to despondency, listen not to Satan, but
hope in God.
THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD.
Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did
minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have
preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven ;
which things the angels desire to look into. 1 Peter 1 : 12.
" rFHE very manifold, the multifarious wisdom of God." The
JL adjective, one of the very numerous compounds of
"polys" occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. The
term, as Chrysostom notes, is not simply " varied," but " much
varied." The wisdom described by the remarkable epithet/
is not merely deep or great wisdom, but wisdom illustrious
for its many numerous forms, and for the strange diversity,
yet perfect harmony, of its myriads of aspects and methods of
operation. And the lesson is given,
" By the church " the community of the faithful in Christ.
The church on earth is the instructress of angels in heaven.
The angels have seen much of God's working, many a sun
lighted up, and many a world launched into its orbit has de-
lighted them. They have been delighted by the solution of
many a problem, and the glorious development of^many a mys-
tery. But in the proclamation of the gospel to the Gentiles,
with its strange preparations, various agencies, and stupen-
dous effects, involving the origination and extinction of Juda-
ism, the incarnation and atonement, the manger and the cross,
the spread of the Greek language and the triumph of the Ro-
man arms, these principalities and powers in heavenly places
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 825
beheld with rapture other and brighter phases of a wisdom
which had often dazzled them by its brilliant and profuse
versatility, and surprised and entranced them by the infinite
fullness of the love which prompts it, and of the power which
itself directs and controls. The events thai; have trans-
pired in the church on earth are the means of augmenting
the information of those pure and exalted beings who encircle
the throne of God, as may be learned from 1 Tim. 3:16; 1
Peter 1 : 12. The entire drama is at length laid bare before
them.
THE WATCHWORD.
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot. 1 Peter 1 : 19.
IN one of the great rock galleries of Gibraltar, two British
soldiers had mounted guard, one at each end of the vast
tunnel. One was a believing man, whose soul had found rest
upon the Rock of Ages ; the other had long felt the need of a
Saviour, had experienced anxious thoughts, but had not yielded
with full surrender.
On one occasion, in the silence of midnight, these soldiers
were going their rounds, the one meditating on that atoning
blood which had brought peace to his soul, the other darkly
brooding over his own disquietudes and doubts. Suddenly
an officer passes, challenges the former, and demands the
watchword. " The precious blood of Christ ! " called out the
startled veteran, forgetting for the instant the pass-word
of the night, and uttering, unconsciously, the thought which
was at that moment filling his soul. Next moment he cor-
rected himself as to the pass-word, gave the required one,
and the officer, no doubt surprised, passed on. But the words
he spoke had rung through the gallery and entered the ears
of his fellow- soldier at the other end, like a message from
heaven. It seemed as if an angel had spoken, or rather as if
God himself had proclaimed the good news in that still hour.
This " precious blood of Christ ! " Yes, that was peace ! His
104
826 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
troubled soul was now at rest. That midnight voice had
spoken the good news to him, and the Holy Spirit made that
strange but blessed watchword the means of his salvation.
"WAITING TO BE BORN AGAIN.
n *
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 1 Peter 1 : 23.
ONE of the most thrilling cases of salvation which we have
met is the following : At ten years of age Henry A. was a
swearer, used tobacco, and regularly carried a bottle of liquor.
His mother had died when he was a little child, and he felt
no restraint from wrong. He plunged into sin. His life for
thirty years following was one of dissipation. He was a good
workman at brick-making, but would not keep sober long
enough to succeed anywhere. He wandered into many places,
repeating the same history of vice. At last, in 1863, he was
the victim of delirium tremens. That awful experience was
endured by him. He prayed to God earnestly for deliverance.
He promised to give his heart to Christ if he was spared.
His prayer that he might be relieved was answered. He
went out upon the village streets. He prayed in a freight
car standing on a track along his way. He was ready to drop
upon his knees on the pavement and plead for the salvation
of his soul. At noon he was standing on the sidewalk between
two large stores, in the business part of a large village in
Southern New York. His eyes were closed. He was in
prayer ; he was pleading for mercy ; he was looking for the
light of life; his whole soul asked. People wondered that
he stood there so long. They thought he might be drunk
or crazy. He made no motion ; he did not utter a word or
prayer aloud. At last some one asked him why he was wait-
ing there. His reply was, " I am waiting to be born again."
That was thorough experience ; it was soul- work. His friends
called him to dinner ; he would not go. The time for supper
came, and he was yet standing there ; but during that time
a wonderful work was done in his heart. The light shone into
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
827
his soul j the terrible power of sin was broken ; the new birth
was granted ; joy too great for the lip to speak came to him ;
he was saved. He met the deliverer ; he went down to his
house justified. That day salvation came to that house in a
new life of the happiness of home. There was a glad Chris-
tian wife. A new future, and a bright one, opened before that
family. Rev. C. P. Hard.
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which
by the gospel is preached unto you. 1 Peter 1 : 25.
THE Bible is a unique volume. Unlike other books, it is
adapted to every period," clime, and character. Its pro-
fundity baffles the proudest intellect, while its simplicity
affords nourishment to the dwarfed and untutored mind. It
exhibits to our gaze heights that the loftiest archangel can
not scale, and at the same time presents outspread vales, and
lawns, and perennial streams that gladden the heart of the
way-worn pilgrim of earth. The Bible contains recesses, laby-
rinths, mysteries of truth that reach far back into the Godhead
and eternity, and that minds like those of Pascal and Newton
are unable to thread and comprehend. At the same time,
simple truths, adapted to the peasant, the African, and the
idiot, and from which they gather sweetness and comfort, lie
strown like pearls and diamonds along the surface.
What an enchantment lingers about that wonderful volume !
What other book can chain the thoughts of the philosopher,
and afford delightful lessons to the rude negro ? It reminds
one of the African's river, whose sources are lost amid the
Mountains of the Moon, but whose onflowing waters add ver-
dure to the sands of the desert, and pour gladness into the
hearts of many of the untamed natives, who have never
speculated on the origin of this inestimable blessing.
Such is the Bible the inspired Christian Scriptures.
Flowing from the ineffable depths of the Divinity, from the
eminence which no created intelligence has measured, they
descend to meet the wants, to allay the sorrows, and enhance
828 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
the joys of a depraved humanity. These are the waters of
life that gush forth at every man's door, and are designed to
refresh and console all the families of the earth. They meet
the moral wants of all men ; for, however diverse our intellects,
our heads are alike. The great and the small here slake their
thirst.
The fixtures, the arrangements about the pool, may differ to
meet the tastes and views of the different classes of men ; but
the waters are the same, whether presented in gold, or marble,
or wood. What, in this respect, the peasant needs, the phi-
losopher must have, or perish. They have a common moral
nature, and a common remedy is provided.
LOYE A CHRISTIAN DUTY.
Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. 1 Peter 2:17.
IN a sermon which Mr. Williams once delivered at Rhos, an
extraordinary effect was produced by the following anec-
dote, which he applied to his favorite topic of Christian union.
" I recollect," he said, " on one occasion conversing with a
marine, who gave me a good deal of his history. He told me
that the most terrible engagement he had ever been in was
one between the ship to which he belonged and another
English vessel, when, on meeting in the night, they mistook
each other for a French man-of-war. Several persons were
wounded, and both vessels sustained serious damage from the
firing. But when the day broke, great and painful was their
surprise to find the English flag hoisted from both ships, and
that through mistake they had been fighting, the previous
night, against their own countrymen. They approached and
saluted each other, and wept bitterly together. Christians
sometimes commit the same error in this present world one
denomination mistakes another for an enemy ; it is night, and
they can not see to recognize one another. What will be their
surprise when they see each other by the light of another
world, when they meet in heaven, after having shot at one
another in the mist of the present state! How will they
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
829
salute each other when better known and understood, after
having wounded one another in the night ! But they should
wait till daybreak, at any rate, that they may not be in danger,
through any mistake, of shooting at their friends."
THE CHRISTIAN'S CALLING.
For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. 1 Peter 2 : 21.
CALLED by God. Rom. 8 : 30 ; 1 Cor. 1:9; Gal. 1 : 6.
Called of Jesus Christ. Rom. 1 : 6 ; 1 Peter 5 : 10.
Called according to his purpose. Rom. 8 : 28-30.
Called the sons of God. 1 John 3:1; Gal. 4 : 6, 7.
Called in one body. Col. 3 : 15.
Called to be saints. Rom. 1 : 7 ; 1 Cor. 1 : 2.
Called into fellowship. 1 Cor. 1 : 9.
Called into the grace of Christ. Gal. 1 : 6.
Called out of darkness into light. 1 Peter 2 : 9.
Called in hope. Eph. 1:18, 4:4; Rom. 5 : 2.
Called to virtue. 2 Peter 1 : 3.
Called by the gospel. 2 Thess. 2 : 14.
Called to eternal life. 1 Tim. 6:12.
Called to an eternal inheritance. Heb. 9 : 15.
Called to blessing. 1 Peter 3 : 9.
Called to liberty. Gal. 5 : 13.
Called to peace. 1 Cor. 7:15; Col. 3 : 15.
Called to suffer. 1 Peter 2 : 21.
Called to glory. 1 Thess. 2:12; 2 Thess. 2 : 14.
A heavenly calling. Heb. 3:1.
A holy calling. 1 Thess. 4 : 7 ; 2 Tim. 1 : 9.
That worthy name by which ye are called. Acts 11 : 26.
The prize of the high calling. Phil. 3 : 14.
Faithful is he that calleth you. 1 Cor. 1 : 9.
Ye see your calling, brethren. 1 Cor. 1 : 26.
Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.
Eph. 4:1; Col. 1 : 10 ; 1 Thess. 2:12; 1 Peter 1 : 15, 16 ; 2
Peter 1 : 10.
830 MEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
FOUND AGAIN IN SAFETY.
For ye were as sheep going astray ; but are now returned unto the Shep-
herd and Bishop of your souls. 1 Peter 2 : 25.
TIME separates friends and fellow-laborers. Those often
for whom we labor, and in whose welfare we feel the
deepest interest, are removed from under our watchful eye,
or personal instruction, to battle with the storms of life, or be
exposed to untoward influences ; but many who go out from
our Sabbath schools, or from our pastoral care, may have so
far received the good seed of divine truth into their hearts,
that all the storms on the ocean of their life shall not wreck
their immortal souls on the rocks of vice or skepticism ; but
at last, they, with us, shall be found safely anchored in the
harbor of eternal rest. The following beautiful incident well
illustrates the hope of the Christian laborer for those who are
separated from him for years, or possibly never to meet again
in this life :
" A commander of a British vessel of war, sailing from the
Cape of Good Hope, was charged with the convoy of a little
sloop to England, laden with an exceedingly valuable cargo.
They were in mutual sight for many days, when a storm arose,
and separated them so widely that, after the storm had passed,
and the sea once more had become peaceful, they could not
see each other. In vain the man-of-war searched the horizon
^to find her smaller and weaker consort. No trace of the sloop
was to be found. With a heavy heart, the captain of the war
ship pursued his course homeward, not expecting to see his
little charge again. He entered the Channel, and anchored
off Portsmouth, in a fog, saddened at the remembrance of the
lost ship ; but, when the thick fog lifted, what was his sur-
prise at seeing the little lost craft anchored in peace directly
by his side, having arrived at home before him ! each was
ignorant of the course of the other, till they lay side by side
at anchor in the harbor." So will it be with many who, by
providence, are separated from our families, our Sabbath
schools, our pastoral charges, to pursue the voyage of life
without us, when we shall meet them at last in heaven, to go
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. - 831
no more out for ever. Ignorance of their safety may distress
us now, but when the darkness is passed, and the true light
shineth, we shall welcome with delight those who may have
reached the shining shore before us, or that shall come after.
S. If. Tyng's Forty Years in the Sunday School.
DRESS OF CHRISTIAN WOMEN.
Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair,
and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel. 1 Peter 3 : 3.
ON this subject we take the following lines from the Chris-
tian Witness, and commend them to the attention of all
our readers, of both sexes :
" The reform, if it come at all, must come from our wealthier
classes, and it is especially desirable that it should begin at
the house of God. To those who parade their finery in the
assemblies of Christ's people we may very suitably put the
question with which the apostle rebuked the excess of the
Corinthians at the Lord's table, and ask, ' What ! have ye not
houses to dress in ? or despise ye the church of God, and
shame them that have not ? ' If this waste of folly, unseemly
for a Christian at any time or any place, is to be indulged in,
let it be at home ; confine it to the world, its appropriate
sphere. In God's house it becomes an insult to Him who has
placed upon it the seal of his disapprobation (see 1 Peter 3 : 3,
4, and Isa. 3 : 16, to end), and a wrong to his people. There
1 the rich and the poor meet together, and the Lord is the
Maker of them all.' Will you, then, l shame them that have
not,' and by the startling contrast of your magnificence with
their plainness, drive them from their Father's house, or ex-
pose them while there to painful humiliation? Is it good
breeding, to say nothing of Christian charity, to make them
feel out of place intruders upon ground to which their right
is as undoubted as your own? To ask such questions is to
answer them. We say, then, that the reform so urgently
called for must be initiated by the rich. Is it too much to ask
of them, in the name of our common Saviour, and for his
church's sake, that they will study greater simplicity of attire
in the courts of the Lord ?
832 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
QUIETNESS OF SPIRIT.
But let it be the -hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corrup-
tible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of
God of great price. 1 Peter 3 : 4.
AUIETNESS of spirit is one of the sweet blossoms of faith
V^ and love in the soul. Dr. Upham's description of it in his
Life of Faith, is very pleasant. " The state of mind which
is described as meekness or quietness of spirit is character-
ized, in a very high degree, by inward harmony. When the
judgment is rendered clear by religious influences, when the
appetites are subdued, when the various propensities and
affections, once rebellious and conflicting, are each and all in
their place, operating where they ought to operate, and not
operating where they ought not to operate, the mind not only
presents the aspect of rest or quietness, but is obviously in
harmony with itself; without which, indeed, the state of rest
could not exist. The love of God is restored to its position
as the supreme, the controlling principle ; and every natural
desire and affection is exercised in subordination to it."
Dr. Upham discriminatingly remarks in this connection,
" From time to time we meet with something which looks like
quietness of spirit, which, nevertheless, has no foundation in
the true and sanctified adjustment of the inward state. The
inactivity of nature, to which we have reference in making
this remark, is a very different thing, both in its origin and its
manifestations, from the calm rest of grace. " Natural quiet-
ness is the result of darkness ; spiritual quietude is the child
of light. The one does nothing, because it is too indolent and
selfish to do anything, and its rest, therefore, bears the fatal
mark of being a rest in its own will. The other, which does
nothing in its own choice, does all things in God's will, so that
its rest is in God, and not in itself."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 833
"THE WEAKER VESSEL."
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving
honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together
of the grace of life ; that your prayers be not hindered. 1 Peter 3 : 7.
IN Dr. Brown's excellent Exposition of First Peter, he says
the word translated " vessels/' in the phrase above quoted,
means framework or fabric, and understanding the apostle to
mean that the husband should treat the wife with a consider-
ate attention because of her finer and feebler texture, he takes
occasion to add a reflection or two, which we transcribe for
the benefit of any concerned, who may not have access to the
commentary itself. Says he, " In delicacy of apprehension,
both intellectual and moral, and in capacity of passive endur-
ance, woman is often superior to man. But she has a feebler
corporeal frame ; and her mental constitution, especially the
sensitive part of it, is such as requires cautious, kind, and even
tender treatment. Husbands should have consideration for
the peculiar privations and sufferings of their wives, their
anxieties and sorrows, their watching over sick and dying
children, and their angel-like ministrations in seasons of afflic-
tion.
" The apostle does not suppose that a Christian husband
can be intentionally unkind to his wife ; but he supposes that
from want of consideration he may do injury, in a degree that
he little thinks, to one whom he loves. Very worthy men, not
at all deficient in good sense, or good feeling either, but not
distinguished by tact or sensibility, need the hint ; and a great
deal of suffering, not the less severe because it is not designed,
and can not be complained of, might be saved if the hint were
but attended to."
CHRISTIAN COURTESY.
Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another; love
as brethren ; be pitiful, be courteous. 1 Peter 3 : 8.
EVERY man has his faults, his peculiarities. Every one
of us finds himself crossed by such failings of others from
105
834 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
hour to hour ; and if he were to resent them all, or even notice
all, life would be intolerable. If for every outburst of hasty
temper, and for every rudeness that wounds us in our daily
path, we were to demand an apology, require an explanation,
or resent it by retaliation, daily intercourse would be im-
possible. The very science of social life consists in that
gliding tact which avoids contact with the sharp angularities
of character, which does not argue about such things, does
not seek to adjust or cure them all, but covers them, as if it
did not see. So a Christian spirit throws a cloak of love over
these things. It knows when it is wise not to see. That
microscopic distinctness in which all faults appear to .captious
men, who are blaming, dissenting, complaining, disappears in
the calm gaze of love. And 0, it is this spirit which our Chris-
tian society lacks, and which we will never get till each one
begins with his own heart.
CLAUDIUS BUCHANAN AND THE HIGHLANDER.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear. 1 Peter 3 : 15.
THE late Rev. Claudius Buchanan, while a young man, and
previous to his conversion, upon returning from a visit to
the principal countries of Europe, met an old Highlander, an
acquaintance of his father, in the city of London. Young
Buchanan gave his count^man a very animated description
of his tour, and of the wonders that he had seen upon the
continent. The old man listened with attention to his narra-
tive, and then eagerly inquired whether his religious princi-
ples had not been materially injured by mixing among such a
variety of characters and religions.
" Do you know what an infidel is ? " said Buchanan.
" Yes," was the reply.
" Then," said he, " I am an infidel, and have seen the ab-
surdity of all those nostrums my good old father used to teach
me in the north ; and can you," added he, " seriously believe
that the Bible is a revelation from the Supreme Being? "
" I do."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 835
" And pray tell me what may be your reasons."
" Claude/' said the good old Highlander, " I know nothing
about what learned men call the external evidences of rev-
elation, but I will tell you why I believe it to be from God. I
have a most depraved and sinful nature, and, do what I will,
I find I can not make myself holy. My friends can not for me ;
nor do I think all the angels in heaven could. One thing alone
does it the reading and believing what I read in that blessed
book : that does it. Now, as I know that God must be holy, and
a lover of holiness, and as I believe that that book is the only
thing in the world that produces and promotes holiness, I
conclude that it is from God, and that he is the author of it."
This was an argument that had never suggested itself to
Buchanan's mind, and which he had no means whatever of
meeting.
WHAT ARE SINFUL AMUSEMENTS?
But the end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch
unto prayer. 1 Peter 4 : 7.
TWERY amusement is sinful which tends to the injury of
JU the health and the physical constitution. God requires
that even the body should be presented a living sacrifice in
his service ; and when, for the sake of momentary enjoyment,
the gratification of taste or appetite, the physical system is
deranged or weakened, God is robbed of what is rightfully his.
Men shudder at the thought of the untimely death of those
who, in a moment of insanity, or impelled by the remorse of
conscience, have put an end to their earthly existence ; and,
unless we have satisfactory evidence that they were insane,
we have reason to tremble in view of their sin. But why is
it any more self-murder to apply the halter or the knife, and
thus end one's days, than to do the same thing by a round of
dissipation and amusement.
Every amusement is sinful which tends to weaken or destroy
the intellectual powers. Man is distinguished from the lower
order of created beings by the possession of the reasoning
faculties. These are given to him for some good and noble
836 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
purpose. If he pursue a course of conduct, or indulge in
such amusements as may disqualify him to exert his faculties
for good, he sins against his own soul and against God. The
youth who spends his time in storing his mind with vain and
idle stories, or in reading novels and romances, is an instance
in which this is effectually done.
Those amusements are sinful which have a tendency to dis-
sipate from the mind sober, serious reflection. Man is living
for eternity. It should be his great object to do that which
will prepare him for that world to which he is hastening, and
which will be pleasing to his heavenly Father and his Judge.
As a creature of God, he is bound to do whatever he does to
the glory of God. Can there be any question, then, whether
those amusements are sinful which are inconsistent with reli-
gion, or which inevitably withdraw the mind from those things
that concern the interests of the soul, and drive away the
Spirit of God ?
GLORIFYING GOD IN ALL THINGS.
If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God ; if any man min-
ister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth; that God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ ; to whom be praise and dominion for
ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:11.
TWO religious persons lived in one place, who had been in-
timately acquainted in early life. Providence favored one
of them with a tide of prosperity. The other, fearing for his
friend lest his heart should be overcharged with the cares of
this life and the deceitfulness of riches, one day asked him
whether he did not find prosperity a snare to him. He paused,
and answered, " I am not conscious that I do, for I enjoy God
in all things." Some years after, his affairs took another turn.
He lost, if not the whole, yet the far greater part of what he
had once gained, and was greatly reduced. His old friend,
being in his company, renewed his question, whether he did
not find what had lately befallen him to be too much for him.
Again he paused, and answeTed, " I am not conscious that I
do, for now I enjoy all things in God."
NEW TESTAAfENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 837
" Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit
be in the vines ; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields
shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut ofjf from the fold,
and there shall be no herd in the stalls ; yet I will rejoice
in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." (Hab.
3:17 18.)
A FORETASTE OF COMING MISERY.
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God ; and
if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel
of God? 1 Peter 4 : 17.
Rev. Mr. Sutherland relates an incident which illus-
_L trates in an awfully striking manner the fearful peril of
contemning the Bible. It is as follows :
" In the village of Rutherglen, two miles from the city of
Glasgow, an Infidel Club was formed. At one of its meetings
it was sagely concluded to express an abhorrence of the Bible,
by burning a copy of it. The volume was brought, a brisk
fire was burning on the hearth. A question arose who should
throw it into the flames. It was determined by lot. The
designated man did the business, but was immediately seized
with an indescribable 4 horror, which made him tremble. He
became infuriated, gave up infidelity, yes, the Bible was true,
but he hated both it and its Author. He raved like a madman,
so that it was somewhat hazardous to approach him. In his
fury he sworo he would never taste another morsel of food.
Not he ; he would never be indebted to the Almighty for any-
thing. A day or two afterwards, while passing through the
village of Rutherglen, a stranger accosted me, who related
the affecting case, and asked me to go and see the miserable
man. I did so ; and what a sight ! I realized all my ideas of
the personification of a devil incarnate. The fiendish glances
he cast at his neighbor and myself shocked me, whilst he
paced his room with hurried steps,. I broke silence by saying
that God is merciful. He turned on me, and with flaming rage
exclaimed, ' I want no mercy. I demand justice, and the
sooner the Almighty will send me to hell, the better I shall
feel ; for then I hope to be able to spit my venom in his face.'
838 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
And much did be utter in the same horrid strain. ; Will you
suffer me to pray with you?' said I. 'No; I ask no favor
of God or man. v I accept no favor : no, not so much as a crumb
of bread.' ' But you breathe at the expense of the Al-
mighty.' ' I can not help that/ was the angry answer ; l but
be you gone, and cease to torment me before the time.' There
I had ocular demonstration that it is the purpose of the Judge
of all to punish the workers of iniquity. And if the effect of
a slight frown was so terrible, I ask, with solemnity, * what
shall the end of them be who obey not the gospel of God?' '
CAPTAIN WATERMAN AT THE SIEGE OP LUCKNO.
And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the
sinner appear? 1 Peter 4 : 18.
A FTER Sir Colin Campbell's silent retreat from Lucknow,
JjL in the last Indian war, there was one man left behind.
" Captain Waterman," says Mr. Rees, in his personal narra-
tive of the siege, " having gone to his bed in a retired corner
of the brigade mess-house, overslept himself. He had been
forgotten. At two o'clock in the morning he got up, and found,
to his horror, that we had already lefi. He hoped against
hope, and visited every outpost. All was deserted and silent.
To be the only man in an open intrenchment, and fifty thousand
furious barbarians outside 1 It was horrible to contemplate.
His situation frightened him. He took to his heels, and he
ran till he could scarcely breathe. Still the same silence, the
same stillness, interrupted only by the occasional report of the
enemy's gun or musketry. At last he came up with the re-
tiring rear-guard, mad with excitement and breathless with
fatigue."
Were not this officer's anxiety, excitement, horror, and flight
all reasonable, seeing that he knew his circumstances ? And
if you realized your dreadful circumstances as a lost sinner,
in danger every moment of hell fire, would not similar feelings
and conduct be eminently rational in your case ? Suppose a
person had come up to the imperiled officer in Lucknow just
as he became conscious of his fearful position, and had en-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 839
deavored to tranquilize him by counseling him not to give
way to his feelings, not to become excited, but to regard his
circumstances and prospects with philosophic calmness, think
the matter out for himself, viewing it intellectually as a gen-
tleman of education and intelligence ; would it not have been
an insult and a mockery at that dread hour, when he had such
a vivid consciousness of his danger, and felt convinced that his
safety depended solely on his immediate flight ? " Captain,
view your circumstances philosophically and intellectually 1 "
Cruel mockery ! Flee ! Flee ! Escape for thy life 1
CAST ALL UPON CHRIST.
Casting all your care upon him ; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5 : 7.
A MAN carrying a burden was overtaken by a rich man as
he drove along, and invited to get up behind him in the
carriage, which he thankfully did. After a while the rich man
looked around and saw the burden still strapped to the trav-
eler's back. He therefore asked him why he did not lay
down his pack on the seat behind him. But he answered that
he could not think of doing that ; it was quite enough that he
himself should be allowed to sit behind in the 'carriage,
without putting his burden on the seat also. Thus often do
believers fear to lay too much upon the Lord, who has bidden
us " cast all our care upon him," and assures us that " he
careth for us." He who carries us will carry our burden also.
THE DEVIL A WILY FOE.
Be sober, be vigilant ; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8.
DOES not Satan attack us in our weakest point ? How he
suits his mode of temptation to the disposition of the vic-
tim ! Are you vain ? In how dazzling a luster will he place
the pleasures of this poor world before you ! Are you ambi-
tious ? In what splendid honor will he make the great things
840 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
of man appear ! Are you discontented ? In what exalted
light will he place the advantages of others before your eyes !
Are you jealous ? In what strong contrasts will he place the
kindness of the person you love toward another than you !
Are you of an ill temper ? How he will make you think every-
body hates you, neglects you, despises you, or intends to slight
you ! Are you indolent ? How wearisome will he make the
slightest effort for another's good seem in your eyes ! Are
you too active ? How useless will he make the quiet hour of
prayer, and thought, and reading seem to you ! He tempts
us to what our nature is most inclined ; he suits his allure-
ments to our inclination. If we are of a quiet temper, he will
not tempt us there ; if we are only ambitious, he will not take
care to make us jealous ; if we are too active, he will not tempt
us to be idle. He knows us well ; he drives our inclination to
its far extreme.
COUPLE HEAVEN WITH IT.
But the God of all grace, who hath called us Into his eternal glory by Christ
Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strength-
en, settle you. 1 Peter 5 : 10.
AN aged Christian had paused to rest himself, as he trudged
along under a heavy load on a warm summer day. An
acquaintance had just accosted him, when a splendid carriage
rolled past, in which a haughty man rode, whose whole ap-
pearance bespoke a life of luxurious ease.
" What do you think of the Providence of which you
sometimes speak ? " said the acquaintance. " You know
that that is a wicked man, yet he spreads himself like a
green bay tree. His eyes ' stand out with fatness ; he is
not plagued as other men ; while you, believing that all the
silver and the gold is the Lord's, serving him, and trust-
ing in his providence, are toiling and sweating in your old
age, getting little more than bread and water. How can you
reconcile this with a just Providence ? "
The aged saint looked at his questioner with amazement,
and with the greatest earnestness replied,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 841
" Couple heaven with it ! couple heaven with it, and then?"
Yes, that addition sweetens many a bitter cup, and enriches
many a poor lot. " For our light affliction, which is but for
a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory while we look not at the things which are
seen, but at the things which are not seen ; for the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal."
PRESENT THE PROMISES.
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by
tliese ye might be partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4.
AN aged Indian, half naked and famished, wandered into
one of our western settlements, begging for food to keep
him from starving. While eagerly devouring the bread be-
stowed by the hand of charity, a bright- colored ribbon, from
which was suspended a small, dirty pouch, was seen around
his neck. On being questioned, he said it was a charm given
him in his younger days ; and opening it, displayed a faded,
greasy paper, which he handed to the interrogator for inspec-
tion. It proved to be a regular discharge from the Federal
army, entitling him to a pension for life, and signed by Gen-
eral Washington himself! Now, here was a name which would
be honored almost anywhere, and which, if presented in the
right place, would have insured him support and plenty for
the remainder of his days j and yet he wandered about hungry,
helpless, and forlorn, begging of the charitable bread to keep
him from famishing. What a picture of men with all the
promises of Jesus in their hands and of Christians, too, with
the charter of their inheritance in full possession yet starv-
ing in the wilderness !
The promises of God unpresented in prayer are profitless
to the soul ; but when taken by the hand of faith, and pre-
sented back to God, they become equal to every want of the
soul. Christian, be rich ; for you have " exceeding great and
precious promises."
106
842 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
DR. CHALMERS ON BELIEF.
Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and
election sure ; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. 2 Peter 1 : 10.
THE following letter on "Man's Responsibility for his Belief"
is from the correspondence of Dr. Chalmers, recently pub-
lished in London :
" MY DEAR MADAM : Lord Byron's assertion, that ' man is
not responsible for his belief an assertion repeated by Mr.
Brougham and several others seems to have proceeded from
the imagination that belief is in no case voluntary. Now, it is
very true that we are only responsible for what is voluntary ;
and it is also true that we can not believe without evidence.
But then it is a very possible thing that a doctrine may pos-
sess the most abundant evidence, and yet the evidence not be
attended to. Grant that belief is not a voluntary act it is
quite enough for the refutation of Mr. Brougham's principle,
if attention be a voluntary act. One attends to a subject be-
cause he so chooses ; or he does not attend because he so
chooses. It is the fact of the attention given or withheld
which forms the thing that is to be morally reckoned with.
And if the attention has been withheld when it ought to have
been given, for this we are the subjects of rightful condemna-
tion.
" It is enough to make unbelief a thing of choice, and a
thing of affection, that we have power over the direction of
our noticing and investigating faculties. You are not to
blame if you have not found some valuable article that you
have lost in an apartment of the thickest darkness ; but you
are to blame if you might have opened the shutters, or lighted
a candle so as to have admitted enough of light for the dis-
covery. Neither are you to blame if you do not find the
hidden treasure of the gospel, provided it is placed beyond
the reach of all your strenuousness, and -of every expedient
that can be used for its discovery ; but you are to blame if
you have not gone in quest of it, or if you have willfully and
determinedly shut your eyes against it, or if you have not
stirred up those powers of your mind over which the mind
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 843
has a voluntary control, to the inquiring after it. The Dis-
cerner of the heart will see where the lurking deficiency lies,
and make it manifest to all who remain in the darkness, that
they loved the darkness to all who have not come to Christ,
that they were not willing to come.
" Christianity lays no unreasonable service on men, and
far less that service which were most unreasonable of all, the
homage of your belief, without affirming such evidence as, if
attended to, will constrain the belief. Our religion has its
proofs, and it also has its probabilities. Its proofs can only
be gotten at by patient and laborious inquiry, and when
gotten, they carry the belief along with them. Its probabili-
ties, again, may some of them be seen at first sight, and,
though not enough to compel our belief, yet they form a suf-
ficient claim upon our attention. They form that sort of pre-
cognition which entitles Christianity at least to a fair and full
trial ; and if not worthy all at once of a place in our creed, it
is worthy of a further hearing. Now, all I want is, that that
hearing shall be given that the evidences of Christiarn'ty
shall be studied that the Bible shall be read with patience,
and prayer, and moral earnestness ; and, on the principle that
he who seeketh findeth, I have no apprehension of such a
course not terminating in a full and steadfast conviction that
the Bible is an authentic message from heaven to earth, and
contains in it the record of God's will for man's salvation.
" I am, my dear madam, yours most truly,
" THOMAS CHALMERS."
AFTER-DEATH INFLUENCE.
Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have
these things always in remembrance. 2 Peter 1 : 15.
EARLY in the last century lived a poor Christian widow in
the south of England. Her only son she sought to train
for Christ, but she died as he entered on his eighth year. He
became a profligate, but eighteen years later was awakened
by the memory of her counsels, and became a devoted pastor.
He was instrumental in the conversion of Claudius Buchanan
844 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
one of the most prominent founders of English missions in
the Indies. A tract of Mr. Buchanan first drew the attention
of Judson to the heathen. The widow's son was the means
of the conversion of Thomas Scott, likewise, the author of
Biblical Commentaries, unequaled in the range of their circu-
lation and influence. William Wilberforce, also, was given to
his prayers ; and a treatise by Mr. Wilberforce won to Christ
Legh Richmond, whose tract, The Dairyman's Daughter, has
resulted in the conversion of thousands. Thus the obscure
and ignorant mother of John Newton sent her posthumous in-
fluence the world over. Too true are the great dramatist's
words,
" The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones."
But many a cheering exception holds open to every believer
the possibility of centuries jrf Christian service on earth.
THE BIBLE.
For we have not followed cunningly-devised fables, when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-
witnesses of his majesty. 2 Peter 1 : 16.
are four grand arguments for the truth of the
J_ Bible. The first is the miracles on record ; the second,
the prophecies ; the third, the goodness of the doctrine ;
the fourth, the moral character of the penmen. The mir-
acles flow from divine power ; the prophecies, from divino
understanding ; the excellence of the doctrine, from divine
goodness ; the moral character of the penmen, from divine
purity. Thus Christianity is built upon these four immovable
pillars, the power, the understanding, the goodness, the purity
of God. The Bible must be one of these things either an
invention of good men, or good angels ; of bad men, or bad
angels ; or a revelation from God. But it could not be the
invention of good men, or angels, for they neither would nor
could make a book telling lies, at the same time saying, " Thus
saith the Lord," when they knew it all to be their own inven-
tion. It could not be the invention of wicked men, or devils,
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. ' 845
for they could not make a book which commands all duty,
which forbids all sin, and which condemns their souls to all
eternity. The conclusion is irresistible the Bible must be
given by divine inspiration. Bishop Simpson.
A CONSTANT MIRACLE.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy ; whereunto ye do well that
ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn,
and the day-star arise in your hearts. 2 Peter 1 : 19.
THE Bible itself is a standing and astounding miracle. Writ-
ten fragment by fragment throughout the course of fifteen
centuries, under different states of society, and in different
languages, by persons of the most opposite tempers, talent,
and conditions, learned and unlearned, prince and peasant,
bond and free, cast into every form of instructive composition
and good writing, history, prophecy, poetry, allegory, em-
blematic representation, judicious interpretation, literal state-
ment, precept, example, proverbs, disquisition, epistle, sermon,
prayer, in short, all rational shapes of human discourse, and
treating, moreover, on subjects not obvious, but most difficult,
its authors are not found, like other writers, contradicting
one another upon the most ordinary matters of fact and opin-
ion, but are at harmony upon the whole of their sublime and
momentous scheme.
Nothing less than a divine Inspirer could have produced
the book, and nothing less than the divine power could have
preserved it till now.
BIBLE PROMISES OP GENERAL APPLICATION.
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private
interpretation. 2 Peter 1 : 20.
~VTO promise is of private interpretation. Whatever God has
li said to any one saint, he has said to all. When he opens
a well for one, it is that all may drink. When he opens a
granary door to give out food, there may be some one starving
846 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
man who is the occasion of its being opened ; but all hungry
saints may come and feed too. Whether he gave the word to
Abraham or to Moses, matters not, believer j he has given
it to thee as one of the covenanted seed. There is not a high
blessing too lofty for thee, nor a wide mercy too extensive for
thee. Lift up now thine eyes to the north and to the south,
to the east and to the west, for all this is thine. Climb to
Pisgah's top, and view the utmost limit of the divine promise,
for the land is all thine own. There is not a brook of living
water of which thou mayest not drink. If the land floweth
with milk and honey, eat the honey and drink the milk, for
both are thine. Be thou bold to believe, for he hath said, " I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." In this promise God
gives to his people everything.
INTERESTING VARIETY OF THE BIBLE.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1 : 21.
WHEN the celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson was asked why
so many literary men were infidels, his reply was, " Be-
cause they are ignorant of the Bible." If the question be
asked why the lovers of general reading so often fail to ac-
quaint themselves with the sacred volume, one reason that may
be assigned, doubtless, is, they are not aware of its interesting
variety. This feature of the Bible is well illustrated by Mrs.
Ellis, in the following eloquent extract from her recent work,
entitled the Poetry of Life :
" With our established ideas of beauty, grace, pathos, and
sublimity, either concentrated in the minutest point, or ex-
tended to the widest range, we can derive from the Scriptures
a fund of gratification not to be found in any other memorial
of past or present time. From the worm that grovels in the
dust beneath our feet to the track of the leviathan in the foam-
ing deep from the moth that corrupts the secret treasure
to the eagle that soars above his eyrie in the clouds from
the wild ass in the desert to the lamb within the shepherd's
fold from the consuming locust to the cattle upon a thousand
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 847
hills from the rose of Sharon to the cedar of Lebanon
from the crystal stream, gushing forth out of the flinty rock,
to the wide waters of the deluge from the lonely path of the
wanderer to the gathering of a mighty multitude from the
tear that falls in secret to the din of battle and the shout of a
triumphant host from the solitary in the wilderness to the
satrap on the throne from the mourner clad in sackcloth
to the prince in purple robes from the gna wings of the worm
that dieth not to the seraphic visions of the blest from the
still voice to the thunders of omnipotence from the depths
of hell to the regions of e'ternal glory, there is no degree
of beauty or deformity, no tendency to good or evil, no shade
of darkness or gleam of light, which does not come within the
cognizance of the Holy Scriptures ; and therefore there is no
expression or conception of the mind that may not find a cor-
responding picture ; no thirst for excellence that may not meet
with its full supply ; and no condition of humanity necessarily
excluded from the unlimited scope of adaptation and of sym-
pathy comprehended in the language and the spirit of the
Bible."
CONTRIBUTIONS TO ERROR.
And many shall follow their pernicious ways ; by reason of whom the way
of truth shall be evil spoken of. 2 Peter 2 : 2.
THE Rev. Daniel Curry, D. D., editor of the Christian Advo-
cate, New York, in noticing the centenary meeting of
Universalists at Gloucester, Mass., in 1870, after referring to
the nearly nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars pledged to
that denomination toward paying off old debts, endowing
schools and colleges, and creating a Murray fund, adds the
following very pertinent remarks, showing the inconsistency
of the Universalists in maintaining a form of religious organi-
zation, but denying the plain teaching of the Holy Scriptures.
He says,
" All this given to prove the word of God to be false, and
the threatenings of the Bible the vagaries of fanatics, and the
fearfully solemn warnings of Jesus to be a mere play upon
848 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
word^ ! No Universalist is logical, or true to the results and
deductions of reason, or he would hasten without delay to be-
come an atheist; for if his doctrine be true, the Bible can not
be true ; and if the Bible be not true, we have no revelation of
the will of God, and it is unthinkable that there should be a
God, and he make no revelation of his will ; but none having
been made, the inference is, there is no God but Fate."
PRESUMPTION IS NOT FAITH.
But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and
despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed ; they are not afraid
to speak evil of dignities. 2 Peter 2 : 10.
IT is a common thing to hear an unbeliever boast of the vast-
ness of his faith, and while without that true faith which
saves his own soul, he boasts of a faith in the salvation of all
mankind, and claims a superior and more extended faith than
the orthodox Christian.
But that proud boaster forgets a few things, if he ever knew
them. A true faith is operative in the present. " Thy faith
hath saved thee," said Jesus. " We that believe do enter
into rest," said the apostle. " He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life." " Faith without works is dead, being
alone.' 7
If a man has not a gospel faith that now saves his own soul,
now raises up a new life in him, of no avail is his pretended
faith in the salvation of all mankind. For that sentiment is
not faith, but presumption. Whoever pretends to believe
more than God has said in his word, or anything differently
from what God has said, it is not in him a matter of faith, but
presumption.
And God has not said that all mankind shall be saved in
heaven. He has said, " These shall go away into everlasting
punishment," and he has said, " He that believeth not shall be
damned."
In the face of these and many similar passages of Holy Scrip-
ture, for any person to pretend to believe in universal salva-
tion is not a matter of faith, but a wicked and daring pre-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 849
sumption, for it disputes the divine veracity. It is as wicked
to put confidence in any sentiment beyond what God has said,
as to refuse to accept what he has said.
A true faith does not frame a theory for the divine govern-
ment, but accepts the divine plan as God has been pleased to
reveal it. We can not believe more than God has said without
denying what he has already said touching that subject.
IGNORANCE THE FATHER OF INFIDELITY.
But these, as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, speak
evil of the things that they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their
own corruption. 2 Peter 2:12.
A SKEPTIC connected in business with a Christian father
made no secret of his unbelief. On one occasion a child,
then only nine years old, was present when her father was
endeavoring, but in vain, to convince this gentleman of his
fatal error. When the painful conversation had ended, and
her father had left the room, the child asked this gentleman to
take a walk with her in the garden ; and when no one could
overhear them, she inquired whether she might ask him a
question.
" Certainly," he replied ; " any question you please."
" Then," said she, " have you ever read the New Testament
through with a desire to understand it?"
" No," he answered, " I never have."
" I thought so," said she, " for I am sure you would not have
spoken of it to my father as you did just now if you had; "
and in an earnest manner she added, " 0, do read it, and do
wish to understand it."
That child's entreaties and tears led the infidel to the Bible,
and the Bible led him to his Saviour.
107
850 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
POPISH PRACTICES IN A PROTESTANT CHURCH.
.Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the
way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.
2 Peter 2 : 15.
/CORRUPTION precedes revolution and reform. The Epis-
U copalian states that if any of its readers are desirous of
ocular demonstrations of the progress of Romanism among
the congregations of our high church parishes, a visit to Trin-
ity Church on a Sunday afternoon will be very apt to dispel
the doubts of the most skeptical. " It is the custom now, with
many there, to bow to the chancel when entering the church,
and to cross themselves when they rise from their knees in
their pews, just as the Papists do. The latter believe in the
real presence at and on the altar, and hence their genuflec-
tions and their crossings have at least some intelligible mean-
ing ; but in a Protestant Episcopal church what is it but the
most pitiful mummery ? These are the gradual steps which the
author of the Book of Hours, the rector of Trinity, would have
his followers take in leading them first to ' advanced Ritual-
ism/ and then to no stopping-place on this side of Rome.' ;
A SCOFFER ANSWERED.
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking
after their own lusts. 2 Peter 3 : 3.
A WILD, frolicsome young man formed one of a set who
sometimes derived their sport from ridiculing the most
awful themes in the word of God. One day he came out of
a public house where he had become excited by profane rev-
elry with his companions, mounted his horse, and struck into
a gallop. A venerable- man, long distinguished for the earnest
and solemn tone of his piety, was passing along the road.
When the youth overtook him, he drew up the reins, and said,
" Deacon, how far is it to hell?" The old Christian calmly
replied, "Young man, at the rate you are going, you will soon
be there." The reckless sinner struck the flanks of his horse
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 851
with his spurs, and dashed off on a wide canter. After pass-
ing a few rods, his horse stumbled ; he fell over his head to
the ground, but rose not again. The deacon reached him only
in time to hear one faint groan, and all was over.
How short the triumphing of the wicked ! What a contrast
between the last moment on earth and the first in eternity !
" He stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth
himself against the Almighty. He runneth upon him, even
on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers."
DAY OF JUDGMENT AND PERDITION OF UNGODLY
MEN.
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept
in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of
ungodly men. 2 Peter 3 : 7.
THE day of judgment ! What an awful word is this ! What
a truly terrific time, when the heavens shall be shriveled
as a scroll, and the elements melt with fervent heat ; when
the earth and its appendages shall be burned up, and the fury
of that conflagration be such that " there shall be no more sea ; "
a time when the noble and ignoble dead, the small and the great,
shall stand before God, and all be judged according to the deeds
done in the body ; yea, a time when the thoughts of the heart
and every secret thing shall be brought to light ; when the
innumerable millions of transgressions, and embryo and abor-
tive sins, shall be exhibited in their purposes and intents ; a
time when justice, eternal justice, shall sit alone upon the
throne, and pronounce a sentence as impartial, as irrevocable,
and as awful as eternal ! There is a term of human life, and
every human being is rapidly gliding to it as fast as the wings
of time, in their onward motion, incomprehensibly swift, can
carry him. And shall not the living lay this to heart? Should
we not live in order to be judged ? And should we not live
and die so as to live again to all eternity, not with Satan and
his angels, but with God and his saints? 0, thou man of
God ! thou Christian ! thou immortal spirit ! think of these
things.
852 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Observe the order of this terribly glorious day. 1. Jesus,
in all the dignity and splendor of his eternal majesty, shall
descend from heaven to the mid region what the apostle calls
the " air " somewhere within the earth's atmosphere. 2.
Then the shout or order shall be given for the dead to arise.
3. Next the archangel, as the herald of Christ, shall repeat
the order, " Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment ! "
4. When all the dead in Christ are raised, then the trumpet
shall sound, as the signal for them all to flock together to the
throne of Christ. It was by the sound of the trumpet that
the solemn assemblies, under the law, were convoked ; and
to such convocations there seems to be here an allusion.
5. When the dead in Christ are raised, their vile bodies being-
made like unto his glorious body, then, 6. Those who are alive
shall be changed, and made immortal. 7. These shall be
" caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air."
8. We may suppose that the judgment will now be set, the
books opened, and the dead judged out of the things written
in those books. 9. The eternal states of quick and dead be-
ing thus determined, then all who shall be found to " have
made a covenant with him by sacrifice/' and to have " washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,"
shall be taken to his eternal glory, and " be forever with the
Lord." What an inexpressibly terrific glory will then be. ex-
hibited ! I forbear to call in here the descriptions which men
of a poetic turn have made of this terrible scene, because I
can not trust to their correctness, and it is a subject which we
should speak of and contemplate as nearly as possible in the
words of Scripture. Clarke's Theology.
A BETTER VIEW OF GRACE.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slack-
ness, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3 : 9.
AS I sat in the church in Geneva where Calvin used to
thunder, I blessed God for all the hard blows the brusque
old reformer struck at Popery, and also that we have now a
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 853
better Protestantism than he taught. And, as the minister
there sprinkled the water of holy baptism on a babe, I could but
think of what Calvin termed " the horrible decree," and of the
dread uncertainty with which many of his followers used to
contemplate the destiny of deceased infants, and of the blessed
certainty with which all evangelical Christians contemplate it
now. I fell back on Mrs. Stowe's Theology of the Bones, and
blessed God that it has become the theology of the best brains
in Christendom. When the broken-hearted, bereaved mother
had worked herself into a despairing frenzy over her concep-
tion of the God of Edwards and Hopkins, the old colored
nurse gathered the pale form to her bosom, and said, " Honey,
darlin', ye ain't right; dar's a drefful mistake somewhar.
Why, de Lord ain't like what ye tink : he loves ye, honey.
Why, jes' feel how I loves ye poor ole black Candace ; an'
I ain't better'n him as made me. . . . Dar jes' ain't but one
ting to come to, an' dat ar's Jesus. Jes' come right down to
whar poor ole black Candace has to stay allers : it's a good
place, darlin'. Look right at Jesus. . . . Dar's a God ye can
l ove ._ C. D. Foss.
DESTRUCTION OF THE EARTH BY FIRE.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night ; in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat ; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned
up. 2 Peter 3 : 10.
A CCORDING to the testimony of Professor R. D.Hitchcock,
jL\_ in the July number of the Bibliotheca Sacra, natural phi-
losophers have little cause to sneer at Peter's prophecy, that
" the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the ele-
ments shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth also, and the
works therein, shall be burned up." In an article on " The
Relations of Geology to Theology," he says, " The earth con-
tains within itself the agencies necessary to its desolation by
fire. Its crust is supposed to be several hundred miles thick,
while the interior is in a state of fusion, like lava. The three
hundred active volcanoes on the crust are the breathing-holes
of the internal fire. At present, counteracting agencies prevent
854 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
this lava from bursting forth. But let the order be issued for
its liberation, and these vents will all belch forth fire and desola-
tion. The works of man, in which we take so much pride, may
be crumbled in a moment by the concussions of the crust. Lib-
erated gases may combine explosively with the oxygen in the
air, so that the heavens should pass away with a great noise."
He mentions, in confirmation of the above statements, the
well-known fact of certain stars suddenly becoming very bril-
liant, and then gradually fading to their former dimness. Not
longer ago than May of last year, a remarkable case of this
kind occurred. A star of the eighth magnitude, in the constel-
lation called the Northern Crown, all at once blazed out into
a star of the second magnitude, and in twelve days declined
again to its original rank. From a careful observation con-
ducted by experienced astronomers, indications were obtained
that this star had been suddenly " inwrapped in the flames of
burning hydrogen. In consequence of some convulsion, it
may be, enormous quantities of gas were set free. A large
part of this gas consisted of hydrogen, which was burning about
the star in combination with some other element. As the free
hydrogen became exhausted, the flames gradually abated, and
the star waned down to its former brightness. It seems,
then, that there are known instances of worlds wrapped in
flames. They ignite, burn fiercely, fade, and almost disappear.
Suppose, now, that for any reason a combustible gas should be
evolved upon our planet ; there it might combine explosively
with tKe oxygen of the atmosphere, or burn like the star in
the Northern Crown. Either case would meet the conditions
of the prophecy. We think, therefore, that the words of Peter
are amply illustrated by the latest discoveries of astronomy."
LAYING ASIDE THE BONES.
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which
are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and
unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruc-
tion. 2 Peter 3 : 16.
A
N old man once said, " For a long period I puzzled myself
about the difficulties of Scripture, until at last I came to
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 855
the resolution that reading the Bible was like eating fish.
When I find a difficulty, I lay it aside, and call it a bone. Why
should I choke on the bone, when there is much nutritious
meat in use ? Some day, perhaps, I may find that even the
bones may afford me nourishment."
Do not think less of the Bible because there are some things
in it you do not understand. If the truths revealed in the
Bible were all comprehensible, and you had learned them all,
you could not rest on those truths, but would be stretching-
forward to what you do not know.
GROWTH IN GRACE.
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 2 Peter 3 : 18.
HHHE subject of growth in grace is beautifully illustrated by
JL Rev. A. C. George, D. D., in his valuable book, Counsels
to Converts. He says, " The flower bud, hanging on its par-
ent stem, has a chaste and delicate beauty, and the maiden
will pluck it to adorn her own loveliness. But should it abide
a bud, should not the sheltering green give place to carnation
tints, and the rich blossom shed its fragrance on the summer
air, we should esteem it blasted and worthless. The morning is
beautiful when it is spread upon the mountains, when its rosy
hues chase away the twilight shadows, when the golden beams
of the orient flush all nature with brightness and promise.
But the principal element of this attraction is the prophecy,
blazing along the eastern sky, that men shall rejoice in the
splendors of a full, unclouded noon. A child is beautiful, as a
child beautiful beyond comparison. But should there be no
growth, age would produce deformity and excite disgust.
These illustrations may suffice to show the character of the
Christian life. A genuine experience increases, unfolds,
and intensifies. . . . ' If his light does not shine more and
more/ it will grow dim and flicker away into darkness. Ex-
cept he gathers strength as he proceeds on his Christian
journey, he will be reduced to the weakness of despair, and
utterly bereft of all resources of power."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
MEANS OF GRACE PROPERLY USED.
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may
have fellowship with us ; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with
his Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1 : 3.
A DEVOUT frame of mind, with faith and prayer, are need-
J\. ful to meet God in his ordinances. " I find, with regard
to myself, that the benefit of prayers, sacraments, and the
means of grace bears exact proportion to the care I take -to
implore the influence and operation of the Spirit in them ; that
when I am only a little concerned in asking of the Lord the
inestimable comfort of His help, my spiritual duties afford me
little comfort in the exercise, and leave no lasting impressions.
On the contrary, when I am importunate with the Lord to put
life and power in the ordinances, and to make me feel some
correspondent affections, I am enabled to say, l Truly our fel-
lowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 7 "
Venn.
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1 John 1 : 7.
WHAT avails the blood of Christ? It avails what moun-
tains of good works heaped up by us, what columns of
the incense of prayer curling up from our lips toward heaven,
and what streams of tears of penitence gushing from our eye-
lids, never could avail. " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin." " Helps us to cleanse ourselves,
perhaps?" No; cleanseth us. "Furnishes the motive and
the obligation for us to cleanse ourselves ? " No ; it cleanseth
us. " Cleanseth us from the desire to sin ? " No ; cleanseth us
from sin itself. " Cleanseth us from the sin of inactivity in
the work of personal improvement ? " No ; from all sin. " But
did you say the blood does this." Yes; the blood. "The
doctrine of Christ, you must mean ? " No ; his blood. " His
<-x:nnple it is ? " No ; his blood, his blood. 0, what hostility
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 857
the world still betrays toward this essential element of Chris-
tianity ! Can anything be stated more plainly in language
than the entire word of God declares, that our redemption
from sin is by the blood of Christ ? And yet what strenuous
efforts are constantly made to set aside this plain, essential,
wonderful, and most glorious truth, that the blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin ! German of Krum-
macher.
BAD PRINCIPLES UNSATISFACTORY IN DEATH.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1 : 9.
MR. CAREY M. KEITH, whose funeral was attended at
Charleston, S. C., on the llth of September, 1824, resided
formerly at South Bridgewater, Mass., " where," says a gen-
tleman, " I became personally acquainted with him. He was
a young man of fine talents, good education, much beloved,
an'd prepossessing in his address, but a Universalis.t in senti-
ment. He often boasted himself in that doctrine, and was not
to be shaken by human arguments or reasonings, but asserted,
frequently, his readiness to have his faith brought to the test
of the death-bed. In the fall of 1819 he removed to Charles-
ton, S. C., placed himself under Unitarian preaching, lived
secure, careless, and full of his pretended confidence in his
Universal or Unitarian views, much beloved and respected by
all who knew him, till September, 1824, when he was seized
with a malignant fever which soon reminded him of the ap-
proach of the king of terrors, when horror filled his soul.
" In this situation he did not call for his Universalist friends,
or his Unitarian preachers, but requested Dr. Palmer to be
called in (whom before he had despised). Dr. Palmer came,
and continued visiting him so long as he was able to speak or
hear. He confessed his former wickedness in caviling about
religion, acknowledged his insincerity and his false security in
his boasted Universalism, and cried aloud for pardon. An.d
there is good evidence to believe he found pardon through
Christ, and satisfaction by the Holy Spirit, and died rejoicing
103
858 * NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
in God and the truth he before despised, to the great con-
solution of his Christian friends, but confusion and dismay of
his Universalist and Unitarian associates. that they were
wise, and understood, and would consider their latter end.
His funeral sermon was preached by the clergyman above-
named.
COMING BACK TO CHRIST.
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And
if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. 1 John 2 : 1.
I FEEL, when I have sinned, an immediate reluctance to go
to Christ ; I am ashamed to go. I feel as if it would be
no good to go, as if it were making Christ a minister of sin to
go straight from the swine-trough to the best robe ; and a
thousand other excuses ; but I am persuaded that they are
all lies direct from hell. John argues the opposite way:
" If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father."
Jeremiah 3:1, and a thousand other scriptures, are against
it. I am sure there is neither peace nor safety from deeper
sin but in going directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
God's way of peace and holiness. It is folly to the world and
the beclouded heart, but it is the way. I must never think
sin too small to need immediate application to the blood of
Christ. If I put away a good conscience concerning faith, I
make shipwreck. I must not think my sins too great, too
aggravated, too presumptuous as when done on my knees,
or in preaching, or by a dying bed, or during a dangerous
illness to hinder me from fleeing to Christ. The weight of
my sins should act like the weight of a clock the heavier it
is, it makes it go the faster. McCheyne.
IMITATION OF CHRIST.
He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he
walked. 1 John 2 : 6.
IT is reported in the Bohemian story, that St. Wenceslaus,
their king, uiie winter night, going to his devotions in a
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 859
remote church, barefooted, in the snow and sharpness of un-
equal and pointed ice, his servant Podavidus, "who waited
upon . his master's piety, and endeavored to imitate his affec-
tions, began to faint through the violence of the snow and
cold, till the king commanded him to follow him, and set his
feet in the same footsteps which his feet should mark for
him. The servant did so, and either fancied a cure or found
one j for he followed his prince, helped forward with shame
and zeal to his imitation, and by the forming footsteps for him
in the snow. In the same manner does our blessed Jesus ;
for, since our way is troublesome, obscure, full of objection
and danger, apt to be mistaken, and to affright our industry,
he commands us to mark his footsteps, to tread where his
feet have stood, and not only invites us forward by the argu-
ment of his example, but he hath trodden down much of the
difficulty, and made the way easier, and fit for our feet. For
he knows our infirmities, and himself hath felt their experience
in all things but in the neighborhood of sin ; and therefore
he hath proportioned a way and a path to our strengths and
capacities, and, like Jacob, hath marched softly and in even-
ness with the children and the cattle, to entertain us by the
comforts of his company, and the influence of a perpetual
guide.
He that gives alms to the poor takes Jesus by the hand ; he
that patiently endures injuries and affronts helps him to bear
his cross ; he that comforts his brother in affliction gives an
amiable kiss of peace to Jesus ; he that bathes his own and
his neighbor's sins in tears of penance and compassion, washes
his Master's feet. We lead Jesus into the recesses of our
hearts by holy meditations ; and we enter into his heart when
we express him in our actions ; for so the apostle says, " He
that is in Christ walks as he also walks." But thus the actions
of our life relate to him by way of worship and religion ; but
the use is admirable and effectual, when our actions refer to
him as to our copy, and we transcribe the original to the
life. Jeremy Taylor.
860 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS,
WHO ARE TRULY STRONG.
I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from
the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong,
and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
1 John 2 : 14.
C1TRENGTH of character consists of two things power of
U will and power of self-restraint. It requires two things,
therefore, for its existence strong feelings and strong com-
mand over them. Now, it is here we make a grand mistake ;
we mistake strong feeling for strong character. A man who
bears all before him, and before whose frown domestics trem-
ble, and whose bursts of fury make the children of the house-
hold quake, because he has his will obeyed, and his own
way in all things, we call him a strong man. The truth is, that
is the weak man. It is his passions that are strong ; he that is
mastered by them is weak. You must measure the strength
of a man by the power of the feelings he subdues, not by the
power of those which subdue him. And hence the composure
is very often the highest result of strength. Did we never
see a man receive a flagrant insult, and only grow a little pale,
and then reply quietly ? That is a man spiritually strong. Or
did we never see a man in anguish stand as if carved out of
solid rock, mastering himself? or one bearing a hopeless daily
trial remain silent, and never tell the world what cankered his
home peace ? That is strength. He who, with strong pas-
sions, remains chaste, he who, keenly sensitive, with many
powers of indignation in him, can be provoked and yet restrain
himself and forgive, these are strong men, the spiritual-he-
roes. Rev. F. W. Robertson.
BEWARE OF PRIDE.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 1 John 2 : 16.
AS thou desirest the love of God and man, beware of pride.
It is a tumor in thy mind that breaks and poisons all thy
actions ; it is a worm in thy treasure which eats and ruins thy
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 861
estate. It loves no man, is beloved of no man. It disparages
virtue in another by detraction ; it disrewards goodness in
itself by vain-glory. The friend of the flatterer, the mother
of envy, the nurse of fury, the band of luxury, the sin of
devils, and the devil in mankind, it hates superiors, it scorns
inferiors, it owns no equals. In short, till thou hate it, God
hates thee. Quarles.
~^~
THE ANTICHRISTS OF TO-DAY.
Little children, it is the last time ; and as ye have heard that antichrist sha
come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the
last time. 1 John 2 : 18.
/CHRIST is the synonym of the official relations of the Son
\J of God in his mission as the Mediator. As Jesus he was
born of a woman, under the law, that his righteousness might
be wrought in the same nature which had fallen. Thirty years
of his life passed before he entered upon his Christly career.
Then three years of service sufficed to accomplish the work
and sorrow he undertook as man's substitute under the curse
of the holy law. He ascended that his official representation
of man to God, and God to man, might be the more effectually
administered and maintained. It was expedient for us that he
should go away. But he ever liveth as the anointed Prophet,
Priest, and King the Christ of his people.
Antichrist is that which assumes the authority and func-
tions of the Christ. Before and after our Lord's coming in
the flesh, there were impostors who professed to meet the
prophetical descriptions of the Messiah. Theudas and Judas
of Galilee are both named by Gamaliel. And we have the
record of Bar-Cocheba in subsequent history. Multitudes
were led astray by their false representations, and perished
in their seditious efforts. The time for such supplanters has
passed. Antichrist takes now the shape of system. Some-
times, as in the pope, the false system culminates in a repre-
sentative person. But this is not necessary to prove a com-
peting scheme antichrist.
Looking over the field of religious thought, what antichrists
of to-day do we find ? Are there any theological or ecclesi-
862 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
astical systems, which usurp the authority and functions of
the incarnate Son of God ?
Every substitution of unaided reason or church interpreta-
tion for the living teaching of Jesus Christ trenches upon the
prophetical office of Christ, and is, so far, antichrist. How
strangely do these extremes of opinion meet in their opposi-
tion to Jesus ! Rationalism exalts reason and consciousness
into a supervising judge of divine revelation. Romanism ab-
solves from the acceptance of any and all truths not author-
ized by councils or pope. Ritualism is but the infant cry of
immature Romanism, and refers the perplexed reader of
Scripture to the general and undoubted councils as the
authority of last appeal. In opposition to all, we bid the in-
quirer and doubter learn of the exalted Christ. He, of God,
is made unto us wisdom. In him are the treasures of knowl-
edge. By his spirit he has promised to lead us into all truth.
He illuminates his word, and applies its promises and precepts
with searching power. Who does not know the clearness
with which dark sayings stand forth when Jesus opens his
Scriptures to the believing soul ? It is not for us to confer
with flesh and blood. There is still the Christly Prophet.
DID NOT BELONG TO CHRIST'S FLOCK.
They went out from us, but they were not of us ; for if they had been of
us, they would no doubt have continued with us ; but they went out, that they
might be made manifest that they were not all of us. 1 John 2 : 19.
ONE evening I went out with a shepherd to collect his
sheep. After they had been gathered together, and were
being driven off the moor, I observed that there were some
among them who did not belong to his flock. I particularly
noticed, also, that he paid no attention whatever to these
wandering strangers, urged forward, though they were, by
the barking dog, further and further from their rightful com-
panions. At last, thinking I must have been mistaken in sup-
posing they were not his, I pointed to one or two of them, and
said,
" Are those your sheep ? "
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 863
And he answered, " No."
I said unto him, " Why, then, do you not separate them from
the flock ? "
And he answered, and said, "They will find out directly they
are not of us, and then they will go away of themselves."
And immediately I remembered the words of John, and how
he had said, " They went out from us, but they were not of us ;
for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued
with us ; but they went out, that they might be made manifest
that they were not all of us." W. G. S.
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. 1 John 2 : 23.
THE doctrine of the Trinity is a fundamental doctrine, the
belief of which is necessary to salvation ; for those who are
without the Father (Eph. 2:12) can not be saved. It is also
said (1 John 2 : 23), " Whosoever denieth the Son, the same
hath not the Father ; " and in Rom. 8 : 9, it is likewise said, " He
that hath not the Spirit is none of his." This important senti-
ment is interwoven with the whole of real religion, and there
can neither be any true faith, worship, or obedience without it.
Where is faith if this be taken away ? for it is declared in John
17:3," This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent ; " and as we are bap-
tized in the name of the sacred Three, therefore we must be-
lieve equally in them. So as to worship, it is said in Eph.
2:18," Through him we both have access by one spirit to the
Father ; " also as to obedience, in John 15 : 10, we read of
" the Father's commandments." In 2 Cor. 5 : 14, it is said,
" The love of Christ constraineth us ; " and in Eph. 5 : 9, it is
declared that "the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness."
Thus, without the assistance of each of the sacred Three, we
can not believe, worship, or serve God. The mystery of the
Trinity is above reason, but not contrary to it ; for reason,
though it could not have brought it to light, yet when it is
discovered 'it must needs yield to it ; for as the judgment of
sense must be corrected by reason, so the judgment of reason
must be corrected by faith.
864 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
DIVINE LOVE FOR THE UNWORTHY.
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God : therefore the world knoweth us not, because
it knew him*not. 1 John 3:1.
"HHHERE is in the divine conduct a most touching regard
_L for the seemingly unworthy. Did not Jesus first appear
to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils?
Was not the first message, with inexpressible tenderness, sent
personally to Peter, who had so lately and so profanely denied
him ? He will not quench the smoking flax, nor break the
bruised reed. For the prodigal there are often a feast, a robe,
sandals, and a ring, that never come to the unfailingly faithful.
God is our Father, and in our dark and despairing hours his
Fatherhood shines out full-orbed. This beautiful feature often
touches 'even the human parent, and is a type of what we may
hope and expect from our heavenly Father. When a father has
returned from a journey, he embraces his wife and his children,
one after another, with a kiss of love. But there in the corner
sits a poor, helpless, deformed boy, who can not run to meet
him, and feels for a moment neglected. His mind is as weak
as his body. He has no merits to claim a parent's admiration,
or extort a special love. He knows it and feels it. But the
father gets down to his feebleness, and gives the poor little
sufferer a stronger, sweeter embrace than the rest. He lingers,
as he did with none of the other children, to fondle with the
helpless boy. He pours into his lap tokens that he has not
been forgotten during the father's absence. This is the father
in man, and God is my Father. I need not feel that he will not
welcome me ; that others are better, more gifted, abler than I,
and that there is no hope for me. May be my very helpless-
ness will attract his strength ; my unworthiness bring more
of his worthiness to compensate for it. Only let me be his
child, and all else is secure. Glory to God in the highest."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 865
IT DOTH NOT YET APPEAR WHAT WE SHALL BE.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be ; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for
we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3 : 2.
f ABOR and reward are very unlike. Here we toil, often
JU in darkness and in doubt, doing the most menial service
for the Master, while awaiting the time when he shall lift us
up to a higher and nobler life and association. How changed
will be the scene ! here the cross-bearing, the watching, fast-
ing, praying yonder the glory, the joy for ever. This is
sometimes faintly illustrated in this life. A minister who
made a visit to one of the coal-mines of Pennsylvania thus
describes the scene, and the impression made on his mind.
He says,
" We went down, and down, till we were a thousand feet
below the surface ; then off in long, dark avenues, made by
taking out the coal. In these we saw, by the aid of our
lamps, busy workmen mining the coal. In worn and soiled
garments, covered with dust, they toiled on cheerfully, some-
times singing as they plied the pick or struck the drill. Hope
cheered their hearts ; for, above them, up in the light of day,
on the surface of the earth, directly over the mines, they had
comfortable homes and pleasant family relations. When their
daily task was over, they ascended to their homes, to greet
the loving kindred who awaited their return.
" Now, see them in their families, or in the church on the
holy Sabbath ! We could hardly make it seem possible those
men of yesterday, down in the dark mine, are these men of
to-day, so changed in appearance. So we say, l It doth not
yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is.'
" Here we are miners performing our daily task ; and if it
be well and acceptably done, meeting the favor of Him who
has called us to labor for him, then shall we be raised to a
higher and nobler home above, where the good await our
coming to swell the ranks of the holy ones.
" Be cheered, fellow- Christian ; your home is just above."
Rev. William Searles.
' 109
866 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
HE HAD THE TRUE HOPE.
And every man that hath this hope in him purifleth himself, even as he is
pure. 1 John 3 : 3.
SOME Hindoos were on a journey in India. The road was
rough and long, and the sun burned hotly in the skies.
Slowly they passed on their way, and as one day after another
came to an end, many of the party grew faint and weary.
There was one poor man who seemed a stranger to the rest.
He was old and feeble, and was ready to sink from the heat
and labor of the way. At last he fell, and could not rise again.
The Hindoos looked upon him, and finding that he was likely
to die, they left him to perish without pity or help, for these
heathen are unkind to the sick and dying. But there was
among those travelers a missionary, on his way to a distant
place to preach the gospel ; he saw the old man fall, and ran
to aid him, while the rest passed along. Yet all his help could
not now save his life. He knelt by the poor man's side, and
softly said in his ear, " Brother, what is your hope ? "' The
dying traveler raised himself to reply, and with a great effort
said, " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin," and
then laid down his head again, and died. The missionary was
greatly astonished at the answer; and, from the calm and
thoughtful manner in which the words were spoken, he could
not but feel that the man had died safely in Christ. " How or
where," thought he, " could this Hindoo have got this hope?"
And, as he looked at the dead body, he saw a piece of paper
grasped tightly in one of the hands. He carefully took it out ;
and what was his surprise and delight, when he saw it was a
single leaf of the Bible, oh which was the first chapter of the
First Epistle of John, where these words are found. On that
page a heathen man had met with the gospel. This short ac-
count of a Hindoo and the one leaf may teach a useful lesson.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 867
BISHOP HATTO, OR THE MOUSE TOWER.
But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and
shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God
in him? Uohn 3: 17.
JUST on leaving the narrow valley of the " Castled Rhine,"
we perceive the old " Mouse Tower/' famed for its story
of the cruel Bishop Hatto. The bishop was known far and
wide in the valley of the Rhine for his severity and cruelty
toward his people. He was a prelate of unbounded wealth,
that he had pressed out of the bones and sinews of the simple
peasants. With his riches he heaped up large quantities of
corn, and then speculated in the staff of life. An evil day
came, and the valley was visited with a bitter famine ; the peas-
ants came to Bishop Hatto, and bought as long as they had
money. But their stock was small, and soon ran out. His
granaries remained filled with corn that would rescue them
from death ; and they came with humble prayers, and begged
for a little to stay the hunger of their wives and children. He
called them lazy beggars, and bade them begone ; but the keen
pangs of hunger at last turned their prayers into threats. He
owned the tower in the center of the stream, and it had long
been filled with corn, on account of its safety ; to it he took
refuge, and set fire to his well-filled barns before the eyes of
the starving peasants. But a speedy revenge followed him.
The army of mice that had lived in plenty about his barns now
swam the stream, and attacked the tower. The bishop called
on the peasants for 'help; but, instead of lending -aid, they
bade the mice God-speed in consuming his corn. When this
was gone, they gnawed off his toe-nails, and tormented him
with all the tortures of purgatory ; at last he fell asleep from
sheer exhaustion, and the mice ate up the bishop alive. The
tower took up the name of the " Mouse Tower," and few pass
it without thinking of the wicked Bishop Hatto and his richly
deserved fate. Professor Wdls } in Ladies' Repository.-
868 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
EFFECT OF PRAYER.
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his command-
ments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 1 John 3 : 22.
DR. HAMILTON narrates the following as symbolic of the
effect of prayer : " Among the forms of insect life there
is a little creature known to naturalists which can gather
around itself a sufficiency of atmospheric air, and so clothed
upon, it descends into the bottom of the pool, and you may
see the little diver moving about dry, and at his ease, pro-
tected by his crystal vesture, though the water all around and
above be stagnant and bitter. Prayer is such a protector ; a
transparent vesture the world sees it not ; a real defense
it keeps out the world. By means of it the believer can
gather so much of heavenly atmosphere around him, and with
it descend into the putrid depths of this contaminating world,
that for a season no evil will touch him ; and he knows when
to ascend for a new supply. Communion with God kept Dan-
iel pure in Babylon."
SPIRITISM.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of
God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 John 4 : 1.
CONCERNING modern Spiritism, the Rev. J. R. Sikes makes
\J the following expose : " I determined to satisfy myself in
regard to the truth of the doctrines and teachings of modern
Spiritualists, and accordingly purchased two of their most
valuable standard works, viz., The Future Life, or Communi-
cations from the Spirit Land through Mrs. Sweet, by a Host of
departed Spirits, and The Seers of the Ages, or the Doctrines
of Spiritualists. These books I have read with care and deep
thought, and am forced to the following verdict : A more per-
nicious, plausible, and destructive lie has never been forged in
the domain of perdition and promulgated on earth than modern
Spiritualism presents. It pretends to be a new and improved
system of religion. Let us look at it iu that light for a mo-
ment. Every dispensation of religion that God has given to
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 869
man has been attested by miracles or extraordinary manifesta-
tions of divine power. And in each successive dispensation,
commencing with Abraham, and coming down through Moses
and the prophets to Christ, these miracles, or extraordinary
manifestations of divine power, have increased in number and
'potency for good. They were comparatively slight with
Abraham, greater with Moses, greater still with the prophets,
and greatest of all with Christ. The miracles of Christ infi-
nitely surpassed in magnitude, number, and quality, all the
so-called miracles of either ancient or modern pretenders.
Now, if God designed to communicate to men a new and im-
proved edition of religion, as Spiritualists claim he does, we
should naturally expect, judging from the course God has pur-
sued in the past, that this new religion Spiritualism would
be attested by greater, more numerous, and more valuable
miracles than those of Christ. But what are the facts in the
case ? They exhibit a few mesmeric manipulations and psycho-
logic dreams, and ask us to believe that God is giving to them
a new dispensation of religion, greater than that given through
Abraham, Moses, the prophets, or Christ. Their doctrines are
a medley of deism, atheism, pantheism, and anthropomorphism.
Their tricks are simply those of ancient pagan necromancy,
refined and modified. Their utterances are more childish
than those of the ancient sibyls, more confused than those of
the Delphic oracle, and less intelligible than those of the an-
cient statue of Memnon. Themselves are only modifications
of the characters which God commanded Moses to kill
witches. And yet they delude themselves with the belief
that all men must embrace their follies. Fools that ye are,
suppose ye no one thinks but yourselves ? Ye are the men,
and wisdom shall die with you."
NOT ELOQUENCE, BUT LOVE.
.He that loveth not, knoweth not God ; for God is love. 1 John 4 : 8.
/CUNNING workmen are quite as much needed in the Mas-
\J ter's service as in the workshops of this World. An ex-
change tells a story of a shrewd Friend, who, after listening
870 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
to the eloquent praise bestowed by a gifted acquaintance upon
the character and career of Christ, put the plain question,
" Friend P., does thee love the Lord Jesus Christ ? " A test
question, truly, and fairly it was answered. Returning the
questioner's gaze steadily, and speaking as if every word was
fully weighed, the low, sad answer came, " No, sir j I anl
ashamed to say that I do not."
What followed ? Reproaches, exhortations, long- arguments
over the inconsistency of the impenitent position ? Nothing
of the kind ; but the simple reply, " We wish thee did, friend
P.," delivered with a tenderness, a significance, an earnest-
ness which could never be forgotten. What Mr. P. needed
was, not enlightenment, but the touch of a consecrated hand.
GOD'S LOVE TO MAN.
Herein is love; not that \ve loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his
Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4 : 10.
WHERE shall we go for manifestations of the tenderness,
the sympathy, the benignity of God ? The philosopher
leads us to nature, its benevolent final causes, and kind con-
trivances to increase the sum of animal happiness ; and there
he stops, with half his demonstration. But the apostle leads
us to the gift bestowed by the Father for the recovery of
man's intellectual and moral nature, and to the cross endured
by the Son, on this high behalf. Go to the heavens, which
canopy man with grandeur, cheer his steps with successive
light, and mark his festivals with their chronology ; go to the
atmosphere, which invigorates his spirits, and is to him the
breath of life ; go to the smiling fields, decked with verdure
for his eye, and covered with fruits for his sustenance ; go to
every scene which spreads beauty before his gaze, which is
made harmoniously vocal to his ear, which fills and delights
the imagination by its glow or its greatness. We travel with
you, we admire, we feel and enjoy with you, we adore with
you, but we stay not with you. We hasten onward in search
of a demonstration more convincing that " God is love," and
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 871
we rest not till we press into the strange, the * mournful, the
joyful scenes of Calvary, and amid the throng of invisible and
astonished angels, weeping disciples, and the mocking multi-
tude, under the arch of the darkened heaven, and with the
earth trembling beneath our feet, we gaze upon the meek, the
resigned, but fainting Sufferer, and exclaim, " Herein is love ! "
herein, and nowhere else, is it so aifectingly, so unequivocally
demonstrated, " not that we loved God, but that he loved us,
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. R.
Watson.
THIS I DID FOR THEE. WHAT DOEST THOU FOR ME?
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Uohn 4: 11.
IT is said that Count Zinzendorf, the Patriarch of the Mora-
vian Brethren, was first taught love to the Saviour by
reading the above motto placed under a print of Christ in the
study of a German divine.
I gave my life for thee,
My preoious blood I shed,
That thou might'st ransomed be,
And quickened from the dead.
I gave my life for thee ;
What hast thou given for me ?
I spent long years for thee,
In weariness and woe,
That an .eternity
Of joy thou mightest know.
I spent long years for thee ;
Hast thou spent one for me ?
My Father's house of light,
My rainbow-circled throne
I left for earthly night,
For wanderings sad and lone.
I left it all for thee ;
Hast thou left aught for me ?
872 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
I suffered much for thee,
More than thy tongue can tell,
Of bitterest agony,
Thee to preserve from hell.
I suffered much for thee ;
What dost thou bear for me ?
And I have brought to thee,
Down from my home above,
Salvation full and free,
My spirit and my love.
Great gifts I brought to thee ;
What hast thou brought to me ?
0, let thy life be given,
Thy years for me be spent,
World-fetters all be riven,
And joy with suffering blent.
Give thou thyself to me,
Gladly I'll welcome thee I
BOLDNESS THROUGH LOVE.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear
hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4 : 18.
nnHREE Japanese embassadors were recently sent over to the
J- United States to obtain instruction in commercial matters.
While here they were brought to a saving acquaintance with
the " truth as it is in Jesus." Having been made consciously
happy in the love of the Saviour, they were put under instruc-
tion, that they might be more thoroughly acquainted with Chris-
tianity. The minister was taking them through the " Apos-
tles' Creed," and was making them understand how the truth,
had been perpetuated from generation to generation. They
listened till he came to the words, " He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead."
" What is that? " they exclaimed, in startled tones.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 873
The minister thought they stumbled at the word " quick,"
and he explained that it was an obsolete word for " living."
" 0," they said, " not that." It was the first entrance into
the pagan mind of the idea of judgment. It was the first
effect of the thought of the coming again of the Saviour to
judge the world.
One of them stood as if stunned into catalepsy ; another
paced up and down in indescribable agony ; the third bent
down with his elbows on the table. The silence was painful
and crushing. The minister waited to see what would come
of it. After a time, the man leaning on the table raised his
head and said,
" 0, how alarmed I should have been if I had known that
before I loved him ! " This was the Holy Spirit's work. The
love of Christ" had come into his heart first, so as to take away
all terror of judgment, and a startling thought like this, coming
suddenly on the spirit, losj all power to terrify it. It is love
that saves. The most effective method of preaching is not to
thunder the anathemas of vengeance. To make the declara-
tion of unlimited love love in its disinterestedness love
in its royalty, divested of that selfishness which attaches itself
to all earthly relationships love incarnating itself that it may
breathe more freely love shedding its own blood, that is
the master spell which, like the rod of the prophet, will swal-
low up the enchantments of all opposing forces.
"MINE'S A RELIGION FOR ALL WEATHERS."
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments ; and his
commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5 : 3.
THERE'S a fishing village, on the coast of Cornwall, where
the people are very poor, but pious and intelligent. One
year they were sorely tried. The winds were contrary, and
for nearly a month they could not put to sea. At last, on a
Sabbath morning, the wind changed, and some of the men,
whose faith was weak, went out toward the beach, the women
and children looking on sadly, many saying, with sighs, " I'm
sorry it's -Sunday, but if we were not so poor ! "
110
874 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
" But if," said a sturdy fisherman, starting up and speaking
aloud j " surely, neighbors, your buts and ifs will lead you to
break God's law."
The people gathered around him, and he added, " Mine's a
religion for all weathers, fair wind and foul. l This is the lovo
of God, that ye keep his law.' ' Remember the Sabbath day
to keep it holy/ That's the law, friends. And our Lord came
not to break, but to fulfill the law. True, we are poor ; what
of that? Better poor and have God's smiles, than rich and
have his frown. Go, you that dare ; but I never knew any
good come of a religion that changed with the wind."
These words, in season, stayed the purpose of the rest. They
went home and made ready for the house of God, and spent
the day in praise and prayer. In the evening, just when they
would have been returning, a sudden storm sprung up, that
raged terribly for two days. After the tempest came settled
weather, and the pilchard fishery was so rich and abundant,
that there was soon no complaining in the village. Here was
a religion for all weathers. Reinember the words. " Trust in
the Lord and do good, and verily thou shalt be fed."
YICTORY OVER HIMSELF.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world ; and this is the vic-
tory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1 John 5 : 4.
A MERCHANT in one of our Atlantic cities said to a friend,
J\. " I wonder why none of my clerks have been converted."
His friend replied, " Are you aware that you have a hasty
temper, and often find fault unnecessarily with your clerks,
and manifest a wrong spirit in your business ? " The mer-
chant was conscious that he was verily guilty, retired to his
closet, confessed his sin, and deeply humbled himself before
God. The next morning he called his eleven or twelve clerks
together in his counting-room, told them of the agony of his
mind, asked their forgiveness, knelt down and prayed. Two
of those clerks were convicted in that counting-room before
they left, and within one week were converted, and- in a short
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 875
time three more. Having achieved a victory over himself, he
gained an influence over others never before possessed.
The grace of God can give victory over a hasty temper.
Old South Prayer Meeting.
A BOY'S FAITH IN GOD.
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything
according to his will, he heareth us. 1 John 5 : 14.
A VESSEL was overtaken with a terrific hurricane in the
middle of the Atlantic Ocean. After the most astonishing
efforts to weather the storm, the awful intelligence of the cap-
tain broke on the ear of the passengers, " The ship is on her
beam-ends ; she will never right again ; death is certain."
" Not at all, sir ! not at all, sir ! ". exclaimed a little sailor
boy ; " God will save us yet."
" Why do you think so ? " said the captain, with strong
feeling and astonishment."
" Because, sir, at this moment they are praying under the
Bethel flag, in the city of Glasgow, for all sailors in distress,
and us among the rest ; and God will hear their prayers ; now
see if he don't."
The captain, an old weather-beaten tar, exclaimed, with the
tears running down his cheeks, " God grant, that their prayers
may be heard in our behalf, my little preacher ! "
At that moment a great wave struck the ship and righted
her. A simultaneous shout of exultation, gratitude, and praise,
louder than the storm, went up to God. A few days after the
noble ship rode safely into New York harbor.
ANSWERS TO PRAYER.
And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have
the petitions that we desired of him. 1 John 5 : 15.
TTOWEVER early in the morning you seek the gate of ac-
XI cess, you find it already open ; and however deep the
midnight moment when you ascend a special PLsgah or Moriah,
you will find the pathway radiant with light from the throne.
876 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
It needs not that you should enter some awful shrine, or put
off your shoes on some holy ground. Could a memento be
reared from every spot from which an acceptable prayer has
passed away, and on which a prompt answer has come down,
we should find Jehovah shammah (" The Lord hath been here ")
inscribed on many a cottage hearth and many a dungeon floor.
We should find it not only in Jerusalem's proud temple, and
David's cedar galleries, but in the fisherman's cottage, by the
brink in Genesareth, and in the upper chamber where Pente-
cost began. And whether it be the field where Isaac went
to meditate, or the rocky knoll where Jacob lay down to sleep,
or the brook where Israel rested, or the den where Daniel
gazed on the hungry lions and the lions gazed on him, or the
hill-sides where the Man of Sorrows prayed all night, we
should still discern the prints of the ladder's feet let down
from heaven the landing-place of mercies because the start-
ing-point of prayer. Hamilton.
REQUEST OF THE DYING INFIDEL.
If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask,
and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin
unto death ; I do not say that he shall pray for it. 1 John 5:10.
TTIATHER M., of Massachusetts, who recently died in faith,
JL was once called to the dying bed of an aged infidel of his
acquaintance. The good old man had long prayed for his
friend, but his entreaties had ever been met by the infidel's
argument and scorn. As he approached the bed, he saw that
his mind was in agony. The man confessed himself a sinner,
and that he was not prepared to meet death. Father M. asked
him if he had prayed.
" No, I can't pray. I have continually refused mercy, until
it is now refused me. I have tried to pray, but my lips won't
move."
" Are you willing that I should pray for you, then, and let
your heart's desire go up with my words ? "
" No, you can not pray for me ; others have tried, but could
not. You may kneel, but it will be useless."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 877
And sa the aged saint knelt at the bedside of the ago-
nized sinner. Those lips had daily moved in prayer for half
a century. That tongue had daily brought the name of sin-
ners before God's throne : but, strange to say, all his faculties
of speech' seemed paralyzed now. Mercy was a word that
he could not speak, and for the first time prayer was impos-
sible.
" Now," said the infidel, as Father M. rose from his knees,
" I want to preach at my own funeral ; and when you have
closed the other parts of the service, I want you to come down
from the pulpit and place your two fore -fingers on my lips, and
say, ' This soul is sealed for hell ! ' "
" You must spare me from such a commission. It will
frighten the people."
" It is my dying request, and I feel that you must do it.
Let others take warning by my death. I can not excuse
you."
So Father M., at his funeral, after he had finished the ser-
mon, came down from the pulpit, and approaching the coffin,
laid the tips of his fingers on those marble lips, and with tears
streaming from his eyes, stated the man's dying request, .and
pronounced the words,
" This soul is sealed for hell ! "
0, my reader, whether Christian or not, be admonished.
If your peace is not made with God, remember that your soul
is following that infidel's, and ere long will be sealed. Your
lips can move in prayer now. The time may come when this,
the greatest of all earthly privileges, shall be in vain.
Christian brother, remember that souls the souls of your
friends, relatives, and neighbors are daily going down to
hell ; and no small share of responsibility is lying at your door.
May God help us all to feel the importance of that infidel's
sermon. Follower.
878 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
JESUS CHRIST THE TRUE GOD.
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an under-
standing, that we may know him that is true ; and we are in him that is
true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
1 John 5 : 20.
TWO gentlemen were once disputing on the divinity of
Christ. One of them, who argued against it, said,
" If it were true, it certainly would have been expressed in
more clear and unequivocal terms."
" Well," said the other r " admitting that you believed it ; were
you authorized to teach it, and allowed to choose your own
language, how would you express the doctrine to make it in-
dubitable ? "
" I would say," replied he ; " that Jesus Christ is the true
God."
" You are very happy," rejoined the other, " in the choice
of your words ; for you happen to hit upon the very words of
inspiration. St. John, speaking of the Son, says, i This is the
true God and eternal life.' "
EARLY CHRISTIAN FAITH.
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath
not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father
and the Son. 2 John 9.
PHE church," says Irenasus, " though dispersed throughout
JL the whole world," observe how numerous Christians
were, " even to the ends of the earth, has received from
the apostles and their disciples this faith ; in one God, the
Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and the sea, and
all things that are in them ; and in one Christ Jesus the Son
of God, who became incarnate for our salvation ; and in the
Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispen-
sation of God, and the advent, and the birth from a virgin,
and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the
ascension into heaven in the flesh, of the beloved Christ Jesus,
our Lord, and his manifestation from 'heaven in the glory of
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 879
the Father, to gather all things in one, and to raise up anew
all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus,
our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the
will of the invisible Father, every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and
that every tongue should confess to him, and that he should
execute just judgment toward all ; that he may send spiritual
wickedness [perhaps wicked spirits], and the angels who trans-
gressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and
unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into ever-
lasting fire ; but may, in the exercise of his grace, confer im-
mortality on the righteous and holy, and those who have kept
his commandments, and have persevered in his love, some
from the beginning, and others from their repentance, and may
surround them with everlasting glory."
Here, then, is what Christians in the second century be-
lieved. Irenseus often reiterates this creed. He says nothing
about baptism, though we know from other sources that all
Christians were baptized. He says nothing about conversion,
or a sudden change of heart, testified to by the Holy Spirit,
but dwells with earnestness upon morality, asserting that the'
Decalogue is to be faithfully obeyed from love, and maintain-
ing that Christian life is founded upon love, promoted by
prayer, and cultivated by discipline.
No candid reader can fail to see that Christians then were
a moral people, a prayerful and self-denying people, a happy,
cheerful, and active people, and that before them immorality,
idolatry, and false doctrine disappeared.
Our modern civilization has produced new enemies to the
gospel, and brings with it new duties, and may even have
discovered new resources and new elements of power in the
Bible ; but still no Christianity can be genuine that does not
maintain the same essentials as can be found in the Christi-
anity of the second century as described by Irenasus. Rev.
E. 0. Haven.
880 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ADMIRAL FARRAGUT AND THE ROMISH PRIEST.
If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not
into your house. 2 John 10.
IT will be remembered that Admiral Farragut had a severe
and dangerous illness in Chicago, not many months before
his fatal sickness at Portsmouth. While lying very low in the
hotel, his life being then despaired of, it was suggested that a
clergyman should be sent for. The admiral desired it, and a
messenger was dispatched. An Irish servant, knowing what
was going on, sent in all haste for a Romish priest, who arrived
before the clergyman, and was met at the door of the bed-
chamber by Mrs. Farragut, who reluctantly admitted him. He
went to the bedside, and, in a low tone of voice, addressed the
admiral, who shook his head decidedly. Again he attempted
to address him, but was repulsed, and finally left the room.
Mrs. Farragut approached her husband, the old sailor, who
roused himself, and said, firmly, " That's not my pilot ; I want
my own pilot." This was the characteristic exclamation of a
great sea captain, about to go through the dark waters of
death, and he wanted his own pilot then ! No treacherous,
doubtful guide would answer in making such a passage.
FAITHFULNESS IN THE DISCHARGE OF DUTY.
Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and
to strangers. 3 John 5.
TEN years ago, when an unconverted man, I boarded in the
family of a pious woman, whose husband was not a Chris-
tian. There was a daughter of nineteen, another of fourteen,
and a son often. Every morning after breakfast I heard that
humble woman gather her family in the kitchen, and read with
them a chapter " verse about " in the Bible. Then, as I
could not help listening, there was a peculiarity of service
that mystified me. At last I asked one day if I might remain.
She hesitated ; her daughter blushed, but said I could do so
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 881
if I really desired to. So I sat down with the rest. They
gave me a Testament, and we all read. Then, kneeling on
the floor, that mother began her prayer audibly for her dear
ones there, her husband, and herself, and then, pausing a mo-
ment, as if to gather her energies or wing her faith, uttered
a tender, affectionate supplication for me. She closed, and
her daughter began to pray. Poor girl, she was afraid of me ;
I was from college. I was her teacher ; but she tremulously
asked for a blessing, as usual. Then came the other daughter,
and at last the son, the youngest of that circle, who only re-
peated the Lord's Prayer, with one petition of his own. His
" amen " was said, but no one rose. I knew on the instant
they were waiting for me ; and I, poor, prayerless I, had no
word to say. It almost broke my heart. I hurried from the
room desolate and guilty. A few weeks only passed, when I
asked their, permission to come in once more; and then I
prayed too, and thanked my ever-patient Saviour for the new
hope in my heart and the new song on my lips.
HELPING THE PREACHER.
We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellow-helpers to the
truth. 3 John 8.
DR. BEECHER once said to an old lady who expressed her
wonder to him that she was permitted to live, as she
could not do any more good, " You are doing a great deal of
good ; you help me to preach every Sunday." She was
greatly surprised, and inquired how it could be. " In the
first place," said he, " you are always in your seat on the Sab-
bath, and that helps me : in the second place, you are always
wide awake, and you look right up into my face, and that helps
me ; and in the third place, I often see the tears running down
your face, ancUthat helps me very much."
We recollect hearing our father often repeat the story of
once attending an evening lecture, at which Dr. Payson
preached with a great deal of animation and power. As they
walked home together, father said to the doctor, " I do not
111
882 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
see how you preached so earnestly, for it seemed to me the
audience was very dull and uninterested." " Ah," replied Dr.
Payson, " did you see that man in the gallery in a green baize
jacket? " " No, I did not notice him." " Well," was the re-
joinder, " he fed on every word I spoke." A single really
attentive hearer is a great help. Attentive hearers make
earnest preachers.
CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH.
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salva-
tion, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should
earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Jude 3.
SAID a clergyman, " When I was in Europe I went to see all
the principal objects of interest wherever I traveled in
the old world the paintings of the best masters, the statuary
by the hands of cunning artists. I looked at the wonders of
St. Peter's. But when I came to see the Waldensian Synod
in session assembled, I tell you, my brethren, I felt that I was
looking upon the greatest sight that I had ever seen in all the
world. It was not so much what I saw then and there, but
what I saw that had been long past the bloody persecutions
through which the forefathers of these men had passed, the
noble testimony which they have borne through fagots and
flames, and their unflagging heroism in defense of the truth.
All this, and much more, I saw as I looked upon that band of
noble men, heroic as ever for the gospel of Christ, in the pres-
ence of the hosts of evil ; the same undaunted Waldenses as
of former times, whom no threats or anathemas could frighten,
though hurled with all the power and hatred of the Vatican
and the Roman Catholic world. These are the defenders of
the faith once delivered to the saints."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 883
WHY WERE NOT ANGELS REDEEMED?
And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habita-
tion, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment
of the great day. Jude 6.
WHEN the question is asked, Why were not angels re-
deemed ? the idea seems to be that angels, like Adam,
were subjected to a trial to be decided by a single act, and
having sinned, no offer of mercy was tendered to them. This
is altogether more than we know, and far more than we have
any right to infer. How long and how gracious their proba-
tion was we know not. We know they had one, and " kept
not their first estate." They have no right to claim another ;
it would be of no benefit if they had it ; and God could not,
without injustice, grant it.
So man has one probation. Redemption secures for him
whal the angels had without it, -viz., free agency and power
of choice. Men are redeemed before they are born. It is, so
to speak, a part of their creation. They would never have
been allowed to be but for redemption ; and this redemption
gives them no advantage over angels ; it only places them
just where angels are without it, and just where man would
have been without the fall. Let it not be forgotten that an-
gels have had one probation, and men have no more.
FUTURE RETRIBUTION.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner,
giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set
forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 7.
11 TT seems to me," says Dr. Channing, " that a man of com-
JL mon understanding, .reading the Scriptures without any
knowledge of the way in which they have been interpreted,
would not think it possible that the doctrine should ever have
been drawn from them that there is to be no future punish-
ment. Almost any opinion would seem to him to receive
greater countenance from the Bible than this. Yet this opin-
884 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ion lias fooid strenuous advocates, and, from its very nature,
it has not been advocated without making converts.
" This error should be resisted with earnestness, because it
directly, palpably, and without disguise diminishes the re-
straints on vice. It is at war with society. It is a blow at
the r'oot of social order. It lets loose propensities which are
constantly struggling against the principle of duty, and which
this principle, unaided by the fear of future suffering, is, in
multitudes, poorly able to restrain. The doctrine I am oppos-
ing goes to the very extinction of conscience. Conscience in
man is an echo, if I may so speak, to the will and moral sen-
timents of God. Its dictates are authoritative, because we
feel them to be dictates of Him who made us. A sense of
God's abhorrence of sin is the chief nourishment of our abhor-
rence of it. Let God be viewed as so unconcerned about
character as not to punish the guiltiest life, as to fall short in
his administration of the plainest requisitions of justice^ and
a deadly torpor would spread over the human conscience.
Moral sensibility would be paralyzed. The effect of this doc-
trine, indeed, may not immediately appear, because its very
extravagance prevents its being thoroughly believed ; because
it can not eradicate the principles of our nature, and can not
entirely efface the principles of our education. Guilt and
punishment are seen to have a connection too natural and in-
timate to be wholly separated even in thought. But whilst
the influence of the doctrine may be counteracted by these
and other causes, such as natural good dispositions, freedom
from great temptations, the power of opinion, and the like, yet
its proper effects must be always bad ; its fruits are bitter, its
tendency is to sin and death."
REBUKING A SCOFFER.
But these speak evil of those things which they know not ; but what they
know naturally, as brute beasts, in those tilings they corrupt themselves.
Jude 10.
THE itinerant ministry brings the pastor into many pleasant
associations, and sometimes into associations that are not
so pleasant. The following incident, in the ministerial labors
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 885
of Rev. Joseph De Larme, now of the Central New York Con-
ference, was of the latter kind.
In the year 1857, a ministerial association was held in
Moira, Franklin Co., N. Y. Two or three of the ministers in
attendance upon the meeting were sent for entertainment to
the house of a worthy Baptist member, residing in the village.
In the family there was a gentleman boarder who professed
atheism, and who took occasion, as soon as the ministers were
seated at the table, for the first time to proclaim his infidel
sentiments. Turning to Mr. De Larme, who sat next him, he
said, " I do not believe in your priestcraft, neither do I be-
lieve in your God. I have a little boy," continued the infidel,
" whom I have taught, when he comes to the name of God, in
reading, to take his pencil and blacken the word." Then said
Mr. De Larme, to whom this scoffer was directing his blasphe-
mous words, " I do not know how these brethren feel in being
seated at this table with this brute, but, as for myself, I feel
insulted. This creature should have his place with brutes in
the barn ; for he who denies the existence of his Creator gives
up his claim to manhood."
The gentleman of the house, listening to the conversation,
said to the infidel, " Are the principles you have just advanced
your sentiments?" to which he said, "They are." "You
.will please get you another boarding-place immediately.
You can finish your dinner, but you must leave ; for I have a
family of small children whom I can not allow to hear these
principles."
WHO SEPARATE THEMSELVES.
These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
Jude 19.
MR. SPURGEON is an open communionist, as many of our
readers know ; but all do not know that a sermon of his
from the text, " These are they who separate themselves," has
been mutilated in the American edition of his sermons. The
English edition of this discourse contains, besides other pun-
gent sentences, the following : " There is not a Christian be-
neath the scope of God's heaven from whom I am separated.
886 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
At the Lord's table I always invite all Christians to come, and
sit down and commune with us. If any man were to tell me
that I am separated from the Episcopalian, the Presbyterian,
or the Methodist, I would tell him he did not know me, for I
loved them with a pure heart fervently, and I am not separated
from them. This bears rather hard on our friends the Strict
Communion Baptists. I should not like to say anything hard
against them, for they are about the best people in the world ;
but they really do separate themselves from the great body
of Christ's people. They separate themselves from the great
universal church. They say they will not commune with it ;
and if any one comes to their table who has not been baptized,
they turn him away. The pulse of Christ's body is commu-
nion ; and woe to the church that seeks to cure the ills of
Christ's body by stopping the pulse. I think it sin to re-
fuse to commune with any one who is a member of the church
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I should think myself grossly in
fault if at the foot of these stairs I should meet a truly con-
verted child of God, who called himself a Primitive Methodist,
or a Wesleyan, or a Churchman, or an Independent, and I
should say, l No, sir, you do not agree with me on certain
points ; I believe you are a child of God, but I will have noth-
ing to do with you.' I should then think that this text would
be hard on me : l These be they who separate themselves,
sensual, having not the Spirit.' J:
PRESENTED FAULTLESS.
Now, unto him that is abb to keep you from falling, and to present you
faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Jude 24.
FROM under a canopy of night we look out upon these
promised scenes of blessedness, and we are comforted.
Our dark thoughts are softened down, even when they are not
wholly brightened. For day is near, and joy is near, and the
warfare is ending, and the tear shall be dried up, and the
shame be lost in glory, and " we shall be presented faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy."
Then the fruit of patience and of faith shall appear, and the
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 887
hope we have so long been clinging to shall not put us to
shame. Then shall we triumph and praise. Then shall we
be avenged on death, and pain, and sickness. Then shall
every wound be more than healed. Egypt enslaves us no
more. Babylon leads us captive no more. The Red Sea is
crossed, the wilderness is passed, Jordan lies behind us, and
we are in Jerusalem ! There is no more curse, there is no
more night. The tabernacle of God is with us ; in that taber-
nacle he dwells, and we dwell with him. JR. H. Bonar,D. D.
DR. HOLLAND'S VIEWS OF UNITARIANISM.
To the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty, dominion and
power, both now and ever. Amen. Jude 25.
DR. HOLLAND thus discourses, in Scribner's Monthly, on
Unitarianism :
"We suppose it must be a matter of common observation
that as soon as a Unitarian clergyman really begins in earnest
the work of saving men, he begins to drift toward the evan-
gelical view of Christ. So long as Unitarianism works among
the refined and the highly-educated, even if they are politely
selfish, it gets along very well ; but the moment it is called
upon to present the motives of reformation to the wicked, the
brutal, the degraded, it finds itself inexpressibly weak. The
man who preaches nurture, and culture, and development, to a
congregation of brutal men and vicious women, preaches that
which every man and woman before him knows to be nonsense.
There is not one of them who does not need to be saved, and
who does not know that the process of salvation involves a
revolution, or a reformation, or a regeneration a change,
possibly, that combines all these processes. They are weak,
and need help ; they are sinful, arid need pardon ; they are
lost, and need to be saved. To tell such people that a i He-
brew philosopher' who pretended to be inspired and to teach
with authority, but who was in reality only a good man can
save them, is to feed starving men with chaff. The wicked,
selfish, degraded world we live in can never be under very
great obligation to a religious teacher who laughs at the phrase
888 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
' a change of heart.' As soon as a man realizes the necessity
of such a change for himself and the world, he realizes the
necessity of holding, as the central figure of his religious sys-
tem, something more than a l Hebrew philosopher.' Only his
God can be his Saviour, and his Saviour must be his God.
The mightier the Christ.of a church is, the mightier the church
as an influence for good in the world. Christ, disarmed of
divine power, shorn of divine authority, stripped of his in-
finite loveliness, and despoiled of those glories which he shared
* with the Father before the world was/ is only a milder Ma-
homet, or a finer Joseph Smith."
REVELATION.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto
his servants things which must shortly come to pass ; and he sent and signified
it by his angel unto his servant John. Rev. 1 : 1.
CHRISTIANS spend far too little time in the study of the
\J book of the " Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
to him, to show unto his servants things that must shortly come
to pass." " Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the
words of this prophecy, and keep those things that are writ-
ten therein, for the time is at hand." There is a general
impression that this book is so dark that it is impossible to
comprehend any of it, and that whoever becomes deeply in-
terested in the study of it soon gets astray in his ideas, and
makes wild and crazy calculations. . This is all wrong. If the
book is a revelation, there is something revealed. If it is
given to Christians to comfort them, and instruct them, and
strengthen their faith, they ought to use, and not fear and
shun it. Said a gifted preacher, speaking of this portion of
the Lord's word, " The prophecies are like the aurora borealis
they are not meant to be understood until fulfilled. They
are lights in the heavens before us, saying, Have courage, and
hope, and press forward. God is this way. You are march-
ing toward his glorious kingdom. The lights will be all
steady by and by. Now they are but glancing, glittering
intimations of what is before."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 839
Though much of this sure word of prophecy must long re-
main hidden from us, we -may certainly understand quite
enough of it to encourage us during all the triumphs of infi-
delity, superstition, and wickedness. We may learn how much
of the riddle of revelation has already been read, and by that
may stand the firmer on our faith that all is to be accomplished
according to the will of our Lord. Think of what the Bible
says of the Africans, the Arabians, Turks, Jews, Papists ; of
Tyre, Babylon, and Nineveh; also of the seven churches of
Asia ; of Jerusalem ; and Rome ; and of how every word of
many of these prophecies has already been accomplished, and
how fast some of the others are now hurrying toward fulfill-
ment, and then be staggered by the arguments of infidels, or
by the whispers of Satan, if you can.
HEAR FOR THY LIFE.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy,
and keep those things which are written therein ; for the time is at hand.
Rev. 1 : 3.
IN one of our large churches, perhaps the one in which you,
my reader, are wont to sit, there sat from Sabbath to Sabbath
a tradesman of respectable position in life. He came as many
others come ; he went as many others go. For some fourteen
years he was a " constant hearer .; " so the officials said.
This man was sick, and was in view of death, when a min-
ister called to see him, and carefully inquired into his state of
mind. He was unconverted ; and, more than this, he was
dark. When urged to seek for pardon, and not to rest until
he knew his sins forgiven, he expressed great surprise. He
did not know that it was possible.
" Not know that it is possible ? Have you not attended
church ? "
" Yes," was the reply ; " but I do not know that I ever heard
a sermon."
" What do you mean ? You have regularly sat there for
some fourteen years, and not heard a sermon? How can that
be ? "
112 '
890 MEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
u Why/' said he, " the truth is this : as soon as the preacher
took his text I began to think of my business j and I acquired
such a habit of abstraction that while the preacher was preach-
ing, I could trace out on the panel of the seat before me all
the work of the past week ; and, having reviewed that, could
lay all my plans for the week to come. Arid the consequence
is, that I do not know that I ever heard a sermon."
UNTO HIM WHO HATH LOVED US.
E
Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
Rev. 1 : 5.
OW hath he loved us? Ask the star,
That on its wondrous mission sped,
Hung trembling o'er that manger scene,
Where He, the Eternal, bowed his head ;
He, who of earth doth seal the doom,
Found in her lowliest inn no room.
Judea's mountains, lift your voice,
With legends of the Saviour fraught ;
Speak, favored Olivet, so oft
At midnight's prayerful vigil sought ;
And Kedron's brook, whose rippling wave,
Frequent, his wearied feet did lave.
How hath he loved us ? Ask the band
That fled his woes with faithless haste,
And the weak friend's denial tone,
Scarce by his bitterest tears effaced ;
Ask of the traitor's kiss, and see
What Jesus hath endured for thee.
Ask of Gethsemarie, whose dews
Shrank from that moisture, strangely red,
Which, in that unwatched hour of pain,
His agonizing temples shed,
The scourge, the thorn, whose anguish sore
Like the unanswcring lamb he bore.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 891
How hath he loved us ? Ask the cross,
The Roman spear, the shrouded sky j
Ask of the sheeted dead, who burst
Their cerements at his fearful cry ;
0, ask no more, but bow thy pride,
And yield thy heart to Him who died.
THE PROMISES OF CHRIST A PROOF OF HIS
DIVINITY.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. Rev. 1 : 8.
ADMIT that he was only a man. Admit that he was more
than man, the highest of created beings, if you choose,
and yet how strangely will the promise to his disciples
read, " Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents
and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and noth-
ing shall by any means hurt you." How strange would this
promise sound upon the ear, " I am the bread 'of life ; he that
cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me
shall never thirst ; " or, " But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, ... he will tes-
tify of me." Certainly, if he could not make good these prom-
ises, his claim to equality with God would be at once exposed
and shown to be without foundation. Certainly none but a
man bereft of reason would make such promises, if he did not
feel able to fulfill them. But the whole history of Christ's life
shows that he possessed wisdom in an eminent degree, and
therefore we must find some other supposition than that of
folly to account for his promises ; but there is no other except
the admission that he is a divine being, possessing the power
to make good even such large promises as we have quoted.
Could a mere created being, no matter how high the order
of his being, satisfy the desire of men's souls ? Is it not true
that they were created for the enjoyment of God? And, if so,
no other can satisfy their need ; but the Lord Jesus Christ
does. Surely he must be divine. His promises, taken merely
892 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
as promises, prove it. Their fulfillment makes it doubly sure.
We have, therefore, no hesitation in saying, as it is asserted
in the Scriptures, that he is the " Alpha and Omega, the be-
ginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which
is to come, the Almighty."
JOHN ON PATMOS.
I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in
the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos,
for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Rev. 1 : 9.
JOHN had to take his head off the beloved bosom of the
Saviour, and let it go up to heaven without him ; but he
remained behind to behold visions of glory. He who had
commanded him to tarry had also appointed his pathway heav-
enward ; and if there fell upon it a deeper light and a brighter
glory than that of the other disciples, if it lay nearer heaven,
and had less contact with the world and sin, might it not be
because, in his spirit of love and purity, he was peculiarly
adapted for companionship with those holy beings who came
to him from the skies, was more assimilated to the angels and
God? Probably he had fulfilled the commission of love given
by his Master in the hour of his suffering, and had laid in the
still grave the widowed mother of Jesus before his banishment
to the Island of Patmos, where he was summoned by God away
from the world that there might pass before him in its mighty
magnificence that glorious panorama that portrayed the de-
struction of the world, and the eternal establishment of the
kingdom of the Most High.
He was not, like Paul, caught up to paradise, but a heavenly
glory gathered about the lonely isle of his banishment, and his
soul is rapt in successive scenes of celestial magnificence,
from the time when, in the spirit on the Lord's day, he saw
Christ, until he beheld the holy city, the New Jerusalem, com-
ing down from God out of heaven.
We talk of John alone in Patmos. Never was he less alone
than on that solitary isle. Never did he look forward with
more joy to the communings of life than when, with the glad
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 893
welcome of a holy heart, he greeted his daily visitants from
the skies. The white-robed throng were there, the angelic
hosts, the living creatures, and the elders, the 'communings of
angels, the music of the harpers, and the voice of God, as the
sound of many waters.
It is true he beheld scenes of destruction as well as glory,
of woe and death as well as of life and joy; but he gazed
upon them as did Noah upon the wild waters of the flood, or
Moses upon the sinking hosts of Egypt. . God's righteousness
and praise were in them, and though fearful to behold, his
heart could not but bow in reverence at the feet of Jesus, and
add its glorious hallelujah.
IN THE SPIRIT ON THE LORD'S DAY.
I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice,
as of a trumpet. Rev. 1 : 10.
THE Christian Sabbath is called " the Lord's day " because
on this day the Lord rose from the dead, appeared and
re-appeared to his disciples. It should be kept holy.
" The importance of the Christian Sabbath to produce and
maintain a well-ordered community, civilly, and socially, and
morally, and religiously, has been demonstrated a thousand
times. The history of every nation and of every age, the
condition of every community, and the observations of every
man who has given it attention, all furnish abundant and over-
whelming evidence that a blight rests upon the people who
have not a Sabbath. The contrary opinion is the fruit of igno-
rance or selfishness.
The effect of Sabbath violation is more destructive, in the
human mind, of a consciousness of divine obligation, than
is the violation of any other divine commandment. It effaces
more completely all sense of the divine presence, resulting in a
godlessness, and woiidliness, and secularity of mind and heart,
greater than any other one sin. And this effect, when once
produced, is more difficult to remove than any other. To
restore such a mind to quick and tender apprehension of the
divine authority, is almost an impossibility. It prepares the
894 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
way for the violation of all religious obligations with a greater
facility than anything else. We have observed carefully, and
such has been the result of our observations, and our conclu-
sion has long been, that Sabbath-breaking was the most uni-
versally destructive sin prohibited in the whole Decalogue."
FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH.
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Rev. 2 : 10.
daughter of a distinguished officer of the Emperor of
JL Morocco had a pious Christian female slave. The deep
piety of this slave made such an impression on the heart of
the officer's daughter that she requested her to instruct her in
the Christian religion. She soon found joy and peace in be-
lieving in Christ, which she openly confessed, although aware
of what a cruel death awaited every apostate from Islamism.
Her father and relatives labored in vain to undermine her faith.
Neither good words nor bad, nor the representation 1 of the
terrible sufferings she would have to endure, could diminish
her love to Christ, with whom all these trials tended to unite
her closer. The emperor, hearing of these facts, sent for her,
and asked her if she was a Christian. She answered in the
affirmative, adding that by the help of God she intended to
remain a Christian all her lifetime. Struck by this decided
answer, the sultan tried to frighten her by threatening her
with death. " I do not dread death," she replied, " and will
most cheerfully suffer it for my Lord Jesus' sake. The whole
world could not devise a torture so dreadful as to be able to
separate me from him." Thereupon she was delivered to the
judge, who pronounced her worthy of death. The sultan
now made her great promises if she would recant, offering her
as a husband the highest man in the realm next to himself.
But in vain. She replied with firm assurance, "The whole
world is much too poor to make me sell Christ, my only com-
fort and joy. .1 greatly prefer a happy death to an unhappy
marriage. I am but too well aware that the Mohammedan
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 895
faith is all false, and with my whole heart am I willing to lose
my life, out of love to Him who died for me." % Sentence of
death was then pronounced upon her, and immediately carried
out. Calmly she submitted her head to the ax of the execu-
cutioner.
HOW A FLY HELPED A MINISTER.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches :
He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Rev. 2:11.
AN infidel was very desirous to attend a church that he
might hear the organ played, but did not wish to listen
to the Bible, nor hear the prayers. He determined to attend,
but concluded to stop both his ears during the services. It
so happened that, during the reading of the Scriptures, a fly
alighted on his cheek-bone, and stung him severely. He bore
the pain as long as he could, but was compeljed finally to
unstop his ear to brush him off. At that momenl the minister
was reading, " He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." It
made such an impression upon his mind and heart that he was
finally converted to Christ.
The Christian Intelligencer adds to the above the following:
" The officiating preacher was Rev. Thomas Haweis, who died
in 1820, nearly ninety years old. He was long one of Lady
Huntingdon's chaplains, a rousing and successful preacher, and
a sweet Christian poet. The man whose ear the fly opened
was a coarse, drunken, profane tavern-keeper, living six miles
off from the Aldwinklo Church, where Dr. Haweis was rector,
and where crowds were in the habit of resorting. His love
for music led him to the church, and there God met him in the
singular way recounted above. After walking with God for
eighteen years, ' he died, rejoicing in hope, and blessing God
for the fly, the minister of his conversion/ ' ;
896 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
YE ARE MY WITNESSES.
I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is ;
and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those
days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you,
where Satan dwelleth. Rev. 2 : 13.
THE Edinburgh Review narrates the following anecdote of
Prince Charles, of Hesse, who was called upon to testify
of Christ before Frederick, the king of Prussia :
The prince tells the story himself. " I dined," he says,
" every day with the king. One day I had a sufficiently ani-
mated conversation with him on the subject of religion. He
could not see the crucifix without blaspheming, and when he
spoke of it at dinner, as well as of the Christian religion, I
could not join in the conversation, but I looked down and pre-
served a complete silence. At length he turned to me with
vivacity, and said,
" ' Tell me,* my dear prince, do you believe in these things ? '
" I replied, in a firm tone, ' Sire, I am not more sure of
having the honor to see you, than I am that Jesus Christ ex-
isted, and died for us as our Saviour on the cross.'
" The king remained a moment buried in thought, and
grasping me suddenly by the right arm, he pressed it strongly,
and said, l Well, my dear prince, you are the first homme d' es-
prit that I have found to believe in it.' I added a few words
'to reiterate to him the certainty of my faith.
" Passing through the adjoining chamber the same after-
noon, I found General Tanenzien, who had heard what had
passed, the greatest and strongest-minded man I ever knew.
He put his hands on my shoulders, and covered me with a
torrent of tears, saying, l Now, God be praised, I have lived
to see one honest man acknowledge Christ to the king's face.'
This good old man overwhelmed me with caresses. I can not
retrace this happy moment of my life without the greatest
gratitude to God for having vouchsafed to me the opportunity
of confessing before the king my faith in him and his Son."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 897
FRUITLESS PROFESSORS.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Rev. 2 : 29.
fT)HE lives of a large majority of the professed followers of
JL Christ are, virtually, a failure. Like the oleaster, a coun-
terfeit olive, found in Palestine, which produces an abundance
of leaves, but no fruit, they " have a name to live/' and only
a name.
Daniel Webster once remarked that the most important
thought that ever occupied his mind was that of his individual
responsibility to God. George Whitefield regretted, to his
dying day, that he rode on one occasion in a stage-coach for
several hours, and said nothing to a fellow-passenger of his
soul's welfare. This neglect of one of the most important
duties of life is, unfortunately, the rule, and not the exception.
Some years ago, three young men, members of the Meth-
odist church, became so impressed in regard to the personal
obligations incumbent upon them to do more for Christ, that
they relinquished their usual pursuits for three months, and
spent the time in gratuitous religious labors from place to
place, and from " house to house," circulating religious publi-
cations, and conversing and praying with the people. A letter
subsequently received from one of the towns visited, stated
that thirty persons had been awakened and led to Christ as
the result of their efforts.
WATCHFULNESS A CONDITION OF STRENGTH.
Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to
die ; for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Rev. 3 : 2.
SATAN is watching to insnare us, the world is Watching to
exult over us, and God is watching to protect us. Jesus,
our best friend, says to us, " Be watchful." Watch against
the spirit of the world, against the easily besetting sins,
against seasons of temptation, and against Satan, the sworn
enemy of thy soul. Watch for opportunities to do good, for
answers to prayer, for the appearance of God as a God of
113
898 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
providence^ Unite prayer to God, dependence on his holy
word, and watchfulness together ; pray to be kept from sin,
in temptation, unspotted from the world ; trust in God to an-
swer, but do not leave the throne ; and then watch as though
all depended upon thy diligence and efforts. Blessed is lie
that watcheth and keepeth his garments. " Watch ye, there-
fore, and pray always." But trust not thy watchfulness, but
while watching trust in God. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber : he is with thee when on guard, as well as when thoti
art feasting on his word and rejoicing at his table. He with-
draweth not his eyes from the righteous. " The eyes of the
Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their
cry." Watch ye, therefore, and pray always.
WALKING WITH GOD.
Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their gar-
ments ; and they shall walk witli me in white, for they are worthy. Rev. '6 : .
TWO men in Scripture are said to have walked with God -
Enoch and Noah ; and the one was carried up that he should
not see death, the other was carried over the waves of the
flood. They walked by faith. All the different parts of man's
natural life and movements are used by the Spirit to symbol-
ize the spiritual. " My foot standeth in an even place." " I
will not sit with the wicked." " I will lay me down in peace."
" Run with patience the race set before you." " I have leaped
over a wall." These are exceptional movements ; the re^ul ir
movement of a man's daily life is his walking. His whole
life, in all its movements, small and great, is comprehended
in thi's.
In walking in Christ these four things are included :
1. Reconciliation.
2. Abiding.
3. Fellowship.
4. Obedience.
This walk on earth is through storms and trials ; but there
is another walk when this is ended ; and when the Lord
comes " they shall walk with me in white " the walk of
peace, and triumph, and glory.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
899
THE DESERTING SOLDIER.
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment ; and I will
not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before
my Father, and before his angels. Rev. 3 : 5.
A SOLDIER who had served his country for a time in the
army became unwilling to remain longer, in the service.
By deception he got his name returned on the roll as dead.
He was so reported from his company to his regiment, and
from his regimental headquarters to the general government.
In the great records of the nation, against his name Dead was
written. After the war was over, and peace restored, the
government began to dispense its bounties and pensions
to those who had fought its battles and borne its burdens.
This runaway soldier, that had deserted from the service and
caused a false report to be returned, now appears for a reward
at the hands of government.
The books are examined, the name is found, but Dead is
written against his name. The government settles by its of-
ficial records, and in the knowledge of the government he is a
dead man, and not a living claimant.
In Christian warfare there is like danger. Christ has en-
listed a great many soldiers that have not answered to the
roll-call for years. They deserted in time of danger, and the
angel scribe has written against their names Dead.
The books of the last day will show erasures as well as en-
tries ; and almost the last words of the Bible warn us of the
blotting out of names from the Book of Life. Eev. William
Jones.
JESUS THE LOCK.
These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of
David, he that openeth, and no man slmttcth; and shutteth, and no man
openeth. Rev, 3 : 7.
A LOCK was shown to Gotthold constructed of rings, which
were severally inscribed with certain letters, and could
be turned round until the letters represented the name Jesus.
900 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
It was only when the rings were disposed in this manner that
the lock could be opened. The invention pleased him beyond
measure, and he exclaimed, " that I could put such a lock
as this upon my heart ! "
Our hearts are already locked, no doubt, but generally with
a lock of quite another kind. Many need only to hear the
words gain, honor, pleasure, riches, revenge, and their heart
opens in a moment, whereas to the Saviour, and his holy
name, it continues shut. Lord Jesus, engrave thou thy name
with thine own finger upon my heart, that it may remain
closed to worldly joy and worldly pleasure, self-interest, fading
honor, and low revenge, and open only to thee 1
WARM HEARTS WANTED.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew
thee out of my mouth. Rev. 3 : 16.
need men of hot hearts to tell of the love of Jesus,"
was the appeal sent home by some Chinese converts
the other day. This is what the church needs, what the
world needs " men of hot hearts." " I would ye were hot,"
is the Master's cry. If we are to succeed, we must be o.n fire
about it. Dr. Arnott, of Edinburgh, tells of his being at a rail-
way station one day, and wearied of waiting for the train to
move, he asked one of the men what the trouble was. " Is
there a want of water ? "
" Plenty of water, sir/' was the prompt reply, "but it's no
bilin'."
That's the trouble with the church to-day. There's abun-
dance of machinery, the engine is all in order, the train is
made up, the men are at their posts " there's plenty of
water, but it's no bilin'." The great motive power is want-
ing. We need to heap on the fuel of sound doctrine ; not
shavings of sentiment which make a big blaze, only to go out
as quickly, but the solid logs of fundamental truth chunks,
if you will. But we need yet more the fire to be baptized
with the Holy Ghost as with fire.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 901
RICH FOR A MOMENT.
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich ;
and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame' of thy
nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou
mayest see. Rev. 3 : 18.
THE British ship Britannia was wrecked off the coast of
Brazil, and had on board a large consignment of Spanish
dollars. In the hope of saving some of them, a number of
barrels were- brought on deck, but the vessel went to pieces
so fast that the only hope for life was in taking at once to the
boats. The last boat was about to push off, when a young
midshipman went back to see if any one was still on board.
To his surprise, there sat a man on deck with a hatchet in his
hand, with which he had broken open several of the casks, the
contents of which he was now heaping up about him.
" What are you doing there ? " shouted the youth. " Don't
you know the ship is fast going to pieces ? "
" The ship may," said the man ; " I have lived a poor wretch
all my life, and I am 'determined to die rich."
The officer's remonstrances were answered only by another
flourish of the hatchet, and he was left to his fate.
We should count such a person a madman ; but he has too
many imitators. Men seem determined to die rich at all haz-
ards. Least of all risks do they count the chance of losing
the soul in the struggle, at any moment at all. And yet the
only riches we can hug to our bosoms with joy, in our dying
hour, are the riches of grace through Jesus Christ, which we
must make ours before the dark hour comes.
CHRIST AT THE HEART'S DOOR.
Behold, I stand -at the door, and knock; 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.
Rev. 3 : 20.
JESUS CHRIST sometimes gives last knocks. Where?
We answer, At the door of human hearts. For the human
heart is likened in the word of God to a house. One heart-
902 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
house may be compared to a lordly castle, difficult to take,
but a stronghold for the truth when captured. Another is a
broad, capacious mansion ; another a lowly, thatched cottage.
Each -heart has room in it for various affections and passions ;
room for pride, for ambition, for love, for fear, for selfish-
ness, for unbelief. Each heart-house has room, too, for the
Lord Jesus. The very lowliest creature may become a temple
of God through his indwelling spirit.
To that dwelling-place of sin, an unconverted human soul,
the blessed Saviour cometh in his condescending love. His
own tender call is, " Behold, I stand at the door, and knock ! "
He stands at the door in patient importunity. If no answer is
given, he waits and knocks again and again. He tries various
doors, and every method of knocking. At some sinner's heart-
door he has lately knocked by a powerful, thrilling sermon,
that rang throughout every apartment ; at another, by a
gentle knock, a still small voice of conscience, that reminded
the ungrateful one of his guilty ingratitude. At another
heart lately there has come the startling knock of affliction.
The cry of sorrow, the wail for the dead, has resounded
through those chambers. At some stout man's stubborn
heart Christ has made himself heard in the voice of a wife's
pleading prayer ; at another, in the touch of the little hand of
a sick or dying child. By scores of various methods the lov-
ing Jesus knocks at impenitent hearts.
" He gently knocks, has knocked before ;
Has waited long, is waiting still :
You treat no other friend so ill."
As the last knock of the divine Visitant may soon be heard at
the heart's door of some of my impenitent readers, I beseech
you to " hear his voice, and open the door " to the Lord of
light and glory. This is my message to you. Christ shut
out of the heart will be a condemning Judge. Christ within
the heart will prove a faithful and almighty Friend. Your
first duty is to open the door to him, and at once.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 903
CROWNS OP THE SAINTS.
And round about the throne were four and twenty seats ; and upon the
seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment ; and they
had on their heads crowns of gold. Rev. 4 : 4.
THAT ye may close with Christ, remember there is a six-
fold crown which shall be put upon your head. Would ye
have a long life ? Then come to Christ, and ye shall have a
crown of eternal life. Would ye have glory ? Then come to
Christ, and ye shall have a crown of glory. Would ye have
a knowledge of the mysteries of God ? Then come to Christ,
and he shall crown you with knowledge. Would you have
eternal felicity and an uninterrupted happiness ? Then come
to Christ, and ye shall have an immortal crown. Would ye
have holiness and sanctification ? Then come to Christ, and
ye shall have a crown of righteousness; yea, he shall put a
royal crown upon your head, a crown of pure gold. 0, what
a day, think ye, it will be when Christ shall hold your crowns
in his hand, and shall put them upon those heads, never to be
removed again ! And. Gray.
WORSHIP TO BE GIVEN TO THE CREATOR ONLY.
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power ; for thou
hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Rev. 4: 11.
IT is the observation of one well skilled in the Jewish learn-
ing, that there is only one verse in the prophecy of the
prophet Jeremiah which is written in the Chaldee tongue, all
the rest being in the Hebrew, viz., chap. 10 ill," So shalt thou
say to them, Cursed be the gods who made neither heaven nor
earth ; " and this so done by the Holy Ghost on purpose, that
the Jews, when they were in captivity and solicited by the
Chaldeans to worship false gods, might be able to answer
them in their own language, " Cursed be your gods ; we will
not worship them, for they made neither heaven nor earth."
Thus it is that God only is to be worshiped as the great Cre-
904 A'EIV TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ator of all things ; God must have the glory in all, being the
Maker of all. The whole scope of Psalms 147 and 148 tends to
this effect, that God must be praised because he is Creator of
all things. " Let any make a world and he shall be a god,"
saith St. Augustine ; hence is it that the Holy Catholic church
maketh it the very first article of her creed to believe in God
the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth ; and par-
ticular churches abroad begin their public devotions thus :
" Our help be in the name of the Lord, who hath made both
heaven and earth." Let us then with the four and twenty
elders fall down before him, and say, " Thou art worthy,
Lord, to receive honor, glory, and power, for thou hast created
all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.' 7
(Rev. 4:11.)
As the Scriptures tell us that the Lord Jesus Christ was
the Maker of all things, " and without him was not anything
made that was made " (John 1:3), and " by him were all
things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visi-
ble and invisible " (Col. 1 : 16), supreme worship, therefore,
should be given to Jesus Christ as Lord of all.
INEXHAUSTIBLE STOREHOUSE OF TRUTH.
And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written
within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals. Rev. 5 : 1.
IT is characteristic of the Bible to be inexhaustible in divine
resources of moral light and truth. Like the sun, which for
ages gave the world light and heat, when it came to be known
the sunlight had chemical qualities, and later it was discovered
to possess curative power, and later still, it has been found to
have photographic power, and may yet be found to possess
qualities not yet understood, so it is with the Bible. It is
far more to the world now than ever before. With a more
thorough study, with higher experience in divine things, and
the greater progress of Christ's kingdom in the world, new
excellences and far-reaching truths come to light. The
Israelites saw in the first command of the Decalogue that
they were to have no other gods; no Isis, no Moloch, no
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 905
Dagon, but were to worship Jehovah only. With the in-
creasing light which comes out of the Holy Scriptures like the
flower from the bud, we see the first command to signify
vastly more than the old Hebrew saw in it. No ambitious
scheme, no purpose, no passion, no popular sentiment may
'control us, if thereby God's authority or will is antagonized.
To have God is to be ruled by him in all things. While the
Bible means more in its developed state than in earlier ages,
yet, like the sun, it has lost nothing. All it was it is.
A AR AGAINST THE BOOK.
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to
open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? Rev. 5 : 2.
fTlHE antagonisms to the Holy Scriptures have been many,
_L long-continued, and violent. The Bible is a target, against
which many a weapon has been leveled, and upon which many
an arrow has been broken. It has passed unscarred through
the war of the ages, and to-day is the pillar and ground of the
truth for all the world. Suppose all the books that have ever
been written against the Bible were brought together and
arranged .tier above tier, from floor to ceiling, in one great
room, till every enemy shall have his book, his essay, his ar-
gument, his false philosophy, his sarcastic sneers, all arranged
against that one volume, which I will suppose is lying on a
table in the center of that room. I will bring in one who
never saw, nor has he heard of the Bible. I will point him
to those many thousands of volumes, all brought forth to kill
that one book. I will ask him what he thinks of this strange
warfare. Here is one book, older than any other in the world,
that has promises and encouragements to men superior to all
other books, and yet no other book has been so perseveringly
fought as this.
From front and rear have its enemies waged an unceasing
warfare, though with so little success that the Bible not only
lives, but is infusing its spirit into more minds in these later
years than ever before. It is loved and trusted in by more
persons, and over a wider breadth of earth, than in any former
114
906 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
age. It is published in more languages than any other book.
It is handled by more hands, both of old and young, than any
other volume the world ever saw. I will ask that stranger
what he thinks of a book that can not be destroyed ; a book
that good men love, and only bad men hate ; a book that en-
courages every virtue and condemns every vice ; that in its
breadth of instruction covers more than all time, reaching
from before time began to the eternity to come, after the end
of time. In the presence of such a book he will stand awe-
stricken, and declare, " It is of God." Through all the world,
none but blinded, prejudiced, ignorant, and wicked men will
dissent from his verdict.
If the Bible as a whole be of God, so are its separate and
individual truths, and every promise, every threatening, to its
last "jot and tittle," will be found true.
Reader, are you prepared to meet those truths? W. J.
REMARKABLE EXAMPLES OF BIBLE READING.
And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon
the throne. Rev. 5 : 7.
MANY of the anecdotes compressed within the. following
paragraph it is easy to verify ; and every reader will
acknowledge the value of the lesson which they are intended
to teach. Remarkable as some of them are, not one ap-
proaches what is related, and earnestly believed, in the East,
of a famous Mohammedan, namely, that, during his confinement
in the prison at Bagdad, where he died, he read over the Ko-
ran seven thousand times.
" That we may see," says Dr. Plummer, " what can be done
in becoming acquainted with the Bible, let us look at a few
facts. Eusebius tells us of one who had his eyes burned out
in the Diocletian persecution, and who repeated in a public
assembly the very words of Scripture with as much accuracy
as if he had been reading them. Jerome says of Nepotian
that by reading and meditation he had made his soul a library
of Christ. Theodosius the younger was so familiar with the
word of God that he made it a subject of conversation with
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 907
the old bishops as if ho had been one of them. Augustine says
that after his conversion he ceased to relish even Cicero, his
former favorite author, and that the Scriptures were his pure
delight. Tertullian spent a greater part of his time in read-
ing the Scriptures, and committed large portions of them to
memory. In his youth, Beza learned all Paul's Epistles in
Greek so thoroughly that, when he was eighty years old, he
could repeat them in that language. Cranmer is said to have
been able to repeat the New Testament from memory. Luther
\vas one of the most indefatigable students of the Bible that
the world has ever seen. Ridley said, i The walls and trees
of my orchard, could they speak, would bear witness that there
I learned by heart almost all the Epistles, of which study,
although in time a great part was lost, yet the sweet savor
thereof, I trust, I shall carry with me to heaven.' Sir John
Hartop, a man of many cares, made the book of God so much
his study that it lay before him night arid day. A French
nobleman used to read three chapters of the Bible every day
on his bended knees, with his head uncovered."
BILLY DAAVSON'S ELOQUENCE.
And I looked, and behold a pale horse ; and his. name that sat on him was
Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over
the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with
death, and with the beasts of the earth. Rev. 6 : 8.
A CORRESPONDENT of the New York Christian Advocate
and Journal is giving some sketches of celebrated English
preachers among the Wesleyans. In his second number we
find a very interesting account of William Dawson, a local
preacher, and a " Yorkshire farmer," familiarly called Billy
Dawson. We select the following as illustrative of his power
as a preacher.
Mr. Dawson was delivering a discourse which was pecu-
liarly suited to his genius, and which will be long remembered
in many towns and villages in England, because of the effect
it almost always produced. The sermon was generally known
to be one of his favorite discourses, and such he preached
908 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
many times over, and was called by his admirers "Death
on the Pule Horse." As the reader will readily suppose, it
was founded upon Revelation 6 : 7, 8. I have heard the ser-
mon more than once, and know not that I ever heard one that
was throughout of so startling a character. In bold and strik-
ing imagery, in powerful, thrilling, irresistible appeal, it
scarcely could have a parallel. When Mr. Dawson had been
happy in its delivery, I have seen the congregation listen with
such absorbing interest that it seemed as though their very
breathing was suspended, and in the pauses of the preacher a
long and deep inspiration was resorted to as a relief.
This discourse Mr. Dawson was delivering at the village in
question, and was indulging in that peculiarly vivid imagery
which was at the basis of his popularity : " Come arid see ;
the sinner is in the broad road to ruin ; every step takes him
nearer to hell and further from heaven. Onward, onward he
is going ; death and hell are after him ; quickly, untiring they
pursue him ; with swift but noiseless hoof the pale horse and
his paler rider are tracking the godless wretch. See, see, they
are getting nearer to him ; they are overtaking him ! " At
this moment, so perfect was the stillness of the congregation
that the ticking of the clock could be distinctly heard in every
part of the chapel; and upon this, with a facility peculiarly
his own, he promptly seized, and, without any seeming inter-
ruption, leaning over the pulpit in the attitude of attention, he
fixed his eyes upon those who sat immediately beneath, and
in an almost supernatural whisper, continued, " Hark, hark ;
here they come ; that's their untiring footstep hark, hark ! "
and then imitating for a moment the beating of the pendulum,
he exclaimed, in the highest pitch of his voice, " Save the sin-
ner save him! See, the bony arm is raised; the dart is
poised ! 0, my God, save him ! save him ! for if death strikes
him he falls into hell, and as he falls he shrieks, ' Lost,
lost, lost ! Time lost, Sabbaths lost, means lost, heaven lost,
all lost ! lost ! lost ! ' " The effect was so overpowering that
two of the congregation fainted, and it required all the preach-
er's tact and self-command to ride through the storm which
his own brilliant fancy and vivid imagination had roused.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 909
MARTYRDOM OF PASCHAL.
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of
them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they
held. Rev. 6 : 9.
OF all its opponents, Rome most hated the Yaudois. To
bind one of the primitive Christians to the stake seemed to
give strange satisfaction to their modern persecutors. In Sep-
tember, 1560, Pope Pius IY. and his holy college gathered at
Rome to witness one of their favorite spectacles. A pile had
been raised in the square of St. Angelo, near the bridge over
the Tiber. The people assembled in a great throng. The
condemned a pale and feeble young man was led forth,
when suddenly he began to speak with such rare eloquence
and force that the people listened. The pope grew angry
and troubled, and the inquisitors ordered the Yaudois to be
strangled, lest his voice might be heard above the flames.
Pius IY. then saw the martyrdom in peace, and directed the
ashes of his foe to be thrown into the Tiber.
The martyr was John Louis Paschal, a young pastor of great
eloquence, who had been called from Geneva to a congrega-
tion of Yaudois in Calabria. The post of danger had a singu-
lar charm for the brilliant preacher. He was betrothed to a
young girl of Geneva. When he told her of his call to Cala-
bria, " Alas," she cried, with tears, " so near to Rome, and so
far from me ! " Yet she did not oppose his generous resolve,
and he went to his dangerous station. Here his eloquence
soon drew a wide attention. He courted by his boldness the
crown of martyrdom. He was shut up in a deep dungeon,
was chained with a gang of galley slaves, was brought to
Rome, where Paul had suffered, and was imprisoned in a long
confinement. His persecutors strove to induce him to recant,
but no bribes nor terrors could move him. He wrote a last
fond exhortation to Camilla Guina, his betrothed, and his elo-
quence was heard for the last time as he was strangled before
the stake. Harper's Magazine.
910 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
SCARLET AND CRIMSON SINS.
And white robes were given unto every one of them ; and it was said unto
them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants,
also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be ful-
filled. Rev. 6: 11.
had some little difficulty/' said a scientific lecturer,
who was explaining the process of paper-making, "with
the iron dyes ; but the most troublesome of all are Turkey-red
rags. You see I have dipped this rag in my solution ; its red
is paler, but it is still strong. If I steep it long enough to
efface the color entirely, the fiber will be destroyed ; it will
be useless for our manufacture. How, then, are we to dispose
of our red rags ? We make them into red blotting paper.
Perhaps you have wondered why your writing pad is red.
Now you know the reason."
I could hardly sleep that night for joy at the acquisition of
so striking, though unintentional, an illustration of the riches
of grace, and the power of " the precious blood of Christ."
The Spirit of God led the prophet Isaiah to write, not,
" Though your sins be as blue as the sky, or as green as the
olive "leaf, or as black as night/' he chose the very color
which modern science, with all its appliances, finds to be in-
destructible : " Though your sins be as. scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall
be as wool."
NOT DENOMINATIONAL, BUT CHRISTIAN.
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could num-
ber, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their
hands. Rev. 7 : 9.
AT a Wesleyan missionary meeting, a few years since, the
Rev. Henry Townley said, that a very pious person once
affirmed to him that on the previous night he had had the fol-
lowing dream : He dreamed that he had died, and arrived at
the gates of heaven. When he applied to the holy watchmen
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 911
to admit him within the sacred walls, they inquired, lt Whom
do you want ? " He replied that he had belonged to the In-
dependents, and wished to join them in that place. " There
are no such people here ! " was the answer that he got.
" Well,' 7 said he, " I have had some connection with the Bap-
tists ; may I join them ? " " We don't know any of that name,''
replied the heavenly watchmen. It was in vain that he asked
for Churchmen they had never heard of such a term ; there
were not even any Wesleyans there. He was just going' away
in despair, when, as a last resource, he said, " But I am a
Christian" At this word the gate of bliss flew open, and he
was received as a welcome guest.
GRACE A SPIRITUAL SIGHT.
These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 7 : 14.
IN a journal of a tour through Scotland, by the Rev. C. Sime-
on, of Cambridge, we have the following passage : " Went
to see Lady Ross's grounds. Here also I saw blind men
weaving. May I never forget the following fact : one of the
blind men, on being interrogated with respect to his knowl-
edge of spiritual things, answered, < I never saw till I was
blind ; nor did I ever know contentment when I had my eye-
sight, as I do now that I have lost it. I can truly affirm,
though few know how to credit me, that I would on no account
change my present situation and circumstances with any that
I ever enjoyed before I was blind.' He had enjoyed eyesight
till twenty-five, and had been blind now about three years. My
soul," Mr. Simeon adds, " was much affected and comforted
with his declaration. Surely there is a reality in religion ! "
FIGURES OF HEAVEN.
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall
lead them unto living fountains of waters ; and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Rev . 7 : 17.
EAVEN is variously represented. It is held forth to our
view as a banquet, where our souls shall be satisfied for
H
912 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
evermore ; the beauties of Jehovah's face, the mysteries of
divine grace, the riches of redeeming love, communion with
God and the Lamb, fellowship with the infinite Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, being the heavenly fullness on which we shall
feed. As a paradise a garden of fruits and flowers, on
which our spiritual natures and gracious tastes will be regaled
through one ever- verdant spring and golden summer ; a para-
dise where lurks no serpent to destroy, and where fruits and
flowers shall never fade and droop, nor die. As an inher-
itance ; but then an inheritance that is incorruptible, un-
defiled, and that fadeth not away the inheritance of the
saints in light. As a kingdom, whose immunities, felicities,
and glories are splendid and vast, permanent and real, quite
overwhelming, indeed, to our present feeble imaginings. As
a country , over whose wide regions we shall traverse in all the
might of our untried faculties, and in all the glow of new and
heaven-born energies, discovering and gathering fresh har-
vests of intelligence, satisfaction, and delight. As a city, whose
walls are burnished gold, whose pavement is jasper, sardonyx,
and onyx, through which flows the river of life ; the inhabit-
ants of which hunger no more, thirst no more, sicken no more,
weep no more, die no more ; a city where there is no need of
the sun by day, in which there is no night at all, and of which
the Lord God Almighty is the light, and the Lamb the glory.
As a palace, where dwells the Lord our righteousness, the
King in his beauty displayed his beauty of holiest love ; in
the eternal sunshine of whose countenance bask and exult the
host that worship at his feet. As a building, that has God for
its maker, immortality for its walls, and eternity for its day.
As a sanctuary, where the thrice-holy divinity enshrined in
our own nature in the person of Immanuel is worshiped and
adored, without a sigh, without an imperfection, and without
intermission ; where hymns of praise, hallelujahs of salvation,
and hosannas of redemption, uttered by blest voices without
number, ever sound before the throne. As a tenyjle, bright
with the' divine glory, filled with the divine presence, stream-
ing with divine beauty, and peopled with shining monuments
of divine goodness, mercy, and grace. Dr. Beaumont.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
913
GOSPEL LIKENED UNTO AN ANGEL.
And I saw the seven angels which stood before God ; and to them were
given seven trumpets. Rev. 8 : 2.
AS to its origin and glory, the gospel may be compared to
an angel " standing in the sun ; " as to the territorial
range of its commission, it may be compared to " an angel
flying in the midst of heaven ; " as to the gracious mysteries
of salvation, to which it points, it may be compared to the
angels looking into the ark of the covenant ; as to the pure
and holy worship which it enjoins, and over which it presides,
it may be compared to the angel standing beside the altar of
incense ; as to the hope's and inspirations which it warrants
and sustains, it may be compared to an angel at heaven's gate,
saying to us poor dusty wayfarers, " Come up hither." But
looking at the relations of the gospel to men in the business of
every-day life, we may regard it still as an angel (losing noth-
ing of its ethereal beauty and celestial brightness) ; but then
it is an angel full of condescension and brotherly companion-
ship ; an angel mingling with us, and talking to us, helping,
and guiding, and comforting us ; an angel recognizing our
earthly wants, and sympathizing with us in our earthly trials,
like the angel who came to Abraham under the trees of Mamre,
and to Lot in his house at Sodom ; like the angel who ap-
peared to Oman while he was threshing wheat ; like the
angel who appeared to Zechariah in the shop of the four
carpenters; like the angel who touched Elijah asleep, and
showed him a " cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water
at his head ; " and like the angel who came to Peter in prison,
and took off his chains, and set him free. Thus does the re-
ligion of the Bible come home to us, and put itself on a level
with us, entering fully into our temporal circumstances, tem-
poral necessities, temporal duties, and temporal trials. J.
Stoughton.
115
914 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
WISE IN SPIRITUAL THINGS.
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer ;
and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the
prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Rev. 8 : 3.
A NUMBER of ministers were assembled for the discussion
of difficult questions ; and, among others, it was asked how
the command to " pray without ceasing " could be complied
with. Various suppositions were started, and at length one
of the number was appointed to write an essay upon it to read
at the next monthly meeting, which being overheard by a
female servant, she exclaimed,
" What ! a whole month wanted to tell the meaning of that
text ! It is one of the easiest and best texts in the Bible."
" Well, well," said an old minister, " Mary, what can you say
about it ? Let us know how you understand it. Can you pray
all the time ? "
" 0, yes, sir."
" What ! when you have so many things to do ? "
" Why, sir, the more I have to do, the more I can pray."
" Indeed! Well, Mary, do let us know how it is; for most
people think otherwise."
" Well, sir," said the girl, " when I first open my e}'es in
the morning, I pray, Lord, open the eyes of my understanding ;
and while I am dressing, I pray that I may be clothed with
the robe of righteousness ; and when I have washed me, I ask
for the washing of regeneration ; and as I begin work, I pray
that I may have strength equal to my day; when I begin to
kindle up the fire, I pray that God's work may revive in my
soul ; and as I sweep out the house, I pray that my heart may
be cleansed from air its impurities; and while preparing and
partaking of breakfast, I desire to be fed with the hidden
manna, and the sincere milk of the word; and as I am busy
with the little children, I look up to God as my Father, and
pray for the spirit of adoption that I may be his child, and so
on all day. Everything I do furnishes me with a thought for
prayer."
" Enough, enough," cried the old divine ; " these things are
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 915
revealed to babes, and often hid from the wise and prudent.
Go on, Mary/' said he : " pray without ceasing. And as for us,
my brethren, let us bless the Lord for this exposition, and re-
member that he has said, ' The meek will he guide in judg-
ment.' "
The essay, as a matter of course, was not considered ne-
cessary after this little event occurred.
NOT AFRAID OF FATHER'S VOICE.
And there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earth-
quake. Rev. 8 : 5.
A PROFANE persecutor discovered great terror during a
J\. storm of thunder and lightning which overtook him on a
journey. His pious wife, who was with him, inquired the
reason of his terror. He replied by asking, . " Are you not
afraid ? " She answered, " No ; it is the voice of my heav-
enly Father ; and should a child be afraid of its father ? "
" Surely/ 1 thought the man, " these Puritans have a divine prin-
ciple in them which the world seeth not ; otherwise they could
not have such serenity in their souls when the rest of the
world are filled with dread." Soon after, going to Mr. Bolton,
of Broughton, near Kettering, he lamented the opposition
which he had made to his ministry, and became a godly man
ever after.
PUNISHED BY A JUDGMENT FROM GOD.
And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit,
whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath
his name Apollyon. Rev. : 11.
JOHN NISBET, a lawyer of Glasgow, was a mocker of
piety and a drunkard. In 1681, when the Rev. Donald
Cargill was called to suffer martyrdom for his Master's cause,
he was most cruelly insulted by Nisbet. Mr. Cargili was an
aged man, venerable in his appearance, his hair white as snow,
916 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
and had long been loved and revered by all good men as the
eloquent minister of the High Church of Glasgow. As he stood
in chains, " ready to be offered," Nisbet said to him, " Mr.
Donald, will you give us one word more ? " alluding, in mockery,
to a familiar phrase which this eminent servant of Christ
frequently used when concluding his discourses. The martyr
turned on him his eyes in tears of sorrow and regret, and said,
in a deep and solemn tone, " Mock not, lest your bands be
made strong ! " Then, after a solemn pause, he added, " That
day is coming when you shall not.have one word to say, though
you would ! " A few days after this he fell suddenly ill, and
for three days his tongue swelled ; and though he seemed very
earnest to speak, yet he could not command one word, and he
died in great torment and seeming terror. Wodrow, the
faithful historian, who gives the above facts, has added these
words : " Some yet alive know the truth of this passage.' 7
FIVE STEPS TO THE GALLOWS.
Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their
fornication, nor of their thefts. Rev. 9 : 21.
A MAN had committed murder, was tried, found guilty, and
condemned to be hanged. A few days before his execu-
tion, upon the walls of his prison he drew the -figure of a
man hanging on a gallows, with five steps leading up to it.
On the first step he wrote, Disobedience to Parents. Solo-
mon says, " The eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth
to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out,
and the young eagles shall eat it ; " that is, he shall perish by
a violent death ; he shall come to a miserable, wretched end.
On the second step he wrote, Sabbath-breaking. God, in his
command, said, " Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."
Visit your prisons and jails, and you will find that nine tenths
of its inmates have begun their downward course by breaking
this command.*
On the third step he wrote, Gambling and Drunkenness.
The late Dr. Nott, for more than fifty years president of Union
College, having been a close observer of human events, truly
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 917
says, " The finished gambler has no heart. He would play at
his brother's funeral, he would gamble upon his mother's
coffin."
On the fourth step he wrote, Murder. God's command is,
" Thou shalt not kill." To prevent man from unlawfully taking
the life of his fellow-man, God has annexed an awful penalty :
" Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be
shed."
On the fifth step he wrote, The Fatal Platform. It is im-
possible for us to form a correct idea of the thoughts that
must rush through the mind of a man under such circum-
stances the disgrace and ignominy attached to his name ;
the pains and agony of such a death ; the want of sympathy in
the community around him ; the fearful forebodings of his
guilty soul before the bar of a holy God.
CHRIST DESCRIBED BY JOHN.
And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a
cloud ; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun,
and his feet as pillars of fire. Rev. 10 : 1.
WHO is this mighty angel ? After considering the various
opinions which have been offered in answer to this
question, I agree with Hengstenberg, that this angel is none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor is it a valid objection to
this conclusion that he is here called angel. The word angel sig-
nifies messenger ; and in executing his mediatorial work, Christ
often appears and acts as the messenger of God, and is not
unfrequently called an angel. He is, as it seems to me, called
so here. My first proof of the divine character of this angel
is found in the transcendent glory of his appearance, so very
like to that of his appearance to John, as recorded in the
tenth chapter of the Revelation, transcending in some par-
ticulars the glory even of that Epiphany. Then the planting
of his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
reveals him as the rightful Proprietor and Sovereign of the
world. And the solemn oath which he takes shows him to be
one who has the times and the seasons in his own power, to
prolong, curtail, and decide, according to his pleasure.
The Seols Opened, by Dr. Pond.
918 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE DESTROYER'S WORK.
And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up
his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who cre-
ated heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that
therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be
time no longer. Rev. 10 : 5, 6.
I SAW a temple reared by the hands of man standing with
its pinnacle in the distant plain. The storms beat about
it, the God of nature hurled his thunderbolts against it, yet it
stood firm as adamant. Revelry was in the halls ; the gay,
the happy, the young, the beautiful were there. I returned,
and, lo ! the temple was no more. Its high walls lay in scat-
tered ruin ; moss and grass grew rankly there ; and at the
midnight hour the owl's long cry added to the deep solitude.
The young and gay who had reveled there had passed away.
I saw a child rejoicing in his youth, the idol of his mother,
and the pride of his father. I returned, and that child had
become old. Trembling with the weight of years, he stood,
the last of his generation, a stranger amidst the desolation
around him.
" Who is this destroyer ? " said I to my guardian angel.
" It is Time," said he. " When the morning stars sang
together for joy over the new-made world, he commenced
his course ; and when he has destroyed all that is beautiful
on earth, plucked the sun from his sphere, vailed the moon
in blood, yea, when he shall have rolled the heavens and earth
away as a scroll, then shall an angel from the throne of God
come forth, and with one foot upon the sea and one on the
land, lift up his hand toward heaven and swear, by heaven's
Eternal, Time is, Time was, but Time shall be no longer."
Paulding.
WARRING AGAINST THE SAINTS.
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth
out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, uiul shall overcome
them, and kill them. Rev. 11:7.
" said Caesar, " we will soon root up this Christianity.
Off with their heads ! " The different governors has-
o;
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 919
tened one after another of the disciples to death ; but,
the more they persecuted them, the more they multiplied.
The proconsuls had orders to destroy Christians ; the more
they hunted them, the more Christians there were, until, at
last, men pressed to the judgment-seat, and asked to be per-
mitted to die for Christ^ They invented torments ; they
dragged saints at the heels of wild horses ; they laid them
upon red-hot gridirons ; they pulled off the skin from their
flesh piece by piece ; they were sawn asunder ; they were
wrapped up in skins, and daubed with pitch, and set in
Nero's gardens at night to burn ; they were left to rot in
dungeons ; they were made a spectacle to all men in the am-
phitheater ; the bears hugged them to death ; the lions tore
them to pieces ; the wild bulls tossed them upon their horns :
and yet Christianity spread. All the swords of the legion-
aries which had put to rout the armies of all nations, and had
overcome the invincible Gaul and the savage Briton, could
not withstand the feebleness of Christianity j for the weakness
of God is mightier than men. Spurgeon.
MEETING FOR THE FIRST TIME- IN HEAVEN.
And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld
them. Rev. 11 : 12.
"PRESIDENT EDWARDS and the celebrated Erskine of
JL Scotland were correspondents for many years ; but they
never met on earth. Their first interview was in heaven. It
was doubtless a joy for them to meet in the presence of the
Saviour, respecting whose cause they had taken counsel to-
gether when on earth, across the billows of the ocean.
There will be many joyous meetings in heaven for the first
time. The man of benevolence, who has taken the poor lad
from the abode of poverty, will meet with many in heaven
who will give him a hearty welcome. That boy, -it may bo,
goes as a missionary to the heathen, and many benighted souls
are converted through his instrumentality. In heaven, the
causes and connections of events will doubtless be more
clearly known than they can be in this world. A band of
920 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
converted heathens may give a grateful welcome to the man
who trained and sent forth him from whose teachings they
Jearned the way to heaven.
The writer of a good book which has reached the heart of
some distant reader, and led to his conversion, may learn in
heaven that his labors were not in vain, by the welcome of
some who would not have been there but for him. Let us
labor to prepare for ourselves joyful greetings in heaven.
BE A CHRISTIAN EVERYWHERE.
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of
his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. Rev. 11 : 15.
IT not unfrequently happens that some professors of religion
are more exemplary in their lives at home, among acquaint-
ances, than when away from home, especially when at places
of public resort ; as at watering-places, seaside, mountain ram-
blings, in summer vacations.
That the use of wine, cards, dancing, billiards, Sabbath-
riding for pleasure, <fcc., practices which would not be in-
dulged in at home because they are wrong, are indulged in
when in the society of those who frequent such places. He
makes a poor bargain, who, to gain health to his body, con-
tracts moral diseases upon his soul. Be a Christian every-
where, and if the temptations be greater, let prayer be more
frequent and earnest.
This subject has applications of special interest to metro-
politan Christians who spend the summer, or a part of it, in
the country ; and, indeed, to all Christians who make tours of
travel for pleasure or recreation. "Wearied with the wear and
tear of city life, they delight to fly for a few weeks, or even
days, from the scenes of their year-long strife, to the banks of
rivers or lakes, or to shady retreats among the mountains.
They gladly exchange commodious homes or palatial mansions
in town for the most contracted quarters within sight of green
fields and sparkling waters. Such persons ought by all means
to remember that new surroundings weaken the force of reli-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 921
gious habits, and interpose obstacles to the exercise of them.
It is more difficult to maintain family worship in a hotel or
boarding-house than in your own home ; and more necessary,
because of the novel temptations which are to assail you and
your children during the day. Take your religion with you
to the sea-shore, the springs, and the mountains ; retain its
spirit, and in order to do this, jealously maintain its forms.
BY THESE WE OVERCOME.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
testimony ; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Rev. 12 : 11.
THE following original letter from Dr. Adam Clarke, of
November 23, 1822, to Rev. Duncan McColl, was pub-
lished in the Provincial Wesley an, January 17, 1872:
" God has promised to his upright followers all that they
need to make them wise, holy, happy, and useful ; and every
promise is, ' Yea in him and Amen through Christ Jesus.' We
can not please him better than by putting him to his word, and
asking the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of peace.
" The testimony of God is very powerful. Where his truth
is zealously preached, there .is his presence, and there his
especial blessing. I am also getting old, and shall, if spared,
soon be in the grand climacterical year of my life. I have
traveled a good deal I have seen the church of God in all
its states ; but I have never known one instance where the
doctrine of justification by faith, the witness of the Spirit, and
redemption from all sin in this life, were faithfully and zeal-
ously preached, that the work of God was not both deepened
and extended. These are our credentials, and we overcome
by the blood of the Lamb and our testimony.
"You are in the wilderness" ; but God is, in all places ; he
fills the heaven and the earth, and wherever he is, he is a
fountain of ever-flowing benevolence to every part of his in-
telligent offspring. You can neither ask nor expect too much,
when you come unto God by Christ Jesus. Plaee high things
before your people : excite their expectation ; show them the
good that God has provided for them ; and in all communica-
116
922 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
tion from God to man, show them that now is the accepted
time. He who contents himself with expecting salvation to-
morrow can scarcely be said to expect it at all : most cer-
tainly such a one is not in earnest for the redemption of his
soul."
IGNATIUS, A PRIMITIVE MARTYR.
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the
remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the
testimony of Jesus Christ. Rev. 12 : 17.
HHRAJAN, the Roman emperor, commanded the martyrdom
_L of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch. This holy man is sup-
posed to be the person whom, when an infant, Christ took
into his arms, and showed to his disciples. And it is also said
that he received the gospel from St. John the evangelist. He
boldly defended the faith of Christ before the emperor, for
which he was grievously tormented by scourging, his flesh
burned by papers dipped in oil, and torn by red-hot pin-
cers, <fec.
But before he suffered martyrdom, he wrote to several
churches, to confirm them in the faith of the gospel. Tn his
epistle to the Ephesians, he observes, " Though I am in bonds
for the name of Christ, I am not as yet perfect in Christ Jesus.
Now I begin to be a disciple."
Surprising language ! What deep humility ! An aged
bishop, the disciple of St. John, just about going to martyr-
dom, yet says, " Now I begin to be a disciple." What a
lesson to Christians to acknowledge themselves "less than
the least " ! Again, in a letter to the Magnesians, he says, " It
becomes us not only to be called, but to be Christians."
In an epistle to the Romans he says, " Living, but in love
with dying, I write unto you ; my love is crucified, and there
is not in me a fire of love toward anything of an earthly matter,
but living water ; and he that speaks within me says, l Come
unto the Father.' "
In his letter to the Philadelphians, he says, Ci Children of
the light, avoid wicked doctrines: follow as sheep your Pastor.
If any do not preach Christ Jesus, they are to be funeral pil-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 923
lars, and monuments of the dead, upon whom names only are
inscribed. Where division and anger is, God is not.' ;
And elsewhere he says, that " good and wicked men are
like true and counterfeit money : the one seems to be good,
and is not ; the other both seems to be, and is, good." And,
again, " Grace flowing from the blessed Spirit of God makes
the soul like a fountain, whose water is pure, wholesome, and
clear."
Mark how ready he was to suffer for Christ. " Let fire,
cross, breaking of bones, quartering my members, crushing
my body, or all the torments that men and devils can invent,
befall me, so that I may enjoy my Lord Jesus. It is better for
me to die for Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the
earth."
Such was the holy and heavenly man who was torn to pieces
by lions in the year 107 or 108. He zealously supported the
divinity of Christ.
BLASPHEMY.
And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his
name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. - Rev. 13 : 6.
TO blaspheme is to speak of the Supreme Being in terms of
impious irreverence ; to revile, or speak reproachfully of
God, or the Holy Spirit ; or to speak evil of the Deity, by
uttering abuse or calumny against him, or by uttering re-
proachful language of him.
The mind of the writer has been painfully turned to the
subject of this article by a circumstance which recently oc-
curred in one of the interior counties of California. A man of
more than ordinary intelligence, and not without friends, feel-
ing restive and a sense of discomfort as a consequence of his
confinement by business during the days usually given to sec-
ular employments, was accustomed to take his gun and ramble
over the fields and through the woods, hunting, on the Lord's
day. Recently a Christian acquaintance ventured to mildly
reprove him, and to remonstrate with him on account of his
sin. But instead of receiving the reproof in the spirit in
924 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
which it was given, the transgressor of God's requirement to
keep the Sabbath day holy, became very angry, and, using the
most terrible imprecations, cursed the Sabbath and the God
of the Sabbath, and used the most contumelious reproaches of
the Deity for having set apart one day in seven for religious
observance. Soon after he returned home, he was taken ill,
and in a few days " died as the fool dieth," without being
permitted to behold the light of another Sabbath.
POLYCARP'S NOBLE CONFESSION.
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome
them ; and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Rev. 13 : 7.
WHEN Herod and Nicetes attempted to turn Polycarp from
the faith, by insinuating that there was no evil in calling
Caesar lord, and offering sacrifices to him, he replied, that he
had served Jesus Christ for many years, and had always found
him a good Master ; that he should, therefore, submit himself
to all the tortures they should inflict, rather than deny him ;
and when he was threatened to be burned, he replied to the
proconsul, " Thou threatenest me with a fire that burns for an
hour and then dies, but art ignorant of the fire of the future
judgment and eternal damnation reserved for the ungodly.
But why do you make delays ? Order what punishment you
think fit."
It is recorded, concerning one of the martyrs, that when he
was going to the stake, a nobleman besought him, in a com-
passionate manner, to take care of his soul. " So I will," he
replied, " for I give my body to be burned rather than have
my soul defiled."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 925
POWERFUL PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL.
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and
kindred, and tongue, and people, saying, with a loud voice, Fear God, and
give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come ; and worship him
that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev. 14 : 6, 7.
IT is said, in the Revelation of St. John, that amongst many
other visions, he saw an angel fly in the midst of heaven,
having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell
upon the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue,
and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory
to him, <fcc. And what next followed ? another angel, saying,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, Babylon the great city is fallen, &c.
(Rev. 14 : 7, 8.) See here now the efficacy and power of
gospel preaching ; let but the gospel be sincerely preached,
Babylon must down ; the devil and Dagon must fall before the
ark of God's presence. Whatsoever the purposes, projects,
pretenses, policies, conspiracies, combinations, and confedera-
cies of lewd, atheistical, and wicked men be, yet they shall
never be able to stop the stream of God's word, dam up the
wells of salvation, or hinder the free passage of the gospel, no
more than to bind up the wind in their fists, or stop the rain
of heaven from watering the earth. It is true that the minis-
ters of the gospel may, by the instruments of Satan, be stocked,
stoned, hewn asunder, burned with fire, slain with the sword,
clapped up in prison, fettered in chains, sequestered, plun-
dered, decimated, <fcc., yet the gospel itself may be, nay, is, in
lively operation, a light that can not be put out, a heat that
can not be smothered, a power that can not be broken. For
even then, the constant sufferings and patient bearing of the
cross doth, as by a lively voice, publish and proclaim the truth
of the gospel for which they suffer, and serveth to win many
to the faith of Christ Jesus.
926 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
BLESSED ARE THE DEAD.
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors ; and their works do follow them. Rev . 14 : 13.
DR. CUMMINGr, in a recently published scheme, mentioning
the passage of Scripture, " Blessed are the dead which
die in the Lord/' relates the following striking anecdote :
A Roman Catholic lady I was the means of bringing out of
that church, told me that the words repeated by me, " Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord, . . . that they may rest,"
kindled in her heart convictions which she could not allay, and
which, on application to the priest, he could not hush. She told
me that she was once supposed to be on the point of death. " I
was given up as dying/' she said, " and a priest was sent for,
a venerable man, to administer extreme unction. He did so ;
I had full possession of my mind, and I asked him, " Now, tell
me, my father, am I saved ? " And he answered, " I can
pledge my own salvation that you will be ultimately safe."
" Ultimately ; what does it mean ? " " My child r you must
pass through purgatory." " I said, I have had extreme unc-
tion administered. . . . What is the nature of that purgatory
through which I have to pass ? " " My child, purgatory is a
place where you must endure the torments of the damned,
only of shorter duration." Such was the comfort with which
she was left to die ; but this text seemed to her to annihilate
purgatory.
SHALL I BE ONE OF THEM?
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire ; and them that had
gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and
over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of
God. And they sing the song of Moses, tin- servant of God, and the song of
the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty;
just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Rev. 15 : 2, 3.
HOW divinely full of glory and pleasure shall that hour be,
when all the millions of mankind, that have been re-
deemed by the blood of the Lamb of God, shall meet together
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 927
and stand around him, with every tongue and every heart full
of joy and praise ! How astonishing will be the glory and the joy
of that day, when all the saints shall join together in one com-
mon song of gratitude and love, and of everlasting thankful-
ness to their Redeemer ! With what unknown delight and
inexpressible satisfaction shall all that are saved from the
ruins of sin and hell address the Lamb that was slain, and re-
joice in his presence ! Dr. Watts.
FAITHFULNESS REWARDED.
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art
holy ; for all nations shall come and worship before thee ; for thy judgments
are made manifest. Rev. 15 : 4.
E day, in my travels," says Mr. Jay, " I heard of a ser-
vant who had attended a Wesleyan chapel. This of-
fended her master and mistress, who told her that she must
discontinue the practice or leave their service. She received
the information with modesty, said she was sorry, but so it
must be ; she could not sacrifice the convictions of her con-
science to keep her place. So they gave her warning ; and she
was now determined, if possible, to be more circumspect and
exemplary than ever, determined that, if she suffered for her
religion, her religion should not suffer for her. Some time
after this, the master said to the mistress, ' Why, this is rather
a hard measure with regard to our servant ; has she not a
right to worship God where she pleases, as well as ourselves ? J
1 0, yes,' said the mistress; ' and we never had so good a ser-
vant ; one who rose so early, and got her work done so well,
was so clean, and was so economical, never answering again.'
And so they iritimated that she might remain. Some time
after this the wife said to her husband, 1 1 think Mary's reli-
gion does her a great deal more good than our religion seems
to do us ; I should like to hear her minister.' And so she
went, and was impressed, and prevailed upon her husband to
go, and he was impressed ; and now they are' all followers of
God ; and have the worship of God in their house."
928 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
A SOLEMN JUDGMENT.
And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty,
true and- righteous are thy judgments. Rev. 16 : 7.
A SOME WHAT extraordinary case of blasphemy and sud-
den death once occurred near Farmington, Van Buren
County, Iowa. A farmer living there, while talking to his
neighbors about the dry weather, began an outburst of the
most terrible blasphemy, using the vilest epithets toward
the Almighty and the Saviour, because he did not send rain.
The man was going on in frightful language, when all at once
his jaws became palsied, his tongue became powerless, his
voice ceased, and he fell on the earth a corpse.
We can not regard an instance like this in an^ other light
than as an interposition of divine Providence. Others may
think differently ; they may consider the man's sudden seizure
and death as caused by an epileptic or apoplectic attack, and
it may have been so ; but, if that were conceded, it would not
therefore be less a divine visitation for the horrible blas-
phemy in which the man was indulging. " It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
KEEPING OUR GARMENTS PURE.
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his
garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. Rev. 1G : 15.
IN a discourse on the words, " Blessed are the pure in heart/'
Mr. Caughey once remarked that it was' impossible to sully
a sunbeam. " And while that sunbeam," said he, " may dart
down into the darkest hole of filth and illuminate it, it will
soil nothing, and yet not be soiled itself. So the ray of heav-
enly life and love existing in the perfect believer's heart, goes
into and comes out into contact with the dark dwelling-places
of iniquity and 'filth, and cheers, and enlivens, and encourages
by its presence, but is always kept unspotted from the stains
of the world. It is God who gives to the pure heart this great
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 929
gift and distinction. It is he only who can keep the heart in
perfect peace. Suppose a white-robed female were walking
along some turnpike road where the mud was flying, and
where the horses and wagons, as they hurried and splashed
along, at every turn and step increased the confusion", hemmed
up the footpath, and threw the water and dirt. Suppose that
white-robed female should find at her journey's end her dress
white and spotless as when she was first robed. Would not
this be a miracle ? Most surely it would. But a greater mir-
acle it is that the Christian, in waging his course through this
world, in fighting through trials and temptations, and in strug-
gling with the fiery adversary, does not have some stain or
mark of conflict on his garments. He cries out, ' Glory to
God, free and unspotted too ! ' It is a miracle of grace of
the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Praises be
unto his precious name ! "
"A SCARLET-COLORED BEAST."
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness ; and I saw a wo-
man sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven
heads and ten horns. Rev. 17 : 3.
THIS, it will be remembered, is the appellation given by the
Holy Scriptures to the Papal power, &c. We were never
more forcibly struck with its appropriateness than by an ac-
'count recently given us by Dr. Muzzy, of Cincinnati, of a great
procession of the pope and his cardinals, on the celebration
of grand mass at St. Peter's, witnessed by him on a late visit
to Rome. The pope wore the tiara, a tripled crown, worn ori-
ginally single, by Pope Sylvester, to which Boniface VIII., in
1300, added a second crown, and Urban Y. added a third, in-
dicating the combination of the pontifical, imperial, and royal
authority, or, as some say, the sovereignty of three kingdoms.
His magnificent coach was of "brilliant scarlet, his splendid
robe of the same color ; a long train of gorgeous carriages pre-
ceded him, all of scarlet likewise, in which his cardinals were
seated in scarlet attire. Headley, in describing a like pom-
pous display seen by him at St. Peter's, speaks of the superb.
117
930 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
plumes decorating the horses, as also of the same brilliant
color. It would seem that no intelligent reader of the New
Testament could contemplate such a spectacle without being
somewhat impressed, like ourselves, with the applicability and
accuracy of the inspired prediction.
CHRIST IS OUR KING.
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them ;
for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings ; and they that are with him are
called, and chosen, and faithful. Rev. 17 : 14.
VILLIAM DAWSON preaching in London on the offices
of Christ, after presenting him as the great Teacher and
Priest, who made himself an offering for sin, the preacher in-
troduced him as the King of saints. Having shown that lie
was King in his own right, he proceeded to the coronation.
Borrowing his ideas from scenes familiar to his' audience, he
marshaled the immense procession moving toward the grand
temple to place the insignia of royalty upon the King of the
universe.
So vividly did the preacher describe the scene, that his
hearers almost thought they were gazing upon that long line
of patriarchs and kings, prophets and apostles, martyrs and
confessors, of every age and clime, until at length the great
temple was filled, and the solemn and imposing ceremony of
coronation was about to take place. The audience by this
time were wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement, ami
while momentarily expecting to hear the anthem peal out from
the vast assemblage, the preacher commenced singing,
" All hail the power of Jesus' name !
Let angels prostrate fall," &c.
The effect was electrical. The audience started to their feet,
and sang the hymn with such spirit and feeling as, perhaps, it
was never sung before or since. Right loyally did that great
congregation pay homage to the Saviour as their Sovereign
that Sabbath morning.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 931
.FAITHFUL DEALING WITH SINNERS.
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her
iniquities. Rev. 18 : 5.
I HA YE some here who have had warnings so terrible that
they might have known better; they have gone into lusts
which have brought their bodies into sickness ; and perhaps this
day they have crept up to this house, and they dare not tell to
their neighbor who stands by their side what is the loathsome-
ness that even now doth breed upon their frame. And yet
they will go back to the same lusts : the fool will go again to
the stocks, the sheep will lick the knife that is to slay him.
You will go on in your lust and in your sins, despite warnings,
despite advice, until you perish in your guilt. How worse
than children are grown-up men ! The child who goes for a
merry slide upon a pond, if he be told that the ice will not
bear him, starteth back affrighted ; or, if he daringly creepeth
upon it, how soon he leaves it if he hears but a crack upon
the slender covering of the water. But you men have con-
science, wjiich tells you that your sins are vile, and that they
will be your ruin ; you hear the crack of sin as its thin sheet
of pleasure gives way beneath your feet j ay, and some of
you have seen your comrades sink in the flood, and lost, and
yet ye go sliding on. Worse than childish, worse than mad,
are you, thus presumptuously to play with your own everlast-
ing state. Spurgeon.
SOMETHING MORE YALUABLE THAN GOLD.
For in one hour so great riches is come to naught. Rev. 18 : 17.
A SHIP bearing a hundred emigrants has been driven from
her course, and wrecked on a desert island, far from the
tracks of man. There is no way of escape ; but there are
means of subsistence. An ocean, unvisited by ordinary voy-
agers, circles round their prison ; but they have seed, with a
rich soil to receive, and a genial climate to ripen it. Ere any
plan has been laid, or any operations begun, an exploring party
932 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
returns to headquarters, reporting the discovery of a gold
mine. Thither instantly the whole party resort to dig. They
labor, successfully, day by day, and month after month. They
acquire and accumulate large heaps of gold. -But spring is
past, and not a field has been cleared, nor a grain of seed com-
mitted to the ground. The summer comes, and their wealth
increases ; but the store of food is small. In harvest they
begin to discover that their heaps of gold are worthless.
When famine stares them in the face, a suspicion shoots across
their fainting hearts that the gold has clteated them. They
rush to the woods, fell the trees, dig the roots, till the ground,
sow the seed. It is too late ! Winter has come, and their
seed rots in the ground. They die of want in the midst of
their treasures. This earth is the little isle, eternity the ocean
round it ; on this shore we have been cast. There is a living-
seed ; but gold mines attract us. We spend spring and sum-
mer there ; winter overtakes us toiling there, destitute of the
bread of life, forgetting that we ought to " seek first the king-
dom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall
be added unto us." Rev. W. Arnot.
A REMARKABLE MEETING.
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of
many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia; for
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Rev. 19 : 6.
THE following notice, by an American missionary, of a late
meeting in Constantinople, shows the harmonizing ten-
dency of missions :
" Think of a great union meeting, consisting of Armenians,
Jews, Americans, English, Scotch, Germans, Catholics, and
Greeks, and all sitting down together at the table of the Lord ;
Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists, Metho-
dists, baptized Jews, and Protestant Armenians. The elements
were distributed by a Jew, a German, and the two deacons
of the Protestant Armenians. Prayers were offered in three
languages Turkish, English, and Armenian. Remarks and
exhortations were made in four languages German, English,
NEW. TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 933
Armenian; and Turkish. And hymns were sung to the same
tune, and at the same moment, in three different languages
Armenian, German, and English. The first was Old Hundred,
the same that- will be sung in the millennium. There was no
confusion, no discord. No one was out of time or out of tune.
The harmony was perfect; while each with the spirit and the
understanding, and with the greatest- power and might, was
singing in his own tongue wherein he was born, or with which
he is now familiar, l the high praises of our God.' The effect
was overpowering. It was ' the voice of a great multitude/
redeemed out of many nations, kindreds, and tongues ; and it
rose on high like ' the sound of many waters.' Our chapel
was crowded with communicants, and our hearts were filled
with emotions too big for utterance."
"LET ME GO, FOR I AM A CHRISTIAN."
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and
white ; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. Rev. 19 : 8.
T ET me go, for I am a Christian and prepared to die, and
Jj you are not."
During the terrible flood of 1870, in the Shenandoah River,
West Virginia, that swept before it some fifty buildings at
and near Harper's Ferry, and caused to perish forty-six per-
sons, the following touching incident occurred. It was re-
lated to me by the mother of the man whose Christian wife
uttered the words quoted above.
It was night. Mr. S. and his wife sat by the window of their
dwelling, watching with intensest interest the rising of the
waters, and hoping in vain for a timely abatement of the same.
At length portions of the building they were in gave way, and
it was evident that longer delay must hurl them, together with
their crumbling tenement, to utter destruction. Then, grasp-
ing firmly his wife with one hand, they dropped into the
foaming current, the husband struggling heroically to keep
his wife above the waves, and gain a point of safety with his
precious charge. The rush and roaring of the waters were
most terrific. But little progress was made in the direction
934 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
of the shore, and when- they had reached a point from one
fourth to one half a mile down stream, believing that her hus-
band, as well as herself, must perish, if he continued his efforts
to save her, with wonderful deliberation she said to him, " Let
me go, for I am a Christian and prepared to die, and you are
not ! "
Her body sank in death, but her pure spirit rose to glory, we
can not doubt. Mr. S., sometimes under water and sometimes
on the surface, barely succeeded in maintaining his hold on
life until, nearly a mile below the place of his residence, and
much exhausted, he caught on the roof of another building,
and the next morning was rescued from his perilous situation.
This thrilling event impresses us with the value of a good
hope for the future.
THE DEVIL LEADS ON TO DESTRUCTION.
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brim-
stone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day
and night for ever and ever. Rev. 20 : 10.
TREADING in an English magazine, lately, we met with an
-Li account of a curious device of the London butchers. It
is a difficult task, as might be supposed, to drive a flock of
sheep through the streets of a large city, where the resem-
blance is so small to green pastures and country roads. They
are liable to be scattered in all directions by the crowd of
vehicles, and to turn every few rods down the cross streets, in
a manner sorely trying to patience. Hence, when the butcher
has purchased a number of sheep at the general market, it is
no small matter, even with the help of a dog, to get them to
his private yard for slaughter. Can any expedient lessen the
trouble ? A knowledge of the animal's instincts points out a
method of relief. A sheep is taken and petted till it becomes
wonted to the place, and attached to its owner. It is then
used as a decoy, being led to the market-place, where the
purchase is made of the little flock for the slaughter, and there
placed at their head. The butcher then starts for home, the
decoy sheep accompanies him, the others instinctively follow,
according to sheep-nature, and refuse to be separated, thread-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 935
ing their way through streets and lanes, carts and carriages,
pleased with following their leader, till they reach the place
of death.
We said, just now, that this was according to sheep-nature.
Is there nothing like it in human nature ? Alas ! we see the
same device in use on every hand by the great enemy of souls.
How few he would entrap without a decoy ! Fish do not bite
the bare hook. Birds will not enter an empty trap-cage. Even
sheep do not go wittingly to the slaughter, but must be en-
ticed there. Sinners love sin, but not death, and do not
crowd the broad road with any idea that it leads to destruc-
tion. Satan has made a study of nature ever since he found
our first parents in paradise, and he understands it well. He
knows that men, like sheep, are gregarious, and prone to go
in troops, after leaders. He shapes his policy accordingly.
He wastes little time or work on the common mass, but he
takes great pains to train the leaders. One good decoy sheep
will conduct a thousand flocks to the slaughter.
JUDGED AT THE LAST DAY.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; and the books
were opened ; and another book was opened, which is the book of life ; and
the dead were judged out. of those things which were written in the books
according to their works. Rev. 20 : 12.
WHAT discoveries will be made then ! What development
of hidden virtue and of secret vice ! How that which
is covered now will be revealed ! and how that which is hidden
now will be displayed, as upon the house-top ! How those
who, in the present world, have been despised and rejected
on account of the character of their earthly employment, will
be found exalted to the high places of honor, while those who
have held here high station in the world, and it may be in
the professing church, will be found in a station of everlasting
shame and contempt. ' What discoveries will be made then !
And what unions will occur then ! The saints of God, from
various climes and in various ages, reciprocally unknown to
each other at all, will mingle together; while those who have
936 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
trodden the same path of pilgrimage will rush to each other's
arms, under the sanction of the great President, acknowledging
themselves to be to each other a glory, a crown of rejoicing,
and a joy in the day of his coming. What unions will be
then!
And what separations will be then ! Besides the grand
separation of the classes, the righteous and the wicked, what
separations will there be of those who formerly were joined
in social habitudes and relations of life, pastors from people,
teachers from scholars, husbands from wives, parents from
children, friends from friends ! and the separations irrevocable.
It will be the season of everlasting farewell ! How overpow-
ering, then, is to be that great event, when the assembly shall
separate, never to approach and never to commingle more !
Rev. James Parsons.
LOST! LOST!
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the
lake of fire. Rev. 20 : 15.
WAS called," says a venerable divine, " in the early part
JL of my ministry, to stand beside the bed of a beautiful
young mother whose life was fast ebbing away. Anguish,
deep, hopeless anguish, was riveted on her countenance.
Death was knocking for admission. Her time had come. I
asked her if she was willing that I should pray with her.
Her reply was, ( I have no objection, but prayers will be of
no avail now ; it is too late, too late ; I must die ; I am lost !
lost for ever ! ' I prayed earnestly with her, but her hard
heart was untouched ; there was in it no fountain, of love to
its Maker; it was ' too late.'
" What was the cause of her cold and careless indifference ?
Listen, mothers, and from her who, 'being dead, yet speaketh,'
learn a lesson. This lovely mother was, at a very early period
of her life, deeply and seriously impressed with the importance
of religion, and the arrows of conviction 'were fastened in her
heart. ' My mother,' says she, ' sent me to the dancing school,
and I danced all my convictions away.' As she lived, so did
she die without Christ in the world." .
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 937
POWER OF THE BIBLE.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And
he said unto me, Write : for these words are true and faithful. Rev. 21 : 5.
THE chief duty of Protestantism is with the Scriptures. It
is clearly to declare and publish them abroad. Neither
attacks upon the Papacy nor polemics against infidelity are
our most important work. If we can only pour the light of
the Scriptures clear and in full-orbed glory upon the world,
all the power of the Papacy will vanish as the night before
the morning, and the forms of infidelity disappear as glow-
worms cease to shine when the day has come. The Bible
does not need any defense so much as it needs a proclama-
tion. It defends itself wherever it is known. Deep in every
soul there dwells for ever a witness to the truth, whose clear
eye and steady voice will see and respond to it wherever it is
known. We do not need to implore men to believe the truth.
We only need that they shall adequately apprehend it, and
then we may defy them to deny it. And thus the Bible, as
eternal truth, needs no other argument for its support than
itself clearly preached.
There are defenders of the truth who think it otherwise.
They treat the Bible as a weakly infant, which must be bol-
stered up and carefully sustained, lest it fall. And so they
bring together their learning and philosophy, their human
reasoning and research, which they use as proofs to keep the
Bible up, trembling all the while lest one of these should fail,
and the truth, unsupported, sink to its hurt. But the Bible
disdains all these appliances. It is no weakly infant ! It has
more than a giant's strength, and can not only stand unaided,
but can walk forth alone, conquering and to conquer. Pro-
fessor Seelye.
"DID YOU EVER DRINK AT THAT GREAT FOUNTAIN?"
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water
of life freely. Rev. 21:6.
A FRIEND of mine, Deacon E., in 1839, was on a visit to
1\. Saratoga Springs. One morning, taking a draught at
118 "
938 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Congress Spring, a lady came to take her usual glass at the
same time. The deacon turned to her, and asked,
" Have you ever drank at that Great Fountain ? "
She colored, and looked surprised, but turned away with-
out a word of reply. The next winter Deacon E. was in Roch-
ester, and one evening attended a conference and prayer meet-
ing in the Baptist church. A gentleman invited him to go
home with him and see his wife, who was very sick. As he
entered the room, she looked up and smiled, and said,
" Don't you know me ? "
" No," said he.
" Don't you remember asking a woman at Congress Spring,
1 Have you ever drank at that Great Fountain ? ; ;
" Yes," says he.
" Well." said she, " I am the person ; I thought at first you
were very rude ; but your words kept ringing in my ears.
They followed me to my chamber, to my pillow. I found no
rest till I found it in Christ. I expect to die pretty soon, and
go to heaven, and you, under God, are the means of my sal-
vation ! Be as faithful to others as you have been to me.
Never be afraid to talk to strangers on the subject of reli-
gion."
SWEARING ALONE.
He that overcometh shall inherit all things ; and I will be his God, and he
shall be my son. Rev. 21:7.
A GENTLEMAN heard a laboring man swearing dreadfully
in the presence of conlpanions. He told him that it was
a cowardly thing to swear in company with others, when he
dared not do it by himself. The man said he was not afraid to
swear at any time or place.
" I'll give you ten dollars," said the gentleman, " if you will
go to the village graveyard at twelve o'clock to-night, and
swear the same oaths you have uttered here, when you are
alone with God."
" Agreed," said the man ; " it's an easy way of earning ten
dollars."
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 939
" Well, you come to me to-morrow, and say you have done
it, and the money is yours."
The time passed on ; midnight came. The man went to
the graveyard. It was a night of pitchy darkness. As he
entered the graveyard, not a sound was heard ; all was still
as death. Then the gentleman's words, " Alone with God,"
came over him with wonderful power. The thought of the
wickedness of what he had been doing and what he had come
there to do, darted across his mind like a flash of lightning.
He trembled at his folly. Afraid to take another .step, he fell
upon his knees, and instead of the dreadful oaths he came to
utter, the earnest cry went up, " God, be merciful to me a
sinner."
The next day he went to the gentleman, and thanked him
for what he had done, and said he had resolved not to swear
another oath as long as he lived.
THE NEW JERUSALEM.
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and
shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from
God. Rev. 21 : 10.
DR. BONAR, of Edinburgh, thus discourses upon Rev.
21 : 10, and Sunday school teachers may get a hint from
these heads how to divide and briefly to enforce their les-
sons :
1. It is a great city. "That great city/' said John, gazing
on it. Its circuit is vast beyond Babylon or Nineveh, or
Paris or London. That "mighty city," says .John, speaking
of Babylon the great (Rev. 13 : 10) ; but this is mightier far.
There has been no city like it. It is the city, the one city, the
great metropolis of the mighty universe, the mighty city of
the mighty God.
2. It is a well-built city. Its " builder and maker is God."
Its foundations are eternal. Its walls are jasper, its gates
pearls, its streets paved with gold. It is " compactly built
together," lying four-square, and perfect in all its parts j with-
out a break, or flaw, or weakness, or deformity.
940 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
3. It is a well-lighted city. Something brighter than sun or
moon is given to fill its heaven. The glory of God lightens
it. The Lamb is its " light," or " lamp j " so that it needs no
candle, no sunlight. There is no night there.
4. It is a well-watered city. A pure river of the water of
life flows through its streets, proceeding from the throne of
God and the Lamb. What must its waters be ! Who in it
can ever thirst ? Its inhabitants shall thirst no more,
5. It is a well-provisioned city. The tree of life is there,
with its twelve varieties of fruit, and its health- giving leaves.
It has more than Eden had. It is Paradise restored. Paradise
and Jerusalem in one ; Jerusalem in Paradise, and Paradise in
Jerusalem.
6. It is a well-guarded city. Not only has it gates, and
walls, and towers, which no enemy could scale or force, but
at the gates are twelve angels, keeping perpetual watch.
7. It is a well-governed city. Its king is the Son of God ;
the King of kings, Emmanuel ; the King eternal, whose scepter
is righteousness ; who loveth righteousness, and hateth in-
iquity. No misrule is there, no disorder, no lawlessness.
8. It is a well-peopled city. It has gathered within its walls
all generations of the redeemed. Its population is as the
sands or the stars j the multitude that no man can number ;
the millions of the risen and glorified.
9. It is a holy city. Its origin is heavenly, and it is perfect
as its Builder. Nothing that defileth shall enter no spot, or
speck, or shadow of evil. All is perfection there divine
perfection.
10. It is a glorious city. The glory that fills it and encircles
it is the glory of God. All precious stones are there ; no
marble nor granite, such as we boast of now ; all about it is
gold, -and pearls, and gems. Everything resplendent is there.
11. It is a blessed city. It is truly the joyous city. It is
the throne and seat of the Blessed One, and all in it is like
him. Its name is Jerusalem, the city of peace. Its king's
name is Solomon, the Prince of Peace. There is no enemy
there, no danger, no darkness, no sickness, no curse, no death,
no weeping, no pain, no sorrow, no change for ever. They that
dwell in it shall " hunger no more, neither thirst any more "
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 941
(Rev. 7 : 16, 17 ) ; for the " ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to it with songs ; sorrow and sighing shall flee
away." (Isa. 35 : 10.) Blessed city ! City of peace, and love,
and song ! Fit accompaniment of the new heavens ; fit metrop-
olis of the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness ! How
eagerly should we look for it ! How worthy of it should we live !
"HAVING THE GLORY OF GOD."
Having the glory of God ; and her light was like unto a stone most pre-
cious, even like a jasper-stone, clear as crystal. Rev. 21 : 11.
ALL that is glorious, whether visible or invisible, natural or
spiritual, must have its birthplace in God. " Of him,
and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory
for ever." (Rom. 11 : 36.) All glorious things come forth out
of him, and have seeds, or germs, or patterns in himself. We
say of that flower, " How beautiful ! " but the type of its beau-
ty the beauty of which it is the faint expression is in
God. We say of that star, " How bright ! " but the bright-
ness which it represents or declares is in God. So of every
object above and beneath. And so especially shall it be seen
in the objects of glory which shall surround us in the king-
dom of God. Of each thing there, as of the city itself, it ^hall
be said, It has the glory of God." (Rev. 21 : 11.) Rev. H.
Bonar, D. D.
FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT.
And there shall he no night there ; and they need no candle, neither light
of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light ; and they shall reign for ever
and ever. Rev. 22 : 5.
I HAVE recently read of a young lady, twenty-five years of
age, who had been blind from birth. For twenty-five
years she had lived in midnight darkness, groping through
the glooms of an unbroken night. She could not form the
faintest conception of the features of those she loved, of rain-
bow hues, of the bloom of a summer's morning, of the sublime
loveliness of the expanded ocean, earth, and sky. As her
942 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
friends endeavored to picture to her these scenes, exhausting
the power of language and illustration in the attempt, her soul
struggled in sad and unavailing effort to form some concep-
tion of the wonders which light could reveal.
A successful operation was performed, and sight was re-
stored. For several days she was kept in a partially darkened
chamber,, until the visual organs gained strength, and she had
become a little accustomed to their use. Then on a lovely,
pure morning the window-blinds were thrown open, and she
was allowed to look out for the first time in her life upon the
wondrous- workmanship of God's hand. Then was unfolded
to her enraptured gaze the verdure of the carpeted earth, the
luxuriance of its vegetation, the flowers, the towering trees
waving their leaves in the gentle air, the wide-spread land-
scape extending apparently into infinity, and the grandeur of
the overarching skies, with their gorgeous drapery of clouds.
She nearly fainted from excess of rapture. Tears of
more than earthly delight gushed from those eyeballs which
had so long been sightless. " 0, wonderful, wonderful ! " she
exclaimed ; " heaven surely can not surpass this. I never
dreamed of aught so lovely. Upon such a scene I could gaze
for ever, for ever, unwearied. No language can describe such
grandeur and loveliness. God, this must be thy dwelling-
place, thine effulgent throne."
Thus in an ecstasy of bliss she gazed and gazed, exhausting
the language of admiration, till her physician, fearing the effect
of excitement so intense, closed the blinds.
And thus shall it be with you, happy, happy disciple of
Jesus, when the film which earth and sin have incrusted shall
be removed from your eyes, and, entering in at the golden
gates, the splendors of the celestial paradise shall be opened
to your view.
THE BIBLE TO BE MUCH READ.
And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book ;
for the time is at hand. Rev. 22 : 10.
A
PERSON who has perfect love will love his Bible above
all other books. It will be dear to his heart, an in-
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
943
expressible treasure. And the reason is obvious. It is be-
cause in the Bible he learns the will of God which he delights
in more than anything else. And hence it is one of the artifices
of. Satan, who is no friend of the Bible, to endeavor to detach
devout minds from the study of the divine word, under the
plausible pretense that the inward teachings of the Spirit are
of more value than the outward letter an artifice which
he who desires a close walk with God will carefully guard
against, remembering that God can not consistently, and will
not, neglect and dishonor his own divine communications ; that
the Holy Spirit operates in a peculiar manner, in connection
with the written word ; and that he who deserts the word of
God may reasonably expect to be deserted by the Spirit.
Professor Upham.
WHAT SHALL I CARRY WITH ME INTO ETERNITY?
He that Is unjust, let him be unjust still ; and he which is filthy, let him be
filthy still ; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still ; and he that is
holy, let him be holy still. Rev. 22 : 11.
I CAN carry no earthly goods, wealth, nor possessions gained
in time. Therefore I should not set my affections on earthly
things. " Houses, lands, riches, business, pleasures, I must
give you all up ; I can take none of you with me when I de-
part to another world." But " though no earthly possessions
can go with me into eternity, is there anything else that can?"
Yes ; my character, or state of my soul. For what we are
when we die we shall be after death, and for ever. It is not
said, what we have when we die we shall possess after death,
but what we are when we die we shall be after death. " He
that is unjust, let him be unjust still ; he that is faithful, let
him \)Q faithful still ; and he that is holy, let him be holy still."
(Rev. 22:11.) Solemn consideration! Die in sin, you are
lost for ever. Die in Jesus, you are blessed for ever. Death
makes no change in character it is not a saviour it does
not, can not regenerate the soul. The elements of hell lie in
character. I conclude, therefore, that since an ungodly man
must take his unholy nature with him into eternity, " every
man who will suffer the torments of the lost, in the bottomless
914: NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
pit, will do so because he will carry with him to that abode of
darkness unpardoned guilt and unsubdued depravity " as
the unfailing seed and source of ceaseless and remediless mis-
ery. Men reap in eternity only what they sow in time. (Gal.
6:8.) The man who serves sin and Satan, lives and dies in
impenitence and unbelief treasuring up wrath against the
day of wrath, and has no treasure but sin and an unholy heart
to carry with him into eternity, must be miserably poor for
ever, while he who has no other treasure than the blood of
Christ in possession, at death, is eternally rich. Reader, in a
little while it will be of little moment whether thou wert rich
or poor here, but it will be of infinite consequence whether
you were a child of God.
"I AM."
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Rev. 22 : 13.
GOD doth not say, I am their light, their guide, their
strength, their tower ; but only, I AM. He sets, as it were,
his hand to a blank, that his people may write under it what
they please that is good for them. As if he would say, Are
they weak? I am strength. Are they poor? I am riches.
Are they in trouble? I am comfort. Are they sick? I am
health. Are they dying ? I am life. Have they nothing ? I
am all things. I am wisdom and power. I am justice and
mercy. I am grace and goodness. I am glory, beauty, holi-
ness, eminency, supereminency, perfection, all-sufficiency,
eternity! Jehovah, I am. Whatsoever is amiable in itself,
or desirable unto them, that I am. Whatsoever is pure and
holy whatsoever is great or pleasant whatsoever is good,
or needful to make. men happy, that I am. Bishop Beveridge.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 945
WORK OF THE SPIRIT. -SAY, COME.
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say,
Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him ttiko
the water of life freely. Rev. 22 : 17.
THE migh'tiest forces in the universe are silent forces.
Who ever^heard the budding of an oak? Who was ever
deafened by the falling of the dew ? Who was ever stunned
by a solar eclipse ? So it is with the august phenomenon of a
change of heart. So far as we know, it is the most radical
change a human spirit can experience. It is a revolutionary
change. Disembodiment by death, morally estimated, is not
so profound. Still a change of heart is not an unnatural
change. It is not necessarily even destructive of self-posses-
sion. God employs in it an instrument exquisitely adjusted
to the mind of man as an intelligent and free being. Truth
may act in it with an equipoise of forces as tranquil as that of
gravitation in the orbit of the stars. No, it is not of necessity
a tumultuous experience to whrch God calls us when he in-
vites us to be saved. By what emblems have the Scriptures
expressed the person of the Holy Ghost ? Is it an eagle ?
" And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending
like a dove.' 1 " Come," is the select language of inspiration ;
" come, and I will give you " What ? a shock, the rack, a
swoon f No ; " I will give rest." " Come, and ye shall
find " What ? struggle, terror, torture ! No ; ye shall find
" peace." " Come ye." Come who ? " Let him that is
athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of
life freely." Dr. A. Phdps.
Yes, Christian, say, Come. As you go to and from the
sanctuary, where you have heard the joyful sound, say,
every man to his neighbor, Come come and see what God
is doing ; come and witness the triumphs of grace ; come and
hear, and your soul shall live.
1. The invitation is easy. It requires no learning nor
eloquence ; it is only, Come.
2. It will discharge an obligation resting upon all to those
around them. You may not selfishly enjoy these great privi-
119
946 NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS.
leges. You must bring others, that they also many be par-
takers of them.
3. It can not be without effect. Though they put their
fingers in their ears, and will not hearken, yet you will have
made a lodgment in the conscience and the heart which they
can not shake off. They can not say, " I have not been in-
vited ; I feel no responsibility."
4. Say, Come, and you fulfill the great missien of the Chris-
tian, which is to be useful. You will cause them to reflect.
You may convert a sinner from the error of his ways, and save
a soul from death.
5. You may secure to yourself happiness unspeakable for
time and eternity. O the joy of leading souls to Christ ! What
a meeting it will be in heaven, when one saved spirit shall say
to another, " You said to me, Come, and I went, and found
salvation ! "
Reader, to-day is yours, to-morrow is uncertain ; but if it
dawns upon you, say to all- around you, Come. Parent, say
to your child, Come. Man of business, say to those in your
employ, Come. Young man, say to your friends and com-
panions, Come. Citizen, say to the stranger, Come. Chris-
tian, go out into the streets and alleys, and say to the poor,
and the blind, and the halt, Come, and welcome. There is
room for all. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of
salvation. the joyful sound ! COME. Let him that is athirst
come, and take of the water of life freely.
CLINGING A SCRIPTURE POEM.
He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Rev. 22 : 20.
A CURIOUS and beautiful arrangement of different biblical
!JL texts is given in the following poem :
Cling to the Mighty One, Ps. 89 : 19.
Cling in thy grief; Heb. 12 : 11.
Cling to the Holy One, Ps. 16 : 10.
He gives relief. Ps. 116 : 8.
NEW TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATIONS. 947
Cling to the Gracious One, Ps. 116 : 5.
Cling in thy pain ; Ps. 55 : 4.
Cling to the Faithful One, 1 Thess. 5 : 24.
He will sustain. Ps. 28 : 8.
Cling to the Living One, Heb. 7 : 25.
Cling in thy woe ; Ps. 86 : 7.
Cling to the Loving One, 1 John 4 : 16.
Through all below. Rom. 8 : 38.
Cling to the Pardoning One, Is. 4 : 7.
He speaketh peace ; John 14 : 27.
Cling to the Healing One, Exod. 15 : 26.
Anguish shall cease. Ps. 147 : 3.
Cling to the Bleeding One, 1 John 1 : 7.
Cling to his side ; John 20 : 27.
Cling to the Risen One, Rom. 6 : 9.
In him abide. John 15 : 4.
Cling to the Coming One, Rev. 22 : 20.
Hope shall arise ; Titus 2 : 13.
Cling to the Reigning One, Ps. 96 : 1.
Joy lights thine eyes. Ps. 16 : 11.
INDEX,
MATTHEW.
Chap.
A Christian Queen, .... 12
Acknowledging God in Eating, 14
A Lost Man, 18
A Martyr of the Roman Coli-
seum, 10
A Mother's Faith rewarded, . 15
A Religion that can be despised, 10
A Shining Church, 5
A Son that preached his Fa-
ther's Funeral Sermon, .
A True Harvest Laborer, . .
Baptizing in the Name of Jesus,
Believe, and not doubt, . . .
Bethlehem of Judea, ....
Bible or no Bible, 4
Bound with his own Chain, . . 22
Building on the Sand, ... 7
Cares of this World, .... 13
Character indicated by Works, 7
Christ's Appeal to the Scriptures, 4
Christ in the Garden 26
Christ in Sympathy with the
Suffering, 9
Christ the Son of God, . . .
Christian Faithfulness, . . .
Christianity a Finality, . . .
Chrysostom's Eloquence, . .
Coming of the Son of Man, . '.
Communion Wines, ....
Daniel's Prophecy fulfilled, . .
Dealing with a Young Infidel, .
Death of a Noted Infidel, . .
Dr. Hall's Tract, "Come to
Jesus,"
Eloquent Tribute to the Bible,
Eternal Duration,
Exposition of Matthew 16: 18, .
Fair-weather Christians, . . .
Faithful Preaching, ....
False Conscientiousness, . . .
Follow the True Light, . . .
For, or against, Christ, . . .
Getting on too fast, ...
Gifts of Gold to Jesus, . . .
God answers Prayer, ....
God's Testimony of Approbation, 17
Good Things given with Grace, 6
He was God and Man, ... 8
His Name called Jesus, ... i
Verse. Page.
42 60
19 68
II 83
14
24
6
16
13
26
22
20
7
39
12
33
7
14
3
27
27
14
3, 4
28
35
16
18
56
45
24
2
30
2
II
22
5
33
27
21
38, 39 64
38 46
19
21
119
23
28
95
42
61
27
"3
45
72
47
IOO
67
102
112
101
84
"5
55
103
75
"5
103
IOO
2
56
26
23
93
79
38
44
20
Chap.
" How Do you treat my Master ?" 10
How the pure in Heart see God, 5
Idlers in the Church, .... 20
Intended for a Joke, but over-
ruled for Good, . . . . 18
"It is I," 14
" I was sick, and ye visited me," 25
Jesus swift to save, 14
Jewish Phylacteries, .... 23
John Maynard, the Faithful Pilot, 25
Judgment-day Separations, . . 3
Keep the Commandments, . . 19
Lamentations of a Lost Soul, . 26
Least in the Kingdom of Heaven, 1 1
Left behind, 8
Life printing itself, ..... 12
Living by the Day, 6
" Lo, I am with you," ... 28
" Lord, save me," 14
Ministering at the Sick-bed, . . 25
Ministering to him, .... 25
Moral and Christian men con-
trasted, 19
Moral Instincts, or Soul Powers, 1 1
No Hope to Lost Souls, ... 25
" Nothing to do," 20
Not saved, 13
" Now, God, take Baby," . . 21
Pearl of Great Price, . ... 13
Plants that shall be rooted up, . 15
Power of a Mother's Prayer, . 15
Preach pointedly, and to save, . 1 i
Prevailing Prayer in the Old
South Church, 17
Profane Language, .... 23
Relief obtained by a Dream, . 27
Remarkable Facts, 13
Rewarded now, or then ? . . . 6
" Saying the Same Words," . 26
Scriptural Titles of Christ, . . i
Scripture Transcribers, ... 13
Secret Prayer, 6
Selling a Soul 16
" Send for the Gas-man," . . 22
Simple Preaching, ..... 4
Sin against the Holy Ghost, . 12
Solemn Thought awakened, . 3
Some One must pray, .... 8
Speaking of Christ, . . . . 18
Striking God's Children, ... 25
(949)
Verse. Page.
24
50
8
3o
3
88
19
85
27
69
36
108
31
7 1
5
98
23
106
12
27
86
24
in
II
52
22
43
36
w
34
38
20
121
30
70
38, 39
10;)
35
I0 7
20
87
25
54
46
in
6
88
30
62
16
90
46
65
13
73
22, 23
74
24
53
21
80
22
99
19
IJ7
33
63
5
3'>
44
"4
23
20
52
66
6
37
26
78
5
93
23
29
3i
57
7
c6
II, 12
43
3
81
40
no
950
INDEX.
Swearing in Hebrew, .... 5
Table of Bible Money, . . .
The Book that is ever ahead, .
The Cruse that faileth not, . .
"The Door is shut," ....
The Early Conversion of Child-
ren
The Pen of Heaven
The Price of Blood
The Rector's Happy Experience,
They took no Oil with them, .
' To Bristol either Way," . .
Walking in the Fatherhood of
God,
Warned by a Dream, ....
What Jesus is able to do, . .
What shall I do with Jesus, . .
What think ye of Christ, . .
What will you say, Sir? . . .
Where is our Self-denial? . .
Why the Infidel was troubled, .
Wise in Winning Souls, . . .
Working for a Penny a Day, .
Working in God's Vineyard, .
Works acceptable to God, . .
" Ye are the Salt of the Earth,"
MARK.
A Great Change in a Short Time,
A Hard Problem to solve, . .
" And the Book was not there,"
Anecdote of Father Sewall, . .
An Honest Hearer, ....
A Timely Warning unheeded, .
A Word to Ministers, ....
Change of the Sabbath, . . .
Characteristics of the Gospel, .
Childhood recognized in Christ-
ianity,
Christian Character a Growth, .
Christ's Heart given for the
World,
Covenant of Salt, 9
Cranmer's Forgivingness, . .
Cups of Cold Water, ....
Dancing that led to. Murder, .
Daniel confirmed by Historic
Discoveries, *3
Dome of God's Providence,
Double Sufferings of Christ, .
Dr. Guthrie's Secret, ....
Effectiveness of Appropriate Il-
lustrations, 2
Embarrassing a Priest, .
Eternity, 3
Faith that removes Mountains,
Far from God a Punishment,
C,o, . . . .
" Have Faith in God," . .
Heaven entered with Difficulty,
How this World may end, .
hap. Verse. Page.
5
34, 35
33 I
1 7
27
81 J
i
i
9 J
5
42
34 J
25
10
105 J
18
6
82
12
37
59
27
6
116
5
48
35
25
3
104
7
i3, 14
40
7
ii
39
2
12
25
9
28
46
27
22
118
22
42
97
22
12
94
16
24
77
2
3
22
10
16
48
20
13
8 9
21
28
9 2
22
20
96
5
3
31
5
19
137
8
36
148
12
II
162
14
23
169
4
20
133
4
24
134
3
14
130
16
2
174
i
I
121
10
13, i4
53
4
28
134
14
34
170
9
50
152
ii
26
161
9
4i
'Si
6
22
143
13
14
166
7
37
146
IS
34
173
4
33,34
135
2
16, 17
128
7
5
144
3
29
132
ii
23
160
9
46
5
16
'5
175
ii
21, 22
59
10
25
'54
J3
31
167
Chap. Verse Pnge.
Intention is rewarded, ... 14 8 167
Jehoiada's Idea of Giving, . . 12 41 163
Jesus and the Blind Man, . . 8 23 146
Jesus tempted by Satan, ... i 13 -123
Judas, the Covetous Disciple, . 14 10, ii 168
Learn to be silent, 15 3 172
^caving all for Christ, . . . . 10 28 155
Misfortune changed to a Blessing, 5 15 136
Modern Iscariots, 14 44 171
VIoney received in Exchange
for his Soul, ..... 8 37 149
Natural Goodness, 7 21, 22 145
Nothing but Leaves, . ... IX 13 158
Only believe, ....... 5 36 140
Over-scrupulousness, .... 13 9 165
Peace proclaimed an Illustra-
tion, 5 20
Preach for the Masses, ... 12 37
Preach to them as Sinners, . . 6 12
President Humphrey on Novel-
reading, 3 27 131
Prince of Excellency, .... 15 39 "73
Private Prayer, 6 46 143
Reaching the Hearts of the
People, 3
Reason and Religion, .... 2
Repenting of Apostasy; ... 14
Sabbath-keeping a Blessing, . 2
She preferred Christ to Home, 8
The Last Time, ...... 10
The Marvelousness of unbelief, 6
The Salvation of One Soul, . . 16
The Widow's Mite, . . . . n
Transfiguration of Christ, . . 9
Transubstantiation, .... 14
Various Seasons of Prayer, . . i
Why am I not a Christian ? . . 10
LUKE.
A Beautiful Incident, ... 12
An Incident with a Lesson, . . 14
A Straight Road to Heaven, . 16
A Trusting Faith the Best, . . 5
Authority of the Bible, ... 4
Beautiful Prayers 18
Be alive for Christ, . . . . 22
Begin your Religion aright, . 24
Be Merciful to the Poor, . . 6
Brilliant, but not Successful, . 9
" Call his name Jesus," . . i
Can you settle your Account? . 16
Christ our City of Refuge, . . 3
Christian Women, 24
Christ's Agony in the Garden, . 22
Christ's Ascension, 24
Christ's Teaching on Universal-
72
28
34
47
6
16
42
4, 5
22
35
49
139
163
142
129
126
172
129
141
'75
124
150
169
126
157
218
228
239
192
191
245
257
266
194
201
I 7 8
n>>
186
sm, ........
Come now, *4
Continued all Night in Prayer, 6
Converted late in Life, . '4
Danger of Riches, 18
41, 43 258
50, 51 268
23, 24 224
,7 22',
12 193
22 227
23, 24 246
INDEX.
951
. Chap. Verse. Page.
Death-bed Testimony against
Avariciousness, .... 12 21 221
"' Deliver us from Evil," . . , n 4 214
Do not fret, ........ 21 19 253
Do-nothing Religion, . . . . 10 28 208
Essential to acceptable Prayer, i 13 176
Fear the Sexton, 12 4, 5 216
Female Influence, 23 55 262
Final Destination of the Covet-
ous, 16 14 238
Foolish Questions wisely an-
swered, 20 40 251
Forgiveness among Neighbors, 17 3 240
Go ye and do likewise, . . . 10 36,37 211
"God and Two Cents are Ev-
erything," ...,,. 17 5 241
Great is the Holy Bible, ... 3 2 186
Harmony of Voice and Life, . 7 23 198
Hearing and Retaining, ... 8 15 199
He mistook the Light, ... 21 8 252
He pleads guilty, 19 22 248
He receiveth Sinners, ... 15 2 230
His Blood shed for us, ... 22 20 256
Honor to Christ not to be divided, 9 35 204
How an Ignorant Cobbler knew
Christ to be God, .... 7 48, 49 198
How could you say the Lord's
Prayer? 6 37 195
How much do you owe .the Lprd? 16 5
Hugh Latimer's Conversion, .8 39
Humility and Truth, . . . . 10 21
Importunity in Prayer, , . . n 8
Infidelity does not know, . . . 10 22
" I will give Nothing," , , , .6 30
Jesus in his Childhood, ... 2 52
Joy in Heaven, 15 jo
Liberal Christians and Broad-
Churchism 19 14 247
Love to Christ stronger than
Filial Relations, .... 14 26 229
Making mock of Divine Things, 13 3 224
Martius, the Young Martyr, . 9 24 202
Modern Dancing and the Bible, 15 25 233
My Master's Errand, . . . . i 19 176
Named by the Angel "The Son
of God," i 35 179
Nathaniel R. Cobb's Covenant
against Riches, .... 6 38 196
New Testament Parables, . . 10 30 209
Noah did not close the Door, . 17 26, 27 242
Not satisfied with a Part, . . 2 32 183
"O, he is a great Forgiver!" . 23 43 261
Persistent Praying illustrated, . 18 i 244
Pigalle's Alms-giving, n ,1 215
Power cf the Lord to save, . 5 17 192
Prayer answered, though long
delayed, 18 7 244
Preaching accompanied with Di-
vine Power, 4 32 189
" Put a Ring on his Hand," . 15 22 232
Queen Victoria and the Sabbath, 23 56 263
Reasons for serving the Lord, . *5 17 232
235
200
205
207
194
231
Chap. Verse. Page.
Rebuked for false pretenses, . 22 47, 48 259
Recognition of Friends in Hea-
ven, 20 35, 36 250
Reproducing the New Testa-
ment, 21 33 255
Religious Conversation, ... 24 32 266
St. Chrysostom's View of Prayer, n i 212
Salvation, the Central Idea of
the Bible, i
7 6 77
19, 20
18
9
49
20
12
20
21
42
15
34
6
2'7
189
241
22O
2 54
2 12
219
230
225
22 222
35, 36 223
43 204
23 177
15 264
181
237
Sins are linked together, ... 3 19, 20 187
The Eternal Rock, .... 20 18 249
The Glory of the Lord, ... 2
The Indispensable Power, . . 24
The Inestimable Book, . . \ 4
The Lepers of Jerusalem, . . 17
The Miser, J2
The Mountains of Scripture, , 21
The One Thing needful, . . . 10
The Sin of Covetousness, . . 12
The Value of Churches, ... 14
Thomas Paine silenced, . . . 14
Trusting in God's Providence, . 12
Uncle Johnson bound for Canaan, 12
Value of a Single Tract, ... 9
Waiting to be released, ... i
Walking and talking with Christ, 24 15
Well answered, i 79
What I have seen, . . . . 16 13
What it cost him, , * , . . 9 25 203
Why Jewesses are beautiful, . 23 28 261
Wise for the World to come, . 16 18 236
JOHN.
A- Finer Mansion, ..... 14 2 327
A Genuine Surrender, ... 6 37 298
A Sceptic's Test, 7 17 300
Ask Large Blessings, . . . . 16 24 3 jo
A Victim to Unbelief, ... 8 24 306
Awakened by the Word, . . . i i 269
Christ anticipating his Finished
Work 17 4 34i
Christ divine 10 30 317
Christ our Sacrifice,. ..... i 36 272
Christ our Soul Food, .... 6 35 297
Christ the Good Shepherd, . .10 4 315
Christ the Metropolis of the
Scriptures, 13 13 325
Christ the Model Teacher, . . J 2 271;
Christ's Coming at (he Sea, . .21 4 353
Christ's Kingdom founded in
Thought 18 36 347
Christ's Love manifested in
Sympathy, ., n 33, 34 320
Christians represent Christ, . . 17 23 3.14
Christianity proving itself, . . 10 37,38 318
Cleaving to Christ, 15 7 3; 5
" Come ye to the Waters," . . 7 37 303
Conversion of Count Gasparin, 7 45, 46 304
Convicted by their own Con-
sciences, . 8 9 305
Courteous Reply to an Infidel, c 36 2^3
952
INDEX.
Chap.
Crucifixion described, .... 19
Danger in Doubting, .... 8
Description of our Saviour, . . 19
Do the Truth, 3
Dr. Fletcher and the Dying In-
fidel, 10
Dying of Thirst, 4
Ebal and Gerizim, 4
Equal Honor to the Father and
the Son, ,. 5
Excuses for not attending Pub-
lic Worship, 15
False Charity, 5
Fate of the Apostles, .... 21
" Feed my Lambs," .... 21
For Charlie's Sake, .... 14
God only can do these Things, . 16
God's Word, 17
Gospel Light the only True Light, i
Guilty for not Coming to the
Light, 3
Heat and Light, 5
He healed the Distant, ... 4
He needed Light from above, .11
" He purgeth it," 15
" Him that cometh to Me," . 6
Honor God in asking much, . 16
' If thou knewest the Gift of
God," 4
" I in you," 14
Improve the Light now, ... 12
Integrity of the Sacred Text, . 14
I would see Jesus, 12
Jesus at Jacob's Well, ... 4
Jesus the True Bread, ... 6
"Jesus wept," n
Justly ridiculed for his Wicked-
ness, 8
Lost ; from loving the Applause
of Men 5
May Women preach the Gospel? 4
No Hope for the Moralist, . . 14
Obedience the Great Test of
Piety 14
Our Sorrows a Bitter Cup, . . 18
Parental Duties in regard to
Children, 9
Payson's Illustration of the
Thread 12
Peace in Jesus, 14
Peril in amassing Riches, . . 2
Praying in the Name of Christ, 15
Preaching by Telegraph, . . 9
Pruning the Vine, 15
Reward for a Cup of Cold Water, 4
Sanctification through the Truth, 17
Satan vanquished, 3
Saved by believing, . . . . n
Scriptural Separation from the
World, 17
" Search the Scriptures," . . 5
Second Birth, 3
Verse. Page.
.17, 18
350
32
307
5
349
21
280
27, 28
316
H
284
20
285
23
290
22
336
14
289
22
355
IS
354
13
328
15
338
17
342
9
270
20
279
35
292
47
287
10
3i9
2
333
45
299
23
339
10
283
20
329
35
323
26
33i
21
322
6
281
51
299
35
321
44
309
44
294
39
286
6
327
23
330
it
345
20
311
48
324
27
332
14
274
16
335
30
313
5
334
7
282
*9
343
16
279
40
32i
i4
34*
39
293
3
276
Chap. Verse. Page.
Simply believe, 6 28, 29 297
Snowdon and his Unitarian
Friend, 3 35 281
Spiritual Vision, 9 25 312
Sunday after the Resurrection, . 20 19 352
Superstition and Conscience, .18 28 346
The Boy that would not tell a Lie, 8 40 308
The Conversion of Noah Webs-
ter, LL. D., 3
The Day of Christ seen from afar, 8
The Divine Comforter, . . . 16
The Eleventh Commandment, . 13
The Final Resurrection, ... 5
The Invitation Society, ... 4
The Power of Truth, . . . . i
The Priceless Gift, 17
The Safe Pilot, 6
Through much Tribulation, . 16
Unconscious Influence, ... 20
Understanding and Faith, . . 3 9
Value of Personal Experience, . i 46
What is Truth? 18
"Where did Moses get that
Law?" 7
Wine that Jesus made, ... 2
ACTS.
A Fruitful Text, 20
Almost and altogether, ... 26
A Man who thought he never
prayed, 19
A Minister reproved- by his
Dream, 6
A Modern Pentecost, .... 2
A Sermon that paid well, . . 24
Bad Books and their Influence, 19
Be True in preaching Funeral
Sermons, 5
Bible Demonology, . . . . 16
Bishop Ridley's Faithfulness, . 20
Blessings with Restraint, ... 28
Boldly Confessing Christ, . . 14
Business and Prayer, . . 18
Children and Christianity, . . 4
Christ the Only Name, ... 4
Christ the Soul-Physician, . . 9
Christian Experience every-
where, 16
Conversion, 3
Despising and ridiculing Reli-
gion, 13
Did he not do right! .... 4
Do not leave Christ out, ... 8
Doing the Devil's Work, . . 13
Dr. Beecher on Revivals, . . 5
Dr. Nettleton's Reply to a Cav-
iler, 16
Emotional in Christianity, . . 20
Established in Faith, . . . 16
Exalted to give, 5
7 276
56 3io
7 337
34 326
28 291
29 285'
17 271
26 345
21 296
33 340
6, 8 35'
278
273
38 348
19 3oi
7. 8 2 73
35 424
28 439
2 380
I 3 6o
24 434
19 420
6 375
1 8 407
24 422
30 443
3 402
25 4'7
30 372
12 36$
34 390
34 4io
19 367
41 400
'9 370
12 386
8 398
14 376
Extraordinary Answer to Prayer, 28
29, 30 409
37, 38 426
5 406
31 378
8 443
INDEX.
953
Chap.
False Representations, . . . 25
Father Sewall's Giving, . . . 10
Glorying in Tribulation, ... 14
God's Special Providence, . . 23
God's Way to a Wicked Heart, 17
God with his People, .... 7
Heaven a Locality, .... i
Heroism of a Female Mission-
ary, 21
How all may preach, .... 21
How much a Christian is worth
to the Church, 5
How to have a Revival Church, 2
How to read the Scriptures, . 7
" I am Jesus," 9
Importance of Revival Labors, 4
Infidelity without Hope, ... 25
Inspiration, ....... 2
" It must rain faster," ... 2
Judgments of God manifested, . 5
Justification and Sanctification, 13
Life from God alone, .... 17
Looking only to Christ, ... 3
" Made of one Blood," . . . 17
Mammoth Place of Amusement; 19
Ministering Angels, .... 12
Ministers baptised of the Holy
Ghost, i
Omniscience of God, .... 15
Our Accusers, ...... 24
Paul and Felix, 24
Pentecostal Gifts, , . . . 2
Persecuted because he was good, 22
Personal labor, 18
Power of a Good Man's Life, . n
Power of Prayer, ..... 4
Pray, 10
Prayer an Extraordinary Act, . 3
Preaching Peace by Jesus Christ, TO
Preaching the Main Thing, . 8
Preaching the Whole Truth, . 2p
Preaching to a Single Hearer, . 8
Prepare to meet thy God, . . 26
Preservation of Moses, ... 7
Progress of Missions, . . . . 13
Providence, 23
Providentially delivered, ... 12
Reading Prayers under Difficul-
ties, 16
Ready to die, 6
Religious Excitement justifiable, 8
Remarkable from Associations, 27
Repeating Sermons, .... 13
Resurrection of the Dead, . . 24
Rev. Wilbur Fisk, D. D., . . 15
Rowing and steering the Boat
of Life, 2t
Saved through Grace, . ... 15
Sincerity not a Saviour, ... 8
Sleeping in Church, .... 20
Small Things make up a Godly
Life, 23
Verse. Page.
.7
4
22
*7
24
9
ir
J3
9
4i
42
26
5
4
ii
18
17
5
39
25
12
26
29
7
4
18
8
2 5
4
23,24
24
24
3i
9
i
36
4
27
35
18
20
47
16
17
24,25
15
8
7
42
15
22
6-
II
21
9
I
436
391
403
432
412
382
357
428
427
379
364
384
389
368
437
362
361
374
399
4*3
365
4H
421
396
355
404
433
435
360
430
418
394
373
392
364
393
385
424
388
438
383
401
43i
396
408
382
386
440
401
434
405
426
403
387
421
430
St. Paul, the Apostle of the
Gentiles,
Stand up for Jesus, ....
22
5
12
16
4
17
4
2 7
26
6
2
4
i
i
'7
18
1 1
17
i
22
H
14
Successfully Preaching Christ, .
Temptations to Unfaithfulness
The Future Judgment, . . .
The Primitive Church and their
The Rescue,
The Silver Cup restored, . . .
Undivided Attention to the Min-
istry of the Word, ....
Unitarianism not successful, .
Unlearned, yet Powerful, . .
Wesley's Testimony against In-
toxicating Liquor, , . ,
What the Church most needs, .
Where is the Redeemer? . . .
Whitefield's Eloquence, . . .
Willing to bear his Proportion,
Witnesses for the Bible, . . .
Women as Helpers in the Church,
Youthful Firmness in Persecu-
ROMANS.
A Bad Example and its Influ-
A Man is responsible for his Be-
lief .
5
2
12
I
6
6
>4
15
12
7
7
8
9
7
4
6
7
Beyond the Mercy of God, . .
Bible Catechism on Temper-
ance,
Bishop Latimer's Old Sermon,
Bodily Indulgences, ....
Can we do no more for Christ?
Certainty of a General Judgment,
Christianity exemplified, . . .
Christ our Deliverer, ....
Christ our Strength, ....
Christ's Divinity and Humanity,
Dates of Romish Errors, . . .
Deceivableness of Sin, . . .
Delivered unto Death for our
Sins,
Did she walk in Newness of Life?
Different Estimates of Sin, . .
Doing Good Prevented Sin, .
Dr. Rush on Theatre-going, .
Fternal Life .
2
6
2
IO
4
5
16
Faith subject to the Will, . .
Faith triumphing over Nature,
Faith which justifies, ....
Female Helpers in the Ministry,
Chap. Verse. Page.
21 429
28,29 377
23 397
17 406
29 371
31 416
37 373
44 44i
8 438
363
369
359
8 356
27 4'5
24 416
29 393
2 411
'4 358
4 429
21 499
7 497
n 484
20 462
6 451
493
446
46 5
464
497
5oo
492
4 68
47'
4 7 8
447
470
459
463
489
453
466
452
483
457
460
503
954
,INDEX.
Chap.
Verse. Page.
"God is able to graff them in
aorain "
j j
23
488
God's Anvil
2
460
Good out of Evil, ......
8
28
475
5
15
461
Habitual Christian Activity,
15
501
Heaven a Prepared Place,, . .
9
23
480
He will raise us up, ......
8
ii
472
Imputed Righteousness of Christ,
4
21, 22
458
Instructive Etvraolpgy of. the.
Word " Tribulajiop,", , ,
.8
35
477
Intercession of the Spirit, . .
8
26
474
Jesus whispering,
2
15
454
Judicious Advice, tp a Young
Wag, . . .^
3
3
454
Laying up Eterna.1 S.tores, . .
2
5
450
Ministry of Affliction, ....
8
18
473
Not by Works, but by Faith, .
9
30
482
Not Conformed, but Trans-
formed, ........
12
2
490
Personal Responsibility, . . .
14
12
498
Pious Christian Females, . .
16
12
53
Power of God's Word, . . .
13
13
496
Preaching an Institution of God,
10
15
485
Relief for a Distressed Con-
science, ..,,..,
,3.
24
455
Religion not to be covered up, .
10
9
482
Religion the Power of God, .
i
16
445
Retribution,
2
3
449
Simplicity of Saving Faith, . .
4
24
459
Slothfulness forbidden, . . -
12
ii
492
Suggestions to Ministers, . .
IS
20
502
The Bible is the Ropt, . , , ,
41 .
18
487
The Body of Sin.destroyed, . .
6
,-6
464
The First Chapter of Romans, .
I
22, 23
446
The Flags which, saved Life, .
8
31
476
The Gospel of Christ the True
C'ivi1i7pr
Q
2C
481
The old Scotch Woman's Faith,
8
38, 39
479
The Railway Ticket, ....
3
26
456
Thomas Paine' s Last Hours, .
6
21
467
Trinity in Unity,
7
25
472
rp ^TfnPS
J2
Q
491
Unappreciation of the Bible,
10
17
486
Unthought-of Consideration, .
13
12
495
Who are Saints?. .. .. .. . .
I
7
444
Worthy Example of. Moral Prin-
ciple,
13
I
494
Wreck of the " Sabbath-Break-
er,"
2
2
448
I. CORINTHIANS.
A Compliment,
14
19
545
An Infidel and his Dog, . . .
I
27
509
A Misdirected Letter, . . .
I
IO
5 5
A more Excellent Way, . . .
12
31
540
A Skeptic silenced,
I
20
506
Atonement for Sin the felt Want
of Man,
'5
3
545
Awakened by a Father's Dream,
'5
34
547
"A Way of Escape," ....
IO
J3
533
Be careful of your; In.flu,ence, .
Be content to know what God
reveals, .........
Be fair in Comparing, ....
Belief and Skepticism, ...
Christ and him cruci/ied, ...
Christ is the Christian's .Pass-
over, 5
Christ, not Oratory, . , , , ,
Delight in doing Evil, , ...
Divine Anathama explained, .
Dr. Cumming qn .the " Real
Presence,"
Drunkenness, ,
Evil Company, ,
False Philosophy corrected by
Christianity,
Fashionable Women, ....
For the Gospel's Sake, ...
Giving scripturally and by Res-
olution,
God giveth the Increase, ...
God's Word the Only Authority,
How we should Eat. and Drink,
Identity not lost in Death, . .
Kingdom of God, ......
Knowledge shall vanish away, .
Knowledge that will, not profit, .
Learning the Wa^ tp Heaven, .
Less Denominational, but; m.ore
Christian, .. ...... f ,
Longing to save Souls,, , , .
Love, the True Test, ....
Luther's Mode of Preaching, ,
Oldest Christian Hymn in the
World, .,,,,,.
Ordained to Stewardship,, . ..
" Passed through the Sea," . .
Peter Vannest and the Predesti-
narian,
Preach Christ crucified, ...
Refusing to Commune, . . .
Scriptural Temperance, ...
So it is when Believers die, . .
" So we preach,", ,. ,._... 15
Spiritual Drink, . . .. . . ,. .10
Spiritual Gifts, 12
Stars of the First Magnitude, .
Systematic Giving, . . . .
Texts for Time's Flight, _. '. .
The Resurrection
The Wife's Prayer answered, .
The Young Philosopher con-
founded, . 3
Use your Talents,
Variety in Gifts,
Warned by a Signal-fire, _. .
We know in Part,
What disqualifies for the King
dom of God, 6
What the Reading of a Good
Book did,
hap.
Verse. Page.
8
9 528
13
9 542
I
21 506
2
H 5i3
2
2 5"
5
7 522
. 2
4 5'i
5
5 S2i
16
22 556
ii
24 535
6
10 524
5
9 523
15
5 6 , 57 SS 2
. 7
3i 527
9
23 529
16
1 554
3
6 5' 5
i
2 5 508
10
3i 534
IS
42, 43 549
4
20 521
i3
8 541
8
i 527
2
13 512
3
4 5'4
9
22 529
13
3 54 1
2
i 510
14
i5 543
4
. 2 517
10
I, 2 532
9
27 5 12
i
23 57
ii
28, 29 536
9
25 530
i5
54 55'
i5
1 1 546
10
4 533
12
i 537
'5
4i 5*8
. l6 .
2 555
. 7
29 526
15
53 550
7
16 525
3
19.20 515
12
4 538
12
8, 9 539
4
14 520
i3
12 543
6
9 524
4
7 5'8
INDEX.
II. CORINTHIANS.
Chap.
A Lesson of Trust, .... i
A Living Epistle, ..... 3
Anecdote of John Sunday, . . 5
An Able Ministry, . ... 3
An Awful Confession " I'm
Lost," 4
An old Sea-Captain's Advice, . 6
A Pupil of Fenelon, .... 4
A Successful Sunday-School
Teacher, . , i
" Be ye reconciled to God," . 5
Christmas Evans's Polished Ar-
row, 3
Cyril of Caesarea, 5
Difficulties settled by forgiving
them, 2
Dissimulation, 2
Dr. Chanhing as a Preacher, . i
Dr. Mason and the dying Uni-
tarian, ....... 3
Devices of Satan for Purposes
of Advantage over Men, . 2
Enlargement a Great Blessing, 6
Epistles of Christ, 3
Fear of Judgment, 5
Fruit after many Days, ... 4
Glory awaiting us, 4
Glorying in the Cross of Christ, 6
God's Promises, 7
God was in Christ, 5
He died for us, i
Hoarding and Giving 8
" How can I meet it?" ... 7
How Drunkards are made, . . 5
How the Doctor found Jesus, . 3
If Untrue to God, why not Un-
true to Man ? 4
Intellectual Culture not the
Highest Good, .... 2
Internal Glory of the Believer,
Justly rebuked,
Justified through_Faith in Christ,
Light Shining into Dark Hearts,
Live to be Useful,
No longer a Persecutor, . .
Not Feeling, but Faith, . . .
'"Now is the accepted Time," .
Our Relation to God, ....
" Persecuted, but not Forsaken,"
Perseverance in Soul-saving, .
' Possessing all Things," . .
Preaching that takes hold, . .
Proportionate Giving, . . .
Simplicity of the Gospel, . .
Sons in the Family of God, . .
Sowing and Reaping, ....
Stand fast in Christ, ....
Straitened in Themselves,. .
The Absurdity of Error, . . .
The Dividing Line, ....
Verse. Page.
9. 10 557
2 563
17 57*
6 56$
3 57
17 582
2 5^
20 558
20 577
12 567
i 573
7 55Q
13 604
8 603
20 608'
13 580
3 564
10 574
18 612
7 572
14 619
i 583
19 57 6
4 602
14 586
10 583
19, 21 615
4 565
9 611
20 606
566
578
605
570
575
23 603
607
578
609
57 1
618
579
1 6 562
584
610
617
613
580
6.5
Chap. Terse. Page>
The Fatal Mirage, 6 7 616
The Fullness in Christ, ... 3 13 607
The Noble Convict, ' .... 5 13 613
Tholuck's Seeking and Follow-
ing, 8 16 587
GALATIANS.
Beguiling Souls t>y corrupting
them, ii
Christian Liberality, .... 9
Christian Burden a Blessing, . 12
Evidence of Genuine Conversion, 8
God's Way the Best Way, . . 12
Half a Century's Labors, .- . n
He did not keep his Vow, . . 9
He gave More and felt Better, . 9
" He knows not what he saith," 13
Remarkable Description of St.
Paul's Person, 10
St. Paul in Paradise, . . .
Stingy Christians, ....
Variety in Experiences, . .
Weapons that are mighty
through God, 10
" What is the State of your Soul,
my Friend?" ..... 13
3,9
23
8
9
7
10
4
7
12
595
589
598
588
598
596
590
601
593
597
589
594
592
5 600
EPHESIANS.
A Solemn but True Charge, . . 5 18 637
A much Indulged Child, ... 6 2, 3 639
Absorbed in Religion, ... 4 15 630
Access to God, 2 18 625
Advice to Preachers, .... 4 29 63 1
All-sufficiency of Christ, ... 4 10 628
Be Gigantic Christians, ... 6 10 640
Christ our All in All, .... i 22, 23 622
Covetousness, 5 5 635
Dr. Miller's Duck Story, . . . 6 11 641
Finding Happiness in God, . . 3 20, 21 628
God is not a Merchant, ... 2 8, 9 623
He shrewdly covered his Tracks, 6 19 646
How best to live in Peace, . . 5 33 639
Humility a Christian Grace, . . 3 8 626
May we so Pray, 6 18 644
Not Justice, but Pardon, ... 4 32 634
Our Religion the First Thing, . 3 17, 19 627
Pastoral Prudence, i 8 620
Preaching from Experience, . 6 6 640
Resisting the Spirit, .... 4 30 632
So ought Husbands to love their
Wives, ....... 5 25 638
Speak the Truth always, ... 6 14 644
Speaking Evil, 4 31 633
Spiritual Wrestling, .... 6 12 643
The Only Foundation, ... 2 20 625
Things miscalled Amusements, . 5 12 636
Trusted and were Delivered, . i 12, 13 621
Unity of the Bible, .... 4 13 629
Why the Judge did not help
them, 5 11 635
956
INDEX.
PHILIPPIANS.
<< All for the Best," i
Be devout in Coversa'tion, ,
Christian Effort, 2
Christian Labor not Masculine,
Conquering One's Self, . . .
Faithful Frances,
God our All-sufficiency, . . .
God's Name, 2
Having the Mind of Christ,
Making a Right Use of his Eyes,
Our High Calling,
Positive Christianity, ....
Power in the Pulpit, ....
"What has it done for you ? " .
COLOSSIANS.
A Command disregarded, . .
Christ the Head of the Church,
Complete only in Christ, . . .
Drifting,
Hidden Treasures in the Word,
Influence of the Hidden Life,
Ministerial Propriety
Obedience to Parents, ....
Our Completeness is in God, .
Riches of the Gospel, ....
Rule of Forgiveness, ....
" Serious Affairs to-morrow," .
The Unseen Inheritance, . . .
Walking after the Pattern, . .
We need an Infinite Saviour, .
Words timely spoken, . '. . .
Wrestling in Prayer, .... 4
I. THESSALONIANS.
Avoiding Temptation, ....
Carrying on Business for Christ,
Christ our Substitute, ....
"Despise not Prophesyings," .
Fully Saved, 4
Giving Thanks to God, . . .
How to make Successful Pastors,
Illustrious Scholars give a United
Testimony, a
Not what I want now, . . .
Preach so as to please God, . .
Quenching the Spirit, ....
Rowland Hill's Master-stroke, .
Sanctification as viewed by Arch-
bishop Usher,
The Coming of the Lord, . .
The Miller and the Camel, . .
" Wrath to Come," i
II. THESSALONIANS.
Boyhood of Dr. Morrison, . ,
Error blinds the Mind, . .
Evangelism against Romanism,
lap.
Verse.
Page.
i
12
647
i
27
648
2
12
652
4
3
655
4
13
657
2
3
650
4
19
658
2
9, 10
651
2
5
650
4
12
656
3
14
6 S 4
i
II
647
3
3
653
3
19
654
.
3
2
665
i
18
660
2
10
664
I
23
660
2
2, 3
663
3
3
666
4
*7
671
3
20
669
4
12
670
i
27
661
3
13
667
i
28
662
i
12
659
2
6
663
2
9
664
3
16
668
4
2
670
\N
3
S.
s
677
4
ii
680
5
10
68 1
5
20
685
4
3
680
5
18
682
5
25
688
2
13
676
3
10
678
2
4
675
s
9
683
I
5
672
5
23
687
3
13
679
5
22
686
i
10
674
A:
3
fS.
13
699
2
13
696
2
8
694
His Doctrine was old enough
but not True, ....
Idleness the Root of .Vices, . 3
Pray for the Preacher, . . 3
Preaching to One Passenger,
Punished for ever and ever, .
Punished in Part, ....
Righteous Tribulation to Trou
biers, i
Romanism opposed to Improve-
ment, 2
Stand by your Candidate, . . 3
I. TIMOTHY.
Be not Burdened, 6
Boasting in Christ, ..... i
Christ our Mediator, .... 2
Death of a Backslider, ... 5
Doctrinal and Practical Preach-
ing, 5
Doctrinal Preaching, .... 4
Earnest Faith, 6
Expository Preaching, ... 6
Faithful Resistance to Evil, . . 5
Glimpses of the Unapproacha-
ble Light, ...... 6
Handsomely declined, .... 5
Hardships of the Rich, ... 6
Jesuitical Hypocrisy, .... 4
Loving Silver the Root of all
Evil, 6
Luther's Argument with the
Devil, i
Meditation as a Moral Duty, . 4
Ministerial Pride, 3
Modesty of Apparel, .... 2
Purity the Beauty of the Soul, . 4
Right and Wrong Relations to
Money, 6
Scandal, 5
'* Seen of Angels," 3
Theological Preaching, ... 4
Trust in God, 4
"Very Injudicious," .... i
II. TIMOTHY.
A Pious Mother's Example, . i
A Touch of the Whip, ... 2
Correct View of the Pulpit, . . 4
Denying Christ through Covet-
ousness, 3
Form of Godliness without th
Power, 3
God's Providence and Poor Jack, 3
Chap. Verse. Page.
Influence of the Bible, . .
" In Season, out of Season,"
Preaching for a Crown, .
Providential Deliverance,
Paul and Trophimus, ..
Remarkable proof of the Im
mortality of the Soul,
9, 10 695
10 698
i 697
12 693
9 691
5 689
6 690
4 694
6 697
r, 8 718
11 702
5 704
12 713
12
3
20
16
22
!7
2,3
12
711
720
717
716
720
717
721
708
719
15 702
15 7 11
6 705
9 705
12 710
18
722
J3 7'4
16 707'
16 712
10 709
9, 10 701
723
7 2 4
5 735
729
73
73 1
733
734
736
737
737
10 723
INDEX.
957
Chap. Verse. Page
Successful Preaching, ... 2 15 726
Suffering and Reigning joined
together, . . .... 2 12 726
The Bible tried by a Jury, . . 2 9 725
The Snare of the Devil, ... 2 26 728
Thoroughness in Preaching, .2 25 727
Various Readings, ..... 3 16 734
Voltaire as a Translator, ... 3 *3 732
TITUS.
A Just Rebuke, ...... i 13 74
A Pure Heart, ...... i 15 741
A Rich Poor Man, ..... 2 13 742
An Unfaithful Preacher, . . . i 3
His Mouth was stopped, ... i n
Limited Atonement, .... 2 n
Obey Authorities, ..... 3 i
Redeemed from all Iniquity, . 2
" We have a Merciful God," .3
PHILEMON.
Joy from Refreshing the Saints,
Love for the Saints, ....
Obedience a Moral Obligation,
HEBREWS.
A Life of Faith, ...... n
A Pulpit Baptism, ..... 4
A Practical Refutation,. ... 9
Atonement illustrated by a Simile, 5
Avoid the Whirlpool, .... 4
Blood-purifying, ..... 9
Business that God will not take, 7
Character made up of Morsels, 13
Chiseled to make 'Better, . . . 12
Christ the Unchangeable one, . 13
Cleaving to Christ, .'.... 10
Dead, yet Living," .'.... n 4
Delay Dangerous, ..... 4 7
Departing from God, .... 3 12
Dignity of Believers, . . . . i 14
Discipline of the Young, ... 12 9
Donald and the Duke, ... 9 24
Dying without Hope ..... 10 27
Endless Punishment, .... 6 2
Escaped from Romanism, . . 8 9
Flying to Christ as the Only
Hope, ....... 6 18 771
Giving to God a Condition of
Receiving ....... 7 4 773
God our Inheritance, .... 2 10 751
Heavier the Cross, .... 12 7 796
He found an Altar for his Sac-
rifice. ..... "... 13 16 802
He was tempted like as we are, .4 15 763
His Rights forfeited ..... 12 16 800
Holiness, ........ 12 14 799
Innocence and Guilt pictured, . 3 13 755
Inscriptions on the Tombs of
Believers, ...... n 13 789
738
739
742
i 744
14 743
5> 6 745
7 747
5 746
21 748
5 786
16 I 761;
27 780
9 766
758
22 779
*3 775
20, 21 803
II 79 8
8 801
23 781
4 785
7 758
*2 754
749
797
779
782
768
777
Chap.
" I will never leave thee," . . 13
Keep the Gate shut, . . . . n
Look to Jesus, ...... 12
Martyrdom at Rome, . . . . n
Melancholy and Temptations, . 10
Neglected Truths, 8
Neglecting Salvation, . ' . . . 2
No Mercy except through Christ, 10
" Not ashamed to call them
Brethren," 2
Olympian Race, 12
Our Faith pleasing to God, . . 1 1
Our Sins not hidden from God, 4
Prayer answered to his Ruin, . 3
" Pray that Sermon," .... 5
Reproach is Wealth, . . . . 1 1
Sanctification Lost and Regained t 6
Saved by Believing, . . . . 10
Saved with Utmost Completeness, 7
Seeing Jesus, *
"Sharper than a Two-edged
Sword," ....... 4
She died without Mercy, . . . 10
Something to hold on by, . . 4
Stand Fast when Tempted, . *
Steadfastness to Principle re-
warded, 3
The Anchor holds, ..... 6
The Spoiled Painting, .... 12
Trials and Endurance, ... 6
Unbelief as a Sliding Agency, . 3
Universal Obligation, .... i
What a Country that will be, . it
JAMES.
Anger without Sin, i
A Soul destroyed by Covetousness, 5
Dress as an Idol, . ...... 2
Verse. Page.
5 801
8 788
2 794
36 792
35 784
10 778
3 750
31 783
11 752
i 793
6 787
13 761
7. 8 754
12 767
26 791
4, 6 769
39 785
25 776
9 750
12 759
28 782
14 762
18 752
14 756
19 772
5 795
*S 77'
18 757
6 748
16 791
27 807
3 816
2 808
20 821
22 806
Dr. Judson's Conversion, . . 5
Doers of the Word, .... i
Efficacy of Prayer in Healing
the Sick, 5 15 818
Every Sin forbidden, .... a 10 808
Grace and Salvation from God, . 4 6 812
Great Results from Small Begin-
nings, 3 5810
Humbled, but Exalted, ... 4 10 813
Hurtful Pleasures .fotbidden, , .. .5 5 817
Perfectness of Christianity, . . i 25 806
Prayer answered in Judgment, . 4 15 814
Resisting the Devil, .... 4 7 812
Sorrows of the Rich,- . . . . 5 i 815
Spiritual Life better than Cere-
monies, 2 26 809
Swearing a Great and Common
Sin, ........ 5 12 8iS
The Human ness of the Saints, 5 17, 18 820
The Poisoned Ring, .... i 15 805
The Tongue as an Index of the
Heart 3 6811
Wisdom to learn the Way to
Heaven, i 5 804
953
INDEX.
i. PETER.
Chap.
A Foretaste of Coming Misery, i
Captain Waterman at the Siege
of Lucknow, ..... 4
Cast all upon Christ, .... 5
Christian Courtesy, ..... 3
Claudius Buchanan and the
Highlander, ..... 3
Couple Heaven with it, ... 5
Dress of Christian Women, . . 3
Found again in Safety, . .2
Glorifying God in all Things, . 4
Heavenly Inheritance, ... i
In Heaviness, for a Season, . . i
Love a Christian Duty, ... 2
Quietness of Spirit, ..... 3
The Christian's Calling, ... 2
The Devil a Wily Foe, ... 5
The Holy Scriptures, .... i
The Manifold Wisdom of God, i
The Watchword, ..... i
"The Weaker Vessel,". ... 3
" Waiting to be Born Again," . i
What are Sinful Amusements? 4
II. PETER.
A Better View of Grace, . . . 3
A Constant Miracle, .... i
After-death Influence, .... i
A Scoffer answered, .... 3
Bible Promises of General Ap-:
plication, ....... i
Contributions to Error, ... 2
Day of Judgment and Perdition
of Ungodly Men, .... 3
Destruction of the Earth by Fire, 3
Dr. Chalmers on Belief, ... i
Growth in Grace, ..... 3
Ignorance the Father of Infi-
delity ......... 2
Interesting Variety of the Bible, i
Laying Aside the Bones, ... 3
Popish Practices in a Protestant
Church, ....... 2
Present the Promises, .... i
Presumption is not Faith, . . 2
The Bible, ....... i
I. JOHN.
A Boy's Faith in God, ... 5
Answers to Prayer, ..... 5
Bad Principles unsatisfactory in
Death, ....... i
Beware of Pride, ..... 2
Bishop Hatto, or the Mouse
Tower, ....... 3
Boldness through Love, ... 4
Coming back to Christ, ... 2
Did not belong to Christ's Flock, 2
Divine Love for the Unworthy, 3
Chap.
Verse.
Page.
Doctrine of the Trinity, . . .
2
23
863
Verse.
Page.
Effect of Prayer,
2
868
'7
837
"
870
Q
0-0
He had the True Hope, . . .
3
3
070
866
to
O3o
Imitation of Christ, ....
2
6
858
7
839
0,,
It doth not yet appear what we
"33
shall be, ....
Of -
Q, .
Jesus Christ the True God, . .
3
5
20
005
878
J 5
10
"34
840
8-1 r
Means of Grace properly used,
"Mine's a Religion for all
i
3
85
0.5*
Weathers,"
g
25
n
830
836
Not Eloquence, but Love, . .
4
8
8,
823
Request of the Dying Infidel, .
5
16
87-
868
6
823
828
The Antichrists of To-day, . .
4
2
18
86 1
1 7
A
832
The Blood of Christ, ....
I
7
856
21
829
This I did for Thee. What
8
8^q
doest Thou for Me ? . . .
4
ii
871
2C
JV
827
Victory over Himself, ....
5
4
874
*3
12
*/
824
Who are truly Strong, ....
2
14
860
19
7
825
833
II. JOHN.
23
826
Admiral Farragut and the Rom-
7
835
ish Priest,
JO
880
Early Christian Faith, . . .
9
878
9
852
III. JOHN.
J 9
845
Faithfulness in the Discharge of
15
843
Duty,
5
880
3
850
Helping the Preacher, ....
8
88 1
20
845
JUDE.
2
847
Contending for the Faith, . .
3
882
7
851
Dr. Holland's Views of Unitari-
00,
JO
853
2 5
OO7
883
10
18
842
s--
Presented Faultless, ....
- 7
24
886
55
Rebuking a Scoffer, ....
10
884
12
8 4Q
Who separate Themselves, . .
J 9
885
21
4V
846
Why were not Angels redeemed,
6
883
16
8 S 4
REVELATION.
5
850
A Remarkable Meeting, . . .
19
6
932
4
8 4 I
"A Scarlet-colored Beast," . .
I 7
3
929
Q A Q
__o
16
040
844
A War against the Book, . . .
5
7
2
925
905
Be a Christian everywhere, . .
ii
15
9 20
Billy Dawson's Eloquence, . .
6
8
907
J7
6
O21
14
875
Blessed are the Dead, ....
14
'3
v*.
926
15
875
By these we Overcome, . . .
12
ii
921
Christ at the Heart's Door, . .
3
20
902
9
857
Christ described by John, . .
10
I
917
16
860
Christ is our King, "...
I-T
JA
O7O
Clinging a Scripture Poem, .
*7
22
20
VJ U
946
17
86 7
Crowns of the Saints, ....
4
4
902
18
872
"Did you ever drink at that
i
858
Great Fountain?" ....
21
6
937
19
862
Faithful Dealing with Sinners,
18
5
93i
i
864
Faithful unto Death, ....
2
10
893
INDEX.
Faithfulness Rewarded, . . .
Figures of Heaven, ....
Five Steps to the Gallows, . .
From Darkness to Light, . . .
Fruitless Professors, ....
Gospel likened unto an Angel, .
Grace a Spiritual Sight, . . .
" Having the Glory of God," .
Hear for thy Life,
How a Fly helped a Minister, .
" I Am,"
gnatius, a Primitive Martyr, .
Inexhaustible Storehouse of
Truth, 5
In the Spirit on the Lord's Day,
Jesus the Lock, 3
John on Patmos,
Judged at the Last Day, . . .
Keeping our Garments Pure,
" Let me go, for I am a Chris-
tian." ........
Lost! Lost!
Martyrdom of Paschal, . . .
Meeting for the First Time in
Heaven,
Not afraid of Father's Voice, .
Not Denominational, but Chris-
tian,
Polycarp's Noble Confession, .
Power of the Bible, ....
Powerful Preaching of the Gos-
Chap.
Verge.
Page.
15
4
927
7
17
911
9
21
916
22
5
941
2
29
895
8
2
913
7
14
911
21
II
941
I
3
889
2
ii
894
22
13
944
12
" I7
922
5
i
904
I
10
892
3
7
899
i
9
89 1
20
12
935
16
IS
928
19
8
933
20
'5
936
6
9
909
ii
12
919
8
5
9iS
7
9
910
13
7
924
21
5
937
14
6,7
925
959
Chap. Verse. Page.
Punished by a Judgment from
God 9 ii 9'5
Remarkable Examples of Bible
Reading, 5 7 906
Revelation, t x
Rich for a Moment, .... 3 18 901
Scarlet' and Crimson Sins, . . 6 ii 910
Shall I be One of Them? . . 15 2, 3 926
Something More Valuable than
Gold, ,8 17 931
Swearing alone, 21 7 938
The Bible to be much read, . . 22 10 942
The Deserting Soldier, ... 3 5 898
The Destroyer's Work, . . . 10 5, 6 918
The Devil leads on to Destruc-
tion, . '. 20 10 934
The New Jerusalem, .... 21 10 939
The Promises of Christ a Proof
of his Divinity, . . . . i 8 891
" Unto Him who hath loved us," i 5 890
Walking with God, .... 3 4 897
Warm Hearts wanted, ... 3 16 900
Warning against the Saints, . . n 7 918
Watchfulness a Condition of
Strength, 3 2 896
What shall I carry with me into
Eternity, 22 n 943
Wise in Spiritual Things, . . 8 3 9'4
Work of the Spirit. Say, Come, 22 17 945
Worship to be given to the Cre-
ator only,' 4 ii 903
Ye are my Witnesses, . . . 2 13 895
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