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 ot Princc, 
 
 BV 3797 .M7 M7 1884 
 Moody, Dwight Lyman, 1837- 
 
 Heaven; where it is itc, 
 inhabitant's =.„/. u' "^^ 
 
MRW RRVIBRD ROITIOM. 
 
 HEAVEN: 
 
 WHERE rr IS, rrs iNHABrrANis, and how 
 
 TO GET THERE. 
 
 THE CERTAINTY OF GOD S PROMISE OF A LIFE BEYOND 
 
 THE GRAVE, AND THE REWARDS THAT 
 
 ARE IN STORE FOR FAITHFUL 
 
 SERVICE. 
 
 AS GLEANED FROM SACRED SCRIPTURE. 
 
 j BY 
 
 D. L MOODY. 
 
 "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to sh no in it 
 for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." 
 
 CHICAGO : 
 F. H. Revell, 118 AND 150 Madison Street 
 
 (puhlUher of Sv angelical Ziit^rature, 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in tho years 1880 and 1884, by 
 
 F. H. REVELL, 
 
 In the Office of tho Librarian of Cong oss, at Washington. 
 
 ALL EIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
 Printed and bound by J. L. Regan & Co., Chicago. 
 
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. 
 
 This little book, upon a subject that is very dear to me, has been 
 carefully revised, and is sent forth in the hope that it may give 
 comfort and edification to many ; that the weak may be strength- 
 ened, the sorrowing consoled, and the despondent encouraged to 
 look with increased faith to that fairest of fair cities in the " Better 
 Land," which is the home of the Redeemer and the redeemed. 
 
 Many books have been published in this country in my name, 
 
 but none of them with authority, and the only motive inspiring 
 this small volume is that souls may be helped. 
 
 D. L. MOODY. 
 NoKTHFiEiiD, Mass., 1880. 
 
PUBLISHER'S NOTE TO SECOND EDITION. 
 
 The unprecedented sale of '* Heaven," which has in the four 
 years since its first publication reached almost ninety thousand 
 copies, has caused the plates to become very much worn, and we 
 have taken this occasion in making entirely new electrotype 
 plates, to carefully revise the book and materially improve its 
 mechanical execution. That it may in its improved form go forth 
 to an enlarged mission of usefulness is the hope of 
 
 THE PUBLISHEE. 
 
 Chicago, January 1, 1885. 
 
ITS HOPE 
 
"^e Jforr^e of tfie ^ouF. 
 
 "That unchangeable home is for you and for me, 
 Where Jesus of Nazareth stands; 
 The King of all kingdoms forever is He, 
 And He holdeth our crowns in His hands. 
 
 " Oh, how sweet it will be in that beautiful land, 
 So free from all sorrow and pain; 
 With songs on our lips and with harps in our hands 
 To meet one another again." 
 
3: ^] ^A^ TT :s 3^ _ 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ITS HOPE. 
 
 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 * * * for the HOPE which is laid up for you in heaven. 
 
 CoL. i, 3, 5 
 
 A great many persons imagine that anything said 
 about heaven is only a matter of speculation. They 
 talk about heaven much as they would about the air. 
 Now there would not have been so much in Scripture 
 on this subject if God had wanted to leave the human 
 race in darkness about it. " All Scripture," we are 
 told, " is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable 
 for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction 
 in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect 
 — thoroughly furnished unto all good works." II Tim. 
 iii, 16, 17. What the Bible says about heaven is just 
 as true as v/hat it says about everything else. The 
 Bible is inspired. What we are taught about heaven 
 could not have come to us in any other way than by in- 
 spiration. No one knew anything about it but God, 
 and so if v,'e want to find out anything about it we have 
 to turn to His Word. Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, says 
 
 7 
 
8 HEAVEN: 
 
 that the best evidence of the Bible being the Word of 
 God is to be found between its own two covers. It 
 proves itself. In this respect it is like Christ, whose 
 character proclaimed the divinity of His person. 
 Christ showed Himself more than man by what He 
 did. The Bible shows itself more than a human book 
 by what it says. 
 
 It is not, however, because the Bible is tvrUten with 
 more than human skill, far surpassing Shakspeare or 
 any other human author, and that its knowledge of 
 character and the eloquence it contains are beyond the 
 powers of man, that we believe it to be inspired. Men's 
 ideas differ about the extent to which human skill can 
 be carried, but the reason why we believe the Bible to 
 be inspired is so simple that the humblest child of God 
 can comprehend it. If the proof of its divine origin 
 lay in its wisdom alone, a simple and uneducated man 
 might not be able to believe it. We believe it is in- 
 spired because there is nothing in it that could not 
 have come from God. God is wise, and God is good. 
 There is nothing in the Bible that is not wise, and 
 there is nothing in it that is not good. If the Bible 
 had anything in it that was opposed to reason, or to 
 our sense of right, then, perhaps, we might think that 
 it was like all the books in the world that are written 
 merely by men. Books that are only human, like 
 merely human lives, have in them a great deal that is 
 foolish and a great deal that is wrong. The life of 
 Christ alone was perfect, being both human and divine. 
 Not one of the other volumes, like the Koran, that 
 claims divinity of origin, agrees with common sense. 
 There is nothing at all in the Bible that does not 
 
ITS HOPE. 9 
 
 conform to common sense. What it tells us about the 
 world having been destroyed by a deluge, and Noah 
 and his family alone being saved, is no more wonder- 
 ful than what is taught in the schools, that all of the 
 earth we see now, and everything upon it, came out of 
 a ball of fire. It is a great deal easier to believe that 
 man was made after the image of God, than to believe, 
 as some young men and women are being taught now, 
 that he is the offspring of a monkey. 
 
 Like all the other wonderful works of God, this Book 
 bears the sure stamp of its Author. It is like Him. 
 Though man plants the seeds, God makes the flowers, 
 and they are perfect and beautiful like Himself. Men 
 wrote what is in the Bible, but the work is God's. The 
 more refined, as a rule, people are, the fonder they are 
 of flowers, and the better they are, as a rule, the more 
 they love the Bible. The fondness for flowers refines 
 people, and the love of the Bible makes them better. 
 All that is in the Bible about God, about man, about 
 redemption, and about a future state, agrees with our 
 own ideas of right, with our reasonable fears and with 
 our personal experiences. All the historical events are 
 described in the way that we know the world had of 
 looking at them when they were written. What the 
 Bible tells about heaven is not half so strange as wha+ 
 Prof. Proctor tells about the hosts of stars that are be- 
 yond the range of any ordinary telescope; and yet 
 people very often think that science is all fact, and that 
 religion is only fancy. A great many persons think 
 that Jupiter and many more of the stars around us are 
 inhabited, who cannot bring themselves to believe that 
 there is beyond this earth a life for immortal souls. 
 
10 HEAVEN: 
 
 Tlie true Christian puts faith before reason, and believes 
 that reason always goes wrong when faith is set aside. 
 If people would but read their Bibles more, and study 
 what there is to be found there about heaven, they 
 would not be as worldly-minded as they are. They 
 would not have their hearts set upon things down here, 
 but would seek the imperishable things above. 
 
 EAETH THE HOME OF SIN. 
 
 It seems perfectly reasonable that God should have 
 given us a glimpse of the future, for we are constantly 
 losing some of our friends by death, and the first 
 thought that comes to us is, " Where have they gone?" 
 When loved ones are taken away from, us how that 
 thought comes up before us! How we wonder if we 
 will ever see them again, and where and when it will 
 be ! Then it is that we turn to this blessed Book, for 
 there is no other book in all the world that can give 
 us the slightest comfort ; no other book that can tell us 
 where the loved ones have gone. 
 
 Not long ago I met an old friend, and as I took him 
 by the hand and asked after his family, the tears came 
 trickling down his cheeks as he said: 
 
 " I haven't any now." 
 
 "What," I said, " is your wife dead?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " And all your children, too? " 
 
 "Yes, all gone," he said, " and I am left here deso- 
 late and alone." 
 
 Would any one take from that man the hope that he 
 will meet his dear ones again ? AVould any one per- 
 suade him that there is not a future where the lost will 
 
ITS HOPE. 11 
 
 be found ? No, we need not forget our dear loved ones ; 
 but we may cling forever to the enduring hope that 
 there will be a time when we can meet unfettered, and 
 be blest in that land of everlasting suns, where the soul 
 drinks from the living streams of love that roll by God's 
 high throne. 
 
 In our inmost hearts there are none of us but have 
 questionings of the future. 
 
 " Tell me, my secret soul, 
 
 O, tell me, Hope and Faith, 
 Is there no resting-place 
 
 From sorrow, sin and death? 
 Is there no happy spot 
 
 Where mortals may be blest, 
 Where grief may find a balm, 
 And weariness a rest? 
 Faith, Hope and Love — best boons to mortals given — 
 Waved their bright wings, and whispered: 
 Yes, in heaven ! " 
 
 There are men who say that there is no heaven. I 
 was once talking with a man who said he thought there 
 was nothing to justify us in believing in any other 
 heaven than that we know here on earth. If this is 
 heaven, it is a very strange one— this world of sick- 
 ness, sorrow and sin. I pity from the depths of my 
 heart the man or woman who has that idea. 
 
 This world that some think is heaven, is the home of 
 sin, a hospital of sorrow, a place that has nothing in it 
 to satisfy the soul. Men go all over it and then want to 
 get out of it. The more men see of the world the less 
 they think of it. People soon grow tired of the best 
 pleasures it has to offer. Some one has said that the 
 world is a stormy sea, whose every wave is strewed with 
 the wrecks of mortals that perish in it. Every time 
 
12 HEAVEN: 
 
 we breathe some one is dying. We all know that we 
 are going to stay here but a very little while. Our life 
 is but a vapor. It is only a shadow. 
 
 "We meet one another," as some one has said, 
 "salute one another, pass on and are gone." And an- 
 other has said: " It is just an inch of time, and then 
 eternal ages roll on;" and it seems to me that it is per- 
 fectly reasonable that we should study this Book, to 
 find out where we are going, and where our friends are 
 who have gone on before. The longest time man has 
 to live has no more proportion to eternity than a drop 
 of dew has to the ocean. 
 
 CITIES OF THE PAST. 
 
 Look at the cities of the past. There is Babylon. 
 It is said to have been founded by a queen named Semi- 
 ramis, who had two millions of men at work for years 
 building it. It is nothing but dust now. Nearly a 
 thousand years ago, a historian wrote that the ruins of 
 Nebuchadnezzar's palace were still standing, but men 
 were afraid to go near them because they were full of 
 scorpions and snakes. That is the sort of ruin that 
 greatness often comes to in our own day. Nineveh is 
 gone. Its towers and bastions have fallen. The trav- 
 eler who tries to see Carthage cannot find much of it. 
 Corinth, once the seat of luxury and art, is only a 
 shapeless mass. Ephesus, long the metropolis of Asia, 
 the Paris of that day, was croAvded with buildings as 
 large as the capitol at Washington. I am told it looks 
 more like a neglected graveyard now than anything 
 else. Granada, once so grand, with its twelve gates 
 and towers, is now in decay. The Alhambra, the 
 
ITS HOPE. 13 
 
 palace of the Mohammedan kings, Avas situated there. 
 Little pieces of the once grand and beautiful cities of 
 Herculanjeum and Pompeii are now being sold in the 
 shops for relics. Jerusalem, once the joy of the whole 
 earth, is but a shadow of its former self. Thebes, for 
 thousands of years, up almost to the coming of Christ, 
 among the largest and wealthiest cities of the world, is 
 now a mass of decay. But little of ancient Athens, and 
 many more of the proud cities of olden times, remain 
 to tell the story of their downfall. God drives his 
 plowshare through cities, and they are upheaved like 
 furrows in the field. "Behold," says Isaiah, "the na- 
 tions are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the 
 small dust of the balance ; behold, He taketli up the 
 isles as a very little thing .... All nations before 
 Him are as nothing ; and they are counted to Him less 
 than nothing, and vanity." 
 
 See how Antioch has fallen; When Paul preached 
 there, it was a superb metropolis. A wide street, over 
 three miles long, stretching across the entire city, was 
 ornamented Avith rows of columns and covered galler- 
 ies, and at every corner stood carved statues to com- 
 memorate their great men, whose names even we have 
 never heard. These men are never heard of now, but 
 the poor preaching tent-maker who entered its portals 
 stands out as the grandest character in history. The 
 finest specimens of Grecian art decorated the shrines 
 of the temples, and the baths and the aqueducts were 
 such as are never approached in elegance now. Men 
 then, as now, were seeking honor, wealth and renown, 
 and enshrining their names and records in perishable 
 ^lay. Within the walls of Antioch, we are told, wer^ 
 
14 HEAVEN: 
 
 enclosed hills over seven liundred feet higli, and rocky- 
 precipices and deep ravines gave a wild and picturesque 
 character to the place of which no modern city affords 
 an example. These heights were fortfied in a marvel- 
 ous manner, which gave to them strange and startling 
 effects. The vast population of this brilliant city, com- 
 bining all the art and cultivation of Greece with the 
 levity, the luxury and the superstition of Asia, was as 
 intent on pleasure as the population of any of our great 
 cities are to-day. The citizens had their shows, their 
 games, their races and dancers, their sorcerers, puz- 
 zlers, buffoons and miracle-workers, and the people 
 sought constantly in the theaters and processions for 
 something to stimulate and gratify the most corrupt 
 desires of human nature. This is pretty much what 
 we find the masses of the people in our great cities do- 
 ing now. 
 
 Antioch was even worse than Athens, for the so- 
 called worship they indulged in was not only idolatrous, 
 but had mixed up with it the grossest passions to which 
 man descends. It was here that Paul came to preach 
 the glad tidings of the Gospel of Christ; it was here 
 that the disciples were first called Christians, as a nick- 
 name ; all followers of Christ before tliat time having 
 been called " saints" or "brethren." As has been well 
 said, out of that spring at Antioch a miglity stream 
 has flowed to water the world. Astarte, the "Queen of 
 Heaven," whom they worshiped; Diana, Apollo, the 
 Pharisee and Saducee, are no more, but the despised 
 Christians yet live. Yet that heathen city, which would 
 not take Christianity to its heart and keep it, fell. 
 Cities that have not the refining and restraining 
 
ITS HOPE. 15 
 
 influences of Christianity well established in them, 
 seldom do amount to much in the long run. They grow 
 dim in the light of ages. Few of our great cities in 
 this country are a hundred years old as yet. For nearly 
 a thousand years this city prospered; yet it fell. 
 
 GOING TO EMIGRATE. 
 
 I do not think that it is \\Tong for us to think and 
 talk about heaven. I like to locate heaven, and find 
 out all I can about it. I expect to live there through all 
 eternity. If I were going to dwell in any place in this 
 country, if I were going to make it my home, I would 
 want to inquire about the place, about its climate, about 
 the neighbors I would have, about everything, in fact, 
 that 1 could learn concerning it. If any of you were 
 going to emigrate, that would be the way you would 
 feel. Well, we are are all going to emigrate in a very 
 little while to a country that is very far away. We are 
 going to spend eternity in another world, a grand and 
 glorious world where God reigns. Is it not natural, 
 then, that we should look and listen and try to find out 
 who is already there, and what is the route to take ? 
 
 Soon after I ^vas converted, an infidel asked me one 
 day why I looked up wlien I prayed. He said that 
 heaven was no more above us than below us; that 
 heaven was everywhere. Well, I was greatly bewil- 
 dered, and the next time I prayed, it seemed almost as 
 if I was praying into the air. Since then I have become 
 better acquainted vvith the Bible, and I have come to 
 see that heaven is above us ; that it is upward, and not 
 downward. The Spirit of God is everywhere, but God 
 is JA heaven, and heaven is above our heads. It does 
 
16 HEAVEN: 
 
 not matter what part of the globe we may stand upon, 
 heaven is above ns. 
 
 In the 17th chapter of Genesis it says that God 
 went 7(p from Abraham ; and m the 3d chapter of John, 
 that the Son of Man came down from heaven. So, in 
 the 1st chapter of Acts we find that Christ went up in- 
 to heaven (not down), and a cloud received him out of 
 sight. Thus we see heaven is up. The very arrange- 
 ment of the firmament about the earth declares the seat 
 of God's glory to be above us. Job says: " Let not God 
 regard it from above.'''' Again, in Deuteronomy, we 
 find, "who shall go 2ip for us to heaven?" Thus, 
 all through Scripture we find that Ave are given the 
 location of heaven as upward and beyond the firma- 
 ment. This firmament, Avith its many bright worlds 
 scattered through, is so vast that heaven must be an ex- 
 tensive realm. Yet this need not surprise us. It is 
 not for short-sighted man to inquire why God made 
 heaven so extensive that its lights along the way can 
 be seen from any part or side of this little world. 
 
 In Jeremiah li, 15, we are told: " He hath made 
 the earth by His power; He hath established the world 
 by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by 
 His understanding." Yet, how little we really know of 
 that power, or wisdom or understanding ! As we read in 
 Job: " Lo, these are parts of his ways; but how little a 
 portion is heard of Him ? But the thunder of His power, 
 who can understand ? " 
 
 This is the Avord of God. As we find in the 42nd 
 chapter of Isaiah: "Thus saith God the Lord, He 
 that created the heavens and stretched them out; He 
 that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh put 
 
ITS HOPE. 17 
 
 of it ; He that givetli bread unto the people upon it, and 
 spirit to them tliat walk Avithin.^' 
 
 The discernment of God's power, the messages of 
 heaven, do not always come in great things. AVe read 
 in the 19th chapter of the first book of Kings: 
 
 " And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong Avind 
 rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks befoie the Lord; 
 but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earth- 
 quake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earth- 
 quake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a 
 still small voice." 
 
 It is as a still small voice that God speaks to His 
 children. Some people are trying to find out just how 
 far heaven is away. There is one thing we know about 
 it; that is, that is not so far away but that God can 
 hear us when we pray. I do not believe there has 
 ever been a tear shed for sin since Adam's fall in Eden 
 to the present time, but God has witnessed it. He is 
 not too far from earth for us to go to Him ; and 
 if there is a sigh that comes from a burdened heart 
 to-day, God will hear that sigh. If there is a cry 
 coming tip from a heart broken on account of sin, God 
 will hear that cry. He is not so far away, heaven is 
 not so far aw^ay, as to be inaccessible to the smallest 
 child. In II Chronicles we read: 
 
 " If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble them- 
 selves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked 
 ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive them their 
 sins, and will heal their land." 
 
 When I was in Dublin, they were telling me about 
 a father who had lost a little boy. This father had not 
 thought about the future, he had been so entirely taken 
 up with this world and its affairs ; but when that little 
 boy, his only child, died, that father's heart was broken^ 
 2 
 
18 HEAVEN: 
 
 and every niglit when lie returned from work he 
 mifirht be found in his room with liis candle and his 
 Bible, hunting up all that he could find there about 
 heaven. Some one asked him what he was doing, 
 and he said he was trying to find out where his 
 child had gone, and I think he was a reasonable man. 
 I suppose no one will ever read this page who has not 
 dear ones that are gone. Shall we close this Book to- 
 day, or shall we look into it to try to find where the 
 loved ones are? I was reading, some time ago, an ac- 
 count of a father, a minister, Avho had lost a child. He 
 had gone to a great many funerals, offering com- 
 fort to others in sorrow, but now the iron had entered 
 his own soul, and a brother minister had come to offici- 
 ate and preach the funeral sermon; and after this min- 
 ister had finished speaking, the father got up, and 
 standing at the head of the coffin, he said that a few 
 years ago, when he had first come into that parish, 
 as he used to look over the river he took no interest in 
 the people over there, because they were all strangers 
 to him and there were none over there that belonged 
 to his parish. But, he said, a few years ago a young man 
 came into his home, and married his daughter, and she 
 went over the river to live, and when his child went over 
 there, he became suddenly interested in the inhabitants, 
 and every morning as he arose he would look out of the 
 window across the river to her home. " But now," 
 said he, " another child has been taken. She has gone 
 over another river, and heaven seems dearer and nearer 
 to me now than it ever has before." 
 
 My friends, let us believe this good old Book, be 
 confident that heaven is not a myth, and be prepared to 
 
ITS HOPE. 19 
 
 follow the dear ones wlio have gone before. Thus, and 
 thus alone, can we find the peace we seek for. 
 
 SEEKING A BETTER COUNTRY. 
 
 What has been, and is now, one of the strongest feel- 
 ings in the human heart? Is it not to find some bet- 
 ter place, some lovelier spot, than we have now? It is 
 for this that men are seeking everywhere ; and they 
 can have it if they will; but instead of looking down, 
 they must look iij) to find it. As men grow in knowl- 
 edge, they vie with each other more and more in mak- 
 ing their homes attractive, but the brightest home on 
 earth is but an empty barn, compared with the man- 
 sions in the skies. 
 
 What is it that we look for at the decline and close 
 of life? Is it not some sheltered place, some quiet 
 spot, where, if we cannot have constant rest, we may at 
 least have a foretaste of the rest that is to be ? What 
 was it that led Columbus, not knowing what would be 
 his fate, across the unsailed western seas, if it were not 
 the hope of finding a better country ? This it was that 
 sustained the hearts of the Pilgrim Fathers, driven 
 from their native land by persecution, as they faced an 
 iron-bound, savage coast, with an unexplored territory 
 beyond. They were cheered and upheld by the hope 
 of reaching a free and fruitful country, where they 
 could be at rest and worship God in peace. 
 
 Somewhat similar is the Christian's hope of heaven, 
 only it is not an undiscovered country, and in attrac- 
 tions cannot be compared mtli anything we know on 
 earth. Perhaps nothing but the shortness of our range 
 Qt sight keeps us from seeing the celestial gates aU 
 
20 HEAVEN: 
 
 open to us, and nothing but the deafness of our ears 
 prevents our hearing the joyful ringing of the bells of 
 heaven. There are constant sounds around us that we 
 cannot hear, and the sky is studded with bright worlds 
 that our eyes have never seen. Little as we know 
 about this bright and radiant land, there are glimpses 
 of its beauty that come to us now and then. 
 
 "We may not know how sweet its balmy air, 
 How bright and fair its flowers; 
 We may not hear the songs that echo there, 
 Through these enchanted bowers. 
 
 " The city's sliining towers we may not see 
 With our dim earthly vision, 
 For Death, the silent warder, keeps the key 
 That opes the gates Elysian. 
 
 " But sometimes when adown the western sky 
 A fiery sunset lingers, 
 Its golden gate swings inward noiselessly, 
 Unlocked by unseen fingers. 
 
 "And while they stand a moment half ajar. 
 Gleams from the inner glory 
 Stream brightly through the azure vault afar. 
 And half reveal the story." 
 
 It is said by travelers that in climbing the Alps the 
 houses of far distant villages can be seen with great 
 distinctness, so that sometimes the number of panes 
 of glass in a church window can be counted. The 
 distance looks so short that the place to which the trav- 
 eler is journeying appears almost at hand, but after 
 hours and hours of climbing it seems no nearer yet. 
 This is because of the clearness of the atmosphere. 
 By perseverance, however, the place is reached at last, 
 and the tired traveler finds rest. So sometimes we 
 dwell in high altitudes of grace ; heaven seems very near, 
 
ITS HOPE. 21 
 
 and the hills of Beulah are in full view. At other 
 times the clouds and fogs caused by suffering and sin 
 cut off our sight. We are just as near heaven in the 
 one case as we are in the other, and we are just as sure 
 of gaining it if we only keep in the path that Christ 
 has pointed out. 
 
 I have read that on the shores of the Adriatic sea the 
 wives of fishermen, whose husbands have gone far out 
 upon the deep, are in the habit of going down to the 
 sea-shore at night and singing with their sweet voices 
 the first verse of some beautiful hymn. After they 
 have sung it they listen until they hear brought on the 
 wind, across the sea, the second verse sung by their 
 brave husbands as they are tossed by the gale — and 
 both are happy. Perhaps, if we would listen, we too 
 might hear on this storm-tossed world of ours, some 
 sound, some whisper, borne from afar to tell us there 
 is a Heaven which is our home ; and when we sing our 
 hymns upon the shores of the earth, perhaps we may 
 hear their sweet echoes breaking in music upon the 
 sands of time, and cheering the hearts of those who 
 are pilgrims and strangers along the way. Yes, we 
 need to look up — out, beyond this low earth, and to 
 build higher in our thoughts and actions, even here! 
 
 You know, when a man is going up in a balloon, he 
 takes in sand as. ballast, and when he wants to mount a 
 little higher, he throws out some of it, and then he 
 will mount a little higher ; he throws out a little more 
 ballast, and he mounts still higher; and the more he 
 throws out the higher he gets, and so the more we 
 have to throw out of the things of this world the nearer 
 we get to God. Let go of them; let us not set our 
 
22 BEAVEN: 
 
 hearts and affections on them, but do what the Master 
 tells lis — lay np for oiirselves treasures in heaven. 
 
 In England I was told of a lady who had been bed- 
 ridden for years. She was one of those saints whom 
 God polishes up for the kingdom; for I believe there 
 are many saints in this world whom we never hear 
 about ; we never see their names heralded through the 
 press ; they live very near the Master ; they live very 
 near heaven; and I think it takes a great deal more 
 grace to suffer God's will than it does to do it; and if 
 a person lies on a bed of sickness, and suffers cheer- 
 fully, it is just as acceptable to God as if they went 
 out and worked in His vineyard. 
 
 Now this lady was of those saints. She said that 
 for a long time she used to have a great deal of 
 pleasure in watching a bird that came to make its nest 
 near her window. One year it came to make its nest, 
 aud it began to build so low do^Ti she was afi'aid some- 
 thing would happen to the young; and every day that 
 she saw that bird busy at work making its nest, she 
 kept saying, "O bird, build higher!" She could see 
 that the biixl was likely to come to grief and disap- 
 pointment. At last the bird got its nest done, and laid 
 its eggs and hatched its young; and e^'ery morning the 
 lady looked out to see if the nest was there, and she 
 saw the old bird bringing food for the little ones, and 
 she took a great deal of pleasure looking at it. But 
 one morning she awoke, looked out, and she saw nothing 
 but feathers scattered all around, and she said: "Ah, 
 the cat has got the oldbii'd and all her young." It would 
 have been a kindness to have torn that nest down. 
 That is what God does for us very often — just snatches 
 
ITS BOPB. ^3 
 
 things away before it is too late. Now, I think that 
 is Avliat we want to say to professing Christians — if 
 you buikl for time you will be disappointed. God 
 says: Build up yonder. It is a good deal better to 
 have life with Christ in God than anywhere else. I 
 would rather have my life hid with Christ in God than 
 be in Eden as Adam was. Adam might have remained 
 in Paradise for 16,000 years, and then fallen, but if 
 our life is hid in Christ, how safe! 
 
©I'^oug'^tx^ of <Kon]^. 
 
 BY ANNA SHIPTON. 
 
 Lord, 'twas Thine to labor and wear the thorns for me; 
 Thou sharest all my sorrows; Thou knowest what 'twill be 
 To see the Father's glory, to hear Thy welcome there, 
 Where never cross or burden remains for us to bear. 
 
 1 seem to pace the glittering street, and hear the harps of gold, 
 The echo of the new song that never groweth old; 
 
 I hear Thy praise, Lord Jesus, my Life, my Lord, my King, 
 Until my worn heart pineth the strains of heaven to sing. 
 
 Safe in the better country my loved ones I shall find, 
 And some in that bright multitude I feared were left behind ; 
 Then loud shall sound our praises within the jasper wall, 
 As cherubim and seraphim before the Holiest fall. • 
 
 With folded wings, expectant, the angel bands will come 
 To hsten to the tale of grace that wooed the children home; 
 And sitting at Thy feet, Lord, my joyful lips shall tell 
 How much He hath forgiven, who " doeth all things well." 
 
 Thou blessed Spirit, cheering this valley land for me. 
 With glimpses of the glory of that which soon shall be ; 
 Each harpstring, dull and broken, Thy gentle breath awaits; 
 Then let me sing of Jesus up to the golden gates. 
 
 24 
 
ohTea^en: 
 ITS INHABITANTS. 
 
J\ bittfe ©ya^. 
 
 " A little way ! I know it is not far 
 To that dear home where my beloved are; 
 And still my heart sits, hke a bird, upon 
 The empty nest, and mourns its treasures gone, 
 Plumed for their flight, 
 And vanished quite. 
 Ah me! Where is the comfort? Though I say 
 They have but journeyed on a little way. 
 
 " A little way! At times they seem so near, 
 Their voices even murmur in my ear, 
 To all my duties loving presence lend, 
 And with sweet ministry my steps attend. 
 'Twas here we met and parted company; 
 Why sliould their gain be such a grief to me? 
 
 This sense of loss ! 
 
 This heavy cross ! 
 Dear Savior, take the burden off, I pray, 
 And show me heaven is but — a little way. 
 
 " A little way? The sentence I repeat. 
 Hoping and longing to extract some sweet 
 To mingle with the bitter; from Thy hand 
 I take the cup I cannot understand. 
 And in my weakness give myself to Thee. 
 Although it seems so very, very far 
 To that dear home where my beloved are, 
 
 I know, I know, 
 
 It is not so; 
 Oh, give me faith to believe it when I say 
 That they are gone — gone but a little way." 
 
 — Anon. 
 
 26 
 
ITS INHABITANTS. 27 
 
 CHAPTEK 11. 
 
 ITS INHABITANTS. 
 
 The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. The people that dwell 
 therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. Isaiah xxxiii, 34. 
 
 The society of heaven will be select. No one who 
 studies Scripture can doubt that. There are a good 
 many kinds of aristocracy in this world, but the aris- 
 tocracy of heaven will be the aristocracy of holiness. 
 The humblest believer on earth will be an aristocrat 
 there. It says in the 57th chapter of Isaiah: "For 
 thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inliab- 
 iteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the 
 high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite 
 and humble spirit." Now what could be plainer than 
 that? No one who is not of a contrite and humble 
 spirit will dwell with God in His high and holy 
 place. 
 
 If there is anything that ought to make heaven near 
 to Christians, it is knowing that God and all their loved 
 ones will be there. What is it that makes home so at- 
 tractive ? Is it because we have a beautiful home ? Is 
 it because we have beautiful lawns ? Is it because we 
 have beautiful trees around us ? Is it because we have 
 beautiful paintings upon the walls inside ? Is it be- 
 cause we have beautiful furniture? Is that all. that 
 
28 HEAVEN: 
 
 makes home so attractive and beautiful? Nay, it is 
 the loved ones in it; it is the loved ones there. 
 
 I remember after being away from home some time, 
 I went back to see my honored mother, and I thought 
 in going back I would take her by surprise, and steal in 
 unexpectedly upon her, but when I found she had gone 
 away, the old place didn't seem like home at all. I 
 went into one room and then into another, and all 
 through the house, but I could not find that loved 
 mother, and I asked some member of the family, 
 " Where is mother? " and they said she had gone away. 
 Well, home had lost its charm to me ; it was that mother 
 who made home so sweet to me, and it is the loved ones 
 who make home so sweet to every one ; it is the presence 
 of the loved ones that will make heaven so sweet to all 
 of us. Christ is there ; God, the Father, is there ; and 
 many, many who were dear to us when they lived on 
 earth are there — and we shall be Avitli them by and by. 
 
 We find clearly in the 18th chapter of Matthew, 10th 
 verse, that the angels are there: " Take heed that ye 
 despise not one of these little ones ; for I say unto you, 
 that in heaven, their angels do always behold the face 
 of my Father which is in heaven." 
 
 "Their angels do always behold the Father's face!" 
 We shall have good company up there ; not only those 
 who have been redeemed, but those who have never 
 been lost; those who have never known what it is to 
 transgress ; those who have never known what it is to be 
 disobedient ; who have obeyed Him from th6 very morn- 
 ing of creation. 
 
 It says in Luke i, when Gabriel came down to tell 
 Zachariah that he was to be the father of the forerunner 
 
ITS INHABITANTS. 29 
 
 of Jesus Christ, Zacliariah doubted him ; he had never 
 been doubted before ; and that doubt is met with the 
 declaration: "I am Gabriel, that standeth in t]ie 
 presence of God." What a glorious thing to be able 
 to say! 
 
 It has been said that there will be three things 
 which will surprise us Avhen we get to heaven — one, to 
 find many whom we did not expect to find there ; an- 
 other, to find some not there whom we had expected; 
 a third, and perhaps the greatest wonder — to find our- 
 selves there. 
 
 A poor woman once told Rowland Hill that the way 
 to heaven was short, easy and simple ; comprising only 
 three steps — out of self, into Christ, and into glory. 
 AYe have a shorter way noAv — out of self and into 
 Christ, and we are there. As a dead man cannot in- 
 herit an estate, no more can a dead soul inherit heaven. 
 The soul must be raised up in Christ. Among the 
 good whom we hope to meet in heaven, we are told, 
 there will be every variety of character, taste, and dis- 
 position. There is not one mansion there ; there are 
 many. There is not one gate to heaven, but many. 
 There are not only three gates on the north; but on the 
 east three gates, and on the west three gates, and on 
 the south three gates. From opposite divisions of the 
 theological compass, from opposing standpoints of the 
 religious world, from different quarters of human life 
 and character, through various expressions of their 
 common faith and hope, through diverse modes of con- 
 version, through different portions of the Holy Scrip- 
 ture, will the weary travelers enter the Heavenly City, 
 aud meet each other-— "not without surprise" — on the 
 
30 HEAVEN: 
 
 shores of the same river of life. And on those shores 
 they will find a tree bearing, not the same kind of fruit 
 always and at all times, but "twelve manner of fruits," 
 for every different turn of mind, — for the patient suf- 
 ferer, for the active servant, for the holy and humble 
 philosopher, for the spirits of just men now at last made 
 perfect; and "the leaves of the tree shall be for the 
 healing," not of one single church or people only, not 
 for the Scotchman or the Englishman only, but for the 
 " healing of the nations," — the Frenchman, the Ger- 
 man, the Italian, the Russian — for all those from whom 
 it may be, in this world, its fruits have been farthest 
 removed, but who, nevertheless, have " hungered and 
 thirsted after righteousness," and who therefore "shall 
 be filled." 
 
 An eminent living divine says: " When I was a boy, 
 I thought of heaven as a great, shining city, with vast 
 walls and domes and spires, and with nobody in it ex- 
 cept white-robed angels, who were strangers to me. 
 By and by my little brother died ; and I thought of a 
 great city with walls and domes and spires, and a flock 
 of cold, unknown angels, and one little fellow that I 
 was acquainted with. He was the only one I knew at 
 that time. Then another brother died ; and there were 
 two that I knew. Then my acquaintances began to 
 die; and the flock continually grew. But it was not 
 till I had sent one of my little children to his Heavenly 
 Parent — God — that I began to think I had a little in 
 myself. A second went, a third went; a fourth went; 
 and by that time I had so many acquaintances in 
 heaven, that I did not see any more walls and domes 
 and spires. I began to think of the residents of the 
 
ITS INHABITANTS. 31 
 
 celestial city as my friends. And now so many of my 
 acquaintances have gone there, that it sometimes seems 
 to me that I know more people in heaven than I do on 
 earth." 
 
 WE SHALL LIVE FOREVER. 
 
 It says in John xii, 26: "If any man serve Me, let 
 him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My 
 servant be." 
 
 I cannot agree with some people, that Paul has been 
 sleeping in the grave, and is still there, after the storms 
 of eighteen hundred years. I cannot believe that he 
 who loved the Master, who had such a burning zeal 
 for Him, has been separated from Him in an uncon- 
 scious state. " Father, I will that they also, whom 
 Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am ; that they 
 may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me." 
 This is Christ's prayer. 
 
 Now when a man believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 he receives eternal life. A great many people make a 
 mistake right there; ''He that believeth on the Son 
 hath — h-a-t-h — hath eternal life ; " it does not say he 
 shall have it Avhen he comes to die ; it is in the present 
 tense ; it is mine now — if I believe. It is the gift of 
 God, that is enough. You cannot bury the gift of God ; 
 you cannot bury eternal life. All the grave-dig- 
 gers in the world cannot dig a grave large enough 
 and deep enough to hold eternal life; all the coffin- 
 makers in the world cannot make a coffin large enough 
 and strong enough to hold eternal life; it is mine; 
 it is mine! 
 
 I believe when Paul said: "To be absent from th© 
 
32 HEAVEN: 
 
 body and present with the Lord," he meant what he 
 said ; that he was not going to be separated from Him 
 for eighteen hundred years ; the spirit that was given 
 him when he was converted he had from a new life and 
 a new nature, and they coukl not lay that away in the 
 sepulchre; they could not bury it, that flew to meet its 
 Maker. Even the body shall be raised; this body, 
 sown in dishonor, shall be raised in glory; this body 
 which has known corruption, shall put on incorruption, 
 and this mortal shall put on immortality. It is only a 
 question of time. The great morning of the Avorld 
 will, by-and-by, dawn upon the earth, and the dead shall 
 come forth and shall hear the voice of Him who is "the 
 resurrection and the life." 
 
 Paul says: "If our earthly house of this tabernacle 
 were dissolved, Ave have a building of God, a house not 
 made with hands, eternal in the heavens." He could 
 take down the clay temple, and leave that, but he had a 
 better house. He says in one place: "I am in a strait be- 
 twixt two ; having a desire to depart and be with Christ, 
 which is far better ; nevertheless to abide in the flesh is 
 more needful for you." To me, it is a sweet thought to 
 think that death does not separate us from the Mas- 
 ter. A great many people are living continually in 
 the bondage of death, but if I have eternal life, deaiji 
 cannot touch that; it may touch the house I live in; it 
 may change my countenance and send my body away 
 to the grave, but it cannot touch this new life. 
 
 To me it is very sad to think that so many professed 
 Christians look upon death as they do. I received some 
 time ago a letter from a friend in London, and I 
 thought^ as I read it, I would take it and shoTv it to 
 
ITS INHABITANTS. 33 
 
 other people and see if I could not get them to look 
 upon death as this friend does. He had lost his beloved 
 mother. In England it is a very common thing to send 
 out cards in memory of the departed ones, and they put 
 upon them great borders of black — sometimes a quar- 
 ter of an inch of black border — but this friend had put 
 on a gold border; he did not put on black at all ; his 
 mother had gone to the golden city, and so he put on a 
 golden border; and I think it a good deal better than 
 black. I think when our friends die, instead of putting 
 a great black border upon our memorials to make them 
 look dark, it would be better for us to put on gold. 
 
 It is not death at all ; it is life. Some one said to a 
 person dying: " Well, you are in the land of the living 
 yet." " No," said he, " I am in the land of the dying 
 yet, but I am going to the land of the living ; they live 
 there and never die." This is the land of sin and 
 death and tears, but up yonder they never die. It is 
 perpetual life ; it is unceasing joy. 
 
 "It is a glorious thing to die," was the testimony 
 of Hannah Moore on her death-bed, though her life 
 had been sown thick with the rarest friendships, and age 
 had not so weakened her memory as to cause her to 
 forget those little hamlets among the cliffs of her na- 
 tive hills, or the mission-schools she had with such 
 perseverance established, and where she would be so 
 sadly missed. 
 
 As James Montgomery has said: 
 
 " There is a soft, a downy bed; 
 
 'Tis fair as breath of even; 
 A couch for weary mortals spread, 
 Where they may rest the aching head, 
 
 And find repose — in heaven ! 
 
 3 
 
34 HEAVEN: 
 
 " There is an hour of peaceful rest, 
 
 To mourning wanderers given. 
 There is a joy for souls distressed, 
 A balm for every wounded breast, 
 
 'Tis found alone — in heaven ! " 
 
 KNOWING OUR FRIENDS. 
 
 Many are anxious to know if tliey will recognize their 
 friends in heaven. In the 8th chapter of Matthew and 
 the 11th verse, we read: "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 king- 
 dom of heaven." 
 
 Here we find that Abraham, who lived so many hun- 
 dreds of years before Christ, had not lost his identity, 
 and Christ tells us that the time is coming when they 
 shall come from the east and west and shall sit down 
 with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of 
 God. These men had not lost their identity ; they were 
 known as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And if you will 
 turn to that wonderful scene that took place on the 
 Mount of Transfiguration, you will find that Moses, 
 who had been gone from the earth 1,500 years, was 
 there ; Peter, James and John saw him on the Mount 
 of Transfiguration; they saw him as Moses; he had 
 not lost his name. Christ says of him that overcometh, 
 " I will not blot your names out of the Lamb's Book of 
 Life." We have names in heaven; we are going to 
 bear our names there; we will be known. 
 
 Over in the Psalms it says: "I shall be satisfied 
 when I awake in Thy likeness." That is enough. 
 Want is written on every human heart down here, but 
 there we shall be satisfied. You may hunt the world 
 
ITS INHABITANTS. 85 
 
 from one end to the other, and you will not find a man 
 or woman who is satisfied ; but in heaven we shall want 
 for nothing. In the 2d chapter of the 1st Epistle of 
 John, we read these words addressed to followers of 
 Christ: 
 
 " Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet ap- 
 pear 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. 
 
 " And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, 
 even as He is pure." 
 
 Moreover, it seems highly probable, indeed I think 
 it is clearly taught by Scripture, that a great many 
 careless Christians will get into heaven. There will be 
 a great many who will get in "by the skin of their 
 teeth," or as Lot was saved from Sodom, " so as by 
 fire." They will barely get in, but there will be no 
 crown of rejoicing. But everybody is not going to rush 
 into heaven. There are a great many who will not be 
 there. You know we have a class of people who tell 
 us they are going into the kingdom of God whether 
 they are converted or not. They tell us that tliey are 
 on their way ; that they are going there. They tell us 
 all are going there; that the good, the bad and indif- 
 ferent are all going into the kingdom, and that they 
 will all be there ; that there is no difference ; and, in 
 other words — if I may be allowed to use plain language 
 — they give God the lie. 
 
 But they say, "We believe in the mercy of God;" 
 so do I. I believe in the jusiice of God, too; and I 
 think heaven would be a good deal worse than this 
 earth if unrenewed men were permitted to form part 
 of it 
 
36 HEAVEN: 
 
 Why, if a man sliould live forever in this world in 
 sin, what would become of this world? It seems as if 
 it would be hell itself. Let your mind pass over the 
 history of this country, and think of some who have 
 lived in it. Suppose they should never die ; suppose 
 they should live on and on forever in sin and rebellion ; 
 do you think that God is going to take those men who 
 have rejected His Son, who have spurned the offer of 
 His mercy, who have refused salvation, and have 
 trampled His law under their feet, and have been in 
 rebellion against His laws down here? Do you sup- 
 pose God is going to take them right into His King- 
 dom and let them live there forever ? By no means. 
 
 NO DKUNKAKDS IN HEAVEN. 
 
 " Be not deceived * * * nor thieves, nor covetous, 
 nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall in- 
 herit the kingdom of God." 
 
 " No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God." 
 Now let those mothers who have sons who are just com- 
 mencing a dissipated life, wake up; and rest not day 
 nor night until their boys are converted by the power 
 of God's grace, because no drunkard shall inherit the 
 kingdom of God. Many of these moderate drinkers 
 will become drunkards; no man ever became a drunk- 
 ard all at once. How the devil blinds these moderate 
 drinkers ! I do not know of any sin more binding than 
 the sin of intemperance ; the man is bound hand and 
 foot before he knows it. 
 
 I was reading some time ago an account of snake- 
 worshiping in India. I thought it was a horrible 
 thing. I read of a mother wlio saw a snake come into 
 
ITS INHABITANTS. 37 
 
 her home and coil itself around her little infant only- 
 six months old, and she thought the reptile was such a 
 sacred thing that she did not dare to touch it ; and she 
 saw the snake destroy her child; she heard the child's 
 pitiful cries, but dared not rescue it. My soul revolted 
 as I read the narrative. But I do not know but we 
 have things right here in America that are just as bad 
 as that serpent in India — serpents that are coming into 
 many a Christian home, and coiling around many a 
 son and binding them hand and foot, and the fathers 
 and mothers seem to be asleep. 
 
 Oh, may the Spirit of God wake us up! No drunk- 
 ard shall inherit the kingdom of God; nor rum-seller 
 either. Bear that in mind, " Woe unto him that put- 
 tetli the bottle to his neighbor's lips." I pity any pro- 
 fessing Christians who rent their property for drink- 
 ing saloons; I pity them from the depths of my 
 heart. If you ever expect to inherit the kingdom of 
 God, give it up. If you can never rent your property 
 to better purposes you had better let it stand empty. 
 This idea that all is going well, and that all are going 
 into the kingdom of God, whether they repent or not, 
 is not taught anywhere in the Scripture. 
 
 There will be no extortioners in heaven ; none of those 
 men who are taking advantage of their brothers; of 
 those men who have been unfortunate ; whose families 
 are sick ; who have had to mortgage their property, and 
 had snap-judgment taken against them by some man 
 who has his hand at their throats, and takes every cent 
 that he can get. That man is an extortioner. He 
 shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I pity a man 
 who gets money dishonestly. See the trouble he has 
 
38 HEAVEN: 
 
 to keep it. It is sure to be scattered. If you got it 
 dishonestly you cannot keep it; your children can't 
 keep it — they have not the power. You see that all 
 over the country. A man who gets a dollar dishon- 
 estly, had better make restitution and pay it back very 
 quickly, or it will burn in his pocket. 
 
 SOME WILL NOT GET IN. 
 
 In the days of Noah we read that he sailed over the 
 deluge. He was the only righteous man, but accord- 
 ing to the theory of some people, the rest of those men 
 who were so foul and so wicked — too wicked to live — 
 God took them and swept them all into heaven, and left 
 the only righteous man to go through this trial. 
 Drunkards, and thieves and vagabonds all went to 
 heaven, they say. You might as w^ell go forward and 
 preach that " you can swear as much as you like, and 
 murder as much as you please, and it will come out 
 right — that God will forgive you; God is so merciful." 
 
 Suppose the Governor of a State should pardon ev- 
 ery person that the courts ever convicted, and are now 
 lying in its jails and penitentiaries ; suppose he should 
 let them all loose because he is so merciful that he 
 could not bear to have men punished ; I think he would 
 not be Governor of that State long. These men who 
 are talking about God being so full of mercy, that He 
 is going to spare, and take all men to heaven, would 
 be the very men to say that such a Governor as that 
 ought to be impeached — that he ought not to be Gov- 
 ernor. Let us bear in mind that the Scripture says 
 there is a certain class of people who " shall not in- 
 herit the kingdom of GocV Now, I will give you the 
 
ITS INHABITANTS. 39 
 
 Scripture ; it is a good deal better to just give the Scrip- 
 ture for these tilings, and then if you do not like it you 
 can quarrel with Scripture, and not with me. Let no 
 man say that I have been saying who is going to 
 heaven and who is not; I will let the Scripture speak 
 for itself : "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall 
 not inherit the kingdom of God?" I Cor. vi, 9. 
 
 But the unrighteous — the adulterers, the fornicators 
 and thieves — these men may all inherit it if they will 
 only turn away from their sins. " Let the wicked for- 
 sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; " 
 but if the unrighteous man says: " I will not turn away 
 from sin; I will hold on to sin and have heaven," he is 
 deceiving himself. 
 
 A man who steals my pocket-book loses a good deal 
 more than I do. I can afford to let him have my pocket- 
 book a great deal better than he can afford to take it. 
 See how much that man who steals my pocket-book 
 loses. Perhaps he may get a few dollars; or he may 
 steal my coat ; but he does not get much. See how 
 much he has lost. Take an inventory of what that 
 man loses if he loses heaven. Think of it. No thief 
 shall inherit the kingdom of God. To any thief I 
 would say: " Steal no more." Let him ask God to for- 
 give him ; let him repent of his sin and turn to God. 
 If you get eternal life it is worth more than the whole 
 world. If you were to steal the whole world, you 
 would not get much, after all. The whole world does 
 not amount to much, if you have not eternal life with 
 it, to enjoy yourself in the future. 
 
BY ANNA SHIPTON. 
 
 Who are they whose songs are sounding 
 O'er the golden harps above? 
 
 Hark! they tell of grace abounding, 
 And Jehovah's sovereign love. 
 
 Who are they that keep their station 
 Round the great eternal throne? 
 
 They from earthly tribulation 
 To their heavenly rest are gone. 
 
 See their robes of dazzling whiteness, 
 Without blemish, spot, or stain ; 
 
 See their crowns that grow in brightness, 
 Purchased by the Lamb once slain. 
 
 Never heat shall beat upon them, 
 Thirst nor hunger reach them there; 
 
 He, whose life from death hath won them, 
 Bids them now His glory share. 
 
 Feeble hearts are nerved for duty, 
 Faltering feet now firmly stand. 
 
 Palms of heaven's unfading beauty 
 Mark earth's once despised band. 
 
 'Tis the Lamb of God who leads them, 
 And they serve Him night and day; 
 
 By the heavenly fount He feeds them, 
 He hath wiped their tears away. 
 
 Sweet their theme! 'Tis still, " Salvation 
 Unto Christ, the Holy One! " 
 
 And their sighs of tribulation 
 Change to songs around the throne. 
 
 40 
 
eH°ea^en: 
 ITS HAPPINESS. 
 
"©Y^ftaf ! J\fnioAl- J^°orT|e ?" 
 
 "What! almost home? " '' Yes, almost home," she said, 
 And light seemed gleaming on her aged head. 
 
 " Jesus is very precious! " Those who near 
 Her bedside stood were thrilled those words to hear. 
 
 " Toward His blest home I turn my willing feet; 
 Hinder me not; I go my Lord to meet.' 
 Silence ensued. She seemed to pass away, 
 Serene and quiet as that summer day. 
 
 " Speak," cried through tears her daughter, bending low, 
 
 " One word, beloved mother, ere you go." 
 She spoke that word; the last she spoke on earth. 
 In whispering tones — that word of wondrous worth: 
 
 " JESUS! " The sorrowing Hsteners caught the sound. 
 But angels heard it with a joy profound. 
 Back, at its mighty power, the gates unfold — 
 The gates of pearl that guard the streets of gold. 
 The harpers with their harps took up the strain, 
 And sang the triumph of the Lord again. 
 As through the open portals entered in 
 Another soul redeemed from death and sin. 
 And as from earth the spirit passed away, 
 To dwell forever in the realms of day, 
 Those who were left to mourn could almost hear 
 The strains of heavenly music strike the ear. 
 And to their longing eyes by grace was given. 
 In such a scene, as 'twere, a ghmpse of heaven. 
 
 — Unknown. 
 
 42 
 
ITS HAPPINESS. 43 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ITS HAPPINESS 
 
 Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the 
 heart ot man, the things which God hath prepared for them that 
 love him. Isaiah Ixiv, 4. I Cor. ii, 9. 
 
 If there is one word above another that will swing 
 open the eternal gates, it is the name of Jesus. There 
 are a great many pass-words and by-words down here, 
 but that will be the countersign up above. Jesus Christ 
 is the '' Open Sesame " to heaven. Any one who tries 
 to climb up some other way, is a thief and a robber. 
 But when we get in, what a joy above every other joy 
 we can think ot, will it be to see Jesus Himself all the 
 time, and to be with Him continually. 
 
 Isaiah has given this promise of God to every one 
 who is saved through faith: "Thine eyes shall see the 
 King in His beauty; they shall behold the land that is 
 very far off." Some of us may not be able to go 
 around the world. We may not be able to see any of 
 the foreign countries; but every Christian by and by 
 is going to see a land that is very far off. This is our 
 Promised Land. John Milton says of the saints who 
 have gone already: 
 
 " They walk with God 
 High in salvation, and the cUmes of bhss." 
 
44 jSEAVEN: 
 
 It is a blissful climate up tliere. People down here 
 look around a great deal to find a good climate where 
 they will not be troubled by any of their pains or aches, 
 but the climate of heaven is so fine that no pains 
 or aches can hold out against it. There will be no 
 room to find fault. We shall leave all our pains and aches 
 behind us, and find an everlasting health, such as earth 
 can never know. 
 
 But you know the glory of Christ as reigning King 
 of heaven would be something too much for mortal 
 eyes to endure. In 1st Timothy, vi, we read of Christ as : 
 
 " The blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord of 
 Lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the hght which no 
 man can approach into; Whom no man hath seen nor can see." 
 
 As mortals, we cannot see that light. Our feeble 
 faculties would be dazzled before such a blaze of glory. 
 
 In Ezekiel i, 28, we read of that prophet having a 
 faint glimpse of it: 
 
 " As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of 
 rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This 
 was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And 
 when I saw it, I fell upon my face." 
 
 We are amazed at ordinary perfections now. None 
 of us can look the sun squarely in the face. But when 
 this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, as 
 Paul says, the power of the soul will be stronger. 
 We shall be able to see Christ in His glory then. 
 Though the moon be confounded and the sun ashamed, 
 yet we shall see Him as He is. This is what will make 
 heaven so happy. We all know that great happiness 
 cannot be found on earth. Reason, revelation, and the 
 experience of six thousand years, all tell us that. No 
 
ITS HAPPINESS. 45 
 
 human creature has the power to give it. Even doing 
 good fails to give it fully, for, owing to sin in the 
 world, even the best have not perfect happiness here. 
 They have to wait for heaven ; although they may be 
 so near it sometimes that they can see heralds of its joy 
 and beauty, as Columbus saw the strange and beautiful 
 birds hovering around his ships long before he caught 
 sight of America. 
 
 All the joys Ave are to know in heaven will come from 
 the presence of God. This is the leading thought in 
 all that the Scripture has to say on the subject. What 
 life on this earth is without health, life in heaven 
 would be without the presence of God. God's pres- 
 ence will be the very light and life of the place. It is 
 said that one translation of the words describing the 
 presence of God is " a happy making sight." It will 
 be a sight like the return of a long-lost boy to his 
 mother, or the first glimpse of your home after you 
 have been a long time away. Some of you know how 
 a little sunshine on a dark day, or the face of a kind 
 friend in trouble, often cheers us up. Well, it will be 
 something like that, only a thousand times better. Our 
 preceptions of God will be clearer then, and that will 
 make us love Him all the more. 
 
 The more we know God, the more we love Him. A 
 great many of us would love God more if we only be- 
 came better acquainted with Him. While on earth it 
 gives Christians great pleasure to think of the perfec- 
 tion of Jesus Christ, but how will it be when we see 
 Him as He is? 
 
46 HEAVEN 
 
 WE SHALL BE LIKE CHRIST. 
 
 Some one once asked a Christian what he expected 
 to do when he got to heaven ? He said he expected to 
 spend the first thousand years looking at Jesus Christ, 
 and after that he Avould look for Peter, and then for 
 James, and for John, and all the time he could con- 
 ceive of would be joyfully filled with looking upon 
 these great persons. But it seems to me that one look 
 at Jesus Christ will more than rew^ard us for all we 
 have ever done for Him down here; for all the sacri- 
 fices we can possibly make for Him, just to see Him ; 
 only to see Him. But we shall become like Him when 
 we once have seen Him, because we shall luave His 
 Spirit. Jesus, the Savior of the world, will be there, 
 and we shall see Him face to face. 
 
 It will not be the pearly gates; nor the jasper 
 walls, or the streets paved with transparent gold, that 
 will make it heaven to us. These would not satisfy us. 
 If these were all, we would not want to stay there for- 
 ever. I heard of a child whose mother was very sick; 
 and while she lay very low, one of the neighbors took 
 the child away to stay with her until the mother should 
 be well again. But instead of getting better, the 
 mother died ; and they thought they would not take the 
 child home until the funeral Avas all over; and would 
 never tell her about her mother beino^ dead. So a while 
 afterward they brought the little girl home. First she 
 went into the sitting-room to find her mother; then she 
 went into the parlor, to find her mother there ; and she 
 went from one end of the house to the other, and could 
 not find her. At last she said, " AVhere is my mamma? " 
 And when they told her her mamma was gone, the little 
 
ITS HAPPINESS. 47 
 
 thing wanted to go back to the neighbor's house again. 
 Home had lost its attraction to her since her mother 
 was not there any longer. No ; it will not be the jasper 
 walls and the pearly gates that will make heaven at- 
 tractive. It is our being with God. We shall be in 
 the presence of the Redeemer ; we shall be forever with 
 the Lord. 
 
 There was a time when I used to think more of 
 Jesus Christ than I did of the Father; Christ seemed 
 to be so much nearer to me because He had become 
 the Days Man between me and God. In my imagina- 
 tion I put God away on the throne as a stern judge, 
 but Christ had come in as the mediator, and it seemed 
 as if Christ was much nearer to me than God, the 
 Father. I got over that years ago, when God gave 
 me a son, and for ten years I had an only son, and as I 
 looked at the child as he grew up, the thought came to 
 me that it took more love for God to give up His Son 
 than it did for His Son to die. Think of the love that 
 God had for this world when He gave Christ up! 
 
 If you will turn to Acts vii, 55, you will find that 
 when Stephen was being stoned he lifted up his eyes, 
 and it seemed as if God rolled back the curtain of time 
 and allowed him to look into the eternal city, and see 
 Christ standing at the right hand of God. When 
 Jesus Christ went on high He led captivity captive, and 
 took His seat, for His work was done; but when Ste- 
 phen saw Him He was standing up, and I can imagine 
 He saw that martyr fighting, as it were, single-handed 
 and alone, the first martyr, though many were to come 
 after him. You can hear the tramp of the millions 
 coming after him, to lay down their lives for the Sou 
 
48 HEAVEN. 
 
 of God. But Stephen led the van; he was the first 
 martyr, and as he was dying for the Lord Jesus Christ 
 he looked up; Christ was standing to give him a 
 welcome, and the Holy Ghost came down to bear Avit- 
 ness that Christ was there. How then can we doubt it ? 
 
 A beggar does not enjoy looking at a palace. The 
 grandeur of its architecture is lost upon him. Looking 
 upon a royal banquet does not satisfy the hunger of a 
 starving man. But seeing heaven is also having a share 
 ill it. There would be no joy there if we did not feel 
 that some of it was ours. God unites the soul to Him- 
 self. We read in II Peter that we are made partakers 
 of the divine nature. Now if you put a piece of iron 
 in the fire, it very soon loses its dark color, and becomes 
 red and hot like the fire, but it does not lose its iron 
 nature. So the soul becomes bright Avith God's bright- 
 ness, beautiful with God's beauty, pure Tvdth God's 
 purity, and warm with the glow of His perfect love, and 
 yet remains a human soul. We shall be like Him, but 
 remain ourselves. 
 
 There is a fable that a kind-hearted king was once 
 hunting in a forest, and found a blind orphan boy, who 
 was living almost like a beast. The king was touched 
 with pity, and adopted the boy as his own, and had 
 him taught all that can be learned by one who is blind. 
 When he reached his twenty-first year, the king, who 
 was also a great physician, restored the youth his sight, 
 and took him to his palace, where, surrounded by his 
 nobles and all the majesty and magnificence of his 
 court, he proclaimed him one of his sons, and com- 
 manded all to give him their honor and love. The 
 oTice friendless orphan thus became a prince and a 
 
ITS HAPPINESS. 49 
 
 sharer in the royal dignity, and of all the liappiness 
 and glory to be found in the palace of a king. Who 
 can tell the joy that overwhelmed the soul of that young 
 man when he first saw the king, of whose beauty and 
 goodness and poAver he had heard so much ? AYho can 
 tell the happiness he must have felt when he saw his 
 own princely attire, and found himself adopted into the 
 royal family — honored and beloved by all? 
 
 Now^ Christ is the great and mighty King who finds 
 our souls in the wilderness of this sinful w^orld. He 
 finds us, as we read in the 3d chapter of Revelation, 
 " wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and 
 naked." We read in the 1st chapter of the same book, 
 He "washed us from our sins in His own blood;" and 
 again, in the 61st chapter of Isaiah, He has clothed us 
 with a spotless robe of innocence, ''Avith the garments 
 of salvation;" He has covered us " Avith a robe of 
 righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with 
 ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with 
 jeAvels." 
 
 The mission of the Gospel to sinners, as we find it 
 in the 26th chapter of Acts, was, "to open their eyes, 
 and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the 
 power of Satan unto God, that they may receive for- 
 giveness of sins and inheritance among them which are 
 sanctified by faith that is in Me." This is Avhat Christ 
 has done for every Christian. He has adorned you 
 with the gift of grace, and adopted you as His child, 
 and as it says in the 3d chapter of I Corinthians: 
 
 "All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or 
 the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come — 
 all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." 
 4 
 
50 HEAVEN: 
 
 He lias given you His own Word to educate you for 
 heaven ; He lias opened your eyes so that now you see. 
 By His grace and your own co-operation your soul is 
 being gradually developed into a more perfect resem- 
 blance to Him. 
 
 Finally, your Heavenly Father calls you home, 
 where you will see the angels and saints clothed with 
 the beauty of Christ Himself, standing around His 
 throne, and hearing the word that will admit you into 
 their society, "Well done, thou good and faithful serv- 
 ant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." In the 
 16tli chapter of John, Christ Himself says: " All things 
 that the Father hath are Mine; therefore, said I, that 
 He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you." 
 All will be yours. Ah, how poor and mean do earthly 
 pleasures seem by comparison. How true those lines 
 of a Scotch poet: 
 
 " The Avorld can never give 
 
 The bliss for which we sigh; 
 'Tis not the whole of life to Hve, 
 
 Nor all of death to die. 
 Beyond this vale of tears 
 
 There is a life above, 
 Unmeasured by the flight of years, 
 
 And all that life is love." 
 
 OVER THE RIVER. 
 
 There is joy in heaven, we are told, over the conver- 
 sions that take place on earth. In Luke xv, 7, we 
 read: " I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in 
 heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over 
 ninety-and-nine just persons which need no repent- 
 ance." When there is going to be an election for 
 President of the United States, there is tremendous 
 
ITS HAPPINESS. 51 
 
 excitement — a great commotion. There is probably not 
 a paper from Maine to California that would not have 
 something on nearly every page about the candidate; 
 the whole country is excited ; but I doubt if it Avould be 
 noticed in heaven. If Queen Victoria should leave her 
 throne, there would be great excitement throughout the 
 nations of the earth ; the whole Avorld would be inter- 
 ested in the event; it would be telegraphed around the 
 world; but it would probably be overlooked altogether 
 in heaven. Yet if one little boy or girl, one man or 
 one woman, should repent of their sins, this day and 
 hour that would be noticed in heaven. They look at 
 things difierently up there ; things that look very large 
 to us, look very small in heaven; and things that seem 
 very small to us down here, may be very great up yon- 
 der. Think of it! By an act of our own, we may 
 cause joy in heaven. The thought seems almost too 
 wonderful to understand. To think that the poorest 
 sinner on earth, by an act of his own, can send a thrill 
 of joy through the hosts of heaven ! 
 
 The Bible says: " There is joy in the presence of 
 the angels," not that the angels rejoice, but it is " in 
 the presence " of the angels. I have studied over that 
 a great deal, and often wondered what it meant. " Joy 
 in the presence of the angels ? " Now, it is speculation ; 
 I admit it may be true, or it may not; but perhaps the 
 friends who have left the shores of time — they who 
 have gone within the fold — may be looking down upon 
 us; and when they see one they prayed for while on 
 earth repenting and turning to God, it sends a thrill of 
 joy to their very hearts. Even now, some mother who 
 has gone up yonder may be looking down upon a son 
 
52 HEAVEN: 
 
 or daughter, and if tliat child should say: "I will meet 
 that mother of mine ; I will repent ; yes, I am going to 
 join you, mother," the news, with the speed of a 
 sunbeam, reaches heaven, and that mother may then 
 rejoice, as we read, " In the presence of the angels." 
 
 In Dublin, after one of the meetings, a man walked 
 into the inquiry room with his daughter, his only one, 
 whose mother had died some time before, and he 
 prayed: " O God, let this truth go deep into my daugh- 
 ter's heart, and grant that the prayers of her mother 
 may be answered to-day — that she may be saA^ed." As 
 they rose up she put her arms about his neck and kissed 
 him, and said: ''I want to meet my mother; I want to 
 be a Christian." That day she accepted Christ. That 
 man is now a minister in Texas. The daughter died 
 out there a little while ago, and is now with her mother 
 in heaven. What a blessed and joyful meeting it must 
 have been ! It may be a sister, it may be a brother, 
 who is beckoning you over — 
 
 " Over the river they beckon to me, 
 
 Loved ones who've crossed to the farther side; 
 The gleam of their snowy robes I see, 
 
 But their voices are drowned in the rushing tide. 
 There's one with ringlets of sunny gold, 
 
 And eyes, the reflection of heaven's own blue; 
 He crossed in the twilight gray and cold, 
 
 And the pale mist hid him from mortal view. 
 We saw not the angels who met him there. 
 
 The gates of the city we could not see; 
 Over the river, over the river. 
 
 My brother stands waiting to welcome me." 
 
 Whoever you are, do not delay. 
 
 The story is told of a father who had his little daugh- 
 ter out late in the evening. The night was dark, and 
 
ITS HAPPINESS. 53 
 
 they had passed through a thick wood to the brink of 
 a river. Far away on the opposite shore a light twinkled 
 here and there in the few scattered houses, and still 
 farther off blazed the bright lights of the great city to 
 which they were going. The little child was weary 
 and sleepy, and the father held her in his arms while 
 he waited for the ferryman, who was at the other side. 
 At length they saw a little light; nearer and nearer 
 came the sound of the oars, and soon they were safe in 
 the boat. 
 
 "Father," said the little girl. 
 
 "Well, my child?" 
 
 "It's very dark, and I can't see the shore ; where are 
 we going ? " 
 
 "The ferryman knows the way, little one; we will 
 soon be over." 
 
 " O, I wish we were there, father." 
 
 Soon in her home loving arms welcomed her, and her 
 fears and her tremor were gone. Some months pass by, 
 and this same little child stands on the brink of a river 
 that is darker and deeper, more terrible still. It is the 
 River of Death. The same loving father stands near 
 her, distressed that his child must cross this river and 
 he not be able to go with her. For days and for nights 
 he and her mother have been watching over her, leav- 
 ing her bedside only long enough for their meals, and 
 to pray for the life of their precious one. For hours 
 she has been slumbering, and it seems as if her spirit 
 must pass away without her Avaking again, but just be- 
 fore the morning watch she suddenly awakes with the 
 eye bright, the reason unclouded, and every faculty 
 alive. A sweet smile is playing upon her face. 
 
54 HEAVEN: 
 
 " Fatlier," slie says, " I have come again to the river 
 side, and am again waiting for the ferryman to come 
 and take me across." 
 
 ^'Does it seem as dark and cold as when you went 
 over the other river, my child?" 
 
 "O no! There is no darkness here. The river is 
 covered with floating silver. The boat coming toward 
 me seems made of solid light, and I am not afraid of 
 the ferryman." 
 
 " Can you see over the river, my darling? " 
 
 " O yes, there is a great and beautiful city there, 
 all filled with light; and I hear music such as the an- 
 gels make! " 
 
 "Do you see any one on the other side?" 
 
 "Why yes, yes, I see the most beautiful form; and 
 He beckons me now to come. Oh, ferryman, make 
 haste ! I know who it is ! It is Jesus ; my own blessed 
 Jesus. I shall be caught in His arms. I shall rest 
 on His bosom — I come — I come." 
 
 And thus she crossed over the River of Death, made 
 like a silver stream by the presence of the blessed 
 Redeemer. 
 
 SOMETHING MORE. 
 
 There is hardly an unconverted man anywhere, no 
 matter how high up or how rich he may be, but will 
 tell you, if you get his confidence, that he is not happy. 
 There is something he wants that he cannot get, or 
 there is something he has that he wants to get rid of. It 
 is very doubtful if the Czar of all the Russias is a 
 happy man, and yet he has about all he can get. Al- 
 though Queen Victoria has palaces, and millions at her 
 
ITS HAPPINESS. « 55 
 
 command, and has besides what most sovereigns lack, 
 the love of her subjects, it is a question whether she 
 gets much pleasure out of her position. If kings and 
 queens love the Jesus Christ and are saved, then they 
 may be happy. If they know they will reach heaven 
 like the humblest of their subjects, then they may rest 
 secure. Paul, the humble tent-maker, will have a 
 higher seat in heaven than the best and greatest sov- 
 ereign that ever ruled the earth. If the Czar should 
 meet John Bunyan, the poor tinker, up in heaven, he 
 no doubt would find him the greater man. 
 
 The Christian life is the only happy one. Without 
 it something is always wanting. When we are young 
 we have grand enterprises, but we soon spoil them by 
 being too rash. AVe want experience. When we get 
 old w^e have the experience, but then all the power to 
 carry out our schemes is gone. " Happy is that people 
 whose God is the Lord." The only way to be happy is 
 to be good. The man who steals from necessity sins 
 because he is afraid of being unhappy, but for the 
 moment he forgets all about how unhappy the sin is 
 going to make him. Bad as he is, man is the best and 
 noblest thing on earth, and it is easy to understand how 
 he fails to find true happiness in anything lower than 
 himself. The only object better than ourselves is God, 
 aud He is all we can ever be satisfied with. Gold, that 
 is mere dross dug up out of the earth, does not satisfy 
 man. Neither do the honor and praise of other men. 
 The human soul wants something more than that. 
 Heaven is the only place to get it. No wonder that 
 the angels who see God all the time are so happy. 
 
 The publicans went to hunt up John the Baptist in 
 
56 • HEAVEN: 
 
 the wilderness, to know what they should do. Some of 
 the highest men in the land went to consult the hermit 
 to know how to get happiness. " AVhosoever trusteth 
 in the Lord, happy is he." It is because there is no 
 real happiness down here, that earth is not worth liv- 
 ing for. It is because it is all above, that heaven is 
 worth dying for. In heaven there is all life and no 
 death. In hell there is all death and no life. Here 
 on -earth there is both living and dying, which is be- 
 tween the two. If we are dead to sin here we will live 
 in heaven, and if we live in sin here we must expect 
 eternal death to follow. 
 
 Do you know that every Christian dies twice? He 
 first becomes spiritually dead to sin — that is the re- 
 newed soul. He then begins to feel the joy of heaven. 
 The joys of heaven reach down to earth as many and as 
 sure as the rays of the sun. Then comes physical 
 death, which makes way for the physical heaven. Of 
 course the old sinful body has to be changed. We can- 
 not take that into heaven. It will be a glorified body 
 that we will get at the resurrection, not a sinful body. 
 Our bodies will be transfigured like Christ's. 
 
 There will be no temptation in heaven. If there 
 were no temptation in the world now, God could not 
 prove us. He wants to see if we are loyal. That is 
 why He put the forbidden tree in Paradise; that ac- 
 counts for the presence of the Canaanite in the land of 
 Israel. When we^ plant a seed, after a time it disap- 
 pears and brings forth a seed that looks much the same, 
 but still it is a different seed. So our bodies and the 
 bodies of those we know and love will be raised up, 
 looking much the same — but still not all the same. 
 
ITS HAPPINESS. 57 
 
 Christ took the same body into heaven that was cruci- 
 fied on the cross, unless He was transformed in the 
 cloud after the disciples lost sight of Him. There 
 must have been some change in the appearance of 
 Christ after His resurrection, for Mary Magdalene, 
 who was the first one who saw Him did not know Him, 
 neither did the disciples, who walked and talked with 
 Him about Himself, and did not recognize Him until 
 He began to ask a blessing at supper. Even Peter 
 did not know Him when He appeared on the sea-shore. 
 Thomas would not believe it was Christ until he saw 
 the prints of the nails and the wound in His side. But 
 we shall all know Him in heaven. 
 
 There are two things that the Bible makes as clear 
 and certain as eternity. One is that we are going to 
 see Christ, and the other that we are going to be like 
 Him. God will never hide His face from us there, 
 and Satan will never show his. 
 
 There is not such a great difference between grace 
 and glory after all. Grace is the bud, and glory the 
 blossom. Grace is glory begun, and glory is grace 
 perfected. It Avill not come hard to people who are 
 serving God down here to do it when they go up yon- 
 der. They will change places, but they will not 
 change employments. 
 
 HIGHER UP. 
 
 The moment a person becomes heavenly-minded and 
 gets his heart and affections set on things above, then 
 life becomes beautiful, the light of heaven shines 
 across his pathway, and he does not have to be all the 
 time lashing and upbraiding himself because he is not 
 
58 HEAVEN: 
 
 more like Christ. Some one asked a Scotchman if lie 
 was on the way to heaven, and he said: "AVhy man, I 
 live there; I am not on the way." That is jnst it. 
 We want to live in heaven; while we are walking in 
 this world it is our privilege to have our hearts and 
 affections there. I once heard Mr. Morehouse tell a 
 story about a lady in London who found one of those 
 poor, bed-ridden saints, and then she found a wealthy 
 woman who was all the time complaining and murmur- 
 ing at her lot. Sometimes I think people whom God does 
 the most for in worldly things think the less of Him and 
 care less about Him, and are the most unproductive in 
 His service. But this lady went around as a mission- 
 ary visiting the poor, and she used to go and visit this 
 poor, bed-ridden saint, and she said if she wanted to 
 get cheered up and her heart made happy she would 
 go and visit her. [There is a place in Chicago, and 
 has been for years, where a great many Christians have 
 always gone when they want to get their faith strength- 
 ened; they go there and visit one of these saints. And 
 a friend told me that she thought that the Lord kept 
 one of those saints in most of the cities to entertain 
 angels as they passed over the cities on errands of 
 mercy, for it seems that these saints are often visited 
 by the heavenly host. ] Well, this lady missionary had 
 wanted to get this wealthy woman in contact with this 
 saint, and she invited her to go a number of times; 
 and finally the lady consented to go, and when she got 
 to the place, she went up the first fiiglit of stairs, and 
 it was not very clean, and was dark. 
 
 " What a horrible place," tho lady said; "why did 
 you bring me here ? " 
 
ITS HAPPINESS. 59 
 
 The lady smiled and said: " It is better liiglier up." 
 
 And then they went up another flight, and it didn't 
 
 grow any lighter, and slie complained again, and the 
 
 lady said, '' It is better higher up." And then tliey 
 
 went up another flight, and it was no lighter ; still the 
 
 missionary kept saying, " It is better higher up." And 
 
 when they got to the fifth story they opened the door, 
 
 and entered a beautiful room, a room that was carpeted, 
 
 with plants in the window, and a little bird was in a cage 
 
 singing, and there was that saint just smiling, and the 
 
 •&i'st thing the complaining woman had to say to her was : 
 
 " It must be very hard for you to be here and suffer." 
 
 " Oh, that is a very small thing; it isnot very hard," 
 
 she said, "it is better higher up." 
 
 And so if things do not go just right, if they do not 
 go to suit us here, we can say, " It is better higher up, 
 it is better further on," and we can lift up our hearts 
 and rejoice as we journey on toward home. 
 You know those beautiful lines — 
 
 " Beyond the smiling and the weeping, 
 
 I shall be soon; 
 Beyond the waking and the sleeping, 
 Beyond the sowing and the reaping, 
 
 I shall be soon. 
 Love, rest, and home! 
 
 Sweet Home! 
 Lord, tarry not, but come. 
 
 " Beyond the rising and the s'^.tting, 
 
 I shall be soon; 
 Beyond the calming and the fretting, 
 "Beyond remembering and forgetting, 
 
 I shall be soon. 
 Love, rest, and home ! 
 
 Sweet Hope ! 
 Lord, tarry not, but come." 
 
BY ANNA SHIPTON. 
 
 Nearer and nearer, day by day, the distant voices come ; 
 
 Soft through the pearly gate they swell, and seem to call me home. 
 
 The lamp of life burns faint and low; ay, let it fainter burn; 
 
 For who would weep the failing lamp when birds announce the morn? 
 
 I saw the faces of my loved gleam through the twilight dim. 
 
 And softly on the morning air arose the heaven-born hymn; 
 
 With looks of love they gazed on me, as none gaze on me now; 
 
 The glory of the Infinite surrounded every brow. 
 
 Fair lilies, star-like in their bloom, and waving palms they bore, 
 
 And oh, the smiles of peace and joy those heavenly faces wore! 
 
 Thou who hast fathomed death's dark tide, save me from death's 
 
 alarms ; 
 Beneath my trembling soul, oh, stretch Thine everlasting arms! 
 No second cross, no thorny crown can bruise Thy sacred brow; 
 Thou who the wine-press trod alone, o'er the dark waves bear me 
 
 now. 
 A parting hour, a pang of pain, and then shall pass away 
 The veil that shrouds Thee where Thou reign' st in everlasting day. 
 No sin, no sigh, no withering fear, can wring the bosom there; 
 But basking in Thy smile I shall Thy sinless service share. 
 How long, O Lord, how long before Thou'lt take me by the hand, 
 And I, Thy weakest child, at last among Thy children stand? 
 Beyond the stars that steadfast shine my spirit pines to soar, 
 To dwell within my Father's house, and leave that home no more. 
 O Lord, Thou hast with angel food my fainting spirit fed; 
 If 'tis Thy will I linger here, bless Thou the path I tread; 
 And though my soul doth pant to pass v/ithin the pearly gate. 
 Yet teach me for Thy summons. Lord, in patience still to wait. 
 
 60 
 
G^^ea^s)e^: 
 ITS CERTAINTY. 
 
 61 
 
^ 3^'^^ '^ ^^ ^'^§^^ ^f 6\oc|, 
 
 I shine in the light of God; 
 
 His likeness stamps my brow; 
 Through the Valley of Death my feet have trod, 
 
 And I reign in glory now ! 
 
 No breaking heart is here. 
 
 No keen and thriUing pain, 
 No wasted cheek where the frequent tear 
 
 Hath rolled and left, its stain. 
 
 ^ ■^ ■^ H^ ^ :p :|; 
 
 O friends of mortal years, 
 
 The trusted and the true, 
 Ye are watching stiU in the valley of tears, 
 
 But I wait to welcome you. 
 
 Do I forget? Ono! 
 
 For memory's golden chain 
 Shall bind my heart to the hearts below 
 
 Till they meet to touch again. 
 
 Each hnk is strong and bright, 
 
 And love's electric flame 
 Flows freely down, hke a river of light, 
 
 To the Avorld from whence I came. 
 
 Do you mourn when another star 
 
 Shines out from the ghttering sky? 
 Do you weep when the raging voice of war 
 
 And the storms of conflict die? 
 
 Then why should your tears run down. 
 
 And your hearts be sorely riven, 
 For another gem in the Savior's crown, 
 
 And another soul in heaven? 
 
 — Fkom ax English Feiexd, 
 
ITS CERTAINTY. 63 
 
 OHAPTEK IV. 
 
 ITS CERTAINTY. 
 
 In My Father's house are many mansions I go to 
 
 prepare a place for you. John xiv, 2. 
 
 There are some people who depend so much upon 
 their reason that they reason away God. They say God 
 is not a person we can ever see. They say God is a 
 Spirit. So He is, but He is a person too ; and became 
 a man and walked the earth once. Scripture tells us 
 very plainly that God has a dwelling-place. There is 
 no doubt whatever about that. A dwelling-place indi- 
 cates personality. God's dwelling-place is in heaven. 
 He has a dwelling-place, and we are going to be in- 
 mates of it. Therefore we shall see Him. 
 
 In I Kings, viii, 30, we read: 
 
 " And hearken Thou to the suppHcation of Thy servant, and of 
 Thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place; and hear 
 Thou in heaven Thy dweUing-place; and when Thou hearest, for- 
 give." 
 
 This idea that heaven is everywhere and nowhere is 
 not according to Scripture. Heaven is God's habita- 
 tion, and when Christ came on earth He taught us to 
 pray: "Our Father, which art in heaven." This hab- 
 itation is spoken of as " the city of eternal life." 
 Think of a city without a cemetery — they have no dy- 
 ing there, If there could be such a cit^ as that found 
 
64 HEAVEN: 
 
 on this earth what a rush there would be to it! How 
 men would try to reach that city ! You cannot find one 
 on the face of this earth. A city without tears — God 
 wipes away all the tears up yonder. This is a time of 
 weeping, but by-and-by there will be a time when God 
 shall call us where there will be no tears. A city 
 without pain, a city without sorrow, without sickness, 
 without deatli. There is no darkness there. "The 
 Lamb is the light thereof." It needs no sun, it needs 
 no moon. The paradise of Eden Avas as nothing com- 
 pared Avitli this one. The tempter came into Eden and 
 triumphed, but in that city nothing that defileth shall 
 ever enter. There will be no tempter there. Think 
 of a place where temptation cannot come. Think of a 
 place where we shall be free from sin ; where pollution 
 cannot enter, and where the righteous shall reign for- 
 ever. Think of a city that is not built with hands, 
 where the buildings do not grow old with time; a city 
 whose inhabitants are numbered by no census, except 
 the Book of Life, which is the heavenly directory. 
 Think of a city through whose streets runs no tide of 
 business, where no hearses with their nodding plumes 
 creep slowly with their sad burdens to the cemetery ; a 
 city without griefs or graves, without sins or sorrows, 
 without marriages or mournings, without births or 
 burials; a city which glories in having Jesus for its 
 King, angels for its guards, and whose citizens are 
 saints ! 
 
 We believe this is just as much a place and just as 
 much a city as is New York, London or Paris. We 
 believe in it a good deal more, because earthly cities 
 will pass away, but this city Avill remain forever. It 
 
ITS CERTAINTY. 65 
 
 has foundations whose bailder and maker is God. 
 Some of the grandest cities the workl has ever known 
 have not had foundations strong enough to last. 
 
 TYRE AND SIDON. 
 
 Take for instance Tyre and Sidon. They were rival 
 cities something like New York and Philadelphia, or 
 St. Louis and Chicago. AVhen the patriarch Jacob 
 gave his sons his blessing, he spoke of Sidon. In the 
 splitting up of Canaan among the tribes of Israel by 
 Joshua, Tyre and Sidon seem to have fallen to the lot 
 of Asher, though the old inhabitants were never fully 
 driven out. We read in Mark: " Jesus withdrew Him- 
 self with His disciples to the sea, and a great multitude 
 from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and from 
 Jerusalem, and from Idumoea and from beyond Jordan; 
 and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, 
 when they heard what things He did, came unto Him." 
 We find in Acts xvii, 3, that the Captain of the guards 
 who was taking Paul prisoner to appear before Csesar 
 at Rome, when the ship touched at Sidon let Paul go 
 and visit some of his friends there to refresh himself. 
 From this it has been inferred that at that time there 
 must have been a Christian church there, although the 
 people generally worshiped the Queen of Heaven, who 
 was represented as crowned with the crescent moon. 
 
 There are some persons now, you know, who adore 
 a Queen of Heaven, whom they picture with the moon 
 beneath her feet. Even the Hebrews, when they saw 
 " the moon walking in brightness," along the clear 
 skies of Palestine, impressed by its beauty, fell into the 
 same idolatry. Jeremiah says: 
 6 
 
66 HEAVEN: 
 
 " The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and 
 the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the Queen of 
 Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods." 
 
 In answer to the prophet's reproof we find them say- 
 ing, in the 44tli chapter, beginning at the 16tli verse: 
 
 " As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of 
 the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee, but we will certainly do 
 whatsoever thing goeth out of our own mouth, to burn incense 
 unto the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto 
 her, as we have done." 
 
 Is it any wonder that a little farther on we sliould 
 
 find addressed to them this language : 
 
 " The Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of your do- 
 ings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; 
 therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a 
 curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day." 
 
 In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given 
 in marriage, and there will be no " Queen " in heaven. 
 
 Tyre is mentioned by Joshua as "a strong city," 
 
 and both Isaiah and Ezekiel speak of it. In fact, there 
 
 is a great deal in Scripture about it. Nebuchadnezzar, 
 
 Alexandei the Great, and other kings have fought over 
 
 it, and hosts of lives have been lost in taking what is 
 
 now a ruin. Alexander once destroyed it, but it was 
 
 afterward rebuilt. We find in the inspired Word of 
 
 God descriptions of what this city once was, from which 
 
 we can form some idea of its beauty. The whole of 
 
 the 27th chapter of Ezekiel is taken up with Tyrus, as 
 
 it was called then : 
 
 " O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a mer- 
 chant of the people for many isles, thus saith the Lord God: O 
 Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in 
 the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They 
 have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir; they have taken 
 cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee." 
 
ITS CERTAINTY, 67 
 
 So it goes on : 
 
 " Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which 
 thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles 
 of Elishah was that which covered thee." 
 
 A little farther on it says: 
 
 " Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and 
 thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and 
 all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which 
 is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the 
 day of thy ruin. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, 
 thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of the brightness; I 
 will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they 
 may behold thee." 
 
 The terrible prophesies of its downfall have all been 
 literally fulfilled. We find them in the 26th chapter, 
 beginning with the 3d verse: 
 
 " Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, 
 and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea 
 causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of 
 Tyrus, and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from 
 her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for 
 the spreading of nests in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, 
 saith the Lord God; and it shall become a spoil to the nations." 
 
 Travelers now describe the site of Tyre as " a heap 
 of ruins, broken arches and vaults, tottering walls and 
 towers, with a few starving wretches housed amid the 
 rubbish." A large part of it is under water, a portion 
 of the ruins a place to spread nests upon, and the rest 
 has become indeed " like the top of a rock." 
 
 Thus passes away the glory of the world. This Book 
 tells us of the glory of a city that we no longer see, 
 but which has been. It tells us also of the glory of a 
 greater City that we have not seen, but shall see if we 
 but follow in the way. 
 
68 HEAVEN: 
 
 " O happy harbor of God's saints! 
 
 O sweet and pleasant soil ! 
 In thee no sorrow can be found, 
 
 Nor grief, nor care, nor toil. 
 Thy gardens and thy goodly walks 
 
 Continually are green, 
 Where grow such sweet and pleasant flowers 
 
 As nowhere else are seen. 
 No candle needs, no moon to shine, 
 
 No glittering star to light. 
 For Christ, the King of Righteousness, 
 
 Forever shineth bright." 
 
 OUK NAMES EECORDED THERE. 
 
 We are told that one time just before sunrise, two 
 men got into a dispute about what part of the heavens 
 the sun would first appear in. They became so excited 
 over it that they began to fight, and beat each other 
 over the head so badly that when the sun arose neither 
 of them could see it. So there are persons who go on 
 disputing about heaven until they dispute themselves 
 out of it, and more who dispute over hell until they 
 dispute themselves into it. 
 
 The Hebrews in their writings tell us of three dis- 
 tinct heavens. The air — the atmosphere about the earth 
 — is one heaven; the firmament where the stars are is 
 another, and above that is the heaven of heavens, where 
 God's throne is, and the mansions of the Lord are — 
 those mansions of light and peace which are the abode 
 of the blessed, the homes of the Redeemer and the 
 redeemed. 
 
 This is the heaven where Christ is. This is the place 
 we read of in Deuteronomy: " Behold the heaven and 
 the heaven of heavens is the Lord thy God's, the earth 
 also with all that therein is," 
 
ITS CERTAINTY, 69 
 
 In II Corinthians, Paul, speaking of himself, says: 
 
 " I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (wliether in 
 the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell, 
 God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.'" 
 
 Some people have wondered what the third heaven 
 means. That is where God dwells, and where the 
 storms do not come. There sits the incorruptible Judge. 
 Paul, when he was caught up there, heard things that it 
 was not lawful for him to utter, and he saw things that 
 he could not speak of down here. The higher up we 
 get in spiritual matters, the nearer we seem to heaven. 
 There our wishes are fulfilled at last. We may cry out 
 like the psalmist: 
 
 " One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that 
 I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to be- 
 hold the beauty of the Lord, to inquire in His temple. 
 
 We are assured by Christ Himself that our names 
 will be written in heaven if we are only His. In the 
 10th chapter of Luke and the 20th verse it reads: "Not- 
 withstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are 
 subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your 
 names are written in heaven." A little while before 
 these words were uttered by the Savior, calling to- 
 gether seventy of His disciples, sent them forth in 
 couples to preach the gospel in the cities of Galilee 
 and Judea. There are people nowadays who have no 
 faith in revivals. Yet the greatest revival the world 
 ever saw was during the five or six years that John the 
 Baptist and Jesus were preaching, followed by the 
 preaching of the apostles and disciples after Christ left 
 the earth. For years the country was stirred from one 
 end to the other. There were probably men then who 
 
70 HEAVEN: 
 
 stood out against the revival. They might have called it 
 " spasmodic," and refused to believe in it. Perhaps 
 they said, "It is a nine days' wonder and will pass 
 away in a little while, and there will be nothing left of 
 it." No doubt men talked in those days just as they 
 talk now. All the way down from the time of Christ 
 and His apostles there have been men who have op- 
 posed the work of God, and some of them professing 
 to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, all because it 
 has not been done in their way. When the Spirit of 
 God comes, He works in His own way. We must learn 
 the lesson that we are not to mark out any channels for 
 Him to work in, for He will work in His own way when 
 He comes. 
 
 These disciples came back after their work. The 
 Spirit had worked with them, and the devils were sub- 
 ject to them, and they had power over disease, and they 
 had power over the Enemy, and they were filled with 
 success. They were probably having a sort of jubilee 
 meeting, and Christ came in and said: "Rejoice not 
 that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice 
 because your names are written in heaven." This 
 brings us face to face with the doctrine of 
 
 ASSUKANCE. 
 
 I find a great many people up and down Christendom 
 who do not accept this doctrine. They believe it is 
 impossible for us to know in this life whether we are 
 saved or not. If this be true, llo^Y are we going to get 
 over what Christ has said as we find it here recorded ? 
 If my name is written in heaven, how can I rejoice over 
 it unless I know it ? These men were to rejoice that 
 
ITS CERTAINTY. 71 
 
 their names were already there, and the name of each 
 one who is a child of God his name is there, sent on 
 for registry before. 
 
 A party of Americans a few years ago, on their way 
 from London to Liverpool, decided that they would 
 stop at the Northwestern Hotel, but when they arrived 
 they found the place had been full for several days. 
 Greatly disappointed, they took up their baggage and 
 were about starting off, when they noticed a lady of 
 the party preparing to remain. 
 
 " Are you not going, too? " they asked. 
 
 " Oh no," she said, " I have good rooms all ready." 
 
 " Why, how does that happen?" 
 
 " Oh," she said, " I telegraphed on ahead, a few days 
 ago." 
 
 Now that is what the children of God are doing; 
 they are sending their names on ahead; they are secur- 
 ing places in the mansions of Christ in time. If we 
 are truly children of God our names have gone on be- 
 fore, and there will be places awaiting us at the end of 
 the journey. You knoAV we are only travelers down 
 here. We are away from home. When the war was 
 going on, the soldiers on the battle-field, the Southern 
 soldiers and the Northern soldiers, wanted nothing bet- 
 ter to live in than tents. They longed for the war to 
 close that they might go home. They cared nothing 
 to have palaces and mansions on the battle-field. Well, 
 there is a terrible battle going on now, and by-and-by, 
 when the war is over, God will call us home. The tents 
 are good enough for us while journeying through this 
 world. It is only a night, and then the eternal day 
 will dawn. 
 
72 HEAVEN: 
 
 THE BOOK OF LIFE. 
 
 Two ladies met on a train not long ago, one of them 
 going to Cairo and tlie other to New Orleans. Before 
 they reached Cairo they had formed a strong attach- 
 ment for each other, and the Cairo lady said to the lady 
 who was going to New Orleans : 
 
 " I wish you would stay for a few days in Cairo ; I 
 would like to entertain you." 
 
 " Well," said the other, " I would like to very much, 
 but I have packed up all my things and sent them ahead, 
 and I haven't anything except what I have on, but 
 they are good enough to travel in." 
 
 I learned a lesson there. I said, " Almost anything is 
 good enough to travel in, and it is a great deal better 
 to have our joys and comfoi'is ready for us in heaven, 
 waiting until we get there, than to wear them out n 
 our toilsome, trying, earthly journey." 
 
 Heaven is the place of victory and triumph. This 
 is the battle-field; there is the triumphal procession. 
 This is the land of the sword and the spear; that is 
 the land of the wreath and the crown. Oh, what a 
 thrill of joy will shoot through the hearts of all the 
 blessed when their conquests will be made complete in 
 heaven; when death itself, the last of foes, shall be 
 slain, and Satan dragged as captive at the chariot 
 wheels of Christ! Men may oppose as mu'cli as they 
 will this doctrine of Assurance, nevertheless it is clearly 
 taught in Scripture. 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE BOOKS. 
 
 A great many laugh at the idea of there being books 
 in heaven; but in the 12th chapter of the prophecy 
 of Daniel, and the 1st verse, we find: 
 
ITS CERTAINTY. 78 
 
 "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince wliich 
 standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of 
 trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that 
 same time; and at that time the people shall be delivered, every one 
 that shall be found written in the book." 
 
 There is a terrible time coming upon the earth ; darker 
 
 days than we have ever seen, and they whose names 
 
 are AVTitten in the Book of Life shall be delivered. Then 
 
 again, in Philippians iv, 3, we read: 
 
 " And I entreat thee, also, true yoke-fellow, help those women 
 which labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and with 
 other of my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the Book of Life." 
 
 Paul, writing to the Christians at Philippi, where he 
 had so much opposition, and where he was cast into 
 jail, says in effect: Just take my regards to the good 
 brethren and sisters who worked with me, and whose 
 names are written in the Book of Life. This shows 
 that they taught the doctrine of Assurance in the very 
 earliest days of Christianity. Why should we not teach 
 it and believe it now? 
 
 I am told by travelers in China, that the Chinese 
 have in their courts two great books. When a man is 
 tried and found innocent, they write his name down in 
 the book of life. If he is found guilty, they write his 
 name down in the book of death. I believe firmly that 
 every man or woman has his or her name in the Book 
 of Death or the Book of Life. Your name cannot be 
 in both books at the same time. You cannot be in 
 death and in life at the same time, and it is your own 
 privilege to know which it is. 
 
 Li Revelation xiii, 8, we read: 
 
 " And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [that is, 
 the Anti-Christ] whose names are not written in the Book of Life 
 of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." 
 
74 HEAVEN: 
 
 And again, chapter xx, 12: 
 
 " And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the 
 book was 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." 
 
 Again, chapter xxii, 27: 
 
 " And there shall in no wise enter into it [the Holy City] any- 
 thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or 
 maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of 
 Life." 
 
 There can be no trne peace, there can be no true 
 hope, there can be no true comfort, where there is un- 
 certainty. I am not fit for God's service, I cannot go 
 out and work for God, if I am in doubt about my OAvn 
 salvation. 
 
 NO KOOM FOR. DOUBT. 
 
 A mother has a sick child. The child is just hang- 
 ma: between life and death. There is no rest for that 
 mother. You have some friend on a train that is 
 wrecked, and the news comes that twenty have been 
 killed and wounded, and their names are not given; 
 you are in terrible uncertainty, and there is no rest or 
 peace until you know the facts. The reason why there 
 are so many in the churches who will not go out and 
 help others, is that they are not sure they have been 
 saved themselves. If I thought I was dying myself, 
 I would be in a poor condition to save anyone else. 
 Before I can pull anyone else out of the water, I must 
 have a firm footing on shore myself. We can have 
 this complete Assurance if we will. It does not do to 
 feel we are all right, but we mu.st Jaioiv it. We must 
 read our titles clear to mansions in the skies; the 
 
ITS CERTAINTY. 75 
 
 Apostle John says: "Beloved, now are we tlie sons of 
 God." He does not say we are going to be. 
 
 People, when asked if tliey are Christians, give some 
 of the strangest answers you ever heard. Some will 
 say, if you ask them: " AVell — well — well, I — I hope I 
 am." Suppose a man should ask me if I am an Amer- 
 ican. Would I say, " Well I— well I— I hope I am?" 
 I know that I was born in this country, and I know I 
 was born in the Spirit of God more than twenty years 
 aero. All the infidels in the world could not convince 
 me that I have not a different spirit than I had before 
 I became a Christian. " That Avhich is born of the flesh 
 is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and 
 a man can soon tell whether he is born of the Spirit by 
 the change in his life. The Spirit of Christ is a spirit 
 of love, joy, peace, humility and meekness, and we can 
 soon find out whether we have been born of that spirit 
 or not ; we are not to be left in uncertainty. Job lived 
 back there in the dark ages, but he knew. The dark 
 billows came rolling and surging up against him, but 
 iu the midst of the storm you can hear his voice say- 
 ing: " I know that my Redeemer liveth." He had 
 something better than a hope. 
 
 A man may have his name written in the highest 
 chronicles down here, but the record may be lost ; he 
 may have it carved in marble, and still it may perish ; 
 some charitable institution may bear his name, and yet 
 he may be soon forgotten ; but his name will never be 
 erased from the scrolls that are kept above. Seeking 
 to perpetuate one's name on earth is like writing on the 
 sand by the sea-shore ; to be perpetual it must be writ- 
 ten on the eternal monuments. It has been said that 
 
76 HEAVEN: 
 
 the way to see our names as tliey stand written in the 
 Book of Life, is by reading the work of sanctification 
 in our own hearts. It needs no miraculous voice from 
 heaven, no extraordinary signs, no unusual feeling. We 
 need only find our hearts desiring Christ and hating 
 sin ; our minds obedient to the divine commands. 
 
 We may be sure that belonging to some church is not 
 going to save us, although every saved man ought to be 
 connected with one. When Daniel died in Babylon, no 
 one had to hunt up any old church record to find out if 
 he was all right. When Paul was beheaded by Nero, 
 no one had to look over the register. On the other 
 hand, no one thinks Pontius Pilate was a saint because 
 his name is in the creed. 
 
 They lived so that the world knew what they were. 
 Paul says : "I am persuaded that He is able to keej) 
 what I have committed unto Him against that day." 
 There is Assurance. " Who shall separate us from the 
 love of Christ?" he says; "neither life, nor death, nor 
 angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pres- 
 ent, nor things to come." He just challenges them all, 
 but they could not separate him from the love that was 
 in Christ. 
 
 It is dishonoring to God to go on hoping and only 
 hoping that we " are going " to be saved. 
 
 FALSE PROFESSORS. 
 
 Yet there are some who ought not to have assurance. 
 It would be an unfortunate thing for any unconverted 
 church member to have assurance. There are some 
 who profess great assurance who ought not to have it 
 — those whose lives do not correspond. This class is 
 
ITS CERTAINTY. 77 
 
 represented by the man at the wedding feast who did 
 not have on a wedding garment. 
 
 They are like some lilies — fair to see but foul of 
 smell. They are cuy shells with no kernel inside. 
 The crusaders of old used to wear a painted cross upon 
 their shoulders. So there are a good many nowadays 
 who take up crosses that sit just as lightly— mere 
 things of ornament — passports to respectability, cheap 
 make-believes, for a struggle that has never been made, 
 and a crown that has never been striven for. 
 
 You may A^ery often see dead fish floating with the 
 stream, but you never saw a dead fish swimming against 
 it. Well, that is your false believer; that is the hyp- 
 ocrite. Profession is just floating down the stream, 
 but confession is swimming against it, no matter how 
 strong the tide. The sanctified man and the unsancti- 
 fied one look at heaven very differently. The unsanc- 
 tified man simply chooses heaven in preference to hell. 
 He thinks that if he must go to either one he would 
 rather try heaven. It is like a man with a farm who 
 has a place offered him in another country, where there 
 is said to be a gold mine. He hates to give up all he 
 has and take any risk. But if he is going to be ban- 
 ished, and must leave, and has his choice of living in a 
 Avilderness or digging in a coal pit, or else take the 
 gold mine, then there is no hesitation. The unregen- 
 erate man likes heaven better than hell, but he likes 
 this world the best of all. When death stares him in 
 the face, then he thinks he would like to get to heaven. 
 The true believer prizes heaven above everything else, 
 and is always willing to give up the world. Everybody 
 wants to enjoy heaven after they die, but they don't 
 
78 HEAVEN: 
 
 want to be heavenly-minded while they live. To the 
 Christian it is a sure promise, with no room for doubt, 
 and there is no reason for hesitation. 
 
 The heir to some great estate, while a child, thinks 
 more of a dollar in his pocket than all his inheritance. 
 So even some professing Christians sometimes are more 
 elated by a passing pleasure than they are by their 
 title to eternal glory. In a little while Ave will be there. 
 How glorious is the thought! Everything is prepared. 
 That is Avliat Christ went up to heaven for. In a little 
 while we will be gone. We are — 
 
 "Only waiting till the shadows 
 
 Are a little longer grown, 
 Only waiting till the glimmer 
 
 Of the day's last beam has flown; 
 Then from out the gathered darkness, 
 
 Holy, deathless stars shall rise, 
 By whose light onr souls shall gladly 
 
 Tread their pathway to the skies." 
 
leaver)'. 
 ITS EICHES. 
 
 79 
 
^erux^aFeo], ^^ Jfome, 
 
 Jerusalem, my Home, 
 Where shines the royal throne; 
 Each king casts down his golden crown 
 Before the Lamb thereon. 
 Thence flows the crystal river, 
 And flowing on forever, 
 With leaves and fruits on either hand, 
 The Tree of Life shall stand. 
 In blood-washed robes, all white and fair, 
 The Lamb shall lead His chosen there, 
 While clouds of incense fill the air — 
 
 Jerusalem, my Home! 
 
 Jerusalem, my Home! 
 Where saints in glory reign, 
 Thy haven safe, O when shall I, 
 Poor, storm-tossed pilgrim, gain? 
 At distance dark and dreary, 
 With sin and sorrow weary. 
 For thee I toil, for thee I pray. 
 For thee I long alway. 
 And lo, mine eyes shall see thee, too; 
 Oh, rend in twain, thou veil of blue. 
 And let the Golden City through — 
 
 Jerusalem, my Home! 
 
 Hopkins. 
 
 9P 
 
ITS RICHES. 81 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ITS RICHES. 
 
 Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven; for where your treas- 
 ure is, there will your heart be also. Matt, vi, 20. 
 
 No man thinks himself rich until he has all he wants. 
 Very few people are satisfied with earthly riches. If 
 they want any thing at all that they cannot get, that is 
 a kind of poverty. Sometimes the richer the man the 
 greater the poverty. Somebody has said that getting 
 riches brings care ; keeping them brings trouble ; abus- 
 ing them brings guilt ; and losing them brings sorrow. 
 It is a great mistake to make so much of riches as we 
 do. But there are some riches that we cannot praise 
 too much: that never pass away. They are the treas- 
 ures laid up in Heaven for those who truly belong to 
 God. 
 
 No matter how rich or elevated w^e may be here, 
 there is always something that we want. The greatest 
 chance the rich have over the poor is the one they en- 
 joy the least — that of making themselves happy. 
 Worldly riches never make any one truly happy. AVe 
 all know, too, that they often take wings and fly away. 
 It is said of Midas that whatever he touched turned into 
 gold, but with his long ears he was not much the 
 
 better for it, ^li^re is a great deal of truth in somo 
 6 - ■ 
 
82 HEAVEN: 
 
 of these old fables. Money, like time, ought not to be 
 wasted, but I pity that man who has more of either 
 than he knows how to use. There is no truer saying 
 than that man by doing good with his money, stamps, 
 as it were, the image of God upon it, and makes it pass 
 current for the merchandise of heaven; but all the 
 wealth of the universe would not buy a man's way 
 there. Salvation must be taken as a gift for the ask- 
 ing. There is no man so poor in this world that he 
 may not be a heavenly millionaire. 
 
 GOLD A BAD LIFE-PRESERVER. 
 
 How many are worshiping gold to-day ! Where war 
 has slain its thousands^ gain has slain its millions. Its 
 history in all ages has been the history of slavery and 
 oppression. At this moment what an empire it has. 
 The mine with its drudges, the manufactory with its 
 misery, the plantation vrith its toil, the market and ex- 
 change with their haggard and care-worn faces — these 
 are but specimens of its menial servants. Titles and 
 honors are its rewards, and thrones are at its disposal. 
 Among its counsellors are kings, and many of the great 
 and mighty of the earth are its subjects. This spirit 
 of gain tries even to turn the globe itself into gold. 
 
 It is related that Tarpeia, the daughter of the Gov- 
 ernor of the fortress situated on the Capitoline Hill in 
 Rome, was captivated with the golden bracelets of the 
 Sabine soldiers, and. agreed to let them into the fort- 
 ress if they would give her what they wore upon their 
 left arms. The contract was made ; the Sabines kept 
 their promise. Tatius, their commander, was the first 
 to deliver his bracelet and shield, The coveted 
 
ITS RICHES. 83 
 
 treasures were thrown upon the traitress by each of the 
 soldiers, till she sank beneath their weight and expired. 
 Thus does the weight of gold carry many a man 
 down. 
 
 When the steamship " Central America" went down, 
 several hundred miners were on board, returning to 
 their early homes and friends. They had made their 
 fortunes, and expected much happiness in enjoying 
 them. In the first of the horror gold lost its attraction 
 to them. The miners took off their treasure-belts and 
 threw them aside. Carpet bags full of shining gold 
 dust were emptied on the floor of the cabin. One of 
 them poured out one hundred thousand dollars' worth 
 in the cabin, and bade any one take it who Avould. 
 Greed was over-mastered, and the gold found no takers. 
 Dear friends, it is well enough to have gold, but some- 
 times it is a bad life-preserver. Sometimes it is a 
 mighty weight that crushes us down to hell. 
 
 The Rev. John Newton one day called to visit a fam- 
 ily that had suffered the loss of all they possessed by 
 fire. He found the pious mistress, and saluted her 
 with: 
 
 " I give you joy, madam." 
 
 Surprised, and ready to be offended, she exclaimed: 
 
 " What! Joy that all my property is consumed?" 
 
 "O no," he answered, "but joy that you have so 
 much property that fire cannot touch." 
 
 This allusion to her real treasures checked her grief 
 and brought reconciliation. As we read in Proverbs 
 15, 6: "In the house of the righteous is much treas- 
 ure; but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble." I 
 have uever seen a dying saint who was rich in heavenly 
 
84 HEAVEN: 
 
 treasures who had any regret; I have never heard 
 such a one say he had lived too much for God and 
 heaven. 
 
 GETTING WATER-LOGGED. 
 
 A friend of mine says he was at the River Mersey, 
 in Liverpool, a few years ago, and he saw a vessel which 
 had to be towed with a great deal of care into the har- 
 bor; it was clear down to the water's edge, and he won- 
 dered why it did not sink. Pretty soon there came 
 another vessel, without any help at all ; it did not need 
 any tug to tow it in, but it steamed right up the Mer- 
 sey past the other vessels ; and he made inquiry, and 
 he found the vessel that had to be towed in was what 
 they call water-logged — that is, it was loaded with lum- 
 ber and material of that kind; and having sprung a 
 leak had partially sunk, and it was very hard work to 
 get into the harbor. Now, I believe there are a great 
 many professed Christians, a great many, perhaps, who 
 are really Christians, who have become water-logged. 
 They have too many earthly treasures, and it takes near- 
 ly the whole church — the whole spiritual power of the 
 church to look after these worldly Christians, to keep 
 them from going back entirely into the world. Why, 
 if the whole church were, as John Wesley said, " hard 
 at it, and always at it," what a power there would be, 
 and how soon we would reach the world and the masses ; 
 but we are not reaching the world, because the church 
 itself has become conformed to the world and worldly- 
 minded, and because so many are wondering why they 
 do not grow in grace while they have more of the earth 
 in their thoughts than God, 
 
ITS RICHES. 85 
 
 Ministers would not have to urge people to live for 
 heaven if their treasures were up there; they could 
 not help it; their hearts would be there, and if their 
 hearts were there their minds would be up there, and 
 their lives would tend toward heaven. They could 
 not help living for heaven if their treasures were 
 there. 
 
 A little girl one day said to her mother: "Mamma, 
 my Sunday-school teacher tells me that this world is 
 only a place in which God lets us live a while, that we 
 may prepare for a better world. But, mother, I do not 
 see anybody preparing. I see you preparing to go 
 into the country, and Aunt Eliza is preparing to come 
 here ; but I do not see anyone preparing to go there ; 
 why don't they try to get ready? " 
 
 A certain gentleman in the South, before the war, had 
 a pious slave, and when the master died they told him 
 he had gone to heaven. 
 
 The old slave shook his head, " I's 'fraid massa no 
 gone there," he said. 
 
 "But why, Ben?" he was asked. 
 
 " Cos, when Massa go North, or go a journey to the 
 Springs, he talk about it a long time, and get ready. 
 I never hear him talk about going to heaven ; never see 
 him get ready to go there! " 
 
 So there are a good many who do not get ready. 
 Christ teaches in the Sermon on the Mount to — 
 
 " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth 
 and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; 
 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth 
 nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through 
 nor steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be 
 also." 
 
86 HEAVEN: 
 
 TREASURES OF THE HEART. 
 
 It does not take long to tell where a man's treasure 
 is. In fifteen minutes' conversation with most men you 
 can tell whether their treasures are on the earth or in 
 heaven. Talk to a patriot about the country, and you 
 will see his eye light up ; you will find he has his heart 
 there. Talk to some business men, and tell them where 
 they can make a thousand dollars, and see their inter- 
 est; their hearts are there. You talk to fashionable 
 people who are living just for fashion, of its affairs, 
 and you will see their eyes kindle; they are interested 
 at once; their hearts are there. Talk to a politician 
 about politics, and you see how suddenly he becomes 
 interested. But talk to a child of God, who is laying 
 up treasures in heaven, about heaven and about his 
 future home, and see what enthusiasm. " Where your 
 treasure is, there will your heart be also." 
 
 Now, it is just as much a command for a man to "lay 
 up treasure in heaven " as it is that he should not steal. 
 Some people think all the commandments are in those 
 ten that were given on Sinai, but when Jesus Christ 
 was here, He gave us many other commandments. 
 There is another commandment in this Sermon on the 
 Mount: " Seek first the kingdom of God and His right- 
 eousness, and all these things shall be added unto you ;" 
 and here is a command that we are to lay up treasure 
 in heaven and not on earth. The reason there are so 
 many broken hearts in this land, the reason there are so 
 many disappointed people, is because they have been 
 laying up their treasures down here. 
 
 The worthlessness of gold, for which so many are 
 striving, is illustrated by a story that Dr. Arnot used 
 
ITS RICHES. 87 
 
 to tell. A ship bearing a company of emigrants has 
 been driven from her course and wrecked on a desert 
 island, far from the reach of man. There is no way 
 of escape; but they haVe a good stock of food. The 
 ocean surrounds them, but they have plenty of seeds, 
 a fine soil, and a genial sun, so there is no danger. 
 Before the plans are laid, an exploring party discovers 
 a gold mine. There the whole party go to dig. They 
 labor day after day and month after month. They get 
 great heaps of gold. But spring is past, and not a 
 field has been cleared, not a grain of seed put into the 
 ground. The summer comes and their wealth increases ; 
 but their stock of food grows small. In the fall they 
 find that their heaps of gold are worthless. Famine 
 stares them in the face. They rush to the woods, they 
 fell trees, dig up 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 the mines of gold attract us. We spend 
 spring and summer there; winter overtakes us in our 
 toil ; we are without the Bread of Life, and we are lost. 
 Let us then who are Christians, value all the more the 
 home which holds the treasures that no one can take 
 away. Dr. Muhlenberg, a Lutheran clergyman, has 
 written beautifully: 
 
 " Who would Uve alway, away from his God, 
 Away from yon heaven, that bhssful abode; 
 Where the rivers of pleasure flow o'er the bright plains, 
 And the harps of gold pour out their glorious strains; 
 
88 HEAVEN: 
 
 And the saints of all ages in harmony meet 
 
 Their Savior, and brethren transported, to greet; 
 
 While the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll. 
 
 And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul? 
 
 That heavenly music, what is it I hear? 
 
 The notes of the harpers ring sweet on my ear. 
 
 To see soft unfolding those portals of gold — 
 
 The Kmg, all arrayed in His beauty, behold ! 
 
 Oh give me, oh give me, the wings of a dove, 
 
 Let me hasten my flight to those mansions above! 
 
 Ay, 'tis now that my soul on swift pinions would soar, 
 
 And in ecstacy bid earth adieu evermore." 
 
 A BLACK-BOAED LESSON. 
 
 When I was in San Francisco, I went into a Sabbath- 
 school the first Sunday I was there. It was a rainy 
 day, and there were so few present that the Superin- 
 tendent thought of dismissing them, but instead, he af- 
 terward invited me to speak to the whole school as one 
 class. The lesson was that passage fi'om the Sermon 
 on the Mount: "Lay not. up for yourselves treasures 
 upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and 
 where thieves break through and steal." 
 
 I invited a young man to the blackboard, and we 
 proceeded to compare a few things that some people 
 have on earth, and a few things that other people have 
 in heaven. 
 
 " Now," said I, " name some earthly treasure." 
 
 They all shouted "Gold." 
 
 "Well, that is so," I said, "I suppose that is your 
 greatest treasure out here in California. Now let us 
 go on; what is another? " 
 
 A second boy shouted, "Lands." 
 
 " Well," I said, " we will put do^vn Lands." 
 
ITS RICHES. 89 
 
 " What else do the people out here in California 
 think a good deal of and have their hearts set on?" 
 
 They said "Houses." 
 
 " Put that do^Ti; what else? " 
 
 "Pleasure." 
 
 " Put that down." 
 
 " Honor — fame." 
 
 " Put them down." 
 
 " Business." 
 
 "Yes," I said; "a great many people have their 
 hearts buried in their business — put that down." As 
 if a little afraid, one of them said "di^ess," and the 
 whole school smiled. 
 
 "Put that down," I said. "Why, I believe there 
 are some people in the world who think more of 
 dress than any other thing. They just live for 
 dress. I heard not long ago from very good author- 
 ity, of a young lady who was dying of consumption. 
 She had been living in the world and for the world, 
 and it seemed as if the world had taken full possession 
 of her. She thought she would die Thursday night, 
 and Thursday she wanted them to crimp her hair, so 
 that she would look beautiful in her coffin. But she 
 didn't die Thursday night. She lingered through Fri- 
 day, and Friday she didn't want them to take her hair 
 down, but to keep it up until she passed away. And 
 the friends said she looked very beautiful in the coffin! 
 Just what people wear — the idea of people having their 
 hearts set upon things of that kind! " 
 
 "And Avhat else, now?" Well, they were a little 
 ashamed to say it, but one said: 
 
 "Rum." 
 
90 HEAVEN: 
 
 " Yes," I said, " put tliat down. There is many a 
 man thinks more of the rum-bottle than he does of the 
 Kingdom of God. He will give up his wife, he will 
 give up his home and his mother, character and repu- 
 tation forever for the rum-bottle. Many a man by his 
 life is crying out, ' Give me rum, and I will give you 
 heaven, and all its glories. I will sell my wife and 
 children. I will make them beggars and paupers. I 
 will degrade and disgrace them for the rum-bottle. 
 That is my treasure.' 
 
 "'Oh, thou rum bottle! 1 worship thee,' is the cry 
 of many — they turn their backs on heaven with all its 
 glories for rum. Some of them thought, when that 
 little boy said ' rum,' that he made a mistake, that it 
 was not a treasure, but it is a treasure to thousands." 
 Another one said: 
 
 " Fast horses." 
 
 Said I, " Put it down. There is many a man who 
 thinks a good deal of fast horses, and he wants to go 
 out and take a fast horse and drive Sunday, and spend 
 his Sabbath in this way." And after we finished, and 
 thought of everything we could, T said: "Suppose we 
 just take down some of these heavenly treasures. 
 
 "And," said I, "What is there now that the Lord wants 
 us to set our hearts and affections on ?" And they all said : 
 
 "Jesus." 
 
 " That is good; we will put Him down first at the 
 head of the list. Now what else? " And they said: 
 
 "Angels." 
 
 " Put them down. We will have their society when 
 we go to heaven. That is a treasure up there, really. 
 What else?" 
 
ITS RICHES. 91 
 
 "The friends who have died in Christ, who have 
 fallen asleep in Christ." 
 
 " Put them down. Death has taken them from us 
 now, but we will be with them by and by. What else ? " 
 
 " Crowns." 
 
 "Yes, we are going to have a crown, a crown of 
 glory, a crown of righteousness, a crown that fadetli 
 not away. What else?" 
 
 "The tree of life." 
 
 " Yes," I said, " the tree of life. We shall have a 
 right to it. We can go to that tree and pluck its fruit, 
 eat, and live forever. What else?" 
 
 " The river of life." 
 
 "Yes, we shall walk upon the banks of that clean 
 river." 
 
 " Harps," one said. 
 
 Another one said " palms." 
 
 "Yes," I said, "put them down. Those are treas- 
 ures that we will have there." 
 
 " Purity." 
 
 " Yes, there will be none but the pure there. White 
 robes, without spot or wrinkle on our garments. A 
 great many find many flaws in our characters down 
 here, but by and by Christ will present us before the 
 Father without spot and without wrinkle, and we shall 
 stand there complete in Him," I said. " Can you 
 think of anything else?" And one of them said: 
 
 " A new song." 
 
 " Yes, we shall have a new song. It is the song of 
 Moses and the Lamb. I don't know just who wrote it 
 or how, but it will be a glorious song. I suppose the 
 singing we have here on earth will be nothing 
 
92 HEAVEN: 
 
 compared with the songs of that upper world. Do you 
 know the principal thing we are told we are going to 
 do in heaven is singing, and that is why men ought to 
 sing down here. We ought to begin to sing here so 
 that it will not come strange when we get to heaven. I 
 pity the professed Christian who has not a song in his 
 heart — who never 'feels like singing.' It seems to 
 me if we are truly children of God, we will want to 
 sing about it. And so, when we get there, we cannot 
 help shouting out the loud hallelujahs of heaven." 
 
 Then I said: "Is there anything else?" Well, they 
 went on. I cannot give you all, because we had to have 
 two columns put down of the heavenly treasures. We 
 stood there a little while and drew the contrast between 
 the earthly and the heavenly treasures. We looked at 
 them a little while, and when we came to put them all 
 down beside Christ, the earthly treasures looked small, 
 after all. What would all this world full of gold be 
 compared with Jesus Christ? You who have Christ, 
 would you like to part with Him for gold? Would you 
 like to give Him up for all the honor the earth can 
 bestow on you for a few months or a few years ? Think 
 of Christ! Think of the treasures of heaven. And 
 then think of these earthly treasures that we have our 
 hearts set upon, and that so many of us are living for. 
 
 God blessed that lesson upon the blackboard in a 
 marvelous way, for the man who had been writing down 
 the treasures on the board happened to be an uncon- 
 verted Sunday-school teacher, and had gone out there 
 to California to make money ; his heart was set upon 
 gold, and he was living for that instead of for God. 
 That wa§ the idol of his heart, and do you know God 
 
ITS RICHES. 93 
 
 convicted him at that blackboard, and the first convert 
 that God gave me on the Pacific coast was that man, 
 and he was the last man who shook hands with me when 
 I left San Francisco. He saAV how empty the earthly 
 treasures were, and how grand and glorious the riches 
 of heaven. Oh, if God would but open your eyes — 
 and I think if you are honest and ask Him to do it 
 He will — He will show you how empty this world is in 
 comparison with what He has in store. 
 
 There are a great many people who are wondering 
 why they do not mount up on wings, as it were, and 
 why they do not make some progress in the divine life ; 
 why they do not grow more in grace. I think one 
 reason may be they have too many earthly treasures. 
 We need not be rich to have our hearts set on riches. 
 
 We need not go in the world more than other people 
 to have our hearts there. I believe the Prodigal 
 was in the far country long before he put his feet there. 
 When his heart reached there he was there. There is 
 many a man who does not mingle so much in the world 
 as others do, but his heart is there, and he would be 
 there if he could, and God looks at the heart. 
 
 Now, what we need to do is to obey the voice of the 
 Master, and instead of laying up treasures on earth, 
 lay them up in heaven. If we do that, bear in mind, 
 we shall never be disappointed. 
 
 It is clear that idolaters are not going to enter the 
 kingdom of God. I may make an idol of my business ; 
 I may make an idol of the wife of my bosom ; I may 
 make idols of my children. I do not think you need 
 go to heathen countries to find men guilty of idolatry. 
 J think you will find a great many right here who have 
 
94 HEAVEN: 
 
 idols in their hearts. Let us pray that the spirit of 
 God may banish those idols from our hearts, that we 
 may not be guilty of idolatry ; that we may worship 
 God in spirit and in truth. Anything that comes 
 between me and God is an idol — anything, I don't care 
 what it is ; business is all right in its place, and there 
 is no danger of my loving my family too much if I love 
 God more ; but God must have the first place ; and if 
 He has not then the idol is set up. 
 
 ALL ETERNITY FOR REST. 
 
 Not the least of the riches of heaven will be the sat- 
 isfaction of those wants of the soul, which are so much 
 felt down here but are never found — such as infinite 
 knowledge, perfect peace and satisfying love. Like a 
 beautiful likeness that has been marred, daubed all 
 over with streaks of black, and is then restored to its 
 original beauty, so the soul is restored to its full beauty 
 of color when it is washed with the blood of Jesus Christ. 
 The senseless image on the canvas cannot be compared, 
 however, in any other way with the living, rational soul. 
 
 Could we but see some of our friends who have gone 
 on before us we would very likely feel like falling down 
 before them. The Apostle John had seen so many 
 strange things, yet, when one of the bright angels stood 
 before him to reveal some of the secrets of heaven, 
 fell down to worship him. He says in the last chapter 
 of Revelation: 
 
 "And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had 
 heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel 
 which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, see thou do 
 it not; for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, 
 an(i of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God." 
 
ITS RICHES. 95 
 
 Among the wants which we have on earth is the 
 thirst for knowledge. Much as sin has weakened man's 
 mental faculties, it has not taken away any of his de- 
 sire for knowledge. But witli all his efforts, with all 
 that he thinks he knows about astronomy, chemistry 
 and geology, and the rest of the sciences, his knowl- 
 edge of the secrets of nature is yet limited. 
 
 There are very many things we do not know. Thous- 
 ands of astronomers have lived and died, and the ages 
 of the world have rolled on, and it was only the other 
 day, as it were, that they found out that the planet 
 Mars had two moons. Perhaps in ages to come some 
 one will find out that they are not moons at all. This 
 is what most of our human knowledge amounts to. 
 
 There is not one of our college professors, and many 
 of them have gone nearly everywhere in the world, but 
 is anxious to learn more and more, to find out new 
 things, to make new discoveries. If we were as fa- 
 miliar with all the stars of the firmament as we are 
 with our own earth, still we would not be satisfied. 
 
 Not until we are like God can we comprehend the 
 infinite. Even the imperfect glimpses of God that we 
 get by faith, only intensify our desire for more. For 
 now, as Paul says in 1st Corinthians xiii, 12: 
 
 "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." 
 
 The word Paul used, properly translated, is " mir- 
 ror." Now we see God, as it were, in a looking-glass — 
 but then face to face. 
 
 Suppose v/e knew nothing of the sun except what we 
 saw of its light reflected from the moon ? Would we 
 Tiot wonder about its immense distance, about its 
 
96 HEAVEN: 
 
 dazzling splendor, about its life-giving power ? Now all 
 that we see, the sun, the moon, the stars, the ocean, 
 the earth, the flowers, and above all, man, are a grand 
 mirror in which the perfection of God is imperfectly 
 reflected. 
 
 Another want that we have is rest. We get tired of 
 toiling. Yet there is no real rest on earth. We find in the 
 
 4th chapter of Hebrews, beginning with the 9th verse: 
 
 • 
 
 ** There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For 
 he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own 
 works, as God did from His. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into 
 that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbeHef." 
 
 Now, while we all want rest, I think a great many 
 people make a mistake when they think the church is 
 a place of rest; and when they unite with the church 
 they have a false idea about their position in it. There 
 are a great many who come in to rest. The text tells 
 us: "There remaineth a rest for the people of God," 
 but it does not tell us that the church is a place of rest; 
 we have all eternity to rest in. We are to rest by and 
 by ; but we are to work here, and when our work is fin- 
 ished, the Lord will call us home to enjoy that rest. 
 There is no use in talking about rest down here in the 
 enemy's country. We cannot rest in this world, where 
 God's Son has been crucified and cast out. I think 
 that a great many people are going to lose their re- 
 ward just because they have come into the church with 
 the idea that they are to rest there, as if the church 
 was working for the reward, instead of each one build- 
 ing over against his own house, each one using all his 
 influence toward the building up of Christ's kingdom. 
 
 In Revelation xiv, 13, we read; 
 
ITS RICHES. 97 
 
 " 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." 
 
 Now, death may rob us of money. Death may rob 
 us of position. Death may rob us of our friends; but 
 there is one thing death can never do, and that is, 
 rob us of the work that we do for God. That will live 
 on forever. "Their works do follow them." How 
 much are we doing? Anything that we do outside of 
 ourselves, and not with a mean and selfish motive, that 
 is going to live. We have the privilege of setting in 
 motion streams of activity that will flow on when we 
 are dead and gone. 
 
 It is the privilege of everyone to live more in the 
 future than they do in the present, so that their lives 
 will tell in fifty or a hundred years more than they do now. 
 
 John Wesley's influence is a thousand-fold greater 
 to-day than it was when he was living. He still lives. 
 He lives in the lives of thousands and hundreds of 
 thousands of his spiritual descendants. 
 
 Martin Luther lives more truly to-day than he did 
 three centuries ago, when he awakened Germany. 
 He only lived one life, and that for a little while. But 
 now, look at the hundreds and thousands and millions 
 of lives that he is living. There are between fifty and 
 sixty millions of people who profess to be followers of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, as taught by Martin Luther, 
 who bear his name. He is dead in the sight of the 
 world, but his " works do follow him." He still lives. 
 
 The voice of John the Baptist is ringing through 
 the world to-day, although nearly nineteen hundred 
 
98 HEAVEN: 
 
 years have passed away since Herodias asked for his 
 death. Herod thought when he beheaded him that he 
 was hushing his voice, but it is ringing throughout the 
 earth to-day. John the Baptist lives, because he lived 
 for God; but he has entered into his rest, and "his 
 works do follow him." 
 
 And if they up yonder can see what is going on 
 upon the earth, how much joy they must have to think 
 that they have set these streams in motion, and that 
 this work is going on — being carried on after them. 
 
 If a man lives a mean, selfish life, he goes down to 
 the grave, and his name and everything concerning him 
 goes down in the grave with him. If he is ambitious 
 to leave a record behind him, with a selfish motive, his 
 name rots with his body. But if a man gets outside 
 of himself and begins to work for God, hip name will 
 live forever. Why, you may go to Scotland to-day, 
 and you will find the influence of John Knox over every 
 mountain in Scotland. It seems as if you could almost 
 feel the breath of that man's prayer in Scotland to-day. 
 His influence still lives. " Blessed are the dead who 
 die in the Lord. They rest from their labors and their 
 works do follow them." Blessed rest in store; we wdll 
 rest by and by; but we should not waste time talking 
 about rest while we are here. . . . . 
 
 If I am to wipe a tear from the cheek of that father- 
 less boy, I must do it down here. It is not said in 
 Scripture that we shall have the privilege of doing that 
 hereafter. If I am going to help up some fallen man 
 who has been overtaken by sin, I must do it here. We 
 are not going to have the privilege of being co-workers 
 with God in the future — but that is our privilege 
 
ITS RICHES. 99 
 
 to-day. We may not have it to-morrow. It may be 
 taken from ns to-morrow; but we can enter into the 
 vineyard and do something to-day before the sun goes 
 down. We can do something now before we go to 
 glory. 
 
 Another want that we feel here is Love. Heaven is 
 the only place where the conditions of love can be ful- 
 filled. There love is essentially mutual. Everybody 
 loves everybody else. In this world of wickedness and 
 sin it seems impossible for people to be all on a perfect 
 equality. When we meet people who are bright and 
 beautiful and good, we have no difficulty in loving 
 them. All the people of heaven will be like that. There 
 will be no fear of misplaced confidences there. There 
 we shall never be deceived by those we love. When a 
 suspicion of doubt fastens upon any one who loves, their 
 happiness from that moment is at an end. There will 
 be no suspicion there. 
 
 " Beyond these chilling winds and gloomy skies, 
 Beyond death's cloudy portal, 
 There is a land where beauty never dies — ■ 
 Where love becomes immortal." 
 
Maix^f ©nie ©a^, 
 
 BY TIMOTHY POLAND. 
 
 Ye ken, dear bairn, that we maun part. 
 When death, cauld death, shall bid us start; 
 But when he'll send his fearfu' dart 
 
 We canna say. 
 So we'll mak' ready for his dart 
 
 Maist onie day. 
 
 We'll keep a' right and guid wi'in, 
 Our wark will then be free frae sin. 
 Upright we'll walk through thick and thin, 
 
 Straight on our way. 
 Deal just wi' a', the prize we'll win 
 
 Maist onie day. 
 
 Ye ken there's Ane, wha's just and wise, 
 Has said that a' His bairns should rise. 
 An' soar aboon the lofty skies. 
 
 And there shall stay. 
 Being well prepared we'll gain the prize 
 
 Maist onie day. 
 
 When He wha made a' things just right. 
 Shall call us hence to realms of light, 
 Be it morn or noon, or e'en or night. 
 
 We will obey. 
 We'll be prepared to tak' our flight 
 
 Maist onie day. 
 
 Our lamps we'll fill brimfu' o' oil, 
 Thet's guid and pure, that wadna spoil, 
 And keep them burning a' the while, 
 
 To light our way. 
 Our wark bein' done we'll quit the soil, 
 
 Maist onie day. 
 
 IQQ 
 
ITS EEWAEDS. 
 
 m 
 
riofcKerel flof Jfere! 
 
 Not here! Not here! Not where the sparkling waters 
 Fade into mocking sands as we draw near; 
 
 Where, in the wilderness, each footstep falters! 
 " I shall be satisfied;" but oh, not here! 
 
 There is a land where every pulse is thrilling 
 With rapture earth's sojourners may not know, 
 
 Where heaven's repose the weary heart is stilling, 
 And peacefully life's storm-tossed currents flow. 
 
 " Satisfied ! Satisfied ! " The spirit's yearning 
 For sweet companionship with kindred minds, 
 The silent love that here meets no returning. 
 The inspiration which no language finds. 
 
 " I shaU be satisfied." The soul's vague longings. 
 The aching void which nothing earthly fills! 
 Oh! What desjres upon my soul are thronging 
 As I look upward to the heavenly hills. 
 
 Thither my weak and weary steps are tending; 
 
 Savior and Lord, with thy frail child abide; 
 Guide me toward Home, where, all my wanderings ended, 
 
 I then shall see Thee, and " be satisfied." 
 
 — ^Anon. 
 
 101 
 
ITS REWARDS. 103 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 ITS REWARDS. 
 
 Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own 
 labor. I Cor. iii. 8. 
 
 My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work 
 shall be. Rev. xxii, 12. 
 
 If I understand tilings correctly, whenever you find 
 men or women who are looking to be rewarded here 
 for doing right, they are unqualified to work for God; 
 because if they are looking for the applause of men, 
 looking for reward in this life, it will disqualify them 
 for the service of God, because they are all the while 
 compromising truth. 
 
 They are afraid of hurting some one's feelings. 
 They are afraid that some one is going to say some- 
 thing against them, or there will be some newspaper 
 articles written against them. Now, we must trample 
 the world under our feet if we are going to get our re- 
 ward hereafter. If we live for God we must suffer per- 
 secution. The kingdom of darkness and the kingdom 
 of light are at war, and have been, and will be as long 
 as Satan is permitted to reign in this world. As long 
 as the kingdom of darkness is permitted to exist, there 
 will be a conflict, and if you want to be popular in the 
 
104 HEAVEN: 
 
 kingdom of God, if you want to be popular in heaven, 
 and get a reward that shall last forever, you will have 
 to Be unpopular here. 
 
 If you seek the applause of men, you can't have the 
 Lord say "Well done" at the end of the journey 
 You can't have both. Why ? Because this world is at 
 war with God. This idea that the world is getting bet- 
 ter all the while is false. The old natural heart is just 
 as much at enmity with God as it was when Cain slew 
 Abel. Sin leaped into the world full grown in Cain. 
 And from the time that Cain was born into the world to 
 the present, man by nature has been at war with God. 
 This world was not established in grace, and we have to 
 fight "the world, the flesh and the devil;" and if we 
 fight the world, the world won't like us; and if we fight 
 the flesh, the flesh won't like us. We have to mortify 
 the flesh. We have to crucify the old man and put 
 him under. Then, by and by, we will get our reward, 
 and a glorious reward it will be. 
 
 We read in Luke xvi, 15: 
 
 "And He said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves 
 before men; but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is highly 
 esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." 
 
 We must go right against the current of this world. 
 If the world has nothing to say against us, we can be 
 pretty sure that the Lord Jesus Christ has very little to 
 say for us. There are those who do not like to go 
 against the current of the world. They say they know 
 this and that is wrong, but they do not say a word 
 against it lest it might make them unpopular. If we 
 expect to get the reward we must fight the good fight 
 of faith. For all such, as Paul has said, " there is laid 
 
ITS REWARDS. 105 
 
 up a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the right- 
 eous Judge, shall give us at that day." 
 
 FEAR OF DEATH. 
 
 How little do we realize the meaning of the word 
 ETERNITY ! The wliole time between the creation of the 
 world and the ending of it would not make a day in 
 eternity. In time, it is like the infinity of space, whose 
 center is everywhere and whose boundary is nowhere. 
 We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews: 
 
 " Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and 
 blood, He, also Himself, likewise took part of the same; that 
 through death He might destroy Him that had the power of death 
 — ^that is the devil — and deHver them who, through fear of death, 
 were all their lifetime subject to bondage." 
 
 There are a great many of God's professed children 
 who live in continual bondage, in the constant fear of 
 death. I believe that it is dishonoring God. I believe 
 that it is not His will to have one of His children live 
 in fear for one moment. If you know the truth as it is 
 in Christ, there need be no fear, there need be no dread, 
 because death will only hasten you on to glory ; and your 
 names are already there. 
 
 And then the next thought is for those who are dear 
 to us. I believe that it is not only our privilege to 
 have our names written in heaven, but those of the 
 children whom God has given us ; and our hearts ought 
 to go right out for them. The promise is not only to 
 us, but to our children. Many a father's and many a 
 mother's heart is burdened with anxiety for the salva- 
 tion of their children. If your o^vn name is there, let 
 your next aim in life be to get the children whom God 
 has given you, there also. 
 
106 HEAVEN: 
 
 A mother was dying in one of our Eastern cities a 
 few years ago, and she had a large family of children. 
 She died of consumption, and the children were 
 brought in to her one by one as she was sinking. She 
 gave the oldest one her last message and her dying 
 blessing; and as the next one was brought in she put 
 her hand upon its head and gave it her blessing; and 
 then the next one was brought in, and the next, until 
 at last they brought in the little infant. She took it to 
 her bosom and pressed to her loving heart, and her 
 friends saw that it was hastening her end ; that she was 
 excited, and as they went to take the little child from 
 her, she said: "My husband, I charge you to bring 
 all these children home with you." And so God 
 charges us parents to bring our children home with us ; 
 not only to have our own names written in heaven, but 
 those of our children also. 
 
 An eminent Christian worker in New York told me 
 a story that affected me very much. 
 
 A father had a son who had been sick some time, but 
 he did not consider him dangerously ill;- until one day 
 he came home to dinner and found his wife weeping, 
 and he asked, " What is the trouble?" 
 
 " There has been a great change in our boy since 
 morning," the mother said, " and I am afraid he is 
 dying ; I wish you to go in and see him, and, if you think 
 he is, I wish you to tell him so, for I cannot bear to." 
 
 The father went in and sat down by the bed-side, 
 and he placed his hand upon his forehead, and he could 
 feel the cold, damp sweat of death, and knew its cold, 
 icy hand was feeling for the cords of life, and that 
 his boy was soon to be taken away, and he said to him : 
 
ITS REWARDS. 107 
 
 " My son, do you know you are dying? " 
 
 The little fellow looked up at liim and said: 
 
 " No ; am I ? Is this death that I feel stealing over 
 me, father?" 
 
 " Yes, my son, you are dying." 
 
 " Will I live the day out?" 
 
 " No; you may die at any moment." 
 
 He looked up to his father, and he said: "Well, I 
 shall be with Jesus to-night, won't I, father? " 
 
 And the father answered: " Yes, my boy, you will 
 spend to-night with the Savior," and the father turned 
 away to conceal the tears, that the little boy might not 
 see him weep; but he saw the tears, and he said: 
 
 " Father, don't you weep for me ; when I get to 
 heaven I will go straight to Jesus and tell Him that ever 
 since I can remember you have tried to lead me to Him." 
 
 I have three children, and the greatest desire of my 
 heart is that they may be saved; that I may know that 
 their names are written in the Book of Life. I may 
 be taken from them early; I may leave them in this 
 changing world mthout a father's care ; but I would 
 rather have my children say that of me after I am 
 dead and gone, or if they die before me I would 
 rather they should take that message to the Master — 
 that ever since they can remember I have tried to lead 
 them to the Master — than to have a monument over me 
 reaching to the skies. 
 
 We ought not to look upon death as we do. Bishop 
 Heber has written of a dead friend: 
 
 " Thou art gone to the grave ! but we will not deplore thee, 
 Though sorrow and darkness encon)pass the tomb; 
 
 Thy Savior has passed through its portals before thee, 
 And the lamp of His love is thy guide through the gloom. 
 
108 HEAVEN: 
 
 " Thou art gone to the grave! We no longer behold thee, 
 Nor tread the rough paths of the world by thy side; 
 
 But the wide arms of Mercy are spread to enfold thee, 
 And sinners may die, for the Sinless has died." 
 
 The roll is being called, and one after another sum- 
 moned away, but if the names of our loved ones are 
 there, if we know that they are saved, how sweet it is, 
 after they have left us, to think that we shall meet them 
 by and by; that we shall see them in the morn when 
 the night has worn away. 
 
 During the late war a young man lay on a cot, and 
 they heard him say, " Here, here! " and some one went 
 to his cot and wanted to know what he wanted, and he 
 said, "Hark! Hush, don't you hear them? " "Hear 
 whom?" was asked. "They are calling the roll of 
 heaven," he said, and pretty soon he answered, "Here!" 
 — and he was gone. If our names are in the Book of 
 Life, by and by when the name is called, we can say 
 with Samuel, "Here am I!" and fly away to meet 
 Him. And if our children are called away early, 
 O, it is so sweet to think that they died in Christ; that 
 the great Shepherd gathers them in His arms and car- 
 ries them in His bosom, and that we shall meet them 
 by and by. 
 
 PAUL, THE CHRISTIAN HEEO. 
 
 The way to get to heaven is to be saved through faith 
 in Jesus Christ. 
 
 We get salvation as a gift, but we have to work it 
 out, just as if we got a gold mine for a gift. 
 
 I do not get a crown by joining the church, or rent- 
 ing a pew. 
 
 There was Paul. He won his crown. He had many 
 a hard fight; he met Satan on many a battle-field, and 
 
ITS REWARDS. 109 
 
 he overcame him and wore the crown. It would take 
 about ten thousand of the average Christians of 
 this day or any other to make one of Paul. When I 
 read the life of that Apostle, I blush for the Christian- 
 ity of the nineteenth century. It is a weak and sickly 
 thing. 
 
 See what he went through. He Rye times was 
 scourged. The old Roman custom of scourging was to 
 take the prisoner and bind his wrists together and bend 
 him over in a stooping posture, and the Roman soldier 
 would bring the lash, braided with sharp pieces of steel 
 down upon the bare back of the prisoner and cut him 
 through the skin, so that men sometimes died in the 
 act of being scourged. But Paul says he was scourged 
 five different times. Now if we should get one stripe 
 upon our backs what a whining there would be; there 
 would be forty publishers after us before the sun went 
 down, and they would want to publish our lives, that 
 they could make capital out of them. But Paul says, 
 "Five times received I forty stripes, save one." That 
 was nothing for him. Take your stand by his side. 
 
 "Paul, you have been beaten by these Jews four 
 times, and they are going to give you thirty-nine stripes 
 more; what are you going to do after yoa get out of 
 the difficulty ? What are you going to do about it all ? 
 
 "Do ?" says he, "I will do this one thing; I will 
 press toward the mark of the prize of my high calling ; 
 I am on my way to get my crov/n." He was not going 
 to lose his crown. " Don't think that a few stripes will 
 turn me away; these light afflictions are nothing." 
 
 And so they put on thirty-nine more stripes. 
 
 He had sprung into the race for Christ, as it were, 
 
no HEAVEN: 
 
 and was leaping toward heaven. If you will allow me 
 the expression, the devil got his match when he met 
 Paul. He never switched off to a side-track. He 
 never sat down to write a letter to defend himself. All 
 the strength that he had he gave to Christ. He never 
 gave a particle to the world nor to himself to defend 
 himself. " This one thing I do," he said, " I am not 
 going to lose the crown." See that no man take your 
 crown. 
 
 " Thrice beaten with rods." Take your stand again 
 beside him. 
 
 " Now, Paul, they have beaten you twice, and they 
 are going to beat you again. What are you going to 
 do ? Are you going to continue preaching ? If you 
 are, let me give you a little advice. Now, don't be 
 quite so radical; be a little more conservative; just use 
 a little finer language, and, so to speak, cover up the 
 cross with beautiful words and flowery sentences, and 
 tell men that they are pretty good after all ; that they 
 are not so bad, and try and pacify the Jews; make 
 friends with them, and get in with the world, and the 
 world will think more of you. Don't be so earnest; 
 don't be so radical, Paul ; now come, take our advice. 
 What are you going to do? " 
 
 "Do?" he says, "I do this one thing — I press 
 toward the mark of the prize of my high calling." So 
 they put on the rods, and every blow lifts him nearer 
 God. 
 
 Take your stand with him again. They begin to 
 stone him. That is the way they killed those who did 
 not preach to suit them. 
 
 It seems as if he was about to be paid back in hie 
 
ITS REWARDS. HI 
 
 own coin, for when Stephen was stoned to death, Paul, 
 then known as Saul, cheered on the crowd. 
 • • " Now, Paul, this is growing serious; hadn't you bet- 
 ter take back some of the things you have said about 
 Jesus? What are you going to do?" 
 
 "Do?" he says, "if they take my life I will only 
 get my crown the sooner." 
 
 He would not budge an inch. He had something 
 that the world could not give; he had something it 
 could not take away ; he had eternal life, and he had in 
 store a crown of glory. 
 
 THESE LIGHT AFFLICTIONS. 
 
 Three times was he shipwrecked; a day and a night 
 in the deep. Look at that mighty apostle, a whole 
 day and night in the deep. There he was — ship- 
 wrecked, and for what? Was it to make money? He 
 was not after money. He was just going from city to 
 city, and town to town, to preach the glorious gospel of 
 Jesus Christ, and to lift up the cross wherever he had 
 opportunity. He went down to Corinth and preached 
 eighteen months, and he didn't have a lot of the lead- 
 iug ministers of Corinth to come on the platform and 
 sit by his side when he preached. There was not a 
 man who stood by him. When he reached Corinth he 
 had none of the leading business men to stand by him 
 and advise him; but the little tent-maker arrives in 
 Corinth a perfect stranger, and the first thing he does 
 is to find a place where he can make a tent ; he does not 
 go to a hotel ; his means will not allow it ; he goes where 
 he can make his bread by the sweat of his brow. Think 
 of that great apostle making a tent, and then getting 
 
112 HEAVEN: 
 
 on the corner o£ a street and preaching, and perhaps 
 once in a while he would get into a synagogue, but the 
 Jews would turn him out; they did not want to hear 
 him preach anything about Jesus the Crucified. 
 
 When I read of the life of such a man, how I blush 
 to think how sickly and dwarfed Christianity is at the 
 present time, and how many hundreds there are who 
 never think of working for the Son of God and honor- 
 ing Christ. 
 
 Yet when he wrote that letter back to Corinth, we 
 find him taking an inventory of some things he had. 
 He is rich, he says, " In journeying soften, in perils of 
 waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own coun- 
 trymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, 
 in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils 
 among false brethren." This last must have been 
 the hardest of all. " In weariness and painfulness, in 
 watchings often ; in hunger and thirst, in fastings often ; 
 in cold, in nakedness ; and besides those things that are 
 without, the care of all the churches." (II Cor. xi, 26- 
 28. ) These are only some of the things that he summed 
 up. Do you know what made him so exceedingly hap- 
 py ? It was because he believed the Scripture ; he be- 
 lieved the Sermon on the Mount. We profess to be- 
 lieve it; we pretend to believe it; but few of us more 
 than half believe it. Listen to one sentence in that 
 sermon: "Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is 
 your reward in heaven," when you are persecuted. 
 Now persecution was about all that Paul had. 
 
 That was his capital, and he had a good deal of it; 
 he had laid by a good many persecutions, and he was 
 to get a great reward, Chi'ist says: "Rejoice and be 
 
ITS REWARDS. 113 
 
 exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven." 
 If Jesus Clirist spoke of it as "great" it must be 
 indeed wonderful. We call things great that may look 
 very small to Jesus Christ ; and things that look very 
 small to us may look very large to Him. When the 
 great Christ, the Creator of heaven and earth, He who 
 formed the heavens and the earth by His mighty power, 
 when He calls it a great reward, what must it be ? 
 
 Perhaps some people said to the Apostle to the Gen- 
 tiles: "Now, Paul, you are meeting with too much 
 opposition; you are suffering too much." 
 
 Hear him reply: " Our light affliction, which is but 
 for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory." 
 
 " Our light affliction," he calls it. We would have 
 called it pretty hard, pretty hea^y, would we not? " 
 
 But he says: "These light afflictions are nothing; 
 think of the glory before me, and think of the crowning 
 time ; think of the reward that is laid up for me. I am 
 on my way; the Bighteous Judge will give it to me 
 when the time comes ;" and that is what filled his soul 
 with joy ; it was the thought of reward that the Lord 
 had in store for him. 
 
 Now, my friends, let us just for a minute think of 
 what Paul accomplished. Think of going out, as it 
 were, among the heathen ; the first missionary to preach 
 to these men, who were so full of wickedness, so full of 
 enmity and bitterness, the glorious gospel of Jesus 
 Christ, and to tell them that the man who died outside 
 the walls of the city of Jerusalem the death of a com- 
 mon prisoner, a common felon, in the sight of the 
 world, was the promised Christ; to tell them that they 
 8 
 
114 HEAVEN: 
 
 had to believe in that crucified Man in order to enter 
 the kingdom of God. Think of the dark mountain that 
 rose up before him; think of the opposition; think of 
 the bitter persecution, and then think of the trifles in 
 our way. 
 
 SONGS IN PEISON. * 
 
 But a great many worklly people think Paul's life 
 was a failure. Probably his enemies, when they put 
 him in prison, thought that would silence him ; but do 
 you know that I believe to-day Paul thanks God more 
 for prisons, for stripes, for the persecution and opposi- 
 tion that he suffered, than for anything else that hap- 
 pened to him here ? 
 
 The very things we do not like are sometimes the 
 very best for us. 
 
 Christians probably might not have these glorious 
 Epistles, if Paul had not been thrown into prison. There 
 he took up his pen and wrote letters to the Christians 
 in Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossse, and to Phile- 
 mon and Timothy. Look at the two Epistles that he 
 wrote to the Corinthians. How much has been done 
 for the world by these Epistles. AVhat a blessing they 
 have been to the church of God ; how great a light they 
 have thrown on many a man's life. But we might not 
 have had those Epistles if it had not been for persecu- 
 tion. 
 
 Perhaps John Bunyan blesses God more to-day for 
 Bedford jail than anything that happened to him. 
 Probably we would not have the Pilgrim's Progress if 
 he had not been thrown into that prison. Satan thought 
 he accomplished a great deal when he shut up Bunyan 
 
ITS REWARDS. 115 
 
 for twelve years and six months ; but what a blessing 
 it was to the world ; and I believe Paul blesses God to- 
 day for the Philippian jail, and for tlie imprisonment 
 he sufiered in Eome, because it gave him time to write 
 those blessed letters. Talk of Alexander making the 
 world tremble with the tread of his armies, and of Caesar 
 and Napoleon's power, but here is a little tent-maker, 
 who, without an army, turned the world upside down. 
 
 Why? 
 
 Because God Almighty was with him. 
 
 Paul says in one place: "None of these things move 
 me." (Acts xx, 24.) They threw him in prison, but it 
 was all the same ; it did not move him. When he was 
 at Corinth and Athens preaching, it made no difference. 
 He ust "pressed toward the mark of the prize of his 
 high calling." If God wanted him to go through 
 prisons to win the prize, it was all the same to him. 
 They put Lim in prison, but they put the Almighty in 
 with him, and Paul was so linked to Jesus that they 
 could not separate them. He would rather be in prison 
 with Christ than out of prison without Him. He 
 would a thousand times rather be cast into prison with 
 the Son of God and suffer a little persecution for a few 
 days here, than to be living at ease without Him. 
 
 He heard the cry, "Come over into Macedonia and 
 help us." He went over and preached, and the first 
 thing that happened to him was that he was put into 
 the Philippian jail. Now, if he had been as faint- 
 hearted as most of us, he would have been disappointed 
 and cast down. There would have been a great com- 
 plaint. 
 
 He would have said: " This is a strange Providence; 
 
116 HEAVEN: 
 
 whatever brought me here ? I thought the Lord called 
 me here; here I am in prison in a strange city; how 
 did 1 ever get here ? How will I ever get out of this 
 place? I have no money; I have no friends; I have no 
 attorney; I have no one to intercede for me, and here 
 I am." Paul and Silas were not only in prison, but 
 their feet were made fast in the stocks. There they 
 were, in the inner prison, a dark, cold, damp dungeon. 
 But at midnight the other prisoners heard a strange 
 sound. They had never heard anything like it before. 
 They heard singing. I do not know what song those 
 two imprisoned evangelists sang, but I know one thing, 
 it was not " a doleful sound from the tombs." You 
 know we have a hymn, " Hark, from the tombs a dole- 
 ful sound." They did not sing that, but the Bible tells 
 us they sang praises. That was a queer place to sing 
 praises, was it not? 
 
 I suppose it was time for the evening prayers, and 
 that they had just had their evening prayer and then 
 sang their evening hymn. And God answered their 
 prayers, and the old prison shook, and the chains 
 dropped, and the prison doors were opened. Yes, yes ; 
 I have no doubt that in glory he thanks God that he 
 went to jail and that the Philippian jailer became con- 
 verted. 
 
 SWEPT INTO GLORY. 
 
 But look at him at Eome. Nero has signed his 
 death warrant. Take your stand and look at the little 
 man. He is small; in the sight of the world he is 
 contemptible (II Cor. xii, 10) ; the world frowns upon 
 him. Go to the palace of the king and talk about that 
 
ITS REWARDS. 117 
 
 criminal — about Paul — and you will see a sneer on 
 their countenances. 
 
 " Oh, he is a fanatic," they say; " he has gone mad." 
 I wish the world was filled with such fanatics. I tell 
 you what we want to-day is a few fanatics like him; 
 men who fear nothing but sin and love no one but God. 
 
 Rome never had such a conqueror within her walls. 
 Rome never had such a mighty man as Paul within her 
 boundaries. Although the world looked down upon 
 him, and perhaps he looked very small and contempti- 
 ble, yet in the sight of heaven he was the mightiest 
 man who ever trod the streets of Rome. Probably 
 there will never be another one like him traveling those 
 streets. The Son of God walked with him, and the 
 form of the Fourth was with him. But go into that 
 prison; there he is; officials come to him and tell him 
 that Nero has signed his death-warrant. He does not 
 tremble; he is not afraid. 
 
 " Paul, are you not sorry you have been so zealous 
 for Christ? It is going to cost you your life; if you 
 had to live it over again, would you give it to Jesus of 
 Nazareth ? " What do you think the old warrier would 
 reply ? 
 
 See that eye light up as he says: " If I had ten thous- 
 and lives I should give every one of those lives to 
 Christ, and the only regret I have is that I did not 
 commence -earlier and serve Him better ; the only regret 
 I have now is that I ever lifted my voice against Jesus 
 of Nazareth." 
 
 *' But they are going to behead you." 
 
 * Well, they may take my head, but the Lord has my 
 heart. I care nothing about my head; the Lord has 
 
118 HEAVEN'. 
 
 my heart and lias had it for years. They cannot sep- 
 arate me from the Lord, and when my head is taken 
 off, I shall depart to be with Christ, which is far better." 
 
 And they led him out. I do not know at what hour; 
 perhaps it was early in the morning. There is a tra- 
 dition tells us that they led him two miles out of the 
 city. Look at the little tent-maker as he goes through 
 the streets of Home with a firm tread. Look at that 
 giant as he moves through the streets. He is on his 
 way to execution. Take your stand by his side and 
 hear him talk. He is talking of the glory beyond. 
 
 He says: "Henceforth there is laid up for me a 
 crown of righteousness. I shall see the King in His 
 beauty to-night. I have longed to be with Him; I 
 have longed to see Him. This is the day of my 
 crowning." 
 
 The world scoffed at him, but he did not hee dits 
 scoffing. He had something the world had not; burn- 
 ing within him he had a love and zeal which the world 
 knew nothing about. Ah, the love that Paul had for 
 Jesus Christ ! But, oh, the greater love the Lord Jesus 
 had for Paul! 
 
 The hour has come. The way they used to behead 
 them in those days was for the prisoner to bend his 
 head, when a Roman soldier took a sword and cut it 
 off. The hour had come, and I seem to see Paul, with 
 a joyful countenance, bending his blessed head, as the 
 soldier's sword comes down and sets his spirit free. 
 
 If our eyes could look as Elisha's looked, we might 
 have seen him leap into a chariot of light like Elijah; 
 we would have seen him go sweeping through limitless 
 space. 
 
ITS REWARDS. 119 
 
 Look at him now as iie mounts highfjr and higher ; 
 look at him, see him move np; up — up — up — ever 
 upward. 
 
 Look at him yonder! 
 
 See! He is entering now the Eternal City of the 
 glorified saints, the blissful abode of the Savior's 
 redeemed. The prize he so long has sought is at hand. 
 See the gates yonder ; how they fly v/ide open. See the 
 herald angels on the shining battlements of heaven. 
 Hear the glad shout that is passed along, " He is com- 
 ing! He is coming!" And he goes sweeping through 
 the pearly gates, along the shining way, to the very 
 throne of God, and Christ stands there and says: " Well 
 done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into 
 the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 Just think of hearing the Master say it. Will not 
 that be enough for everything ? 
 
 O friends, your turn and mine will come by-and-by, 
 if we are but faithful. Let us see that we do not lose 
 the crown. Let us awake and put on the whole armor 
 of God; let us press into the conflict; it is a glorious 
 privilege ; and then to us too, as to the glorified of old, 
 will come that blessed welcome from our glorified Lord: 
 " Well done, thou good and faithful servant." 
 
NOTICE.— All former books (before this series), issued in 
 
 Mr. Moody's name, have been mere compilations 
 
 from newspaper reports of his sermons, 
 
 issued without his consent and 
 
 notwithstanding his protest. 
 
 WORKS BY 
 
 MR. r>. L. MOODY, 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 F. H. REVELL, 148 & ISO MADISON ST., 
 CHICAGO. 
 
 ^S^The following Books sent postpaid on receipt of price. „:^^ 
 
 SPECIAL TERMS ARE GIVEN i"OR aUANTITIES. 
 
 Over 350,000 copies of these v/^orks have already been sold 
 the greater portion within the last three years. 
 
 To the Work ! To the Work ! By D. L. Moodv. Exhortations to 
 Christians. 
 
 Tinted covers, 30c. ; cloth boards, gilt dies, 60c. 
 
 This new work by Mr. Moody is in the line of his most successful 
 efforts, that of stirring christians to active, personal, aggressive work 
 for the Master. Mr. Moody has frequently been heard to say that 
 it was much better to set 100 men to work than to do the work 
 of 100 men. This little volume will we confidently believe be a 
 means of inspiring not hundreds, but thousands to more efficient 
 effort in Christian life. 
 
 Secret Power, or The Secret of Success in Christian Life and Christian 
 Work. By D. L. Moody. Fifty-tifth Thousand. 
 
 "This work, so full of inspiration and suggestion, has been re- 
 printed in England, and has also been translated into French and 
 Italian. Through the kindness of a consecrated lady, a cDpy of the 
 book has been presented to every Protestant minister in Italy, 
 while another friend sends the English edition to every Presbyterian 
 minister in Ireland. 
 Cloth, neat, boc ; Paper Covers, joc. 
 
 It is a good statement of the secret of success in Christian Life, 
 by one who has some claim to speak on such a theme. — 7 he Outlook. 
 
 This series of earnest and solemn Addresses bear throughout that 
 stamp of honest, eager earnestness, which is so striking a character- 
 istic of the writer's labors as a preacher. — Clerical World. 
 
THE WAY TO GOD 
 
 And How To Find It 
 
 m 
 
 E). L. MOODY, 
 
 CHICAGO : 
 F. H. REVELL, 148 & 150 Madison Sti eel, 
 
 JhiblLfher of Evangelical Literature, 
 
Wintered according to act of Congress, in the year 1884., 
 
 By F. H. liEVELL, 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington^ 
 
 ALL RIGHTS BE SERVED. 
 
 J. I.. BEGAN & CO., 
 
 PRINTERS AND BINDERS, 
 
 226, 228 & lil Lake Street, 
 
 CHICAGO. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter I. "Love that passeth Knowledge" . 7 
 
 Chapter II. The Gateway into the I^jngdom . 22 
 
 A 
 
 Chapter III. The Two Classes . . 41 
 
 Chapter IV. Words of Counsel ... 63 
 
 Chapter V. A Divine Saviour . . . 68 
 
 Chapter VI. Repentance and Restitution . . 71 
 
 Chapter VII. Assurance of Salvation . . 84 
 
 Chapter VIII. Christ All and in All . 101 
 
 Chapter IX. Backsliding . .114 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 In this small volume I have endeavored to point 
 out the Way to God. 
 
 I have embodied in the little book a considerable 
 part of several addresses which have been delivered in 
 different cities, both of Great Britain and my own 
 country. God has graciously owned them when 
 spoken from the pulpit, and I trust will none the 
 less add his blessing now they have been put into 
 the printed page with additional matter. 
 
 I have called attention first to the Love of God, the 
 source of all Gifts of Grace; have then endeavored to 
 present truths to meet the special needs of representa- 
 tive classes, answering the question, "How man can 
 be just with God," hoping thereby to lead souls to Him 
 who is "the Way, the Truth and the Life." 
 
The last chapter is specially addressed to Back- 
 sliders — a class, alas, far too numerous amongst us. 
 
 With the earnest prayer and hope that by the 
 blessing of God on these pages the reader may be 
 strengthened, estabHshed and settled in the faith of 
 Christ, 
 
 I am, yours in His service, 
 
THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 ''LOVE THAT PASSETH KNOWLEDGE." 
 
 " To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." 
 
 (Ephesians iii. 19.) 
 
 \ If I could only make men understand the real meaning 
 of the words of the apostle John — " God is love," I would 
 take that single text, and would go up and down the world 
 proclaiming this glorious truth. If you can convince a man 
 that you love him you have won his heart. If we really make 
 people beheve that God loves them, how we should find them 
 crowding into the kingdom of heaven I The trouble is that 
 men think God hates them ; and so they are all the time run- 
 ning away from Him. 
 
 We built a church in Chicago some years ago; and 
 were very anxious to teach the people the love of God. We 
 thought if we could not preach it into their hearts we would 
 try and burn it in ; so we put right over the pulpit in gas-jets 
 these words — God is Love. A man going along the streets 
 one night glanced through the door, and saw the text. He 
 was a poor prodigal. As he passed on he thought to himself, 
 " * God is Love !' No ! He does not love me ; for I am a pooj 
 miserable sinner." He tried to get rid of the text; but it 
 seemed to stand out right before him in letters of fire. He 
 went on a little further; then turned round, went back, and 
 
g THE WAT TQ GOt). 
 
 went into the meeting. He did not hear the sermon ; but the 
 words of that short text had got deeply lodged in his heart, 
 and that was enough. It is of little account what men say 
 if the Word of God only geta an entrance into the sinner's 
 heart. Re staid after the first meeting was over; and I found 
 him there weeping like a child. As I unfolded the Scriptures 
 and told him how God had loved him all the time, although 
 he had wandered so far away, and how God was waiting to 
 receive him and forgive him, the light of the Gospel broke 
 into his mind, and he went away rejoicing. 
 
 There is nothing in this world that men prize so much as 
 they do Love. Show me a person who has no one to care for 
 or love him, and I will show you one of the most wretched 
 r beings on the face of the earth. Why do people commit sui- 
 cide? Very often it is because this thought steals in upon 
 them — that no one loves them; and they would rather die 
 than live. 
 
 I know of no truth in the whole Bible that ought to come 
 home to us with such power and tenderness as that of the 
 -^ Love of God; and there is no truth in the Bible that Satan 
 would so much like to blot out. For more than six thousand 
 years he has been trying to persuade men that God does not 
 love them. He succeeded in making our first parents beheve 
 this lie ; and he too often succeeds with their children. 
 
 The idea that God does not love us often comes from false 
 teaching. Mcohers make a mistake in teaching children that 
 God does not love them when they do wrong; but only when 
 they do right. That is not taught in Scripture. You do 
 not teach your children that when they do wrong you hate 
 them. Their wrong-doing does not change your love to hate; 
 if it did, you would change your love a great many times. 
 Because your child is fretful, or has committed some act of 
 disobedience, you do not cast him out as though he did not 
 
"LOVE THAT PASSETH KNOWLEDOE." d 
 
 -V 
 
 belong to you! No! he is still your child; and you love him. 
 And if men have gone astray from God it does not follow that 
 He hates them. It is the sin that He hates. 
 
 I believe the reason why a great many people think God 
 does not love them is because they are measuring God by 
 their own small rule, from their own standpoint. We love 
 men as long as we consider them worthy of our love ; when 
 they are not we cast them off. It is not so with God. There 
 is a vast difference between human love and Divine love. 
 
 Iix Ephesians iii. 18, we are told of the breadth, and 
 length, and depth, and height, of God's love. Many of us 
 think we know something of God's love; but centuries hence 
 we shall admit we have never found out much about it. Col- 
 umbus discovered America; but what did he know about its 
 great lakes, rivers, forests, and the Mississippi Valley? He 
 died, without knowing much about what he had discovered. 
 So, many of us have discovered something of the love of God; 
 but there are heights, depths and lengths of it we do not 
 know. That Love is a great ocean ; and we require to plimge 
 into it before we really know anything of it. It is said of a 
 Koman Catholic Archbishop of Paris, that when he was thrown 
 ^ into prison and condemned to be shot, a little while before he 
 was led out to die, he saw a window in his cell in the shape of 
 a cross. Upon the top of the cross he wrote "height," at the 
 bottom "depth," and at the end of each arm "length." He 
 had experienced the truth conveyed in the hymn — 
 
 " AVhen I sun^ey the wondrous Cross, 
 On which the Prince of Glory died. " 
 
 When we wish to know the love of God we should go to 
 Calvary. Can we look upon that scene, and say God did not 
 love us? That cross speaks of the love of God. Greater love 
 never has been taught than that which the cross teaches. 
 What prompted God to give up Christ? — what prompted Christ 
 
-:l 
 
 10 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 to die? — if it were not love? "Greater love liath no man 
 than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." 
 Christ laid down His life for His enemies; Christ laid down 
 His life for His murderers ; Christ laid down His life for them 
 that hated Him; and the spirit of the cross, the spirit of Cal- 
 vary, is love. "When they were mocking Him and deriding 
 Him, what did He say? *' Father, forgive them, for they know A^ 
 not what they do." That is love. He did not call down iire 
 from heaven to consume them ; there was nothing but love in 
 His heart. 
 
 If you study the Bible you will find that the love of God 
 is unchangeable. Many v/ho loved you at one time have per- 
 haps grown cold in their affection, and turned away from you : 
 it may be that their love is changed to hatred. It is not so 
 with God. It is recorded of Jesus Christ, just when He was 
 about to be parted from His disciples and led away to Calvary, 
 that : "having loved His own which were in the world, He 
 loved them unto the end" (John xiii. 1). He knew that one 
 of His disciples would betray Him; yet He loved Judas. He 
 knew that another disciple would deny Him, and swear that 
 he never knew Him; and yet He loved Peter. It was the love 
 which Christ had for Peter that broke his heart, and brought 
 him back in penitence to the feet of his Lord. For three years 
 Jesus had been with the disciples trying to teach them His 
 love, not only by His life and words, but by His works. And, 
 on the night of His betrayal, He takes a basin of water, girds 
 Himself with a towel, and taking the place of a servant, 
 washes their feet; He wanted to convince them of His un- 
 changing love. 
 
 There is no portion of Scripture I read so often as John 
 
 ^L xiv; and there is none that is more sweet to me. I never tire 
 
 of reading it. Hear what our Lord says, as He pours out His 
 
 heart to His Disciples : "At that day ye shall know that I am 
 
 A 
 
''LOVE THAT PASSETH KNOWLEDGE." 11 
 
 in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. He that hath My 
 commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me : 
 and lie that loveth Me shall be loved by Mij Father''^ (xiv. 20,21). 
 J Think of the great God who created heaven and earth loving 
 you and me! . . . "If a man love Me, he ^vill keep My 
 words; and My Father will love him; and We will come unto 
 him, and make Our ahode with him" [v. 23). 
 
 Would to God that our puuy minds could grasp this great 
 J truth, that the Father and the Son so love us that They desire 
 to come and abide with us. Not to tarry for a night, but to 
 come and ahids in our hearts. 
 
 We have another passage more wonderful still in John 
 xvii. 23. "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." I 
 think that is one of the most remarkable sayings that ever fell 
 from the lips of Jesus Christ, There is no reason why the 
 Father should not love him. He was obedient unto death; 
 He never transgressed the Father's law, or turned aside from 
 the path of perfect obedience by one hair's breadth. It is very 
 ^different with us; and yet, notwithstanding all our rebellion 
 and foolishness. He says that if we are trusting in Christ, the 
 Father loves us as He loves the Sou. Marvellous love ! Won- 
 derful love! That God can po^^sibly love us as He loves His 
 own Son seems too good to be true. Yet that is the teaching 
 of Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is hard to make a sinner believe in this unchangeable 
 lore of God. When a man has wandered away from God he 
 thinks that God hates him. We must make a distinction 
 between sin and the sinner. God loves the sinner; but he 
 hates the sin. He hates sin, because it mars human life. 
 It is just because God loves the sinner that He hates sin. 
 
 God's love is not only unchangeable, but unfailimj. In 
 Isaiah xlix. 15, 16 we read: "Can a woman forget her sucking 
 
12 THE ^yAY TO GOD. 
 
 child that she should not have compassion on the sou of her 
 womb? yea, they may forget; yet will I not forget thee. Be- 
 hold I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy 
 walls are continually before Me." 
 
 Now the strongest human love that we know of is a 
 mother s love. Many things will separate a man from his wife. 
 A father may turn his back on his child; brothers and sisters 
 may become inveterate enemies; husbands may desert their 
 wives; wives, their husbands. But a mother's love endures 
 through all. In good repute, in bad repute, in the face of the 
 world's condemnation, a mother loves on, and hopes that her 
 child may turn from his e\dl ways and repent. She remem- 
 bers the infant smiles, the merry laugh of childhood, the 
 promise of youth ; and she can never be brought to think him 
 unworthy. Death cannot quench a mother's love; it is 
 stronger than death. 
 
 You have seen a mother watching over her sick child. 
 How willingly she would take the disease into her own body 
 if she could thus relieve her child ! Week after ^\ eek she will 
 keep watch ; she wdll let no one else take care of that sick child. 
 
 A friend of mine, some time ago, was visiting in a beauti- 
 ful home where he met a number of friends. After they had 
 all gone away, having left something behind, he went back to 
 get it. There he found the lady of the house, a wealthy lady, 
 sitting behind a poor fellow who looked like a tramp. He was 
 her own son. Like the prodigal, he had wandered far away: 
 yet the mother said, " This is my boy; I love him still." Take 
 / a mother with nine or ten children, if one goes astray, she 
 seems to love that one more than any of the rest. 
 
 A leading minister in the state of New York once told me 
 of a father who was a very bad character. The mother did all 
 she could to prevent the contamination of the boy ; but the 
 influence of the father was stronger, and he led his son into 
 
^'LOVE THAT PASSETH KNOWLEDGE.*' 13 
 
 all kinds of sin until the lad became one of the worst of 
 criminals. He committed murder, and was put on his trial. 
 All through the trial, the widowed mother (for the father had 
 died) sat in the court. When the witnesses testified against 
 the boy it seemed to hurt the mother much more than the son. 
 When he was found f^'uilty and sentenced to die, every one else 
 feeling the justice of the verdict, seemed satisfied at the result. 
 But the mother's love never faltered. She begged for a 
 reprieve; but that was denied. After the execution she craved 
 for the body ; and this also was refused. According to custom, 
 it was buried in the prison yard. A little while afterwards 
 the mother herself died ; but, before she was taken away, she 
 
 7^ expressed a desire to be buried by the side of her boy. She 
 was not ashamed of being known as the mother of a murderer. 
 The story is told of a young woman in Scotland, who left 
 her home, and became an outcast in Glasgow. Her mother 
 sought her far and wide, but in vain. At last, she caused her 
 picture to be hung upon the walls of the Midnight Mission 
 rooms, where abandoned women resorted. Many gave the 
 picture a passing glance. One lingered by the picture. It is 
 the same dear face that looked down upon her in her childhood. 
 She has not forgotten nor cast off her sinning child; or her 
 picture would never have been hung upon those walls. The 
 lips seemed to open, and whisper, "Come home; I forgive you, 
 and love you still." The poor girl sank down overwhelmed 
 
 _, with her feelings. She was the prodigal daughter. The 
 sight of her mother's face had broken her heart. She became 
 truly penitent for her sins, and with a heart full of sorrow and 
 shame, returned to her forsaken home; and mother and 
 daughter were once more united. 
 
 But let me tell you that no mother's love is to be com- 
 pared with the love of God; it does not measure the height or 
 the depth of God's love. No mother in i\\\^ world ever 
 loved her child as God loves you and me. Think of the love 
 
-h 
 
 4- 
 
 14 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 that God must have had when He gave His Son to die for the 
 world. I used to think a good deal more of Christ than I did 
 of the Father. Somehow or other I had the idea that God 
 was a stern judge; that Christ came between me and God, and 
 appeased the anger of God. But after I became a father, and 
 for years had an only son, as I looked at my boy I thought of 
 the Father giving His Son to die ; and it seemed to me aa if it 
 required more love for the Father to give His Son than for the ^ 
 Son to die. Oh, the love that God must have had for the 
 world when He gave His Son to die for it! "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 iii, 16). I have never been able to preach from that 
 text. I have often thought I would ; but it is so high that I 
 can never climb to its height; I have just quoted it and 
 passed on. Who can fathom the depth of those words : "God 
 h so loved the world?" We can never scale the heights of His 
 • love or fathom its depths. Paul prayed that he might 
 know the height, the depth, the length, and the breadth, of 
 the love of God; but it was past his finding out. It '^passeth 
 knowledge" (Eph. iii. 19). 
 
 Nothing speaks to us of the love of God, like the cross of 
 Christ. Come with me to Calvary, and look upon the Son of 
 God as He hangs there. Can you hear that piercing cry from 
 His dying lips : "Father, forgive them; for they know not 
 what they do!"' and say that He does not love you? "Greater 
 love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for 
 his friends" (John xv. 13). But Jesus Christ laid down His 
 life for Iiis enemies. 
 
 Another thought is this : He loved us long before we ever 
 thought of Him, The idea that he does not love us until we 
 first love Him is not to be found in Scripture. In 1 John iv. 
 10, it is written : "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but 
 that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for 
 
"L O VE THA T PA SSETH KNO WLEDGE. " 15 
 
 our sins." He loved us before we ever thought of loving Him. 
 You loved your children before they knew anything about 
 your love. And so, long before we ever thought of God, we 
 were in His thoughts. 
 
 What brought the prodigal home? It was the thought 
 that his father loved him. Suppose the news had reached 
 him that he was cast off, and that his father did not care for 
 him anymore, would he have gone back? Never! But the 
 thought dawned upon him that his father loved him still : so 
 he rose up, and went back to his home. Dear reader, the 
 love of the Father ought to bring us back to Him. It was 
 Adam's calamity and sin that revealed God's love. When 
 Adam fell God came down and dealt in mercy with him. If 
 any one is lost it Avill not be because God does not love him : 
 it will be because he has resisted the love of God. 
 
 What will make Heaven attractive? Is it the pearly gates 
 or the golden streets? No. Heaven will be attractive, be- 
 cause there we shall behold Him who loved us so much as to 
 give His only-begotten Son to die for us. What makes home 
 attractive? Is it the beautiful furniture and stately rooms? 
 No; some homes with all these are like whited sepulchres. In 
 Brooklyn a mother was dying; and it was necessary to take 
 her child from her, because the little child could not under- 
 stand the nature of the sickness, and disturbed her mother 
 Every night the child sobbed herself to sleep in a neighbor's 
 house, because she wanted to go back to her mother's; but 
 the mother grew worse, and they could not take the child 
 home. At last the mother died ; and after her death they 
 thought it best not to let the child see her dead mother in her 
 cofBn. After the burial the child ran into one room crying 
 "Mamma! mamma!" and then into another crying "Mamma! 
 mamma!" and so went over the whole house: and when the 
 little creature failed to find that loved one she cried to be taken 
 
16 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 back to the neighbors. So what makes heaven attractive is 
 the thought that we shall see Christ who has loved us and 
 given Himself for us. 
 
 If you ask me why God should love us, I cannot tell. I 
 suppose it is because He is a true Father. It is His nature to 
 love; just as it is the nature of the sun to shine. He wants 
 you to share in that love. Do not let unbelief keep you away 
 from Him. Do not think that, because you are a sinner, God 
 does not love you, or care for you. He does ! He wants to 
 save you and bless you. 
 
 "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ 
 died for the ungodly" (Kom. v. 6). Is that not enough to con- 
 vince you that He loves you? He would not have died for you 
 if He had not loved you. Is your heart so hard that you can 
 brace yourself up against His love, and spurn and despise it? 
 You can do it ; but it will be at your peril. 
 
 I can imagine some saying to themselves, "Yes, we be- 
 lieve that God loves us, if we love Him ; we believe that God 
 loves the pure and the holy." Let me say, my friend, not 
 only does God love the pure and the holy : He also loves the 
 ungodly. "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, 
 while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. v. 8). God 
 sent him to die for the sins of the whole world. If you belong 
 to the world, then you have part and lot in this love that has 
 been exhibited in the cross of Christ. 
 
 There is a passage in Revelation (i. o.) which I think a 
 great deal of — "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us." 
 It might be thought that God would first wash us, and then 
 love us. But no, He first loved us. About eight years ago 
 the whole country was intensely excited about Charlie Ross, a 
 child of four years old, who was stolen. Two men in a gig 
 asked him and an elder brother if they wanted some candy. 
 They then drove away vsdth the younger boy, leaving the elder 
 
"LOVE THAT PASSETH KNOWLEDGE.'' 17 
 
 one. For many years a search has been made in every State 
 and territory. Men have been over to Great Britain, France, 
 and Germany, and have hunted in vain for the child. The 
 mother still hves in the hope that she will see her long lost 
 Charlie. I never remember the whole country to have been 
 so much agitated about any event unless it was the assassin- 
 ation of President Garfield. Well, suppose the mother of 
 Charlie Ross were in some meeting; and that while the 
 preacher was speaking, she happened to look down amongst 
 the audience and see her long lost son. Suppose that he was 
 poor, dirty and ragged, shoeless and coatless, what would she 
 do ? Would she wait till he was washed and decently clothed 
 before she would acknowledge him? No, she would get off 
 the platform at once, rush towards him and take him in her 
 arms. After that she would cleanse and clothe him. So it is 
 with God. He loved us, and washed us. I can imagine one 
 saying, "If God loves me, why does He not make me good?" 
 God wants sons and daughters in heaven; He does not want 
 machines or slaves. He could break our stubborn hearts, but 
 He wants to draw us towards Himself by the cords of love. 
 
 He wanted you to sit down with Him at the marriage sup- 
 per of the Lamb; to wash you, and make you whiter than 
 snow. He wants you to walk with Him the crystal pavement 
 of yonder blissful world. He v;ants to adopt you into His 
 family; and to make you a son or a daughter of heaven. Will 
 you trample His love under your feet? or will you, this hour, 
 give yourself to Him? 
 
 When our terrible civil war was going on, a mother re- 
 ceived the news that her boy had been wounded in the battle 
 of the Wilderness. She took the first train, and started for 
 her boy, although the order had gone forth from the War 
 Department that no more women should be admitted within 
 tfee lines. But a mother's love knows nothing about orders; 
 
18 THE WAY TO OOD. 
 
 so she managed by tears and entreaties to get through the 
 lines to the Wilderness. At last she found the hospital where 
 her boy was. Then she went to the doctor and she said : 
 •' Will you let me go to the ward jind nurse my boy?" 
 
 The doctor said: " I have just got your boy to sleep; he 
 is in a very critical state ; and I am afraid if you wake him up 
 the excitement will be so great that it will carry him off. You 
 had better wait awhile, and remain without until I tell him 
 that you have come, and break the news gradually to him." 
 The mother looked into the doctor's face and said : " Doctor, 
 supposing my boy does not wake up, and I should never see 
 him alive! Let me go and sit down by his side; I won't 
 speak to him." " If you will not speak to him you may 
 do so," said the doctor. 
 
 She crept to the cot and looked into the face of her boy. 
 How she had longed to look at him ! How her eyes seemed 
 to be feasting as she gazed upon his countenance! When she 
 got near enough she could not keep her hands off; she laid 
 that tender, loving hand upon his brow. The moment the 
 hand touched the forehead of her boy, he, without opening 
 his eyes, cried out: "Mother, you have come!" He knew 
 the touch of that loving hand. There was love and sympathy 
 in it. 
 
 Ah, sinner, if you feel the loving touch of Jesus you will 
 recognize it; it is so full of tenderness. The world may treat 
 you unkindly ; but Christ never will. You will never have a 
 better Friend in this world. What you need is — to come to- 
 day to Him. Let His loving arm be underneath you; let His 
 loving hand be about j^ou ; and He will hold you with mighty 
 power. He will keep you, and fill that heart of yours with 
 His tenderness and love. 
 
 I can imagine some of you saying, " How shall I go to 
 Him?" Why, just as you would go to your mother. Have 
 
"LOVE THAT PASSETH KNOWLEDGE." 19 
 
 you done your mother a great injury and a great wrong? If 
 so, you go to her and you say, *' Mother, I want you to for- 
 give me." Treat Christ in the same way. Go to Him to-day 
 and tell Him that you have not loved Him, that you have not 
 treated Him right ; confess you sins, and see how quickly He 
 will bless you. 
 
 I am reminded of another incident — that of a hoy who 
 had been tried by court-martial and ordered to be shot. The 
 hearts of the father and mother were broken when they heard 
 the news. In that home was a little girl. She had read the 
 life of Abraham Lincoln, and she said: "Now, if Abraham 
 Lincoln knew how my father and mother loved their boy, he 
 would not let my brother be shot." She wanted her father to 
 go to Washington to plead for his boy. But the father said : 
 "No; there is no use; the law must take its course. They 
 have refused to pardon one or two who have been sentenced 
 by that court-martial, and an order has gone forth that the 
 President is not going to interfere again ; if a man has been 
 sentenced by court-martial he must suffer the consequences." 
 That father and mother had not faith to believe that their boy 
 might be pardoned. 
 
 But the little girl was strong in hope; she got on the train 
 away up in Vermont, and started off to Washington. When 
 she reached the White House the soldiers refused to let her in; 
 but she told her pitiful story, and they allowed her to pass. 
 When she got to the Secretary's room, where the President's 
 private secretary was, he refused to allow her to enter the 
 private office of the President. But the little girl told her 
 story, and it touched the heart of the private secretary; so he 
 passed her in. As she went into Abraham Lincoln's room, 
 there were United States senators, generals, governors and 
 leading politicians, who were there about important business 
 ftbout the war; but the President happened to see that child 
 
20 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 standing at his door. He wanted to know what she wanted, 
 and she went right to him and told her story in her own lan- 
 guage. He was a father, and the great tears trickled down 
 Abraham Lincoln's cheeks. He wrote a dispatch and sent it 
 to the army to have that boy sent to Washington at once. 
 When he arrived, the President pardoned him, gave him thirty 
 days' furlough, and sent him home with the little girl to cheer 
 the hearts of the father and mother. 
 
 Do you want to know how to go to Christ? Go just as 
 that little girl went to Abraham Lincoln. It may be possible 
 that you have a dark story to tell. Tell it all out ; keep noth- 
 ing back. If Abraham Lincoln had compassion on that little 
 girl, heard her petition and ansvrered it, do you think the 
 Lord Jesus will not hear your prayer? Do you think that 
 Abraham Lincoln, or any man that ever lived on earth, had 
 as much compassion as Christ? No! He will be touched when 
 no one else will ; He will have mercy when no one else will ; 
 He will have pity when no one else will. If you will go right 
 to Him, confessing your sin and your need. He will save you. 
 
 A few years ago a man left England and went to America. 
 He was an Englishman ; but he was naturalized, and so be- 
 came an American citizen. After a few years he felt restless 
 and dissatisfied, and went to Cuba; and after he had been in 
 Cuba a little while civil war broke out there; it was in 1867; 
 and this man was arrested by the Spanish government as a 
 spy. He was tried by court-martial, found guilty and ordered 
 to be shot. The whole trial was conducted in the Spanish 
 language, and the poor man did not know what was going on. 
 When they~told him the verdict, that he was found guilty and 
 had been condemned to be shot, he sent to the American Con- 
 sul and the English Consul, and laid the whole case before 
 them, proving his innocence and claiming protection. They 
 examined the case, and found that this man whom the Span- 
 
^LOVE THAT PASSETH KNOWLEDGE." 21 
 
 ish officers had condemned to be shot was perfectly innocent ; 
 they went to the Spanish General and said, "Look here, this 
 man whom you have condemned to death is an innocent man ; 
 he is not guilty." But the Spanish General said, '• He has 
 been tried by our law; he has been found guilty; he must 
 die." There was no electric cable; and these men could not 
 consult with their governments. 
 
 The morning came on which the man was to be executed. 
 He was brought out sitting on hig coffin in a cart, and drawn 
 to the place where he was to be executed. A grave was dug. 
 They took the coffin out of the cart, placed the young, man 
 upon it, took the black cap, and were just pulling it down over 
 his face. The Spanish soldiers awaited the order to fire. But 
 just then the American and English Consuls rode up. The 
 English Consul sprang out of the carriage and took the union 
 jack, the British flag, and wrapped it around the man, and the 
 American Consul wrapped around him the star-spangled ban- 
 ner, and then turning to the Spanish officers they said: "Fire 
 upon those flags, if you dare. " They did not dare to fire upon 
 the flags. There were two great governments behind those 
 flags. That was the secret of it. 
 
 "He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner 
 over me was love. . . . His left hand is under my head 
 and His right hand doth embrace me" (Song Sol. ii. 4, 6). 
 Thank God we can come under the banner to-day if we will. 
 Any poor sinner can come under that banner to-day. His 
 banner of love is over us. Blessed Gospel; blessed, precious, 
 news. Believe it to-day; receive it into your heart; and enter 
 into a new life. Let the love of God be shed abroad in your 
 heart by the Holy Ghost to-day: it will drive away darkness; 
 it will drive away gloom; it will drive away sin; and peace 
 and joy shall be yours. 
 
!22 THE V^At TO GOl>. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE GATEWAY INTO THE KINGDOM. 
 
 " Except a man be bom again he cannot enter the kingdom of God." 
 
 (John iii. 3.) 
 
 There is no portion of the Word of God, perhaps, with 
 which we are more famihar than this passage. I suppose if I 
 were to ask those in any audience if they beheved that Jesus 
 Christ taught the doctrine of the New Birth, nine tenths of 
 them would say: "Yes, I beHeve He did." 
 
 Now if the words of this text are true they embody one of 
 the most solemn questions that can come before us. We can 
 afford to be deceived about many things rather than about 
 this one thing. Christ makes it very plain. He says, "Ex- 
 cept a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God" 
 — much less inherit it. This doctrine of the New Birth is 
 therefore the foundation of all our hopes for the world to come. 
 It is really the A B C of the Christian religion. My experi- 
 ence has been this — that if a man is unsound on this doctrine 
 he will be unsound on almost every other fundamental doc- 
 trine in the Bible. A true understanding of this subject will 
 help a man to solve a thousand difficulties that he may meet 
 with in the Word of God. Things that before seemed very 
 dark and mysterious will become very plain. 
 
 The doctrine of the New Birth upsets all false religion — 
 all false views about the Bible and about God. A friend of 
 mine once told me that in one of his after-meetings, a man 
 came to him with a long list of questions written out for him 
 io dusker. He said : '• If you can answer these questions sat- 
 
'THE GATEWAY INTO THE KINGDOM. ^3 
 
 isfactorily, I have made up my mind to be a Christian." '* Do 
 you not think," said my friend, " that you hau better come to 
 Christ first? Then you can look into these questions." The 
 man thought that perhaps he had better do so. After he had 
 received Christ, he looked again at his list of questions; but 
 then it seemed to him as if they had all been answered. Nico- 
 demus came with his troubled mind, and Christ said to him, 
 '• Ye must be born again." He was treated altogether differ- 
 ently from what he expected ; but I venture to say that was 
 the most blessed night in all his life. To be "born again" is 
 the greatest blessing that will ever come to us in this world. 
 
 Notice how the Scripture puts it. *' Except a man be born 
 again," " born from above,"* " born of the Spirit." From 
 amongst a number of other passages where we find this word 
 "EXCEPT," I would just name three. " Except ye repent, ye 
 shall all likewise perish." (Luke xiii. 3, 5.) "Except ye be 
 converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter in- 
 to the kingdom of heaven." (Matt, xviii. 8.) " Except your 
 righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes 
 and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven." (Matt. v. 20.) They all really mean the same 
 thing. 
 
 I am so thankful that our Lord spoke of the New Birth to 
 this ruler of the Jews, this doctor of the law, rather than to 
 the woman at the well of Samaria, or to Matthew the publican, 
 or to Zaccheus. If He had reserved his teaching on this great 
 matter for these three, or such as these, peoj)le would have 
 said: " Oh yes, these publicans and harlots need to be con- 
 verted : but I am an upright man ; I do not' need to be con- 
 verted." I suppose Nicodemus was one of the best specimens 
 of the people of Jerusalem : there was nothing on record 
 against him. 
 
 *John iii. 3. Marginal reading. 
 
24 THE WAf TO GOB. 
 
 I think it is scarcely necessary for me to prove that we 
 need to be born again before we are meet for heaven. I ven- 
 ture to say that there is no candid man but would say he is 
 not fit for the kingdom of God, until he is born of another 
 Spirit. The Bible teaches us that man by nature is lost and 
 guilty, and our experience confirms this. We know also that 
 the best and holiest man, if he turn away from God, will very 
 soon fall into sin. 
 
 Now, let mo say what Eegeneration is not. It is not go- 
 ing to church. Very often I see people, and ask them if they 
 are Christians. '* Yes, of course I am; at least, I think lam: 
 I go to church every Sunday." Ah, but this is not Regenera- 
 tion. Others say, '*I am trying to do what is right — am I 
 not a Christian? Is not that a new birth?" No. "What has 
 that to do with being born again? There is yet another class 
 — those who have " turned over a new leaf," and think they 
 are regenerated. No ; forming a new resolution is not being 
 born again. 
 
 Nor will being baptized do you any good. Yet you hear 
 people say, " Why, I have been baptized; and 1 was born again 
 when I was baptized." They believe that because they were 
 baptized into the church, they were baptized into the Kingdom 
 of God. I tell you that it is utterly impossible. You may be 
 baptized into the church, and yet not be baptized into the Son 
 of God. Baptism is all right in its place. God forbid that I 
 should say anything against it. But if you put that in the 
 place of Regeneration — in the place of the New Birth — it is a 
 terrible mistake. You cannot be baptized into the Kingdom of 
 God. " Except a man be bokn again, he cannot see the King- 
 dom of God." If any one reading this rests his hopes on any- 
 thing else — on any other foundation — I pray that God may 
 sweep it away. 
 
!tHE GATEWAY INTO THE KINGDOM. ^5 
 
 Another class say, " I go to the Lord's Supper; I partake 
 uniformly of the Sacrament." Blessed ordinance! Jesus 
 hath said that as often as ye do it ye commemorate His death. 
 Yet, that is not being '' born again;" that is not passing from 
 death unto life. Jesus says plainly — and so plainly that there 
 need not be any mistake about it — '* Except a man be born of 
 the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." What 
 has a sacrament to do with that? What has going to church 
 to do with being born again ? 
 
 Another man comes up and says, " I say my prayers reg- 
 ularly." Still I say that is not being born of the Spirit. It is 
 a very solemn question, then, that comes up before us ; and oh I 
 that every reader would ask himself earnestly and faithfully: 
 " Have I been born again? Have I been born of the Spirit? 
 Have I passed from death unto life?" 
 
 There is a class of men who say that special religious 
 meetings are very good for a certain class of people. They 
 would be very good if you could get the drunkard there, or get 
 the gambler there, or get other vicious people there — that 
 would do a great deal of good. But "we do not need to bo 
 converted." To whom did Christ utter these words of wis- 
 dom? To Nicodemus. Who was Nicodemus? Was he a 
 diuniiard, a gambler, or a thief? No! No doubt he was one 
 of the very best men in Jerusalem. He was an honorable 
 Councillor; he belonged to the Sanhedrim; he held a very 
 high position ; he was an orthodox man ; he was one of the 
 very soundest men. And yet what did Christ say to him? 
 " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
 God." 
 
 But I can imagine some one saying, *' What am I to do? 
 I cannot create life. I certainly cannot save myself." You 
 certainly cannot ; and we do not claim that you can. We tell 
 you it is utterly impossible to make a^ man better without 
 
^6 ^HS WAt TO GOl). 
 
 Christ; but that is what men are trying to do. They are try- 
 ing to patch up this *' old Adam" nature. There must be a 
 NEW CREATION. Kegeneration is a new creation; and if it is a 
 new creation it must be the work of God. In the first chapter 
 of Genesis man does not appear. There is no one there but 
 God. Man is not there to take part. When God created the 
 earth He was alone. When Christ redeemed the world He was 
 alone. 
 
 " That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which 
 is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John iii. 6.) The Ethiopian 
 cannot change his skin, and the leopard cannot change his 
 spots. You might as well try to make yourselves pure and 
 holy without the help of God. It would be just as easy for 
 you to do that as for the black man to wash himself white. A 
 man might just as well try to leap over the moon as to serve 
 God in the flesh. Therefore, '' that which is born of the flesh 
 is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." 
 
 Now God tells us in this chapter how we are to get into 
 His kingdom. We are not to work our way in — not but that 
 salvation is worth working for. We admit all that. If there 
 were rivers and mountains in the way, it would be well worth 
 while to swim those rivers, and climb those mountains. There 
 is no doubt that salvation is worth all that effort; but we do 
 not obtain it by our works. It is " to him that worketh not, 
 but believeth " (Rom. iv. 5). We work because we are saved; 
 we do not work to be saved. We work from the cross ; but 
 not towards it. It is written, '• Work out your own salvation 
 with fear and trembling" (Phil. ii. 12). Why, you must 
 have your salvation before you can work it out. Suppose I 
 say to my little boy, '* I want you to spend that hundred dol- 
 lars carefully." " Well," he gays, *' let me have the hundred 
 dollars; and I will be careful how I spend it." I remember 
 when I first left home and went to Boston ; I had spent all my 
 
TB^ OAfEWAY INTO THE KINGDOM. 2? 
 
 money, and I went to the post-office three times a day. I 
 knew there was only one mail a day from home ; but I thought 
 by some possibihty there might be a letter for me. At last I 
 received a letter from my little sister; and oh, how glad I was 
 to get it. She had heard that there were a great many pick- 
 pockets in Boston, and a large part of that letter was to urge 
 me to be very careful not to let anybody pick my pocket. Now 
 I required to have something in my pocket before I could 
 have it picked. So you must have salvation before you can 
 work it out. 
 
 When Christ cried out on Calvary, "It is finished!" He 
 meant what He said. All that men have to do now is just to 
 accept of the work of Jesus Christ. There is no hope for man 
 or woman so long as they are trying to work out salvation for 
 themselves. I can imagine there are some people who will 
 say, as Nicodemus possibly did, "This is a very mysterious 
 thing." I see the scov^^l on that Pharisee's brow as he says, 
 "How can these things be?" It sounds very strange to his 
 ear. "Born again; born of the Spirit! How can these things 
 be?" A great many people say, "You must reason it out; but 
 if you do not reason it out, do not ask us to believe it." I can 
 imagine a great many people saying that. When you ask me 
 to reason it out, I tell you frankly I cannot do it. "The 
 wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound 
 thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it 
 goeth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit. " (John iii. 
 8.) I do not understand everything about the wind. You 
 ask me to reason it out. I cannot. It may blow due north 
 here, and a hundred miles away due south. I may go up a 
 few hundred feet, and find it blowing in an entirely opposite 
 direction from what it is down here. You ask me to explain 
 these currents of wind; but suppose that, because I cannot 
 explain them, and do not understand them, I were to take my 
 
^2^ THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 stand and assert, "Ob, there is no such thing as wind.'.* I 
 can imagine some Httle girl saying, "I know more about it 
 than that man does; often have I heard the wind, and felt it 
 blowing against my face;" and she might say, "Did not the 
 wind blow my umbrella out of my hands the other day? and 
 did I not see it blow a man's hat off in the street? Have I 
 not seen it blow the trees in the forest, and the growing corn 
 in the country?" 
 
 You might just as well tell me that there is no such 
 thing as wind, as tell me there is no such thing as a man 
 being born of the Spirit. I have felt the spirit of God working 
 in my heart, just as really and as truly as I have felt the wind 
 blowing in m^y face. I cannot reason it out. There are a great 
 many things I cannot reason out, but which I believe. I 
 never could reason out the creation. I can see the world, but 
 I cannot tell how God made it out of nothing. But almost 
 every man will admit there was a creative power. 
 
 There are a great many things that I cannot explain and 
 cannot reason out, and yet that I believe. I heard a commer- 
 cial traveler say that he had heard that the ministry and 
 religion of Jesus Christ were matters of revelation and not of 
 investigation. "When it pleased God to reveal His Son in 
 Me," says Paul (Gal. i, 15, 16). There was a party of young 
 men together, going up the country; and on their journey 
 they made up their minds not to believe anything they could 
 not reason out. An old man heard them ; and presently he 
 said, "I heard you say you would not believe anything you 
 could not reason out," "Yes," they said, "that is so." 
 "Well," he said, "coming down on the train to-day, I noticed 
 some geese, some sheep, some swine, and some cattle all 
 eating grass. Can you tell me by what process that same 
 grass was turned into hair, feathers, bristles and wool? Do 
 you beheve it is a fact?" "Oh yes," they said, "we cannot 
 
THE GATEWAY INTO THE KINGDOM. 29 
 
 help believing that, though we fail to understand it." "Well," 
 said the old man, "I cannot help believing in Jesus Christ." 
 And I cannot help believing in the regeneration of man, when 
 I see men who have been reclaimed, when I see men who have 
 been reformed. Have not some of the very worst men been 
 regenerated — been picked up out of the pit, and had their feet 
 set upon the Eock, and a new song put in their mouths? 
 Their tongues were cursing and blaspheming; and now are 
 occupied in praising God. Old things have passed away, and 
 all things have become new. They are not reformed only, but 
 REGENERATED — ncw mcu in Clirist Jesus. 
 
 Down there in the dark alleys of one of our great cities is 
 a poor drunkard. I think if you want to get near hell, you 
 should go to a poor drunkard's home. Go to the house of that 
 poor miserable drunkard. Is there anything more like hell on 
 earth? See the want and distress that reign there. But 
 hark ! A footstep is heard at the door, and the children run 
 and hide themselves. The patient wife waits to meet the 
 man. He has been her torment. Many a time she has borne 
 about the marks of his blows for weeks. Many a time that 
 strong right hand has been brought down on her defenseless 
 head. And now she waits expecting to hear his oaths and 
 suffer his brutal treatment. He comes in and says to her: "I 
 have been to the meeting ; and I heard there that if I will I 
 can be converted. I believe that God is able to save me." 
 Go down to that house again in a few weeks: and what a 
 change ! As you approach you hear some one singing. It is 
 not the song of a reveller, but the strains of that good old 
 hymn, "Kock of Ages." The children are no longer afraid of 
 the man, but cluster around his knee. His wife is near him, 
 her face lit up with a happy glow. Is not that a picture of 
 Eegeneration ? I can take you to many such homes, made 
 happy by the regenerating power of the religion of Christ. 
 
30 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 What men want is the power to overcome temptation, the 
 power to lead a right life. 
 
 The only way to get into the kingdom of God is to be 
 "born" into it. The law of this country requires that the 
 President should be born in the country. "When foreigners 
 come to our shores they have no right to complain against 
 such a law, which forbids them from ever becoming Presidents. 
 Now, has not God a right to make a law that all those who 
 become heirs of eternal life must be ** born " into His king- 
 dom? 
 
 An unregenerated man would rather be in hell than in 
 heaven. Take a man v/hose heart is full of corruption and 
 wickedness, and place him in heaven among the pure, the holy 
 and the redeemed; and he would not want to stay there. Cer- 
 tainly, if we are to be happy in heaven we must begin to make 
 a heaven here on earth. Heaven is a prepared place for a 
 prepared people. If a gambler or a blasphemer were taken 
 out of the streets of New York and placed on the crystal pave- 
 ment of heaven and under the shadow of the tree of life, he 
 would say, " I do not want to stay here." If men were taken 
 to heaven just as they are by nature, without having their 
 hearts regenerated, there would be another rebellion in heaven. 
 Heaven is filled with a company of those who have been twice 
 
 BORN. 
 
 In the 14th and 15th verses of this chapter we read " As 
 Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must 
 the Son of Man be lifted up ; that whosoever believeth in Him 
 should not perish, but have eternal life." •♦"WEOSOEVER." 
 Mark that! Let me tell you who are unsaved what God has 
 done for you. He has done everything that He could do to- 
 ward your salvation. You need not wait for God to do any- 
 thing more. In one place he asks the question, what more 
 could he have done (Isaiah v. 4). He sent His prophets, and 
 
THE GATEWAY INTO THE KINGDOM. 31 
 
 they killed them; then He sent His beloved Son, and they 
 murdered Him. Now He has sent the Holy Spirit to con- 
 vince us of sin, and to show how we are to be saved. 
 
 In this chapter we are told how men are to be saved, 
 namely, by Him who was lifted up on the cross. Just as 
 Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, so must 
 the Son of Man be lifted up, ♦' that whosoever believeth in Him 
 should not perish, but have eternal life." Some men com- 
 plain and say that it is very unreasonable that they should be 
 held responsible for the ein of a man six thousand years ago. 
 It was not long ago that a man was talking to me about 
 this injustice, as he called it. If a man thinks he is going 
 to answer God in that way, I tell you it v/ill not do him any 
 good. If you are lost, it will not be on account of Adam's sin. 
 
 Let me illustrate this; and perhaps you will be better able 
 to understand it. Suppose I am dying of consumption, which 
 I inherited from my father or mother. I did not get the dis- 
 ease by any fault of my own, by any neglect of my health; I 
 inherited it, let us suppose. A friend happens to come along: 
 he looks at me, and says: " Moody, you are in a consump- 
 tion." I reply, " I know it very well; I do not want any one 
 to tell me that." " But," he says, *' there is a remedy." 
 '* But, sir, I do not believe it. I have tried the leading 
 physicians in this country and in Europe; and they tell me 
 there is no hope." "But you know me. Moody; you have 
 known me for years." ♦' Yes, sir." " Do you think, then, I 
 would tell you a falsehood?" " No." *' Well, ten years ago 
 I was as far gone. I was given up by the physicians to die; 
 but I took this medicine and it cured me. I am perfectly 
 well: look at me." I say that it is "a very strange case." 
 " Yes, it may be strange; but it is a fact. This medicine 
 cured me : take this medicine, audit will cure you. Although 
 it has cost me a great deal, it shall not cost you anything. Do 
 
32 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 not make light of it, I beg of you." *' Well," I say, " I should 
 like to believe you; but this is contrary to my reason." 
 
 Hearing this, my friend goes away and returns with an- 
 other friend, and that one testifies to the same thing. I am 
 still disbeheving; so he goes away, and brings in another 
 friend, and another, and another, and another; and they all 
 testify to the same thing. They say they were as bad as my- 
 self ; that they took the same medicine that has been offered 
 tome; and that it has cured them. My friend then hands 
 me the medicine. I dash it to the ground ; I do not believe in 
 its saving power; I die. The reason is then that I spurned 
 the remedy. So, if you perish, it will not be because Adam 
 fell ; but because you spurned the remedy offered to save you. 
 You will choose darkness rather than light. "How then shall 
 ye escape, if ye neglect bo great salvation?" There is no hope 
 for you if you neglect the remedy. It does no good to look at 
 the wound. If we had been in the Israelitish camp and had 
 been bitten by one of the fiery serpents, it would have done us 
 no good to look at the wound. Looking at the wound will 
 never save any one. "What you must do is to look at the 
 Eemedy — look away to Him who hath power to save you 
 from your sin. 
 
 Behold the camp of the Israelites; look at the scene that 
 is pictured to your eyes! Many are dying because ihey 
 neglect the remedy that is offered. In that arid desert is 
 many a short and tiny grave; many a child has been bitten by 
 the fiery serpents. Fathers and mothers are bearing away 
 their children. Over yonder they are just burying a mother; 
 a loved mother is about to be laid in the earth. All the family, 
 weeping, gather around the beloved form. You hear the 
 mournful cries; you see the bitter tears. The father is being 
 borne a^vay to his last resting place. There is waiHng going 
 up all over the camp. Tears are pouring down for thousands 
 
THE GATEWAY INTO THE KINGDOM. 33 
 
 who have passed away; thousands more are dying; and the 
 plague is raging from one end of the camp to the other. 
 
 I see in one tent an Israehtish mother bending over the 
 form of a beloved boy just coming into the bloom of life, just 
 budding into manhood. She is wiping away the sweat of 
 death that is gathering upon his brow. Yet a little while, 
 and his eyes are fixed and glassy, for life is ebbing fast away. 
 The mother's heart-strings are torn and bleeding. All at once 
 she hears a noise in the camp. A great shout goes up. What 
 does it mean? She goes to the door of the tent. '* What is 
 the noise in the camp?" she asks those passing by. And 
 some one says : " Why, my good woman, have you not heard 
 the good news that has come into the camp?" '* No," says 
 the woman, *' Good news! What is it?" *' Why, have you 
 not heard about it? God has provided a remedy." <* What! 
 for the bitten Israelities? Oh, tell me what the remedy is!" 
 •♦ Why, God has instructed Moses to make a brazen serpent, 
 and to put it on a pole in the middle of the camp ; and He 
 has declared that whosoever looks upon it shall live. The 
 shout that you hear is the shout of the people when they see 
 the serpent lifted up." The mother goes back into the tent, 
 and she eays: " My boy, I have good news to tell you. You 
 need not die! My boy, my boy, I have come with good 
 tidings; you can live!" He is already getting stupefied; he is 
 so weak he cannot walk to the door of the tent. She puts her 
 strong arms under him and lifts him up. "Look yonder; 
 look right there under the hill!" But the boy does not see 
 anything; he says — "I do not see anything; what is it> 
 mother?" And she says: "Keep looking, and you will see 
 it." At last he catches a glimpse of the glistening serpent; 
 and lo, he is well ! And thus it is w^th many a young convert. 
 Some men say, "Oh, we do not believe in sudden conver 
 sions." How long did it take to cure that boy? How long 
 
34 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 did it take to cure those serpent-bitten Israelites? It was just 
 a look ; and they were well. 
 
 That Hebrew bey is a young convert. I can fancy that I 
 see him now calling on all those who were with him to praise 
 God. He sees another young man bitten as he was; and he 
 runs up to him and tells him, •' You need not die." ♦* Oh,' 
 the young man replies, "I cannot live; it is not possible. 
 There is not a physician in Israel who can cure me." He does 
 not know that he need not die. " Why, have you net heard 
 the news? God has provided a remedy." " What remedy?" 
 '* Why, God has told Moses to hft up a brazen serpent, and 
 has said that none of these who look upon that serpent shall 
 die." I can just imagine the young man. He may be what 
 you call an intellectual yoimg man. He says to the young 
 convert: " You do not think I am going to believe anything 
 like that? If the physicians in Israel cannot cure me, how do 
 you think that an old brass serpent on a pole is going to cure 
 me?" " Yv'hy, sir, I was as bad as yourself!" " Y^ou do not 
 say so!" "Yes, I do." ''That is the most astonishing 
 thing I ever heard," says the young man: "I wish you 
 would expla^in the philosophy of it." ** I cannot. I only 
 know that I looked at thafc serpent, and I was cured: that did 
 it. I just looked; that is all. My mother told me the re- 
 ports that were being heard through the camp; and I just be- 
 lieved what my mother said, and I am perfectly well." " AVell, 
 I do not believe you were bitten as badly as I have been." 
 The young man pulls up his sleeve. "Look there! That 
 mark shows where I was bitten ; and I tell you I was worse 
 than you are." " Y/ell, if I understood the philosophy of it I 
 would look and get well." *' Let your philosophy go : loo/; a?id 
 live/' •' But, sir, you ask me to do an unreasonable thing. 
 If God had said. Take the brass and rub it into the wound, 
 there might be something in the brass that would cure the bite. 
 
THE GATEWAY INTO THE KINGDOM. 35 
 
 Young man, explain the philosophy of it." I have often seen 
 people before me who have talked in that way. But the 
 young man calls in another, and takes him into the tent, and 
 says: '• Just tell him how the Lord saved you;" and he tells 
 just the same story; and he calls in others, and they all say 
 the same thing. 
 
 The young man says it is a very strange thing. *' If the 
 Lord had told Moses to go and get some herbs, or roots, and 
 stew them, and take the decoction as a medicine, there would 
 be something in that. But it is so contrary to nature to 
 do such a thing as look at the serpent, that I cannot do it." 
 At length his mother, who has been out in the camp, comes 
 in, and she says, " My boy, I have just the best news in 
 the world for you. I was in the camp, and I saw hun- 
 dreds who were very far gone, and they are all perfectly 
 well now." The young man says: "I should like to get 
 well; it is a very painful thought to die; I want to go into 
 the promised land, and it is terrible to die here in this wilder- 
 ness; but the fact is — I do not understand the rem.edy. It 
 does not appeal to my reason. I cannot believe that I can 
 get well in a moment." And the young man dies in conse- 
 quence of his own unbelief. 
 
 God provided a remedy for this bitten Israelite — '* Look 
 and live!" And there is eternal life for every poor sinner. 
 Look, and you can be saved, my reader, this very hour. God 
 has provided a remedy; and it is offered to all. The trouble 
 is, a great many people are looking at the pole. Do not look 
 at the pole ; that is the church. You need not look at the 
 church; the church is all right, but the church cannot save 
 you. Look beyond the pole. Look at the Crucified One. 
 Ijook to Calvary. Bear in mind, sinner, that Jesus died for 
 all. You need not look at ministers; tbry are just God's 
 chosen instruments to hold up the Remedy, to hold up Christ. 
 
36 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 And so, my friends, take your eyes off from men; take your 
 eyes off from the church. Lift them up to Jesus; who took 
 away the sin of the world, and there will be Hfe for you from 
 this hour. 
 
 Thank God, we do not require an education to teach us 
 how to look. That httle girl, that little boy, only four years 
 old, who cannot read, can look. When the father is coming 
 home, the mother says to her little boy, ' ' Look ! look I look ! " 
 and the little child learns to look long before he is a year old. 
 And that is the way to be saved. It is to look at the Lamb of 
 God *' who taketh away the sin of the world; " and there is 
 life this moment for every one who is willing to look. 
 
 Some men say, "I wish I knew how to be saved." Just 
 take God at His w^ord and trust His Son tliis very day — this 
 very hour — this very moment. He will save you, if you will 
 trust Him. I imagine I hear some one saying, *♦ I do not feel 
 the bite as much as I wish I did. I know I am a sinner, and 
 all that; but I do not feel the bite enough." How much does 
 God want you to feel it? 
 
 When I was in Belfast I knew a doctor who had a friend, 
 a leading surgeon there ; and he told me that the surgeon's 
 custom was, before performing any operation, to say to the 
 patient, *♦ Take a good look at the wound, and then fix your 
 eyes on me; and do not take them off till I get through." I 
 thought at the thne that was a good illustration. Sinner, 
 take a good look at your wound; and then fix your eyes 
 on Christ, and do not take them off. It is better to look at 
 the Eemedy than at the wound. See what a poor wretched 
 sinner you are; and then look at the Lamb of God who 
 *' taketh away the sin of the world." He died for the ungodly 
 and the sinner. Say *'I will take Him!" And may God 
 help you to lift your eye to the Man on Calvary. And as the 
 
T'HE GATEWAY" INTO THE KINGDOM. 3? 
 
 C — — — 
 
 Israelites looked upon the serpent and were healed, bo may 
 you look and live. 
 
 After the battle of Pittsburgh Landing I was in a hospital 
 at Murfreesbro.' In the middle of the night I was aroused and 
 told that a man in one of the wards wanted to see me. I 
 went to him and he called me *' chaplain " — I was not the 
 chaplain — and said he wanted me to help him die. And I 
 said, ♦' I would take you right up in my arms and carry you 
 into the kingdom of God if I could; but I cannot do it : I 
 cannot help you die!" And he said, " Who can?" I said, 
 *' The Lord Jesus Christ can — He came for that purpose." 
 He shook his head, and said, *' He cannot save me; I have 
 sinned all my life." And I said, " But He came to save sin- 
 ners." I thought of his mother in the north, and I was sure 
 that she was anxious that he should die in peace ; so I re- 
 solved I would stay with him. I prayed two or three times, 
 and repeated all the promises I could; for it was evident that 
 in a few hours he would be gone. I said I wanted to read 
 him a conversation that Christ had with a man who was anx- 
 ious about his soul. I turned to the third chapter of John. 
 His eyes were riveted on me; and when I came to the 14th 
 and 15th verses — the passage before us — he caught up the 
 words, " As Moses Hfted up the serpent in the wilderness, 
 even so must the Son of Man be lifted up ; that whosoever 
 believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." 
 He stopped me and said, "Is that there?" I said "Yes." 
 He asked me to read it again ; and I did bo. He leant his 
 elbows on the cot and clasping his hands together, said, 
 •' That's good; won't you read it again?" I read it the third 
 time ; and then went on with the rest of the chapter. When I 
 had finished, his eyes were closed, his hands were folded, and 
 there was a smile on his face. Oh, how it was lit up ! What 
 a change had come over it I I saw his lips quivering, and 
 
38 THE WAY TO OOD. 
 
 leaning over him I heard in a faint whisper, *' As Moses Hfted 
 up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of 
 Man be lifted up ; that whosoever believeth in Him should not 
 perish, but have eternal life." He opened his eyea and said, 
 "That's enough; don't read any more." He lingered a few 
 hours, pillowing his head on those two verses ; and then went 
 up in one of Christ's chariots, to take his seat in the kingdom 
 of God. 
 
 Christ said to Nicodemus : '' Except a man be born again, 
 he cannot see the kingdom of God." You may see many 
 countries; but there is one country — the land of Beulah, 
 which John Bunyan saw in vision — you shall never behold, 
 unless you are born again — regenerated by Christ. You can 
 look abroad and see many beautiful trees; but the tree of life, 
 you shall never behold, unless your eyes are made clear by 
 faith in the Saviour. You may see the beautiful rivers of the 
 earth — you may ride upon their bosoms ; but bear in mind 
 that your eye will never rest upon the river which bursts out 
 fiom the Throne of God and flows through the upper King- 
 dom, unless you are born again. God has said it; and not 
 man. You will never see the kingdom of God except you are 
 born again. You may see the kings and lords of the earth; 
 but the King of kings and Lord of lords you will never see 
 except you are born again. When you are in London you 
 may go to the Tower and see the crown of England, which is 
 worth thousands of dollars, and is guarded there by soldiers; 
 but bear in mind that your eye will never rest upon the crown 
 of life except you are born again. 
 
 You may hear the songs of Zion which are sung here ; but 
 one song — that of Moses and the Lamb — the uncircumcised 
 ear shall never hear; its melody will only gladden the ear of 
 those who have been born again. You may look upon the 
 beautiful mansions of earth, but bear in mind the man- 
 
THE GATEWAY INTO THE KINGDOM. 39 
 
 sions which Christ has gone to prepare you shall never see 
 unless you are born again. It is God who says it. You 
 may see ten thousand beautiful things in this world ; but 
 the city that Abraham caught a glimpse of — and from that 
 time became a pilgrim and sojourner — you shall never see un- 
 less you are born again (Heb. xi. 8, 10 — 16). You may often 
 be invited to marriage feasts here; but you will never attend 
 the marriage supper of the Lamb except you are born again. 
 It is God who says it, dear friend. You may be looking on 
 the face of your sainted mother to-night, and feel that she is 
 praying for you; but the time will come when you shall never 
 see her more unless you are born again. 
 
 The reader may be a young man or a young lady who has 
 recently stood by the bedside of a dying mother; and she may 
 have said, '' Be sure and meet me in heaven," and you made 
 the promise. Ah ! you shall never see her more, except you 
 are born again. I believe Jesus of Nazareth, sooner than 
 those infidels who say you do not need to be born again. 
 Parents, if you hope to see your children who have gone be- 
 fore, yor 2nust be born of the Spirit. Possibly you are a 
 father or a mother who has recently borne a loved one to the 
 grave ; and how dark your home seems ! Never more will you 
 see your child, unless you are born again. If you wish to be 
 re-united to your loved one, you must be born again. I may 
 be addressing a father or a mother who has a loved one up 
 yonder. If you could hear that loved one's voice, it would 
 say, " Come this way." Have you a sainted friend up yon- 
 der? Yoimg man or young lady, have you not a mother in 
 the world of light? If you could hear her speak, would not 
 she say, " Come this way, my son," — *' Come this way, my 
 daughter ?" If you would ever see her more you must be 
 born again. 
 
46 THE WAY TO OOb. 
 
 We all have an Elder Brother there. Nearly nineteen 
 hundred years ago He crossed over, and from the heavenly 
 shores He is calling you to heaven. Let us turn our backs 
 upon the world. Let us give a deaf ear to the world. Let 
 us look to Jesus on the Cross and be saved. Then we shall 
 one day see the King in His beauty, and we shall go no more 
 out. 
 
TME ioWO CLAUSES. 41 
 
 CHAPTER III, 
 THE TWO CLASSES, 
 
 ••• Two men went up into the tomplo to pray." — ^Lxjke xvli. 10. 
 
 I NOW want to speak of two classes : First, those who do 
 not feel their need of a Saviour who have not been convinced 
 of sin by the Spirit; and Second, those who are convinced of 
 sin and cry, '* What must I do to be saved?" 
 
 All inquirers can be ranged under two heads : they have 
 either the spirit of the Pharisee, or the spirit of the publican. 
 If a man having the spirit of the Pharisee comes into an 
 after-meeting, I know of no better portion of Scripture to meet 
 his case than Romans iii. ^10: **As it is written, There is 
 none righteous, no, not one : there is none that understandeth ; 
 there is none that seeketh after God." Paul is here speaking 
 of the natural man. " They are all gone out of the way, they 
 are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth 
 good, no, not one." And in the 17th verse and those which 
 follow, we have " And the way of peace have they not known; 
 there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know what 
 things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under 
 the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world 
 may become guilty before God." 
 
 Then observe the last clause of verse 22 : " For there is 
 no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory 
 of God." Not part of the human family — but all — "have 
 sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Another verse 
 which has been very much used to convict men of their sin is 
 
42 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 1 John i. 8: " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive 
 ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 
 
 I remember that on one occasion we were holding meetings 
 in an eastern city of forty thousand inhabitants; and a lady 
 came and asked us to pray for her husband, whom she pur- 
 posed bringing into the after meeting. I have traveled a good 
 deal and met many pharisaical men ; but this man was so clad 
 in self -righteousness that you could not get the point of the 
 needle of conviction in anywhere. I said to his wife: "I 
 am glad to see your faith; but we cannot get near him; he is 
 the most self-righteous man I ever saw." She said: "You 
 viust! My heart will break if these meetings end without his 
 conversion." She persisted in bringing him ; and I got almost 
 tired of the sight of him. 
 
 But towards the close of our meetings of thirty days, he 
 came up to me and put his trembling hand on my shoulder. 
 The place in which the meetings were held was rather cold, 
 and there was an adjoining room in which only the gas had 
 been lighted; and he said to me, *' Can't you come in here for 
 a few minutes?" I thought that he was shaking from cold, 
 and I did not particularly wish to go where it v>^as colder. But 
 he said: **I am the worst man in the State of Vermont. I 
 want you to pray for me." I thought he had committed a 
 murder, or some other awful crime; and I asked: "Is there 
 any one sin that particularly troubles you?" And he said: 
 "My whole life has been a sin. I have been a conceited, self- 
 righteous Pharisee. I -want you to pray for me." He was 
 under deep conviction. Man could not have produced this 
 result; but the Spirit had. About two o'clock in the morning 
 light broke in upon his soul: and he went up and down the 
 business street of the city and told what God had done for 
 him ; and has been a most active Christian ever since. 
 
THE TWO CLASSES. 43 
 
 There are four other passages in deahng with mquirers, 
 which were used by Christ Himself. " Verily, verily, I say 
 unto thee, Except a raan bo born again, he cannot see the 
 kingdom of God." (John iii. 3.) 
 
 In Luke xiii. 3, we read: "Except ye repent, ye shall all 
 likewise perish." 
 
 In Matthew xviii., when the disciples came to Jesus to 
 know who was to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, 
 we are told that He took a little child and set him in the midst 
 and said, " Verily I say unto you. Except ye be converted, 
 and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom 
 of heaven" (xviii. 1-3). 
 
 There is another important "Except" in Matthew v. 20: 
 "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of 
 the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter the king- 
 dom of heaven." 
 
 A man must be made meet before he will want to go into 
 the kingdom of God. I would rather go into the kingdom 
 with the younger brother than stay outside with the elder. 
 Heaven would be hell to such an one. An elder brother who 
 could not rejoice at his younger brother's return would not be 
 "fit" for the kingdom of God. It is a solemn thing to con- 
 template; but the curtain drops and leaves him outside, and 
 the younger brother within. To him the language of the 
 Saviour under other circumstances seems appropriate : "Ver- 
 ily I say unto you. That the publicans and the harlots go into 
 the kingdom of God before you" (Matt. xxi. 31). 
 
 A lady once came to me and wanted a favor for her daugh- 
 ter. She said : *' You must remember I do not sympathize 
 with you in your doctrine." I asked: "What is your 
 trouble?" She said : "I think your abuse of the elder brother 
 is horrible. I think he is a noble character." I said that I 
 was williag to hear her defend him ; but that it was a solemn 
 
44 THE Way fo OOD. 
 
 thing to take up such a position ; and that the elder brother 
 needed to be converted as much as the younger. When peo- 
 ple talk of being moral it is well to get them to take a good 
 look at the old man pleading with his boy who would not 
 go in. 
 
 But we will pass on now to the other class with which we 
 have to deal. It is composed of those vrho are convinced of 
 sin and from whom the cry comes as from the Philippian 
 jailer, *' What must I do to be saved?" To those who utter 
 this penitential cry there is no necessity to administer the law. 
 It is well to bring them straight to the Scripture : "Believe 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 
 xvi. 31). Many will meet you with a scowl and say, *' I don't 
 know what it is to believe ; and though it is the law of heaven 
 that they must believe, in order to be saved — yet they ask for 
 something besides that. We are to tell them what, and where, 
 and how, to believe. 
 
 In John iii. 35 and 36 we read : "The Father loveth the 
 Son, and hath given all things into His hand. He that be- 
 lieveth on the Son hatk everlasting life; and he that believeth 
 not the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth 
 on him." 
 
 Now this looks reasonable. Man lost life by unbelief — by 
 not believing God's word; and we got life back again by be- 
 lieving—by taking God at His word. In other words we get 
 up where Adam fell down. He stumbled and fell over the 
 stone of unbelief; and we are lifted up and stand upright by 
 believing. When people say they cannot believe, show them 
 chapter and verse, and hold them right to this one thing : 
 "Has God ever broken His promise for these six thousand 
 years?" The devil and men have been trying all the time and 
 have not succeeded in showing that He has broken a single 
 promise; and there would be a jubilee in hell to-day if one word 
 
THE TWO CLASSES. 45 
 
 that He has spoken could be broken. If a man says that he 
 cannot beheve it is well to press him on that one thing. 
 
 I can believe God better to-day than I can my own heart. 
 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately 
 wicked : who can know it?" (Jer. xvii. 9). I can believe God 
 better than I can myself. If you want to know the way 
 of Life, believe that Jesus Christ is a personal Saviour; cut 
 away from all doctrines and creeds, and come right to 
 the heart of the Son of God. If you have been feeding on 
 dry doctrine there is not much growth on that kind of food. 
 Doctrines are to the soul what the streets which lead to the 
 house of a friend who has invited me to dinner are to the 
 body. They will lead me there if I take the right one ; but if 
 I remain in the streets my hunger will never be satisfied. 
 Feeding on doctrines is like trying to live on dry husks; and 
 lean indeed must the soul remain which partakes not of the 
 Bread sent down from heaven. 
 
 Some ask : *' How am I to get my heart warmed?" It is 
 by believing. You do not get power to love and serve God 
 until you believe. 
 
 The apostle John says : " If we receive the witness of men, 
 the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God 
 which He hath testified of His Son. He that believeth on the 
 Son of God hath the witness in himself : he that believeth 
 not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the 
 record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, 
 that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His 
 Son. He that hath the Son hath life ; and ho that hath not 
 the Son of God hath not life " (1 John v. 9). 
 
 Human affairs would come to a standstill if we did not 
 take the testimony of men. How should we get on in the 
 ordinary intercourse of life, and how would commerce get on, 
 if we disregarded men's testimony? Things social and com- 
 
46 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 mercial would come to a dead-lock within forty-eight hours f 
 This is the drift of the apostle's argument here. " If we re- 
 ceive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater." God 
 has borne witness to Jesus Christ. And if man can believe 
 his fellow men who are frequently telling untruths and whom 
 we are constantly finding unfaithful, why should we not take 
 God at His word and believe His testimony? 
 
 Faith is a belief in testimony. It is not a leap in the dark, 
 as some tell us. That would be no faith at all. God does 
 not ask any man to believe without giving him something to 
 believe. You might as well ask a man to see without eyes ; to 
 hear without ears ; and to walk without feet — as to bid him 
 believe without giving him something to believe. 
 
 When I started for California I procured a guide-book. 
 This told me, that after leaving the State of Illinois, I should 
 cross the Mississippi, and then the Missouri; get into Ne- 
 braska ; then over the Rocky Mountains to the Mormon set- 
 tlement at Salt Lake City, and by the way of the Sierra 
 Nevada into San Francisco. I found the guide book all right as 
 I went along; and I should have been a miserable sceptic if, 
 having proved it to be correct three-fourthe of the way, I had 
 said that I would not believe it for the remainder of the 
 journey. 
 
 Suppose a man, in directing me to the Post Office, gives 
 me ten landmarks; and that, in my progress there, I find nine 
 of them to be as he told me; I should have good reason to 
 believe that I was coming to the Post OfQce. 
 
 And if, by believing, I get a new life, and a hope, a peace, 
 a joy, and a rest to my soul, that I never had before; if I get 
 self-control, and find that I have a power to resist evil and to 
 do good, I have pretty good proof that I am in the right road 
 to the *' city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker 
 is God." And if things have taken place, and are now taking 
 
THE TWO CLASSES. 47 
 
 place, as recorded in God's Word, I have good reason to con- 
 clude that what yet remains will be fulfilled. And yet people 
 talk of doubting. There can be no true faith where there is 
 fear. Faith is to take God at His word, unconditionally. 
 There cannot be true peace wiiere there is fear. "Perfect 
 love casteth out fear." How wretched a wife would be if she 
 doubted her husband! and how miserable a mother would feel 
 if after her boy had gone away from home she had reason, 
 from his neglect, to question that son's devotion ! True love 
 never has a doubt. 
 
 There are three things indispensable to faith— knowledge, 
 assent, and appropriation. 
 
 We must know God. " And this is life eternal, that they 
 might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom 
 Thou hast sent" (John xvii. 3). Then we must not only 
 give our assent to what we know ; but we must lay hold of the 
 truth. If a man simply give his assent to the plan of salva- 
 tion, it will not save him : he must accept Christ as his 
 Saviour. He must receive and appropriate Him. 
 
 Some say they cannot tell how a man's life can be affected 
 by his belief. But let some one cry out that some building in 
 which we happen to be sitting, is on fire; and see how soon 
 we should act on our belief and get out. We are all the time 
 influenced by wliat we believe. We cannot help it. And let 
 a man believe the r(;Cord that God has given of Christ, and it 
 will very quickly affect his whole life. 
 
 Take John v. 24. There is enough truth in that one verse 
 for every soul to rest upon for salvation. It does not admit 
 the shadow of a doubt. '* Verily, verily" — which means 
 truly, truly — " I say unto you, Ho that hearetli My word, and 
 bc'lievcth on Him that Bent Me, hath — hatJi — everlasting life, 
 and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from 
 death unto life," 
 
48 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 Now if a person really hears the word of Jesus and believes 
 with the heart on God who sent the Son to be the Saviour of 
 the world, and lays hold of and appropriates this great salva- 
 tion, there is no fear of judgment. He will not be looking 
 forward with dread to the Great White Throne; for we read 
 in 1 John iv. 17: " Herein is our love made perfect, that we 
 may have boldness in the day of judgment : because as He is, 
 so are we in this world." 
 
 If we believe, there is for us no condemnation, no judg- 
 ment. That is behind us, and passed; and we shall have 
 boldness in the day of judgment. 
 
 I remember reading of a man who was on trial for his life. 
 He had friends with influence; and they procured a pardon 
 for him from the king on condition that he was to go through 
 the trial, and be condemned. He went into court with the 
 pardon in his pocket. The feeling ran very high against him, 
 and the judge said that the court was shocked that he was so 
 much unconcerned. But, when the sentence was pronounced, 
 he pulled out the pardon, presented it, and walked out a free 
 man. He has been pardoned; and bo have we. Then let 
 death come, we have nought to fear. All the grave-diggers in 
 the world cannot dig a grave large enough and deep enough to 
 hold eternal life; all the coffin makers in the world cannot 
 make a coffin large enough and tight enough to hold eternal 
 life. Death has had his hand on Christ once, but never 
 again. 
 
 Jesus said : " I a,m the Kesurrection, and the Life: he that 
 believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and 
 whosoever iiveth and believeth in Me shall never die " (John 
 xi. 25, 26). And in the Apocalypse we read that the risen 
 Saviour said to John, "I am He that Iiveth, and was dead; 
 and, behold, I am aliva for evermore " (Rev i. 18). Death 
 cannot touch Him again. 
 
THE TWO CLASSES. 49 
 
 We get life by believing. In fact we get more than Adam 
 lost; for the redeemed child of God is heir to a richer and 
 more glorious inheritance than Adam in Paradise could ever 
 have conceived; yea, and that inheritance endures forever — 
 it is inalienable. 
 
 I would much rather have my life hid with Christ in God 
 than have lived in Paradise ; for Adam might have sinned and 
 fallen after being there ten thousand years. But the believer 
 is safer, if these things become real to him. Let us make 
 them a fact, and not a fiction. God has said it; and that is 
 enough. Let us trust Him even where we cannot trace Him. 
 Let the same confidence animate us that was in little Maggie 
 as related in the following simple but touching incident which 
 I read in the Bible Treasury: — • 
 
 ''I had been absent from home for some days, and was 
 wondering, as I again draw near the homestead, if my little 
 Maggie, just able to sit alone, would remember me. To test 
 her memory, I stationed myself where I could see her, but 
 could not be seen by her, and called her name in the familiar 
 tone, • Maggie!' She dropped her playthings, glanced around 
 the room, and then looked down upon her toys. Again I re- 
 peated her name, ' Maggie!' when she once more surveyed the 
 room; but, not seeing her father's istce, she looked very sad, 
 and slowly resumed her employment. Once more I called, 
 'Maggie!' when, dropping her playthings, and bursting into 
 tears, she stretched out her arms in the direction whence the 
 sound proceeded, knowing that, though she could not see him, 
 her father must be there, for she knew his voice." 
 
 Now, we have power to see and to hear, and we have 
 power to believe. It is all folly for the inquirers to take the 
 ground that they cannot believe. They can, if they will. But 
 the trouble with most people is that they have connected feel- 
 ing with believing. Now Feeling has nothing whatever to do 
 
50 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 with Believing. The Bible does not say — He that feeleth, or 
 he that feeleth and believeth, hath everlasting life. Nothing 
 of the kind. I cannot control my feelings. If I could, I 
 should never feel ill, or have a headache or toothacho. I 
 I should be well all the while. But I can believe God; and if 
 we get our feet on that rock, let doubts and fears come and 
 the waves surge around us, the anchor will hold. 
 
 Some people are all the time looking at their faith. Faith 
 is the hand that takes the blessing. I heard this illustration 
 of a beggar. Suppose you were to meet a man in the street 
 whom you had known for years as being accustomed to beg; 
 and you offered him some money, and he were to say to you : 
 "I thank you; I don't want your money: I am not a beggar." 
 *'How is that?" "Last night a man put a thousand dollars 
 into my hands." "He did! How did you know it was good 
 money?" "I took it to the bank and deposited it and have 
 got a bank book." "How did you get this gift?" "I asked 
 for alms; and after the gentleman talked with me he took out 
 a thousand dollars in money and put it in my hand." "How 
 do you know that he put it in the right hand?" "What do I 
 care about which hand; so that I have got the money." Many 
 people are always thinking whether the faith by which they 
 lay hold of Christ is the right kind — but what is far more 
 essential is to see that we have the right kind of Christ. 
 
 Faith is the eye of the soul; and who would ever think of 
 taking out an eye to see if it were the right kind so long as 
 the sight was perfect? It is not my taste, but it is what I 
 taste, that satisfies my appetite. So, dear friends, it is taking 
 God at His Word that is the means of our salvation. The 
 truth cannot be made too simple. 
 
 There is a man living in the city of New York who has a 
 home on the Hudson River. His daughter and her family 
 went to spend the winter with him ; and in the course of the 
 
THE TWO CLASSES.. 51 
 
 season the scarlet fever broke out. One little girl was put in 
 quarantine, to be kept separate from the rest. Every morning 
 the old grandfather used to go and bid his grandchild, "Good- 
 bye," before going to his business. On one of these occasions 
 the little thing took the old man by the hand, and, leading 
 him to a corner of the room, without saying a word she 
 pointed to the floor where she had arranged some small 
 crackers so they would spell out, "Grandpa, I want a box of 
 paints." He said nothing. On his return home he hung up 
 his overcoat and went to the room as usual: when his little 
 grandchild, without looking to see if her wish had been com- 
 plied with, took him into the same corner, where he saw 
 spelled out in the same way, "Grandpa, I thank you for the 
 box of paints," The old man would not have missed gratify- 
 ing the child for anything. That was faith. 
 
 Faith is taking God at His Word; and those people who 
 want some token are always getting into trouble. We want to 
 come to this: God says it — let us believe it. 
 
 But some say, Faitli is the gift of God. So is the air; but 
 you have to breathe it. So is bread ; but you have to eat it. 
 So is water; but you have to drink it. Some are wanting a 
 miraculous kind of feeling. That is not faith. "Faith 
 Cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. 
 X. 17). That is whence faith comes. It is not for me to sit 
 down and wait for faith to come stealing over me with a 
 strange sensation; but it is for me to take God at His Word. 
 And you cannot believe, unless you have something to believe. 
 So take the Word as it is written, and appropriate it, and lay 
 hold of it. 
 
 In John vi. 47, 48 we read: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
 He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. I am that 
 Bread of life." There is the bread right at hand. Partake 
 of it, I might have thousands of loaves within my home, and 
 
52 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 as many hungry men in waiting. They might assent to the 
 fact that the bread was there; but unless they each took a loaf 
 and commenced eating, their hunger would not be satisfied. 
 So Christ is the Bread of heaven ; and as the body feeds on 
 natural food, so the soul must feed on Christ. 
 
 If a drowning man sees a rope thrown out to rescue him 
 he must lay hold of it; and in order to do so he must let go 
 everything else. If a man is sick he must take the medicine 
 — for simply looking at it will not cure him. A knowl- 
 edge of Christ will not help the inquirer, unless he believes in 
 Him, and takes hold of Him, as his only hope. The bitten 
 Israelites might have believed that the serpent was lifted up; 
 but unless they had looked they would not have lived (Num. 
 xxi. 6-9). 
 
 I believe that a certain line of steamers will convey me 
 across the ocean, because I have tried it : but this will not 
 help another man who may want to go, unless he acts upon my 
 knowledge. So a knowledge of Christ does not help us unless 
 we act upon it. That is what it is to believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. It is to act on what we believe. As a man 
 steps on board a steamer to cross the Atlantic, so we must 
 take Christ and make a commitment of our souls to Him ; 
 and He has promised to keep all who put their trust in Him. 
 To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, is simply to take Him at 
 His word. 
 
WORDS OF COUNSEL. 53 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 WORDS OF COUNSEL. 
 
 *' A bruised reed shall He not break."— Isaiah xlii. 3 ; Matt. xii. 20. 
 
 It is dangerous for those who are seeking salvation to lean 
 upon the experience of other people. Many are waiting for a 
 repetition of the experience of their grandfather or grand- 
 mother. I had a friend who was converted in a field ; and he 
 thinks the whole town ought to go down into that meadow 
 and be converted. Another was converted under a bridge ; 
 and he thinks that if any enquirer were to go there he would 
 find the Lord. The best thing for the anxious is to go right 
 to the Word of God. If there are any persons in the world to 
 whom the Word ought to be very precious it is those who are 
 asking how to be saved. 
 
 For instance a man may say, " I have no strength." Let 
 him turn to Komans v. 6. "For when we were yet without 
 strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." It is be- 
 cause we have no strength that we need Christ. He has come 
 to give strength to the weak. 
 
 Another may say, "I cannot see." Christ says, "I am the 
 Light of the world" (John viii. 12). He came, not only to 
 give light, but "to open the blind eyes" (Isa. xlii. 7). 
 
 Another may say, "I do not think a man can be saved all 
 at once." A person holding that view was in the Enquiry- 
 room one night; and I drew his attention to Romans vi. 23. 
 "The wages of sin is death; but the (jift of God is eternal life, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord." How long does it take to 
 accept a gift? There must be a moment when you have it 
 
54 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 not, and another when you have it — a moment when it ia 
 another's, and the next when it is yours. It does not take six 
 months to get eternal life. It may however in some cases he 
 like the mustard seed, very small at the commencement. 
 Some people are converted so gradually that, like the morn- 
 ing light, it is impossible to tell when the dawn began ; while, 
 with others, it is like the flashing of a meteor, and the truth 
 bursts upon them suddenly. 
 
 I would not go across the street to prove when I was con- 
 verted; but what is important is for me to know that I really 
 have been. 
 
 It may be that a child has been so carefully trained that it 
 is impossible to tell when the new birth began ; but there must 
 have been a moment when the change took place, and when he 
 became a partaker of the Divine nature. 
 
 Some people do not believe in sudden conversion. But I 
 will challenge any one to show a conversion in the New Tes- 
 tament that was not instantaneous. "As Jesus passed by He 
 saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the receipt of custom, 
 and said unto him, 'Follow Me' : and he arose and followed 
 Him" (Matt. ix. 9). Nothing could be more sudden than 
 that. 
 
 Zaccheus, the publican, sought to see Jesus; and because 
 he was little of stature he climbed up a tree. When Jesus 
 came to the place He looked up and saw him, and said, 
 " Zaccheus, make haste, and come down" (Luke xix. 5). His 
 conversion must have taken place somewhere between the 
 branch and the ground. We are told that he received Jesus 
 joyfully, and said, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give 
 to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by 
 false accusation, I restore him fourfold" (Luke xix. 8). Very 
 few in these days could say that in proof of their conversion. 
 
WORDS OF COUNSEL. 55 
 
 The whole house of Cornelius was converted suddenly; for 
 as Peter preached Christ to him and his company the Holy 
 Ghost fell on them, and they were haptized. (Acts x.) 
 
 On the day of Pentecost three thousand gladly received the 
 Word. They were not only converted, but they were baptized 
 the same day. (Acts ii.) 
 
 And when Philip talked to the eunuch, as they went on 
 their way, the eunuch said to Philip, "See, here is water: 
 what doth hinder me to be baptized?" Nothing hindered. 
 And Philip said, "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou 
 mayest." And they both went down into the water; and the 
 man of great authority under Candace, the queen of the Ethi- 
 opians, was baptized, and went on his way rejoicing. (Acts 
 viii. 26 — 38 ) You will find all through Scripture that con- 
 versions were sudden and instantaneous. 
 
 A man has been in the habit of stealing money from his 
 employer. Suppose he has taken $1,000 in twelve months; 
 should we tell him to take $500 the next year, and less the 
 next year, and the next, until in five years the sum taken 
 would be only $50? That would be upon the same principle 
 as gradual conversion. 
 
 If such a person were brought before the court and par- 
 doned, because he could not change his mode of life all at 
 once, it would be considered a very si/range proceeding. 
 
 But the Bible says, " Let him that stole steal no more " 
 (Eph. iv. 28). It is "right about face!" Suppose a person 
 is in the habit of cursing one hundred times a day : should 
 we advise him not to utter more than ninety oaths the following 
 day, and eighty the next day; so that in the course of time he 
 would get rid of the habit? The Saviour says, " Swear not 
 at all." (Matt. v. 34.) 
 
 Suppose another man is in the habit of getting drunk and 
 beating his wife twice a month; if he only did so once a 
 
THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 month, and then only once in six months, that would be, upon 
 the same ground, as reasonable as gradual conversion. Sup- 
 pose Ananias had been sent to Paul, when he was on his way 
 to Damascus breathing out threatenings and slaughter against 
 the disciples, and casting them into prison, to tell him not to 
 kill so many as he intended; and to let enmity die out of his 
 heart gradually, but not all at once. Suppose he had been 
 told that it would not do to stop breathing out threatenings 
 and slaughter, and to commence preaching Christ all at once, 
 because the philosophers would say that the change was so 
 sudden it would not hold out ; this would be the same kind of 
 reasoning as is used by those who do not believe in instanta- 
 neous conversion. 
 
 Then another class say that they are afraid that they will 
 not hold out. This is a numerous and very hopeful class. I 
 like to see a man distrust himself. It is a good thing to get 
 such to look to God, and to remember that it is not he who 
 holds God, l)ut that it is God who holds him. Some want to 
 get hold of Christ ; but the thing is to get Christ to take hold 
 of you in answer to prayer. Let such read Psalm cxxi. ; "I 
 will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my 
 help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven 
 and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved : He that 
 keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel 
 shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper; 
 the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall 
 not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord 
 shall preserve thee from all evil : He shall preserve thy soul. 
 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from 
 this time forth, and even for evermore." 
 
 Some one calls that the traveler's psalm. It is a beautiful 
 psalm for those of us who are pilgrims through this world ; 
 and one wdth which we should be well acquainted. 
 
WORDS OP COUNSEL. 57 
 
 God can do what He has done before. He kept Joseph in 
 Egypt; Moses before Pharaoh; Daniel in Babylon; and en- 
 abled Elijah to stand before Ahab in that dark day. And I 
 am BO thankful that these I have mentioned were men of like 
 passions with ourselves. It was God who made them bo 
 great. What man wants is to look to God. Keal true faith 
 is man's weakness leaning on God's strength. When man has 
 no strength, if he leans on God he becomes powerful. The 
 trouble is that we have too much strength and confidence in 
 ourselves. 
 
 Again in Hebrews vi. 17, 18 : *' Wherein God, willing more 
 abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immuta- 
 bility of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two im- 
 mutable 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 : which hope we have as 
 an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which 
 entereth into that within the vail ; whither the Forerunner is 
 for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after 
 the order of Melchisedec." 
 
 Now these are precious verses to those who are afraid of 
 falling, who fear that they will not hold out. It is God's work 
 to hold. It is the Shepherd's business to keep the sheep. 
 Who ever heard of the sheep going to bring back the shep- 
 herd? People have an idea that they have to keep themselves 
 and Christ too. It is a false idea. It is the work of the 
 Sliepherd to look after them, and to take care of those who 
 trust Him. And He has promised to do it. I once heard 
 that when a sea captain was dying he said, "Glory to 
 God; the anchor holds." He trusted in Christ. His anchor 
 had taken hold of the solid rock. An Irishman said, on one 
 occasion, that "he trembled; but the Rock never did." We 
 want to get sure footing. 
 
58 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 In 2 Timothy i. 12 Paul says : "I know whom I have 
 beheved, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which 
 I have committed unto Him against that day." That was 
 Paul's persuasion. 
 
 During the late war of the rebellion, one of the chaplain^!, 
 going through the hospitals, came to a man who was dying. 
 Finding that he was a Christian, he asked to what persuasion 
 he belonged, and was told " Paul's persuasion." " Is he a 
 Methodist?" he asked; for the Methodists all claim Paul. 
 ''No." "Is he a Presbyterian?" for the Presbyterians lay 
 special claim to Paul. *' No," was the ansvv^er. *'Doea he 
 belong to the Episcopal Church?" for all the Episcopalian 
 brethren contend that they have a claim to the Chief Apostle. 
 "No," he was not an Episcopalian. "Then, to what per- 
 suasion does he belong?" " I am persuaded that He is able 
 to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that 
 day." It is a grand persuasion; and it gave the dying soldier 
 rest in a dying hour. 
 
 Let those who fear that they will not hold out turn to the 
 24th verse of the Epistle of Jude: "Now unto Him that is 
 able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless be- 
 fore the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." 
 
 Then look at Isaiah xli. 10: "Fear thou not; for I am 
 with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will 
 strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee 
 with the right hand of My righteousness." 
 
 Then see verse 13 : " For I the Lord thy God will hold 
 thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." 
 
 Now if God has got hold of ray right hand in His, cannot 
 He hold me and keep me? Has not God the power to keep? 
 The great God who made heaven and earth can keep a poor 
 sinner Hke you and like me if we trust Him. To refrain from 
 feehng confidence in God for fear of falling — would be like a 
 
WORDS OF COUNSEL. 59 
 
 man who refused a pardon, for fear that he should get into 
 prison again; or a drowning man who refused to be rescued, 
 for fear of falhng into the water again. 
 
 Many men look forth at the Christian life, and fear that 
 they will not have sufficient strength to hold out to the end. 
 They forget the promise that "as thy days, thy strength" (Deut. 
 xxxiii. 25). It reminds me of the pendulum to the clock which 
 grew disheartened at the thought of having to travel so many 
 thousands of miles ; but when it reflected that the distance 
 was to be accomplished by "tick, tick, tick," it took fresh 
 courage to go its daily journey. So it is the special privilege 
 of the Christian to commit himself to the keeping of his 
 heavenly Father and to trust Him day by day. It is a com- 
 forting thing to know that the Lord will not begin the good 
 work without also finishing it. 
 
 There are two kinds of sceptics — one class with honest 
 difficulties; and another class who delight only in discus- 
 sion. I used to think that this latter class would always be a 
 thorn in my flesh ; but they do not prick me now. I expect 
 to find them right along the journey. Men of this stamp used 
 to hang around Christ to entangle Him in His talk. They 
 come into our meetings to hold a discussion. To all such I 
 would commend Paul's advice to Timothy: "But foolish and 
 unlearned questions avoid; knowing that they do gender 
 strifes." (2 Tim. ii. 23.) Unlearned questions! Many 
 young converts make a woful mistake. They think they are 
 to defend the whole Bible. I knew very little of the Bible 
 when I was first converted; and I thought that I had to defend 
 it from beginning to end against all comers; but a Boston in- 
 fidel got hold of me, floored all my arguments at once, and 
 discouraged me. But I have got over that now. There are 
 many things in the Word of God that I do not profess to 
 ■understand. 
 
BO THE WA Y TO OOI). 
 
 When I am asked what I do with them, I say, "I don't 
 do anything." 
 
 "How do you explain them?" "I don't explain them." 
 
 "What do you do with them?" "Why, I heheve them." 
 
 And when I am told, "I would not believe anything that I 
 do not understand," I simply reply that I do. 
 
 There are many things which were dark and mysterious 
 five years ago, on which I have since had a flood of light; and 
 I expect to be finding out something fresh about God through- 
 out eternity. I make a point of not discussing disputed pass- 
 ages of Scripture. An old divine has said that some people, 
 if they want to eat fish, commence by picking the bones. I 
 leave such things till I have light on them. I am not bound 
 to explain what I do not comprehend. "The secret things 
 belong unto the Lord our God : but those things which are 
 revealed belong unto us, and to our children, for ever" (Deut. 
 xxix. 29) ; and these I take, and eat, and feed upon, in order 
 to get spiritual strength. 
 
 Then there is a little sound advice in Titus iii. 9. "But 
 avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and 
 strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain." 
 
 But now here comes an honest sceptic. With him I would 
 deal as tenderly as a mother with her sick child. I have no 
 sympathy with those j)eople who, because a man is sceptical, 
 cast him off a,nd will have nothing to do with him. 
 
 I was in an Inquiry-meeting, some time ago, and I handed 
 over to a Christian lady, whom I had known some time, one 
 who was sceptical. On looking round soon after I noticed the 
 enquirer marching out of the hall. I asked, "Why have you 
 let her go?" "Oh, she is a sceptic!" was the reply. I ran to 
 the door and got her to stop, and introduced her to another 
 Christian worker who spent over an hour in conversation and 
 prayer with her. He visited her and her husband ; and, in 
 
WORDS OF COUNSEL. 61 
 
 the course of a week, that intelhgent lady cast off her scepti- 
 cism and came out an active Christian. It took time, tact, 
 and prayer; but if a person of this class is honest we ought to 
 deal with such an one as the Master would have us. 
 
 Here are a few passages for doubting enquirers : 
 
 "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doc- 
 trine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" 
 (John vii. 17). If a man is not willing to do the will of God 
 he will not know the doctrine. There is no class of sceptics 
 who are ignorant of the fact that God desires them to give up 
 sin ; and if a man is willing to turn from sin and take the 
 light and thank Him for what He does give, and not expect to 
 have light on the whole Bible all at once, he will get more 
 light day by day; make progress step by step; and be led 
 right out of darkness into the clear light of heaven. 
 
 In Daniel xii. 10 we are told: "Many shall be purified, 
 and made white, and tried: but the wicked shall do wickedly; 
 and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall 
 understand." 
 
 Now God will never reveal His secrets to His enemies. 
 Never! And if a man persists in living in sin he will not 
 know the doctrines of God. 
 
 "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and 
 Be will show them His covenant " (Ps. xxv. 1-1). 
 
 And in John xv. 15 we read: "Henceforth I call you not 
 servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth : 
 but I have called you friends ; for all things that I have heard 
 of my Father I have made known unto you." When you be- 
 come friends of Christ you will know His secrets. The Lord 
 said, "Shall I hide from Abraham the things which I do?" 
 (Gen. xviii. 17). 
 
 Now those who resemble God are the most likely to under- 
 stand God. If a man is not willing to turn from sin he will 
 
62 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 not know God's will, nor will God reveal His secrets to him. 
 But if a man is willing to turn from sin be will be surprised 
 to see bow tbe ligbt will come in ! 
 
 I remember one night when the Bible was the driest 
 and darkest book in the universe to me. The next day it 
 became entirely different. I thought I had the key to it. I 
 had been born of the Spirit. But before I knew anything of 
 the mind of God I had to give up my sin. I believe God 
 meets every soul on the spot of self surrender ; and when they 
 are willing to let Him guide and lead. The trouble with 
 many sceptics is their self-conceit. They know more thantlie 
 Almighty ! and they do not come in a teachable spirit. But 
 the moment a man comes in a receptive spirit he is blessed; 
 for "If any of joi\ lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth 
 to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be 
 given him " (James i. 5). 
 
A DIVINE SAVIOUR. 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 A DIVINE SAVIOUR, 
 
 " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." 
 (Matthew xvi. 1. John vi. 09.) 
 
 We meet with a certain class of Enquirers who do not be- 
 lieve in the Divinity of Christ. There are many passages that 
 will give light on this subject. 
 
 In 1 Corinthians xv. 47, we are told: "The first man is 
 of the earth earthy: the second man is the Lord from 
 heaven." 
 
 In 1 John V. 20: "We know that the Son of God is come, 
 and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him 
 that is true ; and we arc in Him that is true, even in His Son 
 Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." 
 
 Again in John xvii. 3: "And this is life eternal, that they 
 might know Thee, the only true God; and Jesus Christ, whom 
 Thou hast sent." 
 
 And then, in Mark xiv. 60: "The high priest stood up in 
 the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Ans^erest Thou nothing? 
 What is it which these witness against thee? But He held 
 His peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest 
 asked Him, and said unto Him, Art Thou the Christ, the Son 
 of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am : and ye shall see the 
 Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in 
 the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, 
 and saith. What need we any further witnesses? Ye have 
 heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all con- 
 demned Him to be guilty of death," 
 
64 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 Now what brought me to beHeve in the Divinity of Christ 
 was this : I did not Jinow where to place Christ, or what to 
 do with Him, if He were not divine. When I was a boy I 
 thought that He was a good man hke Moses, Joseph, or Abra- 
 ham. I even thought that He was the best man who had ever 
 lived on the earth. But I found that Christ had a higher 
 claim. He claimed to be God-Man, to be divine; to have 
 come from heaven. He said : "Before Abraham was I am " 
 (John viii. 68). I could not understand this; and I was 
 driven to the conclusion— and I challenge any candid man to 
 deny the inference, or meet the argument — that Jesus Christ 
 is either an impostor or deceiver, or He is the God-Man — God 
 manifest in the flesh. And for these reasons. The first com- 
 mandment is, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" 
 (Exod. XX. 2). Look at the millions throughout Christendom 
 who worship Jesus Christ as God. If Christ be not God this 
 is idolatry. We are all guilty of breaking the first command- 
 ment if Jesus Christ were mere man — if He were a created 
 being, and not what He claims to be. 
 
 Some people, who do not admit His divinity, say that He 
 was the best man who ever lived; but if He were not Divine, 
 for that very reason He ought not to be reckoned a good man, for 
 He laid claim to an honor and dignity to which these very 
 people declare He had no rigbt or title. That would rank Him 
 as a deceiver. 
 
 Others say that He thought He was divine, but that He 
 was deceived. As if Jesus Christ were carried away by a de- 
 lupion and deception, and thought that He was more than He 
 was ! I could not conceive of a lower idea of Jesus Christ than 
 that. This would not only make Him out an impostor; but 
 that He was out of His mind, and that He did not know who 
 He was, or where He came from. Now if Jesus Christ was 
 
A DIVINE SAVIOUR. 65 
 
 not what He claimed to be, the Saviour of the world ; and if 
 He did not come from heaven, He was a gross deceiver. 
 
 But how can any one read the life of Jesus Christ and 
 make Him out a deceiver ? A man has generally some motive 
 ior being an impostor. What was Christ's motive? He knew 
 fhat the course He was pursuing would conduct Him to the 
 cross; that His name would be cast out as vile; and that 
 many of His followers would be called upon to lay dov/n their 
 lives for His sake. Nearly every one of the apostles were 
 martyrs ; and they were considered as off-scouring and refuse 
 in the midst of the people. If a man is an impostor, he has a 
 motive at the back of his hypocrisy. But what was Christ's 
 object? The record is that "He went about doing good." 
 This is not the work of an impostor. Do not let the enemy of 
 your soul deceive you. 
 
 In John V. 21 we read : "For as the Father raiseth up the 
 dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom 
 He vrill. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath commit- 
 ted all judgment unto the Son : that all men should honor 
 the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth 
 not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent 
 Him." 
 
 Now, notice : by the Jewish law if a man were a blas- 
 phemer he was to be put to death ; and supposing Christ to be 
 merely human if this be not blasphemy I do not know where 
 you will find it. '' He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth 
 not the Father." That is downright blasphemy if Christ be 
 not divine. If Moses, or Elijah, or Elisha, or any other 
 mortal had said, ** You must honour me as you honour God;" 
 and had put himself on a level with God, it would have been 
 downright blasphemy. 
 
 The Jews put Christ to death because they said that He 
 was not what He claimed to be. It was on that testimony He 
 
66 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 was put under oath. The high priest said : " I adjure Thee 
 by the hving God, that Thou tell us whether Thou be the 
 Christ, the Son of God " (Matt. xxvi. 63). And when the 
 Jews came round Him and said, " How long dost Thou make 
 us to doubt? If Thou be the Christ tell us plainly." Jesus 
 said, "I and My Father are one." Then the Jews took iip 
 stones again to stone Him. (John x. 24 — 33.) They said 
 they did not want to hear more, for that was blasphemy. It 
 was for declaring Himself to be the Son of God that He was 
 condemned and put to death. (Matt. xxvi. 63 — 66). 
 
 Now if Jesus Christ were mere man the Jews did right, 
 according to their law, in putting Him to death. In Leviticus 
 xxiv. 16, we read: *' And he that blasphemeth the name of 
 the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congre- 
 gation shall certainly stone him : as well the stranger, as he 
 that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of 
 the Lord, shall be put to death." 
 
 This lav/ obliged them to put to death every one who blas- 
 phemed. It was making the statement that He was divine 
 that cost Him His life; and by the Mosaic law He ought to 
 have suffered the death penalty. In John xvi. 15, Christ says, 
 "All things that the Father hath are Mine : therefore said I, 
 that He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you." How 
 could He be merely a good man and use language as that? 
 
 No doubt has ever entered my mind on the point since I 
 was converted. 
 
 A notorious sinner was once asked how he could prove the 
 divinity of Christ. His answer was, " Why, He has saved me ; 
 and that is a pretty good proof, is it not?" 
 
 An infidel on one occasion said to me, " I have been study- 
 ing the life of John the Baptist, Mr. Moody. Why don't you 
 preach him? He was a greater character than Christ. You 
 would do ^ greater vork." % said to hini, "My frienu, (^ou 
 
A DIVINE SAVIOUR. 67 
 
 preach John the Baptist; and I will follow you and preach 
 Christ: and we will see who will do the most good." "You 
 will do the most good," he said, "because the people are so 
 superstitious." Ah! John was belieaded; and his disciples 
 begged his body and buried it : but Christ has risen from the 
 dead; He has "ascended on high; He has led captivity cap- 
 tive; and received gifts for men." Ps. Ixviii. 18,) 
 
 Our Christ lives. Many people have not found out that 
 Christ has risen from the grave. They worship a dead 
 Saviour, hke Mary, who said, "They have taken away my 
 Lord; and I know not where they have laid Him." (John 
 XX. 13.) That is the trouble with those who doubt the divinity 
 of our Lord. 
 
 Then look at Matthew xviii. 20. "Where two or three are 
 gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of 
 them." "There AM L" Well now, if He is a mere man, how 
 can He be there? All these are strong passages. 
 
 Again in Matthew xxviii. 18. "And Jesus came and spake 
 unto them, caying, '' All power is given unto Me in heaven and 
 in earth." Could He be a mere man and talk in that way? 
 "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth!" 
 
 Then again in Matthew xxviii. 20, " Teaching them to 
 observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, 
 I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." If 
 He w^ere mere man, how could He be with us? Yet He says, 
 *' I am mth you alv/ay, even unto the end of the world!" 
 
 Then again in Mark ii. 7. " Why doth this Man thus 
 speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? And 
 immediately when Jesus perceived in His Spirit that they rea- 
 soned within themselves, He said unto them. Why reason ye 
 these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say 
 to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to 
 Gay, Arise, and take up thy bed and walk?" 
 
68 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 Some men will meet you and say, " Did not Elisha also 
 raise the dead?" Notice that in the rare instances in which 
 men have raised the dead, they did it by the power of God. 
 They called on God to do it. But when Christ was on earth 
 He did not call upon the Father to bring the dead to life, 
 When He went to the house of Jairus He said, "Damsel, / 
 say unto thee. Arise." (Mark v. 41.) 
 
 He had power to impart life. When they were carrying 
 the young man out of Nain He had compassion on the wid- 
 owed mother and came and touched the bier and said, "Young 
 man, I say unto thee. Arise." (Luke vii. 14.) 
 
 He spake; and the dead arose. 
 
 And when He raised Lazarus He called with a loud voice, 
 *• Lazarus, come forth!" (John xi. 43.) And Lazarus heard, 
 and came forth. 
 
 Some one has said. It was a good thing that Lazarus was 
 mentioned by name, or all the dead within the sound of 
 Christ's voice would immediately have risen. 
 
 Li John V. 25, Jesus says : " Verily, verily, I say unto 
 you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear 
 the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." 
 What blasphemy would this have been, had He not been 
 divine ! The proof is overwhelming, if you will but examine 
 the Word of God. 
 
 And then another thing — no good man except Jesus Christ 
 has ever allowed anybody to worship him. When this was 
 done He never rebuked the worshiper. In John ix. 38, we 
 read that when the blind man was found by Christ he said, 
 "Lord, I believe. And he worshiped Him." The Lord did 
 not rebuke him. 
 
 Then again, Revelation xxii. 6, runs thus: " And he said 
 unto me. These things are faithful and true; and the Lord 
 God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show unto His 
 
A DIVINE SAVIOUR. 69 
 
 serrants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I 
 come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the 
 prophecy of this book. And I John saw these things and 
 heard them. And v/hen I had heard and seen, I fell down to 
 v/orship before the feet of the angel which showed me these 
 things. Then saith He unto me, See thou do it not; for I am 
 thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren the prophets, and of 
 them which keep the sayings of this book; worship God.'" 
 
 We see here that even that angel would not allow John to 
 worship him. Even an angel from heaven ! And if Gabriel 
 came down here from the presence of God it would be a sin 
 to worship him, or any seraph, or any cherub, or Michael, or 
 any archangel. 
 
 ' Worship God!" And if Jesus Chist were not God mani- 
 fest in the flesh we are guilty of idolatry in worshiping Him. 
 In Matthew xiv. 33, we read : " Then they that were in the 
 ship came and icorshiped Him, saying, Of a truth Thou art the 
 Son of God." He did not rebuke them. 
 
 And in Matthew viii. 2, we also read: "And, behold, 
 there came a leper and ivorshiped Him, saying. Lord, if Thou 
 wilt. Thou canst make me clean." 
 
 In Matthew xv. 25 : " Then came she, and worshiped Him, 
 saying, Lord, help me!" 
 
 There are many other passages; but I give these as suffi- 
 cient in my opinion to prove beyond any doubt the Divinity 
 of our Lord. 
 
 In the 14th chapter of Acts we are told the heathen of 
 Lystra came with garlands and would have done sacrifice to 
 Paul and Barnabas because they had cured an impotent man ; 
 but the evangelists rent their clothes and told these Lystrans 
 that they were but men, and not to be worshipped; as if it 
 were a great sin. And if Jesus Christ is a mere man, we are 
 all guilty of a great sin in worshipping Him. 
 
76 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 But if He is, as we believe, the only-begotten and well- 
 beloved Son of God, let us yield to His claims upon us; let us 
 rest on His all-atoning work, and go forth to serve Him all the 
 days of our life. 
 
REPENTAlTCE AND RESTITUTION. 71 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 REPENTANCE AND RESTITUTION. 
 
 " God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. "—Acts xvii. 30. 
 
 Eepentance is one of the fundamental doctrines of the 
 Bible. Yet I believe it is one of those truths that many 
 people little understand at the present day. There are more 
 people to-day in the mist and darkness about Eepentance, 
 Regeneration, the Atonement, and such-like fundamental 
 truths, than perhaps on any other doctrines. Yet from our 
 earliest years we have heard about them. If I were to ask 
 for a definition of Repentance, a great many would give a very 
 strange and false idea of it. 
 
 A man is not prepared to believe or to receive the Gospel, 
 unless he is ready to repent of his sins and turn from them. 
 Until John the Baptist met Christ, he had but one text, "Re- 
 pent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. iii. 2). 
 But if he had continued to say this, and had stopped there 
 without pointing the people to Christ the Lamb of God, he 
 would not have accomplished much. 
 
 When Christ came, He took up the same wilderness cry, 
 "Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. iv. 
 17). And when our Lord sent out His disciples, it was with 
 the same message, "that men should repent" (Mark vi. 12). 
 After He had been glorified, and when the Holy Ghost came 
 down, we find Peter on the day of Pentecost raising the same 
 cry, "Repent!" It was this preaching — Repent, and believe 
 the Gospel — that wrought such marvellous results then. 
 (Acts ii. 38 — 47). And we find that, when Paul went to 
 
72 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 Athens, he uttered the same cry, " Now God coramandeth all 
 men, everywhere, to repent" (Acts xvii. 30). 
 
 Before I speak of what Eepentance is, let me briefly say 
 what it is not. Eepentance is not fear. Many people have 
 confounded the two. They think they have to be alarmed 
 and terrified; and they are waiting for some kind of fear to 
 come down upon them. But multitudes become alarmed who 
 do not really repent. You have heard of men at sea during a 
 terrible storm. Perhaps they have been very profane men; 
 but when the danger came they suddenly grew quiet, and be- 
 gan to cry to God for mercy. Yet you would not say they 
 repented. When the storm had passed away, they went on 
 swearing the same as before. You might think that the king 
 of Egypt repented when God sent the terrible plagues upon 
 him and his land. But it was not repentance at all. The 
 moment God's hand was removed Pharaoh's heart was harder 
 than ever. He did not turn from a single sin ; he was the 
 same man. So that there was no true repentance there. 
 
 Often, when death comes into a family, it looks as if the 
 event would be sanctified to the conversion of all who are in 
 the house. Yet in six months' time all may be forgotten. 
 Some who read this have perhaps passed through that experi- 
 ence. When God's hand was heavy upon them it looked as if 
 they were going to repent; but the trial has been removed — 
 and lo and behold, the impression has all gone. 
 
 Then again, Eepentance is not feeling. I find a great 
 many people are waiting for a certain kind of feeling to come. 
 They would like to turn to God ; but think they cannot do it 
 until this feeling comes. When I was in Baltimore I used to 
 preach every Sunday in the Penitentiary to nine hundred con- 
 victs. There was hardly a man there who did not feel miser- 
 able enough : they had plenty of feeling. For the first week 
 or ten days of their imprisonment many of them cried half 
 
REPENTANCE AND RESTITUTION. 1^ 
 
 the time. Yet, ^vhen they were released, most of them would 
 go right hack to their old ways. The truth was, that they felt 
 very had hecause they had got caught; that was all. So you 
 have seen a man in the time of trial show a good deal of feel- 
 ing : but very often it is only because he has got into trouble; 
 not because he has committed sin, or because his conscience 
 tells him he has done evil in the sight of God. It seems as if 
 the trial were going to result in true repentance; but the feel- 
 ing too often passes av/ay. 
 
 Once again, Repentance is not fasting and afflicting the body. 
 A man may fast for weeks and months and years, and yet not 
 repent of one sin. Neither is it remorse. Judas had terrible 
 remorse — enough to make him go and hang himself; but that 
 was not repentance. I believe if he had gone to his Lord, 
 fallen on his face, and confessed his sin, he would have been 
 forgiven. Instead of this he went to the priests, and then put 
 an end to his life. A man may do all sorts of penance — but 
 there is no true repentance in that. Put that down in your 
 mind. You cannot meet the claims of God by offering the 
 fruit of your body for the sin of your soul. Away with such 
 a delusion ! 
 
 Eepentance is not conviction of sin. That may sound 
 strange to some. I have seen men under such deep conviction 
 of sin that they could not sleep at night; they could not enjoy 
 a single meal. They went on for months in this state ; and 
 yet they were not converted; they did not truly repent. Do 
 not confound conviction of sin with Repentance. 
 
 Neither is 2'^raying — Repentance. That too may sound 
 strange. Many people, when they become anxious about 
 their soul's salvation, say, "I will pray, and read the Bible;" 
 and they think that will bring about the desired effect. 
 But it will not do it. You may read the Bible and cry to God 
 
74 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 a great deal, and yet never repent. Many people cry loudly to 
 God, and yet do not repent. 
 
 Another thing : it is not breaking off some one sin. A great 
 many people make that mistake. A man who has been a 
 drunkard signs the pledge, and stops drinking. Breaking off 
 one sin is not Eepentance. Forsaking one vice is like break- 
 ing off one limb of a tree, when the whole tree has to come 
 down. A profane man stops swearing; very good : but if he 
 does not break oQfroin every sin it is not Repentance — it is not 
 the work of God in the soul. When God works He hews 
 down the whole tree. He wants to have a man turn from 
 every sin. Supposing I am in a vessel out at sea, and I find 
 the ship leaks in three or four places. I may go and stop up 
 one hole; yet down goes the vessel. Or suppose I am 
 wounded in three or four places, and I get a remedy for one 
 wound : if the other two or three wounds are neglected, my 
 life will soon be gone. True Repentance is not merely break- 
 ing off this or that particular sin. 
 
 Well then, you will ask, what is Repentance? I will give 
 you a good definition: it is "right about face!" In the Irish 
 language the word "Repentance" means even more than 
 "right about face ! " It implies that a man who has been walk- 
 ing in one direction has not only faced about, but is actually 
 walking in an exactly contrary direction. "Turn ye, turn ye; 
 for why will ye die?" A man may have little feeling or much 
 feeling; but if he do not turn away from sin, God will not 
 have mercy on him. Repentance has also been described as 
 "a change of mind." For instance, there is the parable told 
 by Christ; "A certain man had two sons; and he came to the 
 first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. He 
 answered and said, I will not" (Matt. xxi. 28, 29). After he 
 had said "I will not" he thought over it, and changed his 
 mind. Perhaps he may have said to himself, "I did not speak 
 
Hepentance and restitution, 'fS 
 
 very respectfully to my father. He asked me to go and work, 
 and I told him I would not go. I think I was wrong." But 
 suppose he had only said this, and still had not gone, he would 
 not have repented. He was not only convinced that he was 
 wrong; but he went off into the fields, hoeing, or mowing or 
 whatever it was. That is Christ's definition of repentance. If 
 a man says, "By the grace of God I will forsake my sin, and 
 do His will," that is Repentance — a turning right about. 
 
 Some one has said, man is born with his face turned away 
 from God. When he truly repents he is turned right around 
 towards God; he leaves his old life. 
 
 Can a man at once' repent? Certainly he can. It does 
 not take a long while to turn around. It does not take 
 a man six months to change his mind. There was a vessel 
 that went down some time ago on the Newfoundland 
 coast. As she was bearing towards the shore, there was a 
 moment when the captain could have given orders to reverse 
 the engines and turn back. If the engines had been reversed 
 then, the ship would ha,ve been saved. But there was a 
 moment when it was too late. So there is a moment, I 
 believe, in every man's life when he can halt and say, "By the 
 grace of God I will go no further towards death and ruin. I 
 repent of my sins and turn from them." You may say you 
 have not got feeling enough; but if you are convinced that you 
 are on the wrong road, turn right about, and say, "I will no 
 longer go on in the way of rebellion and sin as I have done." 
 
 Just then, when you are willing to turn towards God, sal- 
 vation may be yours. 
 
 I find that every case of conversion recorded in the Bible 
 was instantaneous. Rejientance and faith came very suddenly. 
 The moment a man made up his mind, God gave him the 
 power. God does not ask any man to do what he has not the 
 power to do. He would not "command all men everywhere 
 
76 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 to repent" (Acts xvii. 30) if they were not able to do so. Man 
 has no one to blame but himself if he does not repent and 
 believe the Gospel. One of the leading ministers of the Gos- 
 pel in Ohio wrote me a letter some time ago describing his 
 conversion ; it very forcibly illustrates this point of instanta- 
 neous decision. He said : 
 
 "I was nineteen years old, and was reading law with a 
 Christian lawyer in Vermont. One afternoon when he was 
 away from home, his good wife said to me as I came into the 
 house, 'I want you to go to class-meeting with me to-night 
 and become a Christian, so that you can conduct family v/or- 
 ship while my husband is away.' 'Well, I'll do it,' I said, 
 without any thought. When I came into the house again she 
 asked me if I was honest in what I had said. I replied, 'Yes, 
 so far as going to meeting v/ith you is concerned ; that is only 
 courteous.' 
 
 "I went with her to the class-meeting, as I had often done 
 before. About a dozen persons were present in a little school- 
 house. The leader had spoken to all in the room but myself 
 and two others. He was speaking to the person next me, 
 when the thought occurred to me : he will ask me if I have 
 anything to say. I said to myself; I have decided to be a 
 Christian sometime; why not begin now? In less time than 
 a minute after these thoughts had passed through my mind he 
 said, speaking to me familiarly — for he knew me very well — 
 'Brother Charles, have you anything to say? I replied, with 
 perfect coolness, 'Yes, sir. I have just decided, within the last 
 thirty seconds, that I will begin a Christian life, and would 
 Hke to have you pray for me ' 
 
 "My coolness staggered him; I think he almost doubted 
 my sincerity. He said very little, but passed on and spoke 
 to the other two. After a few general remarks, he turned to 
 me and said, 'Brother Charles, will you close the meeting 
 
REPENTANCE AND RESTITUTION. 77 
 
 with prayer?' He knew I had never prayed in pubHc. Up to 
 this moment I had no feehng. It was purely a business tran- 
 saction. My first thought was : I cannot pray, and I will ask 
 him to excuse me. My second was : I have said I will begin 
 a Christian life; and this is a part of it. So I said, 'Let us 
 pray.' And somewhere between the time I started to kneel 
 and the time my knees struck the floor the Lord converted my 
 soul. 
 
 "The first words I said were, 'Glory to God!' What I 
 said after that I do not know, and it does not matter, for my 
 soul was too full to say much but ' Glory!' From that hour 
 the devil has never dared to challenge my conversion. To 
 Christ be all the praise." 
 
 Many people are waiting, they cannot exactly tell for what, 
 but for some sort of miraculous feeling to come stealing over 
 them— some mysterious kind of faith. I was speaking to a 
 man some years ago, and he always had one answer to give 
 me. For five years I tried to win him to Christ, and every 
 year he said, "It has not ' struck me ' yet." "Man, what do 
 you mean? What has not struck you?" "Well, " he said, 
 "I am not going to become a Christian until it strikes me ; and 
 it has not struck me yet. I do not see it in the way you see 
 it." "But don't you knov/ you are a sinner?" "Yes, I know 
 I am a sinner." "Well, don't you know that God wants to 
 have mercy on you — that there is forgiveness with God? Ho 
 wants you to repent and come to Him." "Yes, I know that; 
 but — it has not struck me yet." He always fell back on that. 
 Poor man ! he went down to his grave in a state of indecision. 
 Sixty long years God gave him to re})ent; and all he had to 
 say at the end of those years was that it "had not struck him 
 
 yet." 
 
 Is any reader waiting for some strange feeling — you do 
 not know what? Nowhere in the Bible is a man told to wait; 
 God is commanding you now to repent. 
 
78 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 Do you think God can forgive a man when he does not 
 want to be forgiven ? Would he be happy if God forgave him 
 in this state of mind? Why, if a man went into the kingdom 
 of God without repentance, heaven would be hell to him. 
 Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. If your 
 boy has done wrong, and will not repent, you cannot forgive 
 him. You would be doing him an injustice. Suppose he 
 goes to your desk, and steals $10, and squanders it. When 
 you come home your servant tells you what your boy has done. 
 You ask if it is true, and he denies it. But at last you have 
 certain proof. Even when he finds he cannot deny it any 
 longer, he will not confess the sin, but says he will do it again 
 the first chance he gets. Would you say to him, "Well, 1 
 forgive you," and leave the matter there? No! Yet people 
 say that God is going to save all men, whether they repent or 
 not — drunkards, thieves, harlots, whoremongers, it makes no 
 difference. "God is so merciful," they say. Dear friend, do 
 not be deceived by the god of this world. Where there is true 
 repentance and a turning from sin unto God, Ho will meet 
 and bless you; but He never blesses until there is sincere re- 
 pentance. 
 
 David made a woful mistake in this respect with his rebel- 
 lious son, Absalom. He could not have done his son a greater 
 injustice than to forgive him when his heart was unchanged. 
 There could be no true reconcilliation between them when 
 there was no repentance. But God does not make these mis- 
 takes. David got into trouble on account of his error of judg- 
 ment. His son soon drove his father from the throne. 
 
 Speaking on repentance. Dr. Brooks, of St. Louis, well 
 remarks: "Eepentance, strictly speaking, means a 'change 
 of mind or purpose;* consequently it is the judgment which 
 the sinner pronounces upon himself, in view of the love of 
 (3^od displayed in the death of Christ, counected with tha 
 
REPENTANCE AND RESTITUTION, 79 
 
 abandonment of all confidence in himself and with trust in 
 the only Saviour of sinners. Sa\dng repentance and saving 
 faith always go together; and you need not be worried about 
 repentance if you will believe." 
 
 "Some people are no sure that they have * repented enough.' 
 If you mean by this that you must repent in order to incline 
 God to be merciful to you, the sooner you give over such re- 
 pentance the better. God is already merciful, as He has fully 
 shown at the Cross of Calvary; and it is a grievous dishonor 
 to His heart of love if you think that your tears and anguish 
 will move Him, 'not knowing that the goodness of God 
 leadeth thee to repentance.' It is not your badness, therefore, 
 but His goodness that leads to repentance; hence the true 
 way to repent is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, * who 
 was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our 
 justification.' " 
 
 Another thing. If there is true repentance it will bring 
 forth fruit. If we have done wrong to any one we should 
 never ask God to forgive us, until we are willing to make res- 
 titution. If I have done any man a great injustice and can 
 make it good, I need not ask God to forgive me until I am 
 willing to make it good. Suppose I have taken something 
 that does not belong to me. I have no right to expect forgive. 
 ness until I make restitution. 
 
 I remember preaching in one of our large cities, when a 
 fine-looking man came up to me at the close. He was in great 
 cUstrcss of mind. "The fact is," he said, "I am a defaulter. 
 I have taken money that belonged to my employers. How can 
 I become a Christian without restoring it?" " Have you got 
 the money?" He told me he had not got it all. He had taken 
 about §1,500, and he still had about §900. He said, '• Could 
 I not take that money and go into business, and make enough 
 tQ pay them back?" I told him that was a delusion of Satan; 
 
80 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 that he could not expect to prosper on stolen money ; that he 
 should restore all he had, and go and ask his employers to 
 have mercy upon him and forgive him. "But they will put 
 me in prison," he said: "cannot you give me any help?" 
 "No, you must restore the money before you can expect to get 
 any help from God." ''It is pretty hard," he said. ** Yes, it 
 is hard; but the great mistake was in doing the wrong at 
 first." 
 
 His burden became so heavy that it got to be insupportable. 
 He handed me the money — 950 dollars and some cents — and 
 asked me to take it back to his employers. The next even- 
 ing the two employers and myself met in a side room of 
 the church. I laid the money down, and informed them it 
 was from one of their emi>loyes. I told them the story, and 
 said he v/anted mercy from them, not justice. The tears 
 trickled down the cheeks of these two men, and they said, 
 " Forgive him! Yes, we v/ill be glad to forgive him." I went 
 down stairs and brought him up. After he had confessed his 
 guilt and been forgiven, we all got down on our knees and had 
 a blessed prayer-meeting. God met us and blessed us there. 
 
 There was a friend of mine who some time ago had come 
 to Christ and wished to consecrate himself and his wealth to 
 God. He had formerly had transactions with the govern- 
 ment, and had taken advantage of them. This thing came up 
 when he was converted, and his conscience troubled him. He 
 said, " I want to consecrate my v/ealth, but it seems as if God 
 will not take it. " He had a terrible struggle; his conscience 
 kept rising up and smiting him. At last he drew a check 
 for $1,500 and sent it to the United States Treasury. He 
 told me he received such a blessing when he had done it. 
 That was bringing forth "fruits meet for repentance," I be- 
 lieve a great many men are crying to God for light; and they 
 are not getting it because they are not honest. 
 
REPENTANCE AND RESTITUTION. 81 
 
 I was once preaching, and a man came to me who was only 
 thirty-two years old, but whose hair was very grey. He said, 
 "I want you to notice that my hair is grey, and I am only 
 thirty-two years old. For twelve years I have carried a great 
 burden. " "Well," I said, "what is it?" He looked around as 
 if afraid some one would hear him. "Well," he answered, 
 "my father died and left my mother with the county news- 
 paper, and left her only that: that was all she had. After he 
 died the paper began to waste away; and I saw my mother 
 was fast sinking into a state of need. The building and the 
 paper were insured for a thousand dollars, and when I was 
 twenty years old I set fire to the building, and obtained the 
 thousand dollars, and gave it to my mother. For twelve years 
 that sin has been haunting me. I have tried to drown it by in- 
 dulgence in pleasure and sin ; I have cursed God ; I have gone 
 into infidelity ; I have tried to make out that the Bible is not 
 true ; I have done everything I could : but all these years I 
 have been tormented." I said, "There is a way out of that." 
 He inquired "How?" I said, "Make restitution. Let us sit 
 down and calculate the interest, and then you pay the Com- 
 pany the money." It would have done you good to see that 
 man's face light up when he found there was mercy for him. 
 He said he would be glad to pay back the money and interest 
 if he could only be forgiven. 
 
 There are men to da,y who are in darkness and bondage 
 because they are not willing to turn from their sins and con- 
 fess them; and I do not know how a man can hope to be for- 
 given if he is not willing to confess his sins. 
 
 Bear in mind that jww is the only day of mercy you will 
 ever have. You can repent now, and have the awful record 
 blotted out. God waits to forgive you ; He is seeking to bring 
 you to Himself. But I think the Bible teaches clearly that 
 there is 7io repentance after this life. There are some who tell 
 
82 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 yon of the possibility of repentance in the grave ; but I do not 
 find that in Scripture. I have looked my Bible over very care- 
 fully, and I cannot find that a man will have another oppor- 
 tunity of being saved. 
 
 WJiy shoidd he ask for any more time / You have time 
 enough to repent now. You can turn from your sins this 
 moment if you will. God says: "I have no pleasure in the 
 death of him that dieth; wherefore turn, a.nd live ye" (Ezek. 
 xviii. 32). 
 
 Christ said, He "came not to call the righteous, but sinners 
 to repentance." Are you a sinner? Then the call to repent 
 is addressed to you. Take your place in the dust at the 
 Saviour's feet, and acknowledge your guilt. Say, like the pub- 
 lican of old, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" and see how 
 quickly He will pardon and bless you. He will even justify 
 you and reckon you as righteous, by virtue of the righteous- 
 ness of Him who bore your sins in His own body on the 
 Cross. 
 
 There are some perhaps who think themselves righteous; 
 and that, therefore, there is no need for them to repent and be- 
 lieve the Gospel. They are like the Pharisee in the parable, 
 who thanked God that he was not as -other men — "extortion- 
 ers, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican;" and who 
 went on to say, "I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all I 
 possess." What is the judgment about such self-righteous 
 persons? "I tell you this man [the poor, contrite, repenting 
 publican] went down to his house justified rather than the 
 other" (Luke xviii. 11 — 14). "There is none righteous; no, 
 not one." "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of 
 God " (Rom. iii. 10, 23). Let no one say he does not need to 
 repent. Let each one take his true place — that of a sinner; 
 then God will lift him up to the place of forgiveness and justi- 
 
REPENTANCE AND RESTITUTION. 83 
 
 fication. "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be ahased ; and 
 he that humhleth himself shall be exalted " (Luke xiv. 11). 
 
 Wherever God sees true repentance in the heart He meets 
 that soul. 
 
 I was in Colorado, preaching the gospel some time ago, and 
 I heard something that touched my heart very much. The 
 governor of the State was passing through the prison, and in 
 one cell he found a boy w4io had his window full of flowers, 
 that seemed to have been watched with very tender care. The 
 governor looked at the prisoner, and then at the flowers, and 
 asked whose they were, "These are my flowers," said the 
 poor convict. "Are you fond of flowers?" "Yes, sir." "How 
 long have you been here?" He told him so many years: ho 
 was in for a long sentence. The governor was surprised io 
 find him so fond of the flow^ers, and he said, "Can you tell me 
 why you like these flowers so much?" With much emotion 
 he replied, "While my mother was alive she thought a good 
 deal of flowers; and w4ien I came here I thought if I had these 
 they would remind me of mother. " The governor was so 
 pleased that he said, "Well, young man, if you think so much 
 of your mother I think you will appreciate your liberty," and 
 he pardoned him then and there. 
 
 When God finds that beautiful flower of true repentance 
 springing up in a man's heart, then salvation comes to that 
 man. 
 
84 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 
 
 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son 
 of God ; that ye may know that ye have eternal hfe, and that ye may beheve on 
 the name of the Son of God." 
 
 (1 JOHN V. 13.) 
 
 There are two classes who ought not to have Assurance. 
 First : those who are in the Church, but who are not con- 
 verted, having never been born of the Spirit. Second : those 
 are not wilhng to do God's will; who are not ready to take the 
 place that God has mapped out for them, but want to fill some 
 other place. 
 
 Some one will ask "Have all God's people Assurance?" 
 No; I think a good many of God's dear people have no Assur- 
 ance; but it is the privilege of every child of God to have 
 beyond doubt a knowledge of his own salvation. No man is 
 fit for God's service who is filled with doubts. If a man is 
 not sure of his own salvation, how can he help any one else 
 into the kingdom of God? If I seem in danger of drowning 
 and do not know whether I shall ever reach the shore, I can- 
 not assist another. I must first get on the solid rock myself; 
 and then I can lend my brother a helping hand. If being 
 myself blind I were to tell another blind man how to get sight, 
 he might reply, "First get healed yourself; and then you can 
 tell me." I recently met with a young man who was a Chris- 
 tian; but he had not attained to victory over sin. He was in 
 terrible darkness. Such an one is not fit to work for God, 
 because he has besetting sins ; and he has not the victory over 
 his doubts, because he has not the victory over his sins. 
 
ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 85 
 
 None will have time or heart to work for God, vv'ho are not 
 assured as to their own salvation. They have as much as 
 they can attend to; and being themselves bm-dened with 
 doubts, they cannot help others to carry their burdens. There 
 is no rest, joy, or peace — no liberty, nor power — where doubts 
 and uncertainty exist. 
 
 Now it seems as if there are three wiles of Satan against 
 which we ought to be on our guard. In the first place he 
 moves all his kingdom to keep us avv^ay from Christ; then he 
 devotes himself to get us into "Doubting Castle:" but if we 
 have, in spite of him, a clear ringing witness for the Son of 
 God, he will do all he can to blacken our characters and belie 
 our testimony. 
 
 Some seem to think that it is presumption not to have 
 doubts: but doubt is very dishonoring to God. If any one 
 were to say that they had known a person for thirty years and 
 yet doubted him, it would not be very creditable : and when 
 we have known God for ten, twenty or thirty years does it not 
 reflect on His veracity to doubt Him? 
 
 Could Paul and the early Christians and martyrs have gone 
 through what they did if they had been filled with doubts, and 
 had not known whether they were going to heaven or to perdi- 
 tion after they had been burned at the stake ? They must have 
 had Assurance. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon says; "I never heard of a stork that when it 
 met with a fir tree demurred as to its right to build its nest 
 there; and I never heard of a coney yet that questioned 
 whether it had a permit to run into the rock. Why, these 
 creatures would soon perish if they were always doubting and 
 fearing as to whether they had a right to use providential pro- 
 visions. 
 
 "The stork says to himself, * Ah, here is a fir tree:' he 
 consults with his mate, 'Will this do for the nest in which we 
 
THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 may rear our young?' 'Aye,' says she; and they gather the 
 materials, and arrange them. There is never any dehber- 
 ation, 'May we build here?' but they bring their sticks and 
 make their nest. 
 
 "The wild goat on the crag does not say, 'Have I a right 
 here?' No, he must be somewhere; and there is a crag which 
 exactly suits him ; and he springs upon it. 
 
 "Yet, though these dumb creatures know the provision of 
 their God, the sinner does not recognize the provision of his 
 Saviour. He quibbles and questions, 'May I?' and 'I am 
 afraid it is not for me;' and 'I think it cannot be meant for 
 me;' and 'I am afraid it is too good to be true.' 
 
 "And yet nobody ever said to the stork, 'Whosoever build eth 
 on this fir tree shall never have his nest pulled down.' No 
 inspired word has ever said to the coney, 'Whosoever runs 
 into this rock cleft shall never be driven out of it." If it had 
 been so it would make assurance doubly sure. 
 
 "And yet here is Christ provided for sinners, just the sort 
 of a Saviour sinners need ; and the encouragement is added, 
 'Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out;' 'Who- 
 soever will, let him take the water of life freel}'.' " 
 
 Now let us come to the Word. John tells us in his Gospel 
 what Christ did for us on earth. In his Epistle He tells us 
 what He is doing for us in heaven as our Advocate. In his 
 Gospel there are only two chapters in which tlie word "believe" 
 does not occur. With these two exceptions, every chapter in 
 John is "Believe! Believe!! Believe!!!" He tells us in xx. 
 31, "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus 
 is the Christ, the son of God, and that, believing, ye might 
 have life through His name. That is the purpose for v*diicli he 
 wrote the Gospel — "that we mjght believe that Jesus is the 
 Christ, the Son of God: and that, believing, we might have 
 life through His name" (John xx. 31). 
 
ASSURA^WE OF SALVATION. 87 
 
 Turn io 1 John v. 13, he there tells us why he wrote this 
 jfipistle: "These things have I written nnto you that believe on 
 the name of the Son of God." Notice to whom he writes it: 
 "You that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye 
 may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may beheve 
 on the name of the Son of God." There are only five short 
 chapters in this first Epistle, and the word "know" occurs over 
 forty times. It is ''Know! Know!! KNOW!!!" The Key to 
 it is Know ! and all through the Epistle there rings out the 
 refrain — "that we might know that we have eternal life." 
 
 I went twelve hundred miles down the Mississippi in the 
 spring some yea/s ago; and every evening, just as the sun 
 went down, you might have seen men, and sometimes women, 
 riding up to the banks of the river on either side on mules or 
 horses, and sometimes coming on foot, for the purpose of 
 lighting up the Governmienfc lights; and all down that mighty 
 river there were landmarks which guided the pilots in their 
 dangerous navigation. Now God has given us lights or land- 
 marks to tell us w^hether we are Ilis children or not; and what 
 we need to do is to examine the tokens He has given us. 
 
 In the third chapter of John's first Epistle there are five 
 things worth knowing. 
 
 In the fifth verse we read the first : "And ye Jmow that 
 He was manifiested to take away oiu sins; and in Him 
 is no sin." Not what I have done, but what HE has 
 done. Has He failed in His mission? Is He not able to 
 do what He came for? Did ever any lieavfcn-sent man fail 
 yet? and could God's own Son fail? He was manifested to 
 
 TAKE AWAY OUR SINS. 
 
 Again, in the nineteenth verse, the seconcl iLing worth 
 knowing: "And hereby ice know that we are of the truth, and 
 shall assurs our hearts before Him." We know that we are of 
 THE TRUTH. And if the truth make us free, we shall be free 
 
SS* THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 indeed. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be 
 freR indeed." (John viii. 36.) 
 
 The third thing worth knowing is in the fourteenth verse, 
 "F'^a know that we have passed from death unto life, because 
 we love the brethren." The naturtil man does not like godly 
 people, nor does he Go.ie to be in their company. "He that 
 lov^-th not his brother abideth in death." He has no spiritual 
 lif^^^ 
 
 The fourth thing worth knowing vv^e find in verse twenty- 
 four : "And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in 
 Him, and He in him. And hereby ice know that He abideth 
 in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us. We can tell 
 what kind of Spirit we have if we possess the Spirit of Christ — 
 a Christ-like spirit — not the same in degree, but the same in 
 kind. If I am meek, gentle, and forgiving; if I have a spirit 
 filled with peace and joy; if I am long-suffering and gentle, 
 like the Son of God — that is a test : and in that way we are to 
 tell whether we have eternal life or not. 
 
 The fifth thmg worth knowing, and the best of all, is 
 "Beloved, now." Notice the word "Now." It does not say 
 when you come to die. "Beloved, 7iow are we the sons of God; 
 and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, 
 when He shall appear, w« shall be like Him; for we shall see 
 Him as He is" {v. 2). 
 
 But some will say, "Well, I believe all that; but then I 
 havf< sinned since I became a Christian." Is there a man or 
 a woman on the face of the earth who has not sinned since 
 becoming a Christian? Not one! There never has been, and 
 never will be, a soul on this earth who has not tinned, or who 
 will not sin, at some time of their Christian experience. But 
 God has made provision for believers' sins. V/e are not to 
 make provision for them; but God has. Bear that in mind. 
 
ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 89 
 
 Turn to 1 John ii. 1: "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." 
 He is here writing to the righteous. "If any man sin, we" — 
 John put himself in — " we have an Advocate with the Father, 
 Jesus Christ the righteous." What an Advocate! He attends 
 to our interests at the very hest place — the throne of God. He 
 said, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for 
 you that I go away" (John xvi. 7). He went away to hecome 
 our High Priest, and also our Advocate. He has had some 
 hard cases to plead; hut he has never lost one: and if you 
 entrust your immortal interests to Him, He will ''present you 
 faultless hefore the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" 
 (Jude 2i). 
 
 The past sins of Christians are all forgiven as soon as they 
 are confessed ; and they are never to he mentioned. That is a 
 question which is not to he opened up again. If our sins 
 have been put away, that is the end of them. They are not 
 to be remembered; and God will not mention them anymore. 
 This is very plain. Suppose I have a son who, while I am 
 from home, does wrong. When I go home he throws his 
 arms around my neck and says, "Papa, I did what you told 
 me not to do. I am very sorry. Do forgive me." I say: 
 "Yes, my son," and kiss him. He wipes away his tears, and 
 goes off rejoicing. 
 
 But the next day he says : "Papa, I wish you would for- 
 give me for the wrong I did yesterday." I should say: *'Y/hy, 
 my son, that thing is settled; and I don't want it mentioned 
 again." "But I v/isli you would forgive me: it would help me 
 to hear you say, 'I forgive you.' " Would that be honoring 
 me? Would it not grieve me to have my boy doubt me? But 
 to gratify him I say again, "I forgive you, my son." 
 
90 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 And if, the next day, he were again to bring up that old 
 sin, and ask forgiveness, would not that grieve me to the 
 heart? And so, my dear reader, if God has forgiven us, never 
 let us mention the past. Let us forget those things which are 
 behind, and reach forth unto those which are before, and 
 press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God 
 in Christ Jesus. Let the sins of the past go; for "If we con- 
 fess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 
 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John i. 9). 
 
 And let me say that this principle is recognized in courts of 
 justice. A case came up in the courts of a country — I won't 
 say where — in which a man ha,d had trouble with his wife; 
 but he forgave her, and then ' afterwards brought her into 
 court. And, when it was known that he had forgiven her, the 
 judge said that the thing was settled. The judge recognized 
 the soundness of the principle, that if a sin were once forgiven 
 there was an end of it. And do you think the Judge of all the 
 earth will forgive you and me, and open the question again? 
 Our sins are gone for time and eternity, if God forgives; and 
 what we have to do is to confess and forsake our sins. 
 
 Again in 2 Corinthians xiii. 5: "Examine yourselves 
 whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own selves. Xnow ye 
 not your ovv^n selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye 
 be reprobates?" Now examine yourselves. Try your religion. 
 Put it to the test. Can you forgive an enemy? That is a 
 good way to know if you are a child of God. Can you forgive 
 an injury, or take an affront, as Christ did? Can you be 
 censured for doing well, and not murmur? Can you be mis- 
 judged and misrepresented, and yet keep a Christ-like spirit? 
 
 Another good test is to read Galatians v., and notice the 
 fruits of the Spirit; and see if you have them. "The fruit of 
 the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, good- 
 ness faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no 
 
ASSURAI^CE OF SALVATION. 91 
 
 law." If I have the fruits of the Spirit I must have the Spirit. 
 I could not have the fruits without the Spirit any more than 
 there could be an orange without the tree. And Christ says* 
 "Ye shall know them by their fruits;" "for the tree is known 
 by his fruits." Make the tree good, and the fruit will be good. 
 The only way to get the fruit is to have the Spirifc. That is 
 the way to examine ourselves whether we are the children of 
 God. 
 
 Then there is another very striking passage. In Romans 
 viii. 9, Paul says: "Now, if any man have not the Spirit of 
 Christ, he is none of His." That ought to settle the question, 
 even though one may have gone through all the external forms 
 that are considered necessary by some to constitute a member 
 of a Church. Bead Paul's life, and put yours alongside of it. 
 If your life resembles his, it is a proof that you are born again 
 — that you are anew creature in Christ Jesus. 
 
 But although you may be born again, it will require time 
 to become a full-grown Christian. Justification is instantane- 
 ous; but sanctification is a life-work. We are to grow in wis- 
 dom. Peter says : "Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. iii. 18); and in 
 the first chapter of his Second Epistle, "Add to yourfaitli vir- 
 tue ; and to virtue knowledge ; and to knowledge temperance ; 
 and to temperance patience ; and to patience godliness; and to 
 godliness brotherly kindness ; and to brotherly kindness char- 
 ity. For if these things be in you and abound they make you 
 that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ." So that we are to add grace to 
 grace. A tree may be perfect in its first year of growth ; but 
 it does not attain its maturity. So with the Christian: he 
 may be a true child of God, but not a matured Christian. The 
 eighth of Romans is very important, and we should be very 
 familiar with it. In the fourteenth verse the apostle says : 
 
92 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons 
 of God." Just as the soldier is led by his captain, the pupil 
 by his teacher, or the traveller by his guide; so the Holy 
 Spirit will be the guide of every true child of God. 
 
 Then let me call your attention to another fact. All 
 Paul's teaching in nearly every Epistle rings out the doctrine 
 of assurance. He says in 2 Corinthians v. 1: "For we know 
 that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, w^e 
 have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal 
 in the heavens." He had a title to the mansions above, and 
 he says — I know it. He was not living in uncertainty. He 
 said: "I have a desire to depart and be with Christ " (Phil, 
 i. 23); and if he had been uncertain he would not have said 
 that. Then in Colossians iii. 4, he says: "When Christ, w?io 
 is our life, shall appear, then ghall ye also appear with Him in 
 glory." I am told that Dr. Watts' tombstone bears this same 
 passage of Scripture. There is no doubt there. 
 
 Then turn to Colossians i. 12: "Giving thanks unto the 
 Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inher- 
 itance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the 
 power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of 
 His dear Son." 
 
 Three 7iai/is : "hath made us meet;" "h.\th delivered us;" 
 and "hath translated us." It does not say that He is going to 
 make us meet ; that He is going to deliver ; that He is going 
 to translate. 
 
 Then again in verse 14th: "In whom we have redemp- 
 tion through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." We 
 are either forgiven or we are not, we should not give ourselves 
 any rest until we get into the kingdoin of God; nor until we 
 can each look up and say, "I know that if my earthly house of 
 this tabernacle were dissolved, I have a building of God, a house 
 not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor. v. 1). 
 
ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 93 
 
 Look at Romans viii. 32: "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?" If He gave us His Son, 
 will He not give us the certainty that He is ours. I have 
 heard this illustration. There was a man who owed ^10,- 
 000, and would have been made a bankrupt, but a friend came 
 forward and paid the sum. It was found afterwards that he 
 owed a few dollars more; but he did not for a moment enter- 
 tain a doubt that, as his friend had paid the larger amount, he 
 would also pay the smaller. And we have high warrant for 
 saying that if God has given us His Son He will with Him 
 also freely give us all things; and if we want to realize our sal- 
 vation beyond controversy He will not leave us in darkness. 
 
 Again in the 33d verse: "Who shall lay anything to the 
 charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he 
 that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is 
 risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also 
 maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the 
 love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or 
 famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, 
 For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are ac- 
 counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things 
 we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For 
 I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor 
 principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to 
 come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be 
 able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord." 
 
 That has the right ring in it. There is Assurance for you. 
 "1 Know." Do you think that the God who has justified me 
 will condemn me ? That is quite an absurdity. God is going 
 to save us so that neither men, angels, nor devils, can bring any 
 charge against us or Him. He will have the work complete. 
 
94 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 Job lived in a darker day than we do ; but we read in Job 
 xix. 25 : "I know that my Eedeemer hveth, and that He shall 
 stand in the latter day upon the earth." 
 
 The same confidence breathes through Paul's last words to 
 Timothy: "For the which cause I also suffer these things: 
 nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I Jmoiv whom I have be- 
 lieved, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I 
 have committed unto Him against that day." It is not a 
 matter of doubt, but of knowledge. "I know." "I am per- 
 suaded." The word "Hope," is not used in the Scripture to 
 express doubt. It is used in regard to the second coming of 
 Christ, or to the resurrection of the body. We do not say that 
 we "hope " we are Christians. I do not say that I "hope " I 
 am an American, or that I "hope" I am a married man. 
 These are settled things. I may say that I "hope " to go back 
 to my home, or I hope to a,ttend such a meeting. I do not 
 say that I "hope " to come to this country, for I am here. And 
 so, if we are born of God we know it; and He will not leave us 
 in darkness if we search the Scriptures. 
 
 Christ taught this doctrine to His seveuty disciples when 
 they returned elated with their success, saying, "Lord, even 
 the devils are subject unto us through Thy name." The Lord 
 seemed to check them, and said that He would give them 
 something to rejoice in. "Notwithstanding in this rejoice 
 not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice 
 because your names are written in heaven." (Luke x. 20.) 
 
 It is the privilege of every one of us to know, beyond a 
 a doubt, that our salvation is sure. Then we can work for 
 others. But if we are doubtful of our own salvation, we are 
 not fit for the service of God. 
 
 Another passage is John v. 24 : "Verily, verily I say unto 
 you : He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that 
 sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into 'judg- 
 
A SS URANCE OF SAL VA TION. 95 
 
 vunt' " (the new translation has it so), "but is passed from 
 death unto hfe." 
 
 Some people say that you never can tell till you are before 
 the great white throne of Judgment whether you are saved or 
 not. Why, my dear friend, if your life is hid with Christ in 
 God, you are not coming into judgment for your sins. We 
 may come into judgment for reward. This is clearly taught 
 where the lord reckoned with the servant to whom five talents 
 had been given, and who brought other five talents saying, 
 "Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents; behold, I have 
 gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him. 
 Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been 
 faithful over a few things ; I will make thee ruler over many 
 things; enter thou into the joy 'of thy lord." (Matt. xxv. 
 20,21.) We shall be judged for our stewardship. That is 
 one thing ; but salvation — eternal life — is another. 
 
 Will God demand payment twice of the debt which Christ 
 has paid for us ? If Christ bear my sins in His own body on 
 the tree, am I to answer for them as v/ell? 
 
 Isaiah tells us that, " He was wounded for our transgres- 
 sions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of 
 our peace was upon Him : and with His stripes we are healed." 
 In Romans iv. 25, we read ; He "was delivered for our offences, 
 and was raised again for our justification." Let us believe, 
 and get the benefit of His finished work. 
 
 Then again in John x. 9 : "I am the door : by Me if any 
 man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and 
 find pasture." That is the promise. Then the 27th verse, 
 "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. 
 My father which gave them is greater than all ; a]id no man 
 is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." Think of 
 
96 THE WAY TO QOD. 
 
 that! The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are pledged 
 to keep us. You see that it is not only the Father, not only 
 the Son, hut the three persons of the Triune God. 
 
 Now, a great many people want some token outside of 
 God's word. That hahit always brings doubt. If I made a 
 promise to meet a man at a certain hour and place to-morrow, 
 and he were to ask me for my watch as a token of my sincer- 
 ity, it would be a slur on my truthfulness. We must not 
 question what God has said: He has made statement after 
 statement, and multiplied figure upon figure. Christ says : 
 "I am the door; by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved." 
 "I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known 
 of Mine." "I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me 
 shall not w^alk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." 
 "lam the truth;" receive Me, and you will have the truth. 
 for I am the embodiment of truth. Do you want to know the 
 way? "I am the way;" follow Mej and I will lead you into 
 the kingdom. Are you hungering after righteousnes? "lam 
 the Bread of life : " if you eat of Me you shall never hunger. 
 "I am the Water of life :" if you drink of this water it shall 
 be within you ' * a well of water springing up unto everlasting 
 life." "I am the resurrection and the life : he that believeth 
 in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and whosoever 
 hveth and believeth in Me shall never die." (John xi. 25, 26.) 
 
 Let me remind you where our doubts come from. A good 
 many of God's dear people never get beyond knowing them- 
 selves servants. He calls us "friends." If you go into a 
 house you will soon see the difference between the servant and 
 the son. The son walks at perfect liberty all over the house ; 
 he is at home. But the servant takes a subordinate place. 
 What we want is to get beyond servants. We ought to realize 
 our standing with God as sons and daughters. He will not 
 "un-child" His children. God has not only adopted us, but 
 
A SS URANCE OF SAL VA TION. 97 
 
 we are Ilis by Lirtli : we have been born into His kingdom. 
 My little boy was as jniich mine when he was a day old as 
 now that he is fourteen. He was vuj son ; although it did not 
 appear what he would be when he attained manhood. He is 
 mine; although he may have to undergo probation under 
 tutors and governors. The children of God are not perfect; 
 but we are perfectly His children. 
 
 Another origin of doubts is looking at ourselves. If you 
 want to be wretched and miserable, filled with doubts from 
 morning till night, look at yourselves. "Thou wilt keep him 
 in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee." (Isa. xxvi. 
 3.) Many of God's dear children are robbed of joy because 
 they keep looking at themselves. 
 
 Some one has said : " There are three ways to look. If 
 you want to be wretched, look within; if you wish to be dis- 
 tracted, look around; but if you would have peace, look up." 
 Peter looked away from Christ, and he immediately began to 
 sink. The Master said to him: "0 thou of little faith! 
 Where^— didst ihou doubt?" (Matt. xiv. 31.) He had God's 
 eternal word, which was sure footing, and better than either 
 marble, granite or iron ; but the moment he took his eyes off 
 Christ down he went. Those who look around cannot see how 
 unstable and dishonoring is their walk. We want to look 
 straight at the " Author ?.nd Finisher of our faith." 
 
 When I was a boy I could only make a straight track in 
 the snow, by keeping my eyes fixed upon a tree or some object 
 before me. The moment I took my eye off the mark set in 
 front of me, I walked crooked. It is only when we look fix- 
 edly on Christ that we find perfect peace. After He rose from 
 the dead H> ai^^-«ired His disciples His hands and His feet. 
 (Luke xxi\. •i.-O.) That was the ground of their peace. If 
 you want to scatter yourd®ubts, look at the blood; and if you 
 want to increase your doubts, look at yourself. You will get 
 
98 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 doubts enough for years by being occupied with yourself for a 
 few days. 
 
 Then again . look at what He is, and at what He has done; 
 not at what you are, and what you have done. That is the 
 way to get peace and rest. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring the 
 emancipation of three millions of slaves. On a certain day 
 their chains were to fall off, and they were to be free. The 
 proclamation was put up on the trees and fences wherever the 
 Northern Army marched. A good many slaves could not 
 read: but others read the proclamation, and most of them be- 
 lieved it; and on a certain day a glad shout went up, "We are 
 freel" Some did not believe it, and stayed with their old 
 masters; but it did not alter the fact that they were free. 
 Christ, the Captain of our salvation, has proclaimed freedom 
 to all who have faith in Him. Let us take Him at His word. 
 Their feelings would not have made the slaves free. The 
 power must come from the outside. Looking at ourselves will 
 not make us free, but it is looking to Christ with the eye of 
 faith. 
 
 Bishop Ryle has strikingly said: "Faith is the root, and 
 Assurance the flower. Doubtless you can never ha.ve the 
 flower without the root ; but it is no less certain you may have 
 the root, and not the flower. 
 
 "Faith is that poor trembling woman who came behind 
 Jesus in the press, and touched the hem of His garment. 
 (Mark v. 27.) Assurance is Stephen standing calmly in the 
 midst of his murderers, and saying, ' I see the heavens opened, 
 and the Son of Man standiiig on the right hand of God ' 
 (Acts vii. 56). 
 
 "Faith is the penitent thief, crying, 'Lord, remember me' 
 (Luke xxiii. 42). Assurance is Job sitting in the dust, covered 
 with Bores^ and saying, 'I know that my Bedeenaer liveth;' 
 
ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 99 
 
 * Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him ' (Job xix. 25; 
 xiii. 15). 
 
 "Faith is Peter's drowning cry, as he began to sink, 
 *Lord, save me! ' (Matt. xxiv. 30). Assurance is that same 
 Peter declaring before the Council, in after-times, * This is the 
 stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become 
 the head of the corner: neither is there salvation in any other; 
 for there is none other name under heaven given among men 
 whereby we must be saved ' (Acts iv. 11, 12). 
 
 "Faith is the anxious, trembling voice, 'Lord, I believe; 
 help Thou mine unbelief!' ('Mark ix. 24). Assurance is the 
 confident challenge, ' Who shall lay anything to the charge of 
 God's elect? Who is he that condemneth? ' (Kom. 
 viii. 33, 34). 
 
 Faith is Saul praying in the house of Judas at Damas- 
 cus, sorrowful, blind, and alone. (Acts ix. 11.) Assurance 
 is Paul, the aged prisoner, looking camly into the grave, 
 and saying, * I know whom I have believed.' ' There is a 
 crown laid up for me ' (2 Tim. i. 12; iv. 8). 
 
 "Faith is Life. How great the blessing! Who can tell 
 the gulf between life and death? And yet life may be weak, 
 sickly, unhealthy, painful, trying, anxious, worn, burdensome, 
 joyless, smileless, to the very end. 
 
 "Assurance is mure than life. It is health, strength, power, 
 vigor, activity, energy, manliness, beauty." 
 
 A minister once pronounced the benediction in this way : 
 "The heart of God to make us welcome; the blood of Christ to 
 make us clean, and the Holy Spirit to make us certain." 
 The security of the believer is the result of the operation of the 
 Spirit of God. 
 
 Another writer says: "I have seen shrubs and trees grow 
 out of the rocks, and overhang fearful precipices, roaring cat- 
 aractSj and deep running waters j but they maintained their 
 
lOO THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 position, and threw out their foliage and branches as mucji as 
 if they had been in the midst of a dense forest." It was their 
 hold on the rock that made them secure; and the influences 
 of nature that sustained their life. So believers are oftentimes 
 exposed to the most horrible dangers in their journey to heaven ; 
 but, so long as they are "rooted and grounded" in the Eock 
 of Ages, they are perfectly secure. Their hold of Him i-s their 
 guarantee; and the blessings of His grace give them life and 
 sustain them in life. And as the tree must die, or the rock 
 fall, before a dissolution can be effected between them^ so 
 either the believer must lose his spiritual life, or the Eock must 
 crumble, ere their union can be dissolved. 
 
 Speaking of the Lord Jesus, Isaiah says : "I will fasten 
 Him as a nail in a sure place; and He shall be for a glorious 
 throne to His Father's house: and they shall hang upon Him 
 all the glory of His father's house, the offspring and the issue, 
 all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to 
 all the vessels of flagons " (xxii. 23, 24). 
 
 There is one nml, fastened in a sure place; and on it hang 
 all the flagons and all the cups. "Oh," says one little cup, "I 
 am so small and so black, suppose I were to drop!" *''0]i,'' 
 says a flagon, "there is no fear of you; but I am so heavy, so 
 very weighty, suppose I were to drop !" And a little cup says, 
 "Oh, if I were only like the gold cup there, I should never fear 
 falling." But the gold cup answers, "It is not because I am 
 a gold cup that I keep uj); but because I hang upon the nail." 
 If the nail gives way we all come down, gold cups, china cups, 
 pewter cups, and all; but as long as the nail keeps up, all that 
 hang on Him hang safely. 
 
 I once read these words on a tombstone: "Born, died, 
 kept." Let us pray God to keep us in perfect peace, and 
 assured of salvation. 
 
CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL, 101 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL, 
 
 (CoiiOSSiANS iii. 11.) 
 
 Christ is all to us that we make Him to be. I want to 
 emphasize that word "all." Some men make Him to be "a 
 root out of a dry ground," "without form or comeliness." He 
 is nothing to them; they do not want Him. Some Chris- 
 tians have a very small Saviour, for they are not willing to 
 receive Him fully, and let Him do great and mighty things 
 for them. Others have a mighty Saviour, because they make 
 Him to be great and mighty. 
 
 If we would know what Christ wants to be to us, we must 
 first of all know Him as our Saviour from sin. When the 
 angel came down from heaven to proclaim that He was to be 
 born into the world, you remember he gave His name, "He 
 shall be called Jesus,* for He shall save His people from their 
 sins." Have we been deliveked fsom sin? He did not come 
 to save us in our sins, but from our sins. Now, there are 
 three ways of knowing a man. Some men you know only by 
 hearsay ; others you merely know by having been once intro- 
 duced to them, you know them very slightly; other again you 
 know by having been acquainted with them for years, you 
 know them intimately. So I believe there are three classes of 
 people to-day in the Christian Church and out of it: those 
 who know Christ only by reading or by hearsay, those who 
 have a historical Christ; those who have a slight personal ac- 
 quaintance with Him; and, those who thirst, as Paul did, to 
 
 ♦Saviour. 
 
102 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 "know Him and the power of His resurrection." The more 
 we know of Christ the more we shall love Him, and the better 
 we shall serve Him. 
 
 Let us look at Him as He hangs upon the Cross, and 
 see how He has put away siu. He was manifested that He 
 might take away our sins; and if we really know Him Ave 
 must first of all see Him as our Saviour from sin. You 
 remember how" the angels said to the shepherds on the plains 
 of Bethlehem, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, 
 which shall be to all people : for unto you is born this day, in 
 the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." 
 (Luke ii. 10, 11.) Then if you go clear back to Isaiah, seven 
 hundred years before Christ's birth, you will find these words: 
 "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no Saviour" 
 (xliii. 11). 
 
 Again, in the First Epistle of John (iv. 14) we read : "We 
 have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be 
 the Saviour of the world." All the heathen religions, we read, 
 teach men to work their way up to God; but the religion of 
 Jesus Christ is God coming dov^^n to men to save them, to lift 
 them up out of the pit of siu. In Luke xix. 10, we read that 
 Christ Himself told the people what He had come for: "The 
 Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." 
 So we start from the Cross, not from the cradle. Christ has 
 opened up a new and living way to the Father; He has taken 
 all the stumbling-blocks out of the way, so that every man 
 who accepts of Christ as his Saviour can have salvation. 
 
 But Christ is not only a Saviour. I might save a man 
 from drowning and rescue him from an untimely grave; but I 
 might probably not be able to do any more for him. Christ is 
 something more than a Saviour. When the children of Israel 
 were placed behind the blood, that blood was their salvation ; 
 but they would still have heard the crack of the slave-driver's 
 
aSRISt ALL tN ALL. 103 
 
 whip if they had not been delivered from the Egyptian yoke of 
 bondage: then it was that God deUvered them from the hand 
 of the king of Egypt. I have httle sympathy with the idea 
 that God comes down to save us, and then leaves us in prison, 
 the slaves of our besetting sins. No ; He has come to deliver 
 us, and to give us victory over our evil tempers, our passions, 
 and our lusts. Are you a professed Christian but on'o who is 
 a slave to some besetting sin ? If you want to get victory over 
 that temper or that lust, goon to know Christ more intimately. 
 He brings deliverance for the past, the present, and the 
 future. "Who delivered; who doth deliver; who will yet 
 deliver." (2 Cor. i. 10.) 
 
 How often, like the children of Israel when they came to 
 the Eed Sea, have we become discouraged because everything 
 looked dark before us, behind us, and around us, and we 
 knew not which way to turn. Like Peter we have said, "To 
 whom shall we go?" But God has appeared for our dehver- 
 ance. He has brought us through the Red Sea right out into 
 the wilderness, and opened up the way into the Promised 
 Land. But Christ is not only our Deliverer; He is our 
 Redeemer. That is something more than being our Saviour. 
 He has brought us back. "Ye have sold yourselves for 
 nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money." (Isaiah 
 lii. 3.) We were not redeemed with corruptible things, as 
 silver and gold." (1 Peter i. 18.) If gold could have re- 
 deemed us, could He not have created ten thousand worlds full 
 of gold? 
 
 When God had redeemed the children of Israel from the 
 bondage of Egypt, and brought them through the Red Sea, 
 they struck out for the wilderness ; and then God became to 
 them their Way. I am so thankful the Lord has not left us 
 in darkness as to the right way. There is no living man who 
 has been groping in the darkness but may know the way. "I 
 
104 THE yVAY TO GOD. 
 
 am the Way," says Christ. If we follow Christ we shall be in 
 the right way, and have the right doctrine. Who could lead 
 the children of Israel through the wilderness like the Almighty 
 God Himself? He knew the pitfalls and dangers of the way, 
 and guided the people through all their wilderness journey 
 right into the promised land. It is true that if it had not been 
 for their accursed unbelief they might have crossed into the 
 land at Kadesh Barnea, and taken possession of it, but they 
 desired something besides God's v/ord; so they were turned 
 back, and had to wander in the desert for forty years. I 
 believe there are thousands of God's children wandering in the 
 wilderness still. The Lord has delivered them from the hand 
 of the Egyptian, and would at once take them through the 
 wilderness right into the Promised Land, if they were only 
 willing to follow Christ. Christ has been down here, and has 
 made the rough places smooth, and the dark places light, and 
 the crooked places straight. If we will only be led by Him, 
 and will foUow Him, all will be peace, and joy, and rest. 
 
 In the frontier, when a man goes out hunting he takes a 
 hatchet with him, and cuts off pieces from the bark of the 
 trees as he goes along through the forest : this is called 
 '•blazing the way." He does it that he may know the way 
 back, as there is no pathway through these thick forests. 
 Christ has come down to this earth; He has "blazed the 
 Way :" and now that He has gone up on higli, if we will but 
 follow him, we shall be kept in the right path. I will tell you 
 how you may know if you are following Christ or not. If 
 some one has slandered you, or misjudged you, do you treat 
 them as your master would have done? If you do not bear 
 these things in a loving and forgiving spirit, all the churches 
 and ministers in the world cannot make you right. "If any 
 man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." 
 (Komans viii. 9.) "If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new 
 
CHRIST ALL IN ALL. l05 
 
 creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are 
 become new." (2 Cor. v. 17.) 
 
 Christ is not only our way He is the Light upon the way. 
 He says, **I am the Light of the world." (John viii. 12; ix. 5; 
 xii. 46.) He goes on to say, "He that followeth Me shall not 
 walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." It is im- 
 possible for any man or woman who is following Christ to 
 walk in darkness. If your soul is in the darkness, grop- 
 ing around in the fog and mist of earth, let me tell you 
 it is because you have got away from the true light. There is 
 nothing but light that will dispel darkness. So let those who 
 are walking in spiritual darkness admit Christ into their hearts : 
 He is the Light. I call to mind a picture of which I used at 
 one time to think a good deal ; but now I have come to look 
 more closely, I would not pui} it up in my house except 1 
 turned the face to the wall. It represents Christ as standing 
 at a door, knocking, and having a big lantern in His hand. 
 Why, you might as well hang up a lantern to the sun as put 
 one into Christ's hand. He is the Sun of Kighteousness; and 
 it is our privilege to walk in the light of an unclouded sun. 
 
 Many people are hunting after light, and peace, and joy. 
 We are nowhere told to seek after these things. If we admit 
 Christ into our hearts these will all come of themselves. I 
 remember, when a boy, I used to try in vain to catch my 
 shadow. One day I was walking with my face to the sun ; 
 and as I happened to look around I saw that my shadow was 
 followinsf me. The faster I went the faster mv shadow fol- 
 lowed; I could not get away from it. So when our faces are 
 directed to the Sun of Rigliteousness, the peace and joy are 
 sure to come. A man said to me some time ago, "Moody, 
 how do you feel?" It was so long since I had thought about 
 my feelings I had to stop and consider awhile, in order to find 
 out. Some Christians are all the time thinking about their 
 
106 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 feelings; and because they do not feel just right they think 
 their joy is all gone. If we keep our faces towards Christ, and 
 are occupied with Him, w^e shall he lifted out of the darkness 
 and the trouble that may have gathered round our path. 
 
 I remember being in a meeting after the war of the great 
 rebellion broke out. The war had been going on for about six 
 months. The army of the North had been defeated at Bull 
 Run, in fact, we had nothing but defeat, and it looked as 
 though the republic was going to pieces. So we were much 
 cast down and discouraged. At this meeting every speaker 
 for awhile seemed as if he ha4 hung his harp upon the willow; 
 and it was one of the gloomiest meetings I ever attended. 
 Finally an old man with beautiful white hair got up to speak, 
 and his face literally shone. "Young men," he said "you do 
 not talk hke sons of the King. Though it is dark just here, 
 remember it is light somewhere else." Then he went on to 
 say that if it were dark all over the world, it was light up 
 around the Throne. 
 
 He told us he had come from the east, where a friend had 
 described to him how he had been up a mountain to spend 
 the night and see the sun rise. As the party were climbing up 
 the mountain, and before they had reached the summit, a 
 storm came on. This friend said to the guide, "I will give 
 this up; take me back." The guide smiled, and rephed, "I 
 think we shall get above the storm soon." On they went; and 
 it was not long before they got up to where it was as calm as 
 any summer evening. Dov/n in the valley a terrible storm 
 raged; they could hear the thunder rolling, and see the 
 hghtning's flash; but all was serene on the mountain top. 
 "And so, my young friends," continued the old man, ''though 
 all is dark around you, come a little higher and the darkness 
 will flee away." Often when I have been inclined to get dis- 
 couraged, I have thought of what he said. Now if you are 
 
CHRIST ALL IN ALL. lOl 
 
 down in the valley amidst the thick fog and the darkness, get 
 a little higher; get nearer to Christ, and know more of Him. 
 You remember the Bible says, that when Christ expired on 
 the cross, the light of the world was put out. God sent His 
 Son to be the light of the world; but men did not love the 
 light because it reproved them of their sins. When they were 
 about to put out this light, what did Christ say to His disciples? 
 "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me." (Acts i. 8.) He has gone 
 up yonder to intercede for us; but He wants us to shine for 
 Him down here. "Ye are the light of the world." (Matt. v. 
 1-4.) So our work is to shine; not to blow our own trumpet 
 so that people may look at us. What we want to do is to show 
 forth Christ. If we have &11J light at all it is borrowed light. 
 Some one said to a young Christian: "Converted! it is all 
 moonshine!" Said he: "I thank you for the illustration; 
 the moon borrows its light from the sun ; and we borrow ours 
 from the Sun of Kighteousness." If we are Christ's, we are 
 here to shine for Him: by and by he will call us home to our 
 reward. 
 
 I remember hearing of a blind man who sat by the way- 
 side with a lantern near him. When he was asked what he 
 had a lantern for, as he could not see the light, he said it was 
 that people should not stumble over him. I believe more 
 people stumble over the inconsistencies of professed Chris- 
 tians than from any other cause. What is doing more harm 
 to the cause of Christ than all the scepticism in the world is 
 this cold, dead formalism, this conformity to the world, this 
 professing what we do not possess. The eyes of the world are 
 upon us. I think it was George Fox who said every Quaker 
 ought to light up the country for ten miles around him. If 
 we were all brightly shining for the Master, those about us 
 would soon be reached, and there would be a shout of praise 
 going to heaven. 
 
108 • THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 People say : "I want to know what is the truth." Listen: 
 "I AM THE TRUTH," sajs Christ. (John xiv. 5.) If you want 
 to know what the truth is, get acquainted with Christ. Peo- 
 ple also complain that they have not life. Many are trying 
 to give themselves spiritual life. You may galvanize your- 
 selves and put electricity into yourselves, so to speak; but the 
 effect w^ill not last very long. Christ alone is the author of 
 life. If you would have real spiritual life, get to know Christ. 
 Many try to stir up spiritual life by going to meetings. That 
 may be w^ell enough; but it will be of no use, unless they get 
 into contact with the living Christ, Then their spiritual life 
 will not be a spasmodic thing, but v/ill be perpetual; flowing 
 on and on, and bringing forth fruit to God. 
 
 Then Christ is our Keeper. A great many young disci - 
 pies are afraid they will not hold out. "He that keepeth 
 Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." (Psalm cxxi. 4.) It 
 is the work of Christ to keep us; and if He keeps us there 
 will be no danger of our falhng. I suppose if Queen Victoria 
 had to take care of the Crov/n of England, some thief might 
 attempt to get access to it; but it is put away in the Tower of 
 London, and guarded night and day by soldiers. The whole 
 English army would, if necessary, be called out to protect it. 
 And we have no strength in ourselves. We are no match for 
 Satan; he has had six thousand years' experience. But then 
 we remember that the One who neither slumbers nor sleeps is 
 our keeper. In Isaiah xli. 10, we read, «* Fear thou not, for I 
 am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will 
 strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee 
 with the right hand of My righteousness." In Jude also, 
 verse 24, we are told that He is " able to keep us from fall- 
 ing." "We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ 
 the righteous." (I John ii. 1.) 
 
CHRIST ALL IN ALL. 109 
 
 But Christ is something more. He is our Shepherd. It 
 is the work of the shepherd to care for the sheep, to feed them 
 and protect them. *'I am the Good Shepherd;" " My sheep 
 hear My voice." "I lay down My hfo for the sheep." In 
 that wonderful tenth chapter of John, Christ uses the personal 
 pronoun no less than twenty-eight times, in declaring what 
 He is and what He will do. In verse 28 He says, " Tlie}^ 
 shall never perish; neither shall any \_inan'] pluck them out of 
 My hand." But notice the word " man " is in italics. See 
 how the verse really reads: "Neither shall any pluck them 
 out of My hand " — no devil or man shall be able to do it. In 
 another place the Scripture declares, "Your life is hid with 
 Christ in God." (Col. iii. 3.) How safe and how secure! 
 
 Christ says, '* My sheep hear My voice . . . and they fol- 
 low Me." (John x. 27.) A gentleman in the East heard of 
 a shepherd who could call all his sheep to him by name. He 
 went and asked if this was true. The shepherd took him to 
 the pasture where they were, and called one of them by some 
 name. One sheep looked up and answered the call, while the 
 others went on feeding and paid no attention. In the same 
 way he called about a dozen of the sheep around him. The 
 stranger said, " How do you know one from the other? They 
 all look perfectly alike." "Well," said he, "you see that 
 sheep toes in a little; that other one has a squint; one has a 
 little piece of wool off; another has a black spot; and another 
 has a piece out of its ear." The man knew all his sheep by 
 their failings, for he had not a perfect one in the whole flock. 
 I suppose our Shepherd knows us in the same way. 
 
 An Eastern shepherd was once telling a gentleman that 
 his sheep knew his voice, and that no stranger could deceive 
 them. The gentleman thought he would like to put the state- 
 ment to the test. So he put on the shepherd's frock and tur- 
 ban, and took his staff and went to the flock. He disguised 
 
110 THE ^VAY TO GOD. 
 
 his voice, and tried to speak as much like the shepherd as he 
 could; hut he could not get a single sheep in the flock to fol- 
 low him. He asked the shepherd if his sheep never followed 
 a stranger. He was obliged to admit that if a sheep got sickly 
 it would follow any one. So it is with a good many professed 
 Christians; when they get sickly and weak in the faith, they 
 will follow any teacher that comes along; hut when the soul 
 is in health, a man will not be carried away by errors and 
 heresies. He will know whether the ** voice" speaks the 
 truth or not. He can soon tell that, if he is really in com- 
 munion with God. When God sends a true messenger his 
 words will find a ready response in the Christian heart. 
 
 Christ is a tender Shepherd. You may some time think 
 He has not been a very tender Shepherd to you; you are pass- 
 ing under the rod. It it written, *' Whom the Lord loveth He 
 chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." 
 (Heb. xii. 6.) That you are passing under the rod is no proof 
 that Christ does not love you. A friend of mine lost all his 
 children. No man could ever have loved his family more; 
 but the scarlet fever took one by one away; and so the whole 
 four or five, one after another, died. The poor stricken parents 
 went over to great Britain, and wandered from one place to 
 another, there and on the continent. At length they found 
 their way to Syria. One day they saw an Eastern shepherd 
 come down to a stream, and call his flock to cross. The sheep 
 came down to the brink, and looked at the water; but they 
 seemed to shrink from it, and he could not get them to respond 
 to his calL He then took a little lamb, put it uuder one arm; 
 he took another lamb and put it under the other arm, and 
 thus passed into the stream. The old sheep no longer stood 
 looking at the water : they plunged in after the shepherd : and 
 in a few minutes the whole flock was on the other side ; and 
 be led them away to newer and fresher pastures. The be^ 
 
CHRIST ALL IN ALL. Ill 
 
 reaved father and mt)ther, as they looked on the scene, felt 
 that it taught them a lesson. They no longer murmured 
 because the Great Shepherd had taken their lambs one by one 
 into yonder world ; and they began to look up and look for- 
 ward to the time when they would follow the loved ones they 
 had lost. If you have loved ones gone before, remember that 
 your Shepherd is calling you to ** set your affection on things 
 above." (Col. iii. 2.) Let us be faithful to Him, and follow 
 Him, while we remain in this world. And if you have not 
 taken Him for your Shepherd, do so this very day. 
 
 Christ is not only all these things that I have mentioned : 
 He is also our Mediator, our Sanctifier, our Justifier; in fact, 
 it would take volumes to tell what He desires to be to every 
 individual soul. While looking through some papers I once 
 read this wonderful description of Christ. I do not know 
 where it originally came from ; but it was so fresh to my soul 
 that I should like to give it to you : — 
 
 '* Christ is our Way; we walk in Him. He is our Truth; 
 we embrace Him. He is our Life; we live in Him. He is 
 our Lord; we choose Him to rule over us. He is our Master; 
 we serve Him. He is our Teacher, instructing us in the way 
 of salvation. He is our Prophet, pointing out the future. He 
 is our Priest, having atoned for us. He is our Advocate, ever 
 living to make intercession for us. He is our Saviour, saving 
 to the uttermost. He is our Eoot; we grow from Him. He 
 is our Bread; we feed upon Him. He is our Shepherd, lead- 
 ing us into green pastures. He is our true Vine ; we abide in 
 Him. He is the Water of Life; we slake our thirst from Him. 
 He is the fairest among ten thousand : we admire Him above 
 all others. He is * the brightness of the Father's glory, and 
 the express image of His person;' w^e strive to reflect His like- 
 ness. He is the upholder of all things; we rest upon Him. 
 He is Qiir wisdom; we are guided by Him. He is our Right- 
 
112 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 eousness; we cast all our imperfection^S upon Him. He is 
 our Sanctification ; we draw all our power for holy life from 
 Him. He is our Eedemption, redeeming us from all iniquity. 
 He is our Healer, curing ail our diseases. He is our Friend, 
 relieving us in all our necessities. He is our Brother, cheer- 
 ing us in our difficulties." 
 
 Here is another beautiful extract : it is from Gotthold : 
 "■ For my part, my soul is lik'e a hungry and thirsty child; 
 and I need His love and consolation for my refreshment. I 
 am a wandering and lost sheep ; and I need Him as a good 
 and faithful shepherd. My soul is like a frightened dove 
 pursued by the hawk; and I need His wounds for a 
 refuge. I am a feeble vine; and I need His cross to 
 lay hold of, and to wind myself about. I am a sinner; 
 and I need His righteousness. I am naked and bare; 
 and I need His holiness and innocence for a covering. I am 
 ignorant; and I need His teaching: simple and foolish; and 
 I need the guidance of His Holy Spirit. In no situation, and 
 at no time, can I do without Him. Do I pray? He m.ust 
 prompt, and intercede for me. Am I arraigned by Satan at 
 the Divine tribunal? He must be my Advocate. Ami in 
 affliction? He must be my Helper. Am I persecuted by the 
 world? He must defend me. When I am forsaken. He must 
 be my Support; when I am 'dying, my life: when mouldering 
 in the grave, my Eesurrection. "Well, then, I will rather part 
 with all the world, and all that it contains, than with Thee, 
 my Saviour. And, God be thanked I I know that Thou, too, 
 art neither able nor v/illing to do without me. Thou art ricli ; 
 and I am poor. Thou hast abundance; and I am needy. 
 Thou hast righteousness; and I sins. Thou hast wine and 
 oil; and I v/ounds. Thou hast cordials and refreshments; 
 and I hunger and thirst. 
 
CHRIS T A L L IX ALL. 113 
 
 Use me then, my Saviour, for whatever purpose, and in 
 whatever way, Thou mayest require. Here is my poor heart, 
 an empty vessel ; fill it with Thy grace. Here is my sinful 
 and troubled soul; quicken and refresh it with Thy love. 
 Take my heart for Thine abode ; my mouth to spread the glory 
 of Thy name; my love and all my powers, for the advance- 
 ment of Thy believing people; and never suffer the steadfast- 
 ness and confidence of my faith to abate — that so at all times 
 I may be enabled fi-om the heart to say, ' Jesus needs me, and 
 I Him; and so we suit each other.* " 
 
114 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 BACKSLIDING. 
 
 • I -vrill heal their backsliding ; I -will love *hem freely : for Mine anger ia turned 
 
 away. '— Hosea xiv. 4. 
 
 There are two kinds of backsliders. Some have never 
 been converted: they have gone through the form of joining a 
 Christian community and claim to be backsliders; but they 
 never have, if I may use the expression, " slid forward." 
 They may talk of back-sliding; but they have never really 
 been born again. They need to be treated differently from real 
 back-sliders — those who have been born of the incorruptible 
 seed, but who have turned aside. We want to bring the latter 
 back the same road by which they left their first love 
 
 Turn to Psalm Ixxxv. 5. There you read : " Wilt Thou 
 be angry with us for ever? wilt Thou draw out Thine anger 
 to all generations? wilt Thou not revive us again : that Thy 
 people may rejoice in Thee? Show us Thy mercy, Lord; 
 and grant us Thy salvation." Now look again: ^^ I mil hear 
 what God the Lord will speak : for He will speak peace unto His 
 people, and to His saints; but let them not turn again to 
 folly '\verse 8). 
 
 There is nothing that will do back- sliders so much good as 
 to come in contact with the Word of God ; and for them the 
 Old Testament is as full of help as the New. The book of 
 Jeremiah has some wonderful passages for wanderers. What 
 we want to do is to get back-shders to hear what God the Lord 
 will say. 
 
BA CR SLIDING. 115 
 
 Look for a moment at Jeremiah vi. 10. ** To whom shall 
 I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their 
 ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken : behold, the 
 word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no de- 
 light in it." That is the condition of back-sliders. They 
 have no delight whatever in the word of God. But we want to 
 bring them back, and let God get their ear. Read from the 
 14th verse : "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter 
 of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no 
 peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abom- 
 ination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they 
 blush : therefore they shall fall among them that fall : at the 
 time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. 
 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask 
 for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein; 
 and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said. We will 
 not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying. 
 Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said. We will 
 not hearken." 
 
 That was the condition of the Jews when they had back- 
 slidden. They had turned away from the old paths. And 
 that is the condition of backsliders. They have got away 
 from the good old book. Adam and Eve fell by not hearken- 
 ing to the word of God. They did not believe God's word; 
 but they believed the tempter. That is the way backsliders 
 fall — by turning away from the word of God. 
 
 In Jeremiah ii. we find God pleading with them as a father 
 would plead with a son. ** Thus saith the Lord, What ini- 
 quity have your fathers found in Me, that they are gone 
 from Me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? 
 . . . Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord ; and 
 with your children's children will I plead . . . For my people 
 have committed two evils : they have forsaken Me, the Foun- 
 
116 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 tain of living waters; and hewed them out cisterns, broken 
 cisterns, that can hold no water." 
 
 Now there is one thing to which we wish to call the atten- 
 tion of backsliders; and that is, that the Lord never forsook 
 thera ; but that they forsook Him ! The Lord never left them; 
 but they left Him! And this, too, without any cause! He 
 says : " What iniquity have your fathers found in Me, that 
 they are gone far from Me?" Is not God the same to-day as 
 when you came to Him first? Has God changed? Men are 
 apt to think that God has changed; but the fault is with them. 
 Backslider, I would ask you, " What iniquity is there in God, 
 that you have left Him and gone far from Him?" You have, 
 He says, hewed out to yourselves broken cisterns that hold no 
 water. The world cannot satisfy the new nature. No earthly 
 well can satisfy the soul that has become a partaker of the 
 heavenly nature. Honor, wealth and the pleasures of this 
 world, will not satisfy those who, having tasted the water of 
 life, have gone astray, seeking refreshment at the world's foun- 
 tains. Earthly wells will get dry. They cannot quench spirit- 
 ual thirst. 
 
 Again ; in the 32d verse. " Can a maid forget her orna- 
 ments, or a bride her attire? yet My yeoplehave forgotten Me, 
 days without number. That is the charge which God brings 
 against the backslider. They ''have forgotten Me, days with- 
 out number." 
 
 I have often startled young ladies w4ien I have said to 
 them, " My friend, you think more of your ear-rings than of 
 the Lord." The reply hag been, " No, I do not." But when 
 I have asked, ** Would you not be troubled if you lost one; 
 and would you not set about seeking for it?" the answer has 
 been, "Well, yes, I think I should." But though they had 
 turned from the Lord, it did not give them any trouble; nor 
 did they seek after Him that they might find Him. 
 
BA CK SLIDING . 11'^ 
 
 How mauy once in fellowship and in daily communion 
 with the Lord now think more of their dresses and ornaments 
 than of their precious souls ! Love does not like to be for- 
 gotten. Mothers would have broken hearts if their children 
 left them and never wrote a word or sent any memento of their 
 affection ; and God pleads over backsliders as a parent over 
 loved ones who have gone astray. He tries to woo them back. 
 He asks: ** What have I done that you should have forsaken 
 Me?" 
 
 The most tender and loving words to be found in the whole 
 of the Bible are from Jehovah to those who have left Him 
 without a cause. Jer. ii. 19. 
 
 Hear how He argues with such: (Jer. xi. 19.) "Thine 
 own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall 
 reprove thee; know, therefore, and see, that it is an evil thing 
 and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that 
 My fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts." 
 
 I do not exaggerate when I say that I have seen hundreds 
 of backsliders come back; and I have asked them if they have 
 not found it an evil and a bitter thing to leave the Lord. You 
 cannot find a real backslider, who has known the Lord, but 
 will admit that it is an evil and a bitter thing to turn away 
 from Him; and I do not know of any one verse more used to 
 bring back wanderers than that veiy one. May it bring you 
 back if you have wandered into the far country. 
 
 Look at Lot. Did not he find it an evil and a bitter thing? 
 He was twenty years in Sodom, and never made a convert. 
 He got on well in the sight of the world. Men would have 
 told you that he was one of the most influential and worthy 
 men in all Sodom. But alas! alas! he mined his family. 
 And it is a pitiful sight to see that old backslider going through 
 the streets of Sodom at midnight, after he has warned his 
 children, and they have turned a deaf ear. 
 
118 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 I have never known a man and his wife backshde, without 
 its proving utter ruin to their children. They will make a 
 mockery of religion and will deride their parents : "Thine own 
 wickedness shall correct thee; and thy backsliding slmll re- 
 prove thee!" Did not David find it so? Mark him, crying, 
 "0 my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I 
 had died for thee; Absalom, my son, my son!" I think it 
 was the ruin, rather than the death of his son that caused this 
 anguish. 
 
 I remember being engaged in conversation some years ago, 
 till past midnight, with an old man. He had been for years 
 wandering on the barren mountains of sin. That night he 
 wanted to get back. We prayed, and prayed, and prayed, till 
 light broke in upon him; and he went away rejoicing. The 
 next night he sat in front of me when I was preaching, and I 
 think that I never saw any one look so sad and wretched in all 
 my life. He followed me into the enquiry-room. "What is 
 the trouble?" I asked. "Is your eye off the Saviour? Have 
 your doubts come back?" "No; it is not that," he said. "I 
 did not go to business, but spent all this day in visiting my 
 children. They are all married and in this city. I went from 
 house to house, but there was not one but mocked me. It is 
 the darkest day of my life. I have awoke up to what I have 
 done. I have taken my children into the world; and now I 
 cannot get them out. " The Lord had restored unto him the 
 joy of His salvation; yet there was the bitter consequence of 
 his transgression. You can run through your experience; 
 and you can find just such instances repeated again and again. 
 Many who came to your city years ago serving God, in their 
 prosperity have forgotten Him : and where are their sons and 
 daughters ? Show me the father aiid mother who have deserted 
 the Lord and gone back to the beggarly elements of the world; 
 and I am mistaken if their children are not on the high road 
 to ruin. 
 
BACKSLIDING. 119 
 
 As we desire to be faithful we warn these backsliders. It is 
 a sign of love to warn of danger. We may be looked upon as 
 enemies for a while ; but the truest friends are those who lift up 
 the voice of warning. Israel had no truer friend than Moses. 
 In Jeremiah God gave His people a weeping prophet to bring 
 them back to Him; but they cast off God. They forgot the God 
 who brought them out of Egypt, and who led them through 
 the desert into the promised land. In their prosperity they 
 forget Him and turned away. The Lord had told them what 
 would happen. (Deut. xxviii.) And see what did happen. 
 The king who make light of the word of God was taken captive 
 by Nebuchadnezzar, and his children brought up in front of 
 him and every one slain; his eyes were put/ out of his head; 
 and he was bound in fetters of brass and cast into a dungeon 
 in Babylon. (2 Kings xxv. 7.) That is the way he reaped 
 what he had sown. Surely it is an evil and a bitter thing to 
 backslide, but the Lord would win you back with the message 
 of His Work. 
 
 In Jeremiah viii. 5, we read : "Why then is this people of 
 Jerusalem slidden by a perpetual backsliding? They holdfast 
 deceit; They refuse to return.'' That is what the Lord brings 
 against them. "They refuse to return." "I hearkened and 
 heard; but they spake not aright: no man repented him of 
 his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Every one turned 
 to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea, the 
 stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times ; and the 
 turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their 
 coming; but My people know not the judgment of the Lord." 
 
 Now look: *'I hearkened and heard; but they spake not 
 aright." No family altar! No reading the Bible! No closet 
 devotion! God stoops to hear; but His people have turned 
 away ! If there be a penitent backslider, one who is anxious 
 for pardon and restoration, you will lind no words more tender 
 
120 TH^ WAY TO GOD. 
 
 than are to be found in Jeremiah iii. 12: "Go, and proclaim 
 these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsHd- 
 ing Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause Mine anger to 
 fall upon you : for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will 
 not keep anger forever." Now notice: "Only acknowledge 
 thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord 
 thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the stranger under 
 every green tree, and ye have not obeyed My voice, saith the 
 Lord. Turn, backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I 
 am married unto you" — think of God coming and saying, *♦/ 
 am married unto you! — and I will take you one of a city, and 
 two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion." 
 
 "Only acknowledge thine iniquity." How many times 
 have I held that passage up to a backslider! "Acknowledge" 
 it; and God says I will forgive you. I remember a man ask- 
 ing, "Who said that? Is that there?" And I held up to him 
 the passage, "Only acknowledge thine iniquity;" and the man 
 went down on his knees, and cried, "My God, I have sinned"; 
 and the Lord restored him there and then. If you have wan- 
 dered. He wants you to come back. 
 
 He says in another place, "0 Ephraim, what shall I do 
 unto thee? Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your 
 goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth 
 away" (Hosea vi. 4). His compassion and His love is won- 
 derful ! 
 
 In Jeremiah iii. 22; "Return, ye backsliding children, and 
 I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto Thee ; 
 Thou art the Lord our God." He just puts words into the 
 mouth of the backslider. Only come; and, if you will come. 
 He will receive you graciously and love you freely. 
 
 In Hosea xiv. 1, 2, 4: "0 Israel, i^turn unto the Lord thy 
 God ; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take witn you 
 ■words, and turn to the Lord (He puts words into yo xi mouth; • 
 
BACKSLWING. I2l 
 
 say uuto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive ns gra- 
 ciously: so will we render the calves of our lips ... I 
 will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for Mine 
 auger is turned away from him." Just observe that. Turn! 
 Turn ! ! TuEN ! ! ! rings all through these passages. 
 
 Now, if you have wandered, remember that you left Him^ 
 and not He you. You have to get out of the backslider's pit 
 just in the same way you got in. And if you take the same 
 road as when you left the Master you will find Him now, just 
 where you are. 
 
 If we were to treat Christ as any earthly friend we should 
 never leave Him ; and there would never be a backslider. If I 
 were in a town for a single week I should not think of going 
 away without shaking hands with the friends I had made, and 
 saying "Good bye" to them. I should be justly blamed if I 
 took the train and left without saying a word to any one. The 
 cry would be, "What's the matter?" But did you ever hear of 
 a backslider bidding the Lord Jesus Christ "Good bye "; going 
 into his closet and saying "Lord Jesus, I have known Thee 
 ten, twenty, or thirty years: but I am tired of Thy service; 
 Thy yoke is not easy, nor Thy burden light; so I am going 
 back to the world, to the flesh pots of Egypt. Good bye. Lord 
 Jesus! Farewell" ? Did you ever hear that? No; you 
 never did, and you never will. I tell you, if you get into the 
 closet and shut out the world and hold communion with the 
 Master you cannot leave Him. The language of your heart 
 will be, "To whom shall we go," but unto Thee? "Thou hast 
 the words of eternal life " (John vi. 68). You could not go 
 back to the world if you treated Him in that way. But you 
 left Him and ran away. You have forgotten Him days with- 
 out number. Comeback to-day; just as you are ! Make up 
 your mind that you will not rest until God has restored imto 
 you the joy of His salvatioD- 
 
122 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 A gentleman in Cornwall once met a Christian in the street 
 whom he knew to be a backslider. He went up to him, and 
 said : "Tell me, is there not some estrangement between you 
 and the Lord Jesus?" The man hung his head, and sa.id, 
 "Yes." "Well," said the gentleman, "what has He done to 
 you?" The answer to which was a flood of tears. 
 
 In Revelation ii. 4, 5, we read: "Nevertheless I have some- 
 what against thee, because thou hast left the first love. Re- 
 member therefore from whence thou art fallen; and repent, 
 and do the first works : or else I will come unto thee quickly, 
 and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou 
 repent." I want to guard you against a mistake which some 
 people make with regard to "doing the first works." Many 
 think that they are to have the same experience over again. 
 That has kept thousands for months without peace; because 
 they have been waiting for a renewal of their first experience. 
 You will never have the same experience as Avhen you first 
 came to the Lord. God never repeats himself. No two people 
 of all earth's millions look alike or think alike. You may say 
 that you cannot tell two people apart; but when you get well 
 acquainted with them you can very quickly distinguish differ- 
 ences. So, no one person will have the same experience a 
 second time. If God will restore His joy to your soul let Him 
 do it in His way. Do not mark out a way for God to bless 
 you. Do not expect the same experience that you had two or 
 twenty years ago. You will have a fresh experience, and God 
 will deal with you in His own way. If you confess your sins 
 and tell Him that you have wandered from the path of His 
 commandments He wiU restore unto you the joy of His 
 salvation. 
 
 I want to call your attention to the manner in which Peter 
 fell; and I think that nearly all fall pretty much in the same 
 way. I want to lift up a warning note to those who have not 
 
BA CK SLIDING . 123 
 
 fallen. "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he 
 fall" (1 Cor. X. 12). Twenty-five years ago — and for the first 
 five years after I was converted — I used to think that if I were 
 able to stand for twenty years I need fear no fall. But the 
 nearer you get to the Cross the fiercer the battle. Satan aims 
 high. He went amongst the twelve; and singled out the 
 Treasurer — Judas Iscariot, and the Chief Apostle— :Peter. 
 Most men who have fallen have done so on the strongest side 
 of their character. I am told that the only side upon which 
 Edinburgh Castle was successfully assailed w^as where the 
 rocks were steepest, and where the garrison thought them- 
 selves secure. If any man thinks that he is strong enough to 
 resist the devil at any one point he needs special watch there, 
 for the tempter comes that way. 
 
 Abraham stands, as it were, at the head of the family of 
 faith ; and the children of faith may be said to trace their 
 descent to Abraham : and yet dow^n in Egypt he denied his 
 wife. (Gen. xii.) Moses was noted for his meekness; and 
 yet he was kept out of the promised land because of one hasty 
 act and speech, when he w^as told by the Lord to speak to the 
 rock so that the congregation and their beasts should have 
 water to drink. "Hear now, ye rebels; must w^e fetch you 
 water out of this rock?" (Num. xx. 10). 
 
 Elijah was remarkable for his boldness : and yet he went 
 off a day's journey into the wilderness like a coward and hid 
 himself under a juniper tree, requesting for himself that he 
 might die, because of a message he received from a woman. 
 (1 Kings xix.) Let us be careful. No matter who the man is 
 — he may be in the pulpit — but if he gets self-conceited he will 
 be sure to fall. We who are followers of Christ need con- 
 stantly to pray to be made humble, and kept humble. God 
 made Moses' face so to shine that other men could see it; but 
 Moses himself wist not that his face shone, and the more holy 
 
124 THE WAY TO OOD. 
 
 in heart a man is the more mauifest to the outer world will be 
 his daily hfe and conversation. Some people talk of how 
 humble they are ; but if they have true humility there will be 
 no necessity for them to publish it. It is not needful. A 
 lighthouse does not have a drum beaten or a trumpet blown 
 in order to proclaim the proximity of a lighthouse : it is its 
 own witness. And so if we have the true light in us it will 
 show itself. It is not those who make the most noise who 
 have the most piety. There is a brook, or a little "burn " as 
 the Scotch call it, not far from Avhere I live ; and after a heavy 
 rain you can hear the rush of its waters a long way off : but 
 let there come a few days of pleasant weather, and the brook 
 becomes almost silent. But there is a river near my house, 
 the flow of which I never heard in my life, as it pours on in 
 its deep and majestic course the year round. We should have 
 BO much of the love of God within us that its presence shall be 
 evident without our loud proclamation of the fact. 
 
 The first step in Peter's downfall w^as his self-confidence. 
 The Lord warned him. The Lord said: "Simon, Simon, 
 behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may 
 sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that 
 thy faith fail not" (Luke xxii. 31, 32). But Peter said: 
 "I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison and to 
 death." " Though all shall be offended because of Thee, yet 
 will I never be offended." (Matt. xxvi. 28.) '* James and 
 John, and the others, may leave You; but You can count on 
 me!" But the Lord warned him: "I tell thee, Peter, the 
 cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny 
 that thou knowest Me." (Luke xxii. 24.) 
 
 Though the Lord rebuked him, Peter said he was ready to 
 follow Him to death. That boasting is too often a forerunner 
 of downfall. Let us walk humbly and softly. We have a 
 great tempter; and, in an unguarded hour, we may stumble 
 and fall and bring a scandal on Christ. 
 
BACKSLIDING. 125 
 
 The next step in Peter's downfall was that he went to 
 sleep. If Satan can rock the Church to sleep he does his 
 work through God's own people. Instead of Peter watching 
 one short hour in Gethsemane, he fell asleep, and the Lord 
 asked him, " What, could ye not watch with Me one hour?" 
 (Matt. xxvi. 40.) The next thing was that he fought in the 
 energy of the flesh. The Lord rebuked him again and said, 
 ♦•They that take the sword shall perish wnth the sword." 
 (Matt. xxvi. 52.) Jesus had to undo what Peter had done. 
 The noxt thing, he "followed afar off." Step by step he 
 gets away. It is a sad thing when a child of God follows afar 
 off. When you see him associating wdth worldly friends, and 
 throwing his influence on the wrong side, he is following afar 
 off; and it will not be long before disgrace will be brought 
 upon the old family name, and Jesus Christ will be wounded 
 in the house of his friends. The man, by his example, will 
 cause others to stumble and fall. 
 
 The next thing — Peter is familiar and friendly with the 
 enemies of Christ. A damsel says to this bold Peter : " Thou 
 also wast with this Jesus of Galilee." But he denied before 
 them all, saying, *' I know not what thou sayest." And when 
 he was gone out into the porch another maid saw him and 
 said unto them that were there, " This fellow -was also with 
 Jesus of Nazareth." And again he denied with an oath. "I 
 do not know the Man." Another hour passed; and yet he did 
 not realize his position ; when another confidently affirmed that 
 that he was a Galilean, for his speech betrayed him. And he 
 was angry and began to curse and to swear, and again denied 
 his Master : and the cock crew. (Matt. xxvi. 69-74.) 
 
 He commences away up on the pinacle of self-conceit, and 
 goes down step by step until he breaks out into cursing, rvi^d 
 swears that he never knew his Lord, 
 
126 THE WAY TO GOD. 
 
 The Master might have turRed and said to him, ** Is it 
 true, Peter, that you have forgotten Me so soon ? Do you not 
 remember when your wife's mother lay sick of a fever that I 
 rebuked the disease and it left her? Do you not call to mind 
 your astonishment at the draught of fishes so that you ex- 
 claimed, 'Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, Lord?' 
 Do you remember when in answer to your cry, ' Lord, save 
 me, or I perish,' I stretched out My hand and kept you from 
 drov^^ning in the water? Have you forgotten when, on the 
 Mount of Transfiguration, vv^ith James and John, you said to 
 Me, * Lord, it is good to be here : let us make three taberna- 
 cles?' Have you forgotten being with Me at the supper-table, 
 and in Gethsemane? Is it true that you have forgotten Me so 
 soon? The Lord might have upbraided him with questions 
 such as these: but He did nothing of the kind. He cast one 
 look on Peter : and there was so much love in it that it broke 
 that bold disciple's heart : and he went out and wept bitterly. 
 
 And after Christ rose from the dead see how tenderly He 
 dealt with the erring disciple. The angel at the sepulchre 
 says, "Tell His disciples, ayui Peter.'' (Mark xvi. 7.) The 
 Lord did not forget Peter, though Peter had denied Him thrice; 
 so He caused this kindly special message to be conveyed to the 
 repentant disciple. "What a tender and loving Saviour we 
 have! 
 
 Friend, if you are one of the wanderers, let the loving 
 look of the Master win you back; and let Him restore you to 
 the joy of His salvation. 
 
 Before closing, let me say that I trust God will restore 
 some backslider reading these pages, who may in the future 
 become a useful member of society and a bright ornament of 
 the Church. We should never have had the thirty-second 
 Psalm if David had not been restored: "Blessed is he whose 
 transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered"; or that 
 
BACKSLIDINO. 127 
 
 beautiful fifty-first Psalm which was written by the restored 
 backslider. Nor should we have had that wonderful sermon 
 on the day of Pentecost when three thousand were converted 
 — preached by another restored backslider. 
 
 May God restore other backsliders and make them a 
 thousand times more used for His glory than they ever were 
 before. 
 
n 
 
 To THE ¥ORK ! 
 
 Tothe¥ork!" 
 
 EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIANS, 
 
 BY 
 
 D. L. MOODY. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 F. H. RETELL, 148 & 150 MADISON STEEET, 
 
 (Puhlisher of Evangelical Ziiterature, 
 
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1884, 
 
 By F. H. KEVELL, 
 In the oflace of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 During the years that I have been privileged to 
 labor for God, in this country and in England, I have 
 strongly and increasingly felt that the task of arousing 
 Christians to a deeper sense of their responsibility is 
 even a more important one than that of the simple 
 evangelist. As I have frequently had occasion to 
 remark: It is far better to get a hundred men to work 
 than to do the work oneself. Only when the rank and 
 file of the Christian Churches are enlisted in active ser- 
 vice for Christ, will His Kingdom advance as it ought. 
 
 This volume contains various addresses which it has 
 been my privilege to deliver to Christian workers 
 during the last year. The blessing of God, I believe, 
 rested on the spoken word; it is my earnest hope and 
 prayer that a still greater blessing may be given wher- 
 ever these exhortations are read and pondered. The 
 addresses, it will be seen, are arranged so as to preserve 
 consecutive thought. 
 
 Yours in the service of Christ, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 "TAKE YE AWAY THE STONE" ----- 7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 LOVE, THE MOTIVE POWER FOR SERVICE - - 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FAITH AND COURAGE - 41 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 FAITH REWARDED 58 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 ENTHUSIASM .67 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS . . - - 81 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 <'SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD" - - 101 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 "WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?" 116 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 «YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD" - - 133 
 
 5 
 
) t • I 
 
"TO THE WORK! TO THE WORK!" 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 TAKE YE AWAY THE STONE. 
 
 In the gospel by John we read that at the tomb of 
 Lazarus onr Lord said to His disciples, " Take ye away 
 the stone." Before the act of raising Lazarus could 
 be performed, the disciples had their part to do. Christ 
 could have removed the stone with a word. It would 
 have been very easy for Him to have commanded it to 
 roll away, and it would have obeyed His voice, as the 
 dead Lazarus did when He called him back to life. 
 But the Lord would have His children learn this les- 
 son: that they have something to do towards raising 
 the spiritually dead. The disciples had not only to 
 take away the stone, but after Christ had raised Laza- 
 rus they had to " loose and let him go." 
 
 It is a question if any man on the face of the earth 
 has ever been converted, without God using some 
 human instrument, in some way. God could easily 
 convert men without us ; but that is not His way. 
 
 The stone I want to speak about to-day, that must 
 be rolled away before any great work of God can be 
 
 7 
 
8 " TO THE work:' 
 
 brought about, is the miserable stone of prejudice. 
 Many people have a great prejudice against revi- 
 vals ; they hate the very word. I am sorry to say that 
 this feeling is not confined to ungodly or careless peo- 
 ple; there are not a few Christians who seem to cher- 
 ish a strong dislike both to the word " Eevival " and to 
 the thing itself. 
 
 What does '"Eevival"' mean? It simply means a 
 recalling from obscurity — a finding some hidden treas- 
 ure and bringing it back to the light. I think every one 
 of us must acknowledofe that we are livinof in a time of 
 need. I doubt if there is a family in the world 
 that has not some relative whom they would like to 
 see brought into the fold of God, and who needs 
 salvation. 
 
 Men are anxious for a revival in business. I am 
 told that there is a widespread and general stagnation 
 in business. People are very anxious that there should 
 be a revival of trade this winter. There a great re^d- 
 val in politics just now. In all departments of life 
 you find that men are very anxious for a revival in the 
 things that concern them most. 
 
 If this is legitimate — and I do not say but it is per- 
 fectly right in its place — should not every child of God 
 be praying for and desiring a revival of godliness in 
 the world at the present time. Do we not need a revi- 
 val of downright honesty, of truthfulness, of upright- 
 ness, and of temperance ? Are there not many who 
 have become alienated from the Church of God and 
 from the house of the Lord, who are forming an at- 
 tachment to the saloon ? Are not our sons being drawn 
 away by hundi'eds and thousands, so that while you 
 
" TAKE YE AWAY THE STONE:^ 9 
 
 often find the churches empty, the liquor shops are 
 crowded every Sabbath afternoon and evening. I am 
 sure the saloon-keepers are glad if they can have a 
 revival in their business ; they do not object to sell 
 more whisky and beer. Then surely every true Chris- 
 tian ought to desire that men who are in danger of 
 perishing eternally should be saved and rescued. 
 
 Some people seem to think that "Revivals" are a 
 modern invention — that they have only been known 
 within the last few years. But they are nothing new. 
 If there is not Scriptural authority for revivals, then I 
 cannot understand my Bible. 
 
 For the first 2,000 years of the world's history they 
 had no revival that we know of; probably, if they had, 
 there would have been no Flood. The first real awak- 
 ening, of which we read in the Old Testament, was 
 when Moses was sent down to Egypt to bring his breth- 
 ren out of the house of bondage. When Moses went 
 doAvn to Goshen, there must have been a great com- 
 motion there; many things were done out of the usual 
 order. When three millions of Hebrews were put be- 
 hind the Blood of the Slain Lamb, that was nothing 
 but God reviving His work among them. 
 
 Under Joshua there was a great revival ; and again 
 under the Judges. God was constantly reviving the 
 Jewish nation in those olden times. Samuel brought 
 the people to Mizpah, and told them to put away their 
 strange gods. Then the Israelites went out and de- 
 feated the Philistines, so that they never came back in 
 his day. Dr. Bonar says it may be that David and 
 Jonathan were converted under that revival in the time 
 of SamueL 
 
10 ''TO THE WORK!'' 
 
 What was it but a great revival in tlie days of 
 Elijah ? The people had turned away to idolatry, and 
 the prophet summoned them to Mount Carmel. As 
 the multitude stood there on the mountain, God an- 
 swered by fire ; the people fell on their faces and cried, 
 " The Lord, He is the God." That was the nation 
 turning back to God. No doubt there were men talk- 
 ing against the work, and saying it would not last. 
 That is the cry of many to-day, and has been the cry 
 for 4,000 years. Some old Carmelite very probably 
 said in the days of Elijah : " This will not be perma- 
 nent." So there are not a few in these days shaking 
 their wise heads and saying the work will not last. 
 
 When we come to New Testament times, we have 
 the wonderful revival under John the Baptist. Was 
 there ever a man who accomplished so much in a few 
 months, except the Master Himself ? The preaching 
 of John was like the breath of spring after a long and 
 dreary winter. For 400 long years there had been no 
 prophet, and darkness had settled down on the nation. 
 John's advent was like the flashing of a brilliant meteor 
 that heralded the coming day. It was not in the tem- 
 ple or in any synagogue that he preached, but on the 
 banks of the Jordan. Men, women, and children 
 flocked to hear him. Almost any one can get an audi- 
 ence in a crowded city, but this was away out in the 
 desert. No doubt there was great excitement. I sup- 
 pose the towns and villages were nearly depopulated, 
 as they flocked out to hear the preaching of John. 
 
 People are so afraid of excitement. When I went 
 over to England in 1867, I was asked to go and preach 
 at the Derby race-course. I saw more excitement 
 
^'TAKE YE AWAY THE STONe:^ H 
 
 there in one day than I have seen at all the religious 
 meetings I ever attended in my life put together. And 
 yet I heard no one complaining of too much excite- 
 ment. I heard of a minister, not long ago, who was 
 present at a public dance till after five o'clock in the 
 morning. The next Sabbath he preached against the 
 excitement of revivals — the late hours, and so on. 
 Yery consistent kind of reasoning, was it not ? 
 
 Then look at Pentecost. The apostles preached, and 
 you know what the result was. I suppose the worldly 
 men of that day said it would all die away. Although 
 they brought about the martyrdom of Stephen and of 
 James, other men rose up to take possession of the 
 field. From the very place where Stephen was 
 slain, Saul took up the work, and it has been going on 
 ever since. 
 
 There are many professed Christians who are all the 
 time finding fault and criticising. They criticise the 
 preaching, or the singing. The prayers will be either 
 too long or too short, too loud, or not loud enough. 
 They will find fault with the reading of the Word of 
 God, or -^dll say it was not the right portion. They 
 will criticise the preacher. " I do not like his style," 
 they say. If you doubt what I say, listen to the peo- 
 ple as they go out of a revival meeting, or any other 
 religious gathering. 
 
 " What did you think of the preacher ? " says one. 
 " Well, I must confess I was disappointed. I did not 
 like his manner. He was not graceful in his actions." 
 Another will say : " He was not logical ; I like logic." 
 Or another : " He did not preach enough about 
 repentance." If a preacher does not go over every 
 
12 " TO THE WORK ! '' 
 
 doctrine in every sermon people begin to find fault. 
 Tliey say : " There was too mueli repentance, and no 
 Gospel ; or, it was all Gospel, and no repentance." 
 "He spoke a great deal about justification, but he said 
 nothing about sanctification." So i£ a man does not 
 go right through the Bible, from Genesis to Revela- 
 tion, in one sermon, they at once proceed to citicise 
 and find fault. 
 
 " The fact is," says some one of this class, "the man 
 did not touch my heart at all." Some one else will say, 
 "He was all heart and no head. Hike a man to preach 
 to my intellect." Or, " He appeals too much to the 
 will ; he does not give enough prominence to the doc- 
 trine of election." Or, again, " There is no backbone in 
 his preaching ; he does not lay sufficient stress on doc- 
 trine." Or, "He is not eloquent;" and soon, and so on. 
 
 You may find hundreds of such fault-finders among 
 professed Christians ; but all their criticism will not lead 
 one solitary soul to Christ. I never preached a sermon 
 yet that I could not pick to pieces and find fault with. 
 I feel that Jesus Christ ought to have a far better rep- 
 resentative than I am. But I have lived long enough 
 to discover that there is nothing perfect in this world. 
 If you are to wait until you can find a perfect preacher, 
 or perfect meetings, I am afraid you will have to wait 
 till the millenium arrives. What we want is to be 
 looking right up to Him. Let us get done with fault- 
 finding. When I hear people talk in the way I have 
 described, I say to them, " Come and do better your- 
 self. Step up here and try what you can do." My 
 friends, it is so easy to find fault ; it takes neither 
 brains nor heart. 
 
« TAKE YE AWAY THE STONED 13 
 
 Some years ago, a pastor of a little Clmrch in a 
 small town became exceedingly cliscoi]»^?iged, and 
 brooded over his trials to such an extent that he became 
 an inveterate grumbler. He found fault with his 
 brethren because he imagined they did not treat him 
 well. A brother minister was invited to assist him a 
 few days in a special service. At the close of the Sab- 
 bath morning service our unhappy brother invited the 
 minister to his house to dinner. While they were 
 waiting alone in the parlor, he began his doleful 
 story by saying : " My brother, you have no idea of 
 my troubles ; and one of the greatest is, my brethren 
 in the Church treat me very badly." The other pro- 
 pounded the following questions : 
 " Did they ever spit in your face?" 
 " No ; they haven't come to that." 
 " Did they ever smite you? " " No." 
 "Did they ever crown you with thorns? " 
 This last question he could not answer, but bowed 
 his head thoughtfully. His brother replied : "Your 
 Master and mine was thus treated, and all His disciples 
 fled and left Him in the hands of the wicked. Yet He 
 opened not His mouth." The effect of this conversa- 
 tion was wonderful. Both ministers bowed in prayer 
 and earnestly sought to possess the mind which was in 
 Christ Jesus. During the ten days' meetings the dis- 
 contented pastor became iconderfidly changed. He 
 labored and prayed with his friend, and many souls 
 were brought to Christ. Some weeks after, a deacon 
 of the church wrote and said: "Your late visit and 
 conversation with our pastor have had a wonderful 
 influence for good. We never hear him complain 
 
14 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 now, and he labors more prayerfully and zealously" 
 Another charge brought against revivals is that they 
 are out of the regular order of things. Well, there is 
 no doubt about that. But that does not prove that 
 they are wrong. Eldad and Medad were out of the 
 regular succession. Joshua wanted Moses to rebuke 
 them. Instead of that he said : " Would God that 
 all the Lord's people were prophets." Elijah and 
 Elisha did not belong to the regular school of prophets, 
 yet they exercised a mighty influence for good in their 
 day. John the Baptist was not in the regular line. 
 He got his theological training out in the desert. 
 Jesus Christ Himself was out of the recognized order. 
 When Philip told Nathaniel that he had found the 
 Messiah, he said to him : " Can there any good thing 
 come out of Nazareth?" 
 
 As we read the history of the past few centuries we 
 find that God has frequently taken up those who were, 
 so to speak, out of the regular line. Martin Luther 
 had to break through the regular order of things in 
 his day before he brought about the mighty Reforma- 
 tion. There are now some sixty millions of people 
 who adhere to the Lutheran Church. Wesley and 
 Whitefield were not exactly in the regular line, but 
 see what a mighty work they accomplished ! 
 
 My friends, when God works many things will be 
 done " out of the regular order." It seems to me that 
 will be a good thing. There are a few who cannot be 
 reached, apparently, through the regular channels, who 
 will come to meetings like these out of the usual rou- 
 tine. We have got our churches, it is true, but we 
 want to make an effort to reach the outlying masses 
 
« TAKE YE AWAY THE STONED 15 
 
 who will not go to them. Many will come in to these 
 meetings simply because they are to be held only for a 
 few days. And so, if they are to come at all, they 
 must come to a decision about it quickly. Others come 
 out of idle curiosity, or a desire to know what is going 
 on. And often at the first meeting something that is 
 spoken or that is sung will touch them. They have 
 come under the sound of the Gospel ; probably they 
 will become real Christians and useful members of 
 society. You will sometimes hear people say, " We 
 have our churches ; if men will not come to them, let 
 them keep out." That was not the spirit of the Master. 
 When our Civil War broke out we had a very small 
 standing army. Government asked for volunteers to 
 enlist. Several hundreds of thousands of men came for- 
 ward and joined the ranks of the regular army. There 
 was plenty for every man to do. These volunteers were 
 not so well trained and drilled as the older solders, but 
 we could use the irregulars as well as the regulars. Many 
 of the former soon became efficient soldiers, and these 
 volunteers did great service in the cause of the nation. 
 If the outlying masses of the people are to be reached 
 we must have the regulars and the irregulars both. 
 
 I remember hearing of a Sunday-school in our coun- 
 try where the teacher had got into ruts. A young man 
 was placed in charge as Superintendent, and he wanted 
 to re-arrange the seats. Some of the older members 
 said the seats had been in their present position for so 
 many years, that they could not be moved ! There is a 
 good deal of that kind of spirit nowadays. It seems 
 to me that if one method is not successful we ought to 
 give it up and try some other plan that may be more 
 
16 " TO THE WORK I 
 
 likely to succeed. If the people will not come to the 
 regular "means of grace," let us adopt some means 
 that will reach them and win them. 
 
 Do not let us be finding fault because things are not 
 done exactly as they have been done in the past, and as 
 we think they ought to be done. I am sick and tired 
 of those who are constantly complaining. Let us pay 
 no heed to them, but let us go forward with the work 
 that God has given us to do. 
 
 Another very serious charge is brought against revi- 
 vals. They say the work will not last. As I have said 
 there were doubtless many at the day of Pentecost who 
 said that. And when Stephen was stoned to death, 
 James beheaded, and finally all the apostles put to 
 death, no doubt they said that Pentecost was a stupen- 
 dous failure. But was it a failure ? Are not the fruits of 
 that revival at Pentecost to be seen even in our time ? 
 
 In the sight of the world the mission of John the 
 Baptist may have been thought to be a failure when he 
 was beheaded by the command of Herod. But it was 
 not a failure in the sight of heaven. The influence of 
 this wilderness prophet is felt in the Church of God 
 to-day. The world thought Christ's life was a failure 
 as He hung on the Cross and expired. But in the 
 sight of God it was altogether different. God made 
 the wrath of men to praise Him. 
 
 I have little sympathy with those pastors who, when 
 God is reviving the Churches, begin to preach against 
 revivals. There is not a denomination in Christendom 
 to-day that has not sprung out of a revival. The Boman 
 Catholics and the Episcopalians both claim to be apos- 
 tolic in their origin ; if they are, they sprang out of 
 
" TAKE YE AWAY THE STONE." 17 
 
 the revival at Pentecost. The Metliodist body rose out 
 of revivals under John Wesley and George Whitefield. 
 Did not the Lutheran Church come from the great 
 awakening that swept through Germany in the days of 
 Luther? Was not Scotland stirred up through the 
 preaching of John Knox? Where did the Quakers 
 come from if not from the work of God under George 
 Fox? Yet people are so afraid if the regular rou- 
 tine of things is going to be disturbed. Let us pray 
 that God may raise up many who will be used by Him 
 for the reviving of His Church in our day. I think 
 the time has come when we need it. 
 
 I remember we went into one place where one of the 
 ministers found that his Church was opposed to his taking 
 part in the meetings. He was told that if he identified 
 himself with the movement he would alienate some of 
 his congregation. He took the Church record and found 
 that four-fifths of the members of the Church had been 
 converted in times of revival, among others the Super- 
 intendent of the Sabbath-school, all the officers of the 
 Church, and nearly every active member. The minister 
 went into the Church the following Sabbath and preached 
 a sermon on revivals, reminding them of what had taken 
 place in the history of the congregation. You will find 
 that many who talk against revivals have themselves 
 been converted in such a time. 
 
 Not long ago a very able minister preached a sermon 
 against these awakenings ; he did not believe in them. 
 Some of his people searched the Church records to see 
 how many during the previous twelve years had been 
 added to the membership on profession of their faith ; 
 they found that not a single soul had joined the Church 
 2 
 
18 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 all these years on profession of faitli. No wonder the 
 minister of a Church like that preached against revivals ! 
 
 My experience has been that those who are converted 
 in a time of special religious interest make even strong- 
 er Christians than those who were brought into the 
 Church at ordinary times. One young convert helps 
 another, and they get a better start in the Christian 
 life when there are a good many together. 
 
 People say the converts will not hold out. Well, 
 they did not all hold out under the preaching of Jesus 
 Christ. " Many of His disciples went back and walked 
 no more with Him." Paul mourned over the fact that 
 some of those who made profession were walking as 
 the enemies of the Cross of Christ. The Master taught 
 in His wonderful parable that there are various kinds 
 of hearers — those represented by the wayside hearers, 
 the stony ground hearers, the thorny ground hearers, 
 and the good ground hearers ; they will remain to the 
 end of time. I have a fruit tree at my home, and 
 every year it has so many blossoms that if they should 
 all produce apples the tree would break down. Nine- 
 tenths, perhaps, of the blossoms will fall off, and yet I 
 have a large number of apples. 
 
 So there are many who make a profession of Chris- 
 tianity who fall away. It may be that those who 
 seemed to promise the fairest turn out the worst, and 
 those who did not promise so well turn out best in the 
 end. God must prepare the ground and He must give 
 the increase. I have often said that if I had to convict 
 men of sin I would have given up the work long ago. 
 That is the work of the Holy Ghost. What we have 
 to do is to scatter the good seed of the Word, and 
 
" TAKE YE AWAY THE STONED 19 
 
 expect that God will bless it to the saving of men's souls. 
 
 Of course we cannot expect much help from those 
 who are all the time talking against revivals. I be- 
 lieve many young disciples are chilled through by 
 those who condemn these special efforts. If the pro- 
 fessed converts sometimes do not hold out, it is not 
 always their own fault. 
 
 I was preaching in a certain city some time ago, and 
 a minister said to me: "I hope this work will not turn 
 out like the revival here five years ago. I took one 
 hundred converts into the Church, and, with the excep- 
 tion of one or two, I do not know where they are to- 
 day." This was discouraging. I mentioned it to 
 another minister in the same city, and I said I would 
 rather give up the work, and go back to business, if the 
 work was not going to last. He said to me: "I took 
 in one hundi'ed converts at the same time, and I can 
 lay my hand on ninety-eight out of the hundred. For 
 five years I have watched them, and only two have 
 fallen away." Then he asked me if his brother min- 
 ister had told me what took place in his Church after 
 they brought in those young converts. Some of them 
 thought they ought to have a better Church, and they 
 got divided among themselves; so nearly all the mem- 
 bers left the Church. If anyone will but engage 
 heartily in this work they will have enough to encour- 
 age them. 
 
 It is very easy for men to talk against a work like 
 this. But we generally find that such people not only 
 do nothing at all themselves, but they know nothing 
 about that which they are criticising. Surely it is 
 hardly fair to condemn a work that we have not been 
 
20 ''TO THE WORK !'' 
 
 at the trouble to become personally acquainted with. 
 If, instead of sitting on the platform and simply look- 
 ing on or criticising, such persons would get dow^n 
 among the people and talk to them about their souls, 
 they would soon find out whether the work was real or 
 not. 
 
 I remember hearing of a man who returned from a 
 residence in India. He was out at dinner one day with 
 some friends, and he was asked about Missions ; he said 
 he had never seen a native convert all the time he was 
 in India. A missionary who was present did not reply 
 directly to the statement, but he quietly asked the 
 sceptical Englishman if he had seen any tigers in In- 
 dia. The man rubbed his hands, as if the recollection 
 gave him a good deal of pleasure, and said: "Tigers! 
 Yes, I should think so. I have shot a good many of 
 them." Said the missionary, "Well, I was in India 
 for a number of years and never saAv a tiger." The 
 fact was that the one had been looking for converts and 
 the other for tigers, and they both found what they 
 looked for. 
 
 If we look for converts we shall find them; there is 
 no doubt about that. But the truth is that in almost 
 every case those who talk against revivals know nothing 
 whatever about it from personal contact and experience. 
 Do you suppose that the young converts are going 
 round to your house and knock at the door to tell you 
 they have been converted? If you wish to find out 
 the truth you must go among them in their homes and 
 talk to them. 
 
 I hope no one will be afraid of the Inquiry Room. 
 At one of the places where I worked once I found a 
 
" TAKE YE AWAY THE STONE." 21 
 
 good many people wlio liated the very word " Inquiry 
 Room." But I contend that it is a perfectly reason- 
 able thing. When a boy is at school and cannot solve 
 some problem in algebra, he asks help of some one 
 who knows it. Here is the great problem of eternal 
 life that has to be solved by each of us. Why should 
 we not ask those who are more experienced than our- 
 selves to help us if they can. If we have any diffi- 
 culty we cannot overcome, probably we shall find some 
 Godly man or woman who had the same difficulty twen- 
 ty years ago ; they will be glad to help us, and tell us 
 how they were enabled to surmount it. Do not be 
 afraid therefore to let them help you. 
 
 I believe there is not a living soul who has a spirit- 
 ual difficulty but there is some promise in the Word of 
 God to meet that difficulty. But if you keep your feel- 
 ings and your troubles all locked up, how are you to 
 be helped ? I might stand here and preach to you right 
 on for thirty days and not touch your particular diffi- 
 culty. But twenty minutes' private conversation may 
 clear away all your doubts and troubles. 
 
 There was a lady who worked in the Inquiry Room 
 when we were in the south of London nine years ago. 
 I saw her again a short time ago, and she told me that 
 she had a list of thirty-five cases of those with whom 
 she conversed, and who she thought were truly con- 
 verted. She has written letters to them and sent them 
 little gifts at Christmas, and she said to me that so far 
 as she could judge not a single one of the thirty-five 
 had wandered away. She has placed her life alongside 
 of theirs all these years, and she has been able to be a 
 blessing to them. 
 
22 " TO THE WORK /'* 
 
 If we had a thousand such persons, by the help of 
 God we should see signs and wonders. There is no 
 class of people, however hopeless or degraded, but can 
 be reached, only we must lay ourselves out to reach 
 them. Many Christians are asleep ; we •want to arouse 
 them, so that they shall take a personal interest in those 
 who are living in carelessness and sin. Let us lay 
 aside all our prejudices. If God is working it matters 
 little whether or not the work is done in the exact way 
 that we would like to see it done, or in the way we have 
 seen it done in the past. 
 
 Let there be one united cry going up to God, that 
 He will revive His work in our midst. Let the work 
 of revival begin with us who are Christians. Let us 
 remove all the hindrances that come from ourselves. 
 Then, by the help of the Spirit, we shall be able to 
 reach these non-church goers, and multitudes will be 
 brought into the kingdom of God. 
 
LOVE, THE MOTIVE POWER FOR SERVICE. 28 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 LOVE, THE MOTIVE POWER FOR SERVICE. 
 
 Let me call your attention to Paul's first letter to the 
 Corinthians, thirteenth chapter: In reading this passage 
 let us use the word "love" instead of "charity": — 
 " Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, 
 and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a 
 tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of 
 prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowl- 
 edge: and though I have all faith, so that I could 
 remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. 
 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, 
 and though I give my body to be burned, and have not 
 love, it profiteth me nothing." 
 
 It is a great thing to be a prophet like Daniel, or 
 Isaiah, or Elijah, or Elisha; but it is a greater thing, 
 we are told here, to be full of love than to be filled 
 with the spirit of prophecy. Mary of Bethany, who 
 was so full of love, held a higher position than these 
 great prophets did. 
 
 "Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; 
 love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up ; Doth not 
 behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not 
 easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in ini- 
 quity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, 
 
24 "TO THE WORK!'' 
 
 believeth all things, liopeth all things, endureth all 
 things. Love 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. And now abideth faith, hope, love, these 
 three; but the greatest of these is love." 
 
 The enemy had got into that little Church at Corinth 
 established by Paul, and there was strife among the 
 disciples. One said, "I am of Apollos;" another, "I 
 am of Cephas;" and another, "I am of Paul." Paul 
 saw that this sectarian strife and want of love among 
 God's dear people would be disastrous to the Church of 
 God, and so he wrote this letter. I have often said 
 that if every true believer could mov-e into this chapter 
 and live in the spirit of it for twelve months, the 
 Church of God would double its numbers within that 
 time. One of the great obstacles in the way of God'p 
 work to-day is this want of love' among those who are 
 the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 If we love a person we will not be pointing out his 
 failings all the time. It is said: "Many rules of elo- 
 quence have been set forth, but, strange, to say, the 
 first and most essential of all has been overlooked, 
 namely, love. To address men well they must be loved 
 much. Whatever they may be, be they ever so guilty, 
 or indifferent, or ungrateful, or however deeply sunk in 
 crime, before all, and above all, they must be loved. 
 Love is the sap of the Gospel, the secret of lively and 
 effectual preaching, the magic power of eloquence. 
 The end of preaching is to reclaim the hearts of men 
 to God, and nothing but love can find out the mysteri- 
 ous avenues which lead to the heart. If then you do not 
 
LOVE, THE MOTIVE POWER FOR SERVICE. 25 
 
 feel a fervent love and profound pity for humanity, be 
 assured that the gift of Christian eloquence has been 
 denied you. You will not win souls, neither will you 
 acquire that most excellent of earthly sovereignties — 
 sovereignty over human hearts. An Arab proverb 
 runs thus — ' The neck is bent by the sword, but heart 
 is only bent by heart.' Love is irresistible." 
 
 Look at these words: "Love suffer eth long, and is 
 kind; love envieth not." How often it happens that if 
 one outshines another there is apt to be envy in our 
 hearts toward that one ; we want a great deal of grace 
 to keep it down. " Love vaunteth not itself, is not 
 puffed up." One of the worst enemies that Christians 
 have to contend wdth is this spirit of rivalry — this 
 feeling, "Who shall be the greatest?" 
 
 Some years ago I read a book that did me a great 
 deal of good. It was entitled, " The Training of the 
 Twelve." The writer said that Christ spent most of 
 His time during the three years He was engaged pub- 
 licly about His Father's business in training twelve 
 men. The training He gave them was very different 
 from the training of the schools at the present day. 
 The world teaches men that they must seek to be great; 
 Christ taught that His disciples must be little ; that in 
 honor they must prefer one another; that they are not 
 to be puffed up, not to harbor feelings of envy, but to 
 be full of meekness and gentleness, and lowliness of 
 heart. 
 
 When an eminent painter was requested to paint 
 Alexander the Great so as to give a perfect likeness of 
 the Macedonian conqueror, he felt a difficulty. Alex- 
 ander, in his wars, had been struck by a sword, and 
 
26 "TO THE WORK!'' 
 
 across liis forehead was an immense scar. Tlie painter 
 said: " If I retain the scar, it will be an offense to the 
 admirers of the monarch, and if I omit it it will fail to 
 be a perfect likeness. What shall I do?" He hit 
 upon a happy expedient; he represented the Emperor 
 leaning on his elbow, with his forefinger upon his brow, 
 accidentally, as it seemed, covering the scar upon his 
 forehead. Might not we represent each other with the 
 finger of charity upon the scar, instead of representing 
 the scar deeper and blacker than it really is ? Christians 
 may learn even from heathendom a lesson of charity, 
 of human kindness and of love. 
 
 This spirit of seeking to be the greatest has nearly 
 ruined the Church of God at different times in its 
 history. If the Church had not been Divine it would 
 have gone to pieces long ago. There is hardly any 
 movement of reform to-day that has not been in 
 danger of being thwarted and destroyed through this 
 miserable spirit of ambition and self-seeking. May God 
 enable us to get above this, to cast away our conceit and 
 pride, and take Christ as our teacher, that He may show 
 us in what spirit His work ought to be done. 
 
 One of the saddest things in the life of Christ was 
 the working of this spirit among His disciples even in 
 the last hours of His intercourse with them, and just 
 before He was led away to be crucified. We read in the 
 gospel by Luke: "But, behold, the hand of him that 
 betrayeth Me is with Me on the table. And truly the 
 Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto 
 that man by whom He is betrayed! And they began 
 to inquire among themselves, which of them it was that 
 should do this thing. And there was also a strife among 
 
LOVE, THE MOTIVE POWER FOR SERVICE. 27 
 
 them which of them should be accounted the ofreatest. 
 And He said unto tliem, " The kings of the Gentiles 
 exercise lordship over them ; and they that exercise 
 authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye 
 shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let 
 him be as the younger ; and he that is chief, as he that 
 doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at 
 meat, or he that serveth ? Is not he that sitteth at meat ? 
 But I am among you as He that serveth." 
 
 Bight there, on that memorable night when He had 
 instituted the Last Supper, after they had been eating of 
 the Passover Lamb, and the Saviour was on His way to 
 the Cross, — even there this spirit arose among them: 
 Who should be the greatest! 
 
 There is a charming tradition connected with the site 
 on which the temple of Solomon was erected. It is said 
 to have been occupied in common by two brothers, one 
 of whom had a family — the other had none. On this spot 
 was sown a field of wheat. On the evening succeeding 
 the harvest — the wheat having been gathered in separate 
 shocks — the elder brother said to his wife : "My younger 
 brother is unable to bear the burden and heat of the day, 
 I will arise, take of my shocks, and place with his with- 
 out his knowledge." The younger brother being 
 actuated by the same benevolent motives, said within 
 himself: "My elder brother has a family, and I have 
 none. I will arise, take of my shocks, and place it 
 with his." 
 
 Judge of their mutual astonishment, when, on the 
 following day, they found their respective shocks undi- 
 minished. This course of events transpired for several 
 nights, when each resolved in his own mind to stand 
 
28 " TO THE WORK /** 
 
 guard and solve tlie mystery. They did so; when, on 
 the following night, they met each other half way 
 between their respective shocks with their arms full. 
 Upon ground hallowed by such associations as this was 
 the temple of Solomon erected — so spacious and mag- 
 nificent — the wonder and admiration of the world! 
 Alas ! in these days, how many would sooner steal their 
 brother's whole shock than add to it a single sheaf! 
 
 If we want to be wise in winning souls and to be 
 vessels meet for the Master's use we must get rid of the 
 accursed spirit of self-seeking. That is the meaning of 
 this chapter in Paul's letter. He told these Corinthians 
 that a man might be full of faith and zeal ; he might be 
 very benevolent; but if he had not love he was like 
 sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. I believe many 
 men might as well go into the pulpit and blow a tin 
 horn Sabbath after Sabbath as go on preaching with- 
 out love. A man may preach the truth; he may be 
 perfectly sound in doctrine; but if there is no love in 
 his heart going out to those whom he addresses, and if 
 he is doing it professionally, the Apostle says he is only 
 a sounding brass. 
 
 It is not always more work that we want so much as 
 a hefier moiive. Many of us do a good deal of work, but 
 we must remember that God looks at the motive. The 
 only tree on this earth that can produce fruit which is 
 pleasing to God is the tree of love. 
 
 Paul in writing to Titus says: "Speak thou the 
 things which become sound doctrine : that the aged men 
 be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, 
 (or love) in patience." What is the worth of a sermon, 
 however sound in doctrine it may be, if it be not sound 
 
LOVE, THE MOTIVE POWER FOR SERVICE. 29 
 
 in love and in patience? What are our prayers worth 
 without the spirit of love ? People' say : "Why is it that 
 there is no blessing? Our ministers sermons and 
 prayers are very good." Most likely you will find it is 
 because the whole thing is done professionally. The 
 words glisten like icicles in the sun, and they are as 
 cold. There is not a spark of love in them. If that 
 is the case there will be very little power. You may 
 have your prayer-meetings, your praise meetings, yoar 
 faith and hope meetings; you may talk about all these 
 things ; but if there is no love mingled with them, God 
 says you are as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. 
 
 Now a man may be a very good doctor and yet have 
 no love for his patients. He may be a very clever and 
 successful lawyer and yet have no love for his clients. 
 A merchant may prosper greatly in business without 
 caring at all about his customers. A man may be able 
 to explain the wonderful mysteries of science or theology 
 without any love. But no man can be a true worker for 
 God, and a successful winner of souls without love. He 
 may be a great preacher in the eyes of the world and 
 have crowds flocking to hear him, but if love to God and 
 to souls is not the motive power, the effects will all pass 
 away like the morning cloud and the early dew. 
 
 It is said when the men of Athens went to hear 
 Demosthenes they were always moved, and felt that they 
 must go and fight Philip of Macedon. There was another 
 orator of that day who could carry them away by his 
 eloquence at the time, but when the oration was over, 
 all the influence had gone ; it was nothing but fine words. 
 So a man may be very eloquent and have a great flow 
 of language; he may sway the multitudes while they 
 
30 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 are under his influence; but if tliere is no love at the 
 back of what he says, it will all go for nothing. It was 
 Demosthenes' love for his country that stirred him, and 
 then he stirred the people. 
 
 When we get on to the higher plane of love it will 
 not be hard for us to work for the Lord. We will be 
 glad to do anything, however small. God hates the 
 great things in which love is not the motive power; 
 but He delights in the little things that are prompted 
 by a feeling of love. A cup of cold water given to a 
 disciple in the spirit of love, is of far more value in 
 God's sight than the taking of a kingdom, done out of 
 ambition and vain glory. 
 
 I am getting sick and tired of hearing the word, 
 duty, didy. You hear so many talk about it being their 
 duty to do this and do that. My experience is that such 
 Christians have very little success. Is there not a much 
 higher platform than that of mere duty ? Can we not 
 engage in the service of Christ because we love Him ? 
 When that is the constraining power it is so easy to 
 work. It is not hard for a mother to watch over a sick 
 child. She does not look upon it as any hardship. You 
 never hear Paul talking about what a hard time he had 
 in his Master's service. He was constrained by love to 
 Christ, and by the love of Christ to him. He counted 
 it a joy to labor, and even to suffer, for his blessed 
 Master. 
 
 Perhaps you say I ought not to talk against duty; 
 because a good deal of work would not be done at all if 
 it w^ere not done from a sense of duty. But I want you 
 to see ^hat a poor, low motive that is, and how you may 
 reach a higher plane of service. 
 
LOVE, THE MOTIVE POWER FOR SERVICE. 31 
 
 I am thinking of going back to my home soon. I 
 have in my mind an old, white-haired mother living on 
 the banks of the Connecticut river, in the same little 
 town where she has been for the last eighty years. 
 Suppose when I return I take her some present, and 
 when I give it to her I say: "You have been so very 
 kind to me in the past that I thought it was my duty to 
 bring you a present." What would she think? But 
 how different it would be when I give it to her because 
 of my strong love to her. How much more she would 
 value it. So God wants His children to serve Him for 
 something else than mere duty. He does nat want us 
 to feel that it is a hard thing to do His will. 
 
 Take an army that fights because it is compelled to 
 do so; they will not gain many victories. But how 
 different when they are full of love for their country 
 and for their commanders. Then nothing can stand 
 before them. Do not think you can do any work for 
 Christ and hope to succeed if you are not impelled by 
 love. 
 
 Napoleon tried to establish a kingdom by the force of 
 arms. So did Alexander the Great, and Csesar, and 
 other great warriors; but they utterly failed. Jesus 
 founded His kingdom on love, and it is going to stand. 
 AVlien we get on to this plane of love, then all selfish 
 and unworthy motives will disappear, and our work will 
 stand the fire when God shall put it to the test. 
 
 Another thing I want you to bear in mind. Love 
 never looks to see what it is going to get in return. In 
 the Gospel by Matthew we read of the parable of the 
 man who went out to hire laborers that he might send 
 them to T\^rk in his vineyard. After he had hired and 
 
32 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 sent out some in tlie morning, Ave are told that lie found 
 others standing idle later in the day, and he sent them 
 also. It so happened that those who went out last got 
 back first. Those that went out early in the morning 
 supposed they would get more wages than those that 
 went at the eleventh hour, and when they found they 
 were only to get the same, they began to murmur and 
 complain. But what was the good man's answer: 
 " Friend, I do thee no wrong ; didst not thou agree with 
 me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way; 
 I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not 
 lawful for me to do what I will with mine own ? Is thine 
 eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, 
 and the first last." I have generally found that those 
 workers who are all the time looking to see how much 
 they are going to get from the Lord are never satisfied. 
 But love does its work and makes no bargain. Let us 
 make no bargains with the Lord, but be ready to go out 
 and do whatever He appoints. 
 
 I am sure if we go out cherishing love in our hearts 
 for those we are going to try and reach, every barrier 
 will be swept out of the way. Love begets love, just as 
 hatred begets hatred. Love is the key to the human 
 heart. Some one has said: " Light is for the mind, and 
 love is for the heart." When you can reach men's 
 hearts then you can turn them toward Christ. But we 
 must first win them to ourselves. 
 
 You may have heard of the boy whose home was near 
 a wood. One day he was in the wood, and he thought, 
 he heard the voice of another boy not far off. He 
 shouted, "Hallo, there!" and the voice shouted back, 
 "Hallo, there ! " He did not know that it was the echo of 
 
LOVE, THE MOTIVE POWER FOR SERVICE. 33 
 
 his own voice, and lie shouted again: " Yoii are a mean 
 boy!" Again the cry came back, "You are a mean 
 boy!" After some more of the same kind of thing he 
 went into the house and told his mother that there 
 was a bad boy in the wood. His mother, who under- 
 stood how it was, said to him: "Oh, no! You speak 
 kindly to him, and see if he does not speak kindly to 
 you." He went to the wood again and shouted: 
 "Hallo, there!" "Hallo, there!" "You are a good 
 boy." Of course the reply came, "You are a good 
 boy." "I love you." "I love you," said the other 
 voice. 
 
 You smile at that, but this little story explains the 
 secret of the whole thing. Some of you perhaps think 
 you have bad and disagreable neighbors ; most likely 
 the trouble is with yourself. If you love your neigh- 
 bors they will love you. As I said before, love is the 
 key that will unlock every human heart. There is no 
 man or woman in all this land so low and so degraded 
 but you can reach them with love, gentleness and kind- 
 ness. It may take years to do it, but it can be done. 
 
 Love must be active. As some one has said: "A 
 man may hoard up his money; he may bury his talents 
 in a napkin ; but there is one thing he cannot hoard up, 
 and that is love." You cannot bury it. It must flow 
 out. It cannot feed upon itself; it must have an 
 object. 
 
 I remember reading a few years ago of something 
 that happened when we had the yellow fever in one of 
 the Southern cities. There was a family there who 
 lived in a strange neighborhood where they had just 
 moved. The father was stricken down with the fever. 
 
34 " TO THE WORK ! 
 
 There were so many fatal cases happening that the 
 authorities of the city did not stop to give them a decent 
 burial. The dead-cart used to go through the street 
 where the poor lived, and the bodies were carried away 
 for burial. 
 
 The neighbors of this family were afraid, and no 
 one would visit the house because of the fever. It was 
 not long before the mother was stricken down. Before 
 she died she called her boy to her, and said: " I will 
 soon be gone, but when I am dead Jesus will come and 
 take care of you." She had no one on earth to whom 
 she could commit him. In a little while she, too, was 
 gone, and they carried her body away to the cemetery. 
 The little fellow followed her to the grave. He saw 
 where they laid her, and then he came back to the 
 house. 
 
 But he found it very lonely, and when it grew dark 
 he got afraid and could not stay in the house. He went 
 out and sat down on the step and began to vreep. Fi- 
 nally he went back to the cemetery, and finding the lot 
 where his mother was buried, he laid down a ad wept 
 himself to sleep. 
 
 Next morning a stranger passing that way found him 
 on the grave, still weeping. " What are you doing 
 here, my boy ? " " Waiting for the Savior." The man 
 wanted to know what he meant, and the boy told the 
 story of what his mother had said to him. It touched 
 the heart of the stranger, and he said, "' Well, my boy, 
 Jesus has sent me to take care of you." The boy 
 looked up and replied: " You have been a long while 
 coming." 
 
 If we had the love of our Master do you tell me that 
 
LOVE, THE MOTIVE POWER FOR SERVICE. 35 
 
 these outlying masses would not be reached ? There is 
 not a drunkard who would not be reached. There is 
 not a poor fallen one, or a blasphemer, or an atheist, 
 but would be influenced for good. The atheists can- 
 not get over the power of love. It will upset atheism 
 and every false system quicker than anything else. 
 Nothing will break the stubborn heart so quickly as the 
 love of Christ. 
 
 I was in a certain home a few years ago ; one of the 
 household was a boy who, I noticed, was treated like 
 one of the family, and yet he did not bear their name. 
 One night I asked the lady of the house to explain to 
 me what it meant. " I have noticed," I said, " that you 
 treat him exactly like your own children, yet he is not 
 your boy." " Oh no," she said, " he is not. It is 
 quite true I treat him as my own child." 
 
 She went on to tell me his story. His father and 
 mother were American missionaries in India ; they had 
 five children. The time came when the children had to 
 be sent away from India, as they could not be educated 
 there. They were to be sent to America for that pur- 
 pose. The father and mother had been very much 
 blessed in India, but they felt as though they could not 
 give up their children. They thought they would 
 leave their work in the foreign field and go back to 
 America. 
 
 They were not blessed to the same extent in working 
 at home as they had been in India. The natives were 
 writing to them to return, and by and by they decided 
 that the call was so loud the father must go back. The 
 mother said to him : "I cannot let you go alone ; I must 
 go with you." "But how can you leave the children? 
 
36 " TO THE WORK !'■ 
 
 You have never been separated from them. She said: 
 *' I can do it for Christ's sake." Thank God for such 
 love as that. 
 
 When it was known they wanted to leave their chil- 
 dren in good homes, this lady Avith whom I was staying 
 said to the mother if she left one of them with her she 
 would treat the child as her own. The mother came 
 and stayed a week in the house to see that everything 
 was right. The last morning came. When the car- 
 riage drove up to tlie door the mother said: "I want 
 to leave my boy without shedding a tear ; I cannot bear 
 to have him think that it costs me tears to do what God 
 has for me to do." My friend saw that there was a 
 great struggle going on. Her room was adjoining this 
 lady's, who told me she heard the mother crying: "O 
 God, give me strength for the hour; help me now." 
 She came doAvnstairs with a beautiful smile on her face. 
 She took her boy to her bosom, kissed him, and left 
 him without a tear. She left all her children, and went 
 back to labor for Christ in India; and from the shores 
 of India she went up, before very long, to be with, her 
 Master. That is what a weak woman can do when love 
 to Christ is the motive power. Some time after that 
 dear boy passed away to be with the mother. 
 
 I was preaching in a certain city a few years ago, 
 and I found a young man very active in bringing in 
 the boys from the street into the meetings. If there 
 was a hard case in the city he was sure to get hold of 
 it. You would find him in the Inquiry Koom with a 
 whole crowd round him. I got to be very deeply in- 
 terested in the young man and much attached to him. 
 I found out that he was another son of that grand and 
 
LOVE, THE MOTIVE POWER FOR SERVICE. 37 
 
 glorious missionary. I found that all tlie sons were in 
 training to go as foreign missionaries, to take the place 
 of the mother and father, who had gone to their re- 
 ward. It made such an impression on me that I could 
 not shake it off. These boys have all gone to tell out 
 among the heathen the story of Christ and His love. 
 
 I am convinced of this: When these hard-hearted 
 people who now reject the Savior are thoroughly awake 
 to the fact that love is prompting our efforts on their 
 behalf, the hardness will begin to soften, and their 
 stubborn wills will begin to bend. This key of love 
 will unlock their hearts. We can turn them, by God's 
 help, from the darkness of this world to the light of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 Christ gave his disciples a badge,. Some of you wear 
 a blue ribbon and others wear a red ribbon, but the 
 badge that Christ gave to his disciples was Love. " By 
 this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye 
 have love one toward another." Love not only for those 
 who are Christians, but love for the fallen. The Good 
 Samaritan had love for the poor man who had fallen 
 among thieves. If we are filled with such love as that, 
 the world will soon find out that we are the followers of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. It will do more to upset infi- 
 delity and rebellion against God than anything else. 
 
 Speaking about hard cases being reached, reminds 
 me that while I was in a home in London a young lady 
 in that home felt that she was not doing as much for 
 Christ as she would like, and she decided she would take 
 a class of boys. She has now some fifteen or twenty 
 of these lads, from thirteen to sixteen years of age — a 
 very difficult age to deal with. This Christian young 
 
38 " TO THE WORK /'• 
 
 lady made up lier mind that slie would first try and win 
 for herself the affection of these boys, and then seek 
 to lead them to the Savior. It is a beautiful sight to 
 see how she has won their young hearts for herself, 
 and I believe she will win them all to a pure and Godly 
 life. If we are willing to take up our work among 
 the young with that spirit, these boys will be 
 saved; and instead of helping to fill our prisons and 
 poorhouses, they will become useful members of the 
 Church of God, and a blessing to society. 
 
 I have a friend who has a large Sabbath-school. 
 He m.ade up his mind when he began that if a boy 
 did not have a good training in his own home, he 
 could not get it anywhere else except in the Sabbath- 
 school; and he resolved that, if possible, when a boy 
 was refractory he would not turn him adrift. 
 
 He had a boy come to the school whom no teacher 
 seemed able to manage. One after another would 
 come to the Superintendent and say: "You must take 
 him out of my class ; he is demoralizing all the others ; 
 he uses profane language, and he is doing more harm 
 than all the good I can do." At last my friend made 
 up his mind he would read the boy's name out and have 
 him expelled publicly. 
 
 He told a few of the teachers what he was going to do, 
 but a wealthy young lady said : " I wish- you would le 
 me try the boy ; I will do all I can to win him." My 
 friend said to himself he was sure she would not have 
 patience with him very long, but he put the boy in her 
 class as she requested. The little fellow very soon 
 broke the rules in the class, and she corrected him. 
 He got so angry that he lost his temper and spat in 
 
LOVE, THE MOTIVE POWER FOR SERVICE. 39 
 
 her face. Slie quietly took a handkerchief and wiped 
 her face. At the close of the lesson she asked him if 
 he would walk home with her Avhen school was over. 
 No, he said, he didn't want to speak to her. He was 
 not coming back to that old school any more. She asked 
 if he would let her w^alk along with him. No, he 
 woulcbi't. Well, she said, she was sorry he was going, 
 but if he w^ould call at her house on Tuesday morning 
 and ring the front door bell, there would be a little 
 parcel waiting for him. She would not be at home 
 herself, but if he asked the servant he would receive 
 it. He replied: "You can keep your old parcel ; I 
 don't want it." However she thought he would be 
 there. 
 
 By Tuesday morning the little fellow had got over 
 his mad fit. He came to the house and rang the door 
 bell ; the servant handed him the parcel. When he 
 opened it he found it contained a little vest, a necktie, 
 and, best of all, a note written by the teacher. She 
 told him how every night and every morning since he 
 had been in her class she had been praying for him. 
 Now that he was going to leave her she wanted him to 
 remember that as long as she lived she would pray for 
 him, and she hoped he would grow up to be a good 
 man. 
 
 Next morning the little fellow was in the drawing- 
 room waiting to see her before she came downstairs 
 from her bedroom. She found him there crying as if 
 his heart would break. She asked him kindly what 
 was the trouble. " Oh," he said, " I have had no peace 
 since I got your letter. You have been so kind to me 
 and I have been so unkind to you ; I wish you would 
 
40 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 forgive me." Said my friend, the Superintendent, 
 " There are about eighteen hundred children in the 
 school, and there is not a better boy among the whole 
 of them." 
 
 Can we not do the same as that young lady did? 
 Shall we not reconsecrate ourselves now to God and to 
 His service? 
 
 Had I the tongues of Greeks and Jews, 
 And nobler speech than angels use : 
 If love be absent, I am found 
 Like tinkling brass, an empty sound. 
 
 Were I inspired to preach and tell 
 All that is done in heaven and hell — 
 Or could my faith the world remove : 
 Still I am nothing without love. 
 
 Should I distribute all my store 
 To feed the hungry, clothe the poor * 
 , Or give my body to the flame. 
 
 To gain a martyr's glorious name : 
 
 If love to God and love to men 
 Be absent, all my hopes are vain ; 
 Nor tongues, nor gifts, nor fiery zeal, 
 The work of love can e'er fulfill. 
 
 Dr. Watts. 
 
FAITH AND COURAGE, 41 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 FAITH AND COURAGE. 
 
 The key note of all our work for God should be 
 Faith. In all my life I have never seen men or women 
 disappointed in receiving answers to their prayers, if 
 those persons were full of faith, and had good grounds 
 for their faith. Of course we must have a warrant in 
 Scripture for what we expect. I am sure we have a 
 good warrant in coming together to pray for a blessing 
 on our friends and on our neighbors. 
 
 Unbelief is as much an enemy to the Christian as 
 it is to the unconverted. It will keep back the blessing 
 now as much as it did in the days of Christ. We read 
 that in one place Christ could not do many mighty 
 works because of their unbelief. If Christ could not 
 do this, how can we expect to accomplish anything if 
 the people of God are unbelieving? I contend that 
 God's childi^en are alone able to hinder God's work. 
 Infidels, atheists, and sceptics cannot do it. Where 
 there is union, strong faith, and expectation among 
 Christians, a mighty work is always done. 
 
 In Hebrews we read that without faith it is impossi- 
 ble to please God. " For he that cometh to God must 
 believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of them 
 that diligently seek Him." That is addressed to us 
 
42 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 wlio are Christians as mucli as to those who are seek- 
 ing God for the first time. We are all of us seek- 
 ing a blessing on our friends. We want God to revive 
 us, and also that the outlying masses may be reached. 
 We read in this passage that God blesses those who 
 " diligently seek Him." Let us diligently seek Him 
 to-day ; let us have great faith ; and let our expecta- 
 tion be from God. 
 
 I remember when I was a boy, in the spring of the 
 year, when the snoAV had melted away on the New 
 England hills where I lived, I used to take a certain 
 kind of glass and hold it up to the warm rays of the 
 sun. These would strike on it, and I would set the 
 woods on fire. Faith is the glass that brings the fire 
 of God out of heaven. It was faith that drew the fire 
 down on Carmel and burned up Elijah's offering. We 
 have the same God to-day, and the same faith. Some 
 people seem to think that faith is getting old, and that 
 the Bible is wearing out. But the Lord Avill revive his 
 work now ; and we shall be able to set the world on 
 fire if each believer has a strong and simple faith. 
 
 In the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 the writer brings up one worthy after another, and each 
 of them was a man or a woman of faith ; they made the 
 world better by living in it. Listen to this description 
 of what was accomplished by these men and women of 
 faith : "Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought 
 righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths 
 of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the 
 edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, 
 waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of 
 the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life 
 
FAITH AND COURAGE. 43 
 
 again ; and others were tortured, not accepting deliv- 
 erance ; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 
 and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, 
 yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They 
 were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, 
 were slain with the sword : they wandered about in 
 sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tor- 
 mented (of whom the world was not worthy) : they 
 wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and 
 caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a 
 good report through faith, received not the promise : 
 God having provided some better thing for us, that 
 they without us should not be made perfect." 
 
 Surely no child of God can read these words with- 
 out being stirred. It is said that " women received 
 their dead raised to life again." Many of you have 
 children who have gone far astray, and have been taken 
 captive by strong drink, or led away by their lusts and 
 passions ; and you have become greatly discouraged 
 about them. But if you have faith in God they may 
 be raised up as from the dead, and brought back again. 
 The wanderers may be reclaimed ; the drunkards and 
 the harlots may be reached and saved. There is no 
 man or woman, however low he or she may have sunk, 
 but can be reached. 
 
 We ought in these days to have far more faith than 
 Abel, or Enoch, or Abraham had. They lived away 
 on the other side of the Cross. We talk about the 
 faith of Elijah, and the Patriarchs and Prophets; but 
 they lived in the dim light of the past, while we are 
 in the full blaze of Calvary, and the Resurrection. 
 When we look back and think of what Chi'ist did, how 
 
44 " TO THE WORK / " • - 
 
 He poured out His blood tliat men miglit be saved, we 
 ouglit to go forth in His strength and conquer the 
 world. Our God is able to do great and mighty things. 
 
 You remember that the Roman Centurion sent for 
 Christ to heal his servant; when the Savior drew 
 near, the Centurion sent to Him to say that He need 
 not take the trouble to come into his house ; all that 
 was needed was that He should speak the word and his 
 servant would live. Probably he thought that if Christ 
 had the power to create worlds, to say "Let there be 
 be light," and there was light, to make the sea and the 
 earth bring forth abundantly. He could easily say the 
 word and raise up his sick servant. We are told that 
 when Christ received the Roman soldier's message He 
 marvelled at his faith. Dear friends, let us have faith 
 at this moment that God will do great things in our 
 midst. 
 
 Caleb and Joshua were men of faith. They were 
 worth more to Israel than all the camp of unbelievers 
 and the other ten spies put together. We read that 
 Moses sent out twelve men to spy out the land. Let 
 me say that faith never sends out any spies. You may 
 perhaps reply that Moses was commanded by God to 
 send them out ; but we read that it was because of the 
 hardness of their hearts. If they had believed in God, 
 they would have taken possession of the land at Kadesli 
 Barnea. I suppose these twelve men were chosen be- 
 cause they were leading men and influential men in the 
 twelve tribes. 
 
 After they had been gone some thirty days they 
 came back with what wo might call a minority and a 
 majority report. All the twelve admitted that the land 
 
FAITH AND COURAGE. 45 
 
 was a good land, but the ten said, " We are not able to 
 take it. We saw giants there — the sons of Anak." 
 You can see these ten spies in camp the night thej re- 
 turned ; great crowds are gathered around them listen- 
 ing to their reports. Probably there were very few 
 gathered to hear Caleb and Joshua. It really seems 
 sometimes that people are much more ready to believe 
 a lie than to believe the truth. So these unbelievinof 
 men gathered around the ten spies. One of them is 
 describing the giants in the land, and he says : " AVhy, 
 I had to look right up in order to see their faces ; they 
 made the earth tremble at their tread. The mountains 
 and valleys are full of them. Then we saw great 
 walled cities. We are not able to take the land." 
 
 But Caleb and Joshua had quite a different story to 
 tell. Those mighty giants seemed to be as grass- 
 hoppers in their sight. These men of faith remembered 
 how God had delivered them out of the hand of Pharaoh 
 and brought them through the Eed Sea; how He had 
 given them bread from heaven to eat, and water to 
 drink from the rock in the wilderness. If He marched 
 with them surely they could go right up and take pos- 
 session of the land. So they said: "Let us go up at 
 once and possess it; we are well able to take it." 
 
 What do we see in the Church of God to-day? 
 About ten out of every twelve professed Christians are 
 looking at the giants, at the v/a,lls, and at the difficulties 
 in the way. They say: "We are not able to accomplish 
 this work. We might do it if there were not so many 
 drinking saloons, and so much drunkenness, and so 
 many atheists and opposers." Let us not give heed to 
 these unbelieving professors. If we have faith in God 
 
46 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 we are well able to go up and possess tlie land for 
 Christ. God always delights to honor faith. 
 
 It may be some sainted weak woman, some bed-ridden 
 one who is not able to attend the meetings, who will 
 bring down the blessing. In the day when every man's 
 work is tested, it may be seen that some hidden one 
 who honored God by a simple faith was the one who 
 caused such a blessing to descend upon our cities as 
 shall shake the land from end to end. 
 
 Again, in these Bible histories we find that faith is 
 always followed by COURAGE. Caleb and Joshua were 
 full of courage, because they were men of faith. Those 
 who have been greatly used of God in all ages have 
 been men of courage. If we are full of faith we shall 
 not be full of fear, distrusting God all the while. That 
 is the trouble with the Church of Christ to-day — there 
 are so many who are fearful, because they do not believe 
 that God is going to use them. What we need is to have 
 the courage that will compel us to move forward. Per- 
 haps if we do this we may have to go against the advice 
 of lukewarm Christians. There are some who never 
 seem to do anything but object, because the work is not 
 always carried on exactly according to their ideas. 
 They will say: "I do not think that is the best way to 
 do things."" They are very fruitful in raising objections 
 to any plans that can be suggested. If any onward 
 step is taken they are ready to throw cold water on it; 
 they will suggest all kinds of difficulties. We want to 
 have such faith and courage as shall enable us to move 
 forward without waiting for these timid unbelievers. 
 
 In the second book of Chronicles we read that King 
 Asa had to s.o riirht aarainst his father and mother: it 
 
FAITH AND COURAGE. 47 
 
 took a good deal of courage to do that. He removed 
 his mother from being queen, and cut down the idols 
 and burnt them. There are times when we have to ^o 
 against those who ought to be our best friends. Is it 
 not time for us to launch out into the deep? I have 
 never seen people go out into the lanes and alleys, into 
 the hedges and highways, and try to bring the people 
 in, but the Lord gave His blessing. If a man has the 
 courage to go right to his neighbor and speak to him 
 about his soul, God is sure to smile upon the effort. 
 The person wdio is spoken to may w^ake up cross, but 
 that is not always a bad sign. He may write a letter 
 next day and apologize. At any rate it is better to 
 wake him up in this way than that he should continue 
 to slumber on to death and ruin. 
 
 You notice when God was about to deliver Israel out 
 of the hand of the Midianites, how he taught this les- 
 son to Gideon. Gideon had gathered around him an 
 army of thirty-two thousand men. He may probably 
 have counted them, and wdien he knew that the Midian- 
 ites had an army of a hundred and thirty-five thousand 
 he said to himself: "My army is too small; I am 
 afraid I shall not succeed." But the Lord's thoughts 
 were different. He said to Gideon: "You have too 
 many men." So He told him that all those among the 
 tliirty-two thousand who were fearful and afraid might 
 go back to their own homes, to their wdves and their 
 mothers; let them step to the rear. No sooner had 
 Gideon given this command than twenty-two thousand 
 men wheeled out of line. It may be Gideon thought 
 the Lord had made a mistake as he saw his army melt 
 away. If two-thirds of a great audience were to rise 
 and go out you would think they were all going. 
 
48 - " TO THE WORK." 
 
 The Lord said: "Gideon, you have too many men 
 yet. Take your men down to the brook and try them 
 once more. All those who take the water up in their 
 hands and drink as they pass by can stay; those who 
 stoop down to drink can go back." Again he gave the 
 word, and nine thousand seven hundred wheeled out of 
 line and went to the rear, so that Gideon was left with 
 three hundred men. But this handful of men whose 
 hearts beat true to the God of heaven, and who were 
 ready to go forward in His name, were worth more 
 than all the others who were all the time sowing seeds 
 of discontent and predicting defeat. Nothing will dis- 
 courage an army like that. Nothing is more discour- 
 aging in a Church than to have a number of the 
 people all the time expecting disaster and saying: "We 
 do not think this effort will amount to anything; it is 
 not according to our ideas." 
 
 It would be a good thing for the Church of God if 
 all the fearful and faithless ones were to step to the 
 rear, and let those who are full of faith and courage 
 take their empty pitchers and go forward against the 
 enemy. This little band of three hundred men who 
 were left with Gideon routed the Midianites ; but it was 
 not their own might that gave them the victory. It 
 was " the sword of the Lord and of Gideon." If we 
 go on in the Name of the Lord, and trusting to His 
 might, we shall succeed. 
 
 Before Moses went up to heaven he did all he could 
 to encourage Joshua, to strengthen and cheer him. 
 There was no sign of jealousy in the heart of Moses, 
 although he was not p'ermitted to go into the land. He 
 went up to the top of Pisgah and saw that it was a 
 
FAITH AND COURAGE. 49 
 
 good laud ; and he tried to encourage Joshua to go for- 
 ward and take possession of it. After Moses had gone, 
 we read that three times in one chapter God said to 
 Joshua: "Be of good courage." God cheered his ser- 
 vant; "There shall not any man be able to stand before 
 thee all the days of thy life." Soon after that Joshua 
 took a walk around the walls of Jericho. As he walked 
 around he saw a man stand before him with a drawn 
 sword in his hand. Joshua was not afraid, but he 
 said: "Art thou for us or for our adversaries.?" His 
 courage was rewarded, for the man replied: "As Cap- 
 tain of the host of the Lord am I now come." He had 
 been sent to encourage him and to lead him on to 
 victory. 
 
 So you will find all through the Scriptures that God 
 uses those who have courage, and not those who are 
 looking for defeat. 
 
 Another thought: I never knew a case where God 
 used a discouraged man or woman to accomplish any 
 great thing for Him. Let a minister go into the pul- 
 pit in a discouraged frame of mind and it becomes con- 
 tagious. It will soon reach the pews, and the whole 
 church will become discouraged. So with a Sabbath- 
 school teacher ; I never knew a worker of any kind who 
 was full of discouragement and who met with success in 
 the Lord's work. It seems as if God cannot make any 
 use of such a man. 
 
 I remember a man telling me he preached for a num- 
 ber of years without any result. He used to say to his 
 wife as they went to church that he knew the people 
 would not believe anything he said; and there was no 
 blessing. At last he saw his error; he asked God to 
 4 
 
50 " TO THE WORK / 
 
 help him, and took courage, and then the blessing 
 came. "According to your faith it shall be unto you." 
 This man had expected nothing and he got just what 
 he expected. Dear friends, let us expect that God is 
 going to use us. Let us have courage and go forward, 
 looking to God to do great things. 
 
 Elijah on Mount Carmel was one man; Elijah under 
 the juniper tree was quite another man. In the one 
 case he was a giant, and nothing could stand before 
 him. When he lost heart and got terrified at Jezebel's 
 message, and wished himself dead, God could not use 
 him. The Lord had to go to him and say: "What 
 doest thou here, Elijah?" I wish God would speak to 
 many professing Christians who have their harps 
 on the willows, and are out of communion with Him, 
 so that they are of no use in His cause. 
 
 When Peter denied his Master he was a very diiBfer- 
 ent man from what he was on the day of Pentecost. 
 He got out of communion with his Lord, and the word 
 of a servant nearly frightened him out of his life. He 
 denied his Master with oaths and cursing. How ter- 
 ribly a man falls when he loses faith and courage. 
 
 But he was restored ; look at him on the day of Pen- 
 tecost. If that maid whose question made him trem- 
 ble had been present, and heard him preach the 
 marvellous sermon recorded in the Acts, I can imagine 
 she would be the most amazed person in all tlerusalem, 
 "Why," she says, "I saw him a few days ago, and he 
 was terribly alarmed at being called a disciple of 
 Christ; now he stands up boldly for this same Christ; 
 he has no shame now." God used him mightily 
 on the day of Pentecost, as he preached to that vast 
 
FAITH AND COURAGE. 51 
 
 congregation, some of whom were the very murderers 
 of his Lord and Master. But he coukl not use Peter till 
 he had repented of his cowardice and had been restored 
 to faitli and courage. So when any man who is work- 
 ing for Christ loses heart and gets discouraged, the 
 Lord has to lay him aside. 
 
 I remember a number of years ago I got cast down 
 for a good many weeks. One Sunday in particular I 
 had preached and there did not seem to be any result. 
 On the Monday I was very much cast down. I was sit- 
 ting in my study and was looking at myself, brooding 
 over my want of success. A young man called upon 
 me, who had a Bible class of 100 adults in the Sabbath- 
 school which I conducted. As he came in I could see he 
 was away upon the mountain top, while I was down in 
 the valley. Said he to me, "What kind of a day did 
 you have yesterday?" "Very poor; I had no success, 
 and I feel quite cast down. How did you get on ? " 
 "Oh, grandly; I never had a better day." "What was 
 your subject?" "I had the life and character of Noah. 
 Did you ever preach on Noah ? Did you ever study up 
 his life?" "AVell, no; I do not know as ever I made it 
 a special study." I thought I knew pretty well all there 
 was about him in the Bible ; you know all that is told us 
 about him is contained in a few verses. "If you never 
 studied it before, you had better do it now. It will 
 do you good. Noah was a wonderful character." 
 
 When the young man went out I got my Bible and 
 some other books, and read all I could find about Noah. 
 I had not been reading long before the thought came 
 stealing over me: Here Avas a man who toiled on for 
 a hundred and twenty years and never had a single 
 
52 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 convert ontsicle of his own family. Yet lie did not get 
 discouraged. I closed up my Bible ; the cloud had gone ; 
 I started out and went to the noon prayer-meeting. I 
 had not been there long when a man got up and said 
 he had come from a little town in Illinois. On the day 
 before he had admitted a hundred young converts to 
 Church membership. As he -^as speaking I said to 
 myself: "I wonder what Noah would have given if he 
 could have heard that. He never had any such result 
 as that to his labors." 
 
 Then in a little while a man who sat right behind 
 me stood up. His hand was on the seat, and I felt it 
 shake; I could realise that the man was trembling. 
 He said: " I wish you would pray for me; I would like 
 to become a Christian." Thought I to myself: "I 
 wonder what Noah would have given if he had heard 
 that. He never heard a single soul asking God for 
 mercy, yet he did not get discouraged." I have never 
 hung my harp on the T^dllows since that day. Let us 
 ask God to take away the clouds of fear and unbelief; 
 let us get out of Doubting Castle; let us move forward 
 courageously in the name of our God and expect to see 
 results. 
 
 If you cannot engage in any active work yourselves 
 you can do a good deal by cheering on others. Some 
 people not only do nothing, but they are all the time 
 throwing discouragement on others, in every forward 
 step they take. If you meet with them they seem to 
 chill you through and through. I think I would as 
 soon face the east wind in Edinburgh in the month of 
 March, as come in contact with some of these so-called 
 Christians. Perhaps they are speaking about some 
 
FAITH AND COURAGE. 53 
 
 effort that lias been made, and they say: "Well, yes, a 
 good deal of work was done, but then many were not 
 reached at all." Such and such a thing ought to have 
 been done in a different way, and I know not what. 
 They are all the time looking at the dark side. 
 
 Let us not give heed to these gloomy and discourag- 
 ing remarks. In the name of our great Commander let 
 us march on to battle and to victory. There are some 
 generals whose name alone is worth more than a whole 
 army of ten thousand men. In our army in the Civil 
 AVar there were some whose presence sent a cheer all 
 along the line. As they passed on cheer upon cheer 
 went up. The men knew who was going to lead them, 
 and they were sure of having success. " The boys " 
 liked to fight under such generals as that. Let us 
 encourage ourselves in the Lord, and encourage each 
 other ; then we shall have good success. 
 
 We read in the book of First Chronicles that Joab 
 cheered on those who were helping him in warfare. 
 "Be of good courage, and let us behave ourselves 
 valiantly for our people and for the cities of our God ; 
 and let the Lord do that which is good in His sight." 
 Let us go forward in this spirit, and the Lord will make 
 us to triumph over our foes. If we cannot be in the 
 battle ourselves let us not seek to discourage others. 
 A Highland chief of the M'Gregor clan fell wounded 
 at the battle of Sheriff-Muir. Seeing their leader fall, 
 the clan wavered, and gave the foe an advantage. The 
 old chieftain, perceiving this, raised himself on his 
 elbow, while the blood streamed from his wounds, and 
 cried out, "I am not dead, my children; I am looking 
 at you to see you do your duty." This roused them to 
 
54 " TO THE WORK ! *' 
 
 new energy and almost superhuman effort. So, when 
 our strength fails and our hearts sink within us, the 
 Captain of our salvation cries: "Lo, I am Avith you 
 alway, even to the end of the world. I will never leave 
 nor forsake thee. Be thou faithful unto death, and I 
 will give thee a crown of life." 
 
 A friend of mine was telling me that a worker came 
 to him very much cast down. Everything was going 
 wrong, and he was greatly depressed. My friend 
 turned upon him and said: "Do you have any doubt 
 about the final result of things ? Is Jesus Christ going 
 to set up His Kingdom, and reign from the rivers to 
 the ends of the earth? Is He going to succeed or not?" 
 The man said that of course Christ was going to 
 triumph; he had never thought of it in that light. If 
 people would sometimes take a look into the future and 
 remember the promises, they would not be cast down. 
 Dear friends, Christ is going to reign. Let us go out 
 and do the work He has given us to do. If it happens 
 to be dark round about us, let us remember it is light 
 somewhere else. If we are not succeeding just as we 
 would like, others, it may be, are succeeding better. 
 
 Think of the opportunities we have, compared with 
 the early Christians. Look at the mighty obstacles 
 they had to encounter — how they had often to seal 
 their testimony with their blood. See what Peter had 
 to fight against on the day of Pentecost, when the 
 people looked on him with scorn. The disciples in 
 those days had no committee to put up large buildings 
 for their use, in which they could preach. They had 
 no band of ministers sitting near by, to pray for them, 
 and help them and cheer them on. Yet look at the 
 
FAITB ANiD COURAOE. 55 
 
 wonderful results of Peter's preaching on the day of 
 Pentecost. 
 
 Look at the dense darkness that surrounded Martin 
 Luther in Germany. Look at the difficulties that John 
 Knox had to meet with in Scotland. Yet these men 
 did a mighty and a lasting work for God in their day 
 and generation ; we are reaping the blessed fruits of 
 their faithful labors even now. Look at the darkness 
 that brooded over England in the days of AVesley and 
 Whitefield. See how God blessed their efforts; and 
 yet they had a great many obstacles to contend with 
 that we do not have in these days. They went forward 
 with strong and courageous hearts, and the Lord gave 
 them success. 
 
 I believe if our forefathers who lived in the last 
 century could come back to this world in the flesh, they 
 would be amazed to see the wonderful opportunities 
 that we have. We have a great many advantages they 
 did not possess, and probably did not dream of. We 
 live in a grand and glorious day. It took John Wesley 
 months to cross the Atlantic ; now we can do it a few 
 days. Think of the power of the printing press in 
 these days; we can print and scatter sermons to all the 
 corners of the earth. Look at the marvellous facilities 
 that we have in the electric telegraph. Then we can 
 take the railway train and go and preach at a distance 
 of hundreds of miles in a few hours. Am I not right 
 in saying that we live in a glorious day? Let us not 
 be discouraged, but let us use all these wonderful oppor- 
 tunities, and honor God by expecting great things. 
 If we do we will not be disappointed. God is ready 
 and Avilling to work, if we are ready and willing to let 
 Him, and to be used by Him. 
 
56 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 It may be that some are old and feeble, and are say- 
 ing to themselves : " I wish I were young again ; I would 
 like to go out into the thick of the battle." But any one, 
 young or old, can go into the homes of the people and 
 invite them to come out to the meetings. There are 
 large halls every^\^here with plenty of room ; there are 
 many who will help sing the Gospel. The Gospel will 
 also be preached, and there are many people who might 
 be induced to come, who -^dll not go out to the regular 
 places of worship. 
 
 If you are not able to go and invite the people, as I 
 have said, you can give a word of cheer to others, and 
 wish them Godspeed. Many a time when I have come 
 down from the pulpit, some old man, trembling on the 
 very verge of another world, living perhaps on bor- 
 rowed time, has caught hold of my hand, and in a quav- 
 ering voice said, " God bless you ! " How the words 
 have cheered and helped me. Many of you can speak 
 a word of encouragement to the younger friends, if you 
 are too feeble to work yourselves. 
 
 Then again, you can pray that God will bless the 
 words that are spoken and the efforts that are made. 
 It is very easy to preach when others are all the time 
 praying for you and sympathizing v/ith you, instead of 
 criticising and finding fault. 
 
 You have heard the story, I suppose, of the child 
 who was rescued from the fire that was raging in a house 
 away up in the fourth story. The child came to the 
 window, and as the flames were shooting up higher and 
 higher it cried out for help. A fireman started up the 
 ladder of the fire-escape to rescue the child from its dan- 
 gerous position. The wind swept the flames near him, 
 
FAITH AND COURAGE. 57 
 
 and it was getting so hot that he wavered, and it looked 
 as if he would have to return without the child. Thous- 
 ands looked on, and their hearts quaked at the thought 
 of the child having to perish in the fire, as it must do 
 if the fireman did not reach it. Some one in the crowd 
 cried, "Give him a cheer!" Cheer after cheer went up, 
 and as the man heard them he gathered fresh courage. 
 Up he went into the midst of the smoke and the fire, 
 and brought down the child in safety. If you cannot 
 go and rescue the perishing yourselves, you can at 
 least pray for those who do, and cheer them on. If 
 you do, the Lord will bless the effort. 
 
 "They helped every one his neighbor; and every 
 one said to his brother, 'Be of good courage.'" 
 
 We are living, we are dwelling 
 
 In a grand and awful time, 
 In an age on ages telling— 
 
 To be hving is subhme. 
 
 Oh, let all the soul within you 
 For the truth's sake go abroad! 
 
 Strike ! let every nerve and sinew 
 TeU on ages — teU for God ! 
 
 Coxe, 
 
58 " TO THIS WORK /'* 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 FAITH REWARDED. 
 
 " 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 Judaea and Jerusalem; and the power of 
 the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men 
 brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy; 
 and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him 
 before Him, And when they could not find by what 
 way they might bring him in, because of the multitude, 
 they went upon the house-top, and let him down through 
 the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. 
 And when He saw their faith, He said unto him, ' Man, 
 thy sins are forgiven thee.' " 
 
 All the three evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke, 
 record this miracle. I have noticed that when any two 
 or three of the Gospel writers record a miracle it is to 
 bring out some important truth. It seems to me that 
 the truth the Lord would teach us here is this: The 
 honor He put upon the faith of these four men who 
 brought the palsied man to him for healing. Whether 
 the palsied man himself had any faith we are not told; 
 it was when He saw '■^ilicir faith" that His power was 
 put forth to cure the sick of the palsy. 
 
FAITH REWARDED. 59 
 
 I want to say to all Christian workers, that if the 
 Lord sees our faith for those whom we wish to be blessed, 
 He will honor it. He has never disappointed the faith 
 of any of His cliildren yet. You cannot find an in- 
 stance in the Bible, where any man or woman has exer- 
 cised true faith in God, where it has not been honored. 
 Nothing that the Savior found when He was on this 
 sin-cursed earth pleased Him so much as to see the 
 faith of His disciples ; nothing refreshed His heart so 
 much. 
 
 We read in the Gospel narrative that there was a 
 great stir in the town of Capernaum at this time. A 
 few weeks before, the Savior had been cast out of his 
 native town of Nazareth. He had come down to Ca- 
 pernaum, and the whole country was greatly moved. 
 His star was just rising, and His fame was being spread 
 abroad. Peter's wife's mother had been healed by a 
 word. The servant of an officer in the Roman army 
 had been raised up from a sick bed, and the Savior had 
 performed many other wonderful miracles. Men had 
 come to Capernaum from every town in Galilee, and 
 Judaea, and from Jerusalem. They had gathered to- 
 gether to look into these wonderful events that were 
 occurring. The voice of John the Baptist had been 
 ringing through the land, proclaiming to the people 
 that a Prophet would soon make His appearance, whose 
 shoe latchet he was not worthy to unloose. While the 
 Baptist was telling out this message the Prophet Him- 
 self made His appearance in the northern part of the 
 country, and all these wonderful things were transpiring. 
 
 The Pharisees and doctors of the law had come to 
 Capernaum to look into the reports that were spread 
 
60 " TO THE WORK ! '' 
 
 abroad. The house where they were gathered was 
 filled to overflowing, and these wise men were listening 
 to the Savior's teaching. Many of them hardly believed a 
 word that He said. It may be there were some believ- 
 ing ones among these wise men. Nicodemus and Jo- 
 seph of Arimathea may have been there: if so, they 
 were not yet known as disciples of Jesus. 
 
 The writer of the Gospel says: "The power of the 
 Lord was present to heal them." We are not told^ 
 however, that one of them was healed. So it is very 
 often now. The power of the Lord may be present to 
 heal in these gatherings ; yet many will come and go, 
 wondering what it all means, and without being healed 
 of their spiritual diseases. What we need is to have 
 the power of God in our midst. 
 
 A man came into one of our meetings in London. 
 He got into a part of the hall where he could not hear 
 a word of what was spoken or sung ; he could not even 
 hear the text or the portion of Scripture that was read. 
 There he had to sit through the service, so to speak, 
 shut up alone with himself. A little while after he told 
 some one that as he sat there God had revealed Himself 
 to him, and spoken peace to his soul. There is such 
 a thing as the power of God being present to heal, 
 though men may not hear the voice of their fellow- 
 man. 
 
 These four men were real workers. They were 
 worth more than a houseful of these Pharisees and 
 doctors of the law who came merely to criticise and 
 look on. I do not know who the four men were, but I 
 have always had a great admiration for them. It may 
 be one of them had been blind and the Lord had given 
 
FAITH REWARDED' 61 
 
 him his sight. The other may have been lame from 
 his birth ; when the Master restored him to strength, 
 he thought he would like to use it in bringing some 
 one else to be healed. The third man may have been 
 a cured leper, and he wished to help in getting some 
 other afflicted one cured. Perhaps this palsied man 
 was his next-door neighbor. The fourth man, it may 
 be, had been deaf and dumb, and he thought he would 
 employ his hearing and his speech in helping some one 
 else. These four young converts said to themselves: 
 "Let us bring our sick neighbor to Christ." The pal- 
 sied man may have said he had no faith in Christ. But 
 these four friends told him how they had been cured, 
 and if the Master could heal them surely He could 
 heal a palsied man. 
 
 Now it seems to me nothing will wake up a man 
 quicker than to have four persons after him in one day. 
 People are sometimes afraid that they will entrench on 
 each other's ground if more than one worker happens 
 to call at the same house. For my part, I wish that 
 every family had about forty invitations to each meeting. 
 
 I lately heard of a man, a non-churchgoer, who did 
 not believe in the Bible or religious things. Some one 
 who was distributing tickets asked him if he would go 
 to the meetings. He got quite angry. No, he Avould 
 not go ; he did not believe in the thing at all ; he would 
 not be seen in such a crowd. A second man came along, 
 not knowing that any one had been before him, and 
 asked if he would accept a ticket for the meetings. 
 The man was still angry, and, as we would sometimes 
 say, he " gave him a piece of his mind." He told him 
 to keep his tickets. By-and-by a third man called and 
 
62 " TO THE WORK /" 
 
 said: "Would you take a ticket for these meetings?" 
 The man by this time had got thoroughly waked up, bat 
 yet he declined to receive the ticket. He went into a 
 shop to buy something. The man in the shop put a 
 ticket for the meetings into the packet ; when the custo- 
 mer got home and opened it, lo and and behold there 
 was a ticket ! He got so roused up that he went, not 
 to our meeting, but to a neighboring church. I do not 
 know that he has come clean out, but I believe he is, at 
 any rate, in a hopeful condition. 
 
 If one visit does not wake up a man whom you want 
 to reach, send a second visitor after him; if that has no 
 effect, send a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, and 'B 
 sixth, and a seventh ; go on in that way day after day. It 
 is a great thing to save one man, to get him out of the 
 pit, to have his feet set fast on a rock, and a new song 
 put in his mouth. Nothing will rouse an indifferent 
 man quicker than to have a number of friends after 
 him. If you cannot bring him yourself, get others to 
 help you. 
 
 These four men found an obstacle in the way. The 
 door of the house was blocked, and they could not get 
 near the Master. They may have asked some of these 
 philosophers to stand aside; but no, they would not do 
 that. They would not disturb themselves about a sick 
 man. Many people will not go into the kingdom of 
 God themselves, and they will throw obstacles in the 
 way of others. After trying probably for some time to 
 get in, these four men began to devise another plan. 
 If it had been some of us, most likely we would have 
 got quite discouraged, and carried the man back to his 
 home. 
 
FAITH REWARDED. 63 
 
 These men had faith, and perseverance too. They 
 are going to get their friend to Christ some way. If 
 they cannot get him through the door, they will find a 
 way through the roof! "Zeal without knowledge," 
 people say. I would a good deal rather have that than 
 knowledge without zeal. You can see them pulling 
 and tugging away at the burden. If you have ever 
 tried to carry a wounded man up a flight of stairs you 
 will know it is not an easy matter. But these four men 
 were not to be defeated, and at last he is up there on 
 the roof. 
 
 Now, the question was, "How can we get him 
 down ?" They began to tear up the tiling. I can see 
 those wise men looking up and saying to one another: 
 "This is a strange performance; we have never seen 
 anything like this in the temple or in any synagogue 
 we were ever in. It is altogether out of the regular 
 order. These men must be carried away with fanaticism. 
 Why, they have made a hole large enough to let a man 
 through. Suppose a sudden shower were to come, it 
 would spoil the house." 
 
 But these four workers were terribly in earnest. 
 They let the bier, on which the man was lying, down 
 into the room. They laid their friend right at the feet 
 of Jesus Christ; a good place to lay him, was it not? 
 Perhaps some of you have a sceptical son or an unbe- 
 lieving husband, or some other member of your fam- 
 ily, that scoffs at the Bible and sneers at Christianity. 
 Lay them at the feet of Jesus, and He will honor your 
 faith. 
 
 " AVhen He saw their faith." I suppose these men 
 were looking down to see what was about to take place. 
 
64 " TO THE WORK / " 
 
 Christ looked at them, and when He saw their faith He 
 said to the palsied man : " Son, be of good cheer; thy 
 sins are forgiven thee." That was more than they ex- 
 pected; they only thought of his body being made 
 whole. So let ns bring onr friends to Christ, and we 
 shall get more than we expect. The Lord met this 
 man's deepest need first. It may be his sins had 
 brought on the palsy, so the Lord forgave the man's 
 sin first of all. 
 
 The wise men began to reason within themselves : 
 "Who is this that forgiveth sins?" The Master could 
 read their thoughts as easily as we can read a book. 
 "Is it easier to say, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee,' or 
 ' Rise up and walk ?' But that ye may know that the 
 Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, He 
 said unto the sick of the palsy, ' I say unto thee, arise ; 
 take up thy bed and go into thine house.' " The man 
 leaped to his feet, made whole. He rolled up the old 
 bed, swung it across his shoulders, and went to his 
 house. Depend upon it these philosophers who would 
 not make way in order to let him in stood aside pretty 
 quick to let him go out. No need for him to go out 
 by way of the roof ; he went out by the door. 
 
 Dear friends, let us have faith for those we bring to 
 Christ. Let us believe for them if they will not believe 
 for themselves. It may be there are those here who do 
 not believe in the Bible, or in the Gospel of the Son of 
 God. Let us bring them to Christ in the arms of our 
 faith. He is unchangeable — "the same yesterday, to- 
 day, and for ever." Let us look for great things. Let 
 us expect the dead to be raised, the harlots reclaimed, 
 the drunkards saved, and the devils cast out. I believe 
 
FAITH REWARDED. 65 
 
 men are possessed of evil spirits now, just as much as 
 when the Son of God was on earth. AVe Avant to brins" 
 them right to the Lord Jesus Christ, that He may heal 
 and save them. Let this cursed unbelief be swept out 
 of the way, and let us come to God as one man, looking 
 for and expecting signs and wonders to be done in the 
 name of Jesus. He can perform miracles to-day, and 
 He will if we ask Him to fulfill His promises. " He is 
 able to save to the uttermost. 
 
 And let me say to any unsaved man that God has 
 the power to save you from your sins to-day. If you 
 want to be converted, come right to the Master as did 
 the leper of old. He said, " Lord, if Thou wilt Thou 
 canst make me clean." Christ honored his faith, and 
 said, "I will; be thou clean." Notice — the man put 
 " if " in the right place. " If Thou wiU:' He did not 
 doubt the power of the Son of God. The father who 
 brought his son to Christ said, '-If Thou cansi^ have 
 compassion upon him." The Lord straightened out 
 his theology then and there; " If iliou canst believe." 
 Mother, can you believe for your boy? If you can, the 
 Lord will speak the word, and it shall be done. 
 
 It will a good thing for us to get right doivn at the 
 feet of the Master, like the poor woman who went to 
 Elisha and told him of her dead child. He asked his 
 servant to take his staff and lay it upon the dead child. 
 But the mother would not leave the prophet. He wanted 
 her to go with the servant, but she would not be satis- 
 fied with the prophet's staff, or even with his servant; 
 she wanted the master himself. So Elisha went with 
 her; it was a good thing he did, for the servant could 
 
 not raise the child. 
 6 
 
f56 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 We want to get beyond the staff and beyond the 
 servant, right to the heart of the Master Himself. Let 
 US bring our palsied friends to Him. It is said of Christ 
 that in one place He could not do many mighty works 
 there because of their unbelief. Let us ask Him to 
 take away from us this cursed unbelief, that hinders the 
 blessing from coming down, and prevents those who 
 are sick of the palsy of sin from being saved. 
 
 " The faith that works by love, 
 
 And purifies the heart, 
 A foretaste of the joys above 
 To mortals can impart; 
 It bears us through this earthly strife. 
 And triumphs in immortal hfe." 
 
ENTHUSIASM. 67 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 ENTHUSIASM. 
 
 "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, 
 and Christ shall give thee light." I want to apply 
 these words to the children of God. If the lost are to 
 be reached by the Gospel of the Son of God, Chris- 
 tianity must be more aggressive than it has been in 
 the past. We have been on the defensive long enough ; 
 the time has come for us to enter on a war of aggres- 
 sion. AVhen we as children of God wake up and go to 
 work in the vineyard, then those who are living in wick- 
 edness all about us will be reached; but not in any 
 other way. You may go to mass meetings and discuss 
 the question of '' How to reach the masses," but when 
 you have done with discussion you have to go back to 
 personal effort. Every man and woman who loves the 
 Lord Jesus Christ must wake up to the fact that he or 
 she has a mission in the world, in this work of reaching 
 the lost. 
 
 A man may talk in his sleep, and it seems to me that 
 there is a good deal of that kind of thing now in the 
 Lord's work. A man may even preach in his sleep. A 
 friend of mine sat up in his bed one night and preached 
 a sermon right through. He was sound asleep all the 
 time. Next morning his wife told him all about it. He 
 
68 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 preached tlie same sermon in his church the next Sabbath 
 morning; I have it in print, and a good sermon it is. 
 So a man may not only talk but actually preach in his 
 sleep. There are many preachers in these days who are 
 fast asleep. 
 
 There is one thing, however, that we must remember ; 
 a man cannot ivoi'k in his sleep. There is no better 
 way to wake up a Church than to set it to work. One 
 man will wake up another in waking himself up. Of 
 course the moment we begin a work of aggression, and 
 declare war with the world, the flesh, and the devil, 
 some wise head will begin to shake, and there will be 
 the cry, "Zeal without knowledge!" I think I have 
 heard that objection ever since I commenced the Chris- 
 tian life. I heard of some one who was speaking the 
 other day of something that was to be done, and who 
 said he hoped zeal would be tempered with moderation. 
 Another friend very wisely replied that he hoped mod- 
 eration would be tempered with zeal. If that were al- 
 ways the the case, Christianity would be like a red hot 
 ball rolling over the face of the earth. There is no 
 power on earth that can stand before the onward march 
 of God's people when they are in dead earnest. 
 
 In all ages God has used those who were in earnest. 
 Satan always calls idle men into his service. God calls 
 active and earnest — not indolent men. When we are 
 thoroughly aroused and ready for His work, then He 
 will take us up and use us. You remember where Eli- 
 jah found Elisha ; he was ploughing in the field — he was 
 at work. Gideon was at the threshing floor. Moses 
 was away in Horeb looking after the sheep. None of 
 these eminent servants of God were indolent men ; what 
 
ENTHUSIASM. 69 
 
 they did, they did with all their might. We want such 
 men and women nowadays. If we cannot do God's work 
 with all the knowledge we would like, let us at any rate 
 do it with all the zeal that God has given us. 
 
 Mr. Taylor says: " The zeal of the Apostles was seen 
 in this — they preached publicly and privately; they 
 prayed for all men ; they wept to God for the hardness 
 of men's hearts; they became all things to all men, that 
 they might gain some ; they traveled through deeps and 
 deserts; they endured the heat of the Syrian sun and 
 the violence of Euroclydon, winds and tempests, seas 
 and prisons, mockings and scourgings, fastings and 
 poverty, labor and watching; they endured of every man 
 and wronged no man ; they would do any good, and suf- 
 fer any evil, if they could but hope to prevail upon a 
 soul ; they persuaded men meekly, they entreated them 
 humbly, they convinced them powerfully ; they watched 
 for their good, but meddled not with their interest ; and 
 this is the Christian zeal — the zeal of meekness,^ the zeal • 
 of charity, the zeal of patience." 
 
 A good many people are afraid of the word Enthu- 
 siasm. Do you know what the word means ? It means 
 "In God." The person who is "in God" will surely 
 be fired with enthusiasm. When a man goes into busi- 
 ness filled with fire and zeal, he will generally carry all 
 before him. In the army a general who is full of en- 
 thusiasm will fire up his men, and will accomplish a 
 great deal more than one who is not stirred with the 
 same spirit. People say that if we go on in that way 
 many mistakes will be made. Probably there will. 
 You never saw any boy learning a trade who did not 
 make a good many mistakes. If you do not go to work 
 
70 " TO THE WORK /" 
 
 because you are afraid of making mistakes, you will 
 probably make one great mistake — the greatest mistake 
 of your life — that of doing nothing. If we all do what 
 we can, then a good deal will be accomplished. 
 
 How often do we find Sabbath-school teachers going 
 into their work without any enthusiasm. I had just as 
 soon have a lot of wooden teachers as some that I have 
 known. If I were a carpenter I could manufacture any 
 quantity of them. Take one of those teachers who 
 has no heart, no fire, and no enthusiasm. He comes 
 into the school-room perhaps a few minutes after the 
 appointed time. He sits down, without speaking a 
 word to any of the scholars, until the time comes for the 
 lessons to begin. When the Superintendent says it is 
 time to begin the teacher brings out a Question Book. 
 He has not been at the trouble to look up the subject 
 himself, so he gets what some one else has written 
 about it. He takes care not only to get a Question 
 Book, but an Answer Book. 
 
 Such a teacher will take up the first book and he 
 says: "John, who was the first man?" (looking at the 
 book) — " Yes, that is the right question." John replies, 
 "Adam." Looking at the Answer Book the teacher 
 says: "Yes, that is right." He looks again at the 
 Question Book and he says: " Charles, who was Lot?" 
 "Abraham's nephew." "Yes, my boy, that is right." 
 And so he goes on. You may say that this is an 
 exaggerated description, and of course I do not mean 
 to say it is literally true ; but the picture is not so much 
 overdrawn as you would suppose. Do you think a class 
 of little boys full of life and fire is going to be reached 
 in that way ? ' 
 
JENTHUSIASM. 71 
 
 I like to see a teacher come into the class and shake 
 hands with the scholars all round. " Johnnie, how do 
 you do? Charlie, I am glad to see you ! How's the 
 baby? How's your mother? How are all the folks at 
 home ? " That is the kind of a teacher I like to see. 
 When he begins to open up the lesson all the scholars 
 are interested in what he is going to say. He will be 
 able to gain the attention of the whole class, and to 
 train them for God and for eternity. You cannot find 
 me a person in the world who has been greatly used of 
 God, who has not been full of enthusiasm. When we en- 
 ter on the work in this spirit it will begin to prosper, 
 and God will give us success. 
 
 As I was leaving New York to go to England in 
 1867, a friend said to me: " I hope you will go to 
 Edinburgh and be at the General Assembly this year. 
 When I was there a year ago I heard such a speech as 
 I shall never forget. Dr. Duff made a speech that set 
 me all on fire. I shall never forget the hour I spent 
 in that meeting." Shortly after reaching England 
 I went to Edinburgh and spent a week there, in hopes 
 that I might hear that one man speak. I went to work 
 to find the report of the speech that my friend had re- 
 ferred to, and it stirred me wonderfully. Dr. Duff had 
 been out in India as a missionary. He had spent 
 twenty-five years there preaching the Gospel and estab- 
 lishing: schools. He came back with a broken-down 
 constitution. He was permitted to address the General 
 Assembly, in order to make an appeal for men to go 
 into the mission field. After he had spoken for a con- 
 siderable time, he became exhausted and fainted away. 
 They carried him out of the hall into another room. 
 
72 " TO THE WOBK I " 
 
 The doctors worked over him for some time, and at 
 last he "began to recover. When he realized where he 
 was, he roused himself and said : "I did not finish 
 my speech; carry me back and let me finish it." They 
 told him he could only do it at the peril of his life. 
 Said he : "I will do it if I die." So they took him 
 back to the hall. My friend said it was one of the most 
 solemn scenes he ever witnessed in his life. 
 
 They brought the white-haired man into the* Assem- 
 bly Hall, and as he appeared at the door every person 
 sprang to his feet; the tears flowed freely as they looked 
 upon the grand old veteran. With a trembling voice, 
 he said : " Fathers and mothers of Scotland, is it true 
 that you have no more sons to send to India to work for 
 the Lord Jesus Christ? The call for help is growing 
 louder and louder, but there are few coming forward to 
 answer it. You have the money put away in the bank, 
 but where are the laborers who shall go into the field? 
 When Queen Victoria wants men to volunteer for 
 her army in India, you freely give your sons. You do 
 not talk about their losing their health, and about the 
 trying climate. But when the Lord Jesus is calling 
 for laborers, Scotland is saying : ' We have no more sons 
 to give.' " 
 
 Turning to the President of the Assembly, he. said : 
 " Mr. Moderator, if it is true that Scotland has no more 
 sons to give to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ in 
 India ; although I have lost my health in that land, if 
 there are none who will go and tell those heathen of 
 Christ, then I will be ofl* to-morrow, to let them know 
 that there is one old Scotchman who is ready to die for 
 them. I will go back to the shores of the Ganges, and 
 
ENTHUSIASM. 73 
 
 there lay down my life as a witness for the Son of 
 God." 
 
 Thank God for such a man as that ! We want men 
 to-day who are willing, if need be, to lay down their 
 lives for the Son of God. Then we shall be able to 
 make an impression upon the world. When they see 
 that we are in earnest, their hearts will be touched, and 
 we shall be able to lead them to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 I did not agree with Garibaldi's judgement in all 
 things, but I must confess I did admire his enthusi- 
 asm. I never saw his name in the papers, or in a book, 
 but I read all I could find about him. There was some- 
 thing about him that fired me up. I remember read- 
 ing of the time when he was on the way to Bome in 
 1807, and when he was cast into prison. I read the 
 letter he sent to his comrades : "If fifty Garibaldis 
 are thrown into prison, let Eome be free ! " He did 
 not care for his own comfort, so long as the cause of 
 freedom in Italy was advanced. If we have such a 
 love for our Master and His cause that we are ready to 
 go out and do His work whatever it may cost us person- 
 ally, depend upon it the Lord will use us in building 
 up His kingdom. 
 
 I have read of a man in the ninth century who came 
 up against a king. The king had a force of thirty 
 thousand men, and when he heard that this general had 
 only five hundred men, he sent him a message that if 
 he would surrender he would treat him and his follow- 
 ers mercifully. Turning to one of his followers, the 
 man said : " Take that dagger and drive it to your 
 heart." The man at once pressed the weapon to his 
 bosom, and fell dead at the feet of his commander. 
 
74 " TO THE WORK /'* 
 
 Turning to another, lie said : "Leap into yonder 
 chasm." Into the jaws of death the man went ; they 
 saw him dashed to pieces at the bottom. Then turning 
 to the king's messenger, the man said: "Go back to 
 your king, and tell him that I have five hundred such 
 men. Tell him that we may die but we never surren- 
 der. Tell him that I will have him chained with my 
 dogs within forty-eight hours,." When the king heard 
 that he had such men arrayed against him, it struck 
 terror to his heart. His forces were so demoralized that 
 they were scattered like chaff before the wind. Within 
 forty-eight hours the king was taken captive and chained 
 with the dogs of his conqueror. When the people see 
 that we are in earnest in all that we undertake for God, 
 they will begin to tremble; men and women will be en- 
 quiring the way to Zion. 
 
 A fearful storm was raging, when the cry was heard, 
 " Man overboard! " A human form was seen manfully 
 breasting the furious elements in the direction of the 
 shore ; but the raging waives bore the struggler rapidly 
 outward, and, ere the boats could be lowered, a fearful 
 space separated the victim from help. Above the shriek 
 of the storm and roar of the waters rose his rending 
 cry. It was an agonizing moment. With bated breath 
 and blanched cheek, every eye was strained to the 
 struggling man. Manfully did the brave rowers strain 
 every nerve in that race of mercy ; but all their efforts 
 were in vain. One wild shriek of despair, and the vic- 
 tim went down. A piercing cry, " Save him, save 
 him ! " rang through the hushed crowd; and into their 
 midst darted an agitated man, throwing his arms wildly 
 in the air, shouting, " A thousand pounds for the man 
 
ENTHUSIASM. 75 
 
 who saves his life ! " but his starting eye rested only on 
 the spot where the waves rolled remorselessly over the 
 perished. He whose strong cry broke the stillness of the 
 crowd was Captain of the ship from whence the drowned 
 man fell, and was his brother. This is the feeling we 
 want to have in the various ranks of those bearinsr 
 commission under the great Captain of our salvation. 
 " Save him ! he is my brother." 
 
 The fact is, men do not believe in Christianity be- 
 cause they think we are not in earnest about it. In this 
 same Epistle to the Ephesians the Apostle says we are 
 to be " living epistles of Christ, known and read of all 
 men." I never knew a time when Christian people 
 were ready to go forth and put in the sickle, but there 
 was a great harvest. Wherever you put in the sickle 
 you will find the fields white. The trouble is there are 
 so few to reap. 
 
 God wants men and women: that is somethinof far 
 better than institutions. If a man or a woman be really 
 in earnest, they will not wait to be put on some com- 
 mittee. If I saw a man fall into the river, and he was 
 in danger of drowning, I would not wait until I was 
 placed on some committee before I tried to save him. 
 Many people say they cannot work because they have 
 not been formally appointed. They say: "It is not my 
 parish." I asked a person one day, during our last 
 visit to London, if he would go and work in the inquiry 
 room. The reply was: "I do not belong to this part of 
 London." Let us look on the whole world as our 
 parish, as a groat harvest field. If God puts any one 
 within our influence, let us tell them of Christ and 
 heaven. The world may rise up and say that we are 
 
76 ''TO THE WORK!'' 
 
 mad. In my opinion no one is fit for God's service 
 until he is willing to be considered mad by the world. 
 They said Paul was mad. I wish we had many more 
 who were bitten with the same kind of madness. As 
 some one has said: "If we are mad, we have a good 
 Keeper on the way and a good Asylum at the end of 
 the road." 
 
 One great trouble is that people come to special 
 revival meetings, and for two or three weeks, perhaps, 
 they will keep up the fire, but by and by it dies out. 
 They are like a bundle of shavings with kerosene on 
 the top — they blaze away for a little, but soon there is 
 nothing left. We want to keep it all the time, morning, 
 noon and night. I heard of a well once that was said 
 to be very good, except that it had two faults. It 'would 
 freeze up in the winter, and it ivould dry up in the 
 summer. A most extraordinary well, but I am afraid 
 there are many wells like it. There are many people 
 who are good at certain times ; as some one has expressed 
 it, they seem to be good "in spots." What we want is 
 to be red hot all the time. Do not wait till some one 
 hunts you up. People talk about striking while the 
 iron is hot. I believe it was Cromwell who said that he 
 would rather strike the iron and make it hot. So let 
 us keep at our post, and we will soon grow warm in the 
 Lord's work. 
 
 Let me say a few words specially to Sabbath-school 
 teachers. Let me urge upon you not to be satisfied 
 with merely pointing the children away to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. There are so many teachers who go on 
 sowing the seed, and who think they will reap the 
 harvest by and by ; but they do not look for the harvest 
 
ENTHUSIASM. 77 
 
 now. I began to work in that way, and it was years 
 before I saw any conversions. I believe God's method 
 is that we should sow with one hand and reap with the 
 other. The two should go on side by side. The idea 
 that children must grow into manhood and Avomanhood 
 before they can be brought to Jesus Christ is a false 
 one. They can be led to Christ now in the days of 
 their youth, and they can be kept, so that they may 
 become useful members of society, and be a blessing to 
 their parents, to the Church of God, and to the world. 
 If they are allowed to grow up to manhood and woman- 
 hood before they are led to Christ, many of them will 
 be dragged into the dens of vice ; and instead of being 
 a blessing they will be a curse to society. 
 
 What is the trouble throughout Christendom to-day, 
 in connection with the Sabbath-school ? It is that so 
 many when they grow up to the age of sixteen or so, drop 
 through the Sabbath-school net, and that is the last we 
 see of them. There are many young men now in our 
 prisons who have been Sabbath scholars. The cause of 
 that is, that so few teachers believe the children can be 
 converted when they are young. They do not labor 
 to bring them to a knowledge of Christ, but are content 
 to go on sowing the seed. Let a teacher resolve that, 
 God helping him, he will not rest until he sees his whole 
 class brought into the kingdom of God; if he thus 
 resolves he will see signs and wonders inside of thirty 
 days. 
 
 I well remember how I got waked up on this point. I 
 had a large Sunday-school with a thousand children. I 
 was very much pleased with the numbers. If they 
 only kept up or exceeded that number I was delighted ; 
 
78 ''TO THE WORK!'' 
 
 if the attendance fell below a thousand I was very 
 much troubled. I was all the time aiming simply at 
 numbers. There was one class held in a corner of the 
 large hall. It was made up of young women, and it 
 was more trouble than any other in the school. There 
 was but one man who could ever manage it and keep it 
 in order. If he could manage to keep the class quiet I 
 thought it was about as much as we could hope for. 
 The idea of any of them being converted never entered 
 my mind. 
 
 One Sabbath this teacher was missing, and it was 
 with difficulty that his substitute could keep order in 
 the class. During the Aveek the teacher came to my 
 place of business. I noticed that he looked very pale, 
 and I asked what was the trouble. "I have been 
 bleeding at the lungs," he said, " and the docter tells 
 me I cannot live. I must give up my class and go back 
 to my widowed mother in New York State." He fully 
 believed he was going home to die. As he spoke to 
 me his chin quivered, and the tears began to flow. I 
 noticed this and said: " You are not afraid of death, are 
 you?" "Oh, no, I am not afraid to die, but I will 
 meet God, and not one of my Sabbath-school scholars 
 is converted. What shall I say?" Ah, how different 
 things looked when he felt he was going to render an 
 account of his stewardship. 
 
 I was speechless. It Avas something new to me to 
 hear any one speak in that Avay. I said: " Suppose we 
 go and see the scholars and tell them about Christ." 
 "I am very weak," he said, "too weak to Avalk." I 
 said I would take him in a carriage. We took a car- 
 riage and went round to the residence of every scholar. 
 
ENTHUSIASM. 79 
 
 He would just be able to stagger across tlie sidewalk, 
 sometimes leaning on my arm. Calling tlie young lady 
 by name, lie would pray Avitli her and plead with her to 
 come to Christ. It was a new experience for me. I got a 
 new view of things. After he had used up all his strength 
 I would take him home. Next day he would start again 
 and visit others in the class. Sometimes he would go 
 alone, and sometimes I would go with him. At the end 
 of ten days he came to my place of business, his face 
 beaming with joy, and said: "The last one has yielded 
 her heart to Christ. I am going home now; I have 
 done all I can do; my work is done." 
 
 I asked when he was going, and he said: "To-mor- 
 row night." I said: " Suppose I ask these young 
 friends to have a little gathering, to meet you once 
 more before you go." He said he would be very glad. 
 I sent out the invitations and they all came together. 
 I had never spent such a night up to that time. I had 
 never met such a large number of young converts, led 
 to Christ by his influence and mine. We prayed for 
 each member of the class, for the Superintendent, and 
 for the teacher. Every one of them prayed; what a 
 change had come over them in a short space of time. 
 We tried to sing — but we did not get on very well — 
 
 " Blest be the tie that binds 
 Our hearts in Christian love." 
 
 We all bade him good-bye; but I felt as if I must go 
 and see him once more. Next night, before the train 
 started, I went to the station, and found that, without 
 any concert of action, one and another of the class had 
 come to bid him good-bye. They were all there on the 
 platform. A few gathered around us — the fireman, 
 
80 " TO THE WORK ! 
 
 engineer, brakesman, and conductor of the train, with 
 the passengers. It was a beautiful summer night, and 
 the sun was just going down behind the western prairies 
 as we sang together — 
 
 " Here we meet to part again, 
 But when we meet on Canaan's shore, 
 There'll be no parting there." 
 
 As the train moved out of the station, he stood on the 
 outside platform, and, with his finger pointing heaven- 
 ward, he said: "I will meet you yonder;" then he 
 disappeared from our view. 
 
 What a work was accomplished in those ten days! 
 Some of the members of that class were among the 
 most active Christians we had in the school for years 
 after. Some of them are active workers to-day. I met 
 one of them at work away out on the Pacific Coast, a 
 few years ago. We had a blessed work of grace in the 
 school that summer ; it took me out of my business and 
 sent me into the Lord's work. If it had not been for the 
 work of those ten days, probably I should not have been 
 an evangelist to-day. 
 
 Let me again urge on Sunday-school teachers to seek 
 the salvation of your scholars. Make up your mind that 
 within the next ten days you will do all you can to lead 
 your class to Christ. Fathers, mothers, let there be no 
 rest till you see all your family brought into the king- 
 dom of God. Do you say that He will not bless such 
 consecrated effort? What we want to-day is the spirit 
 of consecration and concentration. May God pour out 
 His Spirit upon us, and fill us with a holy enthusiasm. 
 
THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS. 81 
 
 CHAPTEK YI. 
 
 THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS. 
 
 In the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus we read: " And 
 the Lord spake unto Moses, saymg: "Speak unto the 
 c]iildren of Israel, that they bring Me an offering: of 
 every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye 
 shall take my offering. And this is the offering which 
 ye shall take of them: gold, and silver, and brass, and 
 blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' 
 hair, and rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and 
 shittim w^ood, oil for the light, spices for anointing oil 
 and for sweet incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set 
 in the ephod and in the breastplate. And let them 
 make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. 
 According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of 
 the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments 
 thereof, even so shall ye make it." 
 
 I am glad this has been recorded for our instruction. 
 How it ought to encourage us all to believe that we 
 may each have a part in building up the walls of the 
 heavenly Zion. In all ages God has delighted to use 
 the weak things. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul 
 speaks of five things that God uses: " God hath chosen 
 the foolish things of the world to confound the wise ; 
 and God ha^li chosen the weak things of the world to 
 6 
 
82 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 confound the things which are mighty ; and base things 
 of the world, and things which are despised, hath God 
 chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to 
 nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in His 
 presence." 
 
 You notice there are five things mentioned that God 
 uses — foolish things, weak things, base things, despised 
 things, and things which are not. What for? "That 
 no flesh should glory in His presence." When we are 
 weak then we are strong. People often think they have 
 not strength enough; the fact is we have too much 
 strength. It is when we feel that we have no 
 strength of our own, that we are willing God should use 
 us, and work through us. If we are leaning on God's 
 strength, we have more than all the strength of the 
 world. 
 
 This world is not going to be reached by mere human 
 intellectual power. When we realize that we have no 
 strength, then all the fulness of God will flow in upon 
 us. Then we shall have power with God and with man. 
 
 In Revelation we read that John on one occasion 
 wept much at a sight he beheld in heaven. He saw 
 a sealed book; and no one was found that could break 
 the seal and open the book. Abel, that holy man of 
 God, was not worthy to open it. Enoch, who had been 
 translated to heaven without tasting death; Elijah, who 
 had gone up in a chariot of fire ; even Moses, that great 
 law-giver ; or Isaiah, or any of the prophets — none was 
 found worthy to open the book. As he saw this John 
 wept much. As he wept one touched him, and said: 
 " Weep not; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judali, the 
 root of David, hath prevailed to open the Book, and to 
 
THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS. 83 
 
 loose the seven seals thereof." When he looked to see 
 who was the Lion of the tribe of Judah, whom did he 
 see! Lo, the Lion was a Lamb! God's Lion is a 
 Lamb! When we are like lambs God can use us, and 
 we are strong in His service. We can all be weak can 
 we not? Then let us lean on the mighty power of God. 
 
 Notice that all the men whom Christ called around 
 Him were weak men in a worldly sense. They were 
 all men without rank, without title, without position, 
 without wealth or culture. Nearly all of them were 
 fishermen and unlettered men; yet Christ chose them 
 to build up His kingdom. When God wanted to bring 
 the children of Israel out of bondage. He did not send 
 an army ; He sent one solitary man. So in all ages God 
 has used the weak things of the world to accomplish 
 His purposes. 
 
 I read an incident some time ago that illustrates the 
 power of a simple tract. A society was some years ago 
 established to distribute tracts by mail in the higher 
 circles. One of these tracts, entitled, " Prepare to meet 
 thy God," was enclosed in an envelope, and sent by 
 post to a gentleman well known for his ungodly life 
 and his reckless impiety. He was in his study when 
 he read this letter among others. "What's that," said 
 he. " 'Prepare to meet thy God.' Who has had the 
 impudence to send me this cant?" And, with an im- 
 precation on his unknown correspondent, he arose to 
 put the paper in the fire. 
 
 "No; I won't do that." he said to himself; "On sec- 
 ond thoughts, I know what I will do. I'll send it to my 
 
 friend B ; it will be a good joke to hear what he'll 
 
 say about it." So saying, he enclosed the tract in a fresh 
 
84 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 envelope, 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 liumbug, which his first impulse was to 
 tear in pieces. " I'll not tear it either," said he to him- 
 self. " Prepare to meet thy God" at once arrested his 
 attention, and smote his conscience. The arrow of con- 
 viction entered his heart as he read, and he was con- 
 verted. Almost his first thonght was for his nngodly 
 associates. " Have I received such blessed light and 
 truth, and shall I not strive to communicate it to oth- 
 ers ? " He again folded the tract, and enclosed and 
 directed it to one of his companions in sin. Wonder- 
 ful to say, the little arrow hit the mark. His friend 
 read. He also was converted ; and both are now walk- 
 ing as the Lord's redeemed ones. 
 
 In Matthew we read: " For the kingdom of heaven 
 is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his 
 own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And 
 unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to 
 another one; to every man according to his several 
 ability ; and straightway took his journey." 
 
 Observe, he gave to every man " according to his 
 several ability." He gave to each servant just the 
 niimber of talents that he could take care of and use. 
 Some people complain that they have not more talents ; 
 but we have each the number of talents that we can 
 properly employ. If we take good care of what we 
 have, God will give us more. There were eight talents 
 to be distributed among three persons ; the master gave 
 to one five; to a second, two; and to another, one. The 
 
THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS. 85 
 
 man went away ; and the servants fully understood that 
 he expected them to improve their talents and trade 
 with them. God is not unreasonable ; He does not ask 
 us to do what we cannot do ; but He gives us according 
 to our several ability, .and He expects us to use the 
 talents we have. 
 
 We read: "He that had received the five talents 
 went and traded with the same, and made them other 
 five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he 
 also gained other two. But he that had received on 
 went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's 
 money." Notice that the man who had the two talents 
 got exactly the same commendation as the man who 
 had the five. The one who got five doubled them, and 
 his lord said to him: "Well done, good and faithful 
 servant." The one who had two also doubled them, 
 and so had four talents; to him also the lord said: 
 " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into 
 the joy of thy lord." 
 
 If the man who had the one talent had traded with it, 
 he would have received exactly the same approval as 
 the others. But what did he do? He put it into a 
 napkin and buried it. He thought he would take care 
 of it in that way. 
 
 After the lord of these servants had been gone a 
 long while he returned to reckon with them. AYhat 
 does he find in the case of the third servant ? He has 
 the one talent; but that is all. 
 
 I read of a man who had a thousand dollars. He 
 hid it away, thinking he would in that way take care of 
 it, and that when he was an old man he would have 
 something to fall back upon. After keeping the money 
 
86 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 for twenty years lie took it to a bank and got just one 
 thousand dollars for it. If lie had put it at interest, in 
 the usual way, he might have had three times the amount. 
 He made the mistake that a great many people are 
 making to-day throughout Christendom, of not trading 
 with his talents. My experience has been as I have 
 gone about in the world and mingled with professing 
 ChristiaiiF, that those who find most fault with others 
 are those who themselves have nothing to do. If a 
 person is busy improving the talents that God has 
 given him he will have too much to do to find fault 
 and complain about others. 
 
 God has given us many opportunities of serving 
 Him, and He expects that we should use them. People 
 think that their time and property are their own. What 
 saying is more frequent than this? "I have a right to 
 do what I will with my own." 
 
 On one occasion a friend was beside the dying bed 
 of a military man who had held an important command 
 in successful Indian wars. He asked if he were afraid 
 to die. He at once said: " I am not. 
 
 " Why?" He said: " I have never done any harm." 
 
 The other replied: "If you were going to be tried 
 by a court-martial as an officer and a gentleman, I sup- 
 pose you would expect an honorable acquittal ? " The 
 dying old man lifted himself up, and with an energy 
 which his illness seemed to render impossible, exclaimed, 
 •'That I should !" 
 
 "But you are not going to a court-martial; you are 
 going to Christ ; and when Christ asks you, 'What have 
 you done for me? ' what will you say? " His counten- 
 ance changed, and earnestly gazing on his friend, with 
 
THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS. 87 
 
 agonized feelings he answered: ''Nothing! — I have 
 never done anijihing for Christ !" 
 
 His friend pointed out the awful mistake of habitu- 
 ally living in the sense of our relations one with another, 
 and forgetting our relation to Christ and to God ; there- 
 fore the error of supposing that doing no harm, or even 
 doinof afood to those around, will serve as a substitute 
 for living to God. What have you done for Christ? is 
 the great question. 
 
 After some days, he called again on the old man, 
 who said: "Well, sir, what do you think now?" He 
 replied: "Ah ! I am a poor sinner." He pointed him 
 to the Savior of sinners; and not long afterward he 
 departed this life as a repentant sinner, resting in 
 Christ. What an awful end would have come to the 
 false peace in which he was found ! And yet it is the 
 peace of the multitudes, only to be undeceived at the 
 judgment seat of Christ. 
 
 If this world is going to be reached, I am convinced 
 it must be done by men and women of average talent. 
 After all there are comparatively few people in the world 
 who have great talents. Here is a man with one talent; 
 there is another with three ; perhaps I may have only 
 half a talent. But if we all go to work and trade with 
 the gifts we have the Lord will prosper us ; and we may 
 double or treble our talents. What we need is to be up 
 and about our Master's work, every man building 
 ag^ainst his own house. The more we use the means 
 and opportunities we have, the more will our ability and 
 our opportunities be increased. 
 
 An Eastern allegory runs thus: A merchant, going 
 abroad for a time, gave respectively to two of his friends 
 
88 ''TO THE WORK !'' 
 
 two sacks of wlieat each, to take care of against his re- 
 turn. Years passed; he came back, and applied for 
 them again. The first took him into a storehouse, and 
 showed them his sacks ; but they were mildewed and 
 worthless. The other led him out into the open coun- 
 try, and pointed to field after field of waving corn, the 
 produce of the two sacks given him. Said the mer- 
 chant: "You have been a faithful friend. Give me 
 two sacks of that wheat; the rest shall be thine." 
 
 I heard a person once say that she wanted assurance. 
 I asked how long she had been a Christian; and she 
 replied she had been one for a number of years. I 
 said: "What are you doing for Christ?" "I do not 
 know that I have the opportunity of doing anything," 
 she replied. I pity the person who professes to be a 
 Christian in this day, and who says he can find no 
 opportunities of doing any work for Christ. I cannot 
 imagine where his lot must be cast. The idea of any 
 one knowing the Lord Jesus Christ in this nineteenth 
 century, and saying he has no opportunities of testifying 
 for Him. Surely no one need look far to find plenty of 
 opportunities for speaking and working for the Master, 
 if he only has the desire to do it. "Lift up your eyes, 
 and look on the fields ; for they are white already to 
 harvest." If you cannot do some great thing, you can 
 do some little thing. 
 
 A man sent me a tract a little while ago, entitled, 
 " What is that in thine hand ? " and I am very thank- 
 ful he sent it. These words were spoken by God to 
 Moses when He called him to go down to Egypt, and 
 bring the children of Israel out of the house of bondage. 
 You remember how Moses tried to excuse himself. He 
 
THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS. 89 
 
 said lie was not eloquent ; lie was not this and that ; and 
 he could not go. Like Isaiah he wanted the Lord to 
 send some one else. At last the Lord said to Moses, 
 "What is that in thine hand?" He had a rod in his 
 hand. It may be that a few days before he wanted 
 something to drive the sheep with, and he may have 
 cut this wand for that purpose. He could probably 
 have got a hundred better rods any day. Yet with that 
 he was to deliver the children of Israel. God was to 
 link His almighty power with that rod; and that was 
 enough. 
 
 I can imagine that as Moses was on his way down to 
 Egypt he may have met one of the philosophers or 
 free-thinkers of his day, who might have asked him 
 where he was going. "Down to Egypt." "Indeed! 
 are you going down there again to live?" "No, I am 
 going to bring my people out of the house of bondage." 
 "What! you are going to deliver them from the hand 
 of Pharaoh, the mightiest monarch now living? You 
 think you are going to free three millions of slaves from 
 the power of the Egyptians?" "Yes." 
 
 "How are you going to do it?" "With this rod." 
 
 What a contemptible thing the rod must have been 
 in the eyes of that Egyptian free-thinker; the idea of 
 delivering three millions of slaves with a rod! We had 
 three millions of slaves in this country, and before they 
 could be set free half a million of men had to lay 
 down their lives. The flower of the nation marched to 
 its grave before our slaves gained their deliverance. 
 
 Here was a weak and solitary man going down to 
 Egypt, to meet a monarch who had the power of life 
 and death. And all he had with which to deliver the 
 
90 " TO THE WORK /*' 
 
 people from bondage was this rod ! Yet see how famous 
 that rod became. When Moses wanted to bring up the 
 plagues on the people he had only to stretch out his 
 rod, and they covered the land. He had but to stretch 
 it out, and the water of the country was turned into 
 blood. Then when the people came to the Red Sea and 
 they wanted to go across, he had only to lift up the rod 
 and the waters separated, so that the people could pass 
 through dry-shod. AYlien they were in the desert and 
 wanted water to drink, again he lifted this rod and 
 struck the flinty rock, when the water burst forth, and 
 they drank and were refreshed. That contemptible rod 
 became mighty indeed. But it was not the rod ; it was 
 the God of Moses, who condescended to use it. 
 
 Let us learn a lesson from this history. We are 
 required to use what we have, not what we have not. 
 Whatever gifts or talents you have, take and lay 
 them at the Master's feet. Moses took what he had; 
 and we see how much he accomplished. If we are ready 
 to say: " Here am I, ready and willing to be used," the 
 Lord will use us; He will link His mighty power with 
 our weakness, and we shall be able to do great things 
 for Him. 
 
 Look again, and see Joshua as he goes up to the walls 
 of Jericho. If you had asked what they had with 
 which to bring down the walls of that city, all you would 
 have seen would have been a few rams' horns. They 
 must have looked very mean and contemptible in the 
 eyes of the men of Jericho. Perhaps the city contained 
 some men who were giants; as they looked over the 
 walls and saw the Israelites marching around the city 
 blowing these horns, they must have appeared very 
 
THE OF POWER LITTLE THINGS. 91 
 
 insignificant. But God can use the base things, the 
 despised things. However contemptible an instrument 
 a ram's horn may have appeared in the sight of man, 
 the people went on blowing them as they were com- 
 manded; and at the appointed time down came the 
 walls, and the city was taken. The Israelites had no 
 battering rams; no great armor or mighty weapons of 
 any kind. They simply took what they had, and God 
 used it to do the work. 
 
 Look at Samson going out to meet a thousand Philis- 
 tines. AThat has he with him ? Only the jawbone 
 of an ass ! If God could use that, surely He can use us, 
 can he not? Do you tell me He cannot use this woman, 
 that little boy ? There is not one whom He cannot use, 
 if we are willing to be used. 
 
 I remember hearing a Scotchman say, when I was in 
 Great Britain ten years ago, that there was probably not 
 a man in all Saul's army but believed that God could 
 use him to go out and slay the giant of Gath. But 
 there was only one solitary man who believed that God 
 would use him. David w^ent out to meet Goliath and 
 we know the result. We all believe that God can use 
 us; we want to take a step further and believe that He 
 will use us. If w^e are willing to be used. He is willing 
 to use us in His service. How contemptible these 
 smooth stones that David took out of the brook would 
 have appeared to Goliath! Even Saul wanted David 
 to take his armor, and put it on. He was on the point 
 of yielding; but he took his sling and the five smooth 
 stones and went out. The giant of Gath fell before 
 him. Let us go forth in the name of the God of hosts, 
 using what we have, and He will give us the victory. 
 
92 " "TO THE WORK ! '* 
 
 When I was in Glasgow a few years ago, a friend was 
 telling me about an open-air preacher who died there 
 some years before. This man was preaching one Sabbath 
 morning on Shamgar. He said: "I can imagine that 
 when he was ploughing in the field a man came running 
 over the hill all out of breath, and shouted: 'Shamgar! 
 Shamgar! There are six hundred Philistines coming 
 toward you.' Shamgar quietly said: 'You pass on; I 
 can take care of them, they are four hundred short.' 
 So he took an ox goad and slew the whole of them. He 
 routed them hip and high. And the Israelites had 
 again fulfilled before their eyes the words : ' One shall 
 chase a thousand and two shall put ten thousand to 
 flight.' " Now-a-days it takes about a thousand to chase 
 one, because we do not realize that we are weak in our- 
 selves and that our strength is in God. 
 
 AVe want to remember that it is true to-day as ever it 
 was that " One shall chase a thousand." What we need 
 is Holy Ghost power that can take up the weakest child 
 here and make him mighty in God's hand. There is a 
 mountain to be threshed ; there lies a bar of iron, and a 
 little weak worm. God puts aside the iron, and takes 
 up the worm to thresh the mountain. That is God's 
 way. His thoughts are not our thoughts ; His plans are 
 not ours. 
 
 We say: "If such and such a man were only con- 
 verted — that rich man or that wealthy lady — how much 
 good would be done! " Very true; but it may be that 
 God will pass them by and take up some poor tramp, 
 and make him the greatest instrument for good in all 
 the land. John Bunyan, the poor Bedford tinker, was 
 worth more than all the nobility of his day. God took 
 
THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS, 93 
 
 him in hand, and he became mighty. He wrote that 
 wonderful book that has gone marching through the 
 nations, lifting up many a weary heart, cheering many 
 a discouraged and disheartened one. Let us remember 
 that if we are willing to be used, God is willing and 
 waiting to use us. 
 
 I once heard an Englishman speak about Christ feed- 
 ing the five thousand with the five barley loaves and tlie 
 two small fishes. He said that Christ may have taken 
 one of the loaves and broken off a piece and given it to 
 one of the disciples to divide. When the disciple be- 
 gan to pass it round he only gave a very small piece to 
 the first, because he was afraid it would not hold out. 
 But after he had given the first piece it did not seem to 
 grow any the less; so the next time he gave a larger 
 piece, and still the bread was not exhausted. The 
 more he gave, the more the bread increased, until all 
 had plenty. 
 
 At the first all could be carried in one basket; but 
 when the whole multitude had been satisfied the disci- 
 ples gathered up twelve baskets full of fragments. 
 They had a good deal more when they stopped than 
 when they began. Let us bring our little barley loaves 
 to the Master that He may multiply them. 
 
 You say you have not got much ; well, you can use 
 what you have. The longer I work in Christ's vineyard 
 the more convinced I am that a good many are kept out 
 of the service of Christ, deprived of the luxury of work- 
 ing for God, because they are trying to do some great 
 thing. Let us be willing to do little things. And let 
 us remember that nothing is small in which God is. 
 Elijah's servant came to him and told him he saw a 
 
94 "TO THE WORK!'' 
 
 cloud not larger than a man's hand. That was enough 
 for Elijah. He said to his servant, " Go, tell Ahab to 
 make haste; there is the sound of abundance of rain." 
 Elijah knew that the small cloud would bring rain. 
 Nothing that we do for God is small. 
 
 I remember holding meetings some years ago at a 
 certain place, and I met a young lady at the house 
 where I was staying. She told me she had a Sunday 
 afternoon class in a mission-school. At one of our af- 
 ternoon meetings I saw this lady sitting right in front ; 
 she must have been there early to get a good seat. Af- 
 ter the service I met her, and I said: " I saw you at the 
 meeting to-day; I thought you had a class." "So I 
 have." 
 
 " Did you get some one to take it for you? " " No." 
 
 "Did you tell the Superintendent you were not to be 
 there?" "No." 
 
 *' Do you know who had the class ? " " No." 
 
 " Do you know if any one was there to take it ? " "I 
 am afraid there was nobody ; for I saw a good many of 
 the teachers of the school at your meeting." 
 
 " Is that the way you do the Lord's work? " " Well, 
 you know, I have only five little boys. I thought it 
 would not make any difference." 
 
 Only five little boys! Why, there might have been 
 a John Knox, or a Wesley, or a Whitefield, or a Bun- 
 yan there. You cannot tell what these boys might be- 
 come. One of them might become another Martin 
 Luther ; there might be a second Reformation slumber- 
 ing in one of these five little boys. It is a great thing 
 for any one to take "five little boys" and train them 
 for God and for eternity. You may set a stream 
 
THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS. 95 
 
 in motion that will flow on after you are dead and 
 gone. 
 
 Little did the mothers of the Wesleys know what 
 would be the result, when she trained her boys for God 
 and for His kingdom. See what mighty results have 
 tipwed from that one source. It is estimated that there 
 are to-day 25,000,000 adherents of the Methodist 
 faith, and over 5,000,000 communicants. It is esti- 
 mated there are 110,000 regular and local preachers in 
 the United States alone. Two new churches are being 
 built every day in the year ; and the work of the Method- 
 ist Church is spreading over this great Republic. 
 And all this has been done in about a hundred and fifty 
 years. Let not mothers think that their work of train- 
 ing children for God is a small one. In the sight of 
 God it is very great; many may rise up in eternity to 
 call them blessed. 
 
 I have now in my mind a mother who has had twelve 
 boys. They have all grown up to be active Christians. 
 A number of them are preachers of the Gospel ; and all 
 of them are true to the Son of God. There are very 
 few women in our country who have done more for the 
 nation than that mother. It is a great thing to be per- 
 mitted to touch God's work, and to be a co-worker with 
 Him. 
 
 There is a bridge over the Niagara River. It is one 
 of the great highways of the nation ; trains pass over it 
 every few minutes of the day. When they began to 
 make the bridge, the first thing they did was to take a 
 boy's kite and send a little thread across the stream. 
 It seemed a very small thing, but it was tlie beginning 
 of a great work. So if we only lead one soul to Christ, 
 
96 " TO THE WORK ! 
 
 eternity alone may tell what the result will be. You 
 may be the means of saving some one who may become 
 one of the most eminent men in the service of God 
 that the world has ever seen. 
 
 We may not be able to do any great thing ; but if 
 each of us will do something, however small it may be, 
 a good deal will be accomplished for God. For a good 
 many years I have made it a rule not to let any day pass 
 without speaking to some one about eternal things. I 
 commenced it aAvay back years ago, and if I live the 
 life allotted to man, there will be 18,250 persons who 
 will have been spoken to personally by me. That of 
 course does not take into account those to whom I 
 speak publicly. How often we as Christians meet with 
 people, when we might turn the conversation into a 
 channel that will lead them up to Christ. 
 
 There are many burdened hearts all around us ; can we 
 not help to remove these burdens ? Some one has rep- 
 resented this world as two great mountains^a moun- 
 tain of sorrow and a mountain of joy. If we can each 
 day take something from the mountain of sorrow and 
 add it to the mountain of joy, a good deal will be ac- 
 complished in the course of a year. 
 
 I remember Mr. Spurgeon making this remark a few 
 days ago : When Moses went to tell the king of Egypt 
 that he would call up the plague of frogs upon the land, 
 the king may have said : " Your God is the God of frogs, 
 is He ? I am not afraid of them ; bring them on, I do 
 not care for the frogs ! " Says Moses: " But there are 
 a good many of them, O king.'' And he found that out. 
 So we may be weak and contemptible individually, 
 but there a good many Christians scattered all over 
 
THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS. 97 
 
 the land, and we can accomplish a great deal between 
 us. Supposing each one who loves the Lord Jesus 
 were to resolve to-day, by God's help, to try and lead 
 one soul to Christ this week. Is there a professing 
 Christian who cannot lead some soul into the kin^rdom 
 of God? If you cannot I want to tell you that there 
 is something wrong in your life ; you had better have it 
 straightened out at once. If you have not an in- 
 fluence for good over some one of your friends or 
 neighbors, there is something in your life that needs 
 to be put right. May God show it to you to-day ! 
 
 I have little sympathy with the idea that a Christian 
 man or woman has to live for years before they can 
 have the privilege of leading anyone out of the dark- 
 ness of this world into the kingdom of God. I do not 
 believe, either, that all God's work is going to be done 
 by ministers, and other officers in the Churches. This 
 lost world will never be reached and brought back to 
 loyalty to God, until the children of God wake up to 
 the fact that they have a mission in the world. If we 
 are true Christians we should all be missionaries. Christ 
 came down from heaven on a mission, and if we have 
 His Spirit in us we will be missionaries too. If we 
 have no desire to see the world discipled, to see men 
 brought back to God, there is something very far wrong 
 in our religion. 
 
 If you cannot work among the elder people you can 
 go to work among the children. Let Christians speak 
 kindly to these boys and girls about their souls ; they 
 will remember it all their lives. They may forget the 
 sermon, but if some one speaks to them personally, 
 they will say: " That man or woman must be greatly 
 7 
 
98 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 interested in me or they would not have been at the 
 trouble to speak to me." They may wake up to the 
 fact that they have immortal souls, and even if the 
 preaching goes right over their heads, a little personal 
 effort may be a means of blessing to them. 
 
 This personal and individual dealing is perfectly 
 Scriptural. Philip was called away from a great work 
 in Samaria to go and speak to one man in the desert. 
 Christ's great sermon on Regeneration was addressed 
 to one man; and that wonderful discourse by our Lord 
 on the Water of Life was spoken to one poor sinful 
 woman. I pity those Cliristians who are not mlling 
 to speak to one soul ; they are not fit for God's service. 
 We shall not accomplish much for God in the world, 
 if we are not willing to speak to the ones and twos. 
 
 Another thing: Do not let Satan make you believe 
 that the children are too young to be saved. Of course 
 you cannot put old heads on young shoulders. You 
 cannot make them into deacons and elders all at once. 
 But they can give their young hearts to Christ. 
 
 A good many years ago I had a mission school in 
 Chicago. The children were mostly those of ungodly 
 parents. I only had them about an hour out of the 
 week, and it seemed as if any good they got was wiped 
 out during the week. I used to think that if ever I 
 became a public speaker I would go up and down the 
 world and beseech parents to consider the importance 
 of training their children for God and eternity. On 
 one of the first Sabbaths I went out of Chicago I im- 
 pressed this on the congregation. 
 
 When I had finished my address an old white-haired 
 man got up. I was all in a tremble, thinking he was 
 
THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS. 99 
 
 going to criticise what I had said. Instead of that he 
 said: " I want to indorse all that this young man has 
 spoken. Sixteen years ago I was in a heathen country. 
 My wife died and left me with three motherless chil- 
 dren. The first Sabbath after her death my eldest girl, 
 ten years old, said: ' Papa, may I take the children into 
 the bedroom and pray with them as mother used to do 
 on the Sabbath ? ' I said she might. 
 
 " When they came out of the room after a time I 
 saw that my eldest daughter had been weeping. I called 
 her to me, and said: 'Nellie, what is the.trouble? ' 
 'Oh, father,' she said, ' after we went into the room I 
 made the prayer that mother taught me to make.' 
 Then, naming her little brother, ' He made the prayer 
 that mother taught him. Little Susie didn't use to 
 pray when mother took us in there because mother 
 thought she was too young. But when we got through 
 she made a prayer of her own. I could not but weep 
 when I heard her pray. She put her little hands to- 
 gether and closed her eyes and said: "O God, you 
 have taken away my dear mamma, and I have no 
 mamma now to pray for me. Won't you bless me and 
 make me good just as mamma was, for Jesus Christ's 
 sake, Amen."' "Little Susie gave evidence of having 
 given her young heart to God before she was four 
 years old. For sixteen years she has been at work as 
 a missionary among the heathen." 
 
 Let us remember that God can use these little chil- 
 dren. Dr. Milnor was brought up a Quaker, became 
 a distinguished lawyer in Philadelphia, and was a 
 member of Congress for three successive terms. Pe- 
 turning to his home on a visit during his last Congres- 
 
100 " TO THE WORK I " 
 
 sional session, liis little clanghter rushed upon him ex- 
 claiming, "Papa! papa! do you know I can read?" 
 " No? " he said, " let me hear you ! " She opened her 
 little Bible and read, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart." It was an arrow in her fath- 
 er's heart. It came to him as a solemn admonition. 
 " Out of the mouth of babes," God's Spirit moved with- 
 in him. He was driven to his closet, and a friend call- 
 ing upon him found he had been weeping over the 
 Bairymwi's Daughter. Although only forty years of 
 age, he abandoned politics and law for the ministry of 
 the Gospel. For thirty years he was the beloved rec- 
 tor of St. George's Church, in Philadelphia, the prede- 
 cessor of the venerated Dr. Tyng. 
 
 Dear mothers and fathers, let us in simple faith bring 
 our children to Christ. He is the same to-day as when 
 He took them in His arms and said: " Suffer the little 
 children to come unto Me and forbid them not; for of 
 such is the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 I may not do much with all my care, 
 
 But I surely may bless a few ; 
 The loving Jesus will give to me, 
 
 Some work of love to do ; 
 I may wipe the tears from some weeping eyes, 
 
 I may bring the smile again 
 To a face that is weary and worn with care, 
 
 To a heart that is full of pain. 
 I may speak His name to the sorrowful. 
 
 As I journey by their side ; 
 To the sinful and desparing ones 
 
 I may preach of the Crucified. 
 I may drop some httle gentle word 
 
 In the midst of some scene of strife; 
 I may comfort the sick and the dying 
 
 With a thought of eternal life. 
 
 Marianne Farningham, 
 
''SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD." 101 
 
 CHAPTEE YII. 
 
 "SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD." 
 
 In the gospel by Mark we read: "After two days 
 was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread : 
 and the Chief Priests and the Scribes sought how 
 they might take Him by craft, and put Him to death. 
 But they said, not on the feast day, lest there be an 
 uproar of the people. And being in Bethany in the 
 house of Simon the leper, as He sat at meat, there came 
 a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spike- 
 nard, very precious ; and she brake the box, and poured 
 it on His head. And there were some that had indig- 
 nation within themselves, and said. Why was this waste 
 of the ointment made? For it might have been sold 
 for more than three hundred pence, and have been 
 given to the poor. And they murmured against her. 
 And Jesus said, 'Let her alone ; why trouble ye her ? She 
 hath wrought a good work for Me. For ye have the 
 poor with yon always, and whensoever ye will ye may 
 do them good; but Me ye have not always. She hath 
 done what she could; she is come aforehand to anoint 
 My body to the burying. Yerily I say unto you, 
 wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached thoughout 
 the .whole world, this also that she hath done shall be 
 spoken of for a memorial of her.' " 
 
102 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 John tells us in his Gospel who this woman was. 
 "Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to 
 Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom 
 He raised from the dead. There they made Him a 
 supper, and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of 
 them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary 
 a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and 
 anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her 
 hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the 
 ointment. Then saith one of His disciples, Judas 
 Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray Him: 'Why 
 was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, 
 and given to the poor?' This he said, not that he 
 cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and 
 had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then 
 said Jesus, 'Let her alone : against the day of My bury- 
 ing hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have 
 with you; but Me ye have not always.' " 
 
 This is the last time we have a glimpse of the family 
 at Bethany. It was Christ's last week there, and here 
 we have the last recorded interview between Christ and 
 that lovely family. 
 
 Speaking of Martha and Mary some one has said: 
 " They were both dear to Jesus and they both loved 
 Him, but they were different. The eye of one saw His 
 weariness and would give to Him ; the faith of the other 
 apprehended His fulness and would draw from Him; 
 Martha's service was acceptable to the Lord and was 
 acknowledged by Him, but He would not allow it to 
 disturb Mary's communion. Mary knew his mind; she 
 had deeper fellowship with Him; her heart clung to 
 Himself." 
 
''SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD." 103 
 
 I want to call your attention specially to one clause 
 from this fourteenth chapter of Mark, "She hath 
 done what she could." If some one had reported in 
 Jerusalem that something was going to happen at 
 Bethany on that memorable day, that should outlive 
 the Boman Empire, and all the monarchs that had ever 
 existed or would exist, there would have been great 
 excitement in the city. A good many people would 
 have gone down to Bethany that day to see the thing 
 that was going to happen, and that was to live so long. 
 Little did Mary think that she was going to erect a 
 monument which would outlive empires and kingdoms. 
 She never thought of herself. Love does not think of 
 itself. What does Christ say : " Wheresoever this Gospel 
 shall be preached throughout the whole world, this 
 also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a 
 memorial of her." 
 
 This one story has already been put into three hun- 
 dred and fifty different languages, and it is now in 
 circulation in every nation under heaven. Day by day 
 this story is being printed and published. One society 
 in London alone prints, every working hour of the day, 
 five hundred records of this act that took place at 
 Bethany. It is being spread abroad in all the corners 
 of the earth. It will be told out as long as the Church 
 of God exists. Matthew speaks of it; so does John; 
 and so does Mark. 
 
 Men seek to erect some monument that will live after 
 they are dead and gone. This woman never thought 
 to erect a monument; she simply wanted to lavish her 
 love upon Christ. But the act has lived and will con- 
 tinue to live while the Church is on earth. It is as 
 
104 "TO THE WORK !'' 
 
 f resli to-day as it was a hundred years ago : it is fresher 
 than it was five hundred years ago. In fact there never 
 was a time when it was so well known as to-day. 
 Although Mary was herself unknown outside of Bethany 
 when she performed the act, now it is known over all 
 the world. Kings have come and gone ; empires have 
 risen and crumbled. Egypt, with its ancient glories, 
 has passed away. Greece, with its wise men and its 
 mighty philosophers and its warriors, has been almost 
 forgotten. The great Eoman empire has passed away. 
 We do not know the names of those who are buried in 
 the Pyramids, or of those who were embalmed in Egypt, 
 with so much care and trouble, but the record of this 
 humble life continues to be an inspiration to others. 
 
 Here is a woman whose memory has outlived Caesar, 
 
 Alexander, Cyrus, and all the great warriors of the 
 
 ancient world. We do not know that she was wealthy, 
 
 or beautiful, or gifted, or great in the eye of the world. 
 
 What we do know is that she loved the Savior. She 
 
 took this box of precious ointment and broke it over 
 
 the body of Christ. Some one has said it was the only 
 
 thing He ever received that He did not give away. It 
 
 ^ was a small thing in the sight of the world. If there 
 
 ; had been daily papers in those days, and some Jerusalem 
 
 [reporter had been looking out for items of news that 
 
 ; (W<l>uld interest the inhabitants, I suppose he would not 
 
 have thought it worth putting into his paper. Yet it 
 
 '{hM\ fOutlived all that happened in that century, except, 
 
 .jicjf.iCoUI'se, the sayings, and the other events connected 
 
 •i^ithi-tlieiife of Christ. Mary had Christ in her heart 
 
 Ji^sswl0U7afean her creed. She loved Him and she showed 
 
 ;..bQ^ }(>ve itt (acts. 
 
"SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD." 105 
 
 Thank God, everyone of us can love Christ, and we 
 can all do something for Hini. It may be a small thing ; 
 but whatever it is it shall ])e lasting; it will outlive all 
 the monuments on earth. The iron and the granite will 
 rust and crumble and fade away, but anything done for 
 Christ will never fade. It will be more lasting than 
 time itself. Christ says: "Heaven and earth shall pass 
 away, but My word shall not pass away." 
 
 Look again and see that woman in the temple. 
 Christ stood there as the people passed by and cast 
 their offerings into the treasury. The widow had but 
 two mites and she cast it all in. Tlie Lord saw that her 
 heart was in it, and so He commended her. If some 
 nobleman had cast in a thousand dollars Christ would 
 probably not have noticed it, unless his heart had gone 
 with it. Gold is of little value in heaven. It is so 
 plentiful there that they use it to pave the streets with ; 
 and it is transparent gold, much better gold than we 
 have in this world. It is when the heart goes with the 
 offering that it is accepted of Christ. So He said of 
 this woman: "She hath cast in more than they all." 
 She had done all she could. 
 
 I think this is the lesson we are to learn from 
 these Scripture incidents. The Lord expects us to do 
 what we can. We can all do something. In one of 
 our Southern cities a few Christian people gathered 
 together at the beginning of the war to see what could 
 be done about building a church in a part of the city 
 where the poor were very much neglected. After they 
 had discussed the matter they wanted to see how much 
 could be raised out of the congregation. • 
 
 One said he would give so much ; others said they 
 
106 " TO THE WORK /" 
 
 would give so mucli. Tliey only got about half the 
 amount that was needed, and it was thought they would 
 have to abandon the project. Away back in the meet- 
 ing there sat a washerwoman. She rose and said her 
 little boy had died a week before. All he had was a 
 gold dollar. She said: "It is all I have, but I will 
 give the dollar to the cause." Her words touched the 
 hearts of many of those who heard them. Rich men 
 were ashamed at what they had given. The whole 
 sum was raised within a very short time. I have spo- 
 ken in that church, and I know it to be a centre of in- 
 fluence in one of our great cities. This poor woman 
 did what she could ; perhaps she gave more in propor- 
 tion than anyone in the city. 
 
 When we were in London eight years ago, we wanted 
 the city to be canvassed ; we called for volunteers to go 
 and visit the people in their own homes and invite them to 
 come to the meetings. Among those who came for- 
 ward was an old woman, eighty-five years of age. She 
 said she wanted to do a little more for the Master be- 
 fore she went home. She took a district and went 
 from house to house, delivering the messages of invi- 
 tation and the tracts to the people. I suppose she has 
 now gone to her reward, but I shall never forget her. 
 She wanted to do what she could. If every Christian 
 man and woman will do what Mary did, multitudes will 
 be reached and blessed. 
 
 Years ago, when Illinois was but a young State, there 
 were only a few settlers here and there throughout a 
 large portion. One of these was a man who used to 
 spend his Sundays in hunting and fishing. He was a 
 profane and notoriously wicked man. His little girl 
 
''SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD.'' 107 
 
 went to the Sabbath-school at the log school-house. 
 There she was taught the way into the kingdom of 
 God. When she was converted the teacher tried to 
 tell her how she might be used of God in doing good 
 to others. She thought she would begin with her 
 father. Others had tried to reach him and had failed 
 to do it, but his own child had more influence with him. 
 It is written, " A little child shall lead them." She 
 got him to promise to go to the meeting. He came to 
 the door, but at first he would not go in. He had gone 
 to the school when he was young, but one day the boys 
 laughed at him because he had a little impediment in 
 his speech. He would not go back, and so he had 
 never learned to read. 
 
 However he was at last induced to go to the Sabbath- 
 school. There he heard of Christ, and he was converted 
 to God. His little child helped him and others helped 
 him, and he soon learned to read. This man has since 
 been called to his reward, but about two years ago when 
 I saw him last, if I remember well, that man had 
 established on the Western prairies between 1,100 and 
 1,200 Sunday-schools. In addition to all these school- 
 houses, scattered about over the country, churches have 
 sprung up. There are now hundreds of flourishing 
 churches that have grown out of these little mission 
 schools that he planted. He used to have a Sunday- 
 school horse, a "Robert Raikes" horse he called him, 
 on which he traveled up and down the country, going 
 into many outlying districts where nothing was being 
 done for Christ. He used to gather the parents into 
 the log school-houses and tell how his little girl led 
 him to Christ. I have heard a great many orators, but 
 
108 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 I never heard any who could move an audience as he 
 could. There was no impediment in his speech when 
 he begaii to speak for Christ ; he seemed to have all the 
 eloquence and fire of heaven. That little girl did what 
 she could. She did a good day's work when she led 
 her father to the Savior. 
 
 Every one of us may do something. If we are only 
 willing to do what we can, the Lord will condescend to 
 use us ; and it will be a great thing to be instruments in 
 His hand that He may do with us what He will. 
 
 I remember reading in the papers that when the 
 theatre in Yienna was on fire a few years ago, a man in 
 one of the corridors was hurrying out. Many others of 
 the people were trying to find their way out so as to 
 escape from the fire. It was dark, but this man had a 
 single match in his pocket. He struck it, and by doing 
 so he was able to save twenty lives. He did what he 
 could. 
 
 You think you cannot do much. If you are the means 
 of saving one soul, he may be instrumental in saving a 
 hundred more. I remember when we were in England 
 ten years ago, there was a woman in the city where we 
 labored who got stirred up. I do not know but it was 
 this very text that moved her, " She hath done what she 
 could." She had been a nominal Christian for a good 
 many years, but she had not thought that she had any 
 particular mission in the world. I am afraid that is the 
 condition of many professedly Christian men and 
 women. Now she began to look about her to see what 
 she could do. She thought she would try and do some- 
 thing for her fallen sisters in that town. She went out 
 and began to talk kindly to those she met on the street. 
 
''SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD." 109 
 
 She hired a house and invited them to come and meet 
 her there. 
 
 When we went back to that city about a year or so 
 ago, she had rescued over three hundred of these fallen 
 ones, and had restored them to their parents and 
 homes. She is now corresponding with many of them. 
 Think of more than three hundred of these sisters 
 reclaimed from sin and death, through the efforts of one 
 woman. She did what she could. What a grand 
 harvest there will be, and how she will rejoice when she 
 hears the Master say: "AYell done, good and faithful 
 servant." 
 
 I remember hearing of a man in one of the 
 hospitals who received a boquet of flowers from the 
 Flower Mission. He looked at the beautiful boquet 
 and said: "Well, if I had known that a bunch of 
 flowers could do a fellow so much good, I would have 
 sent some myself when I was well." If people only 
 knew how they might cheer some lonely heart and lift 
 up some drooping spirit, or speak some word that shall 
 be lasting in its effects for all coming time, they would 
 be up and about it. If the Gospel is ever to be carried 
 into the lanes and alleys, up to the attics and down into 
 the cellars, we must all of us be about it. As I have 
 said, if each of us will do what we can, a great multi- 
 tude will be gathered into the kingdom of God. 
 
 Rev. Dr. AVillets, of Philadelphia, in illustrating the 
 blessedness of cultivating a liberal spirit, uses this 
 beautiful figure — 
 
 " See that little fountain yonder — away yonder in the 
 distant mountain, shining like a thread of silver through 
 the thick copse, and sparkling like a diamond in its 
 
110 " TO THE WORK 1 " 
 
 healthful activity. It is hurrying on with tinkling feet 
 to bear its tribute to the river. See, it passes a stag- 
 nant pool, and the pool hails it : 'Whither away, master 
 streamlet? ' ' I am going to the river to bear this cup 
 of water God has given me.' ' Ah, you are very foolish 
 for that; you'll need it before the summer's over. It 
 has been a backward spring, and we shall have a hot 
 summer to pay for it — you will dry up then.' ' Well,' 
 said the streamlet, ' if I am to die so soon, I had better 
 work while the day lasts. If I am likely to lose this 
 treasure from the heat, I had better do good with it 
 while I have it.' So on it went, blessing and rejoicing 
 in its course. The pool smiled complacently at its own 
 superior foresight, and husbanded all its resources, let- 
 ting not a drop steal away. 
 
 " Soon the midsummer heat came down, and it fell 
 upon the little stream. But the trees crowded to its 
 brink, and threw out their sheltering branches over it 
 in the day of adversity, for it brought refreshment and 
 life to them, and the sun peeped through the branches 
 and smiled complacently upon its dimpled face, and 
 seemed to say, 'It's not in my heart to harm you;' and 
 the birds sipped the silver tide, and sung its praises ; 
 the flowers breathed their perfume upon its bosom ; the 
 husbandman's eye always sparkled with joy, as he 
 looked upon the line of verdant beauty that marked its 
 course through his fields and meadows; and so on it 
 went, blessing and blessed of all ! 
 
 "And where was the prudent pool? Alas ! in its 
 glorious inactivity it grew sickly and pestilential. The 
 beasts of the field put their lips to it, but turned away 
 without drinking; the breeze stopped and kissed it by 
 
''SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD." HI 
 
 mistake, but shrunk chilled away. It caught the malai^ia 
 in the contact, and carried the ague through the region ; 
 the inhabitants caught it and had to move away; and 
 at last, the very frogs cast their venom upon the pool 
 and deserted it, and heaven, in mercy to man, smote it 
 with a hotter breath and dried it up ! 
 
 " But did not the little stream exhaust itself? Oh, 
 no ? God saw to that. It emptied its full cup into the 
 river, and the river bore it on to the sea, and the sea 
 welcomed it, and the sun smiled upon the sea, and the 
 sea sent up its incense to greet the sun, and the clouds 
 caught in their capacious bosoms the incense from the 
 sea, and the winds, like waiting steeds, caught the 
 chariots of the clouds and bore them away — away to 
 the very mountain that gave the little fountain birth, 
 and there they tipped the brimming cup, and poured 
 the grateful baptism down ; and so God saw to it that 
 the little fountain, though it gave so fully and so freely, 
 never ran dry. And if God so blessed the fountain, 
 will He not bless you, my friends, if, as ye have freely 
 received, ye also freely give? Be assured He will." 
 
 A young lady belonging to a wealthy family in our 
 country was sent to a fashionable boarding-school. In 
 the school Christ had a true witness in one of the teach- 
 ers. She was v/atching for an opportunity of reaching 
 some of the pupils. When this young lady of wealth 
 and position came, the teacher set her heart upon win- 
 ning her to Christ. The first thing she did was to gain 
 her affections. Let me say right here that we shall 
 not do much toward reaching the people until we make 
 them love us. This teacher, having won the heart of 
 her pupil, began to talk to her about Christ, and she 
 
112 "TO THE WORK!'' 
 
 soon won her heart for the Savior. Then instead of drop- 
 ping her as so many do, she began to show her the luxury 
 of working for God. They worked together, and were 
 successful in winning a good many of the young ladies 
 in the school to Christ. When the pupil got a taste 
 of w^ork, that spoiled the w^orld for her. Let me say to 
 any Christian avIio is holding on to the world : Get into 
 the Lord's work, and the world will soon leave you. 
 You will not leave it, you will have something bet- 
 ter. I pity those Christians who are all the time ask- 
 ing if they have to give up this thing and that 
 thing. You won't be asking that when you get a taste 
 of the Lord's work; you will then have something that 
 the world cannot give you. 
 
 When this young lady went back to her home the 
 parents were anxious that she should go out into 
 worldly society. They gave a great many parties, but, 
 to their great amazement, they could not get her inter- 
 ested. She was hungering for something else. She 
 went to the Sabbath-school in connection with the 
 church she attended, and asked the Superintendent to 
 give her a class. He said there were really more teach- 
 ers than he needed. 
 
 She tried for weeks to find something to do for Christ. 
 One day as she was walking down the street, she saw a 
 little boy coming out of a shoemaker's shop. The man 
 had a wooden last in his hand, and he was running as 
 fast as he could after the boy. When he found he 
 could not overtake him, he hurled the last at him and 
 hit him in the back. AYhen the shoemaker had picked 
 up his last and gone back to his shop, the boy stopped 
 running and began to cry. The scene touched the 
 
''SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULDr 113 
 
 heart of this young lady. When she got up to him she 
 stopped and spoke to him kindly. 
 
 '• Do you go to the Sabbath-school? " " No." 
 " Do you go to the day-school? " " No." 
 " AVhat makes you cry ? " He thought she was going 
 to make sport of him, so he said it was none of her 
 business. " But I am your friend," she said. He was 
 not in the habit of having a young lady like that speak 
 to him ; at first he was afraid of her, but at last she won 
 his confidence. Finally, she asked him to come to the 
 Sabbath-school, and be in her class. No, he said, he 
 didn't like study ; he would not come. She said she would 
 not ask him to study ; she would tell him beautiful sto- 
 ries and there would be nice singing. At last he promised 
 that he would come. He was to meet her on Sabbath 
 morning, at the corner of a certain street. 
 
 She was not sure .that he would keep his promise, 
 but she was there at the appointed time, and he was 
 there too. She took him to the school and said to the 
 Superintendent: " Can you give me a place where I 
 can teach this boy ? " He had not combed his hair, and 
 he was barefooted. They did not have any of that kind of 
 children in the school, so the Superintendent looked at 
 him, and said he did not know just where to put him. 
 Finally he put him away in a corner, as far as he could 
 from the others. There this young lady commenced 
 her work — work that the angels would have been glad 
 to do. 
 
 He went home and told his mother he thought he 
 
 had been among the angels. AYhen the mother found 
 
 he was going to a Protestant school she told him he 
 
 must not go again. When the father got to know it, 
 
 8 
 
114 "TO THE WORK!'' 
 
 he said he would flog him every time he went to the 
 school. However, the boy went again the next Sabbath, 
 and the father flogged him ; every time he went he gave 
 the poor boy a flogging. At last he said to his 
 father: "I wish you would flog me before I go, and 
 then I won't be thinking about it all the time I am at 
 the school." You laugh at it, but, dear friends, let us 
 remember that gentleness and love will break down 
 the opposition in the hardest heart. These little dia- 
 monds will sparkle in the Sa\dor's crown, if we will but 
 search them out and polish them. We cannot make dia- 
 monds, but we can polish them if we will. 
 
 Finding that the flogging did not stop the boy from 
 going to the school, the father said: " If you will give 
 up the Sabbath-school, I will give you every Saturday 
 afternoon to play, or you can have all you make by 
 peddling." The boy went to his teacher and said: "I 
 have been thinking that if you could meet me on the 
 Saturday afternoon we would have longer time together 
 than on the Sabbath." I wonder if there is a wealthy 
 young lady reading this book who would give up her 
 Saturday afternoons to teach a poor little boy the way 
 into the kingdom of God. She said she would gladly 
 do it; if any callers came she was always engaged on 
 Saturdays. It was not long before the light broke into 
 the darkened mind of the boy, and a change came into 
 his life. She got him some good clothes and took an 
 interest in him ; she was a guardian angel to him. One 
 day he was down at the railway station peddling. He 
 Was standing on the platform of the carriage, when the 
 engine gave a sudden start; the little fellow was lean- 
 ing on the edge, and his foot slipped so that he fell 
 
''SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD.' 115 
 
 down and the train passed over his legs. AVhen the 
 doctor came, the first thing he said was: "Doctor, will 
 I live to get home? " "No, my boy, you are dying." 
 " Will you tell my father and mother that I died a 
 Christian?" Did not the teacher get Avell paid for her 
 work? She will be no stranger when she goes to the 
 better land. That little boy will be waiting to give her 
 a welcome. 
 
 It is a great thing to lead one soul from the darkness 
 of sin into the glorious light of the Gospel. I believe 
 if an angel were to wing his way from earth up to 
 heaven, and were to say that there was one poor, ragged 
 boy, without father or mother, with no one to care for 
 him and teach him the way of life ; and if God were to 
 ask who among them was willing to come down to this 
 earth and live here for fifty years and lead that one to 
 Jesus Christ, every angel in heaven would volunteer to 
 go. Even Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the 
 Almighty, would say: " Let me leave my high and lofty 
 position, and let me have the luxury of leading one soul 
 to Jesus Christ." There is no greater honor than to 
 be the instrument in God's hand of leading one per- 
 son out of the kingdom of Satan into the glorious light 
 of heaven. 
 
 I have this motto in my Bible, and I commend 
 it to you: " Do all the good you can; to all the people 
 you can ; in all the ways you can ; and as long as ever 
 you can." If each of us will at once set about some 
 work for God, and will keep at it 365 days in the year, 
 then a good deal will be accomplished. Let us so live 
 that it may be truthfully said of us: We have done 
 what we could. 
 
116 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? ^^ 
 
 You have no doubt frequently read the story of the 
 good Samaritan. In this parable Christ brings before 
 us four men. He draws the picture so vividly that the 
 world will never forget it. Too often when we read the 
 Scripture narratives they do not come home to our 
 hearts, and it is not long before we forget the 
 lesson that the Master would have us to learn and to 
 remember. 
 
 We find that when Christ was on the earth there 
 was a class of people who gathered round Him and 
 were continually finding fault with everything He said 
 and did. AVe read that on this occasion a lawyer came 
 asking Him what ho could do to inherit eternal life. 
 Our Lord told him to keep the commandments — to love 
 the Lord with all his heart, and his neighbor as him- 
 self. The lawyer then wanted to know who was his 
 neighbor. In this narrative Christ told him who his 
 neighbor was, and what it was to love him. 
 
 It seems to me that we have been a long while in 
 finding out who is our neighbor. I think in the para- 
 ble of the good Samaritan Christ has taught us very 
 clearly that any man or woman who is in need of our 
 love and our help — whether temporal or spiritual — is 
 
" WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR 9" 117 
 
 our neighbor. If we can render them any service we 
 are to do it in the name of our Master. 
 
 Here we have brought before us two men, each of 
 whom passed by one who was in great need — one who 
 had fallen among the thieves, who had been stripped, 
 wounded, and left there to die. The first that came 
 down that road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a priest. 
 As he went along the highway he heard a cry of dis- 
 tress, and he looked to see who was txie unfortunate 
 man. He could see that the poor sufferer was a Jew; 
 it may be that he had seen him in the temple on the 
 Sabbath day. But then he was not in his own parish 
 now. His work was in the temple, and it was over for 
 the present. He was a professional man, and he had 
 gone through all that was required of him. 
 
 He was in a great hurry to get down to Jericho. It 
 may be they were going to open a new synagogue there, 
 and he was to dedicate it. A very important business, 
 and of course he could not stop to help this poor, 
 wounded, fallen man. So he passed on. It may be, 
 as he went along, he reasoned with himself somewhat 
 in this way: " I wonder why God ever permitted sin to 
 enter the world at all. It is very strange that man 
 should be in this fallen state." Or his thoughts may 
 have taken another turn, and he said to himself that 
 when he got down to Jericho he would form a commit- 
 tee to look after these unfortunate brethren. He would 
 give something toward the expenses. Or he would 
 try and get a policeman to go and look after those 
 thieves who had stripped him. 
 
 He did not think that all the while this poor wounded 
 man was dying. Most likely he was now crying for 
 
118 « TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 water, and it miglit be tliat tliere was a brook running 
 by, witliin a few rods of the spot where he lay. Yet 
 this priest never stopped to give him a drink. All his 
 religion was in his head; it had never reached his 
 heart. The one thought in his mind was duty, duty; 
 and when he had got through that which he considered 
 his duty, he fancied his work was done. God wants 
 heart service ; if we do not give Him that, we can ren- 
 der to Him no service at all. 
 
 We read that a Levite next came along the highway 
 where this wounded man was lying in his helplessness. 
 As he passed along he also heard the man's cry of dis- 
 tress. He turned aside for a moment to look at the 
 poor fellow, and he could see that he was a son of Abra- 
 ham — a brother Jew. But he also must hasten on to 
 Jericho. Possibly he had to help in the ceremony of 
 opening the new synagogue. Perhaps there was going 
 to be a convention down there, on "How to reach the 
 masses," and he was going to help discuss the point. 
 I have noticed that many men now-a-days will go to a 
 conference and talk for hours on that subject, but they 
 will not themselves lift a hand to reach the masses. 
 
 The Levite' s thoughts probably took another turn, 
 and he said to himself: "I will see if I can't get a bill 
 through the Legislature to prevent those thieves from 
 robbing and wounding people." There are some now 
 who think they can legislate men back to God — that 
 they can prevent sin by legislation. Like the priest, 
 this Levite never stopped to give the poor fellow a.drop 
 of water to quench his thirst; he never attempted to 
 bind up his wounds or to help him in any way. He 
 passed along the highway, doubtless, saying to himself, 
 
" WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?'* 119 
 
 " I pity that poor fellow." There is a good deal of 
 that kind of pity now-a-days; but it comes only from 
 the lips, not from the heart. 
 
 The next one to come along that road was a Samari- 
 tan. Now it was notorious that in those days a Jew 
 would not speak to a Samaritan; the very presence of 
 the latter was pollution to an orthodox Jew. No Jew 
 ever entered the habitation of the hated Samar^'tan; he 
 would not eat at his table or drink from his well. 
 Neither would he allow a Samaritan to come under his 
 roof. No religious Jew would even buy from a Samari- 
 tan, or sell to him. You know a Jew must have a very 
 poor opinion of a man if he will not do business with 
 him, when there is a prospect of making something out 
 of him. 
 
 Not only was this the case, but the Jews considered 
 that the Samaritans had no souls ; that when they died 
 they would be annihilated. Their graves would be so 
 deep that not even the sound of Gabriel's trump would 
 wake them on the resurrection morning. He was the 
 only man under heaven who could not become a prose- 
 lyte to the Jewish faith, and become a member of the 
 Jewish family. Repentance was denied him in this 
 life and the life to come. He might profess the Jew- 
 ish religion ; they would have nothing to do with him. 
 That was the way in which they looked upon these 
 men; yet Christ used the despised Samaritan to teach 
 these bitter Jews the lesson of love to their neighbor. 
 
 The Samaritan came that way. It says in the nar- 
 rative that the priest came down that way "by chance;" 
 but we are not told that the Samaritan came by chance. 
 He represents our Lord and Master. We are told that 
 
120 " TO THE WORK /" 
 
 he came to where the poor wounded man was; he got 
 off the beast on which he was riding and stooped right 
 down there by the side of the sick man. He looked at 
 him and saw that he was a Jew. If he had been like 
 the Jews themselves, he would most likely have said, 
 "Serve you right. I only wish the thieves had killed 
 you outright. I would not lift a finger to help you, 
 you poor wretched Samaritan." But no' not a word of 
 condemnation or blame did he utter. 
 
 Let us learn a lesson from this. Do you think these 
 drunkards need any one to condemn them ? There is 
 no one in the wide world who can condemn them as 
 they condemn themselves. What they need is sym- 
 pathy — tenderness, gentleness and kindness. This 
 Samaritan did not pull a manuscript out of his pocket, 
 and begin to read a long sermon to the wounded man. 
 Some people seem to think that all the world needs is 
 a lot of sermons. Why, the people of this land have 
 been almost preached to death. What we want is to 
 preach more sermons with our hands and feet — to carry 
 the Gospel to the people by acts of kindness. 
 
 Neither did he read this poor Jew a long lecture, 
 endeavoring to prove that science was better than re- 
 ligion. He did not give him a long address on geology ; 
 what could that do for him? What the poor man 
 needed was sympathy and help. So the first thing the 
 good Samaritan did was to pour oil into his wounds. 
 How many wounded men there are in our midst who 
 have need of the oil of pity and sympathy. A good 
 many Christians seem always to carry about with them 
 a bottle of vinegar, which they bring out on all occa- 
 sions. 
 
'• WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR 9 " 121 
 
 The Samaritan might have said to the man: "Why 
 did you not stay at Jerusalem ? What business had 
 you to come down this road, any way, giving all this 
 trouble?" So people will sometimes say to a young 
 man who has come to the city and got into trouble: 
 " Why did you ever leave your home and come to this 
 wicked city ? " They begin to scold and upbraid. You 
 are never going to reach men and do them good in 
 that way; or by putting yourself on a high platform; 
 you have to come down to them and enter into their 
 sorrows and troubles. See how this Samaritan " came 
 to where he was," and instead of lecturing him, poured 
 the healing oil into his wounds. 
 
 You observe there are twelve things mentioned in 
 the narrative that the Samaritan did. We can dismiss 
 in a word all that the priest and the Levite did — they 
 did nothing. 
 
 (1.) He " came to where he was." 
 
 (2.) He " saw him;" he did not, like the priest, pass 
 by on the other side. 
 
 (3.) He "had compassion on him." If we would 
 be successful winners of souls we, too, must be moved 
 with compassion for the lost and the perishing. We 
 must sympathize with men in their sorrows and trou- 
 bles, if we would hope to gain their affections and to do 
 them good. 
 
 (4.) He "went to him," The Levite went foivard 
 him, but we are told that he, as well as the priest, "passed 
 by on the other side." 
 
 (5.) He "bound up his wounds." Perhaps he had 
 to tear up his own garments in order to bind them 
 up. 
 
122 " TO THE WORK /'* 
 
 (6.) He poured in oil and gave some wine to the 
 fainting man. 
 
 (7.) He "set him on his own beast." Do you not 
 think that this poor Jew must have looked with grati- 
 tude and tenderness on the Samaritan, as he was placed 
 on the beast, while his deliverer walked by his side? 
 All the prejudice in his heart must have disappeared 
 long before they got to the end of their joii_ney. 
 
 (8.) He "brought him to an inn." 
 
 (9. ) He " took care of him." I was greatly touched 
 at hearing of a Christian worker in one of the districts 
 in London where we were, who met with a drinking 
 man at the meeting. He saw that the man was in 
 drink, so he took him home and stayed all night with 
 him; then, when he got sober the next morning, he 
 talked with him. Many are willing enough to talk 
 with drunkards when they are sober, but how few there 
 are who will go and hunt them up when they are in 
 their fallen condition, and stay with them till they can 
 be reasoned with about their salvation. 
 
 (10.) When he departed on the morrow, the good 
 Samaritan asked the host to care for him. 
 
 (11.) He gave him some money to pay the bill. 
 
 (12.) He said: "Whatever thou spendest more, 
 when I come again I will repay thee." 
 
 There is nothing I think in all the teachings of 
 Christ that brings out the whole Gospel better than 
 this parable. It is a perfect picture of Christ coming 
 down to this world to seek and save the lost. 
 
 (1.) He came to this world of sin and sorrow where 
 we were, laying by His glory for the time, that He 
 might assume our human nature, and put Himself on 
 a level with those He came to save. 
 
" WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? '» 123 
 
 (2.) He mingled with the poor and needy so that 
 He might see their condition. 
 
 (3.) He was "moved with compassion" for the 
 multitudes ; how often thi« is recorded in the Gospels. 
 We are told, on more than one occasion, that He wept 
 as He thought of all the woe and distress that sin had 
 brought upon the human family. 
 
 (4.) AVherever Jesus Christ heard of a case of 
 sorrow or need He went at once. No cry of distress 
 ever reached His ears in vain. 
 
 (5.) On one occasion He read from the prophets 
 concerning Himself, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon 
 me .... because the Lord hath .... sent me to 
 bind up the broken-hearted." He Himself was 
 wounded, that the wounds which sin had made in us 
 might be bound up and healed. 
 
 ( 6. ) He not only comforted the sorrowing, but gave 
 the promise of the Holy Spirit, Who was to bring com- 
 fort and strength to His redeemed people. 
 
 (7.) As the good Samaritan set the wounded man 
 on his own beast, so the Savior gives us the unfailing 
 promise of His word on which we may rest during our 
 pilgrim journey. He Himself has promised to be with 
 us in spirit by the way. 
 
 (8.) He brings us to the place of rest — rest in His 
 love, in His willingness to save, in His power to keep. 
 At the last He will bring us to the home of everlasting 
 rest. 
 
 (9.) When He was on the earth He took a per- 
 sonal interest in all that concerned His disciples, and 
 
 (10.) When He had gone up on high He sent an- 
 other Comforter who should abide with the Church. 
 
124 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 (11.) He has furnislied the Church with all that is 
 needful for her support and growth in grace. 
 
 (12.) He will come again and reward His servants 
 for all their faithful service. 
 
 Do you want to know how you can reach the masses ? 
 Go to their homes and enter into sympathy with them ; 
 tell them you have come to do them good, and let them 
 see that you have a heart to f sel for them. AVhen 
 they find out that you really love them, all those things 
 that are in their hearts against God and against Chris- 
 tianity will be swept out of the way. Atheists may tell 
 them that you only want to get their money, and that 
 you do not really care for their happiness. We have 
 to contradict that lie by our lives, and send it back 
 to the pit where it came from. 
 
 We are not going to do it unless we go personally 
 to them and prove that we really love them. There are 
 hundreds and thousands of families that could easily 
 be reached if we had thousands of Christians going to 
 them and entering into sympathy with their sorrows. 
 That is what they want. This poor world is groaning 
 and sighing for sympathy — human sympathy. I am 
 quite sure it was that in Christ's life which touched the 
 hearts of the common people. He made Himself one 
 with them. He who was rich for our sakes became 
 poor. He was born in the manger so that He might 
 put himself on a level with the lowest of the low. 
 
 I think that in this matter He teaches His disciples 
 a lesson. He wants us to convince the world that He 
 is their friend. They do not believe it. If once the 
 world were to grasp this thought, that Jesus Christ 
 is the Friend of the sinner, they would soon flock to 
 
" WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? " 125 
 
 Him. I am sure that ninety-nine in every hundred of 
 those out of Christ think that, instead of loving them, 
 God hates them. How are they to find out their mis- 
 take? They do not attend our churches; and if they 
 did there are many places where they would not hear 
 it. Do you think that if those poor harlots walking 
 the streets of our cities really believed that Jesus 
 Christ loved them and wanted to be their friend — that 
 if He were here in person He would not condemn them, 
 but would take sides with them, and try to lift them 
 up — they would go on in their sins? Do you think 
 the poor drunkard who reels along the street really 
 believes that Christ is his friend and loves him? The 
 Scripture plainly teaches that though Christ hates sin 
 He loves the sinner. This story of the good Samari- 
 tan is given to teach us this lesson. Let us publish 
 abroad the good news that Christ loves sinners, and 
 came into the world that He might save them. 
 
 There was a man who lived in one of our large cities. 
 He died quite suddenly, and it was not long before his 
 wife followed him to the grave. They left two boys, 
 and there was a wealthy citizen who took the more 
 promising of the boys and adopted him. The other 
 boy was placed in the orphan asylum. He had never 
 been away from his father and mother during their 
 lives, and he had not been separated from his brother 
 before. Every night he would go to sleep crying for 
 his brother^ One night they could not find him. Next 
 morning he was found under the steps of the house of 
 the wealthy banker who had adopted his little brother. 
 When they asked him why he had left a good comfort- 
 able bed at the orphan home and stayed out there all 
 
126 " TO THE WORK ! 
 
 night in the cold, he said he wanted to get near Charlie. 
 He knew that if he rang the bell and they found him 
 at the door they would send him back, and it was a 
 comfort to him to be near Charlie, even if he had to 
 pass the night out there. His young heart was craving 
 for sympathy, and he knew that Charlie loved him as 
 no one else in the world did. If we can only convince 
 these poor lost ones that some on3 loves them, then 
 their hearts will be moved. 
 
 During the war a little boy, Frankie Bragg, was 
 placed in one of the hospitals. He said it was so hard 
 to be there away from all those who loved him. The 
 nurse who was attending him, bent down and kissed 
 him, and said she loved him. " Do you love me?" he 
 said; "kiss me again; that was like my sister's kiss." 
 The nurse kissed him again, and he said with a smile: 
 "It is not hard for me to die now, when I know that 
 some one loves me." If we had more of this sympa- 
 thy for the lost and the sorrowing, the world would soon 
 feel our influence. « 
 
 Shall we not learn a lesson from the good Samari- 
 tan? Let us hear the voice of the Master saying: 
 "Go thou and do likewise." We can all do something. 
 If we cannot reach the older people, let us try and win 
 the young. It is a blessed privilege to be used of God 
 to bring one little lamb into the kingdom. If we are 
 only the means of saving one child our life will not be 
 a failure; we shall hear the Master's "Well done, good 
 and faithful servant." 
 
 A lady started a hospital for sick crippled children in 
 Edinburgh two years ago. I Avas asking her if she had 
 been blessed in the work. I shall not forget how her 
 
•* WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? '* 127 
 
 face lit up. She was in one of our recent meetings in 
 London, and her face was beaming. She was telling of 
 some very interesting cases of conversion among the 
 children. What a privilege it is to lead these afflicted 
 ones into the kingdom of God. 
 
 A little boy was brought to Edinburgh from Fife. 
 There was no room in the children's hospital, and he 
 was taken to the general hospital. H > was only six 
 years old ; his father was dead ; his mother was sick, so 
 that she could not take care of him, and he had to be 
 brought to the hospital in Edinburgh. My friend, Rev. 
 George Wilson, went in one day and sat at the bedside 
 of the little sufferer. He was telling him that the doc- 
 tor was coming on Thursday to take off his little leg. 
 You parents can imagine, if one of your children, six 
 years old, away from home, and in a hospital, were told 
 that the doctor was coming on a certain day to take 
 his leg off, how he would suffer at the thought. The 
 little fellow, of course, was in great trouble about it. 
 The minister wanted to know about his mother ; she was 
 sick and his father was dead. The minister wished to 
 comfort him, and he said: "The nurse is such a good 
 woman; she will help you." " Yes," said the boy, "and 
 perhaps Jesus will be with me." Do you have any 
 doubt of it ? Next Friday the man of God went to the 
 hospital, but he found the cot was empty. The poor 
 boy was gone; the Savior had come and taken him to 
 His bosom. 
 
 In our great cities are there not hundreds and thous- 
 ands who are in some need of human sympathy ? That 
 will speak to their hearts a good deal louder than elo- 
 quent sermons. Many will not be moved by eloquent 
 
128 " TO THE WORK /" 
 
 sermons, wlio would yield to tenderness and gentleness 
 and sympathy. 
 
 Said the great Dr. Chalmers: "The little that I 
 have seen in the world, and know of the history of man- 
 kind, teaches me to look upon their errors in sorrow, 
 not in anger. When I take the one poor heart that has 
 sinned and sufiered, and represent to myself the strug- 
 gles and temptations it has p: -sed through ; the brief 
 pulsation of joy; the tears of regret; the feebleness of 
 purpose ; the scorn of the world that has little charity ; 
 the desolation of the soul's sanctuary and threatening 
 voices within; health gone — happiness gone — I would 
 fain leave the erring squI of my fellow-man with Him 
 from whose hands it came." 
 
 Some of you may say: " How am I to get into sym- 
 pathy with those who are in sorrow?" That is a very 
 important question. Many people go to work for God, 
 but they seem to do it in such a professional way. I 
 will tell you how you can be brought into sympathy. 
 I have found this rule to be of great help to me. Put 
 yourself in the place of the sorrowing and afflicted ones, 
 with whom you want to sympathize. If you do that 
 you will soon gain their affections and be able to help 
 them. 
 
 God taught me a lesson a few years ago that I shall 
 never forget. I was Superintendent of a Sunday-school 
 in Chicago with over 1,500 scholars. In the months of 
 July and August many deaths took place among the 
 children, . and as most of the ministers were out of the 
 city I had to attend a great many funerals. Some- 
 times I had to be at four or five in one day. I was so 
 accustomed to it that I got to do it almost mechanically. 
 
" WHO IS 3IY NEIGHBORS " 129 
 
 I could see the mother take her last look at the child, 
 and see the coffin lid closed without being moved by it. 
 
 One day when I came home my wife told me that 
 one of the Sunday-school children had been drowned, 
 and the mother wanted to see me. I took my little 
 daughter with me and we went to the house. I found 
 the father in one corner of the room drunk. The 
 mother told me that she took in washing in order to get 
 a living for herself and her children, as her husband 
 drank up all his wages. Little Adelaide used to go to 
 the river and gather the floating wood for the fire. 
 That day she had gone as usual; she saw a piece of 
 wood out a little way from the bank; in stretching out 
 to reach it she slipped, and fell into the water and was 
 drowned. The mother told me her sad story ; how she 
 had no money to buy the shroud and the coffin, and she 
 wanted me to help her. I took out my note-book and 
 put down her name and address, and took the measure 
 of the coffin, in order to send it to the undertakers. 
 
 The poor mother was much distressed, but it did not 
 seem to move me. I told her I would be at the funeral, 
 and then I left. As my little girl walked by. my side 
 she said to me: "Papa, suppose we were very poor, 
 and mamma had to Avash for a living, and I had to go 
 to the river to get sticks to make a fire ; if I were to fall 
 into the water and get drowned would you feel bad ?" 
 "Feel bad! Why, my child, I do not know what I 
 should do. You are my only daughter, and if you 
 were taken from me I think it would break my heart." 
 And I took her to my bosom and kissed her. " Then 
 did you feel bad for that mother?" How that ques- 
 tion cut me to the heart. 
 9 
 
130 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 I went back to the house, and took out my Bible and 
 read to the mother the fourteenth chapter of John. Then 
 I prayed with her and endeavored to comfort her. AVhen 
 the day for the funeral arrived I attended it. I had 
 not been to the cemetery for a good many years ; I had 
 thought my time was too precious, as it was some miles 
 away. I found the father was still drunk. I had got 
 a lot in the strangers' field for little Adelaide. As we 
 were laying the coffin in the grave another funeral pro- 
 cession came up, and the corpse was going to be laid 
 near by. Adelaide's mother said, as we were covering 
 up the coffin: "Mr. Moody, it is very hard to lay her 
 away among strangers. I have been moving about a 
 good deal, and have lived among strangers, and I have 
 never had a burying-lot. It is very hard to place my 
 firstborn among strangers." I said to myself that it 
 would be pretty hard to have to bury my child in the 
 strangers' field. I had got into full sympathy with the 
 poor mother by this time. 
 
 Next Sabbath I told the children in the Sunday- 
 school what had taken place. I suggested that we 
 should buy a Sunday-school lot, and when any of the 
 children attending the school died, they would not be 
 laid in the strangers' field, but would be put in our 
 own lot. Before we could get the title made out, a 
 mother came and wanted to know if her little girl who 
 had just died could be buried in the lot. I told her I 
 would give permission. I went to the funeral, and as 
 we were lowering the little coffin I asked what was the 
 name. She said it was Emma. That was the name of 
 my own little girl, and I could not help but weep as I 
 thought of how I would feel if it were my own Emma. 
 
" WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? " 131 
 
 Do you tell me I could not sympathize with that be- 
 reaved mother? Very soon afterward, another mother 
 came and wished to have her dead child buried in our 
 lot. She told me his name was Willie. At that time 
 that was the name of my only boy, and I thought how 
 it would be with me if it were my Willie who was dead. 
 So the first children buried there bore the names of my 
 two children. I tried to put myself in the places of 
 these sorrowing mothers, and then it was easy for me 
 to sympathize wdtli them in their grief, and point them 
 to Him who " shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." 
 
 About the first thing I did when I returned to Chi- 
 cago nine years ago, was to drive up to and see our chil- 
 dren's lot. I thought it would last a good many years, 
 but it was about full, for many of my old Sabbath-school 
 scholars had gone while I had been away, and their 
 bodies were resting in this lot till the great day. I 
 understood, how^ever, that the children 6f the Sabbath- 
 school were about to purchase another and a larger lot 
 which would suffice for many years under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances,. Many little ones are laid there, waiting 
 for the resurrection, and I would like to be buried 
 beside them, it would be so sweet to be in their company 
 when we rise and meet our Lord. 
 
 Dear friends, if you would get into full sympathy 
 with others put yourself in their places. May God fill 
 our hearts with the spirit of the good Samaritan, so 
 that we may be filled with tenderness and love and com- 
 passion. 
 
 I want to give you a motto that has been a great 
 help to me. It was a Quaker's motto: 
 
 " I expect to pass through this world but once. If, 
 
132 "TO THE WORK I" 
 
 therefore, there be any kindness I can show or any 
 good thing I can do to any fellow human being let me 
 do it now ; let me not defer nor neglect it, for I will not 
 pass this way again." 
 
 " Must I my brother keep, 
 
 And share his pain and toil; 
 And weep for those who weep, 
 
 And smile with those who smile; 
 And act to each a brother's part. 
 And feel his sorrows in my heart? 
 
 " Must I his burden bear, 
 
 As though it were my own, 
 And do as I would care 
 
 Should to myself be done; 
 And faithful to his interests prove, 
 And as myself my neighbor love? 
 
 "Then, Jesus, at Thy feet 
 
 A student let me be, 
 And learn, as it is meet, 
 
 My duty, Lord, of Thee; 
 For Thou didst come on mercy's plan, 
 And all Thy life was love to man. 
 
 " Oh! make me as Thou art; 
 
 Thy spirit, Lord, bestow — 
 The kind and gentle heart 
 
 That feels another's woe. 
 May I be thus like Christ my Head, 
 And in my Savior's footsteps tread! " 
 
« YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." 133 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 "YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." 
 
 " They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of 
 the firmament ; and they that turn many to righteousness 
 as the stars for ever and ever." 
 
 That is the testimony of an old man, and one who 
 had the richest and deepest experience of any man liv- 
 ing on the face of the earth at the time. He was taken 
 down to Babylon when a young man ; some Bible stu- 
 dents think he was not more than twenty years of age. 
 If any one had said, when this young Hebrew was car- 
 ried away into captivity, that he would outrank all the 
 mighty men of that day — that all the generals who had 
 been victorious in almost every nation at that time were 
 going to be eclipsed by this young slave — probably no 
 one would have believed it. Yet for ^Ye hundred years 
 no man whose life is recorded in history shone as did 
 this man. He outshone Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, 
 Cyrus, Darius, and all the princes and mighty monarchs 
 of his day. 
 
 We are not told when he was converted to a knowl- 
 edge of the true God, but I think we have good reason 
 to believe that he had been brought under the influence 
 of Jeremiah the prophet. Evidently some earnest. Godly 
 man, and no worldly professor, had made a deep 
 
134 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 impression upon him. Some had at any rate taught 
 him how he was to serve God. 
 
 We hear people nowadays talking about the hard- 
 ness of the field where they labor ; they say their po- 
 sition is a very peculiar one. Think of the field in 
 which Daniel had to work. He was not only a slave, 
 but he was held captive by a nation that detested the 
 Hebrews. The language was unknown to him. There 
 he was among idolaters ; yet he commenced at once to 
 shine. He took his stand for God from the very first, 
 and so he went on through his whole life. He gave 
 the dew of his youth to God, and he continued faithful 
 right on till his pilgrimage was ended. 
 
 Notice that all those who have made a deep impression 
 on the world, and have shone most brightly, have been 
 men who lived in a dark day. Look at Joseph ; he was 
 sold as a slave into Egypt by the Ishmaelites; yet he 
 took his God with him into captivity, as Daniel 
 afterward did. And he remained true to the last; he 
 did not give up his faith because he had been taken 
 away from home and placed among idolaters. He stood 
 firm, and God stood by him. 
 
 Look at Moses, who turned his back upon the gilded 
 palaces of Egypt, and identified himself with his de- 
 spised and down-trodden nation. If a man ever had a 
 hard field it was Moses ; yet he shone brightly, and never 
 proved unfaithful to his God. 
 
 Elijah lived in a far darker day than we do. The 
 whole nation was going over to idolatry. Ahab, and 
 his queen, and all the royal court were throwing their 
 influence against the worship of the true God. Yet 
 Elijah stood firm, and shone brightly in that dark and 
 
« YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD:' 135 
 
 evil day. How liis name stands out on the page of 
 history ! 
 
 Look at John the Baptist, I used to think I would 
 like to live in the days of the prophets ; but I have given 
 up that idea. You may be sure that when a prophet 
 appears on the scene, everything is dark, and the pro- 
 fessing Church of God has gone over to the service of 
 the god of this world. So it was when John the 
 Baptist made his appearance. See how his name shines 
 out to-day ! Eighteen centuries have rolled away, and 
 yet the fame of that wilderness preacher shines brighter 
 than ever. He was looked down upon in his day and 
 generation, but he has outlived all his enemies; his 
 name will be reverenced and his work remembered as 
 long as the Church is on the earth. 
 
 Talk about your field being a hard one! See how 
 Paul shone for God as he went out, the first missionary 
 to the heathen, telling them of the God whom he served, 
 and Who had sent His Son to die a cruel death in 
 order to save the world. Men reviled him and his teach- 
 ings; they laughed him to scorn when he spoke of 
 the Crucified One. But he went on preaching the Gos- 
 pel of the Son of God. He was regarded as a poor 
 tent-maker by the great and mighty ones of his day; 
 but no one can now tell the name of any of his perse- 
 cutors, or of those who lived at that time, unless their 
 names happen to be associated with his, and they were 
 brought into contact with him. 
 
 Now the fact is, all men like to shine. We may as 
 well acknowledge it at once. You go into business cir- 
 cles and see how men struggle to get into the front 
 rank. Every one wants to outshine his neighbor and to 
 
136 " TO THE WORK /" 
 
 stand at the head of his profession. Go into the polit- 
 ical world and see how there is a struggle going on as 
 to who shall be the greatest. If you go into a school 
 you find that there is a rivalry among the boys and 
 girls. They all want to stand at the top of the class. 
 When a boy does reach this position and outranks all 
 the rest the mother is very proud of it. She will man- 
 age to tell all the neighbors how Johnnie has got on, 
 and what a number of prizes he has gained. 
 
 You go into the army and you find the same thing — 
 one trying to outstrip the other ; every one is very anx- 
 ious to shine and rise above his comrades. Go among 
 the young men in their games and see how anxious the 
 one is to outdo the other. So we have all that desire 
 in us; we like to shine above our fellows. 
 
 And yet there are very few who can really shine in 
 the world. Once in a while one man will outstrip all 
 his competitors. Every four years what a struggle goes 
 on throughout our country as to who shall be the 
 President of the United States, the battle raging for 
 six months or a year. Yet only one man can get the 
 prize. There a good many struggling to get the place, 
 but many are disappointed, because only one can attain 
 the coveted prize. But in the kingdom of God the very 
 least and the very weakest may shine if they will. Not 
 only can one obtain the prize, but all may have it if 
 they will. 
 
 It does not say in this passage that the Statesmen are 
 going to shine as the brightness of the firmament. 
 The Statesmen of Babylon are gone; their very names 
 are forgotten. 
 
 It does not say that the nobility are going to shine. 
 
« YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." 137 
 
 Earth's nobility are soon forgotten. John Bunyan, the 
 Bedford tinker, has outlive 1 the whole crowd of those 
 who were the nobility in his day. They lived for self, 
 and their memory is blotted out. He lived for God and 
 for souls, and his name is as fragrant as ever it was. 
 
 We are not told that the merchants are going to 
 shine. AVho can tell the name of any of the million- 
 aires of Daniel's day? They were all buried in obliv- 
 ion a few years after their death. AVho were the mighty 
 conquerors of that day? But few can tell. It is true 
 that we hear of Nebuchadnezzar, but probably we 
 should not have known very much about him but for 
 his relations to the prophet Daniel. 
 
 How different with this faithful prophet of the Lord. 
 Twenty-five centuries have passed away, and his name 
 shines on, and on, and on, brighter and brighter. And 
 it is going to shine while the Church of God exists. 
 " They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of 
 the firmament; and they that turn many to righteous- 
 ness as the stars for ever and ever." 
 
 How quickly the glory of this world fades away! 
 Seventy-five years ago the great Napoleon almost made 
 the earth to tremble. How he blazed and shone as an 
 earthly warrior for a little while! A few years passed, 
 and a little island held that once proud and mighty 
 conqueror; he died as a poor broken-hearted prisoner. 
 Where is he to-day? Almost forgotten. Who in all 
 the world will say that Napoleon lives in their heart's 
 affections ? 
 
 But look at this despised and hated Hebrew prophet. 
 They wanted to put him into the lions' den because he 
 was too sanctimonious and too religious. Yet see how 
 
138 " TO THE WORK ! 
 
 green his memory is to-day! How his name is loved 
 and honored for his faithfulness to his God. 
 
 Seventeen years ago I was in Paris at the time of the 
 Great Exhibition. Napoleon the Tliird was then in his 
 glory. Cheer after cheer would rise up as he drove 
 along the streets of the city. A few short years and 
 he fell from his lofty estate. He died an exile from 
 his country and. his throne, and where is his name to- 
 day ? Very few think about him at all, and if his name 
 is mentioned it is not with love and esteem. How 
 empty and short-lived are the glory and the pride of 
 this world! If we are wise we will live for God and 
 eternity ; we will get outside of ourselves, and will care 
 nothing for the honor and glory of this world. 
 
 In Proverbs we read: "He that winneth souls is 
 wise." If any man, woman, or child by a Godly life 
 and example can win one soul to God, their life will not 
 have been a failure. They will have outshone all the 
 mighty men of their day, because they will have set a 
 stream in motion that will flow on and on for ever and 
 ever. That little boy may shine in God's kingdom if 
 he will. 
 
 God has left us down here to shine. We are not 
 here to buy and sell and get gain, to accumulate wealth, 
 to acquire worldly position. This earth, if we are 
 Christians, is not our home ; it is up yonder. God has 
 sent us into the world to shine for Him — to light up 
 this dark world. Christ came to be the Light of the 
 world, but men put out that light. They took it to 
 Calvary and blew it out. Before Christ went up on 
 high He said to His disciples: "Ye are the light 
 of the world. Ye are my witnesses. Go forth and 
 
" YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." 139 
 
 carry the Gospel to the perishing nations of the 
 earth." 
 
 So God has called us to shine, just as much as Daniel 
 was sent into Babylon to shine. Let no man or woman 
 say that they cannot shine because they have not so 
 much influence as some others may have. What God 
 wants you to do is to use the influence you h?ve. 
 Daniel probably did not have much influence down in 
 Babylon at first, but God soon gave him more, because 
 he was faithful and used what he had. 
 
 Remember a small light will do a good deal when it 
 is in a very dark place. You put one little tallow can- 
 dle in the middle of a large hall, and it will give a good 
 deal of light. 
 
 Away out in the prairie regions, when meetings are 
 held at night in the log school-houses, the announce- 
 ment of the meeting is given out in this way: " A meet- 
 ing will be held by early candle-light." The first man 
 who comes brings a tallow-dip with him. It is perhaps 
 all he has; but he brings it and sets it on the desk. 
 It does not light the building much ; but it is better 
 than none at all. The next man brings his candle ; and 
 the next family bring their candles. By the time the 
 house is full, there is plenty of light. So if we all 
 shine a little, there will be a good deal of light. That 
 is what God wants us to do. If we cannot all be light- 
 houses, any one of us can at any rate be a tallow 
 candle. 
 
 A little light will sometimes do a great deal. The 
 city of Chicago was set on fire by a cow kicking over a 
 lamp, and a hundred thousand people were burnt out of 
 house and home. Do not let Satan get the advantage 
 
140 " TO THE WORK ! " 
 
 of you, and make you think that because you cannot do 
 any great thing you cannot do -anything at all. 
 
 Then we must remember that we are to let our light 
 shine. It does not say, ''Make your light shine." 
 You do not have to make light to shine; all you have 
 to do is to let it shine. 
 
 I remember hearing of a man at sea who was very 
 sea-sick. If there is a time when a man feels that he 
 cannot do any work for the Lord it is then — in my 
 opinion. While this man was sick he heard that a man 
 had fallen overboard. He was wondering if he could 
 do anything to help to save the man. He laid hold of 
 a light and held it up to the port-hole. The drowning 
 man was saved. When this man got over his attack of 
 sickness he got up on deck one day, and was talking 
 with the man who was rescued. The saved man gave 
 this testimony. He said he had gone down the second 
 time, and was just going down again for the last time, 
 when he put out his hand. Just then, he said, some 
 one held a light at the port-hole, and the light fell on 
 his hand. A man caught him by the hand and pulled 
 him into the lifeboat. 
 
 It seemed a small thing to do to hold up the light; 
 yet it saved the man's life. If you cannot do some 
 great thing you can hold the light for some poor, per- 
 ishing drunkard, who may be won to Christ and de- 
 livered from destruction. Let us take the torch of 
 salvation and go into these dark homes, and hold up 
 Christ to the people as the Sa\dor of the world. If 
 these perishing masses are to be reached we must lay 
 our lives right alongside theirs, and pray with them 
 and labor for them. I would not give much for a 
 
"YE ABE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." 141 
 
 man's Christianity, if he is saved himself and is not 
 willing to try and save others. It seems to me the 
 basest ingratitude if we do not reach out the hand to 
 others who are down in the same pit from which we 
 were delivered. Who is able to reach and help these 
 drinking men like those who have themselves been 
 slaves to the intoxicating cup? Will you not go out 
 this very day and seek to rescue these men? If we 
 were all to do what we can we should soon empty the 
 drinking saloons. 
 
 I remember reading of a blind man who was found 
 sitting at the corner of a street in a great city with a 
 lantern beside him. Some one went up to him and 
 asked what he had the lantern there for, seeing that he 
 wa« blind, and the light was the same to him as the 
 darkness. The blind man replied: "I have it so that 
 no one may stumble over me." 
 
 Dear friends, let us think of that. Where one man 
 reads the Bible, a hundred read you and me. That is 
 what Paul meant when he said we were to be living 
 epistles of Christ, known and read of all men. I would 
 not give much for all that can be done by sermons, if 
 we do not preach Christ by our lives. If we do not 
 commend the Gospel to people by our holy walk and 
 conversation, we shall not win them to Christ. Some 
 little act of kindness will perhaps do more to influence 
 them than any number of long sermons. 
 
 A vessel was caught in a storm on Lake Erie, and 
 they were trying to make for the harbor of Cleveland, 
 At the entrance of that port they had what are called 
 the upper lights and the lower lights. Away back on 
 the bluffs were the upper lights burning brightly 
 
142 " TO THE WORK ! 
 
 enough ; but wlien tliey came near the harbor they could 
 not see the lights showing the entrance to it. The pilot 
 said he thought they had better get back on the lake 
 again. The Captain said he was sure they would go 
 down if they went back, and he urged the pilot to do 
 what he could to gain the harbor. The pilot said there 
 was very little hope of making for the harbor, as he 
 had nothing to guide him as to how he should steer 
 the ship. They tried all they could to get her into the 
 harbor. She rode on the top of the waves, and then 
 into the trough of the sea, and at last they found them- 
 selves stranded on the beach, where the vessel was 
 dashed to pieces. Some one had neglected the lower 
 lights and they had gone out. 
 
 Let us take warning. God keeps the upper lights 
 burning as brightly as ever, but He has left us down 
 here to keep the lower lights burning. We are to rep- 
 resent Him here, as Christ represents us up yonder. I 
 sometimes think if we had as poor a representative in 
 the courts above as God has down here on earth, we 
 would have a pretty poor chance of heaven. Let us have 
 our loins girt and our lights brightly burning, so that 
 others may see the way and not walk in darkness. 
 
 Speaking of a lighthouse reminds me of what I heard 
 about a man in the State of Minnesota, who, some years 
 ago, was caught in a fearful storm. That State is cursed 
 with storms, which come sweeping down so suddenly in 
 the winter time that escape is difficult. The snow will 
 fall and the wind will beat it into the face of the trav- 
 eler, so that he cannot see two feet ahead. Many a man 
 has been lost on those prairies when he has got caught 
 in one of those storms. 
 
" YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." 143 
 
 This man was caught and was almost on the point of 
 giving up, when he saw a little light in a log house. 
 He managed to get there, and found a shelter from the 
 fury of the tempest. He is now a wealthy man. As 
 soon as lie was able he bought the farm, and built a 
 beautiful house on the spot where the log building 
 stood. On the top of a tower he put a revolving light, 
 and every night when there comes a stoim he lights it 
 up in the hope that it may be the means of saving some 
 one else. 
 
 That is true gratitude, and that is what God wants us 
 to do. If he has rescued us and brought us up out of 
 the horrible pit, let us be always looking to see if there 
 is not some one else whom we can help to save. 
 
 I remember hearing of two men who had charge of 
 a revolving light in a lighthouse on a storm-bound and 
 rocky coast. Somehow the machinery went wrong, and 
 the light did not revolve. They were so afraid that 
 those at sea should mistake it for some other light, that 
 they worked all the night through to keep the light 
 moving round. 
 
 Let us keep our lights in the proper place, so that 
 the world may see that the religion of Christ is not a 
 sham but a reality. It is said that in the Grecian sports 
 they had one game where the men ran with lights. 
 They lit a torch at the altar and ran a certain distance; 
 sometimes they were on horseback. If a man came in 
 with his light still burning he had a prize ; if his light 
 had gone out he lost the prize. 
 
 How many there are who, in their old age, have lost 
 their light and their joy. They were once burning and 
 shining lights in the family, in the Sunday-school and 
 
144 " TO THE WORK / " 
 
 in the cliurch. But sometliing has come in between 
 them and God — the world or self — and their light has 
 gone out. Header, if you are one wdio has had this 
 experience, may God help you to come back to the altar 
 of the Savior's love and light up your torch anew, so 
 that you can go out into the lanes and alleys, and let 
 the light of the Gospel shine in these dark homes. 
 
 As I have already said, if we only lead one soul to 
 Jesus Christ we may set a stream in motion that wdll 
 flow on when we are dead and gone. Away up the 
 mountain side there is a little spring ; it seems so small 
 that an ox might drink it up at a draught. By and by 
 it becomes a rivulet ; other rivulets run into it. Before 
 long it is a large brook, and then it becomes a broad 
 river sweeping onward to the sea. On its banks are 
 cities, towns and villages, where many thousands live. 
 Vegetation flourishes on every side, and commerce is 
 carried down its stately bosom to distant lands. 
 
 So if you turn one to Christ, that one may turn a 
 hundred ; they may turn a thousand, and so the stream, 
 small at first, goes on broadening and deepening as it 
 rolls toward eternity. 
 
 In the book of Revelation we read: " I heard a voice 
 from heaven saying unto me. Write, Blessed are the 
 dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : yea, saitli 
 the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors ; and 
 their works do follow them." 
 
 There are many mentioned in the Scriptures of whom 
 we read that they lived so many years and then they 
 died. The cradle and the grave are brought close to- 
 gether; they lived and they died, and that is all we 
 know about them. So in. these days you could write on 
 
« YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLDS 145 
 
 the tombstone of a great many professing Christians 
 that they were born on such a day and they died on 
 sucli a day; there is nothing whatever between. 
 
 But there is one thing you cannot bury with a good 
 man ; his influence still lives. They have not buried 
 Daniel yet; his influence is as great to-day as ever it 
 was. Do you tell me that eJoseph is dead ? His influ- 
 snce still lives and will continue to live on and on. 
 You may bury the frail tenement of clay that a good 
 man lives in, but you cannot get rid of his influence 
 and example. Paul was never more powerful than he 
 is to-day. 
 
 Do you tell me that John Howard, who went into so 
 many of the dark prisons in Europe, is dead? Is 
 Henry Martyn, or Wilberf orce, or John Bunyan dead ? 
 Go into the Southern States and there you will find 
 from three to four millions 'of men and women who 
 once Avere slaves. You mention to any of them the 
 name of Wilberforce, and see how quickly the eye will 
 light up. He lived for something else besides himself, 
 and his memory will never die out of the hearts of those 
 for whom he lived and labored. 
 
 Is Wesley or Whitefield dead ? The names of those 
 great evangelists were never more honored than they 
 are now. Is John Knox dead? You can go to any 
 part of Scotland to-day and you will feel the power of 
 his influence. 
 
 I will not tell you who are dead. The enemies of 
 these servants of God — those who persecuted them and 
 told lies about them. But the men themselves have 
 outlived all the lies that were uttered concerninsr them. 
 Not only that; they will shine in another world. How 
 10 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 I. 
 
 THE CAPTIVES IN BABYLON . . • -5 
 
 11. 
 
 "thou art the head of gold!" . . .12 
 
 III. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's image . • • .18 
 
 IV. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's second dream . • .29 
 
 V. 
 
 the handwriting on the wall • • • 35 
 
 VI. 
 
 the edict of DARIUS . • • • • 4^ 
 
 VIL 
 
 the den of lions . . • • • 52 
 
DANIEL'S BAND. 
 
 Standing by a purpose true, . 
 
 Heeding God's command, 
 Honor them, the faithful few ! 
 
 All hail to Daniel's Band ! 
 
 Dare to be a Daniel ! 
 
 Dare to stand alone ! 
 Dare to have a purpose firm, 
 
 Dare to make it known I 
 
 Many mighty men are lost, 
 
 Daring not to stand. 
 Who for God had been a host, 
 
 By joining Daniel's Band. 
 
 Many giants, great and tall. 
 
 Stalking through the land, 
 Headlong to the earth would fall. 
 
 If met by Daniel's Band ! 
 
 Hold the Gospel banner high ! 
 
 On to victory grand ! 
 Satan and his host defy. 
 
 And shout for Daniel's Band ! 
 
 P. P. Bliss, 
 
DANIEL THE PROPHET. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE CAPTIVES IN BAB YLON. 
 
 *' But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself 
 with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he 
 drank ; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he 
 might not defile himself" (Dan. i. 8). 
 
 ALWAYS delight to study the life of "Daniel the 
 Prophet." The name Daniel means '* God is 
 my judge." God is my judge: not the public is 
 my judge ; not my fellow-men, but God. So 
 Daniel held himself responsible to God. Some may ask, Who 
 was Daniel ? Listen. About six hundred years before the 
 time of Christ, the sins of the kings of Judah had brought 
 down upon them and upon the people the judgments of God. 
 Jehoiakim had succeeded Jehoahaz ; and Jehoiachin had suc- 
 ceeded Jehoiakim ; and he again was succeeded by Zedekiah ; 
 and of each of these kings the record runs just the same : " he 
 did evil in the sight of the Lord." 
 
 No wonder that in the days of Jehoiakim, about six hun- 
 drc d years before the time of Christ, Nebuchadnezzar, King of 
 Babylon, was permitted of God to come up against Jerusalem, 
 and to lay siege against it and overcome it. It was probably 
 
6 DANIEL AND HIS THREE FRIENDS. 
 
 at this time that Daniel, with some of the young princes, was 
 carried away captive. A few years later, Jehoiachin being 
 king, Nebuchadnezzar again came up against Jerusalem, and 
 overcame it ; when he bare away many of the temple vessels, 
 and made several thousand captives. 
 
 And still later on, when Zedekiah was king, Nebuchad- 
 nezzar came a third time against Jerusalem to besiege it ; and 
 this time he burnt the city with fire ; broke down its walls ; 
 slaughtered many of the people; and probably bore away 
 another batch of captives to the banks of the Euphrates. 
 
 Among the earlier captives taken by the King of Babylon 
 in the days of Jehoiakim, were four young men. Like Timothy 
 in later times, they may have had godly mothers, who taught 
 them the law of the Lord. Or they may perhaps have 
 been touched by the words of Jeremiah, the "weeping pro- 
 phet," whom God had sent to the people of Judah. So, 
 when the nation was rejecting the God of Israel, the God ot 
 Abraham, of Isaac, and of Moses, these young men took Him 
 as their God : they received Him into their hearts. 
 
 Many may have mocked at Jeremiah's warnings, when he 
 lifted up his voice against the sins of the people ; they may 
 have laughed at his tears, and have told him to his face — 
 just as people say nowadays of earnest preachers — that he was 
 causing undue excitement. But these four young men would 
 seem to have listened to the prophet's voice ; and they had the 
 strength to come out for God. 
 
 And now they are in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar the 
 king commands that a certain number of the most promising 
 of the young Jewish captives should be picked out, who might 
 be taught the Chaldean tongue and instructed in the learning 
 of Babylon. And the king further ordered that there should 
 be daily set before them portions of meat from his table, and 
 a supply of the same wine as he himself drank ; and this was 
 
IN THE CITY, 7 
 
 to go on for three years. And at the end of three years these 
 young men were to stand before the great monarch, at that 
 time the ruler over the whole world. Daniel and his three 
 young friends were amongst those thus selected. 
 
 No young man ever goes from a country home to a large 
 city — say, to a great metropolis — without grave temptations 
 crossing his path on his entrance. And just at this turning- 
 point in his life, as in Daniel's, must lie the secret of his 
 success or his failure. The cause of many of the failures that 
 we see in life is, that men do not start right. Now, this young 
 man started right. He took a character with him up to Baby- 
 lon ; and he was not ashamed of the religion of his mother 
 and his father. He was not ashamed of the God of the Bible. 
 Up there among those heathen idolaters he was not ashamed 
 to let his light shine. The young Hebrew captive took his 
 stand for God as he entered the gate of Babylon, and doubt- 
 less he cried to God to keep him steadfast. And he needed to 
 cry hard, for he had to face great difficulties : as we shall see. 
 I Soon comes a testing time. The king's edict goes forth, 
 that these young men should eat the meat from the king's table. 
 Some of that food would in all probability consist of meats 
 prohibited by the Levitical law—the flesh of animals, of birds, 
 and of fishes, which had been pronounced "unclean," and 
 were consequently forbidden : or in the preparation, some 
 portion might not perhaps have been thoroughly drained of 
 the blood, concerning which it had been declared, " Ye shall 
 eat the blood of no manner of flesh" ; or some part of the food 
 may have been presented as an offering to Bel or some other 
 Babylonish god. Some one of ihjse circumstances, or possibly 
 all of them united, may have determined Daniel's course of 
 action. I do not think it took young Daniel long to make up 
 his mind. " He purposed in his heart " — in his heart, mark 
 that ! — " that he would not defile himself with the portion of 
 the king's meat," 
 
8 SUGGESTIONS OF COMPROMISE. 
 
 If some modern Christians could have advised Daniel, 
 they would have said, " Do not act like that ; do not set aside 
 the king's meat : that is an act of Pharisaism. The moment 
 you take your stand, and say you will not eat it, you say in 
 effect that you are better than other people." Oh, yes ; that 
 is the kind of talk too often heard now. Men say, " When you 
 are in Rome you must do as Rome does ; " and such people 
 would have pressed upon the poor young captive that, though 
 he might obey the commandments of God while in his own 
 country, yet that he could not possibly do so here in Babylon 
 — that he could not expect to carry his religion with him into 
 the land of his captivity. I can imagine men saying to Daniel, 
 " Look here, young man, you are too puritanical. Don't be too 
 particular; don't have too many religious scruples. Bear in 
 mind you are not now in Jerusalem. You will hav^e to get 
 over these notions, now you are here in Babylon. You are 
 not now surrounded by friends and relatives. You are not a 
 Jerusalem prince now. You are not surrounded by the royal 
 family of Judah. You have been brought down from your 
 h^'gh position. You are now a captive. And if the monarch 
 hears about your refusing to eat the same kind of meat that 
 he eats, and to drink the same kind of wine that he drinks, 
 your head will soon roll from off your shoulders. You had 
 better be a little politic." 
 
 But this young man had piety and religion deep down in 
 his heart : and that is the right place for it ; that is where it 
 will grow ; that is where it will have power ; that is where it 
 will regulate the life. Daniel had not joined the company 
 of the "church," the faithful few in Jerusalem— because he 
 wanted to get into " society,'' and attain a position : that was 
 not the reason. It was because of the love he had toward 
 the Lord God of Israel. 
 
 I can imagine the astonishment of that officer, Melzar, 
 when Daniel told him he could not eat the king's meat or 
 
REFUSING THE KING'S MEAT. 9 
 
 drink his wine. " Why, what do you mean ? Is there any- 
 thing wrong with it ? Why, it is the best the land can pro- 
 duce ! " 
 
 " No," says Daniel, " there is nothing wrong with it in that 
 way; but take it away, I cannot eat it." Then Melzar tried 
 to reason Daniel out of his scruples ; but no, there stood 
 the prophet, youth though he was at that time, firm as a 
 rock. 
 
 So, thank God, this young Hebrew and his three friends 
 said they vyould not eat the meat or drink the wine ; and 
 requesting that the portions might be taken away, they endea- 
 voured to persuade the overseer to bring them pulse instead. 
 
 " Take away this wine, and take away this meat. Give us 
 pulse and water." The prince of the eunuchs probably trem- 
 bled for the consequences. But, yielding to their importunity, 
 .^ he eventually consented to let them have pulse and water for 
 ten days. And lo ! at the end of the ten days his fears were 
 dispelled ; for the faces of Daniel and his young friends were 
 fairer and fatter than the faces of any of those who had 
 partaken of the king's meat. The four young men had not 
 noses, like those of too many men nowadays seen in our 
 streets, as red as if they were just going to blossom. It is 
 God's truth — and Daniel and his friends tested it — that cold 
 water, with a clear conscience, is better than wine. They had 
 a clear conscience ; and the smile of God was upon them. 
 The Lord had blessed their obedience, and the four Hebrew 
 youths were allowed to have their own way ; and in God's 
 time they were brought into favour, not only with the officer 
 set over them, but with the court and the king. 
 
 Daniel thought more of his principles than he did of 
 earthly honour, or the esteem of men. Right was right 
 with him. He was going to do right to-day, and let the 
 morrows take care of themselves. That firmness of purpose, in 
 the strength of God, was the secret of his success. Right 
 
lO STARTING RIGHT. 
 
 there, that very moment, he overcame. And from that hour, 
 from that moment, he could go on conquering and to con- 
 quer, because he had started right. 
 
 Many a man is lost because he does not start right. He 
 makes a bad start. A young man comes from his country 
 home, and enters upon city life : temptation arises, and he 
 becomes false to his principles. He meets with some scoffing, 
 sneering man, who jeers at him because he goes to a church 
 service; or because he is seen reading his Bible; or because 
 he is known to pray to God — to that God to whom Daniel 
 prayed in Babylon. And the young man proves to be weak- 
 kneed : he cannot stand the scoffs, and the sneers, and the 
 jeers, of his companions ; and so he becomes untrue to his 
 principles, and gives them up. 
 
 I want to say here to young men, that when a young man 
 makes a wrong start, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it 
 is ruin to him. The first game of chance ; the first betting 
 transaction ; the first false entry in the books ; the first quarter- 
 dollar taken from the cash-box or the till ; the first night spent 
 in evil company — either of these may prove the turning-point ; 
 either of these may represent a wrong start. 
 
 If ever any persons could be said to have had a good excuse 
 for being unfaithful to their principles, these four young men 
 might. They had been torn away from the associations of their 
 childhood and their youth ; had been taken away from the 
 religious influences which centred in Jerusalem, away from 
 the temple services and sacrifices ; and had been put down in 
 Babylon among the idols and idolaters, among the wise men 
 and soothsayers, and the whole nation was against them. They 
 went right against the current of the whole world. 
 
 BUT GOD WAS WITH THEM. 
 
 And when a man, for the sake of principle and conscience, 
 goes against the current of the whole world, God is with him ; 
 
BABYLON THE GREAT. II 
 
 and he need not stop to consider what the consequences will 
 be. Right is right. 
 
 But our testimony for God is not limited to a single act : 
 it has to last all through our lives. So we must not imagine 
 for a moment that Daniel had only one trial to undergo. The 
 word to the Lord's servants is the same in all ages, " Be thou 
 faithful unto death.'''' 
 
 This city of Babylon was a vast place. I suppose it to 
 have been the largest city the world has ever seen. It is said 
 to have been sixty miles round, and is understood to have 
 consisted of an area of two hundred square miles.* A line 
 drawn through the city in either direction would measure 
 fifteen miles. The walls are said to have had an elevation of 
 three hundred and fifty feet : they would therefore be nearly 
 on a level with the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. The 
 breadth of the walls is said to have been over eighty feet, and 
 on the top eight chariots could run abreast. Babylon was like 
 Chicago — so fiat, that for ornamentation men had to construct 
 artificial mounds ; and, like Chicago in another particular, the 
 products of vast regions flowed right into and through it. 
 
 *" Herodotus gives the circumference of Babylon as sixty miles; the 
 whole forming a quadrangle, of which each side was fifteen miles. M. Oppert 
 confirms this by examinations on the spot, which show an area within the walls 
 of two hundred square miles" {Fausset's Bible CyclopcBdia, p. 67). A clearer 
 idea of the enormous ext-nt of Babylon will be formed if we understand that it 
 probably occupied an area nearly double the extent of modern London. 
 It must not, however, be supposed that Babylon contained a popula- 
 tion comparable with that of London in point of numbers. The inhab- 
 itants of the former city probably numbered 1,200,000. 
 
11. 
 
 « THOU ART THE HEAD OF GOLD!'' 
 
 ** Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, 
 and his sleep brake from him " (Dan. ii. l). 
 
 E hear of Daniel again some few years later on, 
 and under new conditions. The King of Babylon 
 had a dream ; and his dream greatly disturbed him. 
 He musters before him the magicians, the astro 
 logers, the soothsayers, and the Chaldaeans (or 
 learned men), and requires from them the interpretation of this 
 night-vision of his. He either cannot or will not narrate to 
 them the incidents of the vision, but demands an explanation 
 without detailing what he had seen in his dream. " The thing 
 is gone from me : if ye will not make known unto me the 
 dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, 
 and your houses shall be made a dunghill." 
 
 That was a pretty unreasonable demand. It is true that 
 he offered them rewards and honours if they succeeded. But 
 of course they failed. And they admitted their failure. 
 " There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king's 
 matter : therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler that asked 
 such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. And it 
 is a rare thing that the king requireth ; and there is none other 
 that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose 
 dwelling is not with men." 
 
 " Except the gods." They did not mean the God of 
 heaven — Daniel's God. He could have revealed the secret 
 
PliA YING IN BAB YLON, 13 
 
 quick enough. They meant the idol-gods of Babylon, with 
 whom these so-called " wise men " thought, and wrongly 
 thought, the power of interpretation lay. 
 
 " There is not a man upon the earth that can show the 
 king's matter." They were wrong there ; and that they soon 
 found out. " The king was angry and very furious, and com- 
 manded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon ; and the 
 decree went forth that the wise men should be slain ; and they 
 sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain." 
 
 The king's officer came to Daniel; but Daniel was not 
 afraid. Says the officer to him, " You are classed among the 
 wise men ; and our orders are to take you out and execute 
 you." "Well," says the young Hebrew captive, "the king 
 has been very hasty. But let him only give me a little time ; 
 and I will show the interpretation." 
 
 He had read the law of Moses ; and he was one of those 
 who believed that what Moses had written concerning secret 
 things was true : " The secret things belong unto the Lord 
 our God ; but the things that are revealed belong unto us, and 
 to our children." He probably said to himself, "My God 
 knows that secret ; and I will trust to Him to reveal it to me." 
 And he may have called together his three friends ; and have 
 held a prayer-meeting — perhaps the first prayer-meeting ever 
 held in Babylon. They dealt with the threatening message 
 of the King of Babylon just as Hezekiah had dealt with the 
 threatening letter of the King of Assyria a hundred years 
 before. They "spread it before the Lord." And they prayed 
 that this secret might be revealed to them. And after they 
 had prayed, and made their request to God — and the answer 
 did not come right off, then and there — they went off to bed, 
 and fell asleep. 
 
 I do not think that you or I would have slept much, if we 
 had thought that our heads were in danger of coming off in 
 the morning. Daniel slept : for we are told the matter was 
 
14 THE DREAM, 
 
 revealed to him in a dream or night-vision. Daniel's faith was 
 strong : so he could sleep calmly in the prospect of death. If 
 his friends did not sleep through the night it is most likely 
 they were praying. 
 
 DANIEL STANDS BEFORE THE KING. 
 
 In the morning Daniel pours out his heart in thanksgiving. 
 He " blessed the God of heaven " He had got into the 
 spirit of Psalm ciii. : " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that 
 is within me, bless His holy name ! " Paul and Silas had the 
 same spirit of thanksgiving when they were in the prison at 
 Philippi. Daniel makes his way to the palace, goes into the 
 guard-room, and says to the officer : " Bring me in before the 
 king ; and I will show unto the king the interpretation." He 
 stands in the presence of Nebuchadnezzar ; and, like Joseph 
 before Pharaoh, before proceeding to unfold the dream, he 
 gives glory to God : "There is a God in heaven that revealeth 
 secrets." Daniel took his place as nobody : he himself was 
 nothing. He did not wish the king to think highly of him. 
 That is the very highest type of p'ety— when a man hides him- 
 self, as it were, out of the way ; and seeks to exalt his God and 
 lift up his Redeemer, and not himself And then he proceeds 
 to describe the dream : " Thou, O king, sawest ; and behold, a 
 great image ! This great image, whose brightness was excel- 
 lent, stood before thee ; and the form thereof was terrible." 
 
 I can imagine how the king's eyes flashed out at those 
 opening words ; and I can fancy him crying out, " Yes, that is 
 it : the whole thing comes back to me now." 
 
 " This image's head was of fine gold ; his breast and his 
 arms of silver ; his belly and his thighs of brass ; his legs of 
 iron ; his feet, part of iron and part of clay." 
 
 "Yes. that is it exactly," says the king; "I recollect all 
 that now. But surely there was something more." 
 
 And Daniel goes on : " Thou sawest till that a stone was 
 
AND THE INTERPRETATION, 1 5 
 
 cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet 
 that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. . . . This 
 is the dream : and we will tell the interpretation thereof before 
 the king." 
 
 And then, amidst death-like stillness, Daniel went on to 
 unfold the interpretation ; and he told the king that the golden 
 head of the great image was none other than himself. " Thou 
 art this head of gold ! " He then goes on to tell of another 
 kingdom that should arise — not so beautiful, but stronger ; as 
 silver is stronger than gold : that described the Medo-Persian 
 empire. But the arms of silver were to overthrow the head 
 of gold. And Daniel himself lived to see the day when that 
 part of the prophetic dream came to pass. He lived to see 
 Cyrus overthrow the Chaldaean power. He lived to see 
 the sceptre of empire pass into the hands of the Medes and 
 Persians. And after them came a mighty Grecian conqueror, 
 Alexander the Great, who overthrew the Persian dynasty ; 
 and for awhile Greece ruled the world. Then came the 
 Caesars, and founded the empire of Rome — symbolized by the 
 legs of iron — the mightiest power the world had ever known ; 
 and for centuries Rome sat on those seven hills, and swayed 
 the sceptre over the nations of the earth. And then, in its 
 turn, the Roman power was broken ; and the mighty empire 
 split up into ten kingdoms corresponding to the ten toes of 
 the prophetic figure. 
 
 I believe in the literal fulfilment, so far, of Daniel's God- 
 given words 3 and in the sure fulfilment of the final prophecy 
 of the " stone cut out of the mountain, without hands," that 
 by and by shall grind the kingdoms of this world into dust, 
 and bring in the kingdom of peace. 
 
 Whilst the feet were of clay, there was some of the strength 
 of the iron remaining in them. At the present day we have 
 got down to the toes, and even to the extremities of these. 
 Soon, very soon, the collision may occur ; and then will come 
 
I6 THE COMING KING. 
 
 the end. The " stone cut out without hands " is surely 
 coming — and it may be very soon. 
 
 What does Ezekiel say, prophesying within some few years 
 of the time of this very vision ? — " Remove the diadem, and 
 
 take off the crown I will overturn, overturn, overturn ; 
 
 and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is : and 
 I will give it Him." 
 
 What does St. Paul say? — "The appearing of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ ; which in His time He shall show, who is the 
 blessed and only Potentate ; the King of kings ; and Lord of 
 lords ; .... to whom be honour and power everlasting." 
 
 Yes, the Fifth Monarchy is coming : and it may be very 
 soon. Hail, thou Fifth Monarch, who art to rule the world in 
 righteousness, and sway the sceptre " from the river unto the 
 ends of the earth." Shortly the cry, " Christ is come ! " will be 
 ringing through the earth. It is only a " little while." Cheer 
 up, ye children of God ; our King will be back by and by ! 
 And to those who have not as yet given their hearts to Christ, 
 I would say, Lose no time ! If you want a part and lot in that 
 coming kingdom of the Lord you had better press into it now 
 while the door is open. By and by "Too late! too late!" 
 will be the cry. 
 
 When King Nebuchadnezzar heard the full description 
 of his dream and listened to its interpretation, he was 
 satisfied that at last he had found a really wise man. 
 He gave Daniel many great gifts, and raised him — just 
 as Pharaoh had raised Joseph ages before — to a place 
 near the throne. And when Daniel was raised to position and 
 power he did not forget his friends ; he requested of the 
 king that they should be promoted ; and they also were 
 put in positions of honour and trust. God blessed them sig- 
 nally ; and — what is more — He kept them true to Him in 
 their prosperity, as they had been in th^i^' adversity. 
 
DANIEL PROMOTED. Vj 
 
 From that moment Daniel becomes a great man. He is 
 set over the province of Babylon : he is lifted right out of 
 bondage; right out of servitude. He was a young man, 
 probably not more than twenty-two year::i old : and there he is 
 — set over a mighty empire ; is made, you might say, practi- 
 cally ruler over the whole of the then known world. And God 
 will exalt us when the right time comes. We need not try 
 to promote ourselves; we n^ed not struggle for position. Let 
 God put us in our true places And it is a good deal better 
 for a man to be right with God, even if he hold no position 
 down here. Then he can look up and know that God is 
 pleased with him : that is enough. 
 
 *' FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT I" 
 
 ** How goes the fight with thee — 
 
 The life-long battle with all evil things ? 
 Thine no low strife, and thine no selfish aim ; 
 It is the war of giants and of kings. 
 
 ** Goes the fight well with thee — 
 
 This living fight with death and death's dark power? 
 Is not the Stronger than the strong one near. 
 With thee andy^r thee in the fiercest hour? 
 
 ** Dread not the din and smoke, 
 
 The stifling poison of the fiery air ; 
 Courage ! it is the battle of thy God : 
 
 Go, and for Him learn how to do and dare ! 
 
 ** What though ten thousand fall. 
 
 And the red field with the dear dead be strewn I 
 Grasp but more bravely thy bright shield and sword ; 
 Fight to the last, although thou fight'st alone. 
 
 ** What though ten thousand faint. 
 
 Desert, or yield, or in weak terror flee? 
 Heed not the panic of the multitude ; 
 
 Thine be the Captain's watchword — Victory I " 
 
 Dr. H. Bonar. 
 
 2 
 
III. 
 
 NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S IMAGE. 
 
 ** Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height 
 was three-score cubits : he set it up in the plains of Dura in the pro- 
 vince of Babylon " (Dan. iii. l). 
 
 IME went on — possibly several years ; and now we 
 reach a crisis indeed. Whether or not that dream 
 of a gigantic human figure continued to haunt 
 Nebuchadnezzar we cannot say ; but it is quite 
 possible that the dream may have in some sort 
 suggested Nebuchadnezzar's next proceeding. He ordered the 
 construction of an immense image. It was to be of gold 
 — not simply gilded, but actually of gold. Gold is a symbol 
 of prosperity ; and at this time Babylon was prosperous. In 
 like manner in the prosperous days of Jerusalem gold was 
 abundant. And it may have been that some of the precious 
 metal, carried as the spoils of war from the Jewish capital, 
 was used in the construction of this image of gold. It was 
 of colossal size — over ninety feet high, and between nine and 
 ten feet wide. This gigantic image was set up in the plain of 
 Dura, near to the city. I suppose Nebuchadnezzar wanted to 
 gratify his imperial vanity by inaugurating a universal religion. 
 When the time came for the dedication, Daniel was not 
 
THE PLAIN OF DURA,' '19 
 
 there. He may have been away in Egypt ; or in some one of 
 the many provinces, attending to the affairs of the empire. If 
 he had been there we should have heard of him. Satraps, 
 princes, governors, councillors, high secretaries, judges, were 
 ordered to be present at the dedication of the image. What 
 a gathering that morning ! It was the fashionable thing to be 
 seen that morning driving to the plain of Dura, Of course it 
 was : all the great people, and all the rich people, were to be 
 there. Now hark ! the trumpet sounds ; the herald shouts : 
 " To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 
 that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, 
 sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall 
 down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the 
 king hath set up : and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, 
 shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery 
 furnace." 
 
 Perhaps a part of the ceremony consisted in " the unveiling 
 of the statue," as we say. One thing, however, is certain : that 
 at the given signal all the people were required to fall to the 
 earth, and worship. 
 
 But in the law of God there was something against that : 
 God's voice had spoken at Sinai ; God's finger had written on 
 the table of stone — " Thou shalt have none other gods 
 BEFORE Me." God's law went right against the king's. I said 
 Daniel was not on the plain of Dura. But his influence was 
 there. He had influenced those three friends of his — Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abednego. They were there ; and they were 
 actuated by the same spirit as Daniel. Their position brought 
 them here at the hour of the dedication. 
 
 Now mark you, no man can be true for God, and live for 
 Him, without at some time or other being unpopular in this 
 world. Those men who are trying to live for both worlds 
 make a wreck of it ; for at some time or other the collision is 
 sure to come. Ah, would all of us have advised Daniel's three 
 
20 THE THREATENED PENALTY, 
 
 friends to do the right thing at any hazard ? Are there not 
 some of us with so Httle backbone that we would have coun- 
 selled these three just to bow down a little, so that no one 
 could take notice — to merely bow down, but not to worship ? 
 Daniel and his friends, when they first came to Babylon, per- 
 ceived that the two worlds — the present world and the world 
 to come — would be in collision : and they " went for " the 
 world to come ; they " went for " things unseen : they did not 
 judge for the time being only ; they took their stand right there. 
 Even if it cost them their lives, what of that ! It would only 
 hasten them to the glory ; and they would receive the greater 
 reward. They took their stand for God and for the unseen 
 world. The faithful three utterly refused to bend the knee to 
 a god of gold. 
 
 A terrible penalty was associated with disobedience to the 
 king's command : " Whoso falleth not down and worshippeth 
 shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery 
 furnace. "* 
 
 How many would cry out in this city — in every city — " Give 
 me gold, give me money; and I will do anything." Some people 
 may think and say that the men of Nebuchadnezzar's day ought 
 not to have bowed down to a golden idol j but they themselves 
 are every day doing just that very thing. Money is their god ; 
 social position their golden image. There are plenty of men 
 to-day who are bowing down to the golden image that the 
 world has set up. " Give me gold ! give me gold ; and you 
 
 * Not a mere empty threat. It was a sentence in harmony with the cha- 
 racter and the practice of the ferocious and cruel king, " The Lord make them 
 hke Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the King of Babylon roasted in the 
 fire" (Jer. xxix. 22). 
 
 It is well for us to remember that the burning of living beings has not been 
 confined to a distant country and a barbarous age. Some three hundred years 
 ago, an English queen, whose name has become a proverb, caused to be 
 roasted alive m England, during her short reign of five years and five months, 
 no less than 2/7 persons ; of whom fifty-five were women, and four were 
 children. 
 
THE GOLDEN IMAGE, 21 
 
 may have heaven. Give me position ; and you may have the 
 world to come. Give me worldly honour; and I will sell 
 out my hopes of heaven. Give me the thirty pieces of silver ; 
 and I will give you Christ." That is the cry of the world 
 to-day. 
 
 And now the order is given— very probably by the king 
 himself — that the bands should strike up ; just the same as on 
 public occasions bands of music do now. The music could 
 be heard afar off; and when the first notes burst forth all were 
 to bow down to the golden image. Earth's great ones and 
 mighty ones bowed down at the king's command. But there 
 were three with stift' knees which did not bend. Those were 
 Daniel's three friends, who knew well that to do the king's 
 bidding would be to break the law of their God ; and they at 
 all events will not fall down and worship. At the king's 
 command they had come to the dedication : there might be 
 nothing wrong in that : but they will not bow down. They 
 were too stiff in the backbone for that. They remembered 
 the command, " Thou shalt have none other gods before 
 Me." These are the kind of servants God wants — men who 
 will stand up bravely and fearlessly for Him. 
 
 Like all the servants of the Lord, and all who walk in the 
 atmosphere of heaven, these three Hebrews had enemies. 
 There were some who bore them a bitter grudge. Very pos- 
 sibly they were thought to have had undue preference in being 
 promoted to office. So there were some others, besides the 
 three young Hebrews, who did not worship as commanded. 
 Do you know what they were doing ? They were watching to 
 see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If they themselves 
 had bowed their faces to the ground, according to Nebu- 
 chadnezzar's command, they would not have seen that Daniels 
 three friends refused to bow : they would not have seen the 
 three young Hebrews standing up, erect, straight. There 
 were those Chaldasans looking out of the corners of their 
 
22 THE THREE YOUNG HEBRElVS, 
 
 eyes, and watching the three young men. These young Jews 
 had so carried themselves, and had so lived in Babylon, that 
 their watchers felt sure they would not bow down. They 
 knew well that the three would not sacrifice principle. They 
 would go as far as it was lawful in obeying the king's com- 
 mands ; but a time would come when they would draw the 
 line. When the commands of the earthly sovereign come in 
 conflict with the commands of the God of heaven they will 
 not yield. The watchers watched ; but the young men did 
 not bow. 
 
 Thank God, they had backbone, if you will allow me the 
 expression. Something held their knees firm ; they would 
 not give in : there they stood as firm as rock. They did not 
 get half-way down, and just make believe that they were going 
 to worship the image : there was nothing of that kind : they 
 stood up erect and firm. 
 
 Some of those Chaldaeans wished to get rid of these young 
 Hebrews : they perhaps wanted their places : they were after 
 their offices. Men have been the same in all ages. There 
 were, no doubt, a goo^ many men in Babylon who wanted to 
 get their posts. These three men had high positions ; there 
 was a good deal of honour attached to their offices : and their 
 enemies wanted to oust them, and to succeed to their offices. 
 It is a very bad state of things when men try to pull down 
 others in order to obtain their places ; and there is a good 
 deal of that, you know, in this world. Many a man has had 
 his character blasted and ruined by some person or other who 
 wanted to step into his place and position. 
 
 So away went those men to the king to lay an information. 
 They duly rendered the salutation, " O king, live for ever ! " 
 and then they went on to tell him of those rebellious Hebrews 
 who would not obey the king's order. " Do you know, 
 O king, that there are three men in your kingdom who will 
 not obey your command ? " 
 
" OUR GOD IS ABLE TO DELIVER:' ^3 
 
 "Three men in my kingdom who will not obey me !" roars 
 Nebuchadnezzar ; " no ! who are they ? what are their 
 names ?" 
 
 " Why, those three Hebrew slaves whom you set over 
 us — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When the music 
 struck up they did not bow down ; and it is noised all around : 
 the people know it. And if you allow them to go unpunished, 
 it will not be long before your law will be perfectly worthless." 
 
 I can imagine the king almost speechless with rage, and 
 just gesturing his commands that the men should be brought 
 before him. 
 
 " Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you 
 w^ould not bow down and worship the golden image which I 
 set up in the plain of Dura ? " 
 
 " It is true, quite true," says one of them — perhaps 
 Shadrach. " Quite true, O king." 
 
 One last chance Nebuchadnezzar resolved to give them. 
 "Now, if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of 
 the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all 
 kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I 
 have made — well : but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the 
 same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And 
 who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands ? " 
 
 That is pretty plain speaking, is it not? There is no 
 mincing or smoothing over matters. Do this, and live ; do not 
 do it, and you die. But the threat that the king held out had 
 few terrors for them. They turned and said to the king : " O 
 Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this 
 matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deUver 
 us from the burning fiery furnace ; and He will deliver us out 
 of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O 
 king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden 
 image which thou hast set up." 
 
 And that is plain speaking, too. The king of Babylon 
 
24 ♦* H^E WILL NOT!'' 
 
 had not been accustomed to be talked to like that. And he 
 did not like it. We are told he was " full of fury." 
 
 These Hebrews spoke respectfully, but firmly. And mark, 
 they did not absolutely say that God would deliver them from 
 the burning fiery furnace ; but they declared that He was able 
 to deliver them. They had no doubt about His ability to do 
 it. They believed that He would do it; but they did not 
 hide from themselves the possibiHty of Nebuchadnezzar being 
 allowed to carry out his threats. Still, that did not greatly 
 move them. " But if nof^ — if in His inscrutable purposes He 
 allows us to suffer — still our resolve is the same : " we will 
 not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou 
 hast set up." They were not afraid to pass from the presence 
 of the king of Babylon to the presence of the King of kings. 
 They had courage, those men. I wonder if there could be 
 found three such brave men in New York, or in Boston, ot in 
 Baltimore, or in Chicago, now. How settled they were in 
 their minds ! Thank God for such courage ! thank God for 
 such boldness ! A few such men, brave and fearless for God, 
 would soon turn the world upside down. Nowadays they 
 would be thought fanatics : they would be advised to bow 
 down outwardly, and never to mind the '' worship " of the 
 image. But even the semblance of w^orshipping an image was 
 too much for them ; and they wxre determined to avoid even 
 the appearance of evil. 
 
 Look at the king ! I can imagine him in his fury, trem- 
 bling like an aspen leaf, and turning pale as death with rage. 
 " What ! disobey me, the great and mighty king? Call in the 
 mighty men ; and let them bind these rebels hand and foot. 
 Heat the furnace seven times hotter than its wont ; and then 
 in with these rebellious fellows ! They shall not live." 
 
 "Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, 
 and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into 
 the midst of the burning fiery furnace." 
 
"ZC. / SEE FOUR MEN* 25 
 
 The command was instantly executed ; and .they were 
 hurled into the terrible blaze. The lire was so furious that the 
 flames consumed the officers who thrust them in.* The three 
 young Hebrews " fell down bound into the midst of the burn- 
 ing fiery furnace ; " and it seemed as if they were in a bad case 
 then. From his royal seat the king peered forth, looking oui 
 to see the rebels burnt to ashes. But when Nebuchadnezzar 
 gazed, expecting the gratification of his vengeance, to his great 
 amazement he saw the men walking about in the midst of the 
 flames; walking, mind you — they were not running— walking 
 as if in the midst of green pastures or on the margin of still 
 waters. There was no difference in them, except that their 
 bonds were burnt off. Ah, it does my heart good to think that 
 the worst the devil is allowed to do is to burn off the bonds of 
 God's children. If Christ be with us, the direst afflictions can 
 only loosen our earthly bonds, and set us free to soar the 
 higher. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar beheld strange things that day. There, 
 through the flames, he saw four men walking in the midst of 
 the fire, although only three had been cast therein. How was 
 this ? The Great Shepherd in yonder heaven saw that three of 
 His lambs were in trouble ; and He leaped down from there 
 right into the fiery furnace. And when Nebuchadnezzar looked 
 in, a fourth form was to be seen. 
 
 " Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the 
 fire ? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 
 
 * Those who have stood upon the " feed " platform of a great iron-smelting 
 furnace, and have felt the enormous pressure of the atmosphere as it rushes 
 forward to fill up the vacuum caused by the rarefaction of the air from the 
 furnace, and have experienced the suck or draw towards the edge of the plat- 
 form which is felt when the furnace doors are thrown open, will easily under- 
 stand how perilous a near approach to the mouth would be likely to prove ; 
 and how easily Nebuchadnezzar's " mighty men" would themselves be drawn 
 into the power of the flames, if they once ventured within the range of their 
 attraction. 
 
26 **DARE TO DO RIGHT.'* 
 
 He answered and said, Lo, I see lour men loose, walking in 
 the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt ; and the form of 
 the fourth is Hke the Son of God." 
 
 It was doubtksi the Son of God.* That Great Shepherd 
 of the sheep saw that three of His true servants were in peril; 
 and He came from His Father's presence and His Father's 
 bosom to be with them in it. There had been One watching 
 that terrible scene of attempting to burn the faithful ; and His 
 tender pitying eye saw that men were condemned to death 
 because of their loyalty to Him. With one great leap He 
 sprang from the Father's presence, from His palace in glory, 
 right down into the fiery furnace, and was by their side before 
 the heat of the fire could come near unto them. Jesus was 
 with His servants as the flames wreathed around them. And 
 not a hair of their heads was singed; they were not scorched; 
 not even the smell of fire was upon them I can almost fancy 
 I hear them chanting: "When thou passest through the 
 waters I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall 
 not overflow thee ; ivhen thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt 
 not be burtied; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee'' 
 
 God can take care of us when we pass through the waters ; 
 God can take care of us when we pass through the fires. God 
 is able to take care of us, if we will but stand up for Him : God 
 will take care of us, if we will but stand up for Him. Young 
 man, honour God; and God will honour you. What you 
 have to do is to take your stand upon God's side. And if 
 you have to go against the whole world, take that stand. 
 Dare to do right; dare to be true; dare to be honest: 
 let the consequences be what they may. You may have 
 to forfeit your situation; because you cannot, and will 
 
 * That the fourth was the Lord Jesus Christ— He who appeared to 
 Abraham, and who wrestled with Jacob — has been an accepted truth with 
 almost every one who ministers the word. It is only fair to say that in the 
 original the definite article is absent ; and the sentence reads, " like a son of 
 gods." 
 
DELIVERANCE. 27 
 
 not, do something which your employer requires you to 
 do, but which your conscience tells you is wrong. Give 
 up your situation then, rather than give up your principles. 
 If your employer requires you to sell goods by means 
 of misrepresentation, fraud, or falsehood, give up your 
 situation, and say.. *' I will rather die a pauper ; I will rather 
 die in a poorhouse; than be unfaithful to my principles." That 
 is the kind of stuff those men were made of These glorious 
 heroes braved even death because God was with them. O 
 friends, we want to be Christians with the same backbone : 
 men and women who are prepared to stand up for the right, 
 heeding not what the world may say or what the world may 
 think. 
 
 *'Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the 
 burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High 
 God, come forth, and come hither." And they walked 
 out, untouched by the fire. They came out, like 
 giants in their conscious strength. I can fancy how the 
 princes, the governors, the counsellors, and the great men, 
 crowded around them to see such an unheard-of sight. 
 Their garments showed no trace of fire ; their hair even was 
 not singed — as if God would teach that He guards even 
 " the very hairs of our head." Nebuchadnezzar had defied 
 God ; and had been conquered. God had proved Himself 
 "able" to deliver His servants out of the king's hand. 
 Nebuchadnezzar accepted his defeat. And he makes a 
 decree : " That every people, nation, and language, which 
 speak anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and 
 Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be 
 made a dunghill : because there is no other God that can 
 deliver after this sort." 
 
 And he promoted these three witnesses to higher place 
 and position, and put greater honour upon them. God stood 
 
28 STAND FIRM! 
 
 by them because they had stood by Him. He will have us 
 learn to do a thing just because it is right, and not because 
 it is popular. The outlook may appear Hke death : but do the 
 right ; and, if we stand firm, God will bring everything for the 
 best. 
 
 That is the last we hear of these three men. God sent 
 them to Babylon to shine and they shone. 
 
 •'LIVING! WORKING! WAITING 1" 
 
 " Who would not live for Jesus, 
 Rejoicing, glad and free ? 
 The music of a ransomed life 
 Is all He asks from thee. 
 
 ** Who would not work for Jesus, 
 When service is but song ? — 
 The rippling of a stream of love 
 That bears thy soul along ? 
 
 " Who would not die for Jesus, 
 When death is victory? — 
 The grand, o'ershadowing portal-gate 
 Guarding eternity ? 
 
 ** Who would not zvait for Jesus, 
 And waiting, sweetly sing ? 
 Hushing their heart with promises 
 While tarrying for their King ? " 
 
 Eva Travers Poole. 
 
IV. 
 
 NEBUCHADNEZZAR' S SECOND DREAM. 
 
 " I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in mine house, and flourishing 
 in my palace : I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts 
 upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me " (Dan. iv. 5). 
 
 Y AND BY Nebuchadnezzar had another dream. 
 Surely this man will be brought to see God's 
 hand at last. How many signs and wonders has 
 he seen, fitted to convince him of God's mighty 
 power ! This time he remembers the particulars of 
 the dream well enough : they stand out vivid and clear to his 
 mind. Again he calls in the four classes of men on whom 
 he counts to make dark things light, and hidden things plain ; 
 and he recounts to them the incidents of this dream. But the 
 magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldaeans, and the soothsayers, 
 are all at fault : they cannot tell him the interpretation. 
 When called upon to interpret his former dream they all stood 
 silent. And they stood silent again as the second dream is 
 unfolded to them. There was something in these dreams of 
 the king which stopped their mouths — usually so ready with 
 some plausible interpretation. With these royal dreams it was 
 no use : they were beaten. 
 
 It would appear that Nebuchadnezzar had half- forgotten 
 the man who had recounted to him his former dream, and 
 given its interpretation. He says, " At last Daniel came before 
 me." And he proceeds to address Daniel by his Chaldcxan 
 name of Belteshazzar. '*0 Belteshazzar, master of the 
 
30 THE SECOND VISION, 
 
 magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is 
 in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my 
 dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof. Thus 
 were the visions of mine head in my bed ; I saw, and behold 
 a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was 
 great. The tree grew, and was strong ; and the height thereof 
 reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the 
 earth : the leaves thereof were fair and the fruit thereof much, 
 and in it was meat for all : the beasts of the field had shadow 
 under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs 
 thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my 
 head upon my bed ; and behold, a watcher and an holy one 
 came down from heaven : he cried aloud, and said thus, Hew 
 down the tree and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, 
 and scatter his fruit : let the beasts get away from under it, and 
 the fowls from his branches : nevertheless leave the stump of 
 his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in 
 the tender grass of the field ; and let it be wet with the dew of 
 heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of 
 the earth : let his heart be changed from man's, and let a 
 beast's heart be given unto him ; and let seven times pass over 
 him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the 
 demand by the word of the holy ones : to the intent that the 
 living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of 
 men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over 
 it the basest of men. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, 
 have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpre- 
 tation thereof, forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom 
 are not able to make known unto me the interpretation : but 
 thou art able : for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee." 
 
 As soon as the prophet appears upon the scene the king 
 feels sure that he will now get the meaning of the dream. 
 
 For a time Daniel stands still and motionless. Does his 
 heart fail him ? The record simply says he " was astonied for 
 
DANIEL BEFORE THE KING, 3i 
 
 one hour ; and his thoughts troubled him." He saw what 
 was meant by the royal dream — that the king was to have 
 a terrible fall ; and that the kingdom was, at least for a 
 season, to be taken from this proud monarch. The ready 
 words rush to his lips ; but he hates to let them out. He 
 does not want to tell Nebuchadnezzar that his kingdom and 
 his mind are both about to depart from him ; and that he is 
 to wander forth to eat grass like a beast. The king, too, 
 hesitates : a dark foreboding for a time gets the better of his 
 curiosity. But soon he nerves himself to hear the worst; and 
 in kindly words desires Daniel to proceed, to tell out all he 
 knows. And Daniel breaks the silence. He does not smooth 
 over the matter ; but speaks out plainly. There and then he 
 preached righteousness to the king. A very good sermon it 
 was too that he preached. If we had more of the same sort 
 now it would be the better for us. He entreats the king to 
 " break off his sins by righteousness, and his iniquities by 
 showing mercy to the poor : if it may be a lengthening of thy 
 tranquillity." 
 
 Perhaps he told him, for his encouragement, how the 
 King of Nineveh, more than two centuries before, had repented 
 at the preaching of Jonah. He unfolds the full meaning of the 
 dream. He tells the king that the great and strong tree 
 symbolizes Nebuchadnezzar himself; and that just as the tree 
 was hewn down and destroyed, so will he himself be shorn of 
 power and robbed of strength. Daniel tells him that he will 
 be driven from among men, and have to herd with the beasts 
 of the field : yet that nevertheless the kingdom should in the 
 end revert to him, just as the great watcher had spared the 
 stump of the tree. 
 
 Repentance might have deferred, or even averted, the threat- 
 ened calamity. But at that time he "repented not." And twelve 
 months afterwards the king, heedless of the prophetic warning, 
 and lifted up with pride, walked either through the corridors 
 
32 
 
 •' THE KINGDOM IS DEPARTED.' 
 
 of his great palace, or out upon its roof; looked forth upon 
 the city's vast extent ; gazed at those hanging gardens which 
 counted as one of the wonders of the world ; and said : " Is 
 not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the 
 kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my 
 majesty?" 
 
 A voice from heaven instantly cried, " The kingdom is 
 departed from thee." And then and there God touched his 
 reason : it reeled and tottered on its throne, and fled. He 
 was driven forth from men ; he herded with animals ; his body 
 was wet with the dew of heaven. This greatest of princes 
 had gone clean mad. It would not take me fifteen minutes 
 to-day to prove that the world has gone clean mad; and the 
 mass of professing Christians too. Do not men think and talk 
 as if everything were done by their own power ? Is not God 
 completely forgotten? Do not men neglect every warning 
 that He in mercy sends ? Yes, men are mad, and nothing 
 short of it. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's repentance. 
 
 But Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom had not passed away from 
 him irrevocably ; for, according to the prophet's word, at the 
 close of the " seven times " his understanding returned to him ; 
 he resumed his throne and his authority ; and his counsellors 
 and officers again gathered around him. His power has been 
 given back to him ; and he is now a very different man. Of a 
 truth the king's reason has returned to him : and he is pos- 
 sessed of a very different spirit. He sends forth a new pro- 
 clamation giving honour to the Most High, and extolling the 
 God of heaven. Its closing words show his repentance, and tend 
 to prove that Daniel had brought this mighty king to God. 
 
 It is interesting to go over the different proclamations of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, and note the change that takes place in them. 
 He sent out one proclamation setting forth what other people 
 
PRAISING GCD. 33 
 
 ought to do, and how they should serve the God of these 
 Hebrews. But the truth did not get home to himself until 
 now. Here is his closing proclamation : "At the end of the 
 days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, 
 and mine understanding returned unto me ; and I blessed 
 the Most High, and I praised and honoured Him that 
 liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, 
 and His kingdom is from generation to generation. At the 
 same time my reason returned unto me : and for the glory of 
 my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me ; 
 and my counsellors, and my lords sought unto me : and I was 
 established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added 
 unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and 
 honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and 
 His ways judgment : and those that walk in pride He is able 
 to abase." 
 
 When you find that a man has got to praising God it is a 
 good sign. The earlier edict said much about other people's 
 duty towards the God of the Hebrews, but nothing about what 
 the king himself should do. Oh, let us get to personal love, 
 personal praise ! That is what is wanted in the church in the 
 present day. Nebuchadnezzar passes from the stage : this is 
 the last record we have of him. But we may surely hope 
 that, like that of the Corinthians, his was a " repentance to sal- 
 vation not to be repented of" And if this were so we may 
 well believe that to-day Nebuchadnezzar the king and Daniel 
 the captive are walking the crystal pavement of heaven arm-in- 
 arm together ; and, it may be, talking over the old times in 
 Babylon. Now, if the young prophet had been of a vacillating 
 character ; if he had been of a willowy growth, liable to be 
 shaken by every wind, and had not stood there in that city 
 like a great oak — do you think he would have won this mighty 
 monarch to his religion and his God ? As a result of that young 
 man going to that heathen city and standing firm for his God, 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 A PURPOSE FIRM. 
 
 and the God of the Bible, the Lord honoured him, and gave 
 him that mighty monarch as a star in his crown. We may 
 fairly say that King Nebuchadnezzar was led to the God of the 
 Hebrews through the faith of this Hebrew's love— just because 
 he had 
 
 " a purpose firm, 
 And dared to make it known," 
 
 THE MASTER'S SERVICE. 
 
 *' Service of Jesus ! Oh, service of sweetness ! 
 There are no bonds in that service for me ; 
 Full of delight and most perfect completeness : 
 Evermore His, yet so joyously free ! 
 
 *' Service of Jesus ! Oh, service of power ! 
 
 Sharing His glory, while sharing His shame I 
 All the best blessings the Master can shower 
 Rest on the servant exalting His name. 
 
 *' Service of Jesus ! Oh, service joy-giving ! 
 Melting our hearts into rivers of love ; 
 Secret of life and the sweetness of living, 
 Joy felt on earth that will fill us above, 
 
 " Service of Jesus ! Oh, service of praising ! 
 Such as redeemed ones rejoicing can sing, 
 Daily and hourly their voices upraising, 
 
 Lau ing their Saviour, extolling their King." 
 
 Eva Travers Poole. 
 
V. 
 
 THE HAND WRITING ON THE WALL. 
 
 *' Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and 
 drank wine before the thousand" (Dan. v. i). 
 
 ND now, for twenty long years or more, we lose 
 sight of Daniel. He may possibly have been for 
 a portion of the interval living in retirement ; but 
 at the end of it he still appears to be holding some 
 appointment at the Babylonish court ; although 
 most likely occupying a less prominent position than of yore. 
 Nebuchadnezzar had died ; and there was now ruling in 
 Babylon, or it may be acting in some such position as 
 "Regent," a young man whose name was Belshazzar.* This 
 youthful ruler " made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, 
 
 * It is thought by scholars that Belshazzar was admitted to a share of the 
 sovereignty in conjunction with his father Nabonadius, in much the same wa 
 as, years previously, Nebuchadnezzar had reigned in association with his 
 father. It has been further stated that Nabon--dius had shortly before 
 fought a battle with Cyrus, been worsted, and had taken refuge in Borsippa. 
 Consequently, Belshazzar was acting in his father's stead. But wh.il a time 
 'for revelry, with a victorious enemy at the gates, and a lather shui up in a 
 bel aguered fortress ! The sirge of Paris going on at the same time as the 
 investment of Metz, presents something like a modern parallel to the position 
 of affairs. 
 
 Reverting for a moment to Nebuchadnezzar, the fact that for a time he shared 
 in his father's kingly authority, before becoming sole sovereign, explains some 
 apparent difficulty as to dates. For example, Nebuchadnezzar is termed 
 " Kin^ of Babylon," vxhcn he fir-t lays sege to Jerus lem (Dan. i. i ; 2 Kmgs 
 xxiv. I ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6). Ho carries away Daniel and other captives as 
 
36 A GREAT FEAST. 
 
 and drank wine before the thousand." Of this prince we only 
 get a single glimpse. This scene of the feast is the first and 
 last view we have of him ; and it is enough. How long that 
 banqueting lasted we do not know ; but in the East feasts 
 often extend over many days. Amongst the Jews seven days 
 was not an unusual time for the duration of a feast, and occa- 
 sionally the time was extended to twice seven days, i.e.^ four- 
 teen days. It was a "great feast." The king caroused with 
 his satraps and princes, his lords, and the mighty men of 
 Babylon, together with his wives and concubines, drinking 
 and rioting, and praising the "gods of gold, and of silver, of 
 brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." That is pretty much 
 what men are doing to day, if they are bowing their knee to 
 the god of this world. Cyrus, the great Persian general, is 
 outside the gates, besieging the city, just as Nebuchadnezzar 
 had besieged Jerusalem. And this Belshazzar fancies him- 
 self secure behind the lofty and massive walls that encompass 
 Babylon. 
 
 The revellers wax daring and wanton. They had for- 
 gotten the power of the God of the Hebrews, as shown in the 
 days of Nebuchadnezzar. Heated with wine and lifted up 
 with pride, they laid their sacrilegious hands on the golden 
 
 hostages, and returns to Babylon. He then commands that the education 
 and training of the four young Hebrews is to be effected, and allots threeyears 
 for the purpose. Three years are passed in their instruction ; and they are then 
 admitted into the order of the magi, or wise men. (Compare Dan. i. s ; i. i8 ; 
 ii. 13.) And yet, although between three and four years have elapsed since 
 the siege of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar's dream is said to have occurred in 
 the " .second year" of his reign. There is a seeming discrepancy here. Rut 
 let it be understood that the term "second yer.r " in Dan. ii. i, refers to the 
 time subsequent to his father's death, during which he had reigned alone ; and 
 the difficulty is removed. 
 
 The instance of the " regency" in England, during which period tne Prince 
 Regent acted with large powers, " in all but name a king," although George 
 III. still lived, will serve partially to illustrate the position of Nebuchadnezzar 
 at one time, and of Belshazzar at anot'/er ; although the parallel is by no 
 means complete. 
 
THE ''FINGERS OF A MAN'S HAND," 37 
 
 vessels which hn.d been brought out of the temple of the house 
 of God which was at Jerusalem ; and out of those sacred cups 
 they drank. And as they drank to their idols, one can readily 
 believe that they scoffed at the God of Israel. I could almost 
 picture the scene before me now, and can imagine I hear 
 them blaspheming His holy name. Now thoy make merry ; 
 now they are in the midst of their boisterous revelry. But 
 lo ! stop ! What is the matter? The king is struck by some- 
 thing that he sees ! His countenance has changed. He has 
 turned deadly pale ! The wine cup has fallen from his grasp ! 
 His knees smite together. He trembles from head to foot. 
 I should not wonder if his lords and nobles did not laugh 
 in their sleeve at him, thinking he was drunk. But, there, 
 along the wall, standing out in living light, are seen letters of 
 strange and unintelligible shape. "In the same hour came 
 forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the 
 candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace ; 
 and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote." 
 
 Above the golden candlestick,* on a bare space of the 
 wall,t Belshazzar beholds that mysterious handwriting. He 
 distinctly discerns the tracing of those terrible words. Was that 
 writing on the palace wall the work of the same hand that 
 had traced the tables of stone at Sinni? Or did some angel- 
 
 * A recent writer snys : " The fingers ' wrote over against the candlestick." 
 What candlestick ? ' The candlestick of gold, with the lamps thereof.' which 
 Solomon had made. It was there exhibited in mockery and iriumph ; as, 
 ages after, its counterpart adorned the triumph of the Roman emperor, and 
 wab sculptured in bas-ielicf on the Arch of Titus, to be seen in Rome this very 
 jjay."— Daniel : Statesman and Pkophp:t, Page 160. 
 
 + The writing was traced on the plain plaster on the walls of the banquet- 
 room ; such as, notwiihst inding the then prevailing taste for ornament, is still 
 found on the palaces of Nineveh. Those who have seen Mr. I.ayard's large 
 and magnificent drawings of Assyrian antiquities, will remember that elaborate 
 decoration extends ( nly to a certain height. Above that line the wall is quite 
 plain, and is, to this day, coated with lime."— Daniel : States.man and 
 Prophet, Page i6o. 
 
38 THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL. 
 
 messenger execute the Divine commission ? The words, 
 "fingers of a man's hand," seem to imply the latter. 
 
 The king cries aloud, and commands that the" astrologers, 
 the Chaldaeans, and the soothsayers, should be brought for- 
 ward. They come trooping in ; and he says to them : " Who- 
 soever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation 
 thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet (or purple), and have a 
 chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler* in 
 the kingdom." 
 
 One after another tries to spell out that writing ; but they 
 fail to understand it. They are skilled in Chald?ean learning ; 
 but this inscription baffles them. They cannot make out 
 the meaning, any more than an unrenewed man can make out 
 the Bible. They do not understand God's writing : they 
 cannot comprehend it. A man must be born of the Spirit 
 before he can understand God's Book or God's writing. No 
 uncircumcised eyes could decipher those words of fire. 
 
 The queen t hears of the state of affairs, and comes in to 
 encourage and advise. She salutes the king with the words, 
 " O king, live for ever ! let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor 
 let thy countenance be changed " ; and then she goes on to 
 tell him that there is one man in the kingdom who will be 
 able to read the writing, and tell out its meaning. She proceeds 
 to say that in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, " fight, and under- 
 standing, and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found 
 in him " ; and advises that Daniel shall be summoned. 
 
 For some — perhaps several — years he may have been com- 
 paratively little known : may have " dropped out of notice," 
 as we say. But now, for the third time, he stands before a 
 Babylonian ruler to interpret and to reveal, when the powers 
 
 * " The third ruler," mark that ! Belshazzar's father, Nabonadius, pro- 
 bably counting as \\\q first ; Belshazzar, the associate-king, as the second ; and 
 the successful interpreter, as the third. i 
 
 t From the autlioiity with which she speaks, it has been conjectured that 
 this was the queen-mother. 
 
PLAIN WORDS. 39 
 
 of its magicians and astrologers have utterly failed. Daniel 
 comes in ; and his eye lights up as he sees the letters upon 
 the wall. He can read the meaning of the words. The king 
 puts forth his offer of rewards ; but Daniel is unmoved : " Let 
 thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another : yet I 
 will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him 
 the interpretation." 
 
 But before he reads the words u[)on the wall he gives the 
 king a bit of his mind. Perhaps he had been long praying for 
 an opportunity of warning him ; and now he has it, he will not 
 let it slip, although all those mighty lords are there. So he 
 reminds the king of the lessons he ought to have learned from 
 the visitation that fell upon the mighty Nebuchadnezzar : of how 
 that monarch had been humbled, brought down, and deposed 
 from his kingly throne, because " his heart was lifted up, and his 
 mind hardened in pride ;" until at length he came to repent- 
 ance, and realized that the Most High God ruleth in the 
 kingdom of men. "And thou his son,* O Belshazzar, hast 
 not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this ; but 
 hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven." 
 
 Then looking up at the mystic words standing forth in 
 their lambent light, he reads : 
 
 "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN:" 
 
 MENE : God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 
 
 TEKEL: Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found 
 wanting. 
 
 UPHARSIN :t Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the 
 Medes and Persians. 
 
 * Here, as in several other instances, " son '' is used for " grandson " ; and 
 " father " is used for " grand fat y er." 
 
 + In interpreting, Daniel reads peres, which is the singular form of the 
 word of which pharsin is the plural. The U is the prefixed conjunction 
 "and." (See "Daniel: Statesman and Prophet," pp. 171— 2.) 
 
40 IN THA T NIGHT! 
 
 How the word of doom must have rung through the palace 
 that night ! There was an awful warning. Sinner, it is for 
 you. What if God should put you in the balance, and you 
 without Christ ! What would become of your soul ? Take 
 warning by Belshazzar's fate. 
 
 The destruction did not tarry. The king thought he was 
 perfectly secure : he considered that the walls of Babylon were 
 impregnable. But " in that night," at the very hour when 
 Daniel was declaring the doom of the king, Cyrus, the conquer- 
 ing Persian, was turning the Euphrates from its regular course 
 and channel, and was bringing his army within those gigantic 
 walls : the guard around the palace is beaten back ; the 
 Persian soldiers force their way to the banqueting-hall ; and 
 Belshazzar's blood flows mingling with the outpoured wine 
 upon the palace floor. 
 
 It was Belshazzar's last night. One short chapter gives us 
 all we know of that young monarch. His life was short. The 
 wicked do not live out half their days. An impious young 
 man, he had neglected or forgotten the holy Daniel : he had 
 set aside his father's counsellor and friend : he had turned 
 away from the best adviser and most faithful servant that 
 Nebuchadnezzar had ever had — one who probably had done 
 more than any one else to build up and consolidate his king- 
 dom. And this is his end. 
 
 O sinners, take warning : Death and hell are right upon 
 you — death and hell, I say. And they are just as close, it may 
 be, as was the sword of the slayer to those midnight revellers. 
 
VI. 
 
 THE EDICT OF DARIUS. 
 
 "To establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that 
 whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save 
 of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions." (Dan. vi. 7.) 
 
 E find tliat Darius —who was probably one of the 
 high military commanders engaged in the siege of 
 Babylon — takes the kingdom, while Cyrus is off 
 ' conquering other parts of the world. As soon 
 as he attains the throne he makes his arrange- 
 ments for governing the country. He divides the kingdom 
 into one hundred and twenty provinces ; and he appoints a 
 prince or ruler over each province ; and over the princes he 
 puts three presidents to see that these rulers do no damage to 
 the king, and do not swindle the government. And over these 
 three he places Daniel, as president of the presidents. Very 
 possibly Darius knew the man. He may have been in former 
 days at the court of Nebuchadnezzar; and if so, he probably 
 considered Daniel an able and conscientious statesman. Any- 
 how, the king either knew, or was told, sufficient to justify his 
 confidence. And now Daniel is again in office. He held in 
 that day the highest position, under the sovereign, that any 
 one could hold. He was next to the throne. If you will allow 
 me the expression, he was the Bismarck or the Gladstone of the 
 empire. He was Prime Minister j he was Secretary of State ; 
 and all important matters would pass through his hands. 
 
42 DANIEVS ENEMIES. 
 
 We do not know how long he held that position. But 
 sooner or late the other presidents and the princes grew jealous, 
 and wanted Daniel out of the way. It was as if they had said, 
 " Let us see if we cannot get this sanctimonious Hebrew 
 removed : he has ' bossed ' us long enough." You see he was 
 so impracticable: they could do nothing with him. There 
 were plenty of collectors and treasurers ; but he kept such a 
 close eye on them that they only made their salaries. There 
 was no chance of plundering the government while he was at 
 the head. He was president, and probably all the revenue 
 accounts passed before him. No doubt these enemies wanted 
 to form a " ring." And they may have talked somewhat after 
 this fashion : " If it were not for this man we could form a 
 * ring ' ; and then, in three or four years, we could make enough 
 to enable us to retire from office, and have a villa on the banks 
 of the Euphrates ; or we could go down to Egypt, and see 
 something of the world. We could have plenty of money — all 
 we should ever want, or our children either — if we could only 
 just get control of the government, and manage things as we 
 should like to. As things go now we only just get our exact 
 dues ; and it will take years and years for them to mount up to 
 anything respectable. If we had matters in our own hands it 
 would be different ; for King Darius does not know half as 
 much about the affairs of this empire as does this old Hebrew : 
 and he watches our accounts so closely that we can get no 
 advantage over the Government. Down with this pious Jew ! " 
 
 Perhaps they worked matters so as to get an investigating 
 committee, hoping to catch him in his accounts. But it was 
 no use. If he had put any relatives in office unfairly it would 
 have been found out. And if he had been guilty of pecula- 
 tion, or in any way broken the unalterable laws of the kingdom, 
 the matter would have come to light. 
 
 Now I want to call your attention to the fact that one of the 
 highest eulogies ever paid to a man on earth was pronounced 
 
" NO OCCASION A GAINST HIM. " 43 
 
 upon Daniel at this time by his enemies. These men were con- 
 nected with the various })arts of the kingdom, and on laying 
 their heads together they came to this conclusion — that they 
 could " find no occasion against this Daniel, except they found 
 it against him concerning the law of his God." What a 
 testimony from his bitterest enemies ! Would that it could be 
 said of all of us ! He had never taken a bribe : hei had never 
 been connected with a "ring" : he had never planted a friend 
 into some fat office with the design of sharing the plunder and 
 enriching himself. If he had been guilty in any of these things 
 these scrutineers would have found it out : they had a keen 
 scent : they were sharp men : they knew all about his actions 
 and his history : and they would have been glad to have found 
 out something — anything — which would have led to his 
 removal from his high position. But they said — and said 
 with regret: "We shall not find any occasion against him." 
 Ah, how his name shines ! He had commenced to shine in his 
 early manhood ; and he shone right along. Now he is an old 
 man, an old statesman ; and yet this is their testimony. There 
 had been no sacrifice of principle in order to catch votes ; no 
 buying up of men's votes or men's consciences ; no " counting 
 in " or " counting out." There had been none of that. He 
 had walked right straight along. 
 
 Young man, character is worth more than money. Cha- 
 racter is worth more than anything else in the wide world. 
 I would rather in my old age have such a character as that 
 which Daniel's enemies gave him than have raised over my dead 
 body a monument of gold reaching from earth to sky. I would 
 rather have such a testimony as that borne of Daniel than have 
 all that this world can give. 
 
 The men said, "We will get him out of the way. We 
 will get the king to sign a decree; and we will propose a 
 penalty. It shall not be the fiery furnace this time. We 
 will have a lions' den — a den of angry lions ; and they will 
 
44 EVIL COUNSEL. 
 
 soon make away with him." Probably these plotters met 
 at night, for it generally happens that if men want to do 
 any downright inean business they meet at night : darkness 
 suits them best. The chief-president himself was not there : 
 he had not been invited to meet them. Very likely some 
 lawyer, who understood all about the laws of the Medes and 
 Persians, stood up, and talked something after this fashion: 
 *' Gentlemen, I have got, I think, a plan that will work well, 
 by which we may get rid of this old Hebrew. You know he 
 will not serve any but the God of Abraham and of Isaac." 
 
 We know that very well. And if a man had gone to Babylon 
 in those days he would not have had to ask if Daniel loved the 
 God of the Bible. I pity any man who lives so that people 
 have to ask, " Is he a Christian ? " Let us so live that no one 
 need ask that question about us. These men knew very well 
 that Daniel worshipped none other than the God of the Bible, 
 the God of the Hebrews, the God of Abraham, and the God 
 of Moses ; the God who had brought His people Israel out of 
 Egypt, through the Red Sea, and into the Promised Land : 
 they knew that very well. r 
 
 And these plotters said one to another, " Now, let us get 
 Darius to sign a decree that if any man make a request of 
 any God or man— except of the King Darius — for thirty 
 days, he shall be put into the lions' den. And let us all 
 keep perfectly still about this matter, so that it won't get 
 out. We must not tell our wives, for fear the news may get 
 about the city : Daniel would find it all out ; and he has more 
 inHuence with the king than all the rest of us put together. 
 The king v.^ould never sign the decree if he found out what the 
 object was." Then they may have said, " We must draw it so 
 tight that Darius will not be able to get out of it after h^ has 
 once signed. We must make it so binding that if the king 
 once signs we shall have that Daniel in the lions' den : and we 
 will take good care that the lions shall be hungry." 
 
THE DECREE. 45 
 
 When the mine is all ready, the conspirators come to the 
 king, and open their business with flattering speech : " King 
 Darius, live for ever ! " When people approach me with smooth 
 and oily words, I know they have something else coming -I 
 know they have some purpose in telling me I am a good man. 
 These plotters, perhaps, go on to tell the king how prosperous 
 the realm is, and how much the people think of him. And 
 then, perhaps, in the most plausible way, they tell him that if 
 he signs this decree he will be remembered by their children's 
 children — that it would be a memorial for ever of his greatness 
 and goodness. " What is this decree that you wish me to 
 sign ? " And running his eye over the document he says, " I 
 don't see any objection to that." " Will you put your signet to 
 it, and make it law ? " He puts his signature to the decree, 
 and seals it with his seal. And one of ihem says, " The law 
 of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not?" and the 
 king answers, " Oh, yes ; the law of the Medes and Persians : 
 that is it." In the pleasure of granting the request of these 
 people he thinks nothing about Daniel : and the presidents 
 and princes carefully refrain from jogging his memory. They 
 had told the king a lie, too ; for they said, " All the presi- 
 dents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the 
 ccMnsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to 
 establish a royal statute " ; although the chief-president knew 
 nothing at all about it. 
 
 There was probably a long preamble, ' telling him how 
 popular he was ; saying that he was liked better than Nebu- 
 chadnezzar or Belshazzar. They most likely tickled his vanity, 
 and told him that he was the most popular man that had ever 
 reigned in Babylon ; and then they may have gone on to tell 
 him how attached they were to him and his rule, and that they 
 had been consulting together what they could do to increase 
 his popularity and make him more beloved ; and now they 
 had hit upon a plan that was almost sure to do it. They 
 
46 ''FOR THIRTY DAYS."* 
 
 would point out that if no one called upon any god for thirty 
 days, but only on him, the king, making him a god, it would 
 render him the most popular monarch that had ever reigned 
 in Babylonia ; and his name would be handed down to pos- 
 terity. And if he could get men to call upon his name for 
 thirty days they would probably keep it up, and so permanently 
 reckon him among the gods. 
 
 If you touch a man's vanity he will do almost anything ; 
 and Darius was like most of the human race. They touched 
 his vanity by intimating that this would make him great. He 
 thought it a very wise suggestion, and he agreed with them 
 exactly. 
 
 It was not only Daniel they were thus going to get out 
 of the way, but every conscientious Jew. There was not a 
 true Jew in the whole of that wide empire who would bow 
 down and worship Darius ; and these men knew that : and so 
 they were going to sweep away at a stroke all the Jews who 
 were true to their faith. They hated them. 
 
 And I want to tell you that the world does not love 
 Christians nowadays. The world will persecute a man if he 
 attempts to live the life of a true Christian. The world is no 
 friend to true grace : mark that ! A man may live for the world, 
 and like the world, and escape persecution. But if the world 
 has nothing to say against you, it is a pretty sure sign that God 
 has not much to say for you ; because if you do seek to live untO| 
 Christ Jesus you must go against the current of the world. 
 
 And now they are ready to let the news go forth ; and it is 
 not long before it spreads through the highways of Babylon. 
 The men of the city knew the man : knew that he would not 
 vacillate. They knew that the old man with the grey locks would 
 not turn to the right hand or the left : they knew that if his 
 enemies caught him in that way, he would not deny his God 
 or turn away from Him : they knew that he was going to be 
 true to his God. 
 
MORAL COURAGE. 47 
 
 Daniel was none of your sickly Christians of the nineteenth 
 century : he was none of your weak-backed, none of your 
 weak-kneed Christians : he had moral stamina and courage. 
 I can imagine that aged white-haired Secretary of State sitting 
 at his table going over the accounts of some of these rulers 
 of provinces. Some of the timid, frightened Hebrews come 
 to him, and say : 
 
 " Oh, Daniel, have you heard the latest news ? " 
 
 " No. What is it ? " 
 
 " What ! have you not been to the king's palace this 
 morning ? " 
 
 "No ! I have not been to the palace to-day. What is the 
 matter ? " 
 
 " Well, there is a conspiracy against you. A lot of those 
 princes have induced King Darius to sign a decree that if any 
 man shall call upon any God in his kingdom within thirty days 
 he shall be thrown to the lions. Their object is to have you 
 cast into the den. Now if you can only get out of the way 
 for a little time — if you will just quit Babylon for thirty days — 
 it will advance both your own and the public interest. You are 
 the chief secretary and treasurer — in fact, you are the principal 
 member of the government : you are an important man, and 
 can do as you please. Well now, just you get out of Babylon. 
 Or, if you will stay in Babylon, do not let any one catch 
 you on your knees. In any case do not pray at the window 
 which looks towards Jerusalem ; as you have been doing 
 for the last fifty years. And if you will pray, close that 
 window, draw a curtain over it ; shut the door, and stop 
 up every crevice. People are sure to be about your house 
 listening." 
 
 And some of our nineteenth century Christians would 
 have advised after the same fashion : — " Cannot you find out 
 some important business to be done down in Egypt, and 
 so take a journey to Memphis? or can you not think of 
 
48 FALSE SHAME. 
 
 something that needs being looked after in Syria, and so hurry 
 off to Damascus ? Or, surely you can make out there is a need 
 for your going to Assyria, and you can make a stay at Nineveh. 
 Or why not get as far as Jerusalem, and see what changes 
 fifty or sixty years have wrought? Any way, just be out of 
 Babylon for the next thirty days, so that your enemies may not 
 catch you : for, depend upon it, they will all be on the watch. 
 And, whatever you do, be sure they do not catch you on your 
 knees." 
 
 How many men there are who are asliamed to be caught 
 upon their knees! Many a man, if found upon his knees 
 by the wife of his bosom, would jump right up and walk 
 around the room as if he had no particular object in view. 
 How many young men there are who come up from the 
 country and enter upon city life, and have not the moral 
 courage to go down on their knees before their room-mates 1 
 How many young men say, " Don't ask me to get down on 
 my knees at this prayer-meeting." Men have not the moral 
 courage to be seen praying. They lack moral courage. Ah ! 
 thousands of men have been lost for lack of moral courage ; 
 have been lost because at some critical moment they shrank 
 from going on their knees, and being seen and known as 
 being worshippers of God — as being on the Lord's side. Ah, 
 the fact is — we are a pack of cowards : that is what we are. 
 Shame on the Christianity of the nineteenth century ! it is a 
 weak and sickly thing. Would to God that we had a host of 
 men like Daniel living to-day ! 
 
 I can picture that aged man, with his grey hairs upon him, 
 listening to the words of these " miserable counsellors," who 
 would tempt him to " trim," and " hedge," and shift — to " save 
 his skin," as men say, at the cost of his conscience. And 
 their counsel falls flat and dead. I can fancy how Daniel 
 would receive a suggestion that he should even seemingly be 
 ashamed of the God of his fathers. WjU he be ashamed or 
 
TIME FOR PR A YER. 49 
 
 afraid ? Not likely ! You know he will not ; and I know he 
 will not. 
 
 " They will be watching you ; they will have their spies all 
 around. But if you are determined to go on praying, shut up 
 your window \ close all your curtains ; stop up the keyhole, so 
 that no one can look through to see you on your knees, and 
 so that no one can overhear a single word. Accommodate 
 yourself just a little. Compromise just a little." 
 
 That is just the cry of the world to-day ! It is, " Accommo- 
 date yourself to the times. Compromise just a little here ; and 
 deviate just a little there, just to suit the opinions and views of 
 a mocking world." Do you think that Daniel, after having 
 walked with God for half a century or more, is going to turn 
 round like that ? Ten thousand times, No ! 
 
 True as steel, that old man goes to his room three times a 
 day. Mark you, he had time to pray. There is many a 
 business man to-day who will tell you he has no time to pray : 
 his business is so pressing that he cannot call his family around 
 him, and ask God to bless them. He is so busy that he cannot 
 ask God to keep him and them from the temptations of the 
 present life — the temptations of every day. " Business is so 
 pressing." I am reminded of the words of an old Methodist 
 minister : " If you have so much business to attend to that you 
 have no time to pray, depend upon it you have more business 
 on hand than God ever intended you should have." But look 
 at this man. He had the whole, or nearly the whole, of the 
 king's business to attend to. He was Prime Minister, Secretary 
 of State, and Secretary of the Treasury, all in one. He had 
 to attend to all his own work ; and to give an eye to the work 
 of lots of other men And yet he found time to pray : not 
 just now and then, nor once in a way, not just when he 
 happened to have a few moments to spare, mark you — but 
 "three times a day." Yes, he could take up the words of the 
 fifty-fifth Psalm, and say ; 
 
 4 
 
50 DANIEVS WINDOWS OPEN, 
 
 " As for me, I will call upon God ; 
 And the Lord shall save me. 
 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray and cry aloud ; 
 And He shall hear my voice." 
 
 Busy as he was, he found time to pray. And a man whose 
 habit it is to call upon God saves time, instead of losing it. 
 He has a clearer head, a more collected mind, and can act 
 with more decision when circumstances require it. 
 
 So Daniel went to his room three times a day : he trod 
 that path so often that the grass could not grow upon it. 1 
 would be bound to say those plotters knew whereabouts he 
 would be going to pray : they knew the place where Daniel's 
 prayer was wont to be made ; and they were sure they should 
 find him there at his usual hours. And now again he has 
 
 "a purpose firm. 
 And dares to make it known." 
 
 He goes to pray as aforetime ; and /le has his ivi7idows open. 
 Like Paul, in later days, he "knew whom he had believed"; 
 like Moses, he " saw Him who is invisible." He knew whom 
 he worshipped. There was no need to trace back the church 
 records for years to find out whether this man had ever made 
 a profession of religion. See him as he falls upon his knees. 
 He is not careful to inquire whether there are any outsiders, 
 or whether they can hear. In tones not one atom softer or 
 quieter than his custom, he pours out his prayer to the God 
 of his life ; to the God of his people ; to the God of Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob. He does not omit to pray for the king. It 
 is right to pray for our rulers. If we cease praying for our 
 rulers, our country will go to pieces. The reason they are not 
 better is oftentimes because we do not pray for them. Does 
 Daniel pray to Darius ? Not he ! He prays for Darius, but 
 not to him. 
 
 There are men listening there near the open window : the 
 hundred and twenty princes have taken good care of that. 
 
LISTENERS, 51 
 
 They themselves are their own witnesses, and some of them 
 gather together as listeners, so doing their own vile work If 
 there had been any newspaper reporters in that day, how 
 anxious they would have been to have got hold of every word 
 of that prayer ! Give them the smallest chance ; and they would 
 have taken it down, and telegraphed it all over the world, inside 
 of twenty-four hours. 
 
 After Daniel has prayed, "and given thanks," — ^^ given 
 thanks,^' mark that ! — he goes out, and walks along the street 
 with a firm step. He is undaunted. If it be the will of God 
 that he shall pass from earth to heaven by the way of the den 
 of lions, he is prepared for that. God's presence is with him. 
 Like Enoch, he bore within himself this testimony — " that he 
 pleased God." 
 
 Do you see the Hebrevr captive kneeling, 
 At morning, noon, and night, to pray ? 
 
 In his chamber he remembers Zion, 
 Though in exile far away. 
 
 Do not fear to tread the fiery furnace, 
 
 Nor shrink the lions' den to share ; 
 For the God of Daniel will deliver. 
 
 He will send His angel there. 
 
 Children ot the living God, take courage, 
 
 Your great deliverance sweetly sing ; 
 Set your faces toward the hill of Zion, 
 ^ Thence to hail your coming King ! 
 
 Are yoir windows open toward Jerusalem, 
 Tbonarli as captives here " a littlo while " we stay? 
 
 For the coiiiiug of the Kini? in His glory. 
 Are you watching day by day. 
 
VII. 
 
 THE DEX OE LIOXS. 
 
 "Then the king commanded, and ihey brought Daniel, and cast him 
 into the den of lions " (Dan. vi. i6). 
 
 HERE must have been great excitement in the city 
 then : all Babylon knew that this man was not 
 going to swerve. They knew ver)- well that this old 
 statesman was a man of iron will ; and that it was 
 not at all likely he would yield. The lions' den had 
 few terrors to him. He would rather be in the lions' den with 
 God, than out of it without Him. And it is a thousand times 
 better, friends, to be in the lions" den with God, and hold to 
 principle — than to be out of it, and have money, but no prin- 
 ciple. I pity those men who have gained their money dis- 
 honestly : I pity those men who have obtained their positions 
 in life dishonestly ; I pity any politician who has acquired his 
 office dishonestly - how his conscience will lash him at times ! 
 And how the Word of God lashes such ! " 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 flre.'' It does 
 not pay to be false ; it pays to be true. It is best to be 
 honest; even if it means having ver)* little money in our 
 pocket, and very little position in the world. It is best to 
 have God with us, and to know that we are on the right side. 
 
 I venture to say that man Daniel was worth more than any 
 other man Darius had in his empire — yes, worth more than 
 
THE LAW OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS. 53 
 
 forty thousand men who wanted to get him out of the way. 
 He was true to the king. He prayed for him ; he loved him ; 
 and he did for that king everything he could that did not 
 conflict with the law of his God. 
 
 And now the spies rush off to the king, and cry, 
 **0 Darius, live for ever ! Do you know there is a man in 
 your kingdom who will not obey you ? '' 
 
 " A man who won't obey me ! Who is he ? " 
 "Why, that man Daniel. That Hebrew whom you set 
 over us. He persists in calling upon his God." 
 
 And the moment they mention the name of Daniel, a 
 frown arises upon the king's brow ; and the thought flashes into 
 his mind : " Ah ! I have made a mistake : I ought never to 
 have signed that decree I might have known that Daniel 
 would never ' call ' upon me. I know very well whom he serves : 
 he serves the God of his fathers.'' So, instead of blaming 
 Daniel he blames himself: instead of condemning Daniel he 
 condemns himself. And then he casts about in his mind as to 
 how he could manage to preserve him unharmed. All that 
 day, if you could have looked into the palace, you would have 
 seen the king walking up and down the halls and corridors, 
 greatly troubled with the thought that this man must lose his 
 life before the sun sets on that Chaldaean plr.in ; for if Daniel 
 were not in the lions' den by sundown the law of the Medes 
 and Persians would be broken : and come what will, that law 
 must be observed and kept. 
 
 Darius loved Daniel ; and he sought in his heart to deliver 
 him. All day he sought for some plan by which he might 
 save Daniel, and yet preserve the Median law unbroken. But he 
 did not love Daniel as much as your King loved you : he did 
 not love him as much as Christ loved us : for if he had he 
 would have proposed to have gene into the lions' den in his 
 stead. Let us remember that Christ " tasted death " for us. 
 I can imagine those plotters having a suspicion as to the king's 
 
54 DANIEL CAST INTO THE DEN. 
 
 feelings; and saying to him, " If you hreak the law which you 
 yourself have made, respect for the laws of the Medes and 
 Persians will be gone : your subjects will no longer obey you; 
 and your kingdom will depart from you." So Darius is at last 
 compelled to give him up ; and he speaks the word for the 
 officers to seize him and take him to the den. And his 
 enemies would take good care that the den is filled with the 
 hungriest beasts in Babylon. 
 
 You might have seen those officers going out to bind that 
 old man with the white flowing hair : they march to his 
 dwelling; and they bind his hands together. And those 
 Chaldaean soldiers lead captive the man who a few hours before 
 ranked next to the king; the noblest statesman Babylon had 
 ever possessed. They guard him along the way that leads to 
 the lions' den. Look at him as he is led along the streets. 
 He treads with a firm and steady step, bearing himself like a 
 conqueror. He trembles not. His knees are firm : they do 
 not smite together. The light of heaven shines in his calm 
 face. And all heaven is interested in that aged man. Dis- 
 graced down here upon earth, he is the most popular 
 man in heaven. Angels are delighted in him : how they love 
 him up there ! He had stood firm ; he had not deviated ; he 
 had not turned away from the God of the Bible. And he 
 walks with a giant's tread to the entrance of the lions' den ; 
 and they cast him in. They roll a great stone to the mouth of 
 the den ; and the king puts his seal upon it. And so the law 
 is kept. 
 
 Daniel is cast into the den ; but the angel of God flies 
 down, and God's servant lights unharmed at the bottom. The 
 lions' mouths are stopped : they are as harmless as lambs. 
 And if you could have looked into that den, you would have 
 found a man as calm as a summer evening. I do not doubt 
 that at his wonted hour of prayer he knelt down as if he 
 had been in his own chamber. And if he could get the 
 
DARIUS FASTS THAT NIGItT. 55 
 
 points of the compass in that den, he prayed with his face 
 toward Jerusalem. He loved that city ; he loved the temple : 
 and probably with his face toward the city of Jerusalem, he 
 prayed and gave thanks. And later on I can imagine him just 
 laying his head on one of the lions, and going to sleep : and if 
 that were so, no one in Babylon slept more sweetly than Daniel 
 in the den of lions. 
 
 But there ,was one man in Babylon who had no rest that 
 night. If you could have looked into the king's palace, you 
 would have seen one man in great trouble. Darius did not 
 have in his musicians to play to him that night. Away with 
 music and singing ! There was no feast that night : he could 
 eat nothing. The servants brought him dainty food ; but he 
 had no appetite for it. He felt troubled : he could not sleep. 
 He had put in that den of lions the best man in his kingdom ; 
 and he upbraided himself for it. He said to himself, " How 
 could I have been a party to such an act as that?" 
 
 And early in the morning — probably in the grey dawn, 
 before the sun has risen — the men of Babylon could have 
 heard the wheels of the king's chariot rolling over the pave- 
 ment ; and King Darius might have been seen driving in hot 
 haste to the lions' den. I see him alight from his chariot in 
 eager haste, and hear him ciy down through the mouth of 
 the den : " O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, 
 whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the 
 lions ? " 
 
 Hark! a voice gives answer— why, it is like a resurrection 
 voice — and from the depths come up to the king's ear the 
 words of Daniel : " O king, live for ever ! My God hath sent 
 His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not 
 hurt me : forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in 
 me ; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt." 
 
 The lions could not harm him. The very hairs of his head 
 were numbered. I tell you, that whenever a man stands by 
 
56 '' NO MANNER OF HURT!'' 
 
 God, God will stand by him . It was well for Daniel that he 
 did not swerve. Oh, how his name shines ! What a blessed 
 character he was ! 
 
 The king gives command that Daniel should be taken up 
 out of the den. And, as he reaches the top, I fancy I see them 
 embracing one another ; and that then Daniel mounts the king's 
 chariot, and is driven back with him to the royal palace. There 
 were two happy men in Babylon that morning. Most likely 
 they sat down at meat together, thankful and rejoicing. 
 
 " No manner of hurt was found upon him.'' The God who 
 had preserved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the fiery 
 furnace, so that " no smell of fire had passed on them,'' had 
 preserved Daniel from the jaws of the lions. 
 
 But Daniel's accusers fared very differently. So to speak, 
 they " digged a pit for him ; and are fallen into it themselves." 
 The king orders that Daniel's accusers shall be delivered to 
 the same ordeal. And they were cast into the den ; " and the 
 lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in 
 pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den." 
 
 Young men, let us come out from the world ; let us trample 
 it under our feet ; let us be true to God; let us stand in rank, 
 and keep step, and fight boldly for our King ! And our 
 ''crowning time " shall come by and by. Yes, the reward will 
 come by and by; and then it may perhaps be said of one, 
 or another, of us : " O man, greatly beloved ! " Young men, 
 your moral character is more than money, mark that ! It is 
 worth more than the honour of the world : that is fleeting, 
 and will soon be gone. It is worth more than earthly position : 
 that is transient, and will soon be gone. But to have God 
 with you, and to be with God — what a grand position ! It is 
 an eternal inheritance. 
 
 I should like to say a few more words about Daniel. If 
 you will r'^fer to the tenth chapter, you will read th^.t an angel 
 
" A MAN GREA TL Y BELOVED, " 5^? 
 
 came to him, and told him he was " a man greatly beloved." 
 Another angel had on a previous occasion brought him a 
 similar message. Many are of opinion that the one described 
 in the tenth chapter as appearing to Daniel is none other than 
 the one " like unto the Son of Man," who visited John when 
 he was banished to the Isle of Patmos. People thoug t that 
 John was sent off to that island by himself; but no ! the angel 
 of God was with him. And so it was with Daniel, taken from 
 his own country and his own peoi)le. Here in this chapter we 
 read : " Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked ; and behold 
 a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with 
 
 fine gold of Uphaz And he said unto me, O Daniel, 
 
 a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak 
 unto thee ; and stand upright : for unto thee am I now sent." 
 
 It was Daniel's need that brought this angel from the glory- 
 land. And it was the Son of God right by his side in that city 
 of Babylon. As I said before, that was the second time the 
 word had come to him that he was "greatly beloved." Aye, 
 and even three iifnes did a messenger come from the throne of 
 God to tell him this. 
 
 I love that precious verse in the eleventh chapter : " The 
 people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits." 
 And also those two verses of the twelfth chapter : " Many of 
 them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake : some to 
 everlasting life ; and some to shame and everlasting cjntempt. 
 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the 
 firmament ; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the 
 stars for ever and ever." 
 
 This was the consolation the angel bore to Daniel ; and 
 great consolation it was. The fact concerning all of us is that 
 we like to shine. There is no doubt about that Every 
 mother likes her child to shine. If her boy shines at school by 
 getting to the head of his class, the proud mother tells all the 
 neighbours ; and she has a right to do so. 
 
58 "AS THE STARS." 
 
 But it is not the great of this world who will shine the 
 brightest. For a few years they may shed briglit li^bt : but 
 they go out in darkness ; they have no inner light. Shining for 
 a time, they go out in the blackness of darkness Where are 
 the great men who did not know Daniel's God? Did they 
 shine long ? Why, we know of Nebuchadnezzar and the rest 
 of them scarcely anything, except as they fill in the story about 
 these humble men of God. We are not told that statesmen 
 shall shine : they may for a few days or years ; but they are 
 soon forgotten. Look at those great ones who passed away in 
 the days of Daniel. How wise in council they were ! how 
 mighty and victorious over many nations ! what gods Upon 
 earth they were ! Yet their names are forgotten, and written 
 in the sand. Philosophers, falsely so-called, do they live ? 
 Behold men of science — scientific men, they call themselves — 
 going down into the bowels of the earth, hammering away at 
 some rock, and trying to make it talk against the voice of 
 God. They shall go down to death by and by ; and their 
 names shall rot. But the man of God shines. Yes, it is he 
 who shall shine as the stars for ever and ever. This Daniel 
 has been gone for 2,500 years ; but still increasing millions 
 read of his life and actions. And so it shall be to the end. 
 He will only get better known and better loved ; he will only 
 shine the brighter as the world grows older. Of a truth, 
 " they that be wise " and " turn many to righteousness " shall 
 shine on, like stars, to eternity. 
 
 And this blessed, thrice blessed, happiness, of shining in 
 the glory, is like all the blessings of God's kingdom, for every 
 one. Even without the least claim to education or refinement 
 you can shine if you will. A poor working man, or a poor sailor 
 before the mast, can shine for ever, if he only works for the King- 
 dom of God. The Bible does not say the great shall shine, but 
 '*they that turn many to righteousness." A false impression has 
 got hold of many of Gods people. They have formed the idea 
 
" TO EVERY MAN HIS WORK. " $9 
 
 that only a few can speak on behalf of God. If anything is to be 
 done for the souls of men, nine-tenths of the people say, " Oh, 
 the ministers must do it." It does not enter into the thoughts 
 of many people that they have any part in the matter. It is the 
 devil's work to keep Christians from the blessed privilege of 
 winning souls to God. Any one can do this work. 
 
 Do you not see how that little mountain rill keeps swelling 
 till it carries everything before it ? Little trickling streams have 
 run into it till now, a mighty river, it has great cities on its 
 banks, and the commerce of all nations floating on its waters. 
 So when a single soul is won to Christ you cannot see the 
 result. A single one multiplies to a thousand ; and the thou- 
 sand into ten thousand. Perhaps a million shall be the fruit. 
 We cannot tell. We only know that the Christian who has 
 turned " many to righteousness" shall indeed shine for ever and 
 ever. Look at those poor, unlettered fishermen, the disciples 
 of Jesus. They were not learned men, but they were great in 
 winning souls. And there is not a child but can work for God. 
 
 The one thing that keeps people from working for God is 
 that they have not the desire to do so. If a man has this desire 
 God soon qualifies him. And what we want is God's qualifica- 
 tion : it must come from Him. 
 
 In our large meetings there are frequently three thousand 
 Christians present. Would it be too much to expect if these 
 were living in communion with Christ that they should each 
 lead one soul to the Lord within a month ? The Son of God 
 gave His life for them — shall they refuse to work for Him 
 when He supplies the needed power ? What results should 
 we see in souls saved if every one did his or her work. How 
 many times have I watched at the close of a meeting to see 
 if Christians would speak to the sorrowing ones. If we only 
 had open eyed watchers for souls there would be multitudes of 
 inquirers where now there are individual cases. Every church 
 
6o 
 
 WORKING FOR GOD. 
 
 would need an inquiry meeting after every gospel service, 
 and these inquiry rooms would be crowded. These inquiring 
 ones are at every meeting, just anxious to have warm-hearted 
 Christians lead them to Christ. They are timid, but will 
 always listen to one speaking to them abor.t Christ. Let the 
 prayer of every Christian be, "Oh God, give me souls for my 
 hire." What would be the result if this were the case with 
 us ? Multitudes would be sending up shouts of praise to 
 God, and making heaven glad. Where there is an anxious 
 sinner, there is the place for the Christian. 
 
 "WHAT ART THOU DOING?" 
 
 *' What art thou doing, Christian? 
 Is it work for Christ thy Lord? 
 Art thou winning many sinners 
 
 By thy life, thy jjcn, thy word ? 
 When the solenni question com- 
 'eth, 
 What will thine answer be ? 
 Canst thou point to something 
 finished ? — 
 Saying — "Lord, my work for 
 Thee ! " 
 
 " What doest thou in service? — 
 
 Art thou taking active part ? 
 Are life and tongue in earnest, 
 
 Outflow of loving heart ? 
 Or art thou idly gazing 
 
 While others toil and sow, 
 Content with simply praising 
 
 The earnestness they show ? 
 
 " What doest thou, redeemed one, 
 Child of a mighty King? 
 W^hat glory to thy P'ather 
 
 Doth thy princely bearing 
 bring? 
 If no one brought Him honour, 
 And no one gave Him praise, 
 To thee it appertaineth 
 The pcean-note to raise. 
 
 •' What doest thou here? Where* 
 ever 
 Thine earthly lot be cast, 
 Oh, let each hour and moment 
 In gladsome work be passed ! 
 Here ! thou may'st do a life- 
 work ; 
 Here ! thou may'st win a crown, 
 Starlit and gem-surrounded. 
 To cast before the throne." 
 
 Eva Tk avers Poole. 
 
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