Y^ \ -^ ti 'Cl^ ii TOALLPEOPLE." COMPRISING SERMONS. BIBLE READINGS, AND PRAYER-MEETING TALKS. Delivered hi the Boston Tabernacle^ BY D. L MOODY. From the Boston Daily Globe Verbatim Reports, Carefully Revised and Corrected. WITH AN INTRODUCTION By rev. JOSEPH COOK. "Behold I bring you Glad Tidings of Great Joy, which shall be to aii pkoplk."— Luke il Id NEW YORK: E. B. TREAT, 805 Broadway. L. T. PALMER & CO., Chicago : W. S. FORSHEE & CO., Cincinna-'I EBEN SHUTE, Boston. 1877. ^1 1 ^ 'rPHE BOSTON PAI'EX ANNOUNCEMENT. Moody's Sermons in Boston have been reported in the Boston Daily GhW^ and so many thousands of our readers have evinced a desire to have these complete and authentic reports brought out in book form, that we have made arrangements with Mr. E. B. Treat, of New York, the well-known publisher, to bring out the Daily Globe edition of these Sermons, Mr. Moody himself has said, in regard to the Daily Globe Reports, that he never had been so well reported in any part of the world by any newspaper. Mr. Treat will be furnished with all of our reporters' notes. The few mistakes that may have occurred in the un- avoidable haste, necessary to present those reports the next morning after delivery in readable shape, will be corrected, and omissions, for want of space on *' crowded " days, will be given in this book. The general excellence and uniform accuracy of the Globe reports, have been appre- ciated by thousands of people throughout New England, and we feel sure all will be anxious to secure and treasure up a bound copy of these earn- est, vigorous and effective sermons. THE GLOBE PUBLISHING CO. Boston, March 2J, 1877. Copyright, 1877. E. B. TREAT. ^ PRIITCETOIT ^^ EVANfeiXISM, IN 5P^TQ BY REv//^'fiI^!fiF?&OK In the city of Edinburg the American evangehsts who are now in Boston never had a hall that would seat over 1500. They reached the Scottish metropolis November 22, 1873, and left it January 21, 1874. They have now been here as long as they were in Edinburg. It will always be incontrovertible that a structure which holds from 6000 to 7000 people has been opened in Boston for religious audiences, and'that week after week for two months, on every fair day, and often twice or thrice a day, when an undiluted Christianity has been proclaimed there, this Boston building has been filled to copious overflowing. What otJier cause would have filled it as often and as long? This is the large question which Edinburg and London, Chi- cago and San Francisco, will ask. As a help to an interior view of Massachusetts and its capital, it is not improper for me to state, what the evangelists therq- selves could not, perhaps, with propriety s^y publicly, that their opinion is that in Boston the average result of their work has been better than it was in Edin- burg. Both the evangelists have expressed, with detailed reasons and emphasis, that opinion to me, and neither of them has asked me to state the opinion publicly. Harvard and Yale both strenuously opposed George Whitefield, and now both regret their opposition. Did 6 TO ALL PEOPLE. you notice that the revered president of Boston Uni- versity was reported as having silenced a group of critics at the obsolescent Chestnut-street Ckib the other day, by an invuhierable indorsement of the general character of the religious work now being performed in this city ? This indorsement came from a scholar of whom it can be said, as I think it cannot be of any other New England president of a college, that before he finished his yet recent German studies he had written in German an elaborate work on reli- gious science, abreast of the latest thought. Boston University, led by this incomparable scholar of the freshest and severest German training, is as cordial toward the American evangelists as the great Univer- sity of Edinburg was. When Phillips Brooks appears in the tabernacle, the culture of Boston and the stu- dents of Harvard are there. Of course Harvard Uni- versity differs from Edinburg University in its religious attitude ; and for that fact there are reasons, prolonged, historic, adequate, but, thank God, of waning force ! When James VI. was sixteen years of age, in 1582, Edinburg University was founded ; and it was fed from the Scottish Universities of St. Andrews and Glasgow, which began their stalwart career before America was discovered. University life in Scotland had venerableness when Harvard was yet in the gristle. It has had a longer time than Harvard in which to judge creeds by the law of the survival of the fittest. It is wiser, therefore ; but Harvard one day will be wise under that law. Are there any points of superiority in this religious awakening to that which occurred in Boston in the days of Whitefield ? It must be admitted that there EVANGELISM IN BOSTON. 7 arc some points of inferiority, but are there any of superiority ? We are a larger and more heterogene- ous community now than we were then ; we are fuller of commercial activity ; our heads are in newspapers and ledgers and not as the heads and hearts of the early New England fathers were, in the Holy Scrip- tures. Nevertheless, it was a temporarily demoralized community which Whitefield and Edwards addressed. A practical union of Church and State had so secular- ized religious society that it had sunk farther away from Scriptural and scientific ideals than the present religious society of New England has done. We all hold now that the ministry ought to be made up of converted men and that no one should become a mem- ber of the church unless he can give credible evidence of having entered upon a rehgious life. But in White- field's day it was necessary for him to insist upon what is now a commonplace truth, that conversion should precede entrance upon the ministry and church mem- bership. In Edwards' day many circles of the New England population had forgotten the necessity of the new birth, or did not believe that it is an ascertainable change ; and so there was a hush in the revival when Whitefield was here ; a sense of sin which ought to exist now, but which probably does not for a great variety of reasons, not all of them to be classed as proofs of the shallowness of the present effort. Would that we had such loyalty to the scientific method as to have an adequate sense of our dissonance with the nature of things ! It were good for us and for Amer- ica if we had in Boston to-day just that far-pene- trating gaze which filled the eyes of New England one hundred years ago, as Whitefield and Edwards 8 TO ALL PEOPLE. turned our fathers' countenances toward the Unseen Holy ! In one particular, however, this revival certainly surpasses that under Whitefield in this city in 1740, namely, in the extent to which types have been conse- crated to the work of sending religious truths abroad through the newspaper press. All the leading and all the respectable newspapers of Boston have favored the revival. It is well, my friends, that you should give encouragement to the hardest-worked class in your community, the reporters. Not only day and night, but day inside of day, and night inside of night, mak- ing two hours out of every one, these men are obliged to follow with lightning speed the demands of the press for copy — of what ? Of the dullest of all things on earth to report, sermons. English, German, and French travellers say very suggestively that the char- acteristic of American newspaper management, as distinguished from European, is that we are willing to print sermons copiously on Monday mornings. No doubt it pays to publish such discourses ; but I am not one of those who think that the critics are right who judge acutely that Mr. Sankey's chief motive in hfe is to sell a great number of his song-books and organs. Neither am I of the opinion that all the space the daily newspaper press gives to religious truth is the result of a whisper from the counting-room. Let us be just to the corporations that manage our news- papersj and not accuse them of being altogether mer- cenary. No doubt counting-rooms are sometimes hung around the necks of editors as mill-stones around the necks of babes in the waves ; and it takes a giant like Horace Greeley to be at once a reformer and an EVANGELISM IN BOSTON. p editor. It is easier for the platform than for the press to speak for to-morrow against the dissent of to-day. But the best part of our press not only mirrors but leads public sentiment, and speaks for to-morrow against the rivalry of the poorer part of both platform and press, which speak only for to-day. Encourage all speakers for to morrow. By the way, I did not think of mentioning the mat- ter, but three of the newspapers of Boston which I have just been eulogizing, have treated what this plat- form has said on Romanism in America with elaborate inaccuracy. I have been advised to say nothing more on the topic, if I am wise, and therefore I say some- thing more on it. I am not aware that the newspaper press of Boston owns this lectureship. What I said was not that I have objection to Romish priests at Charlestown appearing there and being of solace to Romish convicts. My proposition is that we had bet- ter not depart from the American principle that all religious sects, Romanists included, must pay their own bills. The voice of this audience is worth at least as much as that of any one evening newspaper in Boston ! I object to a division of State funds among sectarian State chaplains, and this because the prece- dent would be the entering wedge for a sectarian division of the school fund. Of course, I expect no credit for advocating that proposition until about fifty years hence. I speak for to-morrow and not for to- day. In the next place, it deserves to be mentioned that religious visitation from house to house, and espe- cially among the perishing and degraded, is now going forward in a hopefully thorough manner in Boston. lo TO ALL PEOPLE. Gentlemen, I hold in my hands a statement communi- cated to me officially, and I am able to assure you that 2000 persons are now devoting a large part of their time in this city to religious visitation among the poor. In no other population has there been a more effective arrangement for visitation than here. God be thanked that every lane is to be seen, and that super- fluity and squalor are to look into each other's eyes ! Of no evangelical churches in this city, ninety have already signified their intention to co-operate in this work. Each pastor of these ninety churches has ap- pointed gentlemen to oversee the work undertaken by his particular church ; for instance, on Beacon Hill yon- der, in the Mount Vernon church, where our Ameri- can evangelist heard the truth effectively for the first time from the lips of the now sainted Kirk, men like Nazro and Merriam are appointed on this business. Is there any one with head or heart shallow enough to sneer at such proceedings ? You will sneer, then, at the best executive talent of Boston. There are 70,000 families within the limits of Boston, and there have been workers appointed to cover 65,000 of these families. In Boston I include Charlestown, East Boston, South Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury and Brighton. We are to look on this work as performed by picked men and women. There is no quarter of this city so degraded by unreportable vice that it is not "being visited by women, lineal descendants, no doubt, of those whom Tacitus says our German forefathers honored as recipi- ents of special illumination from heaven. The saloons are being visited, and the report now coming in is that the visitors are kindly received, and you will find every now and then a visitor saying: ** There are in I EVANGELISM IN BOSTON. U my district fifteen cases of interest, or persons seri- ously inquiring how they can get rid of vice and enter upon a manly or womanly life : and I am to follow these cases up." Remember that this work of visita- tion is intended not merely for those who are outside the circle of glad loyalty to religious truth, but for those who are nominally inside of that circle, and are yet inefficient. Nothing quickens a man like trying to quicken another. If there is one measure in which our American evangelist has shown his generalship more effectively than anywhere else, it is in setting men to work, and in so setting them to work as to set them on fire. But, gentlemen, what are we to say of the prayer- meetings among business men, which have not yet attained their height, and yet are already visible at a distance ? It is my privilege and joy to be a flying scout in New England. One morning last week I woke up to the sound of the swollen and impetuous Androscoggin, and in the course of the day passed through Portland, and Portsmouth, and Newburyport, and Salem, and Boston, and Worcester, and Spring- field to Hartford, and all along I had evidence by conversation and by looking at the local papers, that these business men's meetings are visible on the An- droscoggin and on the Connecticut. You have in this Temple a very interesting meeting, which was never matched for weight in Edinburg. There are crowded prayer-meetings at high noon for men engaged in the dry-goods business, for men in the furniture trade, for men in the market, for men in the fish trade, for newspaper men, for all classes indeed of our throb- bing, tumultuous, breathless business community. 12 TO ALL PEOPLE, This, if you will notice the fact, is Boston. When I stated on this platform a few weeks ago that you would see Boston visited as you had seen other cities visited, you did not receive the affirmation with a smile of incredulity, but the public did. That poor ■prophecy has been fulfilled, and we have a month more for zvork. If you please, the times are serious, and light sneers will do no good now, and ought not to be noticed by me except in pity. It was my fortune professionally to walk down to a church near the Tabernacle yester- day morning to give an Easter discourse. As I passed up the street I met a deluge, not of rain, such as has diminished the audiences in the Tabernacle occasion- ally— the month of March is a great enemy to large assemblies — but a crowd of people emerging from I did not at first think where, until I remembered that the Tabernacle service had just closed. They covered acres and came on in thousands, like the crowds of a gala day. I noticed their faces, for the best test of what has been done in a religious address, in any as- sembly, is to study the countenances of the audience as it disperses. If you see a softened, an ennobled, a "solar look," to use one of the phrases of Bronson Alcott [turning to Mr. Alcott, who sat at the speaker's right], one may be sure that religious truth has done good. I saw the solar look yesterday on the street in hundreds and thousands of faces ; I saw it sometimes in the gaze of shop-girls, perhaps. Yes, but high culture in Boston does not care much for shop-girls. Well, it is time it should. There is a low-bred, loaferish liberalism, uttering itself occasion- ally in sneers, because the poor have the gospel EVANGELISM IN BOSTON. 13 preached to them. That sneer has been heard ever since the days of Celsus and the games in the old Cohseum, and it has a peculiarly reptilian ring. There are many kinds of liberalism. Christian liberalism I honor ; literary and aesthetic liberalism is to be spoken of with respect, in most cases ; but below what I have called a limp and lavender and unscientific liberalism, there is a low-bred and loaferish liberalism. This in Boston has impudence, but no scholarship ; rattles, but no fangs. In the great multitude the solar look is the best prophecy that can be had for the American future. It is a radiance that is like the rising of the sun to any man who is anxious about what is to come in America. After noticing that look, and thanking God for it, I walked on, and happened to pass a lonely Boston corner, where the Paine Hall and the Parker Memorial Hall stand near each o\h^x par nobile f rat- nun. On a bulletin on the Paine Hall, the street in front of which looked deserted, I read: "Children's Progressive Lyceum Entertainment this evening." "The Origin and Amusements of the Orthodox Hell." " Twenty-ninth Anniversary of Modern Spiritualism, APRIL I." Passing by the Parker Memorial Hall, where, no doubt, words of good jcnse have been uttered occasionally, I found in the window this statement: "To-night, a Lecture on the Arctic Regions, with a stereopticon and seventy views." Gentlemen, all over the world, the equivalent of the scene I saw on that Easter morn may be looked upon almost everywhere within the whole domain of Christ- endom. Infidelity in Germany is no stronger than it is in Boston. Out of the thirty universities of that 14 TO ALL PEOPLE. most learned land of the globe, only one is called rationalistic to-day. When the sun stands above Bunker Hill at noon, it has just set on the Parthenon and is rising on the vol- canoes of the Sandwich Isles. As Easter Day passed about the globe, the contrasted scenes which the sun saw here — a multitude fed with God's Word and a few erratics striving to solace themselves without God — were not unlike the scenes which the resplendent orb looked down upon in the whole range of civilization. In 200 languages of the world the Scriptures were read yesterday ; in 200 languages of the world hymns were lifted to the Triune Name yesterday ; in 200 lan- guages of the world the Gospel was preached to the poor yesterday. What is our impecunious scepticism doing here ? Has it ever printed a book that has gone into a second edition ? Theodore Parker's works never went into a second edition. I do not know of a single infidel book over a hundred years old that has not been put on the upper, neglected shelf by scholars. Boston must compare her achievements with those of cities outside of America, and take her chances under the buffetings of time. Where is there in Boston anything in the shape of scepticism that will bear the micro- scope ? For one, I solemnly aver that I do not know where, and I have nothing else to do but search. Theodore Parker is the best sceptic you ever had ; but, to me, he is honey-combed through and through with disloyalty to the very nature of things — his supreme authority. It was asserted, not long ago, in an ob- scure sceptical newspaper here, that Parker's works ought to be forced into a second edition by his friends. EVANGELISM IN BOSTON. 15 It was admitted there was no demand for a second edition, but it was thought that, if now there was an effort made strategetically, one might be put upon the market. You have no better books than these, and there has been no marked demand in Boston for these, and the attentive portion of the world knows the facts. Why am I proclaiming this ? Because, outside of Boston, it is often carelessly supposed that the facts are the reverse, and that this city is represented only by a few people, who, deficient in religious activity, and forgetting the law of the survival of the fittest, are distinguished far more by audacity than by scholar- ship, and are members of a long line in history, of which Gallio stood at the head. Let me mention as a fourth prominent trait in this revival the great effort made for temperance. We have done more in that particular than was done in Boston in Whitefield's day ; for in his time men were not awake on that theme. It is a good sign to see the church and secular effort join hands. It is a good sign when our American evangelist himself can say, as he said yesterday, ** I have been a professing Christian twenty-two years, and I have been in Bos- ton and other cities for most of that time, and I never saw such a day as this is. I stand in wonder and amazement at what is being done. It seems as if God were taking this work out of our hands. Prayer- meetings are springing up in all parts of the city. If you were asked two months ago if these things were possible, you would have said : * Yes, if God will open the windows of heaven and do them.' " Let us admit that we could all wish for greater blessings. Macaulay said, concerning literary excel- 1 6 TO ALL PEOPLE. lence, that we were to measure success not by abso- lute, but by relative standards. Matching his own history against the seventh book of Thucydides, he was always humble ; but matching his history against current productions, Macaulay felt encouraged. Matching this day in Boston against some things in Whitefield's day, matching it against the dateless noon of Pentecost, matching it against our opportuni- ties, we are humble ; we have no reason for elation ; ours is a day of small things. But compare what has been done here by God's word and religious effort with all that has been done since Boston was founded by the opponents of God's word, and we are encour- aged. Our opportunity in the second New England is greater than that of our fathers was in the first New England. Let us act as the memory of our fathers dictates. New England, the Mississippi Valley, the Pacific Coast, Scotland, England, always know whether or not Boston does her duty. A power not of man is in this hushed air. Who will lock hands with Him whom we dare not name, and go forward to triumph in the cause that cares equally for the rich and the poor, and for to-day and to-morrow ? [From the Monday Noon Lecture in Tremont Temple, April 2d, by permission.] CONTENTS. PACK Introduction. — Evangelism in Boston, by Rev. Joseph Cook v BIOGRAPHIES. Dwight L. Moody xix Ira D. Sanke} xxiii SERMONS AND LECTURES. The Faith of CaleD and Joshua, Mr. Moody's first Sermon in Boston.. 17 Christian Enthusiasm 24 Saved or Lost 29 The Holy Spirit. Ill 41 The Holy Spirit. IV 54 Sermons to Christian Workers 62 Perseverance . , 158 The Life and Character of Jacob 253 The Life and Cliaracter of Joshua 266 The Life and Character of Peter 279 Sowing and Reaping 296 The Life and Character of Ahab 303 Covetousness 3^9 What will you do with Christ ? 315 God's Love for Sinners 322 Christ in the Old Testament 349 Christ in the New Testament 361 Christ as a Shepherd 375 The Blessed Gospel 3S3 Christ the Deliverer. II 3'.13 Blind-Eyes 4°/ The New Birth 414 God's Instrumentalities 429 -John the Baptist 45° Salvation 4^5 The Second Coming of Christ 499 BIBLE READINGS. The Divinity of Christ, I. , ist Chapter John 191 The Miracles at Cana of Galilee, 2d " 197 The Remedy for Sin, 3d " 203 Christ the Water of Life, 4th " 207 xviii CONTENTS. pac;h Christ the Physician, sth Chapter John 213 Christ the Bread of Life, 6th " 218 Christ the Fountain of Living Water, 7th Chapter John 222 Christ, His Divinity, IL, Sth Chapter John 226 Christ Restoring the BHnd, 9th " 231 Christ the Good Shepherd, loth " * 237 Christ, His Divinity, in., nth " 241 The Miracle of Peter 335 Working for Christ, '. * '. '.".'.*. 3J9 Confession the Key to Salvation 446 One Thing Thou lackest 442 Freedom for the Captive 477 CONVENTION TALKS. How can Non-church-goers be reached ? 168 How can the Churches be revived ? Questions answered by Mr. Moody. 173 How to make Prayer Meetings interesting ? Questions answered by Mr, Moody 187 TEMPERANCE ADDRESSES. Intemperance, the Work of the Devil 136 The Prayer of Faith 141 He forgiveth our Iniquities 144 Casting out the Unclean Spirit 149 Coming to Christ 155 To Reformed Men 487 PRAYER-MEETING TALKS. David's Prayer, His Confession 76 David's Prayer, Search Me and Know Me 82 Daniel's Prayer, His Confession 88 Confessing our Sins 95 Unholy Ambition 102 ' Nothing too hard for God 108 Casting out Devils in The Power of Prayer 117 Forgiveness 122 Thanksgiving 128 Address to Children 131 Sudden Conversions 246 Five Christian Requisites 343 Prayer 34^ Ittai's Friendship for David 427 The Parable of the Sower 481 The Thirty-Second Psalm ,* 484 PRAYERS. Prayer on the Death of Mrs. Kitti-idge 133 Prayer for Infidels and Scoffers 252 Prayer for the Christian Convention 2'-<9 Prayer for Humility 4^3 A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. The name most prominently associated with Mr. Moody's in evangelistic work, is that of Ira David Sankey. He is the acknowledged Asaph, the sweet Singer, "Set over the service of Song in the house of Israel." Ira D. Sankey was born in Edenburgh, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, August 28th, 1840. His parents were highly esteemed in the commu- nity for their social qualities and noble traits of char- acter. His father was a man of social and political prominence, and was often honored with offices of political trust and responsibility. Young Ira was noted for his vivacious and sprightly spirit, and was a universal favorite with his young companions. His pleasant, winning ways and his playful humor, com- bined with a high sense of honor and manly self- reliance, attracted others to him and enabled him to wield a strong influence over them. His early years at school were not idled away, but spent in close and patient application to study. Inspired by a purpose to succeed he became an excellent student, and soon acquired the elements of a practical and useful educa- tion. He was converted, and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, in early life. Here he found an >xiv A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. excellent opportunity for the employment of his mu- sical powers, as no Church is more devoted to sacred Song and more appreciative of its beauty and power. He at once entered the Sunday School, and teachers and scholars alike, were charmed by the sweet strains of his captivating song. He sang with so much naturalness, fervor and sweetness, that all hearts seemed to thrill with a new inspiration and felt that a brighter era had dawned upon the school. During our civil war, he was in the army for a brief period, and on many occasions, inspired the desponding and cheered the sorrowing and dying soldier, with the soft, sweet strains of some new song, or of some precious melody of other days. From 1862 to 1871, Mr. Sankey was connected with the internal revenue service, and was noted for his careful attention to his duties, and enjoyed the entire confidence of his superior officers and also of the people. Mr. Sankey's first interview with Mr. Moody oc curred at the International Convention of the Young Men's Christian Association, at Indianapolis, in June, 1870. Mr. Moody had heard the sweet singer's voice in the convention, and, impressed with its marvellous power, at once resolved to enlist it in his great work. After a formal introduction, Mr. Moody said to him : " I want you." " What for t " said Mr. Sankey. " To help me in my work," was the reply. " But I cannot A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. xxv leave my business," was the response. " You must," said Mr. Moody. " You must give up your business, and come with me. I have been looking for you these eight years." Thus suddenly was this world-renowned Singer called to join the most efficient evangelist of modern times. Men sometimes mistake their calling, and thus seriously impair both their usefulness and happiness ; but Mr. Sankey with a wise and prayerful discrimina- tion has selected a proper sphere of Christian activity. The public are growing every day, more and more famJliar with his sweet voice and charming melodies, and yet there is no apparent loss of interest in either the Singer or his song. The history of his work with Mr. Moody in Europe, Brooklyn, in Philadelphia, in New York, in Chicago, and Boston, is too recent to need extended notice in this brief sketch. He entered upon his work at Boston, with a world- wide reputation, and yet has fully sustained that reputa- tion and ever added new lustre to his name asan evanofe- list of song. The services in the Tabernacle owe much of their interest and success to the inspiration of his sweet songs, and long after the massive building shall have crumbled into dust its echoes of song will live in the memories of those who worshipped within its walls. The almost universal conviction is that Mr. Sankey, is as necessary to the great evangelistic work as Mr. Moody himself. Both are divinely accredited heralds of the Cross — one heralding in simple, lucid language the Gospel of Great Joy, and the other enunciating the Glad Tidings in sweet, triumphant strains of Christian Sons:. THE SONG THE ANGELS SUNG ANNOUNCING THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. Behold ! I bring you Glad Tidings of Great Joy, which shall be TO ALL PEOPLE." (Luke 2-ia) TO ALL PEOPLE. THE FAITH OF CALEB AND JOSHUA. MR. Moody's first sermon in boston. ' You will find my text this afternoon in the thirteenth chapter of Numbers, and part of the thirtieth verse : " Let us go up at once, and possess it ; for we are well able to overcome it." Let us go up at once. Caleb and Joshua are great favorites of mine. They have got a ring about them. They v/ere not all the time looking at the hin- drances and obstacles in their way ; they got their eyes above them. Now if we can only get a few hundreds of Calebs and Joshuas here in Boston with eyes lifted above objections and obstacles, I have not the least doubt about the success of this movement. Quite a number have asked me what I want for success here. I want to tell 5^ou what I want. I want men of faith, men and wo- men who have confidence in God. That is all I want. I have no doubt about success then. It is these men that are all the time predicting defeat that we don't want. They can't help us. The questions are now being raised all over New England " Are we going to have a revival ? " " Is God going to revive His church .? " " Is there going to be a quickening among the people of God," for that is really where revivals begin. They begin with God's own people. 2 ' 17 1 8 TO ALL PEOPLE. When these hundreds of Christian men are quickened ; when these churches, that is, the rank and file of God, are quickened, then my friends you will see how quick results are brought about. The only obstacle to a great work is unbelief. People talk about the opposition and objections crea- ted by infidelity. You may take all the infidelity and all the false " isms " extant, but the greatest harm has come from lukewarmness and unbelief in the Church of God. Infidels cannot help God from working. God can work in spite of all the infidels in Boston, — in spite of all the devils in hell. They cannot hinder His work. But it is unbelief that is the great obstacle, and the one we want to get out of the way. Bury it so that it may have no resurrection. I heartily wish we could begin with the same degree of Christian faith in which we have just left some of those cities we have visited. For instance, in Boston, with the same amount of faith and Christian zeal we have now exhibited in Chicago, we would progress more rapidly. But, somehow, we have to begin all over again and just keep battering away at this very unbelief. I remember when leaving Scotland I was told I couldn't expect much in Ireland whither I was going ; that the Irish were peculiar; they could expect for work in Scotland because the people understood their Bibles, and all they had to do was to sing and preach the gospel ; but I found unbelief my difficulty there. I found just the same thing in Ireland, just the same old human nature. The same power of God was needed in Scotland, and we found the same hard work of surmounting unbelief in Ireland. When we left Ireland to go to England, and es- pecially Liverpool, where there are a great many drink- ing saloons, there was a great deal of opposition and unbelief. But the Spirit of God worked in Liverpool. When we went to London it was said we should cer- FAITH. ig tainly have defeat there. And starting from there for this country we were not to expect results here because you had singing and preaching here. But we found in Phila- delphia and New York the gospel had effect upon the people. When we left for Chicago this fall it was said we would surely be successful there, and when we got there we found Christian men and women we had worked with for years who did not believe we would be successful be- cause Chicago was a peculiar city. When we came to Boston some people told me, " Mr. Moody we must give you a little warning ; you must remember that Boston is a peculiar place, and you cannot expect to do the same as elsewhere ; there are a great many obstacles." It is the same old story, the same old human nature. Boston is the same as these other places. They are all alike, but the enemy cannot hinder God from w^orking if we only have faith. With God all things are possible. This terrible unbelief God can shake in Boston as easy as a mother can shake her little child. We can do all things through His power and strength. We' are not able to do anything of our own power, but with God's strength we can, by faith, bring down a blessing on Boston and all New England. By God's help we can have a revival. Are we not able to rest upon God's promises and trust Him implicitly ? You remember how those men were sent out to spy out the land of Canaan. They had been sent out forty days to go over that land. They went from the wil- derness of Zin to Rehob, thence unto Hebron. And when they reached the " brook of Eshcol they secured a branch with one cluster of grapes, and bare it between two upon a staff ; and they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs." They were gone forty days, and the twelve men brought what Congress would call a minority and a major- ity report. Ten men reported that they had gone unto the land to which they were sent, and surely it flowed with 20 TO ALL PEOPLE. milk and honey. And so God's word was true. They found milk and honey. And they brought along grapes. But ten of them were full of unbelief. But they further re- ported that they saw giants there, the sons of Anak which come of the giants. The Hittites, Jebusites, Amalekites and Amorities dwelt there. They were all there, and also these great giants in whose sight they were as grasshoppers. It was a great war city, and they asked themselves if they looked as though they were able to war with such giants. They said we are not able. They undoubtedly brought back maps and charts and said " there is the region ; it would be monstrous for us to take it ; there are great iron gates and a great wall, and we are not able to take it. We are defenceless people without any weapons ; we will not be able to overcome those people." I can imagine one man said: "Why, I looked up at those giants and I looked like a little grasshopper, and felt as small as a grasshopper. We cannot hope to cope with those giants. It is a good land, but we will not be able to go up and possess it." Then* they begin to murmur. It don't take a great while to get unbelievers to murmur. Caleb tried to encourage them. He says : " Let us go up at once and possess it ; we are well able to overcome it." Even Joshua joined in with Caleb and they proved two with the faith. To be sure, they were in the minority, but if the Lord is with us we are able to prove a powerful majority over the enemy. They determined to take it, and they wandered across all through Canaan, but the people took up stones, and would have stoned them to death. But " the glory of the Lord appeared in the taber- nacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel." And about three million of people wandered in the wilder- ness for forty years, until all the men laid themselves down in the desert grave and were kept out of the promised land, all on account of their unbelief. And I believe to- FAITH. 21 day that four-fifths of the church is wandering aiound in the wilderness, away from the cross of Calvary and the promised land. We are able to have victory with God with us. The great trouble and matter with the church is that it is all the time looking at the obstacles, and I have yet to find successful men and women in God's service that are looking at the obstacles. Ten men were looking at all these obstacles that this new land presented to them, while these two men, Caleb and Joshua, looked up yonder, and they saw God's face and remembered the waste in Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the destruction that was brought upon the Philistines, the water from the flint rock, and they believed that God was able, as He certainly was, to give them that land He had promised. Let us all remember what God has done \ how, in all the ages of the Church, He has revived it when the people came together and asked Him for a blessing, being of one mind and one spirit, and there has been Christian prayers and exhorta- tions going up from the land. Let us not forget that all strength and help has come from on high. Not from our- selves will the power come, but God, like in the case of Caleb and Joshua, can revive His work in this city in answer to our united prayers. And if we only have faith to go on expecting, we will not be disappointed. But if you find a man that is all the time looking on the dark side, full of fear and doubts, and all the time discouraging people around him, he is not the man that God can reach. He wants to have faith in His work, in His promises, and then move forward and see how promptly He extends His Divine aid and gives victory. Just turn over to the days of Gideon, and you will find there a most wonderful lesson, and probably such a lesson as we ought to learn here in Boston. There may be a class of people believing that as we have got this beautiful building, good choir and so many ministers that we are going to have a work right 22 TO ALL PEOPLE. away. Now if we lean upon anything but the arm of God we will be disappointed. You must pass through the valley before you reach the mountain ; be humbled and cast down before you are lifted up. If we lean upon our- selves we will have failure, but if we lean upon the arm of God and not upon prayers, we will see how quick God will give us victory. God wants the glory, and no flesh shall glory in His stead ; and let us not forget to sink self out of sight. Look at what He said to Gideon. Gideon called in an army of thirty-two thousand, and the Lord said to him, you have too many men. If I give you victory " Israel will vaunt themselves against Me, saying my own hand hath saved me." You cannot work with so many, because I must have the glory. Just say to all them that are fearful to depart if they want to. " So Gideon proclaimed," in accordance with God's command, saying : " Whosoever is fearful and afraid let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand ; and there re- mained ten thousand." I can imagine that Gideon got a little scared at first. Only ten thousand left. But the Lord came again and said : " Gideon, you have got too many men ; if I work with them you will take the glory." " So he brought down the people unto the water : and the Lord said unto Gideon, every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself ; likewise everyone that boweth down upon his knees to drink." Three hundred lapped and ninety- seven hundred wheeled out of line. I can imagine they were a good deal like many Christians in Boston. What can God do with those who are like those of Gideon's army who were full of fears and doubts .'* Look at the reduction in that great army. But only three hundred men with the Almighty is all we want in Boston. Three hundred men that side with God can be a power for God. FAITH. 23 Three hundred like Gideon's men will move this city. What a routing there was before that band ! They fly like chaff before the wind. Don't you call anything small of God. If God is in this movement we will have victory, but if it is simply man's movement, without God's aid, there will be failure, and the ministers, singers and this great Tabernacle would become the laughing-stock of New England, if not of Christendom. But with the mighty arm of God to lean upon we will see wonderful results. I be- lieve we are living in the days of the Son of Man. I never spent such seasons of religious joy as during the last t venty or thirty days. Faithless husbands and wives have been reclaimed. Mothers, fathers, who have been clear down in the gutter, sunken almost as low as the brute creation, have been rescued, and are now preaching and singing the power of God to save, going into saloons and billiard halls after the wanderers. You can hear the tramp of ^he drunkards of Boston. It seems as if the power of God was in this building this afternoon. I have no doubt that our prayers will be answered and these mothers find Uieir wayward children. We are going to see them brought home. Let us have faith. Let us go up and possess Uie land. In the name of God let there be no adverse criticism, no looking at difficulties. Let us come praying to Gid to move this city, and may there go up the great cry from Boston of " What shall we do to be saved ? " CHRISTIAN ENTHUSIASM You that were here on Sunday night will remember that I was talking about courage, a necessary qualifica- tion to work for the Lord. To-night I want to talk on another word that I think is very important, and that is — enthusiasm. You are a little afraid of it down here in New England, but it won't hurt you to have a little more. I know there are a great many very wise men shaking their heads, they are afraid of a movement of this kind. They already begin to cry, " Undue excitement ! " "Large meetings ! " It is astonishing to hear some people talk. When their meetings are very small then they are mourn- ing for the smallness, and when the spirit of God does come and the people have ears to hear, and great crowds do come, then they shake their heads and say, " Ah, we are afraid of these great crowds ; now, wt must be very careful." We hear no complaint about the politicians. They wake up a good deal of enthusiasir. I happened to be here when they took Anthony Burns out of Boston, and I never saw a city so moved. Talk about enthusiasm ; every man was full of it. But just tlie moment we talk about getting a little feeling into the churches and a little enthusiasm into the Lord's work, a good many shake their gray heads and say, " I am afraid." Now, be careful how you jump on to the safety valve to keep down the steam. I have yet to find a man that didni succeed in his ministry if he had enthusiasm about him. I have yet to find the successful Sunday School teacher that didn't take up the work of God with enthusiasm. For years I was Superin- CHRISTIAN ENTHUSIASM. 25 tendent of a Sunday School in Chicago and I learned one thing, that any man or woman who ever took hold of a class without some enthusiasm, didn't succeed. You will find that every business man in Boston gets enthusiastic in his business if he succeeds. All men who succeed have enthusiasm. I believe that Joshua and Caleb were called enthusiasts after they came back from viewing the land. I believe that this man Gideon was called an enthusiast in the camp of Israel. The idea of his going out to meet a hundred thousand men with pitchers and lanterns ! How many people there are in Boston who would have said, " The man has gone clean mad." Yes, he was an enthusiast, but the Lord God was with him ; and what we want is this godly enthusiasm, and then there will be holy fire, and if we get this into our hearts then we shall see the work of God advance. Some one has said to me, " When are you going to preach to the unconverted? " Well, I don't know that I shall preach to them at all. I will get you to preach to them. We want five or six or seven thousand sermons preached to ihe unconverted every day. We want thou- sands of men and women going out to tell the story of the cross. It is very easy when we get enthusiasm and are full of love for God and His work. A great many will cry out, " He has zeal without knowledge." I would a good deal rather have zeal without knowledge than knowl- edge without zeal. There is a good deal of knowledge without zeal here in Boston, and if we are enthusiasts for Christ as we ought to be there will be some who will call us fanatics and say we are mad. I don't believe a man is worth much for Christ until he is mad. And when we hear that cry raised it is a sure sign we are getting into the footsteps of the Master. They said He had got beside Himself, if you remember, and on the day of Pentecost they said they were full of new wine. And when Paul stood before Festus, Festus said to him, " much learning 26 TO ALL PEOPLE. doth make thee mad ; " and Paul said, " No, most noble Festus, I am not mad." The spirit of God had moved on his heart and he was full of godly enthusiasm. There is a man that I admire very much. I don't know that I admire his judgment. That is Garibaldi ; and I am no Italian either. But I admire that man. When he w^as going to Rome they took him captive and threw him into prison. And he wrote to the people outside, this : " If fifty Garibaldis be thrown into prison, let Rome be free." That's enthusiasm. He didn't care anything about Garibaldi, it was the cause he was looking at. And when the cause of Christ sinks deep into our hearts, and we want only to see Christ exalted and to save a perishing world, then the church will have power and all the hosts of death and hell cannot stand before it. (Cries of Amen ! Amen !) Well, my friends, the question is, have you got it ? Have you got enthusiasm for Christ ? Has the spirit of God moved on your heart yet } Are you ready to be called a fool for Christ's sake "i Are you ready to be called beside yourself .'' Are you ready to hear the scoffs and jeers of the world for Christ's sake .? A man once said to an enthusiast for Christ that he was mad. " Well," he said, " I have got a good asylum to go to and a good keep- er on the way ! " Remember, my friends, God cannot use you until you are willing to have the world point the finger of scorn at you. If the world hasn't got anything to say against us it is pretty sure that Christ won't have mucn to say for us. Because, if we love God in Jesus Christ we shall surely suffer persecution, and if we are afraid of our dignity, and reputation, and standing, we are not fit for Christ's service. Somebody spoke once to a young convert who got up in the streets and tried to preach, and said, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself." "Well," he said, *' I am, but I am not ashamed of my Saviour." So let us be ashamed of ourselves, but not of Christ, but speak out in CHRIS TIAN ENTHUSIASM. 2 7 our business and in our homes, ever3^\vhere where we are for Christ. This is the way to have a true revival — work for Christ, talk for Christ, speak to those who are about you, and don't you see that if this whole audience here was full of holy enthusiasm, Boston would feel our influ- ence within twenty-four hours ? " One shall chase a thou- sand and two shall put ten thousand to flight." There is a story told of a man back in the ninth century, I think, that he came up with a little handful of men to attack a king with a large army ; and when the king heard that he hadn't but 500 men, and he had an army of 30,000 men, he sent a message to this young general — perhaps he thought he was an enthusiast and was mad — that if he would sur- render he would be very merciful to him and spare his life. And the young general heard the messenger, and when he got through he said to one of his privates, " Go leap over into yonder chasm," and over he went into the jaws of death. Then he called another and handed him a dagger, and said, " Take that and drive it into your heart." And he drove it into his heart, staggered forward, and fell dead. Then he turned to the messenger and said, " Go back' and tell your king that I have five hundred such men; tell him we die, but never surrender." And when the king heard that five hundred such men were before him, his army got demoralized and fled. The young gen- eral said to the messenger : " Tell your king I will have him chained with my dogs within twenty-four hours ; " and he did it. Ah ! my friends, if we are ready to go and do whatever the Master asks us, then one shall chase a thou- sand, and two shall put ten thousand to flight. The trouble is, a great many are looking at the obstacles and the army that is against us. Those men who are talking against this work cannot oppose it if we have that spirit, and I expect to see a great many of them converted themselves if we get this enthusiasm. Yes, it is enthusiasm the 28 TO ALL PEOPLE. church of God wants, and let us pray for it, so that we may get it and improve the talents he has given us. If every man and woman born into the spirit in this assembly to-night should say, "By the grace of God I will try to lead some soul to Christ this week," how many would be converted ! Now, haven't we got that desire ? Hasn't that come upon the hearts of this people? Or are we only ready to hear ? It is very easy to come here twice a day, but we want to preach off these chairs \ we want to get you so full of enthusiasm that you must go out and preach Christ ; must go out of here and call your neigh- bors together and pray with them. It won't do to have all the work done in this Tabernacle, but we must carry it into every street and every alley and every cellar, and if the Spirit of God comes upon us we can do it. Let us put ujD one united prayer that the Spirit of God may come upon us, and that there may be a revival in every church in Boston, and that when they stand up in their pulpits next Sunday the Spirit that came ujDon Joshua and Elijah, and Daniel and Gideon, may come upon the ministry of Boston, and then we will have the work we have prayed for, and Christianity will be like a red-hot ball rolling over the face of the earth and all the hosts of death and hell cannot stop it. Have we got the fire, or are we still asleep? Some of you think you are awake, but really you are sound asleep. If a man has no desire to go out and win some soul to Christ j no desire to see his own son converted, or to see his own relatives brought to the Saviour, he is sound asleep spiritually, isn't he ? What we \vant to do is to wake up and get this building filled with non-church-goers. I don't feel that I have a mission to come and preach to you people who have been sitting here under able ministers for twenty or thirty years. We want you to go out of this building, and the men who haven't heard the gospel for twenty, thirty or forty years CHRISTIAN ENTHUSIASM. 29 to come in. We are not going to do it by advertising in the papers, nor by notices, but by having everyone go out as a missionary. I would like to see this Tabernacle filled with the rumsellers of Boston. I would like to have the fallen women come here, I would like to have them know that faith in Christ is power unto salvation. The devil has deceived them, and they don't know it. Now, we send a lot of men abroad as missionaries, and God forbid that I should say one word against missions. God bless the missionaries ! I wish we had thousands more going round the world for Christ. But don't let us forget the people at our own doors. What are we doing for them ? Sha'n't we have some enthusiasm to go and reach these men who are right here by our side. (Cries of Amen ! Amen !) When I was in Philadelphia in 1867, on my way to Europe, Mr. George H. Stuart told me of a meeting he attended in Edinburgh of the General Assembly, where an old missionary who had been in India twenty-five years and had come back to die, was asked to plead for India. They had money, but couldn't get men to go there. And the old returned missionary spoke an hour and a half and ■ then he fainted away, and he was carried out and doctors called in. When he came round he said : " Where am I ? " and then he said, " Oh, I was making my l^lea for India ; take me back and let me finish it." The doctors told him he must be taken home ; but no, he said, he must finish it. " I must finish that speech for India — they won't meet again for twelve months, and then I shall be dead. I must finish it." And so he in- sisted on it, and they brought the old man in again and Mr. Stuart said there never was such a sight. When they saw him being brought in, the whole body rose as one man, not a w^ord was said, and tears were flowing on every side. And the old man stood there with his hand on the rail, faint and exhausted, and closing up that speech 30 TO ALL PEOPLE. he said, " Is it true, fathers and mothers of Scotland ; is it true, elders of Scotland, that you have no more sons to go to India ? If Queen Victoria sends out a call for her army you are always ready to send your sons to fight her battles, and all the sons of Scotland are ready to go. But the Lord Jesus has called and no one answers. Is it true, Mr. Moderator, that Scotland has no son for India. Well, then let it be announced, and although my health is shat- tered, I will go back to the shores of the Ganges and let them know there is one poor old Scotchman ready to die for them if he cannot live for them." (Cries of Amen ! Amen !) Oh, may God waken up Boston, and may every child of God go forth into the vineyard and work for Him with enthusiasm. Let us not be afraid of enthusiasm, or to carry it into the work of the Lord. Why should we be afraid of it ? Christ died for us. Shall not we be ready to live for Him and work for Him t Lei us pray. " SAVED OR LOST.' Saved or lost ; in the fold or out of it. That is thel question to-night. I would like to have every one ask himself now, am I saved or am I lost? Some have got the idea that they are not to be lost till the great day of judgment, and then the question will be settled. Now if Christ has not found you, and if you have not been re- deemed by His precious blood, it is very clearly taught in "^ the Scripture that you are already lost ; not going to be lost, but you are already lost. I want to take up the sub- ject that I had last night — that the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. The man who is not saved is lost ; we are not born Christians, even if we are born in Boston. This is very clearly taught in the Word of God. He says, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. That was not said to the drunkard ; it was not said to some poor fellow out- cast ; but it was said to a man who had as good a moral character as any man in Boston. He was not only a Pharisee, but a teacher of the Law, a doctor of divinity. " Ye must be born again." Now the question is, " Have you been born again ? " We are told in one place to be ready and give a reason for the hope that is in us. Now, if you are a Christian, what is your hope ? Is it that you belong to some church "i Is it that you have been baptized in infancy ? Is that a certain sign of a new birth ? Now if we are resting our hopes on some false foundation let us ask God to-night to take it away. Let us be honest about our souls' salvation. We can afford to be honest about that, 32 TO ALL PEOPLE. I hope, if we can afford to be honest about anything in this world. It is better for us to be deceived about a thousand things than to be deceived about this one thing. Saved or 7'iost ! Am I saved or am I lost? If I should be brought to the point of death to-night, where would my soul be ? What is my hope of eternal life ? Now it is to those who have not answered these questions, who have not found their hope, who are not saved, that I would like to speak to-night. I would like to tell them that the Son of Man came into this world to seek and save that which was lost, and if you choose to take your place among the lost to-night, you will find that the Son of God, that Jesus is at the very door of your heart knocking for admittance, and that He will save you now. We find a great many people with their arms folded waiting for God to do something more for their salvation. If you go to the Saviour fully and freely and keep Him, you are saved ; if not, you are lost. There is no other name among men by which you can be saved except that name. No other foundation can be laid than that which He has laid. Do not think you can get into Heaven without Christ and without climbing up some other way than by a thieves' ladder. I once heard of a man who thought he could work his way up to heaven by giving up his wealth and doing good deeds, and one night he had a dream. He dreamed he was building a ladder from earth to heaven. And at first it was pretty near the ground ; but as he kept doing good deeds it kept going up and up, and one day he was unusually generous, gave several thousand dollars to a good purpose or something of that sort, and it went right out of sight. He helped God a good many years, and the ladder kept going up higher until finally it went right up to the throne of God, and then he thought he was going to be saved ; so he left the world and started up the ladder, and before he got far the ladder began to tremble, and when he got up ''SAVED OR Losrr 33 into the clouds it shook so he could hardly keep on, and while he was clinging there, terribly frightened, he heard a voice from the throne — " He that climbeth up some other way, he is a thief and a robber." And then down came the ladder and he awoke from his sleep. If you would go t. to heaven think of that dream and know that you must gD through the way that God has provided, that is, through His own Son. I only want to say to those who are awake that if they are lost and waiting for Christ to find them, if they wait they are lost. Some people think the Lord will seek them. They will not come until the Lord has sought them. They are waiting for Him to seek them out. Now, I would like to ask if there is a man or woman in this assembly to-night who really believes in his heart " God has not sought for me." Is there any one who can say to-night, " The Son of God has never sought for me ! '* You have never heard a sermon but you have heard the Son of God seeking for you through that spiritual form. How many of you have heard faithful gospel sermons, not in Boston, but in other cities ? Well, the Son of God was in those sermons, seeking for your lost soul. You never heard a portion of Scripture read but the Son of God was seeking your lost soul. Many of you have had tracts given you, perhaps by a stranger on the street. Who was it prompt- ed that tract.'' Perhaps you used it to light your cigar with. Perhaps it bore a startling title, " Where are you going to ? " and you felt indignant and wouldn't read it. Nevertheless it was the Son of God who was seeking, through that tract, for your soul. Satan don't prompt men to circulate tracts, unless they are infidel tracts. Many of you have had praying mothers, and still have them on earth. Why, God is seeking for your soul through the prayers of that sainted mother. They have been going up from your cradle until now, and that is the Son of God seeking your lost soul. Some of you have had kind friends 3 34 TO ALL PEOPLE. come and put their hand on your shoulder and ask you to be a child of God, and that is the Son of God seeking for your lost soul. That is His prompting. It is not the work of the enemy to send a m.an to talk with you about your soul. And some of you at the midnight hour, when you have been alone in your room, have lain for hours and have looked back into the past and have asked yourselves some pretty solenin questions, and there has been a gentle voice whispering in your ear : Come to Christ ! That is the Son of God coming to you at the midnight hour, pleading with you to accept Him. Some of you have had friends who have gone from this world, and when they have left you they made you promise them they should meet you in eter- nity. That was the Son of God speaking to you through that sainted mother or child. Oh ! many of you have friends in that world of light to-night, and if they could speak to you now they would call you up to that blessed world. /'"^Why he erected this building. Did infidels do it? Did the enemies of Christ put it up ? What does it mean in the heart of this great city t This very building ought to preach a sermon more powerful than anything I can ever preach in Boston. It is the Son of God preaching for your lost soul. Every time your eye rests on this build- ing you ought to say, " That is the Son of God seeking for me," for he certainly put it into the hearts of the business men of Boston to build this building. Their names don't appear. They are men who love your souls. The Son of God has prompted them to put up this building ; and, as the ark of old to the antediluvians, this building ought to be a warning to every sinner in Boston. It is the Son of God seeking the lost soul of every man in this city. There is another way in which the Son of God seeks for your soul, and that is by the Holy Spirit that He sends into this world. Undoubtedly many of you have said: "This is a strange atmosphere here," and you couldn't help noticing the dif- ''SAVED OR Losrr 35 ference between these meetings and the gambiing dens and drinking saloons of this city. Well, I should say there was. What is it, my friends ? It is the Holy Ghost. He sent Him into this world to seek and to save you. There was a minister who went into the theatre, when I was in the South last winter, and preached, and a clown came in and the Spirit of God carried home the preacher's words to that man's heart, and he got an idea the minister was preaching about him and was picturing him out to the whole audience, and by and by he got mad. I would rather have people get mad than go to sleep. By and by he stalked out of the theatre and waited on the sidewalk for the minister to come out, and, when the audience came out he declared he was going to flog the minister. And his old associates gathered around him and expected some sport. And when the min ister came out the clown stepped up and said : " What did you mean by insulting me ? " " Why I don't know you," said the minister. " Don't know me ! You have been ex- posing me." " Why, sir, you are mistaken. I never saw you in my life." Oh ! there was the Spirit of God search- ing out the lost, the Son of God was seeking for him. And in the following February that man was going from town to town telling what Christ had done for him. There may be some great infidel here. I hope the Spirit of God will search him out and bring him to the cross to-night. There are hundreds of ways in which the Son of God seeks to save. But I want to say right here, don't any one of you go out saying the Son of God never sought for your soul. The man don't live whom the Son of God never sought to save. I wish I could make that word real — Lost ! Lost ! I don't believe there would be a dry eye here to-night. If you were saved yourself how your hearts would go out after your children and the mem- bers of your family. Oh that the Son of God may wake us up to realize what it is to be lost ! When I went back 36 TO ALL PEOPLE. to Chicago I found that while I had been away a good number of my friends, who were quite well off when I left, had lost all their property. I couldn't help but sympathize with them. You have got some people in Boston who have lost their property. You cannot help but sympathize with them. But what is the loss of wealth, my friends, in com- parison with the loss of a soul. It were better to lose everything we have and go out to some poor-house with God than to roll down to hell in a golden chariot. Some of you mourn for friends who have lost their health. But what is the loss of health in comparison with the loss of a soul ? There is hope for a man's body if he has saved his soul. He will have a glorified body by and by in the land where sickness and death never come. I remember being in the eye infirmary in Chicago, and a mother came in with a beautiful girl in her arms, and said, " Doctor, something ails my child's eyes." The doctor pulled back the lid and something fell out on the floor, and he said, with amaze- ment, " The child has lost that eye." And he pulled back the other lid and found that eye was lost too. And the mother said, " You don't mean she has lost her sight for- ever ! " " Yes," said the doctor, " your child will never see again." And when the truth dawned upon her, she pressed her child to her heart, and uttered a heart-rending scream, and said, " Oh ! my darling child ! are you never to see your mother on earth again t " Well, we could not but sympathize with that mother. But what is that loss in comparison with the loss of a soul ? God has given me two children, and no one but God knows how I love them. They are dearer to me than my own life. But I would rather have them go down to the grave blind, and with God, than have them keep their sight and go down to their grave without the hope of immortality. Loss of health, or wealth, or life, is not anything to compare with the loss of the hope of immortality. Now, I can imagine some of you say you " SA VED OR Losrr 37 would like to be saved, and saved to-night. Well, if you would you need not wait till I get through this sermon. You can just bow your head and accept Christ right here. Because He has come for that very purpose. That is His profession. That is His work — to seek and to save that which was lost. Oh ! God, save the lost that are in this Tabernacle to-night. Let there be one united wave of prayer here to-night, for that, and God will answer prayer. If you had a lost child in Boston to-night you would be willing to sit up all night to find it. Suppose it was known that Charlie Ross was concealed in Boston, how you would go out and search the city all over all night for that boy. But think of the lost souls in this city, in the billiard saloons and gambling dens — young men that are noble, that will make jewels that will sparkle in the Saviour's crown for eternity, and yet Satan is taking them bodily down to death and hell. Why, one of them came here last night — he was drunk — and he said he thought I was mad, and he prayed for me. Is it not written. " No drunkard shall enter the kingdom of God ? " Is God true or not? If any man tells us that these drunkards can reel into Heaven, tell him he is a liar. Heaven would be as corrupt as earth if that were possible. Well, the loss of friends is sad. Some of you have gone to a funeral, perhaps, to-day. But the loss of friends is nothing in com- parison with the loss of a soul. It seems to me I would rather have all my friends snatched away to-night to Christ than to have them live for years with me without hope. There was a Superintendent of a Sunday School in Chicago, years ago, who took his children out on an excursion. A beautiful little boy fell under the wheels, and the whole train passed over him. The remains were so mangled he had to take off his coat to tie them up to take them to the father and mother. Three of them went with them to the house. When they got there they didn't any of them want 38 TO ALL PEOPLE. to go in. One said, " You go," and the other said, "You go." At last the Superintendent went in. The father and mother were dining, and he called the father out and told him that little Jimmy was run over. And the father /rushed in to the mother and said, " Dead ! " " Dead ! " " Dead ! " " Who ? " said the mother. " Our little J immy." And that mother came rushing out, crying, " Where is my Jimmy ? " And when he told that mother her boy was - mangled so that he could not be recognized, she fainted away. "Moody," said that Superintendent to me, "I wouldn't be a messenger like that again for all I have ! " You can't help but say that was sad ; but what was the loss of that little child in comparison with the loss of those young men who have grown up to manhood and rejected the Son of God, died without the Son of God, died without hope, died without mercy, died without excuse? I have got an only son, and I would rather have a train of cars one hundred miles long roll over him than have him die without God and without hope. Make this the burden of your prayers for your friends, " O God, save them ! " If man was not lost, what did Christ come for? What did Calvary mean with all its horrors if man is not lost ? Do you think Christ would have come if man could have come to God by his own efforts ? Let us not be deceived by the great enemy of souls. Oh ! that the scales may fall from our eyes and that we may realize what it means — the loss of a soul ! After that vessel went down off the coast of New- foundland, some years ago — one of the White Star Line — and 500 went down to a watery grave, there was a business man of Detroit who was thought to be lost. But while his wife and friends were in the midst of their mourning there came a despatch from him, with his own name signed to it; saying just this — " Saved !" [At this time considerable com- motion took place on the Tremont street side of the au- dience owing to a man who fainted and had to be carried out. ''SAVED OR LOST." 39 When he was got into the lobby cold water was thrown over him and he was left to go home alone.] Mr. Moody con- tinuing, said : It is some one that has fainted. It is a glorious thing they haven't died, isn't it? Nevermind that person who has fainted. Let us attend to the interests of our souls to-night. Ask yourselves, Am I redeemed to- night t If not, why not settle the great question here to- night ? Why postpone it any longer ? Why make any more delay? There is a story of Rowland Hill. He was preaching in the open air when Lady Erskine rode by, and she ordered her carriage driven as close up as possible, so that she might hear him. And Rowland Hill said : " My friends, I have got something here for sale to-day." Of course all was silence then. " I am going, " he said " to sell it by auction. It is worth more than the crown of England. It is worth more than all the world. It is the soul of Lady Ann Erskine. Hark ! I hear a bid for her soul. Who bids ? Satan bids. Satan, what will you give for this soul ? ' I will give riches and honor and pleasure ; yea, I will give the whole world for her soul ! ' Do I hear another bid for this soul ? Ah ! methinks I hear another bid. Who bids ? The Lord Jesus bids. Jesus, what will you bid for this soul ? ' I will give peace and joy and com- fort that the world knows not of. Yea, I will give eternal life for her soul 1 ' " Turning to Lady Erskine he said, " You have here two bidders, which will 3''OU take ? " And, ordering her carriage door opened, she pushed her way through the crowd and said, " The Lord Jesus shall have my soul if He will take it," That story may be true, or it may not be true. But it is true there are two parties bid- ding for your soul to-night. A little child dying said to its mother, " What mountains do I see yonder ? " " There are no mountains in front of the house, my child." " Yes, there are, mother, don't you see them ? Won't you take me over in your arms ? " And the mother got down and 40 TO ALL PEOPLE. prayed, and told her boy that Jesus would be with him. And then the child's eyes brightened and he said, " Mother, don't you hear them ? " " Hear who, my child ? " " Hear the angels, mother. They are just on the other side of the mountains. Carry me over the mountains, mother." " I can't do that, my child, the Saviour will take you over. Jesus will be with you. Look to Him." And then he breathed a prayer and said, " Good-by, mother, Jesus has come to carry me over the mountain," and then the little sufferer was gone. Oh, sinner ! Christ has come to carry you over the mountain. He will fold you to His bosom and carry you unto His kingdom. I thank God that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should have everlasting life. Let us lift our hearts in prayer now for the lost souls in this building to-night. ■» ^ THE HOLY SPIRIT, III.* By it we are made free from the law. We have for our subject to-day the Holy Spirit. I want to call your attention to Galatians, fifth chapter and eighteenth verse : " But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." Now every child of God ought to be led by the Spirit, and as long as they are led by Him they are led into light and not into darkness. The Spirit of God never yet led one of God's children into darkness, and if there are any Christians here to-day in any darkness, it is because they are not willing to be led by the Spirit. That is the way we are to get into the kingdom of God ; to be led out of darkness into God's kingdom. Perhaps many of you have been talking with souls that have been struggling and praying to get liberty and to get into God's kingdom, and you have watched their countenances as the light broke upon them and their faces have filled with a glorious light. Now that takes place when a man is will- ing to let the Spirit lead him ; that is when they are con- verted. The conflict to get into the kingdom of God is all their own : it isn't God's fault. As a Scotchman once said, it took two to bring him to God ; it took the Lord and himself. A friend asked him what he did and he said he fought God, but the Lord did all the rest till he gave in. That is the fault. People are not willing to give up their own way, but when they are ready to surrender themselves up and be led by the Spirit of God, He leads * The first two sermons of the series on The Holy Spirit — See Glad Tidings. Page 273. 42 TO ALL PEOPLE. them unto life eternal. Oh, Christians, if you will be led by the Spirit you will have peace and joy that will throw light on questions that you don't now understand. Such as are led by the Spirit don't know what darkness is. But when we want our own way, and are led by the flesh and the motives of the flesh ; when the world and the influences of the world lead us, then it is that we get into darkness. Let us .ask ourselves to-day : " Am I led by the Spirit ? Is the Holy Spirit my guide ? " It says/ in the ist chapter of Romans, 8th verse : "There is therefore now no condem- nation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." If we walk after the Spirit, there is no condemnation. Our consciences are not all the time lashing us. I think that the trouble with a great many Christians is, that they are all the time con- demning themselves. Why ? Because they are led by the flesh, and not by the Spirit. We are told that when the Holy Ghost came upon Christ, as He came out of Jordan, that the Spirit led Him. And whenever we are led by the Spirit, we are led in the way that God would have us go. And how are we to find out whether this Spirit of God leadeth us or whether it is the flesh ? Why, you will find it in the Word. The Holy Ghost always quotes the Word. You will find that a man who is full of the Holy Spirit is generally full of Scripture, and that will lead you aright. But a man who preaches, and has dreams and everything but the Word to present to you, you cannot tell where he will lead you. If a man tells me that the Spirit told him to do so and so, I would rather have him draw on the Bible for what he is saying, and then I can know sure if the Spirit said it. A man once came down to the Taber- nacle where we were and said that the Spirit told to him to preach there for me ; but I told him that the Spirit hadn't told me so, and how was I to know ? But many such men haven't God. They have a false idea that they THE HOL V SPIRIT, III. 43 are taught by the Spirit, when they haven't got the Word of God. A man filled with the Spirit is all the time bring- ing out the Word of God, whether men around them like it or not, because he feels with the Word. If we only get this lesson into our hearts about giving up our own way and will entirely to God, and be led by the Spirit, how many dark hours would be saved from a conflict with the enemy. Do you think God would have gone to Sodom if the Spirit had only animated them there, — if they had been led by it? Do you think that men of Boston would be troubled about their souls if they were led by the Spirit? Do you think that men would fail in business if they were led by the Spirit ? It is this spirit of ambition to get rich, and be the richest man and stand at the head of some profession. This isn't really the Spirit of God leading men. Men are all the time taking false steps, because they are not willing to be led by the Spirit. And not only that, but do you think that so many men would go to ruin if they would let the Spirit lead them ? This question of public amusements comes up and it is asked, "Is it right to dance?" All I have got to say is, if the Spirit of God says dance, then dance. Let the Spirit of God be your teacher, and you will see what is right and what is wrong. Men say, " Is it consistent for me to go to the theatre ? " Christ didn't really lay down the rule about that, mentioning it in particular, but Christ's principle is that you are to give yourself up to the Spirit of the Word. Then you will be guided aright and make no mistake. A man told me in Chicago that he had been converted, but he said he hadn't given up anything, that he hadn't given up the theatre or novels, and wasn't going to give up anything. Well, I didn't say anything. He went to the theatre, but he said he didn't stay there, for he had no desire to ; that he couldn't read novels, for he hadn't any taste for them. The reason was simple. When 44 TO ALL PEOPLE. a man is filled with the Spirit he won't want to love those thinofs he once did ; his love has been turned into anothei channel. Men say that they can't give up this thing or that one. You let the Spirit of God get into their hearts, and they can. They can't do it themselves, but God can do it for them. You cannot find in the teachings of Christ where you have got to give up any of these things. You speak of this or that, but the teaching of the Word is that if you take the Spirit of God it will enlighten you and cast out darkness. My wife has got a schoolmate who had a beautiful little boy about four years old that put his eye out with a pair of scissors. Since then my wife has always been very careful about our little child using a pair of scis- sors. But one day little Willie got them and his little sister could not get them away from him. She knew that he was fond of oranges, and so she ran and got one and held it up and said : " Don't you want an orange .'* " and he just drop- ped the scissors and went for that orange — that was better than the scissors. Now, that is just the way with the present infidel ; we want to give them something better than they have got, and if the Spirit of God gets down into their hearts they will have something better and something that will satisfy them. We want to have them, led by the Spirit. These men, led by the spirit of the world, cannot give the world up. They haven't found God. But when led by His Spirit they can easily give up the world. He can turn their appetites and wants to. Men want the Holy Spirit to regulate and regenerate their life j it will turn the whole current of their life. An old citizen came to me last night, and said, " I hope you won't speak without having just a word for the poor drunkard." 1 hope that you won't get tired if I do so. I do want to hold out a hope to the poor drunkard. If they will only accept God they will not slumber long in wickedness. They will get the world under their feet and God will give them THE 110 L Y SPIRIT, III. 45 power to hurl the cup from their lips. No other power can do it. If you are led by the Spirit of God you can be saved. Now just give yourself up to the Spirit of God while I am talking and say : " Spirit of God, lead me ; I give up all to You ; I make a complete surrender ; God's will shall be my will, and His spirit shall lead me from this day and hour, " and see how quick. He will come to your help. If you get your right hand in God's He will lead you safely to the light. Don't think that He will lead you into any vice. Don't think that He will desert you. He knows your life, your wants, your temptations. I don't think there has ever been a soul led wrong when led by the Holy Spirit. Now, who is it that grieves ? Turn to the fourth chapter of Ephesians, thirtieth verse, and you will find that it is the Holy Spirit. " And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Bear in mind, that was written to the Church at Ephe- sus. A great many have got the idea that it is the uncon- verted that grieve the Holy Spirit ; but it is the Church. To be sure, a man that resists the Holy Ghost may grieve Him by not letting Him into his heart ; but really this was written to the Church. " Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice." That is, the Church quarrels. The Master knows that after the devil gets into the Church the Holy Ghost cannot work. That is one way we grieve the Holy Ghost. " And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, for- giving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath for- given you." Now if we grieve the Spirit He cannot work through us and use us. Th"s is to the Church. Another way that we grieve the Spirit s by being yoked up with ungodly people. 46 TO ALL PEOPLE. We want to be separated. There was a time when there was danger of the Church going over into the world. But I don't think there is so much danger of that now as of the devil and the world coining into the Church. That's the danger. Why, you see the height of the fashion in the churches ! We have got theatricals in a good many of the churches. Now the Holy Ghost is grieved in that way, by letting the world come into the Church. A great many in the Church want more intellectual power ; but that isn't what we need so much as the Holy Ghost power. W^here can they look to find greater power than that which followed the simple preaching of Barnabas and Stephen? "Why," they say, " preach about the sins of those assembled in the church and you would preach the rich people out of doors ; they wouldn't stand it. W^e must get a man that will just sort of compromise between the Church and God, and make ever}^body feel that they are all right." They want minis- ters to preach about the sins of the old patriarchs, but not about the sins of the present day. They are some- thing like a man in Scotland ; an old minister died, and a young man took the old church, and the first tiniehe preached he began to bear down upon the sins of the con- giegation. After the service, the sexton, or the beadle, as they call them there, took him one side and said : " Young man, if you want to be popular don't you speak about the sins of this people, but speak about the sins of Jacob, Isaac, and the sinners of 2000 years ago. They will like you then. They won't stand hearing the sins of the pres- ent day." There is a good deal of that kind of preaching now. Many preachers bring up the sins of those that lived hundreds of years ago. But if we are going to honor the Holy Ghost we must give the message just as God gives it to us. And if we are not willing that a man we put in the pulpit shall speak as the Spirit comes to him, as that Spirit directs, then the Holy Ghost is grieved. Are the TFTF. FIOL Y SPIRIT, III. 47 churches in New England ready for that ? Are they ready that ministers should preach the whole truth, if it does cut to the heart? If a man has been defrauding his neighbor, are they ready to have that man preached about and that sin brought to light ? When we get sin out of the Church, and man's heart pure, we will have more conversions in one year than we have had for the last fifty years. I know some people say that it will drive away the moneyed men from the Church and they need them. If it will, it will bring God down into the church and there will be more power in the Church. We don't want intellect and money power, but the power of God's Word working in the minds and hearts of men, making them over anew — making them holy men. And then we will see men converted. How many churches do you think there are in New England that know that power 1 Why, I heard of a church in Chicago which hadn't had a conversion for eight years ! Think of it ! And some one praying for that church, said : " Give it one more chance. Lord, before You spew it out of Thy mouth." I thought that was a very appropriate prayer. There was certainly something more than 200 professed Christians wrong with God. The Holy Spirit must be grieved when Christians can't work and have power. Let them not talk about the world grieving the Holy Spirit, but bring it home to themselves. Are we doing anything to grieve the Holy Ghost that has sealed us for the day of redemption.'' In the ist of Thessalonians, 5th chapter and 19th verse, we find these words : " Quench not the Spirit." That was written to the Church. How ? By not being willing to let the Spirit of God lead us. We are all the time taking God's work out of the hands of the Spirit into our own. "Quench not the Spirit." We quench it by this terrible lukewarmness, by this coldness and stiffness which has come into the Church. Turn over to the fifth chapter of Acts and you will find who does that resists the 48 TO ALL PEOPLE. Holy Ghost. And in the 7th chapter of Acts, 51st to 54th verses, we read : " Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do always resist the Holy Ghost : as your fathers did, so do ye. " Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecu- ted.? andthey have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One ; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers : " Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. " When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth." You see their hearts were cut to the quick. On the day of Pentecost all men's hearts were cut to the quick. And so it was when Stephen stood up there and gave them the trutli. He didn't keep anything back. He knew that it would cost him his life to preach the truth, but he gave them the truth. "You do always resist the Holy Ghost." That is what the world is doing to-day — resisting, I can look, in my mind, to men now resisting the prayers of a sainted mother, resisting the prayers of friends, right into the Kingdom of God. Why do men resist the Holy Ghost ? We are told in the i6th chapter of John and 8th verse, that " He will reprove the world of sin, and of right- eousness, and of judgment." He tells men their faults. He don't tell a man how noble and how great he is. The devil has been doing that for six thousand years. The Holy Spirit don't throw light on that^ and that is the reason a great many don't like Holy Ghost preaching : because it convinces of sin. You tell a man his faults, and he will get mad. I had a good deal rather you would tell me my faults. Will you listen to the entreaties of kind friends, that love you, and are anxious about your souls ! Some peo- ple think that the broad road is an easy way, but it is a very hard way. You have got to pass over the prayers of THE HOLY SPIRIT, III 4^ your best friends, the feelings of your friends and those you love, and all the way down from the cradle to the grave, you have to resist the Holy Ghost. How many times men have been resisting it. " You do always resist the Holy Ghost." If men would only stop resisting and come to themseh^es and be led by that Spirit, He will lead them. There are more people ruined by flattery than by telling them their faults. The Holy Ghost never flatters, but convinces us of sin, and that is the reason many don't like Him. Another man and I met a man in Chicago sleeping on the sidewalk. It was one of the coldest days of the season, and we knew he would freeze if we didn't wake him. We awoke him, and he got mad with us. That was just what we wanted — to get his blood stirred and then he would be all right. And sometimes the Holy Ghost wakes up men and they wake up mad. A man said once that he was pictured out before a whole audience ; that somebody had told the preacher all about him ; that somebody must have written about him to the preacher, but that is the way of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit convinces men of sin, and then men resist. Sometimes, when you wake up a person, they wake up very cross, and that is the way men often act when the Spirit is counselling them. But that is a good sign. It is better to have them wake up cross than sleepy, because the devil can't rock them to sleep easy. Oh, that we may have preaching that will wake up people and wake up their consciences. In the 2d of Corinthians, 3d chapter and 6th verse, there is something I want4;o call your at- tention to. But before I do let me tell you of a circum- stance: A lady came to me some time ago and wanted to know why it was that they hadn't any conversions in her church. They said that the minister preached good sound orthodox doctrine, every sermon was sound ; there was no trouble about them. I said, that may be, but there must 4 ^o TO ALL FEOFLE. be something beside sound doctrine. I don't know of any- thing more disgusting than dead orthodoxy. I fear that more than all the isms. Orthodoxy, dead, is an abomina- tion to God and man. We want to hold these truths, not in any formal way, but living in power ; and if men follow- ed what they profess to believe and preach, Christianity would have a mighty power in this world. I think this verse (2d Corinthians iii. 6) throws light upon that class that work and preach sound in the doctrine : " Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament ; not of the letter, but of the Spirit : for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." Let us see. If we have sound doctrine, and not the Spirit of God back of these words and doctrine, it doesn't bring life to the heart. "The letter killeth," and that is what " dead orthodoxy " is doing. " The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." We find in the 6th chapter of Ephesians, 17th verse : " And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." If we don't know how to use the sword what is the good of it. We may have the Word, but if we have not the Spirit of God and are taught by the Spirit of God, and handle the Word and know how to use it, we don't accom- plish this work. But if the Word of God is hid in our hearts, and the Spirit of God teaches us how to use it, then it is that the Word is sharper than a two-edged sword. [At this point some one in the rear of the chorus seats uttered a loud shout. Mr. Moody turned and said, " My friend, I can do all the shouting ; I can speak loud enough without any help," and proceeded with his discourse.] If we can only just get hold of this Word in our prayer- meetings ; in our churches, we will become a living power. But what are 10,000 men good for, if they don't know how to use their weapons .-* An army of 500, or even 100, could THE HOL Y SPIRIT, III. ^ I rout 10,000 if the}^ didn't know how to use their swords. Let us have the spirit of this Word, and if ^^e understand the Word "from back to back " we can meet these infidels. People talk about studying books to meet them. All you want is the Word of God. God will take hold of his Book and meet them. You can't meet men with your opinion. Give up your opinions ; just tell them of the Word of God. He will take care of His Word. It will cut down deep. They may fight and kick, and talk and swear (even some of them will swear), but just give them the Word and the Spirit will do its own work. The Spirit can convince. I have seen men come into the inquiry-room, just to talk and discuss and get up an argument. Some men live on argu- ment. Well, I generally take the Bible and give them a few verses, " But," they say, " I don't believe the Bible." I give them more verses and they say the same thing. But . I just keep giving them verses. It is God's own Word. I am no match for infidels, but this Word is ; this Word tells all about them. There have been infidels for 600 years, and probably will be until the millennium ; but, thank God, there won't be any then. The only way to meet infidels is to meet them with the Word of God. They have got to settle it with the Spirit. The question is, " Are you ready to go by that .? " Are you ready to know the Word t I find a great many in the inquiry-room as workers who haven't got any Bible with them. They are just like an army with- out any weapons. They want their Bibles to meet these sharp infidels and give them the Word. You cannot con- vince them, but God by His Word can. He sends us to preach the Gospel, and we are to preach it through the Word ; and if we are only full of it we can give them the Word and know how to use it. I like to hear these men quote Scripture with the infidel, and then that ends our work. God comes right in as a third party and defends His work. We are out of the fight. There is a fight be- 52 TO ALL PEOPLE. tween him and his God. But the Scriptures cannot be broken. All the devils in hell cannot break God's Word. They have been at it six thousand years and failed. All the infidels in Boston cannot break it. The Scriptures cannot be broken ; they have been fulfilled, and therefore let us take the sword of the Spirit and go to work for God. David said that he had the Word of God hid in his heart. Some one has said that it was a good thing to carry the Bible under our arm. So it is, but it is better to have it hid in our heart, and then the Holy Ghost has got some- thing to use in us. Can you get water out of a dry well ? If we haven't got the Word of God in our heart, how is the Spirit of God going to use us ? He isn't going to take our opinion ; he uses the Word. The Word is the sword of the Spirit. I saw some time ago what were termed the emblems of the Holy Ghost and I copied the propositions : Water — cleansing, everlasting, refreshing, abundant, freely given. That is one emblem of the Spirit — water. There were some men who went to Africa ; I think there was a colony wanted to settle. They went to one place, but were told that there was no water, and going to another found no water ; but at last they came to a place where the in- habitants said that the clouds pierced there and they got under them. They settled there. Let us see that we get under the pierced clouds and have the Spirit of God com- ing upon us. You find in Exodus, 17th chapter and 6th rerse, that God told Moses to strike the rock in Horeb and that He would stand there before Him, A very singular thing that you find the Trinity concealed there. And as Moses struck the rock there was the power of the Trinity manifest, and the water flowed out and all drank, " And it was all done in the sight of the elders of Israel." Let us all come to this fountain and drink deep and get so filled that we can't hold it ; but be just like Jeremiah, who got it into his bones and must preach. Let us preach. Then THE HOL Y SPIRIT, III. ^2 comes fire as an emblem of the Holy Ghost — illuminating, brilliant, stirring. Wind — independent, powerful, sensitive in its effects. Oil — healing and comforting. Rain and dew — fertilizing, refreshing, penetrating, abundant. A dove — gentle, meek, innocent, forgiving. A voice — speaking, guiding, warning. A seal — impressing, securing. These are all emblems of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that each one of us may be led by the Spirit from this day and hour. THE HOLY SPIRIT'S POWER, IV. We have for our subject this afternoon the spirit of power and the spirit of service. The Word of God teaches us very clearly that we are born of the Spirit when we aie led by the Holy Ghost. In the 14th chapter of John and the 17th verse, we read the following words : " Even the spirit of truth ; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him ; but ye know Him, for tie dwelleth with you and shall be in you." Then in the ist of Corinthians, i6th and 17th verses, it says : " Know ye not that ye are the temples of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you .'' If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy ; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." Now there are a great many that have the witness at all times with them ; that are the children of God, but they have not got the power. They have all the signs but are without the power. You will find nine -tenths, yes, I will say nineteen out of every twenty church members, that are without power. Th^y are good for nothing in prayer-meeting. They have got no power in prayer. We do not see them at Sunday School or at work anywhere. They are willing to work, but don't know how. You ask them how the work of the Lord is prospering and they will tell you they don't know. Now these people have really been born of the Spirit, they have a work of grace in their soul but they do not know what to do for God. They have received the Spirit but have not obtained the power while admitting that they are believers. But then there are so many sons and daugh- THE HOL Y SPIRIT'S FO IVEK, IV. 55 ters without power, so many Christians without example, and that is what is the matter. We want to have them baptized by the Holy Ghost so that they shall have the power. They want to be anointed for the service. A great many attemjDt to work for God without any prepara- tion, and that is the reason their work is a faiUire. We find that in the thirty years Jesus lived in Nazareth He did nothing remarkable. We hear nothing of Him for thirty years, and until He was baptized by the Holy Ghost He did nothing remarkable. But when the Holy Ghost came upon Him and anointed Him for the service ; when the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him, He began to preach. It was then His ministry commenced. You may divide the church into three classes. The first class is represented by Nicodemus, in the 3d chapter of John : "There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Tlie same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, ' Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God ; for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him.' Jesus answered and said unto him, ' Verily, verily, I say unto thee, ex- cept a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he canrot enter into the kingdom of God.' Nicodemus answered and said unto him, ' How can a man be born again when he is old ? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born } ' " These persons are all the time doubting God's willingness to do what He promises. Then | if we turn to the 4th chapter we find a better class ; they are like the Samaritan woman when the love of God began to bubble up in her heart. You all know that water al- ways rises to its own level ; and so the love of God kept bubbling up in this poor woman's heart until it reached the Throne of God. She had been blessed, and so she spread the glad tidings wherever she went. Now, if you will turn to the 7th chapter and 37th verse, you c6 TO ALL PEOPLE. will find a better class yet. " In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cri(.d, saying : ' If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that be- lie veth on me as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe in Him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified." Now if every man had been born of the Spirit; if the Holy Ghost had been with them, out of their belly, to use the Scripture language, would flow rivers of living water. Peter did not have much power until after the Day of Pentecost : he had not be- fore that time the power, he was not anointed for the ser- vice, but when the power of the Holy Ghost came upon him, what courage he had to stand up and preach the Word of God. Now we must get this power be- fore we can do much good in the Church or be of any real service to God. Now we have two ways of dig- ging wells in this country ; one is to dig until you get to water, then you put in a wooden well and commence to pump ; that is one way. Then there is another and a better way. They do not stop when they get to water, but keep on digging until a lower stratum is reached. That is called an artesian well ; the water flows right up, and there is no necessity for pumping. • Now every Christian should be an artesian well ; a river of living water should be kept constantly flowing from the heart. When I first started in this good work I had to pump very hard and I did not get much then because the well was dry ; but since I have got the Holy Ghost I have no trouble ; it flov/s right up ; all I have got to do is to open my mouth and it is filled. Now, my friends, if we Christians could have this same well in our hearts there will be more work done than there has been for years. When I was in California I noticed that some farms, as it was in the dry season, looked very green, THE HOLY SPIRIT'S POWER, IV. 57 while a great many in the immediate vicinity were all dried up. My curiosity was aroused to know why this was so, and upon making inquiries I found that those that looked so green had been irrigated, and that was what made them look so fresh and green. You will find a great many pro- fessors of Christianity all dried up. They don't irrigate ; they have not this river of living water in their hearts. In the church to which they belong you will find upon making an examination that they have dead leaders, dead deacons, dead superintendents and Sunday School teachers ; they are all dead together ; they have not die love and power of God resting upon them. Have we got this power — this river of living water in our hearts ? If we have not we are powerless to advance the Master's Kingdom. When we get the power it is easy to work for God. While we were in Chicago a minister said to me, *' How do we know who among this assembly are thirsty? If I should send a lad through the entire assembly with a bucket of sparkling water, you would soon find out who among them were thirsty. The thirsty ones would all stretch out their hands to get a drink ; and I don't know how we will find out who are hungering and thirsting in this assembly unless we do the same thing." The idea struck me as being a very good one. I think a great many ministers go to their people with empty buckets. If we have got any water they will soon find it out. I believe there are a great many ministers carrying empty buckets ; if we will only fill them there will be no trouble but what the people will come. A story is related of a little boy in a country town, who could catch pigeons when no other boy could catch a single one, and somebody asked him how he did it; said he: "I will tell you, but I don't care about anybody else knowing it : I feed them well." That, my friends, is just what we must do, we must feed them well. In the 2d chapter and 20th verse of John, we read: "Then said the Jews: ^8 TO ALL PEOPLE. Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt Thou rear it up in three days ? " We read in the Word of God, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Now if every man were converted by the power of the Holy Ghost, what a mighty work would be done. How many souls would be led to accept the Saviour ? Now let me call your attention to another verse. Turn back to Luke, 24th chapter and 49th verse, and you read : " And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you : but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." Now He had breathed upon them and said, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost." That must have been the second time they re- ceived it. " Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you : but tarry ye in Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." He had breathed upon them and said, '' Receive ye the Holy Ghost," and the}^ had received it, but had not received the anointing for service, and that is the trouble with the Christians of to-day ; they need the power of the Holy Ghost to come upon them. Let us see if we can't get it to-day. What the Christian Church needs is to be stirred up. I would rather be the means under God of stirring up the Christian Church than of winning 100 souls to Christ. If I could stir up 100 Christians and induce them to seek this gift of service, to get full of the Holy Ghost, it would result in thousands of conversions. There is no doubt about that. Well, let us ask ourselves the question : " Has the Church this gift t " The disciples were ordered to tarry at Jerusalem for ten days, or until they were imbued with power from on high, and at the end of that time the power came and they were ready for God's service. The devil has tried to blind you. He does not care how many Christians there are in the world if they have not got the power of the Holy Ghost. What we want is to tarry at Jerusalem till we get this power. In the same chapter and in the 4th and 33d THE HOLY SPIRIT'S POWER, IV. 59 verses we read : " And it came to pass as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold two men stood by them in shining garments." " And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them." The Word says, " Repent ye and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ ! " Now, the office of the Holy Ghost is to convince of sin, and without this power men will not be convinced or converted. The \\'ord says, Repent of your sins and be baptized ; and until we do repent we cannot receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now we read in the 4th chapter of Acts, that Peter and John, having been arrested and thrown into jDrison, were moved by the Holy Ghost and had a prayer - meeting there. That was a very good thing. And Vv'hile they were pray- ing the place was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to believe the Word of God. Now we find a great many men who, in years past, have been powers in the Church, but because you were filled ten years ago, it is no sign you do not need to be filled again. There were a great many men that had great power ten years ago that are dumb now. They need a fresh anoint- ing. There's a great tendency among Christians who are all the time working for others to forget that they them- selves need a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit ; and we ministers are too apt to forget that we too need a fresh anointing. Now we found in Philadelphia this same spirit, but there was a great work done there, and I hope there will be in Boston. I think we have got enough Scripture. What we want is the gift of the Holy Ghost. We want to search" our hearts and see if there is any evil way in us. We v/ant fresh power. A great many men get up in prayer- meeting and make the same prayers that they have made for twenty years. I have got tired of these prayerless prayers. They have been made for years till they are 6o TO ALL PEOPLE. Stereotyped ; we have got to get hold of God ; we have got to wrestle mightily in pra3^er until we get the blessing. Now, when you pray are your prayers indited by the Holy Ghost? Are you praying for something which will honor God, or are you praying for a selfish purpose ? If so, your prayers will not be answered. The old man must be crucified and the new man put on before God can use you. Now, the question comes, " How much of this spirit can we have?" In Ephesians, 5th chapter and 8th verse, we read : " For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord ; walk as children of light." Have you this Spirit ? If so God will work through you. If we are full of the spirit of Christ there will be no room for jealousy. Dignity and position will be sunk out of sight. When I went over to England to lecture I did not understand much about English theology. A great many ministers were on the platform, — the platform was full of ministers, — and I was somewhat embarrassed. While I was preaching one minis- ter rested his head on his hands, as if he was ashamed of my theology, and when I got through he got his hat and started for the door. I thought I had preached him out of doors, and I was sorry for it, for he was a prominent man and just such a one as I wanted. I preached again the next day, and he was not there, and I thought 1 never should see him any more. The second day he came into the prayer-meeting and told those ministers he had been preaching without the power. And since he had been absent he had been in his closet asking God to forgive him and to give him the Holy Ghost power. He had con- fessed his sin and asked God to give him grace. God heard his prayer and gave him the Spirit. He preached the Gospel that night as he had never preached before. He told me : " I have preached but one sermon a day for some time." He was troubled with heart disease, but when the Holy Ghost's power came upon him his trouble THE HOL V SPIRIT'S PO IV ER, IV. 6l was all gone. He told me that he had preached eight sermons a week,, and did not feel so tired as when he had previously preached only one. He had wonderful power, and was the means of bringing hundreds of souls to Christ. When we were in Philadelphia a lady said to me : " Mr. Moody, can women have this power ? " I told her I saw no reason why any one should not have it that wanted to work for God. Women need it as much as men. "Well," said she, " if I can have it I want it. I have a husband who is not a Christian. I have also a Sabbath School class and they are unconverted." A week from that time she came to me and said : " I have got it. The Lord has blessed me. My husband has been converted and five of my Sun- day School class." That was the result of that woman's receiving the power of the Holy Ghost. It spread all through the church of which she was a member, and the people seeing that she had something which they had not got began to inquire, and as a result of the quickening of that woman five hundred members were added to the church. You can tell a man who is filled by the Holy Ghost : he is all the time talking about Christ ; he has nothing to say of himself, but is constantly holding Jesus Christ up as an all-sufficient Saviour. In concluding what was a deeply interesting sermon, Mr. Moody related the wonderful story of Elisha and Elijah, claiming that as Elisha was permitted by reason of his faith to see Elijah ascend up to heaven, all Christians, if faithful and possessed with the Holy Spirit, can see by the eye of faith the glory of God. Let us, said he, pray God to descend upon the churches of Boston, and baptize them with His Holy Spirit. SERMON TO CHRISTIAN WORKERS. We have for our subject this morning the importance of the inquiry-meeting. A great many do not understand the object of the inquiry-meeting. Now, I have noticed during the past three years we have been engaged in this special work that it has all been done in the inquiry-room, and that those who have been engaged in it have not been disappointed. I have yet to hear of the first man or wo- man who has been into the inquiry-room, and got him or herself right into the heart of the work, that was ever dis- appointed. They were not only encouraged while we were there in the city or town at work with them, but they have been at work ever since, and have not become discouraged. It seems to me that the enemy of souls is willing we should work for the Lord as much as we are a mind to if we will only dispense with this thing. We have more op- position to the inquiry-room, but that is the work which God blesses the most. You can always tell if there is the most opposition to a work that is the most blessed ; and if the devil had nothing to say against it there would be work that did not accomplish much for the Lord. But where there is actual work being done and souls transferred from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of Heaven tlien there will be opposition. I want to call your attention to a few passages to prove that this inquiry-work is really in accord ance with Scripture. The preachings that do not pro- duce inquirers cannot be successful except when the min- ister is building up his flock. There are three kinds of service, I should say, that ought to be held in the church — SERMON TO CHRISTIAN WORKERS. 63 there is teaching ; there is building up the believers in faith and in work ; there is worship when we come to the Lord's table to break bread, to commemorate His death and pro- claim the gospel. That is entirely distinct from preach- ing or teaching. When the gospel is proclaimed [ think we should look for results. What would you say t>f a man who kept setting his net for tish, but never pulled it in to see if he had caught any. We want to cast the gospel net and pull it in to see if we have caught anything, although many men keep setting and mending their nets, but never pull them in to see if they have caught anything. Christ said to Peter, in Matthew iv. 19: "For I will make you fishers of men." " I, God, will do it." Now I do not see how men can work for Christ and not be successful in win- ning men ; and if we aim at that and work for it, I think we will be successful. Of course it needs tact and wisdom. " They that are wise shall win men to Christ : " " he that winneth souls is wise, and they that turn many to righteous- ness," He says, " shall shine as the brightness of the firm- ament." "They that be wise shall shine." If we are really wise in winning souls to Christ we cannot help but shine in the community where we live. If there are Chris- tians who have lived ten or fifteen years and never won souls to Christ, there must be something wrong with these professed Christians. I should say they ought to be suc- cessful if they have a true hope. They may have a false hope. If we have a false hope, we cannot teaeh others, but if we have a true hope, and that is Christ, — Christ formed in us, — we cannot help being successful. "They have the fear of the Lord and speak one to another ; " that is the way they do when they have God in their hearts. If a man has got Christ in his soul, he cannot keep from tell- ing the news. Let us get into this state. The first thing almost that fell from the lips of Christ after he was bap- tized was to ask a question. Oh, how many would get 64 TO ALL PEOPI^E. waked up by asking them a question about their soul r They might be waked from a sleep of twenty years. John xxi. 2 1, says : " ' Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?' Jesus saith unto him, ' If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? Follow thou Me.' " There was an inquiry by Peter and Christ answered it. And this morning let me call your attention to a few passages in Matthew alone to show how He taught the people ; how He was constantly asking them questions and encouraging them to ask Him questions, drawing out from them their thoughts. There are two ways of teaching. One way is to pour in knowledge, and the other is to draw it out and find out what men think of it. And I think sometimes if Christians would only be drawn out, if they would speak out their minds it would be good for them. If I speak out a man's name here who is asleep and ask him what he thinks about this matter I think he would rub his eyes and think anyway. We want people to think. There is no trouble if people will stop to think. The trouble is you cannot get them to stop long enough to think and to ask questions about God's word. For instance, John's preach- ing we will glance at before we turn to Matthew. People inquire what do you say in the inquir3^-room t What do you do ? And they come and peek in as if we had something on exhibition, as if there was something strange and myste- rious ; and the people asked him, " What shall we do there ? " That is tUe inquiry, " What shall we do there ? " That was while John was preaching upon the banks of the Jordan — a very prince of preachers. And you remember his answer, what he said about the publicans. Now the publicans were considered in those days the very worst kind of men, nearly as bad as our rumsellers of the present time. They did not like so many taxes ; they were public thieves ; they "were like some men who take money from the government. Some men think it is no sin to steal from the government ; SERMON TO CHRISTIAN WORKERS. 6S but if from individuals, that is a great sin, and he gives them some good advice. " Exact no more taxes." Now people want to know what we do in the inquiry-room. We give inquirers good advice. We tell them what to do for their souls. Sometimes men get so entangled in the devil's net that they don't know how to get out, and we tell them just what to do. If there are any that do I think the best thing is for them to talk with some Christian man or woman that has passed through the same experience, and therefore can help them. While you are preaching a sermon you may pass over all the difficulties, while in five, ten, or fifteen minutes' conversation you may help them out of their difficulty. What would you say of a doctor who ne\-er went to see his patients, but stayed in his office and sent them only one kind of medicine. You would say that man would never be successful ; he would not have many p.itients ; in fact, he could not be successful. But when you are sick you want a doctor to call and feel of your pulse and look at your tongue, and inquire all about the disease and get the facts, and then he knows vv'hat kind of medicines to adaiinister. It is just so with our souls. We want to know the soul's condition. Some are troubled with infideUty ; others don't have that trouble. Others have skepticism ; others are doubting all the while, and some persons have been dishonest and don't know how to make restitution. Oihers have this and that difficulty, and don't know just how to get out of these difficuUies. If they could have a private talk with some man of God, some Christian, who would be able to help them, their trouble would disappear in a very few minutes. I have noticed th:it very few people are converted under the sermon. They may be impressed by it, but generally very few accept Christ during the sermon. But if after the sermon, you have a second meeting and talk with tliem personally, then you can accomplish something. I think S 66 TO ALL PEOPLE. there may be hundreds to whom, if I put the qi estion this morning and asked them — Christian people won to Christ — if it was not through the influence of some man or woman — perhaps a sower and reaper together, and one sowed and another helped him reap ; it may have been the mothei sowed the seed for years together and the man found and reaped it. I think they would say they were led to Christ by personal effort. If you put the question you will fmd that some individual effort brought about their conver- sion. Some one individual coming to them personally led them to Christ. I think, the churches are making a great mistake to-day, that their members are not trained to do this kind of work. If the ministers drive the nail, let the church members try to clinch it ; let them strike while the iron is hot. If the spirit of God comes down and men bow down in their consciousness of sin it will take every effort right there on the spot to get them to acknowledge their conviction, and a Christian can tell them how to be saved right there, and never wait until they have left the building. In Matthew xi. 3, we find the disciples ot John coming to Christ inquiring. They were sent by John the Baptist to inquire of him if he was the true Messiah. He did not send them to some philosopher or to some in- dividuals, but right to the Master himself. And they said unto him, " Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another.?'' And Jesus answered and said unto them, " Go and show John again these things which ye do heai and see." You go back and tell them the poor have the Gospel preached to them. " The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them." They told it to John, and he knew it was the Old Testament verified. If a man is in trouble about Christ, we can pray with him and ask the spirit to reveal these things, if they will but be willing. The trouble is their going SEKMOiY TO CHRISTIAN WORKERS. 67 off to officers and to the world instead of to Christ, — to this man and that man, — but they will not be led to the Lord Himself and ask Him to give them wisdom. I have not found the first instance of a sinner going to God in the right spirit and not knowing what he should do to be saved. They won't ask for the law or for wisdom, but for most everything else. They like to get into an argument, but are not willing to go right to the Lord and ask Him for light. If there is a Jew here this morning that will ask the God of Isaac, of Moses, and of Abraham whether He was the true Messiah or not He will do it. In the loth of Mat- thew, where the man had got the withered hand, they were come to ask Christ whether it was lawful to heal this man on the Sabbath day. But Christ was a match for them and the Bible is a match for all infidels ; that is the reason so many Christians are overcome by infidels because they do not know their Bibles well enough. See what they asked about this man then with the withered hand. Whether it is lawful or not to heal him on that day. Mark what Christ answered. And He said unto them, " What man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold of it and lift it out ? How much then is a man better than a sheep ? Wherefore it is lawful to do w^ell on the Sabbath days." And the Lord said, " Stretch out thy hand." And with that command the man got the power and out came the with- ered hand. They could not say anything, they knew that if they had an ox or an ass, and it fell into a pit, they would get it out, if it was the Sabbath day. And here is one of Adam's sons bound by a devil and the Lord de- livered him on the Sabbath day. They could not say anything against that. Bring your hard questions to Christ and He will answer them, Look at Matthew xiii. 36-39 ; "Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house : and His disciples came unto Him, saying ; 68 TO ALL PEOPLE, » Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.* He answered and said unto them, ' He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man ; the field is the world ; the good seed are the children of the kingdom ; but the tares are the children of the wicked one ; The enemy that soweth them is the devil ; the harvest is the end of the world ; and the reapers are the angels. ' " He always calls people by their right names. When He spoke of hell it was hell, and when he spoke of heaven it was heaven, and when He spoke of the devil it was the devil. Let us call things by their right names. Sin is sin. Let us not try to cover up these things. " The enemy that soweth them is the devil." Now the enemy that soweth the tares is busy at work in Boston, sowing day and night. People say that the preaching is so plain that they do not need any inquiry-room. Now Christ had been preaching Himself, and yet His disciples did not un- derstand— they inquired of Him. Ministers do not preach plain enough. Their sermons are too foggy. I think nine-tentlis of the sermons are lost because they are not plain. We believe people understand spiritual things when they don't. We want men to expound the Word. It is not sermons we want so much as to make the Word of God plain, and get people built up, then they will know where they stand. Christ had been preaching, but the people could not understand and so they came and got an explanation. Just look at the 13th chapter and 51st verse. There you will find that He encour- ages them. " Jesus saith unto them : ' Have ye under- stood all these things?' They say unto Him, 'Yea, Lord ! ' " I wonder what some people would say if you asked them if they understood some sermons they hear. I think if they were honest about it they would say, " No; I have not understood a word." Perhaps they have been transacting business in their heads while the minister was SERMON TO CHRISTIAN WORKERS. 69 pleaching — thinking about getting a situation. Now, after the Lord had been teaching He said : " Have you understood ? " and they answered, " Yea, Lord ! " But before long they came and wanted to have Him restate it, and, perhaps, put it a little plainer. Now the point I want to call your attention to is this : We should be will- ing to expose our ignorance. I believe that it is keeping hundreds out of the kingdom of God. They assume to know a great deal more than they do know, and think if they ask for knowledge they will be exposing their igno- rance. What have we got to do to understand spiritual things ? We have got to become like a little child. His Word says, " Unless ye become a little child ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." We call young Christians converts ; but they were always called disciples — that is, learners — in olden days : " Learn of me." And if we only get down from our high position and be willing to let Jesus teach us, to lie at His feet, we will get a great many heavenly truths, and we shall not know Christ until we be- come as little children. Men have been the same in every generation. Matthew xii. 15, says: "Then came His disciples and said unto him; 'Knowest Thou that the Phar- isees were offended after they heard these sayings t ' But He answered and said : ' Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone ; they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the pit.' Then answered Peter, and said unto him : ' Declare unto us this parable.' " Now there was a disciple asking a ques- tion, and that is the difference between the disciples of Christ and the world. A great many of the world come to God and only ask for light, but those that are willing to be disciples, they come and ask ; and if a man will ask in his soul of God He will give light and he will find out what tht^ Scripture means. I wish I had time to take up 70 TO ALL PEOPLE. all these passages, but you will find in one Gospel over and over again that they were constantly coming to Him, ask ing Him questions. As in Matthew xvii. lo, ii, 12 ; " And His disciples asked Him, saying, 'Why, then, say the scribes that Elias must first come ? ' And Jesus answered and said unto them, ' Elias truly shall first come and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them.' " In the same chapter they came again and they were asking him questions all the time. " Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." Now they tried to cast out the devil but were unsuccessful. And they asked Christ why they were unsuccessful. We pray for unconverted friends and our prayers are not answered. We inquire what it means ? Why does God not answer our prayers .'' Have an inquiry-meeting at once. Don't stop ! but get at the things that lie at the bottom of your trouble. There will be some reason apparent. This man went right to the Master and said, " Howbeit ? " Then take Christ's conversation with Nicodemus. A great many are willing to preach to two, three or four hundred people ; a great many are ready to jump up and talk to a large as- sembly and speak at young men's meetings, but how few there are ready to sit down and talk to one single soul. I have yet to find a successful worker that looks above that kind of work. Men that are unwilling to sit down with other people and converse with a soul are unsuccessful preachers in my estimation. Here is the prince of preachers preaching to Nicodemus a most wonderful sermon, the great sermon on regeneration, and it has been coming down through all the ages. Look how He talked with the Samaritan woman at the well ! Look at the Gospel of John and see the people that had personal interviews with Him ! He was not ashamed to sit and talk with them, to talk with our soul SERMON TO CHRISTIAN WORKERS. 71 and if we are going to be successful we must have hand to hand work, singling out some one person at a time and pre- senting to them the truths of the Bible. I can imagine you saying : '' If Christ was here in person I would be willing to go and ask Him questions, but He is not here and how am I to do it ? " A great many say, " Now He is not here we cannot expect to have these questions answered." Look at this ! On the day of Pentecost 3000 men cried out " What must I do to be saved ? " And really I sup- pose they broke up that meeting. I wish that we could have a sample of it. I wish that we could have some meet- ing broken up here in the Tabernacle by 400 or 500 per- sons jumping up and shouting, " What must I do to be saved ? " That is what we preach for, to produce inquirers. To have men ask the question, "What must they do to be saved?" and if any do not inquire, it seems to me the Word has not been preached faithfully. [At this point the preacher observed several ushers trying to revive a fainting man in the southwest corner of the building, and ob- served : " If the man has fainted, take him out in the air, while we sing the 103d hymn, "There is a Fountain filled with Blood." This was done, and the preacher proceeded with his discourse.] I want to call your attention to one or two more passages, showing that not only when Christ was here were questions answered, but after He had as- cended on high. There is Philip of Samaria. There was a great revival and the Lord calls him away from that, while there were hundreds being saved, and out into the wilderness. What for.? Just to tell that one honest inquirer. The man had gone up to Jerusalem from a foreign land to inquire about the Lord, to seek salvation for his soul. But the priest and the whole Sanhedrim could not tell him. You see the blind cannot lead the blind. And the poor man turned away to Jerusalem. The Lord said to Philip, " You go down and 72 TO ALL PEOPLE. tell him what to do to be saved." And as he was riding along the highway Philip met him and found him reading the prophecy of Isaiah ; but he said to Philip, " How can I understand it if I do not have some one to explain it to me ? " So Philip undertook to explain it to him. The man had got through the sixth verse on to the seventh, where it says, " He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, etc." He had got along to where it says, " All we, like sheep, have gone astray." And we are told that Philip preached Christ right there to him. He held out the doctrine of substitution, how Christ was to save. He took this very passage and explained its mean- ing, and this poor eunuch was saved and believed the Word. We find that Christ was a preacher Himself — that He came out of heaven. To Saul He said, " Saul, why persecutest thou Me ?" Ananias had the unspeakable privilege of tell- ing Saul what he must do to be saved, and his name has come down 1800 years and has been associated with the appeal to Saul. What a privilege it is to lead a soul to Christ. You may have a Sunday School and not win a soul. You may preach and not win any, and work and work, and your name will be forgotten and your work a failure. It seems to me if a man but leads one soul to Christ that one may lead hundreds, and these hundreds thousands, and these thousands tens of thousands, and the current keeps widening and sweeping on as long as time lasts. It is a great thing to be used for God to turn one to Him. Now Cornelius was in trouble, and it was so important that the Lord sent an angel to tell Simon Peter to si)eak to Cornelius of the means whereby he should be saved, and Peter went thirty miles and told Cornelius iiow to be saved. It is so important that God sends clear out of heaven so that Cornelius may be told what he must do to be saved. Shall we be ashamed if we do not know the way to ask ? If I lost my way in Boston I certainly SERMON TO CHRISTIAN WORKERS. 73 should be very proud if I did not ask some one. People have said, " Who are the best to work in the inquiry-room ? " I answer those that know the way. If I lost my way and I asked a philosopher and he could not tell me, or a police- man and he could not tell me, any bootblack would be just the one, if he knew, to tell me. I would want to know the way, and if a man does not know the way he would not be any good to direct me. A man in London went to one of the fountains in the street that had a secret spring, but did not know how to operate it. Another man tried to help him find it, but he had not been there before and he could not help him. By and by a little bootblack came up and put his thumb on the spring and the water came gushing out. He had been there, you see. You can tell a man how to get at the fountain of the water of life, if you know the way, and they may drink and have eternal life. And let us bear in mind that this work in Boston during the next three months, the real heart and marrow of the work, is to be done in the inquiry-room. It is not to come out here and hear sermons and singing. We want doers of the Word. We want men to bring their Bibles with them and all through the meetings to be on the look-out to see if a man is embarrassed and if he is personally bowed down in sin, and to speak a few- kind words to such, and to tell them how to look to Christ and be saved, and to pray with them : and that work shall be for eternity. It is a privilege that God gives us of win- ning souls to Christ in the next three months, because the Spirit of God is abroad, and that is the time to work when the minds of men are agitated. It is easy to get into conversation with men now. Never mind the meet- ings, get them to talk on personal questions ; ask them if they will have Christ and tell them of Christ. They may be mad, but it will keep rankling in their minds, and per- haps before they get it out of their hearts they will be saved. A man came into one of our meetings to whom I 74 TO ALL PEOPLE. spoke, and he went off mad, and said he would never come in again. He said : " What right had Mr. Moody to ask me that ? It is none of his business. What right had he to put such a question as that to me ? " Well, he went talking to a person who had been a very cold Christian, but she loved his soul, and she said : " I do not know, but I think it is a very proper and a very appropriate question." The man went to bed, mad as he could be, and got a ticket next morning for the theatre to go that evening ; but before night came he was around to the meeting again. He could not get that question out of his mind, "Are you a Christian 1 " He came into the inquiry-room and he was con- verted. Let us ask the people that question, "Are you a Christian ? " Let us come here not to enjoy these meet- ings, but to get inquirers ; and if we cannot get men into the inquiry-room, let us speak with them here, and, if need be, go home with them, and down to the man's house ; have an inquiry-meeting on the street, under the gas-lights, or in his place of business. To-day in your Sabbath School class, in your church, your prayer-meeting, wherever you go and can find a lost soul, talk to it and try to win it to Christ. I have found for years that very few men get angry with you if you come to them in the right spirit. I •have made it a rule for many years, and I have found it a great help to me not to let a day pass without talking to somebody about their soul, and that is keeping my own heart warm. Supposing every Christian here to-day would do that, how many would hear the gospel during the year 1877. I doubt whether there would be a man or woman in Boston who would not receive the question "Are you a Christian ? " It seems to me that we make a great mistake if we do not do what we can to sow the seed and gather the harvest. There was a man condemned to be hung once, and many Christians were anxious to get in and talk to him about his soul. At last, the man said: "If these SERMON TO CHRISTIAN IVOR.vERS. 75 Christians had taken one-half the interest in me before I had committed this deed, I would not have to be hung." We want to take an interest in people to show that we love them, that we desire to take them to God, and if men find out that our motives are pure and that we have no selfish ends in view — why they will believe in us. They will see when we take interest in them, and believe us when we tell them we are looking out for the welfare of their souls. They will believe we are their best friends, and are not doing anything to harm them, but are looking after their soul's interest. And may God give us the heart for the work, and may we not be ashamed to own up that we do notknow all spiritual things, but be willing to ask for our own information, and ask others, and pray for, and with another, and may the Lord bless us. Let us pray. DAVID'S PRAYER— HIS CONFESSION. I WILL read the 51st Psalm. This psalm is the prayer ol a wanderer coming back to God. This prayer was supposed to have been written by David after Nathan had crossed his path and reproved him of his sin. You will notice in this prayer that he was praying for himself, not for his subjects, not for his kingdom, not for family, but had come home to himself. " Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness ; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I ac- knowledge my transgressions : and my sin is ever before me." We must commence with our own hearts. God wants truth there. It is not people who are making outward profession and yet living out of communion with God that are going to accomplish much. God wants us really. He looks down into our hearts, and He wants truth there. We cannot improve upon Him ; we cannot deceive Him. If we attempt to wash ourselves we shall make very poor work of it ; what we want is for God to wash us, and then we will be clean. We must let God cleanse us; that is His work. I think if you would look through this Psalm you would be wonderfully impressed with the thought of how often He refers to himself^" Me." " Mine ; " thirty-three times He speaks of himself in these nineteen verses. " Have mercy on me, forgive me, blot out my transgressions." It is hard for us to get home to ourselves ; it is easy for us to confess the sins of others and of the Church ; it is easy for us to see the sins of other people, but to get down to the personal is hard. If we are 2:oing to have a real thorough 76 DAVID'S PRAYER— HIS CONFESSION. 77 M'ork in Boston, it must begin with God's own people ; to take the ministers and deacons first, and then go down lo the pews. God is not going over a cold, dead Church to reach the world. If there should be a revival and many conversions, and the Church not quickened, it would not mean much. The standard of the Church is so low now that it does not mean much ; it is easy to be a professed Christian. We must elevate the standard of Christianity. That is the reason why so many of our prayers go unan- swered, because we are not right ourselves. While David was living in sin with Uriah's wife he might have prayed in a formal way, but his prayers were of no avail, for he was not penitent. If there are any sins that we committed long ago and have not repented, do you think God is going to forgive us or answer our prayers ? If there is any sin in our souls committed years ago and never repented, let us confess and repent it; off with the arm or out with the eye. My experience is that the work among the uncon- verted is in proportion to the work in the Church. But if it is superficial with us and does not take hold of us and go down deep in our hearts, and if we have not had tender consciences and have not dealt honestly with God, the work is superficial. Now, if the work in Boston is superficial it w ill be because we Christians are not right ourselves ; and if you can find ten Christians that are right with God and the word is deep down in their own hearts, and their con- sciences are tender, and they are loathing sin and turning away from all sin, you will find God will take up those ten and use them. Some one has said, it is one of the sweet- est thoughts that I have heard for some time, that God al- ways uses the vessel that has called on God. Now what we want is to get over to God himself. I would not think of introducing a man two or three blocks off ; it would be a stranije thins: for me to introduce a man two or three hun- dred yards off to analier man. The first thing is to draw 78 TO ALL PEOPLE. near to God. Instead of praying for the unconverted now, let us see that we get right ; get near God, and then we are right. I have yet to find a Christian or a church that is full of gloom or despondency that God uses. " Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation." If we can show that we have got something the world has not got, it will not be long before they are after it. They are always after some- thing they haven't got. I believe these long-faced Chris- tians have done more to retard the faith of Christ than any other thing. Men have gone through the world with long faces and with wrinkles on their brows as if God was a hard master. The reason we have got so many gloomy Chris- tians is because some sin has been committed and been covered up ; God has not covered it up ; if He had it would be all right ; but we have covered it up, and therefore there is a guilty conscience and there is no real communion be- tween us and God, and the world says "if that is Christian- ity I hope we will be delivered from it," and [ don't blame them. Now that is not Christianity with Christ because He brings joy — " Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation ; and uphold me with thy free spirit, then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee." What we want is to have the joy of God's salvation. Restore to us a joyful church. You let this building be filled with young converts ; you see how their faces shine, for they have a new song in their mouths and joy in their hearts. What is the trouble, what has caused this great joy ? It is because Christ has taken full possession of their hearts and they have turned away from their sins. Now, can we live in that first love all the time ? I have no sympathy with people talking about their experiences fifteen or twenty years ago when they were converted, and how they loved the Lord then. The idea of loving the Lord more during the first year than in the twentieth ! My wife, I think, would think it a very strange feeling if I should tell her I DA VID'S FKA YER—HIS CONFESSION: 79 loved her more the first year we were married than I do now. It would break her heart. I think the last year was the best ; and these people living on that dead experience and on that dead stale manna that they got back in the wilderness ten or fifteen or twenty years ago have not healthy food. What we want is a daily spring drawing nearer to God all the time ; our song ought to be, " Nearer my Gud to Thee." What we want is to have the joy of His salvation. Nehemiah says, " The joy of the Lord is my strength, and God can use me." " Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation." When we have got sin out of the way and God has restored to us the joy of His salva- tion, He will open our lips and we will talk aright, and there will be power in what we say ; He will tell us what to say. How many times have you heard men talk and talk and yet say nothing, and you have been glad when they have sat down, because there was no power at all in what they said — their hearts were not right with God ! But when the sin has all been put away and God has restored the joy of His salvation, then He will open our lips and He will teach us what to say ; there will be nothing foolish then — He will give us just the words for the people. Oh, may God open our lips ! That is what we want. Let us remember that the Lord of Heaven can teach us what to say in all these meetings and how to say it. "A broken and a contrite heart." That is what we want" — a broken and a contrite heart." I remember a minister getting up at one of the meet- ings where we were and saying that for months he had had a barren time, no blessing under his ministry, and he could not rest, and because of this he had been greatly troubled, and one Sunday he preached and it seemed as if he was beat- ing against the air, as if his words all came back to him and didn't reach down among the hearts of the people ; there didn't seem to be anyone moved under his ministry, and he said one morning he went to his study, and his heart was 8o TO ALL FEOFLE. almost broken, and he got on his knees and cried, "Break this hard heart of mine, C; God ! and if not, let the rod come \ anything but this cold, barren ministry ;" and while he was crying in that way for God to break his hard heart, there was a little faint rap at the door. He got up and found it was his little child, four years old, who was there. He had heard his father pniying, and he said, " Father, I wish you would pray that Jesus would give me a new heart." He said God broke his heart, and lie wept like a child, and after he had prayed with that little child he went out and prayed with some of his parishioners, and there were forty persons the next Sunday who were converted, for God had broken his heart. O God, give us broken hearts and contrite spirits ! If our hearts are cold, and our work is merely professional, and we are doing it out of a sense of duty, God is not going to bless our ministry. The broken heart and the contrite spirit, let that be our prayer to-day. In the nineteen verses of this Psalm there are sixteen petitions. Now very often we pray and do not ask for anything. I remember once hearing about a man u'ho prayed and prayed and never ask- ed for anything, when some godly old saint in the congre- gation spoke right out and said, " Ask Him for something." Throughout these meetings let us ask God for something. We come up to pray for something and to ask for some- thing. In prayer is the desire of the heart above everything else. Now the question is, what do we want ? What have we come here to-day for ? If you have come to hear the singing you will go empty away; if you have come to hear the speaking you will go empty away; if you have come to see the crowd you will go empty away ; but if you have come to ask God in Heaven to give you something, or pray for yourselves, and to give something of your own soul for God to use, and to bless your own family, God will bless us. This morning I took up my pen and took up these petitions that David made in this prayer. The first is for DA FID'S PR A YE R— HIS CONFESSION. 8 1 mercy : " Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop : wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities ; create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence ; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation ; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Deliver me from blood- guiltiness, O God. O Lord, open thou my lips." Let us have a few moments' silent prayer, and let us all pray. 6 DAVID'S PRAYER— SEARCH ME AND KNOW ME. Mr. Moody selected for his theme extracts from the 139th Psahii. " O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. " Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. " Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways." Yes, God is acquainted with all our hearts. " For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. " Thou has beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. " Such knowledge is too wonderful for me ; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. " Whither shall I go from thy spirit } or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? " If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there ; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. " If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea ; " Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. " If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me ; even the night shall be light about me. " Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee ; but the night shineth as the day ; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. " For thou hast possessed my reins ; Thou hast cover- ed me in my mother's womb." In the 23d and 24th verses of the same chapter: " Search me, O God and know my heart ; try me, and know my thoughts. " And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting," S2 . DA VID'S PR A YER. 33 In those two last verses the Psalmist refers to himself six times — "Me," "my," "me," "search me and know my heart," I wonder if we are ready to-day to make that prayer. I wonder if the Christians in Boston are ready to make that prayer. It is easy enough for those who come here to pray for other people, and talk about the sins of other people, but are we ready to have God search us ? Have we all yet got ready to get home to ourselves ? God alone knows our heart ; we don't know it ourselves. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it ? Now if we search our hearts, we may over- look a great many things. God sees us as we see not. God's thought of sin is not as ours. Therefore it is better for us to let God search us than to attempt to search our- selves. God searches the deep things and bringeth hidden sins to light ; sins that have been clustering around our hearts for years, and may have been covered from our eyes and we never have seen them. What we want is to have God search us and probe our hearts, that He may bring out all these secret sins. I know that this truth is not popular ; it is not what the people like. A lady in Chicago came to where we were having one of our search meetings, and said: "I never want to go back to those meetings ; they make one feel bad." But that is just what we want. It is not for the sake of blessing people that we labor, but to get at the truth. We want to know where we stand. There must be a castinsf down before there can be a liftinoj up. If we are not right with God, we are not fit to work in His cause for others. If we have a beam in our own eye, it is useless for us to be talking about casting the mote out of another's eye. If there is any evil in us, let us ask God to show it to us. The Doctor examines a patient and he wants to find out all about the patient, and he makes a thorough examination if he is a good doctor. If there is any trouble, it is better to find it cut and cure it than to 84 TO ALL PEOPLE. leave it there. It may be very disagreeable to the patient to find out that he has a cancer, but it is better that he should know it. A knife is not a very comfortable looking instrument, but it is better to have the cancer cut out than to leave it to eat out the patient's life. So, spiritually, if we have any trouble, is it not best to find out the cause and cut it out ? The trouble is not with God. If we have not power in prayer, isn't it well for us to pause and ask God the reason and find out where the trouble is ? Certainly it is. God has the same power as He ever had, and He is just as ready to answer prayer as ever. He is willing to aid us, and if the blessing does not come there must be something wrong with us. If a surgeon comes in to a man who has a broken limb, if it is an arm, he begins at the wrist, and the patient is willing to have him feel along, and by and by he strikes the broken place, and then he says, " That hurts." So it is with sin. But as it is better if we have a broken arm to find it out, so it is better if we have a heart full of secret sins to have them brought to light and put away by God. The next thought in that verse is in the words, "Try me and know my thoughts.'' Now a great many people think that if they do not do some outward sin they are not sinners. But God looks at our thoughts. Have we had no evil thoughts against God or against some ot His people 1 Have we no evil thoughts against God, no hard thoughts against His dealings with us t Have we no hard thoughts against some of His people ? against some we ought to love ? If the root of bitterness has sprung up in our hearts against some one, how is God going to answer our prayer and hear our cry ? Have we not some doubts of God ? Isn't there some unbelief ? Love does not like to be suspected. It has come to be that a great many people think that unbelief is a sort of misfor- tune, but it is in reality the damning sin of the world and the Church to-day. People say, " I cannot believe," but DA VinS PR A YER . 8 - what right have they to disbelieve ? Has He not kept His promises for 6000 years ? Did He not make good His word to Adam, and to Abraham, and to Moses ? Did He not stand by Elijah when He promised to do so? Can you find any promise that He has broken ? And how is it for man to stand up in the afternoon of the nineteenth century and say that he cannot believe God ? It is not that they cannot believe Him, but they do not want to. God looks at the thought, and unbelief is a sin ; doubts are sins. If any man is in doubting castle and is just full of doubts, he is not fit to work for God. We are not ready to move on the enemy yet. We have got to have a Church that is purged of these terrible sins — doubts and unbelief. Just see what the psalmist says : " Try me and know my thoughts." Now, isn't there another thing that we are guilty of ? Are we not more thoughtful for our own reputation and our position than we are for God's honor ? That is another thought — that is wicked in the sight of God. How many are very jealous, as Elijah when he went out there unaer the juniper tree, and he was very jealous for his own glory ? He said he was no better than his fathers were : he was more jealous for his own honor than for God's. And there are many people who are jealous for their own honor instead of God's. It is their own reputation that they are seeking after. Now we must sink our dignity and reputa- tion and position, and God will use us. If a man has got great doubts about himself God cannot use him. The psalmist says, " Oh, God, try my thoughts." Are you ready to make that prayer yourselves ? It is easy enough to sit here and condemn other people, but are you ready to be tried yourselves ? I \vonder how many of us would blush if all our thoughts could be brought to light for the last few days ; thoughts that we have had about other people, about God, and see them emblazoned out in Tremont Temple so that people could read them ! Now, this prayer 86 TO ALL PEOPLE. is, " Try my thoughts " — ^just try me. Now it is very easy for us to talk about it, but we have got to come right down to the real fact of God's trying us. Then I think, if God should try us He would find that self was at the bottom of a great deal we attempted to do, and that is the reason we have had so many failures. Oh, if we could only get this capital " I " down out of the way and Christ up ! There was a young convert all the time talking about himself, and there was a young Christian lad)^ a goodly woman, who just took out a little hymn book that she had, and on the fly-leaf she wrote : " Not I, but Christ ; not flesh, but spirit ; not sight, but faith." It is all she said. She gave it to him ; he pasted it in his Bible and carried it round with him. A pretty good motto for every one to have ; " Not I, but Christ ; not sight, but faith ;" that is what we want ; not flesh, but the spirit, the flesh crucified, the old man with his deeds put off and the new man put on. Now, how is it ? Are there bickerings in your church ? Have you got some church quarrel on hand ? Well you needn't pray for a revival until you get that out of the way ; your pray- ers will not go above your head. How many times I don't know, but a great many times, during the past few months, people have come to me and said : " Why is it that my prayers don't go higher than my head ? and it seems like beating the air when I pray ; my prayers seem cold and formal and like prayerless pra3^ers." Now I believe if there is anything that is an abomination before God more than another, it is prayerless prayers. The idea of praying like people counting beads. There is something which comes in before prayer. If you will not confess your sins you need not pray. It says here in the 59th chapter of the prophesies of Isaiah — a good brother called it to my at- tention last night; I had never noticed it before, I have been stopping at the first verse : " Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save : neither is His ear DAl'ID'S PR A YER. 87 heavy, that it cannot hear" — and there I always stopped I don't know how many times I have heard that verse quoted in prayer. God's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save ; neither is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear, and I think the devil comes in there and stops us right in the middle of the sentence and we don't get the whole of it. Let us look at the next verse and see what it says : " But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." That is the reason He don't hear. He can, but He won't ; then comes the period ; put the two verses together. I have just put a mark right around these two verses. I have yoked them up. I never mean to separate them again. It is easy enough to quote the first verse, why God don't answer, why He does not favor Zion. The set time for God to favor is when we depart from our iniquities with all our hearts, and then is the time to bless Him. That is the time. God is ready to bless Boston. I believe He is hovering over this city, now, and over all New England, but a work must be done in the Church first. We have got to depart from our iniquity, and our prayers will be cold, dead and formal until all our iniqui- ties are put away. How is it ? Are you ready to pray for yourselves ? You are ready to pray for others. Can you say that " God has purged my sins .'' " " God has search- ed my heart and found out my sins and put them away, and now I am ready to go into His vineyard and go to work ? " If not, don't let us pray for others. Let there be a purging of us from iniquity and sin. Requests are coming in from all New England for prayers for sons and daughters, but it seems as if we were not yet ready to bring them forward. But we want to get right ourselves first, to let the knife go down deep into our hearts. O, God, search me ; try my thoughts and see if there be any evil in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Let us cry to God that He may search us. DANIEL'S PRAYER— HIS CONFESSION. " I WILL read the five verses of the 9th chapter of the book of Daniel, as follows : " In the first day of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans ; " In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accom- plish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. " And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes : " And I prayed unto the Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments ; " We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments." It is well for us to pause just for a moment and inquire who this man is that is awaking compassion. There is an idea abroad that no one need to confess sin, unless it be some one who has murdered or some one who has stolen. Now, if I read my Bible correctly, this man was one of the holiest of men that lived in his day, and there isn't any- thing against him in the Scriptures. There are only a very few Bible characters but what you can find something recorded against them ; but here is one who commenced DAiYIErS PRA YER—HIS CONFESSION. 89 to shine as soon as he went into Babylon, and continued to shine all his life. He was one of the ablest men living in his day, and yet he was not wiser than Scripture ; he believed in the word of God. Not only that, being in that high position, in reality the ruler of the whole world at that time, none higher except the King on the throne, and yet all of this government was committed into his hands. Like Joseph down there in Egypt, Pharaoh held the sceptre, but he reigned, and so it was with the states- man ; lifted up from slavery to the highest position on earth, and yet we find that he was a praying man, and I think this country would be better off if we had a few states- men that could pray like Daniel, that were not ashamed to pray. But a great many men seem to think now that it is beneath their dignity and position to pray ; but he was a man of prayer and knew how to pray. I have often said and thought that I would rather pray like Daniel than to preach like Gabriel. What Boston wants is praying men, men that can get hold of God in prayer. You have had preaching enough to convert all Boston to God. It is not good preaching you want, but inen and women who know how to get hold of God in pra3^er, and perhaps we must begin where Daniel did and confess our sins. There is nothing recorded against him in Scripture, but he began by confessing his sins. Now, undoubtedly there were a great many in his day who looked down upon him with scorn and contempt, but that didn't turn him; he went to his room three times a day and prayed. It would be well for us to enter into the difficulty the children of Israel were in ; they were down there in exile, banished from their own land in bondage and slavery, and we find that they got there by their own sins. When they went into the promised land God told them that they should give their land rest, that the land should have one year out of seven, as they had at first in the days of Joshua, and the judges that outlived 90 TO ALL PEOPLE. Joshua gave the land rest as God had commanded ; and then after that they refused to do it, although God said, "If you will do it you will have just as much — I will make it up to you," and they got just as much. And now a great many men have got an idea that they can do more in seven days than they can in six, and a great many of us are breaking away from God's Commandments, and the Sabbath is being let down, and a great many men have got a false idea that they can do more in seven days than they can in six, but a man that observes the Sabbath and keeps God's day God gives him more. That has been proven over and over again. And for four hundred and ninety years they refused to let the land have a day of rest, so God let the Chaldeans come up from Babylon and take ^them captive and kept them there for seventy years. The latter figures multiplied by seven, those of you who under- stand arithmetic will see, makes the four hundred and ninety years. God said, " If you will not give the land rest I will take it," and so they were there in difficulty on account of their sins, and every nation that forgets God will be brought into difficulty. " It is only a question of time. But now in their trouble God answers prayer. We find here in the next verse: "Neither have we harkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belonged unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day ; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass, that they have trespassed against thee." " O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of faces, to our kings, to our princes and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee." He knew how to pray ; he knew how to get hold of God in prayer. He did not DAXIELS PRAYER— HIS CONFESSION. ^j preach his own righteousness, but brought his sins ; and that is what God wants us to do, to bring our sins to Him and not act like this Pharisee, because if we do we shall always go empty away. If a man will put away his sins, or rather bring them to God and ask Him to put them away for him, God will hear and answer his prayer. I believe one reason why so many prayers are unanswered is because there is some secret sin which we have covered up, and we have been nurturing iniquity in our hearts ; we have not been living as God would have us live, according to His precepts, and we have not turned away from sin ; therefore God has hid His face from us, and has not an- swered our prayer. " O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, hearken and do ; defer not, for thine own sake, 0 my God, for thy city and thy people are called by thy name." That is the power of prayer for His own honor ; but He lived on the other side of the Cross. Oh, what a stronger case we can make to God ! Do it, for Christ's sake. We want Boston blessed, for what ? For our sins, for the sake of the churches ? Nay, let us rise to a higher ground than that. For the sake of sin. And how he loves to own that sin ; he thinks a good deal of Christ. Some one has said, " Tf you want to please a father, speak well of his son ; " if you want to please God, think well of his son Jesus. And when we come to ask God, for Christ's sake, what power we have with Him ! I remember at a ] convention in Detroit of hearing a judge tell a story which ^ 1 shall never forsret or the lesson it teaches. He said that when the war broke out he had an only son who went to i^, and ever after that he became interested in all sol- diers, and when they passed through Columbus, where he lived, he wanted to put his arms right around their necks. He got up a soldiers' home. He gave a good deal of his time to looking after soldiers. But there came a day when he said he had got to stop it. He had an important case 9 2 TO ALL PEOPLE. in court and had got to attend to his business. That morn- ing he went down to his office determined that he would have nothing at all to do with the soldiers that day and should devote his whole time to business. He said he hadn't been there a long while before there was some one walked in in a hesitating way, and looking up he saw a soldier with an old uniform on. But he kept right on with his writing and paid no attention to him. But the man came up to the table or desk where he sat and pulled out of his pocket an old soiled piece of paper. He put out his hand as if to bid him to go, because he was busy, and he remembered his determination not to have any- thing to do with soldiers that day. But as he was motion- ing him away, his eyes lit upon the paper, and he at once recognized his own son's handwriting. Seizing it, he read it eagerly, bidding the stranger to be seated. What affects him so ! It was a short note something like this ; " Dear Father : This young man is a member of my company. He has lost his health in the defence of his country, and is on his way to his mother. Treat him kindly for Charlie's sake." The father relates that the moment he read that, there was nothing too good for that poor soldier who had brought him a word from his son. He sent for his own family physician to minister unto that soldier, and did everything for him, and when he got well he took and bought him a ticket and sent him on his way to his mother. And what for ? Why all for " Charlie's sake." Now, my friends, what is there that God will not do for us if we come in Christ's name ? If He gave His son to this world, what will He not give to you and I ? what we want is to pray for Christ's sake. Let us not forget the first part of Daniel's prayer, " I confess my sin." He commenced by confessing his own sin. Let us ask God to search our hearts and put away any secret sin so that He can hear our cry and answer our prayer. I have been praying that the work in Boston may be deeper DANIELS PRA YER—HIS CONFESSION 93 than in any place we have hitherto been. But if it is, it must commence here in our hearts, there must be a heart searching with God's people first. A great many are anxious that we shall preach to the unconverted. I think we had better preach to the Christians a little while longer, and get them right first, and then there will not be any trou- ble afterwards with the unconverted. How is God going to work when the church is wrong and our hearts are cold and full of lukewarmness and bitterness and strife and sectarianism and all these other isms ! May the God of heaven clean out our hearts and fill them full of the faith of the Holy Ghost, and then we will be able to pray as this man Daniel prayed. Does God answer prayer ? " And while I was speaking avid praying and confessing my sin and the sins of my people Israel, and presenting my sup- plication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God ; yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the begin- ning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation." About 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I suppose. I don't know what time he commenced to pray, but he prayed until the blessing came. That is what we want to do in Boston. Let us pray day and night until God answers our prayers ; let us pray as we are walking through the streets ; let us pray in our families ; let us pray in our business, and let us pray all the time. O Lord, revive the work in my heart ! If Daniel needed it revived in his heart and need- ed God to forgive his sins, how much more need that we should ask God to put sin from us. And he talked with him. " And he informed uie^ and talked with me, and said, O, Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved ; therefore understand the mat- CJ4. TO ALL PEOPLE. ter, and consider the vision." Some people now in Boston are asking does God answer prayer ? Didn't He answer this man's prayer and bring an angel out of heaven to tell him his prayer was heard ? And at the very beginning of his supplication the angel was sent to tell him he was a man that was greatly beloved. It might have been very un- popular in Babylon for a man to be very much thought of in heaven ; but if he was unpopular in Babylon he was popu- lar in heaven, and we can afford to be unpopular down here if we are only popular up there ; we can afford to have the world think coldly of us if we are well thought of in heaven. I would rather be a man greatly beloved by God than have a gold monument built over my body reach- ing from earth to heaven. Greatly beloved, a man of prayer, loved by God, a man thought well of in heaven, who prayed three times a day, although he held a high position ! Let me call your attention to what he confessed in this prayer. I will just abbreviate it. The first thing he commenced by saying " We have sinned." Now can we say that .'' If we can, let us confess it to God. " We have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly ; " he calls things by the right name ; he don't call them mistakes, but he called it iniquity^ and he called sin sin., transgression transgression, not a few mistakes. Some people have got an idea that sin is a mistake now, and we cannot help it ; but God will hold us responsible. " We have rebelled ; " that is what they had done — they had rebelled against God. " We have departed from thy precepts and thy judgments, we have not barkened unto thy servants the prophets, we have sinned against thee, we have rebelled against thee, we have not obeyed thy voice, we have not walked in thy laws which were set before us, we have sinned, we have done wickedly." May the God of Daniel help us to con- fess our sins, and then let Him put them away so that we 'dll appear with Him ! Let us all bow our heads in silent ^^er. CONFESSING OUR SINS. We had for our subject on Friday " Forgiveness," but it may be there is a subject I ought to have brought up before that, and that is " Confessing Our Sins." Joshua the suc- cessful man was once defeated, or his army was, on account of sin being in the camp ; they were successful at Jericho and then went on to Ai. They only sent about 3000 men, that being a small place, and they thought 3000 would be sufficient, but we fmd that they were repulsed and driven back. It says : " And Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until even-tide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. " And Joshua said, Alas ! O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God we had been content to dwell on the other side of Jordan ! " O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies ! " For the Canaan ites and all the inhabitants of the land should hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth ; and what wilt thou do unto thy great name .'' " And the Lord said unto Joshua. Get thee up ; where- fore liest thou thus upon thy face ? " Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them ; for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dis- sembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. " Therefore, the children of Israel could not stand before 96 TO ALL PEOPLE. their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed ; neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. " Up, sanctify the people, and say. Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, for thus saith the Lord God of Israel. There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel ; thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take away the accursed thing from among you." That was why they w^ere unsuccessful, that was why they were defeated ; and now if there is going to be a defeat in Boston it will be on account of God's people not making confession of their own sins. It is easy enough to talk about unconverted men confessing their sins and turning from them, but if we do not confess our sins we cannot expect them to do it, nor can we preach it to them. Therefore, let these days be heart-searching days. Let us see if there be any evil way in us. Some one has said that unconfessed sin is like a bullet in a man's body. And he cannot expect to have a healthy body as long as that bullet is there. We cannot expect to be healthy Christians as long as our sins are unconfessed. You will find all through the Word of God, that there is a good deal said about be- lievers confessing their sins. When Solomon dedicated the Temple we see in the first of Kings, 8th chapter and 33d verse : "When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house. "Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers. " When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee ; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin when thou afflictest them : " Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy CONFESSING OUR SINS. 97 servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good wa}^ wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an in- heritance." Here we find that war w^as brought upon them on account of their sins, also famine, but if they would only confess their sins and turn away from them, God said that He would answer and give them peace and give them rain if they would confess their sins. Now hasn't this nation sinned? But it is easy enough to talk about a nation's sin and a church's sin, but what we want is to get down to per- sonal sin, to individual sin: if I confess my sins and turn from them, then God will bless me and my efforts. If the people will confess their sins and turn from them, then they will have power with God in prayer. I don't think our prayers will go very high if we don't confess our sins. All sin is against God. I have received quite a number of letters since we had that meeting in Tremont Temple when we had for a subject " Search me, O God ; try me and prove me," and they want to know to whom they should confess their sin. Well, I will say, all sin is against God, and therefore must be confessed to God. There are sins which are committed publicly or known in public, and they ought to be confessed as publicly as they are committed. Then there are sins against individuals, which ought to be confessed to individuals. In James v. i6, it says : *' Confess your faults one to another." If I have any trou- ble with a man, I have got to go to him and confess my fault and get his forgiveness. I need not parade it before the church or the world. If it had been a personal matter, I am to go to that man, and be reconciled to him. Then be will have confidence in my piety, and if I get up and speak in church, he will say, "That is a true man — he sinned against me, but he confessed his fault." Then I have power with him. But if I had covered up that sin 7 gS '^O ALL PEOPLE. God would not have blessed me. There are a great many people who have got an idea they can just do that by at- tending revival meeting and going to church and singing hymns, singing pretty loud and praying pretty loud, and cover it up. Don't you be deceived : you cannot serve God that way ; that is an abomination to God. God wants you to be honest with Him, to put away your sins_, and then your service is acceptable. It is not sacrifice that God wants so much as it is to have us turn from our sins, be faithful and confess our sins. I remember being in a place some few years ago, and on one side of the desk was a mother ; she was very anxious about her sins, she was greatly troubled about her sins and wanted to get to Christ. On the other side of the platform was her daughter. They were a very wealthy family, perhaps the wealthiest in that town, and it had been known for ayear that there had been a quarrel betvv'een that mother and her daughter, that they would not speak to each other on the street, would have nothing to do with each other, and they wanted, both of them, to become Christians. I said ; " I don't see how you can if you are not willing to forgive each other, and as it is a public matter and every one knows it, you had better ask each other's forgiveness right in the meeting." Well, the mother started. The daughter was not quite as willing to start as the mother. Mother's love is stronger than chil- dren's. But when the mother started and the daughter saw her coming, she started and met her, and right there in that public audience they asked each other's forgiveness, they confessed their faults one to another, and to me it was one of the most impressive things in my life, and I think one of the most powerful sermons ever preached in that town. There was a sob all over the house and a great many were brought right under conviction then, and inquired. " What must I do to be saved .'' " Confess your faults one to another. If you can think of any one you have had CONFESSIA^G OUR SINS. 99 any difficulty with, go and have that thing straightened out, be reconciled, and then see how quick God will answer your prayer. He says in the first Epistle of John, and the I St chapter and the 9th verse : " If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive." Mark that little work " if." I would like to emphasize that " if." " If we confess our sins." How is God going to forgive our sins if we don't confess them ? Suppose I should go home to-day and find my boy had told me a lie and he has covered it up and he don't think that I know it ; he thinks that it is all hid from me. When he is very affectionate and some one has given him some beautiful present which he thinks a great deal of, and his conscience is troubling him so and he wants to cover up that sin, and he says, " Papa, some one has made me that present and I want to give it to you." Do you think that would be acceptable to me although it might be a great sacrifice for him to do it ? I wouldn't want that. There is just one thing I would want that boy to do ; I would want him to confess that sin. That would be more pleasing to me than anything else. Now what God wants is to have His children confess their sins ;then come with your prayers and your thank offerings and then make sacrifices if you want to ; then show your love. But the first real test of love and obedience is that we shall confess our sins. Now let us read that "if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive U3 our sins, and to cleanse us from all un- righteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." I pity a man or woman who think they have not sinned. God charges the very angels with falling ; the stars are not pure in His sight, and what we want is to bring every hidden sin to light. Out with it, confess it to God, and see how quick He will put it away. If we haven't been honest in business, if we haven't been truthful in selling our goods, it seems to me there are many lies used in selling goods. loo ' TO ALL PEOPLE. Go down town and you will see in ever} window the announcement that " this is the cheapest store in town, " and that you can buy goods cheaper there than anywhere else, and it is very singular that you can buy them the cheap- est at every store, and they say, " That is the very lowest, and we cannot get them any cheaper." It seems to me there is a good deal of lying in business transactions, and we want a revival of honesty, and if men have settled with their creditors for twenty-five cents on the dollar and could have paid fifty cents, they need not come to these meetings and pray to God until they pay the twenty-five cents which they have got. Then the world will have confidence in their Christianity. Straighten out all these differences. If a man has defrauded another man, go and make res- titution and people will have confidence in your piety ; but to come here and pray and sing, and try to cover up these things by loud singing and praying, is not going to deceive the Almighty. You may deceive your neighbor, you may deceive yourselves, but you cannot deceive God. Let us ask God to make this work deep and thorough in our hearts. I hope God will revive our conscience. Let us not call other people's thoughts superficial, but see whether our own are superficial or not. We want a tender conscience, so that we shall be honest and upright in all our transactions, and when that takes place in the Church, like Joshua's army, they can move on to the works of the enemy ; they can go right through the country and be suc- cessful ; and we can expect not only a revival here in Bos- ton but all through the country. When we were in Chicago, a St. Louis. merchant, stop- ping at the Grand Street Hotel on some business, had a friend who had got to drinking. He heard that we were interested in trying to reach and reform drinking men, and he thought he would try to get him to come into the meet- ing. The man had not been into a meeting for twenty CONFESSING OUR SINS. ^ loi years. The last six months he had been studying the Gos- pel of John, and trying to prove that it ought not to be in the Bible, and he had settled it in his own mind that it ought not to be there. He went to the meeting and there he heard this hymn sung — " Watching and Waiting, " and he wondered if any one was watching and waiting for him. He went out of the meeting, but he could not get that " Watching and Waiting " out of his head. And he went to the hotel and eat his dinner, and all the time he kept saying to himself. " I wonder if anybody is watching and waiting for me," and when night came he went to sleep and he kept tossing on his bed all night and finally he got up and knelt down by the bed and prayed for the first time in his life. He prayed that Christ would have mercy on him. He said, " Lord Jesus Christ, take me in Thy arms." And God heard him, and now he is one of the best workers we have. He was converted on the eighth day of October : we began on the first day. We left him there hard at work for Jesus, and I don't know how many souls he has led to Christ. I hope God will bless the singing of this hymn to- day to some skeptic who may have come in here. Oh, I do hope and pray God that His Spirit may search out all heart achings in the camp to-day, and if we have got any sin that is covered up let us go to God and confess it and ask Him to put it away. Shall we not pray for this to-day? Shall not this be our cry ? There are a great many sins that I have not time to dwell upon, but if the Spirit of God is abroad in the congregation He will bring them to 3^our mind, " Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." There is the sin of covetousness. Are you not guilty of any of them ? Let us ask God to search us and see if there be any evil way in us. UNHOLY AMBITIONT. For the past week we have been at these noon meetings looking at the obstacles that are in the way of working for Christ. Of course that has brought us to ourselves, for we are the only ones that can hinder the work of Christ in this city. He could not do many mighty works there on account of their unbelief, and if there is unbelief and coldness in our hearts God is not going to do many mighty works here. But to-day I was not going to talk about unbelief, but about another enemy, perhaps the greatest of all enemies, and that is ourselves. I think we will find, if we search our hearts by the light of the Holy Spirit, that self is mixed up with about all we undertake to do for God. We read in ist Corinthians, loth chapter, part of the 31st verse," Whatso- ever ye do, do all for the glory of God." Do all for the glory of God. Now suppose we ask ourselves this question : Have we been working for God with the right motive ? Has it been God's work or our own that we have been doing? Has seif been crucified, and has God's glory been the up- permost thought in our hearts ? I was very much impressed some time ago, in finding this unholy ambition constantly coming out in the lives of those men, that Christ chose to follow him ; and it seemed very strange that after they had been with Him three years they had not got the lesson from Him. It seems about the hardest lesson for us to learn. It seems about the hardest thing to get to the end of self ; but when we have got to the end of self, and self is lost sight of, self-seeking and self -glory thrown aside, and Christ and His cause are uppermost in our hearts, how UNHOL Y ambition: 103 easy it is for God to use us. In the 9th chapter of Mark, 31st verse, are these words : " For he taught his disciples and said unto them : The Son of Man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him ; and after that he is killed he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him. And he came to Capernaum ; and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way ? " While He was talking about His death and suffering they had a dispute on hand. There was a falling out among the herdsmen. By the way they had disputed among them- selves as to who should be the greatest. Is not the same spirit abroad in the Church to-day 1 Is not the great ques- tion too often, Who shall be the greatest ? Is not that one of the great obstacles we have to contend with, who shall be greatest? And He sat down and called the twelve unto Him and said to them. " If any man desires to be first, the same shall be the last of all and, servant of all. " And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them : and when he had taken him in his arms he said unto them : Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me : and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me. And John an- swered him, saying : Master, we saw him casting out dev- ils in thy name, and he foUoweth not us, and we forbade him, because he followeth not us. " There the same spirit is coming out again. He did not believe in his work. He did not belong to our party or congregation ; he did not belong to our sect or party, and so we forbade him. There is a good deal of that spirit in these times. It lays down at the bottom. We want to build up our cause, and we have not charity enough to al- low other men to use their own methods. So Adab and Medab prophesied and they were compelled to suffer be- cause they were not of the seventy. But God rebuked that 104 ^^^ '^/-^' PEOPLE. spirit, as we see, and Jesus said, " Forbid him not ; for there is no man which shall do a miracle in My name that can lightly speak evil of Me. For he that is not against us is for us." What I want to call your attention to is this, that while Christ was talking about His death and suffering at Jerusalem, these very men were discussing who should be the greatest. While Christ is rejected by the world how many people are discussing the same question. Who shall be the greatest t What a strife it is, who shall be the great- est and who shall shine the most in this world ! Oh, that God would give us grace enough to get self under our feet ; to get over this terrible self-seeking and to get at the end of self! Now it seems singular, if you turn over to the loth chapter of Mark, 32d verse, the same thing occurs again. "And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem ; and Jesus went before them ; and they were amazed ; and as they followed, they were afraid. And He took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him. Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem ; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and unto the Levites ; and they shall condemn Him to death ; and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles : And they shall mock Him, and shall scourge Him, and shall spit upon Him, and 'shall kill Him ; and the third day He shall rise again." You would have thought that surely would have filled their hearts with sorrow — that they were going to mock Him, and spit upon Him, and to kill him, and then that He was going to rise again. You would have thought they surely would have been filled with astonishment, but see what took place. " And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto Him, saying, Master, we would that Thou shouldst do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And He said unto them : What would ye that I should do for you ? They said unto Him : Grant unto us that we may I 'NHOL y AMIU TIOX. j o 5 sit, one on Thy right hand and the other on Thy left hand in Thy glory.' " Who shall be greatest ? Again. 'I'hcre they were seeking to be greatest that they might have a seat on His right hand and on His left hand. " But Jesus said unto them ; Ye know not what ye ask ; can ye drink of the cup that I drink of, and be baptized with the bap- tism that I am baptized with? And they said unto Him : We can. And Jesus said unto them : Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized ; but to sit on My right hand and on My left hand is not Mine to give ; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. And when the ten heard it they began to be much displeased with James and John." Then, you see jealousy came in there and they were much displeased with James and John. " But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto tl-^m, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule ever the Gen- tiles exercise lordship over them ; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. " But so shall it not be among you ; but whosoever Avill be great among you, shall be your minister : " And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ran- som for many." He did not come to be administered unto, but He came to administer — came to be a servant, and now we want the spirit of the Master. If you will allow me the expression, this eternal spirit of seeking to be great is one of the great- est obstacles to-day in the Church of God. Oh, may God take it from our hearts, and may we have the spirit of the Master ; may we know what it is to have the same mind that was in Christ, and he that will be great let him be the least of all, and when we have got at the end of this self- seekinor and are nothins: in the sight of God, then we are io6 '^'0 ALL PEOPLE. fit channels for God to speak through ! It says here in Jeremiah : " Seekest thou great things for tliyself. Seek them not." Oh, how it has got into the Church, and not only into the pews, but it has crept up into the pulpit, un- holy ambition there, not so much for the glory of God but for our own glory ! We like to see large congregations, and take the glory to ourselves, and then we cannot work, for God has decreed that no flesh shall glorify in His sight, and when flesh is crucified and we have got flesh under, then the Spirit of God can work and we have got the glory. I can imagine some of you saying : " Of course, these dis- ciples being with Christ they very soon got the lessons learned, and by the end of Christ's ministry they got com- plete victory over themselves." But we turn over to the 2 2d chapter of Luke and we find in the 23d verse these words : It was that last night of the Supper, and one of the saddest things that ever took place while He was here : " And they began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing. And there was also a strife among them which of them should be account- ed the greatest." There was also a strife among them, which of them should be the greatest, right under the very shadow of the cross ; the very night He instituted that Supper, the very night Judas had gone out to betray Him, the eleven were up in that guest chamber discussing which should be the greatest. There was a strife among them. My friends, let us ask God to search our hearts and see if we have got any of that spirit in us. Let us see if we have any of that spirit that Christ's disciples had. " Who shall be greatest ? " God could not use them then. If a man is filled with the Holy Spirit there is none of this spirit there ; none of this jealous spirit, "who shall be greatest," because if a man is full of the Holy Spirit, then there is no room for the world ; then there is no room for self ; then there is no UXnOLY AMBrJ'IOX. - 107 room for unholy ambitions and unholy desires ; then there is no room for self-seeking and lauding self, but a man will have the mind that Christ had when he is filled with that spirit. Let us ask God to keep us from all jealousy and from all unholy ambition, and make us Christ-like in all our ways. " He shall learn from Me for I am meek and lowly in heart, and they shall find rest for their souls." It is an humble man that has rest for his soul : a man that is clothed with humility has rest, but the man that has not this humility of the Spirit of Christ does not know what rest is. Some one sent me a few weeks ago a few lines written on that text, " Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." " Humility, the fairest and loveliest flower that grew in Paradise, and the first that died, has rarely flourished since on mortal soil. It is so frail and so delicate a thing that it is gone if it but look upon itself, and they who venture to believe it theirs prove, by that single thought, they have it not." Oh, may God give us this humility that we have been talking about, that each of us may be filled with this humility, so that God can shine through us ! Let us have that hymn, " Oh, to be Nothing." We have sung it once or twice, but I don't think we have it in our hearts. It is easy enough to sing it, but to live in the power of it in our hearts is another thing, and then if a man don't have the position he wants he will not get angry but will say, " Lord, lay me aside," or jealous and take some one else. I want Mr. Sankey to sing that hymn alone : " Oh, to be nothing, nothing, Only to lie at His feet, A broken and emptied vessel/' NOTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD. The thought I want to call your attention to is in the 32d, chapter of Jeremiah, 17th verse. Jeremiah had great faith in God, and his prayer took hold of God. He says : " Ah, Lord God ! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee." Now I would like to give this meeting to-day, for the key-note of it, just that one sentence, — there is nothing too hard for God. A great many things may seem very hard for us, but let us bear in mind that nothing is too hard for God. " Oh, Lord God ! behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm." We talk about Alexander the Great and Frederick the Great, but what are all the men that ever lived, what is their power in compari- son with God's power .'' Think how God created this world ; think of its mighty rivers and mighty mountains and its depths and its plains, and yet some one has said it is only a little ball thrown from the hand of the Almighty. They tell us that the sun is thirteen hundred thousand times larger than this world. Supposing that is true ; then think of its mighty rivers and mighty mountains. Some one has said it is a ball of fire. Supposing that is true, what a mighty wonder it is ! And we are told that there are eighty millions of other suns that have already been discovered, and two billions four hundred millions of other planets, and this is the smallest of them all ; this is but a fringe about the Universal, or a few outlying villages upon His great Empire. And we are told that light travels at 108 NOTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD. log the rate of one hundred and eighty thousand miles a min- ute, and it takes five 3'ears for the light of the sun to reach the nearest planet. Now, if this is true, think of otu- great and our mighty God ! Now Jeremiah had been climbing up upon one of these mountain peaks, and he said • " Oh, Lord God ! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee." Now if God has done all these things, how easy it is for Him to convert your friends and bless them I It seems as if this very thought pleased the Lord, for here in this very verse it says : " Oh, Lord God ! behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and outstretched arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee." There is nothing too hard for Him. Now let us lay hold of this truth to-day. Let it sink down deep into our hearts, and as we pray for ungodly men and those who are ridiculins: these efforts, ridiculing: our prayers, let us get our eyes off them and lift our eyes to Him who has all power in heaven and on earth. Let us bear in mind that nothing is too hard for God, and He delights in doing hard things. Now, if we have faith God is not going to disappoint us. We are going to see great and wonderful things, and these men who are bitterly op- posed to these efforts may be here in a little while praising God with us. Infidels, scoffers and unbelievers, gamblers, drunkards and vagabonds are going to be reached by the mighty power of God. While these men are scoffing let us pray God that His spirit may fall upon them. We, perhaps, cannot reach them personally, but we can by prayer. Now, he comes to Jeremiah, in the 33d chapter : " Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, " Thus saith the Lord, the maker thereof, the Lord that formed it, to establish it ; the Lord is his name ; " " Call unto me"* * * =* * * * / no TO ALL PEOPLE. Some of you may have wondered what good it will do to make these requests for prayer. But the Lord tells us that we are to make our requests known. People say : " Does God answer prayer .? " Well, He says so and I will take His word for it. Now, my friends, let us call upon Him. He has told us to do it. Let us pray for those who do not want our prayers ; God is able to reach them. Let us pray for infidels and scoffers. There was a man when we were in London that got out a little paper called " The Moody and Sankey Humbug." And he used to come to the very doors of the place of meeting and sell the paper. But after a while the paper got about run out and then he came to the meetings and made caricatures of what he saw. But he was converted, and got right up in the meeting, and confessed what he had been doing. Let us not give up a solitary man in Boston. God is able to reach these very men. A great many men who are op- posed to this work are so because the Spirit of God is troubling them — they are already troubled. CASTING OUT DEVILS. I WILL read the 9th chapter of the Gospel according to Mark from the 14th verse : " And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. " And straightway all the people^ when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. " And he asked the scribes, Why question ye with them ? "And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee, my son, which hath a dumb spirit. " And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him : and he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away : and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out ; and they could not. " He answereth him and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you ? How long shall I suffer you ? bring him unto me. " And they brought him unto him : and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming. " And he asked his father. How long is it ago since this came unto him ? And he said, Of a child. " And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the water to destroy him ; but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us and help us. ''Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. " And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe ; help thou mine unbelief. " When Jesus saw that the people came running to 1^1 112 TO ALL PEOPLE. gether, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. " And the Spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him : and he was as one dead ; insomucli that many said, He is dead. " But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up ; and he arose. And when he was into the house, his disciples asked him privately. Why could not we cast him out? " And he said unto them. This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting." Here we find the disciples in trouble, and on the other hand the scribes, their old enemies, were of course rejoic- ing at the unsuccessful efforts to cast out this dumb devil, and I think that is really the state of the Church now. Infidels stand outside laughing and scoffing because the Church has so little power. I have no doubt but that the disciples reason- ed as a good many do now, that this case was too far gone — that it was a hopeless case. They said, perhaps if he could only hear us — if we could only speak to him — we might do him some good ; or if he had the use of his tongue, if he was not dumb, so that he could tell them how he felt, they might help him. But as he had been so from a child they gave him up as a hopeless case like the hun- dreds and thousands that are given up now because they do not belong to the Church. They think they are beyond the reach of the Church and they cannot save them. They reason from a human stand-point ; they cannot believe, but when they get their eyes off their human audience and look at Him who sits on the right hand of God and re- member all the power of the heavenly Saviour, it is a very easy thing to reach these men that we look upon as hope- less cases. How many fathers and mothers there are who have become discouraged and despondent because they think their sons are beyond their reach, that they have passed beyond mercy, and that there is no help and no CASTING OUT DEVILS. 1 13 mercy for them ! Let us go to fasting and prayer. Let us find out what the trouble is. If it is want of faith let us ask God to increase our faith. Let us say, " Lord, I be- lieve ; help thou mine unbelief." When this unbelief is taken from the Church it will be full of power. I want to read with this a passage in 2d Kings, 4th chapter 26th verse : "Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee t Is //well with thy husband ? Is it well with the child .'' And she answered, // is well. " And when she came to the Man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet ; but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the Man of God said : Let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her, and the Lord hath hid it from me and hath not told me. I haven't any doubt but that this woman had been fast- ing. I believe she hadn't tasted a morsel since that child died. She desired a blessing. " Then, she said. Did I desire a son of my lord "i did I not say, Do not deceive me ? " Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go thy way : if thou meet any man, salute him not ; and if any salute thee, answer him not again ; and lay my staff upon the face of the child. " And the mother of the child said. As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose and followed her. " And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child, but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked. "And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. " He went in, therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. " And he went up and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands ; and he stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm. 8 114 TO ALL PEOPLE. "Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro ; and went up, and stretched himself upon him ; and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. " And he called Gehazi, and said. Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. " Then she went in and felt at his feet, and bowed her- self to the ground, and took up her son, and went out." I have no doubt but that this woman had been fasting and had not eaten a morsel since that child died and wanted laying out. There is faith and there is faith honored. There is the answer to prayer. But the thought I want to call your attention to about this Shunammite wo- man is, that there is one thing she would not do. She would not trust in Elisha's old staff nor in the servant. She got her eyes off the staff and the servant and placed them on the Lord. I want to call your attention to one clause in that chapter of Mark that I read, in the 19th verse : "Bring him unto me." You have, perhaps, been bringing your sons and daughters to the church, and running after this or that man, but the Lord says, "Bring him unto me." Have faith. Let us have faith in Christ. There are some " ifs " in the Bible that are the devil's " ifs." This man in Mark put the " if " in the wrong place. But the man in the 4th chapter of Luke put it in the right place. He said, ''''If thou wilt thou canst make me clean." The man in Mark got it in the wrong place, for he said, " if thou canst." Let us get the " if " out of the way — " thou canst make me clean." God can do it. My friends, may God help us to-day to put the " if " in the right place. You know there is an if in there. There are some if:s in the Bible that belong to the devil, if you will allow me to speak of them in that manner. When the Lord used them He put them in the right place. If you read the fifth chapter of Luke you will find that he put the if in the right place. He said, " If thou wilt thou canst make me clean." CAS7V.VG OUT DEVILS. 115 Now this man in the last chapter of Mark said, " If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us." If He can, why we know He can let us say as the leper said, "Thou canst make me clean." Oh, my friends, may God help us to put the {/"in the right place ! " If thou canst be- lieve," all things are possible with God. It is an easy mat- ter for God to save souls in Boston ; it is an easy matter to save all the drunkards in Boston, to call back the wander- ing prodigals all over the country. Let us have faith in prayer. If our prayers are not answered, let us not call God to blame ; let us not think He is responsible for our prayers not being answered. If we are anxious to have •our sons and daughters saved we have got to have faith. Let us begin to fast and pray ; let us search our hearts and see if there be any evil way in us. God does not regard iniquity ; the Lord will not hear, much less answer him when he prays. Now let us see if fasting and praying will bring the blessing ; let us see if we have faith to believe what the Lord has promised He would do. Again, let us look and see if it is in accordance with His word. The reason many of our prayers have not been answered is because they have not been indited by the Holy Ghost. What do we want our sons and daughters converted for ? It is for His Son's glory ? If it is He will answer such prayers, for it is His delight to answer those prayers. Another thought about this wonderful story I have been reading here to-day is this : that the devil threw the man down as he was coming. How many have started to come to Christ and the devil has tripped them up before they got there ! A man told me in the inquiry-room that he went down from Boston to Philadelphia to attend the meet- ings there in the hope to find Christ, but lie got drunk soon \fter he got there and did not go to the meetings at all. "he devil tripped him up. And so a great many who had .>et their heart on coming to these inquiry meetings are led Ii6 TO ALL PEOPLE. away before they get there. And another thought is that when the devil left him he gave him a blow which almost killed him, but the Lord raised him up. So it is with peo- ple who are just coming to Christ. And some who came act worse than they did before. Some women have come to me and said, " Mr. Moody, since I have been praying for my husband he acts worse than he did before ; he acts as though he had got seven devils in him." Sometimes when the Spirit of God wakes up these men they wake up ugly and very cross, but let us bear in mind that the Spirit of God can cast out these devils as He did the dumb devil that was brought to Him. Let the key-note of this meet- ing be " Bring me unto Him," and let us take in the arms of faith those of our friends and our relatives, and all who want to become Christians, and bring them to Christ. THE POWER OF PRAYER. I wiix read a few verses in the 4th chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, commencing at the 4th verse : •'Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at' hand. Be careful for nothing •, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." I want now to call your attention to the 6th and 7th verses : " Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your re- quests be made known to God." Now it may be that some wonder why it is that so many of these requests for prayer are coming in here daily — these written*, requests. And perhaps many wonder if there is any good in them. Now it seems to me to be perfectly Scriptural : " Let your re- quest be made'lchown unto God." Pray for one another. We are told to pray for the household of faith. I pity the child of God who has got into that position that he does not want the prayers of God's people. These prayers bring a light among sorrowing Christians. I think if you should go through the city of Boston you would find hardly a family but is passing through some great sorrow ; some one of its number has been taken captive by sin, and I do not know what should touch our hearts more than these requests IlS TO ALL PLLOI'LE. for prayer, abbreviated though they are. They come from hearts that are burdened, some that are crushed. I re- member a man talking against these requests, wanting to know what good they did, and I was thinking of a prom- inent man in one of our cities. He had a boy in the army, an only son, and he loved him better than life. But he was a conservative man, and when he came into the meet- ing and presented that boy for prayer, the people were amazed to think that a man of his high position should get up and present his boy for prayer. But God burdened his heart that morning to pray for his boy as he never prayed before. When he came into the meeting and asked us to pray, there were a great many who lifted their hearts \\\ prayer for the only boy who was then in front of Richmond ; and during the day, a despatch came that at that very hour while we were praying for him he was mortally wounded and dying — an only son. What comfort that father has had since that prayer went up for him at that hour. God undoubtedly burdened his heart to pray for him. If God burdens your heart don't be ashamed to pray yourself and ask your friends to pray for you. If you have a son or a daughter that you are anxious about, go and make your re- quests known unto God ; that is what He tells us here ; let your requests be made known unto God ; don't be ashamed to present them for prayer ; it shows our love for them. What better could we do for our children and our friends than to pray God to bless them, and any one that would get angry because we prayed for them must show they are under the power of the devil, they must have their hearts hardened and be very blind ! To me it is very encouraging, day after day, to see so many people coming out here to pray, and these requests coming in, not only from Boston, but from all New England. It shows that God is laying upon the hearts of His people this burden of prayer, and shall not we all pray that this blessed work that has so THE POWER OF PRAYER. n^ gloriously commenced shall deepen, and that there may be hundreds and thousands of scoffers and men that are mak- ing light of these requests and jeering at our prayers, that they may become convicted and converted ? Our God is able to break the hardest hearts. Let us make our re- quests known unto God, and let us expect He will give us an answer. He is constantly answering prayer for the sons and daughters that have been presented here, and in other places sons and daughters who have been presented for prayers have been saved. I just heard from Chicago ; one church took in 162 members w^hile we were there, and the next communion they took in 500 members. God is answering prayer. My dear frends, let us keep on praying. God is able to save these people, and there is none but God who does answer prayer. Don't let infidelity come in and make us believe that God has got a deaf ear and cannot answer; or that His arm is shortened and He cannot deliver. Our God is a prayer-answering God. How many mothers have had their sons and daughters saved, not through some sermon, but by the mighty power of God converting them ! There is just one thought in the passage I have read which I think you are ready to hear. It was suggested to me by an Englishman some time ago, and I am anxious to call your attention to it. It occurs in the 6th verse : "Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God." He says there are three things enjoin- ed upon us in this passage. First, that we should be care- ful for nothing ; second, that we should be prayerful for everything, and third, that we should be thankful for any- thing. Careful for nothing, prayerful for everything, thank- ful for anything. We should not be troubled about any- thing that may happen to us, but should always go to God hi prayer for all our wants, and should be thankful for any 120 TO ALL PEOPLE. answer we may get to our petitions. A great many people get discouraged because they pray for temporal blessings — for what is not good for them. God does not answer such prayers, and they ought to thank Him for it. Now the men who are taken up the most prominently in Scrip- ture, perhaps the most eminent men who ever lived, don't get their prayers answered. It is no sign that God does not love us because we don't get our prayers answered as ^ ■^e want them answered. There is Moses, whom God takes *' up more than any man in the Old Testament. He prayed J as no one else prays. He was a man of prayer, and we can hear him praying God to take him over the sea into the goodly land. But God did not answer his prayer — not because He did not love him, but because He had something else in store for him. We can imagine Him talking to Moses as a mother to a child, who is asking for j something she does not wish him to have. God says : ' " That will do, Moses ! I hear you, I know you want to go over there pretty bad, but I am not going to let you go. ' It's no use." But God did for him that which was much < greater than any answer to his prayer could have been. He did for him what He never did for any other man. He conferred upon him the greatest, the most sublime distinc- tion He could give to any mortal. God buried him. He could not see the promised land, and as some one has beautifully expressed it, " God kissed his soul away." God did not answer his prayer. Yes, He did answer it, if that which happened later could be called an answer. He did answer it fifteen hundred years afterwards, when he appear- ed with Eliason the Mount of Transfiguration. It appear- ed that his prayer w^as not answered. But it was answer- ed at last. So it was with Elijah. There he was praying under the juniper-tree, He was praying that he might die. But God did not answer his prayer. But it was by the power of prayer that he was rendered fearless when he was THE PO WER OF PR A YER 1 2 1 set before Ahab. Look at him calling down fire on Mount Carmel. All the prophets could not call the fire down ; he prayed and the fire came. He prayed under the juni- per-tree that he might die ; but God did not answer his prayer. Why not ? Because it would have been a dis- grace to God — the man's dying there under the juniper-tree. God loved him too well to answer his prayer. God does not answer our prayers sometimes because we ask for things that would be harmful to us. We would get a good many things we ask for if God did not love us too well to answer our prayers. A man was shaving himself once, and his little boy came up to him and said, " Father, let me have the razor." And his father said : " Why, my boy, what do you want it for.? " " Oh, I just want to whittle a little with it; I just want to play with it." The father said, " No, I cannot let you have it, my boy. You will cut yourself." '' No, I won't! I want it, it shines sol" The father said, " You cannot have it." Do you say the father did not love the boy ? He loved him too well. Now there are a great many of God's people who are just like this little boy. They are praying for razors. God knows what we want more than we do in temporal things. God loves us too well. There was Paul. He prayed and prayed earnestly that God would take the thorn out of his flesh. But God said : " That will do, Paul ; I cannot do it. The thorn must remain — it will give you more ^race." Then Paul thanked God for the thorn. He wouldn't have it out if he could, because he got more grace by it. These things bring us closer to Christ. All prayers are not answered just as we want them answer- ed. He loves us just the same if we don't get them an- swered just as we want them answered. We may rely upon it, God has got something better in store for us. We can pray for the conversion of friends because God likes that. Let us go boldly and call God to convert our friends and God will hear and answer our prayers. FORGIVENESS. " I WOULD like to call your attention to these verses, which you will find in the nth chapter of the Gospel ac- cording to Luke. '• And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a cer- tain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disci- pies. "And He said unto them, When ye pray, say. Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in Heaven, so in earth. " Give us day by day our daily bread. " And forgive iis our sins : for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into tempta- tion, but deliver us from evil." This prayer is a test of discipleship. It is called the Lord's prayer, but it would, perhaps, be better to call it the disciples' prayer ; the Lord's prayer more properly is the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John. Christ's disciples came to Him and said, "Lord, teach us how to pray" — that is, Christ's disciples — " as John also taught his disciples." And then He taught them a prayer. Now I am not going to take up that whole prayer, but will first call your atten- tion to that fourth verse : " And forgive us our sins ; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us." There is no one but a disciple can say that. A man that is not born of God cannot begin to say it, it is not in his power ; he may try to do it, but he cannot ; there is enmity there ; and that is the true test of discipleship, if a man can forgive FORGIVENESS. 123 those that have trespassed against him, those that have in- jured him. There was one place we were in and we were trying to find out the obstacles that were in the way of Go'l's working, and we were trying to put the plough down into the city — some of you who have ploughed where the ground is full of rocks and stumps know that the plough will not stay in when it hits against a rock or stump — so we were trying to plough and kept running away against obstacles. At last we found that two prominent ministers in the place hadn't spoken together for a number of years. We went to work and tried to bring about a reconciliation, and these men didn't see how they could forgive one another. It seems to me — if you will allow me to use the word — a perfect farce to preach for forgiveness if the min- ister is not ready to forgive, especially when the public know, and the public say, "It is very well for him to talk about my forgiving my enemies, but he will not forgive his." If we are going to preach forgiveness let us begin to for- give others ourselves. Now, what we want is to practice what we preach. If we are going to preach repentance, we must repent ourselves. Now can we say that disciples' prayer from the heart? Is there any one that we cannot forgive ? If there is, our prayers cannot go out of this building. There was a man came to me once and wanted me to go round to his house and talk with his wife ; she was anx- ious to talk about her soul. I went round and talked and explained to her the way of life, and then I got down and asked hei to pray, and she made one of the most earnest prayers I ever heard. When she got off of her knees, I said : " Any light ? " " No," she said, " it is darker than ever." I talked and talked, but she didn't see the way. The next day I went back again ; it grew darker and darker, and it looked as though she was going out of her mind. Finally I thought of this text as a test (I suppose God put it 124 TO ALL PEOPLE. right into my heart just at that time), and said, " Let us repeat the disciples' prayer." She began, and when she re- peated " forgive me my trespasses, as I forgive those that trespass against us," I said, " Can you say that from the heart ? " " No," she said, " there is one woman I never will forgive." I had found it. We got off our knees, and I said, " It is no use to pray any longer." " What do you mean .'' " she said ; " do you mean that God is not going to forgive me if I don't forgive that person ? " I said, " That is what He says ; you cannot get all you ask for if you won't forgive, and you must not expect to." "Do you mean to say I cannot get into heaven without asking that per- son's forgiveness 1 " "Well, there is the word of God, and you cannot expect to be forgiven yourself if you are not ready to forgive others." And she said, " I will not be- come a Christian ! " and I left, and the last I heard of her she had gone out of her mind, and some infidels say re- ligion drove her out of her mind, but it was the want of it, that is what it was. See Matthew xviii. 21 : " Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him ? till seven times.'' Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee. Until seven times : but until seventy times seven." That's 490 times, and you'll lose count before you get there. That is, keep forgiving all the time. If you keep running to God to forgive you, you ought to be willing to forgive others. "Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reck- on, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thou- sand talents." A talent is $1000, and therefore he owed the Lord a large debt, in the neighborhood of $10,000,000. "But, forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord command- ed him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant there- FOR GI VENESS. 1 2 5 fore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt." Ten thousand talents — he forgave it. " But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him a hundred pence, and he laid his hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, " Pay me that thou owest me." One hundred pence, a small bill — about $15. Think of it. " And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet and be- sought him, saying. Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." The same words, you see, he had said himself, " Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." "And he would not ; but went and cast him into prison until he should pay the debt. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I for- gave thee all that debt because thou desiredst me. Shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee ? " You see the reason from the verse. If God forgives us 10,000,000 sins shall not we forgive a man who has committed one sin against us 1 If God forgives us a debt of $10,000,000 shall not we forgive another a debt of 100 pence t Shall we not forgive others if our sins are more numerous than the hairs on our head, and He has forgiven them all ? " And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses." Bear in mind this, that God wants forgiveness from the heart. Not this kind of forgiveness : " I will forgive, but not forget ;" that is not forgiveness at all. That is not from the heart, but from the head. When we forgive from the heart it is forgotten. 126 TO ALL PEOPLE. and that is the doctrine of the Bible. If we want to preach to others we must probe our own hearts first. Let us see that there is no root of bitterness in us against any one on the face of the earth. That Book preaches no other doc- trine but to forgive freely, as God has forgiven us. That is the spirit of Calvary ; but may it be wafted upon Boston. That is what will break the heart of the world. If the Son of God forgave his persecutors in that way, so ought we to be willing to forgive those who have trespassed against us. I remember we were in a town holding meetings, some few years ago, and I was off in a room talking with a young lady who was in school, and I did not seem to get along very well, and could not find out what the trouble was. Off at the other side of the room my wife was talking with another young lady, and at last I found out what the trouble was. She said, " I have had trouble with that young lady." " Well, " I said, " it is very clear you can- not expect God to forgive you until you forgive her." The struggle went on for some time, and my wife found out what was the matter with the other young lady, and that it was the same thing. It so happened that they started about the same time to ask each other's forgiveness. They met in the middle of the room, one of the most joyous meetings I ever witnessed, threw their arms around each other, and both speaking at the same time, said, " I want you to forgive me." The Lord God met them right there. If we want to get a blessing, be willing to ask the forgive- ness of those whom we have had hard fellings against. Let us be willing to ask them to freely forgive us. When we were in Chicago there was a business man who was going to take lunch with me ; he came in late. I said, " How is this t I thought you were coming in right after tlie meeting "i " " Well, " said he, naming another prominent business man, "I had trouble with him six months ago, and I could not eat my dinner until I went down and FORGIVENESS. 127 asked his forgiveness." Tliere was a good deal of that in Chicago, and that is one reason why I think the work was so great. Let us have that here. If there is anybody in Boston that any of you ought to forgive go and do it right (away. And that is what we are to do. I can imagine some of you say, " Tliey won't forgive me." But go to, tliem and ask their forgiveness. I cannot make others forgive me, but I can forgive them. We must have noth- ing but love in our hearts. If they hate us and their hearts are filled with the fire of hell asrainst us, we will fori^ive them in spite of that ; and we can love men whether they love us or not, and when we are right with God He will speak through us and use us and not till then. THANKSGIVING. I WILL read a few verses in the 105th Psalm. There is a good deal said in Scripture about giving thanks, and I think we would get a good deal more from the Lord if we thanked Him for what He does give us. *' O give thanks unto the Lord ; call upon his name : make known his deeds among the people. " Sing unto him : sing psalms unto him : talk ye of all his wondrous works." A church that is full of praise will always be full of song. Cold churches do not sing much ; they hire quar- tettes to do it for them. When a man is full of praise he sings. A young convert told us last night he was singing most of the time, " What a Friend We have in Jesus ? " When the Lord converts us ♦He puts a new song into our mouths, and if we are not willing to sing it is a sign that we have not received the Spirit of God. They sing in heaven, and that is about all we are told in Scripture they do. They do other things, but they shout around the throne of God. They sing unto the Lord ; sing Psalms unto Him. That is worship. " Talk ye of all His won- drous works." That was the time that David was bringing the Ark up to Jerusalem. There was a great revival there, and every one was talking about the Lord. Now in Mala- chi iii. 16, we find "They that feared the Lord spake often one to another." Now people who don't fear the Lord don't like to have people talk to them. No doubt a great many of them say, " I'm not going to the Tabernacle to liave strangers talk to me." Now " They that feared the Lord spake often one to another ; and the Lord heark- THANKSGIVING. 129 ened and heard it ; and a book of remembrance was writ- ten before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name." They talked about His wondrous works. I saw the last man that came in here to-day. He told us last night that a few nights ago he was an atheist, and last night he went out of yonder building rejoicing in the Saviour. Mr. Moody here read from the third to the sixteenth verse of the same Psalm, and continued as fol- lows : He don't ask us to give thanks to Him without giving us reason to give thanks. Now David had a great many ihings to be thankful for. Now let our minds go back over the past few weeks, months or years and see if we haven't got anything to thank God for, and if we can think of anything we have got to thank Him for let us give thanks to-day. The Psalmist says : " It is good to give thanks," and where you find a healthy and joyous Chris- tian 3^ou find him giving thanks for what the Lord has done for him. He is not going round with a long face and saying God hasn't done much for him. The man who is living right with God is always praising Him. The bless- ings He showers upon us are more numerous than the hairs of our heads. The Psalmist, says, " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits." Remember some of them, and it would take all day if we remembered the things we have got to praise God for. The object of this meeting is to give thanks for what the Lord is doing in our churches, our families and in our midst. That was the way the great revival spread in 1857, from Maine to Minnesota. The cry went from every town, and spread from one town to another. " If the Lord is blessing yon- der town, why cannot we have a blessing here ? " and they began to cry mightily to God and the blessing came. I don't see why this should not spread all over New England. I have got a letter from Portland, Me., stating that there never was such a work in the town before. The City Hall Q 130 TO ALL PEOPLE. is filled every night, and overflow meetings are held. • Twenty-five hundred people who were not Christians came together last Sunday evening who wanted to hear the gospel preached ! I think the work in Portland one of the most remarkable things which has taken place in our day. It seems as if the Spirit of God has broken out in that town and is breaking out all over New England. Let us praise God to-day. He does answer prayer ; and wliile these infidels and skeptics are scoffing, God is answering prayer. He answers prayer to day as much as He did in the day of Elijah and Moses. Let us not think God's ear is deaf so that He cannot hear, or His arm shortened so that He cannot deliver. The Son of God is moving on the hearts of men and many are coming out of bondage into light. Let us pray for what God is doing to-day. ADDRESS TO CHILDREN. I WILL read a few verses in the 19th chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew, beginning at the 13th verse : "Then there were brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them and pray, and the disciples rebuked them. " But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me : for of such is the kingdom of heaven. " And he laid his hand on them, and departed thence." 1 have just come from the house of mourning (the funeral of Mrs. A. E. Kittredge, wife of Rev. Dr. Kittredge of Chicago), and my heart was touched as I saw the mother lying in her coffin, and her oldest little girl, about nine years old, that she has been trying to lead to Christ. A few months ago, she wrote back from Chicago to her friends in this city that she thought her two oldest children had found peace in believing in the Saviour, and she was rejoic- ing over their salvation. Little did she think that to-day she would be laid away in the grave. Do you think she regretted her faithfulness with those children ? All this winter while others were being blessed, she was anxious that her children should be, and every father and mother ought to be anxious for their little ones. We do not know how soon we may be taken away ourselves. As I looked at that oldest daughter, I said : " Well, she never will for- get her mother's teaching ; she has been faithful, and now she is gone." I am glad that this word " little " occurs in this passage. There are many of us who think our children too little to be blessed. We do not bring them to Christ 132 TO ALL PEOPLE. as we ought ; we do not care for their salvation as we ought. To me there is no more beautiful sight than a father and mother coming into meeting with their children, ar;l lifting up their hearts silently in prayer, that the bless- ing may come on their children ; for the promises are not only to us, but to our children, and it seems to me we ought to be faithful to them. In one of our conventions in the West several years ago (the man had come from the East formerly, but he had been out West a good many years), there was a man about seventy years of age got up and said he could not remember but one act of his father ; he could not remember how he looked or anything he said or did, except one cold winter night, a little while before he died, he took up a little chip and whittled out a little cross, and then, with tears streaming down the old man's face, he told the boy how God had a Son, how He sent that Son into the world, and how v/icked men put Him on the cross and crucified Him, and the story of the cross made an impres- sion which he never forgot. And I believe there is no story that will impress our children like that. While others are being blessed in this city shall our children be left out? And if they have got to be brought, who can do it better than the mother who is with them all the while .'' And I am glad to see so many mothers here this noontide. 1 don't feel so much like talking as like praying that, if God takes us away from them, they will be gathered into the fold of the Great Shepherd, after we are gone ; and if they are called away before us, that we will have no regrets that they will be in heaven awaiting our coming. Let us pour out our hearts, that they may be in glory and that we may be an unbroken circle in heaven ; that they may not be led away in these dark days of unbelief, when Satan is so persistently trying to lead so many away. Mr. Moody spoke with a voice broken by emotion, and at the conclu- sion of his remarks offered the following earnest prayer • ADDRESS TO CHILDREi\. 133 Our Heavenly Father ; we praise Thee for that word to-day, how Jesus said when here upon earth : " Suffer little children to come unto me." O God ! help us to bring our little ones to Thee ! We want to see our children blessed in these days of blessings while Thou art blessing others. We pray that our families may not be overlooked. We pray that the little ones may be called early into the fold and hav^e the care of the Good Shepherd, and that their little hearts may be won to Thee and that they may grow up to love and serve Thee, We pray for these three children, who have been left motherless, mourning over a praying, loving mother who has been taken from them. O God ! be with them and comfort them and sustain them, and mayst Thou raise up some Christian friend to watch over them and shield them from the dangers of the world. We pray for the children in this city who have no mother to watch over them and only Godless and Christless fathers. Our Heavenly Father, we come to pray especially for our own children, represented by the parents here to-day. O God ! make us faithful, help us to win them to Thee. May that be the uppermost thought in our hearts, how to win them to Thee so that they may grow up to serve Thee and be a blessing to the Church of God and to the World. We do not ask for them riches, honor or position in this life, but we ask that Thou wilt give them new hearts so that they may serve Thee here on earth and be prepared to meet us, hereafter, in eternity, to be with us in glory and not to be lost. It may be that some father or mother here to-day is mourning over a loved son or daughter who has been led away by sin, who is far off in the mountains of sin to-day, who do not believe on their mother's God, or listen to their mother's prayers. Oh, that the Spirit from on high may search them out at this hour, and bring back these wandering children ! O hear our prayer to-day, and may we have the spirit of prayer given us that our petitions may reach the throne of love^ 134 rO ALL PEOPLE. and that blessings may come upon us and that we may have the assurance that our children shall be saved and be one with Thee, and Christ shall have the glory. Amen. Two years ago, when I was in Liverpool, a mother was converted and her heart went out towards her boy in Bos- ton, and she began to pray for him and then she began to write him letters and send him tracts and religious papers, and endeavored to pour in truth in that way. Last night her son was in the inquiry-room, and he came and told me these facts, that his mother had been laboring for him two years in that way and joraying for him, and last night he said that not only had her prayers been answered for him, but his wife also during the last two weeks had found Christ, and now both were rejoicing in the Saviour. He wanted me to understand that it was not my influence, but his mother's influence in Liverpool, that had produced such an effect. This shows that God does answer prayer. If there is a mother here who has a son hundreds of miles away she may know that her prayer can reach him. There was a man left India, — he was in the army there, — and he left that distant land and came to London in order to bring his son to the meetings that he might be convert- ed. Another father came hundreds of miles and took his children out of school and brought his whole family that they might be converted ; he wanted his whole family to be blessed. At first, his wife, who was not a professing Christian, joined the meetings, and then another one in the family, and before he left the whole family was blessed. And this man and his son attended our meetings in Man- chester and Liverpool. They got so blessed in the meet- ings they followed us everywhere we went. And they went to work in the inquiry-room trying to lead others to Christ. My friends, it seems to me the next thirty or sixty days is going to be a harvest-time. A man came to me last night and introduced to me a friend. He had brought him hun- ADDRESS TO CHILDREN. 135 dreds of miles to attend the meetings, and he sat right by his side, and then he took him into the inquiry-room and talked with him and finally he surrendered his will to Christ. And he introduced him to me as one who had accepted Christ. Now it seems to me that the home is the first place where we ought to work ; if we cannot lead our family to Christ, how are w'e going to lead others? Let us resolve, God helping us, not to let these golden days pass without believ^ing upon Him and leading others to Him. It was not Zaccheus alone that was converted, but all his children. Salvation comes not only to Cornelius, but to all the little Corneliuses — the whole family. So with the jailer; we must not leave one out, but take the whole fami- ly. Let us keep on praying. God does answer prayers. These men came hundreds of miles to lead their children to Christ. It seems to me we ought to put forth more effort to lead our children to Christ. Only recently I noticed a father from Chicago here, and he had a friend who wanted us to pray for his son, and prayer was made for him. And he said then if he only thought his boy would be blest he was willing to give up his business and bring his boy to Boston to these meetings. And now he has come on and brought his boy here, and I hope there will be power enough in these meetings to cast out the unclean spirit from that boy's heart and bring him to Jesus. Let us unite our hearts in prayer to God for this young man. There are others, fathers and mothers com- ing here from all parts of the country bringing their sons, here. I have in my mind a father who is coming down from New Hampshire, his heart burdened for his boys whom sin has taken away from Christ, and he is going to bring them down here to see if they can be brought back. Let us ask God to pour out His mercy on these sons who are coming here in hopes to be saved. INTEMPERANCE ; THE WORK OF THE DEVIL. I WOULD like to call the atten-tion of all present to the First Epistle of John, 3d chapter and 8th verse : " He that committeth sin is of the devil ; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." I am not going to read any more to-day. it is not ne- cessary. If we get this into our hearts thoroughly it will be enough. The Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. ^Ai this terrible curse of intemperance is not the work of the devil, I do not know what is. When we had our civil war on hand there were a great many who were driven to God in prayer, and we thought that war was the greatest cur^e that ever visited this nation. But it strikes me that this curse of intemperance is worse even than our civil war. That cut off a great many men — ten, twenty, thirty, perhaps forty-years earlier than their time; but think of the men that are being ruined body and soul by this terrible curse ; and my only hope is that the nation will get their eyes open to the fact that it is a curse, and that there will be a cry going up to God, as there was dur- ing our war, that God may wipe out this terrible iniquity. I noticed a few days ago in the papers that in Great Bri- tain alone $600,000,000, are spent anually for strong drink, or $18 each for every man, woman and child in Great Brit- ain, and yet they are crying out there about hard times, and we crying out about hard times in this country. I think that if it was not for this cursed liquor traffic we would not i%6 INTEMPERANCE ; THE WORK OF THE DEVIL. 137 have any hard times or this bondage to intemperate habits. But we have not come here to-day to discuss the evils of intemperance, nor have we come here to discuss who is to blame for it. If I see a man that has tumbled into the river it is not best to inquire how he got there, but the question is how am I going to get him out ? That is the *^ question before us to-day. What are we going to do to stem this terrible torrent of iniquity? We have tried a great many methods ; we have had our temperance societies and bands of hope, our lodges and our reform club, and we have had the pledge, and I don't know but I am getting about discouraged with all these things. I am coming to the conclusion that the only hope is that the Son of God \sy< to come and destroy man's appetite for liquor. You can- not legislate men to be good. We have appealed to our Government and we have failed, and now it is time for us to appeal to God. It will be a very little thing for Him to do. He can save the drunkards of Boston as easily as I can turn over my hand. I am thoroughly convinced that if the drunkards of Boston will only get done leaning upon *^ their own strength and call upon God to destroy the appe- tite, root and branch, He will do it, for He was manifested , to destroy the works of the devil, and certainly this terrible appetite is a work of the devil. Let us put God to the test-; let us take Him at His word, and if the Son of God was manifest to do this very thing, let us ask Him to do it. Don't condemn the drunkards. They don't need that, for they condemn themselves more than any one else could ; they are to be pitied and not condemned. What we want is to go to them full of love and tell them that there is power in the Gospel of the Saviour. When He comes to>^ their hearts He will give them victory over their appetites, I used to get discouraged in working in the temperance cause, for I have been a worker in it ever since I have known Christ ; but in the last year I have been more en- Y38 TO ALL PEOPLE. couraged than ever before, because I have been working on a new line. I used to appeal to men to sign the pledge, and they used to do so and then break them — would sink down lower than ever. But I have given that all up ; my only hope is that they will join Christ and lean upon the arm of God — lean upon His almighty arm, and then there is victory for them. But some of you may say, " Don't these men that profess to be Christians, — don't they fall too ? " Yes ; but it is because they trust in their own strength ; but if they trust in God they do not fall. Why, just take that verse in the 41st chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah, the 13th verse : '* For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will keep thee. In me is thy help.'*' God can give you help. If God has got hold of the drunkard's right hand Fle will not lead him into the rum saloon ; He will not lead him into temptation, but away from it ; and not only that, if Satan trips him up he shall not fall, for God has got hold of his right hand, and if the Lord God, who created heaven and earth, has got hold of the drunkard's right hand cannot He hold it and keep it ? So let us tell them that there is hope, that the Son of Man was made manifest to destroy their appe- tites, and He can do it and take them away ; He can turn their taste against it, and if that is done it will sogn close up the saloons ; there is no trouble about that ; instead of tr3dng to get bills through to close them up Sabbaths, close them up seven days in the week, and if they cannot sell liquor that will surely close them up then. Well, that is just what we arc to work for, the power of God coming upon these drunkards to save them. In one of our las-t temperance meetings in Chicago a business man got up and told the most remarkable story I had heard for several years. He said that eight years before he was a confirmed drunkard ; his father used to give him liquor when he was INTEMPERANCE ; THE WORK OF THE DEVIL. 139 a little boy four or five years old in Enj^land ; his father tlied a vagrant and a drunkard ; this man's friends had all left him in Chicago ; he had been taken into court and pronounced a vagrant and sent off to jail, and his only fear was the policeman would get hold of him ; his only ambi- tion was to just keep out of the hand of the law and to drink liquor all the day and sleep at night wherever he could ; and he said one night he went down to the lake shore, and there was a terrible storm, and the first time in his life he cried to God to help him. That was eight years ago, and he said : "My friends, although a vagrant and an outcast, God met me there on the lake shore ; He took hold of my right hand and I have never had any taste for liquor since : He has kept me for eight years." Now I believe that. You may call him a vagrant or what you like. I believe the statement he made, and God destroyed it, root and branch. And that is what we want in Boston, and I have no other hope for Boston. Shall not that be our prayer 1 Shall not that be our cry .'' And I don't care where the drunkard is — in what part of New England he may be — if he will only send up the cry from his heart to God in heaven, " Oh, my God save me 1 " He will save hi in, and then he will get done trusting himself and trust- ing his own resolution. How many times have men told me that they have gone and taken blood out of their veins and signed the pledge, gone before a magistrate and taken an oath, gone and bowed down upon their mother's grave and swore by the love they had for their mother they would never touch it, and inside of thirty days they were down in the gutter again! Some people tell us that there is some- thing very noble in all men, and appeal to that noble thing in a man and he will rise above it. But I have got done appealing to that ; I appeal to God in heaven — that is where to appeal. Men haven't got the power. If they had, the Son of Man would never have come into this world to 140 '^O ALL PEOPLE. save men. If they have the power, what need for Him to come — what need for the Son of Man to make himself mani- fest ? He was manifest beciuse they hadn't the power to be so manifest as to destroy the works of the devil ; and I have done telling men to reform themselves — they cannot do it ; and when they have got to the end of reforming themselves and will come to God, He will help them. Let us bow our heads in sjlent prayer, and pray that the Son of God will come into Boston and destroy the works of the devil. It is a great petition, but He can do it. Let us spend a few moments in silent prayer. INTEMPERANCE — THE PRAYER OF FAITH. I WILL read a few verses from the ii chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, commencing at the 5th verse : "And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves ; " For a iriend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him ? " And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not : the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed ; I cannot rise and give thee. " I say unto you, IMiough he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. " For every one that asketh receiveth ; and he that seeketh findeth ; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. " If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone } or if he ask a fish, wi'll he for a fish give him a serpent ? *' Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion ? " If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children : how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? " And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake ; and the people wondered. " But some of ihem said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils." There are a few thoughts that I want to call your atten- tion to here ; that is, this man went for bread. He had a purpose ; he had an object in view ; he went for some- 142 TO ALL PEOPLE. thing j and if we only go to God with a purpose, with some object in view, we will not come away empty. But there are a great many times that we pray and really do not. ask for anything ; we call it prayer, but we really don't ask for anything. Importunity has three names, asking, seek- ing, and knocking, and if the blessing doesn't come by asking we are to seek and find out the reason, and if it doesn't come by seeking we are to knock and knock and knock till the door is opened. The door may seem to be made of granite, and no one hears us inside, but we have the promise that if we keep knocking it will be open- ed. I think a great many of us can learn lessons from children : I have. You have sometimes been in the house when the children were playing, rolling a hoop around the room, or playing with a ball or some toy, and they would cry out, " Mamma, I am thirsty. I want some water ; " but they go on rolling their hoop and their mother thinks they are not very thirsty, and don't get them any water. In a little while they say, "Mamma, I am hungry. I want something to eat." But the child goes on playing with its hoop and the mother does not trouble herself. By and by they repeat their request with the same result, but at last they leave everything, they have got done asking, and go to seek and to find out why their mother does not give them the bread or water. There are a great many people who ask and never wait for an answer. In fact, they would be greatly surprised if the answer came. You often hear of people who have been praying fifteen or twenty years, and when the answer came they would say : " Isn't that a won- derful thing? " When we pray let us ask, and expect that we are going to get what we ask for, and not only that. You would be very much annoyed if some one should wake you up at two or three o'clock in the morning and not want anything. I had a man come to my house at that hour, and he knocked INTEMPERANCE— THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 143 and rang the bell, and finally kicked on the door so as to make the whole house tremble. I heard him then, and lifted up the window and inquired : " Who is there ? " He told me his name, and. I said: "What do you want?" " Oh," he said^ " I was just passing through Chicago and thought I would call and say how do you do ? " I was very much provoked at the idea of getting out of bed at that hour to find a man who merely wanted to ask how I was. Now, my friends, we want to go to God and ask for something. Bear in mind if it don't come by asking, we will seek until we find out why ; and if it does not come by seeking, let us knock and keep knocking until the blessing comes. We have got an object to-day before us ; I don't know of any meetings which touch my heart as these Friday meetings. I don't know of anything that takes hold of my sympathies and heart as those requests did to-day. Think of the hundreds of homes that are dark and cheerless, and for the sake not only of these heart- broken wives and crushed and wretched mothers and their little children, but for the sake of Christ, let us pray for these men, that they may be reclaimed. There is a story told of a governor in New Jersey, that he was sought by an Irish woman to release a man that was to be hung ; she came day after day until he was so troubled that he gave orders not to let her in his ofiice — he could not be troubled any more with her ; but one day he went into his office and she had got in there by some strategy, and she brought her ten children with her ; tlie ten children fell on their knees and cried, " Governor, pardon my father." and the mother said, " for the sake of these ten children spare the life of my husband." It touched his heart and the life of her husband was spared. For the sake of these children and the bruised and broken-hearted mother let us pray to the God of heaven to save the drunkard. Let us have faith to pray. Oh, may God increase our faith ! INTEMPERANCE :— HE FORGIVETH OUR INIQUITIES. I WILL read a part of the 103d Psalm. I want to call your attention to five words in the third, fourth and fifth verses of this Psalm : " Who forgivelh all thine iniquities." "Forgiveth" — that is what the Lord wants to do with every man and every woman gathered in this building to-day. But He d(^es more than forgive. You might have a prod- igal boy that would go off like the one we read of in the 15th chapter of Luke, and in some foreign country con- tract some disease and come home and repent of his sins and ask you to forgive him, and you might forgive him, but you could not heal him. But the Lord does more than forgive : He forgiveth all our iniquities, and healeth all our diseases. Now some people say that they have become so addicted to strong drink that it has become a disease with them ; never mind, bring it to Christ — He will heal all thy diseases. I would not give up a man because his own power over himself is gone ; it is the power of God that is going to save him, not his own ; and if a man is so given to drink that it is a disease, don't become discouraged and think there is no hope for that man. — " He forgiveth all thine iniquities. He healeth all thy diseases. He restoreth thy soul." He forgiveth and healeth. If a man only brings his disease to Christ; if he only brings this appetite to the Son of God, God is able to forgive him and heal him. But He does more than forgive and heal. A man may be for- given and healed, but Christ redeemeth his life not from the power of Satan, but from the hands of justice. Every INTEMPEKA NCE. 1 4 rj man who has sinned and transgressed the law of God, oh ! " He redeemeth thy life from destruction" — that is what God wants to do, He will redeem every drunkard in this town if he wants to be redeemed and is willing to be re- deemed for God's glory, if his aim is to glorify God, A man need not come to God to get rid of his appetite if he means to be an infidel, to sow tares if he means to fight against God. Perhaps it is better that he should go into a drunkard's grave than to sow tares and do what he can to destroy the Lord's works. He does more than for- give, heal and redeem, " He crowneth thee with loving- kindness and tender mercies." Every child of God that has been redeemed is crowned with loving-kindness and tender mercies, and the blessings of Heaven. But there are a great many people who have the crowns but are not satisfied. I have no doubt that a great many crowned heads in Europe are dissatisfied and they do not know what peace and comfort are. He does more than crown. He satisfieth. There are five precious things that the Lord gives every one that believeth in Him : Forgiveth all thine iniquities, healeth all thy diseases, redeemeth thy life from destruction, crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies, and satisfieth. You cannot get any higher than satisfaction. What does a man want more than that? That is the top round of the ladder, and the angels of heaven cannot get any higher ; the redeemed in glory cannot get any higher; that is the very highest to which we can go, my friends. Satisfieth — God will satisfy every one of us if we will only come to Him. That is just what He wants to do. Oh, may God help us to come to Him to-day ! No wonder the Psalmist says, " Bless the Lord, O my soul ; " he had got something to bless the Lord for, and if you will only take Christ as God's gift, and your way and your portion, you will have something to praise God for. I hope every man that is a slave to-day to strong drir^k vyill come just as he 10 146 TO ALL PEOPLE. is, and ask God to heal all your diseases, to redeem your life from destruction, crown you with loving-kindness and tender mercies, and satisfy your soul. He can do it. He longs to do it. God will grant your requests. The sinner wants to get in the place of receiving and put God in the place of giving, and then salvation will flow into his * soul. Before we have a few moments of silent prayer I would like just to make a statement that may en- courage you to pray. At the young men's meetings and at other meetings we have had, at the Friday meet- / ings and at the small meetings this week, there have been a great many who have been, as we believe, saved by the answer to prayer. They have been deprived of their appetite for strong drink. It shows that God is already commencing to answer our prayers. I say this to encourage you to pray. It has just been reported about again that those who have been drunkards and reformed don't stand, and now that is being denied. I have just got a letter this week from Philadelphia, for I had heard that one^f several hundred men who had been saved in that city had fallen, and so I wrote back there to inquire about it, and I got this letter in answer from the man himself, saying that he had only been down for a few days, but he had been raised again by the power of God, so that the very day this letter was written he was leading the noon prayer-meeting. He had been one of the greatest drunkards in Philadelphia, but God had heard and answered his prayer. Some may say that because these men have been saved, it is no sign that they have been reclaimed. A great many of us Chris- tians have done a good many things since we were con- verted that we ought not to have done, and I don't see why we should cast these men off because they have fallen. Instead of trying to help them some seem to rejoice at it, and call their neighbor's attention to it, and say, " Now see how that man has fallen," Let us try to raise him instead INTEMPERANCE. 147 of rejoicing in his fall. It seems as though you were doing the devil's work when you rejoice at a man's fall instead of trying to raise him up. Go to work and get him away from the devil if you can. The devil has got him down — a good many are trying to help the devil keep him down. Because a man has fallen again it is no sign he has not been reclaim- ed. I tell you Christ will heal the backslider and get him on his feet again ; He has saved hundreds of men in that way. A man came into our meeting in the Hippodrome the last night we were there, and I have been anxious to hear how he was getting along, and this week I heard from him. He was not only a tramp, but he had got down about as low as any tramp could get. His will power was all gone. He had only rags to cover his nakedness. He was as filthy and as far gone as any man I have ever seen. He came into the Friday meeting and stayed at the second meeting, and some friends prayed with him ; whether they effected any change in him at that time, I don't know. He told them he didn't know anything about Jesus. He said, " He won't answer my prayer, I am so great a sinner." But this was his experience as he narrated it to me afterwards. He said he had a fifteen-cent scrip in his pocket, and he said the first day after, " If the Lord will help me keep that piece of scrip twenty-four hours I will take that as a token He will answer my prayer. If I shall just be able to walk through the streets of New York twenty-four hours without spending it for whiskey I will take that as an answer to my prayer." He had no place to lay his head, but wandered about the streets all that time, and when he came back to me afterwards and I asked him how he was getting along, all he said was *' I have got it now." I heard from him last week, and he said " I have got it now." He hadn't spent it for whiskey. He says he intends to keep that piece of currency as long as he lives. God help him to do it ! That shows how God can save the poor drunkard. 148 TO ALL PEOPLE. Let us believe in prayer. Before we have a silent prayer, I would like to read a request from a little child : " Dear Christian (written in a childish hand), will you please pray for my father ; he is a drunkard, and for that cause I am without a home, and when you pray for him, remember me, a little girl." Oh, may God bless the little girl ! and may God hear our prayers and save that father ! Let us have a few moments' silent prayer. Let us all pray. INTEMPERANCE—" THE CASTING OUT OF THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT." I WILL read a few verses in the 5th chapter of Mark. " And they came over into the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. " And when lie came out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, "Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains : " Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broken in pieces; neither could any man tame him." That was what we would call a pretty bad case. They could not take him and bind him. " And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones." He had a dwelling among the tombs, among the graves, and was cutting himself with stones. That is what every drunkard is doing. He is marring the temple the Holy Ghost would dwell in. He is cutting himself with stones, and no man can save a drunkard now, any more than they could this man then. They had tried him and failed ; they had bound him in chains and fetters but he had broken them ; they had tried to tame him, but they could not. He was what we call now a hopeless case, beyond the reach of man. Christ always liked to get hold of those cases. Where man fails He likes to come in and show His mighty power of saving men. "And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones." 149 i^o TO ALL PEOPLE. He had his dwelling among the dead: that is where every sinner has his dwelling. " But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, " And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God ? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not." Even the devils knew it was the Son of God. They knew who He was and where He came from and what He came to do. " I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not." That is the false idea that people have — that Christ comes to torment them. Instead of that He comes to bless them. They think that He comes to cast them down, but instead of that he comes to lift them up; they have the idea that Christ is going to make them wretched,but instead of that He wants to give them peace and joy. He wants to save men and cast out these unclean spirits. I have an idea that this rum devil is the worst we have nowadays, and it takes just as much power to cast them out as it took to cast the devil out of this man. I think no other power will do it. People say, " Assert your manhood," but man has not the power to overcome the flesh, the world and the devil. "For he said unto him. Come out of the man, thou un- clean spirit. ' And he asked him. What is thy name ? And he an- swered, saying. My name is Legion : for we are many. " And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. " Now there was nip;h unto the mountains a ^reat herd of swdne feeding. " And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. " And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the un- clean spirits went out and entered into the swine : and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea (they were about two thousand) ; and were choked in the sea. " And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the INTEMPERANCE. 151 city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. " And they come to Jesus, and see him that was pos- sessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind : and they were afraid." I don't know where he got his clothes ; perhaps Peter took off his coat and gave it him. So he was in his right mind. " And they that saw it told them how it befell to him - tliatwas possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. " And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts." They would rather have a few swine than have Christ with all that power. We should have thought they would have been glad to have this man saved. But there are a good many men now of the same mind ; rumsellers and drunkards think Christ is going to torment them and make them wretched. Instead of that He wants to do them good and bless them and save their souls from eternal death and ruin. But their cry is, " Depart from me." Oh, how blind a man is when he is under the power of the devil, but he don't know it ! " And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. " That is a true sign of conversion — he wanted to follow Christ. Now, there were three that prayed here : those countrymen prayed that he might depart out of their coasts. He answered their prayer ; the devils prayed, and he answered their prayer ; but this man, who had been saved, prayed and He didn't answer his prayer. He had got some- thing better for him ; he wanted to be with Him, he prayed that he might be with Him. " Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him. Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. 152 TO ALL PEOPLE. /.^ i " And he departed and began to publish at Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel." L I would like to have been in Decapolis when he got home, must have made no small stir, for he was pretty well y known undoubtedly in that whole town. He had been ^ the terror of all women and children within ten miles, and they didn't dare to be out after dark if they heard him groaning in those tombs. The leading men of the place had tried to bind him in chains and fetters, and if they had had insane asylums they would have put him in there ; and there he was, the pest of the whole country. But I would like to have been in that house when he got home. I can just imagine that his children saw him coming across the fields, and they ran to their mother and said, " Mother, papa is coming ; " the doors are locked and bolted and barred, the children run and hide, they were afraid of him, like the drunkard's children are now. Those men who ought to love the little ones, and the little ones ought to love, many of them have become demons-.-they have be- come a terror to their own families and their children hide away ; and instead of his bursting into the house as he some- times did, smashing the furniture, he comes walking up to the house, gently knocks at the door after he tries to get in, and finds it locked and bolted, and you can just hear him say, " Mary, don't be afraid of me any more ; let me in, the Lord Jesus has saved me. I have come to tell you what great things He has done for me." And Mary hears the voice of that loved one ; it sounds as it used to years be- fore, and she unlocks that door, she opens it and she receives him to her bosom, and the little children come out from their hiding-place, they are no longer afraid of him. Ah, my friends, there must have been joy in that home. And after he had told his wife and children what great things the Lord had done for him and how He had com- INTEMPERANCE. 153 passion on him, I see he goes out on the corners of the 1 streets, because the Lord told him to go and tell his friends what great things the Lord had done for him. When a man is converted he goes and tells his friends and does not keep the thing a secret within his own family. I can imagine that he gets up on the top of a dry goods box on the corner of the street and tells them how he met Jesus, and how Christ, by the power of His word, as we were talk- ing about yesterday, had cast out these unclean devils, and cast out the infernal spirits ; and I can see two of the citi- zens coming down by the corner of the street, and one says, " Tom, is that the man that we have had so much trouble with for the past ten years ? Isn't that the man we have been trying to tame ? Isn't that the man we bound in fetters?" "It looks very much like him, but it cannot be him." " Let us go back and listen to him," and they went back and listened to him, and they hadn't been back three minutes before they found out it was the same man, but yet he wasn't the same man, he was a new man in Christ Jesus ; he had been regenerated, born of God ; he had been born of the Spirit, he was a new man, and all men marvelled. And we find in the seventh chapter of Mark that Christ was back on the coast of Decapolis. They besought Him to depart from their coasts ; but I believe it ^ is good testimony for Christ that these men saw what a wonderful thing He had done, and perhaps they invited Him to come back. He might have been a guest of this man, and now their testimony is — " He hath done all things well." Yes, Jesus does all things well. My friends, you had better let Him save you to-day. Have you got a bad appetite ? Do you want to get rid of it .? The Son of Man can de- stroy it. He can take it from you. He will cast out that rum devil if you are willing to let Him bless you to- day. I would like to go on talking longer about that man who went back and told what great things God had done xr^ TO ALL PEOPLE. for him. But we have some witnesses to-day, and Christ has the same power now to save men that He had when He was on earth. I will call them out and let them tell you what great things God as done for them. COMING TO CHRIST. I WILL read from Matthew xi. 27 : "All things are de- livered unto me of my Father ; and no man knovveth the Son, but the Father ; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. •' Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. " Take my yoke upon you and learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart ; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. " For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Luke XV. : "Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." The Pharisees would tell the truth now and then, and they never told a more truthful thing than that. That is the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He came into the world for sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost, and so when the Pharisees said this, they told the truth once if they never did before. There is one more text that I want to refer to, in John vi. 37 : " Him that Cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." Now when princes and kings of this earth generally call people round them they generally call the great and mighty and the noble, but when the Prince of peace was here He called publicans and sinners ; many of them were outcasts whom most of the people would not associate with. He was all the time calling around Him all classes. But the publi- cans and sinners flocked to Him because He woke them up to the fact that they needed Him. There is one pas- 156 TO ALL PEOPLE. sage of Scripture which is very precious to me, and that is that Christ helped all men that had need of Him. Now if there is a man here to-day who has need of Christ He will help him. Any man or woman in this assembly that needs Christ can have Him. He will give you all the help you need, I don't care what your besetting sin is. It may be your appetite for strong drink. Bring that to Him. He has got power to take that from you. Now a good many think they would like to come to Christ, but they want to get ready first. They want to lop off this sin and that sin and stop swearing and drinking, and then they will be ready. That would be like a sick man waiting until he is well and then sending for a physician, or like a blind man waiting until he recovers his sight and then sending for a doctor. You bring your sickness and your blindness to Christ and then He will help you. It is the sick that need a physician, and not those who are well. And if there is a man here troubled with any besetting sin, I don't care what it is, let him come to Christ and He will help him, for He has promised, " Him thatcometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." I like those I wills — they are all good. You cannot find a man that can honestly and truthfully say that he came to Christ and He didn't receive him and He cast him out. No man living can say that, because He has re- ceived all that have come and all that will come. There was a man in our late war, and as he lay upon his cot (he was a skeptical man), there was one of those silent com- forters hanging on the wall of the hospital, and this was the text : " Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." One day he got a letter from his mother and was so sick he could not read it, but the nurse read it to him, and this letter was an earnest appeal to her boy to accept of Christ; he was down there in the hospital, and she didn't know but he would die without her seeing him again, and she quoted that text to him, " Him that cometh unto Me I COMING TO CHRIST. 1^7 will in no wise cast out." The dying man said : " That is very singular, there it is on the wall, and my mother has written it." A day or two after he was much worse and sinking rapidly, and he asked the nurse to read his mother's letter again, and when she got to that text he said, " Did mother put that in the letter, ' Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out ? ' " " Yes," says the nurse. " And does the Bible say it ? " " Yes." " And if mother says it and the Bible says it, it must be true." And dear friend he believed and received Christ. It is true. Take it just as you are : " Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." May God help every man in this assembly, and every woman, to come with all their sins, and the Tord will take you to His loving bosom and will hold you and keep y^ou until that day. PERSEVERANCE. You will find my text in the 6th chapter of Galatians, 9th verse : "And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." When I was talking about the qualification of Christian workers, the first week or two that I was here, I meant to have spoken of perseverance, but failed to do so. I want, this morning, to call your attention to that necessary qualification, if we are going to be successful in the vineyard of the Lord. I believe there are a great many who fail because they don't persevere. Now, it isn't the man or woman who is ready and willing to work for a few weeks, and if they are not successful give it up, that reap, but those that work on day and night and hold on to the work.* " We shall reap." There is the promise, " if we faint not." I haven't yet found the first man or woman who have been at work for the Lord and kept persevering that has not been successful. It may take weeks, it may take months, and it may take years, but they have got His promise. There is the word, " We shall reap." Some people tell us that we do not work enough. I presume there i-s a good deal of truth in it. I have but little hope of any spasmodic effort where men and women are roused up to work only for a few weeks, and if this is all that these meetings do, they will be a perfect failure. There is a good deal said against special and revival meetings, and there is a good deal of truth in what some people say of them. If people are roused up to work for only a few weeks or even months, they are almost a complete failure. What we want is to 158 PERSE VERANCE. 159 persevere, and remember that we have got the word of the Lord, that " we shall reap." Faith is an act of the mind, but work is an outward sign of faith. You can't have true faith without having works, no more than you can have fire without heat. A man who tells me that he has faith in Jesus Christ, and no impulse to work for God, I doubt his word, and I would not give much for his faith, because if he has faith and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he cannot help working for Him. It is just as much a com- mand for a man to work after his faith as it is to remem- ber the Sabbath day. Laziness don't belong to the new crea- tion j it belongs to the old, and if a man professes to be converted, and is not stirred up to work for God, I doubt his conversion. He may make great professions, but when he has no desire to work for God, that is a true sign that he has not been born of God. I was for twelve or fifteen years superintendent of a Sabbath School in the mission district of Chicago, and you know it isn't easy work in these districts. It is sometimes very dark and discourag- ing, when you have doubtless been pulling seven days in the week one way, to get children in when perhaps their parents have been doing all they could to prevent you from prosecuting your work. It is sometimes pretty dark, like toiling all night and not catching anything. I noticed that the people who got discouraged, and gave up their classes, and went from one school to another, from one field to another, were never successful ; but those that per- severed and held on, day after day, week after week, month after month — held right on, have always been blessed. When I was in Chicago the last time, I saw a young man in the school who had been toiling for months and years without having many results, as far as conversions were concerned. Last spring he took his boys out into the country, as was oftentimes his custom, for a week or two. There were about fifty, and only five or ten of them that l6o TO ALL PEOPLE. were Christians. When I was there last spring he came right into our meetings, was one of the ushers, and every once in awhile there would be a request for prayer for that class. After awhile their hearts began to be moved, and out of one hundred and eighty in that class, which had grown to that number, over one hundred had been con- verted and were working for the Saviour. *' We shall reap if we faint not." There was a teacher, being blessed be-- cause he held on,while there were others in that school who had got discouraged and given up classes. If we will only just have this for our motto, that we are not to faint, but hold on ; and if we don't see any fruit to-day, or next week, or next month, not to get discouraged, but hold on to God's promises, and believe we can reach the hardest heart in Boston. I remember when I first began to work for the Lord, fifteen or sixteen years ago, there was a Boston business man who was converted there and stayed three months, and when leaving he said to me that there was a man living on such a street in whom he was very much in- terested, and whose boy was in the High School, and he had said that he had two brothers and a little sister who didn't go anywhere to Sabbath School, because their pa- rents would not let them. This gentleman said : " I wish you would go round and see them." Well, I went and I found that the parents lived in a drinking saloon, and that the father kept the bar. I stepped up to him and told him what I wanted, and he said he would rather have his sons become drunkards and his daughter a harlot, than have them go to our schools. I thought that it looked pretty dark and that he was pretty bitter to me, but I went a second time thinking I mio:ht catch him in a better hu- mor. He ordered me out again. I went a third time and found him in a better humor. He said : " You are talking too much about the Bible. Well, I tell you what I will do ; if you will teach them something reasonable, like PERSEVERANCE. i6i " Paine's A^e of Reason," they may go. Then I talk- ed further to him and finally he said : " If you will read Paine's book, I will read the New Testament. " Well, to get hold of him I promised, and he got the best of the bargain. We exchanged books and that gave me a chance to call again and talk with that family. One day he said : " Young man, you have talked so much about church, now you can have a church down here." " What do you mean ? " " Why, I will invite some friends, and you can come down here and preach to them ; not that I believe a word you say, but I do it to see if it will do us chaps any good." "Very well," I said ; "now let us have it distinctly understood that we are to have a certain definite time." He told me to come to-morrow at ii o'clock, saying, " I want you to understand that you are not going to do all the preaching." " How is that ? " "I shall want to talk some and also my friends." I said, " Supposing we have it understood that you are to have forty minutes and I fif- teen : is that fair t " Well, he thought it was/^/r. He was to have the first forty and I the last fifteen minutes. I went down, and behold the saloon-keeper wasn't there. I thought perhaps he had backed out, but I found that the reason was that he had found that his saloon was not large enough to hold all his friends, and he had gone to a neigh- bor's, whither I went and found two rooms filled. There were atheists, infidels, and scoffers there. I had taken a little boy with me, thinking he might aid me. The moment I got in they plied me with all sorts of questions, but I said I hadn't come to hold any discussion, that they had been discussing for years and reached no conclusion. They took up the forty-five minutes of time talking, and the re- sult was there were no two who could agree. Then came my turn. I said : " We alwaj^s open our meetings v/ith prayer ; let us pray." I prayed and thought perhaps some one else would pray before I got through. After I 1 62 TO ALL PEOPLE. finished, that little boy prayed. I wish you could have heard him. He prayed to God to have mercy upon those men who were talking so against his beloved Son. His voice sounded more like an angel's than a human voice. After we got up, I was going to speak, but there was not a dry eye in the assembly. One after another went out, and the old man I had been after for months, and sometimes it had looked pretty dark, came and putting his hands on my shoulder with tears streaming down his face, said ; " Mr. Moody, you can have my children go to your Sunday School." The next Sunday they came, and after a few months the oldest boy, a promising young man then in the High School, came upon the platform, and with his chin quivering and the tears in his eyes, said : " I wish to ask these people to pray for me ; I want to become a Christian." God heard and answered our prayers for him. In all my acquaint- ances I don't know of a man whom it seemed more hope- less to reach. I believe if we lay ourselves out for the work there is not a man in Boston but can be reached and saved. I don't care who he is, if we go in the name of our Master, and persevere until we succeed. It will not be long before Christ will bless us, no matter how hard their heart is. " We shall reap if we faint not." I didn't have a warmer friend in Chicago ; he was true to me. Many a man now uncon- verted in this city, if we are true and taithful, and go to him in the spirit of the Master, can be reached. I never speak about conversion but what infidels talk, and say that there have been no infidels converted ; but there has, and we want to keep laboring to bring them to Christ. Infidel- ity don't satisfy them.- I never found an infidel satisfied j they want Christ to satisfy them. Let us hold on to this text, " We shall reap if we faint not." When I was in Lon- don I got acquainted with one of the most remarkable men I ever met. He was a young man brought up in the best society, as the world called it. His father was one of ths PERSEVERANCE. 163 knights and moved in what the world calls the upper circle. This young man was well acquainted with the Royal fam- ily, but when he was converted he went down into the Seven Dials, a locality the same as the North end of Boston, where there were dark alleys and the lowest dens of infajiiy. He would go out on those dark narrow streets until midnight, and oftentimes stay until 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning. There he met ragged boys, without any homes, lying around on boxes, barrels and stairways, and he would gather them together, give them supper, good shelter and a bed, and stay there and sleep with them. He left his beautiful mansion, and seven nights in a week that young man went down to what I might call the very borders of hell, for it seemed to me the darkest sight I ever saw. He went not only one or two weeks, but for eight or nine years, spending every night among the most abandoned people, tryi.ng to bring them up out of their degradation. In 1872 he had eighty-five boys in Canada, all of whom have been con- verted, corresponded with them, and found they were all doing w^ell. When I was there the last time, it was my privilege to stop at his house. He has since married, and his wife tells me that he gives five nights out of the week to that work at the Seven Dials. He has put up a building costing in the neighborhood of $50,000 to $75,000. Not only has he spent his money, but his time. A good many people are willing to help the Lord in a patronizing way, by giving a hundred dollars or so to the church, and let others do the work, but this man was willing to go right down among them, and get hold of them, and I don't know a man so blessed as he. I speak of this to encourage some one else in this audience to go and do likewise. You may not be rich, but thank God it don't need money to work for God if our hearts are full of love for Him. He has got plenty of work for all. He can use all kinds of talent, great and small, those of great ability and those of little, if we are 164 TO ALL PEOPLE. willing just to go to work. Now, I know of a young lady converted a few years ago, and the first thing she inquired was, "What can I do ? " I said, " I don't know ; I don't think it is right for me to direct you. Do what God calls you to do." I said I was two years trying to find what my work was before I succeeded. When I com- menced to speak in meetings the grown people would hear me. I could notice them squirm their shoulders when I got up, But at last I went out one Sunday and got hold of eighteen ragged boys. That was about the happiest Sunday I ever experienced. If I couldn't teach others I could take them where there were those who could. You can do the same. It wasn't three months before that young lady had twenty-six off the street, and trying to teach them the way to the kingdom of God. If she had not persevered she would have failed, but, thank God ! she held on and achieved great results. And so let these young converts find some work ; go out into the vineyard of the Lord and persevere. In the 15th chapter of the Gospe of John, the 4th and 5th verses, we are told about the work: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine ; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit : for without me ye can do nothing." We find that there are some Christians who are fruitful, others that have to be pruned, and that makes them more fruitful ; but those that abide in Christ bring forth much fruit. There are those three kinds of Christians : those that bear fruit, others that do not bear so much without pruning, and this third class, the best of all, that bear much fruit, because they abide in the Lord. That last class are not going into the world after comfort but abide PERSE VERANCE. i6S in Christ and get strength and power to serve Hun. If we want to be faithful and bring forth one liundred-fold we should abide in Him. You know we are told in the Bible that some brought forth thirty-fold, some sixty and some one hundred. Let us aim to be fioiit-bearing Chris- tians that shall bring forth one hundred fold. It is blessed to bring forth thirty and sixty-fold, but like the boy who wants to stand number one in his class at school, let us try to bring forth one hundred-fold. God can make us successful if we are willing to be doers of the word as well as hearers. A man came into the inquiry-room and found Christ, and I felt curious and asked him what it was that first impressed him. He said some lady offered him a card at one of the meetings, which he took from his pocket- book and showed me. It was an announcement of the " Gospel Meetings of Moody and Sankey," etc., and on the back was a verse reading, " A certain man had two sons," etc. And he said when he read that the thought came to him that he was that son that had wandei-ed away. I knew those cards had been printed, and on inquiry as to who did it I learned that a certain young man had printed 15,000 of them at his own expense. I asked this gentle- man if he would let me have that one. He replied he would like to accommodate me, but said he valued it too precious to do so, and he put it back in his pocket. I found out the printer and got two or three. I wish we had ten thousand such workers just trying to find some work to do for the Master. There is the seed sown and already sprung up and bearing fruit to life eternal. I want to stir up some of you to-day if I can to go to work in the vineyard. As I have said, I never had better people to listen. It is most remajkable to see so many of you come out on such a stormy morning as this. I think this is one of the most extraordinary assemblies I ever had upon such a morning. You are good for hearing the 1 66 ^^^ '-^^^ PEOPLE. Word ; I wish that you would all be doers of it. In the ist of James, beginning with the 22d verse, it says : " But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. " For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass : " For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. " But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. " If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridlo<^h not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. " Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this. To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world." Now if we arc going to have pure religion we have got to be something besides hearers of the Word ; we have got to be doers of it. And if I can only say something this morning to stir up these thousands of Christians to be doers of the word, don't you see how the influence of this meeting would spread all through Boston, and how many hundreds would feel its influence before long, and how many would be won to Christ. Instead of having an in- quiry-meeting in the Rev. Mr. Gordon's church yonder, there would be inquiry-meetings in every house and wherever a Christian came in contact with the unconverted. I don't know of anything that impressed me so in England as to see the Christians with their Bibles in the meetings looking at them ro see if what was said was according to the Word of God. Then after the meeting, instead of grabbing their hats and trying to get out before the bene- diction was pronounced, as you do here sometimes, they were already at work for God and trying to find some one to talk to about it instead of rushing out. We tried to drive the nail and they endeavored to clinch it. Suppos- PERSE VERA XCE. 1 6 7 ing all the Christians here this morning were watching for souls and talked to some one near them, what an influence they would have. You can generally tell who are Chris- tians by their eyes and manners — their faces shine, or if there is a Christian in doubting castle, have your Bible and be ready to give them God's promises, and see how blessed this week would be and see how many you could lead to Christ. If all the Christians of Boston would unite in the work, by the time we leave this city there would be a great army at work for Christ. I don't know why we shouldn't have thousands of these workers. What a blessed and glorious privilege to lead a soul out of the darkness into the light. If I had time there are other passages that I would like to call your attention to about being workers in the vineyard of the Lord, but I am not able now. CONVENTION TALKS. HOW CAN NON-CHURCH-GOERS BE REACHED ? I WOULD like to say one word before we close this question. I don't believe there is a minister in this con- gregation but would have a full house if he would just work for it. A few years ago, before I thought I could preach, we built a hall in Chicago for the Young Men's Christian Association, and our plan was to get the different ministers to go there every Sunday night and preach, but we failed in that ; we couldn't get many to come, and the ministers didn't like to go there to preach, and so one night they came to me and wanted me to go down there and preach. It was pretty hard to preach to empty chairs. But I got a few interested in the meeting and then we got out some hand-bills that cost about sixty cents a thousand, and then we took some of the young men and got them to come together every night in the hall, and we gave them some tea and they prayed together ; and they took these handbills and went out on the street, and every man had a district, and they visited every saloon and billiard hall and bowling alley, and there was not a man who came within a mile of the building but got from one to half a dozen of these invitations to come to that meeting. And when a man was converted we yoked him up with another, two and two, and sent them out to bring others, and that is the way we did it, and we have always had an audience ever since. Now if people won't come to our churches, let us go for them in that \vay and keep the church awake. If a man goes out on the street trying to get people to come into the church and he gets another man to come in, he i68 CONVENTION TALKS. i6g will not go to sleep. He will try to have that man inter- ested in the exercises ; and if he does not like the sermon, he will go to the minister afterwards and say, " You must make that sermon plainer ; that man that I brought didn't understand it." There was a man we converted in Chicago who couldn't speak a word of English, and we had to make use of an interpreter, and what to do with that man after he became a Christian I didn't know. He wanted to do something for the Lord, and, finally, I stationed him at the corner of Clark and Madison streets to give out these handbills. And when the Lord converted him the man was so happy! His face was just lit up, and to every man that went by — and there were some pretty hard cases — ^he just gave a handbill. And some thanked him and some swore at him, but he kept smiling all the time. He couldn't tell the difference between thanks and curses. And for two months he stood there, without a hat part of the time, and every night he was there ; when it got to be dark in the short days he would have a transparency all lighted up right there on the corner ; and there he would stand, and he stood there months and months, and the Lord gave him a good many souls. You can say that may be done in the cities, but what can we do in the country towns t Well, we can try something else in the country tov/ns. I remember in one country town where the people did not attend the meetings, they went out into the moun- tains and fields and had meetings there, and the church soon became four or five times larger than it was. That gave them an interest. If people will not come to the churches, why not send others out after them, and why not have meetings outside ? That will soon give them an in terest so that they will come to the house of God. Another way is to have prayer-meetings in the homes. A good many mothers cannot come out to church ; but we can go down to their homes, and have four or five families come 170 TO ALL I^EOPLE. together, and pray with them and get them interested. Many a mother cannot go to the house of God for years, they have no servants to take care of their children, and they have to stay at home and look after their famiHes, and the only way to reach them is to have cottage prayer- meetings. There must be a personal interest taken in them. These young converts coming to Christ want some- thing to do. I hope the Church will lay out something for them to do. Let them have the privilege, the glorious luxury of carrying the water of life to them that are perish- ing. Another thing — have good singing. In some of these churches they have been singing the same old hymns for the last twenty years, and instead of the organ being up in the gallery with two or three singers about it doing all the singing, bring the organ right down among the people and let them gather right round it and sing them- selves. And if some of the people don't know how to sing, have a meeting once a week, where the people can go and learn. If the church will only set the young converts to work, why we can reach a great many homes ; but if we just take them into the church and leave them there, and not teach them how to work, the homes are never going to be reached. Some young converts during the past weeks have been to work, and they have already brought, some eight, some ten, and some twelve of their friends to Christ. If we keep on in that way how long will it be before we have hundreds and thousands of converts in this city ? '. The church makes a woful mistake in not setting these young converts to work. Those men who have been drunkards, let them just set out and work among their old friends. No man can reach a drunkard better than one who has been a drunkard himself. I don't know any work so blessed in Chicago as the going out into the billiard saloons and preaching the gospel there. If they will not come to church, go down where they are, in the name of CONVENTION TALKS. 171 our God, and you will reach them. If you say, "Oh, they will put you out,'" I say, " No, I have never been turned out of a saloon in my life." Go down in a saloon where there are thirty or forty men playing, and ask them if they don't want a little singing. They say, " Yes, we don't mind your singing." " Well, what will 3'ou have ? " And perhaps they ask you to sing a comic song. " But we don't know any. We don't know how to sing comic songs. Wouldn't you like to have us sing the ' Star Spangled Banner,' or ' My Country, 'tis of Thee.' " And so you sing " My Country, 'tis of Thee," and they stop playing cards. " Now boys, wouldn't you like to have us sing a hymn our mothers taught us when we were boys .'' " And then you can sing " There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins ; And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains." Or give out " Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me," and it won't be long before the hats will be coming off, and they will remember how their mothers sung that to them once when they were in bed, and the tears will begin to run down their cheeks, and it won't be long before they will want you to read a few verses out of the Bible, and then they will ask you to pray with them, and you will be having a prayer-meeting there before you know it. We took sixteen out of a saloon in that way one night, and nine of them went into the inquiry-room ; what we need in Boston is to go out and get these men. If men will not come out to hear the glorious Gospel of the Son of God, let us take and carry it into these attic homes and saloons. Thank God ! Boston is going to be visited. Let every man, woman and child help us a little and we pray that as they go into these attics and these households, the Holy Spirit may help them to present Christ in all His glory and loveliness. iy2 TO ALL PEOPLE. Let all take hold and help ; and then religion will be like a red-hot ball rolling over the earth and nothing can stand airainst it. The churches can be crowded full and the masses reached if we go about it in the Spirit of the Master. We had a gathering similar to this for the Lord's work while I was in Chicago ; and a minister came down there from Wisconsin who had not been blessed in the ministry for a number of years. The church was cold and he had not the power to lift it. He was very much discouraged and disheartened, and he thought some of giving up his church. At the first noon prayer-meeting, the moment the meeting was opened, he got up and said, " I want you to pray for my church." He touched all our hearts because we saw the man was really burdened, and we prayed for him — an earnest prayer went up for him and his church. The next meeting for prayer he was up again, and pre- sented himself and his church ; and the next meeting he was there, and did the same, and still the blessing did not come, as he thought, and he stayed in Chicago after the convention week, and got up in the meetings and presented himself for prayers. At last a letter came down there to him, and it said that an interest had already broken out in the church, and so he started and went back. And when I left Chicago, the last night I was there, he came down fiom his Wisconsin parish on jDurpose to tell me what great things the Lord had done for him. Now let us pray, if any man has come up to this convention, the same as this man from Wisconsin, with his heart burdened for himself and church, let him just present himself to us for prayer, and we will ask God's blessing and pray for him. Before I sit down I want to ask all Christians here to pray for the work in Boston, to pray that this work may deepen. Now let us pour out our hearts in prayer. Let us pray for one another. HOW CAN THE CHURCHES BE REVIVED? QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY MR. MOODY. Q. Does not the continued seeking after the Holy Spirit blunt the sense of what we have ? A. If a man is full he can hold no more. Praying fo^" power differs from praying for the indwelling of the Spirit There is little danger that Christians will become so full of the Spirit that they need no power. Q. Why don't you teach baptism ? A. That is not my business. Some men would have this work broken up in six weeks or six days if they had their way. Suppose I should teach baptism by sprinkling, away would go Mr. Penticost. (Mr. Penticost — No I wouldn't.) If I taught baptism by immersion, away would go Dr. Webb. Let us see what we can meet on. Let ministers indoctrinate these converts as they please. Evangelists are just to proclaim the gospel ; they just want to keep out those controverted questions. When June comes it will be four years since Mr. Sankey and I have been together in meetings, and we have yet to hear the first word of discord. I can have my views of baptism, and if I had a church I would teach the people what I believe, buf: in these meetings it would be unfair to do it. Q. How can the churches of New England be re- vived ? A. If I were in a town of four or five churches I would see the ministers and see if they would agree, if two of them agreed I would say, " Why can't we work together ? *' 174 TO ALL PEOPLE. Then we would meet and pray. Suppose there were no more than twelve persons come together for prayer, if they hold on faithfully there will be a revival. If you can get three churches to join all the better. Our work is always in proportion to the number of churches interested in the movement. If the whole church is not aroused it is no sign that we should not be quickened and aroused personally. If there is one man aroused there will be anxious souls around that man. We have to act in this world as if there were not another man or woman in it. If we are cold our- selves we are apt to think every one else is cold. What we want is to get our own hearts on fire, and there will be a revival. I hope every delegate will go back with his heart burdened for the town or village in which he lives. There may be obstacles, but the Spirit of God can bring unity where there is faith. Let all our expectations be from God and then we will not be disappointed. May God revive every church in New England — let that be our prayer. Q. Would you hurry peo^Dle into the church as soon as they are converted ? A. No, I wouldn't. I used to think that as soon as a man is converted he should join the church, but I have grown more conservative. Mr. Moody here told his expe- rience when a number of years ago he was anxious to join Mount Vernon Church. The story is well known. He thought that people should know what they were about. Some people get into the church very easy and it's hard to get them out. Sometimes they break it up. Q. What is the best way to conduct evangelical meet- ings? A. I would have them short, not more than an hour in length, with plenty of singing. Then I'd have a second meeting for prayer, and an inquiry meeting. Q. Isn't it better to get all the inquirers together.? HOW CAN THE CHURCHES BE REVIVED? 175 A. I ^ike to get the inquirers off alone and talk with them from the word of God, pray with them, try to remove their doubts and calm their fears. Then send them home to think quietly over the matter in their minds. The duty of Christians is to work among those around them at relig- ious meetings. It is a good deal better to begin now, make a beginning, and then you can work better as you get into it. You can't expect a boy to learn the lumber tuade without spoiling some lumber. It generally takes about a month to get Christians really to work, and to understand how to deal with inquirers, and then the work spreads and goes forward. If while Dr. Taylor was preaching here last night there were a thousand Christians m the audience watching for souls, and, when the meeting was over if they had just spoken to some one right around them, we would have had from a hundred to a thousand inquirers in this meeting last night. It is a good thing for you Christians to bring your Bibles with you. There was a Christian lady in London got into one of the buses, and a person in the bus saw her get in and saw she had a Bible in her hand, and so she got up from the seat where she was sitting — she was sitting on the other side of the bus — and got a seat close to her, sat right down alongside of her and she says to the lady, " Are you a Christian 1 " " Yes, I am ! " " I thought you were because you had a Bible. I am very anxious about my soul. Tell me what I must do to be saved ? " There are a good many in this town who want to be stirred up ; they want to learn the ways of life, and there ought to be a good many Christians ready to point these souls the way to God. Q. How to deal with infidels in the inquiry-room? A. Well, pray with them. Argument don't do any good. Down on your knees and pray with them and con vert them to God, A good many infidels have been con- verted, but not by argument. tyS -^C> ALL PEOPLE. Q. What is the best way to conduct inquiry-meetings ? A. I have just answered that. Q. Would you talk with inquirers if they are not inter- ested ? A. Well, they must be a little interested f they are in- quirers. I suppose the inquirer means : Would you talk with persons who are not deeply convicted of sin ? Well, the 13th chapter of Romans is a good chapter to read to such persons, where it says : " There are none righteous, no, not one." You must be convicted of sin first, before any good can be done. Conviction comes first and then conversion. There is no use crying peace, peace, before we know we are really at war with God. But when we are convicted of sin then is the time for the blessing to come. Q. Would you tell inquirers they are saved ? A. No, let God tell them. That record is kept on high. I think it is very wrong to tell inquirers they are saved. They can be saved by putting their trust in the Lord God in Heaven. But when the act takes place God must re- veal to them in His own way whether they are saved or not. Q. Is it best to give them a tract or a book, after you have got done with them ? A. Sometimes a book in the hand is a great help. But the best book I have ever seen is the Bible. Bring them right to the Word of God and let them put their trust in that. That is better than anything else. Q. Would you tell them to go home and pray ? A. No ; I wouldn't tell them that. They might die on the way home. But pray now. Don't put it off. You don't know what may happen. Bring them right to the Lord now. That is your work. If you send them home to pray it may be difficult to do anything with them after- wards. They may lean too much on their prayers, and prayer won't save them. HO IV CAN THE CHURCHES BE REVIVED? jjy Q. Would you have inquiry-meetings after the regular meeting ? A. It seems to me, after I had preached the gospel I would be sure and pull the net in to see if I had caught anything. A good many preachers never look to see if they are successful in their ministry. They are like men out fishing who keep throwing their nets into the water and never look to see if they have got anything in them. After you have preached the gospel you ought to look for the results. There is simple instruction and teaching, and then there is preaching the gospel ; they ought not to be kept separate. When you proclaim the gospel it is bring- ing men to Christ, and you want to keep them there. We M'ould have a hundred-fold more in the work for God if we onl}'^ expected more. A minister wanted me to preach for him once, and there was quite a good audience there, and he was surprised ; he didn't think anybody would come. Let us aim at great and immediate results, and we will get them. Q. Would you encourage little children to go to church ? A. Certainly I would. It is better to let them com- mence as soon as they can. Let them begin so young that they cannot tell when they begin. Some people think that little children disturb the congregation. I don't see why they should be disturbed by a baby in church more than at home. I like to hear them. I don't see why a whole au- dience should be disturbed by a little child crying. Mothers who don't have any servants to take care of their children ought to be encouraged to come and bring their children. I think we should have them here a gieat deal more then. If they are not reached, I don't know what will become of the masses, because the masses of the people are not able to hire servants. When a mother has five or six children, and she is encouraged to bring them to church, the}^ get in the habit of coming then, and that is a good thing. lyS ^^<^ '^^^ PEOI-'LE. Q. How are we to get more life into our prayer-meet- ings ? A. Get more into yourselves first. If there is no life in a man it is hard work for him to put any into others. Get out of these old ruts and have a change. In some prayer-meetings it is the custom of having Deacons Jones or White pray, and then the minister reads some great long chapter, and before he gets through he talks all the spirit out of the meeting and then they go home. It's no wonder young people don't come to prayer-meetings. Have variety — new hymns, once in a while. Get people close together, I have seen many a meeting lost by the people being scat- tered. People scatter away from the minister as if they thought they would catch some disease near him. There is no power at all in such meetings. Have a live meeting and get the people right up near you. If they don't come, have a pulpit on wheels and roll it right down among them. Don't have one of these great box affairs where they can't see you. If you can't do any better take a chair and stand upon that. And then j-ust let them all gather around and have perfect freedom and sympathy. Our meetings are cold, and stiff, and formal ; they are apt to drive people from Christ instead of drawing them in. Some young people say if they become Christians they will have to at- tend the prayer-meetings, and they don't want to go. They must be made interesting. Then have the place of the meeting well ventilated. Sometimes the janitors forget to open the windows. I have been in some of them when it seemed as though there was the same air there that there was twent}'- years ago. People who have been working out in the open air all day come in there and they feel just like going to sleep, and then they lay it on the minister. Have the room ventilated, and warm, and light, and cheerful. Have short prayers. If any one prays five minutes just go up to him after the meeting is HOW CA.V THE CHURCHES BE REVIVED '{ lyq over and say, " Brother Jones," or whatever his name is, *' I wish you wouldn't pray so long to-morrow night." I say live minutes, some pray fifteen minutes ; I don't know any meeting that can stand that. If you can't pray short, don't pray at all. The men who make long prayers are generally the ones that pray least at home. They are gen- erally prayerless prayers, and they take the spirit right out of the meeting.- You ought to make the prayer-meeting the most attractive meeting in the church during the week. Q. How to conduct secondary meetings ? A. I think I have answered that. Q. Is it a good thing to have new speakers in evangel- ical meetings .'' A. No ; it don't succeed. We tried that once in Chicago. We had a hall open every afternoon for thirty days ; and then we went out and got people to come in. And we got thirty of the leading ministers in Chicago to preach, a diiTerent one every night. And at the end of the thirty days I think one man was converted. And it has always been a wonder to me he was converted. The trouble was they didn't stick together. They got used to one man's way, and then another man came and the interest was divid- ed. If we had had anyone man of the thirty preach all the time I think the result would have been different. If you have four or five ministers in the town let one man preach for two weeks, and he will get in the way of presenting one line of truth and be successful ; and then secure another, and in that way much good will come. Q. How would you get a church to work ? A. Well, first, I would go to work myself. Some are always telling others to goto work, and they don't go them- selves. Get a few men blest, and others will come and want to go to work. I never saw a working Christian yet but what he was a rejoicing one. When you are working you are .lot troubled with doubts. Christians wonder why i8o ^'^ ALL PEOPLE. they have so many deubts. It is because they are all the time occupied with themselves. We must work for others, and if we work for others we shall ourselves be blest. " He that watereth shall himself be watered." I once heard of a man who had his leg broken, and he was obliged to stay in the house, and some one brought him in the first cluster of grapes from his vine, and he told his wife, I can't eat that cluster. I am going to send it to a neighbor of mine who is sick. I will call him neighbor Jones. That's a good name. So he sent them to neighbor Jones, but neighbor Jones said, I can't eat these grapes. It was very kind of my neighbor to send them. I will send them to neighbor White, as he is sick. So the grapes were sent on from one to another, and they got wonderfully blessed in sending them on in that way. And the last man they were sent to said, I hear that Mr. So-and-so has got his leo^ broken. Poor fellow ; I think I'll send these grapes to him. And so he sent them back to the one who sent them first. So he got his grapes back again and a blessing too. Q. Do you think it best to get children to sign a cove- nant that they will not lie, swear, drink, etc. ? A. W^ell I did, but I have got over it. I don't think much of covenants. I would not say anything against sign- ing the pledge, but I think the only hope is in Christ, They must renounce their own strength, give up their own resolu- tions and lean on Christ, and then sign the pledge and it may do some good. It is a good deal better just to teach them Jesus Christ is the only hope. If they sign the pledge they will come to lean on the pledge. Take Christ as the Saviour of the world. Just hold to that. We are holding up almost every substitute except Jesus Christ. We must hold Christ up to them the same as Moses in the wilder- ness presented the brazen serpent, and it healed them. He didn't have any roots or herbs, but they were healed then. Lean on Christ's strength. HO IV CAN- THE CHURCHES BE REVIVED? i8i Q. Do you think it best to advertise religious services ? A. Certainly I do. Why not ? I don't see why we shouldn't learn something from the world. They advertise very ex- tensively. A man comes into town from the country or from some other city, and he don't know anything about the meetings, and if he sees a notice of them he may at- tend them. I don't see why the walls should not be pla- carded also. Many a man has been blest in that way. Some people are sensitive about it, I know; but it seems to me it is a good deal better to advertise and have a full house than to preach to empty pews. I don't see why not. Bills are stuck up everywhere for people to go to theatres and places of amusement, and I don't see why we shouldn't give the Gospel a chance. If people don't know about the meetings why not advertise them ? Now, Mr. Sankey, just sing them something. Mr. Sankey responded by singing "The Half Was Never Told." The doors were then opened while the audience sang " I Need Thee Every Hour." At the close of the singing Mr. Moody again opened the " question drawer," and took from it the follow- ing questions, which he proceeded to answer. He said : I have received a great many questions in regard to the mat- ter of fairs, theatricals, etc., in the church. I don't think I have time to go into it this morning, except to lift up a solemn protest against it. We can draw young people in tliat way, but we don't draw them to Christ ; and after we have got them we don't know what to do with them. \\q don't have the power over them we should have. There was a time when religious men used to go into the world to see what the world was doing. The cry was, " Keep the Church from the World," but now the world is coming into the Church. They must be kept separate. The world has come in and eaten out the piety from the churches, and ley have not the power they once had. We must keep up the standard and draw the world up to it not lower it to 1 82 TO ALL PEOPLE. the world's level. I never heard of any one who had any influence in that way. I have heard of wives going to the theatre with their husbands, with the understanding that their husbands would go to church with them the next Sab- bath. But I don't know of a Christian woman who did it but she lost her influence over her husband. Instead of lifting him up, he brought her clown. The idea is, nowadays, that a person cannot be a Christian without growing up in the world. But if we are Christians we don't care for it. That is the way God deals with his people instead of say- ing you shan't do this or that he takes away all desire for worldly things. He gives us that which is best and we don't desire other things. Ministers make a mistake in making a tirade against them, instead of preaching the Word of God and letting these things come to us of them- selves. I once knew a man who preached the Word of God, and he said he could see no harm in going to the theatre, and some of his people wanted me to go and see him and convince him that he was mistaken. So I went and talked with him. He had always been used to that kind of amusement and saw no harm in it. I reasoned with him and did what I could, but I couldn't seem to in- fluence him, and when I left him I said to myself, If that man had the same desire to go to the theatre it was a sign he was not truly converted. Soon after the man went to to the theatre again, and when he came back he came to me and said, " Mr. Moody, I have been to the theatre for the last time ; I have no desire to go there again." It was the same place, but he looked at it differently ; he got into a better atmosphere. So it would be with a great many people if, instead of opening a tirade against these places, we just gave them something better. What we want is a real religious life in the church. These theatricals in con- nection with churches do a great deal of harm. This rais* ing money to pay off church debts in that way is an abom- HOW CAN THE CHURCHES BE REVIVED?. 183 inable thing. I think there is a great deal better way to raise money than that. Q. In a time when the religious interest is beginning to increase in a congregation, is there any clanger of preach- ing too much to careless churchmen and too little to the unconverted ? A. I should go for the careless ones first, and then I would attend to the unconverted. When Spurgeon went up to London to preach, he said : " You could fire a can- non-ball right through the church and not hit anyone." So he preached, Sunday after Sunday, right to the elders. Finally they said : " Don't you think you had better leave us alone and preach to the unconverted ? " And he said : " I must preach to you first, and get you right with God." And when he got them stirred up, he went to the church members, and then his work began with the unconverted, and it has been going on ever since. You must get the church thoroughly alive first, and then you can have power over the unconverted. Q. Is the conversion of souls to be aimed at every time we preach .'' A. Why, as I said before, there is simple worship, and there is teaching and instructing. The breaking of the Lord's bread at the communion table, for instance, is a dif- ferent thing from preaching the Gospel. Then feed the flock and build up the Church. Some people think they have nothing to do, if people join the church, but just leave them alone. But we must take an interest in them, and see that they are growing in grace. When we preach the Gospel let this be our aim, the conversion of souls right there on the spot. Q. How would you cure a chronic, fault-finding church member ? A. Pray for him. Pray God to cast that devil out. Because it must be a devil. Many people hinder the Word 1 84 TO ALL PEOPLE. of God by just finding fault. They do not like the way re- vivals are conducted. They say it was not so in the days of our fathers. They say they did things then in such and such a way and they want it so now. But because God acted in a certain way, years ago, is that any reason that it should be so now ? These men who find fault do more harm in the church than twenty do good. Wlien I first began to preach I thought it was my duty to find fault everywhere, and so I went round scolding, and I got to be looked upon in a little while as a public bore and a great nuisance, and then I stopped finding fault and began to preach Christ and people liked to hear me. There are a good many men who have great talents and might do a good deal of good, who are continually finding fault. Their hands, Ishmael like, are against everybody. Look at Ste- phen and Barnabas and the early Christians. We don't find them finding fault ! They were holding up and preach- ing Christ, and that is what this world wants. Q. May not a minister be too personal in his sermons ? A. Well, I don't know. It seems to me that is what we want. Some men cover up points so that people won't see them. I think it is better to bri-ng them out. Personal preaching is effective. It is not a bad thing for a man who is sound asleep ; i-t wakes him up. When Dr. Taylor was preaching the other night so jDOwerfully, I was annoyed at seeing a man sound asleep near the platform. I asked Dr. Gordon to wake him up and he looked at me i-n amaze- ment. I think it is a religious duty to wake them up. It is terribly annoying to a man to be preaching and have a man sound asleep right in front of him. A little hunch of the elbow may save that man. I remember I used to go up in the gallery, when I was a boy, and get into a com- fortable place and go to sleep. And when I went to Mt. Vernon Church i used to go to sleep there. And one day when I was up there in the gallery, sound asleep, a HOW CAN THE CHURCHES BE REVIVED? 185 young man from Harvard College, I think — and I shall always feel very grateful to him — I wish I knew his name — gave me a punch with his elbow and I looked up and I said to myself. Who has been telling Dr. Kirk about me ? I woke up just at the right time. It was just the place in the sermon that hit my case. The perspiration stood out all over me. I never felt so cheap in my life, and I thought if I only got out of that church, I would never go there again. It did me a great deal of good to wake me up. So when you see a man asleep near you, wake him up. In my opinion, the bulk of the preaching goes over the heads of the people. What we want is preaching for effect. Some people say, " Oh, that sermon is all preached for effect." Of course it is ; that is what we want — to wake people up. Q. Would you encourage young converts to become communicants of the Church ? A. Certainly ; give them work and nourish and care for them. I have yet to find young converts who grow much outside of the church. As I said the other night, the church of God is the best institution on earth. Jesus laid down his life for the Church. Q. How can gambling in our churches be cured ? A. If we have no festivals^ or bazaars, or anything of that sort, then we will have no gambling. We don't have any gambling at prayer-meeting. Q. Should you advise a young man of fifteen, who has found the Saviour, to speak and pray in meeting.'' A. It is just the place for him. If he is not welcome in the large meeting, let him have a young people's prayer- meeting. Let him get the young ragged bo3^s on the sUxiet and begin, with them. It is good to get hold of the little ones. Do what you can. If you have but half a talent God will give you more. One thing we learn in the church of Christ to make use of the one talent we have and then l86 TO ALL PEOPLE. God will keep giving us more. So let me say to all young converts — I don't care how young — go and tell some one about Christ, if you want to get a blessing to your own soul. Q. Is there danger of speaking too strongly to young converts. Is there danger of hardening their hearts "i A. Well, we must have tact. If we go to them in the spirit of the Master, we will not harden them. But if we do it does not concern us. It is our duty to speak to them, and then if they become hardened the blood of their guiltiness is not upon us. Let us be faithful and preach in season and out of season. Q. What are the best passages to use in the inquiry- room t A. Well, there are a good many, but perhaps these are the best : John i. ii, 12 ; Isaiah xxvi. 23, 24 and liii. 6 ; Peter ii. 24; John v. 24 and iii. 16 ; Romans vi. 23 and Titus ii. II. HOW TO MAKE PRAYER-MEETINGS INTEREST- ING. QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY MR. MOODY. Q. " What shall we do with the awful pauses in our meetings ? " A. They can be avoided, I think, if the minister is free and social and makes every one feel at home. These pauses are just the times when that man or that lady who are not in the habit of speaking can read a verse from God's Word which they have found precious to their souls. In this way they can gain confidence to speak. A good many people have an idea that they must follow the minister and preach a sort of sermon ; but a word from the Bible often carries great comfort. Q. Would you have children speak in the large prayer- meetings ? A. Well, there is danger in that. One great danger which is likely to beset children is spiritual pride. A great many people in the church, unfortunately, are foolish enough if a little boy speaks for Christ in a touching way to praise him ; and that makes him very proud. I should not like to have my child praised in this way. Children learn the sweetness of praise soon enough in the world. I should be a little afraid of having boys and girls encouraged to jump up in the large prayer-meetings. Q. Do you favor boys' prayer-meetings .'' A. By all means, I have found no meetings more blessed in the work of conversion. The boys and the girls should 187 1 88 7'^ ALL PEOPLE. meet by themselves under the direction of some older per- son of experience as a leader. I have been ver}^ much mterested in the meetings for little boys conducted here by Mr. Hastings. Q. How shall we get women to speak in prayer-meet- ings ? A. Well, if the meeting is free and social, as I said, 1 don't think there will be any who are afraid to speak. There are two ways of conducting a prayer-meeting. The minister may enter the room with his coat buttoned up, and, looking neither to the right nor the left, take the desk and either go through the reading of a long hymn or make a long prayer. Of course a meeting begun in this way is stiff and formal, and there will be no sense of freedom. Then there is another way. The minister may enter the room in a friendly and social way, shakmg hands with every- body and saying a pleasant word to all, and perhaps he will get the friends to select the opening hymn or ask some lady to read a passage of Scripture, and the meeting will be begun before they know it. If everybody would carry the Scriptures to the meetings there would be no trouble in keeping the meeting interesting. Q. Would you announce a subject for prayer previous to the meeting? A. I would. It has been done in our church in Chicago, and it has been a great help to our prayer-meetings. We want to have these meetings a sort of family gathering where the mother who has a son out of Christ can bring him before Jesus, and the whole church bear up her peti- tion to the Lord. United prayer in faith that God will an- swer our petitions will surely bring back the blessing. Q. Would you encourage women to speak. A. In a social prayer-meeting I would encourage any- one to speak. We want to get all Christians at work in the service of Christ. HOW TO MAKE PR A YER-MEETINGS INTERESTING, 189 Q. Do you believe in having different ones to lead the meeting ? A. Well, that plan has been tried. Dr. Cuyler found it very successful in his church in Brooklyn. He often takes a seat among the congregation while the leader conducts the prayer-meeting. One great secret of success is to get others to work. I would rather get ten men to work than do ten men's work myself. Q. How ought prayer-meetings to be conducted in a church without a pastor t A. With as much earnestness as possible. Sometimes God blesses specially a church when it is without a pastor because they trust in His grace and not in any arm of flesh. Q. How would you break up the habit of making long prayers t A. I think ministers need find no trouble, if they are honest with their people. They like real plain talk. I should speak to a man making long prayers privately not pubUcly, and say to him : "Your prayers need a little more unction, they are too long for the meeting." Exhortation ought not to take the pLace of prayer, but it is better to have an exhortation than a prayerless prayer. That is an abom- ination in the sight of God and men. Some people seem to keep on praying because they don't know where to stop. Let there be always a distinct object in prayer. I have been dissatisfied at some of the men's prayer-meetings in the Tabernacle because men prayed for nothing but mere- ly exhorted. The other night a man was telling God how great He was and how w^onderfully He had made man ; and a godly old saint who was better acquainted with the Lord said, " Just ask Him for something." Q. Suppose a man won't heed your advice to make prayer short ? A. I should speak to him again and again, and if that did not bring about the result I would rebuke Iiim pubhcly, igo '^O ALL PEOPLE. I would have a bell at the meeting. One word — don't rely on your prayers but on Christ. Always remember that the salvation of Jesus is free, and that all may have it by sim- ply taking it. Q. When do you consider a prayer to be too long ? A. Well, if the prayer-meeting is about an hour long, which I think about the proper length, it certainly can't be right for two or three men to take up the time. If a man has the cause of the Jews on his heart let him pray for them and then stop. It is awful to open one's eyes and see that a man is teaching his own views or criticising the opin- ions of other people when he seems to be praying. It chills me right through. Q. How many regular prayer-meetings would you ad- vise a church to sustain 1 A. At our church in Chicago we have six meetings a week, divided up to reach all classes. Q. What would you do if a man, whose piety the church distrusts, attempts to speak .'* A. I would never allow him to speak. The best way is to deal fairly and squarely with people. I would rather hurt a man's feelings than to have the Church injured. A man who pays fifty cents on the dollar when he could pay one hundred cents on a dollar had better keep still. THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST, I. We have for our subject to-day the ist chapter of the Gospel of John. Turn to the ist chapter of Matthew and you will find that Matthew begins with Abraham. He wrote of Christ as the son of David, and you will find him all through his gospel speaking of the Kingdom. Mark begins where Malachi left off. He speaks of Christ as the servant, going here and there and doing the will of the Father. Luke begins with Zachariah, and he speaks of Christ as the Son of Man, the Great Physician, who has come down here to heal us. But John goes beyond all this, beyond creation, clear into the bosom of the Father, and brings Christ down from above, and forever has set the question at rest in my mind of the divinity of Christ. I do not know how any one can read the Gospel of John and not be sure who Christ was. John tells us in closing what he wrote his Gospel for. It is always well to find out in beginning a Gospel, an Epistle, or any portion of the Word of God, who wrote it and what he wrote it for. John tells us he wrote for this purpose. "These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, ye migiit have life through His name." Now you will find that all through the Gospel of John you are told to believe, believe, believe, and he wrote "the whole Gospel for that purpose, that we might believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and so get life through Him. If we take up the Gospel of John the next few days let us bear in mind what it was written for. IC)2 TO ALL PEOPLE. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. " The same was in the beginning with God. " All things were made by him ; and without him was not anything made that was made. " In him was life ; and the life was the light of men. "And the light shineth in darkness ; and the darkness comprehended it not. " There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. "The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. " He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. " That was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into 'the world. " He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." I do not know any two verses in the Word of God that I use more with inquirers than these two verses. If there is a man or woman that v^^ants to know how to be- come a Christian you will find it out in these two verses. They are so simple a child of five years can understand them. " He came unto His own," that is to say, the Jews, "and His own received Him not." They rejected Him. would not have Him ; they did not believe that He had come from God, from the bosom of the Father. They did not believe in His divinity. " He came unto His own, and His own receiv^ed him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." " Him " is not a dogma, a creed, but a person that we preach to men. We do not preach some dried, musty dogma of metaphysics, but it is the Son of God in the THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST I 193 heart, as we tried to show you last night. That is the only remedy for sin. When a man receives Him he is a Chris- tian, and not till he does. A man cannot follow Christ until Christ is in his heart; "but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." Men say that they have not the power to live for God and serve God, but when a man receives Christ he has power to rCbUt temptation and overcome sin and temptation. It is not just to have our sins forgiven. Supposing all sins represented by this body of people were abolished at once, it would be just as bad to-morrow noon. We want the power implanted within us to resist sin, and we cannot have that power until this new life begins. The way to do it is to receive Him. He is God's gift to the world, and we are saved by receiving that gift. "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. " And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the giory of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." Now we get light there in that 12th verse. Every sinner wants light, spiritual light. Next in the i6th verse we get the fulness ; we want more of His fulness and power. Now he says, "And of His fulness have all v/e received, and grace for grace." Now that i6th verse, let us lay hold of that : " And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." What was it made those Apostles so mighty .? How v/as it they shook nations t They had received Him at this moment, they had drank at that fountain, they had got so full of the living water that on the day of Pentecost it rolled right out like a living spring. Now, we stop at the 12 th verse, we have got light and are satisfied. Now, let us try and partake of His fulness ; have we all received of His fulness ? and if Christians would only receive of His fulness and be 13 1^4 10 ALL PEOPLE. filled with His spirit, wliat a power we would be in the churches and wherever our lot is cast. The next thought is this, I want to call your attention to the kind of preach- ing that won the first disciples to Christ. John stood one afternoon between 3 and 4 o'clock, and Jesus of Nazareth, who had been baptized a little while before, was walking off a little distance and he cried, " Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," and Andrew, and John, the beloved disciple, left their master John and followed Christ and became His first two disciples. I want to call your attention to how these men were converted, how simple it was. I wish you would get back to the primitive days of Christianity and the first days of the Bible — men that were willing to obey and to follow. We are not told that these two men prayed, groaned, sighed or wept, but they just followed Him. They said, " Rabbi, where dwellest Thou .'' " and He said, " Come and see." That was the first invitation that fell from the lips of Christ when He commenced His ministry, and they were so im- pressed with that interview that they never left Him ; and if we can only get men to have one interview with the per- sonal living Christ they will not leave Him. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother. Before he went to bed he went out and hunted up Peter. He was so im- pressed with that interview that He was the Messiah and the Son of God that away he went and inquired of his neighbors whom he met in the street, " Have you seen anything of my brother ? Have you seen Peter ? " and at last he found him and said he wanted to take him to Christ, and he brought him to Jesus, and he did a good day's work, didn't he ? I say 3'ou cannot tell what the result will be if you bring a man to Christ ; he may be a Knox, a Whitcliffe, or a Bunyan or a Newton. I would like to have seen Peter on the day of Pentecost, when he looked at those three thousand persons who were converted. I THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST, I, 195 can imagine Andrew saying, " If they are not my children they are spiritually my grandchildren. I led Peter to Christ and he led them." There may be a reformation in some little tow-headed boy whom you lead to Christ ; there may be a genius there, and the spirit of God may come upon that boy and he may go out and win hundreds to Christ as Peter did. And the next thing we find Christ going forth, and He led them to Philip, and all He said •was " Follow me." Very simple, wasn't it ? And Philip followed Him and never left Him. I suppose if a person should become a Christian in this Tabernacle to-day, that is very simple, a great many skeptics would make great sport of it, " the idea of becoming a Christian by just fol- lowing ! " All Philip did was to follow, and not only that, but he showed that he was truly converted by hunting after Nathaniel, his friend. That is a pretty good sign of conversion when a man goes out after some one else, and if a man has not got the spirit to go out and hunt up some one else it is a pretty good sign that he has not got the spirit of Christ. There were two brothers in London and one was quickened and the other converted, and who had a brother in the South of Ireland who was not a Christian, and they telegraphed him, " Come at once, very important business." And he came to London and they took him into their private office and sat down, with streaming eyes, and told that brother what the Lord had done for them, and they brought him up to the meeting that evening and into the inquiry-room and led the man to Christ. That despatch was truthful, "very important business." If you have got a brother out of the fold go and fetch him. Do as Andrew did when he found his brother Peter, and as Philip did when he fon.md his friend Nathaniel under the fig tree, and bring him to Christ. Nathaniel was full of prejudice, like a great many men in Boston, full of prejudice up to his eyes, and he said, " Can any good thing -come out of 196 TO ALL PEOPLE. Nazareth ? " Philip was full of tact, and that is what we want to-day, men full of tact in discussing with souls. He said, " Come and see." He knew if Nathaniel had one interview with the Son of God it would scatter all his prejudice ; and he brought him to Jesus, and he never left Him. Just five minutes interview with the Son of God scattered all his prejudice and unbelief. And so let us go to these men who are full of prejudice and tell them to come and see Christ. Let us introduce them to the Son of God, and let us live so near to Christ that we can do that, and there will be many of these men that are bitter and full of prejudice like Nathaniel, that will be brought to the Son of God. CHRIST'S MIRACLE AT CANA OF GALILEE. We have for out subject to-day the 2d chapter of John, descriptive of Christ's miracle of turning the water into wine at the marriage of Cana. When Moses com- menced to perform his miracles down in Egypt, he turned water into death ; but when Christ commenced his mira- cles he turned water into life and joy, for wherever wine occurs in the Scripture it is the emblem of joy and gladness, and he turned the water into joy and gladness. Moses turned it into death. That is the difference between the law and the Gospel. The law was, " Thou shalt die ; " that was the penalty of the law; but the Gospel was life; and Christ now commenced his miracles by giving us this won- derful power of turning the water into life, into wine, into joy. Now there is a class of people who tell us there are no miracles but can be explained by natural causes. They try to prove that all these miracles that Christ performed were really a sort of sleight-of-hand performance ; that no such thing as a supernatural thing occurred while Christ was here, and a miracle is a supernatural event, some- thing wonderful. I would like to have a man explain how this water was turned to wine; in fact I would like to have a man explain how He performed all these miracles if they were not supernatural. I think that we are having miracles now just about as wonderful as those which Christ performed when He was on earth. I heard in the little meeting after the noon prayer-meeting, yesterday, of a man who got up and stated that he came here a week ago to-day. He had been a con- firmed drunkard — a great drunkard for thirty years— and the igg TO ALL PEOPLE. God of heaven had taken away his appetite for strong drink, and his face shone as he told what God had done for him. The case of that man I considered supernatural. I would like to have a man explain how such a thing is done by nat- ural causes. I know there are a great many men who doubt these witnesses. If a man told me five years ago that a man could be a drunkard for thirty or forty years and then could have his appetite taken away from him, I would have doubted his word. I have always believed that God could save a drunkard, but I believed that he had to carry that appetite down to the grave ; but God, I find, is going to destroy the works of the devil, and this appetite for strong drink is one of the devil's works. Taking away a man's appetite for drink is a supernatural work, and that is what God does. Right here in the chapter to- day is what the mother said. " Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." If men will do what God says He will give them power to resist temptation, and resist the tempter and overcome every temptation they have. If we do not obey Him and do what he tells us how can we expect that He is going to give us the blessing we ask ? Let men take this very sentence, and I would like to give it as the key- note of the meeting, "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." What does He say 1 If there is a man out of Christ, He says, " Come unto Me ;" "Him that cometh unto Me I will not in any wise cast out!" I don't care who it is. " Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." Your heart may be as black as hell, but bring it to Christ and He will cleanse it and purify it. He came into this world just to save sinners. I was very much interested last Friday in seeing a man that sat near the reporters' stand, and he was so very drunk that he fell asleep before the service began. I was glad to see him here; I am glad to get such people here. I was glad to get hold of this man. After the meeting was over some one tried to get him into CHRIST'S MIRACLE AT CANA OF GALILEE. 199 the second meeting, but he would not go. They tried hard, but he started off. He came in afterwards, thoug'i, and presented himself for prayer. I suppose a good many even perhaps professed Christians, would say, " It is no use praying for that man, he is too drunk ; " but they did- gather around him and did pray for him, and have been look- ing for him ever since. Last night I found him in the in- quiry room, and he had been there eight times and he was sober last night, and not only that but he tells a very sin- gular story to the man that don't know anything about the workings of the Spirit. He said that he was on his team and the boys said to him, " Moses " — his name was Moses — "go into that Tabernacle," and he came in here, and he has been here eight times ; he thinks he is too great a sinner to be saved. Thank God, Jesus Christ came for him and I am thankful he is here to-day and the Son of God wants to save him. It is the power of God taking hold of a man's heart and turning the whole current of his life, I want it understood that these meetings are for just such. If men think they have no sins to repent of there is no need of their coming here, but if a man has got a sin he wants to be rid of, an appetite or some besetting sin, we want to tell him that Jesus Christ can create a new heart in him. You may call that supernatural. Every conver- sion, I believe, is supernatural. This trying to tell men to work into the kingdom of God is the devil's own work, be- cause they cannot get in there themselves. We are told by a great many skeptics that the reason they do not accept Christ is because it is against their rea- son. But God is above the infidel's reason. Th^y say it is as:ainst nature. Let them turn this over in their mind that God is above nature. It is supernatural. That is what conversion is. I don't believe a man will ever see the Kingdom of God that is not converted ; and it will be su- pernatural. A supernatural conversion. I know that a 2 00 TO ALL PEOPLE. man will never see God in His Kingdom unless he is su- pernaturally converted — he must be born of the Spirit. Now I would like to ask every infidel here to do what one promised to do at the inquiry-meeting yesterday afternoon ; a minister stayed here and labored with him till 5 o'clock, and while trying to convince that man, four or five others standing near expressed their desire to lay hold on Jesus. That is the kind of workers we want. I would just like to see 400 of them in Boston taking hold in that way, and I don't believe there would be many infidels left. The minister worked with this man and finally he said, " I will go home and call on the God of the Bible." He never had done such a thing before, but he said he would go to Him now and try to pray to the God of the Bible and find if these things were so. That is the way to do it — be honest ! If infidels are honest to God, God will be honest with them. Let any honest man come honestly to God and try to find out and learn something from Him, and God will teach him, but a good many people try to teach God something. They are wise in their own conceit, and so they do not find anything in Scripture. If a person is only willing to be taught, how quickly God will reveal Himself to them ! We must be ready to do the will of God, and then we will know the doctrine, but if we are not ready to obey Him we will not understand it. Let us pray for the meeting to-morrow. I expect wonderful things from that meeting. God has already answered our prayers. As I look around this audience I see quite a number who have been slaves to strong drink, but who have, by the grace of God, got the victory. I see already those around me here in Boston who have been converted by the power of God. Trust in God. That is what we want. Let us keep at it. If we see any man troubled with an appetite for strong drink let us go for him. Let us go around as missionaries till to-morrow at 12 o'clock. Don't be afraid to come to these meetings. CHRIST S MIRACLE AT CANA OF GALILEE. 201 Some people say they are afraid to ask their friends to come, they are afraid they might feel hurt if they should ask them to attend these meetings. It is pride. Pride and whisky don't go well together. In order to get the victory over whisky we must get the pride out of our hearts. Don't let pride forbid your coming to Christ. That is worth moie than pride. Fostering pride — that don't help you. May God give you the victory over pride. If you ask God for it, God will do it very quick. Paul says it is not by work ye shall be saved, but by belief. Now, "whatsoever He saith unto you, do it," and see if you don't get this new name and this new heart. Are you weary ? He says, " Come unto Me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." You can find rest in Him. "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." Are you blind ? Then go with 3'our blindness and He will give you sight and open the eyes of your soul and cause you to see wonderful things in Him. He will no longer appear " Like a root out of a dry ground, without form or comeli- ness," but if God opens our eyes, and He can do it, 3'Ou will see that " He is the chief among ten thousand, and the one altogether lovely ; " He will be like the lily of the valley, or the Rose of Sharon, or the bride of the morning star. You say that you see no beauty in Christ, and that your heart is dark and full of bitterness. Bring it to the Son of God, and ask him to cleanse your heart and fill it with love and truth and peace and life, and He will do it." "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." Oh, may God help you to do what He may tell you, and if you come with all your sins He will forgive you. There are a great many people who want to come to Christ, but they want to bring their faith, a few prayers, some tears and a few good resolutions ; and they want to bring a few good works : and they think that is going to be acceptable. My dear friends, God don't want that. What he wants is your sins. The enly thine- 202 TO ALL PEOPLE. a sinner has got that God has not is his sins, and the only thing that God wants you to bring him is your sins. If you do so He will take them and put them out of the way, and cast them behind His back, and neither devil nor man can find them if God puts them away. That is supernatural ; that is not the work of man. Bear in mind God is the same yesterday, to-day and forever. He has got power on earth to forgive sins, and if men will only do what the Lord tells us to do, there will be no trouble. If they are bound by Satan to this world, God will snap the fetters asunder and set the captive soul free. Now you men that are standing outside and criticising, and see no beauty in Christ and in these services, just come and see, have an interview with Him, come to his feet, cast your sins upon Him, and He will put them away, and he will give you peace in the place of unrest, joy in the place of sorrow, light in the place of darkness, and the blessings of Heaven if you will only come to Him. The rich blessing of Heaven will come unto every soul here to-day if you will only do whatsoever He tells you to do. Oh, may God help us to-day to lay aside our preju- dices 5tnd our unbelief and come as we are and ask for a bles'f'^g, and He will not disappoint us. Let us pray. CHRIST THE REMEDY FOR SIN. THE NEW BIRTH. We have for our subject to-day the 3d chapter of John. I will say a few words and then throw the meeting open. I will read, commencing at the 6th verse : "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. " Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. " 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. " Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be ? "Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things ? " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen ; and ye receive not our witness. " If I have told ye earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" With this let me read a few verses in the 8th chapter of Romans : " There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. " For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. " For what the law could not do, in that it was w^eak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the like- ness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh : 203 204 TO ALL PEOPLE. " That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh ; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. " For to be carnally minded is death \ but to be spirit- ually minded is life and peace. " Because the carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. " So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." I think you will see, by reading that, why it is that a man needs to be born again. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. There must therefore be a new birth. I find that since I spoke on this third chapter, about sudden conversions, a great many have come to me and written to me to say that they cannot set the day and hour that they were converted. I do not think it is necessary to prove the day and the hour when we were born of the Spirit ; the question is, Have we been born of the Spirit? and we can find that out by putting the tests to ourselves. If we love the world, or ourselves, or our friends, more than we love the Lord, it is a good sign that we have not been born from above, because if we have been born of the Spirit, God takes the first place in our hearts, and if He does not*do that, it is a pretty good sign that we have not been born again. If we cannot tell the day and the hour, but can say that we really do love God above everything else, that God has the first place in our hearts, it seems to me good evi- dence that we have been born again. If we have not that evidence, let us give up all our false hopes and seek a hope worth having. It says in the ist of Corinthians, 15th chapter : "The first man, Adam, was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. " Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural ; and afterward that which is spiritual. CHRIST THE REMEDY FOR SIN. •05 " The first man is of the earth, earthy : the second man is the Lord from heaven. " As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy : and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heav- enly. " And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Now, first comes the natural, then comes the spiritual. Now, if we have to go into the spirit then we arc born of the spirit ; if we have not, why let us not be going on with this terrible delusion that we will grow into it. Some peo- ple have an idea that this is a thing that they have got to educate themselves into, to grow into. Now if it is a mat- ter of the birth, this being born again, it must be the work of God and not our work, it must be something from above, it is not natural but supernatural, it is the Spirit of God turning the whole current of our life, because he says in the 2d Epistle of Corinthians, the 5th chapter and the 17th verse, that " old things are passed away; be- hold, all things are become new." Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Now, it seems to me as soon as we get this in our mind correctly we will give up this idea of trying to-- save ourselves. I don't be- lieve any man or woman is ever saved until they get done trying to save themselves and they let the Lord save them. When they get to the end of the flesh, of their own good dealings, and accept Christ as their Saviour and God be- comes their salvation, then it is that they get life, and they don't get spiritual light until they get done with their own efforts, because no flesh shall be justified by the deeds of the body, and if we cannot be justified by the deeds of the body let us give up trying. When people tell me they are going to try and save themselves I know what that means ; they are not going to become Christians. No man or woman ever became Christians until they got done working themselves and took salvation as a gift, and it is a gift, for 2o6 TO ALL PEOPLE. it is written in the Bible that " the wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life." If you work for a thing it is not a gift, you have earned it by your own effort. In the 4th chapter of Romans it says it is to him that worketh not, but believes. If we just get done working for salva- tion and take it as God's gift, then we get it and work from the cross and not toward it ; we work because we are saved and not to be saved. I have heard an illustration which I think illustrates *^his point. A man buys a farm and there is a well on the farm, and he has an old pump to the well, and one of the neighbors tells him that he hadn't better use the water, for the man who lived there before was poisoned. He says : " I will see about that," and takes and pain.ts the old pump, and says, " now that water is all right." He goes to pumping and drinks the water, and of course he is poisoned. That is what men are trying to do, to paint up the old pumps, when their heart is sending forth this poisonous water. If your heart has been regenerated, and you have been born of the Spirit, then your life will be right ; there will be no trouble then ; a man will not have to serve God ; he cannot help it ; it becomes his nature then. A man who has been blasphem- ing and swearing will not want to swear, because God has recreated him in the Image of God ; he is born of the Spirit from above. If a man has not got this nature which goes out toward God, it is a true sign he has not been born of God. God's plan is altogether different from ours. Man is all the time trying to patch ap and mend. God never mends anything. He always creates anew, and when Adam fell it was a new creation ; and that is what we must have, and when a man is born anew of the spirit then he has got a life that can serve God, and not until then. CHRIST THE WATER OF LIFE. We have for our subject to-day the 4th chapter of John. There is so much in it I hardly know where to begin, but I will just take two verses, the 13th and 14th verses : " Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again : " But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." When Christ became our substitute, and was expiring on the cross, He could not look upon sin, and he cried, " I thirst." And when a man turns his face from God, when he turns his back on the God of Heaven, he always begins to thirst. Whenever you can find a man away from God he is thirsting for something. He may not know just what, but he knows he is thirsty. Now we are told here that the waters of this world, the rivers and streams that flow through it are never satisfying, but that " He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him, it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Now, this water comes from Christ. It is the very gift of Christ. It is said down here in the 17th chapter of Exodus and the 6th verse : " Behold, I will stand before thee there, upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel." If you turn over to the first of Corinthians, loth chapter and 4th verse, you will find Paul says that rock was Christ : " And did all drink the same spiritual 2o8 TO ALL PEOPLE. drink : For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them ; and that rock M'as Christ." Now if we drink of the water that comes from that rock it will satisfy, and there is no one that can be satisfied until they have come to the fountain which has been opened in the house of David for sin and uncleanness. It not only cleanseth from our sins, but it satisfies. Just turn over now to Jeremiah, ii., 13, and you will find what suffering God brings against those that are backsliders : " For my people have committed two evils ; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." This is what backsliders are doing, here in Boston, they are hewing out broken cisterns that can hold no water ; and wherever you can find a man or woman who has ever known Christ and turned their back on Him they are thirsty, they cannot be satisfied. It says in the Second Epistle of Peter and the second chapter, that there are wells without water ; these wells that we dig are not full of the water of life ; a man cannot satisfy himself ; a man has got to know that God must satisfy him, and if he attempts to satisfy himself he will only be disappointed. " These are wells without M'ater, clouds that are carried with a tempest ; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever." Again, Jude speak- ing of the same thing in the 12th chapter says, " These are spots in your feast of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear ; clouds they are without water, carried about of winds ; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots." And so wherever you can find a man that has got away from this living fountain he is all the time thirsty. I remember once when I was coming down the Tennessee River in a boat full of wounded soldiers. It was in the spring time, when the water was very roily. There was a teaspoonful of sand almost to a tumbler, and you could not filter '> as CHRIST THE WA TER OF LIFE. 209 it was just after a battle, and give it to every soldier. We gave it to the men, but it didn't quench their thirst. The more they drank the more they wanted. We gave it to one man who was dying, and I remember well the last words that he said, " O, for a draught of water from my father's well.'' Ah ! that ought to be the prayer of every child of God and of every backslider, " O, for a draughr of water from my father's well ! " and if we drink of that living water from the wells of salvation it will satisfy. In the 55th chapter of the Prophecy of Isaiah we read, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." God invites you to come. He wants you to come, and if you come you can drink. Salvation is just as free as water. When you go to a stream all you have to do is to drink, and salvation is flowing at the feet of every sinner, and all he has to do is to drink and live. God offers it to everyone ; " he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price." Thank God, there is no price to salvation, it is as free as any gift we can have, and all we have to do is to take it. The world is very deceitful ; it has deceived hundreds of thousands. The world undertakes to satisfy men, and how many has it allured away ! Once, out on the plains, as we were travel- ing along, we thought we could see water. The men and beasts with us were very thirsty. On we started towards w^hat we thought was water, but we were deceived. It was only what was called the mirage. We saw some- thing like water a little further on ; again we were disap- pointed, and we w^ent on and on for hours and still could get no water, and I didn't know wdiat was going to be the result. So it is with hundreds and thousands of people, they think that a little further on they will find that which v\ill satisfy them. Bui at last we saw water, and the mules 14 2IO TO ALL PEOPLE. Started on a dead run for it. When we reached it the men were so thirsty that they did not wait to get their cups, but drank out of their caps or anything else. It was sweet, and so the water of b'fe is sweet to the man tliat is really thirsty. The trouble is that people are thirsty for this water and do not know it. They are thirsty, but they do not know they are thirsty for this living water. When it is brought to them and offered to them they say, "We don't want it." May God show us to-day that we have a thirst for this water and that we can satisfy it. Whenever you find a man or woman who has been drinking of this water, he will tell you that it satisfied him. But those who have run away from God do not know what it is to be satis- fied. In the 2d chapter of Genesis we read of a river run- ning through Eden. Then in the last chapter but one, the 2 1 St chapter of Revelation, we hear again about the river. We will take that ist verse in the 22nQ chapter : " And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." Then we find again in the 7th chapter of Revelations, 17th verse : " For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Ah, that is a picture of our future home — the Lamb leading us to the fount of living water ! Turn now to the 15th chapter of Luke. Here we find a man in the lost world crying for one drop of water. That is not granted. But if we will come to Christ just as we are, weary and thirsty, He will give us a drink of this living water. There need not a man or woman go out of this Tabernacle without being satisfied if they will only come to Christ. There was a young miss going to a spring for water, and when she found it dry she started to go up higher. On CHRIST THE WATER OF LIFE. 211 the way a person met her who asked her what she would do if she found that dry too. She answered that she would go up still higher to another spring. So, my friends, if the springs we have been drinking out of have got dry, let us go a little higher up. There we will find a fountain that has never yet been dry. It bursts forth from the throne of God ; it is the pure stream of the water of life. Thank God for this living water, that when it comes into our hearts leads us up to the throne of God. The poor Samaritan woman came for a pitcher of water, and she got a whole well, and the whole town was moved by what she said. Are there not some poor, thirsty ones here to-day that will take this cup and call upon the name of the Lord ? Let us pass the cup around. After you have drank from it, pass it to your neighbor ; pass it around and drink freely. A lady in Scotland said : " You are always talking about taking but is there any place in the Bible about it ? " Now we do not manufacture our texts. Let a man just read his Bible and he will have enough to speak about though he lived to be as old as Methuselah. 1 told her so and she asked me if I would show her the place where it spoke about taking. I said I would and referred her to Revelation, almost the last word in which is "taVe." " And the Spirit and the bride sa}^, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Thank God, salvation is free. In spite of all that infi- dels and skeptics have said, it is as free as the air we breathe. If there is a man or a woman goes out of this building to-day without salvation, it is his own fault. It is offered without money and without price. " Let him that heareth say, Come." If God says come, all the devils in hell cannot stop you. The only thing that keeps people out of the kingdom of God is their will, not their sins. 212 TO ALL PEOPLE. Christ said that He would put them all away. " Let him that is athirst, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Thank God that we have come to this and that we have been permitted to hear of this third chapter of John to-day ; it will be a well from which shall flow the water of everlastins: life. CHRIST THE PHYSICIAN. We have for our lesson to-day the 5th chapter of the Gospel according to John. Of course we have not time to read this whole chapter, but most of you, perhaps, have been familiar with it. This man had been lame eight and thirty years, and he had been lying at the pool, and when the waters were troubled others that were better able than he stepped in and were cured. He could not reach the healing waters and had given up all hope of ever reaching them. The thought I want to call your attention to is this — that Christ helped the man that could not help himself. I remember that during the war, when a doctor came into the ward of a hospital, he always went for the worst cases first, those that were most severely wounded, and I have an idea that that is the way the Great Physician works. Some wonder why such abandoned characters are saved first in meetings like this, but it seems to be the Great Physician's way. Here is a man that has been eight and thirty years lame, and Christ came to him and said, " Wilt thou be made whole ? " And the man told his pitiful story that he had no one to help him and could not get to the pool ; and Christ with a word commanded him to arise, take up his bed and walk, and he did so. It was instantaneous ; the man did not have to wait six months or six years and go to the apothecary's for a lot of herbs to swallow. It was done at once. The key-note of this chapter of John is the power of the word of the Son of God. After healing this man, He tells the people precious truths, and you will find always that he did so, after performing a miracle. These miracles were perhaps designed to wake them up, 2 14 TO ALL PEOPLE. to arouse their attention. Let me read the 24th ver»e, which I think is one of the most precious verses in the whole Bible. If every other one were blotted out, there would be truth enough in that verse to save every soul in this building: " 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 condemnation ; but is passed from death unto life." I suppose a great many of those Jews wondered and marvelled at this wonderful miracle, that this lame man had been made well, but Christ tells them that the hour is coming when the very dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and come forth. We find in the fourth chapter the Centurion coming and speaking about his son being sick, and Christ sent back word, '"' Thy son liveth ; " and he re- turned, and he found that at that very hour the son was made well. The Jews are marvelling at these wonderful things, but He says, " the hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice and co-me forth." Soon after Jairus's daughter was raised from the dead. He had unbelievers and skeptics around them then, as we have now. The philosophers doubtless said, " This child was not dead ; they made a mistake ; she was gone into a sort of a faint." A little while after, He met the son of the widow of Nain, and he spoke the word and brought him back to life. Doubtless, a good many said that the young man was not dead and so now men try to explain away the miracles by natural causes. So, He took Lazarus after he had been dead four days and his body had turned black and was putrefying and brought him to life. When Christ told these men that the dead would hear His voice and come to life, He did not leave them without some evidence that what He said was true. He gave them a specimen of his power. You have mer- chants here who put specimens of goods in their windows, CHRIST THE PHYSICIAN: 215 and so Christ gave us a specimen of what He was going to do on the resurrection morning, so we have no ground to doubt that all the dead will be brought to life. Therefore let us writ ovei all our cemeteries, '' The dead shall rise again, they shall come forth and shall live." Now that was pretty strong meat for those Jews. The idea that they should hear the voice of this carpenter, or the son of a carpenter, of Nazareth ; the idea that his voice should raise all the dead is pretty strong meat. But now he just brings in the wit- ness. If you turn over to the 33d verse — and He speaks now of the witnesses that testify of Him — " Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth," Turn back to the 19th verse of the ist chapter of John, and you find that the priests and Levites were sent down from Jerusalem to ask John who he was. They came and said "Who art thou.''" and he confessed he was not the Christ, and said, " I am not the Christ ; " and they asked him, " What then ? Art thou Elias ? " He said, " I ani not." " Arttliou that Prophet?" and he answered, "No."- " Then said they unto him, Who art thou ? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself ? " "And they asked him and said unto him. Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet ? "John answered them, saying, I baptize with water : 1 ut there standeth one among you, whom ye know not ; " He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose. "These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. " The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," Now he said to those very men, who were sent to John to inquire who he was, " And he testified of me, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." 2i6 TO ALL PEOPLE. " He said, I have got another witness. I receive not testimony from man j but these things I say, that ye might be saved. " He was a burning and a shining light ; and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in His light. " But I have greater witness than that of John : for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. Now, I have not only got John for a witness but these works I am doing. How are you going to account for that man who was lame for thirty-eight years and made whole by my voice ? How are you going to account for that cen- turion's son who was dying and I spoke the words and he was made whole ? These works I am doing in your sight. If you will not believe my witnesses believe me for my work's sake. What overflowing testimony they had that He was manifest in the flesh and came from heaven to do the will of His Father ! But He says, I have got another witness besides these works : "And the Father Himself which hath sent Me, hath borne witness of Me." Not that He is going to, but haih already done it. When He was baptized in Jerusalem and came out of the Jordan, there was a voice fell from heaven saying, " This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye Him." God bare witness that Christ was his Son ; " This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Then, again, on the Mount of Transfiguration, when He took Peter, James and John up with Him, and Moses and Elias were talking with Him, and a cloud came upon Him, and there came a voice out of the cloud from the throne of heaven, saying, " This is My beloved son, hear ye Him," God bare witness for Christ ; what more witness do we want ? Then He said I have another : " Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life ; and they are they which testify of Me." There are four witnesses : John the Baptist, CHRIST THE PHYSiCIAN. 217 the works that He performed, God, His Father, and the Scriptures, and if you turn over into the Old Testament you will find that Moses and the Psalmist and the prophets all testified of Christ, Why, when Philip went out there to preach to that eunuch he found him reading the 53d chapter of Isaiah, and he commenced and preached Christ to him. He found Christ in the Old Testament. There are a great many men in Boston who cannot find Christ there because the devil has blinded them. If they had their eyes open they could find Him upon every page of Scripture ; if you hunt for Him you will find Him there. " Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me." Yes, Moses wrote of Him, David wrote of Him and Elijah and the prophets testified of Him ; and we find that nearly every prophet testified of His coming. No one wrote more beautifully of Him than the prophet Isaiah. It seems to me that we have got all the proof we want that this Jesus Christ was the Son of God, that He came from the bosom of the Father and came to save the world. If you will call upon Him He will help you. Just come to Him and He will give you power to speak for him. He will open your eyes and you will see Him. He will c pen your ears and you will hear the voice of the blessed Gospel. Ask and you will receive. CHRIST THE BREAD OF LIFE. We come to-day to the 6th chapter of the Gospel according to John. In the 3rd chapter we find Christ a Remedy for sin ; in the 4th chapter we find Him as the Water of Life ; in the 5th chapter we find Him as the Physician ; and to-day in the 6th chapter we find Him as the Bread of Life. " After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. "And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. " And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. " And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. " When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he said unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat ? " And this he said to prove him : for he himself knew what he would do. " Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. " One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, " There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes ; but what are they among so many ? " And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. " And Jesus took the loaves ; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples CHRIST THE BREAD OF LIFE. 219 to them that were set down ; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. "When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. " Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. " Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said. This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. " When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone." We find this chapter opens by their trying to make Christ their king, and it closes by their trying to kill Him. It opens with a great many followers of Christ and closes with but few. They were following Him for what they could get, and not for what Christ was. There is one class of people who are always disappointed, and they are those who are after the loaves and fishes. The thought I want to call your attention to is about Philip and the barley loaves, the faith Philip must have had, and how it grew when he received the five barley loaves and two small fishes, and fed 5000 people. There were five loaves and two fishes, and the barley loaves were very small. As some one has said, I can imagine that when he came to the first man he broke off a little piece, saying : " We have so few loaves that we cannot give much." But when he found that the loaf did not grow any smaller the next man got more, and the next man still more ; and I can imagine he got reckless after that and gave liberally and every man had what he wanted. The lesson we learn here is to bring what few talents we have to Christ. They will be enough. These few barley loaves and fishes were enough for that great multitude, and we may have but few talents and think we are small in the sight of God — so we ought to — 220 TO ALL PEOPLE. and if God will only bless us and use the talents, God will feed the multitude and bless hundreds and thousands. Then we find also in this chapter Christ proclaims Himself the bread of heaven three times, "/^;//." You know when Moses went down into Egypt he said, " Lord, what shall I tell the people who ask me who sent me \ I haven't got your name; what shall I tell them when they ask your name?" And the Lord said, "I am hath sent you; " and some one has said He gave Moses a blank check and told him to fill it out when he wanted anything, and when he wanted bread all he had to do was to fill out the check ; and God gave them bread from heaven and water from the rock ; and that is just what Christ did. " I am the bread that came down from heaven ; I am that living bread, if a man eats of it he never shall die." And then in the 4th chapter He says that He was " the living water;" in the 8th chapter we find Him "the light of the world." Now, if there is a Christian that is thirsty, all you have to do is to go to Christ and He will quench 3'our thirst. You may look at water, but that will not quench your thirst ; you may look at the loaves of bread in a baker's shop, but that will not satisfy your hunger ; and there are a great many who look at Christ and don't feed upon Him, and who look at water and don't drink. Now, we are to eat and drink of this if we are to be satisfied. He says : " I am the bread of life : I came down from heaven." And if we eat of that bread we never shall die. We find also in this chapter that He gives a glimpse of what He is going to do. " I am the resur- rection and the life" in the 7th chapter, but in this chapter He told them if they believed in Him He will raise them up at the last day. Your I loi/Is in that chapter, which are very precious. " I will raise them up at the last day." "/zc///." And these I wills of Chirst are very precious. When He says "I will" He means it, CHRIST THE BREAD OF LIFE. 221 and He says, " He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ; " and in the 47th verse of this chapter, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life." Then in the 44th verse, " I will raise him up at the last day." " He that be- lieveth on Me hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day." Now there are a great many Chris- tians, I think, that are what you might call artificial Chris- tians ; they have got the forms, but not the living water and the living bread, and not the living power ; they have been looking at Christ, they have been talking about Christ, but haven't received Him in their life as their way, as their bread, and He is all and in all things. I heard once about some artificial bees, and they had some secret sjDring in them, so that they could make these bees walk round and fly, and they were so perfect that you could not tell them from the natural bee, but put a little honey down and you could soon tell which were the arti- ficial and which were the real bees ; and so you can tell if you bring the bread of heaven to people who are artificial, Christians and who the Christians are who live on the bread because it sounds good, they like to get the bread of heaven ; and if you can only get to feed upon this living bread you become strong, but if you have only been living on form you become weaker and weaker and there is no power. Let us ask God to give us to-day that living bread, and that we may eat more and more as we live. CHRIST THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS. We have for our subject to-day the 7th chapter of the Gospel according to John. We find Christ again in Jerusa- lem. The last time He was there He healed the man at the pool of Bethesda that had been thirty-eight years lame. We find now there is a great commotion in the city. It was the feast of the Tabernacle, a sort of thanksgiving, and the male members of the house of Israel were there from all parts of the land. There was great division about Christ. Undoubtedly, on the corners of streets, and on every thoroughfare and in other places as you went through Jerusalem, you would hear them talking about this man Christ, who He was and what He was, and where He was from. Some were very strong in His favor, and some were very strong against Him. It was the same then as it is to-day : the world is still divided. There are three very sad things in this chapter ; one is that He could not walk publicly in Judea, for they sought to kill Him ; another is that His own brethren would not believe in Him ; and the third is that He was accused of being possessed with a devil. His brethren went up from Galilee alone, and in the middle of the feast Christ also went up alone. This time He entered Jerusalem alone and left alone. We find at the close of the chapter that there was a division of His people concerning Him, and every man went into his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. He testified against the world, and of course the world testified against CHRIS T THE FO UN TAIN OF LIVING WA TERS. 223 Him. If you testify against the world, you may rest as- sured that the world will not love you. I want to com- mence at the twenth-eighth verse of this chapter. "Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, \e both know me, and ye know whence I am : and I am not C(";me of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. " J3ut I know him : for I am from him, and he hath sent me. '•Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. "And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done .'* " The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him ; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. "Then said Jesus unto them. Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. " Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come. " Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him ? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles t " What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me : and where I am, thither ye cannot come ? " l\\ the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying. If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. '• He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out c»f his belly shall flow rivers of living water. '' (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that be- lieve on him should receive : for the Holy Ghost was not yet given ; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) " That last day, that memorable day of the feast, He cried, " If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." That great convocation was soon to break up, and many of them would never see Him in the flesh again or hear His voice. Before they broke up and left the city 224 TO ALL PEOPLE. and were scattered, He gave them this broad invitation, "If any man thirst ; " I like that, " If any man ; " it takes them all in. " If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." A lady came to me yesterday after the noon meeting and wanted to know what it is to come to Christ. Why, it is just to accept of His invitation to come to Him ; put your trust in Him, believe on Him, have faith in Him, cast yourself right upon Him wholly, unreservedly ; Jay your sins upon Him, " casting all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you." It is taking as our advocate and as our Lord, and taking His righteousness in place of our own. We renounce our own and take Christ's own right- eousness. That is what it is to come to Christ. Now, here is a universal invitation for the whole world : " If any man thirst." Now, if a man thirsts all he has to do is to come to Christ and drink and He will give him all he wants. There is a fable in the East of a fountain some- where among the mountains of India, and one drop of that water dropped into an empty vessel would fill it to a cease- less overflow, even a well of water springing up evermore. So is the gift of the Holy Spirit in the believer's heart. Then to be sure this is a fable, but if the Holy Ghost comes into a believer's heart and dwells there, it is that living v/ater, it is that fount, and " if an}^ man thirst let him come unto me and drink." It takes in Christians as well as those that are not Christians, and if we thirst we can get the living water at this fountain because it is ever flowing, it never ceases to flow, yet all these 1800 years men have been drinking at that fountain. I thank God it is not empty, and all can drink that will. I was just taking up this thought " if any man," and I ran through a few pas- sages of Scripture and I put them together, '' If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him and sup with him." " If any man lack wisdom let him call on God ; " don't let him call on these wise men of the CHRIST THE FO UNTA IN OF LIVING WA TERS. 225 world, they don't know anything about spiritual wisdom. *' If any man lack wisdom let him call on God, who giveth liberally to all men and upbraideth none." It seems we are going to men and books, which cannot help us, and ne- glecting the true fountain of wisdom, but God says if you lack wisdom, come to me and I will give it to you. Go to God and ask him for knowledge and truth and wisdom and we will get true wisdom. God never led any one astray yet, or into error yet ; he leads out of darkness into light ; he leads from bondage into liberty, he leads from error into truth. Now he says, " If any man " — that takes us all in, wise surmise — " lack wisdom, let him call on God, who giveth liberally to all men and upbraideth none." "If any man serve Me, let him follow Me." Not to follow our own way, give up our way and take God's way, and give up our thoughts and take God's thoughts. " If any man serve Me let him follow Me." " If any man enter into the door he shall be saved." Now mark how He puts it, " if any man "—that takes in the drunkards, the blasphemers, the gamblers, the vilest of society, the rich and the poor, the highest and lowest, all classes. " If any man enter into the door he shall be saved," and if any man be a wor- shipper of God, God hears him. Now if you worship idols, worship yourselves, society and fashion, why. God is not going to hear you, but if any man be a true wor- shipper of God, God will hear him ; and "if any man do His will he shall know of this doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak for myself." Now, if a man will only do the will of God, God will reveal to him His doc- trine, he will not be in darkness. " If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever," — that is, the bread of heaven. If any man — I don't care who it is, skeptics or infidels, if they eat of this bread they shall live forever. " If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." 15 THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. II. We come to-day to the 8th chapter of the Gospel accord- ing to John. In this chapter Christ asserts His divinity, and I do not see how any one can read the 8th chapter of John and not beheve in the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The next morning after He had been, as it were, driven out of Jerusalem, He came back into the Temple. It says in the last verse of the 7th chapter : " And every man went unto his own house." " But Jesus went into the Mount of Olives." But early the next morning He came into the Temple, and they brought a woman in to see what He would say should be done with her. He had been teaching that He had come not to condemn, but to save. The law of Moses condemned this poor fallen woman to death, and now they tried to entangle Him and see what He would do with her. When He had put the test to these men and they had all gone out, He said to her, Neither will I condemn thee ; go and sin no more. Moses or Elijah, or any of the prophets, could not have said that ; no man living could have said that — " Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more." In the 12th verse He says, "I am the light of the world." Moses could not say I am the light of the world. Abraham could not say it ; no other man could say that. I said to my little boy, seven years old, this morning, as I was reading this chapter, " Willie, who could say that ? " He answered : " Jesus." " Who else ? " " God." " Who else ? " " No one else." '' I am the light of the world ; if any man follow Me he will not walk THF DIVINITY OF CHRIST. II 227 in darkness, but will have the light of life." ^Vho can give light but God ? In the morning of creation He said " Let there be light," and there was light. Now Christ comes and proclaims Himself the light of the world. It would be a great help to us in reading the Bible, just to get this into our minds that Christ was God and man ; sometimes He spoke as man and sometimes as God. That gives us a key to the Holy Bible but take it away and I do not see how you are going to understand it. Without it it is a sealed book. Some people accuse us of teaching that (jod died, but Christ died as a man. God never died and never can die — it was the man that died. Men die — the Divinity never dies. Then he says again, " I am not alone," " I go My way," " I am from above." Who could say that but Him ? "I am from above ; I am not of this world." Who else could say that if He hadn't come down from the world above ? " If ye believe not that I am He ye shall die in your sins." " I speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him." When did He hear them if he hadn't come from the bosom of the Father ? " When ye have lifted up the Son of man then shall ye know that I am He and that I do nothing of myself, but as my father has taught me I speak these things." Then in the 30th verse : " As he spake these words many believed on Him." How simple that was ! As he stood there speaking to them in the Temple many were converted and believed on Him. God received him right there while he was speaking. How simple the conversions of the Bible are ! Simply believing, simply receiving. Then in the 36th verse. " If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." If he were not God how was he going to make us free from sin ? But " if the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." I think there are a good many of God's children who never have got to that verse. They don't know what freedom is. They are still asleep and 228 TO ALL PEOPLE. sunk in bondage. They are like Lazarus, who got out of the grave with liis grave-clothes on, bound hand and foot. The difficulty with those people is that they are always look- ing in their own hearts to get freedom, but it is the truth which makes us free, the word of God. Miss Smiley was tell- ing about going down South a few years after the war. She went to a hotel, and the room she was shown to was not very clean. She said to the colored woman who was there, *' I would like to have you fix it up ; I am from the North, and you know the Northern people set you free." She went away and came back in a little while, and it seemed as if half a day's work had been done. " Now," said the colored woman, " bees I free or beent I ? My old master tells me I am not free, and I got out among the colored people and they say I am free." There are a great many of God's people just that way ; they do not know whether they are free or not. It is not a matter of feeling. The proclamation of Abraham Lincoln set that woman free, and so it is the proclamation of God's word that makes us free, not that we feel this way or that way. If we want liberty in Christ we can have it. When he told them that, they said, "we are the descendants of Moses and Abraham ; we have not been in bondage to anybody." And all that time they were under the Roman yoke. So hundreds of men in Boston to-day, who are bound hand and foot to something in this world do not want to become Christians because they think they will not have their liberty. The truth will make you free. That is the only freedom worth having, and if the truth makes you free, you are free in- deed. Then again, he said, " I speak that which I have seen with my Father." He talked about the mansions above as freely as Queen Victoria's children would talk about the rooms in Windsor Castle. He was familiar with those scenes. " But now ye seek to kill Me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God." THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. II. 229 Then again He told them, " I proceeded forth from God ; " that was His own testimony. Then, again, I tell you the truth. I tell it to you, it is the truth. " I honor My Father ; " "I have come to honor Him ; " "I have come to do Thy will, O God ;" ''I seek not My own glory, I seek to glorify My Father ; " "I say unto you if any man keep My saying he shall never see death." Of course he is not speaking about the death of the body, but about the death of the soul. " If any man keep My saying he never shall see death." His words are the words of life, and if a man receives them he will not die. Let us read these few verses closing this chapter. " Verily, verily, I say unto you. If a man keep my say- ing, he shall never see death. "Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets ; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying he shall never taste of death. " Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead ? and the prophets are dead : whom makest thou thyself ? ." Jesus answered, If I honor myself, my honor is noth- ing : it is my Father that honoreth me : of whom ye say, that he is your God : " Yet ye have not known him ; but I know him : and if I should say, I know him not, 1 shall be a liar, like unto you : but I know him, and keep his saying. " Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day : and he saw it, and was glad. " Then said the Jews unto him. Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham ? " Jesus said unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Before Abraham was, I am." This forever settles in my mind the question of the divinity of the Lord Jesus. " Before Abraham was, I am." How any man can read the Gospel of John and be in a:«y doubt about Christ's divinity, the mischief is in it Abra 230 TO ALL PEOPLE. ham was gone hundreds of years, and yet " Before Abra- ham was, I am." " Then took they up stones to cast at Him ; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the Temple going thiough the midst of them, and so passed by." Let us lift our hearts to God in prayer. CHRIST RESTORING THE BLIND. I will read a part of the 9th chapter of John. " And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. " And his disciples asked him, saying : Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind ? " Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents : but that the works of God should be made mani- fest in him. " I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. " As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. " When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, " And he said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way, therefore, and washed, and came seeing. " The neighbors, therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said. Is not this he that sat and begged ? " Some said, This is he : others said, He is like him ; but he said, I am he." I am afraid that if we had been there a great many of us would have kept still. We would have thought, there is going to be a division about this matter, and the Jews had said that if any man confessed Jesus as the true Messiah he would be put out of the synagogue. There is a division and some opposition, but this man comes out bold- ly and says, " I am he ; I am the Man." Instead of coming out boldly we would have said nothing about it. That 232 TO ALL PEOPLE. was all he could say at first ; almost any young convert could say that. Here is a confession ; with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. If the Lord has re- deemed us let us say so. I was very much encouraged last night at the young converts' meeting to hear what was said by that man who was converted here a weeic ago, af- ter having been a drunkard for thirty years. After he had gone home, he said, an old companion came to his house in Cambridge, weeping and waiting to get power over his appetite. He prayed with him and showed him the way to Christ, and both were there last night rejoicing. This man that got his sight went out and told his story, and the one who has the most influence with the jury is the witness that tells the truth. Now they wanted this man to tell it, and they gave him the floor. " Therefore they said unto him, How were thine eyes opened ? " He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me. Go to the pool of Siloam and wash : and I went and washed, and I received sight." Now, of all the blind men that Christ ever cured, I sup- pose there were no two cured alike. The Lord never re- peats himself. Many want to get their eyes opened. We want it done in the same way that it was done to some- body else. Some of the wise men to-day would consider that Christ's way of giving this man sight was absurd. The idea of anointing his eyes with clay ! That was enough to put out good eyesight, but if the Lord is to work you must let Him work in His own way. Don't you try to work out a way for God to come and bless you. " Then said they unto him, Where is he 1 He said, I know not. " They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. CHRIST RESTORING THE BLIND. 233 " And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the day and opened his eyes. "Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see." He was not afrad to tell his experience twice, so you tell what things the Lord has done for you ; don't be afraid to tell it out to the world. "Therefore said one of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles ? And there was division among them." I am afraid if we had been there again, we would have kept still ; we would have thought there was going to be a storm. " They say unto the blind man again. What sayst thou of him that he hath opened thine eyes? " What do you think of it ? And the man answers, " He is a prophet." He has got talking about the Master now. First he said, " I am he to whom it was done," and now he says, " He is a prophet." xA.nd let me say to young con- verts, tell what the Lord has done for you, and don't go to talking about yourself. " He is a prophet," said the man. " But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. " And they asked them, saying. Is this your son, who ye say was born blind .-* how then doth he now see ? "His parents answered them and said. We krow that this is our son, and that he was born blind." I do not like the parents ; it was mean and cowardly for them to say that. They knew the son did not tell a lie. They knew how he had got his sight, but they were afraid that they would be cast out of the synagogue. There are a great many here who are troubled in the same way ; they are afraid that they will lose caste. The idea that they 234 TO ALL PEOPLE. have been to the Tabernacle ! and they come peeping around here, afraid that if they are seen they will lose caste. " But by what means he now seeth, we know not ; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not : he is of age ; let him speak for himself." I say that was mean and cowardly. They had not the moral courage to Gome out and tell what Christ had done for their son. They might have had the gratitude to ac- knowledge it. " These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews : for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue." You know it was a pretty serious thing then to put a man out of the synagogue ; there was no other church for him to go to. In these days, if a man is turned out of the Methodist Church he can go to the Baptists, and if the Baptists turn him out he can go into the Presbyterian or Congregationalist ; he can get into some other church ; but there was no other church then. It was a pretty serious thing to be ruled out of society and looked down upon. But this man was willing to leave everything for Christ. " Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him. Give God the praise : we know that this man is a sinner. " He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not : one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." All the infidels in the world could not beat that out of him. They tried to make him believe that he was another man, but he knew what he was. Infidels try to tell us that we do not change in conversion. Don't we know we do ? Whereas we were born blind we now see, and all the infi- dels in the world cannot beat that out of us. This man kuew it ; he knew that he had been blind and now could CHRIST RESTORING THE BLIND. 235 see, and that was more to him than all the rest of the world. " Then said they to him again, What did he to thee ? how opened he thine eyes ? " He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear : wherefore would ye hear it again ? Will ye also be his disciples ? " See him now trying to make disciples of those Pharisees. There is no convert but what wants to make converts. He had faith that even these hard Pharisees could be converted. That is what we want in Boston ; these young converts going out trying to make disciples of others. " Then they reviled him, and said. Thou art his disci- ple ; but we are Moses' disciples. " We know that God spake unto Moses ; as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is." I am afraid we would have kept still if we had been there, but this man kept right on, he was a match for these Pharisees. "The man answered and said unto them. Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. " Now we know that God heareth not sinners : but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth." Why he is a regular theologian ; he is as sound as if he had passed through Andover. My friends, the ministers on the platform could not have done better. If he had been a bad man you don't think the Lord would have an- swered him by blessing him and giving him his s'ght ? " Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. '' If this man were not of God, he could do nothing." That was good theology, wasn't it ? If the man was not of God, how could he do it ? Mr. Parsons, you could 236 TO ALL PEOPLE. not have said better than that. There was a blind beggar going about the streets ; his eyes were anointed and his sight was restored. Then he says, I am the man. Now he preached a pretty good sermon, this poor beggar. Here is this whole chapter, forty-one verses, devoted to this man, because he confessed Christ boldly to Jerusalem. " They answered and said unto him, Thou wast alto- gether born in sins, and dost thou teach us ? And they cast him out." They were not going to have him in the temple any more. Where did they cast him ? Right into the arms of Jesus. It is a good thing to be cast out from the world, if we are only cast into the bosom of the Son of God. " Jesus heard that they had cast him out ; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God .? " No man was ever cast out for Christ's sake, but He heard of it. This is a good place to leave him, we will leave him right there with the Master, worshipping Him. He could not have got that man to worship Him if He had not been the God-Man from the bosom of the Father — he worshipped Him. CHRIST THK GOOD SHEPHERD. We have for our subject to-day, John x. I will read a few verses. I will try to be brief, as I want the rest to be brief. " Verily, verily, T say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. " But he vhat entereth in by the door is the shepherd ot the sheep. *' To him the porter openeth ; and the sheep hear his voice.: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and lead- eth them out. " And when he putteth forth his own sheep he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him : for they know his voice. " And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him : for they know not the voice of strangers. " This parable spake Jesus unto them : but they under- stood not what things they were which he spake unto them. " Then said Jesus unto them again. Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. " All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers : but the sheep did not hear them. " I am the door : by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. " The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy : I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. " I am the good shepherd : the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." In this chapter we have Christ as the door and the good shepherd. Some one has said that the Lord's sheep have 237 238 TO AL.^ PEOPLE. three marks. First, they hear the voice of the Shepherd ; second, they know the voice of the Shepherd ; third, they follow tlie voice of the Shepherd. They hear, they know, and they follow. The Lord does not say they shall try to follow Him but they do follow Him. I once heard of a missionary who was in Syria, he was at Mount Lebanon, and a shepherd came down from the mountain-side to a spring which was there with his sheep, and in a little while a shep- herd came with his flock, and then another and another, and it wasn't long before quite a number of shepherds met there with their sheep, and there were nearly 10,000 sheep gathered around that spring of water. The missionary wondered how they were going to get those sheep separated. They were all together ; the shep- herds sat some time talking, but by and by one of the shep- herds got up and, in his own language, said, " Follow," and his sheep knew his voice, and they just came out from - the rest and followed him up the mountain-side. Presently another shepherd did the same, and his sheep followed, and he found that those shepherds guided and controlled the sheep by their voices. This missionary said, " Let me see if they will follow me ; let me have your cloak and shepherd's crook ; " and he dressed like them and repeat- ed in the same language the same word, because he was acquainted with the Arabic language, and the sheep would not follow him. A stranger they would not hear, and he said to the shepherd, "Don't they ever follow strangers ?" The shepherd said, ''Yes, they do sometimes." The mis- sionary asked him when, and he said, " Mena, mena," which means " When they are sick." I suppose that is the reason why a great many Christians follow strangers, be- cause they are sick. A man comes along with a new gos- pel and those who are not healthy Christians follow after him. If they really know the true Shepherd they are not going to follow a stranger. If a man comes with some un- CHRIST THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 239 sound doctrine they are not going to be carried away. They know the Shepherd's voice and will follow the true Shep- herd. In this chapter Christ speaks, I think, twenty-eight times. He tells what He is, who He is, and what He is come for, twenty-eight limes. He uses the personal pronoun, " I am the way," " I am the door," " I am the good shepherd," " 1 lay down my life for the sheep," " I am the Son of God." Twenty-eight different times He tells what He is, and who He is. He is the door of heaven ; if we ever enter heaven, we have got to enter through Jesus Christ. " He that climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a rob- ber." You may enter a house through a window or break in through the roof, but if you are going to enter heaven, it must be through the door, and that door is Christ Himself. " I am the way and the truth and the life." Then that twenty-eighth verse to me is very precious : " And I give unto them eternal life — life without end — and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." In this verse the word man is in italics. It might be put stronger, and no?ie shall pluck them out of my hand, neither devil nor man. No one shall pluck them out of my hand. He will take care of all His sheep ; He is a good shepherd ; He never lost ope yet. Suppose you had a flock of sheep, and wanted a shepherd, and one came to you with his credentials and everything, and you found that he lost a good many sheep, you would not want him. The Lord will take good care of them that put their trust in Him. He will not only give them eternal life, but He will let none of His flock slip out of His hands. Let us trust in Him ; let us make Him our Shepherd and let us say from the heart, " The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we pray that Thy blessing may rest upon every one gathered in this building to-day who can say from the heart, " The Lord is my Shepherd ; " and 2 40 ^'c? ALL PEOPLE. we pray that Thou wilt help us, each one of us, to realize more and more what a friend we have in Christ, what a shepherd He is, how He takes care of us, and provides for all our wants, how He goes on before us and leads us in green pastures and by the still waters. Help each one of us to realize this blessed, precious truth, and if there are any here to-day that realize it not, that are out of the com- munion, we pray that the Shepherd may restore unto them the joy of salvation, that the sheep may find to-day their Restorer. We pray that Thy blessing may rest on them that know not the Lord Jesus, that are still on the dark mountains of sin and unbelief, strangers to the grace of God, strangers to the wonderful Shepherd that came into this world of sin to save those that are lost. Oh, may they hear the voice of the loving Shepherd to-day, calling them home, and may they return to Him who loves them and gave Himself for them ! May they believe, to-day, on the Lord Jesus Christ, and by that belief receive eternal life. We pray for all these parties brought before us, to-day, in these written requests, for these sons and husbands, wives and daughters ; Lord hear their cry and save the lost ! O Lord, wilt Thou remember the churches that have sent up requests for us to pray for them ! We thank Thee that Thou didst revive that church we prayed for on the first day, and that it has been quickened. We pray for every church in New England, and may the day be not far dis- tant when every church in this blessed New England may be revived by the power of God. May the dark wave of infidelity that is going over this beautiful, fair land be driven away by the sun of righteousness. We pray that the power of God may be upon New England. We pray for the conference that is to take place a week from to-day, and for those who will be gathered here. May the dele- gates that come from all over the Union be endowed with power from on high, and may the Holy Ghost fall upon us as it did upon the early Church upon the day of Pentecost ; and may those who come here be endued with power from on high to go back and labor as they have never done be- fore ; and while we tarry together may the Spirit of God fall upon us. May men preach with power and unction from heaven and go back and proclaim the truths of the gospel as never before. We ask it all, Heavenly Father, in the name and for the sake of Thy risen Son. Amen. THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. III. Our subject to-day is the nth chapter of the Gos- pel of John, beginning at the 23d verse : "Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. " Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last da3^ "Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life : he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : " And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this .'' " She saith unto him, Yea, Lord : I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. " And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister, secretly, saying. The Master is come, and calleth for thee. "As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. " Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. " The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up has- tily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. " Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him. Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. " When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the sj^irit, and was troubled, " And said. Where have ye laid him } They said unto him. Lord, come and see. " Jesus wept. 16 2^1 242 '^O ALL PEOFLE. " Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him ! " And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died ? "Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. "Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sis- ter of him that was dead, saith unto him. Lord, by this time he stinketh : for he hath been dead four days. " Jesus saith unto her. Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God ? " Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. " And I knew that thou hearest me always : but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may be- lieve that thou hast sent me. " And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. " And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes : and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them. Loose him, and let him go- " Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him." In the loth chapter of John, which we had yesterday, and the last verse, it says, " And many believed on Him there." All through these chapters in John we find that as He did these miracles and spoke these words many be- lieved on Him. Now in this chapter we find the Divinity of Jesus Christ shining out again. Turn from this chapter to the first book of Kings, 17th chapter and 19th verse, you will find that Elijah, when he raised that child, it was not by his own power nor in his own name. " And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. " And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son ? THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. III. 243 " And he stretched himself upon the child three limes, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. " And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah ; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived." In 2d Kings, 4 chapter, 33d verse, it says: "He went it\ therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord.'' That was Elisha. Those were the first two that were raised. They were raised by the power of God. Elijah and Elisha called upon God. They cried unto the Lord to do it. Now take the three in the New Testament and see how they were raised. When Jairus's daughter was raised He said, " I say unto thee, arise." He did not call upon God at all. Then to the young man we read of in the 7th chapter of Luke He said, " I say unto thee arise." He did not call on God. That proved that He was God-man. It was with His own power, by His own word that He brought them to life. We come to the nth of John, and here is a man has been dead four days, and Christ cried not in the name of the God of Elisha and Elijah, not in the name of the God of the prophets, but in His own name, " Lazarus, come forth," and he that was dead came forth. The dead heard the voice of the Son of God and came forth. It seems to me that ought to settle the question of His divinity. We ought not to be in doubt about His having power to give life. If He could raise these dead bodies to life, can't He give life to these dead souls that are coming to the Tabernacle every day ? They are not more hopeless cases than Lazarus, v;ho had been dead four days and whose body was turning into dust. Christ spoke the word and Lazarus came forth. If He speaks the word these men that are bound in sin can be set free ; they can have life given them and power to serve God. A few years ago, when I first began to attend funerals, a little child died in mv Sundav School and I 244 ^'^ ''^^^ PEOPLE. wanted to try and preach a funeral sermon. I tried to see how Christ would do it, but I found that He never preached a funeral sermon, death never was near Him. He to-day wants to give life to the dead Lazaruses that are here, to the dead young men of this city. There is another proof of His divinity in this nth chapter of John. No one told Him that Lazarus was dead. The messenger told Him that Lazarus was sick, and when the messenger was gone Christ told His disciples that Lazarus was dead. He was miles and miles away. But Christ never raised more conva- lescents ; they always came forth with the flush of youth upon them. If Christ has power to raise these bodies, hasn't He power to raise our friends who are dead in tres- passes ? Now, Christ tried the faith of those two sis- ters. He stayed there two days after He got the news that Lazarus was sick. But when He came He was not too late. Thanks be to God His Son is never too late! He was in time that His own glory might shine forth not only in Bethany but in all Jerusalem. They were to have one witness walking the streets of Jerusalem con- tinually to testify to His power. In the twenty-seventh verse we find Martha's creed. She said : " I believe that Thou art Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world." That was her creed. She did not have any doubt about His divinity. Bear in mind that it was a pretty dark hour for her to believe. Three days ago He got the message that Lazarus was sick, and He had not com*. And yet Christ knew that he was dead. A friend of mine, Mr. Leland, told me that he went into the Crystal Palace when he was in London last year, and he saw a picture there of Christ coming out of the sepulchre, and He was represented as a mere skeleton, just skin and bones. There is one more thought that I went to call your attention to in this chapter, and that is the human side. There were three things they had to do. They had to guide him to the sepulchre. He knew, where it was, for He always THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. Ill 245 knows where the bones of His saints lie ; but He gave them the privilege to lead Him to the sepulchre. Then He told them to take away the stone. He could have taken it away himself, but He gave the privilege to roll away the stone ; and that is the work that is to be done in Boston b&^ore much good can be done. There are a good many stones in this city. There is that terrible rock of unbelief. There is that terrible rock of prejudice that has got to be rolled away. Oh, may God sweep away this miserable prejudice and unbelief. Help us, Lord, to roll away the stones so the dead may come forth. After He had raised Lazarus there was one thing more for them to do; they were to loose him and lead him out. There are a great many people in Boston like Lazarus. They are out of the sepulchre, but they are bound hand and foot. Christ has given them life, but they are not free. There are three things for these men, and we are not to wait for God, my friends, for He comes when we ask Him. What we want is to do our part, to obey Him, and He will do this. All those disciples and Jews that were gathered around the sepulchre in Bethany could not give Lazarus life. They came to that point, but they could go no further. They could roll away the stone and look at the body, but they had not the power to give life. Christ is the giver of life ; He alone can give life. We cannot raise dead souls ; that is not our work; we cannot convert the people — that is His work ; but we can preach the Gospel and do our work and look to Him to do His work. W^hen everything was ready the Son of God came forward and spoke the word, and the dead came forth. Oh, may we have faith to-day in the Son of God ; may we believe He is unchange- able— yesterday, to-day and forever He is the same. He is the same Christ to-day as in that village grave-yard at Bethany. Let us have faith and roll away the stone, and then let us ask Him to speak the word that the dead may come forth. Let us all bow our heads in silent prayer. SUDDEN CONVERSIONS. You hear considerable said nowadays about sudden con- versions. There are a great many people that say they don't believe it is possible for a man to be converted all at once ; that it is gradual. Now the Christian life, the growth, of course that is gradual : that may be fifty years, in fact if a man is living as he ought to he will be growing all the while, from the time that he was converted till he goes to his grave. But the new birth must be sudden. Now I want to just call your attention to a few conversions in the Bible. In the 5th chapter of Luke, 27th verse, we find how Levi, the publican was converted. *' And after these things he went forth, and saw a publi- can, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom : and he said unto him. Follow me." That's all there was to it. Just " Follow me." He be- longed to the Custom House, you see. There he was busy at work, and the Lord called on him to follow. It does not say there was any weeping or crying or praying; he did just what the Lord told him. " And he left all, rose up, and followed him." There is obedience. But he did more than just follow Him ; he went to work for Him. " And Levi made him a great feast in his own house : and there was a great company of publicans and others that sat down with them." He got all the tax collectors together, got together all that belonged in the Custom House. " But their Scribes and Pharisees murmured against a46 SC'DDEN CONVERSlOiXS. 247 his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publi- cans and sinners ? "And Jesus answering, said unto them, They that aie whole need not a physician ; but they that are sick. " I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to re- pentance." That is all there is about the conversion of Levi c r Mat- thew, who afterwards wrote the life of Christ. Then it 3 ou will turn over into the ist chapter of John, }ou will find how the first five disciples became Christians. In the ist chapter of John, 35th verse : " Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples ; "And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith. Be- hold the Lamb of God ! " Behold — that is, look at Him. Behold Him, see Him, the Lamb of God. Just look at Him, behold Him, see Him, the Lamb of God. " And the two disciples heard him speak, and they fol- lowed Jesus. " Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye .? They said unto him. Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou ? " He saith unto them, Come and see." " Come and see." That was all there was to it. Very simple. A pretty short sermon, wasn't it ? But it was long enough for these two disciples though. " They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour." Or about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. "One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother." That is a pretty good sign, if a man goes after his broth- er. I do not believe a man is converted unless he has the desire to bring some one else to Christ. If he has not 248 TO ALL PEOPLE. the desire to win some one else, then it is a good sign he is not converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. He might be con- verted to a creed or a denomination, but he has not been converted to the Lord Jesus Clirist ; if he had he would want to bring some one else in contact with Him. " He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saitb unto him. We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpret- ed, the Christ. " And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said. Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, A stone." " The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him. Follow me." See how simple, " Follow me " — two words ; and if there is a man to-day out of Christ, if he will take these two words they are enough. Just follow Him. " Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. " Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathan- iel said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth 1 " Nathaniel was like a good many people in Boston. They want to discuss this matter. "I would like to know how that can be, a Messiah coming from Nazareth," He was so full of prejudice that he could not believe it. But Philip had a good deal of tact in winning Nathaniel ; he was a wise winner of souls. If he had been like a good many of us he would have tried to prove that some good thing could come out of Nazareth, but he said, " You come and see." He knew that if he had one interview with Christ all his doubts would be gone. " Philip saith unto him. Come and see." He took up the same words Christ had said to Andrew and John. SUDDEN CONVERSIONS. 249 " Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile ! " Nathaniel saith unto Him, Whence knowestthou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. " Nathaniel answered and saith unto him. Rabbi, thou art the Son of God ; thou art the King of Israel. "Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto ihee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou ? thou shalt see greater things than these. " And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." Then if you will turn to the 3d chapter of John, in that wonderful interview Christ had with Nicodemus, you will see how he was converted. Christ just told him the way and he believed it. It does not say there was any praying or weeping, but He laid out the plan of salva- tion and Nicodemus believed it. He was one of the most difficult cases that Christ ever had. He was what we would call now an unconverted church member, and those are the hardest kind to reach. He thought he was all right because he belonged to the council, and he was in the highest ecclesiastical body there was, but yet Christ just told him what he must do to be saved, and the next thing we hear he is standing up in that council chamber for the Son of God. You men that are standing up for God, if you want clear evidence to burn all your bridges behind you, come out and confess the Lord Jesus, and let your friends and your enemies know you are on the J,ord's side. Until you do that you are on the devil's territory, and no one ever gets any light or good there. Confess Him. It is " with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Sup- pose this body of men represented two political parties, as Republican and Democratic, and suppose I have been a 2 CO TO ALL PEOPLE. Democrat up to the present day and there is going to be an important election to-morrow, and I am thoroughly con- vinced that the party I belong to is wrong, and if it suc- ceeds it will be the ruin of the country, and I am going over on the other side. Do I keep still about it? I want to influence every vote I can, and get them into the new party, new to me because I have just joined it. If you are on the wrong side come over boldly and bring every man you can with you. If a man is converted, he ought to be good for at least a dozen other souls. If we have a de- sire to bring our friends along with us, we will see them coming, there is no doubt about that. Turn to the 4th chapter of John, and you will find there another convert and altogether different from Nicodemus. A good many people say that Nicodemus did not need to be converted : he was a sort of respectable sinner. But in the 4th chap- ter of John you will find a poor, black harlot, a Samaritan woman and an adulteress. Yet Christ met her at that well. She came for a pot of water and she got a whole well. She took the whole gift. She said, " Lord, give me this water that I come not here to draw," and the well of water began to bubble up in her soul. But I caa imagine some of you say, if Christ was here in person and could preach the word of life to us, we would know we were converted and know when we pass from death to life ; but if you will turn to the 2d chapter of Acts you will find a conversion just as sudden, and more sudden than any that occurred before Christ went to heaven. On the day of Pentecost 3000 were converted under one sermon, and added to the Church of God in one day. Then turn to the 8th chapter of Acts, and you find Philip going to Samaria to preach, and while there was a great revival there God sent him to the desert to speak to that Ethiopian. He preached Christ to him in the 53d chapter of Isaiah, and he was convicted, converted and baptized in an hour. I might talk about the Phillip- S-UDDEiV CONVERSIONS. 251 pian jailer. All the conversions of the Bible are sudden. I wish men would give up their ideas of how they ought to be converted and see liow they used to be converted in the days of Christ and the Apostles, and remember that God is just the same now, and men can be converted if they seek God with all their hearts. I made a man astonished a while ago by telling him I knew when he was going to be converted. I said, " I am not a prophet, but I can tell the day and the hour when you will be converted." He said, " Is that so.? I would like to have you tell me." I answered, " It is when you search for God with all your heart ; that is the day and the hour." Let a man search for God with his heart and he will find Him. If a man will go about his soul's salvation as he does about his business, he will soon find life and liberty and peace. It is with the heart that man searches for God, not with the head. A great many Bostonians are trying to find God with the head, but no man ever did that ; it cannot be done. Mr. Spur- geon says : " Men do not need new heads, but new hearts.' So it is not with the head man searches out God but with the heart. Now, to-day, I just want to give this as the key- note of the meeting. In the loth chapter of Romans we read : " With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." The two go together. I believe there is a sort of pit in that verse, and a good many have tumbled into it in Boston. They believe with the heart, but are not willing to confess with the mouth. They are afraid of their old associates, they are afraid of ridicule, afraid perhaps that their name will get into the newspapers. They are there, in that pir. If you want true life and true peace and true liberty, not only believe with the heart, but confess, for " with the mouth confes:iion is made unto salvation." MR. MOODY'S PRAYER FOR INFIDELS AND SCOFFERS. Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that we are able to come again into this place of worship. We thank Thee for the privilege we have of breaking the bread of life to this multitude, and now we pray that Thou wilt save many here to-night. We pray Thee that the power of God may be felt within this meet- ing as it has never been felt within these walls before. Lord, make bare Thy arm to-night. May deaf ears be unstopped to-night, may blind eyes be opened, may the hard hearts be softened to-night by the Son of God. May there be many to-night who are full of bitterness, many who are full of blindness, and many who are full of prejudice may have their hearts melted. We pray for those who have come in out of curiosity. O God, meet them and show them the love of Thy Son, and may they come and confess their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray Thee for those who have come here to make light of this service, and to laugh and ridicule everything here. May their laughing be turned to mourning, and may their joking be turned to grieving, and may their hardness of heart be conquered. O God of Pentecost, breathe upon us a breath from that upper world. O God, may infidels and scoffers and jesters be reached to-night by the mighty power of Thy Spirit. W^e ask for the power of the Holy Ghost. We know that human power cannot reach them, that the heart of man is too hard to be reached by men, but may the Spirit of God reach them. And while Thy servant is singing, and while Thy servant is praying, may there be no spirit of criticism here to-night. May there be one wave of prayer going up to the throne of God this evening from the Christian men and women here, and may tiiere be many who shall trem- ble for fear of the judgment, and be saved. And Thy name shall have all the praise. Amen. 252 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JACOB. We have for our subject, to-day, "Jacob." There was a time when I used to be troubled, and a good deal, about the Bible characters. I used to think that because they were Bible saints, everything they did was right, and I could not understand just how it was that God would per- mit them to do such things, and that they would not be punished. Jacob was one of those characters I used to stumble over but, since I have got a little better acquaint- ed with my Bible, I find that these characters are giv- en to us as examples to warn us ; and if they were all like Joseph and Joshua, and like Daniel and Jeremiah and John the Baptist, and a few of those characters that never turned aside to the right or the left, that never tripped and fell, that never deviated a hair's-breadth, I think it would discourage a good many of us ; but when we come to a character like Jacob and we find that God had grace enough to save him, I think there is hope for almost any of us ; for by nature he was about as hard a character as you often find. By nature he was very treacherous and deceitful. Jacob means a " supplanter ; a deceiver." He started wrong. He started in altogether a different way from what Daniel did in Babylon. When he got down into Babylon, he pur- posed in his heart that he would not deviate from his God. He, Jacob, started with a lie in his mouth. I don't know as the ladies would like to hear me say it ; but I think his mother was about as bad as he was, and as much to blame as he, because she put him up to it to tell a lie to his father, and he started wrong. The object in taking up a «*3 254 TO ALL PEOPLE. character like this is not to be looking at the failures of Jacob and forgetting our^wn; for although he was a grandson of Abraham, he is at any rate brother to most of us. You will find that there are more Jacobs in the Church of God to-day than there are Abrahams. Wherever you go, in all society you will find this man's character brought out in a great many men. Now he could trust God just about as far as he was able to see, and no farther. He was one of those men who are willing to trust God if he could only see where he was coming out ; unlike Joshua, Daniel and Joseph, his own son, who were willing to trust in God without doubting where they were to come out. I think it would be a wonderful blessing to us if we would draw a contrast between Joseph and Jacob. Joseph could trust God in the dark if he couldn't see how it was coming out. He was willing to walk with God anywhere and believe that God was going to bring him out right ; but Jacob wanted to see how it was coming out and was all the time making bargains with the Lord. Now, Rebekah made this plan to help Jacob at home. It was the old story over again at home. Esau was Isaac's favorite, and Jacob was Rebekah's favorite ; and when there is favorit- ism in the old homestead there is always controversy. I never knew it to fail, and both the parents were to blame. One loved this son and the other that one ; and when Rebekah commenced to plan to keep her boy at home, instead of letting God work out His own plan, she took it out of the hands of God and she just defeated the very object she wanted to bring about, for Jacob left home, ana she never set eyes upon him again. He was driven away by Esau. She had to send him away. Esau had threat- ened to kill him, and she was afraid that the very same thing would occur to him as to Abel when Cain rose up and slew his brother. Esau was going to slay Jacob, and he had to flee. Let us just see him as he starts away from THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JACOB. 255 home. In the 27th chapter of Genesis, 46th verse, we find what it says about Rebekah. " And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth : if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me ? " Her life began to be a burden to her. Now, she wanted Isaac to bless Jacob and send him off, in order to save his life, for she knew that Esau was planning to slay his brother. So Jacob went away without confessing that sin. We are not told that he ever went to Isaac, his fa- ther, and asked him to forgive him for that lie. He starts wrong, and the God of all Grace beats him. In the 28th chapter of Genesis, beginning with the loth verse, it says : " And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. " And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set ; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven : and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. " And behold, the Lord stood above it and said : " Now mark what He says. I wish you would just pay attention. If you have got your Bibles with you I wish you would read that 13th verse with me. " I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac : the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed." That was a pretty direct title, wasn't it, just straight from the throne ? God says, " I will give it to you." That is sovereign grace. God is now dealing in gracehood. " And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south, and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou 256 TO ALL PEOPLE. goest, and will bring thee again into this land ; for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." Now, see how plain that is. There are a great many of God's promises that are conditional. " If you do so," God sa\ s, " I will do so and so." Then there are others that are without condition. Now, here is God just shouting down from the top of that ladder what he would do ; but there is no con- dition about it. If Jacob did this or that thing, God did not promise that He would do as Jacob wished ; but He said, " I will do this : I will give thee the land whereon thou liest and to thy seed." Undoubtedly Jacob had been told a good deal about the God of Abraham. His grand- father, probably, when he was a little boy, had him on his knee many a time, and told him how God appeared to him, how God talked to him and how he called him out of his native land and out of Haran ; God was really no stranger to him. He had heard about him. Now, he says, "Surely the Lord is in this place ; and I knew it not." And he was afraid, and said. How dreadful is this place ! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. " And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Beth-el : but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and wiU keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace ; then shall the Lord be my God." Now, that is what I want to call your attention to. After God had told him that He would give him all that land and be with him and make him a blessing to all the world, Jacob gets up and says : " If thou wilt be with me ;" now, if you will allow me the expression, that is one of the devil's " ifs." What right had he to say (if THL L.FE ANL CHARACTER OF JACOB. 257 God said He would do it), " If God wilt be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace ; then shall the Lord be my God." That's a bargain. You see he wanted to make a bargain with the Lord. Jacob, all the time trying to make a bar- gain after God had shouted down from the top of that ladder how He would bless him and give him that land, he gets up and tries to bargain with the Lord for bread and raiment and to get back to his father's house. What a low idea he had of God ! When the God of all grace wanted to give him everything, he gets up with that "{/!'' Instead of getting up and praising and magnifying God for what He offered him, he gets up with that low idea of Him — " If He will just give me enough to eat and to wear, then He will be my God." And so he starts off down to Haran, and we find him down there driving sharp bargains with Laban, and he got cheated every time. His uncle Laban had not been to Beth-el, and his conscience troubled him about what was right. Now, if a man had been up to Beth-el, as Jacob had, and got the promise of the God ot Grace that Jacob got, what did he want to be off in the world, after he got His promise, driving sharp bargains for ? If he had the promise of God in all the fulness of God, that is through the Holy Ghost, through Christ, through the God-head, why, he could afford to lead a different life from Laban his uncle; but, instead of that, we find him down there just using all manner of deception. I think more of his uncle than I do of him. His uncle was more honorable than he. Even after he got down there he had to work seven years for his wife, and then hj had to get another woman. He got paid back in his own coin. I was trying to tell you last night that " whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap." He went and lied to his father ; told him a downright lie ; and now when he gets 17 258 TO ALL PEOPLE. clown into Haran he gets paid back in his own coin. He had to work seven years longer to get Rachel, the wife he wanted. His wages were changed ten different times. After he had been there twenty years, we don't hear that he had any altar or ever called upon the God of Beth-el while he was there. We don't hear anything about the vow he made that the Lord should be his God ; but there he is driving sharp bargains, trying to get rich, and living like the men of Haran ; but, at the end of twenty years, the Lord came again, for God is going to keep His promises — fulfil all His promises. If He says He will do anything, He will do it. Now, then, we find in the 31st chapter of Genesis and the 13th verse, that God came and sa'd, " I am the God of Beth-el, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me ; now arise, get thee out of this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred." Now instead of Jacob going out like a man, walking out like a prince who had got his word from God that he had a promis-i of and a title to all that land ; instead of going out like a man, he just watched his chance and stole away like a thief. We find that his father-in-law came after him, and if God had not appeared to him I don't know but what he would have taken the life of Jacob, he was so full of rage. He stole away like a thief. If he had said that he was ordered by God, he could have told that father-in-law how that the God of Abraham and of Isaac had commanded him, how his (xod had called him out, and he mi^rht have gone like a man. But instead of that he stole away like a coward. He was all the time plauxung. He couldn't let God plan for him ; he couldn't trust God ; but God again shielded him. After he had settled the trouble with his father-in- law, the angels met him, and he says, " This is God's host that have come to conduct me back into the land." But it wasn't long before it came to his ears that Esau was THE LIFE AIVD CHARACTER OF JACOB. 259 coming out against him, and he was filled with trouble. And now h^e couldn't trust God. God says, " I will take care of you ;" but he couldn't believe, because he couldn't see how he was coming out. He wanted to see how he was coming out. When he heard that Esau was coming out against him he began to plan again. He divided his herds and kept back in the rear to save himself. How mean ! how cowardly ! And when his herds had passed over then we find that he was just left alone with God, and there he wrestles with God. In the 32d chapter of Genesis, the 24th verse, we find these words : '' x^nd Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." We hear that quoted a good deal. We hear about the " Wrestling Jacob," but we forget that there was another man wrestling with him, that God was wrestling with him, and not he with God. The wrestling was on the other side. That is, God wrestled with him. Some people have an idea that he wrestled and toiled hard to get a blessing. That is not so. Jacob was not willing to receive the bless- ing, and therefore God troubled him. It was the God of Israel, the God of Abraham. It was not that He did not want to bless him, for He came for that very purpose. "And Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he pre- vailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh ; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said. Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name ? And he said, Jacob. And he said. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel : for as a prince hast thou power wilh God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name ? And he blessed him there. And Jacob 26o TO ALL PEOPLE. called the name of the place Peniel : for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." Now people say, but he did prevail, and he did prevail wlxen he wrestled. I don't think he wrestled much with his thigh out of joint. A man with his little finger could have overthrown him then. His power and strength were gone, but when he was weak he prevailed with God. He got at the end of himself; when he got through he got at the end of his strength and all he did was to hold on to God and cry for the blessing, and then he got it. When we are weak, then we are strong. Then we have power with God. When we are at the end of the energy of the flesh, that brings us blessings. When we are at the end of the flesh and hold on to God, we have power with God, and as a prince has power with his king, so we have power with the King of heaven. The Lord blessed him ; but, as I have said before, it was when he was weak, when his strength was gone. Now, we turn over into the 35th chapter and we find him again, instead of going to Beth-el, going down to Shechem, and when he was there he built an altar and put his own name on it, El-eloheTsrael, but I don't think that God met him there. " El-elohe-Israel." High sound- ing title, wasn't it .'' There is a good deal of that now. There is a good deal of our attaching our names to the Lord's work. My church, My prayer-meeting. My Sunday school. My Bible-class, My this or Afy that, instead of just shutting ourselves out of sight, and giving God all the glory ; but the Lord never met him there at El-elohe-Israel. He fell into sin, his family came into disgrace, and at last the God of Beth-el came again and said, " Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there : and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his household, and unto all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JACOB. 261 your garments." See that! He got an altar down there, but they had got strange garments. There is a good deal of that kind of worship nowadays. There are a good many men in Boston who have got to ride two horses, as you might say. They pretend to worship the God of heaven, but they worship the god of this world. It is God and Mammon. They are trying to worship both. You can't do it. Jacob had no communion with God down there. When God came down, what did He find? Why, He found that Jacob had these strange gods, and he says, " Go up to Beth-el and dwell there, and make an altar unto God." God couldn't bless him down there with all those strange gods. When he got separated from his idols, then he would have power with God. "Let us rise," said Jacob, " and go up to Betii-el ; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and w^as with me in the way which I went." Now, let your minds go back, my friends, you that have wandered away from the God of Jacob, to the time when you had reason to believe that you were saved ; how when you trusted Him He was true to you, and when the Lord met you in the hour of distress, when you were burdened with your sins, and you promised God if He would take away your burden you would love Him. Oh, my friends, you have been untrue to Him. Many of us have wandered and gone astray. Let us arise, and go up to Beth-el, and get back to the House of God, where He can bless us. " And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem." He ought to have burnt them, smashed them all to pieces, but he hid them ; but it is a good thing when we get rid of idols. I believe that we have as many idols to-day as they had then. I wish that we could have a grave built so deep in Boston that we could bury all the idols of Boston in it, and then 136 262 TO ALL PEOPLE. you would see how quick God would bless us. We make an idol of our friends, perhaps, of our reputation and stand- ing, of money, of pleasure, and we have a great many idols that get into our hearts and the God of heaven is not there, and cannot bless us on account of these idols. But just see what took place when they buried their idols. " And they journeyed : and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob." So that the terror of the Lord fell upon the nations round about them. Jacob had power over them, because he was right with God, because he had put away his strange idols, " and the terror of the earth fell upon the nations round about them." " So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Beth-el, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-bethel." He didn't put his name on it at all. He called it El-beth-el. " Because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother." Now, we find right here in the 13th verse, " And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him." And in the i6th verse of that same chapter we find that Jacob journeyed from Beth-el ; he left it, he wouldn't stay here^ and when they were a little way off Rachel died ; affliction came upon him be- cause he would not obey God. God couldn't keep him, or at least he would not stay. God had called him there to bless him. The next thing we hear not only was Rachel dead, but he sends Joseph alone down to see how the boys, who are looking after the sheep, are getting along, but they had gone down to Shechem. I don't know but what they had gone down to dig up those idols. , They knew they were hid there under the oak ; Joseph did not find them there ; and we find, my friends, that Jacob now has got into trouble again. The boys came back with a lie on their lips. You lie to your parents, THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JACOB. 263 and your children will lie to you. Here it was twenty or thirty years after Jacob had lied to his own father that his own sons came back and lied to him about his favorite son, the idol of his heart, the one that he loved the best. He fell into the same sin that Rebekah and Isaac fell into ; he loved Joseph and Benjamin more than the rest of his sons, and that brought jealousy into the home and the famih^, and it wasn't long before the hres of jealousy kin- dled and they began to plan how to put this favorite son out of the way. They wanted to murder him. They had murder in their hearts. They would have killed and slain him if God had not overruled it ; but they cast him into a pit, as you all know, and then it was so ordered by God that he should be brought up out of it and sold into slavery and sent into Egypt. And the old man mourned for that boy twenty long years. It was a good deal more than he had sown. The reaping-time had come, and you will find that when they came to him and said that Joseph was dead, they could not comfort him. His sons and daughters gathered around him and tried to, but he would not be comforted. He says, " I will go down to my grave mourn- ing for that boy." You can see that old man as he lies upon his bed at night ; he dreams of that favorite son being torn to pieces by \vild beasts. He can hear that voice call- ing out for help. There he was, moaning day and night for twenty long years — moaning over him for dead. When they came back from Egypt and said that the governor had treated them roughly, when they said they wanted more corn, and that he said they couldn't get any more corn unless they brought back Benjamin, and that the governor had taken Simeon and cast him into prison, and would not let him go, hear what the old man says: "I will not let Benjamin go. Joseph and Simeon are gone. All these things are against me." He had a stormy voy- age, didn't he. A man that will not walk by faith always 264 TO ALL PEOPLE. has trouble. A man that is always trying to plan for him- self and not have God plan for him, never knows what true peace and comfort is. In the 42.th chapter we see what the testimony is. He never could get any to honor his God. All " these things are against me." If that is your testimony, they said, we don't want your God. We would raiher have the God of the Egyptians. See what testimony he took to Pharaoh, 47th chapter and 9th verse. " And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pil- grimage are an hundred and thirty years : few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." What a stormy voyage ! " Evil days I have had." Good testimony to take to a heathen king! These Christians who are trying to make bargains with the Lord, trying to and walking by sight, instead of by faith, are a great hindrance to the Church of God, and have never brought anybody to the cross of Christ. We want faith in God. We want to take Him at His word and trust Him, then we will be able to testify that our days have not been evil, but the glorious Son of God has been with us all the time and blessed us, and His ligtit has been shining brighter and brighter upon our path every day as we have been journeying on towards Heaven. But this is His testimony, " Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been." Queer testimony to take down to that heathen king. But, my friends, let us keep this in mind, that although Jacob had all these failings, God was with him, blessed him, and condescended to call Himself the God of Jacob, the God of Israel, and this all magnifies Christ. There may be a man here who has a treacherous disposition. If he will bring it right to God He has grace enough to keep him, to give him victory. And we find that the old man died in peace, although in exile. He might have died at home with his family ; his last days THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JACOB. 265 might have been glorious, Hke Joshua's, if he had only been willing to walk by faith ; but no, he would walk by sight ; take himself out of God's hands. If he had lived in a castle he might just-as well have written over the door *' Doubting Castle." He all the time saw bears — trouble with Esau, trouble with his father-in-law, trouble all the way, because he wouldn't take God at His word. May God help us to learn a lesson from Jacob, and may we learn this, to put our whole being into God's hands. God will take care of us. There cannot a sparrow fall but that He notices it. Every hair of your head is numbered. God knows our hearts better than we do. Your Heavenly Father knows all your needs. You need not be harassed, troubled or tormented about the future. God will help us if we put our trust in Him. Have faith in God, and not be complaining all the time. THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOSHUA. You that were here last Thursday afternoon remember that I was talking about the life and character of Jacob. This morning I shall talk about Joshua, and draw a con- trast between the two. Jacob was one of those characters that want to walk by sight rather than by faith. He want- ed to read out everything, wanted to see how he was com- ing out in the end, before he attempted anything, just like a good many men nowadays. Joshua was a man that walked by faith, and you will find the key to his character in three words — courage, obedience, and faith. Courage, obedience, and faith. And he dared to be in the minority. Now, friends, there are very few men at the present time that like to be in the minority. They always want to be in the majority. They want to go with the crowd ; but when a man has laid hold of the Divine nature of God, has become a product of the Divine nature, he is willing then to go against the crowd of the world and be numbered with the minority. Where Joshua met the God of Israel first we are not told. We don't catch a glimpse of him till he is about forty years old. The first sight we get of Joshua is as he comes up out of Egypt. We are told that after Moses had struck the rock in Horeb ; and the chil- dren of Israel had drank the water that came out of that rock ; and that rock was typical of Christ and of God's pure throne, that Amalek came out to fight them, and after they had got a drink of this water they were willing to meet him. We find that Joshua's first battle was successful, and that his last one was successful. He never knew what a6f. THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOSHUA. 267 defeat was. He was successful because he believed in the Lord God of Heaven, because he had perfect faith in God. Moses went up into the mountain to pray, and, while he was praying, Joshua was down fighting Amalek. And when Moses held up his hand Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed. " And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side ; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun." His hands were up until Amalek was defeated. There is only one thing against Joshua. He was opposed to the preaching of Eldad and Aminidab. He didn't like Eldad and Aminidab out there preaching in the camp, because they didn't belong to the Apostolic body. So he says to Moses : " I wish you would rebuke Eldad and Aminidab for preaching in the camp. I don't want them to preach there." But Moses said : " No : I will not. That's just what we want. I wish to God there were more of them." And that is just what we want in this city to-day. Let men preach, no matter what their creed, no matter what their particular denomination. If you can't preach yourself go out and bid others to come and hear the preaching. But after Moses rebuked him we never hear him complaining any more about Eldad and Amini- dab. That is the only thing on record against him. The next thing we hear of is those twelve spies, and I will pass over that. You remember how they came back, and Joshua and Caleb were the only two out of the twelve that dared to bring in a minority report. But now the forty years' v/ilderness journey is over, and during all these forty years you cannot find any place where Caleb and Joshua ever mur- mured, ever complained. They were not of that kind. And wherever you find a man or woman successful in God's service, you never hear them complaining or whining — no murmuring, no grumbling, and the Lord God blesses them. Now, as I said, the forty years' wilderness journey is over, 268 TO ALL PEOPLE. and Moses is about to leave, and if you have never read the farewell address of Moses that you will find in the last few chapters of Deuteronomy. I advise you to read it to-day. You are reading a great many printed sermons. Suppose you read that. Why, there is as much truth in that as there is in fifteen hundred printed sermons at the present time. Let me just give you a few verses : " Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak ; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. " My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass : " Because I will publish the name of the Lord : ascribe ye greatness unto our God. " He is the Rock, his work is perfect : for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. "They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children : they are a perverse and crooked generation. " Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise.? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee and established thee ? " Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations : ask thy father and he will shew thee ; thy elders, and they will tell thee. " When the Most High divided to the nations their in- heritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. " For the Lord's portion is his people ; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. " He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness ; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye." There are two or three sermons in that last verse. Just see what he did : " He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howl- ing wilderness ; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOSHUA. 269 "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings : " So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him," Just notice that ; and there was no strange god with hnii. " He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields ; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock." And so he went on and finished his sermon, and God called him off into the mountain. He went up into Mount Nebo, and there God showed him from the top of Pisgah that land that he could not possess ; showed him the land from Dan to Beersheba, and then, as some one says, " God kissed away his soul and buried him." There he was buried by the Almighty Himself. And now Joshua is commanded to take charge of the army. And the word of the Lord came to Joshua, saying, "Joshua, arise, and go over this Jordan. Moses, my servant, is dead." There was no president, no general, no marshal about it. There was no title at all, but just merely " Joshua, arise, and go over this Jordan." Now, Joshua just obeyed, and here you will find the secret of his wonderful success. He just did what the Lord told him to do. If he had stood, like a good many people, and said, " I don't know how I am going to get these people over. Hadn't you better wait. Lord, until the next day.? How am I going to get these three million people over this angry flood ? Hadn't we better wait until the waters go down ? " But, no ; he didn't say that. He had got his command from God, " Arise and go ! " When the Lord gave orders, that was enough. He had got his word, and he brings these children of Israel down in sight of the whole streams. Faith mus* 270 TO ALL PEOPLE. be tried. God won't have people He can't try. He brings them there in three days, in sight of that angry flood, with not a word of murmuring. If he had brought them there forty years before, what murmuring there would have been ! We'll get trained, every one of us. They had had their faith tried in those foity years in the wilderness, and now they murmured not. There was not a word of com- plaint. But forty years before they would have said, when they got opposite Jericho, " What's He going to do ? How are we going to get over ? We've got to have a bridge or a pontoon. And even if we get over they will see us and defeat us. They will slay us here on the bank of Jordan. Guess we had better turn round and go back." That's what they would have said, what they would have tried, and what they would have done forty years before. But now Joshua tells the people that the priests are to walk out in front of them, and that the moment the priests touched the water, the moment the soles of their feet touched the water, the water was to be cut off. There was faith for you ! When these seven men took up the ark, God was with them, and the moment the soles of their feet touched the water the waters were cut off, and they passed into the middle of the stream and put down the ark. That ark represented the Almighty. He was in the ark, with the ark right there in the midst of death — for Jordan is death and judgment — right in the middle of the stream. He held that stream in the palm of His hand. And now the people pass beyond — 3,000,000 of them. You can hear their solemn tread. Not a word said on their march through death and judgment until Joshua led them on to Resurrec- tion Ground. After he had got them all over, he told twelve men, one from each tribe, to take each a stone and set them up whera the pr ests stood, so that when their children asked, " What mean ye by these stones ? " they could tell how the Almightv had brought them through. THE LIFE AND CHARACTER DF JOSHUA. 271 clangers into the promised land. Now, after they had put their stones, the ark was brought up out of the Jordan, and the waters rolled off. Now, instead of moving right on at once to Jericho, they stopped to keep the Passover. They were in no hurry. They were willing to worship God. They kept the Passover, and after that they started for Jericho. Jericho was shut off undoubtedly, and undoubt- edly the hearts of those people were filled with fear. Here the children of Israel had come to their country and their God had brousfht them throu2:h the Red Sea with an out- stretched arm. Surely there was a strange God among them. Jericho had no such God as that. He had defended them, and led them, and given them light and life after that. But now Joshua just takes a walk around the walls of Jericho. God had ordered him to take it, and he must. And as he was walking around viewing the walls of Jericho, all at once a man stood right in front of him with a drawn sword right over him, and God said : " No man can be able to stand before you all the days of your life." And Joshua steps right up to him, and says: " Art thou for us or for our adversaries .'' " " No, I am captain of God's host, come to lead you to victory." Then Joshua fell on his face, "and God talked with him. And that is just the time God is going to talk with you — when you fall on your face ; when you humble yourself in the dust before Him. Oh, how many Boston men would have laughed at Joshua if they had been in Jericho ! How much sport they would have made of him ! If there had been any Jericho Heralds what articles would have come out ! The idea of taking the city in that way. The ark was to come out, and the priests were to blow rams' horns. That was very absurd, wasn't it. Rams' horns. I think there are people here, if they wanted anybody to blow anything, they would want them to blow silver trumpets. The idea of Dr. Webb, Dr. Pente- cost, Mr. Brooks, Catholic divines and apostolic Protestants 2^2 TO ALL PEOPLE. going around the streets and blowing rams' horns. Oil, no, they are too fine for that. They must blow beautiful silver trumpets. They were to march around the walls ot Jericho, and not a word was to be said. That is just what God told them. Bear in mind, Jericho is going to be taken by faith. God is going to work by faith. The people of Jericho couldn't understand what this marching and this blowing of rams' horns meant. At first, perhaps, they were a little afraid, — with these hundreds of thousands of men marching in solemn procession around their city. Well, they marched around it the first time ; but instead of taking the city, they went into camp. The next morning they were up again. These seven men going around the ciiy blowing rams' horns and these hundreds of thousands of people, following after the ark, marching around the city. And so the third day, so the fourth, and so the fifth. By this time, perhaps, the alarm of the people of Jericho was about gone. You can hear them saying, " They think ! they can take the city ! How are they going to do it ? I They haven't got any arms. Here we have great thick walls and great iron gates, and they haven't got any arms. How are they going to take this city? They've got no battering-rams, no weapons. How are they going to take it? The idea!" Well, on the morning of the fifth day, they go around as usual blowing their rams' horns, the people following after the ark. If the children of Israel had just come out of Egypt, they would have said, " How foolish to try to take the city in that way ! Here we have been marching around it five days, and the city is no nearer being taken now than it was before." But now it was different. They had heard the voice of God, and God was going to be with them after they had learned their lesson in the wilderness. If He told them to go around the walls of the city seven times, they knew they must do it. Well, the seventh day came, and they were up very early in the THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOSHUA. 273 morning. I can imagine it was about daybreak. The whole town was startled to hear the rams' horns. But instead of going into camp after the first march around the walls, they go around the second time, and I think I hear the people say, " What does this mean ? Why, they are going around twice ! " They go around the third, the fourth and the fifth times. I see the people yet on the walls of the city, and watch these men walking around in solemn proces- sion. " What does all this mean ? " they say. Not a man speaks a word. Here were these seven men blowing their rams' horns, and the people going around for the seventh time. At the end of the seventh time Joshua says, " Shout, for the Lord has given you the city." And they shout. They shout, and down tumbles the walls of Jericho. And they went up and went into the city. And every man, woman and child perished in that city. God had given the order, and His commands were obeyed. Now, my friends, what we want to learn from this lesson is to obey God. There are a good many people who think they know a good deal better how to do these things than the Lord does. Un- doubtedly, if there had been a good many Boston men there they would have advised taking the city in some other way ; but what the Lord said He would do He did. And whatever He says he will do He will do it. Now they move on to Ai. You know after a victory is gained over some large town they attack and take these little outland towns. So in this case. They mpved right on to Ai. Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, and they came back and told him that just a few thousand men could take Ai ; and they go up and are repulsed, and Joshua rends his clothes and falls on his face, and cries to God what the fault was. He knew the fault was in the camp — not God's. And so when the Church of God don't advance, bear in mind it is not God's fault : it is ours. And God won't advance the Church until we fall on our face like Joshua 18 274 TO ALL PEOPLE. and acknowledge that the fault is ours. When they went into Jericho, they were told not to touch one solitary thing; but there was Acham saw a nice garment — perhaps he thought it would be a nice dress for his wife — he saw two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold, and he coveted them and took them. Oh, God hates that sin of covetousness ! Acham hid them ; but he could not conceal it. He had to confess that he had sinned against the Lord God of Israel. He could not keep it in. Those men of Ai were so humbled that they could not stand before the Lord. Now, after leaving Ai, we read that Joshua comes unto Mount Ebal, and there a wonderful thing took place. On one side, on the slope of Mount Gerizim, were half of the children of Israel, and on the other, on the slope of Mount Ebal, were the other half. There were three million of people just gathered there, and the whole law of Moses was read over to them. It was a solemn sight. Moreover, all the law of God was read. Not a part, but the whole. Joshua read the blessings and cursings. He didn't stand up there like some one reading a moral essay and say that they must be good for they were going into the promised land ; that there were bless- ings for them, and said nothing about the curses. No ; he didn't do that. He read all. It says here in the eighth chapter ; " And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests, the Levites, which bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger as he that was born among them ; half of them over against Mount Gerizim, and half of them over against Mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterwards he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law." Now, mark that. " He read all the words of the law, the THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOSHUA. 275 blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law." If he had been like a good many nowadays, he would have said to himself, " I will read the blessings ; not the cursings. I don't believe God is going to curse a man if he does wrong, so I will read the blessings and not the cursings." But, thank God, he read the whole law ! — the blessings and the cursings. He didn't keep back anything. " And there was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not."' There was not one solitary word that Moses had com- manded but what Joshua read. Oh, thank God for such a man ! That's the kind of men we want nowadays — men who won't take and cut the Bible to pieces like the king who took out his penknife and said, " I don't like that. Cut that out; I don't like that. Cut that out." And so they cut and slashed away at the Bible until they haven't got hardly anything left. The 33d verse of the 8th chapter says they were all there. " As well the stranger, as he that was born among them." You see he made no distinction. He read to the stranger as well as to those that were of the children of Israel. It was all read. And now he is ready to move on. The law had been read, they had worshipped their God, and were ready to move on. Undoubtedly the nations all through that land had heard how^ this solemn assembly had met on the mountain-side and the law had been read. Now, they are ready to move on again. Some one comes to them — they had been there some time, three days — some one comes and tells Joshua, " Joshua, have you heard that there is a confederacy formed against you ? Instead of meeting one man you are to meet five. They are coming down from the mountains with great regiments of giants. Why, the mountains are full of the sons of Anak — full of giants ; some of these men are six feet high. Why, they are so 276 TO ALL PEOPLE. big that they would scare our own men to death ! Why, one man came out and just shook his little finger at our men and scared them out of their lives ! There wasn't a man dared to meet them ! The whole land is full of giants. Do you know that they have formed a confederacy ? Five kings are coming against you." I see the old warrior. He doesn't tremble at all. He had got the word of God : "Joshua, be of good courage. No man shall be able to stand against you." He moved on in his godly armor and in the name of his God, and he routed his adversaries. It was growing late, and he commanded the sun and moon to stand still, and they obeyed him. So there were two days in one. He found the five kings hid away in a cave, and he took them out and hanged them. He took thirty-one kings and kingdoms. He just took that land by faith. Now, some people say, ''What right had he to come over and take that land ? " If you will read the 9th chapter of Deuteronomy and the 4th verse, you will see what right he had. " Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out fiom before thee, saying. For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land ; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee." That is why He drove them out. Their cup of iniquity was filled, and God just dashed it to pieces. When any na- tion's cup of iniquity is full, God just sweeps them away. Now, mark the Scripture : " Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess their land ; but for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that He may perform the word which the Lord swore unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jocob." "Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness ; for thou art a stiff- necked people." They were a stiff-necked people. It was THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOSHUA. 277 not for the righteousness of the children of Israel that the Lord gave them this land. He hated these nations on account of their wickedness. Now Joshua has overcome them and driven them from the face of the earth, and this brings out one noble trait in his character. When he came to divide up the land, Joshua took the poorest treas- ure himself that he might be near the ark. And there, on Mount Ephraim, he died at the ripe old age of no; and during all these years not one single solitary man was able to stand before him. See the contrast between his dying testimony and that of Jacob ! " Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been." He had a stormy voyage. Now look and see this old warrior going to rest. He had tried God forty years. He had heard the crack of the slave-driver's whip down there in Egypt ; but proba- bly he had a praying mother, who talked to him about this King of the Hebrews, about the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob j and he believed in that God ; and when Moses came down into Egypt he finds this young man just in the prime of his life ; and Joshua recognizes in Moses that he was the instrument of the Almighty, that the King of the Hebrews had sent him there to deliver His people. He had tried God forty years in the wilderness, and when eighty years old he was called into the promised land. He had tried God thirty years in Canaan, and now, at the age of no, the old warrior is going home, and he is not going to die like an infidel. He knows he is going to die, and he calls for all the tribes of Israel and their elders, and they come up from the tribe of Benjamin, the tribe of Simeon, the tribe of Zebulun, and so on, and they gather in at Shiloh to be there to hear the old prophet and the old patriarch, and that man of God speaks, and what does he say ? What is his dying testi-mony ? How we linger round the couch of our dying friends ! How anxious we are to get their last words ! Well, let us turn back. What 278 TO ALL PEOPLE. are the last words of this man who has tried God and proved God ? This is it : "I am going the way of all the earth ; and ye know in your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you ; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof." " Not one good thing hath failed." God has kept His word. God has made His word good. " Not one good thing hath failed." What a dying testimony ! How glori- ous ! In the beautiful sunset light the old warrior sank away like he was going to sleep. In the dusk of a beautiful summer's evening he passed away. There is the old man's dying testimony. He could tell the people of God. He was the only one left. The rest had gone. Moses had sunk into his desert grave, and the other leaders of the tribe of Israel had passed away. But now he was going to die in the promised land. This is dying testimony. " I go this day the way of all the earth ; and ye know in your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the o^ood thin2:s which the Lord your God spake concerning you ; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing has failed thereof." My friends, let us take God at His word. Let us try Him. Let us prove Him. We will find that God is true. All these men that are trying to pick the Word of God to pieces,trying to destroy our confidence in the Word of God, tell us it is not true ; but any one who has ever tried God, who have ever proved God, have found Him to be true, Let us pray. THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF PETER. The iirst glimpse that we catch of Peter is when An- drew brought him to the Saviour. That is John's account. That i« when he became a disciple ; but he didn't leave everything then and follow Christ. He waited until he got another call. I think we all can learn a lesson right here. That it is not every one that is called to be a disciple of Jesus, that is called to leave his occupation and become his follower entirely. I believe there are a great many self- made preachers, man-made preachers, and that is the rea- son why so many fail. No man who is called by God has ever failed, or has ever broken down in the ministry ; but when a man runs before he is sent, I believe he will fail. Now, we are all called to be His disciples ; all called to follow Him ; but we are not all called to give up our occupation and devote all our whole time to the ministry. I have men come to me constantly who say they have been raised up, and want to give up their business and their worldly occupa- tion and go into the work of the Lord entirely ; and I never yet advised a man to go into the ministry. I think I never advised a man to give up his occupation and to go out into the vineyard of the Lord and go to work. It is too high a calling, it seems to me, for men to be influenc- ing one another to go into it. If a man will only wait un- til God calls him, be sure that God sends him, then suc- cess will crown his efforts. Now, we find in the 5th chapter of Luke, and also in the 4th chapter of Matthew, where Peter got his calling. He was out with his partners and others fishing, w^hen Christ came along and told them to cast their net, or to launch out into the deep and cast / 28o TO ALL PEOPLE. their net into the sea ; but Peter says, "We have toiled all night and caught nothing ; " but Jesus sa3^s, " Neverthe- less, let down your nets ; " and at the word of God they did so, and were successful, and whe?i they got ashore they found that Christ had called them to be His disciples. You just turn, if you have your Bibles with you, to the 5 th chapter of Luke : " And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of Goe^, he stood by the lake of Gen- nesaret, " And saw two ships standing by the lake : but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. " And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. " Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. " And Simon answering said unto him. Master, we have toiled all the nio;ht, and have taken nolhino: : never- theless, at thy word I will let down the net. " And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes : and their net brake. " And they beckoned unto theij^- partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they be- gan to sink, " When Simon Peter saw //, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying. Depart from me ; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. " For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken : " And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebe- dee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not ; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. " And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him." THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF PETER. 281 YoLi see it says that Christ just said to them, " Follow me, and I will make your fishers of men." And no one was more successful in the world, in catching men, than Peter. And if you will just follow the Lord and believe in him, He will make you fishers of men. Now some may wonder why it was that God didn't call them when they had their nets empty — why did the Lord just give them a draught of fish and then tell them to leave it ? Now it seems to me that He did so because he wanted them to leave something, and if the Lord calls us we must be will- ing to leave something. There are a good many of us willing to be disciples of the Lord if it don't cost anything. If they can just swing their bag across their back with the fish in it and follow Christ, then they are willing to follow Him — to be one of His disciples. Now the Lord wanted them to give up something. They might have said : " We have been fishing a great while in the lake ; busi- ness is pretty poor, and we might as well give up this business and go into this." But no, the Lord didn't call them until after they had success. Now a great many men in Boston are willing to come to Christ, willing to follow Christ, if they can only do it without any sacrifice. They don't want to give up, perhaps, some amusement, or some life that they have been leading, that is contrary to the Word of God. Per- haps a man is selling rum, and says, "If I can only keep on selling rum like I have been, I will follow the Lord ; but I don't want to give up my business." Now, my brethren, if it is unlawful business, you have got to go out of it ; you have got to give it up, before you can become a true disciple of God. And you are not to leave your busi- ness unless Christ calls you out to preach ; but it must not be your will first. Christ nmst have the first place in your heart in regard to that. Now after they had had success, He put the test to these men, whether they were 282 TO ALL PEOPLE. willing to give up their nets and follow Him. Now some time after that, Peter says, " We have left everything to follow thee." What did he leave ? Why, a few old broken nets ! And it is just so now. People leave a few old broken nets, and then say to the Lord, "We have left everything to follow thee ! " But I tell you we must leave everything — everything — before we can say, " Lord, we have left everything to follow thee." The next glimpse we catch of Peter he takes a doubting character. You will find, if you read it over, that it is our experience right over again. He got to doubting. In the 14th chapter of Matthew, 2 2d verse, you will find these words : " And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. " And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray : and when the evening was come, he was there alone. " But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves : for the wind was contrary. " And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. " And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit \ and they cried out for fear. " But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying. Be of good cheer ; it is I ; be not afraid. " And Peter answered him and said. Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. "And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus." Now, that took faith. The idea of his just letting go of the boat, and stepping down into the water. Why, that took faith. And there are a great many men to-day will- ing to become Christians if they can only just see how they are going to walk. They want to walk by sight. They don't want to walk by faith. It took faith for Peter THE LIFE AA'D CHARACTER OF PETER. 283 to let go of the boat and take the first step on the water, but the Lord had bid him to do it, and he just did it ; but after he began to sink he began to doubt, and called on the Lord to save him. And that is just where the thou- sands of Christians get into trouble now. They are Mailing to trust in God just so far, but when they begin to sink they begin to doubt, and cry to the Lord to save them. Peter began to doubt. Just see what it says : '■' But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid ; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me." See, he began to sink when he took his eyes off his Master. He didn't trust in Him. He didn't have perfect faith. Now the Lord says in Isaiah, 26th chapter 3d "Thou will keep /«;;2 in perfect peace whose mind w stayed on thee : because he trusteth in thee." Peter didn't have perfect faith, because his mind wasn't stayed on Christ ; he didn't trust in Him. If he had trusted in the Lord he would not have sunk. The ship was in the midst of the sea, the wind was blowing quite a gale, and the waves were rolling high, and he began to tremble and doubt, and down he went. And a good many Christians follow his example. When it gets dark, when the wind begins to blow, when the water rolls high about them, they begin to doubt and down they go. Some one says if Peter had as long a preamble to his prayer as most people, he would have been forty feet under water before he got through praying for what he wanted. Now, just read a little further. " And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt 1 " See, the Lord says, "What did you doubt for.?" You 284 TO ALL PEOPLE. had got my Word, and that was enough. If you had just trusted in Me, you wouldn't have sunk. " Wherefore didst thou doubt.?'" But I want to pass rapidly over this portion of the Word of God, and get at something which, perhaps, may be of more help to us than anything here. In the T6th chapter of Matthew, 24th verse, we find that he was willing to confess Christ as the Son of the living God. Now a great many men want to be disciples of Christ, but they are not willing to confess Him. "Then said Jesus unto his disciples. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his crois, and follow me." I believe there are hundreds of people now that are trying secretly to serve the Lord ; but they don't want to let their families know it ; they don't want their friends to know it. To go home and tell your friends that you want to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ — that takes a good deal of moral courage. But it took more then than it does now, for the Jews said that any man who should confess Christ should be cast out of the synagogue. "When Jesus came into the coasts of Cassarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying : Whom do men say that 1, the Son of man am .? " And they said, Some say that thou art John the Bap- tist ; some, Elias ; and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. " He saith unto them. But whom say ye that I am ? " "Who do you think lam?" He says. " You have told Me what the people say ; but who do you think I am ? " And Peter — he most always spoke first — he speaks out, and says : " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. " And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not reveal- ed // unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF PETER 285 See, He just blessed him right there, and I have yet to find the first man or the first woman who is willing to con- fess Christ who won't say that God has blessed their souls after they have confessed Him. The other day there was a man converted here, and he went home and told his wife, went home and confessed Christ, and he came down to-day in the business prayer-meetings, and said he got Christ's blessing after he had gone home and told his wife. In the loth chapter of Romans and loth verse we find : *' For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Confession and salvation ! The two go together. If we are going to be saved, the Lord says, we have got to confess now. I know some young converts get into dark- ness because they have been ashamed to confess Christ. They have got into a society where scoffers and infidels say about the Church of God, " Why, nobody but weak- minded people go there ; " and so they are ashamed to confess Christ. And here is Peter confessing that " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." There are a great many in Boston who tell us that Christ is not the Son of the living God any more than anyone of us is ; that He is not from the Father ; that He was not with God when the morning stars sang together ; that He didn't volunteer to leave heaven and come down to die for us. You and I believe He did. Let us confess it and speak it out, and not be ashamed to speak of and confess the Lord Jesus Christ. He has the power of salvation. If He has re- deemed us, let us not be ashamed to speak for Him and to confess Him. Now let me call your attention to another scene in His ' life. Peter got to be a sort of a — well, I might say a sort of " high church " man. He belonged to the " high church." He was a sort of Ritualist. He had got this idea that 286 TO ALL FEOPLE. Christ was the same as any other saint ; that He was to be put on a level with some of the rest of the saints. He didn't make any distinction. In the 9th chapter of Luke we find that Christ took His disciples and went up into a mountain to pray. In the 28th verse it says : " And it came to pass about an eight days aflc" these sayings^ he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. " And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. " And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias : " Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. " But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep : and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him. " And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here : and let us make three tabernacles ; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias : not knowing what he said." See, he wanted to put Jesus on a level with Moses and Elias. To be sure, Moses was a mighty man. He went into the mountain and took the law from the Lord God of heaven, and Elias was a representative of the prophets and a mighty man ; but when Peter wanted to put them on a level with the God-man, with Jesus, what took place ? Why there came a cloud which overshadowed them. God caught them right away. God would not have them placing Moses and Elias on a level with His Son. He is above the angels of heaven ; and we find over here, in the last chapter of the Bible, and in almost the last verse in it, that John was guilty of the same thing, of worshipping angels. It says over here, in 2 2d of Revelations and 8th verse : " 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 showed me these things. THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF PETER. 287 " Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not : for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God." Now, if Jesus was not the God-man, if he was not God in the flesh, then you and I are guilty of idolatry — we are breaking the first command, " Thou shalt have no other God before Me." We have no right to worship Jesus Christ ; but when He came down here He said, " Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And He never rebuked any one for wor- shipping Him. But John fell down and worshipped that angel and the angel refused to let him ; and when Peter wanted to put Elias and Moses on a level with Christ, God, the Father, spoke and said, "This is my beloved Son. Hear ye him." No matter about Elias now. No matter about Moses now. Hear Him. He is the one that God wants all of us here to worship ; and when we think of the millions and millions that have been guilty of idolatry, O, my friends, how I wish that they had had this blessed Son of God to worship ! Oh, God hates that sin of idolatry. He hates it above all other sins ; and how God would punish us if we were guilty of that sin. That is a strong expres- sion, it seems to me, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and that He was manifested in the flesh. But let us pass on to the 6th chapter of John and 68th and 69th verses, where we find the following assurance. Now some one says we can't know down here whether we are safe or not. Well, now, we have an assurance right here : " Then Simon Peter answered him. Lord, to whom shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life. " And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." We are sure of it, " that thou art the Son of the living God," Now I will call your attention to his faults. If you 288 TO ALL PEOPLE. will just turn over here into the 22d chapter of Luke you will find there a fault. In the 33d verse of the 22d chapter of Luke you will find the following : " And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. " And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou know- est me. " And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything ? And they said, Nothing." Now here we find Peter's fault of self-confidence. That was really his besetting sin, and when the Lord told him that the cock should not crow twice before he had denied Him thrice, he ought to have believed the words of Christ and cried for help ; but no, he was very self-confi- dent. "Why," says he, "if the rest of the disciples deny you I won't deny you." He not only said he wouldn't betray Him, but he even went and tried to make the rest worse by comparison. If you meet a man full of conceit and self-confidence, you may look for that man's downfall. Men that have stood the highest, really, in Scripture, have often fallen on their strongest point. Moses was noted for his humility. Right there he fell. He got angry instead of being humble, and fell through lack of humility. Elijah was noted for his boldness. Right there he fell. Why, he stood on Mount Carmel and defied the whole nation. He stood there alone. He seemed to be the boldest man in the whole nation ; but a little after he got word that Jezebel was going to take his life. Then he lost all his boldness and got scared of one woman. There was Samson, who was noted for his strength, and he lost his hair wherein his strength consisted, but he re- covered it again. They cut off his hair ; but they didn't cut it off at the roots, and it gr£w out again. Abraham was noted for his faith. But he got into Egypt and denied his THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF PETER. 289 wife. There is only one time, I am told, that Edinburgh Castle was ever taken by the enemy, and that was by climbing on the back rocks. The rocks were so steep that they thought they could not get in that way, and that's just where they got in. I used to think when I had been a Christian ten or twelve years I should be so strong that there would be no danger of my ever being tempted, but I find that I was blind, that I have more temptations now than I ever had before, and that it takes twenty times as nmch grace to keep me now than it ever did. Let every man take heed lest he fall. We cannot tell how quick we may fall if we are not kept by the grace of God. Peter had to learn this lesson before he went out to preach to others. He was kept by the grace of God if he could not keep him- self. Well, I've got right here two faults of the Apostle. When the Lord told him he should deny Him thrice, he ought to have trembled and cried, Lord, keep me from denying Thee! But no, he said, "Lord, I am not going to deny You, if the rest do." I am not going to den}-' You. Here is Mr. Pentecost, he may den}'- You. Here is Mr. Bates, he may deny Y"ou. And here is Mr. Sankey, he may deny You, but I am not. Just see where he stands ! He stands on a slippery place and it won't be long before he will be down. You ask why it is that some ministers fall ? It is because they are too self-confident. They think they can stand. They are independent ; they don't lean on God, and that's why they fall. If a man gets his eye off of God, and relies on his own strength, you may look for his fall. Now the next step is — men don't generally go up on some great pinnacle and jump off. If a man is going to come down he comes down step by step. We don't backslide all of a sudden. We backslide gradually. But be sure it comes. Sometimes you think a man comes down all at once, but yet you will find, if you get at the truth, that these men who seem to have backslidden from God all of a sud- 19 290 TO ALL PEOPLE. den have commenced months and months ago. They didn't go in their closets and pray. They didn't keep their eyes on God. Tliey got asleep. And you know when the devil gets a man asleep he can get him to do most every- thing. Oh, how many times has the Lord been betrayed by His own professed friends ! Some one says Satan isn't very high. When he wanted some one to betray Christ, he took Caiaphas, one of the very highest priests. If the devil can only silence a man that is useful and one that is call- ing many to Christ, why, he is accomplishing a great victory for himself. So we must keep very humble and keep our eye on the Master and see that we don't get asleep. If we do get asleep, then it won't be long before we deny Him. And so we find that when Christ was down in the garden, sweating great drops of blood. He knew He was hastening to death on the cross. Peter went to sleep. And when He came back. He said, '"Why sleep ye? Rise and pray lest ye enter into temptation." He had been with the Lord three years, but he had to sleep. The next that happens, for that second step down we find that Peter fighteth in the flesh. When they came to arrest Christ, Peter took out his sword and cut off the servant's ear. Do you know that that was the only person that ever suffered through the followers of Christ up to that time. Peter cut the ear off, but it didn't stay off a great while, for it got back in just about five minutes. And the Lord Jesus cried out, " Peter, pick up your sword. If I wanted to defend Myself, I could call 70,000 angels down; I could call legions of angels down ; I could defend Myself if I wanted to." But, no ; He didn't do that. He had to rebuke Peter, to put a thorn in his flesh. When people get to sleep, then they get up a church quarrel. That's just the trouble. If these Chris- tians have their consciences gone to sleep, they don't miss anything in the way of worldly pleasure. If they want to get up a church dance, or go to theatres, very well, and the THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF PETER. 291 devil helps them. He knows very well that if they get up church dances they won't go to prayer-meetings, and that if they believe in theatres they won't believe there's very much difference between the theatre and the church. Per- haps while they are at the theatre their sons are at some place of vice going to bring their fathers and mothers down to ruin. But Satan has got them to sleep so sound th?:t they don't know it. Oh, my friends^ let us be sure that Satan don't get us to sleep. Some people say there is no devil, but that is just what Satan wants us to believe. A great many men are under the power of the devil to-day, but they don't believe there is one. But he is there just the same. The next thing that Peter did, he followed Him afar off — and that is the next step. When a man gets away from Christ, then it won't be long before he follows Him afar off. You know Peter said^ at first, he would keep close to Him. " I will stand by you ; I am willing to die with you," he said. But now Peter changed his mind, and followed him afar off. Oh, how many professed Christians in Boston are following Christ afar off ! Do you know that we suffer more from that class of people than we do from any other? None of these unconverted people, that are unconvicted, and against the Church of God, do as much harm to the church — don't hurt us half so much as these worldly-minded Christians that are following Him afar off. Well, the next thing, we find that Peter is in bad company. That's another step down. He'd got down pretty low, now. When you see a man getting into bad company — and you'll find a good many here in Boston, that profess to be Christians, that are in bad company — he'll be scoffing and making light of God in his conversa- tion, and yet they don't dare talk right out against it. They are in the company of those who don't believe that these things are going to be swept away by the mighty power of God. They don't believe that Jesus Christ is going to 292 TO ALL PEOPLE. save men suddenly. They think it is a gradual work. They believe, they say, it takes a good many years to con- vert a man, and they first join with the ungodly people. You will find them associating with those that are enemies to the grace of God. There was a friend of mine in Phila- delphia going by a drinking saloon one night, and he saw in that saloon a professed Christian playing cards. He just took his pencil, wrote on a card, and saw a little boy, and says, " My boy, here is some money. I want you to do an errand for me. You see that man on the side of the table where those three are playing cards, with them .'* " Says he, "Yes, I do." "Well," says my friend, "just take that card to him." The boy started, and my friend watched him when he handed this card to him. What was written on the card was, " Ye are my witnesses." The man took the card, looked at it, sprang to his feet, and rushed out into the street and asked the boy where the card came from. The boy said, " A man over there gave it to me." But the man had slipped away, and the poor fellow died a few months afterwards. " Ye are my witnesses." Where- ever you find a professed Christian going in bad company, you may look for something worse. A young lady comes in, looks at Peter and says, " This man is one of His dis- ciples." "No, I am not; no, not I," he says. The maid cries out at him in perfect amazement (perhaps she had heard him preach some time), and she says, " You are one of His disciples," " Oh, no ; no, not I," says Peter. He didn't know Jesus. Jesus was right there inside, and he could see Him, and yet this man, who was so bold didn't know Him ! Another man comes and says: "You are one of His disciples." " No, sir ; not I ; I don't know Him ; no, sir." You see he had got a good ways off. The man says : " You are." " No, I am not," says Peter. He denies his Lord. And about an hour after he has denied Him, another man came up and said : " You are one oi THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF PETER. 293 His disciples." " No," says Peter, " I am not." " Oh, but you are," says the man, " your speech betrays you." He had been with the Master three years, and talked a different language from those men ; and you who have been with God two or three years know that you talk bet- ter than you did before. A good many of those back- sliders when they get into bad company talk different than they do when they are in the fold of God. This man said, "you are one of those," and he began to curse and swear, and said he never knew Him. How did the Lord call him back ? Although Satan had been to work on him for hours and hours, yet the Lord called him back, and says, " Peter, is it true ; have you forgotten me so soon ? Do you re- member when we walked together by the sea, how I saved you ? Do you remember the time I called you again ? Do you remember that wonderful sermon that I preached on the mount t Is it true, Peter, that you don't know me ? " He might have said that to Iiim \ but no. He didn't. He just gave him one look, and what a look it was — a look of love, a look of tenderness, a look of pity, a look of peace. He flashed upon Peter. He remembered what he had : done to the Lord ; and the cock crew and Peter went out and wept bitterly. Poor backslider, I hope He will give you one look. If there are any in this house who are like Peter may they settle it before they leave. Peter went out and wept bitterly. No one on earth knows how Peter suffered in those hours that Christ was laid in the tomb. Oh, what hours they must have been to him ! I can imagine that he didn't eat anything ; I can imagine that he didn't sleep ; that he spent those hours praying that the Lord might be given back to him. At last Sunday morning comes, that blessed morning, and the first thing that Peter hears is that Christ had risen. And He sent word — one of the most touching things that He did was to send word to Peter — ^ jnst let me read from the i6th of Mark and the 7th verse. 294 '^O ALL PEOPLE. " But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee ; there shall ye see him, as he said unto you." Oh, how tender ! I don't know but if He had said, " Go back and tell My disciples," Peter would have said, " I am no disciple, I have forfeited my right as such," but He said, "Tell My disciples and Peter T Tell Peter ; put his name in ; don't leave him out. We are told that Christ had an interview with Peter, and they met alone. No one ever told us what took place, but I can imagine how Peter felt. Like the woman that we read about in the 7th chapter of Matthew, He restored him to salvation and then sent him out to preach. But when the twelve were at meat together the Lord turned to Peter and said " Lovest thou me more than these ? " How those words must have cut down into his heart. He wanted to see if his conceit had been taken out. That was hard, you know. He couldn't get anything out of Peter. Peter didn't say a word. Again the Lord said " Peter, lovest thou me more than these ? " He was a broken and empty vessel and must be filled. Then he said " Go feed my sheep ; preach the Gospel to all the world." Oh, this is a sweet thought, that after he had denied the Lord, the Lord took him back and used him ! If there is a poor backslider here to-night, who has wandered far away into the fields of unbelief, return and let Him forgive you and come back into the fold. May the God of Peter bring every wanderer back this afternoon, and may the Saviour shed His loving care and protection over you ! Oh, my friends, what has He done to you ? Has He been untrue to you ? Has He done anything to cause you to wander ? Oh, may you all come unto Him, and lean upon His bosom and enjoy His peace and blessing all the rest of your days ! SOWING AND REAPING. I. You will find my text in the 6th chapter of Gal- atians, the 7th and 8th verses : " Be not deceived, God is not mocked ; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap ; for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." There are a good many men quarrelling with the Word of God now-a-days, but I think all will admit that this text is true. I don't believe there is an infidel, if he will be honest, but will admit that whatsoever a man sows that he must reap. Now it says, " Be not deceived ! " most of us know what it is to be deceived. We have been deceived by a great many who professed to be our friends, just as David had a bosom companion by whom he was deceived. I heard of a man who came to these meetings and went out and made his boast that he had got some money out of the people here to get whiskey. He asked for it to get bread, and he made his boast that he had used this deception. Well, that is a very easy thing ; we can deceive one an- other and we can be deceived. Our own hearts very often deceive us — they are deceitful above all things and des- perately wicked. But let us keep in mind that although it is easy to deceive one another and to be deceived by others, there is one thing we cannot do — we cannot deceive God. A man may degrade his profession ; he may do as Judas did, he may make a great profession and be an officer in the church, and yet be false at heart — yea, it may be that he will get into the pulpit and preach the gospel, and yet 295 2^6 TO ALL PEOPLE. be untrue at heart. Now, God knows us all ; there is nothing we have ever said or done but it is all in the mind of God. We may have covered it up ; we may have for- gotten ; but it will all come to light some day, because we cannot deceive God. Now I want to divide this text into four parts, not that I am going to speak on the divisions. When a man sows in the natural world he expects to reap. You will see the farmers out in their fields in a few days sowing, and they will all expect to reap. Not a man that goes out to sow but expects a harvest. Another thing — • they will expect to reap more than they sow. And they will expect to reap the same as they sow. If they sow wheat they will expect to reap wheat. If they sow oats they won't expect to gather watermelons. If they plant an apple tree they don't look for peaches on it. If they plant a grape-vine they expect to find grapes, not pumpkins. They will look for just the very seed they sow. Let me say right here that ignorance of what they sowed will make no difference in the reaping. It wouldn't do for a man to say, " I didn't know but what it was wheat I was sowing, when I sowed tares." That makes no difference. You have got to know. If I go out and sow tares thinking that it's wheat, I've got to gather tares all the same. That is a universal law. If a man learns the carpenter's trade he don't expect to be a watchmaker, he expects to be a car- penter. The man who goes to college and studies hard, expects to reap for those long years of toil and labor. It is the same in the spiritual world. Whatsoever a man or a nation sows he and they must reap. This nation planted slavery here in this land, with an open Bible before it. They knew it was wrong, and the nation had to reap for what they sowed, and to-night nearly half a million of men lie in soldiers' graves. Look at the nations that have for- gotten God. Where is Nineveh ? Where is Jerusalem ? Where is Babvlon ? Those nations went on sowing to the SOWING AND REAPING. I. 297 flesh and they had to reap it. The reaping time came. Men may think God is winking at sin now-a-days, and isn't going to punish sin, because He does not execute His judgments speedily, but " be not deceived, God is not mocked, and whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap." Look at the life of David. It seems to me there is not a | character in the whole Bible that makes me hate sin like that life of David, and yet men laugh at that sin of David, and seem to think David went unpunished. It seems to me there is not a man in the whole world of God that was punished like David was. You know he fell into grievous sin, not only committed adultery, but murder And he went on for months, and the skeptics there that knew it laughed and said: "Ah! God don't punish sin. Look at David, living in luxury and ease at his palace. God don't punish him." And for months it seemed as though God was not going to punish him. But at last Nathan came and drew that picture for him and told him, " Thou art [ the man," and the prophet told him that the Lord had put away his sin, but, " nevertheless, I will raise up a sword in thy family." David had committed adultery, and his eldest son committed adultery with his own daughter. Absalom, his favorite son, murdered and slew one of his own sons. Ah ! be not deceived, God is not mocked. David had to reap what he sowed. Not only so, but David rebelled against God, and we find Absalom driving David from his throne, and look at him as he leaves the city and goes up Mount Olivet weeping — he knew what it was for. Bear in mind that God is going to punish sin wherever he finds it. If he finds it in you and me, He is going to punish us, if we don't turn from it and plead for mercy. This idea that God ain't going to punish sin, that there is no future retribution, that men can go on lying and stealing and murdering, and yet not be punished, is false. They are going to be punished in just the same 298 TO ALL PEOPLE. proportion as these men who go out to sow afterwards reap. If you sow a handful you will reap a bushel ; if you sow the wind you shall reap the whirlwind. I tremble for these young men who laugh in a scoffing way and say " I'm sowing my wild oats." You have got to reap them. There are some before me now reaping them, who only a few years ago were scoffing in the same way. And re- member when the rea ping-time comes these men who now are scoffing would like to change places with those at whom they scoffed. Cain would like to change places with Abel to-night. Ahab, that proud monarch who looked down on Elisha the Tishbite dressed in his skins of wild animals and living there by the brook and fed by the ravens, — why, how quick he would change places to-night with him if he could. The reaping-time has come. One sowed for eternity, and he is reaping now. The other sowed for time, he sowed to the flesh, and he is reaping corruption. Herod took the head of John the Baptist, and that unlawful wife of his and that daughter-in-law, how glad they would be to change places with John the Baptist to-night. The reaping time has come. The rich man who fared luxuriously while the poor man sat at his gate, and the dogs came and licked his sores, the reaping time has come for him now. He would gladly change places with that beggar now. Yes, there will be a change by and by. Men may go on scoffing and making light of the Bible, but you will find it out to be true by and by. I think there is one passage here that you will admit is true. You very often see it in the paper, that " murder will out" when some terrible crime that has been covered up for years has come to light. And there is just one passage I would like to get everyone here this night to remember, " Be sure your sin will find you out." There are a great many things in this world we are not sure of, but this we can always be sure of, that our sins will find us out. I SOWING AND REAPING. L 299 don't care how deep you dig the grave in which you try to bury them. Look at those sons of Jacob. They thought they had covered up their sin, and their father would never find out what they had done with Joseph. And the old man mourned him for twenty long years. But at last, after all these years had gone, away down in Egypt, there Joseph stood before them. How they began to tremble ! Ah, it had found them out. Their sin had overtaken them. Young men, you may have committed some sin many years ago, and come up with it from the country to this city, and you think nothing is known about it. Don't you flatter yourself. God knows all about it and be sure your sin will find you out. Your own conscience may turn witness against you by and by, and you can't drown that when it turns against you. I was preaching in Chicago a few months ago and there was a man come into the inquiry- rooms, trembling from head to foot, and he came back again the next night and confessed he had broken in and taken $16,000 from an Express Company, and had been acquitted of it by a jury. But his own conscience lashed him all the while since, and now God had found him, and he went back, called his family together, confessed his sin and prayed their forgiveness and then gave himself up to the officers at Cleveland, Ohio, and went to jail. And he wrote us a cheerful letter from prison and told us how much better it was to go to jail with a clear conscience than to go roaming through the world with it burdened. Ah ! my friends, if we have committed sins let us confess them. 1 would rather be over in Charlestown Jail with a clear con- science than be walking up and down Boston with my con- science lashing me all the while. I may be speaking to-night to some dishonest clerk. Perhaps your employer knows nothing about it. It may be all between yourself and God, but don't rest to-night till you have confessed and made all the restitution you can, and you will get relief for your 300 TO ALL PEOPLE. aching heart. I pity the man whose conscience is lash- ing him all the while. Some of you may say, " Oh, but my conscience don't trouble me ! " Well, it did at first, didn't it ? When you took the first dollar and went to the theatre with it, you didn't enjoy it much. The next time you took $2 to have a ride on the Sabbath, and that troubled you too, but perhaps not so much. Conscience is like a bell, that rings the loudest the first time it is rung, and fsiinter the more it is rung. You have gone now for months, and you don't hear the bell. But, bear in mind, God will wake you up some time ; the reaping-time is coming. Some one has said I don't preach against sin. Don't preach against sin ! Don't preach righteousness ! Why my friends, if we don't have righteousness in any community we don't have Chris- tianity. God forgive me if 1 don't warn you against sin. The judgment day is coming on. I may be speaking to some one who has gone into a home and ruined it, who has enticed a mother's only son away and made him a drunkard, and you say the law can't touch you. Ah ! but the God of Heaven sits yonder. God will bring you into judgment by and by. It is appointed unto men once to die, and after death the judg- ment. God has set a day to judge this world. Be sure, young man, your sins will find you out. When I was in London I went into what they called the Chamber of Hor- rors, and there was one figure thereof a murderer, who mur- dered his wife, escaped the law, married another woman and had seven children around him. Twenty years rolled away, but he couldn't rest by day or by night. He could always hear the voice of that dying wife pleading for mercy and it drove him almost mad ; and at last he had to go to the officers and give himself up. His own conscience bore witness against him. And he was taken out and hung, convicted by his own conscience. So you may think that your conscience will never trouble you for your sins, but it will. It is only a question of time. God has decreed that SOWING AND REAPING. /. 301 whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. Oh! may the Spirit of God burn this down deep into your hearts to-night, and may we be ready to cry to God for mercy like the pub- lican of old. Oh ! may there not be one in this assembly that shall hasten to the bar of God with all his sins upon him. Some tell you that there is no punishment for sin ; that the harlots and drunkards and these vagabonds that demoralize society, are going to rush into heaven with- out being converted. No greater lie ever came out of the pit of hell. The sword of justice is raised against sin and God will smite. He found sin on Christ and the sword of just'ce came down upon Him, and if He spared not His own Son will He spare you unless you cry for salvation. If you sow tares you will reap disappointment, you will reap despair, you will reap death and hell. If you sow to the Spirit you shall reap peace and joy and happiness and eternal life. The reaping time is coming. What is the harvest going to be ? If you confess your sin to-night God will have mercy ; He delights in mercy. But if you won't turn from your sin and ask His mercy, how can He forgive you ? Just ask yourself that question. If you have no desire, sinner, to be saved, how is God going to save you .'' You take that blessed salvation of His and trample it under your feet and say, " I hate that salvation ; I hate Christ ; I don't want it." May God waken your guilty conscience to-night, and may tiiere be a cry going up, " Go J be merciful to me a sinner." Let us take the text again to close with: "Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.'' Young lady what are you going to reap ? Come, careless man, you who just came in here to make sport of this meet- ing, what are you going to reap ? Young man, let the ques- tion sink in your heart to-night, what would the harvest be if God should call you to reap to-night 1 What would you reap if He called you into judgment this night.? What 302 TO ALL PEOPLE. would become of your soul ? You know we are all hastening on to a great prayer-meeting. A great many now say they don't believe in prayer-meetings. We have had some sol- emn prayer-meetings in Boston, but there is a far more solemn prayer-meeting coming by and by. And some of their prayers are already recorded. They will call on the rocks and the hills to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the Lord. God has decreed that every knee shall bow ; and if you won't do it in love, the time shall come when you shall call on Him in terror for mercy. But it will be too late then. When the door is shut, neither angel nor man can open it. Thank God it is open to-night. You can come in, if you will ; O sinner come to-night ! con- fess your sins, ask God to blot them out, and He will do it now, this very hour. Let us pray. SOWING AND REAPING. II. THE CHARACTER OF AHAB. I WANT to talk to you from the same text as that of last night, and I want to take as an illustration the character of Ahab. There is a familiar saying " that every man has his price." Ahab had his, and he sold himself for a gar- den, Judas sold himself for thirty pieces of silver, and Esau for a mess of pottage. He had sold himself just to please a poor fallen woman, and so we might go on taking out men who have sold themselves. It is easy for us to con- demn these men, but let us see if there are not men and women doing the same thing to-day. How many are sell- ing themselves to-night for naught ! It is easy enough to condemn Judas and Herod and Ahab, but in doing this do we not condemn ourselves ? We thought that slavery was hard. We thought it hard that these poor black people should be put up in the market upon the block and sold off to the highest bidder, but what do you think of those men who sell themselves to-day for evil ? Ahab sold him- self to evil, and what did he get? Elijah was the best friend that Ahab had, but he did not think so ; he thought that Elijah was his enemy. Ahab was a religious man, he thought. He had 850 prophets ; and what king had more, what king did more for religion than he, so he would have said. There is a difference between religion and having Christ. There are a great many people that have religion but have no Christ in it, that have not a spark of Chris- tianity. This man was very religious, but as I said this morning of Jacob, he began wrong. His marriage was his first wrong step. He did not care about the law of 303 3^4 TO ALL PEOPLE. God. He wanted to strengthen his kingdom, I can imagine they said " We have out-grown the law of Moses. We don't want your God, we have got something better. Here are the nations all around us worshipping Baal, and we will worship Baal." His wife Jezebel wanted the patri- archs and prophets put to death, and they were put to death. Obadiah had a few, but wherever they were found they were put to death. I suppose they said of Elijah : " That man belongs to the old Puritanical school." He was bigoted and narrow. The idea of only worshipping one God. Ahab was willing to turn away from the God of Elijah, but he did not look to have Ahab reprove him, and thus he was his enemy. Many a man that has a good, praying mother thinks that mother is his enemy. Young man, the best friend that you have in this world is that godly mother, who is praying for you night and day. The minister that warns you is your friend, but then you say, " I don't want to hear that narrow- minded man ; he is a bigot. Why don't he give us some- thing that will just touch our understanding ? Why don't he say something that will make us comfortable ? What is he all the time preaching about punishment for? Why God sa3'S, of course, that He will punish the wicked, and — well He did't mean it when He said it." Ahab thought the God of Elijah was not going to carry out His w^arning. I will leave it to you if the man who warns you of danger isn't the best friend you have got. If I saw a man going to walk over a precipice and he was blind and I did not warn him, would not the blood of that man be required at my hands ? Would not I be guilty morally ? There was danger that a train would be wrecked, and it seemed im- possible that it could be warned in time. There was not time to go to the next station and warn the passengers of their danger. So they lighted three fires between the com- ing train and dangerous place, and between these fires the people assembled ; and when the train approached the first SOIV/A^G AND REAPING. II. 305 set of people called out " Danger ! " but the engineer did not heed their shouts ; and at the second fire they did the same thing, but still the train went on ; but at the third fire the engineer thought there must be something the matter and he paid attention to the cries of " Danger ! danger ! " and stopped the train just upon the verge of the precipice. Do you think that these people were not the friends of the people upon that train ? Jezebel hated Elijah, and she disliked him for his warnings. The man that warns you is the best friend that you have got. Suppose I am going home at night, at midnight, and I see a building on fire and I pass along and say nothing about it, and the occupants are all asleep and I go right home and go to bed, and in the morning I find that fifteen people in that house were burned up, how you would condemn me. And if in preaching the gospel I don't warn you about your danger, about your sins and God's punishment, what will you say to me when I meet you at the eternal throne. I don't want you to think that I am trying to please the people by preaching that the just and unjust will fare alike. You may be suc- cessful for a time. Ahab had two grand, glorious victories upon the battle-field, and he was a very popular man for a while. He built a palace of ivory, and just here I want to speak of one act of that man. As he had got that palace built, after he had built that beautiful palace, there was a poor man who had a garden near it that Ahab wanted. And Ahab came to Naboth, the poor man, and wanted him to sell his garden. But Naboth said he could not do so, for it was against the law of his people. And Ahab said to him, " I will give you a better place than this, and I will give you a better vineyard than this." But Naboth was firm and he would not sell. A good many would have liked to sell to the King. They would have said, " We know it is against the law, but he is foolish not to sell to the King." "God forbid that I 3o6 1^0 ALL PEOPLE. should sell," he said. Ahab goes back to his palace and he pouts like a child. Jezebel notices him and begins to I speak with him, and she says, " What is the matter ? " And \ he says like a peevish child, " I want Naboth's garden." 1 And she asks him why he don't take it, and then he tells her and she says : " Are you not King of Israel?" "Yes." /'Well then, why don't you get it? I will get it for you ■and it shall not cost you anything." Mr. Moody then re- lated how Jezebel sent the letter to the elders, and gave the story in almost accurate Scriptural language. Con- tinuing, he said : Those elders were just as bad as Jezebel. They knew that Naboth served the God of Heaven. The instructions of the letter were followed. The two witnesses said they saw Naboth despise God and the King, and so he was taken out and stoned to death. I can see him kneeling there and the crowd taking up the stones and jhurling them at him. Well then when Ahab goes down to take possession of that vineyard there is a message that comes from the throne of Heaven. God has been watch- ing him. He notices all of us, and there is not a hellish : act that has been or is going to be committed to-night but that God knows all about it. At this point some one faint- ed and Mr. Moody said : Some one has fainted, but it is nothing. In large congregations like these it would not be strange to have four or five faint at each service. It is nothing remarkable. Satan wants to attract your atten- tion in this way. But, now, never mind this ; let us go on, with our attention upon the sermon. Elijah stood before ' Ahab as Ahab went down to that garden, and Ahab got out of his chariot and met him ; and he knew that Elijah knew all, and he did not like to be reproved. Ill-gotten gains don't bring peace. If you get anything at the cost of the truth or honor, it will be peace lost for time and per- haps for eternity. And as he walked through that garden he looked and said, "Why, is not that Elijah ? " He knew SOWING AND REAPING. II. 307 it was, and he knew what it meant. Elijah walks up to him and says, " Hast thou killed and taken possession?" And Ahab says, " I wonder how he found that out ; he knows all about me." And then Elijah said "in the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth they shall lick thy blood." And Ahab said, " Mine enemy, hav^e you found me out ? " " Yes, because you have sold yourself to evil you will be found out," A few years before he had laughed at Elijah, but he now remembered that everything which Elijah's God had promised he had done, and he couldn't get these words out of his mind ; " In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth they shall lick thy blood." Sometimes just one act that we can do in a minute will cost us years of trouble and pain. Little did Ahab think that it was going to cost him his kingdom and his whole family swept from the face of the earth, when he gave the promise to Jezebel to write that letter. If you do not ask God to forgive you, be sure your sins will find you out. God knows all about them, and by and by punish- ment will come to you as it did to Ahab. Mr. Moody then related the story of a widow woman who had an only son, and this son was in the habit of going to a hotel bar. The pleadings of the mother were in vain, and the hotel-keeper said he would sell liquor to anyone who asked it. This son died, and the mother soon followed, and afterwards a terrible retribution was that hotel-keeper's, for his only son became a drunkard and one night blew out his brains. " Whatsoever a man soweth he shall reap." This picture is not overdrawn ; there are hundreds of similar cases. Judgment is sure to come. God is a God of goodness, a God of equity, a God of justice, and He will sit in judgment upon us. Ahab lived three years after Elijah met him in that garden, and how many times do you suppose those words of Elijah came into his mind ? He couldn't get them out of his mind. Jezebel tried to help him, but she couldn't 3o8 TO ALL PEOPLE. He wanted to improve the garden and he, no doubt, did , but whenever lie walked there the words came to him which EHjah had spoken. Then the time came for judgment to be carried out against Ahab. Mr, Moody then told the Bible story of Ahab's death. Do you think God is going to spare the guilty ? Do 3^ou think these libertines and these drunkards are going into heaven without asking for mercy? Oh, may there be some Elijah cross their path to- night ! if anything I have said has passed over you to-night, may something open your eyes and show you the truth. I ' hope there is not a man or woman here to-night, who has a secret sin, who will not confess that sin and turn away from it. You may be summoned to stand before the throne of God within twenty-four hours. If you are willing to confess your sins, and God has forgiven them, not one of them will be mentioned. The Bible tells us who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Bible gives no uncertain sound upon this subject. No adulterer can enter there. Is there a man or woman here who is living in adultery? Let them listen to these words. Again, no drunkard can enter there. If there is a drunkard here to-night, ask God to forgive you. Look again ; no unrighteous man, no thief, no coveteous man, no reviler, shall enter the kingdom. It is a terrible truth that God is going to punish sin ; you may laugh at it, but be not deceived ; whatsoever a man soweth he must reap. Oh, may God wake up every one stumbling, sleeping here to-night ! COVETOUSNESS. I WANT to call your attention to this parable in the 2oth of Luke. There are a great many things that are said here night after night about different sins. There is hardly a night that something is not said about drunken- ness, and a good many people seem to think that is about the only sin there is at the present time. There are a great many men that are looking down upon the drunkard and saying sometimes in a contemptuous manner, " They are to be pitied." But there is five times more about covetousness in the Bible than there is about drunkenness and some other sins. We find the Saviour in this parable is talking about covetousness, and thus he goes on to draw this picture, a scene that might occur anywhere — a scene that does occur every day. This man was not a drunkard or a hypocrite. If he was we are not told that he had any sins of this kind. He was a man such as a good many mothers hold up as a model for their sons. He was what we would call a successful man. He did not make his money by shaving notes and getting a large usury. He did not make his money by gambling. There isn't any- thing said about his "getting up a corner" on gold. It don't say that he made it out of railroads, by watering stocks. It don't say that he made it by selling ruin or renting his property to rumsellers or for houses of prostitu- tion. There is not anything of that kind against him. There is nothing against him except that he was covetous. ' He was a farmer, and there can be no more honorable occupation than that. No doubt his neighbors would all 7og ' 3IO TO ALL PEOPLE. have called him a very nice and discrete man, and if he was living here in Massachussetts you would probably have sent him into the Legislature or made him Lieutenant- Governor, or sent him to Congress. He was a man whom everybody spoke well of. But bear in mind that God does not see as you see. What we very often consider a suc- cessful thing is the very thing that God condemns. These very men that the world applaud and that so many try to imitate, are the very men that Christ calls fools, " This night thy soul shall be required of thee," said the angel of death to this man. He had got fatness of wealth, but he had got leanness of soul. He owned this farm, and there was probably no mortgage upon it. He had prob- ably bought up all the farms around him. " And he said, This will I do : I will pull down my barns, and build greater ; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. " And I will say to my soul. Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." No doubt they had revivals in those days, but he would not have gone to a revival. If he had been in Boston he would have been living upon Beacon street, and he would not have gone to this meeting. These revivals are not a new thing. The greatest revival that ever took place was that on the Jordan, and no preacher since has preached as did John the Baptist. All the nations flocked to hear him. And they flocked right past his farm on their way to Jordan. But you don't think that he went.^ Oh, no! He had a formed religion. No doubt he had the very best seats in the synagogue, and went to the services every Sabbath. No doubt he went as people often do now, to some church where they didn't preach much about cove- tousness. He would have said, " You don't think I am religious ? Why, I go to church every Sunday, regularly." CO VE TO US NESS. 3 1 1 "Well, will you come to hear John the Baptist ? '' " No !i I don't believe in that sort of thing much. I go through ! the regular form. Who ordained him ? Why, I understand, he dresses like a wild man and that he goes out into the' wilderness and sleeps and spends his nights there. I will go to hear a regularly ordained preacher, but who ordained, him to preach ? " Christ's testimony of John was that there' was none greater born of woman. The apostles were commanded to go forth by twos and preach the gospel, and the apostles came into this man's town, but he would not go to hear them preach. No doubt he often drove by' them in his chariot and refused to hear their cry, "Repent, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is nigh." He is too busy. He has just so much time for religious meetings and no more. You go and talk to him about these special meetings and he will say, " I am a very busy man." And perhaps he would quote the text, " Be not slothful in busi- ness." A good many nowadays preach that text, but they stop right there. They don't choose to go any further. A man came out to Chicago some years ago and preached there. And he preached from this text. And most of the men out there had come there to make money and were eagerly engaged in acquiring wealth. And the old minister listened to the young man preach and he expected that he would come to the end and draw the moral, but he did not. And he said, " Why in the world didn't you tell those men all the great truths of this text ? Don't you know that you can only get at them fifty-two times a year ? Why did you not go for them ?" My friends, business is all right in its place ; it is of great importance, but the salvation of the soul is greater. ^That is the mistake that these men make ; business is the first thing to them. There was another great preacher in those days^-Jesus Christ ; and no doubt he preached within five miles of this man's farm. The whole country was being stirred by the preaching of this man who 312 TO ALL PEOPLE. " spoke as never man spoke before," but this man was a 'Pharisee and the Pharisees would not go to hear him. The publicans and the harlots went to hear him, but you don't think this man went to hear him, do you ? But let us look at him, he has torn down his house and he has prepared to make it larger. He was surrounded by luxury. I dare say everything that money could buy could be found there But he has not anything for the future. He is in his din- ing-room. He sits down to plan out his new works, and his doors are locked and his windows are barred to keep out the thieves, for there were thieves in those days as there are in ours. There he was safe and secure, laying out his plans. While he is there a stranger enters. There is no knock. He turns no key in the door, but he comes in and stands before him, and he goes and lays his cold, icy hand upon him, and he says, " O Death, have you come for me ? Have I got to die to-night ? " "Yes, I have come to take you now." Death did not give him any warning that night. Death will come for you. You have had many a warning. You have had one warning after another, and you have not heeded them, and soon Death will come through your door without knocking and Death cannot be bribed. You cannot buy him up. Your time is come and you must go. This man looked at him and he was terrined. He had prepared for everything but death. He made plans for everything but for the end beyond the grave. Lay up your treasures in heaven. Many that the world calls rich die beggars. Now he must go. There stands death, the last enemy of man, and he overcame him. Bear this in mind. Death is upon our track. He is coming for us sooner or later ; it is only a question of time. There is one thing that is sure, that is that death will overcome us. It is only a matter of a few months or a few years at the longest. Are you ready for him ? Are you living for another world or only for this ? Are you living all these CO VE ro us NESS. z^^z years without thinking ? It was so with this man. Death laid its hand upon his heart and it was too late. His pulse now ceases and the man is gone. Death has broken in suddenly upon that home and the man is in another world. Perhaps they had a great funeral and the minister held him up as a great example, and it may be that he was held up as a beacon light What a wreck ! Died without hope. Man may have fixed a monument over his body, but the Son of God wrote his epitaph. " Thou fool," that is what Christ said. A rich man was dying a few years ago and he s-ent for a ph3^sician and the physician came and told him that he agreed with the other physician, and he said it was true he must die. Then he sent for his lawyer to make his will and to arrange for the division of his property and the settlement of his home. And his little child, four years old, was listening to him and she came up to the bed and said, " Father, have you got a home in the land you are going to ? " That touched him. He had no home in the land he was going to. He died a pauper ! Entered eternity a beggar. Oh, may God open our eyes and show us that it is better to live for something other than wealth ! These hard times are the best thing that could happen to us. It was prosperity that turned Jerusalem against God. Men in this city have turned away from God and scoffed at eternal truth. " Who is God, that I should obey Him I " they have said. It is the dead level of a man's life that ruins him. Oh, may God lead us to believe that this isn't our home, and that this life is a matter not to be compared with eternity ! If you were to summon up the dead from Mount Auburn, you would have an audience much younger than this one. Six mil- lions die every year. Death is before us, behind us, upon our right hand and upon our left hand, we must soon leave this world. How few are preparing to leave. Some men tell us that they can repent after death. Where is that in 314 TO ALL PEOPLE. the Scripture ? All admit that that may not be true. Why, then, take such a chance ? Supposing now that there is one chance out of a million that there may be no chance of repentance after the grave. Can you afford to take even that one chance ? It is folly for a man to put this off. Are you ready ? If not why not get ready to-night ? It can be done. To die is to gain. My friends, are you ready for that gain ? Why go out of this house to-night until you have cast your sins upon the Lord Jesus Christ ? Until you have received eternal life ? A man was talking to a sailor and he said, " Where did your father die ? " " He died at sea." " Where did your grandfather die t " " At sea." " And your great-grandfather ? " "All at sea." He expect- ed that he would die at sea. " Well, are you ready to die ? " Said the sailor, " Where did your forefathers die ? " " All died on land." " Well, are you prepared t " he said. We must all meet death. We must not neglect salvation. Sup- pose you have not done anything but neglect salvation, are you ready to die ? There are three steps from Christ : First, neglect of Him ; next, refusing to accept Him, and next and last, despising salvation. When a man despises salvation he scorns God and scoffs at his mother's prayers. May God help you not to miss salvation. It would be far better that you had never been born than that you should miss it. May God forbid that any soul in this assembly should be lost. WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS? I WANT to call your attention to the 27th chapter of Matthew and the 22d verse : " Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified." We have to do to-night with Pilate's question to the Jews : " What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ ? " " What shall /do ? " I ! It is a personal ques- tion, and they all said, ''Let him be crucified." It is a question that is disturbing a great many in this city at the present time. There are a great many coming to us daily to know what they must do to be saved. There is an impression abroad that the work is not taking hold of Boston, but I consider this week one of the most precious of my life. It seems to me the work is deeper here than any place we have ever been. The cry is coming up from all classes, " What shall I do ? " Christ is being brought right to the hearts of the people by the Holy Ghost, and many are asking the same question that Pilate asked on that memorable morning, " What shall I do with him .? " Pilate had been called upon unexpectedly to decide the question. He was aroused early that morning by the Jews, bringing Him in to get a decision. That night, while He was sound asleep. He was brought before the Sanhedrim and He was condemned. It was upon Thursday night that He was condemned by the Jews, and he had been pro- nounced guilty of death and had been sentenced to death •upon the cross. But to get the consent of the Roman Governor He was brought before Pillte. Pilate had a 315 • 3i6 TO ALL PEOPLE. great many brought before him to be condemned and ex- ecuted, but he never had such a prisoner as this brought before him. His judgment was convinced that this was a just man and his own heart told him to release this man. His wife was his good angel ; for she had been warned in a dream, and she said, " Have thou nothing to do with that just man." Pilate wanted to get rid of the responsi- bility. And others told him that He had disturbed the whole country and that if he released Him he would not be a sincere friend of the people. And so he was forced nito a decision. He had to decide whether he would re- ceive Him or reject Him. There may be some here to- night that have not received Christ. But you have got to decide some time. You must either decide to receive Him or reject Him. Pilate was vacillating, and so he said he would call upon them to decide. He thought they would all want Christ released rather than Barabbas. Christ had given life, Barabbas had taken life. Barabbas was not only a thief, but he was a murderer, and he thought, surely the Jews would rather have him out for execution than the Son of God. But they insisted upon having Barabbas released, and then he said, "What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ ? " and the cry went up, " Let Him be crucified." Then Pilate, washing his hands, said, " I am innocent of this just man's blood." And they cried out, " His blood be upon us and our children." There are a great many men now like Pilate, they think they can shift the responsibility. But bear in mind that God gave Himself up freely for us all. God sends Him to each one of us, and we must decide what we will do. We must either reject Him or receive Him. The trouble with Pilate was that it was not for his earthly interest to decide in favor of Christ. Instead of deciding it like a man he was vacillating, and wanted to be popular with the people. This vacillating man gave way. Instead of deciding what WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS? 317 he knew was right he let the public influence him. How many men do you think would become Christians inside of forty-eight hours if it were not for public opinion ? How many men are convinced that God can save them from sin, that He can redeem them from the curse of the law, but are withheld from acknowledging it from fear of public opinion, from fear of what professed friends may say ? There are more men lost for the want of decision than for anything else. Pilate thought that Christ would perhaps cross his path again, and he could then show some kind- ness to Him. But it was the last time that he ever saw Him. It may be that the Son of God is coming to-night, and to you for the last time. The question is " What will you do with Him 1 " May God help us to decide what we shall do with him. Look at the end of these men that were complicated in this : Annas had his house taken down. Judas, look at him, as he comes back into that judgment hall. He was driven into remorse and gloom, and he came and spoke to the priests ; but they could not comfort him. Poor Judas threw down his money and was in eternity before Christ died. Caiaphas — he too wanted the applause of men, but he was deposed from his office. Herod was banished, and died in exile. And Pilate lost his office, and he was banished and died in exile, a suicide. He remembered how Christ looked ; he remembered how He had talked to him ; how kind the Son of God was, and it drove him into remorse and despair. That would not have been the death of Pilate if he had had moral courage. Look at the end of that man, you who are rejecting Him. How dark and gloomy and miserable it was. But then let us look upon the lives of those who believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. How glorious their end was. Look at Peter and James, and John, they took their stand upon His side ; they were not ashamed of being associated with the " Man of sorrows, who was acquainted with great grief." 3i8 TO ALL PEOPLE. They were willing to go into Gethsemane with Him ; to be considered His friend. How Pilate's name would have come down to us if he had not vacillated, if he had remain- ed firm in the right. His name has come down to us as a warning. Pilate was lost for lack of courage, for want of decision. Let this question come home to each one of us this very night, "What shall I then do with Jesus which is called Christ ? " I heard of a man who made his boast that he had come in here and deceived people as to his comersion, and how he had got money here and gone out and spent it for drink. My friend, you may deceive us, but you cannot deceive God ; and you will have your place in the row with Judas. A great many people say that they don't want to join the church because they don't want to be associated with h3'pocrites. There are no hypocrites in Heaven \ and if you don't want to be in the company of these hypocrites you had better make haste and come to God. Look at poor Judas. He made a great profes- sion. He was the treasurer of the little band. He was one of the chosen twelve, and 3^et he sold Christ for thirty pieces of silver. There are many to-day that are doing much the same thing. They are using religion for a cloak to cover sin, but the time is coming when God will stop you. May God wake you up so that you may confess your hypocrisy and that you may not longer betray the Son of God. Don't tell me that Judas is with the rest of the twelve ; that it makes no difference ; it makes all the difference in the world. There is another class represented by these men — formalists. Annas and Caiaphas were formalists. They had a form of religion, but they denied the power. They go to Christ. They say their prayers. They wouldn't have any mediator between them and God. What did they want of a Christ } They thought they could get along without Him. Unless you take Jesus as your Redeemer and worship Him as such, it WBAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS t 319 is merely formalism. There are many men just like them. They profess to be Christians, but you cannot find Christ in one act of their lives. They put on religion as a man puts on his clothes. They put it on Sunday with their Sunday clothes, but there is no sign of their being Chris- tians the rest of the week. Oh, they say they " are perfectly safe ; I belong to the church and I go there regularly." Well, what are you doing with Him personally ? What are you doing with the Son of God ? Are you crucifying Him ? If you are, you are with Annas and Caiaphas. Herod represented the scorners. He mocked. And I see men in the assembly now who are mocking Him and whose faces say, "Why ought I to receive Him?" •' Receive Him as my Saviour ? No ! I will stand upon my own righteousness. Going to be saved by the intercession of another ? No ! no ! no ! a thousand times no ! " They are going to Heaven without any mediator for them. They are virtually saying that they can get on without Him. I tell you there is no other way to get there. Don't think for a moment that you can mock at Jesus Christ, and that you are going to get into the kingdom of heaven without Christ. My friends, are you going to do as Herod did ? are you going to do as Pilate did .'* If Pilate had consented to let Him go free how Pilate's name would have blazoned out upon the page of history to-night. It would have been associated with that of Paul and John the Baptist. Solomon tried all the pleasures and he came to the conclu- sion that all of the world's pleasures were vanities. He tried them one after another and then he did them all up in a bundle and labeled them vanity. He was a king, and all pleasures were open to him, and if he could not be satisfied how can you expect to be "i If you want true pleasure, true peace, you want Christ, and if you will take Him to-night. He will bring joy and glory, and the light of eternity will play around your path from this night. You 220 ^<^ '^^L PEOPLE. say, " I was not brought up to believe that." Well, He is as much a Saviour to-night as He was 1800 years ago. Young man, you are a scoffer. What are you going to do with this question : " What shall I do, then, with Jesus, which is called Christ.?" Are you going to mock and scoff on ? He came into this world to save the like of you. Are you go'ng to die persecuting Him ? He loves you and gave Himself up for you. Can you give a reason for hating Him 1 I never yet could find a man who could give a reason for hating Christ. We do not ask you to believe us. We offer Him to you as an- example. I challenge any infidel to find a blot on His character. I preached a series of sermons in October, 187 1, in Farwell Hall, Chicago, and I was urging the people to decide. I gave them a week to decide this question. I said to them, " Next Sunday night I want you to decide." I think I would give my right hand now before I would give them a chance to wait a week. As we closed that meeting the city bell was tolling out a fire alarm. I thought it was just an ordinary fire. That was the last evening that I preached in that hall. There were hundreds of people burned up that night. I don't know how many there were in that hall that were lost. And I stood there, and I thought that I had' given them a week to decide this question. My friends, I want you to decide to-night. We haven't any promise of to-morrow. We don't know what is before us, but if we have received Jesus Christ, let storms come, let death come, let sickness come, let pestilence come, we are sure of immortality, we are sure of life beyond the grave. He is offered to you. God gives Him up to the world \ He gives Him up to you. You say you cannot give your- self up to Him. He don't ask it. He says take Him. You can take Him. You can do that, can't you ? He has given Himself up to you; now take Him. "He came to His own and His own received Him not, but as many as WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH 7ESUS? 321 received Him to them gave He power." You can receive Him now wliile I am talking. You can say, " I do receive lliee ; I do believe Thee." When you know God He will appear very dear to you. Yes, these young converts nod their heads. One night's interview with the Son of God is worth all the nights you ever had. Will you have Him ? Let the question go round. Now who will have Him to- night ? Who will take Him to-night as God's gift to you .'' " What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? " Shall I reject Him or shall I receive Him ? There isn't a man but can receive Him if he will. It ain't because they cannot, it is because they won't. If Pilate had asked Him too He would have received Pilate right there. There are many that cannot receive honor from God because they want it from men. O may we all receive a passion for Christ that we may commence this night to love Him and serve Him. 21 GOD'S LOVE FOR THE SINNER. ^ We find a good many people in the inquiry-room night after night that tell us they cannot pray. They would like . to pray, they say. Their sins are troubling them ; they are weary and heavy laden, many of them cast down under their sins. They want to get rid of the burden, but they keep running after this man and that man, asking them to pray for them. Now, if a man can't pray, it must be be- cause he has a false impression about God. It is a false idea which hinders you from praying to God now in your hearts — praying to Him here, not in your closet at home, but here in the silence of your hearts. The great truth we *T^ want to remember is that God loves the sinner. He hates sin, yea, with a perfect hatred ; but he loves the sinner. God is love. Oh, that all in this assembly might feel this and be drawn towards Him ! If you really want to be saved, just come to God, and He will save you. A man came to me in the inquiry-room the other night and said : " I cannot pray, I have not strength to pray, I am too vile." Now, God has given us just the words to meet this case. In the 5th chapter of Romans, at the 6th verse, we read : " For when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." It is a good thing to know that we have no strength, and to bear in mind that Christ died for the ungodly. Then this text has a lesson for another class. There was once a woman at an inquiry-meeting who thought she was not very bad, and, of course, she could find neither peace nor light while she believed in herself. Soon after, she heard a minister preach from this same text: "Christ died for the ungodly." She thought 322 ITT. GOD'S LOVE FOR THE SINNER. 323 over this for a moment and said : " Oh, if I was only ungodly, I might get salvation ! " But before the sermon was over the woman found that she was a great sinner ; and, at the close, she took her place with the ungodly and got salva- tion then and there. When we know that we are ungodly en it is that we get salvation. ,1 was talking with two ladies the other day at the inquiry-room. One of them was in tears, and said, " I am lost." But the other stopped her and said, " Don't say that; don't say that you are lost ; don't tell her that ; I can't indorse that doctrine Mr. Moody." Well," I said, " my good woman, it's true. She is lost. And what did Christ come into the world for but to seek and save the lost ? He can save you, and He will save you if you will accept Him." And this lady who knew she was lost found the Saviour, while the other did not feel the weight of her sin and could not see the need of salvation. In the next verses of the same chapter of Romans we find ; "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." I want to prove to you from the Scriptures that God loves the sinner, and that God loves him while he is yet in his sins. There is an idea among some people that there must be a separation from sins before God will love us. ] f He will not love us till that, then He can never love us. While you are in your sins, God loves you and wants to save you. " But can there be love towards us while we are yet sinners ? " I hear some one ask. The apostle says, in the next verse : " For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." That is it. Christ comes to bring reconciliation between God and the sinner. Just call upon Him in your sin, tell it all out and ask God to save you, and see how quickly 3^4 TO ALL I'EOPLE. he will blot out all your iniquity. Now, let me say right here, that if you are going to wait until you are pure — until you are free from sin — you never will become Chris- tians in this world. If we could have got rid of sin with- out the Son of God, He never would have come. A great many have got the idea that because they are sinners God will have nothing to do with them until they turn ; but if you are willing to turn, God will give the power of turning to every one of you. You often hear a father or a mother say to their children that God loves them as long as they are good children, thus giving the impression that as long as they are good they are God's, and that when bad they belong to Satan. They are often bad, and their temjeers break down, and they tell lies, and then they have the idea that God hates them because they have sinned. Now that is false training. God loves sinners, and He loves that child just as much when it has sinned as when it is not going astray. When you see the child of a drunkard tum- ble down you do not say, "That is the child of a drunk- ard." You love your child just as much when it has tum- bled down as when it is standing up. It grieves you, but at the same time you love that child. Then there is an- other class that we meet in the inquiry-room — the back- sliders. They say, "We have wandered away from the Lord. We have tasted His love and have fallen into sin, and we cannot come back, for we sinned against light. We once knew Christ, but we have betrayed Him ; and now we cannot pray." If there is a backslider here this afternoon I want to tell him that he can pray. There are pra3^ers printed for him in the Word of God. A good many people don't like printed prayers ; but God has put the very words of reconciliation between the backslider and the Saviour in His Word. In Hosea, 14th chapter, we read the prophet's entreaty to his people : " O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thy GOD'S LOVE FOR THE SIjViVER ? 325 iniquity. Take with you words and turn to the Lord : Say unto Him, Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously ; so will we render the calves of our lips." Again we read : " I will heal their backsliding ; I will love them freely." If there is a backslider here let him remem- ber that God can save him ; that He will " heal his back- sliding " to-day if he will only come to Him. You may have turned away from Him ; but God loves the back- slider as well as the sinner. He loves you just as if you ^had not fallen. Christ loved Peter after he had cursed Him and betrayed Him ; and He gave him new strength and greater usefulness in the work. Some of the most beautiful words in the Bible are written for backsliders. ^ In the Old Testament Jeremiah just pleads with his back- slidden people to return to God. " Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in Me that they are gone far from Me and have walked after vanity and have become vain ? " A good many backsliders are full of complaints. They say that the church which they joined didn't treat them well ; that it was cold ; that the minister wasn't just what he ought to have been and didn't take enough interest in them. The church seems cold because X they look at it with cold eyes. Their own hearts have be- come a cake of ice and they think that the hearts of all the other church members are frozen. But if everyone- else has gone astray it is your duty to follow Christ, He is a perfect example. " What iniquity do ye find in me .? " saith the Lord. If you will only come to God — not to this church or that church, not to this minister or that minister, if you will only follow Christ, you will find Him true. His salvation never faileth nor is His grace wanting. You who have forsaken the living waters for the broken cisterns can yet find salvation. I never knew a backslider who^ was happy. The husks do not satisfy them. But you can return. In your sin and despair God asks only that you -26 '^O ALL PEOPLE. acknowledge your iniquity. Others have stumbled. How much evil one backslider can do ! But still God comes to the backslider with words of tenderness. You have been married to Him, so to speak, and have gone off and left Him. " Only confess your iniquity,'"' He says ; " that is all I ask. Just confess it and it shall never be mentioned again.'"' You may be professing Christ, and yet have some secret sin. You are living in the form and you have not the power of godliness. God knows all about that. He knows more about you than the wife of your bosona. He reads our hearts better than we can read our Bibles, and He knows just how much we love Him. He wants us to worship Him with the heart ; He wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. There is one thing about these backsliders, and I want you to bear it in mind — the back- slider has got into a pit, and he has to get out just where he got in. There is no other way but by the grace of the Son of God. You have forgotten to pray ; you have turned your back upon God ; you have turned away from Him ; you have said you could be saved without Him. Oh, to- night, acknowledge your transgressions, turn again towards Him, ask Him to receive you again, and see how quick he will do it. Take a mother that has got eight or ten chil- dren. One is the black sheep of the flock. He may have left his home. He has been go.ne for years. There was a man came to me to-day with tears in his eyes. He said the sermon just hit him. Perhaps he was that boy who had wandered from that loving father and mother ; if you could go into that home you would find that they loved him yet, just as much as they loved the others and perhaps a little more, for there is pity mingled with love. And you will hear that loving godly mother praying for him morning and evening. She don't know where he is, but if she knew he was in Boston, she would come from a thousand miles away to seek him out. Many a faithful, lovingj GOD'S LOVE FOR THE SINNER. 327 mother would go round the world to seek her wandering boy, if she knew where to find him. I want to say right here, now, that there arc many who would n.ot class themselves among the backsliders, who make a profession of Christianity, but who have not the real love of God in their hearts. Perhaps there may be deacons, or elders, or church-wardens, who think more of their denomination then they do of Christ. You find these men setting up the Episcopal Church a-s the true church, or the Congregational Church as the true church, or exalt- ing their own denomination. When a man puts his church ahead of Christ it is a pretty good proof that he is no true Christian, Churches and creeds are well enough in their place, but it is a person that we worship, the Lord Jesus Himself, In the Epistle to the Corinthians we read : "If any man love God, the same is known of him.'' How deep is your love for God to-day t Can you bear persecution for His sake ? Are you willing to be laughed at for Him, to be sneered and jeered as a fanatic and weak-minded ? God j^eads the heart of man a good deal easier than you or I can read a book. If any man loves God, He knows how dee^D or how shallow his love is. God has placed His mark on all. He knows His own. He does not choose them because their names are recorded in any church list. The Lord will not hunt over any old musty church record to see if you bear His mark. God knows the whole heart, and none can deceive Him. There are some who say: "Oh, well, I have no doubt about God's loving me. The troublesome question with me is. Do I really love God ? " That is what many want to know. In the inquiry-room, if you ask a man if he is a Christian, he will very likely say in a hesi- tating way : " Well, I hope so," or, " Well, I am trying to be a Christian," That's what I hear a great deal in Boston — trying to be a Christian, There has been a good deal of complaint because I have preached the doctrine of assurance. It 328 TO ALL PEOPLE. '>onths or years, 39^ TO ALL PEOPLE. it don't take the Lord a day to undo. He will give you vic- tory through the blood of the Lamb that was slain on Calva- ry. While I was studying this sermon this morning, my wife was opening the letters and while doing so, she says, " Here is a letter I think may interest you. Let me read it to you." So she read it and I said : " That will just fit what I am reading." I had got to that place where Satan was binding men through their appetites and I took that letter in my hands and commenced reading it. It was written on the 8th of April away down in Michigan, and was as follows : * Mr. Moody : Sir : I give this as my own testimony as to what the Lord has done for me. I came home one day very drunk. I fell on the lounge, and in a short time I heard my little boy, four years old, say, ' Mamma, I will go saw you some wood.' I staggered to the barn and I asked God to have mercy on me as a sinner. That is nearly four years ago, and to-day finds me rejoicing in God and a Saviour of my soul." God can save men when they are drunk, and bless his holy name, there is a m.an away out there on the jDlains of Michigan sending this testimony, that God has got the jdow- er to save these men that are bound by passion, by appe- tite, by lust, or any sin, I don't care what it is. Christ came for that purpose — to preach deliverance to the cap- tives. Those of you who have been at these meetings know that I have often referred on this jolatform to the evil of strong drink. When we first came to Boston a merchant came to me and said, " I hope you will not preach a sermon without some reference to the evil of strong drink." I have gone a long way out of my course sonietimes to get it in, but I have brought it in somehow, for there is something peculiarly terrible in this sin, which has thrown its blight CHRIST THE DELIVERER. II. 2>()J across every path, and into almost every family and home ; and if there is a poor drunkard here to-night, bound in sin, I want to say to him that Christ is a mighty deliverer. But our friend, Mr. Sawyer, could tell you that this is nothing new. There are thousands in Boston who can tell the same story of deliverance from the bondage of strong drink. Isn't that so? [Mr. Sawyer made an affirmative answer in a low tone, and Mr. Moody said, " Speak up, so that they can hear you. Isn't it true that these converted men have been saved from sin ? Aren't they all free from their appetite } " " Every one," said Mr. Sawyer in a loud voice. " Mr. Tyng, haven't you found the same thing in your experience with converted drunkards.'*" "Yes, sir," responded the New York divine, and the sermon was resumed.] The service of Satan is utterly profitless. Say, blasphemer, you that take the name of the Lord in vain, what CO you get for your sin .^ The man who is ruining himself with some besetting sin, who sometimes loathes, hates and despises himself, who, but for the fear of an hereafter, would put an end to his miserable existence, what does he get in return ? Ah ! the devil pays poor wages ! But just ask any servant of the Lord and he will tell you that the Lord is a good paymaster. Now don't fall into the erroi of supposing that you can deliver yourself from sin. We hear some talk about the power of the will, assert- ing one's manhood, and the like. Why, Satan, laughs at that. He knows he is more than a match for you. If man could deliver himself Christ would never have come. What is the Bible's testimony : " I was born in sin ; I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin hath my mother conceived me," says David. Job says, " I am vile." Isaiah exclaims, " Woe is me ! " The fact is, we are all born into the slavery of sin just as the colored people of the South were born into slavery before the war. [Mr. Moody referred to the way in which the negroes of Richmond rejoiced over 398 TO ALL PEOPLE. emancipation, with shoutsof "Glory to (^ocl in fhe highest."] What made them so glad? They believed they were liberated, and that is what made them so joyful. People want to know why Christians are so joyful. It is because they have been delivered from Satan. I tell you no slave in all the Southern States ever had so mean a master as you have, and you have great reason to rejoice that Christ has come to set you free, and every one of you ought to rejoice here to-night that you hear the good news that Christ has come to proclaim liberty to the captive, to recover sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are bound. Jesus has come to open the prison doors and let out the captive, and what you want is just to believe it. Don't trust in any human arm ; for " cursed is he that trusteth in the arm of flesh." The church can't save you ; all the churches in the world — Roman Catholic, Episcopal and all — never saved a man. Look away to Jesus ! Look to the Author and Finisher of our faith, for He alone can save. It was my privilege to go into Richmond with General Grant's army. Now, just let us picture a scene. There are a thousand poor captives, and they are lawful captives, prisoners in Libby Prison. One beautiful day in the spring they are there in the prison. All news has been kept from them. They have not heard what has been going on around Richmond, they haven't heard of Lee's surrender, and I can imagine one says one day. " Hark, boys ! hark I I hear a band of music, and it sounds as if they were playing, * The Star Spangled Banner ! long may it wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ! ' And by and by the sound comes nearer and they see it is so. It is the Union army, the boys in blue. Next, the doors of the prison are unlocked ; they fly wide open. " Boys, you're free ! " is their comrades' shout, and those thousand CHRIST THE DELIVERER. II. 3^9 men are set free. Wasn't that good news to them ? But it wasn't any better news than that I bring to you to- night. What a shout ought to go up from the hearts of the captives. Mr. Spurgeon tells this parable, one that he made himself — and I don't know but what we ought to make up parables, seeing that Christ taught in parables. Mr. Spurgeon represented a tyrant who ordered one of his subjects into his presence and told him to make a chain of a certain length. He gave him no length, and at the end of a certain time the captive brought in the chain when his time was out. The tyrant told him to go back again and make it twice as long. He came back the third time, and again the tyrant ordered him out, and told him to make it twice as long. And when he came back for the fourth time the tyrant called some of his sei-vants who stood by and commanded them to take the chain and bind him hand and foot and cast him into prison. " And," said the preacher, " that is just what Satan is doing with some of you in my congregation now, and by and by he is going to bind you with the chains which you have forged yourself and cast you into hell." You that are drunkards, you that are gamblers, you men that are living in sin with your eyes wide open, knowing that you are living in sin, Satan will bind you by and b}^, and he will laugh at you and torment you when you are bound and in his power. You may laugh at the offer of mercy, at the salvation offered you without money and without price now, but when he has got you bound hand and foot in the chain of sin he will laugh at you. We have been taken captives, because when a man has sold himself to the power of sin he is under the power 0/ Satan. How are we going to get away t We can't get ourselves free. The 3,000,000 of slaves that we had in this country could not set themselves free. They hadn't the power to free themselves. Their masters had 400 TO ALL PEOPLE. that power, and they had this Government behind them. These poor, weak slaves couldn't set themselves free. They .-couldn't get out of bondage into liberty by their own power. God had to come and deliver them. So it was with the children of Israel down there in Egypt. God had to come and deliver them, and so it is with us. We are in slavery. We can't deliver ourselves. We want some power outside of ourselves. I have no hope for a man or woman being saved until they have given up all hopes of themselves — all hope of redeeming themselves. These men that are trying to redeem themselves are deceiving themselves. Satan is deceiving them. Satan has got them. They haven't got the power. But these poor captives can be set free if they will just believe the proclamation issued by Jesus in this Bible. When 1 was coming back from Europe, a few years ago, I met ex-Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania, who had been on a mission to St. Petersburg, and was just returning home. I talked with him considerably about Russia, and was much interested in hearing him tell about those serfs that were set free. When we had 3,000,000 slaves, they had 40,000,000 serfs, some of them sold for a quarter of their time, some of them for a half, and many of them out-and-out serfs for life. It is said no one knows the exact truth — but it is stated upon good authority that when the old Emperor died he made the young Emperor promise to set all those serfs free. We don't know the exact truth about it. The only thing we do know is, he was commanded to set them free. So the 3^oung Emperor called the Imperial Council together and said : " I want to see if you can make some plan by which we can set these men free." They were the proprietors of these serfs, and, of course, they didn't want to free them. The Imperial Council was in session for six long months, and one even- ing they sent in their decision, sealed, that it was not right, and "t is said that he went down to the Greek Church, CHRIST THE DELIVERER. II. 401 partook of the sacrament and went to his palace, and the next morning there was a great commotion and people could not understand it. Great cannons were brought up around his palace and in a little while 65,000 soldiers were gathered around the royal palace, and just at 12 o'clock, at midnight, there came out what we call a proclamation, but what they call an ukase, to the serfs of Russia, that they were free forever. It spread thrcugh the empire and a shout went through the nation : " The men born in slavery are set free ! " They had found one that had set them free. Wasn't that good news ? But here is the news of the gospel, that every man born in sin, and taken captive by Satan, can be set free through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, for Christ says, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor ; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." And He can set you free if you will only come to Him. I can imagine some of you saying, " I don't feel that I am free." How are you going to feel it?- Suppose a man were to go down South and say to som« of those liberated slaves, '• How do you know that you are free ? " And suppose he says, " I know that I am free ; I feel that I am free." And then you say, "Well, I don't care about your feelings : I will make you my slave ; you just come to work for me." How quick that man would show you that he was free. He had got Abraham's proc- lamation, and that niade him free. In many of those log cabins in the South tlie negroes have got that proclamation nailed up, and if you ask one of them how he knows he is free he just reads that proclamation, or if he cannot read he just points you to that. Abraham Lincoln had the power to set him free, and he did it. If you want to know that you are a free man, that the Lord has delivered you, 26 402 70 ALL PEOPLE. take His Word and read it there. What does he say ? Listen : *' He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." He sent Him to open the prison doors, and you can all be free if you will. If you are bound by passion, bound by lust, you can be free. There isn't any one but He wants him to be free. Lincoln took up his pen and he wrote the freedom of these men. They had not the power to set themselves free, but he had the power. An officei of the Union army w^as riding through a field where some negroes were hoeing. And he cried aloud, " In the name of Abraham Lincoln I proclaim you free." They believed him at once, and the shout went up from them, " We are free ! " " We are free ! " Oh, I wish I could make every one of you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ as they believed these words ! If you will only accept Him He will do this for you. He wants to do it. He wants to save you. When England was trying to set her slaves free upon one of her far-off islands, and Wilberforce was trying to get a bill through Parliament for that purpose, you can imagine how anxious those slaves were to hear the news, and know whether he was successful or not. They didn't have any Atlantic cable in those days, and so the communication was not very close. And when they were expecting the; vessel tliat was to bring the news, they all, as many of them as could, crowded down to the shore, eager and anxious to get the first news. And as soon as the vessel got in sight, and the captain saw how anxious they were, he could not >vaitto come ashore, but he called out, " Free ! free ! free !" Oh, to-day, God will set you, poor captives, free ! He pro- claims to you this gospel message, " Free ! free ! " And He will save you. Christ came not only to seek and to save the lost, but CHRIST THE DELIVERER. II. 402 to deliver men from bondage. He not only told men what they ought to do, but gave them the power to do it. Men are captives to sin ; they cannot save themselves ; but let them acknowledge this and come to God, and Christ will make them free. The service of Christ is the only true liberty. That is a false idea which many have, that it is freedom to sin when they please. The bondage to Satan is slavery of the worst kind. No black man in the South before the war was ever held in such bondage as the slave of passion, of hellish lust and appetite. And a good many are finding this out. Some of them get discouraged. We found a man in the inquiry -room this afternoon who said he had no hope because he had inherited his appetite. But the Son of God came to deliver just such captives. He can break every bond of sin, and save from death and ruin. " Will you limit the Holy One of Israel ? " says God. He that created the universe out of nothing, shall He not have power to create a new heart in the sinner ? Let us not limit the power of God. Now every man or woman within the sound of my voice is under the service of God or under the bondage of Satan. The Prince of Darkness rules this world. It's an uncomfortable feeling to think that every un- converted person is possessed by an evil spirit, and a good many say it's not true ; but nevertheless it's just what this Word teaches. Men may measure with their own rule ; but bear in mind that God looks at the world and man with differ- ent eyes. The natural man is in bondage to sin. Some are slaves to themselves — bound hand and foot to selfishness. Others are slaves to habit and appetite. At first, they laugh at the idea of not controlling their appetite ; but the golden thread becomes, by degrees, a cord, then a strong rope, and finally a great heavy chain, which binds the captive hand and foot. There is a sin of which many of you are slaves, a sin which it would not perhaps be proper for me to speak of to-night, but which you know well. Many a 404 ^<^ ^^^ PEOPLE. man has it bound in chains and taking them hell-ward about as fast as the morning light travels. But Christ, the great deliverer, can save you and make you a new man ; He can take away your besetting sin and change the whole current of your life, so that you shall henceforth serve the Lord. Bad temper is a besetting sin which many know, I was troubled with mine a good many years ago, and at first I used to make up my mind that I would stop it myself, but the very days that I set a watch against my temper it seemed to be worst of all. But Christ can give you strength to keep your temper, and, instead of trouble between friends, and hard feelings called up by hasty words, there will be sunshine all ' the while. Some business men are troubled with — well, perhaps I had better call it by the good old Saxon name of lying ; but they would rather call it " misrepresentation." They say that they are afraid they couldn't be successful as business men unless they misrepresent to their customers* Now I want to say right here that this idea is one of the devil's lies. You and I know that the man of integrity, on whose word we can rely, is the successful man, looking at his whole life. But suppose that it was true that, in a worldly sense, a man might be successful by lying. "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Poor, deluded man, he would see his folly when too late. Now you, young man, and you, young- woman — pointing to persons in the audience — you have got some besetting sin. I don't know what it is, but you know. Now won't you just carry it to God .'' You needn't cry out as loud as I am talking ; a whisper, a sigh even, will reach God's ear. Young man, won't you pray — so low that the young lady at your side can't hear you 1 Say- ing, " O Lord, deliver me from my sin ! " And if you are terribly in earnest about it, He will deliver you from your captivity. CHRIST THE DELIVERER. 11. 405 You may be far in sin — will-power may be all gone, but if you will just cry to God He will come down right where you are and He will deliver you. There is no soul that the Lord God cannot heal. In this 50th chapter of Isaiah and the 2d verse : " Wherefore, when I came, there was no man ? when 1 called was there none to answer. Is my hand shortened at all, {hat it cannot redeem ? or have I no power to de- liver ? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness : their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst." " Is my hand shortened ? " God can reach clear down for you. He can get at the very pit of hell. " Have I no power ? " I like that. God asks the question to men. Oh, men, do you want to be delivered ? Christ came for that very purpose. " Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness : their fish stinketh, be- cause there is no water, and dieth for thirst." There is no limit to God's power. That is the great mistake with men ; they are always limiting God's power by their own. They have been saying, " Because man has not the power God has not." He can liberate you ; and if you will only take Christ as your Redeemer He will do it. That is what He wants to do. If you are in trouble, if you are in sin, probably a hundred times you have said you would not do this or you would not do that again. You have made good resolutions, you have determined to change, and you have broken these resolutions and you have fallen back again. You say, " It is no use, I have been trying and trying and trying, and I know that there isn't any hope for me." There is hope for you, God will do it for you. He will save you. He wants you to be done trying. He wants you to stop trying to save yourself. I read of the great disaster in the Southern Hotel. Well those people in that hotel could not save themselves. They could not deliver themselves. The 4o6 'TO ALL PEOPLE deliverance must come from God. If you could have put up a fire escape there they would have been saved. God has brought a fire escape to every soul, and they can be delivered this very hour if they will only trust the Lord Jesus Christ to do it. A man came to me often in the in- quiry-room, and he said, " I want to come to Christ." One night he came into the inquiry-room, and the gi'eat tears were trickling down his cheeks, and he said, " If I don't get light to-night I don't know what I shall do." And I said, " All you have got to do is to go to Him. He says, ' I am the light of the world, if men will only follow me they shall not walk in darkness." But he said, " I cannot break my chains." " Never mind your chains, brins: them with you. God came to break chains." A new light broke in on him and he said, '* Why, so I can." God bids you to come. If your soul is in prison to-day, just start praying " God deliver me." Ask Him, and see how quick He will deliver you. You hear a good many people say, " If I go to church, I will be saved." And then they go right off and join some church and think they are saved. All the churches in Christendom cannot save you ; all the ministers in the world cannot save one soul. It isn't doing this or doing that that will save you, it is just simply keeping quiet and letting Christ save you. Don't join a church to be saved ; join it when you are saved. Look to Jesus ; He is the author and the finisher, and you need not look anywhere else. I never knew a man but that if^ he asked God for anything he got it. And so to-day if you bring your sins to Christ, ask Him to deliver you, ask Him to give you victory, He will do it. That is what He wants to do upon this Fast Day. That is the kind of fast He likes. Do you w^ant deliverance to-day ? If you do, here is the proclamation. " God sent me to preach de- liverance." There were many in that prison, down there in Jerusalem. There was Barabbas. He was no common CHRIST THE DELIVERER. II. 407 thief. They didn't execute common thieves in those days. They had a different kind of punishment for them. He was a notorious prisoner. He was very bad and he had been condemned to die the death upon the cross. The morning arrived when he was taken out and crucified upon Calvary. If he had had a wife, she would have gone there, and she would have bid him good-by and kissed him. There was no arm to deliver that poor condemned man. I can see him. He has not had any breakfast ; he has eaten very little for the last few days. He has not slept very much during the past week. He is listening for the coming of the executioner to take him to Calvary to be crucified. He had heard, no doubt, of Jesus, and he had been told that He was to be crucified with him ; that He, too, was to be put to death. Now, at last, the day comes. See him? He is trembling from head to foot. He can hear a footfall. " That is the execu- tioner," he says, " he is coming to take me to the place of ex- ecution." But the executioner enters, and he wonders that he does not seize him and bind him and take him away to be executed. But instead of doing this he cries out to him. " You are free ! " "What, am I free t " " Yes, Jesus is to die in your place ; you are to go free." What good news that must hav e been to him ! If you are to-day condemned by some sin, and your soul is in some dark prison, remember that Jesus died in your place. I proclaim to you in His name, liberty to every captive that wants to get liberty, if you will take Him. He is yours to-day, and you can go out of this Tabernacle in the light of Heaven. Let us pray. BLIND EYES. We have come to-night to the best clause of the verse we have been speaking about, of regeneration and healing of broken hearts and giving deliverance to the captives, and now w^e come to giving sight to the blind. A friend of mine was telling me that he did not know that there was so much in this verse until recently. We have been talk- ing a good deal about this, but it would take a good many- more meetings to tell what there is in this verse. One night we spoke of preaching the gospel to the poor ; an- other night of healing the broken-hearted, and another night of giving delivery to the captive ; and to-night it is of giving sight to the blind. Satan, breaks men's hearts. Satan binds men ; he blinds them ; but the Lord Jesus Christ comes to heal the broken-hearted, to deliver the captive, and to give sight to the blind, and that is the dif- ference between Satan's work and the work of the Lord Jesus. There is no class of people that receive so much from Christ as the blind. We are constantly reading of His giving sight to the blind. There is not one solitary blind man that asked for sight and cried for mercy but that he got it. It is so to-day. If men really want it they can have it. I have yet to find the first man or woman that wanted sight with all the heart but that got it. " Christ lighteth with life every man that cometh to the Lord." "I am the light of the world ; if any man follow Me he shall not walk in darkness." I consider that there is no gi'eater affliction than natural blindness, but spiritual blindness is a good deal worse. If I know mine own heart, I would rather have natural blindness than be blinded spiritually 408 BUND EYES. 409 and go down to-day without hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many that are bHnded and don't know it. In the 3d chapter of Revelations and the 17th verse it says : " Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing ; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked ; " There are many that think they are rich and have sight that are poor and blind. We are coming into contact with them that don't know right from left ; that are satisfied without regeneration, without conversion ; that are satis- fied in their blindness. Oh, that God may open their blind- ed eyes, that the eyes of their souls may be opened to see as God would have us see — as we shall see in the light of eternity ! I remember, when I was in London, a few years ago, hearing a good doctor addressing the audience. And I found that he was permanently blind. The whole audience was in tears when he told them how his mother took him to a doctor, and the doctor pronounced him blind for life. That mother pressed him to her bosom and cried, " Is it possible that my boy is going through the world blind ? When I am gone who is there to care for him ? " Little did that mother know how God was going to take care of him. And I heard that man say, "I thank God for my blindness. I have been enabled to put the Bible into seventy-two different languages. If I had sight it might not have been done in my day." There was a blind man rejoicing that God had taken his sight away from him. God has got grace enough for these men to make them re- joice in their blindness. How much of spiritual blindness there is in this city ; men who are talking against God, who is trying to save them. Satan has blinded men. How many he has blinded in this audience. Your hearts are turning away from God, and you say you don't see any beauty in Christ. I think to-night I would like to take up 4IO TO ALL PEOPLE. the blind men in Boston. They are not all in the asylums Many of them are walking up and down our streets. There are many close, shrewd, keen men, we call them ; how the god of this world has blinded them. He blinds some men with money. All he wants is just to keep them blind. Many men that are in high positions, that are in great standing in the community, are blind, spiritually blind. I heard, some time ago, of a man who said he " was bound to die rich." That was his aim in life and he used to say, " I am bound to die rich." What blindness ! The moment a man dies he is a pauper, isn't he ? He can- not take a penny away with him. Men die worth nothing. When death lays his hands upon him wealth goes. ** Money, money, money!" was this man's ciy, until his mind became unhinged. He thought of nothing but money. And at last he was taken to a mad-house, and he cried out. " Sixty years making millions of money and in a mad-house." There are a great many who are not in a mad-house, but .ive as madmen.. The god of this world has blinded them. You need not look for men led about by a boy, but in every dwelling in this city, wherever a man puts money be- fore God, he is blind. Whoever has his heart and affection put upon wealth down here, he is blind. But business men are blinded by their business. Talk about their soul's salva- tion to them, and they say business must be attended to first. " I must be successful in business. I have strong rivals, and I don't want any other man to excel me." They have not time to ask God's blessing upon their children, or to surrender themselves by prayer. They have not time for God on account of press of business. Those men are bhnded by business. When I was in New York last win- ter one of those merchant princes died. I was told by some friend that when he was dying, they had a spring opening, and he was told that it was the grandest that he had ever had. And he was accustomed when anything BLIND EYES. 411 pleased him to rub his hands together. And so now he rubbed his hands and said, " That was good." The god of this world had blinded him. Not that business is not good enough in its place. Many of you are looking down upon the poor drunkard, but if Satan has blinded you through business, he has got you just as much as he has the drunkard. He don't care how you go to hell. Any way to get you there. There is another way of blinding men by pleasure. All they care about is spending money and having a good time. Their fathers gathered it and they scatter it. "Give me pleasure," they say. The god of the world has blinded them in that way. They would rather be in the theatre, in the wine-room, in the billiard halls. They would rather go out Sunda3's and drive fast horses and live for this world than for the kingdom of God. They would laugh at you if you were to speak of Christ. Tiiey would mock and make light of this sermon. They think their eyes are wide open, but they are under the power of Satan. You say there is a devil, do you ? Have you not heard that some of our learned men have proved there is no devil ? He has got them so blinded that they do not believe that there is any devil or any God either; that when they die they die like dogs, die soul and body. " Let us eat and drink and be merry, for to-morrow we shall be gone." Thank God for this text " He came to open men's eyes." When men begin to love God, how small these things look. He will begin to love God and Christianity. These things of the world do not then occupy their thoughts and time. There is another thing that is blinding some of you ladies, but there is not many of them that come here ' — that is fashion. It is amazing to hear them talk. Let some of them come together, it is fashion, fashion, fashion ; they talk of nothing else. That is their god. The god of this world has blinded them just by fashion. Some time ago one of these ladies cara-^ into the inquiry-room, and 412 TO ALL PEOPLE. she was dressed up to the height of fashion, and after we had been talking she said : "I might as well be frank with you, Mr. Moody ; I am just nothing but a dressed-up doll. I dress up in the morning and I dress up again in the afternoon to receive company, and I dress up again for the evening. I have lived that way for years, and my life is a "miserable failure." Another lady told me that she had not assurance. I looked at her hands. She had fourteen dia- mond rings upon them and yet she had not assurance. That is the trouble with a great many. The god of the world has blinded them by fashion or some of these things. Where your treasure is, there is where your heart is. If your treasure is here, your heart and your affections will be down here. There are a great many other men that are blinded by sin. They have an idea that sin is very sweet. A man told me that he did not want to become a Christian, because he did not want to give up a certain sin. He said " I like it." He was not willing to just give up that sin for Christ. What blindness that is. " Be not deceived ; what a man soweth, that shall he reap." They forget that they have to reap by and by. A day of reckoning is com- ing. You make light of sin ; bear in mind that by and by the reaping-time will come and sin won't seem quite so sweet then. I may be speaking to a man that is just living in sin. His conscience has smote him, he feels that he is ruined, but he is going right on. Perhaps I am talking to some young man who has just commenced to take money from his employer, that don't belong to him. If you are receiving $1000 a 3^ear, audit costs you $2500 to live, look well, there is a time of reckoning coming, and you will have to give account of that very thing. One day in the inquiry- room a man about my age came to me and he said he wanted to see me alone. I took him one side and he told me a story that would make almost any man weep. He was in a good position — a leading business man of the commu* BLIND EYES. 413 nity. He had a beautiful wife and children. He was ambitious to get rich fast, and in an unregarded moment he forged ; and in order to cover up that act he had commit- [ted other guilty acts, and he had fled. He was a fugitive from justice, and he said : " I am now in the torments of hell. Here I am, away from my family. A reward has been offered for me in my city. Do you think I ought to go back 1 " I said " I don't know. You had better go to God and ask Him about it. I would not like to give vou advice." You could hear him sob all over that church. He said " I will go to my room and I will come and see you next day at 12 o'clock." The next day he came to me and he said " J. do not belong to myself, I belong to the law. I have got to go and give myself up. I do not care for myself, but it will disgrace my family, but if I don't I am afraid I will lose my soul." This day I got a letter from him. I think I would like to read it to you. I told some people here of it to-day and they said, " You ought to take it to Charlestown and read it to the convicts in the 3tate Prison." But I thought I had better read it before I got there. It may keep some man here from getting there. Some one here may have just commenced. He may to- morrow commit a forgery and bring sorrow and gloom upon his loved ones. It was only three days ago that I got a letter from a wife and mother asking me to see her husband. He had committed forgery. The officers came that night and took him. It was a terrible shock to that wife. He was a kind husband. That mother and children are pray- ing every night that their dear father may get out of prison. Let us lift up our hearts that this man may see that sin is a bitter thing. But let me read the letter : Jefferson City, Mo., April 8, 1877. Mr. Moody : Dear Brother : When I bade you good-by in the lower room in Farwell Hall you said : " When it is all 414 TO ALL PEOPLE. over, write me." I wrote you in December. I thought then that it would soon be over. [Let me say right here that that letter which came in December drew a picture that has followed me all these days. He said he went to his home. The trial was to come off in another county. He wanted to see his wife, and he went to his home. He did not want his children to know that he was at home because it might get out among the neighbors, and he wanted to give himself up and not be arrested. Then, after his wife had put the children to bed, he would steal into the room, but he could not speak to them or kiss them. Fathers, was not that pretty hard ? Would not that be pretty hard ? You tell me sin is sweet ! There are men with their eyes wide open ; no, not with their eyes wide open ; they must be closed wlien men say that sin is sweet. There is that man, that loved his children as you love yours, and he did not dare to speak to them.] "I wrote you in December, thinking all would be soon over, but the State was not ready to try me, and so I was let out upon bail till April. Yesterday my case was disposed of and I received sentence for nineteen years." [Oh, how sad! How bitter sin is. May God open the eyes of the blind to-night. Christians always pray that God may open the eyes of the blind. Christ came for the recovery of sight to the blind. I hope every sinner will get his eyes open and see that sin is bitter, not sweet. The time is coming when you have got to leave this earth.] " Now I am in my prison cell, clothed in a convict's garb. It is all over with me. A long term of civil death and absence." [Then there is a long dash. I suppose he could not pen it. Away from that wife and little child.] " Now I have met the law. Pray for me that I may be sustained with consoling and needed strength. Pray for the loved ones at home ; my dear parents and brothers and sisters, and my dear wife and children " another long dash. " And I ask that the attorney that was very BLIND EYES. 415 kind ro me may be prayed for, that he may become a Christian. And if not asking too much, a few words will be gratefully received. Address me in care of penitentiary in Jefferson City, Mo. I pray that your labors may be blessed, and when you preach warn men to beware of the temptation of doing evil that good may come of it ; warn them to beware of the ambition for wealth. Prayerfully and tearfully yours." Yet we have men tell us that they will not give up sin. I wish I could say something here that would open the eyes of every man and woman in this assembly. I have not finished the sermon, but I cannot go on longer Let us pray. THE NEW BIRTH. I WILL take as my text the 3d chapter of John and 3d verse. There was a lady came into the inquiry-room and wanted me to tell her if she were a Christian. I said I would be very happy to tell her if I knew, but I did not know. I would like to have had time to tell her how she might know, for the Scripture is very plain about it and is not dark concerning it. I want to call your attention this afternoon to nine new things that we are promised, and that are tests of whether or not we are Christians. Now here we have " Except a man be born again he shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." Born again, born from above, born of the Spirit. Now this is not the worklj of man. God is the author of life, and no earthly changey, or condition will answer for this new birth. A great many people that we meet in the inquiry-toom tell us tliat this is a great mystery. Well, it is a great mystery. We will admit that it is a great mystery ; but, nevertheless, it is one of the most important truths in the whole Word of God. I have no doubt that there are some in this assembly that have seen some one that has been born again, and they know that they seemed different. It was not going to confession ; it was not being confirmed some Easter morning ; it was not going to the Lord's table and partak- ing communion ; it was not by being baptized ; but it was a new birth, a new life in Christ. Profession is one thing,!) conversion is another. A leper may conceal his leprosyll and be a leper still. A beggar may get himself into a new 416 THE NEW BIRTH. 417 suit of clothes, and yet he would still be a beggar. Now, here in the ist epistle of John, and the 5 th chapter, and the 4th verse, we are told what will happen if we are born of God : " For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world : and this is tlie victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. " Who is he that overcometh the world, but he thar beiieveth tliat Jesus is the Son of God t " If we " overcome the world," that is a sign of conver- sion ; that is a sign that we have been born again. But if we are all the time striving and struggling, that is a sign that we have not been "born again." In the 6th of Gala- tians and the 15th verse, it says : " For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth a^y-// thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." / Forms and ordinances are all very good, but they do not make a preacher. If we are born of God, then we have the power and will to overcome the world. There are a great many people that the moment we speak of regeneration say : " These people can tell the very hour and th^ very minute that God met them. Now, I cannot point back to the day that God met me and to the time when the old things passed away." And they are in trouble and think because they cannot do this that they are not Christians. Now, let me say that it is of little account where or how it took place, if you only are con- verted. Some people have been converted like the flash of a meteor and otliers like the rising sun, gradually. But f if you have the evidences ; if you have the fruits of the spirit, then you are children of God. It is not necessary/ that we should be able to tell where or how we have been converted, but it is important that we should be able to tell that we are converted. Christ says : " Except a man become as a little child he shall not see the Kingdom of 27 41 S TO ALL PEOPLE. God." We have got to become little children of God. " Except ye repent." He says : " Except ye be born again." It is very important that we search the Scriptures. The next thing that we get is a " new creature." In the 5th chapter and 17th verse of the 2d Corinthians it says : " Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new crea- ture : old things are passed away ; behold, all things are become new." There was a man converted when we were in Ne^v York. He was an Italian ; no, I should say a Frenchman — a Canadian Frenchman. He had been a great drunkard. He had been brought up to drink from a child, and he never saw any great harm in it until he had drank away all his family from him. He was converted, and he said that " the moment he asked God to take away this terrible appetite from him He did it." He knelt down to pray, and when he rose up he felt like a new man ; he said he "felt like a new man in his old clothes." He had con- quered his appetite and held right on. He wrote me the other day to tell me that his appetite had all gone. That is just what the new birth does. It not only takes away the sin but it takes away the desire and gives you victory. There was a lady converted in Scotland, not in our place of worship, but in one of the churches there, and she said that when she got out of the church she had to stop to drink in the pure Scottish air. It never seemed half so sweet before. Everything seemed to have changed to her. Ah ! the Lord had blessed her and she had become a child of grace. We cannot receive the spiritual blessings that God wants us to have until we are born of the Spirit. In the ist of Corinthians, 2d chapter and 14th verse : " But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : -for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Now, nearly every week I find that literally fulfilled. TFTE NEW BIRTB. 419 People say of these words, " I don't i.nderstand them." Well, of course you don't, for you have not been born of the Spirit of God. I can tell them when I am preaching and know that they don't understand a word that I am saying. " I can't tell you about this new birth ; no living man can ; you must feel it. As I told you a few nights ago, that if you took a man right from the dirtiest streets of Boston and placed him in the CH'stal streets of heaven he wouldn't want to stay there long j he would immediately become home-sick. In such a place he would be a natural man, and a natural man who can't find any whiskey or anything of a worldly character in heaven wants to get out of that beautiful place as soon as possible. If you men here to-night know what the old nature really is, if you know what God wants you to do, then He will very easily find a place for you. Why, my friends, I have had as much trouble with old Moody as any of you ever experienced with yourselves, but I don't have any trouble with the new Moody, now that I have found Christ. I went during the war, over a railroad, and what do you think I saw at every step ? Why, I saw nothing but wrecks. So, if we search, we come across wrecks in families, and we never seem to be mindful, as we always should be that the devil is constantly tempting the weak. Now, I must say to you my friends, that the devil is always found in this broad way. You never know this evil one to be found in the narrow way. Then again the devil is always giving free lunches, just because he wants to tempt you. You who are weak accept them be- cause they are free, because no money is required to pay for them. Yes, my friends, the broad way is very hard. My friends, own that it leads to destruction. I tell you when any of you begin to lie it is a sure sign that you have no Spirit of God in you. I tell you if a man is once con- verted he will not lie, but will find infinite pleasure in sing- 420 TO ALL PEOPLE. ing the praises of God. The song of the drunkard \\on't do when you are once converted. I don't know how it is with you to-day, but when I was engaged in business in this city c'^'unterfeit money was being pretty freely circulat- ed. Now, my friends, how could it be discovered that this money was not genuine t Why, simply by the ring in it when it was dropped on the counter or table. So in a like manner, we can tell a Christian. Worldly language repre- sents the ring of the ungodly ; but divine language repre- sents the ring of the Christian. You know that some men grow smaller and smaller on an intimate acquaintance ; but my experience is that the more and more you know of Christ the larger He becomes. People come here and they go out and say " it is foolishness, that kind of preach- ing." You read the Word of God. They say, " lliat is foolish." That is just what the Bible says the Word is to them. By receiving the word of God they get power and strength. I was in the inquiry-room one night talking to a skeptic. He didn't come in to inquire, but to hear a discussion with some one. You know that there are a great many people that are fond of discussing ; and he said he didn't believe in the Bible. He didn't agree with it. But I said, " Why, my dear friend, the Bible agrees with you. You and the Bible agree." He said, " Oh no, I don't believe in it at all." " Why, yes you do ; the Bi- ble says,' The natural man cannot receive spiritual things.' " The poor fellow didn't know what to do, so he hung his head. The moment we become spiritually minded then it is that we have the blessing of God. The next thing is a new nature. Now, there are plenty of evidences of this new nature. If you have a nature that longs for spiritual things, that is an evidence. If we have a new heart we get a new nature. God is a Spirit, and those who serve Him must do so in Spirit. Now we have a new nature that new nature must have a new God. Every one in THE NEW BIRTH. 421 Boston has a god of some kind that he worships. With this new birth, with this new life in God, we have new ambitions, new hopes, new joys, new peace. I never had a conflict with myself until I found God. I had a good opinion of myself, but as soon as I found God a conflict sprung up between the old nature and the new. When a man has no conflict in himself you may know that he is not a Christian. But when a man or a woman is struggling with a mean contemptible disposition, you may know that he or she is a partaker of the Divine nature. I have got a good deal more respect for a woman who is trying to over- come and gain the victory over a mean, contemptible dispo- sition, than for those who are naturally pretty good and don't want to be any better. These people come into the world with these mean, contemptible dispositions and they try to conquer them and they succeed in becoming quite respectable, so that we can get along with them. They mould themselves over as it were. A fish cannot live out of the water and we cannot live in the water, and so the natural man cannot live for God. In the 7th and 8th chapters of Romans you will find that Paul had this con- flict. That he had a battle with the old man. You just read these two last chapters carefully, and you will see that he had the same conflict which now troubles you. In the last few verses of the 7th chapter you will read this, and you should read carefully. How many times you and I can say with the Apostle that " we have done things that we hated." We have said some thing that we ought not to have said, and we have had to beg some one's pardon. A good many people have got the idea that the " old man " is dead. Satan has blinded them. We are continually watching now. If the "old man " has been cast out, we ought not to have to watch. He is not dead, and we don't know when he will rise up. There is no need to watch a dead man. He won't get up and run 422 TO ALL PEOPLE. away. We don't have anyone remain with the dead in the cemeteries. Paul says : " Reckon yourself dead." I want to call your attention to this one truth of the two na- tures. I want you to take time to look up this subject. In the first ten yeais of my experience as a Christian I had a good many conflicts, and the question used "to come up if I have been converted, why is it that I still long to do the things that I used to do .'* " I didn't find out until after reading often my Bible, that God gave me a new nature but did not take away my old nature. After a child is born we give it a name. In the 62 d chapter of Isaiah and the 2d verse it says : " And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory : and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name." And in Revelations ii. 17 : " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches ; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." Now after we are brought into the family of God, He gives us a new name. After we become sons and daugh- ters of God we have a birthright. If I were to take a street boy and adopt him he would take my name, so when we become sons and daughters of God we take His name. This is not a matter of education, it is the work of God, and when He takes us into His family it is that we become heirs to the kingdom and peace of God. Another thing we get ; we get into a new way. We do not walk in the same way. In Hebrews x. 20, it says " we are brought into the new and living way." We give up our own way and take His way. We are led not in darkness but in light ; not in bondage, but in the way of peace and joy. We read that the way of the transgressor is hard. Not THE NEW BIRTH. 423 only that, but " the way of peace they have not known." A great many people tell us that they don't believe the Old Testament, but they do believe the sermon upon the Mount. And when you come to read that to them and the ten commandments, you find that they don't believe that either : I asked a woman in the inquiry-room if she was a Christian and she said, " You will have to ask my Minister." " I might ask him." But he was hundreds of miles away. There are a good many people in just that condi- tion. They know just what their minister knows and noth- ing more. You who believe the sermon on the Mount, do you believe what is said about the broad and narrow way ? What way are your feet travelling to-day ? Are "you in thai- narrow way or are you in that broad way ? These people like churches where they are told that they can be saved in their sins. But there are churches in the broad way as well as theatres. A great many people think that all harlots and thieves and righteous are to be swept into heaven whether they want to or not. Is there happiness in this broad way ? These young men that are living fast lives, are they happy.'' They lead miserable lives, for they have to trample their mothers' prayers under foot, they have to go over the feelings of their loved ones. The old way is not a good way. God does not call upon us to give up a single thing that adds to our happiness ; all He wants us to give up are the things which are the blight of our lives. When I was at Wellesley College the other day a young lady said, " Is it true, Mr. Moody, as so many tell us, that these are the best days of our lives ? " I said, " No, not if you are children of God." I have served Christ for twenty-one years and this last year has been the best. It grows bet- ter and better. I mount up higher and higher every year. I have had more peace, more strength, more rest, the past year than I ever had in my life. I want now to call your 424 '^O ALL PEOPLE. attention to the i6th chapter and the 17th verse of Mark : " And these signs shall follow them that believe ; in my name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak with new With all these new things we get also new tongues. There is a great deal of mischief done by slanderous tongues. I think we don't preach enough about this. If our hearts are right with God, we will not go out backbiting people. Many a man has gone to the grave with a broken heart, on account of a few abusive words uttered by a pro- fessed friend. Christ said to His disciples when He was leaving them, " These signs shall follow them ; they shall speak with new tongues." I heard the story of a young man who abused his mother and finally knocked her down, because she would not give him money to gamble with. She did not mind this ; she only prayed for him. She did not care for the money, but she did for his soul. He came back and he asked his mother to forgive him, and she did it gladly, and he praised God, and he erected a family . altar. When I was in London in 1872 I was acquainted \ with a very wealthy young man who had thirteen servants, / and they were all Christians but one. At last I converted I that one, by the grace of God, and then, when all the ser- i vants were at prayer with the family, the young man said, " Now we can sing ' Oh Happy Day that Fixed my Choice.' " They couldn't sing it while that one was unconverted. I don't know but it would be well for us to be more careful how we sing. I don't know why it is not as bad to sing a lie as to speak one. There are some ladies here that sing, can they truly sing " Oh Happy Day that Fixed my Choice ? " I cannot sing. I could not start " Rock of Ages," but I suppose I have heard it once a day for six years. I cannot sing with my lips. I cannot get it out of these thick lips of mine, but way down in my heart \ sing just as well as THE NEW SIRTH. 425 Mr. Sankey, and it is just as acceptable to God. But when we all get to heaven I expect to sing with l^.Ioses and the Lamb. A real Christian church is a church of song, and it ain't going to hire two or three men or women to do the singing for them, not by a good deal. I don't know all they do in heaven, but they sing there, and by and by we shall be there and join with them. Good Christians are not going to live upon the New York Ledger. But there are a good many people the old Adam clings to. Do not let us feed upon this new literature, this miserable stuff that is printed. Do not let us feed our minds upon this, but let us read this Word through two and three times and we shall have no taste for any other book. Another thing we get, we get new friends. I thank God for the new friends Christ has given me. The truest friends are Chris tians. A young man came to me and said ; " Mr. Moody, I have been converted, shall I give up all my old friends ? " I said, " No, go for them. Keep telling them about Christ and they will either come to God or give you up." A gambler told me one day he gambled away all his money, and then he gambled away some of his employer's money, and he knew that if he did not replace it he would be dis- missed and perhaps arrested. He told his friends, as he thought them, and he wanted to borrow money enough to replace his employer's money. But his supposed friends laughed at him, so he went to a Christian man and told him all and he lent him the money, and he gave his heart to Christ, and he has never gone near those gamblers since. If you want true friends you want the friends of Christ. I wish I had time to go on, but my time is up. Let us just sum up all these new things. I want to say right here that ^ when I was converted I thought I had got a great boon, the orreatest I had ever received. I wondered if it would seem as pleasant to me after a few years, and if these new things would not come to be old things. But Christ is a 426 TO ALL PEOPLE. thousand times more to me now than He was then. If you will just come to Christ, now, to-day ; He will re- ceive you and bless you. Now, let us see what these new things are. There is the new birth, have you got that ? The new creature, are you that ? The new nature, have you got that? A new name, have you got that given you ? Can you say that you are children of God ? We know what we are, but it don't appear what we shall be by and by when we shall see Him as He is. My little boy was just as much mine the day he was born as he is now, when he is eight years old. Have you got into the new way.'* Have you got a new tongue t Do you sing a new song ? Do you have new spiritual food? Have you got new friends ? If you get these to-day, this will be the most blessed Sabbath you have ever spent. ITTAI'S FRIENDSHIP FOR DAVID. I WILL read a few verses in the 15th chapter of 2d Samuel, beginning at the 19th verse : " Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us ? return to thy place, and abide with the king : for thou art a stranger, and also an exile. " Whereas thou earnest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us ? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy brethren : mercy and truth be with thee. *' And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be. " And David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. And Ittai the- Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones that were with him. " And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over : the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness." What must have been the feeling of David when he got outside of the city and found this foreigner, this stranger, out there with 600 men ready and willing to go with him. He had had three men that sat at his table, and in the. hour cf trial, in the hour of trouble, they had deserted him. It is in the time of darkness that we find out our friends, you find then who are your friends. There are some men now passing through the hard times in Boston, and they have found out who their friends are. Now, David was in tiouble, and here was this Ittai standing right by him. How that must have cheered the heart of the king! He md been driven from the throne by Absalom, and the v/hole kingdom seemed to be going with Absalom. Absa- 427 428 TO ALL PEOPLE. lorn and those who were with him were plannir g to take the life of David, but here we find this stranger, this I.tai, just following David, and when David told him to go back, see what he says, I think it is one of the sweetest things in the whole life of David : "Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us ? return to thy place, and abide with the king : for thou art a stranger, and also an exile. " Whereas thou earnest but yesterday, should 1 this day make thee go up and down with us ? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy brethren : mercy and truth be with thee." Here was a man that was attached to a person. That was the point I wanted to call your attention to. We are living I think in tlie day of shams. There are a good many people who are attached to creeds and denominations and churches. They are attached to this and that, instead of a person. Creeds and churches are all right in their places, but if a man puts them in the place of a Saviour and a personal Christ* they are a snare. He would be willing to give up everything but Christ in the hour of trouble, and if he is attached to Christ he will be able to say, '' Wherever Thou goest I go." David had nothing to offer this man. There he was barefooted, leaving the throne. Ittai was attached to the man. That is what we want now ; men are just counting the cost in this city, hesitating whether they are going to take Christ or not. But let me tell you, my friends, if you are going to take Him it must be as a personal Christ, and you should be willing and give up everything for Him. David was everything to Ittai, and life was nothing. No man had better friends than David had in his day. What we want is to be attached to the Lord Jesus Christ as Ittai was to David. That is the kind of friendship we want. But I don't want to take up much time. I want to hear from a good many who are to testify this afternoon. GOD'S INSTRUMENTALITIES. Mr. Moody read for the Scripture lesson, the First Epistle to the Corinthians, the first chapter, from the eighteenth " For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness ; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. " For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. " Where is the wise ? Where is the scribe ? Where is the disputer of this world ? Hath not God made foolish the wis- dom of this world ? " For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach- ing to save them that believe. " For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. " But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stum- bling block and unto the Greeks foolishness. " But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. " Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men ; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty ; "And base things of the world and things which are de- spised, hath God chosen, yea, and many things which are not, to brmg to naught things that are. " That no flesh should glory in his presence. ^3o TO ALL PEOPLE. "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctificatio.i and redemption ; "That, according as it is written, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord." SERMON. I. Corinthians, L, 27: "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." We very often hear people say that they have not got strength to work for God. They would like to work for Him, only they are so weak that they think they cannot. That is just what the Lard wants ; it is our weakness, not our strength. I think the great error is that we have got too much strength, and put too much reliance in ourselves, for God to use us. We are leaning upon our own strength. When we are weak, then are we strong. We should lean upon God's strength and not our own. You find that in all ages God has taken up weak things to confound the mighty. He has not taken the strong. We find in the fifth chapter of Revelation : "And I saw in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne a book written within and on the back side, and sealed with seven seals. "And no man in heaven nor on earth, neither under the earth, was found there able to open the book, neither to look thereon. "And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon." The book was handed around and no one opened it. There were the patriarchs and their sons of all ages gathered in that kingdom, and we find that not one of them was strong enough to open the book. There was Enoch, who was translated to heaven ; he could not open the book. Noah, who had been walking with God so long, and yet was not worthy to open that book. Abra- ham, the child of God, and his posterity gathered there, who could not open it. Moses, who went to the top of the moun- G OD'S INS TR I 'MENTALITIES. 431 tain and talked with God and took from Him the law, and yet was not worthy. Elijah, who went to heaven in a chariot of fire, he was not worthy. And John wept much because tliere were none able to open it. Some one told him that the lion of the tribe of Judah was present, and he was worthy to open it. He looked to see and lo ! it was the slain Lamb. That is what the Scripture calls a Hon. God's lion is always a lamb. It is not the strength of the world we want but the weakness, forgetfulness of self, and then we will find strength. The lion of Calvary was the Lamb of God. And God came forth and overcame it. My friends, we are going to canvass this city to save sinners. There are 75,000 families whom we want to visit in this city, and to carry the Gospel into every home here ; and if families will not come to the Taber- nacle, let them come to the churches. Let us seek them out in their homes and carry the blessed Gospel of Jesus Christ to them. If they will not come to us we have got to go to them, because that is the spirit of the Gospel. The Son of Man is coming to seek and to save those that are lost, and let no one say that they have not strength to do that. Why, any little boy, any man or woman, can carry some tracts or some word and message of the Gospel to these homes. If they are so prejudiced that they will not come to this Taber- nacle, ask them into the churches ; we don't care where they go, if they will only hear the Gospel, and if Christians in this audience, this morning, would only wake up and consecrate themselves to God and His service, the Gospel can be car- ried to every family in the city of Boston this week. If they will not believe it, that is not our fault. God does not tell us to go to them and preach, but to carry the Gospel to every creature. We are to deliver the message, and then the blood of their souls will not be required at our hands. When we were trying to have London canvassed an old woman came to us, eighty-five years old, and wanted a district, just to do a little more work for the Master before she went hence. 432 TO ALL PEOPLE. We gave her a district and she went out and went to the homes, and there was not a home but was glad to see her, and she would come down and pray with them with trembling voice. I don't know of anj^thing that impressed me more than that incident when I was in London ; to think that an old woman eighty-five years of age should come and give what little strength she had to that work. Are there not many dying spiritually now in Boston for want of some work of this sort ? Will we not be willing to come to God with all our foolishness and weakness and say, " Lord, here am I, use me ! " God can do it if we are willing. He can make use of our ignorance and foolishness. If the mighty power of God comes down upon us, our little effort shall be a great blessing. If one with the power of God has put a thousand to flight, two can put ten thousand to flight. If God is with us who can be against us. Let us keep in mind that God delights in all ages to use weak things. When He wanted that ark built He did not call a nation to His aid, but sent one solitary man, Noah, to build it. When He wanted to call the nations out of bondage He did not call upon princes and kings, but He called upon Abraham. He had given Abra- ham no child, and there was that old man without any pos- terity called upon to do the great work. God tried him, and in the sight of the Lord he was one of the most contemptible things to bring about such a work. Kings and princes looked down upon him, but with God's aid he was to bring a bless- ing to all the nations of the world. The world looked upon him with scorn, but he had faith and believed what God had said. He took God at His word. We want his strength, we want his faith in God, we want to get hold of his faith and belief. If God says He wi 1 do a thing it will be done. Look again ; when He wanted to bring those three million children out of bondage, Pie did not send out to some great prince or monarch, but met Moses and probably said to him, "You go down into Egypt for Me and bring My children up out of GOD'S INSTRUMENTALITIES. 433 bondage." And Moses said, " Why, Lord, what am I ?! Three miUion ! How can I do it ? " But the Lord said, *' Well, I am with you, I will help you." But Moses was staggered at the idea of his standing before that great monarch, Pharaoh. He not only had no eloquence, but was a man almost unknown. If we had been going to do such an act, we would probably have selected some great statesman, some man of great influence ; but here was a man who had been in the desert forty years. The Egyp- tians knew nothing of him ; he had been forgotten in fallen Egypt. He had been gone so long that those who had known him thought he was dead and gone forever. Yet God sent him, one man, alone into that kingdom. He stood before Pharaoh. Now, what is the result? Did he fail? No man who has been sent out by God has failed yet. If 1 God sends us we will be successful. But we must be sure that the Spirit of God is sending us out, and then we can go \ forward, and success will crown our efforts. These three mil- { lions of people were brought up out of fallen Egypt through ' Moses by the mighty power of God. And God got the glory, i and that is what He says here. He wants the glory. God uses even the most despised, base, foolish and ignorant instru- ments to do His work. Remember that God wants the glory. ' He has said that no flesh shall glory in His sight. We are to take no glory to ourselves ; when we come to that position God can use us. When He wanted to rid Germany of the darkness and gloom that had come upon that country He did not call forth an army of angels and preachers, but He took only a German monk, Martin Luther, and the Spirit of God, through Martin Luther, worked wonders there. It looked small in the sight of that country to think that one German was to do such a work, but the Spirit' of God triumphed. And then again when the darkness and gloom came upon Scotland, he called upon John Knox to work there, and the influence of his labors still lingers, and by 434 ^^ ^^^ PEOPLE. Christ's aid, his name rolled back the dark tide of infidelity in that country. It was so in the days of Wesley and White- field. Those were dark, gloomy days. He called upon those two Oxford students to do the work. He used them. There is many a man in this city God can use if he is only willing to become empty of self, and go down in the dust before God, and dien God can use him. He will be glad to. Sup- posing a man twenty-five years ago had said that London was going to have the greatest preacher in modern times. In fact, it is a question in my mind if there has been his equal for the last thousand years. Supposing any one had said that such a man was going to be called to that city and declare God's will and counsel and not be afraid of what the world would say, but in that great materialist centre of the world was going to deliver the message of God. We would have been looking around to see where such a man was coming from and we would have, perhaps, thought that that man was going to be taken from some institution, and be some great orator ; but instead of that Cxod went out into the country and called a boy to the work who never was in college (Ciiarles Spurgeon), to come up to London and preach the Gospel, and he preached it as no other man ever has, and the Spirit of God came upon him. London looked down upon him at first, but see what a great work he has done. God takes weak things to do His work — not great. Many a man in Boston is looked down upon because he is not brilliant. He looks small ; but as soon as the Spirit of God is with that man, God can use him. These mighty men of the world who look down upon weak Christians will be forgotten in a little while. Many a man that shines and glitters now upon the platform will soon be forgotten, but the man or woman who does anything for Christ will never be forgotten. If God is in any movement, don't look upon it as small ; the world will look upon it as a very small thing, perhaps, but it never pays to look down upon what God is G on S INS TR UMENTALITIES. 435 in. Look at that instance of the little cloud. The servant of the prophet comes out and looks to see if he can see die cloud. There was one in the morning, but when he went out he could not see it. He came back to the prophet and told him there was none, but he said to him, " Go again," and there the prophet is praying to the God of Heaven for the cloud to appear. He had just got an answer a little while before, when he prayed for fire, but he was now praying for water. The servant could not see anything of the cloud. He went again and again. That prophet had faith that his prayers were going to be answered. He says to the servant, " I am praying and I am sure that God is going to answer my prayer." And the servant comes back the seventh time and says he sees a little cloud, but he thinks it is too small to be of any consequence ; but the prophet knew that God was behind that little cloud and that was enough for him. The world might call that cloud only a little thing, but his God was behind it, and he knew there was power in it. God takes up little things, and although they may seem small in our sight, they are mighty when He is in them. He uses weak things, not strong ; foolish, not wise ; base, ignorant, despised things ; He intends that no flesh shall glory in His sight. Spurgeon, in speaking about Moses going before Pharaoh, relates that he told him how God would deluge his kingdom with frogs. " Thy God, the God of frogs ! " Pharaoh says. " Well, you can make light of frogs, they are small things, but there are a great many of them ; they may be very weak, but I have a good many of them." Now, the children of God may be weak in this city, but there are a good many of them, and let us be up and about the work of our Master. In every street, every society, in nearly every house in the city Christ has a faithful friend, and He will use them, and if we all go to work unitedly we will see wonderful results in this city. I don't believe that there is a Christian man or woman in this assembly that cannot lead one soul to ^^e TO ALL PEOPLE. Christ. If they are watching for souls and are faithful, if we are wide awake and look to God for power, we will get it. The Lord God will use us in building up His kingdom. Let us be performing some little thing. Even that Httle girl there may be won to the Saviour and convert others, and a hun- dred may convert a thousand, and that thousand ten thousand, and the ten thousand one hundred thousand, and so on. Don't you see how the current would be swelHng and widen- ing as it rolls on to eternity. No man can tell what the blessed results of winning one soul to Christ may be. Why up there in the mountain is a river, a little stream, and in the dry summer months the rocks could drink it up, but as it goes down the mountain there are little rivers and brooks running into it, and by and by there are larger brooks and by and by rivers, and it becomes a great stream, and on its bosom there is a great commerce carried on, and on each bank there are large towns and cities flourishing, and by and by it joins the Mississippi and other rivers. And so we may set a stream flowing on through eternity by winning one soul to Christ, which wins others, and so the blessed work goes on. John Knox's influence has not left the world yet; many a man has been blessed through his influence and life. Now, Martin Luther's influence still exists. Blessed are they that die in the Lord, for they shall rest ; but mark what follows — their works shall follow them. My friends, you that are awake and at work, can swell the current. Are you willing to be a fool in. the sight of the world ? Though men may scoff at you, work for the Lord. There are three wiles of the devil. The first is, he uses all hell to keep men from going to Christ. After he has done that, and if a man breaks through it all and gets to Christ, he moves all hell to keep his mouth closed, so that he will not speak and testify for God. And then if he does get his mouth open and begins to work, the devil moves all hell to blacken his character and to break down his influence, and on this line the devil has G OnS INS TR UMENTALITIES. 437 been working these thousand years, and he will continue to work. And he causes now, if you work for God, that you will be hated. A lady said to me that she would like to scream out at one of the meetings at what was said, that she did not have to suffer persecution, but it was all lovely now she was converted. Poor, deluded woman ! Why, if she lives in Christ Jesus she must suffer persecution. If people keep still, and do not bother the devil, and make inroads upon his kingdom, he will not trouble them. He likes those Christians who are deceived — who are only stumbling-blocks in the Church — who, when a man becomes dead in earnest, and red-hot in this work, with his soul on fire with his love for Christ — then it is that opposition begins to gather, and the devil tries all he can to break that man down. Keep in mind this : If the world has not anything to say against you, there will be very little said for you in heaven ; if you are not unpopular here, you will not be popular there. Every man that has begun to confess Christ has been persecuted. Many have been lied about and slandered, and so it will keep on as long as the Church is on earth. When a man becomes filled with the love of God and works for God, there will be opposition, and if there is a true revival in Boston there will be opposition. I tremble when an ungodly man speaks in favor of these meetings, as 1 fear that I have not given the work with the full spirit that it ought to have been given; because when the truth is spoken, it cuts into their hearts and they don't like it. It brings out their sins. One man came in here who was living with sin and the truth sank into his heart. His wife had been praying for him. He was living — well, I might as well say it — in adultery. He went out of here swearing and mad because the truth sank into his heart. He thought his wife had been tellmg me some- thing about him, but I did not know anything about him. The Spirit of God had reached liim and convicted him of his sinful life. But when the Gospel is preached and the Holy Ghost 438 TO ALL PEOPLE. cames it home, the sinner is convicted. They don't like it, and then begins the opposition. If we are true Christians let us work for God as one man. Let us pray to God that He may fill us with power to deliver the message as God gives it, and not be afraid of what men say, but to deliver it faith- fully and truly, and then pray God to carry it home to the hearts of the people. Now, are we ready to do some little thing for the Lord this week ? I came here this morning with one tliought — to see if I could not stir up men and women to do some one thing for Christ this week. Just some one thing. Don't you see if you do some one thing in the right spirit, Christ will bless it, and there will be a great deal done in the city of Boston this week for Christ if we all work ? There was a young man in Boston a few weeks ago who was so impressed that he ought to do something for God that he went to work, and having one brother, who lived in his native town, he went home and wrote this brother a kind letter, and just poured his heart out to that brother, and told him how anxious he was that he should be a Chris- tian. It was quite a cold day in March when that brother got that letter. I heard him get up in meeting and tell the incident last fall. He said it was most too cold to read it, but he thought he would like to see what his brother had written, and so he read it, and one portion of it was this : " Now, my brother, I am going to pray for you every day until I hear that you have accepted Christ for your Saviour." That brother could not keep back his tears as he read it and he said right there, " I will believe and will receive Christ," and God converted him right there in his sleigh on his way home. He had a happy wife, and when he got home and told her of it that wife of course rejoiced. Let me tell you the results of that little letter. That young man had a school- mate who lived up on a hill near by who had drunk up his farm. His wife had left him, and he was in sin. He was an only son, well educated, and had been a promising youth, GOD'S INSTRUMENTALITIES. 439 but then he was just a wreck ; then this young man who had got blessed began to labor with that old friend and talk with him and pray with him, and his wife prayed with him, and nearly two years ago he led that man to Christ. But there was another neighbor, just beyond, who had been forty years a drunkard, and these two men went for that drunkard, and the Lord God answered their prayers. He is a saved man now and they are having meetings in the school-house, and the whole neighborhood is being blest, all the result of one letter. How God uses weak things ! You cannot tell, my friends, how much you may accomplish if you win one soul to Christ. Ralph Wells tells a touching incident of an old lady in New York State. She was seventy- five years old and had a Sunday School class. She was poor, and one Sunday when it stormed very hard she thought she could not go to that Sunday School, it being two miles off. She said, "It storms so bad I think I won't go;" but just then the thought came to her, " Supposing any of my schol- ars are there, and if they come through this storm it certainly will seem that they are interested ; " and so that old lady started and went there in the driving storm, two miles to the school, and there she found one young man, and she talked with him about the Saviour and prayed for him. You know it is very good sometimes to come down to one subject where there are a great many. One may think you mean some one else when you talk to them all, but that scholar could make no mistake. He knew that the teacher meant him. The next Sunday he was not there, and she made in- quiries and found he had gone into the army. Two years after she got a communication from a stranger and learned that the young man was dying in a Southern hospital, and he sent back word to that old lady that that Sunday she came two miles through the storm to talk with him was the turning point in his life. He had tried to forget it, but could not. The thought that she had come two miles in that 440 TO ALL PEOPLE. beating storm to do a little good made an impression upon his mind that he could not forget, and led him to the Saviour. He sent back a rejoicing message. Did not she get paid foi going that two miles? It would have paid her for going a hundred miles. He is in glory now. And there are many aged ])ilgrims up yonder who may be, this morning, talking about the souls they want to see saved. Oh what a blessed privilege it is to be able to win one soul to Christ ! Shall we this morning here consecrate ourselves to His sei vice ? Shall we bring our foolishness and weakness and lay them upon the altar, and say, " Here, Lord am I ! Use me ? " A very httle boy was once upon his sick bed, and his minis- ter visited him. The bed-ridden boy said that he would never get up, and the little fellow was moaning because he could not do anything for Christ. He thought that he had got to die and never accomplish anything for the Master, and it troubled him, and he asked the minister what he could do. And he replied, " Well, you can just take down the names of some ])eople you want to see converted and pray for them." The minister went away and forgot all about it. By and by the interest increased in his church and one man after another was converted, and they started special meet- ings, and when the father of this boy went home the little fellow would ask if such a one was converted, and if the father said " Yes," he would seem greatly rejoiced, and if he said " No," he would turn his face to the wall and pray. At last he died, and among his papers they found fifty-six names of persons he had been praying for, and every one on the list had been converted. What a blessed work ! Many a man has lived three score and ten and never accomplished such a work as that bed-ridden boy. You can pray this morning for others, even if you are not near enough to speak to them. Let us call upon Heaven that the Holy Ghost may come down upon us in mighty power. Another thought I want to speak about is, that we want to work with the right motive. G OD' S INS TR UMENTALITIES. 441 We don t want to build up our sects so much, but to forget our self-interest and personal prosperity and just keep our eyes single to the honor and glory of Christ's kingdom. I have great admiration for Mrs. Comstock, the missionary in India who desired her boys to be educated for Christ's work there, but could not, and so sent them to this country to be educated. And she went down to the boat that was to take them to America, and just before it was time for it to leave she knelt down upon the deck, and with tears streaming down her cheeks she said, " Lord Jesus, I do this for Thee." May the Lord Jesus give us a passion for souls. May we all work for Him who died to redeem us, and come to Christ in our weakness, and we will be strong for others, and if they see us leading pure lives it will have great influence upon them. Let us be so full of the spirit of the Master that no one will doubt the genuineness of our Christianity. 19* ONE THING THOU LACKEST. I WANT to call your attention to the verse you will find in the 1 8th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, part of the 2 2d verse : " Now, when Jesus heard these things he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing." This young ruler was a lovely character. We are told that even the Saviour loved him. But he wanted to know what he should do to " inherit eternal life ; " and when men want to do something to inherit eternal life, why, then they are put under the law, and the only thing for them to do to in- herit eternal life is to keep the law. If a man can keep God's law without breaking it he can be saved, for he is without sin. He doesn't need to ask God for salvation. But a sinner is one who has transgressed the law of God. This young man was like a great many nowadays. He thought he had never transgressed the law, and when he came to the Lord and said, " Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life ? " the Lord just put him under the law. " Why callest thou me good ? None is good, save one, and that is God. *" Thou knowest the commandments : Do not commit adultery, Do not kill. Do not steal, Do not bear false wit- ness, Honor thy father and thy mother." But he said : " Lord, all these things have I kept from my youth Lip." The Lord saw that he had some other god be- fore him, and He told him : " Thou slialt have no other God befoie me." ONE THING THOU LACKEST. 443 The Lord put His finger on that very sin, and He told him : " Go and sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; and come, fol- low me. " And when he heard this he was very sorrowful and wen-t away." But there is one thing I want to call your attention to, and that is, " One thing thou lackest." You hear people say nowadays about a certain man, " He is very kind, very be- nevolent, but he only lacks one thing, and that is salvation," as if that wasn't enough to lack ! If a man lacks salvation he lacks everything. You might say that a beggar lacks one thing — that is riches, and if he didn't lack that one thing he wouldn't lack anything. You might say a drunkard lacked only one thing, and that is sobriety; and if he didn't lack that one thing he would be a sober man. You might say a leper lacks only one thing, and that is to get rid of his leprosy, and then he would be clean. You might go further, and say tiiat a man that is dead only lacks one thing to move around, and that is life. Yet it would be, " One thing thou lackest." It seems to me a very solemn thing for a man to be living in a day like this without salvation. He can't tell what a day may bring forth. May be some of us are spending our last night on earth, but if we haven't got salvation where are we going to spend eternity ? The question is, " Have I got salvation? Is it in my possession ? Is it mine, or do I lack it ? " If you lack it what is going to become of your soul if God should call you to heaven to-night ? You may be very moral. You may be very upright. You may Ije very virtuous. You may be pure in your outward life ; and because of that think you can be saved without Christ. But, then, if man could be saved without Christ what did Christ come for ? If man could work out his own salvation without the help of the Sor of God, then why did Christ come into 444 TO ALL PEOPLE, the world, and why is it necessary for us to be preaching salvation through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ? Why not go to work and preach up morality, and say, '' All you have got to do, is to be moral ; all you have got to do is to do the best you know how, and the Lord will save you. I tell you if you break one commandment, you break the whole law, and you are a sinner in the sight of God. I was once reading of Whitefield being the guest of a very moral, upright man. Whitefield loved this man very much, and wished to talk with him about his soul, but he was a very hard man to approach. Whitefield tried many times to approach him, but could not succeed. He had to start away very early the next morning to take the coach and leave him, never to see him, perhaps, in this world again. So when he went into his room he saw his diamond ring there and took it and cut right into the glass, "One thing thou lackest," and then he prayed God that that night the man's heart might be soft- ened, and that some time his eyes might rest upon it and it might be the means of his conversion. And it did lead to the conversion of that man. I would to God that I could say something to you to-night that might cut down deep into your heart, and that you would never forget, that if you lack salvation, you lack everything. What's rank and position in this world when we come to die, if we haven't got salvation ? It seems to me it would be better if we had never been born. If you had held a high position for twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty years — life is pretty short — it seems it would be pretty empty if you hadn't got this one thing — salvation. The next thing I want to call your attention to is the ninth chapter of John, twenty-fifth verse : " One thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see." Some say that they are never to know down in this world here whether they are saved or not ; that we can't know until we get to the great white throne of judgment to find it out. But this man knew. He said, " Whereas I was blind, now I see.' ONE THING THOU LACKEST. 445 That poor blind beggar in Jerusalem was about as wise a man as they had. Blind as he was, we find that when his eyes were opened he could go out and see what took place, and they couldn't beat him down that he wasn't the man that was restored to sight. Then it says we must follow *' One who is the Master." A man must leave father, mother, wife, and children and follow the Lord — ^just one Master. Some say they would like to follow the Master, and yet follow in the ways of the world. I tell you, you can't do it. CONFESSION— THE KEY TO SALVATION. i WILL read part of the tenth chapter of Romans : "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israc. is, that they might be saved. " For 1 bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. '• For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." I think you will find a great many men stumble right there. Instead of submitting to the righteousness of God, they are all the time going about to establish their own righteousness. *' For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. " For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. " But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven ? (that is, to bring Christ down from above :) " Or, Who shall descend into the deep ? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) *' But what saith it ? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart : that is, the word of faith which we preach : " That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt beUeve in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." I called your attention to that truth yesterday. I want to call your -tttention back to it to-day, and I want to keep this right Uifore all these men that are trying to take their stand now on the Lord's side that there is one thi?ig you nmst do, CONFESSION— THE KEY TO SALVATION. 447 and that is to confess the Lord Jesus. You that heard Gen- eral Swift yesterday will bear in mind that he said that he was going to be a secret disciple. I think there are a good many in Boston that are trying that very thing now. They are not willing to confess with their mouth and take their stand on the Lord's side, yet they are wondering they do not get the light that people talk about. The light will not come till they come out boldly and let the world know who they are and whose side they are on. " For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. " For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on hitii shall not be ashamed." That's the test. If they believe in His name they would not be ashamed of it. We may be ashamed of ourselves-- and I think the more we know of ourselves the more we will be ashamed of ourselves — but not be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. As I was telling up to the Tabernacle the other day, a man who was converted went out and began to preach. Some sneering infidel says, " Young man, you ought to be ashamed of yourself." "Well," says he, "I am ashamed of myself, but I am not ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ." Let us not be ashamed of Him who gave His life for us — who has redeemed us with His own precious blood. The Scripture says, " Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." If a man is ashamed it is a sign he does not be- lieve with his own heart. A man must be willing to be a fool in the eyes of the world for Christ's sake. " For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek ; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. " For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. " How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed ? and how shall they believe in him of whom they 448 TO ALL PEOPLE. have not heard ? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? *' And how shall they preach, except they be sent ? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. " But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith. Lord, who hath believed our report ? " So then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." We find a great many that talk about their faith being very weak, and they pray that God may strengthen their faith and give them more faith. I wish I had spent a little more time during the first years of my Christian experience in studying the Bible. Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God. Suppose I had met a man ten years ago. I might not have much faith in him, be- cause I could not know much about him. But if afterwards I silent a great deal of time with him, and I found him to be a good, true man, of course, I should have more faith in him. So the more a man knows of God, the more faith he. will have in Him. These men that haven't any faith in God don't know God. A man must know the will of God before lie can know His doctrine. If a man is not willing to be taught by God, if he is not willing to be His disciple, he can never know anything about God. Instead of all the time mourning about the weakness of our faith, let us get better acquainted with the word of God, and our faith will grow as we get better acquainted with the Bible. Another thing : if we have a little faith we can do a great deal with it. There was a Scotchwoman once who was noted for her faith. A person said to her, " I believe you are the woman with great faith ? " She answered, " I am a woman with a little faith, but with a great God." It was a personal God that she be- lieved in. Let me call your attention to the first verse of the 107th Psalm. " O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed CONFESSION— THE KEY TO SALVATION 449 of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy." A young convert got up the other night, and the only part of the Bible he knew was just to give thanks to God. " Praise the Lord, O my soul." That was the verse. I would to God that every young man and every young woman who has been redeemed from the hand of the enemy would jusi; say so. Now is the time to come out and show your colors, and let the world know whose side you are on. We will sing a song, and then let every man who has been redeemed from the hand of the enemy say so. It is not the most fluent man who is always the most ac- ceptable with Christ ; it is the one who tells the truth. It isn't orators we want, but just witnesses for Christ. JOHN THE BAPTIST. You that have been here the last two Sunday mornings remember I have been talking about Christ. The first Sun- day it was ^'Christ in the Old Testament."' Last Sunday it was " Christ in the New Testament," and we left Huii in P'.gypt. To-day I want to call your attention to John, His forerunner. On hearing the news of the death of the king, Joseph brings Him back to Nazareth, and there He remained for thirty years. I once read of the founder of the Russian Empire going down to a Dutch seaport as a stranger, in dis- guise, that he might learn how to build ships ; that he might go back and teach it to his own subjects. People have wondered at that ; but this is a greater wonder, that the Prince of Glory should come down here and learn the carpenter's trade. He was not only the son of a carpenter, but He was a carpenter Himself. His father was a carpenter, and He was a carpenter too, for we read that they brought it up against Him that He was a carpenter. We read : '• And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom^ and these mighty works ? " Is not this the carpenter's son? " ] And right here is one lesson that we ought to learn, and jthat is, when Christ was here He was an industrious man. .'And I have often said on this platform that I never knew yet a I lazy man to be converted. If he was, he soon gave up his I laziness. I tell you that laziness does not belong to Christ's Kingdom. I don't believe a man would have a lazy hair in JOHN THE BAPTIST. 45 1 his head if he was converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. If ^ man has really been born of the Spirit of Christ he isn't lazyj he wants to find something to do, and any manual labor is not degrading. It is honorable, and if our Master, who was the Prince of Peace and the King of Glory, could leave heaven and come down here and work as a village carpenter, don't let us think that manual labor is beneath our notice. Let us be willing to go out and work. If we can't find what we want, let us do what we can. If we can earn only twenty-five cents a day, let us earn that rather than do nothing. A good many are always waiting for something to turn up, instead of going out and turning up something— looking for it and finding it. Let me say to young converts right here, if you want to get power and strength from God, you have got to find something to do, something to occupy your minds. A great many i>eople are all the time in dark- ness and in trouble about spiritual matters because they haven't got anything to do spiritually. Now, we not only want something to occupy our hands, but our minds. But that is not the point of the lecture this morning. I want to go back to these two wonderful men. The thirty years have rolled away, and it is now time that this wonderful Messiah should come unto the nation. The Scripture has been ful- filled, and the first sound we hear of His coming is that strange voice crying in the wilderness. Those thirty years that have just expired were nothing to the nation. Un- doubtedly, these rumors about those two children that created a great sensation at the time had died out. The story of the shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem had gone out of their recollection — faded away. The story of this child being brought into the temple, and that old man and that old woman coming in there just at the time — that wonderful scene had faded away. Many that were at the temple at that time had gone. Zacharias and Elizabeth had passed away, and the Roman Empire had also died, after sending 452 'rO ALL PEOPLE. out this decree — that the country should be taxed. Herod was also dead. A great change had taken place in thirty years. You just carry your minds back through thirty years, and see how many that stood with you thirty years ago, with whom you were acquainted, have gone, and are now sleep- ing in their graves. If the Holy Ghost hadn't come after Christ went to heaven, the story of His death and His resur- rection would have been forgotten as soon as His birth and His life. No doubt about that. It is that which has kept the memory of Christ in the world, and His name so fresh and fragrant. The Holy Ghost has come down here to keep in our minds the glory and beauty of Christ. Now, we find His forerunner comes. Matthew says : "In those days come John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness." Mark says : " The voice of one crying in the wilderness." Luke says : "The word of God came unto John, the son of Zacha- rias, in the wilderness." And John's account is: "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." The last prophet had closed up his prophecy by saying that John should come before the Messiah ; that he should be the herald who should come to introduce Him. Now, these four evangelists all take up their pens, and all notice it. You know if you let any four men write up any one thing they will not all write about it alike. Why, just the last year, when men went to the Centennial, not any four of them wrote about it alike. Let a man come in here and let any four of us look at him — one will get a side view of him, one a front view, and so on, and not any of the four will see him alike. So these evangeHsts wrote about John ; but not one of the four used the same language. You know it was said he was to be Hke Elijah, Well, he looked like him, dressed like him, and his preaching was like him. He came suddenly, unexpectedly, upon the world, and it was not long before his voice rang clear through the whole nation, and the whole nation was stirred. He stood be- JOHN THE BAPTIST. 455 tween the two dispensations. He was the last prophet the new dispensation was to have. They had had some mighty prophets — wonderful men ; but this man was to be the last one. Now we find this man standing there, as it were, be- tween these two dispensations, and when he first commenced to preach it was very much like that of Elijah's. He was a reformer. " Repent ! Repent ! " that was his cry. " Re- form ! Reform ! " that was his cry. But if he had stopped there his reform would have died out with him. A great many reformations die out with the reformers because they cry " Repent ! Repent ! Reform ! Reform ! " but they do not get any further than that. But, thank God, John had something else to tell them. He didn't stop at " Repent ! repent ! " but he kept telling them there was One coming mightier than he himself. That's the way to preach the gospel now. (Cries of " Amen.") We are to preach not only that Christ has come, and gone back to heaven, but is coming back again. (Cries of " Amen, amen.") That though He died. He is going to return. Undoubtedly that was what . thrilled the nation. Talk about sensation. There was nevei a nation moved as that one nation was moved by John the | Baptist. Now, people, if they want to stir a town or city, they want to influence the leading men of the city to stand around them, help them, and pray for them. But here stood this man preaching in the wilderness without any influence of your committee. He didn't have Mr. Sankey to sing for him to draw the people. No, he stood there on the banks of the Jordan alone, preaching the glorious tidings that the Mes-> siah was coming after him, and he probably was preaching this to the lowest beggar in the land. There he was in the wilderness, dressed like his predecessor, Elijah. There he was preaching in the wilderness, and just bear in mind it wasn't any milk and water preaching. He gave the message just as God gave it to him. I suppose if he had had some of the present Christians in Boston there they would have 4')4 \ TO ALL PEOPLE. \said, "Don't be so bold ; be mild about it. Yon know you jniust use a little moderation, don't you, about this ? Come, if you talk against these Pharisees they will cut your head (off." But that didn't enter his mind. It wasn't what they ' wanted. It was what God gave him to deliver, and if any man just takes the message and believes it as God gives it to him, I tell you God will stand by him. He is going to suc- ceed, mind that. He may be unsuccessful at first, his labor may seem to be unprofitable for a time, and people may turn away, but the time will come when his words will cut deep down into their hearts and lead them to salvation, I Then the people began to tremble. They didn't have any ' newspapers then to print the sermons, they didn't have any telegraph wires to flash it over the country, but one man just took it up and passed it to the next, and so on, and very soon I it was over the whole country. " There he is," they said, 1 "dressed just like Elijah, with his leathern girdle and his raiment of camel's hair." He comes out about nine o'clock in the morning, and there he stands on the banks of the j Jordan, and there he speaks. Day after day he is seen there, 'and his cry is " Repent ! Repent ! " And that was his cry. Well, it is not long before every town, and every city, and every village has heard of this wonder. He preached the law just as it was given him, and as a specimen of his preaching just read this. See how bold he was : " Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers." O generation of vipers. Pretty hard talk, wasn't it? I don't know as you could get many people into this Taber- nacle by such talk as that. But he knew what he was doing. He knew they hated his Master. He knew that away down in their hearts they were at enmity with God. Some men preach now that men are born in the grace of God, and that theiefore they don't need to receive any JOHN THE BAPTIST. 455 grace from on high ; that everybody is going to be saved, and God isn't going to send a man to hell, if we were born in sin. But just read a Httle further and see what he said : " O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from' the wrath to come ? " " Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father ; for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." He knew the men pretty well ; I don't know where he had been all these thirty years; but. he had found out the human heart — he had found out human nature pretty well. And those people undoubtedly said, " We belong to the seed of Abraham ; we are the descendants of Abraham ; we don't need to be converted ; we've got the law from Moses, and we obey that. Let these poor dogs of Gentiles be con- verted. It isn't for us." And that's just the doctrine now. "We don't need to be converted; John was a first-rate reformer. Oh, yes ; but that don't touch us. We go to church regularly. It is for these publicans and harlots. That kind of preaching is not for us. Oh, it's all good enough — all very good." And no doubt they would put up a Tabernacle for them — for the harlots and drunkards to go to. " Oh, no, that preaching is not for us. It's good enough for them, but we don't need to go. We are the seed of Abraham. We belong to Moses, and we are not such bad men. What do you mean by conversion? We don't need to be born again. What do we need to be born again for ? We pay our debts. We are good men." See, that same old spirit. Eighteen hundred years have rolled away, and you find human nature the same. John knew them pretty well. " I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." You needn't flatter yourselves that you are better than the 456 TO ALL PEOPLE, other people. God can make children right out of these stones, and make them the seed of Abraham. " And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the tree ; every tree, therefore, which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. "And the people asked him, saying. What shall we do then ? " See, they had an inquiry meeting right there on the banks of the Jordan. *' He answereth and saith unto them : He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none ; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. " Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him : Master, what shall we do ? " And he said unto them : Exact no more than that which is appointed you. "And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying : And what shall we do ? And he said unto them : Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages." Now, that was his preaching up to the time that Christ came. As I said before, it was " Repent ! Repent ! Reform ! Reform ! " And you may tell these men they ought to do better; but if you don't tell them how, you can't save them. Now we find here, in this fifteenth verse, that they were looking for something more. "And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not ; " John answered, saying unto them all, I, indeed, baptize you with water ; but one mightier than I cometh, the latcliet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose : he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire : " Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his lloor, and will gather the wheat into his garner ; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. "And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people." JOHN THE BAPTIST. 457 Now, what a chance there was for John to have let self come in. When people were wondering in their hearts if he was not the true Messiah, if he wasn't Christ, he might have been tempted to come out and say he was more than him- self— that he was Christ. But there is one thing about this) man — he never preached up self. He was preparing thel nation to receive the Lord of Glory. He had come justi merely to introduce him. He was nothing. Just as a man: comes and introduces a friend to you, he just barely intro- duces him and steps aside. He dosen't put himself forward. So John introduces the Son of God, and then begins to fade away, and soon he was gone. He hadn't come to introduce himself, but to preach Christ. And let me say right here, that is the very height of preaching. If we can only get our eyes oft" of self and get them fixed on Christ, if people would only stop thinking about their minister and look at God, then we could do what we wished to accomplish. Oh, I hate to hear people saying, " Oh, what an eloquent sermon ! Did you ever hear anything like it ? " — talking about the preacher's eloquence, and not about the sermon. Away with it ! What we want to get at is our Master. (Cries of "Amen.") Whea they begin to wonder who he is, he just comes right out and says: "I am not Jesus. I am only just one sent to intro- duce Him. I have come for that purpose. I have not come to preach up myself, but Him that is mighty to save.'' And then we find that while his star was just at its heightj while he was just about in the zenith of his glory, while peo- . pie were flocking in from the towns and villages to hear him, the chief rulers of Jerusalem send down a deputation, the same as the Pope of Rome, to inquire what this religiou meant. They appointed some influeniial men to find him ; out, and they said to him, " We have been sent by the chief ' priest of Jerusalem to find out who you are. Are you Christ ? " And John told them, " No." " Well, who are you ? Are you this man or that man?" "No." "Are you this prophet 20 \ 458 TO ALL PEOPLE. \o\ that prophet?" "No," "Well, who are you?" Did he say, " I am Jesus ? " No. " Merely Mr. Nobody ; merely a voice crying in the wilderness." What a message that was to send back to Jerusalem ! He was not trying to put himself forward. He was all the time trying to get out of self. In the nineteenth verse, first chapter of John, it says : " And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou ? " And he confessed, and denied not ; but confessed, I am not the Christ. " And they asked him. What then ? Art thou Elias ? And he saith, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he an- swered, No. "Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of tl.yself? " He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilder- ness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. " And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. " And they asked him, and said unto him. Why bap- tizest thou, then, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet ? " John answered them, saying, I baptize with water : but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; " He it is, who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am unworthy to unloose. " These things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing." Now, this was the day, I say, when John was at the very j zenith of his glory; but see how noble he stood. He didn't jtake any honor or glory to himself, and in two different 'places he declared that he knew not this Stranger that he ! was the herald of — his Messiah. Some are trying to make out that this was all planned by John and Jesus, that he should sa> ho didn't know Him. But he declares in two JOHN THE BAPTIST. 459 places that he didn't know Him. They were brought up in two extremes of the country — one in the northern part of it, and the other in the southern part of it ; one was born at Nazareth, and the other at Hebron, Talk about eloquence ! John was one of the most eloquent men, I suppose, that ever lived. He was the herald of God, and when the nation was in a terrible state of excitement, and the chief priests of Jerusalem, and even the King himself, went to hear him. There he stood on the banks of the Jordan. I can see the men and women on both sides of the river, little children, mothers with their babes in their arms, all intensely excited, all leaning forward to catch what he says. " Now," he says, "if you believe what I say, that if you have broken the law given at Sinai you have sinned, and to be forgiven you must repent and come down into this Jordan, and I will baptize you in the name of the God of Hebron," And they go in by scores and hundreds, and there he baptized them, and as he stood there baptizing I can imagine about 20,000 people hanging upon his lips. There was a man came down through the crowd. I can imagine that John was a man who looked as though he was more like a mountain eagle, but his wings seemed to droop ; that eye that had been so keen and so severe on the Israelites when he called them a generation of vipers ; his face fell and he shook his head as this Stranger came. I suppose as He came walking along towards John, God revealed it to him, " This is My Son ; this is the Saviour of the world ; this is the Prince of Peace." And when John saw Him he quailed before Him, and he said, '' I have need to be baptized of Thee." What excite- ment ! How it must have thrilled t*he audience as John drew back and said : " I have need to be baptized of Thee." John knew Him. John recognized Him. He knew He was the promised One of the law. John said : " I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me ? " But Jesus said : *' Suffer it to be so now, that the law may be fulfilled." 460 TO ALL PEOPLE. Now, what excitement as these two men wen»t clown in the /river together. Oh, if Jordan could speak, it could tell some wonderful stories. Wonderful scenes had taken place there. Naaman had gone into that river and washed, and come forth clean. Elijah going up with his mantle struck the water and went over dry-shod, as also did Elisha after Elijah had ascended. But a more wonderful scene was taking place in Jordan than ever took place before. Our Lord was going down in Jordan to be baptized, and He was going to come up on resurrection ground. So He goes down with John the Baptist, and the moment He was baptized and came up out of the water, the heavens were opened unto Him, and the Spirit of God de- scended upon Him like a dove, and lighted upon Him. Heaven witnessed the scene. God the Father spoke then. He broke the silence of ages. The God of the Old Testa- ment was the Christ of the New. And he heard a voice from heaven saying, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Some one says that that was the first time that God could look down on earth since Adam fell, and say that He was well pleased. In Hebrews, tenth chapter, seventh verse. It says : " Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me), to do Thy will, O God." He was the Son that was born above. He hadn't broken the law. He had no need to go down there. He went for us, and when He came up out of the water a voice came out of heaven, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well' pleased." Now, some tell us they see nothing supernatural about Christ. As I tried to show last Sunday morning everything that took place, from His birth right along up, was supernatural. Just look at it. The heavens opened and the Holy Ghost descended upon Him. The Spirit of the Lord came down on Him, and God owns Him, recognizes Him. JOHN THE BAPTIST, 461 Now, another thought I want to call your attention to. John's preaching changed ; but he was not like a good many men nowadays, who want to reform the world without Christ, who set a good example, and tell men to sign pledges and to do this or that and trust in their own strength. The moment he got his eye on Christ he had one text : " Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." That's how you are going to get rid of your sins. Says he : "I bear record of this in the Son of God." And he told his disciples, '' Now, you follow Hun. Go with Him." And one afternoon, as he sat there with his disciples, he said : " Behold the Lamb of God," and they left him to follow Him — two of his own disciples. I tell you that's something you don't like to do — to have your friends leave you ; to preach them away — your own congregation. But now this man begins to ask his disciples to leave him. " Why," said he, '' I tell you I am not worthy to just unloose His shoes. He is more worthy than I am. Follow Him." He began to preach up Christ. " He must increase ; I must decrease." Would to God we had 10,000 such preachers in America to-day. (Cries of "Amen! amen!") "He must increase, but 1 must decrease. If I am not lifted up, I 'vill draw uj) His gospel." But the trouble is we want to lift up o\u-selves. We want to lift up this creed, this party, this doctrine. Oh, may God sweep it away (cries of " Amen ! amen ! ") and help us to lift up the gospel of Christ. That's what this world wants, and John knew it. So he cried, " Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." Some of his dis- ciples came to him one day and said, " You know that Man you baptized there over in the Jordan ? More men are com- ing to Him than are to you." That was jealousy — old envy rankling in those men's bosom. But what did he say ? "I told you that I wasn't He. Why, He must increase, and I must decrease. That's right. I would rather see the crowd flocking to hear Him." Oh, that we had more such men — more 462 TO ALL PEOPLE. of such feeling (cries of " Amen ! amen !"), that we might be just nothing, and Christ everything ! And then John, I think, was terribly abused by some one. He was cast into prison, and he sent two of his disciples to inquire of Christ if He was the true Messiah, or should he look for another. I don't know, but I have an idea that he wanted his disciples to leave him and go over to Jesus. So he called two of his most in- fluential disciples and told them, " Now, you go and ask Him if He is the true Messiah." I can't believe in his faith wavering ; but if he was wavering he took the best way, and sent these men to ask our Saviour. I see his deputation arrive, and when He got through preaching these disciples come up and say, " Our master has sent us to ask if you are the true Messiah ; and shall he look for another?" Jesus goes on healing the sick, causing the lame to leap, giv- ing sight to the blind, making the deaf to hear, and after He had gone on performing these miracles, says He, "You go back and tell your master what you have seen and what you have heard. Go back and tell John that the blind see ; that the deaf hear ; that the lame walk, and that the poor have the gospel preached to them." (Cries of "Amen ! amen ! ") When John heard that in prison, that settled all his doubts. His disciples believed, and the poor had the gospel preached to them. That was the test, and John's disciples one after another left him. And now we find him thrown in prison. There he is in prison, waiting his appointed time. Just bear in mind God had sent him. His work was done. He had only just come to announce the Saviour — only for that object. Some think that Christ's treatment of John was rather hard, rather harsh ; but the greatest tribute ever paid to any man was paid by Jesus to John. ''But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment ? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 463 " But what went ye out for to see ? A prophet ? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. " For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way be- fore thee. " Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist ; notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." There was none greater than this same John, Our Saviour knew that John was going first. He knew He was soon to die and John would have to come to Him ; that they would soon be together in glory, and then they could talk it over ; that John must sink out of sight, and the Lord of Glory must be the central object. John and Jesus were like the sun and moon in comparison with the stars. All the prophets were like the stars in comparison with those two men. There was no prophet like John. None born of woman was greater. Moses was a mighty prophet. Elijah was the son of thun- der, and a great and mighty prophet ; and so was Elisha. But they were not to be compared with John. What a char-1 acter ! He lost sight of himself entirely. Christ was upper- '• most ; Christ was the all-in-all with him. He was beheaded outside of the promised land. He was buried in Moab, somewhere near where Moses was buried. The first and last prophet of that nation were buried near together, and there they lie outside of the promised land ; but their bodies by and by will be resurrected, and they will be the most grand, the niost glorious in God's kingdom. Oh, that God would give us the spirit of John, that we might exalt God, forget ourselves, and cry out " Christ is everything." MR. Moody's closing prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we pray Thee that Thy blessing may rest upon each one of us, and that we maybe filled with the power and the glory of Christ ; and may we be like John, that beloved disciple, and forget self and preach up Christ, 464 TO ALL PEOPLE. Sx\ season and out of season. May we be like him who rried in the wilderness, " He must increase, and I must de- ci ease." O God, we pray Thee give us that spuit. Thou knowest how this seeking for praise, and this love for ap- plause, keep coming up in our hearts, and hinder us from working for Thee. O God, destroy that feeling, and make us hke that disciple, that we may not be seeking great things for ourselves, but forget ourselves, and work for Thee. We pray Thee that we may have more of that spirit of that be- loved herald of Christ, who published the tidings of the coming of Christ, of One who was to help us to go forth into this dark wilderness and dark world, and herald and sing the news of His coming again, and tell about His imper- ishable love, and how He seeks to save each one that is lost. We pray Thee that we may be filled with the Holy Ghost, and that we may be sent out like John the Baptist was sent — to the home of the drunkard, to the home of the infidel, to the home of the sceptic, and that we may tell the story in such a way that every one may be brought to the Saviour and find in Him that peace and glory that passeth understanding. BENEDICTION. And now may peace, glory, and grace from God, the Father, Christ, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be and abide with each one of us, now and forever. Amen. SALVATION. You'll find my text most anywhere in the Bible. If you look carefully you can find it written on every page. This afternoon I want to tell every woman in this assembly how she may be saved before this meeting closes. Perhaps some of you have come in here to hear a sermon oi listen to the preaching. Now, I don't want you to be listen- ing for a sermon. I want you to forget all about the sermon and the preaching, and be ready to receive the Word of Life, and be ready to receive salvation as a gift Now, if there are one or one hundred or five hundred tha. have come in to this assembly determined not to go out until they are saved, they can be saved. I believe that as surely as that I am standing here before you to-day. I have preached to you a number of times in the past twelve weeks upon sudden conversion. I beheve that this truth of sudden conversion has met with more opposition than any other truth that we have preached. I don't think we have been in any city where there has been so much downright opposition to this doctrine as there has been in Boston. Now let us look, and if the Word does not teach this, let us give it up ; but if it does, then let us cling to it. 1 want to give you a number of illustrations. The first illustration is the ark. It was the ark that saved Noah and his family. There was a moment when he and his family were outside the ark, and there was another when he was inside. That is sudden con- version. When God called him into the ark, all he had to do was to come into the ark. It was all ready when God ca^ed him. It was finished and the door was wide open. J 20* 466 TO ALL PEOPLE. have not much sympathy for this notion that man is weeping and praying and entreating and knocking for God to let him come in. That is not the doctrine. The Son of God standeth and knocketh, knocketh, knocketh at the door of your heart for you to open it and let Him come into you. The Son of God wants to save you. He is anxious that you should let Him save you, and you are not willing to be saved. Some of you say you have tried to understand this, but that you cannot. It is not that ; you can understand it. It is your perverse, black, corrupt hearts that will not let you un- derstand this. The striving is with your pride, with your own heart, not with God. The idea that we should have to stand weeping, struggling, knocking for God, the blessed, ever-living, merci- ful God. He is ready to give you salvation when you are- ready to receive it. In Manchester, after one of our meet- ings, we had a meeting in the gallery, an inquiry meeting, and I had a little company of anxious inquirers around me, ;9,nd 1 noticed one gentleman who took his seat upon the outskirts of the grou]), in the rear. I thought at first that he was a sceptic, and then I saw him weeping earnest tears, and that he was interested and evidently troubled with something. I went up to him ^nd I said, " Why cannot you receive salva- tion now ? " and he said, "I don't feel as if I could have it here now.'' And I went on to tell him that there was no need to wait for feeling ; that feeling had nothing to do with it ; that if he would just let his feelings alone they would take care of themselves. And 1 went on to tell him that the word feeling was not mentioned in the Bibje ; that there was no command to any one to feel, from Genesis to B-evelation ; that feeling is not attached to salvation, that it is something beyond mere feeling ; that feeling may change, but that of the word of God doesn't. I used one illustration after an- other, but he said that " he didn't see how it was." And finally I thought of this illustration about the ^.rk, and I said : SALVATION, 467 '*Was it Noah's feelings that made him safe, or was it the ark ? " Then he cried, " Why, yes, I see it." Why, it aston- ished me, he got it so quick. He said : " I have got to go off now upon the train ; I thank you very much, Mr. Moody." I could hardly believe it that he understood it, it was so quick, so sudden. A few days afterwards, as I was coming out of the Free Trade Hall, a man stepped up to me and said: "Mr. Moody, do you remember me?" and I said, " Well, no, I don't particularly ; I see a good many faces and I cannot remember them all, but yours seems very familiar to me." And then he said, " Do you remember the illustra- tion about the ark ? " and I said, " Oh, yes, I shall not forget that very soon." And then he said, " I am the man ; " and I said, " Well, how is it with you ? " And he said, " I went right into the ark then ; I let the feelings take care of them- selves." And when I left Manchester he was about the last man to say good-by to me. The word of God saved him, and if you will just take the word of God to-day it will save you, and you will find peace and joy. In the twelfth chapter of Exodus the Israelites are told : " And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dij) it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike ihe lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin : and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. " For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians ; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. " And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever." What was it made these people safe ? It was the blood upon the door-posts. It was not their pr;^yers, their tears, their weeping that saved them and made them feel secure ; it was the blood. " When I see the blood, that shall be the token for you." If we are sheltered behind the blood we 468 TO ALL PEOPLE. shall be safe. Now, there must have been a moment when that blood was not there. When it was not there there was a moment when they were exposed to death, but the moment the blood was put there that moment they were sheltered. They had then security and safety. There was a legend told about a first-born child, and it ran that if the blood was not there she would die that night, and she wanted to know that it was there. She asked her father if the blood was there. He said, " Oh, yes, it is there. I told the servants to put it there." But she said, "Father, are you sure it is there.?" And he answered her again, " I told the servants to put it there, and they have of course done so." But said she, " I wish you would take me to the door and show me if it is there." And he took her out, and lo, and behold, it was not there. But the servants had time enough to kill the lamb and put the blood there, and she saw it and rested quietly in that word of the living God. It is only a legend, but it is an illustration that we can afford to take God at His word. The blood of Christ is given us in mercy, and if I believe upon God I am safe. It is not my prayers, it is not my tears, it is not my feelings, but the Word of God that saves me. I find a good many people that are substituting feeling in the place of belief. They are substituting before Christ ordinances and forms, instead of taking the Word of God as the word that sets us free, that gives us liberty in Christ. The next illustration that I want to give you is these six cities of refuge. And the Lord told Moses that there should be six cities of refuge, three upon this side of the Jordan, and three in the land of Canaan ; and that their gates should be open day and night ; and these cities should be in a conspicuous place ; and their leading men, like our selectmen or our officers connected with the Government, should keep all the roads in good repair, and the bridges in good order ; and sign- posts in red were set up, pointing the way to these cities. Now, suppose I have unwittingly killed a man. In those days SALVATION. 469 it was the law that the next relation of the man who had been killed could draw his sword and slay that murderer when he met him. The moment that this nearest relative heard of it he could come upon the murderer and slay him, and the law would not touch him, it would justify the act. So the nearest relative of this man could slay me. But if I once get behind the walls of one of these cities I am safe. If 1 am innocent, I am tried and am acquitted, but if I am guilty, then I am condemned and put to death. Look at that in regard to salvation. I am ten miles away. There are ten miles between me and that city. I do not stop to discuss the question. I have only one thing to do, and that is get in there. I have no other hope. I leap into the highway, and I go towards that city just as fast as I can. It isn't long before I hear some one upon my track. He comes closer and closer. I redouble my speed and fly as fast as I can. He comes nearer and nearer. I can hear him breathe. If I do not escape into that city I must perish if he overtakes me. He hounds me down. I am exposed to death ; to judgment. I am now within a hundred yards of that city. Notice is given to the citizens. The men rush to the walls to see me. They cry, " Escape, escape for thy life, he is hard upon thee." I leap over the highway, 1 bound along the road. I have not time to discuss ; I must escape into that city. I am exposed to that man's sword. Now I am leaping through the walls ; one moment I am in danger, in the next I am safe. That is sudden, isn't it? That is a Bible illustration, isn't it ? But a great many people think that they are not condemned yet. But how many should cry out, '' I have broken the law ; Death is upon my track ; I do not know how far off he may be ; it may be years, it may be months, it may be days, it may be nours, and he is fast bearing down upon me." God has pro- vided a city of refuge for you. If you flee there you shall not die, you will not perish. That ought to be the first 47o TO ALL PEOPLE. occupation. " I cannot tell what will happen to me." *' Boast not of to-morrow." " I must pass to that city." That is what we should say. Thank God, we have not got to go ten miles. We have not to wait ten minutes. All you have to do is to believe, and salvation is yours. Will you have it now ? It is yours if you will just take it. But let me give you another illustration that you will understand better. We will go back to the days before the war. There is a slave in Kentucky. He has heard a good deal about liberty, and he says, " If I could only get across the Ohio River — if I could only get into the land of liberty, would I not rejoice ? Oh, if I was only a free man." He cannot read, perhaps, but some one has told him about liberty. He knows that all those people upon the other side of the river are free. But he knows that he is not safe there. He knows that there is a fugitive slave law there. " If I could get there and stay there my master would come over and take be back again. But if I could swim that river and get through Michi- gan into Canada, I would be safe. I would be a free man, for not a slave can breathe under the English Jack. There is not a slave in Queen Victoria's dominions." This man wants to be free. This man swims that river, but he knows that he is not safe. He has not been gone but a little time when his master is upon his track. The poor man runs as fast as he can. He hides in the woods in the day-time and at night all the time he pushes along, avoiding the highways, toward that Canada line. If he crosses that he will be forever a free man. He crosses into Michigan. He says, " Oh, if I can only get across the Canada line, I will be a free man." Now he is within a few feet of that line. His master is fifty yards behind him. " If I can make the line now I am safe, I am a free man." He is still nearer to it — his master is within a few feet of him. He goes bounding over the Hne, and he is a free man. That is sudden, isn't it? If you do not see how you can be con- verted, cross the line. You can stay where you are and be SALVATION. 471 lost, or you can turn your face to Him and come to His lov- ing bosom, and He will adopt you. You will become the bride of the Lamb, a child of God for all time and eternity. Oh, may God help you to cross the line. But you say, " I still do not see how it can be done all at once." Some of you have looked at Naaman. He was a leper, and he went down into the Jordan as he was told to do. He goes in six times a leper and he washes and comes out a leper, but the seventh time he washed in the Jordan and he was made clean. He obeyed, and he was made clean. That is what God wants. 'He wants obedience. He was to be saved by being obeyed. He goes in six times. There is one mo- ment when Naaman was a leper. But he goes in the seventh time, and he comes out in a moment clean. These are all Bible illustrations. But you still say, '-I don't see how a person can be saved all at once." You may not be just what you ought to be, but you will be a child of God. When my little boy was a day old he was just as much my boy as he is now, when he is seven years old. Just as Naaman got rid of his leprosy, so you can get rid of your leprosy of sin to-day. If you just obey God, if you will just receive Him to-day you can go home from this house justi- fied. Look at that poor man who was to have been exe- cuted a few days ago. The last day had come, the scaffold had been made. I don't know whether it was the same as in another case, for I did not read the papers to see, but I suppose his cell was where he could hear the hannners upon the scaffold driving the nails or bolts together. There is that poor condemned man. In a few hours he is to be exe- cuted. Then comes a telegram from somebody to the Gov- ernor, and he is reprieved. One moment he was condemned, and the next he has got a reprieve. It was in a town in England, and there was a man in jail there that was to be hanged upon a Monday. Sunday all the ministers were preaching about him. The flag was over the prison. It 472 TO ALL PEOPLE. was like a funeral in that town. There never was such a day seen there. The next morning he was to be executed. He can hear them at work upon the scaffold at midnight. He could not sleep. His friends had come and taken their last farewell of him, and the next morning he was to be launched into eternity. He hears the footsteps upon the corridor, and he thought it was the officer come to tell him that his time had come. But he came to the poor con- demned man and he told him that he had a pardon for him from the Queen. One moment he might be hanged ; one moment condemned, another pardoned ! So, my friehds, you can be saved, all at once. If God is going to forgive you He isn't going to be six months or six years about it. If your child does wrong, mothers, and is sorry for it, is it six months or six years that you take in which to forgive it ? When you forgive it, it is instantaneous, isn't it? If this man who had got the pardon from the Queen had said he did not want it, he would not take it, he would not have got the benefit of what the Queen had done. " Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Scarlet and red — two fast colors. You could not get the scarlet out of that lady's shawl without spoiling the shawl. " Yes, but what is the philosophy of it ? " Don't you mind the philosophy of it. Pardon is offered you, and you want to inquire into it ? You want to know all about it ? You want to understand the philosophy of it ? Just take the pardon that is offered and thank Him for it. I firmly be- lieve tliat Christ stands here with a pardon for every soul that wants it. All you have to do is just to take it. I want to call your attention to a verse here in Numbers — the twenty-first chapter of Numbers and the fifth verse : " And the people spake against God, and against Moses, SALVATION. 473 Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness ? for there is no bread, neither is there any water ; and our soul loatheth this light bread. "And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people ; and much people of Israel died. " Therefore the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee'; pray unto the Lord that He take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole : and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. " And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." "When he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." Not six weeks after he beheld it. Not because they had been looking at it six months were they saved. At once they were saved. That was God's remedy. You want to know the philosophy of it ? I don't know. I don't know what there was in an old brass serpent to give them life. But I know what He said. Hear His word : " Make a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole : and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall be saved." That is enough for me. And now we find men that are 7ooking to Christ, and they get light. It is being fulfilled in Boston at the present day. But some men like to believe in it. They say, " There is no common sense in it. What an idea to tell Moses to make an old brass serpent and set it up upon a pole for people to look at. Now, if he had told him to take the brass and rub it in there might have been some sense in it. I could understand how that might do, but such foolishness as sticking up a brass serpent upon a pole just for people to look — why, I couldn't believe that if I wanted to. You don't think that we enlightened Bostonians are 474 TO ALL PEOPLE. going to believe that, do you ? " Thank God, a good many people here are believing it, and you don't have to go through a college or a seminary to learn how to look. You can look without being cultured. All you have to do is to look, and you can be saved by looking. " Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth." Jesus is the author of all life, and if you are going to get it, you have got to look to Him. It is not look- ing at the pole, it is looking at the serpent. It is not looking at the minister holding the pole up or at the pole itself. Some people do not like the looks of brass, and they are gilding up the cross of Christ to suit themselves. But it is the brass serpent that we are to look at. Christ says, "As Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up," All we have to do now is to look. There were some friends of mine that were talking to a poor Scottish lassie, and they gave her some advice that I never would have given to any one. They told her to go home and read her Bible. They did not know what might happen upon the way. She looked at them and said, " I canna read, I can only pray Jesus to tak' me as I am." My friends, you just say that to-day, and see how quickly He will take you. I don't care if you cannot read or write. I don't care if you never heard of Him before to-day. " Whosoever believeth upon me shall not perish." The question is, will you take him ? Will you take God's gift to-day ? A lady said to me, " You'tell me just to receive Him. Well, I do, and I am the same woman. I try to believe and it isn't any different." "Ah ! it isn't trying, it is doing." I took her pocketbook which she carried in her hand and I said, " Suppose there is $50,000 in that pocketbook. If I give it to you, you are the same woman, yet a moment ago you were a beggar, and now you are rich. You have got a gift. If you get the new birth you get a gift ; you get Christ. That makes a difference. You may not realize what you have got." I got Christ twenty-one years ago, and He was more to me after ten SALVATION. 475 years than He was at first, and He is more to me now than He was ten years ago. I keep growing in Him, and I do not know what I shall be in time. When I was in England, this doctrine was talked about a good deal there. One day I was going down a street and I saw a soldier coming to- wards me. You know they all wear red coats there, and you can tell them a good way off. I had heard something about how they enUsted there, but I wanted to be sure and get the whole story from one who knew. So when he came up I said : " I wish you would answer me a few questions. I am an American, and you know that we Americans — especially when we come from Yankeedom — are very inquisitive." He said, " Certainly." I said, " I would like to have you tell me how long it took you to become a soldier ?" He laughed at me. " Why, just no time at all," he told me. I had heard it before. This is the custom when a man enlists : When he says he will enlist, the recruiting officer puts an English shil- ling into the palm of his hand and that moment he is a sol- dier. He comes up a citizen and says, "I want to enlist." He can go wherever he pleases. He can go to Australia, America, Africa, anywhere. Next that shilling is put in his hand and he ceases to be a citizen. He is a soldier. He is under the Government of Queen Victoria. He is com- manded by officers, and he has to go where they order him. He has lost his liberty. Now, do you want to know how you can be a soldier of God ? It aint the English shilling, it is the Saviour. You come in here a sinner, and you take Christ, and He is yours, and all you have to do is to trust Him. The question is, will you receive Him ? I was asking that question, and I thought I would wait for an answer. I thought I would get an answer. And a man said, " I will take Him." Who will receive Him to-day ? who will enlist today? You can receive Him and live forever; you can reject Him and die. In John's first epistle, the fifth chapter, the ninth verse : 476 TO ALL PEOPLE. " If we receive the witness pf 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, be- cause he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. " And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal 'life : and this life is in his Son." He gives us eternal life, and if we get it we have got to get it through this Son. A man ignores Christ and he cannot get it. If you won't receive him you will not get it. You can- not get it independent of Him. *' He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life." Have you got Him ? that's the question. Answer the question to-day. Have you got Him ? If you will take Him, He is yours. Can you say to-day, I have received Him, and He has received me? You that have not got Him, won't you just take Him to-day ? Won't you just have Him now? When I was in Glasgow a lady said to me : " You are all the time talking about ' take, take ; ' do you find it in the Bible ? " I told her I had found it, and 1 wished I had time to speak about one-half the places where it was blessed to me. The word is near the end of the Revelation : " The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athiist come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Won't some one take Plim to-day? Won't you take this cup that is offered you ? If you are Christians pass it to your next neighbor and ask her if she is saved. You ladies just pass the cup around, and if they do not take it, the blood of their souls will not be required at your hands. Everybody has taken of it ; pass the cup to some one else and ask them to take it as a gift. Let us pray. FREEDOM FOR THE CAPTIVE. MARKETMEN S MEETING IN FANEUIL HALL. The first time that I ever came into this hall was about twenty-one or twenty-two years ago this spring, I think, or it might have been the month of June. Anthony Burns was then in the Court-house, and there were a great many Bostonians going to try to set him free. I remember, after Wendell Phillips had spoken, and quite a number of others had spoken on this platform, and when the meeting was just at white heat, General Swift, who spoke at Tremont Temple the other day, was up in the gallery, and he said he under- stood the people were already breaking into the Court-house and taking out Anthony Burns. I went out of this hall as quick as I ever left a meeting, and there was a great crowd around the Court-house, but all of us couldn't liberate that poor captive. But, thank God, the gospel can set hundreds free to-day. We haven't got to go out of this hail and to go up to the Court-house, but in this old hall men who have been loaded down with sin, and who have been slaves to sin for twenty, thirty, and forty years, can be set free this very hour if they want freedom; and I don't know any better place than this hall, that is called the " Cradle of Liberty," for the captives to be set free, and I hope every Christian in this house will be lifdng up their hearts to God in prayer that there may be hundreds of them set free to-day. This is what we have come for. We have not come here just to have a meeting in Faneuil Hall, but to proclaim the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, and tell men how they can be free. 478 TO ALL PEOPLE, I want to call your attention to a few verses in the sixteenJ" chapter of John : '^'* "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye shoulli not be offended. "They shall put you out of the synagogues : yea, the time Cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. " And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me. " But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. " But now I go my way to him that sent me ; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou ? " "But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. " Nevertheless, I tell you the truth : it is expedient for you that I go away ; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if 1 depart, I will send him unto you. "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment : " Of sin, because they believe not on me ; " Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more ; " Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. " I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." I want to call your attention particularly to the words, " And when He is come He will reprove the world of sin, because^ hey believe not on me." Of sin, because men lie and steal and get drunk and murder ? No. Of sin, because they believe not upon me. That is the root of sin, that is the sin which brings forth all this bad fruit ; this miserable un- belief. Would to God it could be swept out of Faneuil Hall to-day. If every particle of the unbelief that is represented by this assembly could all be laid aside what a blessed hour we should spend together here. " And when He is come FREEDOM FOR THE CAPTIVE. 479 e will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and judg- ent." Now that is the work of the Holy Ghost. There is .0. preacher that can convince men of sin, there is no amount of praying that can convince men of sin ; that is the work of the Holy Ghost ; and I cannot help but believe that there are hundreds and thousands of men now in Boston that are convicted of sin, but they are waiting for something, and they don't know exactly what it is, but they think they have got to wait until they have a little more feeling, or that they have got to have some sudden shock come upon them, or some sudden sensation that shall come stealing over them before they can get rid of their sins. If a man is convicted of sin, if a man is convinced that he is a sinner in the sight of God, that is the work of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost has already commenced His work, and* to that class of men I want to speak to-day. I want to tell you how you can get rid of your sin and come to Christ if you will. If men really want to get rid of their sins, all they have got to do is just to cast them on the Lord Jesus Christ — leave them with Him. But some of you may say, " How is it about repentance? Haven't I- got to repent? Isn't there a certain amount of feeling I have got to have? Haven't I got to have some remorse, and haven't I got to pass through some amount of despair and gloom before I have this ? " That is the trouble with men when they are con- vinced of sin, they begin to look around for some one else's experience. Of all the people who ever lived in the world there have been no two alike, and God never rep^ its Him- self ; and, although we are converted by the same power and by the same Holy Ghost, no two ever come up to the cross in the same way. Instead of looking to this and to that man's experience^ let us look right to the Master, and come with our sins and repentance and faith, and all these things can come in their place, but you be occupied by Christ. If a man really wants to go to Christ he will not be 48o TO ALL FEOPLE. thinking about his repentance and faith. Faith is only the hand that reaches out and takes the blessing, and it is Christ we want, and if we will come to Him as a child should come to his mother and confess our sins and ask Him to forgive us He will do it. There is nothing He desires to do as much as that, and He will blot them out as a cloud. When men are converted they will turn right about face, and the moment a man is convinced that he is a sinner, and if he will turn right to God, He will forgive his sins. People say, " I dont, believe you can be saved that easy ; I believe we have got to work a little for salvation. Faith and works I believe in," So do I, but I don't believe a man is going to work out his salvation. Suppose for a moment that this platform is the wreck of a sinking ship. The vessel has sprung a leak and is going to the bottom. The captain says: "Jump into the life-boat! The vessel's going down!" But I think I can keep the vessel afloat by pumping ; and so I keep pumpmg, pumping ; and I say to the captain : *' I don't believe the vessel's going down." Now, that would be working out my own salvation ; and all the time the vessel would be sinking. But Mr. Sankey won't stay on the wreck. He just leaps into the life-boat and takes an oar and pulls with a will for the shore.' That's working out your own sal- vation after you're saved. Now, isn't there some one here to-day who will just leap into the life-boat and be saved ? I want Mr. Sankey to sing " Pull for the Shore," and may every man join in the chorus. THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. I WANT to call your attention to the fourth chapter of Mark, the first twenty verses. The Lord here explains His own parables. There are a good many of those that receive the seed by the wayside, A man got up in one of the meetings, in Chicago in one of the churches, and said he had been to church for a great many years regularly, but never had heard a sermon till the last few weeks. He said it seemed as if the devil got the words away before they reached him. He was an architect, and he said he planned many buildings in church on the Sabbath, and he thought Satan was a good financier, because he had worked out some difficult problems in that way. There are a good many representatives of this class. The seed does not touch their hearts. They bear, and yet they do not bear. They attend church Sunday after Sunday, and they are what we call gospel-hardened. There are four classes of hearers, and there will be till the end of time. A great many want to know if all these men who profess to be converted are going to hold out. I don't know as they will. If thi;v --^o not it will not be anything contrary to Scripture. There are four classes of hearers and always will be. You find a great many who hear the Word and it seems as if they were going to receive it. They are impressed, but there is some- thing perhaps that they are not willing to give up, and these impressions that seem to have been made, wear away and are gone. That is one thing that some people bring against soecial meetings like these ; they say that they harden some men. Well, there is no doubt about that. The gospel 482 TO ALL PEOPLE. proves a saviour of life unto life, or of death unto death. 1 pity a man that has been attending these gospel meetings the last few weeks and has not been brought to the Saviour. The sermons that would not move him now would not move him a few years hence. That is what the Word of God teaches, and there are a great many men that are attending these meetings that fifteen or twenty years ago were im- pressed for eternity, but the impressions were worn away by going into the world. I know of a man that some time ago wanted to become a Christian, but right at this time, when the Spirit of God was striving with him, he went to the thea- tre and the impressions left him, and we have not been able to touch him yet. The second class are those that receive the Word in stony places, and it springs up suddenly, and they go on with joy, and it has not root. The people who seem to be converted, but whose consciences do not seem to be touched, do not last long. If a man's conscience is not touched^ and he does not make restitution if it is in his power, he is not converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is like a great many people that like to go with the cur- rent, and when there is a little persecution and opposition they go right back again. They never were converted at all. There are a good many of this class. Let me say to you, young converts, if you are not tender in your consciences and do not feel hke being honorable and upright, it is a good sign that you have not been converted. If you can tell a lie in your business transactions you have not been con- verted. Do not let the devil deceive you. It is a master- stroke of the devil to get young converts on a high pinnacle and trip them up, so that his followers can say, " We told you so \ it was just temporary excitement." We want con- versicns rooted. There are two lives that a Christian ought to live, one before God and the other before the world, and if he does not keep up that life with God he will not have much life in God. It is not this kind of Christian that is THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 483 going to stand, and the quicker they fall the better ; in fact, they won't have very far to fall, because they never got up very high. They are like those Jews who cried, " Hosanna to the son of David,'' one day, and the next day, " Crucify him." Christ ha? a great many disciples of that kind. May God help us to know our hearts and not think we are born of the Spirit when we are not. The third class is the un- fruitful class. It does not say that the third class are lost. I believe there are many of that class that are unfruitful Chris- tians. If a man is really born of God and has been regen- erated, it is clearly taught he will be saved, but he is an un- fruitful Christian. This third class will be saved, as Job says, by the skin of their teeth. They are an unfruitful class of Christians, and I pity them. If you want to find a happy Christian, look at that class that bring forth one hundred fold. Some bring only thirty fold, but they are better than the unfruitful ones. J.et us seek to bring forth one hundred fold. Let us ask ourselves if we are bringing forth fruit. If a man is not honorable in all his transactions, I am afraid he has not been converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. He may make a profession and get into the same church ; but we want a thorough work. It is better to have a few who will stand for Christ than to have a multitude swept into the churches. If we have a few true, active, zealous Chris- tians in the churches, what a power there will be in Boston for good throughout New England. THE THIRTY-SECOND PSALM. I will read the thirty-second Psalm : " Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. " Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. " When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long, " For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me : my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. " I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have 1 not hid. 1 said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord ; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. ^'For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found ; surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. " Thou art my hiding-place ; thou shalt preserve me from trouble ; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliver- ance. Selah. " I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with Mine eye. " Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding ; whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. " Many sorrows shall be to the wicked ; but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. "Be ye glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart." In the first verse it says : '' Blessed is he whose transgres- sion is forgiven, whose sin is covered up." Sin is the cause of all transgression ; transgression is only the effect of sin. There would be no transgression if it were not for sin. Sin is the root and transgression is the fruit. It makes a great THE THIRTY-SECOND PSALM. 485 deal of difference, and all the difference in the world, who covers up our sins. If I cover them, I do not get any relief at all, because I know they are there and 1 cannot tell when Satan will bring them up against me ; but if God covers them up no devil in hell can find them. A man can shout then and say. Blessed is the man whose sins are covered, whose transgressions have all been blotted out, because if God blots them out they are blotted out for time and eternity. Will Christ bring anything against them He died for and redeemed with His own blood ? Will God bring up anything against a man He has justified? If God has covered my sins I can shout with the Psalmist, " Blessed is he whose trans- gressions are covered." The wicked* man may forget his sins for a few hours or a few days, but he will be troubled all the time ; but if he confesses his sins, for that is what God wants, God will put them away. Now in the third and fourth verses it says : "When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. " For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me : my moisture is turned into the drought of summer." There is a good deal of darkness about confession ; there are many who seem to be in darkness about confessing sin, whom they should confess to. It seems to me that there are three different classes that we are to confess our sms to. If I have been a public transgressor and have sinned against the public, I ought to make public confession. Therefore a public confession is required. If I have sinned against any individual I ought to go to that man and confess, and I have not got to make the confession public. Then all sin ought to be confessed to God. There is no sin but against God. All sin is against God. There are some sins that are against God and not against the public or against individuals, and therefore we haven't got to make them public. God has covered sin and forgiven us, just as you forgive your child. 486 TO ALL PEOPLE. If you forgive your child freely, you do not want that child to lug up that sin again ; it is forgiven and forgotten. It is blotted out forever. That is the way you forgive your chil- dren, and that is the way God forgives us. Love is quick to find expression. It does not need any spoken or written language. You sometimes have been in a home where a mother controls by a look. The mother doesn't have tc speak, but the children will anticipate her wants. God wants to regulate his children in that way. In the eighth verse it says : " I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go ; I will guide thee with mine eye." He says He will instruct us, but He does not want us to be like the horse or the mule that has to be pulled this way and that. If we will keep our eyes on Him, we will know what he wants us to do. Love can read the eye, but does not need any expressed language. AVhen we first commenced in this building the first thing we took up was this idea of sin, getting it out of the way. " Search me, O God." Has God searched you, and have your sins been brought to light and forgiven, and are you rejoicing, and can you say with the Psalmist, Blessed is he whose transgression has been forgiven and whose sin is covered ? This blessing is for all. If we will believe in the Lord God of heaven He will blot out our sins for tim \ and eternity. TO REFORMED MEN. Last Friday I was to have a question drawer to receive questions which I was to answer, and some of these ques- tions are constantly arising now. As to this question that has been before us every Friday since we have been in this city, *' Ought a reformed drunkard, whose family is in want, give any of his money for charitable purposes outside of his own family?*" perhaps some were here last night and felt as if they would like to give, because they have been so blessed by this Tabernacle, and perhaps they felt as if they did not show true gratitude if they did not give. Let me say right here that your first work is to take care of your family. Your money belongs at home. If your wife has had a hard struggle, and you have been squandering your money in saloons and biUiard halls and rum -shops, you want to take it home now ; your aim should be to make your home just as comfortable for your dear ones as you possibly can. We read in the fifth chapter of Timothy and the eighth verse : '* If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." There is what Paul says to you upon that subject. '' He is worse than an infidel." Let your first earnings go to that home. Clothe your children, and don't let them be hooted at on the street as sons and daughters of a drunkard. Give them comfortable clothes and a comfortable home, that is where you want to put your money. Now, here is another question that has been asked : " Ought a man to pay his liquor bills after he is 488 TO ALL PEOPLE. converted ? " " Render unto Cassar the things that belong to Caesar." If you want to have any influence with these rumsellers go and pay up your bills. The mistake is made ; you never ought to have contracted the bill or run into debt, but if you have, go and pay your debt. In the thirteenth chapter of Romans and in the seventh and eighth verses we read : " Render therefore to all their dues ; tribute to whom tribute is due ; custom to whom custom ; fear to whom fear ; honor to whom honor," " Owe no man anything, but to love one another ; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled' the law." We have a right to go into debt for one thing, that is love. I beHeve that a great many people are now suffering, and are suffering a thousand times more than they would if they had not run into debt, not only for liquor, but for other things. And I want to say to you young converts, that if you will take my advice, you will keep out of debt. If friends want to advance you money to help you up, tell them you won't have it. Don't you take it. 1 would rather have twenty- five cents that I have earned by the sweat of my brow than twenty-five dollars that I have borrowed, 'and that I will have to pay back. Work your way up to the top of the ladder and you will like to stay up there ; but if you are lifted up there by somebody you will be all the time tumbling back and you will get disheartened and discouraged. There are a great many of these men that cannot make restitution, and because they have not paid their debts there may be a good many of these enemies of religion that will say that they have not been truly born again ; that they have not been truly regen- erated. It may be that it will take years for some of these men to pay their debts. They have been running up a pretty good account, but that is not going to keep them from Christ. If their hearts are right and their purpose right, and they mean to pay their bills, and they pay them just as soon rO REFORMED MEN. 489 as they can, that is just as acceptable to God as if they paid them all at once. If any of these reformed men are hundreds of dollars in debt, and they have not a penny to pay them with, their creditors must wait. That ought to be your first aim, to pay off those debts and get out of it as quickly ai possible. I have great confidence in those men that profcs^ to be reclaimed, if they go to work. If you cannot get whal: you want, get what you can. If you cannot get as much foi- your work as you think you ought to get, get whatever you can. One of these men that had been reclaimed wanted X.^ find work right off, and that was a very good sign of his con- , version. But some of these men have not done anything for years but drink liquor, and they are not adapted to hardly anything, and they are not fit for much at first. It is difficult to get them situations, and if we do succeed in getting them work tliey ought to take it and thank God for it. If it is not what you like, thank God that it is something. Something is a good deal better than nothing. There was one of these converted men in Chicago that could not get what he wanted to do, but he got a man that would board him and give him twenty-five cents a week. He took up the offer and went tOj work. Twenty-five cents a week ! Well, that wasn't much, f but he got his board, and that was a good deal. Pretty soon a business man heard of it, and he said, " That is the man for me ; that is just the man I want ; " and he hired him and gave him $4 a day. There is many a man that will help you \\\) if you will show a disposition to help yourself. There is a man upon this platform who is going to speak to you that I admire very much, because he went to work for $3 a week, and hoarded himself. You say that $3 a week won't pay your board, but it will help, and it is a good deal better than nothing. Nothing won't if three dollars don't. That is better thar^ running up and down the street idle and getting into debt. If you do this and work faithfully for three dollars a week, 21^ 490 TO ALL PEOPLE. it won't be long before you have six dollars, and then you will get ten dollars, and then twelve dollars a w^ek. You want to get these employers always under an obligation to you. You must be such true men and be so helpful to your employers that they cannot get along without you, and then you will work up, and your employer will increase your wages. If a man works in the interest of his employer he will be sure to keep him and treat him well, but if he only works for money and don't take any interest in his em- ployer's business, he will let him go at any time. They can get any quantity of such men. But if they get a man that takes an interest in his work they cannot spare him, for such men are scarce. Let me say to these reformed men that, if you will take my advice, you will get something to do. If you cannot earn more than a dollar a week, earn that. That is better than nothing, and you can pray to God for more. Here is another : " Would you advise one that has been converted to go to lecturing at once or wait ? " It is a good thing to confess. We read in the Scriptures, " Go home and tell your friend what the Lord God has done for you." "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." "Would you advise them to go to lecturing ? " That is the mistake that a great many make. A great many men have the idea that they can make their Christianity pay. They think they are going to make their living by lecturing. We have enough of that. We have been lectured to death in this country, and we can get along without any more. Don't try to get your living by your brains and your wits ; we haven't any too much, the greatest of us. Work like a man, and then you will have more influence than if you are trying to lecture for money. I do not think all men are called to lecture, by a good deal. I say to you, don't give your whole time to the Lord's work unless you are forced into it by the Spirit of God. If God sends you, you will succeed, and you won't be all the time complaining, TO REFORMED MEN. 49 1 and running after this man and that man for his indorsement, and trying to get his name and his influence. Earn youi« ownj money. These are hard times, I know, and it is hard to get, work, but spring has come, and if you cannot get work in thej city, strike out into the country. A great many farmers| want men now. It is not degrading to go out and hoe audi shovel in the field. It is noble, I think. I do not believe* there is a man in this city that really wants work but can get it in the country. If you haven't money to ride, walk out. You can foot it on a good pleasant day like this, ten 01 fif- teen miles a day. Besides, you will have a better chance walking than if you passed the farmers' places on a train. If you are looking for work do not beg. Ask for something to do. If you are offered anything without work do not take it. They will give you some wood to saw, or some work to do that will pay for what you get. Your meals will taste a good deal sweeter, when you have earned them by the sweat of your brow. There was one good thing about that prodi- gal, he would not beg, and he would not steal. He would not even steal the swine's food. That is the kind of men we want now. If you will not beg or steal, men will respect and help you. What we want to-day is true men, and if peo- ple find that )^ou are a true man, they will make room for you. It may be a hard chance to get the first footing, but if you hold right on, God will open a way for you, and if need be send down a legion of angels to help you. " What would you do with a man that would not work ? " There is the same thing. I think Paul has it right. If a man will not work, he shall not eat. I think we are doing these men a great injury if we help them when they won't work. Some of these men have professed, but there is a difference between conversion and being born of God ; being regenerated. We are fiving in days of sham — and ihey see others come out, and that they are getting fed, and getting new clothes, and they say : " These men are making 492 TO ALL PEOPLE. a good thing out of it ; I guess I'll reform too." But it is easy to tell them. They are a blight in the hollow ; they are not whole in the root. And if they will not work, that is a pretty good sign that they have not been born of God. When I was President of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation in Chicago we used to have those men coming in all the time. They would tell about their suffering, and how they had no work and wanted help. At last I got two or three hundred cords of wood and put it in a vacant lot, and got some saws and sawbucks and kept them out of sight. A man would come and ask for help. *' Why don't you work?" ''I can't get any." *' Would you do it if you could get any ? " " Oh. yes, anything." " Would you really work in the street ? " " Yes." " Would you saw wood?" "Yes." ''All right," and then we would bring out the saw and sawbuck and send them out, but we would have a boy to watch and see that they did not steal the saw. Then the fellow would say, "I will go home and tell my wife 1 have got some work," and that would be the last we would sec of him. Out of the whole winter I never got more than three or four cords of wood sawed. We heard from our friend Dr. Tyng last week that we want a good deal of mother in this work ; yes, and we want some father, :oo. If you are always showering money on these men, and giving them clothing and raiment, they will live in idle- ness, and not only ruin themselves, but their children. It is not charity at all to help them when they will not work. If ia, man will not work, let him starve. They never die. I tever heard of them really starving to death. You may say that is harsh, but we need a little of that now. If the coat does not suit don't put it on, and if it does put it right on and button it up close around you. It says in the fifteenth chapter of Proverbs, " The way of the slothful man is hedged with thorns." I never knew them to get out till they worked their way out. I have been educated in this school. I had TO REFORMED MEN. 493 charge of the relief in Chicago for a number of years, and I was brought into contact with these lazy men, and I say there is no hope of a man that will not work. Talk about their conversion — it is only just put on to get a little money out of you without work. They are willing to do anything to get on, but they will not work, and these men are the ones we have so much difficulty with in these cities. There was a man I knew in Chicago ; he did not drink, but he was always poor. What kept him down I could not tell. He had five beautiful children. I do not believe his furniture was worth $5, and he had no beds. One cold day in November he came to see me. He said the landlord had put his family out on the prairie. I said, " McDonald, you are a mystery to me ; I have known you for years ; what do you do with your money ? I begin to think, McDonald, you are lazy." " I think you hit it there," he said. " Well, you must go," I said. " I pity your wife and children, but I am not going to take care of a lazy man all winter." "That's pretty hard," he said. ''I know it is," I said, "but I cannot help it." That was in the morning. About 5 o'clock in the afternoon he came back. He knew I wouldn't let those children stay out all night ; he knew he had me. He asked for a place for his children to sleep. I said, "What have you been doing all day ? " He used a great many big words, and said he had been studying the philosophy of pauperism. There he is now, I suppose, starving his family because he will not work. W^e have got to take care of these children ; but these men, if they will not work, must starve. Some of you ladies think you are doing God's service by giving them money,' but you are really injuring them. You are injuring them and their children, for as long as they can get along they will go on that way without work. It says in Ecclesiastes, tenth chapter and eighteenth verse, " By much slothfulness the building decayeth." You see many young men in Boston 494 '^O ALL PEOPLE, rotten — decayed from idleness. You cannot keep the body healthy without work. " By much slothfulness the building decayeth, and through idleness of the hands the house drop- peth through." If you want to keep the body in a good, healthy state, you have got to work. We are commanded to earn our bread by the sweat of our brows. Get som-^thing to do. If it is for fifteen hours a day, all the better, for while you are at work Satan does not have so much chance \ to tempt you. It is these men that are out of work that 1 Satan tempts. " Do you think it best for a reformed man to give up to- ^bacco?" Yes; I would let that go with the whiskey; it is part of the old nature. " Have you any passage of Scripture against this ? " I think it is clearly taught that these bodies are the temples for the Holy Ghost, and we ought to be careful to keep them pure. I do not think it is becoming for a son of the Most High to be using that filthy weed. I don't know how it is, for I never used it, but I have an idea that it whets up the appetite for strong drink. It belongs to the old creation. How is it with men who have no work, using tobacco ? I don't see how they can afford it, put it on that ground. I do not think it keeps the body in a healthy state. I think we ought to be very careful about the body because it is so identified with the soul. " I am so poor that I cannot afford to go to church ; what shall I do ? " Give up your tobacco. There are plenty of churches in this city that are perfectly free. You are welcomed, you are invited, you are urged to come, and there is not a min- ister in this town but would like to see his church filled. There may be some fashionable churches that are crowded without you, where you would not receive so warm a welcome as at others. If you cannot afford to pay a pew rent, tell them so, and you will find scores of churches in this city of Boston that will be glad to welcome you. I hope you re- formed men will find homes in churches soon, where the TO REFORMED MEN. 495 godly people will gather around you. You will find many of the very best friends in these churches, and they will be more than glad to have you come. Let all these reformed men find some church at once, and in that way others will be of great good to you and you to them. " If a man has fallen twice, shall we give him up ? " The Lord answers that question when He says : " Tell Peter to forgive his brother, not only seven times, but seventy times seven." Suppose a man has stumbled once or twice, you ain't going to cast him off, are you ? If a man should, in an unguarded moment, fall, would you say that he had not been reclaimed ? How many of us have fallen ? Here is a man with a miserable, wretched temper, and, in an unguarded moment, he says some foolish thing ; isn't he just as bad as this man who drinks again ? Suppose these men that have been slaves to Satan twenty or thirty years should be tripped up by Satan, would you give them up and say there was no hope ? How many of us have been troubled with besetting sins after our conversion ? If Satan gets one of these men down, instead of publishing it to the world, in the name of God let us help him up. If he tumbles a second time, go after him ; if he tumbles a third time, go after him ; and keep going after him as often as he falls. Why, Dr. Newman Hall's father, I don't know how many times he fell ; he kept falling and falling, and rising and rising, and at last he passed through the pearly gates shouting, " Glory to the Lamb ! " He got victory at last. And so if these young converts fall, let us not go out and publish it to the world, but take them off and talk with them alone and tell them we symi)athize with them. They are apt to get discouraged and say, " There is no hope for me ; I have turned my back upon Christ ; I have been betrayed into my old sin, and I cannot stand." This question is answered in Paul's letter to the Galatians. Some of these Galatian Christians had thorns. A great many people are watching : that is their business to 496 TO ALL PEOPLE, watch; they have set themselves against this work. All the while we have been working for thirteen weeks, some people in Boston have been working against us : they have been prophesying against us all the time and they must find some- thing against the work to justify themselves. Let them do it; the world has been doing that for t8oo years, and will keep on doing it as long as there is a church on earth. These men have set themselves against God's work, and they are finding flaws in it to justify their own acts. If they see a man fall they say, " I told you so, ha, ha !" and they rejoice and are glad. " Brethren, if a man be over- taken in a fault." *' Overtaken ! " There is the poor man running away from Satan and Satan is after him ; he is not stopping by the way and loitering, but the tempter has over- taken him and has got him down. Ye which are spiritual, would you go and jump on to him and keep him down, and say, " You are a pretty Christian. You profess to be a Christian. You have done that ? " ''Yes." Did Paul tell you to do that ? Is that the spirit of Christ ? Is that the spirit of our Master ? Is that what the Lord will have us to do? "Ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted." Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. I tell you when I see a poor man that has fallen I cannot help but feel sorry for him ; my heart goes out to him, for I don't know but I may be the next. Let he thai ' thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. And if a man gets strong in his own strength and conceited, and thinks be- cause he has been a professed Christian and done so much good there is no danger of his falling, it will not be long before he is down. He may not fall from strong drink, bu). some sin as bad in the sight of God, and if a man has fallen let us go and help him, and lift him up and restore him. There is one more thing I want to call your attention to, ^nd that is after a man has been in the devil's service a lon;^: TO REFORMED MEN. 497 time he gets into the habit of not only drinking and swearing, but he gets into the habit of lying, and sometimes that old sin comes back upon them, and before they know it they are using deception. I want to say to you men that have become Christians, if you want to get on be perfectly truthful. I have noticed that some men because they have given up drink think that that is all they have got to do ; they use deception and go on lying. You cannot prosper if you at- tempt that. It says in the sixth chapter of Proverbs and the sixteenth verse : " These six things doth the Lord hate ; yea, seven are an abomination unto him." "A proud look, a lying tongue." How they go together ! As soon as a man gets puffed up and conceited you may look for his fall. You hear men praying to God to keep them humble. Let us pray to God to make us humble first ; that is what we want. Pride always goes before a fall, and if a man gets proud he will fall. One of the greatest dangers you men will have will be spiritual pride. Some of these good men and good women may be a snare to you ; they may say, when a young convert has spoken, "That is a real good speech you made ; " the devil will tell you that quick enough. That is not going to help them ; that is going to lift them up and fill them full of pride. Spiritual pride is one of the worst enemies these young converts have. Be careful about that terrible enemy, and be care- ful, Christian people, how you flatter these young con- verts. Pray God to keep them humble, and don't you go and stuff them full of vanity and tell them they have made a good speech. Life is too short for us to be flattering one another. Lying is just as bad as drinking. Don't think that because you have given up drinking that you can go on lying. God 498 TO ALL PEOPLE. hates it. He speaks about lying lips in the nineteenth chapter of Proverbs and the twenty-second verse : *' Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord ; but they that deal truly are His delight." What we want is to be real. Let us not appear to be more than we are. Don't let us put on any cant, any as- sumed humility, but let us be real ; that is the delight of God. God wants us to be real men and women, and if we profess to be what we are not, God knows all about us. God hates a sham. " A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed inno- cent blood." " A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief." " A false witness that speaketh lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren." I wish I had time to speak to you about sowing discord, but we have not time. I don't know how long I have been speaking. I only meant to have spoken about fifteen minutes, and I have been speaking (how long have I been speaking?) — but I didn't have anybody to pull my coat tails. No-w we will close this meeting right here, but we will go right on with another meeting until 2 o'clock. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. You that have been here the last three Sunday mornings remember that I have been talking about Christ. Three weeks ago this morning we were looking at Christ in the Old Testament, and how the prophecy was fulfilled in regard to His coming ; and the next Sabbath we were talking about His birth, and last Sunday of John, the forerunner to intro- duce Him; and you remember that I have spoken here, during the last three months, of His birth, His life. His mira- cles, His parables, His death, His burial, His resurrection and His ascension. Now, this morning I want to talk about His coming again. (A voice, Amen !) There is more said in the Epistles about the Lord Jesus Christ returning to this earth than there is about baptism. There is no denomina- tion, no church scarcely, but that lays great stress upon that order, and God forbid that I should say anything that would give you to understand that I look upon it lightly. I think that every order that the Lord has given us, and ever com- manded us to do, ought to be carried out literally ; but we find that this doctrine has been, as it were, laid aside by the churches sometimes — they have forgotten all about it. But I don't know anything that will quicken the church to-day so much as this precious doctrine of our Lord's return. (A voice, "Amen.") If I read my Bible correctly, in the Epis- tles baptism is referred to thirteen times and the Lord upwards of fifty times. So that it is not an unscriptural idea that I want to bring before you this morning. If the Word of God doesn't teach it, my friends, don't you receive it ; but let us be ready and willing to bow to Scripture, because we 500 1^0 ALL PEOFLE. read that all Scripture is given by inspiration ; that we are not to be one-sided Christians and take up one truth and harp on that all the time ; but we are to take up the whole Word of God. Just turn to the second epistle of Peter, the first chapter and nineteenth verse ; " We have also a more sure word of prophecy ; where - unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a Hght that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your heart : " Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation." No private interpretation, It is for the whole church of God — the whole family of God. *' For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man ; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Now, you know Gabriel came down to announce the con- ception of Christ, and angel's came to announce His birth ; angels came to announce His resurrection ; angels came to announce His return. When those men stood there gazing up into heaven, two angels dropped down there. ** And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel ; "Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Yes, thank God, He is coming again, just as He went. (A voice, *' Amen.") We are going to see Him in person^ He that left this world blessing it — for that is the way he left this world, blessing it — is coming back to bless His own church, and to receive them that have waited for His return. If you read the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew, the sixty- fourth verse, you will find that it was just this very thing that THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 501 caused His death. When the high priests asked Him who He was, and if He was the true Messiah, what does He say : " Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said ; nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." That was enough. The moment they heard that they ac- cused Him of blasphemy, and condemned Him to death, just because He said He was coming again. " Ye shall see me coming in the clouds of glory." Now, let me say that this doctrine has suffered a good deal from those who claim to be its friends, because they set a time — a certain day for His coming. Now, we read here in Matthew, twenty-fourth chap- ter, and thirtieth verse, that no man knows when He shall come. " But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." It seems to me that the devil is all the time trying to counterfeit these precious truths so that the mass of Chris- tians will not believe it. Now, there it is clearly taught that the day and the hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven. Now, when a man comes and tells you that he knows when Christ is coming — that He is coming next year, or in 1980, or in any particular, or at any particular time, he has got no truth for that assertion. " The day and the hour knoweth no man." I think if we knew the day and the hour of His coming, we wouldn't be watching for His com- ing. All through the Scripture we are told to watch for His coming. " Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh." And then we are also taught that His coming shall be sudden. We find in that twenty-fourth chapter, thirty-seventh verse : 502 TO ALL PEOPLE. '' But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. " For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, " And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away ; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Now, we have that order that the time of His coming is unknown ; that He is coming unexpectedly. In another place it says that He is coming like a thief in the night. He is coming suddenly ; but let us bear in mind that He is com- ing because that word has gone out. Now, I can imagine some of you say, " He is coming to us when we die." But that is not what is taught here. Death is not the coming of the Lord. Just turn to the twenty-first chapter of John, eighteenth verse : " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldst ; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird them, and carry thee whither thou wouldst not. " This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when He had spoken this, he saith unto him. Follow me." Now, the thought I want to call your attention to is this : that Christ didn't look to His death and His coming as one and the same thing. He kept them distinct. His coming is one thing, His death is another. You and I may be sum- moned away before Christ comes ; but I am not taught any- where in the Scripture to look for death. That is not in the Scripture. We are told to look for the coming of the Lord. Now, Peter wanted to know what John should do. " Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? follow thou me. That is, you are to follow me and not look to see what this disciple or that disciple is going to do. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, 503 " Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die : yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die ; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? " There is a difference between death and His coming. Now, I think that we make a great mistake in saying that death is the coming of the Lord. Death is one thing, and the coming of the Lord is another. Why, the year of jubi- lee will burst upon this world by and by, and we shall come up out of our graves. That is distinct and separate from death. It will be all life then. We shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye. Enoch was one type of life. He was caught up into heaven. Elijah was translated from earth to heaven in a fiery chariot. These two represented the first two dispensations ; and so Christ, who represented the third, has gone up, and when He comes these bodies shall come forth from their graves. We are not going to die. If the world remains, if we wait until Christ comes, we are going to defy death. Death has been conquered, and by and by, I don't know when, in the fulness of time, we shall rise victorious to glory. He shall come and set up His kingdom on earth. As we read in the prophecy of Daniel, that stone cut out of the mountains without hands is growing and is going to fill the whole earth. God has decreed it. Now, I think it is de- creed in Thessalonians, and if you have your Bibles here I should like to have you turn to Thessalonians, because this passage is written, just as it were, to the young converts. Every chapter in that first Epistle is a sermon to young con- verts about His coming. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the \oije of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first : " Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 504 TO ALL PEOPLE. " Wherefore comfort one arother with these words. ' That is the comfort of the Church ; not that we are going to die, but that the Lord may come at any time and take us away into that bridal-chamber. Now, it is said that His coming in judgment on the earth to dash the nations to pieces that have disobeyed Him is one coming, and that His 'coming to take His bride away is altogether different. So His first coming is in the air, and that is when we shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. *' For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first." Then, over here in the fifth chapter of John, twenty-fifth verse : " 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. " For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; " And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. " Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, " And shall come forth." And by and by these slumbering bodies shall be awakened by the trump of God, and they shall come forth from their graves, and fly to meet the King of Glory, " And they shall come forth " They that have done good, unto the resurrection of fife ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of dam- nation." Now, you take a strong piece of magnet, and then have little pieces of iron or steel mixed up in some sawdust, and just hold that magnet over it. Every particle of steel and iron will fly to meet that magnet. So when He shall come upon the earth every one of His chosen shall fly to meet THE SECOiVD COMING OF CHRIST. 505 Him. The hour is coming when the trump shall sound, the Lord of Hosts shall come. Oh, Christ is going to come. Let us be waiting and watching and praying that He may come quickly. Now there are three great facts taught in Scripture. First, that Christ is coming again. The next, that the Holy Ghost was to come on us here in the world. Now, do you believe that this assembly would have been drawn to- gether for the past three months if it had not been for the power of the Holy Ghost ? Do you beheve that men would have been converted if it had not been for the power of the Holy Ghost ? Is there any eloquence, any power in man that can turn the whole current of men's lives, that can trans- form a poor, miserable drunkard, one who has made his home a hell, who has beaten and abused his wife, can any eloquence, any power in man, I say, do that unless it is b}'' and through the power of the Holy Ghost ? The next great fact that this Bible teaches is, that He is coming again. What is it that makes the fourteenth chapter of John so sweet ? You know there is probably not a chapter in the whole Bible that is read so much as that one in John. What makes it so sweet ? Why, because it tells us He shall come again. " Let not your heart be troubled ; ye believe in God, be- lieve also in me. " In my Father's house are many mansions ; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." Then what does He say ? " And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also." That is the key-note to the fourteenth chapter of John — not that He is going to send death, or send some angel after us ; but that He is coming Himself. He Himself is coming back after His bride. He came down here to get a bride, 22 5o6 TO ALL PEOPLE. and the world rose up and cast Him out and said He shouldn't have a bride. Then He went up above, and has been there these 1800 years gathering out His brides. Some one says you can get some idea of how magnificent these mansions are by the time He takes to get them ready. Now, there is no place in the Scripture where we are told to watch for signs — the rebuilding of Babylon, or the returning of the Jews to Jerusalem ; but all through Scripture we are told what to do — ^just to watch for Him ; just to be waiting for our Lord's return from heaven. In Paul's Epistle to the Philippians we read : " For our conversation is in heaven ; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ : " Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." What does he say ? " Looking for our Lord and Saviour." And that's the attitude of every true believer in this world, with loins girded, lamps trimmed and burning, watching for the coming of the bridegroom. Thank God, He will say when Christ comes, *' Behold, the bridegroom cometh.'* Now, he says again here in the second chapter of Titus and the thirteenth verse : " Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appear- ing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Now, if you will just take your Bibles, a great many of you will find that over and over again the Lord has said that we are to be waiting and watching for His coming. The last prayer in Scripture — what is it? "Come quickly, Lord Jesus." And that ought to be the cry of every child of God: "Come quickly, Lord Jesus." Think of the war that is bursting upon the nations across the waters. Think of the blood and carnage. Think of the widows and orphan children, of the r>ufifering that is going to be in those nations. But» thank God, when He comes there will be no more war. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 507 (A. voice, "Amen.") There will be no more suffering. There will be peace. Then, in the thirteenth chapter of Mark, the thirty-second verse, it says : " But of that day and that hour knoweth no man. no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. "Take ye heed, watch and pray; for ye know not when the time is. *' For the Son of man is a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. "Watch ye, therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock- crowing, or in the morning. " Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. " And what I say unto you I say unto all. Watch." He may come in the morning. He may come in the evening. He may come at the cockcrowing. In another place, Luke, seventeenth chapter, it says : ^' Two women shall be grinding together ; the one shall be taken, and the other left. " Two men shall be in the field ; the one shall be taken and the other left." Christ is going to take out His chosen from among the scoffers. By and by He is going to separate His children, and the scoffers and the workers of iniquity. They may scoff and laugh now, but I tell you by and by there will be nothing left. of them. My friends, you will find it to be true that every portion of the Old Testament referring to Christ's coming has been fulfilled. Now, people say this is so won- derful, so beyond all reason, so beyond all common sense, that we cannot lay hold of it. Now, Llis second coming cannot be so wonderful as His first coming. If a man had stood up and said that Christ was going to be born of a vir- gin ; that He was going to be laid in a manger ; that He was going to be the son of a carpenter, and going to work at the 5o8 TO ALL PEOPLE. carpenter's trade Himself (as He did), there wouldn't have been a man in the world who would have believed him. " Oh, that is figurative," they would have said. And that's just the way men talk now, and just figure away everything. The Scripture was literally fulfilled. He came just the way that the prophets said He would come, and once, as 1 said the other morning, He had to ride into Jerusalem be- cause it was prophesied that He should. Everything was fulfilled. Now, this prophecy in the New Testament about His coming, in my mind, my friends, I haven't the slightest doubt but that it is going to be fulfilled. That same Jesus that was crucified at Mount Calvary we shall see at Mount Calvary again — see His hands and His feet pierced with the nails, and it is a question in my mind whether the Jews will not receive Him when He comes back. They will receive Him as the true Messiah and take up the glorious news of the coming of the Messiah and spread it around the world. Now a great many say, " This doctrine of the second com- ing of Christ cannot afi"ect me. He can't come in my day. A great many things have got to take place before He comes. The thousand years of the millennium have got to come before he does." That is just the way I used to talk. *• Why," I used to say, '* He can't come in my day. Don't you know that there is to be a thousand years of the mil- lennium ; that righteousness must increase and wickedness decrease before He comes ? " Ah, my friends, but since I have got a little better acquainted with the Word of God, I find that is not God's plan ; that is not what is taught here. Why, just see what He says : " This know also, that in the last day perilous times shall come." That do'isn't sound like the millennium, does it ? '^ For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, un- thankful, unholy." THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 509 " Boasters." There is some boasting done here in Boston. ^'Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accu- sers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. "Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." I think we are coming pretty near those days now. "Having a form of goodness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away. " For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts : " Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. " Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth ; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith." " But they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. " But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience. " Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Anti- och, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. " Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suf- fer persecution. '' But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." The fact is, my friends, the world is going to destruction, and what God wants is to have us come out from it. " Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye sepa- rate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ; and I will receive you." "And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." *' Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." And He is now redeeming His children, taking them out from the world, and the sons of Light ought to grow stronger 5IO TO ALL PEOPLE. and stronger ; but the wicked men are waxing worse and worse. Then we read over here about the coming of the Son of God, that it shall be as in the days of Noah. How was it then ? Were men then praising God, living for God's glory ? Just see what it says : -* But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. ** For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark. " And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." / There will be drunkenness in the world when He comes. /Don't flatter yourselves, my dear friends, that the world is going to be better and better. The world has not got better. It may be that the children of God are getting stronger and stronger ; but this world is like a wrecked vessel. It is going to pieces on the rocks, and God wants you to do everything you can to rescue your souls. Now, some people say, " Oh, don't preach that ! You will drive away people by preaching that doctrine." I don't know of anything : that will quicken men ; I don't know of anything that will take the men of this world out of their bonds and stocks quicker than that oiir Lord is coming again. The way it looks to me is this : Here is a vessel going to pieces on the rocks. God puts a life-boat in my hands, and says : '■* Rescue every man you can. Get them out of this wrecked vessel." So God wants us to get our family out of the wrecked world into the ark of safety, as Noah did his family, and have them in Christ, and if they are in Christ they are safe. Let me call your attention to second Peter, third chapter, third and fourth verses : " Knowing this first, that tliere shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts. "And saying, Where is the pr:)mise of his coming? for THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. b" since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they w^re from the beginning of the creation." Are we not just living in those dnys ? Just look at the scoffer saying, " Where is the promise of His coming ? Everything is moving on. The sun, moon, and stars are shining just the same as they have been from the creation. Where is the promise of His coming ? Why, we are going on to perfection ! Everything is growing better and better." But that isn't what this Word teaches. It teaches that the heavens shall roll up like a scroll. He wants us to get into Christ, and if we are in Him we are saved. Just turn to the forty-eighth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew : " But, and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming ; "And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken ; '-'■ The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of " And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." There is another warning. I have only time to just touch on this wonderful subject. The Bible is full of them. I want to urge these young converts to begin and study the whole Word of God. I don't want them to be hoggish, and take up one part only, but the whole Word of God, so that at these times you may know just what you are to receive and what you are to reject, and that you have got a reason for the hope that is within you. Now I want to call your attention to another thing : that is, that every time you go to the Lord's table you will go there not only to show forth His death, but what else ? " For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." How many that ever go to the Lord's table ever think of His return ? Now, I will tell you where men make a great 512 ' TO ALL PEOPLE. Biistake. They go to the Lord's table with dread. I used to dread communion Sundays — a week from this Sunday, I am told, is communion Sunday. I used to dread it. We used to have it once in three months. Now it is once a month, and I hope we will have it every Sabbath. I used to go there thinking of my own sins and -the shortcomings of the committee, and it was most unpleasant. But I found out that I was to go there to remember Him, and now it is a place of rejoicing. I try to think just as little of myself when I go to the Lord's table as I can. There isn't any place in the Scripture where you are told to examine yourselves when you go there, but you are to go there to remember the Lord, and that He is coming back again. That is what we are to think about. We are to think of His death until He comes. But then I can imagine that some of you say that if«l preach this doctrine, that the world is going to be destroyed, that grace has been a failure. Now, let me say right here that grace has not been a failure. Man has failed to lay hold of it, and the world has spurned the Word of God, just as the Jews did Christ, years ago. They would not receive Him. Now, the grace of God is over all the world, and the world has rejected it. Thank God, here and there is one that will lay hold of it, and if men won't take hold of it they ought not to complain that God is going to punish them for it, because when He sent His prophets they killed them, ihey crucified His Son, and would not receive the Holy Ghost, and they ^ trampled His Word under their feet. Why, you cannot say He is unjust. If a man says, " I hate the grace of God, the gift of God ; I don't want the salvation of God through Jesus Christ ; " if a man wants to be excused from the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, why, don't go off and say that grace has been a failure, but they have failed to lay hold of it. Now, there is another thing, that when Christ comes we are going to be re-united with our loved ones. There are a good many here in this congregation that have got more friends in THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. ^ 513 heaven than on earth. Some of you mothers have got more children there than down here. Yes, there is a better day for us, my friends. Glory and honor to God. Christ is coming back, and I am going to see my loved ones again. I am just waiting and watching for the hour when I shall hear that trump sound, and I shall be released to meet those loved ones ; and those that are with me that are in Christ shall go up together, and we shall be forever with the Lord. O, how we ought to hail that day, and how the Church ought to be watching ! O, that God would wean us from the world, that we should not have our hearts set on things down here, but on things above, where Christ is. Now, I want to call your attention to a few passages of Scripture. In the first Corinthians, eleventh chapter, twenty- fifth and twenty-sixth verses, it says : "After the same manner a.ho /le ^ook the cup, when he had supped, saying. This cup is the new testament in my blood : this do ye, as often as ye drink //, in remembrance of me. " For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye io show the Lord's death till he come." In Luke, nineteenth chapter, thirteenth verse, He tells us to use our talents until He comes. We must fight the good fight of faith until He comes. "And he called his ten servants, and delivered them tei? pounds, and said unto them. Occupy till I come." In I. Timothy, sixth chapter, verses 12-14: " Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. "I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. "That thou keep this commandment without spot, unre- bukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." In II. Thessalonians, first chapter, seventh verse: 52 8* TO ALL PEOPLE. '' And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when tlie Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." In James, fifth chapter, eighth verse : *^ Be ye also patient ; establish your hearts ; for the com- ing of the Lord draweth nigh." In IL Timothy, fourth chapter, eighth verse, we are to wait for the crown of righteousness : " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- r.ess, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day ; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." In L Thessalonians, fourth chapter, thirteenth to eigh- teenth verses : " But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, con- cerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. " For if we beHeve that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. " For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. '• For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. " Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air ; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." We are to wait for Satan to be bound until He comes. O, he's going to be bound that day, and Christ, who has a right to take the throne of David, is going to take it. Let us pray that He may come quickly. Let that be the burden of our prayers. THE END. * The total number of pages, including Introduction, is 528. INDEX TO -ALL PEOPLE." A murmuring class, 20 A mad man's asylum, 26 An enthusiastic general, 27 A Scotchman's plea for India, 29 Agencies employed for salvation, 33 A glorious message — " Saved," 38 A Scotchman brought to God, 41 A church without a convert, 47 Artesian wells, 56 A woman endowed with Holy Ghost, 61 A criminal's criticism, 74 An absurd introduction, 77 A minister's experience, 79 " Ask Him for something," 80 A common idea, 88 A praying statesman, 89 A man bringing another many miles, 134 Appeals to the nobility of manhood, 139 Appetite for drink destroyed, 146 A hopeless case, 149 A remarkable man in London, 162 A card of invitation, 165 A lively prayer-meeting, 178 Advertising the services, 181 Aim at immediate conversion, 183 A satisfying portion, 204 A Scotch lady's question, 211 A disappointed class, 219 Artificial bees, 221 An eastern fable, 224 Attempting to entangle Christ, 226 A verse unreached by many Chris- tians,- 227 A short sermon, 247 Achon in the camp, 274 An injurious class, 291 A Christian playing cards, 292 A truthful passage, 298 A great prayer-meeting, 302 Ahab had his price, 303 Ahab's first mistake, 303 Ahab and Naboth, 305 A rumseller's punishment, 307 A sudden call, 312 A homeless rich man, 313 A dead level of life ruinous, 313 Afraid of hypocrites, 318 A bundle of vanity, 319 A triumphant cliallenge, 320 A man saved by the flag, 334 A happy convert, 336 A feast in honor of Jesus, 341 A pardoned man on trial, 345 A Jew always a Jew, 354 An ancient dishonor, 362 Angels never lie, 363 A sinless lady, 390 Alexander conquered by self, 394 Attachment to Christ, 428 — A message cut in glass, 444 A thrilling scene, 459 — — Ark an illustration, 465 Avoid deceit, 497 A good quality in the prodigal, 491 Attitude of believers, 506 B. Bible attacked in Boston, 349 Bibles in the congregation, 350 Believe in the Bible, 351 Boston merchant's request, 396 Bhnd doctor in London, 409 " Bound to die rich," 410 Blinded by fashion, 411 Bible agreeing with the skeptic, 420 Brother converted by a letter, 438 Boston opposed to sudden conver- sions, 465 Brazen serpent, 473 Becoming a soldier at once, 475 Boston boasters, 509 Boston unbelief, 19 Boston excited over Anthony Burns, 24 Bible, a match for infidels, 51 Boy catching pigeons, 57 Best workers for the inquiry room, Ti Burial of Moses, 120 Bible the best book for inquirers, 176 530 INDEX. Best passages for inquiry room, i86 Boston backsliders, 208 Boston people imitating Nathaniel, 248 Bible mutilated, 275 Backsliders fall gradually, 289 Black sheep of the flock, 326 Boston and primitive scenes, 338 Boston and grandchildren of Phari- sees, 341 Confidence in God, 23 Church grieving the Spirit, 45 Calling things by their right name, 68 Christians with long faces, 78 Church quarrels an impediment, 86 Confession — to whom ? 97 Conquering difficulties, 109 '-^ Childhood and the cross, 132 Child's request for drunken father, 148 Christ not a tormentor but a Sa- viour, 150 Christ receives all classes, 155 Christians distmguished by their looks, 167 Converts' work in Chicago, 169 Converts need work, 170 Circulating the cluster of grapes, 180 Chronic fault-finders, 183 Church, the best institution, 185 Critics invited to Jesus, 202 Christ raising the dead, 114 Cowardly parents, 233 Converts wish to make converts, 235 Conversions of the Bible are sudden, 251 Coveting a grave for Boston idols, 261 Crossing the Jordan, 270 \' Capture of Jericho, 273 Conscience like a bell, 300 Chamber of horrors, 300 Covetousness, 309 Complaints of backsliders, 326 Christ or creed, 327 Christians, half and half, 329 Contemptible tempers, 394 Captain proclaiming freedom, 402 Conversion of a lady in Scotland, 418 Condemned man saved, 471 Covered sins, 485 D. Defeat predicted, 18 Dreamer and his ladder, 32 Death of a Sunday-school boy, 37 Dead orthodoxy, 50 Dried-up professors, 57 Doctors and patients, 65 Death of a minister's wife, 131 Dissatisfaction of crowned heads, 145' Doing the devil's work, 147 Drunkards can reach drunkards, 170 Discouraged minister, 172 Deal prudently with children, 187 ^ Dr. Cuyler's plan in prayer-meet- ing, 189 Drunken man in the tabernacle, 198 Dying soldier and his "father's \ well," 209 David an example, 297 Disposing of Jesus, 315 Doom of rejectors of Jesus, 317 Doctrine of assurance, 327 Dog in lion's cage, 380 Devil a counterfeiter, 501 Death and Christ's coming distinct, 502 Enthusiasm essential to success, 25 Emblems of the Holy Ghost, 52 Entangled in the devil's net, 65 Experiences, twenty years old, 78 Emphasizing a little word, 99 Elijah under the juniper tree, 120 Exalting Jesus, 287 Empty nets, easily left, 281 Edinburgh castle, 289 Englishman's idea of a wealthy man, 376 Excitement in Libby prison, 388 Emperor of Russia and serfs, 400 Eastern legend, 468 Entering the refuge quickly, 469 F. Foggy sermons, 68 Father's prayer for dying soldier boy, 118 Forgiving and forgetting, 125 Father and son from India, Father and sons from New Hamp- shire, 135 Five precious things, 145 Favoritism in the family, 254 Formalists, 318 Five qualifications for the Christian, \/ 344 Fine looking widow, 372 Feeding upon the New York Led- ger, 425 INDEX. 531 Four classes of hearers, 481 Family the first care, 487 Father of Newman Hall, 495 Guided by the Spirit in amusements, 43 God's power in creation, 108 Good news from Portland, 129 Governor of New Jersey and Irish- man, 143 God above nature, 199 Growing into Christianity a delu- sion, 205 Gambler and his friends, 425 General Swift, a secret disciple, 447 Governed by the experience of others, 479 H. How to please a father, 91 Humility a flower of paradise, 107 Healthful and thankful Christians, 129 Hippodrome, a tramp in the, 147 How to fill pauses in prayer-meet- ings, 187 _W Herod and the wise men, 373 V'Herod's doom, 374 " Herrings for nothing," 384 Hippodrome, Frenchman in the, 418 Help the fallen, 495 Ignoring the Sabbath, 90 Inebriate converted, 100 Intemperance worse than war, 136 Inability to fix the hour of conver- sion, 204 Importance of confession, 285 Interview between Christ and Peter, 294 Ignorance of the Gospel, 383 Infidel father subdued by his boy, 391 Intelligent faith, 448 J. Joshua's defeat, 95 Joining the church too soon, 174 John's object in writing his Gospel, 191 Jesus in the Old Testament, 217 Jacob's mother teaching him to lie, 253 Jacob repioduced in the church, 254 Jacob's title, 255 Jacob driving sharp bargains, 257 Jacob's altar at Sheckem, 260 Jacob in affliction, 262 Jacob mourning for Joseph, 263 Jacob's estimate of his life, 264 Joshua at Jericho, 271 Joshua and the kings, 276 Joshua's death, 277 Joshua's dying testimony, 278 Jesus an example of industry, 451 John's preaching, 453 John an eloquent man, 459 John in prison, 462 K. Knox in Scotland, 433 Lost before the judgment, 31 Loss of the soul, 36 Looking for results, 63 Large and small audiences, 70 Love pained by suspicion, 84 Laziness anti-Christian, 159 Long prayers an abomination, 189 Light and fulness in Jesus, 193 Looking at water will not quench thirst, 220 Limiting God to one method, 232 Lady and Shepherd, 376 Libby prison, 398 Luther in Germany, 433 Love needs no form of speech, 486 Lectured to death, 490 M. Men of faith needed, 17 Minority and majority report, 19 Moody's admiration for .Garibaldi, 26 Moody seeking non-church-goers, 28 Minister saved from flogging, 35 Moody and the clown, 35 Moody waking a man on the street, 49 Ministerial buckets empty, 57 Moody and the minister in England, 60 Mistake of the churches, 66 Moody's object in preaching, 71 Moody and the mad man, 74 Moody's daily rule, 74 Moody's love for his wife, 78 532 INDEX. Moody yoking two passages to- gether, 87 Mother and daughter, 98 Mercantile lying, 100 Moody's prayer for children, 133 Mother in Liverpool and boy in Boston, 134 Moody and temperance societies, 137 Moody's cure for drunkenness, 137 Moody's hope for Boston, 139 >^- Moody and his early caller, 142 v' Moody and men who have lost self- control, 144 Moody and the saloon-keeper, 160 Moody learning his mission, 164 Moody's method of filling churches, 168 Moody not a teacher of baptism, 173 Moody's plan for reviving New Eng- land, 173 Moody's method with inquirers, 175 Moody's method with infidels, 175 Moody's estimate of covenants, 180 Minister and the theatre, 182 Moody asleep in church, 184 Moody's verses for inquirers, 192 Men of tact needed, 196 Miracles of Christ, 197 Miss Smiley and colored women, 228 Moody and the funeral sermon, 243 Martha's creed, 244 Matthew, an example of sudden conversion, 246 Moody predicting the time of con- version, 251 Moody troubled about Jacob, 253 Moody's view of wrestling Jacob, 259 Minorities unpopular, 266 Man-made preachers, 279 Moody in Farwell Hall, 320 Moody and two ladies, 323 Moody correcting his little girl, 331 Moody and the rod, 333 Moody and the druggist, 333 Mention of Gabriel's name, 361 Misquoted passages, 375 Mother bereft of seven children, 390 Moody, the old and the new, 419 Man and thirteen servants, 424 Mrs. Comstock and her sons, 441 Moody's idea of laziness, 450 Moody's first visit to Faneuil Hall, 477 Moody's method with idle men, 492 McDonald and his family, 493 Moody's advice on tobacco, 494 Magnet and pieces of steel, 504 Moody's dread of the communion, 512 N. New England afraid of enthusiasm, 24 Nicodemus a D.D., 31 No drunkard can reel into heaven, 2,1 Nicodemus a respectable sinner, 250 Natural and moral reaping, 296 New York merchant, 410 Nine new things, 416 New name and a new way, 422 Naaman suddenly cured, 471 O. Oranges for scissors, 44 Out of the temple into the arms of Jesus, 236 One thing against Joshua, 267 Opposition expected, 437 P. Personal questions, 32 Personal preaching, 46 Powerless church-members, 54 Prayerless prayers, 59 Publicans and rum-sellers, 64 Philip and the inquirer, 71 Personal prayer, 76 Personal confession, 'jd Publishing conversion, 153 Persevering teachers successful, 159 Preaching of John, 194 Pride and whiskey incompatible, 201 Painting old pumps, 206 Picture of Christ in Crystal Palace, 244 Peter's faith, 282 Peter's short prayer, 283 Peter a ritualist, 285 Peter's fault, 288 Peter's martial spirit, 290 Peter in bad company, 291 Peter's denial, 292 Peter rebuked by a look, 293 People who cannot pray, 322 Printed prayer for a backslider, 324 Philip and Andrew Society, 339 Prophecy concerning Egypt, 353 Providing a king for Wales, 369 Paying rum bills, 488 INDEX. 533 R. Reducing an army to win victory, 22 Resisting truth, 48 Result of a single conversion, 72 Reputation an impediment, 85 Rejoicing over weakness of the Church, 112 Requests for prayer, scriptural, 117 Results of the Chicago revival, 119 Repulse at u, 273 Revivals not new, 310 Roman Catholic bishop in prison. Reformers die, but Jesus lives, 358 Rescuing sheep in the Highlands, 377 Referring it to the minister, 423 Ralph Wells's story, 439 Russian prince building ships, 450 Reunion in Heaven, 512 Stirring the Church, 58 Sinners love to argue, 67 Standard too low, 77 Sin makes prayer powerless, 77 Surgeon's tactics, 84 Self, our greatest foe, 102 Sectarianism, 103 Self-seeking an obstacle, 105 Strife in the shadow of the cross, 106 Songless churches, 128 Six thousand millions for drink, 136 Story of a Chicago drunkard, 138 Sign of conversion, 151 Skeptical soldier and comforter, 156 Spasmodic effort, a failure, 158 Singing essential to success, 170 Singing in a saloon, 171 Spurgeon's remark, 183 Silence men of doubtful piety, 190 Surgeons take worst cases first, 213 Salvation indiscriminately offered, 224 Sound as an Andover theologian, 235 S3'rian missionary and shepherds, 238 Sheep follow strangers only when sick, 238 Safety of the Lord's sheep, 239 Spurgeon's saying, 251 Successful people never whine, 267 Secret service, 284 Saving a train from ruin, 304 " Sheep known by defects, 378 Shepherd leading flock across stream, 381 Spurgeon's parable, 399 Southern hotel disaster, 405 Spurgeon in London, 434 Sick boy and his list of converts, 440 Scotchwoman's reply, 448 Slave crossing Canada line, 470 Scotch lassie's prayer, 474 Small wages better than nothing, 489 Study the word, 511 True source of help, 21 Tabernacle a warning, 34 The sale of a soul, 39 The dying child's question, 39 Testing theories by the word, 42 The drunkard's only hope, 44 Three classes in the church, 55 Three kinds of service, 62 Two ways of teaching, 64 Taught by a bootblack, 7^ Talking, and saying nothing, 79 The judge and the soldier, 91 " The Moody and Sankey Hum- bug," no The devil's " ifs," 114 The devil's influence over men, 115 Three thoughts upon Phil., 4:6, 119 The boy and the razor, 121 The disciples' prayer, 122 Two unforgiving ministers, 123 The woman who refused to forgive, 123 Two young ladies forgiving each other, 126 The little Corneliuses, 135 Three names for importunity, 142 Three kinds of Christians, 164 Take children to church, 177 Thirty ministers and a failure, 179 The two London brothers, 195 The law and the Gospel, 197 Tabernacle — minister and infidel, 200 The mirage on the plains, 209 The young miss going higher for water, 210 Testimony for Jesus, 216 Three sad things, 222 The Gospel of John and Christ's Divinity, 229 Turned out of one church — into another, 234 Three marks of the Lord's sheep, 237 Tabernacle and dead souls, 243 534 INDEX. Three things before raising Lazarus, 244 The power of conscience in a bur- glar, 299 The cost of one act, 307 Three fatal steps, 314 The Samaritan woman's work, 340 The prayers of Jesus, 346 Two Jewish rabbis, 352 Tabernacle — the attraction, 355 Token seekers, 364 Two hundred and fifty-six names,366 The two ministers, 382 Two ways of coming to Christ, 387 The worst kind of bondage, 403 Thrilling letter from a forger, 413 The ring of counterfeit money, 420 The " old man " not dead, 421 The little cloud, 435 Three wiles of the devil, 436 The young ruler, 442 Two fast colors, 472 The " Cradle of Liberty," 477 Transgressions covered, 484 The second coming, 499 Three scriptural facts, 505 The world a wreck, 510 U. Unbelief a hindrance. 18 Under the pierced clouds, 52 Unwilling to be taught, 69 Unpopularity of self-reaching, 83 Unbelief, a disqualification, 85 Unpopular in Babylon, 94 Unconfessed sin like a bullet, 96 Ugly moods of convicted men, 116 Unable to eat till forgiven, 126 Unseemly haste in leaving Taber- nacle, 166 Urge immediate prayer, 176 Union officer and slaves, 402 Value of a mad man, 25 Vain attempt of infidels, 234 Vacillation of Pilate, 316 W. Waiting for an answer, 142 Welcome home, 152 • Waiting to get ready, 156 .. Working others by working self, 179 Warning a proof of friendship, 304 Willie in anger, 379 Willie and his sister, 386 Wounded soldiers at Paris, 387 War-wrecks in the South, 419 Woman eighty-five years old, 431 Wesley and Whitefield, 434 Working out salvation, illustrated, 480 War across the waters, 506 Warnings of the Bible, 511 Young convert reproved, 86 Young lady and street work, 164 Young minister rebuked, 311 Young lady at Wellesley College, 423 Young man and abused mother, 425 Young man ashamed of himself, 447 Date Due .JE4~'54 SAi**frgi