LIBRARY OF CONGRESsT 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
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GOSPEL APPEALS, 
 
 A SERIES OF SERMONS PREACHED DURING REVIVAL 
 MEETINGS. 
 
 V 
 
 J 
 
 By E. BANKS DILLARD, D.D. 
 
 ST. LOUIS, MO. 
 
 AVitri a S^riort Biography of trie Preacher 
 
 BY REV. J. F. V. SAUL, M.D. 
 
 "Go cut into the highways and hedges, and compel 
 them to come iru'? — Luke xiv. 28, 
 
 
 ' WAStt^ 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 HfDSOX-KIMBERLY PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
 
 KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI. 
 

 Copyrighted 1894, 
 By 
 
 E. Banks Dillard. 
 
 r 
 
 rv 
 
oc 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Parents who gave me Birth, 
 
 and the 
 
 plucky little woman who holds the rope while 
 I dive for Jewels, 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 
 BY 
 
 The Author. 
 
Table of Contents. 
 
 A Short Biography vn 
 
 Heaven and the Way to Get There i 
 
 A Sermon to Doubters 12 
 
 Equal and Unequal 21 
 
 The Place of the Wicked in the Hereafter 35 
 
 The Sin unto Death 44 
 
 The Eagle's Nest ._. . . 64 
 
 Prayer and Holy Living 76 
 
 Christian Development 87 
 
 Bitter Made Sweet 99 
 
 The Humiliated and Exalted Christ no 
 
 Ringing Bells 121 
 
 Casting a Shadow 126 
 
 Opening the Books at the Last Day 135 
 
 God's Heritage . 144 
 
 The Worth of the Soul and the Danger of Being Lost . 1 53 
 
 Shall this Body Live Again 160 
 
 Excuses 172 
 
 A Memorial Address 180 
 
A Letter from a Kansas City Pastor. 
 
 To all who make soul winning the spirit and genius of their 
 Christian work, Dr. Dillard's "Revival Waves" will prove an in- 
 valuable aid. 
 
 If the general who has won a hundred battles is capable of 
 giving instruction in military tactics; if the pilot who has safely 
 encountered a thousand storms at sea may well give advice to 
 mariners, then the author of "Revival Waves," who has wit- 
 nessed ten thousand soldiers wheel into rank with the redeemed 
 under his preaching, is qualified to instruct and help soul win- 
 ners. I wish for the book widest possible reading, and for the 
 author a long life in his ever widening fields of usefuluess. 
 
 J. A. El^IOTT, 
 Pastor William Jewell Church, 
 
 Kansas City, Mo. 
 
 I have examined your book, " Revival Waves," and tan most 
 heartily recommend it as an invaluable aid to all ministers of the 
 gospel and to all Christian workers. After a very pleasant ac- 
 quaintance with the author, and after a careful reading of the 
 book, I feel that I cannot say enough in its praise. May the 
 blessing of God rest upon its influence, and may it go on in its 
 mission of helpfulness long after the voice of the author lies 
 hushed in the grave. Respectfully, 
 
 W. A. Wilson, 
 President Baptist Female College, 
 
 Lexington, Mo. 
 
 I have carefully examined and read the MSS. of your "Gos- 
 pel Appeals," and unhesitatingly pronounce it one of the best 
 books of sermons ever published, and, in consequence of its gos- 
 pel power, I style it the Silent Preacher, who will continue to win 
 souls for Christ long after its author's voice is hushed in death. 
 
 J. F. V. Saui,, 
 
 Evangelist, 
 Kansas City, Mo. 
 
 From an Elder of the Presbytertan Church 
 
 To be honest with you, I find only one fault with the book. 
 There is no stopping short of the last fly leaf. Felt too tired to at- 
 tend church, and here I am reading at two o'clock in the morning. 
 
 John M Ringry, 
 
 Greenwood, Mo. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In sending forth this, my first volume of sermons, I 
 am simply complying with promises man}^ times made 
 and as often broken. For the last eight years, in my 
 evangelistic work and during m}^ pastorate in Virginia, 
 appeals have been made to me for the publication of at 
 least one volume of my sermons; in one case friends 
 have gone so far as to actually sell and buy the book 
 before the sermons were ever written. To such it is 
 proper to say that the reasons for delay have been: first, 
 a question on my part as to the literary worth of my ser- 
 mons; second, the want of time to prepare them for 
 press; third, the question of means to such an end. But 
 time, study, and the liberality of the masses to whom I 
 have administered, and who have ever heard these ser- 
 mons gladly, have swept away like a costal tide the last 
 sand-bar on which I have stood so long in open defiance 
 of the wishes and demands of many thousands to whom 
 I have preached. Coming alike from the borders of Can- 
 ada, the "Lone Star'' State, fanned by the salt-laden breezes 
 of the Gulf, along the Atlantic slope, from the gorges of 
 Cock Top and Thunder Hill, the silent sentinels of the 
 Appalachian Range, from the banks of the great Father 
 of Waters and the metropolis of the plains, regardless of 
 denomination, these appeals have been so numerous I 
 feel that I must 3 T ield to the demands of my friends, many 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 thousands of whom have grasped the hand which now 
 pens these lines at the moment of their spiritual birth. 
 How often do we hear Christians singing the song they 
 love so well because it was sung at the time of their con- 
 version! Often in social meetings a text is repeated or 
 a verse quoted only because it led the speaker to Christ. 
 
 These appeals, however, are intended for the silent 
 hour, amidst the reflections of home, surrounded by the 
 rosebuds of hope and sweetened by the aroma of affec- 
 tion. The writer sincerely hopes that those whose eyes 
 shall scan these lines may weep but little and rejoice 
 forever. 
 
 These sermons were not prepared with the remot- 
 est idea of publication; hence there are doubtless many 
 quotations from books and divines whose names are at 
 this time unknown to the writer and the very fact of their 
 being quoted forgotten. To those who fail to find the 
 quotation-marks in the sermon, but the plagiarist in 
 the author, this is my first defence. Again, these gospel 
 appeals have been made for the sole purpose of saving 
 men and honoring God. We do not claim originality, 
 scholarship, nor fame; but we do claim success for these 
 appeals, not one of which has met with a single defeat* 
 For me is the work, to God be the praise. 
 
 The Author. 
 
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Written for this Book by a Friend and Com- 
 panion IN I^ABOR. 
 
 This sketch is written in view of the fact that many- 
 have been the inquiries in the past, only to be repeated 
 in the future, by those who have had the pleasure of 
 hearing Dr. Dillard's pathetic and eloquent appeals in 
 the past and the multitudes to whom this book shall go 
 in the future, relative to his family, his native State, and 
 his early training, together with the circumstances which 
 have combined to make him the popular preacher and 
 thinker he is to-day. I have labored with him occasionally 
 now for over a year, and from his own lips have gathered 
 many facts, often read his private correspondence, visited 
 his lovely home, conversed with his charming wife and 
 beautiful children, seen him in the throes of pam, 
 enraged with anger, and convulsed with laughter : I 
 have eaten, slept, and traveled with him, seen him on 
 his knees in the private room conversing with God in 
 secret, and on the rostrum, with the house filled to the 
 street, sweeping everything before his impassioned elo" 
 quence, with his hearers first roaring with laughter and 
 then bathed in tears, while he swept on like the mighty 
 Demosthenes, striking the thinking sceptic with the 
 thunder of logic, the fault-finder with the firebrands of 
 
V1U A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 sarcasm, and fairly drowning the listening mass in the 
 halo of the cross. I may be pardoned, then, for this 
 short sketch of my illustrious friend, on the ground, first, 
 that somebody ought to tell the world r from whence he 
 came; and, second, because of the superior advantages I 
 have^of knowing the facts relative to the case; and, lastty, 
 because justice and hard work for a noble cause demand 
 that Dr. Dillard should be better known and more uni- 
 versally appreciated by the world at large, and especially 
 the great denomination which has added to her list 
 thousands from his unparalleled success. 
 
 To begin the narative, about the year 1750, a man 
 by the name of Thomas married an Indian woman by 
 the name of Pocahontas in old Virginia ; from this 
 union came two sons, named respectively Nat and Wil- 
 liam, both of whom were, in after years, large land- and 
 slave-owners. 
 
 William served in the war of 18 1.2 and also in the 
 war with Mexico, and while on a visit to the Army of 
 Northern Virginia in 1863, had an eye shot out. Captain 
 Thomas was the first man ever known to cure tobacco 
 with fire. Before the war he was a tobacco-trader, and 
 as a business man was the peer of anyone of his day. 
 He married Miss Araminta Motley, from which union 
 came four sons and five daughters, the third one marry- 
 ing a young man born and raised partly in Halifax 
 County, Va., but residing on a farm in North Carolina at 
 the time of marriage. From this union came six sons 
 and one daughter, the first born of which is the subject 
 of this sketch. Mr. Dillard was among the first to dis- 
 
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. IX 
 
 cover the scientific process by which to produce and 
 retain, by the use of great heat, the golden color in the 
 tobacco grown in the Piedmont sections of Virginia and 
 North Carolina. He is an honest, energetic, and success- 
 ful farmer, still vigorous and useful, a large land-owner, 
 and free from embarrassment of every kind. In religion 
 he is an uncompromising Methodist, and has for over 
 forty years been a steward of that Church. On points 
 of doctrine he and his son could never agree, so, after 
 many efforts and as many failures, they finally, by silent 
 consent, agreed to disagree. Mr. Dillard was a Confed- 
 erate soldier in Lee's army, and was severely wounded 
 in the mouth at Petersburg, while a courier for the com- 
 manding officer. On returning to his home, he reclaimed 
 his wasted fortune, paid his war debts, raised his family, 
 and built for himself a reputation for honor and fidelity 
 second to no man in his State. Though a farmer, he has 
 often been appointed by the court to render important 
 decisions as a referee in suits of long-standing, involving 
 large amounts, and not an appeal from his decision was 
 ever taken. 
 
 Edward Banks, the first and oldest child, was born 
 on the 27th of May, 1856, in the home of his grandfather 
 in the State of Virginia, while his mother was on a visit 
 to her father; hence he says, "I was born in the land of 
 statesmen, having gone over there for that purpose." 
 He was raised on his father's farm in North Carolina. 
 Having become interested in the subject of salvation at 
 home on the farm in his sixteenth year, he went four 
 miles to a protracted meeting and stayed at the mourners' 
 
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 bench two days, but was not converted — he says, for want 
 of proper instruction; he was finally converted, about 
 four months after, at family prayer in the very house in 
 which he was born, while on a visit to his grandfather. 
 In less than one hour after he became satisfied he was 
 converted, he felt that he must preach the gospel, and so 
 expressed himself to an uncle who was with him at the 
 time, and began at once to study in that direction. 
 
 His parents were Methodists, but his inclinations 
 were towards the Baptist denomination, of which there 
 was no church nearer than nine miles. It is a little sin- 
 gular, but nevertheless true, that after reading the New 
 Testament and praying over the matter, over much 
 opposition, his loyalty to what he believed to be duty 
 overruled convenience, and so on the third Sunday in 
 June, 1873, he took his clothes in a carpet-sack, and, fol- 
 lowing the dictates of his own conscience and the word 
 of Him who said, ''Except a man forsake father and 
 mother, houses and lands, for my sake and the gospel, he 
 cannot be my disciple," he left all, none of whom, except 
 a faithful mother, who rode with him to the water, would 
 even see him baptized. This rite was administered in 
 a large old-fashioned mill-pond, by a faithful man of God, 
 who prayed that God would bless him in his day and 
 generation, while on the bank, under a large tree, a little 
 group sang: 
 
 "Thus do His willing saints to-day 
 
 Their ardent zeal express, 
 And in the Lord's appointed way 
 
 Fulfill all righteousness." 
 
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. XI 
 
 Indeed it was a handful of corn on the mountain-top. 
 Who would have thought, to see the little, dwarfy, but 
 plucky, country lad, with his simple, beardless face and 
 rough, bony hands, never having seen a city, been a 
 hundred miles from home, or ridden on a train, that there 
 was the author of one of the best books on earth on the 
 most important subject, a doctor of divinity before thirty- 
 five, the pastor of one church for seven years, an orator 
 pronounced the equal of Senator John W. Dauiel, and an 
 evangelist, though inferior in reputation, second to none 
 in ability on the continent? Much of his education was 
 gotten by the old-fashioned fire-place, in the dim light of 
 a blaze made by throwing into the coals one piece of a 
 fence-rail which he had walked to find perhaps a quarter 
 of a mile at night, after working on the farm from day" 
 break till dark, and often three miles from home. By 
 such a light as this, he says, he set out to read through 
 all the books on the place, and succeeded in reading all 
 but the Old Testament and the horse book; these would 
 have fared the same fate but for the opportunity of going 
 to school. 
 
 An incident which showed his determination to read 
 is worthy of mention here. His first purchase made in 
 this line— and, in fact, in any line — -was a New Testament, 
 for which he gave two fox-skins; another fact is that the 
 first five dollars he ever had he gave for Bunyan's com- 
 plete works; these purchases have grown into a library 
 of nearly six hundred volumes. He was sent to school 
 at Hico, Shady Grove, and started to Hebron, walk- 
 ing four miles there and the same distance back each 
 
Xll A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 day, besides attending to the stock and doing chores gen- 
 erally. At this time an opportunity opened for him to 
 attend college, so, going to Wake Forest College, N. C, 
 he began the work of preparing for the ministry in earn- 
 est. Here he .supplemented the help extended by his 
 Association with his razor and scissors, kept up his studies 
 in his classes, and recited in theology at night to the 
 president of the college, the lamented Dr. Wingate, and 
 preached somewhere nearly every Sunday. During this 
 time he held two meetings, one of which furnished a 
 pastor's wife and a foreign missionary, the other resulted 
 in the organization of one of the best churches in the 
 country. His energy was indomitable, but his constitu- 
 tion was weak; hence his study was interrupted and he 
 never finished his course. Though he left his room fur- 
 nished and during the first vacation received sufficient com- 
 pensation to support him in college for two years, he never 
 returned; but, having a natural fondness for books, his 
 studies have gone evenly on, until he is regarded to-day 
 by judges as one of the most liberally read men in the 
 country. As was said before, with shattered health he 
 returned to the farm, here only a lew days of mental rest 
 awaited him, for the Macedonian call came Irom over the 
 Dan, and in less than two months we find the beardless 
 boy the most successful evangelist in the Old Dominion, 
 scoring his converts by the hundred, drawing crowded 
 houses everywhere, and on several occasions preaching 
 to thousands in the open air at Associations. Soon the 
 jealous preacher became uneasy lest the impetuous youth 
 should overreach the bounds of clerical jurisdiction, 
 
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. Xlll 
 
 and, turning the world upside down, someone might get 
 caught under a boulder; so the brother who had been 
 receiving pay for preaching to empty benches began to 
 contrive some plan by which to control this new-born sen 
 of thunder; hence in a short time the very atmosphere was 
 freighted with all kinds of reports, which rather tended 
 to advertise his popularity than to damage his usefulness. 
 
 When he was born , as was said before, he was on a visit 
 to Pittsylvania County, Va.; when he was converted, he 
 was on a visit to the same county, and, strange to say, he 
 was converted in the same house in which he was born. He 
 was ordained and afterwards married in the same county 
 to Miss Annie Leech Robertson, the daughter of Jas. S. 
 Robertson, whose family has for more than a century 
 ranked among the best families of Virginia. Mrs. Dil- 
 lard is an ideal Southern lady, strictly domestic in her 
 habits, modest, and refined, loved by all who know her, 
 and deserves great credit for the heroic manner in which 
 she has managed the affairs of home and trained her 
 children in her husband's absence, never complaining or 
 allowing even a line to reach him of a distressing natuie, 
 for fear of damaging his work. Surely such a woman is 
 deserving of the poor tribute I have paid to her real 
 worth. 
 
 A few weeks after his marriage he was called to the 
 pastorate of the Riceville Baptist Church in Virginia 
 which call he accepted, and remained the pastor of this 
 church for seven years, resigning at the time of his great 
 est success, and leaving the church united, with a mem- 
 bership about doubled, and a large new brick church 
 
XIV A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 filled at every Sunday service. While here, he held six 
 protracted meetings all of which were successes. At 
 this juncture, our friend being tired of the confinement 
 incident to the pastorate, he conceived the idea of going 
 at his own charge as a missionary to the mountains. So, 
 uniting with himself a partner in business, he invested 
 largely in real estate, which, despite his good intentions, 
 drew him into the vortex of business, which for a while 
 threatened to swallow him up; but he soon emerged from 
 the wreck of his wasted fortune, a poorer but a wiser 
 man. Turning over his business into the hands of an 
 agent to wind up, he reconsecrated his life to the work 
 of the ministry, and in less than two months was installed 
 as pastor of one of the largest churches in the county. 
 Here he remained two years, resigning over a unanimous 
 reelection, only to answer the calls for revival work from 
 his own and other States. Here ended his pastorate, 
 leaving a crowded house and a united church, with one 
 hundred and fifty additions, most of whom were converted 
 and baptized under his ministry. 
 
 Bidding farewell to the pastorate, we next find him 
 preaching to the guests at Alleghany Springs, at Shaws- 
 ville, Christiansburg, Buchanan, Natural Bridge, Hollins 
 Institute, Withville, Pulaski City, Erestle, Tenn., and 
 Johnson City, with calls as far north as Philadelphia. At 
 the end of eight years we find him with headquarters in 
 St. Louis on the great Father of Waters, having operated 
 in nine States for eight years without meeting with a sin- 
 gle defeat, judging by the standard of success as expressed 
 in professions of conversion. Yet this work has been so 
 
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. XV 
 
 . . — . i . — — - 
 
 quietly done that even his own denomination knows but 
 little of him, and constantly some one is heard to say: 
 "Well, well! where did this man come from?" 
 
 As a thinker he has few equals, as a reasoner none 
 surpasses him, as a speaker he has been pronounced the 
 equal of Senator Daniel, and on account of the legal bias 
 of his mind he has been offered positions of honor and 
 trust with lucrative temptations, but over all he has 
 stuck right to his work. More than one college has 
 sought his ability in her interest, and even a railroad, 
 through her attorneys, has opened to him her patronage 
 as his client, if he would only consent to grace a law office 
 and become her attorney; recently a judge offered him his 
 influence and patronage if he would plead law in the 
 week and preach on Sunday; not long since a medical 
 institution sought his services in the management of her 
 finances, at a salary received by few men and in excess 
 of what he ever hopes to receive at his present work; 
 and among other offerings has been that of an editor of 
 a religious journal. He sa} 7 s his experience in business 
 has given him a clue to business men and a power over 
 them he could never have had otherwise, and many have 
 felt the force of his appeals and surrendered to Christ as 
 a matter of business, while his liberal reading, his retent- 
 ive memory, knowledge of human nature, and sound 
 judgment have brought infidels, sceptics, and moralists 
 alike to the foot of the cross. In his work on the plat- 
 form he is an orator, as a singer he is far above the 
 average, in managing he is a general who means to be 
 obeyed and was never known to countermand an order 
 
Xvi A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 or desert a field, and in discipline lie is extremely 
 strict. His sarcasm is in the highest degree severe, yet 
 he is as simple as a child and as tender as a woman, full 
 of humor, and has the rare gift of convulsing his auditors 
 with a roar of mirth or a flow of tears at will. Moody 
 has persistency, Jones wit, Wills command, Renn dra- 
 matic power, and Pearson logic; but it is no compromise 
 of the truth to assert that, after having heard all these 
 men, I find all these elements of success happily blended 
 in Dr. Dillard, whom I consider the coming evangelist of 
 the next decade. 
 
 As a man he is companionable to a fault to his 
 friends. He shows the Indian blood, in that he will love 
 their virtues, hide their faults, and apologize for their 
 mistakes. He bears no animosity towards anyone, but 
 he has a fine sense of justice, is easily thrown off his bal- 
 ance, and in a moment his indignation knows no bounds. 
 He is imprudent in his remarks on such occasions, and 
 but for the grace of God would strike a circular saw in 
 motion, regardless of consequences. He is in no sense a 
 policy man. He is as considerate and respectful to a 
 washerwoman as to the wife of a senator, will pay as 
 much attention to a hod-carrier or a mule-driver as to the 
 president of a railroad or the cashier of a bank, will tell 
 a man to his teeth just how mean he believes him to be, 
 and will resent a slanderous statement made behind the 
 back of an enemy, even though it make another. 
 
 In his home he is one of the children. "Oh, well," 
 says he, "we all grew up together. My children are my 
 associates. I never think of striking them any more 
 
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. XVil 
 
 than I do their mother. I don't believe in whipping; it 
 hurts. We have sorrow enough without inflicting it our 
 selves. Begin right: be firm and positive, make home 
 pleasant. Kindness will win and your wish will be the 
 law of your house. In nine cases out of ten the parent 
 ought to have the stripes he puts on the child." 
 
 He received the degree of doctor of divinity fron 
 I^a Grange College, Mo., before he was thirty-five, aft or 
 having labored with her honored president, J. F. Cook, 
 LL.D., and delivered the baccalaureate address before 
 the literary societies of that institution. 
 
 He is no part of a politician and affiliates with no 
 party, and on that account he has delivered conciliatory 
 addresses in the North and South at the request of both 
 the ex-Confederate and the Grand Army veterans. 
 
 His last success, to which we beg to call attention, is 
 that of an author. His book entitled " Revival Waves " 
 contains to the square inch more practical information and 
 sparkling suggestions than any other book, regardless of 
 theme, I have ever read. It is a valuable contribution to 
 the religious literature of this century, a text-book worthy 
 of the best theological seminary in the land, and it ought 
 to be in the home of every evangelical Christian in the 
 world. 
 
 As a Christian, he is not an enthusiast; as to denom- 
 ination, not a sectarian by any means; as to Church, he 
 is a Baptist; as to doctrines, firm as the everlasting hills. 
 He is charitable to all, kind and polite to every one, but 
 uncompromising in his own opinions. He is perhaps the 
 best-posted man in the world to-day on the distinctive 
 
XV111 A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 doctrine and history of his Church, for his opportunities. 
 In his interpretation of the Scriptures he is independent, 
 accepts dogmatic statements from no source, thinks on 
 lines of reason, believes the Bible, but rejects with utter 
 disgust many things which men by their traditions have 
 palmed off on the unsuspecting world for inspiration. 
 
 He is a liberally read man and has investigated the 
 strongholds of our enemies, and no infidel has ever yet 
 been able to stand before him or defeat his logic, but, on 
 the other hand, many have been converted. That his 
 sermons are of a superior order and food for mature 
 thought, as well as an inspiration to a better and more 
 consecrated life, I leave the reader to judge, promising 
 him a feast of fat things with wine upon the lees in their 
 perusal. 
 
 Yours in Christ Jesus, 
 
 Rev. J. F. V. Saul, M.D. 
 
 Kansas City, Mo. 
 
HEAVEN AND THE WAY TO GET THERE. 
 
 behold the land that is very far off.'--/*,*** sxiii. I? . 
 
 This text suggests four important thoughts- i . The 
 possibility of future existence; 2 . The place; 3. A journey; 
 4- A glorious consummation. We therefore beg you to 
 SO with us and let us find, if we can, the evidence upon 
 which, to some extent at least, we base our hopes of 
 immortality. * 
 
 unon D rhe D f J""* *? P hiloso PV ° f the future state 
 upon the fundamental principle that what has been 
 believed by every people in every age must necessarily be ' 
 true, since : it is not possible that every people in every 
 
 ta£ C °Th l" 11 :^"' ^^^ a11 3gree ia th — «^ 
 take. Thatthe thinking principle in man is of an immor- 
 al nature was believed by the Egyptians, the Persians, 
 the Phoenicians, Scythians, Celts, Druids, Gauls, Greeks 
 and Romans. M. Guyot said, in his history of the early 
 Gallic peoples, that tribes without the scientific art of 
 writing, do not attain to systematic and productive relig- 
 ious creeds So while ignorance and barbarism rested 
 like the pall of night on the pagan world, still the inter- 
 nal consciousness or metaphysics of intuitive thought 
 dec ared m favor of a future existence. To many nations ■ 
 death was but an open door to something better The 
 
 1 
 
I HEAVEN AND THE WAY TO GET THERE. 
 
 Scythians believed death, only a change of habitation; the 
 Assyrians and Persians believed in rewards for righteous- 
 ness and penalt} T for sin; while the world's greatest 
 teachers, as far back as the days of Darius, have told of 
 conflicts between right and wrong. It is a well-known 
 fact to every student of history that Plato, Socrates, and 
 many other Greek philosophers, believed in the immor- 
 tality of the soul, having found in its composition the 
 elements of indestructibility. Plato represents Socrates 
 before his death as being surrounded by a circle of phi- 
 losophers, discussing with them the immortality of the 
 soul, or the eternal destiny of mind. Again, the world's 
 best poets have sung of immortality: Homer, Ovid, Vir- 
 gil, Milton, to say nothing of the psalms of David and 
 the ten thousand Christian bards who have vocalized the 
 very air with their songs of hope and words of cheer. 
 Indeed, wherever the impress of mind is found, whether 
 in history, art, or music, there are the breathings of a 
 ceaseless life. There is not a tribe or nation on earth 
 to-day that does not believe in a future existence. Mr. 
 Stanley, while lying on his couch in starvation camp, 
 amidst the jungles of Africa, heard the stillness of the 
 midnight air disturbed by the plaintive cry of Christian, 
 heathen, and Mussulman, each speaking in a different 
 tongue, but all appealing to the same God. Cicero long 
 since observed that in all things the consent of all is to 
 be accounted the law of Nature, and to resist it is to 
 resist the voice of the gods. 
 
 "Even the poor Indian, whose untutored mind 
 Sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the wind; 
 
HEAVEN" AND THE WAY TO GET THERE. 6 
 
 Whose soul false Science never taught to stray 
 Far as the solar walk or milky way. 
 Yet simple Nature to his hope has given, 
 Eeyond the hill-tops, some fairer heaven, 
 Some safe world in depth of woods embraced, 
 Some happier island in the watery waste, 
 Y/here slaves once more their native land "behold, 
 Nor fiends torment, nor Christians thirst for gold; 
 Here, followed by his favorite dog and gun, 
 Shall enjoy the smiles of a never-setting sun." 
 
 Again, the unsatisfied state of the mind, as well as 
 the utter failure of everything here to meet its demands, 
 is, to my mind, strong proof of the lasting elements of 
 which it is composed. It is ever on the wing; every 
 acquirement only stimulates new energies and increased 
 exertion. Archimedes, Newton, nor Franklin were sat- 
 isfied with their success, but pushed on to the day of 
 their death. These restless desires are to be found agi- 
 tating the bosoms and pervading the network of all human 
 intelligence. Christ said, "How much better is a man 
 than a sheep?" The answer to this question is to be 
 found in a historic past, a moral present, and a prospect- 
 ive future: 
 
 "Hope springs eternal in the human breast : 
 Man never is, but always to be blest. 
 The soul, uneasy, and confined from home, 
 Rests and expatiates in a life to come." 
 
 Again, the power of the mind for the acquisition and 
 retention of knowledge is strong proof of the indestruct- 
 ive elements of which it is composed. As man advances 
 above the level of the brute, his desire to know and 
 delight in the known increases. With the aid of scientific 
 
4 HEAVEN AND THE WAY TO GET THERE. 
 
 discovery, lie looks over the landscape or penetrates to 
 distant worlds, discovers the inhabitatants of a drop of 
 water, or traces the flying planets at will. By the powers 
 of his understanding he has surveyed the globe in all its 
 variety of lands, continents, and oceans, determined its 
 magnitude, its weight, figure, and motion, explored its 
 interior recesses, descended into the bottom of its seas, 
 and determined the elements of which it is composed; 
 has discovered the nature of thunder, and utilized the 
 forces of electricity; he can penetrate beyond all that is 
 visible and range among unknown systems of worlds, 
 dispersed throughout the boundless regions of space, 
 while imagination sweeps, with cleaving wings along all 
 circles of time, w r alks the bottom of the sea, climbs over 
 the mountains, careers amid the stars, folds its wings on 
 the throne of Jehovah, and prostrates itself at the foot of 
 Deity. Can any one believe such a soul as this holds its 
 lease of life only at the consent cf circumstances and 
 measure of time? No, indeed, beloved! To such death 
 is only transition, the clearing away of the clouds, the 
 removing of the glass, for, says Paul, now we see through 
 a glass, darkly; but then we shall see face to face: now 
 we know in part; but then shall we know as also we are 
 known. 
 
 Moses was heir to the throne of Egypt, but he had 
 more respect to the recompense of reward than to the 
 crown of the Pharaohs. Paul says that God's people have 
 desired a better country, therefore He was not ashamed to 
 be called their God, and He built for them a city. 
 
 This then brings us to the second division of our 
 
HEAVEN AND THE WAY TO GET THERE. *> 
 
 discourse, the place of this immortal and indestructible 
 spirit. Some have defined it as a continuous state, but 
 over against this I would put the historical fact that two 
 men in material bodies have left the world without death; 
 also the scientific fact that substance demands room and 
 material is another name for place. Christ promised His 
 people mansions, and John saw a city, so the land spoken 
 of in the text is on ly another name given to the abode of 
 the saints over in the beautiful sometime. Oh, how 
 many pilgrims in this unsatisfying world have been 
 pressing eagerly forward, hoping some day to realize the 
 deep, unspoken longings of restless natures and feast the 
 hungry soul on the food for which it craves ! Happiness 
 is a universal consideration; all have conceived ideas of a 
 happy land, the location of which has been a matter of 
 speculation, while its character has varied according to 
 the intelligence or superstition of the age and people. 
 The ancient pagans thought of their gods as receiving 
 the dead without ever even asking where the gods lived; 
 but as intelligence stimulated investigation, men began 
 to speculate on the realm of the gods and the final reward 
 held in reserve for the faithful. From these speculations 
 came the Elysian fields, gardens of Hesperides, islands 
 of the blest, and worlds of sacred mystery. To them the 
 thunder was the voice of Jove, the storm meant the 
 destruction of the wicked, while the golden-tinged cloud 
 was the brazen front of a celestial palace; everything 
 mysterious was divine, and the light of the sun, to their 
 darkened minds, was but the silver sheen reflected from 
 the pavilions of the blest. 
 
6 HEAVEN AND THE WAY TO GET THERE. 
 
 Again, it is but just to say that the Bible has not 
 only brought to the world the finest code of laws and the 
 highest standard of morals, but also the best and most 
 clearly defined ideas of heaven. John tells us he saw, 
 while in the apocalyptic vision, a city; its name was New 
 Jerusalem; it was located in a new earth; the poorest 
 material used in its construction was gold, and with this, 
 the most precious metal on earth, its streets were paved. 
 In this city is the river of life, twelve manner of fruits, 
 and leaves with which to heal the nations. These state- 
 ments are expressive of purity, plenty, and health. He 
 also saw the throne of God and heard them praising the 
 L,amb. There then is order, music, and worship. Here, 
 my friends, is happiness as immortal as the soul and 
 coextensive with the range of consciousness. Here is 
 stored in reserve the supreme good of humanity, to urge 
 the acceptance of which the fires of hell are kindled and 
 the dazzling beauties of heaven unfolded. 
 
 When the Crusaders caught the first sight of the 
 City of David, they fairly shook the everlasting hills as 
 they exclaimed "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! O Jerusalem !'» 
 If pilgrims were so delighted at the sight of an earthly 
 city, seized and possessed by their enemies, what do you 
 suppose will be the rapture of the soul when by the river 
 of God the trees are first seen in the distance, throwing 
 broad branches of living verdure over the pavilions of the 
 blest, and with their nodding foliage smiling above the 
 pavements over which the spirits made perfect are pass- 
 ing in celestial promenade? Ideas of heaven are only 
 expressed in language of earth; hence the use of types 
 
HEAVEN AND THE WAY TO GET THERE. 7 
 
 and figures of speech. Language is the vehicle of 
 thought but it only conveys knowledge from one person 
 to another by virtue of its association with some object or 
 hing with which the receiver is acquainted; hence our 
 ideas of the world unseen must be couched in the im- 
 agery of that which is seen. But when to the enraptured 
 soul the massy gates fly open and the shining host shout 
 "Welcome home I" then dreams and shadows shall pass 
 into realities, while on the green and flowery mount our 
 enraptured soul shall sit and with transporting joy recount 
 the labors of our feet; then shall we feel rivers of delight 
 pouring through the soul, and streams of pleasure flow- 
 ing on every side. There are no streets like those of the 
 City of God, no mountains like those which tower over 
 the heavenly heights. Oh, how many heart-broken and 
 bereaved ones have found comfort in the heavenly con- 
 templation ! Yes, many anxious e} T es are to-day looking 
 by faith to see the city out of sight, which hath founda- 
 tions whose builder and maker is God. Oh, how many 
 homeless ones are sighing for the land that is very far off! 
 Hear them sing: 
 
 " O land of rest, could mortal eyes 
 But half thy charms explore, 
 How would our spirits long to go 
 
 And dwell on earth no more ! 
 Oh, glorious hour! Oh, blest abode ! 
 I shall be near and like my God, 
 And flesh and sin no more control 
 The sacred passions of the soul." 
 The certainty of death to the believer is his guaran- 
 tee of glory. Jesus spoke of death as a sleep, and Luke 
 
o HEAVEN AND THIJ WAY TO GET THERE. 
 
 tells us that St. Stephen looked up and saw the heavens 
 opened and said, "L,ord Jesus, receive my spirit!" and 
 fell asleep. Yes, my friends, one minute amidst the 
 throes of death, the next before the throne; one minute 
 asleep in death, the next awake in glory; one minute 
 surrounded by the weeping friends which surround the 
 bed of death, the next with the loved ones gone before 
 to where there is no death; one minute telling loved ones 
 farewell, the next shaking hands with patriarchs and 
 prophets; one moment with mother, the next with Jesus. 
 An old Baptist preacher told me once that his daughter 
 died, and just as the doctor went to close her eyes, all at 
 once she began to smile and said: "Just now I was with 
 the angels; let me go back, let me go back!" closed her 
 eyes, and was gone. Oh! who would not love thus to 
 leave the world? 
 
 With this we pass to notice the practical and exceed- 
 ingly important question as to how we may secure these 
 glorious results. David said in the Psalms, God led His 
 people by the right way that they might go to a city of 
 habitation; said that he would go in the strength of the 
 Lord God, make mention of Kis righteousness, be led by 
 His counsel, and then be received to glory. David has 
 long since run his race and with his generation passed 
 from the stage of action, but, my hearers, we are on the 
 march and in the fight; therefore it behooves us to 
 inquire for something to guide us over life's stormy main. 
 Well, when I started out on this Christian pilgrimage, I 
 took the Bible for my guide, and I would to God I had 
 followed it in every particular. Henry Ward Beecher 
 
HEAVEN AND THE WAY TO GET THERE. 9 
 
 said: "As the signboard is the direction by which a man 
 walks out his journey, so the Bible is the rule by which 
 he works out his salvation." I was once traveling over 
 a strange road; a brother had given me a map of the way, 
 which he had made for my especial benefit; finally I came 
 to a road where the map indicated I should turn to the 
 right and follow the river over w T hich I had just crossed, 
 but the great broad thoroughfare straight in front invited 
 me on; so, putting the map in my pocket, here I went, 
 only to lose my time, return again to the same place, 
 and follow the map, O my brother, this book which 
 God has so graciously given us, and which has been so 
 wonderfully preserved, is a map of the way given us by 
 our friend which sticketh closer than a brother. Under 
 the dim light of the stars the general outline of the way 
 may be seen, but with a lantern in hand one sees just 
 where and how to place his steps; so with the Old Testa- 
 ment, though shadowy and dim, the outline of the way 
 appears, but with the light of the New Testament reflected 
 from Calvary we may not only see the way, but how 
 safely to walk in it. Well may we exclaim with the 
 Psalmist, "Thy word is a light unto my path and a lamp 
 unto my feet- Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse 
 his way ? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. ' ' 
 Agriculture, the driving wheel of commerce and 
 handmaid of civilization, may load your boards with the 
 luxuries of life ; architecture, the builder of cities, tem- 
 ples, and palaces, may erect for you a house ; engineering 
 may run your railroads, tap your mines, and build your 
 
10 HEAVEN AND THE WAY TO GET THERE. 
 
 furnaces ; but revelation alone will tunnel the mountains 
 of difficulty and lead us to the home of God. 
 
 Then, in addition to this, we have the Holy Spirit 
 to lead us into all truth, to take the things of Jesus and 
 show them unto us, with the assurance that as many as 
 are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 
 The wise men from the Bast followed the mysterious light 
 until they found the infant Savior ; so we must follow 
 the cautious leadings of the Holy Ghost until we find 
 the City of God and the home of the soul. Oh ! then 
 let us fill up the measure of our ability and with the open 
 Bible in our hands pray for the direction of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Soon the end will come and the glorious consumma- 
 tion, about which I shall speak but a moment. When a 
 Roman general had waged war, fought battles, and con- 
 quered a nation, they gave him what was called a triumph; 
 so when the Christian, faithful to his calling, led by the 
 Bible and directed by the Spirit, climbs over the Delect- 
 able Mountains, swims the river, and arrives at the gate 
 there is going to be glory. But what a reception ! Met 
 by the loved ones, escorted by angels, and introduced to 
 Abraham, Moses and Elijah, David and Daniel, Paul and 
 John, Peter and James ! but, best of all, we shall see 
 Jesus himself. 
 
 "Hark ! we hear the trumpet sounding, 
 See the heavens, like a scroll, 
 Rolling back for us to hear the grand roll-call; 
 Then delay no longer, sinner, 
 
 Have your name upon Christ's roll. 
 Bven so, Lord Jesus, come and take us all. " 
 
HEAVEN AND THE WAY TO GET THERE. 11' 
 
 Several }^ears ago, a ship out on the Pacific Ocean 
 encountered a terrible storm, before whose mighty winds 
 she was driven from her course, and for many days lost to 
 themselves and to the world. Water and supplies had 
 long since given out, and hope itself was in the last throes 
 of death, when the dim outline of a city was seen across 
 the waves, soon followed by the sight of loved ones at 
 the wharf, while from the pilot-house came, over wind and 
 wave, the exultant shout: "All hail! we are sailing 
 through the Golden Gate !" So, beloved, the old ship of 
 Zion, with angels on her mast, the Spirit in her sails, and 
 Jesus at the helm, is making for the port. Glory to God 1 
 she is sweeping through the gate ! 
 
A SERMON TO DOUBTERS. 
 
 "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and 
 put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand 
 into his side, I will not believe . "—John xx. 25. 
 
 [This sermon was preached in Kansas City on Sun- 
 day morning, after which many reconsecrated their lives 
 to the service of God. One man said: " I am ready to 
 die for Christ if need be."] 
 
 In Missouri, some time since, a man said to me: 
 ''How is it that Christ knew what a man was and what 
 was in him, yet in selecting His twelve disciples one 
 proved to be a thief and a traitor, while another was a 
 sceptic?" "Well, sir," said I, "if it were absolutely 
 necessary for me to steal or have your horse stolen to- 
 night, I should go right out at once and look for the man 
 who I knew was a thief at heart. In fact, we have in 
 the disciples a representative of almost every class of 
 men. Thomas represents that hesitating, doubting class 
 who will not believe that two apples and two apples are 
 four apples unless they see the apples and count them, 
 handling them with their own hands. Then John repre- 
 sents that class of what we call good men, smooth, even- 
 tempered, lovable and confiding in their very natures. 
 Peter represents that impetuous class, always doing some- 
 thing, sometimes right and sometimes wrong. In fact, 
 there is only one class of individual that is proof against 
 
 12 
 
A SERMON TO DOUBTERS. 13 
 
 doing wrong, and that is the man who never does any- 
 thing, and he is no better than a lamp-post by an electric 
 light pole, or a rusty hinge after the gate is gone. Again, 
 Peter, David, and many others who have gone on record 
 with their deeds of sin, make us blush with shame to see 
 how our great religious leaders have gone into wrong. 
 But when we see them coming out and hear their prayers 
 and confessions to God, and see how they could live and 
 die for Him afterwards, we can but feel that here is also 
 a providence and an example, not to lead us into sin, but 
 to lead us out should we ever get in. 
 
 Yes, beloved, I thank God for the example of these 
 men. But the one claiming our attention to-day is 
 Thomas. Oh, what a day that was on which ten dis- 
 ciples assembled in the room with the doors shut ! How 
 marked the contrast between the morning and the after- 
 noon ! The morning dawned with golden rays and all 
 nature hailed her with a smile, but with the disciples all 
 was dark, all was gloom; they had left all and staked all on 
 the new religion, and now all was over; the L,eader was 
 dead, and what had animated them a few days before now 
 followed them only as the ghost of a buried hope. "Ah! '' 
 said they, "we had hoped that He would have delivered 
 Israel." But now that they had seen Him nailed to the 
 cross and in earnest expectation watched and waited un- 
 til the very last, thinking every minute, "Now He will 
 assert his power, descend from the cross, strike his ene- 
 mies with fear, subjugate Caesar, ascend David's throne, 
 and rule the world." But alas! alas! instead they hear 
 Him cry out that God had forsaken Him, say it was fin- 
 
14 A SERMON TO DOUBTERS. 
 
 ished, yield up the ghost, and die. So their hopes were 
 dead and with Him buried in Joseph's rocky grave. "We 
 go afishing," said some of them. Said Peter, "I also will 
 go with thee." Some lady friends were preparing some 
 sweet spices with which to embalm the body, but added 
 to all the other troubles was the fact that the gardener 
 had moved it to some other place, and hence their mis- 
 sion of love was defeated. Two disciples go to a village, 
 and as they journey they are sad and tell their sorrows and 
 great disappointments to a stranger, who is not only com- 
 panionable, but well informed in the Scriptures, and is 
 withal so agreeable that they constrain him to dine with 
 them. Now the change begins. Mary comes back and 
 reports that she had seen the Iyord and brings a special 
 message for Peter; others who had been to the grave said 
 they saw the grave-clothes lying there, and even the nap- 
 kin lying to itself; others said they had seen an angel; 
 and one woman said she had seen the Lord himself, and 
 that He was certainly alive. Indeed, so many were the 
 reports that the disciples concluded that they would get 
 together and receive the reports in a body. Just about 
 this time there came two men from Kmmaus, with the 
 sweat running down their faces and their tongues out, 
 crying, " We have seen Him ! we have seen Him! " So, 
 going in and shutting the doors for fear the Jews would 
 come in and break up the meeting, they began to com- 
 pare evidence, when, to their surprise and great joy, Jesus 
 appeared with the salutation, "Peace be unto you." Oh, 
 what a glorious meeting ! In the morning with no busi- 
 ness, in the afternoon a world to evangelize; in the morn- 
 
A SERMON TO DOUBTERS. 15 
 
 ing scattered because their Leader was dead, in the even- 
 ing together a: ound their risen Lord; in the forenoon 
 going to angle a fish, in the afternoon to convert a world 
 Oh, what an occasion this was, met to receive the reports 
 of a risen Lord ! And though a man from the dead was 
 there, strange to say, the very one of all the rest w r hc 
 should have been there was absent. So it is now. Oh , 
 how often, when the pastor has studied the needs of the 
 field, and, after much prayer and hard work, has prepared 
 to especially benefit certain persons, like Thomas, they 
 are gone ! then, because of their absence, they must have 
 more evidence than anyone else. Nine- tenths of the 
 backsliding and falling away begins in absence from the 
 meetings of the Church. ("That is so," "That is so," 
 came from different parts of the house.) As a rule, we 
 believe a man's testimony when he says, "I saw and 
 know the facts, as I saw them occur;" but here is a man 
 who admits he w T ould not only disbelieve the statements 
 of ten of his own companions, but would not believe 
 their statements even though he saw the same thing him- 
 self ; that to evidence and sight must be added the sense 
 of touch, for "Except I shall see in his hands the print 
 of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, , 
 and thrust my hand into his side, 1 will not believe." Ah! 
 how little did he know that the Savior was at that very- 
 moment listening to his statements and would meet him 
 with his own words in the presence of the very ones to 
 whom they were addressed! Hear Him say to Thomas 
 at the next meeting: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold 
 my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it info 
 
16 A SERMON TO DOUBTERS. 
 
 my side: and be not faithless, but believing." No wonder 
 he exclaimed, "My I^ord and my God ! " "Thomas, be- 
 cause thou has seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are 
 they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Yes, 
 brethren, here is a promise for us which Thomas, though 
 a disciple, could not even hope to claim: the blessedness 
 of believing. Oh, then, can we not say 
 
 " I can, I will, I do believe 
 That Jesus died for me, 
 And through His blood, His precious blood, 
 I shall from sin be free." 
 
 This brings us to notice, if you please, the signifi- 
 cance of the nail-prints in the Savior's hands. Come 
 with me and let us examine and see. What they say 
 Anthon} T said: "I would put a tongue in every one of 
 Caesar's wounds." Oh, then, listen ! these wounds tell 
 me this : 
 
 First, a human body. Yes, brethren, it is the same 
 body born of the Virgin Mary, the same one that stood 
 before the doctors in the Temple at twelve years, the 
 same one that ate meat in Simon's house, that rested on 
 Jacob's well, walked on the pavements of the sea, and 
 was nailed to the cross on Calvary. Hear Him say: " It 
 is I, be not afraid ; for a spirit hath not bones as ye see 
 me have." 
 
 Second, they tell me I shall live again in the body; 
 for if one human body has been raised from the dead, 
 then, as sure as the law of cause and effect, the same 
 power that raised one shall raise all. "Oh, but," you say, 
 "we have a different body every seven years, brought 
 
A SERMON TO DOUBTERS. 17 
 
 about by taking on and throwing off." Grant it; it is not 
 sinew, fiber, or tissue we are talking about, but a sym- 
 metrical whole. On my finger there is a scar, made by 
 burning before I could recollect, yet it has never changed 
 and looks to-day just as it has for thirty years. Five 
 hodies have come and gone, but that mark of identity 
 remains the same. An attorney once tried to destroy a 
 signature by making a witness identify letters, where- 
 upon Daniel Webster objected upon the ground that no 
 man could swear to another man's identity by looking at 
 a limb or a foot. So, my brethren, it is not particles, but 
 bodies, that we shall recognize after death. Said Jesus, 
 " Because I live, ye shall live also." 
 
 Then thirdly, they tell me I shall bear the same 
 marks of identity there I do here, Jesus had died, laid 
 in the grave, and rose again; now He is recognized by 
 the same marks by which He was known on the cross 
 and in the tomb, at the sight of which this sceptic, who 
 would not believe his own eyes, exclaimed, " My I^ord 
 and my God !" " Yes, but," you say, "our bodies will be 
 spiritual." So they will. Was not this body a spiritual 
 body? Had it not undergone the change of the tomb, 
 passed through the icy fields of death, and bloomed out 
 in the morning of its resurrection ? Did it not come into 
 a room twice, the doors being shut for the express pur- 
 pose of keeping persons out ? Hence we are forced to 
 the conclusion that it was a glorified body, a once nat- 
 ural but now spiritual body, having undergone the very 
 changes spoken of by Paul to those unbelievers at Cor- 
 inth in the fifteenth chapter of his first letter, saying : 
 
18 A SERMON TO DOUBTERS. 
 
 " For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this 
 mortal must put on immortality." So it was in this 
 case : life, death, and the grave were all behind, but here 
 are the same marks. So no change will ever come by or 
 because of which my body will become in any way iden- 
 tified with any other body, nor will any such change 
 ever take place as to cause John Smith to become Wil- 
 liam Jones, nor will the two ever be taken the one for 
 the other any more there than here. The same person- 
 ality will continue to exist and the same marks of identity 
 be perpetuated. Jesus unquestionably bears the same 
 nail-prints in His hands, and before ten thousand gods 
 could be selected by the weakest saint and pointed out 
 as the hero of Calvary and the victim of Joseph's grave. 
 In the same way we will not only recognize our friends, 
 but be by them recognized. In this life we see the 
 marks of personality, feel the impress of mind, and 
 inhale the aroma of love. If on a cloudy day we can 
 stand at the granite base of the everlasting hills, and, 
 peering many miles through fog and cloud, get occasional 
 glimpses of their snow-crowned plumage, how much more 
 when on a May morning we stand on a neighboring height, 
 and without cloud gaze on their splendid beauty, while 
 floods of sunlight roll along the mountains, baptizing sea 
 and land with effulgence and glory, and pouring forth rivers 
 of light on every side. If in the flesh, surrounded by walls 
 of mortality, hurled and rushed through the avenues of 
 business, trampled down by affliction and befogged with 
 uncertainty, looking through it all as through a glass 
 darkly, we recognize our friends and are by them recog- 
 nized, how much more when, free from mortality, faith 
 
A SERMON TO DOUBTERS- 19 
 
 lost in sight and hope gloriously realized, we sit down 
 with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob on the heavenly heights 
 with the glass removed, and see in the light of God, at the 
 same time being seen as we see and knowing even as we 
 are known. Yes, my friends, we shall know each other 
 there. Oh, then let us devise some plan by which we 
 can know each other here ! 
 
 Again, they are the receipts of pardon. When a 
 debt is cancelled, there must needs be some evidence of 
 such transaction as a guarantee that the debt will not 
 again be revived. So in this case man was a hopeless 
 bankrupt; Justice would have swept him from home, 
 God, and heaven, and Mercy would have wept in vain, had 
 not a benefactor been found. It is said of Henry Clay 
 that he was once involved in debt, and, for fear of its 
 affecting his great mind, a friend paid the debt, and, 
 going to the old statesman's home, presented him with 
 his note, on which the old man exclaimed: "Great God ! 
 what a friend has Henry Clay!" So to all eternity, 
 every time we see the hands of Jesus holding the receipts 
 of pardon, the soul will burst forth with exclamations of 
 praise, shouting, "What a friend we have in Jesus!" 
 
 Again, these prints tell to all eternit}- what He has 
 suffered for us. Never will old Calvary be forgotten 
 while the Savior lives or the memory of angels lasts. So, 
 my brethren, at the raising of His hands there will be 
 the vsigns of what He has done. Oh ! where are the signs 
 of what we have done? Are there any marks on your 
 estate, on 3'our pride, or your heart? any marks of cross - 
 bearing on your person? When Judson was suspended 
 
20 A SERMON TO DOUBTERS. 
 
 Dy his hands and feet, in Burmah, on a bamboo pole, the 
 chains cut their way to the bone, leaving a horrid scar; 
 the last time he was at a dinner in this country, on being 
 questioned, he replied: ''There are the marks," exposing 
 his wrist at the time. So let us begin to bear crosses, do 
 unpleasant duties, pull against the flood, and split against 
 the grain. Who wants to go into the presence of that 
 Savior, look on that face, and see those hands with no 
 marks of service ? 
 
EQUAL AND UNEQUAL- 
 
 "And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone 
 from the place of the holy." — Ecclesiastes viii. 10. 
 
 From the days of Adam to the present, the world has 
 been divided religiously. An invisible line has separated 
 those who loved God and those who loved Him not. This 
 line, something like the equator, is invisible and so very 
 small that two men may be sleeping in the same bed, and 
 yet one be on either side of the line; two women be grind- 
 ing at the mill, both having hold of the same pestle with 
 which the wheat is mashed, and even though their hands 
 may touch, still this invisible but significant line passes 
 between them. It is said that in southwest Virginia 
 there is a house from whose roof the waters run the one 
 part to the Gulf of Mexico and the other part to the 
 Atlantic; the water, coming from the same source in the 
 clouds, is divided and flows in different directions. So 
 the human famiry, having been divided when Cain slew 
 his brother, has ever been flowing in opposite directions. 
 These two classes, religiously speaking, are designated 
 as the righteous and the wicked. By this we simply 
 mean to use terms for the purpose of designating the 
 class, and not, as some seem to suppose, when we speak 
 of the righteous as a class, we do not mean to say every- 
 one included in the division thus denominated is free 
 from fault; nor do we understand the term, when applied 
 
 21 
 
22 EQUAIy AND UNEQUAL. 
 
 to the individual, as being used in the superlative, but in 
 the comparative degree. Many there are who are desig- 
 nated as the righteous, and yet they are so near the line 
 that nothing short of divine intelligence can ever tell which 
 side they are on. Indeed, I sometimes see persons who 
 seem to be on both sides. Once upon a time a cow was 
 lost in the snow, and an old man and his son were track- 
 ing her down a ravine. The old man would call out, 
 "Here's her track on this side;" then the boy would say, 
 "Here's where she went down on this side." "Well," 
 said the old man, "I believe she went down on both sides." 
 A young lady said to me once: "I did not like your ser- 
 mon to-night." "Well," said I, "very likely; but what 
 was the matter with it?" "Well, you said one had to be 
 on one side of the line or the other; now I prefer to be 
 neutral." "Oh, well," said I, "you will have to settle 
 that with the Savior. He said, 'Whosoever is not for us 
 is against us; he that gathereth not with me scattereth 
 abroad. No man can serve two masters; either he will 
 hate the one and cleave to the other, or else he will love 
 the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and 
 Mammon. Either make the tree good and the fruit good, 
 or else make the tree bad and the fruit corrupt.' Now." 
 said I, "if you can find any middle ground there, stand 
 on it; but I guess you will find it first." Again, we often 
 see persons who are on the side of Satan, and yet, though 
 designated as wicked, you would suppose them saved. 
 I always feel sorry to see one so near the train as to 
 catch at the rear end and then be left. One step more 
 and in the kingdom. Standing with one foot on the 
 
EQUAL AND UNEQUAL. 23 
 
 door-sill of the ark, and then, for want of action, be shut 
 out. 
 
 "For of all sad words of tongue or pen, 
 The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'" 
 
 Now David and Solomon may both be said to repre- 
 sent these two divisions of the human family, David 
 said, when in after years he reflected and took a retro- 
 spective view of the past: "I have been young, but now 
 am old; yet have I never seen the righteous forsaken, 
 nor his seed begging bread." Solomon said, in his old 
 days: "So I saw the wicked buried, who had come and 
 gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten 
 in the city where they had so done." Oh, friend, look at 
 this statement made by the wise man ! He died before 
 he was old, and yet hear from him these terrible facts: 
 "I have seen the wicked who had come to the holy place." 
 Now he sees them go from the holy place. What else? 
 He sees them dead, buried, and forgotten, in the very place 
 where they had so done. Did you ever notice how soon 
 a wicked man is forgotten, and after the lawyers get 
 through dividing up the estate, how little is said about 
 him? In a certain town in the State of Illinois there 
 lived two men of note. One was notoriously rich, and 
 lived on usury; the other was notoriously poor, and drove 
 a dray with a blind horse for a living. As in the case of 
 Dives and Lazarus the beggar, so in this case both men 
 died, and what a funeral the millionaire had ! but a promi- 
 nent citizen of that city told me the old drayman was 
 spoken of a dozen times to the other man once. What 
 are we going to understand by "the place of the holy"? 
 
24 KQUAI, AND UNEQUAL. 
 
 Well, I think it simply means holy privileges, and in this- 
 respect all are alike; all come to these privileges, and 
 either their use or abuse must to all intents and purposes 
 determine to which class the individual shall belong. 
 
 So with this thought we now beg you to notice, first, 
 that we are all alike. We are naturally the same; born of 
 the flesh, brought into existence by the same laws of 
 nature, dandled on the same knees of maternity, fed from 
 the same parental hand, having the same anatomy of the 
 body, the same muscles, the same number of bones, the 
 same blood-vessels, and the same great nervous system; 
 all alike fearfully and wonderfully made. 
 
 Secondly, we are all mentally alike; not the same in 
 quantity, but the same in quality. For example, a dollar 
 in gold is not as much gold as a twenty-dollar piece, 
 but is the very same gold in kind; so with our brain 
 power. I am aware of the fact that in assuming this posi- 
 tion I am antagonizing a popular opinion to the effect 
 that man is made with natural bias, and that, this being 
 the case, some believe because it is natural, while others 
 are sceptical by force of circumstances over which they 
 have no control. For example, a sceptic once said to 
 me: "Suppose a man has been so made — that is, his brain 
 is in such shape — that he can not see like other people, 
 that he can not believe like other people, that he can not 
 see anything in religion, can not believe the Bible, nor 
 accept the doctrine of atonement, and still it is no fault 
 of his own; now what do you think will become of him? 
 will the God who, according to your doctrine, has thus 
 made the man so he cannot believe send him to helli 
 
EQTJAI, AND UNEQUAL. 25 
 
 because he does not believe?" "Ob no, no, no," said I; 
 "Major, he will be saved high up in heaven; the very 
 same law of mercy and grace which saves infants, irre- 
 sponsible persons, and lunatics will certainly include 
 him; I pronounce him safe. But let us find the fellow 
 first, before we put him in paradise. Mark you, now, 
 this fellow cannot see and cannot believe like other peo- 
 ple. Let us see him in school: I should suppose you 
 would have a different alphabet for him, but no, I hear 
 him saying, 'A, B, C,' etc., just like the other children. 
 We go out in the yard: I suppose you have a very pecu- 
 liar game for the very peculiar children, but I find them 
 playing along with the rest, and in fact this fellow is as 
 good on knocking a ball as any of the rest. Well, he is 
 a little peculiar, isn't he, to have such a different brain 
 and yet never show it? Well, we see him mastering the 
 same text-books, graduating with as much distinction as 
 any of the rest; we see him practicing law or medicine, 
 or selling goods, and in all these things he acts, talks, 
 thinks, and reasons just as other men. Now, I want to 
 have you tell me why his peculiar brain has net gone on 
 a rampage before, wrry he never found out that God had 
 made him so different from other men until it came to 
 religious duties. The fact is, that about the only differ- 
 ence between him and other people is that he has per- 
 haps a little more tongue and a little less conscience; the 
 brain is intact, but the will is terribly out of repair; he 
 cannot believe because he does not want to believe. True 
 education, surroundings, and home training have much 
 to do with one's religious bias; but if your father is a 
 
26 EQUAL AND UNEQUAL. 
 
 heathen and your mother has raised a fool, do not try to 
 lay it on the Lord. And if you have sense enough to 
 support and argue such an unreasonable excuse, you are 
 responsible, and all you have said about your brain is 
 simply a falsehood, and unless you repent, like Judas of 
 old, you will go to your own place. Yes, sir, we are 
 intellectually the same." 
 
 Thirdly, we stand equal before the markets of the 
 world. Suppose you ship a thousand bushels of wheat; 
 will some one on the market say: "Is this Protestant or 
 Catholic wheat?" "Let me see it," says another; "I 
 believe it is sceptical wheat." "No," says another, "I 
 see this is Calvinistic wheat; therefore I will give ten 
 cents more on the bushel." (Turning to a lot of Kansas 
 cattlemen, the evangelist asked: ' 'What kind of stock did 
 you bring to market, you Methodist man? Do you get 
 any more for Methodist cattle than your neighbor gets 
 for sceptical steers?" "AH the same," came from the 
 crowd.) Well, then, we see that whether you sell stock 
 or buy groceries it is all the same. I am talking about 
 men now; other things being equal, is it not a fact that 
 one man will get the same money for the same labor and 
 profit that another does, irrespective of his religious 
 belief? 
 
 The wise man says (Kcclesiastes ix. 2): "All things 
 come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, 
 and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to 
 the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that 
 sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he 
 that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath." Again, we 
 
EQUAL AND UNEQUAL. 
 
 all came alike naked from our mother's womb, and alike 
 shall we all return to the grave; none of us brought 
 anything into the world, nor will any go away with any 
 of the world. Again, we have the same religious privi- 
 leges. "Oh, now, Mr. Preacher, you are certainly off there; 
 you certainly do not pretend to say I have the same 
 religious advantages as these Christian people, do you ? " 
 Well, let us see. I hold in my hand the Bible. Now, 
 whose Bible is it? I will tell } t ou whose it is not. It 
 doesn't belong to the Pope nor to the priesthood; it 
 doesn't belong to bishops, elders, nor preachers; it doesn't 
 belong to Protestants nor Catholics; but it belongs to the 
 people. I have heard of people's churches, people's 
 preachers, and people's parties, but if there is anything 
 on the face of this green earth that does as a matter of 
 right belong to the people, it is the Bible. Oh, what a 
 book it is ! a letter from the people's God, a guide to the 
 people's faith, and a rule for the people's practice. It if 
 a temple for the people's minds, where they may walk in 
 the light of the truth for the people and learn the will 
 of the people's God. Oh, what an edifice it was ! built 
 by prophets, kings, apostles, angels, and evangelists. 
 Jesus Christ is the keystone of its arches and the founda- 
 tion upon which it stands. In this house of golden 
 beauties the soul may walk while revelation flashes its 
 lightning truth in the face of the mind at every step. 
 See him mount his golden chariot, drawn by more than 
 sixty centuries, and coming through Eden's garden gate, 
 fording Noah's flood. He spoiled the brick-yards of 
 Goshen, climbed Horeb's storm-crowned and thunder- 
 
28 EQUAL AND UNEQUAL. 
 
 riven brow, stained his garments in the blood of a world's 
 redemption, and rode over toppling thrones and fallen 
 empires. The thunder of his driving wheels may now 
 be heard in the distance, while, like Jehu of old, he drives 
 furiously, bringing the bill of pardon to the guilty rebel, 
 and, waving high above his flying locks the ensign of 
 peace, he proclaims liberty to them that are bound and 
 the opening of the doors to the lawful captives. 
 
 L,et us notice, secondly, that we have the same church 
 privileges. Is there any one here who ever heard of a 
 church where a tyler was placed ^in the door with drawn 
 sword, with instructions to pass only those who belonged 
 to the order and had subscribed to the faith? Lodges do 
 this. Isn't it a fact that one can— yea, they often do— 
 get so low that the only place on earth where they are 
 really welcome is the church. I have seen the fallen, 
 ruined, and disinherited boy, who was forbidden a home 
 in his father's house or a place at his mother's table, I 
 have seen that same boy receive a hearty welcome in the 
 church and be converted in the meeting. Again, we 
 have the same Savior. Oh ! my friend, come and let us 
 look at this beautiful passage, John iii. 16: "For God so 
 loved the world." Ah ! brother, how much did He love 
 the world? Not enough to grow it in the flowers, to 
 blazon it in letters of fire on the heavens above, or to 
 thunder it in the storm beneath. Oh, that little word so 
 — just two letters ! Some time since, I was standing in 
 the door of a church in a country place; it was a very 
 dark night and the yard was crowded with people. I 
 saw a man with what is called a dark lantern. I said: 
 
EQUAL AND UNEQUAL. 2& 
 
 ''Brother, will you hold the lantern so I can see the way 
 out to the gate ? " In a little while the rays were com- 
 ing toward the gate, and now the way was clear and I 
 knew just the way out. So God had been turning the 
 dark lantern of His love for four thousand years; finally 
 it vShot a gleam across Calvary's clouded brow, and Jesus 
 shouted from the top of the hill : "I am the w T ay, the 
 truth, and the life ! " Yes, beloved, God so loved — who? 
 The world. Then you have to prove, gentlemen, that 
 you are not a part of the world, or I will prove you have 
 the same Savior I have. Hear him say: " For the Son 
 of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. 
 They that are whole need not a physician, but them that 
 are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to 
 repentance." 
 
 Again, we have the same Holy Spirit. Once I was 
 approached by a man on the street who demanded my 
 authority for preaching that the Holy Ghost came to 
 enlighten the unsaved. I was nonplussed for a little, but, 
 recovering myself, I said: "Didn't the Savior say, 'The 
 Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, 
 will take the things of mine and show them unto you' ? " 
 "Ah!" said he, "to whom was He talking? to the dis- 
 ciples." "Well," said I, "suppose we try this promise: 
 'And the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the 
 Father shall send in my name, he will reprove the world 
 of sin, of righteousness and judgment to come.' Now, 
 sir, you will have to prove to me that the sinner is not a 
 part of the world, or I shall feel called on to continue 
 preaching that God sends the Holy Spirit to his heart." 
 
30 EQUAL AND UNEQUAL. 
 
 Hear Peter on the day of Penticost quoting Joel the 
 prophet: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, 
 saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. 
 And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on 
 the name of the Iyord shall be saved." The Apostle Paul 
 said: "God hath counted all under sin, that he might 
 have mercy on all." 
 
 Now let us sum up and see what we have: We are 
 alike naturally, alike intellectually, alike before the 
 markets of the world, alike religiously; we have the 
 same Bible, the same atonement, the same Church, the 
 same great loving Savior, and the same Spirit to guide 
 us in the ways of peace. Oh, brother, since we have 
 come so far on the way together, why not finish out the 
 journey? Perhaps I can illustrate this point better than 
 I can argue it. There is a certain man living out here 
 in the country who has two sons, named respectively 
 John and William; the old man gives both of these sons 
 a thorough education and they both graduate with dis- 
 tinction. When John is twenty-one, the old gentleman 
 hands him over his check on the First National Bank of 
 this city for ten thousand dollars, and tells him to use it 
 wisely, and that whenever he needs more, all he has to 
 do is simply to make his necessities known. John invests 
 his money wisely and every little while he calls for more, 
 until he is wealthy and honored. But how about William ? 
 Hear the old man say: "Now, William, haven't I treated 
 you just like John?" "Yes, sir." "You have as good 
 an education as John?" "Yes, sir." "Now, my boy, 
 here is my check on the First National Bank of Kansas 
 
EQUAL AND UNEQUAL. 31 
 
 City for ten thousand dollars; use it wisely, and remem- 
 ber that whenever it is to 3-our interest to have more, all 
 you have to do is to call on me." 
 
 "I saw the wicked buried who had come and gone 
 from the place of the holy." Now listen, William says: 
 "Oh, well, I am not going to lay around home any longer; 
 I am going to have a big time and see the world." So 
 here he goes from Kansas City to San Francisco in a palace 
 car, stops at a hotel paying five dollars a day, drinking fine 
 liquors from golden bowls and at enormous prices; from 
 there he lands in New York city, having stopped over in 
 St. Louis and Chicago, and having gambled away a few 
 hundred in each place. Now see him start for Liverpool, 
 and from there to London, and then from there to Paris, 
 and here we lose sight of him. During all this time he 
 hasn't done any business, hasn't made a dollar, nor has he 
 written home. After the lapse of ten years, there is a fam- 
 ily reunion out on the old farm; the children are all there 
 but William, and as nothing has been heard from him, 
 he has been given up for lost long ago. Dinner is over; 
 John and his accomplished wife and children are in the 
 parlor singing and making the very arches of the old 
 home ring with strains of music, when all of a sudden 
 someone looks out over the field and sees a tramp 
 approaching. At once his desperate and dingy appear- 
 ance attracts the entire crowd, for his toes are out at the 
 end of his shoes, his trousers have holes at the knees, his 
 elbows are out, his dishevelled and unkempt hair is stick- 
 ing through the top of his hat, while his skin is so cov- 
 ered with dust and filth that it is a question as to what 
 
32 EQUAL AND UNEQUAL. 
 
 race of men the fellow belongs. No one would think of 
 having such a loathsome piece of humanity sit at their 
 table, and even the colored cook hands his scanty meal 
 out at the kitchen door, saying: "Here is some scraps 
 which was left at Mr. John's plate." Oh, my friends, 
 need I argue this question? Behold the difference; what 
 made it I leave you to answer. Oh, my God ! let these 
 Williams come home to-night. ("Amen!" "Amen!" 
 "God grant it!" went up from pulpit and pew.) Now I 
 must tell you frankly you have no time to lose, for when 
 once the Master has risen up and shut too the door, then 
 you will begin to say: "Lord, Lord, open unto us!" but 
 He shall answer from within and say: "Depart from me; 
 I never knew you." Then hell-born Despair will pitch 
 his smoky tent upon the sterile and blighted fields of 
 your lost estate, and the raven of remorse will build her 
 nest along your path and hatch out new horrors for every 
 hell-bound traveler, and, fixing her awful talons in your 
 guilty soul, will spread wide her sable wings and shut 
 out the light forever. 
 
 And so I saw the wicked buried from the place of 
 the holy, buried from the Bible, buried from the promises 
 of God, buried from the Church, buried from the sabbath 
 day, buried from the society of Christian friends and 
 relatives, buried from the love of God, buried from the 
 influence of the Spirit, buried from the Savior, buried 
 from hope. Oh, my God ! can it be ? Who can stand the 
 thought ? Hope, the most beautiful flower that buds in 
 paradise or blooms in the garden of the Lord, is it pos- 
 sible that men are going where thy precious fruits never 
 
EQUAIv AND UNEQUAL. 83 
 
 ripen and the aroma of thy opening buds and the 
 beauty of thy full-blown blossoms shall be only remem- 
 bered as a part of the unwritten history of the abused 
 and murdered past? Oh, my friends, take away .my 
 house and lands, but leave me hope ; take my friends, 
 my mother, my father, my character, my all, yea, my 
 God, but leave me hope ; and with this as the search- 
 light of eternity, I will find them all again. 
 
 In the old Blanford cemetery at Petersburg, Virginia, 
 there stands just in front of the gate, hard by the monu- 
 ments of the rich and great, an old brick church, all 
 covered over with ivy- vines; on entering it, I saw only 
 one vestige of wood, and that was a board hanging on 
 the wall, on which was written in a bold and attractive 
 style, by an unknown hand, the following : 
 
 " Thou art crumbling to the dust, old pile ; 
 Thou art hastening to thy fall; 
 And round thee in thy loneliness 
 Clings the ivy to the wall. 
 
 " Thy worshipers are scattered now, 
 Who knelt before thy shrine ; 
 And silence reigns where anthems rose 
 In the days of auld lang syne. 
 
 " The tramp of many a busy foot 
 "Which sought thy aisles is o'er 
 And many a heart around 
 Is still for evermore. 
 
 " The sun which shone upon their lives 
 Now gilds their silent graves ; 
 The zephyrs which once fanned their brow 
 The grass above them waves. 
 
34 EQUAL AND UNEQUAL. 
 
 " Oh ! could we call the many back 
 
 Who have sought thy aisles in vain, 
 Who have careless roved where we do now, 
 Who will never meet again, 
 
 " How would our hearts be stirred 
 To meet the earnest gaze 
 Of the lovely and the beautiful, 
 The lights of other days ! " 
 
 Just what was the case there will be the case here. 
 Oh ! then let us not leave the holy place, and may the 
 Iyord have mercy upon us all. Amen ! 
 
THE PLACE OF THE WICKED IX THE 
 HEREAFTER. 
 
 "Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own. 
 place." — Acts i. 25 . 
 
 The condition of the wicked man in the next world 
 must to some extent be determined by what he is in this 
 world. In nature, like produces like. If a man has 
 onions in his cellar and in the spring plants them, he 
 expects to gather onions, and not potatoes. Indies do 
 not sow mustard seed in the flower-bed, for the obvious 
 reason that their own conception of the working of 
 nature's laws forbids such folly. The Scriptures say 
 plainly: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 
 reap. If he sow to the flesh, he shall also reap of the 
 flesh. He that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit 
 reap life everlasting." The tree bears the same kind of 
 fruit every year, and the same kind of tree will produce 
 the same kind of fruit whenever the conditions are fav- 
 orable. The wise man says, "Where the tree falls, there 
 it shall lie," simply illustrating the princip 1 e of the same- 
 ness of character,, whether on this or the other side of the 
 dark river. Dives was told to remember ; we know that 
 memory follows the man through this life, and in this 
 case we have the same faculty of the soul appealed to on 
 the other side. So, if we can imagine a State or country 
 
 35 
 
36 TH3 PI.ACK OF ?HK WICKED IN ?H# HKRKAFTER. 
 
 where there is no religious soil or moral influence, where 
 the worst, most degraded, and criminal element predom- 
 inates, then we will have established a basis by which to 
 measure the moral, civil, social, and religious condition 
 in the next world. 
 
 That the wicked will have his own place on the other 
 side appears, first, from the following statements, which 
 revelation has brought us from the other shore. Job xviii. 
 14-21: "His confidence shall be rooted out of his tab- 
 ernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors. * 
 * * Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation. 
 * * * He shall be driven from light into darkness, 
 and chased out of the world. * * * Surely such are 
 the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him 
 that knoweth not God." In L,uke xvi. 27-28 we are told 
 that Dives prayed for his brethren, that they might not 
 follow him to his place of torment. Of Judas two things 
 are said: one, "It were better for him had he never been 
 born;" and also (Acts i. 25) "that he might go to his own 
 place." Christ said, in his description of the winding up 
 of all things at the last day (Matt. xxv. 46): "And these 
 shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the right- 
 eous into life eternal." From these passages we have 
 not only the discussion relative to the place, but its 
 nature as well; not only have we the fact of a place 
 established, but also a division of the people, according 
 to established rules of faith and practice, on this side of 
 the judgment. "And I saw the dead, great and small, 
 stand before God," said John; "and the dead were judged 
 out of those things which were written in the books 
 
THE PLACE OF THE WICKED IN THE HEREAFTER. C i 
 
 according to their works; and the fearful and the unbe- 
 lieving were cast into the lake of fire, which is the 
 second death." 
 
 While preaching in the chy of Evansville, Ind., 
 some time since, I announced that on a certain evening I 
 would preach on the place of the wicked in the next 
 world. The next mail brought quite a lengthy epistle 
 from a gentleman, who afterwards proved to be a mem- 
 ber of Dr. Swing's church in Chicago, saying: "Can 
 there be any necessity for such a place?" So, having, as 
 we believe, established the existence of a separate state 
 for the final impenitent from the Scriptures, we now 
 appeal to reason. That the wicked will be confined and 
 separated from God follows from the feelings of antag- 
 onism which exist from the very nature of the two 
 beings. God hates sin and is angry with the wicked 
 every day. "And even the plowing of the wicked is 
 sin." Not that it is sinful to plow, but because that the 
 plowing is being done by one who is in a state of rebel- 
 lion against his government; hence everything he does 
 is wrong. Now what is the condition of the natural 
 man? Hear the Apostle Paul say: "Then they that are 
 in the flesh can not please God, for the carnal mind is 
 enmity itself against God, that it is not subject to the 
 law of God, neither can be." Hence the importance of 
 conciliation. The apostle said: "Knowing, therefore, 
 the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." Again: "We 
 pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Is 
 it not a fact that in this life, wherever feelings, principles, 
 interest, and opinions are antagonistic, that one or the 
 
38 THE PLACE OF THE WICKED IN THE HEREAFTER. 
 
 other has to yield his position, or there can be neither 
 harmony nor agreement? It is said that once two goats 
 met in a mountain pass, and as only one could pass at the 
 time, finally one laid down and the other passed over his 
 body. So, my rebellious friend, you must either surren- 
 der to God or have God yield to you before you can ever 
 both be happy in the same place. Your presence would 
 cast a gloom over glory, and the light of heaven would 
 only discover, to your distraction, the demons which lurk 
 in your own heart. 
 
 Again, the happiness of God's people makes it nec- 
 essary that the wicked shall have their own place. What 
 mean the enactments of the different States relative to 
 disturbing public worship ? What mean the fines and 
 imprisonments growing out of the lawless acts of wicked 
 men over this land? What means the oft-repeated 
 reproof from the sacred desk ? In accents that cannot be 
 misunderstood they tell but too plainly that if God's 
 people are ever to be perfectly happy, they must go up 
 out of the noise of the wicked. "Oh, well," you say, 
 " can they not have laws to restrain evil-doers in heaven?" 
 In answer to this we will suppose a case : Here we are 
 going along the pavements of heaven over which the 
 glorified walk, and all at once we meet two burly police- 
 men with Cain, who has again fallen out with some of 
 the saints about their manner of worship, and lias com- 
 mitted a deadly assault. As we go a little further on we 
 see an immense building with a great iron cage attached. 
 " What is this ? " I inquire of St. Stephen, as his spirit 
 comes moving past. " Oh," he says, " that is where they 
 
THE PLACE OE THE WICKED IN THE HEREAFTER. OV 
 
 try and imprison the wicked for disturbing public worship 
 and committing sundry depredations against the society 
 and peace of the commonwealth of glory and the dignity 
 of the saints." How long do you suppose before the wicked 
 would be in prison, and wouldn't they have a splendid 
 hell of their own on Main Street in the City of God ? 
 
 Again, God's honor is pledged for the final restraint 
 of evil and the final removal of the elements of trouble. 
 He has repeatedly promised His people a home on the 
 other side in a city where the weary shall find rest and 
 the sorrowing comfort ; where there shall be no more 
 weeping and sorrow shall flee away, for the Lord God shall 
 wipe away all tears from their eyes. And again : " These 
 are they who have come up out of great tribulation, and 
 have washed their robes and made them white in the blood 
 of the L,amb." "Down Bast" there are many thousand 
 acres of land flooded with water during the rainy seasons. 
 Since the war, the farms have been largely forsaken and 
 the channels of the water-courses have become so filled 
 up with rubbish, rafts, and dams of various kinds that 
 many lakes and stagnant pools of water remain as 
 germinators of miasma, ague, and malarial poison, This 
 has been going on for so long that it is said that every 
 brick in the infected district contains poison enough to 
 kill a man. Now suppose a family living in one of those 
 houses : ere they have been there a month, every child 
 is having chills and the mother, with anxious eyes and 
 busy hands is working night and day, sometimes almost 
 on the verge of surrender; but the husband says : " My 
 dear, we cannot get away now; the roads are in such a 
 
40 THE PI,ACE OF THE WICKED IN THE HEREAFTER. 
 
 terrible condition that we cannot travel; but be hopeful 
 and do the best you can. I will help you, and just as 
 soon as the March winds dry out the roads so we can 
 travel, I will take you to the Alleghany Mountains, 
 where the water is pure and the air is exhilarating and 
 fresh." So the good woman cheers up and lives in 
 hopes. Finally, the long-looked for time arrives, and 
 with jubilant hearts and buoyant hopes they bid farewell 
 to the old stenchy dungeon, with its inoculated walls and 
 decaying timbers. But alas ! on her arrival at the sum- 
 mit of her mountain home, lo and behold, there is the 
 same old house for her reception ! Her inhuman hus- 
 band has actually carried not only the old house, but 
 even its contaminated appurtenances, and prepared it for 
 her reception. What do you think of such a man? Has 
 he not deceived and disappointed that trusting, faithful 
 woman ? Then what do you think of a God that would 
 thus violate His promises and disappoint the expecta- 
 tions of His people ? Here they only had the wicked of 
 age, there they have them of every age; here they had 
 to contend with mortal meanness, there it is angelic 
 crime; here it was temporal disturbance, there it is 
 eternal revolution. No wonder God created a hell and 
 put the heavenly rebels and fallen devils into it, and 
 then, lest there be a repetition of the disturbance, pro- 
 claimed to the intelligence of the universe that the 
 wicked shall be turned into hell with all the nations that 
 forget God. Yes, gentlemen, if such is heaven, I beg to 
 excused from going there; and, as an old preacher said 
 when asked about leaving the world, I would prefer 
 staying where I am better known. 
 
THE PLAC^ OF THE WICKED IN THE HEREAFTER. 41 
 
 Then, in the third place, the law of affinity, as well 
 as the eternal fitness of things, the forces of nature, and 
 the effects of education, all point to the place of the 
 wicked as the magnetic needle points to the loadstone 
 mountains of the North, and ever tell in unmistakable 
 tones the story of doom. Do not wicked men find in 
 each other a fellow-feeling, and does not the law of affin- 
 ity draw them together, and is it not a fact that the less 
 that is said about God or His religion in his presence 
 the more comfortable he is? Isn't it a fact that there is 
 in the United States to-day an extensive university 
 through whose gates no known preacher can ever pass? 
 It is a fact that in the West there is a town built on land 
 with the especial provision that no church spire shall 
 ever kiss the clouds from that Western hell, or sabbath 
 bell sound over those demonized dominions. Is it not a 
 fact that the bar-rooms, gambling hells, and other insti- 
 tutions over which angels weep and devils blush, are 
 educating the beastly nature and developing the lower 
 passions of the soul every day? Have they not their 
 enlisted scholarship and daily following? Are they not 
 graduating from their yearly patronage those who are 
 neither fit for heaven nor earth, and who therefore, like 
 Judas, of their own account would quit the habitations 
 of men to find a more congenial clime, where the soul, 
 free from all restraints of a civil, moral, social, or religious 
 nature, may to all eternity practice its hell-born designs 
 and wave the ensign of despair over the pavilions of the 
 damned? 
 
42 THE PI,ACE OF TH^ WICKED IN THE HEREAFTER. 
 
 Just here someone inquires: "What will be the 
 nature of his place ? ' ' To this we reply by asking another 
 question. Suppose the lawless, criminal, and reprobate 
 element had the ascendency in this county; what do you 
 think it would be? Suppose we burn down the court- 
 house, pull to pieces the prison, burn all the law-books, 
 turn all the authorities out of office, turn all the churches 
 into haunts of vice, mutilate the epitaphs on all the tomb- 
 stones, burn all the religious literature, take all the Chris- 
 tians and irresponsible children out of the county, then 
 empty the prisons and places of execution until the 
 county is crowded with felons whose hands are red with 
 human gore and dripping with innocent blood, each one 
 being a law to himself and without moral, religious, or 
 social restraint, following the force of his own habits — 
 he that loves theft, let him steal; he that loves seduction, 
 let him seduce; he that loves slaughter, let him slay. Oh ! 
 my hearers, this is but a shadow, yet we feel like turning 
 away from the horrid scene. 
 
 Again, some one says: "In what will punishment 
 consist? " In answer to this question I will tell you a 
 story and leave you to interpret its meaning. There 
 lived a family at the base of a little mountain-peak on 
 which there were deer; on one foggy morning the old 
 gentleman, who was very fond of hunting, got down his 
 silver-mounted rifle from the rack where it had hung 
 over the door for many years, ready to do execution at 
 its master's bidding; so out onto the mountain the hunter 
 went, with this gun, the pride and companion of his 
 youthful days. The son, feeling similarly disposed, had 
 
THE PLACE OE THE WICKED IN THE HEREAFTER. 43 
 
 gotten his gun also and preceded his father on the hunt 
 for the deer on the mountain-side. Finally the cracking 
 of sticks, the shaking of a bush, the moving of an object 
 through the underbrush, was the coveted opportunity; 
 so, leveling the weapon with deadly aim, a flash, a 
 fall — but oh, alas ! it was his son. The ball had pierced 
 the heart of a son and dethroned a father's mind, who, 
 until the day of his death, wrung his hands in anguish 
 and cried in despair: "I did it! I did it! I did it!" 
 May God have mercy, and let us pray that no one here 
 may ever know from experience that I have told you the 
 truth. 
 
THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 
 
 "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto 
 men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be for- 
 given unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the 
 Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh 
 against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in 
 this world, neither in the world to come." — Matthew xii. 31-32. 
 
 "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto 
 death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin 
 not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he 
 shall pray for it." — /. John v. 16. 
 
 In approaching this much-discussed and little-under- 
 stood subject, I am aware of the fact that I shall not only 
 advance some new ideas, but also antagonize some posi- 
 tions taken by those who are regarded as almost infallible 
 authority on almost any subject of a biblical nature. It 
 is not that I wish to set up my judgment against the 
 learned and the great, or that I wish to give out, like one 
 of old, that I am the great power of God ; but being 
 actuated, first, by a desire to meet the demands of the 
 many who have said at different times, "Brother Dillard, 
 what is the sin against the Holy Ghost or the sin unto 
 death? " and, second, to know the truth myself; and, 
 lastly, to assert as a free and independent thinker what 
 seems to me to be truth, without fear or favor, believing 
 as I do that God has never yet revealed everything to 
 
 44 
 
TH£ SIN UNTO DEATH. 45 
 
 -any one mind, and that I have the same right to discover 
 and propagate truth as has any other man. I therefore 
 invite you to go with me to the examination of this sub- 
 ject. But first allow me to say, I do not look on this 
 subject as a raven of despair, or flee from its pres- 
 ence as if it were Caesar's ghost; but, on the other hand, 
 I find in the text first set forth a privilege, and in- 
 deed is it not a privilege to pray for our loved ones? 
 And second, I find a promise: "He shall give us life 
 for them who sin not unto death." I therefore con- 
 clude that the rule is, all men can be saved; the excep- 
 tion is those who have sinned unto death. We raise our 
 eyes on a clear night, when the atmosphere is clear and 
 the stars look like light-holes in the floor of heaven, yet 
 we go on and do not say a word, for these bodies are all 
 in harmony with the law of attraction and are moving on 
 in their regular orbits; but just as soon as a little comet 
 drags its fiery tail aross the heavens, all eyes are turned 
 to it, and every paper is writing about it, and every 
 tongue is talking of it — still no one can tell from whence 
 it came or whither it is bound. It is simply an exception> 
 it is a star out of brotherhood, it is matter out of attrac- 
 tion. So we see the great mass of men in reach of mercy 
 and within the brotherhood of love, moving in the cir- 
 cumference of forgiveness and being attracted by the 
 magnetic power of the cross, and think but little about 
 the privilege or the necessity of praying for them. I am 
 impressed with the idea that there are but few persons 
 who ever get beyond the limit of mercy. I sometimes 
 think it is a trick of the old serpent to make men believe 
 
46 TH£ SIN UNTO DKATH. 
 
 as long as he can that they are too good to be saved, and 
 then when they break loose from this idea, then he leads 
 them to the other extreme, and now the same fellow is 
 too bad to be saved. Oh, yes, his case is indeed a pecu- 
 liar one : he has sinned away his day of grace, and there 
 is pardon for thieves and harlots, but none for him. At 
 this old Satan doubtless says, "Amen, so might it be." 
 
 Now, coming to the subject, it seems to me that 
 before we can form an intelligent idea of the sin 
 against the Holy Ghost, we must find out who is the 
 Holy Ghost and what is His relation to the scheme of 
 redemption, or, in other words, what interest has He 
 in my salvation. Whatever may be the relation of 
 the Deity to other worlds, and whatever may be His 
 person to them, one thing is certain and obvious to all 
 Bible students, and that is the fact that God has revealed 
 Himself to this world as three beings, known by three 
 names, and each person having a separate relation 
 to the salvation of every soul; yet there is such perfect 
 harmony that one may be said to be in the other, and 
 whatever one does the other approves. Surely if any 
 proof were wanting on this line, the recognition of the 
 Son by the Father at His baptism, at the grave of Laz- 
 arus, and on the mount of transfiguration, to say nothing 
 of the many times Jesus said, "He that hath seen me 
 hath seen the Father," and that the Father would send 
 the Holy Ghost, and He would come in the name of the 
 Son. Oh, beautiful union and divine agreement ! For 
 this I can see the most obvious reasons. For example> 
 one could not think of God as one person, holding the 
 
THE SIX UNTO DEATH. 47 
 
 scales of justice in His hands and punishing sin in Him- 
 self. One can hardly conceive of how the same person 
 can enforce law and at the same time suffer the penalty. 
 But when we turn over to John's gospel and read that 
 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten 
 Son, then we see the Father, full of sympathy and love; 
 at the same time, instead of stifling and defeating justice, 
 He is preparing to enforce the law and satisfy justice. 
 Here we see the Father's relation to the scheme of 
 redemption. We follow the Son in His busy life, healing 
 the sick, raising the dead, casting out devils; but this is 
 only secondary, it is simply the milk of human sympa- 
 thy and the essence of deified kindness. Hear Him say: 
 "How long shall I suffer you? bring him to me." Dur- 
 ing His whole life He walked under the shadow of the 
 cross, with His face set toward Jerusalem. Hear Him 
 say: "Now is mry soul troubled and what shall I say? 
 Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came 
 I unto this hour." Listen once more and hear Him say: 
 "It is finished i " Oh ! my brethren, where did He say 
 this? Not when He had healed all the sick folks, not 
 when He had fed the hungry, not when He had given 
 sight to the blind, not when putrefaction trembled in the 
 grave at the command for Lazarus to come forth. No, 
 no; but high up on Calvary's rugged brow, lifted up on 
 the cross; when Justice had collected his angry claims 
 and Mercy w T ith weeping eyes began to smile on a lost 
 and ruined world; when the last hopeful devil had 
 been disappointed and slunk to hell; when the last seat 
 in glory had been secured to the believer, and every 
 
48 THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 
 
 island of the high seas had been redeemed to God and 
 the L,amb for ever and for ever. Oh, glorious work ! Oh, 
 triumphant end! In its accomplishment He trod the 
 wine-press alone ; around Him gathered the conflicting 
 elements of a contending universe. Nature could no 
 longer withstand the terrible struggle, but shuddered as 
 with conscious horror in every part of her dominions; 
 the sun, shrouded in darkness, as Munsey said, rolled 
 back his chariot from the accursed abode of man and 
 refused to see the Son of Glory die, as if to say, "I 
 will not see the Sun of Righteousness sink beneath a 
 horizon of darkness, blood, and death ;" rocks rent, the 
 temple swayed, the earth shook, and the trembling 
 mountains prolonged the terror of the scene; men scoffed 
 and hell raged ; death heard the sound, and at the cry of 
 the world's redemption in his dark dominions forgot 
 his prey and dropped the chains with which his pris- 
 oners were bound, and they started into life; while 
 Destiny everywhere mantled creation in sackcloth and 
 hung the heavens in mourning; here on the top of the 
 hill he drew his flaming sword, gory with redemption's 
 blood, and at one mighty stroke he drove Justice from 
 the field, enthroned Mercy as queen of the ages, and 
 sent the routed devils howling down to hell; here he 
 received the ensigns of victory on the top of the hill, 
 and, shouting in triumph from the cross, declared the 
 work finished and left the field. Hear the news vibrat- 
 ing among the glens, echoing among the rocks, roaring 
 among the trees, sounding in the caverns, trumpeted in 
 the hurricane, and thundered in the storm, until every 
 
THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 49 
 
 wave and surge, ever}^ hill and mountain peak, every 
 island small and continent great, acting as the sounding- 
 board of Him who spake as never man spake, sent the 
 news sounding to other spheres as this old world, now 
 redeemed, went rolling on with the speed of the light" 
 ning's flash along its circling track. Oh, how the tidings 
 flew from world to world and from sun to sun ! The 
 stars must have sung in chorus, while the angels shouted, 
 from Calvary to Zion, the news through space. When 
 the tidings reached the City of God, how the spires of 
 glory began rocking and chiming, every wall and tower 
 echoing and pealing, and all the sainted dead, shouting 
 in chorus, surrounded the throne of God and bowed 
 in awful reverence and profoundest adoration, saying 
 ''Amen ! " Well begun, grandly executed, sublimely 
 finished, there it is, the wonder of angels, the hope cf 
 men, and the admiration of the universe. 
 
 "All hail the power of Jesus' uaine! 
 Let angels prostrate fall, 
 Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 "Oh! when, with yonder sacred throng, 
 We at His feet shall fall, 
 We'll join the everlasting song, 
 And crown Him Lord of all." 
 
 We now invite you to come with us and notice, first, 
 that after this mighty triumph on the cross Jesus assumes 
 a different attitude towards His disciples. He never 
 walked and associated with them or with the world as 
 before. Only at sundry times would He appear; about 
 thirteen times in all, only sufficient to establish the fact 
 
50 THK SIN UNTO DKATH. 
 
 that He was certainly alive. After this He stilled no 
 raging storms, healed none who were sick, gave no sight 
 to the blind, fed only the disciples, and them only once; 
 He preached no sermons to the multitude and made no 
 replies to the Pharisees. Now how are we going to 
 account for this? only on the grounds that His work was 
 finished on the cross, and that He was now remaining 
 only a few days on the field to give some general instruc- 
 tions to His followers, establish His gospel, and arrange 
 for His successor. Hear Him say: "Go ye into all the 
 world and preach my Gospel to every creature. But tarry 
 ye in Jerusalem until I send upon you the promise of my 
 Father." You remember He had on several occasions 
 told them it was good for them that He go away, for, said 
 He, "If I go not away, the Comforter, which is the Holy 
 Ghost, will not come; but when he is come, he will lead 
 you into all truth, for he shall take the things of mine 
 and show them unto you. Also he shall reprove the 
 world of sin, of righteousnss, and of judgment to come. '» 
 Here, then, is an outline of the official work of the Spirit. 
 One is to guide and direct disciples in the ways of truth; 
 the other is to reprove, or, if you please, to enlighten, the 
 sinner. The Father has loved him and given His Son to 
 die for him. The Son has borne his burden of sin on the 
 cross and offered to become his substitute, if he will 
 accept Him as such by faith. But if the work stops here, 
 all will be a failure on account of the blinded and dor- 
 mant condition of the individual. Christ himself pro- 
 nounced him dead, but at the same time said the hour 
 had come when the dead should hear His voice, and they 
 
THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 51 
 
 that hear shall live. To hear implies two conditions; 
 something to hear and the power to receive. The Son 
 has furnished the first condition in that He sent the gos- 
 pel of His grace, calling all men to repent. Now the 
 third person in the Trinity, to-wit, the Holy Ghost, has 
 come to furnish the second condition. How he unstops 
 the deaf ear, opens the blinded eyes, and softens the 
 hardened heart! How beautifully the following stanza 
 expresses the necessity for the Spirit's work! 
 "Can aught beneath a power divine 
 The stubborn will subdue ? 
 'Tis thine, eternal Spirit, thine 
 
 To form the heart anew; 
 'Tis thine the passions to subdue 
 
 And upward bid them rise, 
 And make the scales of error fall 
 From Reason's darkened eyes." 
 
 Christ said in Matthew xii. 31-32: "All manner of 
 sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the 
 blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven 
 unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the 
 Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever 
 speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven 
 him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." 
 This brings us to cautiously approach this stupendous 
 and overawing subject with reverence and great self- 
 abnegation. First let us inquire, is it because Christ 
 regarded the Holy Spirit as better than Himself, or did 
 He mean to imply that He was more forgiving than the 
 Spirit? If either of these is true, how are they then 
 equal? In business the acts of one partner of the firm 
 
52 THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 
 
 always bind the other. If Christ will forgive for a cer- 
 tain kind or grade of sin against Himself, and the Holy 
 Ghost will not forgive for the same sin committed against 
 Him, then there is not only a difference between the two, 
 but a want of harmony in the Trinity; and since this is 
 in the highest degree impossible, we must look in some 
 other direction for the cause. Suppose I preach a ser- 
 mon to that man over there by the window, taking for 
 my text, "God so loved the world that he gave his only 
 begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life," and for the space 
 of an hour I strive with all the force of logic and all the 
 powers of eloquence of which I am capable to show that 
 man how God loves him; but when I get through, he 
 coolly says: "Who is your God? I care nothing for 
 him or about him." I meet him again, and this time 
 I take for my text, "Behold the Lamb of God, which 
 taketh away the sins of the world." And when I 
 have lifted Christ up before him as the hope of the world 
 and the joy of heaven, again he coolly says: "I do 
 not see anything in him; there is no beauty in him 
 that I should desire him; to me he is a root out of dry 
 ground." I go back and preach to him again, from the 
 text, "As many as are led by the spirit of God, they are 
 the sons of God." While I am preaching, the Spirit 
 comes like a rushing mighty wind, as on the day of 
 Pentecost; the deaf ears are opened and the blinded eyes 
 begin to see trees as men walking; the hard heart 
 begins to relent and the tears of penitence begin to now; 
 the man cries out in the language of his soul, saying: 
 
THB SIN UNTO DEATH. 
 
 5^ 
 
 "In evil long I took delight, 
 Unawed by shame or fear, 
 Till a new object struck my sight 
 
 And stopped my wild career. 
 "I saw One hanging on a tree 
 In agony and blood: 
 He fixed His languid eye on me, 
 As near His cross I stood. 
 "Ah ! never till my latest breath, 
 Shall I forget that look; 
 It seemed to charge me with His death, 
 
 Though not a word He spoke. m 
 "My conscience felt and owned the guilt, 
 
 It plunged me in despair; 
 
 I saw my sins His blood had spilt 
 
 And helped to nail Him there. 
 
 "A second look He gave, which said: 
 
 ' I freely all forgive. 
 
 This blood is for thy ransom paid; 
 
 I die that thou may est live.' " 
 
 Oh, what a change ! he sees God's love now as never 
 before; he sees Jesus as the one altogether lovely and the 
 chief among ten thousand. Hear him say: 
 
 "I yield, I yield, I yield; 
 I can hold out no more; 
 I sink by dying love compelled, 
 And own Thee conqueror." 
 
 Why did he not do this before ? Let the apostle Paul 
 explain (I.Corinthians ii. 14): "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." 
 
 But, my friend, suppose that man over there hears 
 
54 THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 
 
 of God's love, and slights that; of his Son, and slights 
 Him; and finally, like Felix of old, trembling like the 
 aspen leaf, exclaims: "Go thy way for this time; when 
 I have a more convenient season, I will call for thee." 
 He has heard of the Father and the Son; he has laughed 
 at death and trampled on divine love; he has set up his 
 own will against the entreaties of the Spirit. Now what 
 shall we do? There is no other person in the Godhead 
 to offer, there is no other influence to bring; hence we 
 must conclude that the final rejection of the Spirit's 
 work is the deadly sin, because, He being the last and 
 only member of the Trinity, there is no one else to fol- 
 low up His work. Suppose you owed a debt of one hun- 
 dred dollars, and had in cash three hundred out of which 
 to pay the claim — you can now pay it three times over; but 
 you spend one hundred and do not pay it — now you can 
 pay it twice over; but you spend another hundred — now 
 you can pay it dollar for dollar; but suppose you spend a 
 part or all of the last hundred, do you not see that you 
 could as easily make a world as to pay that debt out of 
 the three hundred dollars ? Oh ! my friends, let me 
 warn you against spending the last hundred, for when 
 you have slighted the Father, there is the Son offering 
 yet to reconcile you to Him; when you have rejected the 
 Son, there is the Holy Spirit to teach you better and 
 lead you right ; but when you reject the Spirit, all is 
 over. Oh, that I could impress you with the fact that 
 you may this moment be committing that sin the result 
 of which is to put you beyond the reach of mercy ! Dr. 
 Alexander said : 
 
THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 55 
 
 "There is a time, we know not when, 
 A place, we know not where, 
 That fixes the destiny of men 
 To glory or despair. 
 
 " There is a line, by us unseen, 
 Which crosses every path, 
 The hidden boundary between 
 His patience and His wrath. 
 
 " To cross that line it is to die, 
 To die as if by stealth ; 
 It does not quench the sparkling eye 
 Nor pale the glow of health. 
 
 u The conscience may be still at ease, 
 The spirit light and gay ; 
 That which pleases still may please, 
 And thought be thrust away ; 
 
 " But on that forehead God has set 
 Indelibly a mark, 
 A mark as yet by man unseen, 
 For man is blind and in the dark. 
 
 " And yet the doomed man's path below 
 May bloom as Eden bloomed. 
 He does not feel the approach of woe 
 Or know that he is doomed. 
 
 " He feels, perchance, that all is well, 
 And every fear is calmed. 
 He lives, he dies, he wakes in hell, 
 Not only doomed, but damned ! 
 
 " Oh ! where is the mysterious bourne 
 By which our path is crossed, 
 Beyond which God himself has sworn 
 That he who goes is lost ? 
 
56 THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 
 
 " How long may we go on to sin ? 
 How long will God forbear ? 
 Where does hope end and where begin 
 The confines of despair ? 
 " An answer from the skies is sent: 
 ' Ye that from God depart, 
 While it is called to-day repent 
 And harden not your heart.' " 
 
 Finally, in settling this question of the sin against 
 the Holy Spirit, we will appeal to three witnesses — the 
 Scriptures, reason, arid human testimony — because it is 
 said: "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall 
 every word be established." It is not so much a ques- 
 tion of time or place, circumstances or conditions, which 
 claims our attention in the discussion of this subject. It 
 is said in a proverb that the last straw broke the camel's 
 back, but certainly no one believes that one would have 
 done the work had there been none other there. So it 
 may be truly said that the last rejection of the Spirit's 
 work was the sin unto death; but still it is plainly to be 
 seen that this is simply the end of a journey, every step 
 of which has tended to the destined end. 
 
 Is it a fact that the Spirit does cease His strivings, 
 and even the patience of God, like every thing else, have 
 its bounds beyond which it will not go ? In settling this 
 question, beloved, let us go over the fields of revealed 
 truth, only touching here and there a salient truth as it 
 lifts its hoary head like the highest mountain-peaks above 
 the neighboring hills, as if to warn us of the terrible 
 storm which howls around its giant base. So let us 
 begin with the book of Genesis, chapter vi. 3: "My spirit 
 
THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 57 
 
 ^_ — • 
 
 shall not always strive with man." Again, Genesis vi. 6: 
 "And it repented the L,ord that he had made man on the 
 earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord 
 said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the 
 face of the earth." It is said that Noah was a preacher 
 of righteousness, but though he preached 03^ precept and 
 example for over one hundred and twenty years, yet 
 there was not a penitent nor a conversion, though he had 
 heard the voice of God and delivered it as received. 
 What was the matter? Again God said of Hphraim 
 (Hosea iv. 17): "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him 
 alone." To Israel He said: " Oh, do not this abominable 
 thing I hate!" He sent prophet after prophet; some of 
 them they stoned, others they killed, until finally we 
 hear the old weeping prophet, Jeremiah, exclaim (Jere- 
 miah ix. 1): "Oh, that my head were waters and mine 
 eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night 
 for the slain of the daughter of my people 1" But listen 
 once more and hear the reply (Jeremiah xi. 14): "There- 
 fore [since they have forsaken me] pray not thou for this 
 people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will 
 not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their 
 trouble." 
 
 Solomon, the wise man, said (Proverbs xxix. 1): "He, 
 that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall sud- 
 denly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Again 
 God speaks by the same scribe and says (Proverbs i. 24- 
 28): "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have 
 stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye 
 iiave set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my 
 
58 THE SIN UNTO DKATH. 
 
 reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock 
 when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as deso- 
 lation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when 
 distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they 
 call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me 
 early, but they shall not find me." Only one more from 
 the Old Testament, and then we will examine the New 
 (Jeremiah viii. 20): "The harvest is past, the summer is 
 ended, and we are not saved." There is the clearing 
 away of the rubbish, the fallowing of the ground, the 
 sowing of the seed, and the cultivating of the crop, but 
 the end is when the reapers come. Oh ! my friends, are 
 you ready for the rider on the white horse, or shall the 
 harvest pass and leave you unsaved? 
 
 Now we will examine briefly a few of the New Tes- 
 tament authorities bearing on this subject. We have 
 already called attention to the words of the Savior, so 
 we will now direct your notice to a few statements made 
 by Paul. In Ephesians iv. 19 he speaks of being past 
 feeling, given over by themselves to work uncleanness. 
 Again (II. Thessaloniansii. 10-12): "Because they received 
 not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And 
 for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that 
 they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned 
 who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unright- 
 eousness." Again, to the Ephesians (iv. 30) he said: 
 "Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed 
 unto the day of redemption." Surely these statements 
 are sufficient to convince any candid mind that it is a 
 fact well established by inspiration, both in the Old and 
 
THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 59 
 
 New Testament, both among prophets and apostles, that 
 the time may come, yea, does come in the lives of some 
 individuals, when they are as really and as hopelessly 
 lost as though hell's doors were already closed upon them 
 and attendant demons were already hurrying them away 
 to perdition's fiery cave. In the book of Revelation 
 (iii. 20) Christ sa3 T s: "Behold I stand at the door, and 
 knock." How does He stand there ? Certainly not in a 
 bodily form or visible presence, but in the person of the 
 Holy Spirit. Now let us reason a little. Suppose you 
 are at court and hear the judge sa} T of your friend: 
 "Unless he is here to-morrow at 9 o'clock, to show cause 
 why it should not be so done, this court will enter judg- 
 ment by default for the sale of all his goods and effects 
 of whatever kind he shall be found seized and possessed." 
 Out of sympathy for him, you hurry home to warn him 
 of his danger, but when you ring the bell no answer 
 comes; you knock on the door, but instead of opening it, 
 he comes and turns the bolt and locks you on the out- 
 side; you go and come again, with the same result; you 
 call at the windows, but they are closed; you hear him 
 putting bars behind the doors, and then all kinds of noise 
 is made to drown your voice. Now what would you do? 
 I can tell you there isn't one of you that would go 
 back the second time; but you would become indignant 
 and say: '%et him be sold out, root and branch; he 
 deserves to die in the poor-house; I wouldn't warn him 
 again to save his life." But how often the Holy Spirit 
 has come, and how often you have rejected Him ! Must 
 He continue to knock with the door barred ? Shall He 
 
60 THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 
 
 continue to sow and never reap ? Shall He continue to 
 strive with no hope or prospect of victory ? 
 
 "Oh ! if you still His call refuse, 
 And all His wondrous love abuse, 
 Soon will He sadly from you turn, 
 Your bitter prayer for pardon spurn. 
 ' Too late ! too late ! ' will be the cry ; 
 'Jesus of Nazareth has passed by.' " 
 
 Some years since, I was holding a meeting and a 
 young lady reached up while I was preaching, took down 
 my bible, and wrote on the fly-leaf: "Pray for me, Mr. 
 Dillard. If you give me up, I am lost." I had formerly 
 talked with her. She went through three meetings, 
 greatly interested in each one of them; sometimes she 
 would find herself on the eve of surrendering, and would 
 stay SLwa.y awhile until her feelings were to some extent 
 gone, and then she would come back. I plead with her 
 time and again, to no effect. Two sisters and a brother- 
 in-law, with whom she was living, came out on the 
 Iyord's side. One day, in the meeting at a place called 
 Bethel, I felt that she would settle the question. I had 
 never before seen her so interested, and 1 sent to her an 
 old man by the name of Sublette, a friend and neighbor 
 of her father during his life. Said I, "Brother, go and 
 ask Ola, in the name of her father and her father's God, not 
 to strive against the Spirit any longer." I shall never forget 
 the scene; the tottering old man, over whose head the sun 
 of eighty-four summers had passed, the flowing beard and 
 the long gray locks, with the falling tears, made a picture 
 not soon to be erased or forgotten. I watched the con- 
 flict with as much interest as ever did Napoleon a battle 
 
THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 61 
 
 — not empires, but salvation, depended on that moment; 
 not time, but eternity. In imagination I can see the old 
 man as he lays his enfeebled and trembling hands on 
 hers ; I hear the trembling but pleading voice saying, 
 "Won't you yield? Oh! resist not the spirit." One 
 after another of the lady members of the church came, 
 and, their tongues refusing to speak, they bowed their 
 heads in pra3 r er, while sobs and tears were mingled with 
 love and pity until it seemed as if the very pews would 
 cry out. The struggle is over. I see the tall and now 
 erect form rise majestically above the weeping friends at 
 her feet, and a significant shake of the head sends to my 
 waiting but anxious soul the conscious conviction that 
 my friend is lost. The victory had been gained on the 
 wrong side, and a soul forever lost. I came West in a 
 few days, but I was so impressed with that awful thought 
 that I wrote back, and will close this sermon by reading 
 this letter and leaving you to form your own con- 
 clusions. 
 
 "December 25, 1888. 
 
 "Dear Mr. Dilxard, — Your letter came to me to- 
 night in the midst of Christmas gaiety, and before I go 
 down I will try to write to you. But first I will try and 
 thank you for your unwearied kindness and patience 
 with me, for you have ever been the kindest and best of 
 friends, and though at times I have seemed careless and 
 ungrateful to you, I was never so, but in my heart have 
 ever loved and thanked you for your prayers, sympathy, 
 and instruction; and though you may think that I have 
 
62 THE SIN UNTO DEATH. 
 
 rejected all your efforts, I must say that you have come 
 nearer bringing me to Christ than anyone else. You 
 were the first that ever seemed to think that I even had 
 a soul, and you convinced me that there was a hereafter 
 and a Christ, loving, tender, and pitiful. You saved me 
 when I was almost an infidel, and I have trusted and 
 clung to you as to no one else since my father died, and 
 you have helped me when life seemed almost unbearable; 
 but your letter to-night has saddened me beyond expres- 
 sion, for I feel and know that I am further from God 
 than ever before, and that I must continue on the down 
 grade now so long as life shall last. I know to-night, as 
 I sit here writing to you, that there has been a time in 
 my life when I could have gone to work in the Master's 
 vineyard, but I neglected the call; and I don't think you 
 will be surprised when I tell you it was on the last night 
 of your Bethel meeting. I felt then that I must go to 
 you and tell you that, after all, I did think it was worth 
 a great deal to be allowed the blessed privilege of climb- 
 ing heights, and, after all of our sorrow, sickness, and 
 death, to reach that home not made by hands, eternal in 
 the heavens; but then I thought that it was only a fit of 
 the blues, brought on by other troubles which had come 
 to darken a life which was sad enough already,* and 
 I resisted the call that I now would gladly hear if it were 
 
 *I was pastor of the church where this family attended, and 
 often conversed with her on religious subjects. Her father fell 
 dead in his tracks at his front gate, and just before that her 
 mother died almost as suddenly. The other troubles referred to 
 ■were the death of a nephew and evidences of consumption. 
 
THK SIN UNTO DEATH. 63 
 
 not too late. So I will go back to the old life, and in its 
 whirl will try and forget myself. If I have written too 
 freely, I feel that you will not be angry with me, but will 
 pity more than blame the poor orphan child who with 
 her own hand has shut forever mercy's gate." 
 
THE EAGLE'S NEST. 
 
 "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 Jacob, and there was no strange 
 god with him." — Deuteronomy xxxii. 11-12. 
 
 [This sermon lias been preached in nine different 
 States and often twice, and in some instances three times, 
 to the same congregation, by special request. It has been 
 greatly blessed of God in the encouragement of the weak 
 and desponding Christian, has been the means of reclaim- 
 ing a great many back-sliders, and has perhaps, under 
 the influence of the Holy Spirit, been instrumental in 
 leading at least a thousand souls to Christ.] 
 
 The eagle is not only the ruler of birds, but she 
 shows an instinct so closely allied to knowledge that, were 
 it not for falling into the hands of the critics, I should 
 call her a wise fowl. But let that be as it may, one thing 
 is certain: she often, in the location and construction of 
 her nest, shows a skill and foresight which should put to 
 blush the actions of many of us. When the time comes 
 to build the nest, she spreads abroad her great wings, and, 
 flying over the village, the field, and the forest, hies 
 away to the mountain-range, and, after scanning every 
 mountain-peak from her sunny height, locates her nest in 
 the rocky crag, where the lightnings of heaven have 
 
 64 
 
THE eagle's nest. 65 
 
 danced and around which the thunders of ages have sung. 
 In this inaccessible cleft, where the farmer's plowshare 
 can never go and even the huntsman's dog can never 
 climb, she begins the construction of a nest. But see 
 what rough and unsightly material she brings: thorns* 
 brush, and splinters, all put together in the most un- 
 sightly manner. Then see her bringing leaves, grass, 
 moss, feathers, and such downy material as nature affords, 
 until the ends of all the thorns and all the rough exte- 
 rior is completely hid; and while the thorns are there, 
 they are obscured by what may be called a silver lining. 
 After awhile the young eaglets appear, and now the mother 
 eagle hies away to the neighboring water-courses, and, 
 snatching from the fish-hawk and other birds of prey the 
 captured fish, she lays them at the feet of her young. 
 Such maternal care as this is soon rewarded with a stal- 
 wart and healthy brood, and soon the old eagle's instinct 
 tells her the time has come when the eaglets ought to 
 fly; that the nest is too narrow, and that eagles were not 
 designed to spend their lives on one mountain-crag. But 
 how she puts to blush much of our Christian zeal ! for 
 instead of first showing them how to fly, she stirs up the 
 nest and makes them want to fly. See, the same mater- 
 nal care that put in the silver lining is now tearing it out. 
 Oh, how the young cry out in anguish, and what an 
 expression of unrest there is the nest ! of all places on 
 earth, this same nest is the most uncomfortable. Now that 
 the young are anxious to get awa} T , see the old eagle as she 
 stands on the off-shooting branch of the old oak, or up 
 on the over-hanging rock, and with her great wings 
 
06 THE EAGLE'S NEST. 
 
 stretched to their full length, moves them slowly, as if to 
 say: "Young, this is the way to fly." After a little, the 
 young have their wings moving in harmony. Now the 
 supreme effort comes, for the old mother strikes the nest, 
 knocks off the side, and tumbles them into the air. See 
 them begin to fly; but it is a new business, and some of 
 them begin to fall; but as quick as thought the mother 
 darts under the falling one and bears him safely on. Oh, 
 what a beautiful sight ! They all fly at the same time 
 and in the same direction, and the mother flies with them. 
 Now the text says: "As [Oh, what a word! how 
 small and yet how significant !] an eagle stirreth up her 
 nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her 
 wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings : so the 
 Lord did lead his people." Now, let us learn the lesson. 
 First, how about the location of the nest? Well, I will 
 tell you just what I believe it means. Gentlemen, tell 
 me why is it that you and I live in this golden sunset of 
 the nineteenth centu^ ? why is it that we are in this 
 the greatest of all the ages and the best of all the lands? 
 why is it that we are not pilgrims wandering unattired 
 in savage wildness through the jungles of central Africa? 
 why did we not live amidst the fiery persecutions of the 
 tenth and twelfth centuries? why were we not the 
 slaves of the darkest days of imperial Rome, when virtue 
 had so fallen that the lowest passions of abject bestiality 
 were satisfied in the public mart and her fair daughters 
 iri ven through the streets unattired as a sacrifice to the 
 public gaze? Ah! my brethren, it was because there 
 ivas a p rovidence in our existence, and behind all that 
 
THE EAGLE'S NEST. 
 
 we can see or know there is the index finger, the all- 
 seeing eye, and the controlling power of Him who 
 watches the moving inhabitants of a drop of water and 
 directs the motions of mighty worlds as they revolve in 
 eternal brotherhood around His throne forever. Oh> 
 what an age to live in 1 how full of opportunities and 
 how terrible its responsibilities! Oh, my hearers, as 
 Mordecai said to Queen Esther, "Who knows but that 
 thou art come to the throne for such a time as this? " 
 
 Now let us examine the nest. What means the 
 rough exterior ? Ah, well! this tells us but too plainly 
 that in us and about us there are the seeds of disease and 
 the instruments of death. True they may be and often 
 are covered over with a silver lining. For instance, I go 
 to that man over there and say: " My friend, I want 
 you to be a Christian." "What do you want me to be 
 that for?" "Oh, well, it is wise to lay up treasures in 
 the skies, where moth nor rust are known no more, and 
 thieves can never go." "Well, sir," says he, " I never 
 had my affairs in better condition in all my life." So I 
 am defeated; but I go back again and say : " Now, I 
 am anxious about you. Religion is so good to have in 
 the dark days of trial and the long nights of pain. 
 Won't you give your heart to Gcd now?" "Well, sir,'' 
 says that man out there, " I never was sick in all my 
 life, and I wish you could see my wife and children; 
 never had a doctor nor burned a midnight lamp in all 
 these 3^ears." So I am defeated again; but, after an 
 absence often years, I am going along the street and I 
 see a different sign over the store door; I go up on the 
 
68 THK EAGLE'S NEST. 
 
 splendid pavement and a stranger informs me that the 
 gentleman has long since moved ; I go out to the farm, 
 and the gate is hanging on one hinge, the front porch 
 has holes in the floor, and even the cat has to stand 
 twice in a place to make a shadow. Great heavens ! 
 what does all this mean? Out in the garden is a new- 
 made grave with a board at the head and foot and a few 
 withered flowers lying between, and down the lane comes 
 an old gray-haired sire, leaning on his staff. I meet him at 
 the gate and exclaim : " My friend, my friend ! can this 
 be you?" and as we sit on the old " upping-blocks " he 
 relates his tale of woe : diphtheria has taken his children, 
 his wife died last week of a broken heart, and the property 
 has long since taken to itself wings and fled away. Oh, 
 my hearers, that nest had been terribly stirred! 
 
 Once a man came to me and invited me to his office, 
 and when we went in, he handed me a chair and then 
 locked the door. "Now," said he, "I am the man who 
 stood up for prayer, and I want to tell you how it came 
 
 about. I will first tell you who I am: my name is ; 
 
 I am a railroad man; I live in that white house yonder. 
 A friend of mine slapped me on the shoulder the other 
 day in the city and said: 'You are not yet forty years old 
 and you have lived a hundred and forty years.' When I 
 was a boy, I went to Sunday-school; my wife is a Chris- 
 tian, but I never go with her to church; I usually work 
 a good part of the day Sunday. Three weeks ago our 
 little boy was taken sick, and as we walked out at the 
 front gate the doctor said: 'I might as well prepare you 
 for the worst: your child can't possibly live through the 
 
THE EAGLE'S NEST. 69 
 
 night.' Sir, it seemed to me me as if a voice from heaven 
 had said: 'This is the last and only call. Yon have 
 thrown away your early training, you have turned your 
 back on the Church, and } t ou have shut 3-0 ur ears to the 
 gospel; and since the influence of a Christian wife is of 
 no avail, I w 7 ill take from you your only boy.' So, turn- 
 ing on my heel, I returned to the house, and instead of 
 going in the chamber where my wife and child w T ere, I 
 went up-stairs. and, locking the door behind me, I fell on 
 my knees and said: "O God, if this is the last call, and 
 my boy must die to save my soul from hell, then spare 
 my child; the results shall be the same.' Now, sir, I 
 never made a bargain in all my life in more earnestness 
 or with more intention of keeping my part of the contract. 
 The Lord has spared my child; he is on the road to recov- 
 er}-. Now, sir, I w 7 ant you to tell me how to serve God." 
 I tell 3 t ou, brethren, it w r as an easy matter to lead that 
 man to Christ. I w T onder, as I stand here and relate this 
 stor}-, if there are not mothers here in whose homes there 
 are little shoes with no little feet on which to put them; 
 if there are not in your w r ardrobes little dresses w T hich fit 
 nobody now. A lady once arose in our meetings and 
 said: "You all know that while I have been a member 
 of the Church for seven } T ears, it has only been two 
 3-ears that I have lived in the Church; before then I was 
 a society woman; I found my pleasure at the card-party, 
 in the ball-room, and at the theatre. One day an angel 
 came and stole our darling little Erma, and the next even- 
 ing w T e laid her little form in the cold, dark grave on the 
 hill. For man}^ day I fancied I heard her footfall on the 
 
70 the eagle's nest. 
 
 floor, and sometimes her voice in the hall; but giadually 
 I realized the fact that I was a childless mother and that 
 the one idol of my heart had been torn away, and instead 
 of binding me to earth, it was now, in the furnace of trial, 
 forged into a golden chain with one end fastened to my 
 bleeding hearr and the other to the throne of God. Oh ! 
 brethren, pray for me that I may so live in the future as 
 to met my loved one in the skies." "As the eagle stirs 
 up her nest." Oh! my sister, has God stirred your nest? 
 and is there a famine in the land, my brother? then will 
 you come home to-night? 
 
 To see the lost returning home, 
 The loved ones bid them come; 
 There is pardon there awaiting 
 For all who will return. 
 
 "Well," sa3^s one, "I want to be a Christian, but I 
 do not know how to be one." Then, my brother, behold 
 the mother eagle as she spreads her wings and shows the 
 young how to fly. Would you learn how to live? then 
 take Jesus as your example. I was holding a meeting in 
 the valley of Virginia, some years since, and when I got 
 to the large old country church I noticed a beautiful mar- 
 ble shaft standing a few steps from the door. I went up, 
 and underneath a bible carved in the stone was the name 
 of that old pioneer preacher, Dempsey. Over it was 
 written in a rainbow circle, "A people's offering to 
 exalted virtue." I almost felt as if I must bare my head 
 and praise the L,ord for one such preacher. So, leaving 
 the beautiful tomb with this tribute to the dead old hero 
 ringing through my brain, I went on down the hill-side 
 
the eagle's nest. 71 
 
 whispering to myself, "A people's offering to exalted vir- 
 tue," until I came to a plain marble slab on which, was 
 written, "Dr. Johnson: he went about doing good." Then 
 I thought of Jesus, and, getting on my knees, said: "0 
 Lord, help me so to live that some kind hand will write 
 above my sleeping head, 'He went about doing good.' " 
 But you demur and say: "He was the God-man; you can't 
 expect me to live as he did." Well, then live like the 
 prophets and the apostles. Paul said: "Be ye followers 
 of me, as I also am of Christ." And sing as you go: 
 
 "We are traveling home to God, 
 In the way our fathers trod. 
 The}' are happy now, and we 
 Soon their happiness shall see." 
 
 "The way the holy prophets went, 
 The road that leads from banishment, 
 The King's highway of holiness, 
 I'll go ; for all His paths are peace." 
 
 "Oh, well, I am not inspired ; these were inspired men," 
 Then I will tell you what to do: you just cast about in 
 your mind and find someone in whom you have confi- 
 dence, and take them for your example and live like 
 they live; they live in the same age, walk the same 
 streets, travel over the same roads, breathe the same 
 air, and behold the same sunlight; you have as much 
 will power, as much manhood, and as many advantages; 
 now go and live like they do. I defy any man, to live 
 just like a Christian for six weeks and not.be one. 
 
 Mr. Sam Jones tells of one who came to him and 
 said: " Mr. Jones, I want to be a Christian." So Mr.- 
 
72 TH3 EAGLE'S NKST. 
 
 Jones explained to him the plan of salvation as best he 
 could; but from time to time the fellow came back, tell- 
 ing how he thought a Christian should do. "Well,'» 
 said Mr. Jones, "you know a great deal more about it 
 than I do. Now I tell you what you do: you go home and 
 live just as you think a Christian should live, and I will 
 guarantee you will soon be one." " I'll do it," said the 
 fellow ; so, when supper-time came, he dropped his head 
 at the table, and, for the first time in his life, thanked the 
 I^ord for his food. His wife cast her eye across the 
 table and said nothing, but imagine her surprise at bed- 
 time to see her husband, for the first time in his life, get 
 the old bible, and, brushing the dust and cobwebs from 
 its long-neglected and unopened cover, come towards 
 her with it in his hands. ''John ! " she exclaimed, "what 
 on earth is the matter with you? I have been living 
 with you for ten years, and never saw you say grace at 
 the table, and now you have actually got the old bible 
 down ! Say, what good streak has struck you, anyway?" 
 "Well, wife," said he, "I have been talking with Mr. 
 Jones about being a Christian, and he told me to go 
 home and live like one, and I have decided so to do; so 
 now, if you will join me, I will read a chapter and we 
 will establish a family altar. Down they went, one on 
 one side of the table and the other on the other side. 
 
 Now you man back there who said, "Oh! that is not 
 religion," turn over to Romans x. 13 and read where the 
 Lord said by the mouth of the Apostle Paul: "It shall 
 come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of 
 the Lord shall be saved." Here, my brother, is a prom- 
 
the eagle's nest. 73 
 
 ise. Won't you go home and lay hold of it ? Pray the 
 publican's prayer: "God be merciful to me a sinner.' 
 Did you ever know a Christian who didn't pray? Then 
 don't you see, my brother, that if you pray like a Chris- 
 tian, 3^ou will be saved like one? "Oh, well," you say, 
 " I am afraid to try; I am so weak. I am afraid I can't 
 hold out." Now, my brother, let us take one more look 
 at those flying eagles. Where is the mother eagle? 
 with the strong ones in front or with the crippled ones 
 behind ? Suppose you were going to shoot her, where 
 would you point your gun ? Oh, my brother, you know 
 you would find the mother helping the weak and crippled 
 one. See her bear him on her wings; then remember 
 that as the eagle bears her weak and falling ones, so the 
 Lord helps His people. 
 
 A great man once said: "When I get to heaven, I 
 expect to be surprised at three things: first, at being 
 there myself; second, at not seeing many I had expected; 
 but perhaps most of all at seeing so many I never 
 expected to see." Yes, my brother, I believe to-day 
 there are men shouting high up in glory who were turned 
 out of Church and kicked out of society — men did I say? 
 yes, and women too. Glory to God in the highest ! He 
 does not see as men, nor does He condemn the innocent, 
 while out of the very depths, the fallen may cry to Him. 
 Be washed in the blood of the Lamb and made a jewel 
 for the diadem of the skies. Only trust Him; He will 
 save you now. May God help you so to do, and with 
 one more illustration I close. 
 
 Listen, my weak and unfortunate brother: Some 
 
74 TH3 EAGLE'S nest. 
 
 time since I was invited to dine with a Presbyterian elder 
 who lived in a beautiful country home on the hill. As 
 I entered the house I was met by his married daughter, 
 and a queenly looking woman indeed she was; while 
 seated in the parlor, the door opened and in came a 
 beautiful little boy, nicely dressed, and evidently pre- 
 pared from top to toe for the occasion; after a while the 
 door opened again, when for the second time the mother 
 arose and with great ceremony introduced the strange 
 preacher to her beautiful child; after a little while the 
 door again came slowly open, when a little boy came 
 walking in slowly, as if an intruder, but on seeing him 
 the mother held out her arms, and in a moment her 
 hands were clasped behind his shoulders, while with tear- 
 ful eyes and a trembling voice she said: ' 'Brother Dillard, 
 /this is our poor little unfortunate boy; he can neither 
 hear nor talk, but he loves his mother, and I sometimes 
 think I could give up every child I have rather than this 
 poor little unfortunate one, he is so dependent." When 
 I saw this, I remembered the words of Isaiah, where he 
 said: "As one whom his mother comforteth, so the I^ord 
 will comfort you, and ye shall be comforted." 
 
 Now what a good time to tear up the old book, which 
 is all full of blots and marks, and at the beginning of the 
 new year, and on the first Sunday in the year, begin 
 anew! As the apostle said, casting away every weight 
 and the sins which doth so easily beset us, let us run 
 with patience the race which is set before us, ever look- 
 ing unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. I 
 wonder how many there are in this large and attentive 
 
THK eagle's nest. 75 
 
 audience, now that you see that God will help you, that 
 will try by His help to live better this year than 3^011 did 
 last; how many will cut loose from some old sin, and, 
 looking to heaven for strength, start out afresh? [Almost 
 the entire crowd stood on their feet.] 
 
PRAYER AND HOLY LIVING. 
 
 "I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy 
 hands, without wrath and doubting." — /. Timothy ii. 8. 
 
 [A sermon preached in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday 
 morning, January 14, 1894, by Dr. Dillard, and reported 
 for this book. It is the first of the series of sermons. 
 After being introduced by the pastor, Dr. Dillard made a 
 few remarks relative to his mode of work, led in a short 
 but earnest prayer, and then announced his text.] 
 
 There seemed to have been some question among 
 the ancients relative to the proper placein which to pray. 
 This will appear when we consider the fact that in the 
 construction of the Temple there was a small room, sepa- 
 rated from the other parts of the Temple by a heavy 
 hanging curtain, called the vail of the Temple, and known 
 as the Holiest of Holies; in this sacred place the high 
 priest alone, after having slain some innocent victim and 
 sprinkled its blood, dared to enter once a year and pray 
 for himself and the people. Again, the Savior, in the 
 conversation had with the Samaritan woman at the well, 
 brought out this same idea, for said she: "Our fathers 
 worship in this mountain, but ye say in Jerusalem is the 
 place where men ought to worship." To this Christ 
 replied: "Verily, verily I say unto you, the time is come 
 and now is when they shall no longer in Jerusalem nor 
 
 76 
 
PRAYER AND HOLY LIVING. 77 
 
 in this mountain worship the Father; for God is a spirit, 
 and seeketh such to worship him as worship him in spirit 
 and in truth." This has a wonderful significance, and 
 gives us to understand that God is not a god of temples or 
 mountains, but, as the Psalmist said, His eyes are in every 
 place, beholding the evil and the good; so His ears are 
 ever open to the earnest and plaintive cry of His people. 
 When Christ was crucified, there were some wonder- 
 ful phenomena: 
 
 "The sun blushed to night, 
 And refused to behold the awful sight; 
 The earth trembled at the foot of the cross, 
 And Peter thought the world was lost; 
 The vail of the Temple rent in twain, 
 And the dead came back to life again." 
 
 But, strange to say, that which seemed less significant at 
 the time has been the only remaining incident of far- 
 reaching importance. The sun shines brightly above 
 our heads, and the old earth revolves just as steadily as 
 before; the dead have all disappeared, and only the rent 
 in the vail remains to tell us that the hoi} 7 place is every- 
 where, and that wherever man has the spirit of prayer, 
 there God is waiting to receive his petition. Oh, what a 
 splendid privilege ! No high priest need go in for us, no in- 
 nocent victim need suffer now; our Great High Priest has 
 gone in for us; once for all, the blood of the atonement has 
 been spilt; the obstructions have all been removed, and 
 man is urged to pray always and in every place. I beg you 
 to notice that this view of the subject has a practical side. 
 Suppose you are a blacksmith; you can make your anvil 
 
78 PRAYKR AND HOLY LIVING. 
 
 an altar from which shall rise as acceptable prayer as 
 ever ascended from the altars of Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob. If you are a farmer, as you follow the plowshare 
 you may not only obey the command to eat bread in the 
 sweat of your face, but you can by prayer unite the 
 divine oversight with the weakness of human effort, and 
 in answer to prayer and effort, command and promise, 
 seed-time and harvest will be crowned with labor and 
 reward. If you are a physician, as you stand by the bed- 
 side of suffering humanity and diagnose the case you may 
 hold communion with the Great Physician, and thus be led 
 to a correct diagnosis of the case and the wise application of 
 proper remedies ; so shall your patient be healed and your 
 reputation be sustained. Are you a merchant, then while 
 your customer is before the counter breathe a silent prayer. 
 I remember, while in meetings in the town of Smithville, 
 Va., hearing a minister say he had once been a merchant 
 and the time had been in his experience when he had 
 felt the power of temptation so powerfully that he left 
 the customer standing before the counter and ran down 
 in the basement among the boxes and barrels, had a little 
 talk with the L,ord, and ran back to finish waiting on the 
 customer. Oh for more such merchants! ["Amen!" 
 "That's right!" came from different parts of the house. 
 The evangelist said, "Now let us see how many people 
 here believe in prayer; rise to your feet," when at least 
 75 per cent arose. "Great interest; be seated."] 
 
 Now we pass to the second thought. Lifting up holy 
 hands: Suppose I say something to you about the eyes> 
 what will you think of? seeing; of the ears? hearing; 
 
PRAYER AND HOLY LIVING. 79 
 
 because these are the organs with which we see and 
 hear. "As the feet are the appendages of locomotion," 
 as the preacher said of the chicken, so the hands are the 
 objects with which we work ; hence holy hands simply 
 means, in common English, doing right. Somehow men 
 have an intuitive idea that there is absolutely no use to 
 pray unless their lives are going to correspond. The 
 poet has .said: 
 
 "So let our lips and lives express 
 
 The holy gospel we profess ; 
 
 So let our works and virtues shine 
 
 To prove the doctrine all divine." 
 
 I once had a brother say to me: " If you want any talk- 
 ing done, I can do that for you; I ought to have been a 
 lawyer anyhow; in fact, I will do anything else but pray, 
 but I tell you plainly I do not pray." What do you sup- 
 pose I found out about that man? Well, the people said 
 he was as close as the bark on a tree, and would squeeze 
 a quarter until the eagle would squall and then put it 
 back in his pocket. No wonder such a man as this 
 won't pray. Paul says they are idolaters. A lawyer 
 once, in order to settle in the mind of the court the 
 sanity of a witness, said to him, "Who made you?" 
 "Moses," was the prompt reply. "There," said the 
 delighted attorney, " I told you so. Listen, he says 
 Moses made him." "Who made you?" then said the 
 green witness. "Oh, well, if Moses made you, Aaron 
 made me." "We read in the good book that Aaron made 
 a calf, but I didn't think the thing would be bleating 
 after me." Now I am going to tell you something. 
 
PRAYER AND HOLY LIVING. 
 
 Holy hands will not stretch a piece of worsted until the 
 woof cries out in order to gain an inch on a customer; it 
 won't sell a horse for eight years old and throw in the 
 other two for good measure, pocket the twenty-five dol- 
 lars more, and say he was eight with good measure. I 
 was preaching in a town in Illinois two years ago, and 
 had Peter's wife's mother sick of a fever there, as I 
 usually do, and while preaching I referred to this horse 
 illustration, but imagine my surprise to see some of the 
 people gritting their teeth and clinching their fists and 
 others laughing as though all the clowns in Barnum's 
 circus were loose. ' 'Great kingdom ! what is the matter ? 
 What have I said?" The meeting over, I learned, to my 
 great mortification, that a preacher in the town, and one 
 of the pastors at that, had sold a horse, and though rec- 
 ommended as a safe family animal, he had kicked the 
 vehicle to pieces, crippled a child or two, scared the 
 good woman out of a year's growth, and was now threat- 
 ening to kick the evangelist out of town and run away 
 with the protracted meeting. [Great laughter.] So ever 
 since that time I have always been careful how I talk 
 about clerical horses. [Renewed laughter.] 
 
 Oh, what a good time this is to start out afresh to 
 live for God! Now, we have two points settled: pray 
 everywhere and do right. Now let us try the third one: 
 pray without wrath. Suppose I tell you I am here with- 
 out money and then in fifteen minutes you see me pur- 
 chase some little article and out comes a ten-dollar note; 
 what are you going to think of me? Oh, well, you would 
 think I was dealing in the same line of goods as did Sap- 
 
PRAYER AND HOLY LIVING. 81 
 
 phira of old. Well, then, what am I going to think of 
 you when you say, "I can forgive, but I can't forget"? 
 You old hypocrite you, I can tell you just what you 
 mean: you have laid that malice away, and the first time 
 that fellow tramps on your toes you are going to pay him 
 back with compound interest. The Irishman, when he 
 was sick, felt very anxious to die at peace with God and 
 all mankind, so he sent for a man with whom he was at 
 variance, and after peace was declared and Pat was ready 
 for eternity, he said in a very decided tone: "Now if I 
 dies, it's all settled and we are frinds forever; but if I 
 git well, thin I frails you like the very divil." [Laughter.] 
 How rnan}' of you can repeat with me that beautiful lesson 
 on prayer given by our Lord? Begin, "Our father who art 
 in heaven." Even infidels and sceptics like this view of 
 the fatherhood of God. "Thy kingdom come." Who 
 can object to a reign of righteousness, J03-, and peace in 
 the Holy Ghost? "Give us this day our dairy bread." 
 Who objects to being prospered in their business? "For- 
 give us as we also' 1 — "Oh, stop, stop! I can not go with 
 you there." "Why not?" "Oh, it would take me hours 
 to tell you. Her cow, to begin, did actually break into 
 my garden two nights in succession; I could have stood 
 that, but last spring, when I got my new dress, she waited 
 until I got mine and then went right straight down town 
 and got one off the same piece, and so in every way I am 
 annoyed almost out of my life by that woman." 
 
 I was preaching, some time since, in the Blue Moun- 
 tains of Virginia, and all at once a fine-looking, black- 
 whiskered man came out in front of the stand, with a lit- 
 
82 PRAYER AND HOLY LIVING. 
 
 tie child in his arms, and began to make a naming speech, 
 saying: "If I have offended and in any way mistreated 
 anyone, or if anyone thinks I have, I will ask his pardon 
 and, if necessary, get on my knees." After he was seated 
 and the excitement began to subside, a tall, dignified fel- 
 low came from the other side and said: "Brother Dillard 
 and brethren, I suppose I am the man to whom the gentle- 
 man referred. I wish to say he shall not go a step far- 
 ther than I do. I will meet him half way." "Well," 
 said I, "for God's sake meet then; now is the time and here 
 is the place." So they met. [Sensation.] Someone said: 
 "Do you know what they fell out about? Well, they got 
 to discussing the Bible one day at the post-office, and one 
 said. 'The science of architecture must have been 
 splendidly developed in the days of Solomon, because, 
 notwithstanding the stones for the Temple were hewn 
 out in different countries, yet, when brought together, 
 they fitted with such mathematical precision that there 
 was not the sound of a hammer heard on the building/ 
 'Nonsense!' said the other; 'that was when they were 
 building the pyramids of Egypt.' 'I know it was the 
 Temple.' 'I know it was the pyramids.' 'You are a 
 liar.' 'You get out of here, or I will kill you.' So these 
 dear brethren, instead of simply turning to the Scriptures 
 and seeing for themselves, both became excited and then 
 angry." I knew a case where the loaning of six eggs 
 resulted in turning eleven persons out of the Church and 
 a civil suit for slander. Behold, behold, what a fire ! and 
 a little spark made it. So these difficulties are like roll- 
 ing a stone down a mountain-side: away up yonder on 
 
PRAYER AND HOIAf LIVING. 83 
 
 the side, near the summit, a child turns over a stone; it 
 strikes and starts another, and here they go, bouncing 
 and leaping, filling the air with the fumes of sulphur; 
 there goes a great stone, a crash, and down goes a giant 
 of the forest; so we listen to the rumblings, and stand 
 awe-inspired, as if a mighty tornado were tearing up the 
 mountains by the roots — all the result of a child's action 
 as he played on the mountain-side. So we see these lit- 
 tle affairs, foolish in themselves, but let them start, and 
 who dare get in the way? Here they come, tearing 
 through the home circle, dividing the Church, and cast- 
 ing the very shadow of night over the community, leav- 
 ing in their wake blasted hopes, betrayed confidence, 
 ruined homes, and darkened lives. How wise the inspired 
 penman when he said: "Follow peace with all men, and 
 holiness, without which no man can see the Lord. Be 
 angry and sin not; let not the sun go down on you in 
 your wrath." 
 
 I once said to a farmer: "Brother Sneed, did you 
 make a good crop this year? " "No," said he, "I made a 
 failure." Oh, what an easy crop to raise ! They grow r in 
 all climates and on all kinds of soil. "Well, how is that? 
 I thought you were a good farmer." "Well, sir," said he, 
 I burnt my plant land early and prepared it perfectly, 
 fertilized it well, and sowed good seed, but an enemy by 
 the name of Tom Moore sowed mullein seed in the plant 
 bed, and they outgrew the tobacco plants; hence the loss 
 of all my labor and expense." I tell you, tny friends, 
 right and wrong, w^rath and righteousness w r ill not grow T 
 in the same heart. You may not lose your religion, but 
 
84 PRAYER AND HOLY UVING. 
 
 you will lose your happiness. I have tried it myself, 
 and know from experience that what I am saying is so. 
 
 Old Henry Clay stood on the top of the Alleghany 
 Mountains, over half a century ago, and, putting his 
 hands to his ears, stood in a listening attitude, until some 
 one said: "Mr. Clay, what do you hear?" "Millions of 
 feet, movings of commerce, and the din of great cities 
 away out on the prairies of the West." In less than half 
 a century the wolf was run out of his prairie home by 
 the sheep, the buffalo by the domestic cow, and the sav- 
 age by the citizen. The Christian, standing on the top 
 of Zion's hill, listens for awhile and says: "I hear some- 
 thing; it sounds long and loud." Oh ! it is the angels' 
 song echoing through the ages and sounding over the 
 centuries; it strikes against the sounding-board of two 
 thousand years, and comes echoing back to us; it is get- 
 ting plainer. Listen : I heard it say something about 
 good will. There ! then I caught it; yes, "Good will from 
 heaven to men, begin and never cease." Let the grand 
 old song roll on until our children shall tell it to their 
 offspring and generations yet unborn join in and sing it 
 over our graves, until the angels shall come again and 
 our bodies rise and the birthday song be lost in the final 
 coronation anthem, when everything shall sing, "Worthy 
 is the Lamb that was slain." 
 
 Lastly, we invite your attention to the last condi- 
 tion on which our Father has predicated an answer to 
 prayer: pray in faith, without doubting. How many of 
 you have any faith to believe you will receive what you 
 ask for? You ask for some blessing, and, like Abra- 
 
PRAYER AND HOLY LIVING. 85 
 
 ham's servant, when you close the prayer, there stands 
 Rebekah; or, in other words, the answer verbatim et 
 literatim, word for word, just as you asked. Then, you 
 religious coward, in after days, when you relate the cir- 
 cumstance, you will affect great modesty and say; 
 "Well, I don't know that my prayer had anything to do 
 with it." Thus you show you have no faith, and even 
 when God tries to give you some, you are afraid to own 
 it. If I were in his place, I would let you sweat awhile 
 before I blessed you again. Oh, let us have faith ! 
 Then let us fulfill the conditions in letter and spirit. 
 Christ said: "If two or three of you agree as touching any 
 one thing ye shall ask in my name, ye shall have it/* 
 I have tried this so often that if I did not believe in it, I 
 would be a greater infidel than was ever Voltaire, Thomas 
 Paine, or Colonel Ingersoll. I have had these answers; 
 they have not; I know, they do not; and the evidence 
 of a child that knows is better than that of a philosopher 
 who doesn't even claim to know. I could give you many 
 illustrations, but one or two will suffice for the present. I 
 was preaching, some years since, in a meeting, and at the 
 close an old widow lady with her daughter came and 
 covenanted with my self to pray for a lost and wandering 
 boy, from whom no letter had come for many months. 
 The next day brought a letter, and in about the first 
 mail I received on returning home was a postal card 
 saying: " Dear brother Dillard, I write to say my boy is 
 saved and I am happy." One Sunday-school teacher 
 asked prayer for a class of fifty men; in fourteen days 
 thirty-nine of them professed conversion. Two old 
 
86 PRAYKR AND HOLY LIVING. 
 
 ladies came forward, hand in hand, and said: "We have 
 come to ask you to pray for our old gray-headed hus- 
 bands;" in twenty-four hours they were both converted, 
 and a son thrown in for good measure. So we see, as 
 Paul said, the Lord always gives His people more than 
 they can ask or even think. Then let us come to Him 
 with large petitions; let us widen the horizon of expec- 
 tation and enlarge the circumference of faith. Open thy 
 mouth wide, that it may be filled. Let us dig this valley 
 full of ditches, that we may be ready when the refresh- 
 ing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Elijah's 
 woman was told to borrow vessels not a few, and the oil 
 flowed until the last one was filled, and then it suddenly 
 stopped. The vessels w 7 ere the evidence of faith, and faith 
 was the measure of the blessing. So, if we believe only 
 a few of the Sunday-school can be saved, then they will 
 be saved; if we enlarge our faith and take in some of the 
 brothers-in-law of the Church, it will enlarge the bless- 
 ing; but if we can only untie the hands of the Lion of 
 the tribe of Judah by enlarged faith and far-reaching 
 effort, how we will see the answer to our prayers ! God 
 bless you, my friends. How much faith have you, and 
 how many of you will come forward and let us covenant 
 together ? [With this a great many came forward, and 
 much interest was manifested.] 
 
CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 " L,et us go on unto perfection." — Hebrews vi. I. 
 
 Paul does not underrate the doctrine of faith, repent- 
 ance, baptism, and laying on of hands, neither does he 
 ignore the resurrection of the dead, because in Romans 
 x. 9 he teaches that faith is the foundation-stone on 
 which all true piety is built; in Romans vi. 4 he speaks 
 of being buried with Him in baptism; in I. Corinthians 
 xv. he argues at great length the doctrine of the resur- 
 rection of the dead; and to Timothy he gives the direc- 
 tions for laying on of hands; but admitting that repent- 
 ance, faith, baptism, laying on of hands, the resurrection 
 of the dead, and eternal judgment are the fundamental 
 principles which compose the foundation upon which is 
 built the beautiful temple of Christian character, recog- 
 nizing the fact that the Hebrew Christians had laid the 
 foundation well, the author of the text admonishes them 
 to go on unto perfection, which is the lowest standard 
 that God could offer to creatures endowed with such 
 wonderful capabilities and destined for such glorious 
 opportunities. To have asked us to stop short of Him- 
 self would have been to limit progress and render mean- 
 ingless many precious promises. Perfection is the prize 
 set before us, the mark of the high calling in Christ 
 Jesus, and the supreme effort of Christian exertion is 
 
 87 
 
CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 essential to its attainment. The time required will be 
 all of life, and how much of eternity we do not pretend 
 to know. 
 
 One thing is certain: no one has ever gone so far 
 on the highway of development as to render farther 
 progress to him impossible. No one has ever yet gone 
 beyond the circumference of this command, whose voice 
 echoes through the corridors of time, and which is des- 
 tined to be the marching orders of the last generation, 
 in obedience to which command the saints of the most 
 high God will rise to meet Him in the air at His second 
 coming. 
 
 Though many may be said to have been compara- 
 tively perfect, as in the case of Job, who was called the 
 perfect man; of Enoch, who walked with God; of David 
 a man after God's own heart; and of the disciples, to 
 whom Jesus said, " Be ye perfect, even as your father 
 which is in Heaven is perfect." These men were perfect 
 in the comparative, but not in the superlative degree; 
 for instance, we say of the student, he must study in 
 order to acquire an education; we say of one far advanced 
 in scholarship, he is an educated man; this is, however, 
 to be understood in the comparative degree, as no one 
 yet has been so learned or wise that there remained no 
 more for him to know. None ever got so high but to 
 him the exhortation to go on was applicable, whether it 
 be in physical, mental, moral, or spiritual development. 
 A father once saw his little son at the top of the 
 mast; knowing it was dangerous to look down, lest the 
 little fellow lose his hold and fall, he said to him, " My 
 
CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT. 89 
 
 son, look up." The higher we climb the mountain-side, 
 the more beautiful the scener} T ; aud however dark and 
 dreary below, it is alwa}-s bright above the clouds; so 
 there are landscapes of great beauty, and mountain- 
 peaks from whose snow-crowned summits the perfect 
 may get glimpses from afar, as inspirations for greater 
 exertions, leading him on to still higher attainments. 
 
 Man is the only animal that walks uprightly, and he 
 is the only one commanded Jo go on to perfection. The 
 Great Teacher said: "How much better is a man than a 
 sheep." The difference may be measured by giving the 
 worth of an historic past, a moral present, and a prospect- 
 ive future. Stimulated by the history of the past and 
 equipped by the inspiration of the present, the Christian 
 man may joyfully set out upon the prospective highway 
 to future attainments. The boy begins with his alphabet, 
 becomes a master of language, a proficient in mathe- 
 matics, and a philosopher of which the world may well 
 be proud. The builder lays the foundation way down 
 beneath tne surface of the ground, drops in the keystone 
 to the arch, frescoes the walls, and lifts the magnetic rod 
 above the highest dome, around which the lightnings of 
 heaven play, but cannot harm. The translucent stream 
 leaps from the mountain-side in all its crystal beauty, as 
 pure as the light of morning, enbosomed in mossy banks 
 and playing over pebbly floors it winds its joyful way mer- 
 rily to the sea, along whose banks the vines are running, 
 the flowers are blooming, and the birds are singing; it 
 quickens vegetation, is the handmaid of agriculture, gives 
 
90 CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 motive power to machinery, and bears the commerce of 
 nations on its bosom. It has been said that 
 "Tall trees from little acorns grow, 
 Great streams from little fountains flow." 
 
 So the child is father to the man, and weakness the father 
 of power. Men begin with the necessaries or essentials 
 of progress and go on unto something better. So the 
 watchword all along the line is "Go," and the road to 
 success is an active one. "No excellence without labor" 
 is a maxim as applicable to the Christian as to the stu- 
 dent. Therefore, let us notice the means available. 
 
 First, prayer is a privilege, an honor, a necessity. 
 Would you not think it a privilege, as a business man, to 
 have for your friend a millionaire on whose generous 
 bounty you might draw at all times by simply asking? 
 If you were a politician, would you not think it a privi- 
 lege to be in such close relation with the chief executive 
 of the nation that you could not only present your own 
 claim, but those of your friends, with the assurance upon 
 his part not only that your petition shall receive his 
 immediate attention, but be granted on condition that 
 your interest or that of your friend will be protected and 
 no mistakes made? Would you not esteem it an honor 
 to address the ruler of a nation with the appellation of 
 father, by his approval? How much more ought we to 
 regard it an honor to thus address the Sovereign of the 
 Universe ! Who has not in the hour of trouble felt as if 
 he must tell some one? who has not had a want which 
 could not be satisfied until made known? who has not 
 had a secret he dare not tell to any earthly friend? 
 
CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT. 91 
 
 With these deep hearings and risings of the soul, prayer, 
 like the mouth of the volcano, gives vent to the hidden 
 fire within, brings sunshine into the soul, joy into the 
 life, and music into the voice. It is the key whk.h 
 unlocks the treasury of heaven and exposes a bound- 
 less store; it brings blessings from a Father's helping 
 hands and' smiles from His loving face; it is the ladder 
 which Jacob saw, on which petitions went and answers 
 came: it is the telephonic connection between earth and 
 heaven, the electric wire over which flashes the love of 
 God, finding its responsive touch in the battery of the 
 human heart. 
 
 It is the breeze on which I rise 
 Beyond the sun, above the skies, 
 To see the beauty of the King 
 And hear the harps of heaven ring. 
 
 Yes, let us pray. It is a privilege which cannot be 
 abused and a service which tells with lasting effect at all 
 times and in all places. If man has the spirit of prayer, 
 God may be found. Then 
 
 In the days of tr ouble 
 
 Or in golden hours, 
 • Whether on the rocky cliff 
 
 O' midst ambrosial flowers, 
 On stormy night 
 
 Or in joyful day, 
 To the God who hears you 
 
 Always pray. 
 
 Secondly, the power of religious literature cannot 
 be overestimated. What a man reads will affect his think- 
 ing, and what he thinks will control his acts. The story 
 
92 CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 of the cross itself is told in books, dramatized in poetry 
 and vocalized in song. It is in the reading of Luke's 
 last book that we acquaint ourselves with the acts of the 
 apostles. The reading of religious books enriches the 
 mind, enlarges the spiritual horizon, and gives nobility to 
 the life. They are fountains from whence come intel- 
 lectual supplies, and the reflectors from which reflect the 
 rays of the Sun of Righteousness; in them is instruc- 
 tion for the penitent, direction for the Christian, food for 
 the hungry, and water for the thirsty. 
 
 The Great Teacher has, both by precept and exam- 
 ple, set the seal of divine approbation to this important 
 and God-given privilege. The ancient Greeks wrote 
 their scriptures in letters of gold on the fronts of their 
 most sacred temples, that all might behold and read the 
 precious truths. It was when Ezra stood up to read that 
 the Jews began to pray. The sea-captain consults his 
 chart to get his bearings and drives straight for the 
 harbor; so it is through reading we learn where we are, 
 whence we came, and whither bound. It is said that 
 Orpheus, by the use of his lyre, rolled back the music of 
 the waves to the islands of the sirens, and passed on to 
 the golden fleece; so by reading we conquer the difficul- 
 ties of the present and gather strength with which to 
 meet the future. 
 
 "Oh! happy they of human race 
 To whom our God has given grace 
 To learn, to think, to read, to pray, 
 To lift the latch, and force the way ; 
 But better far had they ne'er been born 
 Who read to laugh, or read to scorn." 
 
CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT. 93 
 
 Anteus, the son of the earth, was suffocated by the 
 grip of Hercules, but every time his body touched the 
 ground, bis strength was renewed; so man is a broken 
 giant, humiliated, degraded, and fallen, but in conversa- 
 tion with nature, literature, and revelation he gathers 
 strength with which to fight the battles of the present, 
 conquer the difficulties of the future, and come out vic- 
 torious in the end. It is a fact, according to moral phi- 
 losophy, that man is influenced for good or evil more or 
 less, by everything with which he comes in contact. If 
 this be true, the reading of good literature cannot fail to 
 develop the intellectual faculties of the soul, produce and 
 encourage a wholesome desire for knowledge, give pur- 
 pose to the mind, and nobility to the entire life. 
 
 Again, we would call especial attention to the study 
 of God's word; it is a letter from our Heavenly Father, 
 " a splendid edifice of which God is the architect; kings, 
 prophets, apostles, evangelists, and angels are the builders, 
 Jesus is its foundation, and the keystone of its arches;" it 
 is lighted by the Holy Ghost and decorated with the 
 promises of God. In this temple of golden beauties the 
 soul may walk while revelation flashes its lightning 
 truth in the face of the mind at every step. Would you 
 know the truth or be wise unto salvation? Then I 
 would commend this fountain of knowledge, coming as 
 it does from the mountain of the Lord. She is sired by 
 Deity and born of love; her face smiles with evidence 
 and her pages are jeweled with the fruitage of truth. 
 Thus robed in the drapery of celestial beauty and 
 enthroned in the majesty of moral domain, she reigns a 
 
94 CHRISTIAN DKVKlvOPMKNT. 
 
 queen in the kingdom of mind, morals, and religion. She 
 has withstood, in her warfare with the dominions of sin, 
 the attacks of learning and ignornance, contempt and 
 ridicule; has been through the floods of lower criticism, 
 and the flames of destructive research; has furnished 
 material for destructive foes and constructive friends; 
 has been harmonized by theological professors and 
 destroyed by an intellectual giant in every country town 
 with a thousand inhabitants. But as the great Galileo 
 said of the earth, ''Still she lives," and descending the 
 stream of Time, with triumphs in the past and heritage 
 in the future, is destined to reach the last generation^ 
 forever loved, forever praised. Reign, immortal queen, 
 until thy laws are published in every tongue and thy 
 scepter swayed in every land. L,ive on, thou queen of 
 truth, until the dictates of thy law shall be obeyed in 
 every land and thy Christ become the heritage of every 
 people. May the light of thy truth shine immortal and 
 uneclipsed along all the highways of progress over which 
 the saints of the most high God, the death-bought, 
 blood-washed, and eternity-bound, shall travel. O thou 
 light of the saint and the lamp to the weary seeker, as 
 the morning star lead the penitent to the manger, the 
 believer to Calvary, and the Christian to glory. Go forth 
 on thy blessed mission, until the desert shall bloom and 
 blossom as the rose and the dry ground become springs 
 of water. Let the idolater of the Ganges, the wanderer 
 beneath the torrid zone, the fur-clad inhabitants of eter- 
 nal ice, and the savage of the West see His star in the 
 East, and come and worship Him. Then shall the angels 
 
CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT. 95 
 
 shout: "The kingdoms of this world have become the 
 kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He will live 
 with them and be their God, and they shall reign with 
 Him a thousand years." 
 
 "How happy is he, born, or taught, 
 Who serveth not another's will; 
 Whose armor is his honest thought, 
 And simple truth his utmost skill, 
 
 "Who God doth late and early pray 
 
 ISIore of His grace than good to lend; 
 And walks with man from day to day 
 As with a brother and a friend. 
 
 "This man is freed from servile band? 
 Of hope to rise, or fear to fall. 
 Lord of himself, if not of lands, 
 
 He may have nothing, yet hath all." 
 
 Thirdly, attendances on the services of the Lord's 
 house. The Apostle Paul exhorted the Hebrews (Hebrews 
 x. 25) not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, 
 but to exhort one another. The Psalmist said: "One 
 thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, 
 that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of 
 my life; that I may see the beauty of the Lord, and 
 inquire in his temple." Moses, the man of God, pre- 
 ferred a place with the people of God in a wild and track- 
 less desert to the spoils of Egypt in the palmiest days of 
 the Pharaohs, because he had respect unto the recom- 
 pense of the reward. David said: "He was as a beast 
 before God until he went into the sanctuary of the Lord.'' 
 It was there many difficulties were removed and perplex- 
 
96 CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 ing problems solved. So with the Christian to-day the 
 gospel is the great means of grace which God has ap. 
 pointed; it is food for thought, a guide to conduct, and an 
 inspiration to devotion. The apostle said: "We preach 
 Christ and him crucified; to the Jews a stumbling-block 
 and to the Greeks foolishness, but to them who believe 
 Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Myth- 
 ology tells of the bird of Jove, grasping the thunder in 
 his talons and spreading his wings over all the world; but 
 revelation tells of an angel flying in the midst of heaven, 
 having the everlasting gospel to preach to them who live 
 on the earth, whose splendid flight will never cease as 
 long as one sin-cursed soul remains. A good many years 
 ago, while the lamented Fuller was preaching the annual 
 sermon, before the Southern Baptist Convention, in the 
 city of Raleigh, he announced the unexpected death of 
 the silver-tongued orator, A. M. Poindexter, then, throw- 
 ing his voice to its highest key and with such force of 
 eloquence as only Richard Fuller could command, he 
 exclaimed: "Were I an angel, I would not be Gabriel to 
 sound the trump and wake the dead, but rather would I 
 be that angel, flying in the midst of heaven, having the 
 everlasting gospel for them who dwell on tne earth. 
 Fly, O, angel, fly! and if thou canst not fly fast enough, 
 go give thy message to Poindexter's spirit; he knows an 
 experience thou canst never know, he tells a story thou 
 canst never tell: that of a sinner saved by grace." 
 
 In conclusion, may I exhort the unconverted to 
 start to-day from the bondage of sin, on the upward 
 grade, and never stop short of the mountains of safety? 
 
CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT. 97 
 
 Escape for thy life, stay not in all the plains, look not 
 behind thee, lest thou be consumed, for the avenger of 
 blood is on thy track, and the thunder of God's wrath is 
 rolling and bursting above thy guilty head; but see in 
 the distance the city of refuge invites thee on, and 
 a Savior's loving arms are open to receive the returning 
 child. When the Hebrews in bondage remembered 
 Jerusalem, they said: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, 
 let my right hand forget her cunning and my tongue 
 cleave to the roof of my mouth." When Daniel saw his 
 windows open towards Jerusalem, he fell upon his knees 
 and praj^ed, and made supplication before his God three 
 times a day. Martin Luther fell on his face at the gates 
 of Rome, and Columbus kissed the very ground in the 
 ecstacy of discovery. My brother, you have been in the 
 Egypt: of burdens and Babylon of disgrace too long 
 already; the windows are now open towards Jerusalem; 
 will you not pray and make supplications before your 
 God? The gates of the New Jerusalem stand ajar, 
 
 "And through their portals gleaming, 
 A radiance from the cross afar, 
 The Savior's love revealing." 
 
 For many years you have been tossed upon the tempest, 
 uous sea of uneasiness, driven by the storms of sin and 
 buried in the gulf of despair, uneasy at the clashing of 
 the waves, and so lost in the fog of superstition that you 
 dare not even hope to land beyond the breakers and safe 
 from the rolling tide; now you are in sight of the har- 
 bor, beyond which stands the Golden' City. Oh ! will 
 
98 CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 you not leap into the life-boat, ply the oars, and make 
 for the shore, singing as you go: 
 
 "Safe in the life-boat 
 The voyage is done; 
 The ship has reached the port 
 And I have reached my home." 
 
BITTER MADE SWEET. 
 
 "And the L/ord showed liim a tree, which when he had cast 
 into the waters, the waters were made sweet." — Exodus xv. 25. 
 
 The mistake we so often make is in finding fault 
 with some person instead of bringing our troubles to the 
 Lord. These people had seen the hand of the Lord 
 stretched out over Egypt in such power that they were 
 willing, a million and a half strong, to march out into 
 the wilderness simply trusting in Him, and, with Moses 
 as leader, they went over the sea, while Miriam led the 
 way and the camp of Israel sang, "He hath done all 
 things well: He hath thrown the horse and the rider into 
 the sea." But the music had hardly died away before we 
 see them as mad as hornets and kicking up a terrible 
 row with Moses because they had been deceived in some 
 water, which was bitter and could not be used in the 
 camp. Oh, what a strange book humanity is ! When 
 in Goshen, serving under cruel masters and making bricks 
 without straw, they cried unto the Lord, but now that 
 they are on their way to the promised land, they seem to 
 forget the Lord and complain at Moses. So we are just 
 about the same. You never knew a Christian to get 
 in trouble in your life but he had a terrible grievance to 
 settle with someone. " The woman beguiled me and I 
 
100 BITTKR MADE} SWKKT. 
 
 did eat." Someone else has always gotten me into 
 trouble. So the mistake we make is in finding fault and 
 complaining when we have it in our power to sweeten 
 the waters of life "Oh!" you say, "I do not know 
 how." Then have you ever asked the Lord? " If any 
 man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all 
 men liberally." Yes, here you go around complaining 
 at Moses or some other man, and have never said a word 
 to the L,ord about it, and yet 3 T ou would make everybody 
 believe that you have great confidence in the I^ord and 
 strong faith in prayer. 
 
 "Oh, what peace we often forfeit! 
 Oh, what needless pain we bear ! " 
 
 Simply for the want of telling God in prayer. They 
 complained against Moses. Oh ! brother, stop your 
 grumbling, go into your closet and have a little talk with 
 Jesus, and then see if you do not find the way out. 
 
 Are the waters of life bitter? Well, I will give you 
 my experience for one day. It was one of those balmy 
 spring days when the leaves were half grown and the 
 grass had put on its new spring dress, when the wild 
 flowers were in full bloom, when the birds were singing 
 as if their little hearts would break with joy, and all 
 nature seemed to be trying to convert this poor old 
 world into a paradise; yes, on this very morning, before 
 the bell tolled out the hour when I was to preach to a 
 large and fine-looking audience in the city, one of the 
 leading members of that church, who wore a sleek hat 
 and a broadcloth suit from top to toe, and whose business 
 sign for the last thirty years had swung out over the 
 
BITTER MADE SWEET. 101 
 
 street in front of one of the largest business houses in 
 the city, said to me as we sat on his front porch: 
 "Brother Dillard, draw your chair up close." "What 
 now, doctor?" "Do you know I am canying a great 
 burden on my heart ? I felt I must tell you. All my 
 labor for thirty years is lost, and I fear in my old days I 
 will be a burden to my family. If it were onh~ the Lord's 
 will, how gladly I would lay down the burden of life 
 to-day." Church over, here is a beautiful woman, 
 modest and refined, but says she: " Two years ago 
 George passed away, and I have been alone in the world 
 since. I often feel I haven't a friend on earth and would 
 rather die than live." I spent the night at another 
 place, and here a beautiful woman, a member of the 
 church in which I preached in the morning, tcld me the 
 story of her desertion by the man who took her from a 
 loving father's residence with :he promise that she 
 should be queen of a beautiful home. Said she: " I 
 have wept nryself to sleep every night for two years." 
 Friends, how does that do for trouble? all heard by your 
 speaker in one and the same da}\ So let us inquire 
 what has made the waters bitter. It is s~id that an 
 explorer was wont to cany with him a pet dove and a 
 silver cup, the dove for company and the cup to drink 
 from the waters which should be found; so, stopping at a 
 translucent and beautiful stream, flowing from a newly 
 discovered fountain, he dipped his cup and held the 
 draught to his lips, but was surprised to have it dashed 
 to the ground every time by this pet dove; finally, becom- 
 ing angry, he struck his dove, and as it fluttered on the 
 
102 BITTER MADE SWEET. 
 
 ground lie beheld, to his consternation, the decaying 
 carcass of a huge serpent in the water from which he 
 was in the act of drinking. So, my friend, the fountain 
 from which we have all drunk is poisoned. That same 
 old serpent which appeared to Eve in the morning of 
 the world has followed all her children and dragged his 
 slimy trail across every threohhold, polluted every foun - 
 tain, and stung every flower; he has lapped his forked 
 tongue around every life and spurted his poisonous 
 venom into every heart, until the whole race is sick unto 
 death. Well may the cry be raised: " Is there no balm 
 in Gilead? is there no physician there?" Thank God! 
 the Great Physician now is nigh; Pie is on the trail of 
 the old serpent and will never stop until Pie grinds his 
 uplifted head beneath His iron heel and throws his 
 writhing body, coil and tail, into the lowest hell, where 
 he may crawl the brazen floor, be pierced with his own 
 poisonous fangs, and spit his venom against the red-hot 
 coals of black damnation. Yes, my hearers, the seed of 
 the woman shall bruise the serpent's head, and he shall 
 be bound for a thousand years. The preacher prayed: 
 "Will the Iyord curtail Satan's kingdom?" Just then a 
 good old darky shouted from the pew: " Bress de L,awd ! 
 I is glad to git his tail off." 
 
 Then poverty comes to embitter the waters. Oh, 
 how we dread poverty! I have sometimes thought it was 
 not a sin to be poor, but I know from long and sad experi- 
 ence that it is very inconvenient. There is a brother out 
 there who, when he sees these stingy, hide-bound, silver- 
 eyed, and gold-hearted rich men squeeze a quarter until the 
 
 ^ 
 
BITTER MADE SWEET. 103 
 
 eagle squalls, says: "Oh, if I just had money, how much 
 good I would do!" and when the collection is taken and 
 a. dime is all he has, how he drinks down the bitter waters 
 until the tears come to his eyes, when he sees others, 
 who do not work half as hard as he does, living in their 
 palatial homes, dressed in princely costumes, while his 
 wife hasn't a new dress for a whole year and his poor lit- 
 tle children, half clad, shiver in the cold. Such is life. 
 "Man's inhumanity to man 
 Makes countless thousands mourn." 
 
 Two little boys in Honey Grove, Texas, were play- 
 ing about the street; one said to the other: "See that 
 big stone building there? " "Yes." "Well, that belongs 
 to my papa. This large store is his too." "Don't care,'* 
 said the poor boy; "my papa has a whole car-load of 
 salt." Salt! salt? Yes, anything to sweeten the waters 
 of life. 
 
 Then again, there is affliction. Oh ! who has not 
 known the bitterness of pain? Aches in the teeth, aches 
 in the feet, aches in the head, aches in the spine; aches, 
 aches, aches for every time and for every body; disor- 
 dered liver, disordered stomach, disordered head, disor- 
 dered nerves, disordered conscience, disordered life, dis- 
 ordered world; lungs decaying, digestion failing, eyes 
 failing, doctors failing, friends failing, business failing, 
 mind failing; yes, failing, failing, eve^thing everywhere. 
 Oh, how bitter the waters ! A man who had worked day 
 and night for over forty years, reared seven children, 
 paid for five farms, built houses, and planted orchards, 
 wrote me the other day that he had begun to feel that 
 
104 BITTER MADE SWKET. 
 
 his life was a failure. Said he: "We buried the fourth 
 child on November 7th, and now wife and I are here all 
 alone. Oh, how I looked to my children to cheer my 
 old age God only knows! Here is the home, here are 
 the lands, here is the fruit, but where are the children?" 
 Oh, these death-beds and parting hands, how they open 
 to us in the night and hold out their bony fingers in the 
 dark! Who has not felt their chilly touch and turned 
 away to weep? Yes, there is weeping at birth, weeping 
 amidst the wedding- bells, and weeping over the glass- 
 covered coffin; weeping in the gray dawn, in the twilight, 
 and at high noon; weeping in the homes of the wise, 
 palaces of the rich, and hovels of the poor; weeping 
 among lords and servants, old people and children; weep- 
 ing when the ship starts to sea and when the iron horse 
 rounds the curve, bearing from your bosoms a loved one, 
 snapping heart-strings, and tearing the last rose from the 
 thorn-bush of life, leaving a place vacant in the home and 
 an empty void in the heart. 
 
 Who has not felt the angel's might 
 Cast a wing o'er the darkest night? 
 But, gazing on the early dew, 
 Said, "Heaven is in sorrow too." 
 Each blade of grass its tear doth bear, 
 And Nature is weeping everywhere. 
 
 Many have been the remedies tried with which to 
 sweeten these waters. Hard by is the tree of wealth. 
 Oh, how its trunk has been stripped of limbs until what 
 remains of its nodding foliage is so high that only a few 
 can so much as get a twig ! Yet how many are climbing 
 
BITTER MADE SWEET, i-05 
 
 and falling, pushing and crowding, that, if possible, they 
 may secure a single limb with which to sweeten their 
 miserable lives. But what a failure! God said to the 
 rich man who supposed he had found the tree: "Thou 
 fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee; then 
 whose shall these goods be which thou hast called thine 
 own?" An old lady once said to me: "Brother Dillard, 
 I was born in the lap of wealth and rocked in the cradle 
 of plenty. I have h ad eighty-four years of experience and 
 in all this time I have never known what it was to want 
 for any of the luxuries of life. Now you can tell others 
 for me that if there is any real enjoyment in wealth, I 
 have never found it." 
 
 Then there is that beautiful, blooming, and fragant 
 tree of mirth. Its bowers are enchanting and its shades 
 inviting, but how soon the frost withers its leaves and 
 the winds of care drive us from its shade ! Still, with a 
 great many, life must be spent in mirth if eternity is 
 written in tears and told in groans. One young lady 
 told me she went to balls three nights in succession and 
 danced in every set in order to drown trouble. But what 
 a place to drown trouble ! I recollect my mother once 
 sent me off to drown some kittens, but every time I threw 
 one into the water he would come back. So it is with 
 drowning trouble; you may stave it off for a while, but 
 here it comes whining after you again. 
 
 Again, there is the tree of dissipation. Oh, how 
 many are holding on to its limbs, only to be shaken off 
 by every passing breeze and dashed to pieces on the 
 rocks below! Belshazzar caught hold of this tree and 
 
106 BITTER MADE SWEET. 
 
 saw the hand writing on the wall of the palace his terri- 
 ble fate. Alexander, the master of the world, caught on 
 to this tree, and, falling into the wine-press of debauch- 
 ery, sent his name through the corridors of time stagger- 
 ing like a drunken man. United States senators, supreme 
 court judges, great lawyers, and eminent doctors lay 
 hold of this tree, and die with "heart disease"; but when 
 a hod-carrier or a mule-driver dies the same way, they 
 say: "Another poor devil is gone, and the bar-rooms 
 have lost a fine customer." 
 
 Again, there is the tree of the cross. Oh, let us try 
 that! It may be an unsightly tree, but it is the one 
 which has been tried and found to possess healing vir- 
 tues. It grows up on the mountains of Gilead and pos- 
 sesses a balm for every wound. Its nodding branch, did 
 but touch the rippling wave, and 
 
 "The dying thief rejoiced to see 
 
 That fountain in his day; 
 And there may I, though vile as he, 
 Wash all my sins away." 
 
 Saul of Tarsus tried it, and though he was a party to the 
 murder of Stephen and a persecutor of the saints, he 
 found, to his great delight, that it could save the chief of 
 sinners. Bunyan tried it, and, sitting beneath its refresh- 
 ing shade, wrote the arch-fiction of the world, compared 
 with which the "Arabian Nights" and Shakespeare's 
 plays are like childish toys upon a Christmas morning. 
 George Washington tried it, and, rising from his knees to 
 his saddle, rode on to conquer and to conquest. Charles 
 H. Spurgeon tried it, and from five to fourteen thousand 
 
BITTER MADE SWEET. 101 
 
 people on two continents, every Sunday for forty years, 
 waited with anxious ears and hearts to hear him discuss 
 its merits, describe its beauties, and praise its virtues. 
 And what shall I say or the thousands who sit to-day 
 beneath its refreshing shade and drink from the fountain 
 of the water of life until, so intoxicated with its invigorat- 
 ing effect, they sit and sing like the voice of heavenly 
 harpings amid the bowers of celestial paradise ? Oh ! 
 my friends, it was from under this tree that some of our 
 mothers spread angelic wings and flew away. Who does 
 not recollect her silver locks and furrowed brow ? who 
 has not somewhere a little memento, some little thing 
 which belonged to mother? A great many years ago a 
 rough and hard man came West; he was very irreligious? 
 some time since, a minister who knew him back in old 
 Virginia saw him on the train coming West; going up to 
 the old man, and cautiously laying his hand on one 
 shoulder, he said: "Glad to see you. Where have you 
 been all these years since I used to know you back in the 
 'Old Dominion' ?" "Well," said the old man, "sit down 
 and let me tell you. Some thirty years ago I left the old 
 home and all its hallowed influences. I have embraced 
 every form of scepticism — in fact, have belonged to every 
 'ism' from Voltaire to Ingersoll. A few weeks ago I con- 
 cluded to go back once more to the land of my nativity 
 and the home of my childhood. I am now just returning 
 from that last trip. Do you see that stick? " "Yes." 
 "Well, I went to the old family grave-yard; the fence was 
 all broken down, and the bushes, weeds, and briars had 
 well-nigh hidden the tombstones, but, after a long and 
 
108 BITTER MADE SWEET. 
 
 tedious search, I found mother's grave, and, cutting from 
 it this stick, I have brought it as the last memento of her 
 faithful and dutiful life. J am bringing it along as a staff 
 on which to lean in my old age. Do you see that bundle 
 there ? Well, while I was there I thought I would go to 
 the old church where mother always went, but when I 
 got there, only a pile of ruins remained; so I got three 
 bricks from mother's old church and wrapped them up 
 in that bundle. I am carrying them home, and when I 
 die. I want them put under my head as evidence that I 
 lean on her example and trust in my mother's God." 
 "I am trusting, Lord, in Thee, 
 Blest Lamb of Calvary. 
 Humbly at Thy cross I bow, 
 Save me, Jesus, save me now." 
 Oh! my unconverted friends, a mother's grave is a dan- 
 gerous place to go. When I heard of this incident, the 
 following lines came into my mind as I thought of the 
 scenes of home and childhood, the little church in the 
 woods, with its old country burying-ground in the rear- 
 Where three brothers and a sister sleep 
 And father and mother always weep; 
 Then to the church they both repair, 
 And tell their grief to God in prayer. 
 My mother's church in the forest stood, 
 And there she went as mothers would; 
 From cellar and garret, from pen and pail, 
 Though tired in limb, she never failed. 
 And when from o'er the mountains high 
 Her sons and daughter came home to die, 
 To that old church she bent her way, 
 And beneath its shadow her children lay. 
 
BITTER MADE SWEET. 109 
 
 From time to time, to that shrine she goes, 
 And how she feels nobody knows; 
 But soon will come the expected day, 
 Then mother will in the church-yard lay. 
 
 And then from farm and prairies wide 
 Her sons will meet at their mother's side, 
 And swear above their mother's grave, 
 In spite of hell, they will be saved. 
 
THE HUMILIATED AND EXALTED CHRIST. 
 
 "He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even 
 the death o the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted 
 him, and given him a name which is above every name." — Philip- 
 pians ii. 8-9. 
 
 This text presents to us a two-sided view of the Christ: 
 one as humiliated and the other as exalted; one shows to 
 us His descent from the throne in the skies, while the 
 other lifts Him far above' all principalities and powers, 
 crowns Him with the insignia of supreme royalty, and 
 gives Him a name which is above every name. 
 
 In the discussion of this subject, we must first settle 
 the question in our minds as to who He is, and from 
 whence He came, because to us a person or thing is 
 what we conceive it to be. We once heard that great 
 man, Dr. J 1, M. Curry, say: "A man is the author of 
 his own God — that is, God is to the man what the 
 man believes Him to be." That was a far-reaching 
 question propounded to the Pharisees by the Savior 
 whei He said (Matthew xxii. 42): "What think ye of 
 Christ, and whose son is he?" This, gentlemen, is the 
 question of the ages and of the nations. Settle this ques- 
 tion, and upon its solution will hang the issues of life, 
 triumph in death, and a beautiful sometime on the other 
 side. In beginning the ladder of descent, we find Him 
 
 110 
 
THE HUMILIATED AND EXALTED CHRIST. Ill 
 
 lost in the boundless, rayless, trackless maze of that lost 
 and incomprehensible eternity, whose maternity brought 
 forth existence and on whose knees old Time was 
 dandled. Before the morning stars ever sang together or 
 ere earth's foundations were laid, He was God. Hear 
 Him say: " I am alpha and omega; the beginning and 
 the end, the bright and morning star. Before Abraham 
 was, I am." In discussing the question relative to the 
 creation of man, God addressed a plural Deity, sa}~ing in 
 the plural form: " L,efc us make man." Again, while on 
 earth He proved, both by His life and works, that He 
 was possessed of a power and an intellect never before or 
 since found in an3~ other being. Hear the scribes say- 
 ing: " How knoweth this man letters, having never 
 learned?" Yet He not only read, but quoted Moses and 
 the prophets, the law and the psalms fluently, and with 
 the mind of a skillful logician expounded their meaning 
 until even the officers sent to arrest Him cried out: 
 " Never man spake like this man." Hear the supreme 
 challenge of the ages as He demands of His enemies, say- 
 ing: "Which of 3-0U convinceth me of sin?" And 
 again: "Had I not come and done those things among 
 3'ou which no other man ever did, you had not sinned; 
 but now 3 T ou have hated both me and nry father. Believe 
 me, I and my father are one; or else believe me for my 
 work's sake. I came in niy father's name, and ye 
 receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, 
 him ye will receive. Thomas, he that hath seen me hath 
 seen the father." Again: "He was in the world, and the 
 world knew him not; he came unto his orcn, but they 
 
112 THE HUMILIATED AND EXALTED CHRIST. 
 
 received him not. The world was made by him, and 
 without him was not anything made that was made." 
 Seven hundred and fifty years (according to the best 
 authorities in profane history and that which is universally 
 accepted) before his birth or advent in the world, the 
 prophet Isaiah called him the " Prince of peace, the ever, 
 lasting Father, the mighty God." Paul said: " Know 
 ye not the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he 
 was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor." Oh! who 
 can measure the distance in the first step of this stupend- 
 ous condescension. If we would bring out the measur- 
 ing line of advanced mathematics, it only measures to the 
 stars and ceases to count amidst the light of the Milky 
 Way, while down the skies sounds the answer, "As the 
 heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways than 
 your ways." Would you bring out the balances and 
 weigh mind and matter in either end, see how far intel- 
 ligence exceeds brute force, and then read on the bulletin 
 of divine truth, "As the earth is beneath the heavens, 
 so are your thoughts beneath my thoughts." Can you 
 imagine the difference between a God sitting in the 
 majesty of the heavens, receiving convoys of angels as 
 they bring in messages from a thousand circling worlds, 
 each one falling at His feet in profoundest adoration, 
 and a little child born in the home of the tired ox and 
 nestling in the bosom of a peasant woman ? Can you 
 tell the difference between riding after flying steeds 
 which shake their fiery manes among the stars, strike 
 their hoofs against the planets while flashing throug.h 
 
THE HUMILIATED AND EXALTED CHRIST. 113 
 
 constellations, and fleeing on an oriental ass to the dark 
 and ding)^ shores of Africa ? Then may you have some 
 conception of this stupendous condescension. 
 
 Again, He humbled Himself by placing Himself 
 under the law and becoming a citizen rather than a king* 
 Is it not a fact that He could have appeared in such form 
 and fashion that there could have been no mistake as to 
 His being divine? Would He not have been received in 
 such royal splendor as would have eclipsed the grandest 
 display of Solomon in all his glory. Could He not have 
 mounted the throne of David and at one nod of His head 
 have had Caesar and all his legions bow to His will and 
 kiss the dust at his feet. But instead He made Himself 
 of no reputation, took upon Himself the form of a man, 
 and became obedient unto death. He taught obedience 
 to Caesar, saying: "Render therefore unto Caesar the 
 things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that 
 are God's." He recognized Himself a citizen and paid 
 the tribute-money minted in the sea, deposited in a finny- 
 vault, and embellished with Caesar's image. 
 
 Again, His arrest, His trial, and His sentence were in 
 the highest degree humiliating. While there is no guar- 
 antee against arrest, and the best citizen here may be 
 arrested for a crime about which he has not so much as 
 heard, yet, such being the case, he would receive a wound 
 and an insult from which he w 7 ould never recover. How 
 much more when the hour of devotion in a lonely garden 
 during the dark hours of the night is disturbed by the 
 approaching mob w T ith swords and staves, led on by a trai- 
 tor in the guise of friendship. Indeed this was the hour of 
 
114 THE HUMILIATED AND EXALTED CHRIST. 
 
 darkness. See Him rushed, pulled, and driven from one 
 court to another, while the midnight air bears away to 
 the tombs of the prophets the cry of the excited populace, 
 "Crucify him! crucify him! it is not fit that he should 
 live." See Him bound, buffeted, smitten, and spit upon; 
 behold Him stripped of His raiment, crowned with thorns, 
 and sentenced to the death of the cross. Yet He opened 
 not His mouth and no complaint escaped His lips. Oh ! 
 my brethren, He is on the downward line, and neither 
 Pilate's clemency nor angelic interference can stop Him 
 in his onward march. L,ike a mighty avalanche, He is 
 coming down the mountain steep, and nothing will arrest 
 His onward sweep until He has buried Himself beneath 
 the mudsills of creation in order that He may rob hell of its 
 prey, the grave of its victim, and death of its sting. Oh i 
 my hearers, let us follow Him in that last step of descen- 
 sion, for "being found in fashion as a man, he humbled 
 himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death 
 of the cross." Oh, that death of the cross ! No wonder 
 he said: "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I 
 say?" See, see, oh see the instrument of torture on 
 which he is to die! not the suffering alone, but the dis- 
 grace! Paul said He died on the cross despising the 
 shame. Yes, there were three elements of humiliation 
 in his death: the means, the cause, and the company. 
 The means of death was a cross, on which no Roman 
 citizen was allowed to die; hence He died not the death of 
 a citizen, but of a foreigner or a slave. Thus in death 
 He was denied citizenship, and while they hailed Him 
 king, they crucified Him as a slave. Again, the cus- 
 
THE HUMILIATED AND EXALTED CHRIST. 115 
 
 torn was at the passover to release a prisoner whom the 
 people should desire; on this occasion there was lying 
 in prison a notorious felon, who had not only created 
 insurrection, but had actually committed murder; between 
 him and Jesus of Nazareth lay the choice of the people, 
 but, over all of Pilate's entreaties, He is chosen to die in 
 the felon's stead. How true it is that He not only died 
 for transgressors, but in a murderer's place! as if the 
 people would say: "He is the most dangerous of the two. 
 Crucify him! crucify him! Release unto us Barabbas; 
 not this man, but Barabbas." Then the company! Oh, 
 behold the cloud! He who was never even charged by 
 His most cruel and bitter enemies with misappropriating 
 a dime in all His busy life, though He was a Galilean 
 peasant, so poor that He had not where to lay His head. 
 "For our sakes," says Paul, "he became poor, that we, 
 through his poverty, might be rich." Yet when He comes 
 to die, to the indignity of the arrest and inhuman trial 
 and to the excruciating pain of a felon's cross must 
 be added a thief on either side to complete the horrid 
 picture and cast a shadow of suspicion over His memory, 
 that to all future time His name shall be a hiss and a 
 byword, while the nature of His disgraceful death shall 
 stand as a spot on the darkest page of human history- 
 Though the page is written and the history made, still 
 He that was hounded from the manger to the cross can- 
 not even be allowed the silence of the grave, and on the 
 suspicion that His disciples were a band of thieves who 
 would actually rob the grave and steal the dead, the 
 retirement of the garden is invaded and the silence of the 
 
116 THE) HUMILIATED AND EXACTED CHRIST. 
 
 tomb broken by the profanity of the vulgar soldiers from 
 Caesar's army. Oh! did one ever go so low? 
 
 "When I survey the wondrous cross 
 On which the Prince of Glory died, 
 My richest gain I count but loss, 
 And pour contempt on all my pride." 
 
 But, my hearers, while we weep at His humiliation* 
 let us not lose sight of the the grandeur of His work and 
 the import of His mission, in contemplation of which we 
 may well cry: "Who is this that cometh from Edom> 
 with dyed garments from Bozrah? glorious in his apparel, 
 traveling in the greatness of his strength ? One mighty to 
 save." The baptismal waters of Jordan glisten upon His 
 locks as He comes upon the scene. At one stroke of His 
 naming sword He sent demons and devils howling down to 
 hell, and with one exhibition of His power behindthe mask 
 of weakness threw a solid pavement across the sea of 
 wrath, over which the angels came with the choirs of 
 heaven shouting: "Peace on earth, good will to men, begin 
 and never cease ! " while onward the mighty hero went 
 conquering and to conquer. Now the darkness of forty 
 centuries begins to give way; the stars of the moral firma- 
 ment begin to retreat before the superior light of the Sun 
 of Righteousness; the orient, kissed by royal day, blushed 
 in maiden beauty, while waves of glory surged up against 
 the horizon, and fiery lances, thrown by the strong arm 
 of the newborn morning, flashed up the sky; then the 
 squadrons ofnight fled the scene of contest, and the sun of 
 light, which had set in clouds behind Eden's garden 
 walls, arose in splendor, shot its beams across Calvary's 
 
THE HUMILIATED AND EXALTED CHRIST. 117 
 
 clouded brow, and, crimsoned with the blood of the 
 Lamb, burst in glory all over the world. Then it was 
 that the heaven-born flower of hope bloomed amid the 
 time-scarred rocks of the tomb; then it was that death 
 threw down his scepter upon the damp pavements of the 
 grave, and angels, taking charge, rolled the stone away. 
 
 "Then the rising God forsook the tomb, 
 Up to His Father's courts to fly; 
 Cherubic legions guard Him home, 
 And shout Him welcome to the sky." 
 
 Oh, the exalted Christ ! My hearers, you have fol- 
 lowed Him in His downward march, but for the upward 
 sweep let us buckle on the wings of imagination, and, 
 seizing the telephone of heaven, listen and watch for His 
 upward sweep. Yes, brethren, I hear something; yes, 
 there it is: exalted. Yes, God "hath highly exalted 
 him, and hath given him a name which is above every 
 name." Oh ! then come, and let us see the exalted Christ. 
 Now that He has caught death, extracted the sting, and 
 destroyed the grave, well may He cry: " I am the res- 
 urrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though 
 he were dead, yet shall he live." Yes, my friends, 
 
 "The graves of all the saints He blessed, 
 And softeued every bed 
 Where should the dying members rest, 
 But with their dying head." 
 
 But hear Him say: " Because I live, ye shall live also." 
 Paul says: " If ye are buried with him, ye shall also rise 
 with him." Now, after a short but important consulta- 
 tion with His disciples, see five hundred of them at one 
 
118 THE humiliated and exacted CHRIST. 
 
 place bow to receive His benediction, and as the voice 
 seems to be dying away, one looks around and above, 
 and all at once the cry rings from the mountain: "He 
 is gone ! he is gone ! " Oh ! disciples, what is the mat- 
 ter? Ah! I see, I see: God hath highly exalted Him. 
 
 "The angels bring His chariot from the sky 
 To bear Him to His throne, 
 Clap their triumphant wings and cry: 
 'The glorious work is done ! ' " 
 
 God hath exalted Him, and all heaven is in sympathy. 
 
 Again, the third element in His exaltation is His 
 position at the seat of government. Yes, exalted to the 
 right hand of power. Hear Him say: " I have all power 
 on earth." Oh! brother, what does that mean? It 
 means an overruling providence running all the affairs of 
 life, the design of which is the good of those who love 
 Him, and providential direction of all things for their 
 good. But His power is not limited. Hear Him saying 
 in the same breath: "All power in heaven is delivered to 
 me." Oh, hear, hear ! God hath exalted Him. Because 
 of this He says: "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, 
 baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Ghost: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
 the end of the world." 
 
 Again, God hath honored Him by the committal of 
 all judgment into His hands. He says (John v. 22-23): 
 "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all 
 judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the 
 Son, even as they honour the Father." Again (John v. 
 27-29): "And hath given him authority to execute judg- 
 
THE HUMILIATED AND EXALTED CHRIST. 119 
 
 ment 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- 
 They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; 
 and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of 
 damnation." Then shall the throne of the Judge wheel 
 into sight. Oh, see Him now, as His chariot wheels roll 
 along the mountains, jarring all the world! Now the 
 trump of God begins to sound and the arch-drama of the 
 world begins. Here they come, dripping from the sea, 
 freezing from the north, and burning from the south; 
 there they come, down the Milky Way and up from the 
 mouth of hell. Some are shouting in triumph and others 
 crying to the rocks and mountains for protection. Oh, 
 what a time ! There are the sainted dead; they set good 
 influences on foot while they lived, which, like seed sown 
 in the earth, has brought forth an abundant harvest, and 
 now God has sent them to reap the golden grain, gather 
 their glorified bodies, and shout the harvest home. The 
 wicked have come to gather the fruit of what they did 
 while alive, and also the bitter results of their unholy 
 example after death. Oh, what a time! The throne 
 wheels into the front, bearing upon its judgment seat the 
 Jehovah of the patriarchs and the Man of Calvary. Oh ! 
 see Him, my brother; it is Jesus. When Napoleon came 
 riding from Elba, he said: "Men, do you know me?" 
 and how ready they were to die for his honor ! So, my 
 brother, when He raises His hands we will see the prints 
 where the nails went through, and, like that other disci- 
 ple, we will exclaim: "It is the IyOrd! it is the X,ord!'» 
 
120 THE HUMILIATED AND EXALTED CHRIST. 
 
 True He is exalted now, but it is the same old friend we 
 have loved so long; no exaltation can ever change Him; 
 He is the same great loving Savior. Hear Him say: 
 "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
 prepared for you from the foundation of the world." 
 Then will angels, archangels, patriarchs, prophets, apos- 
 tles, martyrs, and saints fall into line, and the grand 
 pageant, being led by the Judge himself, will sweep into 
 the heavens. Then will the choral thunders of the cor- 
 onation anthem ring against the arches of the universe; 
 then will John's choir of ten thousand times ten thousand 
 lead the way, the number which no man could number 
 will join in on the chorus, and every knee will bow and 
 every tongue confess that Jesus is Christ to the glory of 
 God the Father. 
 
 Oh, that with yonder blood-washed throng 
 We at His throne may fall ! 
 
 We will bring the jewels rare 
 And crown Him King of all. 
 
 At the mention of His dear name 
 
 I own my face will fall, 
 And, joining in that blessed son^, 
 
 Will crown Him Lord of all. 
 
RINGING BELLS. 
 
 "In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, 
 Holiness unto the Lord.'' — Zechariah xiv. 20. 
 
 Bells upon hoises suggest active buisiness; the horse 
 is a domestic animal; so this brings us to notice, first, 
 religion in business and in travel, or holiness at home 
 and abroad. Oh, what a call for holiness on the bells of 
 the horses ! This text means a religion of truth, honesty, 
 and right twenty-four hours in the day, three hundred and 
 sixty-five days in the year, and every year of your life. 
 A religion which puts a bell on ever}' professor, orthodox 
 or heterodox, and calls upon ever}- one who loves Christ 
 to ring out the good news through ever}' avenue of their 
 business lives, until the world shall hear and learn that 
 their religion is not only honored of God, but respected 
 of men. 
 
 Oh, how many hide their religion away in their Sun- 
 da}* wardrobes! Ah! brother, take that little religion 
 out of your Sunday vest pocket and put it on the bells of 
 the horses. Just drive around and take all the water out 
 of the milk, wash the wool clean, and turn the sick boy 
 out of the ''pen," instead of sending him off to kill 
 somebody's wife and children beyond the mountains. 
 Don't watch the almanac to see what time of the moon 
 
 121 
 
122 RINGING BELLS. 
 
 to sell a horse with bad eyes, but tell the truth about his 
 age; don't jeopardize the life of somebody's wife in order 
 to make a few dollars out of an old runaway horse; just 
 tell the truth, and by so doing put a bell on your horse's 
 neck to warn your neighbor of danger. I,et these mer- 
 chants, commission men, and traders drive around and 
 balance the scales, so your customers shall share with 
 you the every-day benefits of your religion. Holiness 
 will keep the store closed on Sunday and measure goods 
 honestly on Monday; will sell them for the same price to 
 the widow Smith that it does to Judge Jones; will pay 
 the widow's boy and the sixteen-year-old girl as much 
 for the same labor and profit as it does the senator's son or 
 the middle-aged gentleman over the way. Then, here 
 are the professional men: doctors, lawyers, politicians and 
 clergymen. Oh! if we could only get a bell on these 
 doctors, and let them ring out "Holiness unto the L,ord! " 
 in all the sick-rooms and around the death-beds of the 
 land ! What a power for good the doctor is ! How the 
 suffering trust to his skill, and even death itself often 
 awaits his departure ! Did the angels ever behold a more 
 despicable scene than a physician sporting with human 
 life, or prolonging pain and suffering, betraying confi- 
 dence for mercenary considerations? Oh, if we had 
 more holiness among the doctors, how much coffin tim- 
 ber would be left to grow, and how much longer the 
 sexton's spade would last ! How these lawyers, judges, 
 and jurymen need to have these bells on ! The juryman 
 swears by the living God, and in that oath calls on God 
 to witness that he will hold the scales of justice with an 
 
RINGING- BELLS. 123 
 
 evenly balanced hand and render his verdict according to 
 the law and evidence; yet the jury system has become so 
 degraded and justice so fallen in the streets that there is 
 hardly an honest lawyer in the land who would not, as a 
 matter of private friendship, advise you to suffer wrong 
 rather than trust the uncertaint}- of justice in the hands of 
 our civil courts. Why is it that our Sunday laws are not 
 enforced, and why is it that the laws to govern the liquor 
 traffic are not enforced? When the wicked rule, the peo- 
 ple mourn. 
 
 "Oh!'' you sa3', "there is no use worrying, there is no 
 remedy." Oh ! brother, the remedy is at hand; it only 
 needs to be applied: it is holiness in life. We have too 
 much professed holiness. Xot holiness in theory, but 
 holiness in practice, is what the world needs and expects 
 at the hands of the Church. Holiness would take the 
 paper out of your shoe-sole, barytes out of 3-our flour, 
 and ground rock out of your sugar; it would wash }T>ur 
 city treasury from the price of blood, and fill these bar- 
 rooms with needful goods, honest merchants, and happy 
 customers 
 
 Oh, the music of these bells ! Let them ring on the 
 markets, on the streets, in the stores, hotels, post-offices, 
 depots, grain elevators, mills, factories, and shops until 
 their sound is heard with the pick of the miner, the ring 
 of the anvil, the buzz of the saw, the whistle of the engine, 
 and the roar of the furnace. Then the laborer will get 
 his wages, the merchant his profits, the doctor his bills, 
 and the professional man his dues; the wolf will then be 
 slain in the home of the poor, extravagance will be 
 destroyed, and the brotherhood of man established. 
 
124 RINGING BELI.S. 
 
 But there is another class of beings, who profess to 
 represent the wishes of the people and the salvation of 
 the nation; it is the politician, the legislator, the State 
 senator, or member of Congress. These were once men 
 among men, and were really thought to be like unto their 
 brethren; but now, since they have been invested with 
 the dignity of office, they have become like eagles above 
 the clouds, and never light until the expiration of the 
 term clips their official wings, when they become like 
 other men until election is over. Every office-holder in 
 the land, from the town sergeant who kills the widow's 
 dog to the President of the nation, ought to ride or drive 
 a horse with a bell on him, on which should be written, 
 "Holiness to the Lord." Let this official bell ring 
 throughout every avenue of this great government, ' 'Holi- 
 ness to the Lord." "Oh! but," you say, "we don't want 
 religion in politics, and the Church don't want politics in 
 religion." Neither do we want the ocean in our corn- 
 fields nor the sun in the moon, but we want the effects 
 of the sun on the moon and the dampness from the sea. 
 So let the Church write holiness on the law-makers, and 
 they in turn bless the country with a faithful and right- 
 eous government, which shall for all ages mark the 
 boundary line between the civilian and the savage. Hold 
 aloft the banner of progress and cast a shadow of protec- 
 tion over the shrines of worship. For such a govern- 
 ment heroes fought and soldiers died. Long may she 
 live, the home of the free and the land of the brave ! 
 May her bark sail on a silver sea, be propelled by the 
 power of love, guided by the star of hope, and anchor in 
 
RINGING BELLS. 125 
 
 the Land of Glory! May her cannon be fired to the 
 memory of the brave, and her banners unfurled to the 
 sons of peace, until, from the Atlantic of the East to the 
 Pacific of the West, there shall be one people, one gov- 
 ernment, one religion, and one God ! 
 
 In conclusion, let us write holiness on the gospel 
 bells and put them on the preachers, and ring them in 
 the homes of the poor, at the bedside of the afflicted, in 
 the house of bereavement, and the temple of worship. 
 As a man is, so is his strength. Let us have ministers 
 who can furnish the credentials of genuine piety in the 
 lessons of a holy life; who believe the gospel because they 
 understand it and teach it because they love it; not 
 pleasers of men, nor patrons of public favor, but heralds 
 of truth, light-houses of safety, and towers from which 
 shall ring out peals of warning. "If the watchman see 
 the sword coming, and warn not the people, they shall 
 die in their sins; but their blood shall be required at the 
 watchman's hands." 
 
 Then, O ye watchman, ring aloud 
 
 That bell in Zion's tower; 
 Ring peals of warning loud and long, 
 
 For this is mercy's hour. 
 
 Stand firmly at your post by night, 
 
 And ring that bell by da}-, 
 That sinners lost from paths of right 
 
 May find the narrower way. 
 
 And when that bell shall toll no more, 
 
 Nor ring at your command, 
 Beyond the crimson sunset shore 
 
 You'll rest in Beulah land. 
 
CASTING A SHADOW. 
 
 "That at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might 
 overshadow some of them." — Acts y. 15. 
 
 Casting a shadow is a very commonplace occurrence, 
 and may be seen wherever there is a solid on a clear day. 
 Even the darkness of the cloud is only its shadow. Night, 
 its gloomy self, is only the shadow of the earth hiding 
 you from the rays of the sun. But as there are millions 
 of different kinds of objects, so there are a great variety 
 of shadows, each object casting its corresponding shadow.. 
 
 Man is a small part of matter, but of eternal import- 
 ance. He is the one object which has taxed the energies 
 of his Maker through all the ages of the past; his crea- 
 tion designed, his apostacy and fall understood, and his 
 redemption planned ere the morning stars had sung 
 together, or the sons of God had shouted for joy. He, 
 alone, has cast a backward shadow, which is lost only in 
 the boundless, pathless darkness of eternity. 
 
 In the formation of substance, there were a great 
 many things to call for the attention of creative intelli- 
 gence, while creative power was engaged in bringing 
 together such atoms as in their organic union would cast 
 a favorable shadow on the historic future, or be sub- 
 servient to the highest interest of man. Beyond this, all 
 was arrayed in chaos, no shadow cast from either the 
 
 126 
 
CASTING A SHADOW. 127 
 
 present or future. Necessity broods over their birth, and 
 decomposition furnishes their winding-she*ets in death. 
 When life principle abandons substance, Nature soon gets 
 rid of its organic structure and leaves no shadowy trace 
 of its existence. It seizes the material of which it was 
 previously composed, and from a union of elements comes 
 a variety of changes, with which the world is supplied 
 with the bloom and fragrance of a new creation. Man 
 alone lives, thinks, and continues. 
 
 We are contemporaries with Abraham, Moses, Paul, 
 Shakespeare, Milton, and Bunyan; these men are among 
 the living realities of our day, bosom companions of the 
 present generation; their strength of intellect and inspira- 
 tion of spirit is an ever-present power, walking abroad in 
 the land; they are not of the buried past, but of the living 
 present; the shadow they cast upon the world still remains 
 as an inspiration to patriots, statesmen, poets, and Chris- 
 tians. Of such men it may be truly said: "Who, being 
 dead, yet speaketh; they are gone, but their works remain." 
 Each man casts a shadow, and this shadow is a complete 
 revelation of his real moral force, which must be exerted 
 for the uplifting of humanity or a cover for deeds of dark- 
 ness, a Mecca of the desert or the upas of an Eden. My 
 brother, what is the nature of the shadow you are casting 
 on society, the Church, and the home? 
 
 The Christ-like spirit emanating from the apostles 
 began to be felt in Jerusalem, so that all those afflicted 
 were brought and placed so that the shadow of Peter 
 might at least fall on some of them. See the great crowd 
 of suffering humanity seeking and obtaining relief, rheu- 
 
128 CASTING A SHADOW. 
 
 matics, paralytics, and lepers; hereditary and chronic 
 disease alike fly from the shadow of Peter. Just see 
 them leaping and jumping, shaking hands with every- 
 body, and shouting praise to God. Why does Peter's 
 shadow work such wonders? Surely it is a new discov- 
 ery in medical science. So then let Gamaliel and Nico- 
 demus try it. It is not a new discovery, but a new revela- 
 tion; not a new science, but a new spirit; not physical 
 power, but moral force. And this is what the world 
 needs to-day. Oh, that God's people would stand up and 
 let the moral force of a cause-created life cast a shadow 
 of healing power across this poor, suffering, sorrowing 
 and dying generation ! 
 
 As Peter's shadow had power for good, so every other 
 shadow has its corresponding power. The priests, the 
 politicians, the mayor, the town board, and the police, all 
 cast their shadows over the surface of society. These 
 were the heads of Jerusalem, the guardians of the people's 
 interest. How many such fellows yet remain, dressed 
 in official gowns, who ought to be unfrocked in the pub- 
 lic square of every town, and consigned to the custody of 
 the State prison for perjury, or hunted out of town for 
 cowardice ! 
 
 It is the province of officers, courts, and jurors to 
 enforce the law, not to judge it. The laws of this State 
 have cast a favorable shadow across these streets, and I 
 urge the parents, wives, and citizens of this city to stand 
 in this shadow. Report to any official of the town any 
 bar-keeper who sells to your son, under the age of twenly- 
 one years, a drop of liquor. If your husband has been 
 
CASTING A SHADOW. 129 
 
 drunken or destroyed either }'our peace or endangered 
 your person, go at once and notify the officers of the 
 city, or serve notice on every whisky-seller in town. If 
 your sons, or companions, or anyone else is suspected of 
 gambling, or if you suspect any place of allowing any 
 games of any kind for money, property, or gain of any 
 kind, notify anj^ officer of this town; and should he fail to 
 investigate or bring the offenders to justice, at once pro- 
 ceed against the officer, collect his fine, and then give 
 him a free ride over the road to the State prison for per- 
 jury. L,et officers know the time has come when they 
 shall enforce the law or have it enforced; give them their 
 choice, to either punish offenders or be punished as 
 offenders. 
 
 Talking about not enforcing the law, in southern 
 Illinois, an evangelist, Rev. Mr. Hammond, in riding 
 around a mud-hole in the street of the little town of Car- 
 bondale, unthoughtedly let his horse put his foot on the 
 sidewalk. He was arrested on the spot. At Carthage, - 
 Dr. H. B. Walkerman led his horse across one corner of 
 the court-yard, which only cost him five dollars. In the 
 same State, Dr. Throgmorton was arrested for ringing a 
 bell; he only escaped being jailed by paying a heavy fine. 
 But in these law-abiding cities the law cannot be enforced 
 against bar-tenders, landlords of gambling hells, and per- 
 jured town officials. Then let us boast no more the cry 
 of American freedom, but dream ourselves the slaves of 
 the darkest days of imperial Rome, when virtue had so 
 fallen in the streets that the passions of abject bestiality 
 were satisfied in the public mart and her fair daughters, 
 
130 CASTING A SHADOW. 
 
 unattired, driven through the streets, as a sacrifice to the 
 public gaze. Then let the spirits of the executed anarch- 
 ists of Chicago brood over our little city until our people 
 shall learn that law unenforced is anarchy enthroned. Oh, 
 for three hundred Spartans willing to live or die for the 
 equal application of law and order, enforced without fear or 
 favor! Then shall the constitutional rights of all be real- 
 ized, and the shadow of protection fall on all our homes; 
 then the sabbath of the law of the great State of Wiscon- 
 sin, if not of the Bible, shall be observed, or her deseera- 
 tors made to feel the affectionate embrace of the strong 
 arms of the law; then will open stores and farm wagons 
 no longer advertise us as heathens who regard not God 
 nor fear the law. Men, fathers, and brothers, sons of 
 noble sires, whose war-whoop shook the everlasting hills 
 and whose blood has consecrated every atom of this great 
 continent, let us rise in the spirit with which they fell r 
 and swear by the everlasting God that the shadow of their 
 death shall cast a radiance on the lives of our children. 
 
 "Oh!" you say, "but that isn't religion." Do you 
 know that the word "religion" is a very comprehensive 
 term, and, like many people's conscience, very elastic? 
 Every man has his religion, and his moral influence is 
 its corresponding shadow. One man's religion may savor 
 of godliness, while another's may be as loathsome as the 
 frogs of Egypt in the days of Pharaoh. Ingersoll is one 
 of the greatest religionists of the age, a babbler of the 
 baser sort; his shadow is an intellectual night, rayless, 
 beamless, starless, and unbroken, in which the angel of 
 hope is slain, from whose decaying carcass the raven of 
 
CASTING A SHADOW. 131 
 
 despair shall rise, and, fixing his awful talons in the sin- 
 ner's soul, will spread his wings and shut out the light 
 forever. Oh! sinner, beware of the sin of unbelief, for 
 it is the shadow of death and the doorway to hell; it will 
 demolish the beautiful temple of reason, tear up the 
 foundation-stones of God's altar, entomb the will, and 
 bury conscience beneath the blasted ruins. The apostle 
 James tells of a different kind of religion, one which 
 nourishes pure thoughts and inspires a godry life. 
 
 Even- man's shadow upon society has a definite 
 moral grade, and is an additional essay on the philosophy 
 of life. The photographer, b3 T the use of light, receives 
 an image on a sensitive plate, and thus obtains a nega- 
 tive for future use; so God's artists are taking the picture 
 of every shadow you cast upon society, the state, and the 
 Church. Oh, what a scene that will be when 3 r ou are 
 ushered into the picture-gallery of eternity ! How will 
 you enjoy having your companions, your children, or 
 your pious old mother come around and take a view of 
 some of the night scenes in which you were the willing 
 actors? 
 
 Again, there is the shadow of indifference; the vice 
 of inconsideration boasts the ruin of countless millions. 
 How many husbands and fathers in this city never go to 
 church? They are not especially hostile to the Church 
 but simply indifferent; kindly disposed, but } t ou never 
 get under the shadow of this great rock in the weary 
 land. You stay away from church, and carelessly cast 
 the shadow of moral indifference over your family. You 
 know a great warfare is being waged between religion 
 
132 CASTING A SHADOW. 
 
 and infidelity, the church and saloon, God and the devil, 
 yet you see your wives and decrepit old mothers sur- 
 rounded by shot and shell, and, in the language of a 
 manly brother-in-law of the Church, say: "I enjoy see- 
 ing the fight in the Baptist Church." Continue to behold 
 the conflict from a distance, and if you don't see a battle 
 in more places than the Church, I am woefully deceived. 
 "Oh, yes," you say, "it's all well enough for mothers and 
 girls, a good place for women and children, but unbe- 
 coming and unfashionable for men." Then your boys 
 begin to read your life and interpret your attitude towards 
 the gospel of Christ, and then comes the fatal result. Well, 
 what effect does your shadow have upon the lives of your 
 boys? The first effect is, they do not attend church, and, 
 like their fathers, they regard not the command of God 
 which says: "Thou shall reverence my sanctuary, and 
 keep my sabbath." Well do they follow your example. 
 "If father don't need the influence of the Church, we 
 don't." So, while the dignified lords of the town are 
 lying around, straightening up the books, reading the 
 daily papers, or riding out to their farms, your boys are 
 down town on the street corners, belching out profanity, 
 reflecting on their mother and sisters, condemning the 
 churches, and insulting their Maker. They have begun 
 at the end of your shadow, and there they go, out into 
 fields of irreverence, blasphemy, infidelity, gambling, 
 drinking, immorality, debauchery, and ruin. They are 
 only improving on the original model. You furnish the 
 seed and they sow the fields. Oh, what a crop of wild 
 oats is growing for some of you parents in your old age! 
 
CASTING A SHADOW. 133" 
 
 Please stop oue moment and take a view of the situation. 
 Behold the dismal shadow; it is coming, coming over 
 home, society, and y^our old age. It is only a question of 
 time when your gray hairs will come down to the grave, 
 and 3 r our life go out in sorrow and darkness; your hard 
 earnings, in the hands of sporting children and drunken 
 sons-in-law, will only add fuel to the fire and hurry on 
 the scene of devastation and moral ruin. Oh, what a 
 picture there is being painted behind the plate-glass and 
 lace curtains of some of the homes or places in this town ! 
 It is wonderful to behold how gradual and yet how sure 
 its progress. Oh, had I the power to-day to turn forward 
 the sun-dial of time and only let in the light of twenty 
 years, how some of you would start, tremble, and feel 
 after death to close your eyes forever on the dark picture ! 
 But alas! your children will finish it for you after you 
 are gone, and have it ready to be hung up before the 
 angels at the judgment day. 
 
 Xow I want 3'ou to go home, and on your knees, at 
 your bedside, for once in your lives, paint a picture which 
 your wife will tell about when your funeral is preached 
 and your children will remember when you are gone. 
 Throw up the curtain and let in the light. Oh, let 
 us cast a shadow for eternity ! Now, my brother, do you 
 believe the gospel? It is the shadow of God's love. 
 Will you obey its precepts and enjoy its blessings? Walk 
 in the shadow of its promises. Are you hungry? Behold 
 a feast. Thirsty? Here are living waters; drink and 
 thirst no more. Are you tired? Here is the shadow of 
 a great rock in a weary land. Yes, 
 
134 CASTING A SHADOW. 
 
 "There is a rock in a weary land, 
 And its shadows fall on the burning sand, 
 Inviting pilgrims, as they pass, 
 To seek a home in the wilderness." 
 
OPENING THE BOOKS AT THE LAST DAY. 
 
 "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and 
 the books were opened : and another book was opened, which is 
 the book of life : and the dead were judged out of those things 
 which were written in the books, according to their works."— 
 Revelation x. 12. 
 
 You will observe that the book of life, being spoken 
 of as another book, has no connection whatever with the 
 books out of which the dead were judged. This, how- 
 ever, we will notice further on. The books here spoken 
 of are evidently the full and complete account of our 
 relations to God, and by them we will be judged. Colonel 
 Ingersoll says he wants to be saved by the books. So 
 we will now proceed to give a short description of what 
 seems to us to be the books by which we shall be judged. 
 
 The first book we will denominate the book of allow- 
 ances. Some time since, in the State of Texas, a good 
 brother said: "Beloved, I would not open the book of 
 allowances, if I were you, because people are so apt to 
 urge excuses anj-way." "Well," said I, "let's have the 
 truth. God will see after the results." I believe the first 
 chapter in the book of allowances will give an account of 
 how much we have suffered as the result of Adamic sin, or, 
 if you please, sin for which we are not responsible. The 
 man born under the influence of original sin is no more 
 
 135 
 
130 OPENING THE BOOKS AT THE LAST DAY. 
 
 responsible for it than the man who dies with inherited con- 
 sumption. That we suffer in this life the consequences 
 of original sin there is no use denying, but that God 
 will allow the individual to be punished in eternity for a 
 sin committed ages before he was born is neither just nor 
 reasonable, and that the Judge of all the earth, who shall do 
 right, will give credit for all the sufferings endured here 
 on this account. I am aware, on this view of the subject, 
 that some will say this is strange doctrine. So it may 
 be, but it is a logical vindication of the throne and a 
 defense of justice against the slanderous assaults of those 
 who, rather than advance a new idea, even though they 
 had such a thing, would dethrone reason and introduce 
 the Deity to the world in the garb of a monster to be 
 feared as a tyrant rather than loved as a father. How 
 true it is, as said by the mouth of the son of Amos: "My 
 ways are not as your ways, nor my thoughts as your 
 thoughts." 
 
 Again, this book will contain an account of our dis- 
 advantages on account of impious training. Were I to 
 judge of the mothers of this land by what I often hear 
 in the pulpit, I would suppose they were all feminine 
 angels; but if I am to judge by what I often see, I might 
 believe many of them she devils in human form. 
 
 Some time since, a lady remarked to a gentleman 
 from St. Iyouis: "Women are so much better than men." 
 Said he: "You are too indefinite; tell us in what respect 
 they are so much better." "Well, I should think you 
 would know. One thing is, they never swear." "Well, 
 madam, we used to buy our milk from a woman named 
 
OPENING THE BOOKS AT THE LAST DAY. 13? 
 
 Shepherd, living near us, but we had to stop." "What 
 did you do that for?" said the lady. "Because she swore 
 over the pail until the milk smelled so strong of brim- 
 stone we couldn't use it." 
 
 Now I am no woman-hater, but I do say that the 
 home in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred is just what 
 the wife and mother makes it. And just as certain as 
 the child learns to articulate sound and frame sentences 
 in the home by hearing and seeing the conversation and 
 daily actions of those responsible for his existence, so 
 certain will he imbibe their religious bias, which, like 
 Caesar's ghost, will follow him all his life. We cannot 
 overestimate the influence for good of a pious and faith- 
 ful mother, but the opposite is the case with the profligate 
 and wicked. Would you expect a child raised without 
 ever hearing a religious song, seeing a bible, or hearing 
 a sermon to be as religiously inclined as yours reared in 
 the home of consecration and dandled upon the knees 
 of piety? Then will you suppose for a moment that God, 
 who knows the effects of such wicked influences as you 
 can never know them, will be more unreasonable and 
 inconsistent in His demands than you? Then how about 
 the difference in church privileges? While you sit and 
 listen to eloquence, logic, and learning until it would 
 seem as if the very gods had come down, there are thou- 
 sands of others who have no gospel privileges at all as 
 compared with yours. As an illustration of the unmiti- 
 gated ignorance to which many bow the reverential head, 
 I once heard of a preacher who took his text "between 
 Generations and Revolutions": "At the mountain of 
 
138 OPENING THE BOOKS AT THE I, AST DAY. 
 
 Hepsidam, where the lion roareth and the whangdoodle 
 mourneth for her first-born." Another described the 
 whited sepulcher as a great sea-fowl, with great long 
 white wings, coming up from the sea, having eaten sev- 
 eral men, bones and all. Can anyone be greatly surprised 
 that under such teaching as this many would not only 
 remain irreligious, but become sceptical? And those who 
 embrace the doctrines taught would be defective in faith 
 and loose in practice. 
 
 Again, can any reasonable man believe that those 
 who have never had the gospel at all, nothing to believe 
 or disbelieve, will be judged from the same standard we 
 are and equally condemned? Had we not better leave 
 the salvation of the heathen in the hands of that Lord 
 who has commanded us to preach to them the gospel, and 
 ask what will become of us if we fail to obey the emphatic 
 command of our King? 
 
 But now to the law and the testimony. To whom 
 much is given, of the same much is required. Read the 
 parable of the talents. He that knew his Master's will 
 and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes, but he 
 that knew not shall be beaten with few stripes. Show 
 me the man who would not rather take his chances before 
 the throne of God from central Africa, having never 
 heard of a sermon, seen a church, or dreamed of faith, 
 than to have been raised in a Christian home, under the 
 shadow of the church and the sound of the gospel, only 
 to meet the terrible responsibility of having rejected the 
 counsels of God and judged himself unworthy of eternal 
 life. Until you do this, I shall contend that there is a 
 
OPENING THE BOOKS AT THE LAST DAY. 139 
 
 book of allowances, and that the Judge of all the earth 
 will not only do right, but act on principles of justice and 
 sound, practical common sense. 
 
 Now we turn to the second book. This book will give 
 an account of our actual transgressions, those for which 
 we are undoubtedly responsible. Yes, beloved, there will 
 be an account of how we think. There never was a more 
 soul-destroying error than the liberal view that it makes 
 no difference what a man believes, just so he is honest in 
 his thought. I may believe with all my heart, mind^ 
 and soul that you are dishonest or untruthful, but while 
 my belief does not make you steal nor lie, still, if I put 
 my faith into practice, I will do you an irreparable injury 
 and commit a great sin in that I have believed without 
 evidence and damaged you without cause. As the foun- 
 tain is the source from which the water flows in all its 
 crystal beauty, so thought is father to the act. The 
 Bible says: "As a man purposeth in his heart, so is he- 
 Not that which goeth into a man, but that which pro- 
 ceedeth from the heart, defileth him." Then let us keep 
 the heart pure and the thinking correct. With this we 
 pass to notice the records of our actions. Oh, how few 
 of us realize that the eyes of the Lord are in every place, 
 beholding the evil and the good; that His records are 
 being kept by night and by day; that no vigilance can 
 avoid His awful presence and no pall of darkness dim 
 His all-seeing eye! 
 
 "How careful, then, ought I to live, 
 Who such a strict account must give 
 For my behavior here." 
 
 Again, this book will give a statement of our words, 
 
140 OPENING THE BOOKS AT THE LAST DAY. 
 
 Therefore revelation would put a lock on the mouth and 
 give the key to prudence. How often do we hear persons 
 say: "Oh ! that is only talk." So it was only a small 
 piece of steel in the hands of Marcus Brutus when great 
 Caesar fell; only a toy in the hands of Booth, yet it sent 
 a. soul into eternity and hung the world in mourning. Oh, 
 the deadly nature of a foul tongue ! It is like yellow 
 fever, it contaminates the very air and is destructive of 
 peace, liberty, and personal freedom. Therefore know, 
 O ye assassins of reputation and heartless murderers of 
 character, that your words are now traveling the endless 
 circles of sound and will meet you at the bulletin-board 
 of justice, while the electric flash of God's intelligence 
 will cable your arrest, and on the opening of the books 
 you will be judged by your own statements and con. 
 demned by your own words. 
 
 The third book will give an account of God's good- 
 ness, as shown in the saving influences of Christian love 
 and companionship. What right has a son to trample on 
 his mother's heart, scoff at his father's advice, ignore the 
 counsel of his friends, and, over all, carve his way to 
 ruin, leaving in the wake of his reckless feet gray hairs, 
 furrowed brows, weeping eyes, and ruined homes, as 
 though a mighty cyclone had swept over the place, 
 leaving only fragments of what was once lovely and 
 beautiful? Oh! my friend, can you suppose the great 
 loving Father who has thus blessed you will keep no 
 record of the blessings thus thrown around your reckless 
 course? Then what about your religious privileges? Do 
 you think God will keep no account of the sermons, the 
 
OPENING THE BOOKS AT THE EAST DAY. 141 
 
 songs, aud the prayers which, through His providence have 
 come to 3^ou? How about the gift of His Son? Can God 
 ever forget the reckless gift that perchance you might be 
 saved? Will not He who watches the falling sparrow and 
 numbers the hairs of the head record the arch-beneficence 
 of the world in the ledger of the skies? But how about 
 the work of the Spirit? How He has striven with you I 
 How He has been rejected! Well might we say: 
 
 "Stay, thou insulted Spirit, stay! 
 
 Though I have doue Thee such despite, 
 Turn not a sinner quite away, 
 
 Nor take Thine everlasting flight." 
 
 We learn from the beloved John that there was silence 
 in heaven for half an hour. Will }~ou allow me to say that 
 I think this silence has a significance in the light of these 
 books? Suppose we stand in our imagination and see the 
 first book opened, and behold a terrible silence, during 
 which time all can see for themselves that every possible 
 allowance has been made. Now the second book is 
 opened, and amid the awful silence everyone sees the 
 panorama of his own life, not one of whom denies a 
 single clause or disputes the darkest crime. 
 
 Again, God himself goes on record, and all have a 
 chance to see the expression of His love and exertions 
 of His grace. Oh, what a time ! Every mouth will be 
 hushed and every tongue will be dumb, that all the world 
 ma}^ appear guilty before God. Oh, what a silence ! Who 
 will dare to charge God with their destruction? Let him, 
 brave man that he is, now step forth and shake his puny fist 
 in the face of love and defy eternal justice. Hear, oh, 
 
142 OPENING THE BOOKS AT THE LAST DAY. 
 
 hear! the silence is broken and the Lord asks for your 
 excuse, saying: "Friend, how earnest thou in hither 
 without the wedding garment on?" Oh ! my hearers, 
 were it not for this separate book, we would all be lost. 
 But see, oh, see ! The recording angel steps to the front 
 with only one book. Hark ! hear the sound ! he is call- 
 ing for the elect. Listen ! there are the names of all who 
 have believed in the Savior, for He has promised to save 
 them that believe. Now listen: Yes, there are the names 
 of those who have called on Him; there they are; true it 
 is a stormy time, but they have laid hold of God's prom- 
 ise to save them that call on Him; so there they are, 
 holding on to the promise. The angel, with steady 
 voice, cries aloud, and behold here are these who have 
 honestly confessed Christ before men. Now see, they 
 not only have their names in the book, but, as they have 
 owned Him here, He owns them there. Hear Him say : 
 "Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
 from the foundation of the world." During the late 
 war, a chaplain, going over the field after the battle, giv- 
 ing water to the wounded, heard one poor fellow say: 
 "Here, here ! " going up to him, he raised his head gently, 
 and, placing the canteen near his lips, was surprised to 
 hear him say: "I don't want water; they are calling the 
 roll in heaven and I heard my name." O my God, 
 
 "Is my name written there, 
 On the page white and fair, 
 In the book of Thy kingdom, 
 Is my name written there ? " 
 
 Christ said to the disciples when they came back 
 
OPENING THE BOOKS AT THE LAST DAY. 143 
 
 rejoicing over their success, and declared that the very 
 devils were subject unto them: "In this rejoice not, 
 but rather rejoice because your names are written in 
 heaven." As every well-organized family has its spotless 
 page on which the children's names are recorded, so this 
 book tells nothing of the failings or virtues of the per- 
 sons whose names it contains; but it is none the less 
 significant, because we are told that only those whose 
 names are recorded there will be saved. Oh ! my brother, 
 my friend, won't you let the angels register your name 
 to-day? Oh, that I had the power ! I would reach back 
 over the wide expanse of eighteen centuries, and, forging 
 a pen from the iron in the cruel cross, all crimson in the 
 blood of a world's Redeemer, I would write the names of 
 every one under the sound of my voice, and, giving each 
 of them a free pass to glory, would have you this moment 
 embark for Zion, that you might receive a Father's 
 embrace and a child's inheritance. 
 
 "Hark ! we hear the trumpet sounding, 
 
 See the Heavens, like a scroll, 
 
 Rolling back for us to hear the grand roll-call. 
 Then delay no longer, sinner, 
 
 Have your name upon Christ's roll. 
 
 Even so, Lord Jesus, come and take us all." 
 
GOD'S HERITAGE. 
 
 "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether 
 we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live, therefore, or die, 
 we are the Lord's." — Romans xiv. 8. 
 
 The simple announcement of this subject is a declara- 
 tion of war, involving us, as it unquestionably does, in a 
 state of controversy. The text utters no uncertain sound, 
 but declares we belong not to ourselves, but to another. 
 While proud humanity boastfully says, "Am I not free- 
 born three times seven and twenty-one," "Liberty! Lib- 
 erty!" is boastfully asserted on every hand, while from 
 the howling mob comes the cry of "Absolute freedom!'' 
 from many who swear by their ignorance that they are 
 wise and by their chains that they are free; so let us keep 
 cool and look this subject square in the face. There is a 
 law which guarantees to a man the fruitage of his own 
 brains and muscle. So the farmer sows, cultivates, 
 and reaps the golden harvest; no question ever rises in 
 his mind as to the proper owner of the wheat in his gar- 
 ner. Many may be the hungry, but who dares touch this 
 farmer's bin? The mechanic builds a house; see him 
 lock the door, move in his family, or dispose of it at will. 
 Why is this? Because the vox populi has, through the 
 functions of legislation, declared that a man shall have, 
 hold, and control that which is the creation of his own 
 honest exertion. 
 
 Now let us make the application. I once heard a 
 
 144 
 
god's heritage. 145 
 
 preacher say that he asked a little colored boy who made 
 him. "Don't know," said the lad. "Oh, yes you do," 
 said the divine. "Now I got it, sir." "Who?" "The 
 devil," said the boy. Now, gentlemen, I am preaching 
 to men that God made; and let it be understood right 
 here and now that I am not discussing processes of crea- 
 tion, but the fact of creation; not methods of existence, 
 but causes of existence. Kvery effect must have a cause; 
 so in existence there is effect, but the cause is alone found 
 in that creative intelligence which John Stuart Mill 
 says "is creative inaction, and as such a proper object of 
 worship." Paul declared to the Grecian Senate, as he 
 stood on Mars's Hill, that He was the creator of the world 
 and had made of one blood all nations of men; that we 
 are the offspring of God; that in Him we live and move 
 and have our being. (Read Acts xvii. 24-26.) Now, sir, if 
 this be true, how can we claim the grain grown in our field, 
 the house built, and the machine made as ours, and at the 
 same time, by asserting our freedom, rob our Creator of 
 that which belongs to Him by the same law of possession? 
 If we admit that God is in any way responsible for our 
 existence, and at the same time deny His right to our ser- 
 vice, then let the hungry divide lip and devour our grain, 
 let the homeless take possession of the house we have 
 built, and let the tired pedestrian turn us out of the coach 
 we made and ride while we walk; then let the laws for the 
 protection of property be expunged from our civil codes; 
 because, by our own decision, as illustrated in our own 
 actions, there is no such thing as the ownership of 
 property. 
 
146 god's heritage. 
 
 Again, we come in possession of property by the 
 right of purchase. Money is the measure of value and 
 a medium of exchange; through its influence the right 
 to seize, hold, own, and control property is shifted from 
 one person to another, according to conditions agreed on 
 between the parties interested. This not only applies to 
 movable objects, such as cattle, flocks, and herds, but 
 to real estate and to brain, muscle, and even time, experi- 
 ence, and education as well. The herdsman sells his 
 herds, the farmer his lands, the mechanic his skill, and 
 the laborer his brain, muscle, and time. Politicians, and 
 professional men alike are all on the world's markets and 
 for sale. Every honest man will endeavor to render an 
 equivalent for the pay he receives, and even the dull ox 
 and the dumb ass recognize the principle and serve and 
 depend on the master at whose commands they go. Isaiah 
 says: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his mas- 
 ter's crib." But shame be upon us, we do not consider. 
 Beloved, if that for which we have paid our money 
 belongs to us, how much more that for which God gave 
 His Son and Jesus His blood. Yes, we are redeemed, 
 not with shining gold or tinkling silver, but with the 
 precious blood of Him who bore our sins in His own 
 body on the tree, and by whose stripes we are healed. 
 
 "Oh! come, ye saints, and shed a tear or two 
 For Him who groaned beneath your load; 
 He shed a thousand drops for you, 
 A thousand drops of richest blood." 
 
 iU. 
 
god's heritage. 147 
 
 Oh! then let us sing, in view of these facts: 
 
 "I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice, 
 And it told Thy love to me; 
 But I long to rise in the arms of love 
 And be closer drawn to Thee." 
 
 Now, supposing some of you at least have settled the 
 controversy, and by your honest convictions decided to 
 render to God that which is Kis, we proceed to notice 
 briefly our relations to Him. Suppose we call ourselves 
 His servants. He said: "Ye call me Lord, Lord, and so 
 I am." Again: "The servant is not greater than his 
 Lord." I would not have you indulge the thought for 
 one moment that I believe you slaves — far from it; we 
 are kings and priests unto God and to the Lamb forever; 
 officers in His kingdom, rulers of His house, and "fellow- 
 helpers to the truth." 
 
 When Solomon had finished the climax of the 
 world's architecture, and centralized its wealth of mint 
 and mind, from which emanated a reputation second only 
 to that of the Son of Mary, sung alike by prince and 
 peasant, the Queen of Sheba became aroused at the 
 thought of her own magnificence being eclipsed; so> 
 gathering about her person the most costly display of 
 her realm, she started to satisfy that of which so few 
 women are possessed — to-wit, her curiosny. Having been 
 royally received and escorted throughout the palace, she 
 finally arrived at the throne; here for the first time she 
 caught sight of the royal attendants and servants of 
 state, at the sight of which she exclaimed: "It was a 
 true report that I heard in my own land, and the half has 
 
148 god's heritage. 
 
 not been told. Blessed art thou of the IyOrd thy God, 
 and blessed are these thy servants which stand before 
 thee." And when she saw their apparel, her heart fainted 
 at the sight of such untold beauty and dazzling magnifi- 
 cence. But where is Solomon's throne to-day? Where 
 are the servants? Let the ruins of his once famous tem- 
 ple answer back, and the dust cry out: " We are here." 
 Yes, my friends, his scepter is lost and his garments moth- 
 eaten. Daniel tells us of a stone hewn out of the mount- 
 ains without hands, which shall fill the whole earth. 
 This is Mount Zion descending from God, whose apex 
 shall kiss the skies and whose shadow shall cover the 
 earth. High up on its side blooms the flower of hope, 
 hard by a thousand limpid fountains, from which burst 
 forth the waters of life in many crystal streams. This is 
 the spiritual kingdom, of which Jesus is Lord and His ser- 
 vants rulers. Beloved, if the Queen of Sheba fainted at 
 Solomon's display, don't you suppose the angels watch to 
 behold the poorest old woman in a mountain gorge how 
 ever gave a drink of water in the name of a disciple? 
 For says Jesus: "She shall not lose her reward." Again: 
 If any man will serve me, him will my Father honor." 
 I have sometimes felt that I would like to gather around 
 me a hundred such families as I could select, and, as their 
 pastor, encourage and direct them in every good word 
 and work, visit their homes, keep watch by their sick- 
 beds, and at last sing over their graves: 
 "Servant of God, well done; 
 
 Rest from thy loved employ. 
 The battle is fought, the victory won; 
 
 Rest in thy Master's joy.'* 
 
 ^ 
 
god's heritage. 149 
 
 Again, there is still a closer relation — that of friends. 
 Jesus said: "Henceforth I call ye not servants, but 
 friends; and my friends ye are if ye do what I command 
 you." Oh, to be a friend of Jesus, to enjoy His confidence 
 and live in His favor ! Seal your relation to Him with 
 the token of love, and kiss the Son lest He be angry. 
 Men disappoint and fortune frowns, but here is a friend 
 that sticketh closer than a brother. Once upon a time, 
 a certain king became enraged at the rebellious demon- 
 strations of some of his subjects; so, heading his army, 
 he announced his intention of razing their city to the 
 ground and slaying these rebels without mercy. But 
 just before the army reached the city the citizens held a 
 mass-meeting, declaring themselves loyal, and gave a 
 pledge of their friendship by proposing to march at the 
 head of the king's army and shout through the gates of 
 the royal city, "Long live the king!" The conditions 
 were accepted and universal peace declared. But see th * 
 astonishment of the citizens, as they met to welcome the 
 king, to see these rebellious subjects marching at the 
 head of the column with bands of music and colors flying, 
 shouting at every step, "Long live the king! long live the 
 king!" "Here are the enemies." "No," said the king; 
 I have destroyed every one I had by making them my 
 friends." Caesar hitched conquered kings to his chariot- 
 wheels, but Jesus swells the triumphs of His position by 
 setting his enemies free. 
 
 Lastly, we are the children of God. Oh, what a rela- 
 tion! "Beloved," says John, "now are we the sons of 
 God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we 
 
150 god's heritage. 
 
 know that we shall be like him." Again: "As many as 
 received him, to them gave he power to become the 
 sons of God; even to as many as believed on his name," 
 " For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate 
 to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might 
 be the firstborn among many brethren." Again: "If 
 children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with 
 Christ." Then 
 
 <- A teut or a cottage, why need I care? 
 They are building a palace for me over there. 
 Though exiled from home, still I can sing: 
 'Glory to God! I am the child of a king.'" 
 
 Several years ago, I heard a man relate this incident: 
 A traveler stopped over and spent the night with a wealthy 
 farmer; on the following morning, the rustic old swain 
 called his strange guest out into the porch and said: "I 
 will show you where my children live. You see, when I 
 was young I worked very hard and bought all the land 
 around here; so, as my children married off, I settled 
 them all around me. If any are sick, I go and wait on 
 them and nurse them back to health; when dark days of 
 trouble come, I go to comfort and relieve as only a parent 
 can; if there is any want, I delight to supply it; ofttimes 
 I send a servant with a bundle just to let them know 
 they are remembered; on Christmas day I invite them 
 all home, throw open the dining-room door, and have them 
 sit down at home around the family board." "Oh," said 
 I; "what an idea!" l,et us see. Here it is: all the land 
 belongs to our Father, and though some of His children 
 live on the dark continent, beneath the burning ra3^s of a 
 
god's heritage. 151 
 
 tropical sun, and some among the icebergs and snow- 
 fields of the frozen North; though some live in the fabled 
 lands of the Orient, made sacred by the tombs of the 
 prophets, and some in the unsettled and savage West — 
 still His house is in sight and may be seen on the darkest 
 night by the eye of faith, and so close by that the faintest 
 cry that comes from the heart of devotion or the call of 
 distress can be readily heard and distinctly understood, 
 while the cleaving wings of angelic spirits fan the zephyrs 
 of night and by the mystic spell of their silent presence 
 soothe the sorrowing heart to rest and charm even the 
 demon of pain. Who has not felt, like the Psalmist, to 
 say: "The angels of the L,ord encampeth round about the 
 righteous, and delivereth them out of all their trouble'? 
 But by and by will come the winding up of the year and 
 the Christmas day of time; then will the dining-room of 
 our Father's house be open wide, while above the din of 
 servants astir will be heard the voice of Omnipotence 
 calling to the North to give up and the South to keep 
 not back. "Bring," says He, "my sons from far and my 
 draughter from the ends of the earth." See, oh, see' 
 who are these that come as a cloud and as doves to their 
 windows? During the late war, after a hard-fought bat- 
 tle, the opposing armies were in line, resting on their 
 arms, when the kiss of day smiled away the frown of 
 night, aud wrapped the scene of human strife in the golden 
 glory of a newborn morning. Soon, as if inspired by the 
 touch of nature, a band began to play, followed by another, 
 until all along the line might be heard bands and shouts, 
 answered back with a similar demonstration from the 
 
152 god's heritage. 
 
 other side; a silence follows, but for a moment, when 
 away in the distance is heard a band playing "Home, 
 Sweet Home," which caught like fire from band to band, 
 until both armies seemed lost in the arms of music and 
 nestling in the bosom of home. But hark! hear the final 
 shout of " Home, sweet home!" which echoed among the 
 neighboring hills and died away along the rippling waves 
 of the beautiful Rappahannock. So, beloved, we hear 
 the different hymns and the sectarian shouts, but behind 
 it all is the one great desire for the home of the soul, 
 stimulating faith, energizing effort, and burnishing hope. 
 Someday will be heard the bands of glory in the lands 
 of sorrow announcing the orders for a homeward march. 
 Then distance of time and space, together with difference 
 of opinion, will disappear without even a shadowy trace 
 of their existence, while the sacramental host of God's 
 elect, washed in the blood and lost in love, will sweep 
 through the gates, saved, saved, eternally saved! 
 
THE WORTH OF THE SOUL, AND THE DANGER 
 OF ITS BEING LOST. 
 
 "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole 
 world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in 
 exchange for his soul?" — Mark viii. 36-37. 
 
 There are various ways of estimating the value of 
 different objects. Grain is measured by the bushel, gro- 
 ceries by the pound, and cloth by the yard. In the com- 
 mercial world, money is the standard of value and the 
 measure of worth. However, there are some things 
 which do not come within the measuring power of 
 money. Character, morals, veracity, and reputation can 
 not be measured by the gold and silver gauge. How 
 would j^ou begin to estimate in dollars and cents the price 
 of virtue or measure back to a man that of which you 
 have robbed him when once you have destroyed his rep- 
 utation for honor? This being the case, we must look 
 out for another standard of measurement. Suppose we 
 judge of its worth by the standard of interest and the 
 nature of the parties interested. Then, first, the devil is 
 interested. Away back yonder in the morning of the 
 world, he began his dastardly work of destruction and 
 has followed the race ever since. Surely he believes the 
 soul worth destroying. The angels recognize the fact 
 that any object worth destroying is worth saving; hence 
 their interest. Oh, how often they have visited this sin- 
 
 153 
 
154 THE WORTH OF TUB FOUL, ETC. 
 
 cursed world on missions of mercy and errands of love ! 
 Peter says they desire to look into the mysteries of sal- 
 vation, and Jesus assures us that they rejoice over a pen- 
 itent soul. Again, as men are next in the scale of 
 existence, and among created beings second only to 
 angels, so they are interested. Samantha Allen says the 
 nearest way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but 
 on this we could never agree, for the pulsations of his 
 heart may be felt beating right against his pocket-book, 
 and if it beats strong here, the circulation is complete. 
 But, after all, it is wonderful to see the measure of finan- 
 cial interest manifested in this the greatest of all causes. 
 If all the voluntary offerings of the people could be put 
 into silver dollars and laid in one pile, there would be a 
 literal pyramid of money, surpassing in magnificence the 
 pyramids of Kgypt. Kvery dollar bears upon its metal- 
 lic face the inscription, "In God we trust," and is the 
 expression of so much bone and muscle laid at the foot 
 of the cross by willing hands, expressive of the measure 
 of interest thus manifested in the welfare of the immor- 
 tal soul. 
 
 But there are the tears, the prayers, and groans which 
 rise every day from the hearts of those who love us better 
 than life itself. Dr. Munsey said: "These tears are bot- 
 tled up in heaven, and will finally compose the awful lak e 
 beneath whose surging billows the guilty soul will sink 
 to rise no more, while these groans will rend the air and 
 jar the heavens until God hears and feels and angels 
 weep." 
 
 Again, the great God Himself is interested. Had I 
 
the worth of the soul, etc. 155 
 
 read that God was greatly interested about the lost con- 
 dition of the race and evidenced the same by sending 
 Abraham, oh, how thankful I would be ! If I had heard 
 that God had called after the race through the voice of 
 prophets for many centuries, I would have loved Him 
 for His forbearance and goodness to an obdurate and 
 stubborn people. Were I to read in golden letters on the 
 sky that God was greatly interested in the soul, how I 
 would wonder and gaze on such a scene ! But listen ! I 
 heard Him saying: "This is my beloved Son, hear ye 
 him." Oh! what does this mean? I read that God so 
 loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. O 
 ye angels, come down and tell us what this means. Be- 
 hold Him dying on Calvary's rough and clouded brow. 
 O ye gods, come down and dispel the gloom and let our 
 wondering eyes read in the crimson cross the measure of 
 God's estimate of the soul, "This was compassion like 
 a God, that when He saw the price of pardon was His 
 blood, His pity never withdrew.'* * Behold and see three 
 worlds engaged, heaven, earth, and hell; God, men, and 
 devils; the devils through revenge, while all the rest 
 being saved, themselves find the well-spring of interest 
 flowing from sympathetic fountains. The only one who 
 can be personally benefited is the sinner, and oh, the sad 
 picture! He alone stands idly by, sporting with eternal 
 destiny. 
 
 Again, we may also measure worth by comparison, 
 There are two substances, or, if you please, two grand 
 divisions of substance, in the universe. For the sake 
 of argument, we will denominate them respectively mind 
 
156 THE WORTH OF THE SOUL, ETC. 
 
 and matter. We can see and handle matter, still it 
 is no more real than mind. We can see smoke, but I 
 suppose no one will claim smoke to be more real or 
 powerful than air. As we see the smoke carried on 
 the wings of this invisible substance, we can judge of its 
 real presence and to some extent measure its power, 
 speed, and direction; so, if we can estimate the value of 
 the body, we will establish a basis from which to calcu- 
 late the worth of the soul. The mathematician measures 
 a known quantity in order to calculate the unknown; so 
 let us measure the body first. Suppose I had a method 
 by which to take the body to pieces without pain, what 
 would induce you to have your arms and limbs taken off 
 or the entire body physically destroyed? How many 
 millions would be a temptation to you? Well, then, if 
 the body is worth so much for a few years at best, when 
 it must decompose and again return to its place in mother 
 earth, pray tell me, my brother, what must be the worth 
 of the immortal part, which must live forever, coexten- 
 sive with the range of consciousness in one eternal now. 
 Again, an object is supposed to be worth what it will 
 bring. For example, if you tell me you have just pur- 
 chased a residence, for wmich you paid one thousand dol- 
 lars, I would expect to see a house built of ordinary 
 timber, having about four rooms; but if you tell me you 
 paid fifty thousand dollars for your present home, then I 
 expect to see a handsome front built of marble or brown 
 Stone, beautiful in outline and imposing in appearance- 
 So, beloved, when I read that God in the fullness of time 
 sent His Son into the world to redeem the lost, not with 
 
 L 
 
THE WORTH OF THE SOUL, ETC. 157 
 
 corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the 
 precious blood of Christ, who bore our sins in His own 
 body on the cross, I think, "O my God, what a price ! 
 Who but an omnipotent being could have paid such a 
 ransom? " Here is love and grief beyond degree, the 
 Lord of Glory dies for men. This was heaven's supreme 
 exertion, at the sight of which angels wonder, eternity 
 appears to be bankrupt, and God Himself seems reckless. 
 In the language of the Psalmist: "What or who is man, 
 that he should demand such a price ? " Certainly not 
 what he appears to be, but what he is to be. Oh, the pos- 
 sibilities of the future ! Gee how the index finger of the 
 divine purpose points to the gold of perfection, and faith, 
 like a mighty telescope, brings nigh the eternal circle on 
 which we shall stand in the image of God. For says 
 John: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth 
 not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when 
 he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see 
 him as he is." "Now/' says Paul, "we see through a 
 glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in 
 part; but then I shall know even as also I am known." 
 
 The grandest thing God ever made is man. Oh, that 
 we could conceive the measure of our possibilities ! what 
 a stimulus it would be to perseverance and improve- 
 ment in every direction ! Some time since, while preach- 
 ing to a large congregation of men in the city of Peoria, 
 Illinois, I took the position that the estimation which a 
 man puts on his real worth will be the measure of his 
 exertions to rise in the scale of human development. 
 He that builds beneath the skies builds too low. The 
 
158 THE worth of this soul, etc. 
 
 apostle Paul exhorted the Hebrews to go on and never 
 stop short of perfection. 
 
 Second, is there danger of this valuable object being 
 lost? In answer to this important question we have only 
 to point out some of the sources of danger and leave you 
 to be your own judge. Is there danger of the offspring of 
 consumptives dying with tuberculosis? Then may we well 
 be watchful of the unholy effects of hereditary sin. Who 
 ever heard of a preacher or anyone else preaching that 
 men must change in order to be lost? But, on the other 
 hand, we are taught that unless we repent we must all 
 perish. Why is this? "He that runneth may read." 
 Here is the key which unlocks the mystery. " Behold," 
 said the Psalmist, " I was conceived in sin and shapen in 
 iniquity." Drop a cork upon the face of a stream, and 
 without effort it will float to the breakers ; so the soul, 
 brought forth in sin, only needs to drift with the current 
 of time, in the total neglect of saving influences, until 
 beyond the circle of Calvary's rays and all is dark for- 
 ever. Yes, my brother, you need not burn any churches, 
 tear up any bibles, nor murder any preachers; all you 
 need to do is to attend strictly to your affairs. Let 
 religion alone, and it will let you alone. I do not intend 
 to ride on the train; I need not kill the crew nor abuse 
 the company. So I may be a gentleman in time, and 
 still be damned in eternity. 
 
 Again, there is the broad way of which Satan is 
 surveyor. Oh, the gins and pitfalls on this road ! When- 
 ever you find yourself inquiring, "Is it wrong to go to 
 this place or that place ?" danger is nigh. Why don't 
 
THE WORTH OF THE SOUL, ETC. 159 
 
 you inquire, "Is it wrong to attend a rrayer-meeting?" 
 "Do you think there is any harm in playing euchre?" 
 3'ou ask. I will answer your question by asking one: 
 What makes 3-ou hide your cards when the preacher 
 comes? "Is there any harm in taking a social drink?'' 
 Then why do 3-011 go behind the screens, and if someone 
 should see 3-ou, declare }^ou have been sick for a week, or 
 bitten 03^ a rattlesnake? A sure defense against the 
 encroachments of wrong is to steer clear of dangerous 
 experiments. The king's coachman said he could put 
 half the tire on the verge of a precipice and not go over, 
 but the king dismissed the expert for one who kept as 
 far as possible from danger. A pilot was once asked if 
 he knew where all the rocks were in the river. "No,' 
 said he; "but I know where they are not," So, my 
 friends, start right and keep clear of danger, lest ye go 
 down over the Niagara of destruction, to be dashed 
 against the boulders of despair and wrecked in the sea of 
 eternal death. 
 
 Lastry, what must I do to be saved ? Oh, what a 
 question ! How personal in its nature I Not what some 
 one else must do, but what must /do. Oh! 1113' brother, 
 are 3 T ou worth saving? Is religion worth an effort? Then 
 will 3*ou make it now? For behold now is the accepted 
 time and now is the da3' of salvation. Repent of 3-our 
 sins, cut loose from the frozen shores of indifference, 
 launch out on the boundless ocean of God's love, throw 
 a gleam of faith across the clouded wave, ring the bells of 
 confession, and, standing firmly at the wheel of duty, sail 
 for the Golden Gate. 
 
SHATX THIS BODY LIVE AGAIN? 
 
 " But now is Christ risen from the dead." — /. Corinthians 
 xv. 20. 
 
 To live or not to live after death is a question of no 
 little importance, and one in which we are all greatly 
 interested. How often do we find ourselves thinking on 
 such questions as these : Will I live again ? If so, what 
 kind of a body will I live in ? Will I have such form 
 and marks of identity as to render me intelligent to 
 those around me, and thus add to the felicity of my 
 friends ? These and a thousand other questions of a sim- 
 ilar nature are constantly asking for the consideration of 
 all intelligent men. 
 
 Belief in the immortality of the soul has been coex- 
 tensive with the range of consciousness, and believed 
 in alike by pagan, Jew, and Christian. The Jew and 
 Christian agree in the doctrine of the resurrection. To 
 them it is the brightest bow which ever bent over our 
 shattered fortunes, afflicted bodies, and dying beds. It 
 has kindled a light for the chamber of devotion, softened 
 the dying pillow, and crystallized the grave; it has planted 
 the heaven-born flower of expectation amidst the blasted 
 fields of despair and painted a smile upon the face of 
 death. The Christian, with the lamp of faith and the 
 staff of truth, has explored these hidden mines of biblical 
 
 160 
 
SHAIX THIS BODY 1.TVH AGAIN? 161 
 
 wealth, while the heathen only believed in the immortality 
 of the soul. "Ah ! " say they, "the sun goes down at night 
 to rise in the morning, but our loved ones go down to 
 the darkness of the grave to rise no more." With them 
 no morning ever dawned to break in upon the darkness 
 of the grave and hang the rainbow of hope over the dust 
 of the dead. Reason, nature, nor science has never dared 
 to molest the sable king in his dusty home. 
 
 The resurrection of the dead is the great fact set 
 forth in the text and is wholly a matter of revelation. 
 The Bible is the highest authority we claim for such a 
 belief; still the statements of profane history are import- 
 ant, while its silence in not denying what has been so 
 long believed is even more so. The resurrection of 
 Christ occurred in times of peace and was for many years 
 reported all over Judea, considered b3 r the authorities of 
 the land, argued in the Roman Senate, discussed in the 
 great city of Athens, believed and preached in Corinth, 
 reported as an historical fact by many, and denied by 
 none. It is said that Pilate, in his official report to the 
 Roman Senate, made mention of the death and resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus. Josephus says: "There lived a man, if 
 indeed it be lawful to call him a man." Moreover, it was 
 credibly reported by His disciples that He had arisen 
 from the dead. The Romans proposed to add His name 
 to the list of the gods; well would it have been for Rome 
 had she made Him her only god whose dead body sixty 
 of her bravest men could not keep in its grave. "But," 
 you say, "how about the report of these soldiers to the 
 effect that the disciples stole Him away while they slept?" 
 
162 shali, This body uv£ again ? 
 
 Here is unquestionably a case where the devil overstepped 
 the bounds of reason, and, trying to make a fair show, 
 ruined his case. Had they said: "While we slept, some- 
 thing or somebody stole him away," there would be some 
 semblance of truth; but they admit they were asleep so 
 sound they could not prevent the body being taken, yet 
 they could tell exactly who did it. "The disciples stole 
 him away while we slept." Such evidence as this would 
 be a disgrace to any court and advertise the witness as a 
 perjured scoundrel, unworthy the respect or confidence 
 of any fair-minded man. Again, who could believe these 
 soldiers ran the risk of losing their lives, knowing as they 
 did that Roman law required their lives as the only sat- 
 isfaction for such dereliction from duty? Yes, my hearers, 
 the severity of Roman law itself makes these men so 
 many living witnesses to attest the fact that "Christ has 
 risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them 
 that slept." Yes, He assumed immortality amid the 
 shades of death. Angels met Him in the home of the 
 dead. The keepers, fainting with fear, fell to the ground 
 as dead, and, without official release, fled the scene, telling 
 as they went that God had broken the empire of death, 
 and angels, taking charge of the tomb, had need of them 
 no longer. He that can doubt the historical fact that 
 Christ arose from the dead can as easily doubt that Han- 
 nibal ever lived in Carthage, Caesar in Rome, Napoleon 
 in France, or Washington in America. 
 
 Secondly, not only is the resurrection of Christ 
 taught in the Bible, but that of the entire Adamic race. 
 Not only so, but this doctrine is not confined to any sect, 
 
SHAI/L, THIS BODY LIVE AGAIN? 163 
 
 dispensation, or age. It is a part of the very breath of 
 history, going back to the age when men inscribed their 
 conviction upon stones, and wrote with an iron pen upon 
 the flinty face of the everlasting hills. Hear the old man 
 of Uz saying: "Oh that my words were now written! oh 
 that they were printed in a book! that they were graven 
 with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever! for I know 
 that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the 
 latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin 
 worms devour this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." 
 Isaiah lived twenty-six hundred years ago; he said: "Thy 
 dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall 
 they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust : 
 for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall 
 cast out the dead." Daniel said: "Many of them that 
 
 sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake But 
 
 go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and 
 stand in thy lot at the end of the days." Hosea said: "I 
 will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will 
 redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; 
 O grave, I will be thy destruction." We make graves by 
 putting dead bodies in them, so when the body is exhumed 
 the grave is destroyed. Man makes graves, God destroys 
 them. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 
 made alive." 
 
 Again, beloved, this doctrine was believed by the 
 Jews, for said Paul in his defense: "They themselves 
 also allow that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, 
 both of the just and unjust." "Unto which promise our 
 twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to 
 
164 SHALL THIS BODY LIVK AGAIN? 
 
 come. For which hope's sake I am accused of the Jews." 
 Hear him, in that mighty appeal to King Agrippa, saying: 
 "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, 
 that God should raise the dead?" This was the founda- 
 tion of the apostolic ministry, for the Scriptures say: 
 
 'When they were scattered abroad, they went every- 
 where, preaching through Christ the resurrection of the 
 dead." Hear the mighty Paul saying: " Believe in thy 
 heart that God has raised him from the dead, and confess 
 him with thy mouth, and thou shalt be saved." He that 
 stretched out the north over the empty place and hung 
 the earth on nothing rolled away the debris of forty cen- 
 turies and laid the foundation of our faith deep down in 
 Joseph's grave. "For," says Paul, "if the dead rise not, 
 then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, 
 your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they 
 also which have fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 
 
 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become 
 
 the first fruits of them that slept." As the blushing of the 
 morning heralds the rising sun, so many of the saints, 
 rising, were but the forerunners of His chariot -wheels as 
 He rode victoriously over death, hell, and the grave. 
 
 "Oh! drop your tears, ye saints, and tell 
 How high your great Deliverer reigns; 
 Sing how He spoiled the host of hell, 
 And led the tyrant Death in chains." 
 
 Yes, He arose from the dead, no more to enter its 
 dark domain or pillow His tired head upon its cold and 
 stony pavements. Long ages before the star of the East 
 had led the wise men to the home of the tired ox in search 
 
SHALL THIS BODY LIVE AGAIN? 165 
 
 of a newborn God, or the dusky sons of Ham had asy- 
 lumed him beneath the shadow of the pyramids, proph- 
 ets had been pulling away the vail of time and giving 
 graphic descriptions of the glory of great David's greater 
 Son; Abraham saw his day and was glad; the sweet singer 
 of Israel took down his harp and played the accompani- 
 ment to Him who perfumed the grave and planted the 
 heaven-born flower of hope amid the time-scarred rocks 
 of the tomb; the angels joined in the chorus and shouted: 
 "Come see the place where the Lord lay. He is not here; 
 He has risen from the dead, and lo, He goeth before you 
 into Galilee; there shall ye see Him." Thus prophets 
 and apostles, men and angels, vie with each other in 
 bearing witness to the resurrection of the dead. If we 
 claim that the sacred writers were not sufficiently intelli- 
 gent to recognize Him, then we establish the inspiration 
 of their writings and make God His own witness; then 
 the fact is established on divine testimony; then is our 
 gospel true; then they who have fallen asleep in Christ 
 are saved; then the foundation of our religion is like the 
 granite base on which the mountain stands and bathes its 
 plumage in the thunder's home. 
 
 "All hail to the Prince of Peace, 
 Who clothed Himself in clay, 
 Entered the iron gates of death, 
 And tore the bars away." 
 
 Thirdly, the resurrection of the dead is not a phys- 
 ical impossibility, looking at it from the infidel's stand- 
 point, for if God by the exercise of mind produced mat- 
 ter, and by the exercise of power fashioned it, whether 
 
166 SHALL THIS BODY LI V£ AGAIN? 
 
 by spasmodic combustion or geological change, and by 
 the exercise of will fashioned matter into the form of a 
 human body, He can as easily by the exercise of mind 
 find the component parts, and by the exercise of power 
 bring them together, and by the exercise of will make 
 them live. He only that can prove His non-existence 
 need doubt His resurrection. As the careering of the 
 comet, the devastation of the cyclone, the bellowing out- 
 bursts of the volcano, and the convulsions of the earth- 
 quake are constituent parts of nature, so the swimming 
 of iron, the descending of fire, the parting of water, the 
 commanding of spirits, the routing of devils, and the 
 raising of the dead are component parts of God's great 
 moral government. Go tie the wings of the storm, 
 smother the volcano, hold the earthquake still, and then 
 may you consign your body to the grave and shut out 
 the hope of living, proclaim the grave your prison, and 
 the worm your keeper; then shall the purpose of God be 
 disappointed and life a failure. 
 
 Fourthly, the resurrection of Christ proves a com- 
 plete redemption, not only of soul, but of body. Man is 
 composed of the only known substances in the universe — 
 to-wit, mind and matter. This being true, man is the 
 connecting link in the grand chain of existence; he is 
 both spirit and matter. If his spirit only is saved, he is 
 but part saved; then the plan of redemption is incomplete; 
 then is Christ not risen; then the Bible is a fable and 
 the gospel is false. Go tell the mothers, fathers, sisters, 
 brothers, as they look through the telescope of faith to the 
 resurrection morn, that the doctrine is alia myth and that 
 
SHALL THIS BODY LIVE AGAIX ? 167 
 
 their dead will never rise, and there will go up a wail 
 that will rend the air and jar the heavens until God hears 
 and feels and angels weep. This old world, dressed in 
 the habiliments of mourning, will go down to the judg- 
 ment like Rachel of old, weeping for her children. Thus 
 man ran through the earth crying, "Life! life!" but there 
 was no life. Jesus heard the sound, and, coming up out 
 of the grave, He closed the mouth of unbelief and sealed 
 the lips of hell, planted the banner of the cross before the 
 heralds of truth, and cried to his followers: "I am the 
 resurrection and the life. Ke that believeth on me, 
 though he were dead, yet shall he live." The sun, moon, 
 and stars set to rise again; the flowers fade in autumn to 
 bloom in spring; so man dies to live again, and the victims 
 of the grave will be the angels of the skies. Then shall 
 angelic legions shout in peals of celestial thunder: "O 
 death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory ?' ' 
 Then shall the revivified dead answer the glad acclaim: 
 "Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory, through 
 our lord Jesus Christ!" 
 
 Lastly, the resurrection of Christ proves the resurrec- 
 tion of the human body, since Christ had a human body. 
 Hear Him say: "It is I, be not afraid. Handle me, and 
 see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me 
 have." Then if one human body has been raised from 
 the dead, it is reasonable to expect that all will be raised- 
 for if we have been planted together in the likeness of 
 His death, so we shall be also in the likeness of His resur- 
 rection. Else what shall they do which are baptized for 
 the dead, if the dead rise not? for if we have been buried 
 
168 SHAIX THIS BODY UVK AGAIN? 
 
 with Him, we shall also rise with Him. Death itself 
 shall die and the grave be destroyed when you and I 
 have just begun to live. Then let Virgil tell of Elysian 
 fields, the sparkling rills of nectar streaming from the 
 gods may woo the thirst of Homer, let Milton tell of his 
 paradise, with its trees, its fruits, and its flowers, but let 
 me tell of that happy state where we shall exchange the 
 hoary hairs for the bloom of youth and the decrepitude 
 of old age for the glory of manhood, where sickness and 
 sorrow, pain and death are felt and feared no more; for 
 there shall be a resurrection, both of the just and the 
 unjust; for the thundering peals of the trump of God 
 shall sound throughout the vast empire of death, the walls 
 and arches filled with buried millions will fall in crashing 
 ruins, the ghastly king will drop his scepter upon the 
 damp pavements of the grave and fly howling from his 
 tottering throne, while pyramids of granite and tombs of 
 marble will be rent in twain to let the rising bodies come 
 forth, mummies will pour from Egypt's vaulted cham- 
 bers, revivified dead will stream from their dungeons* 
 wanderers will shake off their winding-sheets of sand and 
 arise from the desert, bones bleached with age will break 
 from their coral fastenings, old ocean will heave and 
 swell with teeming millions, the armies of all ages will 
 throw aside their arms and bloody robes of strife and hail 
 the Prince of Peace, Abraham will shake off the dust of 
 Machpelah and come to judgment, and our village church- 
 yards and family burying-grounds will be deserted. All 
 will come, Jew and gentile, Christian and heathen, bond 
 and free, rich and poor, fathers and mothers, children, 
 
SHALX THIS BODY UVK AGAIN ? 169 
 
 sisters and brothers, husbands and wives, all from Adam 
 down will come. 'Tis a moment supreme throughout 
 the entire universe. All heaven is gloriously interested, 
 while a painful silence, like a pall, shrouds creation with 
 awful fear. Death seems to realize that his end is near, 
 and, crouching upon his awful haunches, awaits his last 
 opportunity to tear a world into fragments. The streets 
 of heaven seem to say that some great revolution is about 
 to take place; angels, archangels, and even God himself, 
 seem astir; and yet order, which is heaven's first law^ 
 prevails. What means this mustering and marshalling 
 of the immaculate host? Why are all the windows of 
 paradise filled with gazing eyes? Something of a stu- 
 pendous character, something inexpressibly awful, must 
 be in preparation. Yea, something that even Jehovah 
 has not hitherto witnessed is at hand. Heralds of fearful 
 tidings sweep the sky, while blinding lightnings blaze 
 through aerial space, and the mighty voice of detonating 
 thunder shakes the world. Terror and dismay are pro- 
 claimed by the infuriated storm of heaven's wrath; south- 
 ern wavelets of delight, heretofore fragrant with magno- 
 lias and the perfume of blooming flowers, are scorched 
 with Pluto's firebrands of awful destruction, and the only 
 odor that greets the olfactories is the odor of sulphureous 
 hell; the eastern vernal showers are now lashed into 
 deluging floods; the cooling northern zephyrs, which have 
 been gentle messengers of health, are now freezing into 
 a mad rush of tornadoes and avalanches of destruction; 
 and behold the sunset shore, whose crimson banners hang 
 in the western sky bathed in a sea of golden glory, is now 
 
170 SHAU, THIS BODY U V3 AGAIN? 
 
 eclipsed with sabled clouds, while along all the labyrinths 
 and glens may be heard the muttering voice of earth- 
 quakes and the goblins of despair. Already are seen the 
 maddening winds of God's displeasure, rushing hither 
 and thither, forming cyclones of divine wratho Look up; 
 see, no longer does the firmament smile the Creator's 
 laugh, but frowns with anger upon the scene, and even 
 the stars are frightened at the threatning storm, and, 
 hanging their livery upon the wing of the night, seek 
 shelter in eternal distance. Behold Michael, the arch- 
 angel, as he wings his way along the heavens, charged 
 with the dagger of God's command, and drawing its glit- 
 tering blade from the scabbard of eternity, with one 
 mighty thrust stabs the queen of night, and the friendly 
 old moon,who for thousands of years hung upon her arm 
 the lantern of night, falls from her throne in the skies 
 and disappears forever, while at one pirff of Jehovah's 
 breath the king of day turns pale, and, quitting the sky, 
 leaves the world groping in indescribable darkness, which, 
 like angry billows, rush on to claim their lost and help- 
 less victims. But see ! they are illuminated by the fiery 
 indignation of an outraged God, who by the flash of His 
 eye hath kindled earth and hell on fire. See, oh, see the 
 heavens like a vesture fold up and as a scroll roll back' 
 HarK ! what a groan ! The old earth is sick unto death, 
 and reeling and rocking under the intoxication of long 
 debauchery, loosens her hold at the poles and drops into 
 space, no more to hold her place in the sisterhood of 
 worlds. Great heavens! will everything be destroyed? 
 No, thank God ! The Savior arrives just in time to save 
 
SHALL THIS BODY LIVE} AGAIN? 171 
 
 the wreck, and while the trumpet of the herald angel 
 sounds the judgment blast, the last grave is wiped 
 from existence, and every bone clothed with flesh and 
 every ear pertorated with sound shall obey the mandates 
 of an awful God, and, coming from the four corners of 
 the world, will stand in awful phalanx before the terrible 
 throne, from whose decision there is no appeal. Oh, see, 
 see ! the line is being drawn; the Shepherd is dividing the 
 sheep from the goats; the rider on the white horse has 
 gathered his sweeping scythe and gone forth to reap the 
 harvest. Hear, oh, hear the voice from the throne say- 
 ing: "Thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the harvest of 
 the earth is ripe." Oh, hear, hear ! the whirlwinds of 
 eternity are sweeping through space, and the chaff, before 
 their revolving pinions, is being driven away forever. 
 Oh, see ! what a fire ! It is the burning of the tares. Oh, 
 hear! It is the cry of the lost to the rocks and mount- 
 ains for protection, because the net has been landed and 
 the bad has been cast away. Old Satan, that arch- 
 deceiver and soul-murderer, has fallen from his place like 
 Lucifer, and, with his followers, sinks to rise no more. 
 But see, oh, see ! behold the upward sweep ! The blessed 
 saints are rising high in the air, the throne wheels into 
 the front, and the mighty pageant sweeps into the skies, 
 while the choral reverberations of the coronation anthem 
 burst in peals of celestial thunder and echo against the 
 arches of the universe. Then will saints, angels, and 
 archangels hail with a shout the grand consummation, 
 "and, with their harps attuned to rapture complete, with 
 one vibration shall hymn redemption's theme and sound 
 Jehovah's praise/' 
 
EXCUSES. 
 
 "And they all with one consent began to make excuse." — 
 I^uke xiv. iS. 
 
 The Great Teacher levied a tribute on Nature and 
 made her to reflect not only the image of her God, but 
 also to illustrate the great lessons He taught. From the 
 sowing of seed, feeding of flocks, blooming flower, and 
 ripening grain, He strings the bow to send home the 
 arrow of truth with which to slay error, con vice the judg- 
 ment, and improve the conduct. In the lesson from 
 which our text is taken we have a little insight into social 
 life of a high order. See the lordly supper, oxen and 
 fatlings slain, servants running hither and thither. Invi- 
 tations have been sent long before the festival day arrives, 
 guests are selected from the higher circles of society, 
 wedding- robes have been prepared, and a herald goes to 
 announce to the invited guests the long-expected hour 
 when the doors would stand ajar and welcome to these 
 kingly festivities the favored guests; but, strange to say, 
 after such enormous outlay of time and expense, with 
 everything about the palace on the tiptoe of expectation, 
 every invited guest excuses himself, and, so far as he is 
 concerned, allows the entire failure of the whole thing. 
 
 Surely there must be some valid reason, so let us 
 hear a sample of the excuses as they are brought in and 
 
 172 
 
EXCUSES. 173 
 
 presented to the lord of the feast. Listen: One man has 
 bought some land; he must go in the night to see land, 
 which was not only immovable, but which was his, and 
 even though he had made a fool of himself and bought a 
 pig in the bag, there was no power on earth which could 
 let him out before da}\ Another has bought several 
 oxen — five } r oke, he sa} T s; he must go and try them. 
 Think of it ! the oxen are already in the stalls, already 
 hought; true he doesn't know about their working qual- 
 ities. I suppose this is the only case on record where 
 one man was ever known to go at night all alone to try 
 five 3-oke of oxen which he had already bought, and this 
 case would have never been heard of if there had been 
 no supper from which he wished to excuse himself. In 
 fact, a young man seems to have gotten married just for 
 the purpose of having a good excuse, and of course every 
 body knows there never was such a thing allowed in 
 fashionable society as a } x oung married couple at a sup- 
 per. [Great laughter.] Now these are examples of the 
 excuses men make to keep away from a supper — no, no; 
 but away from heaven. 
 
 God has provided the gospel feast, 
 And invited many a starving guest ; 
 But Satan allures thetn to their fail, 
 And they lose their supper after all. 
 
 Now let us put the acid on some of the excuses, of 
 which these are only illustrations. Well, here is one, 
 and, as the bo3 T said of his girl, "She's a whale"; it is, "I 
 haven't considered the matter." I see men all around 
 here, some farming, others working on the railroad, some 
 in factories, others teaching, many selling goods, others 
 
174 excuses. 
 
 practicing law, medicine, etc., but I will tell you what I 
 never did see, and that is a man sitting down on a goods 
 box with his studying cap on, oblivious to everything, con- 
 sidering what vocation he will follow. Suppose you were 
 to find such a man, how long before these doctors would 
 have him locked up in an asylum, where all such con- 
 siderate men ought to be? A man does not spend weeks 
 and months considering what he is going to follow for a 
 livelihood, but, as opportunity affords, he seizes the oars, 
 pulls againsts winds and waves, and takes his place 
 among those who are struggling for position, wealth, and 
 influence. Now, gentlemen, why not apply this principle 
 here, decide the issue, accept the condition, draw the 
 lines, and ride into the kingdom? 
 
 "My brother, the Master calleth for thee; 
 His love and His mercy are wondrously free; 
 His blood as a ransom for sinners He gave, 
 And He is abundantly able to save." 
 
 Well, extremes generally follow each other, so, as 
 one man has not considered at all, the next one has done 
 nothing else for years but consider. "Oh, yes," say she, 
 "I have investigated." Yes, investigated; investigated 
 what? One of these investigating fellows was converted 
 in the city of Lynchburg, Virginia, and about the first 
 question he asked was, "How many disciples did Jesus 
 have?" Col. Ingersoll said in my presence that he was 
 about the only man in the United States who read and 
 investigated the Bible thoroughly; at the same time he 
 stated, on his own authority, that Matthew, Mark, nor 
 Luke said anything about faith except in the commission, 
 
EXCUSES. 175 
 
 and that was an interpolation. As evidence of how well 
 he has investigated, suppose you read Matthew the 
 eighth and ninth chapters, Mark the sixth, eighth, and 
 ninth chapters, and Luke the ninth chapter. How true 
 It is, "If the blind lead the blind, they shall both fall into 
 the ditch." If the leading bible-reader of the nation, and 
 the world's chief investigator, w T ill commit such an unpar- 
 donable offense against truth, and fail to see even as 
 simple a word as faith w T hen it so plain that even a child 
 can see it, I would fear to pin my faith to the smaller 
 fry, of whom Sam Jones says, " They are eleven- tenths 
 mouth." Now, the fact is, if a man will invesitgate in 
 order to find out the truth, his investigations will be 
 profitable and his efforts not only successful, but lauda- 
 ble. I saw a gentleman on this order, and it only took 
 him from one evening to the next to settle the fact to his 
 own satisfaction, and having done this, he publicly con- 
 fessed Christ and united with the church in which I w T as 
 preaching at the time. But ni3 r opinion is, that most of 
 these investigators are simply trying the oxen in order to 
 appear decent and at the same time keep away from the 
 supper. Like Daniel Webster's man, they neither fly for- 
 ward nor alight; they simply hover. 
 
 Again, there comes the sweeping statement and the 
 ever-present insinuation that the religion of Christ actu- 
 ally makes men worse. "I am better than Christian people- 
 3'es, better than those who serve God." I guess this is 
 the fellow who had just married a wife. No wonder he 
 is better than anybody else. Suppose you wait about 
 five or ten years and ask his wife what she thinks about 
 
176 excuses. 
 
 it. I saw one of those good fellows once, and before I 
 got through with him I found out, as he went over the 
 hill, that the only good thing he ever did was to furnish 
 the Church a fine subject for exclusion. Another one 
 said to me that he could not endorse the drinking- 
 and dissipated members of the Church, and because he 
 opposed it, they turned him out of the Church. "Strange, 
 brother, that a good man like you should thus have to 
 suffer at the hands of a lot of drunken Baptists. What 
 was the charge on which you were excluded?' 5 "Well 
 — well — they said it was because I signed license for a 
 bar-room." Isn't this a strange age in which we live? 
 The only sober man excluded from the Church because 
 he wanted drunkards to have whisky. [Great laughter.] 
 Now sometimes it is the case that an old deacon happens 
 to have several farms and only one child, a daughter; 
 here comes one of these make-believe men; he wants to 
 invest in real estate, but, having neither money nor brains, 
 he tries his hand at sanctified brass; with him the ser- 
 mon is never too long or loud, the day too hot or cold; 
 he soon becomes deeply penitent — that is because he has 
 not succeeded yet in his hellish design; soon he makes a 
 loud and full confession of his faith in public and his love 
 for the girl in secret; finally he is in the Church and soon 
 in the family; everything goes well for awhile, but soon 
 the dog returns to his vomit, and the sow that was washed 
 to the mire. The only thing he is fit for on earth is to 
 furnish these slander-mongers a chance to make fools of 
 themselves and throw mud at the Church. I suppose 
 you are fully as good as this fellow. The Bible says they 
 
EXCUSES. 17? 
 
 measure themselves by themselves. But what would 
 you think of an honest man declaring he didn't steal a$ 
 much as the man known to be a thief? 
 
 Truthful men do not compare themselves with men of 
 doubtful veracit3 r , nor do giants abuse dwarfs. If you 
 want to know whether religion will make a man better 
 or worse, go and find your equal financially, intellectually, 
 and socially; then stand up and let the measuring-line 
 fall on you, and see how well you will compare. Does 
 religion make men better ? I have known it to convert 
 a dirty, sluggish loafer from the street-corner and send 
 him to church on Sunda}^ with a white shirt on, clean- 
 shaven face, and shoes shining as bright as a boy's face 
 on Christmas morning; I have known it to make a lady 
 of a drunkard's wife after she had broken herself down 
 washing for a living; I have known it to stop children 
 from running out into the back yard to keep away from 
 a fiend and send them a block away to hug a father; I 
 have known it to send a prodigal boy back home after he 
 had been disinherited by his father, and shut out on the 
 street without a home or a friend; I have known it to lift 
 a man from the gutter to the cashier's place of a national 
 bank; I have known it to cause a man to die rather than 
 swallow stimulants, after being a drunkard thirty years; I 
 have known it to build orphanages, asylums, schools, and 
 colleges, for the comfort of the distressed and develop- 
 ment of the young; I have known it to send timid females 
 among robbers and assassins like angels of light, telling 
 of a better life and a brighter future. Oh! can it be that 
 anv sane man who has a semblance of truth or honor left 
 
178 excuses. 
 
 could dare to reflect upon such a cause or excuse himself 
 from its calls to work for the glory of God and the uplift- 
 ing of humanity? 
 
 Again, there are others who say: "I am afraid to 
 start for fear I can't hold out. I see so many religious 
 failures that I have no heart to try." Now, brother, if 
 you will only stick to that proposition, I will prove there 
 is only one thing you can do, and that is the last thing- 
 you ever intend to do in this world— it is simply to die. 
 It is the only thing somebody has never failed at. You 
 can't merchandise, manufacture, farm, preach, plead law, 
 practice medicine, or get married; someone has failed in 
 all these. I heard of one preacher who preached eight 
 years and then went to practicing. [Laughter.] I knew 
 one man who gave a young lady twenty-five thousand 
 dollars to live with him and six hundred a month to live 
 away from. him. [Laughter.] He was like the man who 
 caught the bear; he said one man could catch a bear, but 
 it took two to let him loose. [Great laughter.] Now 
 what do we see all over the country? Some men failing, 
 others succeeding. If one man pursues a certain voca- 
 tion and fails, the next man learns wisdom from his mis- 
 takes and steers clear of the rocks on which his fortune 
 was wrecked. Just so in religion; you don't have to steal 
 because some other man is a thief, and you don't have to 
 act the hypocrite because they are in the Church. Weii, 
 I can tell you, sir, some of the best songs I ever learned 
 were those I learned when I was in the penitentiary. 
 [Sensation.] Yes, sir: I have been almost everywhere 
 but in the lunatic asylum, and I have been around that 
 
EXCUSES. 179 
 
 several times, [daughter.] My penitentiary wasn't as 
 good as Mr. Moody's, for he said that he found but one 
 bad man in the whole thing; I found four hundred and 
 fifty, and every one of them was under conviction, so I 
 threw in another for good measure. I like to preach to 
 convicts; they are not alwaj-s talking about the failings 
 of other people. 
 
 Peter said: " I^ord, and what shall this man do?" 
 Jesus said in reply: " If I will that he tarry till I come, 
 what is that to thee? Follow thou me." So, beloved, let 
 us remember that in the subject of a religious life we have 
 the promise of the hand that guides the wandering orbs 
 to direct us, and the eye that watches the accumulative 
 atom to shine upon us. A boy in the midst of a storm 
 was so calm that some one inquired how it was that, 
 while the manly passengers were frantic with fear, the 
 boy was self-possessed and cool. "How is it, my boy, 
 you are not alarmed?" "My father is at the helm," 
 coolly said the boy. Oh, for such confidence as thisC 
 Hear it, ye doubting Thomases. Hear it, ye manly cow- 
 ards, as ye tremble and halt between two opinions, afraid 
 to start. What if storms do come ? our God is at the 
 wheel and Jesus is on board. Remember, 
 
 "No water can swallow the ship where lies 
 The Master of ocean and earth and skies." 
 
A MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 " He being dead yet speaketh." — Hebrews xi. 14, 
 
 [Delivered by E. B. Dillard, D.D., on the life and 
 character of Rev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in the First 
 Baptist Church of Albany, Wisconsin, February, 1892.] 
 
 My Brethren, Friends, and Fathers : 
 
 Many of you have lived contemporary with the man 
 we come to honor. Never since the days of Christ could 
 it be more truly said of any age, " Blessed are the eyes 
 which see the things which ye see," and never since 
 Jesus of Nazareth, the reason God gave the commis- 
 sion to go and disciple all nations, could it be more truly 
 said, " Blessed are the ears which hear what ye hear." 
 And as the officers said of Jesus, "Never man spake like 
 this man," so it may truly be said of Spurgeon, he spoke 
 like no other man. Though, like eagles trying to reach 
 the snn, thousands have tried to speak like Spurgeon, 
 only to find themselves lost in a fruitless attempt to 
 scale a height for which their wings were never plumed. 
 
 It is said of Abel, "He being dead yet speaketh." 
 It may be said of Spurgeon he spoke to three generations 
 before he was born, for his great-grandfather not only 
 preached, but suffered cruel imprisonment because of his 
 loyalty to God, truth, and conscience. For fifteen weeks 
 
 ISO 
 
A MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 1S1 
 
 lie lay on a bed of straw, in a cold English prison, with- 
 out fire. Spurgeon's grandfather was one of four min- 
 isters who pastored one church for two hundred years. 
 His father was both a business man and a preacher, 
 until he became pastor of the church at Cranbrook, 
 London. Here large crowds greeted the father of the 
 world's greatest preacher. It was from such fertile soil 
 as this, warmed by devotion and moistened by affection, 
 came forth a plant whose fruitage has fed millions and 
 beneath whose foliage the weary of every land have 
 rested and drank the waters of life from the wells of 
 salvation. 
 
 It is not the history of the man, but the man, to 
 which I beg to call 3-our attention. I but echo the 
 memorable words of the Roman governor when I say, 
 " Behold the man." Someone said of Lord Bacon, " He 
 was the greatest, wisest, and meanest of mankind/' I 
 never worshiped men, saints, spirits, nor angels; if I did, 
 then Charles H. Spurgeon would be my god in silent 
 repose, for I believe he was the wisest, greatest, and best 
 man of the nineteenth century, and the equal of any 
 man in any age. Some men are great in one way; some 
 are wise in one thing, and fools in everything else; some 
 men are good in certain wa3's, and good for nothing every 
 other way. I once heard of a man who had seven sides; 
 most men have only one side. Spurgeon was noted for 
 no one thing especially; he lived in an age of specialists 
 without being a specialist. 
 
 Many of the great men of the world, like comets, have 
 been great because of their peculiarities; they attract 
 
182 A MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 attention by being different from other men. Spurgeon, 
 like Venus, shines among men; his character, over which 
 never dared a cloud to float, and his life, as unsullied as the 
 golden glory of the blushing morning, have cast a radiance 
 on the evening of the world; his thoughts, like meteors, 
 have lighted the chambers of devotion, and directed 
 many a soul lost in the fog of superstition or the fall 
 of sin to the Elysium of the soul; his benefactions, as 
 numberless as the stars, brought out by the night of 
 orphanage and affliction, form one mighty galaxy of 
 beauty, which has attracted the admiration of the world 
 and whose rays are destined to light up the path over the 
 highways of time to the delight of generations yet unborn. 
 Greece had her Demosthenes, Rome had her Caesar, and 
 America her Washington, but it was reserved for the 
 nineteenth century to furnish the world a Spurgeon. 
 
 The philosopher studies effect as the scientific method 
 of discovering cause, with the philosophical truth ever 
 uppermost in his mind that every effect must have a 
 cause; so, as the world gazes on the man whose name has 
 become a household word throughout the nations of the 
 civilized world, and whose writings are regarded as the 
 inspiration of the age, we all become philosophers, and 
 begin to inquire, In what did his great strength consist ? 
 Socrates, Galileo, Newton, and Franklin were the world's 
 greatest philosophers. Hannibal, Alexander, and Napo- 
 leon were her greatest generals. Abraham, David, Paul, 
 and Spurgeon were her greatest divines or religious lead- 
 ers. Abraham believed, David ruled, and Paul reasoned; 
 but Spurgeon believed, ruled, and reasoned. 
 
A MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 18H 
 
 We stand at the base of the king of mountains, and 
 behold his hoary head crowned with eternal snow, as he 
 reclines in the sunlight twenty thousand feet above the 
 level of the sea; or we gaze on the mighty waters as they 
 roll thousands of miles to far distant shores. It is hard 
 for us to understand that this giant of the everlasting hills, 
 and this ocean, whose bosom bears the commerce of 
 nations, are composed of particles so small as to grind in 
 a bird's craw and dance on the floor of a rose-leaf. So, 
 as we join with orphans, pastors, statesmen, and kings in 
 praising the man that God has honored, we find it hard 
 to understand that his life, like ours, is made up of little 
 things. 
 
 As the acorn contains in its little shell the great 
 oak, so the child is father to the man. As the blushing 
 morning heralds the king of day, so the child adding the 
 epithet "old" to the name of Bishop Bonner because he 
 persecuted Christians foreshadowed the champion of 
 religious liberty. The child who asked his grandfather 
 if the bottomless pit was like a basket with a hole in the 
 bottom was the boy who took the Bible for authority on 
 baptism and walked seven miles, on May 3, 1850, to be 
 buried with Christ in baptism, independent of the doc- 
 trines of men and dogmas of sects; but w r ith loyalty to 
 God, he united with the Baptist Church, leaving his 
 devoted mother and clergical father in the Congrega- 
 tional Church, called Independents. 
 
 "Charles," said his mother, "I have prayed earnestly 
 for your conversion, but not for you to become a Bap- 
 tist." But he who has since comforted millions comforted 
 
184 A MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 his mother by saying: "That is just like the good Lord; 
 He always gives His people more than they can ask or 
 think." Here is one key to his greatness: independence 
 of thought, aptness of words, and promptness of action. 
 He tarried not to consult with flesh and blood, but made 
 haste to keep the commandments of God. 
 
 This brings us to notice him at work. As a student, 
 he was moral, prudent, self-denying, and industrious. At 
 six years old he reproved a professor of religion for being 
 in rowdy company, saying : "What doest thou here, 
 Elijah? " At ten years he read the Scriptures in concert 
 with ministers at family prayers, and at the age of six- 
 teen he was converted by hearing a plain old preacher 
 read the text, "Look unto me and be ye saved, all the 
 ends of the earth, for I am God," etc. He at once began 
 preaching with great acceptance. At eighteen he became 
 the pastor of a church, whose doors and windows were 
 crowded with anxious listeners. At nineteen he was 
 pastor of a large church in the largest city in the world. 
 At twenty- two he was preaching to fourteen thousand 
 people at every service, in Surrey Music Hall, London. 
 His sermons were read on two continents, to the com- 
 fort and delight of thousands. Such was the demand 
 for the spiritual food that fell from his lips that it was 
 served in twenty-five thousand copies per work, and he 
 who could only speak in one language preached in 
 seven. His church, with six thousand sittings, has been 
 constantly filled for thirty-one years, and as the traveler 
 on the great Pacific hails San Francisco through the 
 Golden Gate, so the tourist from this continent hails the 
 
A MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 185 
 
 Bast, and sees its monuments of fallen greatness through 
 Spurgeon's church. 
 
 His preaching was simple in style, earnest in deliv- 
 ery, persuasive in its nature, and personal in its applica- 
 tion. Men think of Spurgeon before they hear him, of 
 Christ while they hear him, and wonder at both after 
 they have heard him. He preached neither to the grave- 
 stones of the present nor to the buried generations of the 
 past. He thundered with the law in the face of the 
 guilty rebel, and bound up the wounded heart of the 
 penitent sinner with the oil of the gospel. He preached 
 about God and man, sin and righteousness, time and 
 eternity. He spoke in the language of the common peo- 
 ple, who heard him gladly, as they did his Master before 
 him. He had a great, big, loving , sympathetic heart, and 
 out of its abundance the mouth spoke. His motto was, 
 "I believed, therefore have I spoken; let God be true and 
 every man a liar." Christ said': "If any man will honor 
 me, him will my father honor." Spurgeon honored 
 Christ and God made a world honor him. 
 
 Dr. Armitage, of New York city, said of him: "He 
 carries the least amount of religion possible in the white 
 his eyes and goes without starch, self-conceit, or sancti- 
 monious clap-trap; he acts on living convictions." He 
 was a living man in a living age. With his orphanage 
 he was father and mother to the unfortunate and helpless 
 left behind to nestle in the bosom of a cold and unfriendly 
 world. He not only fed the donations of others to hun- 
 gry children of deceased parentage and struggling young 
 
186 A MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 men, but, having first given himself to God and human- 
 ity, he gave all he had, even to his presents, and while he 
 gave a home to thousands, like his divine Master, he had 
 none of his own. 
 
 Oh! when will the world ever see another Spurgeon? 
 We will think of his beautiful Christian character, as 
 unsullied and spotless as the meridian sun, and in con- 
 tinuous praise exclaim, "Well done !" We will visit his 
 church and his grave, and from under our tears we will 
 in our hearts exclaim, "Well done!" We will read his 
 books, and as the inspiring truths burst forth from the 
 silent page, like limped fountains from the mountain-side, 
 we will feast on the treasury of David and say, "Well 
 done!" And as we gather in our homes among the rose- 
 buds of youth, we will tell of him to our children, and 
 their voices, mingled with ours, will say, "Well done!" 
 
 Oh, what a time there was in heaven last Sunday 
 night ! How fitting it was that the voice heard by thous- 
 ands and the manly form seen by them on Sunday should 
 leave the scenes of noise and conflict on Sunday! Just 
 at the time when the gathered multitude were dispersing 
 and the song of praise was dying away on the stillness 
 of the night, the shout of victory came: "My father, my 
 father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof! " 
 Hark! hark! hear them shout above the stars, ring the 
 bells, wave the palms, start the bands, sound the jubilee, 
 wave the banner, bring the crown. "Glory! glory! Spur- 
 geon is here!" Oh, how the angels gather around! 
 Jesus smiles and bids him welcome. Prophets, apostles, 
 
A MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 187 
 
 and ministers lead the van, while to the music of the 
 skies march thousands of happy converts and orphans, 
 while Gabriel exclaims, "So shall it be done to the man 
 whom God delights to honor." Blessed indeed is he who 
 -shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 
 
Have examined your book. It is without a peer, covers the 
 range of the subject, is an inspiration to the reader, and a boon 
 to the pastor. It will tend to purify, elevate and sweeten any 
 home into which it goes. 
 
 W. K. Williams, 
 Pastor Baptist Church, 
 
 Greenwood, Mo. 
 
 Have found one objection to your book ; can't stop reading. 
 Received the value of my money in less than a day. 
 
 C. Hamilton, 
 Presbyterian Minister, 
 
 Greenwood, Mo. 
 
 I like your book better than any I ever read. Mamma says it 
 is next to the bible and papa says he would not be without it for 
 five hundred dollars. 
 
 Curtis H. Juno, 
 
 Greenwood, Mo. 
 
 "Revival Waves" is worthy of a place in every Christian home 
 and will be found especially useful to the pastor and Christian 
 worker. It fills a place that has long been vacant in religious 
 literature. 
 
 W. I. Cole, 
 
 Pastor Baptist Church, 
 
 Lexington, Mo. 
 
 From a Farmer. 
 
 There is nothing like it. It is a book of reference on most 
 any religious subject. It will never be laid aside. I would not 
 sell mine at any price, I want to hand it down to my posterity. 
 
 G. W. Belcher, 
 
 Pleasant Hill, Mo. 
 
From a Stenographer. 
 
 "Revival Waves" is especially adapted to limited time, fills. 
 a long-felt want, is an invaluable aid in Christian work, and 
 may be read at odd moments with great satisfaction. 
 
 Ai,ma Kinney, 
 Kansas City, Mo. 
 
 The suggestions on music in this work are first-class in every 
 pirticular and cannot fail to be of interest to all lovers of sacred 
 music. 
 
 Raphael Koester, 
 Professor of Music in Baptist Female College, 
 
 Lexington, Mo. 
 
 The work can't be too highly recommended, or words too 
 strong used in its favor. It is the best catch up book I have 
 ever seen or read. 
 
 Mrs. C. A. Kinney, 
 
 Kansas City, Mo. 
 
 I have read much of the book and think it a grand work. 
 
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 Pastor Baptist Church, 
 
 Gilliam, Mo. 
 
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 ter girl and a more efficient worker after reading your book. 
 
 Miss Luea R. Tucker, 
 
 Baptist Female College, 
 Lexington, Mo. 
 
 Your book is grand. It fills a long-felt want among Christian 
 workers. My pastor has examined it and pronounces it first- class.. 
 
 J. R. DiEEARD, D.D.S., 
 
 Danville, 111. 
 
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